The morning sun rose over the massive city. A rooster on the roof of the apartment building cock-a-doodle-dooed to greet the day before suddenly exploding. The sunlight crept in through the window and onto the couch, blasting Mordecai's face with morning heat. He groaned and slowly rose up. And then suddenly, he remembered something, and his eyes widened.

He frantically over to the clock on the wall. 9:15. He sighed in relief. He and Rigby still had time. Wait, Rigby! Mordecai looked over to the chair and saw Rigby still sleeping peacefully. He was curled up on the chair like a cat, with his blanket over him. He looked kind of cute like that.

Mordecai silently hopped out from his 'bed', and tiptoed over to the chair.

"Rigby, Rigby," He whispered, "come on dude, its time to wake up." He gently shook his buddy.

"Huh?" Rigby slowly came to, blinked, and then stood up, yawning and stretching. "Morning already?"

"Dude, we got our interviews today!"

"Oh, yeah!" They both still whispered so they would not disturb Margaret or her neighbors.

"Come on, let's get ready."

"Right."

Mordecai started heading to the bathroom, but then he remembered that to do so, he had to go through Margaret's room. He noticed that the door was open, and the lights were on, so Margaret must be up. He took a step closer to the room.

"You gonna see if she's dressing?" Rigby snickered.

"Shut up, dude!" Mordecai snapped.

"Hey, I'm just kidding."

Mordecai then saw just on the wall to the right of the bedroom door that there was another door. That must be the bathroom. He heard water running, so Margaret must have been showering.

He suddenly heard Rigby opening and closing some cupboards. Mordecai walked over to the kitchen, and saw him standing on the counter, going through an upper cupboard.

"What are you doing?" He hissed.

"I'm making us coffee," Rigby answered in a matter-of-fact voice, "you want some, don't you?"

"Dude, we can't just go through Margaret's stuff!"

"Quit being so cautious. She won't mind. You're just being extra careful not to piss her off."

Mordecai was quiet for a second. He guessed that Margaret would not mind much. "Okay."

Rigby took down three white mugs from the cupboard, as well as three small paper cups, the kind you might expect to find creme in, only bigger.

"Hey look, she has one of those Keurig makers," Rigby stated, "Cool!"

Mordecai looked over to his left on the counter and saw the maker Rigby was talking about. He pushed the 'on' button on it. The water receiver lit blue, and the whole thing hummed to life, heating up.

"You guys making coffee?"

"Woah!" Mordecai spun around to face Margaret, all dressed in her baige waitress outfit.

"Oh, sorry," Margaret stuttered, "Didn't mean to startle you."

"No problem, it's cool," Mordecai blurted out. "Yeah, we were going to make coffee. Hope you don't mind, we went though your cupboards."

"Not at all," Margaret smiled, "Sorry I only have that one flavor, though."

"Oh, that's fine," Rigby replied, slapping one coffee pack into the maker, "All coffees are the same, right?"

"Not really," Said Margaret, "each one really has its own unique traits. This one is just my favorite. How about we toast up some bagels to go with it?" She walked passed Mordecai to the fridge.

"Sure. We love bagels," Mordecai replied.

"Cool."

Mordecai figured now that Margaret was out, he should probably get in the bathroom and freshen up. He a little uncomfortable leaving Rigby alone with Margaret, but he knew Rigby was is pal, and would never really try to steal his crush unless it was for a revenge scheme or something.

"So, I'll get in the shower now?" He checked with everyone.

"Sure," Margaret answered, "What kind of bagel you want? I got plain, onion, sesame, or everything."

"Uh, how about everything? And you got any cream cheese?"

"Everything with cream cheese, coming up," Margaret whistled as she took out the bagles, cream cheese and butter from the fridge.

Mordecai headed in to the bathroom, ready for a nice, warm, refreshing shower.

9:00. Dudley rushed to the front doors of TUFF HQ. He was late! His shift started at 8:30. He usually worked from 8-5, but every now and then, he got some slack and got to come in a little late. He ran into the office from the front door, and turned to the clock-in list on the wall. He reached for his time card, but was surprised to find that he was already punched in.

Kitty. She must have clocked him in already. Dudley smiled as he thought about her. She was always looking out for him, trying to keep him out of trouble when she could. She was an awesome partner, and an awesome friend.

Decided to stop at her cubicle before going to his. She did not seem to busy, just fiddling around with some stuff on her desktop.

"Morning, Kitty," Dudley waved, "Hey, thanks for covering for me again."

"Good morning," She smiled warmly at him, but then frowned, "What kept you late today?"

"Oh, well, I overslept. Sorry."

"You really got to quit doing that, and come in on time," She said, almost naggingly, "I can't keep punching in for you."

Oh, great, another lecture. Dudley thought, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

"There's a lot of people out there who would kill to have the job of a TUFF agent. You're great, Dudley, but you have to take this job seriously, or the Chief will fire your ass someday."

"No way! The chief wouldn't do that! He loves me."

"I'm just saying, you should commit a little more to your job." Kitty turned back to her computer.

"So, anyway, anything going on today? Any assignments or missions or bad guys or anything?"

"No, not yet, but later today, Keswick is going to be interviewing people to be new agents and replace Shellington and Fleece."

"Oh. Cool." And then Dudley's mood saddened a little, remembering the funeral from yesterday, "I'm really going to miss them, especially Fleece. She always told the best sheep jokes."

"Yeah. I remember." Kitty was also sad about losing more comrades. She was use to it now in her career, but it was still always tragic to see two co-workers fall in the line of duty. This was the first TUFF death Dudley had seen. It must have been harder for him to see, but he was taking it surprisingly well.

"What was that one that got me every time? The one about the newspaper?"

"Okay, its 'what's a sheep's favorite newspaper?'"

"The wool street journal!" Giggled a new voice.

Dudley and Kitty turned to face RJ. "Morning guys."

"Hey RJ," Dudley smiled, "What's up?"

"Nothing really, just heading in to my little kingdom, you know?" He laughed, he was referring to his lab.

"Hey, RJ," Kitty asked, "Isn't your cousin coming for the interview today?"

"Rigby? Yeah, he's coming, and he's bringing his friend Mordecai. They just got fired, and I think this is a great opportunity for them to find decent jobs."

"Cool. I'd like to meet these guys," Dudley smiled.

"Well, if they get the job, you'll get plenty of time to get to know them."

"Do you think they'll get it?" Kitty asked.

RJ put a hand to his chin to think. "Hmm... Knowing Rigby, I'd say he has a fifty-fifty chance."

"That doesn't sound good."

"Believe me though, I'm praying for him."

9:30. Rigby had finally finished his turn in the bathroom. He came out, his hair combed, and wearing the black neck tie that he wore for special occasions. On his wrist was a sleek wrist watch.

"Lookin' sharp, buddy!" Mordecai retortled as Rigby stroll out toward the counter where breakfast was waiting. Margaret and Mordecai had waited for him.

"Thanks, you too, man," Rigby shot back as he hopped up into his chair at the counter. Mordecai was wearing a black business suit, with a white shirt and red tie under.

"You both look really handsome," said Margaret.

"Thanks." Mordecai replied.

"I'm sure you guys will do fine today," She continued, "I mean, if you guys really put your minds to things, you're smart and hardworking, and if you work together, you two can accomplish almost anything."

"Wow, thanks, Margaret," Mordecai replied. He had not thought of him and Rigby as a team that way in a long time. He certainly did not think they were as hard working as Margaret was giving them credit for.

"A little cheesy for my taste, but it sure was encouraging," Rigby chuckled as he reached for his coffee mug.

Mordecai picked up his. "I'd like to propose a toast. Here's to the best of luck at the interview."

"Best of luck to you guys!" Margaret raised her mug and clinked it against Mordecai's and Rigby's, and then they all took a big sip. They had each put some milk and sugar into their coffee, so each one was sweet and tasty.

Next, they started eating up their bagels before Margaret spoke up again.

"Okay, now if you guys are done and get back before I do for whatever reason, here's my spare key." She placed a blue key card on the table.

"Wow, you're trusting us with your key?" Said Mordecai, who was dumbstruck.

"Sure. I can trust you guys, right?"

"Oh, yeah. We're very trust worthy," Rigby smirked.

10:15. In the office just beyond the civilian waiting room, Keswick looked over the resume again and frowned. He set the papers down and turned back to the llamas in front of him. One had brown fur and was wearing a red boater hat with a flower, while the other one, the one that scared Keswick, had grey fur and wore a green winter cap.

"Well, you two would seem like ideal agents for the m-m-m-most part," Keswick said nervously.

"But what?" The grey llama sounded angry, and glared Keswick down.

"Well, I'm afraid we just can't accept someone with, um, a criminal record like this."

"WHAT!" The grey one shouted.

"Carl, I told you they wouldn't accept you," The brown llama said.

"How could you not want me?" The grey llama rose from his chair, "I have killed more people then there are in Hawaii! TUFF could use someone with my experience!"

"Carl!" The brown one whined, "You promised me you wouldn't freak out at this."

"I crossed my fingers, Paul."

"You don't have fingers!"

"Oh, to hell with you!"

"I'm sorry sir, but you didn't get the j-j-job." Keswick announced assertively. "Now please leave."

Still angry, Carl leaned over the desk into Keswick's face, and looked him straight in the eye.

"Um, do I need to call security?" Keswick reached for a button under the desk.

"Is that a threat?" Carl sneered. "Now listen here, Hamster, you better give me a job here, or stab you in the eyes thirty-seven times, cut open your rib cage, and then chop off your hands, cook them, and eat them with some fava beans and a nice chianti!"

"Carl, please, let's just go." Paul said in the calmest voice he could.

Too late. Two TUFF dog troopers entered the room through the door from behind Keswick, and headed around the desk. At first, Carl got ready to fight back, but one shot him with a tazer, knocking him out. Next, they both worked together to carry Carl out of the office.

"I'm really sorry about him," Paul said to Keswick in a very apologetic voice.

"Just go, please," Keswick answered with a straight face.

And with that, Paul got up from his seat, turned around, and headed out the room to catch up with Carl.

Keswick sighed. Man, that grey llama was scary. This was his first interview of the day. He had about a dozen more to go. This was going to be a long day for him. He was kind of looking forward to meeting RJ's cousin at 11. He had a few more appointments before that though. He was just going to have to suffer through them.

"Next!" He shouted. In came a certain blue-bottom booby wearing a purple business suit strolled in. He was wearing one of those fake glasses and mustache. Behind him followed a little hummingbird who was also wearing a fake mustache. Keswick was not fooled. He recognized them both immediately.

"Honestly, Bird Brain, did you really expect me to fall for that?" He hit the security button again.

10:30. Mordecai raised his arm to a taxi that was coming by. It stopped right in front of them. Rigby was the first one in, Mordecai followed.

"Where to, boys?" The human driver asked them monotonously.

"TUFF headquarters please," Rigby answered, "and could you get us there before 11?"

"Sure," he groaned. "Four bucks, please." He held out his hand from behind his seat.

Mordecai went through his wallet and pulled out a five and handed it too the man. The extra dollar was a tip. They had just stopped at the bank, and had cashed in their checks for change.

Taking the five, the driver pulled back into the street and started driving toward Petropolis.

Mordecai and Rigby were both excited and nervous. They still had high hopes that this interview would go well. They were still dressed in the spiffy outfits from before. They were taking nothing with them except their wallets, and the spartan helmet which Mordecai carried in his back pack. It was annoying because it was kind of heavy.

"Hey, Rigby, why are we taking the helmet again?" Mordecai asked as he took off his backpack and set it on the floor.

"I just thought just in case. You never know. We might need it. Maybe in can help us in our interview somehow."

"I have a really bad feeling about it. I mean, after all, it is what cost us our last job."

"Well, you never know."

Keswick looked back at his new clients, both had hopeful faces.

"Well," He mumbled, "I'm sorry, but we can't accept you g-g-guys. You see, in order to work here, you need to be an animal, and you two are stick figures."

"What?" The red stick figure exclaimed, "You mean you're not even going to look at our freakin' resumes?"

"Red, calm down," The blue guy said to his friends, somewhat moodily. He turned to Keswick. "So, you can't make us agents?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Is there any job here for people who aren't animals? Anything at all?"

"No, I'm s-s-s-sorry."

"PLEEEEEEEAAAAAASSSEEE?" The red guy whined.

"There's nothing we can offer you here. I'm sorry. Now please leave."

"THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!" Red snapped, standing up from his chair. Keswick reached for the security button again.

"Come on, dude," Blue grumbled, "let's just get out of here."

"Oh, alright," Red pouted, and followed Blue out of the office.

"Next!" Keswick called.

A chihuahua and a red fat cat hopped out of their seats and strolled on into the office. They were the only ones left in the waiting room.

"Now, Stimpy, don't you DARE do anything to screw this up!" Ren hissed his companion.

"Relax, Ren," Stimpy said reassuringly, "I'll be on my best behavior!"

Ren just glared back at Stimpy. He knew that his "best behavior" would not be a good thing.

With five minutes to spare, the taxi pulled up in front of a huge skyscraper that said TUFF going down.

"This must be the place," Mordecai observed.

"No duh," Rigby grumbled, "Why else would the building say TUFF?"

"Right," Mordecai giggled a little.

"See you guys later," Said the driver as Rigby got out of the car on the left side, while Mordecai grabbed his backpack and followed him out. When they were out, the taxi sped away.

Mordecai and Rigby looked up at the huge tower, jaws dropped and eyes wide. It was amazing. They imagined what it would be like inside, and what it would be like to work here. At the same time though, their hearts sank. How could two slackers who did not even finish college get accepted here?

"Well, we're not going to get the job standing around here," Rigby finally said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, we can admire the place after we get the job," Mordecai followed his buddy in toward the front steps.

As they approached the front doors, suddenly the glass door swung open, and out walked two stick figures, one red and one blue.

"Well, I guess now we'll go back to our old jobs as camp counsilors," The blue one said cheerfully.

"Aw, do we have to?" The red one whined, "That job sucked!"

"Come on, man! you loved working there!"

"Okay, I guess I had a little fun. But summer's almost over. Kind of late to sign up again."

"Oh, right." The blue guy's head sank.

"Hey, uh, excuse me?" Mordecai walked up to the guys, "Is this the place for the new job interviews?"

"Huh? Yeah. This is the place," Said Blue. "Just follow the signs, you can't miss it."

"I'm guessing you guys didn't get the job?" Rigby asked.

"Yep," Red answered droopily, "The only reason they didn't take us is because WE'RE NOT ANIMALS! I mean what the hell! The nerve of those people! The website didn't say anything about needing to be an animal!"

"Yeah it did, dude." Blue snapped.

"Well, I didn't see it! It was too small."

"Well, anyway, good luck to you guys," Blue finally said as he walked down the stairs.

"Thanks," Mordecai called after him as Red followed him away. He turned back to Rigby. "Well, here we go. Ready dude?"

"Oh, yeah. I am so pumped for this!" Rigby was looking ahead into the doors.

Mordicai reached ahead and pushed the door open, and he and Rigby walked on inside. Once they were in, they were just as amazed by the inside as they were outside. All around them there were computers and TV monitors. And doors that led to several different rooms.

On a post in the middle of the room was a sign that said interviews this way and pointed ahead down a hallway. Mordecai and Rigby followed the hallway passed many more doors. Other animals were walking all over the place, some in lab coats, some in leather jackets, some dressed casually, some in hazard suits.

The boys soon came to a flight of stairs, and followed it up to the second floor. They continued following the signs to a large room that looked like a regular office building, with huge cluster of cubicles. Each cubicle had different people who were hard at work, doing either paperwork or computer work.

Finally, they came to a room closed off from the office room that looked like a typical waiting room, like one at the eye doctor. The room was completely empty, except for them. They had a seat in some chairs side by side.

Mordecai was sweating. "Dude, I think we should leave," He blurted out.

"What?" Rigby raised an eyebrow, "Why? Let's go in and get our interview! Why wouldn't you want to work here? Just look at this place! It's so cool!"

"Rigby, open your eyes! I have been looking over this place. We'll never pass the interview! There's no way we're qualified for this kind of stuff!"

"So what? You just want to back down now because we might not get accepted? Just because the odds are against us? Come on! The worst they can do is say 'no' and send us home. It's not the end of the world if we don't pass. And if we do pass, just think of what a new world it will open to us!"

"We're not getting in! Did you see the field agents and scientists who work here? We are nothing like them! There's no way they'll take us in!"

"Look, RJ went through all the trouble of setting us an interview here, and we went through the trouble of coming here! We've come this far and you want to back out now? No way! Not happening. We are going to get through this stupid interview, and we are going to do it together!"

Rigby's anxious, loud tone started to soften down a little. "Look, like I said, there's no harm if we fail here. I know we have failed a lot in the past at things, and I know it hurts to fail, but you can't quit on anything just because of that fear. It's when you give up like that that you truly fail. And if we fail, we fail together, and we'll just go looking for another job. So come on, Mordo, you with me?" Rigby held out his fist for Mordecai to bump it.

Mordecai was pretty moved by Rigby's speech. "Dude, this has got to be the strongest side of you I've ever seen." He was almost on the brink of tears.

"Oh, come on, don't start crying on me now!"

Mordecai held it in. "Of course I'm with you on this!" He bumped Rigby's fist.

"That's the spirit, dude!"

And before they could say anything else, the door in the front of the room swung open, and out stomped Ren and Stimpy. Ren looked really pissed, Stimpy was shaking and almost in tears.

"You, Idiot!" He snapped. "Everything was going perfectly! He almost took us in, and then you had to go and sneeze on him! And then try to wipe him clean with your sock!"

"Well, you didn't have to hit me with the lamp," Stimpy sniffled.

"Honestly, how I became friends with you, I'll never remember!"

The two walked out the back of the room where Mordecai and Rigby had entered. "Next!" shouted a nasally voice from the office room. Mordecai and Rigby looked around at first, seeing again there was no one in the room.

"I guess we're up," Mordecai squeaked. He was sweating like crazy now, and his eyes were wide.

"Okay man, just relax, take a deep breath. We'll get through this together." Rigby was trying to be the strong one here, but he was actually really nervous himself.

The boy sat up from their chairs, and walked on into the office. It was very nicely kept office, and sitting at a large wooden desk in front of them was an odd little mammal in a lab coat and glasses. Neither of them could tell what kind of creature he was.

"May we sit?" Mordecai asked awkwardly.

"Yeah, of course," He answered.

Mordecai and Rigby sat down at the two chairs that were there. They were pretty comfy.

"Allow me to introduce myself," The mammal continued, "I am TUFF's leading scientist, Pra-pra-pra-Professor Keswick. I will be interviewing you today."

"Hey, if you don't mind me asking," Rigby spoke up, "what kind of creature are you?"

Mordecai punched Rigby in the arm. "Dude, that's rude!"

Keswick glared at Rigby a little, apparently offended by the question. "To answer that q-q-q-question, I am a lab experiment that resulted in a successful hybrid of several different an-an-animals."

"Woah, that's pretty cool," Mordecai stated.

"What's with the way you talk too?" Rigby asked. "Why do you keep getting stuck on s-s-some of your words?"

Mordecai face-palmed himself. This is a disaster. The thought. There's no way we're getting this job.

"It is a speech impairment that I've had ever since my ch-ch-childhood," Keswick snapped, "Now will you please stop asking me such personal questions? I'm the one interviewing you!"

"Oh, I am sooo soo sorry," Rigby replied, trying to get Keswick to calm down.

Keswick glared down Rigby a little more before taking a deep breath. "Now, according to my paperwork, your names are Mordecai Feathers and Rigby M-M-Maskers, am I right?"

"Yep. That's us," Mordecai exclaimed.

"So, Rigby, you're RJ's cousin?"

"Mm-hm."

"Well, your cousin is the finest forensics specialist here, probably the best one TUFF's ever had."

"Yep, that's my cousin alright!"

"Now, I went over your resumes, and it says that you two were both groundskeepers before now, and before that, Mordecai, you were a cashier. You both f-f-finished high school, but you both dropped out of Brauch College."

"Well, yeah, that's all true," Mordecai admitted.

"Well, frankly, that's not a very impressive work history."

"Right..."

"Now tell me, do you have any experience with war, military, government agencies, or spies at all?"

"Well, when I was little, my parents sent me to military school one summer," said Rigby.

"Okay, I g-g-g-guess that counts for something." Keswick scribbled something on his clipboard. "Do you have any sort of special training for a job like this?"

"No, not really," Mordecai's eyes slid to the floor.

"Have you ever h-h-handled a firearm?"

"Do paint ball guns or laser tag count as firearms?" asked Rigby.

"No."

"Then no."

Keswick huffed again. "Do you two have any experience at all with fighting crime or the forces of evil?"

Suddenly, Mordecai's face lit up. "Well, crime, not really, but for the forces of evil, we have a lot of experience." And then Mordecai and Rigby told Keswick about all of their bizarre adventures that they had at the park, about their trip to the moon, how they battled a Satan head from a video game, about how they saved Skips from the mystical babies who guarded youth, about how they snuck into an astronaut complex during a lying contest (which Keswick counted as undercover work), saving the park from being overrun by hot dogs, their battle with the prank call master, how they journeyed to the dizzy underworld to rescue Pops, making it through the realm of Darthon, fighting Rigby's twisted evil self, Ygbir, fighting a zombie army and saving the people watching the movie (which Keswick really gave them credit for), and saving the stars of viral videos from the virtual prison.

"Wow, that's pretty impressive," Keswick said when they were done. "Sounds like you guys have a l-l-lot more experience than I thought. The only thing is some of that stuff I find hard to b-b-b-believe."

"Aw, dude, we're telling the truth on all of it!" Rigby whined, "I swear!"

Suddenly, jeopardy music started playing. "Oh, excuse me guys, that's my f-f-phone." Keswick took out his smart phone from his pocket. "I need to take this. I'll be right back. Wait here." He stood up from his seat, and left out the door in the back, leaving Mordecai and Rigby alone.

"How do you think we're doing?" Rigby asked.

"Dude, what were thinking before?" Mordecai snapped, "Asking him what kind of animal he is, and then about his speech impairment? What is wrong with you?"

"Yeah, I didn't think that through," Rigby moped. "Sorry about that."

"Well, anyway, he seems pretty impressed about some of the things we did at the park. We just might get this job yet!"

"You see? Still wish you had backed out before?"

"No way, dude!"

The door opened and Keswick came back in and sat down at the desk.

"Alright guys," He smiled, "Have I got a proposition for you! Now, on that call, I just received intel that Verminious Snaptrap, one of TUFF's g-g-g-greatest enemies, is plotting on creating an army of cheese monsters to take over Petropolis." He pushed a button on the desk, and a hologram appeared on it. It was a spinning model of a rat in a lab coat. That must have been Snaptrap, Mordecai thought.

"Wait, cheese monsters?" Mordecai raised an eyebrow, "What kind of stupid idea is that?"

"Yeah, this guy is kind of a crack pot. He comes up with the weirdest evil schemes sometimes. But, he's a villain none the less. Thing is a lot of his evil schemes are cheese-related. He's also the leader of a gang called the Diabolical Order of Mayhem, or DOOM." Keswick pushed another button, and the hologram brought up a model of a possum, a crocodile, and a ferret. They must have been Snaptraps subordinates, the other members of DOOM.

"Now, here's the deal guys," Keswick continued, "If you can foil Snaptrap's plan and b-b-bring him to justice, the job is yours."

"Oh, sweet!" Rigby exclaimed, "We get to go up against a super villain!"

"So, are you giving us any sort of back-up or gadgets or anything?"

"Nope. I'll give you the location of DOOM's most recent secret base, but other than that, you guys are on your own."

"Oh, okay..." Mordecai started sweating again.

"Don't worry. After everything you guys have been through this summer, I'm sh-sh-sure you can handle this!"

"No problem!" Rigby said confidently, "We'll have Snaptrap behind bars before you can say 'hasta la vista'!"

"Alright then. Go get him."

"Thank you so much, Professor Keswick." Mordecai held out his hand to shake Keswick's. Rigby did the same.

"I hope to s-s-see you guys around again," He said shaking their hands.

Mordecai and Rigby stood up headed out of the office, ready to go catch a crook.

"Wait, guys!" Keswick called after them. "I didn't give you DOOM's last known location!"

Author's Comment: And that concludes episode 3. Hope you enjoyed it.