Four hours. It had been four hours since the five had departed from the garage and set off on their journey to rescue the can from the clutches of the dump. Granted the trip probably would've taken less time, but they ran into two issues, and the first one occurred when the hedgies had gotten about thirty minutes away from home.

"I need the bathroom."

This, in retrospect, shouldn't have come to a surprise at all. Hammy was the one who drank more than any of them. However, this came at a really bad time, as they were about to take what RJ called "the fast route".

"Can it wait, Hamster?" RJ asked, even though he knew the answer. Sure enough, Hammy would shake his head, and that resulted in RJ pulling over to let the squirrel do his business. Hammy would speed off, leaving the remaining four alone.

"So, uh…those sports, right?" RJ asked. Clearly while making a speech was his strong suit, making basic conversation wasn't.

"What about them?" Heather asked, clearly a bit too eagerly, which Stella quickly picked up on. Come to think of it, Stella had been noticing how close Heather was to RJ. Like she would almost constantly be at his side whenever she wasn't with her dad, and this time was no exception. Not only that, but she also seemed a bit too eager to try and impress him, even when it came at a cost.

Either she just really liked him as a friend, or something more.

Stella eventually snapped out of her thoughts to hear Verne had joined their conversation and were now discussing whether football should be called football or soccer. RJ and Heather were on the soccer side, while Verne called it football. Stella didn't really care whether they called it soccer or the incorrect term, she had a conversation to have.

"Heather, mind if we have just a private chat, just the two of us?" Stella asked in that classic "we really need to talk now" way. Heather of course understood the tone, and would follow Stella out of the car, leaving the raccoon and the turtle to continue their conversation. As soon as the two were far enough away, that being behind a gas station building, Stella would ask what was on her mind.

"What's the deal with you and RJ?"

The opossum gave Stella a quizzical look in response, or as close to as quizzical as one could get. Stella was either really good at reading facial expressions, or Heather was really bad with a poker face. Considering she was also fooled by RJ despite a lot of signs back then, she was willing to go with the latter.

"What do you mean?" Heather asked. "We're just friends, nothing more."

"Is it really nothing more?" Stella replied. "You're almost glued to his side constantly, just as much as Hammy."

"Yeah, because we're friends, what's wrong with that?" Heather asked.

"I'm not saying anything is wrong, I'm just thinking either you're just really excited to interact with him, which is all good…" Stella replied, before her tone suddenly shifted to something more serious. "Or…"

Stella would lean towards Heather in order to whisper into the more unnerved opossum's ear.

"You have a big crush on him."

Stella would lean back away from her and watched in almost sadistic glee as Heather looked away, twiddling her digits nervously, which Stella noted was far more often when she got near RJ, and started to slightly rock back and forth.

"Okay, yeah, I do like him in that way, but I don't know how to tell him." Heather replied. "Please don't tell, I've been trying to keep it a secret, I don't want to lose this…"

"Heather, I won't tell, don't worry, we'll keep it between us." Stella spoke.

"Keep what between yourselves?"

Heather and Stella would jump once they heard the voice, and turned to see Verne standing there, looking very, very concerned. "Where's the raccoon?" Stella asked. "Hammy hasn't come back yet, so RJ went to look for him."

"I guess it's about time he learned about Hammy's habit of taking super long." Stella spoke. "I just hope we can get to that junkyard in time before the timer goes off, we don't need to have bathroom breaks slow us down."

"Speaking of which, do any of us remember where the address even is?" Verne asked, and that prompted Stella and Heather to look at each other quizzically. That look pretty much confirmed Verne's worst fears aside from losing the family. Verne pretty much had the expression of exasperation on his face, while Stella looked unamused, and Heather was looking at something else.

"So, how do we even know where we're going?"

"The raccoon will figure it out, otherwise I'll make sure to gas him if we're going the wrong way."

"Stella, we're going through so much effort for a can, why can't you all just ask for a can, he's got a million of them, wouldn't that be easier?"

"It's the thrill of competition Verne, and I don't know about you, but you're the one who's still going along with it!"

"It's just to keep you all safe!"

"What's going on?"

Stella and Verne would stop their argument as RJ and Hammy joined the two. Looks like Hammy finally managed to finish up his bathroom break. "Nothin' now, Hammy, you done?" Stella asked.

"All done!" Hammy quickly replied with his trademark cheerful voice. "I went in the lake, and RJ asked if I was dealing with something called kidney stones, I don't know what they are, but they sound delicious."

"Hamilton, I can assure you that they're not delicious whatsoever." RJ replied. "How would you know?" Stella asked.

"Let's just say those also come out a wazoo, a different type however." It was at this point that Verne chimed in. "Hey, sorry to interrupt this conversation, but what's the address to the junkyard?"

"That's easy, it's Harrison Junkyard."

"Not the name of the junkyard, the address, we kind of need that." Verne spoke. RJ opened his mouth to respond, but paused. "Uh…we should've written that down."

"So, we were going the wrong way this whole time?" Stella asked.

"Stella, relax, it's nothing a bit of recon can't fix." RJ replied, placing a hand on her shoulder. Stella would immediately bump it off.

"Yeah, because we're getting all the recon needed by hanging out near a gas station, we don't even know where we're going!" Stella exclaimed. "I swear, I should gas you right-"

Right before Stella finished that threat, a loud blaring alarm sounded out, causing the four to cover their ears in agony. It sounded somewhat like a car alarm, and as RJ's ears somewhat adjusted to it, he swore he could hear a baby crying. He didn't get long to understand the source, as Heather came dashing out from behind a corner, holding something.

"The heist is back on, let's go!" Heather shouted. The rest of the animals didn't move however, due to the alarm going off. "Oh, right." Heather mumbled, before heading over to them and repeating what she said.

"What did you even grab?" Verne asked. "GPS device, now we can get the address!" Heather replied. "Heather, once more you save our bacon!" RJ exclaimed, and Heather's ears would flatten a bit, and Stella noticed how Heather's tail curled a bit.

Yup, she was head over heels for him.

"Hang on everyone, the heist continues once more!"

"This is taking forever!"

The trip to the bathroom was one thing, but after realizing that maybe taking the freeway wasn't the best option, the gang were stuck going off road, dealing with a very bumpy ride. As for how they realized the freeway wasn't the best option?

Well, simply following the directions and seeing where the road and the freeway met, they realized it would only result in them being roadkill. It was also a new location that Verne was now adding to the list of areas to stay away from, and Verne was more than relieved when RJ immediately said that they would be avoiding that place from now on.

In the end, a trip from the suburbs to the junkyard that would've taken less than maybe two hours took double that time, and needless to say, the gang were far from amused. The clock was still ticking down, and the current record holder was a garbage man who wasn't even aware of the game being played. He wasn't going to win the game since, well, he wasn't in the game, but it was certainly bitter for a lot of the more competitive hedgies, especially Stella.

"I swear, those Spuddies be better than anything I've had before, otherwise, I'm gassing you so bad that-"

"That even my grandkids will stink, I know." RJ cut off Stella, which was clearly not a good idea, but thankfully Stella was more focused on the competition than anything else. "How much longer til' we get there anyways?"

"According to the GPS Heather managed to gracefully steal-"

"By steal you mean she just smashed a window with a rock and took off with it, leaving a blaring alarm and a crying human…" Verne spoke up, resulting in Heather giving him a look.

"I didn't know there was a baby in there." Heather replied. "Yeah, and the windows weren't open as well, terrible mother." RJ chimed in. "Honestly, Heather did a good thing." Cue Heather once more getting flustered.

"What if we get tailed?" Verne asked, and once he said that RJ would immediately pull the RC car over, so everyone, not just RJ, could just give him this look of disbelief. Verne on the other hand just looked confused.

"What?"

"Are you seriously implying that a baby whose only vocal functions are da-da and screaming at the top of its lungs is going to tell its neglectful mother that they were robbed by a raccoon, an opossum, a squirrel, a skunk, and an amphibian?" RJ asked.

"Reptile, and I didn't rob anyone!" Verne exclaimed.

"Guilty by association Verne, tell it to the courts." RJ replied. "We don't even have a court system in place." Verne spoke.

"Well, when we get back, we'll set one up if it makes you feel better."

"That doesn't."

"Can we go now, please?" Stella piped up.

"I have to use the bathroom again." Hammy spoke.

"Okay, new plan everyone!" RJ shouted, which caught the group heavily off-guard. RJ almost never shouted, especially when he got annoyed. Granted he followed this up by immediately putting his trademark grin back on, but it didn't stop the unsettled looks from everyone.

"Listen, here's the plan, we're going to head to the junkyard, get the can, get out, get back to the hedge, and any time remaining, we're not leaving the hedge, got it?" RJ asked. Everyone was quiet for a good moment. Again, it was rare for RJ to lose his temper, so it took a moment for the silence to be broken. That silence was eventually broken by Stella.

"So pretty much what we're doing right now?"

That was all RJ needed to hear before he decided to step on the gas and send the car speeding off towards their destination.

It's another part of the heist, and RJ has pretty much started to lose his patience a bit, Heather has a crush on RJ which isn't a surprise, Hammy has bladder problems, and now they have committed several more felonies.

Such is the life of the hedgies.

Anyways, I'll see you next time!