Escape of the Goldfish: Part Two: The Packbat Strikes Back!

I wondered where the goldfish had gone all night. Unfortunately, it was only the middle of the morning when I found out, and about two o'clock when Lyra and Skye found out. That morning I had the Critter Guard to go to. You might have guessed we check Packbat's activity to make sure he doesn't harm Calico Village. On our mission that day, even getting to the stream we wanted to investigate took longer than usual. Shane and Sabrina were in a quarrel. I wasn't even entirely sure what the quarrel was. Something about white-out and a lot of name-calling, particularly "Packbat-brain."

Nothing seemed unusual about the river we investigated. What was interesting was a haystack about fifty feet away from the river. Sabrina went off while the rest of us investigated the pile. Under the hay, there was a pile of goldfish! Sabrina came back with Lyra's bag, empty.

Just then, we heard a thumping noise. Shane and Sabrina jumped into the river and swam up a little way. Dominic quickly climbed up a nearby pine tree. I pulled Patrick into the goldfish pile.

"More goldfish, Mr. Fishbrain," said Gatorpossum.

"The name's Packbat! Now we can lure the babies to us. Good thing we stopped Critter Guard by putting whiteout on Shane's telescope and pebbles in Leyla's shoes and a few other things."

So apparently, Packbat was trying to get us in a quarrel, a scheme which fortunately hadn't succeeded. Shane and Sabrina, though, were already gone home.

At around noontime, I was home. I was very dirty and had to take a bath. Apparently we had issues with the bathtub, so I didn't get to see Lyra and Skye until about two in the afternoon. When I did see them, it was with Sabrina. I had explained how Packbat had tried to stop her and Shane from coming to Critter Guard by putting her and Shane in a quarrel.

When we found them, Lyra and Skye were putting on perfume, and must not have been doing it well, because the room smelled extremely fragrant. We explained the story to them.

"We'd better get the goldfish back, before Packbat's plan succeeds," said Skye. "We'll find the Critter Guard and haul the goldfish back."

Our first stop was for Shane. He was supposed to be delivering pizza, but was talking with Aidan instead. We explained the story to him.

"I can get the rest of the Critter Guard up easily," he said. It was true, he could. Just as Critter Guard was summoned up for a meeting, it began to rain.

"The goldfish!" cried Patrick. "We have to rescue them now!"

To be continued...