It's been a busy few days.

Avery delivered some candy bars to Mole, and the smile on his face warmed her heart to see. Fat Cat himself was still locked up in his own safe, though now it was because he was having trouble explaining to Mepps which way he should be turning the key...

Cases have been slow. On the bright side, this means that Buck's new plane has been progressing well... it's almost complete, and the beige upholstered interior looks very neat. Avery has been working hard on positive publicity, and word of mouth about the Rodent Rangers is spreading... slowly, but it's spreading.

But today there are no cases. Today is a day off, a day to relax.

A day on the beach. Sun, sand, and surf. Sunscreen and umbrellas. And a small spit of sand on an otherwise rocky beach is perfect for the Rangers while being free of humans. What more could one want?

Beach, huh? Ok, well, seeing as how Kangaroo rats are a desert species, this oughta be interesting. Hex has seen the ocean, but the thought of that much water makes him somewhat uneasy.
Still, if everyone else is going, he’ll put in the effort to gather some normal beach attire, a set of swimming trunks, a (relatively) large beach towel, sunglasses, etc. He’ll also be bringing along a few of his toys, the juggling balls, at least one of his brand new throwing knives, a thimble and plastic spoon shovel for making sand castles, etc.
Oh, and don’t forget the beach umbrellas and a cooler of refreshments. (OOG: I’m sure we can come up with a package of drink umbrellas from somewhere.The cooler should be simple enough to carve out of a block of Styrofoam if need be. Not quite sure about the drinks, do they make mouse sized cans? )
Stuffing all but one of the knives into a bag, stacking the bag on the cooler, and hefting an umbrella over his should and he’s ready to go. (OOG: The extra knife, incidentally, will be hidden and carried with him at all times. You never know when some mangy cat might decide to cause trouble.)
Once we’re at the beach, Hex sets up his stuff next to the group, but as far from the water as possible. He plunks down the umbrella, tilting it to provide maximum cover from the sun, and places the cooler and his towel in the shade. He’ll then scoot a short distance to the right of the group and begin digging up sand into a pile to make into a sand sculpture/castle.

Buck starts tinkering around as soon as he hears about the trip. By the time it rolls around, he has a fairly impressive amount of equipment piled up*. In addition to this mountain of stuff, he adds the usual beach gear, as well as a box of tools so he can keep tinkering at the beach if he gets bord.


* This is in accordance with Bucks "Load for Bear" rule: "Always pack as if you had to fight a bear once you get there."

Kip has a towel, his whip and a pair of shorts. Usually, he finds himself either in dense cities, or wilderness. The almost sculpted beauty of the beach and ocean is a nice change. Maybe someday he'll have to take a boat trip . . .

Once they arrive, Kip is off running for the ocean, walking along the edge, checking out the tidal pools and generally exploring the new area. He'll break off every so often and try to get Hex to check out his cool finds.

They do not make mouse sized cans. Fortunately, however, the smallest thermos on the market is both small enough for a rodent to carry and big enough to hold a whole day worth of colddrink.

Hex makes a simple thimble sandcastle, while Buck staggers in under a load of equipment big enough that he can probably seriously annoy a bear by dropping it on the bear's toe. Fortunately, there are no bear toes about.

Kip finds a sea anenome, a snoring starfish, and a hermit crab wearing, of all things, a discarded sardine tin. He appears to be leading a group of crabs, similarly arrayed in litter instead of their usual seashells.

OOG: Huh, what...? This is Hex we're talking about. He doesn't do simple, at leat not when it comes to sand castles. =)

Hex is busy attempting to replicate the Hagia Sophia in sand, and the occasional sea shell. (Of course, considering he's never actually seen it, it's probably missing some minor details.) =)

Avery applies sunscreen to her ears, nose, tail, and paws, then brushes some hydrogen peroxide into her fur (gotta keep that white fur sparkling!) and sunbathes happily.

Avery lies back, sunglasses balanced on her nose to cut back on the glare.

Hex's thimble sandcastle turns out to merely be the foundation for a sand extravaganza. He soon runs into a problem, though - there are no seashells in sight. Why, even the hermit crabs are wearing sardine tins and other litter instead of shells.

Making his way back to the party, Kip sits on his haunches next to the sand castle Hex is making.

"I just saw the weirdest thing. A crab wearing a sardine can leading a whole group of crabs wearing cans. Is that normal around here?"

Avery sits up and frowns. "I'm not as familiar with crab fashions as I am with rodent fashions, but that sounds odd to me. Maybe it's a protest of some kind?"

The crabs work their way up the beach towards the Rangers. One of them picks up the thimble Hex had used to start his castle. "You're not using this anymore, are you?" asks the crab.

Hex considers the crab for a moment, "No, no, I can manage fine without it, but isn't it just a tad on the small side for you? I notice your companions have taken to manufactured goods as well. Has something happened to make your traditional sea shells undesirable? "

"Thank you." says the crab, putting the thimble to use as a hat (to go with the sardine can he's wearing).

"Not undesirable." adds a second crab. "Unavailable."

"You don't think we dress like this out of choice, do you?" asks the first crab, crabbily. "We woke up this morning and there wasn't a shell on the beach!"

"All of them? I thought new shells came in every day with the tide."

Kip frowns as he looks up and down the beach.

"I didn't see any on my walk, but I've never been to a beach like this before."

"Yes, it is rather odd not to have any shells on the beach." Hex agrees with Kip.
Turning back to the crabs, "What about your previous shells? Could you tell us how you lost them? My friend here," Hex says with a friendly poke at Kip, "is an able investigator, perhaps he can discern some clue as to the disposition of your shells if we compare your stories."