The crack of dawn was approaching. Anne and I decided to watch the sun rise. "Guys, guys, guys!" "Coffee first, Sprig later." I groaned. Anne and I finished our drinks and let him speak. "Guys, guys, guys, look what I found!" Sprig exclaimed as he showed us a beautiful blue shell. "A blue moon shell!" "Looks pretty." Anne commented. I took a picture of the shell with my phone. "Yup, and you know who's gonna love it?" Sprig asked. "Ivy, tomorrow's her birthday, and this is the perfect gift." "Aww, that's so cute." I replied. "Morning, kids, time to start the chores." Hop Pop greeted. "Whoa, is that a blue moon shell?" He gazed at the shell in amazement. "You know some frogs die never having seen one." "Ha, suckers." Polly joked. "Anyway, enough dilly-dallying, chore time!" Hop Pop exclaimed. "Bessie's waste isn't gonna shovel itself." "Well, don't wanna get this thing dirty." Sprig said as he placed the shell on the fence. "You're just gonna leave that there?" I asked. "Someone's going to steal it!" "No they won't, this is Wartwood, Rowena, not some den of thieves." Sprig explains. "You could at least cover it up or something." Anne suggested. "I will do no such thing!" Sprig snapped. "I trust my community, and frankly, guys, I pity you for not trusting yours." "Kids, get your butts over here!" Hop Pop called as we each put on a hazmat mask.

After we finished our chores, Sprig took us over to the fence to grab the shell. "Glad that's over with." I sighed. "Welp, I'm scarred for life." Anne said. "Yup, but nevermind that, look, the blue moon shell, right where I left it." Sprig replied, but the shell was gone. "The shell, the shell's not here, I've been robbed!" "Well, I don't wanna tell you, "I told you so."" Anne smiled. "Ivy's birthday is tomorrow, and I've got nothing!" Sprig sobs. "Maybe we can track this thief down." I suggested. "Quick, look for clues." I examine the area around me and find a string by the fence. "What do we have here?" Anne asked. "That's just waxed yarn, they sell it at the Grub and Go." Sprig explains. "Well, then let's grub and go there to catch our thief." Anne joked. "Finally, hundreds of hours of watching trash cop shows is gonna pay off." "Cop what?" Sprig asked. "You know, a cop, Po-po, Five-O, doughnut munchers?" I asked. Sprig was still confused, so Anne showed him a little bit of a cop show. "Whoa, I'm into this!" Sprig exclaimed. "Who wouldn't be?" I asked. "Now let's go catch that thief."

We started at the Grub and Go for our investigation. For some reason, Anne and Sprig were wearing fake mustaches. "Here's how it's gonna go, me and Rowena are the good cops, so we'll butter them up and make them lower their guard." Anne explains. "Then you come in as the bad cop and get the confession." I added. "Got it." Sprig said as me and Anne walked in and up to the register. "Hey buddy, nice little place you got here." I complimented the cashier. "Business good?" I asked. "Actually, we're kinda having a rough season." The cashier replied. "We're here about a shell that got misplaced." I explained as Anne showed the cashier a file with photos of shells. "Couldn't say, I see a lot of shells." The cashier said. I signaled Sprig his queue to be the bad cop. "Your hair looks incredible." Sprig grunted. "Thanks, I use product." The cashier replied. "Sergeant, could we speak with you for a moment?" Anne asked after hitting her face with her hand. "Sprig, that wasn't bad cop, that was a sad cop, you gotta get mad, man!" "Yeah, I'm not generally a mad kid, guys." Sprig explains. "You have to dig deep, dude." I said. "Think about what that thief took from you, your shell, your gift, your future with Ivy, the frog of your dreams!" Sprig got more angry the more I mentioned Ivy's gift. Sprig hopped over to the cashier. "Hey you little noodle!" Sprig snapped. "This blue shell, you seen it?" "Yes, yes, I remember now!" The cashier confessed. "Out there, late morning." "Great, now who buys this string?" Sprig grunted. "No one except the baker, really." The cashier replied. "The baker, huh, you have a nice day, sir." Anne said as she bought a pack of doughnuts.

We walked over to the bakery later that day. "Alright, same drill, good cop, bad cop time." I explained as we walked in the bakery to see Mr Flour, Maddie's dad, rolling some dough. "Well, howdy there, baker, nice pile of bricks you got here." Anne said. "Listen I wanted to ask you..." "Where's my shell?" Sprig interrupted as he started hitting Mr Flour in the face. "Whoa, dude, what are you doing?" I asked. "Shell, what shell?" Mr Flour asked. "This string was found at the scene of the crime, and only you use it." Sprig explains. "Talk!" "I wrap my buguettes in that." Mr Flour said. "So, whoever bought a loaf is a suspect.." Anne said. Mr Flour nodded as Sprig slapped him in the face. "I want names, you worm!" Sprig exclaimed. But he wouldn't say anything. Sprig sees his favorite apron on the wall. "Your favorite apron, huh, sure would be a shame if something happened to it." Mr Flour gave us the list of customers. "Sorry, he's kinda new to all of this." I apologized.

We walked outside of the bakery to see Sprig snacking on stuff. "So... that was a little too much bad cop." Anne explains. "Well, we got results, didn't we?" Sprig asked. "Well, yeah, but..." I replied. "Then let's stop wasting time and find who stole my shell already!" Sprig snapped.

We went all over Wartwood and found nothing. At this point, Sprig has been transformed into a full bad cop. "Look, we're glad you're being more cautious, but I think this whole thing has gotten a little extreme." Anne explains. "Justice is extreme, Anne!" Sprig exclaimed. "Besides, we only have one name left on the list, which means we got our guy." I took the list from Sprig and took a closer look. "Gunther, who's that?" I asked. "He just moved to Wartwood, lives out in the woods." Sprig explains. "Seemed nice, a little too nice."

Sprig took us to Gunther's house in the woods to end our investigation. Anne and I were getting the creeps out there. "Yeah, Sprig, I don't think we should..." I said as he ran off. "Sprig!" He ignored me. "Gunther, open up!" Sprig snapped. "Sprig!" Anne yelled. "C'mon, help me break the door down." Sprig ordered as we tried to stop him, but he ended up hitting Gunther's door. After that, Gunther opened the door for us, Sprig was right, he did look like a nice guy. "Oh, can I help you, children?" Gunther asked. "We'll be the ones asking questions." Sprig replied. "Hey, we're just a couple of curious kiddos knocking on doors and saying hello." Anne lied. "Well isn't that nice." Gunther said. Anne and I nodded. "Just wondering, what brings you here to Wartwood?" I asked. "Well, I'm from down South, but I had to leave due to an unfortunate misunderstanding." Gunther explains. "Oh, was it because you're a criminal?" Sprig asked. "Excuse me?" He asked. "Don't play dumb with us, we know the shell's in here somewhere." Sprig said as he started to destroy Gunther's stuff. "Get out of my house!" He grumbled as he started to change colors. "Uh, Sprig, why is he changing colors?" Anne asked. "I don't know, the only frogs that can do that are southern tusk frogs." Sprig replied. "But Gunther doesn't have any tusks." At that moment, Gunther grew tusks. "Oh, there they are." "I kill you!" Gunther yelled. "Run!" I shouted as we ran for our lives. "We gotta hide somewhere!" Sprig shouted as he started knocking on Stumpy's door, begging to let us in. "We're being chased!" Sprig exclaimed. "There's a big monster!" Anne shouted. "This monster is gonna cause so much frog abuse!" I added. "He's gonna kill us!" We cried. "You think I'm gonna let you in here after you called me a thief?" Stumpy asked. "Maybe." Sprig replied. Stumpy slammed the door and Gunther was right behind us.

We asked many people for help, but they all refused. "Anne, Rowena, I think I did too much bad cop." Sprig confessed. "You think?" We shouted in unison. "Then maybe it's time this bad cop goes good." Sprig said as he removed his fake mustache. "Gunther, wait, I shouldn't have accused you like that, I don't really know you and you've never given me any reason not to trust you, I guess I just hopped to conclusions." Sprig gives Gunther the rest of the doughnuts as a housewarming gift as he returned to normal. "Thank you child." Gunther thanked. "Rage problems, you know how it is." "Well, hey, I promise I won't judge you anymore." Sprig said. "Yeah, dude, sorry about that." Anne apologized. "Me too." I added.

We got back to the farm after running from Gunther again since Sprig gave him a licorice flavored doughnut. "Man, that guy was hard to lose." Anne sighed. "I don't believe this, we went through all that and we still haven't found the..." Sprig spotted the shell at the front door. "Shell!" "Hey, Sprig." A familiar voice greeted Sprig. It was Ivy. "Ivy?" Sprig asked. "I came by earlier, but I couldn't find you, but I did find this sweet blue moon shell." Ivy explains. "And you, took it?" Sprig asked. "Yeah, it was a little dirty, but I took it home and polished it up." Ivy said and gave it back to Sprig. "Uh, thanks." Sprig replied. "Go get her." I whispered. "Oh, right." Sprig said. "Happy early Birthday, Ivy!" "Wow, thanks, Sprig." Ivy thanked. "But I kinda like it here, when I see it sparkle, I know I'm getting closer to your place." "Aww." Anne and I squealed. "Cut it out." Sprig whispered. "Well, see you dorks later." Ivy said as she left. "See ya, Ivy." I waved. "Well, looks like we found our thief." "Yes, Rowena, but she didn't just steal the shell, she stole my heart." Sprig blushed.