The Adventure Of The Frogsloth, Entries 17 and 18

Dear Diary,

I blinked. What just happened?

"Well," Uncle Baron said,  "That was... unexpected."

"What are you doing here?" Lieutenant pointed the question at Uncle Baron.

"I told you, young sir, I have been on a long journey to capture the incredible creature known as the Frogsloth. Imagine my consternation when I learn that my niece has taken up my quest, and run off into the swamp with a Ninja-Masked ruffian!"

Lieutenant opened his mouth to protest (I imagine he was chafing at the 'young sir' bit), but Uncle Baron managed to cut him off with a glare.

"I - I took it up because -- " My mouth moved, but my stunned brain was still generally incoherent.

"Because you thought I had met my untimely end," Uncle Baron finished. "Well, I assure you, I am still alive and well. You are free to return and leave this unpleasant creature alone."

"But-- What?" He was telling me to leave? "Why?"

"I'm alive. You no longer need to fulfill the quest of the dearly departed." He seemed to smilingly brush aside my reasons for being here, and misinterpret my interest in his passion for the cryptid.

"But that's not-- I mean, it's part of why, but I'm here to find the Frogsloth, to see him too, to find - to - to-- " My jumbled brain gave up trying to form a sentence. "Sheesh...." My ears flattened.

"Um." My mind had just latched on to something he'd said earlier in the conversation. "Did you say 'capture'?"

(DXplorergirl)

Dear Diary,

"Did you say 'capture'?" Unpleasant creature?

What does he really think of the Frogsloth?

"Yes, of course I said capture. What did you think, he would be lured back by a large insect dragged on a string?" He seemed to find the suggestion amusing. He stuffed his paws into the pockets of his Lab Coat, half-smiling.

"But we can't do that," I said, my eyes wide.

"And why not?" He responded.

"Because he's got rights! He's a Jamaasian, like us!" I couldn't believe that no one else but me seemed to see that.

"Yes, he is," Uncle Baron replied, nodding noncommittally. "But some rights override personal rights. The right of scientific discovery, for instance."

I was surprised and puzzled.

"What scientific discovery?"

He leaned closer to me, his eyes intense. "He has amazing, intrinsic properties that could be simply invaluable to science!"

"Consider this," he said, motioning emphatically with his paws. "How many years have there been legends of the Frogsloth?"

"Many," I answered, thinking of the same ancient story, told in different ways. Frogsloth comes, Frogsloth does something bad, Frogsloth disappears. But some were different.

In some accounts, he was neutral, and even - rarely - the hero. But he always disappeared in the end....

"Yes," Uncle Baron broke my train of thought. "Many. There have been numerous accounts of the Frogsloth, all over Jamaa. These have been reported for centuries. Absolute centuries!"

"So?" I missed the point entirely.

"What I'm saying, my dear, is this." He was so close now, I could smell whatever he had for lunch on his breath. His scientific excitement was hard not to catch. "I'm saying Walter is immortal."

I was taken aback. And not for the reason you'd think.

"Wa-- ...No one ever told you his name." My eyes were giant, a funny shrinking feeling in my heart as it pounded, even faster than it was already going.

Suddenly I was certain of a greater whole to the story, and in that same adrenaline-filled instant, was struck with the inextinguishable desire to search until I knew it all. What's going on?

BANG

BANG

BANG!!

Walter's front door flew to the floor, knocked off its hinges with a force strong enough to fell an Elephant.

In fact, it was an Elephant who delivered the blow.

"Heh heh, nice goin', Horty," came a sharp, squeaky voice.  A Lemur stepped inside, followed by a Goat. A Falcon swooped in from above. All wore clothes and masks in a nondescript dark color.

"What the hay?" Lieutenant's eyes widened in terror. "RUN!" He tried to scuttle off.

Uncle Baron grabbed him by the scruff of the neck before he could smack into an Elegant Sofa. His face hardened as he looked at the only exit, now filled with a nameless, but certainly hostile enemy.

"Run where?"

(DXplorergirl)