Danielle suddenly found herself speeding through space surrounded by an unbelievable array of colors. She didn't know where she was exactly. A minute ago she had been inside Dr. Octavius's dingy little lab and she had humored him by stepping through a weird glowing door that was floating in the air. She hadn't really expected it to do anything in particular, but the second she walked through the door the walls, floor, and ceiling of the lab had all peeled away instantaneously and she felt the sensation of great speed, followed by the breathtaking display of color. Then as quickly as it had all began it came to an abrupt end and she found herself standing on a road made out of green bricks.

"Are you okay?"

She felt a friendly hand grab her arm gently and turned to see Sarah standing beside her. "I think so. What's going on? Where are we?"

"Welcome to Quarzwater City. The passage over here can be a little disorienting, especially if you've never done it before. But you should get your bearings in a couple of minutes. Although, it might take you a little while to get used to this place. It's a little different than where we came from."

As if to illustrate the point, a tortoise in an orange and yellow Hawaiian shirt came wandering by on its hind legs. "Pardon me, ladies," he said as he made his way past and went into a nearby building that looked like someone had haphazardly layered a bunch of blue and silver cement blocks on top of each other.

"Uh, what was that?" Danielle asked.

"Huh? Oh that was just some guy. Don't worry. You're going to see a lot of stranger things than that if you stick around here long."

"Ah, there you are," Dr. Octavius said as he emerged from behind a tree with long branches with hands on the end of them. "Is everybody here? Where's Maurice?"

"I'm right here, sir," a small chicken said from the vicinity of Dr. Octavius's feet.

"Oh yes. Now where is Pauline in Maurice's body?"

They all looked around. Sarah thought she saw someone who looked like Maurice disappear around a corner several blocks down the street.

"Oh dear. It looks like Pauline has wandered off. Well, I don't suppose we have any choice but to follow her. Come on."

They set off in the direction they had seen Maurice's body go. Danielle was trying to take in all of the strange sights, but it was proving to be a bit of sensory overload. She leaned her hand for a moment on top of what she took to be a fire hydrant, but it cursed at her and then stormed away in the other direction down the street, all the while complaining about the rudeness of tourists.

Sarah couldn't help but notice a large group of wildebeests that were standing on a corner by a liquor shop and giving them what could only be described as the stink eye. "Say, where exactly are we?"

Dr. Octavius let out a little sigh. "As much as I've studied that door, and indeed all the other various doors we've encountered in our travels, I still don't completely understand how they work. I know that door always goes to Quartzwater City, but it never seems to take you to exactly the same part of town. By the looks of the general rundown condition of this neighborhood and the less than savory characters who are inhabiting it, I'd venture we're somewhere in the southeastern quadrant."

Danielle was so busy looking around her that she tripped right over something in front of her and sprawled to the ground.

"Hey, watch where you're going, lady! And who are you people calling unsavory?"

Danielle's jaw dropped open as what looked like some sort of frog man stood up and shook an oversized magnifying glass at her.

"Max?" Sarah asked. "What are you doing here? And why were you on your hands and knees on the ground?"

"What am I doing here? Uh, nothing. That is, I mean, I'm obviously in the middle of a very important investigation and I can't have you messing it up. So why don't you scram? Oh, hey Doc. How's things hanging? Who's the chicken and the nerdy looking broad who can't look where she's going?"

"It's me, Maurice," the chicken said.

"Say what? Have you gone on a diet or something? You're looking much better than the last time I saw you."

"This is our new friend Danielle," Sarah said. "She's looking for a boy."

"Yeah?" He studied her up and down. "I'm sorry, honey, but it would definitely take a few drinks before I'd look twice at you. Between you and me, you really ought to lose the glasses and do something about your hair. Sarah, can't you use your womanly powers to give this chick a makeover or something?"

"Well, that's rude," Danielle said. "You're not so great looking yourself, Mr. Frog."

"First of all I'm a toad and the name's Max, not Mr. Frog. Also, I'll have you know I'm a genuine ladykiller. Seriously, they tried to throw me in jail for murdering some chick, but they couldn't prove anything."

"Are you serious?" Sarah asked. "Did you get away with killing some poor woman? You monster."

"Relax, I'm just kidding. I've never killed anyone on purpose. I am a master of the seductive arts, though. I'm still calling you a five drink minimum before I'd take a crack at you, Daniel. Sarah, on the other hand. Have you ditched that loser Maurice yet or what?"

"I'm right here, Max," the chicken said.

"Oh yeah, I forgot. Sorry about that. Nothing personal. Sarah and I just like to kid around, isn't that right?"

"He likes to kid around," Sarah said. "Although none of his jokes are particularly funny. I tolerate him because every once in a blue moon he actually proves useful."

"Aha!" Max said. "You're forgetting. One of our three moons is blue, therefore you're saying I'm useful all the time. Score one for Max!"

"Is he always this annoying?" Danielle asked.

"Yeah, pretty much," Sarah said with a shrug.

"I hate to rush things along," Dr. Octavius said. "But we really do need to find Maurice. Perhaps you could assist us, Max?"

"Uh, Doc, I hate to break it to you, but haven't we already been over this a couple times? He's right here."

"I mean we need to find Pauline in Maurice's body. Oh dear, this is getting confusing. For the time being, why don't we call you Maurice and your body Pauline? So I guess what I really meant to say is we need to find Pauline. Will you lend us a hand, Max?"

"Gee, Doc, I'd really love to. But as I said I'm right in the middle of an important investigation."

"One that involves staring at the ground in the middle of one of the sketchiest neighborhoods in town?" Sarah asked. "I wouldn't stick around here much longer if I were you. That gang of wildebeests is staring at us and they look as if they're looking for trouble."

"Yeah? That's because you guys are attracting their attention. I was perfectly inconspicuous before you all came along."

"Studying the road is inconspicuous?" Sarah asked. "What the hell are you really doing, Max?"

"All right, all right I'll tell you. Just keep quiet. I don't want anyone to overhear and possibly lose the advantage I've gained due to my keen intellectual insight."

"What advantage? What in the world are you talking about?"

"You've heard about that crazy old rich guy named Billingsworth who died recently, right?"

"No," Sarah said.

"Oh, for crying out loud. What, you can't be bothered to pay attention to current events when you're not here? So yeah, this guy kicked the bucket and he was loaded. I mean we're talking billions if not trillions of canisters of floss here, you dig? The best part is he never married or had any kids. So there are no heirs to his fortune. And get this, the old bat decided to set up a treasure hunt of some sort. Whoever can figure out the clues he left behind first gets all the floss. This is my ticket to an early retirement!"

"That's interesting," Sarah said. "It still doesn't explain what you're doing here."

"I'm here because I believe I've solved the first clue. It's all anybody's been talking about since grampa billionaire croaked, but nobody's solved it yet. You might not believe this, but I was really, really drunk in a bar the other night."

"Oh, I believe that," Sarah said.

"Anyway, I was talking to some of the other patrons about what kind of shape makes for the best frisbee. Or arguing, perhaps, would be a better word. Anyway, the discussion got kind of animated and I worked up quite a thirst, and I wanted a stiff drink. Well, it turns out that bunch of boozehounds had practically drank that establishment dry. All they had left was gin, which of course, I went ahead and drank. But then it hit me. Gin street."

"I'm afraid I'm not following you here."

"Oh, yeah, you haven't been around. You don't know about the clue. It was a poem. He just released it to the public when he died. It said:

The beginning begin street.

Under brick under feet.

Nobody could figure out what the fuck the crazy old coot was talking about. But then I realized as I sipped at my sweet, sweet gin. The beginning be Gin Street. As in the street we're currently on. It's made out of bricks. Clearly the next clue is hidden under one of them. Unfortunately there are a damn lot of bricks on this street and it's taking me awhile to check them all out. Want to help? I'll cut you in on the reward. Say a 90/10 split in my favor?"

"That sounds great, but I promised my uncle I'd help him find Pauline, who happens to be in my fiancee's body at the moment, which is also kind of important for me to recover. Plus he looks like he's getting a little impatient."

"You kids can stay and chat, if you'd like, but I really must recover Pauline," Dr. Octavius said. "I need to make sure my mind swapping experiment was a success."

"I can pretty much vouch that it was, sir," Maurice said.

"All right, we're coming with you," Sarah said. "Have fun looking for your clue, Max."

"Uh, if you don't mind I think I'll join you for now. Those wildebeests look like they're working themselves into quite an angry state and they keep pointing at us. It might be best if I didn't hang around here. Also, Gin Street is a really long street. Maybe the clue is further down."