Chapter 5.

The sun rose as Shifty, Sniffles and Cub started to wake up. "Okay, I'm gonna find out if Lifty's back to life, yet. Then, we can go find the last note." Shifty said as he picked up his cell phone and called the hospital number. "Lifty, are you there?"..."Oh, good, come to the woods and you should be able to see Sniffles, Cub and me."..."Get some food and a compass while you're still in the hospital."..."We'll see you, then."..."Bye." As Shifty said his goodbyes and hung up his cell phone, the three waited for Lifty to appear where they're at.

"Hey, guys! I brought food and a compass, like you told me to! When did Sniffles join along?" the raccoon with the fedora asked as he handed Shifty the bag with the goods in it. "Well, it was him and Nutty, but I guess Nutty went home and gave up." Shifty lied, not wanting to think about what happened to the green squirrel last night. "Anyways, let's go find that last note and find that missing father of Cub's." "Wait, who's Cub?" Lifty asked, confused about who Cub was. "This is Cub. You may not know that because you weren't here last night. Here's the three notes that one of them lead us to here." Shifty told him as he gave him the three notes for the hatted raccoon to read. "We should be going, now." the hatless raccoon told Lifty as he was reading the third note that they had. "Yeah, let's go." Then, the two raccoons, anteater and baby bear went to find the final note.

As they were searching for the fourth and final note, Sniffles was telling everyone a really bad joke, "What do you call a fish with no eyes?...A 'fsh'!" He was laughing at the bad joke and then suddenly, everyone stops and sees the final note hanging on a tree. "What's the hold up?" He asks as everyine else was just standing there. "How in the nutjobs are we supposed to get that note? It's too high for any of us to reach it?" "Why don't you we use our flying abilities to magically fly up there and get it? Sounds like a good idea, doesn't it?" Sniffles asks, trying to sound as smart as he can. Knowing Sniffles, he would think like that. "Or, I can get on top of you. Then Sniffles can get on top of me. Then, wait, maybe one of us should be on the top." Lifty thought out loud. Shifty thought about it for a few seconds and said, "That's actually not a bad idea. Good thinking, Lifty."

As they were doing exactly what Lifty said, Cub was just sitting there acting like any other baby would. "How long do we have to stand like this?" Sniffles, who was on top of Shifty, asked in complaint while Lifty, who was on top of him, reaches for the final note. "Until...I...get...the note. Got it!" As soon as he said that, the three fell on the ground, relieved that they don't have to stand on top of each other like that any longer. "What does it say?" Shifty asked. Lifty, then, says, "It says this." He showed him what the note said:

You're doing a 'splendid' job at this game! Congratulations! Come over to celebrate. Your award awaits you.

"What does that even mean? It doesn't even rhyme." Shifty said out of confusion. "Yeah, and where are we supposed to go?" Lifty asked, confused about the note as well. "Maybe there's somebody named 'Splendid' out here somewhere that wants to give us a reward!" Sniffles told the two. Shockingly, Sniffles might be right. "That actually makes sense. Let's go find Splendid then." Shifty said as the four went out to find Splendid.

"Now, then. Pop, isn't it? If you wanna see your son again, then why don't you just watch as he finds his way here and then, in action, they can watch me put you in a pool of lava." Splendid, who originally was a superhero, but is now a supervillain, tells Pop, the sonless bear who is sitting on a chair with both arms and feet tied to it. "Why me? What did I even do to you?" he asks the red masked flying squirrel. "Remember the time I tried to save the town, but everyone, including YOU, booed just because I accidentally killed the one known as Giggles. I mean, she'll come back the next day. It's not like you'll only live once." As Splendid kept ramming on and on about how nobody wanted him to save the town, Pop was just sitting there, thinking about the moments that he had with his son. He can just see the innocent look on the baby bear's face as he was thinking about those moments. Hear his laugh and everything. Knowing that he may never see his son, in person, again, Pop almost shed a tear, until he heard a POW on the door. POW! POW! POW! The door, then, breaks apart, revealing two green raccoons, one with a fedora hat, an anteater with glasses, and a baby bear wearing a beanie hat. Excited to finally see his son again, Pop says Cub's name out loud, "Cub! Cub! Over here, son!" "I see you've made it to my humble-a-boat." Splendid said as he was getting closer to Cub and tells him, "Now, Cub, if you want to see your father again, say 'yes' if you want me to put your father in a pool of lava." "You're lucky he can't even talk yet! Cub, say 'no'! 'NO!'" "Dada." Cub said. Thinking that Cub wanted his father to stay, Splendid tries, again, to courage him to say 'yes' just so that he can put Pop in a pool of lava. "Maybe, I can put the other three into the pool of lava with him. What do you say, kiddo?" "Dada!" Cub said again. This was starting to annoy Splendid. All he wanted to do was just put Pop in a pool of lava. Was that too much to ask? "Cub! Say 'no!'" "Say 'yes'" "Cub, remember this, I'm your father. I have been and always will be your father. I will forgive you, no matter what you do. Please, son, say 'no'!" Pop kept pleading his son to say 'no' as Shifty, Lifty, and Sniffles just stood there. "Hey, let's untie his father and go before he turns us into fried meat." Lifty whispered to the other two. They did just that and right after they untied him, Splendid caught them dead in the eye. "I think you guys want to be thrown on the lava so bad, don't you?" "Run!" They did exactly what Lifty said and ran as fast as they can before Splendid could get a chance to zap them with his heat vision. Splendid flew right after the five as they were almost at the exit. "We're almost there! It's finally over!" Lifty said. Just as said that, Splendid froze the door shut so they couldn't escape. "Not so fast. You think you can escape just like that? You're dead wrong." The flying squirrel was getting ready to inhale to freeze them, but right before he let out his freezing powers, a baseball bat hit him right upside the head, knocking him out. After he was knocked out, it was revealed that a green squirrel wearing a tie was the one who knocked Spkendid out. "Nutty! When did you get here?" Shifty asked, confused about his appearance. "Yeah, and how did you get here?" the hatted raccoon also asked. "Well, I found out that you guys were on your way to find the 'father-napper.' Then, I decided to pack some food for myself and a compass. Finally, I came here and hid until you guys came. I know I was a little late coming here when Splendid was about to freeze you guys. Sorry about that." Nutty told them. "Well, at least my son's safe. Thanks, guys for looking out for him." Pop said in a grateful way.

We find Pop and Cub sitting out in the front porch, like last time. This time, though, Pop was actually watching Cub instead of looking at a newspaper. Cub, then, plays with his toys in his sandbox. After Pop yawned, he tells Cub, "Come on, son. Let's go inside" Just as he said that, the same glowing hole appeared in the center of the sandbox as last time. The glowing hole, then, sinks Cub again, leaving Pop terrified and confused.

Cub appears back at the sandbox, but this time, Pop was looking at his newspaper, the tree friends were nice, and Lifty and Shifty were back to being the thieves they originally were. 'This is more like it.' Cub thought as he was excited to finally be where he was supposed to be. Back in the original Happy Tree Town.

The End