The Forest Food Bandit

**The Forest Food Bandit** is episode 1A of Chapter 3 of The Creature Cases.

## Summary

No one's food is safe in the forest when a mysterious thief nabs everyone's supply.

## Characters

* Kit Casey
* Sam Snow
* Peggy Scratch
* Bill and Jill
* R.O.N.
* Roxy Raider (debut)
* Rabbit
* Birds
* Pocket Gopher

## Synopsis

In the North American Forest, a rabbit is storing food for the winter, only for his food to be stolen.

At CLADE HQ, Sam and Kit are looking at old case files. Kit sees a binder of Director Scratch's previous cases. They see that she closed all the cases except for one. They then receive a new Creature Case. While Scratch is explaining the case, she mentions how familiar it is. After explaining the case, she sends the agents down.

Sam and Kit arrive at the forest and all the residents there say their food was stolen. A baby bird asks Sam and Kit if they brought food, which they didn't. The residents start panicking until Sam calms them down. They decide to interview each person one at a time, starting with the rabbit.

The rabbit claims that his fruits and vegetables are stolen, which means the thief is a herbivore. The rabbit tells them he also locked his cabinet and Sam states that an animal would have to be "good with [their] hands" to pick a lock. Sam then sees a pink pawprint inside the cabinet door. Kit scans the pawprint but can't tell what animal it is from. They decide to interview the next animal.

They interview the bird who had her worms and grub stolen. Kit believes the thief is an omnivore, an animal who eats everything. The bird thought her food was safe because her home is on a tree. Sam concludes that either the thief can fly or can climb really well. Kit sees another pink pawprint, like the one before. The mama bird wonders how long it will take to catch the thief because her kids are starting to get hungry. Kit tells them to not worry.

Finally they interview, the pocket gopher who had her food. She stores her food in a dark room. Sam states the thief can see in the dark. The pocket gopher tells them they took their nuts and seeds. Kit remarks how the thief eats everything. She then sees another pink paw print on the door.

Sam and Kit go through all the clues to figure out what kind of animal it is. Scratch points out it's a raccoon. Sam asks why Scratch is here and she explains she had a similar case in the same location. A flashback ensues to when Scratch was an agent. She solved numerous cases except for one. The case she had was exactly the same to Sam and Kit's. The thief was a raccoon named Roxy Raider. Scratch almost caught Roxy, but she escaped on the river. Kit asks if Roxy is the thief they're looking for and Scratch asks if they found a pawprint at every home. Sam says they did find pawprints and Scratch confirms that Roxy is the thief. Kit asks Scratch what Roxy looks like. Suddenly, her pen is stolen by Roxy herself, and the trio chases after her.

After a long chase, Roxy gets away. Sam asks Kit about facts about raccoons. Kit says that raccoons wash their food because their paws are sensitive. Scratch realizes that Roxy is at the same river she got away on.

Roxy is at the river about to wash their food before being stopped by Sam, Kit and Scratch. Scratch tells Sam and Kit to return the food, but the food floats away in the river after Roxy dropped the bag. Sam demands Roxy to bring some food to the animals. Roxy doesn't want to help but Scratch states the baby birds in the forest will starve. One of the baby birds begs Roxy to help them, and she finally agrees.

The group gathers food for the forest animals and gives it to the animals just before winter starts. Roxy gets a bag of seeds in return and she admits it felt good helping the animals and won't steal food anymore. Finally closing the Creature Case, Scratch finally checks off the case in her case file and shakes hands with Roxy.

On the way back, Scratch remarks that Sam and Kit could beat her case record. She then realizes her pen is missing and she has a pink pawprint on her jacket, causing her to scream Roxy's name. Roxy is seen with Scratch's pen, laughing mischievously.