04x01 - The Spider's Stolen Silk

[bunniefuu]

Welcome to CLADE, the Covert League

of Animal Detective Experts.

Sam Snow.

Kit Casey.

The Creature Cases.

"The Spider's Stolen Silk."

Bo-Bok!

Hm.

Ah.

Mwah!

It's beautiful.

This silky web might be my best work yet.

Now, to admire it from a distance.

What was that?

My priceless work of art.

It's gone!

Ta-da!

So, what do you think?

Nice! Let me guess.

It's a

Footstool.

A footstool? No! It's not a footstool.

It's a sculpture.

You know, like a piece of art.

Huh.

And what do you do with it?

You look at it, and admire it,

and let it inspire you.

Right. But shouldn't art

be useful for something?

Like, this couch is art.

Colorful, nice to look at,

and most importantly,

it's very comfy to sit on.

And it's even better with a footstool.

Oh! Hey!

Sam, some art

is simply meant to be enjoyed.

That's the beauty of it.

Well, we'll have to enjoy it later.

Director Scratch has

a new creature case for us.

Ooh!

What a lovely pen holder. How thoughtful.

Uh, it's actually a--

- Bo-Bok!

Agents, someone or something

is stealing beautiful pieces of spider art

from the North American jungle.

The Mice Squad sent these photos.

Spider art? Don't you mean spiderweb?

Depends. Beauty, agents,

is in the eye of the beholder.

Spiders use their silky webs

to catch food, sure.

But they can be really beautiful

to look at too.

I see. But who on earth

would want to steal a spider's web?

That's what you two need to figure out.

Good luck, Agents.

Now arriving at destination biome.

North American jungle.

Thanks, R.O.N.

-Did you hear that?

-Hear what?

Never mind. Let's find this artist.

That is,

if you're not too afraid of spiders.

Afraid of spiders?

I'm not afraid of spiders.

I'm just not too fond

of their sticky webs.

-Get it off me!

-You have to stop moving, Sam!

No touching the art!

Ah! I mean, hello.

Yeah.

Voilà! I think it can still be fixed.

You must be a yellow garden spider.

You make such beautiful webs.

You have an excellent eye, mademoiselle.

It is always a pleasure to meet my fans.

We're from CLADE, and we're here

to figure out what's been happening.

Ah, of course.

I am Pierre, the artist.

And someone stole

one of my silky pieces of art.

Did you see who took it?

I did not see the thief.

But I did hear a strange, buzzing noise

when they struck.

Huh. I heard buzzing earlier.

It sort of sounded like

That!

What?

That's two masterpieces stolen in one day!

My head is spinning.

Sam, listen. More buzzing.

And I think it's coming from over there.

Don't worry, Pierre.

We'll find whoever's taking your webs.

Please hurry.

With a thief around,

none of my artwork is safe.

Sounds like we're getting closer.

Whoa. Aw.

Mmm! It's honey. Mmm-mmm.

Good find, Sam.

Wherever there's honey,

there's bound to be buzzing bees.

This was almost too easy.

Hello, there.

Yeah. What do you want?

Hi there. We're trying to find out

who's stealing spiderwebs.

And?

And perhaps you know something about it?

After all,

the thief did make a buzzing sound.

So, you hear one little buzzing sound,

and suddenly

bees are your main suspects, huh?

We didn't say that, exactly.

Think about it.

What would we do with a spider's web?

Yeah. Bees avoid webs.

You think we wanna get stuck

and become a spider's afternoon snack?

Sam, he's right.

We may be barking up the wrong beehive.

So, it wasn't the bees after all.

We're sorry for the trouble.

We'll just see ourselves out. Heh.

Yeah, you just see yourselves out.

Whoa.

Get 'em!

Uh-oh!

Look out!

Phew!

We lost 'em.

But now that we're finally

out of harm's way--

Not again!

I told you, no touching the art!

Have you found the thief yet?

Not yet. But we can rule out bees.

What else makes a buzzing noise,

and isn't worried

about getting caught in a web?

Not again!

Why does this keep happening to my webs?

Curse my enormous talent!

Whiskers, that's it!

Whenever Pierre spins a web,

the thief always seems to show up.

So, if Pierre spins a new web,

we can use it as bait

To lure in the thief and catch them!

Pierre, how fast can you spin another web?

Oh, you cannot rush high-quality art.

But since you're a fan,

I'll see what I can do.

Perfect.

All right, I think

we've got everything we need.

-Spiderweb to lure in the thief.

-Check!

Tracking device to follow the web

once it's stolen.

Check.

-Clu-Bot set to record.

-Check. And check.

This way, we'll catch it all on camera.

Now all we have to do is wait.

Even if it takes hours or days or--

Huh?

That was fast.

Quick, Sam! The Clu-Bot footage!

But it's all a blur.

Not if we slow it down.

It looks like the thief is actually

A hummingbird?

A ruby-throated hummingbird,

by the looks of it.

The buzz was the sound

of its wings flapping.

But what would a hummingbird want

with a spider's web?

Good question.

According to the tracking device,

seems like she's in a hurry.

Well, then, we must catch her!

Wait.

I think it's time for CLADE-Claws!

Here, take this. Come on!

Ha-ha! There she goes.

Whoa!

-Sam!

-Whoa!

Whew! Close one.

I've never seen anything fly like that.

She's too fast.

If only she'd stay still

for just a minute.

Wait, she will stay still in a minute.

How can you be so sure?

To get enough energy to fly so fast,

hummingbirds need to drink nectar

from flowers.

Lots of it.

According to my calculations,

she'll have to stop for food

in exactly one minute!

There's some flowers in the trees nearby.

-I reckon that's where she'll stop to eat.

-We'll meet her there. Let's go!

She'll never be able to resist these.

Here she comes.

Quick. Hide.

Mmm!

-Stop right there, hummingbird.

-Ah!

Give me back my web!

Oh, is this yours? I had no idea.

Nice try, but we know

you've been stealing those spider webs.

-You-- You do?

-Yup, but we still don't know why.

You've got some explaining to do, birdie!

Okay, I'll admit it. I took your web.

But I had a good reason. Follow me.

-Huh?

-Huh?

I use the silky threads to build my nest.

They help hold it together. Like this.

So, what do you think?

Well, ain't that something.

I'm speechless.

I never imagined that my art

could be so beautiful and so useful.

So, you don't want your web back?

No, these little eggs

need it much more than me.

Who knows, maybe one of them

will grow up

to be a little artist themselves.

That'd be great.

Do you teach lessons?

I think we can work something out.

Maybe I can give you my leftover silk,

if you promise not to steal

any more of my creations.

It's a deal.

Well, I can't say

I saw that coming.

But I love a happy ending.

-Another creature case closed.

-Closed.

Done. What do you think?

Lovely. Let me guess.

It's a priceless work of art

meant only to be admired?

Actually, I thought we could use it

as a popcorn bowl.

Mmm!

Mmm! Good idea.

Fact file! Yeah! ♪

Mice Squad fact file ♪

-Bill ♪

-Jill ♪

Status? ♪

- Chill ♪

System settings? ♪

Set to thrill! ♪

Update. Hummingbirds.

Fact file! ♪

Ruby-throated hummingbirds

will sometimes steal webs from spiders.

They use the silky webs

to build their nests.

Fact file! ♪

Hummingbirds are really good flyers.

They can fly forwards,

backwards, and even upside down.

Fact file! ♪

To get the energy to fly,

hummingbirds eat a lot.

They have to stop

to eat nectar every few minutes.

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Move your feet.

Fact file! ♪

Fact file! ♪

Fact file! ♪

Yeah! ♪