The crowd went silent. Three rings of spinning water churned at the center of the Great Lily Stadium. First duck to grab the Golden Lily Bulb from the innermost ring wins.

And the QuackPrep Games became not just a contest of champions, but a school for the clever, the patient, and the slightly scruffy. The Currentstone is stolen by a mole with a submarine. Can Paddles lead an underwater rescue without getting his feathers wet? Spoiler: Yes. Yes, he can.

Paddles didn’t race. He dove deep, grabbed a mouthful of mud, and spat it into the inner ring’s whirlpool. The mud cloud confused the current’s flow pattern — the ring stuttered. Then Paddles surfaced inside the calm eye of the chaos.