She had to admit that she was a bit confused when she heard that they would be taking care of...Fire Crabs...? What the heck were those? They didn't sound nearly as cute or cuddly as a Kneazle and they didn't sound edible either. Sigh. This was what happened when you missed out on CoMC class. It wasn't her fault that she got sent home.

She stopped outside the building. It looked very suspicious...just right for the 11 year old! Who knew what danger awaited her inside? This called for some extreme bravery which of course, she had because you know she was BRAVE. With this in mind she strutted inside.

Not very much lighting...a bit warm...feeling of impending doom...THEY WERE GONNA BE TAKING CARE OF SOME RELATIVE OF A DRAGON!!! Yaaaaay! Now where was the dragon cousin thing? In one of the stalls maybe...

Walking along the stalls she tried finding the little guys in all the foresty looking scenery. She suddenly stopped when she caught sight of some movement. That didn't look anything like the cousin of a dragon. O___O Reaching in she grabbed it.

"Hellooooo, Mr. Not A Dragon." or was it a Ms? Meeeh. "Do you mind telling me where I could find a Fire Crab? I'm supposed to be taking care of one." Hopefully they were as cute as this little guy...or girl...whatever.

Jory walked along in front of the Fire Crabs' cages trying to decide which one he would take care of. He wasn't afraid of them anymore. Okay, maybe he was a bit. You never know when one of them would just explode with fire. Most of the Crabs seem to be staring at him as he stopped to examine one with bright red jewels on its back. "Hello, there,'' the boy said, staring back at the crab.''I think I'll work on you,'' he added, quickly making up his mind.

The badger extracted it carefully from its cage and placed it on the ground before him. "Let’s see,'' he murmured, as he turned his attention to the tail. If he remembered correctly, males have longer and wider ones and females' were shorter and narrower. The crab had a long tail and it was certainly wide. "So, you're a guy crab then,'' Jory said.''Good. Now I can name you.''

He thought maybe of giving it a regular boy name but soon decided he would name it something that sounded... crab like. He had given the name Mr. Krabbs to the one he had worked on in class. "I think I'll call you Crabby,'' Jory told the Crab who still seemed to be staring at him. He grabbed the name tag from which was stuck on the cage and quickly wrote:

Fire Crab Sanctuary, here we go!

Kat went to the little place in the Hogwarts Ground where they had to take care of their fire crab. The ones they used during their Lesson. Once Kat arrived, there were only two people there. A Puffer and a Lion... Ok, that was that Cambridge kiddo who nearly killed Sierra back in Charms class. Kat still liked the thought of Sierra breathing fire on Cambridge girl.

Kat took a cage of one fire crab. She wasn't even sure if it was the same with the one she and Tag worked with last lesson. But anyway. Kat carefully took out her fire crab from its cage, fearing that it might blast out fire or something. She took a look at its tail. It was long and wide. "So you're a dude?" Kat said. Good. She was tired of working with girl crabs. This time, she's trying this dude. Yeaaaaaah. But what to name him?

Lex looked to the door when another student walked into the building. Maybe he knew where to find those so-called fire crabs 'cause this poor little guy was just staring at her all clueless like.

...

She watched him reach into another stall and take out one of the cute little guy's friends...wait...She continued watching and saw another girl walk in...she did the same. HOLD ON! This was a fire crab? "Well why didn't you say anything sooner?" She questioned, cradling it as she got closer to the name tags located on the different stalls. She already had this one so she would keep him...her...him...it. Funny enough she had heard someone saying how to determine the gender...

Neat! They even got to name them!! "I'm gonna call you Kevin!" BEAM.

What's this?

Glancing down at the Fire Crab once more she noticed that it had a short, stubby tail.

-________-

"Your name's still Kevin."

MOVING ON!

Belle made it down to the Fire Crab Sanctuary. She wanted to get her final done and out of the way. Nothing wrong with that right? When Belle made it to the cages, she did not know what to pick. Belle went up and down and looked at the fire crabs. She wanted a sweet one and to help one in need.

When she finally picked one, it look helpless and it was cowering in the corner of the cage, Belle smiled and went to pick it out. "Aww come here you little one. You seem like the runt of the litter aren't you?" Belle cooed at it. It seemed friendly.

Now to determine the gender. Belle looked at it's tail. For a boy the professor said it would have longer wider tail. For a female it would have a short, stubby tail. Well....it had a short stubby tail....IT WAS A GIRL. SCORE. Belle wanted a girl fire crab. She had a boy in the previous lesson. She heard the females were more vicious but she could handle it.

Now knowing that her crab was a boy, Kat thought of a name fitting for such an awesome crab. Thinking of names for awesome dudes, Kat listed them on a parchment. "Hmm," she said. Her parchment was filled with a lot of possible boy names.



Kat thought Mason was a good name. Mason kind of reminded her of strength and all those awesome qualities of a tough person. Very good. With Kat's great skills, Mason will really be a tough fire crab. No doubt.

Nerida walked along in front of the Fire Crabs' cages looking for the perfect crabby! At first she had been afraid of them but now she wasn't afraid of them. Okay, maybe she was a bit when you know they got crazy with fire. She stopped in front of a bright reddish orange one. It was pretty!

She took the crab from its cage and placed it onto the ground in front of her. "Lets see if your a boy or a girl crabbers!" She turned her attention to the tail. Males had longer and they were wider and then females had shorter and narrower tails. The crab had a short tail and it was narrow. "So then you pretty thing are a girl!"

Now that Kat was settled with naming her fire crab Mason, she looked at her list to see what's next. "Feeding," she said. Then she realized she had to dig a hole to find worms. Ew. Kat was just thankful she had placed inside her dragon hide gloves in her sling bag. What would she do without those?

Kat placed her fire crab back inside its cage and placed it beside her. She knelt down and dug a small hole on the earth. Once she dug deep enough, she found two worms. She cringed her nose. Merlin why did she have to do this? She should've brought fruit soon! But now, worms were the only available food. Kat then took her crab out and offered a worm to it. Wow, Kat, as if the worm would accept it with his claws. Then Mason ate it.

Good Mason. Kat then patted him. Now, time for bathing!

After Belle knew that her Fire crab was a girl. She had to figure out what to name it. After all it needed an identity. Belle went through her memory bank of what girl names she liked. After a couple of minutes Belle wrote down some thoughts and scribbled some out.

SPOILER!!: Parchment with name choices!

• Kellie
  
• Hailey
  
• Anna
  
• Diane
  
• Amy
  
• Stephanie

Then Belle decided on a name! It popped into her head. She loved the name Ruby! "I am going to name you Ruby!" Belle said and cooed at her. Belle got out the name tag and started to write down her name and name choice. Belle was excited to take care of her Ruby.

Lex plopped down on the floor, crossing her legs, by her Fire Crabs stall then rested the little one in her lap. It did a small rotation so it was now looking up at her with it's rear facing the other way.

"Awww...don't look so sad Kevin...you'll grow to love your name, promise." Because she wasn't gonna change it. One didn't just get up and decided to be a girl after she'd thought so hard on a cute, boy Fire Crab name. Nope. That just wasn't how the world worked. Not Alexa's world anyway. Kevin stared up at her but did very little else. Hmmm..."I know what will make you feel better!"

The poor little one was obviously just hungry. Names were harder to accept on an empty stomach.

Reaching into her pocket she pulled out a chocolate frog. "These always make me feel better." She said, breaking off a small piece and offering it to her. Kevin simply moved back. "What's the matter? Don't you like chocolate?" Everyone liked chocolate. This Fire Crab must have some stomach problems.

When it became clear that Kevin would be having none of her frog she sighed. "Fine, have it your way. More for me." She got up and replaced Kevin in her stall for a minute. "Hang on while I find you something else." Then she got her bag and began searching through it. After a moment of rummaging she turned to her again. "All I found was a licorice wand...will you eat th--" She stopped, watching the Fire Crab munching on one of the fruits it found in it's stall.

No, no. That's not how it works. I'm in charge of making sure you eat." She informed her before picking her up and snatching the fruit as well. "Now allow me." She moved the food towards Kevin's mouth. "Eat." The Fire Crab looked up at her. " Eeeaaaaat." This time she shoved it into Kevin's face. Quite suddenly the Fire Crab turned and the next thing Lex knew, there were flames.

"AHHHH!" She threw Kevin back into her stall then frantically tried putting out the small fire that had caught on her robe. It took a bit of screaming and flailing about but the fire was soon out. Lex sighed and dropped the fruit infront of the disagreeable thing. "Fine, feed yourself, jeez. There was no need to get hostile." She was fine as long as Kevin did eat.

Eliza followed her chicken scratch directions she had written on a small piece of parchment to help her find her way back to the Care of Magical Creature buildings. Finding places was not her strong point, so as she had left class last time, she sketched a miniature map to help herself get back. It might seem silly to anyone noticing her holding it, but she was still pretty new here and got lost easily. Once she arrived, her breath was nearly taken away by the lush rain forest inside the sanctuary. She looked up at all of the tall plants, spinning in a slow circle as she did so to take it all in. This is amazing! she thought to herself. The balmy temperature was a nice climate change from the real wintery world outside. I might have to learn to speak Fire Crab so I can live here too! When she had given herself enough time to adjust to her new exotic surroundings, she noticed the line of stalls that contained the crabs. She knew she wanted to find the one she had worked with in class since it had behaved to nicely for her, so she hurried herself along to see if it had been claimed already.

She looked in at the resident of each stall as she went down the row. Well this is nice that they get full stalls here instead of those crate cages. She knew they had been used for ease of transportation, but it was still nice to see the crabs have a little more wiggle room. Her eyes flicked from crab to crab. Blue jewels, yellow....red....silver...gold... fuchsia! There, that must be it! She opened the door and slowly approached the crab. Upon further inspection though, she saw that this was not her crab. Professor Newlin said that mine was a girl...and this crab has a long, wide tail - so it's a male. She quickly backed out of the stall and closed the door. She felt that she and her crab had bonded somewhat and she did not know what to expect of this male look-a-like. "Sorry 'bout yah luck with dem cuhluhs, mate!" she said in a shoddy Australian accent to the boy crab. She was in a silly mood today.

"Okay, Crabby,'' Jory said as he hung the tag on the cage.''I'm pretty sure you must be hungry.'' Crabby still seemed to be staring at him. "Yes, you must be,'' he answered his own statement.

Trusting that his fire crab won't scuttle away, the boy wandered over to the plants in the sanctuary, some of which bore fruits. He examined these fruits; some were familiar to him while others were not. He decided to let Crabby try that he himself was familiar with. "Don't want to poison him or something with the unknown,'' he mused and wondered what the consequences to that would be. No doubt a year long detention.

Jory headed back to Crabby, his arms loaded with bananas, apples, grapes, cherries, sapodillas and even a pomegranate. "Uh... Crabby?'' he said, almost losing his head completely when he got back to where he had left the Crab and realising it was not there. He dumped the fruits in its cage and quickly commenced a search. "Here comes detention,'' he groaned. He checked around the cages and by the fruit trees but no luck. Finally, the Puff turned his attention to the students who were also looking after their respective crabs. As he approached an Slytherin, he spotted a crab with bright red jewels on its shell. "Crabby!'' he exclaimed, quite relieved. He retrieved it- very carefully, of course. "Don't burn me, don't burn me,'' he prayed as he took it back to the cage.

Once Crabby was safely in the cage, Jory stood in front and picked up a banana. "Erm, would you prefer this peeled or not?'' he asked. He decided he would just leave the fruits where they were as Crabby was already examining them. He gobbled up the bananas, apples, grapes and the cherries. "Don't like sapodillas and pomegranate, huh?'' Jory wondered if the crab was still hungry. "Maybe I should get you some worms as desert,'' he decided.

Time to bathe Mason.

Well, nothing could go wrong right? They did this activity last time so there's practically nothing to worry about.... Unless you didn't attend the last lesson then you'll be toast as bread. Kat took a bucket and filled it with water until the rear of Mason was reached. Then she lightly rubbed Mason's shell to determine if there were cracks and other stuff on her crab. But she felt that Mason had a soft spot. Awwww.... Poor crab. "You'll be alright, Mason," Kat told her crab. "Once we've finished washing you up, we'll take a look atnyour soft spot and I'll see what I can do."

Can she adopt her fire crab?

After Belle decided on the name Ruby, next thing she needed to do was found out what she eats. Ruby was getting a little fussy and she looked hungry.

"It is alright Ruby, i will find something for you to eat. I remember the professor saying you are an omnivore. You do like worms and fruit. Belle placed Ruby in the cage with her gloves on and went to find some food. She knew Ruby did not like being in the cage but she wanted to be safe for her other students.

Belle went down on the grass and started to dig through the mud. She managed to find two to three worms in the ground. She picked up the slimy, wiggly creatures. Then she went over to Ruby and got her out with her gloves. She picked her up and she explored the grounds. Belle put worms in front of her face. She smelt them and wagged her tail. She seemed to like them.

Ruby chomped on those worms hungrily. She loved them. Then she managed to find some fruit in the grounds. Ruby tail wagged and she chomped on a apple. She loved apples it looked like because she was eating three or four. Then she looked like she was done eating because she looked sleepy. "You ate a lot miss ruby didn't you?" Belle cooed at her. She was glad she was full.

Step Two:
With a soft bristled brush, gently scrub the entire shell using a light, circular motion. Pay special attention to any areas with buildup, mostly around their colored jewels and under the rim of the shell. Be careful not to brush areas covered in scales. They tend to be sensitive.

Awwwwwwww. Mason was being cute. He had those sparkly jewels on his back and good Merlin. If Mason didn't just throw fireballs everywhere, he would've made a good pet! Really! Why are the good things bad? /Irony.

Now, let's continuing bathing this buddy. Kat gently scrubbed Mason's shell with the brush. It had to be in a circular motion, she remembered. So she did the same. Kat gave her hundred-percent attention to the jewels. She didn't want to hurt its precious jewels. No. And the rim of Mason's shell as well. Yeah, those spots. And... avoid the scales.

Kat grinned. Good Mason. Such a good firecrab, you are. YES YOU ARE!

Initially Ella found fire crabs to be quite scary. Mostly because they reminded her of Blast-ended Skrewts, which she was not a fan of. And sure, having a fear of skrewts was a bit weird but still, they were frightening creatures. The fire crabs had grown on her, though. Especially having worked with a really nice one during class. And now she got to pick another one to work with! BEAM. And she had to think of a really awesome name and everything...which was a really important responsibility! The wrong name could scar the poor thing for life. That wouldn't be good.

Entering the sanctuary, the third year grinned. This place was seriously cool! And look at all the fire crabs! There were sooo many. How was she meant to choose? Biting her lip, she decided to take a walk around and look into all of the stalls. That was probably the best way to go about this.

As the small blonde walked around, she noticed several of the name tags already filled out. Meep! So people had already claimed a lot of the crabs, eh? She really needed to get on it. Continuing her walk, she stopped in front of a stall on the right side of the sanctuary, noting the small fire crab that looked quite lonely. D'awww. It didn't have a name yet, either. BEAM. This was totally the one for Ella.

"Hello, little one." Ella said, entering the stall but not getting too close. She didn't want to scare the fire crab or anything. "I'm Ella, Ella Bishop...and I'm going to be taking care of you for a while." And really good care, too. This little guy or girl was going to get lots of attention! "But you really need a proper name, yeah?" And she frowned slightly, trying to think of a really good one for her new friend. Hmmm... What about Pancake? ...Meh. That wasn't strong enough. Um... Snuggles? Eh, that didn't have enough OOMPH to it. BEAM. Taco! That was the perfect name! And Tacos were awesome and delicious and just...really cool. Taco was definitely the right choice. "From now on, you're Taco! I think it suits you nicely." Nod. Nod. Nod. "And I think we're going to get on really well, Taco!" Grin.

Walking back towards the entrance, Ella found the blank nametag on the stall door and took a quill from her bag. She began filling it out with a smile on her face, ready to claim Taco as her own...for now.


Student's Name: Ella Bishop
House: Hufflepuff
Year: 3rd year
Fire crab's name: Taco

Beam. Beam. Beam.

She leaned over the stall and watched in fascination as the little Fire Crab did away with the fruit she had tossed in her stall. Awwww, she was so cute when she wasn't trying to roast her live :3

"Are you done now?" She asked cautiously. No need to frightened her then make her start shooting fire again. When the Fire Crab didn't respond that she took it as a yes. "Great! Now we get to bond." And with that she snatched Kevin and plopped down on the ground again. She rested her on the floor then laid on her stomach facing her; surprizingly enough, the ground wasn't as uncomfortable as most people would have thought it.

"Right...so...seen any good Fire Crab movies lately?" Oh wait. Fire Crabs didn't own theatres! The poor things!!! "Uh--forget I asked that! We don't have to talk about movies, nope! Let's um...let's talk about..." Her eyes began searching for anything that she could possibly make a topic from..."Wood..." It was everywhere, that's for sure.

Kevin stared up at her but made no movement. "That's right wood. So...do you like woo--" Her sentence was cut short when Kevin just started to walk away. "Heeey! That's not very nice, if you don't like wood all you have to do is say so, now get back here." She said, reaching over and scooping up the escaping Fire Crab. "We can just not talk too...I guess...if that's what you'd prefer..."

...

.....

"Okay, I'm bored." Lex pulled herself off the floor and replaced Kevin in her stall. "I'll see you tomorrow Kevin." BEAM. The silence was getting to her...she needed some stimulus so it was time to leave this place...she blew a kiss at her then walked out.

Jory had fetched a small spade from the stores where the buckets and other stuff were kept. He decided to he would dig by the fruit trees, not directly in the path of their roots, of course, but he figured a little churning of the earth would benefit the trees.

He found a patch clear of the trees and got on his knees. The boy began digging up the earth. And he dug and dug until came across the first one. "Gotcha,'' he said, pleased and pulled out a good sized worm. He liked worms as he had spent lots of time during his childhood digging them up. He gently placed it in the bucket he had brought along with the spade.

Jory continued to dig until he found eleven more worms about the same size as the first. "A dozen in all,'' he said and picked up the bucket and took it to Crabby's cage.''Here you go, Crabby, dessert is served.'' He emptied the worms into the cage and watched as the crab gobbled them up. "Good crab. I'll go clean this spade and put it back and then I'll give you a bath.''

"KEVIN!!" Lex called once she hit the door of the little Fire Crab Sanctuary. "I'm baaaack!" She skipped into the room with a wide smile and her kneazle tucked safely in her arms. "And I brought you another visitor too!" BEAM.

She walked over to her Fire Crab's stall and pulled her out. "Felix, this is Kevin, she's the fire crab I was telling you about yesterday!" She was all the 11 year old spoke about to her Kneazle and at one point the creature actually scratched at her then walked away. He got jealous easily but she didn't have time to care about that when she was gushing over her fire crab. "Kevin, this is Felix. I didn't mention him at all because I was having too much fun with you even though you tried roasting me." Felix hissed when he heard that. "Hush now, we'll be having none of that! She's dangerous Felix--she could kill you!!" Well maybe not...but she didn't want him getting any ideas!

She put Kevin back in her stall for a minute then got a bucket, wash cloth and soft brush from the large cabinet in the back. She saw Felix stiffen noticeably and laughed. "Relax silly, you're not due for a bath for at least another week." And neither of them was looking forward to it. -__-

Alexa put Kevin in the bucket then filled it with enough water to cover her rear. She could see the sense in this. No need to get burnt while trying to make her clean. She shoved Felix out of her hands then began feeling around her shells for any cracks or other stuff that wasn't supposed to be there. While she did this she could feel him rubbing against her leg. She rolled her eyes playfully but kept her attention on the cutie in the bucket.

Ella smiled as she entered the Fire Crab Sanctuary, clutching her notes in her hand. The third year took the familiar path to Taco's stall and grinned when she got to it, tapping the name tag cheerfully. "Tacoooo!" She called out in a sing-song voice, opening the door and stepping slowly inside. The blonde had a very specific mission today, one that was kind of important as far as missions went. She needed to figure out whether Taco was a Mr. or a Ms.

Eyeing her notes, Ella noted that to determine the gender, one had to pay close attention to a crab's tail. Well that wasn't so bad, right? She eyed Taco with a curious smile, gaze stopping on its tail. Hmmm...Well Taco's tail was quite long, which was pretty interesting. Males had longer tails according to her notes. Now to check for the width. Tilting her head to the side, the third year noticed that Taco's tail appeared to be quite wide. Huh. So long...and wide. That meant Taco was a mister, yeah? She smiled at the creature, wanting to make sure. "I'll be right back, okay?"

Stepping out of the stall and shutting the door once more, the third year walked from stall to stall, eyeing the other fire crabs. There were several crabs who had tails that were MUCH shorter than Taco's. This lead her to believe that he was indeed a male. Grin.

Heading back over to the stall once more, Ella peeked her head and and grinned. "I'm happy to declare you a male fire crab, Taco. Congrats on your erm...gender." And congrats to her for figuring it out. Ells gave herself a little pat on the back for a job well done.

After Belle was done feeding Ruby, now it was time to clean her. Belle looked at the steps the professor posted.

SPOILER!!: Professor's Step One and Two to Clean Firecrab

Step One:
Fill the bucket up with enough water to make sure the rear of the Fire Crab is completely covered. While letting soak for several minutes, lightly rub the shell with your fingertips to feel for any soft spots or cracks. (Soaking will allow any buildup, caused by its flames, to loosen)
Step Two:
With a soft bristled brush, gently scrub the entire shell using a light, circular motion. Pay special attention to any areas with buildup, mostly around their colored jewels and under the rim of the shell. Be careful not to brush areas covered in scales. They tend to be sensitive.

Belle went over to go get a bucket from the supply source. Then she filled it up with water using "Aquamenti!" and then it was filled! She put Ruby into the water very gently with her gloves on for an extra precaution. She let Ruby chill in the water for several minutes. Her eyes looked like they were relaxed. She was enjoying the water.

Then after several minutes were up, she lightly rubbed her fingers on the shell. Ruby shivered and was liking her touch after getting used to it. Belle was feeling for any soft spots or cracks. Belle did not feel any so far. That was good. Then she got out a soft bristled brush and began to gently scrub her ruby. Belle showed Ruby before she did it. Ruby was tense when the brush first made contact with her skin but she enjoyed it. Belle used a soft circular motion. She saw Ruby's tail wagging. She was truly enjoying this, Belle knew it.

"I am glad you are enjoying this ruby!" Belle said happily. She was relieved she did not get burned. Belle cleaned underneath the rim of shell and near the jewels. There was a lot of build up and Belle cleaned them off softly and gently getting it all off.

Kat gave Mason a pet on his shell. Awwww, fire crabs were good! At least, Mason was. Her old firecrab was such a quiet one... Kat didn't really name her old fire crab because she... or he... was sooooo quiet. Gawd. And such a sleepyhead too... BOOORIIIIIIIIIING. Good thing she chose Mason.

Now, Kat massage Mason's shell, belly under body, his... legs? and the cute tail he has with her washcloth. And all the soil... ew... dropped down. Mason is soooooo lucky to have such a good owner to bathe him. Then Mason shedded... WHAT IS HE, A SNAKE?! Awkward. Then Kat rinsed him so that all the particles of flakes and soil were washed off.

Kurumi was SO excited for this assignment. Sure, others would probably be glaring at her most likely Ravenclaw girls as was the trend since she had sort of suggested the idea of fire crab babysitting to Professor Newlin...but COME ON! They got to care for a creature and have as much hands on time as they wanted! HOW AWESOME WAS THAT?

It was almost as awesome as having your own dragon to take care of. Almost. Actually, who was Kurumi kidding? Nothing could compare to having your own dragon to care for.

Entering the stone building, Kurumi was quite literally awestruck at the setup and for a moment forgot that it was the middle of winter outside. Blinking away her surprise as best she could for a moment, Kurumi ventured inside until she reached the cages and then promptly scanned them for the ruby crested one she had worked with during the lesson. Covered in rubies and with one that sort of looked like a star.

Wandering a bit more, her eyes widened when she finally spotted the fire crab and she clapped her hands together. "There you are," she chirped as she opened the cage and coaxed the creature out. "How is that crack doing?" Craddeling the creature as it waddled out of the cage, Kurumi immediately turned her attention to its tail when she realized something...she sort of needed to compare this one's tail to another one to be sure of its gender. After all, length and width were sort of subjective at the moment...

Sitting down on the ground and letting her fire crab rest in her lap, Kurumi pulled out her textbook and flipped through the pages until she got to the fire crab section and looked at the chart for comparing genders. "Hmmm...three finger widths most likely means a boy..." Attention back on her fire crab, Kurumi turned the creature around and patted the top of its head with one hand while she measured its tail width with her fingers. "Three...I guess that means you are a boy!"

Jory came back with a washcloth and the soft bristled brush. "Time to give you a washing, Crabby,'' he said cheerfully. He liked this part of the task as he had found out from class.

He took out his wand. "Aguamenti!'' The bucket began to fill and he stopped the flow when he thought there was just enough to cover his crab. "Time to go into the bucket,'' he said and he reached into he cage to retrieve Crabby. "Please don't burn me, okay?''

The Puff settled it carefully and gently into the water so it could soak. And as Crabby soaked, he began to rub the shell. Nothing seemed to be wrong at first, until a few moments later he came across a crack. "Crabby, your shell is cracked!'' Poor Crabby. "But I'll patch you up in a while, never fear.''

He now took the brush and lightly began to scrub the shell. Scrub, scrub, scrub all around in the circular manner. He spent extra time on the jewels and the rim of the shell since they were covered with buildup, though he stayed clear of the any scaly parts.