Morning Patrol

Ms. Scribble Caribou stretched her silver-gloved hands toward the morning sun as she stood on the tallest crayon tower of her fortress. Canvas Tundra Metropolis sparkled below—a beautiful city where humans lived alongside polar foxes, arctic wolves, and snowy owls who walked on two legs and wore colorful clothes.

"Perfect day for a patrol," she said to herself, adjusting her bright blue supersuit.

Her super-hearing picked up Mayor Penguin's voice from City Hall. He sounded worried about something, but the words were too distant to understand clearly.

Ms. Scribble launched herself into the air, silver cape fluttering behind her. She loved flying over the city's rainbow-colored buildings and watching the busy street vendors setting up their market stalls.

As she soared past the Art District, something caught her eye. One of the murals on Palette Plaza looked different. The brilliant yellows and reds seemed... duller somehow.

She landed softly on the plaza's cobblestones to take a closer look.

Baker's Strange Morning

Ms. Scribble Caribou knelt beside the mural, touching the painted sunflower with her silver glove. The bright yellow petals felt rough and chalky under her fingers.

"That's weird," she muttered. The paint was flaking off like old snow.

A cheerful whistle echoed across the plaza. A humanoid polar bear wearing a flour-dusted apron rolled a cart filled with fresh pastries toward the morning market. His black button eyes sparkled as he waved at her.

"Morning, Ms. Scribble! Beautiful day, isn't it?" called Baker Frost.

She started to agree, then noticed something alarming. The colorful icing on his cinnamon rolls was turning gray right before her eyes. The pink strawberry glaze became dull concrete color, and the green mint swirls faded to ash.

Baker Frost stopped his cart and stared at his pastries in confusion. "What in the tundra is happening to my baking?"

Ms. Scribble's super-hearing caught panicked voices from across the city. Store owners were shouting about their colorful merchandise losing its brightness. A flower shop owner cried out as her rainbow tulips turned monochrome.

The color theft was spreading fast, and it wasn't stopping with just one mural.