Best of the Nest

Summary
As the kids gets involved in another online game involving multiple geese, Brain tries to convince them to leave their computers behind and have a real-life camping adventure in the woods.

Plot
The episode begins with Arthur, Buster, Brain and Binky on a trip in the wilderness. Arthur hears something shaking up the bushes and asks what it is. Buster assumes it's a lion, and Brain assures that there are no lions in North America, except mountain lions! As Mr. Ratburn shows up and tells the kids to stay calm, Binky says "press the escape button" because he wants to "quit the game", and Arthur replies that "this isn't a game... this is real". The five then gasp at what they see.

After the title card, the scene cuts to Brain at his ice cream shop serving a vanilla and fish ice cream cone to Buster, to which Arthur plugs his nose. Sue Ellen comes in and asks the three why they aren't playing Virtual Goose, to which Arthur replies that since DW started playing, it got very boring since she always won. When Muffy comes in saying that Virtual Goose has been updated to the 5.0 edition, Brain closes the shop as he, Arthur and Buster head to try it out, to which Sue Ellen replies, "addicts".

Later, Arthur and his pals are seen trying a spin-off game to Virtual Goose called Best of the Nest. The game's narrator explains that the Virtual Goose laid six eggs, each containing a goose with a different personality trait, Sporty Goose, Stylish Goose, Strong Goose, Silly Goose, Smart Goose, and Just Plain Goose. Due to hard times, the Virtual Goose had to leave her children behind to do her career in online gaming, hoping to bring back fame and fortune. But before she could return, an evil wind blew the geese out of the nest. Now the geese have to survive alone and whichever player keeps their goose alive the longest would win the game.

Francine chooses Sporty, Muffy chooses Stylish, Binky chooses Strong, Buster chooses Silly, Brain chooses Smart, and Arthur is left with Just Plain Goose. Brain gets to level 1 and finds that he has to get past a rushing river by either, A: flying across it, B: wait for a passing log, or C: do the hokey-pokey. Brain thinks about what to do, and he chooses A, but to his surprise, Smart Goose ends up falling into the river and gets eaten by a shark, resulting in a game over. He then does some research at the library and figures that judging his size, Smart Goose should have been able to fly and there shouldn't have been a shark in the river (even though river sharks do exist). With that, Brain declares that Best of the Nest is a dumb game, though Muffy believes he's actually jealous because he isn't good at it, and says he couldn't last one day in the wild.

Muffy has reached the third level, in which her goose has come across a patch of mushrooms. Her choices are to A: avoid them, B: eat them, or C: do the hokey-pokey. Muffy chooses B and advances to the fourth level. Brain says that it was ridiculous as the mushrooms could have been poisonous, and Muffy calls him a spoil-sport.

Brain plans to prove Muffy wrong by going camping in the woods, and invites Arthur, Buster and Francine to come with him. While they are interested, they are unable to come, because they're worried that Muffy will become a sore winner if they quit Best of the Nest. Then Brain tries to invite Sue Ellen, but she can't come because she injured her hand while training for a karate tournament. Prunella can't come either because her cootie catcher says she can't travel on days with the letter "Y" in them. Finally, he tries to invite Mr. Ratburn, but he becomes addicted to the internet when Brain teaches him how to use a computer.

On the day of the camping trip, some of the people Brain tried to invite end up coming for their own reasons. Mr. Ratburn used the internet to buy camping gear for the trip. Arthur left his computer for a bit on level ten to answer the phone, and while he was gone DW came in and chose one of the wrong answers for him. Buster's mom made him stop playing because staring at the computer for too long affected his sight, as he ends up mistaking Mr. Ratburn for Prunella when he takes his seat in the car. And Binky, not having his own computer, was using the ones in the library to play Best of the Nest, and Ms. Turner made him stop because she felt that he was hogging them. Meanwhile, Francine and Muffy keep playing up to level 87, not wanting to lose, and they start to get very, very tired.

The opening scene then plays again, and the thing in the bushes is revealed to be...Muffy's butler carrying all of her camping equipment, with Muffy and Francine following soon after. As the gang roast marshmallows, Francine and Muffy reveal that they both tied for Best of the Nest, because after being one of the wrong answers so many times, doing the hokey-pokey ended up being the correct answer to scaring off a bear. Binky ends up calling it just stupid, but then the gang hear growling nearby. Binky, not sure what to do, chooses to give it a try, and starts doing the hokey-pokey, with the rest of the gang, including Mr. Ratburn joining in.

Characters

 * Arthur
 * Buster
 * Muffy
 * Francine
 * Brain
 * Binky
 * Mr. Ratburn
 * D.W. Read
 * Sue Ellen

Trivia

 * In this episode, it is revealed that Mr. Ratburn knows nothing about how to operate a computer, and so the Brain teaches him how to use one properly. His lack of knowledge on them becomes a running gag of the series.
 * This episode is the debut of Mr. Ratburn's alternate vehicle: A green mini-van. After staying in his classroom using the computer, he ends up buying things online and selecting rush delivery. He then decides to chaperone the camping trip but has no room for passengers. The reason why the mini-van debuts debuts is because Mr. Ratburns main vehicle, a small red convertible, cannot possibly be used for the camping trip. Another thing he bought online is the canoe.
 * The geese the children picked were based on their personality and character.
 * Just Plain Goose and Silly Goose, the characters Arthur and Buster picked respectively, are dressed exactly like them.