Chapter Five

It was 3:15 AM when Curly woke up in his bed. His ankle still hurt but he was too worried about Ginger. He got up out of bed and limped out of his room. He would have been caught but all the guards were asleep.

As he was limping over to the door he saw a figure standing in the doorway.

"Leaving so soon?" The shadow asked.

Curly reached into his pocket and immediately pulled out a gun. "Who's there?!"

There was one quick movement and suddenly, Curly's gun wasn't in his hand. The figure stepped out of the shadows. Curly could barely make out a red cat wearing coal-black shades. The cat was holding the gun.

"Agent Straxxor… what are you doing up this late?"

"I could ask you the same question."

"I'm worried about Agent Ginger."

Straxxor scoffed. "She's a trained agent, you don't think she can handle herself?"

"I guess you're right… why are you up? In fact, why are you here? I thought the chief sent you on a reconnaissance mission up in the Brrrgh." Curly paused for a minute. Where is the chief? I haven't seen him since the explosion, he thought.

Straxxor spun the gun in his hand casually. "Finished it. Plus, the chief's orders don't mean anything anymore."

"Why not?" Curly asked.

"You want the first reason or the second reason?"

"Both, starting with the first."

Straxxor reached into his coat and pulled out a plastic bag filled with something. He threw it to Curly. He caught it and looked at Staxxor questioningly.

"Evidence."

Curly studied the bag. It was filled with little iron pellets of some sort.

"We ran some tests on it, turns out it was touched by the chief."

"So…"

"Those are pellet bites."

"Pellet bites?"

"Yep. They're illegal in 8 playgrounds."

"What are they?"

"They're bombs. They look innocent but they have a tiny invisible button that when you press it makes a shrill beep, and then when you throw them…"

"What?"

"Let's just say BOOM."

"So, they're mini-bombs?"

"Correct-o Curly-o."

"And the chief… touched them?"

Straxxor nodded soberly.

"Well, what if he was just examining them?"

"1, only the scientists do that, and 2, if he was examining them he would have used gloves."

"So, he just… had them? And it was illegal?"

"Yep. He was a criminal, but you know who invented those things?"

"Who?"

"We don't know yet, but it's someone who just goes by Night-Strike. Possibly Minnie's boss."

"So, he could have been with Minnie?"

"I'm afraid so."

"How did you find them?"

"I found them in his coat pocket, and then I put them in an evidence bag."

"Wait… He just, left them in his coat?"

"That leads me to the second reason his orders don't matter anymore."

"What's that?"

"The chief… is dead."

Chapter Six

After a long, understandable pause, Curly asked, "How?"

"After the explosion, he was shot."

"What?! How do you know about the explosion?"

"I watch from the shadows."

"You're weird. Who shot him?"

"I hate to say this…" He paused. "I don't know. I searched the area high and low for any toon who looked suspicious but it was to no avail.

"But, oddly, the bullet the scientists found lodged in his skull, was a patented bullet made by the Kalex Clan."

"Um…"

"You're clueless. The Kalex Clan is a notorious gang created by Night-Strike."

"But, if he was on their side why would they-"

"We're working on that. For now we would prefer to leave this as classified information."

"If the chief is gone, who's going to be his successor?"

"Me."

"Why you?"

"I can hide from three highly trained agents and not be noticed whereas you can't keep a gun in your hand. Speaking of which…" He tossed the gun to Curly. "You can have that back."

"Does the rest of the agency know you're the next chief?"

"Everyone except Ginger, and Agent K."

"Agent K? I thought she died three years ago on an ocean liner that sunk."

"It did. But she didn't die."

"Wha- How can she live in the middle of the Atlantic?"

"Don't forget, Agent K was my teacher for a couple months. She's as good, if not better than I am at surviving fatal situations and being secretive."

"Impressive. I've never heard you be humble before."

Agent Straxxor glared at Curly.

"Shut up and go back to bed."

"Why? I wanna go find Ginger, I'm worried."

"I could find her in five minutes if I wanted to. Agent K could find her in less than thirty seconds. I'm not worried about her though."

"If Agent K is so amazing than why isn't she chief?"

"She's busy doing other things. She doesn't have time to sit in the HQ all day and give assignments to the rest of the agency."

"And you do?"

"Not really, but I feel that no one else here would want the job."

"I'll take it."

"I'm a Class S Agent, you're a Class B Agent. Who do you think is more fitting for the job?"

"But I've been good at math and organizing since I was little. You're better fit for action work, out on the front lines."

"Fine… you can have the job. Remember though, I'm always watching. You can't escape." Straxxor stepped back in the shadows, and then before Curly knew it, he was gone.

Chapter Seven

"SHUT UP!" the shopkeeper screamed.

Ginger shook the cage wildly and yelled at the top of her lungs "MINNIE IS LEADER! MINNIE IS LEADER!"

All of the doodles in the shop were howling at once.

If you had to describe the shop at that moment in one word, you would probably say: Chaos.

It was 8:23 AM in the morning. It was a sunny, yet chilly day. Ginger had full consciousness and knew that she could only say one thing: Minnie is leader. She was not in a trance, but she could not control her tongue when she tried to talk.

What am I gonna do? I need to think my way out of this… She thought.

She pulled out a disintegrator, and simply shot the cage.

Wow. Why didn't I do that earlier?

It felt so good to stretch out those muscles that had been cramped in a 3x4 ft. cage for a whole night. Ahh… one problem down, one to go.

The shopkeeper was cowering in the corner, hugging his knees.

Ginger saluted the shopkeeper to show that she meant no harm, and then leaped out the window.

Morning in Toontown Central. The peacefulness of the playground was deceiving. Gossip was going all over Toontown about a mysterious explosion, and how Minnie could be a criminal.

In fact, after a little investigating, Ginger found out that Minnie was actually paying them to keep their mouths shut. It was difficult to communicate without talking though. She just had to fix that. But how? She decided she would head to HQ in Melodyland and then… Wait a minute… if by any chance she said "MINNIE IS LEADER," in the HQ, everyone would go bonkers.

Curly! Curly would know it was just a fluke, and that something was definitely wrong. But where the heck was Curly? He could be anywhere… that explosion could have flung him to the far end of Lawbot HQ for all she knew. How was she gonna find him? Even worse, how could she know for sure he lived through the explosion.

"You seem… stressed," a voice said from behind her. Ginger had just realized she was pacing the gazebo like a maniac.

She whipped around to see a maroon cat wearing shutter glasses and a yellow bow.

Ginger motioned that she was hopeless.

"So you're looking for someone?"

Ginger stopped. How did the maroon cat know that? She hadn't even made a gesture that she was looking for someone.

"Who are you looking for?" the maroon cat asked. There was a brief pause before the maroon cat said "A blue monkey… named Curly? I'll help you look. Let's check down Loopy Lane."

Ginger was very surprised at how fast the little cat moved. She was so short, yet she flew across the ground like a hawk. Ginger strained to keep up with her, yet she could not do it. She was an expert sprinter but the cat was gone before she knew it.

As she ran, she pondered the fact that the little cat knew everything that was going on about her just by staring at her. It was amazing! Supernatural, even. Then, it hit her. Something about that cat was… familiar.

Chapter Eight

Finally Ginger made it to the end of the street. She was panting, and gasping for air. She could run for hours, but she was running as fast as she could the whole time, and she was tuckered out.

"I'm sorry, but it's obvious you can't keep up with me when I'm jogging, so perhaps we should split up. You search Minnie's Melodyland, and I'll search the rest of Toontown Central, Donald's Dock, and Daisy Gardens. See you in a few minutes!" She dashed out of sight.

Ginger shrugged and trudged down the street to the playground in Melodyland. When she was stepping through the tunnel to go into the playground the maroon cat was waiting for her at the end of the tunnel with the chief. The new chief.

"This the monkey you're looking for?" the cat asked.

Ginger nodded excitedly.

"Ginger!" Curly screamed and ran up to her and gave her a hug.

"Where were you?"

"MINNIE IS LEADER." All of a sudden, a sharp pain strode through the inside of the lower part of Ginger's back, and out through the skin. She could feel blood oozing from her back, but it felt like a relief.

She turned around and saw the maroon cat holding a dart in her paw. Ginger hadn't realized it, but that part of her body that the dart had been in had been numb the whole time, so she hadn't felt the dart in her back the whole time, but the dart must have been lodged in a nerve that gave her a little feeling back when it left the nerve. That's why she felt pain when it was being pulled. Amazingly, no permanent damage had been done to her nerve.

She also began to feel like she was getting control over her tongue again.

"MINNIE IS LEADER. Minnie is leader. AAAAHHHHHhhhiii can… talk…"

"Why did you say that?"

"I don't know! I couldn't talk before, I could only say Minnie is leader."

"'Cause of this dart," the cat said. She tossed the dart onto the sidewalk.

"Ma'am, who are you?"

"Me?"

Ginger nodded.

The cat didn't hesitate. "I'm a friend, an ally." Suddenly, she was dashed away so fast they didn't even know where she went. Curly happened to look up and the cat was standing on the top of the tunnel. She waved, and then jumped out of sight.

"That was weird. Was she like, an angel?" Curly pondered.

Ginger grinned.

Curly was suspicious. "What?"

"That was a code. 'I'm a friend, an ally,' means 'I am an undercover agent,'" she whispered. "They taught us that in the training, remember?"

Curly slapped his forehead. He had forgotten.

Chapter Nine

They both walked back to the HQ. When they walked in, they asked the secretary if they had any new missions. The secretary stared blankly at Curly.

"What?" Curly said. The secretary patted his front shirt pocket, where the agents kept their badges. Curly pulled out his badge.

"Oh yeah… I give assignments now." The secretary nodded like he was teaching an infant his ABC's.

"Why you?" Ginger asked, when all of a sudden, a red cat jumped down from the ceiling.

"I'll tell you why, Ginger-cakes." Straxxor said, curtly. "He's the new chief. Only he's not very responsible, considering he went out for a nice walk in the city when he should have been giving assignments. I have an assignment for you, Curly. Go check out the lounge."

Curly, confused, walked in the lounge. His jaw hit the floor. Every agent in the entire building was in here, playing cards, sleeping, or just sitting there, bored.

"Guys!" Curly shouted. Only a few heads looked up.

Straxxor licked his paw and put it up to his mouth. He blew and a loud, shrill blast of whistle vibrated through the whole room. Everyone cringed, and then looked up at once.

"Guys, what are you all doing?"

"Getting paid to sit around and do nothing. Best job ever, if you ask me." Someone shouted. (Like I said before.)

"You guys want an assignment? Fine. You all get the same assignment. Follow me." Curly turned to Straxxor. "You, go and find out where Minnie is."

"That's it?"

"If you can, find Minnie's headquarters as well."

"Yes 'sir.' Right away, 'sir.'" Straxxor said with air quotes around "sir…" as you probably noticed… anyway, he ran out of the lounge.

"And if you find it, come back and report to me where it is!" Curly called to him as he exited. "At midnight, we raid!"

Credits:

Ginger the brown dog as Agent Ginger!

Mr. Curly the blue monkey as Agent Curly!

Noisy Lollipop Dizzychomp the blue dog as The chief!

Straxxor the red cat as Agent Straxxor!

(And, well, I can't tell you) as the maroon cat!

Stay tuned for Chapter 10!