"And then, when Clifford and I went downstairs to find out where the scream came from, we saw Amber trying to choke Zondra to death," Lips stated.
"Oh no! Is she, like, okay?" Janice asked the trumpeter.
"Yeah, she's fine, a little shaken up, but fine," Lips said. "Clifford got so mad when he saw it happen."
At the Muppet theater, Lips had decided to tell the other Muppets about what happened at the Boarding House, which they were all really shocked about.
"Well, he and Zondra have known each other since Jim Henson Hour, so I don't blame him. They are friends," Gonzo said.
"What did Kermit do?" Fozzie asked frantically, sounding terrified.
"Well, all I can tell you is that he didn't fire her, but he was shocked by it all," Lips explained.
"Kermit didn't fire her! If someone tries to kill their coworker, that's the cue to fire them! Why? Because there's a big chance that person will do it again!" Rizzo shouted.
"Yeah! One of us might be next, okay!" Pepe added.
"I guess Kermit let her stay because she apologized for it, saying she had no idea what came over, and was crying," Lips said.
"Fake tears, I bet. She probably just did that so Kermit would feel sorry for her and let her stay," Ubu said.
At that moment, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Beaker, Digit and Professor Madcliffe (A character from Sam & Friends) ran into the room. "After an hour of research, we have come to the conclusion that Amber possibly has a very serious mental illness!" Bunsen stated.
"A mental illness? Are you sure?" Floyd Pepper asked the scientists.
"We're positive! But we're not sure which one exactly. All we know is some a majority of many different mental illnesses tend to cause this sort of violence," Digit explained.
"Is there like, anything we can do to stop it. We don't want Amber to hurt anyone else," Janice said.
"If I told you yes, I'd be lying. I'm afraid there is no cure for psychiatric disorders. Only treatments, but in some cases, the treatment make it worse or does nothing at all. It's happened so many times in history," Professor Madcliffe admitted.
"Oh man, that means we have to share a house and a theater with a violent maniac," Rizzo said.
"Not necessarily. Just be very careful around Amber. You never know what could set her off," Bunsen warned his friends.
"Sounds like some sort of plan, but part of that warning will be a problem; we don't know what could set her off," Lips said.
"Well, why did she lash out at Zondra?" Digit asked.
"Zondra said she told Amber Dr. Teeth was already seeing someone, and when she refused to tell Amber who the person was exactly, Amber grabbed a washcloth and started to choke her with it," Walter explained.
"Did she tell Amber it was Zoot, because if she did then she just put Zoot in danger!" Fozzie had to know.
"I don't know; she never said…but she did look pretty guilty about something other than teasing Amber," Walter admitted.
"Well, you better ask her and find out, before Amber starts planning on how to take care of Zoot," Rizzo said.
"Take care of him? I thought she'd hate him for already dating Dr. Teeth?" Walter said confused.
Floyd then whispered something into Walter's ear, where Walter screamed, "ZONDRA!" and ran off to find his girlfriend. He found her in one of the dressing rooms by herself, sitting in the corner, looking very nervous.
"Zondra! Thank goodness I found you! I need to ask you something!" Walter exclaimed frantically.
"Calm down and tell me what it is then," Zondra ordered; she hated it when Walter panicked like this.
"Did you tell Amber Dr. Teeth was dating Zoot?" Walter asked.
Zondra's went stuff, her felt skin turned paler than usual and her mouth opened in shock. "Dear Jim…" she muttered. "I did."
"You did?! Zondra! You put Zoot in danger!" Walter shouted.
"I'm sorry, but I couldn't help it! That girl was choking me to death and I was so terrified it slipped! Do you blame me?" Zondra shrieked, freaking out herself.
Walter sighed, "No, I don't blame you. At least now we know that Amber knows about it. What matters now is that we have to be sure she doesn't hurt Zoot, because if she does..."
"I know, Dr. Teeth will be devastated, we'll all be devastated, Amber wins but in the process she'll get locked up in prison," Zondra said. "So, what do we do now?"
"We have to warn the others. Amber could try to attack Zoot today, she could do it in a month, there's no telling when it will happen!" Walter said.
Then, a voice asked, "What's going on here?"
Walter and Zondra turned around to look at the door to see Madame Groovy standing in the doorway, looking very concerned.
"Zondra told Amber Dr. Teeth is dating Zoot!" Walter stated.
"Zondra, I said not to mention it to her!" Groovy screamed.
"Sorry! It slipped, and in case you didn't hear, she was choking me to death so she could get the answer!" Zondra snapped.
"Girls! Calm down! We have to figure out how to protect Zoot from Amber," Walter said.
"Yeah, if Amber hurts him or something worse, then John will be devastated," Madame G stated.
Walter then got a confused expression and asked the Muppet, "Madame Groovy, why do you always call Dr. Teeth John? Is that his real name?"
"Yep, his real name is John Teeth," Groovy stated.
"Yeah, she told me," Zondra confirmed.
"Okay, but how do you know it, Groovy?" Walter asked the musician.
Madame Groovy glanced down the hall to see if anyone was around until she looked at the two Muppets and said, "Okay, I might as well tell you since you asked nicely. You see…"
While Madame Groovy was explaining everything, Amber was still back at the Muppet Boarding House, stomping around her bedroom, upset about nearly getting fired and the fact that Dr. Teeth, the man of her dreams, was already dating someone!
"I don't believe this! How could the grooviest man in the Muppet world, with golden teeth and golden tones, fall for that blue saxophonist! What does he have that I don't? I hate Zoot!" she muttered to herself.
She huffed and threw open her bureau so she could look at her Dr. Teeth shrine. She took the Dr. Teeth action figure into her hands and stared at it, before saying in a very creepy tone, "No matter what happens, my dear Dr. Teeth, you will be mine. You don't need a man to be happy; you need a woman to be happy! And I'll see to it that you'll be very happy."
Then, she started laughing maniacally in her room to the point where it could be heard throughout the house, where nobody, save for a few farm animals that could hear, one of those farm animals being Camilla, who looked very worried…if chickens could look worried that is.
At that moment, in the dressing room of the Electric Mayhem, Dr. Teeth and Zoot were alone in the room. "Poor Zondra, nearly getting choked to death by Amber and all. I hope she's alright," Dr. Teeth said.
"I wish I knew what happened that caused Amber to do that," Zoot admitted. He and Dr. Teeth did hear that Zondra was nearly choked to death by Amber, but they didn't hear why, so they were unaware of the fact that Amber knew that they were dating now.
"I wish I knew too, but all I know is that she needs help. It isn't normal for a Muppet to lash out like that," Dr. Teeth stated.
Zoot seemed to think for a few moments until he said, "What about Heidi Hippo from Meet the Feebles?"
Dr. Teeth shuddered at the memory of the Muppets reading the article about the terrible incident that occurred in 1989, especially since they actually met Heidi at one point before the incident took place. She seemed so nice and friendly and she and Miss Piggy even became friends, but that massacre she committed really scared everyone. No Muppet in the Muppet Theater has spoken to her since, not even Piggy herself and things like that didn't freak her out often!
When Jim Henson heard about what happened, he felt sorry for Heidi actually, wondering what made her commit such an act of murder on her fellow performers, but there were no answers, so he just left the incident be, but did send a nice letter to the hippo, saying he hopes to see her back to her happy and friendly self again one day.
There were other people that survived the incident, like Robert the Porcupine, Lucille the Dog, Sebastian the Fox, Arthur the Worm and Sidney the Elephant, but only Robert could say was that it had something to do with a walrus named Bletch, who Heidi discovered had been cheating on her earlier that day.
"Okay, so maybe Heidi is an exception, but remember; she was completely sane before that night. Also, I heard she's fine now…she's working at a register in some supermarket under a new identity but she's fine!" Dr. Teeth stated. The keyboardist had heard about that from a documentary about the Feebles and the events up to the massacre were played out in a movie.
"Too true," Zoot said. "Then again, Heidi wasn't officially a Muppet, so she probably shouldn't count…hey, you know how Amber is completely obsessed with you?"
Dr. Teeth sighed and said, "Yeah?"
"Well…aren't you a little worried about how she'll react once she finds out…about us?" the saxophonist asked.
Dr. Teeth hadn't honestly thought about that scenario, but he knew it would probably end badly if the fan girl did learn the truth. "Well, she might be a little upset about it…but maybe she'll be okay with it," he said.
Zoot still didn't seem all assured and Dr. Teeth took notice of that. He went over to his partner and took his hand. "Listen, I'm sure everything will be fine," he said.
"Okay," Zoot said. Then he smiled at his boyfriend and said, "I love you."
"I love you too," Dr. Teeth responded, grinning. Then, the couple kissed.
Meanwhile, where all the other Muppets were, Walter and Zondra had just explained to them that Amber knew Dr. Teeth was dating Zoot.
"Oh no, that's not good," Lips said.
"Yeah, now Amber is going to be after Zoot and not meaning to make things dark or anything, but I have a feeling she's not just going to hurt him," Floyd Pepper stated.
"We have to do something about her, you know, to keep her from going crazy," Fozzie said.
"But Professor Madcliffe said there's no cure for mental illnesses, like the one she possibly has, only treatments," Rowlf stated.
"Maybe we can talk her into seeing a psychiatrist for a while, and maybe that will, like, keep her from losing her mind," Janice suggested. "Either that, or we try to find the place where Heidi Hippo went after she lost her mind. What was it called, a penitentiary?" Rizzo asked.
"Rizzo, a penitentiary is a prison for people that convicted serious crimes," Gonzo said.
"Sí, you can't have Amber sent to a prison, okay. She needs to go to an asylum," Pepe stated.
"But didn't she get rehabilitated afterward? That could get Amber to be sane, right?" Rizzo explained.
"Sorry Rizzo, but I think Janice's plan could work. Besides, I heard rehab can be a tad bit expensive," Rowlf said.
Then, there were sounds of a loud explosion, like a canon firing, making everyone jump. Gonzo then whipped out his cell phone, revealing that the noise was his ringtone. "Great Gonzo speaking…oh hi, Camilla! How are you back at the house, sorry we left you and the other farm animals be-…Amber is what? I see, I'll tell the others." Gonzo lowered his phone and stated, "Camilla says she thinks Amber's losing her mind a little. She says that the girl is laughing maniacally in her room."
"How maniacally?" Walter asked, curious.
Gonzo went back on his phone and asked, "How maniacally? Can you put the phone near where Amber is laughing…thank you. I'll put it on speaker phone so the others can hear." Gonzo pressed a button on his phone, putting it on speaker phone, and set it on a table.
Before anyone knew it, extremely loud and wicked laughter filled the room, making every shake a little due to fear.
"I guess she's lost it," Zondra muttered.
Gonzo took his cell phone off speakerphone and started to speak to Camilla. "So, how long has this been going? 20 minutes you say," he said.
Digit then said, "I'm surprised she didn't die of laughter already. That's possible you know."
"Really? I never knew that!" Fozzie said, sounding very terrified, as if worried one day he'll be onstage telling jokes and everyone in the audience dies of laughter…but the chances of someone laughing at his jokes were pretty unlikely.
"Okay, thanks for telling me. Love you. See you later," Gonzo said, hanging up his cell phone.
"So what now?" Lips asked his friends.
"Well, for now, let's be on high alert. Keep a close eye on Amber and be sure she doesn't look like she's preparing to murder someone. Also, try to talk her into seeing a psychiatrist; she truly needs the help, especially since she's laughing like that," Bunsen stated.
"Sounds like some sort of plan, but we might make it work. So, who's going to hang out with Amber first?" Fozzie asked.
At that moment, everyone put fingers on their noses, except for the bear. "Why are you doing that?" he asked his friends, sounding very confused.
"This is a new way of saying 'not it'," Rizzo explained.
"Oh, that's pretty neat," Fozzie said.
"And you didn't put your finger on your nose, so you're it. You're going to watch Amber first," Rizzo added.
"…Now it's not so neat," Fozzie said, sounding nervous.
"Relax Fozzie, it's Zoot Amber might be after to harm, not you. I'm sure you'll be fine," Gonzo assured his friend.
"Okay, wish me luck," Fozzie said before walking out of the room.
"I don't think we should keep an eye on her now, I mean, she's at the Boarding House, and Zoot is here, at the Theater. I think we should wait until she's actually here. To get her to stay away from Zoot," Walter said.
Fozzie then reentered the room and said, "Good plan!"
As the Muppets all scattered to prep for the show that week, Walter went up to Zondra and asked, "So, what did you think of what Madame Groovy said? I'm still a little surprised about it."
"I'm a little surprised myself, but they do look similar in a way. I mean…they have the same teeth; all blinged out," Zondra admitted.
Well, Amber is starting to lose her mind and I have a feeling she's in the process of planning how to get rid of Zoot. This is not going to end well! Also, I foreshadowed something involving what Heidi Hippo did.
When will Amber commit the terrible deed?
Will Zoot and Dr. Teeth find out Amber is aware of their relationship before it's too late?
What did Madame Groovy tell Walter and Zondra? Find out in the next chapter of Madame Groovy!
I own Madame Groovy and Amber
Jim Henson owns the Muppets
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