CHAPTER 6: Sunny Days are Gone
Phantomask's mystery!...with a few ideas from TatlTails and BrownPaperBear too!
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"It's…odd. I can't quite explain it." Silver muttered, staring down at the floor.
"Well, do the best you can." Espio said.
They were back at Silver's house, trying to figure out why he had…changed…when he came into contact with the Apple of Eris, a stolen artifact they had recovered. Vector had contacted the museum that housed the Apple, warning them to not touch the item directly.
"It was as if…someone was pushing me out of my own mind." Silver nodded. "Yeah…that's how I'd describe it. Someone trying to take me over."
"Your voice changed." Charmy said. "You were a lot scarier too! It was as though you didn't recognize us."
"I couldn't see anything after I touched the Apple. But I could hear everything…that voice definitely wasn't mine. I don't know who it could belong to either." He glanced up. "Are you going to arrest me?"
"No." Vector said. "But I am placing you under house arrest…"
"Can you even do that?" Charmy wondered.
"Yes, I can. Shut up. Anyway, you're not to leave this house for a week. Just to make sure that the curse or whatever happened doesn't happen again."
"Seems fair." Silver muttered.
"We'll call occasionally." Vector stood and headed for the door. "Come on, guys."
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They were in for another frustrating afternoon. Partly because they still had no idea who could have stolen thousands upon thousands of Timeonds and partly because they were worried about the past villains on the loose again.
GhostKing came down from her office after a while, her saber in a sheathe at her side. "So…what's up? No mystery today?"
"Nothing." Charmy said from the ceiling fan blade he was lying on. "Nothing at all. But at least we're rich."
"I'd rather have a mystery than be rich." Espio sighed.
"Hey, why are you carrying around a sword all the time?" Vector asked.
"Protection. I'm kind of paranoid now after my last case." GhostKing gripped the sword handle.
"Why? What happened?" Charmy asked.
"Let's just say you're not the only one scared of robots, fire, animatronic stuff and clowns."
Charmy shuddered. "I'm glad I'm not you…"
GhostKing went off to the kitchen. "I'm going to make spaghetti. It's the only thing I can make without killing someone."
The other three detectives went back to being bored. So when the door opened they were taken a bit by surprise.
"I need your help." A completely blonde hedgehog with sea foam green eyes said. Her hair was bleach blonde and went to her mid back. She wore fancy clothing, as though she were rich. She smiled sheepishly and handed Vector some photographs. "I'm being stalked."
"What are these?" Vector asked, flipping through the photos. Each one showed a front door step, with various items on them.
"Every Friday…I would get something. At first it was just roses, like these." The hedgehog pointed to the first few photos, which were filled with different coloured roses. "And then this came."
Vector hid the pictures from Charmy, who flew over. "I wanna see, Vector!" He whined.
"Here. Look at the pretty flowers." Vector gave him the ones with the roses in them.
Now occupied, the others returned to the much less pretty and more gory ones. The next picture was of a dead bird, dried blood staining its brightly coloured belly. "This came three weeks ago." The hedgehog continued. "And then this one…two weeks ago."
A dead stray cat had been delivered to the front doorstep, its neck obviously broken.
"The last one is the most disturbing." The hedgehog said. "I nearly screamed when I saw it."
A severed hand was gripping the welcome mat, dried blood matting the wrist.
"And it came with this." The hedgehog held up a small note, written hastily, 'You will be mine.'
"We'll take the case." Vector nodded, reviewing the photos. "What's your name?"
"I'm Summer the Hedgehog. I work at Vague Modeling."
"Any suspects? Anyone that would do something like this?"
"Well…I know a lot of people who would leave me flowers…but the dead stuff…" Summer trailed off.
"Any names pop into your head when you first saw the flowers?" Espio asked.
"Well…the majority of the flowers in those pictures were purple…that's my favourite colour. Only my parents and my ex-boyfriend, Jack, know this. At least…I think they're the only ones." Summer shrugged.
"How did you break up with Jack, if you don't mind me asking?" Vector asked.
"He…well…he was…sort of demanding." Summer sighed. "I left him over dinner. It's been sort of hard on both of us, and I can imagine him trying to win me back. But like this…It's madness. I doubt he's the one doing this."
"Still, he's a good suspect. Anyone else?"
"Some of my workers." Summer admitted. "They think that I'm being cheap on their paychecks. The place is still open…we might be able to catch them and ask them a few questions before they leave."
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"Bella! Marco!" Summer shouted.
A few seconds later a rabbit that couldn't have been more than sixteen hopped over, quickly followed by a hedgehog that had to be around that age too. The rabbit was pure white with mocha-coloured eyes and hazel hair that slightly covered her left eyes. She was wearing a 'in the now' styled shirt and jeans. The hedgehog was crimson red with blue eyes, wearing a designer jacket and shoes.
"Yeah?" Bella asked. "Are you new customers? Can I show you around?"
"We're actually here to ask you a few questions." Espio said. "Summer's been receiving weird things on her front porch lately. Do you have anything to do with it?"
"I don't even know where she lives." Bella admitted, shrugging.
"Same." Marco said.
"So you don't know anything about this?" Vector handed them the photographs.
Bella's eyes grew wide as she flipped through the photos, finally throwing them at Marco, screaming, "EWWW! THAT'S SICK!"
"Who in their right mind would do this?" Marco gaped as Bella tore at her fur, muttering, "That is nasty…"
"That's what we're trying to find out." Espio retrieved the photos again, certain that these two had nothing to do with it.
"Right…Are you sure you don't need help looking around?" Bella asked. "I mean…you guys really need-"
Summer began to push Bella away. "Ok, thanks! Get back to work!"
"What?! One thousand dollars…for a hat?!" Charmy gaped at a price tag.
"It's made of silk coated in gold!" Bella sighed. "A very reasonable price, if you ask me."
"I'd gladly pay that much ten times over for you." Marco told her sheepishly.
"Oh, shut up." Bella facepalmed.
Summer, Charmy, Vector and Espio were left in the middle of the place. "So, anyone else you think could be a suspect?" Vector asked.
"There's still Jack." Summer shrugged. "But to tell you the truth…I have no idea where he is."
"Don't you have a phone number or anything?"
"I do, but it's in the back." Summer lead them back to her office, where a simple desk sat, covered in different designer rings and such. She picked up an old-fashioned looking phone and dialed a number off a slip of paper nearby.
"This is pretty." Charmy said, picking up a ring covered in strange designs.
"Put it back." Espio growled.
Charmy reluctantly put it back down and continued staring at the vast array of shiny objects. Summer hung up the phone after a few more seconds and said, "The number's disconnected."
"Where did you get this ring?" Charmy asked, pointing to the strange piece of jewelry.
"We found it." Summer said. "Someone must have left it or something…because it just appeared on our shelves. We waited for someone to come claim it, but they never did."
"It looks kinda like the ring from Lord of the Rings! Maybe it says creepy stuff in the tongue of Orcs too!"
"Somehow, I doubt it." Summer smiled.
THAT THURSDAY…
"I found Jack." Summer reported, walking into the agency.
"Oh, really? Where is he?" Vector asked.
"Over near Emerald Town. I got his number and called him up; told him about the strange stuff I was getting. He sounded truly surprised…he was never good at hiding emotions."
"And there isn't anyone else you know of that would do something like this?" Espio asked.
"No one." Summer shook her head.
"We'll call you tomorrow and try to figure out what to do next." Vector suggested.
"Sounds good to me." Summer exited the agency and made her way down the streets. But before she got very far, someone stopped her.
"You will be mine."
Jack! That was the last thing that came across Summer's mind.
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Vector could only stare in disbelief at the note nailed to the agency door: 'Come to the pier with the ring in 5 days or you'll never see Summer again.'
"Do you think it's the ring that we were talking about earlier?" Espio asked.
"It has to be." Vector nodded.
"Why would the kidnapper want that?"
"I don't know. But it's obviously important."
"What should we do?"
Vector sighed. "Get the ring, of course. We can't risk Summer's life for a piece of metal."
5 DAYS LATER AT THE MAIN PIER…
One of the boathouses was empty, the door wide open. Vector and Charmy walked into it, searching quickly for any signs of life. The door behind them shut loudly, plunging the room in near darkness.
"So I see you didn't want to risk her precious life." Came a voice from a loft.
They turned to see a brown hedgehog standing nearby the ladder to the loft. He had one arm around Summer's neck, holding her close. In his other hand he held a long knife.
"Throw the ring up here." He commanded.
"Sure thing, Jack." Vector took the ring from Charmy and tossed it up. The hedgehog snickered. "Who else?" He bent down and took the ring in his hand, examining it from every angle before nodding.
"Thank you for your business." He threw Summer down the ladder. Vector managed to catch her before she would have hit the stone floor.
"Not so fast!" Charmy said loudly. "You're not getting away!"
"Yeah? Try and stop me." Jack turned to leap out a window, but something knocked him backwards and off the loft. He hit the ground and scrambled up, ready to attack. The knife he was holding caught the dim light dangerously. "Where are you? Show yourself!"
His legs suddenly gave out and he sprawled on the floor. Espio became visible nearby, two ninja stars clenched in his hands. "Give up now and I won't be forced to wound you."
Jack began to laugh. "D you honestly think you're the only one with a backup plan? I had this planned from the beginning!" he stood up slowly and snapped his fingers.
A huge wave of water struck the side of the boathouse, blowing out a window and flooding the small area. Another wave crashed into the other side, breaking the door down and sending water hurtling towards the detectives and their client. Jack simply seemed to walk through the waves as though they were nothing more than gusts of wind.
Before he left, he tossed the knife back at them. "My boss wants you to have something!"
In another wave, he was gone. The boathouse began to drain out, the four trapped inside beginning to finally draw breath again. "That was scary!" Charmy wailed.
Espio retrieved his ninja stars and approached the knife that Jack had thrown to them.
"Summer, did that ring have any known value? Anything at all?" he asked.
"No…not that I know of. I knew that Jack could control water…but nothing like that." Summer brushed wet hair out of her eyes. "Why?"
"Because I think it meant the world to Jack." Espio retrieved the knife, holding it up for the others to see. "This is one of the many knives Scourge had."
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Thank you to Phantomask for the main outline of the story, TatlTails for the epic ending, and BrownPaperBear for the two shop workers.
AND THUS IT OFFICIALLY BEGINS! The epic 'oh-crap-what's-going-to-happen-next' feeling! IT'S AWESOME!
Next up is Theanimorpherz's mystery, accompanied by Gnat1's mystery in a two-parted awesomeness fest!
Hasta la Vista, Readers!
Lordoftheghostking28
