Chapter 14
"Target number 2 in sight."said a young man´s voice from the bushes near the Morter House.
"I was hoping old Morter would have classes into the late afternoon. It´d be more easy if we only had her husband to watch."sighed Lily, who like Miles had binoculars in her hands, the pair of them spying any and all activity in the house and yard.
"No problem, flower-girl. I´m sure our genius-boy has a plan."
Lowering the binoculars, Lily nodded and had to surpress yet another giggle, as she once more looked at what Miles was wearing – combat boots, fatigues and he even had a helmet, tied to which were two small branches, even going as far as to make two dark-green lines on his cheeks using some camouflage paint. He also brought a large back-pack stuffed with who knows what.
"I still can´t understand why in the world did you dress yourself like that."she said shaking her head smilingly.
"Awww c´mon. Chich said that it was an importaint operation. You can´t blame a guy for taking it seriously."he replied in a defensive voice, before once more looking into the binoculars.
"Damn, she went into the garden again. I can´t see very well... it seems to be too dark in there."he said as he was squinting his eyes.
Giggling for what seemed to be a thousandth time in the past 30 minute, Lily gently appreached him from the back and using both her hands lifted his sunglasses above his eyes.
"Holy cash! I´ve developed night vision!"exclaimed Miles, blinking several times unbelievingly.
"It´s still daytime, dummy. You might notice as much, if you stop wearing those sunglasses."she said wittily, laughing at the "oooh" he made as though he just realized it.
Several minutes passed in silence as both of them continued to spy the house until they heared a soft laugh behind them.
"Jeez, Miles. What in the hell... this isn´t the army."said Phil chuckling to himself, while Miles pouted.
"Nice to see that you two arrived. Let´s just get the show on the road. I do have something I should take care of pretty soon."
"Like what?"asked Lily confusedly.
"April, Chloe and Emily wanted my help in locating the author of the new novel and I agreed to help."answered Miles furthering Lily´s confusion as Chichi´s face took on a small smirk.
"I´ve already agreed with the girls to meet up ´round our house in two hours. This takes the greater priority right now, plus they told me they have a few girl-talks to take care of first."
The last part of Chichi´s explanation made Lily´s confused look clear up and immediatly replaced with a look of utmost joy.
"You mean that Emily...Archie did..."she started only to see the two younger boys erupt in laughter.
Quickly recounting the tale in the classroom, Lily was once more in full romantic mode, while Miles joined the boys in fits of laughter.
"You... gotta... be...kidding..."he managed to get out between the laughs.
"Talk...about... going... overboard..."Chichi got out between his laughs, tears of laughter in his eyes.
Lily glared the boys.
"Oh stop laughing, you three. Its sweet, that they went out of their way so much."she folded her arms, looking sternly at the trio.
"Too much, Lily."chortled Phil as they erupted into another wave of laughter.
Lily huffed.
"Boys... no sence of romantics at all."she grumbled shaking her head.
In a few moments, the three boys´ laughter cleared up.
"Ok, back to business. I´ve phoned Chief Sharkerly and informed him of everything."started Chichi but Miles gave a exclamation of pure shock and alarm.
"W...wa...wait. Shark´s involved?! Oh no! And you called him...?! See ya!"he said and almost started to run, but Chichi´s hand quickly chaught his arm.
"Hold your horses. Shark was involved in this years back. All we´re going to do is just give him something we found. That´s all."said Chichi in a calming voice.
"Are you sure about this? If its something bad he´ll probably chew us all up alive."said Miles with a hint of fright.
"Completly sure, Miles. This is concerning the single greatest mystery of Beauvillage. The dissapearance of Balthazar Bunglewood."said Lily, explaining it to him as Phil nodded.
"Bunglewood? The ghost, that everyone was yapping about?"
All three nodded.
"I´d love to hear this story in full."said Miles, nodding to himself and folding his arms.
"Later, Miles. Let´s prepare and get into position. I expect that our diversion will be along any moment."said Chichi, a cheeky note in his voice that left Lily and Miles baffled while Phil snickered to himself.
"Ok. Who´ll accompany me into the house to get the key?"asked Chichi looking from Lily to Phil.
"Lily should. She´s able to work the gemstone better than I can."said Phil, reaching into his shirt and pulling out the necklace.
Miles looked extremly curious as Phil passed the necklace to Lily, who instantly put it around her neck.
"Later, Miles. In the meantime, I want you and Phil to position yourselfs as best you can to the house. Keep us informed trough the walkie-talkies in case they come back into the house."said Chichi, pulling three walkie-talkies from Miles´ backpack.
"How are you going to get past the alarms?"asked Phil curiously.
"I´ve helped out ol´ Titus Hubbub too many times with the alarms he and Pop ussually do on the yard. He also shown me some of the new XB´s that this house surely has. I know exactly how to disable it."explained Chichi with confidence, as he pulled out something that looked like black overalls from the backpack.
Spreading them, he started to put them on. Lily let out another giggle when she took a look at him.
"I thought Miles´ costume was enough..."
"You look like a real ninja, Chichi."nodded Phil, as Chichi fastened a belt to himself and placed one of the walkie-talkies on it and placed a tiny earphone into his ear before picking up a small pouch and fastening it to his other side.
"It IS a serious operation afterall. Might as well dress up for it."he replied idly as he grabbed another pair of the black overalls and passed them to Lily, who shook her head smilingly.
"You´re NOT serious, Chichi."
"C´mon, Lily. You wanted an adventure if I recall correctly. Plus who knows... maybe you´ll get inspiration from it."he said mischievously winking at her.
The comment threw Lily off guard. For a second she pondered what did he mean by it. Did he somehow figure out... Dismissing the thought, she nodded and took the overalls from him.
"Wait a minute, Mega-mind. If me and Private Phil over here are supposed to be on the lookout and you two Stealth Ninja infiltrate the enemy camp... who´s providing the diversion?" asked Miles counting down on his fingers.
Suddenly a car could be heared heading towards their direction from the street leading down to the town. Chichi´s face sported a feral grin as he motioned them all to hide in the bushes. They did so just in time as a police car swept past them, stopping at the gates of the Morter house. Out of the car stepped four people – each Wiser than the next. The two younger boys snickered, while Miles and Lily´s jaws dropped as they grasped exactly what Chichi has planned.
"Dumb, dumb, dumb duuuumb."
...
"You´re not serious, Wiseman!"yelled Melissa Morter, glaring the intruders in her garden.
"Mrs Morter, I have a warrant allowing me to search your garden for evidence. I have reason to suspect, that your garden holds crutial evidence to the Bunglewood case."said Wiseman, passing the paper to Mr Morter, who looked at it as he scratched his head in confusion.
The very word Bunglewood was enough to get Melissa Morter´s blood right to its boiling point.
"So you see it fit to put holes in my garden?! All on an account of a 20 year old case of an old wacko?!"she yelled pointing her finger on Tex and Archie, who carried shovles and were prepared to dig as soon as Nick who had the map locates the "X".
"Melissa, I´m afraid they can. This is an official warrant, giving him the authority to do so. Sighned by the mayor himself."said Maurice Morter looking uneasily at his wife as she flared again.
"Haveitall! Who does that old oaf, think he is?! I will be having one serious conversation with him as soon as I can."she ranted.
"I´ve got it! Here´s the place!"exclaimed Nick gesturing a place near the trees.
Tex and Archie immediatly ran to him, shovles in hand.
"Perfect boys! Start digging!"commanded Wiseman, before Mr or Mrs Morter could protest.
The two boys did so with much enthusiasm. So much in fact, that the shovled earth was flying around, litterally everywhere. One piece hit Nick straight in the face, another flew right across the garden and with a loud crashing sound smashed the large expensive-looking garden vase into a thousand pieces. As Mr Morter gasped, another chunk of earth hit his stomache, driving the breath from him and forcing him to his knees.
"STOP! STOP! THAT´S ENOUGH!"screamed Mrs Morter, but the boys scarcely acknowledged her voice let alone command.
"Mrs Morter, this has to be done and let me remind you, that I have full authority to search your yard. If you interfere, I´ll have to arrest you for obstruction of justice."said Wiseman.
As Mrs Morter started to retort, further straining her lungs – shouting at the Beauvillage detective at the very top of her voice, a pair of eyes were watching perched on the nearby tree. Snickering to himself Miles picked up his walkie-talkie.
"Yellow serpent, come in this is Green monkey, repeat... this is Green monkey, over."
On the other side of the house, nestled deep in the bushes another person answered the call.
"This is Yellow serpent, I read you Green monkey, over."
"The Wise barons are doing their job perfectly, target two is momentarily incapacitated and target one is replying to the excavation attack by the Wise barons. Everything clear in sector 1, over."
Phil smiled to himself and quickly scanned the immediate area with his binoculars before picking up his walkie-talkie again.
"Black leader... come in Black leader, over."
Nearing the place, where the back of the house was situated behind the large fence, one of the black-clad figures reached his hand for his belt and pressed a button on his walkie-talkie.
"I read you Yellow Serpent, over."
"Green Monkey reports, that the targets are preoccupied. Sectors one and two are clear, over."
Under his mask, Chichi quirked a smile.
"Excellent, Yellow serpent. Make sure that the sectors remain that way. And that the Green monkey keeps his eyes on the targets as well as the Wise barons. Operation Keymaster begins, over."
Behind himself, Chichi heared a small giggle.
"You three are really getting into this."said Lily, her wide smile also concealed behind a mask.
"The operation´s success depends on it."said Chichi winking at her as he turned to the problem at hand – the alarm right in front of them.
Moving closer to the fence, he peered across it he spied the XB control pannel installed into the wall. He reached into the pouch and pulled out a rubber band. Reaching for a pebble on the ground he picked it up and at the same time extended the rubber between his fingers to form a sling-shot. Closing one of his eyes in concentration, he took carefull aim and after a while... fired. The pebble flew trouch the fence and in a direct hit, hit the control pannel. Lily gasped as one of the pannel´s green lights went off, but Chichi was already a step ahead. Reaching into the pouch once more, he pulled out a small hook. He reached a hand towards Lily, who was barely able to register what was going on.
"Rope, Lily."he said.
Lily quickly responded handing him the thin rope – commonly used in car equipment, which he instantly tied to the hook and with a single motion threw it on the top of the fence.
"Wait for my signal, then folow me."he said as he started to climb.
In a second he was over the fence. Moving quickly he reached the control pannel and started to fiddle with it a bit. Instantly all the green lights on the pannel were off. Smirking to himself he made a hand-signal to Lily, who followed.
"Boy, you disabled it this easily? You would make for a one terrifying burglar, you know."she said in awe.
"Or one hell of a ninja."he said, his grin visible even with the mask.
Lily giggled and shook her head.
"Let´s not get carried away now. What next, Black leader?"she asked, carefully drawing out the codename.
"What else? Let´s go in."
Moving with stealth, from the bushes to the statues on the yard the twosome moved to the back door.
"LOOK WHAT YOU´VE DONE!"sounded across the yard. The voice was unmistakably Mrs Morter´s.
Lily tensed a bit, but Chichi snickered opening the door and gesturing her inside.
In the garden, Melissa Morter was shouting at the top of her lungs, while her husband now recomposed himself, but still gaped at what he saw. Near the tree, where the boys started to dig, there was now a giant hole in the ground.
"There´s nothing there, brother."reported Archie as he surfaced from the hole.
"OF COURSE THERE´S NOTHING THERE, YOU STUPID BOY! WHAT IN THE WORLD WERE YOU EXPECTING TO FIND THERE?!"yelled Melissa Morter, glaring at the two climbing from the hole.
Her comment was however unnoticed by any of them as the trio grouped around Wiseman, who seemed to be deep in thought.
"It seems, that someone moved the evidence around. Perhaps buried it in a different place in the garden to throw us off the trail. Nick, check the map."he commanded.
Nick swiftly brought out the map and scanned it.
"I don´t understand. We dug right where the "X" was."he said, scratching his head.
"Let me see it."piped up Archie, reaching for the map and tearing it from Nick´s grasp.
Nick growled a bit as Archie scanned the map.
"I get it! Perhaps we were reading it upside down. That means, that the "X" is... there!"he exclaimed pointing to a place on the opposite side of the hole.
Mr Morter´s jaw fell open and Mrs Morter let out a howl of rage. However Wiseman gave out a joyous exclamation.
"Perfect insight, brother Archie. I see that the aftermath of your success has awoken a real detective in you."
Archie blushed and gave Wiseman a sheepish smile.
"I could never do it without you, brother Fred."he said in a thankfull voice.
Wiseman clapped a hand on his shoulder, returning his smile.
"It was nothing, my little brother. Now Nick and Tex, let´s start diggin in the place where Archie pointed."he commanded as Mrs Morter gave out another howl of rage.
Once more none of the Brotherhood took notice as Nick and Tex began to dig in a feverent way. Miles nearly gave in to the temptation to laugh. Instead he picked up the walkie-talkie.
"This is Green Monkey... come in, Black Leader. Sector is clear, the Wise barons are making another hole. You guys are clear, over."
"I read you Green Monkey, over."answered Chichi, as they were already in the prestigeous anti-chamber of the Morter household.
Lily was still staring wide-eyed at the surroundings. It was no wonder, that this was rumored to be Beauvillage´s most prestegous house. Even so, the rumors were nothing compared to the real thing. The anti-chamber was roomy, with glossy floors, magnificently shined and polished furniture and a number of statues, which Lily could almost swear to be collector´s items.
"Amazing. Simply amazing."she breathed, looking over the statues and statuettes.
"I have to admit, the sight takes one´s breath away."nodded Chichi also looking around.
Lily gasped and approached one of the statuettes, which was perched on a magnificently shined mahogany table.
"This is an egyptian... woah... this has GOT to be a really valluable piece."she breathed as she examined it in her hands.
"I can imagine. Though I can´t imagine why would they need it. Mr Morter doesn´t seem to be the type for it."wondered Chichi as he approached her.
"Mrs Morter doesn´t look like it, but she really loves history and she´s an enthusiast about ancient civilizations. She even works in the history field at times – she´s my father´s competitor."
Chichi quirked an eyebrow.
"I didn´t know that... anyway, let´s get the key while we still have the time. Get the gemstone going."he said, breaking her out of her small trance.
Setting the statuette down, she nodded and shut her eyes in deep concetration. Under the black overall suit, she could feel the gemstone lighting up even as they moved down the hall towards the stairs, trying to ignore the many luxurious rooms that came into view. Moving up the staircase onto the house´s second floor, Chichi turned his sights to Lily again, who closed her eyes again. The gemstone´s glow shone a bit trough the overalls, as though she had a lit flashlight under them. Opening her eyes, Lily pointed to a door at the far end of the 2nd floor hallway. Grinning broadly the pair set into the pointed door as quickly as they could, their movements informed by as much excitement as urgency. Quickly entering the attic, they had a look around. There were many shelves and two closets on the left, two the right. Eyes closed in concetration once more, Lily willed the gemstone to reveal the location of the key. Suddenly a bright green light shone from underneath her overalls and at the same time, one of the closets on the left bagan to emit the same bright green light from its inside.
"Too much!"said Chichi and like wind he moved towards the closet, opening it with animation.
There, among the many items on the shelfs one item was shining in bright green light. Lily opened her eyes and stopped her concetration. As the gemstone´s light waned, Chichi took the object which was also surrendering its light. It was a small chest. But not like the one, that they found in the museum. Merely a plain, mud splattered tiny chest. On its sides were dark red, fingermarks which looked like...
"Dried blood. This HAS to be it."breathed Chichi as Lily scooted closer.
Taking a small breath to calm himself, Chichi slowly opened the chest. Inside there was a single object – a symbol-like pendant of what seemed to be pure white crystal. From its very top was a simple chain, which was obviously used for wearing. There was no mistaking it – THIS was the key they searched for. Neighter one of them could hold in their fascination as Chichi took the crystal into his hand.
"W... wow."breathed Lily.
"Too much!"nodded Chichi.
A loud sound of something breaking downstairs roused them from it. Chichi tensed and quickly reached for his walkie talkie.
"Green monkey... this is Black leader... come in, over."he spoke in urgency.
A moment´s silence passed. Then the reply came, but Chichi was unable to understand a word among the many laughing sounds. Sharing a curious look with Lily, Chichi took the walkie-talkie again.
"Yellow serpent come in, over."
This time the reply came instantly.
"This is Yellow serpent, over."
Chichi breathed a sigh of relief.
"Phil, what the hell is going on in there. What´s up with Miles?"he asked urgently.
"He´s having a hard time keeping himself on the tree. He´s laughing so hard, but I have no idea why."
As Chichi was pondering upon Phil´s report, the walkie-talkie gave out another sound.
"Green monkey reporting on development in Sector 1."said Miles, still snorting a laugh.
"I read you, Green monkey."said Chichi urgently.
"The Wise barons set out another excavation attack. But this time their clumsy pipsqueak lost grip of his shovel and it flew trough the garden. It hit the porcelan statue at the garden door and it was blasted into smithereens. You should´ve seen it. What a shot."said Miles before erupting into silent laughter.
Chichi and Lily looked at eachother, sharing a small laugh.
"So that´s what all the screaming is about."said Lily, refering to the screaming and yelling coming from the yard. It was so loud, that it could be heared even in the house. In fact, she would not be surprised if the entire street was able to hear Mrs Morter´s angry rant.
"Anyway, let´s get out of here. We have what we need."said Chichi, an urgent tone in his voice.
Outside, Mrs Morter had litteraly shouted herself into silence, her husband was trying with all his might to calm her down, his hands on her shoulders and a look of desperate pleading on his face.
"Melissa darling, please. Remember your blood pressure."he pleaded.
"SHUT UP, YOU MORON! THAT STATUE WAS A VALUABLE PIECE!"she yelled back, as Mr Morter jumped back a bit in fright as though hit by an electric shock.
"Its OK, sweety. I´ll buy you a new one, first thing tommorow."said Mr Morter, pleading with her.
"THAT´S NOT THE POINT, IDIOT!"she retorted in rage, glaring the foursome.
"I have no idea what to do, brother."said Nick scratching his head as the foursome looked over their handywork.
In the garden were now four large holes in the ground, the flower patch ruined as a pile of dug-up earth was thrown onto it in haste. The same held true for the porch and the neatly shined chairs and table. Plus some of the house´s outer walls. And a total of 11 garden gnomes, 4 vases, a porcelan flower holder and now a priceless life-sized porcelan statue of Achilles – a piece that Mrs Morter went to great lengths to aquire, fell victim to the Brotherhood´s furious excavation attack.
"The map said that the proof is hidden here in the garden. But we´ve come up empty-handed."said Tex, lowering the map.
"What kind of a map is it?!"asked Mrs Morter furiously, snatching it from his grasp and scanning it herself.
"Hey, that´s police evidence."exclaimed Archie.
"Tell it to someone who cares, shorty!"retorted Mrs Morter angerly before she looked at the map once more.
Narrowing her eyes, she looked at the map.
"Excatly where did you four get this?"she asked in a deadly voice.
"Our sources are strictly confidential."replied Wiseman in a matter-of-fact tone.
"And how pray tell, have you gone under the impression, that the land on the map is our house and our garden?"
At this the foursome tensed. All of them looked from one to the other, obviously unable to figure out any kind of excuse.
"Well you see, Mrs Morter... I used my ingenous powers of deduction as we procured this map and..."Wiseman started to explain, but Melissa Morter´s eyes flared.
"So you came here, demolished my garder, even destroyed my precious Achilles... ALL ON ACCOUNT OF SOME IDIOTIC DEDUCTION?!"she asked, working herself up into a towering rage as the younger boys of the Brotherhood as well as her husband started to back away in fear.
"WHAT? You dare doubt the famous detective Frederick Wiseman?"questioned Wiseman in exaspiration, pointing to himself with his thumb.
Chichi and Lily just regrouped with Miles and Phil and were about to take their leave, when the main gate flew open and an incredible loud voice shouted.
"OUT! OUT! GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE AND PROPERTY!"
A second later the infamous Brotherhood ran out at top speed, as though running for their lives. Chichi, who already removed his mask tensed, along with his friends. There was no place to run or hide to avoid being seen. Or for that matter, avoid being crashed into. With a loud crash the brotherhood crashed into the foursome and a second later they were all on the ground, tangled into one another.
"Ouch, who the hell..."growled Nick as they all distangled themselfs and stood up.
"Very sorry, soldier... I had no idea... MILES!"exclaimed Wiseman as he took a good look at exactly who he crashed into.
"Yo, Wisey. Wassup?"greeted Miles as though this kind of thing happened to them everyday.
"What the hell are you doing here?!"asked Tex angerly, glaring Phil and Chichi.
"Aww... you know..."started Phil, trying with all his might to come up with an excuse. Somehow he doubted, that they could use the date excuse again.
"What´s with the gettup, Tofu?"Archie snorted a laugh, looking at the two ninja costumes.
"Perhaps you four would like to explain these strange circumstances?"asked Wiseman impatiently, obviously in no mood for games.
"What´s it look like, Wisey-guysey? We were playing soldiers and ninjas."said Miles moving to Chichi and Lily, grabbing both of them around their shoulders, grinning happily.
"Never heared of that game before."said Archie in confusion.
"Neighter have I."remarked Wiseman, his eyes narrowing in suspition.
"And why does Phil have no costume then?"asked Tex, pointing to Phil.
"Of all the times, NOW he has to be observant."Chichi thought.
Miles quickly racked his brain for a good story – a skill he picked up in Megacity during his childhood.
"Of course he has no costume. He´s the reffery. You see, the point of the game is for the soldier to catch the ninja or the other way around. But to make sure no foul play corrupts the game, and to decide exactly who won and why – ta daaaa – the refery is here. That´s why he has those binoculars."
Miles´ explanation left the four looking from one to the other. In a large collective "aaah", it seemed that they actually believed the story. Until...
"Hey, what´s this?"wondered Nick as he kneeled to pick something from the ground.
To Chichi and Lily´s horror it was the crystal key.
"Oh that´s the prize for the wining team, Nick."answered Chichi, holding out his hand to Nick.
But Nick was examining the key with interest.
"I could´ve sworn I´ve seen this symbol somewhere..."
Chichi, Phil and Lily´s mouths fell open, whereas Miles´ was looking in genuine confusion.
"Let me see it, brother... Yeah I think I´ve seen it too."responded Archie, taking the key into his hand and examining it.
Chichi was growing more and more frustrated, slowly losing his cool as the key was in the hands of the enemy. Not to mention, that chief Shark was to come into Beauvillage soon, for the evidence inside the Chest of secrets – this was no time for games. He was already starting to have a sneaky suspition about exactly why did the symbol look familiar to them.
"Now I remember! It was on the door of Bunglewood´s house! This is tied in to the Bunglewood case!"exclaimed Nick, confirming Chichi´s suspition and worst fear at the same time.
"What? Then the key is evidence. Let me have it."exclaimed Wiseman, holding out his hand.
"Catch, brother."said Archie, throwing it to Wiseman.
However in a swift motion, Chichi chaught the key in his hand and ran down the hill, deterimned to put as much distance between the key and the Brotherhood as possible.
"After him!"commanded Wiseman, but he scarcely needed so.
Nick, Tex and Archie were already on his trail, with Wiseman following too.
"C´mon. We can´t let them get the key."exclaimed Lily.
Miles and Phil nodded and the trio sped down the hill after Chichi and his persuers.
...
The Beauvillage Park was beautyfull at this time of the afternoon. Not to mention in the aftermath of an extremly joyous event such as Emily Sweetlong just experienced. In fact, she was giddy with excitement as she, Chloe and April were standing on the famous Bridge of Love.
"...and he asked me out for a date. He´s supposed to come for me around 7pm."she finished, her voice high from excitement.
April and Chloe shared a long – in April´s case longling – sigh. They were extremly happy for their friend eversince Emily returned to the classroom – a dazed expression on her face, her lips slightly swollen from all the kissing the unused classroom must´ve endured. April made a point to call Chichi to postpone their meeting at the Tofu house. Great Mystery or not – this takes priority. And so the girls went straight into the park to have some girl-talk. Now as Emily recounted in extreme detail exactly what happened in the unused classroom, the two girls were almost as giddy as her. Chloe couldn´t contain her excitement any longer. With a happy squeal she jumped at Emily for a bear-hug. The two girls jumped around happily, but as they noticed April didn´t join in. As they looked at her, she offered a kind smile.
"I´m really happy for you, Emmy."she said weakly.
"What´s wrong, April."asked Chloe, letting go of Emily.
"Oh nothing. Its just that... you and Archie are together now... and..."she said weakly, her voice betrying hints of sadness as the girls approached.
"... well I was hoping, that Chichi would ask me too."she finished sadly.
Chloe quickly grabbed her hand, Emily grabbed her other.
"Don´t you worry, April. He will. Definitely."nodded Chloe in a staunch manner.
"I´ll help too, April."said Emily in a honest voice.
"You will?"asked April, completly surprised.
"Of course."nodded Emily.
April´s eyes watered a bit as the three embraced.
"You´re the best friends a girl could ask for."she said in a moved voice.
"Don´t you worry, April. With our help, your Chichi honey-bun will be running into your arms in no time."promised Chloe as the embrace broke.
April nodded happily, feeling a lot better. Suddenly they saw a figure dressed in had-to-toe black racing across the park towards them. Neighter had to look twice to know, exactly who did that mop of blonde hair belong to. All three gasped.
"No way..."breathed Emily.
"Could it be...?"wondered Chloe, a small smile on her face.
April´s haunted look was starting to turn into a look of ultimate happiness, as the figure was running straight toward her.
"C... Chichi?"she breathed, almost not able to believe it.
Chichi noticed them as he was running to the bridge. The three familiar girls standing on the bridge – Chloe on the left, Emily on the right and April in the middle – right in his way.
"April!"he called, hoping she´d get the hint and move away.
"CHICHI!"she squealled, spreading her arms open as Chichi came to a moment-defying stop in front of her, breathing as though he ran for miles.
"...April..."he said, trying to tell her to move, but his lack of breath rendered him unable to do so.
"CHICHI!"she squealled once more, launching herself at him and catching him in a bear-hug, snuggling into his right shoulder.
Chichi´s face took on color as he grabbed her shoulders and tried to gently peel her off him, only to find that she wouldn´t budge – she was holding him in a deathgrip.
Emily and Chloe watched the scene with a mixture of surprise and hope.
"A...April...please... April, I need to get out of here and fast."Chichi finally managed to say as April raised her head from his shoulder and looked at him in confusion.
"Why?"she asked curiously.
"Freeze, Tofu."came another voice from behind the girls, from the other side of the bridge.
"That´s why."said Chichi as he glared over April at Nick.
"We got you now."sounded another voice ahead of them, making Emily gasp.
"Archie? What are you doing here?"she asked startled at her new boyfriend´s sudden appearance.
Both boys were approaching them from both sides, the girls looking curiously from Chichi to the newcomers.
"Chichi what´s going on here?"asked April in complete confusion.
"Game over, Tofu. Hand over that object."said Archie as he neared Chichi´s back.
Chichi quickly scanned the area. There was no way how to get off the bridge now. He was cornered. However he spotted something that will help. Or rather, someone. Grinning he reached into his pouch for the rubber band with one hand and for the key in his pocket with the other.
"You´ve got no choice, Tofu. Hand it over."said Nick in a threatening voice.
In a fluid motion Chichi turned to the side of the bridge, the rubber streched between his fingers. Using the key like the pebble at the Morter house, he aimed it swiftly before calling out.
"Yellow serpent, CATCH!"he called, catching the two off guard as he shot out the key across the waters of the Beauvillage Lake.
Nick and Archie gasped as the crystal pendant flew across the water on to dry land and right into the hands of Phil Conners, who sped away from there instantly.
"What did you do that for?!"growled Archie glaring Chichi.
Chichi let out a small chuckle.
"I don´t have the time for stupid questions. I still have to get somewhere."he replied in a cheeky voice.
"You´re not going anywhere, Tofu."said Nick, bringing out a set of handcuffs he got from Wiseman.
The girls gasped as Nick approached. Chichi however laughed and with another swift motion jumped from the side of the bridge, landing in the river with a loud splash.
"After him! And the others too!"screamed Nick as he turned and ran off the bridge.
"Archie! What the hell is going on?!"asked Emily.
Archie however shook his head.
"I´ll tell you later, Emmy. Right now we have to catch the bio-degenerate and his stupid friends."he said hurriedly before he sped across the bridge after Nick, but turning in another direction.
The three girls looked from one to the other, each unsure about what to think of the entire ordeal. Suddenly they saw Lily dressed in exactly the same thing run across the walkway just visible from the bridge on the opposite side, where Chichi jumped over. She seemed to be running away from someone, and a second later Tex came into view running after her. As she sprinted on the walkway, she saw Miles running to meet her. Getting the idea, she nodded and as she approached him, passed the key to him. The moment he got it, he sped up his pace and overtook Tex in such speed that Tex losing balance, rolled on the ground. He was nearing on of the park´s numerous exits until he spotted something that caused him to try and stop his speed – Wiseman was standing at the exit of the park, expecting him. Digging his heels into the dry and dusty ground, Miles came to a stop infront of Wiseman. However the combat boots he had, made a giant dust cloud, which went straight for Wiseman dustying him from heat to toe.
"S´cuse me."said Miles with an innocent grin as Wiseman was chaught in a coughing fit from all the dust.
Swiftly turning, Miles ran back once more at top speed.
"COME BACK HERE!"yelled Wiseman before he persued.
Tex was just getting on his feet again, when a voice screamed behind him.
"GANG WAY!"yelled Miles as he overtook him again, once more sending Tex to the ground.
"YOU WON´T GET AWAY FROM ME, MILES!"yelled Wiseman as he sped past Tex, not even noticing, that he was on the ground.
Noticing Chichi on the other side of the park – on a different walkway, he threw the key.
"CHICH, CATCH!"
And Chichi, dripping wet chaught it and sped in another direction followed by Nick.
"Phil!"he called throwing the key to Phil, who was chased by Archie.
"Lily!"screamed Phil, throwing the key to Lily, who was followed by a torn up and dirty Tex.
"Miles!"she yelled, throwing the key to Miles, who had a dusty Wiseman on his heels.
The chase continued for almost 20 minutes. During this time, the key was litteraly flying from one holder to the other in their feverent effort not to let it fall into enemy hands. But the four friends ended up being cornered in the Circle of Natural Life with Nick, Tex, Archie and Wiseman guarding all four exits, everybody breathing hard trying to catch their breath.
"Like...oops."said Miles sheepishly as the four were standing at the human statue, each watching their way. Miles´ sunglassed eyes were boring into Wiseman´s sunglassed ones as Wiseman, breathing hard was standing at the wolf statue.
"Looks like we goofed."noted Phil, looking at Archie who was at the goat statue, breathing hard.
"What now? We can´t just surrender the key."wondered Lily, looking at Tex standing at the hawk statue.
"On my mark, we jump over the benches."said Chichi, glaring at Nick who returned it from the bull statue, puffing like a real bull would.
"Are you nuts, Chichi? There´s roses in those bushes. You´ll rip yourself to shreds."replied Lily, completly startled.
"Gladly. If it means getting the key away from them. Hand it to me. No point in mangling yourselfs too. I´ll escape myself."said Chichi.
"No way! I´m not leaving you in this, Chichi."said Phil staunchly.
"Me neighter. Why don´t we just fight ´em?"asked Miles.
"No way, Miles. Wiseman can press charges then."said Lily.
"Would someone mind explaining just what in the hell is going on?"came an exaspirated voice from Archie´s back.
Chloe, Emily and April came to the circle, all three girls looking both curious and a little annoyed at the chase.
"We´re arresting these four hooligans."said Wiseman in a firm voice.
"Why, detective? Have they done something wrong?"asked Emily, looking from Wiseman to the foursome at the statue.
"They have a piece of evidence, Emmy. And refuse to hand it over."said Archie, pointing at the foursome.
"Not to mention, the offence they made towards me."nodded Nick, glaring at Chichi who looked as puzzled as everyone but the Brotherhood were.
During the entire 20 minute run, no one uttered a single swear word much less insulted Nick.
"Offence? What d´you mean?"wondered Chloe.
"They pissed me OFF, that´s what!"bellowed Nick, pointing at Chichi.
"Exactly, brother Nick."nodded Wiseman.
Miles and Chichi let out a humorous laugh.
"THAT´S a crime now?"asked Miles, still laughing.
Chichi however had a small brainstorm. A swift "Plan B" formed in his head.
"Hey, detective. All right, we´ll hand you the pendant."he called.
"HUH?!"sounded from Phil, Lily and Miles all of which looked at Chichi as though he were mad.
"BUT under two conditions. First – I´ll deliver you the pendant in 30 minutes, and second – we get to keep it afterwards."
Phil, Lily and Miles looked at eachother, small smiles forming on their faces as they grasped at what Chichi was trying to do. Wiseman however laughed openly.
"I´m afraid, that you´re in no position to give any conditions at all, young Chichi. You will hand the evidence over and that´s that. Unless you want to be arrested."
Chichi sighed to himself.
"OK, back to "plan A" then. Hand me the key."said Chichi, holding out his hand.
"All right. I hope you know what you´re doing, Chichi."sighed Lily.
"I´m afraid he has no other choice, Lily."said Phil quietly as Lily made her way towards him, grasping the key in her hand, wishing they had some way to escape the circle.
Suddenly the crystal key started to shine in a bright light.
"Huh?"breathed Phil as Lily approached him and Miles who approached curiously, the light was picking up on the intensity.
A series of screams followed. Those that were close to the statues jumped into the circle, for the statue´s mineral stoned eyes started to glow as well.
"Not again."squealled Chloe, backing up a few steps.
"T...the ghost...he´s back."breathed Archie, reaching for Emily shaking like mad, both of them standing next to Wiseman.
At that, April let out a terryfied scream and ran to Chichi, grabbing his in a fearfull hug also shaking.
"B...brother, I´m scared."shivered Tex as he stood next to Nick.
Suddenly the ground started to shake. The stoned pavement began to move. In a flash, everyone in the circle dissapeared into the ground, falling below the circle and after a few moments, the pavement ground repaired itself to its normal position, the mineral stones surrendered their glow.
...