Author's Note: For the segment where the gang performs, please go on YouTube and listen to Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire while reading along the segment.
The lyrics (In italics) belongs to Johnny Cash and the Carter Family, not me.
Chapter 14: Relevations
While the Chan Clan followed Fred down the hallway, Mr. Blaney turned towards the sergeant.
As the two men launched into rapid French, Garfield turned towards them and raised an eyebrow.
"What's going on?" Biff asked as he caught the look on Garfield's face.
"Mr. Blaney sure sounds eager to have the extra police officers patrol the venue here, even though the Phantom responsible for the sabotages has been caught and unmasked just now." Garfield replied.
"We've noticed that." Clam said. "Though didn't you mention that the division's a little short-staffed due to court appearances, vacations and sick leaves?"
"It is." Garfield nodded.
Eying the police officers patrolling the venue, Clam asked, "Then, how did the sergeant managed to arrange to get all these officers here?"
"He had to pull a few officers from the security detail keeping watch on the Sevon diamond." Garfield explained.
"The Sevon diamond?" Dee Dee asked.
Before Garfield could reply, Mr. Blaney proceeded to spray his hand with the spray.
Immediately, Skip and Augie sniffed the area Mr. Blaney was standing at.
"Lemons." Skip said.
"Yeah, it's the flavour of my hand sanitizer." Blaney replied. "I always use it to keep my hands germ-free."
He then glanced at his watch before adding, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some clean up to attend to."
The group frowned as Blaney took his leave, then Brenda stepped forward.
"Didn't the threatening note deposited to the Chan Clan's hotel room couple days ago have the scent of lemons?" Brenda asked.
"Lemon smell?" The sergeant asked, and Garfield immediately turned towards him.
"Sergeant, by any chance, are there any officers still keeping watch of the Savon diamond at the Mineral Society with everyone pulled in to patrol the venue for the duration of the contest?" Garfield asked.
The sergeant consulted the clipboard he was holding, flipped through a couple pages before looking up and replied, "Cinq officers are at the Mineral Society keeping watch. Why?"
Before Garfield could continue, the sergeant's radio burst into life.
As the sergeant exited the lobby to take the radio call, Garfield turned towards the others.
"The one and only lemon smell from the hotel room." He nodded.
"Right, and he said that he had 'some clean up to attend to.' That sounds familiar to me." April added.
"And remember his hand motion as he sprayed his hand with the sanitizer." Garfield added as he pulled out a copy of the screenshot from the surveillance footage given to him. "It's similar to the one used by the figure from the surveillance footage at the diamond display at City Hall on the night it was stolen."
GARFIELD'S FLASH VISION AND EXPLANATIONS
Night of May 11, 1972
In the shadows, Garfield, the Teen Angels, Skip, Augie, April, Cavey and the Neptunes watches Mr. Blaney, dressed up as the Phantom, breaking into the display through an open window that has a photoelectric beam that forms part of a circuit.
Using a beam of light, Blaney flashed it at the receiving side of the circuit, preventing the circuit from breaking and sounding the alarm as he crosses the open window.
He then carefully makes his way through the shadowed area of the hallway before arriving at the diamond display case, successfully dodging the security camera in the process.
As they watched Blaney spraying the hand spray after taking the diamond, Garfield paused his flash vision before turning towards the others.
"You guys see the motion he makes while spraying his hand with the sanitizer?" Garfield asked.
"Yes, we do." Dee Dee nodded. "He must have done it so he could keep his hands clean, as well as preventing germs from spreading onto the diamond."
"Exactly what we thought, too." April agreed.
The trio then watched Blaney bagging the diamond, looked around to make sure that there was no additional security features in the area, and then made his getaway.
END OF FLASH VISION
It was then that the sergeant returned to the lobby with an urgent look on his face, and the group immediately turned towards him.
"Sergeant, what's going on?" Garfield asked.
"The patrol team assigned to the security of the Sevon got called over to respond to a robbery in progress down the block." The sergeant explained.
"A robbery?" Garfield asked. "Anyone staying put at the Mineral Society to keep watch of the diamond?"
"From what I understand, it's a serious armed robbery taking place as we speak." The sergeant said. "In fact, I'm heading over to the scene to meet up with the team, given word has it that there has been a couple of hostages."
With that, the sergeant took his leave, but not before flagging down the patrol officer in charge and issued a couple of orders.
As the sergeant left the scene, the Teen Angels, the Neptunes, April, Skip and Augie turned towards Garfield.
"What's going on, Garfield?" Clam asked.
"Well, it just so happened that the patrol team watching the Sevon had to respond to an armed robbery." Garfield said urgently.
"And it also just so happened that Mr. Blaney had specifically asked for the extra officers to stay here in the venue even though we've caught the culprit behind the sabotages." April pointed out.
"Wait, so if those officers are mainly here and the others are responding to a robbery, who's watching the diamond?" Bubbles asked.
"Doesn't sound like anyone's keeping watch of the diamond." Dee Dee replied.
"Yes." Garfield nodded before he waved his hand and added, "Come on!"
Everyone else nodded before they quickly followed Garfield's lead.
Meanwhile, Christine Damon has finished her performance and has made her way backstage.
With the gang standing by, she turned towards them and proudly boasted, "Watch out, you guys are going down, and so is that family of losers."
"I'm sure we all are." Daphne replied nonchalantly, and it was then that their attention was drawn towards the Ewell twins standing at the doorway to backstage.
As the gang prepared for their act, Christine smiled at the twins as she made her way towards the doorway.
"Rona, Kellie." She greeted. "How did you guys liked my performance?"
"It was swell, but I'm afraid we've got a problem." Kellie replied.
"What is it?" Christine asked as the smile disappeared from her face.
"It's Lisa, she's in a huge mess right now." Rona said.
"What do you mean?" Christine raised an eyebrow.
"We were at the front lobby, on our way back from the washroom, when we saw that show off Garfield Wu and his friends catch your sister in the act." Kellie explained. "Last we saw, there were police officers arriving at the scene, and it looks like Lisa's not gonna be so lucky."
"Curses!" Christine muttered angrily as she threw her microphone towards the floor. "Isn't that Garfield Wu the one that was conducing that youth orchestra for the opening filler and the one you guys mentioned as being responsible for getting you guys into the tight spot you guys find yourselves in?"
"The one and only." Rona huffed. "Even after all these years, that show off hasn't changed at all and is stuck in his usual knack of causing trouble for anyone."
"I can see why." Christine said as she nodded towards Mystery Inc. "Being in cahoots with a bunch of meddling kids from south of the border can do that."
"Tell me about it." Kellie agreed as the scene shifted back onto the stage.
"Well, folks." Barbot said. "Wasn't that a magnificent performance?"
His question was answered by a series of murmurs from the audience, and he nodded.
"I've thought so, too." Barbot said before directing everyone's attention towards the screens. "Anyways, moving on, next up are Fred Jones, Velma Dinkley, Daphne Blake, Shaggy Rogers and their dog Scooby Doo from Coolsville, California."
The audience cheered as the curtains rises up, revealing the gang standing or sitting at their positions, with Shaggy and Scooby at the centre with their guitars while Fred and the girls were on the side with trumpets.
Once the cheering and applause died down and Barbot made his way off the stage, Shaggy turned towards Fred, who nodded at him.
Nodding back, Shaggy turned around before Fred and the girls began playing the introductory notes with their trumpets.
As soon as Fred and the girls hit the fourth notes with their trumpets, Shaggy and Scooby began playing the instrumental notes with their guitars while tapping their feet with the beat of the song.
After the introductory notes, Fred and the girls briefly put down their trumpets before Shaggy leaned forward to the microphone.
"Love...is a burning thing..." Shaggy sang, which was then followed shortly by Fred and the girls playing the main theme with their trumpets.
"And it makes...a fiery ring..." He continued, during which some of the audience members began to tap their feet with the beat of the song.
"Bound...by wild desire..." Shaggy sang, and following the trumpet repeat of the main theme, he continued, "I fell into a ring of fire."
And then, as Daphne and Velma began humming along, Shaggy continued, "I fell in-to a burning ring of fire, I fell down, down, down, and the flames went higher..."
"And it burns, burns, burns..." As Shaggy sang that part of the lyrics, Daphne and Velma briefly repeated the lyrics with him before returning to humming as he sang, "The ring of fire...the ring of fire."
Daphne and Velma then picked up their trumpets as they joined Fred in repeating the main theme of the song, during which the Chan Clan observed the action from backstage.
"薛吉和叔比真的知道 (Shaggy and Scooby sure knows) how to set up a musical act." Suzie remarked.
"You can tell me that again, Suzie." Henry agreed. "After all, 學校的音樂活動大多是由薛吉安排出來的。 (Most of the music events at school were organized by Shag.)"
Meanwhile, at another part of the venue, Garfield, April, Skip, Augie, the Teen Angels and the Neptunes were searching around for Mr. Blaney.
They soon found his office and Skip knocked on the door, only for no response.
"Mr. Blaney?" April called out.
When she received no response, she said, "Looks like he's not in his office."
"Maybe there's something in there that can tell us where he went." Dee Dee stepped forward and turned the doorknob.
The door was unlocked, and so the group were able to get into the room, though they were greeted by the smell of lemons as they entered the office.
"Zowie, how often does Mr. Blaney spray his hands with sanitizer?" Taffy remarked. "His office smells like lemons."
"One too many, I suppose." Garfield replied as he, Dee Dee, Biff and April stepped into the office.
The four wasted no time searching around, though it was Clam who noticed something on the bookshelf.
"Uh, guys, there's something on the bookshelf you may wanna check out." He said as he pointed towards the object in question.
Garfield, Biff, April and Dee Dee followed Clam's gaze and grabbed the object, revealing a magazine on diamonds.
Swiftly, Garfield opened the magazine and flipped through the pages, stopping when he found what they were looking for.
"Well, well, well." He remarked.
"What is it, Garfield?" Dee Dee asked.
"Check this out." Garfield replied as he flipped the magazine around for them to see.
The group leaned forward and saw a French-language article with a photo of the Sevon and a date being circled in red by a pen.
"That's the Sevon Diamond on display at the Mineral Society." Shelly recognized.
"And the display dates are circled as well." Garfield said. "Today's the last day of the diamond being on display."
"And with the police dispatched to patrol the venue and responding to that armed robbery in progress, there's not going to be anyone guarding the Sevon." Dee Dee added.
"Which means Mr. Blaney must be at the now-unguarded Mineral Society for his heist." Garfield nodded.
There was a pause among the group before April declared, "We need to stop him before he gets away with the diamond."
"Agreed." Garfield said. "Did any of you drove here?"
The Neptunes shared glances with each other, before they all nodded.
"We've brought our Neptunemobile here by train." Biff said. "However, we got it parked at the hotel parking garage."
"Same with us with our Looney Duney." April added.
"Okay, here's what we're gonna do, guys." Garfield said as the crouched together. "Neptunes, April, Mudsy, Skip and Augie, you guys get your vehicles while the Teen Angels and I alert the officers here. Then, you guys pick us up here and we go try to head Mr. Blaney off at the pass."
"And we'll keep in touch with our walkie-talkies, huh?" Clam asked.
"Yes." Garfield nodded. "Now let's go! There's not much time left."
Back on stage, the gang were almost finished with their performance as Fred and the girls played the trumpets together.
Daphne and Velma began humming along as Shaggy continued, "I fell in-to a burning ring of fire, I fell down, down, down, and the flames went higher..."
"And it burns, burns, burns..." As Shaggy sang that part of the lyrics, Daphne and Velma briefly repeated the lyrics with him before returning to humming as he sang, "The ring of fire...the ring of fire."
He then repeated the last lines as he continued, "And it burns, burns, burns...the ring of fire, the ring of fire, the ring of fire, the ring of fire..."
As Shaggy repeated the last lines, the notes and the searchlights gradually began to fade out before the trumpets played the ending notes.
There was a brief moment of silence before the audience began cheering and applauding loudly.
The searchlights light up the stage again before the gang all bowed, which was then followed by some whistling from the audience.
After some more bows, the gang then made their way off the stage, whereupon they were greeted by the Chan Clan clapping their hands.
"I gotta say that was magnificent, guys." Henry said.
"Indeed it was." Anne agreed.
"I'm sure we're gonna have to work extra hard to push past you guys in the competition." Stanley added as they made their way onto the stage.
"Well, in that case, I wish you guys luck." Fred said as he patted Henry on the back.
"Thanks." Suzie nodded as she and Daphne shared a hug.
A short while later, as the gang decided to take a break for the washroom, they saw Garfield and the Teen Angels speaking to a couple of police officers.
Sharing glances with each other, the gang walked towards the five just as the two police officers nodded and rushed off.
"What's going on?" Daphne asked as Garfield and the Teen Angels turned towards them.
"It's Mr. Blaney." Dee Dee said. "He's the third Phantom!"
"The one responsible for the diamond thefts?" Velma asked.
"The one and only." Garfield nodded. "We just found a magazine in Mr. Blaney's office that gave us a clear picture of his interest in the Sevon Diamond."
"And he's also nowhere to be seen right now." Brenda added. "The Neptunes, Mudsy, April, Skip and Augie have went to fetch their cars and then they're gonna pick us up here and we're gonna stop him before he gets away with the diamond."
"Then, what are we waiting for?" Shaggy asked. "We should probably get moving now!"
"Of course." Garfield nodded, but before he could continue, he caught a glimpse of Flight Lieutenant Bédard arriving from the hallway and turning towards him. "Hold on a second."
With that, Garfield made his way to Bédard, and the others looked on as the two engaged in a brief conversation.
Then, Garfield nodded before returning to the others.
"On second thoughts, you guys will have to go, because the orchestra and I are gonna be up once the Chans finished their act." Garfield said.
"And you don't know how long the search is gonna last, got it." Fred nodded.
"Don't worry, Garfield, we will manage." Taffy said.
"I'm sure you guys will." Garfield nodded. "Just be sure to keep your walkie-talkies with you."
"Of course." Dee Dee nodded.
Then, as they saw a couple of familiar-looking vehicles pulling up into the parking lot, Fred declared, "Looks like our rides are here."
"Happy hunting." Bédard said to them as he joined Garfield, and Garfield turned towards the flight lieutenant with an amused look on his face.
The others all nodded and smiled in reply before they rushed out of the venue.
Once the Teen Angels and Mystery Inc. had joined the others, Bédard turned towards Garfield as he adjusted his bow tie.
Glancing at his watch, Garfield nodded as he said, "Show time."
Back on stage, the Chan Clan was amazing the audience with their performance of John Barry Seven's Hit and Miss, where everyone was pretty much tapping their feet with the beat of the music.
In particular, there were a few low whistles and cheers from the audience as Stanley rocked on while playing the middle part of the piece, wagging his hands softly and shifting his feet with the beat.
Eventually, after the Chans finished the piece at the final E major chord, the audience immediately burst into a large round of applause.
The siblings smiled as they bowed, then they waved their hands before making their way off the stage.
Once they were backstage, the Chans saw Garfield and the youth orchestra preparing.
"Hey Garfield, where are the others?" Alan asked.
"Oh, they've gone out to find Mr. Blaney, who we all just realized is the Third Phantom." Garfield replied.
"Mainly because of the lemon smell from his sanitizer?" Henry asked.
"Yes." Garfield nodded. "His office also reeks of lemons, he's nowhere to be seen and that there's no one keeping watch of the Sevon diamond at the Mineral Society."
"Not to mention that he was eager to keep the officers here in the venue, even though the second Phantom has been captured." Suzie said.
"Which provides a perfect opportunity for him to go in and steal the diamond." Stanley nodded. "Though isn't there supposed to be some officers at the Mineral Society keeping watch?"
"Well, the division is short-staffed right now, not to mention that the team keeping watch on the diamond just got called away to respond to an armed robbery." Garfield explained.
"如果那個搶劫案是Blaney先生的調虎離山之計的話，我是不會為此感到驚訝的。" (If that armed robbery was nothing more than a fake call initiated by Mr. Blaney in order for him to get the remaining security away, I won't be surprised.) Henry nodded.
"我也不會驚訝的。" (I won't be surprised, either.) Garfield agreed. "But anyways, the cadets and I are gonna be up soon."
"We can see that." Tom said as he nodded towards the cadets. "Have fun."
Garfield smiled and nodded. "I take it that you guys are gonna join in with the hunt, eh?"
"We might, if only we have the Chan Van with us." Alan replied as he adjusted his glasses.
"I suppose we might as well watch you guys perform in the meantime." Henry said.
Garfield nodded again, and it was then that Barbot finished telling the audience that the orchestra is going to be performing pieces while the judges count the votes each of the contestants has received.
As if on cue, Garfield turned towards the cadets and nodded towards the stage.
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