CHAPTER 20: KNUCKLE JOE'S PLAN
Dedede sat swaddled in his warm comfy red blanket by the fire. Escargoon made him a cocoa and he drank it in between tears.
"Sire, are you okay?" asked the lower snail.
"No, Escargoon. I am not okay," said Dedede to Escargoon in a sob way. "None of anything in my life is okay! You don't see it? My life is in shambles!"
Escargoon sat down besides Dedede and held him in a warm uncle-like embrace.
"There's a murderer running wild killing all of my friends. The girl I really like just told me that she hates my guts. Now I'm a former mob member and one of my oldest friends has become an even bigger threat. Plus, my brother has been shot and is in critical condition."
"I understand you pain, Sire," said Escargoon.
"No, you don't. You want me miserable cause you wanna steal the throne!" said Dedede.
Escargoon began to feel bad. He forgot how hard teenage life was. It was harder than being a snail who always got whacked in the head with the king's mallet.
"I hate all this bad stuff!" said Dedede anxiously.
Escargoon sighed and left the room. "Sire, I'll tell you one thing before I leave."
Dedede put on his listening ears for just a moment.
"I know what you are going through because I had my brother killed when I was in high school too. I think you should count your blessings because I think Marx is gonna make a full recovery."
"Thanks Escargoon…" said Dedede. And then Dedede went to sleep and thought nothing else except that he was scared and alone.
The next day was Saturday and Dedede met up with Taranza and the two of them met up with Knuckles Joe at the local mall to talk important news to him.
"What a idiot-brain!" said Knuckle Joe as he flexed like Kelso did because he liked showing off to the ladies at the mall. Knuckle Joe was such a sweetheart these days. Fluff cold no longer slow him down
"Even though he killed Daroach, I think it was for a good reason. Daroach was leading us down the wrong pathway," said Taranza.
"But I can't forgive Magolor for what he did yo my brother. We need to stop him!" said Dedede importantly. He shook his fist like ire.
"Hey, you guys still call him, Magolor?" asked Knuckle Joe.
"Yeah why?" the others said.
"Magolor talked to me in private yesterday during school. He told me that his new name is Magothic because he wnedt to embrace his hatred." Said Knuckle Joe.
"Whay would you want to do that? Is he being tempted by Darth Vader?" said Taranza, hoping his friends would understand his scifi reference. Taranza was such a nerd!
Dedede stroked his beardless chin. "Magothic?" he repeated. "He's like an entirely new person and the police are keeping a close eye on him but letting him still go to High School."
"It seems like he only trusts me now," said Knuckle Joe. "I wish we were still all friends like the good old days."
It had barely been a week, come to think of it…
Dedede frowned, High school life was moving so fast and it was getting more and more irritable with each day.
"Well, we may have lost two of our allies, but theres still work to be done," said Taranza eagerly like a lighthouse in the darkest bay.
"What now?" asked Knuckle Joe.
"We need to investigate our final suspect for the true murderer," said Taranza. "Remember, I said that we had to watch out for Kirby and Tuff, but it seems like they're both off the hook for now."
"But Tuff doesn't even care about his own siter's death anymore!" said Dedede excalmed and surprised.
"Yes, but Tuff has shown off his idiocy. The murder isn't him, because the murderer must be someone highly intelligent. The last person we hav to check is Burning Leo."
"What's so dfferent about Burning Leo?" asked Knuckle Joe?
"Burning Leo is in an honour's class. He's a prime suspect. Plus, he's been hanging around shady places lately."
Knuckle Joe gasped. "Oh my gosh!" he said in shock. "I passed Burning Leo in the halls yesterday. I asked him if he wanted to tag along for some pranks, but he said he had after-school work."
"And?" asked Dedede.
Knuckle Joe gulped hard and pulled his own hair in shock and disbelief. "Then I saw him go in the direction of the principles office!"
"The principals office…" murmured Taranza. "Susie was killed last night…"
"Dang!" snapped Dedede and he and the oters ran away out of the mall to search for more clues.
At the schoolgrounds they saw policemen who told them to stay away from the scene of the crime. There was yellow "back-away" tape everywhere and the kids knew to avoid breaking the law, especially since Magolor was no longer egging them on to commit offences.
"What do we do?" asked Dedede.
"We can't go in the school through the doors, but we can drop in for a quick visit," said Knuckle Joe. He showed his friends to a secret stash in the woods.
The three friends got up on a tree branch. "Now Taranza has to use his webbing on the tree branch to make a slingshot." Said Knuckle Joe.
"Why?" asked Taranza.
"Then we shoot ourselves up to the roof without being detected by the police. Once we get to the top, we can sneak in through the ventilation like Jason Bourne.
So then Taranza made webs and they used it in combination with the tree branch and shooted themselves up to the school roof. Once there, they snuck past the guards and climbed into e vents.