Chapter 4:

After we decided on the movies, the Conductor led me and Pepper to our first day on the set, it being the famous train level in the game, us smirking at how they were using a filter on the cameras to give it a sepia-tone effect, which was perfect for mystery movies like this one.

"Okay, kids, the first day of shooting will begin soon. Until then, why not explore the train for a bit? Your costumes are at the front of the train," the Conductor said, us nodding at that as we proceeded to go forward, but he then stopped us. "And keep in mind, Pepper, you are Detective Mustachio. And Freddy is Constable Clue," he said, me smirking at that. We then went to the next room on the train, and we got stopped by some crows.

"Hello, fellow express owl. I, too, am an express owl. May I ask what your uncle's sister's name is?" he asked, looking at the detective and her smirking at that.

"Belinda," she said.

"Ah, so it is Belinda. Good to know," he said before then leaving us be. We then went to the door and got stopped by yet another crow.

"Do you like pets? You look like the kind of people that would like pets," he asked, me nodding as well as the detective. "Well, if you did have a pet, what would be the name of your pet's pet?" When he asked that, it looked like the detective was thinking a bit, so I smiled.

"How about I answer this question, detective?" I asked in my helium voice, her nodding. "I do believe that the name of my pet's pet would be Meow," I smiled, which made the Detective smirk at me with a raised eyebrow. "Yeah, I'm a cat person, so what?" I smirked.

"So it would be named Meow. Thanks for your cooperation," the crow said, us then going through the door and proceeding the rest of the way to the front of the train, where we saw that the room with the engine was open, but there was also a time rift in the room with the crows. And it had a glass dome over it so no one would touch it.

"I think we've found something to talk to our friends about, eh, constable?" the detective smirked.

"Elementary," I smiled as we then went into the front train engine and we saw the box with the required costumes. I got the my outfit in the form of a bowler hat and a formal attire while Pepper got the detective outfit that Hat Kid would've worn. And shortly after, the phone started to ring.

"I think it's for you," I smiled, still maintaining the helium voice... there was only one downside to it, which I was starting to feel. I started to feel slightly lightheaded, so I turned it off briefly whenever I wasn't talking. Didn't want to faint on set, after all. Pepper then picked up the phone and answered it.

"'Ello?" she asked without saying the h sound.

"So, you think you can play the detective game, huh, kid? Why don't you come to the back of the train? Your uncle's sister, Belinda, came to give you a present. You better get there quick. We wouldn't want a knife to go across your necks, HAHAHAHA!" the voice said before hanging up, Pepper looking kind of spooked at the voice modulation, but I looked at her with a wink, her then nodding. It was part of the filming, and I felt she got that.

We then proceeded back to the back train car, where we saw the sight that made Pepper realize what this film was. And she decided to get into the character and suddenly shout.

"MURDER!" she shouted, that making the Conductor come from the outside of the train along with the Express Owls.

"A-A-A MURDER?! ON MY OWL EXPRESS?!" the Conductor shouted, also in character, me looking at the scene of the crime as well as the one playing Belinda... and guess what? It was Pepper's mother, but she was totally in character. She was acting like she were stunned and that.

"I can't believe that a murder happened here! And I can't believe your uncle's sister was the one to do it! Go on, then, start talkin'!" he said, Pepper's mom looking at the body and then at him.

"I-I've been framed!" she said with concern.

"Oh, trying to deflect blame, huh?" the Conductor asked.

"Leave it to us," one of the crows said as they came into the train car with us. "We're CAW, the Crow Agent Watch. We'll investigate the train looking for clues until it hits high noon. No one is allowed out of this train car until then."

"WHAT?! I'm not allowed to move around my own train?!" he asked in annoyance, still in character.

"When the clock hits noon at the next stop, we will leave the train with the killer in chains," they said as they then went ahead into the train car and I looked at Pepper with seriousness.

"Time to solve this mystery, Detective Mustachio! What do you say?" I smirked at her.

"Sure 'nuff, Constable Clue. Let's investigate," she smirked as we then poked our heads through the door and saw the crows were already on the search for clues. "Any chance we could use your special skills to get us past these crows?" Pepper asked.

"It'll cost you a pizza when we get off at the next station," I smiled, her nodding.

"Sure, I can do that, so long as you share," she said, me winking at her as I then used my slowing time skill while holding onto her, which made time slow for everything but the two of us. We used this opportunity to rush ahead to the next train car, where we then saw the crows were distracted by laughing at their own bad jokes. I then led myself and Pepper up to the door at the top of this train car, which then led to another area, where I saw it was actually leading to a room ABOVE the train car, as opposed to it being a room to the left of it.

"Time to find some clues," Pepper smirked as she looked around as well as going out of the room along with me when the crows weren't looking. And it was at that point that we'd found the first clue right where it was in the game, on the table to the left of the entry to this room. "Hmm... yellow owl feathers with a bit of red on it. Keeping this, indeed," she smirked as we then knew it.

"Okay, and since we only know one bird on this train with yellow feathers, then that means the Conductor is a suspect," I said with helium voice, before then turning it off to get some air. But it was then that I saw one other thing in the room, that being a key. I grabbed it before we headed out and back to the first crow room, us seeing that it was now 11:10 on the clock.

"We gotta speed up," Pepper whispered as we then went into the next room, us then finding yet another clue, this one being a handprint in the form of an adult woman's. It was for Belinda, AKA, Pepper's mom.

"Wait... something ain't right 'ere. We already found a clue about the Conductor, so why do we have another one from my uncle's sister?" Pepper asked, still in the character.

"I do believe someone's trying to mislead us. We need to find out the real culprit among the fakes," I said, her nodding at me. I then unlocked the door ahead of us, as well as pickpocketing another key from the nearby crow. We then proceeded into the next room across the hall, only to get called again by another phone booth.

"You get this one, Constable," Pepper said, me nodding and answering it.

"Hewwo?" I asked all cutesy-like.

"Still think you can do the whole detective act, huh, kids? Well, sorry to say, but you'll never find out who I am! I've laid tons of fake clues all over, so it's up to you to find the REAL clues!" he said before then hanging up, me looking at our bloody feather clue and the bloody handprint clue. I then decided to switch the powers in my badge to what I could best describe as 'Top Hat Foresight". And after using it, I had a small radar in my head going off to the dead-end by a large pile of luggage in front of us.

"Follow me," I said, her then following me as we then got to the area I mentioned, us then finding the resulting clue. It was an obituary for the victim that was made by the crows, as the ink pen was there in the form of a crow feather.

"I do believe we've found one of the real clues! Good eye, Constable Clue," Detective Mustachio smirked.

"Thanks, Detective, just helping you out," I smirked as we then went back to the main path, us seeing that there were other clues on the way up the luggage room, such as some feathers from the Express Owls, and even some incriminating evidence for Detective Mustachio in the form of some forged signatures of Detective Mustachio on death threat notes.

"We're going to keep this evidence, as I'm sure they have their own evidence on them as well. Good thing we're wearing gloves on the job," Mustachio smirked as we placed all our fake clues in plastic bags, me then unlocking the door to the area to the next place in the train, which was the other side of the glass wall partition in the train car we were in.

"Now then, how to proceed from here?" I asked with the helium voice, still needing to do so whenever I spoke in this movie. Pepper then pointed towards a ladder that was ahead of us, which I saw went above into a trapdoor above. We then jumped to it and climbed up the ladder through the trapdoor, us then going up and into the next room of the place, which had TONS of crows in it. I then used the time slow power to get me and Pepper to the room on the upper-front-left first, where we then got another call from the person on the phone booth, as well as seeing that there was none other than one of Pepper's siblings in the form of Cindy being hung above the prop gears in this room, only they were dressed as a kitty cat.

"'Ello?" she asked.

"You're getting a bit too big for your britches, so here's a small game. A game of how much time you'll waste! Your pet's pet, Meow, is hanging above these gears, ready to be grinded to paste. If you want to see her alive again, you'll need to go to the controls for the crane. But be careful, time is of the essence to solve the mystery, HAHAHA!" the voice said, me and Pepper then jumping up the rigging all the way to the controls, that being something that was SUPER easy for both of us. We then worked the controls to get Cindy down from her position and on the ground, us going over to her and her then having a small thing on her chest... and I gawked at how it was the badge that cost 800 Pons!

"Meow, thanks for saving meow! I grabbed this from the killer before he nabbed meow," she said, Pepper smirking as I could see her tears in her eyes, but she held them back. I knew why she had the tears though. Because she was able to hear her sister's voice again. 'Meow' then proceeded to give us another clue that incriminated the crows, which was a plan of attack on how to get away from the crime scene.

"Yep, this is definitely our culprit! But we'll need a bit more to git those rotten crows behind bars," Pepper said, me nodding at her. After getting 'Meow' rescued, we then had her come with us, me watching over her as Pepper got the key from the crows' break room. And once she got it, we saw we had 20 minutes left in order to find the other clues. We proceeded to the room across from the ones we were at (which all of them were in the biggest train car of the lot) and we got to the room that had the crows 'searching' for clues as well as an attached spa that was sealed off... and the guard that was in front of it had a key on his person.

"Idea. We'll need that key to get to another room, so I'll get the crow's attention, then you get the key," I smiled at Pepper, her nodding at me.

"Be careful, Constable," she smirked at me as I then proceeded to go to the crow's position... before then tossing a book at the ground to the right of the crow, him then being spooked and looking at it. He looked at it in confusion long enough for Pepper to grab the key... and just as she got it, the crow was about to turn around before I shouted in my helium voice.

"OI!" I shouted... but because I did this while currently using the powers of the Ice Hat, I got to get his attention at me before I turned into an ice sculpture, which made the crow even more confused.

"Huh? What the peck is goin' on around this joint?" he asked... well, clearly this wasn't a kid's movie if he was saying Peck Pepper then got out of sight of the crow beofre he could see her, the crow then going back to the door and sitting down, most likely to regain composure.

"Nice acting, Constable! I got both the key and another clue," she smiled, this one being one of the crow's hats, which had a big stain of blood on it.

"One more, and I think we'll be set, Detective!" I smiled at her as we then went to the top of the room and went through the door, where we found the switch to make the platform for the final room start to rise and fall again.

"Let's go, meow," Meow smirked as we then went to the final area, us unlocking the door and going through it... where we found that the final clue was a big one. The reason in-game of the crow's whodunnit motive. A lot of overdue bills that were upwards of 300 thousand dollars.

"No doubt they did the birdy dirty because they needed to make money on the fly, so they make a fake detective agency in order to kill the express owl and then walk away with someone else in cuffs by leaving tons of fake clues," Detective Mustachio said with a frown.

"We have our proof, our bandits, now time to go and deliver them to justice," I smiled as we then proceeded back to the caboose just in time for the clock to hit High Noon. And once we were in the caboose, we took up our positions to the front of the Conductor as the Crows piled in.

"SO! Who dunnit?" Conductor asked with a frown.

"We... don't know... unfortunately, we couldn't find any clues at all," the crows said as Mustachio then smirked.

"We know who dunnit. And we've got the proof," Detective Stachio said as she then proceeded to present the evidence. "First, a whole bunch of fake clues, trying to incriminate all the other members of the train as being the real culprits, including the Conductor, the regular owls, Belinda, and even me! But notice how all of them are poorly implemented," she said as she laid out the issues one by one.

"This yellow feather from the Conductor is merely painted red, not bathed in blood.
The handprint of blood that would've belonged to Belinda does not match the size of her hand and it is missing a crucial detail, a small indent on the ring finger, the wedding ring that belonged to her husband," she said, Belinda nodding at her.
"The numerous feathers from the Express Owls are painted brown with some tomato juice on the feathers.
And the forged name of my signature on these death threats. I mean, come on, I may be a great detective, but I don't know how to write cursive!" she said, the crows looking shaken up.

"So, if none of those clues are the right ones, then where is the REAL evidence?" Belinda asked.

"Presenting, Exhibit A, a black crow feather that has reall real blood on it. Just a quick smell and you can tell it's actually blood, not red paint or tomato sauce!
Exhibit B, a hastily made obituary for the dead Owl Express bird, signed by C.A.W. in a crow feather pen.
Exhibit C, a plan of attack featuring crows killing off a singular Express Owl, along with escape plan shortly after.
And, Exhibit D, a set of bills with a total of 300 thousand seedollars for expenses. Come clean, CAW, we know your game," Detective Mustachio spoke, almost exactly how a cockney child version of Sherlock Holmes would speak!

"O-Okay, we did it, alright!" the crows said, the group gasping as we heard the relieving trumpets shortly after.

"But why did yer do it?" the Conductor asked.

"We've been losing business for months! We needed a big case in order to get paid! So, we made the plans, stabbed him with the rubber knife, and feigned innocence," the CAW leader said, that making the Conductor confused.

"Huh? Rubber knife?" he asked.

"Yeah... can I get up, now? It's very uncomfortable laying with this rubber knife in my hips," the express owl victim said, the Conductor then smiling.

"Well, that wraps this mystery up! We'll be takin' you crows into the station for questionin'! As for you, Detective Mustachio, you can have this for your services," the Conductor said as he presented the Time Piece. She then proceeded to grab it before then doing a flashy pose. And shortly after?

"Cut! Perfection! That was an amazing display of acting! I didn't know you two had it in ya, but you were stellar! Hah! I'd like to see the look on DJ Grooves's face when he sees how great our movie is!" the Conductor smirked widely.

"I'm just relieved I'm able to talk again... oivey, I have so much to say, but I had to hold back for this particular instance..." Cindy sighed, obviously in relief.

"By the way, speaking of, how did you get that badge on you, Cindy? Because Hat and Bow said that the Badge Seller had them priced at 800 Pons," I asked, her smirking at me.

"He did a two-for-one special, mainly because he took pity on me and Basil. He sold both for only 1 thousand Pons, which Hat and Bow were happy to fork over, and just in time to get me a role in this movie and for Basil to get a role in DJ Grooves's movie with dad," Cindy smiled.

"Well... only thing left to do now is wait and see what the fans say, while also debating who will star in the next movie," I smirked, in normal voice instead of helium, which I sighed in relief afterwards. "Oogh, that high-pitched voice power of mine makes me winded after a while... maybe the next movie I star in should make me a silent protagonist or something," I sighed in relief.

"Well, just wait until we see the scores for the two movies, then we'll discuss who's gonna perform in which movie after," Conductor smiled with his toothy beak.


As for the results of Murder on the Owl Express VS Picture Perfect, it was very apparent that my plan was working perfectly. The scores were EXTREMELY close, with the critics and fans ranking the movies almost equally, with both movies getting roughly 900 points with only a 30 point difference between the two. And the competiton? Not even 500 points.

"Well, this is shaping up to be QUITE the unique spin, ain't it, Conductor?" DJ Grooves asked, the owl looking at him and nodding.

"Peh, for once, I agree with you, Grooves. Never before has there been such a close split between our two films!" Conductor smirked as me and the others in my group started to sip from different drinks we got on the set. I got a chocolate milkshake, Hat and Bow both got chocolate milk, and Pepper's family opted for soda, which had a flavor that was similar to a hamburger with cheese and ketchup.

"What flavor is that soda and where can I get the recipe? I need to know for... personal reasons," I smirked, feeling like I could make some serious money if I could sell a burger-tasting soda in my world!

"Oh, it's a special that comes from the Nyakuza Metro. The secret to the tastiness is hidden to everyone except the mayor in that city, known simply as Empurress," Pepper smirked, me knowing that it'd be REAL difficult to get that information. After all, the Empurress (I can't believe that they made her name into a pun in this universe) was pretty much the ONLY villain that was good at her job in this world. Sure, the Snatcher was borderline godly, but he was limited to how his contracts worked out. And even then, I didn't really feel like I could have the ability to get a soul removed from me. Not because I didn't believe in them, but because of my soul being from another dimension.

"Oh, you mean the mayor of organized crime. Because it's widely known that she's the queen of crime of that city," Grooves said, that making Pepper look surprised before looking at her drink and then handing it off to me, which I happily took.

"I didn't want to say anything, Pepper, since I know you loved that drink," Flower said, her still pouting at it.

"I think the issue is that she hates anything relating to crime and villainy. And I'm sure I don't need to explain why," Hat said, her sighing and nodding.

"Hit the nail on the head there, Hat... now I can't drink it wivout a guilty conscience," the mustached heroine sighed.

"Well, get out of that glum mood, darlin', because starting tomorrow, we got more movies to shoot. This time, my movie is called "The Big Parade". It'll be the biggest movie of all time, with the biggest cast of all time! I want you to be in that movie, but the choice is yours to choose my movie, or Conductor's," DJ Grooves smirked.

"As for my movie, it's called Train Rush. It's going to be a box office hit as the best action movie ever! Who wants to join that one?" Conductor asked, Hat smirking and raising her hand.

"Aw, what the hey, I'll join... the Big Parade," I smirked, DJ Grooves smiling at me.

"Wonderful! Not too often you see a male lead in a parade after all!" DJ Grooves smirked.

"And what about the second person in that movie?" Bow asked.

"They'll be following along his every move. Leading a parade through the big set and making the crowds scream," DJ Grooves smirked, me smirking and nodding.

"I'll go for that one, then. Means I get an easy job," Bow smiled.

"So that means that Hat and Pepper will do Train Rush while Bow and I will do The Big Parade. Keep our little wager in mind, directors. We're going to see the fans go crazy for both movies," I smirked, them nodding at me.

"We'll hold ya to it," the Conductor smirked as we then proceeded out to our new movie sets.