OH MY GOD, I'M BACK AGAINNNNN
Sorry bout that, anyway here's the third chapter. I also remembered saying that this won't follow anything from the show, but because of a character that will be mentioned, a (to be safe, some) certain episode(s) will be referenced.
An Unforgivable Mistake
Chapter III
Mordecai and Skips went back to the house to scrutinize each and every corner of it. They might find something that can lead them to Rigby's unfortunate injury.
"Found something Skips?"
"No"
"I'll go to the basement, keep looking here"
Skips nodded as Mordecai headed to the basement.
The basement looks like it hasn't been cleaned for a long time. It was their weekly task but they didn't pay much attention to their job. He might as well call it as a dust museum because of all the dust collected on the seemingly immovable boxes. Upon searching on the basement, he found something that's way off the surroundings. There was box that didn't get showered in dust.
"This looks like it was just placed recently"
Mordecai can't open the box due to the absence of box flaps, which he finds weird. He thought that he should move the box outside so that he can show it to Skips because it may hide something. As he pushed the box, he saw a trap door underneath.
"What the?"
He moved the box away so he can see it in full view.
"When did they have a trapdoor here?"
He tried opening it, but he noticed that it's already open. Checking the door, he noticed that the lock was missing from its screws.
A small ladder is placed beside the narrow wall, which may indicate that this is a secret basement.
"Hmm? A basement in a basement?"
He then tried to go down on the small ladder.
"It's a little deeper than I thought" he said as he turned on his phone to generate light from it.
Reaching the bottom of the pit. He noticed a hallway that isn't long enough as he saw an open door at the end.
"Hello?"
Nothing can be heard aside from his steps. As he went inside the room, he looked for a light switch (if there is one). He found it on the adjacent wall and flicked the switch. The light then flickered for a bit then went steady eventually.
The light revealed a slightly messy room. He found a computer, some gun ammunition, and a bowl of unfinished meal on the table. What's strange is that the set of gun ammunition were scattered on the floor and the room is air-conditioned.
"Wow, who's hiding this shit?" he said.
He tried to capture some shots of his discovery with his phone. He then went back up to the "real" basement.
He went inside the house to tell Skips about the probably unknown place he found. He found Skips on the living room.
"Skips! Found something?"
"I think this may help us" Skips said as he handed Mordecai a newspaper.
As he unfolded the paper, a headline in bold letters captured his attention.
DOUG "THE DOPPELGANGER" SHABLOWSKI ESCAPES FROM PRISON. WHEREABOUTS STILL UNKNOWN
"Doug Shablowski?" Mordecai said.
"Do you remember him years ago?"
"Oh yeah, Rigby hired him as a temp. They also got into a scuffle between them"
"Do you think that it has to do with Rigby?" Skips replied.
"I guess, he might've planned revenge on Rigby exposing him. But Doug seems chill when he got arrested"
"You may be right, but we still don't know"
"But this can be a vital information that you found. Anyway where did you find this?"
"Under that" as Skips pointed to a spot in the couch. Mordecai realized that this is where Rigby usually parks his tush when they would play video games.
"Anyway there's a minor problem as that newspaper was published two days ago, I'm gonna check today's print. Maybe it can give us better information"
"Okay, I'll look for more stuff in here" Mordecai replied.
Skips then headed out to get a new paper. Mordecai then checked on their room. Barging in the room, he quickly went to Rigby's cabinet to find something that may help. He found a game cartridge that bears similar resemblance to their game carts for their console with its sticker label peeled off hastily, a rusty key, a green joystick for an arcade cabinet, and a paper with some writings in it.
"Pl ayIth aRd? What?" Mordecai's forehead showed crinkles, as it indicated his confusion on the scribbles of the paper. He then scooped up his findings to place it aside. He then pulled out every drawer left inside that room and found another thing he thought that may be useful. It's a receipt.
"A purchase for a video game? But what game is it?"
He then remembered the cartridge he found, he quickly grabbed it and went down to the living room.
"Ok, this should work"
He then blew on the cartridge and popped it on the tray. He waited for it to load. Unfortunately, it didn't.
"Software error? How the -"
He then pulled the cartridge and blew it then slapped it back in with the same results. He repeated this process until he realized that it won't work. He pulled the game cartridge and threw it on the couch.
"Why did I try that anyway, that would lead to nowhere"
Skips finally arrived bringing two newspapers. He managed to grab yesterday's copy because it may wield some information.
"Let's split on the paper, I'll look for yesterday's print and today's yours"
Skips just gave a nod as he handed yesterday's print. They flipped page after page to look for any news regarding Doug's escape. After squinting and reading, Mordecai found a piece of news.
POLICE CHASE TURNS INTO A NIGHTMARE
A black sedan was badly damaged as it got involved in a car crash with a police car on Milton Road.
"I remember this news, this was on the television yesterday"
"Mordecai, I found something" as Skips pointed on the newspaper.
-Doug Shablowski escaped months ago, as confirmed by head police-
"What? No one even noticed?" Mordecai muttered.
"As we all knew, he can morph himself into someone else" Skips said.
"If we wanna prove he's the suspect, we should dig deeper" he followed.
Mordecai immediately remembered the secret room on the basement. He opened his phone to show Skips his discovery.
"Skips, look at this" as Mordecai handed his phone to him.
"What's this?" Skips asked.
"It's a secret room in the basement I found earlier"
"Secret - room?" Skips replied as he squinted his eyes.
"Oh shit, I thought you knew about it. C'mon, I'll show you" Mordecai said as he walked outside. Skips then followed as they headed to the basement.
"Where's the secret room you're saying?" Skips said as he observed the place.
"This way" Mordecai replied as he led the way. He then stopped in front of the trapdoor in the same state he left this area.
"I've been working here for two centuries and I've never noticed this"
"It kinda looks new, c'mon you gotta see this"
Mordecai then turned on his phone to light the way down. Skips went down first, as Mordecai followed suit. Skips noticed gun bullets on the floor, he picked up several pieces to notice they were all the same.
"No one owns a gun besides Mr. Maellard, and this isn't the bullet for his guns" Skips muttered.
Why Skips knew about his guns? Skips is the one aside from Mordecai and Rigby who usually goes into Maellard's house to deliver things that he bought and he doesn't need.
"This room looks furnished" as Skips walked around the room.
"Yeah, I checked in here earlier and I thought someone must've been here when we were all out"
"It can't be" as Skips found the unfinished meal on the table and sniffed it.
"Well the ravioli smells like it's been here for a day or two. But it doesn't smell like its spoiled"
Mordecai then toured his eyes around the room one more time. He found a metal money box under the table.
"What is this?" he muttered as he lifted the money box. Skips then took the money box to inspect it. He shook it to check if it had contents inside it. After hearing and feeling something that hits walls of the money box, he confirmed his claim.
"Something's slightly shaking inside" as Skips then flipped to the front of the chest.
"Well can you open it?"
"Not without a key" as Skips showed him the box' keyhole.
"Maybe the key is in here somewhere"
"Okay, I'll look for it. Also, try checking that computer"
Mordecai nodded as he tried to turn the computer on. It did work, but he was disgruntled to see that it requires a password to open it.
"Damn it, we need a password" Mordecai said.
Skips also concluded that the key can't be found.
"No keys in here" Skips mentioned.
"Wait, I remember something"
"What?"
"I found a key earlier, maybe it's the key for the chest! Hang on, I'll just get it" as Mordecai then went inside the house to grab the key.
With no fuss, he just grabbed the key and went back to the basement. He then handed Skips the rusty key he found and Skips inserted the key and tried to unlock the money box. With a light click, the top lid then lifted which indicates it was unlocked.
The money box didn't have anything inside aside from seven sheets of paper in different colors.
"Colored paper? How is this so important to be kept in here? "
Skips then laid them out on the table and flipped them. They noticed that each note has a number on it.
"So we have the colors violet, orange, green, red, yellow, blue, and...purple?"
"No it's not the color violet nor purple, it's indigo. Its similar to the color purple or violet but has a darker shade"
"Is that even a color in a crayon set?"
"It is a color in the rainbow"
"Rainbow? Rainbow? Rain-bow?"
Mordecai brainstormed in the process. He already had the answer but it's stuck on the tip of his tongue. Until a lightbulb seemingly lit up above his head.
"So we have a palette of colors here"
"Yep, seven to be exact"
"And if we arrange it on the color arrangement of a rainbow" as Mordecai arranged them in order, sliding the papers around the table.
"And we get, uhh" Mordecai said, as he thought that there is still something wrong.
"It says 6351982" Skips said.
"Yeah, but how is this relevant to Rigby's - the computer!" as Mordecai turned his attention back on the computer.
"You really figured this out, Mordecai"
"Yeah, but if you didn't correct me with the color it would've took long"
Mordecai typed each digit with confidence, as he knew this would be it. The computer might help them, but it may not.
Finally the computer was unlocked.
"Yes!" as Mordecai pumped his fist in the air.
Skips didn't interfere as he knows he's not that good in technology. Mordecai then began to search for anything inside the computer. If he finds a picture of someone in the gallery, he can safely assume that the person in it owned the secret room.
There was only one photo that he found, it's a photo of him and Rigby.
That's it for the third chapter! A new character in the past is involved! (sorry, I broke my own rule lol). So what happens now is that it's becoming a puzzle to solve who's responsible for the crime. HFG's accident will be tackled in the next chapter so stay tuned!
Also I'm currently writing another story and this would be EPIC! (you may not like it idk lol). It would be a crossover between Regular Show and...stay tuned for that maaan lol.
Anyway, thanks for reading my work, it means a lot to me! (Okay I'll stop being cheesy). See y'all in the next chapter! Bye Bye Bye! (Okay I'll stop)