Chapter 13
The atmosphere at Town Hall Square was almost reaching its boiling point. People were chatting happily with one another excitedly as they counted down the final minutes before the start of the final round. Several of them were sporting popcorn, hamburgers and snacks supplied by Beth´s Bethburger stand as well as the Moonshade Café and a stand, that to the mystery of most people was open only at small portions of time eversince the Town Hall Square began to fill up. However, over the last half hour the old, bearded man in a flanell shirt and a big brown hat had the stand open and was happily serving the customers, selling various sweets.
"Mmmm... this one is soooo good."exclaimed Chloe as she savoured the taste of the lolipop bought to her by her best male friend.
The old man chuckled.
"It should be. Its a special one made by the very masters of sweets themselves."he said with a wink.
Chloe giggled and waved at him as she and Oliver moved on towards their classmates. She couldn´t quite grasp it, but there was something oddly familiar about this old man. However she waved it off as the group made their way to their seats.
The old man served another little kid along with his parents when he felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket.
"Sorry folks, but that´s all for today."he announced and there was a wave of dissapointed "awwws" from the people waiting in line.
"I know... I know, sweet people. Believe me... it hurts me more than it hurts you. But you know... too much of the good thing and all. I´m very sorry, really... but I´m out of time, um... I mean out of stock. Really sorry, really. But don´t let it get you down, the contest is about to start so hurry, hurry and get yourselfs some decent seats. Come on, shoo..."
Though still dissapointed, the crowd began to disperse. Swiftly closing the window of the stand he closed down the stand and hurried out of it. Quickly moving along the crowd, the old man moved like the wind, hiding behind various objects, walls and even passing people to escape detection from the policemen, who were watching dutifully. Evading them all with obvious skill, the old man entered the Town Hall.
Swiftly running trough the enterance hall, he made for the first door - the broom closet.
"Ha ha ha. And ol´ Mayor Have-man said I coudn´t make it both - being a judge and make some greed at the same time. Ha! He sure doesn´t know ME very well. And ol´ Wisey couldn´t butt in thistime... Haha... What an idea..."he said gleefully as he removed the large hat from his head revealing a mop of fair black hair and a pair of black sunglasses on the very top of his head.
Quickly unbuttoning his flanell shirt, that he borrowed from Pop Tofu, Miles quickly reached for the backpack and placed the stripped off shirt there, along with the fake silvery beard and overall pants. But not before he pulled out a small pouch from the pants´ pocket. Opening it, he swiftly shook out the contents onto his palm. Though there were quite a few coins present there, the paper bills were even more plentifull.
"Heh... I knew this business would be deliciously sweeeeeeet."said Miles grinningly as he pocketed the coins and looked over the paper bills, grinning like a maniac.
"Hahaha... money, money, money..."he sing-songed before he started to count the ammount.
Suddenly the door opened, scaring the living daylights out of him.
"I´ve been wondering where you´ve been running off to all the time eversince we arrived here."came a girl´s voice.
Miles turned around and fixed his new girlfriend a sheepish grin.
"Lil... I was just..."he stammered, the blush on his face intensifying.
Smirking, she folded her arms.
"Didn´t Mayor Havitall tell you NOT to open a stand on the street and simply focus on your judging duties? Didn´t he say, that the final round was very importaint?"she asked.
Miles, still redfaced, suddenly looked like a tiny boy getting a scolding.
"Well... yes he did... but I said all along I´ll be able to handle it... and I AM focusing on my duties... honest."
He quickly fell silent as Lily gave him a small glare.
"Don´t be angry at ol´ Milesey, Lil... pretty please with a waggon of strawberries on top..."he pleaded childishly, getting on his knees and hodling his hands together as though in a prayer while still holding the bills.
Lily couldn´t hold her composure any longer and exploded in giggles.
In a swift motion she closed the door behind her and covered the distance between them, grabbing him in a hug.
"Huh...? You...you´re not angry, flower-girl?"he asked uncertainly.
Grinning in spite of herself, she gave him a small peck on the lips.
"No... not really. Me and Lola were kinda expecting you´d try something like this. Especially when Mayor Haveitall said you can´t have the stand."
Miles at once gave her a sunny smile as well as a passionate kiss.
"Come on now. The round is about to start."she said gently, although she felt very tempted to just stay locked in the closet with him.
As the pair of them arrived in the conference hall, they saw that the good mood had persisted. Spying Lola, Billy and Phil, the pair of them set out to them, carefully letting go of eachother´s hand - their relationship was still a secret afterall, at least until the end of the final round.
"About time guys. The round is starting in fifteen minutes."said Phil good-naturedly, checking his watch.
Lola smiled at the pair, but noticed something that made her frown.
"Where´s Chichi? Wasn´t he with you, Miles?"
Miles and Lily looked at eachother and shook their heads.
"I thought he´d be here already."said Miles, scanning the conference hall.
"Steve is not here either. I know they went to his house to pick up some stuff, but I expected them to be back by now."said Billy uncertainly.
"Oh, seriously. The round is about to start in a few short minutes."growled Lola as she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Chichi´s number.
However...
"What the...?! He´s not picking up."muttered Lola in a shocked voice.
The others were shocked too. Chichi always picked up.
"Maybe he´s still doing something in the backstage. I´ll go check."said Phil quickly and dashed out of the conference hall.
"I hope nothing bad happened."muttered Billy.
Lily glanced up at Miles.
"Miles... do you think that Chichi was right about...?"
But Miles wasn´t looking at her. He was looking into the crowd, right next to the snack-filled table.
Wiseman, Nick and Archie were huddled up close together, looking over a piece of paper in Wiseman´s hands.
My greatest Detective...
I´m sure, that by now you´ve must have figured out the clues I have given you in my letters.
But it looks like you like playing hard to get... you seem to want me to win this contest and your heart fair and square - you are so incredibly noble...
Well, now that the final round is here, all that is left for me to do, is to do just that.
I have planned the greatest performance in the history of this planet for you - and JUST for you, my genius of criminology.
I´m sure you´ll have no trouble in recodnizing me on stage, but I still want to earn my victory honorably, so don´t let what you feel towards me influence your judgement - I insist on being treated just like every other contestant.
I feel so happy - by the end of this day, we´ll be together, forever until the end of time...
With all the love my heart can possibly hold
Your secret admirer - soon to be your girlfriend, love and wife.
"Woah, brother Fred... this girl sure sounds like a keeper."whistled Archie as a crimson-faced Wiseman finished reading the letter he had recieved mere moments ago.
"Y- you really think so, brother Archie?"asked Wiseman, almost not daring to believe it.
Archie gave him a bright smile and nodded.
"Positive, brother Fred. I mean... I should know. My sweet Emmy..."he said with a blush to go along with the dazed smile as he thought of his girlfriend.
Nick rolled his eyes.
"So... you DO know, who this girl is now?"he asked with a small growl - they have been trying to solve this puzzle for weeks.
Wiseman bowed his head sadly.
"No... I´m afraid I don´t, brother Nick."he muttered sadly.
"Hey... don´t let it get you down, brother Fred. Who in the hell could figure anything out of the blockhead clues she´s been sending?!"said Nick hurriedly.
The clues in the previous love letters were indeed extremly vague. Nick suspected, that whoever this girl was, must be a real air-head.
Archie reached up with his right hand and patted Wiseman´s shoulder in an consoling gesture as he fixed his two brothers a desperate look.
"But what do I do? We haven´t figured out who she is."
Nick crossed his arms and gave him a defiant look.
"Well... she wrote about being IN the final round. That means, that our list of suspects is down to five."
Archie brightened up too.
"Ingenious, brother Nick. You´re right! And the letter also said, that she had planned the greatest performance on the planet. We´ll have no trouble recodnizing, who she is."
Nick nodded fiercely, but Wiseman still looked severely troubled.
"But brothers... I know this will come as a real shock to you, but... I´ve never had a girlfriend before."he said, once more blushing at sharing this embaressing piece of information.
Nick raised an eyebrow, but Archie gasped in geniune shock.
"No way! You, brother Fred?!"
Wiseman only nodded sadly.
"I don´t get it. I mean girls should be lining up to go out with a great person like you."said Archie, shaking his head.
"They WERE, remember?"growled Nick.
"Th - that´s not the point now, my brothers. The real question is, what do I do now...? How am I to approach this girl...?"asked Wiseman desperately.
"Oh, that´s easy, Wisey."came another voice and the three jumped in shock, fixing their sights behind themselfs.
There stood Billy, Lola - the pair smirking at eachother, Lily - who was plainly trying not to giggle, and Miles - who looked as though Christmas had come early.
Placing his arm around Wiseman´s shoulder in a brotherly fashion, he steered him closer to himself, as though to give him secret advice.
"You walk up to the lucky cutie, carefull not to trip as you do it..."
Both Lily and Lola clapped a hand to their mouths.
"... then you grab her by the shoulder, like I got you right now, and say - in a deep, manly voice - Beautyfull lady... be the love of my life."
Lola, Lily and Billy had to turn away, doing all they could to not to show the explosion of laughter that overcame them.
Archie was looking on with a bright expression, Nick with a bemused one, but Wiseman fixed Miles a curious one.
"That works?"he asked, almost childishly.
Miles gave him a giant grin.
"Of course it works, Wisey-guysey. You just gotta look manly and nonchalant..."
"Noncha - what?"asked Wiseman.
"You have to look like a super-cool guy. The best dude around, basicly."said Miles sagely.
Lily couldn´t help but fix Miles a grin, one he returned.
"And of course... you have to be sure to give the lovely girl aaaaaall the love the sweet little treasure needs."
Lily had to restrain herself greatly - the temptation to jump at her secret boyfriend (major emphasis on secret right now) and smooch him half-to-death was almost too great right now - she saw that Miles shot her a discreete wink as he said it, and knew that he meant what he said.
She couldn´t help but give him her sunniest smile.
"By the way... I see, that one member of the brotherhood is missing in here. Where is he?"asked Lola, now fully recompozed.
Nick scrowled and was about to say something before...
"Oh, he just went down to the Police Station to check on everything. The saboteur is locked up and we want to make sure it stays that way."said Archie, puffing his chest proudly.
Instantly, Nick slapped his palm to Archie´s big mouth.
"Shut up, for God´s sake! You´re blabbing everything out again!"
Suddenly the front door of the conference hall burst open, drawing all attention to it, and Tex sprinted towards them.
As he stopped before the entire group, he bowed down, desperately trying to catch his breath. Clearly, he must´ve ran quite a distance.
"B...brother Fred... e...emergency..."he tried to say between his breaths.
"What happened, brother Tex? What´s wrong?"asked Wiseaman, who at once freed himself of Miles´ grasp.
Tex looked even paler than ussual as he fixed all of them a terrified look.
"I went to check the police station... and... Rogers and Stamford were... on the floor near the holding cell... and... the cell door was OPEN!"
Everyone drew a shocked breath.
"And... and the prisioner... I mean saboteur?"asked Wiseman desperately.
Tex bit his lip before saying shakily.
"Brother Fred... she´s... she´s gone..."
...
April was quite enjoying herself as she laughed along with Chloe and Emily. All of her classmates were now seated and were joyfully awaiting the begining of the show. Liam was being his ussual funny self, joking here and there making everyone laugh.
"You´re such a clown, Liam."giggled Alice Oldfield.
Liam at once blushed a brilliant shade of red and adverted her eyes. Lucky for him, Alice was too preoccupied, giggling once more along with Abbygail, Florence and Emily to notice. Oliver however did. He gave his best friend a supportive smile and a pat on the shoulder.
"By the way guys... who do you think will win?"asked Peter Wallows with interest.
This simple question caused quite a large chatter.
"My money is on Tammy."said Emily brightly.
There was much agreement with that statemnt.
"Hazel would be a better choice."said Marcel Saveour.
Once more a heated discussion erupted.
"What do you think, Oliver?"asked Chloe, giving him a curious glance.
Oliver took some time to ponder on an answer.
"Well... I´m not really sure. I´m very curious to see, what the girls thought up. I think a lot of it will depend greatly on that."
This started another small chat, everyone was extremely curious what they´ll see in just a few minutes.
"Also there´s that rumor about special guests attending. Wonder who that will be..."squeaked Alice excitedly.
"I´m sure April already knows."said Chloe, giving April a sly grin.
April smiled, but shook her head.
"Not telling - I´ve promised it to Chichi. My lips are sealed."
"Were they sealed... by a kiss?"whispered Chloe, grinning at her.
April´s cheeks went bright red, but she shook her head a bit sadly.
"Hey, don´t worry... One day he won´t be able to keep his lips off yours. You´ll see..."whispered Chloe supportively, placing an arm around her dear friend´s shoulder.
"... whatever the outcome, we´ll celebrate it afterward at our house."finished Oliver brightly to general agreement.
"Can´t wait, man."nodded Peter happily.
"I´m already looking forward to it, Oliver. Afterall, your last one was a real blast."grinned Liam.
"Yeah. No one can throw a party like you, Oli."said Chloe, smiling warmly at him.
Now it was Oliver who blushed brightly at the praise.
"Yes well... I like throwing parties and all..."he stuttered in mild embaressment, while the gang nodded in cheerfull agreement.
April and Chloe looked at Mia, who was the only one not saying a word at all since they sat down. On closer observation, Mia seemed even sulkier than ussual. Holding her face with the palms of her hands, she looked in deep thought. Both girls shared a curious look - Mia, who ussually would be very happy and giggly around Oliver, next to whom she was sitting right now, was paying absolutely no attention to him.
"Mia? What´s up? You seem really down."asked Chloe in concern.
"Nothing."she replied emotionlessly.
The entire gang looked at eachother uncertainly. They were quite sure, that neither of them EVER seen Mia in such a state before.
"Come on, Mia... we can all see, that something is seriously bothering you."pleaded Emily, but Mia simply shook her head in the same emotionless manner.
"Yeah. Tell us. We won´t laugh."pleaded Oliver in equal concern, his best friend nodding along.
Mia looked at him. Not too long ago, she would´ve whooped over the fact that he was concerned about her. But for some reason that was beyond her grasp right now, she felt completly apathic about it.
"Forget it, guys."she said.
"YO, BLONDIE!"came an loud voice no one, especialy her, couldn´t possibly mistake.
At once they all directed their sights to its source, seeing Nick making his way to them. Mia´s emotionless face instantly turned to one of visible surprise, a small astonished smile taking form on it.
"Would you mind NOT screaming like an idiot?"she asked as Nick came all the way up to her, panting.
Nick scrowled at her, even as he tried to catch his breath.
"Nevermind THAT. Big emergency. We need help."he said quickly as he tried to catch his breath, stopping in front of them.
Mia raised an eyebrow.
"What happened?"asked Emily in alarm as she jumped to her feet along with Abbygail.
"Can´t say much. As I said, we need help and Detective Wiseman wants us to gather our allies."
"And how about explaining what´s going ON first?!"asked Mia, rolling her eyes.
"Not now, blondie. We have a situation on hand! We have to go now!"urged Nick nervously.
Emily moved towards Nick with Abbygail not far behind.
"Lead the way, Nick. We´ll help the brotherhood."said Emily staunchly, Abbygail nodding as well.
All three of them looked back at Mia, who still had her arms crossed.
"What about you, Blondie? You coming?"he asked.
Mia gave a long sigh but stood up, a tiny smile playing on her lips.
"Guess I should. Wouldn´t want you three bums goofing up."
Nick instantly shot her a small glare.
"GOOFING UP?! Who´s goofing up around here?!"
Mia couldn´t surpress a small giggle.
"Do you really want me to answer that question, mega-nose?"
Recodnizing the teasing tone, Nick roled his eyes.
"Whatever. Let´s get going. We´re assembling in the conference hall."
Mia grabbed him by the hand and quickly made her way down, dragging a surprised Nick after her.
"HEY! Not so fast, you crazy blondie!"
Emily and Abbygail looked at eachother and giggled.
"Heeey..."exclaimed Abbygail as they saw the two dissapearing.
"Wait for us!"called Emily and the two promtly ran after them, dissapearing from view too.
The entire gang looked extremly surprised. April couldn´t help but share an amazed look with Chloe.
"Is it just me, or..."started April in a quiet, astonished voice.
"Yup. Looks like it."nodded Chloe with a grin.
The two girls instantly exploded in giggles.
"What are you two talking about?"asked Oliver as the two of them moved to the spots, vacated by Mia, Emily and Abbygail - Chloe seating herself beside Oliver.
"Oh, just something you boys - even boys-geniuses - have trouble in seeing."said Chloe teasingly, winking at April, who giggled again.
Oliver shared a confused look with Liam and the other boys.
"I just wonder, what the situation could be thistime."pondered April, until she heared her name called in the distance.
Not far from the place, where Nick, Mia, Abbygail and Emily dissapeared from view now stood Lily and was waving at her, signaling her to come down.
Sharing a curious look with Chloe, Oliver and Liam, April shrugged again and stood up, moving downward towards Lily.
"What´s going on, Lily? Nick just came up and took the girls and... uh-oh..."April started asking, but the expression on Lily´s face at once told her, something bad happened.
"Its Chichi, April. He´s missing. We can´t find him anywhere in the backstage. Or reach him trough his phone."
"WHAT?! On no! But then... he... he was right about... oh no, he could be... right now... be somewhere... hurt... or..."gasped April, her mind already constructing several scenarios, each as unpleasant as the next.
"April! Let´s keep a cool head, okay?"Lily advised, grabbing the younger girl by the shoulders.
"Look... Chichi prepared a backup plan for such an emergency. The guys have taken up their positions and its up to the two of us to find Chichi and fast."
April bit her lip, but calmed down somewhat.
"Okay... let´s go. Where should we start looking first?"
Lily took a moment to think.
"Well... Billy said, that he and Steve were at the Moonshade and then going to his house for some stuff. I think we´d better try and retrace their route to Steve´s house."
April nodded and the two immediatly set a course for the Moonshade Cafe, manouvring between the people, who were standing around or making their way to their seats. They saw, that the policemen seemed to be tense about something and were double-checking everything they possibly could.
"Tex went to the station to check-up on Cherie. She´s missing too."said Lily, answering April´s questioning look as they reached the Moonshade´s front door.
April was about to say something, when the door of the café opened and infront of them stood a brilliantly dressed Jaq La Jolie. He immediately fixed them a charming smile.
"Bon jour, Lily. Ravi de vous revoir."he said calmly and politely.
Both girls instantly frowned.
"Vous ne pouvez pas dire que je suis d'accord."responded Lily in a cool voice.
Jaq raised an eyebrow at her.
"Pas besoin d'ętre si froid. Si c'est la derničre fois ..."
"Would you mind speaking English, please?! Some of us can´t speak French."April piped up, glaring the boy in annoyance.
Jaq turned his sights on April, as if only just noticing she was there.
"In that case, I suggest you learn to speak it. If you are capable of doing so..."he added with a small smirk.
Both girls now glared him hard. Jaq pretended not to have noticed as he was double-checking his golden watch, making quite sure they couldn´t miss it.
"Well... I must be off, girls. The round is about to start and I do not wish to keep Papá and Mayor Haveitall waiting in the front row. Excusez-moi..."
Without another word or glance, he moved past them and set at a smart pace towards the Town Hall´s enterance.
"Ooooough! I HATE that pompous snob!"exclaimed April angriliy, stomping the ground with her left foot.
Lily folded her arms in anger as well.
"That makes two of us, April. I´m not the least bit surprised, that Chichi is right about..."
"CHICHI! I almost forgot! We have to find him, and FAST!"exclaimed April, feeling her worries coming back with a vengance.
"April..."Lily started to say, but fell silent.
She gasped, as well as April, as both girls felt a faint pulse under their shirts, accompanied by tiny flashes of colorfull light.
"Our gemstones..."whispered April before both of them carefully extracted their gemstone necklaces from their shirts.
April´s purple as well as Lily´s green gemstone was blinking, as if to signal something. Something, that the two girls seemed to have understood even without words.
"Someone around here is using Green Magic...?"breathed Lily, her expression brightening just like April´s.
"CHICHI!"they both exclaimed happily.
"If he´s using Green Magic.."started Lily.
"...then he can´t be hurt..."continued April, breathing a sigh of relief.
"... and we can use our gemstones to find him."Lily finished, almost smacking her forehead for not realizing it at once.
They closed their eyes and concetrated on finding the source of the Green Magic Spell that was being performed. Instantly obeying the small pull they felt from their necklaces, April and Lily followed the lead, opening their eyes again though unneccessarily - they knew now, that they could find him even with their eyes closed.
...
Still struggling feebly, Cherie finally felt being put down back onto the ground, though not too gently.
"Ouch! Be a bit more carefull!"she exclaimed as she felt the blindfold being removed from her eyes.
"ętre calme, fille!"said the muscular boy gruffly.
Cherie instantly fixed him a hard glare.
"How many times do I have to tell you - I DON´T speak French!"she growled, but the muscular boy gave it no thought.
Instead, he looked after his twin, who was taking out something from the backpack he brought along.
"Ici, mon frére."he said, handing out an earpiece to him.
The other took it and instantly placed it into his left ear.
"Ingénieux. Patron can tell us what to do and when."
Cherie once more glared the stupid pair of them. However, they swiftly turned on her and flexed their muscles menacingly.
"All right. When we broke you out of jail, we have shown you proof that we have your precious little boyfriend..."
Cherie cringed. She almost had a heart attack when the two broke into the holding cell, knocking out Daniel and his older collague in the process and shown her pictures of Steve and Chichi, unconcious and chained to a pole of some warehouse.
"... and if you want to see him again, you will take this on yourself."said the .
"Oui. WE will sabotage the round and YOU will take all the blame..."
Cherie´s glare intensified. Inwardly she felt a storm of well-chosen words building up and itching to pass beyond the boundary of her mouth, however... these two and their "Patron" had her Stevie.
"All right. You win."she muttered in defeat, tears of mixed concern and anger welding up in her eyes.
Suddenly they heared a muffled applause from somewhere. All three of them didn´t have to guess twice what that meant.
Outside, the the crowd was clearly in ecstasy as the curtain on the stage opened and they could at last see the magnifiscent stage. There were two large tables on the sides of the curtain, right beside a smaller curtain that shielded the stairs off the stage. In the very centre of the large plaster wall was a large screen, that now shown the instruments that were placed beneath it. A small band was already in place. Trashbin was occupying the bass guitair again, Weedpatch the drums, Pop the guitair and Miles his trusty saxaphone. All of them were dressed in a black tux top, a black hat and matching sunglasses.
"Oh, my sweet oaktree looks gorgeous."exclaimed Mom Tofu lovingly as she was seated in the front row besides Buba, Beth, Bee, Julia Robins and Olivia Spock - the women giggled as one.
"Looks like Jacob is reliving his old days on the stage again."chuckled Buba, remembering seeing him on stage all those years ago.
"Oh... I didn´t know, that he played on stage..."said Julia Robins in small wonder as Trashbin started playing on his bass - the melody resonating in the crowd.
With a small, dramatic roll on the drums the crowd´s anticipation hightened as it came to a halt and a mere second of silence endured.
As one the entire band jumped into life with Miles playing the leading melody - a slower yet dynamic melody that instantly sent a wave of euphoria trough the crowd.
"Wow... this music is soooo awesome!"exclaimed Angie as she, Lola and Rodney stood behind the leftside curtain.
Lola couldn´t help but smile as she watched Pop and Miles playing together, troughoutly and obviously enjoying their play. The moment Miles´ saxaphone blew its last tune, the crowd went into a wild applause. The musicians all lined up and bowed.
Lola and Angie nodded at eachother and stepped onto the stage as well.
Even Jaq La Jolie had to admit, that the pair of them looked absolutely stunning.
Angie, dressed in a brilliant long ocean-blue dress, had decided to let her hair down and it was now very apparent, how long her hair really is. The absence of her ussual ponytail was compensated by small headclips, that kept the simple, cassual yet still beautiful hairstyle in check. Her glasses were also gone, replaced by contact lenses. Rodney smiled brightly at her as she went - he seriously had to control himself fifteen minutes ago when he saw her in the dressing room, he was completly sure that he never saw her look so beautiful.
Lola, on the other hand was dressed in a silky red dress, that Mom and Buba went to great lengths to make - spending many nights over it. It had a few patterns sown into it, but they only added to its visual beauty. Her brown hair, sleek and shiny thanks to Buba´s secret recipe, was also clipped at the back, offering a bolder look than Angie´s hairstyle, but still looking extremly elegant.
Both were walking gracefully on the stage and met the applauding crowd with calm professionality most stars could envy.
"Good afternoon, everyone in Beauvillage and of course, everyone watching us on live television. Its our pleasure to announce, that the long awaited finale is at last here."announced Angie happily.
"Tonight, one of our girls will be crowned..."started Lola, but the crowd at once finished for her.
"MISS BEAUVILLAGE!"
The girls allowed the crowd to cheer for a moment more before carying on.
"First up, we would like to thank our respective musicians, who will be lending some more of their musical talent as the round goes on."said Lola, flashing a smile at her father, who grinned and winked at her.
The musicians gave a small bow to the renewed applause, except Miles who blew a few more melodic tunes from his instrument.
"No problem, lovely lady."he boomed to Lola, grinning all around and waving.
"Show off."thought Lola, feelings of exaspiration and amusement having a small battle inside her - though it seemed that amusement was clearly winning right now.
"Since only five girls have made it to the finals, the staff felt that ALL of them should be awarded prizes. For these reasons, many of our local sponsors have set up prizes for each and every one of our finalists. However... only ONE will win the greatest prize of all..."started Angie again, even as the crowd contiinued cheering, many of the said sponsors applauding politely from the front row.
"... a prize, that we know many girls in Beauvillage - and from what we´ve seen on the website - in other respective cities as well positively dream of winning: a dream-date with one of our judges."finished Lola, surpressing an urge to wink at Miles and Rodney.
"With that much said, let´s give a warm welcome to out judges... Rodney Philips."announced Angie, now also feeling the need to wink at him as he stepped up and waved the applauding crowd.
He was dressed plainly, but smartly - plain blue jeans, a green sleeveless sweater that showed the sleeves of his pure white shirt underneath.
"Michael Miles."announced Lola, as Miles blew on his saxaphone again as he manoovred himself next to Rodney, showing off a bit more.
"And last, but definitely NOT least... Frederick Wiseman."announced Angie, the tiniest note of pride present in her voice.
To Lola´s (as well as most of the people who knew him) immense surprise Wiseman was dressed quite nicely. His trademark sunglasses and detective coat were nowhere to be seen. He was dressed in black pants, black boots, blue silky shirt and had a pure white cloth wrapped elegantly around his neck.
Many girls in the crowd gave out a high-pitched scream, one not too uncommon to those, Popstars were accustumized to getting. On the other side of the curtain, where the five contestants were waiting, Candy gave out a lovesick sigh and positively swooned on the spot, almost fainting at the sight of him.
Even Miles was looking surprised as Wiseman joined him and Rodney.
"Woah... lookin´ good, Wisey."he grinned at him, nodding aproovingly.
Wiseman returned him a weak smile.
"Thanks. I think it can´t hurt to take your advice for once. You were always the popular one afterall."
Miles clapped him on the shoulder, grinning from ear to ear.
"That´s the spirit, Wisey-guysey."
Thistime however, Wiseman didn´t object. Instead, he checked his clothes again.
"I just hope I didn´t overdo it."
"Nah. You look A-OK, Wisey."said Miles as the three of them made their way to the Judge´s table, accompanied by wild cheers.
"I agree... but where did you get those clothes, Fred? I don´t remember you bringing any into the staff dress-room."asked Rodney as they sat down.
Wiseman fixed him with a sheepish grin.
"You see... this was a last-minute change of heart. And as I was checking that everything is all right, I stumbled on a huge pile of clothes in one of the dressing rooms. I decided to borrow a few of them. Hm... some of them were really wierd though."he added in an afterthought.
Rodney chuckled, shaking his head in amusement.
"No wonder. You see Fred... that huge pile of clothes belongs to the High School Drama Club. Since our contestants are allowed help with their acts, they asked their friends to help them with their acts. And one of our contestants is a member of the Drama Club. Heh... parts of your clothes come from the Dark Age play they did a few months ago. Its from the "Prince" character, if I recall correctly."said Rodney, grinning at Wiseman.
Miles exploded in laughter.
"P...Prince Wisey... that´s a good one... classy too..."he laughed, banging his fist on the table.
Wiseman glared him, but before he could retort in any way, Angie and Lola returned to their narrating.
"Since our judges - and prizes - are ready, its time to introduce the lucky five girls, who will be fighting for their hearts. Aaand... here they are..."
The crowd cheered as the five girls stepped onto the stage, each greeting the crowd in their own manner.
"... Tammy Hoodwood... Candy Liferich... Allanna Aberforth... Hazel Summerville... and Irene Ivory..."
Allanna waved politely, Hazel was grinning, Irene bowed, Tammy was greeting with several "cool" gestures and Candy was jumping up and down, beaming all around.
"Heh... look at that idiotic lamebrain."growled Mia as she watched from afar, binoculars in her hands.
"Like I have the time. I´m looking out for something else."Nick, who likewise had binoculars, growled back.
Mia at once fixed him a look.
"Looking for WHAT exactly?!"she asked angerly, making sure, that Nick´s binoculars weren´t pointing at her sister.
"What do you think, you crazy blondie?!"he asked in equal anger before taking out his walkie-talkie.
"This is Wise Two. All´s fine for now."
Mia huffed, even as Archie and Tex confirmed trough their walkies. However she couldn´t help but scoot closer to him in their hiding place.
"Don´t think you´re off the hook, mega nose. You´ll introduce me to the celebrities right after the finals."
Nick rolled his eyes.
"Okay, alright... we´re staying for the afterparty anyway and I promised afterall."he said shaking his head, missing the tiny smile she cracked at him.
"Look Nick, here they come."she whispered excitedly as the celebrities stepped onto the stage, greeted by tremendous cheers.
Each celebrity was greeting the crowd in their own way as well as Lola introduced them. Johnny Jack and Mary Buttons were holding hands while doing a curtsey, Adam Brians was giving the crowd a big thumbs-up, Christopher Gee was bowing politely, Jake Izzy and Milton Weasel were making quite a funny show of their bowing. The applause was still enduring as Lola passed the microphone to one of them.
"We have decided to assist the staff, since this contest is also working as a fund-raiser to the National Orphan Charity Organization - all thanks to Beauvillage´s Two men with Hearts of Gold..."started Christopher Gee.
Another applause sounded and Miles stood up from his chair, dragging Wiseman along with him and waving to the crowd yelling "Thaaaat´s us!".
"... but we were also watching the pervious rounds and we´ve decided to also offer up our assistance to these five talented girls."said Milton Weasel happily as the crowd gave out a surprised gasp, but was looking less speechless than the five girls standing in the spotlight.
"We will be judging their performance along with the judges and will be keeping our eyes out for those we choose to take under our wings."nodded Christopher Gee.
Even Lola and Angie were surprised. The girls, along with everyone else at once understood, that the stars were offering up something, which is not taken lightly - a chance for a promising future career. Hazel and Allanna actually gulped, Irene looked like she had been struck by lightning, Tammy was clearly trying to control herself - the temptation to jump in pure joy was almost too much. One contestant however looked as though the news was of little concequence.
"Will you take a look at that stupid airhead? She doesn´t even give a ..."growled Mia as she watched her sister, her hands shaking on the binoculars.
"That may be, because nothing these stars could offer her is what she wants... "speculated Nick as he turned his binoculars to watch her too.
Mia sniffed angerly.
"Typical! Stupid idiotic air-headed cow! What DOES she want?!"she ranted.
Nick however gasped. Candy was looking at the judge´s table, more specifically at Detective Wiseman, a look of pure longing on her face.
"THAT´S IT!"he exclaimed as he pieced all the pieces together.
"STOP YELLING! What´s it?!"exclaimed Mia, glaring him.
Nick shook his head.
"Mia, I´ve figured out who brother Fred´s secret admirer is."he said quietly.
Mia´s jaw dropped and she quickly looked trough the binoculars at Candy and where she was looking at.
"Wait... no way... you mean to say, that my sister - my stupid, crazy, brain-damaged sister is..."
"Brother Fred´s secret admirer..."nodded Nick.
Mia´s face turned from shock to complete and utter revulsion.
"THAT´S SOOOO disgusting!"she moaned, completly sure that she would empty out her stomach if she thought about it any longer.
Nick was in a state of utter shock. He also couldn´t exactly picture Mia´s older sister with Detective Wiseman. The idea, to him, wasn´t as disgusting... just plain old wierd.
"Nick, we have to stop this... no... NO... That braindead COW and Detective Wiseman?!"
She looked tormented at the very thought.
"What´s up, Mia? I mean really... sure, it sounds wierd, but what´s the problem?"
Mia´s eyes flashed. In an instant, she took him by the shoulders and turned him to face her, locking their eyes.
"What´s the problem, Nick? I´ll tell you what´s the problem! They end up together and she will be running around with the Brotherhood! THAT´S the problem!"
Nick´s cheeks were reddening as he saw, who close he was to her. Mia took no notice of it, her eyes still boring into his.
"I don´t want that cow hanging around you guys! I was here first!"she exclaimed angerly.
Nick gasped, realizing what she was implying.
"You... you want to hang around..."
"Of course I do, you doofus! Would I be here hiding along with you if I didn´t?!"
Nick´s face turned even redder and even Mia´s cheeks were coloring as she realized, that in the wake of her anger and panic, she admitted something she wanted to keep for herself - especially infront of Nick. A moment of silence endured, their eyes boring into one another´s.
"Aaaand now its time to look over the score."resonated troughout the place and the two instantly snapped out of it.
Deep-red in the face, they instantly fixed their sights on the stage, where Angie was motioning to the wide-screen, while trying to wrestle with their inner-selves and try to somehow understand what was going on with them.
Nodding to Trashbin and giving him a thumbs-up, Phil ran his fingers on the keyboard of the main computer, running the program he wrote specificly for this contest.
The large wide-screen showed the pictures of the five girls on the left end of the screen, placed in a some sort-of a blank table. The crowd gasped in anticipation. Four symbols - a Thumbs-up, a House, a crossed Hammer and Wrench, and finally a bright yellow Star- appeared on the empty upper tables.
"As it is already widely known, this time around not only our judges, but everyone will decide which girl is the best."she announced proudly.
"The Beauvillagers had also participated in a vote of their own. Each of them had placed her vote for one of our finalists..."nodded Lola as Beauvillagers applauded happily.
"And now its finally the time to show, how the vote had ended..."finished Angie, once more drawing all attention to the screen.
On the screen´s table the house symbol started to blink and under it, next to the pictures of the respective girls, numbers started to appear.
Besides Tammy Hoodwood´s picture appeared a number 203.
Besides Candy Liferich´s a 198.
Besides Allanna Aberforth´s a 122.
Besides Hazel Summerville´s a 159.
Besides Irene Ivory´s a 141.
"These numbers represent the first set of points - the Homebase Points."announced Lola to general cheer.
"The other set of points beside it..."started Angie as the Thumbs-up symbol began to blink along with the entire collumn as if to show itself properly for all to see.
"... are the Popularity points, that are given from you, our viewers, trough the official website vote as well as the votes you were able to send trough the national newspaper vote during the previous week from all over the country, minus Beauvillage of course."
"For simplicity´s sake, our talented programmer will use his program in order to compute the massive ammount of votes into points of a maximal ammount of 200."informed Lola and the large screen had changed.
It now shown the five girls´ pictures placed in the very bottom of the screen. At once a large, green bar started to rise from Tammy´s picture. Then from Candy´s, growing a bit taller over Tammy´s. Then from Allanna´s, outgrowing them both. Then Hazel´s, outgrowing the first two, but not the third. And finally Irene´s, growing on par with the first two.
Phil peeked from behind the large main computer at the screen and grinned - his program was working perfectly.
"Okay Phil. Convert the votes into points."said the voice of one of Trashbin´s crewmembers over his headphones.
"You got it. Point-conversion activated..."he said grinningly as he ran his fingers over the keyboard of the computer skillfully.
With the command of the main computer, the green bars on the screen turned red and started to fall back to the pictures of the girls and the main table appeared back on the screen. Besides the House symbol, the Thumbs-up symbol started to blink and numbers started to appear besides the first sets in each girl´s collumn.
Tammy´s collumn displayed a 150, Candy´s 160, Allanna´s 190, Hazel´s 185 and Irene´s 155.
"Well... there we have it, folks. The easy part is behind us now."announced Lola as the people clapped, each of the finalists smiling and bowing.
"Now, the final two collumns will be filled in over the course of the last round with..."started Angie as the Hammer and Wrench symbol began to blink, just like the other one did a moment ago.
"Skill points, given by our judges..."
Rodney, Miles and Wiseman waved in recodnition.
"... who can dish out 40 points each."finished Angie.
"Same as our celebrity judges..."started Lola, pointing to the other table, positioned on the opposite side of the stage as the judge´s was.
There, the celebrities were seated comfortably and also waved in responce, each of them smiling brightly.
"... who will be dishing out the final, Star points."she finished as the Star symbol flashed just like the previous ones did.
Seated comfortably in the front row, Jean La Jolie frowned slightly. He did not really want to admit it, but the Beauvillagers really outdone themselfs thistime. How in the hell were they able to produce something, half as good as this was beyond him. Truly the show was unlike anything of the sort, that was aired in the NATMA for years - many people in his counsil had told him so over the last week. He bit his lip, his mustache quivered. He was clearly losing his bet with Johnatan...
"Ne vous inquiétez pas, Papa."came the quiet voice of his son.
"Notre opération commence."he said with a smile as he discreetly reached into his pocket and activated his link with the twins.
...
As the applause rang from outside, Maurice double-checked his watch.
"We should probably get going. Irene´s act already started. They´ll need our help soon."
The older boy looked at him from the snack-table, that was provided for Chichi´s crew by both Burger Palace and Moonshade Café. Once their innitial duties were completed, the boys were welcome to help themselfs. Which they did as a matter of fact. However, Billy and Phil exited after a few moments - Billy wanting to stick close to the stage and Lola, and Phil eager to take his place behind the main computer. Victor hung around for a bit, but he too exited, eager to see the begining of the show. Maurice, who skipped lunch because of the preparations and Joe, who could never resist a treat, however stayed. Perhaps too long.
"You´re... you´re probably right. I wanna see my sis do her act too. She´s following after Irene, right?"asked Joe brightly as he finished his fourth Bethburger.
Maurice nodded smilingly.
"Yup. And unless you want to miss this, we´d better go."
Joe stood up and made his way towards Maurice and the door, but stopped. Turning around, he sprinted back to the snack-table and took another Bethurger.
Maurice rolled his eyes good-naturely and made to open the door.
"Can´t help it. They´re so tasty."said Joe sheepishly.
Joe stopped and looked curiously as Maurice fiddled with the doorknob.
"What the...?"
"What´s going on?"
As hard as Maurice tried to open the door, it just wouldn´t budge.
"The door´s stuck!"
"But HOW?!"
"Dunno... the handle´s not stuck..."
The door was indeed stuck. Blocked by a large, metal shelf.
Gerard Robuste smirked dispite himself as he saw the blocked door moving, but not opening due to its obstacle. The two teens inside have no chance of moving the heavy shelf away from the door. The idea was pure genius - very well worth moving the shelf with much difficulty, however his muscular body was very well able to do so.
"Two down. Three to go."he said to himself smugly.
He was confident, that the remaining three crew members will cross their paths over the course of the final round and was looking forward to dealing with them.
"Bon travail, Gerard. Next to the crew dressing-room there should be a set of wires leading to the stage."came a voice trough his earpiece.
Gerard squinted his eyes to see better and in no time flat he found the set of cables near the stairs leading to the Town Hall building´s cellar.
"Oui, Patron."
"Bien. Sever the cables. A nice black-out will be a good way to start."
Snickering, Gerard extracted a knife from his belt and bent down next to the cable, just behind another set of closed doors.
He made to grab the cables with his free hand, when...
POW!
The closed door flew open, coming into contact with Gerard´s bent-over form. Chaught off-guard, Gerard didn´t even have a chance to try and hold his balance. With a small gasp he fell, rolling down the stairs and stopping in the dark cellar with a loud and painfull CRASH.
"Did you hear that?"asked a girl´s voice.
"Yeah. I thought I heared something."answered a boy´s voice.
The tall girl looked from one side to the other to see better.
"Maybe it was just Maurice or Victor. The first contestant is already performing."
"I guess you´re right, Emmy."said Archie, holding onto the door-handle with one hand, while still keeping a hold on his girlfriend´s hand with the other.
Smiling lovingly at him, she turned and gave him a brief kiss.
"Come on, my little detective. We should go and check some of the other rooms as well... we´re on a mission afterall."she said sweetly.
Archie gave her a sunny smile, that made her want to give him another long kiss... in fact...
"ARCHIE! EMILY! Keep your focus! You can smooch all you want when the round is over!"exclaimed Nick from the other side of the hall.
The two gave him a sheepish grin, but obeyed his beckoning and made their way to him and Mia, still hand-in-hand.
"Come on you two. We still have a few places to check-out."he said half-sternly.
Mia nodded, shooting Emily a small smile as they made their way upstairs.
...
"Sot!"muttered Jaq darkly, positively fumming with anger as Irene´s act came to a stop, going on without a hitch.
Jean La Jolie fixed his son an uneasy look as a thunderous applause rang, the girl on the stage bowing.
"What happened?"he asked him discreetly after making sure, that Johnatan was too preoccupied in applauding to notice.
"I don´t know, Papa... but I´ll find out."growled Jaq, anger flushing his cheeks.
Standing up, he made his way past the row and exited, in search of a more discreet location to contact the two idiot twins.
"An amazing performance, I believe."announced Angie as she shook her hand with Irene, who smiled gratefully.
"My thoughts exactly."nodded Lola, likewise shaking hands with Irene.
"But now I think its time to ask our two respective sets of judges."
Both tables smiled and each member took a small calculator-like device (curteousy of a certain boy-genius) into their hands. On the high screen, the Skill point symbol began to blink next to Irene´s picture and displayed a 40, then 70, finally stopping on 110.
The crowd cheered wildly, even as the Star symbol began to blink, instantly quieting the crowd. The display shown a 40, then 80, 110, 150, 170, stopping on 190.
"There we have it... a nice start up too. Looks like the other girls will have their work cut out for them."said Angie brightly as Irene left the stage happily.
"All the more reason to try. And we will see just than in a few moments..."nodded Lola as the curtain was being pulled back, and Trashbin signalized one of his cameramen to innitiate the commertial break.
As the crowd was excitedly talking about what they just wittnessed, Jaq fummingly made contact with Gabriel, while watching Billy and Victor bring some gymnastics equipment onto the stage from his hiding place.
"The second one will start in a moment or two. By the looks of it, she will do a gymnastics act. Do whatever you can to sabotage it. Just do NOT let anyone see you."he said with a growl.
"Oui, Patron."came Gabriel´s reply.
"And DON´T fail!"he added.
"Oui Patron."said Gabriel again as he closed the comunication.
Sighing, Gabriel rummaged the backpack again, double-checking his equipment. He shot a glance over his shoulder to check on the other occupant of the small room.
"What´s with that look?"asked Cherie impatiently.
"Don´t you have something to do?"
Gabriel raised his eyebrow to her imperious tone.
"Oui. I do. But first... I will make sure, that you stay put."he said, pulling a set of handcuffs from the backpack.
Cherie sighed in defeat. She was hoping this stupid oaf would simply run off after his brother and leave her alone and in perfect position to make a run for it. However he wasn´t apparantly as dumb as she thought him to be. He grabbed her hand roughly and pulled her to her feet. Moving her roughly to the wall, he slamed one of the cuffs on her hand. The other, he slamed around a large cable, which was fixed on the wall and apparently leading out of the room.
"This will make sure, you stay put. The cable is fixed to the wall, so you won´t move far away."he said confidently and let her go.
Cherie glared him hatefully as he made his way out of the room, slamming the door behind himself.
"I HAVE to find a way to get out of here somehow!"she thought furiously as she was looking around for something, ANYTHING in the room that could help her. She knew, that she had to alert someone... ANYONE. The brotherhood, Wiseman... hell, even Lola Tofu.
Upstairs, one of the doors to the numerous rooms, which now occupied the supplies for the contestants, opened. A tall boy with short black hair walked in, followed by a shorter bispectaled girl.
"Let´s look over this room as well."said Tex, moving along the room.
Abbygail couldn´t help but giggle. Tex was looking around attentively, hoping to find some sort of a clue. With a gasp, he moved to the table near the window, where a large metal basin was.
"What´s this?"he pondered as he looked at it, finding that it was filled with water.
"Must be Candy´s. I´ve heared, that she took a number of her friends for her act along with many supplies. This must be one of them."said Abbygail gently.
Tex looked confused.
"What in the world can a ... of water be good for? I´m pretty sure, that it can´t be used for performance."
Abbygail shrugged.
"No idea. But I think we should leave it alone."
Tex shook his head.
"I think its better if we get rid of the water at least."he said and before Abbygail could say anymore, he opened the window and poured the water out of it.
However, right at the time Gabriel Robuste was standing outside, trying to evade detection from the various policemen, that were patroling here and there. Suddenly he was completly drenched in cold water, that came from upstairs.
"Gabriel! Are you in position?!"sounded from his earpiece, however...
Gabriel jumped and yelped, the device in his ear sending out several small sparks, shocking him slightly - the device clearly wasn´t meant to mix with cold water.
"What was that? Did you hear that?"asked Tex, as he heared several yelps from somewhere downstairs.
"It came from outside."exclaimed Abbygail and moved to the window beside Tex, who set the basin on the sill. Both of them looked down from the window, looking all around.
"What´s going on?"asked four voices in the doorway.
Tex and Abbygail looked back and saw Nick, Mia, Archie and Emily.
"We´ve heared something outside."said Tex, pointing out.
They were instantly joined by the others, all of them looking out the window, all around.
"There´s nothing there."said Nick dismissively, moving away from the window.
"I´m sure, that I heared something, brother Nick."said Tex stubbornly.
Mia rolled her eyes, just as a large cheer erupted from the stage.
"See that? It came probably from the stage. Nothing to worry about."she said easily as she, along with Nick moved away from the window.
Archie and Emily nodded at eachother and moved away from the window as well. Tex however was adamant, that he heared something, looking around determinedly, eager to locate the source of the yelps. He gasped as he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. Turning around sharply, he came face to face with Abbygail, their faces only milimeters from eachother. Both teens gasped and Tex made a small movement backwards, his shoulder coming into light contact with the basin on the sill. The basin shook and moved closer over the edge, but the two didn´t pay any attention to it, looking at eachother red-faced and in Tex´s case, with astonishment.
"You comin´ or what?"came Nick´s commanding voice, bringing them back to reality.
As the pair of them turned and nodded, the basin could no longer remain on the sill, falling over the edge.
"P...patron... mon oreille..."moaned Gabriel, clutching his throbbing ear, the earpiece finally stoped to shock him.
"What about your ear?!"asked Jaq angerly on the other side - the buffoon was making no sence.
Suddenly HE clutched HIS ear as he heared a loud, dull, ringing metal sound trough the earpiece.
"What was THAT?"came an alarmed voice of Tex Workalot, who was again looking out the window.
He looked at the pavement, where the basin lay, but saw nothing else. Suddenly he felt someone give him a small slap over the head.
"See, dumbass? YOU´RE the one making all the racket... now come on, before you do anything else."said Nick with a scrowl, his face dissapearing from the window.
"Yes, brother Nick."said Tex ashamedly, and his face too dissapeared from the window.
Downstairs, not very far from the fallen basin, but still hidden from view of the window was Gabriel. Leaning on the wall for support, moaning, he held his head in his hands, the beginings of a bumb already forming on the place, where the metal basin made contact with his head.
In his hiding place, Jaq stopped clutching his ear and took a moment to think.
"Even Gerard and Gabriel could not possibly mess up so badly... it must be that Brotherhood... they are apparently better than I thought - to be able to stop the Two-Ton Twins."he thought, looking onto the stage, where Hazel was performing one gymnastics series after another, in accordance with the hip-music that was playing, people applauding like crazy.
"I have to stop this. Pas d'autre choix... I must join in on the sabotage."he thought, his face taking on a determined look.
...
"It should be around here. The gemstone is pulsing like crazy."said Lily as they reached a the far north side of Beauvillage, where a series of garages and small warehouses were.
April closed her eyes and doubled her concetration on finding Chichi. She could feel, by the increased yet still gentle warming up of her gemstone, that it was complying with her wish. She felt herself being turned rapidly to the left side and her feet at once chaught up with the movement. Lily chaught on to her aims and sped after her, April picking up speed and moving to one warehouse in particural - a medium-sized, old metal one. Suddenly however...
"Huh? What gives?"breathed Lily as she felt her green gemstone calm, stopping its pulsating glow.
April gasped as well, tears welding up in her eyes.
"Can´t be... the spell had stopped... but then... then... CHICHI!"she exclaimed, horrified that the end of the spell meant, that he was unable to perform anymore Green Magic, which would mean...
A loud metal clunk rang on the deserted area, something fell to the ground from the warehouse infront of them. Both girls instantly ran forward and saw, that it was a large metal lock.
At the same moment, the warehouse´s metal door started to move, sliding slowly aside. Lily smiled warmly as she saw the familiar blonde-haired boy sliding the door open, just enough to allow him to pass trough. On his shirt, visible in plain sight was the Yellow Gemstone Necklace he wore.
"CHICHI!"exclaimed an overjoyed April, who wasted no time and jumped at him, her arms encircling his neck and bringing him as close as possible to her.
"Chichi, I was so worried something bad happened to you... I thought we might not find you... or worse find you injured or... oh, Chichi..."she said, so fast that Chichi had trouble registering it all.
Nevertheless, he breathed a sigh of relief as he brought his arms around April, hugging her back.
"Its okay, April... I´m fine."he said soothingly, trying to calm her down more than anything else.
Over April´s shoulder he shot a smile at Lily, who was examining the fallen lock.
"Wow, Chichi... The Corrosion Spell?"she breathed in astonishment.
April gasped and let of of him, looing at the lock, then back at Chichi in pure wonder.
"But... but that one is seriously complicated..."she breathed, remembering the Green Magic book they read together in the Hidehole a week ago.
Chichi scrowled.
"You can say THAT again. I´ve been concetrating like an idiot all this time and all I´ve managed to corrode were a few links from that chain binding us, and the lock mechanism. How on Earth was Balthazar capable of corroding all those bulldozers overnight is beyond me."
"Chains?!"exclaimed April.
"Binding US?!"breathed Lily, knowing what this means.
Chichi nodded solemnly, stepping aside. The girls moved closer and trough the doorway they saw the dim interior of the warehouse. It was certainly not used much. It had several worktables, scattered with rusty pieces of metal and tools, its floor had several junk on it, large canisters of who knows what near the metal poles, which were holding the roof. And by the central pole, visible in the sunlight, that shone trough the dirty windows was...
"Steve!"exclaimed Lily, rushing past Chichi to check upon her childhood friend.
Steve was lying on the ground, the sling on his arm was cracked, his eyes were closed and he appeared to have suffered a powerfull blow to the head. Next to him was the chain that was used to bind him and Chichi to the pole.
"I´ve tried checking the place, but I guess it hadn´t seen a First Aid Kit since it was built."said Chichi coming closer.
"We don´t need one, Chichi. We have something better."said April confidently.
Chichi fixed her an uneasy look.
"I´m not sure about this April. I mean... bumps, cuts and bruises fine, but this appears to be far more serious than that. He was out cold troughout all this time, I think he may have suffered a more serious concussion than the one he had before."
Lily gasped. April however fixed Chichi a stubborn look.
"All the more reason to try. I´ve read a few lower level healing spells and I think one of them might do the trick. It won´t heal his arm, but it might be able to get him back on his feet."
Chichi continued to look at her for a few more moments, but his face broke into a smile.
"All right. Give it a try."he said with a nod.
Lily couldn´t help but crack a smile as she saw April give Chichi a look of loving gratitude. She stood up and allowed April to take her place by Steve´s side. As April´s purple gemstone blinked into life and Lily´s and Chichi´s gemstones blinked in responce to the Green Magic spell that was being performed, the pair of them stepped outside. There Chichi quickly explained what happened after he and Steve exited the Moonshade Café.
Lily then quickly explained everything that happened on their side, how she rushed to get April and how the pair of them saw a certain someone exit Moonshade Café.
Chichi looked thoughtfull.
"No doubt about it. Its just like me and Mr Gee feared. The one who shocked me with that paralyzer must´ve been Jaq. And the two large guys must be The Two Ton Twins."
Lily gasped.
"Woah... Cygnuville´s infamous Two Ton Twins? They are the country´s heavyweight wrestling champions. They´ve been champs for six years in the running. Also, rumor has it, that they have very wealthy sponsors."
Chichi fixed her an astonished look.
"What? I´ve watched wrestling matches since I was a little girl."she explained blushingly.
"Ooookay... moving on. We have to get back to the stage and find some way to catch them. Wiseman and his brotherhood are clearly no match for them. Damn, if only I had my Gzorbial cellphone."said Chichi, breathing out a sigh.
"Where is it?"asked Lily curiously.
Chichi scrowled.
"I regained conciousness just before those two closed the door. They were talking about their Patron taking that Gzorbial and promising to give it back to them after they are done."
Lily looked at him, realizing something.
"If Jaq has it, he doesn´t realize that its a cell-phone."
Chichi grinned, he hid his cellphone into the Gzorbial even better, than it was with his old teddy-bear phone.
"My thoughts exactly. One more thing he doesn´t know is, that even if the phone is turned off, it can be accessed trough Phil´s tablet."
Lily gave him an astonished smile.
"Which can use as evidence if we catch him..."
Chichi grinned his infamous smile and nodded. Lily´s smile however faltered.
"Chichi... to do that, we have to somehow deal with the twins. But how will we do THAT? I mean... we can´t outmuscle them. And if its Jaq leading them... I may not like him, but he IS inteligent..."
Chichi however had a very determined look on his face.
"True Lily. But first up - I´m NOT giving up. Second - we still have the countermeasures we´ve made against the sabotages. And third - I have my secret weapon. One, that YOU gave me the idea for."he said with a smile.
Lily´s half-confused look turned into a sunny smile, wondering what Beauvillage´s boy-genius has thought up thistime.
...
