Chapter 4: Hair Raising Conflict
September 14th - 10:45am – Gearshift Train Station
This felt bizarre to Mandy, although she was used to experiencing all sorts of weird and horrible things in her life due to living with the Grim Reaper, teaming up with eight other kids from different towns to search for Jewelled Butterflies was a new thing. Especially since all of them had somewhat different goals.
Phineas and Isabella wanted to collect them to get back at the Iron Blackbird for injuring his brother. Ed, Edd n Eddy are trying to solve a mystery surrounding a package that was delivered to them forty years before Double D was born. Dib and Gaz were trying to bring down the murderous cult called Diavoli Di Sangue. And Trixie was on the run from the same cult.
Mandy wondered if the reason the vampire, Kasumi stole Grim's Scythe was so she could use it as a means of collecting the Jewelled Butterflies, but what kind of power could they possibly have that overpowers the scythe? Either way, though she hated the idea of teaming up with eight other idiots, she felt this was out of her control, as Kasumi easily overwhelmed her before she bit her, so the extra pair of hands could be useful, even if it were just meat shields.
She and Billy were in the train station, all of them in the restaurant area however having some fast food, due to the either not having any breakfast or very little food, plus their train would be arriving in fifteen minutes, so they had plenty of time to have some food while they wait. Phineas, Isabella, Billy, and Trixie shared one table, while the Eds and Dib shared another.
Mandy sat with Gaz, sitting opposite sides of each other, she had a burger, fries and soda, while Gaz had a pizza and soda. Mandy quite enjoyed Gaz's company, she was very quiet, and kept to her portable console, a Game-Slave it was called, though every time Mandy looked away, a slice of her pizza was gone, Mandy wondered how Gaz would eat them so fast but paid no attention.
As she took another bite of her burger, she flinched slightly feeling the burn from her neck again every time she swallowed, but shrugged it off, it didn't feel as bad as before, but it still annoyed her, five days after she was bitten and it still hurts, this was what annoyed her more. She did however take notice of the TV hanging on the wall, and it was about a talk show. With nothing better to do, she decides to watch.
The host is a typical blonde pretty boy who seems to talk too much. "And may we introduce the guest of our show tonight, give a round of applause for our president of Matelli Metals, Mr Adam Matelli!"
Soon, a tall lanky man in a white suit walked in, he had a long nose, beady eyes behind a pair of thick square golden coloured glasses and short black hair, he had a very calm look to him as he waved at the audience before making his way to the couch and sitting down, with one leg over the other, Mandy was kind of impressed by this man's strange slim frame, he almost looked robotic in that one movement, but seems human enough.
"A pleasure to be here." Said Adam, sounding almost too charismatic for such small words.
"Glad to have you here, so seriously, humble beginnings am I right? Once a car parts salesman and now you're going into robots!?"
"That's right." Adam responded as he placed his hands together with his fingers together. "Once a small parts shop in little West Monroe of LA, I'll admit I hadn't anticipated to make it this far, but what can I say, my father told me to always reach for the stars."
"Did you ever expect to go beyond just car parts, I mean why robots?"
"Technology is advancing far faster than we humans can keep up with, more children are being born with advanced IQs like Dexter and Mandark. For the sake of business and how technology is advancing, I must advance myself, which is why I'm accepting robotics in my business."
"I see, and do you have any plans to aid with this?"
"I do, I'm currently doing business trades with both Dexter and Mandark to learn as much about creating robots and adapting my own variation. Given a lot of my machines and metals are sold to both companies, I think it's fair business deals."
Mandy listening to this, she was weirdly intrigued by Adam's answers and charisma. But at the same time, something didn't feel right about this man. While she didn't watch a lot of talk shows, the times she did, there was a little bit of a delay between the host and guest talking, usually because the guest needs a bit of time to process all of the information before answering, some are quicker to respond than others sure, but Adam had almost no hesitancy at all, being able to respond half a second after the question.
The host continues. "So, you're trying to keep up with the times, I can dig that, and would that have anything to do with your game contest?"
"Demon Storm?" asked Adam, he then leans back a bit. "Yes, you see, my son enjoys video games and with how important youth is to the new world, with the help of President Wario of WarioWare Incorporated, we collaborated and will be managing a special USA wide contest called Demon Storm, we'll be establishing arcade machines in every city, children between the ages of eight and fifteen can participate and whoever gets the highest score, will win a cash prize of $300,000."
The second Mandy heard that, she almost choked on her food in shock, she started pounding her chest trying to swallow, until she grabbed her drink and guzzled the entire thing, she took a few breaths before turning her attention back to the TV. But soon saw that Gaz had noticed her chocking, and she directed herself to the TV to see what Mandy was watching.
"That much money!?" asked the host. "For a kid!?"
"A continent-wide event deserves a massive prize such as this." Adam responded as he leaned forward. "Besides, there can only be one winner and there will be thousands of contestants, they've already signed up to be a part of the event, despite the fact that we've yet to fully set up every machine."
"I've entered that contest." Gaz said bluntly before turning back to her game.
"Hang on, so it's not ready yet despite how many contestants have signed up?" asked the host.
"Trying to manufacture and establish that many machines have taken longer than I anticipated, but we're planning to have the contest ready by the end of November. We hope to have it done by October by the earliest, November at the latest. Given Mr Wario has plenty of experience in mass producing arcades, I have every confidence his assistance will be most beneficial. But we would've been done sooner if it wasn't for the recent attacks all over the place."
"Oh, you're referring to that weird organisation, Divvy dee Sandwich or something? Yeah, it's been getting crazier lately with them."
"Diavoli Di Sangue." Adam responds. "It's Italian for The Blood Devils. And yes, they have been, I lost quite a few employees and co-workers thanks to that meddlesome bunch. In addition to the death of Simon Mervaradi, that man has been a massive help to several companies, mine included, we had every intention of improving what Dex-Labs and Astro-Labs offered us, but now that's all that down the drain."
"Geez, that's gotta sting." Said the host. "It's been crazy, especially with the latest two, the terrorist attack on a train, and that random attack in a shopping mall in Dimmsdale."
"Indeed, if I had the power, I'd gladly crush all of them myself, but I'm just a president of a machine trading company, I'll have to leave it to the heroes of the world."
"Indeed, I mean, you're not that big of a name yet, you're just barely a millionaire."
"Indeed, but I'd like to change that."
Mandy continued to watch the interview, until she and Gaz were interrupted by Isabella walking up to her. "Hey. Train's here."
Mandy looks to see the others already leaving, though Billy was waiting for her. She nods, takes the last of her burger and walks with the others as she finishes it off. She looks to Gaz to see all her pizza slices were gone, so she takes her soda and walks with it.
"How do you eat pizza so fast?" Mandy asked feeling curious.
"Years of practise." Said Gaz bluntly.
They soon make it to the platform and see the train doors open; one by one they enter the train.
They all stay in one carriage, Billy and Mandy share a seat with a table, with Phineas and Isabella taking the opposite end of said table, she hardly liked the company but told herself to get used to it. Trixie takes a seat on the opposite side of them, with Eddy about to sit next to her but Dib rushed to that seat first, so he sat at another table opposite to Ed and Double D. Gaz noticed she couldn't sit with her brother, so she sat on the seat behind them. Soon the train began to leave the station, with Mandy feeling a slight hesitancy given her last experience on a train.
'Hope this one doesn't blow up.' Mandy thought to herself.
September 14th - 11:23am – Train, between Tech Square and Townsville.
As the train zoomed across the tracks, Mandy sat quietly, trying to keep to herself, but Billy had been non-stop chatting with Phineas and Isabella, getting along with them very well. This wasn't surprising, Billy was always hit or miss when it came to socialising, but he has improved a lot since.
Billy, Phineas and Isabella were sharing stories of their past events, Mandy chimed in on occasion to correct anything Billy got wrong. She did also listen in since she hardly had a choice.
But it seemed that Phineas and Isabella have had an interesting eventful life in Danville, while not as supernatural themed, was not boring either. As every summer, Phineas, and his brother Ferb would build all sorts of fun ideas and inventions that would make the most of each day. These would range from building a city-wide rollercoaster, creating the world's biggest bowl of ice cream for when Isabella had her tonsils removed. Mandy flinched at that remembering when she had to have hers removed, not a fun time. Other events like building a giant aquarium in their backyard for one goldfish, creating ninja suits that automatically moved you away from prying eyes and even discovering the Klimpaloon, a living bathing suit from the Himalayas, it sounded weird, but Mandy's seen and experienced weirder.
Billy in turn also mentioned quite a few of their endeavours, which while Phineas and Isabella sounded surprised, they also had concerned looks to them, given how many times he and Mandy should've died from those circumstances.
"Wow, sounds like you've both been through a lot." Said Phineas.
"Yeah, I can't recall anything as scary as what you've been through." Said Isabella.
"Oh yeah! We're pros when dealing with monsters and ghosts." Said Billy sounding a bit smug.
"Except ninety-nine percent of the time, I'm saving your dumbass from the chaos you've caused." Said Mandy as she leaned back with her hands behind her head.
"Well, uh... t-that's not the point." Said Billy sounding both annoyed and sheepish.
Mandy leaned back up to look directly at him. "That's EXACTLY the point! Most of the time it's you who causes them, I'll give you slack on the times you couldn't have known, but I could count those moments on one hand."
Billy chuckles as he leans on the table looking at her. "Boy, you must have a lot of fingers on one hand!"
Mandy responds by bonking him on the head, making his head hit the table. "Shut it you idiot!"
Billy chuckles again as he lifts his head up. "Ah! You resorted to violence, that means I win!" And he immediately responds by getting up and running. With Mandy immediately giving chase.
"Not against me you don't!"
As Mandy gave chase, going into another carriage and further, she cursed herself for letting Billy get under her skin again, as well as him being considerably faster than her as he was getting into each carriage much sooner than her.
But as she entered the next one, Billy couldn't be found at all. She looked left and right, and even behind her, but nothing, as she walked further into this new carriage, ignoring the passengers, she scratches her head feeling dumbfounded. 'How the hell did Billy get so cunning?' Billy has gotten somewhat wiser to her and what she can do, which only infuriates her as she still has trouble understanding his logic and understanding.
'CLOMP!'
Mandy quickly looked behind her and saw Billy just landing on the ground, realising he had been hiding in the baggage compartment.
"Crap!" Billy shouted as he began to run back the other way, with Mandy immediately giving chase.
The two made their way back to their own carriage and Billy was gaining more distance from her again, until he suddenly tripped, over what, she didn't know, but she took this opportunity to dive on top of Billy and beat him up. The two were rolling all over the place, picking up dust as they threw all sorts of punches, kicks and slaps. Not paying attention to anyone around them
"ENOUGH!"
Billy and Mandy jumped at the sound of someone shouting, they stopped and noticed it was a member of staff looking down at them.
"Kids! This is a train for the public, not a damn playground! Now get back to your seats or I'll have to kick you off at the next stop!"
As the staff member walked off, Billy and Mandy stood up, patted themselves and sat back at their seats with Phineas and Isabella, whom the two had very amused looks to them.
"We're teenagers. Not kids." Grumbled Billy.
Mandy just sighed, feeling embarrassed that she let Billy annoy her enough to make a scene again. She just sat quietly hoping for their stop to arrive soon.
September 14th - 12:00pm – Townsville Train Station
The train finally arrived at Townsville, Billy and Mandy immediately got out of their seats and made their way to the door, with the others following in suit. As they left the train, they were unfortunately caught in a very large a crowd as several more people began leaving the train and entering it, suddenly feeling pushed back and forth.
"Move it!" Shouted Mandy as she began to violently push people in her way. She didn't pay attention to anyone else, until she got past them where then she realised that the rest were behind Ed, who was walking normally knocking everyone out of his way, given his size and dopey look, Mandy guessed he was a lot stronger than he looked.
As Ed walked up to Mandy, the others behind him walked out. "Everyone here?" asked Phineas as he looked around frantically.
"I think…" Mandy looked around again, trying to take a mental note of everyone's faces. "Wait, we're missing three." They realised that Billy, Double D and Dib are not here. She and the others looked back to see the crowd clear, and they saw Billy on the floor with footprints on him, and a flattened pink nose. "Idiot." Mandy mumbled as she walked up to him and helped him up.
"Wow." Billy responded as he shook his head slightly. "Some people never clean their shoes; one had a big wad of gum on it." He coughs up the large piece of gum with a triumphant smile. "His loss is my gain."
Mandy simply smacks the gum out of his hand and looks around. "So where are Dib and Double D?"
"Uhh… Found them!" Trixie said sounding worried as she pointed to the departing train, seeing Dib and Double D were pushed back inside the train as they looked out to them panicking.
"Oh shoot! What do we do!?" asked Phineas.
Before anyone could say anything, Eddy's phone began to ring, he takes it out, see's it's Double D calling and answers on speaker. "Nice going Sock-Ed!"
"I know, I'm sorry. Look, we're gonna try and get the train back, just go on without us. We'll keep you posted."
"Got it but hurry up."
Dib's voice was soon heard. "Tell Gaz to stay with Trixie, I know neither of them have a phone but I'd rather she stayed with her."
"Whatever." Said Gaz.
"Meet you soon." Eddy ends the call and faces the others, "We're just gonna have to go without them, they'll get the next train back."
"Hope they'll be alright." Said Isabella.
"Double D will be fine; wouldn't be the first time he's screwed up like this. Dib I dunno."
"He's an idiot but he finds his way out of any mess." Said Gaz, who then went back to her Game-Slave and stands a little closer to Trixie.
"Alright, whatever." Mandy spoke up, deciding to take charge of this. "Let's just find this stupid Butterfly and get back to Dexter."
She leaves the station with the others, and they look out to see the City of Townsville, it looked as simple as any other city, but the observatory on top of a volcano in the distance was the most eye catching.
Mandy knew that this town was famous for something but couldn't quite recall what it was. She simply shrugged it off and turned to the others. "Alright, let's split up and search this city."
"This whole city!?" Exclaimed Eddy. "How are we supposed to find a tiny gem in this place!?"
"Don't know, don't care, we just have to find it before anyone else does."
Phineas shrugged. "Guess Isabella and I will team up."
Eddy looked over to Trixie and Gaz, and he immediately walks over to them. "How's about we team up, don't worry, I'll make sure you're safe." He said to Trixie specifically, who gave a look of disinterest.
Just as Eddy was about to grab Trixie's hand, Ed suddenly jumped in and hugged both of them, crushing them both in the process. Just missing Gaz who didn't pay attention to them at all. "YAY! WE'RE A TEAM!"
"ED! GET OFF!" Eddy grunted.
Trixie wheezes, unable to speak.
Mandy sighed and looked over to Billy. "You're with me, come on. Report back here in a few hours."
The gang split into three and made their way around Townsville. Billy and Mandy, Ed, Eddy, Trixie and Gaz, and Phineas and Isabella. As they split, Mandy looked behind her to see the groups going their own way, she then looked forward again, hoping they will be of use to her in this mission.
September 14th - 12:21pm – The City of Townsville
Mandy walked around the city streets looking around for any potential clues, she soon stopped and crossed her arms to think. 'Let's see… seventeen Jewelled Butterflies, Isabella said that there might be fourteen yet to be claimed. And we don't know if the one here is still in its box or not…'
Soon Mandy took notice of Billy staring through the glass of a shop, specifically at the fruit section.
"See anything of value?"
"Yeah, check this crazy fruit out."
Mandy looked to see a large collection of the usual fruits, but one in particular was in with the bananas. It was a bunch of red coloured bananas, connected by a light green stem that split into two in a ninety-degree angle each, one having a curved end, but the banana skins all had a bizarre swirling pattern on them.
Mandy thought it was strange but took notice of a shop staff member walking up to the fruits, alongside a police officer. He looked to be in his late thirties, he had a thin squarish jaw and a large nose, and grey eyes with thick black eyebrows. He had short black hair that turned grey in the middle where his hair met his forehead, he also had a grey five o lock shadow that reached up to his hair, where he had grey sideburns. He also had a burnt-out cigarette in his hand.
She couldn't make out what the police officer and staff member were saying, but it ended with the officer taking the red bananas and placing them in a plastic sealable bag, he then took out a cheque book, wrote on it and tore it out to hand to the staff member, the two nodded as the staff member walks away. The police officer soon turns to face Billy and Mandy, which the two immediately decide to leave.
"What was that about?" Asked Billy.
"Beats me, but it has nothing to do with our goal, so leave it."
Mandy soon noticed a newspaper shop and sees the headlines of the train's destruction, she reads the text at the headlines to see the additional news about it, and unfortunately, the news that she and Billy are missing from the group was there, names, photographs and their hometown.
"So, we're considered missing… guess that means people might be searching for us, we'd better keep our heads low for a while."
Mandy looked back to Billy to see him climbing a lamppost, which he manages to get to the top fairly quickly, he sat on the horizontal post and looked around, Mandy rolled her eyes and walked up to him. "Billy, don't make a scene."
"Relax, I won't." He then proceeded to look around some more. "Reckon this magic butterfly would be flying about?"
Mandy was about to call him an idiot for assuming jewels can fly, but the possibility of them flying isn't exactly out of the question since they are supposed to be magic in nature, or something to that effect. But she didn't want to give Billy credit since she's still salty over him messing with her on the train. "Don't be stupid, Stupid. Now get down."
"Ok!" Billy just drops and lands on the ground face first in front of her. Then he quickly gets up.
Mandy just sighs and looks around, but notices a clothes shop, soon an idea cropped in her mind, she needed a way to hide herself so she wouldn't bring in any attention, especially now that their faces are plastered on the newspapers. She looked over to Billy. "You wait here, I'll be right back." She then made her way to the clothes shop.
Billy shrugs and just waits around, but soon he notices the same police officer coming his way, carrying the plastic bag with the red bananas in them. He didn't think much until he noticed a passerby with a newspaper, and seeing his and Mandy's face on them.
'Oh crud! We're wanted!' Billy thought to himself, thinking he might be arrested, he immediately pulled his hood over his face and closes it so only his nose was visible, he then tried to lean on a lamppost but missed it and fell flat onto the ground, but he kept still as he was whistling nonchalantly, which was muffled due to being inside the hood. The police officer just looked at him, then walked away without doing anything.
Mandy soon left the clothes shop with a pair of sunglasses and a dark pink cap, matching her usual clothes, keeping her face mostly concealed without trying to look like she's hiding her face. It wasn't a perfect disguise, but she hoped it would be enough for passerby's to not take notice.
As she stepped out, she thought of something, Phineas and Isabelle mentioned that his brother was blackmailed into stealing a Jewelled Butterfly. Figured it was worth the try, she took her phone out and called Isabella, since Phineas didn't have a phone. After a few rings, Isabella answered.
"Hey Mandy, anything?"
"Not yet, but I wanna ask. That Iron Blackbird blackmailed your friend to stealing one of those butterflies, right? Where did he steal it from?"
"Oh, Ferb stole it from a museum."
"Museum, huh? Alright. Billy and I are gonna see if this town has one and check it out."
"Gotcha, we're gonna try a jewellery shop. Hope you find something."
"Ditto." She then hung up and walked forward, but she soon noticed Billy on the ground, she huffed a bit. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Quiet, I'm acting casual." He said muffled, as he went back to whistling.
Mandy noticed a woman walking past them and seeing Billy. "He's an idiot."
"Yes, but he's my idiot." She said exasperated.
September 14th - 12:30pm – Townsville Museum
It didn't take too long to find the museum, there were plenty of town maps plastered on the walls, so it was an easy find. Even if it was likely a fruitless search, she was hopeful it could lead to some results, even if just clues.
The museum itself was a tall, twelve-storey building that had less at the back, making an L shaped building, it has a tall black tower coming out of the back portion, and a large dome to the side, it had a few trees on the left side of the path, and a statue of a weirdly shaped curved person with no features.
Billy and Mandy looked up at the building, before making their way inside. Mandy kept her new sunglasses and hat on, and Billy kept his hood over his head, but this time it was put on properly and not concealing his entire head.
After Mandy made Billy pay for the tickets and both got their maps, the two entered the building and looked around to see several exhibits, from paintings, to statues, to old vehicles, among many more, all in a very glorified and upper-class looking establishment. She examines her map to see the building really did have twelve-storeys, and the first three were gigantic, she gave off a quiet sigh.
"Alright, we've got a crap ton of places to go, and we need to find either a Jewelled Butterfly, or a puzzle box." She turned to Billy. "We'll need to split up, do you remember what the puzzle box Dexter showed us looked like?" She knew but needed to know if Billy remembered.
Billy tipped his head to the side thinking. "Ummm… kinda brown, bits of yellow?"
Mandy huffed with annoyance. "Alright, look. Use your phone to take a picture of everything brown and square shaped, that isn't a painting. And take pictures of anything butterfly shaped. You do know what a butterfly is shaped like, right?"
"Yep! Long stick, big colourful wings, two smaller sticks on top."
"Close enough. Alright, split up and I want you to take a picture of either thing I described, brown squares that isn't a painting, and anything butterfly shaped. Got it?"
"Yup!"
"Good. You take floors one to six, I'll take floors seven to twelve. Meet me back here in an hour, when your phone's clock says 1:40pm."
And with that, the two split up, with Billy going further into the museum, while Mandy made her way to the elevator.
Thirty minutes had passed, and Billy followed Mandy's instructions well, taking the pictures she specifically requested, though given some vagueness, Billy took way more than he probably should've, and a funny side of him also took some in the form of selfies. He was currently on the third floor after taking pictures of everything he could find on the first and second.
As he traversed further through what appears to be the exhibit for urns and pottery across the world, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye, it was the same police officer he saw before, this time he was also talking to a staff member, holding another strange fruit.
Billy raised an eyebrow. "Does this guy just like weird fruit or something?" He decides to sneak over, taking gentle steps and decides to listen in. At the very least, that was the idea.
As Billy took a few steps, he didn't realise that there was an ornament on a pedestal near him and he bumps into it. The ornament was about to fall, but Billy threw his body to it to try and catch it, and he lost his footing, he managed to catch it, but he fell onto his face but kept his arms up enough, so the ornament never touched the ground.
Billy pulled his face from the ground and saw that the ornament he caught wasn't broken, he sighed with relief but noticed a few people approaching him as well as some security guards.
"S-Sorry, I tripped."
One security guard takes the ornament from Billy while the other helps him up, the ornament is placed back onto the pedestal, while another guard looks at Billy directly.
"I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
September 14th - 1:20pm – Townsville Museum Entrance
Mandy was leaving the Museum, she received a text from Billy that he got kicked out, but decided to finish her mission, including the fourth and sixth floor since Billy didn't get to them. And much to her frustration, she found nothing of value, she looked over to see her idiot friend sitting at a bench on his phone, until he noticed her. She walked up to him and slapped him on the nose.
"You big idiot!"
"Sorry. So, find anything?"
"No. And you?"
Billy hands her his phone and she check the photo gallery; she did a quick swipe through all of them and found nothing resembling either the puzzle box or Jewelled Butterfly. She just sighs and hands him back his phone.
"So that was a waste of time." Grumbled Mandy.
"Yeah but get this. You know that cop we saw in the shop, taking those red bananas? He was in the museum too, getting another fruit with those swirly things on it."
Mandy raised an eyebrow. "So, what does that have to do with our mission?"
Billy shrugs. "Beats me, but it is pretty weird."
Mandy crossed her arms and looked down. She couldn't deny that this strange fruit has been appearing, she even vaguely recalls hearing about them on a news article before Kasumi stole the scythe. She wondered if there was any connection, but she soon shook her head and turned back to Billy.
"We're not focusing on some weird fruit. We need to find this butterfly; now can you use those mouldy rocks you call a brain to think of a place where it could be?"
Billy thinks for a moment, but then scratches his head. "Nah, I got nothing. I could go for a drink though."
Mandy sighed. "Fine, suppose that wouldn't hurt. C'mon."
The two began to walk away from the museum and saw that there was a small cosmetics shop, through the window, they could see a fridge with some sodas in it, so Mandy decides to go there since it's the shortest distance. But as Mandy turned towards the door of the shop, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. There she saw a massive circular tower in the distance, with an M symbol on it, it looked far more advance than the others. It looked as if it was part of a very rich company.
There Mandy realised something, something like a butterfly shaped jewel would be very valuable, carved or not, and her understanding is that wealthy people would likely seek out such a trinket. Soon she noticed an old woman passing by her and spoke up. "Hey ma'am?"
"Yes?" she responded turning back to her. "What can I do for you young lady?"
"Do you know what that tower's about?"
The old lady looked at it. "Oh that, that's Morbucks Tower, owned by Gregory Morbucks, richest businessman in Townsville."
"I see, thanks."
"You're welcome, but I'd watch out for that place, Mr Morbucks isn't a pleasant man." The old lady began to walk off.
"Morbucks Tower…" Mandy looked over to the tower again, deciding that would be an important point of interest. But she checked the time on her phone and realised it was close to 2pm. She figured it might actually be best to report back to the train station and see what the others have found if anything.
But first, a drink from the cosmetics shop. She and Billy entered the shop and immediately made their way to the fridge and saw the list of sodas. Unsurprisingly, they were a higher price than standard, but Mandy just bit the bullet and grabbed a bottle of Mountain Dew, with Billy getting a Coca Cola.
"You owe me for these by the way." Said Mandy.
"I paid for the Museum." Complained Billy.
"That was then, this is now."
As Mandy turned to the checkout, she saw that another woman was there, wearing a long beige coat, a wide beige hat, long netted leggings and black high heels. Mandy didn't think much of it until this woman suddenly pulled a gun out and pointed it at the young male staff.
"Those cosmetics at the back counter, now!"
"Y-Y-Yes Ma'am!" said the staff shivering. He turned to open the glass door behind him to the more expensive and certified cosmetics and began to scramble to put them in a basket for her.
Mandy felt like she should just walk away, but given this was a robbery, this woman would likely cause her and Billy trouble if they're spotted, and a gun is still no joke to them even if they've dealt with so many monstrosities. So, she slowly took a few steps back and held her arm forward to goad Billy into walking back with her.
"We gotsa do something." Mumbled Billy.
"You really wanna play hero, right now?" Mandy responded quietly. She saw Billy nodding and proceeded with sighing, sneaking out would be dangerous if they're spotted, so stopping her would be ironically safer so long as they're careful. "Fine, but if we get hurt, you're in deep shit." She looked back to the woman keeping the gun at the staff member as he has just finished a third basket and going for the fourth. "We gotta disarm that woman." The two sneak further into the back of the shop to formulate a plan.
A minute passes and the woman kept the gun to the man as he finished a fourth basket. "Hurry up, will you!"
But soon, the woman heard the sound of a can rolling, she turned to her left to see a can of deodorant rolling along the floor before it clunked into the front desk. Confused, she slowly walked towards the aisle where it rolled from, keeping the gun in front of her. But as she turned to look down the aisle, she was met with Billy, who had shaken his bottle of Coca Cola and quickly opened it, causing it to blast onto her face and chest, making her scream due to the shock of it being ice cold and getting soaked in the process.
Mandy immediately ran from another aisle behind the woman and shoulder-tackled her to the ground, forcing her to the ground and dropping her gun, making it slide along the ground. She and Billy then immediately ran for the exit to the shop.
"Right! You had your hero fun, now let's-"
Mandy was cut from her sentence as she felt something like vines wrapping around her ankle and forcing her to stop, Billy soon stopped just as he was outside the shop. She looked behind her, to see the woman was leaning up, but a black tendril from her hat shot out and grabbed her ankle, but quickly realised it was her hair.
"What the hell!?" exclaimed Mandy, getting DeJa Vu from her incident with Kasumi. The woman immediately stood up, and Mandy was yanked up into the air, dangling upside down from her ankle, forcing her hat and sunglasses off and landing on the floor. The woman then threw off her hat and beige coat revealing her true self.
It was a tall curvy figure of a woman with pale white skin, green eyes and a few freckles, she wore a red-black colour scheme on her clothing, which consists of a red leotard, red opera gloves, red fishnet stockings over black pantyhose, and red thigh-high, high-heeled boots. But her most outstanding feature, other than her hourglass figure was her long wavy black hair that reached out and extended like snakes or tentacles.
"You think you can just mess with me, you little punks!" shouted the woman.
"Oh crap! It's Sedusa!" shouted the clerk as he dove under the desk.
Mandy grunted feeling very annoyed, from getting into trouble like this with some kind of super villain, but being lifted around like a ragdoll, just like with that vampire.
"I'll save you!" Billy shouted as he ran in and tackled Sedusa to the ground, this forced her to drop Mandy who quickly rolled to make sure she didn't land on her head, she landed on her back hard, it felt painful, but better than breaking her neck.
As Mandy pushed herself up, she saw Sedusa punching Billy in the face to ger him off her, then threw a kick using her high heels into Billy's face sending him flying into an aisle shelf toppling it and making a massive crash. She saw Billy with his forehead bleeding as he lied there, seemingly unconscious. Mandy felt her blood boil, seeing Billy hurt like this, she immediately turned to see Sedusa getting up and running for the gun on the floor.
But Mandy immediately jumped to Sedusa and kicked her in the stomach sending her down, then Mandy kicked the gun away from her and it slid down one of the aisles, although she could've used it herself, her fists were more reliable, she looked to see Sedusa getting up, then she threw a punch into Sedusa's face again sending her down again, going on one knee.
Sedusa then just looks up at Mandy with a smirk, showing her bruised face. "Ha! You hit hard, but I've fought stronger!" Mandy felt angered by that statement, she hated the feeling that she was being considered weak again.
"SNEAK ATTACK!" Billy shouted as he jumped from the broken shelf and tried to go for a flying punch onto Sedusa. But Sedusa immediately tiled her body to the left to dodge the punch, and Billy struck the ground instead, hurting his hand as he whimpered.
"Billy you idiot! You're not supposed to shout-"
Mandy was distracted long enough for Sedusa to quickly swing her body around and sweep her leg under hers and Billy's feet and tripped them up, landing onto their backs. Mandy felt a sharp pain on her back from that, but didn't have time to process it as she saw Sedusa shooting her hair at her and Billy. Billy managed to roll and jump out of the way, but Mandy was quickly tied up by Sedusa's hair, pinning her arms to the side and lifting her up as she struggled to break free.
"You pasty bitch! Let me go!" Mandy shouted.
"Now, now. Is that any way to talk to someone older than you?" Sedusa said in a mocking, yet seductive tone, as she gently placed her index finger under Mandy's chin, before being hoisted up more and tipped forward.
"I'd talk to someone younger but the retirement home's an hour away!" Said Mandy, as she tried to struggle free. Though she did enjoy seeing Sedusa look offended by her comeback.
Soon Sedusa got her smirk back as she placed her hand on Mandy's cheek. "Quite the sharp tongue on you." Mandy soon felt more of Sedusa's hair reaching and grabbing an ankle each and feeling her legs being pulled. It didn't hurt, but this humiliation was becoming unbearable. "And it seems your boyfriend approves."
Mandy, confused, then looked to see Billy wasn't attacking, but staring, she quickly realised that the position she was forced into made it easy for Billy to look up her skirt, on top of the restraints and Sedusa getting too close to Mandy. All of this was a bit too appealing for a teen boy like Billy, even if he did have a low IQ.
"BILLY! FOCUS YOU IDIOT!" Mandy shouted, feeling extra humiliated, her face turning red.
"I am focusing." Billy said softly.
Mandy angrily looks back at Sedusa. Blood boiling with rage as she stares daggers at Sedusa who simply smirks at her. "WHHHY YOOOUU!" Mandy screamed.
In a sudden burst of strength due to her anger reaching beyond its limit, Mandy forces her arms out of Sedusa's hair, grabs it and tears it in half, releasing her. Sedusa yells in pain as Mandy drops to her feet, Mandy then goes for a punch to Sedusa's jaw, connecting, then one to her stomach, making her double over, Mandy then does a backflip, making her foot kick Sedusa in the chin.
Mandy goes for one last punch, but Sedusa quickly recovered and caught her hand with her hair, and before Mandy could react, Sedusa threw her knee into Mandy's face sending her flying back. She fell to the ground on her back, but quickly sat up, feeling blood leak from her nose and mouth. She then looked over to Billy angrily who had snapped out of it and realised just how angry he is at him.
"Ahh! Right!" Billy then picks up the deodorant can he rolled earlier and threw it at Sedusa, who just tilted her head to the side to dodge it as it plunked harmlessly off the wall and onto the floor. Mandy just looks at Billy with disappointment, as he soon shrugs with a nervous laughter.
But before Mandy could do anything else, she noticed Sedusa's hair lunging at them, and both of them were struck by it like a heavy whip that sent them flying out of the shop's door and hitting the concrete, and the shop's alarms blared loudly due to Mandy still having the bottle of Mountain Dew in her bag..
Mandy slowly pushes herself up, starting to feel distraught, processing everything that's happening.
'I… I don't understand… I've fought monsters, aliens, demons, I've travelled across the Underworld. What's wrong with me!? Why can't I fight nearly as well as I could!? Did that vampire do something to me!? But… I cured myself, didn't I!? Are these threats just way bigger than everything else I've faced!? Just… what is going on!?'
Mandy immediately jumped out of her mental turmoil as she turned to see Sedusa slowly leaving the shop, looking just as angry as before. "You haven't put up as much of a fight as others I've faced, but you've been far more annoying than anything else I've fought!"
Mandy slowly gets up and cracks her knuckles. 'I know one thing. Brute force isn't going to work on her. I gotta think of a way to stop her hair.' She soon turns to Billy who just got up himself, and she winks at him. Billy knew exactly what this meant and nods.
Before Sedusa could say anything, Mandy ran forward with her firsts in front of her similar to that of a boxer. 'Focus Mandy.'
Sedusa prepared herself and launched her hair again at Mandy, but this time she dodged to the right as she ran forward, Sedusa launched again, with Mandy weaving to the left. Getting right in front of her, Sedusa tried to go for a kick to her face, but Mandy ducks and rolls to the left, and then throws all her strength into an elbow thrust into Sedusa's waist on her right side, causing her to reel back in pain.
Mandy then quickly jumped back to ready herself to dodge more of Sedusa's hair, but she immediately launched some as she was still recovering and caught Mandy in mid-air. She was pulled back to Sedusa, and she readied to punch Mandy.
"Hey! Hairy Snake Lady!"
Sedusa stopped her punch and turns to Billy who was posing in a similar manner to her. "Stealing all those make-ups? You should probably use them some time!" He then began to do a silly dance.
"WHAT!?" Sedusa turned to Billy, and moved Mandy away from her, while still restrained. "I use the best cosmetics! Celebrities use them!"
"Coulda fooled me! But hey, if laughter is the best medicine, then your face must be curing the world!"
"HOW DARE YOU!" Sedusa prepared her hair to attack Billy, but that was the point Mandy noticed something.
Sedusa had nine tendrils made of her hair, two of them held onto Mandy's waist, six of them were raising up ready to strike, but the last one remained down, completely immobile. Now that Mandy realised, that's been like that since the entire fight, and she soon saw why, that portion of her hair was wet, from the Coca Cola Billy sprays her with earlier.
'That's it! She can't use her hair when it's wet!' Mandy remembered the Mountain Dew she put into her hip bag before they snuck back.
"Oh hey! Maybe you should eat some of them, so you'd be pretty on the inside!" Billy said one last time before Sedusa launched her hair at him, striking him in the stomach and sending him flying into a bench, breaking it in half.
Sedusa smirks seeing that she's shut Billy up but hears the distinct sound of a bottle being shaken. She turned around to see Mandy and the second she did, Mandy opened the bottle of Mountain Dew, and the drink goes flying into Sedusa's face, she screamed at getting the drink in her eyes and mouth, but especially on her hair. Mandy was immediately dropped, and she quickly threw the bottle away, got back onto her feet preparing to fight back, and with her hair drenched and flopped down harmlessly, she would be much easier to fight.
"MY HAIR! HOW DARE YOU!" Sedusa screamed as she prepared her fists, revealing she has clawed fingers or at least the gloves she wore were clawed.
Mandy prepared to counterattack, but soon noticed a blue light shimmering from the distance, it came towards them like a bullet, and in a split second after noticing this light, it struck Sedusa in the back sending her flying into a brick wall, breaking it in a few sections. Mandy was thrown back a bit by the shockwave of the impact, but the light quickly revealed itself as a teen girl.
This girl had blonde hair in the style of pigtails, had bright blue eyes, and wore a blue almost-sailor-like uniform, she also had a thin white belt, and wore a backpack that was shaped like a large purple octopus with a top hat. This girl had not only a faint blue glow, but she was also floating in the air, Mandy processed the idea that this girl had punched Sedusa into the wall.
The girl soon turned to Mandy. "I'll take it from here. You get to safety."
Mandy nods. "We got her hair wet; she'll be easy pickings."
The girl nods back. "Perfect, she's a pain otherwise!" she then clapped her hands together, and to Mandy's surprise, blue lights began to form near the girl's shoulders and in a flash, two more arms made of solid blue light emerged from her shoulders.
She then flew for Sedusa and while she was trying to recover from being sucker punched, the girl grabbed Sedusa by the hair using her solid-light arms, and Sedusa's arms with her own, and flew off with her screaming and kicking.
Mandy looked over at the distance, and then sighed deeply. She remembered what Townsville was famous for, the large number of criminals both super and normal, and the city's defenders, the Powerpuff Girls. She looked down at the ground seeing the empty Mountain Dew bottle, but quickly remembered about Billy, she turned to see him just getting up from the broken bench.
Mandy ran to Billy, seeing his forehead bleeding, he looked quite bruised, and his mouth and nose had blood seeping out too. Despite this, he still had his annoying grin on his face. "Welp, we won!"
Mandy growled at Billy; her concern being immediately replaced with anger. "You just HAD to make us play hero! Didn't you!? We could've just snuck out! But now look, we caused a scene, and we got hurt as a result!"
"Hey kids!" the two looked over to the store clerk, holding a small white box with a red cross on it. "I have a first aid kit, I'll treat you."
Mandy sighed as she tilted her head to Billy. "Come on." He nods and the two make their way back into the shop. Mandy just hopes that all of this chaos was worth it, and she also thought back to her fight with Sedusa, how she just felt so weak during it. She just shook her head and decided to focus on what needs to be done.
September 14th – 1:34pm – Townsville Cosmetics Shop
A bit of time had passed, and Billy and Mandy sat on some plastic chairs in the back of the shop, the store clerk was busy treating their bruises and wounds. Billy received the worse of it as evident with his bloodied forehead, nose and mouth, but thankfully it was only surface injuries as his forehead only needed disinfectant and a plaster, and the blood on his nose and mouth was wiped off.
Mandy received less injuries, but the feeling of being overwhelmed again, her pride was hurt more, especially by some pasty-faced woman with the same hair abilities as Kasumi. She just sighed as she wiped the blood from her nose with a rag. She used to be the biggest threat there way, she could handle anything, and now she's struggling with every fight she's been in, granted it's just two, but still.
Soon the clerk stepped back and smiled. "Thank you, you really saved me there."
Mandy just shrugs. "If she spotted us too, we would've been in danger too."
Billy nods. "Yeah, we've been in plenty of fights like that, so it was nothing."
The clerk nods. "Well, you kids certainly took her hits like a champ. Most would've dropped in seconds, but you kept going."
"Yeah, we've been around." Mandy said. Though it did spark a bit of her confidence back, especially realising that these villains likely fight the Powerpuff Girls on a regular basis, so they're just as used to fighting super strong foes as much and she was. And she couldn't deny that she would likely not do well against a Powerpuff Girl herself. She soon sighed. Realising that she needs to keep her focus.
But she soon realised that the store clerk was looking at her and Billy weirdly, before turning to a newspaper clipping on the wall, which just so happen to have their posters.
"Wait. You're those missing kids!"
"Missing?" Billy asked.
Mandy just sighed. "Look, yeah, it's us, but we can't go home yet. If you just pretend we were never here, we'll call it even. Got it?"
The store clerk was quite for a few seconds before nodding. "Alright, I'll even let you buy anything you want from here for a very steep discount."
"Just a Coke and Mountain Dew." Said Mandy.
"Right, I'll go fetch them." He soon walked away.
Mandy gave another quiet sigh, thinking about Sedusa, wondered if she'll have to fend against anyone else in Townsville who's just as tough. But soon she recalled something, Sedusa had a gun with her, and she dropped it during the fight.
"Wait here." Mandy told Billy as she walked up to the aisle that she recalled kicking the gun down, and lo and behold, there it was, just edged underneath one of the shelves. Though she wasn't big on guns, in fact, she would rather use any other weapon than one but thought about the fact that it may be a requirement, especially if her own brute force and wit doesn't work.
She picked up the gun and held it, it was surprisingly heavy for something so small, she was no expert on guns, but it looked to be a typical pistol-like gun, the kind police officers used. She hardly knew anything about them, but still felt the need to fiddle with it, to see if she could figure out where the bullets go.
However, as she began to fiddle with it, she soon began to recall the time she spent a year in Military School, and while she never used a real gun, other than the homemade cannon she built, she was taught a lot about gun safety, she was able to take the magazine out of the gun and saw that it had twenty bullets in it, she placed the magazine into her hip bag and continued to study the gun, and found that there was no safety mechanism, so it was best to keep the ammo out until it's very necessary.
Mandy placed the gun into her hip bag and walked back to Billy, just as the store clerk came back with their drinks and a card reader. She sat back down, used her card to pay for the drinks and took her Mountain Dew and immediately took a sip, it felt very refreshing after that struggle, the clerk then left to clean up the mess after handing Billy his drink.
"Guess the drinks are on you instead?" said Billy after he took a sip of his Coke, reminding Mandy that she originally was going to make him pay.
"Now that they're on a discount, yeah, but you're paying me back."
September 14th - 2:12pm – Townsville Train Station
We find Billy and Mandy walking back to the train station, now that they've had a rest and their wounds tended to, though they still looked a bit beaten, as they returned, they saw Phineas and Isabella reading a newspaper on a bench together, and luckily, Double D and Dib were there, they were also reading it with them, peering over from behind the bench.
The two make it to them and greet them. "Anything?"
"We think so." Said Phineas, but soon looks shocked to see their bruises. "What happened to you!?" seemingly ignoring Mandy's new hat and sunglasses.
"We had a run in with a crazy hair-raising chick." Said Billy.
As he said that, Ed, Eddy, Gaz and Trixie arrived not long later. Although they all looked a bit messed up with their bruises, Gaz had the least, however, but Trixie didn't have a scratch on her, which felt like a bit of a relief for Mandy, though she tried to shake those thoughts away, trying to focus.
"You too, huh?" asked Eddy.
"Ed! Eddy! Are you alright!?" asked Double D as he walked up to them.
"Yup! We had worse!" said Ed.
"We got jumped by some green skinned guys." Said Eddy. Soon Mandy notices Dib approaching Gaz with a concerned look, mumbling something as he examined her bruises, but Gaz slaps his hands away.
Mandy then shrugged a bit. "So did you find anything besides trouble?"
Eddy puffed out his chest slightly. "I sure as hell did."
"Excellent, glad you could do so much without our help." Said Double D, but soon looked back at Eddy and Ed's bruises.
"Relax Sock-Head, like Ed said, we've been through a lot worse." Said Eddy
"Yeah, wish we got to you sooner though, it was a pain to get the money to afford a train ticket." Said Dib, he looked at Gaz's bruises again, but then faced the gang. "Had to dance for coins."
"A loooot of coins." Double D added with a fed-up tone to his voice.
"In any case, we should exchange what we learned." Said Phineas. "Mandy, how about you start?"
"Well, we discovered a building called Morbucks Tower. My theory is that perhaps this Gregory Morbucks was the one who has the Butterfly, he's super rich and let's be real, a gemstone like that would fetch a pretty penny…" Mandy sighs a little. "But I lack evidence to prove otherwise."
"Let's be thankful that I managed to find something." Gloated Eddy, he soon cleared his throat. "I came across an antique shop that had a photo of the butterfly!"
"Seriously!?" asked Double D. "Well done."
"But it's JUST a photo, right? Nothing else to go on?" asked Mandy.
"That's the thing. The old shop keep said someone bought it ten years ago, and he mentioned that the buyer had a big orange moustache."
Isabella soon spoke up. "Well, Mandy's theory might be correct, while a conspiracy newspaper isn't exactly accurate, some things do add up, especially with what Eddy said."
Phineas responded. "I'll give you the gist. There's been some sketchy rumours that Mr Morbucks has been losing a lot of business money thanks to that of Matelli Metals, Adam Matelli's company."
'Matelli? He was in that talk show I watched.' Mandy thought to herself. 'He's working on that Demon Storm contest.'
"And he's been trying to climb the political ladder." Isabella responded. "He primarily works on selling metals, machines and parts for machines."
"But according to this newspaper." Phineas continued. "Morbucks continuously used the same business tactics and mainly worked with various stocks and food trades, along with cars and car parts. From what we gathered, he was losing finance since he wasn't trying anything new, he wasn't adapting."
"C'mon, get to the good part about how he has the butterfly!" Eddy interjected.
"Eddy! Don't interrupt, this is important!" said Double D.
"Anyway, it also turns out that Matelli isn't just doing machines or machine parts, but has rather underwent similar trades to Morbucks, forcing him to lose customers." Phineas continued. "And they've also claimed that Morbucks has been selling stocks and assets to keep his company standing, but he's falling fast."
"And… we found this nugget!" Isabella turned to a specific page, and it shown a rich looking fat man with an orange moustache, next to him was a young girl with orange hair in two baubles, but in the man's hand, is a jewelled butterfly.
The butterfly was pure white with black straight lines going around the wings, the photo itself looked to be quite old itself.
"Bingo!" Mandy responded.
"And with a big orange moustache to boot!" said Eddy.
"It looks like a Black-Veined White Butterfly." Said Double D. "This was first listed as a British species in 1667, but this large butterfly became extinct in the British Isles around 1925 with its last remaining stronghold in the south-east of England. It was always considered a rarity in the British Isles but on the continent, it is often very common. The female is known to rub her wings together and loses many of her scales by doing so, resulting in an almost-transparent look when compared with the white wings of the male. The reason behind this unusual behaviour is not known."
"Are you a walking Wikipedia?" asked Dib raising an eyebrow.
Mandy interrupted "Either way, we'll need to infiltrate Morbucks Tower. Assuming he still has it."
"Even if he doesn't, we can still hack into his computers and find out who he sold it to." Said Dib.
"I feel bad for breaking into a building, but we have to do it before anyone else does." Said Isabella.
"Either way, we should only have a few of us go in." said Double D. "Three at most."
Isabella turns to Phineas. "Hey, do you remember those Ninja suits you made? The ones that make you hide from anyone not wearing them?"
"Yeah, they're still at home, but they don't fit anymore."
"Hide from anyone? Can you recreate them?" asked Dib.
"I think I can, problem is that Ferb and I make all our machines together, without him, I can only do half as good."
"Well, you're gonna have to try without him, we're low on options." Mandy then turned to Dib. "Can you hack into his computers remotely?"
"No, not without my own computers at home. Even then I'm not very good at it."
"Either way, we should book a hotel for the night so we can have a base of operations." Said Trixie. "I can pay for everything we need."
"Good." Mandy speaks up again. "Ok, get some supplies, get whatever you need for these Ninja Suits you mentioned, and we'll infiltrate the Morbucks Tower tonight. Can you get them done by then?"
Phineas shrugged. "If I can remember how, I did them before, I might be able to make at least one, but if I begin immediately."
"Alright, let's find a hotel, find the right stores and let's get to work."
Everyone agreed and began to move back into the city. Mandy hoped that this mission will go much more smoothly than before, she also hoped she doesn't have to use the gun she got so soon.
To be continued
There was no way I was gonna do a Townsville chapter without the gang tangling with one of the Villains from Powerpuff Girls. And given that Mandy was recently beaten by a character who could use her hair like snakes or a whip, figured Sedusa would be a good pick.
Either way, sorry for this chapter taking so long, but I hope you enjoyed it.