hey there, probly need an a/n here: okay so i'm comin back to this story too becuz i recently realized i actually HAVE read Fern Gully 1, and so im gonna bring this story back into cannon! its been a while but I have some really scarry stuff coming up so this story is now rated T just to be safe. I hope u don't buzz off from this but instead come back and buzz in and leave good revews!

Chapter 3Mysetery of the Bullet Clue and the BIG BEE

The next morning I woke up clutching the bullet casing to my chest and my heart beating from the nightmare I was having before I reached out to my alarm clock to turn it off only to realize that I wasn't woken up by my alarm but by my dad standing over me big smiling but I wasn't smiling, I was still freaked out by my nightnare. He was holding a pan of hot pancakes fresh from the stovetop over me and boy did they smell good! Dad makes them from a mix he buys and they always remind me of home, and with a big pat of butter on top and some maple syrup I could really go for that. Almost made me forget my nightmare.

"Haha, Fern, rise and shine! You're got school today!" Dad said and waved the pan near my face." you have to get a good breakfast if you want to pass your classes. So come eat."

He raced out of the room at fast as he came and I was alone. I checked my phone to see it. Dad was rigbt; I had school so I had to find time to go to the Smokin' Barrells Gun Store to check up on this, the bullet in my hand and the male dna on it. Well, like I always say, it was time to put my nose to the rhinestone… like a grindstone cowboy.

Even though I was also doing my secret detective work around the world, most people didn't know that about me so I had to make sure to keep my cover as a ordinary high shcool student and that starts with how I dress: I put my pants on one leg in front of the other just like everyone else. They were reddish brown coderoys. I hoped that would be enough to keep my cover but as youll see later, i wouldnt need the help.

When I got downstairs, dad and Mr. Armenta were taking turns feeding the dogs. Everyone knew that I had my 2 famous redbone hounds Old Dan and Little Ann, who sometimes helped me sovle mysteries but right now were opening and closing their mouths to eath their kibble. That was the right idea: I was starving! I opened my mouth to speak and eat.

"

"Good morning to you too, Fern! Getting together officially with your dad has been fulFILLING in more ways than one! Anyway, your dad and I needed to recharge this morning so we decided to make a big breakfast. Pancakes, bacon, eggs, and cheese. Help yourself to this plate." Mr. Armenta was so cool. He had his own apartment for now but I was super excited for him to move in with me and my dad. He handed me a plate and fork and I ate.

On my way to school, with the radio on my bike blasting the music i liked (CMF2) the data i had aquired last night. My bike was riding straight and true, and I was lost in thought, when suddenly i hit a bump and was snapped back into my real world, and standing in front of me was the school and students and Nick and Mike. They smiled at me but before I knew what they were doing, they picked up my bike from under me and threw it into some bushes! I was stunned but then Nick grabbed my collar off my chest and got in close, whispering to me.

"Sorry Fern, we gotta maintain our covers too" and before I could smirk from there cleverness he had me lifed up into the air and thrown onto my group of friends. Ralph and Ben jumped backwards out of the way but luckily i landed on Tony's head helped me to catch me by breaking my fall. I wished i could tell these guys about my secrets but it was too dangerous, i didn't want my enemies targeting them to get to me.

Mike took his turn lifting me and Tony over his head and before he threw us into the dumpsterin front of the school, he also whispered to me "no hard feelings" so I knew we were cool. I had to stop myself from laughing to myself when they did that because I knew they were just keeing the status kwo so noone knew that they were now allies of myself. I did a cool secret hand sign so they knew I knew.

The schoolday wasn't bad. Jamie told us all a story about Warhammer 14k at lunch but I was too distracted. At one point Tony pulled out a water bottle he had and said that he had changed the water for grape juice, but when he took a sip we all heard his stomach drop out onto the floor. I used my defective skills to determine that his grape juice had probably gone bad, REALLY bad. Tony said he brought it because he was nervous about the school spelling bee tonight but i wasn't sure that was going to help. As youll see later, he wasn;'t going to need the help.

After school, i met up with Jessica and caught her up with all the stuff about the bullet casing and she immediately set to work on my supercomputer crossreferencing the data. She would call me later if she got a clue. After school, Nick and Mike met up with me outside down the street from Smokin' Barrells' Gun Supply and we were ready to go in but they guys wanted to make sure we were clear on the plan.

"Okay, lets go over the plan one more time" Mike said.

"FINE GEEZ! We go in and asking about buying some bullets for our guns, Fern hangs back and listens in from a distance, and if needed he intercepts anyone trying to escape." Nick's plan was pretty good. Between the two of them, he was clearly the brains, no wonder they had been so good at bullying me and my friends for all those years. I'm glad that was all over now.

"Right. The clerk will probably have information for us, especially if his dna matches the male dna on the casing." Mike held his hand out for me to use for me putting the bullet casing I had into his hand so he may have it. I hesistated. Maybe it would be better for me to keep the evidence in case things went wrong but then i thought it might help so i handed to him.

"Alright, let's move" Nick made hand signals like pointing us to our stations and i was ready. We stepped inside.

From my I immediately knew something was wrong, because when i looked at the store clerk they were a girl. There was no way that she was our man. But then she started with her usual merchant prattle but I heard something useful in that. She mentioned Guns AND ammo. We were on the right trail.

Mike looked back at me and shrugged, and i could tell this wasn't going anywhere. We would need to come back when someone else was working here and find out who had the dna that we had. Nick looked like a snagret.

[][]][[][]][}{}{}[}]{][]}[][][][][{}{]}{}][[}[]{}[}[][]{]{]{]{]{}[}[}[}[][]]][}{][}{}{[]][][}{}{[][[]}}{]{][]][]{}{}{{}][][[]{][][}{}[][]]]}[{}{}

The next day we were back and went back in with a similar plan, but we didn't need the plan because when we went back in the store, the lady wasn't there, but instead there was some other guy standing back there looking nervous. Just like the plan I picked through the magazines on the shelves and used a button mic to listen in on Nickand Mike talk to the man clerk. When they got close, the guy turned to face them and noticed them and shouted before jumping behind the counter and running out the back. All three of us immediately jumped into action and as I ran through the back of the store I heard strange noises.

"This is the guy! This guy is The Jackal!" Mike shouted as we chased after him. We had found out that the guy who shot at us was a famous (infamous?) assassin called The Jackal and I knew his day came. The Jackal ran down an alley and pulled random people in behind him to stop us, but Mike used his football expertise to tackle his way through the people without losing speed. As soon as the path was clear, Nixk sprinted even faster and grabbed The Jackal, holding him down while I caught up.

"All right alright! Please, I'll talk!" The jackal knew the game was up, and that we would have no mercy. We were in the street, so Mike dragged him back into the alley while Nick reassured the people around that everything was fine. I waited for him with a look on my face that could tell the truth in his very soul.

Mike slammed him against the wall. He pulled out the bullet casing from his pocket and showed it intimidately. "Who hired you to kill Fern?" I appreciated that Mike was looking out for me. I was glad they weren't doing this to me, i almost felt bad for the jackel. He probably didn't even know what he was getting himself into.

"I don't know much, please, don't hurt me!" The Jackal said, clearly holding out on us. Nick kicked him hard between the legs, and i thought i heard a bone break.

"Don't hurt you? You tried to shoot us and our buddy Fern here! You think we're gonna let that slide?" Mike glared the words at him.

The Jackal didn't let the hit effect him. "I don't know who called for the hit except that their name is David Butler. That's all I know!"

I casually reached into his front jocket pocket and pulled out his cell phone and put it into my front. With my gun resting on his forehead now, The Jackal didn't have any choice but to pray. I put a finger to his lips.

I knew there was nothing more he could give us, and when the coast was clear, I really quietly blew the trigger into his head, rendering him dead.

"Wow Fern, did you take his life?" asked Nick.

I smmiled. Because I did so much more then that. Not only did I take him out, but after I learned all he had to tell me, I took the deed to his name. I held up his cell phone. Now I am The Jackal, and next time David Butler calls to have me killed, I'll know just what to say. David Butler… that name sounded formilliar.

"Did you get all that Jess?" I said into my earpiece. I put my finger in my ear to make sure she heard us. Nick and Mick and Nick moved some trash to hide the body then looked at me waiting to hear what she heard and also what she said to that.

"Got it, Fern. Looking up David Butler now, I don't see one here, but I do see a Paris Deshaun Butler and he's… oh no. I think he's…" She trailed off and her voice was cute but then i came back to her sounding serious. "Fern I can't talk to you about this on an unsecured line, meet up with me at the school and I'll explain everything-!" And like that she was gone.

I looked back up at the guys. Mike nodded and they knew what to do so we got in one of their cars (I always mix up their cars) and we drove and we got to the school.

{]{}[}[}[}[}[]{}{}{}{}[[}{}{}{}{]{}[}[}[}][][][][}{}{][[]{}[}][}{}{][}{}{{}][][}{][}{{}][][}{}{}{][][}{}{{}][}{}{

When we screemched into the parking lot I saw a sign. The Spelling Bee! I totally forgot! Tony was going to be in it and Jessica was the judge! No wonder she had to go so quickly.

Before we went it, Nuck and Mike looked me in my face and were jaw-dropped because they finally saw just how much blood and brain piecesi still had on my face and while Nick almost barfed, Mike couldn't stop laughting. Mike handed me some paper towels from the car so i could wipe away any and all blood from my face and we headed inside. In the odditorium the lights were low and there were a few students and Tony up on stage with numbers on their chests. In front of the stage was a table with Mrs. Boatright, Mr. Goldstein, and between them Jessica sitting there with a big book in front of her. Even in the dark I could see how beautiful she was, her hair flowed from her head like a silent waterfall of hair, and when she looked up I saw that her eyes were as pretty a green as i even saw. I would never get enough of looking at my girl, and thinking about all the things we had done and would do together, my thoughts of her were like a spotlight even though the spotlight was on the stage, even though it should always be on her because she always shines, all the words I would have used to describe her body were in the book that was blocking my view of her body, but for now I had work to do.

"Nuumber 3! Your word is-" Then she saw me hiding behind the curtains on the stage. She smiled and I felt my life come to life, and then she looked worried. She flipped through the book and found the right word and looked back up at the student marked Number 3.

"Your word is assassination." She said with a smile to the student. I was disappointed that she was talking to them instead of me but then Nick elbowed me in the back and pointed at her and showed me that she was still looking at me. She was talking to me as well! Clever girl…

"Assassination. A-S-S-A-S-S-I-N-A-T-I-O-N. Assassination." The student smiled when everyone clapped and even I was impressed. I waited for the next word with baited breathe.

"Number 4, your word is…" Jess flipped through the book again. "...Ordered."

"Ordered. O-R-D-E-R-E-D. Ordered." Number 4 didn't hav any problems with spelling that one and neither did I. I could tell exactly what Jess was spelling out for me: she knew who Butler was! I nodded to Jess and took out my notepad so I could write these down.

"Number 5, your word is because." Jessica didn't even need to look in the book for that one.

"Because. B-E-C-A-U-S-E. bEACUASE." Number 5 jumped back to her seat excitedly. Mr. Goldstein and Mrs. Boatright both looked at each other, impressed by how well the students were doing.

"Very good, sit down. Number 6, your word is conceirge.." I thought I recognized Number 6 from the back of her head but as they got closer to the spotlight I realised I didn't know. Wait, what was the word?

"Concierge. C-ON-C-I-E-R-G-E. Concierge." Number 6 seemed nervous as she spelled it, and I couldn't believe what i was hearing. I didn't understand. Was she not speaking to me? Was this all just a misunderstanding, and she meant nothing by this? I started slumping away to the car again when Nick grabbed me by the color and pulled me close. I thought maybe he was gouging to make fun of Number 6 for getting the word wrong but instead he hissed at me.

"Conceirge is another word for a butler. She's still talking to you!" Nick said, and Mike shook my head.

"Ooooh, I'm sorry Number 6. You are the missing link. Goodbye." Jessica said sadly, and ended this girl's spelling career. I watched the tears fall off her face but then tony was up and i was excited again. Then I saw the look on his face, and it was GREEN. That juice definitely was breaking bad in his system. Jessica smiled when she got to Tony.

"Hey Tony (✿◠‿◠). You're doing great up there. Your word is corresponds." I was glad that Jessica was nice to my friends, but wasn't too flirty. Tony looked hopeful when he stood there but the moment he started to speak…

"Coresponds. C-O-R-E-S-P-O-N-D-S. Coresponds." From the first time he said the word I knew that it was gonna be too difficult for him. I didn't have time to be sad for him, I was taking vigorous notes and trying to figure out what Jessica was saying.

Jess looked down and the crowd started to murmur. "I'm sorry Tony… You are the missing link. Goodbye. Better luck next time." Tony was shocked, and when he turned around his eyes had turned yellow and red but I didn't have time to be sad for him, I was taking vigorous nots and trying to figure out what jessica was saying. Assassination, ordered, because, conceirge (butler), corresponds…

"Number 8, your word is…" What she said next made my blood run cold. She looked me dead in the eye when she said this. "DOGNAPPERS!"