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Mango Island Kids: The Christmas Chronicle Part 2

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Part 2

In room five. We find Sabrina and Samantha sitting on same couch, Samantha seemed cheery, but Sabrina looked pouty with her arms crossed. “Train ride’s pretty fun so far right?” asked Samantha.

“YOU DROPPED IT!” exclaimed Sabrina who turned to face her. “You dropped that miniature telly smashing it to pieces!”

“B-But those other kids were doing it.” Said Samantha.

“Those kids were throwing firecrackers! You’re supposed to throw them to make them go bang! Not miniature tellys!”

“That miniature telly certainly went bang!” said Samantha cheerfully.

“You’re an idiot.” Said Sabrina as she turned away from her.

“Still. At least we got the duck.” Samantha took out a small yellow toy duck from a small shopping bag.

Sabrina turned to face Samantha again with an annoyed yet confused expression. “The duck?”

“Yeah! It’s made out of plastic.”

Sabrina sighed. “Samantha… what in the name of Greek balderdash is the use of a plastic duck?”

Samantha began swaying it from side to side towards Sabrina. “It floats in the bath.” Then Samantha made it bob up and down once it was right up to Sabrina’s face. “Hello.”

Sabrina looked back to Samantha as she pulled it away from her faced. “Why?”

“It’s hollow.”

Sabrina rolled her eyes starting to feel frustrated. “Why the duck?”

“It came free with the telly.”

Sabrina sighed again. “Samantha… EVERYTHING came free with the telly, it was all-expense-paid. Why didn’t you get a free telly with the telly?”

“Well it would sink in the bath!” exclaimed Samantha.

Sabrina covered her face and let out a very aggravated “ARRRRGH!” at Samantha’s stupidity. She then got off from the chair and was about to leave the room in a desperate attempt to keep away from Samantha, but just before she could open the door, Teo and Bowla opened it and entered making her step back a bit.

“S-Sorry.” Muttered Teo.

“Never mind that, I just need to keep a safe distance from Samantha for a moment before I do something a little too impulsive.”

“Do that later. We need to chat.” Said Bowla as Teo looked out of the door looking left and right before closing it.

“What do you need to speak about?” asked Sabrina.

A little later, Teo and Bowla finished explaining everything Gadget had told them about, including the four suspects and their motives, Samantha tried her best to pay attention but she lost focus five minutes ago as she played with the plastic duck.

“So we have the shark known as Sharpfin, Mr. Stan, Mandy and the Heavy Weapon Guy as the primary suspects.” Said Sabrina.

“So all we need to do is force the truth out of them!” said Bowla looking pleased.

“How do you expect to interrogate them? Your fire breath should not be used here as you could set fire to the train.”

“Just gimme a cheese grater, some salt and a chalkboard and I can get that info in no time.”

Teo felt a bit uncomfortable now. Mostly because of the chalkboard, the last time she used a chalkboard to torture people; it required his claws scratching it, not only did Teo hate the noise, it hurts his claws. “I... I think that um… maybe we should try to um, find the truth in secret.”

“I would recommend that more than your method Bowla. We do not know what the enemy is capable of.”

Bowla crossed her arms letting out a huff. “Kill-joys.”

“So what can I do?” asked Samantha looking cheery.

“YOU can remain here and do your own things.” Said Sabrina looking annoyed.

There was a bit of silence, until Teo turned to Bowla. “I… think this um, has something to do with that loud bang earlier.”

“Meh…” Bowla then turns to Sabrina. “Anyway… we have four suspects… how should we interrogate them?”

“Well first of all, as Teo recommended, we should do it in secret… if we require to converse with them, don’t directly say anything relating to the note or explosives. Furthermore, I say we should go our separate ways and try to get info from three of the four suspects.”

“Um… who should we um, speak to first?” asked Teo.

“Select any you think would be best for you to search for evidence… I’ll try and find what I can with Mr. Sharpfin. You mentioned he was a shady businessman- er… shark, we’re both similar in terms of deceit and mischief.”

Bowla nods. “Makes sense, guess I’ll see what I can do with Mr. Stan.” She turns to Teo. “What about you?”

“Um… it’s either Mandy or um… the Heavy Guy… I… I don’t know yet. Whichever’s closest I suppose.”

“Ok. Whoever finishes with their target first; try and get information from the last remaining suspect.” Said Sabrina.

“What if we already find the suspect?” asked Bowla.

“We should try and get information on all four regardless, just to be safe. We cannot jump to any conclusions; we have to be sure the first one we decide is the malefactor is the correct one. If we make even one mistake, we can say farewell to this train and possibly our lives.”

Teo gulped slightly. This only added pressure to him, but he nodded and tried his best to keep calm. “So… what about the others?”

“Samantha, Mike and Jack?” asked Sabrina. “Let them continue their games, its better they don’t interfere since it could devastate our strategy.”

Teo and Bowla look over to Samantha who was looking out the window watching the snow fly by, completely oblivious to what they were saying. “That snow… it looks just like ice cream… or maybe cake frosting.”

Teo felt it would be bad to simply leave them out, but he knew Mike, Jack and Samantha more than Bowla and Sabrina, and he knew they would get in the way or ruin their plan. “Ok… we should go now.”

The three got up and left the room leaving Samantha behind, Bowla closed the door and the three began to walk towards the restaurant carriage. “So when will the train stop?” asked Sabrina.

“Tomorrow at two.” Said Bowla.

Sabrina digs into her left sleeve and takes out a small golden pocket watch. “Hm… it’s twelve now… so we have fourteen hours.”

“That’s a pretty cool watch there.” Said Bowla.

“Thanks, I paltered it from Mr. Stan when he wasn’t looking- I MEAN PILFERED!” Sabrina looks away scoffing in frustration. “Samantha’s senselessness is rubbing off on me.”

-0000-

We find Mike and Jack in another carriage with rooms one and two. Mike opened the door to Room 2, only for the two to see a giant man blocking the door wearing a purple jacket and sunglasses. “If this is that ‘hot chick’ Eddy was talking about then he must be either blind or mad.” Said Mike.

The large man raised an eyebrow, and then he turned around. “Miss Tang, I think these boys here would like to meet you.”

“Who are they?” asked a sweet sounding voice.

“Some bucktoothed fat kid and a nerdy kid with a grey afro.”

“Bucktoothed?! Fat?!” exclaimed Mike.

“Nerdy?” asked Jack looking concerned.

“We’ll take care of this.” At that point, two teenage boys stepped forward, one was blonde, one was black; both of them wore the same type of clothing, a purple jacket with black trousers and sunglasses.

“I don’t think either of you are this Miss Tang girl.” chuckled Mike.

The blonde boy fixed his sunglasses. “Sorry, but a bunch of losers like you are not worthy to speak with us popular kids.”

“Popular? I just happen to be the Rooster of Miss Hulgary’s Orphanage. So I’m the popular kid in my area.” Jack nodded agreeing to Mike.

“Yes but who cares?” said the black haired boy. “You’re not as popular as us, so you’re not worthy to speak to anyone, especially Trixie.”

With that the two closed the door, Mike and Jack faced each other looking annoyed. “Now what?” asked Mike.

“Don’t know… might be best to speak with those kids at Room 8 again.” Said Jack.

“This had better be worth clearing Samantha’s innocence.” With that the two began to walk away from Room 2 and move back to Room 8.

-0000-

Teo, Bowla and Sabrina entered the restaurant carriage where a few people were eating. In that room however were the four suspects. Sharpfin was eating at one of the tables; Mandy was sitting at one of them looking bored, Mr. Stan was in his shop and the Heavy Weapons Guy was in the kitchen with Luigi.

“Ok, commence interrogation.” whispered Sabrina.

Bowla and Sabrina immediately made their way to their targets. Sabrina went to Sharpfin while Bowla walked towards the shop. Teo looked between Mandy and the Heavy Weapons Guy, he agreed to try and get information from whoever was closest, but he was really nervous, he had enough trouble talking to his own friends let alone strangers. After a quick examination, he decided that Mandy was closer, and slowly made his way to her feeling very nervous.

Teo was halfway there and Mandy had not noticed him yet. Once Teo was close enough to talk to her, he suddenly tripped over his own leg and fell forward fast smacking the top of his head on the table surprising Mandy. She turned to face the boy who slowly got up shedding tears. What Teo did not expect afterwards was Mandy turning to him and she picked him up, she placed Teo on the chair next to her. “That must’ve hurt.” She said emotionlessly.

“S-Sorry…”

“What for?”

“F-For, um… f-for bothering you.”

Mandy began to examine Teo’s forehead. “Hm… slight bruise but should heal in no time.”

Teo fell silent once more, but knew one thing. This would be the perfect time to speak now that a conversation had already started, so he immediately plucked up the courage to speak. “Um… t-thank you? Uh… I-I mean…” Teo sighed. “N-Never mind.”

“Not good in the social department are you?”

“N-No…” Teo looked around, desperately trying to think of something to talk about and get answers. “So… a-are you the only maid here?”

“Yeah, small place so we don’t need that many…” Mandy looked away huffing. “Not that I want to be here mind you.”

“Um… w-why not?”

Mandy looked back over to Teo. “I’m here because of Jury Duty. They thought making me a maid on this stupid train would be punishable enough. I have to stay here for three months.”

“E-Even Christmas?”

Mandy looked away feeling bored. “Yep. Train’s don’t stop for any holiday.”

Teo looked a bit upset. “So uh… you… don’t get to see your um… family?”

“Guess not… what do I care anyway?”

“You… don’t l-like your family?”

“They’re idiots and cowards. Same with my friends, I have enough trouble tolerating them as it is.”

Teo felt a bit upset that she thought of her friends and family that way. Then it occurred to him, his confidence suddenly boosted for this as well. “So um… t-then you’re not being punished right?”

Mandy looked over to Teo again. “What exactly do you mean?”

“Well… you’re keeping yourself far away from those you hate…” Teo then looked around. “This train is very warm and cozy… plus you get to stay here for free right? So… your, um, only punishment is wearing that outfit and taking people’s orders right?”

Mandy was silent at first, then she looked away with the faintest of smiles. “Hm… you make a good point actually. Suppose now I think about it, my time in this train hasn’t been that bad…” she looks over to Teo again. “You know what… you actually helped me out here.”

“Um… I did?”

“Yeah, I was getting so annoyed at this place. Thinking I should just destroy it somehow.” Teo leaned back feeling nervous. “But… well I guess I was just angry at this place because of my job and the fact this was supposed to be punishment… but this place is alright now that I think about it, I’m away from those idiots and this is much better than prison.”

Teo felt as if now would be the time. “W-Would you actually try to destroy this train?”

“Well I keep saying in my head I would… but I don’t actually have any access to anything I could use to blow this place up.”

“Um… would you ever… warn anyone if you did?”

“Nah, I’d rather keep it a secret, cause less of a panic so it hits them harder.”

“I… uh… I see… but you’re not going to right?”

“I think I would rather stay here then with my annoying family and friends… or in prison. If I blew this place up then I would have to go to either of those.”

“O-Ok…” Teo felt as if he got enough information, now all he needed to do was find a way to leave politely.

“Hey Mandy.” Called Luigi. “I need some help, would you mind?”

“Whatever.” Said Mandy as she stood up, but before she walked towards them, she looked down to Teo and then rubbed his head. “Thanks kid.” With that she walked away from Teo and towards Luigi and the Heavy Weapons Guy.

Teo looked over to Mandy who began to help Luigi and the Heavy Weapons Guy. He then felt the top of his head where Mandy rubbed, and then Teo let out a small smile. First Sharpfin and then Mandy appreciating him for what he’s done. Since he already finished talking with Mandy, next was the Heavy Weapons Guy, but instead of talking to him, he decided to sit where he was and watch him from a distance.

Further down the room, we find Sabrina on her hands and knees just in front of Sharpfin’s table. So far no one has noticed her, so she immediately crawled under the table keeping her hidden thanks to the tablecloth. Sabrina carefully examined Sharpfin’s knee pockets for anything lumps or bulges, she could see a few so she decided to gently sneak her hand into the left pocket to examine what it could be.

Meanwhile, Mike and Jack entered the restaurant room. Mike was furious however, the two went back to Room 5 to look for Sabrina, only for Samantha to accidentally say the crime was already solved. “We did all that for nothing?” growled Mike.

“Well to be fair, we hardly did much to begin with.” Said Jack.

Mike and Jack continued to walk along the restaurant room looking for Sabrina. It didn’t take long for them to notice something odd about Sharpfin’s table; they both noticed a slight movement from the cloth, as if someone was under there. Mike and Jack slowly walked up to it without Sharpfin noticing. Jack slowly lifted the cloth to see Sabrina facing the other way looking into Sharpfin’s pockets. Since she was facing the other way, she had not seen Mike or Jack.

Mike quietly sniggered, thinking of a devious idea. He quickly made his way to the kitchen and took a long wooden spoon, and then he made his way back to the table unnoticed. As Jack kept the cloth up, Mike aimed the wooden spoon towards Sabrina’s backside.

Mike immediately shoved the wooden spoon forward causing Sabrina to let out a high pitched shriek shooting her head up smacking the table and making Sharpfin jump. He noticed the enraged Sabrina leaving the table and dragging the sniggering Mike and Jack away. Sharpfin was confused at first, but then he dug into all of his pockets to see if he had anything of his stolen.

Teo watched that the entire time, trying his best not to laugh, though he was forced to turn around and placed his arms and head against the table to try and hide his sniggering.

Sabrina entered the next carriage with rooms three, four and five while dragging Mike and Jack, then she threw them against the wall. “WHAT THE DEVIL WERE YOU THINKING?!”

“We could ask you the same thing? Why did you lie to us about Samantha still being a suspect!?” asked Mike.

“I was doing you ungrateful lot an act of kindness. Santa won’t want to give presents to those who are depraved like you two, that’s why I deceived you into continuing to do your generous acts.”

“Admit it, you just wanted us to work our fingers to the bone for your enjoyment!” said Mike.

“Yeah, you enjoy making others miserable!” said Jack.

“Do you really think I’m stupid enough to do that when we’re going to visit Santa in a few days? I’m trying to get into his good books!”

“Doing a few kind deeds in a few days will never cover many years of lies and stealing!” said Jack. “You have no chance!”

“If I have no chance, then neither do you two!”

“Um… what’s going on?” Teo enters the carriage.

“None of your business you mangy cat-brat! Now go and do your stupid things!” scolded Mike making Teo flinch and step back a bit.

Teo slowly turns to Sabrina. “Um… Mr. Sharpfin might have, um… something in his room… um… is the word… evi…dence?”

Sabrina smirked. “Very good, you’re learning.” She wasn’t being sarcastic; she knew Teo had trouble with big words. Sabrina then turned back to Mike and Jack. “Don’t worry, Teo, Bowla and I will go back to our ‘stupid things.’ That is if you consider preventing someone from destroying this train being stupid.”

Mike and Jack’s eyes widened, they had completely forgotten about the threat given to them this morning.

“Now if you will excuse me, Teo gave me some helpful advice and I must continue my investigation… you two finish off what you were doing, it’s better if you stay out of the way.” With that Sabrina left the three and went back into the restaurant carriage.

“Drat… I forgot about the threatening note. Guess we had so much fun…” Muttered Jack.

Teo faced Mike and Jack again. He wasn’t sure what to say at all. Mike then placed his hand on Teo’s shoulder. “PLEASE DON’T HURT ME! BOWLA!!!” Teo shouted feeling terrified making Mike and Jack panic slightly.

“K-Keep it down! I’m not gonna hurt you!” said Mike.

“I’ve heard that one before!”

“No, I’m serious this time.” Teo tried his best to calm down for just a moment. “Now look, Sabrina’s right about this, we need to find the guy who’s gonna blow up this train. So how about you let the real heroes handle this and you can solve our problem?” before answering, Mike pointed over to the door leading to the next carriage with rooms one and two. “There's a girl in Room 2 and a boy in Room 8 wants to know what she likes so he can go out on a date with her. Something as simple as this shouldn’t give an idiot like you too much trouble.” With that, Mike and Jack walked away from Teo and entered the restaurant carriage.

Teo sighed with relief thinking Mike really was going to hurt him. But he also felt a bit annoyed and upset, now being made to do Mike and Jack’s work instead of finding the culprit. None the less he trusted Bowla and Sabrina to do more than fine without him, so he slowly made his way to the next carriage.

-0000-

Meanwhile, far up on a giant mountain completely covered in snow and ice, there stood a giant stone castle that time was unpleasant to. Inside the main quarters of this castle, we find three figures.

One of them was Santa Claus himself, who stood calmly in a giant metal cage looking over to the other two. The two who had kidnapped Santa. One was a tall man with a long nose, he wore a white lab coat and black trousers; his name was Heinz Doofenshmirtz. The other was a shorter older man with pale blue skin, long white hair and a long white beard and wore a dark blue robe with a golden crown, he was known as the Ice King.

Both Doofenshmirtz and Ice King were watching a large holographic monitor of the train that Teo and his friends were in, the screen changed to the interior where they saw Teo with Mike and Jack earlier.

“This is seriously who Santa requested to save him? A bunch of toddlers?” asked the Ice King.

“Doesn’t even have a fedora.” Said Doofenshmirtz.

“I’ll have you know that those children are more than capable of dealing with you miscreants.” Said Santa.

“Not if we have anything to do about it.” Said Ice King.

“I’m not exactly sure how you were able to inform these kids, but because we knew of this ahead, we sent our third member to blow up the train if they don’t give up and go home.” Said Doofenshmirtz.

“He was able to inform them because you helped him send the letter!” said Ice King looking annoyed.

“Hey, I asked if anyone needed anything while I was at the shops in Shiver Town, and he asked me to post a letter. How was I supposed to know it was a rescue request?”

Santa shook his head feeling annoyed at the two. “Not the sharpest tools in the shed are you?”

“It’s no matter! Because keeping you here is only the first step of our plan! As I – Heinz Doofenshmirtz – have the ultimate weapon in destroying Christmas for good.” He then dug into his pocket and took out a Yo-yo. “BEHOLD the Naughty Cry- oops hold on.” He placed the Yo-yo back into his pocket and dug into the other one and took out a black rock with red cracks around it. “BEHOLD the Naughty Crystal! Just one of several thousand we kept in the back of the castle! Discovered by yours truly.”

“It was actually me who found them.” Said Ice King.

“I know, but I called dibs on them, same with being leader of our little gang!” Doofenshmirtz faced Santa once more. “With it, I can use the Super Naughty-Inator to make every boy and girl in the world all naughty, that way even if you got free, you’d have no choice but to give all of them coal. Making everyone hate Christmas so much, they’ll never want to celebrate it again”

The holographic screen changed to a flag with Doofenshmirtz face on it. “Then we will sell our own merchandising, each being blasted the Reverse-Inator’s, making all the children good again, therefore making everyone want to celebrate… Doofmas! Then with all the money we make from selling our Reverse-Inated Knickknacks, we will build the ultimate empire and rule the entire galaxy!” He began to laugh evilly, and then he immediately calmed down. “You see, my plans are big.”

Ice King looked at the flag, and then faced Doofenshmirtz. “So where are we in this then?”

Doofenshmirtz placed his arm around Ice King’s shoulder “Oh don’t worry; you and our third member will get your share too. You’ll get as many princesses and celebrity women as you want and our third member will get any five planets he wants.”

“Princesses and celebrity women.” Said Ice King smirking. “Alright, it’s a deal.”

“See this is why I called dibs, I make the best decisions. And I’m a black-belt at dibbing.”

Santa let out a sigh. “I’ve been kidnapped by idiots…” he then looked up towards an open window. “Teo… I’m counting on you.”

-0000-

Back on the train, we find Teo in front of the Room 2 door. He knew what to do, but he was nervous regardless; slowly he moved his right arm to knock on the door. But suddenly the door opened by itself revealing a young 16-year-old beautiful Asian girl, she had long black hair with a white headband, wore a purple t-shirt and a white skirt and long white boots. Teo stepped back a bit feeling shy once more, but couldn’t help but blush at how cute this girl was. The girl looked down noticing Teo and his tail which swished a bit. “Oh hello there.”

“Um… h-hello?”

“Who are you talking to?” the same two boys from before came out of the room. The blonde boy fixed his sunglasses. “Oh, some other unpopular kid… Trixie here doesn’t have time for-“

“Oh he’s so cute.” Trixie suddenly scooped Teo up in her arms and held him like a baby. This surprised the two boys greatly, Teo was just as surprised himself. Trixie then gently grabbed Teo’s tail and moved it in front of her. “Is this real? Are you a genuine Kiddy-Kat?”

“Um… y-yeah.”

“Uh, Trixie… we need to get some lunch.” Said the black haired boy looking a bit jealous.

“Yeah you go ahead, I’ll catch up?” The two boys sighed feeling annoyed, but they walked away without her anyway. “So… what’s your name?”

“Um… T-Teonado.” Trixie looked at him feeling confused. “B-But everyone calls me Teo.”

“I see… it looked like you were about to knock on my door, was there anything you wanted?”

“Well… t-the boy in Room 8 said he needed something… to help him go on… a date? With you?”

Trixie rolled her eyes. “Oh him… I did say if he could get me something I really liked then I would… so I’m guessing you’re here to ask what I like and then tell him right?”

Teo felt a bit nervous. “Y-Yeah…”

Trixie slowly puts Teo down. “Listen, it’s best if he were to figure it out by himself.”

“S-Sorry…”

Trixie bent her knees and began rubbing Teo’s head. “Don’t worry; it’s not your fault. You were just trying to be nice.” She stood up properly. “Anyway, I must be going… nice talking to you.” With that she walked off to the restaurant carriage.

Before Teo could walk off, the door opened again revealing the giant man and another girl. The girl was blonde with a ponytail; she wore a white long sleeved shirt with a pink ‘D’ on it and a blue skirt. “We heard everything.” Said the giant man.

“And… we kinda agreed to help you a little… but only if you keep this a secret.” Said the girl.

“Um… t-thank you.”

“That boy may not be able to find anything on this train that’ll impress Trixie… except for one thing.” Said the giant man.

“What’s that?” asked Teo.

“Yesterday, Trixie lost something of great importance to her… a beautiful diamond necklace. It was a birthday gift from her dad.”

“Has her name engraved on it and everything; if you wanna help out this boy, then tell him about the necklace. If he can find it and return it, then it’ll guarantee a date for him.” Said the giant man. “But for goodness sake, please don’t tell anyone how you got this information.” With that, the girl and the giant man both left the room and made their way towards the restaurant carriage.

“T-Thank you.” Said Teo, the two replied with a quick wave.

-0000-

Back in Room 5, we find Samantha continuing to play with her plastic duck. That was until she kept still for a few seconds realizing something. “I’m hungry.” So she placed her plastic duck down onto the couch and made her way out of the room, but as she exited the room, she bumped into Teo causing him to fall flat onto his backside whereas Samantha didn’t even move an inch. “Sorry.”

Teo slowly got up. “That’s alright. Um, what are you doing out of your room?”

“I’m hungry, so I’m going to get something to eat.”

“But… it’s only been about an hour since you last ate.”

“Yeah? I’m still hungry.”

Teo sighed. “A-Alright…” the two began to walk together towards the restaurant carriage.

As they entered it, Samantha immediately made her way to one of the tables and sat down looking at the menu. Teo sighed as he continued walking to the other side. That was until he noticed Mandy who turned to him. “Is that fat friend of yours ordering again?”

“Y-Yeah…”

“She just ate.”

“I know.”

Mandy rolled her eyes. “Does she have a limit?”

“If she does I’ve never seen it.” Teo realized something; Mandy was part of staff, so that means she may know something about Trixie’s necklace. “Um… can I ask you something?”

“What is it?”

“Um… a-a girl lost her diamond necklace yesterday… I don’t suppose you’ve um… seen it have you?”

“No… mind you I haven’t been paying attention to this sort of stuff; I’ve been busy with my own problems.”

“Um… w-what are they?”

Mandy sighed. “Two days ago… I lost a necklace too.”

“Is it… diamond?”

“No actually. It’s made up of dinosaur bones.” Mandy then tilts her head over to someone else; Teo looked to see a 17-year-old boy with red hair, red eyes and wore a creamy yellow t-shirt and dark blue overalls. “That boy over there gave it to me a few months ago. Yen Hawk.”

“Is… he… your friend?” Mandy looked to the other side, the faintest blushes could be seen on her cheeks. “Oh… your… b-boyfriend?”

“Anyway, I was quite… glad when he gave me it. And I really want to find them before this train stops.”

“W-Why’s that?”

“Because if this train stops. Then passengers will leave… and one of them could have my dinosaur bone necklace.”

Teo was silent at first, but then he nodded. “I-I… I’ll help you find it if that’s alright.”

Mandy shrugged her shoulders. “If you wanna, go. I won’t stop you.” With that, she began to walk off to serve Samantha, but then she turned to Teo. “Thanks.”

“Y-You’re welcome.” Teo walked off towards the door to rooms six, seven and eight. That was until he noticed something in the shop. ‘BOWLA?!’

Teo entered the shop to find Bowla threatening Mr. Stan while he was tied up and hung upside down. “I’m warning you! I know the eight worst places to get cheese grated! You better tell me what I need to know or else!”

“Bowla?! What are you doing?!”

Bowla faced Teo and smiled. “Oh hey Teo, just getting information.”

“B-But Mr. Gadget said to do it in secret.”

“Eh… I got bored.”

“What information is this crazy brat wanting!?” shouted Stan. “She just keeps yelling at me demanding answers to questions she didn’t even ask!”

Teo sighed and walked up to him. “Uh… w-we were just wondering… um… why you insured your shop and everything in it.”

“Because it’s close to Christmas, that’s the time when we start bringing out the alcohol for customers over twenty—one! I’ve had a fair share of my stuff destroyed by those drunken idiots in the past few years so I thought to insure it before it starts!” Stan faces Bowla. “NOW WILL YOU PUT ME DOWN!?”

Bowla sighed as she took a few steps back and picked up a large knife. She then threw it at the rope hanging Stan up cutting it and he fell onto the ground hard. As Stan sat up, Teo used the claw on his right index finger to cut a bit of the rope which tied him up, cutting it made the entire rope fall off of him. Stan stood up wiping the dust off his jacket and pointed to the door. “NOW GET OUT!”

Teo and Bowla left the shop as Stan slammed the door behind them. “Um… M-Mr. Gadget told us to keep it a secret.”

“At least I didn’t tell him about the note.” Bowla looked around. “Speaking of which, where is that robotic weirdo?”

The two found Gadget at one of the tables speaking with Mike and Jack. Teo leaned closer to Bowla. “He must be telling them about the suspects.”

“As long as Mike and Jack don’t spread the news like wildfire, we should be safe.”

Teo nodded and made his way towards the next carriage, Bowla decided to follow him. The two made it to Room 8, at which point Teo slowly knocked at it.

“So what are we doing here?” asked Bowla.

“I-”

The door opened revealing Edd. “Oh hello there, what can I do for you?”

Teo felt nervous again. “I uhh… a-are you the boy… who wants to date that girl in um, Room 2?”

“Trixie?” asked another boy. Eddy immediately went to the door as Edd moved out of the way. “So I’m guessing that bucktoothed kid gave you the job instead?”

“Y-Yeah… I… I heard that um… T-Trixie’s missing a diamond necklace, um, with her name on it.”

“So if I find this necklace, that’ll guarantee I’ll get a date with her.” Eddy then rubbed Teo’s head. “Thanks kid.”

“Y-You’re welcome.”

“So now that they helped you, now we gotta repay them by helping with Samantha’s claim.” Said Edd.

“Are you kidding? That’s old news. We already solved that case.” Chuckled Bowla.

“Oh I see.” Said Edd.

“Well, guess we don’t need to help you right?” asked Eddy.

“Eddy, we should at least try to help them with something else.” Said Edd.

Eddy sighed. “Alright… is there anything we can help you with?”

Teo began to rub his head trying to think. “Um… n-not sure.”

“Well if there’s anything you need, let us know. We’ll help you out.” Eddy then left the room and made his towards the restaurant carriage. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a necklace to find.”

“D-Don’t tell Trixie I said this.” Teo turned to Edd. “Um… i-if you find a-another necklace made of dinosaur bones… could you give it to the waitress?”

“She’s missing a necklace too?” asked Edd. “Certainly, we will keep an eye out.”

“T-Thank you… w-well we must be going.”

“I’ll see you later.” With that Edd closed the door.

Bowla turned to Teo. “Ok? So what was that all about?”

“I-It’s a long story.”

The two began to walk back to the restaurant carriage. That was until they noticed the door to Room 7 was slightly open. Teo slowly opened it and the two saw Sabrina trying to open a briefcase by trying different combinations on the lock. Bowla quietly shushed Teo and snuck slowly towards Sabrina, she then very creepily moves to Sabrina’s left ear.

“What are you doing?” Sabrina shrieked as she quickly stood up and turned to face Bowla who could not stop laughing. Teo slowly walked in trying his best not to laugh.

“What are you trying to do?! Give me a heart-attack?!”

Um… i-is this Sharpfin’s room?” asked Teo.

“Affirmative.” Said Sabrina calming down, “I was searching the room for any evidence like you recommended. So how did your other searches go?”

“Um… M-Mandy has no reason to blow this train up, she enjoys it here… and Mr. Stan insured the shop because of alcohol.”

“What about the Heavy Weapons Guy?”

“W-We didn’t speak to him… but I don’t think he would destroy the train anyway since he’s still making those pizza sandwiches.”

Sabrina rubbed her chin. “But were you able to find evidence that prove what they said is true?”

“N-No…”

“So we can’t exclude them just yet… at the same time you didn’t find evidence of them with explosives did you?” Teo shook his head. “So while we cannot exclude them, we have no evidence of their crime… therefore we should concentrate on them less and more on Sharpfin.”

“No problem.” Said Bowla. “Just gimme a tenderizer and some bleach and I’ll get that info in no time.”

“Do you always resort to violence?”

“Hey, I can’t breathe fire while we’re in here, so I gotta use what I can get.”

“Anyway, I searched his pocket and his entire room and found nothing.” Sabrina turns to the briefcase. “All except for this… I was attempting to unlock it up until you scared the heck outta me.”

“Oh come on, you would’ve done the exact same thing if I was trying to unlock that briefcase.” Said the smug Bowla as she crossed her arms; Sabrina couldn’t help but shrug her shoulders agreeing to what she said. “Anyway, give it here and I’ll tear it open.”

“Bowla, seriously! I do not want any of us causing damage.”

“But if this briefcase has what it needs to blow up this train, then we should tear that briefcase open and throw all the contents out the window! Or better yet, just throw the briefcase out!”

“But what if Sharpfin is NOT the malefactor. We’d be removing an innocent person- er shark’s possessions.”

“Sabrina you’ve done worse for less.”

“First of all I’m trying to get in Santa’s good books. Second, this is a precarious situation in which my mischief making has to be put on hold until this problem is concluded.” Sabrina turned to the briefcase again and began to use the combinations. “Now if you will excuse me, I have a code to hack… why not make yourself beneficial and keep an eye out for Sharpfin.”

Teo nodded and walked out of Room 7 and towards the restaurant carriage while Sabrina and Bowla stayed behind. Once Teo was gone, Bowla leaned over to watch Sabrina. “Going for the whole 111, 112, 113 thing are you Sabrina?”

“Do you have a better solution?”

-0000-

We find Mike, Jack and Inspector Gadget in the restaurant carriage, Gadget had finished explaining everything to them, although he agreed to not tell anyone else, he figured since Mike and Jack were part of Teo’s group, it would be fine. “Ok, that’s everything I know. I’m sure Teo and Bowla have already begun to search for any evidence on the four suspects. Now you must keep this a secret at all costs. We don’t want to make a panic.”

Mike and Jack nodded. “You have nothing to worry about. Now that I’m on the case, this mystery will be solved in no time.” Said Mike.

“Of course, Mike didn’t become the Rooster of our Orphanage for nothing.” Said Jack.

“Oh, sorry about that.”

“That’s alright.”

Mike, Jack and Gadget turned to see Samantha talking with Chip Skylark, from the looks of it, Samantha accidentally bumped into him.

“So are you enjoying the train so far?” asked Chip.

“Sure am, I’m mostly enjoying the food.”

Chip chuckled. “I can see. Well take care.” He moved his left hand out for a handshake in which Samantha did the same.

As they shook hands, Samantha felt something. She gently grabbed Chip’s hand and turned it, there she saw a long cut across the tip of his index and middle finger. “What happened to your hand?”

Chip gently pulled it back. “Oh it’s nothing, just a paper cut from signing autographs. Well see you later.” With that he walked off towards the carriage with rooms three, four and five.

“Bye Mr. Skylark.”

Mike, Jack and Gadget all walked up to Samantha. “He sure is a nice young man isn’t he?” Asked Gadget.

“Yep. Sure is.”

“Who is he anyway?” asked Mike looking over to Gadget.

“That’s Chip Skylark, despite his age he’s a very successful singer and dancer. I heard he cares a lot more for his fans than his own fame. A lot of other celebrities could learn from him.”

“A celebrity his age though… seems anyone can be famous no matter how old you are.” Said Jack, he soon noticed Mike looking up with stars in his eyes, likely imagining to be a famous singer.

“Y’Know… I could totally be like him.” Muttered Mike.

“In any case. We should start looking around for any evidence.” Gadget turns to see the Heavy Weapons Guy still cooking with Luigi. “Perhaps the Heavy Weapons Guy first.”

-0000-

Back to Bowla and Sabrina. Sabrina continued to use every combination on the briefcase’s lock. Sabrina began to sigh with frustration; she was currently on 582 out of 999. “This is gonna take forever.” She turns to the next number only to have heard a loud ‘click’ which surprised the two of them.

“So what was that about it taking forever?” Chuckled Bowla.

Sabrina tried to open the briefcase, but she still had trouble. “I… I don’t understand, I figured out the combination, so nothing should be keeping this briefcase secure.”

Sabrina and Bowla noticed a hand appear between them holding a key. “Even if you got the combination correct, it still requires a key to open it.”

Sabrina was about to take the key. “Oh thank you.” They then released it was Sharpfin behind and the two quickly jumped back looking scared.

They also noticed Teo being held by Sharpfin in his free hand. “U-Um… S-Sharpfin’s coming?”

“And just what are you two doing in my room?!” Exclaimed Sharpfin. “First you go snooping around in me own pockets, and then you sneak into my room trying to open my briefcase! I oughta have you lot arrested for trying to nick my stuff!”

“W-We weren’t trying to steal!” Exclaimed Sabrina.

“I’ve heard THAT one before!”

“Someone is trying to blow up this train!” Said Teo.

Sharpfin’s eyes widened at what Teo said, whereas Sabrina and Bowla felt nervous. Sharpfin placed Teo down next to the girls. “What do you mean?”

“W-We um… r-received a threatening note saying… to get off this train um, or it’ll blow up.” Said Teo feeling very nervous.

Sabrina stepped forward. “We’ve been searching for the one who endangered us to begin with, and stop him from doing the deed.”

Sharpfin was silent, but he moved his arm and dragged the briefcase closer to him. Then he inserted the key into the briefcase and opened it. The three looked over to see what was in the briefcase, all they saw was a long metal tube and some metal squares. “These are all parts to make an engine; I’m on this train to Shiver Town for business. Someone needed a new engine for their machines and had paid me an absolute fortune to do the job.”

“I see…” Muttered Sabrina.

“I may be a bit tightfisted, and I love making money… but I would never destroy something like this train. I’ve been riding this train for many years, back when I was a wee shark no taller than you lot.”

“Um… w-we’re really sorry for bothering you Mr. Sharpfin.” Said Teo.

Sharpfin looked somewhat angry, but he calmed down. “Look… I don’t blame you… someone is threatening to destroy this train… anyone could be a suspect. But the only thing that is remotely volatile is the liquids used for the engine I’m building… but don’t you worry, it can only go off if it is mixed with three other ingredients, in which the odds of all four being together are next to nothing.”

“Maybe, but it is still possible for the stuff to explode right?” asked Bowla.

“Listen, I will make sure no one gets into my briefcase.” Sharpfin closes the briefcase and takes the key out. “Not only that, but I will keep an eye out for anyone suspicious. If they think they can destroy the same train I rode many times as a child, they’ve got another thing coming.”

“Um… t-thank you Mr. Sharpfin.” Said Teo.

“No worries. Now in any case, you lot better get going. And don’t worry; I’ll keep this a secret.”

Teo, Bowla and Sabrina all left Sharpfin’s room and made their way to the restaurant carriage, but Teo stopped himself and thought about something. He then made his way to the other side where the conductor stood feeling bored.

“Oh hello Teo. What can I do for you?”

“Um… d-do you still um… have that note?”

“The one you gave me this morning? Sure.” He dug into his pocket and handed Teo the note.

“T-Thank you.” With that Teo ran off to catch up with Bowla and Sabrina.

The two notice him just catching up. “Where were you?” asked Bowla.

“Just getting this note, I had an idea.”

The three entered the restaurant carriage; there they saw almost everyone leaving besides Mike, Jack, Samantha and Gadget. The only ones left were Luigi and Mandy who were cleaning the kitchen.

Teo, Bowla and Sabrina walked up to the others. “We looked through Sharpfin’s belongings, but nothing.” Said Bowla.

“Not even sweets?” asked Samantha.

“Sharpfin did have a type of liquid that he said was volatile when mixed with three other ingredients. But he also said he would certainly not destroy this train since he used to ride it when he was a juvenile. He even said he was going to be of assistance in the search.” Said Sabrina.

Little did any of them know; Mandy was actually listening to their conversation from a distance while looking the other way pretending to be oblivious.

“So now what?” Asked Mike.

“Um… I had an idea.” Muttered Teo.

“Oh please… you? An idea? Don’t make me laugh.” Said Mike.

“Ignore him, so what is it Teo?” asked Bowla.

“Um… t-the person who wrote the note… did it with his hands… so if we can get the other passengers to write something for us…”

“I understand! You want to get everyone to write something and see if their handwriting matches the note, right?” Asked Sabrina.

“Y-Yeah.”

“That’s a really good idea actually.” Said Bowla looking pleased.

“But if we just requested them to sign it for no reason, they could get suspicious. We need to figure out a way to persuade people to sign it believing it doesn’t mean anything important to them, but it has a reason to be signed anyway.”  Said Sabrina rubbing her chin.

The gang pondered for a bit until Samantha waved her arm. “Oh! Oh! I got one! I got one!”

“This ought to be interesting.” Said Mike sarcastically.

Samantha looked a bit excited. “How about this… we make it one of those things that can help buildings improve just by having so many people sign their name? We make it so they think their signature is helping towards our orphanage.”

The gang looked at Samantha surprised, then to each other. “Did Samantha just come up with a brilliant idea?” Asked Sabrina.

Gadget dug into his pocket and took out a note pad. “What’s the name of your orphanage?”

“Miss Hulgary’s Mango Orphanage.” Said Mike.

Gadget wrote down on the top of the sheet and shown them what he wrote down. It said. ‘Support Miss Hulgary’s Mango Orphanage.’ “How’s this?” Gadget asked.

“Perfect.” Said Sabrina, she took the note pad and the pen. “Watch this.”

Sabrina walked up to Luigi and Mandy who just finished cleaning the kitchen. “Excuse me, could you sign out petition? It’s to help improve the lives of everyone in Miss Hulgary’s Mango Orphanage; your signature could make a big difference.”

“Sure thing.” Said Luigi as he took the note and pen and signed his full name, Mandy took them and did the same thing herself and gave it back to Sabrina

“Thank you. You’ve done a great deed.” Sabrina walked back to the others and shown them the signatures, Teo then took out the note and the two did a comparison. Unfortunately there was no resemblance.

“Nothing.” Muttered Jack.

“Great plan Teo. Any other bright ideas?” Asked Mike.

“His plan could still work you idiot.” Said Bowla. “We haven’t gotten all of their names yet.”

“We’ll need to have everyone’s signature on here first.” Said Sabrina.

Bowla pointed to Mike, Jack and Samantha. “And by ‘we’, we mean you three.”

“Hey why us!?” asked Mike looking annoyed. “I don’t do work, I’ve got people for that.”

“You three have done nothing all day. Teo, Sabrina and I have been doing all the work.”

“Hey, I tried to help someone find true love!”

“In which you placed that burden on Teo for no reason.”

“Which by the way… mission accomplished.” Said Teo with the faintest of smirks.

Bowla turns to Teo smirking, and then she faced Mike, Jack and Samantha looking angry. “Lemme put this in words you’d understand, either you get everyone’s signatures on this note or I’ll burn you alive!”

“Alright! Alright!” Said Mike as he took the note pad and pen from Sabrina. “C’mon you two.”

Mike, Jack and Samantha began to walk towards the carriage with rooms six, seven and eight. “Can we get something to eat later?” asked Samantha.

“NO!” Said Mike and Jack.

Gadget walked up to Teo. “Well I must say you kids are certainly something. Tell you what, why don’t you three retire to your rooms for the day?”

“A-Are you sure?” asked Teo.

“Of course. You kids did a lot today and I think you deserve a break, allow me to continue the investigation once your friends have finished with getting the signatures.”

“Wow, thank you.” Said Bowla.

“Not a problem. Oh I will need that threatening note so I can make the comparisons.”

“Uh… s-sure.” Said Teo, he slowly gave the note to Gadget who placed it into his inside pocket.

“Much obliged, now then, I must be off. And don’t worry, I’ll find the culprit before the train stops.” With that Gadget walked off towards the carriage with rooms three, four and five.

After Mike, Jack and Samantha got all the signatures, they came back to Room Five where Teo, Bowla and Sabrina were. They killed time by playing a few board games they found in the drawers until it was dinner time at the restaurant carriage. There they had a meal each before going back to Room Five.

“Fish…” Mumbled Teo with contentment as they just came back into their room.

Once they were all in, Sabrina took out an alarm clock from her bag and began to wind it up. “What are you doing?” asked Jack.

“Whether we can unwind or not, the malefactor is still in this train and could still have the means to destroy it. So I’m setting my alarm for eight in the morning. We need as much time as we can get to find the culprit and take him down.” Sabrina turns to everyone. “And I don’t want to hear any complaints. Got it?” Sabrina placed the clock on the desk drawer far from the beds and couches.

“We normally get up at six anyway.” Said Teo.

“Except me, I get up at seven.” Said Bowla.

“Now we should decide who sleeps where. There are four beds and two couches.” Said Jack.

“Dibs on the top bunk!” said Mike.

“Dibs on the bottom bunk!” said Jack.

Samantha shrugged her shoulders. “Couch for me then.”

“I reckon me and Teo should get the other top and bottom bunks.” Said Bowla.

“Hang on, as the self-appointed leader of this group and the smartest one here, I should get one of the beds.” Said Sabrina. “And because you caused quite a bit of nonsense with your violent threats, I say that you should get the couch.”

“Forget it! I want a bed! You get the couch!”

“No one is more deserving of the couch than yourself; may I remind you of what you have done on this train?”

“Is beating you up on that list? Because I wouldn’t mind adding that right now!”

“You always pick brawn over brains! The smartest ones should get the more rewarding methods of sleep.”

The two stopped arguing as they noticed Teo with his Baby Bunny getting comfortable on the spare couch; he took off his shoes before stretching a bit. He gave off a quick yawn and then curled up to sleep as he cuddled his stuffed rabbit.

“G-Guess we both get a bed and he gets a couch.” Said Bowla.

“It would seem so.” Said Sabrina.

Bowla slowly took one of the spare blankets and placed it over Teo. Then everyone else got ready for bed.

“Remember, we’re getting up at eight. No later.” Said Sabrina.

-0000-

Darkness filled the room; the only sounds were the faint whistling sounds of the wind and the rocking sounds and sensation of the train. Everyone slept soundly, this was the most comfortable anyone has ever been sleeping.

However, because they were sound asleep. They never noticed the seventh person in their room; his face could not be seen, but he wore a long jacket with a fedora and long shoes. The person looked around for a bit until he rubbed his hand together. “Ok… gotta do this, it’s now or never.” He whispered.
the mystery deepens doesnt it. hope you enjoyed this so far.
© 2013 - 2024 TMan5636
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And the story goes further...