Chapter 4
Chapter 4
“I can’t make heads or tails of it, Razor, can you?” T-Bone asked his partner the next morning.
“No, not really,” Razor replied. “We need more facts. I’m just glad those kids and their dog were trying to do their duty as civic-minded citizens. It was just too dark to see the details on the armored car.”
“Maybe tonight we need to help Felina do a stake out and see if there are any further hints.”
Then the alarm went off. “Maybe later, buddy. That’s Callie. The difference is we’re already in uniform because we were going on patrol anyways.”
“Right.” T-Bone ran to the alarm to stop it from sounding and answer. “T-Bone here; what’s the problem, Miss Briggs?”
“I’m sorry if this distracts you from the tasks you were working on because Felina’s been keeping me up to date on the counterfeit money and the three men trying to buy out Gerry Jenkins’s business. But, I have been getting complaints about the city’s latest amusement park. I can’t figure out if people are just scaring themselves silly, but they say there’s a bunch of juggling balls loose.”
“We’re on our way, Miss Briggs!” Razor announced as the duo ran to the Turbokat and prepared for blast off.
While waiting for the duo to arrive, Felina took the time to introduce Callie Briggs, now the mayor of Megakat City (after Mayor Manx was impeached due to his incompetence), to Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Fred, Velma and Daphne.
“Why am I not surprised?” Velma commented upon hearing Callie’s testimony about how she did all the work while he took all the credit.
“I wasn’t happy about it either,” Callie replied, “but that’s politics for you.”
“Do you get writer’s cramp a lot from doing all the paperwork you do?” Shaggy asked.
“I sometimes do, but I’m only right-handed. I can’t write with my left hand.”
“Oh.”
Just then, the jet came in for a landing, and Razor had T-Bone test a new feature that allowed the jet to land smoother than it usually did. The duo hopped out of the jet, and everybody walked inside the park, noticing all the red and yellow juggling balls laid all over the place.
“Park’s not open today, but they’re allowing us in to investigate,” Felina confirmed.
“Sometimes, you have to put aside one task to do another,” Lenny spoke up. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and find some clues to the counterfeit cash along the way.”
“I still don’t understand why they had to make all the Presidents sports athletes,” Fred put in. “A smart counterfeiter would make it look like the real thing down to the last detail.”
“Nobody disagrees with you on that,” Felina nodded.
“I think we’d better split up,” Fred announced. “That way we can cover more ground.”
“Good idea,” Felina agreed, and she picked sections for herself, Lenny, and Callie to investigate while the SWAT Kats went to a different part, Shaggy and Scooby by the concession stands (although they didn’t feel like eating anything at the moment, which was unusual for them), Fred, Velma and Daphne by some of the games, etc. Some other Enforcer officers accompanying Felina opted to march in a squad together.
It seemed our heroes were going nowhere fast because it was 20 minutes later before they finally got around to hearing what they didn’t want to hear.
“Scooby, what’s so funny?” Shaggy asked upon hearing a mysterious laugh.
“I’m not laughing!” Scooby protested.
“Do you hear somebody laughing?” Felina asked.
“I do hear somebody laughing,” Lenny gulped, beginning to sweat a bit, “and it’s not me, but it sounds exactly like me.”
“That’s not a good sign, then.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“I’ve also got a bad feeling about this,” Callie put in.
“Freddy, who’s laughing?” Daphne asked.
“I don’t know,” said Fred, “but it seems like it’s coming from that way.”
By the time everybody except the dynamic cat duo met back up in front of the fun-house, it became apparent as to who was doing the laughing.
“ZOINKS!” Shaggy screamed. “T-BONE!”
“R-R-R-R-R-RAZOR!” Scooby echoed.
“Hold the fort; we’re coming!” T-Bone announced as he and Razor arrived outside the fun-house and looked upwards. “Whoa! Do you see what I see?”
“I see it, but I don’t believe it!” Razor replied. “It’s Madkat and Rex Shard! They’re teaming up!”
Indeed, both villains were looking down from the second floor of the fun-house, and they were laughing their evil laughs. Eventually, they went back inside.
“I thought you said he possessed you all those years ago!” Shaggy said to Lenny.
“Only because I let him,” Lenny replied. “Madkat can function as an independent soul without the need to possess anybody’s body. Yet, because he’s my ancestor, he’s usually just after me these days.”
The SWAT Kats took a brief moment to inform Mystery, Inc. about Rex Shard, since the quintet had already learned about Madkat.
“Do you suppose those two could possibly be behind this funny money racket?”
“Whether they are or not,” Fred replied, “they are at least responsible for keeping the park closed and driving away business. Those juggling balls were practically Madkat’s calling cards!”
“Whatever their scheme is, they’re using this fun-house as their secret hideout,” Razor concluded.
“I think you kids are going to have to let us handle it for the moment; we’ll signal if we need your help,” T-Bone added.
“If you insist,” Shaggy gulped.
Boldly, the SWAT Kats marched right in. Was it a good idea or a mistake? Were Madkat and Rex Shard responsible for the funny money? If not, then who was it?
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