The Misadventures of Shangri-La Chapter 11 - All Good Things....For Dr. Shrunk, it had been a rough 10 days. As a member of the Villager Task Force appointed by the mayor to find and hunt out the undesirable elements attempting to control Shangri-La, he had spent a lot of time undercover, fearing for his life and trying to find evidence any way he could that might lead him to the various criminal elements also lurking in disguise. He'd seen his other fellow task force members die in a fiery explosion. Yet, he still persevered and kept going. Finally, he'd had a break in the case.
Cautiously approaching the HHA Showcase, Dr. Shrunk, in his disguise of Lucky the dog, checked for any signs of being watched but the coast looked clear. He ran up the steps into the showcase then quickly went down one of the wings and hid behind a home. He held his breath and focused his hearing on any sounds or noises that would indicate he had been noticed or followed. But all was quiet. Calming himself back down, "Lucky" began carefully and quietly sneaking around the showcase looking for the person who had been seen coming and going a couple times from this area, Crazy Redd. According to the villager T-Bone, he was sure that he had seen Crazy Redd sneak in and out a couple of times over the past few days.
Suddenly, Lucky heard voices. He ducked behind another house and listened to see where they wee coming from. He could tell they were coming from another wing of the Showcase. He slowly made his way over to their source. As he got closer, he recognized one voice as Crazy Redd's. Slowly creeping up to the edge of another house, Lucky peeked around the corner and saw Crazy Redd talking with Grams! Bingo.
Grams was telling Redd that she had taken care of some matter and would now go and get the leverage they needed to force Khushrenada to do as they pleased. There was something odd about the way Crazy Redd looked. As Redd and Grams were ending their conversation, Lucky figured out what it was. The bottom half of Redd was in costume. Redd then put on the top of the costume to make himself look like Digby. That's why he had been so hard to spot and why he was sneaking into the Showcase. He was using it as his hideout. With this info, Lucky started to sneak back to warn the mayor.
On his way out, he ran into one of the robot models who started telling him where the home it was showing came from and where he could find it. Trying to get it to stop talking, Lucky gave up and decided to just run away before Redd or Grams came to investigate. He got to the main entrance when suddenly "Digby" walked in front of it.
"Oh. Are you looking to leave the HHA showcase?" asked Digby.
"Uh yeah. Time to go home," replied Lucky nervously, wondering if Redd knew he was on to him.
"Well, let me walk you to the exit," said Digby.
"Sure. Thanks," Lucky stated.
They walked the steps in silence. Lucky's heart was pounding. At the bottom, Digby turned to him once more. "Thanks for visiting. As a special promotion, we are giving all visitors to the HHA Showcase a sparkler today. Here's one for you," Digby cheerfully announced. He let the sparkler and it started shooting off sparks and flame. "And later today," Digby continued, "There is going to be a big celebration in the forest close to where T-Bone used to live. Why don't you tell the mayor all about it, cuz."
Lucky froze for a moment. Redd knew! Then Redd slapped the sparkler to Lucky's back. "How fast can you run?" he asked. Lucky's bandages began to catch fire as the sparkler was stuck to his back showering him in sparks. Lucky turned and fled while Redd just laughed as he watched him run off. Lucky struggled to start untying his bandages and save himself from his flammable prison but they were just too tangled and tight and his hands couldn't get a good grip as they were also wrapped up. He just kept running as fast as he could for City Hall in the hopes he could get there in time to warn Khushrenada and get help.
Bursting into City Hall, Isabelle gave a scream to the fearsome sight of Lucky engulfed in flames. "Help me!" he cried out. Isabelle grabbed a golden watering can and began to pour its contents all over Lucky to put the flames out. With the bandages and disguise mostly burned away, Khushrenada recognized the burn victim as Dr. Shrunk. "What happened?" he asked.
"Crazy Redd. He's disguised... as.. Digby," Dr. Shrunk wheezed. Isabelle jumped back, shocked at the news. Khushrenada leaned in to hear the rest of what Dr. Shrunk had to say. "Redd.... is planning..... something..... it's by..... T-Bone's house...... Hurry," Dr. Shrunk gasped out.
"Stay with us. Help is on the way," Isabelle cried out, trying to comfort Shrunk in his suffering.
"No..... Just...... end me," Shrunk struggled to say. Isabelle looked over at Khushrenada with tears in her eyes. Khushrenada shrugged his shoulders then took out his golden shovel and, with a hard whack on Shrunk's head, he put Shrunk out of his misery. Isabelle and Khushrenada looked at the burned man. "I guess we should take a moment to honor his sacrifice," Khushrenada said. Isabelle nodded her head in agreement. Khushrenada thought about how to do so. "Do you think the Shrunk Shuffle would be best?" he asked. "What?" Isabelle said dumbfounded at what she had just heard. "You know, the Shrunk Shuffle?" he replied. He then started doing the dance moves. Isabelle just stared in wide-eyed shock as Khushrenada kept dancing by Shrunk's dead body unable to believe the total insensitivity of the Mayor. "Aren't you going to join in?" he asked as he shook his right leg in the air again.
Isabelle silently turned and walked out of City Hall. She walked over to Shampoodle's and entered it. Still tied up in the storage closet, Shampoodle had managed to rock her chair over so that she was laying on the floor. From this position, she was puffing away at all the hair on the floor trying to get it to blow off the floor and out the store. Seeing Isabelle enter, Shampoodle spoke up. "Fabulous! Do you think you can help me, dearie?" Silently, Isabelle just walked up to one of the counters. She then plugged in a razor and shaved off all the fur on her body, letting it all fall to the floor, and then she promptly turned and left the shop. Shampoodle watched in shock and then filled up with even more rage from Isabelle further defiling of her precious floor. Leaving Shampoodle, Isabelle then got on the first train to come through and rode it to get to an insane asylum and checked herself in.
Back in Shangri-La, Khushrenada shouted out through his megaphone to Crazy Redd.
He then headed off into the woods towards T-Bone's place. Taking out his golden axe, Khushrenada made his way confidently yet carefully along the trail to his destination. He stopped when he saw someone else standing by a tree. Calling out to the figure through his megaphone brought no reply. Slowly approaching forward some more, Khushrenada began to see that the person was tied to the tree and that it was T-Bone. Getting closer, he saw that T-Bone had a watering can shoved in his mouth. Crazy Redd must have tied him to the tree and then choked/drowned him by pouring all that water down his throat. Khushrenada shook his head at the fallen villager and the savage cruelty being displayed and then carried on his way.
He got to T-Bone's house but it was locked and empty. There was no one around. Going to the back of the house, he saw an arrow spray painted on with the instruction to follow it to get to Crazy Redd. He went off in the direction of the arrow. After some time, he came upon a tent with Crazy Redd's logo on it. Finally. This was it. Him and Redd. He went up and entered the tent.
In it, surrounded by works of art both real and fake (though mostly fake) stood Crazy Redd. "Oooohhh brother," Redd said, smiling and greeting Khushrenada, "How long has it been since I last saw you?" He laughed. "Come in and take a look around. Make yourself comfortable. I tell ya, I have a deal for you so good I'm almost green with envy that I can't take it myself."
Khushreanda looked at Redd and calmly said:
"Uh-oh. You're interested in violence too, are you? Well, I should warn you that we aren't alone," Redd said mischievously, "Grams. Why don't you bring out our guest?"
From behind some statues, Hopper walked out holding Punchy's tied up paws in one flipper and his other flipper around her neck. Khushrenada glanced over at them and then went back to watching Redd.
"I see Grams is still in costume as Hopper. Are you surprised, Mayor? She's been tired of having to live on that bug-infested island and forced to peddle cheap wicker furniture. Like me, she wants a better arrangement and has been most instrumental in helping me see to it that we get that better arrangement. Now, Punchy there, you may also be surprised to find out, is Old Phineas in disguise. He wanted to give us good boys and girls some medals for all our hard work at making bells. The poor old fool had no idea who he was dealing with and walked right into a trap we set for him. Phineas is the most respected and sought after villager in town. If he were to die, the villagers would surely rise up and ban you from this town, if not kill you. But because I like ya, I'm going to make you a deal you'd have to be CRAZY like me to pass up. If you sign this contract I have here giving me and Grams an uncontested monopoly on the Shangri-La real estate market as well as shop merchant rights, I'll let Phineas live and even give you a little bit of the earnings in a show of good faith and the expectation you'll protect us in case any other force should try and oppose us or muscle in on our territory. Well, what do you say?" Redd explained.
Khushrenada stared glumly at Redd.
"It appears he be overwhelmed by all our exotic merchandise," chuckled Hopper.
"Perhaps so," said Redd smilingly, "To further sweeten the deal, I could probably have Phineas here give you an Esteemed Villager badge. Wouldn't that be an honor?"
"Alright, Redd," Khushrenada spoke up, "That's enough. Here's my offer." Suddenly, Khushrenada turned and threw his golden axe at Punchy where it impacted into her skull, killing her. Hopper and Redd jumped back from where they were standing but before they could react further, Khushrenada already had his golden slingshot out and pointed at Redd.
"The truth is, Redd," Khushrenada stated, "You've already lost. I know why you and Tom Nook and Tortimer had wanted to control this town. My first day here I stumbled upon and discovered the incredible amount of riches beneath the surface. Gold, Silver, Rubies, Sapphires, Emeralds. All there for the taking if you worked hard enough. While you animals have all been busy watching each other and fighting each other, I've calmly gone about my business and striped this land dry. Thus, you can have it. There are no more riches left and you've pretty much ruined and decimated the population and buildings in it. I've already sold all the ore and made millions of bells which I can now use to retire in peace."
Continuing on, Khushrenada said, "I've got a beautiful golden palace I've designed that I think would make you, how do you put it, green with envy? Maybe if you try this again, you won't be so occupied with getting a new catchphrase to say or worrying about what kind of bug is in for home décor. Enjoy Redd. You are master of a desolate wasteland. May I suggest you build a statue of yourself telling all who see it to look on your works and despair?"
Then Khushrenada turned and let loose the golden slingshot in Hopper's direction. The stone's struck him in the head and the force of impact killed him.
Turning back to Redd, Khushrenada further said, "Your mistake was in thinking that you could win Animal Crossing as if it was some kind of game with a main quest or goal. But it doesn't work that way. It's about doing what you want and accomplishing what you want from it until you've had enough. Well, here in Shangri-La, I've done what I wanted and accomplished what I wanted and now I've had enough." Then Khushrenada exited the tent and headed back to town. Crazy Redd dropped to his knees, his heart broken on hearing about how the precious treasure he had sought and fought so long for was now gone.
After a period of mourning, Redd got up and slowly wandered into town to see just what he was master over. The grass had been worn away to dirt. There were holes and weeds everywhere. There were no more flowers and most of the trees were dead having encountered numerous disasters in the past few days. There were no villagers around that he could see. Redd didn't know if there were any left or if the remaining ones had moved away or died. He walked down the business lane full of busted shops and burnt buildings. He heard the banging of a door in the wind. Looking up, he saw it was Shampoodle's shop. He went up the steps and entered it.
Looking around inside, it seemed to be one place that was still in good condition. Redd walked over to one of the barber chairs and sat in it. "Great," he thought sarcastically, "I get to be a barber. That makes everything all worthwhile." Suddenly, there was a gush of wind from the entrance. Turning around, he saw Shampoodle standing in the doorway looking down. Having been starved for 10 days and expending much energy huffing and puffing, Shampoodle had finally freed herself from the ropes that entangled her due to the weight loss she had gone though. Once free, she was able to finally and immediately clean the floor of her shop that she had been forced to watch become a tragic mess.
A clean and pristine floor that now showed muddy, sticky footprints from the entrance to the chair Crazy Redd was sitting in. "Is something wrong?" Redd asked, puzzled at what Shampoodle seemed to be staring at. With a scream heard 10 villages away, Shampoodle grabbed a pair of scissors, charged Crazy Redd and stabbed him through the heart with them. She then left to search for the mayor to make him pay for the last 10 days also.
Seeing Shampoodle charging after him, Khushrenada quickly put on his pajamas and jumped into the bed Luna was standing next to.
"Yes, time to go," said Khushrenada.
Khushrenada hopped on the bed and things began to go dark.
Shampoodle was getting closer but then...
It was all over and Shangri-La was just a fading memory.
"Eh. It was so-so," said Khushrenada.
"Sure! Why not? I think I need more sleep," Khushenada replied.
"500?! How long was I out that you raised the price that much?" growled Khushrenada, "Fine. Fine. I'll pay it."
"What? I have to do all the work here? Are you going to give me back my 500 bells to pay for my wage then?" Khushrenada questioned.
"Way to do your job," Khushrenada said.
EpilogueAnd so it went with Mayor Khushrenada, travelling from one town to the next, creating havoc in each one he went to. Waking up one morning, Khushrenada was surprised to see the sky filled with confetti and all the villagers dancing to the rhythm of Pave. As Pave thrust out his body and did his incredibly suggestive dancing that left little to the imagination, Khushrenada was even more horrified when all the villagers started copying it as well.
Wondering if he was stuck in a nightmare or real life, Khushrenada searched for Luna and her bed. Not being able to find it anywhere, he hurried back to his place and pulled out a top he kept in a safe. He placed it on a table and spun it watching to see if it would stop or not........
The End
Topic: Mafia LXII. Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Old Feuds. The End. (Read 17687 times)
