Team Chaotix - The Case of The Missing Dogs

Chapter 2

Tuesday, 9:11 AM: 48 hours left to pay the electric bill;

Station Square Animal Shelter is the one shelter that neglected, mistreated, and homeless animals rely on for a safe haven before being adopted into forever loving homes. It's a sizable shelter with the capacity of 120+ animals, and it solely runs on donations and volunteers by the people of the city. To hear dogs have been stolen, there's a rapid growth of worry in the community of the shelter and adoptable pets that they supported. For Team Chaotix, it makes them disgruntled that someone would stoop so low to do such a thing.

They arrived at the shelter and already Vector and Espio noticed something was off. The front door was wide open with incredible signs of a break in. Two handrails were severely damaged, and steps, which were made of concrete, had a few nicks in it. As they exit out of their vehicle, a female cream and white guinea pig ran to them, looking so relieved, yet distressed.

"Thank you all so much for helping us!" She said.

"The pleasure is all ours." Replied Vector, trying to ease her. "You're Holly right?"

"Yes, I am. I'm the owner and manger. Right this way, you can talk to me and my co-managers. We made sure to not touch anything that can be evidence."

"Hey look." Espio pointed out to Vector and Charmy of something that caught his eye upon following her inside. The door had a hole through it, it's doorknob was blown off and lying on the ground, and the door was barely hanging by its hinges. But what caught Espio's attention was the outside part of the door was covered in a black powdery residue. The handrails were also covered in the same material, but were torn off the concrete landing, as well as being disproportioned. Vector wipe a small part of it with one finger, and took a very good look at it.

"Gunpowder, likely from a bomb." He concluded.

They made their way into a main room for large dogs and took in the sad state. Over three dozen kennels were empty, with no sign of a dog. The only visual evidence of a break in they had was broken glass everywhere because while the kennel doors were made of metal panels, a sheet of glass acted as a wall in order to see the dogs better. Espio warned Charmy about the glass and to not touch anything.

They immediately sense the atmosphere too was melancholy, with a touch of emptiness. Team Chaotix took notice of a female turtle and a male blue hawk was writing on clipboards, probably taking count of which dogs were missing. While the main goal of this case was to earn enough money to pay the electric bill, Vector knew deep down that his team has to put their hearts in a better priority, because seeing the mournful expressions of the managers encouraged him to undo the cruel crime that has happened to these caring people. The turtle and hawk looked up to see Holly and the trio.

"This is Team Chaotix, they're gonna help us. Chaotix, meet Kate and Swift, my co-managers and best friends." She said as Kate and Swift shook hands with them.

"Without your help, we know we wouldn't be able to get them back." Said Swift.

"That's our policy after all, we won't stop our investigations until they're solve!" Replied Vector.

"Yea, until they're solve!" Repeated Charmy.

Turning to Holly, Vector asked: "So, can you tell us what happened prior to this morning?"

"Yesterday, things went normal as usual as we were preparing for our adoption fair this Saturday." She said. "Shelter closed at 4:30, we and some volunteers took care of all the pets until 6:00. Kate and Swift left but I stayed until 6:30 since I'm the owner. I also arrive here first in the morning to open at 8:30. So when I arrive at 8:24, that's when I noticed the front door was open. At first I thought I forgot to shut the door when I left, but when I....saw all the damage outside, I then saw...these kennels broken into, and the....dogs were gone." She said trying to hold back tears.