*Hey guys, I'm back with another chapter for SING. EEEE!!! And I'm starting first my job today. Anyways, I am excited to say that this is a filler chapter with some links that are important. This is published on May 28, 2021. If you like this chapter, don't be afraid to vote and spam the comment section. That will be greatly appreciated. The violin cover is called "Levitating" by Dua Lipa and the cover is done by ItsAMoney. Enjoy!*

"Moonster!"

"Mr. Moon!"

"Buster! Buster, wake up! Wake up!"

Buster felt a weight on his chest, his eyes glued close from passing out. He felt like he's falling in the darkness. He couldn't wake up due to his heavy eyelids but part of his vision was a bit blurry when he tried to open them. He saw a figure shaped like his friend, Eddie, mouthing something to him but he had no idea what he's saying.

But Buster went back to face the darkness, his eyes closed again. Moments passed by as he felt a cushion pushed against his back. His muscles were stiff and he couldn't move his limbs.

Then...he's able to move...finally! Buster lifted his tired eyelids up to see the ceiling in the darkness. He fluttered his eyes open and blinked until he could get his vision clear.

"That's quite an inhale, Mr. Moon," A familiar voice spoke as Buster turned his head slightly to see Norman sitting by his bedside.

Buster edged a tired smile. "Hey, Norman."

Norman examined him while adjusting the wet cloth on Buster's head. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay, I guess," Buster answered while looking around the room a bit more to realize that he's in some sort of a bedroom.

"You're in the master bedroom in my apartment," Norman responded before Buster was about to ask.

Buster nodded his head in understanding. "W-What happened?"

"Well, as I heard from your friends, they heard you singing some song and...well, you passed out," Norman explained while sitting on the edge of the bedside.

Buster rubbed his tired eyes. "Hmm, did they manage to find the other piece of the map?"

Norman nodded his head. "Yeah. They're just examining it right now."

Buster held his head with a groan. "Ugh, I guess Milla and Dareel weren't dramatic."

Norman chuckled. "Yeah."

Buster arched a brow. "How long have I slept?"

Norman pondered for a second. "Probably about three hours."

"Hmm."

There's a brief silence.

"Did I freak anybody out?" Buster questioned.

"You mostly freaked out Eddie."

"Huh, yeah, he can be pretty protective of me sometimes."

There's another awkward pause.

"How's Maya?" Buster managed to ask again.

Norman chuckled again. "She's just worried about you."

Buster smiled a bit to himself. "Heh, yeah." He chewed his bottom lip and shifted his glance up at Norman. "Can I ask you a question, Norman?"

Norman shrugged with a chortle. "Why not? You've already asked a billion of them."

Buster let out a bit of a laugh as he sat up. "Well...this is probably the worst time to even ask this."

"You need to wear protection--"

"That's not what I was going to ask---I mean, depending on how you take it."

Norman leaned forward a bit in interest. "Go ahead."

Buster twisted his mouth to pondered a bit. "How...did you manage to ask Rosita out on the date?"

Norman widened his eyes while taking a moment to think about the question. "Hm, that's a good question. It's been a while since we've done that. I think I remember doing it this way."

Norman scooched closer to Buster, put a hand on his shoulder, and gave him a smoldering look on his face. "Hey."

"What?!"

"It worked back then," Norman replied while drawing his hand away from the koala.

Buster rolled his eyes. "Really?"

"Yeah, and look where we are now."

Buster sighed deeply while sitting up. He placed a hand on his shoulder and tried that smoldering look Norman did but failed miserably. "Hey."

Norman laughed. "No, no. You got to go like--" He put his hand back on Buster's shoulder while giving him a smoldering look again. "Hey."

Buster chuckled to himself. "This is so stupid. I'm going to be surprised if she said yes after all that."

"What are you guys doing?"

Buster and Norman glanced up to see Rosita arching a brow at the boys.

"Oh, nothing, darling. Just giving Mr. Moon some romantic advice," Norman responded with a discreet wink.

Rosita caught the wink with a small smirk played on her lips. "Okay, I'll let you get to it."

She walked away from the men before Buster could catch on to what's going on in the mother pig's mind.

Meanwhile, Rosita entered the kitchen with a cheery smile on her face while Johnny looked over the map with Ash sitting on his broad shoulder and Meena helping him decipher the next riddle with Boba's map expertise. Leonard, Dareel, Gunter, Ms. Crawly, Whoopi, and TweetTweet were watching television while Eddie, Mike, Nancy, Milla, and Maya waited anxiously

"So, the good news is that Mr. Moon is recovered and now awake," Rosita replied to Maya, Eddie, and Milla.

The animals sighed in relief.

"At least he wasn't there for long," Milla replied with a small assured smile.

Mike furrowed his brow. "What is up with him singing some random song like it's some sort of a musical?"

"When people inhale the...toxics, they tend to hallucinate and...pass out eventually. If you're there any longer...well, your mind would've been jacked up still," Milla explained to the mouse.

Maya glanced up at the mother pig. "Is it okay if I can go check up on him?"

"No, it's fine. Don't worry, Norman is watching over him," Rosita responded with a smile as she guided Maya into the kitchen.

Maya frowned a bit while following behind Rosita. She went beside Johnny and Ash and glanced over at them, noticing how comfortable Ash was on sitting his shoulder and Johnny didn't even mind it one bit.

Ash noticed Maya staring at the corner of her eyes while turning to her. "You need something?"

"Oh...uh, no. It's just that...you guys seem to have a cute relationship," Maya answered nervously.

Ash and Johnny blushed a bit but shrugged it off.

"Thank you, Maya," Johnny responded with a smile as he glanced back at the piece of the map he found at the shack.

Maya scratched the back of her head. "Um...I was wondering...Ash, if there's a way to tell if a guy likes you."

Ash and Johnny froze at the question while Ash almost wanted to laugh out loud.

Rosita, however, swooped into the conversation before the new couple could answer. "Well, it's actually simple, Maya. When a guy goes up to you and puts his hand on your shoulder, that's when you know that he is attracted to you. It also means that he wants to date you."

Mike and Nancy hopped on the table, befuddled until Nancy got Rosita's little wink at her.

"What are you talking about? Guys don't--"

Nancy nudged on Mike's ribs to interrupt him.

"Ow, babe, I didn't even say anything racist--"

Nancy whispered into his ear with a little smirk.

Mike's face brightened up while cornering a tiny devious smirk at Maya. "Nevermind. I lied. Guys do that all the time. Watch." Mike puts a hand on Nancy's shoulder. "Sup?"

Nancy giggled. "Yes, it gets me every time."

Ash, Johnny, Eddie, and Milla furrowed their brows in confusion.

"You know, Eddie did that to me the first time we met," Milla confirmed this while glancing over at her boyfriend, who blushed madly.

Eddie blinked a bit. "Really? I don't remember."

Milla gave Eddie a cheeky smile. "You were so adorable when you do it."

Eddie blushed even harder, earning a laugh from Johnny and Ash.

"Yeah, I did that with Ash when we had growing feelings for each other," Johnny responded with a chuckle.

"We did more than that," Ash whispered to Johnny.

Maya blushed a bit. "Really?"

"Oh yeah. You'll see," Mike replied.

As the group glanced back over at the map, Buster came downstairs with Norman by his side.

Buster could walk a bit better now, his legs a little wobbly but it's not to the point where it's bothersome.

He came right beside Maya, glancing at Norman for support.

Norman blended into the dark of the living room while giving the koala a thumbs up. Buster nodded his head while gazing at Maya, who was so focused on writing the new words down on her little notebook with the most beautiful handwriting he's ever seen.

Ash noticed this from the corner of her eyes while gasping to get Maya's attention. "Oh my gosh, Maya, I love your handwriting."

Maya glanced up at the porcupine. "Oh, thank you."

"Can I see it?" Ash requested.

"Yeah," Maya responded willingly as she handed her small notebook to Ash to examine her handwriting.

"Babe, look at this handwriting," Ash pointed to Johnny, who glanced over to see the small notebook.

"Oh, wow. No wonder she's a good writer. It's so neat and clean," Johnny pointed out happily.

Buster took a moment to calm his breathing, mustering up the courage, and placed his hand on Maya's shoulder. She turned to glance at him with eyes wide in shock.

"Hey," Buster replied while trying his best to give his sexy look.

Maya blushed madly at his touch and his face...his beautiful cute face. She gulped a bit with a bright smile. "Sure, I'll date you."

Buster instantly lost his sexy look, his face redder than it had ever been. He felt like he's going to explode with questions or even hugging her tightly. He blinked a bit, trying to wrap his mind around the whole dating thing.

Maya tilted her head in confusion. "Is he okay?"

Mike almost burst into laughter at Buster's reaction. "Give him a minute to process the information."

Buster couldn't even move a muscle or even interact with anything.

"I don't think he can move," Eddie pointed out. "Buster! Earth to Buster!"

Buster still didn't snap out of his thoughts.

"I kissed and made out with your sister," Eddie stated, trying to snap him out of it.

Buster stared at Maya, his face felt numb.

Eddie sighed deeply. "We need something loud. Ms. Crawly! We need your help!"

Ms. Crawly walked into the kitchen. "What's the matter?"

"Do you have anything loud to snap Buster out of his thoughts?" Eddie asked.

Ms. Crawly took a megaphone out of nowhere with an innocent smile. "Yes, I do." She turned her megaphone on and aimed into Buster's ear. "Mr. Moon! The theater is in trouble!"

Buster wasn't even phased by Ms. Crawly's statement or even the loudness of the megaphone, which genuinely shocked her.

"That's strange," Ms. Crawly uttered.

Maya didn't know what she's thinking as she leaned forward and kissed his cheek, ultimately snapping him out of his thoughts.

Buster blinked for once while his face went back to the normal shade. He noticed everyone staring at him wide-eyed. "Uh...what did I miss?"

"You phased out, Moonster!" Mike laughed, who couldn't contain his laughter anymore. "And the girl of interest said yes, she would like to date you--"

"WHAT?!" Buster shrieked until he slapped himself mentally from screaming. "I mean...uh...that's great...uh--"

Maya frowned a bit. "I mean, if you don't want to, I understand--"

"No, I want you." Buster froze at his phrasing of words. This guy does plays all the time without even blushing or stuttering. What had gotten into him? "I mean, I want you to date me. Or...wait, is there another way around--?"

Maya smiled a bit at Buster's stumbling, which interrupted him.

"Yeah...I do want to date you," Buster finally said while scratching at the back of his head.

The group surrounding them almost clapped their hands together in cheers for Buster finally getting someone to date with for once in his life.

Ash smiled while looking at Maya's handwriting, instantly losing that smile. "Guys, something's off."

Maya and Buster glanced over at Ash.

"What do you mean?" Norman asked, jumping into the conversation.

Johnny shifted his gaze over at his girlfriend while widening his eyes in shock. "It's another riddle but...more complex."

"Well, read it," Mike replied.

Johnny looked to Ash as she took a deep breath and read:

"Orange is the New Blood.

Hearts hardened and in chains.

We are the influencers of destruction.

Blossoming Hearts would not survive there."

Mike blinked again. "Is your mother intending on us not figuring stuff out? I mean, so far...it's not working until now."

Johnny shrugged. "I don't know."

Boba, the ferret, pondered. "The influencers of destruction. What does that mean?"

"Hearts hardened and in chains...Orange is the new blood," Maya muttered those words to herself.

Johnny heard the woman koala. "Orange is the new blood." With that, a gasp escaped from Johnny's lips. "Oh no."

"What? Are we going into an outhouse this time?" Mike interrogated Johnny, teasing him.

Johnny shook his head. "Guys...we need to visit my dad."

~.~

The theater group headed into the jail, eyes widening in shock.

"Is this what she meant?" Rosita asked nervously.

"Yeah," Johnny answered.

Mike turned to the mother pig. "Aren't you and Norman suppose to be watching the kids?"

Norman, standing beside his wife, shrugged. "I managed to get Rosita's mother to watch over the kids at her house. For some reason, she loves having them."

There's a brief pause as the group could imagine the kids being rowdy and running all over Rosita's mother's house while she tried to take care of them.

Buster shook it off and glanced up at Johnny. "Well...what are we waiting for? Let's visit your Dad."

Johnny nodded in determination while holding Ash's hand. "Okay."

The theater group entered the jail, tensing up at the noises of criminals barking at each other.

Johnny approached the front desk with Ash beside him. "Ello, I would like to see my--"

"Are you Johnny?" the clerk asked.

Johnny arched a brow. "Yes."

"I was just about to call you but you came in time. Are your friends visiting with you?"

"Uh...yes."

"Perfect. Maybe they could help," the clerk responded with a smile while giving them access through the jail.

Johnny had his eyes widened a bit in shock as the group walked through the white halls of the jail to find the cells completely empty. As they got closer to the cafeteria door, they heard some sort of music and criminals shouting.

When the group entered the cafeteria, their eyes went in shock to find the criminals in orange jumpsuits playing instruments with Johnny's father arguing.

"Oi, if you haven't punched him in the gut, we would've had a violinist!" Johnny's father, Dexter, shouted at the crocodile guitarist.

The crocodile glared at the huge gorilla. "He bit me first!"

The rhino stepped in. "Technically, he snapped. Snapping turtles tend to snap if you aggravate them."

"Snap! Bite! Same thing!" the crocodile growled.

Johnny approached the group of criminals. "What's going on?"

Dexter turned to his son and smiled. "There's my pride and joy!"

He hugged his son tightly while burying his face on his shoulder. "I'm so glad you came!"

"What's going on, Dad?" Johnny asked while tilting his head.

Dexter glanced over his shoulder at the criminals holding musical instruments. "Well, we just got the instruments in yesterday and...just in case something happens to the theater, we can play a song or two every once and a while."

Johnny arched a brow. "Did something happen to the theater?"

"Oh no, no, not at all...Just...uh, precaution. Anyways, we got the piano spot right open for ya, son," Dexter pointed at the piano on the small stage of the cafeteria.

"He snapped!" the rhino barked.

"He bit me!" The crocodile argued.

"Oi, quit arguing--"

"That's it! I quit!" The crocodile growled while setting the guitar case aside and stormed off of the stage.

"That's great, now we lost both a violinist and a guitarist," Dexter groaned deeply.

"Um, I can play the guitar," Ash volunteered with her hand raised.

Dexter smiled brightly at the porcupine. "Great! That was easy. Now...we need a violinist."

"For what?" Eddie managed to ask Johnny's father.

"Oh, just to give some diversity. Does anybody in your theater crew know how to play the violin?" Dexter asked Johnny.

Johnny glanced at all of his friends. "Um...I don't know, Dad--"

Maya raised her hand up shyly. "I-I know how to play the violin."

"What?!" Everyone gasped in shock.

"How?" Meena asked.

"Well...Mother doesn't know this but I would play violin every time she's not home when I was little...I stopped playing because I got a job at the grocery store. So, I may be a bit rustic."

"That's okay," Dexter encouraged happily while handing the violin to Maya. "You can show us!"

"Yeah, show us," Rosita replied with a bright smile.

Maya blushed in embarrassment as she slowly received it. "Um...okay...it might sound a bit annoying."

"If you want, we can start off with the music, and then you can play the notes," Ash offered with a smile, adjusting the guitar strings.

Maya nodded. "Sure."

"Cool, we'll start," Johnny volunteered as he sat on the bench in front of the piano, his fingers pressing the starting keys to get the song going.

https://youtu.be/-4H6Cgd2gMU

Ash sat up on the piano while strumming the guitar.

Maya took a deep breath as she put the violin right up against the chin with her fiddlestick right up on the strings. She adjusted the strings a bit as she heard Ash and Johnny played a few more notes.

With another deep breath, Maya began to play the violin, the notes correlated with the lyrics of the song.

Everyone had their eyes widened in shock when she began to play the violin. Buster couldn't help but be in awe of Maya's performance when the violin began to sound beautiful in his ears.

Johnny and Ash noticed Maya playing on the violin as they played their instruments passionately.

Through the chorus, Maya began to dance while playing with the violin with her eyes closed.

Gunter began to clap along with the beat, encouraging everybody to do the same, even the prisoners in the orange jumpsuits.

As the other verse began, Maya played the notes on the violin with Johnny and Ash's help with their own instruments. Soon, TweetTweet joined in, playing the drums to boost the band while Mike played his small saxophone to relate to the band.

As the music played, the news reporters came through the police station to record this.

"Are you seeing this?!" the dog reporter pointed at the stage performance to his cameraman.

Meanwhile, in a bar not far from the jail, the bartender began to dance to the music played on television with the other drunks. However, Lilith was just walking past the bar when she noticed a familiar girl koala with blonde hair playing the violin on television. Her eyes went wide when she saw that it's in the jail with the prisoners but everyone seemed to dance along with her. Not hurting her.

She also noticed an unfamiliar koala in a blue suit, dancing with her through the second chorus with a big goofy smile on his face. A smirk played on her lips while she continued to walk forward to pass the bar.

Back at the prison, Maya finally had a solo part for the bridge, to which she played beautifully and earned an awe expression from Buster Moon himself.

The band went back to playing the notes of the upbeat song, which the prisoners, the theater crew, and the police officers were dancing in the prison cafeteria with big grins on their faces.

Maya finally played the last note involving Johnny, Ash, and TweetTweet. The silence settled as an uproar of applauds echoed in the jail for everyone playing the instruments on stage.

Maya opened her eyes and smiled nervously while Johnny, Ash, Mike, and TweetTweet came up beside her. They all took a bow, increasing the sounds of applause from the prisoners.

Maya didn't bow with the others, shocked that people like her performance.

The group noticed as they turned to her and gestured the applause towards her more. Out of nervousness, she did a small curtsy.

After the applause faded, the group surrounded her with bright smiles on her face.

"You did such a good job, Maya," Rosita was the first to say in an excited tone.

"Girl, you nailed the violin," Whoopi, the hippo, complemented with a bright smile.

"You sound beautiful," Ash joined in the people complimenting.

"Zat vas so good! You should play fiolin more often!" Gunter added.

Maya smiled while everyone was gathering around her and cheering for her. She never heard of such positive feedbacks in all her life. Her eyes drifted to see Buster, who just smiled like a fool in love.

Maya cornered a small shy smile while her heart thumped against her chest. In all honesty, she couldn't wait to date him.

~.~

The police escorted the theater group out of the prison with the night settling in. Meena separated from the group with Whoopi and Dareel keeping her company in case Serpent's men tried to attack her. Rosita and Norman went home with the koalas following after them. Johnny and Ash decided to stay in the prison longer so that Johnny could talk to his father about the situation.

Mike and Nancy decided to go with Leonard, Eddie, Milla, and TweetTweet towards Leonard's huge mansion.

Johnny and Ash sat in the prison cafeteria with Dexter sitting across from them.

"So, Dad...there's something that I need to talk to you about."

Dexter arched a brow at his son. "Was the piano out of tune--?"

"No, no, it has nothing to do with the piano," Johnny answered with a small smile.

"Oh, then...what is it?" Dexter asked gently.

"It's about Mum," Johnny replied with a smile.

"You like to know about her?"

"No...actually, there's something that you'd probably didn't know," Johnny answered nervously.

Dexter tilted his head. "Like what?"

Johnny glanced over at Ash for some support, who nodded her head and rubbed his arm. He took a deep breath and glanced up at his father. "Mum made a map...with riddles written in invisible ink. It's a map of...where Serpent kept his hostages. Nana was one of the hostages and if we collect all the pieces of the map...we would be available to narrow down our search for Nana."

Dexter listened to this in wide-eyed disbelief. "Hold on, boy. Hold on. Why would Serpent be connected to what happened to her?"

"Serpent sent the bear gangs to kill her. And...the wolves he sent were after the map," Johnny answered. "She mapped out of the locations where police could find missing victims. Although she knew that she couldn't get to the police in time, she tore the map into sections and hid them in places. D-Do you know why I asked you for my mother's name and her burial--?"

"Because she's buried with the map," Dexter assumed softly.

Johnny gasped a bit while trying to explain. "Look, Dad...I know that it's illegal but the part of the map is buried with her--"

"Locket," Dexter finished Johnny's sentence. "That's why she wanted to be buried with her locket."

Johnny was surprised that his father was calm about the situation. "I-I did talk to her for a while before I dug it up. I told her that you missed her, about how much I wished to know her, and about how much you love her. I...I'm sorry, Dad."

"Why are you sorry?" his father asked, surprising Johnny.

"Because I did something illegal and you might not be proud of me--"

"Johnny, I've robbed banks all the time," Dexter answered with a little giggle. "I've been proud of you when you chose to not do crime anymore. But...I wouldn't be surprised that you would do something because you are desperate to find your friend. Your mother would've wanted you to do it if it's important. And it's important, isn't it?"

Johnny nodded his head. "But...there's something else too, Dad...the piece of the map...it's here with you."

Dexter broadened his eyes. "Really?"

Johnny scratched the back of his head. "Yeah...I can't search the prison but--"

"I'll find it for ya, son," Dexter answered in determination.

"Time's up," one of the officers called.

Dexter glanced back at his son. "You'd be safe. Okay? I'll let you know when I have the map."

Johnny smiled at his father. "Okay, Dad."

He held Ash's hand and walked out of the cafeteria. Dexter noticed their hands holding each other's, assuming something about the relationship. However, he didn't make a big deal about it as he walked towards the police officers. 

To Be Continued...