Chapter 4: Crystal Stars

Chapter 4: Crystal Stars

Mystery #4: The Secret Project

What is this project that everyone has been talking about? And what do Dimitri and Don Paolo have to do with this? We must investigate further, by first finding their lair, and confronting them on this…

As we continued our trip back to the Layton-Mobile, I couldn't help but notice how silent the Professor was. Normally he would be discussing the information that we had acquired, but instead, he appeared to be very lost in thought. I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was anyways. Even Flora seemed to notice his silence, as she stayed close to me instead of him, like she usually does. At one point, I thought Flora was holding my hand, but I wasn't paying much attention to her.

“Professor, are you alright? You've been awfully quiet.” I broke the increasingly awkward silence, which made Layton turn around and stop, looking at me with his half smile.

“Apologies Q, I got lost in thought again.”

“Is it about Don Paolo?”

“Somewhat; anyways, let's go.” Layton turned back around and we continued our way back to the car. It kind of concerned me, Layton was being so vague with his answer, but I knew for sure it had to be that, so I didn't question him, but it still concerned me. As we turned to get in the car, I saw something swoosh over my head and hit the car. It was an arrow with a piece of paper attached to it.

“What the heck? Now what does he want?” I grumbled to myself as I picked up the paper.

Puzzle #013: Escape

25/25 Picarats

You are trapped in a room in broad daylight having two connecting doors; one on each side of the room, one door opens to a fire breathing dragon that will burn anything that enters his room. The other door opens to a room with magnifying glasses faceted about the walls such that the sunlight will burn you at any direction. How do you get out?

“This…is a puzzle Professor! Why would he give us this just as we were leaving?”

“Can I have a peek at it?”

“Of course Professor, I was about to give it to you anyways for your opinion on it.” I handed the piece of paper, which had evidence of aging on it, which he took graciously from my hands.

“Q, what does that bad guy want? He still scares me…” Flora said shaking a little.

“Now now Flora, he isn’t a bad person, trust me on it, he may seem that way but truly he isn’t.” I gave her a big smile to restore her confidence, but it didn’t seem to work.

“But he…he kicked you!”

“Purely out of self defense mind you. After all, I did try to take his bow away from him…in the intents of saving you guys from harm, but still, you get my point hopefully Flora.”

“I do believe I know the true intent of this Puzzle Q.”

“What is it Professor?”

“This was merely a stall tactic, any moment now Caleb will come along and ask us something, but what it is about I can’t say.”

“We might as well solve the puzzle while we’re waiting then, eh Professor?”

“I do believe that is the best course of action at this present time.”

“So, my first guess to this would be to simply wait until night time and walk through the room unharmed, after all, without sunlight, the power of the magnifying glasses wouldn’t be nearly as strong, if any power at all, and therefore you wouldn’t get hurt, I suppose.”

“I think your reasoning on that is good. Now we just wait until he arrives…”

“Hey! Thank god you guys waited for me…I was hoping that puzzle would stall you long enough for me to catch up…” I heard his somewhat annoying voice from behind me as I saw him casually walk up to us.

“Oh boy, it’s you. Now what do you want?”

“Kid what kind of beef do you have against me?”

“You know exactly why…”

“Well I apologized for it ok?”

“And we solved your puzzle by the way. The answer would be to simply wait until night time and walk through the room with the magnifying glasses. Puzzle solved! Now what do you want? We haven’t got all day you know.”

“Hmph, you’ve got such an attitude you know that Q? My business here is simple; I got a little proposition for you, something you may or may not like.”

“And what, prey tell, is that Caleb?” Layton asked.

“It’s simple. I had heard that you three were going on a little investigation of sorts, and since I was bored and had nothing else to do, I would join your little group here and help out. Now, before you protest Q, I must say this. I CAN solve puzzles and can help fend off any enemies that might stall your guys’ investigation.

“But that’s a long ranged weapon, what if someone comes up to you close range or something? What then? Besides that, I’m not so sure if you should join…what do you think Professor?”

“I think having another person in our group would benefit us a lot, but first a little test for you Caleb, specifically a puzzle in which will test your puzzle solving skills you say you have.”

“…Don’t worry; I had to do the exact same thing before I became his assistant.” I whispered into his ear.

“Alright, I’ll take this puzzle down with my bow…I mean, my puzzle solving skills.”

Puzzle #014: Untouchable Object

10/10 Picarats

What is red and blue, and purple and green? No one can reach it, not even the queen.

“Nice puzzle Layton, however the answer to that is simple.”

“Then answer the question.”

“I’m getting to that Q; the answer to it is a rainbow.”

“Very good Caleb, now everyone, let’s go.”

“Alright, but first Professor, I have one more question to ask to Caleb… something a bit personal, so bear with me here.” I had a sudden urge to ask this question as it had suddenly occurred to me that he could be some sort of spy which even though I shouldn’t be thinking that way, and even though I had just told Flora that he wasn’t bad, I thought about it anyways.

“Q, I’m pretty sure Layton is getting tired of waiting, you can tell me in the car.”

“Normally yes, I could, but in this case it is not possible.”

“And why not?”

“Because it’s a question that I want answered before we leave, is that okay with you? Even if it isn’t, I don’t care; we’re not leaving until you answer.”

“…Fine, just ask the damn question already.”

“Are you going to be loyal to us?”

“…Are you implying something?” I could see the serious look on his face; he was simply trying to gather his thoughts together to answer my question.

“Not at all, I’m just merely asking a simple question.”

“Of course I would, why wouldn’t I Q?”

“Well, in these times, it’s hard to trust people, not like I don’t trust you or anything, I’m just saying, anyways, let’s go.” Caleb stole my seat as we were getting into the car, which made me a little bit mad, but otherwise I didn’t care. Layton updated the whole situation to Caleb. who I wasn’t sure if he was really paying attention or not, I couldn’t tell from just looking at the back of his head. They seemed to be getting along great from what I was listening to their conversations as we were heading to our destination, which Layton informed me that it was the London police station to talk to Inspector Chelmey about where the whereabouts of Dimitri and Paolo, and maybe learn more about what they are working on, though I didn’t set my expectations that high. Suddenly I was thrust out of my thoughts when I felt something touch my legs, which I looked down immediately and discovered that Flora had her head on my lap.

“Flora uh…what are you doing? This is kind of an awkward moment here…” Somehow, despite having her seat-belt on, she was almost laying down, making the whole point of having the seat-belt on in the first place useless, so I decided just to unbuckle it for the sake of comfort. She looked cute sleeping, which made me smile and blush just a bit.

“Oh…uh…I’m sorry Q.” Flora reacted as she stood up and stared at me, only halfway aware of what had occurred.

“How can you sleep so much? You were asleep on the car ride here, and now you fell asleep on another trip, you’re worse than my cat shoe.” I responded jokingly, chuckling at Flora sleeping so much.

“You have a cat?”

“Yeah, he’s a very handsome kitty, he sleeps a lot though, and when he’s not sleeping he’s meowing for food, or annoying me when I’m trying to read or solve a puzzle. I actually adopted him, his last owner actually went to prison, and apparently he was a very evil man who didn’t care about anyone but himself.”

“Well at least he has a good home now.”

“Yeah, that’s a good thing, now get some sleep Flora, I’ll wake you when we get to the London Police Station.” I smiled brightly, making her giggle a bit, then she laid back down and dozed off, again having her head on my lap, which ultimately I didn’t mind. I sat back a bit, thinking of what Inspector Chelmey would be like and what we would be said exactly. As I continued to think about a bunch of things, not much particularly about the case in hand, but just some neat little ideas floating around in my head, I suddenly started stroking Flora’s hair, like I would be if I was with Shoe. When I realized what I was doing, I stopped and looked at my hand, questioned what I was doing, then went on. Eventually I dozed off in boredom.

15 Minutes Later…

“Flora, Q, we’ve arrived…”

“Huh…oh, ok, come on Flora, let’s go.”

“Yay! We’re here!” She bolted from the car like she was on fire or something, then ran around the car and signaled for me to get out. It apparently took me too much time to get out of the car because Flora was behaving impatiently and immediately grabbed my hand; practically dragging me into the police station, not even giving me the chance to really check out my surroundings. It was rather annoying to say the least but I went along with this bit of insanity for the time being.

“F-Flora…you’re way too excited to going to a police station…”

“But the Inspector guy is really cool! He gets to take down the bad guys! Just like the Professor!”

“I g-guess…but can you let go of me please? I can get there fine by myself…”

“Oh…my bad Q, I kind of got overexcited there.” She didn’t let go, but at least she loosened her grip and didn’t try to drag me, which I guess was better than nothing.

“Professor…sorry about leaving you guys behind, I think Flora is a little hyper right now…”

“Ya think Q?”

“Did I ask for your opinion Caleb?”

“I’ll give my opinion whether you want me to or not.”

“Fine by me, I’ll do my best to give a counter-argument to everything you say for the sake of debate.” I wasn’t being too serious by what I said, and almost laughed, but I held my composure.

“You two sound like an old married couple.” Layton said catching up to us. He was looking in his notebook and jotting down some notes, which were probably just notes on what has transpired so far. We walked into the station, and my first observations were that it was very old. You could tell where they tried to plaster over the bricks, and despite doing a relatively good job, you could see bricks. There was an iron gate in which it would seal off the rest of the police station; it was showing its age.

“What is your business here today Layton?”

“We are here to speak with the Inspector, is he in his office by any chance?”

“Indeed he is, he’s been in his office all day doing paperwork. He said he’s been trying to get evidence to take down some organization, so he’s probably not in the best of moods.”

“Wait, how do you know all this?” I asked fiddling around with a puzzle piece I found on the ground.

“It’s all in the power of observation, lad. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be taking a donut break.” The guard walked outside, burping as he passed by us.

“Well, he doesn’t do much to help break the stereotype of Cops…” I replied rolling my eyes slightly at the notion of a cop of all things taking a donut break.

“Of course not Q, after all I probably fit the stereotype of an archer for all I know. Then again, does it really matter?

“You have a point Caleb. I was just making an observation.”

“Q…I’m bored. Entertain me.” Flora was obviously really bored at the moment, she was acting more like a little kid. It was rather amusing to me, although I knew others wouldn't find it that funny. It was admittedly getting a bit annoying to me as well so I needed to find a way to distract her.

“Here’s a stress ball Flora, knock yourself out. Not literally, of course.” Somehow I had come in contact with this blue stress ball. It was in my pocket at the moment, so I gave it to her so she would quit bugging me. I looked ahead and saw two sets of stairs, one going upstairs, and one going downstairs. “We go upstairs to Chelmey’s office, correct?

“You are indeed correct with that statement Q.” Flora ran ahead of us, chasing after that stress ball that I gave her.

“Might as well follow her I suppose.” I shrugged, going to follow Flora who was making her way up the stairs.

“Thank you Captain Obvious.”

“Thank you Lieutenant Sarcasm.” I stealthily walked up the stairs, looking ridiculous in the process; I was imitating some action hero.

“Q; do you insist on embarrassing yourself by doing that? I think Layton would object seeing as though you aren’t exactly acting gentlemenly, right?” All Layton did was laugh, and then show us to Chelmey’s office. Which upon entering, I immediately noticed how much of a slob he was. Stacks of papers everywhere, which easily could be knocked over with one push. Chelmey was sitting in his chair, scribbling some notes down while eating and making a mess in the process. His assistant Barton wasn’t in the room, presumably doing some of Chelmey’s handy-work.

“Oi! Layton what are you doing here? It looks like you brought some of your pals along; I assume you are on another investigation that requires my assistance?”

“Indeed we are Inspector; any sort of assistance that you can give us is good.”

“So, I heard that you were working on taking down a criminal organization, sounds interesting Inspector.” I said, recalling what the guard had told us just a few minutes back.

“And who might you be kid?” Chelmey was obviously talking to me, although I wasn't really much of a kid. I didn't really let that get to me too much though.

“My name is Q, Qhj. I’m Layton’s new assistant.” I bowed to be gentlemanly.

“Oi, and what about you kid?” Chelmey was taking a look at Caleb, eyebrow raised in curiosity. I turn my head towards Caleb and back towards Chemley, casually watching the both of them.

“…Caleb Jones. Archer in training.”

“Would you happen to know a person named Pond Kirasume by any chance?”

With a rather solemn and avoiding tone, Caleb responded with “I'd rather not talk about that right now.”

“Huh Why is he refusing to answer?” I thought to myself, seeing his immediate refusal to answer such a simple question.

“Now, to answer your question Qhj, it’s a seven-member organization, each with their own…unique traits, and therefore are hard to catch.” Chelmey said, having a bit of an irate voice, returning to look back at his paperwork. Afterwords he handed us a sheet of paper. It wasn't an ordinary paper but some sort of list, describing a few people who he was going after.

CrystalStarStudio Members

ShadowMario41

A skilled assassin.

Anyone who knows him knows of the curse of the number 41. Current whereabouts are unknown, as he is constantly in the shadows, and therefore no contact can be established.

GaiaCrusher9

A.K.A the Catsun.

Fears the Dogmoon.

Owns a chain of restaurants across Europe, and current whereabouts are unknown, though rumored to be in London on vacation.

ThePastaKing

Claims to be The King of Pasta.

Is able to use spaghetti noodles as a deadly weapon.

Current whereabouts are somewhere in London.

SlimKirby

Head Honcho of the group.

Claims to be a pink fluff ball who can suck things up and have a massive appetite, though obviously this claim cannot be backed up.

Has a huge fan base overseas in the United States

K-Man

Has several Wives. Disappears quite frequently for a long time and reappears. Current whereabouts are unknown, although possibly in London.

MegaFreak400

Loves Bacon.

Very observational. Likes to justify opinions with statements and facts.

PowertoMario

Very Arrogant at times.

Loves sports, always roots for his favorite team.

“…! I recognize one of those names! We went to one of the restaurants that he owns!”

“…Q, sometimes it’s better just to keep your mouth shut.”

“…I don’t care, why are you always butting into things Caleb? Seriously, it’s getting annoying.”

“That’s exactly why I do it.”

“…Anyways, that honestly doesn’t sound like such a bad gang. Why are you pursuing them?”

“Well, that’s very simple; it’s because…” He was interrupted by the sound of his door creepily opening. My initial reaction was that it was his Assistant, but the person who emerged from the door wasn’t who any of us expected. Her presence was bright, literally, like the morning sun does rising into the sky to begin the day. Then she turned off the flashlight.

“Greetings Inspector Chelmey, glad to see that you’re still in good spirits.”

“…You! What are YOU doing here?!”

“Merely asking for directions Inspector. Couldn’t find any other police officer who was willing to help me find the place where I need to go. It’s kind of pathetic really.”

“Psst, Professor, this isn’t going to end well, is it?” I whispered. He just simply shook his head and looked back up.

“Hmph, why should I give a criminal like you help?!”

“Criminal? Surely you jest Inspector, for I am just a mere business owner living life day to day, and you dare call me a criminal? What thou I have done wrong to make you call me such a cruel word such as that?”

“Oi! You know exactly what you have done! Those poor people you have ripped off know what you’ve done.”

“Well now, thou shall charge me for such a terrible and serious crime such as fraud? Does thou even have the authority to do such a thing?”

"If you want to know, I can easily get a warrant for your arrest, in fact, I should arrest you now, with the evidence I have on you!" The good Inspector slammed the papers on the table, and had a very stingy glare at the woman, who appeared to be unfazed by the Inspector's accusations, and was instead twiddling her thumbs.

“…Hah. Inspector, I would be careful of what thou say if I were you. Thou never know when an ‘accident’ may happen because of thou’s words and actions.”

“Are you threatening me?!”

“Hahaha…” I heard a noise coming from her, it sounded like a combination of a cat and a duck; and it was very weird and random.

“…That was very random, you know that?”

“Indeed it was stranger. Back to being serious though, Inspector, thou would pay if thou shall arrest an innocent citizen. Remember, thou can have good connections. It would be a shame if something…bad happened to you.”

“...Get out of my office, get out of MY SIGHT!”

“Alright, but remember…we’re watching you.” At this point, the Inspector was outright furious; he looked like he was going to punch someone but instead, sat back down, returning to his food.

“Apologies for that situation…” Chelmey was still fuming about the situation but now was trying to regain his cool the best that he could.

“It’s alright Inspector, but may I ask who that was?”

“It’s one of the members of CSS...GaiaCrusher9”

"I see. Well, I can see why she…wait, I'm not sure anymore, I'm so confused now."

"Isn't it obvious you idiot?

"No, if it were obvious I wouldn't be questioning it, now would I?" I said retaliating in a defensive sort of way, trying not to let myself get angry over his choice of words. Caleb always was trying to get on my nerves and such and this was no exception it seemed.

"You always question things though, even stupid things. I've already observed that from you." Caleb said with a touch of calmness in his voice, he was trying to be slick and cool, though it obviously wasn't working, as the Inspector, Layton, and even flora merely looked at him with a hint of disapproval in their eyes. It was a bit harder to spot with the Inspector though, though it was there if one were to observe him well enough.

"Well, Inspector Chelmey, ignoring any of the things that have just occurred here, we need to have a word with you about the whereabouts of a certain individual, if you don't mind us asking." Layton responded to Chelmey calmly, trying to move the conversation at hand to something more desirable than watching the both of us get into a petty argument about our confusion of gender. This pretty much shut us both up simultaneously. I turned my attention towards them, away from Caleb, who promptly did the same thing.

"Oi? And who might that be Layton?" Chelmey said wiping the excess food off of his mouth and chin, very child-like indeed. That was my first observation as he did so.

"I'll answer this one Professor, if you don't mind." I said butting my way into the conversation, which was a bit rude of me to do so but I wanted to have some sort of word in on this conversation. Caleb gave me yet another glare that was showing his disappointment in me. However I wasn't really concerned about how Caleb was feeling right now. “Well, it's someone that you should know begrudgingly well by now. I would go into some spiel and make it more complicated that I should. Pretty much we are referring to a Mr. Don Paolo. We believe he is involved in something that could potentially harm the city. We don't have any proof of this however.” I stated placing my hands back to my sides and watching Chelmey's reaction.

“So he's back at his old schemes once again? Resorting to a life of crime wasn't good enough for him?” Chelmey shook his head in disgust, taking a sip of a drink that he had alongside his meal. From quick observations it was a cup that he had bought along with his meal. I assumed that he had taken a fast food meal or something of the sorts, so it had to be a soft drink. Why I was making this observation at the time I wasn't sure, I just wanted to feel like Layton.

“That is correct, and we would like to have a word with him. However we are not sure where his current whereabouts may be. Inspector Chelmey, if you have any ideas on the current whereabouts of him are.” Layton grabbed the brim of his hat and was adjusting it slightly. Chelmey breathed off a sigh and took a look at the Professor.

“To be quite honest I'm not sure. You know how he is, quite a persistently little clever bugger. However I hear rumors all the time that he has himself quite held up in some abandoned office building in the middle of town. Can't go there quite yet since we haven't got a search warrant for the place, nor do we have any reason to go there. However, I will give you a word of warning. I hear it's filled to the brim with traps.” Chelmey took another huge bite out of his meal. I wasn't quite sure if he was enjoying it but I could only assume that he was.

“That is good information to have received Inspector Chelmey. That is all we came here for now so we will get out of your hair. Qhj, Flora, Caleb, let's go. And thank you Inspector Chelmey, you have helped our investigation a lot.” He tipped his hat down towards the Inspector and motioned for all of us to follow him. Flora followed along side me and Caleb was staying a bit behind us as we got out of the police station, and back towards his automobile.

“Well I suppose we are going to be investigating that office building then Professor?” I raised my voice up, inquiring the current situation that we were going through. Of course Caleb had to put in his two cents.

“No, we're going to get a burger and chips, what do you think?” Caleb was rolling his eyes behind me as he said that in a sarcastic tone.

“Naturally. First off though I have some business to attend to at Grossenheller university. We will stop off there and then we will be on our way to that office building to hopefully confront Don Paolo about what he is doing.” He got into the driver's side of the automobile and like clockwork we got into our seats. Flora was still happily playing with the stress ball that I had given her, squeezing it and looking at me with an elated look. I couldn't help but to wander as we were making our way towards the university about the CrystalStarStudio gang. Who were they? Why were they such a big threat? It was something that I wanted to figure out about, and something I was sure that the Professor wanted to figure out about as well. However we had other things to deal with at the time, like the confrontation of Don Paolo and possibly Clive as well. It would not go as well as we thought it would however...

Chapter 3: Exploring London

“You know, it doesn't make sense, why would Clive break out of prison just to inform you not to go to that speedway? How would he even know about it anyways? And for that matter, how would he know where to find us anyways? We could've been anywhere!” We were back at Layton’s house, after going back to the store and paying for the clothes, Layton cringed at the price-tag, but when I assured him I would pay him back, he just shook his head and told me that it was ok, and that he was glad to pay for it, and expected no payment for it.

“That is yet another mystery that needs to be solved”

Mystery 3: Return of Clive?

It appears that Clive has broken out of prison, but for what reason? What connection does he have with the speedway? How did he find us?

“All I know is this, I am ready to get out there and solve this mysterious mystery!”

“Great, let's get back to the investigation shall we?”

“Ok! Sounds like a plan!” I instantly got up, ready to go, but Layton stayed on his chair, and took a sip of his tea, and was obviously in thought about something.

“I appreciate your enthusiasm Q, however…”

“Hmm?”

“Ah, never mind, I got caught up in my thoughts, let’s go.”

“Professor, if you don’t mind, could you tell me what exactly what you were thinking about? If it’s something private and you rather not talk about it I understand, my curiosity can get the best of me sometimes.”

“It’s nothing of significant importance to our investigation, but since you asked…actually I’ll ask you one important question, which is an odd one for sure, but something that’ll help me learn more about you.”

“Ok?”

“Apologies if this is a sensitive question but, before I found you at that bus stop, do you remember what you were doing, or where your place of residence was before hand?”

“Just like I thought, I knew he was going to ask me this question eventually…”I thought as I pondered how I would answer yet again, and almost felt thankful that I had already knew the question ahead of time, even if the means of knowing it wasn’t exactly the most gentlemanly way. “Professor…can I be honest here?”

“Of course.”

“I honestly do not remember where I was before I blacked out…and I’ll be honest, I don’t even remember being at the bus stop to begin with, my mind is still foggy about the events that have transpired.” Part of that was true, I couldn’t have know I was at a bus stop because I was passed out at the time, but I kept the real truth away, and I almost felt guilty for lying to him, though I had a feeling the truth would eventually be brought out into the open eventually, and knowing the Professor’s ways, he would see the truth the moment I made a move or say something that would point towards the answer.

“Ah, I see, thank you for taking the time to answer my question, this will help me greatly.”

“Help you? In what way? You said that it wasn’t important to our investigation, so um, I’m kind of confused here.”

“Apologies for the confusion, it is indeed not important to our investigation, but it’ll help me for something later on down the road, and it helps strengthen our relationship as Assistant to Professor.”

“I understand, now with that out of the way, let’s go explore London!” I noticed that Layton was writing down and erasing some things in his notebook, probably updating some stuff, most likely the mystery surrounding me. It felt kind of weird that I would have a mystery surrounding me, but I knew that I would get used to it.

Mystery #02-Origins of new assistant (updated)

It appears that Q has some info about his origins, he doesn’t remember how and when he ended up at the bus stop, though it looks like he’s hiding something, and I can’t figure out why. I must consult with Inspector Chelmey later and ask him to get a background check on Q, I didn’t want to do this, but it’ll help me strengthen our relationship.

“Shall we be on our way now Professor? The sun is high, and we still have almost a full days’ investigation ahead of us.”

“Indeed we shall. Let’s first start by going to that restaurant downtown and asking the owners there, they are always in the know how of some of the town’s gossip, and seeing as though the McKneeway stadium has been getting a lot of attention lately, I suspect that they have likely have heard stuff about it, which will help us get further in our investigation, even if most of the stuff we learn is based on rumors, after all, rumors and gossip always have a basis somewhere in truth.”

“Alright, let's go then!”

“Professor, wait!” I heard Flora scamper from upstairs, almost tripping down the stairs in the process, and stopped in front of me and started talking to Layton casually, as though I wasn't even there.

“Um, Flora, do you realize that I'm behind you?”

“Oh! Sorry Q didn't see you there.”

“Is something the matter Flora? You came down here in quite a hurry.”

“Oh, um...I was in your observatory and I heard you guys were leaving so I came back...um...”

“What exactly were you doing there? That is no place to be playing you know Flora.”

“I was uh...fiddling with the telescope, trying to see if it would work...”

“Uh, if I may interject into this conversation, why were you trying to use a...telescope in the middle of the day? That logically makes no sense Flora...”

“Well, I tried looking into it, and moving it around, but I saw nothing but darkness...”

“So you were...peering into his telescope? Great Flora, that's exactly what I wanted to hear...”

“Anyways, what do you really want Flora? This doesn't seem warrant for you to be all...”

“Professor, can we please just get going? I'm too anxious here...oops, sorry for interrupting you...”

“Now Q, we must always attend the needs of a lady, after all, that's what a true gentleman does.”

“I apologize, I’m way too anxious to get our investigation re-going, and didn't even think of Flora's needs.”

“Now Flora, what is wrong?”

“I...heard you guys were leaving, and I...I want to go with you! I hate being left alone! You do this all time!”

“Now Flora, you know that our investigations can be quite dangerous, and I wouldn't want any harm to be upon you.”

“Flora, think of it like this, what if you got hurt during this, we would never forgive ourselves for allowing you to be in harm's way...”

“I can take care of myself thank you very much Q!”

“Calm down Flora, I was just expressing my concerns.”

“Oh, and I also thought of a puzzle while I was in there!”

“...A puzzle? Is this the same puzzle as last night?”

“Of course not silly! It’s a completely different puzzle than that!” She held in her hand some scraps of paper, which I could vaguely see something on each of the scraps.

Puzzle #007: Crazy Jigsaw

20/20 Picarats

There is a 15 piece jigsaw puzzle of sorts out of these scraps of paper, and it is your job to reassemble them to see what the paper represents. However, you have a very strict time limit, or else you’ll have to restart. You have One minute to reassemble this puzzle.

“Um, a Jigsaw puzzle? Really?”

“Sounds like a fine way to test your puzzle-solving skills.”

“Alright, if you say so Professor.” I started putting the pieces of paper together, starting with the corner pieces, as I was solving it; the picture was forming, which was a picture of a telescope.

“You have thirty seconds remaining Q, hurry up!” Flora said right into my ear, making me lose my concentration for a split second, but I kept on working on it, quickly solving the puzzle, and getting the mock jigsaw puzzle together.”

“Alright, here’s my solution…Puzzle solved!”

“Good Job Q, you had more than fifteen seconds to go!” Flora gave me a surprise friendly hug, and then proceeded to take the shredded pieces of paper and throw them in the trash.

“Ok, with that over with, let’s go Professor, for real this time.”

“You’re not going without me, no matter how much you argue I’m still going with you guys, so don’t even try!”

“If you insist Flora, don’t blame us if you happen to get a cut or a bruise.”

“Oh hush Q.” Layton was already gone; I assume he was already ahead of us, getting the all famous Layton-Mobile ready for whenever we decided to get there for once.

An hour later…

We exited from the Layton-Mobile about a block away from the restaurant that we were supposed to go to gather information from. Flora kept complaining about being hungry, despite her being at the house and having an ample opportunity to eat there, but Layton just shrugged and said that we might eat there if it proves to be a valuable source. Flora got kind of mad at him, but then went back to sleep.

“Wait, why are we parking here? The restaurant is down the street from here…”

“This is unfortunately the closest we can park Q, and besides, a little walk never hurt anybody, we could learn more information.” Layton tipped his hat again, and then proceeded to get out of the vehicle and motion for us to follow suit. As we stepped out I realized the beauty of the place. The Big Ben in the distance, the sight of brick buildings surrounding us; showing us that this city had a lot of historical meaning in England. The trees gave off an aroma that could only be described as mystical and charming. It was quite a busy street, people in cars driving back and forth to work or for leisure, people walking casually, for various reasons.

“This…this place is beautiful Professor, absolutely splendid.” I blurted out in a spur of the moment situation, not even thinking of what I was saying.

“Indeed it is Q; this time of year can produce breathtaking scenery around here.” As we started making our way to the sidewalk, a sudden gust of brisk air hit us, catching me and Flora off guard, as she started shivering and muttering to herself about being cold.

“Wow, there are so many people here, I'm not used to this sadly, I'm from a small town, and well, it’s usually very boring for me...” We continued our way to the sidewalk, where everyone was walking, not minding anyone but their own business. I had to hold Flora's hand, so she wouldn't get left behind in the big crowd of people that were there for seemingly no reason whatsoever.

“I hope I don't get lost in this crowd of people.”

“Don't worry Flora, I won't allow you to get lost.” I smiled the best I could, and then turned to see Layton, who was a bit ahead of us, so we hurried up; I almost dragged Flora in the process.

“Layton, why are you in such a hurry? Is this restaurant such an important place or something?” I said to him once I caught up with him.

“Not so much that I'm in a hurry; I'm just beating the crowd.”

“Ah, I understand Professor; do you have any idea why there is such a crowd here? There doesn't seem to be any parade or anything in particular going on that would warrant such a hefty crowd of people.”

“I haven't the foggiest idea of what's going on, though I can hypothesize that since its lunch time that could be the reason why.” Layton nodded at me, and we continued to move on through the crowd. We turned the corner and there was the restaurant, the Main Street Cafe. The Bright Neon Sign showed me its name, in front of the brick entrance. It wasn't anything particularly exciting, just an entrance. The more exciting, or should I say, depressing thing was seeing the alleyway next to the restaurant, it's cold dark glare it gave me revealed its history, it sheltered the people who were unfortunate enough to not have a place of residence at the time, for various reasons.

“Q, we're here, let's go in.” Layton touched my shoulder, which made me jump up in surprise.

“Oh, sorry Professor I just got lost in my thoughts for a little bit there.” I noticed someone in the distance, sitting in the filth that was in the forgotten alleyway, he seemed to be a normal person, except he had a bow and arrow and was practicing tuning it. As soon as he noticed me, he placed his Bow on his back and ran up to me, surprising me with his sudden appearance.

“You’re that Layton guy's new assistant aren't you?” The guy said in a kind of rude demeanor.

“So what if I am? Does it change anything?”

“Hmph, don't be rude kid, it's pretty obvious that you are.”

“Uh, I don't see how I was being rude...I just answered your question...” I scratched the back of my head, and then turned around to see Layton and Flora, who were waiting patiently for me. Flora was playing with one of the buttons on her dress, while Layton was checking the time on his pocket watch. He looked up at me and smiled, waiting for me to resolve the situation so we could move on.

“Were you expecting the all mighty Layton to respond to this and expect me to just cower under his might and run off without another word? You’re more pathetic than I thought.”

“Uh, so it’s bad for me to check up on what they were doing? Especially since you’re wasting my time presently, and besides that uh…who are you?”

“’My name is Caleb, Caleb Jones.”

“What is your Profession Caleb?” Layton suddenly interjected into the conversation, asking very politely, as to try to calm the guy down.

“What does it look like? I’m an archer, obviously.” He reached for his bow, and before I could realize what he was about to do, he fired an arrow almost straight up in the air, the arrow landing next to flora, which made her freak out and hide behind Layton.

“Hey, what the heck was that for?! Are you insane or something?! You could’ve hurt someone by doing that you know!” I went to grab his bow, thinking he would fire again, but I missed, and got a firm kick in the stomach from him, making me lose my balance, resulting in me almost falling on top of Layton, but I prevented that from happening.

“Q, are you ok?” Flora asked me looking from behind Layton, hiding from another potential arrow attack.

“Yeah, of course I am, I just kind of got caught off-guard by that, so yeah, I kind of over-dramatized that whole thing, he didn’t really put that much force into it…”

“You are…very protective of that bow aren’t you Caleb?”

“Well duh Layton, it’s my pride and joy.”

“That was very rude of you, you know!” I yelled at Caleb.

“You were trying to take my bow away, it was purely a defensive mechanism you moron!”

“I thought you were trying to hurt us so I decided to try to stop you!”

“Oh come on, did you see how horrible of a shot that was?! I did that on purpose just to show off my skills, I deliberately missed all of you!”

“Still, you don’t go doing stuff like that in public! What if someone happened to walk by and got into its path?! What then?!”

“I barely put any force into it so regardless it wouldn’t have hurt!”

“Ok you two; let’s resolve this situation without yelling. Caleb, I apologize for my Assistant’s rude demeanor there just now, but still, that was a reckless thing that you did, so both of you are at fault here.”

“B-but Professor, I was just trying to protect you and Flora!”

“I know Q; I was just making sure that everyone was aware of this. Now if you’ll excuse us Caleb, we must be on our way.”

“Wait…I have a puzzle for you two.”

Puzzle #008-Escape the room

10/10 Picarats

A man is trapped in a room with no doors or windows. How does he escape?

“Uh, nice puzzle, Professor, what do you have to say about this?”

“This is a simple enough puzzle for you to solve, in fact, I think I already have the answer.”

“Ok, I’ll quickly solve this puzzle so we can finally get on with our investigation.” I pondered over it for a minute or two, eliminated all the possibilities, then it became clear to me.

“You guys are about to put me to sleep waiting for the answer. Just say it already.”

“Geez, Mr. Impatient much? Anyways, the answer is surprisingly simple. To escape the room, you would simply go through the Doorway. Puzzle solved!” I was just glad to have solved it so we could make more progress, and really, it wasn't that difficult of a puzzle, just had to think about it for a minute to come up with the simple and painfully obvious solution.

“Good job, at least you can think, unlike a lot of people around here today. Anyways, I keep hearing you talk about getting information about something, what is it?”

“We are asking people information about the McKneeway speedway; do you happen to know anything about it?” When I had asked him the question, he looked at me with a little shock in his face, a sign that whatever this place was, it was significant if just the mere mention of it made someone like him shocked.

“Oh, oh yeah, I know about the place, what do you want to know about it?” Finally we were making progress, albeit just a little bit.

“Any information you might have on the place will be satisfactory Caleb.” Layton said very gentlemanly like to him.

“Oh, on second thought, uh...go talk to Braden first, at the Main Street Cafe, and then after you get the information from him, I'll tell you more.”

“Who? Does he work there or something?”

“His name is Braden Poapst, he's a friend of mine who works there, he should know just as much about the subject, as it's become a heated topic lately, at least until that one day....but that's not the point. Now get out of my face, you're annoying me.”

“Um...ok, come on Layton, Flora, let's go.”

“That seems to be the best plan right now, alright, let's go.” Layton nodded and we walked into the cafe, as we were right in front of it. The place had an old world charm to it, a few nice wooden tables, the original brick walls, and the nice dark wooden floor made it an inviting place to come and eat, though I hadn't the slightest idea what you could actually eat here, though that wasn't the point of our arrival here. Despite the outside being busy, the inside had barely any people at all. There was a man and a woman sitting at one of the small tables together, the woman was showing the man a card, and apparently he was getting a bit frustrated and yelling a bit. There was another person at the bar, waiting for something, probably her order or whatnot. Layton decided to talk to the girl, and nodded to me, which meant to follow him. Flora was still behind Layton, still nervous, but was slowly realizing she wouldn't be attacked again.

“Good day to you Madam, May I inquire a question?” Layton asked the lady, who promptly turned around.

“Um…who are you?”

“I’m Professor Hershel Layton, puzzle extraordinaire.”

“Oh! You’re that guy I saw on TV after you saved London from that Mad-man!”

“Do you know where Braden Poapst is? We need to talk to him about a certain subject.” I butted my way into the conversation, just to move it along.

“I think he’s out back, taking out the rubbish or something, not for sure.”

“So he’s not the owner of this place I see?”

“Of course not, the owner of this place is the famous Catsun!”

“Um…ok, anyways, we haven’t introduced ourselves, I’m Qhj, call me Q, I’m Professor Layton’s new assistant, what’s your name?”

“I’m Kay Veran, nice to meet you. Oh! And while you’re waiting, I have a puzzle for you if you want to waste some time with it.”

“Sure, I love puzzles!”

Puzzle #009-Ancient Inventions

15/15 Picarats

There is an ancient invention that is still used today that allows people to see through walls. What is this invention?

“Hmm…let’s see, an invention that allows people to see through walls…oh, I got it!” It was such an easy puzzle that even I was surprised of its simplicity.

“Then what’s the answer?” She said having a neutral expression on her face.

“Here’s my solution…it’s a window!” I pointed my finger triumphantly at her, and then when I realized what I had done, I quickly retaliated my finger away, so she wouldn’t be potentially offended by it.

“Darn…I knew that puzzle was too easy for someone like you, well, at least enjoy your stay here, and I hope you find out what you’re looking for!”

“I’m pretty sure I will thank you ma’am.” I decided to go check out the other two people who were sitting at the table.

“I told you, I don’t know the answer, why do you keep antagonizing me about it!” The guy said, obviously a little frustrated at the girl.

“That’s now…3545 times you have failed in your lifetime John, congratulations, you have hit an all time low.” The Woman said laughing hysterically, I was afraid she was going to fall out of her seat as much as she was laughing, so I almost went to save her, but then she stopped.

“Oh shut up Luna I swear you’re so annoying sometimes, coming up with these stupid puzzles, making me so mad, you do this on purpose, you know how horrible I am at puzzles, and yet you give them to me, and won’t even give me a hint or two when I ask!”

“Hello you two, can I be of assistance in any way?”

“Luna gave me this puzzle, and I can’t figure it out, can you help me Stranger?”

“Uh, sure, and my name is Qhj, call me Q though.”

“I would put this as another fail of yours, but since you already failed at the puzzle, I won’t.”

“Just so I’m clear here, your names are John and Luna right?”

“Yep!” They both exclaimed at the same time.

“Alrighty, now John, show me that puzzle, I’m kind of nuts about puzzles.

Puzzle #010-Stop and Go

20/20 Picarats

When do you stop at green and continue at red?

“Please help me Q, she won’t shut up about it, and it’s driving me batty!”

“This puzzle is very simple, and I’m surprised that you didn’t get it.”

“Please, just say the answer so I can beat myself in the head over it…”

“You don’t have to resort to violence over a mere puzzle. Anyways, the answer to this particular puzzle is this…when you’re eating a watermelon.

“…wow…I’m…such…a…idiot I swear to god.”

“See, I told you it was easy!”

“S-Shut up Luna!”

“Ahem, anyways, do you guys know anything about the rumors surround the McKneeway Speedway? Me and Layton over there are investigating it and any info you two may know is a big asset for us at this point.”

“Sorry, I can't say that I know anything of significance about the place, all I know is it's had a lot of controversy surrounding it.”

“What kind of controversy are we talking about here Luna? The fact that it never had its grand opening or what?”

“It's kind of hard to explain...the controversy stems from the fact that despite the fact it's been condemned, reports keep coming in about weird noises originating from the place, but whenever authorities step in to find out what's going on, the place is seemingly abandoned, not even a trace of anything going on, so the authorities don’t even care anymore about it, and almost make it out to be a big joke.”

“So basically the news reporters and all that are really over exaggerating it in their eyes and therefore refuse to investigate? That’s kind of dumb if you ask me.”

“Well, that’s all I really know, I apologize for the inconvenience. Also if you want, I have another puzzle I thought up if you want it.”

“I have the time; I’m waiting for another person so we can get info from him, show me the puzzle!”

Puzzle #011- Cause of Death

25/25 Picarats

Dead on the field lie ten soldiers in white, felled by three eyes, black as night. What happened?

“Let me think here…hmm…” Despite having my thoughts almost solely focused on the investigation, I found it strangely fun to help or just to solve puzzles in general, it was a weird thought, I never thought myself to be such a puzzle fanatic, but all the signs were pointing that way. After about a minute’s thought, I finally realized the answer.

“Do you know the answer?”

“Yes I do, I believe a strike was made in 10 pin bowling. Puzzle Solved!” I pointed enthusiastically, as it were my new victory pose or something.

“Wow, you really are good! Almost as good as Professor Layton, you must be his new assistant or something, since I don’t see Luke anywhere.”

“Indeed I am, I feel very honored actually to be his assistant. Anyways, with that I must be on my way, thank you for the time, and I hope you have a good day Luna.”

“You to Q.”

“John well…I hope your day ends up better than what it is now.”

“Yeah…I can only hope though…” I returned back to Layton, who promptly asked me if I had gotten any info from the two, and I told him about the authorities not investigating the place like they should, and then we went back to waiting. It was a very long five minutes waiting for this man to return from whatever he was doing. Flora kept complaining that she was hungry, but Layton assured her that we would get something to eat while we were here, which was helpful because I was a little bit hungry.

“Oi! New customers! Hold on, I’ll find you three a seat.”

“Are you Braden Poapst?”

“Indeed I am sir, I am the waiter of this fine establishment.”

Braden didn’t appear to be much older than I was, he had a hat on his head with a big L on it, which I was about to ask him what it was about, but I decided against it. Otherwise there wasn’t anything too distinctive about him, he just seemed like a normal person who had a hard-working job and got paid, though I realized it probably wasn’t the best of pay since the restaurant industry didn’t exactly pay the best. We found a seat towards the back, that could accommodate all three of us. Flora was the first to take her seat, then Layton, and finally I sat down.

“So, what can I get you three to drink?” He held the notepad in his left hand, signifying he was a right handed person.

“Um…Hot tea please.” I said.

“I believe I’ll have what Q is having.” Layton said smiling,

“Um…I’ll have milk!” Flora said giggling.

“Arighty, I'll-a get that!” He walked off, obviously to get our drinks. After a minute or two of waiting, and nothing significant happening, Braden came back with our drinks, and I knew this was the time to start asking questions.

“So um...Braden, from what I've heard, you know some good info about the McKneeway Speedway, me and Layton here are doing our little investigation about it, and would like to know some information about it.” I spoke up before he had a chance to speak.

“Oh..uh, you want to know more about the place huh? Well, I know somethings about, not a lot, though there is this one thing...”

“Any information you could provide for us at this time is beneficial to us Braden.” Layton chipped in.

“I like potatoes!” Flora said laughing.

“Um...that's nice Flora, anyways, what do you have for us?”

“Well, before I can tell you, you have to solve a puzzle!”

“Um...ok, I suppose that can be arranged, help you solve a puzzle for us getting information.”

Puzzle #012-The Other Dollar

20/20 Picarats

Three guys check into a hotel, they are going to split the cost of the room. The room is $30.00. They each kick in $10.00 and head up to their room. The manager gets wind of it and tells the clerk room is only $25.00. The clerk hands five $1.00 bills to the bellhop and tells him to refund the guys' money. On the way to the room the bellhop gets a thinking, and says to himself, "No way can three guys split $5.00, so I am going to help out." He stuffs $2.00 in his pocket and gives each guy a buck. So now, each guy has paid $9.00. $9 x 3 = $27.00 plus the $2.00 the bellhop stole = $29.00. Where is the other dollar?

“Uh...Professor, you got anything for this?”

“Hmm...aha! I got the answer, very devious puzzle indeed, for the sake of getting information I'll answer it...there was no extra dollar! The cost of the room is $25 plus the $2 the bellhop stole plus the last $3 they 3 guys got, so ergo, there is no extra dollar.”

“Ah, the famous Professor Layton, solving puzzles as soon as he hears them, well done, as promised, I'll give you the goods.”

“Alright, finally we'll get somewhere!”

“Ahem, as you know, I work here and I hear a lot of gossip and rumors about various things, and I have heard a lot of rumors surrounding that place. Something about the place being used for a top secret illegal project.”

“What kind of project?”

“It varies wildly from person to person, some people say it’s just a bunch of druggies who are very crafty at hiding their stash, to even stuff like another attempt at making a time machine, ever since that Dimitri Guy stopped making it or something, not a lot of details were released about it. I assume since you know more about the whole situation Layton, after all, you were the one who cracked the case.”

“The possibility of someone creating another time machine…especially considering the circumstances of what happened 10 years ago…and just a few months ago…”

“Now remember Layton, this is all purely rumors and speculation at this point, so it could be something completely different.”

“Yeah, it could even be something completely crazy and be a machine that is somehow capable of transporting people into another dimension” I said jokingly.

“However, I know one thing for sure, whatever is going on there, it’s definitely some sort of project.”

“How do you know for sure about that Braden?” Layton asked.

“See, there’s this guy, he comes in every so often, and he is a very odd fellow. His mustache is all weird, and generally is a very grumpy guy; however that’s not the point. I often overhear him talking on the phone with another person; they talk about some top secret project, never get to hear exactly what it’s about. I did hear him talking about that Speedway though, but that’s about all I hear about it, the name only.”

“Do you know who the other person on the line is?” I asked taking another sip of my tea.

“Unfortunately no.”

“Well, that’s a lot of help, we will have to find the location of this person and confront him about whatever he is working on, maybe he is working with the people in the Speedway, who knows. Thank you for your support, the information you have supplied has helped us a whole bunch.”

“No problems Q, Layton. Now, do you three know what you want to eat?...”

30 Minutes Later…

We left the café, satisfied with our meal, Flora gave me another random hug, which I didn’t mind, and Layton merely laughed. We talked about the case and the info that we had acquired. As we were about to embark back to the Layton-Mobile to continue on, we got confronted by the archer fellow again.

“So, did you get the info you were looking for?”

“Sure, why Caleb?”

“You must have a terrible memory, I told you once you talked to Braden to report back to me and I would give you the other half of the story Q, geez, what do you need, memory pills or something?”

“Hey, don’t be rude, alright? I apologize.”

“Our apologizes Caleb, we did not mean to forget about the information you promised to give us, in fact, I was about to remind Q myself about it until you showed up”

“I don’t like you mister you tried to hurt me…” Flora however didn’t hide behind Layton like before, this time she merely stood there, in an almost confident like pose, like she was saying that she wasn’t scared of him anymore or something, I laughed to myself after seeing her like that.

“So, did Braden tell you about that funny mustache dude?”

“Uh, sure, why?”

“See, I know the identity of the guy he talks to on the phone, he looked suspicious, so I bugged his phone while he wasn’t looking one day while he was in the restroom of the restaurant. Nevertheless, I found out who it was.”

“Why would you do such a thing? That’s an invasion of privacy!”

“Q, that’s none of your business why I did it, anyways, the guy is an infamous scientist, his name is Dimitri Allen...” I saw that Layton was shocked by this, and remained silent for a good thirty seconds before he responded.

“And who is the…other person who is working with Allen?”

“Layton, the other person is a certain Don Paolo. Apparently they are working on this project, but for reasons unknown. And that’s all the new information I know.”

“I appreciate your help Caleb, now if you’ll excuse us, we’ll be on our way again.” Layton nodded, and gave a weak smile.

“So, what’s our plan of action now Layton?”

“We must find those two and stop whatever it is they are working on.” Layton said in a very serious voice as we started walking back to the Layton-Mobile. Flora was unaffected by anything that had happened, though that was part of her being a child. A lot of new information had been shown to us, and I knew that now was the time that it might get a little bit dangerous considering that Don Paolo was involved in this charade. However I didn’t know the extent of the danger involved until later, and as we furthered our investigation, the puzzles would get harder and harder, and some people would be a lot less cooperative than the ones we have talked to now…