Mira Squad Tales-Portals

      “Right, as everyone’s here, let’s just get down to business. As you are already aware, we have portals appearing everywhere. While nothing has appeared from them, yet, it’s probably best to prepare for anything. At the moment, I just want weapons out of their hiding spots and in the open, there’s no need to prepare any defensive barriers right now unless the situation changes. Also, be prepared for either a flood of letters from concerned citizens and/or visitors to our Neohome. I expect we may get a lot of questions or concerns regarding the portals.”

      “What about our teammates with the Mira Squad? Should they be informed?” my younger sister, Aura the Starry Lupe asked.

      “I’m sure that they’re aware of what’s going on, Aura, as the portals aren’t exactly subtle. I’ll still check with our boss, Forest the Skunk Kyrii, to see if the services of the squad are going to be needed with this eventually as it appears it might involve the team, given the circumstances.”

      As soon as I left the Neohome, I could see a Defender of Neopia messenger, a Striped Aisha, headed up the pathway. She simply told me that if I was headed to the DoN Headquarters that Agent Knoll specifically requested for me to attend, leading me to suspect that the Mira Squad was going to be involved in this mess. I simply nodded as I told her that it was my intention to visit the DoN.

      “Ah, Captain Blizzard, I see that you got my message. Anyways, as the field leader, other than your family, you wouldn’t mind if I placed the rest of the team on standby, seeing as we share the leadership role?” Forest asked me, using the title I had bestowed on myself as a tribute to my mother Annabella, the first leader of the Mira Squad, as soon as I entered his office. I did not mind, even if he did not ask for my permission.

      “Even though we currently have limited information right now, Agent Knoll, I had a feeling that the Mira Squad might get involved in this mess, as it is highly unusual circumstances. It doesn’t hurt to be prepared for anything, especially if it’s unknown threats.” He nodded before telling me to keep him in the loop.

      There was nothing else for me to do at the DoN, so I decided to head back to the Neohome just to help out with battle preparations. On my way home, I spotted a couple of Lupes, one Green, the other Blue, like me, carefully examining an Autumn Birch Tree with their Tour of Mystery Magnifying Glass while various Neopians ignored them as they were going through their daily lives. I decided to quietly observe. Soon after, the Green Lupe saw me and motioned the Blue Lupe over.

      “I hope that you’re able to help us as you seem like a reasonable Neopian to deal with. Anyways, can you tell us where 2331 Lupe Lane is? We, er, seem to be lost, despite the fact that this feels and looks similar to the Neopia that we’re from,” the Green Lupe asked, nervously adjusting his tie from his Stylish Shirt and Tie.

      “Well, I can tell you that the address you mentioned doesn’t exist at all. However, you are correct in saying that this is a different Neopia than the one that you’re familiar with. I take it that you came from one of the portals from your Neopia?” I said as I pointed towards the sky. He nodded, but was not surprised at my assessment.

      “Then I might be able to help you return home as my team and I are currently investigating who’s behind these portals. I’m Blizzard, the head of the Lupe Pack Detectives.” The Green one introduced himself as Aaron and the Blue Lupe as his younger sister, Brooke. In a sense, they sort of reminded me of Owen the Yellow Vandagyre and Audrey the Christmas Vandagyre.

      As soon as we returned to my Neohome, I introduced the rest of the team to Aaron and Brooke before explaining the situation to the team. I had mentioned prior to leaving for the DoN that we could be expecting visitors, so my family was not surprised. After the introductions, one of my brothers, Opren the Striped Lupe, asked both Aaron and Brooke what their thoughts on the portals were. I could see Brooke folding her arms as she began thinking about something for a few seconds before she replied.

      “From my experience, there’s only one Neopian who could be responsible for this - Magon the Green Kacheek. Where we’re from, he was responsible for creating portals that could supposedly bring us to the future, so the citizens ended up being his test subjects for his research. However, after his experiment was finished, he was charged and sentenced by the Court of Knowledge for ‘misusing magic’ as his experiment did not bear any results,” she replied. “As far as I’m aware, his notes on the portals were destroyed, or at least, they’re not accessible to the general public.”

      When Aaron asked if we could interview our version of Magon, we quickly shook our heads. Initially, Aaron and Brooke were confused at first, but eventually realized that they were in a different world, meaning that events that had occurred in their world may not have happened in ours or have turned out differently. I nodded once they made their realization.

      “As much as we want to interview Magon, he’s been dead for quite some time now, apparently sent to the Meepit Oaks Sanatorium until his death there. We actually don’t know what happened for him to be sent there, but I suspect he may have done something similar in our world, based on what you told us, Brooke.” She folded her arms again to think.

      “Hmm, then we may be dealing with a Neopian who idolizes him if the Neopian supposedly responsible for this is long gone. That could be the motive as well, but it’s far too early to determine that with the little information that we have right now.”

      It was a few hours later when we received another guest, only this time, it was not a concerned citizen, but Audrey. While it was unusual for either her or her brother to appear by themselves ever since they formed the Sibling Detectives, I figured Audrey had a good reason to come to us by herself.

      “I just returned from a trip to the Abnormal Investigators with regards to the portals as I wanted some insight from them. According to both Mana the Faerie Eyrie and Ocean the White Usul, creating multiple portals is more than likely to severely weaken or cripple a mage, unless that mage is powerful enough to withstand the power drain, which is rare. There is also a possibility that there may be multiple mages working together.”

      “That makes sense, considering the last time we were working on a case that involved portals. Then again, the magic used by Magon may be slightly different than the one our allies know. Thanks for the info, Audrey.”

      I was aware that Brooke had been listening to the conversation, but had ignored it. When she confronted me about the information Audrey had given me, I simply told her that Audrey was one of the many sources that we had employed, which in a sense, was true. I also was not ready to reveal the existence of the Mira Squad to her or her brother yet as it was supposed to be a secret, even if she was not from our Neopia.

      As soon as Brooke went back to the living room to talk some more with the rest of my family, I told her that I was headed to my office in order to write down the information given by Audrey on our chalkboard. When I did, I was feeling uneasy at the prospect of fighting a powerful mage as it seemed likely that the mage had a resurrection spell in their arsenal and I was relatively inexperienced. It also led me to wonder just how powerful our version of Magon was if we were to face him in battle.

      After a few minutes of sitting in silence determining what our next steps were, I thought it would be best that a trip to Brightvale was in order as it was more than likely that we would be able to find some answers there. Combined with what Brooke had told us about her world and of the possible suspect that we were pursuing, I knew I had to play it safe. Going to Brightvale on my own was essentially dangerous with the type of opponent we were going to face, and bringing the entire family would attract far too much unnecessary attention for the early stages of an investigation. As soon as I made up my mind about it, I got up from my seat and exited my office.

      “Brooke, you’re coming with me to Brightvale. We’re doing a little bit of research.”