Mira Squad Tales-Portals

      “Before I begin, as you’ve already noticed, we have a couple of guests with us today. Aaron and Brooke are from another Neopia and will be assisting us with the portal investigation until we find a way to return them back to their home. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s begin.”

      Although I already knew what Shadow Breeze was going to say, the other members were unaware, so it was good to bring them up to date so that everyone was on the same page. A similar situation occurred with Brooke when she continued Shadow Breeze’s observations, mainly the interview, although she deliberately left out Doctor Landelbrot’s name. However, her information proved to be useful as other members of the squad had also reported Green Neopians wearing cloaks within the vicinity where some of the portals had appeared.

      After all of the information was given, I already had made up my mind on what the team was supposed to do. However, some of the other members, like Shadow Breeze, had other leads that they wanted to pursue instead of tracking down those mysterious Green Neopians, which I okayed as it allowed us to cover more ground for more pieces of the puzzle. After they were given their instructions, they got up and went to work, but not before I stopped Shadow Breeze for some additional instructions.

      “Shadow Breeze, I know you’re heading back to Brightvale library for some more research and investigation, but when you get the chance, stop by my Neohome. My mother has some observation notes on the various spells from Ramtor’s Spellbook, more specifically, the portals.” He nodded before he left.

      Brooke was waiting for me to finish before coming up to me and asking if we were going to talk to Doctor Landelbrot. I nodded as that was the plan.

      We took a space shuttle to the Coincidence. Upon our arrival, I found it oddly quiet, which was definitely concerning to me as the Coincidence was usually busy, either from Doctor Landelbrot working or various Neopians coming in to help the doctor with repairs to the Random Events machine. A quick glance around the ship revealed that there appeared to be damage from a battle of sorts. As if she was reading my mind, Brooke nodded and went off searching for Scintilly, Doctor Landelbrot’s personal Mechanized Laboratory Assistant, to confirm what had happened here.

      As I wrote down my observations, I kept a close eye on the machinery, hoping to spot Scintilly as she was the sole witness. A quick tap on my shoulder caught my attention, so I turned around and saw that it was Brooke, holding a motionless Scintilly in her arms. I grimaced upon seeing the MLA scared out of her wits as it meant that it would take some time before she could speak to us. For now, we had to make sure that she was safe, so we decided to take her back with us to the DoN in order to allow her to recover from her ordeal.

      When we returned to the DoN, while Brooke went to talk to some DoN members to see if they were able to revive Scintilly. I went straight to Forest’s office so I that I could update him on the situation. He was reviewing some notes when I came in, but he must have sensed me coming in as he immediately asked what I had for him.

      “I don’t think Doctor Landelbrot was in Brightvale voluntarily as there were indications of a struggle on the Coincidence when we arrived to talk to him. Scintilly’s our only witness to the attack, but she’s not talking at the moment as the struggle frightened her so much that she’s currently offline. We’re not sure how long it would take for her to be back up and running again, so she’s been brought to the DoN for safety.”

      “Given Doctor Landelbrot’s expertise and experience with portals, it makes sense that he was targeted. Despite magic being everywhere here in Neopia, we also know that the good doctor is not keen on using magic.” At that point, Forest put down the notes that he was reading and leaned back onto his chair, thinking about something.

      “While we do need Scintilly to confirm what had actually happened on the Coincidence, we can probably track down who brainwashed the doctor. Seeing as the Abnormal Investigators are investigating who created the portals, they should have some answers for us, making it easier for us to track down the culprit. Ocean’s on the roof of the DoN if you want to talk to her.” I nodded and headed off.

      As soon as I climbed the ladder leading to the roof of the DoN, I spotted Ocean quietly observing the sky before noting something down. She seemed a bit puzzled, given her reaction as she looked like she was deep in thought about something. She soon spotted me. Once she did, I was able to ask her it something was troubling her.

      “Not exactly, Blizzard, but I might as well tell you. None of us were wrong when we told Audrey earlier that multiple mages could be behind the portals. A brief observation so far has yielded various Neopians responsible.”

      “You also mentioned to us indirectly via Audrey that it is also possible for a powerful mage to be responsible as well, albeit rarely. I take it that is happening as well.” She nodded as she mentioned that detected an unknown Neopian controlling the Neopians responsible for creating the portals. I briefly grimaced as what Ocean had told me meant that it was more than likely that the Neopians were being controlled in some way. That also had the added benefit of confirming what likely had happened to Doctor Landelbrot.

      “Huh, our minds were thinking differently but somehow came to a similar conclusion. Anyways, Ocean, I need your abilities to confirm something for me. In Brightvale, there was a Lutari that was responsible for the attack on the library and possibly created some of the portals. I need you to confirm if magic was used at all by any Lutaris in Brightvale.” She nodded and went straight to work. We soon had our answer.

      “I can definitely confirm that a Lutari did create some of the portals, but I’m also sensing that the Lutari is being controlled by two Neopians, a Kacheek, and the same unknown Neopian, which shouldn’t be possible as that will result in a conflict of personalities. Hmm, I’m going to need more time to figure this out as that is going to be critical to the investigation.” I wasn't too worried, but I still gave my approval for the extra time.

      For the most part, Ocean’s work was completed, but she did leave a copy of herself to continue investigating as we left the rooftop and locked the door leading to the roof. As soon as we were inside, we found Brooke waiting for us. She told us that a Virtupets technology specialist, a Purple Grundo, was able to extract some data of the attack, although Scintilly was still offline. Knowing that it was important, we followed her to a darkened room and images scattered throughout the room. The specialist spotted us.

      “Captain Blizzard, your assistant gave me all the details on Scintilly here. It will take some time for Scintilly to be operational again, but this should help you with your investigation, even if it’s not much to go with. For the most part, they’re still images, but as you can see, the assailant was mostly unable to be identified due to the red cloak. You can make out a green tail with a white tip poking out from the cloak, though, so at least I can give you a species.” I noted down the information in my notepad.

      As soon as we left the room, I noticed that Brooke was deep in thought about something, so we went to an empty room so that we could talk about the investigation in private. As soon as the door was closed, I motioned Brooke to talk.

      “I did not want to tell you before you and Ocean saw the pictures, but now that you did, I can now tell you about the assailant. That Neopian definitely resembles Magon, thanks to the cloak, but as far as I know, it could be a different Magon than the one we know from the stories that we were told,”

      “Well, at least we know the motive behind the kidnapping. Jealously, resentment, frustration, you take your pick. You know, that could also be the reason behind creating all those portals,” Ocean replied. I nodded in agreement.

      “That definitely makes sense if we’re dealing with the actual Neopian rather than an imitator. I think this Magon is also implying that the Court were being hypocrites in a way, seeing as Landelbrot’s work with short distance portals was recognized but not Magon’s. If it is a different Magon that we’re dealing with, that also explains a few questions.”

      As soon as I returned home, I placed the observations onto the chalkboard, as well as the next steps. I still was not keen on fighting Magon, but I had a feeling that it was going to be inevitable if the case was solved. For now, I was proud of the team and their work as we were closer to bringing the case to its conclusion.

     To be continued…