Lupe Pack Detectives-Copycat:Part Five

     Before I headed out to meet my brothers, I went to my office and began writing on the chalkboard everything that we knew about the case so far and how it was connected. When I was finished, I created a smaller version of the flow chart map onto my notepad. Then I left.

      I arrived at the DoN Headquarters without any incidents, the first time returning since the attack occurred. It was still eerie and creepy to see some of my fellow colleagues turned into white marble, so I quickly headed in and went straight to the archives. My brothers looked up as they were sifting through files. Without having to ask them, they shook their heads. I sighed as I knew that we were looking for a needle in a haystack, thanks to the small tidbit of information that we received. Still, I decided to help out, knowing that the files were in the archives somewhere.

      “Need some help finding the right files?” a voice asked after a while, causing me to look up from my work. It was Shade.

      “Oh, before I begin, have any of you heard of the moniker ‘Mister Nuisance’?” That’s probably where they’re filed under as that’s what nearly everyone at the DoN and the PPL called Ebenezer the Blue Yurble. It’s only thanks to you indirectly telling us that we finally know who we’re dealing with,” he told us as he went up to some boxes and pulled them out. As soon as he mentioned the species, something deep inside my mind began to stir.

      “Aura probably had a few runs in when she was with the PPL, but I do recall one time when we were younger where I was protecting a few Neopians, including my brothers, from a Blue Yurble with a vast amount of magic. The exact details are still a bit fuzzy, but that’s all that I remember.”

      “Now that you mention it, Blizzard, I do vaguely recall that day as well. That was the first time we saw our mom, Annabella the Red Gelert, use magic to stop the attacks from even happening” Solar Flare said. Shade asked if there had been any records of that particular attack.

      “It’s doubtful, Shade, as that attack took place when the Chia Police were active. The member that came to interview us came to our Neohome approximately a week after that attack. After that, he left and never followed up with us, so we don’t know what the outcome was, but I think all of us know what that was, based on what we’ve just seen.” Shade sighed.

      “It would have been nice had there been something from them as it would have helped us determine how long he had been active before the DoN, but I guess that’s just how the situation rolls. No matter, we still have plenty of records, considering that he alone takes up a couple of shelves.” He opened the lid of one box and handed me a file for me to look at.

      After looking over a few files, some involving Forest back when he was an agent, I had a feeling that the rest of the files were similar in nature, but I was starting to get a general sense of the Blue Yurble and it was not pretty. From what I had read, it seemed that ‘Mr. Nuisance’ had the tendency to viciously attack Neopians without any provocation whatsoever as he loudly claimed that he was vastly superior to everyone else. It did not leave me impressed.

      “Even with his past actions, his justification to attack the DoN is still a rather flimsy excuse, unless he’s implying that he’s better than the DoN,” Opren drily noted, basically stealing my words. “His arrogance reminds us of a certain Shadow Scorchio, but his viciousness on innocent Neopians reeks of a Green Ruki and a certain group that we disbanded.”

      “Tell me about it. You wouldn’t believe how many times that blasted Blue Yurble had been charged by the PPL for Petpet cruelty, but he’s also dragged other Neopians into this messy situation. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Aura replied shortly before she entered. With her was Terra. They set down a couple of boxes on a nearby table before Aura handed me another folder. Based on the information given by her and Shade, I knew there had to be a lot more cases, but they could only carry so much.

      “The information contained in the folder that I just gave you is from our archives, more specifically, from Mom. It was from that incident in which you ended up rescuing not just our brothers, but a few Petpets and Neopians.” Soon after, a few more memories from that day resurfaced, but I opted not to talk about it. Instead, I briefly looked at the folder before handing it off to the rest of the team.

      I wondered if the PPL cases were all similar, so I took a couple of them out and began reviewing them. While the ones that I had read were similar, there was one that stood out as it involved the current head of the PPL, Weltrude the Cloud Bruce, who the majority of the PPL also knew as Mother Bruce. Contained within the folder was a picture of the Yurble created by Mother Bruce, likely by some unknown or obscure Faerie magic, and he looked exactly the same as when that incident on us occurred. I was definitely troubled by this revelation, and it led me to wonder if Aura and Terra were as well.

      I quickly motioned them over to a quiet corner of the archives so that I could talk to them, seeing as they had been there for the various incidents involving the PPL and the brutal attack years ago, so they had more knowledge than the rest of the DoN. As soon as they were assembled, I went straight to the point, which was to ask them if they were aware that Mister Nuisance had not aged at all in the years after the attack.

      “The first time we saw him again after joining the PPL, we didn’t think of it much. Subsequently, we weren’t concerned. Now that you mention it, Blizzard, it does seem strange, considering that there was a gap of roughly twelve years since that attack and when Aura and I joined the PPL and then eventually encountered him again.”

      “Of course, we were distracted with rescuing Petpets from his followers on that day mom rescued us, so we didn’t exactly get a good glimpse of him, either,” Aura added.

      “So, now we know how he’s connected to us, but that still doesn’t answer a few questions. However, based on what we know so far, I suspect that some, if not the majority, of the DoN members had an encounter with him before,” I said, placing my pointer finger over my mouth as my way of thinking.

      I wanted to check in with Nimbus to see what his findings were from the Times’ perspective, so I decided to use the shortcut from the DoN to the Catacombs, seeing as I was already familiar with it, thanks to Shade. Before I left, Terra informed me that the Royal Detectives and the Sibling Detective Duo were at her place awaiting further instructions. It was more than likely that the Abnormal Investigators were there as well.

      “Nimbus, how’s the investigation going?” I asked as soon as I entered his office. He turned around to face me.

      “Oh, hey, Blizzard. I’m almost finished with my research here, just give me a few more minutes to finish writing down my findings.” I nodded and patiently waited, although I took the time to make a mental note of the ‘mess’ of various articles and photos that were up on the wall.

      “Okay, here’s my report,” he said after he was finished. “Before I begin, though, I am going to warn you that all of the articles mentioning the Blue Yurble were major incidents, so there are definitely incidents that were never reported by the Times at all.” I told him that I was fully aware of the situation, mentioning the large volume of DoN and PPL case reports.

      Soon after, he guided me on the timeline of the various major incidents, which included the attack on us when we were younger. It should have surprised me that the Blue Yurble was active long before we were born, but for some reason, it did not. While the older articles did not have any photos, owing to the fact the Ebenezer was active even before the Virtupets Space Station was discovered, some of the newer ones did.

      “Using the timeline, it’s telling us that he’s been doing this for almost two decades, possibly more. Here’s the thing that troubles me the most. All of the photographs with the Yurble in it show that it appears that he hasn’t aged a bit, despite the long gaps between photographs. There’s no way in Neopia that a Neopian would not change over the years, even if they are subtle or minor. As far as I know, we don’t know how long he’s been doing this as the archives from the Times only go back to a certain period.”

      “I doubt that he’s been active since Ancient Neopia, based on what we know from the game Neoquest. Still, that timeline, combined with the files, is not encouraging at all as it implies he’s essentially immortal, which doesn’t make any sense. Maybe our new allies can shed some light on this problem. Thanks for the insight, Nimbus.”

      When I arrived at the Bookworms’ Neohome, located on 684 Village Parkway, I noticed Melody training with a wooden staff. I was curious as to what she was doing, but I was more focused on getting answers, so I ignored her for the time being. I found the rest of the team, including the Abnormal Investigators, in the living room.

      Before focusing my attention on the Abnormal Investigators, I asked Owen, Audrey, and Squire Oak about previous encounters with Ebenezer. Due to her work as a DoN Warehouse Inspector prior to her becoming a private eye, Audrey had not encountered him at all, which was a relief to hear. Surprisingly, Squire Oak and his team had not either. Owen, on the other hand, did, meeting him shortly after he moved here to Neopia Central, with Ebenezer being extremely rude to the Vandagyre.

      “Well, that’s interesting to hear. Of course, don’t be surprised if he or his ‘cult’ had some sort of hand in driving some of your Vandagyre friends back to their homes. As well, if you met him as a private citizen and not as a private investigator, then I think it’s safe to say that he also reads the Neopian Times. It should partially explain how he’s getting his extreme opinions, if he hasn’t been directly observing us in action.”

      After I was finished with that, I went up to Abnormal Investigators. They were busy reviewing the notes that we had gathered so far.

      “I have a question for you, seeing as you probably have more experience dealing with unusual activity in your world. How possible is it for someone to be ageless, to put it bluntly?” At that point, Colonel Katrina looked up. It seemed like I piqued her interest.

      “If you’re talking about immortality, technically, it’s not possible, but there are ways around it. Let me guess, the Neopian in the centre of this storm, Ebenezer, appears to be one?”

      “At least from the evidence gathered from past cases from the DoN, the PPL, and the Neopian Times archives. I’m still not sure how’s he doing it.” She leaned back in her seat and began thinking of something for a few seconds, more than likely a past case of theirs.

      “There are tales from our world of a magical stone rumoured to give the user eternal life, to a certain extent. It had plenty of names, but two of the most common ones were the Philosopher’s Stone or the Sorcerer’s Stone. You probably have something similar, just under a different name.”

      “To tell you the truth, I’m not sure how accurate it is, but according to a tabletop role-playing game, one of the stones used in Ancient Neopia was called a Life Stone. As they were roughly the size of a pebble, their main use was to heal injuries sustained in battle and possibly revive...” I started before realizing the implications of what I had said.

      “Oh, Sloth’s foot, he either has some small ones or a large one in his possession that he found somewhere. Well, that certainly explains a bit.”

      After that realization, I figured I might as well stay at the Bookworms’ Neohome for a little bit and make some preparations for the imminent showdown. It was important that we were prepared to the best of our abilities, even if it was going to be unpredictable.

     To be continued…