A/N: Hello, fellow Professor Layton fans! :D

Title for first adventure: The Dreaded Nixie.

Characters: Hershel Layton, Luke Triton, Serena Minasaki, Claire.

Rating: K+

Disclaimer: I don't own Professor Layton or any of its characters :I If I did, I would bring Clive back.

Professor Layton and the Dreaded Nixie

Chapter 1 – Letter from Norway

Dear Professor Hershel Layton,

You may not remember me, but I still remember you. We met once in London back while you and Luke took care of the Azran legend. Good job with saving the world, Professor. You're probably wondering how I know that, and I won't blame you if you think I'm up to something. I just happen to have really reliable sources. Anyway, the reason I sent you this letter is because of certain incidents occurring in the south here in Norway, incidents that even I can't stop. I'd rather not write down the happenings, since my parents have been victims to it too. I'd really appreciate if you could take a trip to the capital city, Oslo, and meet me there so we can talk. But if you can't, then that's fine too. I'm sure there's someone out there who's as good as you that can help. If you can come, there's a little paper in the envelope this letter was sent in Take it to the shady looking guy at the airport. He'll know what it means. I hope that I can see you soon.

Thank you.

"But Professor, why do we have to go all the way to Norway?"

The Professor chuckled and looked at his young apprentice, "Luke, my boy. A true gentleman never leaves a lady in distress."

Luke looked up at the Professor, "Lady? How do you know that it is a 'she'? The person sending this never said anything about themselves…"

Layton opened the envelope that contained the letter and took out a small paper.

"Oh…" Luke looked at the picture Layton had provided from the envelope, "That's… Isn't that Serena?" Layton nodded and returned the picture into the envelope.

"Come along now, Luke. There is no time like the present. We shouldn't keep her waiting."

The young apprentice nodded and hurried after the Professor to the Laytonmobile.

"Are you sure he will come?"

"Of course… The Professor has never failed us, has he, Serena?"

"No, I guess not. But what about you? He thinks you're gone…"

"I'll pretend to be someone else. At least, until it's safe to reveal my identity."

"Claire…"

"From the moment he arrives, I'll be known as 'Isabel'. Don't forget that, sister. We can't let him know. Not until this case is closed."

(A few hours after Layton and Luke get on their plane to Norway)

"Professor! There are so many wolves down there! I wish we were down there instead of up here."

The Professor gave a light-hearted chuckle, "Now, now, Luke. A gentleman never jumps up and down on his seat. Get ready; we're almost ready to land."

"I can't wait to set foot on new land. New for us, I mean. Wait… Have you ever been in Norway?" Luke looked away from the window and stared at the Professor.

Layton didn't answer, instead he tipped his hat down to cover his eyes. Luke tilted his head at him, "Professor? Are you OK?" No answer.

The Professor took a deep breath and stared right at Luke, "I… went there once… with Claire…"

"Oh…" Luke suddenly felt bad for bringing it up so he quickly apologised, "I'm sorry, Professor. I shouldn't have asked."

The Professor sighed when they finally landed, so he stood up, got their luggage and exited the private jet they flew with. He quickly bowed to the pilot who was now standing outside, "Thank you for taking the time to fly us here."

The pilot shook his head, "Don't worry about it. It's my job to follow Her Highness' orders."

Layton started to wonder who he meant with 'Her Highness', but quickly dismissed it when Luke came out of the jet behind him, "Ah, Luke. Ready to head to our location?"

"Of course, Professor… but… where is our location? There's a map, but no marked location." Luke stared down at the map he was holding, that the professor gave him.

The Professor chuckled and turned the map over, revealing a text that hints to a puzzle.

I knew you wouldn't ignore this, so I took the opportunity to make you a puzzle to lead you to our meeting location. I'm sure it's just like a piece of cake for you, Puzzle Master.

-S

If you look at the map, you'll notice some places are inside a triangle. Your location is in that triangle, but your job is to find out where. You get only 6 hints to help you:

It's not one of the diners.

It's next to a diner.

It's on a corner.

It is a big building.

You can get there by car, but it's packed with people.

It's famous for its Japanese candy.

Can you work out which location you're supposed to go to?

"Those hints aren't exactly helping… I give up…" Luke sighed and returned the map to the Professor.

The Professor smiled at Luke, "Now, now. A true gentleman never leaves a puzzle unsolved."

Luke looked up at the Professor, "But… It's a big map… It's impossible to pinpoint the exact location with those small hints…"

The Professor chuckled, "Quite on the contrary, Luke. Those hints actually gave me the idea on where it could be." Layton took out a pen from one of his pockets and circled a location on the map. He gave the map to Luke to inspect.

"Karl… Johannes… Gate…? The Norwegians have such weird names…" Luke shook his head, sighing once again.

"Or, we're just not used to them. I'm sure we have weird names for the Norwegians too, my boy. Come now, it's not far from where we are now." The Professor took the map from Luke and gently put it back together so that it could fit in his pockets.

As they closed in on their destination, Luke realised that the crowds started to talk about them, "Professor… Do you think they're talking bad about us? I really can't understand what they're saying…"

The Professor chuckled and fixed his hat, "I'm sure they don't understand what we're saying either, Luke."

"Quite on the contrary, sir."

Layton and Luke quickly turned around to the voice. Luke gasped when he saw a beautiful young lady standing there. The Professor, on the other hand, tipped his hat down as he was filled with the feeling he got when he was close to his old girlfriend, Claire, back in the old days.

The woman bowed at the gentlemen and spoke in a kind voice, "You've done great to find this place, considering you're not from here and all. Serena will be waiting inside…" she walked past Luke and Layton to enter the building in front of them, "Please follow me, good sirs."

"Wow… she's beautiful…"

"Now, now, Luke. A gentleman never stares at a lady longer than necessary." The Professor followed the lady inside while keeping his head low. Why did this woman, who looked so different from his Claire, remind him of her? He asked himself that as he and Luke entered the building that supposedly had several stores in it. Arkaden, the map had said.

Once inside, the gentlemen were led to a hidden door that was at the side of a staircase. Luke paid no attention to it as his mind was occupied by the wall paintings of famous Japanese cartoon characters like Pikachu and Megaman. It wasn't until he bumped into the Professors back that he realised he's been distracted by something else than the task at hand. He quickly apologised before leaning to the side to see what made the Professor stop on his tracks.

The room in the staircase looked more like a big ballroom than a small hidden room. The Professor couldn't believe his eyes as the room was even bigger than the building itself. In the middle of the room there was a young girl standing, with the kind lady from before next to her.

"Professor Hershel Layton… It's so good to see you again…"

Luke was once again distracted, but this time by the golden pictures on the roof. Many of them contained a girl that looked a lot like the one in front of them. This made Luke think about Aurora, she looked young, but was actually more than a million years old. This didn't go unnoticed by the Professor as this was the first thing he questioned.

"Figured that would be the first thing you noticed about them. That is me, yes. But no, I'm not like your old friend. I'm still as young as ever. I just happen to have the power to travel in time. And I believe that you two won't believe me without any proof, correct?"

Layton's apprentice quickly nodded his head, "We won't be tricked again though! I happen to know that there's no underground Norway. Who would want to create an underground version of a whole country? Right, Professor?"

"Right you are, my boy." The Professor turned to the two women, "We can solve that later. Now, according to the letter, there's been some unexplainable incidents you wanted my help with. Could you fill me in, please?"

A silence fell upon the room for a few minutes. It was the older woman who broke the silence, "We will… Follow me, please. It's better to be seated when you have a lot to talk about…" She turned around and started walking towards the staircase at the end of the room. Luke, Layton and the other woman followed her to a dining room that was filled with beautiful, blue flowers. The chandelier filled the room with golden sparkles and light. The room itself was like a palace, in Luke's eyes.

The younger woman led the Professor and Luke to the seats around the big dining table in the middle of the room and sat down. Then she let out a big sigh before she started to talk, "My sister, Isabel," she looked up at the older woman, "... Sigh… A few weeks ago, my sister and I visited Norway with our parents. As a vacation, as our work has been keeping us quite busy back in London. The first three weeks went by with just fun and smiles. But the fourth week, things started happening. There's this famous forest somewhere at the edge of town where tourists visit at the end of their trips to bring luck to coming days. At least, that's what the legend says. But no one has visited that place since two days ago. I, Isabel and our parents went to check it out, to see what could have caused all the disappearances that have occurred in those weeks. We were half-way through the forest when we stumbled upon a big pond. There, we decided to take a little break. But that's when we started hearing those weird noises…" She sighed and looked down. Falling silent once more.

The older woman, Isabel, looked at her before turning to Layton and Luke and continuing where her sister left off, "Me and my sister, Serena, decided to check it out while our parents rested a bit more. So we went a little further into the forest, following the sounds. We found nothing were we went so we returned to the pond, but our parents weren't there. Serena started to look around, looking for them. We didn't find them. All we found was their cameras. As we looked through the pictures, we stumbled upon one that didn't look anything like the others…" Isabel took out a picture out of her pockets and put it on the table in front of the Professor and his apprentice.

Luke gasped when he looked at it. The picture was really dark, but you could clearly see a bright, white horse in the distance. Luke looked at it closer and saw something sticking out of its head. 'That must be a unicorn…' he thought, 'Impossible…'

The Professor looked up at Isabel and Serena, "Do you think that those two followed this… creature…?"

Serena nodded, and Isabel replied, "It's the only explanation we have. We think that it might have something to do with a certain Nordic legend."

This perked Layton's interest, "Please, what is this legend?"

Serena looked up at the English gentleman and started talking, "It's about a monster called Nixie. 'Nøkken' here in Norway. It's said that it lives in ponds in forests and tends to take the form of a beautiful horse to lead people into the pond with him. We believe that it was him that took our parents. What we need your help with is not to get our parents back, as that's impossible since they're already gone… We actually need your help to stop whatever this thing is doing, and prevent others from experiencing the same thing over and over again. Oslo has lost many tourists because of this. We don't know for sure that it is Nixie, but that's our only lead. We don't know about anything else that would take the shape of a horse and take people away."

Luke turned to the Professor, "What do you think, Professor? Do you think we should help them?"

The Professor chuckled and nodded, "Of course, Luke. A true gentleman always helps ladies in distress. But according to their information, this might be dangerous. Are you sure you want to come with me?"

Luke didn't even need to think before he answered, "Of course! I'm Layton's apprentice! There's nothing I can't handle! We're in this together, Professor!"

Isabel stood up from her chair, "Then it's settled. We'll visit the forest tomorrow. I'm sure you two had a rough ride getting here, so you might be tired. Let me lead you to your rooms."

Luke and Layton followed Isabel to their sleeping chambers. Serena stayed behind, wondering if they could actually stop this phenomenon. She stood up and walked to one of the windows. The people outside looked really happy, but if this continued, there wouldn't be anyone here at all. The more he ate, the bigger Nixie would become. When he was big enough, he would leave the pond and attack Oslo as it is. Serena wouldn't let that happen. She hoped that Luke and Layton were on her side as she had no one else to trust after her parents disappeared. She was worried about Norway's future and about her sister. She might look different from the old Claire now, but Serena could sense the Professor's insecurity when with her. She was scared that Layton might find out about her before everything was solved. Serena sighed and left the room, deciding to get some sleep herself.

A/N: If something's off with this story, please leave a review. I'm still a newbie in writing. Also, if you have any requests for me, feel free to ask me

Reviews are actually really appreciated .3. If you want your OC in this story, I can probably add him/her. Just leave me a message and I'll see what I can do ^^