Chapter 1

"To my dear friend,

How have you been? It was hard settling in to a new home, but I refuse to complain about it. That would hardly be gentlemanly, now would it?

Recently I stayed at the professor's house, over the holidays. And, knowing us, I'm sure you realize we got into a number of adventures during my stay. One in particular holds importance to me, as I had never been in a situation like it before. Let me explain...

Luke stomped his foot on the ground and huffed, he was all ready and raring to go on his first adventure with the professor in months, when his favorite pen ran out of ink. He hadn't seen this coming, and as such, didn't have a spare.

Desprately, Luke reached for a scrap of paper on his empty-looking desk. It was sad, seeing the powder blue room so empty. Back in the day, Luke had spent many nights in this very room, but had to take all his things with him when his family had caused him to move.

Since his boat had arrived in London, Luke hadn't had the chance to unpack, and his suitcase was small, too, so he could only pack things that were important.

With him, Luke had brought a number of puzzle books, a few novels, and among other things, Luke had a worn old Teddy bear stashed beneath his spare clothes. He had planned to leave it behind, but couldn't help himself, and gave in to what he really wanted to do all along, but he also didn't want the professor to find out, because really, Luke was far too old for soft toys.

Luke grumbled as his incessant scribbling was proving futile. "Blast!" Luke exclaimed in frustration.

"Now Luke, it's not befitting of a gentleman to get so worked up." Luke gasped, he had not expected to see the professor standing outside his door, let alone be there to hear his tounge slip. Luke suddenly regretted losing his temper.

Even though the professor never yelled at Luke, his dissapointment always cut the boy to the core.

"Professor I-" Luke began to apologize, "Think nothing of it, my boy." The professor had a sweet look of understanding on his face, a look that Luke had desprately missed. His own father didn't seem to understand him in the slightest, in fact, he didn't even try.

"Well?" inquired the professor, snapping Luke out of his day dream, "What seems to be bothering you so?" It was Luke's turn to sigh now.

"My favorite and only pen has stopped working," he explained, holding out the pen for the professor to see. "it ran out of ink."

"And just as well." replied the professor, puzzling the boy further. Layton continued speaking anyway, "I believe it was your birthday recently, was it not?" it was more of a statement than a question, but Luke nodded eagerly none the less. "well, I have something for you," he finished, reaching into his pocket. "here."

The professor presented Luke with a small rectangular box. Luke had to hold in a giggle of excitement as he took it out of the professor's hands and into his own. He then flipped open the lid and gave out a squeak of sorts when he saw what was inside.

It was one of the fanciest pens Luke had ever seen. It was resting on what seemed to be a velvet lining, with two black ribbons to hold it in place.

The boy looked up at his mentor and smiled thankfully, and Layton looked pleased that Luke had accepted his gift so well. All of a sudden Luke lept up and gave the professor a big hug, almost knocking the man backwards. "T-thankyou, professor." Luke muttered from somewhere inside Layton's jacket. Of course, the professor had not been expecting this, and it felt a little un-gentlemanly, but then he remembered that Luke was still a boy, after glancing at his suitcase and seeing the all-too-familiar bear leg poking out from under some clothes. Layton smiled and gave the boy a quick squeeze back, before pulling away and attempting to regain his composure.

"Now Luke, You must be ready soon, we'll leave shortly after lunch time." The thought of food made Luke stomach grumble, reminding him that he hadn't eaten since he got off his boat, even.

Layton had been called about an important issue only moments before he left to pick up Luke, and when he had mentioned it to the boy on their way back to his place, Luke made no hesitation on insisting that this could be yet another mystery for professor Hershal Layton and his 'number one apprentice' to solve.

"Alright, I'll just finish up here." Luke concluded. Layton nodded and began to walk to the kitchen, "very good then." he chimed.

Luke looked back down at the box he was holding, and slowly pulled the pen out of it's place. Putting the box down to one side, he reached again for the scrap of paper he'd been scribbling on. First, he wrote his name. The ink slid out of the silver pen like silk, and it made Luke feel happy just to write with it. Not necisarrily because it was a nice pen, (which it was.) but because it had been a gift from the professor, and that meant something special.