Chapter 13: Mystery Half Solved
"Ok" Fu stooped down to the dusty cobblestone street of Magus Bazaar. "The Unicorns have been through here." "How can you tell?" Jake stared hard yet saw nothing. "I may have a human's voice," Fu grinned. "But I got a dog's nose! But for those of you who don't…" He reached into his wrinkles. "Ugh…its in here some where!" He pulled out a cell phone, his laptop, old dog biscuits ("I've been looking for these!"), four old books, a bag of coins ("gulp uh whoops, gotta get this to Big Ernie!"), a copy of Magic Weekly ("Oh yeah!" Jake cried. "Guess who made cover again!") and various other objects. At last, he pulled out a small drawstring bag. "Finally! I gotta clean out these wrinkles! I swear something in there bit me!" He held up a stub where his paw used to be. Jake and Moni gasped. Laughing, he pulled off the fake stub, revealing his paw. "A goo goo googi floogi! Got ya good there!" Jake scowled. Fu sighed. "Nobody gets me." "No I get you. You've been around Marty too long!" Fu grinned sheepishly.
"But seriously, this is tracking powder. You just pour it out…" He did so and a little yellow cloud appeared. "And blow it in the desired direction." The shar pei started blowing as hard as he could. Gasping for breath, he turned to Jake. "Uh Kid, would ya mind?" Jake made his dragon wings emerge and with one flap, sent the cloud streaming down the street. "That cloud will lead you right to the unicorns." Little sparkles of it floated down onto the street, revealing many hoof prints. "Call me if you have any trouble."
"DRAGON UP!" Both kids cried and flew down the street.
After ten minutes of flying, they started hearing the rumble of the hooves ahead. "There they are!" At least seventy unicorns were stampeding down the street. However, they weren't just running. They were knocking things over and stomping on karts in their way, causing much destruction. "What should we do?!" Moni yelled over the thundering. Jake looked ahead. "Go warn the people ahead. Get everyone out of the street!" "Right!" She flew off. "And I'll handle the leader." The American Dragon reached the front of the herd to find the lead stallion. He was 18 hands high and pure black with a gold mane. (In my story, male unicorns are black with gold manes and horns, while females are white with purple manes and crystal horns)
Jake leapt onto the stallion's back. White lather was building up on his coat and he was panting. It was as if he wanted to stop, yet couldn't. He kept whinnying to the others to continue destroying things, even though Jake couldn't understand that. "Whoa boy, easy, its ok." Jake pulled back on the top of the mane. That was how he'd been taught to stop a unicorn. However, that failed. The stallion kept on, the rest followed suit. "Yo, what's wrong with you…" His question was immediately answered. He looked at the horse's eyes. They were red, just like the serwolves. Jake got off just as Moni returned. "Ok, everyone's out of the way for the next few miles. I see you couldn't stop the herd aye?" "No I didn't, but I did find out what's up. Their leader is under that red eye trance again." Moni looked down. "Just like what the pixies described. Do you think he's hypnotized?" "That would explain everything. But how do we know for sure?" Moni thought for a second. "I got it! Here, give me your phone!" He did and she dashed to the front of the herd. Flying backwards, she took a picture of the leader head on with the cell. "Here, send this to Fu." After a few minutes, Jakes PMA popped up. "You have a text message, Jake Long." A little holographic Fu Dog appeared. "Yep, that's definitely hypnotism. And not just any hypnotism. That's the kind where the controller must be very close to the victim to control it. I'll do a search on what's causing it." He vanished. "Ok, so we know why, but how are we going to stop them?" Moni asked. "Hold on," Jake focused. Using his dragon sight, he looked way down the street. "Just as I thought. Way down there, there's a huge dead end. If we could herd the unicorns into it, we could block them in. Also, that will lead the hypnotizer right to us!"
For the next hour, Jake and Moni rushed down the street to block every turn. The only way they left open was the one they wanted the unicorns to follow. Eventually, all the unicorns were running strait into the dead end. "Ok, they're all in! Quick, go find something to block the exit! I'll hold them off!" Jake nodded and rushed off. "Come on, come on! There's got to be something!" He looked, but nothing would work. Unicorn were among the strongest magical creatures. Suddenly, a little leprechaun showed up, pulling a huge wagon down the street filled with mighty rocks. "Ogre Bowl-ders! Get your authentic Ogre Bowl-ders right here! Real boulders used in the matches!" Jake smiled.
Meanwhile, Moni was having a hard time keeping the unicorns in. The leader was whinnying furiously, ordering them to try to escape. Moni kept flying back and forth, her strength running low. She kept getting kicked and knocked by horns. Thank goodness for dragon skin armor! She thought through her panting. However, that couldn't help much longer. "Where is Jake?! I-I can't take it!" Gasping, she fell, returning to human form. "Oh no!" She cried as the unicorns reared, about to trample her. She closed her eyes, but she only heard a loud thud. A huge boulder just landed in front of her. Then another. Looking up, she saw Jake toss another, blocking off the last escape. "Shoot! What took you so long, Long?" She laughed. "Sorry 'bout that. You'd be surprised how much I had to haggle with that leprechaun to get those boulders! But now that the unicorns are blocked in, we have the hypnotizer to worry about." Moni caught her breath and returned to dragon form. And just in time, for above them stood five shadowy figures.