Flora caught back up with the professor as he was leaving the mansion to investigate the lamp post, "Professor? I'm back."

The professor noticed Flora, "Ah! There you are, Flora. Were you able to find Cattleya?"

Flora nodded, "Yep! But... It's actually worse than I thought it would be."

The professor already figured out why, but was still interested, "Why?"

Flora recounted what Cattleya said, "She told me that the burning house we saw... That was the place that she was... well..."

The professor understood, "I see. Say no more, I understand. Mr. Auric told me everything."

Flora was surprised, "Then, you already know about the gun?"

The professor was shocked, "A... gun? What gun?"

Flora tried to use as many details as possible, "Cattleya... She was carrying a handgun with her! I think it's made of solid gold."

The professor noticed how she described the color, "Flora, did you actually see her holding this gun?"

Flora recalled that moment again, "Yes. As soon as I went into her room, she pointed it right at my face and shouted at me to leave! She only calmed down after she got a good look at me. I think she might be trying to keep someone else out of her room."

The professor grew more interested in this, "Do you have any theories on who that 'someone else' could be?"

Flora had one idea, "I think so. She told me how her father taught her how to be a ruler. She told me that she could never be weak! I even saw her shoot a picture of her father with her gun! I think she hates him..."

Unfortunately, the professor already had a good explanation as to why, "I spoke with her father as well and I can understand why she may have some animosity toward him. He justifies all of it by saying that he puts the interests of his city over his own daughter's welfare. Frankly, I'm amazed that she kept herself composed for as long as she did."

Flora felt sorry for Cattleya (again), "I hope she'll be all right...", and then remembered the loud crashing noise from earlier, "Oh, that's right! I heard something coming from outside. It sounded like broken glass."

The professor had already saw what made that sound earlier, "I had just witnessed a lamp post plummet right on top of a nearby automobile. I pity the unfortunate individual that owned that particular automobile..."

When Flora followed the professor outside, they both saw the wrecked vehicle. It looked like it was once a very sleek gray colored car, though little else can be recognized from within the wreckage.

The person next to the wrecked vehicle was someone both Professor Layton and Flora had met earlier inside the Enercon. He held his hand over his eyes in disgust, "Ugh... Folks at the World Times are never going to believe this..."

The professor recognized Elliot from earlier, "Hello again, Elliot. Is that... your automobile?"

Elliot pulled out his iPad and held it in front of the wrecked car to take a picture, "It was... Then, all hell had to break loose and the one street light in the entire city that was next to my £400,000 custom-made car was the one that collapsed. Go figure..."

"F... four hundred THOUSAND pounds for a car?! The construction of Clive's Mobile Fortress must have cost less than that and that may have taken years!"

The professor could see Elliot's smashed car, "Good heavens! You have my condolences. Forgive me for my curiosity, but from one customized automobile owner to another, why was your automobile so expensive?"

Elliot didn't seem to mind, "My line of work for the World Times typically requires 'state-of-the-art' equipment. Motion-sensing three-dimensional cameras, all-terrain tires, tracking beacons, tape recorders, cup holders... You know, the usual."

"Cup holders..? Yes, because that would certainly explain all those lovely round zeroes."

The professor summed it up nicely, "In other words, your employers spared no expense."

Elliot rolled his eyes, "Pretty much... This baby was tailor-made to take on dense jungles, rugged mountains, and even long falls off of cliffs only for it to be completely wrecked by... a street light."

Elliot kicked the front of his totaled car either out of frustration or annoyance. After he did, something that looked like a giant airbag inflated out of the top of the car until it was large enough to cover the car.

Elliot took another picture with his iPad, "Well, at least the parachute works..."

"If I didn't know better, I would think that we're looking at a stuntman for a Bond movie..."

Elliot pulled out a phone with his other hand and dialed in it. After he finished dialing a number, he held it over his ear, "Hey, Em. It's me. (...) Just called to tell you I won't be making it tonight. (...) I've got a four-one-three over here. (...) Yea, that's right. A street light to be more precise! I just took a pic of it and sent it over to your phone if you want to see my shiny catastrophe for yourself. (...) Yea, yea, I know. I've heard your 'words of wisdom' about the fundamentals last week. I remember every bit of it. (...) I'll figure something out. Don't worry about it. (...) You completely doubt it, don't you? (...) Uh... Yea, nice to know one of us is prepared. (...) Hehe! Yea, I know. I'll catch you later, Em! (...) You too!"

While Elliot was finishing with his conversation, the professor inspected the fallen lamp post, "This one street light was the only one in the entire city that collapsed..? Why?"

When observing the broken end of the lamp post closely, the professor could barely see something very small and shiny inside it. At first, the professor thought that it was simply a hint coin that was hidden inside the lamp post, so he instinctively tried to grab it. He carefully dug his hand through the broken end of the lamp post to retrieve it. When observing it even closer, it didn't actually look like a coin at all, but more like a microscopic golden pellet. In fact, it was actually much smaller than any hint coin that he had ever seen before. Furthermore, it did not have the signature 'L' symbol on it like all of the other ones do.

The professor was completely clueless at what purpose this tiny golden pellet had, but before he could try to make any theories, he could hear Luke's voice screaming for him, "PROFESSAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Luke was still running so fast that there was literally dust coming from the back of his shoes, and he kept doing so until he ran straight into the professor so hard that he actually knocked him down and fell on top of him.

The professor grabbed his nearby hat and put it back on his head before attempting to assist Luke, "Luke! Luke, please calm down. What's the matter?"

Luke was visibly shivering on top of the professor, "P-p-p-p-professah! That house... It's in that house."

The professor could easily assume what he meant, "You are referring to the burning building, correct? What about it?"

Luke nodded while keeping that same mortified look on his face, "Uh-h-h-h-huh... I-I saw a dead body in there!"

The professor was instantly surprised, "What?! Does the police know about this?"

Luke was shivering at the memory of it, "N-not yet... You're the first person I came to, professah."

The professor attempted to calm Luke down, "It's all right now, Luke. If the police were not convinced to deal with this matter before, they will now."

Flora recalled the time when they saw that rampant ghost attack and murder a stranger, "How strange... We just saw someone get killed in front of us only a few hours ago and it didn't seem to affect you all that much."

Luke hadn't thought about that until just now, "Huh? Oh, yes... Well, this is different... The dead body I saw... was rotting and disgusting. Its eyes were melting... and... AAAAAAH!"

Flora was now trembling at the thought, "Ugh!"

The professor was not only disturbed at the thought, but somewhat intrigued as well, "If the corpse Luke saw was truly rotting... decomposing, as it were, then that person must have been dead for some time now. Perhaps before we've even arrived here..?"

()

At the same time that the events at Aurich were taking place, Emmy and Travis were... still heading back to London.

Despite the grim events that are happening in London, Emmy seemed excited to arrive there, "We're almost there now... Are you excited?"

Travis was still looking over the pictures, "Yea, yea, sure..."

Emmy obviously wasn't convinced, "Oh, come on. Give me an 'I sure am!' at least! We're making record timing here!"

Travis took one glance at the car's speedometer, "That's because you've been going three times the speed limit for about an hour now."

Emmy actually had a defense for that, "That's because most of London's population already evacuated. There's no chance of hitting anybody! We're literally in the only car on the whole highway."

Travis wasn't actually bothered by the speed, "Hey, I'm not criticizing your driving. The sooner we finally get there, the sooner I can do my wet work."

Emmy was slightly anxious when she heard that phrase, "Wet work? You're making this sound more like an assassination than a ghost hunt."

Travis didn't really deny that, "Yea, that sounds about right. Those jobs really aren't all that different."

Emmy was getting more anxious, "Wait, what do you mean ghost hunting isn't different from being paid to murder someone? I used to watch 'Ghost Hunters' with my uncle when I was a little younger."

Travis meant something different, "No, what you're thinking of as 'ghost hunters' really just look around various places and try to find them... just for the sake of finding them. I actually hunt them down and slay them! Believe me, there's a world of difference!"

Emmy couldn't understand how a panda could get a job by slaying supernatural entities, "And how does one become a ghost hunter then, 'Mr. Paranormal Expert'?"

Travis used to wonder that when he was only a cub, "At first, I didn't like the idea myself during my cub years. Then, I learned that most 'reputable' jobs are only given to humans. Honestly, do you really think some newspaper company would hire me even though I'm not human? No, you don't even have to answer that... They wouldn't. They would just bitch at the sight of the 'talking bear', and that's if I'm lucky... That's why I had to take jobs that humans won't... or can't do because they're either scared shitless the first time they see something they don't understand, or they just have no idea what they're doing and get themselves killed. When it comes to slaughtering supernatural beings, I found out that most people don't really care who does the dirty work. The pay's not too bad, either."

Now Emmy was really curious, "People actually pay you to hunt down ghosts? How does that even work?"

Travis has a method for that, "Usually, after I slay a supernatural entity, I extract some of the substance that made up its form to begin with. When it comes to the non-corporeal undead, I can extract something called 'ectoplasm'. I extract a pile of this ectoplasm for every spirit I destroy to help keep track of my number of exterminations. My usual rate is $2,000, which translates into £1,203.15, for every pile of ectoplasm I extract plus expenses."

Emmy had naturally found that ridiculous, "You charge over a thousand pounds for every ghost? Most people in London don't even get that much in a month!"

Travis was mildly amused, "You think you can find a better price?"

Emmy had not actually thought of that, "Well... Let's see..."

Travis interrupted Emmy's train of thought, "I'll give you a hint. You can't. I check the newspaper on a regular basis. If there was any other 'intelligent animals' like me in the public eye, I would've heard about it. Right now, there aren't. That means there is nobody else in the entire world that can do what I do. That also means I don't have to deal with any unwanted competition. That's right... A bear can't work in a job created by humans, so I chose to own a monopoly for a service that humans can't do!"

Emmy was left speechless, "Wow... That's..."

Before Emmy could finish, a cell phone's ringtone could be heard from her pocket. It sounded like the 'Rumble!' theme from 'Professor Layton and the Last Specter' except it sounded like a cell phone, "Oh!"

Emmy picked up the yellow cell phone with her right hand while driving with her left, "Emmy here. (...) Hey, El! How are things back in Germany? (...) Why not? Did something happen? (...) A four-one-three? You know that means a pole or something similar fell on your car, right? (...) El... Oh dear... Now you see why I told you to get your car's fundamentals up to standard first before adding all of that state-of-the-art equipment in it? (...) And despite my 'words of wisdom', my £1000 moped still works after five years while your £400,000 car didn't last five weeks. Your skill in monetary investment is unmatched... (...) Oh, I know that. You've got yourself out of this jam before. Again, and again, and again, and again... (...) I'm calling the Honest John auto insurance company as we speak. (...) Oh, El... I'm only teasing you! (...) Catch you later too, El! Be safe, all right!"

Emmy put her cell phone back in her pocket while Travis was staring at her. She never took her eyes off of the road for the entire conversation, "Well, so much for the Yellow Monitor reunion... Boys and their toys..."

This took longer than usual because I had to finish an 8 page short story for my Fiction class for college last week. I'll also have to do another 8 to 10 page draft for my Literature class, so I won't be able to start the next chapter until after I'm done. It may take a while, unfortunately... As always, feel free to review!