Demon Detective: The Stolen Orbs
By: dead_phoenix
Part four
I looked at Zifear to see what I should do. He shrugged and said nothing. Somewhere in the back of my mind I thought that I should open that door, but my curiosity got the best of me. Nyx and the jubjub followed me with their eyes as I crossed the room to the door. I put my paw on the handle, turned very slowly, and opened it. What was inside can't be described as anything else but shocking. Inside was a walk-in closet large enough to be a room. To my amazement, Dr. Sloth was bound and gagged in the far left corner, while Adam sat in the far right one eating asparagus after asparagus at Sloth. The look on Sloth's face was pure horror. It must have been torture. A sudden cold breeze whispered past my face for a split second. I backed away in terror and shut the door.
"But..how?" I asked Nyx at a loss for words.
"Sloth was easy. I challenged him to a round of 'Who can stay tied up the longest' and he obviously won it," he snorted in amusement, "Adam however.. that was harder. I told him that there was a life supply of vegetables in my closet, and he was a bit skeptical at first until I showed him the asparagus dispenser."
He laughed manically. Well, I had to admit he was a pretty good bad guy. I would have never thought of an asparagus dispenser. Then I thought of a plan. It wasn't even a full plan, but it was a plan nonetheless.
"All right, you win, Mr. Avenonyx. You win. I will join you on your quest to conquer the world. But first, I have to ask you a question," I said innocently to him.
"Oh really? What might it be?" he asked.
"Well.I was wondering, since you are obviously the most cunning draik I've ever seen, how did you steal the orbs without getting caught?" I replied.
He smiled again, and man was that getting annoying. "As you might have guessed, I enlisted the help of a shadow pet. However, it wasn't an aisha like you thought it was. I got Shadow Usul to help me. She has the ability to blend in with shadows, as I'm sure you know, so she never got detected while stealing them," he said proudly.
I was confused. "But how can an usul use an aisha sword? I thought that it being an aisha item, only aishas could use them."
"Very good, you're quite smart. However, the reason is that since it's a battle item, only aishas can use it properly in battle. Other species can use it outside of battle for non-fighting purposes though," he explained proudly. He demonstrated by picking up an unopened letter and using a nearby chomby sword as an opener. "See? Easy."
That was very clever of him. That would've thrown anyone off. So the black fur belonged to Shadow Usul, but I did have one more question. "Okay, I know that Shadow Usul works alone, so how'd you get her to help you? Did you promise her something?"
He nodded, "I did, young krawk. I promised her the Mirror of Light, an artifact dug up from a tomb in the Lost Desert. However," He said slyly, "When she came to claim it I shined the light on her, and she completely disappeared."
I was speechless. He double-crossed her! He laughed quietly to himself as he opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out an ornate box for everyone to see. I stood there silently as he gently opened it, revealing the six Maraquan Orbs. They looked to be made of fine polished crystal, and a strange light glowed from within each of them.
"Oh..they are gorgeous," Nyx mumbled to himself, "Too bad Shadow Usul was shown her way out already."
He cackled loudly at his little joke. I didn't think it was funny, and the way Zifear moved on my shoulder meant he didn't think it was either. The door I had entered in suddenly blew open with tremendous force and the single light suddenly broke. It was nearly pitch black, and the air turned to ice. The collared jubjub whimpered in fright.
"You fool," cried a mysterious voice, "Light may destroy the shadows, but the gloom around you always becomes darker."
There was a slam and crack, and I strained my eyes to see but it didn't help. There was a flash of red, and a hole burst from the ceiling, moonlight flooding in. Avenonyx lie unconscious on the floor, the jubjub hiding in a corner. The box of orbs was gone. As I looked to the ceiling, I could have swore I saw a strangely dark streak of movement disappear into the night. I looked to Zifear and choked back laughter; his fur was standing on end.
"Was that Shadow Usul?" I asked.
"I think so," he nodded, "Guess she wanted revenge."
"What now? Avenonyx is out cold, and the orbs are gone, maybe for good." I said.
"Well, first we should let Dr. Sloth go, as much as we don't like him. I know Neopia would be better off without him but no one should be forced to watch Adam eat asparagus for hours without end. And then after that? I don't know. We should just take a quick look around, and then leave. Shouldn't you get back to that Taerkwinn guy's place?" he said.
"Yeah, that's a good idea," I agreed.
We went back into the closet, Zifear released Sloth while I looked quizzically at Adam, and then decided to just leave him where he was. Sloth grumbled a "Thanks" and then ran off into the night, taking the jubjub with him. Afterwards, we searched through Nyx's office for anything to take back with us, although it was hard to see in the moonlight, and he hoped that he wouldn't wake up until after we were gone. As I searched through a file cabinet,
Zifear cried, "Look at this!".
I walked over to where he was near the desk. After a moment or two of struggling, he had pulled out a large, finely crafted mirror from underneath it. I picked it up easily and took a look at it. The surface gleamed, even in the darkness.
"I think it's that Mirror of Light, Tokyo," the small aisha said, "Why don't you bring that back to the eyrie?"
"But...you're the one who found it, why don't you keep it?" I asked.
"What!? Why don't I keep it?! Tokyo, compare me with that mirror. I'm tiny, that's huge! I can't haul that around!!" he shrieked.
"Oops. sorry.. Guess I wasn't thinking again," I said sheepishly.
I heard him grumble something, but I couldn't tell what it was. Finally, it was time to head back to Lord Kwinn's manor. Zifear got back on my shoulder, and we left the factory the way we came in. My aisha pal stated that we wanted to stay in the city for a while longer, so I brought him back to the alley where I found him and said farewell. When I left the alley I found out that thankfully no one had stolen my bike. I hopped on and rode all the way back to Kwinn's house. When I knocked on the door, he answered almost immediately and told me how worried he was that something happened to me. I explained everything that happened, ending with how Shadow Usul took the orbs and that they were probably gone for good now, but I had a mirror he could have as compensation.
"No Tokyo, thanks for the offer, but you can keep it. You deserve that for your tremendous efforts. Thank you so much for helping," he said.
He paid me a pretty good sum of neopoints before sending me off to home. He exchanged our goodbyes, and I rode home using moonlight to light the path. I used my telekinetic abilities to keep the mirror floating beside me all the way back. The minute I got home, I went to my room, flopped on my bed, and fell asleep, a good job well done.
By: dead_phoenix
Part four
I looked at Zifear to see what I should do. He shrugged and said nothing. Somewhere in the back of my mind I thought that I should open that door, but my curiosity got the best of me. Nyx and the jubjub followed me with their eyes as I crossed the room to the door. I put my paw on the handle, turned very slowly, and opened it. What was inside can't be described as anything else but shocking. Inside was a walk-in closet large enough to be a room. To my amazement, Dr. Sloth was bound and gagged in the far left corner, while Adam sat in the far right one eating asparagus after asparagus at Sloth. The look on Sloth's face was pure horror. It must have been torture. A sudden cold breeze whispered past my face for a split second. I backed away in terror and shut the door.
"But..how?" I asked Nyx at a loss for words.
"Sloth was easy. I challenged him to a round of 'Who can stay tied up the longest' and he obviously won it," he snorted in amusement, "Adam however.. that was harder. I told him that there was a life supply of vegetables in my closet, and he was a bit skeptical at first until I showed him the asparagus dispenser."
He laughed manically. Well, I had to admit he was a pretty good bad guy. I would have never thought of an asparagus dispenser. Then I thought of a plan. It wasn't even a full plan, but it was a plan nonetheless.
"All right, you win, Mr. Avenonyx. You win. I will join you on your quest to conquer the world. But first, I have to ask you a question," I said innocently to him.
"Oh really? What might it be?" he asked.
"Well.I was wondering, since you are obviously the most cunning draik I've ever seen, how did you steal the orbs without getting caught?" I replied.
He smiled again, and man was that getting annoying. "As you might have guessed, I enlisted the help of a shadow pet. However, it wasn't an aisha like you thought it was. I got Shadow Usul to help me. She has the ability to blend in with shadows, as I'm sure you know, so she never got detected while stealing them," he said proudly.
I was confused. "But how can an usul use an aisha sword? I thought that it being an aisha item, only aishas could use them."
"Very good, you're quite smart. However, the reason is that since it's a battle item, only aishas can use it properly in battle. Other species can use it outside of battle for non-fighting purposes though," he explained proudly. He demonstrated by picking up an unopened letter and using a nearby chomby sword as an opener. "See? Easy."
That was very clever of him. That would've thrown anyone off. So the black fur belonged to Shadow Usul, but I did have one more question. "Okay, I know that Shadow Usul works alone, so how'd you get her to help you? Did you promise her something?"
He nodded, "I did, young krawk. I promised her the Mirror of Light, an artifact dug up from a tomb in the Lost Desert. However," He said slyly, "When she came to claim it I shined the light on her, and she completely disappeared."
I was speechless. He double-crossed her! He laughed quietly to himself as he opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out an ornate box for everyone to see. I stood there silently as he gently opened it, revealing the six Maraquan Orbs. They looked to be made of fine polished crystal, and a strange light glowed from within each of them.
"Oh..they are gorgeous," Nyx mumbled to himself, "Too bad Shadow Usul was shown her way out already."
He cackled loudly at his little joke. I didn't think it was funny, and the way Zifear moved on my shoulder meant he didn't think it was either. The door I had entered in suddenly blew open with tremendous force and the single light suddenly broke. It was nearly pitch black, and the air turned to ice. The collared jubjub whimpered in fright.
"You fool," cried a mysterious voice, "Light may destroy the shadows, but the gloom around you always becomes darker."
There was a slam and crack, and I strained my eyes to see but it didn't help. There was a flash of red, and a hole burst from the ceiling, moonlight flooding in. Avenonyx lie unconscious on the floor, the jubjub hiding in a corner. The box of orbs was gone. As I looked to the ceiling, I could have swore I saw a strangely dark streak of movement disappear into the night. I looked to Zifear and choked back laughter; his fur was standing on end.
"Was that Shadow Usul?" I asked.
"I think so," he nodded, "Guess she wanted revenge."
"What now? Avenonyx is out cold, and the orbs are gone, maybe for good." I said.
"Well, first we should let Dr. Sloth go, as much as we don't like him. I know Neopia would be better off without him but no one should be forced to watch Adam eat asparagus for hours without end. And then after that? I don't know. We should just take a quick look around, and then leave. Shouldn't you get back to that Taerkwinn guy's place?" he said.
"Yeah, that's a good idea," I agreed.
We went back into the closet, Zifear released Sloth while I looked quizzically at Adam, and then decided to just leave him where he was. Sloth grumbled a "Thanks" and then ran off into the night, taking the jubjub with him. Afterwards, we searched through Nyx's office for anything to take back with us, although it was hard to see in the moonlight, and he hoped that he wouldn't wake up until after we were gone. As I searched through a file cabinet,
Zifear cried, "Look at this!".
I walked over to where he was near the desk. After a moment or two of struggling, he had pulled out a large, finely crafted mirror from underneath it. I picked it up easily and took a look at it. The surface gleamed, even in the darkness.
"I think it's that Mirror of Light, Tokyo," the small aisha said, "Why don't you bring that back to the eyrie?"
"But...you're the one who found it, why don't you keep it?" I asked.
"What!? Why don't I keep it?! Tokyo, compare me with that mirror. I'm tiny, that's huge! I can't haul that around!!" he shrieked.
"Oops. sorry.. Guess I wasn't thinking again," I said sheepishly.
I heard him grumble something, but I couldn't tell what it was. Finally, it was time to head back to Lord Kwinn's manor. Zifear got back on my shoulder, and we left the factory the way we came in. My aisha pal stated that we wanted to stay in the city for a while longer, so I brought him back to the alley where I found him and said farewell. When I left the alley I found out that thankfully no one had stolen my bike. I hopped on and rode all the way back to Kwinn's house. When I knocked on the door, he answered almost immediately and told me how worried he was that something happened to me. I explained everything that happened, ending with how Shadow Usul took the orbs and that they were probably gone for good now, but I had a mirror he could have as compensation.
"No Tokyo, thanks for the offer, but you can keep it. You deserve that for your tremendous efforts. Thank you so much for helping," he said.
He paid me a pretty good sum of neopoints before sending me off to home. He exchanged our goodbyes, and I rode home using moonlight to light the path. I used my telekinetic abilities to keep the mirror floating beside me all the way back. The minute I got home, I went to my room, flopped on my bed, and fell asleep, a good job well done.