Hello, readers. Welcome to the penultimate chapter of 'The Spectre's Call'. Since it was coming to the end of the first arc and I wanted to move on to the next one, I decided to write the epilogue as well. The epilogue will be up the day after this chapter.

Please review to say what you liked (or what you didn't like) about it.

Guest – Thank you. Yeah, I thought it would be funny if the Ravens admired Edgar for being a thief that only stole from the rich.

Djinn – Thank you. Your constant support is amazing.


Chapter 10: A Legend Revealed

Lower Town

The group had left the factory and were making their way to the police station. Now that they had uncovered what the Spectre truly was; they were going to show Misthallery who was behind these attacks and save Arianna.

Edgar was unusually quiet, something that Layton had picked up on.

"Something the matter, Edgar?" Layton asked in concern.

Edgar smiled wearily, "Oh nothing. Just a couple of things I can't wrap my head around about this case," he answered, "I take it that you already know what's going on," he mused.

Layton nodded his head, "Indeed, I…"

But before he could say anymore, Crow came running up to them.

"Mr. Cipher!" Crow called out before stopping so he can catch his breath.

'Mr. Cipher?' Layton, Emmy, and Luke questioned internally.

Edgar, on the other hand, was slightly flattered by how he addressed him.

"Crow, what's up?" Edgar asked curiously.

"They've got Arianna in the plaza," Crow said, "I dunno what's about to go down, but it doesn't look good."

"The plaza?" Emmy asked in shock.

"Prof, we need to get there now," Edgar firmly informed.

Layton nodded, "Yes," he took out a slip of paper from his pocket and gave it to Crow, "do you mind gathering these things Crow. I believe we may need them," he asked.

Crow glanced at the note before nodding, "Of course. Any friend of Mr. Cipher is a friend of the Ravens," at that he ran off down towards the market to gather the rest of the Ravens.

The group began to run up the hill towards the plaza, hoping that whatever is going on will not be bad.

As they were running, Emmy tuned her head to Edgar.

"I guess you weren't lying when you said the Ravens were big fans of yours," she said.

Edgar gave her an inquisitive eyebrow.

"When have I ever lied to you?" he asked cynically.

Emmy gave him a glare.

"Recently, I mean," he replied.

Emmy sighed and continued running.


The Grand Plaza

The group were appalled with what they saw.

A large crowd had gathered in the plaza. Edgar could see that Clark Triton and Doland particpating as well. They stood watching Loosha, who was still trapped in the net, laying exhausted on the hard ground. Arianna stood in front of Loosha, defending her from rowdy mob and the police. Edgar could see Jakes presenting the two proudly, almost as if he was showing off his brilliance.

Edgar had never hated someone so much in his life.

"This looks bad," Luke piped up as he looked towards, "Mr. Layton, what should we do?"

Layton hummed in thought. Suddenly, his face lit up as he came up with a plan.

"I have an idea," Layton stated.

Layton proceeded to give them instruction on what to do. As soon as he explained it, Emmy ran off towards the mayor's cottage while Luke made his way back to the abandoned factory. Edgar, meanwhile, looked slightly anxious of what he had to do.

"Are you sure, Prof?" Edgar asked, "I was just paraded through the streets of Misthallery. Do you really think they'll trust me?"

Layton smiled and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Edgar, do not worry. Just follow my lead and you will do fine," he comforted.

Edgar looked up at Layton's smiling face and sighed reluctantly.

"Fine, but if this goes wrong, I'm blaming you," he joked lightly.

Layton chuckled and faced in the direction of the plaza.

"Ready?" he inquired.

"Ready," Edgar confirmed.

And with that, they walked towards the plaza.

Edgar was unaware of this at the time and wouldn't realise this for many years to come. But this moment will be the first of many times that he and Layton will solve a case together.

Many years later, Edgar would look back on this moment fondly, but also sadly. Wondering how it could of gone differently.


"Let her go!" Arianna screamed and she stood in front of L, "she didn't do anything!"

Jakes laughed evilly, "That's what all you monsters say! 'I didn't do anything'," he mocked, "I don't see any other monsters who could smash buildings. Do you?"

"I don't know about that, Jakes. You're a likely candidate," a voice quipped out from behind the crowd.

Jakes growled in annoyance. He knows that mocking voice anyway.

He turned to see the crowd was parting way for Layton and Edgar. Layton looked towards him with a stern look while Edgar was giving him a lazy smirk.

"Haven't you run out of weight jokes yet?" Jakes asked angrily.

Edgar's smirk widened, "Nope. I've got plenty. Rather like how you've got plenty of-"

"Edgar," Layton warned.

"Right sorry," Edgar coughed, letting the professor speak.

"Stop this right now, Jakes," Layton ordered firmly at the police chief.

"I've got another cell with your name on it, Layton!" Jakes threatened, "And another police van to take your little criminal all the way back to Scotland Yard."

Layton hummed, brushing off the threat. He turned to face the crowd, making sure he has everybody's attention.

"Loosha is not the Spectre!" he declared, causing the crowd to gasp in shock.

Jakes, however, wasn't having any of it.

"This huge blob of blubber is the Spectre! Case closed!" he shouted as he tried to win back Misthallery's residents.

"Your third eye fails you, Jakes," Layton countered, "Loosha was only part of what you perceived to be the Spectre. It's really too bad this will be your first unsolved case."

"I don't have unsolved cases!" Jakes proclaimed as he sneered at Layton.

"That may be true," Edgar piped up, "but I bet this was the first case you couldn't bully into submission," Edgar turned to address the crowd, "Misthallery. I may be a criminal, but I know another criminal when I see one. Your police chief is nothing, but a charlatan. A petty man who bullies, bribes, and threatens his way through life. He even sent thugs after my collu… friends so he could get to me," he explained, causing the crowd to chatter away in disbelief.

Jakes just growled. He should have dealt with him a long time ago.

"I think it's time we got a full look at the real Spectre," Layton continued.

Edgar was confused at first by what he meant, but that's when he saw gentle whisps of mist spreading across the ground.

'Looks like Luke is here. Just in time as well,' Edgar thought, as he heard the sound of heavy footsteps in the distance.

"Misthallery," Layton announced, "I now give you the Spectre!"

Everybody turned around and gasped at what they saw.

A foot slammed down on the cobblestone road. But it wasn't a foot of a monster, nor a foot of any living creature.

It was a grey mechanical foot.

The "Spectre's" body looked like black metal disc on its side which hummed and sputtered steam ever so often. From the bottom of the disc sprouted three leg-like appendages which kept the body elevated and on the top were two skinny mechanical arms. On the end of each of the arms were two mechanical claws: one of which was ginormous, about 20 meters tall, and the other was slightly bigger than an adult's head. On the front of its disc body were two red lights which almost made it look like it had eyes. Underneath the body, in the elevated cockpit, was Luke piloting the "Spectre".

Luke pulled a lever to stop the "Spectre" and jumped out of the cockpit.

"This," Luke announced to the crowd, "is an excavating machine. It's used to dig up artefacts."

Edgar could hear the chatter of crowds at the revelation. He could even hear one person say how impressive it looked. However, Edgar thought it looked like it was going to collapse at any moment but shook the comment off.

"Luke, just in time," Edgar cheerily said as he ran up to them.

"You've done a fine job," Layton added, making Luke smile in thanks.

"Someone built this machine to dig up the Golden Garden," Layton explained to the bemused crowd, "The rumours of its existence here in Misthallery were too tempting. This machine was searching for the entrance to the Golden Garden as it dug up various parts of the town. These repeated excavations slowly weakened the land, resulting in the sinkholes we observed."

"Loosha wasn't attacking the town; she was trying to stop this machine," Layton continued, ignoring the utterings of disbelief from the crowd, "The 'Spectre' that everyone saw was Loosha battling the machine. Behind the thick fog, the two appeared to be a single entity rampaging through the town."

'That's what the prof must have seen last night,' Edgar thought remembering how Layton had gotten a good look of the Spectre, 'and it might explain the grunting and growling sounds from the first night.'

Layton continued his deduction, "The fog was a man-made creation… This was key to understanding the true nature of the Spectre. The perpetrator produced thick fog to hide their tracks and was then able to dig anywhere in town."

Edgar could hear murmurings from the crowd. Most of which were to do with the man-made fog.

"Edgar," Layton prompted, wanting him to explain the fog.

"Right," Edgar nodded before turning to the crowd, "we noted how the water levels in the canals seemed to drop wherever the Spectre attacked. This is because it needed a lot of water to create the fog in order to obscure the drilling," Edgar explained before he realised something, "Loosha, the intelligent, beautiful, adorable marine creature over there," Loosha squeaked happily at the compliment, "sensed this disturbance and attacked the machine and that is how we have the Spectre."

"Is…" Jakes sputtered in rage, "Is this a joke?"

"The only joke around here is you, Jakes," Edgar replied, grinning widely, "and it's not even a good one, like a knock, knock joke or why the chicken crossed the road."

"Someone was clearly taking advantage of the folktale and using it to obscure the truth," Layton continued.

"There is one final question, however," Edgar said, "who is behind all of this."

Layton held his hand to mouth in thought while Edgar placed his hands in his leather jacket.

"It was someone drawn by the lure of the Golden Garden," Layton said.

"A person willing to destroy the town so they could get their hands on personal glory," Edgar added.

Still in their thinking poses, Edgar and Layton walked towards the centre so that everybody could see them. They stood back to back and observed the crowd around them taking in everyone.

"Someone who now stands among us…" Edgar said.

"This same person is responsible for spreading lies about the Spectre all over town," Layton continued.

They looked at the faces of the people they had met:

Jakes.

Tony.

Arianna.

Clark.

Luke.

Edgar couldn't help but see Luke glaring at his father. It would seem that Luke still didn't trust him and was waiting for the big reveal.

Edgar tore away his focus on Luke and concentrated on trying to figure it out who was behind this.

After observing the faces again, revelation struck him.

Edgar smiled.

He knew who it was.

"I take it you have worked it out," Layton whispered to him.

"Yep, I'm ready," Edgar whispered back.

Layton nodded

"And that person is…" Layton and Edgar announced at the same time, "you!"

They both pointed to the same person.

A person nobody was expecting. Everybody present turned their eyes to the culprit. Luke gave a startled cry in surprise at the reveal.

For the person they were pointing at was…

….

….

….

….

Doland, the Triton's butler.

The butler was surprised by their accusations.

"There must be some sort of mistake, Mr. Layton and Mr. Cipher," Doland sputtered, "I'm just a butler. How on earth could I have done any of this?"

"You kidnapped Mrs. Triton and threatened to harm her if Clark didn't keep quiet about your plot," Layton explained, "With Clark under your thumb, you were free to do as you pleased in town."

"And let's not forget you, Jakes," Edgar piped up, looking towards the chief, "you were his lapdog all along. You two hatched this plot hoping to unearth the Golden Garden!"

Jakes growled again, making Edgar's grin grow wider.

"Quiet amusing," Doland interrupted calmly, "However, I'm sorry to say, I have no idea what you two are talking about."

"We are delighted you find humour in this," Layton said.

"However, the prof and I do not," Edgar finished, crossing his arms.

"Allow us to explain," Layton continued.

"W-well, by all means…" Doland stuttered nervously.

"Luke noticed the low water levels as Edgar mentioned earlier," Layton explained, "He recorded all the date in his notebook. But, as it happens, some of his entries turned out to be incorrect. These were mistakes made by his source of information, a certain 'informant,' we'll call him."

Edgar heard an apologetic squeak coming from Luke's pocket. He made a mental note to reward Toppy with seeds or whatever mice eat for all his hard work.

Layton continued, "However, even when Luke's predictions were wrong, residents were still evacuated from the neighbourhoods when the Spectre appeared."

"Which is odd because when Luke gave you the wrong prediction you would still miraculously pass on the correct prediction," Edgar said, "so either you're also a prophet of disaster, or your incredibly lucky, or, most possibly, you knew where those attacks were going to happen. Therefore, you warned the residents, not for their safety, but so they would not see what the Spectre really was. You used Luke as a scapegoat so nobody would catch on."

Doland didn't seem shaken up by this deduction. In fact, his smile seemed to grow into something much more malice.

"You certainly do not disappoint," Doland said in a tone too joyful for Edgar's liking, "Congratulations. That was truly Laytonesque."

"Laytonesque?" Edgar asked the professor in confusion.

Layton gave an embarrassed cough.

"Professor!" Emmy's voice called out as she ran towards the scene, "Just like you said, I found them in Mt. Triton's cellar! The real Doland and Mrs. Triton were being held captive down there," she declared much to Clark's and Luke's relief, "I freed them from the cellar and took them to safety."

'That might explain why Clark wanted Layton to go to the wine cellar,' Edgar thought, 'as well as the noises Emmy heard when we were down there.'

Emmy walked up next to Edgar, "What did I miss?" she whispered.

"Only just us explaining what's going on and me and the prof accusing Doland," Edgar whispered back.

"Did the professor do that finger pointing thing he does when he's found the culprit?"

"Yeah, I did it as well. We were like on sync,"

"Wow! What did it feel like," she whispered in a fascinated tone. Layton was famous for this and it honestly looked impressive.

"It felt great," Edgar admitted just as fascinated, "there is just something amazing about accusing people of crimes, especially if there is an audience."

Emmy nodded, but turned back to the front when she saw Doland take a couple steps towards Layton. His malicious smile not once leaving his face.

"It is clear that you are not Doland Noble, the Triton's family faithful butler," Layton said as he stared critically at Doland, "So tells us who you really are."

The fake Doland chuckled, "You are correct, Professor Layton," he said as he took off his round glasses, "It's time to end…" he started before his voice became deeper and sinister, "this charade."

It all happened in a blink of an eye.

The fake Doland pulled out a large, pointed, black hat with the brim pointed upwards out of nowhere. Faster then anybody could see, the fake Doland put on his hat and took off his disguise.

The man who was posing as Doland was tall and looked to be in his thirties. He wore a long black and brown cape that covered his entire body and a fluffy white scarf around his neck. His hair was long and brown and wore a white mask that covered his eyes and the top of his head. His sinister smile remained on his face as he looked at Layton triumphantly.

The audience gasped, Layton stood back in shock while Edgar... well he was actually confused.

"Sorry, are we suppose to know who you are? Because you are acting as if this was some big revelation of something," Edgar asked in confusion. He was at least expecting it to be somebody they had already met not just a random person with an odd fashion sense.

The masked man chuckled, "I have heard many things about you, Mr. Cipher. But it would seem they do not do justice to your sense of humour," he told him.

Edgar shrugged, "I'm just disappointed that's all," he mused.

"Oh, this is bad," Jakes mumbled, pulling at his collar nervously, "This is so bad! You said we wouldn't get caught!" Jakes shouted at the masked man.

The masked man didn't turn around to face him.

"What an ugly, little man you are…" he sighed as if tired of having to put up with him.

"And Jakes," Luke accused the chief, "you killed Mr. Barde didn't you?"

"Papa…" Arianna whimpered in sadness.

"No… No! I just changed the will," Jakes defended himself, "Barde's death was an accident! I just made everything go to Clark."

"You're saying it like that wasn't also illegal," Edgar mumbled.

"I forged the will, sure! But only because he told me to!" Jakes shouted as he pointed towards the masked man.

"Oh, is that why…" the masked man hummed as he turned to Jakes, "Apparently, I made a pact with a small-minded dullard. How truly unfortunate," he insulted.

"What'd you just call me!?" Jakes growled.

However, the masked man was unaffected. In fact, he almost seemed amused.

"A dullard, a fool, a nitwit," he continued to insult making Jakes wince at every word.

"I know he's supposed to be our enemy and everything," Edgar whispered to Emmy, "but I kind of like this guy."

"You only like him because he just insulted Jakes," Emmy whispered back.

Edgar gave her a look as if to say, 'well duh'.

Emmy just rolled her eyes.

The masked man turned back to the professor, "Layton, your intellect is formidable. I have truly enjoyed this."

"You have us at a disadvantage," Layton said.

"Indeed. My name is Descole. I am an artistic man of science, with rather lofty goals," the masked man introduced himself.

"Descole?" Layton repeated in confusion.

"It really is a pity. I had hopes the Golden Garden was here," Decole sighed, "T'was all such a waste of time. And this meaningless town…," he smirked.

"I'll have my fun by destroying it," Descole chuckled darkly.

As soon as he said that everybody heard the mechanical sounds. They turned around in shock to see more of the excavation machines, which were remotely controlled, climbing over the houses and starting to create havoc. They slammed the giant metal claws into the buildings and began to tear up the Upper Town.

The crowd panicked and scrambled for safety as they tried to escape from the machines. Edgar saw Descole nonchalantly climb onto one of the machines and it carried him away.

Edgar and Emmy did their best to direct the mob towards the Middle Town, but that was when Edgar saw something that made his blood boil.

Jakes was running away as well, pushing people away like the coward that he was.

"Oh no you don't," Edgar growled as he ran after the police chief.

Meanwhile, Loosha saw her chance to escape. She noticed that one of the machines were coming towards her. She picked herself up and slid as far as possible in the net as a lamppost was keeping the net secure. Because it was remotely controlled, the machine didn't realise that when Loosha moved out of the way its massive claw would hit the net holding her down and not her. The net ripped under the weight of the claw and Loosha was freed.

Jakes looked back at the carnage, smiling proudly that he got out of the way in time. However, when he turned back, he stopped when he saw Edgar was in his way. Edgar looked at him with so much hatred and rage that it made Jakes a little scared.

Edgar was thinking of something clever to say. Something that would summarise his hatred for the man for not only his cocky and smug attitude or his repulsiveness, but for the things he had done to this town, to his friends, to the Barde children. As well as to summarise Edgar's victory over the man who tried to lock him up.

That's when he came up with something.

something that could be considered a classic.

"Hey Jakes," Edgar said as he pulled back a hand and made it into a fist.

"FUCK YOU!" he shouted and punched Jakes right in the face.

The punch was powerful enough to send Jakes stumbling back. He tripped over his own feet and fell headfirst into a metal pipe wide enough to trap Jakes' top half. Jakes flailed his legs in panic, but he was too stuck to climb out.

Edgar chuckled, "Shouldn't have messed with me, Jakes."

He then ran off to find Layton and the others.


Loosha was battling the excavation machines. She battered and swatted them with her large tail, but they were too fast for her.

Descole watched from his much larger excavation machine on top of a house. He smiled as he watched the feeble attempt to stop his machines.

"Well now," Descole said to himself, "I believe the time has come."

He flicked a switch on the control panel and immediately the machines stopped their attack. The leapt to the centre of the plaza and broke themselves up. Parts of the machines stacked themselves up to form four thick robotic legs. The ends of the legs met up to meet the body where Descole perched his machine on top of. From the bottom of the body came two large claws that opened and closed warningly. The giant machine was as tall as six story building and looked like a four-legged spider with Descole as its pilot.

Loosha give a shrill cry and slide its way towards the machine, hoping to bash it. However, Descole sent a giant claw at Loosha, causing her to cry out in pain as she was thrown back into the plaza's column.

"Magnificent," Descole chuckled evilly as he saw the column fall down in a cloud of debris next to Loosha, "I do believe the townspeople are in for a treat. The Spectre was but a prologue… now for the grand finale!"

He sent another claw at Loosha who was preparing to charge the mechanical spider again. She tried again and again and again, but she was just battered away.

In a nearby alleyway, the group with Arianna and Tony watched the battle in horror.

"I can't help but think that this is a bit of an overkill," Edgar muttered as he looked towards the mechanical spider.

"Professor, we have to stop him," Emmy stated looking at the destruction in worry.

"What should we do?" Luke asked.

Layton hummed, "I must stop that machine. You three, get everyone to safety," he gently ordered.

"No way!" Emmy complained, "As your assistant, I can't let you face danger alone!"

"Same here," Luke added equally as reluctant to leave, "I'm not leaving!"

"Yeah, it's a no from me as well prof," Edgar piped up, "You brought me into this mess and I'm going to finish it. Anyway, I think I've found a way to stop it."

"You have?" Luke asked curiously.

"Yep," Edgar replied pointing to one of the machine's legs, "there's a hatch on each of the legs. I reckon if we open them up and screw with the wiring, we can disable the legs. Meaning the prof and the Ravens can carry out the other part of the plan," he explained.

"Excellent," Emmy cried joyfully, "Edgar you take of the front two legs and I do back two."

"Sounds good to me," Edgar agreed before he turned to the Barde children, "You two stay somewhere safe, okay," he calmly ordered them.

The Barde children nodded in understanding.

And with that, Emmy and Edgar took off to legs, much to the distress of Layton.

"I'll have Loosha distract it while Emmy and Edgar go for its legs," Luke decided preparing to run off, but Layton grabbed onto his arm.

"Luke, no!" Layton cried out.

"I can't let this happen in my hometown!" Luke complained back, "and Loosha feels the same way!"

They stared down each other before Layton gave a reluctant sigh and released his arm.

"Fine," Layton said with a smile, "but please be careful."

Luke nodded and took off towards Loosha.

Layton watched the young boy run off, before he too took off to find Crow and the Ravens.


By the time Edgar and Emmy had reached the machine's legs, Luke was on top of Loosha directing her and making sure Descole is distracted.

Edgar reached the first leg. Taking out his pocketknife, he pried the hatch open and inspected the inside.


(Puzzle Start)

Edgar stared at the mess of white wires in the compartment. All the wires were connected to one of six terminals labelled A -F. They were protected by a screen of hardened glass to strong to smash through. The only access to the wires is via a small maintenance window in the middle of the glass screen which Edgar could reach three wires. Edgar glanced at the schematics displayed on the inside of the hatch door.

According to the schematics, Edgar would need to cut the wire connecting terminal A to terminal F if he wanted the leg to stop working. However, cutting the wrong wire would result in the leg getting faster and possibly out of control.

Edgar scowled in annoyance at the schematics for not being clearer in what wire to cut. He turned back to the mess of wires. He tried following the wire from terminal A to see where it goes, but the wire eventually splits into two directions, making it harder to follow. He tried again but this time at terminal F, however the wire also split off into two directions.

He groaned and tried a different terminal, knowing full well that time was running out. This time he tried terminal E. The wire didn't split up into two this time, but continued into terminal D. However, the wire didn't pass through the maintenance window, meaning that the other two wires must run through the maintenance window twice.

Edgar groaned again as he wasn't making any progress at all.

'Hold on a moment,' Edgar thought as an idea came to mind, 'perhaps instead of needing to cut one wire, I need to cut two. Since the A to F wire splits up into two then there is a possibility that the right wire would cross through the maintenance window twice. All I need to do is follow the wire that I shouldn't cut and see which one passes through the window.'

He followed the wire leading out of terminal C and saw it was connected the wire in the middle.

Smiling in triumph, Edgar cut the top and bottom wire with his pocketknife and instantly the leg shut down.

(Puzzle Solved)


"One down, one more to go," Edgar muttered as he ran towards the next leg. He saw that Emmy was done with her leg and was moving to the next one.

As Edgar reached the hatch and, once again, pried it open with his pocketknife, he inspected the inside of the compartment.


(Puzzle Start)

The inside if this compartment was different from the last one.

Edgar looked at the metal box in front of him. On top of the box were five orange lights that were lit up while on the bottom of the box were five buttons labelled A-E.

Edgar took a look at the schematics on the hatch door. In order to stop the machine, Edgar would need to press these buttons to turn of the power. The lights show which circuits are still receiving power.

'Seems simple enough,' Edgar thought, pressing the button labelled A.

However, it wasn't.

Edgar expected the button to just turn off the light above it (for convenience let's call it light 1), but instead it turned off lights 2 and 3 as well as 1.

Edgar took another look at the schematics. Apparently, if you press a button, it will not only just turn off the light it was linked to, but also turn off the lights next to it as well.

'Who the hell designed this bloody thing,' Edgar bitterly thought as he turned back to the box.

So, Edgar has no way of knowing which buttons are linked to which light, making it different to turn all of them off.

Edgar hummed in thought before he got an idea.

Since the button turns on and off not only one light, but the ones next to it. He can identify which buttons are linked to which light by looking at the three that has turned off and finding the middle light. That middle light would be the one linked to the button's his pressed.

To confirm his theory, he pressed button B and lights 2 and 3 turned off (from the previous go) and light 4 turned off. Meaning that button B must be linked to light 3.

After a couple more experiments, he concluded that A = 2, B = 3, C =4, D = 5, E = 1.

Edgar would only need to press two buttons:

Button A to turn off lights 1, 2, and 3.

And button D to turn off lights 4 and 5, since 5 was only next to 4.

After his pressed the buttons the leg shut down.

(Puzzle Solved)


He stepped away from the damaged leg and gave a thumbs up to Emmy. She responded with a thumbs up as well saying she was done with her legs. Edgar glanced at how Luke and Loosha were doing. Luke was still directing Loosha as they distracted Descole, but they seemed to be doing well.

Edgar and Emmy ran out from under the mechanical spider to safety. Emmy headed towards where Layton and the Ravens were situated while Edgar decided to go up the steps towards the wooden dam.

Once he was out of the way, Edgar glanced at what Layton was doing down the road leading into the plaza. When Edgar heard of his plan, he honestly thought he was joking. I mean it seemed ridiculous at the time, but apparently a large catapult was what they needed to defeat the giant mechanical spider tearing up a town.

It's been a funny sort of day.

Edgar was more astounded that the Ravens were able to build it in such a short amount of time. It seemed to be made form a boat, a ladder, two wooden house beams and a large wooden shop sign.

'Recycling at its best, I suppose,' Edgar mused.

"Ready, Luke?" Layton announced, preparing the launch a volley of rocks gathered from the excavation site.

"We're ready!" Luke called back.

He patted Loosha's head a couple of times to indicate that should move out of the way. She marine creature squeaked and slid way from the machine.

"Hm," Descole hummed, "They have yet to give up. Such admirable tenacity…"

He pulled a lever so he could chase after Loosha, when he was shocked to find it didn't work The legs fizzled and sparked with electricity, causing the whole machine to shake violently.

"What's this!?" Descole asked in surprise.

Luke slid down Loosha's back and landed on the ground.

"Now, Professor!" Luke shouted.

Layton nodded and released the catapult's arm. The rocks hurtled towards the mechanical spider and smashed it into pieces. Somehow, Descole was unharmed and remained in his cockpit as machine fell to the ground.

"Direct hit!" Luke shouted as he and Emmy ran up to Layton, "That was amazing, Professor!"

The turned back to look at the destruction with serious faces.

"Is that it?" Emmy asked worriedly.

"Doubtful," Layton sternly replied, "very doubtful."

Edgar started to make his way over to them when he stopped to see some of the machines started to twitch and jerk to life. They picked themselves up and began to rebuild itself into back into the mechanical spider.

"We're gonna need a bigger catapult," Edgar muttered as he witnessed Descole's machine climb back on to the top of the machine's body.

Descole made the machine pick up two pieces of the destroyed column and hurled it at Layton and the catapult. To Edgar's relief, the group had dodged out of the way of the columns, but the catapult was completely destroyed.

It looked like the legs fixed themselves as well since now Descole was chasing Layton, Luke and Emmy through the streets of the Upper Town.

Edgar was about to run after them when he noticed Loosha was sliding her way up the steps towards the wooden dam. He could see the deep cuts and bruises she had sustained from the fight and was worried about her. However, she didn't seem to notice and carried up the stairs.

"Loosha where are going?" Edgar called up to her.

She stopped briefly and nodded her head towards the wooden dam. Confused, he looked at the dam, trying to see what she meant.

That's when he realised what she was doing.

Loosha is truly a very smart…whatever she was.

Edgar looked around to see Crow, Badger and Louis watching the devastation from afar. He whistled to catch their attention.

"Crow, gather the rest of the Ravens!" Edgar shouted, "we're moving onto Plan B."


Crow had gathered the Ravens next to the wooden dam. They surrounded Edgar as he told them what to do.

"Alright, everybody knows what they are doing?" Edgar asked.

"Yes, Mr. Cipher," the Ravens chorused back.

"Good, now go and help Loosha," he said as the Ravens took off in separate directions.

Edgar, however, spotted Marilyn.

He sighed.

He had a feeling he won't have another opportunity.

He had to do this now.

"Marilyn," Edgar called out to the young girl before she could run off.

She stopped and turned to face Edgar with a curious look.

"Um…yes Edgar," she asked as her cheeks flushed slightly.

The words were caught in Edgar's mouth. He didn't know how to phrase without it sounding rude.

"Err…well you see," he stuttered as he fiddled with the sleeve of his jacket, "I know that you… err and I don't think that… you and I will… be."

But before he could finish, Marilyn smiled gently at him.

"It's fine," she said reassuringly, "I probably should have known it wouldn't work out between us."

Edgar was taken aback by her response.

"I mean it's not the age difference that's the problem," Edgar told her, "I know couples in their twenties and thirties with a larger age gap. It's just that it would be…"

"Inappropriate because we're too young," Marilyn finished.

"Yeah," Edgar replied awkwardly, "sorry I didn't want you to think I was leading you on or something."

"Oh no, it's just a crush that's all. You're just… really amazing," Marilyn sighed with a wide smile.

"Thanks, Marilyn," Edgar said, relieved that it wasn't as bad as he thought.

Marilyn ran up to him and hugged him tightly.

"Maybe in a few years," Marilyn suggested.

"Sure," Edgar said as he hugged her back, "unless you've found a better person, by then," he joked.

Marilyn giggled as she let go of him, "Pretty unlikely."

At that she turned around and took off to carry out her task.

Edgar smiled lightly and ran towards Layton and the others.

'That went well,' Edgar thought happily.


Descole had Layton, Luke and Emmy cornered in front of a shop, the mechanical spider loomed over them threateningly. The group were out of breath after having been chased through the streets of the Upper Town.

Now they were trapped.

Descole lifted the giant claws of the machine and slowly sent them towards them. He was enjoying seeing their frightened faces and wanted to stretch as long as possible.

When the group thought that all hope was lost, they heard the sounds of footsteps getting closer rapidly. They turned to see Edgar running towards them at full throttle, looking slightly panicked.

"Edgar, where have you been?" Layton asked as Edgar stopped next to them.

"Setting up Plan B," he responded simply.

Before they could ask what he meant, they heard another noise.

A much louder noise.

"What is that?" Emmy asked in confusion as everyone, including Descole, looked towards where the noise was coming from.

"Plan B," Edgar replied as he began to drag them away, "Although, I had to admit, it would be more appropriate to call it Plan Sea."

A tidal wave of water rushed down the hill and down the street there were in.

Descole stood up from his control panel, only to see a flood coming towards him.

Edgar managed to lead the others into a nearby house and shut the door behind him before the tidal wave crashed passed the door.

Descole's machine was hit by the full force of the tidal wave. It began to spark and violently jerk as the water caused it short circuit.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Descole screamed, seeing how his machine has been rendered useless.

The machine shuddered and collapsed into a heap on the ground.

Edgar couldn't take credit for the entire plan. It was Loosha's idea to break the wooden dam and flood the area in order to stop Descole. Edgar only orderd the Ravens to help her break it.

Loosha squeaked victoriously as she slid down the steps to the Grand Plaza. As the flood flowed by and drained into the river that passed through Misthallery, Arianna, who was hiding with Tony went out to meet her.

"Loosha! She did it!" Arianna cried out, happy that she was all right.

Luke left the house Edgar dragged him in to stand next to Arianna.

"You saved the whole town," Luke joyfully added.

"That is one helpful sea creature," Layton commented as he and the others walked outside.

They heard a shuffling coming from the wrecked machine. Descole climbed out of the wreck and stood on one of the legs, looking down at them.

Descole didn't seem to upset by his defeat, in fact he smiled as if they only bested him in a game of chess. Edgar couldn't help but wonder what sort of a man he really was.

"Fortune favoured you today," Descole chuckled darkly as the group glared up at him.

"Savour this victory, Layton," Descole continued, his cape blowing in the wind, "Only certain defeat lies in your future. Witnessing your downfall will be… delicious."

"Impossible!" Emmy shouted in Layton's defence, "The professor will never lose the likes of you!"

"Yeah, you bloody prat!" Edgar shouted in his own unsophisticated way, "why don't come down here and fight us, you nonce!"

Descole chuckled again, "Such spirit in these two. Layton, soon you will see that you cannot defeat me. But I believe that is for another time."

Laughing evilly, Descole jumped won behind the destroyed machine and disappeared into thin air.

Silence fell as everybody stared at where Descole had vanished.

Layton hummed and adjusted his hat.

"Descole…" Layton muttered thoughtfully, "I feel as though I've seen him…somewhere before. But I can't quite remember where."

Silence fell again. Everybody was just processing what had occurred in the past half an hour.

The reveal of the real Spectre.

The imposter posing as Doland.

Descole.

Being attacked by the mechanical spider.

It was a lot to take in.

Edgar hummed as he stared at where Descole had stood.

Who was he? What does he want with the Golden Garden? Why does he have a vendetta against Layton?

Edgar couldn't answer any of those question.

There is, however, one thing Edgar knew for certain.

This will not be the last they'll see of the masked gentleman known as Descole.


Phew what a roller coaster of a chapter, eh.

The case is solved, but there are still some mysteries that need to be uncovered. Tune in tomorrow (can you tune into a fanfiction?) for the epilogue of 'The Spectre Call'.

Thanks for reading :)