"...and he didn't want you to be like him. He wanted you to be happy. That's why… we kept it hidden. I… think at your school, the knowledge of your father's criminal activity spread, and… that's why you were bullied. Over time, it became about your leg." Mom explained, biting her lip.
"But…" I frowned. "Did Dad intentionally… get into that car crash with Louisa's mom?"
"No," Mom replied, sighing. "But he and Louisa's mom had… a rough history. They had a big fight on Halloween, which is why your dad hates it. But it's only a coincidence they crashed into each other. Same with you."
I looked away, refusing to let tears build. I remember that day like the back of my hand. Dad and I were driving to school, and turned at a light. Then… this car came out of nowhere. There was a lot of darkness... then I woke up in hospital. I didn't want to look at myself. It was too horrible. And I didn't even realize Dad was gone… and when I did…
I don't want to remember that, either. It hurts more than my leg.
"What's this new threat?" Fierce Fox asked as we arrived on Night Watch island. "We've had all the Zeus stuff. Is it him again?"
"Athena said Zeus has been defeated, so I don't think so," I replied, shaking my head. It was evening; pink and orange splashed across the sky. There's a large mall called the Twin Palms Mall, which is a little reference to Back to the Future. I sighed. "I don't know what it is. Louisa, Zeus, and the four villains are gone. There's a few more villains coming up, like MVB and Ringmaster Raven. But who knows? Let's just… stay watch, I guess."
"Alright." Fierce Fox nodded as we arrived at a carpark. We found a former night watchman named Gus, who was fired by the mall staff. I felt a little bad for him. We talked to the owner of the Print Fax shop (and also the villain, spoilers), and then the owner of the sports shop. He wanted us to become night guards to watch over his shop. So that's what we did.
We headed over to this door on the side of the mall. The manager peeked through via an eye hole.
"Are you two here for the night watchman job?" she asked.
"Yeah." Fierce Fox replied nonchalantly.
"Hmm, not much enthusiasm," the manager sighed. "And two people. But… that can work. And this position needs to be filled. Come inside." We entered the little office. The slightly torn wallpaper holds a large screen, which shows the different shops on camera. There's also a desk, which sits under the screen. The manager faced us. "I had to let the last guy go because he was getting spooked, seeing and hearing things that weren't there. Before I can hire you two, I need to see if you're up for the job. Follow me." She walked out.
"Will this be hard?" Fierce Fox asked, raising her brow.
I pouted. "Not for you." We followed the manager to the food court of the mall. There's a water fountain in the center and a few different restaurants. It's two levels, connected by escalators. The manager made Fierce Fox and I spot the differences between two pictures. It wasn't too hard, so we passed it quickly.
"Not bad," the manager said, nodding. "Now let's see if you can handle some real-life situations." She revealed two motorized scooters. "You're going to patrol different parts of the mall." She looked at Fierce Fox. "You'll go right, and your friend will go left. I'll keep an eye on both of you. I've set up some training robots to practice with."
Fierce Fox and I climbed onto the scooters. I told my friend what to do, then we went our separate ways. Robot dummies were loitering, so I told them off. A robot was running up an escalator, so I scolded it. It was pulled down the escalator and crushed at the bottom.
"You both had the same problem," the manager sighed, fiddling with her glasses. "Hmph. I'll clean this mess up." Then a robot thief raced past, carrying a purse. Fierce Fox was chasing after it, her fists gripped on the accelerator. I joined the chase. We cornered the robber on an escalator. It was turned to metal pieces like the other robot.
"Teamwork!" I whispered to Fierce Fox. The manager gave us the job and told us to return to the security office. So we did. As soon as we arrived, there was an alert for a store called MacGuffin's. We headed to that store, which is on the third level of the right side. The mall is divided into three parts: the food court, and the right and left side. Fierce Fox and I got to MacGuffin's, which is a modern-style store that sells various inventions, like a pocket-sized porta-potty and metal umbrellas.
The thick, brown massage chair was vibrating. In there was Gus' phone. We answered the ringing phone and spoke to Gus. He was relieved we found his phone and recommended we hold onto it. I don't think I'd be okay with strangers looking at my phone, but whatever. Gus explained how to use it and told us to be wary of thieves. There was an app that could show security footage of all the stores. In a store called Slugger's- the sport store- there was a disturbance. We called the sport shop owner.
"Has there been a break in?!" he cried. "Quick, go to the shop and see if my baby is safe. It's the T206 Honus Wagner, the most valuable baseball card in the world. I keep it in a safe behind the statue. The combination is 6723." With that intention, we arrived at Slugger's. It's a typical sports shop: posters on the walls; 'old rags' (I know nothing about sport); medals; baseball bats. Behind a statue of a famous baseball player, there was a safe. Inside that safe was the world's most valuable baseball card.
"Safe and sound," I said to Fierce Fox. "For now."
"For now?" Fierce Fox repeated, giving me a look. I chuckled and closed the safe. The sport shop owner called; we assured him it was okay. But our troubles weren't over yet. A short time later, the phone buzzed. There was an alert in Giuseppe's Toys (really cool store, by the way). For some reason, the lights were on. Fierce Fox and I investigated this, and discovered a toy robot was the source of the problem. We grabbed that and a toy bird.
"Get used to running around." I told Fierce Fox. "This island's got a lot of that." Just as I said that, we got another alert. This time, it was in the Sizzle Tanning Salon. I winked at Fierce Fox. "How about you cover this one?" She shrugged and went to the tanning salon, while I waited in the food court. Fierce Fox returned with a 'the heck?' look on her face. I laughed. The phone went off again, this time for Good Deals Electronics. We viewed it on the phone, but the camera mysteriously switched off.
Fierce Fox and I headed over to Good Deals Electronics. I took a deep breath as we stood in front of the electronics store. TVs and computers stare at us.
"Go inside," I instructed. "And watch the TV in there. I'll… be out here." Fierce Fox nodded and entered the store. I hid behind the door, sweat building in my palms. A robber walked past, carrying a bag of money. I jumped out at him. "I know who you are!" He gasped and ran off. I called out to Fierce Fox, and we chased after him. My vision was turning blurry from fear, but I didn't care. The robber was stealthy, but so was Fierce Fox. She almost flew down escalators.
"It'll take more than that!" the robber shouted. He leaped up the water fountain, water spraying everywhere. Fierce Fox caught up to him, hands on hips. He shoved her off; she landed in the water surrounding the fountain. The robber escaped after that, disappearing into a vent. I headed over to Fierce Fox and pulled her out of the spewing water. She coughed some up.
"Whoa!" Gus cried from the phone. "Well, at least we know we're up against someone. I reckon you'd better find a way to stop him."
"You bet on it." I replied, patting Fierce Fox's shoulder. "I know he's after the baseball card. He's going to try and distract us so he can get it. He'll use a robot thief to do that. But… I know what he's doing. We need to confront him."
"How will we do that?" Fierce Fox asked.
I bit my lip. "Um… I don't know. Maybe we should get the scooters and blow torch and go from there."
"Blow torch?" Fierce Fox questioned.
"Oh yeah," I said, tapping my chin. "There's a blowtorch in the manager's office with the scooters."
"Sounds good." Fierce Fox commented, smiling.
"I agree," Gus said from the phone. He sounded a bit suspicious. "But… how do you know all this?"
"Uh…" I bit my lip. "I saw it on the plans in the security office." I turned to Fierce Fox. "Let's get that blowtorch and those scooters."
We arrived at the manager's office, which is on the top floor of the food court. I'd also snagged two super chargers from MacGuffin's, because we'd need them to charge the scooters. Inside the manager's office, there's a glass door, which the scooters were behind. There's also a portrait on the wall, which is a picture of a robot dummy. Fierce Fox and I, passing the access panel, got the scooters. Behind the portrait was the blowtorch, which we also grabbed. We charged the scooters using the super chargers, and were ready to go.
However, outside, there was a robot dummy riding on a golf cart, up and down the escalators. I told Fierce Fox to ignore it, and we went to Slugger's. The robber wasn't there. We checked behind the statue. The card was gone.
"We've gotta get to Print Fax," I told Fierce Fox. She nodded. We burst out of the shop, zooming on our scooters. I never imagined riding on a scooter would be so enthralling. We raced over to Print Fax, the scooters whirring. Print Fax is a clean and modern store, full of printers, paper and photos. Sure enough, the thief was in there, photocopying the expensive card.
"Stop right there!" Fierce Fox commanded. The robber glared at us through his mask.
"Never!" he shouted. "I know every inch of this mall and its systems! You'll never catch me!"
"I know who you are… Preston Williams." I replied, tightening my fingers around the accelerators. Preston's glare intensified.
"I've seen you before," he hissed. "You're… that hero. Well, that doesn't mean you and your little friend can stop me!" He jumped into the air and rammed his fist into a vent. He disappeared up such vent.
"Come on!" I cried. I slammed my hand onto the accelerator, Fierce Fox copying. We raced over to the new store, which is a building covered in newspapers, saying 'COMING SOON'. A padlock covered the door. I brought out the blowtorch and melted it away. Fierce Fox and I broke in.
"He's not here," Fierce Fox said, observing the dark interior of the new store. It's covered in blueprints, broken lights, and various tools. "Where is he?"
"Up this way." I replied, climbing a yellow ladder. Fierce Fox followed. We got to the vents, which are sort of like the ones on 24 Carrot. Except brighter and dustier. However, both are very windy. I burnt away a wall of red using the blowtorch, then Fierce Fox and I proceeded. We had to do this a few times, until we reached the middle of the vent system. Preston was there. He narrowed his eyes.
"So you got into the vent," he said. He snorted. "But that doesn't mean you'll catch me!" Preston raced off. We chased after him, destroying more red walls on the way. Preston took us to a place where red walls were above our heads, and in front of us are cogs. I broke one of the walls, creating a safe platform above the cogs. Then we were back at the middle area.
"This way!" I cried. We jumped into another vent. I destroyed more walls. We came to a split section of vents. Preston had gone up one and blocked it with crates. So Fierce Fox and I used another way to get to him.
"Gotcha, you're trapped now!" Fierce Fox yelled at Preston.
"Not quite!" Preston yelled back. He headed down another vent, returning to the main area. However, since it was a long fall, he was knocked out- and dropped the Honus Wagner card. Fierce Fox picked it up, just as I landed on top of her. She gave me an annoyed look. I laughed casually.
"Hey, gave that back!" Preston snapped, when he noticed Fierce Fox had taken the card. "I stole it fair and square!" He ran into us, knocking all three of us out the vent. We landed in the water fountain; water drenched my skin. Well, not really. Poptropican physics, people. Anyway, the card slipped out of Fierce Fox's inventory. Preston picked it up with a malicious grin on his face. "I'm going to sell this for millions!"
Suddenly, a snake- Eddie the coral snake, who's an escapee snake- popped out of the blue. Preston got scared and fell off the waterfall. He landed on the ground, where the police, Gus and the sport shop owner were waiting.
"I called the real cops!" Gus told us. "They'll take it from here." Preston's identity was revealed and the police took him away.
"His plan was to replace my most valuable card with a copy and hope I never noticed! But you two caught him just in time!" the sport shop owner thanked us. "I can't give you my card, but here's a token of my appreciation!" He handed us the island medallion. I high-fived Fierce Fox. Then it was time for the bonus quest. It turned out a training robot had gone haywire and stolen the sport shop owner's collectible cards. Our job was to retrieve them.
The first card was in Jolly's gift shop, a joke store. It was in a spray can. Card #2 was in Crawl Mart, the pet store. It was in the piranha tank, which wasn't much fun to retrieve. Card #3 was in the InTheNow! shop, hidden in a speaker. Card #4 was in the sports center- a mini gym. At the back there's a place where you can hit baseballs. Fierce Fox and I did that: eventually a ball flew up to a shelf and knocked down card #4.
Card #5 was above the water fountain, on these hanging stars. Fierce Fox, with her athleticism, grabbed it. Card #6 was in some pizza dough at the pizza store. I squeezed the dough and got the card. Card #7 was in the tanning salon. Fierce Fox didn't want to go in there, so I did. It was under a tanning bed; I picked it up. Card #8 was in Slumbertown, a really awesome mattress store. A card was hidden under a mattress; I got it.
And, finally, card #9. That one took a while for me to find originally, and I had to use a YouTube walkthrough. It's outside, on top of the roof. Curse you, island. Fierce Fox and I gave the cards back to the sport shop owner, and received a costume. White consumed my vision.