Puzzles! There's one in this Chapter. I tried really hard to make this one long, like chapters in the games are. So that's why it took so long. Hopefully other chapters will be longer and take less time to write. Enjoy!

[EDIT;;5/30/12] Okay... checked both chapters and saw that the titles in bold [they had spaces between every letter like t.h.i.s (the dots being spaces)] didn't show up. What the chizz? Did that happen when anyone else read it?
I liked the way it looked... stupid FFN. Had to change them both. - x -||l

× Chapter One - -
+ + The Mystery Identified

.

Chelmey, Flora and Barton sat at the kitchen table of the girl's residence. They were discussing the missing persons and what to do.

"So, did you 'ear anything in the morning?" The Inspector asked.

"No, and I would have. I'm a very light sleeper. But I didn't hear a sound, not at all." Flora answered.

A small grin twitched at the ends of Barton's mouth. He quickly tried to suppress it.
"So, um, when you looked through the house, was anything out of order?"
I... I think I said that right.

"No," She brought him out of his thoughts. "Nothing was touched. Not even the tea kettle. I would think the Professor'd want some quick tea if he was going out. But it was still in the cupboard, which crosses out the theory that "he went somewhere" even more."

" 'ow so?"

"The Professor always makes time to have his tea. he never leaves the house without it." Flora said matter-of-factly.

"Mm..." Chelmey started thinking.

That was when the door slammed open.

"I heard the Professor went missing and I've come to help!" Rang the loud voice of Emmy Altava.

"Oh?"

"Eh?"

The younger girl got up and ran to her.
"I know you! The Professor talks about you a lot! You're, um, ah! Emmy... Altava, right?"

"That's me. So who might you be?"

"I'm Flora Reinhold, the Professor's adopted daughter and protege." She responded, ever so proud of herself.

"Ah, okay." The duo walked back to the kitchen and Emmy pulled up another chair.
"Oh... Chelmey and Barton, correct?"

The gruff man nodded.
"Inspector Chelmey and Constable Barton 'ere on this investigation. Now 'ow'd you get to know about their disappearances, Miss Altava?"

"I went over to the Yard to see Inspector Grosky, when I overheard some men talking about it. Slammed the door and came right here."

"Very well." He turned to Flora.
"What's in that trunk?"

"It's the Professor's. The one he usually takes on adventures. I've put everything I think I'll need in it except this notebook, which I'll carry. What's inside now is a different notebook for writing down mysteries, and a bigger book for puzzles." She nodded.

"And it's not heavy?" Emmy asked.

"Not really. The books aren't that big; I have small handwriting, so they don't have to be."

"And what's the notebook you're holding for?" Barton questioned her as well.

"Journal. I'm going to write most everything that happens on this adventure." She opened it to the first few pages.
"See? This is an entry from this morning."

: : Entry 1: They're Gone!

I awoke this morning to find that both the Professor and
Luke weren't anywhere in the house. Nothing was touched
and there wasn't any note, so I can only assume that
they've been kidnapped! But one question remains in my
mind, who would do that, and why?

"And so far that's it."
She finished.

"Well, shouldn't you write down the mystery?" Emmy suggested. "The Professor would do that whenever a new one came up.

"Oh, right! Of course. Thank you, Emmy.
"Flora leaned down to open the trunk, and took out the black notebook and pen. She started to write.

= Mystery 001: The Disappearances

Professor Layton and Luke are missing. They couldn't have
gone out for anything, because there is too much evidence
cancelling that theory. The undone beds, no note, nothing
seems to have been touched, and so on. They must have
been kidnapped.

"There." She closed the book and stacked the two notebooks.
"So, how are we to start out investigation?"

"Well, maybe we could, um, ask around, or something?" Barton pitched the idea, unsureness leaked off his voice.

"That's a start." The older woman agreed.
"And with the four of us, we could split up and do it faster."

"That's a good idea." Chelmey nodded abruptly. "Let's start on that now.

The four got up and left the house- Emmy and Flora going one way, Inspector Chelmey and Barton going the other- prepared to meet up in two hours at Scotland Yard.

× Outside Layton Residence ;; 11:03 AM - -
;; Emmy & Flora - -

.

"So, we should start asking people about seeing anything unusual. Maybe they saw either of them this morning or something." Emmy started.
"How about neighbours first?"

"Sure." The girl responded.
"Yea, that works."

She strode over to the next house and stood in front of the fence. The man was doing yard work.

"Excuse me Do you have a moment?" She called to him.

He got up and dusted himself off before going to speak to her.
"What do you need?"

"I was wondering, did you see Professor Layton or his apprentice Luke anytime this morning, or yesterday night, maybe?"

"I'll tell you if you can answer this puzzle first."

Puzzle No. 001: Garden Work

A man is in his yard tending to his wife's flowers and bushes.
He works three hours at night, two at noon, and one in the
morning. After working for X amount of hours in a row, he stops
to get a drink of water. He takes three water breaks. How many
hours is X?

"Hm..." Flora thought about it for a short while.

"Ah! I think I've got it!" She exclaimed.

"So what's the answer, little miss?"

"Two hours! He works for four hours straight- nine pm to twelve am and twelve to one am- so he took two water breaks, and the other break was the two hours at noon. Am I right?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"Nice going, Flora!" Emmy cheered.

She smiled.
"I am the Professor's protege after all."

"So you wanted to know if I'd seen them, yes? Haven't since the other day. But, last night I saw a shady figure come out of the house a large sac trailing behind him. Dunno if that's important or not, though." The man shrugged.

"Oh, that's fine." Emmy said while writing. "Big use to us. Thanks. Come on, Flora."
The two girls walked away.

× Scotland Yard ;; 12:56 PM - -

.

"Hmf. So we didn't get anything useful, 'ow's that supposed to 'elp anything? !" Chelmey fumed.

"Um, maybe the others-" Barton was cut off by the sound of Emmy's voice.

"We have something!"

"And by something, we mean one something." Flora added.

"Hm? And what might that be?"

"One of the neighbours saw a shady figure very late last night come out of the house carrying a large sac."

"So this "kidnapper" doesn't care about the well-being of his victims, eh?" He let out a huff.
"Rude, ain't 'e?"

Barton's face grew distressed.

"Barton?" Flora asked.
"What's wrong?

"O-oh, um, I'm just hungry, that's all." He stuttered out quickly.

"Speaking of food, yeah, so am I. We should get something!" The Professor's assistant said.

"I haven't eaten all day. Let's do that!" Flora agreed.

And they left for lunch.

× Scotland Yard ;; 1:12 PM - -

.

"Oh, that was wonderful!"

Emmy patted her stomach as she spoke. "I know I'm stuffed!"

"Yes, that was very filling." The Inspector nodded.

Barton was still eating a chicken leg from since they left the restaurant.

"So what can we do with the little information we have? Ask around some more?" Emmy questioned.
"I don't know how much good that would do us."

"Yea, not many people are up at late hours like those. Maybe we could... um..." Flora trailed off.
"Ah... uh, what... could we do?"

She thought for a moment.
"I suppose we could ask around a bit more. It wouldn't hurt."

With that they split up again.

× Scotland Yard ;; 1:16 PM - -

.

"Um, Ch-Chelmey? Can we stop at the bathroom first?"
Barton asked timidly.

The Inspector sighed. "Fine. But make it quick, we need to find a lead."

And the Constable ran inside.

× Unknown ;; Unknown - -

.

The figure dashed through the alleyway, swiftly and quietly.

He dug in his pocket found something resembling a key.

"Ha..." The person panted.
"I really... should have moved this... location to somewhere... closer..."

Taking in a deep breath, the man fumbled with the key before shoving it into a tiny hole in a seemingly concrete wall.

A door-shaped block rumbled back until a passageway was revealed. The figure ran inside fast.

"I hope you've been comfortable." His voice echoed off the thick walls of the black, underground room.
"Because there's nowhere else you'll really be going."

"Wh-where are we?" Came a shy voice from somewhere in the dark place.
"Wh-who are you? !"

"I... I can't answer those questions. You'll just have to figure it out on your own."
The man flicked a switch on the wall before running back up the steps to the outside world. He grabbed the key on his way and the passage was concealed again.

"P... Professah?"