Chapter 8: Green Paw-prints

Upon arriving at HQ my puffle and I stumbled down the steps again feeling rather queasy, "That teleporter's going to take me a while to get used to." I mumbled as I sat down at the discussion table, PIXAR squeaked in agreement. Then I noticed the TraceTracker 100 on 'The Lab' table, getting up out of my chair I waddled over to it, 'Device Ready' I read on 'The Lab' computer sign.

Looking at the device I giggled, "Hmm that looks like a hairdryer!" The device indeed looked like a large green, yellow and grey hairdryer with a large scanning screen on its nozzle. I picked the device up and placed it in my suitcase.

Suddenly I felt a tap on my shoulder, spinning round I came face to face with Prinsessrock. She was wearing her orange puffle hoodie, and her dark brown hair was in its usual pig tails, also her pink puffle Poppy bounced along beside her.

"Hey Eva!" she smiled, "G told us to come to HQ to find you."

Tweak waved as she waddled up behind her and sat down at the discussion table, she was wearing her pink summer top with a denim skirt, and she wore a hair band in her loose brown hair.

"Hi guys. G told me that TraceTracker 100 has been calibrated with the evidence we found." I explained as Prinsessrock and I sat down.

"The what-Tracker?" Tweak gave me a bemused look.

"This..." I opened my suitcase and pulled out the device.

"Wow!" Tweak gasped.

Prinsessrock frowned "Hang on a minute; I thought G installed a TraceTracker 3000 on our improved Spy Phones?"

Tweak pulled out her Spy Phone, "Yes you're right, I've got it on my phone but..." there was a pause, "... but it doesn't work."

Prinsessrock and I got our phones out. "Hmm, you're right, mine doesn't work either." I agreed. "Neither does mine." Prinsessrock grumbled. "Maybe G knew they didn't work, that's why he gave us the '100' version?" I wondered as I placed the TraceTracker 100 back in the suitcase.

"Anyway we need to come up with a plan on what we're going to do to track this thief down." I looked around and suddenly something occurred to me. "Wait, where's Lenny?"

Prinsessrock and Tweak looked at each other, "I don't know, he was supposed to be here with you." Prinsessrock explained.

"Oh ok, we'll have to work out the plan without him then."

There was a moment's silence as we thought, then Tweak piped up, "We could split up and search for clues..."

"Good idea." I smiled.

"But we only have one TraceTracker..." Prinsessrock pointed out.

"You're right and anyway G told us to go to the Pizza Parlour first so we can follow the trace trail from there." I remembered.

"Ok let's go then." Tweak pulled her Spy Phone out as did we, and then we pressed the teleport button and disappeared from HQ in a flash of blue light.

...

Upon arriving at the Pizza Parlor we found that it was still in a mess, and we found a certain friend of ours talking with Jet Pack Guy by the door. "Lennyice!" I exclaimed as we waddled up to him and Jet.

"Oh Hi Eva I..." Lenny began.

"What are you doing here? We thought you were going to meet us at HQ." Prinsessrock huffed,

"Yeah..." Tweak and I frowned.

"Hey! I came here to help Jet fix his Jet Pack!" Lenny exclaimed frowning back at us.

"You were supposed to come to HQ" Tweak mumbled.

Jet and my puffle glanced at each other and then looked at the four of us worriedly. Jet rubbed the back of his neck as he explained, "Um, I asked Lenny to help me with my Jet Pack, since Gary's been busy investigating the strange earthquakes."

"Oh" I turned to my friend, "I'm sorry Lenny I..."

"You three always seem to assume I'm doing something wrong when I'm not..." he folded his flippers and waddled away towards the other side of the room.

"Lenny's been having difficulty fixing my Jet Pack." Jet whispered to us. "He's been trying his best but he was a bit frustrated when you guys came in."

"And when we started picking on him like that, it didn't help..." I realized, and sighed as I waddled over to Lenny.

"What do you want?" he huffed.

"We could sure use your help to track down the thief Lenny, please?" I gave him a small smile.

He sighed and turned around, "Alright, but we'd better get a move on if that TraceTracker 100 is going to pick up anything." He pushed past me and led the way out the parlor door.

"How'd he know about the TraceTracker?" Tweak wondered. "Gary." Jet said and waved as we went out of the doors.

...

Once we were outside I turned to my friends and said, "Ok, let's stick together, I'll get the TraceTracker out and if you hold it Prinsessrock then we can..."

"Who put you in charge Eva, and why do you have a camera around your neck?" Lenny grumbled.

"Umm... I brought the camera along to take photographic evidence if we need to." I explained , taking the TraceTracker out of my suitcase and handing it to Prinsessrock.

"She never trusts me with things..." he mumbled.

"What was that Lenny?" I asked.

"Nothing." Lenny didn't make eye contact with me.

I looked worriedly at my friend, 'Is he feeling ok? Or have I done something to upset him?' I thought.

Suddenly a penguin wearing a silver and blue super hero costume pushed through us, nearly knocking Prinsessrock over as he yelled, "You'll never stop me EPF agents MWAHAHAHAHAA!"

"Not again!" I moaned as the 'Great Tornado' ran circles around us before running off again.

"That penguin runs faster than the wind... get it?" Lenny laughed as we all moaned at the joke.

With the TraceTracker on Prinsessrock aimed the device at the snow in front of us; suddenly a large outline of a bear and a set of crab scuttle-prints were illuminated on the ground by the green light. There was only one bear on the island of CP, and that was the polar bear Herbert. From the green outline it looked like Herbert had tripped on the curb and fallen face first into the snow,

"Lol!" I giggled as I imagined the scene.

Prinsessrock pointed the device's light beyond the outline and some paw-prints and scuttle-prints were illuminated by the light. The paw-prints made a trail through the Plaza for us to follow; we were on our way to tracking down the thief, by literally stepping in their tracks!

We followed the paw-prints through the Snow Forts and Town, before following them to the Docks where we found two snow angels; one was made by a polar bear and the other by a crab. "Herbert and Klutzy snow angels!" Tweak laughed, as we all giggled. We then followed the paw-prints to the Beach where we found that the snow-castle had been trodden down and knocked over by Herbert himself.

"Poor Pookie..." Tweak sighed, as I shook my head whilst recalling what had happened yesterday, pookies sure were very noisy. I looked up at the Ski Hill and the mountains beyond, suddenly remembering my nightmare and the strange party hat, 'I'll ask Sensei what it means as soon as I can...' I resolved in my mind.

"Hey guys, check this out!" Prinsessrock gasped, we all turned our heads to see what the TraceTracker was illuminating...