Kyisha stared at the room, pondering where the suitcase may have been taken.

"Hmm...Isn't there a security camera in here? It might've caught something on it..." She said, putting her hand on her chin.

"That's a brilliant idea!" said Professor Bubbles. "Indeed there is a security camera!" He stood up. "C'mon. Let's go see security."

The professor left the battle area, heading down the tunnel. Kyisha and Cobber followed him. He stopped at a door a few feet from the workout room, knocking on the door.

A fat security officer opened it. He wore a name badge that read Pincer. "Can I help you with something?"

"Yes," said the professor. "My suitcase was stolen. I need to look at the tape to see who took it."

Pincer shrugged. "How long ago was it stolen?"

"Just a few minutes ago."

Pincer led them into a small, dumpy looking office. He had a pile of papers on one side, a ring of keys, and a coffee machine. On the other side was a set of small television monitors with joysticks on the bottom. It displayed scenes from the outer lobby, the outside of the building, the weight room, the battle area, the storage rooms, and an area near the back doors. Pincer rewound the tape. The monitor on the bottom right showed a mob of creatures surrounding a stage. The screen went black a minute, then the creatures were milling around again. Flashes of light came out of the rings.

"Stop. It happened before the lights went out," said the professor.

Pincer pushed a button and the footage slowed down. The professor and Kyisha leaned over the monitor, staring at the crowd. It was difficult to see what was going on, on account of the people being so small. Pincer put the image on a larger monitor and they squinted at the footage again.

About five minutes before the screen went black, a tall figure in a widebrim hat and a trenchcoat came around one of the rings. The footage flickered for a brief second, and then the figure was standing behind the professor. The lights went out.

"Could you rewind it again?" said Kyisha.

Pincer did.

Kyisha pointed to the trenchcoat. "Who's that?"

"I don't know," said the professor.

"Well he's the one who took it. If only we knew who he was."

The camera footage continued on. The trenchcoated figure appeared in the hallway with the briefcase in its hand. All the monitors flickered, then the figure was outside the rear door of the gym. It stepped in a puddle of dumpster slime, then walked off the screen.

Kyisha pointed to him. "Look!"

"Yeah, it looks like he's making off with the suitcase," said the professor.

Pincer shrugged. "Where he went from there is anyone's guess.

"At any rate, it's too late for us to do anything about it." The professor sighed. "We're all doomed."

"Ah...now is where we go where he left. See if there's anything that'd indicate where he was headed." Speaking calmly, she added, "And one more thing Professor, negativity will get you nowhere."

"Man went out back entrance," said Cobber. "Cobber think we should check there."

"I'll unlock the back if you want to go out there," said Officer Pincer.

Kyisha nodded. They walked out of the security office, going into a room full of exercise equipment. Pincer followed them, jingling the key ring.

The door was unlocked. They went outside.

The back entrance was a dumpy, dirty place. It smelled strongly of garbage because of the dumpster to the right of the double doors. The blacktop was crumbling, and there were puddles of slime everywhere. Finding a piece of black fabric stuck to the door, Kyisha pocketed it. She stared at the ground. She saw bits of trash, soda can tabs, and bits of grass poking out through the asphalt. The asphalt stopped in front of a short green hill. She found a matchbook there. Its cover said `The Black Lotus.' There was a phone number on the inside. She put it in her pocket. A few feet from that, someone had stepped on a dog turd. A clear impression of a shoe could be seen in the coffee colored ooze. There was a pencil with teeth marks on it lying next to the dumpster. On the ground to the left of the door was a scrap of paper. It was a flier for a rock band called `Wreckwood.' The concert apparently would be held the next day. Holding her breath, she opened the lid of the garbage can. Several trash bags were in it. It would probably take all day to go through it.

She shook her head. "I watch too much CSI."

Cobber searched the ground. "Cobber doesn't think that thief went to Wreckwood concert. Cobber also thinks that man didn't open garbage can. Cobber thinks Kyisha should look at other clues."

She nodded stiffly and dug the matchbook out. She looked through it just in case anything else was on it other than that number.

"We should try to call this number, to see if anyone comes up..." she murmured.

Cobber scratched his head. "Maybe Kyisha can try. Cobber not have phone."

"Here," said the professor. "Use my cel." He took a small red-white thing out of his pocket, handing it to her.

Kyisha dialed the number.

"Who's this?" said an African sounding voice on the other end. "Hello?"

"A-hello..." she mimicked in a low voice, similar to that of a man's, "W-what was the plan again?" She had a nervous look on her face, but tried anyway.

"Well," the voice said, smacking gum. "I was thinkin' we could go out to the movies or something, if you're still up to doin' that. If not, well, you know, we could probably rent something." Smack, smack.

"Um..." Kyisha stammered, trying to think of what to say next.

"Shoot, you sound kinda (smack, smack) nervous or something. What's been goin' on, Tony? You feelin' all right? I know you were down with that cold last week, so I don't blame you for not callin'. Shoot, I didn't mean to give you those cold sores, either. That was an honest mistake, and I am taking medication." Smack, smack, smack. "If you don't wanna kiss, that's fine. I understand completely."

Kyisha made a face and hung up. She stared at the matchbook.

"Well?" said the professor.

"I...I don't think that was a helpful lead."

The professor shrugged. "I didn't actually see him smoke or even walk in that direction. Not every clue is directly related to the person you want...or even indirectly." He dug a small canister out of his pocket. "But I do think I saw him step in dumpster slime." He bent over, spraying a patch of the stuff. He went over to the dog doo, spraying that as well. He took out a digital camera, snapping pictures. He used a tape measure to estimate shoe size.

"If you want to find clues, you can't be afraid to get your hands dirty," he muttered. "It looks like we're searching for a guy with size fourteen shoes."

He picked up a piece of fabric stuck on the back door. He took a small silver device out of his pocket, sticking the cloth inside it. It beeped for a minute. He squinted at it. "He shops at Mondas, most likely." He bent over the grass. "Let's see how far we can track his steps."

He sprayed the grass around the dog mess, creating a pattern of red droplets leading northwest. He sprayed some more in that general area.

Kyisha followed him as he sprayed his way up to a sidewalk.

"He scuffed his feet to get the crap off his shoes." He squinted at the pavement. "And it looks like someone wasn't looking where they were going and bumped into him. There's soda everywhere." He paused. "Unfortunately, that's as much information as I can get. There's too much foot traffic around here."

Cobber waddled up to him. "Cobber wonder if person who spill drink went to bathroom to clean up."

The professor shrugged. "It's no use. We were busy watching a security camera and poking around for clues during that time, so there's no way we can tell where he went from here without asking the entire campus to give us tongue swabs."

"Unless man have wet shirt."

"Yes. Unless-what?"

Cobber pointed to a young Asian man with a black suitcase coming out of a nearby art building. The man was dressed in business attire. A tie, black slacks and a rumpled, slightly soaked white dress shirt.

"Is that your suitcase?" Kyisha asked.

The professor shook his head. "You sir!" he called, running to the man. "Did you bump into a man with a black coat?"

The man blinked. "Actually, yes. I was on my cel phone and he was in the way."

"Did you see where he went?"

The man shrugged. "Hell if I know. I was too busy thinking about how to clean that pop off my shirt and my cel phone." He sighed. "I think I'm going to need a new phone. That was a pretty bad drop."

"Did you remember anything about what the guy looked like at all? Anything that stands out in your memory?"

The man paused. "Well, I did knock his hat off. He had black hair, I think. Black or brown. It was a dark color. It looked like he had a scarf over his face. He got real angry when I made a mess on his clothes. I..." His eyes got a faraway look.

"Something wrong?"

"Sorry, what?"

"Never mind."

"You know, I think when the man bumped into me, he may have gone that way." He waved in the general direction toward the street away from the Pokemon center. "But that's only because he pushed past me that way while I was inspecting my phone for damage." He paused. "But he may have gone that way, too." He gestured to the area to the right of the sidewalk. "I'm sorry. My memory isn't that good."

The professor frowned. "Thank you, sir. Much appreciated."

The man walked away.

"What does professor think?"

"We could check the bathrooms, but there's one in every building on this block, and he's probably gone by now anyway."

"Cobber Dobber!" Cobber cursed, putting his hands on his hips.

"I suppose we could go to Mondas and see if they know anything, but that's a busy store." The professor scratched his head. "Well, since that's the best lead we've got, I'll be going there to see what clues I can turn up. Does anyone want to come with me?"

"Here. How 'bout you two check out this shop, Mondas, and I'll check the Pokemon center. By the way, I think this guy's name is Tony, so...I'll check the center and meet you at Mondas." She paused. "And hopefully I don't get lost," she added quietly.

"Right," said the professor. He dug out a card, handing it to her. "If you find anything, my number is (X)4111-3412."

Kyisha nodded, staring at the card.

"Will Kyisha be okay?" Cobber asked.

"Yeah. I'll be fine."

"Cobber," the creature shrugged.

They walked on toward the Pokemon center, then split up, Cobber and the professor heading to the parking lot, Kyisha heading into the building. She pushed through the doors, looking around.

She saw a copy center, a set of tables along a wall, where someone had set up a convention registration, and an information desk. Hallways led to the left and right. She approached the desk. A young Chinese girl sat behind the counter, reading a book on Calculus. Kyisha noticed that she he had a ring with a swirling insignia on her left hand.

"Um, hello?"

The girl looked up. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, do you know someone-"

The girl nodded.

"Tony?"

She gave Kyisha a blank look.

"You...know...Tony?"

The girl shook her head.

Kyisha frowned. She went up to the group of people in suits behind the registration tables. "Do you know anyone named Tony?"

A lady looked on the roster. "What's his last name?"

Kyisha shrugged. "I don't know."

"Then I'm afraid I can't help you."

Kyisha looked around for someone else to ask. She went around the wall and found a lounge where a number of young kids and animals were studying. There was a thin blonde girl in designer clothing, a goth girl dressed in black, a Japanese boy in a striped shirt, and some other strange individuals. Behind them she could see a staircase leading down.

"Does anyone know someone named Tony?" she asked them.

"Tony Brown is in my physics class," said an orangutan.

"I know a Tony Jones," said the blonde.

"What's his last name?" said the goth.

Kyisha paused. "Um, has anyone seen a guy in a black trenchcoat and a hat, maybe a guy with brown or black hair?"

The goth girl shrugged. "I don't know about a hat, but I know several guys who wear black trenchcoats."

Kyisha stared at her with interest.

"They really rock out."

Kyisha shook her head.

"Wait," said the Japanese boy. "I saw that dude. I pissed him off yesterday and he hit me in the head. It's still healing." He pointed to his forehead.

Kyisha came closer, staring at him. There was an indentation of a swirling insignia on his skin. "Ouch."

A door at the end of the room came open. A winged cherub came floating in, gripping a golden harp in its baby fingers. It began playing music. "La la la!"

It then reached into a quiver on its back, drawing out an arrow tipped with a heart shaped arrowhead. It nocked the arrow, aimed and fired at the goth girl. She reeled backwards a minute, then blinked several times, staring straight ahead at the orangutan. She tilted her head. "Wow! You're kinda cute!"

The orangutan looked nervous.

The cherub went back to playing the harp. "La la la!"

Kyisha laughed, staring at the cherub. She returned her focus to what she was originally doing. "Do you remember what the man did after he...hit you?"

The boy shrugged. "Not really. All I know is that it hurt really bad. That ring he wore, it was heated or something, and it really burned."

"I think he went up the sidewalk out back or something," said the goth girl. "But that was at least ten minutes ago."

Ten minutes. This must have happened before the suitcase got stolen, Kyisha thought, staring at the symbol burned in the boy's forehead. Now why does that symbol look familiar? She scratched her head.

After a minute's thought, she recalled that the lady at the desk was wearing a ring with the same symbol on it.

She walked over to the desk where the lady was at. "Excuse me, but what does that symbol on your ring mean?" She politely asked. I hope she says something helpful...

The clerk looked nervous and uncomfortable. "It...it mean nothing. Nothing." She took a deep breath and said, "This ring was given to me by a friend."

The statement sounded memorized. Looking around with nervousness, she gave the symbol on the ring a slight twist, then covered it with her hand.

Cupcake stepped into the room. "Did you find anything yet, er, what's your name?"

"Kyisha."

"Kyisha. Did you find anything yet?"

"La la la!" The cherub floated into the room. An arrow whipped past Kyisha's head, shattering a nearby television monitor.

Kyisha sighed. "Yeah, but I'd need to look into it a little more...Maybe on the Internet or some helpful resource...And I seem to be a target of a love arrow..."

"Oh." Cupcake stared at the floating creature. "Those are so annoying!"

The cherub laughed and drifted down the hallway to the right.

Kyisha sighed in relief.

She glanced at the bird. "Are there computers with internet access around here?"

Cupcake shrugged. "Yeah, but you need a student ID to log into them." She took a black phone out of her pocket. "Maybe the professor can give us his ID and password or something." She pushed some buttons and waited a bit. "Hi. It's me, Cupcake. Did you find any clues about the briefcase yet?" She paused. "Really." Pause. "Uh huh. Right."

Kyisha heard a shout. She walked across the room to investigate.

The cherub had struck a young redhead boy. He had freckles and messy unkempt hair. He wore baggy black denim pants, chains, and a Wreckwood t-shirt.

His green eyes met her blue through a pair of nearsightedness glasses. His mouth fell open.

He ran to Kyisha, shaking her hand. "Hi! I'm Pete. You're beautiful. What's your name?"

Kyisha reddened. "Kyisha?"

"Kyisha!" he breathed. "The name is like music! I...I must tell you that I love you!"