Hunter made his way back to the Professor's home-portal, face pinched.

The 'trade' had gone over quite well. Hunter already knew that the statue he'd "found" was the real-deal (well, Uff found it, Hunter "borrowed" it. But honestly that Egg Theif was rarely coherent most days, so Hunter was sure he wouldn't even remember owning it.) It was only a matter of showing it to Moneybags and convincing him that he'd had the Professor assure him previously for the Bear to take the bait.

So while they haggled (MB tried to convince Hunter that Skateboards were really expensive. Hunter countered that gold leaf this intact was quite rare.), Hunter tried his best to pick appart Moneybags mannerisms. But there was no tell in his words or actions.

At least Elora should have gotten in and out of the mansion by now.

The only thing that Hunter could say he had gathered was confirmation that Moneybags had something alive. At a certain point, MB had started to get fidgety, checking his watch and gritting his teeth agitatedly. In the end, he conceded to Hunter's end of the deal, merely saying that he had important business to attend to.

Feeding time, is what Hunter got out of it. If you were selling some sort of exotic animal, you had to feed it to keep it alive, right?

So at least he left the Autumn Plains with something.

Elora rushed back to the Professor's Lab, hooves skidding on the rain-slick ground, and eventually sliding on the sand of the Professor's home. Not too long after she had made it through, she heard the tell-tale tinkling warp of someone coming through the portal. Flicking her ears back, she could hear it was Hunter.

It only took a few long strides for the Cheetah to catch up. They ran in silence for a minute or so.

". . .Find anything?"

Elora puffed. "Yeah, but I'll tell you when we get to the Professor. You?"

Hunter's reply seemed disgruntled. "Not much. He definitely has something he's hiding, but I'll tell ya guys more in a bit."

It didn't take them long to get to the Lab, nor did it take them much longer to find the Professor amongst the keyboards and metal modules. He was in the back, a section of cave that had yet to be covered in plaster and tile, tinkering with his portal.

It wasn't massive like the superportal; in fact, it was noticeably smaller than the normal world-portals of Avalar. Maybe even slightly wider. Hunter would definitely have to stoop down a bit to go through it.

The gems aligning the rim were a mix of blue and green, though in no particular order that they would figure out. And, for some reason, next the very top center space on the right was empty.

The Professor was on his knees, adjusting wires from an open panel.

Dismissing this observation, Elora cleared her throat. "Professor?"

There was a zap and a yelp, as the Professor twisted a wire wrong. He turned around sucking on his fingers. "Ah, 'Lora! Hunt'r! Wat dd oo fnd owt?"

"Try that again without the fingers maybe, Professor." Hunter was stifling a grin.

"Ah, sorry about that. I asked what you had found out." He wipes his paw on his lab coat sheepishly.

Hunter deflated at that a bit. "Not much, just that he definitely has something alive. MB got real concerned about the time an' sorta hurried off. I figured it was probly feeding time or sumthin'."

"It's still important that we have confirmation, Hunter," The Professor said gently.

"It does help, Hunter," Elora added, putting a hand on his arm.

This seemed to brighten him a bit. "Well. . .you said you found something too, right?"

She nodded, removing her hand. "Yes. I snuck in easily enough. I didn't get to look around too much, but there was this locked door in his house." She glanced at them; their attention seemed to be focused solely on her. "I looked through the keyhole. There were. . ." Elora took a deep breath. "Professor, their were hundreds of fodder butterflies in jars. All kinds of colors, but mostly the pink-trimmed yellow ones."

Hunter looked at her, speaking carefully. "So, either he's starting a new butterfly collection. . ."

". . .or he has something magic-based, like a dragonfly."

The Professor fixes his glasses. "Well, that would explain why he's so keen on keeping such a creature locked up. If he somehow caught a dragonfly, well, they're rare enough in Avalar. . ." he started to mutter to himself, scuttling off to his main laboratory.

He rummaged around, until he found a box, and, finding what he was looking for, pulled it up from amongst the mess.

"Thank you, both of you - without this information, the finishing touches on my portal would have been mere guesswork. But, knowing that the nature of this creature is magical, I can confidently start up the portal."

In his hands was a red, magic-based orb. Scuttling back to the portal, with Hunter and Elora in tow, he reached up. With a hop, he was able to push the orb in.

They watched with bated breath as it hummed, the orbs sparkling one by one.

And then the portal became alit with a swirl of energy.