Guardians Academy

"There's a trail." Farmer Andrews added, examining the trap sites. "It's going west, toward the plantations."

"There's more here." Riki pointed. "And there too. They all go toward the west."

"Should we follow?" Farmer Andrews asked, rubbing his chin.

"Yeah!" Riki exclaimed immediately.

"Let's grab weapons and follow them!" Farmer Andrews exclaimed, mirroring Riki's enthusiasm.

"Uh… I don't really have any weapons." Riki grimaced.

"Huh. Come with me." Farmer Andrews led Riki to his shed, and then made an offer. "You can take the hoe, the pitchfork, or the machete. Which one do you want?"

"I'll take the machete!" Riki said at once. A sword! He finally had a sword! Even if it was basically just a gardening knife, a machete was a proper blade!

He tried a few clumsy swings with it, personally adding in the necessary sound effects. "Hyaah! Hiya! Whoosh!"

"You look like you're all ready to go." Farmer Andrews said, excitedly. "Let's GO!"

Farmer Andrews and Riki headed into the plantations while his wife stayed behind to fix the traps.

The plantations were thick with foliage, row after row of genetically enhanced oil palms towering over Riki's head. Under the broad thick leaves, the ground was really quite dry and b.a.r.e of other plant life, sporting few weeds and the occasional mushroom. The serpentine tracks in the dirt were clear and easy to observe in between the trees. Pumped up with eagerness, Riki and Farmer Andrews followed those tracks deep into the plantations.

Their enthusiasm waned after an hour of tracking through the oil palms. They crossed the borders of the palms and went among rubber trees next, and those tracks showed no signs of stopping.

Another hour later, they were all but dragging their feet into a plantation of starfruit trees…

By the fourth hour, they were rummaging through jackfruit trees and Riki was fuming. "How far did they GO?!"

"You ask me, but who should I ask?!" Farmer Andrew grouched, just as irritable as Riki.

Finally, Riki stopped. "Something doesn't feel right about this. I think the mission is broken. Let's go back." He grumbled.

"Fine!" Farmer Andrews growled.

They made their way back, and then Farmer Andrews held his hand out. "Return my tool."

"Eh…? You mean this?" Riki hefted the machete. "Can't I keep it?"

Farmer Andrews frowned at him for a moment, then said, "Forty credits."

"What? Forty credits for your old gardening tools? That's too much!" Riki protested.

Farmer Andrews shrugged. "Maybe, but I'll need to replace it and buy a new one, so… either pay up or give it back."

Riki scowled, but helplessly gave it back. He was already deeply in debt and unable to afford just about anything. For a minute there, he'd hoped he'd get a weapon for free, but it seemed that was really too much to hope for. "Fine!"

As Riki was departing, Farmer Andrews called after him. "Are you still going to help us hunt those mole serpents?"

"Uh… yeah?" Riki scratched his head. "Not sure how, though."

"Come back tomorrow." Farmer Andrews said. He glanced about. "Now where did my wife go…?"

So they separated. Riki left Farmer Andrews' place and went off to try to do some easier missions.

***

Meanwhile, someone else was attempting the Mole Serpent bounty.

SNAP! The first trap went off. SNAP!SNAP!SNAP!SNAP!SNAP!

"We got them!" Melinda leapt to her feet. She grabbed her practice sword and dashed out.

Unlike Riki, Melinda had brought a partner. Laila glanced about and asked, "Can I borrow a broom…?"

"You can borrow a hoe, or a pitchfork, or a machete." Farmer Amos offered.

"I'll take the pitchfork." Laila decided politely. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Amos replied just as politely.

He and his wife went out with Laila after Melinda, only to find all the traps empty and trails leading to the west, toward the plantations.

"Should we follow them?" Farmer Amos asked.

Melinda hesitated. "Um… that might not be a good idea. Fighting them on our territory is an advantage to us. Going into their territory sounds like asking for trouble."

"I agree. We better stay put." Laila nodded.

"We don't need to go to them, after all. They're already coming to us." Farmer Amos agreed, just as prudently. "Let's fix the traps and try again…"

"No, these traps won't do." Melinda shook her head. "We need to improve them, or we'll just get more of the same results."

"Right. Let's upgrade the traps." Farmer Amos thought for a bit. "I think Old Jon has some bear traps lying around unused. We could borrow those. We might have to pay for them, though."

Indeed, Old Jon asked for payment, one way or the other; thirty credits would do, or they could help him by cleaning off the rust on the traps.

Melinda and Laila brought the traps to Specs, who sold them a bottle of anti-rust solvent for fifteen credits. Then, she helped them clean up the bear traps.

Two hours later, they were setting the borrowed traps all over Farmer Amos' field.

"Come back tomorrow and let's see if these will do any good." Farmer Amos dismissed them.

Laila glanced at the pitchfork in her hands and hesitated. "Can I keep this?"

"Forty credits." Amos held out his hand palm up.

"I mean… just for one day? I only want to borrow."

Amos thought for a bit, then said, "Sorry, no. I'm going to need it tomorrow morning. If you take it, I'll have to buy a new one."

Laila sighed. "I guess I better go find my own bamboo pole."

"Why not use a sword like mine?" Melinda asked.

"I'd rather not get too close to whatever we're fighting." Laila explained. "Some of those critters give me the creeps."

"Fair enough."

They went looking for bamboo.

***

At the time, Cody was receiving 31 credits in payment for helping the Easthill boys build their treehouse. Most of it was carrying wooden planks and handing tools to the brothers, and it seemed there should have been more, or else he should have received the full 33 credits worth of a level 6 mission, but Cody couldn't figure out what he'd missed, as he had pretty much followed everything the brothers asked him to do.

"Elder T should be back by now." Cody mused to himself. She hadn't been in earlier when he tried to find her. Maybe now she had returned.

But no, she hadn't. She was still out.

He returned to the village square intending to look for another mission when someone whistled. "Hey, loner boy!"

"Me?" Cody blinked, turning about.

There behind him were Oren and Na'Sar.

"Yes, you!" Na'Sar snorted. "What are you doing running around alone?"

"What's wrong? I haven't left the village." Cody pointed out.

"You shouldn't go around alone." Na'Sar advised then. "It's dangerous. Even here inside the village…"

"What do you mean?" Cody asked.

"Weird things are happening." Na'Sar said, his voice low.

"For example?"

"For example… Bob's missing. We had a deal to supply him with stuff, but he's nowhere to be found."

"Maybe he's just gone fishing or something?" Cody wondered. "I mean he did quit his job."

"I thought that was the case too, at first, but then I tried to find one of those missions for helping him out, thinking I could use the mission tracker to locate him wherever he is."

"There's a mission tracker?" Cody blinked.

"If you have the rights to buy one, yes. It'll cost you credits, though." Na'Sar nodded. "But here's the thing. Those missions that involve helping Bob the Janitor… they're gone."

"Gone? What do you mean, gone?" Cody stared.

"I mean, POOF, gone!" Na'Sar gestured vaguely. "They're nowhere to be found on the missions list. There was one in level 6 and one in level 7, and today there simply aren't any."

"Maybe they'll be there tomorrow." Cody suggested. "The missions keep changing anyway."

"That's what I thought yesterday. But they're not there today, so I started asking around." Na'Sar lowered his voice even further. "Do you have any missions involving Bob?"

"No."

"Neither does anyone else I've asked. That's thirteen people so far, and not even one person has seen a mission involving Bob since yesterday."

Cody gulped. "Do you think… he's been kidnapped?!"

"Either that, or he's left the village for good." Oren cut in. "Maybe he decided to go to another village, find a new job. Don't keep trying to scare people, Na'Sar. Sometimes, the simplest explanations are the correct ones."

"Unless they're not." Na'Sar snickered. "Heed my words, Cody! Don't go around alone, and do not enter this place at night!"

"Why? What happens at night?" Cody asked.

At that, Na'Sar let out a creepy smile and said, "Try and you'll see."

"Don't do it." Oren advised. "Na'Sar's just trying to get you in trouble with the teachers."

"Right…" Cody didn't like that creepy smile on Na'Sar's face and decided that Oren's advice was the smarter way to go. "Well, I'm off for the evening. See you guys tomorrow."

"So early?" Oren blinked.

"I want to save up some Sphere time for… other uses." Cody didn't mention his mom.

"Oh. Okay. See you." Oren waved.

"See ya." Cody left.