Professor Layton and the Search for the Missing

Chapter one

Professor Layton continued down the road, as Luke sat in the passenger seat silently and Flora slept soundly in the backseat. He squinted at the clouds, and Luke followed his gaze.

"What's wrong, Professor?" Luke asked, watching how concerned the Professor looked as he watched the clouds.

"Something doesn't seem right about those clouds, Luke." The professor said, pointing out the clouds. "It was a sunny day no more than five minutes ago." He remarked, continuing to look at the clouds as they drove.

Luke looked at the clouds as well, and searched for what could have caused the sudden change in the weather. Flora's shriek from the backseat caught both of their attention.

Right next to Flora's window was a silouette, banging against the window and shaking the car. The professor swerved the wheel this way and that to avoid crashing, and at the same time, Luke unbuckled and jumped to the backseat to protect Flora.

The window burst, sending shattered glass everywhere. Flora shrieked of fear once again. Luke stood face to face with Don Paolo, the scientist's evil face shifting into a smile. He thrust his arm through the window in an attempt to grab Flora. He managed to snag her wrist, and began to pull her closer to the window. Flora screamed.

The professor looked over his shoulder to see Luke kicking Don Paolo's hand in an attempt to rescue Flora. He slammed on the breaks, but due to Don Paolo's flying contraption beside the car, they kept going.

Don Paolo thrust his other arm through the busted window and yanked the door handle from the inside, causing the door to fly open. With the wind beating against the door, but Don Paolo's machine keeping it open, the door broke free from its hinges and sailed away from the car. Now, there was no door or wall or anything separating Luke and Flora from Don Paolo.

Professor Layton unbuckled and jumped away from the wheel, into the backseat. The car began to swerve this way and that, no one keeping it under control. Don Paolo had Flora halfway out of the car, laughing maniacally. Luke jumped to Flora's aid, onto Don Paolo's contraption.

"Luke!!!" Professor Layton exclaimed, as he began to pull Flora back into the car. "Don't do that!!! It's-" but he stopped mid-sentence to assist Flora, as with each time Don Paolo's grip loosened, Flora would inch closer to the ground speeding beneath them. One last kick, and Luke caused Don Paolo to release Flora's wrist, also causing her to careen backwards headfirst towards the ground. Professor Layton swiftly grabbed her and pulled her back inside of the car, and they both watched Don Paolo's machine in horror. Luke leapt back into the car through the open hole, but soon after fell backwards towards the ground, having lost his balance.

Layton thrust his hand out to Luke, grabbing him by his shirt and pulling him closer. Before he could pull him completely to safety, however, the machine exploded, sending the car off the road. The car turned multiple times, and Layton felt the fabric of Luke's shirt slip between his fingers. He sat there, his arm outstretched as he watched Luke scream, falling out of the car. It then came to a halt as it fell over a bridge and into the heart of a nearby river.

The car began to sink. Layton lie there, slowly slipping out of consciousness. Flora kicked as hard as she could to keep her head above water, and began to pull the professor out of the car and closer to shore.

Once she made it onto the muddy banks of the river, she pulled Layton onto shore beside her, and looked back out into the river at the sinking car. She then remembered. Luke. He had been in the car with them. She quickly ran back out into the river, her shoes sinking into its muddy floors with each step. She swam over to where the car lay, sinking lower into the river. She went under and came back up inside the car, which was slowly filling up with water. Looking around, she only saw two small things bobbing around in the water. Scooping them out of the water and into her arms, she looked everywhere for Luke, even going under to search for him. Sadly, she had to conclude that Luke had not been in the car when they crashed into the river.

Swimming back to where she had left Layton, she was relieved to see that he was awake, and sitting up. He looked relieved to see her okay as well, and sighed of relief as she swam closer to him. But with trembling hands, she presented him her findings from the car, and he took them from her, gasping. Luke's hat and bag.

She looked around Layton, to something small laying on the dirt road.

"Professor." She whispered, pointing. She and Layton walked towards the object, bending down to it and inspecting it. It was a shoe, a brown one, that buckled around. This shoe belonged to Luke.

Flora and Layton looked out in the distance at the massive smoke cloud that had come from Don Paolo's crash. Don Paolo had Luke.

Luke was in danger.