"Jenny slow down," said her mother who was in the kitchen.

"Sorry mom," replied Jenny. "The Altador Cup starts today and I am so excited to go watch and cheer for Team Faerieland."

Jenny's mom turned as white as a ghostkerchief.

"Are you okay?" asked Jenny with concern.

Jennys mom took a deep breath. "The Altador Cup has been cancelled this year..."

Jenny's mother shook her head. "I'm not sure. This letter was at the door this morning. It's for you, I didn't open it," she replied. She slid the letter across the table to Jenny, who grabbed it.

Sure enough 'Notice of Event Cancellation' was stamped in bright red letters across the front. On the back, the official Altador Cup logo sealed the envelope. The envelope itself was quite heavy. Jenny ripped it open unceremoniously, and a pile of Neopoints fell out and clattered onto the table. All the money she had put in for the tickets. Refunded.

I don't want my money back, I want to see Team Faerieland play! the Aisha thought angrily as she grabbed at the letter in the envelope.

Still shaking with barely contained frustration, Jenny unfolded the letter and began to read...

Jenny looked down at the neopoints and back at the letter. She threw it down onto the table and huffed. “It isn’t fair!”  

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” Her mother came up to her and put her paw on her shoulder. “There is always next year.”  

“No!” Jenny said. “I need to figure out why the Altador Cup is cancelled this year!” She pelted over to the coffee table in the living room and picked up her pink Yooyuball baseball cap lying on it. This was her first year of actually going there, and she wasn’t about to let the opportunity slip through her paws.  

Her mother walked after her. “Where are you going? You hadn’t even eaten breakfast!”  

“I’m too determined to eat,” Jenny slipped her cap on. “And I’m going to the Altador Cup Headquarters.”  

As soon as she touched the front door handle, her mother said...

Jenny stopped in her tracks, facing backwards to her mother she strongly replied, "The cup may not mean anything to you, but to me the Altador Cup means everything, and I will do my best to get to the bottom of this, no matter what."  

She slammed the door behind her and dashed to HQ which happens to be right besides the stadium.  

As Jenny approached the stadium, she felt utter sadness. Usually the ground is busy with excited Neopets, ready to cheer for their favorite team and many different food carts offering more or less, every tasty treat you can think of.  

Where as today, there wasn't a Neopet or food cart in sight.  

With a sigh Jenny begrudgingly walked to the stadium office, she arrived to find it empty. She waited around for a few minutes until she decided to shout out for someones attention.  

"Hello... anybody there?"  

Silence, it was evident that nobody heard Jenny, which made her more angry and impatient.  

Suddenly, she heard loud muttering in the distance, The Aisha started to quietly walk towards the sound.  

"I'm telling you Joe, the Referee has been kidnapped. I have a reliable source who told me this morning." A shady voice said.  

Jenny, in disbelief tried getting closer, so she could hear a little better, when she misplaced her paws and continued to fall onto the ground with a thud.  

"Who was that?" The ministry voice asked Joe, "If anyone finds out about this I will surly be fired."  

Joe scanned the area to find Jenny on the ground, he knelt down to make sure she was ok, and not hurt.  

He then began to whisper...

Jenny shuddered. The tone of the Neopet whose name she didn't know, a Red Korbat with a sinister whisper, had her on edge, not to mention the thought that someone had been kidnapped. Her mother's warning about not getting herself into trouble echoed in her mind, and, for a brief few seconds, she considered lying to Joe.  

But she couldn't. If the Korbat was right, maybe there was a chance that the Altador Cup could be un-cancelled, and she could spend the next few weeks screaming herself hoarse in the stadium stands for Team Faerieland. Maybe, she thought, they'll give me a VIP pass if I can save the Altador Cup!  

"Enough to know that I can help you," she replied, standing up and brushing her paws against the wall of the stadium office to knock loose the dust and dirt that still clung to her from her tumble.  

The Red Korbat sized her up. "I doubt that."  

"The Cup is going to be ruined for thousands and thousands of Neopians if the referee isn't rescued," Jenny said passionately. "If you tell me what you heard, I can help! You should be shouting about this to the rooftops. You'd have all the help that you can possibly want. Kidnappers can't hide for long with everyone looking for them!"  

The Red Korbat let out a long breath. "You certainly have plenty of energy."  

"I can go to King Altador right now, right this second, and tell him what's happened," she looked at Joe. "You can start writing your un-cancellation letters this afternoon."  

Joe glanced at the Red Korbat, his eyes upraised and hopeful, but the Korbat slowly shook his head.  

"Of course that's already been considered. But, according to my very reliable source, there's one significant...complication...."

The Korbat looked uneasy. "We cannot speak here, follow me," he said.  

Jenny followed him down a very long hallway and into a small office. He motioned to a chair for her to sit down.  

In a hushed voice he began to speak. "King Altador is missing."  

"Missing?" Squealed Jenny.  

"Shhhh," replied the Korbat. "Yes, it is very complicated. Your help would be appreciated, however, I must warn you, It will be very dangerous. If you agree to help, you could be in a lot of trouble if anyone catches you, are you positive that you want to help?"  

"Yes," replied Jenny. "I will do ANYTHING to see Faerieland play in the cup."  

The Korbats mouth turned up in a smile. "Perfect," he said, "what I need you to do is..."

"Kelland's notes?" Jenny asked.

"Yes," The Korbat said, "You know about the twelve Heroes of Altador, right?"

"Everyone knows about them!" Jenny scoffed back.

"Good, so then you'd know why, as a thief, someone as naturally cautious as Kelland would keep records of what would be going on with the council."

"That makes sense." Jenny said, "So, once we find where King Altador is, then we can pressure whoever kidnapped the referee, and then everything will be back to normal!"

"Ideally, yes." The Korbat said, "But again, this is all just a chance. If Kelland's notes are a dead end, then the Cup is finished."

The Aisha's heart sunk at that. All of this, and it was just for a chance. Not a guarantee.

"Okay, so why is it so hard to get into the council chambers?" She asked.

"Well, due to the King missing, everyone is on high alert." The Korbat replied, "So, what I'll do is set up a distraction. Torakor is currently guarding the room, so when he's looking away, you sneak in and see if you can find Kelland's notes..."

"Perfect," replied the Korbat. "Let's go then."

Jenny followed the Korbat out of the Altador Cup headquarters and to the courtyard of the Council Chambers.

"Okay," Said the Korbat, "Sneak over there so that you are hidden on the side of the building. Then when Torakor is looking away make a run for the inside."

Jenny took a deep breath and sneakily headed for the side of the building. She was extra careful to stay in the shadows and not let anyone notice her.

All of a sudden Jenny heard a loud crash and a scream. She peeked out and noticed the Korbat laying on the ground winching in pain.

Jenny was unsure if he was actually hurt or if this was the distraction, but she noticed Torakor walking over to where the Korbat was laying, so she...

After scanning the room quickly, she spotted a notepad on one of the seats. She assumed that it belonged to Kelland, so she swiped it immediately and ran out of the room as quickly as she came in.

Torakor was still helping the Korbat, so she slipped past him to where the guard would likely not see her. When he had finished helping the Korbat, he returned to his post guarding the doors.

The Korbat started to leave until Jenny hissed to get his attention. He immediately headed over to where she was. "So, did you find it?"

"I did! Now let's take a look." The two opened the book and flipped through a few pages. "Wait a second, what does that say?" Jenny asked, pointing at a particular passage.

The Korbat squinted at the words on the page. "Hm, it appears that..."

"What?" Jenny hissed. "Did the same kidnappers took the King as well?"

The Korbat shook his head. "There isn't much information here, so I can't confirm any suspicions."

The Aisha drooped. "Then, what do we do now? The Altador Cup is cancelled, the King is gone... This is a disaster," she comments sadly, her mood immediately souring.

"Not quite," the Korbat interrupted her lament. "There is still something that can be done."

Jenny perked up, eyes trained on the Korbat. "You sure?"

The Korbat nodded. "Look here," he says, pointing to a particular page.

Jenny peered over and read...

The entry was timed and dated a few days ago. "This was late at night, two nights ago," the Korbat said. "The referee went missing just a few hours later."

"Do you think his meeting with the L person and the referee going missing are connected?" Jenny asked.

"They have to be. At least, Kelland thinks so according to his notes," the Korbat replied. "So, if we want to find out what's going on and get the referee back, we're gonna have to make it to that meeting."

"But we don't know where the usual place is," Jenny pointed out. "And it's probably not easy to track a thief."

While she was talking, the Korbat continued flipping through the pages. "Not necessarily, look." And again, he gestured to a page. This time it was much further back in the notebook.

Some weird guy came up to me today. I won't write his name down, I suppose L will work. Asked me to meet him at the Restive Tomb. I'll take my dagger just in case.

"So, we know when, we know where, and we have a good idea why," the Korbat said. "Now the only thing left to do is head to the Resting Tomb..."

"Well," said Joe, "we'd best head out now so we can get in without being spotted, so we can see this L character before he sees us!"

"You sure you're ready for this, kiddo?" asked the Korbat, directing a look of concern toward Jenny.

"Absolutely, let's go!" said Jenny, as she drowned out thoughts of her mother's words.

With a look of determination and confirming nod, Jenny spun on her paw and began the quiet, uneventful journey to the tomb.

The trio arrived with plenty of time to spare. The entrance to the tomb loomed over them in magnificent splendor. A sun engraved at the peak supported by majestic pillars outlined the double doors of the main entrance. The doors were boarded up, but didn't appear to be otherwise locked.

"Let's have a look for other entrances," said Joe, "just in case L doesn't use the main doors. We don't want any surprises!"

"Good idea," said the Korbat, and they headed to round the corner of the building. Suddenly, heavy footsteps could be heard from behind the tomb, so the trio hastily ducked behind a tree...

How will the story end?

One of the cloaked figures said "Everything is handled. There will be no Cup this year, lets head down to the stadium to watch the disappointment on everyone's faces."

The other cloaked figure nodded and they headed on their way.

Jenny let out a gasp, these were the ones who had ruined the Cup.

Once the figures were out of site Joe said "Okay, lets go into the Tomb then."

The trio made their way back to the main door of the Tomb, and with no effort, made it inside.

The inside was dimly lit and very quiet. The trio walked down a long hallway and towards a bright room at the end.

They walked inside the room and there was the referee and King Altador, both tied with rope.

"Quick," said Joe in a hushed whisper. "Let's untie them and get out of here."

Jenny ran over to King Altador and untied him while the Korbat worked on the referee.

"Thank you," said The King "But how did you find us?"

"It was an adventure, that is for sure" laughed Joe.

Jenny looked at her watch. "Guys, we have just under an hour till the Altador Cup is supposed to start..is it back on?"

"Of course it is on." replied King Altador. "We better hurry and get back to the arena if we are going to make it in time."

*****

Once back at the Arena, the announcement was made that the Cup was back on.

Jenny was very happy, just as she was about to run home to grab her Neopoints, King Altador stopped her.

"Thank you young Neopet," he said. "You were very brave by saving the Cup."

"I would do anything to make sure the Cup happens." replied Jenny. "This will be my first year seeing Faerieland play and I have been counting down for months."

"Well," said King Altador with a smile. "As a token of my thanks I want to give you lifetime VIP passes to every game Faerieland plays. As well as a VIP backstage experience to meet the team."

"Thank you so much!" said Jenny with a huge smile. "This is a dream come true!"

The End.