The influx of event paperwork took up the time of the shopkeep, a dainty Yurble called Mirea. This means that any Petpet, without her careful attention, is more prone to accidents. Even if she wanted to give the critters all her time, she could only watch over them from her office's small window as she worked on her boring scrolls.

To her luck, a Wocky named Nero, who lived in the same street, signed up to be her assistant a few days ago. Thanks to him, some of the caretaking tasks started to run smoothly.

And smoothly did things run, until the week before the Cup.

It was an Altadorian afternoon; the sunset cast a golden light inside the room. Mirea just finished processing the day's Petpet pre-orders and slumped on her seat, ready to rest.

She was starting to zone out when she heard a terrible crash from outside. It sounded like a cabinet and some ceramics had fallen. "Mirea!" Nero's voice boomed, calling out to her. The Yurble shot up from her seat and ran outside.

She stopped in the middle of an empty courtyard. Most of the Petpets had hidden upon hearing the crash. She only found Nero, who came from the room where they kept the Yooyus. The look on his face was dark, his mouth agape.

Mirea feared the worst and yet she sought to know. "What happened here, Nero?"

The Wocky gulped before he could speak. "The Yooyus," he said. "They're all gone."

Without these popular petpets, there would definitely be some very unhappy customers.

As quickly as she could, Mirea drew in a shaky breath and pulled herself together. Panicking would solve nothing. “Show me the room,” the Yurble quietly demanded her assistant.

“Ok,” Nero said, “but you aren’t going to like it.”

That was indeed true once the two of them had made there to the Yooyu room. On an average day, Mirea would expect to find Yooyus both resting and rolling around in the spacious room, with their dishes and beds in neat order. None of that is what greeted her eyes. Instead, the entire room was a mess – dishes scattered about, beds torn apart, scratches littered the walls, and of course no Yooyus in sight.

“And this is how you found it?” Mirea asked as she tried to pry her eyes from the scene.

“Yes!” replied the still shaken Nero, “I was coming in to refill their food and I saw all this. I know that they can get a bit rowdy sometimes, but I’ve never seen them tear up a room like this. Not to mention the fact that I couldn’t find them. It scared me so bad I knocked over the storage cabinet. Sorry about that by the way!”

Mirea couldn’t care less about the cabinet and its contents at the moment as her eyes darted back and forth trying to make sense of it all. Feathers from the ripped-up beds still fluttered around, though as the Yurble watched them more closely, she noticed that one of them didn’t look like the others. She slowly made her way across the room to the feather and soon realized just why she thought it looked so odd for it...

"Nero, has Finneus paid us a visit recently?" Mirea asked, her eyes not leaving the long grey feather.

"Oh!" The Wocky exclaimed. "Now that you mention it, he did stop by while you were working on the Altachuck adoption permits. He wanted to know about Yooyu care and flight training, I figured he just needed to update some information in the archive, you don't think he could be involved do you?"

"I do." She replied. Mirea hadn't spoken to the old Lenny in quite a few years, not for any reason beyond just convenience. She was busy with the shop, and he rarely left the archive. However, she did often pass by his work when filling some paperwork with the city, and when he wasn't engrossed in his work he did great her with a wave and a smile.

What could he want with the Yooyu's though? And why not talk to her? Mirea had a lot of questions, but at least she knew what to go next.

"We're locking up for the day," she announced to Nero, "and we're heading to the archive."

He had heard that Yurbles were prone to firey tempers, but the fury that radiated off of her was something he’d not seen in her before: shoulders stiff, sandals angrily smacking the tiles of the path with every step. It was like she’d already decided on a culprit, without even seeing the suspect! And Finneus of all people? Finneus, who was somehow absent-minded and reliable at the same time, a criminal mastermind? It just didn’t add up. While he couldn’t help feeling a tiny bit glad that the blame was shifting away from him, he still felt the need to speak up.

“Mirea,” he started, “are you sure-“

The Yurble cut him off as she powered on ahead. “There’s no time. Quick! Nearly there.”

Nero was almost jogging to keep up with her, and breathed a sigh of relief as he realised she was right - they were turning a corner that revealed the bright marble walls of the Archives in front of them. Mirea inhaled forcefully and stood up as straight as possible as she rapped her paw sharply on the door, three times in quick succession. Nero had caught up to her and managed to catch his breath as the door slowly creaked open. A nervous, bespectacled Korbat peered around the door.

“C-come in! I-is there anything I can help yourselves with today, ma’am?” he asked as he drew the door fully open, ushering them into the atrium and hurriedly adding “- and sir,” with a nod to Nero as he stepped in.

Mirea nodded tersely.

“Yes. There’s been an emergency. I need to speak to Finneus!”

The Korbat blinked, clearly taken aback. To Nero’s relief, Mirea could pick up on the awkward atmosphere, and started to try and relax a little. “Sorry. My name’s Mirea. Legendary Petpets. Can you tell him I need to talk for a moment?”

“Ah, um. Of course, ma-Mirea. I just, um...” the Korbat trailed off as his eyes wandered towards the wooden doors of Finneus’ office. He returned his gaze to Mirea sheepishly.

“It’s just, um, I think if it’s an emergency, well, Finneus isn’t around until next week. He’s, erm, away.”

Mirea was speechless. Nero, realising he’d been silent to this point, felt the need to contribute:

“Oh. How do you mean he’s away? I’m Nero, by the way,” he blurted out, instantly regretting opening his mouth.

“It’s his annual research trip. Moltara this year I think, he was stocking up on burn cream. But he left a week ago, and, yes, I don’t think he’ll be back til next Friday at least!”

Nero’s awkward contribution had at least given his manager time to process the implications of the Lenny’s absence. Rooting in the folds of her toga she gingerly pulled out the unmistakable grey feather, and held it out to the bewildered Korbat.

“But if he’s been away all week... how could he have visited my shop today?”

How will this story end?

"Moltara is a long way away from Altador," said Mirea slowly. She looked at the Korbat sceptically; he had taken off his glasses and was wiping them quite frantically now.

"Are you all right...oh, I didn't get your name," Nero added.

"F-Favonius..."

"You still haven't answered my question," Mirea pressed, her temper beginning to ebb back like the sea washing over the shore. "How could Finneus come to my shop?" She waved the feather into the Korbat's face. "There's something you're not telling us."

The Yurble glared severely at the Korbat while Nero tried to think of something else to say. As it turned out, he didn't have to.

Favonius broke down into sobs, still clutching his spectacles.

"I'm so sorry!" he wailed. "I disguised myself as Finneus using one of his cloaks and went into your shop, because I was stuck on my research assignment on Yooyus! Finneus assigned it to me while he was away and told me that he wanted to see some real progress when he got back...but...then I..." Favonius gesticulated wildly before letting his arms fall limp against his sides.

"W-Wait, you were disguised as Finneus?" asked Nero. "That was you?"

"Some of his feathers must've remained stuck to his cloak," whispered Favonius, glancing this way and that as though Finneus could return at any moment. "But yes...that was me."

Mirea turned her glare toward Nero. "And you didn't notice that the Finneus you met was actually a Korbat in disguise?"

"Sorry," was all Nero could say, hanging his head in mild shame. "I probably should've looked more closely at him when he showed up..."

"No, I'm sorry!" Favonius exclaimed. "I guess I still have more to learn about Yooyus than I thought...because today, when I came back to try and observe them again, they suddenly went on a rampage and chased me all the way back to the Archives!"

Again, Mirea gave Nero a look. The Wocky's ears flattened against his head.

"Why didn't you tell us about this?" Mirea asked.

"I didn't want anyone to know I was stuck on my assignment and tell Finneus they saw me at Legendary Petpets," admitted Favonius, sniffling and wiping his nose with his wing. "I started trying to research on how to tame the Yooyus and bring them back to your shop, but...you can only imagine the kind of mess they left in the library."

After gesturing for Mirea and Nero to follow him, Favonius walked over to the library and opened its doors, bracing himself.

But whatever he was bracing himself for did not come, as they were greeted by quiet in the wake of several books and papers strewn across the floor. Most of the Yooyus were napping, while others were quietly exploring the shelves and tables.

Nero mentally counted the Yooyus he could see. "They're all here," he told Mirea, who breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank Fyora," said Mirea. Her expression hardened when she turned to Favonius, however. "You could have just asked me for help about Yooyu behaviour instead of going through all that trouble. I would have been happy to answer any questions you had...and there's no shame in asking others for help." Her gaze flicked briefly toward Nero, who only managed a sheepish smile.

"I'm...I'm really sorry," said Favonius, who was beginning to fidget again. "Please, let me know how I can make it up to you."

"Well, you can start by helping me and Nero take all these Yooyus back to Legendary Petpets," the Yurble replied, folding her arms across her chest. Her glare softened ever so slightly. "Consider this your first lesson in Yooyu behaviour."

The Korbat finally managed a grin through a tear-stained face. "Oh, thank you, thank you so much!"

"But we're pretty sure you won't need any lessons or help from us on how to clean up a library," Nero added with a wink.

The End,