Professor Layton and the Angel's Prophecy

A World at Odds

Hershel stared at the man with a sympathetic frown.

"You are misguided, Costillos," he sighed. "Just because you were dealt a bad hand, it does not mean that you should inflict those hardships – and worse – on others!"

Costillos grinned twistedly.

"Oh Hershel, you bore me with these speeches. They go in one ear and out the other."

"Sadly," Hershel murmured, gripping his sword tighter.

Costillos heard that and shrugged, stopping in his footsteps.

"It is just a waiting game now. Any minute now, the device will be turned on, and then that will be it. There really is no way for you to stop me. Very soon, you shall be a mindless slave. I can't wait!"

*****

To Luke, doom was certain. Like a rag doll. He fell through the air. He didn't struggle – what was the point? The fall itself felt like an eternity, but was in fact no more than six seconds. Unbeknownst to Luke, or the falling Angels and animals for that matter, Emmy had steered the Bostonius #2 towards them. What many had forgot was that Emmy had parked the thing in the side of the Angels' colossal monstrosity not five minutes ago, but she hadn't simply flown away. She had been hovering close by, keeping a close eye on the goings on of the control room. Grosky insisted on proceeding with caution, after Emmy had simply suggested they keep ramming the ship until it split in two or something. Grosky had bit his tongue and remembered the woman had a wild side to her that could not be tamed.

As it was, they were circling the airship, being much a nuisance to Raymond. They had made the old man dizzy on more than one occasion, and despite all his attempts to frighten them off with the might of his own ship, the large lumbering nature of his airship was no match for the lithe and swift nature of the Bostonius. Emmy was most amused, reflecting on the irony of using Raymond's own airship against him. Well, not quite. The original airship was still in the possession of Descole and Raymond, wherever they kept it, but obviously they had traded it in in favour or Costillos' mammoth.

On their fourth rotation, Emmy observed a most unusual occurrence. Raymond had titled the airship, for no apparent reason – it certainly wasn't a form of attack on the pesky Bostonius, but it was clear the purpose of the move soon enough. She gasped as she watched three small figures hurtle through the air. Before she even knew it, she had pushed the thruster forward and was underneath the trio within a few seconds, certain they would have landed safely on the ship's massive tarpaulin.

So it was that Luke, his animal friends (well with the exception of the flying ones) and the Angels crashed and bounced off the large white sheet that served as the Bostonius' envelope to keep it afloat. They bounced for quite some time, and soon Luke begun to slide towards the edge. He gripped at the material furiously, but the momentum carried him further and faster than he could manage. He was going right over!

He was breathing erratically, feeling tears sting his eyes as surely as the wind was. Just when one glimmer of hope has presented itself, he was denied it. Over he went, hurtling once more through the air. He was thrown about and around in the air, as if a tornado was picking him up and spinning him around like some plaything. Down he went, just passing the bottom of the Bostonius. And that's when someone grabbed his arm, halting his descent. In an instant, they pulled him up, out of danger and in the cool metallic inside of the hangar bay. Luke just lie there, refusing to believe he was still alive. He lay, panting, dazed and feeling very light-headed.

When he was quite satisfied that he wasn't in fact dead, he opened his eyes, not realising that they were shut in the first place, and he glanced around, taking in his surroundings. It was familiar, and yet at the same time it wasn't. Then a large pompadour slid into his field of vision, followed by the frowning face of Chief Inspector Grosky. Well, Luke didn't know that part. For all he knew, the man was still just an Inspector.