First of all, the name 'Kindleflare' seems to suggest some sort of... (can't seem to fand the right word >_<) pretend fire representing anger, hatred, desire, or something. Or it could mean that her strict-ness stirs up a fire of rebelion in the NTWF.
Ha ha, very insightful.
Honestly, I just picked a name that sounded kind of evil. And the queen ant thing... actually, I picked a flying ant because I felt like it. YAY.
Chapter 3!
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Rider and Crystal met with the other mods in the Mod Squad where they discussed what happened to Patjade. Thankfully, Kindleflare had never even touched the Mod Squad yet, so she wasn't around to hear.
"It's the mystery of Patjade's disappearance!" Tracy smiled. "And we're, like, Sherlock Holmes!"
Crystal gave Tracy a look. "Doofus. This is serious!"
"Okay, everyone." Rider sighed. "We've gotta think of something. What do you guys suppose happened to Patjade?"
"We all know what Kindleflare said: Patjade retired and gave Kindleflare the job as admin." Ikkin said.
"...Which really doesn't make any sense." Wandy said. "Wouldn't she have given the job as admin to one of us? Instead of some person we don't even know?"
"Perhaps we should look around." Spot suggested. "Maybe there are clues to where Patjade went somewhere."
"Good plan." Rider nodded. "Where do you think we should look?"
"Probably the last place we remember seeing Patjade." Mindy replied.
"Which is...?" Stal wondered.
There was a pause, then Leoness raised a paw. "Well, the last place I remember seeing her was at the Forum Events Centre..."
"Well, let's go look at the Forum Events Centre, then!" said Crystal, standing up and running out the door.
Before Leoness had a chance to say anything else, all the other mods were already out the door. She just sighed, and got to thinking back to the day Patjade disappeared...
* * * * *
"Okay, let's split up and look around!" Rider said, and the mods started weaving through the Forum Events Centre.
"Hey, I found something!"
"...that's just one of your hairs."
"Oh, yeah."
"This might be important!"
"Uhh... no."
"I wonder what this could be...?"
"What about this?"
"What's going on here?"
Everyone jumped out of their skin when they heard the voice of Kindleflare. All the mods dropped whatever they were holding and faced the admin.
"N-nothing!" Spot said with a cheesy grin.
"Really?" Kindleflare questioned. "Then what were you doing just a moment ago?"
"...having a scavenger hunt!" Mindy replied. Then she randomly pointed to Stal. "It was his idea!"
Kindleflare looked across the group and noticed that they were all mods. Then she sighed. "Couldn't you all be doing something useful rather than making fools of yourselves?"
"Well... we..." Tracy trailed off.
Kindleflare rolled her eyes. "Seriously, go find something better to do..."
The mods all silently nodded and left the Forum Events Centre like it wasn't important. Once all the mods had left, Kindleflare started thinking.
They were looking for something... she thought.
...and I think I know what...The admin was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard music. She turned her head to see where it was coming from: the NTWF Game Booth.
"Wait... what's this?" she wondered.
Strife, who was sitting at the booth, looked up at Kindleflare. "It's... the NTWF Game."
Curiously, Kindleflare looked at the screen of the Virtupets computer. She noticed the little Patjade sprite jumping and shooting arrows at monsters. She made a strange face, which Strife couldn't interpret.
"...why is it Patjade?" she asked.
"...because I started making this game when Patjade was still admin." Strife explained.
"Well... Patjade's not admin anymore, so why don't you have me, instead?"
Strife bit his lip. "Well... the story... kinda... circles around Patjade..."
"Find a way to make it work for me, then!" Kindleflare insisted.
"But--"
"Just figure something out!"
Kindleflare turned and started walking away, and Strife looked at her oddly. But she was too busy thinking to notice.
Was she really that well liked?...* * * * *
"Well, I guess that didn't work like I'd hoped..." Rider sighed.
"So what do we do now?" Nimras wondered. "If we all went back in there now, it'd be a little bit
too suspicious..."
"I guess we could try looking in other places." Wandy suggested. "I don't know if it will do us as much good as the Forum Events Centre would, but maybe it would be good for
something."
"I also suggest we be a bit more spread out this time." Stal added. "Because it's a bit suspicious when a bunch of mods are all in one area besides the Mod Squad."
"I agree." Killix nodded. "Let's each pick a place to look where Patjade would go..."
Mindy grinned. "I've got an idea. Let's each pick a place which we mod over, so it doesn't look suspicious."
"That's a good idea!" Spot smiled. "Now I guess we should figure out who should go where..."
* * * * *
After everyone had been assigned a place, they each went to different spots in the NTWF. Wandy, who had been assigned the Times Lobby, stared at the Rank Upgrades/Adjustments Booth, which was getting old and dusty.
"It was Patjade who made this booth..." he sighed reminiscently, then he picked up the request that was sitting on the top of a small pile. "Maybe I should do some of these, since Pat's not here to do them..."
He sighed, and sat himself at a desk and started filling out some forms.
* * * * *
Nimras was assigned Off Topic Alley, where people were still muttering about Patjade's retirement and Kindleflare's appearance. It seemed to be a hot topic.
"Kindleflare's... okay... I guess..." coughed Hunty, "...but you can't help but wonder why Patjade retired so suddenly. I mean... wouldn't she have told us, first?"
"And wouldn't she have given the job as admin to Rider or one of the other mods?" Fj0rd added. "Instead of someone we've never met?"
Nimras decided to ignore the irony of the fact that the mods had been talking about that exact same thing in the Mod Squad just earlier that day. She continued searching Off Topic Alley thoroughly, trying to find some clues.
* * * * *
Killix had been sent to the Splatterboard. Mostly because she was the only of the mini-mods that modded over the Tabloids that was old enough to meet the new rules. Although tempting, Killix knew it wasn't the time to be crazy. It was time to be serious.
"If I were a clue, where would I be...?" she thought aloud. Although such a statement would usually seem awkward, the NTWFers in the Splatterboard were too crazy to care.
After a while of looking and finding nothing significant, Killix looked toward the gates of Tabloid Town. She decided maybe, although it seemed unlikely, she'd be able to find some clues in there. After all,
anything's possible in the 'bloids.
She walked through the gates and through across the town. Most of the buildings looked charred, like an explosion had happened in there. Eventually she came to a building, a ways into the town, which was rattling and its windows were being blown out. It was where the active 'bloids were.
"Well," Killix said, grasping the misshapen doorknob. "I guess a little crazy won't hurt..." and she opened the door and walked inside.
* * * * *
Spot walked into the Positive Spin Way, which currently seemed practically deserted. It was kind of depressing, knowing that there wasn't much happiness around the NTWF lately. Probably because of Kindleflare's new rules.
"Well," she sighed, "maybe there's something here..."
Spot searched the area, finding nothing noteworthy. Everything was covered with a thin blanket of dust, which Spot kept having to brush out of her fur. She wanted to find something significant, but there was nothing.
"Well, maybe one of the other mods will find something..." Spot thought aloud, trying to be positive.
* * * * *
"Oh man, I hate the new rules!"
"Did you hear what happened to Dan?"
"I can't go to the 'bloids anymore!!"
Stal was growing weary of the complaints in Banter Board Way. He tried to concentrate on finding clues, but all the background noise was distracting.
"Come on, clue, if you're here, show yourself already..." he muttered to himself, inaudible over the complaints.
After quite a while of searching and not finding any clues, Stal started thinking about a good handful of complaints of his own...
* * * * *
Mindy found herself searching through the Reviews and Clues Office. Some catchy music was playing through some speakers, but Mindy was too preoccupied to pay attention. She was busy looking for clues.
I wonder what kind of clues there might be... she wondered.
And if anyone's found anything yet... I wonder what they would've found...She shook her head, realizing she was so busy thinking about what she might find that she wasn't actually looking for it. She continued looking through the area, not finding anything.
* * * * *
"Ahh... the guilds." Crystal sighed, entering the Guilds District. "Where ninjas meet to beat up on pirates." she grinned and prepared her kunai, just in case any pirates interfered with her searching.
She began looking across the Guild Signup Booth, which right now was empty. She decided to look across the forms on the desk; maybe there was something important.
* * * * *
Ikkin came to the Artist's Alley, where some old NTWFers' paintings were hanging on the walls. Most of the paintings had something to do with the NTWF, and many of those depicted something that wasn't allowed in the NTWF anymore.
"Hmph, I hope Kindleflare doesn't make us take these down..." Ikkin sighed, and she began to look through the different rooms.
* * * * *
Tracy was sent to the Admin Alley, where there were some people standing around, begging to know what happened to Patjade.
"Sorry, people! I'd tell you if I knew!" she sighed, trying to search for clues while NTWFers were pestering her about Patjade.
"Are you sure you don't know??"
"What if something bad happened to her?"
"We wanna know!"
"We do, too..." Leoness came out of the Mod Squad, walking past the crowd.
The NTWFers directed their attention to Leoness. "Do
you know what happened to Patjade?"
"No," Leoness replied. "...but I remember where she went... before she disappeared."
There was an awkward moment of silence as Leoness walked away from Admin Alley.
---
Leo was an admin by the time I wrote this chapter, quite obvilously.
BTW, the story's updates are probably going to slow down from here on. Partly so you can speculate on things, also because I need time to finish the next chapters... ^_^;;