Abby and Co. were enjoying a luau with John Sims when things took a turn for the bizarre. Ghost drums started playing, and a Polynesian witch doctor appeared out of thin air, threatened the Animalians present, then disappeared again. Fortunately, Abby and Co. weren't so easily scared off and decided to investigate.
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"I already knew that something strange was going on." Said Lt. Commander Corporal, "During our initial survey of the island, Clara tripped over a smudgepot that was still warm, meaning that it was used recently."
"What's a smudgepot?" Asked Anna, the newly identified and uplifted Cloaked Lemur that accompanied them.
"The Air Force used them in the 40's to mark landing strips on islands where the terrain was good for them during the war." Explained Lance, "But that wasn't all. When we went to examine the control tower, we found that it was already updated with modern equipment."
"Now that's really strange." Said Abby, "Why would any plane want to land here, in the middle of nowhere?"
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"This is where the witch doctor appeared, but there aren't many clues around here." Said Peter, as his group examined the area.
"Well the best plan to make, is to make a plan." said Jerry, sitting down on a nearby rock. Suddenly, several lights lit up a nearby rock, ceasing only when Jerry got off the rock.
"I think you set off those lights by sitting on that rock." Said Mara.
"And I heard some mechanism going off inside this rock." Said Reva. After examining the rock, Reva determined that the rock was made of plastic, and Jerry determined that the lights were coming from one of the decorative tiki statues.
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"What's in here?" Asked Malice, coming to an old storage shed on the air base.
"Nothing," said Lance, "it's been empty after the Base was decommissioned after the Vietnam War."
"That's odd," said Sarah, rubbing her hand on the topmost hinge, "there's fresh oil on this hinge, and the padlock has been carefully sawed through, likely to make it look like no one tampered with it."
Opening the door, everyone was shocked to find oyster shells and pearls on the table inside, and not only because said oyster shells and pearls were three times larger than normal for their species. They also found a map of the Atoll with three X's marked on it. One said "Base", the second said "village", and the third was in a wobbly, uneven oval on the western side of the Atoll. When Ran and Gaz were sent to investigate, they found an enormous pearl oyster bed where the oval had indicated. Not only that, almost all of them were three times the size of ordinary pearl oysters of the same species.
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"With all the clues we found so far," said Lance, after everyone got together to compare notes, "the mystery is starting to come together. All we need to do is disable the haunted tiki statue in the old Polynesian village that Mr. Sims said was haunted, and capture the witch doctor. Now here's what we do..."
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First, Abby and Sarah played ghost drums near the village to lure the witch doctor out of hiding. Second, Anna raced up a tree and used her patagial flaps to blind the tiki statue, which picked up the witch doctor, and started moving toward the giant pit they dug and covered with palm leaves, trapping both the statue and the witch doctor.
"Now let's see who this witch doctor really is." Said Lance. Removing the witch doctor mask, it was revealed to be none other than Mr. John Sims, the mastermind behind a black market pearl trafficking ring. The tiki statue turned out to be something similar to a parade float operated by Mr. Sims' henchman.
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"Mr. Sims was illegally harvesting pearl oysters mutated by the leftover radiation from the old 50's era atomic tests, and selling the pearls to a black marketeer." Said Lance, with everyone settled around a table in the new Mieni Atoll airport.
"But the military giving the Atoll to Animalia interfered with his plans, so he devised a scheme to try to scare them away." Said Abby.
"First he aided the development of the Atoll to cover up that he was planting things to make it look like the Atoll was haunted, such as that fake 'crashed airplane' with the false skeleton in it that Sophie and Roland found." Said Sarah.
"He also hid a holographic projector in the one of the decorative tikis, and created a mechanism that would both create a background mist for projecting the witch doctor using dry ice, and speakers to project the witch doctor's voice, and a pressure trigger to set both off, and hid them in rocks to avoid suspicion." Said Mara.
"But there is still one thing unsolved: who was that mysterious old man we kept bumping into?" Asked Malice.
"Perhaps I can answer that." Said the old man a surprisingly young voice. He then pulled back the hood of his robe and removed the mask he was wearing to revel that he was actually a young man. "Lt. Tamoru, Hawaii police department. I was on the trail of these pearl traffickers for a long time, but thanks to all of you, things got wrapped up in a hurry."
"Oh well, hopefully Harold and Kirana's date won't be interrupted this time, and we still have spring break to enjoy this place." Said Sophie, shrugging.
"And I still have Mr. Sims tour itinerary, so we can still do that tour he promised you." Said Tamoru.
"I hope you don't mind if I'm a bit late," asked Lance, "I still have to report to the military the results of our investigation."