Mike Fang walked in to the front gates of the Helium Club, whistling a happy tune. He had finally, with some help from Roddy, made a flavoring mix for his oxygen candies that were actually palatable to most furs!   He proceeded to the manager’s office, but he wasn’t in. “Hmm... that’s odd. Al said he’d meet me here.” He put the samples down on Al’s desk and decided to look for the manager.   Mike wandered around the Lounge first, then out onto the grounds. “Where could he be? His car’s in the lot, and he always does paperwork at this hour! He’s as predictable as a Rolex in his work habits!” he mused, thinking.   As he thought, a hot breeze fell over him, followed by a low, yet penetrating, “Boo!”   Mike jumped a little, enough to have his hat go flying up off his head. He turned to see the mammoth head of his friend Tombfyre Kraken. The huge dragon was leaning ON the 5-story Quonset hut of the Lounge building, hanging over above Mike. “Sneaked up on me again, big guy!” Mike said with a laugh, mentally willing his stomach to resume its pre-boo position.   “You looked lost in thought, Mike. What’s on your mind?”   “Looking for Al. I was supposed to meet him, but he’s not in his office. You seen him?”   Tombfyre blinks in surprise. “Not in his office? That’s odd! Hmm...” The big dragon closes his eyes, ‘searching’ for Alden. Mike waited patiently, knowing that it is unwise to disturb a magician at work.   After about 30 seconds, Tombfyre’s eyes fly open. “He’s down in the tunnels, and not moving! We better check it out! Come around and follow me!” The big dragon raises his head high and starts reducing himself. Mike sprints to the other side of the Lounge.   When he arrives, Tombfyre is down to his 9' size. “Come on!” he shouts and runs off to an access tunnel, Mike hard on his heels.   The dynamic duo race down the tunnels under the Club to the main power plant, which is cooled by a large amount of seawater. The water is piped in from the ocean, about 8 miles distant. There is a pool where the inlet pipe pours into. On the edge of the pool they find Alden, sprawled out on the concrete.   Mike checks the old cat out quickly. “Pulse strong, breathing clear.” he reports. “Looks like he’s passed out for some reason.”   “Can it be his heart?” Tombfyre asks, referring to Alden’s heart condition, which has caused him problems in the past.   “No, I don’t think so. I thought Drake fixed that with his little bugs.” Mike says as he pulls Alden away from the lip of the pool.   “Yeah. Forgot about that.” Tombfyre says. Then he says, “What’s that?”   Mike looks and sees a wet spot on the concrete, next to where Alden had fallen. “It seems like something came out from the water.” he says in a low growl.   “But what? The tunnel is miles long, and there are pumps along the way! Nothing can swim up or down the pipes!” Tombfyre says.   “Well, we’ll have to look. But later. Right now, I want Al checked out by someone better.” Mike says as he peels back Alden’s eyelid to check something.   What he sees is frightening. The ‘Spark’, that which shows an active magician, which was unusually bright in Alden thanks to several gifts, was extremely dim. “Uh, oh...” he breathes.   “What?” Tombfyre asks. Mike reveals what he has seen. “Oh, boy... this is so not good.”   Tombfyre starts ‘sniffing’ Alden’s prone form like a bloodhound on a trail, stopping at the cat’s suit pocket. “There... empty that pocket, please.” he asks the Doberman detective.   Mike empties the pocket, finding a pen, a notepad, and a seashell, a pink seashell. That attracts the dragon’s nose. “There... that’s the spell focus.” Tombfyre declares.   “Focus for what?”   “There’s a spell that is draining the magical energy from Alden and sending it... somewhere. This shell was the focal point. Now, Alden’s being tapped for the power he creates.   “We better get him to where he can be checked out, plus call in a more versatile mage to trace things. Maybe Freeman.” Tombfyre says, referring to an assistant manager at the Club, and Alden’s nephew, Freeman J. Lowell.   Mike scoops up Alden and puts the limp cat on his shoulders. “Let’s get going... he ain’t heavy, he’s my friend.” Mike says as he heads for the exit upstairs.   About an hour later, a meeting is called in one of the private dining rooms at the Club. Many of Alden’s friends and co-workers were there, all determined to help their sick friend.   Freeman calls the meeting to order. He is a black feline furson, with white bib and boots. “Okay... let’s get some facts together.   “Uncle Al was found near the cooling pond an hour ago. Evidence shows that something came out of the pool, then returned. Checks of the intake and outlet screens show nothing.   “I have been able to track down the siphoning spell, to a degree. All I can tell for sure at the moment is that it leads out along the coast. I need a volunteer who can handle splashing about in the shallows, looking for the other end of the magic drain.   “Not you, cousin!” he snaps as Alden’s newly-adopted son Leth raises a paw. “It may be dangerous, and if you get hurt, who will look after Tina?” referring to the pudgy young otter who is clinging to Leth’s arm, eyes wide with fright. She was the one who found the shell and gave it to ‘Elderfur’, as she called Alden, ‘because it pretty!’ Leth lowers his paw.   Freeman scans the room. “I’m open to ideas, too, so don’t hesitate, okay?”   Blimp Wolf raises a paw. “I suggest that you, Blue, and I remain here at the Club, to keep things running for the customers. While I’m sure we all want to go rushing out to help Alden, we have customers to think of, too.” he says.   Freeman nods in agreement. “That is correct, BW. That leaves us out of the force, and you stay here too, Barney.” referring to the big maintenance bear, Barney Brown, who was standing next to his newly-arrived grandson, Bungle.   “Yer roight, Free. With Alley Cat down, Oi’m the only one who can fix de big compressas, wot?” the old British bear says.   Freeman looks about, surveying the crowd. “First thing is to find where the power is going. Mike, you like to dive, right?”   “Yeah, I do, but I can’t track a magic power line I can’t see!” the detective points out.   Freeman visibly hesitates before proceeding. “Mike, I can put a spell on you that will enable you to ‘sniff out’ the trail of the power.   “I know you don’t like magic, BUT, what I’m thinking is this thing that’s draining Uncle Al’s power would be very sensitive to the use of magic near it. By sending you there, with scuba gear, the critter may not notice you.   “If it is a critter, that is.”   Mike hesitates, then nods agreement. “This is for him. I’ll do anything for that cat!” he mutters.   Freeman then looks at Drake and Tombfyre. “Drake, I want you to fly your car around near Mike is swimming, watching him. Maybe you can do some air-combat maneuvering with Mr. Bonne, if that green-haired comedian is listening to me!” he says, raising his voice. Blues was not in the room, but Freeman was sure the man was listening somehow. He was good friends with Al, and would drop anything to help. In HIS own way, of course!   “Tombfyre, I’d want you and Bungle to be near, maybe teaching the kid some chop-sockie routines. In case of combat, the two of you can get there fast. I’m sure Drake and Blues will drop in to help.” The red dragon and young bear both nod in agreement.   “Chop-sockie?” Bungle whispers to his granddad.   “Wot the Yanks call those karatty movies, kid.” he rumbles back.   “Oh.”   From the back of the room, Atman raises a paw. “Can I help, Freeman?” he asks.   Freeman blinks. “Yes, yes you can! Why don’t you go with Bungle and Tombfyre to teach the bear some fighting techniques? That way, if some pounding is needed, you can help too!   “Also, Smiler, you go along with Mike as a diving buddy. I know it’s salt water, but, who better than a frog for the shallows?” Freeman suggests.   “Okay. I’ll stay in the boat while Mike dives.” Smiler adds.   “Good! Now, lets see... any other suggestions?”   Mike raises a paw. “Which boat can I get?” he asks.   Freeman thinks. “Use Uncle Al’s... I’m sure he won’t object. I mean the BOAT, not the CAR! I can’t even handle that one!” He chuckles, as does many of the other furs. Alden’s submersible car is well-known to all, but is a bear to handle without training!   Drake asks, “Where’s Roddy? Does he know?”   “Yes he does, but Specs is with him, in the kitchen. If he’s busy, he won’t have time to get upset, and it so happens he’s the only cook tonight... I wonder how that happened...” Freeman chuckles, as does most of the others.   “Okay, everyone get ready, and meet me here in 30 minutes. Mike, if you’ll come with me?”   With a resigned sigh, Mike goes with Freeman for the spell. “It’s for Al. It’s for Al.” he mutters to himself.   An hour or so later, Mike is in his scuba gear, swimming rapidly through the ocean. The spell has enabled him to ‘sniff out’ the trail of the magic, leaving a scent of raw bleach in his nostrils when he is on the path. ‘It’s for Al.. It’s for Al...’ he thinks. He remembers back to Freeman’s last words...   “Uncle Al is dying. This is draining more than his power, it’s draining his life. We have maybe four more hours before his will to live is gone. Work fast, people!”   Mike follows the shore, and the stench. Several times, he loses the trail. When he does, he frantically searches for it, not relaxing until his nostrils threaten to go on strike.   An hour goes by in this fashion, Mike swimming with Smiler following in the boat, when the stench gets so strong, it’s all he can do to not sneeze his mouthpiece out. Frantically, he surfaces so he can sneeze. “Here! We gotta be close!” he shouts after clearing his nose, then he resets his breather and dives.   Diving, Mike finds a small cleft in the rocks on the bottom, From inside, he sees a warm purple glow, like what Alden’s creations make. He swims for a closer look.   He sees a ring of what looks like coral, glowing a brilliant purple, about the size where he could slip it over his paw, like a bracelet. By this time, his olfactory senses have completely packed up and walked off in disgust, sparing the Doberman the reek of bleach.   Tentatively, he reaches into the cleft and touches the bracelet. Immediately, Mike feels a sense of loss, a yearning to return someplace, that something like a lost child is desperately seeking its parent. Quickly, he slips the bracelet over his paw.   Meanwhile, on the surface, Smiler had radioed Drake the news that Mike was on to something. Drake had promptly passed the news back to the Club, and to Bungle, who was watching Tombfyre and Atman spar on the beach at Alden’s house, about 2 miles from where Smiler and Mike stopped.   Mike started swimming up from the rock cleft. As he neared the surface, SOMETHING grabbed his foot. Surprised, he turned to look.   What appeared to be a cross between a seal, a dragon, and a squid has a tentacle wrapped around Mike’s left leg and was pulling him down from near the surface! He struggled, but was unable to rise toward the surface. A tentacle reached for the bracelet. Mike kicked it away. Again, it reached. Again, he kicked it away.   Mike felt and saw that he was being dragged deeper. This creature wanted the bracelet, and was dragging him to the bottom to reclaim it! The detective had a flash if inspiration.   He reached into the pocket of his diving shorts and pulled out something he had placed in there... one of the oxygen candies that he was going to show Al. He managed to slip it in his mouth, wrapper and all. He used his tongue and teeth to slip the candy out from the wrapper and swallow.   On the surface, Smiler saw Mike being grabbed and dragged down. Quickly, the amphibian grabbed the radio microphone. “Drake! Mike’s in trouble! Need help!” he shouted.   Drake didn’t lose time in answering, instead, he called Bungle. After getting the message, the young bear ran between the sparring dragons.   “Mike’s in trouble! He needs our help, and now!” he shouted. Tombfyre grabbed a hold of Bungle and threw him onto his neck, shouting for him to hold on as both he and Atman began their takeoff runs.   Meanwhile, the oxygen candy had its desired effect on Mike. As his body began to swell up, he shrugged out of the tanks, remembering that if he just held his breath, he would have all the air he needed. At least for a while. Plus, the volume of gas in him would not only increase his buoyancy, but he would also expand... including his wrists. This had the effect of clamping the bracelet firmly on his wrist, rendering it unable to be removed until he deflated.   Mike rose up to the surface, dragging the creature up with him. The thing fought hard to get Mike back down, but he was just too buoyant. It scrabbled and scrambled for the bracelet, but it was firmly dug in to the ballooned-up flesh of Mike’s wrist to be pulled off.   It then tried poking at Mike with its beak, trying to pop the dog. Instead, when it tried to bite, a purple flash occurred, shocking the creature, which released Mike and thrashed some just under the surface. Mike rolled about on the surface like an immense ball, too rounded to stop, and privately enjoying the feeling of being a 10-foot sphere.   Tombfyre and Atman now overflew the scene, staying clear of Drake’s airborne TransAm. Tombfyre did a sudden barrel roll over the boat, dropping a surprised Bungle smack-dab into it, next to a stunned Smiler, who had ducked to avoid the massive dragon.   “Ow! Hey!” Bungle protested. “You could have warned me!” Tombfyre didn’t respond as he climbed, willing himself to grow from his 9' size to his full 350'.   “What’s that noise?” Smiler asked as a low droning sound became audible over the noise of Drake’s car and Tombfyre’s wings.   “I don’t know... sounds like a plane motor!” Bungle said as he picked himself up, quickly checking his bokken for splinters.   “Smiler? Bungle? Can I get a hand here?” Mike called as he rolled about. “I got what Al needs!” Smiler piloted the boat to Mike’s side, then Bungle rolled the 10' Doberman into the stern.   No words passed between the three dragons in the air. None were needed. Drake fired several shots at the creature, causing it to thrash in pain. Tombfyre when swooped down, scooping the creature up in his claws and carrying it high into the air.   As he climbed, he saw a familiar red dart-shaped vessel arrowing towards them from the north. An idea occurred to the macro-dragon. He dropped the thrashing creature, in front of Atman.   By this time, Atman had pulled out a gift that Alden had given him... a power staff. The device could grow from the size of a policeman’s baton to a 10' long, 4" thick staff at a thought. He willed it to full size as the creature dropped in front of him. He then swung his staff like a baseball bat.   Erubiel Durazo could not have done a better job at the plate. The swing was true, smacking into the creature and sending it flying... right onto the needle prow of The Swordfish, Blues T. Bonne’s personal red flyer. Blues swooped the ship up and around, displaying his catch, then setting course directly for the Club.   In the boat, Mike quickly burped out the oxygen that was distending him, not without a promise to do this again later. “Call Drake- we need to get this back to Al... and fast!” he said, indicating the glowing purple bracelet. Then, to everyone’s surprise, Mike... disappeared.   The startled Doberman reappeared in the VIP room at the Club, where Alden was lying on the bed, surprising Dr. Harvey, who was in attendance.   “How did you do that, Michael? And what is that?” the elderly rabbit asked, looking at the bracelet, which was pulsing purple, and a purple glow was extending from it to Alden’s sleeping form.   “I think the power wanted to return home, but could not do so on its own. It needed guidance, a will behind it, a purpose to the power, for it to work.” the detective mused as the purple glow surrounded Alden with its radiance. “It knew I wanted to help Al, and it acted on my will.”   The dog and the rabbit watched the glow fade into the sleeping cat. With a twitch and a groan, one eye opened. It was glazed and bleary, but open. Mike could see ‘the Spark’ was back in full force. Mike felt the thrill of success and relief that coursed through him when Alden, in a thick, rusty voice, mumbled his first words... “I’ve had hangovers before, but this is ridiculous!”   “Welcome back to the land of the living, friend.” Mike said, tears appearing in his eyes as he took Alden’s paw in both of his and just held, in relief and joy. “I’ve got one helluva fish story for you!”   A while later, the whole crowd was once again back in the meeting room. Platters of party foods were set up, courtesy of the kitchen staff (Roddy and Leth, with Tina’s ‘aid’). All the furs were around, chatting up what went on. Mike was the center of attention, furs asking about the purple coral bracelet he was wearing. Alden and Freeman had yet to arrive, being busy ‘questioning’ the critter from the deeps. Blues also wasn’t there, but that was typical of the mysterious human.   Soon, the door opened, and the missing managers appeared, Alden walking with a cheerful spring in his stride. A loud cheer went up from the assembled furs. Alden held up his paws for quiet.   When quiet reigned, he told the furs “First, my heartfelt thanks to all of you for working together in this matter. I’m more proud of you all than I can express.   “Next, about what happened. The thing that is currently recuperating in the pool was a seaborne magician who had the good fortune to be swimming near when I was swimming with my family, both actual and adopted. It felt my power, and decided to go after it.   “It decided to use Tina as an unwitting pawn, to bring the pretty shell to me. That was the first part of the link.   “Later, it exerted a compulsion for me to go down to the cooling pool. There, it had teleported into the pool, waiting for me to arrive. Once I did, it reached up and slapped with a tentacle. When I looked, it slapped again, touching me and establishing the power drain.   “The power went to the bracelet, because my power is too strong for the creature to use directly. The bracelet acted as a buffer, shielding the creature from the full force of the power.”   He paused for a sip of water before continuing. “I said it WAS a magician. That is because Freeman and I... thrummed it. It no longer can use magic in any way, shape, or form. Beforehand, we healed it, and once it gets over the shock, Blues has agreed to transport the thing far away from here.”   Mike jumped in. “But, one thing I want to know. How did I teleport from the boat to your bedside? Was it the power, or me, or what?”   Alden smiles at the Doberman, now back in his customary attire. “The ‘purple power’ in me is aware, after a fashion. It could tell you wanted to help me, and it wanted to get ‘home’,” he said, thumping his chest, “so, it helped you help it. Once we were reunited, it did what it needed to... come back to where it belonged.”   Blue then asked, “How was the magic stolen from you to begin with?”   “A simple power tap, going on the magics I use for the Club. However, the purple power is wedded to it, and got drawn off. THAT will not happen again, I assure you. Forewarned is forearmed!   “Speaking of forearmed...” Alden walked over to Mike. “That bracelet is yours now. Please keep it as a token of this adventure.” Alden then shook the big dog’s paw, which turned into a back-slapping hug as a cheer arose.   “Thanks, Mike.” Alden whispered.   “Part of the service, Al. This world will be a poorer place without you.” Mike growled quietly in return.