The Mandalorian Brothers and the Stolen Painting, Pt. 1
A mysterious thief steals the Mona Lisa from Paris and hides clues all around the world....
Prelude: The Misunderstanding
Once upon a time, there was a boy named Quaz who lived in a nearby city called Brobrinson. He had lived in Fuzabon as a little boy before a surprising attack ruined the city. Then, after the surprise attack, he decided to move away. He had tried to convince his family to leave with him, but they had wanted to stay behind and help rebuild Fuzabon into the City Between Two Sides (they had survived the attack by hiding underneath some metal). A few months later, one of the fellow workers, who was building the new city, came to visit Quaz with very bad news: his parents had died. The worker reported that Quaz's parents had fallen into an unfinished building, but Quaz misunderstood him and thought that they had been pushed over into the building by the city's former bad guys. Now, he wanted revenge for his family.
Chapter 1: Mission Impossible
On one cold winter day in Paris, snow covered all door steps, and people could barely get to work. Early that morning, Quaz had executed his mission impossible and had broken into the Paris Museum and got to work stealing items. He started swinging around the building and using his lasers to cut through the bullet-proof glass protecting the items he wanted -- including the Mona Lisa. Quaz also wanted other crown jewels, rubies, diamonds, and famous sculptures. He was stealing very important pieces of artwork (remember to read the prelude to find out why)! He also made sure to de-activate all of the floor alarms so that nobody would realize that he was there and he would have enough time to escape safely. He tossed all of his stolen items into a giant backpack and then tied the backpack onto a ladder while he climbed up. Then, he pulled the ladder up with all his might.
Chapter 2: Louis and the Breaking News
Later that day, the people of the museum came in to sweep the grounds and saw that all the priceless art was missing. They went to check on the Mona Lisa and noticed that all of the protective glass was shattered and nothing was left in the case. They called the police and reported the crime. They said, "We don't know who could have broken this glass because it's bulletproof. And, it seems like the alarms did not go off." The police tried to leave their station to inform the news channel, but there was too much snow outside, and there was no one they were going to be able to shovel it all! So, they called one of their favorite reporters, Louis, and told him what had happened. Louis asked them some questions and then wrote a story:
"Breaking News! Breaking News! Today, at 6:28 am, the museum was robbed, and several things went missing, including many crowned jewels and the Mona Lisa. Please, if you have any information about the crime or the thief, call the police or the President immediately. Paris needs your help!”
Chapter 3: The Missing Objects
Meanwhile, the Mandalorian Brothers had opened their door and started shoveling snow off the sidewalk. They had flown to Paris 9 days earlier to keep an eye on the city because the news had reported lots of recent crimes. Meanwhile, the museum curator called the Mandalorian Brothers. The brothers hurried to the phone and said, "Hello?"
The curator quickly said, "The Mona Lisa and many other priceless jewels were stolen from the museum last night. If you have any information, please help us!"
The brothers hurried to the museum to investigate and see if they could help. They walked up to the top of the museum and climbed onto the snow. Then, when they got on top of the roof, they noticed that a vent was open. The brothers climbed through the vent and entered the museum. Sure enough, they saw broken glass and missing paintings and jewels. Basically, everything that had been in that room was not gone. The museum curator was totally right!
Chapter 4: The First Clue
Meanwhile, the Brothers started investigating around the museum. They looked for any clues that could help them, but there were none. So, they started looking more closely at the empty spots where the art had been. But, they didn’t see anything. Then, Apollo suggested that they use their UV lights to look at this problem. BabaFrank pulled out their UV light and shined it on the empty Mona Lisa case. Using the UV light, they found a scroll with some unusual writing on it. They realized the scroll was entirely written in Spanish, and it told them to go to Mexico. It said, “there is something in the Gulf of Mexico. To receive your next clue, go to the center of the Gulf.”
The brothers looked at each other. “In the center of Gulf? Wow! We better hurry if we want to find the next clue,” Apollo said. The brothers hopped in their golden airplane and hurried to the Gulf of Mexico.
Chapter 5: Flying to Mexico
But before their plane took off, the Brothers realized they had forgotten to change out the wheels for waterskis. It was important for them to make this switch so that they could land right on the Gulf of Mexico and float around for a while. The Brothers took off the gold wheels and put on some silver waterskis. Then, they got back inside the airplane and took off. It took them about 96 hours to get there. Thankfully, their airplane was really nice and had a bed, a kitchen, a potty, and most other housekeeping stuff. When they got closer to the Gulf, they started their landing. They had just finished breakfast and were looking at their GPS to make sure they landed safely in the center of the Gulf. Their landing was perfect! Once they were on the water, they hurried to the closet to find their scuba gear (thanks for saving people's lives underwater, daddy!). Then, they opened the side door of the airplane and jumped into the Gulf. They also closed the door while they were in mid-air to make sure that no water got inside!
Chapter 6: The Chest
Once they were in the water, the Mandalorian Brothers dived in deeper with their scuba gear. Their GPS was waterproof, so they could tell they were close to the center of the Gulf, where they could find the next clue. Then, they saw a super, super fast dolphin, who they asked to give them a ride. They also asked him if he had seen anything that might look like it had a scroll inside. The dolphin said he had not and told the brothers that their GPS probably would give them better directions. The brothers checked their GPS again and showed it to the dolphin. The dolphin gave them a ride and zoomed as fast as the speed as light. So fast, in fact, that the brothers couldn't see anything around them. All they could see was their GPS telling them to spot in 2 seconds. The brothers yelled out the instructions to the dolphin, who quickly stopped. Sure enough, right in front of them was a beautiful chest no larger than them. The chest was made out of wood and had gold bars wrapped around it. The chest also had three rounding carvings and a sideways moon shape on the top. As the Brothers got closer, the two circles on the top suddenly popped open - they were eyes! Then, the one circle in the middle started making noises and bubbles - it was a nose! Finally, the sideways moon started to chop on seaweed - it was a mouth! The chest was alive! The Mandalorian Brothers did not know what to do, but they told the dolphin to charge at the chest at the speed of light. The dolphin knocked off a few of the bars, but they needed to knock a few more off to get what was inside. They asked the dolphin to ram into the chest again, and a few more bars were knocked off! There were only three more bars left. The brothers asked the dolphin to charge at the chest one more time, and suddenly the chest opened! Now it looked like a regular box.
Chapter 7: CCGM
The brothers were surprised and decided to piggyback off the dolphin towards the chest to see it more closely. Apollo piggybacked onto BabaFrank, who swam to the chest and tried to pull it open. The code to open it was CCGM: it was all of the first initials of the Mandalorian Brothers' best friends. The first letter was for Carlos, the second was for Carter, the third was for George, and the last was for Michelangelo. The Brothers thought of this quickly and typed in the code. Sure enough, the lock popped off, and the chest opened. Inside, there was a glass bottle with a scroll in it. The scroll said, "Next, go to Sumatra, Indonesia. That's where you will find your second clue." The brothers stuffed the bottle into their pocket and then asked the dolphin to swim them back to where they had met. Once they got back to that spot, the Mandalorian Brothers then asked the dolphin if he could swing them up into the airplane. They quickly said their goodbyes, and then the dolphin jumped up above the water, swinging them towards the airplane. The brothers waved, and the dolphin quickly zoomed to tell his friends about what he had just encountered. Once the brothers got inside their plane, they started changing out of their scuba gear.
Apollo said, "hmm, if I were a thief, where would I hide an extra clue?"
"Probably nowhere in sight," BabaFrank replied.
"Underground?" Apollo asked.
BabaFrank nodded and then started up the plane.
P.S. Here’s a sneak peek of the living chest!