Leslie Clark is the youngest and most intellectually inclined member of the ClueFinders. She has the title of Team Research Officer.
Appearance
Leslie is African-American and is the shortest of the human ClueFinders. She wears her hair in dreadlocks. In most games, her hair color is dark brown, and her irises are depicted as black. However, in The ClueFinders 4th Grade Adventures: Puzzle of the Pyramid, Leslie had black hair and dark green irises, and in the original release of The ClueFinders Math Adventures Ages 9–12: Mystery in the Himalayas, her eyes are depicted as dark brown in some scenes. In most promotional/case artwork, she has black hair and medium-brown irises. Her signature outfit consists of a yellow shirt with a matching miniskirt, a pinkish-purple vest, light off-white socks, and small tan shoes similar to penny loafers.
In the games, her age was originally 11, but was later changed to 10 as of The ClueFinders 5th Grade Adventures: Secret of the Living Volcano, and remained that way for the rest of the games. In the book The ClueFinders: The Mystery of the Backlot Banshee, she is stated to be 11. She has always been stated to be in the sixth grade.
Outfit variations
In The ClueFinders 4th Grade Adventures, Leslie wore a light purple shirt, a dark blue skirt, a gray belt with a silver buckle, pale blue socks, and dark blue boots.
In The ClueFinders 6th Grade Adventures: Empire of the Plant People and The ClueFinders: The Incredible Toy Store Adventure!, Leslie wears a yellowish-orange backpack with brown straps in addition to her signature clothes. In some scenes of The ClueFinders 6th Grade Adventures, she also wears pinkish-purple socks that match the color of her vest instead of her usual ones.
In The ClueFinders Math Adventures, Leslie wore a pinkish-purple hooded jacket over a yellow shirt, pinkish-purple pants, navy blue mittens, and dark blue boots.
In some early ClueFinders promotional artwork, Leslie was depicted with a pink vest and shoes, and an indigo shirt and skirt.
Personality and Character Traits
Leslie is an avid reader who does a lot of research in her spare time, and generally tries to learn all she can. Because of this, she is easily able to recall specific facts that help the ClueFinders on their quests. Leslie's profile in Laptrap's "ClueFinders Club" file states that she won the National Spelling Bee when she was nine, holds the local record for checking out the most library books a year and that her first word was "encyclopedia." Her trademark gag is the way in which she uses complicated words in casual conversations, for example, describing tossing a Frisbee as "exploring the aerodynamics of this projectile". She studies molecules in her spare time, and in 6th Grade Adventures she mentions she takes advanced chemistry classes. She doesn't like to see books being damaged or treated poorly, which is noted in The ClueFinders Mystery Mansion Arcade and The ClueFinders: The Mystery of the Backlot Banshee. In The ClueFinders: The Mystery of Microsneezia, Leslie also develops a strong liking for pink bubblegum.
Leslie is shown to have a determined nature in times of trouble, particularly in The ClueFinders 6th Adventures, where she confidently states that she and Owen can overcome any obstacle in order to rescue Joni and Santiago. She is also shown have a sense of justice, such as when she thought an innocent kindhearted old woman was attacked, describing it as intolerable.
Leslie's analytical nature and way of speaking contrast Owen's, and they sometimes bounce off of each other because of this. In The ClueFinders 5th Grade Adventures, Leslie got annoyed with Owen when he bragged about having saved her and when she felt he was taking credit for her work, and she also dislikes the way he translates her elaborate vocabulary into layman's terms, finding it unnecessary. However, the two are shown to work together well when needed, primarily in The ClueFinders 6th Grade Adventures, where they seem to be on much friendlier terms. In the book series, Leslie and Owen also seem to get along relatively well.
In later games, Leslie is more commonly paired with Santiago. The two of them seem to have an easier time getting along, and they work well together due to them both being inclined to calmly rationalize situations, in addition to them both being quite knowledgeable.
Role in the Games
The ClueFinders 3rd Grade Adventures: Mystery of Mathra
Leslie accompanies the other ClueFinders to the Numerian rain forest where Joni's uncle Horace was said to have been kidnapped by Mathra. As they fly there in Fletcher Q. Limburger's plane, Leslie recalls that she read about a lost city near here, and opens a book describing the myth of the Lost City. After the plane lands, Joni and Santiago set out to find the keys to the Lost City, while Leslie and Owen remain at camp to serve as backup. Throughout the game, Leslie and Owen can be contacted with the video phone for advice. At the end of the game, after Joni's uncle is rescued and Limburger is defeated, Leslie is seen aboard a rowboat with the other ClueFinders and Dr. Pythagoras, who congratulates them all and decides to give Laptrap in return for their hard work.
The ClueFinders 4th Grade Adventures: Puzzle of the Pyramid
Leslie and the other ClueFinders go to Egypt to help Professor Botch with the opening of a newly discovered tomb. Later that night, Joni reveals to the other ClueFinders that she accidentally took a ring from the tomb with her after it became stuck on her finger. Leslie remarks that it appears to be a ceremonial ring, and suggests that Joni should let Professor Botch know what happened. The next day, they all return to the tomb site to find that it is mysteriously deserted, and the professor is gone. Socrates accidentally reveals a hidden chamber containing a scroll. Leslie observes that it must be very important if it was hidden away from all the other treasures. The ClueFinders all go to Cairo so they can have the scroll translated. They discover that they must take a boat south down the Nile River to find a place of power for stopping the evil god Seth. This takes them to the Nile Kingdom, where they must enter an obelisk. After making their way to the top of the obelisk, they encounter four Egyptian deities, who grant them special powers. The goddess Bast grants Leslie enhanced intelligence. When the ClueFinders confront Seth, Leslie formulates a plan for defeating him. She instructs Joni to distract him, and tells Owen to lift Santiago up so he can reverse the temple's pistons. This cause the temple to collapse, which defeats Seth. Afterwards, Leslie and the other ClueFinders revert back to their normal selves, and they are last seen aboard a plane with the professor.
The ClueFinders 5th Grade Adventures: Secret of the Living Volcano
The ClueFinders embark on an oceanic expedition with Leslie's grandfather, Captain Clark. After a sudden tsunami leaves them shipwrecked on an uncharted island, Leslie and Owen end up trapped in an underground chamber somewhere on the island. While Joni, Santiago and LapTrap set out to rescue them, Leslie and Owen investigate the nature of the mysterious tablets called CrypTiles in their chamber. After Joni, Santiago and LapTrap reunite with Leslie and Owen, an alien tries to grab them, causing the ClueFinders to run in different directions. Joni and Santiago end up trapped inside of a biosphere chamber with other human captives, including Leslie's grandfather, and Leslie, Owen and LapTrap wind up in a different chamber. Leslie's group realizes that the island is actually an alien spaceship which they are inside of. Using the spaceship's computers, Leslie's group discovers that the aliens are collecting humans and animals as specimens with the goal of raising them as livestock on their planet so that they can harvest their brains for food. Leslie, Owen and LapTrap start releasing the specimens from the biosphere chambers, while aliens pursue them. Just as Leslie's group frees all of the human captives, the aliens catch up to them. All of the people quickly flee into another room, where there are various buttons and controls. Leslie advises not to touch them, since they don't know what they'll do, but Owen points out that they have nothing to lose, so the ClueFinders press all of the buttons in front of them. Leslie ends up pressing the tsunami button, and just as all of the people board a ship, it is pushed away from the island by the enormous wave as the island sinks into the ocean. Then they watch as the spaceship rises out of the ocean, and blasts away.
The ClueFinders 6th Grade Adventures: Empire of the Plant People
The ClueFinders Math Adventures Ages 9–12: Mystery in the Himalayas
The ClueFinders Reading Adventures Ages 9-12: Mystery of the Missing Amulet
While inspecting a meteor crash site, the ClueFinders are suddenly transported to the far-off planet Millennia. Leslie and Santiago are trapped and imprisoned at the volcano Mount Valdrok by the evil sorceress Malicia. Joni, Owen, and LapTrap set out to rescue them.
The ClueFinders Search and Solve Adventures: The Phantom Amusement Park
The ClueFinders: The Incredible Toy Store Adventure!
The ClueFinders Mystery Mansion Arcade
The ClueFinders are tricked into entering a mansion where four villains from previous encounters are waiting to get their revenge. Alistair Loveless has a challenge designed for Leslie that takes place in a Gothic library. During her challenge, Leslie can collect Bookerangs which grant her the ability to stun enemies and cut ropes in Joni's Last-Chance Labyrinth.
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