A scream split the silent night air of Camp Half-Blood. There was the sound of glass shattering, and a black-clad figure leaped out of the Big House and into the dark sky, aided by a pair of enormous black bat like wings that exploded out of his shoulders. As the moon came out from behind the clouds, the moonlight reflected off the black and gray plates of the thief's armor. The alarm was soon raised and all the campers rushed outside to confront the intruder.
This should not have been possible. Monsters could not penetrate the magical borders of the camp. But this was no monster. In vain did the Apollo cabin shoot arrows at the figure. In vain did Percy Jackson and his friends pursue the intruder, in hope of retrieving their stolen magical items. But by the time they had reached the armored intruder, he was already jumping through an interdimensional portal in the woods, through which, without his invitation, none could follow. And for good measure, the thief had set the cabins alight.
He was a collector, of sorts. But more on that later.
As he landed in his pocket dimension, he contacted one of his clients, Llessur. He had to notify him that he had Riptide, Percy's sword.
"What?" asked Llessur.
"Guess what I've got here?" asked the thief. "It's the sword you wanted for your wall, Riptide."
"Great," replied Llessur.
"I shall deliver it to you as soon as possible. And don't forget about my reward."
"Whatever."
"Nice doing business with you."
He terminated the thief took off his helmet, revealing two cunning brown eyes. He was known to his clients as the Traveler, because he could open portals to any fictional dimension. Well, all except Dreamland. If the Traveler went there, it would upset the balance and cause a 'logic loop' to occur, trapping him there. It was just too perfect there. The Traveler set his helmet on his ivory inlaid desk, and checked his messages.
There was a new one, and from a new client, too. Owley. Now she was an interesting one. Completely Pokemon obsessed. Her last job for him had been to collect all of the Frontier Symbols for her, and to eliminate "the pesky Frontier Brains", whom she found too troublesome to fight one at a time. At both these missions, he had excelled. There were now seven new graves in Mount Pyre, and seven new symbols in Owley's possession. How predictable.
When the Traveler completed a job, his clients would give him a small piece to add to his own collection, which he was keeping in his base. There were over nine thousand rooms, each containing a different collection, from Clawshots to rusty keys, you name it, and it was here.
The Traveler looked at the message, and remembered how he had killed all seven of the Frontier Brains. He had impaled Tucker on an icicle, hung Lucy from the ceiling of the Battle Pike with her own Seviper, thrown Anabel off her the top of her tower, given Spenser a heart attack with a hologram, trapped Brandon in his maze (minus the exit, causing him to die of starvation), fed Noland through his own factory machines (turning him into Poochyena food), and suffocated Greta with her own white belt. It had not been fun, but business was business. Even if he had to wash bloodstains off his armor.
As the Traveler read the message, he allowed a smile to form on his normally blank face. All images of dead Frontier Brains were instantly laid aside.
The message said:
Traveler,
Due to your effectiveness and speed at doing missions, I have decided to press a new one on you. I am currently on a quest to hunt down and capture all of the Legendary Pokemon in Hoenn and beyond. I am having trouble getting Ho-oh, Lugia, Entei, Raikou, Suicune, Rayquaza, Groudon, Kyogre, and Latias. I need you to travel to Hoenn and capture them for me. Your reward will be exceedingly handsome when this task is complete. Do not kill unless absolutely necessary.
Best wishes,
Owley
The Traveler picked up his helmet and slotted it over his head, feeling it lock into place. As he opened the portal to Hoenn, he smiled once more. Unlike his previous mission, this one would be fun.