Thief

Katy heaved a long sigh after stretching and eliciting a couple pops from her spine. Sleeping on the ground every night was getting the best of her. She moaned as she dug in her bag to put her trainer's brace on and tapped the touch screen to make it light up. The number at the bottom read 246. "Ugh. We've godda get some more Points today, Banksy. I barely have enough to heal all you guys one more time."

Banksy, Katy's plump Raichu, rubbed her eyes and tilted her head. "Wai?"

"I'd rather not transfer any of the money we've made to Trainer Points. Not unless we absolutely have to, okay?" She looked down at her orange friend and pet her velvety head. Banksy happily leaned into the love, her eyes squinting up in delight. "Eeee."

"Come on. Let's go find a battle and we'll all have a nice breakfast." Katy stood up and dug in her bag for the Poké Ball with a decal of a fossilized skull on it. She pressed the button in the center and tossed it up. With a crisp pop, the Ball opened and a white light zapped out of it and to the ground, forming a large mass until the light broke away. A hefty Dragonite uncurled to its full height and shook itself like a dog that just got out of a bath. "Morning, Bentley! Ready to look for some trainers?"

"Rowr," Bentley replied with an enthusiastic flap of his large wings. He leaned down and Katy climbed into the saddle strapped around his chest and on his back. Banksy hopped up gracefully and took her rightful place in front of her trainer in the saddle. "Eeroooh!" Bentley took off through the grass, running on his hind legs and flapping his wings. Katy did her best to keep her hair out of her face—she'd forgotten to put on her headband. Soon Bentley was off the ground and in the air. He was a little wobbly, and it used to concern Katy, but he had yet to crash or drop her, so she just held on tight. And maybe Banksy wasn't entirely confident Bentley wouldn't make a mistake, as she tensed into a tight ball of fuzz with a clawed, death-grip on the saddle and her long tail wrapped around the straps as tightly as it could be.

It wasn't long before they were well over the canopy of trees, scarcely dotted here and there. Katy missed the forest; that was her favorite environment to spend time in. Not always because of the Pokémon found in it, but how it made her feel, a feeling she had yet to be able to describe. But today, it was better this way; it made for easy spotting of trainers from above. And in no time, she found a traveler sporting a backpack and hat. "There we go, Bentley! Head down to that person—but don't scare them, okay?"

"Aroo." Bentley dipped and glided closer to the ground. He dodged a couple trees before coming to the grass and beating his wings at an angle appropriate for landing. The trainer stopped walking when the Dragonite leaned over and looked over with his rider, who was waving happily.

"Hey, there! You care for a battle?"

The boy was younger, probably eighteen, maybe younger than that. But he was tall and gangly. He eyed Bentley with hesitation. "My Pokémon isn't very strong. I only have one on me right now."

Well, that's not very smart, Katy thought to herself. "Ooh. Out here you probably want to keep a full team of six on you—even if they're not too strong. It's just safer." She hopped out of her Dragonite's saddle. "But it's okay. I have a lower level Pokémon with me. If you battle me, I'll heal your partner up when we're done. Yeah?"

"What level?"

"She's twenty-nine. That close enough?" Katy put her hands on her hips, becoming a bit impatient.

"What is it?"

Katy blinked. "Not telling." It was actually rude to ask what Pokémon a trainer had before agreeing to a battle. Was this kid new or something?

The guy sighed. He looked to his trainer's brace and tapped the screen. Upon apparently seeing deplorable numbers like the ones Katy found on her brace, he nodded. "All right." He dug in his pocket.

Katy smiled and stepped back and gave them an appropriate battle space as she went to her bag and dug for the correct Poké Ball. She found the Great Ball with the decal of sagging pants on it. She returned to her position and both trainers stuck out their fists. The two trainer's braces' screens were already lit up with "TRAINER FOUND" and their names. This guy's name was Taron. But his picture didn't look a whole lot like him. Under this information, there were the options "REGISTER", "BATTLE", or "MESSAGE." Both of them tapped the "BATTLE" option on their respective screens. Each brace now said "CHOOSE YOUR POKÉMON."

Taron tossed out a plain, decoration-less Poké Ball. The light that burst out of it gathered and broke away to reveal a fairly large Swadloon. Now Katy's screen lit up with a rotating image of the species of Pokémon and the level number of twenty-one. The numbers at the top flickered a count until two rested at the top of her screen: one number for Reward reading 214 and Loss reading 234. She winced first at how if she lost this battle, she'd only have 12 Trainer Points left and she would certainly have to trade money for Points. But that wasn't likely. She winced for this poor Swadloon that was about to face the unhinged terror that rested inside her hand.

"Let's go, Mozart!" Katy threw the Ball out and it broke in the air. A light travelled down to the grass and a small Scraggy stumbled out of it, tripping over her skin-pants and falling on her face. She then proceeded to make a sound that was supposed to be an angry growl but sounded more like a pathetic gurgle as she struggled to get back on her tiny feet. Mozart the Scraggy now faced her opponent with heated eyes of blood-boiling battle. Both trainers waited for their braces' screens to process, a rolling Poké Ball in the center of the screen until it gently flashed yellow with blinking "BATTLE MODE" now showing at the top.

The second their statuses switched to Battle Mode, the trainers simultaneously hollered out their first attack command. The Scraggy darted forward, holding her skin-pants up and kept her head low as she charged straight for the Swadloon.

"Swoof!" The Swadloon ruffled its leaf-cocoon and tiny razor-sharp foliage spun out and shot toward Mozart.

"Watch out!" Katy called.

"Scree!" Mozart weaved to dodge the leaves, but then lost her momentum and accuracy for the head butt to effectively strike. Swadloon rather effortlessly feinted around her.

"Vine Whip!" Taron shouted.

"Waah," Swadloon's rough vines slipped out from between its leaves and zoomed toward the Scraggy. Mozart squeaked when a vine snapped against her flank and growled when the other wrapped around her waist. Katy didn't have to holler anything; Mozart immediately chomped down on the vine with everything she had. A hissing sound came from the Swadloon and it quickly let go, retracting its vines back to its body. Mozart launched herself at the bug thing and attached herself to its head and began to Bite repeatedly. The Swadloon tried to defend itself with its vines again, but to no avail. Mozart was not about to tolerate actually being attacked in a battle. The leaves were beginning to fall away and crumple under Mozart's teeth.

"Mozart, that's enough now! Dial it back, come on."

With another sharp and defiant Bite, Mozart let go and released a kick that was evidently more powerful that it appeared. Swadloon flipped over on its side and let out a frustrated or otherwise pained cry.

"Come on, get up!" Taron yelled.

The Swadloon awkwardly pushed itself up with the help of its vines, but Mozart just kicked it again. In the face. Which made the bug retreat into its leaf-fortress. The leaves all compressed and shrank around it, turning it into a giant leaf ball. Mozart jumped on it and kept Biting.

"Okay—Mozart, stop."

The Scraggy quit Biting again, but then kicked the leaf ball into a tree. Now began a rather embarrassing display of this lizard chasing and kicking this soccer ball of a Pokémon. And the Swadloon certainly was not listening to its trainer anymore. It was apparent it did not intend to continue fighting this belligerent reptile. And Katy couldn't really blame it. Eventually, Taron growled and called his Pokémon back to its ball. Mozart kicked the space where the Swadloon had just been then fell on her face. She snorted angrily and scrambled back up to her feet.

"She gets… passionate," Katy explained. "Good battle…?"

Taron sighed and watched his trainer's brace. Katy looked to hers as well. Battle Mode switched off and "WIN" flashed green on her screen. She watched her Points and waited for them to start going up.

But they didn't.

"TRANSACTION FAILED" her screen displayed in red letters. "Oh. Um… it says transaction failed. You wanna try it manually?" Katy looked up.

Taron was running in the opposite direction as fast as he could.

"Hey! … HEY!" Katy screamed. She growled out loud and called Mozart back to her ball and mounted Bentley's saddle. "Son of a BITCH! Catch him, Bentley. He's a thief!"

"Aoruhm!" Bentley started running again and took flight, this time at a speed that made Katy's eyes water. She didn't care though. She was going to catch this asshole.