So uhh... Hi. The name's Shadow Minamino, and well. This has been something I've been planning for a while and finally got the chance to start writing. So welcome one and all, to the beginning of a glorious journey of Thievery and... Well. More Thievery! But some other stuff too. Anyway, this is the beginnings of my humble little story, and I hope you all enjoy. So without further adieu... Let's start Phantom Thief Shedninja!
Oh, And as a little disclaimer before I forget. Pokemon does not belong to me, it belongs to Nintendo and Gamefreak. Also, the characters of Logan Martin, Jett Mitchell, and Shane Clarke don't belong to me either. They belong to Lolli-S, who's the author of a delightful fanfic series titled " The Louhearst Expedition: Year One " and it's sequel Year Two. The title alone is enough to get it out of the search engine,and it's really quite a good read. I recommend it. They'll be making semi-frequent cameo appearances throughout the story along with some other Louhearst characters to be named later. So I'm only saying this once right here. Okay. NOW we can begin with...
Chapter 1: Blake the Bug Researcher
" Beedrill is a pokemon native to the Kanto region and classified as the Poison Bee pokemon. Also know by it's scientific classification of Venenum Terebro, Beedrills are known to be extremely territorial, and if a colony is found,the best advice is to steer clear of it completely, since Beedrills tend to be violent and attack on sight if they find an intruder in their territory. The Beedrill's greatest strength is in their speed, poison, and numbers, since a large swarm of them can easily take down a Hippowdon with the amount of toxin they produce. Class, if any of you find yourselves aggravating a Beedrill swarm, my advice is to - "
Unfortunately for Blake Bardell, a 27 year old Typeologist, he couldn't for the life of him remember what his professor advised him to do in case he found himself on the wrong end of a Beedrill swarm, not that there was ever a right end to be on when being chased by one. Which predictably enough, he was. So, with his skinny little legs moving as fast as they could away from the venomous swarm of killer Beedrill and their home of Viridian Forest and towards his compound on the outskirts of Viridian City, the lanky researcher could only wonder why in the heck he would decide to try and create a thesis on Beedrill mating patterns when he knew full well how how dangerous the giant insects could be. He didn't graduate from Castelia University with a degree in Typeology – Bug for nothing, after all.
" Gee Blake, great going there. You finally start to make a name for yourself in the world of research and then you go and make a bonehead move by trying to study a swarm of Beedrill's who are not only extremely territorial to begin with, but also in mating season. What in the heck possessed me to do that in the first place? Even the most experienced researchers don't go tackling that without sufficient protection. This isn't like ninth grade where you tried to impress Jessica Carter by wrestling with the gym teacher's Machoke, dumbass. " The lanky adult muttered to himself as he kept sprinting away from the forest while he absentmindedly pushed his glasses up further onto the bridge of his nose to keep them from falling off mid-run while his open labcoat fluttered in the breeze.
Just as the Beedrill swarm behind him started to catch up - angry buzzing noises increasing in volume, Blake noted - , he saw it. The red shingled roof of his compound on the Viridian outskirts and right outside of it, the familiar shape of a giant red-winged mothlike pokemon hovering over the roof, apparently keeping lookout. The pokemon who had been with him since it was an egg and his ticket out of this dreadful situation. So, calling out at the top of his lungs, Blake shouted. " Solaris! Quiver Dance followed by Heat Wave! And hurry! "
A little ways away, the pokemon perked up at the voice of his master, evidently hearing his command. Solaris the Volcarona swooped down from the roof and towards Blake, performing an intricate midair dance and powering up while he moved, growing faster, stronger, and more durable with each boost with the cosmetic result being a small area net of silver and red sparkles surrounding the pokemon. Eventually, Blake and the pokemon passed each other and with a slight nod of the head from Blake that Solaris caught with his eye, he let loose.
Stopping in midflight, Solaris flapped his large mothlike wings, expelling an extremely large and powerful burst of superheated air from them, tinting the air red and creating a slight mirage like effect, the move having been powered up to the extreme by Quiver Dance. The large wave of hot air stopped many, if not all of the Beedrill in their tracks, dropping them as if they were cement filled balloons. Satisfied with his work, Solaris lazily floated back to Blake, who was leaning up against the wall of his stone compound. Blake reached out and rubbed the pokemon on his head. After all, Solaris had been saving his arse ever since he was a kid. The two were partners, and he wouldn't expect anything less from his first and strongest pokemon. He definitely thought the pokemon deserved some praise. " Nice work there buddy. Thanks for saving my arse... again. " Blake said as he opened up the door to his home, heading inside.
Living between Viridian Forest and Viridian City had it's perks. There was quite a bit of unused land around, allowing Blake a lot of building space. The compound functioned as his home, research facility, and a ranch in order to keep all his bug pokemon happy and active. And as a researcher, he had a lot of them. Practically every common one in existence, or at least their evolved forms. If he ever needed the unevolved forms, he could just send them off to a breeding center for a little while. It wasn't exactly easy catching them all, but he managed and maintained a strong relationship with all of them. After all, what good was a researcher if the pokemon he was researching hated him? He tried his best to keep them all as happy as possible.
Looking around he saw his three Wormadam forms, Tina, Stacy, and Marina excitedly chattering on about something in the corner, although what it was, he couldn't tell. Nearby was Jeeves the Mothim, looking completely bored out of his skull having to listen to them, the poor guy. Being the only guy in the family must of hurt. Might as well get him away from the three chatterboxes.
" Jeeves, come here for a minute? Let's go get some fresh air. " Blake smiled at the moth and held out his arm, at which point the pokemon excitedly flew over and perched on. Walking through the kitchen and towards the rear entrance of the compound, Blake opened the door that lead out to the ranch – He'd just realized that he must of shut it before going out, no wonder Jeeves was stuck inside, since he closed all the windows too. He'd apologize later. - and headed outside to the large pen that housed a small pond, some trees, and vast open field that he'd claimed as his ranch. Not that he'd gone through the proper channels to claim this land as his but... it was too late now to take it away. It was the city's fault for not checking up on him... and maybe a little of his for forgetting to ask. Not like it mattered now anyway.
As soon as he stepped foot onto the ranch, Jeeves took off to flutter about in the open air, causing Blake to break out into a small smile. Heading back into his home, Blake passed through the kitchen and made his way to the living room, crashing onto the couch and barely registering that the TV was playing a special report on Phantom Thief Shedninja, the master thief who no one's been able to capture or even get a lead on. Not caring about the news report, Blake switched the TV off and just closed his dark brown eyes, running a hand through his scruffy brown hair reflecting on well... a lot of stuff, really. Mostly his career. It had been five years since he graduated from Castelia University in his home region of Unova. With a degree in Typeology-Bug in hand, Blake thought he could take anything the research world had to offer.
He couldn't of been more wrong. He had absolutely no idea at how hard it was to get recognized in the research community. Late nights working on topics and research reports, only to be rejected by more senior researchers or finding out that someone else had already published something on it. He had no idea that the world of research could be so harsh. But just two years ago, Blake made a breakthrough. It was surprising that no one had thought of it before, but apparently it had been a mystery that no one had been able to crack. Wurmple evolution patterns.
After intense research and studying, Blake presented his research to the community, and was met with uproarious approval and was accredited to being a great researcher. It was just one paper, and were it any other topic, he probably would have gotten 15 minutes of fame and swept under the rug. But no, he cracked the code and was instantly vaulted to being recognized – although it probably helped that not many others were willing to specialize in Bug types, and even less dedicated themselves to researching them. So there was a slim pool. - But who knew that Wurmple Evolution pattern was just decided via personality and nature, basically already coded into their genes? No one else, that's who! He wasn't gonna look a gift horse in the mouth. So eventually, Blake became a bit more recognized in the scientific community, even asked to write and publish articles for magazines. About a year ago, he moved to Viridian City and set up base there.
Unfortunately, Blake's thoughts were interrupted by his Poketech going off. Sighing, he looked at the device: He had set an alarm for around 4 PM, to remind him that he had a class to teach down at Viridian Gym. All he had to do was show up every once in a while to teach the poor schlubs who signed up for his class about bug types. It was an agreement he set up with the leader of the gym, a nice looking guy named Blue Oak. He'd been leader for years now, and he'd aged into his thirties quite nicely. Shame about his grandpa though. Oak Senior had peacefully died of natural causes a few years ago. Now Blue spends most of his time divided between the research lab in Pallet Town and his gym in Viridian. Word had it that he was going to give the gym leader spot to one of his gym trainers soon and become a full time researcher in honor of his grandfather. Good for him. But Blake didn't exactly have time to be thinking. He had to dash in order to teach these kids about bug types and get paid for it. It was one of the ways he made the money to keep his research funded.
Alarms screeched throughout the air of Saffron City as a heated chase between criminal and police was happening in the street, both the criminal and the police officer following him on motorbikes. It looked like the criminal was about to pull away from the officer until the officer let go of her bike and kicked off of the seat in order to gain height for her jump, soaring through the air - unfortunately giving some lucky teenage boy his first experience of looking under a woman's skirt. The female uniforms never were modest when it came to showing off the legs - and tackling the criminal right off of his motorbike, driving a knee into his back and causing both of the now unmanned motorbikes to crash into a nearby building and explode. The chief of police wasn't going to be too happy, but all in the name of duty. The police officer and criminal were now down on the street, the officer having pinned the criminal down to the ground with a knee to the back and his face held down to the pavement by a hand, the other one currently slapping a pair of handcuffs onto the criminal.
" I've caught the bank robber, chief. Bringing him to the station now. " said a cool, commanding, and feminine voice belonging to 25 year old Alexis Summers, police officer of Saffron City. Unfortunately, since her motorbike was destroyed, she'd have to walk the criminal to the station. And for the sake of him not putting up any resistance, she grabbed a pokeball from her belt and released the pokemon inside. An Ampharos.
" Pharos, I want you to use Thunder Wave on this man, okay? " Alexis politely said to the bipedal electric type, who complied and launched a paralyzing wave of electricity at the criminal's, locking up his muscles and allowing Alexis to just drag him along to the station, Pharos walking along side her. Adjusting her blue detective's cap, Alexis reached up under it and removed the pin keeping her hair in a bun, allowing her long brunette hair that came down to the middle of her back to be let loose as it flowed downwards. After a short walk to the station and placing the criminal in a holding cell where he'd await further trial, Alexis decided to pay a visit to the chief of police's room, having been asked to meet with the chief once she returned from duty. Making her way to the room, she opened the door and entered, standing in front of the chief of Police's desk.
The Chief of Police was a 35 year old man named Brian Stone, and he was a very imposing person. Standing at about six feet tall and built like a tank, the man was quite muscular and at first glance, was very unapproachable due to his powerful features and his stern looking face. However, anyone who got to know him found out that he was actually a kind man, who cared deeply about the people under his command and the people of Kanto, but had complete devotion to his job and despised criminals. With a full beard, stern green eyes, and shortly cut, dark blonde hair, you could tell this was a man you didn't want to be on the bad side of. However, when Miss Summers entered the room, the man stood up at an imposing height of six foot four and looked straight into her dark blue eyes with a smile before speaking in a deep and imposing voice.
" Miss Summers! I hear you've had quite the track record of catching criminal's lately! Bang up job, my dear, Bang up job! " The chief then paused to let loose a booming laugh before continuing. " I still don't see why you keep turning down that promotion to Lieutenant, you'd make a fine one! Anyway, I called you hear to put you on a case. You know that thief, the one everyone calls Phantom Thief Shedninja? Well, we've never been able to actually capture the guy. But due to your phenomenal track record... I'd like to put you on the case. From now on, you're in charge of trying to catch this Shedninja bloke, got it? " Chief Stone ended his speech by tossing a file containing all the data the police had collected on Shedninja and allowed Alexis a chance to chime in.
" Understood Chief. You can count on me to bring this Shedninja to justice. " Alexis said, catching the folder and causing Chief Stone to smile and nod before responding. " Excellent Miss Summers! I expect great things from a woman like you, great things! Now, I'm sure you're quite busy, so I'll let you go now. Have a great day! " Stone said, shooing the younger officer out of his office and closing the door behind her.
Blake arrived at the Viridian Gym later than he should have, having dashed inside and to the room that was set up for his teaching, noticing that all of the class seemed to be waiting for him. Putting on a grin, Blake laughed for a few moments before explaining. " Sorry everyone about my tardiness. I was doing some research on Beedrill's and managed to tick off a swarm of them... They chased me. " Blake said, laughing before a blonde haired boy with gray-blue eyes spoke up from his seat.
" Wait, are you saying you pissed off a Beedrill swarm? What kind of an idiot professor are you? " The boy said, smirking as the two sitting next to him – One reminded Blake vaugely of a large gorilla while the other seemed to be what people called a homosexual, or at least looked too man pretty to be straight – let out laughs. Blake only grinned as he sauntered his way up to the desk and placed his hand on it, locking brown eyes with blue. " , was it? I've been teaching this course for a few good months out of the goodness of my heart – he left out the fact that it was also for the moolah – and while you're a new batch of students ,I expect to be respected. Now, I can be your friend, or your enemy. Take your pick. " Blake said, smiling cheerfully as he made his way to the front of the class and projected his voice. " Now then, I know you all are a new batch of students and are probably only here because you're forced to be, but I'm going to try and make this fun for all of us. Anyway, I brought someone along today for you all to meet. " Blake said as he released Solaris from his Pokeball.
" This is Solaris, my Volcarona. He's both my first and strongest pokemon, and I consider him my best friend. Can anyone here tell me about his species?" Blake said, as a hand shot up in the air and Blake lazily pointed to it, the hand belonging to a girl with dark brown hair and a purple headband. " Yeah, go ahead Miss.. Mackenzie, I think. "
The girl identified as Mackenzie instantly started to speak once called upon. " Volcarona, or it's scientific name of Ignis Tinea is a dual fire and bug type that's exceedingly rare even within it's home region of Unova. It's also noted to be one of the stronger pokemon in existence, with it's speed and power falling just short of legendary pokemon." She said, before turning to a boy with black curly hair who just so happened to fake cough " Nerd! " when she finished. Blake only grinned before speaking again.
" Correct Miss Mackenzie, I can see that at least someone here appreciates academics." Blake said before turning to the boy who coughed. " And Mister... Mitchell, was it? Some of us make a living off of being nerds, as you so civilly called us, myself included. Maybe if you studied a little more like Miss Mackenzie did here instead of lusting after the ladies with your eyes, you'd be able to actually get more of them. After all, some ladies happen to be attracted to smarts and not just looks. " Blake said as he looked as his watch and sighed.
" Look at the time... I'm sorry for cutting today short everyone, but there's this museum in Pewter that's got a new exhibit on Arceus Plates and I simply must be there. You can go." Blake said as he rushed out of the room, not even looking or caring whether the teens in there left, stayed, made out on the tables, whatever. He just had to get home. Dashing away from the gym, Blake made it back and locked the door behind him, Solaris following him inside as he went to his room and pulled something out from under the bed.
" Solaris. Get Sniper and whoever else wants to come along. We've got work to do." Blake said, uncharacteristically serious as he pulled out an outfit that vaguely resembled a Shedninja.
" Let the heist commence. "
And... uh. That's it. Not really much else to say... Review, I guess. Hope you enjoyed it. Updates will come whenever they can. I'm a university student, so I can't promise them super frequently, but I'll try my best.