Chapter III: Why Flash steal?
"It's over there," muttered Flash, who had led the three other Pokémon into a forest. She pointed at a large, hollow tree.
"Bring it here," demanded Kangaskhan coldly. Flash looked at her, scared, and walked up to the tree.
Snubbull was still angry at Loopy for what he had done to him. He snarled and bared his lower teeth. "Stupid Machop," he muttered. Loopy grinned and punched his fist in his other palm, sending a mischievous grin. Snubbull yelped and hid behind Kangaskhan.
"Me no hurt pinky doggy. If pinky doggy nice to Flash is, me to pinky doggy nice," he told Snubbull, flexing his muscles.
"Don't call me Pinky!" piped Snubbull from behind Kangaskhan: Loopy smiled at the sight. "I'm Snubbull!"
Loopy held both his hands up in a shrug. "Snublie be nice name," he said, having trouble pronouncing the name.
"Stop picking on Snubbull, you naughty Machop!" scolded Kangaskhan, to whom Loopy stuck his tongue out. Loopy then noticed the baby which was in Kangaskhan's pouch. He curiously walked up to it.
"Hello," he greeted, waving to it. The baby yelped and hid inside the pouch, wailing loudly inside. Kangaskhan swatted Loopy powerfully with her right claw, as Loopy had no time to dodge.
"Look what you did," she snarled, "now you scared my little baby!" She looked down at her pouch and opened it carefully, trying to comfort her baby slightly.
Loopy, however, jumped to his feet, staring at Kangaskhan. "Why hit me? Me tried be nice!" He rubbed his sore cheek. Before Kangaskhan could reply, Flash came back with the sack of various items she had taken out from the tree.
"Here it is," she lowly said to Kangaskhan and Snubbull. Kangaskhan finished cooing her baby and looked at the sack's contents with joy.
"Wonderful!" she exclaimed. "Snubbull, did you bring the list?" Snubbull leaped out from behind with a checklist in his paws with a jolly face expression.
"Yes, ma'am!" he yapped, strutting over to the sack with Kangaskhan as he watched her empty it.
"Thank Mew for this!" Kangaskhan exclaimed, holding up a fine belt. "The Tight Belt is there, now Snorlax will be happy!" She continued going through the contents, "Let's see, two Friend bows, eight Pecha scarves, plenty of gummis… a lot of plain bows."
Meanwhile, Flash was tugging Loopy's arm. "Come on, let's bail," she whispered. She tried to pull him with her in vain as he stood firmly on ground.
"What be bail?" he almost loudly asked. Flash hushed him angrily.
"Shh! We must sneak away, Loopy," she whispered to him, looking over to Snubbull and Kangaskhan who had their attention towards the stolen goods. "They'll still take us in."
"But me no want," whined Loopy, still standing still while Flash tried puling him with her.
"Look, Loopy, when I say we run, we run. I'll explain later. But first we need to sneak," she told him. Loopy looked at her with a confused face. She sighed in frustration, "Not again," she muttered.
"What be sneaking?" he asked her. She responded by forcing him to shut his mouth by putting her paw under it.
"We walk away quietly, and then run for all we got, okay?" she explained, earning a nod from Loopy. "Good, when I count to… I mean, when I say three, we run." Another nod from Loopy.
They silently snuck away from the two Pokémon who were checking that everything Flash had stolen was remaining. She was leading the progress with Loopy behind her, but she couldn't help looking at the other two every now and then.
"Okay," she said, preparing to make a run for it, "when I say three, we run." She wanted to make sure Loopy was with her by repeating her instruction.
"HEY!" roared Kangaskhan from a distance, "Where do you think you're going? There are still items missing on the list!" she yelled.
Flash looked at Loopy awkwardly, "Uhh, three!" she shouted as she took off. Loopy did just what he had been told to: to run when Flash said three.
"AFTER THEM!" bellowed Kangaskhan, about to run after the fleeing Pokémon, but Snubbull stepped in front of her.
"Ignore them, let's pack the stuff we have for now," he suggested, "at least we have the most vital stuff."
Admitting defeat, Kangaskhan sighed. "Even though, this still means I will owe many customers piles of Poké. When I get those two in my claws next time, I'll-"
"Enough, let's just get what we have and head back to town," said Snubbull firmly. Kangaskhan grumbled as she helped her companion pack the stuff. "Snorlax is waiting for that belt, you know."
While the two Pokémon were running, Loopy tended to overtake Flash every now and then. Since Flash was the one who was supposed to lead them, Loopy slowed down every now and then.
"Flash slow!" he told her while running.
"Excuse me for not having long legs like you!" she shot back, sounding tired. The Machop just smiled and ran ahead again for show. "You're mean!" she then yelled at him. But she suddenly tripped due to a wrong step. She fell face first on the ground, skidding a short distance. Loopy stopped instantly, skidding on his feet a little.
"Be Flash okay?" he asked her with concern, walking towards her. She slowly got up, staggering. "Want me carry Flash?" he suggested.
Flash shook her head. "I'm okay," she muttered, looking over her shoulder. "They aren't following us. Good."
"Why we run?" he wondered. Flash looked at him, feeling a little guilty.
"Well, I noticed some stuff were missing in there, and-"
"Flash use stuff for self?" he interrupted, "How could Flash?" He clenched his fists, turning a little hostile all of a sudden.
"Take it easy, Loopy, I didn't-"
"Me no like bad Pokémon," he said, stepping towards Flash slowly.
"Loopy! I didn't use anything for myself! Someone must've raided the storage!" she protested. Loopy stopped, looking at her disbelievingly. "Please, Loopy," she pleaded, "I'm kind of a kleptomaniac, I steal stuff without knowing. I don't even need the things I steal, so I stash it." Loopy stood still, and then put his hands on his head, as if having a headache.
"Ugh… me confused…" he muttered. Flash carefully walked up to him.
"Hey, Loopy, let's go inside the forest," she softly suggested, pointing at some dark clouds. "Those clouds might hold a lot of rain, so we better get some shelter." Loopy nodded confusedly, still going through a lot of thinking inside his head.
They walked into the forest, and sat down under some trees which were close to each other.
"Where now?" asked Loopy, now having let go of the hard thinking. He looked around himself curiously.
"We're in Tiny Woods, a nice little forest to hang out in," she told him, smiling back at him. But her smile faltered, "but most Pokémon around here has started to act weird, so I'll have to hope we don't get attacked." Question marks seemed to form over Loopy's head, but his face then lit up with happiness.
"Worry no!" cheered Loopy, "Me be strong, and me guard Flash from meanies!" he exclaimed proudly.
Flash giggled at him, "Thanks, that is nice of you. I wished I could breathe fire so I'd be of some help though," she mused. She stood up and inhaled deeply. She then exhaled a big cloud of white smoke, wheezing afterwards. "Nope, not yet…"
Loopy laughed lightly at the sight. "Fun cloud! But if Flash train much, Flash breath fire. Promise!" he said wisely. Flash was actually surprised at that, that Loopy could say such a wise thing. But then, Fighting Pokémon were very devoted to training. "Me tired," he then muttered, yawning.
"Yeah, I'm tired too," agreed Flash, "I hope these trees are enough shelter for the rain," she told herself. "Hey, Loopy, do…" She stopped, Loopy had fallen asleep sitting by the tree. He snored lightly. "Aww," she cooed, finding it cute that he had fallen asleep so quickly.
Loopy then fell down from his sitting position, landing on the ground hard. But he kept sleeping.
"Ouch," she muttered, grimacing. She was tired herself after the long running, but she curled up and slowly fell asleep as well.