Phantom Thief chap 7

Despite not actually giving a date that I would let this out (I forgot to do so) here this is.

Disclaimer: This story is mine. The plot is mine. Pokemon is not mine. Get it?

Chapter 7

玄 (Xuán)

Leaving the television on for ambient noise was not something the Kaito family did often. Then again, we weren't just leaving it on for the noise alone. Even with an ear listening for any mention of the Shellfish Thief, I only came running into the living room when Claves called for me. Shelly, Crescendo, Claves, and the newest member of our team, Waltz, were all in there.

"New evidence has been uncovered by police agencies regarding the recent terrorist attacks on the embassy. Previous evidence pointed towards the burglar who has garnered much attention lately, the Shellfish Thief." The lone picture of me diving out of the window appeared on the screen, causing me to wince at the sight. I also felt a little annoyed at her referring to me as a burglar. That sounded so much worse than a thief.

"According to several agencies, it has been more-or-less confirmed that it was not the Shellfish Thief who was responsible for the attack, but rather-" Shelly muted the sound and turned to me with a small smile.

"It appears that your actions worked perfectly."

"All thanks to Crescendo here," I patted the Lucario on the shoulder and Shelly acknowledged him with a nod.

The doorbell rang, making most of the room tense for a moment. I extended my senses out and relaxed.

"My friends. What about Waltz? Cover story?"

Shelly spent a moment thinking, then said, "You found his pokeball laying in a ditch and Waltz told you that he didn't want to go back to his old master."

Shelly had not been pleased when he had learned that I had to tell Blanc about my ability to understand Pokemon but decided to just roll with it.

I moved to the door and paused when a new weight made itself known on my head.

I inhaled, held it, exhaled, then kept walking.

"Hey Noire, hey Blanc," I greeted the Blanchimont siblings and moved out of the way in an obvious invitation inside.

Noire glanced at my head before walking in while Blanc stared as he walked past.

"So how's your new job?" Shelly asked Blanc once we had all taken seats in the living room. Crescendo emerged from the kitchen with glasses of tea and Claves followed behind, holding a separate platter with some snacks on it.

A small part of me wondered how in the world he had gotten them prepared so quickly. I wanted to ponder over the mystery some more, but held back to listen to Blanc instead.

"It's going really well! I'm not supposed to talk about the details, but I can say that it has been really interesting." The shine in his eyes showed us all that he was truly enjoying the work, whatever it was that he did specifically. I suppose being around those similar to you does make life more fun when you are as strange as Blanc.

"So were you responsible for the news changing their opinion of the Shellfish Thief?" I asked, then added, "We saw it on the news just a minute ago."

His grin turned into a frown and I detected a pout that made me want to grin.

"I wish. Apparently he went to the Wall Street Journal and terrified an employee while handing over the information that led to his innocence. In that matter, anyways."

I was glad to have made such an impression.

"He was smart about it as well," Blanc said. "He did something that basically made the cameras that caught sight of him only detect white static and we couldn't find any fingerprints on what he left behind."

I made a note to include the jamming device on future missions that were more blatant than a simple robbery. It was useful at taking care of potential evidence, but dangerous to use whenever someone might be looking at the screen. While my white clothes and mask might catch a careful eye, the white haze that the jamming device caused on electronics would instantly be noticed even if someone wasn't watching carefully.

"So are you going to move over to the investigation aimed at the real terrorists?" I inquired.

Noire scoffed, then said, "I think we already know the answer to that. If I didn't know him any better, I would say that he has a crush on the Shellfish Thief. Or should I say-"

"Don't," I interrupted her, my face looking decidedly green. I was glad to see Blanc in the same situation.

Serenade chose that moment to pounce onto the conversation.

"I can ship it."

My eye twitched and I bowed my head, nearly causing Waltz to topple off.

"Sorry," I muttered to him.

"By the way. What's with?" Blanc looked at Waltz then back at me, making it fairly clear what he was asking about.

"Found his pokeball in the ditch the other day. I was going to bring him to the police, but he said that he doesn't want to go back to his old master."

"But why is he-"

"I've given up," I said by way of explanation.

There was a pause before Noire let out an, "Oh!"

She searched her pockets for a moment before tossing something in my lap.

"What's this?" I asked, picking up the flat, circular object with a string running through a small hole in the top of it. Lines ran across its surface, connecting and intertwining in eye-catching patterns.

"Keep it on your person at all times for the next three weeks."

"What does it do?"

"Good luck charm," she answered and I took note of the way she said it.

Why was she lying?

"Why do you think I need luck?"

"For studying on finals week."

I winced at her answer, abruptly remembering that our senior year was coming to a close in around a month's time. I had mostly forgotten with everything that had been going on.

"Right. Thanks," I told her, donning the necklace. The cord felt nice against my skin, even with Serenade pushing it against me.

We had retreated to my room to play some games after Shelly had told us that he had some paperwork to take care of. I had a feeling that he was going to be looking for a job and checking the underworld for possible retaliation mobilizing against the Shellfish Thief. The group that had tried to frame me wasn't well known, but I knew that Shelly would not want to take chances.

The siblings stayed for a few hours, leaving once the sky began to darken. Waltz was mostly quiet as he sat on the lofty perch that was my scalp.

"I'm going to take a shower," I announced to the two. Waltz hopped right off and left the room. Serenade did nothing, which was exactly what I had expected.

"You could learn a thing or two from him," I said as I stripped, desensitized to her presence long before that point.

"You never did give me the story behind this." A tail stroked my right bicep, following the thin line of the scar that was there, and my lips thinned at the action.

The water had grown hot before she spoke again.

"What happened to get you-"

"A series of stupid choices that led to one of my biggest fuck-ups in life," I snapped at her, letting out a rare expletive. She did not bring it back up that night.

Upon entering my bedroom, I couldn't say that I was surprised to find a sleeping Waltz on the top of my pillow.

I let out a sigh and wondered if all Pokemon were so touchy-feely. I carefully lifted the pillow he was on and moved it over a bit, putting another in its place for myself. I had gotten better about not moving around in my sleep and was glad for it, not wanting to roll over on Waltz during the night.

The next week went by rather quickly with nothing of importance happening. Waltz did not like crowds all that much and opted to either stay home or remain in his pokeball whenever he accompanied me to school or elsewhere. Any other time, though, he was perched somewhere on me. Serenade had taken a liking to the kid, wrapping him up in her tails to keep him stationary whenever he wanted to sit on my shoulder.

I was finishing up my homework, which was more of an optional study guide, when Shelly walked in.

"I found a job-"

"I'll take it," I said quickly, earning a surprised look from everyone else.

"Life has been a bit stale lately. I don't want the guys hunting me to think that I've given up or it'll be boring all around."

Shelly's only reaction to that was an amused look before he got back to business.

"This one is a bit more simple and shouldn't be too exciting. Just something that will let the world know that you are still around."

"When do I leave?"

It turned out that the answer was as soon as I was able. I had donned my gear and had been teleported to the alleyway across the street from a large warehouse-type building in the same few minutes.

I couldn't help but feel a bit of nostalgia at the sight as it reminded me of my first job. The methods I used to get in there were even similar, though I decided against cutting the power as the warehouse was in a nicer area than my first one had been in. The job was, as Shelly said, simple in theory and execution. I got in there, stole some paperwork, and got out in twenty minutes, tops. Several pearls were laid out in plain sight before I made my exit.

I was on the top of a building that almost brushed by the warehouse, having used its fire escape for my own escape, when the first interesting thing happened on that mission.

It was dark enough that I did not see the small object that flew out of nowhere and hit me until it was too late. There was the sound of something heavy impacting the ground the next second. I tried moving and found myself restrained by tendrils that I knew were unnatural. They held no liquid in them yet seemed to be sentient enough to respond to my struggles against it. They weren't robotic, I could tell that much. Even robots need oil or lubricant to keep parts from seizing up.

The shock of the action had me notice the figure for the first time. But that wasn't right. They had been in my radar. Why hadn't I paid attention to them? And why was it so difficult to look at them as the slowly approached? My eyes didn't seem to want to focus in on the direction that they were in. Heck, even my senses detected them and still didn't make a note of it.

It was causing me some panic when I realized that I couldn't even get a hold of the liquid inside the person. I didn't necessarily want to, but something told me that I wouldn't be able to even if it did come to that and I was starting to freak out.

They stopped about a meter in front of me and, before anything else could happen, a familiar ringtone split the air. At the sound, the compulsion to look away vanished. My eyes locked onto the person who was scrambling to get the phone out of the shoulder bag that went over their left shoulder and sat in the middle of their back as the strap went diagonally across their torso. I saw that the long sleeve shirt and their long pants were covered in lines and symbols that were-

You have got to be kidding me. I watched as Noire, because that is exactly who it was, grabbed the phone and silenced it with a swipe of her gloved finger.

"Real professional," I said, glad that the voice distorter was still attached and functioning. I needed to begin damage control as soon as possible.

Her mask, which was adorned with a single character that looked to be Mandarin, couldn't hide the knowledge that she was scowling behind it. I knew her too well.

(玄 . What did it mean? I made a note to look up what that meant once this was all over.)

"I haven't been in the business for all that long," she admitted, doing a piss poor job of trying to deepen her voice and make it harder to recognize.

"It shows," I told her and she visibly wilted. I felt bad, but made no reaction.

"What do you want," I inquired, the tone of annoyance easily detected through the distorter.

"It's just," she shifted in place, holding something behind her back. She said nothing, seemingly building up the courage.

"Spit it out," I barked.

"CanIhaveyourautograph?" The words came out in a rush and the paper was shoved into my face. I couldn't hold back the flinch and was happy that the mask hid the reaction.

"What?" I was well and truly blindsided.

"It's just that you are kind of my idol and I think you are really cool and my brother would be so jealous and I was so excited to actually catch you and-"

She went on and on until I went limp in my confines and said, "Enough, Noire. Please just stop."

Her fangirling ceased at once, though I could practically feel the grin she wore. Her voice gave it away.

"Finally. I thought you would call me out after the screw up with the phone."

"Just get me out of-whatever these things are."

"Of course~." I saw her pull a strange looking knife out and I froze, wondering if she meant something else entirely.

Thankfully, she answered the question rather quickly when she buried the blade into one of the inky tendrils. Like a vacuum cleaner, the tendrils were sucked into the knife and I dropped down back to the roof. A crack beneath my shoe had me looking down at some sort of shattered crystal. I backed away as she came forth and collected the pieces, depositing the remains in her pack.

"How did you even find me?"

"Bet you would like to know that," Noire said, her tone victorious and very different from my tone in the next breath.

"Noire, tell me."

She noticed how serious I was and stopped looking so playful. I didn't like doing that to her, but I needed to know if I was to remain safe. Where had I messed up? Did Shelly follow a bad lead? Those were the kind of questions that needed to be answered lest we fall for someone's trap.

"The talisman I gave you. You never took it off, did you?"

I felt my chest and noticed that there was nothing there. A moment was spent searching my memories and I had no recollection of removing the necklace. I felt out and made extra certain that nobody else was anywhere nearby before moving my shirt so I could get a look at my bare chest. It was still dark on that roof, but I had enough light to see the circle with lines running across it imprinted into my flesh.

"You branded me!?"

"If by branding you mean melding an ancient tracking script to your flesh, then yes."

I took a breath, found my center, exhaled, then resisted the urge to smack my friend upside the head. Who even does stuff like that? Oh yeah, this was Noire I was thinking about.

"Noire."

"Yeah?"

"How did you even get here? You don't have easy access to a Pokemon who can teleport."

I had, more or less, accepted the fact that she could track me. How she had gone about doing so bothered me, but that would be a conversation for another time.

"I have my ways," she said, her voice playful and amused once more.

I wished that I could indulge in rubbing my forehead to alleviate the headache that had appeared but knew that was impossible while on a mission.

"Why are you even doing this? What is with that getup?"

"It's because I want to become a Thief, just like you!"

My eye twitched and I turned away from her, saying in the most droll tone I could muster, "Sorry, but we aren't taking applications at this time. Please try again in the next six months."

I was pulling out a pokeball to let Waltz out when she grabbed my arm and said, "Wait!"

I turned back to her and crossed my arms, waiting.

"I was serious, earlier. I do look up to you and want to be like you." Noire wasn't joking when she said that.

"Why do you look up to me? Yeah, sure, the fame is interesting and all and the job gives me a rush, but that's not all there is to it. I put my life in very real danger on every mission I go on. If the wrong person finds out about my identity then I will have to disappear. I won't ever get to live a normal life."

"But at least you get to put your abilities to use!"

"Yeah, because understanding Pokemon is such a useful skill to my lifestyle," I said sarcastically, praying she would go with it.

"Don't play dumb! You aren't the only one with abilities that they would rather not be made public. You've already seen a little of what I can do."

Noire tapped her pack as she said, "That was just a single talisman. I know hundreds of patterns, thousands of symbols. They can be combined and used in every way conceivable and I am able to do that."

I paused.

That explained a lot about Noire, actually.

"You could always put your abilities to work at helping people? I remember you giving some people talismans against sickness. Whether those actually worked or not, I have a feeling that you can make some that do function as intended."

"And be forced to mass produce what somebody else tells me to make? Not a chance."

"Could teach others how to do it?"

"Tried that. Got someone to draw a symbol that I had made and used before and I couldn't do anything with it. I'm the only one who can make them."

Another sigh was let out.

"Who called you?"

She hesitated in the change of topic, but said, "Blanc. He should be getting back home from work about now."

"Call him back and let him know that we were busy with-"

As I provided Noire with a reasonable sounding excuse, another part of me was formulating an explanation to Shelly when this was over.

"Hold up," I told her when she was about to hit the call button. I called Waltz out, grabbed Noire, then said, "Send us home."

Our surroundings changed and we appeared in the living room.

Now, things could have been worse. Terry or Blanc could have been in the room. My mother could have been around. But when I saw Shelly looking up from his book, I was pretty certain that I had the worst of luck.

A hand forestalled any words and I told Shelly, "So you know how Noire is all about talismans and such?"

I went on despite a lack of answer. "Well it appears that she can do stuff with them. Like, supernatural stuff. The long and short of it is this: she wants to be like us. But before any of that, she needs to tell her brother that she's been hanging out with me before he gets suspicious for not answering his call earlier. Noire, make the call."

She took off her mask and smiled weakly at the grim visage that my father showed. I kept mine on, happy that there was some sort of barrier between myself and him.

She made the call and delivered the excuse perfectly. Once the conversation ended and the phone was put away, Shelly gave a simple command.

"Sit."

If I hadn't been right next to the chair I normally took, I probably would have sat on the ground. That is how serious Shelly was right then. Noire, who had never seen this side of him had a touch of fear in her eyes.

"Thaddeus himself did not know that he was going on the mission he just completed until a few hours ago. The fact that you knew where he was going to be at indicates that you have a method of tracking him. I do not think I need to remind you who your brother is and the kind of threat that poses to my son. Explain."

"The necklace!" Noire yelped. Shelly saw that he was pushing too hard and backed off a bit. The last time I had felt someone emit such a feeling was when Latios and myself were having our stare-off. Shelly didn't give off such an obvious aura, nothing visible, yet it was somehow even more intimidating than Latios' projection of darkness.

"Thaddeus, where is the necklace?"

I gripped the collar of my uniform and pulled it far enough down to show what I had seen before.

"What are you doing?" Shelly asked me, his confusion evident.

"Showing you the tattoo looking thing that isn't supposed to be there that she uses to track me," I told him, my own tone confused at the question. I glanced down and confirmed that, yes, it was still there.

"Uh, about that," Noire interrupted. "Only us two can see it as far as I am aware. Nobody else can tell that it is there."

She spent a moment filling in Shelly as to what it was and what it did.

"What are your limits with your abilities?" Shelly asked, leaving the discussion of the tracker behind for a bit.

"I don't know," Noire answered. I was pretty certain that she was telling the truth.

"As long as I have the right material and I know what I want, then I can usually make it happen." She shrugged at the end of that. I don't think she really has ever gone all out with her abilities.

A small part of me was quietly glad of this, reasonably sure that her powers far exceeded mine when it came down to it. I was limited to liquid. Noire wasn't.

"Why do you want to be a part of what we do?"

Noire put on a determined expression before she said, "I want to actually be able to use my power. I don't know where I got it, or why, but I have it for some reason. No idea if using it to steal things from others is a part of that reason, but I want to do something meaningful with it. And no," she looked at me, "I will not go and be some sort of miracle worker who is told to do whatever someone else wants done."

"It would be more fulfilling," I said, trying once more.

By the way Noire scoffed, I knew I was just wasting my breath.

"Fulfilling for someone else, maybe."

I examined her tone. Really looked at it. She was bitter. She had her powers and wanted to be able to use them however she wanted to use them.

I sat back with a sigh. The thing is, I could understand her reasoning easily. If I was to come clean, before I made a name for myself, obviously, then I knew that I would only become something interesting to scientists or be forced to do something that was probably no fun. It would be even worse for Noire, seeing as she had so much more potential than I did.

There were only two options for people like us when it came to the people in charge: to be used to our full potential, or to be forced into normality. Neither of those options were endearing to either of us.

"Last question," Shelly said, making me sit up in interest.

"What was that on your mask? I did not get a good look at it."

Noire turned the face towards Shelly, showing him what he asked. From the flash of amusement in his eye, I knew that he knew what it meant.

"Well?" I asked, wanting to know myself.

"Now telling you would just be no fun."

I visibly drooped at his words, foreseeing hours of searching so I could pin down what that one character meant. My curiosity wouldn't allow me to just leave it be. At least the serious mood had dissipated with Shelly's grin.

"So I guess we can relax now?"

Noire jumped when Claves spoke up. She turned and only noticed Crescendo and Claves standing behind her for the first time. They had been standing behind her for most of the conversation, ready to respond to whatever order Shelly gave.

"Yes, Claves," Shelly answered. He had spent enough time around Claves that he could usually understand her despite not having my ability.

Claves vaulted the couch and plopped right down next to Noire, forcing her to scoot over a bit and blink in confusion at her nonchalant demeanor. Crescendo retreated to the kitchen and the sound of water flowing told me that he was rinsing some dishes. He trusted Claves enough to keep us protected if it came to it.

"It will take some time to find a job for your level," Shelly told Noire, causing her eyes to widen and joy to almost glow out of her pores.

"In the meantime, you will find excuses to come here so Thaddeus can train you."

"Ah, pardon?" I said, thinking my brain had sent the wrong signals.

"It will be good practice-"

"I'm not qualified-"

"Just show her the ropes-"

"But-"

"No 'But's."

"All of the 'But's!"

"Phrasing!" Serenade all but shouted when she pounced from behind and reclaimed her rightful-

I mentally shook my head as I corrected myself.

-snatched the freedom of my shoulders from me once more.

"What?" Noire asked, looking at the smug Ninetales in confusion.

"Nothing important," I told her and Shelly took that moment to strike.

"Glad to see that you agree," Shelly ignored my sputtering denial as he said, "Now you should probably get home. Do you need one of us to drive you?"

It was actually very dark out and I really shouldn't have been surprised considering how dim it had been when I had left.

"No, I've got transportation covered."

A sly grin formed as she turned her left arm so that her palm faced up. Along the underside of her arm, I saw that the lines that twisted around the rest of her clothes didn't touch the patterns that were lined up along the underside of her arm. With how intricate they were, I wasn't sure how many individual ones that were close together or if it was just one very large pattern.

One hand grabbed the bag she had set aside and the other placed a finger in a certain spot on her arm.

"I'll be in touch." With that declaration, she was gone.

There was no flash of light. Reality did not bend, as far as I could tell, like normal teleportation worked. I did not sense her liquid content move incredibly quickly. She was simply gone.

There was a pause, then Shelly told me, "You know, most people have simple friendships."

I felt mildly offended and said, "It's not my fault one of them is hunting me and the other idolizes me!"

Shelly looked me in the eye and said, "I'm sure."

Before I could defend my honor, Shelly produced a book from nowhere and tossed it to me. I groaned after reading the title.

"Better get searching," Shelly told me, standing and leaving me with the dictionary.

The Mandarin dictionary.

"Gāisǐ de!" I muttered under my breath.

"Language!" Shelly scolds from the kitchen.

My eye twitched and I opened it up with a resigned expression.

So here's another chapter. Leave a review telling me what you think of this new twist. This is going to be interesting to work with.

Also, please do not discuss anything regarding the recent election in your reviews. I gave up on all of that halfway through the campaign season and didn't bother to vote. But that's enough about politics.

Let me know how you liked the chapter!