-Prologue-
-Preliminary Introductions-

Esther Charon was not one to sit down and take another's shit.

It was something the buneary had gotten from her mother, an espeon who always held an aura of confidence and authority with her. A necessary trait for the captain of a crew of pirates.

Her mother always kept her head high and took pride in her role as captain. She garnered the respect of every mon on board and was feared all throughout the Stellian Sea. Anyone who took part in the pirating trade would know of her name and her iconic red tricorn hat.

That very same hat just happened to be the same reason why Esther was chasing a cloaked pokemon throughout the train station.

With an eye patch over her right eye and a wooden left leg, Esther was struggling to keep up with the pokemon, who had, moments before, swiped the red tricorn hat off of her head and ran.

"Ye get the hell back here!" She screamed, bouncing after the surprisingly nimble pokemon, pushing aside any innocent bystanders in the way. "That's me hat!"

The cloaked figure glanced back at her and grinned. "That's too bad, little girl. It's mine, now! If you want it…" the pokemon bent down before springing off of the ground and onto the roof of a departing train. He turned around and waved at Esther, who was glaring at him as she continued running after the moving train. "...you're just gonna have to come and get me."

She growled. "Alright, if that's the way ye want to play…" Esther crouched and focused her energy on her legs. "Bounce!"

Shouts of surprise arose from the crowd in the station as Esther leaped into the air…far above the train station itself.

"Ah…fiddlestick." Esther said dryly as she looked at the train station below her. She could see a small black shape on the slowly moving train below. The hooded figure, she assumed, was frozen stiff from her impossible jump. 'I really should have timed this bet-' Gravity finally caught up with her and she screamed as she plummeted down to the train. "SON OF A BISCUIT!"

The figure below felt his eyes widen as he saw the buneary start to descend…right above him. Panicking, he made a mad dash to the front of the train. "Stupid, stupid, STUPID train! Move faster!"

Esther shifted her position mid-air, tensing her legs to catch her fall. She had to be careful not to break her legs…or die.

She rolled onto the roof of the train and yelped as she lost balance briefly and fell over the side. Luckily, she managed to latch onto a windowsill just in time.

"Oh," she grinned at the panicked occupants inside the room she was looking through. "Ahoy there!"

Inside, a large golduck collapsed on the floor. Esther winced. "Er…oops. Best be on me way now…"

Moving her attention back to the task at hand, she climbed onto the roof of the train, feeling the wind start to pick up as the train's speed increased.

"Alright…now where is that lily-livered scallywag…?" She looked around frantically for the hooded figure before she narrowed her eyes to the front of the train. "Aha…trying to escape, now are ye?" She reached at her side and drew her cutlass before charging forward. "YE AREN'T GETTIN' AWAY THAT EASILY!"

Up ahead, the figure took notice of Esther's quick recovery and began to panic. "Damn, this bunny just doesn't give up! I swear, she's acting like I stole a million wards from her or something…" he patted the sack at his side, which held a large bulge. "...wait, is this hat worth a million wards?"

"OI, LANDLUBBER!"

The figure shrieked at the charging buneary, who was rapidly catching up to him, and ran. "What the hell!? Is she seriously gonna try and fight me on this moving train?! I can't fight her!" He paused before something struck him. "Wait a minute, yes I can!"

Esther noticed her opponent suddenly turned to face her, not making a move to escape as she drew nearer. She blinked in surprise before grinning. "Looks like someone just decided to make me job a lil' easier…!"

The figure grinned from underneath his cloak as Esther was now a few feet away from him. Not waiting a second longer, he flipped off his hood to reveal himself as a teddiursa. "I've got you right where I want you, little girl!" He winked and blew a kiss at her. "Good luck dodging my Attract."

Esther skidded to a stop immediately and began twitching. "Your what?" She suddenly felt pink particles wash over her and yelped. "Oh…blimey!"

The teddiursa snickered. "It's not very strong, but my Attract will buy me a few seconds. Maybe next time, little girl!" He jumped off the side of the train and swiftly swung into a train car through an open window, disappearing inside.

"Oh…that was so…sexy…" Esther muttered, giggling to herself. "He certainly seems to be quite the swashbuckler…wait…what did I just say…?"

It suddenly struck her and she screamed. "THAT SON OF A BISCUIT EATER!" The Attract really wasn't that strong, just as the teddiursa had stated. However, just a few seconds seemed to be enough time for him to disappear inside the train, which would make Esther's job at finding him much more difficult without attracting unwanted attention. She gritted her teeth in frustration. "Unluckily for him, I'm not one to back down. Time to take this fight…in the train."

Inside the empty train car, the teddiursa let out a sigh of relief. He shut the window behind him and closed the curtains, hopefully providing another roadblock for the buneary.

He opened the sack at his side and pulled out a red, tricorn hat. "Damn…she sure must have loved this hat, huh?" Examining it closely, he frowned. There didn't seem to be anything special about its appearance. He placed it on his head, then immediately took it off upon feeling a slight scratching against his head. "What the heck? That's so uncomfortable…it kind of feels like…" He looked at the inside and squinted. "...paper…?"

His ears suddenly perked and he gasped. Footsteps. He frantically looked around for a place to hide, before he spotted the luggage compartment above. He narrowed his eyes and parkour style climbed up to the compartment, opened it, then swiftly hid himself inside. He held his breath and listened carefully.

"...interesting you chose to switch cars right after the train leaves the station. Should we not have waited until we arrived closer to our destination?" A smooth and deep voice asked. The teddiursa resisted the urge to groan when he heard the sound of a train car door opening. Whomever this pokemon was, they decided to go into this train car, and it seems they brought quite a bit of company too.

"We could have," a scratchy and deep voice replied, "but in case any trouble arrives, I'd like to be able to foresee it myself. This way we can deal with any…interferences more personally."

"Hmph. You're just looking for an excuse to torture someone, aren't you, Oltony?"

'Oltony? Where have I-?' The teddiursa felt a chill go down his spine as his eyes widened. 'That's right…Oltony is…the infamous mafia boss of the Velvet Suits! Ohhhh, I really chose a bad time to steal some random shit…'

Oltony chuckled in reply. "You caught me, Rosalio. But in all seriousness, I do think it best that we have this discussion here and now. Especially with the Spring Equinox fast approaching…we must make haste."

The teddiursa groaned before quickly covering his mouth. He couldn't help it, especially given that his situation just got worse. It wasn't just Oltony he had to be worried about. 'Rosalio…the infamous Blood Harvester…if he's here, then that can only mean that some big shot in the criminal underworld must have seriously messed up…'

"Agreed. But first things first…" the teddiursa's eyes widened when the luggage compartment door suddenly opened, revealing a smirking roserade in a black business suit. Behind him was a blinking wartortle who was also in a velvet colored suit, a geodude in a velvet suit, a magnemite in a velvet suit, and a pikachu wearing a brown cloak. All looking equally confused. "...we must deal with this one."

"...hi?" The teddiursa grinned nervously. Then without wasting even a second, he lunged at the roserade and tackled him onto the floor. He frantically rushed to the door and threw it open. He dashed down the hallway, struggling to regain his balance after stumbling out of the room. "Nice talking to you, bye!"

The wartortle frowned darkly and turned his attention to the fallen roserade. "Rosalio, are you alright?"

The roserade on the floor glared as the pikachu helped him to his feet. "I'm fine, Oltony. That teddiursa, on the other hand…will not be."

"Do not worry, I will send my most trusted bodyguards after him. He'll be…dealt with." Oltony smirked and nodded at the geodude and magnemite behind him. They were about to leave the room when Rosalio held a hand up.

"Wait. I don't doubt your bodyguards' skill, but I think they'd be much better put to use protecting us. Let me handle this."

"Oh?" Oltony raised an eyebrow and nodded to the magnemite and geodude, who took their place behind the wartortle. "Then how do you propose we track down this conniving little spy? I don't appreciate being spied on without my knowledge, Rosalio. I need to…" his eyes took on a dangerous glint as he said, "...punish him, accordingly."

"Of course, of course, I agree. However, I think my mage would be much better suited to catching that teddiursa. Isn't that right, Amir?" Rosalio smirked at the pikachu, who squirmed under the grass type's gaze before nodding slightly.

Oltony looked Amir over with an expression of contempt. "This…child? He barely looks older than sixteen."

"Yes, but he's more skilled than mages who are our age. Don't be fooled by his meek appearance, either." Rosalio replied smugly.

Oltony narrowed his eyes before sighed. "Alright. I'm trusting you, Rosalio."

"You won't be disappointed," Rosalio smirked before giving Amir a stern look, his smirk not falling. "Isn't that right?"

Amir shivered under the roserade's intense gaze before nodding. Without saying a word, he ran outside after the teddiursa, who was presumably far ahead by now.

"A mage, huh…" Oltony mused. "You resorted to hiring help from the Magic Guild Association, I see. How did you even manage that?"

Rosalio shook his head as he closed the door and ushered the wartortle to take a seat across from him. "Quite a long story, my friend. But if you must know, well…" he chuckled and his eyes took on a dangerous glint. "Let's just say he and I both know something that he wouldn't want getting out. Especially to the MGA."

"Ah…he signed a contract with you, I assume?"

"Correct. It's because of that I now have a mage to use at my leisure." Rosalio leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. "But enough about that…I believe we have some business to attend to?"

"Ah, yes." Oltony said and narrowed his eyes. "Oar's Rest. Everything has already been put into place, I trust?"

"Of course. Everything is all planted where it should be…all that's left is the arrival of our beloved guests to witness our marvelous performance."

"If things go right, that shouldn't be a problem." Oltony sighed. "Of course, I didn't just call you here to briefly reconvene. There is also the matter regarding payment."

"Ah, of course." Rosalio waved him off. "Do not worry about that yet. I am fine with accepting my payment after the job is done. There is only one specific item I want from you anyway and I already know you have it. No sooner will I accept it, no later will I accept it."

"Are you sure?" Oltony narrowed his eyes. "I have already brought a small bit of your payment today with me, I can-"

"After the job is done." Rosalio stated firmly. "Is that understood?"

"...yes, of course." Oltony said, hesitantly.

Rosalio smiled, though it held no warmth to it. "Good. Glad to see that we are…on the same page."

The teddiursa stopped to catch his breath when he entered what looked to be the dining car. The car was filled with chatter and nobody had noticed the distraught state of the additional occupant. He swallowed a lump in his throat and walked towards the back of the dining car, close to the exit, just in case things got messy.

"Dammit, where are those two idiots?" He grumbled. "I'm here running for my life from two criminal powerhouses and they couldn't bother to show their faces to help me out? Not to mention there's still that annoying rabbit to worry about-"

The teddiursa paused in his musings as he slid into a booth in the far corner of the dining car and pulled his hood back over his head. "Now that I think about it…what the hell happened to that buneary girl, anyway? Did she fall off the train or something?"

Right next to him the train car door slid open with a slam and he yelped. Looking over his shoulder, he saw a dripping wet buneary in a white flannel shirt with an eye patch and wooden leg. Her eyes held a dark glare and she was clutching onto the handle of her cutlass so tightly her hands looked as if it were about to pop a vein. She slowly turned her head toward the teddiursa, who at this point backed away until he was pressed up against the window.

The two awkwardly stared at each other, not exchanging a single word. The teddiursa dared not make a movement, afraid that if he did, he would set the livid buneary off.

Esther's eye started to twitch and the teddiursa flinched by reflex. He watched her move sluggishly and held his breath. She held her cutlass up in the air and brought it down on the table, stabbing it through the wood. The teddiursa flinched again at the loud noise.

"...ahoy." Esther finally spoke in a deep, raspy, voice. She cleared her throat then spoke again. "I believe ye have something that belongs to me."

The teddiursa chuckled nervously. "Oh…right. See, here's the thing. I really like that hat, so I don't think I can-" he stopped himself when he saw the look on the buneary's face and remembered his current situation. He chuckled nervously. "Uh, actually…on second thought…"

He rummaged through his sack and pulled out Esther's hat before setting it on the table. He gently nudged it toward her with his foot before backing up against the window again. She picked it up with a glare and set it on her head, adjusting it carefully. He awkwardly fiddled with his cloak. "Heh…sorry about that."

"This is a surprise." She said dryly with a subtle smirk. "To think that ye were so cocky earlier…and now yer cowering against the window…"

"S-shut up!" The teddiursa snapped. "I have other things on my mind right now. I don't have time to worry about trying to fight you!"

"Oh?" Esther raised an eyebrow. "And those things would be…?"

"None of your business." The teddiursa huffed and carefully made his way around the table to get past her. He softly landed on the floor and straightened up. "Now, if you'll excuse me…I must take my…" his eyes scanned the dining car before it fell on a pikachu wearing a cloak walking right towards his direction. 'Wasn't that the same pikachu from the train car earlier…?' He gulped and frantically hid behind a confused Esther. "Ohhh, shit."

Esther raised an eyebrow and followed the teddiursa's gaze to the approaching pikachu. Deciding to play along, she grinned, pulled him back to the train car door, and opened it. He yelped as she pulled him inside the hallway and closed the door. "Alright," she said excitedly. "Why're we hidin' from that timid looking pikachu?"

The teddiursa blinked in confusion. "Uh…are you…helping me…?"

Esther shrugged. "Sure, I guess. Truth be told, I'm really just bored out of me mind and could use a little bit of entertainment." She drew her cutlass and slashed it above the teddiursa's head, who quickly ducked. The sword left a slash mark in the door and Esther nodded approvingly. "So…what's yer name?"

The teddiursa narrowed his eyes before sighing. "Fine…my name is Oakley. What's yours?"

"Nice to meet ye, Oakley," Esther grinned. "As for me name…it's Esther." She adjusted her hat and sheathed her cutlass at her side. "Now, care to spin a tale for this traveling pirate and tell me about yer situation?"

"Uh…sure?" Oakley said slowly. Then he did a double take. "Wait, you're a pirate?"

"What, ye couldn't tell?"

"...fair point." Oakley said dryly. "I guess we're cut from the same cloth, in that case, since I myself am a thief."

"Certainly explains why ye dared to steal me hat." Esther laughed to herself. "As if I'd ever let some landlubber get away with that!"

"Er…right. Anyway," Oakley shook his head and said, "to keep things brief…the train car I hid in when I ran from you had some rather…unsavory pokemon inside. They discovered that I was listening in on their conversation, so I ran out of there as fast as I could. That pikachu is one of them."

"I see…" Esther mused, then her face split into a grin. "Well, that's good enough for me! Come on, let's head to the luggage car. We can use all that luggage to our advantage. Follow me!"

She ran down the hallway without missing a beat, leaving Oakley standing there, dumbfounded. He briefly looked out the window of the train car door into the dining car and yelped when he noticed the pikachu staring right at him.

"W-wait for me!" He said nervously as he bounded after the pirate, not daring to look behind him.

Amir stood with a small frown on his face, not quite sure as to what he should do as he watched the teddiursa disappear from behind the window. Rosalio's orders were clear: to catch the teddiursa. Still, after observing the teddiursa from a distance, he could tell the pokemon wasn't all that skilled. He wasn't even sure if the teddiursa would last in a one on one fight. He wasn't very good at stealth, either, judging from how poorly thought out his hiding place was in the train car. Amir had noticed him within seconds of entering and knowing Rosalio, he might have noticed him even sooner than that.

Rosalio wouldn't believe him in the slightest if he went back and said the teddiursa got away.

He shuddered and crossed his arms, trying to think carefully. 'There is one factor I have not considered…that buneary…but I will have to fight her in order to figure out what her skill level is…'

He took a deep breath and gave a nervous smile to himself. '...please be a better fighter than me, Miss Bunery!'

With that hopeful thought, he determinedly made his way to the train car door and opened it, revealing a dark hallway. 'This leads to the luggage car…are they trying to gain an environmental advantage?'

"Here's hoping they don't throw luggages on you. I can't imagine that'll be fun for you."

Amir yelped at the deep and almost metallic sounding voice and whirled around. Floating in front of him was a large kunai knife, about half the pikachu's height, that had a rope attached to it, draped over its handles like a scarf. Amir relaxed and gave a small smile as he said in sign language, "Cordell, you scared me."

"I can see that." Cordell, the floating kunai knife, said dryly. They followed Amir inside the hallway, who nervously fidgeted with his clothes. "So, what's your plan here, anyway? That teddiursa looked like he would give up the second you corner him. There's no way Rosalio's going to buy you not being able to catch him."

"You saw that buneary, right?"

"The weird looking pirate kid? Yeah, I saw her." Cordell tilted from side to side. "Can't really say how much skill she has, though. Not much to go off of compared to the sloppiness of that teddiursa."

"I can not tell how skilled she is either, but…" Amir gave a determined smile. "I am certain that if we fight she will defeat me!"

"So…you're going in without a plan, is what you're saying."

"That is not what I am saying!" Amir protested. "I just…I am trying hard to think logically here, but…there is not much I can do…"

Cordell sighed as they floated after Amir. "You really need to do something about this Rosalio situation. You can't exactly continue searching for the Arc Amulet pieces with your hands still tied behind your back like this."

Amir's smile faded as he lowered his gaze to stare at the floor. 'Right…'

The duo continued walking in silence for quite a long time, having walked through two train cars already. Eventually, they stopped in front of a door. The door to the last train car.

'Here it is. The luggage car…' He took a deep breath and exhaled before opening the door. He ushered Cordell to float into his hands and he clasped onto their handle tightly. He carefully scanned the inside of the luggage car before stepping inside and shutting the door behind him.

The luggage car was pitch dark, with only a few windows at the very top illuminating the luggage in a glow of orange. The sun was just beginning to set outside, it seemed. However, this meant that Amir would have to be extra careful, given the limited space and limited light. From what he could see, there were piles of luggages, all the way to the top of the train car, all over the place. It was compacted very tightly, making the place seem like a whole new land…made up of luggages.

Despite his situation, Amir could not stop himself from heating up from the way the luggages were organized. 'The luggages…are all uneven…'

He stood there awkwardly as his right eye twitched, not making a single movement. He had to resist the urge to run toward the luggage. 'Come on, Amir. Think logically…this is not important. What is important is figuring out how to save that teddiursa…don't think about the luggages, don't think about the luggages, don't think about-'

A few more seconds of silence passed before Cordell finally decided to speak up. "Uh…kid? You realize a spinda just snuck up behind you, right? He's kind of…tying you up right now?"

Amir blinked then looked to see that a spinda was, in fact, tying him up with rope. The spinda was wearing tattered clothes and had multiple sacks wrapped around his waist. His ears were dropped over the side of his face and his eyes had large, dark bags underneath them. Amir weakly raised his free hand to wave 'hello' at the spinda, causing said pokemon to stop what he was doing for a few seconds to give him a hard stare.

"...what the hell is he doing?" The spinda spoke, in a deep, grumpy sounding voice. "...hey, are you threatening me!?" He raised a fist to strike the pikachu, who flinched and frantically shook his head to placate the dizziness pokemon.

"Oh, for the love of Xerneas, Amir…" Cordell muttered exasperatedly.

"No, I think he's just being friendly!" A joyful voice replied and Amir turned to see a plusle donning similar attire to the spinda walking out from behind the great wall of luggages. She held her hands on her hips and looked Amir up and down. "Huh…you seriously were running from this guy, Oakley? He looks like even you of all people would have no trouble taking him down. And that's saying something."

"Oh, shut up, Chesil!" The teddiursa in question shouted, peeking from behind the luggages. Amir noticed that the buneary pirate was right behind him, bearing a huge grin at the interaction. She locked eyes with Amir and smirked, giving him a shrug. He wasn't sure how to respond, so he just gave her a small wave as well. "He was with Oltony and Rosalio, how the hell was I supposed to react?"

"Aw, you could've figured something out!" Chesil said cheerfully, causing Oakley to groan. "Right, Ares?"

"Doubt it." The spinda, Ares, replied in a dry tone. He tied the last of the knots around Amir and pulled on it tightly, causing the mouse to flinch slightly. "Alright, he's all tied up. Now what? Do we kill him?"

"Hm…good idea!" Chesil cheered and pulled out a dagger from her side. She looked to Amir with a sadistic grin, causing Amir's eyes to widen. "Let's cut his head off!"

"No, let's NOT cut his head off." Cordell snapped in annoyance. "The only one allowed to threaten Amir is me, especially since all you kids are doing is just being annoying!"

There was a moment of quiet as everyone stared at the floating kunai knife.

"Ah…" Ares said suddenly, no emotion behind his voice. "The rope broke…"

Amir awkwardly fidgeted with his clothes as everyone's stares turned to him, the fallen rope, and then back to Cordell.

"...you've got to be kidding me." Oakley smacked his forehead. "Ares, you seriously didn't notice him holding a freaking dagger?"

"Kunai." Cordell corrected with a scoff. "Daggers are beneath me."

"Forget that, how the heck can it speak?" Chesil said as she put a hand on her hip. Then a greedy glint flashed in her eyes. "...I want it."

"...I'll pass, thanks," Cordell said wearily and floated back to Amir, who gently took them by their handle. "Kid, you've got to fight them now."

Amir sharply inhaled before tensing accordingly. Chesil and Ares pointed their daggers toward him with a glare in response, the latter doing so much more sluggishly and half-heartedly. Oakley yelped from behind them and hid behind the luggage while Esther drew her cutlass and cheered. "Fight, fight, fight! Ah, I love a good ol' scuffle. After all, the only thing better than a fight is beer! Hahaha!"

Oakley tossed her a funny look. "Aren't you like…underage?"

"Age is just a number!" Esther said happily, causing Oakley to slowly turn his head away.

"Er…right…"

"But that's enough chattin'!" Esther raised her cutlass to the ceiling. "Go and fight, me hearties!"

Ares and Chesil exchanged looks before the latter grinned. "You heard the lady." She turned to Amir, who nervously gulped. "You're going down, little mouse."

Amir smiled nervously then signed, rather awkwardly with Cordell in his hand, "can we at least talk this out, please?"

Then silence reigned once more as everyone awkwardly exchanged glances.

"What did he say…?" Oakley asked.

Luckily, Ares wouldn't let the silence overtake them any longer. "He's threatening us again! Charge!"

"What?! No, that is NOT what-" Amir frantically tried to sign before Ares slashed at him. He swiftly rolled onto the floor, dodging the attack, and his shoulders slumped. 'Well, now it seems as if I am actually in danger…'

Amir exhaled and bent down on the floor. He traced a pattern in the floor with his finger and pressed his whole hand against the floor, causing the pattern he drew to glow momentarily before disappearing.

"What was that supposed to do?" Chesil asked with a grin as she and Ares double teamed Amir, charging on both sides with their daggers at the ready. "You're just making this easier for us by sitting there!"

Esther, meanwhile, narrowed her eyes into a glare and her grin faltered. "Was that…magic?"

Chesil and Ares jumped at Amir simultaneously, but were startled when the wooden floor suddenly morphed into a stylish wall. The wooden wall had curved carvings of the moon on it, in all its different phases, as well as an inscription surrounding it in what appeared to be an ancient language.

"What the-?!" Chesil's jaw dropped and she skidded to a stop.

Ares's eyes fell into a dull glare. "Oh, so he's a mage. Hooray."

Chesil raised an eyebrow as she took a moment to examine the carvings on the wall. "Well, if that's the case, he sure seems to be a stylish mage."

The spinda turned around and fired a multicolored beam of light at the pikachu, who had run out from behind the wall and started to climb the wall of luggages like an acrobat. "Psybeam." He said dryly then watched as Amir dodged the attack. "Oh, look, he dodged it. Hooray again."

Once Amir had climbed the luggages up to the ceiling, he took a moment to analyze the situation. 'Okay, so they are not as strong as I thought…the teddiursa still seems to not be doing anything…though, he is allied with that spinda and the plusle, it seems…I should be able to take them…' Amir flinched. 'But that is not good. I have to figure out a way to gain a disadvantage…' His eyes fell on the buneary, who was now glaring at him with a contradictory smirk on her face, as she held her cutlass tightly. 'That buneary still has not shown her skills yet…'

"Hey, kid!" Cordell floated next to Amir's face and lightly thwacked his forehead with the bottom of his handle. "Got a plan to deal with these nitwits?"

Amir rubbed his forehead with a small frown. "I am not sure…the spinda and plusle that teddiursa seems to be allied with seem to be able to hold their own in battle…but they are also not very skilled."

"You definitely thought you were in danger earlier, didn't you?"

Amir blushed, but didn't reply. "...that buneary still has not fought yet. There is something about her I cannot put my finger on…"

"You could try to take her hostage." Cordell suggested. "This way she'll be forced to fight you and the other pokemon might back off long enough to get away. That is, if they don't care about her."

Amir looked doubtful before nodding. He exhaled uneasily. "Alright, let us do this. Cordell, you take care of the spinda and plusle. Try to keep them at bay."

"Don't need to tell me twice." Cordell replied, then floated down toward the spinda and plusle, starting a blade fight against the latter two's daggers.

Amir turned his attention to where the buneary stood then gasped when he noticed she was gone. 'What? Where did she go? I thought she was a pirate, not a ninja!' Amir stopped to consider that for a moment. '...wait…is she a pirate ninja?'

"Ahoy, there!"

Amir snapped back to reality from the sudden voice and whirled around to see a grinning Esther crouched right next to him.

"Now, what's yer name, magic man?"

Amir gasped sharply and flipped backward. 'Where did she come from? I barely noticed her…oh no, was I getting distracted again? I got distracted again, did I not? Ohhh…'

"Cat got yer tongue?" Esther grinned and pointed her cutlass at him. Her eyes glinted dangerously. "That was sign language earlier, wasn't it?"

"My name is Amir! And-" Amir blinked, caught off guard, before he leaned forward excitedly, the fight forgotten. "Wait, you can understand me?!"

Esther grinned and awkwardly rubbed the back of her head. "Well, yeah. A little bit, at least."

"How?!" Amir signed excitedly.

"Uh…I was taught some back when I lived with me mother's pirate crew. But enough about that!" She grinned. "Yer a mage, aren't ye?"

Amir's attention turned back to the battle and he tensed, grabbing a kunai from a pouch at his side and holding it at the ready. He nodded in reply, causing Esther to grin wider.

"Excellent!" She charged at him and brought her sword down, which he barely managed to block with his kunai. "Well, it's nice to meet ye, Amir. As for me own name…" she chuckled. "Well, it's Esther. Esther Charon. And I'm afraid I'm going to have to kidnap ye now."

Amir froze then laughed nervously. 'That was…not a very good joke…'

When she flashed a piece of rope at her side, however, Amir grew nervous. 'Okay, so that was most certainly NOT a joke…'

Not wanting his own plan to get ruined, he jumped backwards and hurriedly traced a pattern into the luggage beneath him.

"Don't think I'll let ye use that magic of yers!" Esther roared and sent energy to her ears. "Focus Punch!"

Amir yelped and dodged her attack. He continued to backflip until he lost balance on one of the luggages and fell down. He stumbled to the bottom of the luggage pile and looked up to see the buneary jumping off of the luggages, coming down on him with what looked to be a…

'Is that…Fire…Punch…?' Amir thought, stunned, before the situation caught up with him. 'Oh, that would be really bad if it hit any of the luggages!'

"Let's see ye dodge this one, magic man!"

'She will kill us all! Ohhh…I am just going to have to take the hit, am I not…?'

Esther's punch connected with Amir's arms, which he quickly held up last second as a defense. The punch made him fly backwards into another pile of luggages, causing more luggages to fall on top of him. He pried them off and gasped. 'That hurt…'

"Whoops," Esther grinned as she landed on the floor in a crouch. "I might have used a bad move there."

Amir nodded frantically in confirmation, causing Esther to let out a hearty laugh. "I like ye, Amir! I can't wait for us to be traveling together!"

"We are not traveling together!" Amir protested.

"Ooh, yes we are! I'm here to kidnap ye, remember?"

"I thought you were joking…"

"Nope! Kidnapping ye."

"...can I at least ask why, please?"

"Hmm…let me see…" Esther put her hand on her chin and stared hard at the floor. She stared for so long, Amir's eyes drifted over to the other end of the room, where he could barely make out Cordell clashing with the daggers of Chesil and Ares while Oakley just stood awkwardly to the side. They were still here? "I think not!" Esther charged at Amir with what looked to be an ice punch, energy forming at her ears. "Time for round two, Magic Man!"

The first thought that went through Amir's head was wondering why she kept calling him "Magic Man" when she knew his name. The second thought was him wondering why she was suddenly so insistent on kidnapping him. The third was that he was making this a lot more complicated than necessary trying to dumb down his own skills. His final thought was that he was taking far too long with this fight and Rosalio was definitely going to notice.

'I am screwed.' He thought as he avoided Esther's punch. He quickly had to play on the defensive, however, as she began to strike harder and faster. 'I hope Cordell can at least wrap things up on his end…'

Cordell, not unlike Amir, was not having a great time. "Why. Won't. You. Just. Leave. Already!" The kunai knife began to grow frustrated at how the plusle and spinda duo refused to go the direction he wanted them to.

"We refuse!" Chesil cried and pushed harder on her dagger. "We will never bow to the whims of a mere object!"

"Yeah." Ares said and stopped for a moment to look over his shoulder. "...Oakley, are you seriously not going to do anything?"

Oakley grinned and shuffled behind the luggages. "No thanks," he laughed, a hint of hysteria leaking into his voice. "I'm fine just where I am."

"...Oakley, you are such a-"

"Aha! I got you!" Chesil's sudden cheer caught Ares and Oakley's attention. They turned to see Chesil manage to push back against Cordell just enough to cause him to fly into the wall.

Cordell struggled to pull himself out of the wall, to no success. "...you've got to be kidding me."

"Yes! We did it!" Chesil cheered and held up a paw to Ares. "Yay!"

Ares stared at her hand for a second before sighing and giving her a weak high five. "Yay," he said, unenthusiastically.

"You've got to be kidding me." Cordell repeated numbly.

"Oh, well, that was far easier than expected." Oakley said, letting out a sigh of relief.

"You have GOT to be kidding me!" Cordell said again, his tone bordering on what seemed to be the precipice of insanity.

"What, can't accept defeat, blade thingy?" Chesil grinned.

"Kunai," Cordell corrected with a hint of annoyance. "And I can admit defeat, it's just that this isn't exactly the ideal situation for me to do that."

Ares's frown deepened. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Cordell groaned. "Not important." He grunted as he tried to unstick himself from the wall, to no avail. "Look, can you just help me out here?"

"Uh…no?" Oakley snorted and put his hands on his hips as he leered down at the knife. "You're coming with us, blade guy."

"The name's Cordell, wise guy." Cordell snapped. "And I really don't want to see you acting tough when you were just letting your two associates fight on their own barely a minute ago."

Oakley snorted and puffed out his chest. "Yes, but there's a very good reason for that. See, unlike these two, I don't need the training. I was merely…observing their progress from a safe distance away. I don't want to hinder them from learning by intruding in a fight!" He added that last bit with a bit of a nervous undertone before slapping the backs of both Chesil and Ares. "R-right guys?"

"...sounds legit to me!" Chesil said with a huge smile.

"I hate you." Ares said with a grumble.

"Love ya too, bud!" Oakley said cheerily. "Now, let's just take the knife guy-"

"Kunai," Cordell chimed in.

"-kunai…and get off of this train." Oakley finished.

"Excellent!" Chesil smirked and pulled out a sack from her side. She opened it up and scooped a protesting Cordell inside before tightening the rope holding the sack together. "Alright! It's time for the Three Arm Bandits to move out!"

"Wait, you're just gonna leave that pirate lady behind?" Cordell asked.

"Pfft, yeah." Chesil scoffed. "Who cares?"

"Feel kinda bad," Oakley sighed. "But, ah well. At least we got a floating knife as compensation!"

"Kunai," Cordell corrected absently, though his mind was elsewhere. 'Thank Xerneas…everything seems to be going right for once…'

"Sir, something's wrong."

Oltony raised an eyebrow at the sudden statement made by his magnemite bodyguard. "What do you mean?"

"I can feel it," she said sternly. "There's a change in the air…" Electricity sparked around her and she glanced around with her eye narrowed. "...I can feel a lot of…electric charge gathering. Unnaturally."

"What?" Oltony repeated in alarm. He exchanged a look with Rosalio, who's expression turned serious. "Do you think we're being attacked? By who?"

Rosalio crossed his arms, staring at the floor in concentration. "...I don't know. But…perhaps there may be a chance someone tipped off our meeting to someone in the Stellian Royal Guard."

"...we need to get out of here." Oltony said.

Rosalio closed his eyes. "...agreed. I'll see you in Oar's Rest, Oltony."

Oltony nodded in confirmation and gestured to the geodude and magnemite bodyguards. They hurriedly left the room, leaving Rosalio behind.

The roserade uncrossed his arms and stood up, glaring at the wall. "First things first…" he walked out of the room and slid the door behind him. He didn't go in the same direction as Oltony, however, toward the more crowded cars toward the back of the train. He turned right around and headed straight for the very front of the train with his eyes narrowed. "...I have something to deal with first."

A/N: Hello everyone! Thank you for being so patient with me, even if I completely suck at making due on my "update promises". Meaning, I don't disappear for months on end, only to reappear, claiming that I will update more often, only to go MIA once more AFTER leaving ya'll on a cliffhanger! And THEN I return once more...updating a completely new and different story! At this point, I think I should just go at my own pace. I'm putting deadlines on myself, which never really helps with the writing process. My readers are all very understanding of my plights, regardless, so I feel that I should honor that.

So! Somehow VGS2 the Sexy Sausage found this story, even when it was deleted, gave me a very encouraging review, and that was the motivation I found I needed to continue this story! This story may seem quite confusing in the beginning, but things should get clearer once I have the basics of the world and plot down. I really hope you'll enjoy it! I'd also love to hear your thoughts on this! It helps with motivation to hear people talk about your story, so even if it's just a small thing you liked, noticed I could improve on, or hope to see in the future, I'd love to hear it!

Thank you for reading!