Who's the Best Thief? – Can We Say Loud?

Doot doot doot…Working on vacation whee o.O;

"A thief competition?" Rune repeated incredulously.

Rath nodded as he took a bite out of his drumstick. "S'what Ruwalk said. It's ta see who's the best thief in the world. They think it will finally settle the feud between the two."

Rune just snorted. "Probably would provoke them even more than settle it. Where is it being held?"

"Right here in the Dragon Castle!"

The mouthful of water that had just entered Rune's mouth suddenly found itself on the table as Rune thumped himself repeatedly in the chest, coughing. "WHAT?!"

A small sweat bead appeared next to Rath's head. "That's right…Lykouleon approved it, too."

"And how are they going to make sure that nothing else will be stolen?"

"That's where Tetheus comes in, duh."

Rune sighed and took another swig of his water. Well…if Tetheus is on the case I guess it won't be so bad… "Who all is attending?"

"Other than Thatz and Kitchel, assuming they manage to get them to play in it, I have no idea." Rath chewed on his chicken thoughtfully. "But who else would enter it?"

"Petty thieves." Rune frowned. "But I wonder if that would mean that the…" His eyes widened as he quickly stuffed some food into his mouth.

Rath only blinked and looked over at him confused. "Would mean what, Rune?"

The faerie only shook his head. There was no way he would let Rath get excited over the prospect of youkai coming, not after the peace treaty, which was pretty fragile enough itself. Rath suddenly killing viewers and contestants would be the last thing the world needed. Rune's stomach grew ill at the thought.

The Dragon Knight of Fire just shrugged it off and leaned back in his seat. "…You know I just realized something."

"Mmf?"

"Thatz wasn't here for lunch."

Silence.

Thatz glared angrily at Kitchel, his arms crossed. "This had better be good, Kitchel. I missed a good lunch because of you."

"Could you not think of your stomach for once?" Kitchel sighed.

There was a moment of silence as Thatz thought about this prospect. "No."

Kitchel slapped a hand to her face and gave a low growl. "What. Ever. Thatz, we have got to talk."

"Yeah we do. Where's the money that you owe me?!"

"THATZ I'M SERIOUS!"

He cringed and held an arm up in defense. "All right, all right…what is it?"

The thief sighed and held up a flyer. "Have you seen this?"

Thatz blinked and took the flyer from her hands. He stared at the sack of money right in the middle for a few seconds before looking at the rest of the flyer. At the top there was a banner with the words "Are YOU the best thief?" on it. Below the sack of money (which Thatz took another good few seconds to stare at) there were a few lines of words that Thatz read aloud.

"To every thief out there who believes he or she is the best in the world, come to Draqueen to show every other poser who the true master thief is. Grand Prize: Whatever your heart desires and 1,000,000,000,000 gold." Thatz did a double take as dollar signs formed in his eyes. "ONE TRILLION GOLD??!?!"

Kitchel nodded. "That's right."

"Hammina hammina hammina…"

"…Uh…yeah…" She took the flyer back and looked at it again. "Took you long enough to read it. Anyway, don't you think this is a little…fishy? I mean, who would have that kind of cash? And what's really in it for us? How do we know this is not just some ploy by the police or something?" She turned back to Thatz, only to see him still drooling over the grand prize money. Twitching slightly, she rolled up the parchment and smacked the Dragon Knight hard against his head. "THATZ!"

He gave a yell of surprise and rubbed his head. "Geez Kitchel! I was just imagining all the food I could buy with that!"

"STOP THINKING ABOUT FOOD!!"

"HEY! I MISSED LUNCH BECAUSE OF YOU SO YOU BETTER BUY ME ONE!"

"?! I AIN'T BUYING YOU NOTHING!"

"DOUBLE NEGATIVE! DOUBLE NEGATIVE!! AND "AINT" AIN'T A WORD!"

"IT IS IN CAPS!"

"SHUT UP!"

"NO YOU SHUT UP!"

"WELL I'M GOING TO BEAT YOU IN THAT COMPETITION!"

"IN YOUR DREAMS, HAS BEEN!"

Now that was something Thatz would not let slide by.

"Ooooh those be fightin' words, eh? Well then you're on! The winner has to be the loser's servant for a month!"

"FINE!"

In the midst of their arguing (which still continued), the two did not notice a pair of glowing green eyes watching them in the darkness.

Ruwalk looked up from his desk when he heard a knock on his door. "Yes?"

Cernozura poked her head in. "Um…Ruwalk…I think there's something wrong with Rath and Rune…"

Blinking, the Dragon Officer stood up from his chair and followed the attendant to the dining hall, where the two Dragon Knights in question were just sitting in the same positions as they had been since Rath made his observation of Thatz missing from the table. Ruwalk walked over to the two and waved a hand in front of their blank faces. Seeing no response he rubbed his chin. "You didn't put anything in the food did you?"

"Ruwalk!"

He grinned at her. "Just kidding. Hm…lets snap them out of this daze shall we?" The Dragon Officer leaned over to Rath and whispered the word "Youkai" into the Dragon Knight's ear.

Immediately Rath jolted out of his stupor. "DEMON?! WHERE?!" he yelled frantically as he knocked over his chair while swinging his sword madly.

Rune also snapped out of his daze and quickly subdued Rath with a boulder. "WE'RE IN THE DRAGON CASTLE YOU IDIOT!"

Ruwalk leaned over to Cernozura. "Is it just me, or does this chapter seem rather…loud?" The attendant only giggled. He cleared his throat and stepped up to the two Dragon Knights. "Care to tell me why you two were in a petrified state?"

"Rath made the observation that Thatz was not here for lunch," Rune answered, still in disbelief.

Sweat beads appeared next to the two Dragon Knights as the stared at the horrified faces of Ruwalk and Cernozura, their bodies stiff.

"I wonder if we were like that," Rath murmured.

"I really hope not and if we were, no one but these two saw it," Rune sighed.

"Hm…" Rath took out a camera and snapped a picture of the two. "Man I love this thing!"

Rune was too concerned about the two statues in front of him to come up with a reprimand for Rath. He waved a hand in front of their faces and stood there thoughtfully. "Hm…I got it." He coughed. "Uh oh, here comes Alfeegi and he looks as if he's on a rampage!"

At this Ruwalk snapped out of his shock and yelled, "KAI-STERN MADE ME GIVE HIM EXTRA MONEY!! HE MADE ME I TELL YOU!!"

The two Dragon Knights just stared at him with an eyebrow raised. Even Cernozura, who was freed by Ruwalk's shout out, was looking at the Dragon Officer strangely. Realizing that Alfeegi was nowhere to be seen, Ruwalk let out a long sigh of relief. "Uh…heh."

"We didn't look as stupid as you did, did we?" Rune asked bluntly.

Cernozura blinked. "Look stupid?"

Rath held up the instantly processed picture of the two. "Like that."

The two immediately returned to their state of horror.

"GOD DAMMIT!" Rune cursed.

Rath just stared at his friend. "…You cursed…"

The faerie just muttered something as they went through the process all over again.

At that same moment, Thatz and Kitchel barged right into Lykouleon's office, surprising both the Dragon Lord and Alfeegi who had just come in to deliver him another stack of papers to sign.

"LORD LYKOULEON! WE'RE ENTERING THE WHO'S THE BEST THIEF GAME SHOW!"

Lykouleon smiled up at Alfeegi who just stood there stupefied. "Well that was easy."

Thatz blinked. "You know about it?"

"I had been hoping that both of you would participate in it."

"You did?" they repeated in unison.

"I hear that Ekidonna will be in it," Lykouleon mused as he picked up a document. "And seems to be the only one to represent the youkai. Claims he will, if I may quote, 'kick any of those Dragon thieves ass.'"

Alfeegi stared at Lykouleon. "You did not just actually read that word for word."

The Dragon Lord just shrugged. "I said I quoted." He turned back to his two eager participants. "So you see…er…" Both he and Alfeegi had sweat beads next to their faces as the flames of anger engulfed both Thatz and Kitchel. "…I shall send in the registrations immediately."

"EKIDONNAAAAAAAAA!!!!" the two suddenly erupted, raising their fists into the air, veins popping all over the place.

Not too far away in a not so distant town in an even more precise location of the local tavern, Ekidonna sneezed. "Hm…someone must be talking about me…heh, must be praise for my great skills in thievery!"

Kai-stern, the Dragon Officer who finally appeared even though it was at the end of the chapter, sipped his glass as he watched the youkai laugh heartily and take a swig from his own mug. He reached into his pocket and pulled a folded up parchment. Unfolding it, he scanned the contents again and glanced back at the youkai thief only a few tables away. No doubt about it. He will definitely be there…That guy… He dropped his head onto the counter. We're all doomed.