THIEF! Chapter 8
Birthday Confrontation
It was Liana's birthday today! She was 17, and feeling great. She was having a birthday party later on today, and her brother had promised a special surprise. Derek always honored his promises; it was bound to be something great.
Over the past weeks things had been going swimmingly for Liana. Under Jenna's urgings, their little 'group' met once a week at Bobby's house, which was also the new residence of Dragon. Everybody had helped furnish one of the empty rooms for her to live in. Dragon and her pokemon now had all the comfort that they could ever ask for, though the girl kept her ripped jeans and baggy shirt.
During their meetings, Jenna would usually outline all her extravagant ideas about future heists that Liana should pull. They would usually be extremely complicated, and some were even too dangerous for Liana's taste. Bobby, Angel, and Dragon always tried to simplify them, and minor wars often started as a result of their disagreements. Because of this Bobby decided to move all meetings to the basement, where the damage to his house would be less.
Although Dragon didn't need to steal anymore, she usually accompanied Liana, "to watch your back" she said. The two girls worked together very well and had each saved the other on a few occasions. They had formed a very strong sisterly bond, and they even fought like sisters.
And now Liana had turned 17. She still had her rush, and now had an even closer circle of friends. And on top of that, it was a weekend! Liana would probably steal again tonight. Could life get any better?
Liana stood in her room, preparing herself for her party, and for later that night. But she was having a little trouble finding her mask. She was about to start a serious search of her room when Derek knocked on the door. "I want to talk to you for a minute, sis." His face seemed strangely serious. "It's important."
"Oh, geez, Derek. I don't mind if you don't get me the 'perfect' something-"
"It's not about that" Derek snapped. "It's about you. About this" He held up her missing mask. "How could you do this, Liana? I thought you were a better kid than this. I'm calling the police." He threw the mask on the floor, and began to walk away.
Liana rushed past him and blocked the door. "Don't do this, Derek."
"Are you going to try and stop me by force, Liana? I have no qualms about battling my sister in this way, since she chose to throw away her morals, and become a criminal." He took out his pokeball, and let out his Absol. She didn't move. "What are you waiting for? Release your pokemon!"
"I don't want to fight you, Derek." Liana replied sadly. "You're my brother. Just hear me out; let me have a chance to explain. Please."
Derek's expression softened, and he sighed. "Ok, Liana. But you'd better give me a very good reason.
So Liana told him everything. About the rush, how it made her feel amazing. She told him how she had met many of her friends because of it. She told him how she had decided to steal, but not to take, in order to keep her conscience clean.
"Rush, eh?" Derek said, staring at the ceiling. "I guess I can understand that. It's exactly how I feel about pokemon battles. But why stealing? What turned you on to that?"
"It's Jenna's fault," Liana said sourly.
"Do you get a rush at all from battling, like I do?"
"A little. But it's not enough. Not nearly enough."
"That's probably because you haven't had any battles which challenged you enough. Go on a pokemon journey; seek out the best trainers."
Liana made a face. "Derek, that is so cliché."
"Maybe so, but it's still a good idea. No? Well, anyway, I'm glad that you were trying to make the best of your addiction by not keeping your spoils, but I want you to stop now, ok?"
"I'll try Derek. But it's hard. Could you suddenly stop battling?" Score! "Besides, there's group momentum pushing me onwards now."
Derek looked uncomfortable as he contemplated life without pokemon battling. "Erm, you make a good point. Well, try to, um, phase out of it, ok? It really isn't a game. It's serious business. I'm surprised more people don't already know about you, the way you've been carrying on."
"Will do. Now, if don't mind, I need to finish getting the party set up."
The party was wonderful. Everyone came, and they had a great time talking, having casual battles, and just hanging out. Derek came through just as he promised.
"Yesterday, I found this lonely looking little thing. I thought you might want to take care of it." He gave Liana a pokeball, which opened to reveal a Flaafy.
"Derek, it's wonderful. I love it." Liana hugged the electric sheep closely to her, and it meeped happily.
As the party wore on, Liana saw a boy staring intensely at her. But when she met his gaze he blushed and looked away. He looked familiar…She snapped her fingers suddenly! He was Dream, the son of the chief of police, and he was in her class. Hmm, it would never hurt to see what the police thought of her, she thought. So she walked over to him.
"You're Dream, right? How do you like the party?"
The boy gawked at Liana for a moment before responding. "Great, very exciting."
Liana saw an opening. "Not as exciting as what's been going on in this city, though."
"You mean the Thank-you thief?"
"Yeah. Hey, you're dad's the chief of police right? What are they doing to catch the thief?"
"Well, my dad thinks it's just the work of some prankster. The police are concentrating more on serious crimes, like murders and such. They are doing little more than chronicling the thief's work."
Liana was getting very tired of everyone calling her a prankster. "Well I think that's a mistake," she replied loftily. "At any moment the thief could start being more serious. The police should pay more attention to him." She had almost said 'me.'
Dream's eyes lit up. "I think so too. That's why I've been investigating on my own. I have a theory that the thief is someone from our school. Most of his victims have been students here, after all."
That was interesting to know. Liana should probably broaden the scope of her heists. "Thanks for the info. Good luck with your investigation." And with that she walked away.
Jenna ran up to her. "I heard that," she said.
"I figured you would. You're like my own personal stalker, sometimes."
"Very funny. Did you really mean that, that you might start stealing for real?"
"Of course not. But I would be worried about it if I didn't know who the thief was."