Nightopolis flickers as the sun sets- like a star blooming in the midnight sky. As eve blankets Mobia Terra, the kingdom of pleasure turns into a flashing neon paradise. Humans and animals alike rushed into the city's largest gambling site, a cashino adorned in vain neon signs, an artificial rainbow.

The mobian mercenary gave another sigh, scratching the monochrome fur at his face as the CEO and the commissioner have the typical "chat" in the dreary office. The chat about how their massive funds were endangered, the chat about how they could only rely on a couple mercs, the chat about how everything could go wrong. It'd make a newbie nervous, but he's well used to it.

Blade turns to the only other one that they hired- a blonde human, gripping a baseball bat with white knuckles. The coyote looks her- up and down with golden eyes, and smirks.

"First time?" He asks. He doesn't really see humans on this sort of job often, the dirty physical jobs. "What's your name?"

And she was a kid, at that. Her gaze snaps to him- something of a glare.

"Jackie." She huffs, taking a hand off the bat, reaching to a small trinket on her neck. "Please, I've done this before."

"Call me Blade. And you definitely haven't." He turns to the commissioner, the irritated grizzly cop trying their best to not strangle the groomed weasel panicking over material wealth.

Jackie only gives his introduction a scoff. "That's not your real name. Who names their kid that?"

"Is it?" Blade smiles, adjusting the belt beneath his vest. "I'll tell you if you pay me."

The girl sighs, rolling his eyes and turning back to the other pair of mobians- the weasel just seeming to calm down, adjusting the tie around his neck as if he wasn't seconds away from a breakdown.

"That doesn't matter, it's almost time." The weasel- Mr. Verfur, owner of the Grandeur, the biggest casino in Nightopolis, the "castle" to the kingdom of pleasure- turns to the pair of them, "the time on the calling card, come on!"

And the weasel scampers out of the white office room- onto the cashino that smells of liquor, coins, and cigarette ash. The bear stands behind Jackie and Blade, imposing over the two as if they planned to bolt. They walk to a flight of stairs, up, and up.

"So." Jackie begins, pointing to a slip of cardstock in Verfur's hand. "What's up with that card?"

"The mark of the Watch." Verfur gives a nervous gulp, and the staircase leads to a door- and the door has a fingerprint lock that is quickly opened. "The Honey Badger leads them- she's one of the greatest thieves in the world. She takes what she wants, and now, she's set her sights on me!"

The door unveils a vault- a vault of gold and bills and coins. The pinnacle of greed.

"No one thief could make off with all this in one trip." Blade growls, gesturing to the mass of wealth. "And even if they could, you're the richest man in the zone, you're making more money as we speak. You can rebuild, easily."

The commissioner glares at him, and the weasel scoffs. "I don't care about that!" He yells, reaching for a gold-encrusted lever, and pulling. "This is what they're after!"

The room seems to shake, and the riches pool down into a cavity in the center of the room. And from that trapdoor, that cavity, a pedestal emerges.

A trilliant-cut crystal, twinkling purple within its glass case. Jackie eyes the crystal with parts curiosity, parts confusion.

"Right. Nice birthstone." She seems disappointed.

"It's not a birthstone! It's- you know what, we don't have time for this…" Verfur reaches into the pocket of his coat, pulling out a watch. "We have minutes- seconds, even!"

Red lasers dart across the room, narrowly avoiding its living inhabitants.

"Just- stay here, and make sure nothing happens! If this got into the wrong hands, they'll-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah- I'm getting paid for this, right?" Blade asks, putting a hand to his hip. It earns him a shocked look from Jackie.

"Dude!" Her face quickly narrows into a glare. "You can't be serious, is getting paid all you care about right now?!"

"Honestly? Yes." The coyote doesn't match the girl's passion- the sudden streak of frustration. "This is just a job."

"I could do this job blindfolded. I'm not here for the money." Jackie growls, grip tightening on her baseball bat.

"Suit yourself, kid." He smirks- and his ear twitches, ever slightly.

And that was the precise moment when the lights went out. Verfur yelps, hands grabbing the ears atop his head. The lasers stayed on, but it remained pitch-black.

"Geez, they trying to scare us?" Jackie seems confident. "The lasers are still on, and the security will go off-"

The lights turn back on, and everything is gone.

"Oh crap." Blade mutters, just as the CEO screams and alarms begin to ring.

"It- it's gone! The emerald, it's-"

"They can't have gotten far." Blade shakes his head, and turns to his "partner". They may as well work together now. "I'm heading up to the roof. You go to the main floor."

"Don't tell me what to do!" Jackie yells, but the two are running out the door together anyways.

Jackie makes it back to the main floor, bat in hand. The hanging lights rustle, as if something was atop them.

"Found you." She hisses, grabbing the MP3 player hanging from her neck, and turning it up, trying to drown out the panic of the crowd under the beat of drums.

She turns on her heel, and heads up a grand set of stairs, to a balcony. Didn't they hire more security than her, a mercenary, and a single cop?

The lights keep shaking, and someone lands atop the chandelier hanging just before the balcony. Mobian, of course, because who else would be able to steal a vault's worth of objects and carry it over their back?

"I'm gonna need those back!" She raises her bat, and the hooded figure's eyes shift to her. A pinkish shade of red, as one of their hands lower.

"Do you, though?" It's a masculine voice, a cocky and almost sleazy one, and it pisses her off. "He can afford it."

Those words again- Jackie feels like she's gonna pop a vein. "Doesn't make it right! Come down here and fight me!"

The thief laughs- and flicks back the hood covering their face. A raccoon, and how fitting that their face made a fern-green mask for them already.

"Just make sure it's a good time, yes?" The smile he makes unnerves her, as he hops on down from the lamp. She swings the bat, and he unsurprisingly dodges it.

The bag in his hand goes flying to the ceiling, tethered by some sort of rope. Jackie can't quite see it clearly, but some sort of blade emerges from his wrist. He stabs quickly, but her bat comes up to block it.

"Ohh, is that your gimmick? A baseball bat?" The raccoon doesn't seem bothered, moreso intrigued. The smile on his snout is only accented by fangs. "Is it going to explode on me?"

"Nope." She brings up her foot, pushing the thief back, and swings with the bat. While the thief brings up wood-covered arms to block the blow, it slams right through, clocking him in the head. "It's a real Tearjerker though."

"Mwahahaha! Oh, that's actually funny…" The thief fumbles ever slightly. "What's your name, kid?"

"Uh… Jackie, Jackie White. A bit weird to ask that on the job." She mutters, raising her bat up in defiance. She'll play along with the weirdo's game, until she figures out what's up his sleeves.

"Oh! Shit, right! The job!" The raccoon's green gloves clap together. "I'm supposed to be stealing from that bastard!"

"Hey! Language!" She hisses, as the raccoon laughs a bit more, like some kind of supervillain. "I don't see what's so funny-"

His expression turns deadly serious, and a rope extends from his wrist. As it wraps around her body, she realizes- it's vines, plants, binding her down and sending her to the ground, taking her hands off the bat.

"Sorry, kid. You have to bite the hand that feeds you to get a decent meal." It was hard to tell if it was sympathy or insincerity in the raccoon's voice, but another vine pulled him up and away before she could ponder it.

"Gah! Dang it!"

In her frustration, Jackie bangs her head against the floor.

Blade rushes through the door to the rooftop, and his ear twitches as the vents continue scuttering- cover already open, of course. He reaches into his vest, grabbing the gray handle of his weapon of choice.

The gemstone flies into the air first, and it's caught into a delicate, velvet glove.

"Bonne soirré." A black and white badger, hair tied behind her beneath a beret, lips set in a fond smirk. "I'm surprised you knew where I was heading. But… Not too surprised."

"Nah, just a lucky guess." One of Blade's eyes close, but he keeps his gaze upon the badger. "Mind telling me how you broke in so easily?"

"Not even the hardest heist I've done, Coyote." She smiles, walking forwards and leaning ever slightly down. "If you let me leave, I'll make it worth your while..?"

"Oh, tempting, tempting." He smirks- and in one swift action, pulls Kagutsuchi from his belt. The simple handle extends, and that extension forms a beam, a crackling edge of energy. "But I think I'll make this heist much harder."

She eyes the sword curiously, but he can see the badger's glee in the moonlight. "Ohohoho! A lightsaber? Now that's new."

"You can call it that. But it won't hurt as much." He twists the throttle-like handle that would be the sword's guard, and rushes forwards.

The edge meets the badger's boots, and in that clash, Blade saw the badger's eyes look him up and down. As he brings his sword back, she lowers her leg, but keeps a tight grip on the gem.

"You're gonna be difficult about it, huh?" He hisses, and this time swings straight down- getting its edge stuck in the heel of the badger's boot. "All of this," and as he resets his stance, she's the one that comes kicking- a pair of high kicks that he uses his weapon to block. "And I don't get to know your name?"

The badger seems to smile, as if she were having fun. "You're quite the funny guy. If you had a bottle of wine to go with this date, I'd kiss you. How about you call me…"

While she's off guard, his blade rushes to her neck- and the barrel of a gun enters his mouth just as quickly.

"Mindy." Her smile widens just a bit, an odd excitement in her voice. "Should I call you Épée?"

He tries to casually say "Blade, actually", over the weapon between his fangs, but it comes out as a series of grunts. The badger, Mindy- merely lets out a small chuckle at his attempt.

"I have to say, mon cher, you've actually been more interesting than the heist itself." The gun is pulled out from his maw, but still aimed at his head, in the same way he backs away, but only draws the edge of his blade closer. Its quiet crackles and their breaths were the only thing to break the silence of the evening wind.

Mindy's head tilts slightly, and she tosses the crystal to him- which he catches. "I think you've earned this, non? Hehehe…"

"Did I earn a second date?" He smirks, going along with her flirts.

"Hmm… I'll consider it." She steps back, to the edge of the rooftop, concealing her gun once more. "Au revoir, Épée."

His brow quirks, and she jumps off. As he hears the cracking of a window, he looks down to the streets below, as an unmarked vehicle barrels down the streets of the city, tires screeching as it turns. Sirens turn on far too late- moving with only half the speed.

Blade raises a hand to his chin, and mutters.

"Sayonara, weird badger."

When Blade makes it back down, the gem in his left hand, the commissioner is gone, Verfur is curled up against a wall, and Jackie is halfway wrapped in vines.

"... What the hell happened here?" He mutters, scanning the empty vault in confusion.

"Of course you have a sword. Help me out here, "Blade"." Jackie's voice is dripping with parts sarcasm, parts anger, but the weasel hops back up from his stupor.

"Oh, thank the heavens you've got it back!" Verfur's hands reach for it. "At the very least you did a good job, I don't know how I could ever repay you-"

Blade frowns, and pulls the gem away. "You can. My payment." He leans forwards on his saber and holds out a hand.

"A-after I-"

"Payment."

Verfur growls, reaching into his pocket. A stack of bills fall into Blade's hand, and he smiles.

"Now give it back-"

"And hers." Blade's gaze turns to Jackie- and for once, she looks at him with something that isn't spite. Surprise? Confusion? Whatever it was, he liked that look. "This is all you cared about protecting, right? We did our job."

"You must be kidding! She's the reason why the thief got away!" Verfur yells, and again reaches for the gem.

"Thieves, plural. The one I ran into only had this. And if I had ran into both of them, then I would have come back with nothing."

"Eh? Plural? I had to fight a raccoon to get like this." Jackie huffs, her expression turning back to spite. "It's fine, I messed up. Don't bother arguing with him."

"Shame. I guess I'll just sell this gem instead." He smiles, tossing it in the air. "It must make a pretty penny if you went through all that to-"

"Fine! Fine!" Verfur's expression turns desperate, as he pulls another stack from his pocket, and presses it into Blade's hand. "Please, just give it back!"

"Now was that so hard?" The coyote smiles, lowering his hand, and the weasel snatches it without another word, sighing in relief. "You should consider putting lasers in the ventilations, by the way."

He sets the dollars into his pocket, and raises Kagutsuchi- slicing down on Jackie's bonds. She seems… Slightly relieved.

"Not even a thank you?" He asks, deactivating the sword, and handing Jackie her share. The girl takes it, and that softer expression turns back into a glare.

"Like heck I will."

Author's Post-Note: When I posted the first chapter, the website had a bug where it wouldn't appear on the site, and it wasn't fixed until 2 days later.

Upon getting some characters, I decided to split the series into "arcs", like the everyday shonen manga. For the most part, this story will be in chronological order, unless a flashback is necessary. I have a bit planned for this arc, but it might still be subject to change. Who knows?

Introducing…

"Blade" the Coyote - 22 - Male (He/Him)

A lax, flippant canine mercenary. He tries to appear as relaxed as he can, a smirk always on his face. He's a bit smarter than he looks.

Submitted by [Uncredited]

Jackie White - 16 - Female (She/Her)

A young girl with a temper that undermines her latent cunning. Born a human, but is well adjusted to the eccentricities of Mobians. She can be nice if she feels like it.

Submitted by Stinkydrink

Leif Langthorne the Raccoon - 18 - Male (He/They)

A thief and temporary(?) member of the Neighborhood Watch. He has a love for thrills and adrenaline, and is incredibly showy. However, he hates those with power who trample on the weak.

Submitted by [Uncredited]

Mindy DeAnne the Badger - 19 - Female (She/Her)

An infamous phantom thief and impromptu leader of the Neighborhood Watch. A femme fatale with a childish streak. Tends to care more about the "stealing" than what's stolen.

Submitted by Kunnaki

Gratuitous Translations

Bonne soirré: French. "Good Evening".

Épée: French. "Sword", moreso a fencing foil.

Mon cher: French. "My dear".

Au revoir: French. "Goodbye".

Thank you for reading this far! Leave a review if you can. There's also a discord server for creators with accepted characters.

Farewell, and fair writing!

-Inari