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* The Thief Game *
* Chapter Four *
* The Boy Who Turned Into A Thief *

The sun was dipping below the surface of the sea now. I guess it is the kind of picture that you only see on brochures to some fancy get away, but I was too busy glaring at the man sitting beside me to notice.

Saying Mattias was really starting to get on my nerves was the understatement of the century. The guy literally kidnaped me from my own bedroom, and now we were just sitting here, watching the sunset together like we were best buddies or something. He just sat there, grinning like an idiot while he kept his gaze fixed forward. His hair grew ruffled from the mild ocean breeze and I'm sure he was getting just as much sand in his pants just as much as I have in mine. He put his knees close to his body and rested his chin on them wrapping one arm around them and used the other to keep me from running away (which I had already attempted twice, both were obviously foiled).

I was beyond the panicking stage by now, so I settled for just sulking and giving my captor dirty looks as I cried inside. He still paid no mind to them even though I'm sure even a raging wild pokémon would shrink back from.

I felt my pockets, finding the pokéball from earlier, which was not entirely helpful in this situation. I sincerely missed the weight of my cellphone right about now though, but it was still in my room. Not that I use it much else except for playing games on, but having it right now to make a phone call would be nice. A good talk with my old friends at the local police station is what I really wanted.

But with Mattias' grip not loosening up any time soon, I would have to wait.

"It's almost time," Mattias hummed cheerfully. His voice made me jump, having stayed quite for so long. He unfolded himself and stood up with a yawn before letting go of my arm for a split second to put in his back.

That was all the time I needed to dash away. As soon as he was no longer touching me, I ran as fast as I could towards the town I saw in the distance. I actually had no clue as to where Mattias has teleported me to, but I could figure that out once I escaped the lunatic. My lungs burned I was running so hard and I wasn't about to stop until I found a station, or at least a pokémon center. All the while I prayed to every god I knew that Mattias wouldn't catch me again.

I was going to probably need therapy after this.

I didn't even have a chance. Mattias quickly caught up in no time and latched onto my arm once again. "I'm glad to see you so enthusiastic, Spencer, but you need to wait for me. I gotta explain the rules first." We slowed to a stop as the last of my hope drained away.

"P-please, I…" I felt a dam start to form behind my eyes but I held it off with everything I had left.

"Its okay, Spencer, I believe in you. You can do this." He smiled and spoke reassuringly as if he thought he understood like a normal person would.

"Oh my gods…" I moaned. "Just. Let's get this over with."

"That's the spirit—sort of." He led me to a tall bronze colored front gate that held in a large dark building in the distance. It looked familiar; I couldn't quite place it though. Maybe if we got a bit closer… "Here we are, Oak Labs. This is where my—your new pokémon is held."

I could not believe the words that came out of his mouth. The world famous Professor Oak was in charge of Mattias' pokémon? The Professor Oak, who invented the pokéDex that helped revolutionize pokémon training into a world famous sport that it is today? The Professor who no doubt had the best security system—not to mention all the powerful pokémon being held there—in the entire region, save for the league? "You're kidding, right? I'm not going to steal from there, am I?" I asked meekly.

"Yup, this is the place." He hopped onto the gate and swung it open. It made a loud crash as it rammed into rest of the gate, but Mattias didn't seem put off by it. I however certainly was. I made a strangled noise as he had the nerve to laugh as if he were on some kiddie ride at an amusement park.

"Come on, Spencer~," he sang loudly. It was a miracle that we weren't caught right then and there.

I began to back away, hoping to make another break for it, when I stumbled into yellow and coarse fur. "This message is only for you, child," Ansel spoke into my mind. "I need you to entertain my master. We—my colleagues and I—shall help you, so you need not worry. However, I can't have you upset him again. So, I shall tell you this: if you keep him happy, we will make sure you stay alive. Understand?"

I gritted my teeth to keep myself from screaming. I didn't really like the sound of that, but I knew a threat when I heard one, and the last thing I wanted was an angry physic seeking my blood. So I nodded solemnly.

"Good." The alakazam flicked his eyes over to Mattias, who was now swinging on the other gate, still laughing like a preschooler zipping down a slip-n-slide. "Now, Master instructed me to relay his 'rules' to you. The first step you have skipped, but I will take care of that. The second step is for me to—" We suddenly were no longer outside. It was extremely dark, and if it weren't for the glowing eyes of Ansel, I wouldn't have been able to see the outline of my hands in front of my face. "—teleport you inside."

I stumbled and had to feel around by carefully inching my toes forward, and putting my hands out in front of me. "Okay, I can't see anything."

"Do not move. I shall retrieve the desired item."

"Yeah, okay." I tried not to let the alakazam think I was disagreeing with him by quickly agreeing with him, but I think is sounded more dejected then I planned.

"Do not make a sound. My Master does not understand precautions the human has put in place to prevent thievery here. If it was not for I, the alarms would have sounded by now."

I bit my lip and tried to see my situation optimistically. Okay, firstly, I'm going to get a rare, powerful pokémon. Um, let's see, what else? Ansel isn't insane like his owner. That was a plus, right? I would be in a much worse situation if he were. And then?

I couldn't think of anything to add to that. There were a lot more negatives than positives to this situation. If I just focused on the new pokémon I was getting instead then. I wondered what type it would be. Maybe it was a pokémon in the dratini line? Yeah, those were rare, and powerful! And not to mention—I didn't finish my thought because a hot thick tear slid down the bridge of my nose. I sucked in my breath to try to prevent myself from crying more, but I felt a sob bubble in the back of my throat that threatened to take me to full blown bawling.

I angrily—but still quietly—cleared it. No, I wasn't going to cry so easily. I am a man, and men don't cry unless it is a funeral or something. I wiped the tears that had escaped on my jacket sleeve. That's right, no need to cry over this, I told myself. Trainers almost die all the time in the wilds. What's a fake robbery compare to that? The thought did calm me down just the slightest bit.

"Here you are, child. This is the pokéball you were sent to retrieve." I jumped when Ansel reappeared. There was a blue-ish glow around the pokéball that the alakazam offered to me that disappeared when I took hold of it. This was it? The pokéball that was going to ruin my life? It didn't look like anything special for being something so life changing. It had the same outer red shell that the pokéball in my pocket had. I expected it to feel awful when I took it, but it didn't. I guess that's why I hated it so much at first.

The dark lab suddenly disappeared and we were outside once again. "Spencer!" Mattias called enthusiastically. He had stopped swinging on the gates and was sitting on the grass outside them. "How'd it go? Ansel helped you get the right one?"

I looked down at the ball and nodded. "Yeah, we got the right one." I guess it had to be if the psychic got it for me. Mattias took the ball from me and examined it closely, bringing it close to his face.

"Hmm, uh-huh, yes. This is definitely Devin's pokéball."

I guess that meant I wouldn't be able to name him myself. I wasn't really disappointed by that fact though. I don't know what I would have named a pokémon anyways. I had a few names picked out for a pidgey or a rattata, but I don't think 'Nibbles' or 'Pecker' would have done whatever this pokémon was justice.

I kicked some dirt up, thinking about what I—or Ansel—had done. If Devin was some kind of rare and powerful pokémon, then I would get found out really quickly. Maybe I should have gone with an eevee. Then it might have taken him longer to 'arrange things', or whatever he meant by that. The first thing I needed to do was get out of Pallet (by now I had figured out what town in was.) Turning myself in was out of the question now. The threat that Ansel made was still fresh in my mind, and I didn't want to end up as a puddle of once-human on the sidewalk. The horror stories about psychics had told me about much worse fates than I can imagine, and I didn't want to end up in one.

"Okay, we are done here then," Mattias declared. "I guess all that is left to do is teleport you the starting point." He opened up the pink sparkly notebook again and flipped several pages in, scanning each briefly before he apparently found what he was looking for and pointed at the paper. "There, you start in the viridian forest."

And suddenly we were there.

Dear Mom and Brent,

I'm sorry that I left without saying anything, but I caught the coolest pokémon today. Oh, wow, you wouldn't believe what species she is. Her name is Devin, and she's really awesome. I would have shown her to you but she isn't trained yet and might break or attack something.

I got this other trainer who saw me capture her helping me. Its part of the reason I have to leave so quickly, but they made me send you this letter to you with the help of their psychic.

Don't worry about me— I've had my stuff packed months before I left. I got everything I need. And yes, I did pack extra underwear. I knew you would ask so I did it.

I promise I'll be good! I'll win all my battles and eat all my vegetables. When I get really good, I'll challenge the Viridian City Gym and then you can see for yourself just how much I'll grow.

I hope that you won't be too mad when you get this letter, but my friend says you'd be angrier if I never said anything.

Ansel finished the letter by sealing it inside it's envelope. As promised, he took care of saying goodbye.