* The Thief Game *

*Chapter Nine *

* The Boy Who Received a Gift *

I turned around fearfully to look at my pokémon. "Devin," I started slowly, unable to keep a quiver out of my voice. "What did you do?"

The giant mantis cocked her head at me and snorted as if to say, "What are you blaming me for?" She added a hiss as emphasis for even accusing her of such a thing.

"People don't just collapse for no reason, you stupid bug!"

She lunged one of her scythes in my direction, not aiming to hurt me but still clearly offended. I still flinched back.

"Growlllllll." Our squabble was interrupted by Isaac's growlithe who was now focused on the two of us. "Lith," it barked.

"Easy boy—or girl—easy," I said, struggling to remember the growlithe's name. The last thing I wanted was to attract any more attention to myself. I might not have been recognized yet, but it was bound to happen eventually. Especially in a situation like this—where someone was collapsed on the floor with all signs pointing to me as the culprit. Well, to Devin, but I was her trainer and as anyone knows, that makes whatever crime they commit your problem. "Come on, no need to bark so much."

The growlithe did no such thing and upturned its head to the ceiling to howl loudly.

"Ah, Devin, return!" I shouted, fumbling for her poké ball. She didn't protest, and if I was focusing on her, I might have noticed how startled she looked. It would even occur to me later that she was actually scared of the small fire-type.

But I didn't.

It turned out I was just in time as a chansey and a male nurse bolted up the stairs not a moment later. He looked from me to the growlithe, to the collapsed figure on the floor. He and the chansey shared the same look of bewilderment and then ran over to us.

The growlithe lowered its voice to quieter growls at the sight of the medical assistants.

"What's going on here?" he asked, scratching his dark hair. The chansey copied the action.

"I-I don't know! He just collapsed!" I stammered, hoping he would buy it. Then again, I didn't really know why he collapsed. Did Devin just scare him to death? She really did seem to be confused when I had accused her…

The nurse thankfully just nodded and turned his attention to the chansey. "Marbella, calm that growlithe so I can get clo—"

Before anything could happen Isaac groaned. His growlithe immediately perked his ears up and licked its master's face eagerly, getting slobber all over his face. "Pleh, getoffme—Ruby, down girl," he said, struggling to get the puppy pokémon under control again.

"Are you okay young man?" The nurse asked worriedly.

Isaac sat up, clutching his chest. "I'm fine," he mumbled, not meeting the eyes of the nurse. His growlithe—Ruby—whined at him but he simply shushed the puppy by tapping its nose. Ruby shook her fur and licked her nose where Isaac touched her.

"I'd feel better if you came downstairs to get a proper look at—"

"I said I'm fine!" he snapped, standing straight up. The nurse shut his mouth tight lipped, taken aback by Isaac's sudden ferocity. Isaac turned towards me and growled. "I'm going training. Don't touch my shit."

I wasn't going to go within a foot of his stuff anyway, but the way he said it made my teeth grind against each other. It wasn't just the fact that he swore at me again either.

"Oh yeah, well, so am I!" I shouted after him.

He let out a breathy laugh. "Sure, you and your imaginary pinsir have a great time!" he said without turning around.

"She's a scyther!" I was flabbergasted. Maybe Devin wasn't the reason he collapsed after all? There was no way she knocked him out without Issac noticing her...

He ignored me.

I stomped my foot in anger. I was just about ready to turn around at put my stuff in the room when I saw the nurse's mouth twitch. I felt my own eye twitch at the thought of another person not believing in my very real scyther. "Not you too…"

"Sorry kid, I heard you earlier downstairs. It's just a little too unbelievable for me too," he admitted mareepishly, running his hands in his hair again. The chansey nodded in agreement.

I threw my hands in the air on the verge of screaming.

* T * T * G *

The pokémon center's rooms were as plain as you would imagine a low budget trainer's roost to be. Nothing like it was at my father's house, that's for sure. Even though I hadn't been in years, I could distinctly remember the colorful wallpaper of Reggie Rattata, and sinking into the very fluffy blankets on my bed with its very soft mattress.

This place however, was solid white with the exception of the brown wooden bed frames and a small gray box built into the wall. I felt the urge to take off my shoes even though the carpet floor was dirty and threadbare from so many people and pokémon walking on it. The blankets looked equally scratchy and uncomfortable. I sat my things on the bed that didn't have Isaac's things all over it, slightly wincing as the bright orange was instantly the brightest thing in the room and therefore strained my eyes. I wondered if I could do anything about the bright colors. If I asked Matt, maybe he'd give me something easier on the eyes. (I'd put up with if for now of course, no way would I give up a trainer's bag that good just because of its color)

I wandered over to the only window in the room and pulled up the white (slightly tangled) blinds. The windows themselves weren't dirty exactly, but the layer of grime around them certainly was. Still, I could see outside well enough. In the distance the rooftop of the museum was just peaking above the rows of houses. I had been once before but I could hardly remember the trip. I did remember that one of the workers brought his kabutops to serve as a guard though. That was something I wanted to see again. That was even rarer than a scyther. I think I could even remember the kabutops' name. Mo? Coal? Joel? Something like that.

I wanted to do that and challenge Brock in the least amount of time possible.

But, I needed money first. My meals and stay at the pokémon center were thankfully free, for a week at least. (I would need to cough up some cash if I planned on staying longer than that. Hopefully I'd be done here in that time anyways.) In order to challenge a gym leader I'd have to put down some kind of insurance bet on my match. The more badges you got, the steeper the price. It got easier for some veteran trainers as their fans could easily scrounge up that kind of money, but for the rest of us we would have to win it by challenging other trainers.

A cold pit in my stomach started to form. How was I supposed to get that kind of money when my only pokémon didn't even listen to me? And, even if she managed to defeat enough people to get the money, she was a bug-flying type. Both were weak to rock, Brock's specialty.

I sighed and reached into my pocket for Devin's ball. I brought it out to study it. A few small, thin scratches were already beginning to mar the red surface. It brought a half smile to my face as I thought of all we'd already been through together.

"Come out, Devin," I called, half expecting it not to work and for her to just appear behind me. Devin appeared in a flash of white when I clicked the button in the center of the sphere. The bug went about to sniffing around the room, although not before sending a half-hearted glare in my direction. "We need to talk."

The giant bug glanced in my direction for half of a second and then immediately went back to sniffing out the room.

"So, I've been thinking," I started.

"Scythe-eer," she said in the haughtiest voice I had ever heard on a pokémon. I frowned, creasing my eyebrows.

"…Anyway, so I've been thinking, we need another teammate."

I waited for Devin to respond something but she ignored me in favor of playing with an old wrapper she found on the floor. When she realized I was waiting on her, she gave a small snort, gently blowing the wrapper under one of the beds.

"I'm sure we could find one on the next route."

The bug nodded slightly, poking her scythe under the bed in an attempt to get to the wrapper.

"Because obviously, I need someone who will not only listen to me, but be able to defeat Brock."

At the mention of defeating Brock, Devin shot up, completely forgetting about the wrapper. "Sc-yyy scy!" she cried indignantly.

"You won't listen to me, I can't trust you to fight for me. You're weak against his rock types anyway," I responded. She huffed and lunged for my bag with her teeth from where it was sitting beside me on the bed. "Hey—!"

"Scyther," Devin said digging around in the bag face first.

"Give that back!" I yelled, making a grab for it. She, despite her head covered by the lip of the bag, easily moved it out of my reach. It would have been pretty funny to watch a scyther with its head occupied entirely in the bag if it weren't for her playing keep-away with what was most likely the most valuable thing I had ever owned.

"Th-ur," she announced, producing my pokéDex in her jaws.

"Wh-what?" I asked, completely confused. She placed it carefully on the floor in front of me. I eyed her suspiciously as she stepped back from the device.

She stuck her snout in the air and pulled her scythes close to her body with her scaly yellow chest puffed out in a shameless prideful pose.

I took the hint and opened the 'Dex and turned it on for—admittedly—the first time. I was blown away with the many features were on the home screen. I scrolled through them a bit before finding the 'scan pokémon' option.

I pointed it towards Devin and clicked on the 'start scan' button.

"Scanning… Scanning… Please wait a moment. Scanning... Scanning…" The pokéDex read. "Scan complete. Take note, these are estimates of a pokémon and may not be 100% correct.

Species: Scyther

Typing: Bug, flying.

Age: One year(s).

Sex: Female.

Estimated experience: Twenty levels.—"

I stopped reading, my eyes widened in surprise.

"You're only level twenty?" It was strange, when she fought off that ursaring I had assumed she would have been a lot stronger than just level twenty. It wasn't a bad thing at all however. (Although part of me was a little disappointed) I might actually be able to earn Devin's trust at such a low level.

Devin's head snapped towards me in apparent horror, her jaw and arms dropped. "Scyyy?" she shouted in a high-pitched shriek.

* T * T * G *

Clouds covered most of the sky out on Route 3. Mountains surrounded the narrowing valley path, and in the summer's heat, most of the grass was yellow. Tall grass and other trainers battling with each other crowded the small clearing we had decided to stop at to look for a new teammate. Or at least, I had decided. Devin hung back a ways, sulking, the truth of her level having really done a number on her. She had curled up in a pitiful ball of overgrown insect when I told her we were stopping.

I sighed, resigning myself to hunt for a pokémon alone as clearly my starter was going to be of no help.

I headed towards the nearest bunch of tall grass to start my search. I got down close to the ground, trying to avoid being spotted by my to-be catch and started moving around the grasses. This was how they did it in the movies anyway, the aspiring trainer looking for a pokémon by hacking down the long yellow strands of grass in search of their prize. Except—I had no knife or cool looking sword to actually cut them down, so I had to improvise by holding my arm out and whacking the grass down with my own fists.

Somehow this seemed familiar, hunting for a pokémon without the help of anyone else, and crawling around on my already scuffed up knees... Oh yeah, because this happened like three days ago when my life got ruined, that's probably why.

My hand suddenly hit something furry.

I grinned and quickly grabbed the poké ball I brought along with me threw it as hard as I could, not caring what it was, and not wanting to give it the chance to escape.

There was a surprised shout as whatever pokémon I hit was sucked into the ball. I threw my fist into the air and greedily picked up the newest member of my team—only for an enraged mankey to break out of it as soon as I touched the ball.

"Oh, uh, hi there, I'm, Tuh—" I gasped in pain as I was hit squarely in the gut.

"Maaannnkkk-y!" It shouted. It hopped up and down, bearing its teeth at me.

I coughed on my back, trying to get some air back into my lungs. "Oh, Gods, why would you do that?" I asked, tears leaking from my face from both the pain and shock.

It screaked at me and reared its fist back, preparing for another attack. I covered my face with my arm and screamed. "Oh wow," I thought to myself. "I'm about to get killed by a level four mankey."

The attack never came because at that moment, a green mass barreled into the pig nose monkey pokémon. "Devin!" I shouted. I thought back to trainer's school. Mankey was a fighting type right? It punched like one at least. "Use your wings, fighters like that mankey don't like that!"

"Scy!" Devin shouted back at me. She extended her wings and allowed for the mankey to get back on its feet before she dove into it with her right wing. The monkey was tossed into the air before landing several feet away.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. She actually listened to me!

"Mankaayyy!" The mankey shouted. Then it collapsed on itself.

Devin turned to face me. I blinked. She blinked back.

"You—"

"Scyther!" she cut me off with a hiss.

I couldn't help it, I grinned. The bug simply rolled her eyes and looked away again.

* T * T * G *

I got back to the pokémon center, having given up on finding a pokémon today. I got a lemonade out of my pack and sat on one of the lobby couches, drinking it. It was warm from being in the bag but I was too exhausted to care. Nurse joy had given me an ice pack to put over my stomach where the mankey had hit me.

My chin found its way to the palm of my hand before long. I watched the T.V. mindlessly for an hour or two before I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Yo," said a girl with long purple hair I had never seen before. She was a little older than me, maybe eleven or twelve at most. "I uh, couldn't help but hearing earlier… about your, scyther."

I scowled. "You don't believe me either, do you?"

"Oh! That's not it, well, I'll admit it's a bit farfetched but… Anyway. I'm June Summers—yeah don't ask, my parents hated me," she blushed, obviously embarrassed by her name. She shook her head and continued. "I wanted to give you something."

Personally, I had enough of gifts to last a lifetime, but I had a long day and my stomach was definitely bruised so against my wiser judgement I asked, "What kind of gift?"

"A sandshrew." I started to protest but she cut me off. "I know you, uh, already have a starter but, I caught this little guy a while ago and my nidorina is always starting fights with him. I haven't had him that long, only about two weeks. But he's a quick learner, he's already learned his name! It's Levi."

"Okay," I said.

"Huh?"

"Okay I'll take him," It was only to get her to shut up, but I also would get what I wanted: a new pokémon.

The girl grinned.

Quick author's note: I've cleaned up and updated a few things in my previous chapters. Give it another read through if you feel like it!