For Day 3's Survivor challenge!

Fandom: Detective Conan/Magic Kaitou
Words: 2,310
Character(s): Kaitou Kuroba (Kaitou Kid)
Raiting: PG (for swearing)
Prompt: #3; Genre-Swap and a "Whatever you want to do, do it now. For life is time and time is all there is." theme
Disclaimer: Not mine!! Gosho Aoyama owns all! Welp, except for Falc...I made him up.
Notes: Since Detective Conan is a Mystery anime/manga, I chose the Fantasy to genre-swap it to. High-tech fantasy (akin to the Final Fantasy worlds...airships and the like), but fantasy, still.

Time Thief

A hand ran through messy brown hair as indigo eyes blinked in confusion.

Kaitou Kuroba, 16 year old student, class clown, and part-time infamous phantom thief, had no idea how he had gotten to where he was.

In fact, he didn't even know where he was, except that there was no way it was where he was supposed to be.

He currently wore a dark blue t-shirt with a jagged orange line through the center that wrapped around to the back, while the collar and sleeves were lined with the same color. A pair of jeans and casual sneakers completed the outfit.

After he established that all his limbs were in functioning order, he stood up and looked around.

From what he could tell, he appeared to be on some sort of ship…only, it didn't feel like the ship was in the water, because there was no rocking movement.

The floor was made of wood and probably reinforced with metal linings like the walls were, and there were a few doors along the hallway that he had suddenly found himself in.

It sure felt like a ship.

Curiously, Kaitou went towards the stairs on the end of the hallway. Perhaps if he got on deck, he could figure out where he was, or ask a captain where the ship was bound.

Yet, when he opened the door, he was nearly swept away.

Kaitou's jaw dropped open as he walked numbly out onto the deck of the ship and stared over the railing.

His brain decided to short circuit.

Now, he had been on helicopters, planes, and other aircrafts…but as far as he knew, boats didn't fly.

Yet, that's what this thing was doing.

There wasn't even a balloon at the top which would indicate that it was some sort of blip or zeppelin.

No…there was a sail above the enclosing that he had just come out of, along with what was probably the control room since it was encased in glass, but the ship wasn't flying from hot air.

Now that he was on the deck, he could feel the hum of a motor from the depths of the ship, and could see a wing that extended out from the side…there were a couple wings, actually. They didn't flap, but they weren't made of metal, either.

Kaitou wasn't sure what they were made out of, and at that point, he probably didn't care.

A glance over the edge told him that they were high above the ground, but the ground didn't look familiar, either. He could see the faint outlines of some sort of town, but there were no lights from it, or grand buildings. In fact, most of the land seemed to be plains, river, and forests rather than cities and highways.

"What the fu…?" Before Kaitou could finish his sentence, a loud, gruff voice interrupted from behind him.

"Hey! Who're you!?"

Kaitou spun around as his hand dropped towards his pocket where he kept his card gun.

There were three men there, all of which adults. Two of them looked to be in their thirties, while the other was probably in his twenties.

Their clothing was odd, at least to Kaitou.

They wore a similar style of clothing even though the colors varied.

The man that had spoken had black hair and a slight beard, with beady gray eyes and tan skin. He was muscular, and wore a red sleeveless tunic that revealed those muscles. There were a pair of leather gloves over his hands that had cuffs that curled back halfway to his forearms, and wore a black belt to hold up a pair of khaki colored pants that were tucked haphazardly into a pair of boots that went up to his shins and seemed to match his gloves. On his belt were two pouches, each containing a type of revolver that Kaitou had never seen before in his life.

The second man was slightly taller than the first, and had dark brown hair and blue eyes. He, too, wore a red tunic, but his had short sleeves, and he wore a black long sleeve tunic shirt underneath it. His pants were black as well, and he, too, had brown gloves and boots. This one only had one ancient-looking revolver, as the other side of his belt had a couple pouches on it, instead.

The youngest, with long black hair, had a long sleeve red tunic (Kaitou was beginning to notice a trend with that color) that had black linings, and a pair of off-white pants that dipped into brown boots. Like the other two, he wore a pair of gloves on his hands, but rather than guns, he had wrenches and other tools that hung at his belt.

"He's dressed funny," the man with one revolver grunted.

"He ain't from around here, that's obvious…how'd he get onta the ship, though? We checked fer stow-aways 'fore we left!" the man with the mustache crossed his beefy arms.

Kaitou gulped. Then, he smiled nervously. "I was hoping you could tell me that, because I have no clue how I got here…"

Actually, he did. If he remembered right, he had been on a heist, and had just picked up his latest acquisition when he suddenly found himself inside this flying contraption.

"What do we do with 'em?" the youngest asked.

"Throw 'em in the brig," said the mustached man.

Kaitou groaned, but had little choice but to cooperate, as two of the three men were practically all muscle.

The brig was in the bottom of the ship, and wasn't as well lit as the rest of the ship had been, but it wasn't dank or cold like he had expected.

In fact, it was almost unbearably hot.

There was a simple metal cot in one corner of the room, and some sort of round thing with a hole in it that Kaitou supposed might be a toilet.

The bars and lock were simple, particularly compared to what Kaitou had picked as the Kid, but he decided that, since he was in a strange place and on a strange ship, he might as well go along with it.

A man that was probably in his thirties stood watch by the entrance of the cell. Like the others, he wore a red tunic and a pair of leather pants. This guy had a long rifle in his hands that reminded Kaitou of the sort he saw in the history books, and a revolver on his belt.

"So…uh…where am I, exactly?" Kaitou ventured.

The guard glanced at him, then snorted and looked away again.

Kaitou scowled. "Hey, come on, now! I'm just as confused as you probably are! One minute I'm…uh…acquiring…an item, and the next, I'm in this strange ship, surrounded by armed guys in red shirts, and then thrown in prison! The least you can tell me is where I am…!"

It wasn't the guard that spoke, but a deep voice from out of Kaitou's sight range that had probably just entered the brig's hallway.

"You're on The Hound, a top rate pirate ship."

Kaitou blinked a couple of times, then deadpanned, "Where I'm from, pirate ships don't fly."

A grizzled man came into view. He, too, wore a red tunic, but he had a brown leather jacket over that. He seemed just as fit as the others, and was also packing a revolver, though his looked slightly different from the others Kaitou had seen. The only difference about this man was the knowing gleam in his eyes, and the pair of goggles that rested on his forehead and trapped his wild, brown hair.

"I'm Falc Woris , the captain of this vessel. If ya ain't familiar with how we work, we're air pirates. We do what we want, when we want. Live life ta the fullest…that's our motto. Stir up chaos, but try ta keep human collateral damage to a minimum."

Kaitou found that he had to agree with that…as Kid, he did the same thing. Whenever he stole something, nobody got hurt…save perhaps him. Or the occasional jerk that took a shot at him.

"Why's it so hot, here? What's moving this ship?" Kaitou asked, instead of the multitude of questions he had about the group.

Falc crossed his arms. "Steam engine. Proud invention of West City, the tech capitol of Gaia. And who're you?"

Gaia? Gaia?! What happened to Earth!?

Somehow, he managed to reply despite his shock, "Kuroba Kaitou."

His real name was fine…they didn't know him here, after all. Even if he had told them that he was really the Kaitou Kid, he would just be a random name.

Still, the teen had to grin. "I like your style, captain. I work an occupation that allows me to, shall we say…fly freely."

Falc smirked. "You work fer a group?"

"Nope. Alone."

"Hmm…"

Kaitou could tell that the man was still wary of him, and was about to open his mouth to try and rectify that situation, when they were interrupted by a young crew member.

"Captain Falc, sir! We've sighted a cargo ship at one-oh-clock!"

"What's it carry'n?" Falc turned his attention to the young pirate.

"Pottery due to the Royal Family of West City, sir!"

Falc grinned. "Excellent! That can fetch a nice price! Prepare the ship! We start the raid immediately!"

"Yes, sir!" the pirate saluted, then ran as fast as he could away from the brig.

Kaitou jumped to his feet. "Hey, let me help!"

Falc barked out a laugh. "You? Yer a kid! And I still don't trust ya. Jes stay here an' keep yer mouth shut, kid!"

Kaitou scowled the entire time Falc walked away.

There was no way he was just going to sit in a hot prison when there promised to be fun out there.

Kaitou grinned impishly and dug around in his pockets.

"Full throttle ahead!"

"No good…they're well armed!"

"We can't get over! They shoot down our ropes and cables!"

"Ram them?"

"Negative! They're using an armored transport airship! We'd take more damage than they would!"

"Well, dammit, figure out a way to get on board!"

The cockpit and gunner room, which was the epitome of chaos from frustrated pirates unable to get to their treasure, was suddenly halted by the cheerful voice of the teen they thought they had locked in the brig.

"It looks like you gentlemen can use some help."

Falc and the rest of the command room stopped in their tracks and stared at the gleeful teen that leaned casually against the doorway.

"How'd you get out!? What happened ta the guard?!" mustache man from earlier demanded.

Kaitou smirked. "He's taking a nap."

Yep…sleeping gas worked wonders.

Who said he had to be in his Kid getup to have some of his devices on him?

"We don't have time for this! Aim the air cannons!" Falc ignored the teen.

Kaitou pouted a moment, then strolled over. "If you let me, I can help."

The ship rocked with an explosion from the retaliation of the cargo ship.

"And from the looks of things, you can take all the help you can get. So, why not? Come on, Captain…from one guy that lives like the wind to another," Kaitou offered.

Falc sighed. "Fine! But I doubt you can come up with anything we haven't thought of…!"

"You just need a distraction, that's all. Make as if to flee…move the ship away. But only slightly. Just enough to get them to lower their guard. I can't do anything with the gunfire. After that, the distraction will come from atop the mast. While that's happening, get your quietest men to connect the cables, and send them across."

"And you can pull of distract'n a ship full of Royal Guards?" Falc raised an eyebrow skeptically.

Kaitou grinned. "Captain, I guarantee it."

It was a huge success…and it all started with a puff of pink smoke from atop the mast where a young teen suddenly appeared, and spoke in a voice that seemed to echo throughout even space and time.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the Royal ship…I draw your attention to the center stage, where the magic show is about to begin! You'd better not blink or turn away, or you might just miss this grand show! And now…let us start!"

That was all it took for organized pandemonium to ensue, as the members of the Royal ship were assaulted with Kaitou's mysterious magical performances. As people that believed in mechanics over the knightly ways of the Eastern Kingdom, seeing a teenager turn mast sails to giant doves was a little overwhelming.

Only half of them went down from the sleeping gas Kaitou had provided the crew of The Hound…the others passed out from the shock of seeing a twenty foot piece of canvas turn into a flock of tiny birds.

Kaitou had to grin at the reaction, and when he noticed that Falc's men had managed to get on board. His musings were interrupted by a red glow in his pocket…the pocket where he had dropped the prize from his world into.

The teen chuckled, then whipped out a white card and a pen before the red glow and billowing smoke around him would return him to his own world and his own time…

…he hoped.

The card was the only thing that Falc and his men later found of the teen. On the card was an oddly drawn figure of a head with a top hat and monocle that was grinning.

And, on the card, it said:

Thanks for the thrill, captain! I have taken a bow, and as my final act, made myself disappear. But now I know that there is no limit to the sky. After all…I have stolen time.

-Kaitou Kid

END