Note: Hey guys! I'm back with another chappie! After hunting for shiny Cryogonal (which ended in a success yesterday morning) I finally got myself to write... Not much to say, other than the fact that I have a surprise waiting at the bottom note.

Rose's POV:

"Wow, you sure are bold to walk in the open streets of Treasure Town, don't you have a bounty on your head?" I sneered.

"Oh, not that I'd care... Violet and Ace could finish any commoner who stands in my way," she sneered back.

"Violet and Ace?" Blade interrupted.

"Oh," Ruse continued, her eyes not meeting mine or Blade's, "I'm talking about my comrades... This is Violet... As you can see... She's a Mismagius..."

Violet merely bowed her head in respect, albeit letting out a small mischievous snicker.

"And this is our main form of escape... Ace!" Ruse bragged, gesturing to the Staraptor.

The Staraptor merely let out a small grunt before continuing to soar above us, as if he was scouting us or something.

"So... You had these two comrades with you all along?" Blade asked.

"Yeah, duh! We work as a team..." she snapped back.

"Well, how come we never saw them back when we battled you?" Blade returned.

"Simple..." Ruse continued, "I am the main fighter... They are simply there to help me escape or to assist me if I am in trouble... Ever noticed how I managed to escape so quickly back at the hideout?"

"Oh, can it Ruse!" Violet retorted, "You contribute as much as any of us do... And it was because of your so-called pride and lust for revenge that landed you in prison..."

"Quite right," Ace muttered, "Should you fail again... We will not hesitate to abandon you next time..."

Ruse rolled her eyes.

"Thanks again for the show of mutual friendship," Ruse sarcastically spat, "Now... Either way... Follow me into this alley now... Will you?"

"Don't try anything funny... If you do... I'll be more than happy to demonstrate to you the new stuff I've learned," I warned.

"Aww... Look here, little Rose is getting suspicious... Well, look here, my hands are empty, and my teammates are quite tired from the battle... That enough to assure you?" she sneered.

"What if you attempt to steal our stuff again?" Blade coldly replied.

"Well, I don't think I have anything to steal from you two as of now... Considering the world's in peril for now..." she winked at Blade, causing Blade to stagger back.

She led us through the dark alley. Carefully, she began to inspect the walls in the alley... She stopped when she saw a small groove in the wall. She carefully pushed it in to reveal a small hole. She stuck her hand in until something clicked and opened up a hole in the ground.

"I welcome you... to my humble hideout... in Treasure Town," she bowed.

"After you... Blade," she winked at him as she said his name.

Blade seemed to look away from her when she did that and simply jump into the pit.

I soon followed the rest of them as they jumped in.

I could say... Her hideout wasn't very bad at all. There was a fireplace in the central chamber, where she had some couches huddled around it. She had a dining room, which seemed to be fit for three only. And just below her living room was a library.

"Well? How did you find it?" Ruse grinned, "Any of you are welcome to stay here as you wish... Especially you... Blade..."

"Err... uh... T-thanks... B-but we're here to get our friends back," Blade continued, his face burning up to a light pink shade.

"Sure... They're in the library... Here's the key... I locked them in," Ruse seductively grinned at Blade as she walked up to him and slowly dropped the key into his palm.

I gave her a sharp glare, but she responded with a taunting wink back at me.

Blade walked up to the library. He carefully slid the key into the keyhole, unlocking the musty door.

"Blade?" a voice called out.

I entered the room to see everyone inside. Claire was asleep, Blaze seemed to be bored as he was jumping up and down as he saw Blade. I guess everyone must be bored to be trapped in a library... Except Celsus who appeared to be absorbed into a small book he was holding, perched on top of a sleeping Sandra.

"Are any of you hurt?" I quickly asked.

"Nope," Blade replied, a grin still plastered on his face, "We just woke up and found ourselves in this musty place... There was no way out, and so we had no choice but to wait here. And then you guys came."

"You gotta check this out..." Celsus muttered, "Apparently, this book states that Masquerain were descendants created by Kyogre himself! No wonder Samdra fell for me!"

His light body was blown away when Sandra began to flap her wings as she stirred from her nap.

"Ugh... Are we still stuck in this bookstore?" Sandra yawned, "And I thought I heard someone say something about Celsus being related to... Oh! Rose! Blade!"

"How did we end up here in the first place?" Claire called out, finally having woken up.

"Well... That was probably my doing," Ruse declared as she stood behind me.

Blaze immediately narrowed his eyes. He suddenly shot out a Flamethrower towards Ruse. Sandra shot out a Draco Meteor straight towards her as Celsus did the same with Ice Beam.

"Wait, guys!" Blade tried to explain.

"Blade! Behind you!" Blaze gasped as he fired the attack.

Ruse merely snickered as she snapped her fingers, signaling Ace to use Protect beside her an Violet to use Psychic in stopping the attacks. The attacks hurled at her merely dissipated in the air.

"Rose! Blade!" Blaze called out, "Ruse is behind you, attack her while she's open."

"Guys! Quit it! She isn't here to fight... She only led us here to pick you guys up," I explained.

"Hold it!" Ruse continued, "I never specifically said that... I may not be able to take back what I have lost, due to the unfortunate events of this apocalypse... But... I still have something... Something to request..."

"Which is?" I replied, trying to prevent myself from bursting into anger.

"I want a rematch... I lost to you twice... And it was a disgrace... But it was unfair! You had your boyfriend by your side!" she pointed out.

"Shush! He's not my boyfriend," I glare back at her.

"If that's the case..." Ruse beckoned me to come to the other room, "Let's have a little game, shall we?"

"Err... What about us?" Blade shyly asked.

"You shut up and wait here!" Ruse and I yelled back in unison.

Now that we were the only ones in the room, she turned around to face me, her face filled with smugness.

"How about we add a better... twist to this rematch? Sure your friends can go... But let's take a bet on something else... The one who wins," she grinned, "Gets the right to own Blade!"

"What? That's unreasonable! I already told you that I had no intention of sharing him with anyone," I shot back.

"Ah... But you told me that he isn't your boyfriend," Ruse smirked, "So technically, that gives me the right to shoot for him... Am I right?"

"I..." I closed my mouth.

"I got you now," Ruse smirked, "I may not be able to surpass you in stealing your stuff now... So I guess I have no choice but to steal the next most important thing you have!"

"Hmm... I have no feelings for him... But if you want him that badly... I can't let you have him either!" I retorted, my frown turning into a mischievous smirk.

Ruse was really that stubborn... I guess I was just gonna teach her one thing... Being a Master Thief and impersonating one is different! It doesn't matter if she isn't stealing the artifact needed to save the world now... The game rules... do not change!

"Let me begin, then!" I started.

I charged towards her with Thief, only for her to Teleport away before the attack landed.

"Tsk, tsk... You sure are rash, nowadays," Ruse smirked as she appeared behind me and launched a Shadow Ball.

"Oh," I twirled and hopped sideways, allowing the Shadow Ball to just graze the hem of my gown, "But so are you!"

As I landed, I struck her with a Thunderbolt.

"Hmm... This pain... You've improved from before..." Ruse smiled, "But... So have I!"

She immediately launched a Shadow Ball at me, which I had chosen to dodge. But the attack still hit me... from behind?

I looked behind me to see her standing right behind me. The Shadow Ball was shot at a point blank radius.

"How did you like my new strategy? The first Shadow Ball was just a diversion!" she smirked as she sidestepped my Thief, "While you were dodging it, I. Took the liberty of Teleporting behind you and striking you with Shadow Ball."

"I didn't like that at all!" I snarled as I tried to strike her with Thief. However, she immediately Teleported away.

"Eeheehee! North, south, east, west! Can you guess where I am?" Ruse taunted.

"No, but I don't need to!" I retorted as I let loose a few volts with Thunderbolt.

A small volt of electricity actually managed to hit her, revealing that she was just behind me.

"You must quit that, y'know... Stalking is annoying!" I groaned as I struck forward with Thief.

She swung her head sideways and grabbed my arm.

"Well guess again! It's not stalking if you know that I'm somewhere close," she retorted as she gripped my hand and launched a Shadow Ball with her free hand at me.

I couldn't break free from her grip, but I swung my body sideways so that I twirled around Ruse and I was now back to back with her to avoid the Shadow Ball.

With my free hand, I clawed at her with Thief.

"Ugh! You dirty, old, fattie!" she groaned.

I narrowed my eyes at her as I struck with consecutive Thunderbolts.

"Lay off the weight!" I snarled.

"Why? Afraid of diets?" she snickered as she launched a Shadow Ball at me from behind.

I noticed that she was simply taunting me just before the attack hit and so I bent my body just a little, enough so that the Shadow Ball passed and only tickled my spike at my chest.

I immediately followed that up with a jump upwards, in case she was planning to strike again. I used Psychic to propel myself through the air a little more before silently landing behind her.

"Well, hello!" I struck with Thief, and immediately slid sideways to avoid her next attack, "and goodbye..."

She glared back at me...

"You... I swear..." she panted.

"Huff..." I panted back.

She smiled, "This battle... this was actually fun! Too bad it's gonna end now!"

She launched a Shadow Ball that she had been charging up as she hid her hands in her gown.

I glared back at her, "Yeah... It's fun... But sadly... I have to end it!"

I immediately used Psychic at her, hoping to beat her before the Shadow Ball strikes ,e down.

I used Psychic, however, to pull at her instead of using it as an attack. Surprised, she couldn't do anything as I quickly pulled her to slam into me. However, just before she slammed into me, I allowed my free hand to glow black as I swiped at her with my strongest Thief ever.

The resulting attack knocked her flying back into her own Shadow Ball. When the smoke faded, I looked down on her fainted form on the ground.

I stuck out a hand to help her up.

"Looks like I win," I sneered, pulling her up.

"Hmm... Just you wait, Rose..." Ruse glared back at me, "When your done with this save the world nonsense... I'll go back to stealing from you! I swear... I'll beat you one day!"

The door to the room burst open as Blade, staring at both of us, entered.

We both glared back at him, to which he sheepishly began to speak.

"Err... If you won't mind, Rose... It's getting kinda late... And I really need to use your facilities... What were you two doing anyway?" Blade shyly spoke.

I stared back at him.

"We were just having this bet... So it's none of your business," I spat.

"You should probably just go use the facilities now and leave us alone..." Ruse spat.

"This isn't my place?" he scornfully returned.

"Oh, right... It's the second door to the living room! Now, get out!" Ruse returned.

Blade unwillingly walked away, and I merely closed the door behind him.

I stared back at Ruse.

"Well, once Blade is done... I presume you'll allow us to get going?" I continued.

"Hmm... Normally, I'd allow you to," she continued, "But the legendary you seem to be so familiar with appeared to me in my dreams telling me to show you some information that you might need..."

Ruse was now looking back at me with a more serious face.

"Well, would you like to see it?" she asked.

Note: Well, how was it? Either way... As I promised, I did something else while hunting for shiny Cryogonal... Yup! I finally got an illustration done for this fic! I finally have a concept art of Rose... If you'll check my profile, there is now a link at where the "work in progress" once was... Okay then, don't forget to review! Seeya again next time! Gotta go and scald GTS for drought Vulpix now...