As the chattering around the fire slowed to a crawl, a certain Leafeon decided that now was a good time to make her move. Casually, she walked up to the storyteller's log, and calmly sat down. It was an uncomfortable feeling to have this many eyes on her, but she'd survive.
"I'm sure we've all been mugged at some point, no? It's an awful feeling. Something you held near and dear to you, gone, just so someone else can pawn it off for a little coin. Sometimes, however, theft doesn't feel so bad. Sometimes it feels… necessary. I give you one such tale."
Amy's Tale: The Purrloin Who Stole Death
A Purrloin got up with stretch, with the sun starting to peek over the horizon. It was a nice day outside, all things considered. He'd have plenty of time to go scouting. He grabbed his tool bag, strapped on his scarf, had an extremely modest breakfast, and popped into the café that he lived above to open up shop for the day.
It was significantly less clean than the counter suggested, but that was fine. The appearance of a fine establishment was more needed than floors without dust or a perfectly clean teapot—especially for a place that worked more like a concession stand. He fired up the stove, opened the window up, and put on his best customer-service smile.
"Alright, let's see what the rumor mill has for me today…" he muttered to himself.
As usual, customers didn't start flowing until the sun was somewhat high in the sky—he'd set up a miniature sundial just across the street to help him keep track of time while still facing forward. The first customer, as always, was the same Dewott he'd always known.
"Welcome to Yahir's café, what can I get for you?" He said with a dashing charm.
The Dewott laughed. "You know me, Yahir. My usual."
"I gotta keep appearances up, you know. The Eadala Family cares about that too, right, Yusuf?" Yahir asked, turning around, already having 'the usual' prepared, just the way Yusuf liked it, picking up an envelope in the meantime.
"There's barely anyone around this early," Yusuf complained, in a more hushed tone. "Here's the payment for the info. I don't suppose the coffee's on the house?"
"Trust me, it's always on the house, old friend," Yahir said, sliding the envelope across the counter. "You have the money, right?"
"Sure do," Yusuf said, handing over his own envelope, presumably containing far more than the money for a cup of coffee. "By the way, since I know you're always looking for new people to freelance for, there's a new family going by the name of Musiba going around. They've got these black scarv—"
"No need to tell me, I'm already aware," Yahir said, cutting him off. "I wouldn't be good at gathering info like this if I didn't."
"Alright then," Yusuf said, tucking the envelope carefully into a bag, and sitting down at a nearby table, placed just within earshot.
Yusuf's slow as ever… Oh well. The Eadala family is a respectable bunch, so it makes sense that a guy like him would end up there doing legal stuff. After all, that sort of idealism mixed with the practical is why I like working with them to begin with.
As the day dragged on, Yahir handed out coffee to customers, but nobody from a major crime family seemed to be showing up that day. He wasn't expecting anyone in particular today, but every now and then someone would subtly request his services. It'd be scandalous if someone reached out to me today and I didn't realize… So I guess nobody did. Just when he was about to close up shop…
"Hey. Runt cat," A large Seismitoad said, breathing heavily as he towered over the stand, "You know shit?"
"Erm, excuse me?"
"Yeah! What he said!" the equally vulgar Toxicroak by his side said, using a disproportionately weak poison jab to strike the counter. "You got info, we got cash! Spill!"
"Apologies, but if you came here looking to request another thing from my menu, you can always—"
"We don't want food!" the Seismitoad yelled.
I know that, you dense fuck! Not in front of the public! Come after hours! Arceus… "You seem to be requesting something other than food. If you want something, you're more than welcome to leave a letter after hours. I promise I get to requests as soon as—"
"Yo, Zinedine!" The Toxicroak yelled. "This bozo is a fraud! There's no point in talking to him!"
"Yeah, yeah, let's just talk at these tables," the Seismitoad responded, his voice getting quieter. "It's not gonna change our plans for the night, right?"
They may not be professional, but if they've got plans, then I might as well eavesdrop… Yahir quietly turned around, pretending to polish a mug as he listened in on the two thug's conversation. Luckily, he had some incredible hearing.
"This is about that big party, right?" The Toxicroak whispered.
"Yeah. There's a big diamond that they're displaying at the party. I think it's a gift from the Eadala family head. And we've got a guy who's going to help with handling it."
"But that's not all, right? Isn't there something funny that's gonna happen?"
"Yeah, listen up…"
Yahir's eyes widened as he heard the details. If that was true, he…
Well, at least he had plans for tonight now. That was a silver lining, wasn't it?
Yahir took in a deep breath as his tail twitched in anticipation. If the scant details he got from those two thugs from earlier were even remotely correct, then he had to crash this party. It could be the most important act of crime he ever committed. He found himself perched above the Sophia, what was once the greatest religious site in Madiant Aljarima, but now barely more than a glorified city hall. Of course, that meant it was where all of the most lavish parties and shadiest deals were made in the city, including the one happening tonight.
He'd heard of what was happening tonight, of course—a party of this size was never going to slip by his ears. It was a party held between the Eadala family and Aistiqrar family, mostly meant to facilitate better relations between the two families. And, apparently, it was going to be crashed by the Musiba family. I just have to crash it first.
He waited for the doors in the back to open, and swung in on the grappling hook he had in his bag, very careful to not be seen on the ceiling. He then carefully crawled across the ceiling, thankfully blending in with the shadows cast by the support beams. Then, when he was sure he wouldn't be seen, he dropped down to the floor.
"Now if I was a gift to the Aistiqrar family, where would I be stored…" he mumbled to himself, carefully sneaking around the halls. With the rest of the things meant for the party was the obvious choice, but to Yahir, that seemed a little too obvious. You wouldn't want to store something as valuable as a huge diamond without being sure it couldn't be taken easily, would you?
Yahir snuck into a hallway that looked like it hadn't been used in a very long time—sans the obvious footprints left in the dust. He saw a single door at the end, and dashed over to it to try and open it. To his surprise, the lock on the door seemed to fail the second he jostled the knob, and the door itself creaked open. Am I too late?
A glance inside revealed that there was indeed a relatively sizeable diamond—big enough that he'd need to carry it in his bag. Worryingly, the lock on this one was destroyed completely. Whoever was tasked with breaking in here probably didn't have a lot of skill, and just forced their way in. The diamond itself looked fine enough at a glance, but the more Yahir looked, but upon closer inspection, it was way too reflective and opaque to be real. In fact, it was a pretty shoddy job if its only purpose was to look convincing.
All the more reason to stop it from being gifted, Yahir thought to himself as he noticed an odd seam along the middle. I'd better move quickly, though. The thieves are already gone, and the blame's gonna fall on me if I don't get a move on quickly. He shoved the diamond into his bag and exited the room, closing the door behind him.
As he snuck around the halls some more, he heard the sounds of other Pokémon approaching. If it was a single 'mon, that was fine—he'd just knock them out silently, and get out of the building, but if there were multiple, then he'd probably he forced to use an escape orb and still be discovered.
Unfortunately, the Eadala boss himself, Ali Ambipom, rounded the corner, followed by an entourage of twelve other thugs. Everyone promptly froze in place.
"Gentlemen," Yahir greeted.
"I don't recall inviting your feline ass tonight, Yahir," Ali seethed. "I don't suppose we should reconsider our partnership with you?"
"There's no need for that," Yahir assured, pulling out an escape orb. "I do have to go, though. See you around."
"Get him!" Was the last thing Yahir heard before vanishing into a flash of white light. He found himself outside of the building, but by no means safe—he c643d hear a commotion inside. He had to move, and fast, lest he had an 'unfortunate accident'.
He started by immediately darting into a back alley, where he was unlikely to attract the attention of authorities. The last thing he needed was to end up in prison right now. He could still hear the sounds of Pokémon chasing after him, but that was fine. He just needed to get to his destination in time. After all, then there wouldn't be anybody getting hurt.
Of course, he immediately ran into someone else.
"Heh. You didn't think you'd get away that easy, didja?" A Simipour asked.
"No. But I can still get away from you," Yahir replied.
As he dodged a Scald, Yahir's paws glowed white. He ducked under a crunch, and delivered a Fake Out straight to the face of the Simipour, and quickly shoved a Stun Seed into the mouth of his distracted enemy.
"Alright, catch you later!" Yahir said just loud enough for the Simipour to hear. He knocked over a pallet behind him for good measure, and continued his mad dash towards his goal. It wasn't about to be the most glamorous exit, but he'd get there. He had to.
At this point, he found himself being forced to run down more exposed, open streets, mostly because where he was headed required him to. As he did, he spotted a crowd of nearly twenty 'mons chasing after him. Oh boy. I've caused quite a stir, haven't I? So much for being discreet.
He quickly ducked under a stray energy ball shot his way, then jumped over an impressively precise earth power, not even bothering to turn around, hoping to put more distance between him and his pursuers. After a stray air cutter painfully grazed his left cheek, he spared another glance behind him, and saw that he seemed to be getting there. I just need one more distraction, then I'm golden. Let's see how well they adjust to this…
Yahir split into several illusory copies. In the past, he'd used Double Team as a way of outright getting away in the past, but today, that wasn't going to be an option. He just needed to buy himself time—in the very least, it wasn't very obvious where he was headed.
One by one, the Double Team copies split off into various alleyways, bringing several of his pursuers with them. Perfect. Now I won't have to do as much doging. He spared another glance at the remaining crowd. Trailing far behind him at this point was none other than Ali. I probably should've guessed that this is the guy who'd know to keep running straight ahead, but it's not going to matter. There's no way he's going to keep up with my speed.
As the setting sun caused his shadow to grow larger and larger, Yahir started to pick up the pace, pouring power into his run, and dashing out on all fours, with his goal in sight: the largest bridge in Madiant Aljarima, which stretched over the massive river running through town. If he was right about what the phony diamond was, then he absolutely had to go here.
Once he was sure he had the time to spare, and he was nearly at the middle of the bridge, he took out the diamond, and started scratching away at the seam in the middle. "Come on, come on…"
Finally, the thing popped open, revealing a mess of wires and an unnerving pale yellow glow inside of a plastic shell. What the hell is this thing? I know what it's probably supposed to do but how? Yahir didn't enough care to find out, though He grabbed the entire mess, yanked it out, and tossed it over the bridge. It was a long way down, so whatever it was, hopefully it wouldn't be able to hurt anyone from way down there.
"Yahir, you bastard! Get the hell over here!" A very angry-looking Ali came barrelling towards him, seemingly ready to torture whatever he wanted out of Yahir.
"You look dashing as ever, Ali," Yahir commented pleasantly.
Ali did not take kindly to Yahir's words. "When I'm done with you, I swear I'm gonna—" the hardened gangster froze in his tracks when he saw the now very obviously fake diamond. "…What the hell did you do?"
"I might've saved you?" Yahir suggested helpfully.
There was an awkward pause as several more Eadala family members, seemingly accompanied by Aistiqrar family members, slowly started to catch up to the duo. "Don't give me that crap," Ali said, still very angry. "Explain yourself before I beat—"
BOOOOOOOM!
Everyone present either jumped, fell over, or covered their ears as they heard what was, in all likelihood, the loudest sound they'd ever heard in their entire lives. To call it eardrum-shattering didn't quite do the thing justice. Yahir himself fell to the floor, feeling warmth trickling from his ears. When the ringing in his ears finally stopped and he his hearing somewhat came back to him, Yahir slowly opened his eyes. What he saw were significant cracks in the foundation of the bridge, a large plume of smoke coming up from the river, and general panic among the people who just happened to be nearby.
"Well, that could've been much worse…" Yahir remarked. "What do you think, Ali? That would've leveled the Sophia if it hit, yeah?"
For his part, Ali sighed, brushing the dirt out of his fur, looking exhausted as he did. "You haven't gotten out of explaining yourself, although I'm more willing to hear you out now. Let's just go somewhere quiet. Maybe that'll stop your ears from bleeding."
"Yeah, listen up," The Seismitoad started. "Basically, we're going to swap the real diamond out with a fake one with a bomb in it, or poison, or whatever the boss said it was, and then it's gonna kill everyone at the party. If there's anyone near the building, they're gonna die."
"No kidding?" the Toxicroak asked. "That's brutal."
"Yeah, but the boss thinks it'll make us super rich. All of our competition will be dead, and we'll step into the void with charitable work, and blame it on one of the other minor families or something. Once we do that, we'll basically be in control of the town."
"Wow, the boss is a genius. Crazy and brutal, but a genius."
"I know, right?"
"…And that's what I overheard," Yahir recited, being sure to not leave out any details.
"What I want to know is why you didn't go to me or the Aistiqrar family with this information. It would've made things a whole lot cleaner."
"It also could've tipped off the Musiba family. If that happened, they could've hid the bomb somewhere else. I mean, they knew the location of the diamond. What else might they be able to learn?"
Ali gave a long, hard sigh. "You're kind of insane, you know that?"
"I was doing what I felt was necessary. I mean, if you think about it, you're still not out of hot water. What are the authorities going to think when they see that two major crime families were at the site of the explosion?"
"We'll mix the truth with lies, just like we always have," a very stressed-looking Yusuf said, walking through the door.
"You know the drill, right?" Ali asked. "You have some paperwork to do."
"I am painfully aware," Yusuf replied. "We might have to come up with some bribes."
"Again?" Ali asked. "How much are those cronies in charge asking this time?"
"I'm guessing somewhere in the range of two hundred thousand Poké."
"Hm… that's less than usual. Just take the cash yourself this time."
"You know, Yusuf, if you need to relax, you can always ask me!" Yahir said with only a minor hint of sarcasm.
"Oh, shut up, Yahir…"
The rest of the day was relatively uneventful for Yahir, since he'd completely evaded the attention of the authorities. He was, however, curious. The Musiba boss was still out there, and quite frankly, he was feeling up to taking them down a peg, if only to satisfy his thirst for vigilante justice.
"I wonder what else they have in store for me…" Yahir muttered to himself, staring into the starry night sky.