A/N: Sorry for such a long wait! but school was hectic and I got really bad writter's block this week. I actually planned to make this chapter a lot longer, but didn't have the time to. So I had to cut this chapter short to update in time. P.S. A poll is up on my profile, check it out!
Chapter 3: A Waste of Time
Satoshi's POV:
That morning, my father had called me into his office. I already knew what he wanted to see me about, but I still had to hear it from him, face to face.
"Ah, Satoshi! Always good to see you!" He said, his cheerful mood was obliously fake. "Now, I wanted to talk to you about your progress with Dark..." Ah, the ulterior motive... I thought to myself.
"It has been four years Satoshi... I don't want to pressure you or anything, but it would be nice for you to capture Dark before he steals all of the artwork made by the Hikari family. Is there something troubling you? Anything that may be getting in your way?" He asked, a concerned look was plastered on his face, although it was not genuine.
"Everything is fine, there is nothing getting in my way." I said, plainly as I could. "Now is there anything else? School will be starting soon." Which honestly, was not true, but I am always there earlier than anyone else.
"Not at the moment, but I will tell you when something does come up. It was great to see you again Satoshi!" He said before giving me a death hug, "Now I'll have a driver take you to school, so you won't be late." Was the last thing I heard him said before I walked out of his office.
Later after school...
What my father had said that morning still bothered me through out the rest of the day. I had been so lost in my thoughts while I was walking down the hall, that I forgot of where I was actually going in the first place. But as I rounded the corner of the hallway, I was brought back to reality.
All I remember is bumping into something, hard, I didn't fall over or anything, at worse, I just lost my balance for a split second. But when I looked down, I saw that I had actually bumped into someone rather than something.
"I-I am so sorry Satoshi!" Shizuku said, quicky getting up from where she had fallen, "T-That was completely my fault, and I apologize, I really wasn't paying attention to where I was going..." She said, but then started to pick up the various boxed she had dropped when she had fallen down, which for some reason I had not noticed until now.
When she had finally picked them all up again, I realized that she wasn't able to see where she was going, since the boxes were blocking her vision.
"Why don't I help you out with those?" I said, no really thinking about what I was saying.
"O-Oh don't be silly," she said with a smile on her face, one that I noticed always seemed to be there, no matter what happened. "I bumped into you remember? And besides, I'll be just fine on my own, after all, I did volunteer to take these to the art room, so it makes sense that I should be the one to do it."
"Oh, so you don't think that I can handle carrying half of those boxes? You think that I will be careless and drop them? Because if you haven't noticed, you already did that, so what would be the harm in letting me help you?" I said with a smirk on my face, for some reason, I just couldn't help but tease her. She has always been so apologetic and timid, in a way, it was like she was asking for it.
"I-I didn't mean it like that!" Shizuku yelped, a little suprised at what I had been implying, "I-I just don't want to be a burden is all, but if you really want to help, you can. As long as it's not a burden to you." She finished, but then handed half of the boxes that she had been carrying to me, she hesitated, as if waiting for me to change my mind, but I didn't. But it was then that I realized, that these boxes were heavy.
I looked over at Shizuku, who wasn't having any trouble at all with her half, which actually had more articles in it than mine did. Just how strong is this girl? I thought to myself. I guess there is just more than meets the eye with her.
"So why are you volenteering to do things like this? It's not like it's your job or anything." I said, but I quickly realized that I probably sounded like a complete jerk. But for some reason, Shizuku didn't seem to mind, and just kept smiling.
"W-Well I know it's not my job, but no one else wanted to put the boxes away..." Go figure I thought, "And I just wanted to do it so they wouldn't of been just stuck in a supply closet." She said, then looked at me with those crystal blue eyes of hers, wait. Why would I care about what her eyes looked like.
"T-Thanks for helping, that was really kind of you." She said, still staring at me with those eyes, as if looking into my soul. But then an alarm from her bag broke her gaze. In a way I was relived, when she looked at me like that, it was as if she could see what I was thinking, what I was hiding.
She then looked into her bag, and pulled out the source of the noise, an expensive looking PDA. She pushed a couple buttons on the device to make it silent once more, before she shoved it back into her bag.
"I-I have to go now, but thanks again Satoshi!" She yelped out to me before exiting the art room, leaving me alone with my thoughts. Well, not comepletely alone.
"Who is that girl, Master Satoshi?" Krad asked, he was probably watching when I offered to help Shizuku.
"She is no one Krad, just another girl." I responded, which was actually true on my part.
"I see, but that may be just for now, who knows what she may become in the future..." He said, seeming quite content with himself.
"What do you.." I started to ask him, but was interupted by my cell phone vibrating. Looking down, I saw that it was my father.
What could he possibly want? I hesitated slightly, but I did answer.
"Satoshi, Dark just sent out another warning letter, are you avalible tonight?" He asked, even though he almost certainly already knew the answer.
"Yes, where is the museum that he plans to steal from tonight?" I responded, I didn't have anything better to do tonight, so might as well work.
"Excellent! He is planning to steal "The Eternal Timepiece" from the Utsukushi-sa Art Museum tonight at 9:00, make me proud Satoshi." He said to me before hanging up the phone.
The Utsukushi-sa museum just opened recently, and yet Dark is going to steal a piece of artwork from it. One that not many people have gotten the chance to see yet. I said in my mind, still looking at the cell phone in my hand. Oh well, I guess it really just can't be helped, but I will try, just like any other night.
And with that thought in my mind, I left the school building and started to prepair for tonight. "The Eternal Timepiece" might of not been a piece of artwork made by the Hikari family, but it was a piece of artwork all the same.
Later that night at the museum...
Dark's POV:
As Wiz and I were flying towards the target museum for that night, I noticed something very out of the ordinary.
That sure is strange, I thought to myself, because as I decended closer, I noticed the lack in security and guards surronding the museum.
I guess the police finally realized that with no matter how many guards they have, they still won't be a match for me! I thought triumphantly, until that voice inside my head just had to rain on my parade.
"I don't think you should be so over confident Dark, this may only be a temperary thing, there will probably be much more cops next time." Daisuke said to me, in a way, I guess he was right, but I didn't really care.
Realizing what time it already was, I swooped down from the sky, and made my way into the museum, unnoticed of course. When I was finally inside, I saw that there weren't any gaurds in here, I was a little confused of why there wasn't anymore protection, but soon shrugged it off. This wasn't my problem, and I might as well take advantage of this while I can.
It didn't take long to find the artwork, although it was one that I had never seen before. As I moved it from its display, I examined it a little more closely. It was a type of pocket watch, it had a small ruby in its center, which was connected to three clock hands, all of which were made of pure silver, and most of the rest of it was made of gold. And on top on that, I can sense a type of magical aura coming from it, it was a little faint, but it was there for sure.
"This is just too easy..." I said out loud. I mean come on, why would they leave a piece of artwork like this so unprotected? It just didn't seem to add up.
"Then lets make it a little harder, shall we?" I turned around at the sound of the new voice, and found myself looking at none other than Krad.
"What do you want Krad? This isn't a piece of Hikari artwork, so what would you want with it?" I yelled at him. I swear, I should of expected his apperance, but still this was just getting annoying.
"You already know what I want, Dark Mousey, your death." He said to me with a smirk on his face, and then pulled out a single white feather. Yeah, didn't see that one coming, I thought, he was just getting more and more predictable.
But then again, there are a lot of people nearby, can't risk getting them hurt. I watched Krad's every move, as he lunged forward to attack, again and again. It was easy to dodge his attacks, but it took a while for me to get him away from the museum and all the people.
"What's the matter Dark? Have somewhere else to be tonight?" He asked me, and put a devilish smile on his face, "Perhaps to flirt some more with that timid human girl?"
He saw that? Maybe I didn't totally lose him that night... I wondered, but then, I wouldn't want him to hurt Shizuku just because I had tried to flirt with her. She is pretty cute after all... Wait, this isn't the time to think about things like that! I realized, and the blast of magic that was aimed right toward me brought me back to the issue at hand.
"Leave her out of this Krad, this is between you and me, no one else!" I said, and then sent more than a dozen feathers flying in his direction, exploding apon impact.
Before he knew it, Krad came crasing down, but this seemed to make him even more furious than before. He was about to attack me again, but never got the chance. As soon as Krad took a step forward, he fell to his knees, and screamed out in agony.
I took that as a que to fly away, which i did, leaving him alone, and "The Enternal Timepiece" still in my pocession. Guess I won again, nothing new.
"Dark, we should be getting home, Mom is probably really worried right now." Daisuke said, like I didn't already know that.
"Alright, I'll go back right now, but relax, we still got the artwork right?" I said. I swear, that kid needs to learn how to have some fun once in a while.
A little while later, I landed on Daisuke's balcony and then entered his room, only to see that someone else was in it, and they weren't happy.
"Where have you been? Just what happened Dark, why are you back so late?" Emiko was screaming at me, without any hesitation.
"Just ran into some trouble, but everything is fine, I have the artpiece that you wanted right here, and we are back alive, aren't we?" I told her, she definatly was Daisuke's mother.
"That's the problem Dark!" she yelled at me, and before I asked her what she meant, she was pulling me downstairs.
What the heck is she doing? I thought, and she set me infront of the televison, and made me watch was everyone else was, a news report.
"Tonight, Phantom Dark stole "The Eternal Timepiece" from the Utsukushi-sa Art Museum, one of which just opened up for business quite recently. But many were wondering why there was such a small amount of protection for such a valuable piece of art, right now, we find out the real answer." The news reporter began, and so far, I really didn't like where this was going. If there was a specific reason that the place was so poorly guarded, then it must of been a good one.
"As it turns out, the owner of this museum called the police themselves earlier today and specificly asked them to not give much security this particular night. The police themselves were baffled by this request, but respected the owner's wishes anyways. But aperently, they had a reason behind their madness, because right after the thieft took place, Instector Seahara recived a call from the owner of the museum, saying that right before the museum had been cleared out for the officers to set up, the real piece of artwork that Dark was planning to steal was replaced by a replica, fooling the phantom thief..." After the news report, they were all staring in awe and disbielief, except for me, who was filled with rage.
"What? But thats impossible!" I was yelling, probably too loud, but I didn't care. "There was a magical aura coming from this replica before, and..." I stopped in the middle of my sentence, and looked at the trickery that had fooled me, and realized that the faint, magic aura that was there before, had vanished from the fake artwork.
I stared in disbelief, I didn't know that something like this was possible, but here it was, happening right before my eyes. I was about to open my mouth to speak again, but before I could utter a sound, something else got my attention once again.
"Since the owner of the museum, who shall remained anonomys, was the one who switched the real artwork and the replica, they are the only one who would know where the true "Eternal Timepiece" lays hidden..." Was the last thing that the television said before Daiki switched it off.
"We need to find that artifact Dark, rumor has it that if used properly, the weilder can control the flow of time, which could be very dangerous." Emiko was saying to me, like I didn't know what was at stake here.
"I know, but we need to find out who the owner of the museum is. Kosuke do you think that you could find out?" I asked, and turned to him.
"Of course, it may take a little while, considering how low a profile this person keeps." He said, and then he walked down to the study.
"Emiko, tomorrow send out another warning letter. I'm gonna steal "The Eternal Timepice", and I'm not going to fail this time!" I told her, and in response, she just nodded.
"Okay Dark, but can you turn back into Dai now? He still has school tomorrow you know." She was saying, but I was already walking up the staris towards Daisuke's room.
"I have a feeling that this museum owner isn't an ordinary person, and they're especially not a fool." I said to Daisuke, before transforming back and letting him sleep.
A/N: Here it is, I'll try and update as soon as possible, but right now, why don't you leave a nice review. Sorry if it's asking too much, but nice reviews from u guys give me a nice fuzzy feeling on the inside, and inspire me to keep writing. ^^ So plz review!