The Clever Thief Who Steals For Good
Chapter One: Thief of Hearts Saint Tail— Set up!

Lien

While by day, I was just an average student of St. Paulia's School, by night, I was the infamous thief with a good cause, St. Tail. You see, I never stole anything for no reason.

Tonight, to neither mine nor my best friend Sierra's surprise, I was pulling off another heist. Admittedly, I should have been at home in bed, but I A) happened to like my job, and B) was the only one who could do it. I wasn't sure why, but Sierra told me that according to Arceus-sama, it had to be me. Me, I was just doing it because I was bored of school. I wanted to go on my Pokémon journey, but of course the orphanage where I lived wouldn't let me.

They 'didn't have the funds' or something stupid like that. As if I needed money to go on my journey; just a way to get to Sandgem Town to get a starter and a Pokédex from Professor Rowan, like all new Trainers from Sinnoh. But no, they wouldn't let me. I personally thought they just wanted me out of the way or something, which was why they shipped me off to nun school. The second I graduated, which couldn't come too soon, I was going on a Pokémon journey.

So instead, I settled for being St. Tail to spice up my life. And this way, I also got to help people.

Granted, I'd only started recently and had only pulled off thirteen heists so farm making this one my fourteenth, but being Saint Tail was already an ingrained part of my life, so much so that I almost hoped I never had to stop. I liked it a lot more than I did school.

Anyway, tonight's heist was stealing a painting from a man who had originally stolen it and several other works of art from the museum. He probably did what I did on the first few heists before the 'boys in blue' as I had dubbed them, caught on to me: waltz right out with them as if he were meant to have them. It was such a simple tactic that I was surprised it took the boys in blue four heists to catch onto me. The boys in blue that I had to deal with were also quite incompetent so that made my job easier. I was in and out with little problems, long before anyone at school realized I was gone. Except Sierra, of course, but that was the whole point.

The next morning at school, all anyone could talk about was my, well, Saint Tail's latest heist. My classmate Asuka Jr. wasn't too pleased by a few of the descriptions, but I told him to chill out and relax, and worry about his grades instead of Saint Tail, because he seemed to think that every unsolved crime in the past month or so was the work of Saint Tail.

He accused me of being Saint Tail, but I just laughed.

How could he think that I was Saint Tail? Okay, so I was, but still. The fact remained that if I laughed about it, made a joke out of it, no one would actually believe the accusation.

"You really think that I'm Saint Tail?" I wheezed through my laughter. "Seriously? How in the world did you come to that conclusion? For one, we look nothing alike. I've got blue eyes and from the reports I've seen, Saint Tail has green. I'm blond, but Saint Tail has brown hair. For another, my best chance of being able to go on a Pokémon journey is to unfortunately stay in school. So I've been told anyway. And also, I believe class is about to start, so can we continue this argument later? I have no desire to get detention, thanks. I kind of need to get good grades."

"Fine, we'll continue this after school!" Asuka Jr. shouted.

Rolling my eyes, I spun on my heel and marched toward my seat.

Class was boring as always, and frankly I wished I could learn something more interesting, and preferably something about Pokémon, but sadly, that wasn't going to happen. This was, after all, a religious school. To make matters worse, I hadn't even been allowed to sign up for the classes that dealt with Pokémon, so I was stuck in the classes for those who didn't want to be Trainers. If I could just get a Pokémon, then I could switch programs, but until that happened, I was unfortunately stuck. I'd just have to find a Pokémon or something.

After school, I headed to the church to ask Sierra to pray for me so that I could get a Pokémon of my own. On the way in, I passed a little girl who had brown eyes and hair which had been done up in pigtails. I could think of only one reason why she'd be here.

And hopefully, it'll mean another heist tonight. I thought hopefully.

"Hey Sierra," I called out as I entered. "I passed a girl on my way in. Do I have another heist to pull tonight? Please tell me I do."

Sierra turned to face me, smiling. "Yes, you do." She answered. "That little girl, Saori, came to ask for Arceus-sama's help. Do you want the whole story, or a summarized version?"

"The whole story, please." I requested.

"Alright. Her grandfather is a jewelry appraiser who was recently brought two sapphires to appraise. One of them was the Blue Meteorite, a very rare, unique, expensive gem. The other was a fake, created as a precaution against theft." My best friend began.

"Let me guess," I put in. "The fake was so clever, so similar to the real one, that he forgot which one was fake and which one was real."

"Exactly, which was why they were sent to a jewelry appraiser. Saori's grandfather was taken in by the gem's beauty, and told the owner that the fake was the real one and bought the real one for a very low price. The fake gem was sold to a rich woman, and she has no idea that the gem she bought isn't the real Blue Meteorite." She explained. "So tonight, we're going to correct it."

"So what I'm supposed to do is take the real gem and exchange it with the fake?" I guessed.

Sierra nodded. "Exactly. It should be easy enough."

I grinned. "Perfect. I hoped I would be able to go out tonight."

Sierra shook her head. "Sometimes, I think you're a little too eager to be Saint Tail."

I shrugged. "Maybe. But anything is better than having to go to school. You know how I feel about it, and what I would do if I had my way."

"True." She acknowledged. "Very true. Now, I think that you should go right after dark, because usually you go later in the evening, a while after it's gotten dark. If we vary your pattern a bit, then it'll be harder for the police to catch onto you."

I nodded. "Got it." For the hell of it, I sent a Shadow Clone, a solid clone that gave me all of its memories when it dispelled, back to the dorms, while I stayed in the church until it was time. Most of the time was spent praying that I would get a Pokémon soon.

"Are you ready?" Sierra asked when the sun had set.

Grinning, I held up the pendant which would turn me into Saint Tail. "And you know it."

"Good luck." She said.

I closed my hands around the pendant and closed my eyes. "Ye Lord! Mask of bone and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams, unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws! Thief of Hearts— set up!"