Spirit Theives (part 1)
by
Mega Rose (GameGirlColor@hotmail.com)


	"Stop, theif!" Two security guards hopelessly chased a girl on a Linoone as 
she got away with several pocketfulls of small jewelry.  She hadn't stolen 
anything one-of-a-kind, of course.  That sort of thing would easily be 
identified.  No, this was the sort of thing you could easily get out of a 
catalog, because there were hundreds more in a warehouse somewhere.  So 
nobody would know if she happened to sell the little rip-offs to some dork 
on the streets of Mauville.  As she carefully steered her Pokemon through 
the city of Lilycove and into Route 119, the girl managed to get the guards 
of her tail.
	As they ran through the tall, thick grass, the Linoone started to slow 
down.  "G'head and take a break, Nuke."  Tanuki, better known as 'Nuke the 
Storm Wind, or 'The Linoone Shadow,' came to a stop.  The Master Theif 
Kurimme got off her partner's back and sat down next to her.  Nobody was out 
here but the Mimic Circle, the group of Bug Catchers and Bug Maniacs who 
spent all day here to irritate travelers.  They often saw her go through 
here, and most knew of her proffesion, but they respected her.  Or at least, 
they feared her. They stayed away.
	Kurimme counted the goods: 17 cheap rhinestone rings and a decent silver 
necklace.  She could get maybe $40 for the whole bunch.  That would be 
enough for now.  She pulled out a Pokeball and put Tanuki away.  Gathering 
up the spoils, she continued to travel towards Mauville City.  As she came 
to the small pond blocking the path, another Pokeball came out of one of the 
many pockets on the inside of her shirt.
	Out popped Mashimizu-meaning 'clear water' in Japanese (pretty ironic, 
considering it was a Swampert, a mud fish Pokemon)-also known as Mosh the 
Tsunami.  Mosh knew that his Surf ability would be needed now.  He carried 
Kurimme across the water quickly, then returned to his Pokeball.
	"Hey, Krim!" A teen on the other side called to her.  It was Dalton, a 
Guitarist.  Apparently, 'Kurimme' (pronounced Kor-im) was too hard for him 
to remember, so he simply reduced the name to the single-syllable 'Krim.'  
"You wanna--"
	"No."
	"You didn't even let me finish!"
	"'Hey, Krim, you wanna hear this new song I wrote?'  It's what you always 
say.  And I always say no."  Kurimme couldn't care less about music.  The 
only songs she knew were from the cookie commercial (I'm SQUEEEEEEZED in the 
middle!  Smack DAAAAAB in the middle!  ...Yeah, it's kinda dumb) and a few 
cartoon theme songs.
	"Aw, could you at least battle my Pokemon?  I wanna know if they've gotten 
stronger."
	"Now, there's something I can do!  But since you're sooooooo pathetic, I'll 
let you use all your Pokemon against one of mine."
	"Pathetic?  I'll show you!"  Dalton released two Magneton and an Exploud.  
Kurimme assumed that these were his only Pokemon, because he never used 
anything else.
	"This is sort of sad.  Mosh, I choose you!"  She tossed Mashimizu's 
Pokeball into the air.  "Earthquake!"

	"Stop, theif!"  Two Slowbro chased a Ninetales through the halls of a 
castle.  Of course, these are Slowbro we're talking about.  They're...slow.  
The golden streak that was a Ninetales at full speed was soon out the door 
of the Slow Castle, a palace built into a lakeside cliff.  In his mouth was 
a diamond tiara.  He fled into the woods, where it would be difficult for 
such idiotic creatures to find him.
	He then switched into his disguise form.  Getting up onto his hind legs, 
the way normal humans do (the disguise wouldn't do him much good if he 
didn't act the part, after all), he walked through the trees at a much 
slower pace.  Master Theif Zensoku, the runaway former servant to Queen Cana 
of the Vulpix and a Spirit Ninetales, emerged from the forest to find 
himself on Route 110.  The random travelers and trainers on the route saw 
only a 15-or-so-years-old boy, wearing normal clothes, walking northwards 
towards Mauville City.  This was the path to his Secret Base on Route 119, 
where he kept all his stolen treasures.
	He felt almost bad about taking the petite little crown.  It had belonged 
to Princess Amai, an innocent little Slowpoke child.  But, like nearly all 
of her kind, she was about 11 donuts short of a dozen.  The poor, dimwitted 
thing wouldn't know the difference.  Zenso had to wash the drool off of the 
thing before stealing it.
	"Zenso!"  A young girl approached him.  He immediately knew her as Koinu, 
the Poochyena spirit he did business with.  It was hard not to recognize 
her, what with her grey hair and eyes (Grey hair on a little girl?).  "You 
get somethin', ya?  I see?"  Zenso smiled and showed her the tiara.  Her 
dull grey eyes suddenly  became a lot bigger.  "Aiyaa, I like!  You give?  
You give?"
	"You pay?  You pay?"  Zenso mocked her horrible English.  "Ask Yennokai.  
I'll hold onto this until I get an answer."
	"Is okay!  I do!"  Koi-chan ran off to...wherever she runs off to.  Her 
master, King Yennokai of the Poochyena (actually, he was a Mightyena), often 
bought his stolen goods.  Poochyena and Mightyena had no morals, and didn't 
think of stealing as 'wrong.'  They were his best customers.  He hid the 
crown in his pocket (one of the few things human clothes were good for) and 
continued on his way.
	"Earthquake!"  A single voice was clearly heard throughout Mauville and the 
surrounding areas.  Suddenly, as the voice had predicted (or ordered?), the 
ground began to shake.  Zenso ran as fast as his human form could, trying to 
get though the city before things started to collapse.  Fortuneately, 
whether he was  human, Ninetales, or in his true spirit form, Zenso was like 
a living bullet.  He soon dashed though the southern entrance to the city 
and out the eastern one before anyone could notice the wind in his wake.  He 
looked back as he ran at the panicked city.  No buildings had fallen, and 
the quake had gotten weaker.  It must have been a Pokemon's Earthquake 
attack, and not the real thing.  It's funny, you'd think people would've 
gotten used to this sort of thing by now, what with--SMACK!
	Zenso accidentally knocked down a girl.  Before he could react, she had a 
blade at his throat.  He looked her in the eye.  She had such big, 
innocent-looking brown eyes...but the knife at his neck was anything but 
innocent.

	Kurimme was knocked down from behind.  She quickly turned and pulled out a 
Swiss army knife, and held it close to her attacker's throat.  But then he 
looked her in the eye.  His eyes were red, with...it couldn't be...stars in 
them???