Malum swayed carelessly in the lobby of the daycare. It was finding a way to entertain itself while its master haggled with the daycare owners. From what it could tell, the master was unhappy with the extraordinary prices for the daycare’s services. He kept using words like “Extortion” and “Scam” but the daycare owner wasn’t budging. Malum knew his master would relent eventually, he had to. The objective required it.

As Malum predicted his master relented to the price. He walked over to Malum and patted him on the head, Malum responded with a hoot like coo. The master whispered into his ear as he gave Malum a convincing hug, “Pick a good one, papa needs rent.” Malum happily cooed in response. The master waved goodbye as he left, leaving Malum in the custody of the daycare.

The daycare owner led Malum into the play yard. Malum was sure to hop in the air, an attempt to appear harmless and affable. The daycare owner seemed amused, “How can such a cute fella like you belong to such a callous thug? It’s a darn shame.” Malum cooed and waved at the owner, receiving pats in return. Excellent, he had earned favor. The owner wished Malum well and went back inside, leaving Malum to his own devious devices.

It was time to commence phase one: Infiltrate and gain favor from the fellow inmates. Malum floated around the extensive play yard happily, cooing a little song as he swayed his tentacles in the breeze. There was a fine selection of pokemon today, mostly babies but quite a few adults as well. Malum approached a few groups to briefly mingle, but didn’t commit to any particular gathering yet. As he hopped in the air, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy. Was he being watched? No one seemed to be paying any particular attention to him, so why did he feel observed? No matter, he must proceed with the plan. He found a small group playing tag, consisting of a Wynaut, Scraggy, and Eevee. They will serve his purposes well. Malum approached the group and after brief communication happily allowed him to join in. And thus began the infiltration.

dominic sinclair

large yellow eyes watch the inkay join with a small group playing tag - seamless and natural in its approach. for the first time in its life, the bronzor is acutely aware that it is not very "cute" in any sense of the word, and the feeling makes it vaguely self-conscious.

it buries deeper into the dirt and shuffles closer unaware that it is in fact a very obvious mound moving under the ground like a diglett.

hearing the other pokemon singing earlier, the bronzor figures maybe it can introduce itself the same way. it spins to unearth itself and emits a METAL SOUND in greeting. the noise the bronzor produces is frankly grating and forces the playing pokemon to recoil, not that the steel-type notices. blissfully unaware, the bronzor floats around cheerfully, continuing its awful screeching. it would smile if it could.

oscar clayton

A bizarre rustling caught Malum's attention. He looked down to find a mound of dirt coming his way. Arching his eyebrow, he pondered what it could be. Some sort of mischievous digging prankster? That seemed to be exactly the case, as the invader popped out of the ground and shocked the playing pokemon with a horrid noise. As Malum recovered from his own shock, he observed the hopping maniac. He had yet to see a pokemon quite like it, it seemed to be very amused at its little jest. If it even was a jest.

Malum noticed that his fellow pokemon did not agree, and seemed quite angry with the poor fellow. They spitefully returned to their games, cruelly ignoring it. Malum did not ignore it. He floated up to the bobbing creature and began to bob happily as well. He pondered if the being sought friendship, if so it could prove to be a useful ally indeed. The best cohorts are those who crave companionship and acceptance, at least in Malum's experience anyway.

Malum decided to test the intelligence of the creature. He ceased his bobbing and began blinking the yellow spots on his head. At first they seemed like random patterns, but eventually they became coherent. A sort of code he could use to communicate with those who can understand. The gist of the blinking amounted to, "I say, can you understand me old sport?"

dominic sinclair

for a moment, the bronzor looks about as heart-broken as a floating steel disc could muster - eyes downcast, it watches the other pokemon continue their game, barely acknowledging the greeting it had extended to them.

at least the melancholy is short-lived because it is joined by another airborn pokemon. the bronzor spins around the inkay like a rapidly rotating cog and then freezes up in concentration when the pokemon begins blinking lights at it.

once again, the bronzor rues its lack of a mouth. after a few moments of exertion, it connects the string of lights into a sentence. after all, psychic-types like them are granted with an unusual intelligence! unable to say as much, the bronzor gives a low, harmless screech and inclines its entire body forward in a poor imitation of a nod.

nonetheless, the pokemon looks pleased, eyes crinkling in an attempt to imitate how humans look when they laugh or smile.

oscar clayton

Malum responded with a devilish smile. The nod was loud and clear, and Malum was delighted to find a pokemon who could actually understand him. This bizarre metal disc should be proud, not even his master could translate Malum's lights. Thought very few humans can, or are meant to.  

Malum floated closer and began to blink again. He asked his new friend if he would like to help him with a special project. He didn't wait for an answer, floating away a bit before turning around and happily waving for his friend to follow. Malum began to float away, swaying back and forth joyfully. His companion seemed to respond well to expressions of joy, so Malum was sure to keep up the mood.

Malum floated on and on, all the way to an area that had very few baby pokemon. All around him were evolved pokemon, who much preferred to mingle among other grown pokemon rather than babies. Malum paid no attention to their dismissive glances, floating to his own beat until he reached the area his master had scouted earlier. It was an indent in the ground, like a small crater of some sort. Within sat a sleeping Rhyperior, surrounded by eggs. 

Usually eggs were kept inside the daycare itself, but until they were noticed to be picked up they are guarded by the daycare keeper's rhyperior. Malum turned toward his companion and pointed at the rhyperior, blinking as he did so. The gist was, "I need him to be gone, can you draw him away?" He hoped he understood.

dominic sinclair

the bronzor tagged along behind the inkay, bobbing along cheerfully and trying to mirror the exact movement to the best of its ability. it didn’t work at all - while the inkay could probably best be described as something borderline gelatinous, the bronzor remained a rigid disk.

when they reached the intended target the bronzor narrowed its eyes to try to make sense of the task at hand as it was communicated by another series of flickering lights. having eventually made sense of what the inkay was saying, the bronzor gave a low screech of happy acknowledgement - hopefully not loud or reverberating enough to attract any attention this time.

it knew this game! it rarely ever got to play, but it has seen its trainer’s other pokemon being both the distraction and the gatherer!

the bronzor gave another nod and floated over to the rhyperior and the egg hatch with a bizarre amount of bravado. it felt pretty confident - while the slight frame hindered with respecting to emoting, what it did give it is a very tiny HITBOX. on top of that, it could quickly flit around through space while the rhyperior was limited to the ground and to heavy swings. in short, it had a FRAME ADVANTAGE and was fully prepared to exploit it.

the pokemon gives the inkay a little quip - meaning, i’m starting now! - and hurtles forward at the speed of a frisbee being thrown. drawing near the rhyperior, the bronzor unleashes a CONFUSE RAY and then begins to spin rapidly around it for a few very long moments, just very slightly out of reach. confused, but aware enough of its own status to know it shouldn’t be standing near the hatch of eggs the rhyperior gave an annoyed low growl and stumbled slowly away from the place where it had been standing guard, giving a half-hearted chase after the bronzor.

oscar clayton

Malum observed his new accomplice saunter down into the nest. He didn't exactly know what to expect, he just hoped it would be enough to get the rhyperior out of the way. If only he were more familiar with the species of his new friend, then perhaps he would have more confidence in his capabilities. For now, he was just thankful he was a willing participant. 

And then the disc used confuse ray. Malum wasn't close enough to be truly affected, but the flash hurt his eyes. He squeaked and began to rub them with his tentacles. Oh of all the bother, at a time such as this. As the light in his eyes faded, he noticed the disc approaching--with the rhyperior lazily following behind. Malum ducked into a nearby bush, just in time for the duo to pass without noticing Malum's blunder. Malum poked his head out, and when he believed the coast was clear he floated over to the nest.

There was a large selection of eggs to choose from. His master told him to pick a good one, though Malum wasn't exactly sure what that meant. He decided to just guess, picking up a pump purple egg. He folded it into his body, concealing it with his tentacles. The weight brought him down, so he floated as hard as he could out of the nest before falling to the ground and rolling away. He did his best to stealth by the other pokemon, most lazily laying in the sun or too busy sparring. Those who did notice paid him little mind, to them he was just a baby having a spot of fun.

He rolled and rolled as quickly as he could, all the way to a part of the fence surrounding the area hidden behind a bush. He stuck is underside through the bars and plopped out the egg. It was caught by his teammate, a salazzle named Sama who had been waiting there for the drop all day. She didn't stay to check in on the inkay, fleeing the scene immediately. 

With his job done, Malum floated back to the nest to locate his friend. The rhyperior hadn't chased him too far, and Malum was sure to hop around in the air widely to get his friend's attention. It was time to vamoose!


dominic sinclair

if it were any other situation, the bronzor would have long since been squashed in the rhyperior’s hefty grip. however, this was a pokemon trained for working specifically with baby pokemon or… others that can prove to be difficult to control.

the rhyperior swung lazily for the bronzor time and time again, and the bronzor would deftly dart out of the way and act as if this display is somehow impressive. all it did was feed its ego.

after some time the bronzor sees the inkay return from wherever it had gone off too and the steel-type flits away to join it, screeching a happy melody.

oscar clayton

Malum could not help but join in with his companion's song, joining in with a cooing melody. The job was done, and so it was time to play. Malum spent the rest of his time playing with his new friend, rewarding the small disc with companionship for its efforts. However it was soon time to go, the daycare owner came out to find Malum and usher him inside. As Malum floated away, he would turn back one last time to wave farewell before returning to his trainer.

Months later, Malum the Malamar reflected on that fateful event. He had learned a valuable lesson that day: friendship was an important tool to achieve success. As Malum and his minions (teammates) completed yet another heist, he pondered whatever happened to that jolly bronzor. He hoped that one day they would meet again, and steal even more eggs. What fun that would be.

dominic sinclair