At Mei’s suggestion, the cat opened one amber eye. A noise akin to laughter emerged. His little maestro would be terribly bored of a job that simple. A little spyng job, indeed. Still, being a Pokemon, he could exactly interject with words. But he knew the silly chatterbox would jump right in.[break][break]


The pinkette grinned up at Mei. “Oh! Hehe! I’m not just starting off.” Harper was quick to reassure the pretty lady. “I’ve been stealing stuff from rich bastards before I could walk!” A scold came from the Liepard—what uncouth language! Honestly, she might be gutter trash, but she could afford profanity. The cat did have to admit their were truth to Harper’s claims, though perhaps from an improper lens.


[break][break]


Back then, she’d just been the distraction. A crying kid luring good-hearted adults into dark alleyways where the cat and his crew would rob them blind. After she was able to talk, they turned to ssimple pickpocketing. Then, with better coordination, came the lockpicking and vent scaling. The young teen’s lips spread in a decidedly feline grin. “So, don’t worry, Miss Mei.” Her hands tightened reflexively at her side. “I’ve got this.”


[break][break]


The talk of the man drew a frown from Harper. Usually, the entire point of stealing was to not interact with a target. Or, at least, not to do so while revealng your true identity. Though, in this case, it was kind of required, huh? “Well, I know he used to be some famous explorer. Or, at least, acted like it.” Somehow, looking at his tired old face, Harper couldn’t exactly picture Indiana Jones. “He loves old stuff and history.” Not that she knew much about that. Scholarship had never been at the top of her daddy’s plate.[break][break]





“As to the type of people, it looks like a lot of famous people.” Poppa had given her a list and she’d done sme research. “I don’t know who’s on the guest list.” Her finger tapped at her lips as she tried to recall anything else from the pamphlet. That was it, right—oh! “He always his a Cofragigus with him. So I’d have to keep an eye out for that.”[break][break]





Pretty satisfied with that, Harper nodded twice. “If you had to rob him, what would you do?” She paused. “I’d use my ‘assets,’ but I don’t exactly—” She dropped her gaze to her chest. “--have any.” This was due partially to manutrition and partially to how old she actually was.

Mei Liu

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

The Tinkaton tried her best to be subtle about grabbing the fallen belt, but it was kind of hard to be stealthy when you had a two-ton hammer in your hands. Especially when you refused to let go of it. The man, obviously not the biggest fan of Pokemon, was almost immediately suspicious of what the ACME reject was doing behind him. His head slowly swiveled as he turned in Harper’s surprisingly muscular grasp.

[break][break]

Shit!! Thieving and magic actually had a lot in common: slight of hand, illusion, charisma. But foremost among these things was distraction. So, when she spotted movement in her periphery, the girl was quick to jump on it. She waved vigorously to the girl, pointing emphatically at the red-faced man. “OHEMGEE! Susan! Look! It’s Professor Wailord!” The man jerked his head towards this other teenager, his Spewpa brows descending like a salt-and-pepper raincloud. “For the last time, you—you ruffian I’m not—” The fairy-type’s hammer gently tapped the ground.


[break][break]
It pushed the center button of the ball in question, recalling the cowering dog. Something the man didn’t notice through the cotton candy whirlwind around him.
[break][break]

The man’s poker belt was now stuffed into one of the gaps in the hammer. Luckily—because nobody wanted to see this tub-of-lard’s undies—the belt seemed more for show than anything. As if waking from a daze, Harper stepped back. “Oh! Mister! I’m so sorry! You’re not him, are ya?" She shook her head. “His eyes weren’t that beady and he could pull[ off that mustache.” She grinned, the gesture vicious. ‘I hope you stay safe out there, mister! It’s a dog-eat-dog world!”

[break][break]
With that, she and the Tinkaton sprang away. Before Morrigan could react, Harper was a few yards from her. “Come on Suzie!” The thief moved to grab the other girl’s arm. If successful, she’d try to guide her away from the billowing man.

[break][break]
“Where did you go, you stupid animal!? If you’re fucking hiding again, I’ll tan your hide!” The trainer shouted to the park at large. Leaning closer to Morrigan, Harper murmured. “What a charmer, huh?”

[break][break]


From beneath her hood, a little green cat’s head emerged. The Sprigatito blinked up at the other girl in wonder.


[break][break]

Morrigan Anderson

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

The Castform nodded sagely, glad someone was agreeing with him for once. His friend group—or, well, ward group—tended to act first and think second. It made him feel like Jiminy Lokix, if Pinocchio’s head had been full of Red Bull. " " Moo continued to stare the teenager down. He knew her well enough to know that the word no often translated to ‘do it now.’ in her head.
[break][break]

“Uggggh.” Harper whined, her feet hovering just above the floor of the dumpster. “I just wanted to help it, ya know?” She glared briefly at the Castform before turning to the stranger. With a quick shift, she brought herself to a standing position atop the dumpster. His thanks were met with a smile and a warm, “You’re welcome!” Honestly, it’d be nice if Daddy thanked her once in a while. Usually, a successful job was just met with more work. No purrs or kitty kisses. Just an appraising glance, a new paper, and a gesture of dismissal.

[break][break]
At seeing the Galarian Rapidash, Harper jumped back to the alley’s dusty floor. “Wow!” She grinned. “Hey! I have one of those—well, kinda.” Her hands clambered for her own Pokeball, throwing out a little Galarian Ponyta. It’d been a gift from her foster sister—a twin to the other girl’s Kantonian one. "This is Nay-Nay!” The normally vain creature seemed shy in the shadow of her superior.

[break][break]


The clanging approach seemed to coax the Minior into some kind of wakefulness. From inside the dumpster, the noise was deafening—like a horde of Kongmo-o in springtime. The sight of the candy bar drew its eyes—even more circular than normal—up. After a brief burst of light, the creature leaned up and sniffed. After a moment, it tried to roll towards the flaky bar, managing to take the tiniest bite. “Min…” Was that a thank you?[break][break]

[break][break]

Vanilla Kingsley

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

The same old nightmare again. A gentle hand drifted across her cheek with a shiny wristwatch. A panicked scream from the front room. Her own little arms clung fitfully to a cotton-candy-colored Buneary plush. Then, it got really loud. Something fell. Her vision went black. “!?” Harper jumped awake from the nightmare, her heart pounding in her chest. [break][break]



Immediately, a hand went up to the kitten curled around her neck, anxious someone had tried to run off with him. Finding he was still there, she quickly threw her legs off her hammock. A pair of shorts was pulled over her undies as she threw on the nearest t-shirt—a staff extra from her go-to restaurant bolt-hole. Even if it was super early for her, Harper knew better than to try and go to sleep. Now dressed, the pink-haired girl clambered out the window and down to the ground. [break][break]



After a few moments of wandering—a Sprigatito at her side and a Castform at her shoulder—a shout caught the thief’s ears. It sounded like a lady! A little kid, even! “C’mon!” She shouted at her tiny menagerie, bounding confidently through familiar alleyways. Before long, she came upon a scene. A group of three punks gathered around somebody with lollipop hair. It definitely wasn't a fair fight. But none of the punks had Pokemon. [break][break]



Which Harper knew all about. It was hard not to get beat up when you were an orphaned kid with a cat for a dad and a bunch of desperate people for friends. But this girl didn’t look like a gutter rat! She had a cute outfit! [break][break]



A Pokeball dropped to her feet. From it, a giant hammer and its teeny-tiny wielder emerged. “Tink! Get 'em out of here!” Then, a word of caution. “Just don’t break nothing.” After all, if they were with a gang, hurting them was asking for it. With a vicious grin, the Tinkaton vanished in a ball of green. Then, it reappeared between the punks and their victim, its hammer raised high. [break][break]





THUNK! The metal weapon clanked heavily to the concrete as the Tinkaton bared its teeth. “TON!” It rushed them. And, like Bolthund at the start of the race, the kids raced off. Loving stuff like this, the rabble-rousing fairy-type followed. [break][break]



Once they were gone, Harper dropped from her rooftop perch to land beside the bruised girl. [break][break]



“You all right?” The teenager queried, offering a hand. “They didn’t do anything pervy did they?”





[break][break]

Vanilla Kingsley

[attr="class","pokeclass"]