//------------------------------// // Genius Implementation // Story: A New World, A New Stage, The Same Act // by Purple Pony //------------------------------// "I changed my mind! I can't handle this!" Alice was starting to hyperventilate. The train ride from Baltimare to Canterlot had provided ample time for her bravado to slowly crumble, leaving only the nervousness behind. It had started with slowly pacing during the first hour. Followed by muttering to herself in the second hour. The third hour was highlighted by an upset stomach. The fourth hour involved her huddling into a corner and driving away John so she could attempt to disappear from the world. Now it was the fifth hour, and it involved a small amount of panicking as well as a little screaming. "I can't do it, John!" "Yes you can!" John said back. The rest of the Pokemon were staying as far away as possible in the train car from the arguing/panicking new couple. John finally raised a point that he thought would console his new girlfriend. "You have to remember, you are the Phantom Thief Fox, and you could probably just escape if everything goes wrong." "I don't do improv, John. I would have no knowledge of escape routes, which would make actually escaping even harder. In addition, I'd be trying to escape from ponies who LITERALLY CONTROL THE SUN AND MOON! There's no way out of this." "I can vouch that this is nowhere near the usual amount of preparation for a heist. Usually, it would be a day or three just for setup. It was once a week when we were stealing from that Team Flare hideout in Lumiose." Rascal added to his trainer's cause. "Asking Fox to do anything without preparation is like asking a Magikarp to be anything besides food." "Love you too, Rascal." Alice sarcastically replied. That was the extent of the excitement on the train, as after that, Alice and John fell asleep in each other's arms all romantically and stuff. The rest of the Pokemon tried and failed to contain their squee's at the adorableness they were witnessing. Shade turned and asked Howl a question. "What happened to that mare you were travelling with? Trixie, right?" "We let her dreams come true." Was all Howl said in response. Meanwhile, Back in Baltimare Trixie sat in the living room of the mansion that was owned by her idol, trying not to embarrass herself any further. She honestly didn't care that she was left behind, she was getting to spend time with THE Sleight Hoof. The world could end and she probably wouldn't care. A Couple Hours Later, in Canterlot The group of ten Pokemon stood in front of the gates, checking to make sure that one of the members would be ready. "We don't have to do this today, Alice. We could come back tomorrow." Shade said. "No, if we wait until tomorrow, I will just be panicking about it all day. I just need to rip the bandage off and not delay it any longer." Alice said, trying to Psych herself Up for the meeting with the princesses. The two former humans went entered the castle and requested a time to meet with the princesses. The rest of the Pokemon would be staying in a nearby park, not wanting to intimidate the princesses. The secretary for the princesses, Raven Inkwell, had to go through proper procedure. "Names." Raven asked. "Johnathan Trace and Alice Maximilion." "Occupation." "Baltimare Guard and...are you still a scientist?" John asked. "I mean, I haven't exactly been able to continue my research, but it's not like I had any other job." Alice replied. She really should get in contact with some sort of university in order to continue her research. "Scientist, then." John said. "Reason for visiting?" "I have crucial information about the Phantom Thief Fox that I would like to share with the princesses." John replied. "And what about Ms. Maximilion?" Raven asked. "I was promised a day with him, and he has to go and schedule an appointment with the princesses. I'm not letting this one out of my sight." Alice says, feigning irritation. "Fair enough. Ponies have seen the princesses for more trivial reasons." Raven replies. "All set. Let me deliver this to the princesses, and we'll see what happens. The waiting room is just over there," Raven points her hoof to a door on the left side of the room. "please try not to give the nobles any reason to hate the Pokemon, I have enough paperwork as is, thank you. The princesses will likely see you within an hour depending on what exactly the others want to discuss." Raven then turns around and walks through the employee access door right behind her desk. "She seemed nice, if a little uptight." John said as they walked through the door into the waiting room. "I'd love to see what she's like outside of work, when she doesn't have to deal with nobles and other irritations. I bet she's be fun to hang out with." Alice replied back. "And can't do improv, my paw. That was amazing." John points out. "That was acting, not improv." Alice says back. "Princess, I have another request, from a Johnathan Trace and Alice Maximilion. They say to have critical information on the Phantom Thief Fox." "Bring them in right away. They are priority." Princess Celestia replies. "Yes ma'am." The two former humans looked up when the door leading to the throne room opened. "Johnathan Trace and Alice Maximilion, the princesses will see you now." Raven called out. The two of them looked at each other, before calmly walking through the door. The long red carpet in the middle of the corridor lead to the two thrones sitting perched above the rest of the room. On either side of the room, stained glass windows depicting the many feats of the kingdom and it's citizens were evenly spaced across the wall. At the end of the room, sitting in their respective thrones, were Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. The two sisters were looking as regal as they ever could. On either side, several guards were standing there, protecting the princesses. As John and Alice walked up, they bowed to the throne. "Rise, citizens. To what do we owe the pleasure?" Celestia asked. "Princess, could you please have the guards leave the room? This information is highly sensitive." John asks. "Of course. You heard the 'mon, guards. Leave us." Celestia ordered to the guards. "But, your highness, we are supposed to protect you. We can't do that if-" A guard on the left started, before being interrupted by Luna. "Does thou think we cannot take care of ourselves? I would like to think that we can defend ourselves against two Pokemon. Plus, one of them is a faithful guard from Baltimare. We will be fine." "Yes, your highness." The guard replied, before filing their way out of the room. Once the door closed, and the sound echoed around the room, John continued. "As I said, I have key information about the Phantom Thief Fox that I have been tracking down." "Well? Don't leave us hanging. That's Tia's job." Luna throws a quick barb at her sister. "Oh ha ha ha. Just because I'm cryptic doesn't mean I never say anything." Celestia defends herself. "I fail to see the difference." Luna says bluntly. "ANYWAYS!" Celestia says a little bit louder, "What information did you have?" John nods to Alice, and then Alice takes a deep breath, before throwing up her Fox illusion. "I believe you were looking for me?" Fox says, not saying 'your highness' because Fox doesn't care about authority. Both princesses don't even bat an eyelash. "I would have thought we would get some sort of response." John says. "This is a little weird, admittedly. Of course, I'm used to people either running in fear or attempting to capture me, so nearly anything is weird." Fox replies. "Apologies about the lack of response, but we had a visitor last night. She said her name was Cresselia, and she already explained everything about this situation." Celestia said. "She also defended Fox with one point. There is a reason Arceus brought her here." The two former humans looked at each other, before both face-palming. Arceus didn't bring anyone who he didn't think deserved to continue interacting with Pokemon. "And this meeting has already gone sideways compared to what we thought would happen." John says. "So did you make a decision about amnesty, your majesty?" "We did one better." Luna replied. "We made a job offer." It took a couple seconds for the two Pokemon to process what exactly was said to them. "WAITWAITWAITWAITWAITWAITWAITWAITWAITWAITWAIT WHAT!!!!" Alice screamed. "Tia, do you want to explain?" Luna asked. "It was your idea, go ahead." Celestia defers. "Okay. Ms. Maximilion, or should I say Ms. Fox, in the short time you have been here, you have already helped dismantle several gangs, several sources of corruption, and have lead to an increase in security, all by yourself, acting as a vigilante. I started thinking last night, after Cresselia's visit, about what to do about you. I had an epiphany then. If I could hire you, I would not only make sure a vigilante continues her work on the right side of the law, but also would help bring even more peace to the land. Plus, I could make sure you keep doing what you're doing by keeping this off the record." Luna then brings out a big stack of papers and starts sorting through them. "I could have sworn it was in here somewhere...THERE!" She then pulls out a piece of paper and hands it to Alice. "That would be the contract." Alice reads it over, and her eyes nearly Bug out of her head. "That's a lot of money for being a thief." "I needed to pay you like a thief, or else you would just continue thieving." Luna points out. "Fair enough, but this is absurd!" Alice shows John the paper, particularly the salary. John falls backwards, twitching on the floor and muttering something that sounded like "Why do the villains have all the money?" "I already have a sort of intelligence network set up around the country. You will become a part of that network, and will act on whatever tips you think need to be acted upon. It is your job to make sure the evil in the world is taken down." Luna then sorts through the stack of papers again, pulls one out, and gives it to John. "This is your job offer. You will also be introduced into the network I have set up, and your job is to make it so when Fox decides to act on something, you are there to make sure the local guard are ready to move in and apprehend, by having Fox do her thing and you do the normal response and guard the place until Fox reveals the true culprit. The key is making sure that no one knows that you two are working together. Alice has her disguise, so you can see each other outside of work, but you must make sure you are all attempting to capture her to the best of your ability." John looked over his paper, and his eyebrows tried to Fly away. "That's QUITE a raise." "I can't have you feeling shafted in this arrangement, can I?" Luna says. "You know, for only thinking this over in one night, you sure have put a lot of thought into this." John says. "There's a reason I rule the night. It's because I'm smart enough to not deal with the nobles all day." Luna says, throwing another barb at her sister. "At least I don't threaten to banish anypony that irritates me, my dear sister." Celestia says with a false sweetness. John and Fox ignored the two arguing sisters and looked at each other. "What do you think, Fox?" John asked. "I think this will work perfectly. With all this money, I can afford to restock my heist supplies. Fully funded Fox is back in business!" Fox cheers, before going to sign the paper and realizing that she didn't have anything to sign it with. "When you put it that way, I guess I can't refuse. So now we're partners in, well, not crime, but totally legal burglary. This is going to mess with my head for weeks." John mimes being confused. "I can think of other ways to mess with your head." Fox says slyly, before seeming to realize that she said that out loud. Both Pokemon's faces turn beet red, and a certain Princess of the Night coughs politely. "As the pony who watches over dreams, I know what you just said. However, I ask that you please refrain from doing anything in the throne room." She grabs a quill and ink and gives it to Fox. "Now, I do believe you needed to sign these, correct?" The rest of the Pokemon were hanging out in the nearby park, waiting to see if they needed to bust someone out of jail or not. They were told at most three hours, and it had only been one, so there wasn't panic yet. That didn't stop them from planning, though. "Okay, so the royal prison is laid out like this," Rascal says, pulling out a piece of paper and showing it to the rest of the crew, thief and cop alike. "If they get arrested, they will probably be taken into the deepest part, where all the life sentences are served. Now, if we-yes, Heat." Rascal stopped himself at the Combusken's raised talon. "How did you get this map? We've only been in Canterlot an hour." "Fair question, but Alice always makes sure to inspect the prisons first, because if someone gets caught, we need to be able to bust them out. This map is actually from a little after the crown jewels heist." Rascal explains. "Makes sense. Carry on." "Okay, so there is a ventilation shaft on the east side of the building," Rascal points to the spot on the map where it is, "and that will be our way in. Myself, Shade, Heat, and Echo will go in there. We'll need Echo to be able to sneak into the deepest part, as the vents are small enough to keep ponies out, but not tiny bats. Me, Shade, and Heat will have to wait outside the entrance while Echo busts out John and Fox. We will be in charge of making sure nopony gets inside there. We are stalling for time. "However, to increase our chances of success, we will need a distraction. That's where Howl, Scep, Spinner, and Charlotte come in. You will be in charge of going through the front door, making as big a mess as possible. Nothing lethal, Scep-" the Sceptile frowned at this "-we just need you to make as big a ruckus as possible. Trap them, knock them out, scare them, whatever. Just keep their attention as best as you can. Myself, Shade, and Heat will the the last line of defense. "Echo, you will need the lock picks. This will be quite a challenge with the magical natures of the locks, but if you take your time, you should be able to get in. There is a small window, so check to make sure you don't let out anyone dangerous." "But aren't John and Fox dangerous?" Echo points out. "Dangerous to the mission, you dumb bat." Rascal replies irritably. "If something goes wrong, retreat to this rendezvous point-" Rascal points to a spot in the middle of a plain at the bottom of the mountain. "-and wait for everyone else. If the mission is successful, we will go to this point anyways, so wait there. If everything goes according to plan, we will be done with this within an hour, got it?" Rascal asks, and seven heads nod. "Okay, if they are arrested, we wait a couple days to let the heat die down before we go. Any questions?" "Should I leave planning heists to you, Rascal? That was good." All of the Pokemon turn around to see Alice and John standing there. "How long were you standing there?" Howl asks. "Since Rascal started planning." John said. "I'm not a thief, but that sounded like it would work." Rascal, meanwhile, looked as smug as a Weavile possibly could. "I learned from the best. Unilke Mr. Stabby over there." Rascal says. "Oh no." Alice, Shade, Spinner, and Charlotte say in unison. John looks puzzled, before the Sceptile retaliated to that comment with an expletive laced retort. It only escalated from there. John, Alice, and the rest of the Pokemon walk away, leaving the two rivals to their spat. As they walked, the former humans explained to their team members what had happened in the throne room. And as the eight Pokemon walked away from the now fighting Pokemon, they looked ahead to the future. A future of busting gangs, eliminating corruption, acting like enemies, but really being friends, and heists that looked so glamorous they belonged in Las Pegasus. But, most importantly, it was a future with Johnathan Trace and Alice Maximilion, lifelong friends, lifelong enemies, holding each other's paws in love. And isn't that the most important part?