As the Poison Eeveelution and the Unicorn slowly slunk along the corridor to where they heard the glass shatter, they heard faint voices, arguing.
“You idiot! I told you to open the window not to smash it!”
“Well how are we supposed to do that? We don’t have fingers.”
“You’re a Psychic-Type! Use your freaky mind powers!”
“Oh, right. Oops.” There was a light blue glow, and the sound of a window being opened.
“Well now that the glass is broken, we’re just making more useless noise!”
“You’re the one who’s yelling.”
“Gaah! My feet! Clear away all this glass before I skin off the rest of my foot!” A Luxio limped into view, and Valerie and Pockets shrank further into the shadows to avoid being detected by the intruders.
A Bronzong floated over the glass, picking it up and depositing it outside the window, making light clinking sounds as it hit the ground.
The Luxio spoke, “Oh come on! Now you’re just blocking the way for the others! Go open the next window over, and don’t smash it this time!”
The Bronzong obeyed, and opened up the next window, thankfully the one opposite from the thief and her friend. Several more Pokemon came inside, a Vileplume, an Arbok, a Mightyena, and a Bibarel.
The Luxio, obviously the leader, began issuing commands again. “Find the Flareon, do not engage on your own. If you find him, make the signal. You all remember the signal right?” There was a general nod of confirmation, and a few let out ridiculous ca-caw sounds. “Good, now, Steve and Barbie, you check the second floor east wing, Cabbage, Six, you two get second floor west wing. Mighty and I will check the whole first floor. Move!”
“Sure thing Sparkles!” The Mightyena barked happily
“I’ve told you… don’t call me that, I’m Sparks!” The Luxio grunted back.
The Pokemon scattered, the snake and bell Pokemon luckily passing by the two hiding without noticing them.
“Geez, these guys must be newbies, telling their names loud and clear during a heist. Lets follow them and see what they do.” Pockets chuckled, as she once again casted the invisibility spell on herself and Valerie, and followed the leader and his annoying sounding partner.
“Shouldn’t we go wake the others?” Questioned Valerie.
The pony smirked. “Nah, with noobs like these guys, we got it in the bag.”
“Just because they don’t know how to efficiently break and enter doesn't mean they can’t handle themselves in a fight. They could be dangerous.” The Veneon replied.
“Fine… We’ll wake up someone when we get upstairs, let’s follow them some more, this’ gonna be fun.”
“If you had listened you’d know this is the group in charge of the first floor.”
“Gah, you’re right. You wanna go warn the others? I’ll keep an eye on them.”
“Got it,” The Veneon stepped out of the range of the invisibility spell, and padded silently down the corridor, turning the corner and quickly going up the stairs in the main entryway. Once she made it to the top, she checked to see if the Arbok and Bronzong were there. The two were just entering a room, a luckily empty one, and she quickly went up the final step and made a rush for Stevens room. Before she could she found herself in a psychic grasp.
“Well what do we have here huh?” The Arbok slithered over and took a good look at the strange Pokemon before her. “You aren’t our target, that’s for sure.”
“Maybe its one of those weird creatures that roam around, ya know, like the ones we beat up mercilessly to get a place for our base!” The Bronzong joked happily.
“Put me down!”
“Oh so it is a Pokemon, or at least one of the intelligent local species. I think it’s most likely the former, you look a lot like an Eeveelution,” She hissed. “Some sort of freak I suppose.”
There was the sound of another window shattering, and a shadow ball flew through the air, impacting the Bronzong. causing him to drop Valerie. “She. Is not. a FREAK!” A Sylveon landed in front of Valerie, hissing at the two intruders, even with the obvious type disadvantage.
Shadow ran in behind him, also charging up a Shadow ball. “If you know what’s good for you you’ll go find your friends and leave. Now.”
The Arbok let out something between a hiss and a laugh. “The Umbreon could be a threat, but a pretty pink little thing like you? Go play with some dolls.”
“He… you snake freak underestimate me. I’ve dealt with things three times your size, I’ve been the ruler of a freaking forest infested by the ones like you. For me, you’re nothing but a weakling. Type advantages make me laugh.” As the Fairy boasted about his abilities, he released a strong Flash, blinding the Arbok, and sending it back with a Shadow Ball.
Shadow quickly sprang into action, also sending out a Shadow Ball at the Bronzong, who shrugged it off with his high defense. “Looks like this’ll be fun,” he grunted.
Arbok hissed, and yelled “Toxic!!” Three blobs of poison were sent out, impacting all three of the Eeveelutions, the only one affected fully being Frederick. The Sylveon flinched, and conjured another Shadow Ball, which sent the snake flying into a door. She righted herself, hissed, and lunged at the Sylveon, who dodged out of the way, and used Double Team, the room filling up with ten more of him.
Shadow and Steve were both taking turns protecting, throwing attacks, using heal moves, and attacking again. “Hurry up little kitty, I don’t have all night.” He then took a Dark Pulse straight to the face.
Meanwhile, on the first floor, the sounds of the fight could be heard clearly, as the explosions and the hits alerted the Luxio and the Mightyena that their partners were found.
“It’s probably the buffoon Steve. Let’s go, maybe if we get up there fast enough, we can end the battle quickly.”
Pockets panicked at the sudden order of the Luxio. She thought for a few seconds, trying to get an idea of how to distract them, until the bulb in her head lighted up. The unicorn teleported in front of the pair of Pokémon, with a fancy-looking dish equilibrated on her hoof.
“Hello gentleman, welcome to the mansion, what can I do for ya? You sneaky intruders.” She said calmly, on a slight sensual tone.
“Another one of those Ponyta creatures! Get outta my way, or I’ll bite you!” The Mightyena growled, taking a defensive stand.
“Easy there, bud. I’m not here to stop you from doing whatever the hell you guys are planning to do.” Pockets dropped the plate, and with her levitation spell, she rolled it towards the wall. “I’m here to help you. You see, I’m a professional equestrian thief, and I saw how you and your friends got inside the mansion, and I gotta say, you Pokémon did a terrible job!” Pockets teleported next to the Luxio, who began charging sparks of electricity on his tail, trying to do a menacing stand. “Now, you big boy, you seem to be the leader. Isn’t it annoying when your group just doesn’t follow your orders?”
“Don’t taunt me Ponyta, we have a job to do!” The Luxio growled menacingly at Pockets, sparks coming out of his mouth, before advancing towards the staircase.
“Think Pockets, you need to keep these two around.” The blue unicorn teleported between the two Pokémon, and with a cool grin, she attempted one more time to convince them to stop and chat, “Come on, no need to be aggressive.I’m just trying to help you. Just imagine being able to sneak inside any house without even being detected, believe me it’s the most glorious feeling in the world. I can help you become the stealthiest group in this entire planet.”
The Mightyena spoke up then. “Hey Sparkles, isn’t this the Pony that Digger told us about from before? The one that was with the green Scizor”
“Sparkles” turned around and growled at his partner. “Don’t call me that. And yes, now that you mention it I think you’re right. Ponyta, by the order of our great Lord Helix you are under arrest for interfering in his godly business.”
Pockets was scared and confused, her cover had been blown up, and the two Pokémon were probably going to kill her, if she was lucky that is. “Ok, yes I was with the bug guy, but I was just… uh. I was just eating donuts?”
“You are still guilty Ponyta. Come quietly or else....”
Pockets walked back, as the two Pokémon slowly got closer to her, fangs showing and claws ready. “Oh boy, this is not going to be pretty.”
“Hey assholes, you’re on private property you know.” Before the two could advance any further, an orange blur impacted the Mightyena, flinging him into the Luxio. Before either could react Damian used a Poison Jab, hitting the electric lion this time. The Mightyena latched onto the Scrafty’s tail with Crunch, but he quickly turned around and hit the invading Dark-Type between the eyes with a drain punch, knocking it out for good.
He felt a shock hit him on his back, and he turned around again and replied with a Head Smash, sending the Luxio flying. Before he could finish the lion, it quickly jumped up and ran off, howling in pain and tucking his star tipped tail between his legs.
Once the coast appeared to be clear again, he turned back to Pockets. “Sup, I’m Damian. I don’t know you, but you looked like you were trying to help, so I won’t beat your sorry ass quite yet.”
“Kinda rude, but I appreciate the help, dude. Name’s Pockets, and I’m friends with the purple cat and the sheep guy.” The pony replied, holding out a hoof.
Damian accepted, and looked up the stairs, the sounds of the battle still raging. “I suppose we should go help out now huh. Oh and also, thanks for buying me some time to charge up with Dragon Dance.”
“Didn’t know I was doin’ that, but you’re welcome!” Pockets chuckled, advancing towards the staircase.
“Hey Cab. What are we looking for again?”
“The Flareon traitor, we have to find him and bring him to Lord Helix.”
“Right. And how are we going to find him?”
“Searching every room, he must be asleep.”
“Makes sense. And why are we-”
“I swear Six, just be quiet and keep looking, or I’ll Giga Drain you. Check in that room ahead, I’ll guard the door.”
The Bibarel turned the door knob with his teeth, stepping inside carelessly to search for his target.
“Hello, any Flareon here? “
“You dumbass! Don’t announce yourself! Just check if the room actually has sheets on the bed, and if so see if it’s the Flareon!”
“Oh, sorry.” The Bibarel then smacked the door with his tail, causing it to slam closed loudly.
“You’re hopeless…” Sighed the Vileplume, “Why were you even selected for this mission?”
The Bibarel stood up on his hind legs and clapped happily. “The disciples of Helix all deserve their time to shine!”
The Water type walked into the room, looking around to try to find any clues that could aid his ‘special mission’. He then saw that the bed, unlike many others in that floor, was actually occupied.
“I found something!” The Bibarel chimed loudly, but all the answer he could hear was a loud smack from a facepalm. The Normal type climbed the wooden nightstand, dropping many different objects on the floor. Luckily for him, the creature resting on said bed was a heavy sleeper.
“Ok… so how does a Flareon look like? Flare… that sounds like… Seed Flare. That’s a Grass type move, so he must be a Grass type. Yes, makes sense. So, lets see who’s under these sheets.” The Bibarel uncovered the one sleeping in the bed, to reveal a large, slim, bipedal, lime-green Pokémon, “Ok, this guy is green, so he’s totally a grass type. And the ‘eon’ in the end of ‘Flareon’... That sounds modern and technological, and this guy looks like a Steel type. Yeah, green and technological, this guy must be the Flareon!”
The Bibarel took a deep breathe, before releasing a loud “CACAW!”
As the call was given, the Grass type walked in with an alarmed look, “You found him?”
“Yup! I’m the best tracker ever!”
“Good, make sure he doesn’t wake up, we gotta leave. There’s a fight going on down the hall! We need to take the Flareon out of here and deliver him to Lord Helix!”
“I dunno, he looks pretty big and heavy. We might need Steve to get him out of here.” The Bibarel looked back to the “Flareon” with a concerned look.
“What are you talking about, idiot? Flareon are like a third your size?” The Vileplume wasn’t liking where this was going.
“I believe the correct term is ‘Scizor’ “ A voice said from behind them. As the large lime-green figure began getting up, grabbing the Bibarel by the throat with one of his pincers, “And you just woke me up from my much needed slumber.”
“YOU IDIOT! THAT’S NOT A FLAREON, THAT’S A FREAKING SCIZOR!” Said the Poison type panicking.
“Don’t… worry.. Cab. I got- I got this!” The Bibarel’s body started glowing red, and so did Steven’s eyes. The grip became stronger, as the Swagger started acting on the Scizor.
“You idiot! Scizor are known for their physical strength!” Panicking, the Vileplume grabbed a ceramic jar that was laying around yelled “Fling!”, and threw it at the angry Scizor, causing him to drop the Bibarel on the floor. “Lets go!”
Running away from the Steel type, the two Pokémon could hear the fights going on the other side, and now the first floor. Their group was being demolished, and there was nothing they could do about it. Another sound joined the battles, as a loud buzz got closer to the Vileplume.
“Where do you think you’re going, intruder?” The Scizor was now next to him, his eyes still a violent red. Steven swinged his right pincer to try to strike the cultists, but failed the hit due to his confusion, hitting nothing but a wall and hurting himself. “Gah! That’s so annoying!”
“Hey! My Swagger actually worked! See? I know what I’m doing!”
“Uhm… Six, look behind you!”
Steven once again followed the pair, as they reached the stairs. But a Tailwind from Steven let him catch up with the intruders, and before they could even reach the first steps, they were already in the Scizor’s grasp, as his eyes turned to normal, revealing that the effect of the Swagger was over.
“You two better have a good explanation for waking me up.”
The cultists gulped. “W-we were just honoring the wishes of the great Helix!” The Bibarel whimpered. “We didn’t mean any harm to you! Please give us the Flareon and we’ll leave.”
Stevens eyes hardened. “He is under my protection. And he shall not be harmed in my charge.” He then opened up a window, and unceremoniously dropped the two would be kidnappers.
Once he was sure those two wouldn’t be causing any more trouble, he began heading back to his room. “Oh… Wait. Theres the battle going on over there. I guess I should help.” He groaned thoughtlessly. “i don’t even know what time it freaking is…”
BANG. The Bronzong fell to the ground after taking a final Shadow Ball.
Shadow was panting, that was a much more intense battle than he had expected from the Psychic-Type. He looked over at Frederick, still fighting with the Arbok. He gave one more look to the downed bell pokemon before running over to the Sylveon and offering his assistance. A few more hits and the Poison type was down for the count.
“I don’t need your help, smartass.” The Fairy grunted in annoyance, “And that was rather annoying, these idiots weren’t even able to give out a proper fight.”
Shadow, trying not to make the Sylveon angrier with him, held back his sarcastic comment. “We should probably go wake up some of the others, and check if there are more of these thugs around.”
“We can do that later. First, are you hurt, Valerie? If these idiots did anything to you…” The Sylveon asked softly, taking a good luck at the Poison type to check for any major injuries
“I’m fine. The Arbok hit me a few times but I’m immune to Poison-Type attacks. It’s part of my ability.” She shot a glare at the two. “And don’t think that just because some morons broke in we won’t talk about what happened earlier.”
The males flinched under her gaze. “He started it... “ Mumbled Shadow.
“I’m just protecting you. I can’t sleep calmly knowing that my little sister who I haven’t seen for years is in a relationship with a guy I don’t know at all. What if he ends up being a pervert?”
“He’s not a pervert. If anything it’s me since I’m the one that kissed him the first time.” She growled.
Frederick remained silent. His eyes darkened, and he let out a loud growl, “YOU’VE KISSED HIM!? HOW LONG HAVE YOU TWO BEEN TOGETHER!?”
“Uuu… about a week now.” Shadow contemplated for a moment. “Actually I guess it’s more like five days. Tonight was our first real date together.”
Once again, the Sylveon remained silent, before forming a small Shadow Ball in his feeler, and throwing it at the Dark type, “YOU BARELY HAVE A WEEK AND YOU LET HER KISS YOU!? I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU DID FOR HER. TRUE LOVE NEEDS WORK AND TIME. YOU DON’T JUST SKIP FRIENDSHIP AND GO DIRECTLY WITH THE CHEESY STUFF YOU PIECE OF FUCK!”
Valerie rubbed her shoulder with her tail. “Actually that’s how the relationship started really.”
“It was on the second night in Equestria.” Shadow added. “She had just found out that she had accidentally killed someone with her poison, and I was comforting her, and… well… she kissed me. And I guess I kissed her back. Since then I don’t think we’ve actually done anything more than light nuzzles and kisses on the cheek though .”
Frederick let out a loud grunt of anger, charging a large Shadow Ball in front of him, and throwing it through the window, breaking it, his eyes not deviating from the couple “Valerie I swear… I know you had a hard time these past years, but at least freaking try to control yourself! Comforting is easy, loving is not! You don’t know how painful love can be! You may think you love that smug fuck, but when you least expect it things go down the drain and you end up like a sad and angry piece of shit like me!” In sheer anger, Frederick’s ribbons emanated a strong red aura, as his red eyes left out a single, yet small tear surrounded his cheeks.
Valerie’s gaze softened somewhat. “Freddy… Is that why you’re so different than when I last saw you? Someone hurt you didn’t they.”
Frederick turned away, ignoring the question. “Take these idiots downstairs and fucking leave me alone. I need some air…” He whispered, loud enough for the couple to hear, before turning around and jumping through the hole in the recently broken window.
“I’ll assumed that he’s friendly since you two weren't beating his ass like the snake and the metal guy.”
Shadow turned to the source of the voice. “Hey Damian. Yeah, he’s… relatively friendly. He’s a guest at least.”
Steven finally made it to the scene of the battle, babbling random sounds and softly cursing the intruders for interrupting his sleep. Damian struck a defensive pose before the Scizor waved him off. “I’m with the Sylveon.”
The Scrafty looked to the two Eeveelutions, who nodded their heads in confirmation, and he then relaxed. “Sup, I’m Damian.” He held out a hand to the metal bug.
“Stone, Steven Stone.” The Scizor replied, returning the handshake, “Where’s everyone? I went to check on Pockets to see if she was OK, and she was gone, same with Frederick.”
“The blue unicorn? Yeah she’s fine. Had a nasty run in with a Mightyena and a Luxio, but I took care of em before she was hurt.” He looked down the stairs and called out, “It’s all clear up here now. You can come up.”
A navy blue blink of light sparked on the handrail, before revealing a short unicorn striking a pose, “Pickett Midnight has arrived!” She announced, before slipping on the waxed rail, and falling off towards the first floor. There was a collective gasp, and then another flash quickly brought the Unicorn back to the worried spectators.”I’m fine! Geez, that looked way better in my head.”
“Pockets... do you ever run out of energy?” Steven facepalmed.
“Give me a break, you guys all have awesome powers, i just wanted to look as cool!” The mare chuckled in return, “So, what did I miss?”
“Was about to ask the same thing. I woke up to find two intruders my room, and now I see two other Pokémon unconscious on the floor” The former human said, pointing at the Bronzong and the Arbok. “What exactly happened?”
Valerie spoke up. “I think there are only six. A Bibarel, a Luxio, these two, a Mightyena, and a Vileplume.”
“I already took care of the Mightyena, but the Luxio ran off.”
“The Bibarel and the Vileplume are currently out of the house, and most likely unconscious on the bushes outside of the mansion. We can still grab them if we need to. “ The Champion said dryly.
A nearby door creaked open, and a drowsy Flaaffy hobbled out. “What the hell happened out here?”
“Some cultists broke in and are looking for the Flareon we brought back with us.” Shadow clarified.
Tyler blinked twice, only half registering the implications of the Umbreons statement. “So where is the Flareon?”
The whole group paused for a moment. “Did anybody think to go see if Prophet is ok?” Valerie asked tentatively.
Another voice spoke up. “Well to be honest I think it’s a good idea to make sure the people here looking to take him should be dealt with first. But now would be a good time to see if that friend of ours is alright.” The Pokemon turned to the middle hallway dividing the two wings of the second floor, a white unicorn in a fancy white pajama shirt stood, with his monocle on.
Tyler nodded in agreement. “Yeah, Fancy is right. Where is the Flareon staying.”
Loyalty, as usual, seemingly came out of thin air once again to assist. “He is in the third room in the west wing. But it would appear that the remaining invader has already taken him. It would be prudent to interrogate the remaining to determine the location of their base of operations.”
“Holy shit Loyalty, you’re effective.” Pockets chuckled, “I second his idea“
Damian poked the Arbok with a foot. “I’m pretty sure these two are down for the count. Let’s try one of the guys that safety scissors here tossed out a window.”
“As I said before, the two intruders I faced are probably unconscious. Yet that isn’t an issue.” The Champion replied, before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.
“What is he doing?” Shadow asked with curiosity, receiving a shrug from Damian.
“The big guy is coming” The mare laughed dryly. Suddenly, a metallic silver saucer carefully entered the hallway through the balcony nearby, two unconscious Pokémon floating next to him, a Bibarel and a Vileplume.
“Greetings,” The Metagross saluted in a robotic deep voice, “My name is Layton, Steven’s partner”
“It’s nice to meet you Layton, I’m Fancypants. Please be careful not to chip the floors.” The stallion grimaced slightly.
“I shall try.” The Steel-type nodded curtly, “And I hope you don’t mind, but I did a superficial mind check to see if you were trustworthy, and you seem to be.”
“Layton had some bad experiences with rich ponies in the recent past.” Steven added, “And don’t worry, superficial checks leave memories and knowledge intact.”
“Does that mean they aren’t always superficial, and they aren’t always benevolent?”
“I try my best to respect the mental privacy of others, but experience has shown me that not everyone can be trusted, and my main priority is Steven’s safety.” Layton explained impassively, “Living creatures, human, Pokémon, ponies, not everyone can be trusted.”
“I suppose that makes sense. So, with your mind powers can’t you simply pull the location of these trespassers allies?”
The Steel-Type nodded his whole body. “I already have. They’re in a warehouse in the poorer district of the city. We should go there as soon as possible, they seem to have a plan involving sacrifice in store for him.”
“We should go now then,” Tyler spoke up. “I’ll go wake BBK, she could be handy.”
The Flaaffy waddled over to another room, and went inside. There was the sound of yelling, screaming, cursing, and apologetic pleas. After all this was over a very grumpy Klefki floated out of her room, followed by a frazzled looking Flaaffy.
“Let’s get this bullshit over with. Just because I don’t have a complexion doesn’t mean I don’t need my beauty sleep.”
Meanwhile at the cultists base…
A grumpy Delphox sat on an inflatable mattress in a cleared out bathroom. The cultists had “remodeled” it just for him, the “beautiful bride” for the “great Lord Helix.” This was probably the worst case of mistaken gender he had ever experienced.
“I swear when I get my chance…”
Before he could finish the threat, the door to the locked off room was unbarred, and an Omastar came in. “Hello beautiful! How are we tonight? One of the guards told me you haven’t tried to break out in more than four hours now, I think we may be gaining headway with you my love!”
Kenny grunted in response.
“Please dear, if there is anything you need, just tell me.”
The Fire-Type glared at a puddle on the floor. “I want my stick back.”
The Omastar sighed. “You mean that old table leg? My craftsmen are already working on a beautifully carved staff for you to use. Why would the object of my affections ever hold that brutish club as the object of her affection?”
“It has sentimental value. Just give it back already. I promise to stop trying to burn shit with it.” He tapped his fingers impatiently on the tile floor, which was much closer than he preferred considering how dirty it was.
“I suppose I can give it back to you,” the extinct Pokemon put a tentacle to his cheek, “with one condition. You must make a prophecy using it regarding our most glorious marriage.
“No”
“Please my love. Just one teency little prophecy.”
“No means no.”
“If you do I may let you wander the compound some more.”
Kenny was about to deny him again, but realized the major chance he had been offered. “Fine. But I get to keep my stick.”
The Water-Type could barely suppress his glee. “Perfect, guards, fetch Kendra’s stick.”
“I already told you my name is Kenny.”
“Pish posh. Kendra makes much more sense.”
A Nidoking lumbered in, and handed a worn table leg to the Omastar, who in turn handed it to the Delphox.
“Now my love, look into the flame, and tell me what you see.”
“I see…”
“Yes?”
“I think I see.”
“Tell me!”
“I SEE MYSELF BASHING YOUR FUCKING SKULL IN”
The Delphox hit the Omastar in a downward curve with his “stick” as hard as he could, sending the Water-Type flying backwards. The Nidoking quickly came back in and took back the table leg and subdued the Delphox, who was now yelling and screeching profanities at the Omastar, who was picked up and moved back out by a female Dragonite.
“I think we’re making progress.” Was all the “god” could supply.