Opening theme:
(Use the bgm of this video clip)
The little girl laughed as she ran through the field, while a few small Pokemon scattered. She giggled slightly at the sight, the Pokemon poking their heads out curiously. Kneeling down, she gently patted a Skitty on the head, a gentle smile on her face. However, a sudden sound got her attention. Following it, she was met with an odd sight. A boy around her age climbing up a tree, in his hand a small Taillow.
“There ya go,” he smiled as he gently placed the Taillow back into a nest, where it chirped happily.
Watching the boy, she couldn’t help but smile...until she noticed the branch he was holding on to. Her eyes widened when she realized that he had grabbed onto an old branch, and true enough, it was starting to break. “Watch out!” she called out as she ran forward.
“Huh?” the boy blinked in surprise at the sudden shout, just as the branch gave way. What happened next was very fast, but needless to say, it ended with the two children in a tangle of limbs and groaning on the ground.
“That was really scary,” the girl said. “But you did all that for the Taillow?”
The boy nodded. “It was still just a baby, and it couldn’t fly. I wanted to help it,” he explained with a small mile, before adding. “That was pretty scary too, you running to try and catch me.”
The girl blinked before chuckling sheepishly. “Yeah...you could have gotten really hurt and after you saved that Taillow...I wanted to help too,” she laughed a little.
The boy laughed too at her admission. “Guess you’re like me that way,” he chuckled, before holding out his hand. “I’m Jonathan. What’s your name?”
“Alice. Its nice to meet you,” Alice smiled as she took his hand.
(end BGM)
Alice blinked when she woke up, but quickly smiled at the memory. “We really were alike that way, huh?” she chuckled before looking out the window. “Take care of yourself, Jonathan. I’m really sorry but...I can’t see you yet...not as Alice…” she sighed, not noticing the small tear that had escaped her eye.
Later that day, the carriages soon approached the next city. “So this is Fillydelphia?” Alice couldn’t help but ask as she looked up from the map. They’d been travelling for about 2 days through the woods, headed for the city, and they had just arrived.
“Yep. It took us a while, but we’re here,” Sleight chuckled as the carriages pulled into the city.
“So where to now?” Toichi asked.
“Hm...I know! Since we’ve already met up with Scoop and Picture, how about we go give Ink a visit as well,” Storm suggested.
“That would be nice. It’d be nice to not have to talk business with him for a change,” Sleight nodded.
“And where would that be?” Shade idly added. When the two Ponies looked at her oddly, she simply said, “You haven’t seen him in a while, so how are you sure he’s still in the same place...or even in the same city?”
“He’s in the same city alright. We got a letter from him recently,” Storm explained.
“As for where exactly...well, we’ll just get a map of the city, and we should find him easily enough,” Sleight added.
“Well then, we’d better find one,” Alice chuckled as they began going through the city.
Finding a map turned out to be not too hard. Navigating on the other hand…
“I feel like the first time I went to Lumiose…” Alice groaned as they got out of ANOTHER wrong turn.
“Sorry, its been a long time since we’ve been here,” Storm said apologetically.
“As long as we don’t get lost, its fine,” Shade commented in amusement.
“Oh we’ll find it...eventually,” Sleight chuckled awkwardly. At this point, their stomachs growled.
“How about lunch instead?” Rascal commented from his spot.
“Yeah, I think that would be good,” Alice nodded in agreement.
“Well...the cafe over there looks great,” Toichi pointed out.
“...that’s convenient,” the Pokemon sweatdropped.
With that, the group went into the cafe. It was modestly full, with a decent amount of customers (other Pokemon included), so after ordering their meals, they went to find a table. Walking towards the back, they found an open table...one that was right next to a table with an Earth Pony stallion who was scribbling notes on a notebook. He had a brownish colored coat, a black mane that was kept in a simple and short style, and a tail with white streaks running through it. His cutie mark depicted a quill on paper, which confirmed who he was.
Upon seeing the Stallion, Sleight and Storm blinked...then chuckled a bit as they walked up to the stallion. “Yo! It's been a long time, Ink!” Sleight laughed as he slapped a hoof on the stallion’s shoulder.
Unsurprisingly, the stallion jumped in surprise at the sudden contact,and unfortunately, right into a nearby chair, knocking it over. “Ouch...Alright, who’s...Sleight? Storm?” the stallion, White Ink, blinked, right before his mind caught up with him. “Sleight! Storm! It's been too long!” he laughed as he hugged the couple.
“Oh? So THIS is White Ink?” Alice blinked. “That’s…”
“Convenient?” her Pokemon supplied.
“Yeah. That,” Alice nodded, before walking over. “So...you’re White Ink? Sleight and Storm told me about you. I’m Alice. Its nice to meet you,” she smiled.
White Ink blinked, then smiled. “Its nice to meet you too, Alice,” he smiled. “I have to admit, I knew that they said they had a new companion, but I wasn’t expecting it to be a Pokemon,” he chuckled awkwardly.
“Its fine. We did suddenly appear out of nowhere,” Alice chuckled.
“So, how’ve you been so far?” Storm asked as they sat down to eat.
“Oh, same old same old, I’ve been keeping out of trouble, and writing more of my books,” Ink smiled.
“Yeah, that sounds about the same for us...mostly,” Sleight nodded.
“Doing something you probably shouldn’t again?” Ink laughed.
“Something like that,” Storm chuckled as they both glanced at Alice.
“Dunno what this is about, but something tells me it has to do with the girl over here,” Ink mused, noticing the quick glances.
“Well now, aren’t you quite the detective,” Alice chuckled.
“It comes with writing mystery novels,” Ink chuckled. “Let’s just say I put my less honest days to good work.”
“Makes sense. That’s more or less what Picture and Scoop did with their lives,” Alice nodded, before making sure nobody was listening in. “As for what they’ve been doing, let’s just say I have very mischievous...hobby if you will. After all, I’m pretty foxy if I do say so myself.”
White Ink blinked for a moment, before the pieces fell together. “Ah...I see. I WAS wondering why Sleight suddenly started traveling again. I suppose you have something to do with it,” he mused.
“Guilty as charged,” Alice chuckled. “You’re not going to rat me out, are you?” she teased.
“After your little escapades landed not only our old gang, but a few other crime lords in jail? Heavens no,” he chuckled. “I must say, I was even thinking of using you as a base for a new character in my stories. A thief who is adversary, rival, and sometimes ally to the detective. That has a nice ring to it if I do say so myself.”
“Interesting. If you’d like, I can give you some pointers later,” she chuckled.
“Perhaps I’ll take you up on that offer. Of course, its only fair that I repay you somehow. I know, I’m sure Sleight and Storm have told you, but I know quite a bit about what goes on around this city, much the same way Scoop and Picture do,” Ink offered.
“Wow, feels like one of those old novels you liked to read,” Shade chuckled. “Looks like you got your Baker Street Irregulars, Sherlock. Or would you be more Moriarty?”
“Neither,” Alice simply said.
“This happen a lot?” Ink idly asked Sleight and Storm.
“Often enough. I think Alice forgets that this is Equus, and not Earth,” they chuckled.
“I see,” Ink laughed...right as Toichi trotted up to them. “Ah, Toichi. How are you, kid? And what’s this? You finally got your Cutie Mark. Congratulations,” he said.
The group chatted with themselves for a while, before their meals came, along with a newspaper with some new info on the front page. Strangely enough, when they saw the headlines, Ink frowned.
“Something wrong?” Alice asked as she took another bite.
“Yes. Speaking of being an informant...what you’re seeing here is one of our local crime lords,” Ink explained. “Extra Layer is, publicly at least, known as an art collector who often opens galleries and art exhibitions. Thing is, his business, while mostly legit, isn’t quite there.”
“Er...dude? That doesn’t make sense. And I should know,” Scep scratched his head in confusion.
“Not here. Later, at my house,” White Ink quickly said.
“Nice place you got here,” Alice commented. After the cafe, White Ink had brought them to a modest looking home, one which while far from grand, had a rather warm feel to it.
“A little messy, but very charming,” Shade nodded in agreement. True enough, the house they had entered was rather full of various items, decorations, and curios. However, they were all arranged in a way that allowed for them to be rather nice looking.
“Why thank you. I never could get rid of all this stuff, so I had to be smart with it,” Ink chuckled. “Now then, about Extra Layer. As I said, his business, on the surface is legit, but in reality, he’s just a greedy criminal, particularly a counterfeiter.”
“So...are his paintings fake or something?” Rascal asked.
“Actually...they’re real. Thing is, he works like this. Whenever he opens a new exhibit or gallery, it's usually not long after that the items get stolen,” Ink started. “However, what most people don’t know is that those heists...they’re all staged.”
“...wait...so this dude goes and has people steal from him...FOR him?” Scep scratched the back of his head, understandably a little confused.
Alice on the other hand caught on quickly enough. “Let me guess, he has counterfeits of those items prepared ahead of time, and most likely he then sells the fake ones in the black market or something,” she deduced.
“That’s...actually correct,” Ink blinked in surprise. “That’s what he does. And on top of that, by doing so, even if they find out it's a fake, they can’t go to the authorities, or they would have to explain why they got it off of the black market,” he nodded.
“I see, so its a ‘perfect crime’ of sorts,” Alice nodded. “So...I’m assuming you have something you want to show or tell us? Otherwise this is a bit too little for us to work with, since counterfeiting operations only can be busted when you have actual proof.”
“Oh, I was just getting to that,” White Ink chuckled as he pulled out a map of the city, and laid it out. On the map was several marked locations. “All these are the store houses where he keeps his counterfeit items. Would they be proof enough?”
Alice took one look at the map, then looked back at him with a grin that threatened to split her face. “Oh this will do alright,” she grinned, the gears already turning in her head.
Meanwhile, back at Tall Tale, Jonathan sighed as he looked over the reports. “Well...I guess it was a long shot anyway,” he sighed.
“Did you find anything?” Howl asked.
“Nope. When they came back to check, they found no real evidence to support whether it was Fox or not,” Jonathan sighed as he pushed the files aside. “On top of that, they didn’t find anyone...not even tracks or trails,” he sighed.
“So...another dead end then,” Heat shrugged. “Oh well, no worries there.”
At this Jonathan chuckled. “Yeah, you got that right. This little road block isn’t going to stop us.”
However, the moment was ruined when Echo came flapping in. “Er...guys? Trixie’s show is starting soon, and well...didn’t we promise we’d help her with today’s show?”
The three of them stopped short as their eyes widened. “Oh crap.” And they were out the door ASAP.
Later that night, Alice was busy doing what she always did before a heist. Scout out her targets. “All clear here. How’s it looking over there?”
“Eh, nothing going on here dudette. Just a few guards. Nothing big,” Scep shrugged.
“Good. Most likely, the guards are short staffed since I’m sure Extra Layer wants to focus his security on the new gallery,” she nodded, before they quickly made their way into the storehouse.
“Alright, so what’s the plan? We go and steal all these ourselves?” Scep asked.
“No. Unfortunately not yet. As the gallery opens tomorrow night, now would be a bad time. Stealing it now would just let him know we’re on to him,” she shook her head.
“She’s right. If that happens, he might not even show up or something,” Rascal nodded in agreement.
“Good point,” Scep conceded. “So...now what?”
“First we get in, then we can prepare a little surprise for them all,” Shade grinned.
With that, the group made their way inside. As expected, the guards were lax here too. “Alright then, first of all, let’s find the counterfeits,” Fox said, as she handed them several crystals. “These are Toichi’s latest creation. They’re the first step to our heist, so place them in any boxes full of counterfeits.”
“Gotcha,” they all nodded.
Making their way through the store house, they easily evaded any and all guards placing the crystals in their targets no problem. Soon it was Alice’s turn to do so, but this time, she dropped in 2 pieces of paper in with the crystal. One of them a familiar black card. “Preparations complete. Phase one is done,” she grinned.
“So...what are these supposed to do? Toichi never told us,” Shade asked.
“I’ll tell you when we get back. Just trust me when I say this is gonna be FUN,” she grinned, as they quickly left the area.
Meanwhile, at the local theater, the audience was enjoying the surprise show that was being held. One of the comeback shows of the renowned Sleight Hoof. As of currently, Sleight Hoof was already at the finale, as from a seemingly simple trick he had, a sheet covering a table, when he pulled the sheet off, hundreds of pigeons suddenly flew out, covering the entire stage, before they flew up to the roof, and suddenly burst into a rain of playing cards.
Smiling, Sleight raised a hoof to the air, as 5 cards fell into his hoof, before he bowed dramatically, and revealed the cards. A perfect Royal Straight Flush of spades.
The audience cheered at the finale, the sounds of hooves clapping filling the room.
A short while later, Sleight was busy cleaning up after his show. “Yeahp, I still got it,” he grinned as he smiled into the mirror.
“You certainly do. You’re as vain as 30 years ago,” Quick Storm laughed, to which her husband huffed in mock annoyance.
However, before another playful argument could start, their attention was diverted by the sound of the door to the dressing room opening. Turning to the source, they saw the sight of a Earth Pony Stallion with a brown coat and jet black mane. He was dressed in a fine suit that covered his cutie mark. The two recognized him from the newspapers earlier. Alice’s latest target: Extra Layer.
Sleight blinked in surprise...before smiling. “Ah, Mr. Layer. I read about you in the news earlier today. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Oh nothing. I just wanted to congratulate you on that spectacular performance. I must admit, I too was a fan back before your retirement,” Layer chuckled.
“Well now, that certainly is wonderful. We’re always happy to see an old fan,” Storm chuckled, before adding, “Not to mention this guy just loves to get his ego stroked,” eyeing her husband.
“You’re one to talk,” Sleight snorted, the couple glaring slightly at each other, before they chuckled at their usual banter.
Extra Layer couldn’t help but chuckle in amusement at the scene. However, what he didn’t know was that in the middle of the playful banter, the old couple had been talking to each other another way. Through a few random signals that made up a code they had often used in their youth. When they were done with their conversation, they quickly cooked up a small plan. “Anyway, I thank you for coming here, Mr. Layer,” Sleight said, plastering on a fake smile. “And I wish you luck on your new gallery,” he said as he idly pulled out a tie clip from out of nowhere. “Here, for good luck,” he said as he gave the tie clip to Extra Layer.
“Why thank you,” Layer smiled, taking the clip and putting it on. “I’ll certainly wear this to the grand opening,” he nodded, before bidding them farewell.
“Oh yes, please do,” Storm chuckled as she pulled out another crystal, one that was glowing every few moments.
“Unexpected, but certainly to our advantage,” Sleight chuckled in agreement before they headed back to their carriage.
Ending theme:
