A New World, A New Stage

by tdnpony


Sixteenth Heist

Opening theme:

(Use the bgm of this video clip)
“Do you really have to go?” Alice asked sadly.

“Yeah...I’m afraid so…” Jonathan frowned. They had already known today was coming but still…

“Okay...in that case...I wanted to give you something,” Alice said, and before he realized what happened, he was already wearing a silver bracelet on his right arm...though it was a bit big...which probably explained how she got it on his arm so fast…

“This is…” he started.

“Something to remember me by,” Alice nodded. “No matter where we are, we’ll always be friends, okay?”

“Of course you dummy. Even if we can’t see each other, we’ll always be friends,” Jonathan nodded with a grin. “Well...see ya again...someday…” he waved one last time before going into the car.

(theme end)


Jonathan’s sleep was disturbed this time, oddly enough, by the sound of laughter. Giving a level stare at the door that lead downstairs he sighed slightly. Looking at his bracelet again, he couldn’t help but think of the dream again. “Its really weird. Back on Earth, it was so easy after we started living in the same city again. But now...I just...can’t stop thinking of her,” he sighed, before getting up and deciding to see what the commotion was all about.

“Man, what’s with all the laughter this early in the morning?” Heat commented as they made their way downstairs. What they found was Golden Star apparently laughing their flanks off about something on the headlines of the newspaper.

“...oookay, what’s so funny?” Jonathan asked.

“Oh nothing, just that Fox has been busy again,” Golden Star chuckled, showing him the article.

“...looks more like one of Weavile’s stunts,” Jonathan sweat dropped. Unsurprisingly, it was the story of another businessman revealed to have been a small time crime lord running a scam with counterfeit paintings. Apparently, he had been planning on staging a heist of some of his paintings, then selling counterfeits in the black market. Naturally, Fox decided to throw a wrench in the plan. So far nothing weird. What WAS strange was that the criminal was found under a bell...having soiled and wet himself, and the trail he left suggested that someone had placed a myriad of traps that he had sprung...way beyond what Fox usually did. So all evidence pointed to what they knew was easily the most mischievous member of Fox’s gang. Weavile.

“Dang, Weavile must have been feeling pretty nasty to pull that on this guy,” Heat whistled.

“Gotta admit though, it IS pretty funny,” Echo chuckled, while Jonathan continued to read.

“Alright, so we know where she is at the moment. She’s in Fillydelphia, so if we take the train, we might be able to catch her,” Jonathan said.

“Perhaps. The city is gorgeous, so even if you don’t catch her, it’s still nice to visit the place.” Chuckled the stallion.

“Speaking of gorgeous city, has anyone seen Silver? Or Trixie for that matter?” Echo commented as she landed on the table.

“Yeah, come to think of it, I haven’t seen him since last night,” Howl mused.

At that moment, the door opened, revealing a grinning, young light brown pegasus holding multiple bags, next to an azure unicorn, who sported a grin as well, “Sorry for being late, dad.” Silver Star said with a soft, yet cheery tone, “Trixie and I were hanging around in the plaza. She said she needed some things for her next act, so I got her a new cape, and… we probably ended up talking for a while”

“Whipped,” Heat whispered with a snort into Howl’s ear, earning a chuckle from the Mightyena.

“My, aren’t you two acting close,” Echo teased.

“Er...Trixie has no idea what you’re saying,” Trixie said, blushing slightly.

“We were just talking, I mean, I did enjoy the chat. She’s quite the interesting gal.” Silver Star added, blushing as well.

Golden Star chuckled, and got closer to his son to pat him in the back, “It’s fine son, it’s normal for a stallion your age!”

Silver Star’s face turned red, as he shook his head in embarrassment, “Nothing happened, honest! We just spent an afternoon together, that’s all!”

“Its morning,” Echo snickered. “You two weren’t fooling around now, were you?”

Trixie’s eyes widened, then narrowed, and Echo soon found herself in a magical grasp. “Now listen here, you. Yes, I spent a long time with him, and yes, I enjoyed it. But get this straight, NOTHING HAPPENED!” she said right to her face.

“Daang, we must be rubbing off on her,” Howl sweat dropped, as Echo flew away, sufficiently cowed.

“Er...sorry to break up the moment, but...we might have to go soon,” Jonathan sighed.

“Wait. What?” Trixie blinked.

“You have to leave? Why? I mean, it’s nice having Trix- you guys around.” Silver sputtered

Heat simply picked up the newspaper and showed it to them.

The two took one look at the article and sighed, “Fox is on Fillydelphia, huh? That’s pretty far away from here…” The pegasus said saddened, “I guess you do have to leave, Fox needs to be stopped and all that.”

“Hey, cheer up man. We liked our stay here, so once this whole thing is cleared up, we’ll be sure to come back again. Heck, maybe I’ll even ask for a transfer when we get back to Baltimare. I never was officially instated when I left,” Jonathan said with a smile.

“That’s!” The pegasus stopped himself, trying to remain calm, “That’s great, guys. It’s been a pleasure having you here. Specially you, great and powerful Trixie, it’s been fun.” He chuckled awkwardly.

“Of course. Trixie will certainly look forward to coming back to this lovely city,” Trixie said, trying, and failing, to keep her composure.

“Alright then, I’ll go get our tickets first, then we’ll plan our next move,” Jonathan nodded.


“...you’re joking,” Jonathan deadpanned.

“I’m terribly sorry sir, but it's no joke. There was an unfortunate accident involving a giant rock snake Pokemon...an Onix, I believe it was called. Fortunately, nopony was seriously hurt, partly thanks to said Pokemon helping in the aftermath, but the tracks were still badly damaged, so I’m afraid the train is out of service until further notice,” the clerk explained.

“...alright. Sorry to bother you,” Jonathan sighed and nodded.

“It's quite alright. We’re all having a hard time with all this,” the clerk nodded with a sigh.

“Yeah, that’s one of those things I guess,” Jonathan sighed.


Back at Fillydelphia, Alice was casually flipping through the paper, while at the side of the room they were staying in, Rascal and Scep looked notably...subdued while they munched on the food. After the stunt they pulled the night before, she had gotten a hold of them quickly enough, and with a few short commands later, the two trouble makers had found themselves dangling upside down, their feet tied up with webs that stuck to the ceiling, before Alice gave them one of her dreaded 2 hour long lectures about the importance of taking things into consideration, as well as her droning on about other factors that would have had an effect, what they could have done, etc.

Needless to say, when she was finally done, the two made a silent agreement to not try something like that again...unless they felt they could get away with it.

“Welcome to the team for real, Scep,” Shade chuckled as she walked by. “You’re not a full member until Alice has given you one of her lectures,” she laughed at the still pale looking mon.

“Well, all’s well ends well, I guess,” Sleight chuckled as he finished reading a paper as well.

“Yes, and at the very least, Extra Layer won’t be scamming anyone any time soon,” White Ink chuckled as well, remembering the headlines. He still chuckled remembering how the paper said
that when they got him out of the bell, not only was he in a puddle of his own fear, but he was apparently babbling incoherently like a nut.

“Well, I think that’s enough for Fox for now. We drew quite a bit of attention already,” Alice mused.

“About that, I’ve still got a few shows I promised to do, so we can’t just up and leave again,” Sleight mused.

“That’s fine,” Alice said nonchalantly.

“Eh? Oh, that’s good then,” Sleight blinked. That was easier than he expected.

“Of course, you’re our host, and you’ve graciously let us stick with you for free. Its only right that you get the final say on when we move from town to town,” Alice nodded. “Besides, with how we’ve been doing it, most likely, they’ll be expecting us to have left by now, so for all we know, this might be the best move to avoid suspicion,” she simply said.

“Well, good. In the meantime, I’ve been thinking…” Sleight mused, before rummaging through a box. “I was thinking of adding a few Pokemon as my faithful assistants. To spice up my show a little,” he said, as he pulled out an assistant outfit which was humanoid in shape.

At this Alice sweat dropped. “..isn’t that going to make me look a littles suspicious? I mean, another Zoroark suddenly showing up. Seems like tempting fate to me,” she said.

“It’ll be fine. We’ll just make a cover story for it, and you just don’t act like Fox...can you do meek, and innocent? Of course, you don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Sleight assured.

At this, Alice couldn’t help but grin. “Easily. I played that role all the time back on Earth,” she said. Looking at the outfit again, she chuckled lightly. “Alright, this looks pretty interesting. I guess it won’t hurt for me to appear a couple of times,” she mused.

“You will? Great! I’ll get everything ready, and then we can do some practice before the shows,” he grinned, before trotting off.

“I’d better get going too. I have a deadline to keep, after all,” White Ink chuckled as he got up. “Enjoy the rest of your stay here,” he said with a smile before walking off.

“You sure this is a good idea, Alice?” Shade mused.

“Its fine. Sides, we should have more to do than just being the Fox gang. We’ve got to make actual lives for ourselves sometime here, and Sleight’s graciously provided us with a possible outlet,” Alice chuckled.

“Yeah, I guess you got a point. As fun as being the Fox gang is, doing something else keeps it from being boring. So...magic assistants?” Rascal mused, having just recovered from Alice’s lecture.

“We’ll work things out. If needs be, we can wear costumes that would throw people off. Sides, Sleight is making the magic mostly. We’re just helping him,” she smiled, before getting up and following after him.


“So yeah, the train is out until further notice, so our only options are to either wait for the train and the rails to get fixed, which might take anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks or go on foot, which should take us a few days max,” Jonathan finished explaining.

“Talk about bad timing,” Heat groaned. “At this rate, if we don’t hurry, Fox might jump cities again.”

“But even if we do go on foot, there’s a good chance she’ll be long gone either way,” Howl added.

Jonathan closed his eyes in thought, weighing the options. “...we’ll pursue them immediately,” he said.

“Why?” Trixie asked...a little too quickly. “I mean, wouldn’t we miss her either way?” she quickly tried to correct.

Jonathan caught that, but didn’t comment on it. Instead he simply explained. “That’s true, it sure looks like either way we go, we’ll miss her, but…” he sighed. “As it is now, we’d rather go for a certain option rather than an uncertain one. We don’t know for sure when the trains will be up and running, so by the time they’re fixed, there’s a good chance the trail will already be cold. However, if we take the initiative, there’s a good chance we might still be able to capture a few clues,” he said, a small smirk at the end, before getting up. “That’s how we always role,” he grinned as he walked towards the door, his team following him. “Golden, Silver, thanks for everything. We’ll be sure to come and visit again,” he said as they exited the house.


“I must admit, I’m quite surprised at the outfits you got ready for us,” Alice chuckled as they all looked themselves over. Despite being dressed in assistant outfits, Sleight actually made them look...quite tasteful actually. She, Shade, and Rascal were all dressed in tuxedo vests, with a top hat on their heads and a small black bow tie on their necks.

“Huh...not bad. Never thought I’d actually say that about a getup like this,” Rascal blinked in surprise as he adjusted the top hat, which somehow sate rather easily on his head fur.

“I guess this is alright,” Shade hummed as she adjusted her tie with her paw.

“Well, I think those outfits look pretty good on you three,” Quick Storm chuckled as she walked into the room. “Of course, I suppose it isn’t saying much since this is the first time I've seen Pokemon as assistants,” she added.

“Hey, if you guys are ready, we should start practicing. The next show is tomorrow,” Sleight called them.

“Yeah, we’re coming,” Alice nodded, as they left the room.


The sun was already starting to set as Jonathan and his group left Tall Tale. Looking at the map they had, they knew they were in for a long trip. “Okay everyone, hope you’re ready for this,” he grinned.

“Ready whenever,” his team grinned back.

“Trixie is ready,” the unicorn nodded simply, not feeling as frightened as she normally would have been knowing she was taking a path this long. Then again, she didn't normally travel with a group who could probably beat up a Hydra with one arm tied behind their backs...yeah, that was probably it.

“Alright then, next stop: Fillydelphia,” Jonathan said as they set off.

(play: Life is a highway)

The first leg of the journey took them through rather dense forests, though fortunately the road made traveling easier...well, except a few Timberwolves...that ended up as kindling before Heat’s breath.


At the same time, Alice, Shade, and Rascal were busy practicing for Sleight Hoof’s show, though considering Alice herself used magic tricks in her heist...the training was progressing very smoothly...well it was until they had a few...additions they wanted to try…


Jonathan and his group decided to camp out for the night, looking forward to a peaceful night under the stars...well, it would have been had a Manticore not decided to pick a fight with them...one that it lost when its stinger full of poison did nothing against Jonathan, before he and Heat promptly sent it into LEO, the night gaining, for a second, a new star that twinkled and faded.


The next day, both parties continued on their way, Jonathan’s group continuing on the path, which now opened into an open field, promising smoother trails for a while at least. Likewise, Alice’s group was busy helping with the stage preparations, especially Scep and the Spinarak Twins on account of them not directly appearing in the show...now if only they had thought ahead of time how to remove the heavy equipment from the tough Spinarack web...without someone getting crushed when Charlotte and Spinner either removed it or let it break down naturally…


As evening approached, Jonathan and co. soon met with the next annoyance in their path. a swarm of Parasprites looking to eat their supplies. A mad chase ensued when it soon became clear that long range attacks weren’t working. Fortunately, Echo soon found a counter: a supersonic scream, which promptly disoriented the swarm enough to forcefully disperse it. However, even after that was over, the group slumped over, all agreeing that for once, they utterly hated something so damn cute.


The night of Sleight’s next show was upon them, and the seats were soon filled, especially when they had heard that the elderly magician had added a few additions to his show, 3 new Pokemon assistants. The show started and went off without a hitch as the 3 new assistants showed themselves to be very much capable, both at performing tricks, as well as enchanting the audience. The show went on through the night without a hitch...well, mostly if you don’t count when a volunteer fainted dead when Rascal was about to saw him in half...only instead of a saw, Rascal had pulled out a sizable axe, saying a saw just took too long…


Jonathan and co soon found their next obstacle, the foothills that were part of Mount Canterhorn. Fortunately, this time no native hazards decided to get in their way….well, not including the occasional Graveler rolling down the hill, forcing them to either wait, or quickly move lest they end up bowling pins. Fortunately, a few friendly Gogoat decided to help them a little...by knocking several Graveler off course. But as they left the hills though, they could have sworn they heard someone scream ‘My cabbages!’ from where the Gravelers went…


Alice and Shade had become a big hit, as due to their builds, they could easily add acrobatics into the mix of the show...of course, on Rascal’s suggestion, they also occasionally added some comedy to it, as every now and then, one of them would ‘accidentally’ slip, and fall right into the vat of dye, so it wasn’t long before the two were now multi-colored.


Jonathan smiled. Even if it was still a while away, they had already been able to see the city in the distance, so normally they would need about a day more to get there...with the Beedrills chasing them...half a day.


Alice sighed tiredly after pulling herself out of what felt like the 10th bath in a row, but it was worth it, since it got all the dye out of her fur, even if she looked stupid with how her fur sagged. Well, at least Toichi said he wanted to test that hair drying spell he read up on. Of course, one test run later, and she and Shade walked away...looking like the angriest puffballs in existence...and biggest too.


“Well, that’s it for Fillydelphia, guess its time to move on,” Sleight nodded.

“Thank Arceus…” Alice groaned pitifully from where she was lying down.

“If you’re going somewhere after this, I’d recommend Manehattan just across the river,” White Ink said, having come to say his goodbye. “Picture Perfect contacted me the other day, looks like he’s gotten some business over there...and he’s got some info on one of the local crime lords there. Knock em down, girl,” he grinned as he waved them off, the carriage soon pulling out of town.

“Manehattan, huh? Didn’t you say that’s where it all started for you two?” Alice mused.

“Yeah. And thanks to you one of the biggest gangs there was taken down. Guess you’ll be doing the city another service,” Sleight said, a small smile on his face.

“...sounds interesting,” Alice grinned.


Meanwhile, show cart full of exhausted Pokemon and one exhausted pony pulled into Fillydelphia. “Finally...we lost those Beedrill,” Jonathan said, before they all collapsed, their eyes swirly…

(end theme)

Ending theme: