-0- A Thief's Journey Never Ends (One-Shot Chapter)

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Phantom's thoughts will be in Italics
What he's saying in sign-language will be in bold and in between ~s
What he writes will be in bold and in between +s
This is the same format as how MadMax does it, and I can't think of another, better format.
**It is not necessary to read this chapter to start reading the story**

Mom? Dad? Where am I? My throat hurts. I'm scared. It's so cold. What is this place. I'm scared. Where's Mom and Dad? It hurts so much. I'm scared.

"Hey! theres a child over here!"

I heard someone. Who's that? I tried to look to see who it was, but my vision was too blurred.

"Hey he's right!" A second voice appeared.

Help, please. It hurts. I cried, but they couldn't hear me. My voice wouldn't work.

"It looks hurt! Someone get the doctor!" Said the first voice.

Please help.

"Don't worry little human we'll save you."

What? I didn't realize what he had said.

"Boss says to bring it to the wagon! He doesn't want the Doc to leave the others!" Said the second figure.

"Fine." The first figure grabbed me and hefted me onto his shoulders.

Oww! Ow! Its hurts! Stop! That hurts!

"Ugh, it's so loud." complained the first figure.

"Then just tranquilize it." said the second. The first laid me on the ground before taking out what looked like a syringe. I hated shots.

"Now just sit tight, and be quiet!" The first figure stabbed me with the needle and injected me with something. Soon after he took the syringe out I began to feel sleepy.

///

When came to, I woke up to a face full of wooden floor. I pushed my face off the floor and opened my eyes. Where am I?. All around me was pitch black. I quickly pinched my nose. Ugh! What's that smell!? And where are my clothes!?. I was totally naked except for the bandages wrapped around my neck, torso, arms and legs. Wait a minute. It doesn't hurt!. I came to the sudden realization that my entire body felt better. My throat doesn't even burn anymore. A cold breeze hit me in the back and I shivered in response. I wrapped my arms around myself and turned around to see a window with wooden bars. I got up and tried to look outside, but the window was too tall.Then I froze as I heard something from the other side of the small room.

I turned around, surprised to find that my eyes had gotten used to the darkness already. But what surprised me even more were the figures staring at me. What are those!?. I immediately backed up against the wall and tried to get as much distance between me and those, things. As I looked at them more I began to realize something. Are those, people?. They were indeed people, other humans, although they looked. . . wild.

The 'humans' were all adults, at least I thought they were.. They were all naked just like me, but that's where the similarities stopped. Their hair were all too long, some going as far as their butts. I also noticed that none of them had the same hair color as me. My hair was cut very short and jet black. Theirs faces were more jagged than mine and most were more muscular than me. But that was a given considering I was just an eleven year old. Their eyes were all abnormal colors, ranging from a bright pink, to a sun-bright yellow. But worst of all, was how their eyes looked. All their eyes showed no signs of high intelligence, it just looked like. . . like. . . a wild animal's.

My thoughts were soon cut off by a loud banging. "Hey! No one better be messing with that kid in there! He's going ta make us loads o' money when we sell em." said a rough voice. I turned to look in the direction of the voice. There was a door, it had bars on my side of the door and a spot where someone could look inside. "Ah, the little bugger is awake! Morning, or rather, night Haha!" The man laughed at his own joke.

"Quit taking to the humans Jeral, you know they can't understand you!" yelled a female voice, followed by the sounds of wings smacking something.

"Ow! Don't hit me! What harm can come from just talkin' to tha merchandise?" Jeral argued.

"Nothing, but your stupid voice annoys me." exclaimed the female voice, "Where'd you guys find this kid anyway?"

"Well," Jeral held out the one word, "Gerold was actually goin' fer a piss, and as he was comin' back he spotted the kid and called fer me."

"And you said that the kid looked weird?" The female voice questioned.

"Yea! He didn't look like the rest o' them. His hair an' eyes be the craziest. Both are pure black!" Feral exclaimed with great emphasis.

"What?! No way, humans don't get those types of coloration!" Said the female voice, clearly not believing Jeral.

"I'm telling ya Kira, if ya don't believe me, take a look yerself!" Jeral challenged Kira. Soon after there was another rustling of feathers and the the slider on the door opened to reveal a pair of magenta eyes.

"Whoa, creepy." She said, "Does it seem like his eyes are glowing a bit to you?"

"What?! Let me see!" The magenta eyes were shoved out of the way to be replaced by a pair of slightly larger brown eyes. "Whoa, this kid just keeps gettin' weirder an' weirder."

"Hey! Kira! Jeral!" Called another voice. The brown eyes immediately disappeared from the slit.

"Captain Henrim! We were just uh, havein' a little chat!" Jeral tried to make up an excuse.

"Yeah whatever! Just pay more attention! The Boss has ordered us to set up camp here for the rest of the night. So go and put your wagon with the others and help set up camp!" The Captain ordered.

I had been listening so intently to their conversation about me that I hadn't even noticed that the room I was in wasn't a room, but a wagon! Soon the wagon slowed to a halt and backed up. Once the wagon came to a full stop, the door was opened. What is that?! Is that a lion with a beck and wings!?. In front of me was a lion type thing with wings and a bird's beck. "Well," he said, "we're setin' up camp here. So make yerself comfortable. Haha!" The voice sounded like Jeral's so that must have been Jeral. Just what are these people?. Jeral left the door open and set the keys on a hook next to the bars separating me from him. "They said to always keep these key with you, but what harm can come from leavin' it right here? They jingle too much when I carry em." He told himself as he turned and walked over to the light I saw a little bit further down. I don't know what made me do it but as soon as Jeral got out of sight I immediately snatched the ring of keys and hid them behind me as I walked to a corner and sat down. What do I do? From what they were saying it sounded like they're going to sell me! I could try escaping, I have the keys. But they're all awake, with those wings they could easily catch me. After much mental arguing I had decided what I was going to do, wait.

///

I awoke to a loud clank next to my wagon. "Ugh why do I got to watch the dang humans?" complained a voice. "Its not like any of them can escape, they're all too dumb." There was a thump on the side on the wagon as the owner of the voice leaned on the wagon. "No one'll mind if I take a *yawn* nap." Soon after a moment of silence I heard the loud snoring of the guard, indication that he was asleep. Thank god that he was so loud, I could have missed my chance! I got up and grabbed the keys from the floor and tiptoed to the door. I tried multiple keys from the hoop until one fit and clicked. The barred door silently swung open. Huh, it was well oiled.

Once the barred door was opened I hopped as quietly as I could onto the ground outside. I stumbled, but managed not to fall. I slowly put down the keys, since I remembered what Jeral had said about them jingling, and went around the wagon to take a glance at the guard.

He was sound asleep leaning against the side of the wagon. He was wearing a armor chest piece, a helmet, and boots. I walked ever so close to him and saw that he had a spear laying on the ground. That was what probably made that clank sound. I got so up close to him that I could probably touch him now. I noticed a pouch hanging from his side and decided to see what was inside.

I carefully walked around him and untied the pouch from his side. However once I untied it, I underestimated its weight and it fell to the ground spilling its contents and making clicking noises. I flinched and froze in fear of the guard waking. I looked up to find that the guard was still fast asleep. That was close, stupid bag. I stopped in my thoughts as I looked to see a bunch of gold coins spilled out of the pouch. Instantly I was crouching by the fallen pouch and picking up the coins. Ar-are these real?! I couldn't believe my eleven year old eyes. I gathered the spilled coins and picked up the pouch. The pouch jingled a bit so I got the idea to put some leaves and grass into the pouch.

After filling half the pouch with foliage, I retied the top and walked around to test it. I made almost no sound now with the grass and leaves in between the coins. Success! I celebrated, but then I remembered my situation. A cold night breeze blew and I shivered in response. I need to find clothes! Hope they didn't throw away my clothes. I turned in the direction I remembered Jeral headed and raced towards the hill.

Once I reached the top of the hill I had a perfect view of their camp. The camp wasn't that big, from where I was positioned, there were about only 10 tents. One was slightly larger than the rest, which must be where their Boss sleeps.I scanned the camp to find no one awake, with 4 different campfires slowly burning away. I didn't know which tent could be holding my clothes. So I decided to just check through them all. When I felt ready, I began my decent towards the camp.

Once I reached the bottom of the hill, I silently approached the nearest tent. I peeked inside to find that there were two of the creatures sleeping inside, next to both was their belongings. I snuck inside and looked through their stuff. One didn't really have anything of interest, but the second had a harness(not a saddle) that I could strap around my waist and it could had multiple bags to hold things in. I put it on, it was somewhat big, but it had a strap to adjust it. After adjusting it to fit me, I slipped my coin pouch into one of the bags, it fit perfectly. Seeing nothing else of interest, I moved on to the next tent.

The next two tents didn't really have anything that stuck out. The second tent contained their food. I took some bites of food. It seemed like they ate both meat and vegetables, omnivores. The third tent was filled with maps and books, it seemed like a meeting tent. I looked through some maps and decided to 'borrow' a few. The fourth tent however, is where I found what I was looking for.

Holy cow are these jewels?! I entered the next tent to find three chests filled with gems, of all kinds. If I took all these I could live forever without having to work! I could play video games my whole life! But then I realized that I wouldn't be able to take all of the gems. So I settled for a small bag full and slipped it into another bag on my new belt. I looked around and saw some leather bags. I walked over to it and opened a rather small one. Wow! You're kidding me! They washed and fixed my T-shirt and jeans! I bet they were planing on selling them to someone for money. I took off my belt and slipped on all my clothes. Ok, I feel much better with my underwear on. I picked up my belt and strapped it back on.

Ok, I'm starting to get heavy, so I guess the next tent will be my last. I looked to see what tent was next. Oh. It's the Boss's tent. . . I was deciding whether or not to see what the Boss had. Thinking about it, I decided to check it out, I've been having good luck so far. What could possibly go wrong?

I easily snuck up to the Boss's tent and peeked inside. Hmm, their Boss must sure like weapons. As I looked inside I saw weapons of all kinds around his tent. Each looked more deadly than the next. I might need something to defend myself, even if I don't know how to use it. I looked at all the different weapons until I saw an almost plain looking knife. This looks nice, and it's small and quick. I slid the dagger out of its sheathe, and looked at the blade. Whoa the blade is so white! what is it made out of!? I quickly sheathed the dagger and slipped it into another slot in my belt. I took one last glance around the inside of the tent and spotted a small chest about the size of a baseball. It was also sitting right next to the Boss's sleeping bag so I was unsure whether to risk it. But remembering what they did to me instantly remedied that. I tiptoed as silent as I could and grabbed the box.

I opened the box to find that inside was a piece of rock. Is, this it? A rock? Why would he keep a rock in a chest? Taking a closer look the rock seemed to glisten and had it a tint of dark-purple to it. Well. . . it looks pretty. And it must be valuable if it was in this chest and sitting right next to their Boss. I slipped the little chest into one of the bags of my belt and turned to finally leave this place. As I turned to leave something grabbed my leg and made me fall onto my stomach. What the hell? I turned to look at what I had tripped over, my face of annoyance quickly changed to one of fear as the thing that grabbed me slowly got up.

"What's this?" The menacing figure said it reached over and lit a candle for some light, "What in the world? Are you a human?" He said, still holding my leg. He was noticeably larger than the other creatures, and had two giant scars over his chest in an X shape. "I thought it was some Diamond dog that was in my tent, but it just seems to be a human. Although," He stared at me closer, "you seem to be different. Oh well doesn't matter," He shrugged, "Nobody, and I mean nobody! Steals from Hawvik the Griffin, and gets away with it!" The giant being squeezed his claw around my leg even more. I panicked. Oh god! he's going to kill me! I didn't know what to do, so my instincts took over, I grabbed the dagger I had stolen and swiped it in front of me closing my eyes.

"GAAAAHHHH" His pain filled shriek spread across the camp. I opened my eyes to see him covering his right eye with both claws. The candle fallen onto the ground. I quickly got up onto my feet and ran, I didn't care where, just away from here. To where my parents were, and intelligent people that could save me from these things.

I burst out of the tent as the camp was slowly filling with candle-light. I looked around and fled into the forest. It was still night time and there was no moon in the sky tonight. I raced across the forest floor trying to look out for any trees. Soon my eyes got used to the darkness again and I could see my surroundings. I paused to take a look at where I was, but then I heard them. "Come on! The little bastard couldn't have gotten far!" I spun around to see lights in the sky and on the ground rapidly getting closer. Oh god, oh god. They're going to kill me! I cried. I turned and tried to run away. They're going to kill me! I've got to get away! My thoughts were cut off when the terrain changed to a hill. I didn't anticipate the hill and went tumbling down.

I don't remember how tall the hill was but I was rolling for some time until I hit a wall. I seemed to have landed in a ditch. I tired to get back up, but the collision with the wall hurt my leg. I couldn't run! I cried my eyes out thinking these were my final moments as I lost conscious.

It seems luck was on my side for when I regained consciousness a little I noticed there was daylight and that I couldn't hear anymore yelling. I cracked a smile thinking I had gotten away. But them I heard a small voice.

"Is that a human!" I panicked thinking it was one of those creatures again. "Oh it is! It is!" Listening closer I noticed the voice wasn't angry. The creature put its face in my sight as I took a look at it.

It seemed to be a child, from the voice maybe a girl. "Are you ok?" The little creature asked me. "Don't worry I'll go get my daddy. He'll know what to do! He knows a lot about humans!" She exclaimed as she flew off. Soon after she left I started to get weaker again blacked out.

///

9 Years Later

"HEY PHANTOM GET YOUR LAZY ASS UP!" Yelled a voice as I woke up from a dream. I rubbed my eyes and gave out a big yawn. My door slammed open to reveal a griffin with a gray and black feather pattern. "Finally, I've been calling you for half an hour!" She exclaimed.

I stared at her and gave a smile, ~Sorry Trist, just had a weird dream.~

"Yeah well you're awake now, so get up and get changed, I got breakfast ready." Trist stated and closed the door and left me to my own.

I threw my blanket off and swung myself onto the floor. I stretched my arms and did a few warm-up exercises. Once I finished I headed to my bathroom and took a nice hot shower.

I got out of the shower and looked myself in the mirror. I still had my pure black hair, however I did grow it out to be at least covering my eyes. But for some reason It naturally grew spiky. Non of it really covered my forehead and it spiked upwards to give me that hyper-active guy look.

Another thing that has changed from before was that I had obtain a scar on the right side of my chin. I didn't mind, it scared over and looked a bit cool.

As I exited the bathroom, I took the time to look around my room. Man, I've gotten pretty far from back then. It had a steam-punk feel to it with the metal walls, ceiling and floors. I had a bed, a closet, a door to my bathroom, and another door to my private treasure room. I walked over to my balcony and breathed in the fresh air. Ah, fresh air. Today's weather seems fine and the birds are singing. I smiled.

I turned and walked back inside and opened my closet. Inside were my clothes. I don't keep my gear with my clothes, where it could be easily stolen. I put on a sleeveless black shirt, a pair of black skin-tight pants. Baggy pants get in the way.

I closed my door and walked over to my treasure room. I opened the door to seen a safe door the same size as the normal door. I put in the safe's code and opened the door. Inside were all the treasures I kept for myself. Some of my personal treasures I used in my heists including:

The harness I got nine years ago, although upgraded to also have two straps crossing in the front and back in an X form. I had bags containing anything I could need, from rope, to ammo, to food.

My synthetic, finger-less leather gloves. With groves in the palm for extra grip.

My hook-shot, which also could work like a crossbow, was great for getting to a tall or far away area.

My lucky dagger, stolen from Hawvik nine years ago. I found out that it is actually a dagger made from a sharpened dragon's tooth.

And lastly, and possibly my most treasured prize. My warmog black cloak. It reached from my neck to my ankles and had the warmog's black and grey fur around the collar of the cloak. It also had a slit in the front and between the legs, this allowed for better mobility. However, the most important thing was the properties warmong skin had. Warmogs are only found on the Dragon Isles, and usually are the size of timberwolves, but much faster. No one has ever killed one. I got lucky and found one that had already died. That's a story for another time though. The special properties warmog skin have allow them to be completely unaffected by magic. It is even said that Celestia, one of the alicorn rulers of Equestria, couldn't get rid of them since even her magic was ineffective.

I smiled as I lifted the cloak from it's spot, and draped it over myself. The fur on the collar serves no real purpose, it could probably help when it's cold, but mainly I had it there for decoration purposes. I mean, why can't a thief be effective and stylish?

Next I strapped on my harness and hooked my hook-shot onto my back. I slipped my dagger into a slot I had on my chest. Then I grabbed my gloves and exited my treasure room.

Exiting my room I closed my door and looked down the corridor. Doors adorned the walls to the right while there were circular windows on the left. There was a set of stairs to my right leading down, and another set to my left headed upwards. Turning right, I headed for the dining room and kitchen.

As I walked down the stairs I heard a soft thumping. Reaching the bottom of the stairs I was immediately tackled by a moderately big creature. The creature instantly began licking my face. Haha, hey there George, calm down! I tried to get him off me.

George was my pet lizard-dragon, I had found him as an egg while at the Dragon Isles. Trist told me that he was a breed of dragons that were sometimes used as guards by other dragons. So I decided, "Why not have one as a guard pet?". So we took him and raised him at our hideout. Now, George guards the hideout while we're away.

"George down!" Trist called from the kitchen, George eventually got off me as I wiped my face. Soon Trist came out of the kitchen with two plates of breakfast. ~Those look delicious~ I licked lips.

"Hmm, you should try learning how to cook yourself." Trist grunted as she laid down the plates and sat down at the table. I looked at the plate. It had 3 sausages, some scrambled eggs and some mashed potato.

~You really went all out~

"Yeah? Well today is the ninth anniversary of when we first met."

~True~ I picked up my fork and ate one of the sausages. ~Oh, man I'm so glad that I landed in the Griffin Empire now rather than someplace they don't eat meat.~

"Heh, lucky you huh?" She began to eat as well. "Remember when you had to write to me to communicate?" She laughed at the memory.

~Yeah, and remember your face when you realized I was sapient? ~

"Haha Yeah, totally didn't expect that."

~So~ I wiped my face as I finished my breakfast. ~Are we almost there yet?~

"We should be almost in view." She picked up the plates and walked over to the sink. "You can go ahead and take a look if you want, I'll be right up there to bring us out of the clouds."

~Sure, See ya there.~ I jumped from my chair and climbed the stairs. I raced down the corridor and jumped up the second set of stairs going up. As I landed on the ground from my leap I lifted my head and took in the sights.

The vast blue sky, the shining sun, and the giant balloon holding the airship we were on up. I had actually stolen the airship for a griffin nobleman who was very into steam-punk. It was actually pretty easy to steal, considering it was quite big so he couldn't really hide it. Plus it helped that he made it run silently so when I piloted it during the night, no one knew where it had gone. Once I brought it back to the hideout, we renamed it The Lumiere. Don't know why but Trist insisted that it was called that. Over the years after we made the Lumiere our base of operations, we upgraded it a few times. Now it has a better functioning and easier to maintain steam engine. A self-defense system with cannons and smoke bombs. Trist is the one who usually pilots and maintains the Lumiere, it's almost it's almost as if it's her child, I teased her.

After staring at the sea of clouds for while, Trist came up on deck with her captain's hat as well as her saber on her side. "We should be entering Equestria airspace soon. You got everything right?" I gave her an 'OK' with my hand. "You learn Equestrian hoof-language?" I rolled my eyes and nodded. "Good." She smiled as she took the wheel of the ship.

She pulled a few levers and the Lumiere began to sink into the sea of clouds. I ran up to the front of the ship and George followed. I propped myself on the railings as the clouds enveloped the Lumiere. Soon the clouds began to thin out and the ground came into view. ~This is it! A new land-.~

"A new heist!" Trist answered back. I looked out into the new kingdom we were entering and gave a smirk. Look out Equestria, cause here comes Phantom Thief!

-To Be Continued.

Chapter 1 - Say Hello to Mister Thief!

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Urenburgh, a small old English style settlement out on the edge of the Griffin Kingdom. It's an average griffon town, with a forest and open plains. Most of the town is very close knit and usually knows each other by name. It's not a rich town by far, but it still has its wealth here and there. Merchants often stop and sell their good in Urenburgh due to it's location. The streets were dirt and the layout of the the town was simplistic.

During the day the streets are busy with griffons everywhere. But as the sun begins to set, the store start to close after a days work. All the griffons head to their homes and eat a warm meal with their families before going to bed. The streets are now empty, the only source of light coming from those of inside the houses. But as the last light dies out and the last griffon house goes to rest, a dark silhouette pokes its head out from between two homes. It looks around for any other beings, then looks across the street to a rather large house.

This house had the same style as the rest, but was larger than the rest. It had thatch roofs and stone walls, supported by wooden beams going up the walls once in a while. Separating the first and second floors was another wooden beam going left and right. The front door was rectangular and wooden.

The silhouette check its surroundings again, then darted across the road to the house's front door. If you could look closer, you would be able to see that the figure was not a griffon, but a human. It wore a simple cloth shirt and pants, but no shoes. The human ran up to the front door and tried to open the door, locked. It seemed that this house was quite cautious if they had locked their doors in such a small town.

The human then reached into one of its many pockets a around its waist and pulled out two small lines of metal. It moved the two pieces of metal to the lock and began to fiddle with it. After a while a small snap was heard and the figure threw the pieces of metal to the ground and looked around. It walked around the house and scouted the side of the house.

As it looked around the side of the house it saw an open window on the second floor. The window was about 11 feet high. The figure looked around again to see if there was anything it could use to climb up. Seeing no objects to stand on, it readied itself and latched onto the wooden beam and slowly climbed up the wall. It climbed up until it reached the beam going sideways and hauled its feet onto the sideways beam. It shuffled towards the window and climbed into the house.

\\\

Dang freaking, tall house. I stretched my back as I landed inside the target house. I guess that's what I get for failing to lock-pick the front door. I stretched out the rest of my limbs and looked at my surroundings. I was in a hallway with four doors. Thinking it was best, I ignored them and headed for the stairs.

I quietly made my way over to the stairs and hoped that it would make too loud of a noise. I stepped on the first one and the creaking was tiny, but quiet distinguishable in the silence of the house. I controlled my weight as to not make the creaking louder as I walked down the steps.

Once I reached the ground floor I took the time to see if there was anything worth stealing. There were about four or five electric lamps hanging from the ceiling. Two years ago a group of ponies in Equestria discovered a method of using the lighting that pegasi controlled to power all sorts of things. Since then only the wealthy have been able to afford electricity, more poor families continue to use candle-light. This home seems to have just integrated electric lamps; seeing as there were candles sitting around as well.

I walked over to their dinning room and saw a glass cabinet. Looking inside I could see silver plates and silver utensils. Opening the glass cabinet, I pulled out a sack I had inside one of my pouches and put the silver into the sack. After taking all the silver in the cabinet I looked through a few drawers and stole some coins, placing them into my coin pouch. After checking the rest of the first floor I headed back up the stairs to the bedrooms.

I approached the first door on the left after climbing the stairs and slowly opened the door. I looked inside the dark room to find that it was actually a bathroom. After checking for anything valuable in the bathroom(there wasn't), I exited and closed the door behind me.

I reached the next door on the right side of the hall and checked the door; it was unlocked. I peeked my head into the room to see what was inside. It seemed to be a bedroom, I sneaked inside and saw a young griffon kid sleeping in the bed. I stared at the griffon kid until I noticed something leaning on the wall. I made my way towards it to see that it was a sword. Is this a freaking sword?! I picked the sword up and looked at its sheathe. The sheathe was very well decorated. I gripped the hilt and slid the blade out. Ah. . . It's a toy sword. I thought to myself as I played with the fake blade. Still. . . it's very well made. I bit this could sell for a good price. I slid the blade back into the sheathe and placed it inside the sack.

Leaving the griffon kid's room, I made my way over to the last door in the hallway. I reached for the handle and turned it, only for it to not turn. Locked?! I checked the lock. Why would you lock your bedroom door?! It's not like someone is going to try and- oh wait. I fished out another set of lock picks and proceeded to open the lock. After a series of trial and errors, I heard a satisfying click as the lock disengaged and I opened the door.

Looking inside the room showed that it was another bedroom, presumably the master bedroom from the size. I Spotted two large bumps underneath the bed's blanket and heard a snoring come from the slightly larger bump. Looking to a drawer next to the far wall and made my way across the room. Taking a closer look I could see a few glamorously decorated boxes. Opening them revealed that they were filled with jewelry and gold. Hello~. I grabbed a hand full of jewelry and started shoveling the contents into the sack. Despite being called savage and brutal, these griffins sure do own lots of jewelry. I spotted a candelabra on a table and swiped it. Next I checked the closet to find furs of a multitude of animals ranging from a rabbit's to a bear's. looking through the furs I chose one that was brown and tan and flung it over my shoulders. I took the time to feel the fur's softness. Oh wow this is soft! I stood there as I continued to feel the fur, until I notice the room get slightly brighter. I quickly turn around and see a large male griffin on the bed hold up a candle while rubbing his eyes. Upon seeing me, his eyes enlarged and made a face of disbelief. My eyes widened as well as I shoved the fur into the bag and sprinted to the door.

I ran out into the hallway as I heard the griffin yell "STOP!"

Heh, yeah right. Then I slipped and hit the wall, but recovered and made for the open window. I stopped at the window and looked down to the ground outside.

Oh. . . that's high. I secured the sack to my harness and climbed out the window. I shuffled on the wooden beam before a head popped out of the window, it was the griffin's wife. She held a jewelry box in her claw and proceeded to throw it at me. The box missed me and I prepared to jump down. I let go of the side of the house and spun myself. As I landed I bent my knees to lessen the fall.

I fell to the ground and the bag hit the ground with a clang. Holy- I released a held breathe, but was interrupted as another box smacked into the ground beside me. I looked up to see the griffin wife disappear into the window, only to reappear with two more boxes in her claws. I got to my feet and slung the bag over my back and ran as a box hit the bag. OK, I take it back. This freakin bitch is crazy! I ran across the road as the windows in the other buildings began to light up.

I ran into an alley way as a pair of griffin guards arrived at the house. Looking around the floor of the alley way and found the sewer cover. Lifting the cover, I dropped the bag into the hole. I climbed down the hole and placed the cover back.

Reaching the ground of the sewer, I took a relieved breath. I instantly regretted it. I inhaled the stench of the sewer as I breathed in.Ugh. I lifted the collar of my shirt to cover my nose.It reeks in here! I picked up the bag and checked to see if anything fell out. Nice. Got some good stuff this time. I looked around the sewer tunnel. I think the way home was. . . this way. I walked down the tunnel into the darkness.

\\\

Hmm. . . I was pretty sure this was the right way. I scratched my head in thought. I didn't take a wrong turn right? I reach a hand to lean on the wall and immediately retracted it. Uh, gross. I wiped my hand on my shirt. Looking around the next corner, I saw a ladder with a dagger lodged in between two bricks right nest to it. Ah, there it is. I approached the ladder and placed the bag on the ground. I proceeded up the ladder and pushed the cover slightly to look at the other side.

The room on the other side of the cover was darker than the sewers and took a second for my eyes to adjust. There were no windows, but the walls were made up of stone and were supported by wooden beams. To one side of the room were kegs, to the other side, there were shelves of different objects. Yup, looks like the right place. I lifted the cover and placed it to the side before heading back down the ladder to get the bag.

After climbing back up the ladder, this time with the bag on my back, I closed the entrance to the sewers and looked for the stairs. Finding the stairs, I walked up to the door with no worries. I opened the door to enter a familiar hallway. I closed the door and turned to the left. Where is she right now? Looking down the other way I spot a closed door with a light shining through the cracks. I sigh then head towards the door and open it just a crack.

On the other side of the door was a wooden-floored room with two windows and wooden walls. On the wall to one side, there were paintings that seemed to not fit with the drab room. In the middle of the room lay a wooden desk with a lamp facing the door. A rather small gray-feathered (small in terms of griffons, not me) griffon looking down at some papers and occasionally taking a tube-like object to inspect a few jewels. I silently walked into the room, yet she still was able to tell I was there and lifted her head and moved a group of brown feathers from in front of her face. "Great! You're finally back!" She kindly welcomed me back. "What took ya so long?" She got off her chair and took off the ground.

~Kinda. . . woke the baron.~ I used my hands to make the claw-signs of griffon sign language. Which was composed of a combination of hand signals and a series of different scratches.

Trist face swiftly changed, "You what?!" She stopped flapping her wings and landed on the floor. "Ugh! You know how difficult it is going to be to stay inconspicuous now?" She used one of her claws to rub her forehead. ". . . He didn't see your face did he?" She glared at me.

~I don't think so. . .~ Averting my eyes.

"You don't think so?" She looked at me intently.

~Well. . . yea. It was kinda dark. Although from the look on his face, which was hilariously funny by the way.~ She continued to look at me with a 'I'm not in the mood right now face. ~Anyway. . . From the look on his face, he may have seen me. But he also could have not! seen me. . .~ Trist still just continued to stare at me with her lavender eyes as I looked around the room, as if trying to find something interesting to look at.

"You better hope so." She turned and walked to her desk. "We'll find out tomorrow if he puts up a wanted poster. But for now," She stopped walking and turned her head. "Go take a shower, you smell like a sewer rat's bathroom." I looked down at myself.

Wow, I guess I am a bit dirty. My clothes were ripped at the knees and had a few suspicious brown spots. I sniffed my shirt and recoiled at the stench. Ok, I guess I got too used to the sewer smell. I looked around the room to place down my loot.

"Just place it on the floor right where you are. I'll get to looking through it." Trist sat down in her chair. I did as she said and looked at the little tube object she had just picked up.

~What's that?~ Trist looked up and lifted the object and pointed at it. I nodded.

"It's a loupe. Jewelers use them to get a better look at gems to find any mistakes in them." She placed it on the desk. "Bought it today while I was out." I nodded in understanding and turned, exiting the room.

I walk down the hall and up the stairs to the shower upstairs. I enter the small bathroom and remove my clothes. Looking in the slightly cracked mirror, I look at the moderately muscular 14 year old reflected back at me. Thanks to Trist, he had gone through training to strengthen his body. As I entered the shower, my mind drifted as I remembered what happened after Trist had found me in that ditch.

\\\

Trist, or her full name Tristana Kaneclaw, belonged to a close-knit, nomadic group of hunters on the outskirts of the Griffin Empire. After Trist had brought her father and a group of hunters, they brought him to their camp. At their camp, I saw other griffons as well as a few tied up humans, again without clothes. I was brought into a large tent and laid across a table. I don't remember what exactly happened after that, but I do remember Trist eyeing me the entire time and speaking to her father (who was the Head Chief). After that a few female griffins began tending to my wounds and bringing me food.

Once in a while Trist would begin to bring me my food. soon enough, she began bringing my food every time. She told me that she was my new master and owner. I quickly gave her a smug look and smiled. Her reaction was hilariously funny that I tried to laugh. Except that laughing made me sound produce an awful guttural sound. This sound I made cause her to laugh and me to pout.

After getting back up from the ground, Trist found that I was different than the other humans and that I was actually able to understand her. I thought she would treat me like a normal person. Instead, she saw me as a rare and exotic pet, rather than a normal human.

Once I had (somewhat) fully healed from my injuries, Trsit immediately went to work in training me. At first I thought she meant pet training. She actually meant physical training.

Apparently, it is tradition for each hunter in the group to hunt with a partner human. The human would find the game, then signal the griffin where it is. Trist was to train me as her partner human(or how she says it "pet").

At first I did horribly, I was eleven years old! I had never done so much physical labor in my life!. The humans here are physically stronger than me. They could lift freaking boulders! However a year into my new life, I figured out a way to even the playing field.

I began to wonder why the humans never seemed to use tools or weapons. When I asked Trist (by writing it down) she looked at me with a look like the answer was obvious. "Cause they're too stupid. Duh." She replied. That's where I got the idea to use a weapon.

After that I was able to use my intellect as well as an uncanny ability I had to see in the dark. Of course, we kept my intellect a secret from the rest of the group and I learned to pretend that I was like a "normal" human. However, on the third year after they found me, some of the group began to whisper and speak of me being unlike the other humans.

Eventually, Trist's father ordered for me to be caged and then inspected the next day. But in the middle of the night, Trist unlocked the cage and said that we were leaving the group. She handed me my belongings and told me that we were leaving.. We left the camp that night and headed to the closest town she knew of, Urenburgh.

Now we live in a quite old house on the edge of town and took up thievery. Since we could best use our training. Even if it is me that's the one going out for heists. Trist works on finding houses to actually steal from.

\\\

I jumped as a voice woke me from my daydream. "Hey! Don't take so freaking long! You're going to waste water!" Trist banged on the door. I realized that I was still in the shower and finished cleansing myself of the sewer, then dried myself, and walked out of the bathroom with a towel to dry my hair. I walked sown the stairs and down the hall towards Trist's work room. I opened the door and tried to try my hair one more time, covering my face as I tried. As I entered, I removed the towel to see Trist leaning on her claws.

I paused and stared at her, occasionally looking around the roon in silence. I then noticed the bag of loot on her desk. ~Hey?...~

"Don't you 'Hey' me." She said reaching a claw into the bag and pulling out the contents one by one. "The candelabra is a good find, but the jewels alone we'll sell to some jewelers in need of inexpensive gems." She continued to look through the bag until she pulled out the small brown fur. "But what's with the brown fox pelt? I mean, seriously? We can't sell this for much!" She laid out the fur onto the desk. "It would be a different story if it were a full coat. But if it's just a single fox pelt, we can't sell it." Trist stared intently at as the pelt was sitting on the desk. "So? Care to explain?" I stayed silent with the towel slowly resting on my shoulders before replying.

~I. . . thought that I could. . . wear it.~

". . . Why?" She questioned.

~Well, it's soft. And I like the colors.~ She glared at me as I sheepishly avoided her gaze.

"Fine." She finally exclaimed after glaring a hole into me. "You can had it, but you have to find a use for it." She tossed the pelt to me. "The rest of the things you got from the baron's house will support us for a bit." She looked through the bag one final time before looking to me. "Overall, good heist." I smiled at the compliment. "But don't get cocky!" Trist switched her voice. "You still got seen by the baron!" My smile disappeared in a flash. "Now go to sleep, pet." She pointed at the door.

~Hey Trist?~

"What?" She looked at me.

~Can I actually have a name?~ I asked, a bit angered by her use of the word 'pet'

"You do have a name. 'Pet' " She answered.

~No, I meant like a real name.~ Trist held a claw to her chin and looked at the ceiling in thought.

"Sure, why not?" I smiled at the thought of not being called 'pet' anymore. "You can come up with one." I was so glad as she said that I almost jumped. I had been thinking up an awesome name for weeks now.

~I already have one!~

"Oh yeah? What is it?" She seemed a bit interested, but also seemed to mock me.

~Phantom Thief.~ I theoretically said with my hands. Finishing it off with spirit fingers. Trist just stared at me with a 'your'e kidding, right?' face, before letting out a small laugh.

"Sure, Mr. Thief" She said sarcastically. I pouted at her joking manner.

~Fine then. . . Shorty~ I signaled before booking it through the door and closed it behind me.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!!" She yelled at me through the door. "YOU BETTER GO TO BED BUSTER! AND HOPE THAT THAT DUMB BARON DIDN'T SEE YOUR FACE." I chuckled as I walked down the hall, opened the door to my room, and flopped onto the bed. I lay awake on my bed as the moonlight shined through my window.

This is our new life huh? Doesn't seem that bad. I roll over in my bed and close my eyes. Well world. Say hello to Mister Thief.

Chapter 2 - A Day of a Hidden Intellectual Human. . . Who is also a Thief

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"Come on Phantom, or I'll be forced to pull harder." Trist said tugging on my collar. "Unless you're into that sort of thing." She grinned at me." I looked at her with a grossed out look.

~Hell no I'm not into that.~ I said walking faster so my neck doesn't chaff. ~Do I seriously need this collar?~ I pulled the collar. ~I'm not like 'normal' humans. I can actually think~ I pointed to my head.

"Yeah I know." She continued to walk down the path towards the town's market square. "But we're somewhat new to the town. I feel as if they need to know you more before you can walk around without a leash."

~Fine.~ I quickened my pace to match her's. ~But why do I have to come with you into town anyway? Can't I just stay home while you shop?~

"Hey this is for you also OK?" She stopped and turned to face me. "You need to learn the layout of the town. Every nook and cranny. Even the ones the townspeople don't know about." She turned around and started to walk again. "You don't want to keep having to smell like sewer now do you?"

~. . . No~

"Good, that's what I thought. We also need to see if you were seen by the Baron." She added. "If you were, we may have to leave. Very quickly."

~I told you, I don't think he saw me, I think he only saw-~ Trist shushed me to be quiet.

"We're about to reach the more populated streets. Now stay quiet and act like a human."

~You mean like one of those 'other' humans.~

"Whatever! Just be careful with your sign language. We don't know who might know sign language." I gave her an 'OK' and I put on my best stoic face and slouched a bit, trying to be as dumb as possible.

///

I hate kids. We had been walking through the market for only a single minute and three griffon kids were already hounding me. Pulling on my clothes and poking me. The worst of it is that I can't react to anything they do to me or else someone will know that I'm not a 'normal' human. Apparently, a 'normal' human doesn't smile and pretty much acts like an animal. So while these 3 foot tall, feathered creatures called children run around me, I can't react in any way. Especially hitting them. Trist told me what happens to humans if they harm a griffon. And let's just say, the one bad thing about being in the Griffin Kingdom and not Equestria, is that griffons are omnivores.

I couldn't tell you how relieved I was when an older griffon called for the little beasts to go. I continued to look around the town, trying to memorize the lay out as I kept a mindless face.

Trist stopped at a range of places. She got some food, paper and ink, and planks of wood, for some reason. All of which, I had to carry. "See it as training, It'll help strengthen your arms." She said. Right before turning to see a stall of gems. Ever since I had met her, Trist has had a fondness for precious jewels. Not jewelry, jewels. The actual stone, not the kind you wear as an accessory.

After Trist barked at the griffon behind the counter about the outrageous prices of the jewels, we exited the store. As we were going to the next place on the list, I happened to pass by another human tied to a post next to a table of an outside diner. In this kind of little, out of the way town there aren't too many humans kept as pets. And only the large cities actually have big enough restaurants that . . . serve. . . humans. In total, I think I've only seen two other humans in Urenburgh. Not including this one.

It was a she, and was dressed in ripped rags barely even covering anything. She had blond hair, which was cut short, and purple eyes. She must have been the 'runt of the litter' as Trist says it. The was most likely the smallest, weakest of her family. Which explains why a family in this town could afford her. She looked malnourished and about 16-17 years old. I didn't feel that sorry for her. Trist told me that it was rare for runts to be seen, since most of them are sent to a butchery, while their stronger siblings are sent to be sold into manual labor, or as pets. Although I can't say I don't feel for runts more than others. Runts tend to look more like the humans I faintly remember before I came to this place.

She must have noticed me staring, because she turned to look at me directly in the eyes. I stared back at her and felt as if she could understand me, like she was actually like me and could speak. But the moment ended as The other human's owner finished their meal and pulled her off down the street. I kept watching as the human woman followed the griffon aimlessly, until Trist tugged slightly on my leash to signal that we were moving on.

///

"OK, we're pretty much done." Trist stated as she looked at her list of groceries. I was sitting on the ground as she was sitting on a bench by the edge of the road.

~Please tell me we're done. ~ I pleaded. ~I'm tired and I want to go home.~

"Yeah, it's getting pretty late." She looked up at the lowering sun and stretched. "I feel pretty tired as well. I guess we can survive a few days with what we got."

~And please say I don't have to come with you next time?~

"Depends. Did you learn the streets and alleyways?" I paused and let a silence enter as I waited to answer.

~Sorta.~ Trist looked at me with her signature look of distrust.

"You're coming next time too."

~Dang it~ I plopped my head down in disappointment.

"Ok then." Trist launched herself off of the bench. "Let's head on ho- What is going on over there?" Trist pointed to a crowd gathering by the platform in the middle of town square. I shrugged and we headed over to the crowd to find out what was going on.

Once we reached the crowd we saw two griffon guards standing on the platform. We stood by the outside of the crowd. Which just so happened to be next to the blonde runt girl human I saw earlier today. I was shocked by the coincidence that I would see her twice today. She looked at me with serious interest. Like I was some human-sized treat. Then, she started to sniff me. O. . K? I didn't know how to feel about this situation. Of course I felt uncomfortable with the girl invading my personal space, but on the other hand, it was a girl.

"Oh my, looks like Fiona has met a new friend!" I heard a female griffon exclaim. "And who are you?" She looked at me with a friendly face.

"He's my pet, uhh. Bruce! Yeah Bruce." Trist spoke to the griffon. Really? Bruce?! That's the best you can come up with?! "You wouldn't happen to know what's the commotion here would you?" Trist asked the griffon woman.

"Oh why yes. The Baron's attendant has called for an announcement." The woman leaned over me and whispered to Trist. "I heard that the Baron's house was robbed last night!"

Trist retracted and put a claw to her chest in fake shock. "Now who would have done that! Surely who ever did that must have been crazy!"

"I also heard that the Baron claims that a human was the robber! A human!"

"But that's absurd! A human couldn't have done that!"

"I know! Everyone has been saying that the Baron must have not been fully awake and thought he saw the robber as a human. Others are saying that the Baron is going insane!" The woman spewed all she knew to Trist like a broken faucet. "OH! Its starting!." The woman turned to face the platform.

On the platform, the two guards stood at attention as another griffon in a fancy hat and a parchment in his hand flew onto the platform. He cleared his throat, unrolled the parchment, and began reciting. "Attention all citizens of Urenburgh! A horrendous crime was committed last night! Last night, at the time of 2 a.m. someone entered the Baron's home, and stole many precious valuables from him." The official paused to take a breath. "The Baron states that a human was the robber, and that if anyone sees suspicious behavior, to report it immediately to the closest guards. Anyone who finds this culprit will receive a 400 bit reward!" The official finished and rolled up the parchment. "That is all!" He concluded the announcement and flew off the platform.

The crowd began to disperse into smaller groups and speak about the announcement. The woman with the blonde girl approached Trist and said her name was Claudia.

"The Baron must be joking! No human could have the intellect to steal from someone and get away!" Claudia exclaimed.

"Yeah, totally." Trist quietly agreed.

"I mean, it must have been a Diamond Dog. Everyone knows how much those dirty dogs love shiny things."

"But aren't you worried that someone may take your human, thinking she could have did it?" Trist asked.

"Of course not!" Claudia brushed off the question. "A human committing that crime in unthinkable! I'm sure everyone thinks so as well. No one's going to listen to that!"

"Oh, I see."

"Anyway, I must be off. I have to go and feed Fiona here her dinner!" Claudia exclaimed tugging on Fiona's leash, extracting her from my neck that she was sniffing intently. "We must talk again, Tristana! And bring Bruce as well! Fiona seems to have a liking to him!" I shivered as Trist waved back. As soon as Claudia had left eye-sight, Trist looked at me with a giant grin.

"Looks like you had fun."

~Now what would make you think that?~ I looked at her with half-closed eyes. Trist just laughed as we turned towards home.

"Oh I don't know. . . but it looked to me like Fiona was very interested in Bruce." Trist teased.

~Says Miss Shorty.~ I fought back. She punched me in my shoulder and I reached my hand over to rub it. ~Ow.~

"Yea, I hope that hurt." She turned away and pouted. I grinned and chuckled at her as we headed back home after a long day in town.

Chapter 3 - Confrontation

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It has been about a week since the Baron had announced the reward for the capture of the "Urenburgh Robber". Over the past week, I had gone through two more heists. From those two heists, my bounty went up from 400 bits, to 1200 bits. The heists also convinced more of the citizens of Urenburgh that this was more serious than they had thought. The guards began to take this more seriously, and accusations were gradually increasing in relativity.

On the bright side though, I had gotten much better at lock picking; I rarely break a pick now. And I've also begun to sneak back to the house without having to use the sewers. I also convinced Trist to consider about getting me a new outfit that could help me stay hidden more than just the white tattered shirt and pants I have now. I've got this whole design thought out to make me look awesome!

Although, all of that would have to be put aside once Trist came barging into the house one day.

///

I had woken up and went down to eat breakfast, only to see a plate of muffins with a note beside it. I picked up a muffin to see that it was just an ordinary muffin with nothing else. I shrug and take a bite. It tasted better than it looked. As I take my next bite I grab the note and being reading it:

To Phantom Thief,

I went out to look around town. I'll be back before 2:00 p.m. Eat the muffins that are on the plate. Also, get ready for another heist tonight.
Trist

I put the note down and finished eating the first muffin. Grabbing the entire plate, I walked out of the kitchen and into the living room where we had some wooden chairs. I made myself comfortable and laid my feet onto the table.

After finishing the muffins I decided to sit there and relax. Maybe I should get ready like Trist said. . . Nah. I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes. She said that she'd be back before two right? I'll have plenty of time before the heist. I thought to myself as I fell asleep.

///

"PHANTOM" A loud slam abruptly woke me from my dream. The shock of being woken up caused me to quickly move. Except that I was precariously balanced between the table and chair, causing me to fall very loudly onto the floor. What in the?! I supported myself up on one of my elbows and rubbed my head. Who the hell was that?! I looked towards the front door to see a familiar black griffin with grey chest feathers. I lifted myself up to a sitting position and started to lift my hand to say something. "No time!" Trist seemingly teleported in front of me, grabbing me by the shirt and just as quickly pushing me backwards. "We've got to pack and go!" She flew to a cabinet inside the kitchen and dumped its contents into a bag.

I picked myself up all the way and rushed to her. I grabbed her shoulders and spun her around. ~Trist! What are you freaking out about!?~ She struggled against me and I released her.

"Phantom, we need to move! We need to pack everything up, fast!" She sat down onto the floor looking in every direction.

~Why?~

"They're here Phantom. The Clan is in town and searching for us!" She flew up into the air again. "In such a small town like this, they'll find out where we are in no time!" I realized the seriousness of this.

Being a nomadic tribe, the Kaneclaws are sworn to living away from the rest of the griffin empire. Any deserters would be hunted and brought back, no matter how long it took. In the three years I lived with the Kaneclaws, no one tried escaping, but I've heard stories. I heard of a time when a Kaneclaw woman fell in love with an outsider and fled to live a life with him. But the Kaneclaws went out to search for her. When they did find her, it had already been 20 years! The Kaneclaw woman had already two children, which were also taken back with her. The husband however, was killed, for tempting her to leave.

We don't know what would happen if they were to find Trist and me. The best case scenario, they'd give Trist a punishment, an d see me as only her 'pet' who followed her. But, if they figured out that I was sentient, they would most likely see me as the reason Trist left and kill me. ~Are you sure it was them?~

"Yes I was sure." She exclaimed. "They were all wearing cloaks but I could tell that they were part of the tribe." Trist began to panic again. "There were four of them. I- I think my father was one of them."

That is not, great news. I thought to myself. If Trist's father is one of them, then we have little chance of just making a run for it. . . I silently rubbed my chin. Looking to Trist I saw that she was almost about to cry. It was as if this were three years ago. I straightened my face and grabbed Trist's again and shook her. I looked directly into her eyes, hoping that she would understand.

She looked confused first, but telling from how her face changed she did understand. We were going to make it through this. They wouldn't catch us. Not this time.

"Ok, I'll get our money. Phantom, you go get our belongings." I smiled and nodded before rushing into the hall and up the stairs to our rooms. I entered Trist's first. I grabbed her bag and began stuffing clothes and other necessities.

After grabbing all I could, I quickly ran into my own room, my ears pulsed with blood. Thankfully I didn't own much, and anything I did own was used for business. I grabbed my belt. I checked to make sure that I had everything on my belt. Where's my knife?! My personal knife wasn't there. I searched quickly around my room to find it in a drawer. Phew, found it. I slid the sheathed knife into it's place on my belt and picked up Trist's bag.

I ran down the stairs and was about to meet up with Trist, when I saw the door to Trist's work room. I thought quickly and ran down the hall to the door. Slamming it open I dashed for the desk and collected her tools and gems. She'll be happy I took these later. I finished emptying the desk and headed back into the hallway.

I entered the main living room to see nothing there. Where's Trist? I swung my head around, searching for her. We need to get out of here. They could be here any min-. A door to my right flew open. I panicked, reaching for my knife. Oh shit! They're here!? I closed my eyes and prepared to defend myself.

"Phantom!" I opened my eyes to see Trist looking at me. "Jeez! You almost gave me a heart attack. I thought you were one of them!" Trist exclaimed.

~Same here!~ I violently signed.

"Are those the rest of the stuff?" Trist pointed at the bag I was carrying. I nodded. "Great. Quick follow me." She disappeared into the basement. I quickly followed her down to see that she had lit some lanterns and had the sewer entrance opened. Most likely the contents of our small vault. "I couldn't get all of our bits, but I got most of it."

~It's okay, we've gotta travel light anyway.~

Trist nodded in agreement. "Yeah," She turned to pick up a bag. " We better get out of here before-" She stopped mid-sentence as we heard a banging on the door. I spun my head towards the door. There was a silence before another series of banging continued.

"Tristana! Open up this door. Now!" I froze, eyes wide at the loud voice yelling as the banging continued. "Break the door down!" We heard an even louder thud and we immediately remembered what we were doing.

"Phantom, quick!" Trist said in a hush but hastily tone. I lifted the other bag of bits and Trist's belongings and followed her into the sewer. "Close the hatch." I turned before climbing down the ladder and reached for the cover. I heard splintering wood as the front door gave, and heavy footsteps slammed on the old wood floor of the living room.

"Spread out!" A voice commanded. "They should have an escape route somewhere! Find it!" I quietly closed laid the cover over the opening and climbed carefully down the ladder.

"Good." Trist looked at a map and pointed to our right. "This way." We ran through the sewer tunnels, carefulnot to leave a trail to follow.

///

We traveled through the sewer system and closer to our exit. "Come on, just a few more turns." Trist said.

Before actually starting our heists, we scout the and mapped the underground sewer system of Urenbough. However, Urenburgh was a small town and didn't have a very big sewer. Even still, it would be difficult to transverse the sewers to our specific exit on the first try. Even for the best trackers of the Clan would be slowed by a few hours. With the stench of the waste, we also couldn't be tracked by smell. "Alright." Trist rolled up the map and threw it into the sewer water. "Nice job Phantom, we just need to turn left and we'll exit a little out of town. Then we'll go to Hegiam. There we'll buy a place to stay, and continue our work there."

Hegiam. I tried to remember what I knew on the place. If I recall correctly, Hegiam is the 5 largest city in the Griffon Empire. Known most for it's imports from Equestria. However, it's also a city filled with corruption. I thought more on Trist's choice of cities. I would have liked Trineton more, oh well. Can't really go anywhere without Trist. I looked at the griffin running beside me through a sewer and grinned. Like I would ditch this crazy girl.

We turned left and I could see the light signaling the end of the sewer tunnel. But my eyes quickly adjusted to the light, seeing something . . . odd. Immediately, I reacted by slowing my pace, hunching my back, and making a blank face. Trist turned to look at me and quickly made a confused face. We reached the end of the tunnel and the blinding light of the sunset. We stopped dead in our tracks surrounded by four griffins, all wearing the bonetooth necklaces that symbolized the KaneClaw Clan. "What?!" Trist said shocked at the ambush.

"Nice to see you too, Tristana!" A female hunter said with maliciousness.

"But how?! No one in the town should know of the sewer exit here."

"You're right, no one in the town knew. But, the Chief has his ways of, obtaining, information." A significantly larger griffin began to descend from the sky, followed by three more griffins. The female hunter and the hunter beside her moved out of the way, making space for the four new griffins to land. Before he even landed, we knew who it was. He landed with his metal claws scratching the earth. He had brown overall feathers and fur, except for his chest. His chest-feathers were a grayish white, with the tips being red. The necklace around his neck holding the canine tooth of a Sabrecat. Trist's face hardened as the enormous griffin stared emotionlessly at us. There was a silence as Trist and the griffin locked eyes. Until Trist finally spoke.

"Father."

Chapter 4 - Change Of Plans

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"Father."

Trist's father stared at her with emotionless eyes. "Tristana," He finally spoke with his gruff voice, "Why did you run away? Come back with us."

"No. I won't be cooped up in the past dad. We shouldn't live in solitude, away from the rest of the world." Trist's voice grew as she ranted on. "Not the all the world is evil."

"Tristana." her father reached out a claw.

"NO!" Trist yelled. Her father's claw tensed at the harsh rejection. "I don't want to be treated like a child who needs to be protected!"

"None of us are safe out here Tristana. We can not live with the rest of society."

"Why not?!" Her father stood silent.

"I. . . can't tell you."

"Why? Why can't you tell me dad?"

". . ."

"Why?"

"Because we are different!" Trist's father finally yelled. His head down and eyes shut. After a few seconds passed he raised his head. "We will talk of this no more! Heilia, bring Tristana back with us." He ordered. The female hunter from before bowed. Then began walking towards Trist.

"You heard your father Trist. Now just be a good princess and come back home." Heilia coaxed pulling out a spear. The other hunters moved forward, slowly enclosing us.

"I'm NOT going back Heilia, I'm going to find my mother." Trist pulled out her knife and slowly backed up.

This isn't looking good. Should I reveal myself now? I didn't know if I should act now or not. They may not know that I'm sapient yet. My thinking was interrupted by the sound of three hunters grabbing Trist and restraining her.

"Let me go!" She struggled against her attackers. In her struggle, she happened to smack one of the hunters in the head.

"Ow! Freaking bitch!" He raised his sword to smack her with the hilt. Without even thinking about it, I dropped everything I was holding and rushed straight at the hunter's back. I grabbed his sword arm and spun my back to touch his. After that I pulled and leaned forward. I was easily able to fling the griffin hunter over me and disarm the sword from him. Quickly, while he was stunned on the ground, I smacked him on the forehead with the sword's hilt. With sword in hand I looked to the other two hunters holding Trist.

The two immediately let go of Trist and drew out their weapons. One had a spear, the other a machete. I charged at the two and parried the spear's tip, spinning to block the machete. I let the blade pass me and threw a punch at his face. The griffin staggered backwards, cussing as he covered his face. As he backed away, the spearman approached me, getting in between me and the other hunter.

Using small jabs, he begins trying to stab me. I grab hold of the sword and dodge, until he strikes to low and I used my sword to lead the spear tip into the ground. Then I rushed past him and charged at the stunned griffin. My heart was beating, and I could feel the blood pumping through my body. As he started looking up at me, it was as if everything was in slow-motion. As I ran towards him I threw my sword at him from above my head. He easily ducked to dodge my sword. But as he ducked I sped up and met his face with my knee. As I heard the crack of his beak, and saw his body go limp.

I had an odd tingling in my spine. I turned to face the spearman to find a spear tip headed straight for me. I leaned backwards to dodge and spun my body to the side to get out of the spear's reach. The spearman turned and once again aimed his spear at me. Although his aim was slightly off. Without my sword I would have to be more careful of the spear's tip.

He lunged with his spear and I dodged to the side and grabbed hold of his spear. Seeing this, the spearman let go of the spear and went to draw out a sword. I quickly dropped the spear and jumped at the griffin and punched him in the face. The griffin fell to the ground, tucked in a fetal position and moaning. I took his sword and brought it to his neck. But as the sword neared his throat, a voice intervened. "Enough."

A metal claw grabbed the sword and crushed its blade. Looking up from the griffin on the ground I saw Trist's father standing right next to me. His other metal claw grabbed my arm and began lifting me into the air. " I had suspected that you were not an average human." This grip on my arm tightened as he spoke. I clawed his talons as I tried to free my arm. "What are you?" He lifted me so we were face to face. "You clearly don't have the primal instincts of a petty human. I clearly saw you outmaneuver a spear and knock both of my hunters out cold."

The pain in my arm was starting to numb from how tight he was holding me. But then I was able to notice that some of the other hunters were holding torches. As I wondered why they had torches out, I realized that the sun had set, and the moon was only beginning to rise. Trying to focus through the pain in my arm I scanned the group for Trist. I spotted her being held down by a single hunter. Trist's father shook me by the arm. "What are you looking at?!"

Using my free arm, I hoped that Trist was watching and would notice. ~Trist, I've got a plan. I'm going to kick your father. When I do, I want you to put out the two closest torches to you.~ I waited long enough for her to get ready as I turned and focused back on her father. "Why are you doing that with your hand." Trist's father continued to shake me. "Answer me!" He lifted me up high that before. Using this moment, I swung myself and kicked him in the face. "Ugh, Bastard!" He threw me. My body hit the ground, but didn't hurt as much.

I tried to pick myself up, but my right arm was numb from his grip. "Kill him!" Trist's father ordered. I quickly thought of my plan and looked for the other torch carriers. With most of the hunter's attention focused on me, Trist was able to free herself and was rushing towards the torch carrier beside her. Alright, I got to put out those torches.

I barely dodged a hunter's sword as I ran as fast as I could to the torch carrier to my right. I grabbed the torch and threw it on the ground, stepping on it twice to make sure it was out. I spun to duck under a hunter as they tried to tackle me. I glanced to the side to see Trist flying to the next torch. I rushed to the next torch. Halfway to the carrier, I could see Trist put out her second torch. Dodging another hunter's sword, an archer's arrow hit me in my shoulder. Crap! I yelled through the pain and lunged for the last torch carrier. I was able to reach the carrier, but the arrow weakened me. The torch fell to the ground, but was still lit. I need to put it out! I quickly covered the torch with my body and smothered it with my shirt. The heat felt like it was burning my skin. Then the torch's fire went out, and everything went pitch black.

I stayed there, laying on the ground as my eyes adjusted to the new darkness. My plan had worked, although barely. During my skirmish and Trist's father holding me, the sun had time to set. Lucky it had been a new moon tonight and there was near to no light. I didn't notice that because they had four griffins holding torches for light. However, that meant that if their lights were to be put out all of a sudden, they wouldn't be able to see. Then I, with my ability to easily adjust to see in any amount of darkness. Once the torches were out I would sneak off with Trist and- . Trist! I suddenly remembered! I got to find Trist and get out of here! It's only a matter of time until the hunters will be able to see. I pushed myself up, feeling the pain of the arrow and the burns.

I looked around seeing hunters frantically bumping into another and cursing when a sword poked them. Ok, I can see now. Where is Trist? I scanned the griffins until I spotted a significantly smaller griffin scrunching up into a ball at the edge of the group. I weaved my way over to her, careful not to touch any hunters.

Once I reached her I put my hand on her. She reacted by immediately lashing out at me before realizing that a human hand touched her. "Phantom, that's you right?" She spoke in a hushed voice. I couldn't respond, but I tugged on her to get up and move. I got up and looked around, most likely not seeing anything but black.

With one hand grabbing Trist, I led us away from the hunters. I continued to walk in a straight line, with only getting as far away from Trist's father as possible.

We walked for ages until seeing a lit building. "Ok, I can see now," Trist claimed. "Somewhat. Ok, let's get closer." She stalked closer to the building.

With my enhanced vision I could see rails near the building. Train tracks. I followed Trist closer, seeing that she too noticed the tracks. "There are griffins here." Trist whispered. I nodded and we approached the train station. Soon we had a good view of the area. "Perfect, its a cargo train, hurry." We ran towards the closest train and slide open the doors. Trist silently flew inside as I climbed slowly in. Trist closed the door and the door slid shut with a click.

I took a quick look around the room we were in. It seemed to hold tons of burlap sacks. I walked up to one and untied it. Looking inside I see fine seed-like pellets. "Looks like wheat." Trist observed, turning around to find a more hidden spot to lay down. I retied the sack and followed her to a corner blocked off by a pile of bags. "Quick thinking back there." I was about to lay down next to her, but then the pain of the arrow and fire came back to me. I fell onto the floor sideways. "Phantom?" Trist asked reaching over and getting a closer look at my wounds. "Phantom stay with me!" My vision blurred as her voice slowly faded out, and I slipped unconscious.

Chapter 5 - A New Town, er. . . Maybe Not

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Oh damn! I mentally yelled. Did I freaking run a marathon around the whole Griffon Kingdom?! I moved to support my myself. Where am I?! I looked around the unfamiliar room in confusion. I hold my head.The last thing I remember. . . Is falling unconscious in a train car. I lift myself up to a sitting position on the bed. Ow. I grab my chest. My hand touches fresh white bandages wrapped all over my chest and arms. Someone treated my wounds. Was it Trist? I looked around the room.

The walls were made of stone, no windows, and a single door. Looking up I saw an electric lantern, though not one as strange as this one. Next to the bed was a small table with a cup of water. Besides that the room was metallic in style and rather empty. I opened my mouth to find that my mouth was terribly dry. Looking to the cup of water again I decided to just drink it. I grabbed the cup and began to drink as fast as I could. Once the cup was empty I sighed with relief and placed the cup back.

Ok then, now that I'm not thirsty anymore. I scooted to the side of the bed and set my feet on the ground. I lifted myself up onto my feet, only to immediately fall down onto my hands and knees. Ouch I pushed myself back up.Why are my legs so shaky? Spinning myself so I sat upright with my back against the bed I stretched my legs. I got up onto my legs and put some weight onto both to test if they were ok now. Good, now then. Time to find out where the hell I am.

I opened the door and was immediately stunned. The door opened to an expansive room filled with metal contraptions of all sizes. I stood there with my mouth hanging, awestruck. What is all of this?! I looked around a little and could see two towers with electricity arching in between them, a metallic griffin arm, and a many others that were shot steam out everywhere. I took a step towards the closest machine. It was about the same size as I was and had pistons moving back and forth. Hot steam was shooting out the back and a rubber belt was spinning turning a wheel. I whistled in amazement of how complicated it looked. I was about to take a look at another machine, but I heard the conversation of two griffons walking closer. Crap! I looked left and right for a place to run. I saw another door in the opposite direction of the voices and ran for it.

Barging through the door, I ran into a straight hallway leading to a set of stairs. The hallway was dimly lit, and housed only three other doors. Never stopping, I ran past the doors and flew up the stairs as fast as I could. At the very top of the stair there was another door, and once again I pushed my way through into a smaller room. Except this one had windows. Hearing the sound of claws scraping against flooring, I looked for a way out. I rushed to the only other door in the room, although this one was different, and opened it.

What greeted me was a wave of smelly garbage and dirty water beneath my feet. Ugh! The fuck!? I quickly stepped out of the water onto stone bricks and noticed the wall right in front of me. Confused I looked around to find that I was in an alley. In one direction, there were griffin-pulled carriages and a few prototype automobiles. Looking up the stone brick wall in front of me, I saw that it was taller than any building I saw before.

As I was stepping backwards a claw grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me back inside. I reacted on instinct and lashed out at my attacker with punches and kicks. But it wasn't before long that a sharp pain in my chest made me stop my assault. "Phantom! It's me, Trist."

I looked up to see Trist's familiar grey feathers and the few brown feathers atop her head.

~Trist!~ I signed as she wrapped her claws around me in a hugged.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're alright. You have so much to catch up on."

~Catch up? How Long have I been out?~

"You've been out for just about four days." A voice answered. Surprised to hear another voice, I looked behind Trist to see a tall, skinny male griffon with white feathers and brown fur (although the white feathers were a bit singed black in some places). The griffon took a step closer and reached out an open claw. "My name is Doctor Dominic Sawyer. It's a pleasure to uh, finally speak with you Phantom."

\\\

~So, to sum it up, we are currently in Griphonia, The Griffon Kingdom's Capitol.~ After bringing me back inside Sawyer's home. Sawyer and Trist had begun telling me what had happened over my four day coma in another room. Trist and I sat down next to each other on a couch. Across a small low-laying table, Doctor Sawyer sat in a blue cushioned swivel chair.

"Yes," Sawyer responded. "It is currently the largest city and the second richest city in the kingdom." He finished by adjusting his goggles on top of his head.

~City?~

Sawyer looked at me oddly, before Trist interrupted. "Phantom has never been to a big city before. He's only lived in the wilderness or small towns."

"Ah," Sawyer nodded his head, "Well, to sum it up." He faced me again. "Cities are like larger, long established villages. Most buildings can reach seven stories high and are usually made out of cut stone. The more rich sections ,of this city at least, have begun to move to clay bricks and other fancy stuff." He waved the idea of luxury away.

~Ok, I get the gist of it.~ I scratched the back of my head. ~When I woke up, I had bandages and my wounds seemed to be healed. Were you the one who did that. . . Saw. .yer?~ I struggled with trying to find the right signs to say 'Sawyer'.

"Oh no! I'm an inventor I'm a doctor in name, not a real one. And please, you can just call me doctor. I can tell that signing Sawyer can be a bit of a hand full."

"The one who treated you was Madam Armani." Trist stated.

"Yes, Armani is quite good with her hooves." Sawyer reached over and grabbed a cup of coffee from the table. I waited silently as he drank from the cup and placed it back down on the table. We all sat in silence.

~Is she here?~ I finally signed.

"Who?" Sawyer responded.

~Madam Armani?~

"Oh! No, Armani is busy right now. But next time she's free we can go meet her."

~Ok.~ I turned to face Trist. ~So what are we going to do now? Are we going to get going once I'm fully healed?~ Trist scooted on the couch making herself more comfortable before answering.

"Well, Sawyer and I talked about this while you were unconscious and we've com to the agreement that we'll be staying in Griphonia." Sawyer slid a cup of what looked to be tea to Trist and she gratefully picked it up. "We thought that in such a large city it would be more difficult for the clan to find us. And if we had a group protecting us we could continue to steal while hiding." She paused to take a sip of the warm tea. "So Sawyer has allowed us to stay here while we go to set up relations with his group."

~You're letting us stay here for free?~ I signed to Sawyer. Instead Trist answered for him.

"No, not exactly." She put down her cup. "In return for letting us stay here. We owe Sawyer a future favor. As goes his group's rules." Sawyer nodded at the correct information.

"I don't need a favor right now, but it is a favor that would need a masterful thief. You two will be living up stairs as my assistant, and her pet human."

~I always got to be a pet huh?~ I sighed.

"It is the best cover. Seeing as you are the first intelligent human I have ever met. No one would suspect that a pet human would be a thief!" Sawyer explained. I pondered the thought, but seeing as I had no choice in the matter.

~Fine, I'll be a pet again.

"Aw, cheer up Bruce. You had a nice time in Urenburgh didn't you?" Trist poked at me with my fake name. "Too bad Fiona isn't here anymore." I glared daggers into her as I instinctively raised my right arm and stuck out my middle finger at her. "What does that even mean?" I looked at my own finger, still sticking out by its lonesome.

~I. . . don't really know.~ I retracted my finger. ~But it feel s right for this kind of moment!~

"Ok, as much as this is getting interesting to me." Sawyer put a notebook down. "It is getting quite late." We all looked at the clock Sawyer had in the room. It said 11:28 p.m. "Seeing as I have work to do. Trist will show you to your room Phantom." Sawyer got up from his chair and moved to the door. Trist and I followed suit and got up as well. He opened the door allowing me to walk out first, followed by Trist. I quickly turned around and signed one last question to Sawyer.

~You're not going to test anything on me right?~ I stared at Sawyer suspiciously.

"No, Trist has already warned me about trying anything on you. It is also part of our agreement. So as much as I would love to test on an intelligent human, you have no fear of anything from me." He laid his claw across his heart. He then closed the door leaving Trist and me in the hallway alone.

"Come on, Phantom. Our rooms are this way." Trist started heading down the hall. Soon enough we reached the large room full of machines I had seen earlier.

~So whats your relation to the Doctor?~ I asked.

"Hm? Dominic?" I nodded.". . .Why do you want to know?" Trist eyed me.

~Is it not ok for me to know more about our housemate?~

"Fine, when I was younger, Dominic's father and my father occasionally met up with each other. Dominic was five years older than me and I consider him like an older brother. I don't know where his father is though."

~Any idea why his father isn't here?~

"I don't know. His father was a very well-known inventor and was hired by GoS."

~Gos?~ I repeated.

"Guild of Steam. After the creation of the first steam engine, GoS began inventing new steam-powered machines and grew to be the biggest business in the capitol." After that I couldn't think of anything to ask, so we continued walking until we reached my room. "Well, here is your room. My room is right next to yours, if you need any thing." I nod and open my door. "Night, Bruce."

Night, Shorty. I signed back and closed the door.

The room was nothing special. A bed, a table, bedside table, and a lamp. Well, at least it's a real bed. Not like the first bed Trist got me. When we were at the Clan, my first bed had been a nest of leaves. I made my way to the bed and took off my shirt. I jumped onto the bed and covered myself with the blanket. Closing my eyes I had one last though. Mmm, I would be really sorry for anyone who would have to sleep in a pet's bed. If this bed wasn't so comfortable.

Story Teaser - A Single Variable

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The meeting a Trist and Phantom that created the great duo that would become infamous was a miracle. But what if one thing changed. A single variable, that changed the entire picture. What would have come to be? If they had, a different kind of meeting.

///

I looked at the smaller winged beast as it stared at me from above. It just stared, and didn't say anything. But it didn't have to. Its eyes told me everything. 'Why won't this human just go and die already?'

She turned and flew away leaving me in that ditch to die. I screamed and cursed. I thrashed even though it hurt to do so. Eventually two larger winged beasts that were chasing me heard my cries and came for me. They grabbed me harshly and brought me back to their encampment. All the way there, I continued to scream and thrash. Only thinking that she could have saved me. But she didn't.

///

9 Years Later

///

I stepped out of the treeline and out onto the bottom of a hill. I turned to face the large group of humans that followed me. All unintelligent, all very feral. Just waiting for orders. I adjusted my griffin fur cloak and made sure my broadsword. Silently I walked up the hill. Once at the top I could see over most of the clearing. And I could see her.

On the other side of the clear gathered a large group of griffins. Led by their newest chieftain. I could clearly see her from the hill. I touched the scars on my face, covered in war paint. I touched the fatal scar she gave me upon my neck and growled. Her clan had thrived out in the wild, hunting and gathering. Using humans as dogs.

I survived nine years out here. In those nine years I had gathered wild and domesticated humans. She left me to die in that ditch, but I survived, and I'm here to pay back the favor.

I spun around and faced the horde of humans. Grabbing the hilt of my sword I swung it straight up and yelled for attention. Immediately the humans calmed and watched me, ready for orders. I spun once more and pointed towards the other side. Pointing at her. I let out a blood-curdling scream. The humans screamed in return and charged forward. In my mind, the one order I mentally repeated over and over.

Kill

Chapter 6 - Meet'n the Neighbors

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CLANG CLANG BONG BONG

What the hell is that noise!? I had been woken up by a loud series of clanking and banging from outside my room. I tried to block it out by covering my head with my pillow and curling up into a ball.

ZZZZOOOOMMM RATAATATAA

Holy Crap! Make it STOP!

BOOM

I sprang up into a sitting position and turned to the door leading to the main storage area. What was that explosion? I pushed my pillow off the the side of my bed, quickly put on my shirt, and ran for the main area.

Entering the main room I leaned over the railing that lined the catwalk of the main area. Looking off at one side of the area, smoke was fuming out of a side room. What the heck is going on over there?! I started to run towards the room, but skidded to a stop in front of Trist's room. Why hasn't Trist woken up yet? I grabbed the door handle and peeked inside the room to see a sleeping figure in the bed. Is she still sleeping?! Through this!? HOW!??! I closed the door and ran towards the smoke.

By the time I reached the smoke, it had already began to dissipate. I peered into the room, but could see through the smoke. What is going on in here? I crouched and made my way inside the room. I accidentally inhaled some smoke and coughed profusely.Oh geez. I continued to cough What's in here? I was slowly making my way until a claw grabbed my shoulder. I Yelped in surprise and spun around.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Phantom its me, Sawyer." I opened my eyes to see the silhouette of a familiar skinny griffin. "Hold on, let me- *cough* get rid of all this smoke." The silhouette pulled something out of his pouch. I heard a click, and the sounds of fans turning on. Slowly, the smoke began clearing out and I could start to see the soot covered face of Sawyer. He was wearing his goggles over his eyes. "Ah, that's much better." He put a remote back in a side pouch and slid his goggle up on top his head. The soot had created two circles around his eyes where the goggles protected his eyes. "Sorry, I forgot I had new roommates. Did i wake you?"

~Yeah, It was so loud. And what was that explosion?~ I signed. Sawyer looked around until his eyes spotted another half-built machine.

"I was working on this, and it happened to blow up. In my face. . ." He said placing a claw on the machine. I stared at the machine. It looked like a bunch of parts from other machines randomly put together. At least from what I saw.

~Well what is it?~ I asked.

"Well, I actually don't know."

~What do you mean you don't know?~

"This is my room where I take scraps and extra parts and randomly place them together to see what happens." I glanced around the room to see shelves of smaller random trinkets and a big pile of scraps in a corner.

~Well no wonder it blew up in your face!~

"Yeah, I guess so." Sawyer rubbed the back of his head in defeat. His face froze and he moved his hand back in front of him to see that soot covered his hand. "But!" He took a handkerchief from his pack and cleaned his claw. "I have gotten a few pretty interesting inventions from this method though!" He moved over to the shelf and grabbed, from a glance, a ball. He walked back over to me and handed me the ball.

Spinning it in my hand I saw that it wasn't a full ball. It had a string in the middle and two metal circles on either side. ~What is it?~ I handed it back to Sawyer.

"I. . ." I took the metal ball, "Don't have a name for it."

~Then what's it for? What can it do?~ Sawyer was silent for a second.

"It can do this." He took an end of the string and tied it to his finger. He grasped the ball and flung it at me. Not expecting him to throw something at me I leaned back and swung my arms in front of me to block the ball. But just as the ball was about to hit me in the face, it stopped. Next thing I knew I was flailing at nothing as the ball went back to Sawyer's hand and I fell onto the floor. I looked at him with a crazed and confused look.

~What was that?!~ Sawyer chuckled.

"Sorry, but that's what this does."

~What, scare people?~ I retorted as I picked myself up off of the floor.

"No, no. it goes back and forth, see?" Sawyer threw the ball out again, except this time at the ground and continued to do it. I watched as the ball went up and down.

~So that's all it does?~ Sawyer stopped playing with the ball and looked at me, then back to the ball.

"Uh, I guess so." He flapped his wings to put the ball back on the shelf. "Well, I think this is enough looking around." He walked to the door leading to the main area. "Can you go wake up Trist and tell her that we'll be going out in," Sawyer looked at the wall to see a clock. "About an hour and a half from now."

~Why?~

Sawyer just turned and smiled. "Why? To meet your new neighbors."

\\\

"Ha! So it blew up in his face?! Oh wow, I wish I could have seen that." Trist laughed as we walked out of Sawyer's "house" and out into the alleyway.

"Yeah, very funny." He used a key and locked the door behind us. "They only blow up occasionally. Today just happens to be one of those days." Sawyer turned and walked towards the street. Without questioning it, we followed him. Once we were out in the open I went into a semi-daydream state that made me look like an average human, but I was able to still sign and listen. After all, there were lots of humans walking next to their owners. No one would notice another.

"Are we going to somewhere to eat?" Trist asked. "I just woke up, and we technically didn't eat dinner last night."

"First, we have to stop by Madam Armani's place. We have to get there before she opens her shop."

"What does Armani do anyway? I saw her before, but you never told me anything."

"Well," Sawyer began, "First off you got to learn about our group." We stopped at a crossing as traffic went by. "Our group is named, 'Back Street'. It was named this because most of the group are store owners that were unhappy with the way things were for their businesses. So, they took up a side business. A member could own a furniture store in the front, but have an illegal human fighting arena in their basement." Sawyer leaned in and whispered, "Not that I'm saying we have those." He straightened himself and we crossed the road. "Madam Armani owns Snips and Stitches, a clothing store." We made a left turn and Sawyer pointed at a store with a sign poking out with a pair of scissors and a sewing needle. "Right there."

We reached the store and I saw that it had a showcase in the front so passersby could see the clothing sold here. Behind the glass I could see clothes for griffins, ponies, and human. In the glass portion of the front door, there was a sign that read 'Sorry, We're Closed'. Sawyer ignored the sign and proceeded to knock on the door. "Madam Armani! It's Sawyer!"

There was a moment of silence and just before Sawyer was about to knock again, someone answered. "I'm on my way. Just a moment dear."

Hmm, she has a strange accent. I thought to myself upon hearing Armani speak. The door opened and from the looks of it, a scarlet maned, whitish coated horse with an image near her butt. Is that a horse? No, its kinda small. A pony? I leaned my head and took a closer look at her side. The image appeared to be a spool of thread and a sewing needle.

"Good morning Doctor. I see you have brought Tristana and her human." Armani greeted us. "It is a pleasure to meet you again Miss Tristana." She bowed and gestured for us to come inside. Armani led us through her shop. As we passed through the store I saw that the shop was separated into four sections: Griffin clothing, Pony clothing, Human Clothing, and a section of fitting rooms. A poke to my side knocked me out of my thoughts. I looked down to see Trist.

"Sorry we forgot to tell you that Madam Armani was a unicorn before." Trist whispered. "I forgot that you didn't know that."

"Miss Tristana, are you speaking with your human?" I stopped and looked up to see Madam Armani and Sawyer looking back at us.

Trist began to panic. "What?! No. Psssh. Why would I be talking to my human, he can't understand me." Madam Armani look at Tristana panicking and chuckled quietly.

"Miss Tristana. I already know of your human's sapience."

"You do?!"

She does?!

"Yes, I used to be a nurse. That is how I was able to patch him up and how I knew he was different from an ordinary human." She said. "His body temperature was too high for an average human, so I knew at least that." Trist and I were frozen in shock at how she easily deducted that.

"Ok, ok, we must be moving on. Madam Armani, I'm showing them around the Back Street, so if you could kindly show us to the back.." Sawyer cut into the moment.

"Ah, I see. Then let us make this fast." She turned to us. "I am Madam Armani Jeane. Yes, I am a unicorn pony. I moved here after a long, stressful time in Equestria. After arriving here, I opened my own store selling griffin, pony, and human clothing. But the Griffon Kingdom is not the same as Equestria. The government would tax me too much, and I could not make enough to survive." She dramatically put a hoof to her head in helplessness. "But then, dear Norman came to me with a solution. Join the Back Street. Once I did join, I created my back business, one that the government did not know about."

"I was thinking, that you could ask Madam Armani to make a new outfit for Phantom." Sawyer explained.

~Why would I need a new outfit?~ I signed.

"Because Phantom, you're in the capitol of the Griffon Kingdom. The security of this city will require you to have new and improved equipment if you wish to continue."

"Excuse me, if you two do not mind." Armani cut into the conversation. "But are you using sign language to speak with us?" I nodded. "I see. Well this is quite troublesome, seeing as Sawyer is actually the only one of the Back Street that actually knows sign language."

I tilted my head at the thought that not everyone could understand sign language. I guess I had just been lucky that Sawyer knew it. But how else could I talk to everyone? "Maybe someone could be an intermediary." Sawyer proposed. "They could speak what he was signing for anyone who doesn't know sign language."

~Wouldn't that take too long? And be very tedious?~

"Yes, I see your point." Sawyer pondered.

"What did he say?" Armani curiously asked.

"He said it would too much of a hassle for someone to repeat everything he signs." Trist explained.

"Ah that makes sense." Armani paused to think of something. "Can he write?"

"I never really asked." Trist turned to me "Can you?" I nodded, saying that I could.

"Then couldn't he just write out what he wanted to say? As long as everyone knows how to read, anyone could understand him."

"I guess that could work." Sawyer dug into his bags, coming back with a piece of coal and a notepad. "Here." I took the notepad and coal.

~Coal? Why not a pencil?~ I asked.

"A, pencil?"

~You know, a piece of lead in the middle of a cylinder of wood.~

"Lead? Hmm, interesting. I'll look into it, but for now just use the coal." I pouted before scribbling onto the notepad.

+Fine+

"Very good, now. Let us continue." Armani opened the door in the back and we entered a hallway. There were two doors, one at the end of the hall and one that looked like it led back outside. As we were reaching a door I asked a question.

+So where are we going?+

"We're going to see my Back Street job."

+Back Street job?+ Armani just smiled and opened the door. The door opened to a staircase lit with red lanterns. We made our way down the stairs single file. Once we reached the door, the handle glowed a red hue and the door opened. Behind the door greatly contrasted from the bland wooden walls of the hall. The door opened to an impressive room. The walls were velvet and the floor was red carpet, both lined with gold designs. There was a counter and a set of double doors. Behind the counter were another set of stairs going further down.

"Welcome to Votre Plaisir Cache." Armani said with her accent coming back out..

"What?" Trist asked.

"Ah, my bad. My parents were from Prance." Armani apologized. "It means, Your Hidden Pleasure."

+What is this place+ I looked up at the glass chandelier hanging in the middle of the room.

"A brothel." Armani calmly answered. I paused in silence.

+A brothel?+

"Yes, a brothel. A place where someone can go to find prostitutes." Sawyer explained. I rolled my eyes.

+I know what a brothel is.+ I flipped the page and continued writing. +I meant why would you have a brothel?+ Armani looked at me with a neutral look.

"I did not begin this with the idea of selling people for another's pleasure." She began to explain. "I began this to help those who have nowhere else to turn. Those were homeless. Whether they were griffin, pony, or human."

"You have human prostitutes?!" Trist blurted out. Trist noticed what she had said and covered her mouth. "Sorry."

"Nothing is wrong Miss Tristana. You have the right to be surprised. And yes, I do own a few human prostitutes. Female, and male."

"Don't mind me asking, but who would. . . do it with a human?" Trist asked. Armani just looked to Trist with a smile.

"You would be surprised at the secrets people hide."

+Are you keeping the humans against they're will?+ Armani took the time to read my message before responding.

"Do not worry Phantom. The humans I 'employ' here are by they're own will. If they do not want to, they don't have to. I also have living quarters for those who have no home." Just as Armani finished her sentence a dark figure fell onto her, however it did not make her fall. Instead the figure actually wrapped it's hooves around Armani's neck and laid it's head off the side of her neck. "Speaking of ones who live here."

"Aw, come on Arnie. You know you love me." The dark blue pony puckered her's lips and giggled. I noticed that her wings weren't like a pegasus', being leathery like a bat's instead of like a bird's. Armani sighed as she used her magic to pluck the pony off her back and place her on the floor. "Aw, no fun."

"Everyone, this is one of the ponies who willingly choose to work, and live here, Lola." Armani waved her arm to introduce the pony.

The pony in question put her hoof to her forehead, stuck her tongue out, and winked. "Hi, nice to meet you." She put her hoof back onto the floor and walked over to Sawyer. "Hey Doctor, when ya going to come over?" Lola asked.

"As I said before Lola, I am far to busy and I am not looking for temporary companionship." Sawyer replied calmly, as if he had said the same thing before. Armani tapped Lola's shoulder.

"Lola, this is Tristana, and her human Phantom."

"Phantom huh?" Lola looked at me with her golden eyes. She got up close to me and sniffed my neck. I took a step back. She huffed. "His blood smells different than a normal humans." She licked her lips. "It's more, rich smelling." Her voice seemed to get more hypnotic, more alluring with every word she said. I was broken out of my trance when a hoof hit Lola on the back of her head. "Ow." Lola rubbed her head. She looked to Armani with a pout. "Meanie."

"Shouldn't you be going to sleep soon?"

Lola continued to pout. "Yeah, but does that mean I can't see you?"

Armani sighed and put a hoof on her forehead. "Just go downstairs and go to sleep Lola."

"Alrighty Arnie~." Lola opened her bat wings and flew over the counter and down the stairs.

"Did you clean up the rooms!" Armani remembered to ask.

"Maybe~" Lola called back. Armani just sighed again before turning to face me.

"I am sorry for Lola's behavior Phantom. She is a bat-pony, and to top it off, she is one of the rarer types that drink blood. Without drinking blood regularly she'd go into a frenzy and drink blood from the closest source."

"Then how does she get her blood?" Trist asked.

"Easy, it's her payment. In return for her services she requires a small amount of blood. While some are skeptic at first, the customers who've had her, they say it is worth it."

"Ok. . . I guess." Armani turned to look at a clock on the wall and gasped.

"Uh oh, I'm sorry but you'll have to excuse me. I have to start preparing to open Snips and Stitches."

"No problem Madam Armani." Sawyer nodded, "We have to go eat anyway."

"Ah!" Armani's eyes perked up, " Are you going to eat at Geno's?"

"Where else would we go?" Sawyer chuckled. Armani smiled.

"Well then, give Geno and Tina a good morning from me." She bowed. And Sawyer bowed in return before motioning for us to follow him back up the stairs and out of Armani's store.

"OK, now then. How's about we go and have ourselves some breakfast?"

"Finally! Let's!" Trist responded enthusiastically.

~Sure, where to?~ Sawyer smiled and began walking down the street.

\\\

We continued to follow Sawyer for only about 5 minutes until we reached a store with the word "GENO'S" written large letters. Outside there were about three metal tables, two of which were filled. Windowed walls gave us a view of the inside of the restaurant. Inside booths housed families of griffins and I even saw one or two humans sitting on the floor next to their owners. As we approached the front door I noticed a small brown and white feathered griffin flying around dropping off plates of food at tables.

Sawyer pulled the door open and a bell jingled. The small griffin from before zoomed to us in response. "Hi Sawyer."

"Morning Tina, do you know where your grandfather is?" Sawyer asked. Still flying in the air the griffin pointed towards a window connecting to the kitchen.

"In the kitchen cooking with Thomas."

"Thank you Tina."

"No problem." She grinned. Tina then looked to me and Trist with curious eyes. "Are these the newcomers?"

"Yes Tina, we'll talk in the back." Sawyer told her.

"OK!" Tina zoomed away to talk another, older griffin near the counter. Sawyer walked towards a pair of double doors leading to the kitchen.

On the way on took a look at the food. I saw what looked like a sandwich with slices of steak layered with melted cheese inside. Another had a thee deck hamburger and potato fries. Another was adorned with two chili covered hot dogs. Looking at each slowly made my mouth water and my stomach growl. "It'll just be a sec Phantom." Sawyer whispered. "We have to talk to introduce you first." He opened the door to see Tina speaking with a very old griffin.

The griffin wore a kitchen apron over his graying fur and was about the same height as Sawyer, except not as skinny. This feathers were messy and were gone in some places. He nodded to Tina with a smile and Tina zipped back out to the customers. "Thomas! I got some important visitors. You run the kitchen for a bit okay?" He hollered.

"What?!" A green stallion with a chef's hat poked his head around a corner. "Again? Come on Geno!"

"Ah put a sock in it! It ain't even busy right now! Oh, and make three cheese steak sandwiches!" Geno walked towards us with a smirk. Sawyer put out his claw for a handshake, but Geno went for the bear hug and lifted him up. "Aw come on Sawyer! You know I'ma hugger!" I watched as Sawyer gasped for air from the grip of the griffin. Eventually he let Sawyer down and looked to us. "One for you guys too!" Before I could respond, the gigantic griffin grabbed hold of both Trist and me and gave us an equally tight hug.

My rib cage felt like it was going to cave any minute under his strength, I looked to Trist to see that she wasn't in a better situation. When he let us go I grabbed the closest thing to hold myself up as my lungs welcomed air back. "Sorry," Geno apologized, "Like I said, I'm a hugger."

"That's *gasp* all good and everything Geno *gasp*, but I was just showing them around *gasp* the back streets. Then get them *gasp* some food." Sawyer said in between breathes. Geno let out a loud laugh.

"I see. Then let's show ya around and then get all of ya some food." He walked through the kitchen and opened the walk-in freezer. I tried to quickly take out my notepad to ask, but Trist said it first.

"And why are we headed into the freezer?" Geno looked at Trist and just smirked.

"Well Miss, everybody's got ta hide their back street business somewhere." He said stepping into the freezer. "Mine just happens ta be where nobody can smell the gunpowder." I looked questioningly at Sawyer, who just nodded his head to enter the freezer. I sighed as we stepped into the freezer.

Once we were all inside, Geno closed the freezer door behind us. He turned and faced us. "Don't worry, it can open from the inside! Hahaha!" After he stopped laughing again, Geno walked through the hanging slabs of meat to the far right corner of the freezer and grabbed onto a handle on the floor. He pulled up and lifted a trapdoor that had a ladder going down. We filed through and entered into a torch lit room about the same size as the freezer above. However, unlike the freezer above. This room was filled with the smell of gunpowder and explosives.

I saw a familiar tiny griffin in a swivel chair. "Welcome bitches! To Casa de la BOOM!" Tina erupted with her arms in the air.

"Wha?" Trist said out of surprise. Geno patted Trist on the head.

"You have the right to be surprised." Geno said. "Tina has Split-Personality Disorder. Outside of the Back Street, she is the nice, energetic little granddaughter you saw before. But here-"

"I'm an explosives master!" Tina interrupted, punching the air.

"Second only to me."

"Not for long old man!" Tina glared at her grandfather.

"If you didn't know already what we do, we are demolitionists. I used to handle explosives in the Griffonian Military." Geno scratched his chin and smirked. "Those were the days, throwing dynamite down into those diamond dogs' tunnels. Ha!" Suddenly remembering where he was he cleared his throat. "So, we can provide you with a wide variety of bombs-"

"Smoke, flash, shrapnel, or straight up explosions!" Tina jumped in again. "We got 'em all sucka!"

"But no gas bombs. Those were banned five years ago, and for good reasons." Geno turned his head away and mumbled some about melting.

"That is pretty much the gist of what we do. If you need any type of explosives, or good food, then you can come to us." Geno got out of his chair. "Now then. Let's get you some of Geno's cheese steak sandwiches."

Chapter 7 - Meet'n the Neighbors (Part 2)

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~Holy crap that was a good sandwich.~ I rubbed my stomach as we walked to our third destination. Which, was actually on the same street. . . So it wasn't long before we approached what looked to be a forge. For one, there was no door, a walk-in store. It had thick oak wood beams supporting the entrance and a business sign above wrote: Hargoth Iron & Steel.

"Okay." Sawyer stopped us in front of the forge. "Before we go inside, I have to warn you. Smith, the owner and head smithy here, can be a bit intimidating at first." He looked at our blank expressions. "Just warning you." He turned and entered the forge.

Today was a pretty warm day. About 80-ish degrees Fahrenheit. But WOW, it was a cool 60 degrees inside the entrance to the forge. Walking in a forge, I had expected it to be blazing hot from the furnaces. Looking around I couldn't see any griffins, or anyone. The room we were in actually looked almost as if we had stepped into a forge from the medieval times. The floor was cut stone and there were banners with hammers on them. Even the doors inside were arched and had metal rings as door handles. Although, the strangest thing, was that the doors were all at least ten feet tall. Having my notepad out already, I wrote down a question.

+Is Smith a giant or something?+

"Well, comparing him to other griffins, Smith is. . . above average." Sawyer doubtfully said.

+And how tall is average for griffins?+

"Mmm, 6 foot 10 inches, on all fours I believe." He opened the door.

6 feet is the average? Then that means that Trist is actually below average. I glanced at Trist, who glanced back at me with a look. Wait! Then how tall is Smith?! My thoughts were interrupted as a gust of steaming hot air flew through the door. I leaned back as moisture covered my face from the rapid change in temperature. I wiped the moisture off of my face using my shirt. I looked to see Trist swiping condensed water off her beak and Sawyer clearing his goggles then place them back on his head.

"Well that was sudden." Trist looked at Sawyer.

"Sorry, I forgot about that as well." Sawyer shrugged. "Seems like Smith is still here though." Sawyer pointed into the room.

The next room had the same style as the 'lobby', except that it was obviously hotter in here and that there were tools lying everywhere.The room was three times as big as the lobby and had furnaces spread out from each other like work stations. It seemed like the only one lit right now was in the back of the room. "Wow Sawyer, " Trist said. "This makes your place look spotless." I smiled and nodded.

"I'm going to ignore that." Sawyer opened his wings and flew over the tools. Trist did the same.

~Hey! What about me!~. I signed. but they didn't see me so I picked up a clamp and hit it on the wall next to me. Not enough to damage it, but enough to make a sound. Sawyer and Trist turned to see me and realized that I can't fly.

"Oh right." Sawyer slowly said. "Well sorry, I don't fly often. I can barely hold myself up from long." He showed this my losing attitude for a second before flapping his wings faster.

"And I'm too small to carry you." Trist excused herself. "You're agile Phantom, I'm sure you can get through without cutting yourself on any stray weapons." My eyes shoot open and looked a bit further to indeed see a few swords mixed into the tools. "Well, good luck." She said before flying around a furnace and out of sight. I looked to Sawyer pleadingly.

"Sorry, may the Maker not take a leg from you today." Sawyer saluted, then flew around the furnace after Trist. I stood there for a second before wiping sweat from my forehead and sighing. Damn. Freaking griffins. I looked for a spot to take a first step. I'm too weak. I'm unfit. I mocked them in my head as I found a safe path and began my journey to the back of this sauna.

As I made my way through the tool-littered room I passed by four or five furnaces and many piles of coal. Wow this place is a lot bigger than I thought it would be. I wiped some sweat from my forehead again and saw the single furnace still on. I got closer to see Trist sitting on a wooden stool with a glass of water. Trist turned her head and noticed me.

"Hey, Phantom." She enthusiastically waved.

~Yeah,~ I signed. This area was different than the others. Everything was larger than the other stations.~Where is Sawyer?.~

"He went off with Smith." She took a sip of water. "But man, Phantom, Sawyer wasn't kidding about Smith. He's biggest griffin I've ever seen!"

~Really?~ I walked up to here and stood beside her. ~How tall did he look?~ Trist paused in thought before lifting a wing to about 7 feet 3 inches from the ground.

"About this tall?"

~I guess that's tall. I was expecting him to be even taller from how Sawyer acted.~ I would instantly retract my statement a moment later as I heard a heavy set of footsteps approaching from a corridor to my right. I turned just in time to see a mammoth of a griffin making his way towards us. My mouth hung open til the moment the griffin looked down at me, and me up to it. He used one of his enormous wings to push my lower jaw back up.

"Should keep mouth closed." He smiled with is scarred face. I saw multiple crossing scars on his beak, and more going down his neck until a smithy's mock that covered his tree trunk-sized chest. "It is not good your your jaw." I stood there, stunned and in awe of this black feathered hulk before turning and signing to Trist.

~He isn't freaking 7 feet! He looks almost 8 feet tall!~ Trist just grinned at me being startled.

"Yeah, I know." she sipped more of her drink. "I just wanted to see your face when you saw him."

"Also, he is actually 8 feet 6 tall." Sawyer appeared from behind Smith. "And to be fair, Trist had almost the same reaction." Trist shushed Sawyer.

"Shut up!" She turned away and continued to sip. Sawyer smiled then turned towards me.

"Phantom, if you didn't know already, this is Smith Hargoth, owner of Hargoth Iron and Steel, and mind behind the Bessimer Process."

~The, Bessimer Process?~

"Yes, the ingenious, inexpensive method of making steel from pig iron." Sawyer slid into an informational speech.

"With help from Hanna Bessimer," Smith thankfully interrupted, "she did most of the thinking."

"Yes. . . Hanna." Sawyer said in a sadder tone. Smith walked to Sawyer. "I'm alright Smith." Sawyer faced me again. "Back to the matter at hand. Smith works as a smithy, but he also was a brewmaster back in the Griffon Military."

"Gemology and Potion-Making." Smith pointed out.

"So, the reason I mentioned the Bessimer Process is because it is the reason Smith joined the Back Street. After Hanna and Smith released the Bessimer Process, the Guild of Steam (GoS) took up the rights to the process. The Guild of Steam is backed by numerous wealthy aristocrats and has the influence and money to do this. The Guild of Steam was created after the rise of steam-power in the Griffon Kingdom. Once they established their power, they began to monopolize new inventions and take away brilliant minds." Sawyer explained the Guild. "Thus Smith took up making potion making and selling rare minerals."

"I can provide weapons, armor, and potions for you." Smith informed me. I took up my note pad.

+Thanks, but why would I need potions?+

"Potions come in different varieties. Can be used for many situations based on the mixture and type of potions."

"Using potions will give you an edge Phantom. The Griffon Kingdom has almost no magic users. In the past there used to be griffin shamans who could use limited magic. But were more like zebra priests than unicorns." Sawyer explained from his apparently limitless mind.

"You provide assistance, I provide you potions." Smith stated and turned his head to Saywer. "I need to continue working. You should go to meet Joker next Doctor."

"Right. You in the middle of a project?" Sawyer pointed to the worktable. I noticed that the table had a large piece of paper laid out on it with a sketch of a human with arrows pointing from pieces of armor to parts of the human's body. Smith nodded.

"Favor for Joker."

"Ah, so it's priority #1 huh?" Smith nods lightly. "Ok, them. Trist we are leaving." Trist spun around.

"Good, I just ran out of water." Trist leaped off her stool and placed her empty glass on a table. Saywer and Trist then went a head and flew towards the door.

Oi! I dashed forward to follow. Wait for- I was stopped however by a giant claw grabbing me by the shoulder. What the? I turned to see the claw connected to Smith.

"Normal, or tinted?" He held up two slabs of metal in his other claw. One looked like a normal shiny piece of metal, while the other was tinted black but still held its shiny features. I looked back and forth from Smith to the two pieces of metal. "Which you like more?" I pointed at the tinted piece and Smith let go of me. I watched as he walked over to the worktable and began scribbling something on the paper.

What was that all about? I was curious to see what he was working on.

"Phantom! Hurry up!" Trist called from the other end of the room. I took one last glance at Smith before turning and making my way to Trist and Sawyer.

"What took you so long?" Trist looked to me. I had just made it into the lobby of Smith's forge and found Sawyer and Trist sitting patiently in the cold room.

~Smith apparently wanted to know my tastes on different types of metal.~ I signed.

"Either way, we must be going." Sawyer pushed himself off of the wall and waited by the entrance. "The bar isn't too far, and it shouldn't be pack today, but I would want to not be surrounded by a bunch of drunk griffins."

"Why would a bar be so busy during the afternoon?" Trist asked getting up and walking to the entrance. I followed right behind her.

"You'd be surprised how much griffins drink." Sawyer pointed out. walking outside. "Also, Joker's Bar is quite. . . original."

"How so?"

\\\

"Oh, this is what you meant." Trist stated open eyed. We had moments ago approached a bar and seen a drunk pair of ponies wobble out. Sawyer had sighed. The bar was named 'The Eiien'. The dark spruce building held a different atmosphere than the surrounding stone brick buildings. Looking closely I noticed that the double doors leading inside were engraved to the utmost detail.

We opened the doors to find one, or actually it was more like six or seven, more surprises. I looked at the multiple bar maids wearing full on french maid outfits with extra short skirts and each wore different colored knee-socks. I couldn't help but turn my head and blush. While doing so I caught Sawyer blushing as well. Trist stared a bit at one of the maids before looking at us with a look of disappointment. "Ppfff boys." Although I swore I saw a hit of red on her face.

After a while of standing near the front door, we heard a commotion over at a large booth in the corner of the bar.

A well mustached griffin wearing a white suit and surrounded by three other female griffins had begun yelling at a bar girl for spilling his drink on his white suit.. "You got my suit dirty you bitch!" I was able to see the spill from where we were and it barely got a stain on his sleeve.

"I'm truely sorry sir." The girl apologized with a hushed tone and kneeled down to clean the mess with a towel. The suited griffin grabbed the girls arm roughly.

"You better. This suit costed me a fortune. You'll have to play for its cleaning." He looked at her skirt and moved his other arm towards her skirt. "With everything you have." He said full of lust. A second claw grabbed his arm, stopping it in its place. I looked at the owner of the claw to see a well groomed, black feathered griffin wearing a black button-downed shirt and a bold red tie.

"Excuse me dear customer," He moved the suited griffin's arm. From the look of it, he was being easily overpowered by the new griffin. The griffin let go of his arm. "Allow me to give this free drink as an, apology."

"Hrm," The suited griffin huffed, "It'll take more than just a single free drink to-" He was interrupted by a drink being poured onto his head and all over his white suit. "Wha?" The other griffin grabbed his now stained suit.

"Oh, I'm awfully sorry." He said in a sarcastic tone. He began dragging him towards the us. taking a closer look at the black feathered griffin I saw that his right eye was glazed in a white mist.

"Hey! You- you can do this to me!" The griffin panicked while he was dragged closer and closer to the entrance. "I- I demand to speak with your boss!" We moved out of the way as they reached us.

"Sure," The black feathered griffin reached the door and pulled the suited griffin in front of him so they were eye to eye. "Hi." He pushed the suited griffin out the door and smacked his claws together as the three griffins that sat with the suited griffin ran out the doors. Everyone in the bar was silently staring at the black feathered griffin for a moment before going back to what they were doing before. He turned to us with a smile as if nothing had happened. "Ah, Sawyer! Nice to see you." They each other's shook claws. "You got to get out more. I haven't seen ya in a week!"

"Nice to see you to Joker." Sawyer turned to us. "Trist, this is Joker, owner of The Eiien."

He looked at Trist and me. "Good to meet you." He shook Trist's hand. "Let's go upstairs and talk." He walked and motioned for us to follow him to a door in the back of the bar. He stopped and spoke to another bartender. "I'll be back in a moment."

We continued through the door. The door lead to a stairwell. The stairwell had two paintings hanging on the wall. As we walked by I glanced at them. The first was a picture of a starry night painted with what looked like individual lines. The second was a group portrait of four figures; two male griffins, a female griffin, and a red unicorn stallion. One looked like Joker, except that he was younger and wearing a black suit with a red tie tucked-in. His eye was also normal and not misty white. I looked at the next most interesting one in the picture, the unicorn stallion.

The stallion had an unsettling red coat with a jet black mane barely reached his eyes. His ice blue eyes completely contrasted against his red coat. He looked almost the same age as Joker in the picture.

We continued up a set of stairs and walked into a large room. It had a desk and chair as well as a coffee table with two long couches and a recliner. There was a small bar on one wall and four other doors leading to other rooms.

"Ahh, finally." Joker pulled on his tie, loosening it and unbuttoned the top-most button on his shirt. "Man is taking care of jerks stressful." He walked over to the bar. "Drink anyone?"

Trist shook her head, she was too young anyway. "I'll have a cocktail." Sawyer said.

"Any preferences?"

"No, just not anything too strong."

"Righto!" Joker ducked down beneath the bar. "Ah, almost forgot. Phantom, sorry it looked like I ignored you. Gotta keep your sapience a secret." He apologized. "Even though almost everyone in the Back Street already knows, but that's different." He placed three bottles on the counter and picked up a shaker.

"You know mixology?" Trist asked shocked. Joker raised an eyebrow while pouring different measurements into the shaker.

"Yeah," Joker closed the shaker and began to mix it. "I had learned mixology as a hobby while I was in the Griphonian Mafia."

"Woah, woah, woah. You were a member of the infamous Griphonian Mafia?!" Sawyer spewed out in surprise. "This is the first I've heard of this."

"I didn't tell you about my past?"

"No. You didn't."

"Oh," Joker paused mid-shake, "well then I guess now is a good time to tell all three of you huh?" He continued to shake the shaker. I took this moment to walk around the room and take a closer look at Joker's decoration.

He had an assortment of things hanging on his walls. "When I say I was in the Mafia, I was only a member for a year or two. I didn't hold a high position, but I did have friends higher in the ranks." Joker began explaining. I looked at a painting. It didn't look fancy or anything, just a painting of a hillside, a forest to the left, and a mountain that looked like it had a small cave at the peak. "I mostly just liked being a part of the gang fights; the adrenaline, the bruises and cuts." I moved away from the painting and looked at the next wall decoration; a pair of crossed silver rapiers. "I had the dark blue suit and fedora get-up and everything!" I heard Trist snicker. I couldn't help but smirk. "Hey! You laugh, but it was the fashion at the time. Anyway, I had a group of four I usually went out with. We were made up of two male griffins, a female griffin, and one unicorn stallion." I looked at the crossed swords' intricate hand guards before moving on. Next I found myself in front of a door. Opening it, I looked into what seemed to be a guest bedroom. Seeing a bed and lamp, but nothing else noteworthy. I closed the door. "I was the second youngest in the group, the youngest being the unicorn. I don't believe we got along if I recall correctly."

"So how did you survive the giant ambush the castle guards set up? Which pretty much got all the mafia high ups." Sawyer asked, curious to know what had happened. I looked to Joker to see that he was pouring the cocktail from the shaker into four glasses.

"Well, it was like you said," Joker picked up the tray the glasses were on and walked over to the coffee table." only the best went and so did the higher ups." He handed a glass to Sawyer and took another for himself. "My small group as well as the lower majority of the entire mafia was left at the hideout. After we got word of the ambush, some tried to become acting leader; but it didn't work out. Infighting occurred and the group split. My group separated when the Kaljo and Natasha, the other male griffin and female griffin, decided to leave and live a regular life."Joker took a sip of his cocktail. "The unicorn was against it, saying we could start a new mafia. I would have joined him," He paused mid-sentence to take another sip. Only to look inside and find that he had finished the glass. " if he hadn't started a human underground fighting pit business first. He loved watching animals fight to the death, clawing and biting each other." He turned to me. "No offence to you Phantom, we know you're more than that." I waved back. "I declined his offer and decided to start up a bar here."

"What did the stallion do?" Trist asked. Joker placed his empty glass down and reached for another.

"I dunno, I think he went to Equestria and started there. Might've succeeded, might've not." Joker shrugged starting on his second glass. "Back to me though! After I decided to start up a bar, everything was fine. Made some drinks, attended some advanced mixology classes, hired Elise to handle all that business stuff. But then! The monarchy issues new regulations on each business, including bars! Shorter business hours! Higher minimum wage! Health checks! Well actually, that last one was okay. Anyway! I wasn't make'n big profits anymore, so I started the Back Street." Joker tipped his half empty glass towards Trist and Sawyer, then chugged the rest and slammed the glass on the table. "Mmmm, I love some strong rum."

"This is rum?!" Sawyer spoke, who was listening so intently that he hadn't even tasted his drink. He dipped a tongue into his drink and quickly placed his drink on the table. Joker stared half-lidded at Sawyer.

"Hrm." Joker huffed. "Wimp." He said half-drunkenly as he picked up Sawyer's glass. "So, I stared off the Back Street with Geno and Armani. Them being in the same boat as me. Afterwards Smith and then Sawyer over here joined later after a few others joined."

"So you have a Back Street business to?" Trist looked at the remaining glass of rum curiously.

"Yuppers! Using mah old connections, and some newly made ones, I am able together tons of information and sell some to others for a price."

"And you're okay with me and Phantom joining?"

"Sure! We could use a thief tah steal fer us!" Joker leaned forward, almost spilling his glass of rum. "Just don't steal from other Back Street members." He leaned back onto the couch. "Anything you need to get started can be supplied by the Back Street. For the price of a favor of course." Joker paused. "So do ya need anything else?"

"No, I was actually expecting more opposition to us." Trist said tilting her head.

"Mmk," Joker nodded. "I need to sober up so you guys can go when ya want to." Sawyer lifted himself up.

"Thanks Joker, We will just be going." Trist lifted herself using her wings and over to the door leading down to the bar. I followed as Trist descended down the stairs. Sawyer was about to take the first step down but stopped and turned his head to Joker. "Do you remember the name of that red unicorn stallion Joker?"

Joker lifted his drooped head and looked at Sawyer in thought."Uhhh. . ." He scratched his head, ruffling some feathers. "Dark. . . Darkfire? Darkfoot? I don't know. Dark somthin'." Sawyer tipped his head in thanks and walked down the stairs, and met up with Trist and Phantom.

Chapter 8 - Your Human and His New Attire

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I fidgeted as the white unicorn fiddled around below me. "Hold still Phantom, this is already very difficult with the size difference. I do not need you to make it harder to do this." Armani spoke as she used her magic.

~Sorry,~ My face reddened and I looked up, away from the mare as she moved faster. ~I'm not used to anyone being this close to me.~ I twitched again. ~Especially when I'm unclothed.~

"He says that he isn't used to being nude near anyone before." Trist relayed my sign language to Armani. "This is actually one of the few times I've seen him naked." Trist stared as Armani changed positions.

~You've seen me naked before?!~ I pulled back my hips.

"Yeah, " She continued to observe Armani. "When you were injured and I didn't know you were sapient I took a gander at you."

"Excuse me you two," Armani paused what she was doing and lifted herself to a standing position. "I would appreciate it if the two of you did not have a lover's quarrel while I am taking Phantom's measurements." She proved her case by lifting the measuring tape she had been wrapping around me.

"We are NOT lovers!." Trist apologized.

~Ditto.~ I signed to her even though she wouldn't know what I signed.

"It does not matter." She floated a sketchpad over and began writing on it. "He is five foot two inches. Short for a human of his age. Wait," Armani paused. "How old are you anyway?" I thought about her question as I stood there, still butt naked.

How old am I? I never really though that much about it. I dug into my duffel bag and pulled out my notepad.

+I have some vague memories about before I appeared here.+ I thought about what I was going to say. +Although all of it is very blurred. Like someone just took a dirty rag and harshly wiped them out.+ Trist and Armani looked at me in silence. I rolled my eyes. +I do remember having a birthday cake with the number eleven on it.+

Armani and Trist stared at me, jaws open. "Since I met you two years ago," Trist put the pieces together. "That means you're thirteen?! I thought you were one or two years old!"

~What? No!~ I naturally switched back to sign language to communicate faster. ~Do I look like a baby to you!~

"Well fine then, you're thirteen. Geez, that's. . ." Trist breathed in an out deeply.

"A shock?" Armani suggested.

"Yeah, that."

"So," Armani got to writing again. "Now that we know that you are actually thirteen, when your body size and age equals that of other human two year olds."

+When you say it like that, it just sound harsh.+ I wrote. Armani continued talking aloud her findings.

"Compared to a two year old human, you are 5 foot 2 inches; shorter that the average."

+That sounds even worse.+

"And you weigh 110 pounds. Quite fit for a human of your age." She nodded. I smiled with satisfaction at being better than average. Trist also smirked.

"You can thank all that training I put you through back two years ago." Trist crossed her arms.

~Yeah, thanks for the bruises and a broken arm that on time.~ Trist shrugged.

"No pain, no gain." Armani, not liking being ignored once again, lit up at her brilliant idea. She grew a mischievous smile.

"And your genitals are way smaller than the average."

~Wait. What you just say?!~ My eyes felt like they were going to pop out when I heard this information about my privates being small. Trist covered her mouth to avoid laughing, only to fail and fall to the ground laughing her lung empty.

"That is the last of the information I need to make your new clothes." Armani flipped her sketchpad with her magic and turned to me. "Do you have any preferences?" I paused without though as I processed her question. Uhhh. . . I had to think about this, this was to be my new outfit. Specially made too. I guess it'd have to be black, since it'll blend in with the dark more. And cover any skin so none of my skin pops out. I put my piece of coal to paper, wrote a three-bullet list, and handed it to Armani. She read it aloud.

"Black color, covers the whole body, and a face mask." She was silent after she read the last one. She finally faced me again. "I'll have completed your clothes in about a week. or so. "Elegance and Efficiency!"

+What?+

"My motto, 'Elegance and Efficiency'. To make clothing that looks, and works well. Why can't you be a fashionable thief as well as a great one?"

+I guess you have a point.+ I couldn't think of anything wrong with that.

"Good. Now if you can excuse me, I must go gather fabrics." Armani turned and walked out into the front half of her store.

Ok. I turned my attention to Trist, who was still laughing to death while also rolling on the floor.

"Hahahaha! Small *inhale* genitals! HaHaHA!!!"

"Oh, and Phantom." Armani called to me again. I looked up to her to see her poking her head into the room again. "Be sure to put on your clothes before you go, I believe you have a nudity taboo?" My eyes shot open as I looked down to see myself in full glory still. Blood rushed to my face as I realized that I was still nude. As I made my way to my white shirt and black loose pants, i swore I heard the beat of bat wings and a whistle.

\\\

After I got myself changed, and Trist finally stopped laughing. We left Snips & Stitches and headed to Smith's forge. "*snort* Small" Trist snickered quietly as we stepped into the street.

Oh just let it go already. I rolled my eyes and stomped with my crude sandles.

As we walked down the street, I glanced at the common griffins. I saw a group of griffin children flying around, tossing a ball to and fro. I looked at the other shops on the road. I saw groceries, clothing stores, restaurants, and . . . weapons stores. Even though seeing a store sell war axes and broadswords in plain sight was odd, what caught my eye was a pet shop. A human pet shop.

I looked inside to see families of griffins look at different humans in metal cages. I knew that other than me, humans in this world were pretty much animals. Like a dog. Well, yeah something like a dog. Watching the shop, I just felt as if that was wrong. I was relieved went the shop was out of sight.

Once we arrived at Smith's forge I saw that there were people sitting at the benches and a griffin pasted us with a sharp ax. Most of the space in the lobby was taken up by a giant bundle of swords laying on a tarp. Next to the bundle were two griffins One was holding a sword and wearing a mixture of leather and metal armor, and the other held a clipboard and wore a smithy's apron just like Smith's. As we walked closer we over heard what they was talking about. "Okay," The female griffin, from how her voice sounded, holding the clipboard said. "that's fifty short swords . Just like you ordered." The armored griffin placed the sword he was holding down on the bundle.

"Thank you, these swords look perfect." He kneeled and wrapped the swords in a tarp. "The Higon Mercenaries appreciate this."

"Thanks for the business." The aproned griffin thanked him. He bowed to her and walked past us without a second look. The griffin with the clipboard looked at us. "You Tristana?"

"Yeah, but how did you-" Trist asked back.

"Smith said to just go and meet him at his forge." She pointed at the door which led to the forges. "Just head on in." She walked over to the counter and began taking the customer's orders.

We opened the door and I once again felt the difference in temperature, this time it felt like we just entered the inside of a volcano. Unlike last time, most of the furnaces were on this time and had two griffins or ponies working at each station. As we pasted the stations and headed for Smith, I glanced at what they were making.

One station was making what looked like a long sword. Another looked like they were making pieces of armor. And strangely enough, one was making what looked like metallic tubes. What could someone use metal tubes for? Water pipes? We moved on until we reached Smith's work area.

When we saw him he was hunched over on his worktable, tampering with a dark piece of metal. My foot accidentally kicked a pair of tongs, making a whole bunch of noise. Smith stopped his work and spun around. "Tristana, Phantom. Welcome." He politely said in his deep voice. "You need something?"

I pulled out my notepad and began scribbling. +I'd like to ask you about weapons.+ Smith looked at me.

"Ah, right. You would have to defend yourself with something I guess. Would you like to learn swordsmanship? Although it may be a bit different, considering griffins are taught to fight with a sword held in their mouth when they aren't flying."

I thought back to when I had used a sword before and perished the though of it. +Um, I don't think I'm the sword type. Too. . . heavy? Knives would be better.+

"Light-weight, huh. I'll see to it then." Smith wrote a note onto a scroll. "Even if you do not want to wield a sword. You must train in all types of weapons. In case your preferred weapon is not available. Anything else?"

"I'd like a sword as well, and some lessons too." Trist spoke up, floating in the air using her wings. "I only learned how to use a bow to hunt. My father never taught me to fight someone head on." Smith looked Trist up and down before walking over to a group of weapon-filled barrels and looking through it. After rummaging through the barrel, he pulled out a sword; sheathed and with a strap. It didn't look elaborate or ornate, just a common short-sword He tossed it to Trist and she barely caught it.

"See how that one fits." Trist pulled the sword out and took some test-swings.

"It isn't too heavy." She commented. "Seems alright." She slid the sword back into its sheathe. "I guess that's it, right?" I was about to nod in agreement with her, but stopped as I remembered another piece of equipment I was missing.

+Do you have any harnesses? Like one that could hold potions, knives and small bags?+ I hastily scribbled on my notepad and showed it to Smith.

"I don't believe I do. I only have ones that hold large weapons. But I think Joker may have a cavalry sword harness that I could have a leather-worker alter." Smith sat back down on his stool. "Go see if Joker will give it to you. " I make an 'OK' sign with my hand. Trist turned to walk to the exit. Immediately after she turned I flipped my notepad to a pre-written page, ripped it out and gave it to Smith. He glanced at it, and gave me a silent "yes".

I reached into my bag and pulled out the crude-cut shiv I had stolen from that griffin years ago. It's alabaster blade was about five inches long. I handed it to Smith. +Thanks.+ I turned and caught up to Trist at the exit. We then went on towards The Eiien to talk to Joker.

\\\

"Um, excuse me?" Trist spoke to a passing griffin waitress. The waitress, who had a name tag on that said "Jessie", stopped.

"Yes?" She responded while balancing a tray of drinks in her other claw.

"Is Joker here?"

"Yes, he is upstairs signing papers. You can head on up." She went on to serve a table their drinks. We walked to the door that led to the stairs. I glanced at the paintings again. As we reached the top and opened the door we heard Joker yell.

"I'm doing the papers Elise! don't worry!" We looked to see joker sitting behind his desk, and a few stacks of papers. He looked up from the papers to see that it was just Trist and me and sighed. "Oh, its just you guys." He relaxed in his chair and pulled out a magazine titled 'PlayGrif'. "Whatcha need?"

"We were at Smith's doing some business. But then Phantom remembered that he lost his harness and Smith said you might have a harness?" Trist explained why we were here.

"Oh," He closed his PlayGrif magazine and got up from his seat. He was wearing a white button-down shirt. "yeah, I might have something. Just a sec." He walked over to a door.

Hey, that's the door I was about to look in. Before he stopped me. . . What's in there?. I walked up behind him and He opened the door to reveal a walk-in closest full of cardboard boxes. "I think it's somewhere in here." Joker searched through the closest. "Elise recently cleaned, so I might not know where- oh hey!" He popped out of the closest with a hat on." I found my old fedora!"

"Hmm, tacky." Trist commented, taking seat on the couch.

"What would you know." Joker, placed his fedora on a table and went back into the closest. I walked over to the hat and placed it on. I looked at myself in the mirror on the wall.

Hmm, not bad.

"You look stupid." Trist judged. I shrugged and took the fedora off.

"Hey." Joker said from inside the closet.

"What is it?"

Joker walked out with a wooden guitar on his back. "Found my guitar. I'm finding tons of stuff. Why haven't I looked through here before?"

+Cause you're lazy?+ I wrote.

"Yeah," He chuckled, "you're right."

+Hey, can you teach me how to play the guitar?+

"Why?" I shrugged. Joker scratched his head. "Maybe. I haven't played in a while." He leaned the guitar on the wall and once again walked into the closet. "I'm just going to start throwing things out okay? It'll be faster." Before we could even respond Joker began throwing junk out of the closet.

Whoa! Was that a sword?! Ah! I yelped as a bunch of scrolls smacked me in the face. I lifted my hands to block anything else coming at me. As I lifted my hands though, a spray can landed in my hands. What is this? I looked at the can. It was green and had a clown's face on it. I threw it behind me.

"Ah! Finally I found it." Joker exited the closet with a leather harness. "Here." Here tossed it at me. "It used to hold my Calvary sword. It should go from your left shoulder to your right hip when you put it on."

I slid the strap over my head and made sure that it went from my shoulder to my hip. Hmm. I pulled at the strap at my hip; it extended a full fist away from my body. A bit too big.

"Hmm, a bit too big for you. but Smith can probably adjust it for you." Smith shrugged the problem off and picked up his magazine. He hopped onto the couch and laid himself out. "Ahhh."

I turned my head as I thought I heard the stomping of feet. Who's that? My question met its answer as a griffin wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses barged into the room.

"Norman!" She yelled. Joker, shocked and surprised, fell off the couch.

"E-E-Elise! I was just-" Joker picked himself up and began to stutter. Elise stomped over to him and picked up his magazine.

"Just slacking off again!" She rolled up the magazine and began tapping it on her other claw. "Honestly," she sighed, "you need to take responsibility. You're the owner of the bar! Without me this place probably wouldn't last a day!" She huffed.

"So true, Elise." Joker scooted over to his chair and desk. "That's why I need you here."

"Yeah, yeah. Now read!" She smacked the desk.

Trist stood still, speechless as I was. "Uh." Elise turned and seemed to just now notice us.

"Oh, Tristana and Phantom. I'm sorry for ignoring you. I am Elise Deniford, I work here as head hostess and manager." She bowed. "But I'm going to have to have you leave now. Norman has a lot of paperwork he has to do. I will show you out."

"No, we're fine. We can show ourselves out." Trist spoke up. Elise paused where she was before conceding. She then turned to Joker again and began nagging him about doing his work.

Trist and I made our way down to the bar and made our way straight outside. ~So back to Smith's place?~ I wondered.

"Mm no, we'll drop off the harness on the way." Trist started walking without me. I hurried up to her and kept in stride with her.

~On the way?~ Trist stopped walking.

"Yeah on the way. I'm hungry." I shook my head as we continued back to Smith's forge.

Chapter 9 - Handling a Problem

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I tensed as the claw came back to strike my face again. I cringed at the pain of the hit and the soreness of my swollen face. Ow, claw-slaps hurt like shit! I sighed as the griffin took a break from hitting me. I tried to adjust myself in my chair. Ow! I reacted as the rough ropes around my hands moved. Couldn't they have used nicer ropes? Gosh. I began tapping my foot. I licked my lip and tasted blood leaking out of a cut in my lip. Great, this is definitely going to do wonders for my complexion. I retorted in my head. Ugh...

\\\

I yawned as I flipped the page of the book I was reading. Trist was looking through and signing more paperwork at her desk. I rolled on the couch Trist had moved into her work office. Uggghhh. I closed my book.

"What is it Phantom." Trist asked without slowing down on her work.

~I'm bored.~ I sat up on the couch.

"Well, we can't do any thing until we get your new outfit and equipment." She straightened a stack of papers and placed them inside a file cabinet.

Ugh. I groaned. I already knew that, but it had already been almost a week since we had gone to Armani. For the past week I had nothing to do as I waited for both Armani and Smith.

"If you're so bored just go check out some of Sawyer's inventions." Trist suggested. My eyes light up at the idea. "Oi! Just make sure not to touch them!" She made sure to mention.

~Alright!~ I signed as I hopped over the couch and opened the door to the warehouse.

I looked at the rows of inventions and walked into one of the rows. I looked up and down, left and right at all the inventions. I stopped and looked at a small hand sized remote control. It had plenty of buttons; fast-forward, rewind, stop, pause, play. Curious, I pressed the power button. Instantly the sound of very loud music spread through the entire warehouse. By the Maker! I looked for the off button but couldn't see it. I pressed the power button again but the music didn't stop. Shit, shit, shit, shit! I panicked. I dropped the remote and ran towards where the noise.

I found the row that was the loudest and ran down it. I stopped at the source; a metal box about the same height as me and had a music record spinning inside. Ah ha! I triumphantly found a switch. I flipped it the other direction and the pin lifted from the record. The record then lowered and an empty disk raised in its place. I sighed in relief to the silence.

After shutting it off I noticed a box with a lens on the side. I picked it up and saw that it had a button on the top side. I pressed the button and a light on the front flashed. Embarrassingly, I had yelped in surprise. I dropped the box and rubbed my eyes to ease the pain on my eyes. Occasionally I would blink as my sight returned. I looked down to see a smashed box on the ground. Oh. . . crap. I picked up the pieces and saw a blanket. I poured the pieces onto the blanket and wrapped up the blanket. I hurried to the trash near the entrance to the lobby. But as I approached the door, it opened.

"I told you Smith, he's been sulking more lately, I'm sure he'll be ecstatic to finally see- Oh, Phantom!" Sawyer looked at me with a smile. I quickly hid the wrapped blanket behind me. Sawyer walked further into the warehouse carrying a large box. I watched as Smith, carrying an even larger box, walked in after him. "Got some presents for you Phantom." Sawyer said as he cleared a table and put down his box. Just in time, Trist popped out from her office.

"Sawyer, you're back. I just finished with most of the paperwork. The ones that need your signature are in a separate stack." Trist reported as she walked up to the table. The table shook as Smith put the box he was carrying on it.

"Thank you so much Trist. You don't know how much you helping is for me."

"Oh, trust me, I know how much." She took a seat on a stool. "So what's all of this?" Saywer smiled.

"Phantom's ticket to entertainment." He opened the box to reveal a load of small balls of two different coloration; some black and some yellow. Sawyer picked up a yellow one and tossed it to me. "A present from Geno and Tina." I looked closely at the yellow ball. It was smooth and was a perfect sphere, all except one part where it was flat and had a picture of a white spark. "It's a flash bomb. If you hit it with enough impact, it will spark the mixture inside causing a bright flash." Sawyer explained as he picked out a black bomb. "This is a smoke bomb." He lifted it so we could see the symbol of a cloud of smoke. " Very self-explanatory, enough impact, it will burst open and spew out a thick smoke."

~Cool~ I signed, growing a mischievous grin while staring at the flash bomb in my hands. I looked up to see Sawyer waiting expectantly. I mean yes. I understand.~

"In the second box, holds Smith's bag of treats." Sawyer let Smith take the stage. Smith opened his box and tossed me a remade harness. It looked the same except for a belt attached to it. The belt looked adjustable. So I can wear it for a while. Sweet. I slipped it on. The strap went from my left shoulder to my right hip, then connected to the belt that wrapped around my waist loosely. Smith reach over and tightened it to a comfortable size.

"Bags hang from belt. Knives fit into slots on middle of strap and potions can be slipped into slots near top of shoulder or some on the belt." Smith explained plainly and straight to the point.

I took a look at the slots. Hmm, five knife slots, three slots for vials of potions and others for more on the belt. I looked at a strap on the left side of the belt and pointed it out curiously to Smith. He smirked and pulled out a large knife inside a black sheathe (although small in his claws) and held it out for me. I picked it up and grabbed the handle. My hand fitted almost perfectly; it was a bit too big. I pulled out the three inch handle to reveal an amazing one sided dagger; black on the blunt side, the sharpened part being a polished pearl-white of the original blade. The blade looked about four and a half inches long. It was the most awesome looking dagger I've ever seen! Awesome, just utter, pure awesome. I admired the blade.

"What is that?" Trist asked. I remembered that Trist didn't know I had this blade.

"Yes, I am interested as well." Sawyer leaned forward. "I've never seen such a white metal."

Smith shook his head back and forth. "Not metal. Dragon tooth." This was news to me.

Dragon tooth huh?

"Amazing! Where did you obtain a dragon's tooth?" Sawyer questioned Smith.

"Phantom gave it to me for sharpening. I too have never seen such a metal. While trying to forge it it didn't act like a metal, then I realized that it was tooth, not metal. Entirely different method needed to sharpen tooth. sorry I took so long." Smith explained.

Dude no problem! This is amazing I slid the dagger into its sheathe. I thought, but then realized I had said that in my head and gave him a thumbs up.

"Then where did you get it Phantom?" Sawyer switched his question to me.

~When I first arrived here I was picked up by a group of griffins. Thinking about it now, they were probably human hunters. I stole it from their boss.~

"A human hunter group? Do you remember seeing any banners? Anything they identify themselves with?"

~I remember that they always wore an 'X' and I saw a red banner on the boss's tent, but I can't remember what it had on it.~

"Would you recognize it if you saw it again?" Sawyer quickly asked.

~Yeah, probably.~ Sawyer quickly pulled out a piece of paper and began drawing something. He finished and held up the paper.

"Did it look like this?" I looked at the drawing. It had an eye in the middle with two crossing lines that looked like a claw did it in an 'X' form. My mind clicked it together with my memories.

~Yeah! That's it! But how did you know?~ Sawyer signed and placed the paper down.

"The group's name is The Slashers. They're a gang of griffins only that do all sorts of illegal dealings; from petty thieving to mass murder. Their boss has made a large name for himself as Hawvik Eye-Slasher."

"I wonder how he got that name." Trist lazily asked.

Wait a minute. I thought back to my encounter with the boss two years ago. No... it couldn't be-

"Rumors say that he was embarrassingly slashed down his right eye and made him blind in that eye." Sawyer stated.

Oh wow. And I made him blind it an eye? I rubbed my eyes.

"Now Hawvik slashes the right eye out of his victims until he gets revenge of the one that blinded him. What's wrong with you?" Sawyer looked at me as I continued to rub my temples.

~Uh, yeah. . . I was the one who slashed his eye.~

"What? Are you serious?!" Both Sawyer and Trist reacted the same way. Smith only silently nodded his approval.

~Well I panicked and I had that dagger in my hand!~ I tried to defend myself.

Sawyer let out a stressful sigh. "Okay, at least we know we got to avoid them. If they find out where you are Phantom. It'll be bad news." Sawyer looked inside the box that Smith brought in. "The last things we have in here are your potions." Sawyer reached inside and pulled out two vials.

"This one," Sawyer shook the red-orange vial, "is a fire potion. Inside is a mixture that will light on fire once shattered." He carefully placed the vial down on the table. He then lifted up the green vial in the air. "This is a healing potion. Made to be drunk. Once it is ingested the magical ingredients react with your body causing your body to heal new wounds at an exponential rate. Quite useful, if not for it's side effect."

~Wait, side effect? What side effect.~ I signed.

"Yes, the potion does not give your body the energy needed to heal you. Thus it has to extract enough energy and nutrients that are present in your body to energize your wounds and heal them." Trist and I stood there, not understanding what Sawyer explained.

"He means to say," Smith spoke up, "that the healing potion will heal your recent wounds, but in the process of healing, you'll feel twice the pain of your wounds."

"Oh, okay. That makes more sense." Trist replied. "Why couldn't you have just said that in the first place?"

"That's what I said wasn't it?" Sawyer asked.

~No, it was not.~

"Well fine then." Sawyer crossed his arms. "Armani has your outfit completed, She says to go to her shop and see it."

"Okay, then we'll go now." Trist stated as she got up.

"Right, she said to make haste." I got up and followed Trist out of the warehouse and out into the streets of Griphonia.

\\\

"Armani?" Trist knocked on the front door of Snips & Stitches. Apparently it was closed today. As Trist was about to knock again, the door opened. A tired looking pony's face appeared.

"Ugh, what is it? We're closed today!" Lola yawned, revealing her pointed teeth.

"Lola, its Trist and Phantom. Armani said to come over for Phantom's new outfit." Lola looked at us and squinted her yellow eyes.

"Ah, right." She rubbed her eyes. "Well get inside then!" She opened the door further and let us in. "Just follow me." Lola lazily flapped her leathery wings and headed for the door in the back of the store. We went through into the hallway, but instead of going all the way to the brothel, we entered another door. The door opened to a living room complete with table, couch, and a window to the kitchen. Lola landed and yawned again. "Stay here, I'll go wake her up." Lola entered a door to our left.

I took the time to look around the room. Hmm. Armani sure knows how to decorate. The couch and everything seemed to fit together so well. Well, more so than my room. Trist made her way to the couch and made herself comfortable. As I walked over to sit down as well a very sleepy, and messy-haired, Armani walked into the living room.

She mumbled as she headed for a bathroom right next to her bedroom door. I heard the sound of the sink and a toothbrush. After a couple of minutes Armani walked out looking like her usual self. "Haa," She sighed and walked into the kitchen. "I knew that I told Sawyer to send you over as soon as possible. But doesn't her know that I have my beauty rest until two in the afternoon on Saturdays?" I heard the fridge open. "Either way, you two are here." She walked out with three glasses of orange juice surrounded in her magic. She sat down on a chair across from our couch and floated two of the glasses to us.

"Thank you." Trist took the glass from the air. I nodded my thanks and took the other glass.

"As Sawyer most likely told you, I have finished your new clothes." She sipped from her glass, then her horn glowed as a new door opened and two mannequins of a human slid into the living room.

The first mannequin looked to have black skin-tight shirt and pants, with padding at the stomach, shoulders, and elbows. On its hands were a pair of black finger less gloves. There was a matching black mask with openings for my eyes. The mannequin had what looked like a pair of black running shoes.

"This is your 'under-armor'." Armani said still sitting on her chair. "You'll wear this underneath your coat. The shirt and pants are polyester, made so you can move easy." Armani floated the pieces of clothing off of the mannequin and towards me. "The padding is for protection of your joints. Though, it is the most minimal of protection. Basic shoes for you to run in. The gloves may feel like leather, but are actually a synthetic leather used by those who detest wearing dead animal skin, but still want that feeling of leather. To put it on you pull on the strap, it's velcro. The gloves also are finger less so you can grab things easier, they also have stitched cloth on the palms."

Wow. I thought. ~Thanks.~ I naturally signed. Then I remembered that she couldn't understand sign language. I moved to reach for my notepad and coal, but then noticed that I had forgotten my bag. I smacked my forehead. Crap. . . I forgot my bag in my room! I fumbled with my hands to try and thank her.

"Is, something wrong with it? Something not to your liking?" Armani tried to guess what was wrong. Soon enough Trist finished her snickering.

"Not at all Armani. He's trying to thank you, but looks like he forgot his notepad at home." Trist answered Armani.

"Oh I see." Armani placed her empty glass down. The overcoat on the second mannequin floated off ad into the air. "This is your overcoat. You're supposed to wear it over your under-armor." I looked at the coat slowly spinning in the air.

The collar of the coat was raised so that it would probably cover my neck. At the legs it splits in the middle at the front and back. At first the entire coat looked black. But it was actually a very dark grey. There was a stripe of a light white reaching from the collar to right above the hip.Why isn't it pitch black like the under-armor?

"Its made of 100% cotton and zips up the back." Armani explained.

I nudged Trist with my elbow. ~Hey Trist, ask why the coat isn't black.~ Trist rolled her eyes.

"He's asking why the overcoat isn't black like the rest of it." Trist reluctantly asked.

"Ah, that." Armani silently sat for a bit. "Not many people actually realize this, but pitch black colors will actually stick out in the shadows."

"Really?"

"Yes, since shadows are not actually pure black. They're shades of grey at most. So if something pitch black were to hide in the shadows, it would be easily seen."

That makes sense. The overcoat hovered over to me and laid itself out. Armani's horn continued to glow.

"I also took the liberty of making you some more clothes." Stacks of black t-shirts and long and short pants. "I also made some socks."

"This is quite the favor you've done for us Armani." Trist said looking at all of the clothes Armani had made me. "Truthfully I'm not sure how we are going to repay you."

"There is no need. I've already thought of the way you're going to repay all of this." Armani said, her face getting darker and serious, yet still held her beauty. " I need something stolen."

"Really? What is it? A precious stone? A priceless painting?" Armani just looked directly at us emotionless.

"A human."

Wait, WHAT? I sat straight up, shocked at what she said.

"You want us to steal-, kidnap a human?"

"No, it's more complicated than that. And rather than steal, I should have said rescue." Trist and I sat quietly.

"The name of the human is Lyn. She was a year old last year when she was kidnapped, so she should be two years old now. The one who stole her is named Sir Arthur Vanhandle, although he has 'Sir' in his name it is only a title and he actually didn't earn it himself. He is well-known human fetishist who lives in luxury in his parent's riches." Armani began telling us all that she knew about him. He used to come to the brothel regularly and always requested Lyn. But then he tried to buy Lyn. I told him that Lyn was not my property and that she was not going with him. He angrily left, but came back as usual the next month. However he had come with another human, one covered in a veil. He said that he wanted to try something new. I didn't suspect a thing." Armani grew silent for a while before continuing. "Apparently he stole Lyn by swapping her with the other human he had brought. And walked straight out of the brothel with Lyn." Armani slammed her hoof on the table, rattling the empty glasses. "HE JUST WALKED RIGHT OUT!"

She blames herself. I realized.

"If she isn't your property, then why do you care so much?" Trist asked.

"I know the rumors about him and how he treats humans." Armani glared at noting. "I don't want Lyn to suffer anymore."

"And you haven't tried to save her before?"

"I have, but with no success. Arthur's father was a very well known veteran from the last war. His home has it's own personal guard."

"Then what makes you think that someone like Phantom can do it?" Trist continued to press Armani. I was quite offended by Trist's statement, but it was true. Why did Armani think I could do it?

"... I, don't know. But it's... a feeling." Armani gave her answer. Trist sat in thought.

"Alright, he'll do it."

"Really?" Armani said questioningly. "You will?"

"Did we even have a choice?"

Armani gave a small smile. "I guess you did not. A favor for a favor. No matter what it is."

"So when do we leave?" Trist asked, getting up from the couch.

"An hour, the Vanhandle home is quite far out from the city. So we'll leave city as soon as possible, and arrive at the house by sunset." Armani explained. "So better get geared up Phantom."

I grinned at the thought of actually doing something after a week of hiatus.Sweet!

\\\

A smack woke me up flailing around. I'm awake! What's going on! My vision blurred from sleeping.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, dumbass." Trist smirked at me. I rubbed my eyes and blinked a couple of times to see Armani sitting across from me and Trist sitting next to me. We were inside what looked like an average-sized carriage.

~Where are we?~ I signed to Trist.

"We're in Armani's carriage headed for the Vanhandle Estate. How could you forget that so fast?" Trist eyed me. I looked down at myself to notice that I had my entire new set of clothes on.

Heh, I look badass! I complimented myself.

"Stop admiring yourself, we're almost to the estate and you need to know the plan."

~Alright.~

"Explain to him Armani." Trist looked out the window at the sunset.

"Alright." Armani started. "The main goal is to get in and out with Lyn safely. And if possible, without being noticed."

Well yeah. Isn't that the point of being a thief? I thought to myself as she continued to explain.

"There are about 30 guards protecting the mansion. Most of them patrol the outsides while only a few are actually patrolling the inside. When we arrive, we'll wait until night falls and have you enter over the wall in the back gardens. From there you'll have to find a way into the mansion's basement from the outside. There should be a door outside that can access the basement. Inside the basement there should be an old door connecting to the mansion's wine cellar. Find the stairs and make your way to the kitchen. You won't have to worry about any of the staff, since most will have already gone home by sun down." Armani explained in detail.

Wow, shes thought this through huh? I adjusted myself in my seat.

"Somewhere inside the kitchen is a hidden door that is said to lead to Arthur's dungeons. That's where you'll likely find Lyn." Armani finished explaining the plan to me. "Any questions?" I shook my head. "Okay then, make sure you have everything ready for when we arrive." She closed her eyes.

Hmm, do I have everything? I began checking that I had all of my stuff. Let's see... Throwing knives, potions, mask. I check one of the bags on my belt. Ah, it's the... flash bombs. I checked the symbol on the ball. I tied the bag and opened another. Empty, empty, smoke bombs. I adjusted my overcoat, but this caused another problem. Uh oh. I lifted myself up in an effort to pull my pants. WEDGIE! Shit! My skin tight pants started to constrict on my jewels. Maker have mercy! That hurts! I fumbled with my clothes until I was able to relieve the pressure on my loins. Ahhh~. I heard a snicker and quickly turned to looked at Trist, who I saw quickly turn her head back to the window.

"Well, if your done with your shenanigans. We've arrived already." Armani said opening the door and stepping outside. Trist opened the door on her side and exited the carriage as well. I turned to the side Armani exited and hopped onto the dirt path outside.

I looked around to see that we were in a dead-end dirt road in a forest. The sun was barely peeking out from the horizon. I saw three figures at the front of the carriage. Is that, Smith? I walked to the front of the carriage. I took out my notepad.

+Smith, what are you doing here?+

"Ugh, should have expected this if he couldn't even remember where he was." Trist sighed.

"Phantom," Armani spoke, "Smith is going to fly you over that fence." She pointed at the thinner side of tree further in front of the carriage. It looked to be about 40 yards away. The fence itself was made of metal and looked pretty tall. "He will also bring you back out once you find Lyn."

+Oh, okay.+

"Once Smith flies you over the fence, you'll have four hours max to find Lyn and get out. If you aren't out by then, we'll conclude that you were captured and we'll leave." Armani warned me of my time limit. She looked towards the sun. "We will have to wait a little longer before you head out. It isn't dark enough for you yet." I nodded in agreement. She then went back inside the carriage and brought out three chairs. I took this time to chat with Smith, whom was leaning on a tree.

+So. You were the one pulling the carriage?+ I asked him as I sat down at the base of the same tree.

"Yes." Smith blatantly answered back.

+Thanks for reforging my dagger.+

"It is fine. It was a nice experience to use different methods. I called it Cadmus."

+Cadmus?+

"Your dragon tooth dagger. There are some properties of dragon teeth you should know." He added.

+Like what?+ I was curious. How awesome can my 'load-out' get?

"Dragon teeth are naturally fire-proof, acid-resistant, and can cut through magic." He listed its attributes. "It also doesn't degrade as you use it , so you won't have to constantly sharpening it. Unless you want to."

+Wait, it can cut through magic?+ I picked at the one thing that seemed to pop out at me.

"While blades made of dragon bones are usually capable of splitting incoming magic projectiles and even magic beams. You small dagger will not. It can however cut through magic barriers and magic tassels."

+Ok. I guess that makes sense.+ I wrote as Armani called for me.

Ooo! Is it time? I looked for the sun which was no longer there. Sweet. It wasn't so dark that you couldn't see.

"Okay Phantom, it's time. It'll get quite dark soon so Smith will fly you over right now while he can still see." Armani stated. Without warning Smith grabbed my upper arms with his front claws and started to rise up.

Whoa, okay there. Thanks for the heads up. I snapped as Smith moved just over the tree tops, just enough so my feet brushed the leaves. Well there go the new shoes... Soon enough we reached the fence. The fence was actually a few feet taller than the trees. Smith slowed down and went a bit higher to get over the metal fence. Watch the spikes! Watch the spikes! I lifted my legs up over the spear-tipped fence.

Once over I could see that the mansion's back garden mainly consisted of a three foot tall hedge-maze with guards equipped with lanterns patrolling it. There was a stone walkway cutting through the middle, with a fountain in the center of that. Occasionally there would be a flower bed scattered around the maze. Smith descended slowly, trying to make as little sound as possible with his feathery wings. A little off the ground he let go of my arms and I landed quietly on the lush grass. I turned and gave him a thumbs up, only to see him already turned around and flying back out of the mansion grounds. Well then, thanks for the good luck.

I made sure my gloves were on tight and slid on my mask. I adjusted it so I could see through the holes. In the short time it took Smith to fly me over here, it had gotten dark enough so that my eyes had to adjust. It did so by me blinking and a yellow tint around my eyes faded in. Huh... That's new. I knew I could easily see in almost complete darkness, but when it did happen my eyesight didn't change. I pondered about my night-vision until I heard steps in the grass and dove into the closest hiding spot; a blueberry bush.

Hey! these are blueberries! I picked one and plopped it into my mouth. Mmm, yup. Definitely blueberries. I began picking a few and toss them into my mouth. I continued to even as two armored guards walked by.

"Ugh, I really hate being assigned to this house." One of the guards said.

"Yeah, so you've told everybody a million times." The other retorted.

"Yeah I know. But it's just that the actual General Vanhandle isn't even living here! It's his freaking spoiled ass son!"

"We can't help it, we're sworn to since the General's family needs to be kept safe." The guard said informatively, "Even if his son is an annoying son of a bitch and his wife is sleeping with a different man a night."

"Haaa." The first guard sighed. "I wish I'd been posted at Fort Hitan. My friend got posted there. Great sunny weather, sandy beaches, and the smoking hot chicks!"

"Not to mention being located in Trineton. Their grilled cod is the best!" The other guard added, licking his beak.

"Yeah, and the hot chicks!" The first repeated.

I couldn't hear their conversation anymore as they walked further away. I picked one more berry and flicked it into my mouth, only to find it tasting rotten and having a bad texture. Uugggg, rotten! I spat it out and shook my head to mentally get rid of the taste. I climbed out of the blueberry bush into a crouch and looked over the hedge. Looks like there are six groups patrolling the garden with two guards in each group. I scanned the garden and looked for a path closer to the mansion. Looks like this way is clear. I stayed in a crouching position and headed in the direction of the two guards from before.

It was easy to avoid the guards since each group had a lantern. All I had to do was watch for the bright lights with my enhanced vision. After a while of sneaking and hiding, I made it to the end of the hedge-maze closest to the mansion. I looked left and right. I saw a pair of wooden doors that slated down. It had a small lantern handing above the door. I was about to dash across the gap to another bush to hide in, when I saw a light approach from around the corner of the mansion. I crouched behind the hedge as another pair of guards pasted by. I overheard their conversation.

"Man ah hate havin' ta work the night patrol!" One guard complained.

"There's nothing we can do. We got randomly chosen man." Replied the other guard.

"But Dilan hasn't had ta do the night patrol in a month!"

"Yeah, seems like he rigged it. But we can't do anything about it without evidence that he did rig it."

"Damn it! Today was Kentian Fried Chicken today! You know how much aye love chicken!"

"Mhmm." The second guard agreed as they walked out of earshot.

Hmmm, Kentian Fried Chicken. Sounds tasty. I should mention it to Geno. Maybe he can make some. I thought before looking around for any other patrols and dashed across the gap between the hedge and the side of the mansion. From there I stuck to the wall and reached the door. My vision's yellow tint went awayOkay, there's probably a lock. So how am I going to- what the? I looked at the door, didn't have a lock. But... Usually these doors have a lock on them... I looked around and saw the lock on the ground near the side of the door. The lock was disfigured and had a yellow ooze all over it. The hell? Is that acid? I decided to ignore it and opened the door. It opened to a set of stone stairs leading into darkness. Well, guess this is the basement. I stepped through the doors and closed them behind me.

Oh Maker! It's so hard to breathe with this mask on! Damn it's dusty as hell in here too. I used my arms and swatted in front of me. As I did, my eyesight gradually tinted yellow again. I began to make out the stairs and started down the old steps.

I reached the wooden bottom and saw boxes and crates covered in more dust and cobwebs. Wow, it's like they haven't come down here in years! I stepped forward further into the basement. The basement was rather large, as expected considering that it was a mansion. I looked at the boxes as I passed and spotted something halfway through.

Is that a box of bags? Once I looked closer, I saw that it was indeed a box full of bags. Curious, I picked a brown leather-bag and inspected it. It indeed felt almost like my synthetic leather gloves, yet a little bit different. It was about the same size as my duffel-bag, but looked to be strapped across the back. It actually had a zipper going across it. Cool. Wait... I looked at the side of the bag to see an odd pentagram. I decided to unzip it to see if anything was inside. As I opened it, to see nothing but a black void inside the bag. What the hell? I reached in a hand inside, but my arm kept going. I watched as my elbow disappeared inside the bag. My fingers began to feel a cold sensation and I quickly retracted my arm out of the bag in fear. I was speechless at the wonders of this bag. I... Want it. I took the bag's strap and flung it over my arm and made sure it was on my back.

I looked around and found a door. Although, the door was already slightly opened. I hurried to the door and slowly opened it to find myself peeking into a cellar. Closer inspection showed it to hold walls and barrels full of wine. I stepped through the door onto a stone brick floor. Unlike the old basement, the wine cellar was cobweb free and looked to be regularly cleaned. Guess they like their drinks to be clean as can be. I moved to close the door connecting to the basement. It clicked as it closed which made me spin and try to open it again. Shit! It locked! I pulled on the handle but it wouldn't budge. Great, no going back through there. Gonna have to find another way out.

I saw the stairs Armani said. I walked over to them, making my way by some stray barrels lying around the room. I reached the stairs and first checked if they made any sounds by putting some weight on the first step with my foot. It didn't make a sound. Good. You can never be too sure. I slowly repeated the process with each step before moving up until I reached the door at the top. It wasted some time, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Peeking through the door to see an extravagant and well-equipped kitchen. The lights were all out, but that was no problem for my enhanced vision. I whistled at the impressiveness of the kitchen before covering my mouth quickly. Shit... I paused to hear if anyone noticed me. After few seconds I stepped into the kitchen.

Okay! Made it to the kitchen. Go me! I triumphantly said to myself. Now then, hidden door. Hidden door. I checked through the kitchen. I looked at the fridge. Could it be behind the fridge? I looked behind the fridge, under it, and inside it. Ooo! Cookies! I took a cookie and closed the door to the fridge. I bit into the cookie as I moved on in my search for the hidden door. Mmm, chocolate chip.

I looked at the stove, each cabinet, and the island-counter in the middle of the kitchen. What the hell? I began to get frustrated. I just checked the entire kitchen! There is absolutely NO WHERE else to check! I paced back and forth in front of the door leading to the cellar. I paused mid-pacing and turned to look directly at the door right next to the cellar door. Wha-. When was this here!? I racked my head as I looked at the new door. The door had a metal plate that said 'Pantry' . A pantry, of course a mansion's kitchen would have a pantry. I rolled my eyes and opened the pantry door.

I walked into the spacious pantry. I could easily walk a couple more feet without reaching the wall. there were shelves filled with produce. I continue to walk further inside, looking in between the foods for a switch or any sign of a door. As I was about to reach the end of the pantry I heard a muffled squeak.

I froze in place and looked down. It looked like the rest of the flooring, except I could see a faint light coming from the cracks in between the boards. I kneeled down and found a finger hold. Getting a good grip, I pulled up and the floor opened to reveal a set of perfectly cut, stone brick stairs spiraling down. Of course there would be a trap door. I stepped down and lowered the trap door down again.

I walked down the spiral staircase. Every once in a while there would be an electric light. My vision returned to normal as I descended. It soon became too hard to breathe with the mask on so I took the mask off. Oh! What is that smell! Ugh! It's all fishy! I covered my nose and mouth to try and block out that musky fish smell. However the further down I went, the smell just got stronger. Oh Maker. I think I'm going to throw up! Luckily for me, I reached the end of the stairs.

I walked directly into a dead-end room with a single iron-barred cell taking up half of the room. Odd enough, the room was dimly lit unlike the staircase. I squinted, concentrated on one spot, and blinked. And just like that my vision tinted yellow and I began to see what was inside the cell. What I saw made me cringe.

I saw what looked like a big bed, with red sheets. Off to the side was a drawer that had candles on top of it; some melted and others not. On the same wall was a bunch of. . . toys. I didn't even know. But there were whips, little balls, and . . . fake dildos. The fuck man! This guy's crazy! I heard a jingle of chains and I spun my head to look in the opposite corner of the cell to see a hunched over body. Is that?

I walked closer and the figure pushed further back against the wall. It is. Lyn. I looked at the naked human girl inside the cell. She had brunette hair and only looked to be twelve years old. This is what a two year old human looks like for them? She looked well fed and, personally, looked to have a pretty attractive body... Wait what am I thinking! I smacked myself across the face multiple times. She looks like a twelve year old! But they did say that humans mature at two years old... But she looks twelve! Although I am thirteen. No! No. I mentally argued with myself. Until she chirped and tried to move closer to me only to stop because of the cuff and chain on her ankle. She stared at me with her pair of raspberry colored eyes. I put a hand on the bars and she backed up to the wall again.

I looked at the iron bars and found the metal bar door. It had a lock on the door. And of course this door has it's lock. I took out my lockpick set and began working on the lock. After a bit, and one pick later, the lock gave a satisfying click. Booya! I got better at this! I put the rest of my set away and slid the door open.

I stepped into the cell, which disgustingly felt sticky. Okay... That is also, very gross. I made my way to Lyn as she huddled into a tighter fetal position in the corner. I reached out my hand. It's okay Lyn. I'm not Arthur. My name is Phantom. I'm here to rescue you. I paused with my hand still out. Why am I speaking in my head? It's not like she can understand me. I- I stopped mid-thought as I heard her let out a series of chirps and she reluctantly reached out her hand to me. I watched as she placed her hand in mine. She moved away from the wall and gave another series of chirps.

I looked at the cuff on her ankle; it too had a lock. I was about to take my lock pick set out, when I got another idea. You know what? Screw locks. I grabbed my dagger by the handle and looked Lyn in the eyes. Now don't get scared. I took out my dagger and brought it down on the chain. The dagger cut through half of the chain. I brought it back and brought it down a second time. It cut through the rest of the chain. There you go. I lifted her up. Okay, let's get out of here. I led her out of the cell and up the stairs. Woo man the faster we get out of this fishy dungeon, the better!

I saw the wood of the trap door and pushed up on it. It creaked open, but I ignored it and pushed it all the way open. I climbed out of the staircase and turned to help Lyn up. Alright, now we can probably find a window to get out and reach the spot where Smith will pick us up. I rushed ahead as Lyn slowly followed behind me. I opened the pantry's door and entered the kitchen. To be greeted by a blow to my gut. I fell backwards onto my back and into the pantry.What? Who-. I looked up at the griffin holding a spear in his claws. Another guard stood behind him holding an electric lantern.

"Looks like a human, sir." The guard with the spear reported before he moved out of the way to allow another, griffin through.

This griffin was wearing a bright, light-blue suit and a polka-dotted bow tie. His hair feathers were groomed back away from his face and gelled as hell. "Dehahah!" He laughed at me with is mouth wide open. "So The Guild thought they could kill me with a fucking human?! They're underestimating me too much." He chuckled. "Bring him with us, and don't be afraid to rough him up a bit!" He added at the end as the spear-guard grinned and whacked me in the side of my head, causing me to blackout.

\\\

Riiiight... got caught in the stomach with a spear. I remembered how this snobby son of a bitch, literally a son of a bitch, was able to catch me. Although, it be honest, it was that guard with the spear over there that did all the hitting. There was a light directly aimed on me so my eyes couldn't adjust to the darkness that was present in the rest of the room. The baby blue suited griffin, who I now know to be the ever so nice Arthur Vanhandle, walked into a spot where I could see him again.

"I did not know The Guild was training humans to do their dirty work." Arthur grabbed my hair and pulled me close to his face. "Did they really think that even a trained human could kill me? An idiotic, stupid human?!" He very painfully threw my head by my hair back. "How strange. For a human, even trained, to be so well equipped." He walked to the edge of my sight. "A dagger," I heard him pick up something, "It seems to be the only thing you could have killed me with." I heard him slam the item back onto a table. "But! As to be expected from a dumb ass human!" He smacked me in the back of my head with his claw.

Oww! What is this guy even talking about? What guild? I wasn't here to kill him. He walked in front of me. As Arthur continued ranting about this guild. Something caught my eye behind him as one of the guards silently cover another's mouth and stabbed him through the gut. The end of the sword poking out from the guard's exposed chest. The guard with the sword slid the sword out and carefully laid the guard on the ground as he moved quietly to the next guard. I watched, wide-eyed, as he went from one guard to another without being noticed by Arthur. Soon enough, he slit the throat of the last remaining guard and stood behind Arthur as Arthur paced back and forth in front of me.

"Do they not know that I am Arthur Pendragon Vanhandle?! I am strong!" Arthur ranted louder. "I am just as influential as my father!"

"Sir." The guard with the sword called to Arthur.

"What is it!?!" Arthur demanded while still glaring at me.

"We've found a dead body sir."

"What?!" Arthur spun around to face the guard. "Where is-" He stopped as I a sword quickly impaled him straight through his heart and out his back. The power of the sword sent droplets of Arthur's blood flying at my face. I continued to watch as the sword slowly exited Arthur's dead body

"Heh heh haha!" The guard started to laugh. I blinked and my vision changed to a lime green as I looked at the guard. And just for that split second that my vision was green, the guard looked different. He had yellow eyes and his coat looked as if it had turned into black plates of armor.

Arthur's body fell to the ground. "Y-y-you w-were th- the!" He pointed at the guard from the ground. Without warning the guard guillotined Arthur's head clean off. Blood splattered everywhere.

"Yes," He replied to the headless griffin on the floor. "I am that assassin." He showed a toothy grin as he laughed some more. Suddenly he spun his head and looked at me with his griffin face. "Now~ what, to do, with you~" He took a step closer to me with each pause in his sentence. He smacked the lamp that was inhibiting my sight.

The light bulb broke causing the room to be engulfed in darkness. Panicking, I concentrated and blinked to activate my enhanced vision. I saw the griffin guard right in my face. Shocked at the invasion of my privacy, I instinctively tried to get away from him. "Oh?~ This is different too." He backed up and looked down at me. "Nice eyes you got there buddy. I like that shade of yellow." He nodded. "What are yo doing here?" He took a closer look at me. "Trying to be a thief? Or are ya just trying to rescue your little girlfriend over there?" He shook his head towards the corner of the room. I looked and saw Lyn backed up in the corner. She had a face of hatred and disgust on her face while it looked like she was hissing. At this griffin.

"You are a very interesting human you know that?" The guard continued to talk to me. "A normal human would have noticed me in a heart beat from my presence. But you, never did react like your little lady friend over there. Plus, you got some arsenal over there." I tried to looked where he pointed, but could see it since it was behind me. Irritated, I grabbed the chair I was attached to and spun it 180 degrees.

Now I was looking at a table of all my gear, laid out. "Gotta admit though," He slowly turned he chair so that I would slowly see his face. " You were a really good distraction. Got that spoiled brat to think you were an assassin. Ha!" He let out a laugh at the end of his sentence. "Just goes to show you how much of an idiot that guy was."

I continued to stare at him in fear of the thought he would kill me. "Mmm, that tastes gooood~." He said out of no where. "Oh wait. Where are my manners!" He backed up from me and flew up into the air. "My name is Cryptos." He bowed in the air. " An assassin of the Assssassin's Guild." His normally purple eyes flashed yellow for a second as he elongated the 's' sound in 'assassins'. He seemed to notice this and covered his mouth in an 'Oh My!' fashion. "Oh my, sorry for that. That tends to slip when I get, excited."

"Anyway, I must be going. Don't want to be caught or anything so~" He pulled out one of my throwing knives from behind his back.

When did he! I struggled in my bounds. Shit!

"I must get going, but! I find you very interesting." He threw the knife upwards. I followed the knife as it embedded itself in the ceiling. "Don't want something like you to be caught either. If you continue doing... Whatever you're doing. I'm sure we'll mean again." He grinned once more, pointing up. I looked up to see the knife again, except it dislodged itself enough to begin falling back down. It fell with its blade directly facing down.

Oh fuck me! I closed my eyes and prepared myself for death. But all I felt was the loosening of the ropes on my hands. I opened my eyes and pulled my hands in front of me. Haa... I still have all my fingers. I flexed my ten fingers. Wait a minute. He-. I looked up at the guard only to see him gone and an open window. ...The hell...

I sat there in thought until I realized that I need to get moving. Wait! How long has it been? I untied the ropes binding my ankles and got my gear from the table. Once I made sure I had everything back on I walked over to Lyn, who by now had calmed down. She didn't have any chains holding her, except the cuff around her ankle and the bit of chain left on it. I grabbed her arm and helped her onto her feet. Come on we have to go. I pulled her. She followed me without resisting. I approached the window to and looked out. There was a bush right below the window. Alright, we can probably just jump down and survive, maybe. As I got up onto the windowsill and sat on the edge I heard a pounding at the door.

"Mr. Vanhandle, " Another series of pounds. "Are you okay? Sir?!"

Oh uh. Shit we gotta go! I grabbed Lyn;s hand and pulled her with me as I fell into the bush below. Ow. I think I got some leaves where leaves should not be... I lifted myself up and stepped out of the bush. I looked to she a disoriented human laying in the bush still. Quickly, we need to hurry. I grabbed her arms and pulled her up onto my back. I walked as fast as I could with a 2 year old equestrian human on my back. I hope it's not too late. Please still be waiting. I made my way through the waist-high hedge maze.

Surprisingly, the guards that were out here were gone. Most likely rushing inside because of the commotion. I walked into the area Smith had dropped me in and looked around in the darkness for the large griffin. Damn it Smith. Please be here! I grunted as I couldn't support the weight of Lyn and laid her on the ground. I sat down on the grass and sighed. Out of no where the large bush next to me rustled and Smith's head popped out of it. The shit?! Smith?! I jumped in shock of him popping out.

"Finally, you arrived." Smith stated as he shook out the leaves and branches stuck in his feathers. "Sorry for surprising you." I was more surprised that someone as big as him could hide somewhere. He swung around a small lantern that gave off enough light to see only outlines. "Looks like you got Lyn. At least I think you do." I saw him squint. "All I can really see is your yellow cat eyes."

Cat eyes? Well that's new information. I'll need to look at myself in the mirror. I thought as Smith approached the fence. I coaxed Lyn that Smith was okay to be near and she clung onto Smith's right side as I climbed onto his left. Smith lifted off the ground in a single beat of his wings.

I looked back over my shoulder at the mansion as we flew over the metal fence. The lights all over the mansion were on, and I could see griffins in armor running, panicked, through the windows.

I cringed at the cold air stinging the cuts on my face. Yet it was also refreshing, at least after what had happened. Even without my vision, I could see the lights of the carriage as we descended. As we touched down Armani rushed to the aid of Lyn with a towel. Lyn flinched at the touch of a stranger, but then seemed to recognize Armani. Lyn chirped, then cuddled in close to Armani's fur. Armani looked at me as I sat leaning back on my arms. "Thank you Phantom. From me, and Lyn." She said, tearing at the eyes. Armani then proceed to support Lyn as they headed for the carriage.

I continued to sit there, looking at the stars and crescent moon in the sky, as Smith stood next to me silently as usual. Soon enough Trist walked up to me. "Damn, you got beat up." She commented.

I huffed a laugh and smiled at her. ~Thanks for the welcome back.~ Trist returned the smile.

"It's what I do," She shrugged. "come on it almost 3 in the morning already." She stuck out a claw and I gratefully take it as she helped me to the carriage.

\\\

"While that was an extraordinary tale that Phantom told. We can not ignore one factor." Armani stated as Lyn fell asleep at her side.

"The strange griffin." I stated.

"Yes, from the descriptions Phantom gave. It is easy to tell that this, Cryptos, is not a griffin. He is clearly a changeling. Though he does not seem like one of the normal changelings."

"Sounds like an Infiltrator to me." Smith spoke from the front of the carriage.

"Care to explain?" I asked in a sarcastic tone.

"While in the military, we did come across different types of changelings." Smith began. "From all the information from Phantom's story, Cryptos sounds like an Infiltrator-Class changeling."

"Why is it that we don't know this?" Armani asked.

"The special class changelings do a very good job of leaving no witnesses. Although it is also mostly the government covering up any incidents involving special class changelings."

"You say special class changelings" Armani emphasis Smith's use of plural. "Does this mean that there are multiple different types of special changelings?"

"Yes Armani. From the information I was given, there are currently three different classes a normal changeling can become. The first being the Infiltrator. Infiltrator-class changelings are specialized in disguising themselves. Infiltrators are born with a higher affinity with their disguising magic and don't need to copy another's appearance. They are also able to disguise as griffins, ponies, and even diamond dogs. It's unknown it they are able to be anything else. The most defining characteristic of Infiltrators are their ability to spit acid from a gland inside their mouth."

"That is amazing, yet also frightening." I commented, shivering at the thought of anyone being a changeling and not even knowing about it. "I'm surprised that Phantom survived an encounter with one of those." I looked down at Phantom laid out sleeping on the same seat I was on.

"You're right to be afraid Tristana." Smith comforted. "Though the Infiltrators tend to be more rational and logical than the rest of their hive. So this tends to make them less subservient to their queen."

"The second class is the Breeder. Easily the most creepy to encounter. Breeders are specialized in reproduction. While it is said that only the changeling queen can lay eggs. Breeder changelings are the main form of reproduction changeling hives use. Physically, the breeder changelings have a larger abdomen and stinger. Using their stinger, Breeders inject eggs into a host. The eggs will absorb the host's magic then hatch.The changeling larva will then burst out of their host. You usually tend not to see Breeders outside of their respective hives."

"Maker! And I thought learning how a pony was born was bad." I exclaimed and made a motion like I was throwing up.

"That is quite disturbing and horrific." Armani commented.

"Yes, I lost a few squad mates to a couple of Breeders once. It was a gruesome sight just to see them inject someone with the eggs." Smith paused for a second before continuing. "The last class of specialized changeling are the Titans. Titans are specialized for brute force and defense. They are twice as large as an ordinary changeling and have a thicker chitin armor. However, due to their enormous size and hardened shells, they lost the ability to disguise themselves. Because of this loss, most if not all Titans are usually put as guards for the hive or, on the rare occasion, used as the first wave in a frontal assault."

"Those three are currently the three known special-class changelings we know of. However, there was one more thing that was found. The changelings have an elite guard that personally protect the queen. They only number six, but they are said to be the best of the hive. The Elites are said to be of any type of changeling, even an ordinary changeling." I felt the carriage slow as Smith took a deep breath. "My squad faced an Elite once... That damned bug nearly wiped out my entire squad of six."

"Do you think that Cryptos was an Elite?" Armani asked.

"He could be, from how he took out the guards undetected. But, Elites are only found near a hive's queen." Smith explained. "He would have to be either an ex-Elite, if they could ever stop being one, or a rogue changeling."

"Rouge?" I repeated.

"A changeling with no hive. They were either exiled or rebelled and left the hive."

"What would you say happened?"

"I'd say he left willingly. Since he's an Infiltrator, he is more free thinking than other changelings. The only thing I don't know. Is why his eyes seemed to be yellow, not green."

"Yeah, aren't changeling normally green because they feed off of the emotion of love?" Armani added.

"Yes, they infuse the gel-like substance together with the love they acquire and it causes it to turn green." Smith replied.

"He won't be a threat right?"

"Most likely not. He said he worked for the Assassin's Guild. The Guild strictly enforces that the assassin is not to involve anyone not involved with their assassination target. Although, they can never really tell if the assassin followed this rule or not." We all stopped talking and only the sounds of Smith's steps and the wheels rolling across the dirt road. Phantom snorted in his sleep, causing Armani and I to look at him. He yawned and adjusted himself.

"That really is a special human you have Trist." Armani said to me.

"Yeah, I guess he is." A smile grew on my face as I looked at Phantom's sleeping face.

Chapter 10 - An Average day for an Assistant

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I woke up, but I was still in a pseudo-sleep mode as I laid under my blanket and refused to open my eyes. I alarm clock continued to ring as I laid there. I pried open one of my eyes and looked at the time. The clock told me it was 5 o'clock am. Reluctantly, I got up to a sitting position and stretched my arms and wings. Blinking my eyes so that I could see.

I pushed my blanket away and hopped down to the floor and made my way to the bathroom. I entered and looked at my bad case of bed head. I leaned into the shower and twisted the knob. Hot water poured down into the tub. I waited an adjusted the knobs to get a good temperature. Once I was satisfied with it, I entered the shower and felt the warm water flow down my feathers and into my fur.

After cleaning myself I stepped out and grabbed the towel. I roughly dried off most of the water in my feathers and fur. I shook my entire body to get rid of anymore water trapped in my feathers.

Opening my drawer I picked up my comb and began grooming my fur. After that I proceeded to preen my feathers. Once I was satisfied with how my wings looked, I went back out to my bedroom and made my bed. Afterwards I stepped next to the wall and checked my height. 4 foot 6 inches... I slumped down in disappointment. Fourteen and I haven't even grown an inch from when I was ten. Do I have some birth defect or do the gods just hate me? I stepped away from the wall. "Might as well get started."

I walked out the door to the large open room that was Sawyer's storage space. I walked along the side as I headed to where I was going to work as Sawyer's assistant. However I was interrupted when I reached the smoking door of Sawyer's testing room. What is going on?

"Gah! Fire fire fire!" I heard Sawyer's voice from inside the room. Sighing, I opened the door and shut my eyes as smoke bellowed out from inside the room.

"Sawyer! What the hell is going on here!?" I yelled into the room. I heard a series of coughs before hearing Sawyer.

"Trist? That you? Nothing is wrong, everything is fine and under control!" As he said that, the old sprinklers kicked in and began showing the testing room with water. "Ah! no no nonononono! My work! The blueprints will get ruined!" I rolled my eyes and left the door open to let out the remaining smoke. I left Sawyer to his inventions and walked a few doors down to my office.

I wasn't anything special. Just a room with a desk, a chair similar to Sawyer's, and a bunch of filing cabinets. The desk was already filled with stacks of papers Sawyer never wanted to look at. I sat down on the chair and got to work.

I read through each paper making sure I didn't miss a thing as I made sure to sign at the right places and place them in the right stack. Occasionally I would come across a paper that would specify Sawyer's own signature. I would place those in their own pile. Once a stack got to high, I would move it to an empty filing cabinet. Now, it wasn't that bad. Most of it was just junk and advertisements, so I threw those into the trash. I did fill almost four extra large trash bags. Soon enough, I was almost complete. I so decided to take a break and let my mind wander.

I wonder how the clan is doing. I just need to find out what happened to mom. Dad would never tell me, he hides too many secrets. I leaned back in my chair. I wouldn't be able to do anything if he kept suffocating me. That's why I had to leave, with Phantom. Although, the city life is so much different. Yeah you have a place you can call safe, but everywhere else is as deadly as a wolves' den! Like last Armani's request to save Lyn two days ago. Who knew that there were such dangerous thing like changelings.I remembered the changeling Infiltrator, Cryptos. I've never heard of them when I was still in the Clan. I face turned grim. That goes to show you how isolated from the outside world the Clan is. I paused to look at the next paper.

It was actually a bundle of papers. I straightened up in my seat and flipped through the pages. "Don't tell me this is what I think it is." I looked through page after page of materials and numbers. The packet of papers were a list of all of Sawyer's orders. And they hadn't been paid yet. "Haaaaaaaaa..." I rubbed my beak in frustration. "This needs to be paid for or else someone is going to come for their money." I sorted out the remaining stack I had already stacked and left my office to discuss things with Sawyer.

I walked over to the testing room to hear the fans on and the sprinklers gone. Looking inside the open door I saw Sawyer dabbing sheets of paper with towels in an effort to dry them. "Oi Sawyer."

"Hmm?" He twisted his neck and looked at me. "Oh, Trist. Yeah, everything's fine see?" He motioned with his arms to the entire room. I gazed at the soaked room, except for one spot in a rectangular space that was marked by caution tape.

"Uh huh. What is this?" I walked in and pulled out the bill of materials. "Why haven't you paid for all of this?!" Sawyer instantly knew what I was talking about without having to look.

"Ugh, that. I hate paperwork almost as much as Joker does." Sawyer gave me that, 'not that again' look. "I usually just hand that to Joker. He always pays for the expenses. Although in return I have to do a bunch of favors for him..." He muttered at the end.

"So Joker handles all of your bills?"

"Yup, and my rent!" He smiled. I deadpanned.

"Fine, whatever. Either way, these" I held up the papers again. " were due two months ago."

"Ooo, that's bad..."

"Ya think. I'm going to go hand these to Joker right now." I headed for the door.

"Thanks Tristy~"

"I hate you." I replied without turning around.

"I love you too~" I rolled my eyes and turned to the hallway leading to the exit.

\\\

I watched as a small griffin rid on top of a human's shoulders as a larger griffin, most likely the mother of the child, pulled the human with a leash. I adjusted my jacket and walked on the side of the road. "Morning Miss Tristana." A pony at a apple stall greeted me.

"Morning to you to Mister Apple Cider." I kindly replied. It's already been a while since we had settled in the neighborhood and everyone had gotten used to both Phantom and me already.

"Good morning!" Another passing griffin raise a hand as she hurriedly ran by.

"Morning." I moved out of her way. As I turned the corner, I noticed a fur coat covered Armani levitating a cloth with her magic to clean the front windows of her store. "Hey Armani," I waved as I got closer to her.

She turned her head and gave me a smile. "Ah, Tristana dear." She levitated the cloth to the bucket of soapy water on the ground and met me halfway with a hug. "How are you today? And what are you doing in that?" She pointed at my jacket.

"What this? It was the only thing I could find to put on against the cold." I looked down at the worn jacket.

"Hrm." Armani huffed. "We will just have to get you a better one." She grabbed me by my arm and pulled me inside. "Come with me, I have just the right thing." Armani took hold of my claw and before I knew it, I was inside her shop.

"Armani, there really is no need." I tried to reason with her. Armani however was too busy filing through her assortment of coats.

"Nonsense dear." She pulled out a fancy looking, thick furred coat with fur even on the hood. "Here, try this on." Taking the coat in my claw I could see that it was very fluffy and must have taken a lot of work to complete. To avoid an angry scarlet unicorn I reluctantly slid my arms into the coat's sleeves. Once it was on I turned to present myself to Armani.

"Hmm..." She lifted a hoof to rub her chin. "Too large. You look like a fluffy hedgehog." She spun around and searched through another set of coats. "Something less, royal. More... modest? Yes?"

I paused from taking off the coat to respond. "Huh? Oh, uhh yeah."

"Here, try this one." Armani pulled out a orange hooded-jacket. It was thinner than the last one and it didn't have any itchy fur on it either. Plus, I kinda like that shade of orange.

"Okay." I grabbed the orange jacket and slipped it on. I zipped it up and looked at myself in the mirror. I liked it. It wasn't too flashy. It was warm. And I'd like to think that I looked good in it. I smiled and turned to Armani.

"You like it then?"

"Yeah. How much is it?"

"650 bits."

"What?!" I blurted out in surprise. The jacket way too expensive for me to buy. "Is there any cheaper ones?" I started to take off the jacket. However. A red glow stopped me from taking it off and even zipped up the jacket. "Armani?"

"Keep it." See smiled back at me. "For free."

"But, you hand- I mean, hoof-make them from scratch! It costs 650 bits of your own hard work. I can't take it for free."

"Then take it as an early Hearth's Warming Eve present. From Lyn and me." I returned her smile and pulled her in for a hug. "Thank you Trist, and Phantom too."

"Anything for a friend."

\\\

I walked through the brisk morning air with my new gift on. I continued on from Snips & Stitches. As I was about to reach the Eiien I saw Smith pulling a cart full of wood. I waved and he stopped right next to me. "Morning Trist." He bowed his head politely.

"Good morning." I replied back. "Whats all the wood for?"

"For the furnaces."

"Ah, I see." It was silent for a while as nether Smith nor I said anything else.

"Tina was looking for you or Phantom." Smith finally said something.

"Really? Did she say why?" He shook his head.

"Only to tell you if I meet you."

"Okay, well thanks." Another gap in the conversation popped up. "Well, gotta go." Smith gave a silent goodbye and continued down the road. I looked up at the Eiien and walked through the double doors.

Taking a look around, I saw that there were a few customers around. Walking through and headed for Joker and Elise over by the bar. As I approached, I overheard a part of their conversation.

"-what he said istrue, and Cryptos is involved. It is going to create some complications." Elise was telling Joker. Joker was wiping some mugs while wearing a neutral face.

"Fine Liz, tell everyone to be careful." He looked like he was going to say more, but stopped as he saw me getting closer. He instantly put on a welcoming smile. "Hey! Good Morning Trist. What do I owe the pleasure of seeing you so early in the morn?" He put down the mug. "Coffee? I insist." He seemingly pulled a cup of steaming coffee out of no where.

Not thinking I took the cup. "Uh, I was looking through Sawyer's paperwork." I looked down into the cup.

"Ah, finally digging into there huh?"

"I told him to that he should at least look at them himself." Elise added.

"Ugh," I recoiled at the taste of the coffee. "Bitter." Joker chuckled.

"I guess black is too much for your tastes." Joker took the cup of black coffee back. "Don't worry, in a year or two it'll taste better. So what bring you here early in the morn?"

"Right," I reached into by bag and pulled out the stack of papers. "I found these while cleaning through all of Sawyer's paperwork. It looks like a list of materials." I handed the papers to Joker.

"Ah, Sawyer's Inventory for the past four years." He skimmed the papers before handing it off to Elise. She took it and made her way upstairs without even saying a word. "Elise handles these kinds of stuff, since she went to college and graduated with a finance degree." I thought that did make sense. I sat on a stool as Joker went back to work and waited for Elise to come back.

The bar was quiet and serene as the few denizens sat at their respective tables. Most reading the local newspaper, others calmly chatting with a partner. It didn't feel as if she was gone for long, but Elise came out of the stairwell and handed a single piece of paper to Joker. "Just sign here and it's done." She stated as she handed a pen to Joker. He accepted the pen, placed the paper on a dry area on the counter and signed his name.

"Alright. Thanks Lis." He passed the pen to her. "Here." He then held out the paper. I took the paper in my claw and looked at it. "That's an official document stating that I, Joker, will be paying for Sawyer's expenses." I looked at the signature.

"Norman?" I questioningly asked as I read the signature.

"Yeah... My real name... Don't like it though, sounds too boring right? Pretty much sounds like normal."

"Uh, okay." I slipped the paper into my bag. "I gotta go, I have more papers to sort out."

"Alrighty then.~ Next time I'll make you a cappuccino instead of straight up black, or maybe a latte?" I believed that Joker began to go through an assortment of different coffees, but I had already turned and left the bar.

\\\

Great, now that I've got that out of the way I can finish up the rest of the papers. I adjusted my new jacket and took a short cut through the bazaar.

While you could find a store to buy something on any street. The bazaar is where you usually find the more variety of produce. The bazaar is an open-market where you can't have a permanent spot. A griffin or pony can purchase plot to set up a temporary stall to sell goods. This was set up by the local denizens and not by the Griffon Monarchy. All the bits obtained from buying a plot go to maintaining nearby roads and renovating abandoned buildings. Any money a person makes from their store goes to them. Although they do take donations from stall-owners

I looked at the different looks of each stall; each having been decorated differently to attempt to attract passerby's eyes. I noticed a stall selling books, another kitchen utensils, and another one hand-made tapestries. It was then that I saw a stall selling rare stone and relics I gazed at the archaic gems from where I was standing. As I focused on the gem stall, a small object landed on my back. Causing me to jump in shock. When I looked to what landed on my back I saw a small griffin holding a bag of groceries.

"Hiya Trist!~" Tina greeted me with a smile.

"Hello Tina." I looked around expecting to hear Geno. "Where is Geno?"

"Gramps had to stay at the restaurant, so I'm out by myself getting ingredients."

"Are you safe by yourself?" I questioningly asked.

"Yup, most of the store owners the bazaar know me and Gramps. So everything's fine."

"So do you mind getting off of me?"

"Yup."

"So you're not getting off of my back."

"Yup." I stood at the side of the bazaar in silence as Tina sat in my back. "So what are you doing out here? Looking for anything in particular?"

"No," I replied, "I'm just taking a shortcut back to Sawyer's place. I had to talk to Joker about some business." Tina looked at me intently before having a mischievous grin.

"It was about Sawyer's giant set of unpaid bills wasn't it." I was shocked to hear that she had guessed the reason.

"Does everybody already know about this?"

"That Sawyer and Joker both share a dislike of paperwork? Then yes, we all do." Tina stated.

"Great." I said dejectedly.

"Don't worry, we all know you're going to do a great job." The little griffin encouraged me. "Speaking of jobs. Can you send Phantom over to the restaurant tomorrow?"

"Sure." I answered. "But why?" Tina used her wings to lift herself off of my back and landed on the stone ground in front of me.

"We're going to offer him favor, for a price, of course." She grinned and hopped off into the bazaar. I sighed once she had left and tried to figure out where Sawyer's place was from here.

\\\

"Finally, back home." I walked down the alley leading to the door. I opened the door and walked inside to she someone in the lobby. She was a griffin woman holding a decorative box sitting in one of the chairs."Oh," She looked up at the sound of my surprise. "Uh, do you need anything?"

"Ah yes," She said respectively. "Do you work here?"

"Yes." I walked over to the other side of the counter. "Do you need anything repaired?" The woman silently approached and placed the box on the counter.

"If you can, I want this music box fixed."

"Alright." I looked underneath the counter and pulled out a form and something to write with. "Just fill this out and that's it." She nodded and took the form. I took this chance to take a closer look at the box.

Music box huh? I touched the carefully carved exterior with a talon. Hmm, handcrafted.. The box was made of maple wood that seemed to have lost some color due to exposure. The corners had gold plates on them, which inspecting further I found was actually fake. Let's see if we can find what is wrong with it. I flicked up the lock and lifted the top of the box to reveal the inside. the inside appeared the same as the outside and had a figurine of a human in a ballerina outfit next to a griffin. "A human?"

"Yes," I looked away from the box to see the woman looked at the box, her eyes seemed sadder than before. "it was my mother's. She had a certain fondness for humans." She slid the paper back. "She said that they were such mysterious creatures. With similarities with so many different animals, yet different still." She chuckled. "She'd tell me how with enough time a human could learn to do anything." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Even though she was embarrassing as a mother sometimes. She was still my mother." She sadly smiled.

I took a look at the name she wrote on the form. "Thank you Ms. Cumberland. We'll have your music box fixed up and contact you when it's ready to be picked up."

"Thank you... " She teetered off in her sentence. If was a second before I realized why.

"Oh, I'm Trist." I held out my claw.

"Thank you Trist." She accepted my claw. "I hope to talk to you again." She let go of my claw and left through the door.

I attached the form to the top of the box and brought it with me to the back. Before leaving the lobby I checked the clock on the wall. 15 minutes past noon. Phantom better be up by now and... I think I still have enough time to finish up the leftover paperwork! I closed the door behind me and walked through the hallway.

As I got closer to the warehouse area (where Sawyer keeps all of his things) I began to smell smoke. Granted it always smelled like smoke, but it seemed heavier. I pushed open the door to the warehouse to see a blackened Sawyer and an equally soot-covered Phantom.

"It was splendid wasn't it?" Sawyer exclaimed. "I just need to make a few more calibrations and it'll be even better!"

~Even better than it already is?!~ Phantom enthusiastically signed.

"10 times better. And it also probably won't blow up next time."

~Hell yeah! High five- I mean claw.~ They high-fived. ~Or at least whatever you call that.~

"We call it a high-five. ALthough I hear the ponies call it a high-hoof due to their lack of-" Sawyer notice me staring at them. "Ah, Trist, you're back. How was the visit to the Eiien?"

"Good." I answered back as I got closer to them. "You two look, and smell, like you had fun."

~Yeah, Sawyer invented a Fire thrower!~

"A fire thrower?"

"Completely safe! Mine you. That's also not what it's called, but that's as close as he can get with sign language." Sawyer explained.

"Alright then... On to more important things." I moved on. "I met Tina on my way back. She said to go to Geno's tomorrow."

~Why does she need me?~ He signed.

"I don't know!" I raised my voice.

~Ok ok!~ Phantom rushed up to the catwalk and into his room.

"And you," I faced Sawyer. He slightly jumped in surprise. "Get the fans on. It's smells smokey in here and it'd be bad if it reaches the papers."

"Got it. Right on it!" He casually entered his experiment room. I could here the sound of fans slowly starting to spin as I enter my office and finished up the last of Sawyer's paperwork.

Interlude - Sawyer Files: #33 - Flamespitter

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Bink bink

"Let's see... is it on?"

Bink bink bink

"I think it is." An image of a griffin with a pair of goggle on his head begins to form. "Alrighty then." He cleared his throat. "Hello, I am Doctor Domanic Sawyer. And this is Sawyer Files Number 33! The Flamespitter!" Sawyer moved out of the way to reveal his newest invention.

It looked to be a large container hooked up to a hose with a nozzle at the end. There was a knob on both the nozzle and next to where the hose connected to the container.

"This is the latest of my ingenious ideas." Sawyer continued to speak. "After reading up on the process in which dragons breathe fire using magic. I have come up with a way to replicate the process without the use of magic." He went on to explain. "Through my research, I have found that there is a scientific way to explain how dragons breathe different things. For fire breathers, it can be theorized that they contain a separate, extra lung or bag like organ in their throat to hold a flammable gas. This is represented by this gas container." He pointed at the large container. "Inside this container is methane, which is most likely the gas dragons use seeing as it is produced by the body naturally." Sawyer walked over to the hose. "This fire-proof hose represent's the dragon's throat. The nozzle is the dragon's mouth."

Sawyer went off screen to where the nozzle was pointed After the sound of shuffling the view slid to the left to show a sectioned off area with a human shaped scarecrow standing straight up. As Sawyer reappeared on screen with a stand. "Originally it is thought that dragons had a pouch filled with phosphor, " Sawyer placed the stand right in front of the nozzle. "however due to the expensive price of phosphor, I will be substituting it with a pilot light." He walked out of the way of the nozzle. "Though it might be less effective, it will still work;hopefully."

Sawyer went to the container and put on a thick mitten. "This is the first test." He turned the knob on the container. A small sound of gas running through the tube followed as Sawyer rushed to the nozzle. He turned on the pilot light and lit the flame. He pulled down his goggles. "Test one." He held the handle on the nozzle and turned it.

Immediately, the gas spewed out of the end and through the pilot light and ignited. The ignited gas continued outward, but Sawyer let out too much. The fire engulfed the scarecrow. "Whoa! Whoa!" Sawyer turned the handle and cut off the gas. The stream of fire stopped and a charred stick of charcoal was left in place of the scarecrow. "Okay... opened too far. Must make a note of that." Sawyer picked up a piece of paper and jointed down his note. As he wrote down the results of the test he noticed that there was still heat coming from the test area. Looking back up he saw that the tarp he had covering the wall had caught on fire. "Gah! Fire fire fire!" The fire started to spread up the tarp and start smoking. "Uh oh." Sawyer panicked. The smoke began to fill the room. "*cough* Where is the *cough* sprinklers?!" The screen filled up in smoke.

"Sawyer! What the hell is going on here!?"

"Trist? That you? Nothing is wrong, everything's fine and under control." A faint silhouette in the smoke appeared on screen. As Sawyer finished talking the sprinklers finally activated and the room was showered in water. "Ah! No no nonononono!" The silhouette moved. "My work! The blueprints will be ruined!" The figure ran off screen. A loud smack was heard soon after. "Ack! Workbench! My shoulder!" The view spun as something knocked into the camera and the camera turned off as it hit the floor.

\\\

"Dang it." Sawyer picked up his camera. "Water damaged the inside." He placed down the camera on the now dried workbench. "I'll need to get new parts to replace them." He turned to check on the wet blueprints, instead he came face to face with Phantom who had apparently woke up. Sawyer jumped back in response and bumped into the workbench. "Maker have mercy!" He clutched his feathered chest. "I know your profession requires you to be silent and sneaky, but warn a friend before you pop up behind him." All Phantom did was shrug his shoulders.

~Sorry, can't really speak. And you weren't looking in my direction.~

"You bring up a good point. I shall make a notice for myself to make a security alarm." He mentally noted.

~What are you doing in here?~ Phantom looked at the mess of a room.

"This is my experiment room."

~Then what's this?~ Phantom tapped the methane container.

"Hey, hey!" Sawyer moved Phantom's hand back. "Careful there, it's full of methane."

~Why?~

"This is the Flamespitter. I designed it after the way dragons breathe fire."

~But don't dragons use magic to breathe fire?~

"Yes, but this is a method if they didn't use magic."

~Okay then, what's with the camera?~ Phantom pointed at the broken camera on the workbench.

"Oh, that... I made a few years back to record my experiments. It's quite handy since I can look back on my past experiments." Sawyer walked back to the camera and opened a panel on the side of the medium-sized box. "Hopefully the recording I just made isn't gone."

~That's cool~ Phantom hopped onto a metal stool and swung his legs back and forth. ~ So you make...~

"What? Why'd you stop?"

~There isn't a sign for the word I'm thinking of. Moving picture?~ Sawyer opened a nearby drawer and handed a dry scratch-book and something to write with. Phantom wrote down the word and passed it back.

"V... log? Vlog." Sawyer pronounced it as best he could, but ended up saying it 'Veelog'.

~So, how does the Flamethrower work?~ Phantom walked around the Flamespitter.

"Not Flamethrower, Flamespitter." Sawyer corrected Phantom's words.

~Yeah, but the signs to say that would be Flame spit.~

"Fair enough," Sawyer consented. "To answer your question the Flamespitter releases methane gas out of the pipe and into the pilot light. From there the gas ignites and continues forward, creating a stream of fire just like those of fire-breathing dragons."

~Sounds awesome. Can I see it work?~

"Well," Sawyer checked the nozzle then, made sure that there were no leaks in the tubing. "The water doesn't seem to have damaged any of the parts. So I guess I can show you it. Although I need to make sure there's nothing flammable anywhere in the testing area."

~Alright!~ Phantom patiently sat on his stool as Sawyer looked around the test area, which was marked with a yellow and black stripped line. Next Sawyer walked over to a metal cabinet and pulled out a foot high stack of papers. He carried the stack over to a metal table and moved the table into the testing area. Sawyer backed out of the testing area and lit the pilot light. He rushed over to another table and slipped on pair of blackened mittens and poised himself t the nozzle.

"All right," Sawyer pulled his goggles down over his eyes. "Ready for this?" He smiled at Phantom and Phantom gave a thumbs up and eagerly looked at the test area. "Flamspitter test: Pile of papers in three, two, one!" As Sawyer said one he slightly twisted the knob on top of the nozzle and a steady stream of gas came out, igniting at the pilot light and continuing forward. Phantom turned wide-eyed as the fire licked the papers and the entire pile lit up. Sawyer closed the nozzle and the stream stopped. Sawyer had a large grin on his face as the pile of papers burned into non-existence. "Yes! Perfect test!"

~That was awesome!~ Phantom jumped off the stool. He ran closer to the test area, but before he could step inside the tape Sawyer stopped him.

"Whoa there! Don't touch anything!" Sawyer yelled. "Something could still be hot."

~Okay. But man, we need to burn more things. That was amazing!~

"Yeah, I've got to be honest that worked a lot better than I thought it was. We could try it at more intense temperatures as well as at something stronger than just paper."

Both thought about it before Phantom snapped his fingers ~I got something!~ He ran out of the room and returned ,quite fast, with an iron pot in hand. He gave it to Sawyer.

"An iron pot." He looked at the crude common iron pot. It was a cheap one, he had bought it a while back but never used it since he never cooked. When he inspected it further he had found that it was actually crude iron. "Alright. I guess we can use this to test just what the Flamespitter can do."

Sawyer took the pot over to the metal table. The table itself was just fine there were only ashes and some blacken areas, but overall still usable. After placing the pot on the spot where the stack of papers used to be, Sawyer backed away and repeated the steps he took to prep the Flamespitter.

Sawyer slipped on his goggles and held his claw on the knob. "Here we go. Flamespitter test: iron pot in three, two, one!" He twisted the knob about the same as before. The fire streamed out like the last time, hitting the pot directly. However, instead of melting the pot only glowed a red hue. Seeing this, Sawyer twisted the knob more and the stream of fire reacted by growing in size and intensity. The metal pot glowed even more in the flames and began to glow a bright yellow and white. The pot itself started to liquefy on the metal table.

Sawyer closed the valve and watched as the fire died down to reveal the puddle of what used to be a cooking pot. the half of the table that was closest to the Flamespitter was only partially melted.

Sawyer lifted his blurred goggles to get a better look. "In hind sight, I should have tested this at Smith's place. I'll keep that in mind for future tests with different types of metals." Sawyer grabbed his notepad, which and been singed at the edges, and jotted down his findings.

~We got to try um... testing more things!~ Phantom enthusiastically.

"Well..." Sawyer put his notepad away into his pack. "I really should stop before the room gets too full of smoke... But why the heck not? Why don't we indulge ourselves! Let's go find more things to burn."

\\\

"*cough* *cough* Yup, too much testing." Sawyer staggered out of the smoking room and into the warehouse. A soot covered Phantom followed him out. After having a few coughs and wheezes Phantom begins chuckling.

~It's still pretty awesome. It melted everything we tried.~

"It was splendid wasn't it?" Sawyer agreed. "I just need to make a few more calibrations and I'll be even better!"

~Even better than it already is?!~

"10 times better. And it also probably won't blow up next time."

~Hell yeah! High five- I mean claw.~ They high-fived. ~Or at least whatever you call that.~

"We call it a high-five. Although I hear that the ponies call it a high-hoof due to their lack of-" Sawyer then noticed that Trist had walked in front the front lobby. "Ah, Trist, you're back. How was the visit to the Eiien?"

"Good." Trist answered as she walked towards the two. "You two look, and smell, like you had fun."

~Yeah!~ Phantom grinned. ~Sawyer invented a Fire thrower.~

"A fire thrower?" She repeated questioningly.

"Completely safe! Mind you. That's also not what it's called, but that's as close as he can get with sign language." Sawyer retorted.

"Alright then... On to more important matters." Trist moved the conversation on. "I met Tina on my way back. She said to go to Geno's tomorrow."

~Why does she need me?~ Phantom signed.

"I don't know!" Trist snapped.

~Ok ok!~ Phantom rushed up to the catwalk and into his room.

"And you," She turned her attention to the soot covered griffin next. "Get the fans on. It smells smokey in here and it'd be bad if it reaches the papers."

"Got it. Right on it!" Sawyer casually walked back into the smoking room. He searched the wall for the fans' switch. Finding it, he flipped it and the fans spun to life and began venting the smoke out of the room. Sawyer looked around and found his camera sitting in the spot he left it.

"Ah, there we are." He picked it up. "Oh it's still recording. Well then." He pointed it at himself. "This has been Sawyer Files #33, The Flamespitter. Final conclusion: Success, although will need some adjustments." He said before turning the camera off.

Chapter 11 - Roof Running

View Online

I walked through the street trying to keep a neutral face as I felt the gazes of those around me. Ugh, this is so awkward. I glanced up at the pint sized griffin laying outstretched smugly on my head.

It was about 10 in the morning and Tina had come over to Sawyer's place to make sure that he had woke up and was ready to go to Geno's. Now we had left Sawyer's place and were walking through the streets of Lower Griphonia. Tina had decided to lay atop my head, which made it so she was at about eye level with most adult griffins. This scene however is causing every passerby to stare curiously at the seemingly two year old human with a smaller than average griffin child riding on his head. It also didn't help that I had to wear a stupid leather collar with Trist's initials on it; otherwise I would had been seen as a stray human and taken away. All of this added together made me very nervous and uncomfortable, so much in fact that Tina apparently took notice.

"You know, I used to live with my parents." She began telling me as I walked, "I started living with Uncle Geno about four years ago. He was a close friend of my parents. I can't remember much of that night, I was too sleepy. I do remember my parents leaving me with Uncle and leaving in a hurry." She stopped talking for a bit. "They didn't even leave me anything..." There was another silence. I glanced up to see Tina with a sullen look. As I was about to comfort her she changed the topic. "But that doesn't mean I hate Uncle Geno. I really like my life with him. He makes good food and he's even going to pay for me to start going to school next year."

Uhh... This is all interesting. Learning about Tina's past a bit. I took a second to look around again. That still doesn't really change the fact that there are more people staring. I decided to get this over with as fast as possible and picked up my pace. I blindingly turned down a damp side alley, thinking that it was a shortcut. However I was immediately bombarded by a weak pounding on my forehead.

"Oi! You took a wrong turn nitwit!" Tina continued to attack my head as I slowed to a stop. "You weren't supposed to turn into here. What the hell is wrong with you?!" I sighed as Tina switched personalities and turned back onto the correct path; the path of awkward stares.

\\\

As we finally approached Geno's we could see through the windows that they were already quite busy. From what I could see most of the tables had families of customers chatting and eating. I saw a single griffin waitress going left and right from table to table. Her feathers seemed ruffled from all the work she was handling by herself. Why is there only one waitress?

"Uh oh," I heard Tina mutter she tapped the side of my head with her claw. "quick, let's get inside." I pushed open the door and a bell attached to the top of the door jingled. The waitress spun around and showed a face of relief.

"Oh thank you! Tina you're back." She placed a pair of dishes she was holding onto their tables and walked over.

"Cassy, why are you working alone? Where's Brushes?" Tina asked, back to her normal facade.

"Inked Brush never showed up to work. I've had to handle all the tables myself." She sighed.

"That's typical of him. He cares more for his hobby than he does making a living. You have no need to fear now though Cassy! I've brought help." Tina patted my head. Cassy didn't respond at first and just had a look of confusion on her face. "Don't worry. I'll tell him what to do. He can follow commands really good. In fact, introduce yourself to him."

"I don't got the time for that Tina."

"Com' on."

"Check please?" A griffin from a nearby table asked.

Cassy turned to the lady. "Just a moment ma' am." And turned back around. "My name is Cassandra. I've been working here for two years, and I'm Tina's friend." She quickly said. "Now if you don't mind Tina, but I have to serve some customers. If you're going to help then table two needs their drinks, and table five's food is ready." Cassandra walked over to the mother.

"Alrighty Phantom, let's go grab the drinks." Tina pointed towards the back of the restaurant. "Onwards!" I marched forward, careful not to hit anyone or thing.

I looked around at the different assortment of people sitting down to eat. Wait, so they have each of these tables numbered and memorized? There are almost over 20 tables in here! I felt a pull on my hair and yelped in response.

"You weren't stopping." Tina flat out told me. "Grab that tray." I looked beside me and picked up the tray that was lying there. "Now pick up the coffee." I grabbed the hot mug sitting on the window showing the kitchen and waited on what to do next. "Now to table to!" Tina exclaimed. I didn't move.

Which one is table two? I tried to look up at her with a blank face. Tina looked at me in return.

"Don't know which table?" I slightly nodded. "It's the one with the lone blue pony over there." Tina pointed towards the front of the restaurant. I saw the table. It was close to the front entrance and had a blue earth pony looking at a newspaper. I started heading over to the front. This time I noticed that a few of the kids from the tables were eyeing me curiously. I tried to ignore them but...

Uuoowwhhh They are watching me closely. Let's just get this over with. Maybe I'll get used to it. I stopped at table two and placed the cup of coffee down.

"Here's your clack coffee sir." Tina got the attention of the blue pony. He looked up from his paper and seemed unsure of what to think of the pair serving his coffee.

"Uh, thank you." He decided to say. As he lowered the paper to drink his coffee I caught a glimpse of the newspaper's title: The Vanhandle Incident.

"Come on. We got to take that table's order." I turned to face the table she pointed to, only to find that it was the table right next to us.

Whoa. I re-positioned myself so that we were out of the way of anyone.

"Hello, welcome to GENO'S. I am Tina and this is," Tina poked me and motioned for me to follow up. So I grabbed a notepad from one of my pockets.

She wants me to tell my name right? Let's come up with a better name than Trist did. I wrote down the name 'Brandon' and presented it to the table. The two kids gasped in surprise and the mother had a look of awe. Then one son immediatly responded.

"Cool!"

"That is impressive." The mother agreed. Tina smiled at the response of the customers.

"Brandon is a family friend's pet. She was the one who taught him how to write." Before any of them could ask another question she continued her work. "Now, are you all ready to order?"

"Oh! Yes." The lady, who I presume is the mother of the two sons now just staring at me, answered. "I will have the chicken caesar salad and a glass of water. He will have chicken tenders with fries and a Chocomilk, and he will have the GENO hamburger kid's meal."

"With a Fizzy Fizz soda!" The second son added.

"With a Fizzy Fizz soda." The mother added. I was listened intently as Tina nudged me and motioned to write.

What? I have to write this down? I flipped up the page and wrote the three orders as best as I could.

"Is that all?" Tina asked.

"Yes please." The mother handed the menu over to me. Tina then pointed over to the kitchen window.

Once reaching the window, through the the forest of stares, Tina told me to rip off the page with the orders and attach it to one of the clips. She also reminded me to write down the table number. As I clipped the piece of notepad paper I saw Thomas walk up to the window.

"Oh, hey Tina." He looked at me, "And human." He looked back up at Tina. "Does he got a name?"

"Yeah, Brandon."

"Alright... Here are the orders for five." He placed down two plates. One had a steakburger with curly fries and a whole pickle. The second was a hayburger and a small salad on the side. I picked up the two plates and placed them on the tray. " Huh..." Thomas raised an eyebrow curiously and turned around to continue cooking.

"Okay, now, table five is over there." I looked at the side of the restaurant that had four booths. "The one with the griffin, pegasus and their pet human." I singled out the one booth with the human sitting on the ground beside the booth. As I walked closer with the tray held in front of me. I noticed that the human was wearing pant. Be it almost rag-like pants, they were pants.

"Hi," Tina greeted the two as I stopped beside the booth. "Steak burger with fries?" The griffin lifted his claw. I picked up the plate and slid it in front of him. "And the Hayburger for you." I picked up the hayburger, which still made me question the tastefulness of, and slid it in front of the pegasus. "Do you need anything else?"

"No we're fine." The pegasus smiled and went to work on her food. I moved the tray so I could hold it easily in between my arm and chest. I heard the door jingle to see a group of griffins walk inside chatting up a storm.

"Oh boy, looks like it's the rush hour. Better pick up the pace, break time isn't until six." Tina smirked. "Now let's get to work."

She's going to kill me one day. I moved towards the group as Tina welcomed them to the restaurant.

\\\

Ugh. I jumped onto the couch inside the break room. I rolled my head around to get the ache out of my neck. Okay, having even a tiny ass griffin on your head for most of the day will give you a pain in the neck. The break room was quite soothing. There being a table, some cabinets, two potted plants, and a few lockers for employees. I took relaxed breaths as I laid on the couch, but it wasn't long before the silence was interrupted by Thomas. He trudged in with a sigh. He took a glance at me, but said nothing as he took off his apron and hung it on a coat hook. He went over to the side of the room with the lockers and proceeded to preen his feathers and comb his fur. That must be annoying, having to deal with feathers and fur. I scratched the back of my head.

Soon enough Thomas was done and walked out the room, most likely either going home or somewhere. I was about to close my eyes as the door opened again. Tina walked in. "Heyo~" she greeted, loudly might I add, "You ready? Geno is getting set up next door." I looked at her with questioning eyes. "Come on get up." She poked my side. I groaned in response. "Don't you want to learn how to get around here?" That peaked my interest. What does she mean by that? Getting up to a sitting position Tina waited as I stretched. "Good, follow me." She left through the door.

Oddly enough we didn't have to go far. We exited through the kitchen's back door and from he alleyway we just entered the building right next to it. From the looks of it the building was an apartment building; it was about 7 or 8 stories up. I readied myself for what was to come as the door opened to the roof. Geno was sitting on a mattress looking up into the darkening sky. Tina slammed the door shut behind us, startling both me and Geno. "Ah, you're here." He took his time getting up and stretched. "Ready to begin parkour training?"

"Before you get all confused. Tristana asked us to. Running around in the city is way different than in the wild." She walked over to Geno. "There ain't no branches here to help you or soft grass to cushion your fall."

"You'll need this." Geno tossed a green backpack to me. Looking closer the pack had a cord coming from it. "Don't touch the cord right now, just strap it on." He warned me. Without question I put my arms through and secured the pack.

"Alright then, the first thing to know about parkouring. Is to not fall. Simple as that." Tina started to explain in a commanding voice. "If you are wondering why griffins would have to worry about falling. It is because for parkour griffins are challenged to have their wings tied up. This way it poses more of a risk if ya fall. Understood?" I nodded my head. "Good. Parkour is the method of getting from point A to point B in the shortest amount of time without unnecessary movements. However most like to spice up their runs more for flare." Tina added at the end and motioned to walk over to her. "Since you're a newbie and all, Geno got an old parachute for ya. Just pulled the cord when falling and you probably maybe okay."

"It may be out of date, but I'll be around if you fall. So no worries." Geno said from the side. "Though to give you the same risk, I won't save you in the future."

"Let's get started. You'll learn better from watching since, well you can't talk. So watch closely." Tina backed up from the ledge. Once getting back far enough she sprinted as fast as she could, which was quite fast for small griffin as Tina. She leaped off the side and landed on a windowsill. She gripped onto the side of the window and swung herself to another ledge, quickly using different tricks to make her way up the taller building. Once reaching the top she turned around and beamed a smirk. "Well? What are you just gawking for? Your turn."

She's kidding... Right? I looked at the other building and the distance between the the two buildings. I looked back up at her questioningly. Her smirking face stood unrelenting. I sighed and gave in. I backed up until I was a good distance to get a running start. I looked to see if Geno was nearby and spotted him hovering nearby. Alright. I let go of a deep sigh. I charged at the other building and leaped at the edge. I felt as if I had slipped but the incoming wall proved me wrong. I slammed into the wall, knocking some of the air out of my chest. Before peeling off the wall I instinctively grabbed onto the closest thing I could, which happened to be a windowsill.

I clung onto the windowsill for dear life, and accidentally looked down like an idiot. Oh poop! That's high. My whole body was shaking . The bricks of the wall were not helping either.

"You better get moving, or else you're just going to tire yourself out staying there." I saw Tina looking down at me from the roof of the second building.I groaned and looked for another place to grab and a foothold. I made my way up cautiously, shaking the entire time. Collapsing on the roof of the taller building since Tina decided sat on my chest. " Now then, next part."

Next part? Tina hopped off my chest and I leaned on my elbow just to see as the ran towards the opposite side of the building and jumped off. What?! I got up and rushed to the edge. Looking over I saw Tina land and tumble onto the lower neighboring building. She recovered expertly and looked up to me. It took me a second to realize that she was waiting for me to follow.

"Here's a tip," I didn't notice that Geno had flown up beside me, "try to roll when you land. It'll lessen the impact." It was good advice, but my nervousness must have been noticeable. "Hey, don't worry I may be old, but I'm a fast enough flier still." Geno saying that somewhat comforted me. I looked down the building to see a wide alleyway. I noticed two cats that seemed to be fighting. I verbally sighed as I toughened myself and backed up.

Alright, you can do this Phantom. It isn't that far away. Geno is here, I got a safety pack, and if Tina did it how hard could it be? I stopped walking and shook out my hands and took breaths. I pushed forward and gained speed Don't think about dying from this... Well shit. I got a good position with my foot and pushed off the building.

///

As soon as my feet touched the ground I rolled and continued running across the roof. I jumped and grabbed hold of a ledge. Using my strength I launched myself upwards, skipping some ledges and ascending up the tower at an alarming rate. Each movement was followed by another and I was just speeding up the tower.

Reaching the top I pulled myself onto stable ground. I looked up at the large bell hanging there. I took the time to stretch and look out onto the horizon just as the sun was rising. This has gotten so much easier with practice. As I was soaking in the morning light an arrow abruptly lodged itself into a column beside me making me jump. I turned back to see two griffin guards. The one that had a bow was furiously waving his fist above his head.Oh right, I opened one of my pouches and revealed a hand full of small gemstones sparkling in the light. I poured the gems back into their pouch and sealed it. I looked down the other side of the bell tower I reached for a smoke bomb.

The sunrise was nice and all, but that means the guards should be able to fly freely soon. I looked over the edge to see how far away the guards were. I just barely dodged another arrow as I saw the two guards just lift off the ground. Wow, that guy is a really good shot. I smirked. Alright~. Time to be a little, showy.

I waited a few seconds for the two guards to reach the top of the bell tower. "Hold the shit up you little bastard." Said the guard with a sword.

Yeah, like I'm going to do that. I threw the smoke bomb up into the bell, saluted, and leaned off the tower. I saw smoke erupt from the top of the bell tower. I spun in the air and angled my heels to slide and slow on the slanted tiled-roof. Broken tiles flew around me as I slowed enough to jump down into an alleyway. Quickly taking out a duffel bag, I took off my harness and stuffed it into the bag. I unstrapped my knife and outfit into the bag as well. Once I was in my black underarmor shirt and pants I walked out into the road.

As I walked out into the road there was a small crowd beginning to form in front of the bell tower. Looking up I could see the two guards flying around looking for me. Heheh, another get-away well executed. I mentally chuckled as I walked away to Sawyer's warehouse.

Your Human and You: The Thief

by Awkward Elipsis

-0- A Thief's Journey Never Ends (One-Shot Chapter)

Chapter 1 - Say Hello to Mister Thief!

Chapter 2 - A Day of a Hidden Intellectual Human. . . Who is also a Thief

Chapter 3 - Confrontation

Chapter 4 - Change Of Plans

Chapter 5 - A New Town, er. . . Maybe Not

Story Teaser - A Single Variable

Chapter 6 - Meet'n the Neighbors

Chapter 7 - Meet'n the Neighbors (Part 2)

Chapter 8 - Your Human and His New Attire

Chapter 9 - Handling a Problem

Chapter 10 - An Average day for an Assistant

Interlude - Sawyer Files: #33 - Flamespitter

Chapter 11 - Roof Running