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Dimensional Gems Contest - Part 3 Part 2

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Part 3, Part 2


'...I just don't know what happened there,' Cassie said as she walked into the function room again, her mother's hand on her shoulder gently consoling. 'Nothing this evening... makes sense. That girl, and the way she acted, and the fact that... And the two boys... And all the noise in the corridors... I feel I should apologise, somehow...'

'Don't do. It's not your fault,' Anne Blackhurst reassured her gently. 'You didn't make these people come here and make everything go strange. And look! Most of us are still here, after all that.' Indeed they were, the Blackhurst family huddled in little groups around the room talking nervously like herded sheep. Unlike some of the halls they'd seen, which had looked like a bomb had hit them, the function room had been hardly damaged at all. Just a few nasty scrapes and tears on the furniture, nothing some stiff upper lip and polish couldn't deal with. They'd been lucky, on the whole. Some people had decided 'Screw this, I'm out of here', but the majority were still around. Patrick, fiddling with his camera in a corner, looked up and smiled awkwardly at the four of them. They didn't ask.

Aunt Josephine, Cassie learned later through asking, had fainted with surprise shortly after Jupiter burst out of the room, been lifted onto a chaise longue, come around and then fainted a few more times for emphasis. She was currently conscious, and sitting upright being fanned by some concerned niece or other. Cassie did her best to smile as they were brought to her. 'Are... you ok?' her dad asked.

Josephine gave an attempted smile back, with added tinge of distress for maximum sympathy. This was not an environment for display any more but one for maximising sympathy and concern, and so Josephine had altered her game strategy accordingly. For all her many tendencies, she was in many ways a quite uncomplicated person. 'Yes, dears. Thank you. I... Good grief. What happened to my jewels, in the end? Do we know? Has anyone found out?'

Interesting priorities, Cassie thought to herself. Remaining silent, she held out her hand with the gem still in it. It looked totally undisturbed as it sat there in her palm, as if everything that had happened because of it tonight had merely happened around it, not to it. For all the chaos that had surrounded it, it still looked flawless, still had that mystical spark of implacability and unearthliness to it. It seemed almost unfair. It should at least be dirty or something. She handed it over all the same, and Josephine examined it in her hand. 'Not even a scratch... Oh, what a blessed relief.' She put it in her back pocket, brushing aside an unattended phone left on the chaise in the chaos. 'Whoever it was who found it, thank you very, very much. I simply didn't know what I was going to do without it.' Her aunt was strangely subdued, her normally loud and enthusiastic voice quieter and lighter. Of course, she was just playing the game, that was what it was. Not everyone present realised that.

'That would be Cassie,' Anne said with a hint of pride, nudging Cassie gently forward in the back. Cassie immediately balked. 'Er, no, wait, I'm not a hero, really, all I did was spot it going down the hall and I, it's just-'

Josephine shifted in her seat. 'Yes, yes, whatever you say. But I'm very grateful, and you can have... Oh, I don't know, something. Something quite fancy. I'll decide later what I can get you in return. Maybe you could just ask me first with a preference! Consider it a returned favour. I owe you a great deal, dear.'

Cassie knew arguing would get nowhere. 'Yes, auntie.' Behind her Sidney got as far as opening his mouth before his wife shot him down with a glare.

'And the man who ran off with it?'

'They still haven't found him,' one of the concerned onlookers said. 'Or the hoax expert. But don't worry, they won't be coming back again.'

'Thank goodness.' Josephine sighed. 'What a night... what a night this has been. I came to meet old faces, and I was mugged to my face and spent all night panicking. I think, in fact, that I've had quite enough excitement and company for now.' She reached out an arm. 'Could someone lift me up? I feel that the time has come for me to take my leave. The sooner I'm home and safe the better I'll feel.'

'That seems very understandable.' They could lift her up, despite Sidney's mutterings to the contrary, and as one Josephine and her well-wishers who wanted to see her safely out moved towards the door like a royal entourage. 'Have you still got the gem, Jo?' someone asked.

Josephine patted her pocket. 'Still here. Although if it's going to cause this kind of fuss, I think if I came home and found it missing I wouldn't be at all worried. Nothing but trouble... And to think it cost me so much, too. I shall simply have to find a replacement, somehow. No doubt in time I'll find something, I refuse to let this one incident cause me to go around un-accessorised!'

She's talking about gemstones worth more than I'll ever own, Cassie thought privately. And what on earth would her family ask for as repayment? Dad would say a jacuzzi, which Mum would shoot down over insistence that a ladies' day out with the rest of the Blackhurst family would be a suitable reward for everyone that had had a hard time that night. Cassie just wanted to forget it had ever happened, really.

That girl... No, leave it. She wasn't going to find her again, no point driving herself insane over it. She had been strange. Well, everyone was strange when you got down to it. Some were just more apparent with it than others.

'Let me get the door for you, Jo...' The man who offered tugged gently, followed by a frown as the door stuck at only a crack open. 'Huh. Wasn't doing that before. Give me a second.'

'You know...' Cassie's mother said quietly as the four of them grouped together slightly while the men wrestled with the stuck door, 'in many ways, this is the best family reunion ever. After all, we have many strong memories of it, and we've really formed a bond with the people here tonight over all the chaos. I really got to know some people I wouldn't have spent time with otherwise while we fussed over Josephine. Strange as it sounds, I'm glad this happened. It enriched everyone's evening.'

Cassie and Hannah both nodded. Hannah just nodded on principle, having been promised an ice-cream at some point in the future if she was quiet when told this evening, but Cassie nodded in agreement with what she was saying, considering it in all its validities. Sidney, willing to chance on opening his mouth, cheerily said 'So, shall I steal someone's phone next time, darling? Would that help the evening flow more smoothly? Perhaps a painting from the wall?'

'You're grinning, Sid.'

'This is my normal face, dear.'

'Doesn't make it better. I just meant that something that shakes things up can really help people get together. But no, no stealing.'

Sidney grinned. 'Of course, dear.'

Cassie nodded along with all the discussion casually as the door finally came unstuck and people began to follow Josephine out to ensure she wasn't pounced upon between here and her sports car. But as usual, when Cassie was silent then cogs were turning inside. Ok, she'd be better off not worrying about 'Cherie Backhurst'. But it had been strange. She'd take a note of it, just as an unusual thing. And if she started seeing more unusual things... Well, she'd take note of them too. Physical notes, yes, good idea. People can be fooled, but what's written is written. And if there were lots of those things, now that she started paying attention to them, maybe she'd put a bit of thought into them, and maybe consider why they were happening. Now maybe there'd be nothing happen at all. Or maybe there'd be a string of events, and they'd all actually be totally unrelated. Maybe she'd find a few things, but never be able to guess what the facts behind them were, even if there were any...

She smiled to herself. But that couldn't stop her at least attempting.


-Meanwhile-


'Eddie! Mike!' Cassie (the First) shouted as she plunged into the alleyway beside the hotel, her ring barely having left her finger for the third time that evening. 'Are you-'

'Cassie!' In an instant her perfect Dark-type night vision kicked in and she saw everything. Mostly, Eddie shouting in panic as the Gliscor snarling on his head attempted to tear out his chest fur. 'Do something! N-Now!'

'Cassie?' The Gliscor raised his head, though not letting up his attack. 'There are more of you? No matter! None of you have a chance to beat me, you feeble scum, you all will-' He was interrupted mid-sentence here by a Psychic-held wheelie bin that swung in an arc and smacked straight into him, knocking him off Eddie's head and thumping into the wall of the hotel. Eddie shouted again. 'Cassie! You nearly took my ears off!'

'That's not half of what he was going to do to you!' Cassie shouted back. She'd had a long evening and was no longer in the mood. On the plus side, nice for Psychic to finally have a chance to be useful. 'Where's Mike?!'

Eddie just pointed. Cassie's heart leapt to her mouth at the slight of the Doduo slumped against the wall, their eyes closed and barely seeming to breath. She ran for them and immediately checked pulses. They were both alive, thank sweet goodness. But they were in no way going to be helpful in this battle.

Speaking of...

She felt the Gliscor swoop before she heard him roar right behind her, and so was already ducking so that he went over her head and hit only ground. She swung a Shadow Punch but the Extinctionist was far too well-trained to just take a hit like that and body-swerved the blow to shoot his hooked tail into her chest without even turning round. Cassie fell back with a gasp, the wounds of her last fight taking a toll on her. Eddie and Mike had made a commendable effort, but they hadn't taken him down far. She backed up, scrambling backwards till she was next to Eddie. 'On three!' she shouted.

'Do WHAT on three?!'

'One! Two!'

Cassie clasped her hands together by her side as Eddie drew his on paws together next to them, darkness gathering next to pure aura. As the Gliscor roared and stomped down on the ground to Bulldoze the ground at their feet Cassie shouted 'Three!' and the two jumped and threw their projectiles in mid-air as one. Eddie's Aura Sphere of course didn't miss, so it caught the Gliscor off-guard after his failed attack and meant that even if Cassie's Shadow Ball didn't hit him straight-on it still dealt a considerable blow.

'Nice teamwork,' Cassie commended Eddie as they touched down again, audibly impressed.

'Teamwork? I just panicked and did what I thought was gonna work.'

'Enough games!' The Gliscor suddenly burst at them, smacking into the pair in a green ball of light only to spring away again to safety as Cassie and Eddie attempted to regain the air that had been driven out of them. 'What, can't cope with a U-Turn? I could keep you at a distance like this all night! I'm under no obligation to fight fair here. If you can't hit me when I do this, that's your problem!' Again he was swallowed in green light and rushed at them, confidently grinning as they struggled to even manage the wherewithal to block, let alone attempt to counter his-

At that point, with a keen sense of timing, further down the alleyway Jupiter and the second Extinctionist, the Zoroark, entered the scene stage left. Literally, through a window, hands at each other's throats, shouting into each other's faces as they snarled and clawed ag each other as they fell to the ground outside without faltering. Someone in the room they'd just left was screaming at a high pitch. Cassie internally noted that it would probably be a good idea for them to not be within a mile of this building come morning, when the police arrived. This sudden development, somewhat understandably, caused the Gliscor's focus to slip and he lost the energy and momentum, his U-Turn petering out a few feet from Cassie and Eddie. Not that they weren't staring that way too.

'You imbecile!' the Zoroark was shouting into Jupiter's beak as they wrestled on the concrete outside on top of each other. 'You went straight through that room without your stupid ring on! You could have given us all away!'

'Aren't you the illusions master, genius?!' Jupiter was genuinely angry, which was a grim warning if ever there was one. 'Aren't going to erase all their memories or something?'

'Of course we are! Want a job done, do it yourself!' The Zoroark slashed at Jupiter and he suddenly sprang back, on his feet and gripping his side as a gasp of pain escaped his beak - mercifully, red feathers didn't show whether he was bleeding or not. The Zoroark scampered over to his Gliscor colleague to try and maintain strength in numbers. 'Go on, try and take both of us! We'll finish you and then find that bloody Gem for ourselves!'

Eddie and, slightly less so, Jupiter turned and frowned at Cassie. 'Wait, don't you have it?'

'Long story. Look out!'

The three Pokeumans threw themselves sideways as both Extinctionists dived at them with claws out, snarling furiously. Jupiter rolled with the momentum and rose straight up to Sky Uppercut the Gliscor as Cassie and Eddie awkwardly pulled themselves to their feet only to yell as one and raise their hands to block a widely-shot Night Daze from the Zoroark. Cassie reacted first and fired a volley of Power Gems in the Zoroark's direction desperately hoping to get at least some through his no doubt tight block. In fact the Zoroark was becoming extremely weary, and most of them stung him hard, making him buckle to the ground. 'Gliscor!' he shouted, his paw over his eyes. 'Here! Head-on won't work with these! Now!'

The Gliscor did not need encouraging. Beneath his mild-mannered demeanour, when Jupiter was in battle he moved fast, and hit hard. And now he was angry, which in most people makes them more careless. But when Jupiter was furious, he became more focused. Instead of just lashing out, it merely added force to his blows as he threw himself at the Gliscor. Normally a few Bulldozes would deal with this pest, but right next to the pest was the building containing the Gem he so badly needed to earn his master's approval, and while the Gliscor was evil he was not stupid. He threw a half-hearted Sludge Bomb instead which barely even hit Jupiter but forced him to block long enough to buy sufficient time to swoop away his colleague's position as stand up next to him.

The Zoroark smirked as the two leaned on each other. 'Maybe we can't take more hits. But how can you hit us at all - when don't even know which of us is real?'

He splayed his black-and-red hands theatrically, and suddenly the alleyway was filled with Zoroark-Gliscor pairs. 'Despair, Pokeumans,' the Zoroark's voice echoed from everywhere as the dozens and dozens and dozens of clones leered at the three from all directions. 'You can't hope to fight all of us, to fight through all of us. Not before we start hitting you-'

'Nice try, buster.'

Casually as you like, sauntering forward like he owned the alley, Eddie stepped out from his two friends, ignoring their sudden gasps and furious mutterings for him to come back right now. Smiling, his eyes closed in a cocky smirk, he laughed cheerfully. 'I mean, really? Illusions? Against a Lucario? Save the shadow puppets, man. I know exactly which of these is real. I can see the aura of any living thing, and I sure as heck know there's no aura from any of these clones. Just from one pair, the one squirreled away in the shadows, hiding like a pair of coward-'

With a roar the Gliscor, unable to contain his fury any longer, shot at him, wrapped in green U-Turn energy and righteous fury once again as he blasted out of hiding and through the air propelled on a jet of pure anger. In the blink of an eye before he threw himself into Eddie, though, the Lucario suddenly turned, spun on one foot and swung his Bone Club up, into an arc like a baseball bat that smacked straight into the Extinctionist and sent him flying up and away, cannoning into the wall of the building opposite almost three metres off the ground. The Gliscor slid down the wall to the floor and even if he was conscious didn't get up.

'Hole in one!' Eddie cheered joyously with a celebratory fistpump. 'I knew I could find a use for Bone Club that the teachers would let me use in public! Ha!'

The Zoroark looked genuinely afraid at the sight of his crumpled colleague. A little siren in his head was warning him that for all the concept's popularity, Lucario vs Zoroark was not a fight he had any real form of advantage in. Before he could offer a bluffing threat, though, a voice behind him said 'Hey,' and he turned in time to once again be punched in the face by Cassie riding up out of his shadow. He pitched onto his hands and knees only for his shadow now underneath him to darken and Cassie's head and arm rose up, underneath his torso.

There was a terrible moment of silence, then Cassie gave the full Sableye grin, grabbed the Zoroark's chest fluff and sank back into the ground. Being unable to follow her, though, the Zoroark pitched down and smacked his head on the concrete. He stumbled back upright, his head swimming, and staggered backwards away from that hellchild, wherever she was now. Unfortunately, that meant that he couldn't see where he was going, or the Blaziken behind him that was beginning to wrap his foot in flames.

'One!'

Jupiter's first kick was a searing Blaze Kick, ending his taloned foot on level with his head and the Zoroark flying upwards into the sky. Without letting up for a second Jupiter used his powerful legs like a spring and leapt straight up after him, rocketing into the sky, coming on level with the Zoroark in the air in a matter of seconds. However, his leg kept going after the rest of him slowed to a midair halt, so that his foot was now raised above the Zoroark's head.

'Two!'

Jupiter's leg came down and smashed into the Zoroark in a mid-air axe kick, sending the Dark type hurtling down and smacking into the concrete below. Still in the air, Jupiter brought his leg up to his waist and threw his weight sideways as he twisted himself, beginning to spin in a mid-air circle.

'Strike!'

Picking up speed, spinning like a burning whirlwind, the Blaziken dropped out of the sky with a vortex of fire trailing behind him and slammed down, his outstretched flat leg coming straight down on the back of the fallen Zoroark with the combined force of gravity, spinning momentum and a creature with enough power to shatter boulders with its hands straight in the Dark type's spine. The Extinctionist gave one sharp cry, a sound of extreme, immediate pain, and then immediately flopped like a ragdoll. Eddie didn't bother checking for consciousness as he ran to the Zoroark to help - just to find if he was still breathing.

Jupiter stepped back fluidly off the beaten Zoroark, who mercifully was still forcing out breaths. He definitely wasn't awake, though. Jupiter looked down at him and shook his head. 'You forced my hand, fox. We didn't have to get this brutal about it.'

'Damn, big guy,' Eddie said with open wonder as he stared at him. 'I know you chickens have some pretty epic kicks, but... day-um. That was, like... crazy.'

Jupiter sighed. 'I detest violence. It's just a pity I am so good at it.'

'What do we do now?' Cassie said as she slowly wandered up to them. She hadn't really meant to be that vicious to the Zoroark either, but in the heat of the moment she couldn't allow him to keep putting her family at risk. She'd done what she had to. It was a feeling she was quickly getting used to tonight.

'Leave them here,' Eddie said with an eager note. 'The police'll be along soon, now they've got some criminals to blame. Poetic justice itself.'

'And what happens when the police confiscate their rings in interrogation?' Jupiter answered. 'No. That's no good. We... We'll have to take them back with us. If they don't grill them for secrets back at the base, they'll find a way to rehabilitate them. It's either that or they go back to their own hellhole base from before, where they'll probably be executed for failure anyway.'

'I'll find a box to take them in,' Cassie said immediately. Her brain was too tired to object. There'd be a box or failing that a wheelie bin they could take them unconscious goons back to the safehouse in. After that, leave this mess to the authorities - both human and non-human.

'Thank you, Cassie. I...' Jupiter suddenly flopped over as if his batteries had just died. 'I... I'm exhausted... I... Phew... Is Mike?...'

'Mike's fine. Don't you worry about anything, big dude, you've done enough for tonight.'

'Oh... Good. Should think so...' There were a few more seconds, punctuated only by Cassie wheeling over a large green bin, until Jupiter regained sufficient breath to stand up again. 'Phew... That feels a bit better. My tiredness is only just catching up to me...' A thought occurred. 'What about the Gem?'

Cassie bit the edge of her mouth. Eddie swallowed. 'We... We lost it. The Blackhurst family have taken in back. We're sorry, Jupiter.'

Jupiter looked pained, and hunched slightly. 'So... In this whole evening... Everything we did... All that fighting... And we didn't even achieve anything?' He unconsciously rubbed his multiple wounds. 'This was all a waste of time?!'

'On the contrary, my colossal friend, we've done exceedingly well for ourselves.'

'Who was-?'

A shadow on the wall detached, stepped out and walked towards them as its colour changed from black to a more comfortable set of brown shades. Felicia the Pidgeotto smiled and nodded at the other three as she walked out of the shadows to them. 'Evening all. Cold night out, isn't it?'

Jupiter opened his beak first, but Cassie was the angriest. 'Where the hell have you been?!'

Felicia's smile didn't budge an inch as she stretched out her wing and unfolded the feathers. Nestled there, on the surface of her wing like a treasured egg, was the green Dimensional Gem.

'Didn't I tell you I was the best thief in the business?'

All mouths were open, all eyes staring at her. 'But- But- But- But how?!' Eddie managed to stammer out. 'How did you... possibly...'

Felicia folded her wing again, keeping the Gem safe (gripping things with wings being a feature of being able to design her own body that she'd gently enjoyed). 'It's all in the plan, you see. I knew that we'd have to make a run with the Gem sooner or later-'

'How?'

'Because I know how these things work,' replied Felicia the Genre Savvy. 'I knew we'd run for it, and I was virtually certain that one way or another it would fall back into their hands. Pokextinction were bound to muck things up at some point. So once the Gem made it back to the family, I put my transforming skills into action...'


---


Josephine examined the gem in her hand. 'Not even a scratch... That's a relief.' She put it in her back pocket, brushing aside an unattended phone left on the chaise in the chaos. 'Whoever it was who found it, thank you very much.'

Unnoticed by everyone, obscured by the folds of Josephine's elaborate dress and as all eyes were drawn to her face as she spoke, the discarded phone suddenly shifted slightly in its position. Without anyone realising it suddenly rose up, riding off the ground on a set of little black legs sticking out of the bottom of the casing, like a small insect but with more buttons on the face. It scuttled across the top of the cushions to the pocket Josephine had put the Gem in.

'I simply didn't know what I was going to do without it,' Josephine continued. With a single leap the walking phone hopped straight into her pocket, landing next to the Gem itself, glowing faintly in the dark environment. Absorbed with herself, Josephine didn't feel the disturbance, and certainly no-one else saw it. After all, besides everything mentioned above, who'd believe that a black phone just grew legs?

The phone could see the gap between the cushions of the sofa at the back, just outside the pocket. Wide from this viewpoint, and deep... That would be perfect. But they were just too far away to simply tip the Gem out and bury it without notice. If there was some way to make her move backwards slightly...

'That would be Cassie,' Anne said in the outside world. In Josephine's pocket, the phone devised a plan. It moved further into the pocket space on its spindly legs, which then retracted as it came to rest further in, closer to Josephine's actual side. Then, without warning, it bloated up, losing definition as a phone or for that matter the distinguishing features of one, keys, screen or colour... Swelling into a lumpy tennis ball-sized object. But unlike most tennis balls, it had awkward sides and rough edges on all parts, with wedge-like shapes and coarse textures that would make it deeply uncomfortable to sit on. It was the lumpiest, most awkward shape imaginable. And it was positioned for hopefully the ideal effect, to produce a certain movement from Josephine. Fingers crossed she'd react the way she was meant to...

Cassie sounded awkward. 'Er, no, wait, I'm not a hero, really, all I did was spot it going down the hall and I, it's just-'

Josephine was suddenly aware of something very awkward in her pocket, something she'd somehow barely noticed being there before. Ugh, what a horrible rough feel to it... She suddenly couldn't sit comfortably in her seat. She shifted back slightly, and the awkward lump digging into her pocket fell away. Much better. 'Yes, yes, whatever you say. But I'm very grateful, and you can have... Oh, I don't know, something.'

Yes! Yes! Perfect! The mouth of the pocket was now right over the gap between the sofa cushions. The awkward lumpy object smoothed itself again immediately, before Josephine shifted again, then a set of little legs and two small but strong arms grew out of its side. It moved itself behind the Dimensional Gem, flexed its back (as best it could) and pushed outward. The Gem moved slowly at first, being light for a rock but still cumbersome for a lump to deal with, until suddenly they were on the lip of the opening and its momentum took over, falling straight out onto the cushion. Barely able to contain its glee, the lumpy object dived out after it and rolled it with force now across the cushion to the gap, where it gave an extra-hard shove and prayed. Prayer answered - the Gem didn't so much as teeter on the edge before falling down into the chasm-esque gap between cushions. Yes! Yes!

Not home and dry yet. Immediately the object turned and leapt, straight back into Josephine's pocket again. Now, though, its little limbs retracted, its shape shifted again, smooth and coloured and shiny and rounded until it had transformed from a misshapen lumpy blob into a perfect replica of the real Dimensional Gem.

Josephine was helped to her feet. 'Have you still got the jewel, Jo?' someone asked.

Josephine patted her pocket, feeling its characteristic shape. 'Still here. Although if it's going to cause this kind of fuss, I think if I came home and found it missing I wouldn't be at all worried. Nothing but trouble... And to think it cost me so much, too.'

Consider you wish granted, the Gem thought. Now, for the opportune moment-

'Let me get the door for you, Jo...' The man who offered tugged gently, followed by a frown as the door stuck at only a crack open. 'Huh. Wasn't doing that before. Give me a second.'

Perfect. As everyone's attention was drawn either to opening the stuck door or providing moral support for the brave men trying to pull it free, no-one noticed once again as the Gem began to act strangely. To be specific, it shrank down, lost its form and its stillness, until it was a living, breathing spider, the kind found crawling on walls the size of minor coins, and gently scuttled up the inside of Josephine's pocket, out and down the outside of her dress. No-one noticed as it scurried down the fabric, feet sticking like glue, until it reached the edging at the bottom, from which it leapt straight off the fabric to the floor. Spiders are naturally resistant to impacts and long-distance falls anyway, but just to make sure this one hardened the ends of its legs just before landing. It fell without a bruise or even disturbing the dust. The humans didn't notice any of this. For the so-called greatest species on the planet (heh, as if), humans spend a lot of their time not noticing things.

It took barely a minute for the spider to reach the chaise longue, by which time the door had been successfully opened. Navigating up to the cushions, and then to the gap between them at the back, that at this size looked like a cavern, it crawled on, down the side of the cushion and into the space below. The Dimensional Gem sat there between the cushions, patiently giving off its eerie green glow. Imagine that! A Dimensional Gem, down the back of the sofa!

Felicia grinned to herself as her form shifted again. 'You can find the
strangest things inside the couch.'

She clanked her Durant pincers together, and knew that it would be a matter of seconds to chew through the bottom of the sofa, and then minutes for the rock-crushing jaws to start digging a tunnel out through the concrete and soil underneath that. All she had to do was push the Gem ahead of her as she did.



---


'That was my plan the whole time: create some chaos, let it go without changing anything and then, when everyone is congratulating themselves on fending off the attack, steal it from them when their guard was down.' Felicia settled back again, and looked at the gawking faces of her audience with a proud smile. 'Believe me, I've stolen bigger using less.'

'So- We- We've got it?' Everyone was lost for words, but Cassie managed to find them again the first. 'We've actually got the Gem after all that?'

Felicia looked down at it clasped in her wing. 'Yes we do. Mission complete, everyone.'

Something about that broke the ice. There was movement, and action, people looking at each other in amazement. They'd actually done it. Their stupid, ragtag plan had actually worked. They'd actually gone and done it. Jupiter looked around them, at the trashed-up alleyway they were still stood in as streetlights and car lights glowed at the far end. 'In that case... We'll need to move. The police will be here soon, and we do not want to still be here when that happens. Eddie, load the goons and Mike into the wheelie bin.'

Felicia frowned. 'Wait, we're bringing them back with u-'

'Yes. We are.' Jupiter was in no mood for arguing or explaining.

Eddie sighed, and hefted the Gliscor over his shoulder. 'I'll tell you what I don't get, Felicia. Admit it, it was pretty convenient that that door stuck for you so you could climb out of her pocket and escape while they were trying to shove it open. If that hadn't happened, you would still be in there.'

'Convenient?' Felicia sounded offended. 'That was no accident. Among my many... tools of the trade I have a set of minature pins. They stick in door hinges and cause them to jam at various angles. Let me tell you, they come in useful in all kinds of situations. I do not deal in 'conveniences', Eddie.'

Cassie frowned. 'Come to think of it... We've been making a lot of noise and fuss out here. How come no-one's come to investigate or something from the hotel? You'd think they've heard us.'

Now it was Eddie's turn to speak like it was obvious. 'You do realise you ran straight through the glass door in public in front of all those people, right? They'd be pretty freaked out by that. Dunno about you, but if I saw that I'd think 'Not going out there and getting mixed up in whatever the heck that was'. So in a way, that was kind of a good thing, you nearly giving yourself away like that.' Cassie could only blush, fully visible on her dark Sableye face.

'Ok, that's the three of them,' Jupiter said authoritatively, closing the lid of the bin carefully but firmly. 'I'll push them back to the safehouse. If anyone asks, we... were at a party, or something.'

'Jupiter, we're covered in bruises.'

'It was one hell of a party. Anyway, those'll be gone by this time tomorrow. Ok everyone, rings on.' The Blaziken stopped, mid-movement, the ring just off the tip of his talon. 'Oh, and everyone, I didn't say this before but... Well done. You've all been very, very brave tonight. I'm proud of you, all. Just... feel good. You've been amazing tonight.'

'Says the guy who turned a goon into a firework display.'

Jupiter laughed. 'Ok, we've all been amazing tonight.' And with that, the rings went on. Three rings, and one brief transformation.

Slowly, carefully, the four conscious heroes grouped together, walking towards the end of the alleyway. There was chaos in the shadows outside, voices shouting and lights spilling out of the hotel building, but they didn't care. It was like they were floating on a cloud through it all. They'd actually done it. They'd actually gone and done it. They'd send the Gem to Long Island through the teleporter as soon as they returned to base. Right now, thought, five beds in a safehouse somewhere called to them stronger than any homing beacon.

They'd got as far as the end of the alley and a block away when Felicia leant over to Cassie and quietly said 'Hey. Um, while I was on the way out, I... took something else too. I thought you'd want it.' She reached into her pocket, carefully so as not to disturb the Gem lying there, and took out the other thing she'd stolen from the hotel.

Cassie breath caught in her throat at the sight of it. It was Patrick's camera.

'At first, I...' Felicia sought for words, not trusting herself to look into Cassie's face. 'I figured that it was taking his photo evidence of you and your clone being in the sane place together, making sure it couldn't fall into the wrong hands. But then I realised... You might want the pictures.' She held it out and Cassie took it from her. Turning the screen on, she saw, took in and slowly flicked a mass of photos. Photos of family members as they walked, some so distant she didn't even recognise them, others closer and more personal. And more hard-hitting as a result. This was the preserve of her family... The photos of them laughing and smiling having a good time together... The thing she could keep to remember them with...

Their photo. The one Patrick took in the hallway, looking down at the scene at the far end. The one with both of her on it. Cassie's eyes began to water beyond her control. Somehow he'd got them all on in one shot. Her parents, half-turned, both very confused but also very concerned for their daughter. Her little sister, wondering what was going on but going along anyway. Her clone... Right there, right across from herself... In her evening wear and her cheap jeans, both at once, forever. Every time she'd ever look back at it, there they'd be.

She turned it off. Someday she'd pluck up the courage to look at the photo of everyone together on one picture, and then maybe there wouldn't be enough tissues in the world for all the tears. But that was for another day. For today, which was nearly now tomorrow, it was enough to know that she still had the memories with her. Something she could look back on, and think about them, and smile.

'Thank you, Felicia,' she said slowly and honestly. 'You really are the greatest thief in the world.'

'Heh, well, you say that...' Felicia was off on her own schemes already. 'There's competition out there for that title. There is this girl I heard about called Jayde Dorado... And this Absol on the news known as 'Zydane', whether that's his real name or not. If I'm the best thief in the world, I should really go out there and defend my title...' She stared up wistfully, then suddenly clocked herself as she looked back down at Cassie and smiled warmly. 'Then again, you guys might need me at home too. And that takes the priority.'

'You're too kind.' A thought suddenly struck Cassie, several hours too late. 'Hey, actually... If we'd needed Aunt Jo to give us her gemstone, and since she's such a massive show-off... Surely we could have tried just ASKING for it first and see if she was so puffed up she said 'Yes'? Did we not consider that?'

Felicia stopped dead mid-step, frozen on the pavement as the thought crossed her mind as well for the very first time. Because if there's one problem with the mind that plans and devises and knows what to do in every situation and what not to do to avoid the classic mistakes and knows how to handle everything it ever encounters, it's that sometimes - just sometimes - it gets so focused on creating the flawless plan that it never stops to consider the many other plans possible, which could just get the same job done, many, many times easier.
Well, we've finally come to the end of this. And it's flipping taken long enough.

Seriously, though, I enjoyed this. I personally think that fight could've been better, but that's for the judges to decide! Each character's kind of ended up having their own moment of awesome... except Mike. I'll have to do something for him later.
By the way, Jupiter's combo attack is named Cosmic Heel, and yes I have been playing as Chun-Li lately.

I get the feeling there's something else that's worth saying, but I've no idea what. So instead, see you all next time!


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I do not own Pokemon or Pokeumans.
Any resemblences to real life are totally accidental, I swear.
© 2014 - 2024 Man-in-crowd-4
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LucidAura42's avatar
Amazing story; it really keeps you engaged. :) (Smile)