Meanwhile, that night, Hiori walked back to his empty house and sighed as he let out Lucario, who, now that they weren't in public, stopped acting hurt.
Hiori rubbed his head, "Sorry you had to get hurt," he said apologetically.
But Lucario let out a small puff and held his head up high. He didn't mind pretending to be weak if it helped Hiori.
As he smiled, suddenly the Mime Jr. that lived with him ran up to him excitedly, holding up a little envelope.
Hiori looked down and grabbed it, rubbing Mime Jr.'s head, "Thank you. Is this our next job?" He opened the letter and read it, then nodded, "I've got it."
Hiori then went into a secret wall and pulled out a costume. He changed into it and finally put a headband on, letting his spiky hair free. He put on goggles.
"The mysterious thief Pokémon 7 transformation complete!" Hiori did a small pose in front of the mirror, making Lucario slightly hide his face with his paw.
Meanwhile, Hiori did some stretches quickly, "Man, I'm glad we got this new costume. The old one was horrible. What was I thinking with the cape? Like this, I can go all out! It's like my power is gushing out!"
Eventually, he stopped and looked over at Lucario, giving him a thumbs up, "Alright, partner, let's go scout out the guy. We can't just run in guns blazing."
Lucario finally put his hand down and nodded, so Hiori then threw out his second Pokémon, a Drifblim. Hiori and Lucario grabbed on, then Drifblim flew up out from the roof and flew off into the sky. But what Hiori didn't notice was that the letter fell out from his pocket and fell to the ground.
However, at the same time, Nazuna was slowly walking to Hiori's house with a basket of a few cakes. She had her head down. She felt bad about what she said. She shouldn't have snapped at Hiori. She came here to apologize to him. She'd hate it if Hiori stopped talking to her, since she knew Hiori didn't have anyone anymore, not since...the incident.
But as she was walking, with her head conveniently down while muttering about how she was going to apologize, suddenly a letter fell from the sky and onto the basket she was supposed to take to Hiori.
She wouldn't have opened it, but it was already opened, and she was going to close it and then hand it to the post office later since she thought someone must have lost it. But that's when a few words caught her eye, Pokémon 7.
Immediately, her curiosity got the better of her, and she opened it. In it was an address and target for Pokémon 7, along with a name and a target: a very specific vintage clock.
Nazuna then finally looked up, and in the distance, there she saw Pokémon 7 flying away on a Drifblim. Immediately, her plans to go apologize to Hiori were put on the back burner. She would do it; it was just that this was really urgent. Who knows when she would get the opportunity to do this again? If she followed this address, she might be able to find out who that criminal Pokémon 7 was.
So she placed the basket on the front of Hiori's house with a note, and she ran after where Pokémon 7 went.
—
{Hours later}
While Pokémon 7 was preparing to break in and doing some last-minute planning, and D was busy somewhere else disabling cameras, none of them had gone into the large mansion yet. I mean, it's Thieving 101: you want the cover of darkness to hide yourself, since usually you want to get in and out quickly and not have to fight your way out.
But unfortunately, Nazuna was not on the same wavelength as those two. She arrived and immediately looked around, and she found an opened window. She went over and managed to climb up and push herself into the mansion, but it was not graceful. She fell onto her face on the carpet floor.
When she pushed herself up, rubbing her face, and opened her eyes, they widened, not because anything horrible was there, just because it was so weird. Along the walls were...clocks. Just clocks. Imagine any clock you can think of, and it was here.
Nazuna slowly walked down the hallway, her eyes darting from one clock to another. Some were enormous grandfather clocks that reached nearly to the ceiling, while others were tiny antique clocks sitting inside glass cases. There were golden clocks, silver clocks, wooden clocks, clocks with strange mechanical parts, and even some that she couldn't recognize at all.
"Okay..." Nazuna muttered, "I knew he liked clocks, but this is just creepy."
She continued farther into the mansion, keeping her footsteps as quiet as she could. Every few seconds, another clock would tick, creating an odd rhythm throughout the hallway. It was actually really creepy.
At the end of the hallway was a large display case. Unlike the other clocks, this one was surrounded by several layers of security. There were no less than three cameras pointed directly at it, along with a small plaque underneath.
Nazuna's eyes widened. She slowly walked closer, and there it was, the exact clock described in the letter.
"Oh my gosh..." she whispered.
It was beautiful. A small vintage clock with an intricate golden frame, with two Milotic carved on either side of it.
"So that's what Pokémon 7 is after..." She leaned closer to the glass, "I wonder why?"
She reached toward the display case, stopping just before touching it, but then a large hand suddenly clamped over her mouth.
Nazuna's eyes shot wide open, "Mmph!"
Before she could scream, another arm wrapped around her from behind and yanked her backward.
Nazuna kicked wildly, desperately trying to break free, "Mmm! Mmph!"
The man holding her was enormous compared to her, easily overpowering her struggling. He dragged her away from the display case and toward the shadows of the hallway.
Nazuna tried biting his hand, but he pulled it away just long enough to press a cloth over her mouth and nose. Immediately, the smell of chemicals filled her nose. The piece of cloth had chloroform on it.
Her hands desperately grabbed at the man's arm as she struggled to breathe, "Mmph...!"
She kicked backward, managing to strike him in the leg, but she was just a little girl. She was no match for a fully grown man.
Nazuna struggled harder, trying to pull the cloth away, but her movements were already becoming slower. Her vision began to blur before finally her arms fell limp and she fell unconscious.
The man let her fall, not caring too much about her. He just grumbled, wondering why a brat was in his business. He was going to go and call for someone to come and 'collect' her, then 'relocate' her, if you know what I mean. But that's when...that's when he noticed something in her pocket.
He reached down and grabbed it. Pulling it out, he saw it was a letter. Then he opened it and checked it, and his eyes widened. Pokémon 7 was coming after him.
But now he laughed, because now he knew, and he assumed that if this girl had this letter, it must be someone close to Pokémon 7, which technically was right, but just not in the way he thought.
But that didn't matter. He was going to send this girl away, but that could wait. For now, he had a very useful hostage.
—
Later that night, Pokémon 7 was finally flying in on Drifblim, getting over the building. He spent some time scouting this area out, and he found a way in earlier, but now, surprisingly, there was an open window.
Hey, he wasn't going to complain. He pointed down at that window, "Drifblim, take us to that window."
But Drifblim, instead of gently lowering down to let them get in, just dropped them, and as Hiori and Lucario fell with him, he yelled, "Don't just drop us!!!!"
They fell down and fell through the open window. Lucario landed on his feet, but Hiori fell on his face.
He slowly pulled himself up and rubbed his nose, "I guess this is one way. Whatever, now to see our target. I know it was a clock, but-" When his hand went to his pocket, he suddenly felt that he didn't have the letter, "...Oh no."
Lucario tilted his head.
Hiori patted down his costume again, becoming increasingly frantic, "No, no, no, no, no. Where is it?"
Lucario gave a questioning noise.
"The letter! The letter with the address and the target!"
Lucario's eyes widened as he immediately started checking Hiori's pockets himself, though he quickly found the same result: nothing.
Hiori slowly looked toward the window they had just entered through, "...I dropped it."
Lucario covered his face with his paw.
"Don't look at me like that! I didn't know Drifblim was going to drop us!"
Lucario slowly lowered his paw and pointed toward the window.
Hiori stared at him, "...Yeah, okay. Technically, I should've checked before coming in."
Lucario nodded.
Hiori sighed and scratched the back of his head, "Well, it's too late now. We can't exactly go back and look for it. Besides, I remember the important part."
Lucario raised an eyebrow.
"The target is a clock."
Lucario stared at him.
Hiori grinned confidently, "So we'll just steal every clock!"
He got up confidently, but then he stopped when he finally got a good look at the wall, and the one next to him, and the one behind him. The walls were covered completely in all kinds of clocks.
"What the heck? Who does this? There's no way I can steal this many clocks," Hiori said exasperatedly.
But then, as he was thinking about what to do, a door burst open and the large man stood there, "Stop right there, Pokémon 7!"
Hiori flinched as he realized he got caught. He looked over at him, "Tch, looks like you knew I was coming. That makes things easy. I'm here to take the clock you stole, old guy," he said, trying to seem confident.
But as he said that, the old guy stopped and looked eventually shocked, "Wait...that's really all you're here for?" Sure, the letter said he was after a clock, but he thought that was some code word to investigate the black market stuff.
Hiori blinked, "Yeah. Why?"
The old man cleared his throat, "No reason at all. So you're here for the clock I stole," he said, putting on a confident expression since it looked like his dealings were safe for now, "I suppose that's why you hacked into my cameras as well."
Hiori and Lucario tilted their heads together and looked at him with a blank look, "Ehh?"
The old guy nearly fell over, and now he was starting to think Hiori was playing dumb. He was now severely annoyed. He grit his teeth, meanwhile Hiori scratched the back of his head and pointed at him.
"Whatever. Hand over the watch you stole!"
The old man took a deep breath and glared, giving a smirk, "Oh really? How will you do that if you don't know which watch it is?" he said, pulling out a letter that Hiori recognized as the letter he got telling him his target for today.
Hiori's eyes widened, "What? How did you get that?"
"Oh, your friend had it with her," he said, putting the letter over a candle, lighting it on fire, then throwing it to the ground.
Hiori at first didn't process what he said. He just dove at the ground, grasping at the letter that fell, trying to put it out, but most of it had already burned. But that's when he realized what he just said.
Slowly, he looked up.
And the old guy pulled someone from behind the door, grabbing her in his arms. She was tied up and had a gag in her mouth. It was Nazuna, and she was awake and struggling, but it was no use.
"What!" Hiori cried out as he grit his teeth, "Hey, that girl has nothing to do with me! Let her go!"
The old guy laughed, "No can do. She makes a perfect hostage. Besides, do you really expect me to believe that? If she wasn't related to you, why would she have your letter, and why would you look so surprised?"
"If you want me to release the girl, turn yourself in like an adult. Oh, and if you take another step, I can't promise what will happen to her."
The old man grinned smugly, shifting his grip on the struggling Nazuna, "You must have some courage, targeting my clocks."
"That's not yours!" Hiori shouted, his voice echoing through the hallway lined with ticking timepieces, "The client explained it in the letter! How you stole an old man's memento, his clock!"
The old man scoffed, completely unfazed, "I collect clocks, you know. And his clock was really rare. But no matter how many times I asked him, he refused to hand over the clock, so I took it by force. It's not my fault. It would be more valuable in my collection."
"What kind of value do things forcibly taken from others have?!" Hiori yelled back, his teeth gritted in anger.
"Shut up!!" the old man barked. Without hesitation, he reached for a Poké Ball at his belt and threw it into the room, "Go, Machoke!"
In a flash of light, the muscular Pokémon materialized, its huge frame towering over Hiori. Before Hiori or Lucario could react, Machoke lunged forward.
Lucario was about to jump in, but Hiori quickly called out, "No, Lucario, you can't move!" and as he said that, Machoke pinned Lucario's arm behind his back and slammed Hiori down against the floor, holding them both completely immobile under its massive strength.
"Ugh!" Hiori groaned, his head pressed hard against the carpet.
Nazuna struggled violently against the old man's tight grip, tears welling up in her eyes behind her gag, "Mmph! Mmmph!" Watching Pokémon 7 get pinned for her sake was too much to bear. She managed to pull the gag down just past her chin for a brief second and screamed with all her might, "Pokemon 7! Don't worry about me, run away!"
And as soon as she did, she opened her mouth and bit down as hard as she could on the old man's hand. That shocked him and hurt a lot, but in anger, he raised his other hand and slapped her, throwing her onto the ground.
Hiori's eyes widened as the old guy walked up to her and raised his foot, getting ready to stomp on her, growling, "You brat! I'll show you. I'll make sure you never see the light of day again!"
But as his foot came down, something purple moved along the walls and then shot out, grabbing onto him, keeping him stuck in place. No matter how much he struggled, it was useless. He couldn't move.
"W-what is this?" he grit his teeth, as his foot was just a few inches from Nazuna's head.
But then they heard the sound of footsteps down the hall, then a figure slowly stepped out from the darkness.
He wore a long black trench coat that reached down to his knees, with a strange mask covering his entire face. A single purple design ran down the center of the mask, giving him an almost unnatural appearance as he calmly walked toward them.
The old man stared at him, "Who the hell are you?!"
The masked man didn't answer immediately. Instead, he continued walking until he stood directly in front of him, looking down at him.
"I'm nobody special. I just couldn't stand by and let you do what you're doing. Besides..." D slowly held up a folder in one hand, "I already got what I came here for."
The old man's eyes narrowed, "What?"
D tilted the folder slightly so the man could see it better, "Recognize this?"
The man's expression immediately changed. His eyes widened, "No..."
D chuckled underneath his mask, "Yeah. I thought you'd recognize it."
The old man stared at the folder, his face slowly turning pale, "Those...those are-"
"Documents connecting you to the black market," D finished for him, "Illegal trafficking, stolen Pokémon, human trafficking, payments, names, locations...quite the little operation you've got going here," he said, looking over it.
Hiori and Nazuna both blinked from the floor, "Wait, what?" they said in perfect unison, realizing that this guy was a lot more dangerous and that things would have probably gotten way worse for both of them.
The old man grit his teeth, "You..."
D casually flipped through the folder, "Honestly, I expected a little more. But then again, you didn't exactly make it difficult. Your security system was laughably easy to get through."
The old man's eyes widened, "You were the one who disabled my cameras?"
"Yeah, but can you blame me? They are so outdated. I learned hacking at that level when I was in third grade," D said mockingly.
The old man's face twisted with rage, "You little-"
D raised one hand, and the sludge moved and gagged him with it. Then Muk's face appeared, looking proudly at D.
"Careful. I'm already having a pretty bad night, and I really don't feel like listening to you."
Hiori blinked, then he quickly got serious, "Lucario, now!"
Lucario stopped letting this happen. Then, with his feet, he gathered Aura and sent a double-kick-strength attack into Machoke's stomach, knocking the wind out of it. That was enough. Lucario flipped backward and then gathered energy into an [Aura Sphere], launching it.
Machoke couldn't dodge and was hit directly, sending it flying backward and crashing into the old man as they both tumbled onto the floor. Then Muk spread out, capturing both of them.
He struggled still, but it was no use, "Yeah, good luck with that," D said casually.
Hiori stared at the scene for a second before looking toward Nazuna, "You okay?"
Nazuna was still sitting on the floor, staring at everything that had just happened. Her wrists were still tied, her hair was messy, and she was breathing heavily from everything that had happened.
Before she could answer, something suddenly walked over to her. It was a little Meowth.
Nazuna blinked. The Meowth walked up to her, raised her hand, then went down with one swipe of her claws. Then immediately, all the ropes tying her arms and legs were cut off, and she was completely free.
Nazuna stared at the Pokémon in surprise, "You..."
Meowth simply gave her a smug little grin before jumping onto D's shoulder. D reached up and casually scratched Meowth behind the ear.
"Good job."
"Meowth!" Meowth said proudly, as D walked past Nazuna and went to go check the old guy's body.
Nazuna slowly got back onto her feet, rubbing her wrists as she looked between D, Meowth, Pokémon 7, and Lucario.
She had absolutely no idea what was happening anymore. First, she'd followed Pokémon 7 into a mansion because she wanted to uncover his identity. Then she'd been captured by the very man Pokémon 7 was targeting. Then Pokémon 7 had risked himself to save her.
And now this mysterious masked man had appeared out of nowhere, stopped the old man, exposed his criminal activities, and rescued her.
Nazuna looked toward Pokémon 7.
He was still wearing his ridiculous costume, with the goggles and headband, but there was nothing funny about him now. He stood between her and the criminals, Lucario standing beside him.
He was celebrating but then froze, realizing something, "Ah, nuts! I still don't know what the watch was like!"
Nazuna cleared her throat, "It was a vintage gold pocket watch with two Milotic," she said helpfully.
Hiori stood up and looked back at her. Nazuna was standing there with her arms behind her back, fidgeting from one foot to the other, looking nervous, "I, um...read the letter."
"Wow, thanks a lot," Hiori said excitedly, looking around. Then, finding it, he went over and grabbed the watch, holding it up in the air excitedly, "I got it! Pokémon 7 completed another mission!"
Nazuna couldn't help but let out a little laugh as she smiled and thought, 'Maybe Pokémon 7 wasn't as bad as I thought.'
But then her attention slowly shifted back toward the masked man.
He was crouched beside the old man, calmly going through the folder again while Muk kept the two criminals restrained. Meowth was sitting on his shoulder, lazily cleaning one of her claws.
Nazuna stared at him for a few seconds, "Um...thank you."
D paused, "For what?"
Nazuna swallowed and looked down at her hands, "For saving me."
D shrugged, "Don't worry about it."
"That doesn't really work."
"Hm?"
"You saved me from him." Nazuna pointed toward the old man, who was still struggling against Muk, "And...I heard what you said. About the black market."
"It's nothing. Don't mention it, really, don't." D wasn't being humble. Getting her to stop talking about it would help her forget the experience faster, because, believe it or not, being told you were going to get sold off as a slave kind of leaves you traumatized.
Nazuna looked between the two of them before turning back toward D, "Who are you?"
"Nobody," D said as he pulled out some things from the old guy's pockets and checked them before adding them to the pile of documents he had.
Nazuna stared at him, "That's a really suspicious thing for someone to say."
Hiori looked over at him, then nodded slowly, "She's got a point."
D slowly turned his masked face toward Hiori, "You're the one wearing a costume and calling yourself Pokémon 7."
"Yeah, but I have a cool name."
"You have a terrible name."
Hiori gasped, placing a hand over his chest, "How dare you! Pokémon 7 is a legendary phantom thief!"
Lucario quietly covered his face again.
Nazuna looked between them, still trying to process everything that had happened, "Wait, so you two don't know each other?"
"Nope," D said.
"Not at all," Hiori added.
Nazuna blinked, looking completely lost.
D stood up and closed the folder, "Anyway, you two should get out of here," he said as he then grabbed the old guy and put him over his shoulder.
Hiori looked at him, "Wait, you're really not gonna give us your cool hero name?"
"I'm not a hero," D said.
"Doesn't matter. You've gotta have a cool name."
"Nope."
"Something mysterious?"
"No."
"Something intimidating?"
"No."
"Something like Shadow Master?"
D stared at him, "...Absolutely not."
"Dark Phantom?"
"No."
"Masked Hero?"
"No."
"Nightmare?"
"I'm going to leave you here."
Hiori immediately raised his hands, "Okay, okay!"
Nazuna covered her mouth, trying not to laugh.
D sighed.
Hiori scratched his head, "Fine, but seriously. You can't just be 'Nobody.' That's lame."
Nazuna tapped her chin, "So, how about Pokémon 8?"
"I think I hate that one more than Shadow Master," D said as he walked over to the balcony.
"Okay, what should we call you?" Nazuna said, putting her hands on her waist.
D put a foot on the balcony, then looked back as the moonlight shone on his mask, "Fine. If you need to call me something, call me 3, Pokémon 3."