Girl Thief

Yules stood on top of the agent ship while watching over Chiaki's chained-up body. "Right at our fingertips: the last Yasuda. Although I'd prefer to keep you alive, the choice is not ultimately up to me."

Yules placed Chiaki's jacket to the side, enough to reveal the black flower tattoo on her left shoulder, but then, keeping hidden behind the corners, Codey observed it too. "Yasuda Chiaki? You've got to be kidding me? I don't even know who they are. I thought Tomomi was just like us, but she's someone else..."

He whispered only to see Yules move the wanted poster aside. Codey's eyes opened wide as he saw Chiaki's face on it. "400,000?! You can't be serious!" at that moment, he quickly covered his mouth as he noticed that Yules looked in his direction.

Codey's eyes were trembling as he nearly revealed himself. His heart was beating faster, hoping that he wouldn't be spotted. Luckily Yules looked away but hid a smile that Codey couldn't notice.

"Take the Yasuda into the backroom and lock her up." The agents obeyed Yules's orders and picked up Chiaki, taking her into the backroom.

Codey peeked from around the corner. "I need to learn more about her and my brother." He claimed as the agent ship sailed far away from Urban Craftsman Island's docks.

Ralphie and Kou waited in front of Harry's workshop and conversed. "We need to find the others so they can be warned about Niklas. Hopefully, we find them soon." Explained Ralphie, keeping his hands in his pockets.

"Let me guess. You want me to do it just like earlier that you made me go search for Yumiko." Ralphie kindly looked at Kou and smiled with a nod. "Of course... What did I expect? I'll go." Kou turned around with an unamused expression while hearing Ralphie's words behind him. "Thanks a bunch, kiddo!" Kou turned around, furious, and pointed at Ralphie. "You're a kiddo!" Ralphie just laughed and gave him a friendly wave.

Kou stomped through the district like a duck, angry, and kept a popping red vein on the side of his forehead. "I'll show him who's a kiddo, hmph..."

He searched for them for a couple of minutes and entered the more vibrant area, where they had a park and a pond shaped rectangularly. It was surrounded by buildings and several trees that grew from grassy flats.

"I'm starting to think that being stuck on the ship just makes me be a searching puppet." He held his hands behind his neck and searched around. He felt irritated to the point he even started searching around unexpected parts. "You're not in the trash cabinet, are you?" he found nobody and shut the flat down.

He entered an alleyway and exited the main city, standing right in front of the town built on the hill, looking up at the mansion. "I wonder what's up there?" he questioned, and just at that moment, he heard shouts.

He came into the view of a girl of similar age to him who had been sprinting away from soldiers. She held a special artifact in her hands, pressing it onto her chest while breathing heavily.

"Catch her! Don't let that thief get away!" a soldier shouted as they continued to chase after the girl, dressed in a black jacket and grey shorts. Her hair was dropped behind her, colored black. Her eyes were yellow, and she kept a solemn expression while running.

"She's in trouble!" Kou became serious and ran after them, forgetting his task to find Tim and the others. The girl, followed by the soldiers, turned the corner into a street and found herself in a soldier blockade. They were guarding the alley, causing her to be forced and take the right corner.

The soldiers followed her, finding herself at a dead end. She looked right and left the only two roads to run through. However, they were guarded by a bunch of different soldiers.

She turned around, keeping the artifact close to her. One of the soldiers approached her. He had red eyes and grey spikey hair.

"You don't make sense to me, girl. Do you steal the object intending to escape? You're playing a risky game, trust me. Avoid displeasing Lord Niklas. He may be gentle with kids, but if you steal something valuable, he won't be so forgiving." He called.

"Now," he added and reached with his right hand forward. "would you be as kind as to return the artifact you stole? I promise you that doing so won't get you harmed."

The girl looked in the alleyways once again only to become certain; that there wasn't a way out. She slowly backed away toward the wall after seeing the man in front of her approach her.

"This artifact isn't yours! It's something my brother crafted for me, and I won't let you have it!" she shouted as the man sighed. "If I recall correctly, he gave that artifact to Niklas. I don't think it's yours, kiddo."

"Because you forced him to do so! Do whatever you want to me, but I'm not giving back this artifact! It's mine!" she hugged the artifact tighter and waited to see what would happen.

"It's risky for a girl your age to handle that antique. It's quite valuable, so someone as naive as you shouldn't keep it. The gadget is valuable and must be applied to the swords that Lord Niklas has been waiting for ever so long."

The girl ignored them and popped bubble gum from her mouth, irritating the man to its fullest, enough for him to close his eyes and twitch. "Man, why do children need to be so selfish? Fine, usage of force shall be done."

The man walked in front of the girl and forced her to be pushed closer to the wall. She looked up at his face, only an inch away from touching hers. "Give the artifact or I'll-"

Soon his sentence ended up becoming interrupted. Kou rushed out from the street between the soldiers, surrounded by the mint sparks, and rammed his sole into the man's face, shattering his teeth in the process.

The girl felt a thunderous wind swirling around her, enough to ripple her clothes and hair, and even needed to close her eyes from its pressure. "How about you take on someone your own size!" shouted Kou and pressed his sole deeper into the man's cheek.

He sent him launching through the air and far back into the other soldiers that blocked the streets. They rolled on the floor as Kou dropped down with his eyes glowing mint.

The soldiers still standing looked at Kou and became uncomfortable, seeing that their leader got knocked down with ease. "He?" questioned the girl and looked at Kou, confused. She blinked twice while sweat dripped down her cheeks.

"Are you supposed to be one of Niklas's coworkers, kid?" she asked. Kou rotated around with a furious face. "I just saved you from these idiots and you're not even going to thank me?! Also, you're literally of the same age as me!"

"I'm 15." Kou immediately dropped his arms and hung them in front of his body. "You probably just have a birthday sooner than me!" Kou claimed, crossing his arms and looking to the side. "I have it in December."

Kou slapped his forehead and surrendered. "Nevermind, I guess you're just a year older than me. Either way, sorry to do this, but we gotta run!"

Kou reached out and grabbed the girl's body in his lap like a baby. "Hey! Stop that!" she shouted as she started pulling his chin. "How about you stop pulling my skin! I'm trying to get you out of here!"

"And how are you supposed to do that-"

Her question got answered before she could think. She felt her body get dragged through the air high above the rooftops. She realized she was meters off the ground as her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "What the-?!" She screamed as she soon noticed Kou landing on the roof. Then, before knowing it, their body was surrounded by green electricity, and their bodies blinked from the view in a flash.

"You're going to kill me!!"

That was her final statement.

To be continued...