Stan and the Aisha Thieves: Part Three by reverbir |  |
The Boss was impressed, Purrow had succeeded in his mission,
gotten the thieves a very pretty decoration for the entrance hall, kept his
green-ear out of trouble, and brought back a new recruit. This Stan character
reminded him of someone, he just couldn't put his paw on it.
In an amazingly short week, the new Aisha had
memorized the thieves' code, passed every test, lost the green-ear rank in exchange
for that of a veteran, and he was the most loyal crook Boss had ever seen. He
did have a few faults however, for instance: he could never seem to do a job
silently. Every single mission he went on, the Chia police would almost capture
him. On the other hand, he was a stupendous distraction, leading the cops on
a wild chase all around Neopia Central, and march back to his partner without
a scratch to his name, too say nothing about how the police felt, lost, tired,
and confused. He always headed rescue missions when his partner was captured,
but he never went alone to stop the arrests in progress. Despite all this, it
being mostly good, Boss had a sneaking suspicion about the Aisha, a suspicion
quickly confirmed.
Stan and Consillo, now good friends despite the
mishap that had gotten the former Kyrii into this "mess," were suiting up for
a food raid, one that would take them both back to Sakhmet. Stan, surprisingly,
didn't feel any qualms about going back there, in fact, he felt great. "Finally,"
he said as the two of them left, "I'm back in my element. Consillo, let me take
the lead, I'll get us so many fruits we'll have trouble carrying them back."
"Go easy on me Stan," his partner said, with
some false horror, "My back could barley hold even one Ummagine!" Stan lightly
punched his partner in the shoulder and took off at a run, starting a race to
the Lost Desert. Once they were both at the gates of Sakhmet, Stan led Consillo
over the wall and onto the roof of a nearby building. For the next half an hour,
they searched every alleyway and food stand in the place. Giving up hope after
the fruitless chase, Consillo flopped down in an alley, leaving Stan to search
alone. After only a minute of hunting, the former Kyrii stumbled upon the jackpot,
the mother lode of fruit, all sitting in a suspicious-looking basket. Kyrii
trap, Stan thought, shaking his head, Too easy. Now, where'd I put a
potion? He went back to Consillo's alley and started digging through the
boxes and other junk. "What are you doing Stan?" the Aisha asked, annoyed that
his nap had been disturbed.
Stan pulled an Elephante guard potion out of
a coil of rope, "There's a basket full of fruit out there. Now clam down Consillo,
it's very likely to be rigged to an alarm system. I'm going to turn the tables
on those guards and get the whole lot." He dashed back out of the alley and
towards the basket. Just before picking it up, he drank the potion. By the time
the guards had arrived, Stan was a full-fledged Elephante.
"What were you thinking?" one of the guards
asked, very annoyed.
"Sorry," Stan said, "I didn't know you had this
basket rigged. But tell you what, I'll stay here and guard it. You fellows look
tired, go get some relief." The guards nodded and left. Stan stood by the basket
until the potion wore off, leaving him back in his Blue Aisha form. He dumped
the basket's contents into his pack and went back to Consillo. The lazy lump
had curled up on some sacking and was taking a very long catnap. "Wake up Green-ear,"
Stan said, bonking Consillo's head against a board, "I've got the goods." The
Aisha thief forgot his indignation at being called a green-ear and filled his
sack with half the fruit. They leapt the City's wall again and headed back to
HQ. Consillo pulled ahead, leaving Stan behind. The former Kyrii looked slowly
back to Sakhmet, muttering a promise that he'd return for good one day.
"I should hope so Stan," a voice said behind
him. The Aisha jumped, whirling around, and found himself facing a spectral
Lupe, King Coltzan III.
"Coltzan!" Stan exclaimed, "What the… are you
following me?" Coltzan nodded, smiling
"Ever since that mishap with the potions. I
haven't been very pleased with what you've done with yourself."
"What can I do?" the Aisha explained, "Purrow
did promise me he'd get a Red Kyrii potion if I joined the thieves for awhile."
"I doubt he'd do that,' Coltzan pointed out,
"those thieves can be pretty selfish. However, you could trick them into giving
you that potion you need. Listen up…" Stan paid close attention to every word
the ghostly Lupe said, smiling after he'd heard the full of it. After the briefing
was finished, Stan ran off, thanking Coltzan until he was out of earshot. The
old king shook his head slowly, smirking as he went back to his shrine, and
the long line of pets waiting for blessings.
A few days later, the Boss happened to stumble
upon Stan as the former Kyrii was packing his bags, he'd intended on facing
Boss after all other preparations had been made. "I knew there was something
different about you Stan," the Aisha thieves' leader said, startling Stan, "Would
you care to clarify it for me?"
"B-boss!" Stan stammered, "Uh, well, where to
start?"
"How about at the beginning," Boss said, "before
you joined us." Stan glanced around before speaking again, explaining every
single little detail. "uh, huh," Boss said, nodding once the other Aisha had
finished, "Coltzan was right, in a way. Purrow's been acting a little more superior
around here, my guess is that he feels successful at getting Sakhmet's greatest
robber into this little collective."
"So, you'll help me?" Stan asked, hopefully.
"Stan," Boss replied, "You know the rules, it's
frowned upon, severely, to try and desert the Aisha Thieves. You're stuck."
Drat, Stan thought, Time for plan B…
"Boss," he said, patiently, "I know it seems
like I was selfish back in Sakhmet, but there's a small group of kids in the
city who happen to be in my situation, having to steal food. Their main problem
is that hey aren't good enough to outwit those Elephante Guards, so I usually
wind up giving them a share of my daily earnings."
Boss looked touched, and deep in thought. Finally
he spoke, "Stan, those were some very well chosen words. For as long as Aisha
thieves have existed, we've been all about assisting each other, and any minor
burglars who might make good Aishas. I think there's a Kyrii potion in storage,
but I'm not sure its Red…"
"Well Boss," Stan said, "it seems you've changed
your mind. Don't worry about color, just get that potion. When I get back to
the desert, I'll see if any of those kids are worthy of Aisha thief training.
Expect that as my expression of gratitude." Boss nodded and left, leaving Stan
to finish his packing.
A few hours later, as Stan stuffed the last bit
of food into his pack, Purrow walked in looking very furious. He squirmed for
a moment, Stan watching his every move, and then with a sudden movement, threw
a red Kyrii morphing potion right at Stan's head. The former Kyrii caught the
potion without so much as a twitch of his eye. "Thanks Purrow," he said, turning
the potion in his hand, "Good to see you finally paid up."
Purrow wasn't so easily clamed down however.
"How could you do this?" the thief exclaimed, "I've finally gotten a good report
from the others, and then you have to up and smooth-talk the Boss into letting
you go free."
"At least we're even now," Stan said calmly,
"I got you that statue, you got me this potion, I've got no reason to stay."
With that final statement, he stood up, stuck the potion into his pack, and
made his leave of Purrow, who was till fuming. On his way out, Stan ran into
Consillo, and the two of them made a last farewell. "Consillo," Stan said, "I'm
going now. We might not see each other again, so here, take this." He handed
over a Tchea fruit, which Consillo took without much expression.
"I bet we will see each other Stan," the thief
said with a small smile, "If I can ever get some time off, expect me to come
visiting."
"Fine by me buddy," Stan said, holding out a
paw. Consillo returned the gesture, and the two of them parted with a quick
paw-shake. Stan marched out of the sewers and stole off towards home, the Lost
Desert.
To be continued...
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