Month Four: A Thief?

---July 17th, 2446---

"Wait up for me!" Sky heard while walking out of the capitol building. The lengths of the city had greatly extended far past what they used to be. In just four short months, Alicas started to prosper beyond the boundaries of Zealous.

Thanks to the technological advances from the help of Mandi, who had woken up a month previous from a coma, Yonoa, and Asoh, she was able to create a perfect way for magnets to be implemented into the city and enhanced with strands. With a one-time insertion, the magnets would be powered in a similar way to electromagnets, expanding the city beyond the ground and into the sky.

The installation of such devices was simple, and all willing houses were able to be launched into the air during the night time to prevent any thefts or crimes from happening while it was dark out. However, for houses that decided not to, a guild of thieves with an unknown name started to mobilize. Sky began to solve this problem from within the capitol building, already having an idea of their meeting place thanks to his usage of strands.

Sky had grown in height by about two inches over the past month, and his body had slimmed out, losing almost all fat completely on it. His muscle wasn't showing yet, but he was one of the most muscular Arkians that awoke on the beach.

"There you are! Hey! Look, I finally gained full mobility!" Ren said to Sky. She was injured extremely bad from Amy's ability during the fight with Quake, only gaining control of her body a month ago, three months after the fight. She learned to walk once more after her muscles grew weak, and was finally able to thank Sky for his efforts.

"Good job! It's nice to have you on your feet again," Sky commented, bumping his fist together with hers.

"So, what are you up to nowadays? I hear you're the co-leader of this place or whatever," Ren said, nudging him with a smug look.

"Don't overthink it, please. It's just a job, as everybody has," Sky said, trying to push some credibility away from himself.

"Sure it is! If it's just a job, how about I help you with your next task? What are we doing?" Ren asked curiously, peering out playfully from the steps of the capitol building.

"There's a thieves guild somewhere in the city. Lazy people resorted to stealing from those who work hard, and I'm here to put an end to it," Sky admitted. Ren nodded, slapping his arm and continuing her walk out onto the paved street.

"Perfect! Get me something expensive and I'll be bait in the street at night!" She called out. Sky was baffled by her willingness to pawn herself off like that, but listened quietly and agreed to her idea. Sky took off his scarf, now made of blue and gold silk and gave it to Ren by throwing it at her face.

"Wow! This is soft!" She shouted out, rubbing her cheek against it.

"It's silk, expensive material. They'll try to sell it to somebody stupid I'm sure," Sky said.

Ren and Sky caught up for the remainder of the time the sun was up, and as soon as it got dark and houses started to float into the sky, Ren set herself up on the paved road, walking by a dimly lit lamp post and waiting to be robbed.

To her surprise, almost too fast, a thief ran from the alleyway of two houses placed on the ground and bumped into her. He played it off as an accident, apologizing profusely while attempting to walk off.

Sky stepped in as soon as he could, looking down on the thief as he began to realize what he stole, and who he really stole it from.

"See! That was easy!" Ren shouted to Sky. He nodded, holding out his hand to the thief.

"I-I'm sorry! I had no idea this belonged to you Sky!" The thief called out. Sky sighed, but while mid-sigh, the thief threw a smoke bomb onto the ground and tried to vanish.

Sky strands wrapped him up and tripped him, holding him up in the air as the smoke was cleared by a light gust of wind.

"You can't be serious, right?" Sky asked. The thief shamefully shook his head and began to cry, irritating Sky.

"I've never heard of a thief crying when they fail. Usually, it's straight to jail, but we don't have one yet, so I could just break your legs and throw you at the nearest battle. Maybe I've lost my edge since I fought off Quake, maybe I should sharpen it with your body," Sky threatened. He pulled out a golden saber and cut the strand holding the thief up, inching closer with the tip of it pointed at his head.

"Please! I'm a newbie! I learned what they're offering! It's an expensive relic!" He shouted out. Sky was immediately alerted by the sound of that, putting the saber away and crouching down by the man.

"Take me to their headquarters and I promise you immunity," He said. Ren clapped as the man gave in, and they were off, heading down the paved road into a darker part of the city.

Ren was creeped out by how dark it was, but Sky felt immune to all danger, braving it all for her.

As soon as they took a step past the view of the streetlights, the man turned around, brandishing a sword tucked under his belt and swung it at Sky while he wasn't looking.

"LOOK OUT!" Ren called out.

To her surprise, Sky pulled a knife out from the left-side of his hip, colliding it with the length of the blade attempting to cut him down.

The thief and Sky were interlocked in a held position. The thief's face warped with fear as Sky still wasn't looking at him, peering off into the darkness beyond Ren's position.