What A Thief Can't Steal

Spiked by a Rose's Thorns

Blade's POV:

"XD002 is-" Medea stopped speaking, only to hold her head up in agony, "ARRGHH!"

"Medea is?" I edged closer, curious to who was behind it.

Blaze quickly pushed me away as he reached out to her.

"Are you okay?" he frantically caught her as she fell to the ground.

"Yes... But... But," she silently cursed, "There's... some gap in my memory now... I knew XD002's memory... It's just that when I try to rememb- ACK!"

She bounced off Blaze's arms and held her head with both paws.

"I... feel... something ripping my mind!" she completed, tears slowly pouring out of her eyes.

"But can you grasp some details on XD002?" I pressed, wanting to know that information.

"Stop! Blade!" Blaze stepped in between us, "Can't you see she's in pain? Medea! Stop it now! Please just rest... I wouldn't enjoy seeing you in pain..."

I silently sighed. Blaze was right. There was no use in pressing information which would just hurt Medea in the process. Slowly, I fished out an Oran Berry from my bag and told Medea to eat it. She obediently snapped it up, probably healing her.

"Well, I'm sorry if I'm disturbing you guys," Ace snorted, "But... isn't there something you're forgetting? World? Destruction? Aren't you supposed to zip back to Treasure Town and contact that Crescent Duck or whatever?"

"Cresselia? You mean?" Violet chimed in.

"Yeah, that's what I said," Ace returned.

"All right... We better start moving then," I commanded, bringing everybody up.

"Well, at least this world isn't over yet... I haven't done my part," Ruse snorted.

We continued our journey on foot to Treasure Town. It wasn't that far since we last left off. Blaze had offered to courteously carry Medea, to which she shyly declined. I couldn't help but smile as I saw him persistently insist.

"Oof!" he whispered as he walked by me, "I never expected her to be this heavy..."

"Did I hear anything?" Medea suddenly interrupted.

"Uh... Nothing, Meddy!" Blaze bit his tongue.

"He seriously needs to watch his tongue," Ruse whispered as she winked back at me, "Otherwise he might end up like some Gengar I met in the past..."

I stifled a laugh as we continued to journey on foot.

Blaze seemed to be narrating our battle with her shadow personality. She seemed to greatly enjoy Blaze's... somewhat odd narration... She kept laughing as Blaze narrated the whole thing... probably in his version.

I couldn't help but look back at Ruse and Violet at the corner of my eye to see that they also held some sort of an odd yet comedic expression on their face to Blaze's narration. Ace didn't seem to care. He simply flew ahead of us while rolling his eyes.

"Yeah! And you were, like, bam! And Blade was busy running off like some Combusken... Of course, even under the control of shadows, you seemed abnormally beautiful and all... I guess that must be why I was knocked out quickly..." Blaze continued narrating, Medea laughing as he gestured the whole thing with his hand, "But Blade managed to land this finishing blow at you with his Triple Knife thingy at you... But even in defeat, your fur gracefully danced as the wind caressed it, shining in the Drought of the sun."