Fun with Foxes

It was a cool night; the crisp, refreshing air was just what Zack needed right now. Earlier that day he had sneaked into Grassveil's Guild to take a peek at their outlaw board. Though he hadn't stolen a mission from the board, he had made a mental note of one of them; a Zorua that was said to reside in Shadowhue Forest. This Zorua was a thief like him, however there was one key difference: she used her abilities to steal from ordinary, helpless folk. In Zack's opinion, it was a rather large waste of such amazing skills. After all, Zorua and Zoroark were famed for their illusion ability. They made the perfect thieves, so why waste such natural talent?

What he did glean from this was that he needed to be just as tricky if he were going to succeed tonight.

Mirage yawned as she came out from her den, a burrow of another pokemon she had begun to use underneath a rock. She was disgusted with the dirt that clung to her fur though, but she had no place else to go. She stretched her hid legs and front legs before leaping up on top of the boulder. She yawned again, and looked around. It was nothing, but darkness. She was suited for this right? To be alone, in a forest. She had run away from home for this life, her parents were poor, and yet polite. How COULD they be so polite though? Their lives where a nightmare. She would never understand why they would not just steal, it was so much easier and fun, and more rewarding than working at times.

((NOTE: Due to the original bio not really matching WHY mirage ran away to become an outlaw or why she wanted to become and outlaw I've mentioned things that were never really specified in the bio to match why she ran away))

(I haven't read the original bio in ages anyways |D)

Zack clambered neatly up into the branches of one of Shadowhue's famously large and shadowed trees. His father's cane was still tightly strapped to his back using a scarf that he had chosen to wear when he finally evolved. It held it in place so that it was always with him; after all he traveled a lot, never staying in one place too long as he sought out new criminals to steal from.

Hopping from tree to tree, the young sentret's movements were startlingly silent. Not even the sound of his delicate paws connecting with the branch he swung over to could be heard as he made his way through the forest, heading in deeper as he sought out the area that the Zorua was supposed to be located in.

Mirage gazed up at the foliage that blocked out the night sky above her. She fixed the joy ribbon she had stolen from a unknowing Archen a while back, and gave a sigh. She looked out into the trees in front of her and mumbled to herself, "Bored...so bored....I should go find someone to have fun with."
She leaped down from the boulder and made her way into bushes, trying to create as little noise as possible. She was unaware of the sentret in the trees, for she knew no reason for anyone to come after her right then nor expected it. She had done nothing wrong recently, other than toy with a scraggy, but she doubted the scraggy would go to the bulletin board just because she played with him a bit.

As Zack continued to search for the elusive hiding place of the outlaw Zorua, he heard a small voice. The forest was quiet at this time of night and so even though the voice was only a mumble, the close proximity of it caused the young sentret to duck out of instinct in an attempt to hide himself.
After a few seconds he realised that the voice had come from below him, and that for the moment he was safe. Glancing down at the forest floor, he attempted to identify who had spoken. He spotted the Zorua making her way through the undergrowth.
Found you, he grinned to himself.

Deciding that he was going to have a little fun, Zack leaped from one branch to another, taking care to rustle a few of the branches he passed in an attempt to get the Zorua's attention. After rustling the branches, he silently hopped onto another branch, thanking his family line for his wonderfully useful climbing ability.

The rustling of the leaves caused Mirage to stop, and duck into a bush. There must have been something up there, she did not feel any wind to rustle the leaves. Her next target perhaps, She wondered. The only problem was that this one was up in the trees, and out of her reach. She decided that it would not be worth the trouble, and kept walking. Something in the trees might have wings or agile bodies, and it would be easy for them to escape. She needed a target that was either gullible or weak. Mirage could not help, but to be slightly uneasy though. It was complete darkness and she was alone. Sure she had done this plenty of times before, but some how this night was really getting to her.

Stifling his chuckles so as to not give himself away, Zack leaped into another trees, repeating the process before hopping into a tree in the opposite direction of where the Zorua would inevitably look. He would not usually play games with his targets, but for some reason he felt like this Zorua was getting her just deserts. A few leaves fell from the branches he rustled, landing gracefully on the forest floor with nary a noise.

Mirage stopped when the rustling continued. She sniffed the air, trying to catch a scent, but the wind was not in her favor. The zorua could not tell if whoever was up there was following her or screwing with her or even both. Mirage turned around and walked the way she had came. If the branches continued to shake near her then whatever it was was definitely after her. The zorua wondered if she should pretend to be scared, the forest freaked her out, but the rustling just annoyed her. The zorua walked around bushes and anything that could potentially make a lot of noise, maybe there was a chance she could lose the annoyance!

Following the Zorua as she turned back, Zack was curious to see why she had decided to go back. Was she scared? It really didn't seem that way... perhaps she was a little smarter than he had apprehended.
The young sentret refrained from making any more noise as he followed the Zorua. He would watch her for a little longer before making his move. After all, the more information you had, the better off your operation would be. Besides, it wasn't as if she knew he was here.

The rustling noise seemed to have ceased. Mirage was not letting down her guard though, for whatever it was, she had not heard it rustle off in the distance. This must have meant that either it had stopped or the whatever it was was following her. She stopped, deciding to simply speak out since even IF there was some kind of pokemon following her, they would have certainly known she suspected a stalker by now from her actions.
"Hello, I know you're there."
She thought it would be best to act as if she knew for sure. She was still uncertain, but maybe she could intimidate the stalker without dirtying her paws...

"Caught red handed I suppose," chuckled the young sentret, though he remained up in the tree tops, quickly and quietly moving away from where he had spoken so that the Zorua would not be able to locate him -should she wish to- via his voice.
All attempts of intimidating Zack now were pretty much not going to work as he clearly had the upper hand in this particular situation.

"So I suppose you have nothing better to do other than to follow a little lady like me around? Starstruck much?" Mirage spoke sarcastically. She had assumed that whoever it was, was after the bounty she heard had been placed on her by a perverted Ludicolo. She shivered at the thoughts of what the Ludicolo might do to her, no way was she going to go with them! She huffed and tilted her neck and perked her ears, trying to detect scuffling in the trees above. It would have to be difficult to touch the trees without disturbing them, the pokemon would mess up eventually...

"Pfft. Who would wanna date you," he called back down, rising to an unspoken challenge, "There are way too many cons to that decision."
This time the young sentret did not move from his position. He merely sat with his back to the trunk of the tree he was perched in. However, the thick trunk hid him from the Zorua's view. She seemed to be under the impression that he was some sort of creeper who had taken the job he had spotted on the guild's bulletin boards. Of course he himself had no interest in the job, he'd just seen the outlaw as a chance to test his thieving skills. Unfortunately it wasn't going too well considering that she'd discovered his presence in the first place. Stopping himself from sighing he frowned, I still have a lot to learn if i'm to live up to my parents.

"Apparently some creep ludicolo who likes girls bad, beaten, and young. Sickening if you ask me, who knows how old he is, and what he's planning to do with me if they manage to catch me..." a sickened tone came to Mirage's voice as she resisted the urge to wretch. She regained her composure and cleared her throat, "So, since you seem to not be after my lucky charms bounty, why are you tailing me? Do you WISH for me to rob you or something, because I'd gladly do that," she had meant the last part to be a joke, why would anyone want her to rob them? Why would anyone want to be robbed period? She still had not seen Doughnut Belly Zack's appearance, so she knew not what pokemon he was..

"Creepy," he said simply... though it was all that needed to be said really. He paused as the Zorua spoke again, blinking before replying quiet honestly.
"Well I was going to rob you, but seeing as you know i'm here now, I have changed my mind slightly," he replied, flicking his ringed tail from where he sat and adjusting the scarf that kept his father's cane in place on his back.