Third Person's POV
"Aw man!" Akira whined at the Beystadium. Orochi could only stare in alarm.
In the stadium lay two burst Beys. The last one standing, none other than Zillion Zeutron, swiveled to a stop. Zac dabbed to the ground with his typical smug grin. "If only my fans were here to see this battle," he proclaimed. "They would be cheering my name."
"Cool as always, Zac," Akira complimented, collecting his Bey pieces. "But I'll beat you next time!"
"That's what you said the last twelve times." Orochi reminded him, making Akira smile embarrassingly.
"Speaking of which..." Akira glanced at the window, then gasped. "How long have we been battling? It's already evening!"
"Evening, huh?" Zac repeated thoughtfully. "You know what that means. It means the phantom thieves will come soon."
"Could come soon." Orochi implied. "We still don't know if this is a prank or not."
"Better to be safe than sorry!" Zac concluded with another pose. "Besides, that's the main reason why we are having this sleepover. We will be Zeutron's bodyguards if the thieves ever come here!"
Orochi and Akira gave agreeing looks at each other.
"You guys want coffee?" Zac offered. "We'll have to stay up a bit if we don't want them to sneak under our noses without us knowing it!"
"I'm more of a hot chocolate lover, got any of that?" Akira suggested with a smile.
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Hyde groaned boredly. "Got any games?"
"Why can't we just Beybattle?" Auguste recommended. His computer was charging, despite Hyde's protests. "I have lots of Beys."
"Guess you forgot, huh?" Hyde got up, offended. "My Bey is now fused with Phi's Phoenix! Apparently, Phi needed it today for some tournament or whatever. And I can't battle with another Bey if I have no resonance with it. If you want a Beybattle, just ask Doctor Evel."
"I'm afraid my Bey is back at the laboratory." Evel admitted.
"WHAT?!" Hyde exclaimed.
"There's so much other stuff I could be doing right now..." Auguste sighed, closing his computer upon realizing it needs more time to charge.
"You know... You're right." Hyde felt a smirk come on his face, and a tiny raspberry came out of his mouth. "You know what you could be doing?"
"Uh, what?"
"PLAYING A GAME OF SUPER BURST BROS.!" Hyde declared excitedly. "Evel, get my BeySwitch!" Blandly, Evel fetched a gaming console the size of a tablet from his lab coat.
"How did you...?" Auguste was about to ask Evel about how he could fit a BeySwitch into his coat, but Hyde suddenly tossed a small remote to him.
"Yes, I've been waiting for this moment!" Hyde cackled, rubbing his black, gloved hands together. "Phi would always win me at this game, but now I HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO UTTERLY CRUSH YOU, COUNT NIGH--"
"No stop!" Auguste interrupted loudly. "It's Auguste, remember?"
"Uh, right," Hyde mumbled. "AUGUSTE! Oh, did you want to play, Doctor?"
"I wouldn't mind." Evel responded. His emotionless face curled ever so slightly into a sneer.
Auguste nearly threw his remote down in frustration the moment his character was sent flying out of the stadium. "Player 2! has been BURST!" an announcer in the game proclaimed.
"Go easy on a beginner, won't you?" Auguste whined.
But Hyde ignored him, heterochromic eyes glued to the tiny screen. "HAHA! THIS LEAVES ME WITH DOCTOR EVEL. GIVE IT ALL YOU'VE GOT!"
"I've only been going easy on you," Evel taunted. "Your chances of defeat will now increase to one-hundred percent."
"That's not even statistical anymore, is it?" Auguste groaned.
"But it is." Evel's dull eyes now twinkled victoriously. "I've obtained the Burst Ball."
"No, not the Burst Ball!" Hyde agonized, leaning away from the screen and desperately tapping away on his remote.
"What's wrong? Scared?" Evel snickered.
"C-Come any closer and I'll throw you off the stadium!" Hyde threatened, sweating.
"I don't need to come closer."
Before he knew it, Auguste could hear a battle cry accompanied with a series of smashing noises. Hyde shrieked, slapping all of his buttons hopelessly. "GAME!" the announcer concluded. "This game's winner is Orb Engaard!"
"NOOO!" Hyde cried out, slamming his remote down on the bed.
"I'll bet at this point they forgot I was ever in that match," Auguste muttered.
"You were not that bad." Evel assured.
"Oh?"
"I could see you've incorporated your phantom thief skills into the game. It was hard to land any hits on you, but eventually it became predictable."
"Guess I'm still kind of sleepy...."
"I DEMAND A REMATCH!" Hyde screamed at the two.
"GAME!"
"Grr... one more time!" Hyde pleaded.
"This game's winner is Orb Engaard!"
"NO! AGAIN!" Hyde bellowed.
At this point, Auguste stopped playing and was typing away on his computer. In the middle of a yawn, the console blared an abrupt "GAME!", startling him.
"GAME! This game's winner is Orb Engaard!"
"EVEL!!!" Hyde agonized. Auguste, looking upon his countless distractions (and the giant workload he still has to deal with), slapped his forehead with a palm.
Acknowledging Auguste's stress, Evel went over to turn off the BeySwitch. "That should be enough games for now."
"But whyyy? I haven't beaten you, not even once...!" Hyde complained.
"Downtime is starting, Hyde." Evel pointed to a schedule on his tablet. "Your brother planned no electronics for you at five o'clock P.M."
"What a way to ruin my fun again, Phi..." Hyde hissed through his teeth. Evel tucked the BeySwitch back into his lab coat. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Auguste asked Hyde, "Why does it sound like you and your brother are still having a brotherly rivalry? Ya know, one where he is trying to control you?"
"Well, we still need time to adjust to our... new relations." Hyde explained. "We're getting there, though. Me and Phi occasionally share Dread Phoenix, and I'm enhancing my resonance with it too! The right kind of resonance this time...."
He trailed off as he remembered his old days, then shook off his trance and smiled. "But me and my brother have been much better off now that we patched things up!"
"Wow..." Auguste looked down in thought. "You and Phi must be pretty close, despite your guys' past."
"Yup!"
"I'm not sure if it will end up the same way for me and Zac...." Auguste looked down.
Hyde gave him a confused look. "What do you mean?"
"I've been hiding the fact that I am a phantom thief from my brother. Even though we are so close..." He looked up at Hyde with worry (through sleepy eyes, though). "What if our relationship falls apart if he figures out my double life?"
"Well, why did you become a phantom thief in the first place?!" Hyde rasped.
"You wouldn't understand..." Auguste sighed. "You have a whole tower to live in. You don't have to worry about money."
Hyde raised an eyebrow at Auguste. "You know there are other ways to get money, right?"
"Yeah, I know," Auguste guiltily replied, "but I was getting desperate when Zac started gaining more followers.... I just happened to be good at trickery at the time. And once you're a phantom thief, you can't just quit being one."
"Why's that?" Hyde peered at Auguste curiously.
"I think I'm telling you an awful lot." he scowled. "Are you sure you're going to keep this only between the three of us?"
"Of course I will!" Hyde whined.
"Regardless," Evel intervened. "I think you've asked enough, Hyde."
"Aw, fine." Hyde huffed.
"Anyways, it's getting late." Auguste stated, getting up. "I have to go."
"Go? But this is YOUR house!" Hyde stopped and rubbed his head. "Oh right, you need to steal. Guess that means we'll have to go too..."
"You look tired." Evel told Auguste plainly. "Are you sure you don't want some coffee before you go?"
"Eh, I'm more of a tea person." Auguste yawned. "Well, thanks for coming and making me feel better," he half-sarcastically thanked.
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"What are you doing here? It's super late at night!"
"Please just let me in, mister."
"Huh?"
Confused, the restaurant owner obediently opened the door for a slouching Count Nightfell. The phantom thief's eyes were weary, and there were prominent eye bags underneath them. The rest of the thieves looked at him from their table.
"Is there something wrong, Count Nightfell?" Head Dusk questioned.
"Just tired. Didn't get much sleep. Got too much work," Nightfell droned.
"You seriously have a job on top of all of this?" Apprentice Cancer snorted.
"Shush," Knight Albus whispered.
"Have some tea, Moony. It should make you feel better," Countess Cygnus fussed, pouring him a cup and offering to help him drink it. Absentmindedly, he took the cup and drank it himself.
Cancer watched in amusement. "Moony? More like Moody."
Dusk quickly glared at Cancer, then softly told Nightfell, "If it makes you feel better... We'll be doing the surprise raid tonight...!"
Nightfell's eyes brightened up a little to the tea--and to the reminder. "Oh right!"
"Just take your mind off your troubles and be one with the night!" Cygnus encouraged, putting a hand on Nightfell's shoulder.
With a tired but genuine smile, Nightfell sighed, "I guess I'll try that."
"I suppose we can take a night off tomorrow. Nightfell definitely needs it," Dusk concluded, getting up from his seat.
"Bummer... Well, whatever you say, boss," Cancer mumbled.
"Well, whenever you're ready, Nightfell," Albus stated. Apparently, the other phantom thieves were waiting on him.
After finishing his tea, Nightfell placed it on the table. "I'm ready. Allons-y!" he exclaimed (as brightly as he could).
The phantom thieves snuck like cats to their destination, as usual. Nightfell could only vaguely recognize the streets since they were enshrouded in darkness. As the crew got closer to their victim's home, he increasingly started to notice... The shops, the sidewalks, the apartments were very familiar.
Head Dusk stopped on the roof of a particular complex. The rest landed with him. It was then Nightfell knew who they were robbing, and it was a surprise indeed.
"Zeutron is one of a kind, and it has been neglected by this popstar for too long," Dusk began with an ominous, shaded smirk.