Third Person's POV

The full, exposed moon reflected a dim light onto the quiet streets. Not a sound was heard, except for a lone cricket chirping forlornly. Even if there were insomniacs still awake at this point, none of them would've noticed a shadow leaping from roof to roof, slipping from alley to alley.

As skillfully as a cat, Auguste landed onto an empty, tiny parking lot. Ahead was a shady cafe-restaurant with a lifeless "OPEN" neon sign. He walked lightly toward the door. The window to his left had a hanging sign, which read in cursive, "Sorry, we're closed."

Auguste gave the door a gentle knock with his gloved hand. From inside, the voice of a storekeeper grumbled, "What are you doing here? It's super late at night!"

With a bright chuckle unlike that of his composed, soft-spoken self, Auguste replied calmly, "But I'm just in time, mon ami."

After a brief pause, the door opened, and the restaurant owner stepped out with a knowing smile. "Come in, Count Nightfell," he greeted Auguste as he ushered him inside.

At the entrance, a luxurious vermillion rug welcomed the young man's boots. As the door closed behind Auguste, the closed cafe was only illuminated by stripes of moonlight seeping from the windows' blinds, and an occasional lamp sitting on the cafe's round tables.

Seated together at one particular table were three other shady figures, dressed alike to him. Recognizing them as acquaintances, Auguste gave a courteous bow towards them. "Bonsoir, everyone." he greeted with a smug grin.

"Bonsoir," the rest of them replied in turn. The man who welcomed "Count Nightfell" inside the cafe respectfully left them to their business and began to prepare some drinks.

One figure at Nightfell's left adjusted his feather hat to shield his sharp, violet eyes from the twilight. He had short, pale white hair, and his mouth was hidden with a dark purple handkerchief. The figure at Nightfell's right may have made his heart jump a little bit: a young woman with a fancy masquerade mask, curly fair hair, and a stylish hat with lavender flowers where the feather would've been.

The last figure at the table had short blonde hair that spiked up at the corners. His mask and feather hat were the same as Nightfell's, but what distinguished him from the rest of the group was a tiny badge on his suit--a golden, upside down triangle. It was the Bey symbol, but changed around to look more like a diamond. The trademark for the Phantom Thieves of Beys.

Nightfell greeted each of them respectively. "Knight Albus, Countess Cygnus, Head Dusk. Nice to see you all."

The owner came back with a tray of teacups and handed one to each of the thieves present. Then, he poured tea into each cup using a teapot.

In calm delight, Head Dusk thanked the owner and sipped slowly from his cup. "It's just the way I like it," he beamed.

"Head Dusk," Knight Albus began in a low, uninterested voice, staring at his tea's steaming contents, "Do you think he is coming?"

Just then, a loud knock was heard from the door. The thieves looked over tensely, but Dusk sighed and went over to open the door. Despite this risky move, nobody dared question their leader.

From the entrance came a slightly younger thief. His bronze hair, hanging down from the right side of his face, seemed a bit unfitting with the sophisticated style of the phantom thieves. His keen look may have also suggested a more informal and savage personality, but at the moment it looked languid and drowsy.

"Late again? It's five past midnight. You know the rules, Apprentice Cancer," Dusk lightly scolded.

"Sorry, not used to the whole staying-up-all-night thing," the apprentice mumbled as if he had just woken up.

"I understand. You're a little new to all of this, so I excuse you," Dusk sighed with an exasperated smile.

"Just like yesterday and the day before," Cygnus joked in her melodic voice. (Auguste smiled at the sound.)

"Zip it," Cancer snapped sleepily.

"You're a gentleman talking to a lady, apprentice," Albus warned as he lowered his face mask to have a sip of tea.

Cancer shrugged and sat down with the others (Dusk did the same). He turned to the owner suddenly. "Got my bubble tea?"

"Right here." The owner replied as he offered a glass of boba tea, hiding his awkwardness with a smile.

Head Dusk sipped his tea, then thoughtfully tapped his fingers together. "Well, now that everyone is here, we can move forward with our planning."

"Yes, of course..." Count Nightfell agreed eagerly.

"We have already agreed on tonight's raid last night. There is a mansion owned by a rich Blader, with an attic full of Beys collecting dust. The owner doesn't deserve those Beys if he's not even using them!" Head Dusk smirked. "That's why we'll take those Beys for ourselves."

The listeners (except Albus) beamed excitedly at the thought of getting their hands on new energy layers, forge disks, and performance tips for their collections.

"You all know the drill. Cygnus and Albus will look out for any guards, Nightfell will sneak in, and I'll be backup and leave the thank-you card."

"How about me?" Cancer asked impatiently, then added a "Sir?" for hasty respect.

"You'll wait on the roof for Count Nightfell to get the Beys and open the attic window from the inside. Then, you'll carry all of our stolen jewels."

"I guess that's nice..." Cancer liked the idea of leaving the mansion with all of the Beys to himself.

"On to the next topic... Count Nightfell, our friends and I have prepared a surprise heist for you tomorrow!" Dusk continued on more cheerfully.

"Is that so? Très bien!" Nightfell laughed, while the others cringed at his mispronunciation of "bien."

"Since we can't tell you about it, we'll have to end the meeting early," Cygnus elaborated.

"It's alright... as long as I can chat with you along the way," Nightfell offered, his eyes twinkling in the moonlight.

"I do the talking, Moony," Cygnus joked as she tipped Nightfell's feather hat over his eyes and stood up. As Nightfell lifted his hat back up and simpered, Cancer complained, "Are we going or what?"

"Yes, right away, young one," Dusk replied with a hint of joking.

Albus stood up, nodded at the owner, and gestured to Nightfell, who snapped out of his trance and followed the rest out the door.

៳

With extensive agility and finesse, the Phantom Thieves of Beys grappled, dashed, and slipped around the city with Dusk in the lead. As Nightfell launched himself into the sky, he could see a hint of a roof of a tall building. There it is, the chest in which our treasure lays.

After climbing over its walls, one could see the true beauty of the mansion--a tall white structure with a luxurious fountain sitting in front of it. No wonder the thieves chose this place to rob.

All of the criminals looked at their leader. Head Dusk gave a single nod. Then they hurried off towards the mansion, with the shadows of night as their coverage.

Indeed, there were two guards at the entrance to the large house. They seemed to be expecting the phantom thieves' arrival, but...

"Was that letter really from an actual phantom thief?" One of the guards asked the other out of curiosity.

"I dunno." The second guard replied.  "Why?" As the guards continued chatting, Albus, Nightfell, and Cygnus were already sneaking just a few feet behind them. The front door of the mansion appeared locked, so Countess Cygnus got out a hair pin and started picking at the lock.

"I feel like we're wasting time guarding against something that won't come." The first guard continued, heavy-eyed. Cygnus had already unlocked the door and was slowly swinging it open, keeping a close eye on the guards.

The other guard yawned. "Same here. I wanna go to sleep..." Suddenly, a tiny squeak! is heard behind the guards. Alert, they glanced behind them.

But the front door was closed and seemingly untouched.

"Does the door always squeak like that?" one guard questioned.

Having successfully entered the building, the three thieves hid themselves against the walls. Looking up, they could see security cameras on three corners of the main room. There was a grand staircase, probably leading up to other rooms, including the attic room where the targeted Beys are being kept.

Remembering the plan, the thieves nodded at each other. Go sneak in, Moony, Countess Cygnus's smirk seemed to say. We'll be on the lookout.

Count Nightfell tipped his hat in respects and swished his cape around him. In a split second, he seemed to disappear, his cape vanishing along with him.

"What's taking them so long?" Apprentice Cancer groaned. Outside he waited on the roof of the mansion, sitting criss cross with his head resting on a hand. "I wanna take those Beyblades already...."

Someplace else in the mansion, a black cloth swished itself into being, then Count Nightfell appeared. Peering around, he knew he was in the right place.

This attic is not like those typical, dusty, wooden rooms with slanted ceilings. In fact, it had pure white walls, plenty of windows, and a higher ceiling than most others. Looking ahead, Nightfell spots a medium-sized safe with a combination lock. That's probably where the Beys are being held, he concluded with a smile. Looks like the owner thought ahead upon receiving his warning.

Before he could take a step towards the safe, however, a glowing red line spawned in front of Nightfell. Stepping back, he could notice several laser beams appearing all around the attic. The laser beams formed a complex obstacle course, separating him from the safe. One touch of these and the alarms could go off... I should've known it wouldn't be this easy.

Keeping his eyes on the prize, Count Nightfell started effortlessly jumping, ducking, and sliding past laser after laser. At last, he skillfully landed right in front of the safe, where no laser beams were in the way.

Getting up and dusting himself off, Nightfell set his glimmering eyes on the safe. I don't need to know the passcode. He cupped his gloved hands and placed them on the safe's surface. All I need to do... is this. A small rattling noise could be heard from inside the safe. He opened his hands, and in them were a handful of Beys. His prize teleported into his hands like magic.

Count Nightfell marveled at his loot. "Hello there, beauties...."

Suddenly, an alarm sounded off in the whole mansion, and red lights started beaming all around the room. "What?" Count Nightfell uttered. He quickly examined the safe. On the side, there was a glowing red reading, much like a digital clock: "148.9 out of 224.1 grams."

The safe detects weight change, then sets off the alarms? Nightfell assumed.

"Hey!" Apprentice Cancer's voice yelled from one of the windows. He peered his head into the attic room. "Come give me the Beys already! They're gonna find us!"

The sleepy guards outside jolted awake when the alarms went off. "What's going on?!" one of them gasped.

"The phantom thieves came and you let them slip underneath your nose!!!" the other growled, whacking his acquaintance on the top of his head. The two of them scrambled inside (after the first guard recovered from his whack).

When the guards met up, they looked around for any sign of enemies. "They could be trying to escape this instant!" the head guard warned.

"I'm so sorry, sirs!" a pretty young lady cried, running over to the bewildered guards, who looked at her in shock and suspicion. She wore the same outfit as them, except with slightly more elegance. Her blonde hair was tied back and a tilted guard's hat sat on top. Her embarrassment was evident on her flushed, cute face.

"I thought I saw a phantom thief, so I turned on the alarms, but it was probably just a rat...! Oh gosh, I'm so jumpy on my first night of patrolling..." she whimpered, seemingly trying not to cry.

Most of the guards looked at her with slight pity, and they probably would've forgiven her then and there if it weren't for the head guard. "The alarms only go off if someone tries invading into Master's things in the attic..." he recalled as he raised an eyebrow at the girl, who began to sweat.

Then, she pointed suddenly behind him and shrieked, "There he is!!!"

Unfortunately for him, he didn't heed the warning as Albus clasped a hand over his mouth and nose. After a few seconds of struggling, the head guard felt sleep overtake him as he slumped over and began to snore. The other guards watched in fear and disbelief, then lifted their weapons, but found themselves in a suspiciously lavender fog. The lady guard, who covered her face with a handkerchief, giggled and sweetly told them, "We couldn't bring ourselves to hurt you. A goodnight's sleep is much more pleasant, isn't it?"

One drowsy guard mumbled, "We'll remember your face and report you, you dirty thieves...!"

Albus walked over to him and bent down. "We're phantom thieves, and you won't remember any of this. Sweet dreams."

Indeed, the guards all forgot.

Count Nightfell and Apprentice Cancer landed next to the other two thieves. Cancer proudly held up a stuffed sack. "We've got all of the Beys in here!"

Head Dusk walked up to the others with a pleased look. "Well done, everyone." He foxily pulled out a card, seemingly from thin air. "Now let's depart."

The front door of the mansion was suddenly slammed open, revealing a young man still in his sleeping robes. His brown, medium-length hair was in tangles, and his usual breezy expression now looked hysterical and confused. "G-Give me back my Beys!" he pleaded.

He couldn't quite see the phantom thieves that were facing him; the moonlight was against their backs, making them look like dark silhouettes with long shadows stretching towards the mansion. Head Dusk's figure flicked his card at the young man's direction, letting it flutter to the ground in front of him. "Once a phantom thief has made his mind..." he responded. "... there is no changing it."

As the owner cowardly stumbled towards the note, the five criminals got out their golden staffs, aptly grappled themselves to the top of the outer wall, and disappeared into the night.

The note mockingly read: "Thank you for letting us steal your Beys! ;)" For a moment, Count Nightfell paused to turn to the helpless young man and gave a smug salute. "Adieu!!~" Nightfell called out heartily as he leapt out of sight.

៳

The room's white walls were filled with posters of a familiar pop star, as well as countless fan letters pinned and bunched together. A normal-sized bed, a vanity mirror, and some instruments laying around also made themselves at home in the star's bedroom.

"It's great to finally be home to sleep!" Zac walked into his highly-personalized room with a white, long-sleeve shirt and red, striped pajama pants. The shirt was embroidered with a chibi, smiling, yellow sun.

He switched off the lights, leaving only an orange lava lamp to illuminate the room. Yawning, the pop star let himself fall face-first on his comfortable bed. Embracing his pillows, he muttered a content "good night" and closed his eyes. For a minute or so, all he did was lay there, eyes shut, trying to doze off.

After a while of silence, Zac felt something soft and light land on his head. Immediately he opened an eye. Better not be a bug. He lazily slapped a palm on his head, expecting the "bug" to either fly away or get squashed into his blonde hair (he was hoping the latter wouldn't happen, but he was too drowsy to think things through). However, he unexpectedly felt the slight crunching of paper.

Finally, he made himself sit up and took the paper off his head. Using the lava lamp's light, he noticed it was a purple notecard with fancy cursive writing. It read:

"To the pop star and Blader called Zac the Sunrise: we, the Phantom Thieves of Beys, will remind you in advance that we are going to steal your Beyblade tomorrow night."

"What...?!" Zac mouthed, his eyes widening in surprise. He glanced at his Zillion Zeutron, which was sitting nearby on top of one of his drawers. "Not my Zillion Zeutron..." he uttered in disbelief.