Xhurtemob emerged from between his bed sheets and opened his red eyes widely.  Finally, the day he had been expecting had arrived:  The Organization would start its first step toward immortality by disposing of the ones that would crush their dreams, Humbert and Klaus Starr.  But first, the Gambler of Fate had to prepare the time and setting to which he would dump them so they would never be able to return if they tried.  He picked up his black sais and left his room with a thin smirk warping his evil-filled face…

“Come on, ‘Kama; you have to return home,” begged Violet to her younger brother.  “It’s already well past eleven!  …Hey!!”  Vakama was holding his thin body in a dangerous position on gymnastics rings that were set up much higher than usual.  Sweat was dripping down from his forehead as his body was driven to the extreme.
“Sorry, Vi… I can’t… stop yet…”  Vakama’s grunts echoed from the rings all the way to his sister’s ears.
“I know you want to train like your brothers, ‘Kama,” said the girl with a slightly proud chuckle, “but training six nights a week is WAY too much!”
“Tsk, fine…” said Vakama before dropping from twenty feet high; as he fell, he pirouetted as a professional gymnast and landed on both of his feet before he shook and wavered and took a couple of steps backward to steady himself.  Violet rushed to aid her younger brother, but he dismissed her lightly.  “Dammit,” muttered the boy, “Fuu-Ki said Klaus always landed perfectly…”
“You shouldn’t aim to surpass anyone but yourself, ‘Kama,” Violet replied in a consoling tone.

“Very wise words, young lady,” said Fuu-Ki as he entered the room stealthily.  “Did you ever train under any martial arts?”
“No offense, but not interested,” replied the tall brunette callously.
“She’s a pacifist,” explained the bleach-haired boy to his master through whispers.  “And yet, she was the one who designed and fabricated Klaus’ weapons.”
“Hmm, not bad…  Impressive, I daresay!” said Fuu-Ki in his normal, booming voice.  “Anyway, Vakama, your sister’s right.  You have to rest; take tomorrow off!”
“Fine,” groaned the boy as he and his older sister exited the dojo and got in her car before driving home.  The radio played loud metal music, Violet and Klaus’ favorite, but the ride was otherwise quiet.

Once they were home, Violet decided to break the tension.
“Why do you really train so much?” she asked.
“I wanna be able to fight when the time comes,” was Vakama’s only reply as he went to his room in the house’s basement.
As Vakama vanished behind his door, Silver walked in from the kitchen.
“Something I can help you with before I leave, Vi?” the futuristic boy asked.
“Where’re you going?” replied Violet, curious.
“Oh, I’m going back to the future,” he replied.  “I do have a life there, you know.  Besides, a friend of mine there needs my help in locking up an adversary.”
“Ah,” said an understanding Violet.  “Okay, then.  Umm… where are Sonic, Shadow and the others?”
“Well, you know Sonic can’t never really stay in one place…” replied Silver.  “Shadow took Rouge out on a trip to Spain, or somethin’… and the others are out there doin’ their thing.  Why?”
“Well, I kinda wanted to invite them to my eighteenth birthday tomorrow…”
“Wait; tomorrow’s July 18th?!” asked Silver in surprise and slight disbelief.
“Yeah…” Violet seemed rather disappointed that the time-traveler had forgotten.

“Violet, I want you to listen carefully,” said Silver in a dark tone.  “Whatever happens tomorrow, DO NOT LET BLACK AND KLAUS OUTTA YOUR SIGHT.  Understand?”

Presumed Dead — Blackjack, aka “Chapter 21”

“Come on, ‘Kama-kun~!  Take off that shirt!”
“I don’t wanna, Gray!”
“Why not?  I heard you were working out intensely lately, Vakama.  What’s in there that you don’t wanna show off?”
“Nothing, Maggie!  Get away from me!”

It was a bright, sunny, cloudless day in Krim and Maggie’s house, where Violet’s birthday party was being held at.  The weather begged the partygoers to go in swimming apparel and take a dip in the hosts’ Olympic-sized pool, and Humbert couldn’t be happier than he was, looking at all the lovely young women that were wearing skimpy swimsuits in his presence.  The younger girls—that is, Gray, Snow and Maggie—were all over Vakama, who had come in a T-shirt he was refusing to take off.  Klaus, Bronze, Krim, and Ness were playing cards near the bar, where Red, Clarissa and Violet were all chatting happily about little things like legendary Pokémon, world tournaments, and stories like the legendary King Arthur, the Odyssey, Soul Eater, and the Four Musketeers.

The day was going smoothly.  After everybody had lunch, they all separated into gender-based groups, with the girls chatting by the poolside, and the boys laughing and joking at the table.  Humbert decided to teach the rest of the guys how to correctly unstrap a bra without the wearer noticing—Klaus wasn’t listening in on the lesson; he was in the restroom at that time—while Clarissa and Anna started conversing about their favorite shojo mangas with the rest of the girls.  Gray, who was wearing a very thin thong, was chatting from the pool in “fear” of Vakama wanting to stare at her.

When Klaus was returning, he noticed Humbert’s hands demonstrating the movements required to quickly unstrap the bra and he thought to himself, Heck, I bet I can demonstrate the practical application of Black’s stupid lesson, and moved stealthily toward the group of girls.
Krim seemed to be the only person to notice Klaus’ discreet signal, but the rest of the boys were too enthralled with Black’s explanations to notice.
“Now, guys, you gotta make sure you know how the hooks slide before snapping your middle and ring fingers—”
“Uh, Black?” Krim interrupted.
“What is it Krim?” asked the manwhore.
“Don’t stare, but I think Klaus wants us to see somethin’.”

All the boys turned their heads slowly to see the blue-eyed twin standing five feet from an unsuspecting Anna and smirking naughtily.  The other boys smirked in response and signaled him to continue.  Klaus then moved faster than anyone thought was possible and scooped his hand upward, passing at mere micrometers from her back’s skin.  As soon as he finished his movement, Anna’s cyan bikini’s top was tightly grasped in his hand and a victorious smile emerged on his face.  As he marched smugly towards his friends, they all started laughing and celebrating the denigration of an innocent young woman.

Anna hadn’t noticed anything; in fact, she had only felt a breeze passing her when her top was swiftly removed.  The other girls, though, opened their eyes into dinner plates as they saw Anna’s beautiful features exposed; Maggie got so excited her nose started dripping blood.  Gray’s eyes moved according to their kunoichi training and looked swiftly for the culprit of such an atrocity to Anna’s person; she saw Klaus sitting in a kingly manner with Anna’s top tied to his neck like a medal.  She glared at him; Anna noticed the short girl’s eyes and followed them to Klaus.

Klaus was smirking and feeling like the MVP of the Quidditch World Cup when, suddenly, a sharp, furious cry of his name burst the bubble of pride he was in.  He slowly turned around, afraid to see the bittersweet view of what was coming to him.  A topless Anna was charging towards him, ready to smash her palm into his face at the first chance she’d get.  Instinctively, the spiky-haired twin flipped the table, slid under it before it landed, and started running for his life, with the Queen of Hearts in hot pursuit.  The rest of the boys started laughing at the sight of Klaus running scared, but they quieted down when Vakama pointed out the fact that the rest of the girls were glaring at them.  

In the meantime, Klaus was attempting to escape the wrath of the Queen of Hearts by using most of his ninja skills to disappear from her view.  Apparently, though, Anna was capable of sensing where he was, even if he did his best to disappear.  Eventually, he decided to leave the top in one place while he hid in another, to see if Anna would stop throwing her Light Grenades at him.  So he left Anna’s top on top the couch and went to hide under the living room’s table.  Some footsteps that were indubitably Anna’s entered the living room.  Klaus knew that she was there to get her top back, and that he had to remain hidden under the table to make sure she wouldn’t kill him, but he also had a strong impulse to look at topless Anna.
Whoa, whoa, whoa; hold your horses, lover boy! said a voice in his head that sounded somewhat like Vakama’s.  Remember that she’s gonna kill you!
‘Whaddaya mean “lover boy?”’ he asked himself silently.  ‘I’m not in love with her!’
“Love, Hearts, Love, Hearts...” Anna’s voice came from nearby.  “Wish You Were Here!”
So that’s how she finds us... thought both Klaus and the voice in his head.  Then the voice said, Goddammit, I’d better leave before people start thinking you’re as insane as Black...

“Hey, Klaus!”
“KYAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!” screamed Klaus at the surprise of a topless Anna bowing down in front of him.
“Hush, honey, or they’ll hear us,” whispered the witch with a smile.  “Lemme start by saying I don’t like you exposing me in public...”
“Well, sorry, Anna...  I was just jokin’ around...”  Klaus answered nervously; he noticed that Anna’s tone was much different than he was used to.  It was more like talking to a naughty lover.
“Yeah, well,” Anna sat next to Klaus.  “Now we’re alone.  Whaddaya wanna do with me now?”
Klaus gulped noisily before smiling wryly.

Clarissa and Violet were scolding Humbert for teaching the boys such “unnecessary” subjects, and Gray was sitting on Vakama’s lap for no apparent reason—of course, it might’ve been possible that she felt that bulge in his pants...  Ness suddenly decided to speak up.
“All right, guys,” said he.  “Who wants a horror story?”
“But it’s the middle of the day, Nessie!” complained Red as he took a bottle of fruit punch from the bar-near-the-pool’s fridge.  “How about you tell a joke?”
“I’ll tell the joke after the horror story,” replied the psychic baseball player.  “How’s that?”
“Yay!  I like a horror story!” cheered Gray, bouncing on Vakama’s lap.
“So how’s it start, Ness?” asked Black with a joking tone.  “’Twas a dark and stormy night’?”
“Actually, Humbert, you’re gonna need to imagine and think a lot for this one!” replied the other boy.
“Oh, yeah!  I love stories that make you think!” shouted Violet from the pool as she swam closer to listen in.  “Start already!”

“Fine, fine, I’ll start.”  Ness cleared his throat.
”The last person on Earth was sitting alone in his living room.  Then someone knocked on the door.”

“...that’s it?” asked Red.  “Not very horrible, if you ask me.”
But Vakama, Humbert, Bronze, Clarissa, Krim, White, Snow, Violet and Gray had their eyes wide open in horror.  When Red looked at them, he noticed Vakama’s visible eye twitching nervously.  The Pokémon Master then started thinking about the story again, and his eyes widened as soon as he realized what the story meant.

“Uhhhh... so how about that joke, Nessie?” asked Clarissa, who had also understood the story.
Ness started to laugh.  “Oh, sure!  J-just a minute!”  He then proceeded to pull out his cell phone and took a picture of his scared friends before showing it to them.  As soon as everyone saw their faces, they all started laughing hysterically.  Of course, the only one who didn’t laugh was Vakama; he had noticed something else.
“Wait, is that Anna whose bare back is showing from the guest bedroom window?” he asked, pointing at a corner of the photo.
Everybody moved closer to the phone to look, and then Gray decided to look to the real guest bedroom window.  There was nothing there, but she asked out loud, “Hey, speaking of which... where’s Anna and Klaus?”

An explosion that seemed to come from outside the house answered her question.  Humbert, Vakama and Bronze leapt from their seats (Vakama made Gray fall over in the process) and ran to the origin of the explosion, summoning their weapons as they ran outside, where they met a horrendous surprise.

Klaus was battling Xhurtemob and that other man that Bronze had crossed a few weeks ago at the same time; Anna was aiding him, but the battle was going against him.  The gentleman was throwing explosive cards at Klaus while Xhurtemob was attacking him directly with his black sais and shadow replicas.

What happened next occurred so fast, only Gray could explain it.

All four boys (Klaus, Black, Vakama and Bronze) started to battle both boys, turning the tide of the battle.  All of a sudden, the blond man had pulled the ace up his sleeve: he turned himself into a card, shuffled a deck, and vanished, leaving Xhurtemob to fight alone.  But he didn’t fight.  He just backed out from the four boys that were coming at him and, as soon as they took a step forward, trapped them all in dark cages.  Anna, of course, was irate, but there was nothing she could do because a deck of cards barred the way between the four boys in battle and the rest of the cast.  The cards started moving on their own, closing the circle that surrounded Klaus, Humbert, Bronze and Vakama.  The boys attempted to escape, but there was no way to do so; not even Klaus’ Chaos Control could do anything.  The cards finally finished closing in and dropped onto each other, re-making a deck, but the boys had vanished.  Xhurtemob laughed evilly before disappearing with the cards into darkness, leaving the boys’ friends just stare at the spot in which the three brothers and their best friend had dissipated.

END

I don’t want to mention the horrified faces with which Anna started screaming Klaus’ name, or the way Gray and White started looking frantically around the area with eyes wide open.  I also don’t want to describe the way that Clarissa and Violet had dropped to their knees and started crying inconsolably.  Krim and Maggie had called for their parents to report the disappearances, while Red and Ness used their Pokémon and psychic abilities, respectively, to search in a wider range than Anna, Gray and White.

I do want to say that, when Vakama opened his eyes, he found himself in a cool, dark forest with unconscious Klaus, Bronze and Humbert.  But that’s pretty much all I’ll say.