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"Step right up! Don't be shy!" A voice called from the center focus of the gathering. The source, Inigo would find, was what appeared to be... a clown? No, a jester? The red and black costume could be considered dizzying enough! The owner grinned mischievously, made even more obvious by the fact that the grin was the only visible area on the otherwise masked and make-up-ed face. The voice took on a nasally quality. "Pennies for your thoughts; count what's on your mind."

In the clown's hands, three brightly colored balls--blue, yellow, and green--juggled effortlessly. In the blink of an eye and master sleight of hand, the blue ball vanished. In its place appeared an orange. Then the yellow became a lemon, and the green became a green apple shortly after. "And they say you never learn things in the grocery store!" A wave of polite laughter passed through the crowd, and a few more coins landed in the tin bowl at the clown's feet.

The clown's grin broadened. "Thank you muchly, kind sirs," it said to the people who had added to the collection, including Inigo. "Ye y'all 'ave been a treat. Really! Alas and alack, I must conclude this performance."

To the "aw"s that went through the crowd, the three fruits flew high into the air. From seemingly nowhere, the clown pulled out a dusty, black top hat. It was rough around the edges, but otherwise holding up well. In a perfectly straight line into the dark interior of the hat, the fruits disappeared from view. "Wouldn't want it to start," the hat was flung, spinning into the air, "SNOWING!" The announcement was coupled with the white, crystalline flakes being flung from within the hat, scattering down upon the heads of everyone there. The fruits were no where to be seen. When the hat returned to Earth, the jester caught it and spun into an elegant bow. It was rewarded with applause.

Not a bad haul. Not a bad haul, indeed! Rouge snickered to Rouge's self. After packing up and waiting for the crowd to disperse, the jester had disappeared. Actually, it had retreated through a maze of alleyways, through the park, back through town, up a building, and now sat cross-legged and out of sight on a flat rooftop.

Outdated MP3 player... A few wallets and change purses... A knit winter cap... Huzzah and jubilation, the day's performance and meager charitable earnings were not a complete waste. Stiiiiiiiiiill...

The jester crept forward and peered over the edge of the building. There was still some making up to do for the previous week's thin pickings. Eying the crowds below, the clown ho-hummed, trying to spot another potential target-

Hello~

The tall young man with the living earmuffs from before... The jester grinned to itself. The boy below was paying at a drink stall with cash, the jester's favorite form of currency. All that was needed now was for the boy to idle away from the crowds. It may take a while, the jester understood, but Rouge was nothing if not patient.

This guy was seriously starting to get annoying. Why couldn't he just hold still and keep a wallet in plain sight like every other well behaved target? Hmph! The jester didn't like drawing attention to itself, but this was going to take some extreme measures...

Judging which way the boy would be going, Rouge took an alternate route, one that would get the clown unnoticed to a hiding spot farther along the trail. It was a mix of rocks and bushes at the base of one of the trees, and served as an excellent place for watching the area without being seen in return. Then it was time to wait... wait... wait... THERE!

Rouge smirked, took in a deep breath, and without leaving its cover-- "DISTRACTION!" -- hollered a highly effective distraction. It only need to catch the target's attention, after all. A certain friend would take over from there, heehee.

Bin-go~

No sooner had Inigo turned his back (or at least the back of his head) to the opposite of the path, did an exact duplicate of the clown drop down from a tree behind him, by a couple yards at most. Its feet had barely tapped the ground before it was bolting forward, launching itself at the target's back, aiming to shove at a glance and snag the pocketed items before the target or earmuffs would know what hit them-

A few punches in and ears sore from the shrieks, the jester let out a yelp. That is, the jester's look-alike yelped with a cringe. In a flash of purple, the jester vanished. In its place, a Zorua rolled to the ground. The small fox of a Pokemon quickly righted itself and took up a defensive stance, hopping back just enough to keep his four opponents in view all at once as it growled.

Well, uh... That hadn't gone... exactly... as planned... But it could still be saved! With everyone's attention now on Zero, Rouge silently rounded the hiding place behind them, and leaped forward at Inigo's back, much like the Zorua had done before.

Zero grinned as the puffball started attacking again. Not that it would do much good, as Zero easily hopped to and fro, dodging every hit and backing up in the process. With any luck, the oversized earmuff wouldn't notice it was being led away!


Yes! It was working! The gap was closing! Dinner was as good as paid- GAH! INTERFERENCE! Instead of stealthily barging in and swiping whatever was worth swiping, that giant green thing had to go off and turn around! Rouge attempted a dodge, but not even Rouge could correct for the loss of balance. The clown tucked into a roll, and flopped to a stop on its back, just behind Inigo. Unfortunately, Rouge's booted feet kept going- right toward the back of Inigo's feet. There was much relief when the movement stopped and no connection was made.