Destined Couple

Strikers

It was a peaceful day in Corona, but the Royal Guard were hard at work. A cloaked figure dashed through the streets, carrying a bag slung over their shoulder. Two guards followed behind, determined expressions on their faces.

"He went this way!" Stan said as he ran with Pete.

The cloaked man turned into an alleyway, where he was confronted with the path being blocked by the Captain of the Guards and one other. He chuckled and pulled the hood of his cloak off, revealing it to be Eugene. "I'm sorry, were you looking for this?" He asked, holding up his bag.

They shifted, preparing to attack, and he swung his arm and sent the bag flying over their heads, where it was caught by Lance Strongbow, who chuckled before turning and running off, Eugene running another direction.

"Strongbow is a diversion!" The Captain declared. "Get Rider!"

"Huh?" Pete looked back from where he was following Lance, looking confused. Were they...not supposed to get the stolen treasure back?

"Gah! After them! Go! Go! Go!" The Captain ordered, and the guards chased both Lance and Eugene.

The guards met up in front of a painting of Eugene and Lance, panting heavily. "We lost them." Stan said in disbelief.

Lance lowered the painting with an amused expression as Eugene said "Oh, come on! Seriously, guys?!" and tossed the treasure bag to the ground from behind the painting they were obviously hiding behind.

"Man, we were so close this time!" Pete said, looking at the treasure bag.

"Well, if by 'close' you mean 'not even a little', then, yes, I completely agree." Eugene said, then gasped as he was suddenly engulfed in pink smoke. "Varian! I'm in the middle of a lesson!"

"Sorry!" Varian laughed, lowering his alchemy gun. "Figured I'd test it out and prank you at the same time." He walked over and released him and Lance from the goo. "No hard feelings?"

Eugene lightly punched his arm and then looked back at the guards. "Fellas, if you can't catch us when we're going easy on you, how do you expect to catch this 'master thief' that's terrorizing the town?"

"Captain calls him the Silent Striker." Stan said to Eugene in a stage-whisper.

"Yeah, I'm not calling him that." Eugene said in a flat tone, then cleared his throat. "Well, Captain, I believe this exercise in humility has proven that my esteemed colleague, Lance here, is more than qualified to assist me in training your men in the fine art of thief-catching." He leaned against Lance a bit. "So, what do you say? Does he get the job?"

The Captain frowned. "No." He said firmly before they walked away.

"Yeesh, he's as hard-headed and bitter as usual." Varian remarked.

"Eh, I'm not sure how I feel about this whole public servant business, anyway." Lance said, shrugging as he walked off.

–

"The entire Kingdom is in a panic over this Silent Striker," Rapunzel said, setting a golden goblet down, "so, Pascal and I figured we had to do our part to help catch him." She got up and smiled, gesturing to the contraption she rigged up, which was a badly-concealed cage suspended over a golden goblet on a block of wood – an obvious trap.

"...My sister would set it on fire and tell you to start over." Andrew admitted,

"Yikes, harsh critic." Rapunzel cringed and he nodded.

"Uh, Raps, maybe you should leave the bag-guy snatching to the pros." Cassandra said, stepping forward and picking up a broom to knock the goblet off the block. "It's so obvious." She said, then gasped as the cloth under her suddenly wrapped around her from below due to ropes pulling it up and she was lifted into the air. "Whoa!"