A Christmas Counter-Heist
Your name is Tybo. You are a Skitty who loves Christmas. Despite it being currently 5PM on Christmas Day, you feel strangely unemotional this Christmas. In fact, the whole year has been rather uneventful for you. While your track of time is not the best, you estimate that it has been approximately 1 year, 1 month, and 14 days since you last did something interesting. As it is the evening, most of the primary festivities have ended in the guild. Some people are cleaning up the massive amount of wrapping paper from this morning, while others have joined Kiyo who has been hosting a “high-stakes” game night, which you suspect has something to do with gambling.
While you consider joining in, you must first check for any mail. There are a few sweet Christmas cards from various relatives and old friends of yours. But there is one which immediately catches your eye labeled as “URGENT” that was sent by your old buddy Jack, a Chimecho who you used to spelunker with that you’ve also kept in touch with since your time at the guild. You quickly tear the envelope open and read.
URGENT TO TYBO
Hello. This is Jack, I understand if you are preoccupied in holiday festivities, but there is a rather urgent matter that I have been presented with. The Timberfrostil Museum is in a jeopardized state. It is suspected that a heist may take place tonight, and the museum is deficient in its security department. I have been given an utterly absurd offer by a member of the Timberfrostil staff to steal the artifacts before the burglars are capable of doing so, and then deposit them at a safe location.
They are offering a healthy amount of cash for the heist, and as you may have already surmised this is a task that I likely cannot accomplish solely. I would like to offer you to accompany me in this mission. We can split the money between us afterwards. If you are willing to join me, I will be at the museum at 7PM. I know you have been feeling dejected with the lack of adventure, but I suspect that even if we are not successful it will still be an interesting experience. I hope to see you there.
-Jack
Ah yes, Jack was always an overly formal fellow. While thieving for hire wasn’t really your thing, a call for adventure is exactly what you needed. You haphazardly pack your bags with various orbs, seeds and old adventure supplies you haven’t used for ages. The museum is a few miles away, but the burst of energy from the promise of something interesting to do is enough for you to get there at a fast pace.
By the time you get there it is already dark. Fortunately, the museum itself is quite the spectacle. The entire museum is located within a massive tree, about the size of a manor. For Christmas, they decorated the entire thing complete with ornaments, lights, and a giant star on the top of it. You immediately knew it when you saw it, and sure enough Jack was waiting by the entrance.
”Oh thank goodness you made it! Sorry for notifying you at such short notice.”
“It’s alright, I was bored out of my mind anyways. What’s the gameplan?”
"Simple, the thieves have not shown their faces yet, so we can simply pick the lock on the front door and let ourselves in!”
“You’re telling me this place has no security whatsoever?”
"None my friend! The little security this tree has are all out for vacation. This lock is the only bit of security during the festive period.”
“It’s a miracle this place hasn’t been stolen from earlier.”
Jack gives you a nod of agreement, and the two of you go inside.
Timberfrostil Museum 1F
You are immediately impressed with the interior upon entering. Many small statues of Pokemon line the perimeter and a large spiral staircase is at the center leading to the upper levels. Being a giant pine tree the layout is circular, a large mural of what seems to be an ancient Pokemon battle wraps around the entire wall. A very nice rosemary scent dominates the area. This entire floor seems to be a reception area and lounge. A desk is at the front and couches, sofas and tables are placed in a perfectly symmetrical position from one another. With no exhibits here, the two of you go up the stairs to the next level. Perhaps it was odd, but you’ve always wanted to climb a giant Christmas tree, this is probably the closest you’ll ever get to actually doing so.
Timberfrostil Museum 2F
So this is where the actual exhibits are. Many of the artifacts on this floor are tiny statuettes that seem to be depicting many different scenes.
“Hey Jack, can I look at these little trinkets for a little bit before we take them? I find them quite fascinating…”
”Sure, but we must make haste, the burglars may arrive very soon.”
Two statuettes of a Riolu and another Skitty catch your eye. A plaque below it reads:
A Human and Their Partner
“These statuettes were found buried in what is now the Hensburrow settlement, although it is suspected that these were created by a previous civilization. The Riolu depicted here is believed to be a human, with a Skitty as his partner. The phenomenon of humans being transported into this world has been documented for almost as long as written history has existed. Despite the countless lifetimes spent researching and theorizing about the phenomenon, it is unknown what is or if there is a universal cause for this. Some humans report hearing a voice before they arrive questioning them, with most having a significant amount of memory loss from when they were human.
Curiously, many former humans have been accompanied by a “partner” of sorts, who is usually a native Pokemon. While there are cases of humans having no or multiple partners, the vast majority of humans have been documented as having one. This is considered to be one of the most mysterious aspects of the phenomenon, as these partners are very often normal people who have only heard of humans from legend, with some partners having no idea what a human is prior. There are many who attribute this strange correlation with fate, as there does not seem to be any logical explanation as to how humans would be consistently paired with another Pokemon.”
”Tybo, I have been intending to ask you about something regarding the Clover Guild.”
“Hm? What is it?”
”Apologies if this seems rude but I must inquire, are you sure this “Clover Guild” is not a case of mass hysteria? The chances of that many humans coming to this world within both a short time period and radius seem pretty slim.”
“I see what you mean, but I really don’t think so. I mean some of them are odd fellows but I wouldn’t call it hysteria.”
”Perhaps I should investigate it myself in the future… It just seems all so strange.”
To be fair, you weren’t exactly sure how you could prove the humans were actually well, human. After Mt. Freeze you felt much more confident that many of the legends about humans were actually true. Perhaps some of the humans at the guild could shed some light-
“WE’RE IN!”
A yell from downstairs interrupts your train of thought. You hear another voice:
”Quiet Paxton! We don’t know who’s here!”
Well these must be none other than the thieves you were meant to outpace. You and Jack without exchanging a word rapidly put the statuettes in the bag and make a mad dash upstairs.
Timberfrostil Museum 3F
As you run up onto the next floor and get ready to take everything you quickly realize a problem. Pretty much every exhibit on this floor is either made of glass or other incredibly delicate materials. You’ll have to pack these ones slowly to make sure they don’t break, and the thieves below have already took notice.
”Uh… where are the artifacts at?”
”Did they take them away for Christmas?! Clever bastards!”
”We should keep looking, you never know.”
The two of you don’t have the time to pack all of this stuff, before you’re able to figure out what you are going to do, three figures come up from the stairs. A Lavitar, a Lampent and a Tangrowth enter the room. All of you lock eyes with each other in surprise.
“THEY DONE GOT TO IT BEFORE US!” the Tangrowth cries. This must be that “Paxton” person you heard when they entered.
“Now who do you think you are?!” the Lavitar shouts.
“Counter-thieves..?” you stammer nervously, you’re not quite sure what you meant by that.
“If you think you can get away with all of this treasure before us, you’re dead wrong!” the Lampent shouts at you. “Paxton, use SLAM!”
Paxton starts to charge at the both of you, Jack rummages through his bag before shouting:
“On the contrary!” Jack chucks a hurl orb at the Tangrowth, sending him flying towards the wall, hitting the Lavitar and the Lampent in the impact.
The Lampent growls, “Paxton! Laque! After them now!”
You and Jack dash up the stars to the roof of the museum.
Timberfrostil Museum 4F
You and Jack are now on the roof of the museum. The roof itself is somewhat canopied by the pine leaves, but you can still see the brightness of the star above you.
The three bandits run into the room, you can hear the Lavitar (who you presume to be Laque) whisper under her breath: “Tabi, are you sure this is worth it? It might be better just to-”
“NO! We didn’t travel miles to get here to run away did we?!” the Lampent booms loudly.
Tabi used WILL-O-WISP!
Both you and Jack are knocked down by the attack, experiencing burning pain. Laque runs toward you getting ready to kick you while you’re down but you muster up enough strength to:
Tybo used IRON TAIL!
Laque is thrown across the roof, only barely landing on the edge of it and not falling.
Tabi gets ready to use another move, but Jack very quickly throws a stun seed at her, and Jack uses his own move:
Jack used KNOCK OFF!
The paralyzed Lampert is caught off guard and pummels to the ground.
“This is too much trouble than it’s worth. Paxton, you take care of them while we get outta here.” Tabi says.
The Lampent and the Lavitar quickly flee the scene, leaving the two of you with Paxton. An awkward silence permeates the roof.
. . .
Paxton pipes up: “So uh… do you guys want to fight?”
“Not particularly.” you respond.
“Understandable. Have a Happy New Year!” Paxton says cheerily before exiting down the stairs.
“What a bizarre bunch. Well now that’s resolved, let us finish this little adventure of ours shall we?”
The two of you grab the rest of the things and scurry out of the building, heading to the point of drop off a little ways away. The point being a small wooden house in the middle of the village of Timberfrostil. At the point, you knock on the door and are greeted to a Brunsweet. She turns to Jack and says:
“Oh hey you made it! I didn’t realize you were bringing a friend with you!”
“Worry not, we’re splitting the money between us. We have brought everything you asked. We did have a minor skirmish with the bandits but it was nothing we could not handle.” Jack reassures her.
”Thank you so much for helping, and sorry to drag you out here for such a strange job. The manager is a bit too frugal and refuses to get better security, so I had to take matters into my own hands.”
“It’s uh.. fine. Those are some interesting artifacts, I must say.”
After getting the money the two of you exit the building and get ready to go back home.
“Thanks Jack, honestly I’ve been bored out of my mind this year and I’m glad I got to do something interesting before it ended.”
“I was happy to see you again too, Tybo. Perhaps we could venture more often. There are a plethora of things to see in this world, and I intend to see as much as I can.”
The two of you say goodbye part ways. You wander back to the guild, already brainstorming your next adventure.