Viola Isaacs entered the Pewter City Police Station at 7:13 A.M. on December 25th with a scowl on her face and a steaming cup of coffee in her fist. Behind her the snow flurried wildly. The sky was still black, pre-sunrise, although by the look of it the clouds would block out the sun all day anyway.
Although Viola didn't really celebrate Christmas, she still wasn't happy about being called in on what was supposed to be her vacation. With a sigh she dumped her messenger bag on her desk and shook her hair long, blonde to get the snow out. She was the first person to arrive, apparently, which was even more irritating, because she'd been told it was an emergency and she should be there as soon as possible. She'd skipped breakfast and taken her coffee to go for this. So where was the big issue?
She hung her coat up on the rack in the corner of the room, trying to peer through the frost on the window to see outside. Her hand drifted to the belt cinched tightly around her waist, subconsciously checking to make sure the six Pokeballs were all accounted for.
Giving up on the snow-covered window she drifted back to her desk and started to rifle through the papers sitting on top of it. She'd been at home for the holidays for three days and there were already reports and files to go through piling up. She didn't even know who had delivered these. As far as she knew, every officer had been off work since Friday. It seemed someone had snuck in during the weekend to do some work. Obviously someone with some severe workaholic problems.
Absorbed in sorting through the papers on her desk, Viola nearly jumped out of her skin when the front door slammed open. She stared with wide eyes as a form so buried in snow that it was indiscernible pushed its way through the door. The entrance way was momentarily filled with dancing snowflakes and Viola wished that she hadn't taken off her coat after all, as the figure fought against a strong gust of wind to close the door again. Once they were safely inside, with the snow (mostly) outside, the figure breathed out with relief and pulled its scarf from around its face.
"Morning, Viola," Detective Ivan Csaba said glumly. Viola didn't think she was the only one who wasn't happy about being woken up this morning. It appeared Ivan had not shaved that morning, judging by the dark stubble on his chin, although he had showered (thank god) because his brown hair stood up in messy spikes when he pulled his hat off. His tie was hanging over his shoulder and his suit jacket buttons were done up wrong. Viola couldn't help but laugh.
"Hey, Ivan. How are you? I'm guessing you're not a morning person?"
Ivan practically limped toward the coat rack. He looked more like he'd fought a long war than simply walked ten minutes from his house to the station. "Why do you say that?" He asked, narrowing his eyes. He sounded indignant.
Viola bit her lip and tried not to laugh at him again. "Come here, Ivan," she said, reaching out toward him. He dutifully shuffled into her grasp. She quickly re-buttoned his shirt, straightened his tie, and flattened down his hair. "There you go," she muttered, stepping back to give him a once-over. "It's not perfect, but it'll do. Hopefully. We don't want the boss-lady mad at you again, do we?" She smiled at him and steered him by the shoulders to his desk. "Try not to mess yourself up again, okay?"
Ivan groaned and let his forehead fall against his desk. "Vi. I am asking you right now, as a friend, in all seriousness: Why, why, why am I awake right now. On Christmas morning. At seven A.M. Away from my elderly grandma. Who I am meant to be caring for. And keeping company. For the holidays. Which I am meant to be on. Why."
"To be honest, I have no idea, bud. I thought maybe you would know? But you're the first to arrive, other than me." Viola sat in her chair, slouching a little. "You don't think Chief Garrard called Allen and Zoey in, do you?"
"She better have," Ivan says gruffly, looking up for a moment to scowl. "I won't stand for this kind of cruelty. It's prejudice. It's evil. How could she get away with waking us up and not them? We're the good guys. They're the ones who ought to be punished. Has everyone forgotten that they lost us the case last week when they contaminated the evidence? Or that they almost burned down the station? Or that they are the most irritating pair of morons on Earth? Or that we deserve medals for saving those Pichus Team Rocket tried to steal last week! Or that –"
"I doubt anyone forgets any of that, Ivan. But just – do you really want to work with them? Do you really want to be in their presence at all on Christmas?"
Ivan sighed woefully, and put his head back on the desk. "No."
Before Viola could say anything else, the door flew open with another bitingly cold winter wind. Two people came into the room. They were both tall and skinny (so not Allen and Zoey; for while Allen was 6'2, he was also about the width on an S.U.V., and Zoey was skinny but also just barely tall enough to pass as a human rather than a gnome). Ivan and Viola both jumped to their feet and saluted like soldiers. For although one of the tall, skinny figures was a mystery, the other was undoubtedly their strict, stressed out, borderline-psychotic superior officer, Chief Inspector Zaida Garrand. They could tell it was her because of the smell of wet Mareep wool filling the office.
She kicked the door shut with a bang, her high-heel leather boots sending snow spraying in all directions. Viola and Ivan flinched subconsciously backward. She pulled off her soggy wool coat and practically threw it at the coat rack. Her mood was obvious. Viola and Ivan traded a look of sheer terror.
"Oh, good, you've made it," Garrand said loudly, her tone light, cheerful, and poisonously sarcastic. "I am so delighted to see you. There is nothing I would rather be doing than spending time with my two beloved employees on this most special of holidays." The way she spoke in a tone that kept going high-pitched while her teeth were clenched together and growling noises were coming from her throat was… unique. She sounded like a woman on the verge of a mental breakdown. As far as Viola and Ivan were aware, she was. "I suppose you're just dying to learn a few things. 'Why are we here, Chief?' 'Where are our pals Zoey and Allen?' 'Who's your friend?' I can hear it all in my head, your horrible voices echoing over and over. Shut up! I'll tell you!"
She paused a moment to take several deep breaths. Neither Viola nor Ivan dared move. The other person in the room, still unidentified, seemed to feel the same way. He or she was completely impossible to discern underneath the winter clothing he/she had not yet removed. It was so still it was almost inhuman.
"Well, first things first, we've got a job. And it is important, and it can't be postponed, and if this mission is botched, we're all fired. Every one of us. That's reason one for the mysterious lack of Allen and Zoey. However, they're both also out of town. Apparently Zoey has a grandfather in Viridian City and Allen is studying ghosts in Lavender Town. So it's just us! And my new friend, of course. Come here!" She turned abruptly to the figure standing awkwardly by the door. He followed the command with a little hesitation. "Do you plan on going out again soon?" She asked him sarcastically, her voice a gross imitation of humour. The figure didn't laugh or move. Viola guessed it didn't understand jokes. Or maybe it was just terrified.
Okay, yeah, it was probably just terrified.
With a sigh, Inspector Garrard waved her hand at his clothes and said, "Take off your coat, your boots, whatever. Just try to get comfortable, I suppose, as you'll be here for a while." She turned away from him or her impatiently and looked Ivan and Viola over. "I don't know why you're not wearing your coats, though. You're not staying here. I need you down at the mayor's house interviewing witnesses and trying to figure out where to start looking."
Garrard span on her heel and started stomping toward her office, her hand drifting to the Pokeballs at her waist, preparing to let the creatures inside out.
"Wait!" Viola called, breaking out of her baffled stupor. "You haven't told us what our job is, what are we supposed to be looking for?"
Suddenly it seemed like the world was moving a little too fast. Garrard looked behind Viola to the person wrapped in a scarf, jacket, and hat. Except he wasn't anymore – and it was a he, and possibly the most attractive he Viola had ever seen in her life. And Ivan was looking too now, and things seemed to move in slow motion as the strange man turned on Viola's computer and sat at her desk, the wind picked up outside and started to shake the entire building, and a Nidorino came flying through the window, shattering the glass.
"Why, the mayor's daughter has gone missing," Garrard said, as if that was something Viola should have known without asking.
Neither Viola or Ivan has a chance to reply, however, as the Nidorino sends poison stings flying toward them without warning.