"What are you, of all people, doing giving me a present?" Clive asked.
"It's Christmas, Dove. At Christmas, you give out presents; simple enough for your feeble mind to understand?" Descole asked sarcastically. Clive rolled his eyes.
"I know what Christmas is, Descole. But where are you going next?" Clive asked. Descole laughed.
"Well, Don Paolo is the last person on my list. Everyone else has their presents, including you. Then it's back home for another lonely Christmas," Descole explained. He reached a large mansion. Occasionally, a burst of light would make the windows shine. The crackle of electricity was audible even from outside the mansion.
"This is where Don Paolo lives?" Clive asked, looking up at the mansion. "I always imagined him living in someplace smaller..." Descole laughed and looked up to the great looming mansion which seemed to stare right back at him.
"It has nothing on my castle. But let's deliver the present and be done with it," Descole said proudly, then walked to the gates. Clive quickly rushed over and looked at the gates. Descole pushed them open with an ominous creak, but neither side of the party cared. They approached the mansion's mighty doors and rung the doorbell. It was a rather lighthearted eight-note melody using high whistled notes, probably to break through the buzzing and beeping of the mansion's machinery.
A few agonizing minutes later, the doors were opened by Don Paolo. Behind him was a rather ordinary-looking hallway, if it wasn't decorated by a beautiful lit chandelier and paintings, most of which were rare or antique. It didn't look as if it held any machinery, but in secret each painting was covering up a safe.
"Oh, it's you," Don Paolo scowled at Descole. "What are you doing here, Jean?" Descole placed a navy blue box wrapped with an emerald ribbon in Don Paolo's hands.
"Merry Christmas, Paul," Descole said. Don Paolo stared at the present in his hands. For years on end, the only present he'd received was the yearly gift from Layton. Descole turned and was about to walk away when Don Paolo called out.
"Jean! Come in, come in," he called. Descole smirked and turned around, walking into Don Paolo's house. Nobody had invited Clive, but since he was technically with Descole, he followed them in and closed the doors. Don Paolo led the two through the corridor and past stolen Van Gogh masterpieces into the living room. Paul C zanne's famous and most expensive painting, Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier,hung on the wall. The walls were perfectly white, as were the comfortable leather sofas. A 45" plasma television was placed by the wall. There was a small table, but it only held a vase of white oleanders. Apart from that, the room was empty.
Descole sat down on one of the leather sofas. Remarkably, the sofa hadn't been filled with inventions. Clive sat down next to him, not risking anything and Don Paolo disappeared into the hallway, apparently to get drinks without even asking anyone's preferences. It had been a very long time since Don Paolo last had guests, and he had no idea how to handle them.
"Dove," Descole said matter-of-factly. "You do know you're allowed to open your present?"
"Ah, of course. I momentarily forgot about it," Clive admitted, and he slowly undid the bow, pulling it off the box. Inside was a Swiss Army knife and two books: Under the Dome and The Shining, both by Stephen King. Clive burst out laughing. "How the hell'd you know I wanted these?" Descole shrugged.
"A little bird told me," he said sneakily, which sent both men into uncontrollable fits of laughter. Don Paolo raised an eyebrow as he walked in with two glasses of wine - red wine for Descole, white wine for Clive. Both were happy enough with what they had and it was Don Paolo's turn to open his present. He had The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe, and Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie, accompanied by a Rubix cube. Simple gifts, but meaningful. Don Paolo was instantly at the Rubix cube, trying to figure it out. It was passed to Clive, but he couldn't solve it either. When it was passed to Descole, he solved it in an instant.
"How the Hell'd you do that?" Don Paolo asked, staring at the Rubix cube in admiration. Descole quickly snapped it back to a jumbled state and handed it back to Don Paolo.
"I expect you'll be able to solve it easily in a month?" Descole asked. Don Paolo nodded bravely, even though he knew it would take Layton's patience (and probably calling Layton over to help him solve it) to have it done in a month.
"So, remind me why we're here?" Clive asked, sipping his wine. "Is it because Layton thwarted every single one of us?"
"But my plans were all master class!" Don Paolo complained. "Oh wait, Layton is a cheater."
"He is a cheater. A cheater of fate; he should have died while trying to scale a giant mobile fortress in a simple little CAR," Clive grumbled.
"Oh yes; that was broadcast on the television. Everything about entering and exiting that fortress was perilous," Descole laughed. "But that is generally Layton-esque. That is why everyone plans in advance. Although I ended up being upstaged by Layton's friend, a giant plesiosaur, its pet name being Loosha."
"You know what we should do?" Don Paolo mused. "We should get together and create a mystery so perplexing that even Layton cannot work it out."
"I would love to see Layton upstaged," Clive laughed. "But what kind of mystery could completely puzzle Layton?"
"How about a village full of flying people?" Don Paolo suggested, a plan forming in his brain.
"Not just flying people," Descole mumbled. "People who are in two places at once. To pull that off, a whole load of identical twins or lookalikes... That would be rather fun."
"Wouldn't it. We'd probably have to travel all over the world together just to grab ourself a bunch of identical twins," Clive mumbled. "I've always wanted to travel the world." The three supervillains got their heads together and plotted until two in the morning, at which time all three of them were drunk.
"See yaaaaa, you bunch of pickle-heads..." Don Paolo yelled drunkenly and slammed the door shut, leaving Clive and Descole to stumble drunkenly back to their homes, happy with the first Christmas they'd been with friends for a long, long time.
It had been a long time since either of them had spent time with friends at Christmas, and now with the promise to create a mystery that would baffle even the likes of Hershel Layton, there would be more meetings. And finally the trio would no longer spend their Christmas alone.