They were coming? Oscar indeed sat up, his anxiety at a peak. It was out of his hands now. His worry consumed him quickly, every minute that passed was agony. He wanted to check in, but knew if he pestered Ms. Wolfe he’d be a dead man after the mission. And yet he couldn’t shake his fear that the entire plan was about to topple. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Ms. Wolfe’s abilities, she got where she is for a reason, yet anything could happen. She will scare them instead of getting the number, or they’ll dismiss her as she approaches. Oh no what if they recognize her as Team Rocket!? Then she’ll squeal on him and he’ll for sure get away but he’ll have to move again. To like Johto or something, or fuck anywhere but Johto!

“Room 416, be quick.”

He smiled with relief. “Thank you ma’me, on my way.” Yep that’s Ms. Wolfe, always reliable. Never doubted her for a second. Oscar grabbed the tool bag that sat at his feet and stormed out of the breakroom. He hurried through the service floor with such purpose in his stride that no one dared to stand in his way. He made it to the other end of the floor and hastily boarded the service elevator. He pressed the 4th floor button with such confidence he swore it quivered under his mighty thumb. This was it, he felt ready to take on the world as the elevator doors opened to reveal A COP OH FUCK!


Nope, nope just a maid. She looked at Oscar quizzingly as he threw his hands up in surrender, but he quickly realized his error and composed himself. He gave her an awkward nod as he maneuvered past her and trotted down the hall. He followed the room numbers all the way down, he had to turn a few corners but eventually he reached 418...417...aaaand 416. His palms began to sweat within his gloves. He fumbled for the keys inside of his pocket and fumbled even harder for the master room key. He looked down each end of the hall, all was clear. He took a deep breath, unlocked the door, and strode in.

He closed the door quietly behind him. “Maintenace!” He called out, as if checking to make sure the room was empty. He coyly put a hand to his ear as he listened. No one answered. The rogue chuckled to himself and bolt locked the door, as not to be interrupted. He casually made his way to the room safe, his confidence sickeningly inflated now that the pieces had come together. He pressed his earpiece. “I’m in, make sure they aren’t coming back for anything and meet me at the rendezvous point.” The safe was in the right nightstand, in a compartment you could open by flicking a switch on the side. He opened said compartment with ease, but now came the challenge. The safes employed by the Lilycove hotel weren’t exactly top of the line, but they were tricky to crack nonetheless. Oscar unzipped his bag and pulled out a stethoscope. He pressed his earpiece once more, “Going deaf while I crack the case, I will inform you when I’m done.” He took his earpiece out and equipped the stethoscope, and began the tedious task of cracking the safe.

Emma Wolfe

Oscar pressed his hands to his temples and gave them a slow, anguished rub. This was going soooo sloooow. It was like mowing grass by picking every individual blade by hand. The thief gave his neck a small crack and sighed. “Relax Oscar, you’ve got plenty of time. Just take it nice and easy, you’ll be sipping wine in your tub in no time.” He pulled out a silver cigarette case and popped it open to reveal a set of wrapped lollipops. He unwrapped one, stuck the wrapper in his pocket and popped in the sucker. Mmm, relaxing blueberry. He proceeded.

About forty minutes of spinning that dial back and forth later, he finally began to get somewhere. Twist turn, click, twist turn, click, turn twist...click.

“Bingo.”

The safe's lock disengaged, and Oscar flung it open with a satisfied sigh and looked upon his prize. Six pokeballs. Six. Oh dear. Oscar’s smile warped; how could he have expected the guy to only have one pokemon? Which one was damn Gardevoir? He could check them all. He checked his watch. He was a hair overtime, he had to bail now or he’ll be in hot water. Oscar groaned and leered at the set. “Whatever, maybe I’ll get a bonus.” He grabbed all six and stuffed them in his bag. He packed in his stethoscope and got up, not bothering to reseal his bag to save time. Walking toward the door he replaced his earpiece, “All wrapped up, heading to you with the prize and then some.” He casually exited the room and turned to leave, only to run into a pedestrian. And that’s when everything went wrong.
Emma Wolfe
Naomi Sato

Oscar shivered as the world's most intrusive bystander blocked his path. He dismissed her original apology and tried to step past, "It's fine just watch where you're-" She stopped him to ask a question. Something from being from the city? It was hard to tell, he couldn't understand her very well with his heart beating within his ears. Oscar tried to play it cool as he moved to side step her, "I mean I suppose-" 

She opened a map, once again blocking his escape. Oscar began to sweat, he was on an immense time crunch and this pedestrian holding a map in front of his face was only heightening his anxiety. And she was so close too, hadn't she ever heard of personal space? His grip tightened on his bag, just at the moment she brushed against it. Oscar's eyes opened wide as she paused. He was starting to panic, but he knew that if he freaked out now he'd be caught.

Oscar groaned, "L-look lady I don't know, why don't you talk to the concierge or something. I got shit to do!" He once again tried to move around her.

Emma Wolfe
Naomi Sato

She stepped back in front of him. Oscar's eyes somehow widened further, so wide he could no longer blink. She was still so close, it was claustrophobic. She was talking about escorting him to the lobby to talk to his boss, she knew something was up she had to. She was calling his bluff. And that Espeon. It stared into his soul. Could it sense his intentions? Oscar shivered. There were a thousand ways to resolve this peacefully and without blowing his cover, but he could not think of a single one. Maybe it was the pressure of this being his first mission, or the anxiety of being so close and yet so vulnerable. He would not fail here, he would never live it down. He couldn't stand the thought of being a no-name burglar for the rest of his life! And the idea of going to jail? After all he's been through? Unfathomable. He snapped.

He moved to step aside once more, but this time he very suddenly pushed forward. He shot his elbow outward and dug it into the woman to deliberately shove her out of the way before breaking into a full sprint. As he ran forward as fast as his spindly legs could carry him, he pulled a deflated pokeball out of his back pocket. He enlarged it and opened it as he turned a corner in the hall. Out came Eda the Seviper, who looked around puzzled. Oscar shouted behind his shoulder, “Keep the bitch off my back!” Eda nodded and lunged to engage its target. Oscar kept up his pace until he reached the emergency stairwell tucked away at the end of the hall. He did not hesitate to run through.

He hurried down the stairs, hoping seviper was enough to slow the girl down. Or that she wouldn’t bother chasing him at all. As he reached the second floor, he heard a door above him open and slam close. He did not look to see if it was her, he was too focused on escaping. He finally managed to burst through the lobby and charged toward the hotel entrance. There were some unfortunate bystanders in the way who were bulldozed to the floor as he sped by. He slammed into the door so hard his shoulder bruised as it opened. He ran from the hotel, his lungs starting to scream in pain? Was she chasing him? Was anyone chasing him? Did they get his face on camera? Oh all the ways he was fucked!

He ran all the way to the rendezvous point, which wasn’t very far but it felt like miles. He spotted Ms. Wolfe and began waving his arms in a panic. He sprinted all the way to her before collapsing to his hands and knees at her side, only now looking back to see if he was followed.
Emma Wolfe
Naomi Sato

How the fuck DID he mess this up?

Ms. Wolfe’s words were like daggers, each syllable another slash into the corpse that was his career. He clenched his fists into the ground, it was all he could do to keep himself from shaking. It was all so overwhelming, how was he going to show his face to any of the other grunts once this got out? That is, if he isn’t fired outright.

He looked up as Ms. Wolfe tried to excuse his behavior. She created some sort of scenario where Oscar was simply retrieving her pokemon after she left them in her room. Something like that, she was using a very heavy accent so it was somewhat hard to tell. He got the gist though, and as Ms. Wolfe turned to him to respond he scrambled to push away his anxiety.

“O-of course ma’me, so sorry for the delay. They were in your duffel bag just like you said, along with some of your medical tools.” Oscar rose to his feet and handed Ms. Wolfe the bag. He turned to the girl and put on a face of embarrassment, mostly genuine since he was unquestionably embarrassed. “I’m sorry for reacting the way I did, I let my anxiety get the best of me. If word got out I was getting into that room without permission I would have lost my job. But I couldn’t let this woman be shunned by the hotel, never to see her pokemon again. It just wasn’t fair. I really do feel ashamed though, let me make it up to ya. I'll cover the cost of your stay, I insist!”

He turned back to Ms. Wolfe, “Well Doctor if that’s all I believe this is where we part ways. Maybe next time you’re in town you can repay me with a movie huh?” Oscar was trying to imply that he wanted to meet Ms. Wolfe at the Lilycove cinema, though whether or not that was clear remained to be seen.
He chuckled bashfully to cap off his ruse, hoping that it was enough to discourage the girl from further action. Yet, he felt like he was forgetting something very important.

And then there was the matter of Eda the Seviper, who had just narrowly escaped an immensely one-sided battle with the most vicious Espeon he had ever seen. As he crawled through the vents of the hotel, battered and bruised, he growled quietly. His master owed him 1,000 treats for this by golly.

Emma Wolfe
Naomi Sato