It was a quiet evening in a quiet town. A young woman by the name of Claire was getting out some leaves for her evening tea. She lived alone, with very little in the way of company, but that was the way she preferred it. Though she occasionally did head to the town square for groceries and conversation, much of the time she preferred the company of her own thoughts to that of other people. And the people of the town, in turn, did not tend to bother her at all.

Which made it all the more surprising when, just as she had finished pouring in the hot water and starting her tea steeping, she heard a knock at the door.

She calmly walked over and opened the door, only to see there was nobody there. Or at the very least, nobody who could have been responsible for the knocking. Instead, floating in front of her was a Cottonee, staring back cutely at her.

Claire looked around, craning her neck to try to find whoever knocked. After all, Cottonee couldn’t have been responsible for it, right? There was no part on Cottonee’s body hard enough to knock effectively at all. And so, she tried her best to find where the one who’d actually knocked might be hiding, as a Whimsicott snuck around her and into her house.

Claire sighed. “It must have been a prank. But why are you here?” she said, looking at Cottonee. The Cottonee, in turn, gave a twirl and cried out cutely to her, but of course, she could not understand what the little Cottonee was trying to say. Of course, she didn’t really expect to receive an informative answer. But still, it was cute the way the Cottonee twirled, at least. However, it was short-lived, as the Cottonee then floated away. And as it did so, the Whimsicott snuck back out, hiding in a nearby bush, carrying a now-empty vial.

Claire stood silent for a bit. What was all that about? Nonetheless, dwelling on it would do no good, and so she walked back inside her home, closing the door behind herself, then removed the bag from her tea and sat down. It was time to enjoy her tea. She blew gently on the tea to help cool it down, then took a sip. She breathed in deeply, then let it out slowly, though her calm was interrupted by something. An odd feeling that something was wrong. It looked as if her nose had shifted in some way. Was there something wrong with it?

...No, of course there wasn’t. It was the same rounded shape and the same pale green it had always been.

She took another small sip. Small sips were all she could take yet so far, after all, for the tea was still quite hot. How lucky she was to have this life. Not many could make it in life as a professional writer, after all. She could spend her days with her pen and paper, in her nice, comfortable house. And each day would start the same way. She’d usually wake up in the morning to the sun streaming in, though even the cloudier days were lovely up here on the hill. She’s then go downstairs, have a stretch, then brush her hair, before...

Hair? How silly of her to think of having hair, or having to brush it. Antennae didn’t need brushing, after all. She reached up and rubbed the top of her head, then felt her antennae. Not a strand of hair to be felt up there. So why did she have the silly thought of having hair? She took another sip of the tea, needing to lift up the cup farther than she would have had to otherwise, had her neck not been so long.

Come to think of it, while she was on the topic of hair, she did remember someone with some very interesting hair. Long ago, she’d encountered a human with her hair styled with both a bun and ponytails. How that human even managed it was beyond her. But then again, she wouldn’t know. She was a thief, not a hair stylist.

She took a sip, this one larger, but got a bit careless. A drop of tea slid down her cheek, down her long neck, and onto one of the six pink petals that adorned the base of her neck. She sighed, then reached out a long vine to grab a napkin, using it to wipe off the tea drop.

Once upon a time, there weren’t petals there at all, or even leaves. Back when she was a Chikorita, it was simply green nubs. But of course, everyone needed to start somewhere. It took a lot of time and training to get her mane of big, beautiful petals.

It was certainly hard-earned. She took another sip, reminiscing on her first theft. She’d trained quite a bit for it with Whimsicott before that point, back when Whimsicott was merely a Cottonee. They were both so young and inexperienced back then. It was a simple job: Simply steal a jar of berries while its owner wasn’t looking. But back then, they didn’t consider things such as creating extra diversions or forming a backup plan. They ended up having to run for it when the owner came home early to find them holding the jar of berries. Running from an angry Growlithe and its owner was not fun, but they got away with the goods. It was tense, but it was their first theft together and it was a success, a memory they would always cherish.

The cup nearly slipped from Claire’s grasp, but fortunately she caught it quickly with her vines, managing to avoid spilling a single drop. She gave a huff, annoyed at herself. Why in the world had she thought it would be a good idea to try to hold the cup with her forelegs? Her vines were so expert at carrying and gripping things, with all the practice she’d had. But her weren’t suitable for that at all, not even with those three blunt claws at the end. Maybe if she had thumbs, but she didn’t, so trying to hold the cup like that was just plain silly. How could she have made a mistake like that? Was it nerves? After all, tonight was the big heist, so that would make sense. But she needed to get it together! Her team couldn’t afford a nervous mistake. She needed to be on her game tonight!

She took a large sip, then turned her mind to the past once again. There was another job that was particularly memorable, back when she was a Bayleef, and that was their first job with their third member, Cottonee. Unlike before, now she and Whimsicott were really good at what they did. And as a result of their teachings, Cottonee was much better at the job than she and Whimsicott had been during their first time. But even considering that, it was surprising how much of a star player Cottonee was during their first outing, with his downright ingenious use of Fake Tears and Stun Spore.

Claire finished her tea, then set down the cup. Right then, as if on cue, there was a knock on the door. She got up on her four legs, already quite sure she knew what this meant. Despite her nervousness and despite it being so short, she gave her tail an eager wiggle before bounding off to answer the door. As she suspected, it was Whimsicott and Cottonee at the door.

Whimsicott smirked, gazing toward her ‘lifelong’ partner in crime. “So... You ready for the big heist?”

Claire grinned, feeling that familiar rush she always got right before a big job. “You know it!”