[attr="class","merrkI"]
hunting birds sounded easy enough when he had a capable team on his side. dante might have been a bit bigger than your everyday litten but he still had some of the same instincts, one of those being hunting small creatures. of course a delibird was going to be much bigger than something like a torchic and probably colder. ice types were cold-blooded right? probably right. with his big feline and black bird in tow with him he was sure they would find it as well as the other person handling this job in no time.

tracking it was easy with eyes in the sky and nose to the ground, both pokemon were going to make this a cinch. however it was shinra that managed to pick u a trail when he noticed footprints in the snow that belonged to a person and not a pokemon. as they followed the trail in the distance the image of a guy with a delibird came into view. that was easy enough.

"yo!" shinra shouted out as he started to jog up to them with his two pokemon in tow. "guess you beat us to the punch huh? looks like this guy's trying to handle too much. ain't there like...a union for them or something?" shinra chuckled only to be met with angry cries from the delibird as it walked up to him with a glare on its face.

"whoa whoa easy, didn't mean no harm. just saying ya should have a partner or something. like me and him." he gestured a finger between him and orion to signify that they were technically working together on this one. "so where is this guy supposed to be heading anyway?"

[attr="class","merrkI"]
"i know just as much as you buddy, all i was asked to find nd help this delibird. was sort of expecting poachers to find him before us." it just meant that the mission was going to be easy! or hard, if they did run into poachers or something on their way. "we do gotta help the poor bastard get to the nearest town anyway so its probably good no one else found him."

the bird gave an angry squawk as it pulled on its sack one more time as it jumped up to the scizor and used its weight to pull on the bag, only for it to suddenly make a ripping sound. "Hey do you hear-?"

riiiiiiiip

the bag burst open and presents spilled all over the snow as the delibird landed on its feathery butt once more. as a present landed on its lap a look of horror spread across its face in a second and loud wailing squawks escaped its mouth. "well...THAT happened. don't suppose you have a spare bag?" he posed the question to orion as he picked up one of the presents in his hands and turned it over while checking for damage, "cause i wasn't ready to play santa claus. hey...is it...is it gonna cry-" sure enough the delibird then started to slow down its wailing as its squawks started to sound pathetic and it began to sniffle and tear up in the eye.

[attr="class","merrkI"]
hearing the cries of the delibird was a little heartbreaking to say the least. the poor guy was just trying to do his job and now it was next to impossible to do it alone. as orion mentioned some rope and a sleigh shinra knew someone that might help them out with such an idea. releasing from his pokeball shinra let dervish get some fresh cold air as he shook off some sleepiness and looked between everyone in the group when his eyes stopped trying to close on their own. "we can probably tie what's let of the sack to him with the rope and he can pull it. rest of us can carry some of the gifts that don't fit. ya can hold a few can't ya dante?"

the incineroar let out a gruff of agreement and showed off his muscles, using bulk up on his own to increase his own strength as he effortlessly gathered a few of the gifts and piled them into a comically large tower that he somehow managed to balance on his own. shinra turned his gaze to the corvisquire that had been sitting pretty quiet behind the group, "moriarty, keep watch on the skies and let us know if we're getting closer to the next town yeah?" the bird simply nodded and took off into the sky while shinra gathered the torn sack and tried to bag what he could inside the remains and tie it together with the rope and tie the other end to dervish.

"that outta hold. whaddya think delibird? you can ride on derv if ya like. rest those wings a little!"

[attr="class","merrkI"]
"i think so. i think i read a story bout that place having a whole flock of these things as knights or something." if that was true then...well that was just a cool fact in general. as orion helped out as well with his own pokemon the group was on their way to town. the delibird dragged its feet alongside its sack, slowly catching up to the nidorino and letting out another angry squawk, scaring both the poison type and its trainer. "whoa what's up-oh."

the delibird hopped up onto dervish's back and gave it a kick of its feet, signaling him to continue on his way. shinra just rolled his eyes as he followed the two, "so buddy, what kinda plans ya got for the holidays? spending it with some family?" it was going to be a while till they get there, so they might as well pass the time somehow. "ooooor, you got a special someone your gonna visit?"

[attr="class","merrkI"]
Now it was shinra's turn to feel embarrassed. he himself never really had any family either here, what with him moving on his own once he had a way of supporting himself. thinking about it now when was the last time he contacted his family? the more he thought about it the more guilt was starting to build up in his chest. Wanting to shake it off he did catch what the guy said about using it as an excuse for an extravagant meal over the holidays.

"well i usually camp out during the holiday. y'know kinda just hang out with my pokemon under the stars and around a big fire. crap i might have to make a bigger fire. gotten a lot more mouths to feed nowadays." how many pokemon has he caught within the last month? feels like a lot. like an entire teams worth. "and before you ask yes we'll be fine. I have a few fire types to keep us warm. plus we know how to forage berries.

he's been asked how he even survives doing something like that and well, surviving for one night isn't that hard? well it was never a problem for shinra but maybe he just had a knack for it or was really more invested than he could admit. "hey...is that the town in the distance? i think we're almost there. ain't that great delibird?" he asked the bird who just gave him a glare, making the man gulp and swallow his excitement.

[attr="class","merrkI"]
"see that's why you go out and camp with your pokemon. they can keep you safe from any strays that come out during the night. or you could lay out some traps or something. never really had any trouble with wild pokemon coming near me but i guess i've just been lucky that way." he wouldn't lie and said his camping trips were easy but he never did really run into wild pokemon. he knew where a lot of common areas they might frequent where one would set up camp so he generally avoided such areas.

the topic of camping would have to wait as the group managed to come into view of the town and the pace started to pick up as they passed the sign saying they were now near fallabor. "yeah, drop him off at the center. sure they could fix his sack for him there." not that he knew of any pokemon center that had sewing supplies nearby but delibird were sort of the unofficial mascots of postal service, it would make sense that they were given extra special care of in centers.

as they made their way to the center shinra stopped the little sleigh and let the delibird disembark as he set the presents together in one pile. "you go on ahead with our little buddy right there, i'ma help sort out all these gifts. i'd say we did a pretty good job." the delibird shot him a glare in which shinra did his best to avert his gaze away from it. "ok so we did an ok job. we still did it didn't we?"