Locke approached with a bit more confidence now that he was certain he hadn't interrupted some down on their luck refugee, taking a seat in the grass across from the stranger.

"Sorry, I'm not really a local I'm afraid," they admitted. "Locke Jamison, Delibird Deliveries. I just volunteered to help keep watch tonight.

"I did hear a couple folks talking about earlier though," they add after some thought. "None of the guards at the big hole where the theater was saw anything come out, so it's got nothin' to do with that at least."

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

Locke flinched as lightning lashed against the sky, bracing himself for the thunder that followed. He half expected a swirling sea of purple and eyes every time he looked up-but only ever found the same black and turbulent mass of clouds as when they came in, every so often broken by blinding white streaks of electricity.

The same was true here on the ground, where the coiling black cables pounding beneath Zee-Zee's hooves surged white with every strike, briefly illuminating the darkened landscape. A monochrome world trapped in an endless war between black and white.

There was a metaphor there, but the courier was uninterested in following it.

Instead they followed former-employee-turned-business-partner Josh Devlin, keeping up surprisingly well with the gym leader's (also unfortunately familiar) ashy Raikou atop their own Zebstrika, and only skidding to a stop when the imitation beast paused for its other passenger to leap off.

"Kachi-Kachi." Locke drew the attention of the Natu as she peeked from underneath their hat, gesturing to the sparking debris ahead. "Could you…?"

The little bird stared unblinkingly at the scene, before her eyes glowed with Psychic energy and she set to work clearing the debris as their companions made it.

---

Kachi-Kachi the Natu uses Psychic (190/300)

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

When Locke was four and Vermillion was still his home, there had been a storm.

It hadn't been a particularly bad storm, really, but it had blown through while his father was out at sea, and had cut off radio contact with the ship he was working on. It had been a long, sleepless few nights for the rest of the family, but of course the ship and his father returned just fine within the week, and all returned to normal.

All except for Locke.

From then on, whenever his father set sail, Locke would not sleep. He'd lie awake until his father's return, anxiety making an insomniac of the young boy at night and plaguing him with bouts of narcolepsy during the day. With so little to the family's name, doctors and medication couldn't be afforded, nor was a change in careers an option.

The solution, as it so often is for restless children, was a story.

---

Ki-Ki jingled impatiently at her trainer from where she waited by the door, but Locke ignored her and kept peering at the sky. They were usually much quicker with this nightly tradition of theirs, often having identified what they were looking for before even reaching the house.

But tonight the stars seemed…off. And while they'd found the target of their imagination, they were having trouble settling on the shape of it. A horse-like creature and some kind of…big snake?

Just who had Baby Kanga met tonight…?

---

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

"Anything?"

The sullen expression on their returning companion and the prickle of disappointment that enters their mind tells Locke all they need to know, and the NO SIGNAL message flashing across the screen of their Rotomphone only adds to the bleakness of their situation.

Unbeknownst to the courier the desert sands of Route 111 had shifted significantly in their absence, and it only took one misstep on a previously stable path to trap them far beneath the earth in a tomb that threatened to claim one more resident. Two, counting the poor Noibat they'd chosen to accompany them on this route.

He finally steps down from the remains of some kind of countertop to slump against the wall, burying his face in his hands and groaning his frustration into his palms. The last time he'd been stuck in a place like this had been a living nightmare, but at least he'd had a group of temporary allies to rely on. Even now, years later, the gaze of the beast they'd all buried that day followed him, as if waiting for an opportunity like this-

Something lands hard on top of Locke, and the scream that leaves him hits an octave that makes Faffy-Faffy press her ears down nearly as flat an Espurr's.

"OH GODS DON'T EAT ME!"

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

The League had a maintained a decent buffer between Littleroot and the warfront thus far, but it didn't ease the prickle in Locke's spine as the sun began its slow departure. Darkness would make the region's invaders bold, while refugees took up what little respite the quiet town could provide.

Stuck between a risky flight home and a restless return to his old bench-hopping habits, late night alien spotting became the most appealing option.

Handing off the last package of the day, they let their Minior guide them through the darkening fields in the direction the old farmer had already pointed another towards, blue light revealing the watch camp and its lone occupant just as the last rays of sunlight dipped below the horizon.

"H-Hello!" they greeted unsteadily as they hooked one leg over the fence and hoisted themselves over the other side. "Are, uh, you here about the livestock too?"

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

Locke's search becomes increasingly frantic, every beat of the Beedrill's wings counting another second towards doom, and even the wind seems to pick up around them, kicking up dirt and straw in a cyclone around them until they can longer see the-

There! They lunge for the Pokeball they'd been seeking before it rolls away with the rest, thumb tracing over the smiley face stickers adorning its surface as they hold it close and peer up at the new arrival.

It's a Braviary that's come to his rescue, and for a split second he imagines angelo vestri or Alexei Ivanov grinning down at him, but the flash of a Ranger uniform is a good second best.

"Y-Yes, thank you!" he wheezes as he scrambles back to his feet, Pokeball outstretched. An Aipom appears in a flash of red next to him, and she immediately begins racing circles around the clearing, building up her Agility until the monkey matches the buzzing beat for beat.

"I'm not much for battling, but we'll try not to get in the way!"

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

Of course this would happen his first day back at work.

The brisk autumn air does nothing to soothe Locke's burning lungs, gasping in time with each hurried, aching step. De-De didn't seem to be fairing much better, if the frantic chirping beside him was anything to go by. You'd think they'd both have better form by now.

Dirt kicks out from under him in clumps as he leads his Delibird down a sharp right, reveling in the sound of buzzing shooting past behind them. It's only a brief respite, he can already hear the Beedrill course correcting back in his direction, but now he should have enough time to reach in his bag and-

It takes a moment after falling to register they'd run into someone, and it takes watching the person get skewered by the stinger aiming for them to notice it was straw spilling from the wound instead of blood.

De-De bravely positions herself in front of her trainer as they dive for their scattered Pokeballs, desperately searching for one that would save them before the Mega Pokemon could remove itself from the scarecrow...

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz