There was ice slipping inside of Locke’s coat as Pip-Pip tried to squirm his way out. ”Hold on! Hold on, just lemme-There!” He unzipped the thick jacket and watched the penguin tumble out face-first into the snow. He only felt a little bad for laughing.

Pip-Pip, however, was not as amused. The Piplup was rising to his feet, facing his trainer and puffing out his cheeks in what might’ve looked like the beginnings of a tantrum.

If their other Pokémon weren’t already diving out of the way.

”Nonono-” Locke tried to cover Pip-Pip’s beak, but the Brine slipped through their fingers with ease, raining freezing-cold water on everyone in the vicinity.

---

Pip-Pip supersoakers MATIAS SILPH, Eva Morales, Remiel Calcifet, Nia Acadia, & luka chêne in the middle of winter.

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

”Virizion…?” Locke stared at the Delibird behind Matias as he sounded out the name. It fell over its own tail and Birdie-Birdie hopped down to help it.

Their attention snapped back to the older man, trying to keep the bah humbug out of their voice as they responded. ”Er, yeah. Just these last few, if it’s no trouble.” They nodded at the bag beside them, then quickly regretted it as the motion triggered another pulse of pain above and behind their right eye. They rubbed at it as they got to their feet again, struggling to gather their things one-handed.

---

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

The Roar didn’t keep the wolves at bay for long. When the shock faded, fury took its place, and the Lycanroc lunged. Locke pulled Pup-Pup into his arms and squeezed his eyes shut, ready for the worst.

The worst, thankfully, never came.

A series of frightened yelps signaled a shift in fortunes, and when he opened his eyes again to find himself cast in the intimidating shadow of a Bewear. Remi’s headlock elicited only a small squeak from the courier as he slowly came down from the dizzying nausea of adrenaline.

Del Mar’s concern earned a slightly more put-together response. “Ah, yeah. Th-Thanks…” They pulled themselves up on shaky legs, fumbling for Do-Do-Do’s Pokéball. Their Dodrio disappeared inside and Locke made a mental note to make a stop at the next town over for healing.

And some treats.

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They snapped to attention at Kila’s sudden appearance. “L-Locke!” They stuttered, half out of surprise, half out of cold.

Oh, they were just going straight in huh? Locke felt a bit under prepared, but she was Ranger after all. She probably already had everything they’d need. Well, everything except warm clothes.

”Uh, sure, but are you really alright like that miss?” Locke asked weakly as he followed behind. The interior of the cave was even colder, but surprisingly well-lit compared to other caves in the region. He placed Goonie-Goonie on the icy floor, watching her slide forward with a blank expression.

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One-by-one the flock made their way into cargo bay. Pip-Pip tried to join in the back as well, but Locke quickly scooped the Piplup into their arms and carried him into the cockpit, ignoring his squirms of protest as they settled him into their lap.

”Wait,” he paused mid-buckling, suddenly recalling the ambassador he’d been briefly introduced to. “He’s not actually a prince is he?”

---

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

“Your Poochyena’s a natural, huh,” they said cheerily as the Mareep marched away.

They wouldn’t be short on leads, thankfully, as Locke’s own Pokémon returned shortly after the herd’s departure, carrying something in his beak. The Starly dropped the item in his trainer’s hand; a bright yellow piece of wool. “Oh! Perfect!” Just as quickly as he arrived, Kuru-Kuru flew off again, leading the party deeper into the woods.

The starling finally stopped in a particularly dense section of the forest, perching carefully on a tangle of brambles and twittering insistently. There didn’t appear to be a sheep in sight, however. “Hm…Do you see-”

A nearby bleat cut Locke off. Another quick scan of the area found no source, however, and he tossed a confused glance back at his companion.

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“Good idea. Now we’ve got eyes over and under!” Locke said, admiring the little bat-dragon as it flew off.

A bark of laughter escaped him at the question. “No way! I’m hopeless at that stuff,” he replied breezily, waving his hand as though casting the very idea away. “What about you? I’m guessin’ ya compete?”

The road narrowed ahead of them, getting bumpier and less-maintained the further they marched into the woods, until it eventually faded into a simple but well-worn dirt path through the trees. Their progress soon came to a halt, however.

A fallen tree blocked the way forward, a few Oran berries still scattered around and beneath it, but largely plucked clean by the local wildlife. Probably a remnant from one of the late-summer storms.

“Ah, hold on,” Locke warned with an apologetic glance back at Derek, then bent forward to Doro-Doro. “Straight through here.” The Mudsdale gave an affirmative snort, then slammed into the log, using her Strength to launch it up and out of the way.

Where it landed, they weren’t really sure.

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Locke followed his Pokémon’s line of sight upwards to see what had her on edge, but could only make out the waxing moon above them. Liza-Liza suddenly craned her neck to snap at the crescent shape, narrowly missing the Lunatone with her Fire Fang.

Ah, not the moon then.

The Lunatone didn’t stick around after the close call, darting off into the night and away from the giant lizard. Liza-Liza started to shift underneath Locke to give chase, but the sudden loss of heat had turned the campsite into a refrigerator, and he gingerly guided the Charizard’s tail closer again.

“Right, right, well done. You got it.” He yawned.

---

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

It was good luck for Locke and bad luck for Pip-Pip that the Piplup chose that exact moment to poke his head out to investigate the commotion, unintentionally taking a series of snowballs to the face for his trainer and causing both of them to squawk in surprise. They dove behind Chonk for cover from both MATIAS SILPH’s army of Jynx and two Hails dropping freezing snow ton the group.

He gave a sharp whistle and six Santa-dressed Delibird abandoned their decorating to form a defense wall around him, snowballs of their own in hand. They aimed for the instigator of this whole mess, but the arrival of Remiel Calcifet awakened something in Locke.

That something was, of course, class warfare.

With another whistle, the Delirbird changed targets, unleashing a volley of snow at the prince, and likely catching luka chêne in the crossfire as well.

---

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

These were not the sort of deliveries Locke had envisioned making when he first started this business.

And yet, for the second time this year, here he was staring into the yawning darkness of a cave entrance, getting ready to meet the Ranger that would escort him inside. This time, however, instead of dropping off supplies to researchers already within the cave, he’d somehow been roped into an expedition of his own. To find what, he had little to no idea, but that apparently hadn’t stopped him from agreeing when the scientist in charge had begged him to do it.

Locke sighed, holding their Zigzagoon close to fight off the cold. Sometimes they felt like an odd jobs business than a proper delivery service.

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The Pokémon Center had heating and tea, and those were really the only reasons Locke put up with the noise.

He took another sip from the cup he’d been given, chamomile with honey, and cast a rueful glare at the small bag of letters and packages beside him. Ideally, he’d like for them to be gone before nightfall, but that was looking less and less likely with every passing minute.

Thankfully their savior was quick to respond, and quicker to arrive.

Locke flinched at the rhythmic chime that accompanied the automatic doors, but raised their hand to wave over the familiar face. ”That was fast,” they tried to joke, but just ended up wincing at the croak in their voice.

---

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz