Harvey heard the approaching Beedrill and spun around. He watched with wide eyes as the green-haired stranger landed the abnormally large Pokemon. He gawked at its size for a moment before hearing the rider's inquiry, a pool of hopeful relief simmering in his chest.

"Flat tire. Supposed to deliver this last package. Looks like I'll be walking," Harvey sighed. "Name's Harvey, by the way. You a Ranger?"

He glanced at the woman's Beedrill once again, wondering if it would be at all acceptable to ask her to deliver the package for him.

Shalin Nariya

☉

While Harvey had expected some level of potentially artificial pleasantry from the Rocket Beast, Tempest's friendliness seemed surprisingly genuine. It was a bit of a surprise, considering his first encounter with a Beast was far less inviting. Still, Harvey knew better than to take things at face value. He had met plenty of people who seemed genuine yet were not. Plus, no matter how nice Tempest was, he was still a member of a crime syndicate, as well as Harvey's superior.

"Pleasure's all mine, Sir." Harvey greeted the man with a formal nod. He then shook the Mime Jr.—Donalbain, nicknamed Don—until he opened his drowsy eyes. Harvey picked up Don and placed him on the ground. The Mime Jr. rubbed his face and yawned as Harvey grabbed Tempest's hand and pulled himself up.

"Thank you." Harvey said after gaining his footing, straightening his black jacket as he spoke. He let out a small whistle, and at the sound his Houndoor and Starmie both stopped dead in their tracks, looking toward their master. He beckoned them with a head nod and they both hastily scurried up to his feet. He shot the energetic duo a cheeky glance before carefully looking over the groggy Mime Jr. once more before returning his eyes to Tempest.

"Hope you don't mind me asking, but what kind of mission am I testing for?" He asked, recalling the vague message Tempest had summoned him with.

Tempest Quinn

☉

Lost in his thoughts, Harvey nearly missed the sound of approaching footsteps echoing in the lobby. He sighed with relief and moved to peer around the box, but was stopped as the footsteps revealed themselves around the opposite side: A young woman that, based on her attire and inquiry, he could only assume was an employee. His attention then shifted to the Zorua and Infernape trailing beside her, the sight of the latter teasing him with hope.

"Yeah, you her?" His glance flickered from the woman's small frame to the Infernape, then back to her face. He gestured to the front doors with a pointed thumb.

"There's a few more out there, and they're all on the heavy side." He noted.

Yuina Higashi

☉

"Yeah." Harvey pulled out a datapad and stylus. He handed the young woman the stylus and held the datapad in his hand for her to sign. As he waited, he pondered her remark about his punctuality, reminding him of the hell-storm he had just endured. A chill ran up his spine as the dreaded thought of returning to it pinched his nerves.

"Thank you, Miss." Harvey said not even a second after the woman had finished signing. He whirled around faster than the snowy wind, shoving the datapad in his pocket—yet forgetting about the stylus entirely.

Elise Calcifet

☉

"Son of a—"

Harvey took his eyes away from the sight of the shredded tire, pinching the bridge of his nose with one hand and placing the other on his hip. Of all the days and all the times to run over a neglected scrap of metal, it had to be the day he was making a delivery to a strangely distant house in the middle of Route 121. Fortunately, it was his last delivery of the day, but he was still only halfway through Route 120. Not only that, but the delivery truck was mysteriously missing its spare tire. Harvey sighed as he realized his early-off day would soon become the longest day of his delivering career.

Harvey made his way to the back of the truck. He hopped inside and picked up the package, a thankfully small parcel that weighed almost nothing. He then leaped back out of the truck and walked around to take a final glance at the cursed scene. He sighed.

"This fucking sucks."

Shalin Nariya

☉

Harvey sat with his legs crossed on the floor against the wall of the training room. With his Mime Jr. resting lazily on his lap, he chuckled as his Starmmie and Houndoor chased each other in playful circles. Harvey had accidentally arrived a little too early for his meeting with Tempest Quinn, and he figured it would do his Pokemon some good to get warmed up before the coming battle. However, his Mime Jr. didn't seem to be in the same mood as the other two Pokemon; he repeatedly attempted to nap on Harvey's legs.

"You've been asleep for hours. You'll regret it later if you don't try to wake up now." Harvey poked the Mime Jr. yet again, the small creature stirring back awake and rubbing his eyes.

Harvey checked the time. Tempest would be there any second.

"You really better not be getting sick, Don." He sighed.

Tempest Quinn

☉

This was not Harvey's first time delivering to the museum and he didn't expect it to be his last. It was, however, the most cumbersome museum delivery he had had thus far. The four boxes—long, awkward, and extremely heavy—would easily require two to three trips. Fortunately, Harvey came prepared.

Harvey parked the delivery truck in front of the museum before loading the longest of the boxes vertically on a dolly. As he adjusted the box's position, he spotted the name printed on the label: "Yuina Higashi". He shrugged.

Never heard of her.

Harvey wheeled the dolly into the museum and immediately headed towards the front desk. He quickly noticed there wasn't anyone manning it, but there didn't seem to be any other staff nearby. In fact, there wasn't anyone nearby. The museum seemed like a ghost town. Granted, it was midday on a weekday, so most people would be too busy at work or school to visit the museum. Still, the lack of employees was troublesome. Considering how heavy the boxes were, it would be extremely difficult for anyone to move them somewhere else without the use of a dolly, and Harvey still had a few other deliveries to make. He grumbled, wondering if he should just in bring all the boxes anyway and let the museum workers deal with the situation themselves.

Yuina Higashi

☉

Harvey's aggressive cursing barely escaped through his chattering teeth. It was practically a blizzard outside yet his manager gave him a delivery truck that had a broken heater, simply telling him to "bundle up". To make matters worse, Harvey had to go far out of his way to make his last delivery after the route planner initially sent him to the wrong location—all the way across town. He imagined his manager's face on each snowflake, the truck's tires mercilessly crunching over them, as he sprinkled in brief musings of quitting his job and robbing banks for a living.

Eventually, Harvey arrived at his destination. Fueled with burning adrenaline, he parked the truck, snatched the package, and leaped from his vehicle. He tore through the white whirlwind as his boots slipped and slid and crunched atop the ice and snow. He sprinted right up to the front door, only barely stopping himself from crashing right into it. He then wiped away the blinding snowflakes from his eyelashes before knocking hard on the door—of course the damn thing required a signature, too.

Harvey sighed. He couldn't wait to go home and get some heat in him.

Elise Calcifet

☉