How does a story begin? Is it when the first command is given, maybe the first decision that is made along the way, or is it when another's end is crossed?
All Veronica knew was that she couldn't stay in her room listen to Christmas music till Christmas Eve and that there were actually things that needed to be done - or at least that's what she got told. Ah, right, she respected what people around here said and she wasn't on some extended vacation anymore. That didn't stop her from grumbling out of the HQ with her arms crossed. It wasn't a far travel, she thought, there was the delivery station nearby where our mascot apparently took rest and it was late to pick up the presents. It was noon on the day before Christmas and the city looked like a masterpiece, on every turn it was
something; the sweet smell of food, the mesmerizing decorations, the lights and the music... Veronica almost got distracted by it. "Oh right, the Delibird." She readjusted her santa hat and took the turn on the street just in time. She loved the spirit of Chr- Snagmas, and how everyone was so excited and full of joy. It's just that getting out in the cold to do some mission wasn't the first thing in her mind.
Eventually, she would find her way to the place where Delibirds and Tranquills were flying in and out the windows with boxes and letters. The commotion inside could be heard from the door step but it felt rather inviting, maybe it was the warmth she felt when she opened the door. Inside, it was chaotic yet the birds seemed to know exactly where to go and what to do. Like everywhere else, it was filled with lovely colors of red and green. There were two desks, though only one had a person behind it. They were attending to the line for people to leave what they needed to have send. The other desk caught her attention though, there was a large backdoor where all the birds were going through. Veronica waited for the moment the person at the other desk to turn their back to jump over and go through this door. Someone probably saw that but it didn't matter. She quickly passed the delivery tables that marked where they gifts were headed and found a shelf of nests, like a chicken coop. There was only one bird still catching Z's.
"Snagolas!" Veronica shouted, startling the shiny Delibird. The other birds paid no mind, even when Snagolas panicked. "I'm here to help you deliver gifts or something?" The Delibird soon focused on her and nodded rapidly, it jumped on Veronica's head and flew away. "Wait for me!" She followed along, out to the streets. It was difficult to keep up with any flying pokemon but the Delibird stopped at each turn, out of nowhere Veronica found herself in a narrow street and Snagolas stood under a lamp post. "What's her-" her eyes suddenly met a beautiful sleigh a few more feet ahead. There were winter Sawsbuck lined up and in the front a peculiar red antler Stantler. The sleigh already had a bag of gifts and all it was missing was someone to steer it. "I am not getting on that thing, I don't know how to drive it!" She complained, even though that was probably part of the mission. Snagolas got in the sleigh. "T-this wasn't what I had in mind..." she shuffled over to the sleigh as well and sat in it. There wasn't anything that made this sleigh all too special. "Does this thing fly..?" Her heart jumped a beat.
"Li~" Snagolas took a scroll out of its small bag and handed it over to Veronica, whom took her time in accepting it and stretching it open.
Don't tell me it's..."A list of kids and places where they live? Seriously? Isn't this kind of stalker-ish?" Veronica laughed to herself.
"Del! Del!" Snagolas cheered for her to take charge and take the reigns onward. She curiously looked behind her to the large, red bag.
"I'm not eating any cookies that taste horribly." Her face was serious. With a whine and a sigh, she decided that helping Santa out wouldn't go so wrong - even though it wasn't even Christmas Eve. "How do I get them to go?" She grabbed the reigns and gave them a pull. Suddenly, the Stantler hurdled forward and with a tenth step, started to rise up while followed by the Sawsbucks. ((cause magic.)) "Eek!" Veronica kept herself far from the edges.
I guess I have pokemon that can fly if anything happens but they're starting to go up pretty high. While raising in altitude in circles, she remembered to breath and calm down. "Ooook, where are we going first? Umh... I guess we'll head into Laverre City first then Dendemille Town?" She suggested although Snagalos paid no attention, which brought out another annoyed face from Veronica. "Well... they seem to understand." She more or less knew the region by now but the sleigh was being carried over Route 14 without much of her help. "What exactly do you need me for?" she mumbled.
The swamp was vacant, it only made the whole route more eerie with its frozen areas, empty branches and whistling wind. She couldn't even spot any bird messengers around. "That's odd... right? I mean, presents do get send in this direction right?" She asked Snagolas and it unexpectedly seemed to have listened.
"Deli del, lili del li, del del bir, deli li del..." it went on explaining whatever as if Veronica could speak pokemon language.
No, it's dangerous to fly in low altitudes around this area so it's expensive to send gifts with 'stronger' flying pokemon or through the longer routes. Were the words of which dear naive Veronica would never know. They would soon pass the trail and arrive at Laverre City. "Li! Li!" Snagolas pointed to the roof of some houses.
"Uhh... No way. We are NOT landing on the roof. Let's just try to get off by those trees, no one will see us right? I mean seriously, there's a crowd caroling at the pokecenter, that's not a distraction." She crossed her arms.
"Del... li...?" Its wing then started to point to a small field slightly covered in snow and surrounded by trees. "Yea, that works." Veronica tried to carefully pull towards the right to hope that it might lead them, at least a tiny bit. However, as the sleigh started to go down, Veronica started to panic that they would crash. "Ok, wait! How about no landing?! No landing!" She pulled on the reigns as hard as she could but they wouldn't have any of it and went down ahead. Veronica lost her words and only tried to pull back harder, pushing against the sleigh with her feet.
Can't I slow them down even a bit?! Their trampling hoofs hit the ground, the sleigh made an awful thump and bounced shaking as it was dragged forward. Veronica jumped in her seat with heavy breaths and Snagolas took flight to avoid the bumpy landing. She let go of the reigns to hold her shaking hands, perhaps some of it was from the cold as she didn't wear gloves. Then, she leaned back. "Del!" It cheered but Veronica was still speechless. Snagolas paid no mind and went over the bag to search for a gift. It handed the gift over to Veronica who scoffed, "Wonderful. You want me to do the delivery too?" She let out a long sigh. "Let's get this over with already." She snatched the present. The Delibird happily lead the way. Meanwhile, Veronica hazily took her time to get off the sleigh and slowly walked towards the city shivering in cold. She got closer to the house Snagolas was waiting at. She took extreme caution not to be seen by anyone as she peeked into the window. "There's no one... Let's just leave this in front of the house." She suggested. To which Snagolas didn't agree and used Ice Beam to freeze the window, Veronica stepped back surprised and cover her face as the Delibird throw its bag at the window and successfully broke it. It cleaned the leftover glass and invited Veronica in.
"Oh my... Fine! But you better not break another window." She shook her head and gave the present over to Snagolas so that she could enter. Then it handed the present over and she placed it well hidden under the tree. "Whatever." She mumbled and took one look around the room before going out. "Now what do you plan do about the window?" But instead of receiving any sort of response, the Delibird just turned and flew back to the sleigh. She hurried back as well.
"You do realize that window will probably cost more than whatever the gift was right?" Veronica said once back on the sleigh and promptly pulled on the reigns to get the pokemon going. The Stantler led the way down route 15, the take off had been far smoother.
"Look! That must be Dendemille Town! Let's look for a place to- huh?" Veronica looked around desperately.
"Deli del!" Snagola's eyes widen. "Del!" It pointed down.
"My hat!! I have to get it back!" She urged for the Stantler and Sawsbuck to turn and dive down.
Wait, this might not be a good idea. Her thought was too late as she silently pulled them back from crash landing. She clutched tightly and grabbed Snagolas with the other hand as she knew how horrible the landing was going to be "Ahhhhh!!" The hoofs, then the bumps like a broken road - it was even worst that they had chosen to land near some caves.
Taking desperate breaths, Veronica took out her map to check where in the world they flew down to. "Oh..." She calmed herself "Frost Cavern? That's not too far. Comon, let's get my hat!" Veronica pulled Snagolas along and jumped into the deep snow. The snowy, whistling wind was blowing her christmas hat along but her feet sank in with each step. "It went in there!" She yelled. The Delibird didn't favor flying over in such weather and instead held onto Veronica.
They went into the cave, it wasn't deep but at least it made a good cover from the outside. The first thing she noticed was the pond on the side, it was a straight down cave with no turns. Then, Snagolas picked up on something "Li! Li!" It flew off and Veronica had to keep up running. Until she found what Snagolas went after, or rather, who.
There was a person brutally hurt, bleeding out and frozen up with a weak Pyroar laying down by his side. "Are you ok?" Veronica kneel to ask, but his eyes were closed and didn't nod.
"Ar..." The pokemon barely moved, nearly knocked out. Snagolas didn't do anything but watch Veronica panic. She tried to check for a heart beat and help this boy, her hands became bloody, it seemed futile. She turned to the Pyroar, "You've only fainted, we can still get you out, come on..." She tried to put her arms around it to pull but the pokemon wouldn't budge. It only blinked without a word, hopeless. "I can't just leave you here." She said and repeated. The Pyroar only buried its head, so Veronica moved back. "...it's ok." She placed her hand on the Pyroar and softly brushed its back. The moments were silent and endless. Veronica kept asking herself questions.
Eventually, the Pyroar stopped breathing.
This isn't fair.. Veronica stood up, then a roar would make the cave quake and she flinched and promptly covered her right ear. "Ugh..." She turned to the Delibird, "What should we do? I still haven't found my hat."
"Del..." There was a depressed tone to its answer.
"Stay here, watch my back, I'll be back soon." Veronica nodded Snagolas off and attentively made her way into the darkness. As she got further away from the Delibird, the uncertainty and fear started to set in with the calm silence. Not even a Zubat had poped up yet as she used the wall to guide her, she could barely even see her hands in front of her face. It didn't take long before she could no longer stand being alone and sent out her Infernape for some enlightenment.
"Oh, you feel warm too." Veronica hugged Chi.
"Fer..?" He questioned.
"Comon, we gotta find my hat..." She said softly, knowing that the further they went the closer she would be to the menace that got to the kid.
The frozen ponds along the way would start turning into rivers and, as she had thought, it all led to one place. In the darkness, she saw large eyes already locked onto them. Chi screeched, moving forward to the enemy.
Unexpectedly, it rose when the light shined on it - it was a shiny Beartic, three times taller than the Infernape and scars on its face. "Uhh..." Veronica couldn't speak, the intimidating broke when she saw it was eating her hat. The Beartic didn't wait to attack, using Fury Swipes with its lengthy, muscular arms but it moved slow enough for Chi to dodge back. Veronica couldn't have imagined the force one of those swipes might do, definitely could throw Chi around.
Leaving Chi no choice, he used his Charcoal to ignite his hands in the cold and ran back in with a Fire Punch. The Beartic cried out in mind, underestimating the monkey. It then threw the hat away and using Ice Beam at a close ranged. Chi's fire dwindled slightly and he stepped back again, shivering. Veronica suddenly snapped out of it and rushed to hug her pokemon. "We have to attack from a distance then finish off." It wasn't Chi's usual style but he figured he could throw some fire at it for the moment. He pushed for Veronica to get back and made a fire tornado to lock on the Beartic for some gradual damage, it would seem like it hadn't fully recovered from its previous fight. "Don't hold back, we can't catch that thing."
The Beartic retaliated with Thrash, landing an absurd amount of damage on Chi, casting him over Veronica to an unpleasant landing. "Oh no you don't." Veronica became furious as the Beartic got on its four to approach. Chi gripped his stomach and cried out, barely able to move, but he was then switched out for Spirit, the Jellicent.
Veronica used Spirit as a shield as the Beartic thrashed once more, its attack passed right through its ghostly body. The Fire Spin stopped. "Ok, Rain Dance, this might take a while." She realized that while her other pokemon might deal more damage, it wouldn't be enough to outlive those attacks.
In its frenzy, the Beartic used thrash once more before rising up in confusion and curiously looking at the rain. "We can't waste time, use Surf." Still, the Beartic was far faster and make a Rock Tomb from the rocks above the clouds. Spirit tried his best to protect Veronica before using the rain to make a cascade and push the Beartic back. While confused, the Jellicent took a hold of Veronica and carried her away from the field before turning back to endure the next attack, an on hit Blizzard. "It's like he isn't confused at all!" She complained even though Spirit had been a clear target for a few moments. Spirit started to feel the damage and would use Recover to face the next move, Fling. It was nearly fatal with its heavy arms.
"Recover again." Veronica yelled over. She did as she faced a much softer Rock Tomb which she would float over once more. The Beartic roared in anger and Flinged at the Jellicent whom only had time for one more Surf before being knocked out. Veronica then sent in Cherry, "Quickly, Incinerate!" The Absol flashed forward and fired up, throwing over the flames at the Beartic and dodging its Blizzard. However, it would snap out of its confusion and strike a perfect Ice Beam onto Cherry, freezing the Absol in place. At this point, Veronica saw no choice but to wait it out, letting Cherry take on some Fury Swipes before fainting. "Let's end this, Havoc," Veronica then sent out Lucario, nervous about her endurance. "I need you to step it up, Chi can't fight right now." She urged. The Lucario could feel the desperation as she headed on to use her Force Palm. The Beartic sent down some Rock Tomb, frightening Havoc. Reluctant to approach the opponent, she powered up and sent out an Aura Sphere instead. The Beartic got knocked back, finally starting to show signs of weakness.
"Once more!" Veronica encouraged. Havoc sent out another Aura Sphere as the Beartic ran up to the Lucario, hitting it straight on its face and causing a critical hit. The Beartic fell with its roar and passed out.
Veronica took a deep sigh and didn't waste anymore time; she grabbed her teared up christmas hat, returned Havoc and rushed out with all her might. By the time she reached Snagolas, she fell to her knees, unable to speak from the lack of breath.
"H-hey." She grabbed the Delibird and kept going, not looking back to the bloody scene. The wind instantly slowed her as soon as she stepped outside, and she took her time walking through the snow.
They got on the sleigh and Snagolas let them know to take off while Veronica placed her hat back on. However, instead of taking off the pokemon ran towards the town since it was rather close. They stopped at the edge of the road.
Then Snagolas dug for another present and hoped on Veronica's shoulder. They kept silent, still impacted by the past events, but she had a mission to accomplish.
The Delibird gave the present to Veronica so that it could fly off towards the street, Veronica closely followed until Snagolas brought this young teen to a stop. "Whoah!" He shouted, switching from surprised to violent. The kid started hitting Snagolas, whom quickly tried to escape.
"Umh, wait." Veronica spoke up, "Here." She held out the present, even though this boy was being rude. His attention quickly changed towards the present which he eagerly and messily opened without even a thank you.
"What? A pokeball? Really? For me?" He held it up, examining it from every angle. "Now I can catch a pokemon! Even if mom won't let me have one!" He cackled and scurried away.
"...well, let's get going." She shrugged.
Returning to the sleigh and taking off once more, they made four more stops around the City to the smaller, secluded towns. One of the gifts was a bicycle, which made up the most space of the bag and heavy as any chunk of metal to carry (or drag). The other was a box full of rare berry seeds which could be planted to grow multiple berries if one knew how to take care of them. The third was a Fire Stone, they got to watch a lovely Eeveelution. The fourth was a whole, brand-new trainer outfit. Where did all this stuff come from?
When they arrived at the city, Snagolas took out one last gift it had hidden in its bag. "Uh, another one? Fine, who's this one for?" But the Delibird only pushed it towards her. She looked at it curiously, "For me...?" She accepted it, shaking it to listen to what sounds it made. "Thank you-" Suddenly, Snagolas took off towards the sky so she couldn't follow. With that, Veronica would return back to the HQ.
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