Orientation Day

“Y’all then grab the packages from the marked bin, sign it off with a paw print, and darlin’ y’all are good to deliver some mail!” Debby finished her tour of the shack with a great smile, or at least the bird equivalent. It was a little hard to tell with the beak, but one couldn’t assume her with anything but a smile. The entire orientation had taken little less than half an hour as it was still a rather small operation. The only other worker was a Drifblim who seemed to be in charge of the larger shipments, a quiet girl Debby introduced as Debra, though the blimp pokemon never really confirmed that was her actual name.
The Delibird shoved a few small packages and letters into Linoone’s newly branded mailbag along with a berry and a cookie for lunch as he stamped his print on the paper “Y’all gonna fit right in hon, so glad to have y’all on board Kaz.”

Linoone had now received a crash course on private courier work, and it was strikingly similar to how the Pelipper Post handled things, though with a few caveats about losing packages that Debby had promised to expand on at the end. It seemed about time for that now as she led him into a back room with thick walls and a thin roof. The dark space was lined with shelves of square christmas presents, of varying sizes, each shelf marked with a number.
“Here we got the insurance room, as I like to call it. Don’t worry hon, they won’t go off willy nilly, made sure of that. Only when the top comes off, and they’re shut tight. Y’all get somethin’ taken from y’all on the route, mosey on back here and we’ll grab a suitable gift for the rascal. The big ones at the back we save for real baddies.”
It was a little concerning how the Delibird gleefully showed off a room filled with enough explosives to level an apartment building, or more. Some of the boxes looked big enough to qualify as crates.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Mind if I take a small one with me just in case? Would be a hassle to run all the way back if I can take care of it on the spot." Linoone chuckled as he looked over the bombs, focusing on the ones that couldn't have been bigger than a ring box. Easy to conceal, he thought.
Debby must have noticed the look as she responded with her own chuckle "Sure, hon. Oughta hide well in that big bushy tail." She grabbed one and shoved it in unceremoniously. Somehow it felt secure in there despite her not spending more than a second on it. "Just be sure to only use it on thieves. Got an image to uphold after all! Actually, got one I need to deliver right now. Could show y'all how it's done."
Linoone's eyes lit up immediately as Debby grabbed a larger Present from a shelf and shoved it in her tail bag, this should be fun.

A few hours and an empty mailbag later, Linoone's first day working for Delibird Deliveries had turned out great so far. The pokemon were all friendly and happy to receive their mail, sometimes spending a few minutes catching up with Debby who was ever so proud of her new worker. Something bugged him though.
"Uhh, Debby? Why did that Pikachu get a box of Plain Seeds? Aren't they kinda useless?" He looked to the Delibird humming away beside him as they walked out of town to their last delivery. In fact all of the packages seemed useless to their recipients. What would a Gigalith do with a Light Orb anyway?
"Ain't our job to question what we're deliverin' hon. Folks want their things, and we deliver." Debby answered as confidently as she answered any question "Things ain't like they always seem, no need to lose sleep over it. Now, we're comin' up on the main show. Y'all mind checkin' the owner's home?"
Debby pointed to a small cave entrance by a cliff some ways off the road outside of town. It was hard to make out at a glance from behind some bushes, likely intentionally secreted away from casual observers.

"You got it, Solid Linoone on the prowl." Linoone smiled as he lowered close to the ground and started crawling towards the cave across the field. Debby chuckled as she watched his approach.
Slipping into the bushes outside the entrance, he lifted a paw to his ear and whispered in a deep voice "Colonel, I'm about to begin infiltration. Any intel on the target?" He didn't expect an answer, but it felt right.
"A dastardly Diglett has been stealin' high value items from the base, he works at night, so he should be asleep at this hour. Be careful Linoone, he's a fast one. So if y'all get compromised, just get out and wait for backup."
Linoone jumped in surprise at Debby's voice and looked to the road where she last stood, but it was vacant of any bird. "Up here, hon." She called out again, and he turned to look up a tree besides the bush. Debby sat there looking amused "Call me Dashin' Delibird. Here, just in case." She dropped a folded Present box to him.

Linoone smiled and nodded before storing the box in his bag and sneaking inside the tunnel, wondering what a weird boss he'd ended up with. Certainly he didn't expect her to go along with the larping but she seemed to enjoy it as much as he did… wait, did she somehow know? Why'd she give him that box?
He pushed the thoughts aside for now as the darkness enveloped him. The cave was a scant few feet in diameter and headed down at a steep angle. Each slow and careful step felt as loud as sandpaper in his ears as claws found purchase in the rock below him.
The tunnel wound down what must have been a dozen yards, small gems stuck in the walls providing faint illumination. In the end he came to an opening. Peeking his head inside, Linoone saw a small cavern devoid of stolen items, but a few papers on the floor and a Diglett were easy to spot. The thief snored peacefully in the middle of the space, unaware of the intruder.

Linoone's eyes lit up with excitement, there was intel to steal. He took a slow breath to calm down and took his first step into the small cavern barely the size of a room by human standards. The sound of his feet didn't feel as loud in the more open space, but it didn't feel much better as the shuffle of paws mixed with the soft snores of the Diglett.
Carefully one step at a time he neared the papers, never taking his eyes off the sleeper. Right as he was about to reach down and grab the papers off the ground, the snoring came to a halt and the Diglett snorted. He had to act fast, the ground type was slowly opening his eyes.

"Huh? Did I do another raid last night?" The tinny and groggy voice of the Diglett echoed in the otherwise silent cave. He looked at the box besides his maps in the gloom of the gemstones for a few more seconds before closing his eyes and falling back asleep.
A corner of the box lifted a fraction and a claw pulled the maps inside before shuffling back towards the tunnel.

Linoone emerged into the sunlight from the tunnel with a grin on his face as his heart beat fast. The smell of fresh air rarely tasted so sweet, and the ambiance of the forest nearby was like a melody compared to the cave where the only noise was the sound of strained movement and shallow breaths.
"Y'all find him?" Debby dropped down from her branch and patted down some dust from Linoone's coat.
"Target confirmed. Permission to make the delivery?" Linoone laughed as he laid on the ground, enjoying the bright blue sky and few scattered clouds.
The Delibird patted his head "Sure hon, if y'all wanna scuttle back down there."

The bustle of Capim Town had begun to quiet down in tandem with the setting sun on the horizon. Most locals were on their way to their homes as a great tremor followed by a muffled boom swept over the settlement, startling those still outside into a hurried pace as some peeked out of their doorways and windows looking for some imagined incoming calamity. Only the Delibird and Linoone sitting together by the town square knew what it really meant, sharing a smile and laugh as they ate their dinner with satisfaction of a good day's work.