Chapter 4
A Bitter Lesson
Quill charged wildly at the Throh, who by this point had taken on a relaxed fighting position. Using needle arm, Quill swung his arm at the Throh's head, looking to finish the fight with one shot. He was startled when the Throh's hand flashed forward and caught his arm right at the base of where the energy was collating. Before the spine armor Pokémon even knew what was happening, he was thrown back towards his teammates.
"Quill!" Furno shouted in worry as the grass-fighting slammed into the ground.
"I'm fine," he grunted, getting back to his feet. "He just caught me off guard is all."
"You should not have rushed off like that," Dusty chided sharply.
"Whatever," Quill responded flippantly.
"Not now, guys," Zero broke in. "We deal with the task at hand!"
"Trouble in paradise?" the Throh mocked. "Not much of a team if all you do is fight each other!"
"I'll show you!" Quill growled before attacking with pin missile.
The glowing needles flew toward the fighting type at break-neck speeds, but the Throh just looked at them impassively. Just as the needles were upon him, the Throh lashed out. In a virtual blur of movement, the Throh had deflected each and every one of the glowing pins, sending them flying wildly until they hit the ground.
Quill gaped in shock. "H-How?"
The Throw quirked a questioning brow. "Is that all?"
Eyes narrowing, Zero barked, "Furno, with me!" Nodding in understanding, Furno followed Zero as he charged towards the bulky red Pokémon.
Running at the fighting type, Furno allowed himself to fall slightly behind his team leader before breathing a torrent of flames at the stoic judo Pokémon. The fighting type lazily moved to the side to avoid the flames, only to be met by a certain blue canine. Eyes widening slightly in surprise, the Throh shifted his body out of the way of a force palm aimed for his chest.
In what appeared to be a very awkward looking dance, the Throh continued to dodge the persistent Riolu's force palms. Appearing to have enough of the 'dance', the red Pokémon lashed out and grabbed Zero's outstretched arm and tossed the canine over his shoulder.
While still in the air, Zero shouted, "Now!"
The Throh gave the Riolu a look of confusion before the sound of cracking earth reached his ears. Looking down he saw spiderweb cracks forming right at his feet. He only had a split second to lean back before Dusty burst from the ground. Dusty shot straight out of the ground, missing the fighting type by inches.
The Throh smirked to himself as the Sandshrew sailed over him, only for a look of shock to come over his face when he saw an energy ball sailing towards him. Unable to dodge, the energy ball exploded against the Throh, causing him to grunt in pain. Before he could recover, Furno attacked him with a flame wheel with enough force to push him a couple feet until he gripped the spinning wheel of fire and threw it away from him. As soon as he did this, Quill dashed forward with a rollout.
Quill slammed into the Throh, earning a grunt. The Throh raised his arm to hit the Quilladin, but he bounced off of him. No sooner had he done this, Zero appeared in front of the Throh, white energy trailing behind him from use of his quick attack.
Striking forward lightning fast, Zero slammed a force palm into the Throh's singed chest. The release of energy caused the Throh to give a small cry of pain. The energy from the fighting type move took hold of the gi-garbed Pokémon and he found his muscles tensing and electricity arching over his form.
"He's paralyzed!" Zero shouted, taking note of the arching electricity.
Zero jumped back and was immediately flanked by his teammates. Without needing to speak, the quartet all attacked as one. Furno released a powerful flamethrower, Quill made another energy ball and fired it, Dusty opened his mouth and shot out a barrage of thin purple needles, and Zero summoned a blue wind around him before launching a strong vacuum wave. The attacks swirled around each other and raced towards the paralyzed Throh. The fighting type's eyes widened marginally as the combined attacks met their mark and engulfed him.
A large explosion of their combined energy erupted from the Throh, shredding through the grass around them and releasing a large plume of thick smoke. Lowering the arms that they had used to shield their eyes from the explosion, Team Dawn Breaker gazed towards the spot where the Throh once stood.
"Got him," Quill laughed confidently. "There's no way that he's still up after that!"
"Don't be so sure," Dusty remarked.
"What? Oh, come on, Dusty. There's no way he could still be standing after an attack like that!"
"The fact that he was able to shrug off our other attacks makes me skeptical," Dusty drawled.
Quill opened his mouth the dispute this but was beaten to the punch be another voice. "Well it seems that there is at least one intelligent member on your team."
Their collective heads snapped towards the now alleviating smoke as a figure stepped out from it. The Throh looked no worse for wear, besides a few scratches and scuffs on his gi. He grinned almost evilly at the group of four.
"I admit it, I actually felt that last one." The Throh's facial expression suddenly hardened into a glare. With a shout, he flexed his whole body and the electricity that had been encompassing his body tore from him and dissipated.
"He just...shrugged of the paralysis with a shout?!" Furno exclaimed in horror.
"Unreal," Quill gaped.
"Things just got a bit more difficult," Zero ground out, getting a nod from Dusty.
The Throh relaxed his body and smiled haughtily at the team. "My turn."
No sooner had he uttered these words, the hulking figure blurred forward. Before any of them could react, the Throh was right in front of them. Eye widening in surprise, the team only had time to turn towards the intrusive Pokémon before he punched Quill right in the gut.
Quill coughed violently as he was lifted into the air by the fighting type's fist. Spit flew from Quill's mouth as the Throh halted his in his arm's movement, causing the Quilladin to go flying.
To surprised to even call out their teammate's name, the remaining three acted on pure instinct. Furno launched himself a the red-skinned Pokémon and repeatedly clawed at him with fury swipes. Unperturbed by this, the Throh almost lazily reached out and grabbed the fire chimp by the throat and tossed him into Dusty.
Growling, Zero lunged forward, his paws blazing with shadowing energy. Swiping wildly at the larger fighting type, Zero was further angered by the almost lazy deflection of his attacks. The Throh then suddenly swung his foot in a low sweep, slamming his leg into Zero's shin.
Zero cried out as pain vibrated through his leg as it was forcibly kicked out from under him. Zero crashed to the ground, eyes temporarily closed in pain. Cracking an eye open, Zero gave an undignified yelp as he rolled to the side to avoid a brick break that cut into the ground where Zero once lay.
The Throh raised his arm to deliver another brick break when Dusty crashed into his side with a well-placed rollout. Unfortunately, all this elicited was a small grunt before the judo Pokémon spun around and batted the ground type away with a brick break. At the same time, Furno burst out of the ground behind him and slammed a thunder punch into the fighting type's back. Not missing a beat, the Throh spun around and back handed the chimp Pokémon across the face, sending him flying.
Furno landed with a pain filled grunt. The young fire type was seeing stars after the powerful hit, but he managed to push himself to his feet. When his vision started to come back, Furno blanched when he saw the globe of yellow energy forming in the fighting type's hands.
Grinning triumphantly, the powerful fighting type hurled the ball of energy at the young fire type. Panicking slightly, Furno breathed out a powerful stream of flames to combat against the attack. The focus blast soared straight into the flamethrower, but to Furno's horror, it tore through the flames like a hot knife through butter. Not even getting the chance to cry out in shock, the focus blast slammed into him and detonated.
The ground shook briefly and a pillar of smoke curled into the air from the point of impact. Furno's limp body flew through the smoke before smashing into a tree and falling to the ground. Smoke curled from the fire type's prone form as he laid face down on the ground. He gave no sign that he was getting back up.
"Furno!" Zero shouted in worry and anger.
"Hmm, that's one down," the Throh said as if Furno was just a minor inconvenience.
"Damn you," Zero growled angrily, preparing to charge the fighting type.
"Zero, no!" Dusty shouted, grabbing his leader's arm before he could run off. "You cannot attack him recklessly. Think about this clearly. He's too powerful for us to fight. We need to get out of here."
"But Furno..."
"If we use an escape orb, all allies in the vicinity will teleport out of the dungeon along with the user," Dusty said. "Furno will be with us."
"Screw that!" Quill shouted defiantly. "We can take him!"
Ignoring his teammates, Quill charged forward. He swung the pack around and pulled out a large green seed. Gripping it tightly, he hurled it at the fighting type, just as he began to turn around. The moment the seed touched the Throh it burst in a cloud of green spores. The Throh looked confused at first before his eyes began to flutter and become half-lidded. Before long, his eyes had completely closed and he slumped forward.
Quill smirked triumphantly, "Sleep seeds. Work like a charm!"
Still glowing with his success, Quill ran at the sleeping fighting type, his arm glowing with white fighting type energy. He swung his arm in a downward arc towards the judo Pokémon's head, but was stopped when a familiar three fingered red hand lunged out and grabbed his wrist. Quill's eyes widened in horror as cold sinister black eyes met his.
"That wasn't very nice," he said maliciously.
Quill tried to break away from the fighting type, but his grip only tightened. Tugging Quill towards him, the Throh sent a vicious punch at the spiny armor Pokémon's face, his fist coated in orange energy. The strength of the punch sent Quill flying several meters through the air before he landed in a heap at Zero and Dusty's feet.
"Grr..." Quill growled weakly, pushing himself to his feet.
"Quill, we need to get out of here!" Dusty said. "We are not strong enough to defeat such a for!"
Quill just ignored the Sandshrew in favor of launching a barrage of glowing needles followed by an energy ball at the Throh. Unperturbed by the attacks, the Throh charged forward, batting away the needles to the side with his hands. When the energy ball reached him, he swung both his arms forward and smashed the sphere in between his hands. The explosion that ensued covered the Throh in smoke, but he just ran right through it.
A toxic purple energy swelled around the Throh's fist as he reared it back to pummel the shell-shocked Quilladin, but before he could, Dusty shot forward and rammed into the fighting type's stomach with a rollout. The Throh grunted and stumbled back, his attack temporarily forgotten.
Dusty uncurled himself and glared at the grass-fighting type. "Grab an escape orb and get us out of here! We can't-"
Whatever Dusty was going to say was lost when the Throh struck with his still poison coated fist. The poison jab slammed into the Sandshrew's soft underbelly, lifting him into the air before dropping him. Dusty fell bonelessly on the ground, his eyes shut.
"NO!" Zero shouted before swinging his arm and firing a point blank vacuum wave at the fighting type.
The wave of energy impacted against the fighting type and exploded, causing dust and smoke to erupt from the point of impact. Through the smoke, a red arm lashed out and smacked Zero hard enough to send him spiraling through the air before he crashed into the ground several meters away. Quill was now alone with the Throh.
Still in a state of shock and horror, Quill backed away, tripping as he did so. The Throh sneered down at the fearful Quilladin.
"Is this really the best the resistance can do?" he questioned in disdain. "This was waste of effort."
He turned away and began to walk away. This proved to be the thing that snapped Quill out of his stupor and replaced it with fury.
"Don't you turn your back on me!" he shouted, practically jumping to his feet. He ran forward, with his fist raised. Before he could even touch the fighting type, the Throh spun around and caught the Quilladin's fist.
"You should have ran." Quill opened his mouth to retort only to cough violently when a power-up punch buried itself into his gut. Practically holding the Quilladin up, the Throh's muscles tensed and he threw his fellow fighting type into the air.
Not being able to move, Quill could only tumble in the air like a rag doll as he reached the peak of his ascent. Just as he began to fall, the Throh appeared next to him and grabbed him. Now, with both of them falling, the Throh began to spin, steadily getting faster and faster. As they were about to hit the ground, the Throh let go, flinging Quill straight towards the ground.
Quill slammed into the cold unforgiving ground with enough force to send spiderweb cracks ten feet in every direction. Quill groaned in pain, his entire body screaming in agony. Before he could try and get up, the Throh landed right on him, causing more cracks to spread and causing Quill's body to sink into the ground. The Quilladin's mouth was opened in a silent scream of pain before his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he lost consciousness.
The Throh looked down at the now unconscious Quilladin before sighing. He got up and began to walk away when a shockwave of blue energy slammed into his back. He jolted forward, but gave no other indication that he was in pain. Ignoring the smoke curling from his back, the Throh turned and glared at his attacker.
"Didn't I beat you already?" he questioned.
"I won't...let you hurt them," the Riolu weakly growled.
"Admirable, but pointless." The Throh disappeared in a burst of speed, startling the Riolu who had never seen the Throh move that fast, before appearing in front of the former human. Zero tried raise his arms in defense, but was to slow as the Throh grabbed the Riolu by the throat and slammed him against the tree.
"You all should have ran when you had the chance," the fighting type said monotonously. He raised his fist, orange energy swirling around his fist. "This is your end."
As the fist closed in, Zero closed his eyes, resigning himself to his fate, but instead of a powerful blow to his skull, all he received was a poke to his head.
"And your dead." Zero's eyes snapped open and stared at the now smiling Throh.
"Wh-What?!"
"I won," the Throh, said simply, gently setting the Riolu back on his feet and brushing him off. "I have to say, out of all of the other teams I've fought, you lot were the most tenacious. Though I have to say, that Quilladin of yours is rather hard-headed."
Zero could only stared gobsmacked at the Throh. His personality had done a complete one eighty and was now talking to him like they were friends!
"Why are you sparing me?" Zero demanded.
"What? You want me to kill you?" the Throh asked with a raised brow. He then pulled out an oran berry from under his belt -how he kept it their eluded Zero- and tossed it to the stunned Riolu. He then pulled out three more and went to tend to Zero's teammates.
"But...But you're a criminal!"
"That's what they tell you," the Throh said, seemingly without a care as he fed an oran berry to Dusty and Quill. "That's the role I'm forced to play."
"Play?" Zero questioned.
"Yep," the Throh said cheerfully.
"But that means..."
"That's right! The resistance put me up to this!" he said, assisting Furno.
"The resistance put you up to this?" Quill asked, his consciousness just starting to come back.
"Yep. See, that's my job," the Throh said. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Mifune and I am an instructor from the Cobalion Division."
"You're part of the resistance?!" Furno exclaimed.
"Ding-ding! We have a winner!" Mifune said cheerfully.
"But...why do this?" Furno asked.
"Well, like I said, I'm an instructor," Mifune explained. "I teach young teams how to deal with the unexpected, ie: when things don't go as planned."
"That was what this was," Dusty realized.
"Correct," Mifune nodded. "I was meant to show you that not every mission goes as planned and how to deal with a opponent well over your caliber."
"But we couldn't deal with you," Furno said in confusion.
"Exactly," Mifune said. "You couldn't. There is always going to be someone stronger than you out there, no matter how strong you are. When faced with such a foe, you must learn when you must fight and when you must run."
"You were trying to teach us to run away?" Quill asked in disgust.
"Better to run and fight another day then to die," Mifune said grimly. "Who would you be helping if you were to have died here? You would do nothing but weaken the resistance and disappoint Stride."
"How'd you know about Stride?" Zero asked, becoming suspicious.
"Please, Stride, one of the resistance most prominent members, revered in every division, taking on students? Everyone knows about Team Dawn Breaker, but that's beside the point. What I am trying to tell you is there are some fights that you just can't when and when faced with those fights, sometimes the only option is to retreat." He looked directly at Zero. "As the leader of your team, it is up to you to make these calls."
Zero bowed his head in both shame and understanding. He knew that he should have called of the team the moment he saw that their attacks hadn't been doing anything to the elder fighting type. He was just so proud that he thought that his team could handle it. He allowed his arrogance to put his team, his friends, in danger.
"Now don't beat yourself up over this," Mifune said, seeing the Riolu's expression. "Every team goes through something similar, even Team Surge. You have nothing to be ashamed of, just learn from your fight today."
"Understood," Zero said, still feeling slightly depressed.
"Good, now get the hell out of here. I need a nap," the fighting type grumbled before lumbering off, leaving the quartet alone.
"Let's get out of here," Zero said, trying his best to keep his dejection out of his voice.
"Yeah," Furno replied, sounding equally depressed. Neither Dusty or Quill said anything.
Without another word, Team Dawn Breaker existed Malicious Meadow.
-Resistance-
It was with a heavy hearts that Team Dawn Breaker returned to the Latios Division. They dragged themselves to their quarters and were met by a smiling Bolt.
"Hey guys. Good to see you all back in one piece," the Manectric said when he saw the group. When his only response was a noncommittal grunt from the group, he frowned. "You understand why I sent you on this mission, right? This wasn't me being mean. I honestly just want you all to succeed and you can't do that without experiencing failure. I want you to succeed, but you all were getting big heads and you needed to be taken down a peg."
"Yeah, we understand," Zero responded in a dead tone. He knew Bolt was right, but the loss still left a bitter taste in his mouth. He knew this mission was supposed to teach him that their were some fights that he couldn't win, but all it did was make him want to get stronger.
As if reading his mind, Bolt smiled. "You want to get stronger, don't you? Practically all fighting types are like that when they lose a fight. This can be both a blessing and a curse for you." At Zero's confused look, Bolt elaborated, "On one hand, such losses will push fighting types to better themselves until they are able to overcome that which previously opposed them. On the other hand, they can also become obsessed with getting stronger.
"They can sometimes do nothing but train and train until they collapse from exhaustion and once they recover, they get up and do it all again. The begin to neglect their other duties and needs. Some have even been known to abandon their own teammates in order to get stronger."
Furno and Dusty couldn't help but glance at their two resident fighting types and were relieved to see looks of disgust mirrored on the duo's faces.
"They'd abandon their team? That's terrible!" Quill exclaimed, getting an agreeing nod from Zero.
Bolt smiled at the duo. "Good to know that you two aren't like that. Even so, you must keep in mind that the road to becoming great is always paved with those that are stronger than you. It is up to you to know what battles you can and can't win."
"Understood," Zero said with nods from his team.
Bolt smiled at them. "Don't worry, the sting goes away after a while, just give it time," he said, before padding away. Just as he turned the corner he called back, "Remember; what doesn't kill you makes you stronger!"
"Right," Zero said dully before following his team into their rooms.
"Ugh, I want to sleep for a week," Furno said, crashing on a couch. Thankfully, Kecleon had sold them fire proof furniture so Furno didn't accidentally burn their room to the ground.
"I know what you mean, Quill agreed, following his teammate's example. "I feel like an Ursaring during winter!"
"Don't get comfortable, Quill. I want to talk to you," Zero said with a definite tone.
Quill's body went rigid at that before he sighed in defeat knowing that he would not be able to get out of this ensuing conversation. He begrudgingly got to his feet and followed his leader to his rooms. Furno and Dusty exchanged worried glances, hoping that Quill would be okay.
-Resistance-
Quill shuffled nervously, determined to look anywhere but at Zero. "Uh, this is a nice room," he said in a poor attempt to prolong the inevitable. "The aura crystals really-"
"Quill," Zero interrupted.
"Right. No pussyfooting around it," Quill said sheepishly.
"I want to know what's going on between you and Dusty," Zero said, deciding to get right to the point.
"N-Nothing's going on," Quill denied.
"Quill," Zero said with a 'I-don't-believe-you' look.
"Look, it's just...we just don't get along."
"But why?"
"We just don't, okay?!" Quill snapped.
"No, it's not okay!" Zero shot back, narrowing his red eyes. "Your constant fights are constantly getting in the way during our missions!"
"Look, it's nothing major..."
"I beg to differ," Zero said. "Ever since Dusty joined, you've gotten reckless. You'll jump headlong into fights without an ounce of caution, you've questioned several of my decisions, and you're constantly trying to one up Dusty. I can only imagine that your change in attitude is related to Dusty joining the team, so I want to know why that is. Why has Dusty joining the team changed you so much?"
Quill lowered his gaze, refusing to answer. Zero's glare hardened. "I want an answer, Quill!" Quill mumbled something that Zero couldn't hear. "What was that?"
"Because I don't want to be replaced!" Quill shouted.
All was silent at the Quilladin's exclamation.
"What was that?" Zero whispered.
Quill slumped forward in defeat. "I...I thought that when Dusty joined the team, you were looking for a new teammate to replace me. After all, you met him first and he's been at the daycare for the sole purpose of joining your team, so I thought that...I was just temporary..."
"Quill..."
"And you never really chose me to join the team," Quill continued. "I kind of just forced myself on you guys. So with Dusty here, it's only natural that you would want him instead. But I don't want to leave."
"Quill."
"I really like you guys and I don't want to leave the team!" Quill prattled one. "I thought that if I proved that I was stronger than Dusty you'd let me stay, but I only mucked things up. I'll understand if you don't want me as part of the te-"
Smack!
Quill's ramblings were cut off when Zero, smacked him over the back of his head. Quill stared at the furious Riolu in shock before a resigned look crossed over his face.
"Right. I'll just pack up my things," Quill mumbled, turning to leave.
"I did not dismiss you." Quill winced at the coldness in the Riolu's voice. He turned to face him and was confused to see a soft smile playing over the former humans face.
"Quill, we may not have chosen you in the conventional sense, but you are a member of Team Dawn Breaker, and nothing will change that." Zero said. "I'm sorry if you felt that we were replacing you, but it's not true. You don't have to prove yourself to stay on the team because you already have."
Zero placed an affirming paw on the stunned spiny armor Pokémon's shoulder. "You have proven yourself time and time again. You have earned your place on the team and don't let anyone tell you otherwise!"
Quill's eyes started to water before he grabbed the Riolu into a back-breaking hug and stared bawling hysterically. Zero gave a pained smile, awkwardly patting his arm in reassurance. This only made Quill sob even louder, practically crushing his leader with his hug.
"Okay, your starting to hurt me Quill," Zero managed to choke out.
"I'm so sorry for everything!" Quill cried.
"It's okay," Zero reassured. "But I can't...breathe!"
Thankfully, Quill let him go, giving the emanation Pokémon a chance to catch his breath. "Sorry," the Quilladin murmured.
"It's fine," Zero assured him. "I hope this proves that you have a place on the team."
"Yeah," Quill sniffed. "I think I owe Dusty an apology.
"That would be best," Zero said with a smile.
Quill returned the smile and the duo moved towards the door. When they opened the door, they were surprised when Furno fell forward with a yelp and landed at their feet. The fire type looked up and scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"Hehe. Whoop?" Zero sighed at his friends antics.
"Really, Furno?" The chimp Pokémon had the decency to look ashamed.
"Well, I was just worried is all," Furno said with an unconvincing huff.
"Right," Zero said, rolling his eyes.
As they were talking, Quill made his way over to the former wild Pokémon. Dusty looked up at the grass-fighting type and cocked his head to the side.
"Yes?" he questioned.
"Dusty...I would like to apologize for my actions towards you these past few weeks," Quill said sincerely. "I know no explanation I give you can make things right, but I hope we can move past it and work together in the future."
He held his hand out to the Sandshrew to shake, but he didn't get his hopes up. After what he put the ground type through he didn't expect to be forgiven.
Dusty regarded the outstretched hand with an unreadable expression. Quill's gaze lowered, thinking that Dusty was denying him. He was about to lower his hand with a much smaller hand fell into his and gripped it. Looking up and saw the mouse Pokémon was smiling softly at him.
"I accept your apology and I hope that we can work well in the future," Dusty said.
Quill looked stunned for a second before a bright smile stretched over his face. "I'm Quill, it's nice to meet you."
Dusty cocked his head to the side in confusion. "I know this. Why are you telling me your name once more?" Quill just laughed.
"Oh, Dusty. I have so much to teach you," Quill said. Dusty just looked more confused. Neither of them noticed Furno and Zero watching them with smiles on their faces.
"It's nice to see them finally getting along," Furno commented.
"Yeah," Zero nodded in agreement.
"You did a good job, Zero," Furno said abruptly causing the Riolu to look at him.
"I just talked to him."
"No, you did more than that. You made him feel like he's part of the team."
"He is part of the team."
"I know, but sometimes we need reassurance," Furno said with a smile.
The duo stood in silence for a while. "Furno?"
"Yeah Zero?"
"I appreciate you."
"Oh, shut up!" Furno laughed, punching the smirking canine in the arm.
"What?" Zero asked innocently -or what would have been innocent if not for his 'cat-that-ate-the-canary' grin. "I thought you said you liked to be reassured."
"I'll show you reassurance," Furno growled playfully before pouncing on his friend, getting a startled yelp from the Riolu.
"GAH!" Zero shouted as Furno pulled him to the floor. "Mutiny!"
"Say uncle!" Furno shouted.
"Never!" Zero laughed, trying to wrestle the fire type off him.
The two rolled around on the ground, both struggling for dominance and laughing like the kids they were. On the other side of the room Quill was laughing loudly while Dusty cocked his head to the side.
"Is Furno really starting a mutiny? Should we assist Zero?" the Sandshrew asked.
"No, their just messing around," Quill assured the small ground type. He smiled at his two teammates' antics. It was refreshing to see them acting their age, something that was hard to do in this day and age. That's partially why he always acted so carefree; to allow others the chance to smile. That's what Crass always taught him...
The moment was shattered by a knock at the door.
"Who's that?" Furno asked, still on the floor with Zero.
"Let me up and I'll see," Zero said with a smirk as he shoved the fire type off of him. He walked to the door and opened it, revealing a Delibird.
"Hello, are you Team Dawn Breaker?" the ice-flying type asked.
"Yes?" Zero said uncertainly.
"Good, I've got a letter for you!" the Delibird rummaged in his...bag and pulled out a thick white envelope. "Here we are!"
"Thanks," Zero said, giving the delivery Pokémon a strange look. He reached out and took the letter -noting that it felt relatively heavy- and was about to close the door when a clipboard and pen were shoved into his face.
"Sign please," the Delibird requested.
"Right." Zero quickly signed his name and handed it back.
"Have a nice day!" the Delibird said cheerfully before flying off.
"Weird," Zero muttered, closing the door and returning to his team.
"Who was that?" Furno asked, having gotten off the floor.
"A Delibird," Zero said, looking over the letter. "He gave me this."
"Well open it!" Quill said excitedly.
Seeing no reason not to, Zero cut open the seal and turned the envelope upside down to remove the contents. A golden charm fell out of the envelope and into Zero's outstretched paw. Looking closer at it, Zero saw that it appeared to be in the shape of a flame with a swirl in the middle.
As soon as Furno laid eyes on the charm he released a blood-curdling scream.