“Delivery!” Dee entered the Kalos Express building in Motostoke City with a package in hand. She found a much happier Jake the Galarian Meowth-man sitting at the desk.
“Nice to see you again, Dee,” Jake stood up to receive the package when the door opened behind Dee and a plump Greedent-woman with a jolly expression on her face entered the office.
“Sorry to burst in but I saw Dee arriving and I just had to see if my package arrived.” The Greedent-woman looked at the box in Dee’s arms.
“Oh! Well…” Dee was startled but checked the name on the package, “Are you Olivia?”
Olivia clapped her hands together, “Yes, that’s me! Where do I sign?”
Dee fished the delivery note out of her pocket, “Right here.”
“Great!” Olivia quickly signed the note than took the package from Dee, “Lovely to finally meet you but I must be off! Ta ta!” She bustled out of the office.
Dee just stared at the closed door, “What was that about?”
Jake just chuckled as he came around his desk, “You don’t stop to look around much, do you?”
Dee turned to Jake, “Not here, I just drop off the packages, take a rest then take the next delivery.”
Jake shook his head, “Not today. For the first time since I took this office there’s no outgoing deliveries waiting for you. All of the ones you did over the last year had been sitting there for weeks or even months when you first arrived. But there’ll be more before too long, until then I guess you have time off.”
“I guess I’ll take a look around tomorrow then,” Dee sounded uncertain as she headed for the dormitory.
When Dee left the office the next day she took the first real look around Motostoke City since she delivered her first package. The whole place seemed brighter, more Poke-people were outside, more curtains were open behind windows and the storefronts had even been painted to look more inviting. Dee waved to everyone as she passed and they greeted her joyously; Dee even recognized some of her delivery customers. Dee wasn’t used to receiving so much attention from people who were mostly strangers to her, even as she stopped to eat lunch at a restaurant that now had an outdoor dining area.
Dee had just finished her lunch and was leaving the restaurant when a stronger feminine voice drew her attention, “So you’re the Dee of Hopeville. I was hoping I could meet you.”
Dee turned to see a… Fennekin-woman? No, she was too tall to be a Fennekin and on a second look she was clearly a Braixen-woman with her ear hair cut short. She wore long travelling pants and a wind breaking coat. She was sturdily built with an athletic body and an average sized chest; the fur on her hands was black instead of yellow, she didn’t have a stick in her tail (or anywhere else) and she had let her hair grow out and styled it like a Lucario’s aura-dreads.
The Braixen-woman stepped forwards and offered a hand, “My name’s Cassandra.”
“I’m Dee,” Dee introduced herself and shook her hand. “What’s Hopeville?”
Cassandra laughed then pointed to a sign nearby, “Because of you they decided to rename the city.” Dee followed Cassandra’s point and saw a sign that had once read ‘Motostoke City’ had been painted over to read ‘Hopeville’. “You really brought this place back to life, or so everyone keeps saying. I came here last month when I heard about you and I’ve been waiting to meet you.”
Dee just stared then brought her gaze back down to Cassandra, “I was just taking high paying jobs, I never tried to fix this place.”
“Sometimes you just make things better without trying,” Cassandra folded her arms, “So how long until your next delivery?”
“I don’t know, all the deliveries are done so I guess I’m on vacation,” Dee shrugged, “Not sure what to do while I wait for more.”
The Braixen-woman smiled, “Well I guess I’ll have a chance to get to know you. I haven’t met another Lucario since I was a kid.”
The way Cassandra phrased that sounded odd to Dee so she asked, “Are my species that rare?”
“We are around here,” Cassandra started to walk away, “But I knew a lot of them as a kid, my dad was one too.”
“We? Aren’t you a Braixen?” Dee ran to catch up to Cassandra then started walking alongside her.
“Half, my mother was a Delphox from outside. But she and my dad fell in love and here I am,” Cassadra touched one of her styled aura-dreads then held up her hand which let Dee see the silver disc on the back of her hand, like a Riolu’s. “I’ve been told I’m a rarity: a crossbreed Poke-person. I look mostly like a Braixen now, I had blue arms as a Fennekin, and there’s Lucario in me too, but the dreads are just hair. I can sense aura, I’m Fire/Fighting-type instead of being psychic and I can’t evolve since Lucario don’t have a third stage. I identify myself as a Braixen and a Lucairo, but I’m still my own unique species.”
“That’s a little odd, then again I can’t talk,” Dee chuckled as she touched the blue band on one of her aura-dreads. She did look different than Lucario she had seen on her Vault’s database: her aura-dreads and neck had bands of blue fur and her torso was covered in fine black fur instead of the poofy cream colored fur she’d seen in images.
Cassandra turned to look Dee over, “You look distinct, that’s how I knew it was you. I never saw a Lucario with that kind of pattern on her aura-dreads.” She stopped, “We’re here.”
“Here where?” Dee looked around, having been too absorbed in the conversation to pay attention, they were in a rectangular area that had been carved out of the rocks like a sort of sports arena; there were several piles of rocks in vague humanoid shapes and several holes seemingly having been blasted in the wall.
“This used to be where kids played soccer, but thanks to you they built a better place for them so I get to use it as a training ground.” Cassandra discarded her coat which let Dee see that the black fur on her arms ran almost up to her elbows, “I started teaching self-defence and other martial arts here to make a living, and try to keep the Way of the Steel Hand alive.”
Dee looked around as Cassandra was talking and could see this was the same small area she’d seen the kids playing soccer on her first delivery. “What’s the Way of the Steel Hand?”
“A Lucario martial art created by the Auras, my tribe…” Cassandra’s voice became melancholy, “My father taught me and I’ve trained ever since I was a Fennekin to master it. I don’t know if I can teach anyone here everything about it but maybe I can teach you, if you’re willing.”
Dee saw something in Cassandra’s eyes and her aura, a desperation, a need to pass this on so she nodded, “I’ll learn, especially if I end up having to fight Death-Scyther.”
Cassandra grinned, “You’ll be tearing their blades off after we’re done. First you need to know that every Pokemon and Poke-person has a natural affinity for aura, it’s how we use our special techniques and are so durable compared to humans but mastering it requires dedication and effort. Now show me what kind of aura control you have.”
Dee stepped back, “Like this?” she swung a roundhouse kick that ignited into a Blaze Kick.
Cassandra’s eyes flashed as she watched Dee, “Not bad. Anything else?”
Dee turned to face the rock wall that had chunks blasted out, “And this,” She conjured a swirling mass of air in her right hand and hurled the Vacuum Wave at the wall, which barely dented it. Dee turned back to Cassandra and saw the Braixen-woman’s eyes were glowing bright blue.
“I can see your aura skill is unrefined, but you have potential.” She held up her right hand, palm upwards and fingers spread, “I will help you master your aura,” air and energy began to gather above her hand as Dee watched in amazement, “My tribe has studied, trained and mastered aura and I can pass that on to you.” The energy condensed into a glowing blue sphere of energy that floated above Cassandra’s hand.
“Is that, Aura Sphere?” Dee just stared.
Cassandra grinned, “Yes!” She hurled the ball of aura at the nearby wall where it exploded on impact, taking a chunk of rock from the wall and showering them with dirt and dust. Dee had to throw up her arms to her face to protect her eyes while Cassandra just stood there completely unphased. “It took me years to master that but I know you can learn it.”
Dee lowered her arms, she shook from excitement and nerves, “But I can’t just stay here to train all the time, I still have my courier job.”
Cassandra turned to Dee, “Then we’ll train when you stop by here. I’m not going anywhere. But I can teach you exercises to do when you’re on the road, so let’s start.” She held up her hand again and gathered a swirl of air above her palm, “I’ve seen your Vacuum Wave, it’s the start of Aura Sphere and its much faster but unfocused and wild,” She hurled it against the wall where it only took a small chunk of stone off.
“I’ve used it to throw grenades farther and faster,” Dee interjected.
“Never heard of it being used like that before,” Cassandra sounded surprised, “it’s worth remembering but back to the training.” She conjured another Vacuum Wave, “Aura Sphere is difficult to master, even for a Lucario and even with a mentor. There are three steps beyond the initial creation: first you need to make it spin on itself,” the mass of energy began to whirl inwards until it looked like a small whirlwind cycling inwards, “second you need to compress it so all the energy releases on one point,” the miniature whirlwind shrank down until it was compressed into a glowing blue orb the size of a softball with the energy still swirling, “and lastly you need to lock your aura onto your target,” Cassandra turned to face one of the piles of rocks in humanoid shape. “see your target, set your sites and launch!” she hurled the Aura sphere which flew right at the target, shattering it in on impact!
Dee watched in silence as Cassandra turned back to her, “All three steps are critical. If you just make it spin on itself,” she created another Vacuum wave and sent it spiraling, “then it becomes scattered and weak,” She hurled the mass towards the wall and it immediately broke into several streams of energy that peppered the wall to minimal effect. “If you don’t lock your aura onto the target then the wild contained energy will fly out of control,” she conjured another Aura Sphere and just fired it randomly towards the remaining intact targets, but the sphere flailed around and ultimately spiraled off into the sky and dissipated, “and most importantly: don’t be discouraged if you don’t get it right away. It took me years to perfect and most of that was just self-training…” her voice trailed off then she shook her head, “But enough reminiscing let’s get your training started!”
Dee shook herself to dispel her nerves and started her training.
Three hours later after their training regime and post-workout stretches, Cassandra and Dee sat on the bottom step that led to the training area downing bottles of water that Dee always carried with her. Both were sweating and Dee had discarded her top down to just her bra as steam rose from her tired form.
Dee gasped as she finished off a water bottle, “That’s the most intense workout I’ve ever had!”
Cassandra smirked as she finished her bottle, “We Auras push ourselves as hard as we can, and I’m not going to let up. We’ll be back here tomorrow, but just take a day off before you leave for your next deliveries and do stretches every day or you’ll cramp up on the road.”
“Alright,” Dee leaned back and saw the swirling of a storm blowing over the city, “What causes all these storms in Galar.”
“I think it’s Dynamax energy,” Cassandra stood up and did some extra stretches, “It’s a strange phenomenon unique to Galar. Apparently it used to be able to empower Pokemon exposed to it but could make them go berserk with the overflow of energy.” She turned back to Dee and blinked, “What’s that thing on your wrist?”
“This?” Dee held her left arm forwards, showing off her Rotom-Boy, “It’s a Rotom-Boy, I grew up in a Vault before I hybridized and we all were given these. Handy little computer but I can’t take it off.
Cassandra gave Dee a side-eye then pointed to the Lucario-woman’s right arm, “No I mean that thing on your other wrist.”
Dee looked at the thick black bracelet set with a multicolored stone, “This? It’s a memento from when I fought the Aether Enclave, I used it to… save the New Orange Pass from their experiments,” her voice got more sullen as the memories resurfaced. “I’ve been through some shit, I don’t want to talk about it…”
Cassandra nodded, “I understand… maybe someday I’ll tell you what happened to the Auras…” She forced herself to smile, “Want to hear something odd about my biology?”
Dee looked up from her arm, “Like what?”
“I can’t breathe fire, even as a Fennekin I couldn’t,” Cassandra took a deep breath and let out a strong puff of hot air, but no fire. “Mom said most of our line use a ‘magic branch’ to conjure fire but I never could get it to work. Instead I do it like this.” She turned to face one of the humanoid rock piles still standing from their training session, cupped both hands close together palms spread, drew them to her side as a small flame appeared between her open palms, then shot her arms forwards as the flame ignited into a stream of fire that struck the rock pile. She stopped after a moment and exhaled, “Took me a while to figure that out as a kid, even for embers. I learned it’s not so strange, apparently the fire bunnies don’t breathe fire either but kick up small stones and use their aura to ignite them for Ember.” She turned back to Dee, “and there’s more I can teach you,” she held up her right hand, clenched it into a fist and with a bright flash her hand was surrounded in electricity, “Thunder Punch, best way to deal with robots.” She let the electricity dissipate.
Dee gulped as she stood up and retrieved her shirt, “You think I can learn all that in a week?”
Cassandra laughed, “I don’t expect you to, I’m going to teach you the way I was taught whenever you stop by. For now get some lunch, I gotta clean this place up for my class later.”
Dee took the advice and headed up the stairs as she pulled her shirt back on. Now that the workout was over, she was very hungry.
For the next three days Dee trained with Cassandra which left her exhausted but also invigorated, taking a break on the fourth day to rest. Cassandra had been right about the cramps but thankfully a day of rest was all that was needed for her to recover.
On the fifth day, Dee emerged from the Kalos Express dormitory and found Jake at the desk with a small pile of packages on the table.
The Galarian Meowth-man smiled, “Morning, Dee. I just finished processing these five packages. Which one do you want to deliver first?”
Dee checked the addresses on the packages, all of them headed west into NKR territory. “I’ll take them all.” She retrieved her backpack from nearby and began loading the packages.
Jake was startled, “Really?”
Dee smiled as she finished loading the pack, “Really. I just need some food and water and I’ll be off. I’ll pick up whatever I can on the way back.”
Jake sighed happily and sat down behind his desk, “You’re an Arcues-send, Dee. Thank you.”
Dee stuffed ration bars and water bottles into her bag on top of the packages and in the side packs, “See you in a couple months,” she waved before she departed.
Dee waved goodbye to everyone as she headed for the outskirts and made sure to do up her travelling clothes tight to keep out the storms.
Cassandra saw her and hurried to intercept her on her way out. “Got jobs?”
Dee nodded as she pulled her goggles on, “Yep, all over NKR. Won’t be back for a couple months.” She wrapped her scarf around her face as they reached the ramp that led up to the ground level.
Cassandra clapped her on the back, “Good luck and keep practising when you can.”
“I will,” Dee nodded then marched up the long ramp into the thankfully mild storm, on her next delivery.
Thanks to D-6alaxy and Duhad for letting me write this
Thanks to my friend TheHeartGallery21 for proofing and editing
After a year as a courier, Dee finds out she's had a bigger impact on Galar than she thought. She also meet someone who will have a big impact on her own life
D-6alaxy and 
