Ikiji finally settled on a small clearing for the landing zone. He removed his radio and began broadcasting the right frequency, then decided to kill time by looking around.
He found a small shed nearby. Out of curiosity, he picked it oped. It was filled with dust and cobwebs; clearly, it hadn't been used in a very long time. But, at least it was warmer than being outside. He sttled down and waited.
------------------
Sometime later, he heard a voice. Startled, he looked around for the source, before realizing it was his radio. He picked it up and answered.
"Hello?"
"Come in Alpha Charlie, this is Santa Claus. Come in, over."
"What the-?! Toyo?! What the hell are you doing on this channel?!"
"Got a sack of presents to deliver, ho ho ho. Over."
"Toyo. Stop. Just stop."
A pause, then, "Ah damn Kij, can;t you let me have any fun at all? Bad enough my pilot cancelled at the last minute an' I gotta come out to this Arceus-forsaken town...er, not that it's bad, or anything."
Ikiji stopped for a moment. "Oh, no, by all means continue your pointless rambling. Not like I'm waiting for a delivery or anything."
"Geez, keep yer pants on, alright? These stealth transports are a pain in the ass to fly, an' I gotta land one in the middle of a blizzard, no less. Ah, hold on, I've got your location. Be there shortly."
"Fine. Be quick about it."
"Roger. Ho ho ho."
Ikiji angrily shut off the radio. He sat down and resumed waiting. A few minutes later, he was aware of something approaching outside. He ran out of the shed, and saw the chopper flying overhead. A hatch on the bottom opened, revealing a wench that lowered several crates to the ground. Ikiji dragged them off one by one, then saw a small digital pad attached to the wench. A voice emerged from it.
"Right, now if you'll be so kind as to sign?"
He reached for the electronic pen next to the pad, but froze when he saw the figure on the screen.
"Toyo, I think you've made a mistake. This is almost twice what I owe."
"Oh, yeah. That's my personal delivery fee."
"Toyo! For the love of Arceus!!"
"Hey, I'm a businessman, alright? I gotta do whatever I can to make money."
Toyo paused, then resumed speaking in a lower voice.
"Alright, I'll level with ya. Business has been slow lately. Seems no one's interested in black market goods what with the government crackdown an' all. I'm barely makin' ends meet. I'm losing money, Kij, an' I don't like it. I like money. It buys nice things."
"Allow me to play a sad song for you while I freeze my ass off in this goddamn blizzard listening to you ramble about how you have to settle for tips insteaf of ribeye!"
He signed the pad, then shouted into the panel.
"Fine. I've signed. Now get the hell out of here, you greedy bastard."
"Sheesh! Try to do a guy a favor...right. This is Santa Claus, going up the chimney. Ho ho ho, over."
By this point, Ikiji had stopped listening. As the chopped lifted off and flew away, he dragged the many crates inside the shed for safekeeping. When he was finished, he re-locked it and set off for the gym again.
Along the way, however, he encountered the Uprising leader, Isabel, and another trainer he didn't recongize. (With a suppresed chuckle, he noticed a Pikachu on the other trainers shoulder, and thought what Matsuko would do to him if he tried to get her to do that.)
He followed them at a distance, taking care not to be noticed amongst the crowd of people.