(I really can't make a snarky comment for once. This is an alternate ending to I Won't See You Tonight, if you choose to read it that way, or another fic entirely. Merry Christmas, my babies, wherever you may be. Mommy loves you. I don't own. Oh, and for the record; no, not crazy. This is a bit of a mental conversation, so I used it, since it fit. Not THAT nuts.)
The teen known as Ari stalked the streets of her hometown, searching for something. Something important. Thought most would not call it so... She sighed, and irritably ran her fingers through her ratty hair. "Damnit all to hell, where on earth is that book?" She grumped, raking an eye over the bookstore in her local strip mall. She ran her finger gently over the soft paperbacks, until a small smile blossomed on her face.
Yanking the book out, she checked the title. 'Pokemon Diamond and Pearl: Strategy Guide.' Grinning, she paid the cashier, wished him a Merry Christmas, and stepped out into the bitter cold. Looking up, she smiled as snow pattered down onto the sidewalks and streets. She felt around for her DS, and tapped it, calling Kurama's name.
The shiny Jolteon in question phased out of the thing, and jumped out into the snow, expanding to full height. "Ari. What troubles you?" She shrugged, as the two walked home in silence. The Jolteon shook his head. His master confused him.
He had been given by Bebe to this child named Chris. He smelled the blood of his brothers on this kid's hands, but he said nothing, until the child shoved a Thunderstone in his face. He was level five.
Ari had found out he was in Chris' possession, and traded him a glitched Seedot for yours truly, later getting the Seedot back. Owned. He sighed, and flicked his needles. Ari had told him what Chris had done, but she held it against neither him nor Lua-rio, the Lucario she had also 'saved' from Chris. He owed her his name, and his power.
But the sadness in her face told her he should not interfere.
Once she was home, she recalled him, so as not to be seen talking to what others saw as thin air. She went into her room, and placed her DS almost worshipfully on the couch, then flopped onto her bed, weeping noisily. One of her new pokemon, a small Dratini named Ceiros, slithered out of his pokeball, with a questioning look on his face.
"Momma Ari, you okay?" The sharked shiny cheeped. She smiled, and sniffled. "Yeah, Cer. Go to bed, okay? It's Christmas Eve tomorrow." He nodded happily, and flew into the DS. Ari made sure he was gone, before placing her face into the pillow, and weeping noisily again.
Kurama awoke Sage, Ari's new Rayquaza. "Sage, she is crying. I'm going to her, okay?" The Sky Dragon nodded, and whispered, "Don't sadden her more. I think this is hard on her." Kurama nodded, and leaped out of the DS, padding softly to curl up next to his master. She jumped, until she saw him, and looked up. Her normally ashen and sickly face was now red-rimmed. She looked like a junkie.
"Kura-kun." She growled. He stared at her for an instant, and said nothing. "I guess... I know, I know, it's weird. But, but, my babies..." She broke down crying.
"This is the first year they're not with me for Christmas." She rasped. "I regret so much, do you know that?" Kurama listened intently, for Ari rarely said much about her former team. All he knew is that she loved them more than anything in the world.
"I had a shiny, just like you. Only he was a Mightyena. His name was Mikhail, and I caught him when I was eight. He... I didn't know what he was until last year." She took another deep, shuddering breath. "When I did, I imported him. But I..." She began to sob.
"I kept him in the box. I didn't like the back sprite, the goddamn back sprite." She snorted angrily, like she was shaming herself. "And now he's gone. One in a million." She sniffled. "I loved them. Szeren was like a mother to me, and Hiromi was so close to level 100. Haushinka was so close to being a contest pokemon."
Kurama said nothing. He didn't know what to say. Ari continued. "And I had a Swampert, Kitao, who was a BRILLIANT contest pokemon." She took on a proud gleam in her eyes. "He won the Master Rank in THREE categories. Tough, Cute, and Beauty. I don't even know how it happened. I was so proud of him, always." Kurama was silent still.
"They all had their stories. Ichigo was a crack-hyper kid, Jetstream a collected, organized leader. I always could count on them." She turned to the pale green Jolteon. "Can I count on you?" He looked up at her. She wasn't challenging him, only asking a question.
Slowly, Kurama nodded. "Yes. You can." She smiled, and shook her head. "I figured. Go to bed, Kura-Kun. Santa's coming in two days." He snorted at such foolishness, but obeyed. He had an idea...
The next morning, the teen prepared for Christmas alone. She didn't play her DS at all, and instead prepared for the inevitable grief that would come Christmas morning. Meanwhile, Kurama was convincing Sage to use the bloody Gameshark.
"But this will not fix the game." He protested, poking the black hunk of plastic. Soren the Empoleon rolled his eyes. "Idiot. We just need the pokemon in the games. We have corporeal bodies, we can get their souls back." Sage sighed.
"We seem to have no better ideas. I hate to do it, but..." He grinned wickedly. "Hey, didn't the boy leave his Pearl at Ari's house?" The assembled pokemon grinned at each other. Amaranth the Glaceon stood up.
The others sucked in a breath. She was a bit strange to them; one of the daughters of Them. The original team. Amaranth had been in the now-no-longer-backup Diamond when her mother, Azrael had died in Pearl.
"I'll do it." She leaped off, out of the DS, into his old room. Shuddering, she snatched up the game, and bounded out.
The pokemon sharked well into the night, slaving laboriously until sunset to get each and every pokemon intact as they had been before. They prayed to Mew that the souls of the pokemon would arrive back to be with their master, and then fell asleep, exhausted.
The next morning, the girl bounded out to see what 'Santa' had left her. She flung her gifts about; pokedolls, books, clothes, CDs, and the like.
None of it mattered to her. Not even the Wii. All she wanted was her pokemon back. She sighed, and remembered every drunken eggnog fiasco with Vita, every Christmas tree alight by Szeren's hand, and every single tree stump gnawed to the death by Whiplash the Glitchicate.
Sighing, she went back into her room. Neatly placed on her pillow was a Pokemon Pearl. She blinked. 'You're kidding me. This isn't real.' She picked it up, fingers trembling. She inserted it into the DS card slot, and pressed the Power button like she was afraid it was going to explode in her hands.
She saw the familiar title screen, and the menu. No more Blue Screen of Death. She grinned, and gasped when she saw 'Player: Ari' on the screen. She pressed it, and as soon as her player was visible, slammed the 'X' button to open the menu.
Szeren, Haushinka, Hiromi, Shuka-Rin, Faris, and Deidre were all in her party. Her eyes brimmed over with tears as she rushed to her PC.
She saw every last one of them there. Even Mikhail. Her eyes welled over with tears. One by one, they phased out of the game. Szeren said nothing, just smiled as she saw the girl she had protected for so long.
Vita flew off in search of eggnog. Ichigo took great entertainment in pressing the buttons on the stereo. The girl smiled, and Mikhail and her made amends, and promised to stick together forever. The others in Diamond phased out. Ari looked up from hugging Mikhail.
"You guys... did this?" She asked. They all grinned, and nodded. "Merry Christmas, mommy." She said nothing for a second. Then, looking at pokemon from her childhood, and the pokemon she had now, she made a decision.
"I am the luckiest trainer in the world." She announced softly. She grinned, as she cuddled Yvette the Skitty. She excused herself, and went outside to watch the snow.
As she looked up at the sky, she smiled.
When she'd lost her family, she had been lucky enough to gain another. And now...
Now she had both. Her family had gotten larger, but she loved them all. And this time, he was gone. They couldn't be hurt, ever again.She sighed in happiness. "This is the best day ever." She looked back at the silhouette of her pokemon. "Thank you."
This girl had run far away...
Now she's come... now she's come...
Home...