Merry (pre?) Christmas guys! Let's consider this a count down for all you ikarishippers out there eh? Well, sit back and enjoy the adorableness that is ikari!

"Twelve days…" A rather short, 15 year old sighed to herself as she scuffed her pink mid-calf boots along a concrete path in veil stone city. All around her, stores and houses had gotten their exteriors wrapped in Christmas lights and other various decorations.

She winced as a rather strong wind whipped her cobalt hair around her face and the sharp coldness slashed at her exposed skin. The bright lights of the city allowed the girl to see in the blackness of the night, unlike if she was camping out in the middle of a forest somewhere.

You see, the problem Miss Dawn Berlitz was currently facing was the fact that she was the entire region's width away from her home town; Twinleaf. She just wasn't going to be able to make it back home to her mother in time for Christmas, and that upset her greatly. The teen had been so caught up with the contests in the different areas of the Sinnoh region that she'd completely forgotten that her favourite holiday was right around the corner. Getting back to twinleaf just couldn't be done within the time she had.

The girl stopped outside the pokemon centre, undoing the first few buttons of her long white coat as a blast of warm air welcomed her inside. She shook her head, causing the beanie atop it to become slightly lopsided.

Nurse Joy gave her a tired, yet friendly smile as she made her way to the front desk. She noticed that a lot of people were just mulling around the lobby, each one looking a little irritated.

"Do you have a room for one spare?" Dawn asked brightly, despite the sour mood she was currently in.

"Sorry dear, I'm afraid we're all booked out for the night," the nurse answered, offering the bluenette an apologetic smile in return.

"Oh I see, thank you so much anyway," Dawn uttered with a small bow before re-entering the harshness of the outside world. The girl groaned, leaning back against the wall of the pokemon centre in defeat, closing her eyes.

"Of course they're full, it's just my luck," she grumbled to herself, rearranging the scarf wrapped around her neck.

"Well well," a familiar, cheery voice stated, causing the girl to open her eyes. She grinned up at the man standing before her; it was none other then Reggie, his purple hair tied in the usual messy pony tail and large black duffle coat wrapped cosily around his body.

"Fancy meeting you here Dawn, it's been years!" He exclaimed as Dawn grinned and graciously accepted his tight bear hug.

"Hi Reggie, it's so nice to see you!" She exclaimed happily, shivering slightly as he pulled away and the added warmth was snatched away from her. "How are you?"

"Oh not too bad… but what about you?! Standing outside like this, you're going to freeze to death!"

Dawn chuckled sheepishly.

"Well, there are no spare rooms in the centre so I suppose I should really go and find myself a hotel before they all run out as well." She explained.

"Nonsense! You can stay at ours for as long as needed!" Reggie declared.

"Well, I don't want to cause you any trouble…" Dawn began, however she was hushed by the older man and dragged a few streets down from where they were standing originally.

They soon arrived at a quaint little house by the outskirts of the city. The area wasn't very busy however this did not cause the enthusiasm for Christmas the city seemed to have to waver. Each and every house was decorated in brightly coloured lights which seemed to dance to an inaudible beat. Dawn couldn't help but smile, the spirit of Christmas was well and truly in the air.

"Um, Reggie is Paul in?" Dawn asked, taking note of the bright lights shining through an upstairs window.

"Ah yes, he arrived back from the Unova region yesterday," Reggie replied, fishing a key out of his pocket and unlocking the door.

"We're home," he called as he stepped into the house, stepping aside and allowing Dawn to enter as well. Unsurprisingly there was no reply from the human storm cloud, and Dawn had to try to prevent herself from breathing a sigh of relief as she knew it would be awkward with him around.

She politely removed her shoes and placed her coat on a stand by the door. She then followed Reggie into the living room, silently thanking Arceus for central heating and fire places.

"Who's we?" a gruff voiced asked as a purple haired boy entered the room. Reggie turned to smile at his younger brother and waved a hand towards the bluenette.

"Dawn's staying with us for a while," Reggie said happily, pulling his brother into the room and leaving the two teens on their own as he left.

"Um, hi," Dawn said awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head as she shuffled her feet on their light wooden floor.

"Who are you?" He asked monotonously, shoving his hands in his jean pockets.

"Dawn Berlitz… Ash Ketchum's travelling companion a few years back," She answered, the irritation evident in her tone as she aggressively crossed her arms over her chest. He watched her almost intently for a few moments before simply saying,

"Don't remember." Dawn scoffed, recalling their second meeting where he had said the exact same thing.

"Well you should, I sure remember you," she said bitterly while trying to suppress a blush. She realised The 17 year old had filled out rather nicely throughout the years and turned away so as not to make a fool out of herself. So what if he looked nice? The fact that he was a complete jerk hadn't changed a bit.

"Oh wait," he said suddenly, causing Dawn to turn around, hoping that maybe he had remembered. "You're that troublesome girl who travelled around with Pathetic and his pikachu a few years back."

"I AM NOT TROUBLESOME!" She yelled, her face turning red with rage as he merely smirked. Just as she was about to jump at him, nails at the ready, Reggie came back in with a big smile on his face and three sets of cutlery in hand.

"I see you two are getting along just wonderfully!" He said happily. Dawn gave him an incredulous look but didn't say anything as she was too grateful for his hospitality, despite the fact that she'd have to be living in the same house with none other than Paul Shinji for a night. She'd already decided that she'd be leaving as soon as possible.

"I trust you haven't eaten Dawn," Reggie said.

"No, I haven't,"

"Good! While the meal's being prepared can you show Dawn to her room and set the bed up please Paul?" He asked, turning to his younger brother.

"I'd rather not," Paul stated moodily. His attitude made the bluenette seriously want to tare his eyes out. He was being so rude!

"Paul," His brother said warningly, giving his brother a sharp look. The younger sibling sighed and turned to walk out of the door. Dawn had to hurry to keep up and stayed silent, for once not knowing how to strike up a conversation.

Paul entered a room at the far end of the landing. It was rather small and had an unmade single bed next to a window with a bed side table sitting to its left. A small wooden chair sat at the end of the room by a rather large dressing table.

The boy proceeded to remove bedding items from the wardrobe and started to make the bed. Dawn decided to help, however Paul gave her a look.

"What? I thought I'd be useful and help you,"

"I'm no where near as pathetic and weak as you, I'm pretty sure I can handle this on my own," he said, glaring at her.

"Fine then Mr. Grumpy pants, I just wanted to help," she huffed, her cheeks puffing out in annoyance as she retreated to the chair at the other side of the room.

"Let's eat!" Reggie and Dawn chorused joyfully as they began to chow down on the delicious chicken noodle soup Reggie had prepared for them.

"So, what brings you to Veil Stone?" The older man asked, ceasing his eating for the moment. Dawn groaned, her shoulders slumping in defeat before quickly straightening up and smiling again.

"I'd just finished a contest near lake valour and decided so I decided to visit veil stone since I haven't been here for ages!" She said cheerfully, deciding not to tell them about her worry of not getting back. She didn't want to burden them with her troubles.

"Aren't you a little way from home? And so near to Christmas too," Reggie stated causing the girl to wince. Damn Reggie, why did you have to go and hit the nail right on the head? She asked herself bitterly. Sighing, Dawn explained everything.

"Well, truthfully I shouldn't have been going to that contest, I knew that it was near to Christmas but I didn't realise it was that close… I'd sort of lost track of time," She laughed nervously, feeling conscious about her stupidity.

"Idiot," Paul muttered, causing her to blush in shame. She decided to ignore him however.

"Well, now I'm never going to be able to make it back in time for Christmas," She sighed sadly.

"Cheer up Dawn, you look like a gloom who's having a bad day," Reggie stated before tapping his chin.

"Well yeah, I always celebrate Christmas with my mum, and this year I may not be able to do that. I've never, don't ever want to celebrate this holiday on my own! It's supposed to be a time with family, and because of my foolishness I'll never get back in time." She stated, resisting the tears which threatened to fall.

"I've got it!" Reggie exclaimed suddenly making the two teens jump.

"Paul's heading back toward Sandgem tomorrow to get back to Unova, he knows all of the short cuts and you'll be-"

"Absolutely not," the teen in question interrupted, glaring daggers at his brother. Reggie smiled sweetly.

"Please~" Reggie dragged on. Paul merely turned his head away in distain.

"Please baby brother, I know that deep down in that bottomless pit of a heart you have you really do care," he whined, getting up and latching himself onto his younger sibling. Paul grunted and furiously attempted to tare him off.

Dawn stifled a giggle as she watched the brothers struggling it out. The older Shinji rubbed his face lovingly on his brother's shirt, his hold not faltering as the younger tried desperately the free himself. Eventually, he slumped down in his seat with a sigh.

"Fine," he grumbled moodily, catching my gaze. "I'll take her,"

"Yay!" Reggie cheered, finally letting go and lovingly ruffling his brother's hair.

Dawn smiled warmly, she could tell that despite the barrier of ice Paul appeared to be surrounded by constantly, his brother loved him so dearly and that love was returned back, he just didn't like to show it.

"Hold on," she said suddenly, "what about you guys? Don't you spend Christmas together?"

"Well, that just depends," Reggie said almost wistfully, "he usually comes back for a few days before and we exchange presents before he goes off again,"

"I don't see any point in celebrating such a useless event. There really is no point to it, it is merely just another day of the year," Paul added, he face showing no signs of emotion.

Dawn stared at the boy in disbelief, never had she heard anyone disregard Christmas as just another day, it was a time for joy and fun, a time where everyone enjoyed themselves to the fullest.

"Besides, Reggie enjoys spending it with Maylene, don't you?" he said, smirking evilly over at his brother whose face had turned the colour of the red in the holly which decorated their mantle piece. Dawn giggled, recalling the fondness the two seemed to share for each other when she last saw them.

"So, when did you guys become a thing?!" squealed, clapping her hands together enthusiastically. Fangirl mode activated. Paul winced and Reggie blushed an even darker shade of red as he slid down his chair.

"I think I'm rather tired now you two, don't stay up too late, I'll see you in the morning!" He said hurriedly, collecting his now empty bowl and pelting out of the room.

"I'll never understand… love is so stupid," Paul muttered more to himself than the girl to his left.

"Love's such a beautiful thing Paul, when two people feels so strongly about one another…" she clasped her hands together in wonder, her blue orbs practically sparkling.

"You would say something like that," Paul muttered, his eyes rolling in an almost scolding way.

"Oh yeah, and what's that supposed to mean?!" Dawn growled, a dangerous aura surrounding her as she glared at the boy.

"Troublesome," he merely stated, picking up his bowl and heading out of the room.

"What a jerk…" Dawn grumbled, collecting her things and hurrying after him due to the face that she had no idea where their kitchen.

"I suggest that you go to bed now too, we have to set out early tomorrow, and if you're not up, I'll be leaving without you." And with that, Paul had headed upstairs and entered his own room. Dawn sighed, making her way up to her own room.

"Pip-piplup!" The penguin pokemon called as it was released from its pokeball.

"We're at Reggie and Paul's house Piplup, Paul's going to take us back home in time for Christmas," Dawn explained, packing her clothes back into her bag as she dusted off her fluffy pink pyjamas. Piplup lifted his beak into the air with distain.

"Lup," he stated, slippers on hips. Dawn giggled, reaching down to lift him up and give him a big hug.

"I know how you feel, I'm not entirely thrilled to have Paul of all people take me home, but apparently he knows shortcuts and all that so he should be able to get us home within the twelve days we have left." Hopefully she thought to herself.

Sighing, she turned the bedside light off and clambered into the bed which Paul had made for her. She shut her eyes, worry enveloping her as she subconsciously squeezed Piplup tightly. What if I don't get back in time? What if we end up arguing so much he leaves me somewhere?! What if… What if… All these thoughts swirled around in her mind as the dark blanket enveloped her in its welcoming arms.

Sadly her dreams weren't as welcoming as they consisted of her mother sitting at home all alone on Christmas day, crying her eyes out due to the abandonment of her daughter.

I hope you all liked it! I know I'm going to have fun writing these, I absolutely love Christmas so much, in my opinion it's the best time of the year! I just become so happy and carefree around this time and everything is just so pretty with all the decorations. The traditional music... Everyone is just so happy and ugh I just love it! I also love ikarishipping so this is going to be so exciting, I could so so much with them and Christmas xD But seriously, who else can see Paul as a guy who just dismisses christmas almost entirely? Dawn's gonna need to change that I reckon.

~X-Ray