The following three stories are all entries that I had submitted for Bulbagarden's Annual Christmas Contest - the writing portion at least. And for all wondering, yes, I did get chosen as a winner surprisingly. For this entry we had to write a story about a Pokemon character doing last minute shopping for another character - obviously based on a certain movie starring a certain former governor of California. Enjoy!

"Attention all shoppers, Lumiose Department Store will be closing shortly. Please finish all of your purchases and have a safe and wonderful holiday!"

"Attention, tous les acheteurs, Lumiose magasin sera fermé prochainement. S'il vous plaît finir tous vos achats et passer des vacances en toute sécurité et merveilleux!"

"Oh no, come on, where is it?!"

Yellow ran around inside the recently built Lumiose Department store, searching for the area of the store that had eastern shops – specifically, shops that one would normally find in regions such as Kanto and Johto. In essence, she was looking for Kanto Gaming Corner – an international video game store chain.

The Gaming Corner had first sprouted up in Yellow's hometown of Viridian City, and its popularity soon allowed it to spread to other cities in the region, then into Johto, and further in further, until there was a Kanto Gaming Corner in every region – usually located in the department stores, though given their size, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Unova all have multiple locations, though not as many as Kanto.

Now, what was Yellow doing in Kalos, so far from her home in Kanto? She was shopping for a present for Red. After all that Red had done for her over the years, Yellow felt that it was time to pay him back.

Unfortunately though, the present that Red had wanted had proved to be very elusive: A red 2DS, produced by the company Game Freak, with a copy of their original hit GameBoy game, Pocket Monsters: Red Version. The game was a formulaic recreation of Red and Green's journey throughout the Kanto region and the defeat of Team Rocket, though deviated heavily from the true events that actually happened – along with that, both Yellow and Blue were absent from the game, much to the two girls' chagrin.

The four Dexholders all played the original games – Red Version along with Pocket Monsters: Green Version and the eventual Blue Version and Yellow Version – as well as their remakes, Pocket Monsters: Fire Red Version and Pocket Monsters: Leaf Green Version. In fact, all the Dexholders had been fans of the Pocket Monsters series, including those outside the region, as Game Freak decided to make more games in the series that had chronicled the events of Dexholders in the other regions – Gold, Silver, Crystal, Ruby, Sapphire, etc., all the way to their two most recent releases, Pocket Monsters: Omega Ruby Version and Pocket Monsters: Alpha Sapphire Version.

When Game Freak had announced that they would be porting Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow Versions to the 2DS as well as make respective models for each game (in actuality, they were clear, plastic models color-coded to match their games,) the original Dexholders were excited, happy to see their favorite video games remade for the new console, able to battle and trade with each other once again.

Despite the Dexholders' reputation though, every pre-order available for the consoles and their games ran out in the Kanto region within hours, before Red or any of the others could do so. Upon calling Gold and Silver, they confirmed that the same happened in Johto. Red was distraught, now under the impression that he would not be able to play his favorite video on the limited edition console.

Yellow saw her friend's depression, and quickly went on a journey: She traveled first to Hoenn, then Sinnoh, finding out from her friends Sapphire and Platinum that the copies had ran out in those regions as well. Yellow had thought that she reached the end of her line, thinking that she had lost access to getting Red's present. Just as hope was lost, she received a call from White – there were ten copies left in the Unova region, and Whi-Two was holding them, an ability she had as manager of Kanto Gaming Corner in Shopping Mall 9. When Yellow arrived though, she was sadly informed that Whi-Two was forced by corporate to sell the copies – mere minutes before Yellow got to the store.

As Yellow was waiting in line at the Unova airport, her friend Y came up to her, saying that she had a private jet ready to go to the Kalos region – Pocket Monsters wasn't that popular of a series there, and Y knew without a shadow of a doubt that at least a few hundred copies were left in the new Lumiose Department Store.

And here Yellow was, scrambling around the Department Store, trying to find the Kanto Gaming Corner to get a copy. Y had to head home to be with her family, so she was not there to help Yellow. It was December 24th, Christmas Eve, and there was about thirty minutes left before the entire store closed – and it was packed. Like, really packed. As Yellow walked through the store, she heard a multitude of languages – her native Japanese, Unova's English, Kalos's French, even languages she had never heard, namely those from Orre and Almia.

Finally, Yellow reached the directory on the first floor. Upon viewing it, she noticed that the Kanto Gaming Corner was on the second floor, west wing, left side. She sighed. To reach an elevator, she'd have to go through the open air courtyard in the center of the mall, where it was heavily snowing.

Lumiose Department Store had been built like Lumiose itself was – large, and circular. Unlike most Department Stores, which built up, LDS built out, with only three floors, but about half the size of Lumiose itself. This caused the store to have to be built outside of Lumiose, to the north. The store was designed to have sixteen different wings – one for each direction (note that directions such as North-Northeast were being counted for the design), with each wing having two stores per floor – this totaled to ninety-six stores, the largest of any department store in the world. Though the wings themselves hardly contributed to the store's size – each one was only about the size of a very expensive suite in a high-rise hotel. No, the real draw and reason for the size was the overly large, open-air courtyard in the center, hosting a swimming pool, multiple sports' courts, and a field for Pokémon battling.

Yellow pulled up the hood on her bright yellow hoodie, running across the open-air courtyard until she reached the elevators. She squeezed into one that was loaded to almost capacity, going up to the second floor. She ran around the outside of the balcony until she reached KGC, going into the store. She walked around, looking for a copy of Pocket Monsters: Red Version and its respective red 2DS. Finally though, she found it! She reached for it, and just as she was about to grab the last box there, another hand grabbed it.

She looked across to the other person who had grabbed it, and saw a young boy, about ten years old. He had somewhat spikey, black hair, big brown eyes, somewhat tan skin. He wore a bright blue jacket with white accents, a charcoal tee shirt underneath. He had blue jeans that went into a pair of red and black sneakers. Black, fingerless gloves covered his hands, and a red hat sat atop his head, a white semi-circle in the middle. Lastly, a Pikachu sat on his shoulder, looking around and admiring the store.

"Um, excuse me sir, I was reaching for that." Yellow said, a slight bit of annoyance in her voice.

"Hey, well, so was I!" He said.

"Haven't you ever heard of ladies first? It's mine!"

"My hand touched it first, so that makes it mine!"

"Ugh! I don't have time to argue with you!"

"I don't have time to argue with you! I want this game!"

"You want it?! I'm buying it for a friend!"

"Your friend can just play the original!"

The two trainers stood there, having reached a stalemate. Neither of them wanted to let go of the box, both of them wanting it.

"Hey! I don't need you two battling in my store! Take it outside!" The manager yelled at them.

"Yeah, we really shouldn't do that in here. You know, there's a battlefield in the center of the courtyard. Let's settle it there!" The boy suggested.

"That's fine by me!" Yellow replied. "But, what if it's purchased while we're gone?"

"Oh yeah, right! Hehe!" The boy took the game, walking over to the manager. "Excuse me sir, can you hold this game for us? We don't want it to be purchased while we're battling."

"Sure, I just need to get your names."

"Ash Ketchum." The boy said.

Yellow walked up. "Yellow del Bosque Verde."

"Wow, interesting name." The boy – Ash – said to her.

"Same to you Ketchum boy."

xXxXxXxXx

Minutes later the two trainers were standing on opposite sides of the battlefield.

"Okay! We're to use only two Pokémon each! Whoever's out of Pokémon first is the loser, and winner gets the game! Is that fine with you Yellow?" Ash yelled across the battlefield.

"As long as you're fine with losing Ash!" The Dexholder yelled back.

"Haha, we'll see about that! Greninja, let's go!"

"Omny, show him what we're made of!"

The two trainers threw out their Pokémon, the water types staring at each other.

"Greninja, start off with a Double Team!"

As Ash commanded the attack, over a dozen Greninja appear in a circle around Yellow's Omastar. Trainer and Pokémon looked around, trying to find the real one – they were taking too long.

"Now, use Cut!"

One of the Greninja leapt forward, using the HM move on Omny, getting a critical hit! It was only the start of the battle, and Yellow was almost down by one.

"Omny, get rid of him! Hydro Pump!"

Omastar fired the attack at Greninja, pushing him away, though it didn't do much in terms of damage.

"Using a water move on a water type?! What kind of trainer are you Yellow? Greninja, finish it with an Aerial Ace!"

Ash's Greninja leapt into the air, and quickly flew down, inches from hitting Omastar.

That's when Yellow sprung her trap.

"Omny, use Blizzard!"

Surprise appeared on both Ash and Greninja's faces, as the ice type move swirled around, freezing Greninja in the air. The water type fell to the ground, the ice shattering – it was knocked out.

"Grrr! Greninja, return! Pikachu, let's finish her!"

Ash's Pikachu ran out onto the battlefield, electricity sparking from its cheeks.

"Pi-kaPika!"

"Pikachu, Electro Ball!"

The electric type leaped into the air, glowing with electricity.

"Pika Pika Pika Pika Pika Pika Pikachuuuuu!"

Omastar tried to dodge the attack, but failed, getting knocked out by it.

"Ugh! Omny, return. ChuChu, time to end this!"

The two Pikachu stared at each other on the battlefield, waiting for commands.

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"

"Use Agility to dodge it!"

"Iron Tail!"

"Agility!"

"Electro Ball!"

"Once more, Agility!"

The two trainers stared at each, then, in unison, shouted

"QUICK ATTACK!"

The two Pikachu sprinted across the snow covered battlefield towards each other, streaks of bright, white light behind them. What Ash wasn't expecting was the pure speed of ChuChu, and what Yellow had in mind.

"Finish it with Volt Tackle ChuChu!"

ChuChu surrounded herself with electricity, and the increased speed from three Agility and Quick Attack made it move faster than light, slamming into Pikachu with all of her force, surrounding them both in smoke. When it cleared, both were fainted.

Yellow collapsed to her knees, tears in her eyes as Ash ran over towards his Pikachu. Who fainted first? No one knew. The amount of smoke – unless someone just happened to have a pair of goggles on that could see through smoke, it was impossible to know. Suddenly, she looked up, seeing Ash holding out his hand as she returned ChuChu.

"That was a great battle Yellow! You fought well."

"Th-thanks…I guess."

"Hey look, I can tell you really wanted that game. Go ahead and buy it, my treat!"

"WHAT?! R-really?"

"Yeah! I'm pretty sure ChuChu defeated Pikachu, and if she didn't, oh well. I was wanting the game for myself anyway. You're clearly buying it for a friend."

"Thank you so much Ash! You don't know how much this means to me!" Yellow said, standing up and wrapping her arms around Ash.

"Haha, don't mention it!" With that, the two trainers parted ways.

Yellow hurriedly ran up to the store, purchasing the game with her money. As she left the store though, she realized something: The airport was closed. She had no way of getting back to Kanto to give Red the gift.

"Sigh. Why wasn't I thinking?"

"Hey, Yellow! Is that you?"

She turned around, and saw – of all people – Blue, wearing her red and white hat, white shirt, and red skirt.

"Blue?! What're you doing in Kalos?"

"Oh, hehe! I was buying a present for Green. You?"

"I was buying one for Red. But, I have no way of getting back to Kanto…"

"Oh. Well, wanna come with me? I was planning on having Blastoise take me home."

"You'd do that for me?"

"Yeah, of course! We're friends, right?" The girl said, smiling.

"Yes, of course we are."

xXxXxXxXx

It was Christmas evening. It had taken almost a whole day to travel on Blastoise from Kalos to Kanto. Blue had stayed at Pallet Town, whereas Yellow had to make her journey to Viridian. The sun was breaking through the trees of the Viridian Forest, and Yellow was slowly trudging along, her eyes bloodshot, shadows having formed underneath them. She got not a single bit of sleep while on Blastoise, dedicating herself to making sure that her and Blue's bags didn't fall off into the water.

She walked up to her house, took out her key, and unlocked the door. She was surprised to find Red, Green, and Blue in her house, with the latter-most of the three now in her black dress and matching shoes, whereas the guys were wearing color-coded polos, jeans, and dress shoes.

"Haha, hey Yellow! Nice of you to finally get here!" Blue said teasingly.

"H-how did you three get into my house?!" Yellow asked nervously. They all three laughed.

"You gave me a copy of your key, remember?" Red asked. Yellow felt her face heat up.

"Um, uh, yeah! Look, let me go upstairs so I can shower and change! Blue, do you mind wrapping this?!"

"No, not at all." She said, getting up and taking the present.

It took Yellow about ten minutes to shower and change into a short, golden, sequined dress, not bothering with her hair. She walked downstairs, sitting next to Red, Blue giving her the now wrapped gift.

"So, now that we're all here, shall we go about exchanging gifts?" Red asked.

"Sure." Green said. "Blue, here's yours."

"And Green yours." The two said to each other, passing gifts to each other.

"Yellow, here you go." Red said.

"Th-thank you Red. Here's yours." She passed him his.

"Okay! Everyone open in 3…2…1…go!" Green said.

Everyone quickly unwrapped their gifts. There was a moment of silence, followed by a burst of laughter, then a few 'thanks' and 'you're welcome' between the two couples.

Everyone had gotten a copy of Pocket Monsters and a 2DS, both of which was matched with their names.

"Well, I have to say, this has got to be the best Christmas ever guys!" Blue said.

"Haha, you can say that again!" Red said.

"Hey, I got in idea!" Yellow began. "How about we all open them now and have a race? First to become Champion and catch Mewtwo wins!"

"Oh, you are on!" Green said.

Everyone turned on their handhelds and put in their cartridges, starting to play the first video game most of them ever did.

They all smiled with nostalgia as Game Freak's crude sprite rendition of Professor Oak flashed on-screen.

HELLO THERE! WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF POKéMON!

MY NAME IS OAK! PEOPLE CALL ME THE POKéMON PROF!

THIS WORLD IS INHABITED BY CREATURES CALLED POKéMON!

FOR SOME PEOPLE, POKéMON ARE PETS. OTHERS USE THEM FOR FIGHTS.

MYSELF…

I STUDY POKéMON AS A PROFESSION.

FIRST, WHAT IS YOUR NAME?

"What, how come there's no boy or girl option?!" Blue piped up.

"Remember Blue? They didn't add female trainers until Crystal Version." Yellow replied.

"Ah foo-ey! I don't like being a guy!"

"Is there something you'd like to share with us Blue?" Green asked.

Everyone laughed at the joke implying Blue's gender.

Truly, this was the best Christmas for the four of them – they were together, having fun, gathered around in happiness, doing one of their favorite things together.

It was magical, even.

Merry Christmas to all, and a Happy New Year!