There was a village in the far south of Unova named Nuvema Town. It was barely even a village, really, as it consisted of but four houses. In one of them, a woman clad in a white apron was standing in the small kitchen, humming to herself in a carefree manner. She was occupying herself with an all but sacred duty: the baking of biscuits. Christmas Eve was upon the people of Unova, after all, and she knew her teenage son would be moaning at her day and night if she didn't prepare a batch or three when he returned home. His friends would be joining their festivities this year, as usual, and she refused to have a repeat of what happened two years back. In hindsight, it may have been the hormones, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
After she put the first tray into the oven, she wiped her forehead. One down, just a few more to go, she thought to herself as she grabbed the still dirty bowl she used for the last batch and added some more eggs and flour into it. Once she'd battered the ingredients into paste, her hand reached out for the bottle of milk on the counter. A bad idea, as it turned out, as she knocked it over. She did manage to stop the spill shortly thereafter, but the damage was already done. There was milk all over the place. Sighing, she pushed a button on her Xtransceiver.
"Hello dear. Are you on your way? If it's not too much of a hassle for you, could you pick up a few bottles of milk? Thank you. See you soon, honey." Ending the call with her son, she then went about cleaning up this horrible mess. Suffice to say, she was glad that it took barely ten minutes to take care of most of the stains, but a knock on the door tore her well-deserved rest away from her. Upon opening it, she was surprised to come face to face with a young man with long, green hair tied into a ponytail. He wore a black and white cap on his head which obscured his face somewhat, although she could easily tell from him shifting about that he was slightly nervous.
"Would this be Hilbert's house?"
"Yes, it is. And you are…?" In response to her justifiable confusion, he handed her an envelope, telling her that it was from her son. She read the enclosed letter in a heartbeat and smiled. "I see. Please, do come in." Now it was his turn to look like he'd come across a herd of Zubat.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Well, you brought me his letter, the least I could do is show some hospitality. There is no need to be shy, come on. You wouldn't want to catch a cold, now would you?" He still seemed quite nervous, despite her best efforts to calm him down with a jovial and welcoming tone.
"A-alright. Excuse me…"
Once he entered, she led him over to the couch and offered him a seat. She handed him the remote of the TV to keep him occupied as she went back into the kitchen to check on those ´nuggets of joy´, as her son and friends took to calling them. The biscuits were nearly done, so she struck up a conversation with her guest to pass the few minutes remaining on the clock.
"How did you and Hilbert meet?" Apparently, he so was engrossed in the news broadcast on the television that her sudden question made him seize up in surprise. She apologized, although her attempts at hiding her mirth from him were futile, if his embarrassed grumbling was any indication.
"We first met in Accumula Town, where I challenged him to a battle."
"Oh, that's just up the road, isn't it?" He nodded.
"Anyway, he beat me, so I released my Pokémon and continued on my journey."
"You were on a journey as well? What was your goal?" He suddenly clammed up. Noticing that she might've pressed into sensitive territory, the woman pulled out. "It's all right. I'm just a nosey lady. You have no obligation to tell me anything. Say, why did you release your Pokémon?" This seemed to put the man at ease, judging from his talking again.
"He was a good friend, but I didn't want him to get hurt anymore. So I took him to the Pokémon Center, then let him go back to his own family while I continued on my own journey." The nosey lady became even nosier upon hearing that.
"Do you think that pain is a bad thing?"
"Naturally. Why wouldn't it be?"
"If you feel no pain, if there are no obstacles to overcome, is accomplishing your goals really that great?" Her constant questioning of such matter-of-fact statements seemed to plant some doubt in him as he sunk into the couch.
"…I…I don't know."
"Well, then let me ask you this. Had you always taken the easy route, avoided conflict at every turn, would you be the person you are now?"
"…no. Definitely not. I would never had met Hilbert to begin with. I never would have begun that journey in the first place. And I never would have made so many friends." She came back from the kitchen with a plate full of cookies, and a warm paper bag in her other hand. "Is pain…good?" He asked, with a vulnerable look in his grey eyes.
"You tell me. Do you like the person that you are now?"
"Yes. Yes I do."
"Then your pain was good. You got up from it and carried on to become who you are now." Now it was his turn to badger her. All these questions made him wonder whether she'd asked them herself once. Which would mean…
"Have you ever gone on a journey?" She adopted a melancholic look in her eye as she took a biscuit from the tray, and ate it.
"It's been a long time since then. Long enough for my partner to pass on."
"I'm…sorry for your loss." He managed to press out. The guilt he felt at drudging up these undoubtedly stressing memories was unbearable. Especially since she was such a nice person.
"Don't worry about an old lady like me. I've come to terms with it. After all, the memories I made with my friend will stay with me forever." She fell silent for a while, then changed the subject. "You know, I was always worried about Hilbert. Friends are something really important, yet he was horrible at making them. The only people he ever introduced to me were Cheren and Bianca, but they were the ones that made the first step in that relationship." He was unsure as to where she was going with this. So he asked what he assumed to be the most probable point she was trying to make.
"Do you mean to say he sees me as…a friend?" A nod confirmed his suspicions, if not fears.
"You have no idea how happy I am about it. You are his third real friend – you may as well be family." The guilt about this compounded with the one he felt earlier, combining into a maelstrom of emotions that nearly tore him apart inside.
"I…cannot accept that. I have done such horrible things. I tried to sever the bond between humans and Pokémon! I don't deserve to be his friend, let alone family!" The woman seemed unperturbed about his outburst, and simply continued her badgering.
"Then tell me: have you changed your mind about humans and Pokémon?"
"Yes, after Hilbert beat me, but I still nearly doomed Unova!" Now this seemed to stop her in her tracks, as she tried to properly process how such a young man could have doomed an entire region. As she was still trying to decipher his words, the TV, previously playing an ad, began blaring loudly, drawing their attention.
"Breaking news. The leader of Team Plasma, Ghetsis Harmonia, was apprehended a few hours ago by Champion Alder. His statement on the matter ousts Mister Harmonia as the one responsible for the kidnapping of hundreds of Pokémon, who were to be used as weapons to cement a reign of terror. His son, Natural Harmonia, also known as N, has yet to be found. More in the following-" The man shut off the television, with a shaking hand holding the remote.
"Does that answer your question? I was a monster's tool of choice. If I had not been stopped-" She interrupted him, with even more questions, that forced him to continue on with doubting who he was.
"But you were stopped, weren't you? So why mull over what might have happened? Think about it this way: had you not been stopped, you would've wondered what would've happened if you had been stopped." But even still, what was the goal? He knew the equation, but what was the X she wanted him to find?
"Your point…?"
"My point, Mister N, is that you should focus on the future. Your future. Not the future of the N who did win. And your future, if you want it or not, is linked with the fact that Hilbert accepted you as a friend; for me, that means that you are family. Besides, it's Christmas Eve. The day where we put aside our differences and celebrate!" Her joviality suddenly returned, and he blinked at the sheer ridiculousness of the whole thing. He was so confused that the only thing he managed to question in his answer was the last word she spoke.
"C-celebrate?" She seemed genuinely shocked at what he was implying.
"Don't tell me you've never celebrated Christmas before." An implication he had to confirm, unfortunately.
"I'm afraid I haven't." The woman, having now recovered, seemed determined all of a sudden.
"Well, then its set. You'll be spending the night here."
"B-"
"No buts." Her Xtransceiver ringing stopped her from continuing with her lecture. Right as she answered it, Mister N realized that this was his only opportunity to leave. If he let this woman continue talking, he'd never manage to escape. Not that he wouldn't physically be able to – his desire to stay would be simply too strong. Running away from someone as nice as this would be impossible for him. And so, following the path his guilt laid out for him, he shot up and ran. He put his fingers to his mouth, ready to whistle for his partner to swoop down and pick him up, doing his best to ignore her indignant cries for him to stop that instant. As he reached the door and swung it open, however, his plans were dashed to bits by something blue hitting his face.
It took a few seconds for him to recover. His ears then alerted him to the fact that a familiar Archeops was standing before him, picking up the package it had presumably tossed in his face to stop him. A hand landing on his shoulder then signalled the end of his flight. "Young man. You will head inside this instant." He was in deep trouble, and that Archeops' smirk made it all the worse. Even without his talent, he could tell that this Pokémon was going to enjoy her lecturing him. She had him take another seat on the couch, and he lowered his face, waiting for the beating.
He waited.
And waited.
For the resounding slap to the face.
There were two loud thunks instead.
Curious, he looked up, and found two packages had appeared on the table. One of them was rather familiar to him, specifically to the area around his nose, the other less so. Shooting the woman a look, he got her permission – no, it was more a request – to open them. Hesitantly, he reached out for the larger, unfamiliar box. Carefully undoing the wrapping, he eventually revealed the branded box beneath the paper.
"Running shoes?"
"Yes. I had a pair wrapped up for Bianca, but Hilbert just told me that he and Cheren bought her one already. So consider it your Christmas present from me."
"A present…?"
"Yes, a present. Since you are so insistent on running away, I won't force you to stay with us for Christmas Eve. But you will accept every last of our presents." He felt another pang of guilt for trying to flee from her sincere hospitality. Not wanting to feel any worse, he directed his attention toward the blue package that was responsible for his nose feeling like it had falling down the stairs.
"So this is Hilbert's…present?" He asked, and upon seeing the woman nod, he unwrapped it, as cleanly as possible. Once he was done, he placed the sheet of wrapping paper on the table on top of the other, like one would stack their folded clothes. His eyes widened when they registered just what was inside the box. "Isn't this…"
"Yes, an Xtransceiver. The call I took earlier was from Hilbert, and he told me he sent his Archeops over with his present. He knew you'd be here to open it, and asked me to do something. So if I could borrow it for a second…" He handed her the box with a raised eyebrow. She quickly produced the watch-esque phone from it, and began fiddling with the buttons. It took barely a minute for her to be finished. "All done! Now, hold out your arm for a second." He did as asked, and let her attach it to his wrist. Wondering what she'd done, he checked the screen. "You're free to go now, N. But you will keep in touch, you hear?" His eyes registered the two numbers in his Xtransceiver the second she spoke. One of them was listed as Hilbert, the other as Mom.
"M-mom?!"
"I told you I consider you family, didn't I? Leave an old lady her fun, will you?" His shocked and confused stare did nothing to help her hold back her laughter. And to be absolutely honest, N had to admit, while it was weird to have the mother of his rival listed as Mom in his own contacts, it definitely felt nice to have someone legitimately nice to call that. He stood up, and walked over to the door, followed by the self-proclaimed old lady.
"I'll be leaving then."
"Do feel free to drop in at any time, alright?"
"Of course, ´Mom´." He said, opening the door. She smiled at him, holding out a paper bag, and he couldn't help but reciprocate it as he took his third gift and closed the door. Whistling, he saw a black figure approach him from the sky. Seconds later, he was among the clouds above Nuvema Town, opening the warm bag. "Say, Zekrom, how about a few biscuits?" He asked his friend, pulling out an X-shaped nugget of joy.