A Chaotic Christmas…
Okay, I never thought I'd write a Christmas special. I always thought of them as slightly weird and a little bit cheesy, but…
I saw a Christmas special featuring Ash and co. being stupid enough to leave their Pokémon alone in a house during Christmas, (Like what could possibly go wrong?) and I wondered to myself: what if Leaf was this stupid? That's right! I've decided to suspend Leaf's intelligence level for a while and force her to leave her and her friend's Pokémon alone to wreak havoc on a poor house… oh, yeah, and spread Christmas cheer too of course.
I decided to rate this T based on violence. It's not that bad though; I just didn't want to get any flack for this…
Oh, and before you decide to flame this, please be aware that my main intended audience for this piece consists of people who have actually read (at least a little bit of) another fanfic of mine, Azelf's Aura. If you haven't read any of it, please don't bug me because you're feeling confused. I really can't solve that problem for you. You'll have to do that yourself by reading the other fanfic. But of course, if you don't need tons of context given to you, then by all means, go ahead and read.
Enough talking! Let's go!
oOoOoOo
All across the world it was snowing beautifully. Dazzling flakes danced lightly across the evening sky… Children were all bundled up in giant snow gear so fat and bulky that they could hardly even move… but they were still laughing heartily and playing in the freshly fallen snow. Yes, the fireplaces were burning, the chestnuts were roasting on the open flames provided by your friendly Slugma… Oh, it was such a wonderful day.
But it wasn't snowing at Leaf's abode. Of course not! For God's sake, it's in the middle of the tropics! So, that first statement there was a contradiction, totally inaccurate. But that's relatively irrelevant…
"Bye everyone!" Leaf called out cheerfully, "Be good while we're gone!"
Knuckles' ears stiffened in shock. He crawled out from beneath Leaf's bed and stared, his horror rising by the second.
"Uh… why are we leaving again?" Riley asked with slight confusion. "And why are we leaving every last one of our Pokémon behind? I mean, what if we need to use Fly or Surf? And what if we run into someone who wants to battle? Or a random crook?"
"How many times do I have to tell you the plot demands it!" Blathers, Leaf's insane Chatot, screeched.
Riley blinked. "Plot? What does he mean by that?"
"Oh, who cares?" Leaf snapped, annoyed. "He's insane! He never makes any sense!"
"But…!" Toby made to protest, but Leaf shoved him out the door before he could say anything.
"Now let's go!" she insisted and made to drag Riley out the door, but she was suddenly grabbed by Knuckles, who clung desperately to one of her ankles, begging for her to stay.
"Oh, stop that!" Leaf tried to shake her Lucario off but failed miserably. So she placed her right foot on his forehead and attempted to pry herself free.
"Leaf!" Riley cried out. "Instead of being violent, why don't you talk to Knuckles about this? Perhaps you could ask him why he doesn't want you to leave?"
But Leaf's intelligence level was suspended, and so she could not think rationally about the situation. Thus, she promptly told Riley to shut his mouth, and then she just continued to be violent and unreasonable with the poor Pokémon. Being a bit on the nerdy side, she wasn't exactly a very strong person, so thankfully, no real damage was inflicted on anyone.
"Thank goodness!" Blathers declared.
Annoyed with the slowness of everything, Vegeta the Blastoise sprayed Knuckles squarely with his mighty water cannon. This resulted in the Lucario being blasted away from his Trainer, and Leaf could finally escape. "Bye everyone!" she exclaimed quickly and yanked Riley out the door before slamming it shut.
"Noooo…" Knuckles moaned weakly, lying on the floor in utter defeat. Now he was trapped with the other Pokémon!
"Oh calm down; we're not that bad, you know!" Espio the Espeon pointed out, the swishing of her tail revealing her indigence. But she instantly regretted this statement, for Toby's Staraptor chose this moment to begin his attempts at consuming the Christmas tree. After taking a hearty bite, he gagged, choking on the various pine needles scratching his throat.
"Idiot!" Riley's Ursaring shouted and began to perform the Heimlich maneuver in an effort to save the bird's life. He succeeded, and Staraptor collapsed to the floor from the exhaustion that set in after coughing so hard.
"Well, there's one near-death experience in less than five minutes." Riley's Metagross remarked.
After a few seconds, Staraptor recovered from his exhaustion. He sat up, grinned stupidly at the Christmas tree, and lunged to go back for more.
"What is wrong with you?" Ursaring cried, seizing the hunger-crazed bird by the wing. "You know what? I think I've got the perfect solution to bring you back to your senses…!"
"Does it involve dinner?" Staraptor asked eagerly.
"No," Ursaring smiled crookedly. "but you could say it involves a nice, cool drink…"
"Well, I am kind of thirsty…" Staraptor mused, allowing himself to be dragged away by the overgrown bear Pokémon. "Are you maybe thinking of eggnog?"
"No!" Ursaring roughly shoved the bird into the shower, yanked the water onto the coldest setting on full blast, and slammed the shower door shut, all before the Staraptor could even blink.
The giant bird Pokémon screamed in pure agony. The water was freezing cold!
"I hate to do this to a fellow Pokémon…" Ursaring began, resting his paw on the shower door, his face transformed by a smile that suggested otherwise. He still couldn't forget the day Staraptor had tried to eat his buddy, Pinsir. "but hey, this is the best way to knock some sense into ya. I know it's unpleasant, but at least it isn't painful. Like last time was."
Meanwhile, all of the other Pokémon froze in place upon hearing the atrociously loud screams coming from the bathroom. "Well," Metagross declared. "I'd say things are going quite well."
Deeming it relatively harmless, many of the Pokémon shrugged and returned to their own business. Maybe Ursaring's "shock treatment" might work after all. Everyone was tired of trying to not get eaten by the overgrown bird type anyway, particularly the smaller Pokémon. Maybe now they might be able to live without fear of being eaten. But Espio, for her part, looked around anxiously. She knew how crazy many of these Pokémon were, and as things were now…
The purple cat raced over to Riley's Absol, one of her closest friends. "Absol! Without any of our Trainers here, this is all going to get out of hand! Think about it! Every time all of the Pokémon are summoned out of their Pokéballs at once, chaos ensues! And without any Trainers to stop anybody…"
"We're all doomed." Absol finished, her sickle tingling with the knowledge of a Christmas disaster. "What can we do?"
"Well, I'm not sure…" Espio looked thoughtful. "But perhaps we could call a meeting… of all of the sane Pokémon here, and from there, we could all put our heads together and think of something."
"But who among us is sane? Besides us two?"
The two Pokémon looked thoughtful for exactly two seconds. "Rukario!" they exclaimed in unison.
oOoOoOo
Staring at the flickering flame of the Christmas candle on the floor before him, Rukario was deeply focused on its subtle movements. He had not broken out of his meditative state throughout all of these happenings. He hadn't even realized the Trainers had left. Indeed, his body had entered a state of deep calm, induced by the soft flame. He had found true inner peace.
"Ha! HA! Can't catch me!" Toby's Pikachu screamed, running throughout the living room. When she reached Rukario's candle, she leapt over it. The wind produced by her leap caused the tiny flame to go out completely.
Inner peace destroyed, Rukario leapt to his feet. "How dare you! Now I have to beg that Torchic to light me a new one! And not to mention, I'll have to re-convince Riley to let me use fire again!"
"Riley's not even here!" Pikachu called back with a laugh.
"Why you-!" Rukario clenched his paw into a fist. Kids these days were such ingrates!
Toby's Mudkip laughed stupidly, running as fast as his tiny little legs would take him. But of course, his laughing caused him to not look carefully at where he's going, and so the little Mudkip tripped over Rukario's now-unlit candle. His feet got tangled up in the candle, so both Mudkip and candle rolled away until they both crashed into the wall. "…Oops."
"You clumsy fool!" Rukario roared, running over to inspect his precious candle. "You broke it!"
Mudkip rolled back onto his feet, and his eyes widened at the sight of the angry Lucario towering over him. The little mudfish gulped.
"What were you even running around for anyway?" Rukario demanded to know.
Over on the other side of the room, Pikachu stopped running to watch the scene. Mudkip was going to get it now…
"Mud… Kip…! Mud… Kip…!" Mudkip put on his cutest face and attempted the same lines that had somehow miraculously won over everyone (except Vegeta) who had seen it before with its inherent, repetitive charm. Surely it would work on Rukario too.
Rukario watched the Mudkip repeat itself over and over again. The constant repetition lulled the Lucario into a calmer state. Perhaps he had been too harsh with the Mudkip. Indeed, it was best to see things from a rational and clear standpoint, instead of being clouded by emotions, particularly the more negative standpoint of wrath. Surely, he could make do with this broken candle. Riley would get cross with him for breaking it, but he could always point the finger at the Mudkip later.
Rukario stepped aside and pointed to his left. "Carry on."
"Yay!" Mudkip had thought for certain that he would get his face smashed in by the once-angry monster. But of course, his charm had once again saved him. He ran off to chase Pikachu again.
"No running!" Rukario said sharply. Mudkip quickly slowed down.
Contented, Rukario returned to his place on the floor and set the broken candle before him. It probably wouldn't be safe to light it anymore, so now what? As he sat there pondering, he found himself being drawn into another meditative state. But how could this happen? He was merely staring at a broken candle. Perhaps… it was because this was a Christmas candle. Perhaps the Christmas spirit emanating from the candle was pervading his own spirit, providing him with the warm and sentimental feelings of Christmas memories…
As he sat there reminiscing of the various Christmases he had spent with Riley, and that especially lovely one he had spent with his mate, Espio and Absol ran up to him with urgent looks on their faces. "Rukario! Rukario! We need your help!"
"Help with what?" the Lucario looked irritated.
"We're calling together a meeting. You see, our Trainers are gone, so that means there is the likely possibility that things will get out of control." Espio explained quickly. "We need to band together to form a plan of action against the madness."
"Alright. You do that."
"No! Listen to me! We need your help as well!"
"Listen." Rukario touched his temples with his paws. "I refuse to take part in any tomfoolery. This includes your little coalition."
"We're not being foolish!" Espio protested. "Absol has predicted that there will be a Christmas disaster. And today is Christmas! And our Trainers aren't here to direct us against this possible destruction!"
"It's true." Absol nodded.
"When I see destruction, I'll gladly step in to help end it. As it is now, I don't see there's any reason to get all worked up. There is nothing happening here, apart from the usual ruckus and racket."
"But didn't it ever occur to you that this 'ruckus and racket' might be what causes the Christmas disaster?"
Rukario stared at the Espeon with disbelief. "A likely story." He said finally, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Espio scowled. "You're no help at all!" she whirled around, stalking off with her tail swishing behind her angrily. Absol sent the Lucario one last hurt look before following after her.
Rukario rolled his eyes at the melodrama and attempted to re-focus his thoughts on his Christmas memories.
"Stop chasing me Blathers!" Popuri, Leaf's Swablu, whined. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"
"But Popuri!" Blathers called out dramatically, "I must express my upmost feelings for you!"
Rukario clutched his head. "There's no peace or quiet anymore! How can I meditate under these conditions?"
oOoOoOo
Notes: And so, here is the first chapter! I had no idea how many chapters I've going to have, or even whether I'll finish this before Christmas or not. (Doubtful. Since I started this a long while ago and am only this far along. XD)
But hey, it's just something random. A little side story to Azelf's Aura if you will. I know how much you readers like these "PokéPal" (or should I call them Pokécentric?) chapters. And hopefully, any new readers (who weren't scared off by my earlier warnings) aren't too confused.
I hope you like it.