Welcome back! I hope you all had a great Christmas Day! As promised, here is the second chapter of the Christmas Special. We begin at three in the morning, where one Pokémon is awake before the rest...

Slinking round to the wardrobe where Grace had hung the stockings, Sylvia inspected them all. Hers was the least full? What nonsense was this?

[FLASHBACK]

Sylvia was dashing to the safety of Suicune's cave, her feelers wrapped around Grace's packet of chocolate biscuits, laughing and waving the packet behind her.

"SYLVIAAA!" yelled her trainer, shaking a fist. Oh, the sweet sound of victory!

[EVEN FURTHER FLASHBACK]

"Okay, guys, time for food! But wash your paws, claws, wings, talons - oh, whatever - first!" Grace called, and the stampeding troop of Pokémon turned and rushed for the bathroom instead. But not Sylvia. She sat under the table until Grace turned her back then licked all the plates clean, creeping into the bathroom to join the others before she could be found out.

When Grace turned back around, the food was gone. As the Pokémon returned to the table, they instantly looked confused, before all five pairs of Pokémon eyes turned to look at the devious little Intertwining Pokémon sat innocently at the head of the table, licking her lips and trying to keep a straight face.

[THE PRESENT]

Turning away in frustration and mewling angrily, Sylvia thought about things. Nobody would mind if she took a tiny peek into their stockings, would they?

First she pulled down Robin's oversized sock, peering into the top. She yanked free a few chunks if charcoal, a Sharp Beak and a couple of Poké Puffs. Robin surely wouldn't mind if she took one or two? Maybe three? Gingerly removing the frosted treats from the red sock, Sylvia transferred them into her own.

Kite's was next. Yanking the stocking from its peg, she dragged out the contents. He had received a TM for Dragon Dance, a Dragon Fang, a few Yache berries for those dastardly Ice-type attacks, and (once again) some of the delicious treats Grace had earned in her Pokémon-Amie. Grabbing these, too, and also removing the TM and berries, she placed these in her stocking.

Inspecting the other stockings, she replaced the two she had raided and swiftly removed the next one, Aeria's. The contents included a candy cane, a Shell Bell, a Flying Gem and a few berries, seeing as Aeria did not like the cakes. Sylvia removed the berries, Shell Bell, and candy cane before rehanging the sock on the wall.

Aura was next to be invaded. From his stocking she produced a Macho Brace, a Black Belt, some berries, a deflated punchbag and a pendant to hang his Lucarionite from. Having no use for the pendant or punchbag, she nicked the rest just because they looked nice, and she wanted some new stuff for her collection.

Suicune was next, his sock revealing many different items she was intrigued by. Shoving the Never Melt Ice, Mystic Water, TM for Ice Beam and Poké Puffs into her jam packed stocking, she smirked and pressed her paw against her once-empty sock. It was almost bursting with the other Pokemon's loot.

She gingerly replaced the stocking and was just about to remove Ren's, when a light switch flicked on. Ren was stretched up on tiptoes by the door, one paw over the switch and the other on his hips. Sylvia dropped the stocking, leaving the Charcoal and Eviolite spilling over the floor, and backed away slowly, back arched and a guilty look in her blue eyes. Soon after, everyone else started to wake up, and looked excitedly over to their stockings. As they saw Sylvia with their gifts in her own stocking, they grew angry and frustrated with the Sylveon. Dragging her sock behind her, she sprinted down the corridor with an angry mob hot on her trail.

Skidding round the corner and down the stairs and taking a shortcut through the small flap in the door, Suicine and Flygon were left behind. Robin and Aeria hopped through, Aura crawled and Ren just pushed open the door to chase her. Taking a path through the centre of the blanketed town, Grace's team chased the devious Sylveon through Aspertia and into the frosty forest. Aeria and Robin could not fly through the thick snow-covered canopy and stayed behind, cawing encouragement to the Quilava and Lucario running ahead.

Ducking under the snowy branches soon proved too much work for Aura, who soon got whacked in the head by a branch in his path. Forced to return back to where the two birds tried to see what was going on, he gratefully accepted the Sitrus Berry Robin had found in the frozen woods before attempting to catch up with Ren, who was still pursuing the Intertwining Pokémon.

Behind her was a rock. To her left and right there were two large pine trees. And ahead of her, cornering her and her overloaded stocking, was Ren.

"Hand our gifts over, Sylvia! This is the reason you didn't get as many gifts yourself, because you're a thief and a liar!" The Sylveon opened her eyes wide, realising the truth in his words, before handing the Eviolite, charcoal and Poké Puffs to the annoyed and sad Quilava. "Okay. Fine. It's only 'cause I wanted stuff to hoard and call my own! All that was originally in my stocking was a flat pink stone thing!"

Ren stared at her and blinked. "You got a Plate?" The Sylveon tilted her head and dropped the stocking, leaving s ome gifts spilling out. The Volcano Pokemon continued; "That is an Arceus plate, which can boost the power of certain moves, as well as turn the God into a different type. Thos e are seriously rare!" Sylvia's ears pricked up. "So I got a better gift than everyone else?" She muttered. Ren nodded. "Well, I suppose it can't be that bad..." she mused as she picked up the sock to drag back to the house.

The pair exited the forest to meet with Aura, Robin and Aeria, who all demanded their stuff. Digging in the stocking, Sylvia returned their loot and continued back to the house. Once inside she apologised to Suicune and Kite, handing them their rightful gifts, before pulling out her plate. Running a paw over the smooth pink stone, she thought that this might not have been such a bad Christmas after all.

Grace sat up in bed and opened her stocking, peering inside to find that her stuff was (thankfully) still there. Looking over at the Pokémon's stockings and seeing them empty, she cracked a smile, competely unaware of what had happened.

"This will probably be the best Christmas yet."

And do you know what?

The holidays just kept getting better from there.

And there we have it! A Christmas special for Christmas Day! Woohoo! Only 364 days to go until I get to do this whole holiday lark all over again! As for Legend of the Whisperers, you can expect the next update by around this time next week. If I don't, you have full permission to flood my inbox and reviews section. It's good fun ^_^ Anyway, on another note, I have a poll! Go vote in it on my profile, and you decide which SYOC story I do next!

Anyhoo, that's goodbye from me. Enjoy the rest of your day, and Merry Christmas!

P.S. If it is snowing where you live, count yourself lucky. I haven't seen a white Christmas for five years. XD