Hey everyone, just wanted to apologize for taking so long with this chapter. I had some personal stuff going on the past few weeks that made it hard for me to find time to write, but its all done now and I hope to be back on schedule for the next chapter.

Chapter 2: Holiday Hijinks

"…what an awful experience." the angered voice of Mewtwo rang throughout Red's mind as they finally arrived at their destination, "I'll never traverse in one of these blasted human contraptions ever again!"

Closing his eyes in an attempt to maintain his composure, Red took a deep breath as he watched the Psychic Pokemon exit the cab with Pikachu following close behind. "….at least you didn't have to deal with someone's tail stuck in your face the entire time…." he sarcastically thought in response, only to be met with Mewtwo's icy glare the minute he stepped out as well.

"What was that?!" it angrily demanded and before Red could even utter a response, floated right up to him and with its eyes narrowed threatened, "It would do you well to remember young man, that I can read both your thoughts and your words!"

With that, Mewtwo swiftly turned around, leaving a perplexed Red standing there as it floated off. "Great…." he dully remarked, rolling his eyes as he turned his head towards Pikachu, "Now I have to watch what I say AND what I think!"

"Pika….pi…."

The two sighed. Normally, a cab drive to Mt. Silver's base usually took around 30 minutes; not a very long trip all things considered.

However, after all the hassle it took to convince Mewtwo to come, its constant groaning the entire trip and the general discomfort of having to fit all 3 of them in the cab's back seat; that meager 30 minutes felt like an eternity.

However, despite all of that, Red's spirit would not be broken as against all odds, he had managed to do the impossible.

Somehow, he managed to bring both Pikachu and the all-powerful Psychic Pokemon to this mall with him and couldn't help but triumphantly smile as the three stood before the huge complex.

"Well here we are!" he happily exclaimed while turning to his yellow partner, "Are you excited Pikachu?"

"Pika!" the tiny Pokemon called out in response.

Slowly turning his head the other Pokemon present, Red knew what kind of response Mewtwo would probably give to him, yet he still felt the need to ask.

"What about you Mewtwo?"

"Your human festivities do not interest me in the slightest." the Psychic Pokemon simply replied, its arms crossed as it stood there with its eyes closed, "Do recall that the only reason I'm on this excursion to begin with is because it was forced upon me! Not because I wanted to!"

Red sighed. Even if it was with good intentions, he really did feel bad for tricking Mewtwo the way he did. "Well I won't argue with you on that." he reluctantly noted before giving the Psychic Pokemon a reassuring pat on the shoulder, "But can you at least try to enjoy yourself today?"

Finally opening its eyes, Mewtwo quickly glanced over at Red before returning them to the huge structure that stood before them.

Inside would be hundreds, if not, thousands of humans. Beings that Mewtwo had despised for its entire existence and now, against its will, it was being forced to intermingle with them.

…..and no enjoyment could possibly come from that.

"….let's just get this over with….."

The mall in question, while nowhere near as big as the department stores in Celadon, Saffron and Goldenrod, was still quite the sight to behold. Despite it being a bit out of the way for the general populous, it still housed a good variety of stores, food court, everything that one would expect a mall to have.

As such, Red knew he had a huge challenge on his hands and as he proceeded to walk forward, he had to wonder: After such a long history of distrusting humans, how would Mewtwo react to being exposed to such a large number of them all at once and more importantly, how would they react to him?

Questions like these proceeded to rack Red's brain non-stop as they stepped closer and closer to the mall's entrance. However, no matter how many questions floated about his brain, one thing was for sure: No matter what happened, this was going to be a very difficult experience to endure and it took no less than them walking up to the front door for it to begin…..

"Hmm?" Mewtwo pondered, swiftly twisting its head as they walked through the mall's sliding glass doors.

Noticing that the Psychic Pokemon was no longer following them, Red quickly turned around as well.

"What's up Mewt-"

In the blink of an eye, Mewtwo took a fighting stance as a white hand suddenly flew in front of Red and Pikachu's faces.

"Be on guard!" it sternly warned, "A psychic-type Pokemon must be nearby!"

Watching as this all played out in front of him, Red had to cover his mouth in an attempt to not burst out laughing. For all its talk of how powerful it was, seeing Mewtwo cautiously stick its hand out and stare in awe as the doors magically opened was one of the most innocent things Red had ever seen.

"…..it's okay Mewtwo, that's an automatic door." he calmly attempted to explain, reaching his hand forward to show the Psychic Pokemon how it worked, "See? It opens when it senses something's near it."

Mewtwo watched as the door magically opened for Red as well and stared at him in shock. "…so…..a Pokemon isn't doing this?" he asked, knowing full well that a mere human could never possess such power.

"Nope! It's run by a machine."

Mewtwo gave Red a confused look before turning back to the automatic door and with its eyes narrowed, sternly muttered. "…..human sorcery…"

With that mystery resolved, the three overlooked the sight in front of them. All throughout the mall, everything was adorned with lights and decorations as far as the eye could see as hundreds of people hastily scrambled about, attempting to get all their shopping done before tomorrow inevitably came.

Observing the sight before him, Red could feel a pit beginning to form in his stomach. Not only because of the sheer amount of people Mewtwo would have to be exposed to, but also because…

"Mommy! Mommy!" a small voice suddenly cried out and upon looking over, Red could see a little boy running towards him with his mom in tow, "Look! Look! It's the champion!"

This was what he was afraid of. It wasn't often that Red went out to a public place like this, but every time he did, people would recognize him.

"Sorry if my son startled you!" the boy's mom quickly apologized, hastily bowing to Red in the process, "He's a big fan of yours."

Red chuckled. Even if he wasn't too excited about the public exposure, he also wasn't about to be rude to anyone who came up him. "Is that so? Well thank you very much." he politely replied as he knelt down to the boy's level, "But, just remember, Lance is the champion now, I'm simply an Ex-champion."

Despite his correction, the boy simply didn't care and still proceeded to call him champion as he began pointing out to his mother. "Mommy! Look! It's the champion's Pikachu!" he happily exclaimed, "It's so cute!"

The yellow pokemon let out a cry out of joy as the boy began cautiously petting its head before glancing up towards Mewtwo.

"What's that weird floaty thing?"

In that moment, Red felt his heart stop as the boy's words caused the already present scowl on Mewtwo's face to grow ever so slightly.

In a panic, he quickly ran over to the Psychic Pokemon's side, hoping to get there before it had a chance to respond. "U-uhh…t-this is Mewtwo." Red hastily introduced, scrambling think of an explanation for his presence, "He's uhh….he's a new member of my team!"

Curious, the boy stood up and Mewtwo said nothing as he scanned the Psychic Pokemon up and down.

"He's really scary looking!"

Unsure whether to dread or laugh at what the boy just proclaimed, Red began hollowly chuckling as he watched Mewtwo's hand twitch in response.

"Okay come on dear. It's time to go home" the mother thankfully exclaimed, dragging the boy off before he could say anything else.

Hastily waving goodbye, Red could only continue hollowly chuckling while doing his best to avoid all eye contact with the Psychic Pokemon.

That was definitely not the first kind of encounter he wanted Mewtwo to experience and slowly panned his eyes over to see it standing there with its arms crossed.

"….I suppose it wouldn't help if I explained to the child that I could destroy him with the mere snap of my fingers…..would it?" it duly noted.

Nervously shifting his eyes, Red bit his lip. They were only 2 steps in the door and he was already on thin ice. "P-please don't!" he pleaded through gritted teeth.

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While the escapades at the mall were currently getting underway, miles above Mt. Silver's base, Leaf was already hard at work.

With Red out of the house and the other Pokemon preoccupied, the brunette haired girl was diligently prepping for tomorrow's dinner.

As such, the kitchen was littered with pots and pans bubbling about, while Leaf bolted between each one, her face totally concealed by the huge cookbook she was carrying.

"Hmm…." she pondered as her eyes scanned over the next instructions, "The recipe calls for me to flambé these vegetables…."

Sarcastically rolling her eyes, Leaf turned to the pink Pokemon perched atop her shoulder and scoffed. "Pfft! Flambe! What kind of Kalosian saying is that?" she joked as Jiggylpuff unknowingly shrugged in response.

"Jiggy?"

Seeing that one of the next ingredients she would need was berry juice, Leaf curiously glanced around before spotting a bottle sitting on a nearby shelf and grabbing it. "Okay…apparently I'm supposed to drizzle the vegetables with the berry juice first," she noted as she unscrewed the cap and began to pour it out.

"There we go….a little more…little more…"

Then, with a cheeky grin on her face, she turned the bottle and suddenly declared. "aaaannnndddd aaaaaa little for Leafy!"

Without warning, Leaf tilted the bottle up to her lips and took a quick swig. "Ooooh!" she happily exclaimed, smacking her lips as the tarty taste touched her pallet, "A little more for Leafy!"

Jigglypuff rolled its eyes as its trainer nearly downed the whole bottle with one swig, but didn't have too much time to reflect as Leaf suddenly held her hand out towards it.

"Okay! Match!"

"Jigglypuff!" the pink Pokemon quickly replied, hastily grabbing a box of nearby matches with its stubby hands and passing them over to Leaf.

Taking the box for herself, Leaf lit one of the matches and as instructed, held it over the juice soaked vegetables.

"We just stick this near the frying pan and….."

*PHOOOFFFFF*

In an instant, a huge fireball erupted from the frying pan, nearly causing Jigglypuff to fall off the counter from the shock of it all.

For anybody else, such a flame would be a cause for concern, but for Leaf, it only served to excite her even more as she began to audibly cackle out loud. "HO! HO! HO!" she delightfully chortled while raising her hands in the air, "I AM THE MISTRESS OF FIRE!"

Thankfully, as fast as it came, the flame quickly died. However as Jigglypuff watched from the counter, it noticed that its trainer now had a huge grin on her face.

…..and that grin could only mean one thing: Trouble

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Back at the mall, after making his way past leagues of fans, Red had finally managed to drag Pikachu and Mewtwo to a local clothing store. Right now, finding Leaf's gift was his top priority and what better place to start, than looking at girl's clothing.

"What's the meaning of this young man?!" the sound of Mewtwo's voice groaned in Red's mind as they walked down an aisle full of multicolored outfits. "I thought we came here to get some blasted bird?!"

"Well….that's…definitely….part….of the reason why we came." Red sheepishly responded before turning to Mewtwo and finally explaining his dilemma, "Truth is….I've been really having a hard time thinking of a gift to get Leaf for Christmas and I was hoping that coming to the mall would help me find something."

Mewtwo stared at the red-capped boy perplexed. "A…gift?" it confusingly replied, wondering why something so simple was causing Red such stress. "From what I've seen, the young lady would probably be satisfied with anything you gave her."

Red chuckled. "Buying for Leaf isn't that simple Mewtwo." he noted, stroking his chin as he stared at some expensive jackets on display, "See….not only does the gift I get have to be nice….but it also has to be something that she can't easily go out and steal for herself….."

Mewtwo watched as Red began hastily sifting through outfit after outfit and shook its head. "You humans always make things so complicated…." it scoffed in response before beginning to curiously look around itself, "Now….if I were to ever to indulge in buying a gift…..it would be something….practical."

"Practical?"

"Indeed…..let's see here…."

Floating over to a nearby wall filled with some very expensive looking satin laced clothes, Mewtwo began to scan it up and down, its eyes rapidly darting from side to side before suddenly extending its hand out and pulling a piece of clothing off a nearby rack with its psychic powers.

"Ah! Here we are!"

Turning around to present its findings, Red's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as he saw what it was holding.

"M-M-Mewtwo!" he could barely speak as within the Psychic Pokemon's hands was a small piece of pink clothing that Red was all too familiar with, "T-Those are panties!"

Quite proud of its choice, the Psychic Pokemon nodded as it looked down at the undergarment in question. "Indeed." Mewtwo simply replied as it telepathically began floating the panties over to Red, "Not only are they practical, but, in my personal opinion, are also quite alluring."

Feeling the silkiness of the fabric as it was placed in his hand, Red could sense the sweat beginning to form on his brow. "I-I can't give this to Leaf!" he quickly protested, prompting Mewtwo to give him a confused look.

"Why's that?"

Red rolled his eyes. Was he really having this conversation right now? "B-because!" he nervously stammered, desperately trying to find his words, "Y-You….you….you can't just….give a girl panties for Christmas!"

"Oh?" Mewtwo nonchalantly replied, "According to my observations, these seem to be quite the frequent wear of the young lady."

No sooner did those words leave Mewtwo's mouth and Red's eyes went wider than they ever had before. It was all said so suddenly that it totally caught him off-guard.

"Y-Y-Y-"

Words could not describe the hurricane of questions spiraling throughout Red's mind right now and with his finger intensely raised, said the first thing polite thing he could think of.

"I-I-I-I'm not even going ASK how you could possibly know that!" he stammered as Mewtwo causally shrugged in response.

"You'd be surprised what she does around the house when you're not present."

Red was at a loss for words, his face totally flush as he intensely shook his head desperately trying to rid himself of any dirty thoughts he currently had. "Here!" he yelled as he pushed the panties back into Mewtwo's hand, "Put those back!"

"Your face is turning flush young man." Mewtwo playfully teased, finding a bizarre amount of joy as it floated the panties in front of Red's face, "Does this make you uncomfortable?"

Gritting his teeth as the panties were brushed against the side of his face, Red attempted to reach out and grab them to no avail.

"P-put them-"

He frantically reached out again and again, yet every time Mewtwo would effortlessly pull them out his grasp.

It was a ridiculous sight to behold and Pikachu was rolling on the ground laughing at its trainer's misfortune….until…..

"A-HEM!"

Immediately stopping mid-grab, Red quickly turned to see a very well-dressed store clerk standing there with her arms crossed, not realizing that he had grabbed the panties as he did.

"May I assist you gentleman with something?"

"O-oh! W-we were just….b-browsing!" he stammered before glancing down at the panties in his hand and quickly noting, "F-for my girlfriend obviously!"

Red watched as the clerk curiously raised her eyebrows, clearly unsatisfied with his answer and quickly turned to the Psychic Pokemon beside him. "I-Isn't that right Mewtwo?" he desperately asked, hoping that it would back him up.

"Mewtwo….Mewtwo….." it simply replied prompting Red to shockingly narrow his eyes.

"Oooooooh don't you start playing that Pokemon can only say their name game with me right now!" he yelled, grabbing the Psychic Pokemon with one hand while intensely shaking his fist with the other, "I know you can talk! Now TALK!"

"Mewtwo…."

Not really knowing what to make as she watched this fight play out in front of her, the clerk simply shook her head. "I'll just leave you two be…." she dully muttered before walking away.

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Meanwhile, riding high on the excitement her cooking had brought on, Leaf quickly grabbed all the vegetables she had in the pantry and hastily threw them on the frying pan.

"Oh man! We gotta try this again Jigglypuff!" she joyfully exclaimed while rubbing her hands together.

Knowing all too well what that mischievous look her in eye meant, Jigglypuff was understandably a bit concerned.

"Jigglypuff! Jigglypuff!" it worryingly protested, but Leaf was having none of it.

"Ooooh! Where's your sense of adventure like the old days?" she exclaimed as Jigglypuff waved its stubby arms at her.

Unfortunately, Jigglypuff's protests were to no avail and before long, the pink Pokemon conceded to its trainer's wishes.

"Jigglypuff…"

With an intense look in her eyes, Leaf grabbed the berry juice bottle off the counter and began pouring a healthy amount over the vegetables. "Yes! More! Let's load it up this time!" she cackled as she lit a match and held it over the pan.

"OKAY!"

"ONE!"

"TWO!"

"THR-"

*PHFOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF*

In an instant a blinding burst of orange and yellow erupted from the frying pan, emitting an intense heat as it did.

Having to cover her eyes from brightness, Leaf stood frozen in shock at the sight before her. "AHHHHHHHH!" she screamed as flames began spewing to and forth from the frying pan to other areas of the kitchen. "OH NO! OH NOOOOO!"

On pure instinct alone, Leaf grabbed a tea towel off the counter and as fast as she could, soaked it in cold water before running back over to the fire. "STOP IT! GO OUT! GO OUT!" she yelled as she attempted to whip the fire from as safe of a distance as she could, "TAURO! TAURO!"

No doubt alerted by her initial bout of screaming, all 9 of the other Pokemon came running into the kitchen at full speed, all recoiling in shock as they saw the disaster in front of them.

Acting quickly as they could, Blastoise aimed both its cannons at the fire while Lapras arced its head back and soaked the fire with both their Hydro Pumps before Articuno arced its head back and froze the area over with its Ice Beam, ensuring that the flames definitely were out.

With that accomplished, they all turned to a heavily breathing Leaf to check on her. "I-I'm…okay…." she panted in an attempt to catch her breath. "T-thanks….guys…..I can….take it from here….."

After making sure that she was indeed okay, all the Pokemon returned to the living room, leaving Leaf and Jigglypuff to resume their cooking.

"Hoooooo….that was close." The brunette haired girl sighed in relief, wiping the sweat from her brow as she leaned against one of the counters, "I don't think Red would like it if he came back to a burned down house."

Jigglypuff could only shake its head as it watched its trainer pick up the completely charred fry pan from the stove and with an innocent smile on her face stated.

"What say we ease up on the flambéing?"

"Jigglypuff….."

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Continuing their crusade to find Leaf's present, the trio of Red, Pikachu and Mewtwo stopped as they caught sight of certain individual; one that they knew, all too well.

"HO! HO! HO!" the individual loudly chuckled causing an almost childlike grin to form on Red's face.

"Look guys, it's Santa!" he happily pointed out to the two Pokemon.

Sure enough, at the centre of the mall was a huge display of the North Pole and sitting upon an icy throne in the middle was an old man in a red suit with a huge line up of kids waiting to see him.

Of course, Red knew the truth when it came to the legend of Santa. However, that didn't stop him from turning to Pikachu and excitedly asking. "You wanna go see him?"

Almost immediately Pikachu's face lit up at the suggestion, happily throwing its arms in the air and squeaking. "Pika! Pika!" at the top of its lungs.

With an almost childlike giddiness from Pikachu's answer, Red quickly turned to the other pokemon present and much to his surprise, saw him standing there stroking his chin in thought.

"…..what about you Mewtwo?"

The Psychic Pokemon said nothing as it stared at the sight in front of it. He may not have known lots when it came to humans, but he had definitely heard the tales of THIS particular one and upon seeing the dozens of children happily flocking to the old man, Mewtwo had to wonder: What made this human so special?

"…..very well." it suddenly spoke causing both Red and Pikachu to recoil in shock.

"R-really?"

Totally stunned by its answer, Red watched as the Psychic Pokemon gave a small nod and though admittedly a bit confused, shrugged back.

"Okay then!" he happily stated before thrusting his finger in the air, "LET'S GO!"

With that, both Red and Pikachu began sprinting towards the line that had formed with Mewtwo slowly bringing up the rear as it floated behind them.

"So…." it curiously pondered "You're the one called Santa….huh…."

It took a fair bit of time to make it through the line as numerous children and Pokemon were eagerly waiting to see Santa, but eventually...

"A light ball?" the jolly old man's voice boomed as Pikachu happily sat on his lap, "That's a pretty big wish!"

Red watched as the old man looked up at him and gave him a reassuring wink in return.

"Judging from how good you've been, I'll make sure you get one this Christmas!"

"Pika! Pi!" Pikachu happily exclaimed, giving the old man a hug before jumping off his lap.

"HO! HO! HO! Who's next to see Santa?"

"It's my turn," Mewtwo noted as Red confusingly looked over at him.

"I still can't believe you want to see Santa Mewtwo." he bafflingly exclaimed, "How do you even know who he is?"

Mewtwo crossed its arms. "The young lady has talked about him in great length and after doing some research, I have some….matters…I wish to discuss with him." he explained before giving Red a quick shove out of the way, "Now if you please…."

Slowly floating over, Mewtwo watched as the old man extended his arms out to him. "HO! HO! HO! And what's your nam-"

Before the mall Santa could even ask, he was met with a white hand to his face.

"Cut the small talk human! I'll have you know that I have an IQ of 3000 and after all the tales I've heard about you, I'm here for answers!" Mewtwo immediately exclaimed as he sat on the old man's lap and enclosed his hand like a claw "….and do be aware that I can snap your mind with a mere thought so I'd suggest you answer me honestly!"

No doubt surprised by the sudden voice echoing throughout his head, the mall Santa watched in horror as Mewtwo formed a small shadow ball in its hand to show it meant business before pulling out a piece of paper and reading off it.

"First question: these Stantler you have, how do they fly? Is it learned naturally or is it some sort of scientific alteration?"

The old man watched as Mewtwo turned to him expecting an answer and froze. Of all things he did not intend on happening when coming to work today, it was getting quizzed on the scientific nature of Santa Claus…..with his life on the line no less.

"W-well….I….uhhh-"

"You're right it doesn't matter!" Mewtwo quickly agreed before reading out another question, "Question 2: How do you keep all those items in your bag without it changing size? Is it-"

"Okay Mewtwo it's time to go!" Red's voice suddenly called out, hoping to stop this before someone got hurt.

"But I'm not finished yet!"

Not wanting to waste time arguing, Red walked right up to the chair the two were sitting at and pointed towards the line. "Come on Mewtwo, you're holding up all the kids that wanna see Santa!" he stated through clenched teeth before suddenly grabbing the Psychic Pokemon's arm.

"Hey! Get your hand off me human!" Mewtwo exclaimed, but Red wasn't about to give up.

"Let's go!"

With as much force as they could muster, Red and Pikachu somehow managed to pull Mewtwo away. However, just as the mall Santa thought he was safe, the Psychic Pokemon suddenly turned towards him and with anger in its voice yelled. "Just you wait Cringle! I'll figure out your secrets!" it vehemently declared while shaking its fist him, "You haven't seen the last of me!"

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After somehow managing to finish the rest of the cooking with little to no threat of the house burning down, Leaf and the other Pokemon were currently huddled around the Christmas tree, busily wrapping their presents.

"Come on…..come on…." Leaf urged as she attempted to hold her wrapped present together with one hand and a piece of tape in the other.

Slowly but surely she lowered the tape towards the anchor point.

"Gently…..gently….gen-ARRRRGGGHHHHH!"

Hearing Leaf's scream of agony, all the Pokemon quickly turned to her, only to see her present totally unwrap itself after slightly moving her finger.

Truth be told, the brunette haired girl had never actually wrapped a present for someone before and was currently on her 10th attempt at trying to wrap just one.

"Come on! Do I have to talk dirty to you?!" she angrily yelled at the unwrapped present, hastily grabbing the loose wrapping paper and trying again. "I'm going to wrap you up whether you like it or not!"

Seeing just how frustrated its trainer was getting, Jigglypuff chuckled as despite never wrapping a present before either, it had somehow managed to wrap all of its presents before Leaf could even finish one.

"Jiggly!" it happily called out as it walked over and with its stubby hand, held the present together for Leaf to tape down.

"Thanks Jigglypuff…." she sighed in relief before turned to other Pokemon. "How's everybody else doing?"

Curious, she looked around to see that everyone was actually doing quite well: Aside from Snolax being totally asleep, Charizard and Clefable were helping one another to tie down each other's presents, Venasaur's vines easily held down its present as it tied it together, even the mystic birds were doing well as they used their beaks to anchor and their talons to tie.

"Wow….even the ones with no hands are having an easier time than me…." Leaf dully thought to herself before hearing a soft voice call out to her.

She quickly turned around to see Red's Lapras trying to hold its present together.

"Do you need some help Lapras?"

The shelled Pokemon currently had its present held down with its teeth as Leaf ran over to assist. "How did you ever manage to wrap this?" she bafflingly asked as she taped the gift down and Lapras curiously tilted its head at her in response causing her to chuckle.

"I suppose if Red trained you to walk on land, I shouldn't be surprised that you can wrap a present huh?"

It took an unprecedented amount of time of wrapping, re-wrapping, and frustration before all the presents were finally wrapped, but Leaf didn't mind.

Despite the frustration of it all, she was truly having a great time and really showed just how far she and Red's Pokemon had come in the time they had spent together. What were once complete strangers to Leaf, had pretty much become Pokemon of her own and she couldn't be happier to spend this time with them.

"Alright, everyone!" Leaf happily called out as she wrapped her last gift, "Time to put these presents under the tree!"

Wasting no time, everyone began pushing their presents towards the tree, filling the base of it with a multitude of coloured packages.

Upon placing all her gifts, Leaf took her last one and held it close to her heart. It was a decently sized package, wrapped in a bright red glossy paper and was going to be for someone very special to her.

"Jigglypuff!" she heard her pink partner call out and upon glancing over, saw that Jigglypuff was happily smiling at her.

"Thanks Jigglypuff, I really did put a lot of effort into wrapping this one!" she happily stated as she gently placed it beside the other presents and whispered "…..I hope he likes it."

With that done, everyone gathered in front of the Christmas tree. With the presents underneath it, it really looked like the complete package….at least that's what Leaf thought anyway.

Up until this point, she had always envisioned what something like this would look like and only had an idea because of pictures she'd seen.

It was strange, at this time last year, Leaf was cold and alone, only having Jigglypuff by her side as they wandered the streets of Kanto and now, things couldn't be any more different. Now she was surrounded by beings that loved her, beings that accepted her for who she was….and yet….something just didn't feel right.

Her eyes fixated upon the bright red package and for some reason, her mind began to drift towards the person that gift was intended for.

It had been a while since he had left and even though she'd had a great time wrapping the presents with the Pokemon, Leaf couldn't help but feel that it would have been even better if Red was there to experience it with her.

"Maybe I wouldn't have got so frustrated if he was here to help me!" she sarcastically joked to herself, thinking of all the ways she'd tell Red off when he got back.

However, that was just the thing; Leaf didn't know when Red was coming back and even though she didn't want to admit it, she was really beginning to miss him.

She then watched as the Pokemon began happily dancing around the Christmas tree and not wanting to ruin the happy mood with how sad she was becoming, quietly slipped away from the festivities to be alone.

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"I refuse!"

"Come on Mewtwo! This will be the last store I swear!" Red urged as they stood in front of another fancy looking store, but the Psychic Pokemon would not budge.

"You said it was going to be the last store 20 stores ago!" it exclaimed before intensely pointing its finger in the store's direction, "I refuse to go into another one of these human establishments!"

Not wanting to argue anymore, Red threw his hands in the air. "Alright! Alright! Have a seat on the bench and we'll be out in a bit." he stated before pointing his finger at Mewtwo and adding, "Just….try not to destroy anything while we're gone."

With that, the two rushed into the store, leaving Mewtwo standing there amongst the crowd. "…try not to destroy anything while we're gone…" it scoffed as it proceeded to sit down on the bench, "Most powerful Pokemon in existence and he treats me like a child!"

Sighing as it rested head against the back of the bench, Mewtwo took this time to observe its surroundings.

If the mall was a lot quieter it could have used this time to catch up on some meditation, but there was no way it could ever concentrate with the amount of noise that was around it.

To make matters worse, every person that passed by gave a strange look to the Psychic Pokemon, only adding to the fact that it felt isolated.

"Why did I ever agree to come here…" it stressfully thought to itself, "I should have known that I wasn't ready to attempt going to a heavily populated human area…."

It then proceeded to bury its face in its hand, trying so hard to mask itself from everyone else. However, as it sat there, something caught Mewtwo's eye.

At the next store over, a middle-aged young lady and her Gardevoir had stopped to look in the window of a fancy clothing store and Mewtwo couldn't help but find itself unable to take its eyes off.

No doubt realizing that it was being watched, the Gardevoir shifted its eyes in Mewtwo's direction causing the Psychic Pokemon to quickly turn away in embarrassment.

"Blast! Of things I get caught staring!" it hissed at itself. However, its fit of embarrassment would not last as Mewtwo noticed a stray button on the ground suddenly levitate and float its way onto its lap.

Quickly raising its head, Mewtwo saw that the Gardevoir was now looking right at him and gave the Psychic Pokemon a shy wave hello.

Unsure what to make of all this, Mewtwo hesitantly glanced over both shoulders before finally pointing at itself and watched as it giggled in response.

Still shocked that this was actually happening, Mewtwo watched as the Gardevoir turned to its trainer, making sure she was busy looking at all the outfits before making a small Energy Ball with its hands and gracefully began floating it around.

Completely mesmerized by what was happening, Mewtwo decided it should return the gesture and formed a few small shadow balls in its hands. Then, simultaneously throwing them in the air, attempted to juggle them the best it could.

Unfortunately, as smart as Mewtwo was, juggling was not one of its strong suits and accidentally let one of its shadow balls fly from its hands, smashing a nearby pot as it made contact.

"Ooops…." it clumsily stated as the Gardevoir laughed at its misfortune.

Mewtwo couldn't help but chuckle as well. Even though this little exchange probably meant nothing, the Psychic Pokemon was quite enjoying its first exchange with another psychic type it'd had in a long while and upon looking over at the shattered remains of the pot it had just smashed, reached out and telepathically grabbed one of the flowers out of it.

Blushing as the flower was presented to it, the Gardevoir quickly looked over at its trainer, making sure she was preoccupied before extending its hand out as well, feeling their auras overlapping as the two passed the flower from one to the other.

While all this was going on, Red and Pikachu finally exited the store feeling very proud of themselves.

"I can't believe it Pikachu! Leaf's going to love this!" he happily stated as Pikachu smiled in return, "Oh…I hope Mewtwo didn't mind having to wait so lon-"

Red's voice faded as his eyes bore witness to the sight in front of him. There was Mewtwo, sitting on the bench, one hand resting its head atop of it and the other outstretched with a flower floating a few feet in front of it.

"What….in…the…world?"

Red had no words, but a quick glance over in the direction of the flower, quickly answered his question as he saw another Pokemon standing there with its hand outstretched as well.

After exchanging glances and sharing a quick chuckle between each other, Red and Pikachu quietly began making their way over to the bench.

Mewtwo still had its eyes fixed on Gardevoir as Red silently sat down beside it. Unsure what exactly he should say in this situation, Red simply tipped his hat over his eyes, stretched out and granted the Psychic Pokemon a few seconds of silence before finally asking. "….what are you doing?"

"She's pretty cute, wouldn't you agree young man?" Mewtwo casually spoke in his mind, without turning its head.

Unsure of how to respond, Red simply scratched his head. "U-uhhh…..I-I don't if I'm the right person to ask that question to Mewtwo." he stammered, his face turning a bit flush at the mere thought, "I-I mean….I've never really looked at a Pokemon that way before."

"Oh she's so talented and she's got a great personality."

Red bit his lip. He had never seen Mewtwo so happy before and of course, it happened the minute he left the Psychic Pokemon alone. "Do you….want to go talk to her?" he offered as Mewtwo suddenly turned around to face him.

"….and introduce you as my trainer?"

Red shrugged. "Why not?" he wondered before confidently pointing to himself, "I'm sure she'd be pretty impressed when she finds out your trainer's an EX-Champion!"

Red watched as Mewtwo stared at him for a second before sarcastically rolling its eyes. "Yeah, EX!" he sarcastically scoffed, "I'd probably be rejected the moment you opened your mouth!"

A deadpanned look fell over Red's face as Mewtwo returned his focus back towards Gardevoir. "….wow...who needs Blue putting me down when I have this….." he dully muttered in response.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Happily jumping up and down as it danced about with the other Pokemon, Jigglypuff paused as it noticed that its trainer had suddenly disappeared.

"Jiggly? Jiggly!" it called out, but Leaf was nowhere to be seen and upon walking over to a nearby room, saw its trainer sitting by a window.

Quietly jumping up onto the table beside her, Jigglypuff watched as Leaf silently stared out at the snowy landscape with sorrow in her eyes.

It was a beautiful mid-afternoon day and despite how late it was getting, the sun was still shining bright, sparkling off the snow as it shone down on it.

Yet beautiful as it may be, it did not quell the uneasiness Leaf felt in her heart and noticing that something was wrong, Jigglypuff gave its trainer a little tap on the shoulder.

"Jigglypuff?" it called out as she turned and gave the pink Pokemon a weak smile.

"Wish Red were here to see how the tree looks with all the presents underneath it…" she admitted as she slowly petted her partners head, "It's just not the same without him…"

"Jiggly…" Jigglypuff sighed in response. Red had been gone for quite a long time and now that its trainer had mentioned it, the pink Pokemon was beginning to miss him as well.

"I really hope Mewtwo's not giving him too hard of time." Leaf suddenly chuckled out loud as she turned to Jigglypuff with a smile on her face, "Maybe that's why he's taking so long?"

"Jiggly!" Jigglypuff quickly nodded as its trainer stood up from the chair she was sitting in.

"Sorry for worrying you Jigglypuff, I'm sure they'll be coming up the road any time now!" Leaf quickly apologized as she watched her pink partner jump off the table and reassuringly nod in response, "Let's head back before the others begin to worry too!"

With that, the two began making their way back to the living room. However, about half-way Leaf stopped and glanced back over to the window. Call it a premonition or women's intuition but for some reason, Leaf just didn't feel right and whether subconsciously or not found that her hand had begun to tightly grip her PokeNav as she walked.

"Come home….soon…."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Back at the mall, with Leaf's present attained, it didn't take long for Red to quickly gather up the rest of the stuff he had came for.

As such, his arms were now full of bags containing a bunch of presents for the other Pokemon as well as the holiday Farfetched they'd originally came for.

"Okay! I think that's everything!" he happily stated while looking down at the bags, "You guys ready to go home?"

"Pika! Pika!"

"…..finally."

Red sighed, tipping his hat over his eyes as he heard Mewtwo's response. This whole trip was supposed to be a way for Mewtwo to come out of its shell and yet, after everything Red had endured, it seemed like the Psychic Pokemon was no happier now than it had been before they'd left.

"…sorry for making you come with us Mewtwo….." he genuinely apologized, "I know it was hard for you."

The Psychic Pokemon sighed in response. Truth be told, while the trip was nowhere near as terrible as Mewtwo had initially envisioned, it was defiantly one that it never wanted to experience again.

"Yeah….well…the sooner we're away from here the better."

Red bit his lip. There had to be something, SOMETHING that he could do to make this trip worthwhile for all of them and it took only a few minutes of thinking to come up with an idea.

"Listen…." he muttered as he lowered his bags to the ground and began sifting through them, "Before we go….I wanted to give you these."

The two Pokemon watched in wonder as Red pulled out two golden chains, each with a red gem encrusted in the middle and held them up to their faces.

"Pika?"

"What are they?"

"They're called flame orb bracelets." Red happily explained as he walked over to Mewtwo and began placing the bracelet on one of its arms, "Apparently they're supposed to keep you warm even in the most frigid conditions."

"….sounds like a scam to me," Mewtwo noted as Red chuckled in response.

"Trust me, the girl at one of the stores said they work great!"

Mewtwo paused as the bracelet was snapped into place. It definitely didn't feel any different and just as he was about to call Red out for being so easily swindled….

"Woah!" it gasped as warmth suddenly overcame its body, "It….works!"

"It does? Great!" Red cheered as he knelt down to Pikachu's level and began placing the other bracelet around its neck.

Truly shocked, Mewtwo curiously looked down at the bracelet in question before glancing over at the man who had given it to him. "…..why did you get this for me?" it wondered, realizing that this was the first gift it had ever been given.

"Well, I know how cold it can get at home some nights, so I got one for everyone." Red happily replied, smiling as he looked up towards the Psychic Pokemon, "But I wanted to give you guys yours early as thanks coming with me today."

"Pika! Pika!"

Not really sure how to react to such a gesture, Mewtwo cleared its throat. "Well….I thank you for this young man." it politely replied before floating up to Red and while intensely pointing at him declared, "….but don't think that just because you got me this gift, I'll accompany you to a place like this ever again!"

Red chuckled, shaking his head as he patted the Psychic Pokemon on the shoulder. "Oh trust me, the feeling's mutual." he sarcastically replied before bending down to pick up his bags, "Alright! Let's go home!"

With Pikachu perched atop his shoulder and Mewtwo floating closely behind, the three finally exited the mall.

However, little did they know that the minute they stepped outside a message would suddenly ring out over the mall's P.A. system.

*ATTENTION SHOPPERS* *ATTENTION SHOPPERS*

A voice sternly announced.

*PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT A MAJOR WEATHER CELL HAS FORMED OVER THE KANTONIAN EAST COAST. RADIO….SIGNAL…WILL…..SOON…ZZZZZ….ZZZSTAY….INZZZZDDDOOOZZZRRRRZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ….ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Alright Ladies and Gentleman, that's it! Man was that a fun chapter to write.

To answer andrewmedley18's question if certain characters are going to show up; the answer is no, no and no to each of them. I personally prefer to stick to a smaller cast, so only those who have appeared are ones you're going to see and also the story series itself is in its own continuity (more tied to the games if anything else).

To everyone else who reviewed, thank you so much for your kind words, I really hoped you enjoyed this one and...I'll see you next chapter (hopefully sooner this time!)

Ciao