The Twelve Pokemon of Christmas
On the second day...
Misty covered her eyes from the glare of the sun as she opened the gym's front door. She had gotten up extra early today in her, well hidden, excitement. She had a happy smile on her face this morning as she went into the main area to feed the pokemon. None of the pokemon at the Cerulean Gym stayed in their pokeballs unless they were being transported or unless they wanted to and so sometimes travellers or residents of the city would just drop by and admire them in the water like at an aquarium. As soon as she entered with the buckets of special water pokemon food from Professor Oak, Psyduck, Marill and Piplup all walked and hopped towards her.
"Morning guys," greeted Misty as she set the buckets down.
"Marill!" replied Marill who promptly jumped into her arms. Misty gave him a hug then set him down again.
"Why don't you go and wake the others up while I make breakfast?" she asked him.
Marill nodded and dived into the pool to awake the pokemon still asleep underwater. Misty then bent down to greet Piplup.
"Good morning Piplup, did you sleep all right last night?"
Piplup looked at her and nodded happily and her smile grew. Piplup was settling in to its' new home well and looked like it was going to be really happy with her.
Meanwhile, Psyduck had decided to help himself to some of the food and had his head in one of the buckets.
"Psyduck get out of there!" Psyduck jumped back up in surprise and fear and promptly fell backwards into the pool with a cry.
"Psyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyi!"
Misty sighed and was about to turn around and fetch the net when he was suddenly thrown back out. Luckily Dewgong, who was heading up to get some food, saw him flailing and head butted him out to safety.
"Hahahahahahahahahaha! Wow that's one scene that never gets old."
Misty spun around at the sound of the familiar voice and was met with the sight of a very familiar face.
"Tracey! When did you get here?" she cried and went over to give her old friend a hug.
He grinned, "A few minutes ago. I was surprised to see the door open so early so I let myself in."
"Here, let me give you some help with that," he added as he noticed the buckets of food behind her.
It was Misty's turn to grin. "Doesn't Professor Oak give you enough chores to do? Sometimes I think the only reason you come to visit us is to do work."
He smiled sheepishly and laughed, "Well after years of doing Daisy, Lily and Violet's chores I'm kind of used to it."
"Okay then. Here," she said, handing him a bucket, "You take the right and I'll take the left. That way we'll be done faster and we can catch up."
Misty went over to feed Gyarados and Dewgong and Tracey went to feed Psyduck and Marill, who had come over to greet him. Soon, all the pokemon had been happily fed and returned to the depths of the pools to spend their day. It was then that Tracey noticed something distinctly different that was definitely not there the last time he visited, which wasn't that long ago.
"Wow Misty," he began, "Where did you get a Piplup from?"
"We were, like, hoping you could tell us that Tracey," said Daisy as she entered.
"Oh hi Daisy," said Tracey, "Well, from what I can recall from Professor Oak, Piplup are generally found in cold climates around the sea shore and they are one of the starter pokemon from the Sinnoh region."
Daisy let out a dramatic sigh, "Oh we were wrong then... It's not meant to be Tracey, you're not her true love!" She sounded slightly disappointed which worried Misty.
"'True love?' What are you talking about Daisy?" Tracey was very confused.
"Oh it's totally romantic!" began Daisy as she recounted the events of the previous day to him.
"Wow!" said Tracey, "Looks like you're going to be receiving a lot of pokemon over the next few days! Who do you think it is?"
Misty sighed, "I have no idea and James said that they weren't allowed to tell me."
"Well me, Violet and Lily thought it was you Tracey but I guess we have to think again."
Tracey stared at her in shock and then looked at Misty who was rolling her eyes at her eldest sister.
"Why would you think it was me?" he asked, "No offence Misty but you're one of my best friends and I'm kind of dating someone else..."
"None taken Tracey, you don't have to explain yourself to me. But... If I may ask, who is the lucky lady?" She grinned as a faint blush appeared on his cheeks.
"Well..." he began, "I've kind of been dating Officer Jenny..."
Misty giggled and decided to tease him a bit more, "Well Brock has Nurse Joy and now you have Officer Jenny. I guess now we know who to call now if we're in any trouble."
Tracey let out a nervous laugh, "So Daisy where are Lily and Violet anyway?" he asked, not trying to change the topic at all.
"Oh they'll be back later. Violet's at the salon and Lily's at the mall."
"And why aren't you with them?" asked Misty.
"Well someone had to stay in case those delivery people arrived early. They told me call them if they arrive while they're out and we know you wouldn't have called us."
Tracey laughed and Misty sighed in exasperation.
"Oh that reminds me," said Misty, turning to Tracey, "I forgot to ask, what brings you to Cerulean City Tracey?"
"Oh yes, Daisy called and offered me tickets for their latest show and Professor Oak overheard and told me to take them and that he and Mrs Ketchum wouldn't mind going along as well so he sent me up to reserve our seats," he explained, "I did ask Jenny but she had to go to Viridian City to help out her fourth cousin. "
"Right... Well you can all stay here, we've got plenty of room."
"Thanks," he smiled, "I'm actually glad I'm here early. I also want to see what your admirer sends you next."
Tracey, Daisy, Lily and Violet needn't have worried about missing the next delivery. It was well after lunch when the former Team Rocket arrived in the foyer.
"Hello again!" called Jessie as they walked into the pool area. "Are you anxious to receive your next token of love?" she teased.
'YES!' Misty screamed in her head and so it was with great restraint that she coolly replied, "Well let's see what you have for me today."
Meowth got out the CD player and got in line next to James.
"You know the drill!" he said and pressed play.
"On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me..."
Delibird handed Misty the chest and this time there were two pokeballs in it.
"Come on Misty!" shrieked her sisters in the background.
"Pokeball, I choose you!" she cried as she let them both go. Again, as the red lights began to take two quite large shapes, Jessie, James and Meowth continued.
"Two majestic Milotic!"
"Milotic!" came the melodic voices of the two pokemon that appeared before them.
A long "Wow..." resounded from them all as they looked at the beautiful creatures.
"Wow," said Tracey recovering first. "Misty, not only have you got two of the most beautiful pokemon," he began in awe, "But you've also got a male and a female!"
He was right of course. They most certainly were a beautiful couple and Misty was stunned. Who on earth would send her something so rare and beautiful?
"I feel..." murmured Jessie suddenly. "I feel so calm..."
"That's right," continued Tracey, "Milotic are very peaceful and calming pokemon and are known to make humans feel relaxed and soothed."
Misty was still in shock as the female Milotic floated towards her and rubbed her head affectionately against her face. She couldn't help but smile warmly at the beautiful pokemon and she reached out her hand at petted the male who had also floated over.
"So kid, do youse have any idea who your love boid is?" asked Meowth.
"Nope," she replied. "You're still not going to give me any clues?"
"That's right!" replied James. "Well then, we'll see you tomorrow."
"Bye and thanks," called Misty as they left. She turned and saw her sisters gushing at the beauty of her new Milotic and Tracey with his sketch pad out trying to capture their beauty as fast as possible as though they might disappear.
"They really are beautiful aren't they?" she said softly.
"Psy?" Psyduck appeared next to her and she looked at one of her oldest pokemon.
"Who do you think is sending me these unbelievable gifts Psyduck?"
He looked at her. "Psyduck?"
She smiled at him and walked towards her sisters who were introducing the Milotics to their new home. 'Well,' she thought, 'Now I really have to find out who this is all from. It's time to make a call...'
End Day Two
AN: Well I hope you enjoyed day two! This has gotten plenty of hits for chapter one, lets see if we can keep that up for chapter two :) Who do you think she's gonna call? Oh and I really hate time zones so I have no idea when some of you are reading this... I plan on posting a chapter a day so I hope it's getting across like that... If not... Oh well... Don't forget to review and let me know what you all think!
~DQ