For the next day during meal breaks, trainers from every duty across the Pokemon Center stopped to admire the beautiful angel on the treetop. No matter how many times she was prompted for stories about the angel, Nurse Joy always smiled indulgently and leapt into choice memories from her childhood.

No one took more pride than Nurse Joy. When a trainer's eye was caught by its charms, she boosted the angel was a crowning masterpiece like a rainbow above the world; a fleeting attraction fthat hung onto its vivacity even if it was only for show. Under the dull wash from the lobby's fluorescent white lights and even the multi-colored illustrations or lights haphazardly hung along the walls the angel still was the brightest of them all. Everything was a work in progress, but the walls were beginning to find the best scheme for the holiday season.

Even though it was Nurse Joy's angel and not his in the slightest, Ash still felt a swell of pride that he had been the one that had put it on the tree with Misty. That angel was lucky. It had seen better days in Nurse Joy's youth, but he had an instinct about these things... at least he liked to think he did little bit, at any rate. The angel was making a comeback. It wanted to be noticed in this day and age; it was fighting for a place to belong among the polished and modern tables and chairs, a relic that needed to shine with its own charms. After years being cooped up, Ash identified with the spirit to battle its way up to the top.

"But that's weird." Grounding himself enough to focus on the Christmas carols jingling over television stereo speakers nearby, Ash's eyebrow furrowed as soon as the idea popped into his head. He eyed the mass of tangled blue and red light bulbs and knotted cords in his hands. Wherever such a strong thought had come from was a mystery.

To have a connection with an inanimate object so abstract and different—well, it was a special case. But maybe it was not so out of this world for Ash to believe in. He should just ignore reading into it.

"What's so weird?" Misty asked with interest. Blinking curiously, she was all of a sudden looking over his shoulder.

Ash blanched. He waved his hands as if to ward her off. Instead, he successfully bound the Christmas light cords deeper into his skin. Wincing, he tugged on the wires to free himself to no avail. How had she heard his musings? Misty had been clear on the other side of the room talking to someone two minutes ago!

"Nothing." No point in telling her about something so silly. Misty would simply laugh at him for being sentimental when he should be focusing on finishing their work from yesterday. To distract her, Ash smiled sheepishly and held up his hands to show her the cords wrapped around his wrists. "I mean, these are Christmas lights, not handcuffs. It's weird they would tie me up. Help me!"

Misty rolled her eyes at his childishness. Despite the ridiculousness of Ash getting trapped by cords of all things, she started to reach out her hand to help. "Honestly, I can't believe you would get yourself—"

"Ahhh, stop, thief! Get back here!"

Recognizing the voice, both Ash and Misty paused what they were doing. They exchanged a glance before their heads whipped around to seek out the voice. Out of the back lobby door leading into the kitchen, a shadowy figure bolted and skidded across the floor. It ducked under the lobby counter. Whatever it was, it squawked in a horrified frenzy.

Brock stumbled out through the silver doors after the shadow with a silver platter on the verge of falling out of his hands. He struggled to keep the lone cupcake on it from splattering on the floor, and he barely managed to keep his balance, but he caught himself. Brock panted and fell to his knees next to the counter, exhausted and needing fresh air to wake up his frazzled senses.

"What happened?" Misty asked urgently. She inched closer to see for herself.

Noticing them, Brock shrugged. He dusted off some flour on his apron. "Oh, um... I don't know. I was just coming out to put this—what was on here—before a Pokemon leapt out and ate everything!"

Misty narrowed her eyes and peered over the counter's ledge. Ash laughed nervously and joined her to see what Pokemon had dared disturb Brock.

The brown, circular body appeared crounched next to a desk chair. Its slim legs and head were tucked in on itself; the Doduo had stuck its heads behind a stack of paperwork, poorly shielding its whereabouts. Hearing a noise, it stared up at Misty with watery, roaming eyes. Smudges of green and yellow frosting covered both its beaks as all the evidence needed for conviction. Doduo pecked at the top page of the paperwork pile nervously. At least it knew when it had been caught red-handed.

"Found your culprit," Misty pointed out in the most accusing tone possible. "And it knows exactly what it's done, too."

Ash added, "The cupcakes it ate must have been super tasty, huh."

"Yeah, these were the test batch of cupcakes we were going to bring out for everyone to sample," Brock explained. He took another deep breath. "But that Doduo appeared. At first I thought it was helping, but it grabbed one off with each head while it distracted me! Then it pecked me before I knew what was happening. Having two heads to watch instead of one is a dirty move."

Ash saw it before it happened. He was about to speak, but the Doduo knew other methods of sneakiness.

In the moment Brock's guard had gone down the Doduo's left head stretched through the crack under counter and snatched the last remaining cupcake off the tray. Famished, it chomped and swallowed the delcious pastry wrapper and all in one gulp, prideful and spiteful towards Misty's reprimands.

"Hey!" Brock reached between the slim opening under the counter. The damage had already been dealt. He sighed with his shoulders hunched, resigned to the fate he had totally been beaten.

Misty puffed up in annoyance. She trotted behind the small wooden flip doors on the counter's side to meet the Doduo head on. The Doduo backed up against the counter instantly hearing her footsteps, both faces frightened.

"Where is your trainer? How can they let you cause trouble at a time like this?" Misty placed her hands firmly on her hips, her facial expression telling all. "Don't you feel bad about what you just did? Those were for everyone, not you."

No answer was forthcoming except the resolute shake of both its heads. The right head nodded firmly, somewhat cooperative. The left head shook its head and upturned its beak rudely at Misty.

Misty pointed at the Doduo's left head. It puffed definitely at her insistence. "You should! Now stop playing around."

The left head screeched at her irritably—it was in too foul a mood to deal with a pesky human girl. To cut off its twins' anger, the right head butted the left head gently. The left head blinked, surprised and resentful. A glaring contest ensued between the two. After a moment the left head seemed to give in under the pressure, or else realized it was making a fool of itself. The left head lowered its beak in an equal bow of shame.

Satisfied, Misty approached the Doduo as it hurriedly sought out an escape route. Anywhere safe from the redheaded human would be a better option. Misty was quicker; she planted her hand on a scruff of fur behind its heads and kept the Doduo still.

"You know, there's nowhere for you to hide in here, Doduo," Misty huffed.

Ash was amazed. Of course this was entirely dangerous—the Doduo could peck her and leave incredible bleeding bruises all over her arms if it were more aggressive and not timid. But Misty was not having its greedy tantrums.

"I can see you feel bad about this. Kind of. But we're going to have a nice, long chat with that irresponsible trainer of yours. You can't interrupt the people and Pokemon working hard in the kitchen," Misty announced. She sighed once the Doduo nodded guiltily. Then, she turned back to Brock with an apologetic look. "Sorry, I'll take care of this for you."

Misty paused for a second. She pointedly threw a sideways motion towards Ash.

"Jeeze, and help Ash with the lights. He's hopeless without me!" Misty called over her shoulder. She kept her grip on the Doduo and directed it out of the counter area to lead her to its trainer. The sounds of Misty scolding the Doduo vanished off into the distance after she finally rounded the nearest corner.

Brock's cooking handiwork was gone, but he really did seem relieved that he could relax for a bit. Ash was glad Misty was gone for the moment herself; his heart had strangely started beating too quickly for him to keep up with.

"So, I'm told you need my help," Brock repeated from his spot kneeling on the floor. He lifted the platter onto the counter before grabbing the lower half of the lights trailing at Ash's feet.

Ash blinked dumbly. The urge for help with unwrapping the lights dissipated. Without Misty there... well, he could do it himself easily. With a calmer twist of his hands, he released his sore skin from the complex network of knots he had brought upon himself in his struggle.

"That's what I thought. Smooth move," Brock observed, grinning knowingly.

"Like you're doing any better. That Doduo got the one-up on you," Ash groused. Okay, Brock probably was doing better than him by light years. But he could still be crabby about it and his feelings about everything in general.

Ash would take the grueling task of unhooking lights any day of the week. If, that was, Misty was there. And he felt silly for involving Brock in the Christmas lights even though he hardly minded.

"Yeah, yeah. I needed a break anyway. I've been back there all morning, and they're mixing the ingredients right now. They'll be fine for a while." Brock wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Ash, why don't you put those stars in that box on the lower branches to get a feel for the weight? That's the last thing you have to put on other than the lights. I'll untangle these." Brock gestured to the bronze, silver, and gold stars inside a nearby box. They were not heavy or large unlike the ornaments they had put up, but the stars would complement the tree nicely.

Well, if nothing else, Brock had a point. His mother would shake her head at him, but Ash needed practice keeping those stars up, because fitting them on the branches was a more difficult chore than postcards made it look like. Ash could tell that these stars would especially be troublemakers—they would slide through the branches if not put on correctly. He had to be creative to get the job done.

"Yeah, sure," Ash agreed. He picked out a gold star and attempted to fit it one of the lower branch bristles, for starters.

Even with this chatting and his working hard for everyone in the Center. . . .

But with all this extra time doing this, when am I going to think about what's really important? Ash wondered.

Misty's gift. What would he do for her? He was giving joy to the whole Pokemon Center with his time and energy, yes. He had even made Misty pay attention to him with the angel, but that rang hollow if he was not focusing on the real issues.

No, Ash could not delay this any longer.

Ugh, Misty, get out of my head! But it was futile. The question refused to stop gnawing at the back of his brain like tiny Christmas beads clattering in his skull.

Ash didn't know how to break the ice. He needed Brock's opinion on what he had been carrying ever since yesterday morning. No. Even before that. Because, well, he was his confidante in most matters that Misty could not have a say in. Yes, especially in this matter. It was a guy thing, something only another guy would understand when it came to girls.

Brock was one of Ash's most trusted friends, if not the most trusted. He could ask Brock anything under the sun and not sweat the small stuff.

There was only one way to smash open the ice, then, and he realized this as he watched Pikachu scamper out of nowhere and fumble with a bronze star. It tried to attach the metal star to a lower tree branch with limited success.

He just had to spit it out already.

Ash had to get up the guts to say what he thought. And he had to do it now.

Why couldn't his thoughts just be electronically wired to Brock's brain? You know, so he would instantly understand?

Would make my life so much easier, Ash thought. She didn't want my cookie. That was kind of a present, right?

Okay, maybe not. That was completely different. Now, it was time to bite the bullet and be blown backwards from the trauma called embarrassment.

"Brock," Ash said slowly. He swallowed the dry, sandy lump in his throat. "I don't know what to buy Misty for Christmas."

Those dark, terrifying words sent a shocking rippling effect through the dense waters too deep to trudge in his mind. His fears had reached the light of day. But it also felt enlightening.

Ash opened his mouth to continue, but...

And—Brock was not listening.

Brock's answer was noncommittal.

"Buy her whatever you see that's pretty. That's all you gotta do," Brock said. He pried at on the cords, unraveling a particularly nasty snag in the middle.

This was not what Ash wanted to hear at all. Brock had said this. Brock, the guy that tripped over his own two feet buying boxes worth of premium chocolates for hopeful dates on Valentine's Day. Brock, the guy that would probably painstakingly hand-draw love letters with elaborate heart designs. Sure, Valentine's Day was different, but the heartfelt feelings of a gift were what mattered most... And wait, why was he correlating Valentine's Day with Christmas? The concept was similar even for lovers exchanging tokens of affection. But that was not the point!

Ash shook his head to clear out the dancing little hearts swimming around in his head. Luckily for Brock, he had finally wrestled the lights apart. He was now stringing the light bulbs together one by one across the width of the tree.

Ash's stomach did a flip-flop at the sheer carelessness that following Brock's idea would mean. Of all the things to say!

"No. No, I can't just do that," Ash murmured, downtrodden. It was too anticlimatic and uncreative even for his standards. He could not buy any old thing throw up in a shop display.

"Why not?" Genuine puzzlement.

"Well, um—um—Misty's a girl," Ash reminded him as though it was obvious factoid nobody else had ever noticed. Maybe Brock was the dense one.

"Yeah, she is a girl. So?" Brock asked, still dumbfounded. Ash questioning his logic for something like romance seemed to strike him as unfathomable.

Ash blinked. "So?" That one little word rolled around in his head like a bowling ball striking the only standing pin.

The word itself was like a yellow traffic block Ash could not hurdle over. There was a word on the tip of his tongue he wanted to desperately say that would summarize his feelings... but he just couldn't think of it. Everything sounded too eliché, too normal. The words replayed in his ears for a moment, the thoughtless word "so" trying to mar his perception of how great Misty was.

But that just would never happen. Brock couldn't see how special and amazing Misty was in the same way as Ash did. He was an expert on older girls, but not on the one that actually mattered here.

"Well, she's Misty," Ash explained to him matter-of-factly. And he felt like that was a justified answer by itself, honestly.

No, Ash realized. I'm crashing and burning. I just can't think of good enough words! This is really, really hard!

Nope, nothing was helping. In fact, that drove Ash further into a ditch he had dug himself a comfortable home in.

Ash might as well just slam his head against the hard wall. Repeatedly. He placed a silver star on the tree this time to control his shaking hands.

Brock glanced at Ash. His expression was then somber, dark and brooding. Something about this sent alarming goosebumps up and down Ash's arms.

"Brock?"

Ash felt sweatdrops begin to spill down the back of his head. He couldn't make heads or tails of his friend's weird reaction. He wasn't that strange, right?

Brock was a super weird dork anyway. Sometimes. But when he was not weird and irresistibly lovey-dovey, he was—

Brock rushed at Ash in a whirlwind of emotion and clasped him on the shoulders. Ash swore that if Brock's eyelids would have opened at that moment his eyes would be bulging out of their sockets in excitement.

"You mean this is a matter of love!?"

No, scratch that. Always lovey-dovey.

Surprised by the ecstatic thrill in his tone, Ash flailed his arms wildly in the air for support. Brock rocked his shoulders back and forth, intoxicated with joy.

Ash finally found leverage in grabbing Brock's shoulder. He breathed heavily. "W-Well, yeah," he replied a little too bluntly. Shocked by his own words, he mentally backtracked at the speed of a bullet train through the highlands. "No, no—I mean—Misty is just really good friend! A reeeeally good friend!"

A pause settled while Brock observed his confession and gathered his senses.

Ash gulped. And gulped again. Now this was it, this was the moment he had been waiting for. His Adam's apple bobbed in his throat, and he could feel his skin crawl and itch. The blood in his veins felt like sludge waiting for time to continue in its standstill state. Ash thought he heard a droplet of water skim down a melting icicle outside the nearest window the lobby was so quiet in anticipation.

"Sorry." Brock seemed to realize how roughly his fingers had dug into Ash's shoulder blades. He let go of his friend and stepped back to give him breathing room, rubbing his shoulder where his friend had grabbed him back. Ash stumbled back into the Christmas tree but caught himself before tripping.

"But this means you can't buy anything sitting on a random shelf for her. For real," Brock declared. He smoothed his fingers on the light bulbs in his hands, thinking intensely about their dilemma. "Girls want the best of the best things. Nothing on the clearance rack."

"I could have told you that," Ash snorted.

Brock dropped the lights on the branch and tested its weight with the ornaments already added on. "Misty likes all that sparkly pink and glitz girly stuff. It has to be special. Something Misty wants, but I'm really drawing a blank here."

Now that made the two of them clueless, and this was not a good way to begin searching. Ash had no reliable words to tell Brock that he was barking up the Impossible Christmas Tree.

Brock, you can't give up on me this easily! You're better than this! Ash pleased. At least, he hoped.

"But that's just the thing!" Ash protested. Catching himself, he cringed. "I'm not a girl even I'm had to dress up like one in the past. I don't know anything about special gifts for girls, either. Don't say anything to that!"

Brock just smirked. The look on his face was clear enough to what he thought.

"Anyway, Misty is a mystery. She's so hardheaded about everything, and you can't get the truth out of her when you need it, and I don't know what she wants the most. Unless—" Ash's mouth turned into a wide O of astonishment. He looked on in horror, clutching his hair, smushing the delicate black strands under his fingertips.

"What?" Brock asked, perplexed.

Ash's throat felt parched. "I knew it. She tells me all the time. I knew it all along."

"Wait, what does she tell you?"

Ash bit his lip, staring at his tennis shoes as if the goal was to burn holes through them. He should have known it was Misty's master plan. "A bike, Brock! Don't you see? She expects me to buy her a fancy bike. A bike for Christmas." Sadly for him, it had boiled down to this humiliation. He should have made good on this long ago... but... "It's ingenious enough to work against me."

"Ash—" Brock started.

"I'm serious!"

"Then buy her a shiny new bike, Ash," Brock suggested innocently. It was increasingly obvious he wanted to see where this would go with Ash's spazzing.

"I can't! It's too much!" Ash complained.

Brock tapped his chin with his forefinger thoughtfully, adding more fuel to the inferno on purpose. "Nah. A nice blue bike with a basket would be cute. Imagine a bike with seashells hanging on the front, and a cute water Pokemon charm dangling on the side." He snapped his fingers. "Oh, and you can attach a Psyduck bike horn if she wants you to hear her coming. It'll get your—"

"No!" Ash cried. He clenched a silver star this time, willing himself to calm down to spite Brock's good-natured amusement. He would not take the easy bait this time. "I can't afford a bike for Christmas. She couldn't even ride it in all the snow and ice out there."

Ash gestured at the snow piled on the Pokemon Center's windowsills. Of course now he chose practicality. And it was a good excuse, one had to admit.

Misty would never get over that dumb, old bike of hers. As payment, it made sense she would request something so glamorous like a bike for Christmas.

The pain of losing his Poke Dollars radiated to his core. He could feel them slip one by one from his soul out into the snowflake-laden streets, guzzled straight down the sewage drains.

"Oh, my. You boys seem to have a great dilemma on your hands."

Nurse Joy's voice called from behind them, sweet and innocent. She stepped out of the door to the backroom where Brock had come from, smiling. Baking powder had settled on the bridge of her nose and her apron; hard at work making the sweets, she was no less a mess. A tray of cupcakes were also snuggly held in her light blue kitchen mitts.

Ash had to pinch Brock's ear as hearts began to inflate in the center of his eyes, threatening to pop out within a moment's notice. "You overheard all that, huh?"

"Well, I fortunately did, yes," Nurse Joy chirped. "Luckily for you, I have advice."

From the corner of his eye, Ash saw Brock's face droop, a little crestfallen. He suspected Brock had wanted to help himself, but he inched closer to Nurse Joy to taste test the current cupcake recipe without mentioning that much.

Nurse Joy nodded, pleased. "If she's special, you have to put your heart into it," she said. She dropped the silver tray next to Brock's on the countertop. "The thought counts, of course, but the gift has to be something that only comes straight from the heart. And don't look anywhere else, so don't you forget it."

Nodding blankly, Brock and Ash numbly stared at her understanding and wisdom. In the next moment of silence Brock lifted the cupcake from the tray to his lips thoughtfully and took a savory bite of blue frosting. His face contorted in bliss.

It helped, but it didn't really help.

As much as that makes sense, it isn't anything to go on, Ash thought despite it. Maybe her wisdom was just too much for him and had flown over his baseball cap. He wanted to groan and rant and rave about how borderline insane generosity was in this situation. Especially for Misty's case.

"That's it, Ash," Brock said. He waved the light cords in Ash's face. "All you have to do is use your stubbornness and determination. You'll bulldoze any obstacle in your path like you usually do. You'll go far!" Merry with honest light-hearted encouragement, Brock laughed.

Ash glared at him and balled his fists around another the silver star. "Thanks for your sharing your concern, Brock."

"Anytime."

Ash glanced at Nurse Joy, pointedly ignoring Brock from now until at least dinnertime tomorrow rolled around. "What'd you say about getting a present—it has to come from the heart or some mumbo-jumbo like that?" His nose wrinkled. He made a contemplative, sour face. "That's mushy. I can't do that."

Nurse Joy giggled and headed towards the display table to take the empty trays of sweets she had set out earlier. "It might be mushy, but it's true. These things take a little bit of soul-searching to find what's perfect for the girl you like. Only you know what's perfect for her."

"But Christmas Eve in a few days and we just arrived in here," Ash said. "I can't search my soul for gift ideas if I don't know where to even start looking."

His tone was too final for his liking. This just was not him. It seemed so bloody hopeless to scrounge up a present last minute, but he wasn't a loser. Ash did not like losing to anybody. Still, this was an impossible mission only the greatest of masters could finish. Accepting defeat on something like this, just this teensy-weensy-bitty time might just be the one failure he would have to endure. Ever.

The toughest gym battles were not as rough as Misty's gift choices!

But Nurse Joy refused to let him skimp out of this hectic battle so easily. She took Ash's hands in her warm mitted ones and gave them a squeeze.

"Exactly," Nurse Joy encouraged. "Well, you don't really have to search that deep down if it's stopping you from getting the job done. These present ideas don't come right away. You have a few days to find something she'll die for if you start now. Go to the Department Store."

Hope came in the form of stores tightly packed with greasy fast food stalls and sweaty last minute shoppers packed in a maze elbowing each other for electronics and tacky knitted sweaters. It would have to do. This perked Ash up considerably despite the overwhelming prospects.

"There's a Department Store in Celadon City?" Ash asked, keeping his tone light.

"There is," she confirmed. "Maybe it won't be perfect, but like I said, it doesn't have to be the prettiest thing out in the premier shops. Go out and we can handle things here. You have plenty of time if you start right this moment."

Ash tittered on the edge of being impressed and hesitation. After all, he was supposed to be helping out with the chores and doing his part, and his mother had hammered it into his skull that he should contribute like he had been doing. When he could be helpful, he would be. But the way Nurse Joy and Brock were staring, almost accusingly, gave him the courage to at least consult his other right-hand source of strength.

"You think we can do it, Pikachu?" Ash asked, obviously still debating. "Get a good present for Misty that she won't be angry about before Christmas?"

Now that the bronze star was safely secured on the tree branch, PIkachu raised its hand in a mimic of the peace sign. Except— In Pikachu's hurry it hit the bronze star it had just put up. The star bounced off its forehead and landed on the ground. It winced and rubbed the sore area, annoyed. "Pikachu!"

Ash laughed. He picked up and replaced the bronze star for Pikachu, threading it in the tree bristles. Now his mind was made up. "Well then, that's settled." If Pikachu thought they had the fighting chance to round up their resources and make Misty happy, Ash would not hesitate anymore. He stuck out his shoulder for Pikachu to jump on.

"I guess I can try, if you three really believe we can do it in time," Ash said. He glanced out the window; people scurried to and fro down the street, paper shopping bags snuggly secured in their mittens from the local businesses and take-out eateries. All of these Celadon travelers could do it. So Ash could if he really tried, right?

"Of course!" Nurse Joy said.

"We'll hold the forte down here. Good luck, Ash!" Brock waved at the door.

The rising swell of a challenge built in his gut and blossoming through the rest of his body in a flurry of warmth—an antsy, determined mindset to defy the odds and do his best no matter the obstacles. He squared his shoulders next and faced the door, his one true enemy to cross.

"I'll be back by dinner!"

"Pika, pika pi!"

In hot pursuit of a gift, Ash raced at the door. Nurse Joy and Brock watched Pikachu and Ash exit the sliding glass doors and disappear past the mist-shielded windows. Whether the duo would find an electrifying present for Misty was yet to be seen. They had a shot, and that was all Ash would need to succeed. But by the looks on Nurse Joy and Brock's faces, it was obvious they believed a miracle would happen.

Brock continued to wrap the lights around the tree, careful not to disturb the stars Ash and Pikachu had put up.

"He's pretty single-minded when it comes to a challenge, though. I have no doubt he'll try his best," Brock continued. "You should see him when he's all fired up about a gym challenge. There's no stopping him from winning because he uses all his energy over his brains." A pause of thought. "But Pokemon battles are a little different than presents, huh?"

Nurse Joy smiled. She backed up to the kitchen after cleaing up the display table and setting out the cupcakes. "Maybe he needs energy over brains for this task. Sometimes that's good when you want to finish your goal. If you don't have the strength to conquer the challenge, you'll never make the person you want happy."

Brock looked thoughtful. "Nobody wants their potential boyfriend to be lazy."

"Yes. It'll work out for him, I know it. He doesn't understand yet, but he's a good kid ready to gamble on his dreams for the girl he likes," Nurse Joy agreed.

Before turning back to his own stack of chores, Brock noticed Nurse Joy again admiring the begotten but precious angel from earlier. She seemed to have to shake herself out of it, however; a mystery emotion flickered across her face that Brock could not identify. Neither was it sadness nor happiness. Mostly, the look was whimsical. Curious.

Still, Nurse Joy waved to him before returning to help the others in the kitchen prepare more cupcakes. Brock politely waved back, frowning to himself.

Briefly he wondered what Nurse Joy's feelings about the angel were. What she was not saying about it, or might not understand herself. Brock doubted it was anything too important. He would not nose into her business, after all. Of course he always delighted in knowing more about a Nurse Joy, but he would take the slow road and let it play out.

He was careful to maneuver the red and blue balls clipped to the snags in the bristles, or not brush those little paper wishes off that the younger kids had clipped to the tree for some good luck of their own. But, instead of waiting for a simple handout from Santa to grant their dreams, Ash was blazing his own trail. If there was anyone in the entire world ready to shake up the holiday season with misunderstandings and a dash of glee it was his best friend trying to get through the day in one piece.

"He really is." Brock grinned to himself, believing in Ash with his whole heart.


A/N: On the count of three—one, two, three! Wish Zelda a happy late birthday! I thought this chapter would be long out because It was the second half to the last chapter. But I stepped up my game to give Zelda her present. And this is where things get trickier. This story isn't straightforward Ash gives Misty a present, though. So, I guess you'll have to see why that is! Anyone have guesses for what the gift is? Or what I'm about to do with the plot? I'd love to hear!