This is the AJE Christmas Special! I hope you enjoy it! Merry Christmas everyone!

When dear Kelly fought Olivia, the eye-pleasing lady girl, Ryan watched with a bag of popcorn and a heart full of confetti. He busted out his prized ukulele and sat on a fold-up chair to watch the battle. 'Take the shot!' he would scream to Kelly's Wartortle (the esteemed Tortilla) as it did the battling. It was a water Pokemon so it was pretty good against Olivia's fire 'mon. Ryan gave his pointy sunglasses to Kelly's Wartortle because Ryan watched season 1 of Pokemon and he knew that was what Wartortles needed to be winners.

Suffice to say, with the strength of her Wartortle, Arcanine, and Raichu, Kelly was able to scrape by Olivia's team with the skin of her teeth. When she won, Ryan stood up and clapped as loudly as he could with a tear in his eye. He was so proud of that girl. Funnily enough, she didn't even realize he was there until she turned to walk out.

"Oh hey," Kelly said. "Came to watch the battle?"

"You did great! Yeah, girl, whoo!" Ryan strummed on his ukulele. "I guess we can go to the next gym now, right?"

Kelly nodded. "Yeah. My last badge is in Viridian City. It's the toughest gym out there. I'll need to train my Pokemon some more before attempting it."

"Huh?! One more badge?!" Ryan cocked his head in surprise, then threw Abra's Pokeball to the floor. The little Pokemon tumbled out, half-asleep, bless his heart. "Hey Abra, did you know about this one more badge thing?!"

"Bra bra bra abra!" Abra yawned.

"Dang, I can't understand you at all." Ryan returned his Pokemon to the Pokeball. "This isn't fair," he whined to Kelly. "I still have five badges to get! You can't finish before me! That's not fair."

"Why not?"

"Be-because…" Ryan searched for the words, but could not say them. He wanted Kelly to come with him on his entire journey. He knew that once she got all eight gym badges, she'd leave him in the dust. She would go off to prepare for the tournament. He didn't want that. He wanted her company. He needed it. Ryan's face went red with embarrassment. "It's… it's nothing, okay!"

Kelly smiled, deviously. "Sure, okay. Whatever you say. So we'll take a boat to Pallet Town and then travel to Viridian City from there, okay?"

"Pallet Town?!" Ryan's face suddenly lit up. "You mean where Professor Oak lives?"

"Yeah, why?"

Ryan punched the sky. "He change Charmeleon's name to something better!"

"Are you sure about that?" Kelly asked. Her face betrayed her doubt.

"No, not really. But let's try it, okay?"

Kelly shrugged and then the two of them walked out of there, each with a new badge and a new goal.

Rahul was sunbathing on the beach when they found him. It had snowed the night before, and much of the beach was icy and slushy, but Rahul didn't seem to mind. He was enjoying kabobs dripping with barbecue sauce that made Ryan as jealous as as a meerkat that wanted to merely be a cat. Around him, three bikini-clad girls were fanning Rahul and keeping him cool on that frosty day. By the time Ryan and Kelly reached Rahul, he had finished his meal and was licking his fingers ravenously.

"Aw no fair, Rahul!" Ryan shouted. He almost brought out the maracas again. "You were supposed to save me some."

"Sorry," Rahul smiled unapologetically. "You took too long."

"Ugh! Well, do you want to come with us? Kelly and I are leaving the island to get more badges."

"Come on, this place is awesome!" Rahul squealed like a pig in heat. "Do we have to leave?"

"Rahul…" Ryan said in a motherly tone. "You know you have to earn more badges to get into the Indigo Tournament. How many do you have so far?"

Rahul sighed. "Three."

"Cool, me too! Let's get some more, okay? All right, buddy?" Ryan patted the big man on the shoulder and was struck by how he had to treat Rahul like a Pokemon to make Rahul do anything.

Rahul looked at Ryan. "I want go south to catch Lugia first."

The blue-haired boy shook his head. "No, no, no! It's too early in the story for legendaries, brah. Besides, I don't know if you're an important enough character to get one anyway."

Rahul sighed again and raised a hand. "Okay, okay. Fine." He sat up and and looked at the girls fanning him. "Before I go, do any of you want to be my girlfriend?"

The three beauties looked at one another and then, in unison, ran for the sandy-and-snowy hills faster than Sonic on Adderall.

The boat was a sparsely populated, as most people were coming to the Cinnabar Island to battle Olivia, and those who had already beaten her had already left and returned home for Christmas. Only Ryan, Kelly, Rahul, and a small boy who called himself Dean accompanied the ship's captain on the trip back to the mainland. Dean said almost nothing to the other three, instead focusing on his phone and talking to someone over Skype in a hushed voice. They didn't bother him. Ryan let all of his Pokemon stretch their legs on the deck, as did Kelly and Doctor Rahul. Ryan was shocked to see how many cool Pokemon Rahul had - a Dragonair, a Charizard, a Lapras, a Hypno, a Rhyhorn, and a Magneton. Ryan stroked his non-existent goatee and hoped that one day he could be as cool as Rahul.

"I'm on a boat! Everybody look at me!" Ryan said in jubilation because he thought that awesome people like Rahul would say something like that.

All of the Pokemon partied like it was 1998, playing pin the tail on the Tauros and sipping on fine bubbly juice. Ryan conversed with the others about what they expected to get from Poke Santa for Christmas. However, as Ryan glanced over at his Pokemon, he noticed that his Golduck was getting seasick. Clawey's eyes got swirly like pastries and made Ryan hungry for said pastries. He was in awe of how a water Pokemon could get seasick in the first place. So Ryan brought Golduck over to him and comforted his poor Pokemon by telling him the story of the ugly barnacle.

As everyone was enjoying themselves, a second ship suddenly appeared on the horizon. It shot toward them with all its speed, and the captain could not avoid it. With a sudden "crash!" the two ships collided and water started flooding the deck.

"Avast ye mateys!" a voice from the other ship bellowed. Suddenly a dark shape sprung from other ship and jumped onto the deck of the sinking one. He was a pirate, attired in a proper pirate garb, and he had a flowing pink beard growing from his nose hairs. Both of his legs were peglegs and both of his hands were hooks. It made Ryan curious as to how Pinkbeard could even function in life. "The name's Pinkbeard, yarrrgh! Pinkbeard the first!"

"Cool name bro," Ryan said.

"Aye, it is, it is!" The pirate agreed. "Now give me all yer Pokemon yarrgh!"

"What?!" everyone shouted together. "Never!"

"Har har har, ya poor fools. No one gets away from Pinkbeard the first!" Pinkbeard raised his left hook, removed the hook with his other hand, and then began shooting nets out from the hole. They wrapped around each of the trio's Pokemon and bound them tightly. "Made from special string! No Pokemon can escape from inside, yarrgh!" Pinkbeard proclaimed proudly.

"Oh no!" Kelly shouted. "What can we do?"

Rahul raised his screwdriver to the sky. "I'm the doctor. I can fix this!"

"Rahul, did you drink too much orange juice?! You can't do anything with a plastic screwdriver!"

Ryan went to pat Rahul on the arm when Rahul jumped forward and charged Pinkbeard. "No! Don't touch me, I'm sterile!"

Pinkbeard tripped Rahul with a well-placed pegleg, sending the human Snorlax flying into the side of the ship. He got the pastry eyes like Golduck had had a few minutes before and then fell over, unconscious.

"No more tricks, me mateys! Stand back and ya won't get hurt!" The pirate scalawag moved forward to collect the Pokemon.

"Hey bozo, what do you think you're doing?!" The small boy Dean said. He stood up and walked forward, unhooking a Pokeball from his waist.

"Ahar har har! I didn't see ya, boy! Good, more Pokemon for me!" Pinkbeard aimed his hook at Dean.

Dean threw his Pokeball and out flopped a Magikarp. Ryan facepalmed. "That is literally the worst Pokemon you could have chosen to help us!" Ryan screamed in dismay.

Dean narrowed his eyes and smiled. "Just watch." He pointed to Pinkbeard and then pressed a button on a bracelet on his left wrist. A bright light coated the Magikarp for a moment, and when it dissolved, it was not Magikarp who stood there any longer. "Use Mega Splash attack!" Dean roared.

Ryan took out his Pokedex and pointed it at the new Pokemon. It looked vaguely like a Magikarp, though it had wings and antennae and lightning coated its body like it was a Super Saiyan 2. Its body was muscled, longer, bigger, but it was not a Gyarados. It was a beast.

"Mega Magikarp," Dex stated in monotone. "The Mega evolution of Magikarp. It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I cry every time."

"Huh? Mega? What's a Mega?" Ryan pondered.

"It's canon now," Dean assured him.

Mega Magikarp glided through the air like an angel, gracefully maneuvering around the nets Pinkbeard was shooting at it. When it reached the old salty man, it opened its fishy mouth and sprayed Pinkbeard with a bunch of water. This got Pinkbeard pretty wet and pretty annoyed.

"So that's how we're gonna play, is it?! Okay, Tentacruel, Primeape, go!" He threw two Pokeballs. A Tentacruel and a Primeape came flying out of them.

They charged the Mega Magikarp, who flew past them like a dust cloud in a breeze. The Primeape spun around and flew at the Mega Magikarp with a flying kick, and the Tentacruel tried a water gun, but both were hopelessly hopeless attacks. The Primeape hit the Magikarp and banged his foot up real good, falling to the ground and screaming out in pain. The Tentacruel's attack just bounced off the Magikarp's hard shell.

"Tackle them!" Dean commanded. "Take them out!"

Mega Magikarp flopped forward and hit Pinkbeard across the face. This was quite the fish sneak attack and the pirate was unprepared for it. The tackle hit him square in the jaw, upending him, and sending him flying off into the distance. Everyone watched him go until he was nothing more than a twinkle in the sky. It was a beautiful sight.

"Yarrgh! Pinkbeard be blastin' off again!" the pirate croaked as he flew away.

Mega Magikarp followed this up by tackling both of the pirate's Pokemon. They went flying up the air after their master, soon disappearing from sight as they faded into the dark sky.

"See you later, bozo," Dean screamed after Pinkbeard the First, who surely could not hear the boy. "You'll never take me alive, coppers!"

Then, Dean commanded his Mega Magikarp to free the other Pokemon. Once they were free, the water Pokemon (Wartortle, Golduck, Mega Magikarp, Lapras, and the two Dragonairs) jumped in the water and used all of their strength to push their sinking boat to shore. Everyone worked together except for the Pokemon who didn't, and eventually they towed the ship to shore. Great job, everyone!

It was evening by the time they reached the shore and it was just starting to snow again. Dean agreed to join the three in Pallet Town for the night, for it was too late for him to make his way home on his own. As they walked the beaches toward the city lights they could see in the distance, Ryan stumbled over something and fell to the sand. Rahul cackle and patted his belly seeing Ryan fall. Seeing Ryan fall gave him almost as much pleasure as a chicken wing would.

"What was that?" Ryan said, annoyed. He looked over to the thing he had tripped on and saw that it looked like a rock. But it was no rock, for the thing opened and Ryan could see something dark and slimy inside it. "Hey everyone! I found a rock with a snot in it! Whoa!"

"That's not a rock, dummy," Dean said, walking over to Ryan. "It's a Cloyster."

"How do you know? You're not a Pokedex," Ryan contended.

Dean shrugged. "I have a Shellder… I know what its evolution looks like."

Ryan took out his Pokedex just to be sure. "Hey there, you Dexy thing you. What Pokemon is this?"

"Please do not call me a Dexy thing. It makes me feel weird," Dex said in monotone. "Ahem… Cloyster, the Bivalve Pokémon. For protection, it uses its harder-than-diamonds shell. It also shoots spikes from the shell."

Ryan's eyes lit up. "Cool! I wanna catch it!" He took a Pokeball out of his bag and threw it to the ground. "Abra, I choose you!"

"Ra bra!"

"Reflect, Abra!"

Abra conjured up some sparkly energy around him and raised his defense against all possible physical attacks. The Cloyster noticed the bright light, realized it was under attack, and threw itself at Abra. Its rocky jaws shut around Abra's frail body and clamped down hard.

"Abra, psychic yeah!"

But the Cloyster was still clamping down on Abra. The poor psychic Pokemon was suffering quite a bit. "Bra…. Abra…!" it moaned in pain as the Cloyster toyed with it.

"Hold on Abra!" Ryan said, taking another Pokeball out of his bag.

"Come on, Ryan, can't you battle fair for once?!" Kelly complained. "Just once?"

"But Abra's stuck!"

"If you're a good enough trainer, you'll think a way out of it."

Ryan pocketed the ball begrudgingly. "Fine. If you say so. Abra, use psychic as soon as you get free, okay buddy?"

"Bra."

Cloyster's clamp lasted for two more turns (this is real life). Then, it released Abra. As soon as it did, the smaller Pokemon rolled back and created energy in his hands. The Cloyster charged Abra, but Abra held his ground and fired his psychic attack directly into the black slime in the middle of the Pokemon's shell. An explosion sent Cloyster falling back into the sand, where it lay, unmoving, dazed and wounded. Ryan took out an empty ball, then aimed it at Cloyster.

"Gotta catch 'em all!" Ryan bellowed before he threw the ball.

The red-and-white ball hit Cloyster on the side of its shell, then fell to the sand and cracked open. Pink light covered the wild Pokemon and then sucked it inside. For a few seconds, the ball wiggled on that quiet shore; Cloyster fought desperately for its freedom. But it was too weak and too damaged by Abra's attack, and soon the ball stopped moving. Ryan had caught himself a new 'mon. Whoop whoop!

By night, they reached Pallet Town. It was a small place with only a few houses and no Pokecenter, so Ryan had to use potions to heal Abra and his new Cloyster. They saw Christmas lights shining from all the houses. Snow was falling softly. As they walked further, the four kids saw a tall, unadorned, silver pole erected in the center of the town. Snow had fallen around it, but still it stood noble and proud. Next to it, a man in a heavy Gore-Tex jacket sat on a chair, ringing a bell.

"A Festivus for the rest of us! It's a Festivus for the rest of us!" he sang, pleasantly.

Kelly moved up to him, trudging through the snow. "Excuse me sir, is this Pallet Town?"

The man's face glowed in the reflection of Christmas lights and smiled. "Why of course it is, miss!"

"Is there any place to stay, like a hotel or something?" she inquired.

"Sorry. Pallet's a small town, even this time of year. We don't have a hotel."

Kelly breathed out, hard. "Are you serious? Then where are we supposed to stay for the night?"

"You can stay with me," the man said, pocketing his bell and standing up. "My mother's house is just over there," he pointed. "I'm visiting her for the holidays. I'm sure she'd be happy to have all of you join us."

"Thank you," Kelly said. She turned to face the others. "What do you say, guys?"

"Anything to get out of this cold!" Ryan replied.

"Sure," Dean nodded.

"I'm the Doctor and I know it!" Rahul assured everyone.

"It's a Festivus miracle! Follow me," the man said, enthusiastically. He began walking toward a house in the distance with vibrant Christmas lights and a homely glow coming from the windows inside. Then, he stopped, raised a hand and half-waved at the four people following him. "I'm Ash, by the way. Ash Ketchum. Nice to meet you all."