New Year's Eve

Kanto always had a pretty mild climate, and Cinnabar even moreso, meaning that even though it was the dead of winter Leaf's breath didn't quite fog in the air some as she navigated the gathering crowds that came with New Year's Eve. Bellossom was out to walk with her even as sunset drew ever-closer, and she led her in a near straight line to a cart set up on the edge of the street next to the pokémart. Upon arrival the grass-type tugged at her sock and whined, and Leaf looked down with a smile both amused and resigned. "All right."

She hoisted Bellossom into her arms to let her get a good look at the treats on display. She'd saved up some extra pocket money just for this evening anyway. Before she too began browsing she scanned the street momentarily. There was a grocery store a block down, which is what she'd been looking for in the first place, along with what looked like a couple of performers. She drew her attention back to the cart just in time for Bellossom to start squirming, pointing at a tray filled with small… was that marzipan? She'd only heard the term once on some show the center was playing on tv, but that sounded right.

The cart owner slid away from the customer he'd just finished ringing up and greeted her. Leaf read the card on the tray, asked a couple questions, and ended up with half a dozen confections filled with berry ganache, along with a ridiculously delicious-looking cupcake for her.

"In a little bit," she told Bellossom as they walked away with the box. "I promise the bluk berry one is just for you." Bellossom pouted but didn't protest too much.

She carefully stashed the box in her bag as they entered the grocery store, and ten minutes later walked out with a bottle of sparkling water. Close enough, she mused, and she'd be able to put together something resembling an actual meal from the stands closer to the coast – as much as that cupcake was tempting her. The performers outside pounded out a beat on their drums, adding to the cacophonic but not entirely crazy blend of music that had Bellossom dancing around her trainer's feet as they made their way towards the ocean.

"You're gonna trip me one of these days," Leaf chided lightly, far more amused than actually upset. Bellossom briefly stuck her tongue out and she had no idea where she learned that, honest.

She slipped off her shoes and socks as they reached the sand; not that it wasn't going to get everywhere anyway, but she could try. The street music faded out in favor of some concert going on further down the coast. Was that violin music of all things? Cool. She found herself bouncing to the beat herself a bit as she ordered and paid for her sandwich and chow for her pokémon.

After gathering the last of dinner she scoped out a spot by the water – thankfully it wasn't super-crowded yet – and released her full team. Blastoise and Ninetales were patient; Sandslash less so, immediately spinning in circles in an attempt to take in everything. Seel, released directly into the surf, happily began splashing about and Butterfree joined him, flitting about overhead.

'Shouldn't have done that if I wanted him to eat anytime soon,' Leaf thought, huffing out a laugh to herself.

Eventually food was distributed, dinner eaten, and Bellossom got her treat along with the rest of them. Sandslash poked at the grass-type and she stuck her tongue out again, this time darkened near-black by the berry juice. Sandslash snickered; Bellossom promptly swatted him over the head.

"Chill you two," Leaf drawled, making no actual move to interfere. The cupcake was way more interesting; by which she meant delicious. Tilting her head slightly to get at it without ending up with frosting all over her nose, she kept one eye on her team's antics and her ears out for signs that midnight was drawing near.

Around her the concert began to spill out from the stage area in preparation for the fireworks. She couldn't understand a single word of any of the conversations just because of the sheer number, but that hardly mattered considering she wasn't a part of any of them. The closest would be Blastoise and Ninetales talking about heck-if-she-knew behind her, with Butterfree chiming in on occasion. Probably silly human traditions, if she was to randomly speculate, but she wasn't that good at understanding her pokémon, even the one she'd been with for…

Almost nine months, now that she thought of it (and counted on her fingers to make sure). Wow. Seemed like so much longer. Or shorter. She wasn't quite sure on that front. Probably longer; she was pretty sure most people took longer than this to make a trip around the whole region, even if Blue was still ahead of her and Red probably was too by whatever metric people used for these things beyond badges.

She leaned back on her hands and looked up at the sky as she contemplated that. The festival lights coming from the town washed out the stars, but she could still see a few particularly bright ones. If she were back in Pallet Town, she'd be able to see a lot more.

And there wouldn't be quite so much noise. Pallet was a small town, and Professor Oak would probably be hosting a lot of families – including hers – in his lab, where there would be a huge tv tuned to Viridian's broadcast. There'd be laughter and conversations climbing over each other in her ears, but she'd be able to join in as she pleased, or she could curl up on the couch with Red invariably at the other end closest to the corner of the room and Blue keeping anyone nearby busy since he never knew when to be quiet…

Ninetales settled against her back and she instinctively leaned against her inner warmth. Her eyes opened and she didn't remember when she closed them.

Blastoise helped Seel back to where their little group was gathered, shouldering past pokémon and humans alike to do so. They were close to the water but not that close. She pulled the smaller water-type into her lap and scratched the back of his head. An announcer's voice blared over a distant speaker and gradually the crowd settled, turning not towards the ocean, but to Cinnabar Volcano where the fireworks platform had been set. Blaine was at the head of that operation, Leaf was sure, and if she squinted she imagined she could see the fires of his pokémon in the distance.

Ten, nine, eight…

Around her the crowd picked up the chant started by the announcer. Last few seconds until the new year.

Seven, six, five…

Blastoise rumbled something, perhaps counting along, and in a flash of inspiration she suddenly stood and grinned.

Four, three…

She tugged on Blastoise and gestured him down, thanking him in his ear as she climbed on his shoulders, taking Seel with her.

Two, one…

A deafening cheer rose up and Leaf joined in as the first firework went off, a huge one that lit the sky red and orange in a flurry of sparks. Leaf flinched from the crack even though she expected it, but recovered quickly.

Seel yelped in delight and reared up and back, forcing Leaf to adjust her grip as he began clapping his flippers together. Leaf opened the bottle of water. Someone was passing out fancy-looking cups but she didn't bother, just toasting the air and taking a drink straight from the bottle. Around her people were cheering and chatting to one another; no one she knew, but when traveling you made do with who was there.

Butterfree landed on her head, and she remembered that in her case, who she had was her team. It wasn't lonely, that way.

(-o-)

It was nearly an hour before the beach cleared enough for Leaf to make her way to the pokémon center. Bellossom had quickly crashed even before the firework show had ended, Butterfree soon following suit. Everyone else had still been awake when she recalled them, but they'd all be sleeping soon if their trainer had anything to say about it.

But first…

Somehow she managed to snag a computer in the center's lab and reached for the headphones, pulling up a video call with her other hand as she plugged them in. Settling them into place, she debated for a moment before calling the lab. It was well into the night – did this count as morning now? – but she suspected most people would still be there.

To her surprise, it happened to be the person she wanted that picked up.

"Hi, Mom."

Her mom's eyes lit up. "Hey Sweetheart! Happy New Year, it's great to hear from you!"

She smiled. "Wanted to say hi before I crashed."

"I can imagine. We're just about ready to head back home ourselves."

"Hi Dad," Leaf commented as the man in question passed by in the background. He waved and they exchanged a couple pleasantries before his attention was pulled away by who she thought was Professor Oak offscreen.

"How's everything going?" her mom asked. Leaf opened her badge case and pointed it at the screen, exclaiming with her over her latest adventures.

"Oh yes, Blue stopped by earlier, but he didn't stay for long," was her comment once Leaf mentioned her battle with him at Seafoam. "Guess he wasn't interested in spending time back home when he had another gym to challenge."

"I suppose so," Leaf said with a shrug. Truly, that didn't surprise her.

"Is Red there?"

"No." Leaf shook her head. "I think he went back to Lavender to walk the routes between there and Fuchsia. Do some training and all. I know he went down Cycling Road on the first pass." She shrugged. "I take it you guys haven't heard from him?"

"Well, you know how he is."

"Fair enough." She smiled despite herself.

She had last called in Fuchsia herself, so there was a limit to things they could talk about (though her mom was all over Seel as her newest team member). Even so the pair drew it out for much longer than necessary. Her team was a form of family in many ways, but still different. Some things there was just no replacement for.

Finally Leaf was forced to sign off. "I'm seriously going to fall asleep here if I don't," she told her parents.

"Wish you were here."

"I know." Another smile. "Love you."

"Love you too, Sweetheart."

Author's Notes: This was written for the Writers Anonymous December Holiday Challenge. I barely squeaked in under the deadline lol, so it was definitely more rushed than I'd like. I updated it after the contest was over, so either way I hope you enjoyed the read.

Not really sure what to say, actually. I just picked a character and followed them based on the very rough timeline I made for everyone's journeys. I knew I wanted that conversation with Leaf's family, though how much I had no idea until I actually wrote it. New Year's has been more about friends and neighbors for me, with Christmas and Thanksgiving being the 'family' holidays, but I imagine for traveling trainers there's not much difference. I suppose in trainer culture your neighbors are whoever also happens to be in town with you, but being out of contact with family for so long... I think I drew a bit on my undergrad experience there.