Alright guys, sorry for the delay. I was CRAZY busy on Wednesday.

I also have another announcement: due to time constraints, I'm unfortunately going to have to go back to only one chapter a week. I'll be putting up a chapter every Wednesday but only Wednesday from now on. I'm truly sorry, but that's the way it has to be.

Anyway, here's the new chapter. Hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD or Pokemon.

Chapter Thirty-Five:

Zombies, Dragons and Santa Clause

Lyndrich, New Hampshire

When Gengar returned to the house, everyone was questioning him.

Andrew and Jean had radioed in to Sam, reporting what had happened. While Gengar had made it back first, everybody had already heard his story. Still, he told his side to Reuniclus, and she translated it to the humans. Then, while they were discussing the problem, the Pokémon were gathered in the other room. Neither Shade nor Ashmore were with them; ever since a hunting trip they had gone on the previous night they had gone off doing God knew what.

"Just give me a chance," Gengar was pleading. "I know they have Lucas there somewhere. If I can find him, I can get him out."

"Are you insane?" asked Lily.

"A little," Gengar replied.

"Lily's right, Gengar," said Jack. "There are way too many soldiers there. You're going to get Lucas killed."

"From what I hear, Lucas is fully capable in a fight," Gengar reasoned.

"Then how'd he get where he is in the first place, hmm?" asked Lily.

Gengar glared at her in irritation. "He gave himself up," he explained.

"Fine, let's forget Lucas," said Swampert. "What about you, Gengar? You're going to get yourself killed. I know how you fight, and you'd be putting yourself right in the open."

Gengar stared at him in contempt. "I'm a ghost," he said. "They can't kill me!"

Elizabeth had been sitting in the corner listening the whole time. And to tell the truth, Gengar was starting to piss her off. It was really nothing new; the two of them bickered all the time. Deep down, they cared for each other, but they had a weird way of showing it.

She decided she was fed up with it. "Okay," she said. "I've had it with this."

She stood up, and all eyes in the room were on her. "If you had any ounce of sense in you, you'd see that what you're talking about is a suicide mission!" Gengar opened his mouth to argue, but Elizabeth interrupted him. "Don't, say, anything! I don't care. Have you forgotten the time you almost died fighting them? You had us all worried sick, and now you think you can just run off and do something twenty times more dangerous?

"You're not invincible, Gengar! You may have the powers of a ghost, but you're just as alive as everyone else here! Death is just as final and just as permanent for you as it is for the rest of us!"

She paused for a moment, and shook her head. "Honestly, Gengar. Sometimes I think you want to get yourself killed."

She turned and left the room in a storm.

Gengar turned to the others, who were all staring at him accusingly. "You're all getting it later," he said. "I'm gonna scare the hell out of every last one of you."

At that, he disappeared.

Out in the living room, Sam had just finished telling the humans what Gengar had seen. They spent a while debating what to do about it, and they eventually came to the conclusion that they couldn't do anything. The only thing they could do was gather information and try to rescue him at some point, all while hoping the soldiers didn't invade them.

None of them wanted it to be that way, but they had no other choice. If they tried to take on an army that size, even without the help of Gunnerville, which they apparently now had, they would be killed in minutes; even the dragons.

Eventually, the group dispersed to talk amongst themselves. Trent took the opportunity to approach Sam.

He had found it in him to forgive the boy for what he had done. But he still needed something from him.

"Sam," he said. "Can we talk?"

"Sure," Sam answered.

"I mean… in private?"

"Oh, okay. Sure, follow me."

He led Trent into through a living room, and into a bedroom. He shut the door behind them, and turned to face him. "What's up?" he asked.

"I know I'm being pushy," he began. "But I need to know what you're going to do about the flash drive."

Sam sighed. "Look," he said. "It could be anywhere in Lyndrich. I can look for it, but there's a very low chance that we'll actually find it."

"Couldn't you retrace your steps or something?" asked Trent. "You know, remember the last time you saw it?"

"I can try," Sam said, exasperation in his voice. "But I don't know if it'll work. Look, do you know what day it is?"

Trent shook his head. "I haven't been keeping count. I really don't see the point of doing that anymore."

"Well, I have, and it's Christmas Eve."

Trent looked surprised. "Oh," he said. "I didn't realize that."

"Yeah, I was planning a surprise feast for everyone with Swampert tomorrow. Ashmore was supposed to be in on it too, but he's run off somewhere with Shade. Speaking of which, have you seen either of them?"

"No," Trent replied, shaking his head. "Sorry."

"It's okay. Anyway, it's going to take me a while to think of somewhere to look," Sam explained. "I'd really like tomorrow to have some shred of normalcy, or at the very least I'd like to forget all of these bad things that have been happening, at least for a little bit. I'll try to think about where the flash drive might be, but I'd really appreciate it if you'd give me a couple days to do it."

Trent considered. The longer they took, the more likely it would never turn up. Yet he realized that the more he argued, the less Sam would want to help. "Okay," he agreed.

"What's in that thing that's so important, anyway?" asked Sam.

Trent thought for a moment, trying to decide how to explain it to him. "You know how the zombie pathogen escaped from those top-secret government labs?" he asked.

"Yeah, what about it?" Sam asked.

Trent leaned forward. "Well what if I told you they had a plan, in case the pathogen escaped and the country was overrun? What if I told you that somewhere here in New Hampshire is a machine that will wipe out all the zombies? What would you say to that?"

Sam's eyes widened. "Are you saying that's what's in the flash drive?" he asked.

"No," he said. "But all the information I know about it is in there. Without it, I'm lost."

Sam sat down on the bed, realizing what he had done. "Oh my God…" He struggled to find the words. "I'm sorry… I had no idea…"

"I don't blame you," Trent replied. "I mean, who would've guessed the government would actually do something smart?"

Despite himself, Sam gave him a chuckle.

"Just… try for me, okay?"

Sam nodded. "I will."

Suddenly, Trent remembered something. Something GLaDOS had said to him.

"When we were stuck in Aperture- I'm still mad at you for that, by the way- we asked GLaDOS if she knew where that thing is."

Sam laughed. "Yeah, how'd that go?" he asked.

"Actually, she said something. She said it was called the Machine, and that 'the One Who Came Before' knew where it was. I assumed that was you. Do you know anything?"

Sam frowned, and shook his head. "No," he said. "I have absolutely no idea where it is. I'm sorry."

That night, just as the group was about to break up until morning, the dragons came back.

The group had many questions for them, but they didn't give any answers. Eventually, they split up, and Matt and Shade went home.

As the night grew darker, Shade remained awake. He was waiting for something, and it wasn't sleep.

Finally, it came well past midnight. There was a tapping on the window, and Shade sat up. He checked to see if Matt was awake. He wasn't.

Slowly and quietly, he stood up and climbed off of the bed. Being careful not to wake Matt, he padded towards the door.

Carefully pinching the doorknob between two of his claws, he slowly rotated it, and opened the door.

The dragon squeezed through the threshold and into the hallway, closing the door behind him with his tail. He made his way to the stairwell and down the stairs, being careful not to make noise and wake anybody. When he reached the bottom, he turned to the door.

This one would be trickier. There were two, and the first was locked. He pinched the lock mechanism between two of his claws and rotated it to the left, unlocking it. Then, he opened the door the same way he opened the last one.

The next door was much easier. Instead of a knob, it was a handle. He pressed his paw against it and it opened.

As he squeezed out into the front yard, he saw Ashmore waiting for him. He nodded in greeting as he wrapped his tail around the door and pulled it shut.

Ashmore nodded back, and the two of them took flight. They stayed close to each other as their wings beat the night air.

"Merry Christmas, Ashmore," Shade said.

"Merry Christmas," Ashmore returned.

"There's something I've been wanting to ask you," said Ashmore. "What was it like for you the first time?"

"What was what like?" Shade replied in confusion.

"Flying."

"Oh," Shade thought back to his first flight. After Ashmore had left him, he had engaged in a quick duel with the guards who had been following them. A few breaths of fire had been enough to incapacitate them while he ran.

More guards had arrived by then, and Shade had to continuously dodge them. It took him several minutes to make his way out, and by the time he did, Ashmore was long gone.

The guards were hot on his tail at that point, and he saw no other way out than to fly. So he had sped up- and let instinct take care of the rest.

"It was… beautiful," he recalled. And it had been. Once he had gotten out of range of the guards, the rest followed. It all came to him at once. The new sights, the new smells, the feeling of soaring high above the world, until the humans that had made his life a living hell were nothing but ants to him. And the feeling of his wings beating and churning the air for the first time, and the wind gliding across his face and down his body and whistling through his scales, and he was free and flying-

"It was one of the happiest moments of my life," he added.

Ashmore nodded. "I know what you mean," he agreed.

They spotted their landmark, a small clearing in the forest where they had burned a black circle into the grass, and began their descent. When they were safely on the ground, Ashmore led the way into the forest.

"There's something I've been meaning to ask you," Ashmore announced. "How do you feel about Lily?"

Shade was confused. "She's nice," he replied. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, does she… you know… creep you out a little?"

In fact, she did. When they first met, Shade thought she had been fine, but the longer he got to know her, the more she made him feel on edge. He couldn't put his claw on it, but there was something just wrong about her.

Shade nodded. "I know what you mean. But I don't understand why."

"Right? I've known her longer than you have, and I know she's good, but something about her just creeps me out. I 'asked' Sam about it, and he just laughed and said something about eel DNA."

"What the hell is an eel?" asked Shade.

"They're nasty little buggers," Ashmore explained. "They're like snakes, except much slimier and with fins. And they live in water and they're just… ugh." The dragon shuddered.

Shade formed an image in his mind of an eel, and shuddered as well. He couldn't explain it, but the creature he imagined was just horrible.

"Alright, we're here," Ashmore said, changing the subject.

Shade looked ahead and saw the object they had come for. They had discovered it on a hunting trip the night before, and had spent the entire day deciding what to do with it. "Do you remember the plan?" he asked.

Ashmore nodded. "You bet," he said. Together, the two of them latched onto it with their claws, spread their wings, and flew off.

Matt was dreaming.

He was in the city again. This time, he started off in a building. For some reason, he felt compelled to look out the window. When he did so, he gasped.

The streets in the city below were filled with zombies. In fact, there was not a single visible patch of ground. Somehow, even worse, not a single one of them was moving. They were all looking up and staring straight at him.

As Matt observed the horde, he saw that he knew many of them. They were all the people who had died. His parents, his sister, the rest of his family, his neighbors, his friends, anyone who he had known who was dead, even those who had been his enemies. He saw Carlton down there, looking at him as well, along with several of his soldiers

And then, him.

Why? He thought. Why does this memory keep haunting me?

Then, there was a knock on the door. He turned around, and fear crept up his back. Slowly, he walked over to the door and reached out to it.

"Who's there?" he demanded.

There was no response; only another knock on the door.

He grasped the doorknob and slowly gave it a turn. He opened it a crack, and peered out to see who it was.

It was Elizabeth

He opened the door and sighed in relief. "Oh, it's you," he said. "You scared me."

And then, she started to change before his eyes. Her skin began to bubble, and her features became less pronounced. This continued until she was nothing but a yellow and orange blob.

And then the color began to change. Black spread across the shifting mass. Matt looked on in horror as the blob began to take the shape of a dark figure much taller than he was.

As he watched, the figured began to take on a familiar shape. Finally, its mass stopped shifting, and it took on a solid form.

The figure was tall and thin, and was encased entirely in a black cloak. The shadow cast by the hood seemed to cover its face, yet as Matt looked into the void, it was almost as if he didn't have a face.

"You again," Matt said; for he remembered the stranger. They had been there, watching, when Brian had gotten bit. They had seen the whole thing, but had only watched. "Who are you?"

He heard laughter- male laughter. The figure reached up his hands, gloved in black cloth, and pushed his hood back, revealing a face.

His face.

"What? How?" asked Matt.

He walked towards the frightened teen, and raised his fists. "You killed me," he said.

"No! I didn't mean to!" Matt protested. "I'm sorry!"

He swung his fist at Matt, and he fell to the ground. "It's too late for that," he said. He knelt over the boy and kept swinging. The blows descended on Matt's face, and he started screaming. But there was something strange about the blows. They didn't hurt at all. It didn't feel like he was hitting him that hard. In fact, they didn't even feel like fists. They felt like-

He opened his eyes and sat up, gasping heavily.

It took him a few seconds to realize he was staring right into Shade's face. The dragon had been nudging him awake.

The Night Fury had concern in his eyes. He could tell something was wrong. Are you okay? He seemed to ask.

Matt took a couple of deep breaths, and nodded. "It was just a bad dream," he said.

At that, Shade's mood turned infinitely better. He hopped off of the bed excitedly and ran for the open door, tail swishing back and forth. He looked back at Matt before he squeezed through.

"What're you all excited about?" he asked, grinning. His dream was already beginning to fade. "And how the hell did you get the door open?"

He got out from under the covers, slipped on his shoes, and followed him. Because of the cold, he had slept in his clothes, sweatshirt and all. He had just washed them the previous day, and since he only had two pairs (all of his old clothes were too big for him after all of the weight he had lost), he would have to wear them again.

He walked out into the hallway and saw Shade bound down the stairs, full of energy. "Whoa, be careful there," he said as he knocked a picture off of the wall. He picked up the picture to hang it back up, and as he did so he got a good look at it.

It was of him with his family.

The picture brought back memories of Before. They brought with them an explosion of emotions. As he hung it back up, a tear rolled down his cheek.

Shade noticed this, and came up behind him. He pressed himself against his human friend and gave him a comforting warble.

"Thanks," he said. He gave his dragon friend a hug, and they kept going.

Shade led him into the kitchen, calmly this time. When they entered, Matt stopped and stared in amazement.

The kitchen was composed of two areas; a cooking area and an eating area. From the hallway entering it, the area on the left was the cooking area. In the lower left-hand corner were two archways, the left one leading into the family room and the bottom one leading into the living room. In between where Matt was standing and that corner was a large, black refrigerator, a cupboard and a pantry. To the right of the entrance to the family room was a small counter about a foot long with cupboards above and below it. Next to that was a stove and an oven, with a microwave and another cupboard on top. Then, there was another counter, exactly like the first, that traveled to the next corner, turned, and kept going until it reached the sink. Above the sink was a window looking into his backyard. Next to that were more counters and cupboards, with the dishwasher below the counter right next to the sink. After the dishwasher, the counter branched off of the wall and became a thick, peninsula-like table.

The eating area was much simpler. Immediately to Matt's left was the door that led into the basement, followed by the archway into the dining room that marked the lower right corner. To the right was the door that led to a bathroom. Then, there was a glass slider door across the room from him that led onto his screened-in back porch. In between the two was a shelf that held a radio, some baskets, and other things. In the middle was a round, wooden table with four chairs around it and a rotating platform in the center that held things such as the napkins, condiments, and utensils during mealtimes.

The counter in the center had been cleared off, with everything pushed to the side. In the center of the table was an offering of sorts; a large buck, freshly killed, had been placed in the center. Its blood had begun to pool onto the counter, but that could be cleaned up afterwards.

"Did you catch this for us?" he asked.

Shade nodded proudly.

Matt walked up to it in wonder, squeezing around the dragon which took up almost all the space in the room. The buck was huge; one of the biggest he had ever seen. "It's the middle of winter!" He exclaimed. "How'd you find one this big? Shade, this is enough to feed us for a week at least!" he looked at the dragon, who was grinning at his work. "Well, maybe not with you around. But still!"

He went to remove the buck from the table. "What's the occasion, anyway?" he asked. And then he saw it.

Right in front of the buck was a message written in the deer's blood. One look told him it was Shade's writing. He had taught the dragon how to write with his claws. However, seeing as they weren't made for writing, the scrawl on the table was hard to read, and almost looked like a foreign language. In fact, it was almost as bad as Ben's handwriting.

The message read "Merry Christmas."

Matt was speechless. With all that had happened, he had completely forgotten the upcoming holiday. An assault of feelings barraged his mind. He had told Shade about Christmas before; had shared all of his fondest memories of the wonderful holiday. But if he had forgotten it…

"How did you know?" he asked.

Shade just grinned at him. The answer came to Matt in one word: Ashmore. Sam must've been keeping track of the days.

He realized then how lucky he was to have a friend like Shade. In the midst of all that had happened, he had still thought of giving- and he had never even heard of Christmas before this year. He turned to his friend and embraced him. "Thank you," he said. "This means a lot."

He felt Shade's leg nudging him, and he looked him. The Night Fury was gesturing with his head back to the table. He looked over back to the counter and saw something else. A very large saddle.

"What…?" he went over to pick it up, and understanding dawned on him.

It was for flying.

It would have to be tampered with a little, but it looked like it would do just fine. Now, when they were flying, he could have a much better grip, and they could go faster. It would also be much more comfortable for the both of them..

"Shade…" he said. "I don't know what to say to all this… Thank you."

Shade walked over to him and sat next to him. His wing shot out and wrapped around Matt's body, pulling him closer.

"You just had to write it in blood, didn't you?" he said. Above him, the dragon chuckled.

"I wish I had known," he said. "I would've gotten you something."

Shade shook his head. Don't worry about it.

"No, I'm going to get you something," Matt announced.

Shade shook his head again and batted him gently with his tail. Matt playfully punched him lightly in the shoulder in return. "I don't care what you say," he said. "I'm doing it. You're more than a friend to me; you're a brother, and brothers get each other gifts on Christmas."

The dragon warbled affectionately, and Matt could tell that he felt the same.

After Matt cleaned up the blood, moved the saddle to the wooden table, and covered the counter with paper towels, he set to work on butchering the corpse.

As he was skinning the buck, he remembered how he had once hated this job. He had had a much lower tolerance for blood and gore in the beginning. Despite how much he could take in movies, it was different in real life. But now, he had gotten used to it.

He looked up as he heard muffled footsteps from the basement, where Joey and Brian were staying. The door opened, and they walked into the room.

"Hey, what's- what the hell?!" Joey exclaimed as he saw the blood soaked counter.

"Merry Christmas," Matt greeted.

"…the hell?" Brian asked. "We just walk in to see you chopping up a dead body, and you say 'Merry Christmas'?"

"Well it is," said Matt. "Today is December Twenty-Fifth."

"…Is it really?" asked Joey.

Matt nodded. "You bet," he said. "And Shade here was kind enough to hunt this down and surprise us all."

Shade grinned at them.

"Wow…" said Brian. "That's a huge… whatever that is. Nice catch, Shade! Thanks!" He held his hand out to the dragon, who brought up his paw in a high-five.

"I could use some help with this, if you don't mind," said Matt.

"Okay, sure," Joey offered. They walked over to him, and as they passed the saddle on the table Joey asked, "What's that for?"

"That's for Shade," Matt replied. "I might have to make a few tweaks to it, but I think it'll do the job in the end."

They finished preparing the meat, and Joey and Brian began wrapping it up to store it in the refrigerator. Since they had no electricity, they placed the meat in salt to keep it healthy, and sealed it in zip-lock bags. Meanwhile, Matt went outside and used some of the propane his family had stored before Z-Day to start up the grill.

As he was warming the grill up, he turned to see that Shade had followed him out. "You want your meat cooked or raw?" he asked.

Shade didn't care. So he decided to cook it. As he was waiting for the grill to heat up, the cold began to gnaw at him. It was freezing out, and the most he had was a sweatshirt. He didn't have a jacket, and decided that he would get one as soon as possible. In the meantime, he knelt against Shade for warmth.

The bottom of the grill was almost completely invisible with all the meat he had on it. About half of it was for Shade, and the other half was for them. And that wasn't even all the meat. He had taken half of the carcass with him. They were going to feast this morning.

A half hour later, the meal was done and laid out in the dining room. The girls had woken up to the smell of fresh meat, and had wandered downstairs to investigate. What they found was a full dining table set with six plates loaded with deer meat. Matt and Joey were sitting next to each other, with Brian sitting on one end and Shade on the other. The dragon was busy wolfing down his food much faster than anyone else.

"Merry Christmas!" Joey exclaimed when the girls walked in.

"Wait, what?" asked Alena.

"Apparently someone's been keeping track of the days," said Brian. "And that someone told Shade here, who snuck out last night and caught us an enormous deer."

"We cooked some up for you," said Matt between bites. He gestured to the two empty chairs in front of him. As the girls sat down to eat, he went back to his meat and started cutting another piece. He stabbed it with his fork, and as he was lifting it to his mouth, he glanced over at Shade and froze.

"Jesus Christ," he swore. "Slow the hell down, dude. You're acting like you've never eaten a deer before."

Shade just glared at him between bites and went back to his food.

Matt sighed and brought to his fork to his mouth and bit off the meat, chewing it, letting the succulent flavors invade his taste buds. After he swallowed it, he said, "Honestly, Shade. You remind me of my dog sometimes."

Without even looking up, Shade smacked him in the arm with his paw. Next to him, Brian and Joey smirked.

When they were done eating, they decided to go meet with the others. Matt moved the saddle up to his room, leaving it to work on later, and they left the house to go to Sam's.

Earlier that morning, on the other side of town, the residents of Highland Drive were just starting to wake up.

Trent, who had been staying there after his return, had woken up first. He made himself a small breakfast of stale bread and canned fruit, and then went outside.

His work was waiting for him out there. While he had been traveling the country, he had gained experience fixing up cars to drive. And now, he was trying to fix the Mazda that they had found sitting in Ben's driveway.

Ben had asked him personally to fix it up. Some scavengers had taken pieces of the engine and smashed some of the inner mechanisms, making it impossible to use. He and Anthony sometimes helped him, but since he was the earliest riser, he spent the most time on it.

When he asked Ben if he knew who it had belonged to, the boy's mood changed drastically. "I don't want to talk about it," he had said.

At that moment, Trent understood. "It was Katie's, wasn't it?"

Ben nodded.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Ben shook his head. "No," he replied.

Trent said one more thing before he allowed the subject to change. "I've lost someone too," he said. "It's hard. But we learn to move on." He put his hand comfortingly on Ben's shoulder, and said, "The best you can do now is live for the both of you. That's how I get through the day."

After that, he had gone up to his bedroom upstairs, fished out a picture of his wife and daughter, and looked at it for a little while. And, for the first in a long time, he cried.

When he was done, he returned to his work on the car. He was almost finished with it; in fact, he only had a couple things left to do. As it turned out, it would be another hour before anyone else got up. That gave Trent just enough time to finish his work.

"Sweet," Trent exclaimed at his put all of the tools away. "Now let's take it for a joy ride, shall we?" he said to himself.

He got in the car and found the keys lying on the seat. He inserted the key into the ignition and started it up. The engine coughed and sputtered for a few moments, but then it came to life.

He backed out of the driveway and drove down the street. As he reached the end of it, he turned left and drove deeper into Lyndrich.

He drove it around, driving through the back roads, for about twenty minutes before he decided to go back. As he pulled into Ben's driveway, the door opened, and both he and Anthony stepped outside.

"Dude!" he yelled. "You fixed it!"

Trent switched off the engine and opened the door, climbing out of the car. "Merry Christmas," he greeted.

"Wait," said Anthony. "Is that today?"

Trent nodded. "You bet. I found out yesterday."

"And you're just telling us now?" asked Ben.

"Well I wanted to surprise you. Anyway, I'm going to pay the others a visit. You want to drive?"

Ben nodded in excitement. "Hell yeah," he said.

They all got into the car with Ben at the wheel and he drove off. "Where to first?" he asked.

"Sam's," Trent replied. "That's where people seem to gather, and I need to talk to him anyway."

Ben nodded. "Sounds good. I'm just glad we don't have to walk there anymore. That was getting to be a real pain in the ass, especially in this cold weather."

"Yeah," Trent agreed. "Anyway, there's one thing I don't get about all this."

"What's that?"

"Instead of salvaging this thing for parts, why didn't they just take it? I mean, the keys were right on the seat!"

Ben shook his head. "I don't know, dude," he said. "People are fucking weird."

"You can say that again."

When they pulled into Sam's driveway (which was hardly even a driveway as much as a small strip of tiny rocks with weeds growing in between them), it began to snow.

"God damn it," Anthony complained. "Now it's going to be even colder."

"Yeah, we seriously need some jackets," Ben pointed out.

"Whoever goes out for supplies next, let them know," said Trent. "It's been long overdue."

They got out of the car and walked to the door. As Trent knocked on it, the snow seemed to fall even heavier.

The door opened to reveal Elizabeth. She nodded in greeting and stepped aside to let them in.

"Hey, Merry Christmas," Trent greeted. Sam, who was sitting on the couch reading a book, turned to them. "Hey," he said. "Merry Christmas! Come in, sit down." He gestured to the couch.

The three of them took a seat. "Did I hear a car out there?" asked Sam.

"Yep, I got us a ride," said Trent. "Listen, Sam, I need to ask you something. I know I've been really pushy about this, but I really need that flash drive. Do you have any idea where you might've lost it? Look, I'll go look for it if you don't want to. I just want somewhere to start."

Sam frowned as he thought hard about what to say next. "I think- think- I remember where I was that day."

Trent looked hopeful. "Where?" he asked.

"I think I was… somewhere on Long Pond Road. Yeah, that was it."

Long Pond Road was a very long back road that began about a mile down the street from Sam's house, and stretched all the way to the other side of town. About half of it was on the shore of a large pond, named Long Pond.

"That's a very long road, though," said Sam. "And it could be anywhere. Even worse, it might not even be there at all."

"It's a start," Trent said. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Suddenly, from outside, they heard a thumping sound. Ashmore, who had been curled up on the carpet in the middle of the room, looked up at that moment. The others looked out the window, and saw a flash of black wings taking off.

"Guess who?" asked Trent.

A moment later, there was a knock on the door. "I'll get it," said Ben. He stood up and opened the door. "Hey Matt! Merry Christmas!" he said.

Matt stepped inside, his dark brown hair full of white flecks of snow. "Merry Christmas," he greeted. "Jeez, it's snowing pretty hard out there."

It was true. Since they had arrived, the light snowfall seemed to have turned into a much heavier one.

"Anyway, Shade went back to get the others, so they should be here soon," he said. The couch was full, so he went to sit on one of the chairs at the kitchen counter. "So, how're you guys doing?" he asked.

"Pretty good," said Sam. "Ashmore caught a deer for us this morning."

"Shade did too," said Matt. "You think they planned it?"

"Definitely."

Matt glanced at the dragon lying on the floor, who had gone back to his rest. But Matt noticed that his ears were pricked up, and he was grinning slightly. He was listening to them.

Looking at the dragon gave him an idea. "Sam," he said. "Could I talk to you in the other room for a moment?"

Sam frowned in confusion. "Sure," he said. They both stood up and left the room.

When they were alone, Matt spoke.

"So the dragons both did really nice things for us," said Matt. "And I was thinking that we should do something for them in return."

"Like what?" Sam asked.

"I'm not sure," Matt admitted. He scratched his head in thought. "I was hoping you could help me with that one."

They both thought very hard for a minute. Then, suddenly, Sam smiled. "That's it," he said.

"What?" asked Matt.

"I know what we can do."

After Shade dropped off Joey and Brian, and went back for the girls, Sam and Matt snuck out of the house, with Swampert, who had been upstairs in Sam's room sleeping, following them. They dressed in layers in order to stay warm. Under Sam's lead, the three of them went looking for materials. When they found what they were looking for, they hotwired a car and drove to Long Pond.

"Alright, let's get this started," said Matt as he got out of the car. They walked out onto the frozen lake, making sure the ice was strong enough first, and found a good spot in the middle.

Their plan was simple. Swampert, being a water-type, could control the water. He could use this control to break the ice and extract the fish from it. Then, Matt and Sam would take the large buckets they had brought with them, and collect all of the fish.

That was the plan, at least.

"I'm not entirely sure this will work," Sam confessed. "He's never tried to control this much water before."

"Can he actually do it, though?" Matt asked.

Sam nodded. "After I was done making all the Pokemon, I did some research as to how their powers worked. Turns out, for him anyway, it's a form of telekinesis." He turned to Swampert. "Ready?" he asked.

The Pokémon nodded, and turned to the pond. He pressed his front paws against the earth, and concentrated hard. For the first few seconds, nothing happened. But about ten seconds into it, a deafening crack resonated across the ice.

Matt saw, about twenty feet from the shore, a large fissure in the ice. Slowly, it began to grow, eventually branching out and forming other cracks. Swampert grunted; Matt could tell the effort was depleting his energy.

Finally, with the loudest crack of them all, the ice broke. Water came gushing out of the newly-made hole, and spread onto the surrounding ice. To his excitement, Matt caught sunlight glinting off of wiggling shapes within the geyser.

Swampert continued doing this for a few more seconds, until he finally let up. He slumped to the ground and panted.

"That took a lot out of him," Matt observed.

"It's very hard for him to move that much water," Sam explained. "Now let's go get those fish."

As they made their way onto the ice- Sam bringing a stick with him to allow him to test it- they passed Swampert, and said their thanks. Swampert grinned at them, and grunted.

There were fish everywhere. Their wriggling bodies made the icy pond cover look like a living carpet. The snow, which had begun to let up a little bit but was still going strong, impaired their vision slightly, but not enough to prevent them from spotting the glint of sunlight off of scales that signaled a fish lying in the snow.

They gathered as many fish as they could. It was tricky, for the fish were still alive, and their flopping made them hard to grasp. Also, when the buckets were getting closer to being filled, they would sometimes leap out and have to be picked up again.

In the end, they managed to get two whole buckets full of fish back to the car. They had packed a large, red cooler in the back, and they now used it as a much more secure place to store the fish.

"Think they'll like it?" asked Matt.

"Definitely," Sam replied. "We haven't been able to get fish in a while."

"Yeah, same here," Matt said. "It's so funny, though, how much they like fish, right? It's like they worship the things."

"Well, I wouldn't call eating them worship, but I see your point."

Later, when night had almost fallen, they were all together.

Sam had surprised them all with a feast. He and Swampert had gone into their food stores and nearly emptied it for the occasion. There was dried meat, canned goods, chips; if it could be preserved, they had it. Matt even drove home to take some drinks from his parents' old alcohol stash.

Matt and Sam had brought out the fish they had caught, and had served them all to Ashmore and Shade. The two dragons were in heaven; they hadn't had fish in ages, and to them it was the greatest delicacy on the planet.

While the feast was far from the best he had tasted, Matt was having the time of his life. Everyone in the world he cared about that was still alive- except Lucas was here, and all of them were having a good time. Even the dragons and the Pokémon.

Since they didn't have a dining table big enough to accommodate all of them, they were spread about the living room and kitchen, eating and talking away. Matt was sitting at the kitchen table with Shade, Sam, Ashmore and Samantha.

Despite all of the bad things that had happened, the good seemed to be building up today. And although the feast ended, while it lasted, it was a great conclusion to the first Christmas in the new world.

Or so he thought.

After the feast was over, Shade and Ashmore disappeared. Sam and Matt looked, but they couldn't find them anywhere.

When they did finally show up, they were outside, flying back from somewhere. They landed in Sam's driveway, sending faint thuds through the house. Nick saw them first.

"Hey! The dragons are in the driveway!" he said. "And they've got some sort of box with them!"

The group rushed outside to see what it was. Shade and Ashmore were standing in the middle of the driveway, flanking a large, metal box. It had gotten dark out by then, but they could still see that there was something in it.

A lot of things, actually.

Shade and Ashmore offered it to the group. They had spent the last few days collecting items that the group could profit from, and now, they were giving them to everyone as a gift.

Nick and Anthony reached the box first, and they lifted it and brought it back inside. The first item visible in the box immediately got everyone excited.

Winter jackets.

A whole box full of them. One for every person; even Elizabeth. They all dug through them until they had each picked one out. Matt picked out a large, thick black one, with a hood. He tried it on, to find that it was very warm and comfortable.

"Thank you, Shade," he said, giving the smaller dragon a hug. "And you too, Ashmore." He patted the larger dragon on the head.

After they had picked out the jackets, other things were revealed as well.

"Oh my God!" Ben yelled with excitement when he saw what it was. "Vodka!"

Underneath all the jackets, the box was filled with flavored vodka. Ben grabbed at one of the bottles and opened it, taking a swig. "This is the greatest Christmas present ever," he said. "Thank you so much."

Other members of the group began to take some of the vodka as well. Anthony was the first, and as he reached in, he felt something else at the bottom.

"The fuck?" he wondered. He dug through the vodka, groping for the object, and closed his hands around it. When he pulled it out, he looked at it and gasped.

"Tim," he said. "I think this is for you."

Trent, his face showing his curiosity, came over to see what it was… and immediately snatched the flash drive from his hand.

"Oh my God!" he said. "You found it!" He turned to Ashmore, who was standing right beside him. "Where did you find this?" he asked.

Ashmore turned to Reuniclus, who was across the room from him, and warbled loudly. The Pokémon floated over to him and listened as he trilled something to her.

"He says… they were looking for some other things on Long Pond Road and found it there," she translated.

"Thank you so much," he said.

"Here," Ben said, handing him a bottle. "Have a drink to celebrate."

"No," Trent declined. "I'm all set. I don't feel like drinking right now."

"Come on," Ben persuaded. "It's Christmas! Just one drink."

Trent seemed to consider. Finally, he gave in. "Fine… But just one drink!"

Ben grinned as his friend took the bottle and opened it. As he lifted the bottle to his lips, he said, "Let the night begin."

So, what did you think? Let me know!