Chapter 52 Special! (part 1) – These days…

Dec 16: After the beautiful eeveelutions festival we decided to stay with Shinji's cousins, the Eevee sisters, who kindly offered us a couple of free rooms. This place is huge and so beautiful and the girls are great, they know how to do a lot of different things now I see why they're so well-known and host festivals and all of that. Psiana is very happy learning more and more about her powers since she's trying to learn "psybeam" and "psychic" with the help of Sakura's Espeon, and if she was close to Noctail before… you can't even imagine now! Seems like we have yet another Umbreon-espeon couple in the world. We decided not to tell anything about what happened at the festival with Espe since… well, it's not really their problem and I don't think it'll change anything, it already happened and even though Espe had no reason to attack Psiana, Noctail was also to blame on all this mess. In any case we'll have to wait and see what will happen next time we meet, I feel like things will get awkward, even more so because Espe is not the only one with those feelings, I know it, I've seen how Esper looks at Shinji and she's interested, I don't think it's just a rivalry (Though it's not like I care about that! It's just that is awkward…) On the other hand the Hanaki sisters left after the festival but we'll meet again soon for sure, it's usual by now. I think they were going back to Hoenn to spend the holidays with their family. Honestly with all the people I've met so far in Johto I've had lots of fun and I've learned a lot, I'm very glad to have made this journey and that things are going so nicely, next year will be very interesting.

Dec 17: Today we decided to go around Ecruteak with Sakura and Sumomo who had to buy some fabric and other things. It's a very interesting and big city so there was still much to see, you can't do everything in just one visit. We visited both of Ecruteak's towers and we could even pray and leave our good wishes for next year at the Ho-oh tower. We also met the leader Matsuba in the place, he was excited and told us that the legendary protectors of the region Ho-oh and Lugia had been sighted during these last days, I chuckled thinking that it was Silver but I didn't say anything . We passed by the gym although it was closed, and by many stores that sold everything from medicinal things to clothing and items for pokémon. The whole atmosphere felt somewhat magical with all the many decorations and lights as people prepare for the festivities. I don't know if it's because of the snow or the holidays but Shinji hasn't been training with his team so much lately and all our pokémon have had a lot of free time to rest and be among themselves. So far he hasn't lost a single gym battle, was it like that back in Sinnoh or in other regions? He is certainly very skilled and knows what he's doing... I remember his battle against Hayato, how he got upset about that tri-attack nonsense and Amber left the team, it still bothers me a bit but I think he's been thinking about it lately, especially since We learned that Noctail (and Kaito!) were also released by their previous trainers, I think it's a bit ironic but it' making him reconsider things. Tsukushi and Akane were defeated mainly thanks to Karuma while against Matsuba, Shijima and Mikan there has been more variety and interesting strategies... I feel that their style has been changing and evolving too but I still wonder how things will be at the league…

Dec 18: Well today, um... where to start...? Today it had ben snowing all day and because of the cold the the eevee sisters decided to do something special and we took a bath at the dojo's hot springs, the place was simple but pretty and the warm water felt very good. We stayed a while to refresh ourselves, Satsuki had to leave early to do some things, then Sumomo and Koume who would help her with dinner and finally Tamao, Sakura and I also left. I dried my hair and wrapped it in a towel as well as myself... and... well the… accident happened. I was going to my room and... I bumped into Shinji as soon as I left, I-I got nervous and for a moment I almost dropped the towel, I-IT WAS ONLY A MOMENT and then I almost died of embarrassment so I just ran away and stayed in my room. The dinner was quite uncomfortable and Sakura even asked us what had happened, but we didn't say anything.

Dec. 19: Today I decided to practice a bit. Koume and Sumomo were practicing some combinations with their Vaporeon and Flareon and I wasn't going to let that opportunity go to waste, after all, even if the season is over for the rest of the year we must be in shape and ready for when we return! We practiced with some simple, double and even a multi battle with Shinji. Dorinda learned "confuse ray" thanks to Tamao's umbreon, which earned us a victory against Karuma. Also during the multi battle Shinji and I realized that Kauma and Lux have an excellent synchronicity with each other and with us both as trainers. Usually in a battle of two team trainers a pokemon listens to its own trainer only of course, but for them that doesn't seem to matter too much, I suppose it's trust and all that... anyway. The afternoon went by battle after battle and when it got dark I decided to call Reiji and mom to say hello, update them on what's going on, and to ask Reiji about Shin's birthday tehee. He was glad we were back in Ecruteak, I told him about Psiana and Noctail, the battles, he greeted his cousins and he reminded us all that Shinji's birthday is December 22! Now we just have to figure out if we'll do something.

Dec 20: Today Shinji decided to train while the Eevee sisters and I went on decorating the place. We filled the dojo with lights and colorful threads and obviously… the tree! I've always loved Christmas trees and thought it was very fun I'll admit I miss mom. The girls also told me about some litte traditions and beliefs they do every year like putting up silver bells symbolizing prosperity and Lugia's blessing. Sumomo also scattered some mistletoe around and one everything was beautiful we made some cookies and hot chocolate and sat down to see a movie.

Dec 21: While we prepared something for tomorrow Koume was distracting Shinji a bit training outside with their pokémon. We made a cake, Sakura, Sumomo and Satsuki wrapped some gifts and Tamao and I made any last minute adjustments. I spoke with Haruka since she had called me and told her everything that had happened these days, she told me she was back in Hoenn to be with her family and when I told her about Shinji's birthday then she said she'd call as well. I don't know why but I have the feeling that tomorrow will be a big day.

And that's all that happened this week, I think the pokémon have enjoyed it a lot and I've had lots of fun with the girls, five sisters makes things very interesting and sure keeps things moving. Of course there still were some arguments here and there but it was overall peaceful. I don't really know if we'll stay here until January when the gyms and contests re-open but…