Greetings, dear readers, and welcome back to All I Want For Christmas is a Pokémon! Last time saw Wednesday start off in some ...funny ways for some of the wrestlers, along with some nice moments had between others. Now, we head back to AJ as she waits for Kaitlyn, Bulby, and her future potential Poképartner. I hope you all enjoy this, my dolls. =)

Having finished her morning routine, AJ soon found herself waiting for when Kaitlyn and the others would get back. 'Just calm down, Mendez. Kaitlyn probably just ran into Naomi or Zack or Alex and they're just having a chat somewhere. Nothing to worry about.'

Her worries were soon put to rest when the hotel room door opened and she could hear conversations making their way in.

"Pika!" Pikachu said upon seeing that the human named AJ was awake where he then dashed over to the seated human.

A soft laugh escaping her, AJ got off the bed and scooped the Electric mouse up for a hug. "Morning, Pikachu. Did you have fun with Kaitlyn and Bulby?"

"Pik Pi," the Electric mouse responded with a nod.

"Good. That's good," the brunette nodded. Trying to figure out a way to let Pikachu know about their upcoming training, AJ felt saved a bit when she then found herself joined by Kaitlyn and Bulby.

"Morning, AJ," the two-toned woman greeted her friend.

"Sa Bul Bulbasaur!" Bulby greeted with a wave of one of her vines.

"Morning, you two," AJ smiled with a wave. "How was breakfast? Did I miss anything?"

"Not much outside of Mikey and Randy dodging a beating from a Farfetch'd of one of the staff members. Apparently, Viper slid and fell on a patch of ice, which I think may have come from someone's Pokémon. Whoever's it was, it sure was funny. And it also led to yet another battle between those two," Kaitlyn said as she recounted the morning's events.

"Honestly, when will those two learn? Having battles over nothing can't be good for team morale," the brunette shook her head.

"Who knows knowing those two? Who really knows?" Kaitlyn shrugged. Changing the subject, the two-toned woman said "So, are you ready?"

"Ready for what exactly?"

"Ready for you and Pikachu's big training day! I'd imagine you've been looking forward to it, right?"

"Yeah, I am. …I'm just a little nervous. Pikachu probably doesn't have the best people and Pokémon skills, so I don't know how he'll take to something like training battles," the brunette said as she rubbed the Electric mouse's head.

"OK, I get your point. After all, for all we know the battles he's had probably haven't been too much of a friendly type."

"Good point," AJ nodded in agreement. She wasn't sure how to go about this when they would have their training battles. She knew she could trust Kaitlyn and the others to help ease Pikachu into this, but would that be enough?

Pikachu was feeling confused. He kept hearing the humans say something about "training" and "battles", and that all sounded a bit scary to him. Lightly tugging on the human named AJ's shirt, Pikachu asked "Pika?"

Feeling the tug, AJ looked down at the Electric mouse. A light laugh escaping her, AJ said "I'm guessing you heard that, didn't you?"

All the Electric mouse did was nod his head in response.

"Well, I have a question, Pikachu. How would you like to do some training today? Don't worry. It won't be anything too bad, and we'll have friends there to help us out. It's something that'll help you get stronger and to be ready for when we have to go through with Stephanie's test for us. And, like I said, don't worry. I'll be right there with you through it all."

"Get stronger". That sounded like a good thing, a very good thing. And, if what the human named AJ said was true, they could get strong enough to face whatever it was the human named Stephanie had planned for them. Thinking all of this over, Pikachu finally said with a nod "Ka Pik Pika Pi."

Laughing a bit at him saying that, AJ said "OK then, Pikachu. To the Training Center we go!"

…

Looking around, Alex still couldn't seem to find it. That blue blur she saw, she knew it had to be a Pokémon of some kind. She just had no idea what it could be. 'But I can't get too hung up on what it could be. I gotta find it so that I can maybe take it to the front desk. Maybe it got separated from its Trainer in some wa-' And just like with earlier, the streaked brunette found herself slipping and falling forward onto the ground.

Doing her best to hold back the string of swear words that tried to slip out, Alex turned to look behind her and again saw a patch of ice on the ground. "Dude seriously?! This is the second damn time today!" the brunette all but shouted in disbelief.

"Alexis? Is everything okay?" a voice from in front of her could be heard asking. Turning to look behind her, Alex saw that it was just Maryse and Delcatty, the platinum blonde holding her hand out as a way of offering to help her up. Taking hold of Maryse's hand, Alex stood as she said "Thanks, Maryse. Can't believe that happened to me again."

"'Again'? This happened to you before?" Maryse asked.

"Just when I was making my way down to the dining area to meet up with Jeff and Splat. I woke up late, which led to me kinda rushing down to meet up with them …and my first unfortunate slip and fall on a patch of ice," Alex said, trying now to hide the slight blush on her face.

Doing her best to stifle her sudden snickers, Maryse said "Oh, don't worry too much about that, chérie. I'm sure no one was around to see when it happened. Best to just let it go and move on from that."

"Yeah, I guess you're right about that," Alex agreed with a shrug. "So, what brings you and Delcatty to these parts? You guys heading to get something to eat?"

"We were actually heading back to our room. Mike and Randy got caught up in another one of their childish fights, so we just decided to leave him. And good thing too. So help me if I had to head another spat about who's the best," the platinum blonde shook her head.

"Nyaa nyaaaaa," the feline Pokémon mirrored her Trainer's actions.

"Yeah, well, that's guys for you. Always too damn stubborn for their own good about stuff. Just try to ignore them," Alex said before suggesting with a mischievous grin "If anything, you could always tell Mike that if he doesn't reel in the constant battling, you'll break his and Minun's sunglasses. That'd probably shut that up in him."

Hearing the younger brunette out about that, Maryse couldn't help the slight smirk that tugged at the corners of her mouth. "That's actually not too bad an idea. And I know just the pairs to get. Doesn't that sound like a good idea, Delcatty?"

"Nyaa," the feline Pokémon agreed before letting out a string of meows that sounded almost like laughter.

Sharing a laugh with Maryse over this, Alex stayed and talked with the older woman a bit more before she decided to take off and continue her search. …But, like before, it turned up nothing. A slightly annoyed sigh escaping her, the brunette turned on her heel and, taking her phone out of her pocket, sent a text to Jeff to let him know she was coming to meet up with him. 'Again. Whatever the hell that blur blur was, I will find it. And then I'll figure out what to do with it.'

…

At the Training Center

Looking around the facility she now found herself at, all AJ could say was "Whoa" with Pikachu saying an equally impressed "Pikaaaaa."

Seeing and hearing the surprise coming from AJ and Pikachu, Kaitlyn couldn't help the amused laugh that escaped her. "Yep. This place is certainly something, isn't it? Good thing there was a training facility in the city here that wasn't too far from the hotel. Now. First thing we gotta do is figure out just what we're working with here."

"And what do you mean by that exactly?" AJ asked, feeling a bit confused with Pikachu asking "Pika?" in a similar tone.

"What I mean is figuring out just what Pikachu's moveset is. If we can find just which moves he already knows and can potentially learn, that can all be something we can use as a starting point in your big training journey!" Kaitlyn said with a grand flourish of her hands and Bulby mimicking her Trainer's movements to the best of her abilities with her vines, not really caring about the looks she had gotten from some of the other Trainers and their Pokémon there.

Doing her best to hold back the laughs threatening to escape her, AJ cleared her throat before saying "OK, Kait, that all sounds like a plan to me. Where do we begin?"

So, one after-breakfast meeting, slip and fall on yet another ice patch, some sneaky planning, and trip later, we finally get to the training facility where AJ and Pikachu will begin their training ahead of just whatever it is Stephanie has in store for them. Here's to the training session going well! And it shall all begin...next time. Until then, don't forget to RR please. =)

(*snickers a bit* Well, for as evil of an idea Alex had to try and help reel in Miz's constant battling was, it sounds like something Maryse and Delcatty would be more than fine with putting into motion. Hopefully, neither Miz nor Minun will have to worry about their sunglasses getting broken.)

(Stay safe, warm, and healthy, lovelies. *sends love and positive vibes out to you all*)