The calendar has quickly landed on Christmas Eve in the Kanto region, and everyone around the region, including the town of Pallet, are gathering with their families to get ready for the big holiday the very next day. That even includes a pair of Trainers that we're familiar with, who are always jumping at the opportunity for a new adventure. For one of them, this was going to be the first Christmas they get to celebrate at home ever since they first left home for their Pokémon journey. And it was only made even more exciting as one of their friends came to visit from the cold region of Sinnoh to spend Christmas with them.
Just in time for the holiday, a pretty substantial snowfall has started to hit Pallet Town. At one house, we find a Pikachu and Piplup run out the front door to have fun in the snow, with their Trainers quickly following suit. While Pikachu and Piplup were rolling around in the snow, their Trainers had other ideas.
"Ash!" Piplup's Trainer shouted. "Wanna build a snowman?"
"Sure, Dawn, let's do it!" Pikachu's Trainer answered.
Ash and Dawn quickly got to work, and even Pikachu and Piplup made their own little snowman to go along with the one their Trainers were making. While Ash and Dawn were building their snowman, Pikachu went looking for some sticks to go on both snowmen. But once the mouse Pokémon got back, he saw that Ash and Dawn quickly switched to having a snowball fight, so it dropped the sticks to get in on the fun.
"Do you two wanna join us?" Ash asked the Pokémon.
Pikachu and Piplup happily answered, and Pikachu tossed a snowball right at Ash's face, catching Ash completely off guard. "Nice shot, Pikachu!" Dawn said.
"Oh, I see how it is!" Ash said. "Let's show them, Piplup!"
"Lup!" Piplup shouted.
"You two are going down!" Dawn said. "Right, Pikachu?!"
"Pika!" Pikachu responded.
Plenty of shots were made from both sides, with no sign of letting up from anyone. Everyone was starting to feel tired from all of the throwing and carrying of the snow, however. Ash and Dawn ran to the backyard, and layed down in the snow, looking straight up at the sky as the snow continued to fall.
"That was awesome," Dawn said as she was finally catching her breath.
"But very tiring," Ash added. "And really cold at the same time."
Dawn giggled at the last part of Ash's comment, and the two of them relaxed themselves, still laying down in the snow. "Ugh, now I'm starting to get cold," Dawn said as she was starting to shiver.
"Yeah, same here," Ash said. "How about we get inside to warm up?"
"Sounds good to me."
"Perfect timing, you two!" Ash's mom, Delia, said as she was walking to the back door from the front, with some envelopes in her hand. "The chilli is ready!"
"Sweet!" Ash and Dawn both said with excitement, and booked it inside as quickly as they could to the kitchen.
The freshly-made chili felt so refreshing to Ash and Dawn after the first bite. Since both of them had spent quite a bit of time outside in the cold snow, the feeling of taking the first bite of hot chili made it even better for them. Delia couldn't help but chuckle about it. "Just be sure to not go too crazy, you two," She said. "Let alone burn yourselves."
"We'll be fine, Mom!" Ash said.
"No need to worry!" Dawn said. "The chili is delicious!"
"Well, thank you, Dawn!" Delia said. "I have some extra things in case you two want any sides to dip into your chili."
"Awesome!" Ash said. "Thanks, Mom!"
"Of course! So Dawn, I'm of course glad you decided to come visit us, but what even made you want to come to Kanto for Christmas in the first place?"
"Oh yeah," Dawn started. "See, despite all the time that Ash and I had spent traveling together, we never really had the opportunity to stop and celebrate a holiday together. Of course, I would've loved to celebrate Christmas this year with my mom as well, but she told me that she wasn't going to be in Twinleaf around this time since she knew I've been out training with my Pokémon nonstop, and doing Contests, too. Not to mention she's been super busy with her own stuff, which requires her to leave the house for a few days a lot of the time. So, that left me with having to go somewhere else to spend Christmas, and I decided that coming to Kanto to see you guys was the best option for me."
"That's really thoughtful of you! If you don't mind me asking, did you go shopping for presents before you arrived?"
"Yep! They're all wrapped up, and ready for tomorrow!"
"Man, I can't wait for tomorrow!" Ash yelled.
"Neither can I!" Dawn said. "I think you're really going to like what I got for you!"
"I'm sure whatever it is, it'll be awesome!"
"You two better not stay up all night, though," Delia said.
"No need to worry, Mom!" Ash said.
"That's when I worry the most," Dawn said.
"Hey, you say it a lot, too!"
"No, I don't!"
"Oh, yes, you do!"
"All right, all right, let's not start fighting now," Delia interrupted. "Besides, we got some Christmas cards from some people you two know."
"Huh?" Ash and Dawn both said, looking at Delia.
Delia proceeded to hand both cards to Ash, asking him to open them. Ash immediately recognized the handwriting on the first card, and opened it rather quickly.
"Who's it from?" Dawn asked, watching Ash seemingly rip the envelope open.
"It's from Goh!" Ash quickly answered.
"Wait, I wanna see it then!"
After Ash took the card out of the envelope, he paused to see the image on the front of the card, which was a picture of him, Goh, and all of their Pokémon together in Cerise Park at Professor Cerise's laboratory in the nearby Vermilion City. Seeing this picture put such a warm smile on Ash's face, and made him a little emotional at the same time. Afterward, he proceeded to open the card, and start reading it. "'Dear Ash,'" He started after clearing his throat. "'I usually never send out Christmas cards, but this year was going to be different for me. I feel like I just had to send you one after all of the great things that you've done for me over the last few months. So, I knew I had to repay you somehow! Hope you guys have the best Christmas possible, and we are absolutely going on a trip once we get back to the lab! Best wishes, Goh.'"
"Aww, that was so sweet of him!" Dawn said.
"Sounds like Goh really looks up to you, Ash," Delia commented.
"Yeah, you can say that," Ash said with a small nervous sweat on his face. "Anyway, let's take a look at the other card."
Ash didn't read who the second card was from as he was opening the envelope, as he seemed to be more focused on brushing past the slight embarrassment that he was feeling inside. But before Ash even got to see what the card even was, Dawn interrupted Ash, as she noticed something that dropped onto the table from Goh's card.
"What is it?" Ash asked.
"Aww, it's a picture of the four of us from the last time we were together!" Dawn answered.
"That was sweet of him!" Delia said. "Want me to put it in a frame for you, Ash?"
"Yeah, sure!" Ash answered. "Anyway, back to this card."
Pikachu jumped onto the table this time around, as there was something regarding this card that seemed familiar to him. Once Pikachu took a sniff of the envelope and the card, he felt so happy that he knew who it came from.
"Oh, you know who it's from, Pikachu?" Dawn asked.
"Pikachu has an amazing recollection of scents of people we've met in the past," Ash explained. "There was one time we met Cynthia in Johto, and he was able to pick up her scent, despite us being in a large crowd of people at a museum."
"Wow, that's incredible."
Once Ash took a better look at the card, he felt yet another large warm on his face. It was from a friend that he's known for longer than Dawn. In fact, it was one of the very first people that Ash got to meet after he left Pallet Town for the first time. "Oh, it's from Misty!" He said.
"Misty?" Dawn asked. "I think I remember you telling me about her. Isn't she a Gym Leader?"
"Yeah, she's the Leader of the Cerulean Gym here in Kanto. I haven't seen her in a very long time. I've been wondering how she's doing."
"It sure has been a long time since we've heard from her," Delia added. "I bet she's been extremely busy since she's a Gym Leader."
"Absolutely," Ash said.
"I still have yet to meet her!" Dawn said. "We should go visit her soon!"
"Yeah!" Ash said before clearing his throat to open and read the card.
Before Ash could even start reading, something fell out of Misty's card, which happened to be a postcard to Cerulean City. Dawn took a look at the postcard, and was astounded at the sight of Misty in the image. "Oh wow, she's so pretty!" She said.
Ash chuckled at Dawn's comment about Misty, and finally proceeded to read the card. "'Hey there, Ash!'" He started. "'It's been a while! I hope you're still going at it on your journey, and getting stronger! Things have been crazy here at the Cerulean Gym, but it's been so much fun being a Gym Leader though! One of these days though, I will take extended time off so I can travel somewhere for Christmas, like what you, Brock, and I did a few years back! Hopefully we can do that again next year! Let's get together again really soon, too! Not only do I want to see you again, but also get a rematch against you! So you better be ready for that, Ketchum! Anyway, please take care of yourself, and Merry Christmas Ash! From, Misty.'"
"Whoa, you better watch out, Ash!" Dawn said.
"I knew she was gonna wanna battle me again," Ash said. "And I will be winning again this time around! I can't wait to show her how much stronger I've gotten since we've last seen each other!"
"Now that's a battle that I have to watch! I wanna be there to cheer you on, too!"
"Great! Thanks a lot, Dawn!"
Ash and Dawn gave each other a high five, and everyone worked together to clean up the kitchen, then sat down in the living room to watch some movies before calling it a night. Once Ash and Dawn got upstairs into Ash's bedroom, neither of them went to bed right away. Both of them were practically glued to the window, continuing to watch the snow falling. Pikachu and Piplup joined Ash and Dawn in watching the snowfall from Ash's bedroom window. It was nothing short of a relaxing sight for all of them.
"This brings back plenty of memories," Ash said.
"Like what?" Dawn asked.
"Like the first time I got to celebrate Christmas on my journey. It was with Brock and Misty, and we were on a beachside house that Professor Oak got for us. The first night was a bit of a mess thanks to the Pokémon, but we made the best of it, and it eventually went along very smoothly after that."
"Oh, that sounds cool. That was nice of Professor Oak! I imagine the place you guys stayed in was really nice!"
"It was. There was another year where we stayed in this cabin that was basically in the middle of nowhere, but it was very peaceful where we were. It was really nice."
"Sounds like it. I remember going with my mom to Snowpoint City for Christmas a few times when I was younger, and it was amazing every time. So, obviously this was well before I met Zoey. Wonder how she's doing now I mention it. I wanna go see her again at some point."
"Anyway, we should probably get to bed. Santa Claus is gonna be here soon!"
"True. I wonder what he's gonna bring this year?"
"We'll just have to wait till the morning to find out I suppose."
"Yeah."
"Goodnight, Dawn."
"Goodnight, Ash."
As Ash and Dawn quickly fell asleep, high above the skies in Kanto, a very large red-colored sleigh that was being carried by a group of reindeer Pokémon was flying into Pallet Town! Its destination is going to be Ash's house, and proceeds to land on the roof of the house. Before the sleigh landed, one of the Pokémon sent waves of mysterious psychic power through Ash's bedroom window. What did it even do?
Back in Ash's room, both he and Dawn seemed to be moving around pretty noticeably in their beds, even though they weren't even awake. Could they be having a thrilling dream possibly? Even Pikachu and Piplup were experiencing the same thing!
In one moment, Ash and Dawn felt themselves sleeping on their beds, and in the next, they're flying around in Santa's sleigh at unimaginable speeds! They weren't sure how they even got there in the first place, but they didn't think much about it at the moment. Not even the intensely cold wind from traveling at such a high speed was making Ash and Dawn even flinch.
Back into reality, things were starting to go wrong for Santa's Pokémon, which didn't allow him to leave! One of them had injured their leg unexpectedly, which gave Santa no choice but to make an emergency landing in an open field in Pallet Town.
In Ash's room, Pikachu's body woke up, wiggling its ears, thinking it heard something loud from nearby the house. Piplup heard Pikachu wake up, and both of them looked out the window, and saw something glowing in the direction of the backyard. So, both Pokémon quietly left the room, and snuck out the back door to see if there really was anything back there. When they got outside, the glow was still there. Pikachu started to hear what sounded like a Pokémon in distress, and wanted to go see if there was anything wrong.
"Is someone there?" Santa said as he heard what sounded like snow crunching, coming from the direction of Ash's house.
"Pika?!" Pikachu said in surprise.
"Oh, hello there!"
"Piplup?" Piplup said.
"I'm sure you two heard a loud noise from here, and were concerned about what it was," Santa said.
Both Pikachu and Piplup nodded to Santa's comment. They looked at the Pokémon that were behind him, and saw what Pikachu heard. One of them seemed to be in pain, and they felt bad and worried about everybody.
"I appreciate your concern," Santa said. "But I'm afraid one of my Stantler seemed to have injured their leg as we were about to take off. I would love to let the poor thing rest, but unfortunately we just don't have any time to rest, as we have a lot of important work to do tonight. This is something that a Potion just simply will not heal, I'm afraid. And when one of my Stantler is down, there suddenly isn't enough to continue to pull the sleigh without any hiccups."
In classic fashion for Pikachu, he came up with an idea. He tried to tell Santa that he can go get Ash to have one of his Pokémon help with pulling the sleigh. Piplup offered to go with Pikachu as well.
"You're saying that you're willing to get help?" Santa asked. "If your Trainer has a Pokémon that is large and strong enough to pull the sleigh, then please send them here! I would greatly appreciate it!"
Pikachu and Piplup nodded at Santa once again, and proceeded to run back to Ash's house to wake him and Dawn up. Seeing the two Pokémon working together to help Santa put a large smile on his face. "Please hurry, you two!" He shouted.
Pikachu and Piplup hurried back to Ash's room as quickly as they could, and they woke up their respective Trainers. "What's up, buddy?" Ash asked.
"Is something wrong?" Dawn asked.
Pikachu and Piplup tried their best to tell their Trainers that they had to quickly come with them, and that it was urgent. It took awhile for Ash and Dawn to process what was being told to them given that they were still pretty delirious after being woken up abruptly. Pikachu even tried to drag Ash to his bedroom window to show the glow of Santa's sleigh.
"Wait," Ash said. "What's that glow?"
"What glow?" Dawn asked as she walked to the window. "Wait, I see it, too."
"Is that what you were trying to tell us, guys?"
Pikachu and Piplup nodded, and started to run out of the room, prompting Ash and Dawn to follow them. "Something must be wrong," Dawn said.
"Yeah, let's go!" Ash said as he and Dawn were grabbing whatever coats, hats, and gloves they could find before rushing out the door.
Once Ash and Dawn followed their Pokémon to where they wanted to, they came to a screeching halt in the snow, taken way back by what they were seeing. Ash slapped his cheeks, and Dawn rubbed her eyes, making sure that neither of them were seeing things.
"Ah, you found them!" Santa said to Pikachu and Piplup. "Good work!"
"S-Santa Claus?!" Ash said in surprise.
"W-What's going on?!" Dawn asked. "I'm so confused!"
"Ash, Dawn, there is no need to panic," Santa said. "I asked Pikachu and Piplup to bring you here because I need your help."
"Huh?" Ash asked.
"What do you need our help for?" Dawn asked.
"One of my Stantler has become injured," Santa started to explain. "And unfortunately, there is no time for us to take a rest for it to recover. We do have a lot of work to get done tonight. Ash, your Pikachu must have heard the painful cries from my Stantler. And Dawn, your Piplup came with Ash's Pikachu to see if everything was okay. Pikachu then came up with the idea of having Ash's Dragonite help pull the sleigh. Can you please help us, Ash? I'll even let you and Dawn ride in my sleigh with me for a little bit!"
Ash and Dawn were stunned to have been asked to do a favor for Santa, but Ash proudly accepted Santa's request, and called out his Dragonite. Ash explained the situation to Dragonite, and asked for its help. Dragonite happily accepted, and worked with Santa to get it hooked up to the sleigh.
"All right, you two, hop in!" Santa told Ash and Dawn.
"Man, this is gonna be so amazing!" Ash said as he was taking his seat.
"I can't wait, either!" Dawn said.
"Rest up well, Stantler," Santa told the injured Stantler, then put it back in its Poké Ball. "All right, we are off then!"
Thanks to Dragonite, the sleigh was able to get off the ground with the other Stantler with no problem at all, and everyone was off to continue delivering presents around Kanto at amazing speeds! As they were flying around, Ash and Dawn had realized that this is exactly what they saw in their dream before being woken up by Pikachu and Piplup!
The trip didn't last very long, as the sleigh was back in Pallet Town in about an hour. It was beyond thrilling for Ash and Dawn, getting the opportunity to ride in Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve itself, and they even got to help deliver some presents! Saying that this Christmas Eve was a memorable one is an understatement to Ash and Dawn.
"Thank you both Ash, and Dawn," Santa said. "Can't forget about Dragonite either!"
After Santa unhooked Dragonite from the sleigh, it immediately went to hug Santa, thanking him for letting it help pull the sleigh. Everyone got concerned for a brief moment, but Santa embraced Dragonite's hug rather quickly, as he knew that Dragonite was just simply trying to express its gratitude to him.
"That's very nice of you, Dragonite," Santa complimented. "Seems like Ash has raised you very well."
"Wait, Santa, what about your injured Stantler?" Dawn asked. "Are you guys going to be okay going back to the North Pole?"
"Well, let us see," Santa said as he tossed Stantler's Poké Ball, calling it back out. "How are you feeling, Stantler?"
Stantler tried to bend its leg, and was able to do so without any pain! Everyone let out a huge sigh of relief. During the flight around Kanto, they stopped at the Pewter City Gym, and managed to meet up with Brock, the Gym Leader and a close friend of Ash and Dawn, who had his Chansey use Heal Pulse on Stantler's leg. Even though Stantler was feeling better after having its injury healed by Chansey, Dragonite still wanted to continue pulling the sleigh until Santa was finished in Kanto. So, he let Dragonite continue to do just that until now.
"That's wonderful," Santa said after seeing Stantler being able to bend its leg. "Thank you all once again. We are so incredibly thankful for your help. Now, we must head off and finish delivering the rest of the presents!"
"Of course, Santa!" Dawn said.
"And thanks for letting us go with you!" Ash said.
"You're welcome," Santa said. "Make sure to get some sleep, too."
"We will!" Ash and Dawn said.
Santa hooked up the last Stantler to the sleigh, and started to fly away in the sleigh. Ash and Dawn couldn't help but run in the direction that Santa's sleigh was flying to before stopping a short while later. Before they even went back to the house, the sleigh turned around, and swooped past Pallet Town!
"MERRY CHRISTMAS!" Santa shouted.
Ash and Dawn stopped to wave goodbye to Santa as he and the sleigh got further and further away, to the point where they could no longer be seen from the ground. They just stood there. In awe of what they had witnessed. Same goes for Pikachu and Piplup.
"Ready to go back home?" Ash asked.
"Yeah," Dawn answered, then let out a big yawn. "Besides, I'm just realizing how sleepy I'm feeling now."
"Yeah, same. Let's go."
Ash and Dawn walked back to Ash's house, and fell asleep much quicker than when they first went to bed earlier in the night. The snow had stopped falling, the clouds were clearing away, allowing the star-filled sky to show itself above Pallet Town. It was only a mere couple hours before the sun rose once again, and many families will soon be waking up to welcome Christmas Day.
The next morning, Pikachu was woken up to Ash rolling onto his side after snoozing his alarm clock. Pikachu knew he couldn't go back to sleep after being woken up, so he stretched and yawned before checking to see if Piplup was awake. Piplup was starting to wake up as well, and saw that Pikachu was peeking down from the top bunk bed. Both jumped off the bed to take a look out the window, and were stunned by the view of fresh snow being hit with the bright morning sun. A white Christmas has fallen upon Pallet Town, and Pikachu and Piplup couldn't be happier at what they were looking at.
Pikachu and Piplup looked back at their Trainers, still sound asleep on their beds, and wanted to wake them up. Before they could even do so, Delia walked into the room, and she saw them planning to wake up Ash and Dawn. "Do the honors, you two," She whispered.
Both Pokémon nodded at Delia, and both sent out attacks at both Trainers, Thunderbolt and Bubblebeam respectively, waking up both Ash and Dawn instantly. Delia was quite shocked at the way Pikachu and Piplup woke up Ash and Dawn, as she had never witnessed that happening before.
"Well, good morning, everyone!" Delia said.
"Morning," Dawn said.
"Well that was quite a wakeup call," Ash said.
"Well, it sounds like all of you slept well," Delia said.
"You can say that again."
"We slept like a log!" Dawn said.
"Wait, Dawn, didn't you dream about meeting Santa, too?!" Ash asked.
"Yeah, I did! That was just the coolest! It truly felt like we were really there!"
Pikachu and Piplup started to tug on Ash and Dawn's sleeves, trying to get them to look outside to see all of the fresh snow that was blanketing Pallet Town. Delia couldn't help but giggle at seeing their Pokémon acting like the little kids in the family that are trying to get their parents to get out of bed for Christmas morning. That seemed to spark a fond memory in her, as that put a very warm smile on her face.
"Oh wow!" Ash said.
"So pretty!" Dawn said. "Come on, let's hurry downstairs!" She then said as she grabbed Ash's wrist before running out of the bedroom.
Piplup and Delia followed Ash and Dawn downstairs, and Pikachu was about to do the same, but it just saw that there was a note in front of Ash's TV that everyone completely missed. So, it jumped onto the TV stand to grab it, and went downstairs.
"Whoa, look at all of them!" Ash said in awe of all of the presents that were under the Christmas tree in the living room.
"Ohh, there's so many that I don't know which one to start with!" Dawn said.
"Now, now, let's not rush it, okay?" Delia said. "I know you two are excited, but let's just settle down and relax before we go crazy."
"All right," Ash and Dawn said together.
"Huh?" Dawn then said as she saw Pikachu walking downstairs with the note in its mouth. "What's that, Pikachu?"
Pikachu then gave the note to Ash, who was just as confused. But things started to come together when he saw who it was from. The note was from Santa himself. Ash didn't read it out loud though, as instead he showed it to Dawn after he read it. Dawn read the note, and she and Ash looked at each other in surprise at first.
"You mean…?!" Ash started.
"It wasn't a…?!" Dawn added.
"What's the matter?" Delia asked.
"It's nothing," Ash answered.
"No need to worry!" Dawn added.
"Oh, okay then," Delia said. "Who is it from?"
"Well, let's just say, it was from someone we've met before," Ash said, trying to be as intentionally vague as possible.
"Ohh, you're keeping it a secret, then."
"Yeah," Dawn said. "We'll say that much."
Ash and Dawn then looked at each other, both with warm smiles on their faces as they chuckled, and gave each other a hug. Many mysteries about last night had unfolded, but one thing was certain to Ash and Dawn. This Christmas is going to be one that neither of them will ever forget.
"Merry Christmas, Dawn," Ash said.
"Merry Christmas, Ash," Dawn said.
The End