THAT… CHRISTMAS?
I was having a think about things. I realised that I haven't given you guys anything but plot for the past… 2 years? Therefore, I present you with a 'THAT SYLVEON' Christmas! Just so you have something to read while you open your prezzies. This is the most prolific I've been with uploads in a long while. Enjoy it while it lasts.
LuanOTP owns nothing at all.
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Snowfall cast a white blanket on the streets of West Latias city that day. Schools were closed, so children and adults alike ran rampant on the snow covered sidewalks, chucking snowballs at each other, structuring snowmen or just minding their own business.
Sat inside, watching the pleasantries unfold through a window, Francesca the Quilava sat in the lounge, eyeing up a well wrapped gift from under a bright, blinking Christmas tree.
"Oh, boy!" she exclaimed, bouncing around the tree excitedly. "I really hope it's a phone! Please tell me you got me a phone, Papa!"
Tyson, entering the room wielding a wooly jumper in his hands, watched his daughter bound about the room. "A phone?" blurted the Typhlosion. "You're hardly twelve, what do you need a phone for, 'Cesca?"
Okay, okay. I know what two or three of you readers are thinking. "What? Francesca is only 12? But she's 14 in the current 'That Sylveon' timeline!" The rest of you either didn't know that because you don't care about Francesca as a person. This chapter takes place two years prior to the current timeline in TS. That's the last you'll see of me in this chapter, because Luan ditched the legendary Pokemon voices idea halfway through That Sylveon. There's an agenda going on, reader. Y-You gotta help us!
No there isn't. There is no agenda. There is no agenda in That Sylveon.
THIS IS A CRY FOR HELP, READER! SHE'S TRYING TO GET RID OF US!
The Quilava stopped her movements, and glared at her dad, unamused. "But all my friends have one… You can't keep treating me like a child!"
"...You were just a Cyndaquil a year ago…"
"A growing Cyndaquil!"
Tyson stepped toward his daughter, and pulled across her torso, the wooly jumper he had in his hands. "Just open your present, 'Cesca. You're probably going to enjoy it."
Pouting, the Quilava walked over to the tree and grabbed the present that was neatly wrapped in gift paper and a ribbon. She had little regard for aesthetics, as she ripped the paper off with her teeth. Looking at the box beneath the paper, the fire type's eyes lit up like lights on a runway.
"WHAT!? NO WAY! I LOVE YOU, PAPA!" she squealed, running into the Typhlosion's soft tummy and giving it a squeeze.
"Haha, de nada, Mija!" cried the Typhlosion, accepting his daughter's embrace. He looked at the box that Frencesca held in her hands. "Wait… What?"
"Hey, no snatching!" Francesca screamed, as Tyson took the box from her grasp. He read aloud the contents.
"...p-Phone SE? This isn't the basketball set I bought for you?"
Bonnie's head slowly came into view from the slightly ajar door. "Oh, um… Hey, babe? I got that for her."
"What?! Why?" Tyson cried, as he dumbfoundedly watched Francesca squish the box against her cheeks.
"Bursyamos never disappoint on Christmas, Ty! Plus, who plays basketball nowadays? It's crummy."
"Thanks Mom!" said Francesca cheerfully. She took the phone box up to her room in a hurry, unaware of how it was soon going to be the cause behind her character trait.
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For the Bursyamo's, snow days were family days. In the driveway of their front yard, Jasmine and her son, Barry, took the effort to build a snowman.
"Hey, Mom!" called out the Combusken, holding up a large amount of snow. "Look at me, I'm an ice type!"
Barry then threw the snow up into the air, and watched it descend back onto his face as a rain of smaller fragments of snow.
"Very funny, Barry." mused Jasmine, flicking off any bits of snow that landed on her scarf. "Just don't do that around your ice type friends. It's a little insensitive."
"Aww…"
The Lucario rolled together a ball of snow between her paws, and gave it to her son. "Here ya go, bud. Now, all you gotta do is keep rolling it until it gets big enough for you to stack another ball of snow on it."
"Oh, okay, I can do that." he replied, setting the ball on the ground and rolling it in a circle. As he carried on, he noticed that the ball was getting smaller, accompanied with some evaporation. "Huh? Why isn't it getting bigger?"
Jasmine had a good look at her son's claws. "Aww, Barry. You're a fire type; maybe you're just a little too hot to handle the snow."
Defeated, Barry dropped the snow to the floor, and looked down in defeat. "Aw, man. The one day this year that it snows and I'm good for nothing."
Jasmine stood up, and picked up her son in her arms. "Hey, forget about the snow. Snow sucks anyway. Let's go inside while we wait for your dad."
The honk of a car caused the two to turn their heads. A Blaziken in a sports car slowly rolled through the automated gates of the compound, and up to the mouth of the driveway.
"Heyo!" Brendan called from the open window of his pride and joy, to his other pride and joys.
Mother and son waved in tandem to the father of the house coming home. "Hey, Brendan!", and "Hiya, Pops! Merry Christmas!", they called out to the Blaziken respectively.
"Merry Christmas, you two!" replied the Blaziken, who looked toward the driveway and gnawed at the claws on his talon. "Hmm… Hey Barry? Do you think you could help me out here?"
The Combusken cocked his head. "Huh? What should I do?"
Brendan pointed at the driveway, which was littered with snow. "The driveway's got too much snow for the wheels. Do you think you could clear it up for me?"
Barry grinned eagerly, knowing exactly how he was going to tackle the snow, and put on a show for his parents. Taking in a deep breath and holding it for a few seconds, he breathed out and let a stream of flames fly from his mouth. It skimmed across the driveway, melting the ice and snow almost instantly.
To everyone's surprise, the Combusken's plan had been a success; the driveway was devoid of snow.
"Woah! And here I was thinking you were gonna get the snow shovel from the garage!" shouted Jasmine, simply blown away.
Brendan rolled his car onto the driveway with ease, gawking at his son who stood proudly with his chest out. "Oy! Good job, Barry! The one day this year that it snows, looks like you're good for something!"
His father's words stuck to him like glue. Smiling, he punched his fists into the air in celebration. Brendan stepped out of the car, and onto the slightly charred concrete. In his talons, was a wrapped present with his name on it.
"I bet you're gonna love this present Santa got for you, buddy." he said, handing over the large box to the Combusken and kneeling beside him. "Your mother is definitely gonna love it, that's for sure."
"Aw, thanks, Pops!" Barry whooped, setting the large box down on the ground so he could open it.
Jasmine joined their little circle huddled around the gift, which was soon opened by the young Combusken. "I'm gonna love it? It better not be what I think it is."
Revealed to Barry was a basketball set, complete with the ball, a backboard and a hoop to go with it.
"Aw, no way! Basketball!" chirped the fire type, grabbing the basketball, and chucking it up the air. "Thanks, guys! This is great!"
"No worries, Barry. Umm… Gimme a second to install the hoop." murmured Brendan, giving a peck on the cheek to his wife before he scurried into the garage.
"Okay! Do you wanna play with me, Mom?"
Jasmine shrugged her shoulders. "Ah, sure, why not." she said, unaware of how good she was soon going to become at basketball.
…
Raidon, a young Luxio full of life, took off down the hallway, and into the undecorated lounge he knew his mother would be residing. With a magazine clenched in his jaws, he jumped up and down to get the Absol's attention.
"Hey, Mom! Mom!"
Abby, who was merely lost in thought on the couch, eyed her son. "Stop shouting, Raidon."
"Oh, um, sorry." he set the magazine down on the floor, and skipped to the page that made him rush over here in the first place. "Have a look, Mom! Do you think I could get this for Christmas?"
Abby hadn't even bothered looking. "I tell you this every year, Raidon. Christmas is a waste of time, and a consumer trap. Don't let the bright lights and advertisements fool you."
"Aww… Well, okay then." sadly mumbled the Luxray, picking up the magazine and leaving the room, as well as his mother, in peace.
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The last to enter the lounge was Julley, who was happy to see the family he began with his wife, all sat around the Christmas tr-
"C'mon, can't we open the presents already, Mom?"
"Hey, wait for your dad to get here first." warned Cassidy, playing about with the cub Julius in her lap.
"Oh! Y-You guys were waiting for me?" asked the air headed Umbreon, to which his eldest daughter turned and shouted:
"YES!"
Julley winced at the volume of the Sylveon's bellow. "Woah, a-alright! You didn't have to wait for me, you know."
However, Cassidy shook her head. "Nope! In my family, you always had to make sure everyone was there before you open the presents. It's tradition."
Anais nabbed the presents, and handed them out by name. "Dad, this one is yours." she announced, nudging a small box over to the Umbreon.
Julley smiled, and looked over to his son. "Haha, this is really nice, guys, but I think Julius should open his present first."
"Yep, that's a good point." agreed the Glaceon, setting the Eevee cub on his paws so he could open his present. "Go on, hand your brother his gift!"
It was a fairly big box; nearly as big as the Eevee himself. Julius looked at the gift in curiosity, before staring at his sister with a worried glare.
"What do you want?" annoyedly asked Anais, one paw holding her present close to her body.
"Umm… Anais, would you mind opening it for him?"
The Sylveon rolled her eyes, before brandishing a claw upon the poor box's wrapping paper exterior. Out of the box, came a fairly big action figure of a familiar hoodie-loving, milkshake buff, battling Blaziken, rocking an awesome stance to top it all off.
Julius's jaw dropped to the floor. Immediately, he tackled it, and began wrestling it on the ground, accompanied with some happy mewls of excitement.
"I suppose it's safe to say that he likes his gift." deadpanned the Sylveon.
Julley took a seat on the couch next to his wife. "I-I just hope he doesn't do that to Brendan the next time he comes."
Next to open their present was Anais. She took no time to get the wrapping paper off, revealing a purple scarf. The Sylveon's eyes went to the ceiling, then back to the gift in hope that the scarf would magically change into something she might possibly want.
"Wow, a scarf. Thanks, I suppose it'll be nice for the cold…" Anais mused, clearly unimpressed with her present. "Why did the box feel so heavy?"
Cassidy pointed at the scarf. "Hey, make sure you fully open your scarf!"
Anais furrowed her eyebrows. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that the scarf seemed to be a puzzle piece to something much bigger. She unraveled the scarf, and found that the purple apparel was merely a distraction to obscure the large stack of four novels that lay beneath it. Once the fairy type Pokemon laid her eyes on the front cover - displaying a rifle wielding Greninja standing in front of a shiny, futuristic sports car - she reeled back in shock.
"Wait, WHAT!?" she cried as she toppled onto her backside. "How? How did you guys know? Who told you? I need answers before I throw someone in the dumpster!"
Eyes fell on the mother of the house, who merely tapped against her snout. "There's always at least one thing I know about someone, that they don't know that I know about. In your case, you're an avid fan of those futuristic action books."
"I'm not an avid fan…! I just dabble a little bit." Anais looked at a few more of the book covers, holding up one of them that showcased a smirking Snivy in a fighter plane. "I-I just don't believe it. You even got the 'Chaser's Guide to the Selected'! You haven't been snooping around my stuff, have you?"
Cassidy shook her head. "Of course not. Although, I think that book has the thing about sucking blood out through people's 's like, some weird ritual thing. You better not read that until you're an adult, Anais."
Suspiciously, albeit compliantly, the Sylveon mouthed a "Thank you", before using her feelers to hoist the books above her head. She wrapped the scarf around her neck, and sidestepped her brother and his new toy, before immediately scrambling upstairs. Her bedroom door was shut with a thud that shook the entire house. Julley looked at his wife.
"S-So, how did you know?" he quizzed, but Cassidy once again refused to spill.
"Nice try, Julley. Now, it's your turn to open your present!" she happily chanted, pulling out a medium sized box from under the tree.
Some things were best left unknown. Julley humbly sat before the box, and carefully pulled apart the wrapping paper. After all the paper was cleared away, the Umbreon's eyes lit up to find a neatly folded blanket, but it wasn't just any blanket.
"A-An electric blanket?" Julley felt the softness of his present within his forepaws. "This is… This is a-actually incredible!"
The Glaceon smiled, shrugging her shoulders. "Well, as your wife, I do know how much you value your sleep. Hopefully you can catch up on those hours lost from me waking you up at six in the morning!"
Chuckling, Julley's mind raced back to the golden days, when they had first met. Without another thought, he kissed his wife on the lips. "Haha, honestly, I love it. Thanks, although I think my present is ten times better."
The Glaceon seemed starstuck. "Wait, really?"
"Definitely. Plus, I'd love to see your reaction." Julley said with anticipation. Cassidy went along with the hype, allowing her husband to leave the room, then come back shortly with a rather large box.
"Wait, what? What is this?"
Julley playfully shrugged his shoulders. "You'll have to find out."
Electrified with enthusiasm, the ice type bit her lip, before tearing the wrapping paper to shreds. To her surprise, it was an entire painting kit, with a canvas and stand included. The feeling that swept over her was magical - a mix of elevation and nostalgia. Cassidy's legs jumped on their own.
"What? No way! You didn't get this for me! Julley!" she shrieked, leaping onto the Umbreon to shower him with a thousand kisses.
"Of course! I-I always knew you were great at art, especially when you made that ice-sculpture of me, and even all those drawings of us in your dia-"
"Shh." Cassidy placed a digit across her husband's lips. "I was a teenager." She then stood up to admire the gift, without unboxing it at all. "Honestly though, I love this so much. Thanks Julley. This is the best Christmas I've ever had."
Julley stood up to embrace his wife from her side. "Thank you, Cass. Merry Christmas."
The Glaceon shared a kiss with her husband in the midst of a brawling Julius. "Merry Christmas."
Amidst the passion and coziness of a family in accord, an enlivened voice from upstairs shook the entire neighbourhood.
"IT COMES WITH THE SOUNDTRACK!?"
…
Okie! That'll do it. I think that it's appropriate to say that I'm done with uploading for the rest of the year lmao. I'm going to retire to my cave and write in secret. As for you, I hope you enjoyed this little special chapter. I minced this out all in one day, so I'm particularly proud of myself. Do you read these author notes? If you do, make sure to post :MewSuuure: in the That Universe Discord server general channel, just so we can gang up on those who don't read the author notes lol.
I really wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a Happy New Year! See you in 2022!
-LuanOTP
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Raidon awoke to being shaken a little too violently later that night, his pillow slightly wet from the sorrows of the day previously. Groggily, he sat as he was certain he heard someone calling his name. At his bedside stood his mother. Only her brilliant white fur and sparkling cerulean eyes were significant in the sight of the bright moonlight that snuck through the window.
"Raidon, wake up." she spoke in hushed tones. Despite the fact that her clawed paws lay across his torso, the Luxray knew he had no reason to be afraid.
"I'm awake. Is everything okay?" replied Raidon, turning over under the sheets.
It was a rare feat to see his mother smile. Perhaps the moon that provided supervision was blue as well.
His mother didn't seem to reply. Her claws went up to his neck, then slowly to the sides of his cheeks. Gently, she leaned forward, and planted a kiss on the Luxray's forehead.
"Merry Christmas, Son."
As silently as she came, she left the room. The veil of darkness was broken by a ray of light from the opened door that split the shadows in twine. It followed all the way to a spot on his bed, where a gift wrapped in red, glimmering stars sat. He was certain that it wasn't there before. A smile crept onto his face, where a frown used to live. To no one in particular, he spoke silently:
"Thanks, Mom."