As Korrina often frequented the PR Studio in Lumiose City, she effectively forced everyone into the building - though not without some relief from Viola, who was still wearing Wulfric's jacket like a thick cloak - to get changed, with Valerie being excused to go back to Laverre City to make herself an outfit. She was, however, accompanied by Korrina's Hawlucha, should she, in Korrina's words, 'try anything funny'.
"I don't think we do enough at Christmas time," she said as she paced like a drill sergeant back and forth outside the changing rooms. She pursed her lips as she swivelled around and continued skating along, and said, "Sure, we'll all do our own thing with our own families and such. But what about the rest of the region? I can't help but feel that we, as gym leaders, should do that little bit more for the people of the region."
"Yeah," Viola said as she opened the curtain, "we got that." She had been given a dress similar on style to Korrina's own, except it was white in colour with a blue trim. Since the clothing the young girl had brought consisted of just some jumpers, dresses and accessories, Viola was left wearing her boots on her feet, making her think of how Valerie would react upon returning. She sighed as she looked over the dress, grimacing as she asked, "Where exactly did you find this? And your own dress, for that matter?"
"Just in a small boutique in Shalour City," Korrina muttered absently as she continued pacing. Viola's eyebrow arched itself as she asked with disbelief, "There's a boutique in Shalour City? Since when?" The Fighting gym leader shrugged.
"I dunno. It's either been there for a few years now and I never noticed it or its just new, I dunno." Viola sighed again. The changing room next to her opened up.
"Meanwhile, I don't think I want to know where you got this," Clemont deadpanned, and when Viola peaked past the partition between their changing room, she had to stifle her laughter at what he'd been made to wear; a blue sweater designed like a Piplup's chest, and hanging around his neck was a beak, attached to an elastic wire. Korrina grinned.
"Well in that case, think yourself lucky the place I bought that stuff had sold out on the headpiece. And don't you look adorable?" she squealed, bending down as Bonnie giggled from behind her brother's leg. A woollen hat in the style of a Snover's head sat on her head, and like her brother, she'd been given a jumper, designed with said pokémon likeness on it.
"What does Piplup even have to do with Christmas?" Clemont asked, to which Korrina said, straightening up, "Well, even if it itself isn't an overly Christmassy thing, many people associate many Winter or Ice-type pokémon with Christmas. Even as a Water-type, Piplup is pretty Wintery, isn't it?" Viola chuckled, "That explains the Snover outfit too then." Ramos, Olympia and Grant came out from a side room, being spared from wearing jumpers only to have Santa hats and the Sawsbuck antlers in Grant's case. As he spied the three blondes sniggering silently, he scowled and huffed under his breath, "Oh shut up." As Viola hurried over to join Olympia and Ramos, Bonnie following behind her, the man stopped Clemont in his tracks as he moved to follow the two and said threateningly, "You especially don't try anything. I've been friends with your father for years, okay, I've seen you in diapers, boy." The Electric specialist, who had been holding his hands up in defense, pulled a face and muttered as Grant walked away again, "Gross."
Meanwhile, Korrina skated over to the last changing room, where Wulfric was.
"Yo, you done yet? It's gonna be dark soon," she called, leaning against the partition. The man within sighed and called back, "Almost. Why exactly have I got this duty?" Korrina rolled her eyes and said, as though the answer were obvious, "'Cause you're big, fat and jolly. You fit the picture." Wulfric muttered, "I was afraid you'd say that." Viola wandered over and said to Korrina, "Valerie just called; she's almost finished and she says she'll meet us by Prism Tower." The earned a thumbs up from the girl, who then called through again, "You nearly done now?"
"What've you got him wearing?" Viola asked, eyebrow cocked. Korrina grinned.
"You'll see in a minute, if Wulfric ever gets out of there," she said, raising her voice as she finished the sentence. The curtain suddenly snapped open, silencing the other gym leaders. The old man smiled at the girl, though it seemed somewhat forced as he told her, "The only reason I'm wearing this is because it's for a good cause." To cut out a description that would've taken up time to write, he was the Santa Claus of the group. In a bid to break the silence that had gripped the leaders, Viola smiled and said, "At least you suit it." Wulfric straightened the jacket and nodded his head at the woman, saying, "Thank you." Korrina skated past the two, toward the door, then spun round to face the group.
"Alright people! We're gonna go out there and have some fun while we're doing what we're doing, okay?" Ramos shook his head, muttering, "Ye can't force us to have fun, Korrina." The girl pouted, "I'm aware. But at least humour me. And besides, this is mostly for the kids. What kid wants to see a grouchy grown up that's trying to spread Christmas cheer?" She sighed, then signalled to her Mienfoo, that'd been waiting in the corner the whole time with the large sack. She took the sack off of it and removed from it a smaller sack. She handed one to Grant, being closest to her, then pulled out another, passing it to Ramos. This continued until everyone had a small bag to themselves. Then, she gave the sack itself to Wulfric, after pulling out a small sack for herself.
"What's in these?" Viola asked, pulling a small, decorative box from the sack. Korrina coughed to clear her throat then said, "It's the same in all the bags; a couple of candy canes, little boxes like that one that's got little toys in it for the kids, and some of those paper hats you find in Christmas crackers that I've saved from over the years." Catching some raised eyebrows at this last item in the list, she frowned, "I've kept them in good condition, I swear."
"When you say those boxes have toys in them, what kind of toys is it?" Clemont asked, making the girl stop to think, as she was already making her way to the door. She leaned against the door as she thought, saying absently as the contents came to her, "Just some little things I guess. Like...some pokémon figurines, other little toys I've just sort of collected, and I think maybe some small pieces of jewellery for any little girls that're into that sort of thing." The gym leaders looked amongst themselves, surprised.
"You've...really thought hard about this," Viola pointed out. Korrina smiled, shrugging as she stood straight again. "Y'think? I guess I have sort of. See you guys out on the streets." With that, the conversation was over, and she left the building. The gym leaders waited, unsure exactly of what they were to do. Sure, they had simple enough instructions; go around and give out the little treats in the bags to kids. But just stepping outside, especially with some of them dressed up the way they were, wasn't as easy as it sounded. Eventually, the Ice gym leader sighed and swung the sack over his shoulder, muttering, "Might as well get on with it." Hushed mutters of agreement followed, and the leaders all filed out of the building, separating out into the streets of Lumiose City.
7pm came, bringing a message from Korrina that they were all to meet at Café Kizuna for a break. They gathered slowly, having been scattered all across the city. Valerie was the first to arrive.
"Yo!" Korrina waved from her seat, skates off and legs curled up underneath her body. The woman sat across from her, saying, "You must have been working hard. Especially since you organised this." Korrina nodded as she took a drink from the hot cocoa that was sitting in front of her. She sighed, "This is the first I've sat down since I got up this morning. My feet are killing me." For added emphasis, she unfurled one of her legs and stretched it out, toes cracking as they too stretched out. Valerie winced at the sound and waved her hand, indicating she'd seen enough as she said, "I can guess."
"Your dress is pretty. Good thing I didn't give you one of mine then," the blonde smiled, admiring the light purple dress with its gold accents. In a way, it was similar to the furisode Valerie normally wore, except not nearly as detailed, and the sleeves didn't fully encompass her arms, stopping before her hands and belling out instead.
Valerie smiled. "Thank you. And I must be honest, while it certainly isn't to my taste, and while your skates and gloves don't go well with it, your dress is quite appealing in its own right. And it suits the season." Korrina nodded at the compliment, then nodded her head again, motioning to the bag Valerie had set by her feet.
"I see you met up with Wulfric at one point. How'd'you do handing out the gifts?" she asked. Valerie picked up the bag and after a quick look inside, said, "I've done quite well actually. And quite a lot of children were very happy with the gifts." The two young women fell silent. Korrina took another sip of her hot cocoa and Valerie turned to look out into Hibernal Avenue. Neither said a word until the Johto woman piped up, "This is a very nice thing you're doing." Korrina smiled.
"That's what I was aiming to do; a nice thing. D'you know how many kids ain't that lucky at Christmas? Like, they don't get much. I'm not saying Christmas is about the material things, but for some kids, it's gotta be a little heartbreaking hearing about the big guy in the red suit who gives out presents to every kid yet not getting much on the day," she said, looking out the window with a distant look in her eye as she leaned her head against her arms as they rested on the table. Valerie frowned.
"I hate to pry, but has that..." She trailed off. Korrina looked up at her, then shook her head, despite the awkward position.
"Nah, that never happened to me. I was pretty fortunate. But I see it a lot in Shalour City." Unsure of what to say, Valerie didn't reply, and their little corner fell quiet again. Fortunately, the arrival of Viola and Grant meant the silence didn't last.
"Hey!" The woman greeted, hugging Valerie as she stood to greet the two in return. Viola gasped as she took in Valerie's attire, "Your dress is beautiful!" The woman giggled as she twirled on the spot, showing it off.
"Ain't it? I'm glad then that I didn't try and shove her into one of these dresses," Korrina laughed, earning her a raised eyebrow and a response of "So it's okay to shove me in one?" from Viola. Grant sat at the table next to the women and let out a huff of air as he rubbed his hands together, saying, "It's beginning to get pretty chilly outside." Valerie nodded, then a smile crept onto her face as she saw some children running around outside. Her smile grew wider as she noticed the small pokémon figurines in their hands; gifts from other gym leaders.
"They don't seem to mind the cold," she muttered contentedly, quite happy to watch them play. Grant clicked his tongue as he too noticed the kids outside, saying, "Kids never seem to mind the cold. If they can still play, they'll play. You'd be surprised how many kids I see playing on the beach in Cyllage, no matter the season." Valerie chuckled, "But who doesn't love the beach?" The door opening grabbed the four's attentions; Clemont walked in, carrying Bonnie on his back. The girl looked to be on the verge of falling asleep.
"She looks tired," Viola pointed out. She and the others then chuckled as the small girl mumbled into her brother's shoulder, "'M not tired." The boy carefully lowered the girl into a nearby booth before he sat opposite her, smiling as his sister then proceeded to curl up into a ball and fall asleep.
"It's hardly late, but she's been pretty busy tonight," he said. Korrina scanned over the siblings and noticed two things, the first being their clothing.
"What happened to your sweaters?" she asked, noticing that they were now wearing the jackets they were wearing earlier that day. Clemont pursed his lips as he tried to remember what had happened.
"We went to go visit a friend at one point, taking a shortcut through a couple of back alleys." He then frowned, looking upset. "It was pretty awful. There's a lot of kids down those alleys. I never realised just how many don't have homes." The other gym leaders were silent, unsure of how to respond until Valerie said quietly, "You gave them your sweaters." He nodded.
"Yeah. But the good thing is, they should all be okay tonight. Our friend offered to take them in for the night, and maybe the next few nights as well. She's going to see about finding them homes if she can. At least they've got someplace warm and dry to stay for now. And those toys to play with," he finished with a smile in Korrina's direction. He chuckled as he began to recall, "It was actually pretty cute, seeing them all so excited about the toys. This one girl absolutely fell in love with this little plastic ring, she didn't even take it off the entire time we were there. In fact, by the time we left, she still had it on when our friend was putting them to sleep."
"That's good to hear. I hope things turn out well for those kids," Korrina nodded, smiling and leaning back in her chair. Viola nodded, then said, "Y'know, I don't know about the rest of you guys, but tonight's actually been pretty fun when I think about it. It's been nice seeing all these kids all happy, even over some small things like candy canes and plastic jewellery." She looked down at Korrina.
"This really is a good thing you've forced us into." Looking around the other gym leaders gathered, Korrina couldn't help but smile as she saw them all nodding in agreement, and a faint blush appeared on her cheeks as she said, "What can I say, I like the holiday season and the good feelings it brings. So why not spread some of those feelings, eh?" Viola chuckled, "It's a good idea."
"Just a suggestion for the future though, maybe you shouldn't be quite as forceful about getting others involved," Grant said. Korrina pointed at him with a quick click of her fingers and a muttered, "Noted." The door opened again, with Ramos and Olympia bring tales of their own adventures with them. Thus leaving the gym leaders waiting for their Santa Claus. They were left waiting for half an hour, during which they talked about what they would do on Christmas Day, before Wulfric appeared.
"I'm sorry to have kept you all waiting," he said as he entered, "I was held up. Plus, I've brought someone with me." As he stepped out of the way of the door, Viola blinked, surprised.
"Alexa?" The gym leader's older sister nodded. "Hey sis!" she greeted, grabbing Viola in a hug. As the other gym leaders also welcomed the newcomer, Viola asked, "Why are you here?" Alexa sat down in the empty seat across from Grant and answered, "Well, I've seen you guys going about doing whatever it is you guys were doing, but I couldn't leave my desk cause I was held down with work. Then, when I was leaving to head home and maybe ask what was up if I ran into one of you guys, my colleague, the girl in charge of the gossip column said she might do something on what was happening.
"Of course, hearing this," she continued, "I knew I had to find you myself, cause if she's doing the story, Arceus knows what she'll print. Because apparently, doing the gossip column means doing no research," she said with sarcasm lacing her voice. The gym leaders flinched at hearing this, and Korrina quickly jumped to her feet and asked, "Please tell me your doing a story then, cause she'll make all our work look weird! And we've worked hard!" Alexa winked as she said, "Well, I had to be quick getting the go-ahead off my editor since this is such short notice, but I've got it. I will ask permission first, but I'm hoping you'll let me do a piece on this."
"Yes! This would be awesome!" Korrina cheered, jumping on the spot. Ramos shook his head and muttered, "It'd be nice if you asked if it was okay for the rest o' us as well." Korrina heard this and stopped jumping, frowning as she prepared to apologise, only to stop as she saw the small smile on his face. Everyone turned to Wulfric as he then spoke up, "That's actually the reason why I was held up. Well, partly, it was mostly because I was mobbed by children," he said, though his tone was lighthearted.
"Yeah, I ran into Wulfric and once all the kids had cleared, I asked what was going on. I've got most of the details, I just need to fill in the blanks," Alexa said, reaching into her belt bag and pulling out a small notebook and a pen. Korrina took her seat again and asked, "That's okay. What do you need to know?" Clicking the pen, the reporter said, "Nothing too big; any significant events you guys experienced separately, why you wanted to organise this in the first place, Korrina, and if you might do it again next year." This last bit made Valerie gasp and begin bouncing in her seat.
"Oh, can we? Tonight was so much fun, once we got into it, and next year we could organise it better!" she asked, looking to all present with a large smile on her face. Everyone looked to each other before all turning to Korrina. Realising the decision was up to her, Korrina blinked then said, scratching the back of her neck, "I guess. Yeah, that sounds good, it sounds like a plan. Plus if everyone's involved willingly, it means a little less work just for me. And trust me, it was actually pretty hard getting everything done alone." Valerie's hand shot into the air as she declared, "I'm automatically giving myself the duty of doing the clothes."
"Yeah, you can do that," Korrina chuckled. She then turned to Alexa and asked, "What do you want to start with, since you've got your answer for that last point." The woman smiled.
"Let's start from the beginning, please."
Merry Christmas!
In my case, it's a Merry belated Christmas because while I'm posting this, it's 1:20am on Boxing Day/the 26th. Oh well, it's still Christmas in America, so I guess this sort of technically counts.
Either way, that's my two parter Christmas drabble complete. I hope you all enjoyed. Thanks for reading!
Also, I notice this is the 15th chapter of this thing. It's like a milestone I guess? But I'm not going to do a big celebration thing for it. I think I'll hold off till the 20th chapter.
For now though, I'm calling it there. Hope you all had/have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. There will be a new drabble quite soon, focusing on Korrina - again, sort of, since this one sort of did sort of - because I procrastinated a lot while writing this chapter, and one of the things I did while procrastinating was write another drabble.
Also, the Unova drabbles will have to be held off for a wee touch longer, I'm very very very very afraid to say because my parents told me one of my presents were running late, and today I found out while opening presents that it was Black. But soon! Soon there shall be Unova leaders in Kalos and Kalos leader in Unova! Because I have plans!
Thank you once more for reading, I do hope you enjoyed and had a lovely Christmas. And if you don't celebrate Christmas, then I hope you enjoyed whichever holiday you celebrate. Please do review, fave, follow, suggest, the usual guff.
Merry Christmas once more!
Angel-chan x