Another installment to Christmas in Pallet, hope you enjoy the chapter and please don't forget to review!

As the sun started to set behind them, the trio navigated through the streets of Pallet. Only a few people were still out on the Pallet streets as many had already gone back to their homes. Some had stayed though, as if they were waiting for something to happen. As if on cue, the Christmas lights that had been set up throughout the town started to flicker on, shedding hues of red and green across the walkways. The lights went across the sides of roofs, across the awnings of shops, some were wrapped around trees, light poles and even street signs. May stared up in amazement; she had never seen such a display. Some of the lights started to blink on and off, further mesmerizing May as the lights seemed to dance across the town.

Ash took notice of May's fascination with the lights, but before he could ask her why this was, she spoke up.

"Back in Petalburg, the city never really got into the decoration part of Christmas. Don't get me wrong, we would always have the Christmas spirit, but we never had something as pretty as this to go along with it."

May started to follow the lights, as they seemed to be leading to a single place. As she went down the streets, the decorations started to become more abundant, more vibrant. She started running, leaving Ash and Pikachu behind, as her excitement got the best of her. May turned a corner, disappearing from Ash and Pikachu, who just stood there and looked at each other. They both exchanged amused expressions, and took off after May. Turning the corner, Ash and Pikachu saw that May was nowhere in sight, leaving the lights as the only way to find May.

'Judging by the path the lights are on, they seem to be leading to the park in the center of town,' Ash thought to himself. 'We better follow the lights anyway in case I'm wrong.'

The Pallet Town Park was just down the street and around another corner, and the center of town was not much farther than that. Ash, with Pikachu in tow, quickly turned the corner and met the entrance to the park, and stopped in surprise. In years past, the park only sported the most basic of decorations, as the Christmas decorators usually saved most of the lucrative decorations for the buildings in town. Apparently this year was different, as the park had been transformed into some sort of winter wonderland. Two large gates, wrapped with ribbons and wreathes, had been put up at the entrance to the park, and were currently closed. The path leading to the gates was lined and lit by glowing candy canes, and the usually dark colored brick had been painted a sparkling gold with a silver lining. Looking back at the gate, Ash could see May; her hands were wrapped between the gate's bars, and her face was pressed up against them so she could try to get a better look on what was inside. She could only read a sign past the gates that read,

"Only open December 24, Christmas Eve. Don't miss the magic of the Season!"

May let go of the gate, and as her hands fell to her sides, she slumped her shoulders and released a heavy sigh. Hearing footsteps, she turned around to see Ash and Pikachu walking up to her, a look of sheepishness took over her face as she remembered she had left them behind.

"Sorry I abandoned you guys, I guess I got caught in the Christmas spirit," May said apologetically as she trailed off.

Ash chuckled softly, quickly responding by saying, "It's fine May, we understand. And don't be too disappointed, we could always go through the park tomorrow when it's open, if you want."

Excitement instantly replaced the sheepishness, as May's face lit up just as bright as the lights she had been mesmerized by. "Do you really mean it Ash? That won't get in the way of what your mother has planned, will it?"

"Well, I'd have to ask her about it, but I can't see anything being planned that would keep us from being able to at least see the park a little bit. So yeah, I mean…"

But before Ash could finish, May launched herself at Ash, completely smothering him in a hug.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, Ash!" May squealed. "You have no idea how much this means to me!"

Ash's face felt like it was on fire, he was glad May had her face in his chest, or else she might see how Ash's face was now shaded a bright, vibrant red. He could hear Pikachu snickering and joking about how Ash's face could be mistaken for a Christmas light, but he did not care. Ash wrapped his arms around May, and muttered a quick 'you're welcome' to her. For the second time that day, May and Ash could only think, 'This feels so right.'

Standing behind Ash and admiring the cute scene, Pikachu was glad to see that his best friend was happy. Something in the air felt off though, and his ears perked up to see if he could sense anything. Before he could, though, a sudden gust of wind picked up, shaking the branches of the trees above Ash and May. Snow had built up on top of the branches, but had now been unsettled because of the wind. A second gust blew through the trees, sending the piles of snow straight towards the ground. Pikachu was the only one to notice quickly enough, and jumped out of the way as snow crashed down on top of Ash and May. Pikachu looked around, his battle instincts telling him that the wind was not a natural occurrence. He saw a bright, red flash of light in the corner of his eye, but by the time he turned to see what it was, nothing was there, except for an oddly colored bush, and the faint smell of roses. But before Pikachu could further investigate, he heard a groan emitting from the snow pile; clearly Ash and May were stuck. Deeming that helping Ash and May out of the snow was more important, Pikachu rushed to their assistance.

"Drew, that was way to close!"

Having almost been caught by Pikachu, Misty and Drew had just run back to the outskirts of Pallet and away from the park.

"Well what did you expect me to do, Misty?" Drew said in anger. "Who knows what would have happened if I wouldn't have stepped in!"

"You could have planned it out slightly better! Pikachu almost caught you when you recalled that Flygon of yours!" Misty could feel the rage build up inside of her.

"And you don't think Pikachu would have seen Flygon if I would have left him exposed like that? He was a sitting duck, there was no way he could have stayed hidden!" Drew said in retort.

"Don't you have a Butterfree, grass head? It could have easily stayed hidden in the trees!"

Drew realized she had a point there, and backed off from the argument. He took a deep breath, and calmly said, "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I freaked out when I them like that, I didn't stop to think about what to do, I just reacted. I'll be more careful in the future, but this has all just proven that we are going to have to step it up a notch if we want them to like us instead of each other…"

Drew paused for a second, deep in thought. Misty looked at him with curiosity, wondering what Drew could possibly be planning. She noticed as a sneer slowly grew on his face, a look that worried her a little.

"I have an addition to the plan, Misty," Drew said in a low voice. "In fact, forget the original plan, it's clear now that it is too weak to work. This new plan can't possibly fail!"

Ash, May and Pikachu quickly made their way to Ash's house. Ash and May, with assistance from Pikachu, had escaped the snow pile, but both needed a set of warm clothes to change into to get out of their now wet and freezing clothes.

"D-don't worry, you g-guy's," Ash said through gritted teeth. "My house is really c-close b-by."

Pikachu saw the white picket fence that surround the Ketchum residence first, and immediately broke out into a run. Ash and May immediately followed, they could not wait to be inside the warm house. Running inside the fence and straight to the doorway, Ash reached out to quickly open the door, but was surprised when the door opened before he reached it. With nothing to stop the trio's momentum, they collided into each other as they entered the house, and each wound up sprawled across the floor, leaving Ash and May disoriented and Pikachu knocked out cold. A light giggle came from behind them, and as Ms. Ketchum closed the door, she said, "I was wondering when you three would be crashing in."

Ash groaned at the pun, muttering, "Mom, that was horrible, and if I didn't already have a headache, that would have given me one."

"Now that is no way to talk to your mother, Ash Ketchum," Ms. Ketchum said sternly. "And why are you and May so wet? She'll catch a cold if she's kept in those clothes!"

May, who was still slightly disorientated from the crash, slowly got up at the mention of her name. She noticed that Ash was being reprimanded, so she looked up at Ash's mother and said, "It's okay, Ms. Ketchum, I've got a change of clothes in my bag."

Ms. Ketchum quickly forgot about her anger, and turned to May and kindly said, "You can call me Delia, sweetie. I have set up the guest room upstairs for you to stay in while you're here, so you can change in there if you want," Delia said with a smile.

May returned the smile with a thank you, and hurried up the stairs to change out of her wet clothes. When May was out of sight, Ash let out a sigh of relief, glad that he was no longer under his mother's wrath, or so he thought.

"Don't think you're off the hook, young man," Ash's mom said as she grabbed Ash by the ear. "You run off to go shopping this morning without even eating breakfast, come home afterwards telling me you need a gift to be wrapped, only then to tell me that you've invited a girl to stay with us for Christmas! And then you don't show up for hours, and when you do eventually come home, you and your friend are soaking wet? And you know what really takes the cake?"

Ash could only brace himself, he had figured that this was coming when he came home, but he thought she had already covered everything. Whatever this "cake" was, he was going to be in a heap of trouble. But instead of another round of yelling, Delia released Ash's ear, and wrapped her arms around her son.

"My little baby is all grown up and in love!"

Now that was the last thing Ash was expecting his mother to say, but was not really surprised that she knew about his feelings for May, as she was his mother after all.

"Now enough of this," Delia started. "I'm sure you want to change out of those clothes. Run upstairs and get changed, and tell May I'll have dinner ready soon."

Ash got up, picked up a still unconscious Pikachu, and made his way to the stair case, but he had not even gone up two steps before he could hear his mother yell, "And don't forget to change your you know what!"

"Mom!" Ash gasped in horror. He knew that she had shouted just loud enough so that May could hear, and his fears were confirmed when he heard laughter erupt from the guest room. To avoid any further embarrassment, Ash climbed the remaining steps and practically dove into his room, shutting the door behind him so he could change and get ready for what surely would be an interesting dinner.

Thanks for reading! I'm currently in the process of writing new chapters and making edits and changes to previous chapters, which hopefully is making this a better story! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and don't forget to review! ~SatoshiUnlimited