Twelve: The Most Wonderful Time

Arven hopped out of Nemona's mom's van and gave a wave. "I'll be down probably tomorrow. Let me get my cook kit together." He told the girls as he shut the van door. The rest of the ride was subdued. Penny had fallen asleep on Elaina's shoulder and Nemona was happily talking to her mom about holiday plans. Trish was in the back of the van with her head tilted backward, snoring like a Mabosstiff. Eventually they pulled up to the seaside chalet and Elaina and Penny hopped from the van and headed inside.

Elaina pulled her key from her pocket and unlocked the door. "Mom, I'm home!" she walked into the living room and stopped in her tracks. "Dad, I didn't think you'd be here so soon." Penny closed the door behind them as the man stood up and wrapped Elaina into a hug. "There's my girl. I've missed you so much." He looked up from the hug to see Penny standing their awkwardly. He broke the hug. "And is this your girlfriend?" he asked, stepping forward.

"Yeah, this is Penny, we met at the beginning of the term." Elaina said as her dad extended Penny his hand. Penny shook it lightly as Elaina's dad introduced himself.

"It's nice to meet you, Penny. I'm Giovanni." He turned back to Elaina. "So, have you been having a good time learning new things and broadening your horizons?" He led the girls over to the couch and took a position in the armchair. "Tell me all about it. I want to hear everything."

"Wait for me, dear. I only want her to have to tell the story once." Elaina's mom came into the room holding a snack tray. "Hi, Penny. I'm Ms. Madison." She smiled at Penny as she set the snack tray on the table and took her spot in the rocking chair. "Now, ladies, recount us the tale, but maybe leave out the bits that involve each other's genitals."

Elaina gagged on the cracker she was eating. "Mom!" Penny had turned a beautiful shade of red. The two began recounting the tale of their torrid love affair and lightly brushed into their academics. "I'm still not sure how I placed into Advanced Battle Strat, honestly." Elaina muttered as she wove her way through the story. "Mr. Vaughn is good instructor though, and he agreed to be my sponsor for the independent study term."

Giovanni stiffened in his chair. "Mr. Vaughn, you say? Markus Vaughn?" He began fiddling lightly and finger drumming on the armchair. "Do go on. I didn't expect Vaughn to be in this story." His posture relaxed and he leaned in to listen.

"Yeah, he also kinda saved my ass literally like three hours ago." Elaina said as she shuddered. "We got accosted by some homophobic dickbags and he bailed us out after Sprigs went down." Giovanni's eyes went wide as Elaina spoke. Penny's face had gone pale, and she grabbed Elaina's hand.

"That sounds like Vaughn." Giovanni muttered. "I'll have to send him a gift basket or something." Giovanni pulled his phone from his pocket and sent a quick text message. The response came almost immediately, and Giovanni smirked. "Taken care of."

"Wait, dad. How do you know Mr. Vaughn?" Elaina asked. Giovanni turned to her and smiled. "We worked for competing companies, honey." Elaina nodded at his statement. "Either way, I'll tell you more about it later if you want, but right now let's just enjoy the holiday season as a family." He turned. "That includes you, Penny." Penny grew a massive smile at Giovanni's statement and planted a kiss on Elaina's cheek.

"Well, girls, dinner is in thirty minutes, until then get settled back in." Giovanni stood. "Madi, honey, let's make our signature pasta sauce?" Ms. Madison stood and the two walked off into the kitchen, leaving Penny and Elaina alone on the couch. Elaina pulled Penny close, and Penny snuggled into her.

"Your family is wonderful, 'Layna." The two put on some content and enjoyed each other's company. Eventually, Giovanni came into the room and draped a blanket over them. "Who wants hot cocoa?" he asked as he sat two mugs onto the coffee table and went back to the kitchen. The two girls sipped their drinks and smiled.

"And holy shit your dad makes good cocoa." She said as she took another sip. Elaina chuckled and kissed Penny's cheek. The two cuddled back up and laughed and loved each other until dinner was ready. The girls joined Madison and Giovanni at the table, where a beautiful plate of spaghetti and meatballs sat in front of each of them. "It's good to be home, everyone." Giovanni said as he picked up his fork.

"And it's nice to have the whole family together." Madison said lovingly as she started on her dinner. Penny and Elaina started eating wordlessly, and after Penny took her first bite and swallowed it, she smiled extra wide. "Mr. Giovanni, this is absolutely delicious." Penny remarked before taking another bite. Elaina was already a third of the way through her plate by this point, but she took the chance to pause and look to her dad. "I might cry, dad. Dining hall sauce has nothing on this."

The rest of the dinner held light chatter, and as the family started to clean up, there was a knock at the door. "Yo, 'Layna, Penny, come build a snowman with us!" Layna put down the dish she was washing and went to open the door. Nemona stood in full snow gear alongside Trish. "Come on, it snows so rarely in this part of Paldea." She and Trish stepped across the threshold and Nemona spied Giovanni looking at the two of them. She turned. "Oh, are you 'Layna's dad?"

"I am, you must be Nemona. I hear you're a league champion." He said as he carried the serving dishes from the table. "How did you pull that off so young? I hear besting champion Geeta is no small feat."

Nemona smiled super wide. "I just love battling and got a lot of practical experience, I guess. You're right though, it was one of the toughest battles I've ever had." She smiled. "Anyway, I hear you were a gym leader?" Giovanni stiffened a bit, then softened.

"I've been retired from the league for quite a while now. The man who took my place in that gym has also changed jobs, if that tells you how long it's been." He recounted as Nemona nodded along. "I worked with ground type Pokémon in the Indigo League." Nemona nodded.

"I couldn't ever get the hang of ground type. I'd love some pointers." She said, thoughtfully. Giovanni smiled. "I think I can set aside some time for that. Do you want to participate, Elaina and Penny?" The two girls nodded. "Nemona, I'm told you have a battle arena in your back yard. Will you be willing to share it?" Giovanni asked politely as he turned to his suit jacket hanging on the coat hook. "Let me see who I've brought with me."

Nemona's bubbly giddiness had returned as Giovanni pulled two Pokéballs from his jacket pocket. "I have Nidoking and Rhyperior I can have help me demonstrate." He noted. "I suppose that's what I'll be doing tomorrow. Tonight, you girls have snowmen to build." Elaina chuckled and she and Penny grabbed their coats. "Don't do anything I would do after a glass of Tundra, honey." He hugged Elaina and gave a curt nod to Penny and the four girls headed out the door into the snow.