Merry Christmas, or whatever it is you celebrate! The Pledging Tree episode reminds me a lot of Christmas, which is why I decided to upload this chapter yesterday. However, I got the new Spiderman game, and it's very addicting, so that's why it's coming out today instead. This one will be a bit long, since I have to throw in a proper introduction for Tierno and Shauna, since I basically cut it short at the end of the last chapter, since I had only came up with the idea to include them as I was writing the chapter. Anyway, enjoy this chapter.
Chapter39:
Great Gift Exchange
The next day, everyone gathers in the hotel's foyer to eat breakfast and discuss some things. Namely, in Bonnie's case, how Shauna and Tierno started dating. Shauna gets rather giddy at this, and Tierno looks a bit bashful, but also a bit smug at the same time. "Oh it was almost a year ago now," Shauna tells her. "I'm sure this is going to sound very familiar by now, but the two of us had been dancing around our feelings for a while by then." At this, Tierno chuckles, while everyone else except for Goh and Chloe turns to look at Lukas and Barry. Barry blushes at this, while Lukas somehow remains confused. Shauna carries on talking, unaware of all of this. "Eventually, Tierno decided he had enough of being awkward around me, and decided to do something about it. So, he set up a big dance routine with his pokémon and used it to tell me how he felt. Of course I reciprocated, and the rest is history."
As usual, Bonnie has stars in her eyes upon hearing this, which makes Max chuckle a bit. Shauna notices, and turns to Bonnie. "So, how did you meet your boyfriend?" she asks innocently. Both Max and Bonnie go bright red at this and immediately start denying it, while Dawn and Chloe giggle behind their hands. Once the misconception is fixed, although Bonnie is certain she corrected her on this yesterday as well, she and Max go on to explain how the pair met, leaving out the details about the Jade Orb. Luckily Dawn, Zoey, Barry, and Lukas don't bring it up either. Dawn and Chloe also bring up how their respective relationships started as well. After these conversations are finished, they move on to discussing the festival later that night. Everyone starts talking about what the best places to get gifts for their pokémon and for each other as well. Even though the event is supposed to be for giving gifts to their pokémon, all of the couples agree to get something for each other as well. Barry decides to give something to Lukas too, even though they aren't a couple.
Once breakfast is finished, everyone makes plans for where to shop and how. They all come up with a plan, and that's to have all the girls, minus Zoey, plus Barry, go in a group to buy things for their partners, and the boys, minus Barry, plus Zoey, would do the same for theirs. Then, they'd all separate and get their own gifts for their pokémon on their own. With all of that settled, everyone leaves the hotel and heads to a pokémon day-care. Once the pokémon are all dropped off, they all go in their separate groups to different parts of the town to buy presents for each other. Unbeknownst to the other, both Max and Bonnie are having an internal debate as to whether or not they should get a gift for the other. On the one hand, they'll be the only ones who don't give or receive anything, but on the other, it may come across as them showing interest in a romantic relationship. "Which is definitely NOT what I want!" they both think to themselves. "We're just friends!" But, since everyone else is getting something for each other, they figured they should too.
Before going there separate ways, Bonnie had given Max an important task; convince Lukas to buy a present for Barry as well as for his pokémon. So, when he, Lukas, Tierno, Zoey arrive in their first shop, he gets to work doing just that. "You know, I think Barry's getting you something too," Max tells him as the others browse. "Perhaps you could do the same for him?" Lukas looks surprised to hear this. "Oh, that's nice of him," he observes. "But he doesn't have to. I don't mind not getting anything." Amazed at how such a brilliant mind could be this dense, Max presses on. "I'm pretty sure he knows he doesn't have to," he argues. "But he wants to. So, I just thought he might like it if you got him something as well. I'm getting something for Bonnie after all, and we're just friends." Lukas thinks about this, before shrugging. "Alright," he says, "I guess I'll get him something as well." Then, he starts looking through the shop, not seeing Max punch the air in success.
While this conversation goes on, the others browse the shop to find something for their girlfriends. The shop they're in is a clothes shop. Normally these places bring back bad memories for Max because of the insufferable amount of time May spends in them, however this time it's not so bad, since he's here to buy a present for his friend, rather than waiting for his sister to make up her mind. Tierno, Goh, and Zoey are looking through all of the dresses the shop has to offer, trying to find the perfect one for their girlfriends. Tierno and Goh seem to be searching for one that can be used in Showcases. Zoey however is looking at a particularly short dress with a low neckline, and looks to be trying to keep her nose from bleeding. To stop Zoey from purchasing a gift that will only cause herself to be knocked out the second her girlfriend tries it on, Lukas manages to convince her to buy Dawn some nice jewellery, to which Zoey agrees. The 5 of them buy everything they need, before separating and going their own ways to buy presents for their pokémon.
While the 1st group does their shopping nearby to the day-care, the other group takes the monorail to a different part of Coumarine to do there's. While they're on the monorail, Bonnie sits with Barry and feeds him ideas for gifts to get Lukas. Barry listens to her advice and starts planning to give him something great. Bonnie also suggests that he should try telling Lukas how he feels, but Barry goes bright red and refuses outright, so Bonnie drops it. Throughout the rest of the journey to the shop, she starts planning out ways to match them together herself. Dawn seems to notice her scheming, because she offers to help with any plan she may have. Bonnie thanks her, then refocuses on the more important task at hand; buying Max a present. Everyone decides to stop off in a pokémon trainer's shop for their gifts.
Looking around, Bonnie suddenly finds herself a bit bashful thinking about what to get for Max. Seeing all of the others in her group getting presents for the person they're in love with makes her feel a bit like she's getting something for someone she loves. But her love for Max is purely platonic, so she's only going to get something for him as a friend. While she has this internal debate, Dawn looks through the place to find something that'll help Zoey win her next showcase. Chloe looks through all of the different types of pokéballs the shop has to offer. Shauna looks for something that Tierno can use for his his dance style of battle. Barry goes through the various utilities for research that the shop has. Bonnie browses the place, but has no idea whet to get Max. That is, until she spots something and immediately thinks of Max, and buys it without a second thought. Once everyone bought what they wanted, they all separate to buy presents for their pokémon as well.
It takes everyone almost the rest of the day to find the right gifts for all of their pokémon. Some of them even need to search multiple shops to make sure they get the right things. In particular, Goh has to go to so many different shops because of the amount of different pokémon he owns. But eventually, they all gather at the day-care and show each other what they got for their pokémon. They didn't show what they got for each other, keeping those wrapped and in their bags. Once they're ready, they head in to the day-care and retrieve their pokémon. The pokémon are very happy to see them, and Dedenne begins sniffing at Bonnie's bag, hoping to see what the present she got him is. Bonnie just laughs and returns Dedenne to his ball, the others following suit. "Sorry Dedenne, but you need to be in your pokéball for now," she tells him. "But I'll take you out again once we get to the Tree, ok?" Dedenne's ball shakes, which Bonnie takes to mean he understands.
Once they all have their pokémon, everyone heads over to the tree, following the rest of the crowd. People came from all across Kalos for this event. Max has never seen this many people in one festival before. He's staggered by the number of people there, to the point that it's beginning to cause him a bit of discomfort. They follow the crowd and make it to the Pledging Tree, which turns out to be the Coumarine Gym. Bonnie chuckles at his jaw dropping upon this realisation. But his jaw doesn't drop just because of this realisation. The tree looks so much grander than it did when Bonnie challenged it two days prior. It's covered in lights, and has several big lights dangling from it. It looks spectacular. The crowd gathers on several fields half a kilometre or so away from the Tree. Some of them set up a few blankets to sit on, others enjoy the sight while standing up or sitting on one of the fences.
Their large group congregates on one of the fences and release all of their pokémon. As usual, Bonnie gets starry-eyed at the sight of all of the cute pokémon, which makes Shauna laugh. "I see you haven't changed since you travelled with Ash" Shauna comments. Bonnie chuckles bashfully and rubs the back of her head, something she's picked up from Max. Once all of their pokémon are running free, they all give them their presents. Shauna gives hers a few ribbons and bows. Tierno gives his some flashy shades and t-shirts, body shape permitting. Dawn gives hers some toys for them to play with. Zoey gives hers some things to practice their moves with. Barry gives his a whole load of berries to eat. Lukas gives his some items that can boost some of their power. Since all of Goh's pokémon are so different in term of personality, he had to get them all unique things, which is why he was running all over Coumarine. Chloe only has 3 pokémon, so she had the easiest job. She got some cute clothing for her Chespin and Cubone, and a fire stone for her Eevee. Eevee squeaks with excitement at the chance to evolve and taps her head against the stone, evolving into a Flareon. while this happens, Max gives his pokémon the drawings he made of all of them. He's worried that they'd be disappointed with not receiving proper gifts, but they're all delighted with them. Finally, Bonnie gives her pokémon a their own mini tents, so they can sleep outside with her and Max, rather than in their pokéballs.
Now that all of the pokémon have received their gifts, it's now time for the humans to give gifts to their partners, and friends in Max, Bonnie, Lukas, and Barry's cases. First up are Dawn and Zoey. Zoey had gotten Dawn a beautiful diamond and pearl necklace (pun intended and I'm not sorry). Dawn had gotten Zoey the most amazing and sparkly tuxedo any of them have ever seen. Bonnie made a noise of giddiness at seeing how much the two girls clearly loved each other, given how much they're willing to spend on each other. Up next are Goh and Chloe. Chloe had gotten Goh at least 10 of every different type of pokéball available in Kalos, as well as some stickers to mark the balls with the type that sits in it. Goh had gotten Chloe a few TMs that Flareon can learn, specifically the ones that will serve her best in showcases. Chloe is amazed by this. "I remember you saying you were thinking about evolving Eevee into a Flareon," Goh explains. Chloe immediately kisses him for this. After them are Shauna and Tierno. Like Dawn, Tierno got Shauna a sparkly dress to aid in her showcases. Shauna meanwhile went simpler and got Tierno a speaker. Despite how much simpler it is, it's very much appreciated. Up next are Max and Bonnie. Both of them have noticeable blushes on their faces as they hand over their gifts. Max has gotten Bonnie a few t-shirts, one with Fennekin, one with Dedenne, and one with Pikachu. Bonnie got Max a pencil case full of coloured pencils. Max's eyes light up with excitement at these, before hugging Bonnie tightly, which she returns as thanks for the t-shirts.
At last, it's Lukas and Barry's turn to give their gifts. Barry is incredibly nervous as to how this will go, and he isn't even aware that Lukas has a gift for him. So, he's incredibly surprised to see Lukas smiling at him while holding out a wrapped gift. Barry takes it, glad to stall his gift giving a bit longer. Barry takes the gift and unwraps it, to see that Lukas has gotten him a sun cap, with the words "Future Champ!" written across it. Barry goes really red at this and stutters out a thank you. Then, he takes a deep breath and hands his gift to Lukas. Lukas opens it, and his jaw drops. "It's a new device that allows you to scan the waves and power coming from the Mega Phenomenon," Barry explains. "I found it in a shop marketed to be for pokémon researchers right next-door to the one the others were browsing. I hope you like it." Lukas is too stunned to speak. Eventually, he manages to say, "How did you get this? I didn't think you could find this in a shop." Barry smiles a bit at this. "Apparently they are. Although I can tell you it wasn't cheep. But you're my best friend, and you are so worth that much money!"
Barry looks like he wants to say more, but before he can, a fireworks show starts up behind the Tree. Everyone's eyes dart to the lightshow, and Barry starts whooping and leaping into the air with excitement. Lukas however is still staring at his friend, who'd just given him the best present ever. More importantly, he realises that Barry looks really good bathed in the lights from he tree and with the sparkles of joy in his eyes. Then, he does another jump of excitement, and the bottom of his shirt rolls up a bit, giving Lukas a brief view of his chest. When he sees this, Lukas's heart does a few flips, and he can feel his face warm a bit. With a horrible jolt, Lukas comes to a realisation.
When the fireworks show ends, everyone begins making their way back to the hotel, but Lukas requests Dawn stay behind for a few minutes, because he'd like a word with her. Everyone else heads on, but Zoey stays behind to wait for her girlfriend. Lukas waits for the others to be out of earshot before he starts talking. "I just realised something," he tells the two girls. "I think I have a crush on Barry." He waits for a reaction, and expects one of surprise, but instead both girls begin to laugh. "Well, it's about damn time you realised!" Dawn exclaims. "We knew for ages," Zoey agrees. "Just had to wait for you to realise too." Lukas is quite embarrassed by this, but the two girls manage to cheer him up by reminding him of how much of a mess they were before they started dating. Then, they start giving him advice on what to do with his newly discovered crush.
Sorry for another abrupt ending, but I felt that this one was getting a bit long, so I decided to end it here. But hey, Clingyshipping is finally becoming a thing! I saw these two's interactions together in the game and I thought they'd be so cute together, but wow did I give my bi self a bit of free reign here. Trust me, this will get a lot more gay later on. But for now, I'll see you all on Thursday with the next chapter. Merry (belated) Christmas!