Hello! It is not Wednesday but I am back to upload this story. I was out yesterday enjoying my own Christmas activites, hence the delay on this. This chapter is actually the most recent one that I wrote for Christmas upload. And despite the title name, it's not actually a terrible time and it's definitely a light-hearted story! For this, it was really fun to write one that takes place during the anime era and where Ash, Misty and Brock are their young selves. I hope you enjoy this :)
Disclaimer: I own the story and story alone; no OCs in this one for once!
This is going to be the worst Christmas ever.
I thought these words to myself and not once did I want to take them back. Well, not at least until the atmosphere around me changed and if a fire had been crackling in the corner of the room then it surely would have been snuffed out.
Ash's gaze flickered. Brock had a twitch tugging his brow. Misty exhaled, like I had thought words she too had been thinking and it was a relief to know she wasn't alone. Jessie's eyes hardened. James didn't bother to relax.
It wasn't until Meowth very clearly clenched his fist towards me and his naturally dagger-like eyes appeared all the more like a weapon cutting into me that I realised that I hadn't just thought these words to myself.
"Well it isn't exactly a dream come true for the rest of us, bub!" Meowth seethed, his claws still being revealed even as his clenched fist became a ball, sharp teeth to boot showing in between the words that he spat.
As if he had been the one to feel the wrath of the feline Pokémon, my best friend's shoulders lurched while he watched the scene that could easily quickly escalate. However, before his eyes could become horrified rainbows and he could make a desperate attempt to console either of us, someone else interjected between Meowth and me. And it wasn't even me.
While it was true that I hadn't actually meant to say the words, it didn't mean that I didn't mean them in the long run. I wholeheartedly did. At that moment I believed that they were true and I didn't care that I thinking that would turn it into reality.
Brock's twitch tugging at his brow softened and though his arms longed to embrace around himself for warmth – for he didn't have a significant other like he would have liked to do that for him – his fingers caught onto his hips.
Copying Misty's exhale but for a different reason, he actually moved his body in between Meowth and I before I could decide that there was nothing more to lose and I might as well actually copy his fire with my own fire. There was nothing else warming up the place!
"Come on you two. Your fighting isn't exactly going to help us in this situation, is it?" Brock tried to be the peacemaker. I knew that he was only trying to do the right thing but I couldn't stop my eyes from bedding into him instead, wordlessly conveying that if he thought that was fighting then he hadn't seen anything yet! "Let's try a different tactic then, shall we?" he had to change tactic for himself. Everybody saw the bead of sweat puckering on his brow after I shouted at him in my head. "Meowth, come with me to fetch firewood. The load we have might be damp."
Brock told the cat Pokémon rather than asked. And I did not bother to smother the glee that took over my face when not only had this occurred, but it was to be Meowth that had to trudge into the snowstorm.
Immediately, Jessie and James anticipated how this was going to go down with their third team member. The magenta haired woman was beginning to take off her elbow length black gloves for something to do when she soon realised that was foolish and started bunching them back up her arm again. The lavender haired man had knees drawing to his chest and gloved hands cupping his face as his elbows rested there.
Both of them waited for Meowth to explode. He did.
"You can go and do one!" the cat Pokémon turned his attention over to Brock, that rage not cooling down from being used up on me. In fact, he grew all the more heated as time passed. And instead of actually speaking these words, he told the spiky haired male to go to a place that was surely burning hotter than where we all were! "You're a fool if you think I'm goin' anywhere with you."
Again, Meowth did not say fool. Jessie felt her own smirk tugging at her lips at the word that actually did thunder out of her friend's curved mouth. James, on the other hand, discovered himself to be blinking. He was often rude. But not that rude in front of the young twerps.
Brock was seemingly as unscathed as he could be, hands still lingering on his hips and standing up to his full height. Apparently he was not taking no for an answer and that time I had to hold back some of my menacing joy or else I knew I would be dragged out with them too.
"You're coming." He spoke with finality; not needing to go and fetch his coat that was hanging on the back of the door of the cabin for it was already tightly buttoned around him. Brock might've been taking command, but he showed it with his voice rather than gestures. "The sooner was get this place warmed up, the sooner everyone will be a lot happier to be here with each other."
All eyes dispersed and landing on Brock. 'Happier' was such a loose word that it was actually a pie in the sky idea. The spiky haired male knew it. But he didn't bother to correct it. Instead, he marched over to the door of the wooden cabin and waited Meowth to follow him.
Catching us all off guard while we watched as if it was the most interesting scene in the world, the cat Pokémon did eventually join Brock, albeit highly reluctantly, and muttering frustrated and callous words as he went.
Those words and those muttering noises followed Brock as he left the cold of the cabin and went out into the even colder open air. I imagined Meowth's disdained curse words leaving equal marks in the snow as the boots that he was forced to wear, breaking tradition, just to have some chance in going up against the Kanto snowstorm.
The two of them would need the biggest snow shield in the world to come home unharmed. But there they were risking it just for us to be a little more comfortable. Usually I would have softened at this fact. But on that day, I was as rigid as the weather within my own stance.
After all, I needed to blame someone, didn't I? And the Team Rocket Trio seemed like a good enough candidates.
It had to be a whole plan, didn't it? We had been making good time journeying back to Pallet Town for Christmas when the snow storm came out of nowhere, practically burying me up to my nose in snow before I could hop to the safety of the shoulder of Ash or even Misty.
We had all tried to be brave, trudging and trudging and trudging because, eventually, we would get to Ash's Mom's for Christmas Eve. Apparently that he wouldn't. We had to follow a very feeble plan B and seek the refuge in an abandoned wooden cabin that we happened to find along Route 1. Or so we thought that it was abandoned.
When we all huddled together in the corner just for any semblance of warmth together, we spied three beady sets of eyes in the opposite corner apparently having the same idea.
My eyes fell on the two pairs of eyes that were left in the cabin at that moment. Jessie and James. Of course it had to be a ruse. That was why I was so angry. They could sink so very low. But I could never have imagined that they would actually try and ruin another of our Christmases.
Then, I refused to allow my eyes to look at them any longer, looking past my erect nose and towards the beams of the ceiling. Of course they would try and ruin our special celebrations. They had tried for almost all the year before. And they ruined everything.
"Brrr, let's try one more time to get this fire going before Meowth and Brock return home." Ash interrupted my thoughts, evidently growing weary of the cold from the way that his voice was laced with vehement chattering noises from his teeth. "Mist, are you going to try and help me?"
It was a low moment for me when I lowered my nose from breaking the distance with the ceiling and I found myself shooting my best friend a look that was normally reserved for the Team Rocket Trio when he called on the orange haired girl for help rather than me. Rather than me, his most loyal friend in the world!
I decided that while I knew not to trust the two adults in the corner, I also might have to be weary of the younger ones as well. But that delusion came and went; it was entirely muffled at the same time that another heap of snow came down and covered the window sills outside so thickly that you could then hardly see out of them.
"I don't think it's any use, Ash." Misty's voice soothed my pitiful thoughts without even trying, inwardly regretful about having to leave her huddled position in order to crouch next to Ash and try and ignite the feeble bits of wood into something brighter. "Brock is right, it seems damp to me."
A reluctant hand of hers stopped desperately bedding into the blush of her quilt jacket and tentatively poked the thinnest log that was closest to her. 'Log' is another loose word. It was more like a twig.
Nevertheless, my best friend insisted. Apparently mine and Meowth's fire was catching, even if the logs refused to burst into flames.
"We have to try!" Ash insisted, Misty's touch forced to be yanked away from the softening wood as he rolled it around in the pile, adamantly using the matches that he had found in the cupboard under the sink to try and ignite the fire.
I didn't want to be included in their little gang but Jessie, James and I watched as Ash struck the match and that comforting smell filled our nostrils as it showed a proud flame. But then as soon as the end of the match touched a small fragment of the wood, it hesitated and it dulled and eventually dwindled into nothingness.
All that was left was a streak of smoke and another comforting smell that also added a pang to the pit of our stomachs that time.
It couldn't properly be enjoyed. It was one of our last rays of hope. If Meowth and Brock couldn't return with suitable wood then… Well, I didn't even like to think what would happen. I didn't even try and blame it on the menacing trio. I simply didn't know what any of us were going to do.
Fortunately, someone finally had a bit of a bright suggestion, even if stubbornness stopped me from appreciating it fully in the moment.
"Why don't you get that little red creature of yours out so he can give the fire a bit of a seeing to?" James began, speaking for one of the first times since we had all landed in that situation together. Two of his gloved fingers fell to his forehead as he tried to remember the name. "Charmander." A shrug rolled of his shoulder to reiterate his point. "Surely he can do bigger damage than one of those matches?"
The young lady with hair the colour of the flames that would not appear stopped looking so displeased with lingering by the fire rather than the corner of the room like before and her lips puckered downwards, her eyebrows doing the opposite. They joined together before pointing towards the never-ending ceiling.
Misty voiced my opinion for me so I didn't have to, and I didn't have to think that I was thinking to myself and get into trouble, either.
"That's actually quite a smart suggestion." She stated. She didn't compliment. She never would have dreamed of doing that towards the lavender haired male. Whether she insulted him or the opposite, James reacted in the same way. He didn't react at all. "Why didn't we think of that?"
Her shoulder fell against Ash's, looking at him with an especially quizzical look. Charmander was his Pokémon. So why hadn't he of all people thought about calling upon him? He would go onto find out why after Jessie found her voice. Not that it was unusual for her!
"Get on with it, then." She barked, not bothering doing anything in the corner of the room with her lavender haired team mate. I spied them both. At least James was making suggestions. They were unwelcomed from my point of view but at least he was doing something! "Get your little helpful Pokémon out."
Jessie was apparently doing something. She was bossing my best friend around. However, this wasn't the reason why he snapped for a second time. We would go on to found out why in due course.
"No!" Ash answered at first, then having to answer to Misty as her shoulder fell against him for a different reason, leaving him to abandon the matches in his hands for a few moments as he nursed the sore spot instead. "You know what they're like." He was very clearly speaking of the adults with the R stitched on their chests but he looked at Misty and Misty only. "As soon as Charmander is out of his Poké Ball, they'll try and steal him."
I watched as my best friend had been looking at Misty as if there was nobody else to even bother peeking at. Yet as soon as this observation popped into my mind, he did the opposite and he started to look over at the two criminals in a very telling way.
James responded by having eyebrows rising towards the ceiling, but not bothering to defend himself or any one of his team mates. I wondered if it was because he agreed!
Jessie, on the other hand, didn't convey whether she did or not. Like James, her own eyebrows shot upwards but unlike him, a mercurial grin took over her features. She spoke after raising a slender, gloved hand to her mouth and letting out a siren-like laugh.
We would have been so lucky if it was actually a fire alarm!
"Is that so?" Was all she retorted, clearly knowing what she was doing from the way that Ash's fingerless gloved hands stopped massaging the ball of his shoulder and he not only turned around to face the villains but he stood to his full, short height as well.
Fleece covered fingers of his clenched together and if he had more determination in his eyes then I would shortly begin to see a baseball cap swivelled around upon his head.
"Yes it is!" Ash retorted, standing firm with the balls of his feet inside his shoes firmly planted on the cold wooden floor of the cabin. He didn't alter stance, thinking that this was the best move to go up against the two adults who didn't give him the satisfaction of standing up as well. "I still don't trust any of you. All Pokémon are to stay in their Poké Balls until we are out of this mess."
I wished that there was a clock somewhere hanging on the wall so I could torture myself with seeing just how long we were already in the mess and how long we would have to tolerate it for. Instead, I spied the world outside of the windows and saw that it was already beginning to get dark.
Things would get all the worse then and especially so with Brock and Meowth not returning with any wood.
Misty tried to tug Ash back down to help her because she would not let him get away with calling her over to join him for nothing. But it was no use. When he set his mind to something, there was hardly anything that could get him to unclench.
"We're evil." Came Jessie's response as she tried to kid herself that she could see through her midnight gloves and inspect the state of her nails. She also believed that that statement was enough by itself. She was forced to elaborate with shoulders that spoke of a sigh more than her lips. "If we wanted to steal your Pokémon then we would just do it. Poké Ball or not."
The orange haired woman thought that this would make her good friend relinquish but it did not. It was as though the young man had become the embodiment of his name and like a tree, he was now part of the wood cabin and not swaying a single inch.
He only started to react once more when James found his voice a second time and decided to join the magenta haired woman. Even then, he managed to get to Ash far more than almost anyone.
"You had better live up to your end of the bargain if you don't want us to be our thieving selves, had you not?" he began, sitting up straighter for the first time since being in that cabin and looking as though he was preparing for an evening tea party with the way that his booted feet tucked under his bottom. Like a lot of things, his words went over Ash's head until they were spoken more clearly. "Put Pikachu back in his ball, then. One less creature to worry about keeping warm, no?"
I could practically hear the devious cat Pokémon hooting in response to his team mate's words as if he very much was there. I stiffened as though this really was the case but I became all the more like a statue at the nerve of the lavender haired male.
While it was true that James quickly got to Ash more than anyone and the ten year old boy was forced to grip his hands together all the fighter and plant his feet firmer on the ground though he wanted to stamp one of them, it was actually Misty who spat back in response first.
She was finally standing too, her own posture argumentative though her fists didn't need to ball together in the same way like the raven haired male.
"You leave Pikachu out of this!" she retaliated at the same time that my own voice decided not to be so silent and I cried out a variation of my own name in defiance. Sometimes it was hard to clench my chubby paws together at that point in my life but I succeeded.
I was preparing to make adamant strides over to the two people defending me when I noticed Jessie's perfectly plucked eyebrow resembling a menacing rainbow and he added to her team mate's words, stirring the pot furthermore.
"Leave Pikachu out of this, like your careless self leaves him out of his Poké Ball?" Jessie taunted. Her fingers long stopped being inspected and one of them pointed and wriggled balefully.
Knowing my best friend almost more than anyone, I figured that we soon enough wouldn't need Charmander or even Meowth and Brock to return from fetching suitable fire wood. If Ash kept that up and Jessie and James did as well, then we soon were certainly going to have a whole cabin that was igniting, let alone the flimsy pieces of wood.
True to this notion, I could feel the heat rising in the middle of Ash and spreading outwards from the moment that I left the ground and touched the tips of my toes against his shoulder.
"How dare you even-"
Ash began. But Ash was stopped. In an attempt to cool the situation down, a hand wrapped around the round of a young shoulder and reassuring words soon were spoken.
"Don't, Ash. They're not even worth your time." Misty might have been consoling him but she showed that she would always be undoubtedly herself from the way that she didn't refrain from shooting an explosive look over to the duo. They were used to it from Meowth and each other. Misty ignored how they didn't flinch and turned to her good friend instead. "Let's focus on getting the fire up and burning. The three of us can do it together."
And with that, although Misty's touch faltered on the shoulder of Ash, her eyebrows drew closer together and she bobbed her head in such a manner that it spoke of finality. Leading by example, she went down onto her knees and picked up the matches and box that the raven haired boy had abandoned and prepared to be at least one of the people being true to her own word.
For a second, Ash grumbled from the back of his throat and his balled hands shook. But then, deep down, he knew that the orange haired girl was right. And looking over to me for an extra bought of reassurance, he was soon given the answers that he needed.
We were the better trio, weren't we? And Misty was right; if anybody had a chance of turning a negative situation into a better one, then it was the three of us together.
Jessie and James couldn't have seemed the least bit bothered when they had three backs turned on them. Instead, they focused on crossing and raising both arms behind their heads and giving each other a look with pouched lips and elevated eyebrows.
Just children having tantrums, they told each other without words. They would soon learn to respect their elders better.
However, for the moment, they were determined to prove some things to the adults and most certainly themselves and I was too. Ash, Misty and I set to trying to ignite the fire, attempting all kinds of different things.
We wriggled the wood around. We lit from one end to the other while holding a flame to it all the while, in the hopes that it would eventually catch fire. It did not. The thinnest piece of wood must have dried out the most because for half a second, it gave off some semblance of fire.
The three of us waited with baited breaths and we didn't cheer for fear of snuffing the fire right out. And it was lucky that we did so because, seemingly, it was far too damp in the middle as that water attached itself to the flame and snuffed it out.
We used one match. We used two matches. Three got used up. Then four. Then five. Six, seven and eight followed. We used all the way up to twelve matches. They were beginning to grow thin in the packet as was our patience as well. None of us wanted to be the first to give each other that knowing look and admit that it was time to concede.
Yet eventually, one of us knew that it was time and it was actually Misty who spoke of this. Her shoulder fell against mine instead of Ash's that time as even she knew when time to call it quits was. She could not stop the sorrow in her eyes as fear started to rear its head.
The situation was growing grimmer as time passed. And it was properly dark outside the window at that point.
"I think we had better wait for Brock and Meowth to return, don't you?" Misty suggested. At that point, I had jumped down from Ash's shoulder to the warmer warmth of her lap and didn't have the energy to be smug that the cat Pokémon's name had been uttered second. It could have been an afterthought in my mind. "We don't want to waste these matches in case they are triumphant in their search."
Misty was the one clutching onto the few matches left in the box at that point but because he wanted to be the one to call the shots, showing that he still had some fire about him even if everything was growing hopeless, Ash wrapped his fist around the box and tried to tug it towards himself.
Along with that motion, words were spoken. I should have known that he would do everything in his power to be right. But far more than that, he would do everything in his power to make things better for everyone. Even the criminals then huddling together in the corner.
"Not yet." He answered. For a split second, Misty and I believed that that would be all that we would be lucky to hear from our good friend. A couple of seconds later and box in one fingerless gloved hand and match in the other to prove a point, Ash added: "We need some strong and thorough hands to get this done, that's all."
Brows drawing their distance together as she listened, the orange haired girl went on to nod. Then, she had an idea, I could see it lighting up behind her irises far more than any match could ignite the damp wood.
Going against her prior desire to shut everybody else out, Misty turned her whole body behind her and peered towards the two adults in a tight embrace in order to keep warm. Somehow, she managed to keep her face steady and to not convey disgust in order to come out with words to them both instead.
"We need some strong and thorough hands over here to get this done." She repeated Ash's words. It must have killed him inside that apparently he was not good enough but one of the two villains might be. Fortunately, Misty's next words tickled him enough to see things on the brighter side once more. The lavender haired male was prevented from going further than sitting up straight and easing his hold on the magenta haired woman. "Jessie? Do you think you're up to it?"
She put James in his place at the best of times even then but certainly after he had been particular callous towards Ash and Pikachu. And apparently her words had been so filled with wit that even Jessie started to cackle with laughter as soon as she heard them, leaving her team mate in equal measure but her being given the opportunity to help out.
The lavender haired male merely responded with an invisible fish hook in his brow as Jessie, Ash and I all hooted, facing him, while Misty knew the success of her sentence without having to prove it, hands simply sliding down onto her hips instead.
It was James' turn to turn his back on everybody else, waving a dismissive hand and pretending to be far more interested in reading a book that he had managed to get hold of in the cabin. But it was just for something to do and just to prove a point as, his whole body turned away from us, and we saw it was a manual on how to fix the lights if need be!
With James snooty and occupied and reality hitting Ash, the ten year old boy was forced to give up the matches in order for Jessie to have a go. He couldn't have been filled with more silent glee, however, as she had exactly the same luck and couldn't get the fire to ignite for more than a few seconds on the thinnest twig before snuffing out feebly for all to see.
Ash had to hide this secret feeling within himself when, as Jessie got the match box down to just one more rattling around in it while the second was in her hand, frustration started to engulf her being and very clearly be read on her face.
James nonchalantly looked over at the scene, head resting backwards on the low table in the middle of the room and legs crossed as he pretended to read. They had called that upon themselves when they had chosen his team mate instead of him. So they could deal with her temper! He would not diffuse anything.
Thankfully Ash had enough practice with Misty and although he had enough sense not to speak of such, it did cause him to actually reluctantly backtrack on some of his words, trying to tug the matches back away from an unsuccessful Jessie once more before she used them all up.
She tried to yank them back with such force that Ash's finger was almost the match to the side of the flammable box!
"Maybe… Maybe I could get Charmander out to give it a go just this once?" he tentatively suggested, causing Misty to look over at him with wider eyes than I had cheeks and even James to stop amusing himself with boring words on a page. Jessie was too busy keeping the matches for herself to fully grasp what was being said. "But you have to promise not to try and steal him."
The magenta haired woman might have been too occupied with being far more stubborn than even anybody else in the room but the second that she saw Ash's hand move to his belt and enlarge one of the Poké Balls clutching onto there, it dawned on her what had been said. It dawned on her what was being put forth.
Huddled together for warmth even though, of course, that sensation was long a thing of the past, Misty and I's heads remained forward while our eyes darted to the side, peering. We hoped that Ash knew what he was doing. And we hoped that there was a part of Jessie that was human enough not to take advantage at such a time of momentary truce. Or there was part of her that was soft enough that wouldn't even joke about pulling a fast one.
For just a moment, an expression washed over her face that was candid. How dare a young twerp try and tell her what to do! But then she felt James moving in the background, purposefully or not. He was just switching positions while seemingly occupied with his manual. But it changed something up in Jessie.
She appeared to then know better than to go head to head with Ash and who could be victorious in a battle of the most stubborn. It goes without saying, that that could be one that never ended!
"Just this once." Yielded Jessie, still not relinquishing the match box even if she was doing so with some of the control, arms folding over her chest and leaving the two objects poking out of the corner of her arms at opposite sides. Ash waited because he believed there would be a catch. He knew there would be a catch. "I always preferred your Bulbasaur anyway. Much more sure of himself."
And with that, everything was let go of. The matches and box were discarded to the ground and Jessie's arms unfolded and instead rose upwards, making a show of fixing her hair. Ash didn't know quite what to do at first so, out of habit, he just rolled his eyes. Misty thought about copying. But then the bigger part of her musings which won out was the fact that the woman's attitude might not last for much longer so they had better get a move on!
Another collision of her shoulder against Ash's that was only meant to be a hurrying up sort of motion ended up bruising him a lot further because of the prior one. Initially, he thought about pouting and focusing on that. But soon enough, he knew that Misty was right and he should get cracking before Jessie decided she had a pension for Charmander after all, sneaking the fiery lizard Pokémon underneath her arm.
That same Pokémon was called upon and then given concise albeit grateful instructions. At that point in his life, Charmander was more than happy to comply. After calling out his name and giving it his best shot, a torrent of flames shot towards the wood of the fire and ignited it. Following Ash's orders, he billowed the flame there for quite some time just to make sure. Then when it was called off, all of us waited with anticipation highly in our throats far more than Charmander's smoke as we didn't want to get our hopes up, seeing them snuffed out at the same time that the flames dwindled.
We didn't experience his. The flames didn't either. They stayed there, proud and blazing for us all. However, we didn't have the nerve to celebrate straight away. We instead allowed seconds to pass by. Five seconds. Ten seconds. Fifteen seconds passed and then twenty did and twenty five did too. We waited all the way until thirty seconds. Even then, none of us had the nerve to cheer, let alone look at each other, the continually ignited fire being the only thing that took our attention for quite some time.
There was a part of me that believed that we would have never cheered out of sheer worry. But thankfully, the door in the storm blew open and even at that torrent and even in the presence of two more people, the fire remained blazing and not to mention, proud.
The two entering back into the cabin didn't realise our stance on it all and quite how long it had taken. So because of this, they were the first two to cheer. And thank goodness. It gave us all the confidence to eventually whoop out!
"Oh, brilliant. Well done, Charmander!" Brock complimented, unable to stop the gladness on his face and showing this through cheeks that were as flushed as the jolly red man who usually visited on Christmas Eve – and it wasn't just because of the cold on the outside. "We know who to call upon to light the wood that we found as well."
I knew that there could have been times where my best friend creased his features together, miffed that it was only his Pokémon pal getting the praise when it had been his commands that made it possible.
On that day, however, it seemed that during those moments especially, there was only energy left for celebration and praise too. Wrapping his arm around Charmander and drawing him close to his side in a manner that wasn't to keep him away from the magenta haired woman, the fire lizard Pokémon soon felt a knuckle rubbing friction against his skull.
"Well done, buddy, you saved the day." He complimented, going on to ignore the cough that spluttered out from the throat of Jessie that wasn't due to the frost that the open door had blown in. Ash enlarged the Poké Ball back on his belt, ignoring Charmander's sincerity as well as Jessie's ego. The Pokémon felt a cupping sensation around his cheeks as well as his trainer's eyes looking into his. "Don't worry about keeping us warm. You head on inside, we are all toasty now thanks to you."
And with that, Charmander agreed though he would have liked to keep Ash warm like he had done once before with his body pressed against his and his tail flame lighting the way. A red beam of light encapsulated him and took him back to a wholly different environment.
While Misty stood up with me in order to greet Brock and make sure that he was okay following his own successful trip, Meowth decided that he was done just lingering there if it seemed that Charmander was the only one who was receiving thanks.
Very much to prove a point, he dropped his collection of dry fire wood against the floor with a clatter. And ironically, although Jessie was on the same page and she was still huffing at Charmander apparently being the hero of the day even though he would have never been let out if she didn't promise not to steal him, the cat Pokémon traipsed right over to her and poked a sharp claw into her elbow at how she was lingering wastefully by the fire.
"What are you doing over there, you old traitor?" Meowth spoke to her and her alone yet all eyes soon enough fell onto the two of them at the choice words that had escaped from his curved mouth. Everybody else anticipated what was to come long before Meowth could get to it. "You decided to switch teams and become the oldest twerp that ever lived?"
Ridding himself of the instructions manual once and for all, a wad of paper fluttered down onto the table and James turned himself properly to the scene. He couldn't help but feel that what was being said was entirely unnecessary. And more than anybody else, he knew just how risky it was.
Surprising everyone all the same, Jessie actually simply just yanked her elbow away from the sharp digging of Meowth and she forewent entirely explaining that she was simply keeping warm. While she did still fight fire with fire, she didn't explode all that much for someone who had just been called old twice.
Maybe she was growing up. Or maybe she was finally happy to just be indoors, even if being indoors meant being surrounded by twerps!
"If I'm old then it's only because you caused it by taking so damn long with the damn fire." She retorted haughtily. I don't think I have to tell you that she didn't use the word 'damn'! "Go away. I don't wish to speak to either of you."
For another occasion, James started to see the scene with a sloped neck and through widened eyes at the way that Jessie too, just like Meowth wasn't censoring her language around the younger ones – and wondering what he could have possibly done!
Fortunately before anybody could fight even more fire with even more fire or it could turn into a cursing competition with Misty showing off just how many new words she had learnt on the road, Brock showed that he hadn't grown tired with being referee.
Kneeling down in front of the fire next to Jessie which made the older woman grimace and abandon her position to be with her team mates instead despite the cold and her then disdain for them both, he held his hands up towards the heat as well as intercepting any oncoming arguments.
"Why don't we all not speak to each other?" Brock suggested, a smiling curving up his lips while Ash and Misty couldn't help but turn their heads towards him, wondering why all of them were tarred with the same brush and seemingly being punished. His hands didn't falter against the flames. "Let's just enjoy the warmth, shall we?"
As promptly as they had been to get their guards up, Ash and Misty relinquished and they too squashed by the fire to keep warm. Of course, this caused Jessie and Meowth to take this as a threat and start to ask why they got the front seat in front of the fire. But when they realised that they wanted to be back with their silent team member anyway, they too quietened down and just got on with things.
And like Brock suggested, we all simply basked in the heat that was then radiating around the cabin. I was still unhappy to be missing Christmas Eve at the Ketchum Household because of that pesky villainous trio. But at least I then was warm. And apparently that was all it took for me to see things a bit better.
My point of view, however, for a rare occasion wasn't shared by everyone and it took me off guard when this was put forth by my best friend. I started to sense it within him after not much time and clambered onto his lap instead of Misty's before his legs forlornly drew towards his chest. But I wasn't quick enough.
While his warmed hands roamed through my fur, he jutted his chin down as if he longed to rest it down on my head if his head could stretch that far or I could erect myself tall for us. Neither of us could. Ash just had to hang there with nothing to support himself with other than my friendship.
"I can't believe I'm missing Christmas Eve with my Mom right about now." Ash grumbled, copying my long prior stance by being unable to glance over at a clock on the wall because there simply wasn't one. He too was not ignorant to the dark of night that had captured the world outside and was causing the region to grow a whole lot chillier and snow covered too. "Her cooking. The house. Her hugs. Mr Mime. Her. I'm missing everything." Ash insisted on making a list though that was making him feel a whole lot worse. "Presents."
This was his final statement. He was fortunately none the wiser to Jessie and Meowth pretending to stick their fingers against their tongues and gag at the way that the "Mommy's Boy" was missing his mommy and her hugs on Christmas Eve.
Brock's eyes were quickly beginning to dull in empathy at the way that Ash was suffering the worst but he counteracted this by wrapping a brotherly arm around Misty's shoulders as she too started to look a bit blue even though she then was warmed through again.
"We can still do presents at least." He answered. It was rare that my best friend found someone – especially a guy – that he didn't go head to head with. Somehow it wasn't all used up on Gary Oak. Brock was one of the people that he looked to for guidance rather than competition but on this day, it seemed that there was still a speck of the other thing there. Brock's hands were then encouraged to rise outwards in a different manner, then facing Ash rather than the fire. "I'm serious." He gently insisted, surprising me by starting to look at everybody around the room rather than just Ash. And I mean everybody. "I think that we should all delve into our pockets right now and give somebody something. I think it would be nice."
Apparently, not a single other soul felt the same! Ash, Misty and I might have been much more eager to involve ourselves in this if it didn't mean swapping gifts with the Team Rocket Trio in the corner of the room. That was the catch. And it was quite a massive catch.
Seemingly, the three of them seemed about as eager or even less to share things with the rest of us. This was put forth by James first of all, who at least didn't have the cruellest of answers for Brock.
"It's not Christmas Day yet." He argued quietly, not needing to tug his glove away from his wrist in order to reveal a face lingering there that would tell him the time. After not moving and instead just speaking, he then encouraged Jessie back into his arms when he saw that she was suffering not having a front seat in front of the fire.
While Jessie was too busy climbing into James' arms to say anything which caused Misty to raise an eyebrow, Meowth might have nodded his head at the lavender haired male's words but he didn't stop there.
Promptly he came out with his own, harder words!
"Yeah and I'm not giving any of you people jack!" Meowth refuted. And yes, he followed that last word of his that he spoke with another one which I will not repeat!
But while Jessie nodded her head in agreement against James' chest and Misty did too in agreement of not wanting to share anything with the Team Rocket Trio, Brock stepped in there yet again. And just like he had persuaded Meowth to go wood hunting with him, he persuaded him to go along with this too.
In fact, he succeeded in getting everybody into the idea. He had shushed any arguments up. He had put expectations forth. And then he had said who was meant to give a present to whom.
James had to rummage into his pockets for Misty. She had to do the same for Meowth. Jessie had to give something to Brock. Brock had to give something to James. James drew the longest straw and had to make sure Jessie had something. Ash was lucky enough to have the cat Pokémon bestow something upon him.
I was to give Ash something as well and I didn't know if that was better or worse than being left out entirely because I didn't have any pockets at all and nothing to give him! Brock didn't seem to mind. In actuality, he seemed to have faith that I would come up with something without physically needing to bestow anything at all.
There was a smile taking over his face as he gave some more instructions, giving away the curiosity that he felt inside him as he wondered what on earth any of us would come up with.
"You can have up to five minutes to decide on something, if you like." He reassured as most of the faces in the room wondered how on earth they were going to come up with anything! It was the most spontaneous and desperate attempt of a Secret Santa ever.
It goes without saying that while Meowth was in the same boat as the rest of us, he showed it in a different way. Like often on that day, he soon enough argued and he spat out more words, the clench of his fist and pointedness of his teeth giving the heat of the fire a run for its money.
"Fuggedaboutit, you can't make me give that twerp anything!" Meowth retorted, not bothering to shoot Brock down by telling him that he didn't need his pathetic five minutes. The cat Pokémon's centre nail pointed towards Ash so it was obvious who he was talking about. "My present is not stealing that rat off him while we've all been here. That's me done."
He went against his words by bestowing upon Ash a gift. And unexpectedly, he bestowed a gift upon Ash that the ten year old boy was quite happy to receive!
The two of us shared an unreadable glance at each other that turned into a readable one, seeing each other from an angle and our chins pouted together. We both agreed that that was fine with us. And it resulted in Brock needing to step in again, but not properly as again, he couldn't stop an elevating twitch from capturing his lips.
Being the referee as ever, Brock sat there with his hands on his hips and commanding the situation.
"Well I guess if Ash and Meowth are both happy with that…" he trailed off, not needing to finish that sentence as it was obvious that they were from the way that, taking everybody back, they both bobbed their heads determinedly and even shook hands! Brock cleared his throat. "James?" he looked away from the prior scene after making sure that Meowth had retracted his claws while shaking Ash's gloved hand. "Do you have something that you want to give to Misty?"
Jessie's eyes burned into James when she heard Brock's words towards him, being one of the ones like Meowth who was getting least involved with the little game. The lavender haired male trailed his own gaze to Jessie before shrugging, looking back at Brock. This motion told that he didn't really want to but was being made to.
Reluctantly and while Misty watched with slits for eyes and hands on her hips as she wondered what on earth would be held out to her, let alone if she even wanted to, James reached into his pocket and rooted around. It seemed as though he hadn't even decided what he was going to give to her and was only just searching for it there and then.
Needless to say, Misty started to see him through snake-like, narrowed eyes! But eventually, something was offered to her. He showed off a shrug. But it was the kind of one that might turn into a full smile if it was given half the chance.
"Here you go." he offered, the painted and font-decorated bit of metal being held out to the younger female and as gingerly as her hair portrayed itself, she hooked just a thumb and forefinger forward and accepted it from the male Team Rocket member. The second look that she then gave him was easily read and he found himself defending himself, plopping back down onto his bottom. "It's not just any bottle cap. It's rare. And you can use it instead of money in a vending machine or a shopping trolley."
I had never seen so many expressions wash over Misty's features! The narrowed disdain. The hesitant doubt. And then the eyebrow arched disbelief. He felt as though he was taking her for a fool. But when she drew backwards herself and she felt Ash's hand resting on her shoulder out of curiosity of what it actually was, it seemed a though it took her good friend's eyes for her to survey it properly.
James watched and Jessie and Meowth pretended not to watch as the bottle cap was swivelled in Misty's hold and the light bounced off the silver edges. She then drew the top of it closer to her gaze so she could look at it better and read the brand that it said.
The orange haired girl didn't thank him. Not at all! But she didn't hand it back to him either.
"It matches my eyes." Was what she said, not looking at him and instead holding the dual toned paintwork to the light and seeing how greatly they contrasted each other with the wedge of lemon that was portrayed in artwork slap bang and between the two shades.
For a second time that day, Meowth and Jessie's tongues felt the touching of two fingers as they pretended to gag at another twerp's words. For a rare occasion, James ignored them. He didn't ignore Misty. But he might as well have from the words that he chose to say.
His arms rose in the air before folding, resting behind his head. His shrugs on that day seemed endless. This time he smiled properly at Misty. It was the kind of smile that she hoped would never happen again.
"I wouldn't know. I don't look at you all that much." He responded and with that, Jessie and Meowth's unfair antics soon turned to peals of laughter at the words that their team mate had decided to say.
Naïve to it all, James' eyes were as round as the bottle cap he had bestowed upon Misty as he turned back to face Jessie and Meowth. And trying to move the conversation quickly on as Brock saw Misty's forehead pulse in a manner that gave the hard edges of the bottle cap some steady competition; he broke his momentary silence and kept everything moving forward.
A hand was then wrapping around Ash's shoulders as Brock stopped him from getting involved, knowing that him defending Misty would only end in the two adults and the cat Pokémon alike teasing him about just how much he liked to gaze into the orange haired girl's eyes!
"Jessie, what about you? Would you like to give something to Ash?" Brock questioned. Unlike her lavender haired team mate, she didn't hesitate to actually come out with the words 'not particularly' which caused the spiky haired male to have had placed his hand on Ash's shoulder for good reason.
While I saw my best friend's expression crease and him to try to break the distance with the older woman in order to defend himself and then cause a fight, Brock stood firm and prevented anything from happening.
In fact, he took control in such a way that even Jessie (after letting out heaps of sighs and putting it off and huffing) reached into her skirt pocket underneath her long black puffer coat and she actually did at least offer something out to the raven haired young man.
At first because of everything that had happened, he was uncertain whether he wanted to even take it. Not just because of the way that she had treated him there and then but because of the way that her and her friends had treated him always. If there was anyone who needed to have some dignity then it was to be him to set the tone for how they were going to tolerate their bad behaviour no more.
But then, funnily enough, the faltering of Brock's touch on Ash's shoulders did wonders like it had done when it was first placed there. And following this, intrigue got the better of the ten year old boy and he couldn't help but reach out and hook his fingers around the pattered metal cylinder that was held out to him.
Jessie, James and Meowth labelled him as a fool at the best of times. But he knew what it was straight away and he questioned doubtfully while many people looked on.
"A lighter?" he questioned, taking hold of it gingerly in the same manner that Misty had done to James' bottle cap and not because he wasn't entirely sure how it worked and was afraid of it burning the ends of his fingers clean off. The orange haired girl scoffed at how his present was seemingly worse than hers. Ash scoffed for a different reason. "So you could've lit the fire after all?!" he asked, taking hold of it so forcefully that for a moment, it looked as though he was going to use it as a weapon. His head shook as well as his eyes. "This was your plan all along and you're just being mean."
I had had my own suspicions, it was true. But there and then I was surprised to discover that I then knew that that was a bit of a stretch. Getting us to seek refuge in their winter cabin in the snow storm and missing Christmas Eve at home just to share presents and poke fun at the twerps was a bit of a lame plan, even for the Team Rocket Trio.
I knew that my best friend was mistaken. They were being a bit mean. But it wasn't planned that way. They were just being themselves!
Ash's knee felt the light touch of a soft, red cheek of mine. However, before he could look down and take in my face, reassuring him, everybody in the room was caught off guard by Jessie arguing against his suspicions.
"I'm just following what the big twerp said and am giving you a present." Jessie answered, her voice more uninflected than I had ever heard it. Still holding onto the red lighter, my best friend didn't let his suspicious guard down. A shrug rolled off Jessie's narrow shoulders before she scooted backwards to join her own friends. "And I think you need it more than us. At least you'll always be able to keep warm."
It wasn't just rare for me to be able to admit it at the time – it was straight up impossible to admit that any of the Team Rocket members could inspire me but especially not Jessie. But I can speak of it as I look back. And after I watched my ten year old best friend cautiously listen to the words that were being put forth to him, he decided that there was no better person than someone called Ash to receive a fiery present on Christmas Eve from a fiery person.
While his head bobbed only an inch or so, he drew backwards and he accepted it. And it was as this occurred, as each individual side joined their kin, I was rushed with inspiration and I knew exactly what kind of gift I too could bestow upon my best friend on that day.
Jessie was right, you see. And she wasn't the only one who wished that Ash would always be warm. That was one of the first desires I had for him right when we met, and there and then on Christmas Eve, there seemed to be like no time like the present to show him that as well.
Giving my present to my Ash just like Brock had said, I bolted towards him and thrust myself into his arms! At first, all he did was gasp. But then as he discarded the lighter for the time being and didn't hesitate to wrap his own arms around me in response, he knew exactly what I was doing.
As long as I was around, then he would always be warmed from the inside out.
Brock and Misty received and understood this message without me having to speak it out loud. And they too felt the same way. Though the two of them hadn't been ordered to give Ash a present, by the spiky haired male himself or otherwise, they didn't stop from getting in on the action and wrapping their arms around him too.
Soon enough, we were engulfed in a group hug and I couldn't have been happier. It wasn't the first one on that day but it was the most memorable. And I'll tell you why in the next few moments.
Ash's arms wrapped around me and mine wrapped around him and one of Brock's was around Misty and one around Ash. And as one of Misty's arms were around Ash and one of them were around Brock and her forehead was nuzzling against mine – I turned my head to peep over my best friend's shoulder. And what I saw and what I felt would warm me through long past the New Year.
No, I did not see gifts discarded on the floor, ready to be remembered and picked up on another occasion. Instead, I saw Jessie, James and Meowth engaging in their own embrace. None of them had been ordered to give presents to each other. But in those moments, they too decided that there was nothing else that they wanted to do.
They could have pretended that it was due to the cold. But I knew that it was because of the warmth that radiated through even them too that they were doing this.
And though I never would have admitted it at the time - that felt like the first time that all of us in our entirety were hugging. It was like a momentary truce had been called. And it was like we were uniting. Villain versus twerp. Twerp versus villain.
In the end, we were just the same, really. We all wanted to be around loved ones on Christmas Eve. We all wanted to feel warmth running through our veins. We all wanted someone we would argue with, be hesitant around and put walls up. But furthermore, we wanted someone who would forgive us, be willing with and encourage walls down.
At the end of the day, it was never really villain versus twerp. It was never really us versus them. It was us all against the world. Not that I would ever speak it. Not that I would hardly feel it. But there was a part of me – a secret part of me – that knew.
I speak of a lot of Christmas stories. But this is one of my favourites. There are so many of the lives that we all went on to have and the complicated intricacies of it all. Yet I hold this one dear. This one was one at the very beginning. When it was just a bunch of us.
It was one at the beginning. But the feelings of gladness last through until the end.
And I know that Misty still has that bottle cap somewhere, as does Ash with that lighter and every other present that was bestowed upon that they. We all have each other too, that is the most important thing. That was the first Christmas Eve of many. And it was the first one that I realised something when I looked back.
I had found more than a trainer. I had found a family. And that was the biggest gift of all. Not just around Christmas time. But every blessed day of mine. It turns out that I was wrong. It was not the worst Christmas after all. It might not have been my best. But it was one that revealed things to me. And those things I shan't ever forget. Just like all of these tales.
The End.
There you go! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed :) I had many favourite things about getting to write this. One of them was the way that Misty and James are incredibly snooty with each other. And the other is Meowth getting to say "Fuggedaboutit (forget about it) to someone. That scene in the movie "Donnie Brasco" is one of my favourites and with Meowth's accent, I've always wanted to put it in a story. And it finally happened :D It was nice to go back to anime era. It's not often that I do that. And this has made me want to do it more, but as always, with my own spin of course! Thanks again and I will be back again next Wednesday with another festive chapter so see you then :)
Amy signing out :P