AN: AH! Way too late. I actually posted this on Ao3 already and I always post my bigger fics on here too but I completely forgot to do it this time so uh here is a Pokemon Christmas fic 3 weeks later! Still, I hope anyone out there likes it.
Christmas eve this year was another success, just as evey year is for Kris. Well, just like every year. That's why christmas is her favorite holiday, because she spends time with her family. Everyone is there. The holidays are the days where Kris realizes everything always works out one day.
Kris is currently in bed, half asleep. She keeps rewinding and playing all the events of today in her head, wishing she could go back to them. Waking up, listening to the radio during breakfast, helping Mom out in the kitchen, helping Dad shovel the snow away while letting all her Pokemon play in it, Ethan coming back home after weeks and telling the whole neighborhood what happened, singing christmas carols with everyone, taking pictures, dinner, Mom giving Kris a huge pile of letters from all the friends she met this and the past year and she also thinks about how she got Whitney's SMS a few days ago which is an invitation to her christmas party tonight...
She completely forgot it.
"Why the heck am I so forgetful?" Kris asks herself, sitting up. "I'm kinda too tired to go...but I haven't seen everyone in a while." While she thinks of a solution, she notices a paper ball flying into her window. She gets out of bed and picks it up. When their parents weren't married yet, Ethan would sometimes write a message to Kris on paper and throw it in her room via her skylight, because he was never smart enough to just write her a text message. Then again, they were kids. So nowadays Kris still keeps her skylight open just in case Ethan or someone else wants to write her a message in an old fashioned manner.
"Meet me at your doorstep."
It's not Ethan's handwriting. Plus, he should be in his former bedroom right now. Or he could be at Whitney's party. Did Whitney even invite him to it?
Kris picks up Feraligatr's Pokeball just in case someone evil is down there and quietly goes downstairs to not wake anyone up. It's 9PM. Kinda early. Whitney's party starts at 11. She puts her shoes on, then grabs her hat and jacket. As she opens the door, there is no one there. Kris shrugs, thinking it was a prank. But then, right when she's going back inside, someone touches her shoulder, making her jump in surprise.
It's someone dressed as Santa. That person looks kinda familiar. It's Lance!
"Lance, you scared me!" Kris says, her voice a mix of anger and surprise. "What are you doing here? And why are you wearing a Santa costume?"
"I'm not Lance." The man replies.
The bluenette blinks and then shakes her head. "Don't lie. I know it's you, Lance."
"Nuh uh! I'm Santa!" The man looks a little offended. "Say, Kristina, do you have time?"
"I think so?" Kris now squints her eyes at him.
"Good, because I need your help." He takes out a Pokeball in a peaceful manner and releases the Pokemon, a Stantler, out of it. He then holds up a large bag. "Could you help me deliver those?"
Lance is either drunk or this is a dream. It's not a dream, so it must be the first option. "Do you think I'm st-"
"Here's the list with all the people you need to give a present to." He hands her a piece of paper. All the gym leaders from Johto. And Eusine. And Bill, too. Probably because he's in Goldenrod right now? Even Ethan and Silver are on this list. And some girl named Barbara...Who is Barbara? Anyway, as far as Kris remembers, only good kids get a present. Silver isn't really a good kid. Then again, Kris isn't one to judge, so she puts the list into her pocket. "So, should I do that now?"
"Yeah, Stantler is going to help you. You see, I got this thing here-" Lance now pulls up a sleigh from a bush and Kris gasps audibly. "Now you think I'm crazy! Or you think you're dreaming. But you're not. I managed to teach my Stantler how to fly, so I can deliver my presents to everyone." He leads his Stantler to the sleigh and fixates him on it, pushing the bag onto the sleigh too. "Go on, just try!"
Kris wonders what drugs he took, but she decides to play along. Kris is reluctant, but she slowly approaches the Stantler, which then sniffs on her hand and licks on it. Lance nods. "Yeah, likes you."
She nods and then gets in the sleigh carefully. "And he can really fly?"
"It's a she."
"Yeah, okay. Can she fly?"
"Yup!" He grabs the harness and hands it to Kris. "It's like riding a horse."
Kris feels like this is all a prank and she's the biggest idiot in Johto for believing in this, but as she instructs the Stantler to start walking, it suddenly floats up a little, taking the sleigh with it.
"Don't panic on the Titanic, Kristina!" Lance tells her. The way he acts and looks it's definitely Lance, so she's not sure if he's really a fake one or not. "She knows how to fly and for her the passengers safety always goes before hers! Trust me!"
"I hope so!" Kris calls back as she trains to fly a little by flying small circles in the air, her fear starting to disappear. She slowly goes back on the ground. "What now?"
"Just deliver these gifts, hopefully by tomorrow morning. That'll probably only take you three, maybe four hours maximum." Lance explains. "If Stantler has to pee or is hungry, she'll signal you somehow. Then you go on the ground and she'll probably eat some grass or just do her business. If you're done or need help, just press this button." He hands her a small device with only a button on it. "Put it on your key or something. I'll know where you are and be there!"
Kris blinks in confusion but then sighs. "Well, okay. But like, how am I supposed to get into people's houses?"
"The classical way, via chimney! It doesn't matter if they're asleep or not, and I guess you can just contact them somehow else, too. If they ask, say that Santa told you to deliver it."
She knows that no one is going to believe her, but she just nods.
"Toodles!" Lance, or Santa, shouts, then waves goodbye and runs off. "Good luck!"
"Let's get to work, then!" Kris pats the Stantler softly on its head. "I wonder why Lance chose me. Ethan's the champion, after all." Since Ethan is the first one on the list, she decides that he's the first one to get a gift, since he's her step brother and literally just a few meters away right now. She finds a box in the bag that has Ethan's name on it. "Wait up, I'll be right back." She says and then goes inside quietly, making sure to wake nobody up.
Ethan's door is always open for some reason, so she crouches down and slides the box in his room. As Kris passes by her room, she realizes she's still wearing her pajamas and changes into a warmer outfit quickly. She also leaves a note for her parents that she went to Whitney's christmas party. She'll probably go there anyway, after all. Now she wonders why she didn't take a peek inside Ethan's gift, but that would be rude.
"Where should I go next?" The trainer looks at her map. Blackthorn city is the nearest, so she decides to go there first. Kris gets back on the sleigh and orders the Stantler to start flying. She's not scared of heights, so it's not a problem. Besides, she sometimes flies somewhere with her Noctowl.
Johto has less population than Kanto. Newbark is near the border and the lights from all the christmas decoration and what not shines brighter on Kanto's side. Seeing all these beautiful lights, it feels like a dream. Maybe it is, but probably not. "Blackthorn...I have to fly north. Where is that?" And suddenly, the Stantler does that for her, it changes the direction and flies north. It doesn't take long and also lands next to the gym, which is where Clair's house is.
"Thank you!" Kris gets off the sleigh and looks for Clair's gift, which is also a medium sized package. This time, she opens it slightly to take a peek and closes it just as quickly as she opened it. "I'll knock first." The trainer walks up to the door, hesitates for a moment but then sees that the light is still on and knocks.
An old man opens the door. A wave of panic hits her. Did she knock on the wrong door? But then she remembers that she knows the old man, it's Clair's grandpa. She clears her throat. "Um, is Clair home?" Reluctantly, she holds up the gift to indicate why she's here. "I'll just give it to her real quick."
"She's in the living room." The grandpa says and then laughs a bit. "But she's a little moody right now, so watch out." He points to the living room door and Kris goes inside.
The living room looks really interesting. It's an old fashioned room. Probably from the 40's. The floor is blackthorn while the wall is a warm, yellow tone. The most interesting thing about this room are all the dragon masks, paintings and what not on the wall. Even the christmas tree in the corner is dragon themed.
Clair can be found sitting in an armchair. Kris slowly approaches to not scare her, but Clair shrieks up immediately.
"KRIS! What the-" The gym leader shakes her head and gets up. Her hair is messy and she's wearing pajamas with dragon patterns on them. She probably wouldn't want anyone to see her like that. "You didn't see me like that! And what are you even DOING HERE?!"
"Your grandpa let me in." Kris replies, putting on a nervous smile. "Don't worry, I didn't see anything. I just wanted to bring you something!" She hands her the package. "It's not mine, SOMEONE just asked me to deliver it."
Clair stares at her before she takes the box away as if she didn't eat anything for weeks and there was some food inside. She opens the box, her face flushes, and then she closes it again. "Did you open it?"
"Uh-" Kris seems a little embarrassed, too. "Yeah."
"FUCK!" Clair now takes the gift out of the box. It's a whip and a leash. "I swear, it's not for what you think it is. We actually got a rescued Dragonite and he's hard to train. It burned down the other whips and leashes I had. I swear."
The trainer just stands there awkwardly, so Clair puts the gift away and inhales. "Look, I'm just really annoyed. Lance went back to our home country for the holidays but I couldn't come with him. And I can't come to Whitney's party, either."
"Why not?"
"Krissy, look at me. I'm turning 30 next year! Lance hasn't gone to that kind of parties since he was like 21 or something."
Kris has enough. She inhales and presses her hands together in an annoyed manner. "You're not Lance. You don't have to compare yourself to him all the time! And you're never going to be Lance."
"I know." Clair rolls her eyes. "Still, uh. Thanks. I'm not that ungrateful. I mean, gramps is with me, I can't leave him alone but I'm glad because I obviously love my gramps and I got this gift...Wait. If it's not your gift, then..."
"It's from Santa!" Kris feels that Clair is going to ask more questions, so she steps outside. "Look, I gotta go now!"
"Wait." Before Kris can react, Clair pulls her into a hug. Kinda unexpected, but Kris quickly reciprocates it. "Thank you again." Clair mutters as she pulls away. "I usually don't take Christmas gifts, because I'm like too old f-"
"You're never too old to get gifts!"
"Shut up! As I was saying...Since it's from you and..."
"It's not mine! I was just delivering it."
"WHATEVER. I'll just say I'm pleasantly surprised. Now, shoo."
"Yeah, I have other gifts to deliver, too." Before Kris says goodbye to her and her grandpa, she looks at Clair again and smiles. "Merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas." Clair chuckles, leaning against the wall.
"Alright, that was strange...But at least I made her happy!" Kris looks at her pokegear to look where to go next. Mahogany is the nearest city, so that's her next destination. "To Mahagony, it is. To Pryce." She gets on the sleigh again and the Stantler floats up. Kris feels so relieved because she'd usually have to pass the ice path, but now she can just float over it. That cave is the worst cave in whole Johto.
The Stantler lands in a backyard, which is probably Pryce's. How and why does it know where all the gym leaders live? Then again, the "Santa" from earlier is probably Lance. And he's the champion, so of course he knows where his subordinates live.
Kris gets off the sleigh and looks for Pryce's gift. "I hope that really is Pryce's house..." She sighs, but she hears Stantler make a little sound which sounds like it's trying to say it really is his house, so she nods and looks for possible entrances.
To her surprise, his winter garden entrance is open. But since his backyard is surrounded by a wall, it's not surprising anymore. She sneeks into his living room. Only the lights of the christmas tree faintly light the room. Pryce is lying on the couch, snoring loudly. Just how she did it with Ethan's gift earlier, she quickly and quietly sets it next to his couch and then leaves again.
Pryce snores loudly and then mumbles something. "Close the door..."
The bluenette doesn't know if he's talking in his sleep, but she obeys his command and leaves. She then quickly walks back to the Stantler and pats its head. "That was easy. I wonder if it'll be easy with the others, too." She glances over and then thinks. "Hey, why don't you have a name?" The Pokemon just looks at her with its button eyes.
"... You're a girl, right? You know, you remind me of Rudolph, the Stantler with the red nose. How about I'll call you, uh..." Too bad there isn't a real female variant of Rudolph, so Kris has to come up with something. She ponders for a moment, walking around and then looks up. "I got it!" She points at the Stantler. "From now on, your name will be Prudence." There is no reaction from "Prudence", but it doesn't seem to protest, either. "Okay, then it's set." She climbs on the sleigh. "Let's go and find Jasmine."
The air gets slightly warmer as they fly into Olivine's direction. Olivine is always cooler than the rest of Johto in the summer and warmer in winter, since it's a coast town. Kris isn't freezing anymore. "You know where Jasmine is, right?"
Prudence nods and lands near the lighthouse. The trainer gets off the sleigh and looks around. "What is she doing here?" She asks as she looks for Jasmine's gift, it's kinda heavy for being rather small, and goes inside. There are plenty of sailors hanging around in the lighthouse, as always. So Kris has to be prepared to battle. As she makes eye contact with one of them right at the entrance, he shakes his head.
"It's Christmas. We got better things to do than to battle today!"
"Thank Arceus!" Kris huffs. It seems like they have some sort of christmas party right now, since there are fairy lights everywhere and she hears someone playing accordion, so she turns back to the sailor she wanted to battle. "Is Jasmine here?"
"She's with her Ampharos."
"Is it sick again?"
"Nah, she wanted to stay somewhere quiet and Amphy can't leave its place."
She thanks him and goes upstairs. It's much easier when you don't have to battle anyone along the way, it's not even hard to climb the stairs. Once she reaches the attic, she notices a sign on the door. "Be quiet". Yeah, no. She probably shouldn't just barge in there. Maybe knocking on the door will do the trick, so she does that.
But no one opens the door. Kris decides to try again.
After waiting for a while, Kris shrugs and turns back to the stairs, but someone finally opens the door. It's Jasmine! The gym leader flinches a little and Kris remembers that Jasmine is scared of her. Jasmine is scared of a lot of people, actually.
"Hey," the bluenette begins. "No need to worry, I wanted to give you something." She holds up the small package. "You won't believe it, but it's a gift. From Santa!"
Jasmine stares for a moment and then sighs. "Um..." She steps aside to let the trainer go inside the room. "Let's sit down."
The room hasn't changed at all, why would it? There's this small table Jasmine sits at to drink tea and Ampharos is there too, it looks a little confused when it sees Kris.
"You're probably wondering why I'm here..." The gym leader mumbles as she subtly points to a chair Kris can sit down at and then gets on the chair opposing hers. "Whitney actually invited me to that party, but I don't want to go."
"Oh! Why is that?"
Jasmine's eyes trail off. "I don't like parties, okay? I'm just here because I don't want Amphy to be alone, the sailors keep asking me if I want to join them." She leans back a little. "And I should probably go to sleep soon. I'm going to Pallet Town tomorrow to catch up with my friend Daisy."
For some reason, Jasmine gets along best with the girls from Kanto. But that's plausible, Whitney is too energetic for her and Clair is too harsh.
Kris doesn't really get her but she just nods. "That's okay, I think. I didn't want to bother you, I just wanted to give you this. I don't know what's in there, though." She places the gift on the table and slides it over to Jasmine.
The gym leader opens the box and seems to be surprised. "Yes, those were the ones I needed." She smiles. "Do you want to see?" But she doesn't wait for Kris to answer and starts to place...metallic rocks out of the box, one by one. So that's why the box was so heavy.
The trainer smiles nervously for a moment. "Uh...and what are those?"
"Of course you wouldn't know."
"Come again?"
"Um... nothing!" Jasmine takes one of the stones. "These aren't just any rocks. Do you know Steven Stone?"
"..." Kris thinks for a moment. "No."
"Of course. Um..." Jasmine clears her throat. "He's pretty famous in Hoenn. He even was the champion for a while. And he has a rock collection, I have a lot of them already. You don't only collect them, but they even have positive effects on rock and steel Pokemon when they hold them!"
The rocks are almost completely identical aside from the size and shape. Honestly, they look like a kid collected rocks and painted silver paint on them. That's why Kris is glad Johto is communistic. These things are probably illegal here, too.
"That's, uh, great!" Kris lies as she gets up. "Okay, Jasmine, I have other things to deliver now." She pats Amphy's head. "Merry Christmas, by the way."
Jasmine smiles as she waves a little. "Good night and merry Christmas, Kris."
The trainer rushes downstairs. When she's back outside, she realizes Prudence is gone. The sleigh, too.
"Prudence?!" Of course, Kris panicks. Where did she go? Did someone abduct her? Of course that can happen, it's not every day you find a Stantler tied onto a sleigh with a huge bag of gifts.
Kris is about to break down crying when she hears steps. Too frequent for a human. She looks up and it's Prudence happily approaching her. She's completely soaked.
"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?!" Kris asks as she hugs her tight. "I thought I lost you."
Prudence turns her head to the sea.
"You took a bath?"
She nods.
Kris goes to the sleigh to check if the gifts are wet, too. But the bag is dry, so she sighs in relief. "Don't scare me like that again. I wouldn't know what to tell La- Uh, Santa." She jumps on the sleigh and ticks Jasmine from the list. "Okay, let's go to Cianwood, now."
Prudence floats up immediately and it kinda did catch Kris off guard. But she quickly regains balance and looks down. Johto seems so small when you look at it from above.
Cianwood isn't that far away from Olivine, it only takes around a minute or two for them to get there. And even Kris knows where Chuck's house is, because Cianwood is small, too. But of course Prudence also knows where it is.
"Thank you!" The trainer cheers as she gets off the sleigh for probably the fourth time tonight and looks for Chuck's gift. It's very big and heavy. There's probably a bunch of dumbbells inside. She has a hard time getting that box out of the bag and now she has to push it all the way to Chuck's house, even if it's only like ten meters away. The worst thing is that Cianwood has no pavements, only sand. After like five minutes, she has it in front of his door and she knocks on the door.
"Hello?" It's his wife. "Oh, Kristen! It's so good to see you!"
"My name's not Kristen-" The trainer nervously points at the box that's probably half of her height. "It's a gift."
Someone else peeks through the door and this time it's Chuck. "Kris, did you come to eat with us?" He doesn't let her answer. "Well, good choice! We only serve high protein food, it'll get you jacked in no time!"
"Hey, Chuck," Kris pulls the box a little more to her. "Here's a gift for you from Santa..."
"Did you bring that here from New Bark all by yourself?"
"No, I got help."
"Well, thank you!" Chuck steps outside to pick the box up. It's nothing for him. As if he'd pick up an empty cardboard box. "Come on in!"
Kris looks back to Prudence and then goes inside. It smells as if this were a gym.
"You know," his wife starts, "we actually have the tradition in this house that we leave a chair free for a surprise guest. And this year it's you!"
Kris raised an eyebrow. "That's really nice, but I think I'll only eat something small, I have other gifts to deliver."
"Alright, honey, sit down."
Kris sits down and looks at all the food that's there. Everything is meat. Obviously. There's also ice cream, it's probably protein powder flavor.
Chuck and his wife sit down too and the first thing they eat is a salad. It looks nice, it's just lettuce, tomatoes and tofu cubes.
"Thank you for the food." Kris says and waits for the others to dig in, so she can do it, too. The salad tastes good. Not quite like one Mom would make, but still good.
Chuck observes how the bluenette eats so fast and laughs. "You're eating as if you have no time!"
Kris looks up and rolls her eyes. "That's the case, actually." She then remembers the gift. "Oh, and don't forget to open the gift I gave you!" She quickly finishes the salad. "I really have to go now."
"But at least take this." Chuck's wife gives her a small can. "It's ice cream. It's december but that doesn't matter, ice cream tastes great the whole year!"
"Thanks." Kris says and takes the can, then goes outside again. Prudence is standing there, looking around. She seems like she enjoyed the little break. "You okay?"
Prudence nods.
"Let's go to Ecruteak." She says and gets back on the sleigh. "We need to hurry, I don't know how much time we have left."
This time it's a longer flight and Kris takes the opportunity to eat the ice cream. It's mint flavored, her favorite.
When they arrive, Kris jumps out of the sleigh, the cold air immediately slapping her in the face. "Where's Morty?" She looks around.
Prudence points into another direction, indicating he's in Goldenrod already.
"Why DID YOU BRING ME HERE THEN?!"
The Stantler flinches a little and then...shrugs or something.
Kris giggles. "So I should've instructed you to go to Morty, not to Ecruteak? Okay. Well then. Please bring me to Morty!"
Kris looks at the rest of the list. Morty, Eusine, Whitney, Bill, Bugsy, Falkner and Silver. And that Barbara y whoever that may be. They're probably at the party.
Prudence flies to Whitney's gym, she can hear very muffled music coming from it as she stands in front of the building. "Don't worry, we're almost done, okay?" She takes the bag with the remaining gifts, it's not that heavy anymore, and goes inside. Good that there are no guards. Not because she has a bomb, she's pretty sure there's no bomb in there, but because it would be hard to explain.
Kris enters the gym and... honestly, not that much people are there. But of everyone who's already here, they all look pretty good. A group of girls, Kris remembers they're Whitney's gym trainers, are dressed in Santa-themed dresses. "Hey!" She approaches them. "Where's Whitney?"
"She's already uh-" Carrie chuckles a little.
"Drunk?"
"No, not yet." Victoria points at one of the tables, where Whitney is sitting, along with Bill and a little girl, probably his younger sister.
Kris thanks them and runs to the table. "Guys!" She can't continue because Whitney already jumps into her arms.
"KRIIIS! You're here!" She hugs her tight and spins her around a little. Whitney is way taller than Kris, she feels like a kid that has to hug that one aunt you only see once a year. But Kris likes Whitney obviously, so she hugs her back.
"Where's everyone?" Kris asks back. The gym isn't empty at all, but it's way less than she expected.
Whitney giggles a little. "It's not 11 yet, silly."
What? It feels like Kris has been doing this mission for like three months already.
"It's 10:30, if y"wanna know." Bill adds. "You just looked so confused right now."
The gym leader finally lets go of her and then tilts her head. "What's that bag you got there?"
"Oh, this?" Kris wraps one arm around the red bag. "Gifts! Are, uh..." She looks for the small list of people she is supposed to deliver gifts to. "Are Morty, Eusine, Bugsy, Falkner and Silver here?"
Whitney turns to Bill and his sister, who both shrug. "Uh, Eusine and Morty are smoking outside. Falkner said he'll come later and Bugsy is probably asleep already! I called him 14 times and he hasn't picked up once! And Silver... Yeah. I invited him but I don't know where he is."
"You have his number?"
"Yeah."
Kris blinks and then shakes her head. "Well, I need to deliver some gifts and when I'm done I'll join the party. I've got one for..." She looks for Whitney's gift and then passes it to her. "For you!"
Whitney squeals in happiness and gladly takes the small box in pink wrapping with a yellow bow. "That's so sweet of you!"
"Yeah, but they're not from me."
"Then from who?"
"Santa." Before she is going to forget it, she looks for Bill's gift. "And Bill, he got you one, too!"
He takes the gift from her, too. "Aww, that's nice. Thanks, Kris!"
"Oh, and for some reason, there's a girl named Barbara on my list."
"That's me." Bill's sister says, a little shy.
Kris facepalms internally. She can swear, she knew that Bill's sister's name is Barbara but she just forgot it. "Oh! Yeah, makes sense. Merry Christmas!"
The three seem pretty happy with their gift, Kris doesn't really look what they got because she remembers that Eusine and Morty are outside. "Well, I'll be back in like an hour."
"An hour?" Whitney pouts. "Stay here! The party is about to start!"
"I've got other gifts to deliver - I already had to turn down Chuck and his wife and I feel so bad now!" Kris waves them goodbye and goes outside.
She notices Prudence, who is grassing and looking up in the exact same moment as Kris goes outside and she waves her before looking for the two men from Ecruteak. Yeah, she doesn't have to look for long, she can smell tobacco, no, weed, coming from the backside of the gym. She hears two people talking and knows who they are.
"No way, man. That's just crazy."
"Yeah and that's why I think Suicide- I mean Suicune-"
"HAHAHA IS THE WEED ALREADY KICKING IN, EUSINE?"
"SHUT UP MORTY YOU KNOW THE AUTHOR HAD A TYPO"
"Yeah we're breaking the fourth wall..."
Kris is just weirded out. She pinches her nose to not inhale any smoke - she doesn't wanna lose her stamina - and approaches the two. She doesn't mind Eusine or Morty at all, but smoking weed on Christmas? It's not only illegal, but dumb, too. "Hey-"
They both flinch at the sight of her, but Eusine sighs. "Kristina, stop scaring us like that!"
"And don't tell anyone we're here." Morty adds. "How did you even find out we're here? Are you a psychic type trainer?"
"Whitney said you're here."
The blonde bends a little to the right and smirks. "Yo Kris what's with that bag?"
"I've got gifts from Santa for you. And you guys are the only one who will believe me at the moment." She sighs, looking for two gifts. She actually finds one gift, which has Morty and Eusine's name written on it and pulls it out of the bag. "Here, for you!"
Morty takes it. "Thanks!" He opens it and takes out a card. "Yooo, it's a letter from Arceus."
"Wait, really?" Eusine looks at the card and his eyes widen, too. "What does it say?"
"We'll find out..." The gym leader opens the card. "Dear Mortimer, Dear Eusine...Uh... Please stop smoking weed...There are some sucks for you in the package...sucks?"
"Socks." Eusine corrects him. "Wait why does Arceus know we smoke weed-"
"Because Arceus knows everything!" The two men panic a little. "Man, we have to stop, for real now." Morty throws the cigarette in his hand into the next trash bin, and Eusine does the same.
"Wait, you're listening to that?" Kris asks in amazement. She did not expect that. Then again, and they're both probably high, or at least at the verge of being high right now. "Well, merry Christmas, I'll be back later!"
She runs back to Prudence. "Okay, I have three people left. Let's go and visit Bugsy!"
Prudence nods and they fly to Azalea. It's not that far. Kris feels a little better since the air here isn't as polluted as in Goldenrod.
The sleigh lands on the roof of the building Bugsy lives in. Kris gets out. "How am I supposed to get inside now?" She remembers Bugsy's apartment is on the fifth - or last floor of the building and she can get inside by climbing into the chimney. It's actually the first (and hopefully the last) time Kris has to climb into a chimney tonight. She carefully climbs it up, it's just like a higher stair and then takes the flashlight of her Pokegear to look inside. There's no fire inside and she can probably climb it down without any problems.
Hopefully no one is going to call the police. Bugsy told Kris his Mom is a little strict before. She gets into the chimney and carefully tries to climb it down somehow. But she slides it down. At least she doesn't hurt herself, it's just a little shock she gets from the sudden fall.
The living room is empty. Bugsy is probably already asleep. The only thing glowing in this room are the fairy lights on the small Christmas tree. Maybe she should just do it the classical way and place the gift underneath and then leave again.
Kris carefully sneaks up to it and when she crouches down to look for his gift, she sees another light, the one from a flashlight, shine on her. She can't scream now. But she flinches.
She can only see the persons shadow, but she can already guess it's Bugsy by that thick hair he got. He steps closer until she can see his face and he seems pretty confused. "Kris?"
"Yeah?"
He blinks before glaring a little. "Why are you in my house?"
"I-" She points at the bag. "I'm helping Santa this year..." The trainer then quickly looks for Buggy's gift. It's funny, she can already tell it's a net of some sort because you can't put that in a box, so there's just green paper wrapped around it. "Merry Christmas?" She hands it over.
Bugsy's confused stare quickly turns into a sincere smile. "Thank you so much!" He whispers as he gladly accepts the gift. "Hey, isn't it the Bugcatcher 2000?"
"I don't know-"
The boy unwraps his gift quickly and then almost squeals in happiness. "It is! Oh gosh, you don't know how happy you just made me- I-" He holds the net in his hands and hugs it. "How?"
"That's a story for another time." Kris smiles. "Why aren't you at Whitney's?"
"Why should I-" He then realizes. "Oh. OH! That's why she called me 14 times? I thought she's a fan."
"So you overslept?"
"Yeah. My Grandparents were here today and it was just super boring so I went to bed early and I guess I forgot about it."
"The party hasn't started yet, and..." Kris thinks for a moment. "Well, I can bring you there, if you want!"
"Don't worry, Scyther brings me there." He winks and proudly holds up a Pokeball that has a lot of stickers on it.
Wait, Kris could swear that Scythers can't learn fly. Or at least they couldn't. Then again, Bugsy is a bug type gym leader, he probably can even teach them to bake. "Look, I climbed into your chimney. Don't freak out, I'll explain that later. But do you know how I can climb back up?"
"Sure!" Bugsy looks around for a moment before picking up a ladder that was probably standing around here somewhere. He places it on the fireplace. "Does it work?"
"I'll find out." Kris climbs up and yeah, that works. She's outside again, pulls the bag with the remaining gifts up and looks down to show Bugsy a thumbs up.
"See you later?" He asks her.
"I need to get two other things done and then I'll be at the party! So, see you later!"
She walks up to Prudence and pats her head. "How's the view? Boring? Oh. Well, let's go and find Falkner now."
They fly up again and Kris sees Bugsy fly into Goldenrod's direction with his Scyther. She waves at him and he almost falls down because he's probably surprised, like what the heck is Kris doing on a sleigh? At least he doesn't fall. And then their ways part.
Kris likes Violet city. It looks so traditional and yet it gives off that suburban vibe, too. But she likes it most because...well, nevermind. She has a gift to deliver, she can't get lost in thoughts.
Falkner's house is near the gym, but both buildings have their lights turned off. Where is he?
Kris looks around and then bumps into someone. "Oops! Sorry-" She looks up to see who it is and it's Falkner.
"Hey, no problem." He steps away a little and then gasps. "Kris? You scared me. What are you doing here so late at night?"
He's worried.
"I could ask you the same..."
"I'm going to Whitney's party. She told me to bring alcohol. Don't ask." He points at the handcart. "She told everyone over 18 to bring a few bottles." Right, Whitney is turning 18 next june, so she can't buy anything yet. Now Kris wonders how no one cares that she's throwing a party despite being underage. Well, nevermind. "What's with that bag?"
"Right!" Kris tenses up a little. She quickly turns around to look for Falkner's gift and finds a box that is surprisingly light for its size. "Here." She breaths out. "A gift...For you!" She then quickly hands it to him.
"Thank you." He replies softly. "Is it from you?"
The girl shakes her head. "It sounds crazy, but if you want to know, it's from Santa. For real."
Falkner raises an eyebrow, but he then sees Prudence and the sleigh and smirks. "Well, it seems like you're not lying. Are you going to Whitney's party, too?"
"Yeah! But I have to do one last thing." She smiles and then gets a little nervous. "GIFT! I have to deliver another gift. Seeyoulater." She then waves him and quickly walks back to Prudence.
"That was absolutely not smooth." She groans. "Um- Anyway...Do you know where I can find Silver-"
Kris can't complete her sentence because Prudence flies up already. In Cherrygrove's direction. She lands somewhere, probably at the gate from Route 30.
"Thanks, that was fast." The trainer hops off the sleigh and looks around. "Yeah, Silver seems like the guy to hang around here."
She keeps one of her hands in her pocket, where Feraligatr's Pokeball is. Just to make sure. Now Kris feels a little bad because her Pokemon haven't been outside since afternoon. She makes a mental note to let them walk home with her when the party is over.
She just walks around in this grassy area, it's not really a forest, for like five minutes but nobody is there. She accidentally scares herself by stepping on a branch and sighs. "Silver doesn't seem to be here."
"I am here." A voice calls. That voice sounds angry.
Kris turns around and smiles nervously. "Silver!"
"What's your problem?" He asks, approaching her slowly.
"I don't want to battle- wait-"
"Then why are you here?"
"I wanted to give you a gift." Kris admits. "Yeah, believe it or not, but people like you get gifts too, I guess."
He raises an eyebrow, leaning against a tree.
"Why are you here, Silver?"
"I..." He sighs. "I don't wanna go home right now."
"That's okay." Kris opens the bag to look for his gift. It looks pretty goofy now, 3/4 of her body is in that bag right now, since the last gift is obviously at the bottom. "But Whitney was wondering if you'll come to her party."
Silver's eyes widen a little before he looks away. "Uh...I have better things to do."
"Like what?" The girl finds the gift and pulls it out of the bag.
"Like..."
On top of the gift, she finds a note. "Silver isn't on the good list, but he gets a gift anyway. It's his 17th birthday today fyi" That makes sense.
"No need to tell me!" When Silver looks back at Kris, she stands directly in front of him, holding that gift in her hand. "Merry Christmas, Silver."
"Tha...Thank you." He reluctantly takes the box. "Is this a joke?"
"I don't know, that's not my gift. I just deliver them this year!"
Silver looks at the box carefully. "Santa's helper." He mutters.
"Well, it's 11 now, Whitney's party officially started. Do you want me to bring you there?"
"I can fly there myself." The redhead scoffs.
"So you're going?"
"NO I'M NOT." He seems to be pretty embarrassed, his face is now almost the same color as his hair.
"Okay. Then see you there, probably!" She walks back to Prudence and turns around a few steps later. "Oh, and Silver?"
"Mmh?"
She grins. "Happy Birthday."
"HOW DID YOU-"
She giggles as she quickly instructs Prudence to fly back to Goldenrod. Now she really wonders wether Silver will be there or not. Would be funny to tell everyone it's his birthday and then it's not only a Christmas but also Silver's birthday party.
As they fly back, Kris notices that one device Santa gave her. She was supposed to press the button once she's done delivering the gifts. Well, maybe she should do that once she arrives in Goldenrod.
The sleigh lands in front of the gym and now the music is louder and there are definitely more people here. Kris feels her Pokegear ring. It's Ethan.
"Yo, Kris!"
"Yeah?" Did he read her note and think she's delusional? No, Ethan is worse than her. Way worse.
"Whitney said you were here earlier but you had to...deliver something?"
"Oh, are you at the party already?"
"Yeah!"
"Me too, I'll be right there, I just have to do something real quick!" She hangs up and then presses the button.
"No need to do that, I'm already here."
"WH-" The bluenette jumps up in shock and really - Lanc- I mean Santa is already here. "I figured you'd be here."
"Good. Anything else I have to do?"
"Nope! Thanks a lot, Kristina. You delivered them in a little more than 2 hours, holy, that's pretty fast!"
Kris laughs nervously. "Yeah, that's crazy."
"Well then, I'm taking Stephanie-"
"Who is Stephanie?"
Santa points at Prudence. "Oh, I forgot to tell you her name is Stephanie!"
"I named her Prudence..."
Santa bursts out into laughter but when he sees Kris' confused look he stops. "Huh. That sounds like a female variant of Rudolph. Right?"
"Yeah." She nods. "That's what I was going for."
"Well then, I guess you can call her Prudence, too. We are leaving now. Do you want to say goodbye to her?"
"Of course!" Kris hugs Prudence as tight as the can, and Prudence nudges the back of her head gently.
"Kristina, we'll see again. And you'll see Ste- I mean Prudence too. Just so you know!" Santa then suddenly pulls another box out of the bag. Kris swears the bag was empty after she gave Silver his gift. "Merry...Merry Krismas! Get it?"
Kris takes the gift and then starts laughing. Not because of the pun but because this is clearly not a dream and because this is one of the best days ever. "Thank you, Lance. Thank you so much."
"I'm not Lance!" The guy scoffs before laughing with her. He then pats her shoulder. "Well, I have other things to do. Toodles!" With that, he and Prudence fly into the sky and disappear.
"Yeah. Toodles." Kris waves them until she can't see them anymore and then opens her gift. There's money in it. A lot of money. And a card.
"Hey Kristina, I really hope it didn't bother you delivering gifts, but instead I hope you had fun. Here's some compensation money, 75000. Hope that's enough! I actually asked a certain someone in Kanto to deliver gifts to the kantonese gym leaders. Maybe you know her, who knows? I think you do. Anyway, like I said, we'll see again, you can bet. Thank you again and...merry Krismas! XXX, Santa"
She's actually so surprised, she just quickly puts the box and the letter into her bag and then goes inside.
"Look, there she is!" Eusine points at her and Morty starts to cheer very loudly. Louder than the music, and the music is extremely loud.
Kris doesn't know how to react, everyone looks at her now. "Uh-"
"Merry Christmas, Kris!" Whitney jumps into her arms again. "You're so cool!"
"Yeah, thanks for the gift, sis!" Ethan says as he pats her shoulder.
"I- For the last time, those are Santa's gifts!"
"Still, you delivered them, and that's really sweet." Falkner replies, holding her a thumbs up.
Whitney twirls her around a bit. "Kris, let's dance!"
"Alright." Kris giggles softly now and takes Whitney's hands, waltzing with her around the crowded room. Waltzing to Eurobeat is actually kinda funny, especially when it's not even matching the rhythm.
"You saw Santa?" Bugsy asks her now, keeping up with the two. "How does he look like?"
"It was Lance dressed up as Santa, guys. Seriously."
Whitney lets go of her to take a newspaper from the table. "Nuh uh!" She points at one of the pictures. It shows Lance and some other people that look similar to him. "He's in Albania right now. And this newspaper is from TODAY."
"Well then I guess Santa is related to him?"
Whitney and Bugsy grin at her for a split second before the DJ storms to his mixing board. It's Ethan!
"Yo guys, we all know it's Christmas, but we can't forget today's birthday boy! Let's all wish Silver Sakaki a happy birthday!"
Silver apparently just entered the gym and now all the lights are pointed at him. He already looks like he regrets it.
"I heard this is his favorite song, so we'll play it just for him!" Ethan then starts playing "Hit me Baby one more time" and the way Silver looks now it's definitely his favorite song and he is definitely embarrassed about it. He wants to run away but Whitney tackles him so he won't escape.
Kris then feels someone tap her shoulder. It's Jasmine. Clair, her grandpa, Pryce, Chuck and his wife are here, too.
"You're here?!" The bluenette asks in shock.
"Yeah. Chuck decided to go and then dragged us all here. I can't believe I came with them." Pryce sighs. "But well, I'm actually glad I did."
"Me too." Clair and Jasmine say at the same time.
Kris is also glad she's here. She wonders what fun she would've missed out on if she fell asleep before the apparently real Santa, definitely not Lance, threw that paper in her room.
Christmas eve this year was another success, just as evey year is for Kris. But honestly, this is by far the best Christmas ever.