A Heartwarming Christmas

A/N: As promised, here's the beginning of my sequel/midquel story of "Warming Hearts." Over on fanfiction.net, I'll be collaborating with a friend and co-author on this story, but here, I'll just be posting our work, and saving the author's notes at the end of the chapter. 

Other than that, let's begin. And action! 

Prologue

It was Christmas Eve in Sinnoh, the most magical time of the year. Over at the castle near Lake Acuity, the royal family of Sinnoh was throwing a grand Christmas Eve Gala; the first one ever since the dreadful curse that was placed on the castle had been broken, and everyone was invited; whether they be of the elitist society or of the common folk. Even the newly-crowned prince invited all of his friends that he had traveled with throughout the course of his journey throughout the years, along with their families, both old and expanding as well.

Everyone was happily singing some Christmas carols as they entered the castle, feeling the warmth and joy of the holiday spirit that the season brings every year. Even the servants of the castle were invited in to join the party, making sure that the entire castle was looking very festive enough, while also mingling with some old friends and telling people stories of all that they had missed out on during the past seven lonely years that they had been cursed.

Right now, the mother-in-law of the princess, who was the prince's mother, was silently walking along the grand halls of the castle before heading into the ballroom; a male Mr. Mime by her side, admiring the many pictures that were hung on the walls, reminiscing of the past two years that had gone by since the curse was lifted. It all felt like they went by so fast. 

The prince's mother was a lovely lady with straight brown hair, which she let down for this occasion instead of its usual ponytail, fair skin, and matching brown eyes. She wore a warm yellow and white strapless dress that had a sweetheart neckline, leaving her shoulders bare with only a matching fur shawl to keep them warm, a large, long ruffle along the skirt, cream-colored low heels, and matching silk opera gloves on her hands that went up to her elbows. She even wore a little ruby pendant around her neck.

She had just spoken with her son and daughter-in-law, the latter who was still having some trouble getting ready, even though the festivities had started thirty minutes ago. They had told her that they would both be down to join the festivities eventually. Apparently, the princess had always had a bit of trouble with her hair whenever in the mornings or when she was particularly nervous about something, and her husband was trying his best to calm her down while brushing her stubborn hair as best as he could without accidentally causing her any pain.

This had quickly become a regular morning routine for the both of them, first back when it was on their Sinnoh journey together, and she would even kick him out of the tent or room just so that he wouldn't see her embarrassing bedhead. Then, after they were married, he had finally managed to get her to keep him around in the room, saying to her that he didn't care about what her hair looks like in the morning, because she was always beautiful to him. Little by little, she started to allow him to help her, and even if he didn't always know what he was doing with a hairbrush, he did keep her occupied and relaxed by just talking to her while he tried his best.

The mother-in-law of the princess wasn't born royal or even into an elite family, so she and her son, who was her only child, both had humble beginnings in the small town of Pallet in Kanto before he married the princess. Dressing up this fancy was almost like a dream for her, since it was almost every little girl's dream to dress up like royalty. But she also knew that her son didn't marry the princess because she was rich. It was only because he was deeply in love with her and she was the same with him.

As the woman walked towards the ballroom with her Mr. Mime, she looked over at the large pictures on the wall that had been taken throughout the past two years. Most of them were of her son and daughter-in-law, all throughout their journey together in the Sinnoh region, from their first stop down south in Jubilife City, all the way to when her son had finally won the Sinnoh League at Lily of the Valley Island. Her daughter-in-law was runner-up in the Grand Festival over at Lake Valor, but her narrow loss didn't deter her from her dream very much.

Then, there was a picture of the two of them on their wedding day, soon after they had returned home to the castle to rest for a little while. Her son was wearing a nice black suit with a blue silk tie, and his hair had been combed and tamed to the best of its ability, while her daughter-in-law looked absolutely radiant in her white wedding gown that shimmered softly as she moved, holding her bouquet of red and white roses and pink Gracidea flowers.

That day was just perfect, and it was the biggest celebration that Sinnoh had ever seen. There was a little snag in the beginning when the bride was beginning to have second thoughts, and she was almost about to call off the wedding because of those jitters, leaving her groom at the altar. But everyone assured her that everything was going to be fine and that they had never seen a couple more in love than them. That made her boost up her confidence and the wedding continued on as planned.

For their honeymoon, they decided to visit the newly-coronated prince's home region of Kanto and show his new wife his home. After a couple of days, they had decided to travel the region so that the princess could try for the contests while her husband retried from the Indigo League for more battle training. A few weeks ago, both of them had won their respective competitions, and just in time to help make preparations for the first Christmas Gala, which the royal family hadn't hosted in years.

Soon, the prince's mother-in-law entered the ballroom, where it was crowded with people and filled with merriment and decorations. Christmas wreaths were on every wall and mantle and there was a huge Christmas tree in the corner of the ballroom, where it was decorated beautifully and had many presents piled up under the tree.

"Delia!" A voice called out.

The woman called Delia turned to the side where she'd heard her name being called and saw a younger woman come over to her. She had sapphire blue hair pulled up into an elegant bun with delicate tendrils framing her face, fair skin, ocean blue eyes, and a delicate, silver wreath-like crown placed on her head. She wore a white off-the-shoulder gown that slowly changed into a lavender color down the long sleeves and the floor-length skirt, matching lavender lace on the top of the gown. A darker sparkly purple satin wrap was around the skirt, and she wore white low heels. There were also little blue flowers on the side of her waist, along with a delicate silver pearl choker around her neck.

"Hello, Salvia!" Delia greeted her with a hug. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas." Salvia returned the merriment back. "Where are my sister and her husband?"

"They're still getting ready. Your sister is having a little bit of a hair problem." She lightly giggled at the last part, which also made Salvia, the young queen of Sinnoh, giggle as well.

"Well, I suppose we'll have to wait until they're both done so that we can all get started with the Christmas feast." She said. 

Just then, a young man with auburn hair and blue eyes came up next to Salvia. He wore a pine green suit with a black bowtie, and there was a scruffy-haired male Pikachu perched on his shoulder.

"I never thought I'd see the day when Ash would actually delay a meal." The man said, with a teasing little glint in his blue eyes.

Delia and Salvia giggled before the latter gave the auburn-haired man a little loving peck on his cheek and took his hand.

"I was wondering where you went off to, Ritchie." Salvia said.

Ritchie was an old friend of Ash Ketchum, who was Delia's son and only child, and the prince of Sinnoh, who he had happily reunited with when he and his then-fiancée, Princess Dawn, had crossed paths with him while they were exploring Sinnoh together. After the two young men were done catching up after so long, Ash and Dawn had invited him to come with them back to Lake Acuity and attend Salvia's upcoming coronation as queen. He accepted, and when the ceremony was over, it seemed that he and the newly-crowned queen made a connection after they had started talking to each other. Since then, they had gone on little outings and dates whenever they could, Ritchie having left for a little while to battle in the Sinnoh League before having been Salvia's date at Ash and Dawn's wedding. After that, Ritchie decided to stay at the castle for a little bit longer to spend some more time with Salvia. It was clear that Ritchie and Queen Salvia had developed deep feelings for each other.

Ritchie chuckled at Salvia's affection as he pulled her in for a side hug. "I was looking for Ash." He answered. "But it looks like I'll have to wait for a while longer."

Delia giggled. "Come on, now. Let's see what the others are doing." She offered.

Salvia and Ritchie nodded in agreement and they went off to look for the servants, who must've been keeping things busy with the decorations and refreshments. Soon, they found Leona and Kenny placing more refreshments on the holly-covered tables, while also making sure that none of the holly was on the food. Leona was wearing a simple long-sleeved lime green dress, while Kenny wore a dark teal suit.

Both of them saw the three coming over to them and they offered them some of the food that was on the serving trays that they were holding.

"Would you like some, Your Excellencies?" Kenny asked the young queen and Delia.

Both women shook their heads politely. "No thank you." Salvia said, holding up her hand. "We were just looking around to mingle."

"Where's Zoey and little Millie?" Delia asked.

Just then, a woman with gray eyes and purple hair pulled up into a bun, wearing a darker violet dress came up to them, carrying a few sprigs of mistletoe.

"I believe that they are near the Christmas tree." She said. "I saw both of them around there with a few other familiar faces."

"Thank you, Lila." Salvia said.

Lila was the head castle decorator and the former royal designer before she handed the job over to Paris. She was also an old friend of the former Queen Johanna, who was Salvia and Dawn's deceased mother.

Lila smiled politely while bowing her head and then headed off to explore the ballroom and see where else she could hang some mistletoe for some unsuspecting couples. Then, the group began to walk towards the giant Christmas tree to look for the other two main servants.

Soon, they did find Zoey there, talking with some of Ash's old friends: Brock Harrison, Misty Waterflower, May Maple, and May's boyfriend, Drew Hayden. Brock and Drew each wore a nice black tuxedo, wearing a different colored bowtie; Brock having a red one and Drew having green. Misty wore a shimmering, long-sleeved, aqua-green-colored dress with her long hair left down her back, while May had on a pale blue dress with long lace sleeves, and slightly darker colored tulle fabric on the skirt. Zoey instead wore a ruby red pantsuit with gold trimmings.

"Hello, everyone." Delia greeted them with a smile.

Brock, Misty, May, Drew, and Zoey all turned around to face her. "Hi, Mrs. Ketchum." They returned the greeting politely.

"Where's everyone else?" Delia asked.

Just then, Iris, Cilan, Clemont, and even Serena came over to them. Iris wore a white gown with puffy sleeves and matching opera gloves, along with a fur shawl over her shoulders. Cilan wore a much more formal tuxedo with a deeper green bowtie. Clemont was wearing a black tux with a sky blue tie. Serena was wearing a pink ball gown with ruffles on the skirt and a cream white cardigan covering her bare shoulders, with her hair slightly longer than before, since it touched the tips of her shoulder blades.

"We're right here." Iris said.

"But we can't find Bonnie." Clemont added.

"Come to think of it, Max is gone as well." May noticed. "As well as MJ."

"Boo!" Someone exclaimed from behind the group.

Everyone whirled around and saw the three youngest members of the group hiding among all the presents that were under the tree.

Max was wearing a pine green suit with a black bowtie, with a male Ralts on his shoulder. Bonnie was wearing a light purple dress with black stockings, beige boots instead of dress shoes, and a matching lavender cardigan with beige fur trim on the hem. In her arms was one of Dawn's Pokémon: a female Pachirisu, along with Bonnie's own partner, which was a male Dedenne. And Millie, or more commonly known as MJ, was wearing a dark blue dress with white stockings, cream boots, and a fur shawl over her shoulders. In her arms was a brightly wrapped present.

"Look, Zoey!" MJ called out to her older cousin. "This one's for me! Can I open it? Please?"

Zoey was a little hesitant about her question. "Well...." She trailed off, but MJ was giving her the puppy eyes, making it harder for her to deny it.

"Okay. But just one." She said, making MJ cheer happily.

Leona chuckled. "It's nice that she's finally having a proper Christmas." She said, as Max and Bonnie, along with the Pokémon, gathered around the red-haired girl.

"Unlike what almost happened two years ago." Kenny added.

"That was quite something." Leona agreed. "But I prefer this kind of celebration."

"Well, I thought that Christmas was kind of nice." Zoey came in.

Their conversation started to pique Delia's curiosity. "What did happen on that Christmas?" She asked the servants.

"I must say, that is somewhat intriguing." Salvia chimed in. "Will any of you care to tell us what happened?"

"Ooh! Tell them the story, Zoey!" MJ came in, her opening her present forgotten for the time being. "Please! It's the story of how we celebrated our first Christmas in almost six years!"

"Six years?" Delia asked.

"That's almost how long Dawn had..." Salvia trailed off.

"To break the curse." Ritchie finished for her, lightly squeezing her hand. "Unless she learned to love Ash, and earn his love in return."

The others all shared glances between each other. In the little time that they'd gotten to know her, Dawn had become quite a good friend for all of them, particularly for May, Brock, Iris, and Cilan. Plus, in a way, since they all knew Ash during the times that they had traveled with him, they had all established a family bond with him, and in turn, with each other.

"Please, Zoey!" MJ pleaded.

"Well, first, I have to ask this." Zoey said. "Why do I have to be the one who tells the story?"

"Because Leona and Kenny always fight about who really saved Christmas that year." MJ replied.

"Hey!" The aforementioned servants exclaimed, making everyone else laugh at their indignation.

Zoey chuckled at the looks on her friends' faces. "Okay, okay." She complied. "I'll tell the story."

"Goody!" MJ cheered as she left her present and then came over to her older cousin, scooching in close to her in the chair.

Max and Bonnie immediately took spots on the floor next to their friend. Everyone else just pulled up either some cushioned chairs or just the cushions and took spots to sit on the floor, ready to listen to the story.

"Well, let's see." Zoey said, thinking about where and when the story began, and then started to regale the audience with the tale.

"It all started back in a time before the curse on the people in this castle was lifted. Ash, who was terrified by the mistress's anger, ran away from the castle with his partner, Pikachu and then straight into a pack of vicious Mightyena. But the mistress saved him. Well, actually, they saved each other, working together to fight off the pack until they had retreated. However, the mistress suffered quite an injury, which in turn, would leave her very ill. Ash, knowing that he couldn't leave her to die out in the cold woods, brought her back to the castle and began nursing her back to health, along with our help. After that, the two of them slowly began to become friends. Hope was spreading all throughout the castle that Ash would be the one to finally break the spell and save us all. But...not everyone was happy at the idea, and they would do everything in their power to make doubly sure of that."

A/N: The real story will begin in the next chapter. Until then, I'll see y'all! Please leave a comment about what you think. And remember to stay healthy! Happy Holidays! 

Got to fly! ;)