A Heartwarming Christmas

A/N: Here we go! This is the first official chapter of "A Heartwarming Christmas"! So let's roll it!

Chapter 1

The Start of the Holiday

Two years ago...

In the then-dark and dreary castle, Leona the Swinub, Kenny the Prinplup, Zoey the Glameow, and MJ the Bellossom were searching for Dawn, their mistress. She wasn't at breakfast that morning, leaving their guest to eat by himself. Finally, they reached the then-dusty and unused ballroom, with Leona in the lead and everyone else was following close behind.

"Where could she be?" MJ asked.

"We've searched everywhere." Zoey added.

"I'm starting to think that she's not in the castle." Kenny said.

With a strong push upward, Leona jumped up onto the bench that was near the window. Wiping the warm perspiration away from the window with her nose, she saw who they were looking for.

Dawn was outside, romping around aimlessly in the snow, a sullen look on her face. She was still dressed in her thin, Gardevoir-styled dress, but because of the thick fur all over her body, the cold wasn't bothering her very much.

"Found her!" Leona exclaimed.

"Great!" Zoey said with a wide smile.

"Well, there's no time to waste." Kenny added. "We'd better find a way to get those two together."

"Come on, then!" Leona said as she jumped off the bench. "Romance can't wait!"

Everyone else immediately began to follow her.

"You really think he's the one?" MJ asked the Swinub about her thoughts on their guest. "Will he break the spell?"

Leona smiled widely. "I knew it from the moment I set eyes on him!" She said confidently.

"If anyone can reach the mistress, Ash can." Zoey added. "He may be a bit stubborn and brash, but he does have such a kind soul. That's rare in people these days."

"And his looks don't hurt, either." Leona chimed in, slightly giggling.

MJ laughed at that as well, knowing very well that their guest was actually quite attractive, with a pure heart to match. He had both inner and outer beauty, which could prove to be something that their mistress could learn. If she could learn to be kind and charitable, then her inner beauty would shine through her beastly form, and her outer beauty will be restored to her once more.

**********************

Speaking of their guest, he had just left the dining hall after breakfast and was wandering around the castle, about to head over to the library. His trusty Pokémon partner, a male Pikachu, was perched on his right shoulder, as his Trainer was humming a cheerful little ditty happily as he glanced outside to look at the softly falling snow.

Ash Ketchum was then eighteen years old, and he was quite handsome. He had chocolate brown eyes, tan skin with little Z-marks on his upper cheeks, and wild raven-black hair tucked under a red and black cap with a blue Pokéball insignia on the front. Today, he was wearing the outfit that he'd worn during his journey in Sinnoh, which was a white T-shirt under a black vest with a yellow stripe, jeans, and red and black sneakers. On his hands were black fingerless gloves with light green trim.

Even though Ash was a little confused about why Dawn wasn't at breakfast earlier, that didn't deter him from his cheerful and excited mood. Today was a very special day and the elated smile on his face brightened as he turned over to glance at his Pokémon partner.

"Are you excited for today, Pikachu?" He asked him.

The little Electric type chirped out happily, sharing his Trainer's enthusiasm, making him laugh. As they continued to walk around the castle, they began to notice that the castle was still looking rather...dreary. Just like it had been every single day since they had arrived. But that shouldn't be the case. After all, today was one of the best days of the year.

Just then, the servants found him. "Hi, Ash!" MJ greeted him first, making him stop.

Ash laughed happily at the sight of his enchanted friends. "Oh! Hello!" He greeted them with a smile, Pikachu chiming in to give his own greetings to them.

Then, the raven-haired Trainer focused on the youngest member, since he knew that all children loved this time of year. "Hey, MJ." He said to her, kneeling down to her level. "Do you know what today is?"

MJ was a little puzzled, while the other servants exchanged small worried glances at each other. "Well, it's not Tuesday..." She said, trailing off in thought.

Ash just chuckled again. "No, you silly. Today is December 24th." He answered for her. "You know? It's Christmas Eve."

"And what a beautiful day it is!" Leona came in, hoping to hide the strange nervousness on everyone's faces when Ash had mentioned Christmas Eve. "A nice day for a morning stroll."

"Yes!" Zoey agreed, and then she and the others began guiding Ash over towards the door that led outside to the gardens. "Nothing like a walk in the snow."

Ash was a little confused as to why the others were acting a little bit jumpy all of a sudden when he mentioned what the day was. And MJ seemed to not even know what Christmas was. But he pushed away the thoughts for now. Maybe he'd learn more about that later.

"Yeah! Or you could go ice skating." MJ piped up, catching up with Ash easily. "Wait, do you know how to skate, Ash?"

"Actually, I kind of do." He answered as they made their way to the parlor and grabbed a nice pair of skates that seemed to be about his size. "I might not be the greatest in the world, nor do I know any tricks, but at least I can keep my balance."

"Well, some fresh air can do us all some good." Kenny said. "We can't let a little falling snow stop us from doing that."

"Or to have some fun." Ash added. "Plus, I like it when it snows like this. It doesn't snow this heavily back in Kanto."

A nearby Gallade handed Ash his usual blue winter jacket with black trim that he had brought with him when he first arrived at the castle almost a month prior.

"Thank you." He said kindly, while Gallade just bowed politely to him.

Despite having been a guest of the castle for almost a month, he still was feeling a little awkward about some of the other servants that he didn't know very well - or even just some of the Pokémon that lived there - acting so polite to him, like he was some sort of prince. Ash knew that he was the farthest thing from a prince, or any kind of nobleman, but he had already given up on trying to get them to stop and say that he could do certain things by himself. He supposed that they did things like that because they liked to feel needed, and Ash would give all of them his thanks, which was something he guessed that they had gone without for so long, if Dawn's attitude from before was any indication of what life was like for them before he came to the castle. He was glad to bring a little joy back into their lives.

After Ash had slung the skates over his free shoulder and then traded his sneakers for a pair of black and red winter boots, he left the parlor to head outside and into the snowy wonderland. When he did, he saw Dawn walking around aimlessly, looking a little...cross.

"Oh. Morning!" He greeted her politely, getting her attention.

Dawn was surprised to see him, and because of that, she didn't realize that she had walked onto a large patch of ice that led over into the large frozen pond nearby. She wobbled around for a few seconds, her arms flailing before losing her balance and fell back on the ice.

Ash winced at her fall and then carefully went over to her, Pikachu hopping off his shoulder. "Are you okay?" He asked her.

Dawn felt her face flushing hotly with embarrassment as she carefully picked herself up off the ice. She never thought that she would be grateful for having black fur so that Ash couldn't see the redness in her cheeks.

"I, um..." She cleared her throat when she saw Ash looking at her with worry. Of all the times she had to stammer in front of him was after he had witnessed that pathetic fall of hers. "I...fell and then landed on the ice."

Ash lightly bit his lip, knowing that it looked like it must've hurt. "It's, uh...pretty slippery." He said, not sure about what to say after that.

Dawn looked away and down at the icy ground beneath her. "Yeah, uh...slippery." She agreed.

The servants all flinched at the awkwardness of the situation. Well, it seemed that this was off to a bit of a shaky start. However, it quickly seemed to end as Ash carefully headed over to the snowbank and began putting on his skates.

"This is a great day to go skating." He said, tying up the laces and then carefully standing up.

Dawn gave a brief annoyed glance to the servants watching from the doorway. It was pretty obvious that they'd set this up and Ash was not picking up on their plan, which made her grateful that for once, he was more dense than a rock.

Ash slid himself further out onto the ice, his arms slightly outstretched to keep his balance. "Come on!" He said to Dawn, a bright, friendly smile on his face.

He skated simple little circles around her, and then added a little more complexity to it when he spun himself around a couple of times before finally straightening himself out, a hand held out to her.

"Come on!" He continued to goad on.

Dawn took a tentative step closer to him, but then backtracked. "No thanks." She refused, feeling like she'd already made enough of a fool of herself in front of him for today.

"Go on, mistress!" Leona called out to her, getting her attention, while subtly gesturing towards Ash. "It might be fun."

"Go for it!" MJ added.

Dawn looked back over at Ash, his hand still held out to her, and a softer smile on his face. A shy smile soon came over her own face as she nodded her head. Ash beamed brightly at her and then took her paw, leading her further out onto the ice.

The servants, along with Pikachu, quickly followed the two of them from along the snowy banks over to the bridge. There, they saw that Ash was teaching Dawn on how to skate. He had let go of her paw and was standing next to her on the ice.

"Here. Try it like this." He said, and then glided in a straight line, one foot behind him while using the other one to lightly push himself forward for about three seconds. Then, he began switching between his two feet, timing himself for three seconds each time. Finally, he stopped and then turned back around to face Dawn.

"See? It's super easy." He said. "Just push forward and glide for about three seconds on each foot, then alternate between each one and that will help you keep your balance."

Dawn gulped. "Well, um...okay." She said. She then tried to do it the same way that Ash showed her, though she was a little wobbly on the second push.

"Yeah, that's it!" Ash encouraged her with a wide smile. Then, he joined in skating next to her, making sure that she was in a steady rhythm.

"I think this might work." Zoey said to the others from where they were watching on the bridge as Dawn managed to skate over to Ash, who was laughing merrily at her making fast progress.

His laughter was proving to be contagious for Dawn, who started to laugh herself. Dawn couldn't even remember the last time in her life that she'd had anything to laugh about!

*********************

But little did anyone know that somewhere, deep inside the castle, a Gabite with human-shaped eyes and pink irises was listening to their fun outside. Her eyes narrowed in confusion at the happy sounds, knowing that there hadn't been joy in the castle for a long time, even before the curse took place. Something was going on and she intended to find out why.

"Allegra!" The Gabite barked out, donning it female.

Just then, an Infernape, with the flames on its head oddly shaping into a more feminine style, carefully approached her. Although the Infernape was slightly taller than the enchanted Gabite, the snide power of the Gabite made the Infernape slightly shiver.

"Yes, Ursula?" The Infernape named Allegra asked the intimidating Gabite.

"I was in the middle of my usual checks of this area of the castle," The enchanted Gabite apparently dubbed Ursula said to the enchanted Infernape, "When I thought I heard merriment from outside. And you know that there is no hope or joy in this castle ever since the dear late queen had passed away and Princess Salvia left her sister practically all alone. Would you be a dear and have a look?"

Allegra was about to ask why Ursula wouldn't go and just check it out herself, but she stopped herself when Ursula busied herself with something else over in the corner of the room. And even if the servants weren't really Pokémon with usable attacks like normal ones, she didn't really want to test the theory that Ursula would seriously injure her if she had accidentally pushed her buttons the wrong way.

The enchanted Infernape then headed over to the window and saw what was going on outside.

"Wow." She breathed out in amazement at the warm and tender sight that she was seeing from above. "Would you look at that?"

"What is it?" Ursula asked her, not looking back at her.

"The mistress is skating." Allegra informed, her eyes not leaving the group that was outside, having some fun in the snow.

"Skating?" Ursula repeated in confusion, looking back at the enchanted Infernape this time. "Why on Earth would she do a thing like that?"

A little smile appeared on Allegra's face as she continued to observe the scene. "Probably because that cute boy is holding her hand." She said.

"What? Ash?" Ursula asked her again, her face slowly turning into a sneer as she slowly turned her whole body around.

Allegra removed her eyes from the window to nod her head over at the enchanted Gabite, not seeing the harsh glower that was plastered on her face. Then she realized something as Ursula just rolled her eyes with disdain.

"Hey, if he falls in love with her, then the spell will finally be broken!" She exclaimed happily. "And we'll be human again!"

Shockingly, when Ursula heard that thought of being human again, she angrily growled and then sliced over at a nearby pillar in the room with her claws, making little stone chips fly everywhere. Allegra jumped at her angry actions and quickly backed away from her. After that, Ursula regained her composure and then spoke coldly and calmly, almost giving the enchanted Infernape shivers down her spine.

"Trust me, Allegra. Humanity is entirely overrated." She said, surprising Allegra at the thought of her not wanting to be human again. "Before the curse, there really was no need for my expertise and help; being left behind while everyone else catered to the need of that bratty former princess of ours. After all, it was her fault that we were all cursed in the first place."

A malicious smirk then curled up on Ursula's face as she looked over at the walls of the room. "But now, the mistress needs my 'unwavering' support to feed her tormented soul. I am her confidante and her best friend."

Then, her smirk transformed into a hateful glare and sneer. "And I won't let some nobody Trainer from Kanto ruin it for me!" She shouted in anger. Then she whirled over to give out orders to the quaking Infernape.

"Allegra!" She snapped. "See to it that this...blossoming love," She almost gagged at the words, "Withers on the vine."

"But-" Allegra was about to deny it, but Ursula cut her off.

"Now!" She commanded harshly, making the Infernape flinch at her tone.

"Y-Y-Yes, Ursula." She said, quaking, before leaving the room to head outside.

Ursula smirked deeply as she watched Allegra leave the room. She still had enough power over the two people that were the most complacent to her words. Both of them had severely broken hearts, but if Ash managed to make them believe in hope again, then she'd be nothing! Well, not if she had anything to say about that!

A/N: We hope that you like the introduction of Ursula, the villain of this story. Do you think she's as evil as Miette was in the first story? We'll have to see! But already, she's starting to scare me. Miette was just annoying at first until she started getting a little scary in "Warming Hearts".

Anyway, I hope that y'all enjoyed this chapter! Please leave a comment about what you think, and remember to stay healthy!

Got to fly! ;)