A Heartwarming Christmas

A/N: I'm very happy that I got this finished so quickly! So let's roll it! 

Chapter 11

Ursula's Final Attempt

Back up in the west wing, Ursula was sitting on one of the wooden benches, muttering to herself.

"So the mistress starts to win the boy's heart and it's a happy ending for everyone." She grumbled as she slowly stood up from the bench. "The enchantment gets lifted and Ursula fades back into the background, forgotten and unappreciated while everyone leads their new and perfect little lives."

A vicious snarl then slowly built up in her throat and Ursula grabbed the bench she was sitting on and threw it against the wall with a fierce and guttural roar, smashing it into splinters.

"I think not!" She shouted, eyes glinting madly.

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In the castle hallway, everyone was walking over towards the ballroom, talking excitedly about finally having the Christmas party. Allegra had joined them and apologized to Ash for spying on him, but the Kanto native Trainer just brushed it off and told her that she was welcome to join the party. The enchanted Infernape happily accepted the invitation.

But then, Pikachu's ears started twitching around. He'd heard something. He lowly growled, posture rigid and cheeks sparking. Ash turned over to his partner, stopping in his tracks, which in turn, made everyone else stop.

"What is it, Pikachu?" Ash asked the Electric type.

Pikachu didn't answer his Trainer, ears still twitching around. Everyone paused and carefully looked around, wondering what had gotten the Kanto Electric type so on edge.

Suddenly, the lights went out, making everyone exclaim in alarm. However, Dawn had night vision, so everything was still pretty clear to her.

"Everyone stay calm." She said.

But then, she heard Ash scream in alarm. Dawn only had enough time to whirl around to see Pikachu being thrown off his shoulder as something snatched him and vanished into the shadows.

"Ash!" She shouted.

"Pika-pi!" Pikachu exclaimed, calling out for his best friend and Trainer while the enchanted servants also called out for the Kanto native.

Allegra's flames provided little light in the hallway, but she still saw who took Ash. "Ursula." She muttered darkly.

She started running towards the west wing. "Everyone, follow me!" She shouted. Although she had a bit of a head start, everyone quickly followed her, with Dawn and Pikachu being the closest to her.

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Soon, Allegra arrived at the west wing and saw Ursula carrying a crumpled, unconscious Ash over her shoulder. "Ursula!" She shouted.

The enchanted Gabite turned around to face her with a cold glare. Allegra quickly scanned the captive Ash in her claws and was relieved that other than a possible blow to the head, he was fine. But then, her eyes narrowed fiercely at the enchanted servant responsible for it.

"What do you think you're doing?!" She shouted.

Ursula just smirked cruelly at her. "Don't you see, Allegra?" She asked her. "If hope and love doesn't die out on its own, then you have to squash that precious light...right at the source!" She then dropped Ash onto the floor to further prove her point.

Allegra's eyes widened in horror. She was planning on killing him! That was against all rules and moral codes that Pokémon had! Yes, Pokémon attacked humans before, but they had never shed any blood!

"You're a monster!" Allegra shouted. "You're the real monster here in this castle!"

Ursula just laughed cruelly. "Now, with him finally out of the way, we can remain as we are. Forever!"

"Ursula!" A loud roar was heard as Dawn, Pikachu, Leona, Kenny, and Zoey appeared in the wing.

The enchanted Gabite quickly grabbed the unconscious Ash and held a claw near his neck. "Come any closer and he dies!" Ursula shouted, making everyone freeze in horror at the sight.

"That's enough, Ursula. Let him go!" Dawn ordered with a growl.

"Why should I?" Ursula asked her. "He's been in the way of our fate ever since he came here. Filling all of your foolish heads with stupid dreams of hope! When you pathetically came to his rescue after he ran off the first time, he should've just left you there to freeze. But no! He had to be the perfect little hero and stay here to honor his word. When he left the second time, you should've left him in the dungeon to rot, but you couldn't leave well enough alone, either! So I decided that if I want something done right, I ought to do it myself!"

As she was ranting madly, no one except Pikachu noticed that Ash was starting to regain consciousness. He slowly blinked and then took notice of his surroundings, and of the situation he was in. He quickly resisted the urge to squirm and break free. He should've known that there was something not right about Ursula.

He looked over at Pikachu, who was standing next to Dawn, and then, with a little downward motion of his fingers, gave him a silent command. Pikachu subtly nodded in agreement and began charging towards Ursula, his tail starting to glow a bright silver.

"Pikachu!" Everyone shouted.

Ursula was about to make her final threat a reality and slit the boy's throat when she felt something holding her arm back from slicing his neck. She looked down and then realized that Ash had woken up from his unconscious state and was holding back her arm as best as he could, with all of the strength that he could muster after he'd woken up.

Dawn then made her move and quickly grabbed the enchanted Gabite by the other arm from behind, just as Pikachu swung his Iron Tail attack right across her face, making her release Ash.

Ash only had enough time to take a relieved Pikachu into his arms before quickly jumping out of the way as Ursula tried to grab him again. Dawn still held her back, but Ursula was about to use her other claw to swipe at her face.

"Dawn!" Ash shouted in fear.

The Zoroark-like beast managed to grab Ursula's other arm in time, but it was obvious that they weren't going to keep this up forever. One of them would cave in eventually, so maybe it was time that they turned the odds in their favor.

Ash quickly went over to the doorway of the west wing and whistled sharply. Immediately, Pikachu's best friends in the castle; Piplup, Buneary, and Pachirisu came over to him.

"We need your help!" He shouted, and then led everyone over to where the brawl was happening. "Dawn, out of the way!"

Dawn pushed Ursula away from her and then leaped out of reach as Ash began giving out commands to the three Pokémon. "Buneary, use Ice Beam!"

The female Sinnohan Normal type quickly had a little ball of light blue energy form in her mouth. Then, she fired crackling ribbons of the same energy at Ursula, encasing the furious Gabite in a block of ice.

Dawn quickly caught onto Ash's plan. "Now, Piplup! Whirlpool!" She commanded.

Piplup was a little taken aback at his former Trainer giving him commands, but then smiled. It would be just like old times.

With a loud cry, the little male Water type had a large spinning torrent of water form above his head. He then threw it over at the frozen Ursula, spinning her around and around, trapping her inside. Everyone moved out of the way as the Whirlpool started to head over towards the balcony.

Leona, Kenny, Zoey, and Allegra saw that the Whirlpool was heading towards the enchanted Gracidea and quickly but carefully pushed the little table out of its path before it would've been swallowed by it as well.

When the large torrent of water made it out onto the balcony, Ash and Dawn gave out their final commands. "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"

"Pachirisu, Discharge!"

Both Electric types had their bodies crackling with electricity before firing at the spinning Whirlpool, making it glow both yellow and blue. Then, it finally exploded in a burst of flames and smoke, making everyone quickly shield themselves from the remaining energy. Then, they saw and heard Ursula scream as she was blasted off into the distance.

Ash, the servants, and the Pokémon were about to celebrate their victory, but then realized that Dawn looked hurt and betrayed. The friend she'd thought she'd had was nothing more than a traitor who almost sealed their fate, all because she refused to believe that there was hope.

Ash went over to her and then placed a gentle hand on her arm, making her look at him. He didn't say anything and instead gave her another hug, knowing that there was nothing that he could say at the moment that could help her. So he thought that a hug would be enough.

Dawn returned the embrace tightly, being mindful of her claws. She was grateful that Ash was there for her, and that he was okay. She could've lost him, but he certainly was tougher than he looked.

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Ursula soon landed hard in the snow, next to the shores of Lake Acuity. She roughly picked herself up, shaking off the wet white powder.

"They're only delaying the inevitable." She muttered to herself.

"Not if we have anything to say about it." A voice boomed from the lake.

Ursula whirled around and saw the Lake Trio emerging from the lake, their gazes stern and angry. It was Azelf that had spoken first, since she had just threatened the life of his chosen. For the first time, the enchanted Gabite actually looked fearful.

"Your heart has been bitter and cold because you have given up hope, even though it was right in front of you and ready for you to take." Mesprit added. "And yet, you turned yourself away from its light, not just because you have accepted your cruel fate, but because you were afraid of losing your control over the one who is cursed as a beast."

"And since you have violated the moral codes of Pokémon to never try to shed human blood, Arceus has judged you and deemed you guilty of the most horrid of crimes, granting us the duty to carry it out." Uxie came in. "So in exchange for your attempt on taking a life, we will take yours, free of any judgement by Arceus himself."

With that, the Lake Trio fired powerful beams of frightening red energy at Ursula, making her scream. She felt herself withering away by the second until she felt her soul being ripped away from her fading body just as it exploded into dust.

Ursula was no more.

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An hour later, the ballroom had been fixed up to utter perfection, and the servants and the Pokémon admiring it with awed eyes while Lila just smiled proudly at the sight. The decorations were fixed, the floors were clean, and the food had been replaced. The finishing touch was set in the center of the ballroom.

"It's beautiful." Zoey said.

Leona then came up to Lila. "And you said that it was impossible."

Lila just smiled. "Nope. I said that it was impossible...without me." She corrected, while everyone else just rolled their eyes.

"Whatever you say, Lila." Kenny chuckled.

Just then, they heard footsteps near the door. "Everyone, quiet." MJ said. "They're coming!"

The doors opened and Dawn and Ash stepped into the ballroom. They were dressed nicely but modestly for a simple party. Dawn wore a simple pale yellow dress while Ash wore a plain black tuxedo, his raven hair free of his cap.

He gasped quietly when he saw the decorated ballroom, especially the decorated tree. It had gold, silver, red, and green ball ornaments on it, silver tinsel and colorful lights wrapped all around to the top, where a golden star perched. He then walked over to it, looking up at it to see the star.

"It's amazing!" He exclaimed as everyone cheered.

Dawn soon came beside him. As he looked over at her, she smiled at him, and he returned it happily. Then, boldly, Dawn carefully took his hand in her paw. When Ash looked over at their appendages joined together, he looked back up at her and smiled even wider.

"Thank you, Ash. Thank you for bringing Christmas back to the castle." Dawn said to him, grateful.

Ash's brown eyes glimmered softly as he stood closer to Dawn, admiring the beautiful tree. It looked to be a very merry Christmas indeed.

A/N: And this ends the story. Be sure to stay tuned for the epilogue in the finale! There, both Dawn and Salvia will reveal a big surprise to everyone! What do you think it could be?

Well, the surprises were originally supposed to be in the next chapter before the epilogue itself, but I think that I can combine the two and make it into one final chapter, so that we can finally get this story finished.

Well, that's all for this time, y'all! I'll see you in the next chapter! Please leave a comment about what you think! They are highly appreciated. And remember to stay healthy!

Got to fly! ;)