December 24th (Cerulean City, Kanto)

(Misty's POV)

"You're kidding right?" I asked in disbelief.

My two sisters, Lily and Violet shook their heads, "You're not kidding," I grumbled.

"Like sorry Misty, it was fun and all, especially that we celebrated early, but we like have a Christmas photo shoot that we like can't miss tomorrow. So....yeah," Lily explained.

I lifted my hands in surrender, "Whatever, do whatever the hell you want."

I turned to look at Daisy, "Aren't you going?"

She shook her head and blushed a little causing me to smirk, "Ah, going to visit a certain artist are we?" I teased.

"Like think what you want Misty. Point being, you like gonna be okay on your own for Christmas cause like we're gonna leave in an hour," she said.

"Out of curiosity, where is Tracey?" I asked. "Is he at Professor Oak's Lab?"

"No, he's like in the Orange Islands running an errand for Professor Oak," she answered.

I watched her disappear as my other sisters left to continue packing. I huffed, figures my sister's would leave for Christmas. Well, the gym was gonna be closed for a few days due to the holidays so I didn't have much to do.

"Hmmm......," I wondered aloud.

"Azurill?" Azurill asked me.

"No need to worry Azurill, I've got an idea," I said as I went to phone.

After making arrangements for someone to watch the gym for a few days, I packed a small bag and dressed in warm clothes. I looked at the time, right now it was 2:30 PM and there was no way I could get to my destination in a few hours.

I sighed, "Well Azurill, let's head to the Pokemon Center, maybe we'll get lucky."

Azurill chirped happily as I recalled it. I then locked up the gym, hid the spare key, and walked to the Pokemon Center.

As I walked in, I heard Nurse Joy on the phone, "I wish I could help, but I can't leave the center right now," she said concerned.

I walked over, "Is everything okay?" I asked.

"Hang on Joy, I'll get back to you in a moment," Nurse Joy said before she hung up. "In a sense, you see a trainer needs his Nidoqueen tonight, but the pokeball transfer machine is broken and I'm unable to drive it to the trainer's Pokemon Center."

"Where's the trainer?" I asked.

"Viridian City," she answered.

"If you have a car I could borrow, I could deliver the pokemon for you," I said. "The only issue is that I won't be coming back here for a few days. I'm on my way to Pallet Town for the holidays so I won't be able to drive the car back."

Nurse Joy looked relieved, "It's not a problem at all, someone at the Pokemon Center there can bring it back. Are you sure you don't mind?"

I grinned, "It's no trouble at all, it'll help me get to Pallet Town on time."

"Great, let me call the other Nurse Joy real quick," she said as I went to take a seat in the open area.

A few minutes later, I found myself on my way to Pallet Town. Talk about holiday luck. At this rate, I could make it to Viridian City by 8:00 PM.

When I was driving through the Viridian Forest later on, the headlights on the car picked out a person.

"No way," I laughed as I slowed down next to the person and rolled the passenger window down. "Leaf?"

"Misty?! What are you doing here?" Leaf asked surprised as she got in and hugged me.

"What are you doing here?" I retorted as I returned the hug. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas. As to why I'm here, my mom got called to visit a friend of hers at the hospital in Goldenrod City and Red decided to keep going on his journey, but we did have a short Christmas celebration before we split up. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find transportation that got me close to Pallet Town. The closest I could fly in was Pewter City and I've been walking ever since," she explained. "Your turn."

"Similar scenario. Sisters had other plans and we celebrated early," I explained as I started driving again.

"How are you able to leave the gym?" Leaf asked.

"For one, we're closed so it's not quite as hard to leave. As for caring for the pokemon, there's a friend we call on from time to time to keep an eye on things," I explained.

"That's cool, where'd you get the car?" she asked.

"Nurse Joy. A trainer wants his pokemon in Viridian City and Nurse Joy was unable to drive there and the pokeball transfer machine is broken. So doing a favor gets me a ride."

"Talk about holiday luck. The question now is how to get from Viridian City to Pallet Town since it takes over a day to walk it," Leaf wondered aloud.

"Maybe we'll get lucky again," I laughed.

"That would be nice," Leaf agreed.

We made it to the Viridian City Pokemon Center a little after 8:00 and dropped off the pokemon. Leaf and I then left the center in the direction of Pallet Town. When we reached the outskirts of the city, we found a small temp store had been set up selling winter sport equipment.

"Is it me or does this seem random?" Leaf asked.

"No, it's random," I replied. "But why are they selling this stuff out here, especially snowmobiles? I thought they were illegal in city limits."

"They are, but people can ride them outside of city limits," a voice answered.

"Ah!" Leaf and I shouted as we found an older gentlemen behind us.

"Sorry about that, I've been told I'm too quiet for my own good," the old man chuckled.

"No problem," I answered. "Out of curiosity, why set up this store? Normally Kanto doesn't get much snow."

"Got a feelin' in me bones that we're gonna get a big one this year and me feelin' never steered me wrong yet," the old man replied.

"Well, in that case, can we borrow a snow mobile? We're trying to get to Pallet Town for the holidays," Leaf explained.

"Sure thing, follow me," he said.

After settling payment and being given enough gas, we made our way to Pallet Town. At around 10:50, we made it to Professor Oak's Lab since we saw no lights on at Ash's house.

"Hard to believe we made it," Leaf laughed as we walked up the hill to Professor Oak's house where lights were on, shining like beacons in the night.

We were about to ring the doorbell when Leaf stopped me, "Wanna do it the fun way?" Leaf asked mischievously.

I smirked and nodded. She had me follow her to the back where we picked the lock and snuck our way inside. We dropped our stuff and shoes by the door before findig the guys, Daisy, Professor Oak, and Delia sitting in the living with the guys backs to us.

Delia, Professor Oak, and Daisy looked surprised, but we made the quiet motion for them to not give us away.

"It's weird that it's so quiet for Christmas this year," Gary commented.

"No kidding, I'm so used to it being festive and loud," Ash added. "Nothing can trump the marshmellow fights we have."

Leaf and I snuck up behind them and hugged them from behind, "Wanna bet?" we asked making them flinch.

Professor Oak, Delia, and Daisy laughed while the guys turned around and faced us astonished.

"Leaf?" Gary said surprised.

"Misty?" Ash asked shocked.

"What are you doing here?" they both asked causing us to laugh.

"Would you like us to leave?" Leaf retorted as we walked around the couch with the guys meeting us halfway before hugging and kissing us.

"No, but how did you get here? We thought you'd be in Cerulean City and Cherry Grove City," Gary said confused.

"Plans fell through so we had our Christmas early and split up," Leaf explained.

"Same, but my sisters had better things to do like photo shoots and stalking," I added.

"Stalking?" Ash asked.

"Yea, Daisy turned down a photo shoot to stalk/visit Tracey," I reported.

"May I remind you that you also left for stalking/visiting," Leaf teased.

"Says the girl who braved the cold, which she hates by the way, to be with her love for Christmas," I retorted.

"Touché," Leaf admitted.

"Whatever the reason, we're glad you're here," Delia said with a smile as she gave us both a hug. "Good heavens, you girls are shivering. Take off your coats and grab a blanket. I'll be back with hot chocolate."

She left as we followed her orders before sitting in front of the fire. The guys then followed our lead by sitting next to us before pulling us next to them in a side hug.

"Talk about holiday luck indeed," I murmured as I snuggled into Ash. "I wonder if everyone else is having a good Christmas?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

December 24th (Twinleaf Town, Sinnoh)

(Dawn's POV)

"Hey Mom! The veggies are almost done!" I hollered.

"Put the burner on low dear!" she hollered back.

I did as she asked and checked on the other food. She then appeared and took over, "It's a great idea to make Christmas dinner Mom, but don't you think we went overboard. I think we cooked for twenty people?" I giggled.

My mom chuckled with me, "No dear, you're right, but it's on purpose. We're gonna share our spoils," she explained.

"With who?" I asked confused.

"There's Cara and Izzy, then there's the Shumauks, and then Mr. Benson," mom said.

"But there's still a lot of food left over," I pointed out.

"We'll just save it and eat throughout the week. Gosh knows we never eat this feast very often," she teased.

I smiled and looked out the window, "I wonder if everyone else is having a good Christmas," I murmured with a certain guy in my head.

"Someone's got their head in the clouds," my mom teased causing me to snap out of my thoughts.

"Sorry," I apologized.

Mom gave a love filled smile before giving me a hug, "It's okay dear, it happens when you're head over heels."

"It's hard to believe we've been together for over a year," I murmured.

"Wish you could be with him for Christmas?" Mom asked.

"Yea, but I also want to be with you," I said as I hugged her.

Mom hugged me back as the phone rang. She went to get it as I watched over the food.

"Hello? Yes Nurse Joy." Silence. "Oh dear, do you need help?" More silence. "Yes, Dawn and I can be there in a few hours. Okay, bye."

"What was that all about?" I asked concerned.

"Apparently there's been a bunch of trainers that just showed up at the Jubilife City Pokemon Center and Nurse Joy needs help," mom explained.

"Well, we better pack up and get going. Something tells me that we're gonna spend our Christmas elsewhere," I said with a smile.

"You alright with that dear?" mom asked.

I shook my head, "I don't mind. The best part of Christmas is sharing and caring with others so let's do just that."

Mom gave me a hug and we got to work. We packed up all the food for the people we were delivering it to and packed the rest to bring with us. We also packed clothes and our gifts to open elsewhere. By the time we got to the Pokemon Center, it was 3:30 PM and we finished helping everyone by 6:45 PM.

"Thanks for your help, we would have been swamped otherwise," Nurse Joy said gratefully.

"It was no problem," mom said with a smile.

"I'd hate to bother you, but could you make a delivery?" she asked.

"Sure, what is it?" I asked.

"Well, I was taking care of a Froslass that needed treatment, but she's better now and is ready to return to her trainer. They were hoping to have her back by tomorrow," she explained.

"Where's her trainer?" I asked.

"Veilstone City," Nurse Joy answered.

I looked at mom in surprise, "As much as we would like to, I don't think we can make the trip. It's too far away," mom answered.

"We can teleport you to the outskirts of the city," Nurse Joy answered.

"With our car?" I asked skeptically.

Nurse Joy smiled and nodded, "But that's impossible," I said surprised. "Never has a psychic pokemon been able to transport that much at such a great distance."

"But they have been able to teleport a group of people that great a distance," Nurse Joy pointed out. "A car should be no problem."

"Okay," I said warily. "Who's the trainer?"

"Paul Shinji."

I wanted to face palm, of course.

"Looks like you get to have the Christmas you wanted," mom teased.

"If we can pull it off," I said.

"Well, here's Froslass," Nurse Joy said as she gave me the pokeball. "Get in your car and we'll get you as close to Veilstone City as we can."

We did as she said and somehow by Arcues' blessing, we found ourselves teleported. I checked the pokenav and saw to our surprise that we were outside Veilstone City.

"Well, Nurse Joy was right, we're on the outskirts of Veilstone City," I reported.

After mom messaged Nurse Joy that we were right on target, we made our way to Paul's house.

We saw lights in the windows showing they were home, we also noticed a jeep nearby.

"Wow, guess Brandon is stopping by," I said surprised. "Hey mom, do you think the food is okay?"

"Yeah, putting it in the insulated containers should mean they are still fresh," mom assured.

I nodded as we continued to Paul's driveway when I noticed a shadowy figure in the distance, moving a little too stealthily for my taste.

"Mom, I'm gonna check something out. I'll be right back," I said as mom put the car in park.

"Dawn!" she called out but I ran to Paul's backyard.

Once I began to get closer, I slowed myself down. I then began to creep up to the shadow noticing that there were two and they were trying to get close to a window to peek in.

"They're busy, robbing their pokemon is gonna to be a piece of cake."

"Especially with us having persuasion," the other snickered as he reached into his coat to pull out a gun.

"You do know that trying to rob the household of two pokemon league winners, a gym leader, and the Frontier Brain is a stupid idea, right?" I said sarcastically revealing myself to them causing them to look at me in surprise.

"What the.....?! Who are you?" the first said angrily.

"Doesn't matter," I said bored. "All that matters is that you're screwed."

"Yeah right," the second snapped as he aimed his gun and fired at me.

I dodged by stepping to the side and tsked, "Someone's got a trigger finger."

"Idiot, now you've alerted everyone," the first guy snapped as he pulled out his gun.

I tensed, fighting against a gun with one gun was one thing, trying to fight two people with one was another. I unzipped my coat and threw it to the side as I slide some knives into my hands from my sleeves.

"Just as a warning, my boyfriend doesn't take kindly to people shooting me," I said bluntly as I saw Paul, Reggie, and Brandon come outside.

"Give up girly, you're outnumbered," the first jeered.

"Pfft, turn around morons" I shouted causing to be shocked when they turned around to notice the guys behind them.

I took the opportunity to throw my knives at their arms holding their guns before grabbing Froslass's pokeball.

"Froslass, stand by for battle!" I shouted as I quickly threw it.

"Use Hail!" I shouted as I grabbed a few more knives to throw.

"Dawn!" Everyone shouted.

"Stay away! I got this!" I shouted as Hail covered the area.

"Dawn are you insane?! What the fuck are you thinking?" Paul shouted angrily.

"Oh will you zip it and let me kick their asses," I snapped as Froslass and I moved about in the Hail. "Froslass, when you see them, hit them with Ice Shard or Ice Beam."

"Froslass," she replied as she began to attack while I did the same.

It was risky because Frolass had ghost like abilities giving her protection if she was hit with a bullet, I didn't have that. A gun fired off and I felt a sting as bullet grazed me again.

"Some fucking Christmas," I muttered as I continued to throw knives.

I tried to reach for more when I realized I was out and Hail began to disappear.

"Whatcha gonna do now girly? You're out of ammo," the second guy jeered.

"Not quite," I snapped as I flicked my hands to activate my nails to grow long.

I then raced forward and swiped the second guy, hitting him and drawing blood. Before I could turn and swipe the other guy, I felt myself being pulled back and cold metal pressed against my side.

"Not bad girly, but looks like you're out of luck," the first guy smirked.

I took a deep breath, "Seriously, what is it with you assholes trying to hold me fucking hostage. It's pissing me off!" I shouted as I threw my head back to bash the guy's nose before disarming him by taking his gun and had him kneeled on the ground.

"Seriously, who the fuck are you?" the guy asked.

"Someone who doesn't take shit from nobody," I breathed tiredly as I bashed the guy across the back of his head with his gun to knock him out.

I flipped the safety lock on the gun and retracted my nails before I was ambushed by Paul hugging me.

"I'm alright Paul, I'm alright," I said gently to reassure him as I hugged him back.

"What the hell Dawn! Do you ever think these things through?!" Paul asked angrily.

I rolled my eyes, "Babe, I know the risks and I'm fine. Everything turned out okay."

"No it didn't, you're bleeding," he said bluntly.

"Honey, I'll be okay," I said as I kissed him. "Now let's tie up these assholes and wait for the authorities to take them away."

It didn't take long as Officer Jenny and her officers came by with in a minute and took the thieves away.

"Some Christmas," Officer Jenny muttered. "Is everyone okay?"

"We're fine, no need to worry," I said cheerfully as I started to shiver from the cold and felt weak from the adrenaline fade away.

She turned walked away just as my legs gave way. Before I hit the ground, I felt myself being swept up bridal style.

"I wish you wouldn't be so risky," Paul murmured as he carried me towards the house.

"I can't help it, it comes with the job, but I know you have my back and it makes me feel a lot safer," I said as I relaxed in his arms.

Paul carried me to the family room where mom and Maylene were sitting, "Dawn, oh my goodness! Are you okay?" mom asked concerned as she and Maylene stood up.

"I'm fine mom," I said as Paul gently put me down. "No need to worry."

"That's when I worry the most," she said automatically. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, just a few bullet grazings," I said as if it was no big deal.

"Dawn!" mom said appalled.

"Mom, I'm fine. I just need a few bandages is all," I said as Reggie came in with a first aid kit.

"Where were you hit?" he asked.

"Left arm and my right thigh," I said.

Brandon came in and held out my knives, "I tried to find them all, but it's hard with the snow and it being dark."

"It's fine, I'll try to find them in the morning," I said taking them.

I picked one up and started to try and cut my shirt, "Dawn, what the hell are you doing?" Paul asked annoyed as he grabbed my wrist to stop me.

"Trying to trim my shirt, that way I don't have to take it off," I explained.

"Let me do it you idiot. Honestly," Paul muttered as he took my knife and cut the sleeve off my shirt.

"Thanks," I said gratefully as I took the knife back and did my pant leg.

"Let me get you some clothes to change into," Maylene offered. "I should have stuff that should fit you."

"Maylene, are you sure it's safe for you to get up?" Reggie asked concerned.

Maylene laughed, "I'm four months pregnant, not helpless," she teased as she left the room.

"Out of curiosity Dawn," Brandon said breaking the silence. "When did you pick up the ability to use knives?"

"Over the summer. I was tired of being defenseless all the time and figured that it would be a good idea to learn a skill in combat," I explained. "Mom wasn't really on board at first, but she came around."

"I don't know whether if I'm foolish or wise to let you," she said tiredly.

I gave her a sad smile, "Then I have a backup defense mechanism the girls and I created a few months ago."

"What's that?" Brandon asked.

I flicked my right hand to activate my nails and they grew, causing my mom to gasp.

"We invented a nail polish that extends our nails like fury swipes. When our nails come in contact with blood, a high concentration of stun spore and poison sting enters a person's blood stream rendering them helpless. We figured that the guys won't always be able to protect us so we wanted to figure out a way to make up for that. It's not perfect, but it's what we got," I explained.

"And it doesn't harm your nails?" Maylene asked as she returned with some clothes.

I shook my head, "The poison doesn't eat through our nails, it's contained until blood triggers it."

"Does it come in royal blue?" Maylene teased.

I laughed, "If you want some, we'll make some for ya."

I turned to mom, "Hey mom, can we eat?"

She blinked at me in surprise, "Food....in the car," I reminded.

"Oh, right," she said gaining her wits before explaining to everyone else. "We made Christmas dinner and brought it with us."

She then left with Reggie and Brandon in tow to bring it in while Maylene went to the kitchen. I took the opportunity to change into a pair of Maylene's old sweatpants and an old t-shirt of Paul's. I came out to see everyone but Paul bustling around the kitchen warming up the food. I left and noticed Paul was outside on the front stoop. I grabbed my coat and went out to sit next to him.

"You okay?" I asked.

He sighed, "I'll live," he said as he wrapped his arm around me pulling me closer. "What about you?"

"I'll live," I mimicked. "Some holiday luck huh?"

Paul smirked as he kissed me, "Some luck."

I snuggled closer as we watched snow begin to fall thanking Arceus for everything turning out okay. Hopefully everyone else can say the same.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

December 25th (LaRousse City, Hoenn)

(May's POV)

"Come on Cousin May-May, wake up! It's Christmas!" an excited voice said urgently as they shook me.

"Five more minutes," I grumbled sleepily as I turned over.

"Oh no, you're no escaping us that easily!"

I felt myself then being tickled causing me to jerk up, "Annie!" I yelled.

"Yea! You're up. Now let's go!"

I sighed, I love Annie to death, but she really does push your buttons sometimes. All I wanted to do was sleep since there was an overflow of pokemon needing care since the power source of the pokemon center in LaRousse City blew two days, explaining why we moved the Nurse Joy Christmas celebration to here rather than Rustboro. I did a lot of healing in the past few days and I was tired.

"May!" Ally whined as she tugged my arm.

"Alright, I'm comin' I'm comin'," I said trying to pacify her as I got up.

We walked into the common room of the pokemon center to see a few presents were under the tree.

"Hey, those weren't there yesterday," Ally said surprised. "Wonder whose they are?"

"Why don't you go take a look," I said as I let them rush forward to investigate why I escaped to the kitchen.

"Do you need help?" I asked watching the Nurse Joys from LaRousse City, Rustboro, and Fallarbor Town cooking.

"We got it May, is everyone up?" Nurse Joy from Rustboro asked.

"The girls got me up, but I haven't seen anyone else," I reported.

"Max is probably still sleeping and Joe is around here somewhere," Nurse Joy from LaRousse City assumed.

"Are we doing anything today?" I asked taking a seat on a nearby chair after pouring a glass of Sitrus berry juice.

"Not really since we had our festivities yesterday. We figured we'd have a quiet day since we've been busy the last few," Nurse Joy from Fallarbor Town explained.

I nodded in understanding as the door to the kitchen burst open, "Mama, Mama, we got more presents!" Ally said excitedly.

"From who?" their mother asked in fake confusion.

"From Santa!" Annie said happily.

I smiled, it was fun to see the girls get super excited.

Annie looked at me with a cheeky grin causing me to raise an eyebrow in question, "Hey Mama, can May, Max, Ally, and I go to Drew's house?"

I looked at her surprised, "Annie, you can't go to someone's house without being invited," Nurse Joy frowned.

"But I want to see him and I'm sure May wants to see him too," Annie argued.

"As much as May would like to, Drew and his family has plans and we can't just go over there uninvited. Besides, we'll have a fun day here. You got a lot of new toys to play with that you got yesterday," her mother said firmly.

"But Mama," Ally whined.

"No buts, you two are staying here and that's final," her mother said ending the discussion.

I sighed as the girls ran out, "Wonder what's got them in a tizzy in wanting to see Drew?"

Nurse Joy gave a cheeky grin, "Something about getting proposed to on Christmas Day being romantic," she teased.

I choked on the last of my Sitrus berry juice, "Arcues," I cursed before whining. "Why is everyone teasing me about getting engaged?!"

Nurse Joy stopped what she was doing and took a seat next to me, "Because everyone sees the strong relationship the two of you have and how much in love you both are. I've never seen a relationship tested as much as yours has," she admitted.

I sighed, "Well the girls are gonna be disappointed because I doubt Drew is going to propose to me," I said. "At least not for a while. We're still young after all and we have time."

Nurse Joy smiled and squeezed my hand again before getting up, "How about you wake up your brother and go visit said future fiancé and his family since we don't have anything special going on today."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

She nodded, "I can tell you don't like being away from him for long and Christmas is a time you should spent with loved ones."

I gave a gratefully smile and left for Max's room. I found him sleeping, but then began to poke him in places where I knew he was ticklish.

"Stop it," he grumbled sleepily as he turned his back to me.

"I could get the bucket of water," I teased.

"I hate you," he grumbled as he sat up and put on his glasses.

"Merry Christmas," I said cheerfully.

"Merry Christmas," he said as I hugged.

"What do I owe the pleasure of your interruption?" he asked.

"Nurse Joy said we aren't doing much today so we have permission to go to Drew's," I explained.

"Did you ask to?" he asked.

I shook my head, "Annie asked because she and Ally wanted to go."

"Why?" he asked confused.

I wrinkled my nose in discomfort, "They wanted to see if I got engaged today," I grumbled causing Max to laugh.

"That's great, wait til I tell Lizzy," he laughed.

"Do and I'll kill you," I threatened.

He stuck his tongue out, "Leave so I can change, we can go in a little bit."

I left and changed as well into a white long sleeve top, a red scarf, dark blue skinny jeans, uggs, and a santa hat. I went downstairs to greet and feed my pokemon as well as Max's by giving them some of my Christmas poffins.

"You should bring some for Drew and Lizzy's pokemon," he said when he came down to see his pokemon.

"Way ahead of you," I said as I packed a bunch to bring with us.

We then recalled our pokemon and made our way to Drew's. Once we got to the estate, we decided to go in through the servants' entrance where the servants were busy eating breakfast.

"Merry Christmas," I said as I walked in surprising them.

"Goodness, Merry Christmas to you as well," George replied. "I wasn't informed you'd be coming."

"We apologize for intruding, it was last minute," I explained. "Is everyone still asleep?"

He nodded, "The family planned to have a brunch at 11:00 instead of breakfast."

"I see, we'll leave before then," I said.

"Nonsense, we'll make sure to prepare enough and I'm sure the family will invite you."

"Well thanks in advance," I laughed. "We'll let you get back to what you were doing, we can feed the pokemon."

Max and I then left the kitchen and made our way to the Hayden greenhouse where they kept their pokemon. We tried to maneuver quietly, but we managed to wake up Roserade.

"Rose?" she asked tiredly before she saw us. "Roserade!"

I laughed, "It's good to see you Roserade," I said. "Bet you didn't expect to see us?"

She shook her head as other pokemon began to wake up. I released my own as well Max as we let them chat with the other pokemon while they ate. After a while, we left them to their own devices and found ourselves at the base of the stairs leading upstairs.

"What's with the smug grin on your face?" I asked Max.

"I figured we could have some fun with Lizzy," he chuckled evilly.

"Why do I get the feeling revenge is fueling this?" I asked as I rolled my eyes.

"Because it is, do you know how many rude awakenings I had to endure while traveling with her?" he said exasperated.

"A lot would be my guess," I teased. "Anyway, let's surprise her, that'll be "rude" enough."

We chuckled as we snuck our way upstairs to Lizzy's room. We walked in and saw her still fast asleep.

Max got around to the side of the bed she wasn't sleeping on and then pounced, "MERRY CHRISTMAS!"

Lizzy shouted as she sat up looking white as a sheet, "What the hell?! Max?!" she screeched as she looked at him.

"That's payback," Max retorted.

"Revenge aside," I said making my presence known. "Merry Christmas."

"May!" she said excitedly as I sat on the edge of her bed and hugged her. "What are you doing here? I thought you weren't gonna be here this year?"

"We were in the neighborhood and decided to stop by," I explained.

"Our adoptive cousins suggested coming, but their mother wanted them to stay home," Max added.

"Aww, are they the ones that came up with contestshipping?" she asked.

I nodded, "That's too bad, I won't mind seeing them again," she said.

"They wanted to come over and see if May was gonna get proposed to on Christmas," Max teased causing me to glare at him.

Lizzy laughed, "Oh my gosh that's precious! We'd all love that."

"Sorry to disappoint you, but it's not happening today," I huffed as I got up. "I'll leave you two be. No funny business."

"May!" they both shouted annoyed.

I shut the door and shook my head in silent laughter before I made my way to Drew's room. I went in to find him still asleep. I smiled softly as I went to sit on the edge of his bed. I brushed his bangs to the side before kissing his forehead.

He grinned softly, "You missed," he murmured.

I laughed as I kissed him properly with him kissing me back. His arm then came out from under the sheets and grabbed me before pulling me to lay down next to him.

"Merry Christmas," I laughed.

"Merry Christmas," he murmured sleepily as he kissed me again. "What are you doing here?"

"I was in the neighborhood and decided to stop by," I said as I snuggled closer to him before sitting up.

We then heard a ring tone pitch that someone wanted to video chat, "Wonder who's calling? Can you get that May?" Drew asked as he sat up.

I got up and grabbed his computer before sitting back next to Drew. He placed it on his lap and accepted the call. Soon two other windows appeared to show Paul and Dawn in one and Leaf, Gary, Misty, and Ash in the other.

"Merry Christmas you guys," I called.

"Merry Christmas!" everyone else replied.

"What happened to everyone being separated for Christmas?" Dawn asked.

"Obviously it didn't happen," Gary answered sarcastically.

"Plans fell through," Dawn, Leaf, Misty, and I answered at the same time causing us to laugh.

"I find it hard to believe that all your plans fell through," Drew said in slight disbelief.

"My sisters ditched me to do photoshoots or stalk love interests so we celebrated early and I got here last night," Misty explained.

"Mom had to visit a friend and Red had other plans so we celebrated early and I came with Misty," Leaf said next.

"We moved our celebration to LaRousse because we had to help out at the pokemon center when there power shut down," I added.

"We got called to help at the pokemon center in Jubilife City and then got teleported to Veilstone City to deliver Paul's Frolass," Dawn finished.

I frowned, "You look like slightly hellish Dawn, you okay?"

"Slightly hellish huh? Like every girl wants to be called that," Dawn teased. "Anyway, no big deal. Just stopped a few thieves trying to rob Paul and his family."

"No big deal Troublesome? That's an understatement," Paul muttered. "You got shot twice."

"What?!" we all shouted.

"Relax, they were only flesh wounds. No need to worry," Dawn said nonchalantly as she waved her hand to emphasize.

I sighed and gave a tired smile. Leave it to Dawn to be chipper and nonchalant about getting shot at.

As we continued chatting, my compowder went off.

"Hello," I answered.

"Hi, is this May Maple?" a voice asked.

"Yes, this is she," I confirmed.

"We liked to offer our congratulations as you and your friend are the winners of our EP album contest," the voice announced.

"Wow, thanks so much," I said surprised causing everyone to look at me. "So what happens now?"

"We plan to do two music videos for the songs we chose to feature in the film, "Potential Break-Up Song" and "Like Whoa"," the voice explained.

"I thought the ones picked had to do with the theme," I said surprised.

"We made an exception because your bonus song also applies to the movie so we chose that one," the voice explained. "Anyway, as for working with Crimson 6, they will reach out to you when they want you to work with them. Again, congratulations and we will be in touch."

"Thanks, bye," I said as I shut my compact.

"What was that about?" Dawn asked.

I smirked, "Guess whose voices get to appear on the silver screen?"

"Shut up! We won?!" Leaf gasped.

I nodded causing everyone to shout in congratulations as Drew and Gary kissed me and Leaf.

"What's with all the noise?" Lizzy asked as she and Max came in.

"The mini album Leaf and I created won a contest. We just found out," I explained as everyone calmed down some.

"So what happens now?" Leaf asked.

"They want to do two music videos to "Potential Break-Up Song" and "Like Whoa", which they'll get back to us at a further date and they said Crimson 6 would reach out to us when they want to work with us," I reported.

"'Potential Break-Up Song' and 'Like Whoa' huh? Interesting song titles," Misty commented. "What about the others?"

"The rest are "Chemicals React", "If I Could Have You Back" and "Like It or Leave It"," Leaf answered.

"Are they going to release the album?" Lizzy asked.

"Probably not for a while, they'll do it closer to when the movie will be released," I explained.

"Cool. Anyway, we need to go downstairs, mom and dad are waiting for us for breakfast," Lizzy reminded.

"We should probably sign off since everyone else is probably waiting for us," Ash added.

"Alright, see ya later. Merry Christmas!" I said before Drew shut his laptop and we made our way downstairs.

"So....did a certain event occur?" Lizzy asked nonchalantly.

I rolled my eyes, "No, it did not."

"Rattatas," Lizzy cursed.

"A certain event?" Drew asked confused.

"A few little girls in our supposed fanclub wanted to come today and see if I would get proposed to today," I said tiredly.

"Really now?" Drew smirked.

"Sorry to disappoint them, but it won't be happening for a while and I certainly don't want to get engaged when other people want it. That is between us," I said firmly. "And we have time, there's no need to rush."

My compowder then went off again, "It's probably the company from the contest calling. Go on in and I'll catch up."

Max and Lizzy went ahead before Drew kissed my cheek and followed them.

"Hello?"

"Is this May Maple?" an older guy asked.

"Yes, this is she," I answered.

"This is Bellevue Hospital. It seems your test results were misdiagnosed. We would like you to make an appointment with an oncologist as soon as possible," he said causing me to freeze.

I felt as if time stopped for a moment. I blinked as the voice ended with a question.

"I'm sorry, can you please repeat that?" I asked.

"Dr. Remmie has suggested you see Dr. Saunders, the earliest he can see you is Wednesday at 9:30 AM. Does that work for you?"

"Yes, I'll be there. Anything else?"

"No, that is all. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," I said as I shut my compowder and peeked into the dining room to see everyone laughing while Lizzy frowned.

"Some holiday luck," I thought as I faked a smile and entered the room. "I thought I had all the time in the world. Now I'm not so sure."