A Heartwarming Christmas

The Start of the Holiday

"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.