chapter 29

Ash impatiently tapped his foot as he stared at the clock as it was only minutes away before Christmas Break would start.

"Are you alright?" Lillie whispered.

"Ring… ring… come on ring…" Ash muttered.

-Ash, I believe Lillie asked you a question. Are you not going to respond?- the Rotom Pokedex inquired.

Before anybody could say anything, the bell finally rang. Ash gave a cheerful yell as he dashed out the door, but Rowlet came tumbling out of his bag as a result. Lillie just stared as Pikachu sighed and tailed after his trainer, with Rowlet and the Rotom Pokedex soon following as well.

-Ash, I must question why it is you ran out of class like you did.- the Rotom Pokedex informed, a question mark appearing on it's screen.

"Christmas is upcoming and I need to get presents,"

-What is this… Christmas?-

"It's a holiday where you give gifts to your friends," Ash informed, "And I've got a large list I need to send presents to!"

-So why did you need to run out?-

"I haven't even started yet!"

-Ah.-

Ash had gotten out a piece of paper and scratched down the names of every one of his friends he had gone traveling with in the past and got to thinking of what he should give them. Ash had already doodled out some ideas, but was at a block for most of his friends.

-Scanning… scanning… scanning…- the Rotom Pokedex muttered as he scanned the list Ash had made, -Oh. You know Gym Leaders from Kanto, Unova and Kalos? How interesting.-

"Man… I need ideas," Ash groaned, "Hey Kukui, I'm gonna be out for a little while,"

"Alright, see you around Ash," Kukui waved as Ash headed out.

Once he made sure Ash was gone, Kukui let out a sigh as he headed downstairs into his lab and over to a desk. He took out two items and dusted them off, one being a wedding ring that hadn't been worn in years, and the other was a picture of himself with a young woman…

Back over in the Kanto Region, Mimey was presently working on dragging out a Christmas tree for the Ketchum house. He let out a slight groan and began to pull it with Psychic, but the tree refused to budge. Mimey let out a sigh as he quickly ran off and came back with Ash's Bulbasaur. Bulbasaur gave a roll of his eyes as he helped Mimey out with the tree, but it was still stuck. Both Pokemon pulled with all of their might and managed to dislodge the tree from the door, but a picture came tumbling down from the top shelf as a result. Mimey was quickly able to catch it before it fell and saw the picture was of a young male with Delia. Mimey gasped upon seeing the picture as he recognized the male in the picture.

"Bulba?" Bulbasaur blinked as Mimey made a beeline right for Oak's lab, leaving Bulbasaur to try and hold onto the Christmas tree.

"I'm glad you and Ash got that Egg to Alola, because my cousin was planning on doing an assignment where he gives away an Egg and the class has to watch it," Professor Oak commented as Delia helped him set up some Christmas decorations.

"You're welcome." Delia smiled softly.

Mimey then came dashing in, picture in tow, and showed it to Delia.

"...where did you find that?" Delia gasped.

"Huh… there's a face I haven't seen in that context in a long time…" Oak commented as he looked at the picture for a moment.

"Mime, mime mime mime mime?" Mimey, inquiring about the picture, demanded to know.

"...if I tell you, you must never communicate this to Ash. Got it?" Delia sighed, with Mimey giving a thumbs up, "Alright… back when I was about 17 or 18, I had met this man who was vacationing to Cinnabar Island…"

A much younger Delia walked over and saw a younger Professor Kukui as he was relaxing alongside a Pokemon. Delia curiously walked over and saw it was a sort of puppy Pokemon. She slowly approached it and reached over to touch it…

"Ruff!" the Pokemon yelped, jumping away in fear.

"Oh! I-I-I'm so sorry!" Delia apologized.

"Eh, it's fine," Kukui assured as he sat up, "I'm Kai, Kai Kukui, and who are you?"

"Delia Ketchum," Delia smiled, "So… who's this Pokemon here? I've never seen it before,"

"This, my friend," Kai began as picked up the Pokemon, "Is Rockruff, a Pokemon from my native Region of Alola,"

"I think I've heard of Alola, it's a lovely vacation spot,"

"I came to Kanto to do some research about certain types of Pokemon, but I got a bit sidetracked, not only with some vacation, with trying out that Gym Challenge."

"Oh really?"

Kai smiled as he showed off the Boulder Badge and Rainbow Badge "Going for the Volcano Badge when the Gym Leader comes back,"

"Neat. Uh… my boyfriend is a Gym Leader, so I'll make sure you can battle him," Delia smiled.

"Alright,"

"I forgot that you once dated a Gym Leader," Professor Oak commented as he sat down by Delia, handing her and Mimey some tea.

"Yea… well… that's not exactly one of the high points of my life," Delia admitted, "He started out really nice, even had a small group of friends… but after he became a Gym Leader, something about him changed,"

"Mime?"

Delia simply stared at the tea as she remembered.

"Gio… why are you having your friends be here in the Gym?" Delia asked.

"So people will have a challenge before they challenge me," he explained, a sinister smirk on his face, "To give off some finality to the Gym here,"

Delia stared for a moment before she walked off.

"I traveled with Kai for a while and saw him win the Volcano Badge, Cascade Badge, Soul Badge, Thunder Badge, Marsh Badge and Boulder Badge," Delia commented, recalling Kai's Poliwhirl beating Blaine's Magmar, Kai's Raichu beating a Starmie, Kai's Morelull beating Koga's Golbat, the same Pokemon of Kai's beating Surge's Pikachu, Kai's Alolan Marowak beating a Alakazam and lastly Kai's Poliwhirl beating Brock's dad's Onix, "Then came his attempt for the Earth Badge. The day before, I spoke with my old boyfriend before the match… and did something I wasn't proud of..."

"You want me to do WHAT?!" Delia yelled.

"You heard me, I want you to steal some of those Alola Pokemon from that Trainer."

Delia stammered a bit before she headed for the door, "...we're done…"

Her ex simply stared at her as she left, but she stopped and saw a badge stock. Delia took a look around and took one of the Earth Badges sitting there and made a break for the door.

Mimey did a spit-take at this and began to cough tea a little bit.

"I'm not exactly proud of that moment…" Delia responded, "I've never stolen ever again, but it was something I did just to avoid seeing his face again."

"Did you ever see him again?" Professor Oak asked as he walked in with a towel, Mimey taking it and quickly cleaning up the tea.

"Not that I'm aware of… I really hope I don't ever see him again, but who knows. After I left the Gym, I met up with Kai and I gave him the badge, saying the Gym Leader would be out for a few months. He took on the Indigo League and actually almost won."

"Mime?" Mimey spoke, inquiring who beat Kai.

"Rockruff, use Rock Throw!" Kai commanded, Rockruff being his last Pokemon.

"Lapras, Hydro Pump!" his foe commanded.

Lapras fired off the water attack and Rockruff was KOed as a result.

"Rockruff is unable to battle, the winner is Lapras. And therefore, the winner is Thus the winner is Takuya Oak from Pallet Town!"

Delia turned to see the winner, being a young man with brown hair that was spiked in a way similar to a certain somebody...

"Mime?!" Mimey gawked.

"Yea… Gary's father won," Delia giggled.

Professor Oak smiled and looked at a picture of himself and his son before sighing a little, "I'm glad we can relate to the fact that we both aren't married anymore…"

Delia gave a nod before continuing, "Kai may have lost that battle, but he won my heart. We began to date and he even proposed after a while… and I accepted. I ended up moving to Alola after that,"

"Wasn't Ash born in Alola?" Professor Oak checked.

"Yea, and he spent the first few years of his life there," Delia nodded before sighing at what came next…

Poliwhirl struck Professor Kukui with a powerful Focus Punch and sent him tumbling towards the wall, causing a loud 'boom' to echo throughout the house. The loud sound ending up waking up an infant Ash.

"Kai, please stop! You woke up Ash again!"

"Sorry, sorry," Kai apologized to Delia, "But it's my area of expertise to study moves."

Delia groaned and proceeded upstairs to tend to Ash.

"Poliwhirl, continue to show me your moves!"

"Kai!"

"Ok, ok, I'll stop for now…"

"I eventually couldn't take it anymore, so we got divorced and I moved back here. And… well… I did tell Ash more than a couple fibs about his dad…" Delia sighed, "Like that he's a strong Pokemon Trainer still on his journey, his last name is Ketchum, among others."

Mimey gave a look of surprise at this.

"I do still talk with Kai on occasion, I write to him every Christmas, but I just can't bring myself to re-marry him," Delia commented.

"So, have you started your letter to him for this year?" Oak asked.

Delia's eyes widened as she realized she hadn't and quickly headed out to get started.

Back over in Alola, Ash was nearly done with getting the presents ready and was working on getting the last few done.

"So… why did you need to borrow Popplio?" Lana asked Ash.

"I'm gonna send a friend a picture of it for Christmas," Ash explained.

"Oh, ok," Lana nodded as Ash scooped Popplio into his hands and set it down to take pictures, "Just make sure they're nice,"

"Gotcha," Ash nodded, "Rotom, go ahead,"

-All over it.- the Rotom Pokedex smiled as he snapped the pictures, -Miss Lana, which do you think is the best?-

"Why ask?" Ash asked of the Rotom Pokedex.

-She requested they look nice, so I am getting her input.-

Lana looked over them and smiled at them all, "They're all nice. Go ahead and send which one you think looks perfect Ash."

"Thanks, see you later," Ash bid as he, Pikachu and the Rotom Pokedex left.

Ash waited around the marketplace and smiled upon seeing Litten trot along with some berries in tow, "Hey Litten,"

Litten then turned to face Ash, "Could you come with me for a bit? I really need your help with something. I promise it won't take to long,"

The cat simply stared at Ash for a bit before letting out a sigh and agreeing to do so.

"Alright, little bit closer guys," Ash commented as he had Pikachu, Rowlet, Litten, Lana's Popplio, and Kukui's Rockruff all stand in line for a picture.

"So… what is it you're doing?" Lillie asked, entering the area of Ash's house.

"Taking a few pictures for some Christmas presents. Gonna get a few more of the Pokemon before I join in with them for a present to my mom."

Lillie gave a nod as Ash motioned for Rowlet to scoot in a tiny bit more and had the Rotom Pokedex snap the pictures.

"Alright. Hey, Lillie, do you mind helping make sure me and the Pokemon take a good picture?"

"Sure," Lillie nodded as Ash headed into the frame of the picture, "Hmm… Litten, move over to where Pikachu is, and Popplio, scoot over a bit to where Litten was."

The two Pokemon nodded and did as told for the picture.

"Alright…" Lillie nodded, "Take it."

-All over it.- the Rotom Pokedex smiled as he snapped several pictures.

"Thanks Lillie," Ash smiled, "So… why are you here?"

"I came to give you a present early. I don't know if I can make it to the Christmas party at your place, so… here," Lillie smiled as she handed Ash a present.

"Oh, thanks," Ash nodded as he watched Litten pick up it's berry and began to head off, "Hey, can you wait a moment Litten?"

"Li?"

"I got you something," Ash smiled as he headed in and got the present, "It's not wrapped, but… I hope you like it."

Litten then saw it was a blanket that was relatively large and smiled a little at Ash before heading off.

"Why would it need such a large blanket?"

"There's a reason, but I'm a bit busy at the moment. See you around Lillie,"

Lillie gave a wave and headed off.

Kukui sat in his lab and was working on writing out a letter to his ex-wife as Ash came downstairs, "Oh, Ash?"

"Sorry for forgetting to knock, but I really need to use a computer to get something."

"Oh, alright," Kukui nodded as he took the paper and pencil and motioned to Ash to use the computer.

"What are you up to?" Ash couldn't help but ask.

"Just… working on a letter to my ex-wife."

"Oh…"

"We're still good friends, it's just… my research ended up getting on her nerves," Kukui responded, slightly lying but also slightly telling the truth.

Ash simply shrugged as he worked on the computer, pulling up a video of his performance in the Kalos League to get a picture of Ash-Greninja.

"Hey Kukui, do you need any of these?" Ash asked, seeing some blueprints lying around that looked untouched.

"Nah. I was meaning to send them to some other professors, though," Kukui informed as Ash ended up sneaking two of them into his bag.

"Alright, just asking," Ash responded as he slipped off to the loft to work on wrapping what he took, "He won't mind two being missing… hopefully,"

"Alright, Misty's gift… Brock's gift… Tracey's gift… May's gift… Max's gift… Dawn's gift… Iris' gift… Cilan's gift… Clemont's gift… Bonnie's gift… Kiawe's gift… Lana's gift... Sophocles' gift… Lillie's gift," Ash listed off as he saw there was still one person he didn't have a gift for, Serena, "...and now comes the tricky one…"

Ash simply sat and began to think of what he should give to his former traveling companion, especially given what had happened at the airport before they left Kalos, before Pikachu gave him an idea.

With the final gift and note wrapped up, Ash had sent off the gifts to his former companions and his classmates, thus he got to work on the gift for his mother.

Delia had finished her letter to Kai and sent it off, simply hoping that Ash wouldn't see it…

Christmas Day soon rolled around and Ash and Pikachu were both ready to open gifts. Kukui watched as they did so with a soft smile and read over Delia's letter, which was pretty short and simplistic.

'Dear Kai-

How have you been? I was glad to see you again while I was vacationing in Alola with our son. Sorry that I didn't stay very long… I just didn't want to have memories of the past came up. ...though they did come up because Mimey found a picture of us.

I do miss you, don't get me wrong, but your profession is a bit… uh… I don't know what the right word is. You just enjoy to hurt yourself, oddly.

Regardless… keep an eye on Ash for me, ok? And… please don't tell him you're his dad. I have fibbed to him a ton about his dad and I really don't want him to be angry at me.

Hope you're having a good time with him… Mr. Ketchum. Sorry, couldn't help myself.

-From, Delia Ketchum'.

Kukui simply tucked the letter away as Ash opened up the gifts one by one.

Delia had finished reading the letter from Kai, when she saw Ash had sent her a postcard with a picture that Lillie had helped him take.

'Dear Mom-

Really wish I could be home for Christmas, but I feel like I'm at home here in Alola… I couldn't tell you why, but I do feel at home here. I really hope you enjoy the picture and enjoy the holiday…'

Misty and Tracey opened up their gifts from Ash and both smiled happily at them, Misty's being a picture of Popplio, while Tracey's was of the picture of Alola Pokemon Ash had taken.

'The holiday is really great to be with a dear friend or family.'

Brock, presently home in Pewter City, unwrapped his gift and saw it was of Alolan Geodude, making him stare a bit in confusion.

'I worked really hard on everybody's presents.'

In Hoenn, May and Dawn were both opening up their presents. May's was a Blaziken bracelet and Dawn's was of Piplup earrings. Both girls giggled happily as they put them on.

'Some were easy picks…'

'Others… not so much.'

Max, presently in Hoenn himself, couldn't help but laugh a bit at the Munchlax plushie that Ash had sent him. His Ralts also let out a small laugh.

Iris gave a blank stare at the Axew T-Shirt that Ash had given her, but couldn't help but tie it around her head as a bandanna.

'I hope everybody enjoys them.'

Cilan cheered happily over a new Pansage lure that he had gotten, with his brothers rolling their eyes at this.

Clemont looked over the blue-prints sent to him, which appeared to be for some sort of green colored, cube shaped Pokeball. Bonnie, meanwhile, was ecstatic over her new book about Legendary Pokemon.