//------------------------------// // Non-Canon Holiday Bonus Chapter, Part 2! // Story: New Faces, New Friends // by ZephyrStrife //------------------------------// With dinner out of the way Derek and Mick pitched in to help with the after-dinner dishes while everyone else gathered in the living room to see just what Cousin Vinny's machine could do aside from contact the Ranger HQ and Princess Twilight's castle. At least, that's what would have been happening if the three Pikachu weren't fighting over the blocky remote that Vinny had designed. The bushy-furred Pikachu used his tail to smack Moe in the face as a distraction as he gave a strong tug on the remote, causing Moe to lose his grip and make the bushy one stumble back into a slightly larger, smooth-furred one. "Ah, Ah, Ah Curly, you know better than to hit Moe like that." The smooth-furred pikachu chided as he plucked the remote from Curly's grasp, only to have Moe bite his tail and make him toss the remote into the air allowing Moe to grab it with a smirk. "Not this time Larry... You got to pick last time... I get to pick the channel this ti-EEEM!" He lets out a shriek as Curly stomps on his paw, beginning the cycle again that would toss the remote dangerously into the air a few times before Gleaming Gem hovered the remote over to him and Widget while he shot Vinny a worried look. "Are you sure that's healthy for them?" "Oh you worry too much, pokemon evolve by having battles with each other, so having three brothers go about their sibling rivalry will just bring them closer as a family." Vinny replied with a dismissive hand. "Still..." Gem winced as he saw the three Pikachu started to get near the level of an all-out brawl in the living room. Vinny took the hint and nodded before he clapped his paws loudly, "Boys..." All three of the Pikachu stopped mid-brawl; Curly had a grip on Moe's chest fur and looked about ready to slug him, Moe had one of Larry's ears in his teeth and had the larger Pikachu in a headlock while Larry looked to be about ready to yank the tail right out from under Curly. "I think we should all just take a rest from the fighting and watch a nice movie together." Vinny offers as he pulls a large rectangular block out from behind his back. The three little mice began to get excited and scrambled to find seats on the various couches, beaming with pride as Vinny put the movie into the larger computer-like device that was against the far wall. Volt watched Mick with slight confusion. "Doesn't that hurt your paws?" he asked as the Typhlosion washed various dishes. "I mean... You are a fire type..." Mick let out a small chuckle. "It still stings a little, but it's more akin to having your leg fall asleep on you... It's something a lot of pokemon noticed after about a year of being here... The more you were exposed to attacks that are strong against you and survive, the more your body adapts to resist those attacks... If anything I would have to say it's one more little oversight on Arceus' part that he seemed to have missed when he brought us here. While I'm not complaining, it'll eventually make it so there's no such thing as a super-effective attack against a pokemon who is a career battler." "I se- ei chihuahua... A-are those... cookies?" Volt squeaked as he turned his gaze in time to see a small plate of cookies on the table, chocolate chip if his incredibly trained eye was correct. "Yeah, Emma's gotten quite a sweet tooth since she got pregnant..." The large typhlosion leaned down and began to whisper conspiratorially. "...Don't tell her this, but the cookies are actually sugar free... She doesn't notice the difference though so that saves the fur off of my back." "Wait... Really? I thought sugar free stuff had to taste bad because it didn't have sweet, sugary goodness." "Nope, no sugar needed, it actually uses dark chocolate chips and she actually likes the taste of dark chocolate over regular chocolate anyway, so that's an added bonus right there. You can have one if you would like, but just one though... we need to save some in case we get a visitor bearing gifts." Mick chuckled as he went back to the dishes. "Come on Mick, you really think that Arceus transported 'Santa' here with the rest of us?" Derek asked with an incredulous smirk. "How do you explain last year?" "You know that Widget went out of her way to get extra gifts..." "Nu-uh... She specifically explained that they weren't from her." "Whatever... You finish up the dishes, I'm sure that everyone's probably watching a movie in the living room." Derek dismissed as he dried his hands and left the kitchen. "Actually Volt... If you would be so kind... please bring some of the cookies out to the living room for Emma." The little spider gave an affirmative nod with an accompanying salute before he launched off the counter to grab two cookies and swing through the air like the spider-mare comics he had been reading recently. Emma was laying on her side as the movie started up, giving her a bit of needed relief as she had an entire couch to herself, She had even begun to doze off before she smelled the cookies that Volt had put in front of her. "Oh..." She quietly yelped as the cookies landed on the couch. "...Thank you Volt, I really needed these." She smiled warmly and nuzzled the little bug type before she began to nibble on one of the cookies. "I'm not sure I can finish both though... You can have the other one." Volt looked at the cookie a little curiously before he began to nibble at it himself, quite enjoying the taste even if it didn't give him the energy rush that other cookies were so blessed with. He even began to pay attention to the movie, which looked like starred the three Pikachu of the house as a sort of home-movie. As the Vinny on the video, dressed as Entei... or at least as close as the Pikachu brothers had been able to guess to what Entei looked like, leapt out of the darkness on the screen to unleash a paper-effect of an energy beam from his mouth Volt had to stifle a giggle at the absolutely hilariously terrible special effects of the movie. Even the unknown in the movie were made out of paper and when proper scale was needed it looked like the characters had been drawings on moving sticks. Emma had already fallen asleep on the couch, nuzzling Mick who was sitting on the floor near her head. Richard and Derek were leaning against each other, and even the Lopunny and Arbok were sitting against each other on the couch. As the movie ended, Vinny began to slowly let the lights in the room come back to full brightness, rousing a few of the pokemon who had fallen asleep. Although Emma had reflexively groaned in protest as she blindly reached out and wrapped Volt up in an incredibly warm hug, whispering little unintelligible coos to him as she slept. Mick got up and began to stretch, getting a few satisfying pops from his back as he tested his flexibility. "...Ooh... that hurts so good..." He half-chuckled, half-whimpered as he slowly got back into a regular standing position to look at Volt and Emma. "Aww... Ain't that cute..." He cooed as he leaned down to help pry a struggling Volt from Emma's vice-grip. It took a bit of effort but he managed to get Volt free only to make Emma groan as she tried to grasp for anything else. "Hey Volt... I think that Vinny can find a place for you to sleep tonight..." Mick let out a little grunt as Emma latched around his neck as he picked her up. "I think its time we all went to bed anyway... We don't want to stay up and make Santa miss the house, would we?" Volt shrugged a little, choosing instead to remain on the couch as he watched the larger Typhlosion carry Emma up the stairs. "...Hmm... Would John and Holly be able to have an egg together? Or would they have to adopt?" He began to ponder, putting a foreleg against his chin. "She does look a lot like a Ponyta... but... she's not a pokemon... so... would that make a ponyta that would be able to use magic if they had an egg together?" Mick gently laid Emma down on their bed, which got her to release his neck. With a small, happy sigh he slowly climbed into bed next to her and began nuzzling against her swollen belly, causing her to purr. "Ah... I love living here..." Mick sighed again before he buried his face in Emma's fur and let his mind get lost among the scent of burnt hickory and roasted Grepa berry. Volt jumped awake as he heard a commotion coming from across the room, as his eyes adjusted to the low light of the tree that Vinny had lit up before they went to bed he noticed that the chimney was getting quite a bit of dust falling onto the floor just before a large red creature fell with a soft, yet noticeable, thud. "Stupid deerling... gotta give me a huge bag... Ugh... just look at my feathers!" The red figure grumbled as he stood and hefted a large brown bag over his shoulder as he made his way over to the tree. With a small sigh he began to pull a few boxes out of the bag. "let's see... this one... Hmm... Widget..." He shook the brown box a little before looking at one of the sides, "...Handle... With care... Oops! I hope that doesn't hurt anything..." He mumbles with a sheepish frown before placing the box gingerly below the tree. He pulled out another box, this one seemed to be blue in the low light, "Hmm... For Mick AND Emma? Eh... I'm sure they won't complain... although I shouldn't shake too many of the packages." With a steady hand he slides the box in with the others, going on with his list; the three stooges... which managed to get a chuckle out of him, Cousin Vinny, Margaret and Nathaniel. "Huh... Well... It might not be a big package... but I think they'll like it." He beams a little before placing the rest of the packages under the tree. He paused as he got to the last one. "...Volt? wait... isn't he supposed to be with John?" "I was... but then I got on the wrong train..." At the sudden interruption the figure gave out a somewhat loud squawk as he flinched a little. He peeked an eye open to see the Joltik on the nearby table with a plate of cookies and a couple glasses of milk, the smaller one obviously being for the tiny bug. "Uh... Oh... Okay... A-aren't you supposed to be asleep?" "I was... until a Delibird came crashing down the chimney..." Volt stated bluntly, causing the Delibird to wince a little. "Anyway... who are you?" Since he knew that the jig was up, the Delibird let out a small sigh and shrugged. "I'm Santa." Volt tilted his head and gave him a deadpan look. "...Really?" "Well... Not the Santa from Human tales... but... well... My trainer named me Santa because he thought it fit with my personality... And sorry about waking you up, this is quite literally my second year doing this... so... I'm a little rusty from not having to deliver the rest of the year. I'm working on getting a postal job locally though." "I see... Do you want a cookie? For being sugar free they're actually really good." "I don't see why not... I could certainly use a break, the past four hours I've been up and down chimneys, only one of which I refused to go down because I could tell it was still lit." Santa replied as he walked over to pick up a cookie. Volt nodded a bit sagely. "I know the feeling... You have no idea how tiring it is riding on John's shoulder, especially when he is so focused on his assignments, He's so boring sometimes..." As Santa finished up the cookie he had been offered he pat his belly and stretched a little. "Well... Don't worry then, at least you will have something to open up on Hearth's Warming day. I've just got a few more houses to go before I'm done." Volt nodded with a smile as he watched the Delibird shuffle his way back up the chimney with a grunt. As he heard the clatter on the roof die away Volt smiled as his eyes started to droop. "so... telling John... I saw Santa." He snickered a little before yawning and curling up on the table. "Just... Need... To nap..." He let out another long yawn before closing his eyes and letting his mind drift off to dreamland. Meanwhile... In the strangest crossover yet. Volt looked around in confusion as the world seemed to be made of more pastels than Equestria, all around him there seemed to be teeming natural life. It actually began to make him feel... happy... Calm almost... Then it happened... The denizens of dreamland began to flee in terror from something behind him, his body was screaming not to turn around, just to run, run the same way that the rest were... But he had to find out... He had to... Slowly he began to turn, his vision filled with pink the same shade as Pinkie Pie, and he was greeted by the most terrifying line ever. "HIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!" Volt jumped awake in a cold sweat as the nightmare seemed to fade, reducing itself to little more than a whisper and a mention of the color pink. He quickly looked around and noticed that almost everyone had gathered in the living room, with Mick happily nuzzling Emma's cheek to try and keep her awake. Emma grumbled a little, but stayed awake as Nathaniel started passing the gifts out. Volt looked on at his gift in interest as he began to tear the paper away. As he opened the box he felt the fabric inside, stunned at the amazing feeling of the fabric, wincing a little as light reflected off of golden plates. "It's... Armor..." he says quietly as he brings up the gift, Vinny smiled as he helped the little electric pokemon into the outfit. The plates clinked together a little as he shifted his position. "You could be a knight of the Crystal Empire." Emma observed with a chuckle. "I think it's adorable..." "I am not adorable! I am terrifying!" Volt squeaks as he brandished Excalibur and made off into the kitchen Richard and Derek got a matching pair of sweaters, while Widget and Gleaming gem got a sapphire and ruby dragon statuette each. Everyone gathered was genuinely happy as they opened their gifts, Jessica even got a card signed by several of her previous employees, eager to find her again and get back to having an amazing boss. Emma stayed out in the living room as Mick and Jessica went to the kitchen to begin breakfast, chuckling and joking around with each other as they got ingredients out to feed everyone. "So Jessica... I hear so many amazing things about where you used to manage, I certainly hope that I don't have to ever knock on your door for the wrong reasons..." The lopunny gave him a seductive glance as she put a bit more swing in her hips. "You know me babe... I keep my employees safe... it'll be more like me knocking on your door because I don't want to kill someone." While he did follow her swing, he kept a safe distance as he set to work making scrambled eggs. "Yeah... If what I heard from Richard is right... Although... I have a hard time believing those two met at your establishment..." "Well... they technically didn't." Jessica replied as she began mixing the batter for pancakes. "They met pretty close to Goldenrod... although it was still on my property line." "Oh, that explains a bit then." "Yeah... I refused to let Richard participate in the activities of the bordello... but while he was out exploring Ilex forest he met Derek. Poor boy was so hurt when he was brought back that I just had to take care of him. By the time he got better I was about to take him to Goldenrod to find his parents." "What happened?" Mick asked as he slowed his whisk down a little. "What happened was that he had been kidnapped by some team rocket remnants... but the agent got caught without the boy so they thought the Team Rocket guy had an accomplice, somehow their minds went to me and I was just about to walk out my door when the police arrived." Jessica looked at her reflection in the mixing bowl for a few seconds before going back to getting the pancakes ready. "the short version is I was able to get everything straightened out after a while and the girls even kept everything up and working while I was away." "You really must've been an amazing boss if they kept everything running while you were away." "...They really were..." Jessica replied quietly, smiling as a few tears dripped down her cheeks. "...I've just been missing them after so long. I can't wait to get my Bordello open again, although I'm thinking about renaming it... something a bit fancier sounding. Maybe 'The Courtesan' would be a good choice." "I'll send a note Abby's way... to see if she doesn't mind allocating a ranger or two to help out when you get it up and running." "I hope she allows it, I really could benefit from having a ranger on staff." The rest of the day was mostly uneventful; The Stooges played an elaborate game of hide and seek with Volt, Mick and Emma retired early to their room so that Emma could rest and hug her Typhlosion mate until he gave in and decided to nap with her, Derek and Richard were quietly sitting in the living room, reading a book together as the day was dimming. Soon enough it was time to sleep again, another day gone by, another night passing. Fortunately for Volt the dream about the strange pink creature did not return, but neither did the dreams of conquering the world. He simply dreamed of his team's relief when he returned safe and sound. ...tomorrow would be the day he saw the relief on John's face. The train wheels clicked on the track as the snowy terrain of the Crystal Empire came into view. With this final stretch, Volt was back home.