The holiday season meant different things to different people. For many it was a time to go home and visit the family they hadn’t seen for many months. For others still it was a time to renew spiritual relationships as well as physical ones. Some saw it as a means of getting that new game system they’d hoped for from their parents without having to pay anything themselves. A number of people around the world used it as an excuse to spread even more cheer among those around them in hopes of lifting at least one or two spirits, and hopefully more.

The Sweet Kiss Candy Shoppe, known for being one of the finest if not the best local candy store in Viridian City, loved this time of year. Mr. and Mrs. Horton, the round and fluffy proprietors, would decorate the store as early as they were allowed to get away with it. To their children’s chagrin it’d sometimes be right after Thanksgiving dinner when they’d be drug out to help even though they wanted to just nap. The Horton parents would hear none of it, though, and brought out their kids to start the holiday season right; and to be ready the next day to bring as much holiday cheer as possible. Part of the process involved the Hortons going to places that wouldn’t normally be able to indulge in sweet treats due to their situation and helping out their fellow ‘mon.

“Never realized there were so many soup kitchens in Viridian,” along for the ride for the first time was young Arthur “Art” Horton’s girlfriend Tamara Tellamapolou. The Poliwhirl lass had been working for the Hortons at their candy store for a while now to earn some extra pocket money as well as an excuse to hang out with her beau more. Art certainly hadn’t complained given the number of flour hand pats on her backside she’d leave work with.

“We try to hit as many as we can every year,” Mr. Horton told her as they drove through the city. The cheerful Skitty with the funny, bushy mustache looked over his shoulder as he pulled in backwards to a parking space, “We don’t get to do this often, but it’s always good to see the smiling faces of the kids…it’s worth it,” The car came to a halt as Tam and Art made their way out and around to the back of the van. Art reached out to open it as Mr. Horton came around and started to hand the pair boxes to bring inside. The two young ‘mon pressed their way in through the front door and stopped for a moment as they waited for the elder ‘mon to catch up. They both looked around and took in the sights as they saw other’s milling about as if waiting for something as a few of the people around them looked particularly happy and all of them looked rather ragged. The two had seen people in situations like this before, but it hit them a little harder seeing it up close like this. Tamara looked around a little nervously as she wasn’t sure what she should do until her escort came in. A wee little Cleffa girl caught her attention before to long and the Poli looked down at the much younger ‘mon.

“Do you got candy?” the little girl pointed to the box that she held in her hands. Tam blushed a bit and nodded.

“We’re bringing some for all kids here,” the Poli told her and the Cleffa’s face lit up before the girl gave out an almost ear piercing squeal as Art reached out to hold a lollipop to her. The Cleffa grabbed the candy then gave the Lucario’s leg a tight hug.

“Tanks, mister!” she ran off back to someone as she ripped the wrapper off the piece of sucker. The two kids looked between each other and couldn’t help but smile at the little ones enthusiasm.

“That’s why we do this every year,” Mr. Horton said as he came up behind the two. Tam and Art glanced up towards him before they looked back towards those that were truly in need. The three didn’t spend much time at the shelter because their schedule had them doing other deliveries so they dropped off the boxes, were thanked by the director that was on duty and headed out the door to climb back into the company van; which was painted up to look like a bright, pink candy cane. The two younger ‘mon fell silent as they drove through the streets of Viridian, their attention drawn to the bright lights of the city that was trying to celebrate a holiday season. Mr. Horton knew what Tamara at least was thinking about and looked over his shoulder for a moment.

“So Tamara, what does your family do for Christmas? Anything special?” He asked, which snapped her out of her thoughts.

“Hmm? Oh! Uhh, kinda,” she answered, “my family usually spends Christmas day pretty quietly at home but the Poli’s from the Islands in the city usually get together for a big bash every year about a week before,”

“Christmas a big deal back on the Islands then?” the Skitty took a turn as they headed down the snowy street carefully.

“It depends?” Tam shrugged, “Wasn’t anything that was really celebrated until more contact with the rest of the world was really done or something like that. Some tribes, like mine, celebrate it since so many have come over. But the Fiafiaga Paia tribe holds to older traditions so they don’t really celebrate it,”

“…older traditions?” Art asked as he looked over towards his girl. The two held hands between each other as they drove through the streets.

“The Fiafiaga Paia were the traditional witch doctors of the tribes and spiritual leaders,” she explained further, “They still do a lot of the old stuff,”

“Wait, witch doctors?” Art did a double take and moved the lollipop in his mouth from side to side, “Like…actual potions and curses and stuff?”

“Yeah, like that,” Tam nodded.

“Do they actually work?” Mr. Horton asked. Tam shrugged her shoulders and glanced out the window at all the lights and passing people once again.

“Depends I guess. I’ve never really seen ‘em in action,” she admitted. Art gave his girlfriend a look for a moment before he shrugged his shoulders and looked forward out the van. He reached up past his father to change the CD in the stereo to something a little more rockin’.

“What about your tribe then?” Mr. Horton asked.

“What about us?”

“What did they do for the tribes if the…if the other one you mentioned were the spiritual leaders,” the Skitty didn’t even bother to try and pronounce the name she’d thrown out at them.

“Oh! Uhh, we’re the Galu Fitafita, roughly translates into the wave warriors,” she explained, “Basically we were the primary soldiers and in a lot of cases leaders of the tribes. Each one had their own leadership stuff but when it came to dealing with outside species usually it’d be my ancestors who talked to them and stuff,”

“That make you a princess?” Art teased her a bit. Tam smirked and gave his hand as squeeze.

“Technically,” she answered, “But it’s not anything really that big. My grandpa’s kinda important but a lot of it is ceremonial. He’s done a lot to help the tribes back home with money coming in and promotion, so he’s called a High Chief, though it doesn’t really have any real power with it,” Art eyed her and wondered if the princess thing was true or not, but shrugged his shoulders since it really didn’t matter.

“Should I start being more careful around your highness?” Mr. Horton asked with a laugh as he joked with her. Tam just giggled in response and shook her head.

“Not while you’re still my boss at work, Mr. Horton,” she answered with a giggle. The Skitty just laughed and pulled into their next stop. The three piled out to make another delivery as they chatted and spent rest of the day having fun as they did so. Tamara felt good going with the Hortons to do the good deeds they were and she enjoyed spending time with Art’s family almost as much as she enjoyed spending time with him. It made her feel good to be in a relationship that she didn’t feel any pressure on, and one where her beau wasn’t out for only one thing, he just honestly cared for her.



As low key as the Hortons could be with their time, and as much as Tamara had claimed that her family was quiet on Christmas day, when it came to a large gathering of Polis from the Orange Islands all bets were off. Art stood off to one side and watched as the mass of water types danced and cheered and greeted one another with a great deal of enthusiasm. Even he’d been subjected to several hugs from various aunts and older cousins that he’d never known Tamara had. She admitted that she wasn’t actually related to most of them but it didn’t stop the large clannish ‘mon from claiming each other as family and having massive extended amounts of aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews. It all seemed a bit overwhelming to the guy who’d never experienced anything like it before.

“You doing okay, Art?” Vincent Tellamapolou, Tamara’s brother, came up to the younger Lucario to check up on him.

“Yeah, just taking a moment to catch my breath, Vince,” Art admitted as he leaned against the wall to help support him. Vince chuckled and gently patted him on the shoulder.

“You gotta pace yourself at these things,” He answered. Art grinned a bit at the answer and move the lollipop in his mouth from one side to the other.

“Your girl around here anywhere, big guy?” he asked the large Poli who took a spot against the wall with him.

“Yeah, she’s in the middle of the crowd getting talked to,” Vince answered, “She’s been to one or two of these before so they’re familiar with her,”

“She handle them all right then?” Art had to feel some sort of kinship for Vince’s girl. The Poli just laughed in response and shook his head.

“No better than anyone else that isn’t used to it really,” He answered the other, “She does her best though,” Art nodded his head and wondered for a moment if he should go ahead and try to find Tam to make sure she was okay. His thoughts were cut off when the girl in question suddenly walked up to him with a devilish grin.

“What’s up, babe?” the Lucario asked as he noticed her huge smile.

“One of my cousins doesn’t believe that we could out-wrestle any two of ‘em right here right now,” she told him. Art knew his girl well enough to know that she was one to relish a challenge and never back down from one.

“Oh yeah?” He pushed off the wall and towards her, “So we gonna show them what we can do together?” Tam grabbed his hand in answer and started to drag him off towards where some of the younger ‘mon had set up a little ring in order to test each other out. Art didn’t resist and took in a view of her tush as they scurried off. Vince just laughed as they moved on to put some of his younger cousins in place.

“What’s up with them?” Edna “Eddie” Nochtmon asked as she watched the two ‘mon her own age head over as quickly as they could. Vince just smiled and wrapped an arm around gently.

“They’re going off to have some fun,” Vince answered, though he left the details out to leave her wondering to tease some and instead turned and smiled fully towards his girlfriend.

“How’re you doing with my extended family poking and proddin’ atcha?” He hid the laugh in his voice best he could so he didn’t get her too upset with him. She just smirked at him and hit his arm lightly in response. Vince couldn’t hold it in anymore and busted up laughing before he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in for a tight hug. Eddie mrrfed but returned the hug best she could from the slightly awkward angle.

“It’s definitely a lot different coming to things like this than it is just hanging out with your folks,” Eddie admitted as she turned around and rested herself against Vince. The large Poli wrapped his arms around her almost protectively.

“Shame your dad couldn’t make it here to hang out with us too,” Vince mentioned. Eddie just smirked and shrugged her shoulders.

“He was kinda disappointed too,” she said, “especially considering what happened the last time he hung out with a bunch of Polis,” Vince just laughed in response and remembered how his actual aunt had…taken care of Eddie’s dad when they visited the islands last.

“So what did you guys do for Christmas?” Vince finally asked as they watched a number of the younger males go through a traditional test of dance…which usually involved slapping each other and themselves. Eddie just shook her head as she thought she’d never get used to all the traditions Vince’s people seemed to have.

“Usually?” she shrugged, “We’d go out for Chinese and then watch a movie or two at the theatre,” Vince blinked at the answer and looked down.

“Really? That’s it?” He asked, almost not believing her. She nodded her head as she continued to watch the show.

“Well it was just the two of us really,” she explained, “his family was usually far enough away it wasn’t worth visiting and my mom’s family…well, I don’t really know anything about them to be honest. So yeah, we never really made a big deal about it,”

“That just seems so weird,” Vince commented before he let her go and took her hand to lead her off to somewhere a little less chaotic. She blinked in surprise but went along with him.

“Why’s it so weird?” she asked him before the settled into a couple chairs that were still in the room that the Polis had rented out for their shindig but were far enough away they wouldn’t have to worry about people coming up to them.

“Dunno,” He shrugged, “Just used to have a tradition Christmas I guess, so it kinda strikes me as weird sometimes when I see people do other things,”

“Not everyone does the whole traditional tree and family Christmas thing, Vince,” Eddie pointed out and felt a little defensive. She knew he wasn’t attacking her for what she did, but she still felt she needed to defend herself and her father.

“I know, I know,” He quickly answered, “I was just saying…” He shut up before he dug himself any more of a hole. Eddie sighed and felt a little guilty for getting protective of her old holiday ritual. Vince and Eddie sat there for several moments as no words passed between them. Eventually Vince looked over with a sigh and started to apologize.

“Look, Eddie…I’m sorry…”He started out. Eddie reached out with a small hand to cover his mouth and stop him from saying anything.

“Its okay, Vince. I know you didn’t mean anything by it,” She assured him, “It’s just...it was our thing you know? It’s hard sometimes to think we don’t really do that anymore after we’d been doing it for so many years,”

“Do you want to do that this year?” He asked her, “Not worry to much about coming over to hang out with us then?” She thought about it for a moment, honestly considered it for a long moment if she would rather spend time with her dad this once than with Vince.

“Would you mind horribly?” she asked, still unsure of her decision, but it was the one that came to her. Vince smiled as he took her hand and gave it a kiss.

“We see each other quite a bit. If you want to spend time with your dad and do your old thing go ahead,” He assured her, “We can hang out the day after or so,” She looked up at him and felt a few twinges of guilt before she smiled and pulled herself up enough to wrap her arms around his neck to give him a tight hug.

“Thanks for understanding, Vince,” she quietly said to him, “It means a lot to me,” Vince chuckled and patted her back gently.

“No worries, babe,” He leaned in to give her a kiss which she glad returned. The tender moment didn’t last long before one of Vince’s many aunts came over to them and grabbed them each by the arm to drag them back into the festivities. Neither could really argue and soon they were in the middle of all the action as the party really started to ramp up. It was an interesting start to the holiday season, but it was an enjoyable one too.

Lovely story! ^w^

Glad you liked it!