It's the most wine-derful time of the year | Part 2
A quiet rumble of commotion bubbled beneath the excitement of the festival. In and around the feet of the benches, a certain quartet led a massive pokemon filled game of tag. From Togepi to Cinccino to Parcharisu, a whole host of baby pokemon enjoyed Milla's game of chase while their trainers could only bashfully apologise for the mess.
Well...it wasn't quite a quartet that led the charge. Lesca watched with a scowl from atop her seat on the bench as pokemon from Sentret to Nickit ran beneath her temporary throne. Some of their mud laden tails even had the nerve to rub against her seat, sending a chill of fear down her equivalent to a spine. They'd have to kill her before she got anywhere near that cesspool of snow drenched dirt and sludgy brown snow. Disgusting.
While Milla had managed to drag Soma the shy Cottonee and Prim the overly curious Swablu into the game, the little Pichu found herself routinely checking to make sure her newest friend was keeping up. Surely enough, the conceited little Bounsweet refused to play ball.
Milla tried tugging at her, but the Bounsweet kicked her off with absolute refusal. An absolute refusal that was felt by even her standing leg, causing her to topple off the bench with the Pichu and splat face first into the mud.
Milla jumped to her feet, absolute horror on her face as she checked to see if the grass type was okay. She poked her with a finger. Nothing. A shrill of terror ran through her. Had she? She looked up to Pia, then Ruben. The two seemed to have found a topic they liked because they were so lost in conversation they'd barely noticed the commotion.
*sniffle*
Milla glanced down. She was okay! Quickly, the Pichu helped the little Bounsweet to her feet before being batted away.
"Swee! Bounswee!" The
formerly pink pokemon cursed and cursed, holding back the tears in her eyes as Milla could only hold her hands up in apology. Then...Lesca stopped. Milla let a smile grow on her face as it seemed the Bounsweet was finally over it but she just continued to look into Milla's eyes, so deep she might have seen her reflection. She was covered in brown.
A shrill shriek shook even the tallest trees in the forest.
With the chaos resolved, the pokemon cleaned and relegated to sitting in the trainer's laps, Ruben and Pia sat back down with a fresh glass of gluhwein. Pia felt the warm, cinnamon liquid going down her throat. It warmed her almost immediately. Such was the power of this wine. It made you feel warm and fuzzy. Hoping to share this warmth with her date partner, she glanced over to Ruben with hope sparkling in her eyes, except that… he had no glühwein?
"You're not going to drink any?" Pia asked him surprised and maybe a little bit disappointed as well.
"No, sorry, I don't drink. I mean, if it were summer I'd try some but, I've got to keep the body in peak performance for the season." Ruben shrugged, easing himself away from the glass of mulled wine.
Pia pouted. "Maybe just a sip then? A sip can't hurt, right?" She persisted, holding out her cup towards him with an eager smile to have him at least try it. It was her favourite winter drink other than hot chocolate, she wanted to at least share the taste with him.
Ruben could only offer a weak smile in response. Disappointing the girl wasn't exactly at the top of his wishlist and with her ramping the 'cutesiness' up to eleven, she wasn't making it any easier. He pressed his injured ankle into the ground, using the pain as a reminder for why he had to say no.
"Just one sip, I won't bother you with it any more than that, promise." Pia held up her hand against her heart and shook the cup a tiny bit towards him again. Her smile was a bit mischievous but it only added to her charm.
Backing up until he was practically hanging off the chair, Ruben straightened himself and relented, accepting the glass. It wasn't like one sip would do any real damage...but on principle. Offering the girl another weak smile, he took a sip from her glass. He winced at first, expecting to be hit by the familiar pang of alcohol but instead he found himself whetting his tongue to combat the sweetness.
"Yeah, it's nice." He said, half surprised. The cinnamon was starting to get to him though as he scrunched his face, his frown telling of his disapproval for the aftertaste. "Dunno how you drink something so sweet though." He chuckled.
Pia chuckled too. It was clear to see to her that he didn't like it but at least he had tried it. "I'm sorry I made you drink it. I wanted to have you at least try it." She took another sip and let out a satisfied
"ahhh~". With her cheeks slowly turning more rosy, perhaps she was drinking this a little too fast for someone who hadn't eaten much since the day before.
Ruben furrowed his brows as he noticed the girl's cheeks flush.
"No, no I didn't mean…" He began before realising her eyes were glazed over. She was even swaying a little. He could barely taste any alcohol in that thing. Was she really getting drunk already?
Ruben's train of thought was taken by symphony of flutes and fiddles. Swanna soared from basins and a young boy walked out into the middle of the festival. He stood tall, his hat and shoes ragged and his face smudged with dirt.
"Hello, I'm little Tim!" The boy announced to an audible 'awww' from the audience. Lost for words, Ruben could only smile and shrug at Pia as they both tried to make sense of the sudden performance. Little Tim gave a bow as festive sparkles fell around him courtesy of the swift attack of a Shinx that sat and wiggled its tail from behind one of the stalls. "All I want this year, is to spread joy and holiday cheer." The young man stepped forward, giving out small gifts to the kids in the front. Hats, shoes and scarves far nicer than the ones on his very own person. The generosity elicited a round of applause from his spectators. "High and low I give, those who eat buffets for lunch and those who seek refuge. There is one to whom no one ever gives. Today I give the gift of gift, to none other than Mr.Scrooge."
Soaking the last drops of approval from the audience, the boy began to march through the market. With each step another rhyme about seasons greetings and all that is good. His 'festive spirit' was enough to fend off all planted 'thieves' who jumped out of the audience. A quick package of socks was apparently enough to quell the malicious lust of a man so desperate he'd steal from a child. Ruben found himself rolling his eyes, while the tipsy Pia was a little more charmed by the whole ordeal. Little Tim batted all that stood in his way with simple kindness, until he ran into a duo of pokemon; Impidimp and Galarian Zigzagoon. "You won't stop my yuletide bearing!" He announced, the theatrics carrying across a completely invested crowd at this point. "I dare not embark on christmas alone, for it's a time for sharing!"
Silence.
"For sharing!" He announced again, holding expectantly but again...silence.
"Pssst, psst." One of the organisers called out to Ruben and Pia, a lanyard swinging authoritatively from their neck. "You guys are pokemon trainers, right? I saw you at the grand ceremony."
Pia glanced over with her glazy eyes towards the woman calling out to them. It took her a while to take it in and she turned her tipsy gaze towards Ruben first before meeting the lady's expectant eyes again. Then back to Ruben once again and nudged him softly. "I think she wants us to go meet the boy." She whispered to him holding a hand next to her mouth.
"He's an actor." Ruben scoffed, dismissing Pia's notion. The woman persisted though.
"Listen, we need someone to battle for Little Tim. Our actors haven't showed up. Can you help?"
"For sharing!" Little Tim called out again in the background. Ruben looked to Pia. In her drunken state, the girl was practically pleading for him to say yes. With a sigh, he laboured himself to his feet. Pia quickly followed but almost stumbled over her own two feet, quite unlike her. Feeling more than a little embarrassed she tucked on Ruben's arms with her head held down but her emerald eyes still staring at him. The sight was almost cute if the cause of it wasn't alcohol.
"I… I think I might be a bit tipsy… are we sure this is a good idea?"
"It's just one battle," he shrugged, knowing this was in fact
not a good idea but not finding it within himself to disappoint Pia, especially in the state she was in. The girl had seemed so sharp and quick witted up until now. It was endearing to see this side of her. "I'll take the lead, don't worry about it." He sighed, almost pitying the girl.
To the surprise of Little Tim, Pia and Ruben stepped into the middle of his performance. He raised a brow, only one relaxing as Ruben said the next line.
"A time of year for family!" After he said it, he nudged Pia.
"A time of year for friends!" The girl added with a tiny inaudible hiccup and a giggle.
"A time of year for showing those that matter, that your love never ends!" With Little Tim completing the line, the two trainers sent their pokemon forth. Ruben summoning Lesca and Pia summoning Prim, both of whom had been adorned with little tinsel hats courtesy of the producer. With that, the battle immediately started with Pia yelling out her command.
"Candy Floss? Candy Floss, Use fury attack!" Pia commanded, hesitating as she read 'your pokemon is called Candy Floss' from the cue card held up by the woman behind the market stall. Ruben couldn't help but chuckle at the girl's confusion. This was a side of her he was yet to see.
The topical nickname earned a laugh from the crowd. Prim looked back at her trainer. The Swablu was about as confused as Pia was, but followed the order, trying to jab at the Zigzagoon. The dark-type Pokémon should've been an easy target for the bird Pokémon but it proved to be quite agile and dodged the Fury Attack.
"Go in for a peck!" Pia called out again, having a bit of a struggle to stay right on her feet, the excitement of a battle could be read from her face though and the bird Pokémon complied. With a peck Prim ended the battle quickly.
"Baubles, protect our holiday spirit with Magical Leaf!" Ruben called out to Lesca, surprising himself with how much he was able to commit to the role. Lesca followed the command with little hesitation, making a show of dancing through the floating petals before sending them individually just to add insult to the Impidimp's eventual demise.
With the seasonal gremlins defeated, Little Tim marched on and Ruben and Pia followed, the girl stumbling forward a little but being caught by the boy that walked alongside her. Even the accident earned an "awww" from the crowd. Every few steps, Little Tim stopped to bestow more gifts on the kids in the front. As Ruben steadied Pia on her feet though, he took the opportunity to peak down the front of her shirt, peering past the necklace that dangled around her neck with a nod of approval. Little Tim stopped to speak again.
"But for some, the season was never about giving," Little Tim sighed as he turned to face Ruben and Pia, "some give only to receive instead." The two trainers looked at each other. Uncertainty turned to worry as Little Tim's performanced sucked even them in and they had no way of knowing what was to come. "Even those who spread the joy, can be easily misled."
Ruben gulped. He'd been assigned to turn on Pia and Little Tim and the cue cards were telling him to do just that. He looked at the drunken girl, a glint of guilt in his eyes before he shrugged her off of his arm and snatched the box of gifts from Little Tim. He aligned himself to face them. He mouthed the words 'battle. You got this' to Pia as Lesca proudly shuffled out in front of him.
"Battle?" Pia repeated to herself quietly, then realised what this was all about. Time to put some of her acting in place. "I can't believe this!" She called out, showing pain on her face just according to what she'd learned in her acting lessons. As she pretended to be hurt by Ruben's "betrayal", Prim or… er… Candy Floss got into fighting position as well to "protect" both her trainer and Little Tim from the apparent evil.
"I-It can't be helped… Candy Floss use Peck!" The swably leaped in towards Lesca to hit her with a beak jab. Coming from above she almost seemed like a fearow about to eat a Caterpie for lunch.
Ruben found himself getting sucked into Pia's performance, only snapping out of it and shrugging off his guilt once the girl announced her attack. It was too late though. The crowd cheered as Lesca was knocked back. Then jeered as the little pink pokemon responded by shaking her hiney at them, which admittedly discouraged Ruben.
"Baubles, use Razor Leaf!" He commanded, his performance muting in response to the hostility from the crowd. Prim nearly got hit by the incoming storm of leaves but was just barely able to dodge them. Pia, although still a bit drunk, enjoyed the cheering for her performance and shot the boy in front of her a wink. Ruben feigned a smile back at her but internally grit his teeth. The script said he was supposed to lose, but he had no plans of getting blown away. "Follow up with Tackle!" He ordered before Pia intercepted with her next command.
"Sing the Bounsweet to sleep!" She cheered, almost stumbling over in the process. Prim immediately sang a song so beautiful that it would put jigglypuff's, whose signature move is Sing, to shame. It worked on Lesca as her eyes were slowly starting to close.
"Finish it with Disarming voice!"
In a span of 0.5 seconds, the beautiful singing voice of Prim that felt like the spring breeze blowing on your face changed into a deafening scream, so terrible that even the people watching held their hands on their ears.
"Lesc-Baubles!" Ruben called out, leaking just enough desperation to earn some narritively unwanted sympathy from the crowd. Still though, to the children he was the villain and Ruben was exiled to the sidelines and Pia and little Tim received their round of applause.
The two continued on, stopping as the prop of an old house was raised in front of them.
"The home of Mr Scrooge," Little Tim began, shaking his nearly empty box. "A gift to me to gift to him. The last gift that sits in this box, a gift from Scrooge to Tim."
From nowhere a shroud of darkness fell over the market. The lights dimmed and a pair of red glaring eyes appeared in front of the house. Immediately Pia's tipsiness wore off and alertness took its place instead. This was an all too familiar scene to her. Had this always been part of "a Christmas Carol"?
Ruben looked to little Tim, who was far too confused for this to be part of the performance. This must've been some sort of pokemon. Discreetly, he snuck a pokedex from his bag.
Misdreavus
The Screech Pokemon
What makes it happy is imitating the voices of weeping people and scaring everyone. It doesn't deal well with folks who aren't easily frightened.
Slowly, the pokemon emerged from the cardboard, a giant grin plastered on its face. Pia took a few steps back with widened eyes. What had been such a good day so far was now overshadowed by her intense fear for ghost Pokémon. Such could be read on her face as well which was now as pale as the winter snow. Prim seemed in quite a panic as well. Misdreavus came only closer, feeding on the fear that Pia was radiating.
There was a hesitation about the crowd. The majority of them still unsure how they were supposed to feel. Ruben read the pokedex entry again. It's happiest when scaring people? The massive grin smacked across its face as it leaned toward the girl told him all he needed to know. Ruben leapt forward, tossing Lesca's pokeball. The little grass type had taken significant damage from her battle with Prim, so Ruben counted himself fortunate he withdrew his starter before she was knocked out.
Ruben climbed on stage and stood next to Pia, taking her hand. He really looked at the girl, holding her gaze for a moment before giving her a nod of solidarity. The pained expression the girl had turned into one of relief as they faced the Misdreavus together.
"Lesca, use Magical Leaf!"
The leaves lesca shot dissipated into flame as they phased through the spectral being. It cackled, rushing toward Pia. Prim got in front of her trainer to attack it with a fury attack in an attempt to protect her but Misdreavus phased through the Swablu and through her trainer as well. Pia's face once again turned into that of someone who had seen a horror movie, which was quite accurate with the current situation but it was nonetheless just as scary for the girl with a fear for ghost Pokémon. She couldn't get even a squeak out of her mouth but as soon as she realised nothing really had happened to her, she noticed something else and grasped for her neck.
"M-My necklace!! It has my mother's necklace?!" Pia turned around to face the creature, all it did was laugh at her. It was certainly enjoying this.
Once it was certain it had the frightened girl's attention, the mischievous pokemon tucked tail and fled toward the forest.
"You stay here. I'm gonna go get it back." Without hesitation, Ruben began the chase, barely giving the girl a moment to protest. In seconds, Ruben found himself out of the sight of the crowd and in the depth of trees that spelled the edge of route 3.
He could barely make out the fluttering lower half of the pokemon among the snow it opted to knock from the trees but Ruben continued to chase. As the ghost type dangled the necklace just within his reach, Ruben leapt forward, just missing the pendant that hung below.
A sharp pain shot through his entire foot as he landed.
That ****ing ankle. Again. He immediately fell to one knee and clutched onto it, his body shuddering. His breaths were shaky. He eased himself to rest against a tree. Misdreavus was out of sight by now with no chance of the one legged Ruben catching up. The pain was too fierce for him to even realise that. Instead, he curled up, one hand over his face and the other pulling the ankle in close.
"Ruben?!" A voice from a distance called out to him, a very familiar voice in fact. The injured boy tried to straighten himself up and put on a brave face.
"****…" was all that Ruben could muster as he slid down the tree and lay his back on the floor. His intention was to muster some form of bravado but the searing pain was enough to settle his macho sensibilities. It was too late. Pia came over running. She had tried to catch up to him the moment he ran off but it appeared to be very hard to catch up to football players… Still she was able to see the whole thing judging from the worried look she had on her face.
"Are you alright?" She immediately crouched down next to him. "Why did they take off the cast if it still hurts?" She was quick to open her bag and take out a cloth to gather the snow in. She created an ice-pack with it and held it against his hurting ankle. Ruben took a breath. The cold of the impromptu ice pack was enough to help him recapture his faculties.
"I'm fine! I'm fine!" Ruben exclaimed through gritted teeth, climbing to his feet using just about every limb but the injured left ankle. "The checks were done, my physio cleared me...and it didn't even take much of a bribe." He tried to joke, but the pain levelled him and his forced humour. "I'll be back on my feet in a second." He dragged his fingers through his hair as though he could drag the stresses of the pain out. "Let's just find your necklace."
"I want that back yes but that's the least of my worries right now." She sighed a bit annoyed. Here he was in pain and worrying about her necklace instead of the cause of this pain. It was sweet but this failed heroism got them to lose the Misdreavus. Something about what he said also didn't sound like the truth. "Sit down, I can clearly see you're not okay." She pulled him back down to the ground. "Have you been pretending you were fine to that Physio too? You know they're there to help you, right?"
"'If the ankle, beyond reasonable doubt, has mobility and doesn't cause significant discomfort, the player can be cleared to play'." Ruben recited, even adding a few buzzwords in there to make it seem a real quote. Making another attempt to climb to his feet he continued to ramble. "Besides you said it's your mum's necklace, there's no way a little ankle bump's worth more than that to you. If anything it's-"
Pia pressed on a spot on his ankle that she had seen was swollen, interrupting Ruben as he spoke because of another joint of pain. "Want to say anything more?" She said with a raised eyebrow.
Any smart remark or bogus explanation Ruben may have had left in the tank was snapped out of him as the shooting pain forced him back to the ground. A pained, but stifled, grimace and shake of the head were enough to tell Pia her point was made. As much as it frustrated him, Ruben had to helplessly sit and watch the girl tend to his ankle. His butt was cold and wet on the snow. He was pretty sure her knees were too. He took his bag off his back and pulled out a picnic basket which dragged just about everything from the bag too. Most noticeably, the candles and selection of picnic foods.
"Here," he sighed as he handed her the blanket avoiding eye contact at all costs, "and thanks."
Pia took the blanket and laid it down in a way that both her and Ruben could sit on it so they wouldn't get any more cold and wet than they already were. She had already imposed on his pride and she was well aware of that. She still couldn't help but chuckle when she saw all the other items that used to be in his bag now scattered upon the ground. "Mind to tell me what that was about?" She teased him while she was bandaging his ankle up in a way that would support his ankle while
walking. With a smirk on her face she tried to have him look back at her.
Rather than answer straight away, Ruben let the silence sit for a moment. He was still focusing on enduring as much of the pain as possible but an answer came to him. With a smirk he spoke.
"I told you, I tried a thing and it didn't work out." He gestured toward the candles that were in amongst the mess, then to the burns on his coat. "You're pretty good at sussing...well Tauros ****. A picnic's a pretty open date, gives nothing away, y'know? Just the two of you, the sky and whatever people or pokemon are passing by." He admitted, taking a breath before he continued. "I guess...well I did. I wanted to find out if you thought I was full of it." With that, he finally relaxed, setting his hands behind his head and leaning against the tree with that huge weight off of his shoulders.
Another silence fell but Ruben found no discomfort in this one. It was a rather comfortable silence where even Pia had no idea what to say on that, a rare sight and quite a funny one at that seeing how she was just frozen in place with a blush spreading on her previously cold cheeks. Suddenly she bursted out laughing.
"Sorry, sorry! It's just, you're so sweet and so direct. I like that." She picked a tear away from her eyes and settled down. Ruben could only wince as the girl laughed, another battering to his already bruised ego. He patted around his person, looking for any sort of a distraction. Only then did he remember Lesca had gone on ahead in search of the missing necklace. Honestly he'd almost forgotten about the necklace altogether.
"With the… situation back at the festival too. I'm terribly afraid of ghost Pokémon, you see… Something happened when I was younger and..." Pia finished up bandaging Ruben's ankle as she kept on rambling her embarrassment away and helped him get his shoe back on. "I appreciated what you did back then. Thank you." With the most radiant smile she could give him, she smiled at him.
"I uhh…" Ruben began but truly found himself lost for words.
"Swweee~" The high pitched squeal of the little Bounsweet cut through the moment. There she was atop Pia's Swablu, necklace around her body. The duo landed in front of their trainers, with Lesca taking centre stage and presenting the jewellry like it was a gift she was bestowing unto them. "Swwee, Bounswee." She huffed, turning her nose up as if to say 'no big deal'.
Pia was quite surprised at the sight but her warm smile was also bestowed upon the Pokémon that had just saved her the trouble of looking for it and potentially having to face the ghost Pokémon again. For a moment she had forgotten Prim hadn't been around her for a while. A relief sigh left her mouth as she took the necklace from the tiny Pokémon, giving her the thanks Lesca had well deserved. Prim too of course but she didn't seem all too bothered by the grass Pokémon taking the spotlight.
As he watched her take the necklace, Ruben couldn't help but force himself up onto his strong ankle and offer to put it on for her.
"Here, let me help you." He pleaded, desperate to feel like his efforts hadn't been completely in vain. Pia complied, turning and shifting her hair to make it easier for him. "There. Good as new." Ruben sighed, as he watched it rest over her shoulder again. His gaze followed the pendant, but rather than lean in and take a peak the sharp pain in his ankle reminded him what the girl had done for him. Instead, he leaned back and let the damaged joint rest.
"Thank you." Words of gratitude left Pia as she turned around to meet his gaze again. Despite the issue with the Misdreavus, today has been an exceptionally good day. Who would've guessed this morning when all she read from his message was "You down to meet up at the market tomorrow? Might want to bring a scarf." It reminded her.
"And… were you right?" She asked out of nowhere.
"Huh?" Ruben asked, caught completely unawares.
"You said you thought I seemed cool and wanted to find out if you were right." Pia quoted, referencing to what he had said earlier that day.
Ruben's confusion fell to realisation, then bent to concentration and finally curled into a smile.
