Client: Dame Blissey, Pokémon Orphanage

  Job: The children here at the Orphanage love the holiday season, as do all the children here at the orphanage. But all good things must come to an end, so I’m asking your help for making one last memory. Please do whatever you feel would be enjoyable for the children.

  Location: Chūshin Town, Southeastern Isles

  Reward: 10,000 Poké

~*~*~*~

     “Why do you have to take the Christmas tree?!” Pichu wailed, stomping the ground. “No! No!”

     “We won’t let you take it!” Azurill yelled bravely, standing in-between Team Bright Star and the small tree that stood in the corner of the Pokémon Orphanage.

     “Why not?” Anna asked, trying to understand their cause for protest.

     “Because then Christmas will be over!” Cleffa cried, and the other two joined in.

     “And we’ll have to put away them! All the decorations!”

     “And the room will be so boring, An-nah!”

     “And Christmas will be gone!! For another year!”

     “And then Mama will tell us to put our presents away, Miss Anna!”

     “AND IT’LL BE SAD!!” All three wailed.

     “That’s not how you speak to or act in front of guests!” Scolded Dame Blissey. “For shame!!”

     “AAAHHH!!!” They bawled, running to their room, curtain flapping behind them.

     “...” All four members of Team Bright Star looked at each other. Eve was thoroughly confused, Anna and Riley were sweatdropping, and Justin was staring in the direction they had gone with a look of complete understanding on his face.

     “I’m truly sorry for their behavior.” Dame Blissey sighed, bowing.

     “I do not understand what the problem is.” Eve scratched her head.

     “It’s because the Christmas tree is an important part of the celebration!” Justin explained. “I remember when I was little, it was my favorite part, putting up the tree with my parents. We’d put decorations and wished in the branches, but I hated bringing it down.” Dame Blissey nodded.

     “Christmas is their favorite season, and they’re so happy when it comes. But when it is time to put away the decorations...”

     “No kid likes that.” Justin thought back to when it would be time to remove the tree his small family would put up. “But...” A grin slipped onto his face, as a memory came forward that would make it be better, “I think I have a solution.”

     “Let’s hear it.” Anna sat on her hindquarters. Justin then began to explain, and by the end, even Eve agreed it was a good idea.

~*~*~*~

     “What are we doing out here, An-nah?” Cleffa asked the leader of Team Bright Star. The baby Pokémon was riding on Anna’s back, along with Azurill. Pichu was riding on Justin’s back, and Riley was carrying several bags of popped Cornn Berries and popped corn instead of his bag (which he had left with Dame Blissey). Eve was using a Machoke Illusion, and carrying the tree on her shoulder. She had complained under her breath, but there was no other way to get the tree to where they were going.

     “Yeah, and what are we doing with the Christmas tree? We want to put it back where it belongs!!” Pichu chirped angrily. Justin was leading the team through the forest that existed near Chūshin Town, searching for the right place for what he was planning.

     “But if you do not remove the tree, then Christmas will not come again.” Eve reasoned.

     “It’ll stay Christmas aaaalllllllll year long then!!” Pichu smiled, and the other two orphans agreed wholeheartedly.

     “But Christmas’s already passed!” Justin tried arguing.

     “It’s Christmas until the tree goes down-!!” Sparks began to fly from Pichu’s cheeks.

     “-And that’s why we don’t want the tree to leave!” Cleffa finished.

     “But why do we have the Popcornn strings, Mister Riley?” Azurill asked from his place on Anna’s back, slowly accepting the tree’s fate. “And why do we have to take the Christmas tree so far away?”

     “It’s a surprise.” The Riolu told them.

     “Don’t you like surprises?” Asked Justin, a grin on his face.

     “Not ones about the Christmas tree.” Pichu pouted.

     “Well, this is going to be a fun surprise!!” The three orphaned Pokémon looked at the teenagers skeptically. “I used to do this when I was a kid!”

     “Aren’t you a kid?” Cleffa asked, completely innocent. Eve gave something that sounded like a cough-covered laugh. Anna didn’t bother to conceal her giggles, while Riley grinned.

     “Yeah! You look two years our elder, Mister Justin!!” Pichu said, the other two nodding in agreement.

     “I’m eleven, and don’t you forget it!!” Justin growled at the Tiny Electric Mouse on his back, but Pichu giggled, tugging on his ear. “Stop that!”

     “But it’s funny!!!” Cleffa giggled, jumping from Anna’s back to Justin’s.

     “Eevee-kun!!!” Azurill wiggled in excitement. “Eevee-kun’s a kid too!!”

     “I am not!!”

     “Am too!!” Pichu stuck his tongue out, and the two began to bicker.

     “Am not!!”

     “Am too!!”

     “But really, Miss Anna, why are we taking the tree so far away?” Azurill asked politely.

     “Because it is a surprise.” Eve responded.

     “Why won’t you tell us?”

     “Do you want the surprise to be ruined?”

     “...no...” Azurill looked down at the ground.

     “Am not!!” Justin and Pichu were still arguing.

     “Am too!!”

     “Am not!!”

     “Am too!!”

     “Niños!” Chided Anna. “Basta.”

     “Blaaahhhh.” Pichu pulled his eyelid down, blowing a Razzberry. Justin began to fume silently, a strange occurrence for him, as the team continued into the forest.

~*~*~*~

     “This looks like the right place.” Riley jogged ahead to examine the location. It was a clearing surrounded by bushes, with an old stump in the middle. “Eve, could you bring it over here?”

     “Why not?” She muttered, but complied, dropping her Illusion the moment the tree was leaned against the stump. “Never again.” She vowed. “Never. Again.”

     “So that means Eve wins the brawl award.” Justin said, as Pichu slid off his back.

     “By all means,” she dropped into a bow, “next time, I will allow you the honor of carrying the tree.”

     “Nah, I’m good.” He yawned, and Eve had the strange urge to shove something into his mouth to fill the gap.

     “Let’s get started.” Riley set down the bags, and opening one to pull out a Popcornn string and hang it on the higher branches of the tree.

     “What are we doing with the Popcornn strings?” Pichu lifted one up.

     “They’re for hanging on the tree.”

     “But why?”

     “Because we’re decorating the tree. Don’t you like doing that?”

     “Yeah!!” The light came on in their eyes, and in no time at all, the tree was covered in strands of Popcornn. Riley had lifted Pichu and Azurill so they could reach the top branches, while Cleffa was satisfied with decorating the lower branches with Eve, Justin, and Anna.

     “Now what?”

     “Well...” Justin turned, and led them away from the Popcornn covered tree, into the bushes. “Now we wait.”

     “For what?”

     “You’ll see.” The Red-traited Eevee smiled.

     “Won’t you tell us AANNNYTHING?” Pichu wined.

     “Chu-kun, come on! It’s a surprise!!” Azurill poked his ‘brother’, causing sparks to jump off his cheeks.

     “How about I tell you a story from where I come from, while we’re waiting for this to happen?” Anna offered.

     “Sure!!”

     “Story! Story!!”

     “Tell us!!”

     “Be quiet, though.” Anna held a paw to her lips. “There won’t be any story, or any surprise, if you’re loud.” She glanced over at the youngest (age-wise) member of Team Bright Star. “That means you too, Justin.” The Evolution Pokémon was offended.

     “Hey, I care to-”

     “The last time we paid a visit to the guild,” Eve said in a neutral voice, “you challenged Loudred to a loud-voice contest.”

     “That was only one time-”

     “Not from what I hear.”

     “Quit it, you two.” Riley folded his arms over his chest, using his second-in-command voice.

     “Algessseubnida.” Eve muttered, turning her eyes downward.

     “Yes sir.”

     “So to the story.” She glanced at the tree. “I don’t know how much time we have until the surprise happens, so I’ll try to keep this short.” Seeing as she had their attention, she began. “A long time ago, in a great land across the sea, a star appeared in the sky...”

~*~*~*~

     “Hey, hey!! Lookie there!” A voice interrupted Anna’s story. All three baby Pokémon looked up, and dashed forward, so they could see beyond the branches into the clearing.

     “What is it? What is it?!” A chirping voice filled the air. And a Starly fluttered down, looking up at the tree with interest. “It’s a Popcornn tree!!” There was the sound of flapping wings, and a Starlvia flock landed around the tree.

     “I’ve never seen one of these this far south!!” A female Staravia chattered, hopping around, examining it. The flock began to chatter amongst themselves, sentences flowing together.

     “We’ve only seen them-”

     “-on Kigen, yes-”

     “-and further north, like Tiny Town-”

     “-oh, but never in the Southeastern Isles!!”

     “They talk funny.” Pichu muttered, not quite discerning the sentences.

     “Shhh!!” Anna and Justin both hushed him.

     “Who put it here?”

     “We don’t know!!”

     “No one’s around!!” A male Staravia looked around.

     “And that means...” They looked at each other, and it was silent on both sides of the clearing for a moment as the situation processed.

     “It’s for us!!!” The whole flock chattered in excitement, then began to flock around the tree, pecking at the Popcornn.

     “Wh-What are they doing to our tree?!” Cleffa exclaimed, but she wasn’t heard by the flock, who was too busy trying to get at the goodies.

     “They’re hurting it!!” Azurill cried out in alarm.

     “No...” Whispered Pichu, staring wide-eyed. “Look you guys...” Instead of tearing the tree apart, the Starly and Staravia were only pecking at the Popcornn, and they were resting in the branches of the tree, chattering happily with each other. 

     “Who put this tree here?!”

     “We don't know!”

     “But...”

     “We're happy for it!!” The whole flock chattered happily, continuing to eat the Popcornn.

     “Wow...” Cleffa, Pichu, and Azurill watched the flock hop around the tree, eating the Popcornn up.

     “Thank you, friend!” One of the Starly looked up at the sky.

     “Thank you, Arceus!”

     “For this meal!”

     “We're happy for it!!”

     “Come on.” Anna whispered, nudging the little Pokémon away from the bush, back towards Chūshin Town. They were silent, minds whirling.

     They had never realized what simply joy would come from taking something they loved so dearly, and changing it ever so slightly so that others could enjoy it.