Chapter Text
Snow was beginning to fall, the last pokemon had just arrived at the Manor, The Paldea squad as named by Norbert walked through the hall as were greeted by Term.
"I am- quite sorry for the delay, Term. it is nice of you to invite us all, truly. I hope you all did not wait for me?"
Forró, the Quaquaval, asked as he entered through the entrance door.
He bowed forth towards Term. Before then realising that was- quite literally way too formal. A small handshake could've- should've sufficed.
"It's no problem Forró please, we're honoured to have you all join us."
The reptile took some of the bags Forró was clearly struggling with and led him to an enormous Christmas Tree.
"If your gifts for everyone aren't fragile or anything, you're free to put them under the tree with everyone else's, there's a fragile gifts pile next to the large sofa."
The two were going through the gifts that the Paldea squad had brought over, when a loud screech interrupted them.
"AYO VIEJITO! WHERES THE KITCHEN AT HERMANO?!"
Forró sighed- a tad too loud he thought to himself.
"That would be the Wattson I've heard so much about! Shall we join your friends in the other living room?" Term asked
Exiting the entry living room, and walking off towards the one near the back of the mansion, they heard the commotion of Christmas cheer, and, honestly a quite a lot of Pokemon. As Term and Forró entered the room, they were almost immediately followed by a loud greeting from a Clawitzer sitting on the couch, Sourdough!
"Ayy!! Glad you could make it! Thought you'd never arrive!"
Sourdough elbowed Forró's arm, chuckling a bit to himself and hugging him from the side, almost looking like he's showing off a collection of his to the huge audience that was everyone there.
"The name's Sourdough! Nice to finally meet you, man! Holler at me if you need anything!"
He smiled towards the taller (like. several feet taller) water-type, leaving Forró only to smile as well, and returning him with a "It is quite nice to meet you as well, Sourdough. Glad to be here."
"Comin' Through!"
Term caught a Noivern speeding towards the two with his hands
"Norbert please be careful, we have guests!"
"SORRY!"
The Noivern quickly sped off somewhere with two pieces of cake in his claws
"Sorry— Sorry—!" Cholmerus swam past, trying to catch up to his boyfriend, the dragalge shaking Forró's hand as a greeting as he was running by. They ran up the stairs, Cholmerus almost tripping up them as he did. (They could barely navigate through land).
"Ah well this seems— a bit— more energetic I had thought, really." Forró admitted, putting down the presents he held near the Christmas tree in the corner of the room, and taking a seat next to another Quaquaval, his boyfriend, Salsa, and the aforementioned Sourdough on the couch.
"Hello my Sweet." Salsa cooed as he gave Forró a kiss on the cheek.
"Merry Christmas my dear. I hope you are doing well—!" Forró did the same towards Salsa, moving them closer to him and letting them lay beside him, Forró being the taller of the two avians.
"Merry Christmas!! I am doing just fine, I've made some new friends!" Salsa gestures to the other pokemon in the semi-circle of chairs around the fireplace.
"Nice to meet you dear, my name is Pele."
The Garchomp shook Forró's hand as the Salamence next to Pele moved to do the same.
"I'm Mako, nice to meet you." He smiled.
The five of them talked for a few hours until Term came back with a young Pumpkaboo in his arms.
"Ah! There you all are, Crépe, Wattson and Borodinsky finished making dinner."
"Ooo, we'd better get to our seats then!"
Salsa stood up dramatically and grabbed his startked boyfriends hand, dragging him to his feet aswell.
"Term are you sure you checked all the rooms first?"
"Pele I assure you, everyone who isn't here is in the dining room or the kitchen plating food."
"Dear leave the poor man alone, you remember last Christmas?"
As if she was hit with a stun spore Pele immediately agreed and left to join everyone in the dining room, Mako following her with Sourdough in tow.
The dining room was quite nice, items from several different regions decorated the area, making the room more colorful than most. The table was covered with a Christmas tablecloth, flamed on one of the corners, we don't talk about it!
The Pokemon from Alola all sat together, a Primarina in the left centre, waved towards the people just walking in.
"Hii!! It's so nice to meet you all! I don't think we've met before, I'm Lysithea!!" The seal got up from her seat to personally greet Forró, Salsa, and anyone else from Paldea.
The Pumpkaboo in Term's arms was also grabbed by Lysithea, as she kissed the top of his head. "And who's this little guy??"
The Pumpkaboo (named Waffle) only gave a small sigh in response, tired already and wanting to get down. They wanted to know where Sparrow was! Dad said he'd be here!
They couldn't seem to find him, glancing around the dining room, he wasn't here yet, but Waffle was sure he'd arrive! He wanted to eat with him!
"This is Crépe and Borodinsky’s child Waffle. You wanna say hi Waffle?"
Waffle instead proceeded to bounce out of Lysithea's arms and hopped around, looking around corners for their seemingly tardy Uncle when there was a barely audible thud behind Term.
"Term, the perimeter is secure, I chased off those Mightyena that were lounging around outside."
The Decidueye, apparently known as Sparrow had dropped from the ceiling.
"Thanks Sparrow, I think someone is looking for you though."
Sparrow did a 360° turn and immediately picked up Waffle who was bouncing towards him.
"There's the little Pumpkin Sprout! You been having fun with the other kids?"
Salsa whispered to Forró.
"Wow, quick turnaround-"
Forró chuckled quietly, "He seems nice, I didn't even notice there were Mightyena around." Forró brought Salsa towards the table, taking a seat where he supposed the other members of his and Salsa's teams would be.
Waffle leaned up against Sparrow's leg, wrapping around his green cape that Waffle always found to be softer than even their own fur.
"Hi Uncle Sparrow!!" They happily spoke, only really one of the few familiar here they've seen since their parents entered the kitchen.
"Anyone been causing you trouble?"
"No! Don't worry!!" Waffle rested on the floor nearby Sparrow, not to necessarily sleep but instead to sit. Before Sparrow could react, a huge Crabominable wrapped his hands around the much lankier Decidueye, and laughing in pure Christmas cheer. "It's nice to see you!" Deimos replied behind him.
Sparrow slipped through the Crabominable's arm and replied "Ah. Deimos, likewise."
Waffle sneaked back around towards Sparrow, trying not to be squished from the giant crab that didn't know they were there. Deimos smiled towards Sparrow, not noticing that he didn't *exactly* like hugs.
"I'm glad to see you, never thought I would! Didn't take you to enjoy family events!"
"I..didn't want to disappoint anyone with my absence."
"...Ah! I see then! well still, glad you're here!" Deimos pet the owl's head the crab was although younger, still quite a lot taller than him. Deimos returned back to his seat at the kid table (17 year olds are still at the kid's table!) situated next to Tethys, an Alolan Sandslash who waved at Sparrow quietly. (They barely knew him.)
Sparrow ignored them and sat in his seat with a disgruntled look on his already cold face, Waffle hopped into her highchair beside him just as her parents entered through the kitchen door.
And as they did Crépe immediately let out a happy scream-like squeal, just from the pure excitement she felt. The Slurpuff's first Christmas!! It was just so happy! Her own family, here, to celebrate Christmas.
"Ah- honey are— you alright?" Borodinsky asked, a plate of Espathra gripped in it's clothed arm, the Aegislash almost startled from the scream that seemed to release from his wife. Crépe could almost run up and squeeze all the people around in a hug, but she contained herself, and brought over the pokepuffs she had on a platter.
"It's so nice to see you all! I'm glad everyone could come!!"
An Armarouge entered behind them with his own plate.
"So loud..." He muttered before walking to sit next to Excalibur.
As Norbert and his boyfriend tried to sit down Term called out to him.
"Oh uh Norbert! You're at the kids table bud, you too Cholermus, behave for Shifu both of you."
"c'mon Term—!! You're the cool one..." Cholermus joked, before the teenagers groaned and sat *or rather squatted* at the comically small table of younger pokemon Shifu lecturing them on table manners.
Most of the younger Pokemon, consisting of Cholermus, Norbert, Tethys, La Ridee and Ballet, were just silently (or, non silently) tuning the elder Pokemon out, or just in the kitchen. Though Deimos stood and listened to Shifu as he taught, a bit rude to talk over him! He thought.
La Ridee stood next to Ty, the Naclstack patiently waiting as the Tyranitar made his plate. He was quiet as he did so, spacing out a bit as all the talking and the Christmas music playing by *Arceus knows who* slowly turned into background static, his rock-eyes focusing on one part of the bottom of the counter.
"Ridee did you want sweet potatoes or turnips?" Ty patiently asked the young Naclstack.
La Ridee took a bit of time to answer, not registering that Ty was actually talking to him, until it almost bolted alive and rethought what Ty said.
"oh- uhhh— turnips- yea uh—, sorry dad—" Ridee said, looking back up at the much larger Pokemon. It was always prone to blanking out.
The Tyranitar placed some turnips onto the plate and handed it to La Ridee.
"Here, eat up! There's plenty, and make sure you eat those veggies or your Pops will kill me."
The Naclstack nodded (well, to the best of his ability) "Alright— uh- thank you dad!" It walked with the plate sat on it's head, arms a bit *unable* to pick up anything, and walk towards the kid's table, leaning down to carefully set the food down.
"Hii Ridee! Merry Christmas!!" The Tinkatuff beside him said, his best friend. "Merry Christmas Ballet!!"
The Pokemon all ate dinner and talked about battles and funny moments they'd had with eachother, telling the Paldea group their adventures through Hoenn, Kalos and Galar but then there was a sudden banging noise on the front door.
Term stood up. "Don't worry, I'll get it!"
Term walked through the hallway and reached the front door. The door was heavy in structure, good for keeping unwanted intruders from breaking it down easily.
He opened the door and was greeted by an all too familiar face.
"B-blaze?! What are you doing here?"
The Blaziken belonging to May Stared at him with a drunken look on his face.
"Heh, heyyyy~ what goin on Terminerm *hic!*"
The group at the dinner table continued chatting, however Forró quietly looked towards Term as he left, confused on who it could be, as Term's expression didn't seem like he exactly know either.
Forró got up. "Excuse me for the moment please, I shall return in a bit." He pushed in his seat and walked towards the hallway, as he did so, however, he was accompanied by his boyfriend.
The two walked into the hall and spotted Term talking to a Blaziken who was....wobbling? How odd, the Blaziken perked up upon seeing the two.
"Wooaahh heyy, who's this lil cutie?" He drooled like a baby pokemon and stared at Forró
Forró was the slightest bit, confused. A bit dense was he, not entirely getting what the Blaziken had first meant. He assumes they had been hit with a confuse ray or was poisoned, and was speaking nonsense. Forró got closer to the Blaziken and helped him stand up straight.
"I am Forró, it is nice to meet you. Are you— alright? You seem unwell and unable to stand correctly—"
The Blaziken landed a big kiss onto Forró's cheek.
"HEY! THATS MY BOYFRIEND!!" Salsa's Aqua Step launched the Blaziken into the wall with a crunch.
Forró was a bit stunned, to say the least. Sure hindsight was literally 2 seconds after but he- did not expect that. He watched as the man he was carrying was literally kicked into the wall, and all he could do was stand there for the moment, before shaking his head aggressively to get him out his daze
"Salsa why would you—!?" He didn't go to help Blaze, a bit offended he'd kiss him. He could only look towards Term and mutter a small sorry, though he *did* believe that was the Blaziken's fault. He didn't even know the Pokemon's name!
Forró looked down at his boyfriends face and saw only rage, suddenly understanding why Salsa had acted so recklessly.
The Blaziken stood up and sauntered into the dining hall, seemingly humiliated and sobered up a tad as he came to his senses.
Forró only watched as he did, before going up to Salsa and flicking whatever dirt he has on him, and kissing him softly, patting him on the back.
Crépe saw the Blaziken come in, and although she didn't know— who exactly he was, Term seemed to let them in, so. She walked up to him with an empty plate in her hands, lending it to him.
"Welcome! It's nice to meet you! Take anything you'd like!"
The Blaziken grimaced at her. "No thanks I'm not hungry."
He moved to get away from her and tripped on something, he turned around and kicked it angrily.
"Fuck off!"
Waffle was sent into a chair and they had fainted from the impact, Term, Salsa and Forró walked in as she was kicked away.
Immediately as Waffle had fainted, Borodinsky got up from his seat, as she landed beside it. He has grabbed her immediately, and stared towards the Blaziken that had entered the room, soaring to him at almost extreme speeds.
Crépe had done the same, yelling immediately at him. "And why did you think that was a good idea!?" She raised her paw towards him, pissed. Borodinsky seemed to raise his blade, threatening the Blaziken in case he tried anything. He still held the pumpkaboo in his cloth, wrapping around it.
He glanced towards anyone he could see that he recognized, and could take care of them for the moment, eyes landing on Mako.
....
He— made eye contact and tried to signal Mako to come over and pick up Waffle while they dealt with this.
That was the first time Pele had seem Mako so pissed since they got married, Mako rushed over taking Waffle gently from Borodinsky and flew her to the first aid kit in the kitchen.
Sparrow was beside Borodinsky and Crépe nobody even saw him move before he had a leaf blade to Blaziken's throat.
Borodinsky was almost shellshocked to see as he blinked his eye Sparrow almost ready to kill the Blaziken— He floated over and patted Sparrow a few times on the shoulder, that was— a bit too far, for what he thought.
"Give me one reason I shouldn't kill you right here."
Sparrow acknowledged Borodinsky’s warning but wanted to hear what the Blaziken had to say for himself.
Crépe went beside the Blaziken to his side, ready to send fairy wind upon fairy wind until they were fainted. How dare they do their to their child! Who the fuck even was this! And what AUDACITY does he have to kick her child.
Borodinsky was silently freaking out to himself, didn't— exactly want to kill someone tonight, deja vu,,
The Blaziken kicked Sparrow into the air and Blaze kicked Borodinsky before leaping through the door and bolting put the hallway into the snow, Sparrow gave chase immediately and Term shouted for the fastest pokemon to follow Sparrow.
Only for three Pokemon to follow suit, Norbert, Pele, and Pumpernickel (Talonflame), known to be the fastest on any team. Trying to catch up to Blaze and show him what for.
...Borodinsky and Crépe stayed behind, Crépe to shout at them good luck and Borodinsky to go towards the kitchen with Mako.
"Is— she alright?" Borodinsky was terrified she was injured badly. He, didn't try to show it though, never trust a Salamence, is what he always told himself.
"She should be fine, I didn't want to stress her body too much so I gave her a regular revive instead of a Max revive, the potions should have sufficed."
Mako handed the seemingly asleep Waffle over to their father and tidied up the first aid kit.
It was then that the Armarouge, now known as Xavier walked in looking mildly concerned at the sight.
"Is the child alright?..." He spoke in a soft monotone voice.
"They should be fine in a few minutes, but we appreciate your concern, Xavier."
Borodinsky turned towards Armarouge more quickly than he'd hoped, alarmed at the sudden noise. He hoped he didn't bother Waffle's healing.
"...Ah- thank you for looking out for her-... Xavier?" Borodinsky only just learned his name thanks to Mako, he felt the slightest bit indebted just because he seemed worried for his child. "How- are you? I am sorry the dinner was interrupted- I.. hope the food was good-"
"The food was remarkable, I am doing fine, I only wished to check on the Child.
I will leave you be now."
Xavier turned to put his plate into the sink and walked silently out the room.
"He is an unusual Pokémon wouldn't you say?"
Mako replied towards Borodinsky, watching as Xavier left.
"Ah— er... yes, though I guess many here act similar.."
Mako chuckled and noticed Borodinsky’s tense demeanour.
"Is everything alright?"
"...Ah- yes—! I am- sorry- I'm just a bit.. startled is all. I did not expect that Blaziken to- attack Waffle like this.." Borodinsky looked at his child, before looking in the direction of Mako, just not giving eye contact.
Borodinsky continued— "..Do you know who it is? I wouldn't expect Term to let him waltz in without him knowing them?"
"Unfortunately, I do. While we were first travelling through Hoenn, we had run-ins with that Blaziken, I believe he and Term were in a secret relationship for a few months but Term had said that the Blaziken broke up with him for seemingly no reason, none of us had seen him since."
"....I see." Borodinsky's expression changed slowly, more soft. Term probably didn't want this, and didn't know how to feel. He wouldn't know what he'd do if *Crépe* left him, he'd figure Term would be the same.
"....I am glad that Term didn't have to deal with him like this anymore then. He deserves someone far greater." Borodinsky looked towards the dining hall— and then quickly changed the subject.
"—Ah I'm sorry, I should- thank you too. I'm not the greatest with potions and revives, I get shaky near them, I don't think I would've been able to heal Waffle without help—.. thank you Mako."
"It is the least I could do, you've shown nothing but kindness to my friends and my wife, I'm forever grateful."
The Aegislash stared a moment, still not at Mako, but at the wall next to him. Just thinking about what the Salamence had said. He- he shouldn't. No- right. Yes— Mako was incredibly kind— maybe a fresh start? No, you need to get yourself and Waffle out of here. But- Pele trusts him..
"....I am the one forever grateful to you Mako." That hurt him to say. "..but thank you."
Borodinsky looked towards the dining room, walking out of the kitchen with Waffle in hand. Meanwhile, the chase towards Blaze outside was still continuing, Sparrow, Pumpernickel, Norbert, and Pele on his non-tail.
"Halt! You'll be caught anyway!" Pumpernickel squawks, trying to gain air to cut him off in front of him.
"Why has he stopped responding?!" Norbert called out
"Perhaps he realises were going to kill him regardless of his answers." Sparrow was mad, nobody injures Waffle and faces no consequences.
"Are you sure we should be committing murder on Christmas?" Norbert protested before sending off a dragon pulse.
Pumpernickel could still hear them from the air, but barely. "We're not killing him! That's— outrageous!" She truly only wanted to give him a stern talk and force him to apologize to Waffle, not kill the man! What the hell was Sparrow thinking?
It wasn't until Norbert got ahead of Sparrow that he realised the look of sheer rage plastered across the Decidueyes face, Norbert flew up and told Pumpernickel.
"Dude Sparrow looks *pissed*-"
Pumpernickel wasn't in the least bit of surprised- though he wanted to make sure Sparrow wouldn't kill the fucking guy.
"I mean, he acts like Waffle is his own child, I would be upset too. But Sparrow doesn't need to get close to him, if we speed up we can probably catch up with him, snag Blaze first, and hopefully drag him somewhere else where he won't be.
Sparrow probably will make it difficult though, that- probably won't work. Only plan I can think of though.
Or unless you want to lead him off somewhere?"
"I'll boomburst the snow! Get ready!"
Norbert stopped for a second and boombursted the snow, blinding everyone not in the air.
Pumpernickel quite honestly had whiplash from how fast Norbert was ready, but I guess that's always what he had done, she would have to work with him. She dived almost like a brave bird, down towards the snow, flaring up his wings to light the way towards Blaze's last known location, and almost slamming into him as he flew. Forcing them both out the snow-like fog.
"Norbert!" Pumpernickel yelled towards the Noivern, before trying to push with all his strength the Blaziken away.
Pele wasn't far behind Pumpernickel and slammed into the Blaziken, knocking all 3 of them into the snow out of sight as she whispered, "Sorry deary, the snow is making me tense up a tad-"
Norbert sped off in the direction Blaze was originally heading, hoping Sparrow would follow noticing the snow trail.
Sparrow was giving chase- yes! That's exactly what they needed!
Pumpernickel turned her back to watch as Norbert and Sparrow ran off, nodding a bit before turning her attention back to Blaze. "Now what business do you have with us? Why are you even here!?" Pumpernickel sat on his chest as he was sprawled out onto the snow, making sure he wasn't able to escape.
The Blaziken stayed silent, fainting from the hail before getting a word out.
Pumpernickel looks up at the hail, ruffling her feathers as she just had noticed the hail minorly chipping away at her health. He sighed.
"....We can't leave him fainted in the cold, one of us can go get a revive from the mansion—Pele why don't you get it, I can stay out here and light where I am. I can also keep a lookout for Sparrow...
Try to make it quick though, hails a bit bad out here."
"Of course, I'll be back soon!" She called out as she flew away
The Talonflame set the snow around them ablaze, and sat next to Blaziken... As much as she didn't like him, he didn't feel as though he should be left out here. He put Blaze and his own wings near their fire. Hoping it would help the hail chip him less, and help Blaze not- die in the cold. He expected he'd be waiting for a few minutes, so he sat comfortably against the other fire bird.
It could only have been around 10 minutes when Sparrow came running (a lot slower it appears) towards Pumpernickel with Norbert in tow.
....fuckfuckfuck. What was Pumpernickel supposed to do!? He certainly couldn't pick *up* the Blaziken, and she didn't know if hiding him could work, what if he had already saw him?
...No, if that doesn't work then he's going to be dead, it'll have to work anyway. Pumpernickel set a tiny amount of fire ablaze towards a snow mound, and set the Blaziken's body under it as fast as he could, leaving just.. a small bit of his body uncovered so he could find him again.
Pumpernickel flew to Sparrow with just a few seconds to spare, she'd- hope this would work.
"I'm- sorry- I was getting low on health because of the hail, did you ever catch up with the Blaziken?"
"No. He escaped in that avalanche.." Norbert flinched at the mention of his...method of distraction.
Pele landed just beside them, handing out healing items and warth clothing items.
"Here, we can search longer now, we should go inside soon though- I'm sure the others are worried and the snow is getting much heavier than before..."
"You guys can- go back to the house if you want, I can scout around a bit more, I'll head back soon." Pumpernickel nodded, hoping that Norbert and Pele would take the hint to get Sparrow to leave with them.
"Fine, maybe he'll perish in the cold by morning."
Sparrow flew off towards the mansion.
"I'll stay out with Pumpernickel!"
"Alright dear, just be careful of the snow please"
Pele left the potions and revives with them and flew to catch up with Sparrow.
Pumpernickel... sighed a huge relief once they seemed to be far away enough, walking towards the buried Blaziken while speaking to Norbert, not looking towards him.
"....Great job, I-I didn't think that'd actually work. Are- you alright? Was there an actual avalanche?" He asked, tossing the bat a super potion, messing with the other items to give to the other Pokemon in the ground.
"I'll be fine dont worry! Its just the ice...im not very good with ice things..the avalanche? That was me- I tried to boomburst the mountainside we went up."
"That sounds just like you—.." Pumpernickel snorted, laughing a bit to themselves before giving the Blaziken a revive and super potion...
Now it was time to wait.