From: Maria Rocket <mobius101@aol.compactpika> Subject: Re: [PW!] Oh Victreebell, Oh Victreebell... Date: Sunday, December 19, 1999 6:30 AM >As Seth and Aerie looked at one green sack containing a pokemon, Eva and >Smasher came up holding another. "Well, the good news is, we caught the >vulpix." > >"And the bad news?" > >The sack in Ema's hands squirmed a bit, then revealed leaves. "Bell..." > >Ema shrugged. "It's a wild one. We'd better get it to the pokemon >center before it chokes on Brock's vulpix." > >A few minutes later, as some Chanseys wheeled the grass pokemon into the >operating room, Nurse Joy motioned the group to one side. "This is >really fortunate for us. Brock usually funds our Christmas party from >the gym's profits, but he forgot to give us money this time, and no one >can find him. Without it, we can't afford a christmas tree this year, >but we might be able to convince that victreebell to act as one for us." > >"Umm, if you're looking for the Pewter Gym leaders, that's us at the >moment." Seth caught Aerie's wince, but hoped she would not protest >until he took this where it was headed. > >"You?" > >"It's a long story, and it's only until Brock gets back. Anyway, if >you'd like to hold your Christmas party in our gym, we'd be glad to >help. It'd give us something to do, at least." > >Joy looked at Seth with stars in her eyes. "You'd do that for us?" > >"Like I said, it'd give us something to do." Seth shrugged. > >"Oh, thank you, kind sir." Her face approached his, her hands clasped >over her heart. "I've always dreamt of meeting a warm-hearted man >like-" > >Only to be yanked around into Aerie's outraged face. "Seth. Is. >*MINE*. No poaching. Clear?" > >"...yes ma'am..." > >Smasher favored Seth with a pitying gaze. *** As they walked back towards the gym, Aerie drew Seth away. "Now....*how* are we supposed to put together a Christmas party?" She whispered. "It's a big gym. There'll be room." He smiled and glanced up. "Looks like there'll be snow." Aerie shook her head. "We'll need more than room." "Of course!" Seth jogged up ahead and opened the gym doors wide. "Nothing we can't handle in a few hours." Aerie put her hands on her hips. "Again...how?" Slasher was pulled aside by Seth. He whispered quietly to the Persian for a minute, then gave him a pat on the back. "Got it Slash? And be quick about it!" "Sian!" Slasher shot out the door at breakneck Persian speed. "Where's he going?" Aerie looked after him. "I've just sent him on a few errands....nevermind him, c'mon Aer'!" Seth took her by the hand and pulled her through a backdoor. "I'm sure Brock must have *something* we can use..." After sorting through dust covered closets, they came across a few tables. Seth grabbed one and pulled it out with a metallic scraping sound. "See? Let's just take these out into the gym hall," he coughed. Aerie had just finished setting up the last table, when she realized she hadn't seen Seth for awhile. She glanced around while brushing the dust off herself. "Seth? Where are you?" "Dit?" "Huh?" Aerie looked down to see a little Ditto bouncing along beneath the table. "Doppler, what are you doing down there?" "Ditto!" Baby Doppler transformed into a rock. "Well, at least you can't go get into trouble that way..." Aerie left to look into the backroom again. It was dark, and she couldn't find a light. Then she spotted something moving inside the closet. "Seth?" She peered in. Suddenly Seth popped up tangled with wire. "Hey Aerie...looks like we've hit the motherlode!" He held up the box of Christmas decorations. Upon closer inspection, Aerie realized the wires were strings of colored lights. She took the box from him. "Well, looks like Brock is the festive sort. Hey, did you know Doppler is loose?" Seth glanced down at the pouch on his belt. "Yeah, thought Dopp needed some air." He hefted up the lights and walked out. "C'mon Aer', let's get started!" "Let's just try not to overdo this," Aerie looked into her cardboard box warily. "Remember that Christmas when the Academy put you in charge of the annual Christmas PokeBall..." She almost giggled when she saw Seth cringe visibly from the back. With practiced indifference, Seth glanced back at her and shrugged. "Hey, is it my fault the Academy had no sense of holiday spirit?" "Seth, there were so many lights, all of Viridian had a 30 min black-out." "It was a simple electrical mishap! A coincidence! Nobody could prove a thing." "Seth, there was so much tinsel, Mr. Fields tripped and threw his back out." "Oh c'mon! He was wearing those squeeky slippery boots! And Giovanni thought I did a fine job." "....Seth, you were Giovanni's pet." Seth frowned. "Look, Dad taught me everything there is to know about decorating! It's an art, and if you don't get it, well..." "Seth." Aerie shook her head. "Hmmph. I'll show you...I'll show them all!" Seth pushed through the gym hall doors, laughing maniacally. Aerie snickered and followed him into the gym. "Here we go again..." She caught up with Seth putting table cloths in place. "Besides," Seth grinned, "If it wasn't for my 'holiday horror' as you so kindly dubbed it at the time, we might of never started dating to begin with." Aerie sighed. "Oh no....I feel a flashback coming on..." "Ditto!" Baby Doppler squeaked. *** Four years ago...err, rather, fifteen years later, give or take a dimension... "Sir! I didn't expect to see you here!" A young boy of fifteen with bluish hair and big green eyes stepped carefully among the tinsel and garlands drowning the large floor. He was wearing a gray uniform typical of the Rocket Academy's students, complete with red 'R' crest on the breast pocket. After making his way across, he found himself face to face with the head of the school, Giovanni. "I thought I'd see how the party was coming along," Giovanni grinned. "Looks like it was quite wild, Seth." Seth blinked and looked around. "Actually, most haven't arrived yet. I'm just here early to make extra sure everything's ready." "You mean..." Giovanni took a second look around and sweatdropped. "This is your doing?" "Well...yes, Sir." Seth tried not to fidget, though he suddenly felt very nervous. "It is...satisfactory, isn't it?" Seth fought not to fall to his knees to beg forgiveness. He *knew* he should have used the sugar pine... Giovanni seemed to be struggling to find the words, which was simply amazing. "It's..." "It's a holiday horror!" Seth felt sick. The *last* person he needed to hear from right then... A girl who appeared only slightly older than Seth walked in from behind Giovanni and wrinkled her nose at the party hall. She had gray eyes that matched Seth's uniform, though she was much more casually dressed in a blood-red dress touched occasionally with green glitter. Her hair was long and purple, except for an odd black lock along the top. She swiped it away from her face and gave Seth a brief glare. "Goddish Seth, you did this? Couldn't you just put up a tree and a few wreaths like a normal person!?" She stood in disbelief. Seth just mumbled something under his breath. "Well," Giovanni sweatdropped and cleared his throat. "It's a fine job, Seth," Giovanni gave Seth a firm pat on the shoulder. "I'm afraid I must go attend to business now, but I expect to drop by your family sometime during the winter break. See you then." He gave Seth a nod with a strange smile, and turned to leave. "Looking forward to it, Sir!" Seth smiled brightly. "Looking forward to it, Sir!" Aerie mocked, smacking Seth over before continuing past. When she found her friends near one of the tables, they all began snickering. Broken on the glittering floor, Seth moaned with the familiar feeling of pain. He was one of the most respected students, if not *the* most in the school...but when it came to Aerie, he was the number one target, and there was no getting around it. "Ow." So the night grew darker and colder outside. Inside however was exceedingly bright and almost too hot near the strung-up Christmas lights. Many had become lost within the tinsel, never to be seen again. There were rumors that Mr. Fields, one of the campus professors had slipped on tinsel and was taken away by Emergency Pidgeot. Seth wished they would remove the school Chansey nurse from the door. Someone might get the idea that the party wasn't safe! He was now busy stringing up more lights. The more the better, James always said. His friend Matt, stood nearby as he snapped more extension cords into place. "Seth, I don't think you should be puttin' that many plugs in....as it is don't you think it's a little...well, overkill?" He wiped the sweat away from his forehead. "You're cooking us all like chestnuts!" "It's fine, trust me." Seth clicked in another plug. Meanwhile, on the other side of the hall, Aerie watched as another string of lights flashed to life. Across the table, her friends looked like they might get heat stroke. She glared at the table. "I should just call Daddy to pick me up....this is insane!" She pushed away from the table. One of the girls looked up. "Are you leaving?" "No!" Aerie shot a killer look towards the end of the party hall. "A certain bluenette is!" Aerie's friends gave each other a knowing look and ducked beneath the table. Aerie, meanwhile, had began marching across the floor. She was going to teach him such a lesson... Seeing her approach, Matt gave a low whistle. "Dude, the Queen of Darkness is coming for you again." "What? Where!?" Seth jumped up in alarm. He was about to dive for the nearest hiding spot when Aerie seized his hair from behind. "AAAGG!" Matt flinched. Then the lights flashed intensely. And when they were gone, everything was in utter darkness, and the music had died, leaving them in momentary silence. Seth sweatdropped in the dark. "Hmm...I wonder what's wrong with the power." Even in the dark, Aerie's face seemed to glow fiercely with anger. Seth noted somewhere that it was almost beautiful. If only it weren't so terrifying. He screamed when she suddenly snapped him around by the hair and dragged him into a nearby room. "Aerie, no, this isn't my fault! AeriiAAAAAAHHH!!!!" The cries of pain made everyone out in the hall cower in sympathy. "ARRGGHH!! NO! AAAAAAHHH!!! OW! OW! GAAH!!! AAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAWAAAAG! OOOF!" Someone ran over to try to help, but Matt quickly caught him by the arm. "Nuh uh...nothing on earth can save him now." He shook his head. "We can only hope for the best." He was interrupted by another of Seth's screams. A few minutes later, Aerie stood over a fallen Seth. "You brought this upon yourself, you know," She could make out his shuddering form curled beneath her. "All we wanted was a little Christmas party...and now you've destroyed it! You! Mr. 'I-am-perfect!' Hah! Hope you're happy." She turned to leave him there, but realized she couldn't find the door. On the floor, Seth began to sob softly. Aerie frowned down at him. "Oh please..." She wished he would stop. She didn't like the sound. It made her feel bad about hurting him. "Be quiet." Seth rubbed at his eyes and fought to regain his dignity. "I'm sorry. Now leave me alone. Might as well go home with the others, since the party's over." "Yeah." Aerie stood there. "So what are you going to do? Lay there all night?" Seth didn't answer. "Just go away. Please." A dark gleam crossed Aerie's eyes, and she sat next to Seth. "Why? You've ruined my night, why should I please you in any way. I'm not expected home for hours. I can stay here and sit with you all night." Seth clutched his stomach and moaned softly. He ached all over. "C'mon, it can't be *that* bad." Seth glared at her. Aerie rolled her eyes. "Big baby." She pushed him onto his back. "Hey!" He put his arms in front of his face reflexively. "Oh stop it, or I *will* hit you again." Aerie unbuttoned his uniform and began feeling around his stomach. Seth's eyes grew wide in the dark. "W-What are you doing!?" Then her hand came down upon a sensitive spot. Seth cried out. "Sheesh, I doubt it's even bruised," Aerie rubbed her hand across the spot. "Calm down." Seth found it *very* hard to calm down. "C'mon, let me go..." Then as Aerie ran her hands over him, he realized that the pain was nearly gone. He blinked. "Hey...what'd ya do?" "Nothing really. I've just got a very good theraputic touch, or so I've been told. There was a soft blue glow around Aerie, probably from the faint starlight outside the windows, Seth thought. He sat up and touched his stomach. That was some touch. "Wow... You should be a doctor or something like that." Aerie shrugged. "Well..." "Mmm." Seth nodded. "I..." Suddenly the lights came back on. At least down in the party hall, where many screams of unexpected pain followed the return of the light. Down in the room where Seth and Aerie were, only a single string of glowing colored lights illuminated the otherwise dark place. "Well, now that the lights are back, I'm not going to waste all my time here with you," Aerie stood up. She turned to leave, and Seth stood as well. Then she paused and looked down. "Oh dammit..." Seth blinked over at her. "Aerie?" "You..." Aerie grumbled and turned her head towards the ceiling. The entire ceiling was lined with mistletoe. Seth remembered where he'd set it up for emergencies and smacked his forehead. "Great... Well, it's not like we *have* to." He looked away on the floor. "No one's here to see." Aerie looked away as well. "Yes...no one's here to see." She turned her eyes back towards Seth. Why was he still standing there? Oh no....he didn't actually expect her to kiss him, did he!? Seth waited. He wished she would hurry up and leave. If anyone was going to break a Christmas tradition, it wasn't going to be him. He walked forward slightly, trying to give her the idea of turning and leaving. When she didn't budge, he looked away nervously, realizing he was now invading her personal space. Goddish, now where could he safely move... He blinked and turned to look at her with dawning surprise. Her eyes were large, and though it might have been a trick of the light, he could swear her eyes had turned a rich, luminous purple color... Was she....no way... Impossible! She wasn't actually trying to kiss him, was she!? Aerie was frozen. He *did* mean it. Was he really that stupid!? A shiver passed through her. What was wrong with her, she wasn't scared of the pansy! No, she wasn't scared of *him*.... Her stomach did a flip when she realized she was noticing how very attractive he was. Oh GODDISH! It wasn't that he hadn't kissed a girl before... Heck, that was the whole reason for the mistletoe room in the first place. But this... Seth swallowed. Why didn't he just turn and run for the door? Something deep inside his chest and gut began to twist violently as he gazed into her eyes. For a moment he was frightened that he might actually throw up on her. He didn't though, and suddenly, as if he were a comet, and she were the sun, he felt something drawing him towards her. He leaned up very close and closed his eyes... Aerie wanted to bolt. But she didn't want to move. Without any further warning, he was right there, and his hands had rested on her hips. She leaned forward, and their lips met. An unusual sound hummed low in the air as they pressed together. Seth timidly put his arms around her as the kiss deepened. Her hands grasping his back, Aerie had found herself in strange state of mind. Something in her mind seemed to be debating something even as she occupied herself with Seth. Dazed, she rolled up against Seth....and that something in her mind clicked. Shift. Click. Shift. Click. Over and over. Seth was just in heaven. Before this, no kiss had ever felt like that. It was more than just the kiss...everyplace they touched felt like a kiss just as intense. He moved against her and didn't bother fighting the moan rising in his throat. A part of him however, was panicking. *What* in the world was happening to him!? This was *AERIE*! This was madness! This was....oh Goddish, *bliss*! He quivered. The closer she was, the better it felt, and he knew if he tried, he might pull her *all* the way in... Then in mid-gasp, Aerie's eyes shot open. "Wha...!" Shocked, she pushed Seth away hard, sending him across the floor. Still shaking, she clenched her fists. How dare he make her feel...that way! "You...You....!" She ran out in a huff. Seth didn't follow her. He lay curled up in a ball on the floor. His entire body felt like it was throbbing. He smiled and closed his eyes. Oh, it was twisted. The fates had a bizarre sense of humor. He turned over slowly on the floor, and with his elbows on the floor, and his head resting crookedly in his palms, he looked towards the door with a dazed half-lidded grin. "Ooh....I think I'm in love...." A pain shot through his lower back. "Oww...ehehehe...ow." *** With a stretch and a yawn, Aerie sat up from where she had fallen asleep. "Is the flashback finally over?" She rubbed at her eyes. "Ditto Dit Dit!" Baby Doppler nuzzled against her hand. "Guess that's a yes..." She picked up the little Ditto and got up. She was surprised to find that Seth had already managed to put up a set of Christmas lights and wreaths around the gym. "Boy, Seth, you don't waste time." Seth set up another wreath and strolled over to her. "Nope, no time to waste. I didn't wanna relive that flashback anyway." "Hmph," Aerie crossed her arms. Seth grinned. "Just the good part." He lifted a hand above their heads. Of course, it was a little sprig of mistletoe. "Now where'd you get that?" "Does it matter?" He smiled and pulled her close. He was about to kiss her, when... "SIAN!" Seth sighed. Slasher came speeding into the gym towing a long string of wagons with grocery bags inside them. He circled them around the tables and padded over to Seth and Aerie. "Purrsian sian purr sian siiian." Seth leaned down and petted the cat. "Thanks Slash, great job. Now we've got all the Christmas foods we'll need for a party." "Sian!" Slasher then noticed a pink ribbon was attached to his ear. Not only that, but the ribbon was chewing on it. "Siann..." He sighed and lumbered off. Aerie stared. "Where...?" "Does it matter?" Seth sweatdropped with a grin. "Besides...it probably best you didn't know." "Seeethh..." Seth quickly replaced the mistletoe. "Errr...heh, where were we?" "You've been bad," Aerie frowned and pulled him in close by the front of his jacket. Then she smiled. "But I can forgive if you can." She brushed his lips with her own... "HEY! Look who's gettin' it on! And in the gym! WHOO!" Smasher snickered from the gym entrance. Seth and Aerie facefaulted with a great crash. Ema shook her head and entered with her hands over her eyes. "Umm...are they decent?" "Yes!" Aerie snapped. "Deep breath..." Seth whispered. Aerie did so and put her hands behind her head. "So....you two come to help with the party?" "Well," Smasher looked around. "Yes!" Seth darted forward. When he jumped back again, Ema and Smasher were dressed in green elf costumes, right down to the silver bells on the caps and pointed shoes. "You guys can be the party elves!" Aerie covered her face in her hands. TBC? ~Maria R "Psy yie yie..." --- http://purplestudio.webjump.com --- "R is for Rrrah...Rrrah...Rocket!" - Meowth --- Rocketshipper Forever! --- TEOTWAWKI