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((WHAT. THE GIFTS ARE SO PERFECT. I CANT STOP SMILING. Will tag eventually...! RIP.))

"Whoa, there!" Fin stopped short, jerking Cygnus back a step as the Flareon leapt in front of them.

He caught his balance quickly, and listened in interest to the Pokémon's owner. "Oh, you're familiar with Hester, then?" The Jirachi had floated forward to coo at the Flareon, apparently oblivious to its challenging tone. "I thought I'd heard your voice somewhere before, though I don't believe we've been introduced. I'm Cygnus. Hester and I aren't much for battling, but Fin here--"

"Yes!" the young woman burst out. "I'd love to battle! And so would Caddie-- Caddie?"

Finished with her Very Important task of delivering their gifts to the tree, the Delibird was tumbling her way back toward the group, rolling herself end-over-end like a bowling ball and nearly tripping more than a few irritated bystanders. Caddie made a grand flourish as she leapt to her feet right before the Flareon challenger, depositing a white-and-red wrapped present beneath Masked Socks' nose.

"Oh dear..." Fin began.

But when the gift burst, it made the smallest of pops and erupted into a shower of festive glitter. "Deliiiiii!" Caddie announced, flippers proudly raised in the air.

Her owner snorted. "I think that's a 'yes'."

((Yay backtrack rp! XD Also I'm a bit slow right now due to no internet so if you guys don't want to wait for replies that's cool.
Griff- If you want we can set up an actual battle sometime later or just say they fought and Socks lost. Cause she tends to lose a lot.))

Alexa nodded. "I'm not used to it anymore. I live far away from others so it's kinda overwhelming to be around so many people suddenly." She said, "Ah a new trainer and Healer. Well it's always nice to have more Healers around. Oh.. I'm strictly a trainer. I focus on fire type pokemon."

She smiled sheepishly when he laughed at her new pokemon's name. "Yeah I know. I was so shocked when the guy finally told me Ken's name. I certainly hope he does grow into a wonderful pokemon. I've been after a Torchic for some time now and regardless of his name I'm not giving him up."

"Sia is really pretty. Never seen one colored like that but you tend to see some oddly colored pokemon here." She said with a nod, "Hey that's a good way to build trust between the two of you. If she keeps following you after you released her then it's a sign she wants to stay with you."

She gave him a wave and a nod as she left to find her Flareon. "Sounds good Niko! I'll catch up with you in a minute." She called behind her.

**Present**
"So that's what you named him? Hester? Nice name." Alexa said to Cygnus, "Nice to meet you. I'm Alexa." She looked from him to Fin and nodded. Some people and pokemon weren't battlers and others were.

"Sounds good. We can set up a date to battle at the stadium." Alexa said when Fin so eagerly agreed to battle.

Masked Socks looked around for this Caddie who was to be her opponent. She took a small step back when a Delibird suddenly rolled up in front of her. "Flare?" She called as she looked at the present. She leaned in close to sniff it when it popped into a shower of glitter. She snorted and stepped back while shaking her head trying to get it off of her. It didn't work and she gave the bird a deadpan stare.

"Hm.. yeah I think Socks would like a chance to return the favor." Alexa said with a snort. She was trying hard not to laugh at her Flareon. "So what do you say about a battle tomorrow morning?" She asked.

((I'd love a real battle! Don't have many under my belt.))

"Her, actually," Cygnus said. "So she tells me."

Hester floated up to Alexa's eye level. Alexa! she chimed into the girl's mind, swooping in to give her a tiny nuzzle on the cheek before giggling, mouth hidden by little hands, and retreating to peek shyly from behind Cygnus's shoulder.

"She's a sweetheart, but of course she can also be quite the troublemaker. Nothing else world-ending yet, though." The Jirachi made the smallest of pouts.

Caddie, meanwhile, was smiling as largely as her beak could muster. Unperturbed by the Flareon's reaction, the Delibird stepped into her own sack and began hopping circles around Socks, chanting "Deli deli delibird! Birdy del bird!"

Fin was grinning hard, fists clenched in excitement. "Absolutely! I'll see you there bright and early." The announcement caught her attention, and she stretched up to check for a good path to the tree. "Ooh, should we go collect our loot?"

At the suggestion, Caddie tripped over her bag and fell flat on the ground, but quickly clambered out of the sack, flung it over her shoulder, and started skipping toward the tree as if nothing had happened. She turned her head to chirp at Socks to follow.

"Let's go!" Fin insisted, tugging Cygnus forward.

He shook his head softly, but smiled and went along. "Just don't knock anyone over. Coming, Alexa?" Hester cooed in agreement, snuggling into Cygnus's scarf.

((So sorry for the long wait. It's been a busy week!))

Cygnus reached into the pile of gifts, his fingers dancing lightly over several packages until he found something entirely unlike his own neatly-wrapped parcel. He stepped away with a large, crumpled ball of paper and tape that might have been merely someone's discarded wrappings if not for its weight. The man carefully peeled away the layers, tucking the scraps into a pocket as he went, until he uncovered a plush toy. Tracing the long ears and crooked tail with his hands, even he could not mistake the shape of a Pikachu for anything else.

He could feel Hester leaning over his shoulder for a look, quivering with excitement. Remembering his brief encounter with the toys in the Jirachi's imaginary bedroom, Cygnus presented the plush to his tiny companion. Hester squealed with glee, twirling through the air with the Pikachu. The toy was nearly twice her size, but she lifted it easily. Merry, merry, merry! she chimed to everyone nearby.

Fin, meanwhile, had excitedly snatched up a colourful red-and-orange package. She dropped the paper and ribbon on the ground once she'd torn it from the box, but Caddie zoomed eagerly around her, scooping the leavings into her sack. The trainer popped the box open to claim her prizes. "Hey, neat!" She set the box down and lifted out the two wind-up Pokémon toys, then wound each up in turn and sent them chattering in circles on the ground.

"Delii!" Caddie waddled after the toys for a few moments, prancing proudly as if in a parade, but she screeched to a halt as they passed the box, realizing there was something more inside. The Delibird was attempting to cram the Oran berries into her beak, bag and all, when Fin caught her.

"Caddie!" The young woman yanked the bag of slightly-squashed berries away from her Pokémon. "You're gonna hurt yourself!"

"Bird! Deli deli!" Caddie protested, reaching for the bag with her flippers, bouncing on her round rear end quite like a rubber ball.

Fin pulled the bag open and set it next to the Delibird, prodding the Pokémon scoldingly, but gently, in the tummy. "Be careful! One at a time!"

Caddie obeyed, but in her own way. She plopped herself onto the ground and tossed several berries, one after the other, into her beak. When she finally stopped to chew, her cheeks protruded and blue juice dribbled down her chin. The gluttonous Delibird paused, looking from the few berries left in the bag, to the Flareon she had "befriended" earlier, and back again. She glanced up at Fin, who'd gone back to being amused by the wind-up toys.

With surprising speed, Caddie bounced to her feet and over to Masked Socks, balancing one of her remaining Oran berries on the Flareon's nose and one on each forepaw. She stopped to stand before her new friend, popping the last berry into her cheekily grinning, stained beak.

Fin grinned widely when Alexa told her she'd brought the gift. "Awesome! Yeah, these are great. I'll have to pay you back by beating you in that battle!"

"She means she'll thank you by giving you a good battle," Cygnus translated with raised eyebrows.

"That's what I said!"

Unperturbed by Socks's refusal, Caddie snarfed the remaining berries from Alexa's hand. The Delibird burped, then flopped backward. She chirped sleepily up at the Flareon and the trainer. "Deli, delibird, birdy del!"

Hester, too, seemed to be tiring. She slid herself into the folds of Cygnus's scarf, letting the Pikachu plush dangle. The Jirachi's eyes were drooping as she murmured one more Merry... merry....

"I think it's about time we put the kids to bed," the blind man quipped.

Niko was busy checking out his secret santa gift. The marble was really shiny when he held it up against the light. It resembled a megastone so much but he knew this one was a fake. If it was real, however, he'd be freaking out about how expensive it is and wonder who would be rich enough to give a megastone away as a secret santa gift.

The boy put the marble inside the smallest box and worked backwards to put the boxes inside a bigger one. He decided to keep all the boxes and will make use of them in the future. Perhaps putting berries in them and gift them away as presents.

He was about to head home when he heard a familiar voice again. It's that girl. Alexa.

"Yeah I did!" he shouted back, and turned around to see where she was. "I just spent all my time putting the gift back together." He showed her the big box in his hands. "It's a marble that looks like a megastone. The gift was hidden in a small box inside a series of boxes. Like those Russian matryoshka dolls. What did you get?"

Niko looked down at the flareon beside Alexa, who seemed to be staring at his Torchic. "Her name is Sia," he told the fire pokemon and resumed back to listening to what the girl had to say.