PXR Secret Santa Gift SHOWCASE! [2016]

**Suicune's Fire** · 12-26-2016, 02:10 AM

PXR Secret Santa Gift Showcase

Everyone provided their recipient with an awesome gift this year. I think this is the most successful SS event we've had on PXR, which really speaks volumes about how awesome this community is. A huge thank you to all who participated. It's always nice to get that extra something special on Christmas Day (or the 25th of December, for all who don't celebrate it). It can make a huge difference to someone's day and hopefully gives each recipient another positive thing to look back on for 2016.

Anyway, onto the gifts!

Wifi Gifts:

Gift for: @Kaoru

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Gift for: @Corey

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Gift for: @ShadowBolt25

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Non-Wifi Gifts

Gift for: @LKWayvern

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Gift for: @Noblejanobii

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Gift for: @Neo Emolga

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Gift for: @EmeraldSky

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Gift for: @Lunar Latias

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Gift for: @Gef

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Gift for: @Bulbasaur

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Gift for: @Chakramaster

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Gift for: @Liokora

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Short stories:

Gift for @Scytherwolf

Spoiler:

Why would an insect be known as a ‘dragonfly’ if it were not of the Dragon type? For that reason, Fablewing the yanma was utterly convinced he must currently be, or otherwise evolve into, a Dragon type.

When he was but a little larvae, his parents had raised him and his siblings on stories, tales of mythical heroes who, bravely and valiantly, defeated and outsmarted gods and demons on a regular basis. Fablewing took these stories to heart, letting them nourish his imagination and making him feel he was soaring high than he ever could physically.

Most of the heroes of those stories were bugs, as it was a swarm of yanma and yanmega which he lived in. However, it did not escape Fablewing’s attention that all those Dragon typed Pokemon who did make it into his parents’ stories met Legendaries, and had the grandest adventures, while the Bug heroes seemed to have… more mundane tales.

He was determined to be like those Dragons. And for that reason, he wished to be trained by one.

Upon announcing his dream to his peers, however, they called him out for being incapable of distinguishing reality from fiction.

“We can be dragonflies and not Dragon typed!” one of them, named Jadescale, informed him one day. “What, do you think wolfsbane is made up of houndooms, too?”

“Well, no,” Fablewing admitted. “I’m not stupid. It’s a plant. But-- maybe yanmega are Dragons?”

“Silly! Don’t you think they’d have told us?” Jadescale asked.

Fablewing frowned, drawing in his legs and wings. “...Perhaps there’s a megastone that lets us gain a Dragon type upon becoming Mega Yanmega?”

“No one’s found one yet,” Jadescale pointed out. “Fablewing…”

Fablewing unfurled his wings, preparing for liftoff.

“...You know everyone’s worried about you, right? They say you’re going to try to find a big scary swarm of Dragons to be your new swarm, and end up getting roasted and picked apart and gobbled up!” Jadescale told him.

Fablewing shook his head, telling her “Not if I’m a Dragon, too!” before flying off for that day.

It sometimes occurred to him that they informed him this out of worry. However his dreams often overwhelmed this insight, his hope reassuring him that Dragons would accept him as their own if he ever did find them.

And then some miraculous happened.

A Dragon was sighted, in a thickly wooded and overgrown forest just outside the swarm’s territory.

Fablewing was trying to gather up a small silky cloth with a few healing berries, when Jadescale found him.

“Fablewing!” she yelled. “Don’t you dare go after that Dragon!”

Fablewing turned to face her. “It’s okay, I’ll be fine!” he said, more calmly. “Even if it does want to burn me and eat me, which I doubt, I’m still way smaller and faster than it!”

“That’s not the point,” Jadescale pleaded. “Just… just listen! It’s not a normal Dragon, it’s a Hydreigon!”

“Cool!” Fablewing chirped his eyes lighting up.

Jadescale frantically waved her segmented arms. “No! No! Not cool! Yes, you’re small and quick and can dodge. But Hydreigon’s got three heads, that all just want to devour and destroy! They can attack three places at once, it’s like being outnumbered!”

Fablewing laughed. His heart was far too excited at the prospect of meeting the type composed entirely of his heroes to listen to common sense. “I’m gonna be just fine. You all worry too much.”

“Fabl--”

Fablewing took flight and zipped away before Jadescale could even finish her sentence. The other yanma made a frustrated, panicked noise and darted off to alert the elder members of the swarm.

~~~

It took Fablewing about a day to locate the dragon.

He darted around all branches that were in his way, dodging about creepers that obscured his sight, and skimming above the underbrush below. While he did accidentally upset a nest of bounsweet, he managed to defeat one with his Wing Attacks and scare off the others. He felt very proud of himself, as bounsweet was a prey Pokemon that most Bugs in his swarm enjoyed eating, and he was no exception.

The dragon was in a glade near the very edge of the forest, sleeping. Fablewing was surprised to discover it had six fluffy wings, and that two of its heads were small and almost immature looking.

For a moment, Fablewing paused.

He had found the Hydreigon. Previously, his heart had been set on simply finding it and then… what? In his imagination he had simply been… Well, welcomed in by a herd of dragons, and allowed to go on adventures with them. But it probably would not be that simple, now would it?

For example, first Fablewing would have to actually wake the Hydreigon up.

Fablewing flew over to what the young Yanma assumed was the Hydreigon’s main head, and carefully poked the Dragon in the nose.

It did not so much as snore.

“...Mister Hydreigon? Can you wake up please?”

No response.

Fablewing’s wings hummed with the dragonfly’s irritation. And in response, the Hydreigon twitched in its sleep, before curling up and letting out a massive yawn with its main head, jaws gaping in an intimidating manner, giving Fablewing a rather impressive view of the Dragon’s canines. The Dragon then braced itself with its tail, hindlegs, and smaller head while it stretched out its wings and main neck. Finally it blinked all its eyes open, and noticed the young yanma.

“...Well hi there. Who’re you?”

It suddenly struck Fablewing that he was here, With a Dragon. He had seen it sleeping but with it awake, and talking to him… It suddenly seemed far, far different.

“Uh, hi M-mister Headreigon! I mean Hydreigon! I’m Fabulwi-- Fablewing! And I’m a yanma! It’s really nice to eat y-- meet you! Meet you. Umm…”

The Hydreigon tilted his head. “Relax, little dragonfly. I won’t harm you. My name’s Lifesong.”

Fablewing’s heart skipped a beat upon hearing Lifesong refer to him as a dragonfly. His tension seemed to begin sliding away, as all his dreams of being like the dragons in the stories he had been told returned in full force. “Um! Sir--”

“Just Lifesong is fine.”

“Lifesong! I was wondering if you could please teach me to fight in a really cool way like the Dragon types I hear about in myths and stories, please!” Fablewing said rapidly.

Lifesong allowed that to sink in for a few moments, then snorted with laughter. “Hee hee… Sorry, little dragonfly, but no can do.”

Fablewing blinked. “...What? Why? I promise I’ll try my very best to be a good student!”

Lifesong shook his head. “No, no. When you say ‘really cool’, what do you mean?”

“I mean, taking down evil outlaws! Defeating rogue legends! Triumphing over--”

“I don’t do those sorts of things.”

“What?”

Lifesong smiled in a way that made Fablewing feel like the Dragon was trying to say this in the nicest way possible. “...I’m not a warrior.”

Fablewing frowned. “...But you’re a Dragon?”

“Well. Not all Dragons are warriors. Fablewing, was it?”

Fablewing nodded.

“You’re a yanma, right? Are you good at teamwork?”

“...Not really,” Fablewing spoke, glancing away.

“Why not? Bugs are famed for their teamwork.”

Fablewing fidgeted. “I… If I only ever fight in a swarm, how do I do stuff on my own?”

Lifesong nodded. “True. There’s a lot you can do with a team, but things also you can only do on your own… Me, meanwhile? I hate that Hydreigon are always expected to be evil and gluttonous. My tribe when they moved used to cause villages to evacuate! So now I want to make people see what else we Hydreigon can be good at, the less violent stuff we can do. So I want to be a singer!”

Fablewing did a double take. “A singer?”

“Why not?” Lifesong asked. “With two extra heads, I can be my own personal back up singers!”

Fablewing nodded. “Sorry, it’s just… I don’t know. It’s cool! And smart, actually. Just… really not what I was expecting?”

Lifesong frowned. “...I get this often, actually. I’m totally different from what other people hear… Though usually they’re happier at that? Since they hear I’m an evil all-devouring monster.”

The yanma shook his head. “No, no, no! It’s really great, you’re really nice and that is a smart idea! It’s just, I had a different idea from them. I just sort of thought… I don’t know. I thought Dragons were brave strong heroes. I thought I could be like that. I thought you could teach me to stand out from the rest of my swarm, I could prove I was brave on my own, and strong on my own… But I guess I have to do that on my own, too.” Fablewing giggled slightly. “...It’s actually fitting like this, I think?”

Lifesong nodded. “...If you’d like, I could escort you back to your swarm?”

Fablewing shook his head. “I’m alright! Besides… I think the swarm might panic a bit at seeing you…”

“True, that is true… I’ve got a lot of work to do before I reach my goal, and people start expecting different things from Hydreigons,” Lifesong hummed. “Hey, you’ve got a kind of similar goal to me too, don’t you…? I was to be a singer, and most Dragons are heroes. And you want to stand out from your swarm, while most Bugs love teamwork.”

Fablewing shrugged. “...I guess. Yeah. Um… Good luck, Lifesong.”

Lifesong beamed. “Thanks! Bye!”

Fablewing allowed his wings to hum to life for a moment before flying off again. And as he flew, he thought.

...It shouldn’t really surprise him that Lifesong was nothing like the Dragons in the stories he had heard as a larvae. After all, they were just that. Stories and fiction.

Fablewing, distracted by his thoughts, collided with a flower. He flew backwards, and alighted on a branch, sneezing to get the pollen out. Odd, it smelled familiar, in an odd sort of way, but he couldn’t quite place the scent. It made him feel.. Woozy, almost.

Fablewing blinked, shaking himself as he noticed a vine twist itself over his leg. He snipped his leg free with a Wing Attack, only to find that vines had also tied two more of his legs down. It took him several seconds to identify the Grass Knot move, and another moment to realize he was under attack. He batted at his head with one of his wings, and glanced about, looking for the source of the moves. He recognized the scent now, too. Sleep Powder.

He finally found his attacker sitting on a branch behind him. A tsareena chuckling to herself, with a skiploom on her shoulder.

“...Excuse me? I’m not sure why… you’re, uh, attacking me. But… I think you might be mistaking for… For, uh, someone else?” Fablewing asked, trying to bat away the sleepiness with his wings once more. Grass Knots had tied his other legs down, but he quickly tried slicing through them with Wing Attack once more.

The tsareena tilted her head. “Mistaken identity…? You are a yanma, are you not?”

Fablewing nodded.

“Then there is no mistake,” the tsareena said. She stood up, and leaped towards Fablewing with a Hi Jump Kick.

Fablewing spread his wings, and quickly dodged by zipping forwards, before whipping around and sailing back towards the tsareena with another Wing Attack, stopping just short of her neck.

“I don’t remember offending you… Or hurting you. Please let me go now,” Fablewing said, quietly.

“I will not yield to you, insect,” the tsareena hissed.

“...Can you please explain to me why you seem so bothered by me?” Fablewing asked, rather befuddled.

“Can I-- how daft are you?” the tsareena asked, her annoyance becoming more and more apparent.

“...That’s not really an answer,” Fablewing responded.

“You are a yanma, correct?” the tsareena hissed.

“I am,” Fablewing said.

“Did you or did you not attack a nest of bounsweets earlier today?” the tsareena asked.

“That was an accident, I didn’t even notice them until I was right on top of them!” Fabelwing responded quickly.

“And I suppose you accidentally killed and ate one of them as well,” the tsareena snorted.

“I was hungry, that’s like me asking you if you can help absorbing sunlight,” Fablewing retorted.

The tsareena scowled. “No. Not really.”

“How?”

“That bounsweet? That was my sister. The sunlight that I photosynthesize is not alive, and it does not have a family that may miss is. The prey that you hunt? Does.”

Fablewing stared incredulously.

“Of course, you predator species, and you Bug types especially never think about stuff like that though, do you!” the tsareena ranted. “You think because you can kill any of us, and because you’re hungry, you can just kill off any of us, or the youngest of us! And you think we Grass types, because we photosynthesize like inanimate plants, won’t even lift a finger!”

The Sleep Powder was beginning to clear from Fablewing’s mind. He wanted to argue back against the tsareena, but at the moment his mind was not thinking in words. It was thinking in terms of survival.

He finally carried through with the Wing Attack, before using Quick Attack to put some distance between himself and the tsareena. “I’m not the only carnivore! Pick on someone your own size!” He called back.

The tsareena jumped after him, before lashing out with a Double Slap, which he barely dodged. “Idiot. I know you Bugs, you never fight without at least four buddies by your side!”

Fablewing slapped the tsareena’s hands away with yet another Wing Attack. “Just because we like to fight in groups doesn’t mean I can’t fight on my own.”

The tsareena aimed a Trop Kick at Fablewing’s head, but he dodged with another Quick Attack,

“And it just so happens that I’m faster than you, and I’ve got a type advantage!” Fablewing knew it was silly for him to stay and fight, and to purposefully taunt the tsareena. But it almost made him feel… better. Adrenaline was rushing through his veins, compelling him to attack, attack, attack! He felt powerful, superior! He felt like what he imagined the heroes in the stories might feel like!

“...That’s true…” the tsareena grumbled. “However… I do have two advantages over you as well, that you appear to have forgotten about?”

“Oh? And what would those be?”

She nodded at something behind him as she counted them out on her fingers. “Evolution. And numbers.”

Fablewing’s mind connected the dots a moment before a Stun Spore hit him from behind. He coughed frantically trying to get the powder attack out of his lungs, but it was to no avail. He could feel his joints and limbs locking up with paralysis.

The skiploom. He had been focusing entirely on the tsareena, and lost track of it.

The skiploom settled down on the tsareena’s head, as the Grass queen leered down at him. “Right then. Now the real beatdown begi--!?”

The rest of her sentence was drowned out by a monstrously loud sound. Fablewing recognized it as a chord, but it was all vocalization, no words.

The tsareena ducked down, letting out a yelp as she slammed her hands over her ears, the skiploom down the same. Fablewing would have copied them, but was currently paralyzed.

Lifesong landed on the ground with what would’ve been a loud thump, if Fablewing’s ears hadn’t been ringing. Lifesong let out another resounding, oddly musical Hyper Voice aimed at the two Grass types. The skiploom very quickly bounced away.

The tsareena stood up, and leaped at Lifesong with a Hi Jump Kick, fury evident on her face. Lifesong did not even bother to dodge, allowing the Grass queen to hit him-- before giving her a toothy grin, and quickly chomping onto her with three Fire Fangs, one from each head.

The tsareena screamed, and began frantically pushing away from Lifesong. He dropped her, and without any hesitation she swiftly ran off.

After the fight, Lifesong took Fablewing back to the area where they had met, where Lifesong was living temporarily. After about thirty minutes of searching the nearby woods Lifesong found some cheris, which sped up Fablewing’s recovery by quite a bit. Fortunately, Lifesong had arrived just in time to prevent Fablewing from sustaining any serious injuries.

Fablewing seemed reluctant to return to his swarm again. Yes, Lifesong was not what he expected, and his swarm was probably worried about him… But he honestly felt as if he had become friends with the Dragon at some point, and that made him happy.

“...So what was that attack you used to fight off the Grass types?” Fablewing asked Lifesong a few days later.

“Hm? Oh, that was Hyper Voice!” Lifesong said. “I said I wanted to be a singer. No one ever said I couldn’t be an okay fighter as well. And if I can use the stuff I’m good at to fight, too…? Well, even better, right?”

“Do you think I could learn something similar? That was… Actually, really cool,” Fablewing admitted.

“No… Sorry. Although, there’s something similar. Another sound based move that you should learn easily. Have you ever heard of Bug Buzz?” Lifesong asked.

“You mean, y-you mean, like… Like train me? To learn it?” Fablewing asked.

“Well, why not?” Lifesong responded, grinning.

To be trained by a Dragon.

If only his swarm could see him now.

They would see he had fainted from excitement and happiness.

Gift for: @Pokemon Trainer Sarah

Spoiler:

<$20 STEAM GIFT CARD>
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STORY:

Spoiler:

The building shook as an earthquake tore through it. A young bulbasaur clung to the ground as the quake settled before continuing her journey up the stairs. It had been a long war, but now they were reaching a breaking point. And it was all Archaic’s fault.

The bulbasaur quickly ascended the stairs and turned into the first room. Several heads turned as she entered. The first was a bulbasaur with a blue bowtie, her co-commander, Harry. He was observing the progress of the destruction that Archaic had caused. Next to him was the resident programmer, updating the defenses of all the buildings as best he could, Dash the Keldeo. On the bulbasaur’s right were an Emolga and uniquely colored Flareon. The Emolga, Neo, was coordinating an aerial assault on the oncoming armies, as such strategies had been very successful deterrents so far. Finally, the gold flareon known as Super Secret Double Agent Xanthe was busy relaying information for means of strike attacks to her partner, a Shaylava named Super Secret Double Agent Sloane. However, everyone paused in their work as the bulbasaur with a pink bow entered the room.

“Sarah,” Harry said tentatively, “why are you back so soon? I thought you were off to make negotiations with Archaic.” Sarah shook her head and walked to a nearby chair. She climbed into it then gave the group a serious look.

“I was, however, Archaic cannot be reasoned with. At first, I thought just turning the entirety of Bulbagarden’s users into bulbasaurs would have been enough for him. However, the power has gone to his head. He has set his sights onto the whole world now.” There was a collective gasp in the room. This was unsettling news. The Crossroads had been fighting an uphill battle for a long time, as had many other civilizations around the web. To have no end in sight was a horrifying reality. Pokemon Crossroads might have had a chance at victory when Ray was running the show, but ever since his capture at the hands of Evil Figment the Houndoom from Bulbagarden, Sarah had been forced to take over the war. All of the main force feared the worst for Ray, assuming he was either dead or a brainwashed bulbasaur soldier. At this point there was little they could do, since there was no known cure to the weapons Archaic was using.

“There might be a way to fix that,” Harry offered. Sarah turned to look at her fellow bulbasaur. Now he had her attention. “Max mentioned earlier that they had made a breakthrough and wanted to see you when you returned.” Sarah needed no further coaxing. A breakthrough could be just what the Crossroads needed to survive this war. With Pokefarm and Marriland already overrun, it was only a matter of time before they tore through Serebii, Petalburg Woods, and then reached Pokemon Crossroads. Sloane had mentioned that she controlled several smaller scale forums, but that raised many questions of their own. Would they be able to handle all the users from Crossroads? Would they be eventually overrun as well? Could they even evacuate there in time? There were just too many variables with that, so they had to be a last resort.

“Continue your work,” Sarah ordered, “I will go down to see what Max has discovered. In the meantime, keep our defenses as sharp as we can and keep me updated on any urgent developments.” A chorus of “yes ma’am!”’s answered Sarah before all four pokemon returned to work. Sarah turned back to the stairs and began to descend to the floor just below the one she was currently on. She pushed open the door and exited the stairwell to reveal a floor full of scientists and experiments. While normally this place would not be so busy, ever since the beginning of the war, it had been bustling with users from all sorts of backgrounds.

Sarah continued her stretch to a room at the end of the main hall on this floor. She raised her foot and knocked. A soft “come in” answered her. Sarah pushed open the door and looked around in search of the scientist. It took a moment for her to locate the Gible, but she spotted him hidden in the depths of his work.

“Max, you wanted to see me?” The Gible looked up from his work and smiled at Sarah. He leapt down from his stool and rushed over to Sarah.

“Yes I did, my fellow Hooligan! Follow me, I think I made a breakthrough.” Max began to lead Sarah to a deeper part of his lab as he continued to speak. “As you recall, this whole epidemic started because the Bulbagarden community got ahold of our Pikachu Survivor Game technically and modified the weapons to turn everyone in bulbasaurs. However, we have no idea what we did so none of the cures we have work against it. But, recently, I discovered something while experimenting with the cure.”

Max took Sarah deep into his lab where many of the bulbasaurs that had been captured were being kept. Among them was Eric. Eric was already a bulbasaur before the war started, however, he and his partner, Mike, had been sent out on a scouting mission, and Eric sacrificed himself for his pair. He was now a brainwashed bulbasaur, and one of the main bulbasaurs Max worked on to create a cure.

“While working with Eric earlier today, it seems a variation of the cure worked on him.” Sarah looked at the younger bulbasaur. He was currently asleep in his cage. But if the cure had worked, then why was he still in cage? Max seemed to sense Sarah’s doubting and quickly added, “It only worked for a little bit and only on him. I think it may have something to with the fact that he was already a bulbasaur.” Sarah sighed. It was upsetting that this had not worked, but at the same time, there was still a sliver of hope that they were on the right path.

“Thank you for showing me this, Max. It is good to see we are progressing. Is there anything else you wanted to show me?” Max shook his head.

“I’m assuming negotiations did not go well?” he asked with his head slightly cocked to the side. Sarah shook her head.

“Archaic is too far gone. The only thing that can save us now is that cure. We’re depending on you, Max.” Max flushed a little before saluting.

“You can count on me!” he declared before diving back into his work. Sarah turned and led herself out. She was starting to enjoy the silence when a Snivy ran up to her.

“Sarah! It’s urgent!” Sarah stumbled back a bit, startled by the messenger. She recognized the snivy to be the ultra fast Speed-X. “We need to head back upstairs now! Xanthe’s gone crazy.” Sarah needed no further explanation. She followed Speed back upstairs to the headquarters, where they were greeted with a very peculiar sight. In the center of the room, a shrine had been built, filled to the brim with lit candles and pictures of Sloane. Xanthe was currently dancing around it, causing Harry, Neo, and Dash to all stare at her a bit oddly.

"OH MY GOD WE HAVE TO SCOUR THE ENTIRE WORLD. I DON'T CARE IF I ALL OF YOU DIE IN THE PROCESS LOL SOZ. LOCATE HER!!!!!!!!!" she screamed as she danced. Sarah looked at Speed, who only shrugged.

“She claims she’s performing a “Sloane Return Dance”,” Speed explained. Oh great, that was just what they needed. Sloane had been captured. Well there was only one thing they could do.

“Xanthe, I’m going to re-pair you Sam. Sloane’s been officially demodded for like the one gazillionth time.” Xanthe turned to Sarah and put on her “deal with it glasses”.

“I WILL NOT ABANDON MY SUPER SECRET DOUBLE AGENT BUDDY!!!!!” Xanthe then proceeded to jump out the window and noclip’d through the sky towards where Sloane was last sighted. Everyone in the room just stared at the gaping hole in the room, confused as to what just happened. Finally Neo spoke up.

“I think we should go after them. They are some of our best operatives.” Sarah frowned a bit. She did not really want to. After all, they were known as Double Agents for a reason. Sarah had been expecting a coup for almost two years now. It was only a matter of time. But, since Neo insisted, she would allow it.

“All right,” Sarah replied, “send in the Electric Rodent Regime.” Neo saluted then turned back to his computer to relay the orders to Commander Raichu. Moments later, millions of electric rodents could been seen through the giant hole in the wall marching towards the battlefield led by Commander Raichu and his loyal Lieutenant Commanders, Gemma and Chakra. It was such a proud sight that it brought tears to Dash’s eyes. Surely with such a force so large, there was no way they could lose. At least until a giant missile could be seen flying through the air.

“It’s a bulba flu tactical nuke!” Speed exclaimed, “Everybody get down!”

“I’m too young to become a bulbasaur!” Harry yelled before diving under his desk for safety. Sarah ran over to her desk and pushed a button, activating the anti-tactical nuke shields that created a giant Mimikyu costume around the entire building.

“You’re already a bulbasaur!” Sarah yelled back before everything went deafeningly silent when the nuke hit. The five occupants in the room sat quietly until the shield dissolved. Neo was the first to take a look outside, and the sight was terrifying. Every single one of the Electric Rodents was now a brainwashed bulbasaur. Before anyone else could react, Max burst into the room.

“SARAH! I FOUND THE CURE!” Max grabbed everyone in the room and somehow dragged all of them down to his lab where all the subjects were no longer in cages or brainwashed.

“How did you do this?” Speed asked, a little on guard around so many bulbasaurs.

“I dropped this vial of cure into the nuclear blast and by adding a little Corey magic-” Corey poked his head in through a nearby air vent and waved before disappearing, “I was able to cure all these bulbasaurs. If we can just get a tactical nuke and spread the cure everywhere then we can save the day.”

“But how are we going to get a tactical nuke? Those things are impossible to recreate since somebody used them all,” Dash pointed out while glaring at Neo who shrugged as he put on his forever gold sunglasses. Suddenly a Xanthe appeared, busting through the wall holding a Sloane and a tactical nuke.

“DID SOMEONE REQUEST A TACTICAL NUKE!” Grabbing the cure and dropping the Sloane, Xanthe noclip’d back out into the battlefield and proceeded to pull a cooking pot seemingly out of nowhere, mixed everything up, then dropped it on the entire world. AND THUS EVERYONE WAS SAVED.

OR SO THEY THOUGHT!!!

Just as everyone began to celebrate their freedom from the bulbasaur epidemic, Archaic came riding in on a bulbasaurus rex. It appeared the cure did not work on him.

“Surrender to the might of Archaic and the Bulbasaurus Rex!”

“Never!” yelled back a stunningly gorgeous dunsparce in heels, “Sarah defeated you already! You cannot beat our bulbasaur!”

“That’s what she wants you to think!” Archaic replied, “Come Operative 3S^! Your time as a double agent is finally over!” Everyone turned to look at Sarah as she began to laugh maniacally and started to evolve. She grew and grew until she crushed the building and was taller than any form of Corey magic could make someone be. She let out a mighty roar and said,

“FEAR ME I AM THE MIGHTY TRISARAHTOPS!”

Using her trisarahtops magic, Sarah instantly turned everyone back into brainwashed bulbasaurs and defeated all her former comrades. As she walked among the bodies of her old friends, Sloane reached out to her and caught the traitor’s attention.

“Wh-Why Sarah? You were the only thing that kept us going,” Sloane said, “Why would you betray us?” Sarah looked Sloane dead in the eyes and in a deep, bone chilling voice, she answered,

“It’s because games cost too much on Steam.”

Gift for: @Shruikan

Spoiler:

Introducing a Legend

"What's in here?" a brown haired boy asks as he eases a large black bag with a red Nintendo logo prominently displayed on one side from his big brother's closet.

"It has to be something game related...you know how Brock is around his video game related stuff." a girl with similar features grins as she admires the huge bag.

"Actually, if you want to know what's in there, that bag contains an original NES--which still works beautifully--and about sixty games, some peripherals, strategy guides, and some rare items." Brock explains as he takes the bag from his little brother. "So if you two will join me in the rec room, I'll hook this up and show you some of my digital treasure trove."

"Come on, Terra!" the younger boy calls to his sister, excited to see the ancient console in action.

"Right behind you, Forest!" Terra calls as she follows her brother into the rec room, where Brock is carefully wiring the ancient console to the TV.

After making sure his setup is working, Brock opens the bag's largest compartment. "Let's see here...'Kid Icarus'...'Tetris'...'RC Pro AM'...'Metroid'...'Punch-Out'...'Dr. Mario'...all six 'Mega Man's, the Mario trilogy...'Dragonite Warrior' and 'Dragonite Warrior 2'...'Final Fantasy'...'The Legend of Zelda'...

"Let's try that one!" Forest suggests.

"What's this?" Terra, meanwhile, is more interested in a skinny cartridge-like device in another pocket.

"That is a Game Genie." Brock explains before taking the skinny cartridge-like device and the 'The Legend of Zelda' cart. "It is known for being one of the first cheat peripherals, and being the
only one for the most popular console in the world, so It has certainly built a reputation for itself." he smiles before blowing the dust from the ancient cartridge.

"Wow!" Forest and Terra are impressed.

"I won't go into all the details on how it came to be and how it was eventually discontinued, but if you do want to learn more, Pokepedia should prove a good jumping off point for your research." Brock assures his siblings before showing them how to hook up the cartridge-like device. "First, firmly but gently push the cart into the port underneath the black harness thing." he explains as he does this to the Zelda cart. "You want to be sure that it is pushed all the way down and that the game's label is facing towards the harness, like this." He shows off his handiwork for a moment, then warns Forest and Terra "I will warn you guys now: never plug or remove a Game Genie or game while the NES is turned on. If you do, you run the risk of being shocked--so always make sure everything is turned off before you attempt to connect or remove anything."

"Got it!" Forest replies.

"Okay--since everything's turned off right now, we can put the Game Genie in safely." Brock continues, explaining what he is doing as he performs the next step. "So you push the other free end of the Game Genie into the NES' slot, ensuring it is pushed all the way in and the lid is able to close."

He gestures to his handiwork. "If you did everything correctly, the lid should rest on the ridges imprinted on the black harness and be in line with the 'close line', like I have it here."

He next hits the POWER button. "So if we power everything on, we should see the Game Genie's Code Screen."

"So that's what that screen with the letters and blanks is..." Forest muses.

"Since Zelda can get pretty hard in the late game, I'm gonna first enter in an infinite life code--so this way, Link is effectively invincible." With that, Brock proceeds to type "AVVLAUSZ" on the first line.

A thought occurs to him as he types "SZVXASVK" on the second line and "SZNZVOVK" on the third line. "Might as well have infinite rupees and infinite bombs too." he explains before pressing START, making the majestic title theme blare into the room.

"Pretty!" Terra smiles as she and Forest listen to the entire attract loop.

After allowing the title screen loop to play once, Brock wastes no time in creating a character, christening it "LINK". "Shall we?" he grins as he begins the game.

Forest watches as Brock's Link first obtains a sword, then wastes no time in mowing down waves of enemies. "You've played this before, haven't you?" he notes.

"Yeah...although I will confess I have never finished the game." Brock replies as he makes his way to a familiar area with a bridge, then crosses it to reach Braviary, the first labyrinth...

**Bulbasaur** · 12-26-2016, 02:19 AM

So can I reveal who I gifted?

EDIT: @Liokora I'm really sorry my gift didn't turn out better. I'm not much of an artist and finals consumed my life. But that Mew was my work.

**Noblejanobii** · 12-26-2016, 02:33 AM

Speaking of @Liokora I'm making my guess that this is my secret santa!

**Suicune's Fire** · 12-26-2016, 02:44 AM

Whoever wants to reveal themselves can if they so desire! People may guess, and people don't have to admit to making a gift if their recipient guesses correctly. It's all up to you!

**Neo Emolga** · 12-26-2016, 03:27 AM

I WAS THE SECRET SANTA FOR...

Spoiler:

**Suicune's Fire** · 12-26-2016, 03:41 AM

TWO people have revealed themselves!!! Neo Emolga already knows that I was his gift-giver. XD A fill-in gift which I had a lot of fun with! :D Neo I love the creepy hollow eyes! XD EmeraldSky really did get spoiled. :3