"Baby Don't Cry, I hope ya got ya head up,
                                                    Even when the road is hard,
                                                    Never Give up" 


   I woke up the next morning at around 9:00 and hopped down from my bunkbed. I noticed Misty was still 
asleep and I got dressed in the bathroom, wearing my usual jeans timberland boots and a black hooded 
sweatshirt. I walked out of the hotel room and made my way down to the first floor of the pokemon center 
and to the counter where Nurse Joy was typing something in on the computer.
   "Hello, Nurse Joy." I said. She looked up at me, smiling.
   "Hello. Would you like your pokemon? They're completely healed." She put six pokeballs across the 
counter and I took them and clipped them on my belt, smiling. I grabbed Houndoom's ball and called it out. 
I thanked Nurse Joy and began walking back up to my room.
    "Oh, there you are." Misty greeted me as I stepped into the hotel room. She stretched and got out of bed.
    "I was getting my pokemon back." I said. Misty nodded as she grabbed some pants and a sweatshirt, we 
were all dressing differently because of the cold. She walked into the bathroom and I played with 
Houndoom.
    A little while later, after Misty got her pokemon we walked down the hall to Ash's and Brock's room, 
where they were just talking. Ash and Brock had already gotten they're pokemon.
    "You guys hungry?" Misty asked them. They nodded and jumped up. So we all walked down to the 
restaraunt for the trainers. We sat down in a booth and I had to tell Ash the change in plans.
    "Ash, I was doing the math last night, and it turns out that you have one day to get Pryce's badge, and 
that's today." I said, Ash's mouth dropped as Pikachu hit its forehead with its paw. "If you want to get to the 
party in time, it takes two days to walk there from Cherrygrove City. So if you don't get the badge, we'll 
have to stop here after new years." I announced. The other three looked alittle shocked and Ash nodded 
reluctantly.
    "Pryce uses Ice, so I should use..." Ash started.
    "Fire." Brock answered for him. Ash nodded, and looked at pikachu.
    "I have Cyndaquil, which is my only fire pokemon right now..." Ash said sadly, before getting an idea 
and looking at me. "Unless...Eden, will you let me borrow your Ninetales, Flareon and Houndoom?" He 
asked. I shook my head.
    "NO! They won't listen to you, your  not their trainer." I snapped. Ash did an anime fall and sat back up, 
embarassed.
    "Oh, yeah..." He mumbled. I shook my head as the waiter served us our food and went to another table.
    Brock pulled out a map of Cherrygrove City and the places around it. He leaned over to me.
    "Where do we go from Cherrygrove City?" He asked, pointing to Cherrygrove City. I traced an invisible 
line which were really trails that I would go on to get to my Aunt's house. It took us through the woods and 
over a bunch of hills. After I did that, I sat back and  thought about something.
    "You know, Ash, if you still have your Tauros's, we could get there a little sooner. Or we could use my 
two Rapidash." I declared, taking a sip of my orange juice.
    "I still have them. Why would that make us get there quicker?" He asked. Misty was feeding togepi, but 
she listened.
    "In Cherrygrove City, we can rent or buy a sleigh. We should probably just buy a sleigh, there as much as 
renting one is. And since there are some hills, we can get over them easier if we just have something to pull 
the sleigh." I explained. Ash nodded.
    "Then how long would that take?" Misty asked.
    "Well, we have to walk through about nine miles of this forest and that's full of rivers and rocks to climb, 
so that part should take from 10:00 in the morning till 6:00 at night, because some of it is really steep. Then, 
after that part we have about a large plains area, so we could fly across that and be there by eight that night. 
But, it does depend on the weather and our pokemon, if they're strong enough to pull us all for two hours 
across there." I finished. Ash looked alittle relieved.
    "How much is a sleigh?" Brock asked. I shrugged.
    "I think $450, but I'm not sure. We could rent one for a little less though. But if it gets damaged in any 
way, we have to buy it, so I'm guessing we might as well buy it." I told them. We talked for a while and Ash 
went off to battle Pryce, and came back at the pokemon center about three hours later, showing off his new 
badge.
    That night we all went out shopping for our families and friends along the streets of Mahogany Town. I 
bought toys for my pokemon, jewlery for my Mom and some other presents for Brock, Ash and Misty. I 
also  got their pokemon some toys too.
    That night we all went to our rooms at the pokemon center and I started wrapping the presents I bought 
with Misty with some wrapping paper I had bought earlier. As Houndoom rested, I wrapped all of its 
present and everyone elses. Misty and I talked about how the holidays used to be like when we were kids 
and our family traditions. We laughed at random holiday memories as the snow fell lightly on the ground 
outside.