As the twenty third of December rolled around, Ash sat near the Christmas 
tree, organizing the gifts. He decided to organize them according to who was 
getting the gift. Tracy had already brought over the gifts he bought, the 
gifts from Professor Oak, the gifts from Gary, Gary’s sister May, Gary’s 
parents, and a gift that was addressed to May Oak from Your Love.  Ash 
snickered at the thought of Tracy having a crush on Gary’s sister. He had 
organized all the gifts, when he realized that May, Max and Brock never got 
Misty a present. He had seen the box that they were going to put it in, but 
not the present.
He wondered what they’d get Misty. Maybe a giant Tentacool doll, as the box 
looked big enough to fit a person. He had already bought Misty his gift to 
her, but he didn’t tell anyone what it was. Brock thought it was probably 
jewellery. Now that Ash was seventeen, he must have known that girls like 
jewellery.

When nine o’clock came around, Ash went to his bedroom to get ready for bed. 
May and Max were staying in the guest bedroom, and Brock was sleeping on the 
couch in the family room. Ash was surprised to see his outfit on the floor, 
with May measuring it.
“May?” asked Ash.
May jumped. “Hi Ash, good to see you. Just laying out your clothes for you, 
seeing how busy you are getting ready for Christmas, I thought I’d lend a 
hand! See you!” May said all this really quickly, and then flew out the door. 
Ash was dumbstruck, but too tired to care, so he changed into his pyjamas, 
brushed his teeth, and went to bed.

As May ran as fast as she could, she brought the measurements to Brock.
“What’s wrong?” asked Brock as May flew down the stairs.
“He almost caught me,” whispered May. Then she gave a sheet of paper to 
Brock.
“Good,” said Brock as he looked at the paper. “This means we need five meters 
of ribbon.”
“Max got Misty the Tentacool doll,” said May. “Good idea to give two gifts. 
The first one may seem too much like a gag gift.”
It was two hours until Christmas, and Ash was nervous. Misty was going to be 
there tomorrow. Every decoration was put in place, and everything was ready 
for tomorrow’s party. Misty had called earlier that day to tell him that 
she’d be spending New Year’s with him as well, so she’d be sleeping at Ash’s 
on the night of the 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th, and 31st.  Overly 
excited, Ash cleaned his room (something he hadn’t done in five years) and 
set up an air mattress. He was going to give Misty his bed.
He was so excited that he didn’t even notice three shadowy figures come up 
from behind him, and before he knew it, there was a chloroform soaked rag 
covering his nose and mouth.
As Ash collapsed, Brock caught him, and brought him to his bed. He changed 
Ash’s clothes into what Ash was planning on wearing the next day, and with 
the help of Max and May, started tying Ash up with a ribbon. The ribbon was 
strong, so no matter how hard Ash could struggle, he wouldn’t be able to 
break it. Max had already cut holes in the big box, and May and Brock put Ash 
in the box on top of the stuffed Tentacool.
Ash didn’t wake up.