When Ash finally woke up, he couldn’t talk. Somebody had bound and gagged 
him, and put him somewhere. It was stuffy, and the only light he could see 
came from little air holes in the walls. Ash knew he was in a box. Ash also 
knew he was at the party, because he heard Misty ask where he was. In 
response, he heard May giggle. 
Ten minutes passed, and people started opening presents. He felt the box he 
was in being dragged along the floor.
“This one’s for you Misty,” he heard Brock say.
“Dear Misty,” Misty was reading the card on the box, “We didn’t know what to 
get you for Christmas, so we decided to get you something you’d like.” Misty 
was more reading to herself then anyone, as everyone was opening their gifts 
at the same time. “So, we hope you like our gift. Your friends, Max, May and 
Brock.”
Misty went in to open the gift. Ash started to worry. What would she do? 
Would she scream? Would she say that this was a stupid joke? If she did, Ash 
would agree with her.
As the top of the box was taken off, light flooded into the box. Ash saw 
Misty’s silhouette as she looked into the box. Misty reached into the box, 
and pulled out the stuffed Tentacool that Max had put in the box with Ash. 
“Oh! It’s so cute! I love it!” Misty said, and then she put the Tentacool 
into the box, on top of Ash, closed the box, and dragged it into the kitchen. 
There, where nobody else was, she opened the box, and took the gag out of 
Ash’s mouth.
“Just what I always wanted,” said Misty mockingly.
“Ha, ha,” said Ash in mock laughter. “This isn’t funny.” Misty was laughing. 
“Could you please untie me?” 
“I don’t know…” taunted Misty. “What are you gonna do for me?”
“What do you want?” asked Ash. The playful expression on Misty’s face was 
gone, and was now replaced with that of confusion.
“Well… I don’t really want anything.”
“Did you open my gift yet?”
Misty picked up a small gift.
“To: Misty. From: Ash,” she recited.
When Misty opened the gift, her face became as white as the snow outside. 
Then, in a matter of seconds, it changed from white to cherry red. Inside the 
small box was a golden locket, shaped as a heart. Inside the locket, there 
was a picture of Ash, and a picture of Misty. Misty looked at Ash, who was 
just as red as she was. 
“You can sleep in my bed,” said Ash, trying to change the subject.
“Will you be in it too?” Ash laughed nervously.
“Funny.”
“I’m serious.”
Ash’s eyes opened wide.
“Why don’t you untie me?”
Misty laughed, and untied Ash. Finally free, Ash got out of the box, and 
stretched.
“I’m going to kill those three,” said Ash.
“I love you too,” said Misty. She didn’t catch herself saying it until it was 
too late, but she’d said it. Ash took the locket he gave her for Christmas, 
and put it around her neck.
“I’ll buy you a ring next year.”
“You know, I seriously want to know, are you going to be sleeping in your bed 
too?”
“I’m sleeping on an air mattress.”
“What if I said ‘please’?”
Ash laughed. Then, he decided he’d salvage at least a bit of his plan. He 
just didn’t do it very well.
“Why don’t we continue this conversation under the mistletoe? I mean, in the 
doorway.”
Misty grinned, and then stepped into the doorway, with the mistletoe right 
above her head.
Ash walked up to her, and Misty grabbed him, and moved him so they were both 
in the doorway. They were in the doorway to the pantry, which wasn’t very 
wide, so their faces were inches apart.
Unsure of what to do, Ash tilted his head to his left, while Misty did so to 
her right. Then they tried the opposite. Misty was getting fed up.
“Ash, just stop for a sec.” Misty grabbed Ash’s shoulders. Ash was a few 
inches taller then she was, so she looked up into her eyes.
Then, she leaned in, and kissed Ash on the lips. Ash grabbed her, and held 
her close to him. They didn’t stop kissing until they heard somebody clearing 
their throat. They abruptly stopped, and turned to see Gary.
“Gary?” said Ash as Misty pulled away from his lips.
“You’re kind of in my way Ash-y boy. I need to get the Christmas cookies out 
of there.”
Ash blushed, but stood aside.
“What’s that?” asked Ash, as he saw something in Gary’s hand.
“My cell phone. I’m putting up new wallpaper.”
“Let me see,” Ash said, grabbing the phone out of Gary’s hand. Ash saw him 
and Misty kissing. They looked good. 
“What are you doing?” asked Gary.
“I’m sending this to my phone,” responded Ash. “I look good in this!”
Misty laughed, then kissed Ash on the cheek, and said to him, “You’ll have 
plenty more photo opps.”
Ash and Misty ran upstairs. Gary was left standing in the pantry, holding his 
cell phone. He looked down on his cell phone. He saw the picture that he took 
of Ash kissing Misty. And he saw five words in the caption of the picture.
ASH AND MISTY LOVE FOREVER.