A soft buzzing hummed through the silence. The ceiling lamps flickered, its aged yellow glow reflecting dimly against the three busied trainers below.

Within the Pokémon Center provided resting quarters, Pokémon Trainer Ash Ketchum, Coordinator Dawn, and Breeder Brock sat around in opposite sections of the room – each of them occupied by thoughts and hopes of what to express on the papers before them.

"Aaaand – done!" Ash slapped the postcard loudly against a stack and grinned proudly.

"You're already fini–" Dawn's intended curiosity was overwhelmed by a larger one, "Why do you have so many?"

The stack the young Trainer had set his card on easily reached up to his shoulder while in his sitting position… this hadn't included the separate pile that Pikachu was currently forming with his paw-stamped letters.

Ash scratched at his chin and gave a slightly embarrassed laugh… "Well, you are supposed to send letters to family and friends you don't normally talk to for New Year's, right?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean EVERY SINGLE PERSON you know! Just the ones curious about your health and life!"

"That's the thing though…" He shrugged and sighed as he struggled to lift the stack into his arms. "Misty got angry at me for not sending her one three years ago… then May got upset when she heard I sent Misty one and not her… then Tracey asked… then Gary… then Angie… then Todd… then everyone started getting on my case about it!"

Ash wobbled to the door – awkwardly, yet confidently. "But this time I KNOW I didn't miss anyone! I'm sending each and every one of them their own postcard!"

Dawn applauded cheerfully. "That's really awesome of you, Ash! You must be a really quick writer if you wrote each of them personal letters before I could even get two done!"

"…personal?" He blinked curiously. "I just wrote that I was fine on them."

The Coordinator fell over, stunned at his simplicity. "R-Really? That's all you wrote?"

"What else am I supposed to write?"

Brock shuffled passed Ash and opened the door for him. "Ash isn't exactly the thoughtful type." he laughed.

"Hey! I'm thoughtful!" Ash defended while still giving a slight bow of thankfulness for Brock's assistance. "I picked out a postcard for each of them!"

"Yeah, at the gift shop here."

"That still counts!"

"There's only three to choose from."

"Still counts!"

Brock and Dawn laughed at their friend's simple honesty.

"Well, I'll be turning these in." Ash nodded towards them. "You think I should give these to Nurse Joy?"

The Breeder shook his head in disappointment. "You really want to have that beautiful nurse struggle with all your notes? No way. Put them in the postbox yourself."

"But that's outside! It's freezing out there! And windy!"

"You should've thought that through before writing that many letters." Dawn lectured playfully. "And don't forget you have to help Pikachu with his stack once he's done~!"

"Pika pika." The Electric Mouse nodded as it continued to make poor pictures with its inked paws.

"Awww, no fair!"

"You better hurry up, Ash. The countdown's starting in ten minutes." Brock warned.

"Yeah, yeah." Ash sighed and muttered as he worked his way down the hallway.

"Come on – come on – come on!" Ash growled as he dove for a postcard that nearly flew into the trees.

With a miraculous snatch, he successfully retrieved it and immediately shoved it into the red postbox.

"And there! Last one!"

He grinned proudly to himself. With a few self-congratulatory nods, he prepared to head back inside – looking forward to the warmth the Pokémon Center so graciously provided.

"U-Um! Excuse me, sir!"

The formal call stopped Ash in his tracks. He turned to see who could have mistaken him for a proper 'sir'.

"You forgot one! I caught it down th–"

…

The voice had stopped with a gasp.

Its owner, a young woman of soft lilac hair and matching eyes, stared at him in complete surprise.

"…Ash?"

"Anabel?" He blinked at her oddly – sharing the same puzzled look. "What are you doing here in Sinnoh?"

"I… uh…" The Frontier Brain's normally calm and cool composure was slowly fading, as she began to take a frantic and flustered appearance. "I actually came here to visit a few relatives."

"Relatives?" Ash glanced at the area around him curiously, noting the Pokémon Center's isolated location – no residences or other buildings for miles and miles. "They live all the way out here?"

"Well no… I guess you could say I got side-tracked." Anabel smiled in odd shyness. "I doubt I'd meet up with them on time now."

The male Trainer laughed in understanding. "I know what that's like. Don't worry about it. I'm sure they'll understand."

…

…

Ash scratched his head in awkwardness, not knowing how to react to the sudden silence. "Uh… so, I'll see you later?"

"W-Wait!"

"Huh?"

The lilac Frontier Brain turned her stares to the ground around her feet. Her nervous eyes darted left and right, showing obvious panic in her thoughts. "I… uhm… Aren't you going to ask what I was side-tracked by?"

"Er… I guess? What were y–"

He was immediately cut off by a letter being pressed against his chest. "Huh?"

"Th-This is for y-you!" Anabel stuttered, her eyes hiding behind her hair – avoiding any and all responsibility of the scene transpiring.

He stared at the envelope oddly. "A New Year's letter? But I didn't even get to write you one."

"Th-That's okay. Just open it."

"Now? It's not New Year's yet."

"P-Please just read it now!"

…

Her insistence made Ash nervous… nervous of the situation… nervous to open the letter… nervous to read it… nervous to even avoid reading it.

Sccrrrrrtch – tch – tch.

His finger tore through the seal.

Inside the envelope, sat a simple card.

There were no designs, no fancied accents, no pre-written poems, no obvious drawings or sketches, or even colorful decorations or patterns.

It was a single, white card – with its message written perfectly and plainly in black ink.

The absolute simplicity of it made Ash even more nervous – making him strangely compare the item to the notes within horror movies… the ones that would spell someone's terrible fate just seconds before it would occur.

With a gulp, he pulled out the card and read each line slowly in silence…

'Happy New Year, Ash!
I'm not sure if you remember me, but my name's Anabel. The Frontier Brain you fought on your way through the Battle Frontier. I tried to teach you and your friend how to use Empathy, remember?

Anyways, I wanted to wish you a Happy New Year and hope for the best things for your journey.

But… that wouldn't really be enough.

You see, every year I always count my Firsts of the New Year. I'm sure everyone does, but I do mine a bit differently… I only really count the one thing I do at the very beginning of the Year, during the very second of the New Year.

Because of this, I have silly things like First Breath, First Blink, First Word, and several more plain and boring items of the Year.

But this time, I wanted to do something different. Something special. Something I wouldn't think was silly or uneventful.

So this year, I wanted –'

"Ten! – Nine!"

Ash's eyes widened as he heard the loud chants echoing from the Pokémon Center. "Oh no! The countdown! I completely forgot!" He turned and was about to run.

"WAIT! D-Did you finish reading it?" Anabel called out desperately.

"FOUR!"

"I'll finish it later!"

Before he could escape, a hand firmly gripped onto his wrist.

"Anabel?"

"TWO!"

In one heavy tug, Ash was spun towards the Frontier Brain. His face showed more than just panic and confusion.

"ONE!"

"Anabel, I really have t–" He fell into silence.

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

The card fell from his hands, as his body had forgotten all control…

Landing softly on the ground below, the note revealed its final words…

'– to share my First Kiss with you.

Love,
Anabel'