A/N: Time for more Sonic! It's the holidays and I haven't written anything. Let's fix that, shall we? I randomly had the idea for a rather short chapter story with Christmas hi-jinks. And the Sonic Team is just quirky enough to do that with. Call it cliché. Call it overdone since there's already two others up now. All I know is I needed to do a holiday special for something other than Sword Art Online. (Even though I'll do that anyway.)
Other than that, I hope everyone will enjoy this story as much as you guys are enjoying the holidays. As a gift from me to you, a fanfic, have fun!
A Sonic Team Christmas
Snow covered the area outside in a white blanket, masking the familiar green of Mystic Ruins. That included a wide plateau where a red and metal colored building stood nearly covered in it. The few sounds that broke the peaceful quiet outside came from the second floor, inside one of the rooms. Every few seconds a rustling of fabric was heard and sometimes the springs of a mattress. Underneath the moving dark red covers, long blue quills poked out and moved back and forth with their owner. After shifting a few more times, a blue head fell face first into the pillow and the bed's occupant lay completely still. Sonic the Hedgehog, half-asleep, decided he needed a few more hours of sleeping on his stomach. Few more hours…
"SONIC!"
Sonic closed his eyes tighter and kept them closed like that, hoping the voice he heard would go away and just let him have five more hours.
"Sonic! It's time to wake up. There's more prep to be done!"
Sonic groaned in effort and tried to push himself up off the bed. Instead his arms gave out and he flopped back on his cushy bed, and let out a huge sigh.
"Welp! I tried. But the bed is too soft. Looks like Tails is going ta' have to handle that on his own."
Sonic nestled back into the sheets and closed his eyes, about to drift off again before he heard Tails shout back up to him.
"If you need to wrap any presents, I suggest you do it now before I put the wrapping paper back in the closet!"
The hedgehog heard the fox's footsteps go away back down the stairs. He nearly fell back into dreamland until the words his little buddy said hit him.
"Wrap…presents…presents?"
Sonic's eyes shot open in surprise as he realized what was wrong. He forgot to get presents for the holidays.
"PRESENTS!"
He would have used his trademark speed to get ready and finally get those presents. But the blankets he snuggled into caught him and sent him face first into the floor instead. Sonic heard a few footsteps from the hallway and a concerned Tails ask, "Are you alright in there, Sonic?"
"Yeeahhh…I'm a'okay buddy. Aghhhh."
This was going to be a long day...
Meanwhile, another hedgehog somewhere else was having less of a rude awakening then her blue friend. The clock ticked again, turning on an alarm that put the radio on. A pink hand reached over and gently clicked the 'Off' button. Amy Rose sat up in bed and stretched her arms above her head with a dainty yawn.
"Time to greet the day."
Removing the covers and stepping down from the bed, she lazily padded over to her closet. Pulling the door open, the first thing that came into view were three copies of her trademark red dress.
Amy shivered when she realized just how cold it was.
"Too cold for that…"
Amy instead pushed past them and pulled out other pieces of clothing for a warmer outfit. Amy yawned once more, bringing the clothes with her into the connected bathroom, eager to get ready for the day.
Back at Sonic's, things could have been a little better. The blue hedgehog was hurriedly pushing his arms into a winter jacket and stuffing toast in his mouth. He ran back out into the main room where Tails was seated near his workbench with a tangle of multi-colored lights.
"Arf yug unna bee alrife?"
Tails looked up to find Sonic still shrugging on a coat trying to talk with a mouth full of toast.
"Umm, sorry. Run that by me again?"
Sonic looked down to remember he was busy eating and tore the bread out.
"I said, are you alright here buddy?"
Tails rolled the line of lights around a bit before looking back up at him.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Just want to see if I can get my decoration plans done." Tails cocked an eyebrow at Sonic, finally noticing the clothes and rushed breakfast. "Come to think of it, where are you rushing off in a hurry?"
Sonic's eyes blasted open and his mind raced to find an excuse that wasn't, 'I forgot to buy everyone's presents, I'm a terrible friend. BYE!'
"Oh. I'm just stretching the old leg muscles. Going to take a walk around town and see the sights. I'll be back before you know it."
Tails was about to question his friend anyway, but in the end, he cared more about the decorations being done. "Okay then. Stay out of…"
With a slam of the front door and a blast of wind, Sonic slipped out of the workshop before Tails could finish. "…trouble." The fox let his brother-in-spirit be and instead went back to his Christmas lights. "Now…What can we do to replace you 40 watt incandescent beauties with fusion power?"
Shadow didn't understand many things about humans still. One of those things always happened to be the holidays. Everyone universally became infected with this 'cheer' concept and even the grumpiest souls were approachable. Everyone worshiped this round jolly fat guy, who wasn't Eggman thankfully, with white hair, a big beard, and practically defines the meaning of breaking and entering. Except this thief gave you gifts and traveled the world in a sled pulled by magic reindeer. Who would worship a 'magic' man who breaks into your house with reindeer and a sleigh, it just didn't make sense.
With every year that rolled by, Shadow decided people in general were just crazy. Cutting down and putting up trees in their own home, wrapping the town in green and red, it just didn't make sense. He never felt this way every winter. He always felt the same as he usually does. He thought about this as he walked down Station Square's streets. People were getting done their last-minute shopping or just breathing in the sites. He got used to the people, he just couldn't-
"HO HO HO! Be merry, be happy!"
-stand hearing that all month. Shadow's head snapped and his dark red eyes focused on the bell-ringer dressed as Mister Snatch-And-Run himself. The red and white outfit, the long white beard, the jolly attitude was all there. Shadow knew these guys got paid to stand around and play pretend with the myth to fool kids and get people in the spirit. But even Shadow had his limits considering they put these guys everywhere.
"A penny goes a long way!"
Many of the Clauses happened to also be charity bell ringers too. Shadow didn't have a problem with charity or donations, he had a problem with the fact nine out of the ten of them were the fake Santa's. And after having to deal with that blue copy of a hedgehog every other day, he honestly doesn't do well with imitators. For a second, Shadow started to wonder if there was a real Santa.
The hedgehog shook his head and sighed. This winter air was getting to him. Deciding to cut his walk short, he headed the other way to try to find some peace, quiet, and place with a little less St. Nick.
"Christmas…bah!"
Though as he turned and walked away, he couldn't help but throw a final look back at 'Santa.'
Amy trudged through the tightly packed snow still left on the sidewalk, headed straight for the post office. She put in work for this holiday season. She wasn't going to let anyone tell her otherwise. She planned and invited everyone to a completely plotted out Christmas party at her house. She had a huge Christmas feast ready to cook. And she got her shopping done early, mail ordering most of her presents so she didn't have to deal with the hassle of mall shopping. Right now, she was feeling pretty proud of herself. Now all she had to do was pick them up.
Today was the date and time when the package were set to arrive. Neither sleet, nor rain, nor hail would keep her from them. Now, standing in front of the post office, all she had to do was get in and out, two cardboard boxes of gifts richer.
"Alright, Rose. It's time to get Christmas started."
With a deep breath, she pushed the door open and headed inside.
Sonic hopped off the Station Square train and immediately started off down the street. Barreling through the crowd with, "S'cuse me. Pardon. Watch the diet, man!" The sidewalk ran out of a crowd to block him and instead the Square's mega-mall was in view. Sonic wasted no time in charging through the glass doors and skidding to stop. There were people getting done last-minute shopping like him. Too many people. And he knew that the 'City Hero' title only carried him so far when it came to cutting in line for holiday shopping.
Sonic gulped nervously, regretting about how he should have gotten his shopping done sooner. Sonic reached up and slapped himself across the face. Regaining his nerves, he put on his best grin. Sonic The Hedgehog stood up to tougher things than holiday shopping.
"Alright, Station Square Mall, give me your best shot!"
On the other side of Mystic Ruins lied another highlight of the island, the huge gemstone called the Master Emerald. Even though it should have been covered in snow and frost, the gemstone looked well maintained and shined brighter than normal. That would be thanks to its diligent guardian, Knuckles the Echidna. Knuckles was casually laid back against the side of the emerald with his legs crossed. His eyes closed, scarf around his neck, while he spun a delicate little pink and red card in his hand. An invitation courtesy of Amy Rose.
'Nice of Amy to shoot me an invite.'
He started to spin the card in the opposite direction and whistle out a tune. Usually, the echidna would take the invite a little easier, instead he was over thinking it. The main reason he didn't want to go was the duty he had to the master emerald. Keeping it safe being a pretty time-consuming job. Recently he'd only leave it when he absolutely knew it was safe. Mainly from Eggman or the batgirl extraordinaire herself. Though Eggman hasn't shown up at all during the month. With Rouge, Knuckles knew she wouldn't pass up the holiday season just to argue and fight with him for hours over the huge gem. Meaning the emerald was free from harm now and probably would stay this way until the end of the month.
'Old Egghead is gone. Rouge is nowhere in sight. Maybe I deserve a little break.'
He decided doing something else would be a nice change of pace. Now he just needed something to do. Knuckles began to rack his brain for options.
'Tails Workshop? Nah, Sonic would probably be out for one of his stupid runs. And I don't want to walk in on Tails again when he's in full swing. I still have nightmares from the last time I was a 'volunteer' during testing.'
Knuckles shuddered slightly at the resurfaced memory and quickly pushed it back down.
'I haven't seen how they decorated Station Square this year. Maybe I'll start there.'
Knuckles took one look at the invite. It said Amy was hosting a little Christmas party get-together for the team. Though Knuckles had plenty of free time to kill considering the date on the card was two days away. Knuckles, the patient guardian, was starting to get bored out of his mind sitting around and missing out on the festivities. Gripping the card, he tucked it inside his scarf and jumped up from his spot on the ground.
'Yeah! I am going to take a walk. The emerald is completely safe for now.'
With a confident stride, Knuckles set off toward the train platform. Not even twenty steps later his determination faded and he slowed down, each step taking an eternity to finish. After a few more he just stopped in place as this sickening feeling rose up in him. Looking back over his shoulder at the Master Emerald, seeing it defenseless only made it worse.
'Maybe I should stay for a few more minutes. Just in case.'
Knuckles made an immediate 180 and a little too eagerly ran back to the emerald he started having second thoughts about.
While Station Square had been covered in a nice layer of fluffy snow, the suburbs and the quiet outskirts of the city were much the same. The only difference was the once blue lakes and bodies of water froze into natural ice rinks. At this time, everyone would have already gone back home. Yet the sounds of crunching snow and ice begged to differ. The sounds turned into a screeching skid as the floppy ears and bright orange came into view.
"Cheese, let's get going."
The small rabbit yelled out to her chao companion who fell behind its owner, protesting from the cold and wind.
"Chao! Chao!"
"We need to get home, I don't want mom to worry!"
Cream ran as fast as she could in her puffy orange winter coat and long golden-yellow scarf. Putting a little more effort into flying, Cheese picked up the last bit of speed and whined out in effort. The little chao gave up after finally catching up to Cream, grabbing her flowing scarf and dropping like a stone. Thankfully, the little chao was so light it only fluttered in the wind with the scarf.
Determined to get home, Cream skipped and sprinted past frozen houses and forests, reaching a very quiet part of the land with only a few houses. When she saw the one she recognized, she picked up her pace. She went so fast she was barely able to stop on her heels at the door of the small cottage, home of her and Vanilla.
Digging in her pocket, she took out her key and forced it into the lock. After rushing inside and realizing she was in the clear, she calmly closed the door behind her.
"Mom, I'm home!"
"In here, honey!" The sound came from the kitchen where Cream could already hear shuffling and the clinking of bowls and pans. Cream kicked off her shoes and headed in. Standing at the kitchen entrance, her now warmed nose assaulted by the scents of various baked goods. Cookies, fudge, rice treats, marshmallows, chocolate…
"Where were you, Cream?"
Vanilla's voice snapped Cream out of the food hallucination as she turned to her mother with bowl and mixing spoon in hand. She walked over to the table carefully unraveling her scarf when she noticed Cheese nestled inside of it and placing it down on the island counter in the middle of the room. Then she started up with her explanation.
"Ah. Um…Cheese and I wanted to go ice skating. So we headed out to the frozen lakes and I guess we lost track of time. Sorry…"
Cream trailed off with an apology, playing with one of her ears nervously. Vanilla stopped mixing, looking over at her worried daughter.
"That's fine, sweetie, just make sure to tell me first. And be careful. I don't want you walking around at night." Cream brightened up and took her hands of her ear, placing them up on the counter. Vanilla placed her hand on Cream's, noticing something as she gripped her hand tighter.
"Cream, your hands are freezing!" Vanilla also felt her forehead and neck. She was colder than she thought. "That won't do. Let me get some hot chocolate made." Not even a second passed before she had milk heating and chocolate powder on the table too. Cream even wondered where she got that from. Not a minute later, a steaming mug was in front of the smaller rabbit, waiting to be tasted.
"Oh, thank you." Cream decided not to argue, drinking warm mug two gulps at a time. She was also thirstier than she thought.
A knock at the door interrupted Vanilla, making her step away from the counter. "I'll go get that." Vanilla went to check the front door, completely leaving the kitchen.
Cream barely heard her as she downed the last of the hot chocolate, placing the mug down with a satisfied 'Ah.' When the realization hit that she had no more left to drink, she frowned. Cream was still really thirsty. With her mom answering the door, she didn't want to bother her. Instead she decided to get a drink herself.
Heading over and opening the fridge, Cream's eyes scanned the shelves. Her eyes froze on a dull purple carton with wispy text near the top. 'Eggnog.' They always had that stuff in the fridge around Christmas time. A lot of Christmas movies make jokes about it and how addictive it is. She knew that Sonic and the others liked to drink it around this time too. She just never bothered trying it herself. Until now…
Cream pulled the carton out and poured herself a mug full. Quickly stuffing the carton back in, she went back to her mug. Even though it was just a sip of eggnog, she didn't know what to expect. Her excitement increasing as she tilted the mug and took her first sip. And from that first sip, it was all downhill…
Rouge the Bat was a spy and a…'collector of artifacts and valuables' as she likes to refer to herself. But even she had her limits and the charitable nature of the season didn't stop her from getting a stack of presents half her height. The stack of presents took an entire day of shopping, but she was still able to find the perfect gifts for everyone. With the day behind her, she headed back to her apartment with hands full of boxes and bags.
Carefully balancing the gifts in one hand, she unlocked the apartment and backed through the now unlocked door. Before she lost balance, she dumped the stack on a table next to her couch. She took off her stylish winter coat and hung it at the door. Coat hung and presents delivered, Rouge decided to take a well-deserved stretch.
"Shopping? Done. My gifts are perfect too. Now I just have to wrap these little babies up and I'm good." While she headed toward the closet, she could hear her cell phone's ringtone start up from within her bedroom. Rouge couldn't believe she forgot it before leaving the house. She went to go answer it, wrapping could wait.
What Rouge failed to notice when she set the presents down was the fact the table was set next to an open window, letting in the night air. Along with the open window, a very distinct creak sound could be heard from one of the legs.
Blaze loved the look of the kingdom at Christmas time. The winter is a harsher season than the summer for many reasons, but there was something about the look of the pure white snow in the streets that brought about a nice calm. Its grace as it slowly came down and covered the land. The pure and delicate image it provided to the land. The amount of joy it brought both kids and adults alike. Of course, she also knew how ironic it was for her to be putting something cold in a good light.
With all the snow to admire, it made her almost forget why she walked these streets. When she very nearly ran into a wooden door, she decided to take a breath and focus. The doorstep she stopped at happened to be the one she wanted. There was nothing out of the ordinary about the house, it looked the same as all the others in the village. But the owner of the house was the one reason this house was important to her. Brushing off any stray flakes, she started making herself look as presentable as she could. When she felt satisfied, she rapped her knuckles against the wooden door, hoping her friend was home.
Blaze heard a very muffled, "Come in!" from inside and pushed open the door.
"Hello, Silver. I came to see how-" Blaze's mouth hung open mid-sentence at the sight before her. Said Silver the Hedgehog sat on the ground with paper loosely hugging the box between his legs. Silver also had a spiral dispenser of bow in his hand for tying the box not tied around the box, but wrapped around his head and quills instead. When Silver looked up from his project, his face dropped and he stopped everything he was doing. Blaze glanced to the side of the hedgehog to see he had one box wrapped perfectly. A prime example of how present boxes should be wrapped. Then two more that were exactly like the one he had in front of him.
Silver let out a meek chuckle and put on a nervous smile trying to think of how to explain this one. "Hey, Blaze. I didn't expect you so early. Just getting some…gift…wrapping stuff done?" He trailed off like it was a question, which it really shouldn't have been. It didn't help that the rest of the house that Blaze could see had been filled with unrolled wrapping paper and bows and strings circling and hanging from parts of the room.
"Silver, I think you might need help at this point."
"No, no, no." Silver managed to sit up and shake off the gift wrapping material. "I'm ok. I'm fine." Keeping up his act, he tried to convince Blaze by waving his hands off like it was no big deal. But then he noticed the look Blaze was giving him. A deep stare with an unamused scowl, Silver could swear he saw a fire ignite in her eyes. Oh no…
Silver huffed and dropped the act entirely. "Alright. I'm just wrapping up the rest of these gifts. But, it isn't exactly going so well." His messy uncombed fur shifted as he scratched his head in disappointment. Blaze simply gave a sigh and took pity on her psychic friend. What kind of person would she be if she didn't try to help?
"Okay. You clearly need assistance, and I'm here. First things first, we might need to re-wrap those." Silver followed Blaze's finger as she pointed toward the three completed, one wrapped flawlessly while the other two looked like they were mangled by a bear, gifts to the side.
"Yeah, those two need it."
Blaze walked over and compared the normal one to the other two. "One question, why is that present fine while the others look so bad?"
Silver froze and started to shift uncomfortably on his feet, touching his two pointer fingers together nervously. "I guess, I tried really hard on that one?"
Blaze looked again at the present and shrugged. She should worry more about the other gifts, they needed the attention. Reaching for one of the gifts and picking it up, she barely got the box to eye level before the wrapping paper and loose bow fell off. Its contents spilling out on the floor brought up more questions.
"Silver, why was this box filled with nothing but socks?"
The hedgehog came up to now confused cat and explained almost like he rehearsed his explanation.
"Those? This box was meant to go to Sonic." Blaze's bewildered stare nearly made Silver stumble as he caught it and explained further. "You know, I thought he uses his super speed so much that his socks and sneakers must get worn down pretty quick."
Blaze's wide confused stare didn't stop as she put the ruined box down and picked up the other one. As soon as she shook it, a lizard on a spring dressed up as a jester popped out and bounced back and forth. She almost dropped the box in surprise before composing herself.
"And this one?"
"That was supposed to go to Amy." Blaze looked at her friend again, who knew she expected another explanation. "She told me she liked surprises…" Blaze looked at the jack again and carefully shoved it back into the box, flatly dropping the present box with the jack on the floor and turning back to Silver.
"Silver, how do I put this gently…"
She thought about it for a moment and then turned to answer the waiting hedgehog.
"Silver, your gift ideas are terrible."
Silver's face dropped and he sniffed once before falling at Blaze's feet and crying out. "I knew it! My ideas are terrible, I can't wrap them. Christmas is almost around the corner! PLEASE HEL-EL-EL-P!"
The Princess jumped from his desperate behavior and shook the leg Silver clung to as she tried to get his attention.
"Silver." Shake. "Silver!" Shake. "SILVER!"
Silver's cries stopped with another sniff, looking up at Blaze with the hugest puppy eyes he could manage.
"Silver, I'll help you pick out some gifts. Everything's ok."
Hopping to his feet and hugging his friend in a death grip, Silver rambled out "Thank You's" at a mile a minute. Blaze worked up the strength to push Silver off, and breathed in.
"That's fine. No need to make a big deal about it Silver." Though Blaze could see the ruined gifts out of the corner of her eye. None of her friends deserved that, she could help Silver do better. With renewed determination she gripped his hand and managed to drag him out the door.
"Agh, hold on. Hold on!" Silver reached for his earmuffs and managed to pull his door closed with Blaze rushing him out the door. "Blaze, where are we going?"
She was so focused on getting this done she didn't think to turn around to answer her stumbling best friend. "We are going to Station Square. Sonic's dimension. We're sure to find something worthwhile."
With that, the pyro kinetic princess and the psycho kinetic hedgehog, which almost blended in with the snow, set off into the night. She'd try to help him with his gift ideas and cheer him up the best she could. They will save this Christmas yet.
A/N: The holidays are never really easy all the time. Even for anthropomorphic animals that save the world. Next chapter, you are really going to see this. But for now, everything seems pretty standard. (For now, Mua ha ha!)
For those who are thinking I didn't really give Rouge the lime light, don't worry. I'll also fix that in the next chapter. Other than that, really don't have too much to say.
I don't really know whether my comedy hits or my writing is 100%, so that where you reviewers step in. YOU guys can really help motivate me with just a side comment or you can write a few paragraphs. Whatever, it's cool. Either way, R&R!It's the cool thing to do.
