Cream opened her eyes excitedly and hopped out of her bed eagerly. Still in her pajamas, she gently shook Cheese awake. After the Chao had flown into the air, the two dashed downstairs where the main room of the house was.
The rabbit's eyes sparkled as she gazed around at all the presents that lay under the tree. She squealed excitingly and dashed off to Sonic's room.
Sonic vision was suddenly lit up as the lights flickered on in his room. "Wake up, Mr. Sonic! It's Christmas, it's Christmas!!"
Sonic groggily opened his eyes and glared at his alarm clock. That kid can function at 4 am? He wondered with a yawn.
Sonic smiled musingly as he slowly crawled out of bed as he heard Cream's voice spread throughout the house. "Wake up, Mr. Shadow, it's Christmas!"
"Who the heck cares?"
"Mr. Shadow, don't say that!"
"Chao, chao!"
Sonic slipped on his socks and walked downstairs. He winked tiredly at Knuckles, who sat on the couch in the living room. "Aw, did da Knucklehead wakey up earlwy for Christmas?" the hedgehog cooed in a baby voice. Knuckles shot him a dirty look.
"Keep it up and I WILL kill you."
Sonic chuckled. "Wow, Knuckles, that's kind of harsh language for Christmas. Tone it down a little, bud."
Tails and Amy were next to gather to the living room, right before Shadow. Finally, Cream and Cheese shot like a lightning bolt down to the living room. The rabbit's smile was a mile wide. "Merry Christmas, everybody!" she exclaimed. She pointed to all the presents that lay under the tree. "Look what Santa brought us!"
"Chao!" Cheese said in agreement.
Amy smiled back at her friend. "Well, why don't you get started, Cream?"
"What about you guys?" Cream seemed puzzled that no one else was so excited. Shadow rolled his eyes.
"Trust me, the last thing I want to do is move. Start us off."
"OK." Cream picked up a present that had a big, red ribbon on it that read, To Cream, From Santa. She tore off the wrapper with Cheese trembling with excitement next to her.
"Wow! Look at this, Cheese!" Cream triumphantly held up a small pink dress, with a new bow to match for Cheese. The rabbit was overjoyed.
"This is so pretty! Thank you, Santa! Thank you, Santa!!" Tails was beginning to nod off, but Sonic nudged him awake.
"Uh, why don't you try it on, Cream?" he suggested. Cream shook her head.
"No, not yet. I want to see what everyone else got for Christmas."
The rabbit busied herself by digging into the huge pile of gifts before finally pulling one out that had Amy's name on it. "Here you go, Ms. Amy," she said, handing the pink hedgehog her package. Amy winked.
"Thanks Cream. Let's see what I got…" After she ripped off the paper, it was revealed that Amy got a brand-new iPod with GPS. "Oh, wow! Who got me this?"
"Santa, of course!" Cream chimed. Knuckles rolled his eyes and covered Cream's ears.
"I think Tails got you that one," he said. Tails blushed.
"Well, I know that you like music, and look! It has a Sonic-tracking GPS in so you know where he is constantly!" Sonic's eyes bugged out.
"What?! Tails, why'd you do that?!"
"Do what?" Cream asked, removing Knuckles' gloves. Tails waved his hands nervously.
"Uh, n-nothing! Why don't you find me a present, Cream?"
Cream yanked out a box that had Tails' name on it and handed it to the fox. "Here you go, Tails."
Tails tore off the wrapper and dispensed a brand-new wrench set. He was flabbergasted. "Aw, guys, you shouldn't have! I know this had to be expensive…"
"It wasn't expensive, Santa probably just built it."
"Um, Cream…"
"Yes, Mr. Sonic?"
"…never mind. Why don't you get another present?"
"I'll get one for you, Mr. Knuckles!"
Knuckles was soon handed a gift by the little bunny. Knuckles grumbled as the tape kept sticking to his hands because he doesn't have fingers. Finally, after using his glove spikes to slice through the wrapper, he was met with a bop bag.
"Uh, thanks, I guess," he said, still puzzled as to why his friends got him an INFLATABLE bag that he could puncture easily. Sonic snickered.
"Look at it closer, it's got your picture on it."
Instead of seeing his face, Knuckles was met with a sweet-faced baby kitty. "Why, you little--!"
"Careful, Knuckles, we have a child in the room," Amy pointed out, glancing at Cream. Cream was getting mad.
"Hey, I'm not a child!"
"Yes, you are," Shadow argued.
"Am not."
"Am too."
"Am not."
"Am too."
"Am NOT!!"
"…I'm arguing with a little kid…"
Sonic, wanting to break up the fight, motioned towards the Christmas tree. "Hey, Cream, how's about you and Cheese grab me a present?" Cream snapped out of her argument with Shadow and happily skipped over to retrieve the gift.
"Here you go, Mr. Sonic!"
The room was silent as the hero unwrapped his gift. He was flabbergasted when he opened it. "Whoa! Way past cool!!"
In his arms, Sonic held a brand-new Extreme Gear. It was blue and yellow, similar to the old one he had, but instead it had red turbo-boosters on the end of it. Tails smiled.
"Now you can go faster than ever!" he exclaimed. Sonic grabbed Tails' head and gave him a noogie.
"Thanks a million, lil' bro!"
Cream and Cheese looked puzzled. "But why are you thanking him, Mr. Sonic? Santa was the one that built it."
"Chao chao."
"Uh…um…I was thanking him because I was so excited that I, uh, had to hug someone." Sonic stuttered an answer. Amy winked at Sonic.
"Don't worry, blue boy, you can hug me any time you want," she whispered. Sonic edged away with a grossed out expression.
The only one remaining that hadn't gotten a gift yet was Shadow. He still just sat emotionless on the couch, amidst all the excitement. Cream pulled out one of the last gifts from under the tree and handed it to Shadow. "Here you go, Mr. Shadow!" she said cheerfully. Shadow sighed drearily and took the gift from Cream's hands.
"Fine, let's get this over with." The hedgehog took a long time unwrapping the gift, not tearing the paper up, but carefully taking the tape off and finally sliding the box out. Sonic rolled his eyes.
"Geez, Faker, you need a lesson in getting excited."
"Shut it, blue hedgehog, before I smash your head in with whatever this is."
"Well…"
Sonic crossed his arms as Shadow finally opened the box. The hedgehog's eyes flew open. "Wha…what is this?" he demanded. Inside was a disc that looked slightly old. Amy cocked her head at the curious object.
"Yeah, Sonic, what is it?"
Sonic stuck up his nose. "Why should I tell you?"
Knuckles groaned. "Get on with it already, blue," he sighed.
"Fine, fine. Remember that old dude that you used to hang with?"
"Professor Gerald Robotnik?" Shadow inquired anxiously.
"Yeah, that guy. Well, Tails was able to back up some of the information we got from that old computer up on ARK. That's Gerald's diary, man."
Shadow was astonished. "You mean to tell me that…this was m-my creator's diary? Th-that I can finally see what my goal for life is…?"
"You bet, Faker." Sonic smiled at Shadow. "Merry Christmas, emo."
Shadow's eyes began to get all misty, but he quickly wiped them away. "Thank you, Sonic. This means a lot to me."
Cream smiled cheerfully. "Hooray! Now we're all so happy on Christmas!" she exclaimed.
"Chao, chao!" Cheese chirped in agreement.
"I should go try on my new dress. C'mon, Cheese!"
As Cream dashed up to her room to try on her gift, Amy activated her new iPod. "Finally, I can see where you are every minute of the day, Sonic!" she grinned. Sonic smacked his face.
"Oh no…" There was silence for a moment after Amy activated the GPS. Sonic then dug in his ear. "Hey, any of you guys hear somethin'?"
"No," Tails replied with a puzzled expression.
"What is it?" Knuckles asked.
"This beeping noise. It's almost like…" Sonic gaze slowly turned to Amy, who was apparently overjoyed with her new iPod. "Hey, it's the GPS! Aw man, that beeping noise is gonna give me a headache every day!"
"Well, Merry Christmas," Amy put, then laughed. Soon, everyone began to chuckle and get into the spirit. Even Shadow. Before long, Cream arrived in her new pink dress, and Cheese wore a stunningly royal blue bow tie.
"What do you think?" Cream asked, spinning around once to model the dress.
"It's beautiful, Cream!" Amy said. Shadow sighed and stared contently at the young bunny, and slowly turned his gaze to face Knuckles, Amy, Tails, and finally Sonic.
"I think I like Christmas," Shadow told Sonic. The hedgehog smiled back at his rival.
"Glad you came around," he told him.
End.