SOMETHING CHEERFULLY AMISS
It was a few weeks until Christmas, and everyone was getting prepared. Amy was out getting baking goods for cookies, Tails was hanging up the lights, Sonic was sending holiday cards to all his friends (Without a mailman. Too costly for postage, and why leave a mailman to do it, when you're faster?), Knuckles was buying toys for a donations bin, Silver and Blaze were volunteering at the library, reading books to the kids, everything was right with the world.
Or so it seemed. For at the mall, Shadow the Hedgehog was out buying gifts for comrades. Not strange, you say? Well, what if I told you he was-
*CRASH*
Ow…again with the crazed shoppers..? I thought Black Friday Madness ended Saturday…
"Sorry, sir. I was too busy humming to myself, and when that happens, I lose track of everything." An ebony hedgehog stated as looked down on me.
Wait, why am I in the story? Let me just…
*POOF*
"Huh? Where'd he go..?" Shadow asked to no one in particular. Shadow just shrugged his shoulders and went on his way, heading to his next destination.
"Have a holly, jolly Christmas. It's the best time of the year." Shadow sung to himself as he made his way through the crowds.
"Hey! Watch where ya' goin'!" An angry voice called out. A voice that came from a certain detective crocodile.
"Oh, hey Vector! Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, all that fun stuff!" Shadow greeted as he walked towards the grouchy reptile.
"Huh? Oh, Shadow! How's it goin'?" Vector had an immediate attitude shift when he saw Shadow. He considered Shadow to be a really good friend, even though he never admitted it.
"It's going good. What's brought you here? Holiday shopping?" Shadow asked with a strange…calm on his face.
"Sort of…Charmy and I spilled some drink on the team's computer, so I'm going to buy a new one." What Vector didn't say was that he gave Charmy some soda, so the drink-spilling was even worse than one would assume. Strangely, Charmy didn't get super hyper from the caffeine. In fact, he kinda slowed down.
*FLASHBACK*
At the Team Chaotix headquarters (a small apartment, but it worked for them), Vector was looking up some expenses he hadn't paid yet, deciding how to handle each of them.
"Heyas, Vector! Whatcha doin'!" Charmy asked after he burst into the office space.
"Working out expenses. Boring math stuff." Vector replied without looking away from the monitor. He figured if Charmy was bored by the activity at hand, he would leave. Wrong guess.
"Can I help? Please?" Charmy asked while hovering (quite literally) over Vector's shoulder.
"Not really. It's very complicated stuff. Even for me."
"Well, two heads are better than one, so maybe we can help each other out with this." The little bee was being persistent.
(heh-heh. "bee"-ing persistent.)
"If ya wanna help, can you get me a drink from the fridge?" Vector asked nicely. He was unusually calm in front of a computer, and this time was no exception. "Get one for yerself, too."
"Okay, I'll "bee" right back." Charmy said before buzzing off to the fridge, giggling all 100 feet of the way.
'Hmm. 'bee' right back. Kid's been watchin too much YouTube.' Vector thought to himself.
"I'm back." Charmy said as he handed a soda to Vector. He then opened another soda for himself, and the two began to have a drink.
"Hmm…add the 3, carry the 2…man, I wish I was better with math…" Vector thought out loud.
"Carry the 2…add the 5…I got 5-9-0 point 4-5. Is that right?" Charmy asked his employer.
"Huh?" Vector looked at his screen. He brought out a notepad and a pencil, and started writing something.
"Whatcha' doin'? Doodling?" Charmy asked as he rested his head in his hand, leaning on the table.
"Dang…you're right kid. 590 dollars and 45 cents…since when did you get so good with math?" Vector asked, all confused.
"Just did it one at a time." Charmy replied while shrugging his shoulders, all calm-like.
Vector fell back in his chair, and almost lost balance. He saved himself, but spilled the soda in the process. "Aw, crud…"
*END FLASHBACK*
"Wow…maybe we should give Charmy soda more often!" Shadow said as he tried to stifle a laugh.
'Okay, Shadow ain't acting right. He's all…cheerful…' the detective thought to himself. "Well, I gotta get going. The Dell store ain't gonna have computers in stock forever." And with that, Vector left.
"See ya around!" Shadow shouted as he waved his hand goodbye. "Nice talking to him."
The next person Shadow would run across that day was Amy, who was at Kolls getting an apron.
"Merry Christmas, Ame-ster!"
'Huh? Only one person would call me Ame-ster. Let me guess…' Amy sarcastically thought to herself. She then quickly spun around to greet Shadow, but was pulled into a hug instead. 'Wait, WHAT?! THIS ISN'T SHADAMY, SO WHY IS HE HUGGING ME?!'
Shadow quickly caught on that Amy was freaking out, so he let her go. "Sorry, just wanted to spread some holiday happiness." Shadow said with an embarrassed smile.
Amy couldn't help but stare at Shadow, all shocked-like. "Okay…well please don't just hug me out of the blue like that. It's just…weird, especially for you."
"What? 'Especially for me'? What's that supposed to mean?" Shadow was hurt, but still kept a happy expression on. Amy, on the other hand…
'Crud. Me and my big, unfiltered mouth.' Amy mentally slapped herself for speaking without thinking, and tried to think of some way to get out of the awkward situation she was in. "Oh! Well, gotta go! Runnin' late for treat making and all! See ya later!" With that, she sped off.
"Hmm. Must've seen Sonic. I know she loves to chase him." Shadow thought out loud, laughing slightly. With that, he continued his trek through the mall.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? SHADOW WITH HOLIDAY CHEER…WEIRD, RIGHT?
