Toon Link lay in his bed, soft green sheets enveloping his small body. He couldn't sleep. He'd tried most everything to find the beautiful escape of unconsciousness, but the things Peach had said kept floating around in his head. He couldn't stop thinking of her dilemma, even though he and Ness were going to try and fix it tomorrow.

Turning, the Hylian looked out the medium sized window on his side of the room, situated so he could easily see the road leading away from the Smash Mansion. Snow spun gracefully outside, dancing to a tune the young boy could not hear. Whatever the song was, Toon Link thought it must have been one of the most beautiful musical pieces in existence. Every tiny flake danced to the unheard beat, some joining together to waltz their way to the ball below them, where the snow had already begun gathering.

Even with these images of peacefulness sliding past outside his window, Toon Link still felt wide awake. On nights like this, when sleep was unattainable, Toon had a little ritual. The bed groaned slightly as the weight of the young boy was lifted from it. Toon Link's bare feet felt the cold of the hardwood floor seeping into them as he tiptoed to the bedroom door, cracking it slowly. Luckily, the doors were always kept well oiled, allowing for a soundless opening. Peering both ways down the long, moonlit hallway, the Hylian silently shut the door and slunk towards his favorite room of the mansion.

As he pulled the oak library doors open slowly, warm light spilled into the halls, and Toon Link cast an irregularly long shadow behind him. The door was shut silently behind him, and bare feet padded quietly on the plush carpeting as he approached a bookcase close enough to the fire to see the books on it. Still roaring brightly in the stone fireplace, the fire was left lit overnight for some reason unknown to Toon Link. He was grateful for it though, for without it he wouldn't be able to go to the library and read at night.

Quickly scanning the shelves, the Hylian finally settled on a book he hadn't looked at before and carried it to the very armchair he had been sitting in earlier, when Zelda had read the story of the Grinch. As Toon Link looked at the cover of the book, he noticed there wasn't a title. In fact, he couldn't find the name of the book anywhere on the outside. While Toon Link opened to the first page hoping to find a title, he instead found a cloud of dust that flew up from the weathered pages and into his lungs, causing a mini coughing fit. Once he'd regained his breath and his eyes stopped watering, he looked down to page one.

All that was there was a singular sentence, too long to be the book's name.

'But when you do alms, let not your left hand know what your right hand does.'

"What?" Toon Link stared at the singular sentence, forgetting about his quest to find the title of the book. What did the sentence mean? Why was it all alone on the first page? Why did it talk about hands? If your right hand did something, wouldn't your left hand know about it? They're both connected to one body! Also, how can a hand be sentient to even know what it's counterpart is doing? Then again, Master Hand had a brain. At least, it seemed like he had one. Crazy Hand, now that was debatable.

Footsteps that weren't his own echoing through the huge room brought Toon Link out of his thoughts, and he realized he would get in so much trouble if found out of bed. Quick as a wink, the book was shoved back on the closest shelf and the boy was back in the moonlit hallways, running as quickly and quietly as possible to his bedroom. Reaching his room's door, he pulled it open and slipped in; within seconds he was wrapped in his forest green sheets, faking sleep in case someone heard him.

As he faked sleep though, he found himself actually slipping slowly into unconsciousness. Not five minutes after his mad bolt for his bedroom, Toon Link had finally found his coveted sleep.


"Ness. Ness. Nessssss." Toon Link hissed, hoping his friend would hear and wake up. Sunlight spilled into the boy's bedroom, and the Hylian was standing by the edge of Ness's bed, trying to wake him nicely, but still wake him. They needed to get started on the plan soon, or there wouldn't be enough time to complete it before Christmas.

The psychic boy didn't seem to hear Toon, though, for he just rolled onto his side and continued sleeping. Oh well, Toon Link thought, you've brought this upon yourself. Grabbing Ness by the shoulders, the Hylian began shaking him wildly.

"AGH! Stop, stop!" Ness began hitting Toon Link on his arms until he stopped shaking, and glared angrily. "I'm up."

The Hylian smirked in success as he watched Ness get out of bed grudgingly and trudge into the bathroom. He'd woken 'the beast.' Now all he had to do was get 'the beast' to remember the plan and help him carry it out without doing more harm than good.

Once Ness was dressed and washed up, he rejoined his roommate in the bedroom. "So… What was the plan again?"

Sighing irritatedly, Toon Link looked at his friend. "You really forgot?"

"Well, we really didn't talk about it much last night. Besides, I was tired."

"I guess. Anyways, the plan was to find out what everyone here wants for Christmas, and get it to them. You know, like what Santa does. That'll bring the Christmas spirit back!" The Hylian smiled happily.

Ness nodded. "Okay then, all we have to do is ask them what they want-"

"No," Toon Link interrupted quickly, "we can't just ask them. They'll never tell us what they really want. They're adults."

The psychic considered his friend's words, then shrugged. "I guess. Well, if we can't ask them, how will we figure out what they want?"

At this, the Hylian smirked. "This, my dear Ness, is when we consult the biggest gossip of the mansion."

Ness paled, then swallowed loudly. "You don't mean…?"

"Yep," Toon Link looked to the closed bedroom door. "We're going straight to the top."


Toon Link and Ness stood outside of a oak door, one that looked just like every other bedroom door in the mansion. Only, this door led to the room of the curse, the very bane of most of the smasher's existence.

While Master Hand was the head of the mansion, he was not the one to go to if one wanted information on their fellow smashers. No, for information like that, one had to go to the head gossip of the mansion. And they weren't even one of the smashers.

Gulping nervously, Toon Link raised a clenched fist apprehensively, then brought it down on the door quickly before he could change his mind. Three knocks echoed in the room beyond, before footsteps were heard and the door swung open slowly. Toon Link's older counterpart stood before the children, leaning against the doorframe tiredly. Link was still in his pajamas, a black shirt dotted in bright yellow stars with matching pants, and it was quite obvious that Ness and Toon had woken him up.

"Whataya want?" The Hero of Twilight yawned slowly. "It's 7:30! Gosh, everyone in this mansion's an early bird. Marth isn't even in his bed anymore."

Ness looked around the halls nervously, as if afraid someone was watching them, before whispering hurriedly. "We want to see her."

At the mention of 'her,' Link noticeably blanched. "Why? Committing suicide by extreme annoyance?"

Toon shook his head. "She has some information we need. Just let us have a little time with her, and we'll get out of your hair."

The oldest of the three smashers seemed to be debating with himself if he should let them, before stepping back and gesturing for them to enter the room. As soon as they were in, he quickly stepped out into the hallway to leave them alone with her.

"She's in my closet. Be quick, lest you fall to her pestering!" With that last warning, Link shut the door, leaving Toon Link and Ness in the shared room of both the hero of twilight and the prince of Altea.

Silently, the two walked to the closet of Link and opened it, being greeted by a large array of colored tunics and matching hats. One thing caught Toon's attention though, a small glass bottle sitting in the very back corner on the floor. He grabbed it and, after a second of apprehension, wondering if it was worth it, he popped the cork out of the slender glass container.

"Ahhh, finally!" A tinkling voice rejoiced. "That bottle was getting stuffy!" Navi quickly flew out of the container, and zoomed around the decent sized bedroom, stretching her wings. Ness and Toon could only watch, both wondering if they had just made the biggest mistakes of their short lives.