Merry Christmas!

Drabble # 10

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T.A.R.N.S.: This is the fourth and last (planned) Christmas fic. Thanks to Caleb for his help with the story. Hit the disclaimer, Nyoshi.

Nyoshi: Disclaimer: We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year! (P.S.: we don't own that song.)

T.A.R.N.S.: Good boy, Nyoshi. #throws him a Christmas cookie#

Nyoshi: Yeah cookie!

T.A.R.N.S: Okay, I own Nyoshi, the I.G.A.S., Cocoa Island, Matches, and Zelda. Now let's get this Christmas show on the road! # reaches for upload button#

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It started three days before Christmas at the I.G.A.S. office where Shadow worked. Everyone there was in the Christmas spirit. Nyoshi had even replaced his brown general hat with a Santa hat.

Well, everyone was in the Christmas spirit except for one black hedgehog.

Shadow stormed into the room.

"Merry Christmas, Shadow!" Nyoshi told the hedgehog as he walked in.

Shadow just glared at the Yoshi.

"AAHH! Don't kill me!" Nyoshi panicked and raced to a safer spot about thirty feet away.

Sonic and Tails, both of whom were also wearing Santa hats, entered the room a moment later.

"Merry Christmas, Shads." Sonic said. "We were in the neighborhood and thought we'd stop by.

Shadow finally snapped. "Stop calling me Shads! And I hate the holidays!"

Shadow stormed away.

"Gee, he seems upset." Tails said.

"I know what would cheer him up." Sonic said. "We'll decorate his house for him."

Nyoshi walked over to where they were standing. "I thought you were trying to cheer Shadow up, not get yourselves killed."

"Ah, you'll see." Sonic told him. "You gonna come with us?"

"No way. I don't have a death wish. I like life." Nyoshi ran away.

"He's just a scaredy-cat." Sonic said.

"Me too." Tails volunteered. "I think I'll go with him." He tried to run after Nyoshi, but Sonic caught him by a tail.

"You're coming with me." Sonic said.

"Alright, but if Shadow asks, I'm telling him it was your idea." Tails replied.

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A short time later they arrived at Shadow's house in the deep, deep, deep backwoods of Cocoa Island.

"We're not going to be able to get in, Sonic." Tails said as he pointed at the front deck. "Look, he's got a guard dog…er…dragon."

"That's just Matches." Sonic said. "I know how to get past him."

Sonic walked into the clearing, his feet crunching in the snow as he stepped onto the deck and walked over to the door, stopping just in front of it. He pulled a steak out of hammerspace and held it out to Matches.

"Here Matches. See the steak?"

Matches was instantly alert as he rolled to his haunches.

"Go get it." Sonic threw the steak as far as he could into the woods, and Matches raced after it.

Tails walked up to join Sonic, who was reading the welcome mat in front of the door.

"'Welcome to leave.'" He read. "Well, that sounds like something Shadow would have on his door mat."

"How are we gonna get in?" Sonic mused. Then he pulled out a screwdriver and started to fiddle with the door.

"Uh, Sonic, are you sure you know what you're doing?" Tails asked.

"Of course I do." Sonic scoffed. Just then the door fell in.

Sonic and Tails both sweatdropped. "Uh, I can fix that." Sonic said.

"Uh, Sonic, You didn't have to do that." Tails said as he held up a key. "I had key to the door."

"What? Why'd he giver you a key and not me?" Sonic asked.

"Well," Tails began.

Flashback

Shadow was in his room, in bed, and sound asleep. Sonic quietly opened the door and stepped into the room. He was holding a gift and a small chocolate cake.

He quietly walked over to the bed. Shadow didn't hear him come in. Sonic took a deep breath, and then screamed. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHADOW!!"

Shadow jumped out of bed and hit the roof before falling back to the floor.

Sonic grinned as Shadow sent him a look that would have made Knuckles turn tail and run.

A moment later, Shadow appeared on the deck out side his house, and threw Sonic over the side of the deck.

"It is 4 in the morning, and it is not my birthday!" Shadow shouted.

End Flashback

Sonic shrugged. "Well, that might have had something to do with it. Anyway, let's go."

The two of them entered the house, and came into the kitchen/dining room. "Okay, here's the deal." Sonic said. "On this floor is the room we're standing in, plus the library and the equivalent of a living room. We need to put a Christmas tree in each of these rooms, then we need to put garlands on the stair railings and Upstairs we'll leave alone except for the balcony railing which we'll do the same as the stairs. Then we have to put up Christmas light outside, wreaths on the windows and doors, and mistletoe over the doorway…"

Tails interrupted. "It's a good thing you can move at the speed of sound."

So they set to work.

Meanwhile, little did Sonic know that there was a hidden panel in the library, which opened to allow access to the basement.

Living out in the middle of nowhere, Shadow had to use a generator for electricity. While Sonic and Tails where hastily decorating Shadow's house, Shadow was fixing the generator.

"Stupid generator," Shadow muttered as he picked up his tools and started back up to the library. "Blow one fuse and the whole generator goes down."

Shadow dropped his tools on the table in the library and headed out to the kitchen/dining room, somehow missing the Christmas tree in the corner of the room.

However, Shadow did not miss the Christmas decoration when he walked into his kitchen/dining room. And when he saw them, his jaw dropped.

"Someone came into my house and decorated it…where was my stupid guard dragon?"

Meanwhile, Matches was out in the forest, licking the steak, and enjoying every savory bite of it, completely oblivious to the fact the Shadow was already planning to wring his scaly neck.

Muttering something not worth repeating under his breath, Shadow headed toward the door, and then noticed something. A sprig of mistletoe, hanging down in front of his door. Also hanging down were two long tail-like thing covered in tan fur and tipped with white fur.

"That's the most interesting mistletoe I've ever seen." Shadow said. "Tails, get down here."

Tails, who had been clinging to the ceiling after Sonic heard Shadow coming and told him to hide, dropped to the ground and grinned sheepishly at Shadow.

"Where is Sonic?" Shadow asked.

Tails pointed to the refrigerator.

Shadow walked over to the fridge and opened in, and Sonic fell out.

"Hey Shads!" Sonic grinned. "Merry Christmas."

"What exactly where you and Tails trying to do?" Shadow demanded.

"Well, you were so grim and depressed, and we thought maybe if we helped you decorate for Christmas you might cheer up." Sonic explained.

"Well, it didn't work." Shadow informed him. "Now, GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!!"

Sonic and Tails left the house and retreated to a few miles away, then stopped.

"Well, that didn't work." Tails said.

Sonic was tapping his chin. "No, no it didn't. But I have another idea."

Tails rolled his eyes heavenward. "Oh please, no."

"Don't worry; we're not going to sneak back into Shadow's house." Sonic assured him. "But I've got to go talk to everyone, and I've got to do some Christmas shopping." With that, Sonic sped away.

"Hey, wait for me!" Tails twirled his two tails and took of after Sonic.

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(Three days later, Christmas Day)

Tails was already in the kitchen making pancakes when Sonic came into the room. "We're going to Shadow's house later today." He announced.

"Maybe Shadow doesn't want to be cheered up." Tails suggested.

"Oh well, we're going anyways! We'll bring some gifts for everyone. Heck, I even got one for Shadow." Sonic replied.

"Do you think he'll like what you got him?" Tails asked him as he handed Sonic the plate of pancakes.

"I don't know, I guess we'll find out." Sonic replied. "I told everyone to meet us at Shadow's house, we're bringing the gifts, and everyone else is bringing the food."

And so, after breakfast they set off, Sonic on foot and Tails in the X-Tornado. Amy Rose, Knuckles, Rouge, Zelda and Nyoshi were all on their way.

Meanwhile, completely oblivious to what's about to come blasting through his door in few minutes, Shadow was sitting at his kitchen table, staring into his glass of orange juice. He was not drinking it. Usually orange juice is, well, orange, so this juice must have gone bad. That was why Shadow was not drinking it, but we won't go into that.

So, he decided to make some coffee. He put a new filter in the machine, then after a short debate poured all the grounds into the filter. But before he could finish, someone knocked on his door.

Shadow opened it to see Sonic and Tails standing there.

"Merry Christmas, Shadow." Sonic said, looking rather Santa-ish in his Santa hat with a bag of gifts over his shoulder. "You'll need this." He told Shadow as Tails handed the black hedgehog a Santa hat, complete with ear holes, just like the ones Sonic and Tails were wearing.

"What are you doing?" Shadow asked as the two Mobians pushed past him into the house.

"We're gonna celebrate Christmas at your house this year, Shads. Now put on your Santa hat." Sonic said as he set down the bag of gifts..

Just then, there came another knock at the door. Shadow went to open it, and saw Rouge standing there. Then they looked up and saw the mistletoe that Sonic had put up earlier.

Sonic and Tails both got big eyes for dramatic effect and went, "Oohh."

Meanwhile, Zelda was dragging Nyoshi through the woods towards Shadow's house. Since Zelda had him by the feet, Nyoshi was grabbing onto he could to try to stop himself.

"No, I don't wanna die!" Nyoshi said, not noticing that the small bush he'd latched onto had been pulled up three blocks back.

"You are not going to die." Zelda told him. "Shadow asked for you specifically."

"He specifically wants me to die?"

"NO!" Zelda replied. "He specifically wants you to come to his Christmas party."

"I know for a matter of fact that Shadow is not the one throwing this party." Nyoshi told her.

Zelda sweatdropped. "And how do you know that?"

"Sonic and Tails told me they were the ones throwing the party." Nyoshi replied.

Zelda gave him an exasperated look. "Do you know why you should go to this party, Nyoshi? Amy Rose is bringing cookies."

"Cookies?" Nyoshi stood up. "Yoshis love cookies."

"Then you're coming?" Zelda asked.

"Let's go!" Nyoshi grabbed Zelda as he raced by.

Back at Shadow's house, Sonic and Tails were grinning like Cheshire cats.

"Go ahead, Shads," Sonic told him as he and Tails turned around. "We won't peek."

Shadow turned back to Rouge. They both blushed, and then quickly kissed.

Sonic and Tails, who had turned back around the instant Shadow's back was turned, started grinning.

Shadow turned around, pounced on Sonic, and started throttling him. Fortunately for Sonic, there was a knock on the door, which Shadow answered (after taking the mistletoe down).

Amy Rose and Knuckles were standing there, their arms full of dishes.

"Hi Shadow." Amy said. "Sonic asked us to bring the Christmas dinner."

A moment later there was another knock on the door, and Nyoshi and Zelda came in.

"I brought the eggnog." Zelda said.

"And I was promised cookies if I came." Nyoshi added.

Sonic slapped his hands together. "The gang's all here." He said. "Now let's get this show underway."

And with that, Sonic brought out the gifts. There was a pink necklace for Amy, a gift card to Ship Builders 'R' Us for Tails, a jeweled pendant for Rouge, a fruitcake for Nyoshi ("Man, he's the easiest one to buy for."), a box of Life cereal for Knuckles (A gag gift, his real one was suntan lotion), a pen for Zelda ("A pen… I don't know whether to be impressed or insulted.")

"What about Sonic's gift?" Tails asked Knuckles.

"Oh yeah." Knuckles reached into hammerspace and pulled out a ring, which he handed to Sonic. "Go crazy."

"Sweet! I'll save this for later." Sonic tucked the ring away into his quills.

"And last, I've got the one we agreed on for Shadow." Sonic continued.

He nodded at Nyoshi, who pulled out a small box and handed it to Shadow.

"This is something to you from all of us." Tails told him.

Shadow carefully unwrapped the box and pulled out a ornament in the shape of a wreath. It was engraved:

Merry Christmas Shadow!

From your friends Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy Rose, Rouge, Zelda, and Nyoshi.

Christmas 20XX

Shadow stared meaningfully at his ornament, touched by the simple gesture…until he got a snowball to the back of the head.

"HEY! Who brought snow into my house?" Shadow glared at the others as he set the ornament up.

Everyone looked at each other for a moment, then pointed at Sonic, who pointed at Tails.

"Hey," Tails complained.

"Snowball fight!" Sonic said. Everybody raced outside, dragging Shadow along with them.

Matches, who had finished eating his steak, watched the chaos for a while before he noticed that the front door was open a bit, and then he decided to go inside and eat the Christmas ham.

And that's how the gang celebrated Christmas this year.

Fin

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T.A.R.N.S.: Eight pages….so much for drabble.

Caleb: The whole ham? That greedy little pig.

Nyoshi: The whole ham? I was gonna eat that ham.

T.A.R.N.S.: #sweatdrops#

Merry Christmas from Caleb, Nyoshi, and The All Real Numbers Symbol.