Okay, confesstion time. I've been holding the chapters back - I didn't fall behind.

Why? Because I was trying to time this so that the story would end on Christmas Day; when I did my math I realized it would have ended the twenty-second, not the twenty fifth. So I held the updates back a little bit - hopefully you forgive me for that.

This one's different. Because the list is getting longer I'm starting to combine varying elements at different times, rather than keep them in chronological order; you'd be surprised at how difficult that is to do. I hope you enjoy it and I apologize for the delay!

On the tenth day of Christmas my muses gave to me:

Ten Exploding Fuzzballs,
Nine Random People,
Eight Friendship Speeches,
Seven Alister-shrooms,
Six Hell-bent Villains,
FIVE SENNEN ITEMS,
Four Toon World Monsters,
Three Ishtar Siblings,
Two Kaiba Brothers,
And Atemu in a tree.

"Whose bright idea was this again?" asked Seto in a whisper, glaring at the objects over their heads.

Mokuba shook his head. "Pegasus, maybe?" he asked just as quietly.

"I object, Kaiba boy," murmured the silver-haired CEO, readjusting the large and somewhat obnoxious pin on his chest (which was his signature Toon World with Toon Red Archery Girl, Toon Summoned Skull, Copycat, and Toon Dark Magician Girl). "I like surprises, but not these kinds."

Espa and Mako both stared. "It was not you?" asked Mako softly, clutching his harpoon as he also looked at the ceiling. "Then who arranged this?"

Haga, Ryuzaki, and Bonz said nothing, instead huddling by the wall; Sid and Zygore (both of whom had accompanied Bonz) were underneath a table. Siegfried and Leon were not too far from the Kaibas, keeping a wary eye on the balloons above them.

The small group had been invited to deliver a speech about the Duel Monster circuits (Yugi and Jounouchi both had to decline, as had Marik and Mai—they did not need any more fame than they had already). Upon arrival at the conference room, however, it was to find that ten overlarge Kuriboh balloons were in the room, each having a sound-sensitive trigger that would activate the bombs attached to them.

And that was their current situation.

"No one make any loud noises," said Seto, cautiously moving toward the exit. "I'm sure that there's a really good reason someone decided to make the Kuriboh balloons volatile."

One of the Kuriboh balloons let out a squeak and its eyes lit up. Everyone stiffened, staying still for a long moment as the balloon continued to flash; there was a collective sigh of relief when the light faded from its eyes.

"When did that idiot CEO promise he would be back?" asked Haga in a hiss. "I mean, I'm flattered I got invited here and all, but I don't want to die either."

"I heard him. He said that he'd be back in ten minutes," supplied Leon helpfully.

Seto sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "This is going to be a long ten minutes," he muttered under his breath, wincing when a Kuriboh balloon began squealing again.

"Alister?"

"Hmm."

"How many times today have I had to remind you about Valon being your friend?"

"Eight times."

"Correct. And to recap, what is it that friends are supposed to do?"

There was the sound of a throat clearing. "I am not supposed to hurt him, attempt to murder him, and treat him as I would expect him to treat me," came a clearly memorized response.

"Meaning?"

"I shouldn't have tied him up, dressed him up like a piñata, and dangled him upside down from the nearest tree because he made Alistershroom balloons and sold them to at least seven little munchkins?"

"Precisely. Now cut him down before we have the police on our hands."

The Big Five stared as Gozaburo suddenly materialized into view. "Master Kaiba," they said in unison, varying stages of shock on their faces. "We thought you were dead!"

"I'm obviously not, fool—though this is the third time I've escaped death. I take it we are either in the computer systems or in the real world…which is it?"

"We are still in the computer," said Gansley, looking around them nervously. "And actually, sir, we've got a small—"

"Now that we're in control here it's time to take revenge on my dear stepson," continued Gozaburo, not noticing how uncomfortable the group was (nor their anxious looks over their shoulders). "That brat sent me here because he thought I would despise it, but I hardly see why Yami no Marik would think this would be punishment."

It was right about then that the Blue Eyes White Dragon caught up to them and resumed blasting, forcing all of them to start running once again from Seto's antivirus program.

Marik carefully handled the wire, grinning in some amusement as he studied his handiwork. "Yep. Pretty sure that they'll like this addition to the tree."

Yugi and his friends had surprised him by sending the Ishtars several cards (and cookies, in Anzu's case); Marik had decided to return the favor by making ornaments out of wire, five of which were Sennen Items; he'd been sitting in the family room for several hours now and he was certain it was an ungodly hour of the morning. Two of them were for Ryou and Yugi, another couple was for his sister and himself, and the last one would go to Pegasus—he had sent them that plush and the Christmas card, after all.

There was a sound behind him and Marik turned as his sister shuffled down the stairs, the quilt still around her shoulders. "Marik, it's nearly three. You should be in bed," she chided.

The youngest Ishtar stifled a yawn. "I'm about finished. I'll paint these in the morning," he said, rising to his feet and stretching. He winced as his hands let out small prickles of pain—working with wire had its drawbacks and it had cut his fingers and hands in several places. "Why are you up? You're sick."

She held up her empty water glass in explanation, looking slightly exasperated.

"I can get that filled for you," said Marik instantly, getting it from her and shooing her back upstairs. "You go back to bed."

As his sister disappeared back upstairs and out of sight Marik turned to go into the kitchen—except he bumped into something that had come up behind him.

"You should be in bed as well," said Rishid, raising an eyebrow.

"What about you?" asked Marik, momentarily surprised by the sight of his older brother (how long had the eldest Ishtar been sitting downstairs, he wondered). "Is there a party I missed?"

"I was translating the Greek noble's papyrus scrolls for our sister," he reminded him, gesturing to the kitchen where he had presumably been working. "Please go to bed. I have to straighten things out in the kitchen anyway, so I can get Ishizu's water glass filled."

The older Ishtar eyed his brother when the younger opened his mouth to protest. "Forgive me for saying this, Marik, but you and glasses seem to have some sort of enmity going between you: every time you get one of us a drink of water the glass breaks. I like not having to buy water glasses to replace the ones you break."

"I've told you before that they do it on purpose. They're all plotting against me, I tell you."

Atem studied his watch, then eyed the ground below. Three in the morning and the fangirls were still down there? They must have the patience of Job if they could still be waiting at the base of the tree at this hour.

This was the absolute last time he was running an errand for Grandpa Mutou—Yugi still did not believe that Atem was being chased into the treetops every time he ventured from the shop and frankly Atem was getting tired of repeating himself.

He glanced down again and sighed. "I only wish I had a blanket," he muttered, shivering as a gust of cold air blew past him.