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Christmastime in Southtown. Even though it was night time, people were still walking around the city like it was the day. Snow littered the air, to the joy of the children that loved playing in it. Some people were bringing wrapped gifts home for Christmas, wreaths were hung on the many lampposts along the sidewalk and carolers were all over, going from door to door.
In one house, three figures were finishing wrapping gifts and signing cards. The noticeable features about the trio was the fact that they were all pretty tall. Two of them had dark skin while the third one, the Caucasian, was the only one with a full head of hair.
"Okay. Is that everyone from me?" The third man asked.
One of the dark-skinned men, the one with a spike for a hairdo, looked over a list. "Auntie Themla, Uncle Edgar, Cousin Larry…" He looked over the rest of the list. "Yeah. I think that's it, Brian."
This trio was the USA Sports Team. Even though they had been around since the very first KOF tournament, none of them were real popular.
Brian Battler nodded. "Okay. That's all of us. I'll take the stuff and take it all to the post office."
Lucky Glauber smiled as he stood up. He was clearly the tallest of the trio. "If you guys don't mind, I'm gonna deliver the stuff I got for the ones that aren't family members."
Heavy D! sighed. "Why're you doing this, Lucky? None of the people you got these things for have shown us any compassion, let alone you."
Lucky grabbed his coat. "This time of year I always show kindness to others, even those that haven't treated me very well."
Brian nodded and smirked. "You've got a real big heart, Lucky. I don't see how you haven't got a girlfriend yet."
The basketball player shrugged. "There's always hope, buddy." Looking at the clock, he saw that it was getting close to nine. "Hey, I'm gonna get going before everyone gets to bed. I've got a lot of ground to cover."
D! nodded. "Dress warm, Lucky. It's freezing out there."
"I will." Lucky smiled as he threw on his winter coat and his thick gloves. After he was dressed, he bent over and lifted a large stack of gifts of various sizes. Despite having his arms full, Lucky managed to open the door and close it behind him.
After he was outside, Lucky walked down the steps to the team's home and started his long trek around the city.
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Lucky whistled a Christmas carol as he merrily approached his first house. He carefully walked up the steps to avoid slipping, reached the door and knocked on it. He waited a matter of seconds before the door creaked open.
Of all the people Terry Bogard was expecting to be at the door, Lucky Glauber carrying a stack of gifts wasn't one of them.
"Marry Christmas, Terry!" Lucky greeted with a wide smile. Every time he spoke, his breath froze into a cloud.
"Lucky?" Terry asked. "What're you doing here?"
"Just bringing a few gifts." Lucky replied as he grabbed a trio of presents from his stack and handed them to Terry. "Here's gifts for you, Andy and Rock."
Terry didn't know what to say, but accepted the gift. "Well…Thank you, Lucky."
Lucky smiled. "No problem, Terry. I wish I could stay and chat, but I've got a long list of gifts to deliver. See you around."
"Yeah. Uh…Merry Christmas, Lucky." Terry replied as Lucky walked off, down the sidewalk, continuing his journey. Terry slowly shut the door and walked back into the house.
"Who was it, Terry?" Andy asked from a chair.
"Lucky Glauber." Terry replied as he walked over to the tree and placed the gifts under it. "He gave us some gifts."
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Lucky walked up to the door of another house and knocked. He waited patiently until it was answered.
Despite the cold weather, Joe Higashi was still clad in his fighting shorts, and nothing but. Even though this confused Lucky a little, he didn't let it faze him.
"Heya, Joe!" Lucky greeted. "Merry Christmas!"
Lucky grabbed a gift from the stack he was carrying and passed it to Joe, who took it with a confused look.
"What're you doing delivering gifts?" Joe asked.
"Just keeping the Christmas spirit!" Lucky replied with a happy shrug. "Hey, I gotta move, but you enjoy your Christmas and the gift, okay?"
Lucky moved on. His next stop was the home of Mai. Luckily for him, she didn't live too far away from Joe. The tall basketball player quickly arrived at Mai's house and approached the door. Lucky rang the doorbell and waited for Mai to answer the door.
When Lucky saw Mai answer the door, he saw that she was dressed warmly for once. He smiled. "Merry Christmas, Mai!" He said as he grabbed another present and handed it to the confused woman.
"Lucky? What's this for?" Mai asked as she pointed at the present.
"Just got a few presents for you and the rest of the gang and decided to hand 'em out personally." Lucky shrugged. "You have a great Christmas, okay?"
Mai nodded and thanked Lucky, wishing him a Merry Christmas as he walked off down the sidewalk.
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Bob Wilson and Duck King cleaned up around the Pao Pao Café after everyone had gone home for the night. Although they weren't closed yet, they were getting close.
"Boy, the supper sure was busy." Duck said as he turned a chair over and put it on a table.
"They always are, especially around this time of year." Bob replied as he cleaned a glass.
Suddenly, the duo heard a knocking at the front door. They both turned and saw Lucky standing outside, carrying a stack of gifts in his arms.
"Isn't that Lucky Glauber?" Duck asked.
"Yeah." Bob said as he walked over to the door. "I wonder what he's doing here."
Bob opened the door and let Lucky in. The tall man smiled widely.
"Merry Christmas, you guys!" Lucky greeted cheerfully as he handed Bob a gift. He walked over to Duck and handed him a gift as well.
"What're you doing here, Lucky?" Bob asked.
"Just wanted to give you guys a little something for the holidays." Lucky replied.
That was pretty much the whole visit. After explaining that he had to deliver more things, he bid Bob and Duck farewell again and left the café. Bob closed the door and looked at the gift in his hand. He definitely wasn't expecting a present from someone like Lucky.
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Lucky happily walked away from Blue Mary's home, having delivered her present as well. His next stop was a good ways away, but he didn't care. He started trekking through the snow on the sidewalk as he hummed 'Silent Night'.
Eventually, Lucky arrived at the next house. This house was hardly decorated at all except for a few lights around the window. Looking in, Lucky saw two figures sitting on the floor by an average tree with a few decorations.
Lucky smiled. If anyone deserved a present out of kindness, it was these two.
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"I'm really sorry that I couldn't find a better tree, Lily." Billy Kane said guiltily. "It was the best I could find."
Lily Kane smiled warmly. "Billy, I don't care about the tree." She said. "The only thing that matters to me is that we'll be together this Christmas."
"Yeah. I never though the boss would give me a day off like he did." Billy said. He looked at his sister and smiled. "You've been such a great sister for putting up with me all these years, Lily. Even after I joined Geese, you didn't hate me."
"Billy, I love you." Lily replied. "You've been looking after me ever since mom died. How could I hate you?" She was silent for a few seconds. "Hey, Billy? What WAS mom like, anyway?"
Billy sighed as a lone tear appeared in his eye. "She was a lot like you."
Lily sighed happily and hugged her brother. He returned the embrace.
Suddenly, the siblings heard a knock at the door. Billy looked at the door, gently let go of his sister, stood up and walked over to the door. Opening it up, Billy saw that there was no one at the door, but he DID see a tall man wearing a baseball cap walking away whistling a Christmas carol.
Billy was about to shut the door when something caught his eye: Two presents sitting at the doorstep, a Christmas card resting on top of the larger one.
On closer inspection, Billy saw that the presents were addressed to him and Lily, signed from 'Lucky G'. He slowly picked up the presents, not believing that someone actually did this for them. Billy went back into the house and shut the door.
Looking over his shoulder, Lucky saw Billy vanish back into the house with the gifts. He smiled and continued walking.
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Eventually, Lucky was almost finished. He had delivered presents to pretty much everyone on his list. Raiden, the Sakazakis, Robert Garcia, King, Li Xiangfei, the whole deal. Lucky was now down to his last gift, and he KNEW that the person would be awake.
Lucky walked up to the door and rang the doorbell. Eventually, the door opened, revealing the house's owner. Slightly shorter than Lucky, blonde and black hair, black outfit.
Ryuji Yamazaki.
Seeing Lucky, the thug sneered. "What're you doing here, punk?" Yamazaki asked.
"I just wanted to say." Still as cheerful as ever, Lucky held the last gift out for Yamazaki to take. "Merry Christmas"
For the first time in his life, Yamazaki was frozen with shock. No one had ever gone out of their way to get him a present before. "For me?" He asked. "You…You got this…For me?"
Lucky smiled. "Yep. Now go ahead, pal. Take it. It's all yours."
Yamazaki slowly took the present from Lucky and looked at him. "I never thought I'd ever say this, but…Thank you."
Lucky nodded with a warm smile. "Merry Christmas, big guy." With that, Lucky turned around and started walking off.
Yamazaki looked at the gift in his hand with wide eyes. "I…I don't believe it…I just…Don't believe it." Slowly, Yamazaki shut the door.
Lucky walked along the sidewalk, feeling extremely good for what he had done. He leapt into the air and clicked his heels a couple times as he walked.
Eventually, Lucky came upon a store. Looking to his side, he saw something that made him stop: A manger scene. He looked at the star hanging above the stable and the shepherds and wise men gathered around, but when he saw the tiny, sleeping baby in the manger, he smiled warmly.
Looking away from the window, he looked into the sky. He nodded in thought and smiled. Turning around, Lucky continued his trek home.
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A couple days passed and Christmas had arrived. Terry Bogard walked along a sidewalk on a bright afternoon, still thinking of what Lucky had done. Somehow, the tall man had gotten exactly what Terry, Andy and Rock would have liked.
"Yo, Terry!"
Terry turned to see Joe running up, wearing a coat for once in his life.
"You wouldn't believe what happened a couple days ago." Joe said. "Lucky Glauber gave me a present and when I opened it today, I realized that it was what I needed."
"You too?" Terry asked. "He gave presents to Andy, Rock and I as well."
"Same here!" Terry and Joe turned to see Mary walking over to them. "He got me a nice wool sweater that's perfect for today."
"What're you guys talking about?" This time, it was Ryo Sakazaki with his sister Yuri.
"Lucky Glauber gave us all presents for no reason."
"You guys too?" Yuri asked. "He got gifts for us and Robert!"
"And me too!" Mai walked over. "I can't believe he would do this for all of us! How much did he spend anyway?"
"Apparently, a good amount." Everyone saw Billy Kane walking over with Lily by his side. "Lily got a real nice necklace with her name on it." He chuckled. "You should've seen the look on her face when she opened it."
Lily smirked. "Well, you didn't exactly keep a straight face when you saw that amp he got you."
"Why is he doing this?" Mary asked. "No one ever got HIM anything, right?" Everyone shook his or her head.
Everyone suddenly realized that even though they hadn't been treating he or his team with very much respect, Lucky still got everyone something.
"We have to make it up to him." Ryo said. "We can't let neglect him any more than we already have."
Suddenly, an idea came into Terry's head. "I think I have the perfect idea."
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"So, did you guys get any thanks from your families yet?" Lucky asked as he shoved some wrapping paper in the garbage.
"Calls, e-mails, letters, the whole deal." Brian replied with a smile.
"Our families are always so appreciative." D! added and he reclined in a chair.
"Speaking of being appreciative," Brian looked at Lucky. "D! and I forgot to ask. How'd your little gift handout go a couple days ago?"
Lucky smiled. "Great. Especially when I gave a gift to Yamazaki. I never would have thought I'd see he so shocked to receive something."
"Like I said before, Lucky." Brian said. "You've got a big heart. I bet there are people out there that would LOVE to have a friend like you."
'Thanks, Brian."
Suddenly, the three sports superstars heard a light thud coming from the door. They turned to see a small letter on the floor, having come in through the mail slot. Brian grabbed it and looked at it.
"Hey, Lucky. It's for you." Brian held the letter out for Lucky.
Curiously, Lucky took the letter and opened it. He unfolded the letter and started reading.
"Dear Lucky, we all just wanted to say thank you for the wonderful gifts you gave us and we are all still in a slight shock that you would do something for everyone without expecting anything in return." Lucky read. "We all realized that for doing this, you deserved at least something in return, so we all pitched in and got you this. Merry Christmas, Lucky. Signed, the gang."
Even more curious, Lucky reached into the envelope and pulled out three small pieces of paper.
They read 'KOF Invitation'.
D!'s eyes sprang open from behind his shades. "Invitations to KOF?!" He asked. "I don't believe it! We're back in the game again!"
As Brian and D! celebrated, Lucky looked out the window and saw Terry Bogard walking away.
The tall man smiled. "Merry Christmas to you too, Terry."
END