Jeice couldn't help but laugh at his realization. It was all so obvious, how could he not have seen it earlier? I guess that would be like asking why nobody else seemed to have figured it out; They just weren't that perceptive. "Everything about this situation just screams blackmail."
None of the hell mates seemed to take notice of Jeice's random laughter. Even if they had, they wouldn't have cared. Afterall, they just found out they were getting presents!
Everyone quickly gathered closely around Cell, just waiting to see what they were going to get.
Even Raditz gave up on hopelessly annoying Rudolph for the moment. Much to the relief of Vegeta.
"Ho ho ho! Now who wants to see what Santa brought you for Christmas?" Cell asked, deepening his voice to try to sound more like the Santa from that Nightmare Before Christmas movie.
"Wait... How do you already have our presents ready if you've just finished reading our letters to know what we want?" Jeice counter-questioned, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.
Cell quickly tried to think of some sort of answer, but nothing would come to him. So, he decided to use his new found authority as Santa to his advantage. "You should already know by now that I can see everything you do, and if you want to keep questioning that, then you won't get a present."
While Jeice was going to once more protest, he forced himself to keep his mouth shut. The hell mates didn't get gifts very often, seeing as they were in hell, so he wasn't about to pass up an oppurtunity to get something. Even if it wasn't the real Santa who was delivering it.
Cell dug through the box he had just gotten from the two ogres, which was filled to the top with random items covered in festive wrapping paper. The make-shift Santa soon noticed that none of the aforementioned gifts had name tags on them. "Damn... How am I supposed to know who gets what?"
Frieza seemed to take quick notice of his partner's concern, and glanced into the box to see what could be causing it. Once he too noticed the absence of name tags, he simply chuckled. "Who knows, this could make it more interesting." The Icejin whispered to Cell, who pulled out the first random present.
"Alright, this one is for..." Cell looked around, mentally chanting eenie meenie minie mo, until he picked one of the hell mates at random. "Nappa!"
The bald Saiyan claimed the present from the Santa and quickly unwrapped it with childish excitement. That is, until he actually saw what was in it. "...A curling iron?"
Everyone sweatdropped, and stared at Cell, wanting to know the meaning behind the curling iron. Or rather, if there was a meaning behind it.
"Uh..." Cell started, trying to think of the best possible explanation. "Nappa asked for it when he was a child, and I wasn't able to give it to him them, so I decided to this year!"
"No, I didn't! This year was the first year I ever wrote to you!" Nappa countered.
"Well then, you were thinking about writing me, and asking for it! I see everything, you know, for I am Santa!"
"He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake..." Kold sung randomly, as if trying to emphasize Cell's point.
"Whatever." Nappa pouted, obviously disappointed. He tossed his gift to Raditz. "Here, you would use this before I would."
"...Thanks." Raditz replied uncertainly.
"Hmmm... Maybe that was meant to be Raditz's gift then." Cell wondered, grabbing the next package, deciding that this one was going to be Raditz's. "This one's yours."
Once again, the gift was unwrapped with excitement and anticipation, only to have them both dashed away when the item was revealed. "Twister! I had enough of that game during that damned slumber party!"
Ignoring Raditz, Cell grabbed the next gift, wanting to move on before he would have to explain the meaning behind that one. He doubted he'd be able to use the same excuse that he did for Nappa's. "This one is Jeice's... I hope."
With great hesitation, and fear for what may be inside, Jeice slowly opened his present, only to smile when he saw what it was. "The Nutcracker on DVD! Ya know, the Cap'n thought up alot of his poses while watching this..." The Ginyu Force member trailed off in happy nostalgia.
"Hey! How come he got something he actually wanted!" Both Raditz and Nappa demanded from Cell in unison.
Cell simply shrugged. "I don't know, lucky coincidence, I guess."
"Oooh, I wanna see if I get lucky!" Kold exclaimed happily, helping himself to one of the birghtly covered packages from the box. Once unwrapped, the Icejin couldn't help but feel the same disappointment as the two Saiyans had. "...A tool belt?"
Cell stared at the gift oddly, wondering who it was origionally meant to be for. Or if it indeed even was supposed to be for anyone. As it looked now, Goz and Mez forot about getting Christmas presents, and just grabbed a bunch of random things at the last minute. "So... Who wants to be next?"
Nobody answered. The thought of getting some kind of fantastic gift that would keep them happy until the next year was lost to them now. Except to Jeice, that is.
"...Anybody?" Frieza asked, looking at the faces of high disapproval from all around him.
"What's the point? We won't get anything worth while anyway... I should have known better than to actually put my faith in Santa." Burter said sadly, sighing.
"But that's not Santa!" Jeice couldn't help but blurting out. Now that he had his present, and one that he actually liked too, there was nothing stopping him from revealing the oh-so-obvious truth.
"Huh? He's not?" Almost all of the other hell mates seemed to ask in unison, confused.
"No!" Jeice continued, "And that's not Rudolph or Mrs Claus, either!"
Gasps echoed through the group, all wanting to know who the imposters were then.
"N-No! I'm the real Santa!" Cell quickly said in defense, waving his arms as if to emphasize his point. "We're all real! Jeice is just lying, that's all!"
"Oh yeah?" The Ginyu goon asked darkly, taking a few steps closer to Cell. "Then I guess nothing will happen if I take off your hat and reveal who you really are... Vegeta!"
With that, Jeice yanked the Santa hat off of Cell, making the android recognizable to the others. As if he hadn't been all along, right?
"Wait, you're not Vegeta!" Jeice yelled out, wide-eyed. He was so sure that the Saiyan Prince had been the Santa imposter.
"No, I'm not." Cell said lamely, ripping off the fake white beard from under his chin.
"Then I take it you're not Mrs. Claus." Jeice said with a sweatdrop, pointing over toward Frieza.
Frieza took off his Santa hat, and stared at Jeice in disbelief. "...You actually thought that I was Cell! How the hell can you make that mistake? He's like three feet taller than me, has wings, and is green!"
Jeice flushed lightly with embarassment, and quickly changed the subject. "It doesn't matter! The fact is that you guys still weren't who you claimed to be!"
"Awww, I guess that means that Rudolph isn't who he claimed to be either." Raditz almost sniffled, poking at Vegeta's blinking red nose once more, only to have his wrist grabbed.
"Would you stop with that already! That is so damn annoying!" Vegeta snapped, releasing his grip on the other Saiyan's wrist.
"This is the worst Christmas ever! Even worse than last year!" Raditz huffed, crossing his arms over his chest in a pout.
As the Saiyan finished his words, the door burst open with a loud bang. It revealed a man, woman, and animal. The man was elderly with dull white hair. He was in a red suit with white fur trim, a matching hat, shiny black boots, and had a real beard hanging down from his chain to match his hair. The woman wore the same thing as the man, except she wore a shirt instead of pants. Finally, the animal was shaggy brown, with four legs, and a very brightly lit red nose.
"Ho ho ho! Now that isn't showing the Christmas spirit!" The man said, in a surprisingly jolly voice, taking a few steps toward the hell mates.
The woman and animal followed closely behind.
To Be Continued...
A/N: I am soooo sorry! I know I should have updated sooner, and I really have no excuse. Can you forgive me? What about if I promise to update sooner this time? Especially since the next chapter is going to be the last! Oooh, and by the way, I haven't given up on Slumber Party, either!
Please review, and an uber big thanks to those of you who have!