Chapter 1: A Party to Remember

Prompts: Vintage themed Christmas Party, Eggnog, Kitsch, Gingerbread, meaningful present, Cinnamon, First Snow, Meeting an old friend again, Grumpy, Gifting Cookies to Someone Unexpected, Christmas Eve/Pajamas

Challenge words: kettle, goosebumps, tradition, police, velvet, announcement, purpose, punish, iridescent, mishap, overrated, apology, blue, makeshift, tree, picture, painting, limit, rummage, sun, moon, hammer, shoes

Lucario was outside, meditating on the cold stone porch.

"Aren't you cold?"

At the voice interrupting his meditation, Lucario sighed and opened his eyes, then looked back to see one of the newcomers leaning against a nearby pillar. "No. My fur keeps me warm, thankfully." Replied the Pokémon using telepathy.

"So, what, meditation for you is… emotions?" Link wandered over to the wolf like creature and sat down next to him.

"A human like you would not understand." Lucario replied honestly. He felt waves of tension and unease from the Hylian sitting next to him, worry about making all sorts of food platters and how he'd interact at the upcoming event night that night -

Lucario's aura was forcibly pushed away. "I didn't give you permission to read my mind." He noticed visible goosebumps on the human's bare skin where there were no clothes.

"I did not, I merely read your outward emotions." Lucario then paused. "I did, however, get a thought about food. Did Min-Min hire you?"

Link nodded. "Yeah. To help with the event. Min knows a lot about food, that's for sure."

Right on cue, Min-Min appeared in the doorway. "Link! Where have you been? I've been looking for you!" She said in an exasperated tone.

Link glanced back towards the door. "It's been like two minutes."

"Yeah? The food needs making!" Min-Min said, gesturing for Link to get up and follow her inside.

Link looked at Lucario and shrugged, then got up and entered the manor to return to the vast kitchens.

Mario stood in the foyer, looking out at the snow covered lawn through a large bay window.

"Everything okay?"

The head owner of the manor turned to see Samus standing nearby. Mario shook his head. "There's a missing invitation."

"Really?" Samus asked in an intrigued tone. "What do you think happened to it?"

Mario threw his hands up. "Who knows. Could be lost here somewhere, could have been sent out to some random person… it could be anywhere."

"Could be. But what if someone found it?" Samus joined Mario at the window.

Mario sighed. "Then whoever shows up, shows up." He heard footsteps and turned to see Link standing nearby. "Min-Min finally let you go, I take it?"

Link nodded tiredly, leaning against a nearby wall. "She did. She's… insistent. Wants things done on a strict schedule." The Hylian motioned towards the kitchen. "If you want tea or something, there's various flavors in like.. ten kettles."

Samus smiled and walked off to the kitchens, returning around two minutes later with a cup of tea. "Don't think anyone has asked you, but have you adjusted yet?"

"I don't know. I've only been here for two weeks." Link shrugged. "I guess I'm adjusted enough. Everyone's friendly, I've gotten help with getting used to… more modern things."

Mario nodded. "Good. Let me ask you something. Do you have anything that involves gifts and food and such back home?"

"Yeah. Gift Giving day."

"It has lots of names here. Same concept, though. Giving gifts and spending the last days of the year together and having celebrations and decorating trees. It's tradition. Speaking of which, did the two of you get the food made?" Samus inquired.

"Most of it." Link responded. "Min decided to let me have a break for a few hours. If you want food early, we made something called… Gingerbread, and then some drink called eggnog. They both taste okay." He then looked thoughtful and took the Slate from its satchel, then messed around with it for a few seconds before a small dagger appeared that had carved engravings and was made of ebony and quartz.

"Where did you get that?" Mario eyed the dagger.

"I must have been… I think seven? Eight?" The Hylian looked up at the painted ceiling as if he tried to recall the exact age. "Don't exactly remember… My mom made it herself and gave it to me."

Samus and Mario examined the dagger.

"Have you used it much?" Mario asked.

"Yeah. Actually saved my life a few times." Link looked down at the dagger and then desummoned it.

"You need to open up to people. Keeping your problems to yourself will only make things worse." Samus sounded like she was speaking from experience. Mario nodded in silence in response.

"I'll do so when I'm ready." Link said quietly.

The three were interrupted by Mewtwo, who had used Teleport from the study. "Someone approaches. They do not seem to wish to harm us nor the manor."

Mario gazed at Mewtwo for a second, then turned back to the window. "Something's out there. See it?"

There was a distant shape drawing closer and closer to the manor through the snow and fog, eventually it got close enough to be determined a sleigh.

"What is that?"

The sleigh flew through the air and bounced upon landing, the reindeer guiding the wooden contraption tossing their heads and stamping their hooves as the magical flying machine slowly coasted to a stop before the entrance to the manor. A man wearing a red suit with white trim climbed out of the sleigh and went around to the back, where large filled sacks were seen, and began to act as if he was checking off a list. In the man's coat, a letter was visible with a familiar cross-circle red ink stamp.

Mario and Samus gave each other a wide eyed look. Mewtwo narrowed his eyes at the new arrival while Link was genuinely confused as to what was happening.

There was a sturdy knock at the door and those present looked at Mario, who regained his composure and stepped up to the door, then slowly opened it.

"I do hope this is the right address." Stated the man in red as he showed Mario the letter.

"It is." Replied Mario in a shocked tone as he had to tilt his head back to meet the old man's gaze.

The man gave a warm smile. "Hello, Antonio." Santa greeted Mario by his first name with a quiet, gentle tone.

"…You're real."

"Of course I'm real, why wouldn't I be?" Santa looked past Mario at the few others nearby. "May I step inside?"

Mario seemed to snap out of whatever trance he had been in and nodded, opening the door so Santa could enter the manor.

"Pardon the snow, it seems to stick to my clothes." Stated Santa as he took a few minutes to warm himself up, then took several trips to his sleigh and back to bring all of the present-filled cloth sacks inside and set them against a wall. "Now then, to find everyone and give them these presents."

Everyone was alerted to Santa's arrival within the hour. They all gathered in the main open room, where Santa gave out presents to all of the Smashers. Everyone received something that was very near and dear to them; as an example, some received things from their parents, others, their teachers and lost friends and relatives. All in all, it was a wonderful occasion for everyone involved.

A few hours later, Min-Min and Link were once again in the kitchen, gazing at their latest food creation - a lot of various flavored cookies.

"I think I've reached my food making limit for today."

Min-Min nodded. "We have made a lot of food. Go on and rest, I have an idea on who to give some of these cookies to."

Link left the kitchens and made his way outside the manor, where he watched the reindeer foal the old man had gifted him run around in the snow. "Kristen… That's a good name…"

Meanwhile, Sephiroth had been in a grumpy mood as usual, though that vanished as he gazed at the well formed cookies on the blue platter. "Is this a trick?"

"No." Min-Min smiled. "It's not. And if you want more, I made… I don't remember how many but there's a lot."

The man slowly reached out and took a cookie from the plate, then sampled it. "It is…" He thought for a second. "Acceptable." Secretly, he greatly enjoyed the cookie, but he wasn't just going to outright say that.

It was enough for Min, though, she smiled and set the platter down on the table, then returned to the kitchen.

Several hours after the cookie incident, the party was being set up in the ballroom. Pictures and paintings lined the walls, a large tree was in the middle of the tile floored room, laden with lights and various ornaments. A makeshift statue of the Hands was at the back wall, somewhat towering over the room with its size.

Fox rummaged through a box of ornaments on the floor while Falco stuck wooden decorations to walls with a hammer and nails.

Peach and Daisy were discussing types of shoes for various occasions while Olimar had discovered a solar system display. He was fascinated with the sun and moon for some reason.

Santa was triple checking all of the made food and desserts to make sure they tasted right.

Mrs. Claus stepped through the doorway.

"Jessica?" Santa arched a white eyebrow in concern. "What are you doing here?"

Jessica looked around the room and frowned. "Seems to be everyone…" A red-white glow was forming around her hands as she twisted and turned them in front of her.

Nicolas started to stand from his chair but a mysterious force kept him seated. The others found that they couldn't move either and they were all helpless as the apparent spell grew larger around Jessica.

The old woman cackled. "Do you know how long I've been waiting for this moment, Kris? To get rid of you and all of these ungrateful people? I tried to get the local police involved but they wouldn't listen to me." The color of the spell turned a shade of velvet and iridescent purple, it rose above Jessica until it was clear it would hit everyone in the room. "I have an announcement to make. This mansion is mine now, all within it, I own, all of you need to be disposed of, one way or another, and I have the perfect idea. What's a Christmas without a spell going wrong, after all?"

"Jessica, stop this nonsense." Commanded Santa from his chair. "What compelled you to do this?"

"I don't expect an apology, you're overrated, and I intend to punish you and all in this room. I was given purpose, all I have to do is say there was a mishap, and everyone will believe me." Stated Jessica as she fired the spell at the Smashers.

The last thing everyone heard was "It's Christmas Eve, after all, and I intend to have some fun while I can. Don't worry, you'll all still be alive when you wake up."