MWAAHAHAHAHAAAA, YES! I'm not gone yet! :D :D :D :l okay. I stop now. XD

So, completely random update on the weather that you may/may-not care to know about: after around three weeks or so of the weather being in the sixties (XP) it's finally snowing again! :D :D :D We're literally SNOWED IN! :D (well, not quite, but everything we were going to do was cancelled and the roads are covered so we can't go anywhere anyway) :D

How long it will last, IDK, but I love it right now :D

Anyway, on with the story!

The 'storm' Hunter had mentally predicted the night before had come. But it wasn't literal. Not yet.

It was their time off. Nothing was supposed to go wrong. There wasn't supposed to be anything that got them riled up or overly emotional in any way. There was no reason for them to train. There was no reason for them to get up early...

But they did.

They were finishing this...now!

They had been on this planet for only four days now from the time they'd arrived to the morning of the next 'interrogation.'

Day one from the beginning had been a nightmare, starting with the first blizzard and the early wake-up that had only managed to get Hunter tired. That had been followed up by lack of progress due to the distraction of Wrecker starting a snowball fight...Which had been (embarrassingly) followed up by building snowmen in the oddest of forms. Later that night, Cody had literally grounded them (grown, mature men that they were...obviously) and thus had ended the first day.

Day two, from the beginning, had been completely ridiculous; starting with the untimely war of Tech's and Crosshair's music alarms which had then led to several items missing...which led them outside only to be subject to 'the snowmen invasion' that had take up most of the day to clean up before they had all headed inside. That had been the start of the first interrogation...Which had also wasted tremendous time in getting them basically no where. Yet the end, that had not been. Tailed by disputes of hot chocolate and mallowpuffs, Cody had given them somewhere new to be and some strange map to follow. Exit day two.

Day three, much to their annoyance, had not faired much better. Begun by the event of Wrecker going crazy after just one cookie, quips that nearly everyone was too exasperated to care for, Crosshair only proving that he could be a show-off when it suited him, and the amazing discovery of the near (before believed) impossible-Hunter could mentally narrate rather charmingly (at least, he thought so since no one else could hear him), it had been another day in which practically nothing had been done...oh yes, on top of all of that, Wrecker had found a baby dragon who was too cheerful for all of this.

All that had, apparently, been the set up for what was next. Three times, they had all been dumped by snow in the oddest of places and they could only suspect it had been planned. The day had been hectic; so Hunter had done the sensible thing and slept the rest of it through in order to sleep off the other quips that had occurred on the way back into the Marauder.

Were the atrocities ever to end? For that day, no; for, at near midnight, Tech had literally jumped out of bed to check the security cameras because he'd had some 'genius revelation.' An hour later, they were still awake for the beginning of day four. Thus, naturally, since it was morning, Tech found no reason why they should all go back to bed now that they had a lead suspect and had demanded that another interrogation was to in sue.

The others didn't quite agree. After all...

(One) Hunter was getting exhausted from all the excitement.

(Two) Crosshair was getting...(to put it lightly for younger audiences) annoyed by the obvious lack of maturity shown by the culprit.

(Three) Tech was running around in circles trying to figure out how he still hadn't figured it all out yet.

(Four) Wrecker was...well...Wrecker. Business as usual.

(Not quite five sooooo...let's just say four and a half-ish) And the current newest edition of the Bad Batch was just sweetly oblivious and happy that she now had someone to play with.

Hence, when Tech had suggested (politely as a wampa and just about as friendly as a nexu) that they put off their sleep for the next (as he explained) 'only four hours,' there were many a heated words of which Hunter had to negotiate between which ever two parties were arguing right at that moment least full and complete war broke out. Finally, tired of delegating, he sighed and stepped in between the group.

''Alright this has gone on long enough. If we're going to keep doing this, we may as well just go on with the interrogation.''

Tech smirked.

''However,'' Hunter continued, much to the genius's disgust, ''as that is disputed, there is only one way to settle this.''

He pointed to the weapons status panel. ''Gents, grab the controllers. Whoever dies last decides.''

The battle was fierce. The challenge was set on 'Instant Death.' One wrong move or fail to block a critical blow, and they were dead. (Of course, sometimes the controllers stalled and it often resulted in an unfair death. Such was the case of the first screen sim casualty).

Hunter was the first one out. At first, he'd considered trying to win, but then he had decided he didn't care what time he (eventually) went to sleep so long as he did. Thus, he figured if he lost first, he could snatch another five minutes before he had to be awake, no matter what happened.

In the end, he decided he had made the right call since he was able to steal a couple of minutes of sleep while the others were bickering. It was a sweet, dark, senseless oblivion. No others to deal with. No worries to force him to stay up for the most ridiculous reasons. No...children to steal his attention.

He was, for once able, to rest. A rarity that - for him - was precious as jewels were to others. When he finally woke up, he could hear that Wrecker (from what he could hear) dropped out too. As a matter of fact, he was just walking out of the crew's quarters when suddenly he heard Tech shriek!

''AAAAHHHHH! Stop, stop, stop it, you're killing me!''

''Correction,'' a slick voice purred. ''I killed you.''

Rubbing his eyes, the sergeant moaned. He walked into the main cabin to see Tech, Crosshair, and Wrecker sat on the floor. Wrecker sat behind the other two, watching in amusement as Tech stared between the large screen and Crosshair, jabbering in disbelief! On the large display unit (that was technically supposed to be used as a weapons controls panel, but Tech himself had modified for just such occasions) the screen was bordered in red and the black letters on Tech's side of the split screen said, 'Defeat'...while on Crosshair's, the only word was, 'Victory.'

Blinking to keep his eyes open, Hunter thought, Oh thank goodness.

Still standing in the doorway, he glanced down when something brushed his leg and saw Snowflake peering curiously at the others...then back up at him.

'Roar?' she asked, cocking her head as she blinked blearily.

''Hey, little one,'' he mumbled. He considered leaning over to pat her head, but feared his own balance so he settled for nudging her lightly with his foot. ''What are you doing up so early?'' he added when he saw her yawn.

She just yawned again, slumping against his foot, gurgling tiredly.

''Yeah,'' he agreed, yawning himself, ''me too.''

He took a deep before adding, ''Let's see what's going on. Okay, gents...ending results?''

''I demand a rematch!'' Tech cried.

''Three out of five, Tech,'' Crosshair shook his head, smiling sardonically at his brother. He leaned in, ''I. Win.''

Before Tech could rage on, Hunter interrupted quickly, ''CH, it's up to you. Do we stay up and continue with this non-sens - er, interrogation or do we put it off?''

Taking his time casually as he leaned back, making a show of considering the question before he slowly shrugged (of course, however, he'd already known what he'd decide...after all, that was why he had hacked the game earlier so he would win).

''I'm not staying up. We go back to sleep.''

Hunter's knees almost went weak. Gratitude flooding him, he gave a slumped, grateful bow before making a crisp about-face and walking like a zombie back into the crews quarters, Snowflake at his heel.

''We are so close!'' He thought he heard Tech moan, ''We need to finish this now!''

There was more (as there always was), but the sergeant's brain had just run out of the back-up power for the back-up power and his hearing zoned out as he nearly fell face-forward onto the first bunk he came to, honestly not giving a darned whose it was. It appeared the same thing was happening to Snowflake, who gave a slight squeak when she accidentally ran into the bed post before toddling around to crawl up onto the mattress.

If he had had any more energy, Hunter would have tried keeping her off...he almost managed turning completely on his side (and staying there) to do so...but he didn't. So he let her slump down on top of him, wings drooping like a blanket. Within minutes, he wasn't even conscious of it.

Neither of them were.

They were both too asleep to care.

SQUACK...SQUACK...SQUACK...SQUACK...SQUACK...SQUACK...SQUACK...SQUACK!

''AAAAAAHhhhh,'' Hunter clapped his hands over his ears, gritting his teeth at the blaring klaxon. ''What the kriff!''

The noise was coming from everywhere!

This always happens, this always happens; for once, just for once, people, may I get a decent ten-hour sleep!?

(Ha haaaaa, Hunter, you're a classic. No)

Scrambling from his bed, Snowflake raced ahead of him, whining in pain as she ran. Everyone paused at the exit hatch, hands clamped tight over their heads.

''What is going on?'' Hunter bellowed.

''I don't know!'' Wrecker called back, ''I just know it's loud.''

Grunting in frustration, Hunter kicked the access button, motioning everyone outside the moment they could. It was a little better outside, but not by much. The blaring alarm was still buzzing in their ears, and it hurt.

''Tech, any ideas?''

''I can try, but I don't know what caused this so I won't know where to look.''

''Can't you manually override the controls?''

''I could,'' he shouted, ''but it would make the whole Marauder power down.''

Oh no. Not again. Teeeeeeech, he mentally groaned. Then sighed, nodding.

''Do it!''

With a short quick nod, the youngest Bad Batcher darted back into the screaming sirens as the others waited with Snowflake. Of course, moment he left and the others remained outside, (as fortune is often said to favor the bold) that was when the weather decided to dump it's load (obviously, at the most in-opportune of times) down on the heads of the already...shall we say: less then awake and (by far) much less then happy souls that were not reigning on that earth.

So they shivered there with a blizzard beginning at their backs while in front of them and the Marauder blaring like a seagulls chorus.

Wonderful. Just...wonderful. So wonderful, it just made them want to grit their teeth (which, they kind of already were since they were freezing and had to keep them from chattering). Make their teeth chatter and dance for joy as they try to keep warm...(always a dignified way of putting it).

SQUACK, SQUACK, SQUACK, SQUACK, SQUACK, SQUAAAAAeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrkkkkkk.

(Gee, if the start had been a seagull's chorus, then that was a dying aiwha to finish it all off). Groaning while he shivered (grovered?), standing, Hunter picked up Snowflake from where she had been pouncing on a tiny snowdrift and headed for the ship.

Only problem was, when they got there, the access hatch was closed...and it could only be opened from the inside...

Aw, Dang Ferrik.

''Tech?...Tech?...Tech!?''

Still nothing...but they could already tell the Marauder was heating up. Though the cockpit window was frosted over and snow was starting to build slightly, the orange-gold hue of the small light heater was unmistakable.

Was he leaving them out there! To freeze! The thought couldn't be helped. You think you know a guy!

Luckily (whether for Tech's health or theirs was still debatable), a moment later, the hatch opened and they stumbled into the Havoc Marauder. They gave themselves a minute to warm up...then slowly turned to glare at Tech, who only peered back at them calmly. All most too calmly, in Crosshair's mind. Had he done that on purpose?

''Teeeeeeech...?'' Wrecker began.

''I closed the door to keep the wind out so I could work,'' He replied to the unspoken question hanging in the air, ''and also so the Marauder was warmer when you walked in. Then I remembered the light heater and hooked it up to Gunki (the gunk droid) since the ship's down right now.''

The sergeant raised an eyebrow. ''What makes you think we were suspicious?...after you got annoyed that we didn't stay up for the 'interrogation'?''

''Well, the chances of you saying that anyway were-''

''Never tell me the odds,'' Hunter growled, turning to the others. ''Fine. We've put it off and the storm's here so there's nothing else to do. Wrecker, in the kitchen. You have a few things to explain given last night.''

But as they began heading that way, Hunter bumped in front of Tech, leaning in pointedly. ''But don't think that excludes you from questioning. Wrecker isn't the only one who's suspicious right now, if you catch my drift.''

Tech's gaze was completely level.

''Of course.'' he replied evenly. ''After everything that's happened, everyone is a suspect.''

Yeah...but some are more suspect then others...

''Gents. First thing I want to know is why are we back here? Huh? Last time was supposed to be enough to get this over with...but no. Some one here is dragging this out...pointlessly. I'll give you one minute of silence from me for you to confess right here and now. But I warn you, the longer this goes on, the...shall I say? Harsher? The ending result for you will be. Silence...now.''

Nothing. In his head, Hunter was counting.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten...

Everyone's expression was completely calm, giving nothing away.

Eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty...

After all, they had all been trained to resist torture...

Twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five...

For the whole minute, no one said anything; they just stared at each other, measuring everyone's expressions to see who would falter first. Problem was, they were all too good and knew each other all too well.

The only one who didn't know what was going on was Snowflake, who sat on Wrecker's lap, glancing curiously around the table. Everyone was getting so still, she squeaked just to make sure they were okay. They glanced at her, but nothing more.

No one was going to back off. None were willing to give in.

Fifty-six...fifty-seven...fifty-eight...fifty-nine...

Hunter started counting slower; this wasn't what he'd had in mind. It wasn't working. Silence was no problem for these men. It didn't deter them; as a matter of fact, they seemed to prefer it!

Fifty-nine and a half...siiiiiiiiiiiixtttttyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

Hunter suddenly clapped, startling Snowflake so she jumped, accidentally falling from her perch.

''Gents, last time...Any volunteers?''

No one.

''Okay, then. Snowflake, come here.''

She toddled over, letting him pick her up before setting her on the table. Glancing around, she peered back up at Hunter, tiny tail swishing and eyes sparkling. Resting his hands on the table, he leaned in.

''Now, Snowflake, look around.''

She did.

''Some one's been naughty.''

She growled playfully in response.

''Yes, good. Who do you think did it?''

Narrowing her eyes, she straightened, strutting around the table from person to person as they protested how unfair it was that they pull her into this; but the sergeant waved them off. When she was finished, she bounced back over to him and he repeated his question. Snowflake took one last look around before wobbling over to Crosshair, nudging him in the chest with her nose, squeaking in triumph as if to say, 'Found him!' like in a game of tag.

''Now wait a minute,'' Tech protested, ''first off, what is she doing mixed up in all of this and why is she the one who's deciding who pulled all those pranks? She wasn't even there when it all happened. She hasn't seen all the evidence.''

''Weeeeell,'' Hunter smirked, ''first off, no one took up my offer of just surrendering. Second, why are you so adverse and nervous to Snowflake joining in?''

Stuttering, he shook his head. ''We don't know where she came from! Besides, when they're a baby, the mama is always nearby, and I don't want to become lunch!''

They all paused, stealing sudden panicked looks at the tiny two-toned dragon...then shrugged.

''You look suspicious. Anyway, Cody said something about a friend he has around here. Maybe she belongs to him-Er, her. He did say 'her,' didn't he? Weird.''

Sputtering, Tech began protesting before Hunter cut him off.

''Speaking of which...we still have that letter he wants us to look at. Come on. Snowflake? Here, girl. Let's see what it says again.''

''What about the security cams!? What about how we saw Wrecker-''

''You know,'' Crosshair remarked, ''you seem awfully certain Wrecker is the one who's been pulling off all those pranks. Why is that?''

''Yeah, I don't appreciate that.'' the larger clone added.

''Well it wasn't me, if that's what you're thinking.''

''Riiiiiiiight.''

Tech bristled at the sniper's tone, but they were already following Hunter and Snowflake into the cockpit...momentarily leaving him alone...

''Leeeet's seeee.'' Hunter bit his lip, searching through the dashboard compartments. ''Where is it?''

''Roar?'' Snowflake asked, nudging his knee.

''Looking foooor-Ah ha! Here it is.''

He held up the flimsi note for her to see, snatching it back in surprise when she yipped, sniffing it.

''Whoa, whoa, careful. I don't know if you can breath fire or not, but we don't want this going up in smoke.''

''But what for?'' CH asked, crossing his arms.

''We'll see.''

The message still didn't make very much sense...but the map was fairly simple. There were four marks on the map, pointing to four different locations on the Marauder, each spot numbered. The number one was in the kitchen. Following logic, they went there first. They weren't sure what to do other then look around, but after a while, Crosshair noticed Snowflake was sniffing around the underside of the built-in-table. Remembering how she had reacted to the first note, he dropped to the floor and slid himself under, peering up at the underside.

Bingo.

''Found it.''

It was another flimsi note, this one with a few more words, but the map on this one was different. In this one, the numbers on the Marauder were labeled differently and the one for the kitchen area was missing, leaving the last three. For a moment, they compared notes before deciding to take a random guess and go to location two on the second note (which was the armory).

For the next few minutes, they went from one part of the Marauder to the other, following the baby dragon's nose to the next four messages. Finally, at the last one, they noticed that the map only had one location marked on it (what appeared to be the engine room) and the only thing it said was: 'gifts go reverse alphabetically from the top looking down. Middle gift is for you guys to play with the little one if you've met her by now. Hint: think upside-down right-side up.'

''HUh?''

All eyes turned to Snowflake, who screed cheerfully before darting forward into the engine room. Other then all the equipment for the ship, there wasn't much to the room so the Bad Batch had made it dual-purpose as a storage unit along with the armory. The tiny dragonet was sniffing around the stacked vents, jumping up onto her hind legs and stretching her neck as far as it would go. Then she ran over to the doorway, sniffing along the edges of the shelves before running back to the vents.

''Top looking down...Top looking down...Top looking down...Upside-down right-side up?'' Tech muttered, frowning.

Snowflake was still searching around the cooling vents and hadn't really moved from there what-so-ever except for that once, so whatever it was they were looking for had to be there; but now they couldn't imagine what the Commander had meant by that.

''Uh...Tech?'' Hunter began.

''Yes, yes, I know, I know, I'm thinking, I'm thinking,'' he interrupted, brow furrowed as he waved a dismissive hand.

The dragonet must have noticed they were stumped because she toddled back over, cocking her head up at them.

''Roar? Roar? Roar-roar? Roar? Roar-roar-roar?''

She almost seemed to be calling them by name, asking what was the matter.

''We can't figure out the whole 'upside down right-side-up thing,'' Wrecker offered.

''Erg?'' Snowflake asked, cocking her head more so it was upside down. She wasn't able to hold it long and she stumbled a couple steps, but she gave them all questioning looks.

''Yes, like that,'' Tech began, ''but that doesn't explain-''

He suddenly stopped. ''That's it!''

Without a word of explanation, he pulled himself onto the sturdiest pipe that hung from the ceiling, peering at them, face already turning red with all the blood rushing to his head. He squinted at the wall opposite him for a moment before a light came to his eyes.

''That's what he meant!''

Snowflake screed, giggling a little at how distorted his voice was because of his position of hanging from the ceiling like a bat. From upside down, he could see compartments that might have been used to hide whatever it was they were supposed to find. Tech pointed.

''Hunter, go to the other wall. I think I've figured it out.''

His next words were interrupted though when Snowflake rose to her hind legs, trying to bat at him with her paw which forced him to lift up in order to not accidentally fall. Pulling her away, Hunter did as he was told and stood next to the door way.

''Okay, I'm here. Now what?''

''Can someone please read Tech's mind first so we know what the general idea is incase he passes out from hanging there?''

''I won't pass out, Crosshair,'' Tech glared, but the sniper just sat back on his heels, smirking.

''Hunter, look to your...'' he paused, ''left. See the compartments?''

''Yeah, what about them?''

''That depends. Who do you think should get their 'gift' first?''

''Uhhhhhh, what's the simplest order of them?''

''The one Cody gave us.''

''Okay...''

Hunter wasn't sure that Cody had even given them an order of how to look for them, but he shrugged. Okay...he repeated mentally.

''Last shelf on the bottom. It would be...W. That one's Wreckers.''

Surprise flitted across their face (even though there faces were upside down given Tech's position) but it passed; one package down and Wrecker wandered back into the main cabin to open it.

Still hanging there, Tech frowned, thinking. ''Next one up would be...''

He blinked. ''Oh. Mine.''

Second package out. It was a little larger, but Hunter just set it down for now since Tech was already getting ready to say the next one...when he paused.

''Wait a minute. If Cody knew about Snowflake - if that was even who he was talking about, then what did he call her?''

Hunter shrugged, ''We'll have to figure this out as we go.''

''Okay...he said 'middle gift' sooo...I guess that one's hers.''

Snowflake nosed her way through Hunter's legs to paw at the compartment, sniffing curiously, eyes sparkling.

''Here you go, little one.'' Hunter grinned, before straightening.

''Next one's yours, Sarge. Last one is Crosshair's.''

''Good. 'Kay, Tech, you can let go now.''

Poor choice of words. Almost at his command, despite it being Tech's limbs, his appendages seemed to take commands from Hunter just as well as the rest of the Bad Batch did. No sooner had the words left his mouth when Tech dropped to the ground, more startled then hurt when he landed, but still dazed. Snowflake ran over to him, licking his cheek to make sure he was okay before picking up her 'gift' with her teeth, nudging Hunter to open it for her.

''Wait till we get to the other room,'' he patted her on the head, adding, ''If you beat us there, we'll open yours first.''

Next moment, she was gone.

Tech stood, wobbling a little as he tried to regain his bearings, but managed to return to the main cabin without help; still, Hunter walked behind him just in case. When they had all returned, Wrecker appeared to have already opened his...but it was no where in sight. The sergeant wasn't so sure if that was a good thing or bad, but he figured as long as the ship wasn't blown up yet, he and the others could handle it.

(Little did they know...)

Snowflake sat patiently on one of the chairs, tail flicking from side to side behind her. Shaking his head as he smiled, Hunter sat on the floor next to her and opened her package just as promised. It was simple brown-flimsi wrapping that covered a brightly colored...what appeared to be a squished ball. The dragonet cocked her head, but Hunter recognized it. Smiling, he told her it was magic, hiding it in his sweat-shirt pocket. As a matter of fact, to prove it (since she was giving him a skeptical eyebrow), he lightly pressed her nose and -

SQUEAK!

She let out a squeak of her own, jumping.

''No no no, come here, see?'' He shuffled over to Tech, lightly pressing his finger on his arm and...Squeak!

Golden eyes going light, she toddled to Wrecker, peering at his knee before nudging him with her nose. But when nothing happened, she glanced back at Hunter, who shook his head.

''Nope, come here. Let me show you. See? Lightly, lightly rest your finger and press. 'Cause when you do -''

Squeak!

''Now try it.''

She tried again. This time, she pressed lightly, then...Squeak!

Gazing back at the sergeant, Snowflake grinned.

''Squeak-squeak!'' she said, bouncing over to him and rubbed her nose against his.

The blizzard outside made the time of day hard to determine, but it was really only an hour or so after lunch so they ate. But just as they started, the commlink began beeping. Jumping to their feet, the Bad Batch headed to the cockpit. When Commander Cody showed in the blue holo, Snowflake squealed, pushing her nose through the light image.

''Uh, Sno-'' Tech began.

''Hey!'' Cody cried, laughing, ''Hey, Rakasha! How are you, girl?''

Surprised by the name, their gazes shifted from her to him and back again.

''Rakasha?'' Wrecker asked, confused. ''Her name is Snowflake.''

''Well,'' Tech began, but paused as if waiting for something, cocking his head. Everyone else leaned in.

''Well...what?'' Cody prompted.

''Oh, I thought some one was going to interrupt me again; it's been happening a lot lately.''

Chuckling to himself, Cody motioned for him to continue his train of thought.

''Well, we know her as Snowflake, but that's probably the nickname you came up with for her since she's the one you wanted us to meet.''

The commander nodded. ''Very close. Actually, no. It was her mother. She's who I wanted you to meet and who named the kid. But-''

He considered the dragonet for a moment, either ignoring or literally completely oblivious to the silence that had fallen over the Marauder (with the exceptions of the quiet gulps and Tech mouthing 'I told you!' at the others).

''Then, why haven't we seen her?'' Hunter asked. ''Does she know where Snow- Uh, what did you say her name was? Rak-Rakasha?''

Cody nodded. ''She's probably waiting until the weather is a little better. And don't worry. Snow dragons are telepathic so Makasha knows where the little one is at all times. But...'' he looked thoughtful. ''I think you could keep calling her Snowflake if you wanted too. Of course, that depends on whether or not she'll answer to it. Rakasha!''

Her head snapped around to him. He waited.

The moment she lost interest, he said, ''Snowflake!''

Again, she turned, waiting expectantly, tail flicking. Suddenly she squeaked and turned to Hunter.

''Squeak-squeak!'' she barked.

''Huh?''

''Squeak-squeak!''

She nudged him, then pressed and he got the idea.

''Oh, she wants to show you she can do magic,'' he winked.

After she had been given a chance to show off, Tech asked how Cody knew where they were, who the dragons were, and what the deal with the gifts was. When he explained that the 212th had been assigned there for a mission, detailing most of the crazy shenanigans that went on, everyone looked at each other.

Oh boy, we need to get out of here before this sinks in too deep and becomes permanent. First thing to do is -

''Hey, Hunter, I can read your expression, 'kay? No more doomsday prepping, got it?''

The gifts, he continued, had originally been for Life day, but because of the timing and messed up schedules, they hadn't been able to get them in time. During his narrative, Hunter had considered asking where he'd gotten (or, maybe a better way of saying it would be: how) the stuff, but almost just as quickly discarded the idea. As with the snow-dumps the day before, somethings were just best left unknown.

By the time they were ready to say goodbye, Snowflake was yawning tiredly.

''It can't be that late,'' Cody frowned.

''It is for us.'' (Insert here the glare they all shot Tech) ''We've had some...complications since we've gotten here.''

Smiling mysteriously, Cody only nodded. ''Oh, I'll bet you have. Just wait.''

He glanced around, and winked.

''Seeya boys. Enjoy.''

As before, without another word or warning, he vanished from view.

The armory was quiet when Tech tiptoed in. He wasn't sure why, but doing something like opening a present was kind of embarrassing to do in front of the others. It was just something he'd always preferred doing alone. So he didn't have to hide the fact that he couldn't help a slight yelp of pleasure when he saw what was in his package.

To anyone else...Well, it would have just seemed like bits and pieces of random machinery parts...but 'anyone else' wasn't Tech. Pulling out a power chip from the pile, he grinned. It was the part he'd been missing for the last project he'd had. So he quickly finished that one only to begin with another.

Hunter's, he knew from the start, was going to be a gag. It just had to be. It always was. Yet, to his surprise it wasn't quite the gag he was used to. It was a picture of the Bad Batch, nothing fancy or over the top. Just a simple flimsi copy...he raised a suspicious eyebrow. Cody wasn't that innocent.

He searched the envelope again, turned over the picture...and grinned. Ah, of course. There is was. On the back of the main photo was a Cody (obviously hand taken given the thumb in the left-hand corner) but below the dramatic pose were the words, 'A pre-glory picture for the hall of fame after I write my memoirs. You're welcome.' Turning it over in his hands, Hunter couldn't help but laugh. Inside jokes were the best...Especially when they were on the person who started them.

Slipping away from the group after the transmission from Cody, Crosshair quietly hopped onto his bunk above Tech's in the barracks. He still hadn't opened his 'gift' yet (barely anyone had because Snowflake/Rakasha had insisted on making sure her 'magic' worked on everyone), but given Cody's words and wink, he had an idea of what it was. The package was slightly dense, flexible, and wobbled slightly in his hands. It just had to be...He had figured, but still...It was real leather. A real leather sketch book with a golden crosshair stamped into the cover. Gently he brushed his hand across the cover...And, glad no one else was around to see it, he grinned faintly. Then laid back on his bunk and started sketching.

Hiding in the cockpit, Wrecker grinned, gift in hand. Ah, the best gifts were always the ones that could be used. The others were going to be so annoyed with him when they found out what it was...He knew he just needed to wait until the right moment...the right moment for the right grand reveal...

Okay, here's the thing, this chapter was going to be longer (which is odd given that this is the longest chapter I've ever done), but it just was not working out the way I wanted it too, so I had to cut the chapter short. But, yeah, extremely late Christmas stuff XD (late...or early, pending on how you look at it XD

Anyway, hope you enjoyed it! :D

Thanks to Slim 'Tech' Sherman, Cuthalion97, Revee, The Caramel Cat, and KarajeJinsta for reviewing! :D Thank you for being so patient with me despite slow updates.