Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Sonic the Hedgehog characters.
Ever since the incident after the dance, everyone was trying to figure out what exactly caused Static to go off the rails. A small team consisting of Tails, Winter, Chrissy, Tyler, and Bolt spent the better part of the week after the dance analyzing the collar. Spark and Static were eager to help at the beginning, but as soon as Winter and Tails started talking, they walked right out of the lab. By the end of the week, and the beginning of Winter Break, the only thing they found was that it used compounds similar to the ones found in Chaos Emeralds. They were fed up with their lack of findings and Winter decided to call a break since it was their vacation time after all. Everyone readily agreed.
Renegade has been keeping to himself, trying his hardest to stay away from the group since Alana has been hanging around them. While he has been keeping a watchful eye on her to make sure nothing bad happened to her, he would avoid her at all costs. Yeah, it may suck, but he wasn't supposed to involved with Alana and he had to make sure that didn't happen. He was thankful that it was Winter Break now so he didn't have to be in school. He could just stay at home and not have to worry about seeing her. Renegade was sitting in his living room when his phone started to ring. He looked at it and was confused when he saw a number he didn't recognize.
"Hello?" He answered confused.
"Renegade?" His eyes widened when he heard Alana's voice.
"Alana?" He asked sitting up.
"Yeah, it's me," She sighed. "I really need to talk to you." She told him and Renegade sighed.
"Alana I told—"Renegade was cut off.
"I know, but I need to see you, Renegade. I need to tell you something." She told him.
"Alana, you don't understand. I can't be with you." Renegade explained as he started to slowly pace his living room.
"You told me this already. I just want to see you for a little bit to tell you something." She said and Renegade sighed. The doorbell rang and he stopped his pacing.
"Hold on." He told her before walking to the door. He opened it and found Alana standing there with her phone to her ear. Renegade stared at her surprised to see her standing there. After a brief moment of silence, Renegade put his phone away as did Alana. "What did you want to tell me?" He asked.
"I broke your promise." Alana told him.
"I can see that. You're here." He murmured and she shook her head.
"I broke the other promise." She said as Renegade's eyes softened. "I love you." She sniffled as tears appeared in the corners of her eyes. "Sorry," She chuckled lightly before wiping her eyes. Renegade smiled softly before pulling her into his arms and she rested her head against his chest.
"It's hard, I know. Especially since I'm so irresistible." He joked and Alana laughed into his chest. He moved her away from him until she was arms length away. "I broke that promise too." He whispered before kissing her softly. Alana wrapped her arms around his neck and he lifted her off of her feet. They pulled away and she smiled at him happily. "Besides, sometimes promises can be broken." He murmured and she hugged him happily. Consequences be damned. Renegade was happy to be with the one he loved—and that in itself is a Christmas miracle.
Back at the Solari house, Winter was outside supervising while Spark and Bolt hung up the lights.
"Be careful!" Winter called out as Bolt and Spark stood on the roof.
"Have more faith in us, Mom. Besides," Bolt said before he and Spark took off across the room hanging up strings of lights. They stopped in front her holding the plugs and smiled. "It really doesn't take that long." He smirked before plugging in the lights. The house shined with neatly lined lights in various colors and Winter smiled happily.
"Oo!" Little Tyson said as the Solari family turned around to see Silver and Blaze walking through the snow with the rest of their family.
"Hey, are we the first ones here?" Silver asked when the front door burst open.
"Amber!" AJ exclaimed before running over to her and hugging her.
"I guess not." Silver muttered.
"What's up, Silver?" Reese asked as everybody stepped into the house. Topaz quickly walked over to Onyx and Amber and AJ walked to the game room where everybody was. Tyson crawled over to Jillian and tugged on her pant leg.
"I'm guessing you want to see Alena?" Jillian asked holding Alena. Tyson just looked up at her with bright gold eyes as Alena reached out to him. Jillian put Alena on the floor and the two babies started babbling at each other on the floor.
"Blaze! Get your lavender ass over here!" Midnight said holding her arms out. Blaze laughed as she went to hug her friend.
"Silver!" Todd said sliding down the rail. "Did you tell him the plan?" He asked Reese while landing on the ground
"No, he just got there." Reese said as Silver looked at them confused.
"What plan?" Silver asked as Todd and Reese smirked. All the teenagers were hanging out in the lounge or the game room upstairs having fun, enjoying their time away from school and away from each other.
"Kids!" Shadow called out. All of them came downstairs thinking they had food ready, but saw nothing ready.
"Yeah?" Serenity asked raising her eyebrow.
"Go outside and play in the snow. It's absolutely lovely outside." Nikki smiled and all of them turned to look outside.
"It's snowing?" AJ exclaimed pressing his face against the window.
"You were just outside and you didn't notice?" Todd asked.
"My eyes were focused on something more beautiful." AJ smiled and Amber blushed. Todd rolled his eyes while Silver scowled.
"I may be okay with you two dating, but that doesn't mean I need to see this cheesy bullshit." Silver muttered and Blaze slapped his arm for cursing and AJ looked down sheepishly.
"Come on guys! Let's go!" Julian cheered throwing on his winter wear. Everybody else followed suit, putting on their jackets, scarves, and hats. They all raced out to the backyard and decide to kick off their time outside with a snowball fight.
"So, how are we going to break up the teams?" Ginger asked as they stood in a circle.
"Well, there are 30 of us so we could do five teams of six or six teams of five." Tyler explained and they all stared at him. "What? Chrissy isn't the only smart one." He muttered and Chrissy snorted.
"I say we do the five teams. Four captains can be someone from each class level and the last captain can go to whoever wants it that badly." Nicole suggested and everyone seemed to agree.
"I call captain for the freshmen!" Flash exclaimed as Suzy, Ivy, and Hailey shrugged their shoulders. If Lorgo was here, he'd probably fight over it, but lucky for Flash he had to stay in SF with his family for Christmas. Tsunami, Bolt, and Shade all stood around each other glaring.
"I want to be captain!" Tsunami yelled and Bolt scoffed.
"I should be captain. I'm the better leader." He said as Shade rolled his eyes.
"Please, do you not remember what happened last time when we played dodgeball?" Shade asked and Bolt flinched at the memory of being pelted by dozens of dodgeballs.
"Would you guys just do Rock, Paper, and Scissors?" AJ groaned impatiently. They all held their fists in a circle.
"One, two, three, shoot!" They all yelled. Tsunami and Bolt both picked rock and Shade picked paper.
"Aw, yeah!" Shade cheered and Tsunami shrugged her shoulders accepting her defeat while Bolt pouted. Shawn volunteered and their wasn't any objection about it from the juniors.
"Okay it's obvious that I'm going to be captain." Julian said and they all looked at him incredulously.
"Says who?" Tyler asked as he and Brice crossed their arms and glared at him.
"Because you guys all have your girlfriends and I'm the one alone." He pouted looking depressed and lonely. Serenity and Ginger snorted while Brice rolled his eyes.
"You don't even want a girlfriend!" Brice exclaimed causing most people to laugh.
"This is true, but I still think I deserve to be captain." Julian said as Tyler rolled his eyes. Tyler and Julian ended up playing Rock, Paper, and Scissors with Tyler being the victor. Julian and Bolt ended up playing a game of their own and Julian won and became the fifth captain. The captains lined up in front of the groups and decided what order they would go in. Shade would go first, then Shawn, then Julian, Flash, and Tyler.
"Suzy." Shade said and Suzy smiled and walked over to him.
"Ruby." Shawn smiled and Ruby walked over to his side and kissed his cheek.
"Serenity. And before you guys bore us anymore I'm assuming you're picking and Ivy and you're picking Liecy." Julian said and they shrugged before Serenity, Ivy, and Liecy walked over to their teams. Shade looked down the line before smiling and pointing.
"Chrissy." He told her and she walked over.
"Onyx." Shawn said.
"Ginger." Julian picked.
"Bolt." Flash said and Bolt fell to his knees.
"No!" He shouted into the sky while Flash looked at him confused and Chrissy shook her head.
"I haven't even finished picking. My team isn't going to suck." Flash pouted and Bolt fell sideways into the snow staring at Chrissy.
"Don't be so overdramatic, I won't hit you." Chrissy told him before he slunk his way over to Flash. The team picking continued and by the end of it, the teams were decided with only a few disputes. Shade's Team consisted of Suzy, Chrissy, Lauren, Ebony, and Andrew. Shawn's Team was himself, Ruby, Onyx, Topaz, Roddy, and Lilac. Serenity, Ginger, Conner, Derek, and Hailey were on Julian's Team. Flash picked Ivy, Bolt, Hydro, Lazarus, and Tsunami for his team. Finally, Tyler had Liecy, AJ, Amber, Brice, and Nicole on his team.
"Let the games begin!" AJ shouted as everybody took off in different directions. Bolt and Flash were hiding behind some bushes when they spotted Lauren and Chrissy. They both smirked and popped out from the bushes with snowballs in their hands.
"Surprise!" Bolt smiled but stopped from throwing when he saw them smirk at him.
"No, we think the surprise is on you." Lauren smirked as Bolt and Flash were knocked down with two snowballs behind the head courtesy of Shade and Suzy. They all laughed before running away and Flash raised his fist in the air.
"Revenge!" Flash yelled. Julian was in a tree waiting for his next target when he saw AJ.
"Peek-a-boo!" Julian shouted before nailing AJ in the face with a snowball. However, Julian was knocked onto the ground with a giant pile of snow on top of him. He blew the snow off his face to see Hydro run by with Ivy laughing. "Stupid ice powers." He muttered glaring at the two. Ginger and Derek were walking around casually holding hands. Their free hands were both glowing with their powers.
"Ha!" Lazarus exclaimed but quickly blasted down by both Ginger and Derek.
"You didn't even stand a chance." Tsunami laughed staring at her boyfriend on the ground. Hydro and Flash were jumping from tree to tree, trying to stay high to the ground and look for their next targets. They landed in front yard and noticed that it was empty and quiet. Too quiet. They were both blasted onto their faces with a huge blast of snow and turned around to see Static smirking.
"There's some new rules to this game." Static smirked before running off with Midnight. Both their mouths dropped as they watched their parents leave.
"C'mon! We have to tell the others!" Flash exclaimed as he and Hydro ran back into the trees. They skidded to a stop when they saw Nicole and Brice and Hydro was quick to make a shield in front of him and Flash to block their attacks.
"You guys! Our parents joined the game! Teams don't matter! It's the parents against the kids!" Hydro explained and Brice looked stared at him in horror.
"Shit." He cursed before he grabbed Nicole and took off in the other direction.
"Lauren!" Hydro shouted and Lauren quickly ran over to him. "The parents are in the game now. You have to send a mental message out to everyone telling them what's up. We got to stop them." He told her and she stared at him wide-eyed. She sent the message out to everyone and various levels of cursing could be heard throughout the yard.
"They know." Todd sang happily and Jillian laughed. "Game on." He spoke into the built-in walkie-talkie in the watch Tails gave him and all the parents. The teams were now void and it was now all 30 children versus their 24 parents. The children decided to regroup to work on a game plan and met in the small forest behind the Solari house.
"You guys!" Tyler exclaimed quietly as he ran towards the group with his backpack around his shoulders. "Chrissy and I remodeled some of my dad's inventions. They were really old, but we took a camouflage mesh and mixed it with some nano-technology that can collapse and move at will. Then we strapped a small—"
"Tyler enough with the geek talk! Just show us what it is!" Ruby exclaimed and the Prower siblings frowned. Tyler pulled out a black armband that looked more like a fashion piece than a piece of useful technology.
"Wow, they're going to be scared." Ebony muttered sarcastically. Suddenly a cannon popped out and fired a series of snowballs at a tree before collapsing back into the armband. "Never mind." She mumbled. Tyler started handing them all out to everyone except for this with ice or water powers because frankly they didn't need them—also he didn't have that many armbands.
"No wonder why you wanted to be a captain. You were going to cheat with these!" Julian accused.
"No I wasn't! These are just prototypes! I didn't even know we'd have a snowball fight before we came here." Tyler argued and Liecy rolled her eyes.
"We don't have time for this. Our maniac parents are coming after us and we are either going to shove our win in their faces or they're going to absolutely embarrass us." Liecy told them.
"Oh children!" Winter called out causing Bolt and Hailey to cringe.
"Let's go!" Julian whispered hurriedly sliding his armband on. Everybody jumped into the trees and started to jump in different directions. Tyler grabbed his sister and flew them towards the roof. They landed with a soft thud and spotted Tails and Cream casually walking through the front yard. Tyler turned to face Chrissy and nodded once before both of their cannons popped up. They both jumped off the roof planning to ambush them, but soon they were blasted into the wall. They were frozen to it and saw that Tails and Cream were aiming pens at them.
"No way! A pen?" Tyler exclaimed as Tails twirled it in his hand before putting it behind his ear.
"Always know that I'll have the better inventions." Tails smirked before taking Cream's hand into his and walking away slowly. Tyler sighed and dropped his head while Chrissy tried to break free from the ice.
"Bolt!" Chrissy yelled and Bolt was there in one second flat with Hailey behind him. They both looked at her and Tyler confused and Chrissy sighed. "They have weapons too." She muttered.
Bolt unfroze her and caught her as Hailey unfroze Tyler and he landed on the ground with a soft thud. AJ, Suzy, and Julian were all hiding in a tree looking for their parents. Suzy scrunched up her face and turned to her brothers.
"Who do you think is watching the little kids?" Suzy asked.
"Probably Nikki and Alchemy. They never like doing stuff like this." Julian waved his hand dismissively.
"Sshh! There they are!" AJ whispered pointing to Jillian and Todd who were walking with their backs facing them. They all got their cannons ready and fired three shots. Todd whipped around and stopped them with his powers before letting them drop to the ground. He smirked and pulled out a massive bazooka and firing towards the tree. Julian, AJ, and Suzy all landed on the ground in a big heap of snow while Todd cackled evilly.
"You should know by now that you're not going to win!" Todd laughed before grabbing Jillian and running away. All three kids fell back into the snow sighing. Serenity, Ebony, and Shade were all on the roof watching as Shadow and Amy walked together.
"Serenity are you sure about this?" Ebony asked.
"It will work." Serenity told her firmly. Amy had her arm wrapped around Shadow's and her head on his shoulder and Shadow leaned over and pressed a kiss onto her head.
"Serenity look at them. We can't attack them." Shade sighed looking at his parents acting like they were in high school again.
"That's what they want us to think." Serenity glared knowing better than her siblings.
"Are they watching us?" Shadow whispered to Amy.
"Yes." Amy laughed softly.
"Good." Shadow smirked. Serenity, Ebony, and Shade got their cannons ready and fired three separate blasts towards Shadow and Amy. Shadow pushed Amy behind him and stood his ground firmly.
"Chaos Warp!" Shadow shouted. A green wave emitted from him and all the snowballs slowed to a stop in the air. The kids eyes widened and the snowballs came flying back into their faces. They all fell off the roof and Amy had made sure there was a giant pile snow waiting there for them to land on.
"When did he learn that?" Shade exclaimed wiping the snow off his face.
"I actually learned that awhile ago, but have never showed you guys until now." Shadow smiled before walking away with Amy on his arm. They all glared at their parents and Serenity punched the snow angrily. The Storm kids were pressed up against the side of the house and were peeking around the wall for any sign of their parents.
"I'm not sure about this guys." Tsunami murmured.
"Don't worry. We'll beat them." Hydro told her confidently. Suddenly a purple balloon came bouncing their way and Hydro's eyes widened. "Oh shit! Run!" He yelled, but it was too late. The balloon burst and they were covered in a mountain of snow and ice.
"Ha! You actually thought you could beat us?" Static laughed as Static and Midnight jumped down from a tree.
"Well you thought very wrong!" Midnight smiled before they walked away laughing together. After a lot of snow being flung—especially at the kids—everyone walked back into the house.
"This is just embarrassing." Julian muttered while the rest of the teenagers trudged in behind him.
"Aw, don't be mad because you lost." Winter cooed and all the kids glared at her.
"God, it's just because you guys had all those stupid sneak attacks and secret weapons!" Hailey exclaimed and the parents laughed.
"Don't have a sour attitude. It's Christmas Eve." Luna said and all of them grumbled.
"You know what that means!" Midnight smiled brightly while staring at her two sons.
"Oh no." Hydro and Flash both groaned.
"What does that mean?" Lazarus whispered to Tsunami.
"My parents always make them do one Christmas song every year." Tsunami explained as she watched her brothers drag themselves into the formal living room where the piano was. Everybody followed them there while Hydro sat behind a black piano and played a few bars as a warm up.
"Uh…any requests?" Hydro asked.
"The Christmas Song!" Midnight exclaimed and Hydro sighed. "Lauren! You should join him!" She said excitedly and Reese and Luna smiled as well.
"Um, well, I would love to, but I don't want to take away from this moment." Lauren smiled sheepishly.
"No! Please! We would love to hear you two together." Static smiled and Hydro scooted over and patted the seat next to him. Lauren sighed as she moved to sit next to him and Hydro smiled over to his girlfriend.
"Do you know the words?" He asked and she nodded. Lauren nodded and Hydro let her start while he began to play the piano.
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
Jack Frost nipping at your nose
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir
And folks dressed up like Eskimos
Lauren smiled and leaned into Hydro as she sang. Admittedly, she has never heard Hydro sing because he always insisted that he wasn't that great. She had been looking forward to this, but it came to a surprise to her that she would be joining him. Static had his arm over Midnight while she watched Hydro and Lauren perform together, her heart absolutely bursting inside of her chest.
Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe
Help to make the season bright
Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow
will find it hard to sleep tonight
Lauren's smile widened as she listened to Hydro sing. He had a very nice and smooth voice that was so similar to Flash's yet there were subtle differences there. Flash looked around and saw that everyone's attention was on Hydro and Lauren. He slyly tried to duck his way out of the room, but Bolt was quick to grab him by the shoulder and force him back into his spot next to Ivy. Flash pouted while Ivy laughed and patted his knee.
They know that Santa's on his way
He's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh
And every mother's child is going to be spy
To see reindeer really know how to fly
And so, I'm offering this simple phrase
To kids from one to ninety-two
Although it's been said many times, many ways
Merry Christmas to you
Hydro finished their song with a last a couple of notes on the piano and leaned over and kissed Lauren on the cheek. Midnight and Luna dabbed her eyes while everyone cheered and clapped for them. They took their bow and both moms were quick to kiss their kids on the cheek that they shyly brushed off. Midnight excitedly turned towards Flash and he frowned.
"I mean, how can one top that performance. I should really sit this one out." Flash said and Bolt kicked him out of his seat while Ivy placed his acoustic guitar in his arms. He glared at both of them before slowly walking over to the piano bench. He sat on it and tuned his guitar and played a couple of chords before he decided it was good enough. He soon started playing and the rest of The Dark Matrix scrunched up their faces trying to place the familiar-sounding song. It hit them all at once and they fought to stop their snickering.
You know Dasher and Dancer
And Prancer and Vixen,
Comet and Cupid
And Donner and Bltizen
But do you recall
The most famous reindeer of them all?
Static rolled his eyes, but Midnight just clapped happily and bounced to the song. Hydro scowled because he had to sing a serious song, but Flash was allowed to get away with a fun, silly one.
Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer
Had a very shiny nose
And if you ever saw it
You would even say it glows
All of the other reindeer
Used to laugh and call him names
They never let poor Rudolph
Play in any reindeer games
Then one foggy Christmas Eve
Santa came to say
Rudolph with your nose so bright
Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?
Then all the reindeer loved him
And they shouted out with glee
"Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer
you'll go down in history!"
Flash played the last few chords and everybody clapped and cheered for him as well. Flash took his bow before quickly making his way over to Ivy who kissed him on the cheek. The rest of the night was spent in their pajamas with hot chocolate and watching Christmas movies. Lazarus left to go spend Christmas with his mom, but promised to be back tomorrow afternoon. The next morning, everybody raced downstairs to the giant Christmas tree that was set up in the living room. Shadow handed Shade his first present and he quickly ripped off the paper to see a shoebox.
"No way!" Shade exclaimed as he held up his own pair of rocket shoes. They were black, dark blue, and indigo and were a little more subtle than Shadow's.
"Glad you like it." Shadow smiled patting him on the back. Todd looked around and saw that his wife was busy helping Alena open her first Christmas presents. He walked over and slung his arm over AJ's shoulders.
"Be quiet and come with me." Todd whispered pulling AJ outside. Todd walked him to the driveway where a sleek black motorcycle was waiting.
"Oh my God!" AJ exclaimed and Todd quickly covered his mouth.
"Sshh! Don't tell your mom about this." He whispered and AJ nodded frantically. Back inside, Conner was shuffling his feet nervously waiting for Serenity to be done opening presents from her family. This is stupid. How can he compete with a fancy new cell phone? Serenity walked over to him and smiled brightly.
"Um, I know it's not much," Conner told her hand her a small box. Serenity opened it to see a delicate gold necklace with a small heart pendant on the end of it. In the center of the heart was a sparkly green emerald and Serenity smiled widely. She kissed Conner sweetly and smiled at him when she pulled away.
"I love it." She told him and he smiled back at her. Ivy was wearing the new perfume Flash got her and she quickly handed him his present. He shook the small box and was confused when it didn't make that much noise. It didn't weigh a lot either. He opened and pulled out a coupon box with various coupons and discounts to all his favorite food spots in town. He put his fist to his mouth in an effort not to get overly emotional.
"Are you crying?" Ivy asked as Flash pressed his hand to his chest.
"This is the best present anyone has gotten me." Flash told her before pulling her into a tight hug as Ivy laughed. Bolt fiddled with Chrissy's present in his hands and looked up to see Chrissy walking over with what he assumed was his present in her hands.
"Merry Christmas." Chrissy smiled sitting down next to him and handing his present. He put it beside him and handed the small box to her. Admittedly, he was a little nervous about giving her this present. She always made fun of him when he was cheesy and this was the cheesiest present.
"Oh wow…" Chrissy murmured. Inside the box was a white gold charm bracelet. There were several charms already on the bracelet and Chrissy took her time looking at every one of them. There was a heart charm with Bolt and Chrissy's initials carved on either side of the heart. A lightning bolt charm and a division symbol charm. There was a charm in the style of Harry Potter's glasses and one with the number 4 which was Bolt's football number. "This is amazing." She smiled before kissing Bolt squarely on the lips. She pulled away a moment later leaving Bolt a little dazed, but with a huge smile on his face.
"No need for this anymore," Bolt told her before handing back the present she gave him. "That was a present enough." He grinned and Chrissy laughed. Derek was sitting on one of the couches nervously with his leg bouncing up and down. Very unlike him. He took a deep breath before walking over to Ginger.
"Hey, do you mind if we go outside real quick?" He asked and Ginger smiled. She followed him outside and shivered slightly.
"Why did you want to come out here?" She asked curiously.
"I wanted to give you your gift." Derek told her and she smiled excitedly. "This relationship hasn't been a long one, but it has been a meaningful one. You were there the whole time and I've never noticed, but when I did, I couldn't keep my eyes off of you." He said and Ginger got a little teary-eyed. "I love you so much, Ginger." He told her before getting down on one knee causing Ginger to gasp. "Will you marry me?" He asked opening a small black box. It was a simple ring on a white-gold band with three diamonds on it, the middle one being the biggest.
"Yes!" Ginger exclaimed with a watery laugh. Derek swept her up into his arms and she kissed him firmly, both of them smiling happily. "I love you." She murmured when they pulled away.
"I love you too." He whispered. There was a small noise and they turned to see that everyone was watching with their faces pressed up against the window. They all had stupid looking smiles on their faces and Derek rolled his eyes.
"Well, at least we don't have to make an announcement now." Ginger shrugged and Derek shook his head.