Merry Christmas Eve Eve, everybody! Here's a little stocking stuffer I'm sure everybody will like: the next chapter of one of my stories! XD YAY! Ahem... anyway, I answer your reviews, as usual...

SamandMax0569 - As Odd once put, "Our good buddy, Einstein, may be a computer whiz, but diplomatically, he's..." and, as Aelita finished, "a total lameo." Those are some pretty good guesses.

IAmTheBoss - I know. No Santa? What is the world coming to?

Ricky: An end?

katfish xX - Ah, be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.

Holiday Magic

Chapter 2: Blue Christmas

The next morning, everybody's favorite pink-haired princess stepped out of her dorm, headed for the bathroom. In her hand was held her beloved doll, Mr. Puck.

"Well, well, look who decided to stay for the holidays."

With an internal sigh, Aelita asked, "What do you want, Sissi?"

"Oh, just to wish you a good morning and a merry upcoming Christmas," she replied innocently.

Unable to resist, Aelita added, "And, to tell me you used up all the hot water?"

Sissi scowled. "Do yourself a favor, Stones, and ease up on the wise cracks. It's bad enough from your cousin." Her eyes fell on the plush toy, and she instantly snatched it up. "And, grow up, will you? I stopped playing with dolls when I was 8."

In response, she cried, "Give him back!"

"Well, gee, Mrs. Einstein, why don't you make me?" she teased, dangling the doll by an arm above their heads. Determined to get Mr. Puck back, Aelita jumped up and grabbed one of his legs. Next moment, both girls were in a tug of war over the plushie.

"Stop it, Sissi!" she yelled as she tugged. "You can't take Mr. Puck from me like this!"

"Face it, Aelita, I'm doing you a favor by relieving you of this," Sissi responded.

RIIIIIP!! If you think that didn't sound good... you're right.

Yumi sat down next to her emotionally injured friend, who held Mr. Puck's two halves in her hands. "Sissi's really gone too far this time."

"Oh, Mr. Puck," Aelita cried softly, hugging the pieces.

"Don't worry about it, Aelita," said Yumi, placing a hand on her shoulder for emotional support. "Methuselah should be able to fix it. I've seen him mend a tear in Milly's teddy bear."

That's when the boys made their appearance, and Odd frowned to tell them, "No, Methuselah went home for the holidays. What happened to Mr. Puck?"

"A tug of war went out between Aelita and Sissi," grimly explained Yumi.

Ulrich frowned and groaned, "As if there isn't enough grief this holiday as it is. Apparently, someone has no respect for childhood beliefs." He glanced at Jeremie as he said it.

Einstein folded his arms and turned away. "You think I already feel bad enough about it as it is? I didn't mean to hurt his feelings, it's just... It's really complicated, OK?"

"What's so complicated?" challenged Odd. "What was your reason behind being such a Grinch towards Ricky?"

Jeremie closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled. "It happened several years ago, when I was around Ricky's age."

FLASHBACK - 5 YEARS: (with voice-over narration)

An ecstatic 7-year-old boy raced down the stairs and cheered as he joined his family near the many presents under the tree.

I, too, believed in Santa then. And, I was always excited about what I might get from him on Christmas.

Michel Belpois smiled and handed the young boy his first gift to open.

That year, there was one thing I so desperately wanted more than anything: a new 3D software that had come out called ProCAD 1999. I wrote my letter to Santa begging to have it, and showed model behavior the entire month just so I knew he would see me fit to get it.

Jeremie tore the wrapping off excitedly. But, when he saw his present was not the 3D software he desired, his smile began to fade.

I opened present after present, but it was in none of them.

As the little boy opened the last gift, not seeing what he desired, he sat there and softly cried to himself.

RETURN TO THE PRESENT, NOW:

"I'd never felt so disappointed as I did then," Jeremie finished softly. "And, since then, I had lost faith in Santa Claus."

Aelita stared up at him. "You figured you'd tell him yourself, before he had a disappointing Christmas himself," she guessed.

Jeremie grimly nodded. "Now, I guess he would've had a blue Christmas either way."

"Well, what if you did something that got you on Santa's naughty list anyway?" Odd thought aloud.

"If you remember my story, I was behaving my best just to stay on his nice list," reminded Jeremie.

The Kitty Boy grinned as he brought up, "Lemonade-Bread Incident?"

At once, the boy genius rounded on him saying, "OK, 1) that was an accident, 2) you weren't there, so you have no right to bring that up, and 3) that incident happened after my blue Christmas!"

Odd raised his hands in defense. "OK, sorry! Just a thought!"

As Jeremie sighed and stared off into space, he said softly, "One thing's for sure. If anyone needs a Christmas miracle now, it's Ricky."

The next afternoon found Jeremie alone in the lab. He sat trying to crack through the code of the mysterious diary, something in the back of his mind kept nagging and nagging at him. How could he make it up to Ricky? He felt awful for what he told to him, and the memory of his heartbroken reaction made it feel even worse.

It depressed him so much, it took him a minute to notice the alert from the Super Scanner calling for his attention. "Huh?" He tried to get a good look at the coordinates so he could alert his friends when he heard a sound behind him. The moment he turned and saw what was behind him, he screamed.

Well, the truth is known about Jeremie's blue Christmas. And, everyone's favorite mad supercomputer is on the attack. What happened to Jeremie? What was the Lemonade-Bread Incident (actually, one author here should know what that is, since I kind of took that from them; if anyone who remembers who the incident was thought up by, tell me and I'll give them credit)? And, seriously, who wouldn't want the power to fire hotdogs from their eyes?

By the way, Jeremie's blue Christmas story was inspired by Jimmy Neutron, who wanted that piece of a dwarf star. The proCAD program is based off of AutoCAD, which we use at our school, and it will have some importance in a future story, just to give you a heads up.