Sonic in Between.
Author's Note: Part two of the Christmas Special, and the final chapter to be released for 2022. But don't worry, this will continue with the next mini-arc(sort of) set to begin within this story early next year(if Fanfiction and my computer manage to survive with the internet going crazy again).
Let's get to it!
Summary of Story 13-Part 2: Still stranded on the Island filled with giant monsters, Sonic and his friends race against time to reunite with each other only to discover the final pieces of the dangerous land's secrets.
I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega. I only own the OCs.
Sonic Tales: A Gigantic Christmas-P2.
Where the Previous Story left off...
"It's a relief that you guys found Rudolf first before those giants found you. Or else it would've been twice as scary." Sonic chuckled lightly with a shrug, still a bit embarrassed over what he said to Amy and Knuckles that day.
"Yeah, that was an unexpected surprise, huh?" Tails agreed, rubbing the back of his neck.
"I wonder how Dr. Eggman, Decoe and Bocoe encountered them before you, Amy and Mr. Knuckles found them, Mr. Sonic." Cream said thoughtfully, tilting her head to the ceiling in a cute way, with Cheese blinking as he looked at her.
Hearing her say this made the two brothers share a glance before trying to hide their laughter but ended in snickering.
"Judging how they reacted, I'd say that all they did was just run away screaming the whole time." The hero of Mobius guessed.
Unaware that it truly was the case in the past.
While Sonic and his friends were having a bit of trouble with the giant Mobians they learned lived on this island to devour intruders and Tails' group continued their search which now included the legendary Santa Claus, Dr. Eggman and his two dimwitted lackies weren't having much luck themselves. Because at this moment, they encountered another giant...one that breathed fire.
"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Eggman, Decoe and Bocoe screamed hysterically as they jumped, the flames licking at their heels, before they made a mad dash as fast as their legs could carry them for their dear lives.
As the evil trio ran in complete terror, panting and wheezing and hopelessly lost, behind them was a flying Mobian of a 78 foot tall dragon that was thought to be extinct, and looking quite angry. Each time it let off another set of flames even to the sides, the mad doctor and his robots jumped, shrieked and ran to avoid in being cooked to crisp.
"Where did that giant extinct lizard come from!?" Decoe screamed, panicking.
"I don't want to stop to find out!" Bocoe exclaimed, too scared to even look over his shoulder.
"Shut up and run, you metal-heads!" Eggman panted, praying to escape this nightmare. "If we don't escape that beast, we're as good as it's delicecy! Or I will be while you two will be melted into scrap!"
But as the trio continued to run, they didn't see where they were going and landed slipped down a hill, screaming and tumbling while the giant dragon simply avoided them. It wasn't long before they made it to the bottom...
CRASH!
Only to crash face-first into a large tree, their bodies imprinted into the bark before they awkwardly fell backwards and collasped onto the ground with painful groans and comically dazed.
"This is...an absolute...worst nightmare...before Christmas..." Eggman grumbled, seeing imaginery stars and flickies, and even miniture Sonics circle around his head.
"It's a good thing...we crashed into this...tree." Decoe weakly muttered.
"Yeah...Perhaps we shifted the Luck Balance of the Universe into our favor." Bocoe added.
"That's just an urban...legend..." The evil scientist groaned.
Sadly, their luck shifted from good to bad, because they heard stomping which caught their attention. Flinching in fright as they jolted up, Eggman, Decoe and Bocoe nervously looked around before looking to their right and saw...a giant Chao with a plastic smiling expression and seemingly unaware of them.
"This is a nightmare before Christmas...!" Eggman squeaked, sweating profusely and shaking in terror. His heart hammered in terror fearing this would be the end of him.
"A really BIG nightmare!" Bocoe added.
"It's a Nightmare Island! RUN!" Decoe screamed, immediately running away to the opposite direction with Bocoe quickly following.
"GAH! Wait for me, you betraying deserters!" The evil scientist screamed, clumsily stumbling to his feet and ran away as fast as he could with the Chao giant walking to the left from where the trio came from.
"Tails!" Sonic shouted loudly once he, Amy and Knuckles safely made it away from the giant hawk and were now trying to call out to their missing friends.
"Cream! Cheese!" Amy hollared pleadingly, her hands cupped around her mouth.
"Hey, come on out, guys!" Knuckles called, but the only thing he and his two younger friends heard were their voices echoing.
"Man...Where are they?" The cobalt teenager murmured to himself, now beginning to lose his calm and positive demeanor. With these giants around and it was in the middle of the dark, plus their only other clue was a fake Santa boot, he was mentally hitting himself for not listening to Knuckles' warning.
Who would've thought that they would be stranded on an island filled with real giants, let alone giant Mobians who were out to eat them? For a long time, Sonic had thought that, besides Eggman's huge robots, Julius and his past incarnation and Perfect Chaos, that those sort of things were not even real.
"I really hope we'll find them before it's too late. Cream and Cheese must be so scared by now." Amy muttered, her hands clasped together as she silently prayed for their, and Tails' safeties.
"I knew this island was dangerous...!" The red echidna grunted, turning heatedly at the blue hedgehog with a glare. "I told you there could be dangerous threats here, but you didn't listen!"
"Hey! How was I supposed to know there were man and/or Mobian eating giants around here?" Sonic argued with a glare in return. "I thought this was just a deserted island!"
"You had to insist on exploring it!"
"Blame Eggman for that! If it weren't for him, we wouldn't be stuck here in the first place!"
"Yeah, well, you should've had the Christmas Party in Station Square instead of traveling all the way to Christmas Island! That way it wouldn't be much an issue!"
"Oh, sure! Blame my parents for wanting to do something different we haven't done in years, why don'tcha!?" Sonic growled sarcastically, moving closer to Knuckles' face.
"When we get out of here, I'm going back to Angel Island, and you can all enjoy your Merry Christmas!" Knuckles hissed, also moving closer.
"Fine! A Bah Humbug to you too, Knucklehead!" The hero of Mobius snapped, before he and his friendly rival both growled in a heated and electrical glaring contest.
While the two boys argued over the situation they were all stuck in, Amy stood in silence before she pouted in sheer annoyance while placing her hands on her hips, unable to believe the immature behavior her 'boyfriend' and the Master Emerald Guardian were displaying.
"Oooh! Those two act worse than children!" The twelve year old pink hedgehog pouted to herself, then folded her arms. "Looks like I'm gonna have to knock sense into them."
But before she could make a move to use her Hammer to stop this silly argument, just then a giant snake's tail slithered from the trees behind her and coiled around Amy who, sensing movement, reacted too late and screamed in fear, being pulled up high which thankfully brought the two teenagers out of their argument upon hearing her panic.
Gasping in alarm, Sonic and Knuckles quickly forgot about their fight and turned in the same direction, their eyes widening in horror to see Amy trapped in the coils of a giant 76 foot tall Mobian Snake, towering over them.
"HELP! SONIC!" Amy screamed, fearing she was about to get eaten by the massive reptile who grinned hungrily at it's little prey.
"AMY!" The blue hedgehog and red echidna shouted, fearing for their friend's safety.
"Hey, let her go, you oversized worm!" Sonic growled, furious that the giant snake had captured his self-proclaimed girlfriend, while feeling huge guilt for not noticing and blamed himself for this mess.
He then jumped to use his Homing Attack at the giant snake's chest, but like with the Hawk, he was bounced back crying out in alarm while the massive serphant used it's head to whack the blue hedgehog further away. Sonic screamed in agony before he was about to land hard.
"I gotcha!" Knuckles, seeing his younger friend about to crash and deciding to forget their fued for later, raced over to save the teenage hedgehog. He jumped and caught Sonic in his arms, but ended up crashing onto the ground, completely dazed with his eyes swirling.
"You know what? Maybe we should just agree this is all my fault, save Amy, rescue Tails, Cream and Cheese, get the heck outta of this Nightmare Isle and call it a day." Sonic, feeling his guilt increase while painfully sitting up and looking apologetically at his older friend, suggested.
"S-Sure...Whatever." The sixteen year old echidna groaned, slowly beginning to recover.
While the two teenagers were recovering, Amy desperately tried hitting the snake's head with her Hammer by tossing it, but all it did was knock it away, sending the weapon falling. Gasping in horror, she screamed out while trying to squirm and pull herself free.
"Why did Eggman have to go and ruin our Christmas and have us trapped in this horrible place!?" Amy screamed in despair.
The Snake was enjoying the young girl's fears and desperation, just as Sonic and Knuckles stood up wincing, before attempting to quickly come up with a plan to save her.
"You distract that thing while I hit it, and then one of us can rescue Amy." Knuckles instructed, having an idea.
"Right! I'll make the big guy dizzy!" Sonic agreed, speeding up to the giant monster who was about to draw it's captive into it's mouth, much to his horror as he saw his friend scream in fear, before he shouted loudly. "HEY!"
Getting it's attention, the giant snake paused before it could eat Amy who shivered with her heart beating wildly, and turned to the blue hedgehog who glared angrily at the large Mobian Reptile.
"You're gonna regret in trying to eat my friend, big guy! Hedgehogs and normal-sized Mobians and humans don't make good snacks!" He continued, before using his boosted speed to run around the giant snake who attempted to keep track of him only to become bewildered to the point of being so dizzy it was seeing stars and flickies circle around it's head.
This gave Knuckles a chance to run up along the snake's body, punching and bashing it along the way with his strength despite that it was even repelling him. But it was enough to catch the giant off-guard as it then stumbled backwards, loosening it's grip on Amy who fell screaming.
"AMY!" Sonic immediately leaped up once he stopped running around, and caught his younger friend in his arms, before air-somersaulting to the ground with Knuckles giving the snake a final punch on the head before leaping off to join his friends.
"You saved me again!" Amy gleamed happily, snuggling into her dearly beloved hero's arms and chest, much to his annoyance as Sonic could only groan, exasperated while rolling his eyes.
'Just a thank you would do, Ames.' The blue hedgehog thought to himself, gently setting her down. Out loud, he just shrugged. "Gotta look out for everybody, ya'know?"
Sonic then lowered his gaze as the realization how this mess started finally began to catch up to him, his heart aching and now his fears for Tails' group's safeties reaching it's peak. "Guys, I'm really sorry. If I had known Eggman would attack us today, none of this would've happened."
"Sonic..." Amy whispered, shocked and sympathetic before glaring at Knuckles who was a bit shocked to see Sonic actually admit it.
"Uh...Sorry." The red echidna murmured, now feeling guilty for putting the blame on Sonic who along with Amy glanced at him in surprise. He closed his eyes in remorse. "I shouldn't have lost my temper. It's been a really bad day."
"Yeah, for all of us. Egghead really got us in a jam this time." The blue hedgehog sighed, still feeling awful despite that he felt a little bit better for his older friend's apology. "Still..."
"It's not your fault. We're all just scared and worried. I know for the fact." His self-proclaimed girlfriend reassured, smiling softly.
Even though he hated to admit that he was scared himself, Sonic couldn't help but smile back at Amy, silently thanking her. He had to make it up to all of his friends big time when they do get out of this horrible place.
Unfortunately, before the conversation could continue, the three friends then heard the loud giant hiss of anger along with a growl and the movement from the snake, making the group turn in alarm and found that the massive creature was waking up and was beyond furious.
"RUN!" Sonic shouted, grabbing hold of his friends once more and super sped away to avoid in getting caught or killed by the giant snake and deeper into the island...
As well as into deeper trouble.
"Sonic!" Tails called out, as he controlled the X Cyclone with him and his companions looking around for their missing friends. "Knuckles! Amy!"
"Amy! Mr. Sonic! Mr. Knuckles! Mr. Santa!" Cream cried hopefully.
"Chao Chao Chao!" Cheese squeaked, hoping to see them.
"Aww...Can't we just find a place to camp for the night?" Bokkun groaned, slumping as he yawned. "I'm feeling sleep-"
"Shhh! Listen." The two tailed fox cub suddenly shushed, silencing the small robots who, along with Cream, Cheese and Rudolf, all blinked in confusion when they heard a loud thud, the ground shaking a little and the young kit slowed the X Cyclone to a stop.
Now starting to get nervous, Tails and the others shuddered wondering what was going on...Just as a giant foot stomped onto the ground, belonging to, to everyone's horror, a massive 83 foot tall giant Mobian Rhinosaroaus dressed in metal-like armor, leering down at the smaller group with an angry glare.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Tails, Bokkun, Cream and Cheese screamed while Rudolf made a terrified sound with an expression that matched it. Where did that thing come from!?
Before they could make a run for it or even react, the huge monster reached down and grabbed the X Cyclone with them trapped inside, making the youngsters scream even louder as it brought them up to it's face.
"Let go of us!" Tails shouted, struggling with the controls to try and break free from the giant's grasp.
"We're gonna be eaten..." Cream tearfully murmured, as she began to cry with the horrified realization that she, Cheese, and Tails would never see their family and friends again, not even her mother who would be wondering where they were, never to know what became of them and it broke the little girl's heart.
"I'm too young to be robot food!" Bokkun wailed even louder, bursting into tears himself along with Cheese who snuggled into Cream's arms, frightened out of his sweet little Chao's mind and heart. Even Ruldolf whimpered, sniffling and wailing as he wanted to go home to Santa and the rest of the Reindeer.
'No...No this can't be the end! I don't wanna die like this!' Tails thought frantically, desperation soon quickly turning into fear, sorrow and hopelessness as he then gasped in dismay when the giant brought them up, staring at them with a deep frown.
The little fox cub shivered, his life flashing before his eyes, tears forming with his heart beating wildly. He then realized that this was the end, and even worse, Sonic, Amy, Knuckles and even Eggman could face the same horrible fate of being eaten by this giant who ruled this island. The eight year old cub would never see his friends or family again...and it was his fault for not dodging the debris earlier.
'SOOOOONNNNNIC!' Tails thought, finally beginning to cry himself while he squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for the untimely demise and feeling guilty for putting everybody he loved into this mess.
Yet as the youngsters wept and cried fearing this was the end of them, just then they heard a tiny voice call from below. "Papa, wait! Mr. Rudolf is with these people!"
"H-Huh?" Opening his eyes nervously, Tails looked over the cockpit's window along with his friends, the reindeer and robot who, hearing the same voice, slowly stopped crying and to their surprise, saw a young white Mobian Mouse who looked no older than Cream's age, wearing a red dress and black boots, yet there was something different about her.
Her ears had a couple of pom-pom like bumps, and her eyes were jade green like Amy's, and she was holding a little dolly in her arms.
Even more strange was that the giant that held the X Cyclone captive paused, before observing the inside of the vessel itself with careful eyes, making the young Mobians, Chao, reindeer and robot even more nervous and frightened. To their surprise, the 'head' then opened up which made the group flinch only to blink dumbfounded to find...Another Mobian Mouse, an adult that was the same colour as the little girl, only it was a male in his mid 30's, wearing a vest and boots with black gloves.
And with him was...
"HUH!?" Tails, Cream and Cheese exclaimed, bewildered, while Rudolf perked up happily.
"No way!" The two-tailed fox cried out, wondering if he really was having a strange dream. "It...It can't be!"
Back with Eggman's group, they were still running for their lives screaming in fear, this time trying to escape from a 79 foot tall giant Mobian Lion with a white mane and black fur, glowing yellow eyes and let out a roar.
"This is a disaster!" Eggman wailed, wishing for this to be a really bad dream he would wake up from. It was worse than the time when his own late brother transformed into a giant and wondered if this cursed land was what motivated Julius into researching Chao and become a colossal being himself.
"Some Christmas this turned out to be!" Decoe exclaimed, feeling his exhaust-pumps running out and his joints all rusted. If they survived this, he really needed a serious dose of oil.
"Why couldn't this island be filled with a mutant sack bag with insects kidnapping Santa Claus!?" Bocoe complained in terror.
Before the bumbling trio could take another step further, they ended up all tripping on a tree root without looking and ended up tumbling down another hill. They yelped and cried out in pain and panic again before they ended up crashing into a cart on a train track. To make things worse, they accidentally pushed at the brakes...and broke it which caused it to roll on it's own. While they did manage to escape from the giant Lion, now they were in another problem.
Eggman groaned while sprawled on the cart's floor with his two robots on top of his back, clinging onto him before he roughly shoved them away. "Get off of me, you imbeciles!"
"Omph!" The two robots hit the floor hard, before they and their creator noticed where they were going, they once again panicked with them exclaiming. "We need to get off of this cart before we run into more of those giant monsters!"
Seeing this and realizing that they were right, Eggman sweat dropped and exclaimed. "That's an excellent idea! This is our...Stop?"
Unfortunately, when he and the two dumbots noticed the broken lever, they all shared silent and awkward glance with looks that said, 'Uh-oh', realizing they were stuck.
"RUN AWAY TRAIN!" The three of them screamed in dismay.
Just when things couldn't get any worse, Sonic, Amy and Knuckles were trying to avoid more of the giants by knocking them back one by one each time the trio encountered them. But still found no sign of their missing friends and their fears for Tails, Cream and Cheese' safeties increase to the highest level.
'This is all Eggman's fault! What if Knuckles is right? What if Tails, Cream and Cheese are captured they these things? Oh, Chaos, I hope not! Guys, please be okay! We're comin'!' Sonic thought, his previous calm demeanor now all but almost completely gone.
The more they encountered the giants, the more Sonic blamed himself for not doing anything more to protect his friends and he really didn't want to spent Christmas with the guilt of having failed to protect his friends, especially his younger surrogate siblings. His heart sank and swelled with fear and sorrow he tried to hold back, Amy was already at her limit, crying for the safeties of their friends, and Knuckles was getting even more frustrated by the second. Yet even the teenage echidna, for his seriousness and full-blown courage, was starting to become increasingly terrified by the second.
But as the group of friends were escaping by having climbed up a mountain and raced across a stone bridge to the other side over the dirt road below, when they reached the middle, from the corner of the mountain, something light-blue and yellow was caught from the corner of their eyes, causing the two hedgehogs and red echidna to stop in their tracks and gaped in disbelief to find...a giant Chao!
"CHAO, CHAO." The enormous Chao cooed.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Sonic, Amy and Knuckles all screamed, backing up a bit unable to believe what they were seeing.
"Oh, man!" The blue hedgehog gaped, dumbfounded.
"It's a Chao!" His self-proclaimed girlfriend exclaimed, shakily.
"Jumbo-sized!" The Master Emerald Guardian added.
"This is definitely a nightmare before Christmas!" Sonic cried out, wishing that he was dreaming.
To make things worse, the bridge then collapsed underneath them even before the fastest thing alive could even make a run for it, and the three friends fell screaming and straight towards the unnoticed cart that had Eggman, Decoe and Bocoe who, hearing screams and looked up in confusion, all ended up being hit by Sonic and his friends, all accidentally falling out of the card and hit the ground hard while the cart rolled away.
Fortunately the evil scientist had, unwillingly, softened the heroic trio's landing while he ended up right on top of his two robots. All of them groaned, dazed.
"Thanks for breaking our fall, Eggman." Sonic greeted sarcastically, recovering slightly while being the first to notice his arch-nemesis and not happy to see him again given it was the scientist's fault for getting them into this mess.
"You're...welcome." Eggman grumbled sarcastically in return, lying on his front.
Once Sonic, Amy and Knuckles got off of their enemy's back and quickly stood ready, glaring at the opposite trio who slowly stood up, complaining about the aches and pains, they all stared hard.
"You meddling rodents! Stop getting in my way!" Eggman snarled angrily.
"This is all your fault that we're stuck here!" Decoe added.
"It's thanks to you we're all trapped on this island filled with giants planning to get us!" Bocoe concluded.
"Hey, you losers are the ones who attacked us in the first place!" Sonic snapped back angrily.
"If it weren't for you, we wouldn't be here!" Amy added.
"I'm more than willing to pound you clowns, but I think we should just leave you to get squashed like a pancake to that guy." Knuckles growled darkly, while he and his younger friends were aware that the giant Chao was now above them...and behind their enemies.
"What guy?" Decoe asked, he, Eggman and Bocoe now confused only to notice the giant shadow looming over them. Turning around slowly, they all screamed in horror, panicking with the two robots hugging each other.
"No! Not that overgrown Chao again!" The mad doctor shouted in dismay.
"This just keeps getting worse...!" The blue hedgehog murmured, only to gasp along with his friends when more massive stomping caught their attention and all six of them found, to their dismay, five more giants now completely surrounding them.
From the same Hawk the heroes encountered earlier, to the giant dragon Eggman and his robots escaped from, to the massive Lion that caught up to them, to a giant 89 foot tall Mobian Turtle, and finally, the giant Snake Sonic and his friends got away from who hissed.
Sonic, his friends and three enemies screamed when they soon found themselves trapped in a circle with the giants having them cornered. The blue hedgehog and red echidna stood back to back, with the terrified Amy clinging onto them too tightly and unintentionally choking her 'boyfriend' a little when Sonic attempted to get her to loosen up a little, and Eggman and his robots quivering in fear.
"We're trapped!" Knuckles exclaimed in dismay, glaring hard.
"What do we do, Sonic?" Amy exclaimed.
"I'm thinkin', I'm thinkin'...!" Sonic responded, and wrapped his arms around his friend's body to try and shield her.
"MORTALS...YOU WHO HAVE DISTURBED OUR LAND, SHALL BE PUNISHED FOR YOUR INVASION. LEAVE OR YOU SHALL BE DEVOURED." The giant Snake hissed, he and the other giants leaning in closer, blocking their exit.
"Oh, please spare us!" Decoe begged pleadingly.
"It was all Dr. Eggman's idea to attack Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends!" Bocoe added.
"WHAT?!" Eggman shouted, furiously glaring at his robots. "When I get my hands on you two-!"
"We can't leave yet! We're looking for our friends! If you have them, then let them go and we'll go away peacefully!" Sonic, attempting to put up a brave face, shouted back with a glare even though deep down he was terrified.
"THE LONGER YOU STAY, WE WILL DESTROY YOU. NO ONE DARES TO REMAIN ON THIS ISLAND EVEN FOR ONE DAY." The Turtle said next, stomping closer.
"This is where we call for a truce!" The evil scientist whispered, earning suspicious looks from Sonic's group. "You brats distraction while we then make our escape. Every egg for himself!"
That only made the young Mobians and the two robots sweat drop with exasperated groans. Was Eggman really serious about this lame plan?
"Yeah, right. Like that's gonna work." Knuckles deadpanned.
"SO, YOU HAVE DECIDED YOUR FATES. VERY WELL...NONE SHALL SEE THE LIGHT OF ANOTHER MORNING." The giant Lion declared darkly, as he and the other giants gave out dark, omnious growls before they all slowly reached out to them.
"Look out!" Sonic shouted, as he and Knuckles both jumped and attempted to punch and Homing Attack at the hands, but were knocked back down and hit the floor hard with Amy crying out to the blue hedgehog. The two teenagers winched while Sonic wiped invisible blood from his lip. "Man, these guys are as tough as super-Mobian proof steel-plates!"
Amy, seeing her 'boyfriend' like this, narrowed her eyes and then tried her luck by tossing her Hammer at the hands, only to be met with the similar result. Her eyes widening with her face paling, the pink hedgehog whimpered before she knelt to Sonic who winced once more.
"We're done for!" Amy screamed helplessly.
Seeing that she was right, Sonic, his friends and Eggman's group could only watch in growing intense fear, with his self-proclaimed girlfriend burying her face onto his shoulder and he could only hold her to try and protect the pink hedgehog in his arms. Everyone then braced themselves when the hands were just inches away from clasping them, with the hero of Mobius squeezing his eyes shut, knowing that this was the end of them.
"FRIENDS, STAND DOWN. THESE MOBIANS ARE INNOCENT." An unfamiliar, giant voice bellowed all of the sudden which caused the five other giants to pause and, blinking in surprise, turned to the same direction and leaned up from capturing the group.
To make things more unusual, the sound of jingle bells filled the air, prompting Sonic, along with his friends and enemies, to slowly open their eyes and softly gasped in shock to see a giant Rhino approach...along with a sleigh being carried by twelve magical reindeer with Rudolf at the helm and in the sleigh was Tails, Cream and Cheese, along with a young Mobian Mouse girl who was giggling, and a jolly man wearing red and white with a Christmas hat, white beard at the reins.
"Hey, Sonic! Amy! Knuckles!" Tails happily waved in relief, along with Cream and Cheese.
"We're up here!" Cream called out.
"Chao chao!" Cheese chirped.
"Tails!? Cream and Cheese!?" Sonic's group exclaimed in disbelief, blinking. Were they all dreaming? Yet at the same time they were very relieved to see them, alive and well...But who else they saw made them really shocked.
"Ho ho ho!" Said the man in red, waving warmly at the bewildered young Mobians on the ground, while the 'giants' seem to recognize him and stepped back even further.
"No way!" Amy exclaimed, stunned in awe with her eyes beginning to sparkle.
"Huh? Who is that guy and why are those reindeer flying?" Knuckles blinked, wondering if he really was having a crazy dream.
"What in the? Santa Claus!?" Eggman was just as dumbfounded, unable to believe what he was seeing himself. "I thought he was just a made-up figment for children's imagination!"
"No...way. It can't be...!" Sonic whispered breathlessly. How was this possible?
To make things more confusing, the 'head' of the Rhino opened up to reveal an older Mobian Mouse who nodded and much to the shock of Sonic's group, the other 'giants', who, reluctantly understanding, opened up their heads revealing that they were not real giants at all, but giant robots powered by normal sized Mobians: The one in the Chao was piloted by a female Mobian stork, the one in the Lion was a Mobian male sheep, the third inside the snake was a Mobian male weasel, the fourth inside the Turtle was a female Mobian Otter, in the dragon was a teenage male Mobian Walrus, and finally the one in the Hawk was a Mobian male light-blue Penguin.
All of them, like the two mice, having pom-poms on their heads, looking rather distrustful.
"These aren't giants...who are these people?" Amy whispered, blinking in confusion.
"And what's with the giant robots?" The blue hedgehog added with a shrug. "What's going on?"
Then again, it did explain the clanging and metal feeling when he and Knuckles tried to fight the giant machines earlier. They had stronger material than Eggman's creations!
By then, Santa had his sleigh land on the ground in front of the stunned group, and Tails, Cream and Cheese politely thanked the magical man before leaping out and made a beeline for their older Mobian friends.
"Sonic!" Tails cried out happily.
Quickly brought out of the confusion, Sonic and his friends almost immediately hurried to their friends, the blue hedgehog opening his arms for a hug in huge relief. "Tails! Cream and Cheese!"
His two-tailed fox brother leaped into the hedgehog's arms where they happily embraced with laughter, the teenage hero spinning him around before the two tightened their hug, while Cream and Cheese did the same with Amy who silently shed tears of sheer relief.
"Amy!" Cream squealed, with Cheese chirping away.
"Oh, Cream and Cheese! I've been so worried!" The twelve year old girl beamed, hugging her little surrogate sister and Chao friend tightly, kissing them both gently on their heads.
"Man, it's great to see ya's!" Sonic happily remarked, gently rocking his little brother back and forth before carefully kissing the fox cub on the head, while Tails snuggled into the hedgehog's chest, tears leaking from his eyes. "I knew you were alright, but a while there, I thought something horrible happened."
"Same to you, big bro. If it weren't for Rudolf, Stacy and Santa, we wouldn't be back together again." Tails responded, sniffling. He was so happy to finally be back in Sonic's arms that he didn't want to let go.
"Huh? Stacy?" Now Sonic was confused, before looking back up at the sleigh, where Stacy the young Mouse beamed happily while patting Rudolf who smiled in return, enjoying the treatment.
"Will somebody PLEASE explain to me what's going on here?" Knuckles asked, exasperated.
"I believe I can help with that, young Knuckles the Echidna." Santa spoke up, approaching the even more stunned Mobians who gazed up at him, with Sonic beeing the most speechless out of all of them. "It's good to see you all safe and sound."
"I can't believe it...You're really...but how is it possible?" Amy half-whispered, her eyes wide.
"Ho ho ho, anything is possible, Amelia Rose. One simply has to find it."
"I...I don't get it." Sonic began, speechlessly as memories of his childhood came back to him. Now he was super confused after ten years of believing that the magic man in red was a children's story. "If you're really here, then...why...? This doesn't make any sense."
"Never mind that, hedgehog!" Eggman snapped impatiently. "What I want to know is why these buffoons were controlling these realistic robots threatening to kill us and having an obviously fake man pretending to be Santa Claus with a powered up sleigh to have their own inconsiderate version of Christmas!?"
"That wasn't a nice thing to say, mister." Stacy remarked, frowning along with her father and people, and Sonic and his friends.
Santa frowned the most as he eyed the evil scientist, folding his arms in disapproval. "Hmph. You must certainly haven't behaving yourself still, I see, Ivo Robotnik. Still on my Naughty List as you were every year."
"Oh, really? And how did you know my real name?" The mad doctor darkly challenged.
"I think the whole planet knows about you as much as knowing my name, Eggman." Sonic deadpanned dully, earning a heated glare from his arch-nemesis. He ignored it and turned to his friends. "Not that I like him, but you guys didn't see Bokkun, did you?"
"He's right there." Tails blandly pointed to the Rhino machine.
When Sonic and the others looked up, they saw that the small little robot was all tied up behind the male Mouse's seat, moaning in dismay.
"Stacy's father didn't want to take any chances after we explained what really happened and why we were on this Island." Tails explained.
"Mr. Santa's sleigh crash landed and poor Rudolf got lost, while everybody else were found and treated well by the kind Mobalons." Cream added sadly.
Sonic, Amy and Knuckles all blinked in unison, confused. "Mobalons?"
This was going to be one heck of explanation for the group to find out.
Once the misunderstanding was cleared up somewhat, the Mobalons took Sonic and his friends into a cave up the mountain with their giant Mobian machines, where they were greeted with a spectacular sight of an underground city full of more of Mobian-like people with pom-poms on their heads, though Eggman and all three of his robots were tied up and given a treatment of being locked in cages while the heroes, Santa and his reindeer, with some hesitation from the surprisingly kindly residents of the island were given a warm welcome.
Nearby in one of the in-built houses that was fairly large with alien-like technology, with the X Cyclone and Santa's sleigh sitting just close by, Stacy and her father, named Cloud Mobalian, treated the heroes as they all took seats in comfortable couches and chairs.
"These guys actually helped you find us?" Sonic asked his little brother, surprised along with Amy and Knuckles who both blinked, bewildered.
"Yeah. When Stacy and Mr. Mobalian found us, they were actually looking for Rudolf. Santa's sleigh was hit when they were stuck in a storm and landed on this island yesterday." Tails answered, with Cream and Cheese nodding to confirm it. "Turns out that Santa comes to visit them five days early before Christmas."
"That is true. When I first found these people, I felt quite awful for them. So I made it my job to ensure these people have the much needed support and good life. Of course, this is also my first time interacting with them, but the Mobalons are all gentle. Just very cautious of the outside world." The aforementioned man in red added.
"They brought us here to bring Rudolf back and then Tails helped to fix Mr. Santa's sleigh and the wing on the X Tornado. Stacy and Mr. Mobalian then took us to find all of you." Cream happily filled in.
"That was so sweet of all of you. I'm really glad that it was all a big misunderstanding." Amy smiled happily.
Knuckles however remained skeptical as he pointed out. "Even so, I can't understand why these people have these pom-poms and why they nearly tried to kill us."
"Well, that is an interesting question. As you can see, we are quite different to all Mobians. Our ancestry are Mobians ourselves, but we are known as Mobalons, a different kind due to...certain circumstances." Cloud began, seated with his daughter who was swinging her legs as her father spoke.
"What kind of circumstances?" Sonic asked, carefully with his arms folded. Tails sat by his left, while Amy, Cream and Cheese by his right, and Knuckles close by in a separate chair.
"Well, you see, 200 years ago, our relatives had participated in searching for an Ancient Crystal after our original home island was destroyed during a War. They fled and found this island, and began their lives anew with the technology of a lost civilization to help us life better and safer lives. However, an experiment went wrong and had slightly evolved our kind into having these forms on our heads. We feared in being discovered from the outside world that would conduct experiments by normal Mobians or humans." The Mobalon Mouse shook his head.
"So our ancestors hidden themselves in these caves after a hundred years of driving outsiders off who attempted to take over and capture us, building our machines to drive off those who either became lost or wished to claim the island for themselves." Cloud continued. He then turned to Santa, adding. "Of course, Santa Claus makes an exception, yet he too promised not to reveal anything of our kind."
"That explains a few things at least." The blue hedgehog shrugged, as he and his friends were all sympathetic with the Mobalons who's ancestors were once normal Mobians and had to hide from the rest of the world two centuries on.
"Then Mr. Claus came and gave us lots and lots of presents every year, five days before Christmas. We call this say Magic Gold-Dust Day!" Stacy perked up happily, giggling as she gazed at Santa who chuckled in return.
"I really like that name!" Cream remarked, Cheese chirping in agreement.
"Me too! It definitely has more of a warm feeling to it." Amy agreed, before adding in amazement. "But I can't believe all of you are descendents of aliens and been living here all this time." She then sight in a hint of sadness. "I'm just sorry for your world."
"Same here." Sonic murmured, and the rest of his friends, even Knuckles who remained suspicious, all shared their condolences. "And, sorry for attacking you guys, earlier. We were just tryin' to find Tails, Cream and Cheese and head to Christmas Island where our families are waiting for us."
"It is perfectly alright." Cloud shook his head, understanding. "Your friends have informed us that this Dr. Eggman was the cause of your accidental arrival."
"Yeah, he's on everybody's bad list. Been driving us nuts for four years now." The hero of Mobius lightly chuckled. "My friends and I fight him all the time."
"He really isn't nice at all. Mr. Eggman is a big bully!" Stacy remarked, pouting.
Sonic smiled softly at the little mouse girl, winking. "You bet it is, kiddo. And like you, I hate bullies. They're nothin' but trouble."
"You certainly haven't changed from your gentle and kind personality, Sonic Hedgehog." Santa remarked, pleased with the teenager's honesty. "No doubt you and your friends will always be on my Nice List."
Hearing the magical man speak now had the Mobians gaze at him, as Sonic, now reminded of the very man he came to believe was nothing more than a myth, couldn't help but be very confused considering finding his uncle attempting to dress up as him.
"Um...That reminds me. If you're real, then, how is it I never got the chance to see you?" The blue hedgehog reluctantly asked, scratching the top of his head. "I get that I was probably in trouble ten years ago, I just...I thought I found out way too early that, well..."
"You mean you never believed in Santa, Mr. Sonic?" Cream asked, absolutely shocked to hear this along with Tails and Stacy who blinked, bewildered.
Sonic grinned sheepishly with a shrug. "I was a five year old kid who wanted to see him with my very own eyes, that I stayed up in midnight pretending to be asleep. Instead, I saw my uncle trying to dress up as Santa, only I caught him and, well...I was pretty upset 'til he gave me the present I wanted and decided that I simply liked seeing others happy more than anything else. I didn't say anything 'cause I didn't wanna spoil everybody else's Christmas."
"I am deeply sorry, Sonic." Santa sighed, remorseful which caught the hedgehog's attention. "I had a feeling you wanted to see me, as all children at that age do. Your Uncle certainly knew as well."
"Uncle Chuck really knew? You mean...he actually knew you?" Sonic was stunned to hear this.
"Yes, my dear boy. For you see, when he was around your age, he got lost in the woods attempting to return to Green Hill Zone to your father and mother. At the same time one of my reindeer was sick and I had to make a landing. He accidentally saw me, yet seeing my situation, he offered help find a cure. In gratitude, I allowed him to join me on my journey to deliver the presents, yet we agreed to keep it a secret." Santa explained.
'Uncle Chuck...really did that when he was my age?' The blue hedgehog was stunned to hear this.
"Every year since then, he would stay awake to greet me keeping to his promise, though a few times he forgot. When I was told that you wanted to see me yet I couldn't stay as I had other children to bring their presents, he made to dress up as me so you wouldn't be disappointed and until you were old enough to learn of the truth." The man in red sadly nodded.
"Unc' knew...yet he couldn't even tell me since I wasn't ready." Sonic whispered, now feeling very guilty for having messed that up. He lowered his gaze in remorse. "I messed it up 'cause I was too curious. He had to lie to me to make me happy. He never got the chance to tell me the truth..."
He squeezed his eyes shut, not angry since how could he when Santa had to make other children happy every year and it would be selfish of the blue hedgehog to take it all away as he wanted other people to be happy as well. But upset with himself because he almost made Sir Charles break his promise.
"I'm sorry, Santa...I feel awful...!"
His friends all gazed at him sympathetically, their hearts broken that Sonic was blaming himself for seemingly causing Sir Charles to break his promise. Yet Santa, also feeling sorry for the teenager, gently placed a hand onto the hedgehog's shoulder, causing the hero of Mobius to gaze back up to him.
"You were only a child back then, dear boy. Not many would believe in me and I do accept it. Yet every year I ensure each gift is given. You and soon all of your friends and family have been a special case. You may have lost your faith in me, Sonic, but kept your own bright spirit alive to ensure the happiness of those you cherish the most and all others in this world." He whispered.
Santa smiled warmly, reassuring. "That makes you a true spirit of Christmas, Sonic Hedgehog, and I am so happy that Charles has you as his nephew. You are very much like him in every way."
Sonic's eyes widened in awe that Santa not only has forgiven him for that mistake ten years ago, but the fact that he had seen the blue hedgehog's deep compassion for many and not wanting to ruin anybody else's Christmas by revealing his belief that the man in red wasn't real. He turned to his friends who all softly smiled, with Tails giving his older brother a gentle pat on the back while minding his quills, Amy wiping away a single tear, Cream, quickly understanding and forgiving, beamed happily with warm expression and Cheese perking up, and even Knuckles smirked with a shrug.
"He's right, you know, Sonic." Tails spoke up, his sapphire eyes sparkling. "Since we all met, you've made Christmas what it truly means for all of us and a lot more fun too."
"We all want to do the same thing for you, Sonic." Amy added happily.
"Christmas is more fun with all of us together, and my Mom always says that each present can be either from the box or the heart as long as we all be happy with each other." Cream agreed, with Cheese chirping happily.
"I hate to admit it, but I guess I kind of like hanging out with you guys. It does get boring and cold in winter at this time of the year. Still trying to get used to it, though." Knuckles bashfully added, scratching the back of his head, surprising his friends before he smirked at the younger teen. "Thanks, Sonic."
Sonic now couldn't help but smile warmly and happily at his best friends, willing back his tears as he didn't want to dim his ego. "Aw, guys...You're the best, and it's way more fun spending Christmas with all of ya's. Thank you."
He then turned to the magical man and added, "And Santa, thanks for being there for us too. And for bringing Tails, Cream and Cheese safely to us."
"You're very welcome, young hedgehog. Your Uncle would be so proud of you." Santa nodded warmly.
Everybody smiles, including Cloud and Stacy who happily giggled as they all felt so relieved and the joy of Christmas being saved.
"But, what do we do with Eggman?" Amy wondered aloud, as she and soon the others, who gaped in shock, realized one problem.
"Aw, dang!" Sonic groaned, facepalming. "Now that Egghead knows about Santa being real, that's gonna cause even more problems for Christmas in the future."
"Oh, don't worry." Cloud spoke up, causing the Mobians to gaze at the Mobalon who held a smirk. "Our people know a way to solve that problem. Those who invade our land do not get killed, but we have a technique way of ensuring they don't attack again if they do not promise to keep our existence a secret."
"Huh?" Sonic and his friends blinked.
Just then, they all heard screaming coming from outside, alarming the heroes who, sharing a glance, hurried to investigate along with Santa who held a knowing look, Cloud who chuckled, and Stacy who giggled. They arrived just in time as Eggman and his robots, protesting and stuck in a cage, were being placed onto an unusual futuristic-looking catapault, with some kind of lights attached to the bars in front of their faces.
"This is for attacking these young Mobians and for attempting to take over our home, Dr. Robotnik." The Walrus from earlier said sternly along with the other Mobalon pilots who glared at the mad doctor.
"Just you wait! I'll be back!" Eggman, not realizing what he was in for, growled darkly and furiously.
"This is not going to end well." Bocoe whined, slumped in sheer defeat.
"We're about to have a second crash landing in less than 24 hours." Decoe complained, his head hung low.
"I never wanna do this ever again!" Bokkun wailed, crying loudly like a big baby that he is.
"YOU FOOLS! Let me out of here!" The evil scientist demanded, but was completely ignored.
The Mobalons grinned wickedly, as the Penguin said slyly. "Oh, you'll be let out...of the island."
That made the villains flinch and gulp worriedly just as Sonic and his friends arrived and, seeing what was going on while feeling a bit sorry for their enemies, couldn't help but snicker, trying not to laugh.
"As long as you promise to never trouble us again, or even think of doing anywhere near Santa Claus, this will be less painful." The Penguin continued, before gazing at his machine. "Or else you will be imprisoned here for the rest of your days and our machines are higher in technology than yours, and impossible even for a brilliant mind you will never decipher our code."
Now scared for his life despite that he may be able to come up with a plan in the future, for now Eggman decided to forget about it and nodded feverishly. "Y-Yes, that's a prom-IIISSSSEEEEEEEEE!"
Before he could finish his sentence, Eggman and his robots were all suddenly launched right into the sky far away from the island. The bumbling group all screamed in terror as they disappeared into the night with a twinkle.
"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!" Sonic burst out into a hysterical laughter, while his friends all laughed along with him, Santa, Stacy and Cloud. The blue held his stomach with tears forming before he wiped them away. "Guess that's one way to send him Ho Ho Home!"
Everybody including the Mobalons, who finally felt comfortable with the young Mobians being around, all just laughed even more.
"By the way, Sonic." Santa began once the laughter died down, causing the blue hedgehog and his friends to gaze at him curiously, as the magic man smiled. "I have a proposal for you and your friends. For this year, how would you like to join me in delivering my presents around the world?"
"Whoa, really!?" Sonic exclaimed in awe, excitement filling his and the others' hearts. Now that was a Christmas present nobody gets in their whole lives.
"Whoa! We get to ride with you?" Tails beamed happily with his eyes sparkling.
"Wow! We're going to help Santa to deliver presents!" Cream squealed happily. This was a dream come true for every child in the world.
"Chao, chao!" Cheese squeaked.
"WOW!" Amy exclaimed, clasping her hands together. "I've always dreamed about that when I was a little girl!"
Knuckles however, decided to decline kindly as he said. "Thanks for the offer, but I'm actually a big fan of gravity and a goodnight's sleep."
"Can I come too? I've always wanted to ride in a sleigh. Pretty please?" Stacy asked, hopefully.
Sonic, his friends and Santa all shared a glance, before smiling with a nod and the blue hedgehog shrugged. "As long it's okay with your Dad."
The young Mobalon Mouse nodded, turning to her father who, a bit uneasy at first, gazed at the blue Mobian hedgehog's eyes which were filled with reassurance and silent promise that nothing would happen to his daughter. Seeing that in the teenager's heart and soul made Cloud feel a bit more relaxed.
"Well, alright. As long you as return home safely." Cloud finally responded warmly, much to his little girl's happiness as she hugged him tightly, earning a chuckle and a hug in return.
"Thank you, Papa! Thank you, Mr. Santa, and Mr. Sonic!" Stacy exclaimed.
The group laughed as they all began making short plans on how to do this while Sonic and friends vowed deeply to keep this adventure a secret.
Four and a half days have passed since the adventure on the secret Mobalon Island, with the X Tornado fully fixed up and Sonic, Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Cream and Cheese saying goodbye to the Mobalons for now, while Santa and his Reindeer made a short trip back to the North Pole to fully prepare the last of the presents needed to be delivered.
Once finally arriving on Christmas Island just before 10 o'Clock PM and reunited with their families who had been frantically worried about them, with the group making a bit of a lie on having to make a detour due to Eggman attacking but did not mention their misadventure, Sonic and his friends happily spent time with their parents and friends while helping with the last preparations for celebrating the family holiday.
Later that night on Christmas Eve, the heroes slept peacefully while waiting for Santa to arrive to not just deliver their presents, but also to come pick them up so they can enjoy the once in a lifetime journey to help him in return with positively amazing dreams that made him unconsciously smile.
'~On the sixth day of Christmas my family gave to me...Six Spicy Chili Dog, Five Power Rings...~' Sonic ended up singing in his dream, snuggling just as the sounds of jingle bells filled the air, causing him to sleepily sing softly aloud. "~...Four jingle bells...~"
Yet, Cheese was the first to awaken and chirped curiously, before he looked out of the window and gaped in pleasant surprise. This caused Cream to sleepily blink her eyes open as she sat up. "W-What's wrong, Cheese?"
Before her little Chao could answer her, the six year old looked and her eyes lit up in delight to see what was outside of the window and remembering the promise, Cream and Cheese both immediately sprung out of bed and began to shake their friends up since they were all sharing the same guest room.
"Amy! Amy! Wake up! Santa is here!" Cream urgently whispered, shaking her surrogate older sister by the shoulder, making the pink hedgehog moan before tiredly opening her eyes. Before Amy could ask what was going on, Cream then went over to Tails, while Sonic, hearing the commotion, woke up himself and sat, yawning.
"W-What's goin' on, guys?" Sonic asked tiredly, rubbing his eyes while Tails stretched.
"Look! It's Santa! He's here!" Cream repeated, pointing out of the window.
At first the three older Mobians didn't know what she was talking about, but when Sonic, Tails and Amy, and Knuckles, who still refused to join in on the fun, all looked and gaped in surprise before the former three smiles happily and awe. There was Santa in his sleigh, with Stacy already in the seat behind him, waving happily.
"Ho, Ho, Ho!" The man in red whispered in greeting. "Merry Christmas, young friends! Climb aboard!"
"Alright!" Sonic cheered softly, turning to the others who, except Knuckles who waved at them to enjoy themselves, beamed happily before Amy and Cream both quickly put on their shoes and winter coats, while Tails and Sonic put on their winter scarfs, and hurried to the window as silently as possible.
They opened it up and carefully climbed into the sleigh with Santa kindly helping them onboard. Sonic and Tails both sat with the magical man himself, while Amy, Cream and Cheese took seats with Stacy, but not before handing out a gifted box wrapped in red and green to Knuckles who, about to see them off, blinked in surprise. As the red echidna stared speechlessly at his present even though he didn't ask for anything, he gazed up at the group who waved a brief farewell before Santa had Rudolf and the other eleven reindeer to take flight, they and the younger Mobians vanishing to begin their journey.
"...Heh. Thanks, Santa. Merry Christmas to you too." Knuckles whispered, deciding that this wasn't so bad after all. Maybe he should've joined in on the fun. Oh well, at least he got a nice gift.
As they flew around Christmas Island with Santa using his magic with a wave of his hand, the sack full of presents carefully lifted by the golden dust and flown down chimminys of each house or through open windows and gently placed underneath Christmas Trees, Sonic and his friends, utterly amazed as they saw now this was how Santa did this every year and not really climbing down into people's homes himself to avoid in getting stuck, beamed in awe.
Once all of the presents on the island were delivered, Santa, Sonic, and the others then left and took flight all across Mobius almost as fast as the blue hedgehog. None the less, the group were having the time of their lives as they journeyed under the bright full moon and stars, and occasionally through the soft weather of snowflakes in certain places that had winter.
"Yeah!" Sonic cheered, having the time of his life.
"Alright!" Tails added, thoroughly enjoying himself.
"Wow! Isn't this magical?" Amy beamed happily.
"It's beautiful!" Cream breathed, her eyes sparkling.
"Chao, chao!" Cheese said in glee.
"This is the best Christmas ever!" Stacy exclaimed happily.
"I'm glad you're all enjoying yourselves. This is the same reaction Charles had when he was young." Santa smiled warmly at his young friends who gleamed back at him. He then gazed solely at the blue hedgehog who returned the smile in gratitude, knowing that his uncle would've loved to experience this adventure again.
"Ho ho ho!" Sonic, his friends and Santa all chorused festively.
For the entire Christmas Midnight all around the world, presents were secretly delivered to children who behaved themselves and got the gifts that they always wanted, stockings of coal to those who were either naughty, bad or evil, especially Eggman who, still recovering from the nightmare experience on the island, had gotten a giant stocking full of coal...that landed right on top of him and his robots who all screamed and were stuck for a while and made Sonic's group laugh at the misfortune their enemies had.
In the final part of their magical journey, Santa granted Sonic and his friends brief power to secretly deliver presents to their other friends just for this night, much to their amazement and he nodded with a supportive smile. Beaming, the Mobians did just that: Amy, Cream and Cheese delivered the presents Helen and Francies wanted in their sleep, Sonic and Tails handed out a Soccer Ball to Danny who wanted one for ages, then they passed by Seaside Island to give presents to the unbeknownst Manny and the residents of the Unnamed Village, a bunch of stuff and toys to the Chaotix back in Station Square, a box with a beautiful gem in Rouge's room while she slept.
They even handed out a gift to Shadow who, still wandering in hopes in getting his memories back, noticed a slight jingle and looked up from the hill he was sleeping on.
"Hm?" The amnesic hedgehog murmured, before looking and blinked in surprise to see...Sonic and his friends with a fat man who wasn't Eggman, in a power-dust-rocket sleigh? "What in the world?"
"Yo, Shadow! Think fast!" Sonic called out, throwing the gift box to his rival who, unable to blink, caught the present that gently descended into his hands. The Ultimate Lifeform looked up just in time to see the blue hedgehog disappear along with the others, waving at him. "Merry Christmas!"
"What was that all about?" Shadow whispered to himself, before looking at his gift that the younger hedgehog had gave him. A familiar feeling formed into him, as the image of the girl, Maria, came into his mind and for a split second, he could see her handing out a gift to him, and even hear her beautiful, soft voice whisper, 'Merry Christmas, Shadow'.
'...Maria...Just...who are you?' The black hedgehog thought to himself.
Little did he know that soon he would be able to find out more of his forgotten past in short mere months to come.
Finally, flying past to Westopolis, Sonic turned to the magic man in red, asking. "Hey, Santa? May I deliever one more present?"
"Of course, Sonic." Santa nodded, reaching out into the bag and gave it to the blue hedgehog. "There you are."
"Sweet!"
As they passed by a mansion that was similar to the one in Station Square before the Chaos crisis, Sonic and his friends beamed happily just as they passed a boy's bedroom. One that belonged to none other than their good old friend Chris Thorndyke who, hearing the jingles as he stirred awake and unable to help himself, blinked before he gaped in awe to see something flying in the sky.
"Is that...Who I think it is?" The young human boy murmured excitedly, as he still had a strong belief in Santa Claus himself. Wishing to see for himself, Chris raced over to his window and ran out to his balcony.
Just as he also noticed five familiar figures riding with Santa, much to his surprise, with Sonic and his friends waving happily at him along with the kind man himself, before the blue hedgehog used the last of his burrowed power to deliver the present to Chris who caught it gently in his hands.
"Sonic...Tails, Amy, Cream and Cheese, with Santa?" Chris couldn't believe what he was seeing. He looked up at the amazing sight before them, only to notice Sonic silently place a finger to his lips to gesture his younger human friend now to say anything, and winked with a smirk.
Even from the distance, the almost thirteen year old boy beamed, getting the message as he realized this was best to be kept a secret. So he nodded and waved happily at the disappearing group who left to return to Mobalon and Christmas Islands. Chris smiled warmly, gazing at his present where he noticed the tag that said, "To Chris: From, Santa, and Sonic".
'Thanks, Santa...Thanks, Sonic. Merry Christmas.' Chris thought to himself, the surge of happiness filling up his heart.
With the last of the presents delivered, Santa, Sonic and their group made a quick stop back to Mobalon Island, where Stacy, sad that the journey was over and that she would have to say goodbye to her new friends, was carefully lifted from the sleigh, sharing a hug with Cream and Cheese who were sad to see her go, and then descended to the robotic hands of Cloud's Rhino-Giant vessel where the two happily reunited, before they and the rest of the Mobalons, also in their vessels before opening up the cockpits, all waved at Santa Claus, Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends who waved in return.
"Merry Christmas to all!" Santa called out.
"And to all a Good Night!" Sonic, Tails, Amy, Cream and Cheese added.
"Merry Christmas, everybody! Bye-bye!" Stacy called back, watching her friends leave to return to Christmas Island.
As the Mobalons all smiled at their new friends' leave, they smiled as their home was now magically decorated with presents and festive trimings and trees, making this the best Christmas they, Sonic and his friends would always remember.
At the same time, Santa slowed his sleigh to a stop back to the mansion, where Sonic, Tails, Amy, Cream and Cheese, thanking Santa once again, climbed out and back into their shared room where Knuckles, having gotten bored waiting, went back to bed and was sleeping soundly. As they did, they all waved a goodbye to the magical man who returned it, and sharing a fond farewell to Rudolf who through out the whole time blinked his red nose happily, and nuzzled at Cream, Cheese, Sonic, Tails and Amy's faces, making them all laugh and giggle softly.
With that, Santa and his reindeer took their leave back to the North Pole for another whole year, the man in red calling out. "Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!"
"And a Merry Christmas to you, Santa." Sonic whispered fondly, he and his friends feeling the magical warmth of the grand adventures they all shared in the last week.
This was the Christmas they would always remember for the rest of their lives.
Back in the Present...
"It was great. The best Christmas ever." Sonic smiled fondly, as he and his friends brought themselves out of their reminiscing, feeling like they were experiencing the whole thing all over again.
"I wonder if we'll see our friends on Mobalon Island again, and maybe we can see Santa this year too." Cream wondered, smiling happily.
"Chao Chao." Cheese chirped.
"Well, if we're lucky, maybe we will. As long as keep it a se...*Yawn* a secret..." Tails yawned, rubbing his eyes tiredly as he began to feel sleepy.
Seeing this, and also the young girl and Chao also begin to yawn as well, Sonic chuckled before noticing that it was almost past 9 PM, and stood up. "Well, we'll talk about this more in the morning. Right now, I think it's time to get some much needed sleep."
"Okay..." His younger friends agreed, knowing that it was bedtime.
Wishing the blue hedgehog a goodnight as he followed them upstairs to the bedrooms and guest room, Sonic paused before looking out of the window, feeling as though the adventure reminded him of what was most important. In fact, thinking about that made the hero of Mobius now feel twice as happy and fully accepting who and what he truly had in his life, vowing to keep the lessons he learned deep into his heart forever.
'I know it's still months early and we have my Birthday coming up, but I hope you'll visit even in spirit. Merry Christmas, Uncle Chuck.' Sonic thought fondly of his late uncle, smiling before walking up stairs to tuck his little brother and sister-like-figure and Chao and then get some much needed sleep himself.
Thinking back now with so many adventures they all had been through leading up to the much needed peace they all wanted to gain, it was like fate has finally decided to grant it to them, in the most unexpected way, and the blue hedgehog still felt a little uncertain now that Eggman was gone.
But Sonic knew that it was for the best, and he couldn't be any happier with the family and friends he had in his whole life. With that thought in mind and a smile, the hero of Mobius couldn't wait for the brighter future ahead and for his birthday to arrive.
Sonic's Next Adventure Awaits...
A/N: And that's that for the two-parter Christmas Special, as well as the final chapter to be released for 2022! But not to worry, because this story will continue in 2023, with the next part taking a different path-Literally!
Until then, have a safe and wonderful Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year as I will return when January comes!
See you later!