Infinity Crisis Christmas Special: Dreaming of a Red Panda Christmas

by Movie-Brat

A series of vignettes featuring the Super Besties on holiday misadventures, from fighting supervillains and alien invaders to the joys of the holidays.

Disclaimer: Characters belong to their respective owners and creators.

Author's Notes:

Hello, hello! It's Christmas Day and anyone enjoying the holidays, I managed to write this just in time! My first stab at an Infinity Crisis Christmas Special and I hope everyone loves it.

Before we go further though, I want to stress, this is a flash forward for the Super Besties. A lot of stuff happened in between this and Rampage of the Rani.

Without further Ado, here's the Christmas special and I hope you all enjoy it.

Earth-030122: Toronto, Canada

November 24th, 2002

It was a quiet Sunday. The sun rose at dawn but the rays of the sunlight hit the eyes of Meilin "Mei" Lee from behind the curtains.

It was enough to wake up the thirteen year old Chinese Canadian girl. But as she woke up, she sneezed and her head instantly transformed to that of a red panda that was comically large compared to being attached to the rest of her little human body.

So much so due to the weight of her red panda head, she stumbled out of bed-falling face first onto the floor. Though her face returned to normal upon impact.

She groaned with a deadpan and irritable look on her face. It was not the first time this happened but always managed to brush herself off and got back up again.

She then put on her glasses and looked at the school calendar on her desk. She noticed it was the last week of November and next month was going to December, something that excited her a bit as it meant Christmas time.

As one of her many traditions was listening to her 4*Town Christmas album that even included their hit single of 2001 Christmas, Please Stay that was made to promote the hit Christmas Family Comedy film Dashing Through The Snow that starred Sylvester Stallone.

"Mei Mei, breakfast is ready!" She heard mother cry out.

"Coming!" She cried back.

It was her favorite, congee; a rice porridge with a smiley face that consisted of sunny side up eggs as the eyes, green onions for the eyebrows, a mushroom nose and a soy sauce smile. Mei had let her mother know all her homework was done last night much to her mother's satisfaction.

She, her mother Ming and her father Jin felt it was surreal that she and her friends had become red pandas and superheroes no less. They had been declared national heroes by the Toronto public at large but gained worldwide recognition after what was referred to as The Near Canadian Thanksgiving Apocalypse of 2002 that the Super Besties averted.

Mei in particular reminisced about everything since the day she turned into a red panda. From her freakouts to Pandapocalypse 2002. But then her friends Miriam, Priya, Abby and Tyler got transformed into red pandas as well thanks to the Rani and stopped her. At least for now as she confronted them again here and there.

And all sorts of villains and evil aliens they came across. Some of them tested their entire friendship either through manipulation or self doubt or if it became too much. One time, all three almost derailed their attempts to avert the Near Apocalypse. But in the end, the Super Besties always stayed together and fought till they won.

Whether it'd be Daleks, Decepticons, Cybermen, Mr. Sinister, Weeping Angels, Sontarans, The Rani, The Valeyard or The Master, the Super Besties always made it out on top by the end.

Suddenly, her train of thought was interrupted by Jin motioning his family to come toward the television set. Mei and Ming rushed over and to Mei's dismay and surprise, it was M. Bison. He had fought the Super Besties in August before the next school year began when he attempted to turn the entire world's currency-replacing everything with what he called Bison dollars and targeted the entirety of Ontario to rename Bisonopolus.

He was stopped of course but he escaped before the Super Besties could turn him over to the authorities.

And now, he was on television proclaiming his revenge against the Super Besties and announcing his plan to go after the world's most endangered species across the world and demanded to be paid 100 million dollars.

Mei, the environmentalist she was, took his proclamation personally and went straight to her laptop.

"Mrs. Smith, we need you now!" Mei exclaimed.

"Good morning, Ms. Lee." The laptop greeted her as she turned on. "What can I do for you?"

"Find M. Bison!" Mei growled.

Once again, the Super Besties were on another adventure and thwarted M. Bison's plans before he could execute his plan into action. But like before, he escaped and even placed his home base on self destruction which was a hover fortress above Niagara Falls.

But thanks to convenience and quick thinking, they managed to use a jeep that was for some reason attached to a raft with a parachute much to Tyler's confusion in particular, to which they landed safely onto the water-narrowly avoiding the waterfall itself.

"At least it wasn't a boring Sunday!" Said Abby grinned as the other besties shook their bodies to dry out their fur.

"I just hope this isn't an omen for the rest of the holidays." Said Mei.

November 25th, 2002

Mei soon regretted her choice of words. The very next day, Plantman and Audrey II attempted to restart their invasion plans after being thwarted the first time. This time, targeting an early supply of Christmas trees.

Tyler could not help but glare at Mei for the remark she made yesterday to which she sheepishly shrugged in response.

In any case, the fight against Plantman and Audrey II took up much of the afternoon and right until near ten o'clock where the lair of the plant based villains was destroyed yet again but escaped once more.

But the Super Besties ended up being covered in fertilizer and fake Christmas branch needles upon running away and ducking from the explosion.

"We really should get paid for this." Priya quipped in her deadpan manner upon she and her friends sitting up with similar expressions on their faces as they nodded in agreement.

November 27th, 2002

To the relief of Mei and her friends, it had been a relatively quiet few days. The most eventful and the most exercise they had received was a game of dodgeball at P.E.

After school however, a group of rogue Ice Warriors appeared out of nowhere in the school with the Super Besties doing their best that the school doesn't get damaged in the process while subduing the Ice Warriors until their queen recovered them without saying a word.

To which the Super Besties stared in silence for a while to process what had just happened.

November 28th, 2002

It did not stop there however. As around downtown Toronto, much to the horror of the Super Besties, the Daleks had returned.

Or so they thought.

For one, they noticed there were only three Daleks. And what stood out, said Daleks looked too banged up and more crudely put back together. Instantly, they recognized these Daleks they had destroyed in their previous encounter.

Though somehow, the laser gun still worked enough to cause destruction. But to the relief of the Super Besties, they could not fly. Mei figured the flying components had likely been damaged enough, they could not be repaired.

But they had noticed they were not interested in shooting people despite that being the m.o. of the Daleks in which they exterminate Non Dalek lifeforms. They were more interested in blowing up cars, buildings and mailboxes.

After a lengthy battle that lasted three hours until the Super Besties with distraction from Priya and Tyler, the rest had managed to subdue the Dalek impostors by destroying the repaired eyes, disabling the gun and squeezing the bottom casings, to reveal none other than the Terrible Trio themselves; comprised of students they knew, including Carter Murphy-Mayhew. All three of them wore their masks inside the Daleks. The first two wore the Badger and Dolphin masks respectively, while Carter wore the Vulture mask.

"It had to be hot wearing those masks inside those Dalek things, right?" Tyler asked upon remarking at the sight.

"You seriously decided to hijack stuff by evil alien Nazis?" Mei asked Carter in disbelief as she held Carter by the back collar of his shirt.

Carter could only shrug in response, "We didn't know."

"We just like causing trouble." He then added.

Mei could only respond after her face dropped into an unimpressed, deadpan expression.

"Why I liked you, I'll never know." Mei then said.

November 29th, 2002

For Miriam, she was excited about Hanukkah. Every year, she celebrated Hanukkah with her family and looked forward to every moment involving food such as latkes and Sufganitah, which were jelly filled donuts.

And every year, Miriam would invite her friends for the festivities on the first day, the middle day and the last. This year, Tyler was invited and he never experienced Hanukkah before but was willing to give it a try.

Though Mei had to give him a head's up about Abby as she tended to get insanely competitive over playing the dreidel-winning Hanukkah coins every time. Abby denied such a thing of course but Priya had camcorder evidence much to Abby's chagrin.

Nevertheless, the besties had a great time as always and Tyler even enjoyed himself during the festivities that he looked forward to the other days Miriam invited them to.

December 1st, 2002

Mei jumped out of bed. It was not just the Sunday after last week, it was December first and it was going to be Christmas in full swing.

Mei rushed out of her room in clothes with Christmas colors consisting of a red sweater, green pants but still had her pink socks as always.

"Oh Mei!" Greeted her father. "I was about to ask you if you wanted to go grocery shopping with me."

"He's doing something a bit different this year for dinner." Ming added as she and Jin get dressed in their winter clothes.

"How so?" Asked Mei.

"Well I'm cooking turkey this Christmas but I found recipes to give it my usual flair. How do you feel about Honey Glazed Cantonese turkey?" He then asked his daughter.

That was enough for Mei to crave such a dish as she always loved her father's cooking.

"Oh that sounds so good!!" Mei exclaimed with delight.

Jin chuckled as he gave her a soft smile.

"I definitely want to go shopping!" Mei cried with excitement.

"We better get going then!" Ming said as she put on her winter coat.

Eagerly, Mei reached for her tuque and jacket and raced out the door much to the amusement of both parents.

"So why this early for shopping for dinner supplies?" Mei asked her mother.

"Well, best to plan ahead." Ming answered simply.

December 2nd, 2002

The family car pulled over to the Daisy Mart. Unlike last time when Ming had caused a scene accusing its employee of "corrupting her daughter."

This time, Ming had gone to the Daisy Mart to get some additional supplies for the upcoming Christmas dinner.

As soon as she bought them, she noticed the cashier was Devon. The same teen boy she berated months ago.

Devon looked up to see the same Chinese Canadian mother who he had vague memory of. Even the drawings of him as a merman weren't enough for him to burn into his memory.

Ming bit her lip, as she always did when embarrassed. But nevertheless, he scanned her items and amounted the total.

"Um, I hope you're doing alright." Ming awkwardly said, trying to make conversation.

"Oh, I'm doing fine." He answered.

As she paid with her credit card, she reached into her purse and placed a five dollar bill onto a donation plate.

"Devon." Ming mentioned his name given she took the time to read his name tag. "Please eat more, you need your strength."

This time, Ming only said what she said to Devon out of concern for his well being.

"Uh, thanks." Devon responded.

"I mean it." Ming softly said. "I just worry for your well being and I can shop at the Daisy Mart again. Have a good night."

With that, she left. Devon could not help but wonder what transpired but he nevertheless appreciated someone cared about him.

December 3rd, 2002

It was after nine o'clock. The Square One shopping mall closed by then for the night.

The mall was silent. Save for the sounds of wrapping paper being opened.

Inside a candy store, a lone Sontaran was raiding every chocolate bar or lollipop in sight. With his back turned, he was unable to notice who was standing behind.

"Busted!" He heard Abby cry out.

Startled, the lone Sontaran turned around to see the rest of the Super Besties in their red panda forms standing behind him with their arms crossed and smirks on their faces.

The Super Besties had confronted the Sontarans multiple times on numerous occasions before, this being the seventh time.

"Sontarans again?" Moaned Tyler.

"At least it's just one." Miriam said.

"How would you know?!" The Sontaran Commander known as Stratford exclaimed defensively. "I could call my troops at any moment and there'll be nothing you can do about it!"

In response, not only did the Super Besties respond with unimpressed looks on their faces, Mei simply pointed to a security camera from a corner on the ceiling.

"See that?"

The Sontaran Commander looked up to see a security camera being pointed right at him.

"We have the technology to upload that footage and send it to your bosses!" Mei said.

"And we literally do have the technology." Priya said as she brought up the laptop containing Mrs. Smith out of nowhere.

"Alright!" The Sontaran Commander Stratford exclaimed in fear with the apt expression on his face. "I'll leave!"

Soon after, the Sontaran Commander Stratford transported himself away. And the Super Besties left the mall feeling a bit positive.

"Man, that was easy!" Laughed Miriam.

They stopped suddenly, just to see a tiny snowflake land. Followed by another. And another. Until more snowflakes came pouring in.

"It's snowing!" Mei smiled, exclaiming loudly.

The rest of her friends cried out in excitement as much to the point of Abby sticking her tongue out to taste the snowflakes.

December 4th, 2002

The snow had been in full swing since last night. School hadn't been canceled yet but that didn't stop Mei from having fun after school.

Because of the snow, the temple was closed for the day. To which Mei took full advantage of by building a snow fort in the middle of the temple. Something she had always done when she was younger.

Her forts often took a variety of forms such as a mini castle or a simple igloo. This year, she had gone for something resembling a castle.

It took about an hour for Mei to complete her fort but she looked at it with pride and crawled inside after a moment.

But not too long, she involuntarily transformed into her red panda form after sneezing; causing her entire snow fort to collapse on her. Now that was left was a huge bump of snow resembling a hillside.

Until the snow dispersed when Mei turned over to sit up with her arms crossed, having a dour look on her face.

"Thanks." Mei said in a sardonic manner after spitting out snow from her mouth.

December 5th, 2002

It was after school again and this time, Mei's friends met up at the temple and her home this time.

Miriam and Abby had suggested watching Buzz Lightyear of Star Command on The Family Channel. Normally, Ming would not had allowed Mei to watch cartoons but loosened up the rule due to allowing Mei's friends to show up more.

It was Abby's insistence as the episode that aired that day was called Holiday Time as she made sure to watch that particular episode every Christmas to the point of having it taped at her own home.

"I never understood why the cartoon isn't like the movie." Mei remarked. "It's so… bizarrely different."

"Even weirder?" Tyler chimed in. "They don't even say Christmas in this episode when it so obviously is."

"I'm just left wondering why Hanukkah barely gets any specials." Miriam moaned a bit. "Like, there are how many Christmas specials? Where's Hanukkah's own Christmas Carol or something!"

Priya had a neutral expression when watching, while Abby was enthralled as ever by the special.

That was, until Ming frantically barged into the living room.

"Mei Mei!" Ming shouted frantically. "Turn on the news!"

Mei and her friends turned around in concern as they saw Ming appearing very distressed.

"It's him again!" Ming said

"No! Not Ben Stillest!" Abby exclaimed in shock. "Does he want to ruin Christmas by making us stand still?!"

Mei and the others raised their eyebrows in disbelief and skepticism upon hearing that.

Regardless, Mei flipped to a news channel to see a familiar foe.

The news report showed the War Monger Megatron variant with Decepticons as Starscream, Soundwave, Thundercracker, Skywarp and Reflector with her duplicates stealing energy from a mining facility near a cave to make energon cubes.

The War Monger Megatron variant in particular was feared throughout the multiverse but after escaping Earth-154205, the War Monger Megatron landed on Earth-030122 in the summer of 2002 where he fought against the Super Besties where he suffered yet another defeat that was not because of the Autobots, but only at the hands of who he deemed to be "infants." However, his ship the Nemesis was in dire need of repairs and the Decepticons were stranded.

That was when he was responsible for what turned out to be the Near Canadian Thanksgiving Apocalypse of 2002 when Megatron tried to end this particular universe but the Super Besties, despite all the efforts by the Decepticons to destroy them, were beaten. And not by Autobots.

Despite the Nemesis being repaired, the War Monger Megatron variant ordered his troops to stay as he now grew obsessed to destroy the Super Besties, refusing to lose to who he called "inferior children."

"Soon those miserable infants will come and I'll end their lives immediately." Megatron said, relishing in the thought. "And my reputation of being a destroyer of universes for nine hundred years will be left intact!"

"You okay?" Asked Skywarp. "You've been obsessed with those fleshlings since that last time…"

"Do not question my judgment!" Megatron sneered. "I will destroy them one way or another!"

"Well you want us?! You got it!"

The Decepticons turned around to see Mei and her friends in their red panda forms.

"Well, congratulations." Megatron mockingly sneered at the Super Besties. "You found me!"

"Destroy them!" He added as he fired his arm cannon.

"Scatter!" Mei exclaimed as the Super Besties ducked and ran in different directions.

"You're not getting the drop on me like you did last time!" Thundercracker said as he fired at Abby.

From behind, Thundercracker was knocked to the side by Miriam wielding a construction beam.

"No but I sure did!" Miriam quipped.

Skywarp fired his null ray at Tyler who dodged at every moment. Even ducking when the Decepticon seeker aimed at his hair.

"Hey!" Shouted Tyler as he frisked his hair to make sure it stayed intact. "Watch the hair!"

"Eat missile, you loudmouth brat!" Skywarp fired a missile from his retractable hand.

Tyler went for a construction beam and swung it-hitting the missile like a baseball and threw it back at Skywarp.

The Decepticon seeker teleported away into another area. Except, Abby seemed to have waited for him as she whacked him on the head with a construction beam of her own.

"Batter up, bozo!" Abby shouted in Korean.

"Laserbeak, Ravage, Rumble, Frenzy. Eject." Soundwave commanded his cassette tape Transformers as they ejected from his chest.

The tapes transformed and confronted Priya who was about to fight Soundwave.

"Let's go, girly!" Frenzy exclaimed.

"We're about to-!" Rumble said before being cut off.

"'Shake your world.'" Priya dryly finished. "It's pretty easy to guess what you're going to say. Like rumble with Rumble."

"I'll show you predictable!" Shouted an offended Rumble.

"Yeah, let's get her!" Frenzy concurred with her brother.

Suddenly, the cassette Transformers and even Soundwave were being pelted by snowballs courtesy of Miriam and Tyler with Priya joining in. Even Miriam crafted a large snowball to blind Soundwave's red visor eyes.

The snowball assault was halted by Starscream firing his null ray at the three red pandas.

"And that is far enough as you pests go!" Starscream said.

"Better look out behind you." Priya bluntly said.

"Do you expect me to fall for that stupid trick?" Starscream smugly said.

"Cowabunga!!!"

Starscream looked up to see Abby jump from a platform and latch right onto the Decepticon seeker's face.

"Help!" Starscream cried out in a panic. "Not again! Get this thing off me!"

"Go Abby!" Miriam cries out-rooting for her friend.

Her praise was interrupted by Thundercracker and Skywarp firing at the remaining besties. Along with the three Reflector bots joining the fray.

"Don't forget us!" The Reflector bots exclaimed.

"You've had your last punch, Earth scum!" Thundercracker sneered.

"Let's get 'em!" Skywarp cried out.

"Charge!" Tyler exclaimed.

The three Super Besties charged at the remaining Decepticons.

While Megatron and Mei had their own fight, Mei had been dodging and punching him repeatedly despite the Decepticon leader's attempts at blasting her.

"I will blast you to kingdom come!" Megatron growled.

"You said that before and I'm still here!" Mei retorted with her tongue sticking out in a mocking fashion.

Megatron snarled in annoyance as he fired again.

Mei dodged again with Megatron firing at her feet-dodging the blast at every turn.

"I'll destroy you!" Megatron screamed.

"'Destroy, destroy, destroy!' Is that all you guys ever think about?!" Mei exclaimed at Megatron.

In response, Megatron fired again and Mei jumped over the blast.

"Just hold up!" Mei held her paws up as a signal to stop.

"What?!" Megatron cried out in outrage, baffled by what he just heard.

Mei began to speak, "Listen, the holidays are just getting started and it's getting stressful beating up more bad guys during this time of year. And you're not exactly helping. But the holiday season, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, it's a time of giving, being good to others more than ever, spending time with your loved ones. Why be a jerk this time of year? It's okay to take a break from getting energon or destroying the universe. I'm just saying can you at least find it in that metallic heart of yours to love and appreciate the holidays and make peace?"

Megatron stared at his enemy with a cold expressionless face.

"Hmm…let me think…" Megatron pondered.

"NO!" He screamed before firing his arm cannon.

Mei ducked as the explosion instead hit the ground. Far from where her friends were but still recoiled from the explosion.

"What the heck, man?!" Mei shouted.

"I thought a speech like that would work like in the cartoons!" She then shouted to the rest of her besties.

"Well it didn't work now!" Tyler said.

"If it wouldn't work for Zurg, it wouldn't work on Megatron." Priya said.

"You mean the cartoons lied?!" Abby cried out in disappointment.

For a moment, the rest of the Super Besties looked at Abby incredulously. But snapped back to their goal when the rest of the Decepticons fired again at the Super Besties.

"Megatron is mine!" Mei gritted her teeth, borderline growling.

"We'll take care of the rest of the Go-Bots!" Miriam assured Mei.

"Dodgeball!" Abby shouted.

She then wrapped around body and tail, forming a ball, to which Miriam picked her up and threw her like such and headed straight to the three Reflectors.

"Fastball special!" Miriam exclaimed.

"Not again!" They simultaneously cried, recalling a previous incident from The Near Canadian Thanksgiving Apocalypse of 2002.

Abby managed to knock down the trio like bowling pins and in turn, also managed to hit Soundwave directly on his face-knocking him down.

In turn, Miriam dropped kick Starscream with her tail. While Priya and Tyler knocked Thundercracker and Skywarp's heads together. Until finally, the four of them tackled Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage and Laserbeak in a huge, furry dog pile.

Megatron not only fired at Mei continuously, but tried stomping on her and bashing the ground with his hands but the red panda dodged every opportunity he had and managed to punch him in the face several times when jumping.

"All I want…" Mei began as she then grabbed Megatron by his foot and spun him around. "Is to spend Christmas with my friends and family… and you're just being an insensitive, dumb jerk who likes picking fights!"

She spun him around so hard, a mini tornado was almost created.

"So have a Merry. Freakin'. CHRISTMAS!!!"

Megatron screamed and cried out "No!" As he was thrown and crashed into a nearby cave.

Mei breathed heavily but nevertheless was satisfied with the result.

Megatron then managed to pull himself out of the cave and shook his head.

"Enough!" Megatron shouted to his troops. "Decepticons, we must retreat! We will fight another day!"

With that, Megatron and the rest of the Decepticons flew away with the cassette Transformers returning to Soundwave. The Super Besties watched them fly away until they were no longer within their sight.

"Run away, you cowards!" Abby screamed in Korean at the retreating Decepticons.

"Three for three kicking Decepticon butt!" Mei grinned excitedly.

"Yeah!" The Super Besties concurred as they gave each other a high five.

Afterwards, they stood together with pride before immediately collapsing on each other in exhaustion, all of them breathing and panting heavily.

"...I forgot fighting the Decepticons takes a lot out of us!" Mei said in exhaustion in her voice.

The rest of the Super Besties weakly moaned in agreement.

"Do you think you can call your mom to come get us?" Miriam asked Mei.

December 6th, 2002

At the very least, Mei had a relatively quiet day starting the next morning after the battle with the Decepticons, after Ming checked for bruises given the Near Canadian Thanksgiving Apocalypse of 2002 when Mei came home with a bruised cheek and a black eye, which Mei was glad they weren't any super villain attacks that day.

Today, the Lee family was decorating the Christmas tree. To which for Mei, was one of her favorite things to do in the month of Christmas time. A collection of ornaments, tinsel, Christmas lights, even some trinkets Mei made in kindergarten,first and second grades.

And every year, Mei would be the one to put the star on the tree for last.

Afterwards, the Lee family would stare at the beauty they made for their tree.

December 7th, 2002

The peace did not last long however.

A new enemy, at least partially, were the Derichets. Though this was more of a second group albeit small. Due to not hearing from their leader after they landed on Earth-83.

Nevertheless, they persisted in restoring the glory of their race. With only ten Derichets along with a few grunt soldiers making up the entire crew.

They began their search for potential living super weapons until they came across Tyler, having witnessed the Super Besties holding down a robber at the Daisy Mart.

Immediately, the leader of the group known as Dralison, along with his second in command, Grendure, confronted them.

Completely desperate, Dralison demanded Tyler join them in their cause to conquer the multiverse and restore the Derichet empire as one of their ultimate super weapons and even save him from feminine influence as they noticed he was the single boy of a group consisting mainly of girls.

To which Mei, Miriam, Priya and Abby took huge offense to.

"You guys are sexist!" Mei exclaimed, offended.

"Not cool!" Miriam concurred.

Dralison dismissed their objections and ordered Tyler to come with them. To which Tyler said, "no."

Dralison looked unhappy by the decision and resorted to capturing the red panda boy instead.

The rest of his troops came out full force and began firing. To which Mei had the idea to get the fight away from public spaces and run off in order for the Derichets to follow them.

And so they did, into an abandoned string factory. The rest of the Derichets including Trucer, Asenid, Britu, Druc, Freter, Plutu, Brann, Eisnand and other soldiers entered the premises. Only to be met by the Super Besties performing a sneak attack.

From Abby headbutting Eisnand and knocking him down, despite being the main muscle of the group and Priya operating a forklift filled with huge heavy boxes to push a few Derichet soldiers to a wall to Tyler body slamming Asenid and Britu and Miriam upon upstairs on a wooden floor, jumped on one of the loose boards to hit Trucer in the crotch so hard, the impact had sent him flying and crashing into a wall.

"Happy Hanukkah!" Miriam quipped, given it was the eighth day of Hanukkah.

To which Mei did something similar, except used her tail to whack Grendure and crash onto the second floor of the factory-landing on Dralison in a loud crash.

Druc, Freter, Plutu and Brann also endured slapstick abuse at the hands of the Super Besties and finally, so did the rest of the soldiers, from being whacked in the head by pulley chains to boxes of spools.

Until finally, the Derichets retreated; swearing vengeance along the way.

Despite that, the Super Besties celebrated their factory and had enough time to spare to celebrate Hanukkah with Miriam.

December 8th, 2002

Despite being a battle with another past villain of theirs, it was relatively normal in comparison as it was the notorious Chinese mob boss Benny Blacktooth this time.

To the shock and horror of Mei and the Super Besties, they saw on various news reports that showed footage of them stealing a recent supply of Turbo Woman dolls, the latest and most in demand toy of the Holiday season after being introduced in a reboot of Turbo Man: The Series.

Only the parents of each of the Super Besties believed them since they knew they were in their homes the entire time as the heist began around five a.m. when the trucks appeared in one of the toy stores.

Mei and her friends were going to get to the bottom of this. And so they did, while trying to avoid the police, as they eventually found out the frame up was by Blacktooth himself in order for the public to turn against the Lee family and seize the temple for himself.

But the frame up itself, Blacktooth had used stolen technology from what remained of the Rani's destroyed base as he at one point found one of the holographic devices that somehow survived and not inside the Rani's TARDIS with his men posing as the Super Besties for the hologram device to create the illusion.

Mei, with enough goading, managed to get Benny Blacktooth to confess his actions on camera without him knowing.

"Got it, Mir?" Mei asked with a grin on her face.

Benny Blacktooth's eyes widened in shock and horror, as he turned around to see Miriam holding a camcorder whilst standing with Priya, Abby and Tyler.

"He's stone cold busted!" Miriam responded with an equally satisfying grin.

Afterwards, they turned the footage over to the police, much to the chagrin and disappointment of certain cops who were a little too hunt happy, and the Super Besties had their names cleared. Especially after returning the stolen Turbo Woman dolls.

December 9th, 2002

The school had their annual Secret Santa earlier in the week and students were off to find a gift for who they were tasked of getting a present for.

For Priya, she had to get a gift for Miriam and Abby had to get a gift for Tyler.

The two raced down the streets of Toronto, searching for which store to find a gift with whatever allowance their parents gave them.

As they ran down, Abby stopped by a music store. She peered through the slightly open door to see someone stocking CDs on display racks in the back. The clerk was listening to an album of Christmas covers by famed Jazz saxophonist Dorothea Williams.

Abby was entranced by the music, completely enthralled until Priya came over.

"Hey girl, still with me?" Priya asked.

Abby shook her head, snapping out of her trance.

"Sorry, the music sounded so good!" Abby apologized.

Priya in turn gave a smaller smile.

"Yeah, I know." She said before adding, "my parents love her music too."

December 10th, 2002

Mei, in her human form, was taking a small walk through her neighborhood before going to her school to perform at the pageant. Tonight was to be her joining her music classmates for a series of Christmas songs with Mei even performing a flute solo of Somewhere in my Memory, a vocal performance of her singing The First Noel and a singing solo on a section of the song My Christmas Tree.

The red panda girl felt she was starting to feel the pressure between supervillain attacks and trying to balance it with the Holiday season.

She stopped to stare at a family decorating a Christmas tree through the window, all happy and laughing-clearly enjoying themselves.

Mei frowned as she stared at the family, feeling sad to the point of hanging her head low and even wiping a tear from her eye. Longing for at least one normal day in December.

The red panda girl then walked away solemnly until her besties showed up running toward her.

"Mei!" Miriam panted-catching her breath. "It's those potato looking dudes again!"

"Again?!" Mei asked in an annoyed tone of voice.

Once again, the Super Besties faced off against the Sontarans much to their annoyance.

This time, the Sontarans had hijacked a Christmas pageant at their school. All for the sake of demanding the presence of the Super Besties-claiming that their war was not over.

Mei and her friends could only just stare in disbelief as they held every student, parent and teacher hostage for that reason alone.

But nevertheless, they once again fought against the Sontarans with similar strategies as before with the first three encounters such as trickery and brute force. And most of all, fooling them with 4*Town music to throw off the Sontarans and then culminating in sending fireworks to their ship as a way to give them a reason to retreat.

"Fireworks are looking good tonight!" Miriam grinned with Mei looking on in agreement.

Finally afterwards, the pageant continued on after much delay. To which at the very least, things set out as planned with Mei's performances went on without a hitch and Ming and Jin looking so proud of their daughter by the end of it all.

December 11th, 2002

Ming and Jin were concerned about leaving Mei home alone given they were going to go out on the anniversary of their first date. But Mei insisted on letting her stay home by herself; promising to be responsible and keep the family home and temple intact.

Ming trusted her daughter and decided to relent and go on her anniversary date with Jin, to which Mei encouraged further.

After her parents left, Mei got giddy that she finally had the house to herself. Even bragged to Miriam and the rest of her besties that she was more of an adult than ever now that she was home alone.

Mei was hoping to invite her friends over but a lot of them had other commitments.

Suddenly, Mei found herself bored as she completed her homework, every chore was done, what else was there to do?

But then noticed something amiss looking through her window from her room. Despite the fact it was dark, she could make out who she saw. None other than members of what remained of Cobra. Specifically Serpentor, Cobra Commander, Destro, the Baroness and Dr. Mindbender.

As Mei once recalled months ago, she and the Super Besties took on Cobra and severely destroyed what was left of the organization.

Mei immediately got to work improvising traps in the house as best she could on short notice.

To her pleasant surprise, the traps worked. Serpentor, Cobra Commander and Destro suffering the most slapstick from falling bags of tools and hair spray acting as a substitute for pepper spray (to which even Mei shouted at Serpentor when doing so, "Eat pepper spray, dork!") To the Baroness and Dr. Mindbender having ice cubes shot at them at rapid speed and hot glue guns shot at their crotches.

By the end, they were battered and bruised. Though Serpentor had the obsessive drive wanting to destroy Mei as he refused to lose to a child. But soon, he ended up getting his own finishing humiliation as a bucket of cat litter was dumped on his head-completely blinding him that he tripped over a wire and fell on a discarded shopping cart that fell on top of the rest of the Cobra members.

Afterwards, Mei managed to tie them up and place what remained of Cobra outside the temple for the police to find. To which every member of Cobra blamed each other for their failure, much to the amusement of Mei.

Immediately, Mei went to work cleaning up the house and the temple as fast as she could. Until finally, she quickly changed into her sleep wear and fell asleep due to exhaustion. Just in time for her parents to arrive home.

Ming checked up on Mei and smiled softly. Satisfied she was able to stay home alone without any trouble.

As Ming went into her and Jin's bedroom, Jin spotted something curiously on the floor. A single loose tooth.

"Ming, what's this?" He asked his wife. Both not knowing it was a tooth from Serpentor, where he and the rest of Cobra had paint cans thrown at their faces.

December 12th, 2002

The next day, Mei was shopping with her parents for Christmas gifts at the Square One shopping mall. Though Mei opted to go alone when it came to shopping for a gift for her parents.

Ming and Jin could tell their own daughter needed some breathing room regardless as they could tell she was feeling the pressure between fighting villains and the holiday season. They were concerned if it was all getting to her. Mei insisted she was fine however.

While Ming and Jin entered a toy store to shop for a Turbo Man doll and a Turbo Woman doll for Lily's daughter Vivian.

Mei in the meantime had found crystallized two turtle doves she thought looked beautiful. And given they were on sale for a lower price than usual by 50 percent, she readily grabbed it and paid for it.

But Mei ran into the problem of literally running into crowds of people. She thought about transforming into her red panda form but she did not want to seem scary, pushy and rude.

Mei tried to be as polite as possible as she squeezed her way through saying "Excuse me, pardon me" along the way. She even exclaimed "Move the floor, people!"

Unfortunately, Mei tripped over a shopper's foot and fell on top of her shopping bag that she held close to her chest.

Her eyes widened in shock.

"No no no no no…" Mei rapidly said, praying and hoping the worst did not come to pass.

To her dismay and sadness, it was the turtle doves that broke as she felt what remained through the paper wrapped around it.

In a rush, Mei ran through the crowd with the broken gift still in her hands.

Until finally, Mei found a metal bench to sit on to cry. Thankful that it won't break under her weight as soon as she turned into a red panda. Which she did upon sitting. And continued to sob over her ruined gift as she covered her eyes.

"Now there's an interesting sight." She turned to see a tall, lanky man with short and spiked a bit brown hair appearing between young and old. And he wore a blue jacket around a dark blue vest and plaid pants with gray chucks on his feet.

The man eyed her with interest.

"Oh, go away!" Mei spat back in tears, offended by the remark. "I don't have time for jerks!"

"No, no, no, I'm sorry." The man apologized sincerely as he spoke with a Scottish accent. "Just thought my little remark could make you giggle a bit at least. Clearly that failed."

"Mind if I at least sit here?" He then asked in a polite manner.

Mei sighed as she crossed her arms.

"Okay."

With that, the man sat next to her.

"You know, you look kind of familiar." Mei remarked upon inspecting the man sitting next to her further, staring at his face as if she knew before.

"Have we met?" She then asked.

The man chuckled. "Oh you'd be amazed how much I hear that."

"Forgive me for asking, but why are you crying?" He then asked.

"It's really stupid." Groaned Mei, turning her head away from the man sitting next to her and crossing her arms.

"I've been told I'm a good listener." The man responded. "You can tell me."

Mei sighed. His friendly demeanor made her comfortable enough to answer him.

"I wanted to buy mom and dad a Christmas gift." Mei responded as she placed the broken gift into the man's hands.

"It broke." She finished in a flat manner.

"They were supposed to be turtle doves." She sniffled, tears pouring out again.

"Well not gonna lie, it does look bad." The man said. "But with enough glue, it can be fixed."

"But it feels like there's more to this than just a broken gift." He added as he placed the turtle doves behind his back and placed his other hand behind as well.

"Anything else bothering you?" The man then asked the red panda girl.

Immediately, she broke down crying.

"Whoa, wait I-"

"It's not you!" She sobbed. "It's everything from the past few weeks! The holidays are supposed to be fun but a lot of the times, these super villains and evil aliens just won't quit! I was hoping for a fun, calm month of December but it's too much to ask for!"

Mei went on about the specific battles and the pressure she had been feeling. Just wanting the perfect Christmas season, or Holiday season, for her and everyone.

"...And that's everything!" Mei finished her venting, exhausted.

In turn, the man at first wanted to give Mei a tissue but instead handed her a towel given the size of her red panda form.

With that, she blew her nose and timidly gave it back to the man sitting next to her.

"Nah, you can throw that away." The man insisted, recoiling a bit at the mess. "I wasn't using it anyway."

In turn, Mei threw the towel in the trash can next to the bench.

Throughout her venting, the man had listened intently, even writing something while she was not looking, sympathizing all the way.

There was a moment of silence, until he spoke up.

"Well, I'm not going to pretend things are going to be peachy clean. I mean, sure your Christmas won't be pitch perfect as you envisioned. But you know? It's all going to be worth it in the end. You have your family and your friends. But especially, all those people you saved."

Mei looked at him in surprise.

"Every life you saved will matter to someone. I don't doubt you and your friends saved a lot of people who wouldn't see their loved ones if it weren't for you. Because that's your greatest strength. Among your greatest strengths. Including your perseverance and especially your heart. You care a lot and that's wonderful! Take care of yourself yes but you did a lot of selfless acts to the point of saving the world.

You are loved by everyone for a reason. Your family and your friends love you. They care about you. There will always be jerks and monsters but you always overcome those obstacles. Just know that you won't be alone with your feelings because who loves you will understand. Your feelings are valid no matter what. You matter to everyone. Nothing will change that."

Mei looked at him with a smile. She shed tears but this time of happiness. Even after she was calm enough to transform back into her human form.

"Thanks…" said Mei.

"Not a problem." The man replied with a warm smile of his own.

"It really did help to hear that." Mei said with gratitude.

"Well, it doesn't hurt to help people with their problems." The man said with warm confidence. "I'm known for that."

"I better be going though." He quickly added as he stood up.

"Where are you going?" Mei asked out of curiosity.

"I don't know." He simply replied. "All I know is I'm still trying to find myself."

"Questions that need answering." He then added.

"But it's nice to meet you again, Mei." He shook her hand.

"It's been nice meeting you." Mei said.

"Best be going!" The man said. "Take this by the way."

He placed an object in her hands and said, "And have a lovely night."

And with that, he walked away.

Mei looked at him confused. Then realized one thing:

"Wait, how did he even know my name?" Mei asked aloud. "And what did he mean again?"

The Chinese Canadian girl then stared at the object in her hands in shock. Enough to transform back into her red panda form.

It was the crystallized turtle doves, except they were completely repaired as if they were never broken in the first place. And there was a note attached.

Merry Christmas, Mei

P.S. I regenerated into a form I previously was. Trying to find out why.

P.S.S. I miss my rainbow suspenders.

Signed, The Doctor

It was the last two words that all made sense to Mei. Especially upon hearing the familiar sound of the TARDIS.

"Yo!" Mei cried out to The Doctor.

She immediately bolted and raced to where she heard the TARDIS noise, which was around a corner near the emergency exits. Only to her dismay, she found it gone.

With a sigh, she left. Figuring they would meet up again at some point or another.

It was not until five seconds later, she raced back.

"Wait!" Mei exclaimed at the air as if she hoped The Doctor would hear her. "I got to know! Why did you regenerate into one of the same guys again?!"

Her arms then dropped in disappointment but nevertheless carried well.

"Oh well." Mei shrugged to herself. "Maybe he'll tell me what happened the next time we meet."

Moments later, she caught up with her parents. Ming, looking a bit worse for wear with her jacket disheveled.

"Wow, mom!" Mei chuckled. "What happened to you?"

Ming bit her lower lip in embarrassment before replying with, "Well, I was looking for the Turbo Man and Turbo Woman dolls but I got into a bit of a scuffle."

"Well, at least you didn't get a black eye." Mei laughed softly.

"Are you alright, Mei?" Jin asked out of concern.

"I am now." Mei replied with a smile before hugging her parents. "Thanks mom. Thanks dad."

With that, her parents returned the hug.

"Did you find a gift for us?" Ming then asked Mei.

"Oh I did!" Mei replied. "And you'll never guess who I ran into!"

December 14th, 2002

It was another morning. This time, it was at Abby's home where Tyler was introducing his brand of gifts to his friends and give to others at school.

"What do you think?" Tyler asked his friends as he showed off an example of his self made pillows after taking up sewing classes. One he showed off being in the shape of a heart with red panda ears and a tail.

"It looks pretty good!" Miriam said, complementing how the pillow turned out.

"Fluffy too!" Abby concurred as she hugged the pillow from Miriam.

"Fur shedding during fights had to be good for something." Priya bluntly said in her usual dry manner.

"It really does work!" Mei said, impressed with the pillows herself as she felt the material despite her skepticism.

"You sure it's gonna work?" Miriam asked Tyler. "I mean, the fur thing might turn people off."

"I mean if they bought your merchandise, they'll buy this!" Tyler responded in a matter of fact manner.

"If you say so." Miriam said before asking, "How many did you make anyway?"

"Made plenty for school!" Tyler replied, feeling a bit confident.

"And even made one for Aaron Z." He then added, blushing a bit.

"Oh, you didn't!" Miriam exclaimed excitedly.

"No way!" Mei grinned.

"I sent it to him already." Tyler said.

The besties cheered to which Abby even high fived Tyler.

"Woot!" Priya cheered in her usual flat manner.

"Way to go, Tyler!" Grinned Abby.

"Just sent it last week!" Tyler smiled, feeling comfortable now that he told them.

A few days later, Aaron Z. was given a package by an assistant manager on a stop to New York City. He recognized the name given the Skydome incident, otherwise known as Pandapocalypse 2002.

Opening it, he was amused to see a heart shaped pillow with the tag "From Tyler to Aaron." Flattered, he even read the note it was attached to.

I made these for a bunch of people and I had an extra, so this isn't weird. I hope it's not. Sorry.

Your biggest fan, Tyler

"Wow, it's so soft!" Aaron Z. remarked-impressed by the material. Unaware of the red panda fur that was shed to make it.

December 15th, 2002

Peace did not last long however. To the dismay and frustration of the Super Besties, the Sontarans made yet another return to Toronto.

This time, as once again led by Commander Stratford, they stormed into Downtown Toronto and took over various locations such as the Meridian Hall and St. Lawrence's Market. The motive being typical revenge. Again.

Nevertheless, they went to work fighting the Sontarans yet again.

Like the pizza delivery ploy in an earlier encounter, Mei opted for a fake Chinese Food delivery ploy at the Meridian Hall. While Abby and Miriam created a diversion at the St. Lawrence's Market.

The duo noticed Sontarans inside holding various shoppers hostage. The two nodded to each other as soon as Abby transformed into her red panda form.

"Jingle Bells! Stinky Pete Smells! Woody has a snake in his boot!" Abby screamed and sang in the tune of Jingle Bells to the alarmed Sontarans.

Abby even blew a raspberry mid singing.

"Get her!" One of the Sontarans exclaimed. "It's one of the beasts!"

The Sontarans fired with Abby dodging every blast thrown at her and scurried off-laughing all the way.

"After her!" One of the Sontarans shouted as three more followed.

Abby gave Miriam enough time to sneak into the market undetected and sneak attacked the remaining Sontarans inside the market upon transforming into her red panda form-winning the battle with ease as she disarmed them and hit them on the back of their necks, given that was their weak spot.

Tyler and Priya in the meanwhile performed sneak attacks of their own as they whacked the Sontarans marching across the streets on the back of their necks. Even Priya and Tyler using a frying pan and a wok respectively.

Even when the Sontarans fired, they either managed to deflect or had them accidentally shoot each other or even shoot a car where it exploded and sent any Sontaran flying back.

While with Mei, she infiltrated the Meridian Hall after knocking out the Sontaran who answered and fell for the Chinese food delivery ploy. Every move she made, she quietly tackled one or a few more Sontarans.

That was until a big brawl finally started but the Super Besties had arrived to help out Mei until it was just Commander Stratford and two Sontarans left.

"I refuse to lose to children again!" Commander Stratford exclaimed in anger. "I will not stop until I hunt you all down!"

"Well you're not very good at being a soldier then, aren't you?" Retorted Mei.

"You take that back!" Commander Stratford screamed, feeling offended.

"Ooh, touchy aren't we?" Taunted Miriam.

"Can't handle getting your butt whooped by a bunch of girls and one boy?" Mei rubbed salt on the wound further-taunting the Sontaran Commander with a smirk on her face.

Commander Stratford then fired like mad. The Super Besties narrowly avoided every shot after reacting in shock upon seeing the lasers being fired at them.

The Super Besties ducked behind chairs while Mei was running and dodging Stratford continuously trying to blast her.

Mei found herself back to a wall in the center of the stage with Commander Stratford with an insane grin on his face as he aimed the rifle at her head.

"I got you now, girl beast!" Commander Stratford said. "It seems you're out of ideas!"

"Mei!"

Mei heard Miriam cry out to her as she saw her friend throw an object to her.

She caught and presented it to the Sontaran Commander much to his shock. His one weakness; a chocolate bar.

"Not quite!" Mei exclaimed as she held the chocolate bar like a sword.

"No!" Commander Stratford exclaimed as he began to sweat, already feeling the temptation.

"What's the matter?" Mei mockingly asked. "I thought one of the most important rules of war was never letting the enemy see you sweat!"

"He totally is." Priya chimed in.

The Sontaran Commander swiped the chocolate bar from her hand without a second thought-not really thinking, and began to devour it in the most hogging manner possible.

"And send!" Priya said.

The Sontaran Commander paused and reacted in horror. He then turned to see Priya alongside the rest of the Super Besties, holding the Mrs. Smith laptop.

"You just got stone cold busted!" Tyler smirked as he crossed his arms.

"You're done, bozo!" Abby exclaimed in Korean with a grin on her face.

The Sontaran Commander turned to Mei again, who she too, crossed her arms with a smirk on her face.

"Game, set and match!" Mei said before adding, "And time for a word with your sponsor."

The Sontaran Commander's only response was a gulp, either because of the leftover chocolate in his throat or just the impending fear of being demoted.

As if right on cue, Commander Stratford was transported back to his ship immediately with the rest of his troops in tow.

"How bad do you think he'll get it?" Abby asked, wondering out loud.

"Probably a lot." Priya replied.

"Let's go home." Mei sighed. "I feel exhausted."

"I hear that." Priya concurred.

December 17th, 2002

The next day went without incident. Only thing of note was receiving word that the grandparents and other relatives of Priya, Abby and Tyler were coming in for the holidays for a couple of days.

While with Mei, she had been packing with her parents to spend a few days with her grandmother and other relatives in Florida.

And Jin had almost forgotten to defrost the turkey in the fridge so it can be ready by the time the Lee family returned.

But before any of that could happen, Graviton made another return. One of their more persistent and recurring villains.

This time, he had intended to personally target the Lee family temple. Which Mei took personally as she paused packing and instructed her parents to go out the back door.

She attacked Graviton just as the other Super Besties arrived to help.

But as before multiple times in previous encounters, he held Mei in zero gravity.

"How does this keep happening to me?" Groaned Mei.

And as before as well, she got flung back-knocking down her friends.

The battle went on for a couple more minutes with her friends being flung around across the sidewalk and Mei getting even more rough when he tried to crush her parents with various cars, street lamps and trees until Priya had managed to blind him with a can of paint and knocked him out.

"Now that's what I call a paint job." Priya quipped.

The Super Besties high fived each other and Mei went back to packing but not before her friends opted to help much to her delight.

Afterwards, Mei waved goodbye upon leaving the temple and Miriam offered to feed the temple cats while they were gone, which Ming especially appreciated.

And soon, it was off to the airport.

December 19th, 2002

Things surprisingly went off without a hitch after. Mei and her family arrived in Florida without incident.

Unknown to them, Wu had just returned from a Christmas party at Illuminati headquarters. Where the various members and staff were celebrating the Christmas/Holiday season. A lot of staff of different religions celebrated their own way like Hanukkah and Kwanzaa or simply abstained.

The one constant thing being Bond either hits on the adult staff or brood by his office. Same could be said for others but otherwise, Illuminati Christmas parties tended to be lively and fun, even Captain Carter had fun with the festivities given it was her first time to participate in one of their Christmas parties.

Wu of course had to leave early due to the prior commitment with family but promised to come back in between with ease given the transportation technology to come back and forth from her home to Illuminati headquarters.

Nevertheless, she received alerts every time a family member of hers showed up. Either by themselves or in the case of Lily, showed up with her child, Vivian.

Finally an hour later, Mei and her family showed up. And as before when Mei became the red panda, the usual gushing from the Aunties squad would make remarks about her while pinching her cheeks.

Various festivities were celebrated throughout the day, while Vivian was chatting with Mei who could only be described as a cross between Mei and Lily. With Lily remarking her mother gave her a purse as an early Christmas gift.

And even in the meantime, Jin was cooking up a Christmas feast with help from Wu, who was remarkably impressed with his cooking.

The Lee family had their feast and enjoyed it immensely and exchanged their gifts. To the delight of Vivian, she was happy to receive both the Turbo Man and Turbo Woman dolls. Even Wu was touched by the gifts her own daughter and granddaughter had given her.

December 20th, 2002

Back in Canada, both families from either side of Tyler's parents had arrived. Even Tyler received much gushing from his relatives like Mei, though he was highly embarrassed by his grandparents pinching his cheeks. Something he always hated.

But nevertheless, the two celebrated their own traditions equally. With his father's side celebrating with gospel Christmas music and his mother's side celebrating with their Christmas themed dishes.

Though to Tyler's embarrassment, he was forced to dress up as Santa like his very younger relatives given from his mother's side, his grandparents liked to dress their younger kids as Santa in their home country of Vietnam.

With Priya, her grandparents came over for the Christmas season. While they and the rest of the Mangal household were not Christians, they simply loved the holiday itself. Though her grandparents did tell her about the celebration of the Chumpa Festival that heralded the season of harvest in the winter back in their home country as well as their most important holiday in the country of India, Diwali, the festival of light. Where it was a celebration of where the people of the country light outside their homes to symbolize the inner light that protects them from the darkness.

December 21st, 2002

Abby's relatives came over the other day. Abby was always excited to meet her grandmother due to her eccentric nature.

With their own traditions, Abby's parents went on a date, leaving her grandparents to babysit Abby for the time being as well as in Korea, Christmas was the equivalent of Valentine's Day. Which was fine with her as it meant spending more time with her grandmother.

And it also meant making Yakgwa, honey Korean cookies. Something Abby enjoyed doing since she was five years old.

Miriam in the meanwhile had gone to the temple a couple of times, even been entrusted with the spare key by Ming, something both her and Mei noted would be extremely out of character before the whole red panda ordeal and became kinder to Miriam.

The Lee family had placed the cats inside due to the cold and winter weather and the cats were often happy to see Miriam given she tended to play with them for a bit before departing.

But oftentimes, Miriam would find herself missing Mei. Especially when throwing snowballs by herself. But she could take comfort knowing Mei was coming back the next day.

December 22nd, 2002

And so she did. The Lee family returned to Toronto the next day and as ever, Mei counted on her friends appearing at the airport upon greeting her after taking the bus.

Mei likewise returned the hug back. Though they accidentally transformed into their red panda forms the more they hugged and jumped up and down, to which the floor shook a bit due to the added weight.

The besties stopped jumping and scratched the back of their heads in embarrassment.

"Uh…sorry!" The Super Besties apologized sheepishly.

On the car ride home, her friends were inside the car with her parents and to their delight, Mei gave them gifts. She had wanted to wait until she came back from visiting her relatives.

Mei had given Miriam a skateboard that was autographed by Peggy Oki, a member of the Z-Boys skateboarding team from the 70s. Miriam was amazed.

"Oh cool!" Miriam gasped before asking Mei, "Where did you get this?"

"It was a thank you gift from her after the Near Canadian Thanksgiving Apocalypse." Mei responded.

"Thanks, Mei!" Miriam hugged her friend in return.

For Priya, Mei has given her a copy of the recent entry in the Nightfall series. Something Priya held near dear to her.

For Abby, Mei gave her a stuffed red panda toy that she immediately hugged upon wrapping the present and then hugged Mei.

And finally for Tyler, Mei had gotten him a 4*Town basketball. One with Aaron Z's face as that specific line of merchandise had the gimmick of any face of the five members of the group on the ball.

Tyler gave Mei a smile.

"Thanks, Mei." Tyler said.

"Anytime!" Mei replied with a smile of her own. "You're part of the sisterhood after all."

"Just kind of glad I have actual friends." Tyler then said softly, feeling shy about his feelings.

In response, Mei hugged Tyler. As did the rest of the besties in return.

"Come on, guys!" Tyler said as he blushed whilst trying to put on a bit of a tough guy act but in actuality, he was feeling comfortable around his caring friends. Something he always wanted. And that was a gift he wanted more than presents.

December 23rd, 2002

The streets were closed due to more snow for the time being.

That did not stop Mei and her friends from having fun on a snow day. As with their red panda abilities, they managed to create a hill for a sled to slide off from.

As each of the besties stood by the sidelines on the left and right, Miriam gave Mei the signal to slide from the makeshift hill she created herself.

To which Mei herself transformed into her red panda form and slid on her belly with her arms stretched out in front. The besties cheered her on as she slid on the snow at top speed.

Mei sled so fast, she was almost a blur when she slid past them and crashed into her new snow fort. To which Mei gave the thumbs up-indicating she was alright.

"That was awesome!" Miriam shouted with excitement.

"You go, girl!" Priya said.

Mei stood up and shook the snow out of her fur like a dog shaking water off much to the amusement of her friends as the snow fell onto them.

"Sorry!" Mei sheepishly apologized.

Afterwards, each of her friends attempted the same thing with similar results. Though in the case of Abby, she opted to roll down like a ball instead.

Afterwards, they noticed something amiss from across the temple. Something that alarmed Mei as they noticed a figure dressed in all black, spray painting the wall.

Mei motioned her friends to be quiet as she transformed back into human form and snuck around the perpetrator.

The figure in black was finished spray painting. But as he was facing the wall, he found himself lifted up much to his frightening and found himself face to face with Mei, now in her red panda form and the rest of the Super Besties who followed along with her.

"Great, a villain right before Christmas Eve." Priya sarcastically said.

"Well who is it this time?!" Mei growled as she removed the black ski mask from the vandal.

As she did, she and the rest of the Super Besties now had looks of confusion.

The vandal turned out to be someone literally their age; a white and blonde thirteen year old with a dour look on his face as he crossed his arms.

The Super Besties looked at what he made on the wall. A less than flattering caricature of Mei in her human and red panda forms along with a series of racial slurs against Chinese people and as well as slurs against Jewish people, Indians, Koreans and black people-especially of Vietnamese descent. Much to all their disgust.

"What is wrong with you?!" All five of them screamed with the fur rising up and their red eyes glowing.

"What do you think?" The boy spat back with malice. "It was bad enough you people came to Toronto especially with your stupid girliness but you're freaks too! My dad is gonna run you out of town for sure!"

"We're here to stay whether you and your dad like it or not!" Mei snarled with righteous fury. "And I don't like racist and sexist jerks like you!"

Then, she took a closer look at the bigoted teen and looked at him with a bit of astonishment as she recognized who he was.

"Zachary?" Mei asked as she narrowed her eyes as if she recognized him.

The boy recoiled in fear upon being recognized.

"Zachary Marquez?!" Mei asked loudly, something the rest of the Super Besties picked up on immediately.

"The jerk from the other side of town?" Asked Miriam.

"What are you gonna do about it?!" Zachary exclaimed, smirking a bit. "You can't beat up an innocent civilian!"

But then he felt unnerved. Mei smiled as if she knew exactly what she was going to do.

"Oh I'm not going to do anything." Mei said. "But she will."

Zachary could feel his skin turning pale. He knew exactly who she meant given his own mother was good friends with her.

Mei was about to sic her mother on him.

"Oh mom..." Mei smirked as she called Ming loudly.

One loud phone call later by Ming, after a berating session from her, Zachary's mother took her son home after a loud scolding yelling session and even offered to pay for any damages.

As the two drove off, Mei stared at the wall with a hurtful expression with her parents looking concerned as did her friends. The walked over to comfort her with understanding expressions as they knew how hurtful bigotry is.

"Want to grab a brush?" Mei snapped out of her trance to see Miriam holding a paintbrush in front of her. Along with the rest of her friends with white paint buckets and brushes.

"We're not happy either." Miriam said with remorse. "We're sorry that jerk did that."

Mei in turn gave them a soft smile.

"It's not your fault." Mei said with reassurance in her tone.

She grabbed the brush and the five went to work painting over the offensive graffiti, even painting the entire wall. Something Ming thought was not necessary but appreciated they went so far.

"That did it!" Miriam brushed a bit of sweat from her forehead with her sleeve. All five of them along with Ming and Jin admired the work they had done.

"I say it turned out great!" Miriam said, smiling.

"I guess." Mei said, smiling but the earlier event still bothered her.

Miriam, sensing her friend's feelings, said, "Hey, don't let that jerkwad get to you."

"He's not worth the thought." Priya agreed.

"He's just dumb!" Abby chimed in.

"He's a narc." Tyler said.

"Thanks, guys." Mei smiled warmly, touched by her friends standing by her.

"Hey!" Mei then saw Tyler holding a snowball in his hands.

"Why not something that forgets all your troubles?" Tyler smirked.

Mei sensed what he was doing and gave off a smirk of her own. The rest of the Super Besties caught on as they gave off mischievous grins of their own.

"Is that a challenge?" Mei grinned as she held up her own snowball.

Mei yelled as she threw her snowball at Tyler, who promptly ducked. This time his hair was not singed, nor did she throw it out of anger.

"Missed!" Tyler laughed.

"Oh it's so on!" Mei laughed in a faux competitive fashion.

Things spiraled into a chaotic yet very playful snowball fight as the Super Besties threw snowballs at each other, either missing or hitting them.

Ming and Jin looked on with smiles on their faces, feeling the trouble was truly over.

Their trance however was interrupted by Mei throwing a snowball at Ming. Which at first, she looked shocked and aghast.

"Sorry, mom!" Mei apologized.

Ming smirked, now feeling a bit competitive.

"You dare throw a snowball at your own mother?!" Ming then threw a snowball at Mei, who gave a happy shriek.

Even Jin joined in, throwing snowballs at whoever crossed his path. Both parents were laughing and clearly having a good time.

Despite the earlier trouble, the day for everyone at least ended on a positive note.

December 24th, 2002

Mei woke up with excitement. The previous day's events are nothing more than a bad memory to brush off.

Today was one day. The one day before Christmas Day. And Mei could be anymore happier than she was already.

So excited, she unintentionally transformed into her red panda as soon as she jumped out of bed. Though she accidentally shook her home a bit upon landing on the floor.

In embarrassment, she covered her mouth and her eyes darted back and forth, wondering if her parents noticed.

The door opened to reveal her mother with an amused smile on her face as she crossed her arms.

"Excited, aren't we?" Ming asked.

Mei could only reply with a sheepish grin and a shrug.

"But you'll like this surprise." Ming then said as she led Mei to the front door.

To her delight, her friends were at the door with gifts in hand.

"Merry Christmas, Mei!" They cried out happily.

"Oh my gosh, what are you doing here?" Mei asked whilst still pleasantly surprised and happy. "I thought you'd be with your parents?"

"They let us spend Christmas Eve with you." Miriam replied.

"You're our girl, we wouldn't miss this." Priya smiled.

"And we didn't forget presents either!" Abby chimed in.

"I mean, why not?" Tyler gave a soft smile.

In turn, Mei hugged her friends who in turn returned the hug and transformed into their red panda forms due to the high emotions.

And found themselves stuck at the front door.

"Oops." They said simultaneously.

After transforming back to their human forms, their friends walked in and sat on the couch as they eagerly anticipated Mei opening her gifts.

From Miriam, it was another Tamagotchi given her mother had her red panda spirit inside the previous one, which Mei noticed her mother feeding her red panda spirit in the Tamagotchi device. Mei was delighted to see one again after months since Pandapocalypse 2002.

"I'm gonna call him Robaire the Third!" Mei squeed.

From Priya, was a small wooden statuette of a red panda made by her grandmother. Mei was in awe of the gift.

"Oh Priya, it's beautiful!" Mei exclaimed as she hugged her friend.

From Abby, she gave Mei a cat plush toy with the 4*Town brand name on its shirt. The red panda girl gushed over the toy and hugged Abby whilst thanking her.

Finally from Tyler, he gave Mei to her surprise another 4*Town basketball. This time with Robaire's face on it.

"I mean, it was kind of funny we had the same gift in mind for each other." Tyler said. "Even after I gave Mir, Priya and Abby basketballs with the others' faces."

Mei smiled at Tyler, touched by the gesture and hugged him.

"Far cry from calling me an overachieving dork narc!" Mei humorously remarked.

The besties had a good laugh afterwards with Mei thanking all her friends for the gifts.

And in addition, they were invited to stay for dinner afterwards. Something the besties refused to turn down given their fondness over Jin's cooking.

In the meantime, the Super Besties passed the time listening to the 4*Town Christmas album and even watching Dashing Through The Snow which they still get a big laugh out of. Especially when seeing Stallone fighting con artists in Snowman suits.

Ming could not help however but smile seeing how happy she was with her friends. Nothing much had changed but for the better now that she and Mei had come to an understanding since the red panda ordeal.

They both accepted that Mei is growing up but did not mean their bond stopped. Just going through growing pains they called it.

Jin likewise thought the same as he cooked.

Finally, it was dinner time. As always, the Super Besties savored every bite because of how good Jin's cooking was. Abby described it as heaven.

As the day drew to a close, there was one more activity. Another snowball fight. And once again, the Super Besties had fun throwing snowballs at each other. Though this time, Ming and Jin opted out in favor of preferring to watch them have fun.

But finally, when it was time for each of the Super Besties to go home, Mei initiated "the gauntlet." Something Miriam pulled on her before to which she readily accepted. Which was basically them dancing and singing 4*Town's song Nobody Like U. Even each of them finishing with a dance pose.

The besties had a good laugh afterwards and they went off to their respective parents who were picking them up.

They said their goodbyes and Mei rushed back to the temple, even giving her parents a hug.

"Thanks mom, thanks dad." Mei said.

Ming and Jin smiled as they said, "You're welcome, Mei" as they returned the hug.

December 25th, 2002

The day had finally come.

Mei jumped out of bed, grabbed her glasses and bed robe, given the cold temperatures and raced to the living room where her parents were already there. All the presents nestled safely under the Christmas tree.

Mei raced over to the tree at the amount of presents but of course, plenty for her parents as well. Either from Mei or relatives.

Mei decided to give her parents the present she had gotten at the Square One mall first.

Ming and Jin opened the gift and to their surprise, they were crystallized turtle doves.

"I thought they would be a good symbol of love." Mei explained.

Ming and Jin looked at their gift with huge fondness, touched by the gift and its meaning. There were other gifts they were given to them of course like a 4*Town jacket for her dad, after Mei found out he had been listening to one of her albums, but the turtle doves they still treasured.

For Mei, she received plenty of 4*Town memorabilia. But a gift she treasured a lot was a framed copy of the autographed photo from Pandapocalypse 2002, the Skydome incident where she, her parents, her friends, her grandmother and her aunts with the members of 4*Town.

Even the second gift, where it's a framed photo of this time, where she and her friends as red pandas that took not long after the whole ordeal with The Rani and talking with their parents about wanting to keep their red panda forms.

It was a personal photo op at Mei's insistence that even her family, both Doctors, Yaz and Captain Carter were in together. Mei was touched that her mother framed both photos for her to have.

"Thanks, mom!" Mei hugged her mother with tears of joy. To which Ming returned the hug.

After many opening presents, it was now time for dinner.

The turkey had been defrosting in the fridge since the Lee family departed to Florida and it was now ready to be cooked by the time they got back. Mei and Ming helped him out with various dishes such as making bao and fried rice.

Jin had placed the finishing touches on the Honey Glazed Cantonese turkey such as the seasoning and placed the dish into the oven.

Passing the time, the entire Lee family did watch the Chinese soap opera Jade Palace Diaries, which had a few episodes left to go in which they were invested in the leading heroine Ling-Yi would find true love and if the villainous Siu-Jyu will finally be defeated.

Finally, dinner was ready. Mei eagerly awaited what dishes awaited for Christmas dinner. And she was not disappointed.

The Honey Glazed Cantonese turkey was as beautiful as she envisioned; cooked to absolute perfection. And various other dishes like the fried rice, the bao, dumplings, eel rice, seafood soup, steamed chicken, snow peas, steamed fish, braised beef stew over rice, pork tripe with chicken soup, everything under the sun and Mei could not help but be mesmerized by the sight of it all. And she could not wait to eat it all.

And so she did. At least much she could until she felt so full. Ming fared not much better as she also adored her husband's cooking. Jin felt pleased and happy to see his cooking enjoyed as ever.

After the Christmas feast, Mei insisted her parents sing karaoke with her. Ming was a bit shy and hesitant but with much encouragement from her daughter, she obliged.

Ming was not doing so great with the 4*Town songs. So Mei opted for simple Christmas songs, feeling her mother would have an easier time catching up with and it worked as her mother nailed singing Christmas tunes.

But it was her father Jin who nailed the 4*Town songs much to the amusement of Ming and excitement of her Mei herself. Nailing every song like Nobody Like U and U Know What's Up.

The fun went on all the way into the late hours of the night with even a lot of games, video games or board games.

But finally, it was bedtime for Mei as much as she had wanted to keep going, never wanting Christmas Day to end. But of course, Ming reminded her that Christmas comes but once a year.

"But what matters is the best to make of it all." Ming said.

Mei looked at her mother with a small smile. After one last hug, it was off to bed.

As Ming turned off the lights, she found Jin sitting next to the Christmas tree, still illuminating the living room with Christmas lights and sipping on a mug of hot cocoa-facing the window as snow poured on outside with the temple cats sleeping next to the tree with their kittens.

"What are you up to?" Ming asked her husband.

"Just admiring the view." He answered with a warm smile.

"It is a very nice view." Ming agreed as she stared at the snow outside.

"It has been quite the year." Jin said after a pause.

Ming nodded in agreement.

"It certainly has." Ming said. "And I wouldn't have it any other way."

Jin nodded as well. Both reminisced over the past year despite its ups and downs. Whether it'd be growing pains or ways to make family bonds stronger, including new friends. Especially as the couple looked at each of the two turtle doves they held in their hands and then gave romantic fond looks at each other.

In Mei's room however, despite being sent off to bed, Mei also stared at the pouring snow from the window in her bedroom. She too was reminiscing about the past year after everything that happened. From her becoming a red panda to becoming a full blown superhero.

She looked at the two framed photos she placed on the bedroom wall next to her bed. She smiled as she was thankful for a lot of things in the past year of 2002. Thankful she received the gift of becoming a red panda and her friends joining the fun.

She then thought back to all the villain fights from the past month and the stress of balancing them with the holidays. Mei realized right there, she had the best Christmas she could ask for. Especially after taking a fond glance at the framed photos.

"It was all worth it." Mei whispered to herself.

Mei went back to staring at the snowy outdoors. Still with the Holiday spirit within her and satisfied with now she considered the perfect Christmas. And she could not ask for anything better than what she celebrated.

She took one more look at her framed photos.

"Happy Holidays, guys." She said as if she were speaking to her friends.

With a satisfied smile, Mei went back to staring at the snow.

Author's Notes:

And that is everything! And now, behind the scenes stuff.

- Admittedly, when thinking of a Christmas special, I don't think I knew if I wanted one story or something like this. But I picked the latter and felt the Super Besties would be fun to do.

- Again, this is a flash forward just so we're clear. So some stuff in between this and Rampage of the Rani will either get their own stories either by myself or others or left to be noodle incidents.

- Dashing Through The Snow is a reference to Jingle All The Way. Basically including Sylvester Stallone, it's meant to evoke the 80s action star in a 90s family comedy deal.

- The Near Canadian Thanksgiving Apocalypse of 2002 is a shout out to the noodle incident in the DCAU The Near Apocalypse of 09 which I recall they didn't delve too much into other than Batman was involved and crippled Ra's Al Ghul so bad that the Lazarus Pits didn't heal him that he resorted to occupying his own daughter's body in the Batman Beyond episode Out of the Past.

- The M. Bison variant here is based him on the incarnation played by Raul Julia if only because I actually enjoyed the Street Fighter movie and he was the best thing about it. In fact, Bisonopolus is a shout out to the events of that movie including much of his first plan, it's taken from the film.

- How the Super Besties escape the hover fortress, it's a shout out to The Living Daylights, one of my favorite James Bond movies, in which a similar thing happens.

- I do have every intent of doing Super Besties vs Daleks.

- Wanted to get in Hanukkah rep for Miriam. And yes, I did research the dates for Hanukkah in 2002 to be accurate.

- I did much research on Chinese Canadian Christmas with blogs and articles. Food seemed to be the common thing with them and upon doing more Google searching, I found a recipe for Honey Glazed Cantonese turkey that I thought would be something Jin would cook.

As a matter of fact in addition, upon researching the food presented in Turning Red, the production designer of the film, Rona Liu explained in an interview on Eater that among the first Chinese immigrants in Toronto were not just Cantonese, but also Taishanese.

And as such, some of the dishes presented in the film and as well as here with seafood soup for example, they're Taishanese dishes.

- The moment with Ming was an idea by Ben2Dartmouth when I looked for ideas for vignettes. I say it made for a nice callback to the film.

- I decided to make Sontarans running gag villains for the Super Besties. Especially for this as I thought it'd be funny if they were comedically recurring bad guys for them.

- And of course Commander Stratford eating chocolate is a homage to in the Doctor Who episode The Vanquishers where one of the Sontarans chows down on chocolate.

- And it just hit me I uploaded this the month of the 50th anniversary of the 3rd Doctor story The Time Warrior, which had the first appearence of the Sontarans. Was not intentional, trust me.

- Mei building a snow fort was another idea of Ben2Dartmouth. I did want this to be a balance of slice of life and Super villain battles. A have my cake and eat it too kind of deal. And this was a fun idea I felt worked.

- The Super Besties watching the Christmas episode of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command was another idea of Ben2Dartmouth along with the dialogue he suggested.

And I definitely liked the idea of referencing the film Lightyear and considering the logo was on Miriam's skateboard, I thought she could be a fan and have them remark how different the cartoon and the movie are considering according to the director of Lightyear, that's supposed to be the in universe film the toy is based on.

- Ben Stillest, something I rolled with as Ben2Dartmouth placed that there that I thought "why not?"

- War Monger Megatron fighting the Super Besties is something I've thought of from the start. I'm considering a story. But the Near Canadian Thanksgiving Apocalypse of 2002, I'll leave that to someone else like L1701E or Sentinel of Stories if they'd be interested in expanding that specific incident. Especially as I have a full list of Decepticons for that.

Chronologically though to give away a bit for potential future stories, it's the Super Besties who finally defeat War Monger Megatron in a future final battle.

And also, I have further plans for War Monger Megatron in regards to what he's been doing prior. And of course, anyone has permission if they so desire to write him as well.

- I'd describe War Monger Megatron's obsession with killing the Super Besties along the lines of Captain Hook wanting to kill Peter Pan with dashes of Captain Ahab.

- Frenzy and Reflector I wanted to gender bend as I didn't want a total sausage fest. At least I wanted female Decepticons to balance out the male Decepticons.

- The "Destroy, destroy, destroy!" Line is verbatim from the 90s X-Men cartoon episode Jubilee's fairy tale theater as I thought that was a funny line uttered by Jubilee that I wanted to use it and it was a late addition admittedly but I liked it so much, I wanted to use it.

- The exchange about the speech not working like in the cartoons and Abby's line, deliberate shout out to Return of the Living Dead including this legendary line "You mean the movie lied?"

- Fastball special is a shout out to a maneuver used by various Marvel heroes in the comics.

- Derichets are from Shattered Warrior and much of them were last seen in His Hazelnut Heart by Ben2Dartmouth. This is simply another group as opposed to the ones seen in the aforementioned fanfic.

- The names Dralison and Grendure are a pun, or at least a play on the expression Delusions of grandeur.

- Other names I trusted upon like Trucer are purposeful misspelling of words. I don't remember some of the other ones but yeah.

- Between the vignette with Benny Blacktooth and the Terrible Trio, these were fairly late additions as I was writing as I wanted to include them. So in the case of Benny Blacktooth, I remembered an episode of the Fast Forward season of the 2k3 Ninja Turtles cartoon and there was an episode that involved a gang called the Street Phantoms framing the Turtles stealing a video game.

So that was the inspiration for the vignette.

- The Turbo Man reference was actually much later but yeah. Moved it up to December 8th.

But yes, Turbo Man is from Jingle All The Way. Turbo Woman is something I made up though. Just seemed like the likely thing that could have happened like Hulk and She-Hulk for example. I did think about Turbo Girl and Turbo Teen or Turbo Boy but had to stop right right at Turbo Woman and probably mention them another time but yes, Earth-030122 has Turbo Man. You could say the events of Jingle All The Way happened there too.

- The inclusion of Dorothea Williams was another idea by Ben2Dartmouth. Which, I'm down for more Pixar references anyway.

- The moment of Mei staring longingly at a family celebrating Christmas is taken from a similar moment from Home Alone.

- Mei singing and performing her flute was something very last minute. I was listening to The First Noel performed by Molly Ringwald, yes that Molly Ringwald, from a Disney Christmas album from the the 80s and I had the thought of Mei singing it.

So coupled that with Home Alone 2 given the scene with Kevin and the children's choir singing and my own experience singing Christmas songs with a choir in my elementary school days now that I think about it, I implemented it in the Christmas pageant segment with the Sontarans. And well, I wanted one more Home Alone reference and homage anyway.

- Speaking of, deliberate Home Alone homage for December 11th. Cobra members I just simply wanted and I had this image in my head of "LOL what if members of Cobra went through Home Alone traps?"

Like for example, I had the thought of Serpentor either getting blowtorch to the head or the toilet filled with gasoline from the second film.

- "Eat pepper spray, dork!" Is a sticker I recall my sister having years ago. I think she had since middle school and the phrase just stuck in my brain since.

- Inspiration for December 12th was the So Weird Christmas episode. I wasn't aiming to do exactly like it but I guess I wanted to do Christmas shopping gets diverted by something weird.

- Now, I know I said there didn't seem for me to be an opening for the 14th Doctor regarding Legacy of the Doctor but I think considering he could had been traveling for a while, he could have landed somewhere prior to the events of The Star Beast based on how it opened, along with that Children in Need sketch with Davros.

So, consider this like a bonus or addendum of sorts to Legacy of the Doctor.

- Turtle doves as a Christmas gift is a shout out to Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. They weren't crystallized in that movie but still.

- December 13th was an idea from Ben2Dartmouth. Rolled with it since it seemed like a very amusing idea.

- As is Abby's rendition of Jingle Bells, but the snake in the boot lyric is mine.

- "It seems you're out of ideas!" Mulan shout out. You can even envision Mei grabbing a chocolate bar the same way Mulan held Shan Yu's sword like in the film.

- "Game set and match. Time for a word with your sponsor." Shout to a similar line by Jean Grey in the X-Men Evolution episode Power Surge.

- Graviton I wanted to use really. Wanted to use another Marvel villain and I did establish him previously anyway.

- Temple cats are a callback to their appearance in Turning Red.

- I toyed with showing what the Christmas/Holiday party is like at Illuminati but probably would take too long and it isn't their story.

- Vivian is the daughter of Lily she mentioned in the film when she mentioned she was due to give birth to Vivian on the fourth but held her until the fifth since to her and presumably the entire Lee family, the number four is unlucky.

- Since Tyler is part Vietnamese, I looked up Christmas in Vietnam which isn't all that different from how it is in the US. But I did use some traditions there as parents like yo their kids as Santa Claus. So it was easy to make the joke of "LOL Tyler is dressed as Santa by relatives."

- Originally, it was just going to be the Chumpa Festival that was only going to be mentioned for Priya's family but Ben2Dartmouth brought up Diwali which is a bigger deal of a holiday in India. So I felt that should get mentioned.

- Researching Christmas in Korea was easy. Yes, it is a romantic holiday there. As was researching Yakgwa. But yeah, I thought maybe that's how Abby's parents ended up bonding really.

- Peggy Oki is a member of the Z Boys, a skateboarding team. Given Miriam is a skateboarder, it just seemed apt. I needed something for Mei to give to Miriam. I knew it had to be a skateboard but what kind, I drew a blank.

And so I looked up skateboarders, even remembered the film Lords of Dogtown which was about the Z-Boys I believe. So, I came across Peggy Oki and I thought that clicked.

- Nightfall is of course the parody of Twilight seen in Priya's first scene in Turning Red.

- Yeah, I had the "You're so fluffy" line in mind for Abby's gift.

- Basketball thing just seemed like likely merchandise to me.

- The idea of Mei and her friends confronting a bigot was another idea of Ben2Dartmouth. I took up the challenge and admittedly I wasn't sure how to pull it off and what I was going to do but I kept recalling a moment from an episode of Totally Spies where Clover went up who's essentially an incel named Eugene that I thought "Oh, wait. This is the time Mei could call her mom."

So I thought of as a punchline and comeuppance for the bigot he suffers Ming's wrath and his mom gets told.

- The bigot Zachary Marquez I named after was someone I knew and then turned out to be much of a bigoted jerk. The type who basically hates anything "woke" (and boy, does he have a huge hate boner for The Owl House in particular) and yes, he has gone after Turning Red with the excuse for example that the goofy dance poses Mei and her friends do he claims "kids don't act like that!" Which I'd have to wonder about his childhood.

- I didn't want this to be swept under the rug instantly. Like the actions still hurt but as long as you have friends, people who support you and such, bigots won't have power over you. So I ended with the most heartwarming thing I could think of being a snowball fight and Tyler initiating it I thought would speak volumes.

- If you recall, Mei had a Tamagotchi device she named Robaire Jr. after one of the 4*Town members and by the end, Ming's red panda spirit ended up inside it as Mei put it "What? Mr. Gao had to put it somewhere."

Hence, she names this one Robaire the Third.

- "Overachieving dork narc" was Tyler's first line in Turning Red.

- Honestly, I didn't realize I made so many callbacks to Turning Red until Ben2Dartmouth brought it up when I gave him a peak of the entire thing.

But, well, goes to show how much I love the film.

- "The gauntlet" is another callback to Turning Red.

- Photographed picture of 4*Town with her, her family and her friends is another callback. It's the photo seen at the end of the film before the credits rolled.

- Jade Palace Diaries is the fictional Chinese soap opera Ming and Mei were watching in Turning Red. That particular fact escaped me actually as I originally made up a title called The Dynasty of Love since it seemed like there didn't seem anything about it whether a real life counterpart or anything.

Although fun fact, the Turning Red production team did write two script pages for Jade Palace Diaries and ultimately what was shown was one scene. The premise I did make up though based on characters mentioned given names like Ling-Yi and Siu-Jyu and given what Ming and Mei said.

- The ending itself. I was trying to think of how to end it and the ending of A Christmas Story came to mind with the scene of the parents looking at the snow and the last scene with Ralphie in bed, all that became a basis for how I wanted to end it.

And I did briefly I could have it end after Christmas with her friends fighting Sontarans as like a punchline to the running gag of them encountering Sontarans throughout December but bringing it up to Ben2Dartmouth, I agreed with him its best to end it with a quiet moment.

And I think it works better anyway.

That's everything. Hope you enjoyed reading this and Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, Happy Hanukkah and Happy Kwanzaa to everyone!