Chapter SP1: A Merry Zarcmas to All!

Hey all, just jumping in here to remind you all that this is the first bonus chapter of this fic, and as such, is non-canon to the rest of the story, and the fourth wall may be rather loose. Also, for this chapter, the characters are all around 20-21 years of age, except Ren and Izumi who are in the 29-30 range. Furthermore, the characters will have some different characterisations. Hope you all enjoy!

It was a cold winter's night, and all was dark. Up in the clouds, snowstorms brewed, threatening to come down and make the festive season harder on all, while down on the ground sat buildings that were covered in bright, sometimes cheap, fairy lights, and wreaths decorated doors. Not three months had gone by since the last holiday, one of spirits and connections, but no one was tired, not a soul burnt out. Countless families were gathering for the following day, where cheer was at its height, and gifts were exchanged, countless children would rush to ornately decorated trees to see if the Supreme Spirit Z-ARC Holiday Spirit was kind this year, or if he they were feeling spiteful, but we only care for two families in particular, both coming together to celebrate Zarcmas the Spirit of the Winter's Holiday.

At a seemingly innocuous home in the middle of town, three young men were rushing to make sure that their home was perfectly presentable, as they were soon to have guests over. The three were not brothers, but cousins who had grown up together, all around the same age. Their names are Yuya, Yuto and Yugo, all so starkly different in their personalities, yet they got on nonetheless. Cheerful Yuya was the one making sure that there was not a speck of dust, both on the various pieces of furniture and the outfits that they were wearing, which had sat in disuse from the previous year. Stoic Yuto was in charge of cooking, his infamous Holiday Spread being prepared, many a beast having been used to make several dishes. He was just finishing the salad, sprinkling some finely chopped cherry tomatoes onto the various leafy greens and vegetables already in the bowl. Meanwhile, happy-go-lucky Yugo was making sure the table was set and the glasses were ready. There was actually a fourth in the house, being fierce Yuri. Much more antagonistic than the rest of his cousins, Yuri had refused to help out, and in fact, was only there because Yuya was insistent in his attendance. These four were but half of tonight's cast, the other being their guests.

Not long later, a car pulled into the driveway, and four young women headed to the door, the one with pink hair, stubborn Zuzu, infamous among the people who knew her for never letting anything go once she sets her mind on it, knocked on the door, and it was promptly answered by Yuya, a smile on his face. "Welcome!" He greeted, "Come on in. Yuto's just finishing up in the kitchen, but Yugo and Yuri are in the living room." He stepped aside to let the four girls in, closing the door when they had all entered. Zuzu, however, stayed in the entryway, waiting for Yuya. You see, they'd been going out for a few weeks and were the entire reason as to why this gathering was taking place. "So, you managed to get Yuri to come?" she asked,

"And you got Celina to come as well?" Yuya answered, referring to Zuzu's rather cold cousin, Celina, who was much like Yuri in her anti-social ways,

"Touché, Mr. Sakaki." Zuzu smiled, and the two entered the living room, where Yugo had driven up a topic of conversation that had Yuto and the other two of Zuzu's cousins, the kind Lulu and the brash Rin involved,

"-what if we had to account for an additional 15% traffic?' I asked my boss, and take a guess as to how he responded." Yugo was telling a story about how he'd been working on a new bridge, he was a civil engineer, the young man rather focused when he needed to be, and a disagreement with his boss he'd had, the last part practically swamped in sarcasm,

"That reminds me of the time the Conservation had to expand, but we weren't sure how to do so while keeping the natural habitat of the local animals intact." Lulu reminisced, her voice full of calm as she remembered a rather stressful day in her career working in an animal conservation,

"Ah, I remember you telling me about that a while ago." Yuto fondly said, holding Lulu's hand. They'd been going out for a few years at this point, and it had been as much of a surprise to everyone when Yuya and Zuzu started going out as well,

"So, what are you guys talking about?" Yuya questioned as he sat down,

"Oh, nothing much. Oh, did Ren get back to you?" Yugo said, referring to their fifth cousin, who was, funnily enough, good friends with Zuzu and the girl's fifth cousin, Izumi,

"He did, and he'll be here, but he doesn't know when." Yuya replied,

"We may just have to celebrate without him. He was doing something with Izumi, correct?" Yuto asked,

"I think so. She did mention meeting with a friend." Rin answered, and they continued their conversation.

Meanwhile, sitting on a couch was both Yuri and Celina. Dragged there by cousins who were strangely persistent, they hadn't spoken a word to each other, beyond a cursory 'Yo'. The anti-social pair had some more things in common, beyond their disposition towards communication, in that they both loved plants, although Celina more so the plants that thrived in the moonlight, and Yuri any carnivorous plant. They also both were looking for a roommate, so as to alleviate some of the struggles of rent, and they bought many of the same non-generic brands at the supermarket, but neither of them knew this about one another, they were too anti-social to ask. They just sat there, awkwardly looking at their remaining cousins, feeling like they really should be doing something more, but neither of them knew what they should do.

Fortunately for them, not ten minutes later, the doorbell rang, and Yuya went to answer it. Opening the door, there stood the last of the cousins, Ren and Izumi. Ren was loaded up with a whole bunch of packages, all of varying size, and it looked like Izumi had used him as a pack mule to bring them in.

"Hey! Come on in!" Yuya greeted, "Should I take some?" He asked Ren,

"That would be greatly appreciated, o' cousin of mine." Ren jokingly said, leaning the stack down so Yuya could remove the top five and take them in,

"We were just waiting on you two. If you'd like to greet everyone, we could then get started on dinner." Yuya said, placing the packages down in the spot already occupied by numerous gifts, and the older cousins did so, making some small talk, but before long, they were all sat at the large, round, table, in that shape because, despite it being Yuya's house, he believed that everyone should be on equal footing with each other. He did have a table with ends, however, but that was mostly for business, not Zarcmas Holiday Dinner.

"So, where were you two today?" Zuzu opened discussion as everyone started filling their plates with Yuto's immaculate cooking,

"Oh, you know, just here and there." Izumi replied,

"Yeah, we were just being, what's the term again? Oh, right! Hip and cool!" Ren continued, the others all cringing slightly. Sure, Ren and Izumi were technically their generation, but it felt like speaking to people who knew nothing about modern, relatively young, adults,

"You do know that that was how people spoke when our parents were young, right?" Yuri drawled, speaking for the first time that night,

"Heh, well, guess we are a bit out of touch." Ren admitted, and dinner continued onwards, but as they ate, the snow outside ramped up to a blizzard, which hadn't been forecast before.

"The snow's really picked up." Yugo observed,

"Yeah. It's a bit strange, wouldn't you say?" Rin mused,

"It's like someone, if they do exist, who has control over stuff like that must really not want us leaving, despite the fact that we'll likely be here for a few more hours." Lulu noted.

Meanwhile, sitting behind a computer, a man in a decidedly not wintery environment, tapping away at a keyboard, sneezed.

"Eh, well, we'll just worry about it later." Yuto said, getting up to move a few now empty plates to the kitchen for cleaning. Suddenly, a crack of thunder occurred, and the light outside went from the dark grey and white of the blizzard to lime green tinged with a deep pink.

"Behold, for the time is nigh! Witness the descent of my glorious form!" A deep booming voice reverberated through the house,

"The hell was that!?" Izumi exclaimed,

"Well, this is new." Celina quietly remarked. Then, the clouds parted, revealing a large, dark, draconic shape… covered in holiday fairy lights, cheerfully glittering off the black scales of the creature.

"This Zarcmas shall be a special one! For I, the Supreme Spirit Z-ARC, have decided to bless you all with my presence!" The being, now identified as the Supreme Spirt, announced.

"So that's the holiday we're celebrating? Why can't I seem to recall its name ever being mentioned?" Rin asked,

"It did seem like something was stifling the ability to identify the holiday. I mean, look back at any references to holidays. Isn't there something strange about the text in front of it? Almost like someone wanted some dramatic reveal." Celina and Yuri simultaneously stated.

Again, the man behind the computer sneezed.

"What text?" Everyone else replied. Embarrassed, the two blushed,

"Oh, nothing." They quietly responded.

"I have already determined which of you shall be getting gifts, and which shall be spited!" Z-ARC boomed, reminding them of his presence, "Of course, you mortals shall discover the former in the morning, when the Yuletide Sun breaks over the horizon. The latter will discover this much sooner!"

"Oh, joy." A collective sigh echoed across the world, everyone hearing, and seeing, the immense dragon,

"So, uh, should we do something?" Yuya asked, hesitantly,

"Maybe?" Zuzu responded, unsure,

"And to those wondering if they should do something, do not. That will automatically place you on the spite list, and you don't want that." Z-ARC boomed,

"So he can hear us? Or was he just being precautionary?" Ren asked,

"Not sure." Was yet another collective response. Then, the light faded, but the dragon was still there. If you looked closely enough, it seemed like there were some sort of strings holding up the dragon.

"I shall now leave you, morals! I mean, mortals!" Z-ARC announced, and the draconic shape started to head up, stuttery, as if by winches.

"That was strange." Yuto said,

"Very much so. This truly has been a Zarcmas of all time." Lulu replied, standing next to her boyfriend, a laugh rising from the group. Suddenly, in an even crazier turn of events, when the blizzard, which had stopped, resumed, it seemed like instead of snow, pieces of candy were falling from the sky. News reports for the next few weeks were always frontlined by the strange occurrences of Zarcmas 20XX, and when the new year came around, it was highlighted by a proposal from Yuto to Lulu, who happily accepted.

Getting together for Zarcmas became tradition between the families, and thankfully, over the rest of their lives, they never experienced another Zarcmas quite like this.

Meanwhile, in a Non-Descript Laboratory

It had been nearly 15 years since the eventful Zarcmas, and Leo Akaba was bent over a research machine, analysing a piece of candy from that night, which had somehow not spoiled, trying to understand the strange phenomenon that had occurred. He had recently (as in 5 years prior) hired an assistant, who only went by 'Z', but that was none of his concern. His assistant had always asked for the weeks leading up to Zarcmas off, which Leo had granted, but said assistant was currently sitting in the lab, thinking about the next way he'd change up his routine to confuse the scientist even more.

As he left the lab that day, he was laughing to himself, and pridefully announced

"Merry Zarcmas to all, and to all a good night!"

Hello all, and thank you for reading this very crack, very nonsensical first bonus chapter! I hope you all enjoyed this, and I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, or whatever other Wintertime/Summertime (fellow southern hemispherians unite!) holiday you and your families may observe. I hope the holidays are kind to you all, and that you all get to spend quality time with those that matter to you. Now, I would like to thank all my reviewers in between last chapter and now, and shall answer their questions!

Aqua – Well, Ren and Izumi should be fine, yes. Also, don't worry, I know how that feels, exams truly take all your attention and then some. And the more the merrier indeed!

naminexriku2468 – Well, I unfortunately can't answer your question, as I have never watched (or even heard of, prior to your review) Sonic Prime. I hope you understand, but I wouldn't be able to give an accurate reply, given my knowledge, or rather lack thereof, of Sonic Prime. Although, I am glad that you enjoy my characterisation of Yuri!

Yuma Tsukumo – I'm afraid, like naminexriku, I am unable to give a full answer, due to my lack of knowledge of JP voice actors. I can give EN VAs (both likely and what I imagine) and the realistic JP ones, which are as follows: Ren – Kensho Ono (JP – Kinda like his Yuya voice, but with a harsher disposition), Michael Lisco Jr. (EN (likely) – Think S3 Yuto, but more aggressive) and I imagine someone like Xander Mobus (Known for Joker in P5 and the announcer in Super Smash Bros.) would do a good voice for him. Izumi – Mai Fuchigami (JP – tbh, I don't know enough of her vocal work to give a basis), Emily Jenness (EN (likely) – I imagine the voice would be a hybrid of Zuzu's tone and Lulu's language, if that makes sense) and I would like to imagine Jeannie Tirado (Tao Isonokami in SMT5 and Female Byleth in Fire Emblem) would do well as Izumi's voice. (Apologies if this one is rather messy or hard to read)

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed, and I hope you have a great holiday period. I'll see you all next week for the continuation of the main story! - NightWingBOI