The next day, Luke yawned, getting up.
"I'm going to be a star!" Luke says as he gets ready.
Shane was singing in the shower. Shelby and Shiloh smile as they listen to him sing.
"Good morning, grand marshal!" Lance says.
Shane smiled as Sharon gave him his Grand Marshal sash.
Luke gets his sash as Shane looks at him.
"Are you ready?" Luke asked.
Shane smiled and nodded.
They head out to the parade to get ready for later.
Savannah shows Jerbo and Viney her Christmas program as she was donating and helping homeless people.
"Nice!" Viney says.
"Thanks. I love helping people." Savannah says.
"Are we gonna go to the parade?" Jerbo asked.
"You guys should go. I have to help Mom." Savannah says.
The two of them head out.
Oliver Queen shows up to the parade site, trying to get a good seat. He had invited his friends and was excited to see the Royal Woods Holiday Parade.
"Sorry Atticus couldn't make it. He had a last minute thing." Garth said.
"Hey, at least you all are here." Oliver Queen says.
Hal was taking in the atmosphere. He hadn't been to a parade since Metropolis High won the basketball championship last year.
"So, what are everyone's Christmas plans?" Barry asked, eating some caramel popcorn.
"Spending the holiday with my student exchange family. For once, I'm gonna have a good Christmas." Oliver Queen says. "Presents, ice skating, hot chocolate, quality time, the whole nine yards."
"I think we may as well join you." Garth says.
"Will there be cookies?" Hal asked. "And Christmas cake?"
Oliver Queen nodded as Hal and Barry drooled.
"For once, I don't have to work on Christmas!" Barry says, grinning.
Carter just smiled at his friends.
Meanwhile
"Two days till Christmas! What should we do? Visit our cousins?" Emma asked.
Skara was planning to spend Christmas with Boscha and her dad. Willow had plans with Hunter, Gus, Oliver Fox, and her dads.
"It's our first Christmas with new siblings. We can have Boscha, Hunter, Oliver Fox, and the others come here." Emma says.
"Emma, what did we talk about?" Skylia asked. "The Parks only put an addition in their house for us and their house isn't big enough to fit everyone."
Emma frowned.
"If everyone is making their own plans for the holiday, we can't very well force them to drop them." Skylia says.
Meanwhile, Lucy was watching the Louds decorate for Christmas.
She puts photos of Luke in a few places.
"Of course we can host them…no, no, it's no trouble at all." Charity says as she was talking to several sets of parents on a conference call.
"Can Benny come over?" Luan asked.
"Luan, isn't that adding more pressure on mother?" Lisa asked.
"I thought you were going to his house to spend Hanukkah with him, anyway." Charity says.
"He said he'd rather be here. He really wants the cookies and cake." Luan says.
"Hmmmm…I don't see why not." Charity says. "Yes, he can come. Now run along and get ready. We have to head to the parade in two hours."
Two hours later, Luke was excited about this.
"I hope I get a party in my honor" Luke says.
"You make parties out of anything." Shane sighed, rolling his eyes.
"Listen, parties are the best way to see if people love you." Luke says. "Good parties mean people love you. Bad parties mean they hate you."
Shane groans in annoyance and goes off to get in the Grand Marshal car.
"So, all of these parties were tests. Everything we do outside of parties never mattered." Luan says.
Charity overhears this and sees that Shane feels a bit annoyed. "What's going on?" She asked.
"He's making Christmas about himself! AGAIN!" Shane sobbed.
"That's how Luke is. He really doesn't like Christmas. He claims to have had failed Christmases and because of your siblings." Lisa says.
"LUKE FLYNN HUNTINGTON!" Charity screamed.
"I'm not spending Christmas with any of you! Except for the teammates that actually get to come!" Shane hissed.
"Okay, why are we getting dragged into this? Come on, Shane, we're cousins. We should be celebrating together." Lola says.
"Yeah, we're family." Lincoln says.
"Lincoln, Shane isn't in his right mind. People do things out of character when they're broken." Lucy says.
The siblings tried to comfort him as the parade was going to start in an hour.
"I'm sorry, Shane." Luke says, ashamed. "I shouldn't have to expect a party from this."
"It's okay. It's just ever since hearing that Oliver Queen's anniversary is on my birthweek, I've been really mad about it." Shane says.
"I can always celebrate my anniversary on the Saturday after your birthweek, Shane. It isn't a problem. All you had to do was say something." Oliver Queen says. "Using your words is a big key when it comes to communicating needs and wants."
Soon, the parade was starting as everyone was excited for Luke and Shane.
They see the other floats first as the best was being saved for last.
Shane soon appeared as the parade's grand marshal. Sharon and Lance took pictures, excited for their son. Shane was on his own float, smiling and waving at the crowd.
Shiloh clapped for Shane as he smiled.
A float with a Christmas candy-themed forest was coming up as the people on the float threw candy to the crowd. Hal and Barry caught a lot of it.
Luke was ready. He soon appeared and waved.
Luna cheered as Luke sang Makes Me Happy at the very top of the tree on the float. Oliver Queen and his friends loved this. Garth and Carter actually danced as Luke sang.
Zee fainted while smiling. She loved Luke, singer or not.
Later, Hal and Barry were trading their parade candy with each other.
"So…you, Hal, and Garth did a boy band thing to save lives? That's pretty awesome…" Luke says to Oliver Queen.
(Fun Fact by Angry9guy: That's Crumbelina's favorite episode.)
(Crumbelina's Sweet Admirer: Damn straight! Hal and Oliver Queen clean up well!)
(Angry9guy: Just herself. It was pretty in the middle for me. Still have low experience with rings.)
"Although Hal had some intense stage presence, I say we did good." Garth says as Hal blushes.
Kara had her arms crossed and walked off as she hated herself for that night.
"Oh, sorry, they didn't mean it." Karen says.
"You guys have to join me, Shane, and Oliver Queen at the All-Star Talent Showcase!" Luke says.
"Oooh, count me in!" Hal says.
"I thought the max was 5." Garth says.
"Gemma changed it for the new show. Max is 6." Luke says.
"Shoot! We should invite Atticus!" Barry says. "He's our main guy."
"We know he can never catch a break. He has a rogue list about 6 miles long." Hal says. "Almost as long as my longest touchdown run."
Meanwhile, Atticus was walking, pretty tired, as Angry Luigi pushed him off the road as a parade float nearly hit Atticus. Angry Luigi gulped as Shane looked at him.
"Bro!" Hal and Barry say, pushing Angry Luigi, checking on Atticus.
"Is he breathing?" Luke asked.
"Yeah, I think he's going to be fine." Garth says as Carter nods in agreement.
"Drell, cut him some slack!" Mo says. "He needs rest!"
"Okay, fine." Drell says.
Sabrina sighed, watching this on TV.
After the parade…
"Well, see ya, guys." Atticus says.
"Just worry about getting some rest. We'll be fine." Barry says.
Hal just smiled. "Get better, all right?" He says.
"We have everything under control." Oliver Queen says.
Atticus was heading home, having a headache when King Sombra arrived
"Sombra…" Atticus says.
"Oh, come on, you lose every time." Patch says.
A girl in a costume sprayed pepper spray on Sombra and ran as Sombra chased the girl.
Suddenly, Delta and Bella arrived and kicked Sombra, who fired dark magic. Delta and Bella dodged as Bella became Below and drew a circle as ice froze Sombra.
"Awesome!" Delta says.
Meanwhile
"You were awesome." Hal says to Luke as Luke smiled.
The girl took off her mask as she walked towards Atticus
"Sombra won't leave us alone, will he?" Cherry asked.
"Nope" Atticus says
"Okay, Cherry, let's go." Drell says, dragging her.
"Wait, no, take Atticus!" She yelled out as she soon disappeared.
(Angry9guy: It's just for a cameo. Don't think too much of it.)
(Crumbelina's Sweet Admirer: Noted.)
Meanwhile
"That was one of the most heroic acts I've seen, saving your idol." Savannah says
"Yeah, too bad I never got to see Cherry. I even made her a Christmas gift." he says.
"Hey, guys, wanna sleep over?" Luke asked.
"Heck yeah!" Hal says.
"I'm game!" Barry says.
"That prank better not come into play again…" Oliver Queen says, admittedly embarrassed.
He was thinking of that prank with the bowl of warm water. He ended up severely wetting the bed and waking up in a puddle of his own pee the last time it happened. He didn't live it down for weeks after that. He was known as a marksman for aiming at the bed instead of at his villains for those same few weeks. Kids at school called him "Oliver The Bedwetting Marksman" for months.
Hal then looked at his ring and sighed.
"You got a mission?" Garth asked.
"No. 3 days ago was the day I first got my ring." Hal says.
"Cool." he says.
"Fine, I'll plan a party." Luke says. "Anyone else with parties?" Luke asked, stressed out.
"Just Hal." Garth says. "And let us handle this. You worry about sitting and recovering from the parade."
"Let me help." Shane says.
The boys smiled as they worked on the plans with Shane as Luke rested.