Sonic looked out over the white snow as it covered the town of Mobius.

"Man, Nicole did a good job this year." He said to himself as he pulled on his red and white snow boots –which looked oddly enough like the sneakers he usually wore. Yeah, turns out Tails made them a few years ago. Even water-proofed them.

Not that it would be too much of an issue seeing as he didn't plan on going in the water.

He grabbed his red scarf and wrapped it around his neck as he walked out of his little house. Snow was falling everywhere and all around he saw little snow-mobians. Snow creatures that the children of the town made. He smiled at one that was supposed to be an attempt to look like him. The one ear was drooping and the coal nose was leaning towards the right side of his face.

At least they tried.

Then, something cold hit the side of his face. He stopped dead in his tracks and his eyes rolled towards the left. Another hit. And about five more after in quick succession.

"Gosh darn it Knuckles! Give it a rest will ya?" He shouted wiping the snow off his face. He then quiclkly ducked to avoid another volley of snowballs that appeared.

Grabbing a handful of snow and molding it into a ball he stood up and looked over in the general area of where they had come from.

No one was there.

"Huh?" He asked himself. "Where'd they go?"

"Over here, Sonic!"

He quickly turned to come into contact with another snowball.

"So, you got Sally in on this too?" He shouted.

"You bet!" He heard Knuckles yell back. Then he saw Knuckles, Sally, Bunny, and Tails run and/or fly towards him.

"What did I do to deserve this?" He yelled as he aimlessly chucked his snowball, running the other way. Unfortunately for him, there was some ice just were he was running, and he slid.

"Look out!" He heard Bunny yell.

Before he knew it Knuckles and Sally were flying over him and landed on the ice.

"Oo-o-o-w…." Sally crooned as she pushed herself off the ground, her green vest dragging.

"Are you okay?" Sonic asked as he also pushed propped himself up. They then noticed the close proximity that their faces kept. Sonic rolled away first and stood up, blushing slightly.

"Need some help?" He asked, offering his hand to her. She graciously took it and he pulled her up into his arms.

"Yeah, thanks a lot." Knuckles said as he spat out a mouthful of snow, his Santa cap sitting oddly on his head.

"Hey, I do believe you were the mastermind behind this, yes?" Sonic accused.

Knuckles spit out another mouthful of snow in response.

"Sally girl! Are you alriet?" Bunny asked, her red and green scarf covering her mouth as she stopped in front of the ice. Tails whirred down to the ground next to Bunny and his jingle bell hat finally stopped ringing .

"Yeah, Bunny I'm fine. Just a little run over." Sally said as she took Bunny's hand over to the soft snow.

"Ah can bet. You took a flyin' leap right over the bank."

"I'm alright." Sally smiled as he looked back towards Sonic and Knuckles.

"Uh… What are you doing?" She questioned. Sonic and Knuckles were both spinning around slowly on the ice. Sonc in a headlock while his teeth were locked on to Knuckles' right shoulder.

"Are you two done? We have to get to the Castle. Nicole said it was important." Tails said. "and I thought I was the little kid."

"Shut it Tails," Sonic said as he wobbled up. Knuckles pulled him down and used him to get up.

"Yeah, the ice is evil…" He agreed.

"It was your fault." Sonic stated, crawling over to the side, grabbing onto the soft snow to pull himself over. "I wasn't the one who started the snowball fight."

"Errgh…" He was answered.

Eventually the both of them got off the ice and back onto the sidewalk.

"Truce?" Sonic asked. Knuckles nodded and they both shook hands.

"In the spirit of the season." He agreed.

"Aww, now ain't that nice?" Bunny said, observing the scene.

"Yeah, it's a nice change." Sally agreed.

"Well, I wouldn't get used to it for too long," Tails said. "I give it about four hours tops."

"Done." Bunny said, shaking on the bet. "Twenty rings."

"You're on."

Sally shook her head.

"Come on guys, my brother's impatient enough as he is without our being late to help." Sally said motioning towards the castle.

As quickly as they could without slipping they all made there way towards the castle. The rooms were lit with candles, and the outside was decked in boughs and different colored wreaths. Multicolored lights decorated the moats door.

"Wow Nicole, you did great." Sonic said, knowing that the A.I would answer him.

"Thank you, Sonic," She answered, her purple clothes now red and green for the Christmas festivities.

"I tried my best to make it look like the decorations on Earth, since they celebrate it more intensely than any other world."

She walked them to the moat when she stopped.

"Go inside and enjoy the festivities. I need to go and walk the other guests up." She said dematerializing.

"Thanks Nicole." They said walking into the door.

Once more their eyes opened wide as they were greeted with lights, holly, fir trees, candy canes, and mistletoe galore. All around, children ran to and fro yelling at each other with toy swords in hand. The adults were all mingling around the main hall and the buffet table filled to please any sort of creature with munchies.

"Sweet!" Sonic said running forwards. Sally watched him run up to the chili dogs the kitchen staff had prepared especially for him.

She smiled. It was the simple things, she supposed.

"Hello mah Princess."

Sally turned to see Antoine walk up to her, his normally blue coat traded in for a sharp red one, no doubt made partially by Bunny.

"Hello Antoine. Merry Christmas." She replied.

He kissed her hand in formality and then walked over to his wife.

"Merry Chreestmas." He said. "Eet eez an Earth term, no?" He asked.

"That's right, suga." Bunny said kissing him on the cheek. "Or 'Happy Holidays' to othas."

"Were deed you learn zees from?" Antoine asked.

"Nicole. h wasn't doin' anything a few weeks ago, so she came over to the house an' asked me to help makin' some presents-oops! Ah've said too much. Come on Antoine, let's go dance." She said leading him away into the crowd.

Sally followed and finally heard the faint music that was playing.

"Where'd the heck she find the music?" She asked herself.

"From Earth." Came a voice from behind her. She turned and saw Rotor wearing a snowman shirt.

"Haha… Hi Rotor." She chuckled.

"How're ya doing Sally?" He asked, embracing her, letting the faint scent of oil grease and metal wash into her nostrils.

"Pretty good I guess. I just hope the party goes well tonight."

"It'll be fine. And, if I may suggest," He said, putting his hand on her shoulder and leaning in, pointing across the room. "Nicole put some mistletoe around some of the archways. Maybe you could get Sonic and…"

"Rotor!" Sally said, blushing. "That would almost be trickery."

"Na. It's just the holidays. That's what you do. At least, that's what Nicole says anyway… See ya later Sal," He said, waving as he was engulfed in the crowd.

Sally stood there by herself for a few moments before spotting her brother and father walk into the room, their clothes also altered by Nicole to match the theme. She smiled at the sight of General Prowers in a green coat and red eye patch. Vector even had some holly leaves sticking out of his headphones.

Yes, this would be a good holiday.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~In Moebius…..~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Tell me again how you got us to agree with this?" Scourge asked as he poked the jingle bell on the end of his cap.

Charolette looked up from the sleigh and smiled.

"Because you lost the bet." She answered.

"Uh, I do not recall ever accepting said 'bet'." Scourge grumbled.

"I never heard you decline at all."

"I never accepted either!"

"Quite, Scourge!" Snapped Miles as he walked out of the Moebius castle. "The least we can do is appease her, though I don't really see the point in doing this…"

"Well, in a sense, they are our neighbors, so in the spirit of the holiday… Where's everyone else?" Charolette asked.

"Boomer and Patches are coming shortly," Miles said, his holly pin on his scarf glistened in the light of the moon. "Fiona and Finitevus are completely against the entire idea… but their coming too."

"Perfect!" She said clapping her hands together. "I just know you guys will love the Christmas holiday!"

"So, we have to spend it being nice to Sonic and his friends?" Scourge asked leaning up against the bright red sleigh.

"Yes. And it won't kill you to do so either, so suck it up and get the presents together."

Scourge sighed and picked up the bag of the presents that was lying on the ground and slung it into the back of the sleigh.

"Is it over? I think I see the apocalypse coming." Fiona said as she walked out. Her red bow sparkled.

"Come on, are they really that bad?" Charolette asked.

"You obviously don't remember anything we've taught you if you're asking that question." She replied.

Charolette shrugged and made a face.

"You all did promise me that if I could beat Scourge at a race that you'd comply with my wish." She said.

"Well I guess we didn't know Scourge would lose to a human. Isn't that right baby? How old is she? Ten?" Fiona accused the green hedgehog.

"Hey!" He said, turning quickly and pointing his finger at her. "She's sixteen, and she tricked me!"

"Try 'tripped' you Scourge." Called Patches as he and Finitevus walked out. Patches was adorning a red fur trimmed mantle over his coat.

"Can I help it if I'm resourceful?" Charolette asked innocently.

"You tied my shoes together!" Scourge yelled, his mouth inches away from her face.

"Sorry…not…" She said. She then glanced over at Finitevues who's gold chains were replaced with blinking colored lights. He looked like he could kill her.

"I don't see how I got dragged into this…" He said with an obvious grimace in his face and voice.

"Because the deal was for EVERYONE. And since you ALL thought he would win, you made the bet."

Finitevus scowled and walked onto the sleigh.

"Boomer! Boomer hurry up!" Charolette called into the castle.

"Shut up, Charolette! Grhh… Why do I have to wear this anyway?" He answered, walking out of the castle in a Santa costume. Minus the beard.

"You look good there Boomer!" Scourge shouted. The purple walrus walked up to him and gave him a great big face.

"You can fit in this just as easily. And don't ever forget that." He said, getting into the drivers seat. "Are you coming or not?" He asked.

Fiona, Charolette, Scourge and Patches all then boarded the sleigh Boomer was made to work on and he flipped the engine switch. The jet fuel ran through, and the noise was almost deafening.

"Hold on to your butts!" Boomer shouted.

Slowly, and almost rockily, the sleigh lifted off the ground. Charolette smiled to herself, quite happy that her insane little plan worked. The best part was that everyone was doing exactly as she said.

Boomer pushed another button and the star rods attached to the front of the sleigh began to start, and high above them a little portal opened. He pushed forwards and the sleigh complied, flying forwards and then around the castle once until it disappeared into the portal above.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~In Mobius~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sonic was stuffing his face with the last of the chili dogs. He knew that no one else would eat them, so the last one was popped into his mouth and he chewed contently. As he finished, he noticed one lone figure walk into the main hall.

"Hey Shadow!" He called walking over to his darker colored counterpart. He was wearing a red and green stripped cap on top of his head and he looked mildly lost amongst the festivities. When he saw Sonic walking towards him.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

Shadow looked at him as though the Black Plague had just entered the room.

"Nicole invited me." He said, as though he might've done something illegal.

"That's cool. Hey, why don't you try to find a lady, man?" He said, patting his shoulder, walking into the midst of the crowd.

"I don't need a 'lady', as you put it Sonic." He said stoically. "God, why did I come here tonight?" He asked himself.

"Eh, just relax buddy. Nicole won't let anything happen at all." Sonic reassured him.

"Is that a promise? Or a threat?"

"SONIC!"

He froze dead in his tracks. Looked frantically at Shadow, his eyes wide open.

"Hide. Me." He said. Shadow smirked.

"She's your problem dude."

"Yeah, you're right about that… See ya." He said, trying as best as he could to move about the crowd without completely running everyone over.

"SONIC!" The voice came again. Shadow turned to see Amy run toward him in all out green and white holiday garb. "Shadow!" She said, changing her course. "How are you?"

"Good, and yourself?" He asked in an attempt to be polite.

"Wonderful! Have you seen the castle? Everything looks so pretty and stuff. Oh, Shadow, don't you just love the holidays?"

Shadow grimaced.

"If you say so…" He answered. Amy, sensing that he wasn't as thrilled as she was about everything, put her arm into his own and pulled him close. "What are you-"

"Come on, dance with me, please? Sonic's not around, so you have to fill in since your practically his double." She answered.

As they began dancing, Amy mainly leading, Nicole appeared next to Sally and her brother.

"Uh, pardon, but there seems to be an issue outside. My sensors pick up the Suppression Squad in what appears to be… uh…Santa's sled…" She said.

The king looked at the A.I., but it took Sally to ask.

"Santa's sled?"

Nicole nodded.

"Shall I go take care of them, Elias?" Sally asked. Her brother nodded.

"If you could Sally, but take a small troupe with you please. I don't want anything to happen."

Sally nodded and quickly asked Nicole to gather her friends at the door.

She then walked over towards the main entrance and looked for them to come. Shortly, Bunnie, Antoine, and Sonic walked towards her.

"What's goin' on Sally girl? Nicole said it was urgent." Bunnie said, thoroughly out of breath.

"Yeah, she said something about Scourge." Sonic added.

"Mmmhmm. She said they were riding a sled or something. Come on!" She said running out the door. The tapping of her friends feet behind her gave her courage as she saw a bright light streak across the sky, accompanied by a faint scream.

"Hold on, Sally," She heard as Sonic picked her up bridal style to run faster. She felt her hear pace quicken, though she was used to it after bout ten years. Tonight just felt different she supposed. Maybe Rotor's comment from earlier? Close behind, she heard Bunnie's jets. And from in front of her came a loud crash.

Soon, they were in front of a bright red sleigh with a large bag in the back and a pile of bodies in the seats.

"Were did you learn to drive?" Asked a random voice from the pile.

"I TAUGHT myself to drive, and if you have a problem with it, take it up with Charolette." Came another.

That's when Scourge dug his way out and saw Sonic, he froze. Without looking away, he reached behind him and felt around until he got his desired target and pulled her out, though her head was facing the other way.

"What?" He placed his hand on top of her head and turned it so it was facing the four Freedom Fighters in front of them. "Oh… I see."

"What are you doing here Scourge?" Sonic asked.

"Ya'll better not be here to ruin our Christmas party." Bunnie warned.

"Talk to her Blue. She knows more about the whole thing than we do." Scourge said lifting Charolette out of the sleigh. He then got down himself while everyone righted themselves.

"Hey," Charolette said, waving her hand.

"Hey, Charolette. What brings you here?" Sally asked.

"The Christmas spirit, and a lost bet." She answered. "Don't ask. But the point is, I want them to get into the feeling of Christmas. The only thing is, in Moebius, there's not a whole lot going on… But you guys are having a party? Can we come?"

Sally stared at the human girl, decked out in her winter coat and snowman mittens.

"We brought presents too if it helps," Fiona called from the sleigh, patting the large bag in the back.

"No exlploseeves. We promeese." Patches added.

"Yeah, Charolette here wouldn't let us."

"Please, can we come in? Just for a little bit Sally?" Charolette asked. That's when Finitevus stood up and glared at the troupe of four.

"Him too?" Sally asked skeptically.

"Him too." Charolette replied. "Please? It's really cold and we came a long way to celebrate."

"Actually, Sally, could they come? I'd like to ask Charolette more about Earth's holidays." Nicole added from absolutely nowhere tangible.

The princess stared at the ragtag group of people in front of her and eventually nodded her head.

"Sure, come on in." She said. "But one wrong move and you're toast."

Bunnie brandished her metal arm and smiled.

Fiona, Scourge, Charolette and Patches walked forwards first.

"Boomer, don't forget the presents." Charolette called.

"Yeah, yeah." Came the answer.

Sonic held his hand over his mouth to keep himself from laughing at the purple walrus in the red Santa Suit.

Boomer didn't notice, and if he did, he didn't let on that he knew. Grabbing the opening of the bag, he flung it over his shoulder and jumped off the sleigh. The entire mechanism rising a couple inches in height.

"Coming Doc?" He asked. Finitevus scowled, his multicolored lighted necklace giving his face a strange sort of glow that can only be given by Christmas lights.

"If I must." He answered, stepping off the sleigh into the snow.

Miles walked on after the two of them, and behind him the Freedom Fighters followed.

"Who would've guessed zat zee Suppression Squad would join us in the festivitees?" Antoine asked.

"Definitely not me," Sonic said. "Why'd ya do that Sal?"

"Well, mainly 'cause of Charolette. I believe her." She answered.

"Whatever. But I won't be the one to answer to your brother about why they're here. I mean, how could one little girl manipulate Finitevus like that? And Scourge! He doesn't do anything unless it benefits him."

"Just relax, Sugah hog. We gave 'em a warnin', an' if they trah anythan' we'll clean 'em up raight." Bunnie said.

Once more he sighed and folded his arms.

"No one's going to like this."

Eventually, the large group of guests, both invited and not, arrived at the main entrance to the castle.

"Wow! It's so pretty!" Charolette said, looking up at the great amount of decorations. "It must've taken you hours to do this."

"Actually, only a couple of minutes." Said Nicole, appearing next to the human.

"Woah! What are you?"

"I'm an A.I. I take care of the city for everyone since it's all basically computerized by nanites. But, would you mind coming with me? I have some more questions about this 'Christmas', and I think you're just the one to help me."

"Sure." She said as she followed Nicole down the well lit hallways.

"Well, now it's awkward." Sonic stated as they stood in the hallway with some of their counterparts.

Then, a young Mobian child walked out of the main hall, spotted the Squad and ran screaming back into the room. Sonic gave Sally an 'I told ya so' look, and walked in, everyone else following.

When the majority of the Squad was in, the room went deathly silent except for a song about a grandmother getting run over by a reindeer playing in the background.

"What is the meaning of this?" Elias asked across the expanse of the room.

"They said that they didn't mean any harm." Sally said, speaking up for them in the event they should start a fight. "They even brought presents."

At this, Boomer entered the hall in his Santa Suit and bag.

The little ones gasped. Though they didn't know much about the human holiday, they new about Santa. Santa meant presents.

And since the majority of the kids didn't know about what the Suppression Squad did to their heros, they ran up to Boomer with twinkles in their eyes. They pawed at the bottom of his shirt grabbing for the bag that was on his back.

Boomer, however, didn't like this arrangement.

"Get 'em off!" He said backing up. The little ones followed him. "Dang it! Where's Charolette? I need to slap her."

"Kids!" Sonic whistled. They stopped and stared at him. "Be nice. Here, Boomer sit over here alright?"

To the great disgust of both of them, Sonic walked the Walrus over to a chair and had him sit.

"Now line up nice, and he'll give you a present, alright?"

The kids smiled and tried their very best to make a straight line. It ended up making a loop-de-loop of itself.

"Eh, whatever works."

The first child, a dog, walked cautiously up to Boomer. For a moment they stared at each other in awkward silence. And the rest of the crowd stared at them.

Boomer reached into the bag, groped around for a moment or two before finding a suitable toy for the young girl. He brought out a nicely wrapped green package and handed it to her. She took it, his hands dwarfing her own for the brief moment they touched, and began to open it.

As the wrapping paper fell away, her eyes lit up as she held doll up in the air.

The audience clapped and began to mingle with one another once more, knowing that everything was alright once more.

Miles walked Fiona onto the dance floor as Scourge went around to check out the ladies. Finitevus and Patches stood at the side of the wall and looked on at the merrymaking. This was the way they liked it.

Sonic was watching over the group of newcomers when he felt a pair of arms wrap around this neck.

"Guess who." Said a sweet voice.

"Hey, Amy." Sonic said, his ears taking a low sweep before righting themselves.

"How are ya? I haven't seen you all night." She said walking around to face him. "Shadow's been dancing with me, and I think he's finally had enough."

"I don't blame him." Sonic muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing…. I was uh, wondering if you had any tin."

Amy looked up at the love of her life like he was crazy.

"Tin?" She asked skeptically. "What on Mobius for?"

"Just a project I'm working on."

"Well, I'm fresh out. Sorry." She said. "But, would you mind dancing with me for a little bit?"

Sonic sighed. He had been hoping do dance with Sally… maybe dance towards the mistletoe over in the corner….

"Sure, come on." He said, escorting her to the floor. With all the chili dogs in his system, he could tolerate her a little bit.

"Hey, do you think this is a good idea?" Rotor asked Sally as he watched the Squad members mingling amongst the Mobians.

"Not really," She answered. "But what've we got to lose? I mean, they jumped planes to get here, not to mention they brought gifts." Motioning towards the children, Rotor saw the well crafted toys that they had brought.

"Must've taken them forever to get all that together."

"Yeah, you can say that again." Sally sighed. She was looking at Sonic dancing with Amy, of all people….

Rotor noticed her gaze and smiled.

"Would you like to dance?" He asked, holding out a big clawed hand.

Sally smiled at him.

"Sure."

They danced across the floor, Rotor keeping a careful eye on Sonic, expertly moving so they were eventually right next to them.

"Hey guys." He said.

The other couple greeted him.

"Hey, Amy," He said letting go of Sally's hand walking the few steps over to Amy. "Mind if I cut in?" He grabbed her hand and put his hand around her waist, winking at Sonic who promptly took up the dance with Sally.

"So, the party's a success," He said as they twirled around the floor.

"Yeah, I'd agree. You having a good time?"

"Sure… If you mean having your evil double and ex in the same room, then sure…. B-But the party's really nice so it makes up for it." He said quickly, noticing the look on Sally's face.

"Thanks." She said, smiling up at him.

Sonic then stopped dead in his tracks and looked down at her. Then, he leaned in and kissed her lightly on the lips.

Sally, both confused and pleased at his actions looked up with her eyes, noticing a little bit of mistletoe that only the observant could notice.

Thanks Nicole. She thought to herself.

They moved slowly into a side hall and stayed there for a couple minutes before returning to the festivities.

The party eventually began to quiet down, and people began to leave.

"Where's Charolette?" Scourge asked Miles. The fox shrugged the last time I saw her, she was walking away with Nicole.

"Great… Just great." He muttered walking up to Sonic. He grabbed onto his scarf and hoisted him up. "What did you do with Charolette, Blue?"

"Chill! We didn't do anything to her!" Sonic said pushing him away.

"Man you're lucky we made a bet with her or you'd be toast…. Then again, she isn't here…."

Scourge wound back his arm, getting ready to relieve all his stress onto Sonic's face when a set of small hands grabbed his arm.

"Stop it!" Shouted Charolette. "You promised that you'd be nice." Scourge scowled and brought his arm to his side. Looking at the human, he put his arm around her shoulder and addressed Sonic.

"Again, you're lucky. Come on Charolette, it's time to go."

The both of them walked out of the main hall, following the others outside.

"I vote we follow zem." Antoine said walking after them. The rest of his friends nodded and followed the pair outside.

"Brrrrr. I think it's gotten colder." Sonic said, wrapping his disheveled scarf closer around his neck.

"You can say that a-. Hey, what's that?" Tails asked, pointing up.

They all looked where he was pointing to see a grand star high above them. Gleaming and shining like nothing they had ever seen before.

"It's so pretty."Sally breathed.

"You can say that again." Amy agreed.

Up in front of them, they saw Charolette pointing up to the sky, and looking at Scourge. He leaned down to her, and she whispered something in his ear. He jerked away like she had bit him.

"It's what?" he said loudly enough for anyone to hear. And, of course, the vast majority of the castle former occupants where on the grounds of the castle looking up at the great star.

"Everyone come here!" Shouted Charolette.

Everyone looked over at her like she had completely lost her marbles.

"Please? I'll tell you all about the star."

This got a couple more reactions. People began to gather around her, and the Freedom Fighters also found themselves in the crowd.

They were asking 'Where did it come from?', 'Was it dangerous?', 'When could they open presents?', 'Do we have to?'.

Eventually they all quieted down and Charolette pointed to the sky.

"A long time ago on Earth, a baby was born. He was supposed to be the savior for all mankind, a King of Kings, so that they could go to Heaven when they died. And on the night he was born, a star appeared in the sky, and Wise Men, shepherds and other creatures followed it to a town named Bethlehem. There, they gave the baby King gifts and gave blessings to him. But, the Wise Men had an alternative purpose for going to visit the baby. Their evil king sent them to find out where the baby was so he could kill him, you see, he didn't want anyone else to rule except him. So, the Wise Men told the baby's mother and father what had happened and told them to flee. They did, into a land called Egypt. Eventually they returned to their home, and the evil King never got his hands on the baby.

"So, you see, the star is a beacon of hope that something good and pure will come out of this dreary world. And Christmas isn't just about the presents, and the snow, and stuff. I mean, they help… but it's about the celebration of the good things that happen to us, and about things that will happen.

…Nicole made the star, and since she's going all out I figure you might as well know another side to the holidays. Especially if it's going to be a reoccurring thing…. Merry Christmas!" Charolette said.

Her voice was the only sound that penetrated the night, and one by one, all the Mobians and Moebians looked up into the sky to view the star in its peace and tranquility.

Then, all Hell broke loose.

"SNOWBALL FIIIIIIIGHT!" Shouted Knuckles. From the castle wall where he was positioned he readied a machine gun that specialized in throwing the best snowballs. He pulled the trigger and began to laugh manically as the snowballs hit their scrambling targets down below.

"THAT'S RIGHT! RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN! YOU'LL NEVER BEAT ME!" He shouted, the gun firing snowball after snowball.

"Everybody duck!" Shouted Sonic… or Patches… or Vector… or, actually a number of people shouted it after they heard Knuckles initial cry of war.

Charolette ended up behind a snowdrift with Sally and Tails.

"Does this happen often?" She asked as a Mobian got hit in the back by a snowball, flying face first into the snow.

"Not really." Tails answered, breathing heavily. "Just whenever he gets in the mood."

"Nicole!" Sally shouted.

Almost instantly, the A.I. appeared. A snowball flew right through her and landed in the snow.

"What is it Sally?" She asked.

"Can you make a couple guns like Knuckle's please? If we're going to win we'll fight him." The princess asked with a grin.

Nicole returned the smile.

"Of course."

A couple replicas of the gun Knuckles had hovered in front of them, and they grabbed them, piling snow into the funnel on the top.

"Thanks!" Sally said.

"Don't mention it." Nicole answered disappearing.

When the funnels were sufficiently filled the three stood up, took aim and fired at Knuckles. He didn't even see it coming.

"MUTINY!" He shouted, as he got pummeled by the snowballs. "MUTINY!"

The three ran forwards, shooting the snowballs up as fast as they could.

"Suppression Squad, attack!" Charolette shouted, pointing up to the seemingly rabid echidna.

"Ah, what the Hell?" Scourge said. "Let's go!" He ran out from behind a dune also pointing to Knuckles.

Fiona, Patches and Boomer (still in his Santa Suit) ran forwards. And behind them, a couple small children followed with the mindset that THEY wanted to be a part of the Suppression Squad when they grew up.

Dodging snowballs from above they made their way towards the castle.

"Hey Blue! We need you and your fliers!" Scourge shouted back.

Sonic, Bunnie and Rotor ran forwards, blowing right by any sort of snowballs that headed their way.

"What do ya need?" Sonic asked, catching up to his 'anti' quickly.

"Them to get a lift up."

"No problem." Sonic said, zooming ahead. He expertly picked up Sally and sped over the moat's ice and up the castle walls. Tails tossed his gun to Patches and flew up. Miles lifted Charolette up and making his way to the top of the castle. Bunnie picked up Patches and joined the other fliers.

Scourge picked up a handful of snow from the ground, molding it into a ball.

"Kids, ready your projectiles!" He shouted. The children who were following skidded to a halt and promptly made multitudes of snowballs at his command. Fiona, Rotor and Boomer also joined, as they could not fly and had not way to get up.

"Aim!" He shouted, reeling back his arm. The little ones did the same.

"FIRE!"

A volley of snowballs released themselves from the ground support group and up into the battlements of the castle wall.

"Again!"

Sally and Sonic were the first ones up, quickly realizing that it was the worst thing that they could've done. Knuckles was facing them at point blank range with a crazed look in his eyes.

"How much spiked Eggnog did he drink?" Sonic asked Sally as he set her down. Knuckles fired at them as they each jumped to a side to avoid the projectiles.

"Up here!"

Knuckles looked up in time to get blasted with a face full of snow. Charolette chuckled as Miles set her down onto solid ground. The blast had put Knuckles to the ground.

Slowly, he pushed himself up and cocked the gun.

"!" He laughed as he, again, shot them all at point blank range.

Screams and groans of pain followed as the four were sprawled out on the ground.

A useless volley of snowballs from the ground group found their way up and then landed with a soft 'plop' on the ground.

"Knuckles, give it a rest, will ya hon?" Bunnie asked as she dropped Patches from above. The gun was also used at point blank range, knocking the Christmas lights out of Knuckles completely. He laid on the ground with the gun a couple inches away from his hand.

"Is it over?" Asked Sonic as he walked up to is K. friend.

"I think so…. Man, that was fun! Can we do it again?" Charolette asked as she was helped up by Patches and Miles. Her legs wobbled a little and she ended up falling into the snow once more.

"I don't theenk zat would be good for you Meez Charolette." Patches said as he tossed his gun to the ground. Another volley of useless snowballs.

"Yeah, you must be cold huh?" Sally asked.

She shook her head.

"No. Finitevus made all my clothes so that they would retain my body heat. Trust me, it works really well."

"Either way, I do believe that we've overstayed our welcome." Miles said, helping up Charolette, holding her around the waist so she wouldn't fall again.

"Neah. It was fun. Better than what we usually go through." Sonic said. "Come on, let's get back down."

They picked up their passengers and made their way back down to the ground where they were welcomed with 'friendly fire' form the little ones.

Scourge walked up to his 'anti' and held out his hand.

"I will say you guys give kickin' parties. We should do this again sometime."

Sonic looked skeptically at his hand before he finally shook it.

"Yeah, we should."

It felt nice to be at peace with the world.

Then the mothers came in, picking up their little ones and carrying them home after all the excitement. Their little minds swimming with snowballs, candy canes and big bright stars.

The Suppression Squad made their way back to the sleigh with the accompaniment of the Freedom Fighters.

"Thanks for coming." Sally said with a smile.

"No problem. Maybe next year when I take over the worlds we can have it at our place." Scourge said, helping Fiona up the step.

"Sure, if we let you get that far." Sonic countered.

"Yeah, right."

Boomer got into the front of the sleigh, the poor object immediately dropping mildly in latitude, and started the engine.

"Thank you very much for having us!" Charolette yelled above the roar.

"No problem sugah!" Bunnie replied, placing her into the back with her robotic arm. "Take care now!"

Finitevus watched them in mild amusement as the sleigh rose above the tree line. The portal opened above them.

They started to fly when he released the hatch that was under his seat. From the bottom of the sleigh fell snow. Flakes upon flakes of fluffy white snow that fell onto the town as they sped over. Rooftops that had smoke coming up, and some that had none. Lights that were on revealed faces peering out at the sleigh as it passed by, and lit up as the snow fell down magically.

They went around the castle twice and sped towards the portal. It engulfed them and they vanished into the night.

Sonic walked up to Sally and put his arm around her.

"I guess you made the right choice." He said. She nodded in agreement.

"I think I did."

"All I know, is that it must look like a snowglobe from anywhere outside of here, and that Knuckles is going to have one major headache tomorrow." Tails said, wrapping his arms around himself.

"You can say zat again."

They said their goodbyes and headed off to their homes as the nanite made star shined above. It looked down on the peaceful city and was filled with content, for it knew that peace would let them all slumber well that night.

~~~~~~End

~~~Sort of…

Knuckles woke up in the middle of the night, and his head hurt like crazy .

"Why does everything look so white?" He asked himself, the eggnog NOW beginning to wear off. He stood up and took some wobbly steps forwards. He fell off the wall and landed softly in a snow drift where an unsuspecting lawn caretaker would find him the next day.

~~~~~~End (Again)

MERRY CHRISTMAS! HAPPY HOLIDAYS! HAPPY NEW YEARS! HAPPY CHRISTMAS! MERRY CHRISTMAHANAKAWANZA!