[Freedom Fighters]

BGM: Diamond Dust Zone (Act 1) - Sonic 3D Blast (Saturn)

Another year in a little bubble that protects all from the horrid virus that plagues the world. Another year to help forget about their plight for the time being. It is not the first time the Freedom Fighters hid in a safety bubble from such terror, and hopefully, this will be the last if they ever get rid of the virus.

But thank the person who invented Christmas...which is pretty much what this holiday is all about. Sally and her friends made it a tradition from last year to come to this quaint little bar to have food and give each other presents. Sally already gave her friends their gifts (and she and Bunnie made sure that Antoine doesn't shower Sally with gifts and give the rest of them gift cards), so as her friends gave each other gifts, including herself...

...she glanced at her phone, checking the time. She texted her other friends to come over if they have the time. She has gifts for them or she can just buy them eggnog...

...then again, she's pretty sure that Dr. Eggman soured their taste for that.

[Amy Rose, Yours Truly~]

Amy checked her phone, spotting the message from Sally. Her eyes lit up with excitement. Oooh! A party. She had to attend, of course. First though, she had to extract this ravening badger from her quills though. Amy proceeds to text Sally back with a simple “On my way~💗” while doing her best to tune out the angry growling and hissing of the badger squirming about behind her. After a moment, she pouts a bit and glances behind her. “...You... need to find a better way to talk to girls. I'm a lot less prickly from the front, y'know!” Amy remarks to the badger, causing it to stop and stare at her in disbelief.

One freed badger later and Amy was on her way. She dodged and weeved through the streets as she ran as fast as she could back home, kicking up a gust of wind behind her and generally freaking out the people walking on the street. She needed to get her gifts! Slipping inside the Magical Girl's Society, she popped into a back room reserved for storage that had been deemed the impromptu present room and plucked out a few gifts she'd chosen for her mobian friends. They were all straightforward enough, except one which had a slightly more sentimental meaning. Amy hesitated, staring down at her gift for Sally. ...Was this too much? Anxiety hit her for a good moment. She didn't want to drive anyone away by expressing her feelings too strongly ...again. But where did she draw the line? Amy nervously jogged in place for a moment as she thought it over before pulling out her tarot card deck. A tarot card reading would decide her fate, for better or worse, she reasoned. She shuffled the deck and set it out before drawing a single card, pre-emptively looking away with grit teeth and shut eyes in anticipation of what she might see as she lifted it up to her face. Finally, she took a look at it. “...Oh.”

Not long later, Amy had changed into a cute Christmas themed outfit and was rushing to the bar to meet up with them. ...Wait a minute this is a bar. Is she even allowed to be here? Amy spots some random dude in shades hanging around outside, promptly assumes he's the bouncer, and begins tugging at his pant leg to get his attention while attempting to show him her Mobius Drivers' License. “Excuse me! May I come in?” she asked, putting on her best smile. The bewildered man leans in to get a better look. His eyes widen as he sees the age printed on the card. "...They let kids your age drive back where you come from??" he asked in disbelief. “Yup! It's not so hard. The pink rabbit button is to go faster and the green turtle button is to slow down. The orange cat button dispenses coffee creamer. And they all make cute animal noises when you press them. ...The hardest part is steering.” Amy explains. The man kinda gawks at her for a moment as he tries to process what she just said. He then shakes his head a little. "...Fuel economony must be terrible right now." he mumbles. "Naw. He keeps himself fueled up usually. He lets me ride him just for the fun of it!" Amy replied, winking at the man. The man blanches really hard, an expression of confusion and horror on his face. What he even listening to right now?! "Uh ... Yeah! You get along inside now little lady. Just no alcohol." he nervously replies, deciding to play along so that he could end this conversation before Amy said something even more discreetly concerning. He wasn't even being paid for this! “Kay!” Amy casually replies, before walking in.

Amy slides up next to the group and strikes a pose with her santa sack full of presents. “Hellooo~! What d'y'all think?” she greets, doing a little pirouette for them. Once she'd given them a moment to observe her outfit from multiple angles, she moved to climb up into an actual seat and join them!

[Freedom Fighters]

The bartender poured a mug of hot cocoa for Sally before sliding it to her. The cocoa was still steaming hot as she blew it. Glancing back...

She saw all her friends on tables just having a good time, what with Bunnie teasing an annoyed Antoine, Rotor tuning up Nicole's code on his phone, and Dulcy lightly blowing fire on Lupe's mug of cocoa to heat it back up.

Though she's very happy that she's with her friends, she's with her friends in a world full of strangers, especially those that look like her other friends, they don't know her or her team. If it wasn't for the fact that in This World, they're...well...she'd be worrying up a storm if her family was searching for them. But they're not because, in a way, they never left their world. They're stuck in a world full of strangers.

But then there's one person to remind her that just because they don't exactly know them, that doesn't mean they won't make an effort to. As Sally put on her Santa hat, "Hi, Amy!"

Locking Antoine in a headlock with her robotic arm, Bunnie nuggied his head as she glanced at Amy with a smile. "Merry Christmas, darlin!"

"AAAAAAAGH!!!"

"...Amy," Lupe nodded with a small smile...trying not to make it sad. Her Wolf Pack, back in her world, were guardians of the knowledge about Little Planet, and Amy lived in the village they protected until Dr. Eggman attacked and took the knowledge. Sally and her Freedom Fighter arrived to help fight the Badniks, and when Sonic arrived, Lupe told him to go after Eggman and look for Amy. Lupe trained Amy to fight long after the Perfech Chaos incident as a way to protect her when she can't be there to.

While she's happy that she grown into a capable woman, Lupe is a little sad that this isn't her version. Still though...

Sally paused for a moment when she noticed that the hat she wore magically donned her a festive outfit, making her look like a Santa elf like Amy. She shrugged, figuring it's just some Li shenanigans. Smiling, taking a look at Amy's outfit, "Looks wonderful. Kind of reminds me of Belle's clothes, only more festive."

"I think her outfit is based on Santa's elves, Sally," Rotor said.

"That she is." Sally then held out a present box. "Uh, Merry Christmas, Amy."

Claus Costume: LEGENDARY ITEM
This Santa Hat will bestow the user a Santa Claus, Ms. Claus, Elf or Reindeer costume when put on, permanently added to their costume collection. They are also filled with the spirit of giving and can give a The Perfect Present item to one other character per year. This perfect present item cannot be traded the once per year limit resets on December 1st.

The Perfect Present: Contains one rare Christmas seasonal item of the receiver's choice, other than the Claus Costume almost as if it can read minds or something! Oddly enough, it can contain itself.

[Amy Rose, Yours Truly~]

Amy stops over by Bunnie, giving Antoine a little pat and an amused smirk as she sat down a present by him without intervening. She then sits down another present by Bunnie. “Merry Christmas to you, and you...” she begins, handing out carefully wrapped presents to each of the freedom fighters before stopping at Lupe. She hesitated for a moment. She was picking up on something off about her tone, and in her eyes. A hint of wistfulness maybe? She reaches out and places a hand on Lupe's shoulder. “...If you're having a hard time over the holidays or need someone to talk to, I'm here alright? ...Merry Christmas.” she quietly offers, handing Lupe a present. No amount of empathy would let her read minds, but she hoped the blanket offer would be appreciated.

And then finally, she got to Sally. She beamed at her, accepting the present she was offered and handing Sally two in return. One is actually addressed to Nicole though. She hands one extra thing to Sally, however. A hand-written card! It reads as followed:

Dear Sally,

You may not be
my world's Sally

But you're
MY Sally

And if given the choice
I'd choose you
over my world
any day of the year.

🩷, Amy

The present, if Sally chose to open it now, contained a refurbished Virtual Reality headset. Quite the prize, even if it wasn't brand new. Such things weren't mass produced anymore, so getting a new one would've been quite the challenge if one weren't willing to build it themselves, and even then. The present for nicole contains a portable UV cleaning kit to help keep her handheld computer exceptionally clean of germs. “Merry Christmas, Sally; Nicole. I wasn't sure what Nicole would appreciate, but I gave it my best guess. Hope you both like your gifts!” she offers.

Amy begins opening her own gift once Sally began reading hard card, delicately plucking the magical gift open. It read her heart, and the moment she opened it it contained what she truly wanted. It's ... a sprig of mistletoe?

Magical Mistletoe: Put it in your hair to bestow yourself with the power of love! To use this power, simply kiss a grappled target or convince someone to accept your kiss using a charisma roll (Only works on targets that are not hostile towards you or mentally impaired somehow). The kiss can have one of three functions. The first function is the kiss of "death", in which the victim is knocked unconscious and afflicted with the sleep status. The second function is the kiss of "life", in which a willing recipient is healed for 15+CHA% HP by a kiss. The third is the kiss of true love, in which the victim is afflicted with the infatuation status. Each function can only be used once per thread.

A strange gift to be sure, but Amy's eyes lit up with excitement at the sight of it. Y'see, while most people would probably find a gift like this to be excessively cheap, to Amy it represented something far more than it's actual value. It represented an invitation. She had no idea the present was magic and was giving her what SHE wanted, and so believed it to be a deliberate decision on Sally's part. To say it came off as a hint would be an understatement.

“ That is so cute, and clever1 May I~? ”

Amy reaches out to hold up the mistletoe between them, smiling brightly as she leaned in. Her intentions were ...probably clear at that point, giving Sally a moment to stop her if she wasn't okay with this. But otherwise, a moment later she would lean in and attempt to plant a sweet kiss upon Sally's lips.

[Freedom Fighters]

"Aww, ya didn't have to, Sugah-Ames," Bunnie smiled, releasing Antoine. "Merry Christmas, hun!"

Coughing, the coyote glared at Bunnie. He swears this woman will be the death of him.

"..." Even though this wasn't her Amy, she's just as thoughtful as hers. "...thank you," Lupe smiled.

Smiling, she opened the envelope to read the Christmas card...

...and her body tensed from the sheer goosebumps she felt. This was...wow! But...no, this doesn't mean there are any romantic intentions. Uh...right?

"W-Wow, uh...t-thank you, Amy!" she stuttered, still feeling SO flustered that she could barely handle it. Opening the present, finding the VR headset and cleaning kit, "W-Wow, uh...this is so much, Amy! D-Defiantly need a new one, and Nicole will love the cleaning kit."

Just staring at the kit, though Nicole barely emoted, she nodded to Amy.

Sally, after calming down, however, had no idea what she got Amy, because the gift came from this magical hat she got from a Mirage dimension. It can only be used once and mostly around Christmas, so she wanted to use it on Amy. It could be Christmas related or maybe give what Amy wants or-

...aaaaaand it just happens to be the most risque Christmas tradition of all! "Uhhh...I'm sorry, I d-didn't know that was..." Ugh, why did she have to trust Li magic? She should've--

...wait. Is Amy actually gonna...?!? There's no way that she's leaning in towards her just to...! This couldn't mean that...! Is it?!? Can she just?!?

"!!!!!!!!" One could hear Christmas bells play as their lips collided.

Most of the Freedom Fighters were so stunned that their jaws dropped...especially Antoine, whose heart shattered. He did NOT expect this, and he thought he had to worry about a hedgehog named Sonic to steal his princess. Well, he was half right.

Lupe blinked wide...whole drinking her coco.

Sally's emotions were rampaging like crazy as her heart beat hard. She couldn't understand if this was just a simple kiss...o-or maybe there's something more...or if she should...! What if this was just a...what if...?

And as she started to melt, she felt...The hell with it. "Mmm!" She hugged her and kissed her back.

Unable to take this, Antoine fainted hard.