A BIG CHRISTMAS FIC!

[Sadie]

HEE HEE THANKS YOU GUYS <3

-tiny response is tiny-

I'M GLAD YOU'RE LOVIN' IT!

[ChyukiPastukiSuzuki]

WOW Telarian Speed sounds hardcore. xD

AHH! IT JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER AND BETTER, I SWEAR!!!!!!!!X3

[Renee]

Ahhh, this story keeps getting more awesome with each chapter! I love it! *huggles fic* Nalo and Niji are made of cute awesome-ness, and Ynda is just soooo laid back and unconcerned. *giggles* ^^ ;D

[Ellie]

Telarian Speed? I wanna play! X3 Ynda *giggle* Typical XD

You two are so amazing! Its not fair! XD I'm just kidding, keep up the good work ^^

[Paula]

Aww'n this is a really cute, fic!...I'm definately going to have to keep updated with this one..lol, I wonder who gets what....X333333

[Sadie]

Awwh, thanks! You're so sweet!

But everyone's presents are a SURPRIIIIIISSSEEEEE X3 Hee hee, it'll be fun!

[RohaHat]

SO I FINALLY WROTE THE NEXT CHAPTER FOR THIS.

SORRY IT ALWAYS TAKES ME SO LONG, GUYS. DX

---

The television switched to a commercial, but no one could possibly hear the advertisement because a certain bird-alien’s squawking was filling the entire room.

“OH MY GOSH GUYS THAT WAS SO EXTRILLIANT!” Yellow feathers scattered as he took to the air, highlighting his excitement with the animated flapping of his wings. “The next episode isn’t until next week!” he added in dismay. “I don’t know if I can wait that looong!”

He landed heavily on the back of a couch, his talons digging deep into the fabric as he slowly ceased his movements, and as the aliens who bore witness to his exclamation returned to their regularly scheduled activities. His deep blue eyes scanned the room for a moment, and he suddenly became aware of a figure close by, pulling freshly shed feathers from his mane. Recognising the figure as his secret santa gift recipient, and the one person he hardly knew at all, it suddenly hit Cyril that he had less than a week to figure out what to deliver to the stoic bodyguard.

“Hey Masurao!” he called out, taking off again and landing on the wolf-boy’s head, displeasing him thoroughly. “Masurao! Masurao! Masurao!” he repeated over and over in the same irritating tone.

“Yes?” he gingerly replied, casting his green hues upwards to try and get a good look at the little yellow alien.

“Hi!”

His expression seemed to take on a mild scowl as his eyes locked with Cyril’s, narrowed slightly in concentration. He didn’t feel it necessary to express any further verbal response. Not that he would’ve had time to anyway, as Cyril opened his mouth to say something, but just at that moment a green and yellow streak bumbled into the room in midair, clipping both of them lightly on the side.

“What the--?!” Cyril squeaked, and wobbled somewhat as Masurao took on a defensive stance. But it only took them a few moments to realise that the threat was nothing but their friend Tala, who was...
“HIIIYAH!” the exclamation was accompanied by a slender hand slicing through the air, narrowly missing the galactic fruit floating in front of her which was encompassed by a green glow. Several other edibles items were hovering around her body, and she quickly turned her other limbs to those, also with loud yells. The boys stood beside her just gave her a nonplussed stare, Cyril more prominently than his perch.

Her hand came down once again, aiming for a particularly spiky fruit, but before she could make contact with it, a thin limb of silver shot out and pulled it free of its green prison; Nalo, sitting close by, just smiled up at Tala as she claimed the fruit as her own.

“Hey!” the Telarian female called out, slightly peeved. “I was about to destroy that!” Nalo didn’t seem impressed however, because she turned a deaf ear and, still smiling to herself, dug sharp metal tips into its hard skin so she could access the sweet flesh inside.

As Tala mumbled something incoherent and roused herself to return to the fruit genocide, Masurao suddenly remembered that he was participating in the secret santa gift exchange as well, and he should probably figure out something he could give to the unpredictable girl before him. Glancing at the levitating objects around her figure, he wasn’t sure if edible objects would be a good idea or not. He was rather concerned as to how he was supposed to find out about the girl, when he heard her voice, clearly directed at him.

“Hey Masurao,” Tala called to the boy, although she seemed to be paying more attention to her karate chopping than her conversation, “...how come I keep missing?! They’re inanimate objects!” Seeing the opportunity to make something out of the question and try his best to pick up a few droplets of information without actually being any more talkative than usual, he mentioned a few tips before the pair became caught up in their own activities, leaving Cyril abandoned and alone.

‘Now how do I figure out what to get him?!’ he pondered as he left the room, flapping and taking off at high speed. Deciding he could wait around until Masurao was done talking with Tala, he spent quite some time finding his fellow aliens and asking them a few questions about the wolf-boy, insisting they were completely random and “not related to the secret santa thing at all!”

However, by the end of the first hour he had learned nothing, and by the end of the second he somehow knew less than he had to start with. And on top of that, by the time he returned to the Main Room, he was accompanied by Niji and it looked like they were about to walk off together. Squawking indignantly and in annoyance, he decided to just follow them and to pounce on Masurao when he was alone. It wasn’t until some time later, when he had decided to follow them via the air vents because it was easier, that he discovered something.

From up in the secrecy of the vents, Cyril observed something very strange. Some time earlier, he has noticed Niji pushing one of her many multicoloured candies into Masurao’s hands, and when forced to accept it he merely stuffed it into one of the pockets on his jacket. However, Niji and her bodyguard had separated now, for what reason he couldn’t remember, and he suddenly noticed Masurao literally wolfing down the sweet treat from earlier. As the bodyguard licked residual sugar from his fingertips, Cyril felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders, and instead it landed in his brain and filled it with ideas...

[Sadie]

CYRIL WHY SO ADORABLE WHY SO ADORABLE WHY. SO. ADORABLE.

Cyril makes me happy!

A-AND
THE MENTAL IMAGE OF TALA KARATE-CHOPPING FRUITS IN MID-AIR
HAS MADE MY LIFE. XD THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR INCLUDING THAT.

D'OHOHO, CYRIL, YOU KNOW WHAT TO GET MASURAO, DON'T YOU. X3 SMART BIRD.

Roz you are so talented. Your chapters are well worth wait.
GREAT JOB! <3

[Jas]

CYRIL! X3 What is not to love about him? <3 HAHAHA, I LOVED the mental image of him perching atop Masurao's head XD And he was all: "...Yes...? >> " I could really hear him say it! Haha, that's hilarious! XD
And I also like how Tala was trying to chop the fruit X3 "I'm destroying it!" XD

HAHAHA, CYRIL FOUND OUT ABOUT HIS LITTLE SECRET!! Gobble gobble down that candy! XD Masurao's fortunate to have Niji to protect, she's always got a lot of candy, I'm sure XD Haha, he'd be so embarrassed if he'd known Cyril was there X3 Poor Cyril, it must've been so hard to look for a gift! And I wonder what Masurao's going to get Tala too!

AWESOME CHAPTER ROZ!! I enjoyed reading it so much! X3 YOU WRITE SO AWESOMELEEEE!! <3

[RohaHat]

Oho, Masurao's gift for Tala shall be awesome. Everyone's gift will be awesome! x3

I'M GLAD YOU GUYS LIKE THE NEW CHAPTEEEER! X3

[Sadie]

You guys are lucky, you get another chapter so soon! X3 This one featuring the TWINS.

---

“What sort of trouble are we going to get into today?”

The grinning face, full of teeth and happiness, leaned over the couch so that it just barely pushed into barrier of comfort for the one who was currently relaxing against the plush cushions. Leaning away, he glanced upward toward the melodic voice. If he hadn’t known the boy, he might have assumed that he was looking into a mirror, but it was only his twin, who was currently looking gleeful at the idea of tomfoolery.

Although he already had a fantastic idea that had popped into his head the night before, the boy pretended to think, forcing his brother to wait for his response. Impatiently leaning against the top of the couch, his brother let out a long sigh, tapping his fingers across the fabric while he waited. “Wellllll. . .”

“Come on, you always have ideas.” Unagi slumped against the frame of the seat and grimaced at him. This wasn’t entirely true; usually, their mischief was a result of collaborative thinking. But Dengeki liked to think that he played a bigger part in the troublesome genius that often resulted from it.

“Okay, okay, I do have one.” Turning around, Dengeki grinned and prepared to explain his plan. No doubt Unagi would add the finishing touches to his idea; no matter what, their plans always seemed smoothly concocted, and they both enjoyed the process of coming up with such interesting things to do to keep their days busy and filled with fun.

“Dealing with Secret Santa, right?” Unagi guessed, tilting his head with a Cheshire-like smile at his brother.

“You guess it.” Lowering his voice, Dengeki made sure that no one was listening before he went to explain. “Everyone’s trying to think about what to get their people, right? So what if we, I don’t know. . . fill their heads with some interesting ideas?”

“I had heard that Cyril’s into brain-games now, like chess.” Mulling over his apparently-informed fact, Unagi seemed to be pleased with the idea, his eyes glinting at the possibilities.

Dengeki shrugged, the picture of innocence while he reclined on the couch. “We really ought to help people out with our vast amounts of unbeatable knowledge.”

A soft chuckled bubble up from the cave of Unagi’s deep throat. “What would they do without our genius?”

“Suffer, no doubt.”

“Shall we go to it, brother?”

An exchange of grins between them, secretive and loyal, and then they were gone, leaving whispers in the room that could only hint that they had ever been there.

--

The pitter-patter of soft feet sounded over the floor while a small figure crept down the hallway, looking over his shoulder to make sure that he was alone. When he felt he was, he edged toward a large door, leaning upward to twist the knob. Across the wood was a large, extravagant signature to show who owned the room, and the smaller alien’s eyes fell on the word for a second. “Etoile.”

A smile crossed his lips, and he reached farther to try to reach the taller knob, when suddenly there were shadows on both sides of him, towering far above his head.

“Nebulos,” one of the twins greeted smoothly, bending down so that contact could be made much easier between them. “What’re you doing, trying to go into his room?”

“Pranking Etoile is our job.” A grin, and then a flash of a blue eye. Nebulos knew which one was which, now, and that made him feel slightly better while he tried to find an answer to their question. He couldn’t admit-

“Unless. . . you’re his Secret Santa.” Unagi shot a look full of grins and teeth at his brother, leaning against the wall. “That sounds like a plausible explanation, don’t you think?”

“I think that sounds reasonable. Why don’t we ask Nebulos what he thinks?”

“Yes, let’s.”

Both pairs of eyes, masked behind sheets of hair, turned to the little blue alien, who looked nervous under the strain of their interrogations. “W-well. . . I could. . . okay, yeah, I have Etoile! But don’t tell him, okay?” His little gloved hands twisted together, hoping beyond all reason that they wouldn’t spill and ruin his surprise for his glowing friend.

“Oh, we wouldn’t even think of it!” Dengeki purred, inspecting the hem of his shirt.

Unagi seemed to agree, smiling benevolently. “Why would we ruin such a joyous occasion?”

Both boys suddenly stood and began to walk away, when suddenly Dengeki turned and shrugged at the miniscule operative. “By the way, Etoile adores the color pink. You should think about that.”

And then they swept out, leaving the little, blue Nebulos standing there with a look of utter confusion on his round face.

--

“TALA!”

The shout rang across the room, which had a ceiling large enough to send it echoing in every crevice. Many aliens gave the twins strange expressions, but they didn’t care, since the girl who they had directed the shout at simply turned and lit up at the sight of her doppelganger friends.

Skipping across the room joyously with her tail waving behind her, she held up her hands to slap against the higher palms of the twins, grinning widely. “Hey, my boys, Thunder and Lightning! How goes it, fellahs?”

“We’re stalking you,” Dengeki told her matter-of-factly, flashing a wall of teeth that glinted under the light of the bright room. “Well, not really. We’re hungry.”

“So we thought we’d find ourselves a cute little green-haired alien to snack on.”

“Oh, is Ynda around?” The girl cast a wide-eyed glance around the circumference of the room, pure innocence etched across her expression.

“Funny, funny.” Unagi ruffled her hair, throwing a few strands into a stubborn disarray. “What’re you up to, then, Swirly? Still murdering unsuspecting masses at card games? Or are you taking a break from your reign of tyranny and taking a lunch among the common folk?”

“I’m trying to find Vibe.” The girl’s brutal honesty never ceased to surprise them. “I have her for Secret Santa and I honestly have no idea what I want to get her! It’s immensely frustrating, especially since I’m running out of time. I might end up giving her food. Everyone likes food, right?”

“I think,” Unagi told her, his face a replica of the expression ‘serious business,’ “that you should get her something manly.”

“Something. . . what?”

“Oh, you know,” Dengeki jumped in easily, catching into the game quickly. “Vibe is the kind of person who likes to get down and dirty with the boys. Get that girl a whizbee or something equally manly and she’ll be happy.”

Tala lifted an eyebrow at them, looking slightly suspicious. But, it seemed, she figured that the twins knew the girl better than she did, and she simply acknowledged their words with a shrug. Her hands hooked behind her back as she chirped a cheerful, “Thank you!”

“There you are!” Etoile popped up beside her suddenly, nodding quickly to the twins so that he could skip over a greeting and continue to give Tala his rushed words. “Quick! I have a bet going on with Milo-Lee! She thinks that you and I together can’t lift a ton.”

“That’s ridiculous!”

“I know! Come on, if you help me, we’ll get ourselves a whole bowlful of sweets!” Uttering a quick farewell to the twins, Etoile dragged his sister away, leaving the twins in the bright cafeteria wondering what exactly was going on.

“Man,” Dengeki grinned, looking after the disappearing siblings, “I love those kids.”

“Me too, bro, me too.”

--

After a long day of mischief-making, the twins collapsed on the couch together, sending sleepy looks around and yawning wide. Somehow, between the morning and the evening, they had managed to:

convince Vibe that Milo-Lee wanted a beautiful pink and sparkle-covered foofy princess dress,

inform Etoile that Niji’s favorite food was made out of frozen molten lava that was churned into sweets by the factories on Ithaltia,

watch as Tala and Etoile lifted a ton after much strain and gain much candy from a disbelieving Milo-Lee,

slip the word to Nalo that Nebulos had an extensive collection of pieces of garbage that he picked up from different planets,

watch as Ynda threw insults at Cyril in her frustration at having him for the Secret Santa event,

and throw in some time for a big galactic ice cream sundae.

“I count this day as a success.” Dengeki leaned against the cushions, looking tired but extremely happy. He wasn’t sure how many people actually believed those lies, but it had been fun just to watch the expressions that all of them had pulled when fed the outrageous falsehoods.

“We rock.”

“No lie.”

Dengeki and Unagi let their eyes slide shut, already imagining what kind of things they could do the next day to fill the headquarters with pandemonium and shouts. A peace washed over them, lulling them to sleep and blanketing them with the deepest, most fun-filled dreams.

And, best of all, both of the brothers knew exactly what they were going to get for each other.

[Vera9]

AWESOME. <3 <3 <3

I love your writing style, as always. X3 And I love the twins, they were so in-character here! Keep up the awesome work!

[Renee]

LOL! The Twins are SUCH bad boys! XD Naughty, naughty, if they keep it up, they'll get coal from their SS! ;D

Oh, and it was also funny how Masurao secretly loved Niji's candy's in the previous chapter. I can so picture him scarfing the down when he thinks no one is looking! Fantastic!

*giggles* I love this story! Both you and Roz are extraordinary writers! Keep up the great work!! ;D

[RohaHat]

OKAY GUYS, HERE'S CHAPTER 6! (I think)

PREPARE YOURSELVES, THERE'S A LOT OF FLUFF IN THIS ONE!

---

There was only a few days left until Christmas, and although some people felt fully prepared for the day, one alien in particular was beginning to panic.

“What am I going to get him?!” Nebulos wondered to himself as he scampered through the corridors. “Etoile’s favourite colour definitely isn’t pink; I asked Tala: it’s yellow!” However this tidbit of information was the only useful fact he had right now. So he decided the only way to find out more about him was to locate his buddy and spend some quality time with him. Or maybe find Nalo; she and Etoile were close pals as well, so she was bound to have some beans to spill on the Telarian.

---

In the privacy of a dark, unused room, two particularly tall aliens were stood together, tails intertwined. The large tip of the male’s tail was pulsing a dull green glow, casting a soft light onto the couple, highlighting the gentle passion in their expressions.

“You just couldn’t help yourself, could you?” These words fell from the pale blue lips of the female, her deep purple hair hung in a curtain across her magenta eyes, which were warm with amusement. A chuckle bubbled in the throat of her companion.

“How could I?” he inquired, running his lime green fingertips through her hair, brushing against the thin tendrils on the back of her neck, sending a shiver down her spine; the appendages were sensitive to touch as well as emotion. “You’re just the most gorgeous, most incredible woman I have ever had the pleasure to meet…”

“Or kiss…” she added in a whisper, as the boy brought his face closer to hers. A warm blush coated both of their cheeks as they gradually closed the gap…

Click.

The door opened and they pulled away from each other in a hurry when it swung open, spilling light into the room and revealing a small blue alien in the doorway.

“Nebulos?” Vibe inquired, as she hurried to detangle her tail from Unagi’s, who just twined his tail tighter around his. The little teenager in the doorway, his antennae bright with surprise, quickly realised he has interrupted a private moment between the two.

“Er, I-I’m sorry!” he stammered in apology, feeling his cheeks warm some in embarrassment. “I was just looking for Etoile, have you seen him?”

The two lovebirds shook their heads, and as Nebulos dejectedly left the room, he could hear them bickering quietly; Vibe was saying something about how she knew they should’ve just gone to her room in the first place. Nebulos couldn’t help but stifle a giggle at their argument, before he continued down the corridor. He had a lot of the base to cover if he wanted to find Etoile before nightfall.

---

Up in the television centre, where huge screens filled the walls and played whatever movie you fancied, a certain pair of flying, feline-like creatures were watching the romantic comedy of the day. The film was reaching its climax; dramatic music reverberated around the room, vibrating up through their feet and into their bones.

Their eyes were transfixed on the screen, but in a moment of impulse, Finnick casually stretched his arm, before letting it tentatively rest around his female friend’s shoulders. Milo-Lee glanced up at him, a small smile on her face, when they were both distracted by a small figure skidding to a stop in front of them.

“Guys!” When Finnick rapidly removed his hand and mumbled something about “I was just stretching,” Nebulos assumed he had interrupted yet another moment between two aliens, and he blushed in embarrassment, rather glad the room was dark and it wouldn’t be visible.

“Er, have you guys seen Etoile?” Once again, neither of them knew where he was, and so the boy left them to their movie, scratching his white hair in confusion. Where could he be? He had already checked the cafeteria and his bedroom.

So Nebulos resumed the search, and it didn’t take long for him to stumble upon more aliens he was familiar with, but it still wasn’t the right ones. Entering a quiet relaxation room, full of couches and bookshelves and game stations, there were actually only three aliens present in this small room. But they didn’t seem to want to be disturbed either.

On one of the large couches - well, large to Nebulos at any rate - the other mischievous twin was casually seated, with a certain small green alien trapped in his embrace, not to mention the yellow bird sitting atop her head. A dark green blush covered most of her face, and she looked decidedly uncomfortable. But when she saw someone enter the room, she sat up, her blush deepening, and she started to struggle her way free, when she noticed it was only Nebulos. Her eyes narrowed slightly in accusation, apparently wondering what he was doing.

“Nebbie, mah boy!” Dengeki hollered to the boy across the room, and Cyril squawked something of a greeting in his direction as well. Ynda just looked at him, although she didn’t seem to be quite hostile yet, and even if she was, she was pinned down by the fish boy’s arms. A sheepish grin found its way onto Nebulos’ face.

“Hi guys, have you seen Etoile?” he asked, and the boys looked at each other and mumbled a bit, thinking about it. The pair shook their heads, and Ynda didn’t seem to particularly know or care either.

“Have you tried the unused room on corridor 57-K?” Dengeki asked, knowing full well his brother and his girlfriend had taken refuge in there earlier for a bit of whatever-they-got-up-to.

“Yes,” Nebulos replied, to the twin’s surprise. But he recovered quickly, and tried again. “What about the television room?” Dengeki had seen Finnick and Milo-Lee heading up there some time ago.

“Yup...”

“Hm...” The aquatic boy took on a pose of intense thought, stroking at his chin as if he had a long wiry beard there. After a few moments, an idea hit him; him and Unagi had discovered the Earth tradition of mistletoe some time ago, and since they were rather tall they had taken the liberty of hanging a few bushels of the plant around the base. He could only clearly remember where they had deposited one of them, though.

“How about the observatory?” he suggested. Now he thought about it, he wasn’t entirely sure why they’d hung the romantic buds in that room; it wasn’t exactly an area of high traffic. But the huge dome of curved glass panels that formed the walls and roof did make for a nice view.

“No, I haven’t looked there...” As Nebulos thought about it, it would make a lot of sense for him to be up there. Himself and Etoile had often taken trips up to the observatory just to enjoy the atmosphere the huge room created. “I’ll try it, thanks guys!” And with a spring in his step he bounded from the room again, while Dengeki chuckled to himself.

“What’s so funny, Dekki?” Cyril asked, big blue eyes looking up at him curiously.

“Oh, nothing...”

---

Nebulos wondered how he often managed to forget that such a long flight of stairs lead to the observatory.

“If I’d remembered at the bottom, I would’ve taken the vents instead...” he mumbled to himself as he huffed and puffed his way up the staircase. But once he reached the top of the stairs, he noticed the shadow of a figure being cast onto the ground in front of him. Glad there was at least someone up here, he brushed off the dust his clothes had collected as he made his journey, and bounded into the room. But he quickly realised that what he thought was the shadow of one person was actually two.

Stood beneath a sprig of mistletoe in the middle of the room, two aliens he knew all too well were locked at the mouth and apparently completely oblivious to his entry. His antennae brightened and his mouth dropped into an ‘o’ of surprise at what he was seeing, but that ‘o’ quickly melted into a joyful smile, fuelled by the serenity of the moment, and the fact that because they hadn’t seen him, he hadn’t really interrupted it. Coming back to his senses, he headed back down the stairs as fast as his little legs would carry him, stifling a giggle behind one of his hands. Etoile and Nalo, kissing under the mistletoe! He couldn’t possibly keep that to himself!

---

X3

Quick note: Vera, no offence, but your comic had NOTHING to do with the ending of this chapter. XD; This has been in planning for a looooong time!

[Sadie]

KALDAJDFHALKSHDFASDF
YOU AND I PLANNED THIS AND I'M STILL EXCITED.

X3
IT WAS WRITTEN BEAUTIFULLY by the way, I dunno if I said that.

BUT ANYWAY.

HOW YOU LIKE /THAT/ SURPRISE, DUDES?! X3