[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Twas two days before Christmas and all throughout Filia's house. Not a creature dared to stir, because of the psycho bitch on the couch.




It was two days before Christmas in a quiet and peaceful town. The snow decorating the house roofs with their white furnishings while adding their touch to nearby Christmas decorations. The boys playing outside making snowmen while others are having snowball fights. And, if you could look from the roof tops, you could see a bit of smoke coming from the house of where a certain Golden Dragon female lives. A house where she usually sells rare antiques and pottery. However, the smoke didn't come from the chimney that it normally would. The smoke came from a hole that was created by the power of a fireball spell which was caused by a red-headed sorceress named Lina Inverse. This is where this story begins.


While inside of the Golden Dragon's Maces and Pottery store, everyone was inside of Filia's living room chatting with one another. Amelia talking with both Sylphiel and Filia with her usual tone while conducting a speech about justice. Gourry trying his best to sound at least interested in what both the beastmen, Jillas the red fox and the huge lizard man Gravos, are saying about their experience with working with the blonde priestess. As for the chimera, Zelgadis Greywords....well, he was just being his usual self by just sipping on a cup of tea that the former dragon priestess made and reading a nearby paper that he got on the way over.


However, all was not right in the house for there was one person that didn't share the same types of joy that each of her friends were enjoying. Lina Inverse, also known as the Dragon Spooker; Bandit Killer; and The Enemy of all who live, was sitting all alone on a huge couch right near the fire. She didn't feel like sharing with her friends about what she's feeling at that moment. As a matter of fact, she was feeling a bit annoyed for whenever she heard the mention of Christmas come from a person's mouth, she would instantly summon a fireball within her hands so that she could blow them to bits.


No one in the room dared to go near her fearing that she would cast a Dragon Slave, which could decimate an entire city in less than a minute. Not even Xellos, a General/Priest for the Monster Race's Beastmaster Xelas, dared to go near the red-haired sorcery genius in fear that she would vanquish him like she did to those who were even more powerful than himself. As much as he like to feed off the negative emotions of people that he most like to annoy, he didn't want to be on the receiving end like Darkstar, Valgaav, Hellmaster Phibrizzo, and even Ruby-Eye Shabranigdo himself.


Just when Xellos was about to start his usual ruckus with Zelgadis, the front door suddenly flew open and everyone in the room suddenly turned to see who it was. The people who suddenly came in the house through the door were none other than the heroes from another world. When the words 'another world' come in mind, it means that the people who just came through the door came from a whole different universe.


Miguel Angel Arias, a young man who came from advanced world where humans rule, came through the door with his usual attire consisting of a white shirt and blue jeans. With him were four animal-like people who called themselves Mobians. Two look like identical twin hedgehogs while the other two are a young orange fox and a rather serious looking red echidna. The only difference between the two hedgehogs is that one of them has a blue color on his body while the other is covered with a fur mixed with the colors red and black all around his body with a touch of silver fur on his chest.


As the five entered the house, Sylphiel immediately ran towards her friends and gave Miguel a big warm hug filled with joy. While shaking off a bit of the embarrassment that he was feeling at the moment, Miguel suddenly found his attention on Lina, who he was seeing sitting on the couch near the fire place. He also noticed Xellos being in the room as well, watching closely over the red head as he seemed to be a little too distracted to even notice his presense. Miguel then ignored the thought and began to ask a question that has been on his mind since he arrived in this world.


"Uh, why is everybody acting as if it Christmas was almost here? And what's with all of the snow coming from outside?"


"Yeah! And what's with all of the Christmas decorations?" asked Sonic the Hedgehog with his usual tone of voice with a bit of confusion in it as well, "Ever since the five of us got to this world, it's been nothing but Christmas cheer no matter where we look in this town. Not to mention kids playing in the snow making snowmen (Not that I'm against it and all)."


As an answer to the blue hedgehog's question, Amelia skipped merrily towards the five as she said, "Can't you five tell? Of course that Christmas is almost here! Merry Christmas!"


"Why do I get the feeling that the five of us are in some sort of cheap Christmas special?" Knuckles the Echidna said with a sigh as he covered his faced with his white-gloved hand in order to hide his embarrassment.


"Christmas? What is it? Some sort of holiday?" asked Shadow the Hedgehog as he looked at the place that he's in with a confused look on his serious looking face.


"Oh, that's right. You've never had a Christmas celebration before, have you, Shadow?" Tail Mile Prower asked the black hedgehog with a bit of sympathy in his voice.


"Well, I guess that now would be the perfect time for him to start learning all about it," said the Golden Dragon Filia with a cheerful look on her face as she walked over to the black hedgehog and gave him a big hug. "Merry Christmas, Mr. Shadow!"


When the former dragon priestess released her hold on a slightly blushing Shadow, there suddenly came a loud angry moan of disgust coming from where Lina was sitting, causing everyone in the room to jump with a bit of fear. That was when Xellos started to back away from where he was watching the red head and then suddenly noticed that the visitors from outside of his world. The Monster also noticed Miguel and before either he or the human boy started to glare at each other, Miguel soon started to turn away from his direction and asked with a confused tone of voice.


"Man! What the heck's with Lina? It's almost as if someone in this town made fun of her for being young and small and...well, you all get the idea. So can anyone tell me what's wrong with her? Well, besides the usual anyway?"


As if responding to the Miguel's smart-aleck question, Gourry started to whisper to everyone in a low tone so that Lina wouldn't be able to listen.


"To tell you the truth, I don't know. It all started about five days ago before you guys arrived in this world. When Lina suggested that we go into this town to visit Filia and do some other stuff. We thought it was going to be like the usual things that Lina always has us to do. Raid bandits and steal their treasure, that sort of thing. But as soon as we got into this town, we saw that every building we came to had Christmas decorations all over the place. That was when Lina started to go ballistic than she usually does and just before she could have a chance to cast a Dragon Slave, a guy accidently drops a crate filled with fruit on her head."


"It was a good thing that she was knocked out or otherwise this town would be reduced to a crater," Zelgadis added as he too lowered his voice.


"But that still didn't explain why Lina is acting all gloomy and more angry than she usually does," Tails said with a sort of confused tone in his young voice.


"I'll be the one to answer that, Tails," said Zelgadis as he walked towards the five heroes while putting down his paper at the same time as he spoke in a low voice. "After the five of us managed to find a decent hotel to rest for a while, we've been carefully watching Lina very closely since she was unconscious. Then when she woke up, the four of us did our best to try to conceal the fact that it was Christmas by blindfolding her. As usual, she didn't think the idea of being blinded is such a good idea. But after a bit of consideration by Gourry, she went along with it. However, when the five of us got to Filia's place and when she said the words 'Merry Christmas,' that was when things started to get ugly."


"You're telling us, rock man," Sonic said as he looked at the hole on the ceiling, "That hole that I'm seeing right now must be a part of Lina's handy work."


"Actually, that only happen recently just a few moments before you arrived, Sonic" the Golden Dragon female responded to the blue hedgehog's words with a sigh of annoyance as she whispered. "When both Miss Amelia and Miss Sylphiel tried to spread a bit of Christmas cheer in order to cheer Miss Lina up, she immediately started to throw a fire ball towards them. If it weren't for that horrible Monster, this entire house would've been reduced to rubble by now! But it cost me a roof in order for that piece of filth to redirect the fire ball towards the sky! And both Mr. Jillas and Mr. Gravos worked so hard to built the roof too!"


"Yeah, and all of that hard work that both the boss and I endured to do it!" said the one-eyed fox with a bit of a melodramatic tone in his voice while keeping it to a whisper.


"You tell 'em, Jillas!" Gravos said to his friend with the same sad tone in his whispering voice, "The two of us spent days to trying to make sure that the roof is good enough to withstand a snow storm as this one and that red-headed nut put a hole in it in seconds!"


"Okay! Okay! We get the point, big guy! Lina's a nut job!" whispered Knuckles as he did his best to calm the huge lizard man. "So I guess now we know what causes the red-headed sorceress to go crazy. But now what we don't understand is why the red-headed nut has this thing against Christmas."


"Then maybe I should be the one to find what," Miguel said to everyone before he started to march up towards the red-headed sorceress who was still sitting on the couch by herself.


He heard some gasps of horror coming from the group before coming even closer to Lina. He also heard a small snicker coming from the Monster priest Xellos as he reached to where the red-haired girl sat but ignored him and focused on his task. However, just before he could have a chance to even say one word to Lina, the young man felt the two hands of someone pulling on his arm, dragging him away from the red-headed sorceress.


"Hey! What's the big idea!?" Miguel said as he pulled his arm away from the person's grip and turned before seeing Sylphiel right in front of him. "Sylphiel?! What's the big idea of you dragging me away from Lina? I'm only going to see what's wrong with her, that's all! I mean, isn't she your friend?"


"Of course she's my friend, Miguel," the purple-haired shrine maiden answered him with a sort of nervous shade of red on her face, "Lina is the best friend that I've never had! It's just that....well,....as Knuckles puts it earlier....she's sort of a..."


That was when Sylphiel's sentence was finished by Amelia who spoke with a rather loud tone of voice.


"Miss Lina is a crazy nut, Mr. Miguel! If you go near her and try to cheer her up with Christmas cheer, she'll fry you to a crisp! It's suicide!"


"She's right, Miguel," Zelgadis added to the princess of Seyruun's words. "Just the other day, when a group of people came to the hotel that we've settled at singing 'Silent Night' in front of the building, Lina threw a bucket of boiling water at them. She then said to them that if they ever come near here singing that song again, she said that she's going to show them a real 'Silent Night.' And that's just the least of what she could. Just be thankful that all she's doing is just sitting on that couch looking at that fire right now."


"Well, I happen to agree with Zelgadis on this one, young man," Xellos said as he appeared from behind the chimera and faced his direction, "And if you like living as much as you do, then it would be wise for you to stay away from Miss Lina. As much as I would like to see you burn and suffer for trying to reason with her, I would like to keep you alive for....other reasons that Lord Beastmaster has in mind for you."


"Which would be a secret, right?" Miguel responded to the Monster as the purple-haired General/Priest nodded to answer his question. "(Sighs) It figures. Well, nuts or not, I'm still going to try to get to the bottom of why Lina hates Christmas. I mean, you would have to be insane to hate Christmas. And..."


Just before he could add anything else, everyone in the room heard the voice of Lina Inverse saying to them while causing everyone but Xellos to jump up in fear.


"If all of you are done judging my character, I'd like to get back to the hotel and get some sleep," Lina said as she marched up towards the door, "I'm tired of listening to all of you trying to plan getting me into the Christmas Spirit."


"But it's only the middle of the afternoon, Lina" Gourry said to the sorceress before she turned towards the group with a terrifying and menacing tone in her voice that matched her face.


"I SAID THAT I'M TIRED AND I WANT TO GO BACK TO THE HOTEL, SO DON'T YOU ALL MESS WITH ME OR ELSE!!"


When the small sorceress had finally left Filia's house, everyone, except Xellos, in the living room was still frozen with fear. Miguel was finally able to break the long silence by saying with a shaken tone in his voice while realizing that he was suddenly holding the shrine maiden Sylphiel in his arms.


"Uh...On second thought, maybe I should find a more safe way to find out why Lina hates Christmas so much. Anyone want to volunteer to go with me on this one? Hee! Hee! Hee!"



Later on that night, while sleeping in her own hotel room, Lina Inverse had a terrible dream. A dream that made the petite sorceress toss and turn in her sleep. A dream that involves the times that she experienced while being a young girl, having Christmas with her older sister, Luna Inverse.


"No! Nothing! Always nothing but crap!" Lina moaned as sweat was beginning to crawl up her face. "No! Sis! Why?!"













"Morning, sis!" a young, cheerful, and even more bustier-looking Lina Inverse said as she climbed down the stairs of her home to the living room as she greeted her older sister, Luna. "Merry Christmas!"


"Oh, cut the crap, Lina!" the eldest Inverse sister said to her sibling as she pointed her index finger towards a huge pink wrapped box with a red bow on it that's near a large and beautifully decorated tree. "Just open that huge gift of yours and get it over with!"


"Oh, boy! Thanks, sis!" little Lina said as she gave her older sister a hug before running over to her huge pink box and began unwrapping it. "Oh, boy! Oh, boy! Oh, boy! What is it?! A dress! A puppy! A pretty...!"


That was all the young girl could say for her last sentence as she finished unwrapping the box and opened it to find only what appears to be a huge mound of dirt in it. It also radiated a sort of nasty smell that almost smells like it came from the men's bathroom or something. That was when Lina heard her own older sister beginning to laugh at her for the prank that she just pulled on her little sister while trying to speak at the same time.


"Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! I can't believe that a dumb girl like you could be so gullible! Do you really think that I would give you something nice?! All you got was crap that got literally pulled out of a horse's ass! Ha! Ha! Ha!"








"Well, what have you gotten me this year, sister dear?" asked Lina as she entered the living room where Luna was waiting for her while sitting near the Christmas tree. "It's not another large mound of crap like you gave me last year, is it?"


As the red-haired sorceress looked suspiciously at the large, long, and blue box that her older sister laid out, Luna began to responded to her little sister with a sort of sisterly tone of voice.


"Don't be ridiculous, Lina! Do you really think that I would pull that prank on you again? I know that you're getting a bit older, so I have to start respecting you more. I don't get a lot of money from serving people in the restaurant, you know. And I have to blast about a half dozen people in order to get you this powerful Sage's Staff from them is just about...!"


That was all Luna could say before Lina began to pounce at her gift while saying, "A Sage's Staff?! Oh, boy! Now that was about the nicest thing that you have ever done for me since...!"


That was all that Lina could say before she'd finished unwrapping her gift and found a long wooden stick in it. Along with the stick, came a note that says, 'I. O. U. one brain.' As if answering to her curiosity, the little red-haired girl saw her sister rolling on the floor, laughing her brains out while trying to speak through her own laughter.


"Ah, Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Of course it's not a powerful Sage's Staff, you stupid little girl! I can't believe that you would fall for such a thing two years in a row! Ah, Ha! Ha! Ha!"








"Well, aren't you going to open your present, Lina?" Luna asked her more agitated little sister while she was looking at the square box suspiciously.


"It's not going to be another one of your 'Great Gifts,' is it, sis?" Lina asked her older sister as she continued to eye on the gift. "I mean, I don't see how you could think that this is even funny any- more. First, you gave me a pile full of crap that literally came out of a horse's ass. Next, you claimed that you got me a Sage's Staff when all it was a stick with an I. O. U. sign on it. Now, you suddenly come in here with a gift that's supposedly my Christmas gift. Seriously, what's going to be in it this time? A pig's heart, Queeny?!"


"Yeah, you're right. It's not funny anymore," Luna said to her busty little sister as she pushed the gift at her face, "Which is why I've worked so hard to make you this lovely present this time. I know that you think that this is going to end up like all of your other gifts that I gave these past two years. But it's not going to be like that this time. Don't you see little tiny holes on it, little sis?"


"Well, I guess that it wouldn't hurt to take a small peek," Lina said as she carefully examined the box that she was holding before starting to lift it. "Man! This weighs about a ton! What did you get me, sis? A baby rhino?"


"You're going to have to open the box in order to find out," Luna said as she watched her busty red-headed sister starting to open the gift.


As Lina carefully unwrap the box, she was leaped back and prepared to incinerate the dumb gift that her older sister got her. But to her surprise, all the box did was nothing but stand there and be nothing but a harmless Christmas present. When her curiosity got the best of her, Lina carefully poked the box with a broom stick that she normally used to clean the house. When she saw that the box was harmless, Lina began to approach it and began to open it once again. But as soon as she opened the cardboard lid of the box, she was suddenly hit hard right on the chest by a rock solid cinder block attached to a metal spring that was so incredible that she was thrown to the wall, crashing right into it.


"Ah, Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! I can't believe that you would fall for that, you stupid little bitch!" Luna said to little Lina as she laughed at her sister's misfortune at falling for her prank. "Now because of that dim brain of your's, your breasts are now as flat as a washboard! Now you're a flat-chested stupid little bitch! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!"








"No! Sis! Why?! Why did you do that to me?!" Lina said as she continued to rock and stir within her sleep before she started to wake up from her nightmare, "Sis! No!!!"


As the red-headed sorceress looked around to see if anyone heard her, a small voice said to her, "Oh, my Gosh! Miss Lina, are you alright?!"


"Oh, my God, you wouldn't believe it!" Lina responded to the voice while gasping for air without even realizing who was she talking to, "I had a horrible dream that it was Christmas....and my sister was in it...and......."


When she finally caught her breath, Lina immediately turned to see the person, who was none other than Amelia hiding in the safety of the shadows.


"Wha...What the hell are you doing here, Amelia?" the sorcery genius asked the shadow with a menacing tone in her voice.


"Uh...I'm afraid of the dark," the princess of Seyruun answered as she began to become engulfed in Lina's shadow.


Meanwhile while in the hotel's huge dining room, the others were waiting patiently for Amelia to return. Miguel, Sonic, and Sylphiel sat at one table while Knuckles, Shadow, Filia, and Xellos sat at the other. As for Tails and Gourry, they both stayed behind in Filia's home while helping both Gravos and Jillas with trying to repair the hole that Lina caused this afternoon. After about another moment of waiting has passed, that was when Sonic started to become impatient.


"Man! What is taking that girl so long? I'm starting to get the feeling that Lina must've roasted Amelia with one of her fire spells and is now eating her up like a roast pig."


"Hey, watch what you're saying about Amelia, blue boy!" Zelgadis said as he began to reach for his sword.


"What did you say, Stone boy?!" the blue hedgehog retorted just as he was about to reach the chimera before both Sylphiel and Miguel got in between them.


"Sonic! Mr. Zelgadis! Both of you stop it!" the shrine maiden said to the two as both she and Miguel continued to keep Sonic and Zelgadis from fighting before either adversary could even get close to the other. "Fighting isn't going to help us about Miss Lina's problem!"


"Sylphiel's right, you two!" Miguel said as he blocked the chimera's view of Sonic, "This isn't helping! If we're all going to find out the core of Lina's problem, we have to be patient! Besides, it's Christmas! Tis the season to be jolly!"


"I think that I'm going to be sick," Xellos muttered as he laid his head on the table where he, Shadow, Knuckles, and Filia are sitting.


"Well, it serves you right, Xellos!" the blond female dragon taunted, "This is what you get from feeding off of the misery of other people and for destroying thousands of my kind...!"


"Miss Filia, you're not helping with trying to defuse this situation," Knuckles said to the female Golden Dragon with a sort of annoyed tone in his voice.


Shadow just sighed at the sight just before everyone in the dining room heard the voice of Lina shouting as they both heard a crash coming from the hall.


"Get out and stay out!!" they all heard the sorceress shout out as all of them managed to get to the source of the loud crash.


Who they saw was Amelia, lying on the floor with appears to be a broken house plant right beneath her with a dazed look on her face. As both hedgehogs began to take the princess of Seyruun to her own respective room, Sylphiel quickly began to revive the small girl with one of her healing spells.


"So what happened, Amelia?" Miguel began to ask with his usual tone of voice, "Did you find out anything?"


"Well, I heard Miss Lina mumbling in her sleep about a bad childhood in Christmas time or something," the princess of Seyruun answered. "I then heard her say something about her sister making her into a stupid flat-chested bitch or something."


"Well, at least that answers two questions about Lina's personal life," Zelgadis said as he continued to sit by Amelia's side. "Now what are all of us going to do about it?"


After a moment of thinking, a thought suddenly a thought suddenly occurred in Miguel's mind as he said, "I've got it! Why don't we all get help Lina make up for all of those bad years? That way, she won't feel that Christmas is the time for her to start reflecting on being a small girl! What do you all say about that?"


"I'd say that it's the most ridiculous idea that I've ever heard, Mr. Miguel!" Amelia responded to the young man's idea while quaking in terror, "I've seen Miss Lina reduce an entire bandit gang to ashes with just a wave of her hand! A boy like you would only last about sixty seconds! There's no way that we're going to convince Miss Lina to start enjoying Christmas after what she'd just endured as a kid!"


"Look, girl. Miguel, Sylphiel, Knuckles, Shadow, Tails, and I have fought with an seemingly immortal creature that could absorb and take on different forms and shapes from other beings," Sonic answered before he could add more from his own mental list, "Traveled to other worlds to fight with villains that are just as dastardly as Parasite. And we've also fought with villains that are brought back from the dead by that thing who are now more powerful than they were that....!"


"Okay! Okay, Blue Boy! We get the picture!" Zelgadis cut in on Sonic's words with his own. "All I want to know is how are we going to get Lina to start liking Christmas? I mean, it's not like that she's a person that could open up very easy."


"Why don't we just get Miss Lina a beautiful Christmas present?" Sylphiel asked as everyone began to keep their eyes on her. "I mean, most of the presents that she received as a young girl were cruel pranks. So why don't we get her something that she likes so much that she would forget about those cruel years?"


"Well, I guess that Miss Sylphiel has a point there," Filia said to everyone in the room as they all turned their attention towards her. "I mean, that would explain very much about Miss Lina's eating disorder and greedy demeanor."


"So, what can all of us get that girl that she doesn't already have?" Knuckles began to ask everyone in the room as they all began to think about the present that they could get the Dragon Spooker, Lina Inverse, for Christmas.


"Oh! I've got the perfect idea for Miss Lina's present," Xellos began to say to everyone with his usual sinister look on his face. "How about that we have Gourry dress himself all in scandalous black leather and get him to..."


The Monster priest's suggestion was soon cut short for when both Amelia and Filia began to throw various objects at him while Miguel started to throw a thunderbolt at him which ended up being thrown out of the open window of the room. When both Zelgadis and Sylphiel both blushed at the what the Monster priest said. Sonic, Knuckles, and Shadow meanwhile began to look at the scene with looks of both annoyance and disgust as they covered their faces with the palms of their hands. When Amelia finally caught Xellos with her Flow Break spell, Filia began to lift up her skirt, reached for her mace and pointed it towards the Monster. That was when Miguel came up towards the trapped priest with a ball of energy just waiting for him to throw it towards Xellos.


"Okay, Xellos. If you know what's good for you, then I suggest that you'd better leave," the young man said with a menacing edge to his voice as he held the ball of light that he was ready to throw towards the Monster.


"But all I wanted to do is help with getting Lina a present!" Xellos answered with a pouting tone in his voice as if the spell that he was trapped in meant nothing to him at all.


"Well, you just crossed the line for when you suggested such a thing, you perverted Monster!" Filia shouted to him, readying her mace to swing at the Trickster Priest at any moment. "And don't you think that Miguel here doesn't have the power to destroy you 'cause he does!"


That was when the Monster did the most unexpected thing that no one in the room ever expected him to do. His eyes soon began to water and twinkle like that of a sad puppy dog as he was being surrounded by the Amelia's imprisonment spell. Miguel, apparently being annoyed by the act, started to sigh a bit with disgust and turned his attention to both priestesses as he began to say to them.


"Let the little perverted leprechaun go, you two. It's just a waste of time. Obviously, he's just doing that puppy dog act of his just to get us to feel sorry for him."


"But Mr. Miguel," Amelia began to protest, "Mr. Xellos just gave a very perverted suggestion for Miss Lina's present! And I, Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun, would not have such a thing ruin Miss Lina's Christmas Spirit more than it already is! Why I....!"


"Okay! Okay, Amelia! I get the picture!" Miguel said while cutting of the little princess's words. "Look, I'm as furious with Xellos' suggestion as much as you and Filia. But, just taking it out on the pervert isn't going to help solve the problem that we have right now. So, just let him go."


As soon as Amelia did as she was told, Filia began to shout out to Miguel, "Are you out of you're ever loving mind, Mr. Miguel?! Don't you realize that Xellos here is a Monster?! A creature of pure darkness and destruction that would stop at nothing to...!"


That was when Sonic chose that exact time to step in and say, "Whoa, dragon lady! Take it easy there! Look, Miguel knows what that Monster is capable of and is too smart to fall for any of his acts. But Xellos also knows what Miguel is capable of too and would be killed by him if he tries to do anything fishy. Besides, we have a problem right now that would...."


Before the blue hedgehog could finish the rest of his sentence, a loud explosion came out from the red-headed sorceress's room, causing everyone who heard it to freeze with terror.


"Now what in Ciephied's name is that?!" shouted Amelia as she was holding onto Zelgadis's arm as tightly as she could.


"I can answer that question for all of you with just three simple words," Miguel answered while seeing a frighten Sylphiel holding onto his own arm with great strength. "Lina...is....pissed!"


"Miguel, please watch your language," the shrine maiden said to him while still holding onto his arm.


"I'm afraid the kid's right about what he said, Sylphiel," Zelgadis said as he blushed with Amelia holding onto his arm. "Lina must be really riled up in order to cause that powerful explosion spell."


"Well, whatever spell that the little red-haired manic might've cast," Sonic said as he quickly ran up towards the window and saw the fiery scene outside, "she just set a big Christmas tree on fire while the people outside are running around fetching pales of water in order to put it out."


"Let's just focus on the task at hand otherwise there will be bigger problems other than that explosion," Shadow said with a cool demeanor in his voice. "Now how do we take care of it?"


As a long silence took into the room, that was when Miguel began to say, "I say that we take Sylphiel's advice and get Lina a present that she won't forget. Knowing the red head, it could almost be anything."


Just before Xellos could have the chance to speak his mind, Miguel turned his attention back to the Monster and said to him with a menacing edge in his voice while holding back up the ball of light in his hands towards him, "As for you Xellos, don't you dare even say a word about that past suggestion of yours. If you want to make yourself useful for once, get out of here and go raid us a Christmas tree or something."


"If you really insist, Miguel," the tricky Monster responded to the teen while disappearing out of sight. "I'll just go and get us a tree for this holiday. Farewell!"


"Well, now that's a real pain off of my shoulders," Filia said with a sigh of relief as she placed her mace back into its resting placed. "Now what in the world are all of us suppose to do with Lina? It's pretty obvious that she could start to kill anyone that even sings a Christmas Carol to her. We can't just leave her alone while we're out getting presents."


"I have a suggestion," Knuckles began to say as the red echidna crawled out from under the bed. "Why don't some of us stay with her in case that she decides to go suicidal on the next group of singers that are singing the next Christmas song."


"Good point there, Knux," Sonic answered to his red friend as he walked up towards the group. "Two or more of us should stay with that red head in case she decides to go psycho on this town. Does anyone here have any suggestions?"


After a moment of silence, Amelia soon began to say, "Why don't you stay here with Miss Lina, Mr. Sonic? I mean, it's pretty obvious that you can dodge whatever she can throw at you. You are the fastest among us after all."


When the princess of Seyruun said those words, Sonic began to turn wide-eyed as he said to her, "Are you serious, babe? Lina would burn me to a crisp if she were to get mad again!"


"Hmph! I seriously doubt that, Sonic," Zelgadis said to the blue hedgehog as eyed the chimera with a serious look. "As I seem to recall, you were able to defeat an entire village filled with bandits without them having the time they need to arm their weapons. And the village that you've mentioned while you were bragging about it was at least about a week's journey from here!"


"That still doesn't prove that I should be the one to stay with the flaming psycho!" the blue hedgehog said to the chimera as he kept his attention towards him.


"Sonic! You were able to get from here to that village in less than one minute!" Miguel said as he turned to the blue hedgehog with a serious look on his face. "Come on, pal! I mean, out of all of the things that Robotnik has thrown at you for as many times as I could count, what's the harm in staying with Lina?"


"Comparing what that huge talking egg has thrown at me and what that little manic has done to us since we've arrived here," Sonic began to reply, "I'd rather much handle Robotnik than babysit that little crazy girl!"


"Don't be such a wuss, Sonic," Knuckles said to him as he folded his arms with suspicion. "Lina can't be as bad as Robotnik was. So taking care of her should be a piece of cake."


"Well yeah, but.." the blue hedgehog began to protest before he was interrupted by the words of the former priestess of the Fire Dragon King.


"Just think of it this way, Mr. Sonic," Filia began as she spoke to Sonic, "image this: you, the fastest being that ever lived, managed to fight off Lina Inverse: the Enemy of All Who Live; the Dragon Spooker; the Chaos...."


"Okay! Okay! Okay, dragon girl! I get the point!" the blue hedgehog said as he began to sigh in defeat. "If it would make you all feel better, I'll make sure that Lina won't be able to cause any further damage to this town than she already did!"


"Oh, Thank you, Mr. Sonic! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Filia said as she went up to the blue hedgehog and gave him a huge hug while smothering his face with her chest.


"Well, I guess that takes care of that problem," Miguel said with a sigh of relief as he was turning his attention back towards everyone else. "Now all we have to do is to go and get Lina a glamourous present that would put everyone else's presents to shame. So, does anyone here have any suggestions on where to go?"


"What about that market place that's just at the other side of this town, Miguel?" Sylphiel suggested as everyone in the room began to point all of their attention towards her. "I mean, while spending the days at Miss Filia's, I sort of went over there and did some holiday shopping while Miss Lina was unconscious. They have all sorts of fabulous gifts and items while I was there."


"Then, I say that it would be a perfect place to start looking for a present fo Lina, Sylphiel," Miguel said to the shrine maiden as she began to blush at the comment. "Now that we know where to start looking for Lina's present, I'd say that we all call it a night and get some rest. That way we can all have a head start at shopping so that Lina wouldn't cause much trouble to anyone who would try to sing a Christmas song to her or try to spread some cheer.


"Meanwhile, Sonic along with Jillas and Gravos will stay with Lina and keep an eye on her so that she wouldn't cause too much trouble and see if they could avoid her seeing anything that might spread a bit of Christmas Cheer."


"And how exactly do you guys expect the three of us to do that?" the blue hedgehog asked with a serious tone in his voice as everyone in the room began to exit Amelia's room in order to rest. Sonic then finally gave up and followed his friends out of the inn.


The next morning after he arrived to the hotel, Sonic soon received the answer to his question as he went towards the hotel that Lina was in and saw the sorceress gorging herself on what appears to be a huge pile of well-cooked and well-prepared food on a huge dining room table.


"(Sighs) I should've seen this coming," Sonic thought to himself as he went closer towards the table and carefully examined the food that Lina was devouring. "Judging from the way that this food was neatly arranged and by the good smell, I'd say that this must be Sylphiel's cooking. I guess the one way to get to this girl's heart is definitely through her stomach."


"Hey Sonic! How's it going?" Lina murmured cheerfully as she did her best to speak with the food inside of her mouth. "Come on down and have a bite! Just don't get some of my food unless you want a black eye!"


As he continued to see the sorceress devouring the huge pile of food, Sonic thought to himself in amazement and fear, "Ooookay, now that was weird. That girl is as calm as a cat lying around the couch. Why the sudden change in personality all of a sudden?"


Then, when he looked around the inside of the inn, the blue hedgehog soon noticed that there weren't any Christmas decorations around the place as there were last night.


"Ah! So that explains it!" Sonic thought, "The gang must've convinced everyone in this area to keep the Christmas Cheer to a low tone while Lina was here. No wonder I didn't see any Christmas decorations on my way here. I guess that Miguel nor any of the others thought that it would be safe to take any chances."


With his thoughts done, Sonic began to turn his attention back towards Lina and just watched her eat the huge pile of food.


"Hey! What are you looking at, Blue Boy?" the red headed sorceress asked the blue hedgehog with a bit of attitude in her voice as she gulped down the piece of food in her mouth. "Aren't you going to order something or what?"


"Eh, I just ate breakfast at our own inn, so I'm not that hungry," Sonic replied sheepishly as he did his best to hide the fear that he has deep inside of him.


"Oh, I see," Lina replied as she took a sip from the huge glass of red juice while washing down the food in her mouth. "Where are the others at anyway?"


The blue hedgehog thought about what to say and that was when a thought came to him. "The others are at the market in order to do some shopping," Sonic said as he saw the red-haired female keeping a close eye on him despite the amount of food in her mouth. "I overheard that Sylphiel is going to show Miguel something that she thinks that he might like."


As a response, Sonic soon saw Lina beginning to have a impish grin on her face and said to him as she swallowed the food in her mouth, "Well, well, well. It seems that Sylphiel has finally found a new Gourry Dear! Aw! Now that is so cute!"


The blue hedgehog laughed a bit too as he began to see the sorceress smile about something besides an explosion that she caused with one of her spells. That was when he heard the girl beginning to ask him, "So Sonic, do you know what's going on here lately? Everything that I could think of just came blank to me."


"She doesn't remember what happened last night?" Sonic thought to himself as he turned and looked at Lina with a curious expression on his face. "I guess the guys really can't take any chances with Lina. I guess this job isn't as bad as I think it is. Now all I have to do is to just play along with it then everything will be okay and, hopefully, it will stay that way."


"Well, I guess that must've been some party that you had last night," the blue hedgehog quickly replied as he did his best to answer Lina. "Me, and the guys just barely got into this world for when we saw you barely drunk out of your mind. But don't worry, Gourry, or anyone for that matter, didn't take advantage of you while you were sleeping it off."


That was when he heard a sigh of relief coming from Lina for when he finished the sentence. Before he knew it, Sonic soon found himself quietly sighing in relief as well. Then as he was beginning to relax, the blue hedgehog began to hear the door open and that was when he saw both the huge lizard man Gravos and the one-eyed fox Jillas coming into the dining room with smiles on their faces.


"Hello, Miss Lina," Jillas said to the sorceress with his British-sounding accent as he walked up towards the table. "Having a good day this morning?"


"Yeah, it's just great," Lina answered cheerfully while having food in her mouth as she continued to gorge through the large amounts of food that's on the table. "The others left for the market in order for Sylphiel to get something for a...special someone. She must be in order to make a huge pile of food that tastes so good."


Sonic began to sigh with annoyance as he suddenly started to think that maybe telling the red-head about both Miguel and Sylphiel probably wasn't such a good idea.


That was when Gravos began to walk up towards the blue hedgehog and said to him, "Hey, Sonic. Miss Filia told us about what happened and said for the two of us to stay here with you in case Lina begins to get all moody again."


"Well, I wouldn't worry about that too much, big guy," the blue hedgehog said to the lizard man. "Just as long as we don't mention anything that concerns about Christmas, I think that we should be alright."


While Gravos nodded to Sonic, the blue Mobian soon turned his attention back towards the sorceress and Jillas as the fox said to her, "Hey, Miss Lina. Do you want to know what I got you for Chris...?"


Just before the one-eyed fox could have the chance to finish the rest of sentence, Sonic stopped Jillas with his hand before anyone could blink. The blue hedgehog then began to drag the fox away from Lina and back towards Gravos just before he began to say to him.


"Put on lid on it, fox man!" Sonic said to the one-eyed fox as he whispered quietly enough so that Lina wouldn't listen. "Do you want to get your butt fried by the girl who could reduce this town to ashes in a matter of seconds?"


"He's right, you idiot!" Gravos added as he whispered low enough so that he wouldn't be heard by the red-headed sorceress. "Do you really want to get blown to dust by that crazy sorceress?!"


"Oye! Sorry, Sonic! Boss!" Jillas replied as he soon realized the mistake that he almost made. "What should we do in the meantime while the others are at the market?"


"Well, I think that Lina started to the continue to gorge herself on Sylphiel's cooking and is still enjoying it," Sonic replied as he turned as saw Lina gorge over the huge pile of food laid in front of her. "So, as long as we continue to pretend that's it's just another ordinary day and not two days before C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S Day, then we should be fine."


"Hey waiter! How about a shot of tequila for me to wash down this food with!?" Lina said as she was pounding the top of the table with her bare fist. "I'm waiting!"


"Augh! Well, at least it won't be a natural disaster," Sonic said to the two as he sighed with a bit of annoyance as he and the two beastmen watched the waiter serving the sorceress the alcoholic drink into her huge glass.


Meanwhile, on the other side of the town, all of the others were traveling around the market place looking for something that Lina would consider a great Christmas present.


"Well, this place certainly puts a shine on things," Knuckles said as he looked in amazement at the amount of people that were in the market.


"You've said it, Knux," Tails replied as both he and the red echidna continued to look at the numerous amounts of items that the stands were offering. "There must be a great choice of items in this place for people to come here!"


"I still don't see why I have to be here when I could be with the Sonic, Gravos, and Jillas making sure that Lina doesn't destroy the town," Shadow said to everyone as the group continued to walk down through the busy and crowded streets.


"Because, Mr. Shadow, you've never had a Christmas that involves families and friends before," Filia responded to the black hedgehog as she began to hold his hand which caused him to blush a bit. "Now you're going to see how the people of this world celebrate it."


"Well, one good thing about being with those guys from another world is that I'm not the only one who's getting stares," Zelgadis said to Amelia as he smiled a bit for when he felt her holding onto his arm.


"Uh, what do you mean by that, Mr. Zelgadis?" the princess of Seyruun asked before she turned and find that every person that they've walked passed by were staring at the four visitors from the other world direction.


"What are you talking about, you two?" Miguel asked with a bit of annoyance as he continued to walk without noticing the stares of the crowd of people. "I think that we blend in beautifully."


"Hey, mommy! Look at that guy with the red and black spikes!" said a boy while holding the had of his mother. "Ahhh! He looks like a Monster!"


"Now, now kid," Gourry began to say to the little boy with a very gentle tone of voice. "That black hedgehog isn't a Monster. He's a person that came from another world outside of our..."


With those words said to the two of them, both the boy and his mother both ran from the group as fast as they could. Shadow began to sigh with annoyance by the response as he turned towards the blonde swordsman giving him a death glare that caused Gourry to coward in fear.


"You were saying, Miguel?" Zelgadis asked with a bit of amusement in his voice with a smirk on his face. "Now Shadow knows how I feel."


"Mr. Zelgadis! That isn't a very nice thing to say about Mr. Shadow!" Amelia said while tugging at the chimera's arm a bit. "Just because he looks like a menacing villain from another world, I know that deep down inside that he's a very nice person! I, Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun, could see a good person just by seeing them!"


"Um, I think that you're taking that a bit too deep, Amelia," Tails said to the self-proclaimed warrior of Justice while sweatdropping at the same time.


"Well, Shadow's red and black colors as well as his spikes gets that reaction every time," Knuckles added while looking a bit annoyed at the princess.


"Would you all start focusing on the task at hand? We all have to try to find Lina a gift that no one else would even think of getting," Miguel asked as he turned towards his group of friends and saw that someone in their group was missing. "Hey, does anyone know where Sylphiel went?"


"That's a good question," said Tails as he turned his full attention back towards his friend. "She was right here for when we entered this area. I wonder where she went to?"


Meanwhile, Sylphiel was finishing wrapping an item that she just purchased from a nearby merchant.


"I wonder if Miguel would like this gift that I've gotten for him?" she thought to herself as she looked at the small box in front of her. "He's been so nice to me since I've met him and I already...."


Just before she could finish the rest of her thoughts, the shrine maiden started to notice that the others weren't anywhere from within her sight. But before she could have the chance to panic, Sylphiel soon started to notice a boy and his mother starting to run from the direction where she saw her friends last.


"I think I've just maybe found them," she thought to herself as she sweat dropped over the scene. "I'd better get back to them before things started to get a bit out of control."


Back at the inn where Sonic and the others are, Lina was sleeping peacefully while Sonic, Gravos, and Jillas were sitting comfortably at the inn's rec room.


"Well, at least now that the red head has been tired out from eating Sylphiel's delicious meal and drinking about four huge glasses of rubbing alcohol, I'd say that the rest of this job would be simple," the huge lizard man said to his two companions as he sighed with relief.


"You'd said it, big guy," Sonic said as he looked around the hotel just to be sure that no one was carrying anything that could lead to Christmas Cheer. "So far, everything here's just pretty quiet and peaceful."


"You've said it mates," Jillas replied while getting himself all comfortable on the chair. "Everything here's nothing but peace and quiet. And there's nothing that could keep it from....."


As if taking those words as his cue to appear, Xellos started to reappear before them with a huge and nicely decorated Christmas tree with a bit of snow all around with a shining gold star at the very top.


"Hello, everybody! Merry Christmas!" the Monster priest said loud enough for almost everyone in the hotel to hear him. "Do you like the tree that I've brought? Oh, I hope that it's good enough to Miguel's specifications."


"Shhhhh! Keep it down, you purple-haired leprechaun!" Sonic said to Xellos while in a panicked tone of voice. "Do you want Lina to hear that....?!"


But it was too late. Before the blue hedgehog could finish the rest of his sentence, they all heard the angered voice of Lina Inverse starting to erupt in a fury just before a huge explosion started from outside. When everyone turned to the window to see what caused the explosion that they've heard, Sonic quickly went to the window and saw that a huge building was starting to be sent ablaze in flames.


"I guess that we spoke too soon," Sonic said with a sigh of annoyance as he, Gravos, and Jillas began to run up the stairs in order to get to Lina's room with Xellos running behind.


Meanwhile, back at the market place, everyone else was starting to get themselves ready for the long trip back to the inn where Lina is staying when a loud grumble began to echo throughout the streets. It caused everyone in the area to turn their attention towards the source of the sound.


"Miss Amelia, are you hungry?" asked Sylphiel while looking at the princess of Seyruun with a blank stare on her face.


"Well, I am kind of hungry after all that walking we did for Miss Lina's gift," Amelia responded with a sheepish chuckle.


"I guess that some habits never change," Zelgadis said as he put his face in the palm of his hand in order to hide the embarrassment on his face.


"Well, what are we suppose to do about that?!" Filia asked while using a rather annoyed tone in her voice. "I don't want Miss Lina, Miss Amelia, and Mr. Gourry eating me out of my savings again like they did the last time!"


"Well, I think that with a little of the treasures that Lina just blasted from the bandit gangs on our way here should be enough to cover it," Gourry said scratching his head while thinking about the solution to the problem.


"And with Sylphiel's excellent cooking skills, this is going to be one Christmas party that Lina would never forget," Knuckles said while causing the shrine maiden to blush a bit.


"Well, it certainly kept Lina at bay for the past three hours," Miguel responded to the red echidna's words with a chuckle as he lifted a decent sized box up to his chest. "The best thing of all is that we got her a gift that would certainly knock her socks off. If we could keep her like that for the rest of the day, then I think that everything would be okay!"


As if on cue to cause a natural disaster, Xellos appeared right in front of the group causing the former dragon priestess to pull out from under her skirt and pointed it right towards the purple-haired Monster.


"Just what are you doing here, Xellos?!" Filia shouted as she leapt at him but was stopped by the combined strength of both Knuckles, Shadow along with Zelgadis.


"Filia calm down and look at Mr. Xellos for a moment!" Amelia said while pointing at the Trickster Priest with her index finger.


"Whoa! He looks like a total mess!" Miguel responded while seeing Xellos' cloths all burnt and torn as if he were in a fire. "Xellos, you'd better start telling us what happened before those clothes of yours would be the least of your problems!"


Xellos began chuckle nervously a bit before he began to say, "Well, you see, it all started for when I got back to the inn Miss Lina and the others with a Christmas tree that I've raided from a bandit gang that I've ran across to. I shouted so loud about the Christmas Spirit that Miss Lina heard it and started to go on a rampage."


"You did what?!" everyone in the group shouted in unison while looking at the Monster with death glares on their faces.


"Oh! For the love of...! We'd better get back there as soon as possible before any other damage is done!" Miguel shouted as he turned his attention towards Shadow. "Shadow, you, me and Sylphiel are going to use the Chaos Control in order to warp all of us back to the inn! The rest of you better ready yourselves for in case Lina goes off the deep end."


Before Xellos could have the chance to say anything, Miguel began to turn his full attention back towards the Monster and said to him while giving him a menacing glare, "As for you, Xellos! You're going to come with us and be a good little priest if you know what's good for you!"


This caused the Monster as well as the rest of the group to jump with terror for when they've saw the teen's reaction towards the dark priest.


"I guess what Miss Sylphiel said about Miguel is true!" said Amelia while holding onto Zelgadis' arm with a tight and frightened grip.


"He does act like both Lina and Gourry combined," Xellos added while still being frightened by what Miguel told him.


"Ha! Ha! Ha! Not funny," Miguel responded while calming himself down a bit. "Now isn't the time to start cracking jokes! We have to get back to the inn before things get even worse!"


With those words said from his mouth, the teen began to hold up his hand along with Shadow and Sylphiel. While some of them were a bit curious about their friends' actions, the entire group suddenly found themselves holding onto them with their own hands. Even Xellos was transfixed with what the three were going to do. Then Miguel, Sylphiel, and Shadow shouted in unison, "Chaos Control!"


As the group of friends were traveling through the green tunnel between time and space, they soon found themselves at their destination.


"Whoa! Now that was amazing!" Amelia said while looking around their surroundings. "I've never traveled like that before!"


"You've said it, Amelia!" Zelgadis responded while doing the same thing as the princess. "I've never experienced instantaneous movement like that before! It felt as though I was being burned on the outside, but frozen on the outside!" "That's truly amazing!" Filia added while still looking at Miguel, Shadow, and Sylphiel with amazement. "We're just at the market place which is about a three hour walk from here and we've just arrived at this inn in mere seconds!"


"You three can talk about that later!" Miguel said while looking at the wrecked room that they were in. "Just look at this place! It looks as though a group of villagers passed by here while holding torches and pitchforks!"


"And I wasn't the one to cause it!" Xellos pouted as Miguel looked at him with an annoyed expression on his face.


"Guys, I think you'd better come here quick!" shouted Tails while everyone heard that his voice came from inside of Lina's room.

As soon as they've all arrived at the room, the group saw that it was a living wreck as if a stampede of bulls went through. They've also saw a unconscious Gravos and Jillas lying on the scorched floor.


"Oh my...Mr. Jillas! Mr. Gravos!" Filia shouted while running up towards them and started to treat their wounds.


"Looks as though she were here and then left!" Knuckles said while still scanning the room for anything that could be considered a threat. "I'm amazed that she didn't reduce this entire building into rumble!"


"Well, it appears as though that she's nowhere in the area," Shadow as he kept his cool demeanor while still looking around the room. "Otherwise, we would have heard a huge crowd of people running outside like chickens right now."


"I'd have to agree with Shadow," Zelgadis responded while still have his sword ready for any surprise attack. "If Lina was here, a group of people would have came here right now with torches and pitchforks."


"Uh, has anyone seen Sonic?" everyone heard Sylphiel asking while turning their attention towards her direction.


"Yeah, coming to think about it, where is Mr. Sonic?" Amelia began to say. "I haven't seen a trace of him anywhere. Do you think that he might've been reduced to ashes?"


"I very much doubt that, Amelia," Miguel responded to the princess while turning his attention towards the Monster Priest. "Sonic is way too fast to get hit or fried by one of Lina's spells that easily."


"Don't look at me!" Xellos said while holding up his two hands. "I just teleported out of here just before I could see the outcome!"


"Yeah! Like we're going to believe you!" Filia said as she was about finished with healing the injuries of the two beastmen. "Anyway, I've just finished healing both Mr. Gravos' and Mr. Jillas' injuries and they're starting to wake up, so they should be able to tell us where Lina went."


The entire group then turned their attention towards the awakening beastmen and that was when Miguel began to ask them, "Gravos. Jillas. Do the two of you know where both Lina and Sonic went? Do you have any idea where she and Sonic might went?"


"Well, I remember just before Boss Gravos and I fell unconscious, I heard her saying something about paying back her older sister for the Christmas presents that she received for all the years she had as a child," Jillas responded while using a frightful tone.


"Uh oh," Amelia said aloud while the others turned towards her direction and saw the frightening expression on her face. "I think that I know where Miss Lina is going! She's going to the Demon Peninsula where her older sister lives. It's on the other side of this continent."


"I'm also willing to believe that she got Sonic to warp her there so that she could get that place in less than a minute," Zelgadis added to the princess' words while everyone but Shadow, Miguel, and Sylphiel started to have a worried expression on each of their faces.


"The Chaos Control doesn't work that way, Zelgadis," the black hedgehog said to the chimera. "The Chaos Emeralds are needed in order for Sonic to warp to other places in the planet."


"But there is another way to use for him to use it to transport to other places without the use of a Chaos Emerald," Sylphiel began to add to the black hedgehog's words. "That's as if their great energies are present within the place where a Chaos Emerald might've been last seen or used."


"But I very much doubt that Sonic has a Chaos Emerald with him for learning what would happen if he did," Miguel said as he began to think about the situation. "And even if he can warp without it, there would have to be a considerably large amounts of Chaos Energy in order for him to get there. So that only leads to one more conclusion...."


"That Sonic is taking Lina to where she wants to go by foot," Knuckles finished as he cut the teen off. "And if I know Sonic, I'd say that it'd probably take him about ten or twenty minutes in order to carry the little manic."


"Well, if that's the case, then we'd better act hurry before it's too late," Miguel said as he turned his attention towards the black hedgehog. "Shadow, I want you to take Xellos so that the two of you could try to fight off Lina in case that Sonic couldn't handle her by herself. The rest of us would try and clean up the mess that the little psycho caused while preparing for the Christmas Party that we've planned to have tonight."


"Why should I take that Monster with me?" Shadow asked while giving the purple-haired priest a menacing glare on his face. "I could take care of Lina with the Chaos Control at my command. I don't need the help of that purple-haired clown."


"I suggest that you'd better watch what you're saying, hedgehog," Xellos responded while opening his eyes and giving the black hedgehog an evil look. "I'd managed to wipe out an entire swarm of dragons with one single swoop and if you ever say anything like that to me ever again, I'll..."


Before the priest could add anything else, his words were soon cut short for when both Filia and Miguel gave the Monster menacing death glares at him.


"Or you'll do what, Leprechaun?!" the teen said to the priest with a menacing edge to his voice.


"I was just going to say that I'll tickle him to death for the nasty things that he said about me," Xellos answered with a nervous tone that caused everyone, but Miguel and Filia, to sweatdrop at the response.


"You'd better pray to Shabranigdo that you're going to do that, Xellos!" the female Golden Dragon shouted to the Monster with red eyes.


"Let's get going before you start another catastrophe, Monster!" Shadow said to Xellos while dragging his arm before shouting out the words to his special ability. "Chaos Control!"


As soon as the two disappeared from sight in a flash of green light, Zelgadis began to smirk as he said, "You know, I think that I'm going to like that kid a lot."


After giving out a quick sigh of both annoyance and relief, Miguel soon started to become his normal self as the same with Filia.


"Okay, now that the pain in the neck is gone from our sights," the teen said with a small smile on his face to everyone, "let's get to work on cleaning up this big mess before those four get back. If we're still going to throw this Christmas Eve party, we'd better even up the jobs so that way we could get this place cleaned up and get the party ready at the same time. So who's with me?"


With a big "Aye!" from the group, everyone soon started to take in his or her share of both the clean up and the decorating that they need to accomplish before their friends arrived with the guest of honor.


Meanwhile, about just a thousand miles west from the inn that they've both came from, Sonic was carrying a very blood thirsty sorceress on his back towards her desired destination.


"How much longer do I have to carry you like this?!" the blue hedgehog whined while starting to become a fatigued with trying to maintain the weight of the red head. "You're starting to get a little heavy for me to carry! What do you think I am?! A horse!?"


"Shut up and run, Blue Boy!" Lina shouted to him while kick the hedgehog's sides like she would a horse. "The sooner that we get to my sister's bar, the better! Now, unless you want to have a very painful death, I suggest that you better be a good horse and run like the wind! Giddy Up!"


Sonic just sighed and gave up as he continued run until both he and Lina arrived at their destination. What the blue hedgehog saw was a huge city being lit with numerous amount of lights that nearly made the buildings sparkle. He soon noticed that they were both on the edge of a cliff that shows the great view in front of him. Before he could have the time to be in awe at the view in front of his eyes, Sonic soon heard the menacing laughter of the red-haired sorceress starting to appear out of her mouth.


"Uh, what's so funny, Lina?" Sonic asked frightfully as he looked at the sorceress' terrifying and menacing face with worry.


"Hee! Hee! Hee! This is the place where my older sister lives, Sonic," Lina responded with an evil grin while looking at the city below her before she started give out a sad sigh. "You know, for all of my life Christmas has plagued me, like an incurable lung cancer. Now even Xellos, a priest of the Monster Race, is trying to get me into the 'Christmas Spirit!' I now must...Stop Christmas!!"


"Stop Christmas?!" the blue hedgehog replied with a horrified tone of voice. "Are you insane?! I mean, how exactly are you suppose to do that in this city?! Do you even know how stupid that sounds?"


"Well, somehow or another," the sorceress began to respond to the blue hedgehog calmly while thinking about her words as she began to ball her hand into a fist, "I must....Yes! I must.....Steal Christmas!!"


"You're going to steal Christmas?" Sonic asked as he calmed down a bit and sweatdropped at Lina's words before saying with a sarcastic tone. "Oh, gee. That's real original. What are you going to do? Raid Whoville?"


"No, Blue Boy!" the red head shouted to Sonic, causing him to leap away from her with fear again. "I'm going to level this entire city using the Dragon Slave in order to pay my sister back for all those years of suffering that she delivered to me! Mu wha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!"


"Okay, now the girl's officially lost her mind!" the blue hedgehog thought to himself while seeing the sorceress starting to raise her hands. "If she's really going to do what I think she's doing, then the entire city might be in trouble! I just wish that I didn't have to do it all alone."


As if to signal their appearance, Sonic suddenly saw a bright green light appearing out of nowhere. Then after the light faded away, he saw both Shadow and Xellos right out of where the light was.


"Now where have you two been?" the blue hedgehog asked the two of them while feeling both relieved and annoyed at the same time. "That girl's about to blow the entire city to kingdom come and you two just barely got here?! And just exactly what is that purple-haired imp doing here anyway?"


"Look, it's tough enough trying to track your Chaos Energy down without you adding to the load, Sonic!" Shadow answered as he turned his full attention back towards Lina. "But right now though, we have other problems to worry about!"


"I have to agree with Shadow on that one, Sonic! Look out below!" Xellos shouted before he held up his staff and created an invisible field around himself and the two hedgehogs.


Before either of them could ask what was happening, Sonic and Shadow soon received their answers in the form of Lina Inverse throwing a fireball towards their direction. As soon as the ball of flames collided with the force field, Shadow began to turn his full attention towards the sorceress and said to the purple-haired priest, "Xellos! I want you to distract the little manic as best as you can while Sonic and I try to knock some sense into her!"


"I could do that very easily, Shadow," Xellos responded to the black hedgehog with a nod of his head began turned his full attention towards the rampaging sorceress and stick out his tongue to her. "Nyah! Nyah! Nyah! The little flat-chested sorceress can't catch me! She couldn't even catch a cold!"


As a response to his words, Lina began to growl loudly in anger as she began to conjure up another fireball in her hands. When she started to throw the ball of fire towards the Monster, both the twin hedgehogs began to shout out their individual attacks as they threw them at the sorceress.


"Chaos Spear!" Shadow shouted as numerous yellow little spheres began to appear around his being and fired themselves towards Lina's directions as arrow-shaped spears.


"Sonic Wind!" Sonic added as he threw his hand towards the sorceress and caused a powerful blade of wind to charge towards her direction.


When the two attacks collided head on with their target, a powerful explosion of light began to engulf Lina's entire form which was shielded with an invisible force field. As soon as the smoke cleared from their sights, the three of them started to see the unconscious form of Lina Inverse lying on the soil of the ground.


"I think that you're two attacks were a bit too strong for her to handle, fellas," Xellos said to the two hedgehogs as he walked over to the unconscious sorceress.


"Oh, she'll be okay," Sonic responded to the trickster priest's words with a bit of pride in his voice. "We didn't actually hit her with our best shot so she just fainted from exhaustion after all the hot air that she blew at me."


"I think that we'd better head back towards the inn where the others are waiting," Shadow said to the two as he saw Xellos starting to pick up Lina's unconscious form.


"You three aren't going anywhere without answering a few questions to me!" they heard a female voice saying to the three as they turned towards the source of the voice.


Who Sonic, Shadow, and Xellos saw was a young and tall woman. She has a long mane of purple hair along with broad shoulders. She also wore a waitress' outfit complete with an apron. But she also appears to be holding what appears to be a huge mallet in her hands.


"And who exactly would you be lady?" the blue hedgehog began say to the intimidating figure while raising his fist towards her direction. "For your sake, I hope that you'd plan on using that mallet to crack walnuts."


"I believe I know the answer to that, Sonic," the purple-haired Monster answered to Sonic's words with a bit of a worried tone in his voice. "That is one of the many humans who carry a small portion of the essence of the Red Dragon God Ciephied. She's also the older sister of the sorceress that I'm holding right now: Luna Inverse."


Meanwhile, back at the near cleaned up inn, all of the others were finishing with accomplishing the remaining tasks. Miguel had just finished loading the last of the debris towards a cart which Gourry hauled. Knuckles smashed the rocks that were to be used as replacement cement for the walls of the building. Gravos and Jillas both did their best to patch up the holes that Lina caused with her past outburst. Both Zelgadis and Tails were about finished with their assigned tasks by cleaning the dirt out of the chimney.


As for the ladies, Sylphiel, Filia, and Amelia finished decorating part of the inn's rec room with red and green lights. It even has the Christmas tree that Xellos brought just before Lina went berserk. Right now, the three of them were in the kitchen, about to finish their culinary master pieces. Well, most of it was done by Sylphiel, anyway.


"Wow, Miss Sylphiel! You're cooking is so superb!" Filia complimented to the purple-haired with a starry-eyed look on her face. "The aroma smells absolutely marvelous!"


"Well, I'm not that good, Miss Filia," Sylphiel answered with a blush on her face as she finished adding the finishing touches on the cake that she was preparing.


"Stop being so modest, Miss Sylphiel," Amelia said to her purple-haired companion as she looked at the marvelous cooking creations that Sylphiel made. "Your cooking has always been so good and delicious! I'm sure that Miss Lina and the others will appreciate the meal that you've worked so hard to prepare."


"Well thank you for those words, you two," the shrine maiden replied to her friends while keeping the blush of red on her face as she kept on making the stew in the pot. "But I'm not that good. I'm just doing what I can so that I could help Miss Lina be happy for this Christmas Season."


"You know, Amelia and Filia are right about you, Sylphiel," Miguel said as he entered the room with his cloths a bit dirty. "You are too modest. I mean, you were in my world once and you're still able to make a fancy meal with what you can use. I got to say, that was one of the most fanciest meals that I've ever eaten."


With those words said by the teen, Sylphiel began to blush at his comment. That was when both Filia and Amelia began to giggle at the scene. That was when the self proclaimed Hero of Justice began to say to Miguel with her usual tone for her speeches mixed with a bit of anger.


"Mr. Miguel! You can't be in here like that!" she began to rant as she pointed her finger towards his direction. "A hero of justice shouldn't be in the kitchen while a lady is preparing a huge meal! You shouldn't even be in here those dirty clothes!"


"Oh, don't worry about that, Amelia. Watch this," Miguel said before he closed his eyes and a sudden aura of silver light surround his body.


Before the ladies could have the chance to react to his actions, the three saw the teen beginning to become nice and clean for as soon as the aura dissipate from his body.


"How did...?" Filia began to say before she came up with another sentence. "I mean, how was it even possible for you to...?"


"I've learned to do this for while I was in my own world, Filia," the teen answered the Golden Dragon with a friendly chuckle. "It actually comes in handy for when I'm in a hurry to get to school. However, I'd rather prefer to take a bath or shower the old-fashioned way."


"That's quite amazing, Mr. Miguel!" Amelia said to the other worldly teen with awe and amazement. "I had no idea that you could clean yourself up like that before!"


"To be honest, I have no idea where I've learned it from or how I'd learned it," Miguel said to the princess of Seyruun as he chuckled nervously. "One day, I woke up late while getting ready for my classes and I didn't have the time to take a shower. Then, I found myself wishing that I was as clean as I was after taking a shower. Before I knew what was happening, I was as clean and fresh I was whenever I was in the shower. Even my hair feels clean."


"Wait! Are you saying the you'd discovered that ability purely by accident?" Filia asked with a shocked tone. "And you don't even know how or when you were able to use this ability?"


With a nod of his head as a response, Sylphiel began to say to the teen with a mock tone of seriousness in her voice, "Well, are you going to just stand here and watch or are you going to help us with carrying all of this food to the dining room?"


As if to answer the shrine maiden's question, Miguel began to pick up a tray full of the marvelous food that she made and carried it off towards the dining room table. When he finally reached the huge dining room and placed it on the huge table, Miguel began to see a flash of green light appearing right out of the door that leads to the fixed living hall of the hotel. When he ran towards the door and entered, the teen soon found himself looking at Sonic, Shadow, and Xellos in the living hall with Lina lying peaceful on the huge soft couch. He also noticed another woman that was with them with a huge mallet in her hands. Then he suddenly felt a flame of anger inside of him for some strange reason at the figure who was staring at him with a mild angry expression on her face.


"Guys, if I could bet a huge bag of gold on anything," Miguel began to say to them as he kept his eyes on the woman with the mallet with a mild tone, "I'd say that she's Lina's big sister, isn't she?"


The three of them nodded as a response to his question. Then the boy began to walk over to the purple-haired woman and said to the three of them while still keeping the mildness in his voice as he began to crack his knuckles, "Guys, could you three please take Lina in her room while I try to talk some sense in this....woman."


Without any hesitation, Sonic, Shadow, and Xellos began to pick up the unconscious red-haired sorceress and left to living hall leaving both Miguel and Luna Inverse alone face to face. As he walked up closer towards the woman with the mallet, the teen began to emit another silver aura while Luna emitted a red aura.


While placing the sleeping sorceress on the soft bed, Sonic turned his attention towards both Xellos and Shadow and asked, "Do you think that Miguel is fighting with Lina's big sister by now?"


As if responding to his question, the blue hedgehog began to hear a huge explosion being emitted from the living hall that they've just left.


"I believe that answers your question, Sonic," Xellos said with a smirk on his face as he and the two hedgehogs began to run back towards the room with the two combatants.


When everyone from all over the inn came to the room where both Miguel and Luna were about to begin their fight, the Trickster Priest appeared just in between them wearing a black and white striped shirt.


"Okay, you two," Xellos began to announce like a regular referee in a boxing match, "I want a good clean fight. Luna, I don't want to see you hitting your opponent below the belt. And Miguel, I don't want you to hit your opponent in the area where she becomes a different sex. Other than what I've just mentioned, anything else goes. Now get to your respective spaces until I signal to go."


After the Monster referee explained the rules, the entire group began to circle around the two competitors like a ring. Both groups began to cheer for the fight to begin while the females started to worry about the safety of both opponents.


"Miss Luna! Mr. Miguel! Stop this foolishness at once!" Amelia began to shout out as she pointed to the two.


"Miss Amelia is right, Miguel!" Sylphiel added while looking pleadingly at her outer worldly friend. "Fighting never solves anything!"


"Xellos! You'd better stop this fight before things get any worse!" Filia shouted to the purple-haired priest with her usual tone with .


"Well, under normal circumstances, I would stop the fight given that I'm under the direct orders from Lord Beastmaster to keep Miguel alive," Xellos began to responded to the female Golden Dragon while scratching his head in confusion. "But these two seem to..."


Just before the Monster Priest could finish the rest of his sentence, he was cut off by the shouts of both competitors yelling insults to one another.


"Hey, bitch! When I'm through with you, you're going to wish that you've never caused Lina to have those terrible memories in the first place!" Miguel shouted to his opponent with a bit of anger in his voice. "I mean, without your broom stick and your flying monkeys, you don't stand a chance against me!"


"Oh yeah!" the older Inverse sister shouted to the male teen with the same tone, "Well, I bet that you couldn't get that purple-haired girl laid with you in bed with you because Mr. Johnson is frozen down south!"


"Why you mother ******* skank! I oughta....!!" Miguel shouted as he began to throw himself towards his opponent before he was restrained by both Sonic and Shadow.


"Easy you two!" Xellos said as he got into the middle of the ring. "The bloodshed will commence as soon as you two calm down, cut the trash talk, and minimize the language a bit! Oh, and I forgot to mention that there would be no use of powers or magic of any kind. So when I give the word, the two of you could start!"


The two opponents began to calm each other down and waited patiently for the Ref to shout out the signal while staring at each other hatefully.


"Okay! Now let's get it on!!" Xellos shouted as the two competitors moved away from their post and started to charge towards each other at a great speed.


When she finally awoke from her deep sleep, Lina began to yawn as she got up from the soft bed that she saw that she was lying on.


"Man, what a strange dream I had," the sorceress thought to herself as she saw that she was still in her traveling outfit. "I've dreamt that today was Christmas Eve and everyone, including Xellos and Sylphiel's outer worldly friends, were trying get me into the Christmas Spirit. (Sighs) Well, I guess that I'm lucky that it was only a dream. If it were really Christmas Eve., I'll...!"


Before she could have the chance to finish the rest of her thoughts, Lina began to hear music coming from another room. The music sounds like regular bar music as far as she could hear. When the sorceress started to walk towards the source of the sound. When she finally opened the door that emitted the music, what she saw caused her eyes to open wide with surprise.


What she saw was all of her friends in a room decorated with Christmas decorations. All of the walls, windows, and even the ceiling were decorated with the colors of red and green along with the glitter of lights. Just before the sorceress could have the chance to respond with one of her explosion spells, she began to notice a huge banner that said, "Merry Christmas, Lina Inverse: the Beautiful Sorcery Genius!"


Before she could even open her mouth, Lina began to hear the voice of Miguel shouting to her, "Hey, Lina! It's about time that you woke up! You're about to miss the Christmas Party that's dedicated in your honor!"


"Why! Why! Why! I'm....I'm..." was all the red-haired sorceress could say to the teen before she noticed that his face was a bit red and scratched up. "Miguel, what the hell happened to your face?"


"Oh, that," he responded while chuckling a bit nervously before he spoke again. "Well, I've just had a little tussle with a person that you know of from your past. She and I didn't quite agree with one another, so you could guess what happens next. Hee! Hee! Hee!"


Lina began to giggle a bit for when she heard Miguel say that before she began to think to herself. "I wonder if he means Naga? Boy, would I kill to see that match!"


Before she could have the chance to picture Miguel kicking the crap out of her former friend/sidekick, Sylphiel began to walk over to the two and said to her, "Miss Lina! You're fully awake! I'm so glad that you've finally calmed down! Now you can enjoy the fabulous meal that I've prepared for you!"


"Whoa! Now wait a minute, Sylphiel!" Lina began to protest to the shrine maiden before a huge wheel cart filled with food being pushed by Tails was brought right in front of the red-head which made her eyes all starry. "Oooooh! Well, I can wait for an explanation after I'm finished eating!"


As the sorceress began gorging herself on the food, Sylphiel began to grab a hold of Miguel's hand and the two of them went to a place that's close to the fire place that has the huge decorated Christmas tree on it. The shrine maiden then turned towards her friend's direction with a huge blush on her face.


"Sylphiel, why did you bring me over here away from the others?" Miguel asked with confusion as he looked at Sylphiel.


"Because, I wanted to give you this," the purple-haired priestess answered while holding up a neatly wrapped blue medium-sized box with red ribbon on it. "You've been so nice and caring towards me since we've first met. I've already gotten the others their presents, now I want to give this special gift to you."


"Uh, well gee, Sylphiel. Thanks," the teen responded while accepting the gift while he blushing a red color across the face as he began to unwrap the box and revealed a long blue headband with lines all colored in silver.


"Look up above your head and tell me what you see, Miguel," Sylphiel said to Miguel before he could have the chance to give a comment.


"Huh? What's on the ceiling?" the young man asked the shrine maiden as he looked up on the ceiling, "All I see is a shrub of mistletoe on the ceiling...." that was when his words were cut off for when Sylphiel's lips suddenly made contact with his own as she gave him a kiss.


Meanwhile as the others kept on partying the night away, Sonic soon noticed both Miguel and Sylphiel kissing each other near the huge Christmas tree.


"Well, it looks as though both Sylphiel and Miguel are hitting it off easy," the blue hedgehog said to Shadow as the two hedgehogs saw the scene. "I think the two of us should keep an eye on the little red head while those two get better acquainted."


With a nod of the black hedgehog, the two began to turn their attention back towards Lina who was about to finish the once huge cart full of food. Everyone else was amazed at how calm and happy the sorceress was for while she eating.


"Hee! Well, I guess that the only way to this girl's heart is definitely through her stomach," Knuckles said as he looked on with amazement.


"Hey! Why doesn't she open that special present that we worked so hard to find?" Tails asked as it suddenly got Lina's attention.


"Huh? Special present?" the sorceress said as she continued to have food in her mouth before swallowing it. "What the hell are you guys talking about?"


"Come on, Mr. Gourry! Show it to her!" Amelia said as she along with both Zelgadis and Filia pushed the blonde swordsman with their strength.


"But she'll fry me to a crisp!" Gourry said as he was being pushed right in front of Lina, who was starting to become annoyed.


"Look, Gourry! We've spent hours searching for this present and we're not going to allow an idiot like you to ruin it!" Zelgadis said with an annoyed tone in his voice.


"Just be a man and give the present so that Miss Lina wouldn't go berserk on us!" Filia added while pulling out her mace and showing it to the swordsman to tell him that she wouldn't hesitate to use its blade.


"What present?" Lina began to ask before Gourry frightfully walked up to her and presented her with a decent sized green box that had a red bow on it.


That sort of caused the sorceress to jump up from her seat and pull up her knife towards the blonde swordsman saying, "What the hell is that thing!? Get it the hell away from me!!"


Before she could have time to cast a spell, both Miguel and Sylphiel came towards Lina with surprised looks on their faces.


"Miss Lina! You don't have to be afraid of receiving any presents anymore!" the shrine maiden pleaded to the sorceress.


"Sylphiel's right, Lina! There's no reason to be afraid or angry at Christmas any more!" Miguel added as he approached Lina carefully while eyeing the knife. "You see, we found out why you're so angry for when people celebrate that holiday! So all of us got you this present so that way you could enjoy Christmas for a change! So before you start going Psycho on us, open the present that Gourry has in his hands and see what you got!"


After starting to calm down a moment, Lina began to put her knife back in its resting place and began to reach for the wrapped box in Gourry's hands. As soon as she snatched it from the swordsman's hands, the sorceress began to carefully take off the red bow and unwrap the paper. When she got all of the wrapping paper off, Lina then opened the box and her eyes went wide for what she saw inside.


What Lina saw inside the box was a small and beautiful golden rod encrusted with jewels all around it. At the tip of the rod was a small red ruby orb that matches the color of her eyes. She was indeed skeptical about it at first. So she decided to focus her powers in order see if it isn't another cruel prank. What she sensed was a magical force that's almost as powerful as the Demon's Blood Talismans she wore around her neck, wrists, and waist.


"What is this, guys? A magical pen?" Lina asked as she continued to look at the object with both awe and confusion.


"No, Miss Lina! It's a magical staff for the use of casting magical spells!" Amelia answered as she gave out a chuckle. "Try it out and see it for yourself!"


While heeding those words, Lina began to pick up the small gold rod and, before she knew it, the magical item began to grow to almost up to her height.


"Wow! Now this is some staff!" Lina said as she began to raise it towards the sky. "Where did you guys get it?"


"Well, we got it this morning for while you were eating Sylphiel's cooking this morning, Lina," Gourry answered with a calm tone as he carefully walked towards the sorceress. "We found this merchant that sold powerful magical items that we could use to make your gift."


"The gold coating is actually made from the metal of the Power Rings that Sonic had with him," Zelgadis added while walking up towards his friends. "Using the power of Miguel's own sword to melt them, we were able to mold it along with the items needed to forge and finish that staff of yours."


Now what happened at that moment some people say? Lina Inverse's heart grew three sizes that day. Well, yeah sure. She's still has gold, treasures, and food in her head. And she still has a greed demeanor and still has a violent temper. But her heart was three times much bigger than it once was.


"Guys....I.....I...I don't know what to say!" Lina began to say to her friends before she started to burst into tears and started to wrap her arms around a bewildered Gourry. "I'm so happy! This is the most happiest day that I've ever had in my whole life. I don't know what to say to you guys except: Merry Christmas!!"


With those words shouted by the sorceress, everyone in the room began to cheer with delight and happiness as they started to play Christmas Music and carols. Both friends, from within or outside of this world began to talking with one another, dancing, singing, and playing games. Even Lina Inverse was starting to enjoy herself for when she starting eating all of the fabulous food that Sylphiel cooked for the occasion.


That was when she started to notice both the shrine maiden and Miguel looking at what they've done with happy expressions on their faces. She also noticed that the two were holding each other's hands. Just as she was about to smirk about the two's close relationship, a past thought suddenly came back into her as she started to walk towards her friends.


As soon as the sorceress got near to the couple, Sylphiel soon began to acknowledge her presense and said, "Oh, Miss Lina! Are you enjoying the celebration so far?"


She nodded to responded to the shrine maiden and then started turn her full attention towards Miguel as she said to him, "Hey, Miguel! Can I ask you one thing?"


"Sure, Lina," the young man responded as he was starting to have a curious expression on his face. "What is it?"


"Well, I was wondering about those cuts, scratches, and small bruises on your face that you've received from your little tussle," Lina began to say to him before asking her question. "Exactly, who did you fight with in order to have that kind of damage? There's no way that you could receive those hits from any bandit or Monster from this world that easily."


After a moment of thinking about his words, Miguel suddenly started to chuckle nervously as he answered, "Oh, I guess that I should've remembered to wake her up for as soon as you came down here. Man, does your older sister hit hard."


"Wh...What?! My big sister is here!?" Lina shouted causing everyone and everything in the room to go silent. "You....fought with my sister?! The Knight of Ciephied?!"


"Well, yeah. Hee! Hee! Hee!" the young man responded to the sorceress with a nervous chuckle as she continued to look at him with disbelief. "The two of us didn't really start out as friends, as you can plainly see.


"Both she and I fought with all of our strength. She really is strong. I guess that it runs in your family. But in the end, I've wound up winning the match while causing her to fall unconscious for when she had no strength to finish casting one of her explosion spells. Of course, I've also forgot that I've locked her up in a room while using the power of my Star Sword to seal her magic for today. Ha! Ha! Ha!"


"Really? Is that so?" Lina asked as she began to have a menacing grin on her face. "Where is she right now?"


"She's at the top floor," Sylphiel responded as she began to become curious all of a sudden. "Her room is the sixth one on the left. Why do you want to know that, Miss Lina?"


"Oh, nothing really, Sylphiel," Lina said as she began to look like her cheery self again as she slapped the shrine maiden hard on the back which is a cue for everybody to resume enjoying the party. "I just wanted to know that's all! Now go on and enjoy the party with Miguel! I'm going to go freshen up a bit before I could eat more of your cooking!"


Just as she was about to leave, Lina turned her attention back towards Miguel and said with a wink of her eye, "Oh, Miguel, that blue headband with the silver lining really looks good on you. Hope you and Sylphiel have a good time!"


When the sorceress left, both Miguel and Sylphiel began to blush a bit before the young man took the shrine maiden's hand and started their way into the dance floor.


After awakening from her unconsciousness, Luna Inverse felt a bit groggy for when she tried to stand up.


"Boy, did that guy hit hard!" she thought to herself as she recalled the memory. "That kid is not like any other being that I've ever faced! He might even more stronger than Lina!"


As if on cue, Luna began to hear a voice that sounded like that of her little sister, Lina. "About time you woke up," the voice said as it contain a menacing edge to her voice. "I've been waiting for this day for a long time. And judging from the way that you tried to get up, I'd say that you're still weak, are you? This means that you're going to be my bitch tonight. Hee! Hee! Hee!"


Still not able to see in the dark, the Knight of Ciephied began to become more afraid as she said, "Lina is that you?! If you're there then..." When Luna tried to cast a Lighting Spell to illuminate the room that she's in, nothing appeared out of her hands.


"By the way, your magic has been sealed so there's no way that you would be able to cast any strong spells or heal after I'm through with you. Hee! Hee! Hee!" the mysterious woman's voice with a low menacing cackle.


"Wha...what are you going to do to me?!" Luna said as she could feel the presense of the intruder starting to come closer to her.


"Nothing much," the woman answered for when the elder Inverse could feel her visitor right near her. "All I really wanted to do, more than anything in the world, is to do.....this!!"


That was when Luna began to feel a fist colliding with her ribs as she felt the bones breaking from within her body.


"Ouch! My ribs!" the Knight of Ciephied cried out as she began to clutch her ribs tightly, trying to relax the pain.


"And this is for the making my breasts all flat!" the female answered as Luna felt her attacker's foot colliding with her face, causing her to once again fall unconscious.


When she finally left the room where her older sister has been, Lina Inverse began to sigh with both pleasure and relief for what she'd just done.


"Ahhh! Boy, did that feel good!" the red head said to no one in particular as she said these next words. "Merry Christmas to all! And to all a good night!"