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Description

---
Getting out of the base was always a welcome treat for Secret Freedom, even if that meant charging foolishly headfirst into their next mission. The work was dangerous and exhausting, and though the escape was nice, it typically ended with bruises, dents and a few days of laying low to recover. So to say that an excuse to get out that didn't involve risking their lives had a whole different type of appeal would be a severe understatement.

Larry and Shard were persistent, obviously having meticulously planned their tag teaming demands to have the day off to romp around above ground, eventually wearing on everyone else's nerves to finally give in. Though Charles vocally disagreed, Director Who had inevitably chuckled in good nature and waved the group of youngsters off, promising to keep them posted- just in case. The whole team agreed to tag along, a little less than comfortable with sending their fugitive Metal Sonic and super jinx out on their own to play in the snow. They were, afterall, still in hiding. And nothing attracted attention more than a bad luck magnet and a killer robot.

Elias was initally hesitant with the whole ordeal, naturally concerned with their cover, but was eventually convinced of the merit of a team building excercise that didn't involve trust falls(which Silver adamantly voiced his disdain for after Shard was 'kind enough' to demonstrate) or field work. And admittedly, the slight pause from the chaos was a welcome distraction.

At least, it was welcome under the promise that their locations would be out of the city's immediate line of sight and decently forested.

Larry was ecstatic, the snow hailing in the cold weather and biting wind- every lynx's dream. He tried to keep up with Shard as best he could, the Metal storming ahead with a fervor that had been absent from him for quite some time, and laughed unendingly every time the robot managed to snag a passing branch or kick up a patch of snow just big enough to cover his smaller companion from ear tufts to paws. The Twins were slightly more reserved, but chattered to themselves happily about the chance for some fresh air and open space that (most likely) wasn't going to end in chasing a suspect or finding themselves buried. Silver was largely and uncharacteristically quiet, and when Elias finally expressed concern, the time traveler brushed it off with a simple admission of 'I didn't know this was what snow looked like'. The thoughts that simple musing left him with sent a different kind of chills down the chipmunk's spine, but he said nothing else, finding a perhaps new outlook on something he'd thought so simple.

Elias appreciated that about his team- they forced him to rethink what he was certain he already knew. They'd opened his eyes in incredible ways- ways he could never thank them properly for.

Nicole had also joined in on their minature expedition, which was a surprise on its own. The artifical lynx usually confined herself to their limited base of operations for fear of running out of power. She was withdrawn from most of them- quiet and polite, but often with a lingering feeling of sadness about her. It made it difficult to interact with her at times, but she still seemed enough at home with this strange band of misfits. But watching her patiently trail after a very energetic, cabin-fever ridden Shard made her reasoning clear enough. Seeing the two apart was rare enough, anyways.

And for all Elias cared, in that moment, they were all happy. And that was the best thing he could ask for.

Even though it was a rather short lived moment of sentimentality.

Shard had made it very clear that he'd always wanted to build a snowman, ranting about how many years he'd spent in lava and explosions to want nothing more than the cold on his fingertips for once instead of heat. Needless to say, the ex-Badnik had a clear objective before they'd even set out.

He was going to build the best Chaos-forsaken snowman he'd ever seen- which had to be saying something.

Considering that he'd seen exactly none.

Regardless, an hour or so into their adventure, Shard proudly sat himself back on his knees, packing loose snow as best he could without damaging the integrity of his creation. "Hey, check this out!" He was calling for Nicole, but his voice was loud enough for them all to hear and turn to his direction. The lynx in question curiously approached, pulled from her silent musings about the large, beautiful pine trees around them. She'd missed this- the wandering and the seeing and the feeling. Despite her numbed heat sensors, her internals- her programming and her emotions and her being- hadn't felt so alive in months. Shard sat with both hands on his snowman, a cheeky smile plastered to his face as he reached around to grab a stick arm and wave it at Nicole. A snowman that looked an awful lot like-- "'Hi, I'm Silver! And I'm a killjoy!'" The ridiculous voice that managed to choke its way out of the robot's vocalizer was enough to send Nicole into a fit of giggles, trying her best to trap them behind her hand and failing.

"Pretty good, am I right?" The robot asked expectantly, his voice laced with amusement. He didn't specify whether he meant the snowman or his impression. "Shard, that's terrible!" Nicole chided teasingly, still finding herself laughing perhaps harder than she should have, "Stop that, or else you might-".

A well placed snowball whipped from the AI's peripheral vision just before it collided with Shard's head. He yelled immediately, more out of surprise than anything, cursing under his breath before instinctively dropping lower and snapping in the direction of the projectile. His artificial green eyes met with Silver's rimmed with blue, and then quickly noted the growing arsenal of icy bullets hovering over the young hedgehog's head.

"Don't think I don't see you over there, you overgrown toaster!" Silver warned, absentmindedly twirling his fingers to spin the snowballs intimidatingly above him.

A wide smile didn't keep itself from Shard's face, the entirety of his body dusted with snow and beginning to speckle and freeze with large patches of frost. He ducked behind his obviously very expertly crafted replica of his assailant and for a moment, Silver expected that he was going to start bellowing and whining about his 'injury' any second now. But when Shard reemerged, he showed no trace of crying for mock mercy. In fact, he stood suddenly so much taller than Silver remembered, wielding his weapon of choice on his adaptive arm. Well, it was sort of like his cannon, anyways. It more resembled a modifed snowball launcher that just happened to look like his cannon--

Snowball launcher.

Silver realized a great threat immediately, suddenly remembering that Shard was the heavy artillery of their team for a reason. A very, very good reason. "You want a war, Fernhead?" The Robian called, his voice crackling with excitement and energy. "'Cause you got one!"

Larry and the Twins, who'd been peacefully making mini snowmen and rolling around making snow angels were disrupted by a sudden onslaught of pellets raining down over them- caught effectively in the crossfire between the two sides. Shard was loading heap after heap of snow into his arm, ducking behind his snowman for protection and launching the resulting packed spheres across the clearing with expert aim. Silver had the foresight to raise a small bank to use as cover while he too fired and armed himself with more ammunition. Elias made a short sound of surprise as a misfire nailed him in the chest before launching into the fray himself. He was momentarily glad that snowballs were flying in every direction- his aim was severely off, the disadvantage of preferring swords to projectiles. Nicole stood off to the side, momentarily stunned before she willed herself into motion, a genuinely happy smile on her face as she dodged the heavy fire while barking strategic weaknesses at both sides between her uncharacteristically wild laughter. All present were suddenly involved, hasily picking sides and dowsing one another in snow.

They'd all hoped for some kind of relief from the war today.

And it turned out, a different kind of war was exactly the excuse that they needed.

All over a stupid snowman.

---

A contest entry for !
I just finished in time, but really just couldn't resist entering this contest- not often that there are other official character related contests! So naturally, I had to whip something out of the best team of all the teams

Description

---
Getting out of the base was always a welcome treat for Secret Freedom, even if that meant charging foolishly headfirst into their next mission. The work was dangerous and exhausting, and though the escape was nice, it typically ended with bruises, dents and a few days of laying low to recover. So to say that an excuse to get out that didn't involve risking their lives had a whole different type of appeal would be a severe understatement.

Larry and Shard were persistent, obviously having meticulously planned their tag teaming demands to have the day off to romp around above ground, eventually wearing on everyone else's nerves to finally give in. Though Charles vocally disagreed, Director Who had inevitably chuckled in good nature and waved the group of youngsters off, promising to keep them posted- just in case. The whole team agreed to tag along, a little less than comfortable with sending their fugitive Metal Sonic and super jinx out on their own to play in the snow. They were, afterall, still in hiding. And nothing attracted attention more than a bad luck magnet and a killer robot.

Elias was initally hesitant with the whole ordeal, naturally concerned with their cover, but was eventually convinced of the merit of a team building excercise that didn't involve trust falls(which Silver adamantly voiced his disdain for after Shard was 'kind enough' to demonstrate) or field work. And admittedly, the slight pause from the chaos was a welcome distraction.

At least, it was welcome under the promise that their locations would be out of the city's immediate line of sight and decently forested.

Larry was ecstatic, the snow hailing in the cold weather and biting wind- every lynx's dream. He tried to keep up with Shard as best he could, the Metal storming ahead with a fervor that had been absent from him for quite some time, and laughed unendingly every time the robot managed to snag a passing branch or kick up a patch of snow just big enough to cover his smaller companion from ear tufts to paws. The Twins were slightly more reserved, but chattered to themselves happily about the chance for some fresh air and open space that (most likely) wasn't going to end in chasing a suspect or finding themselves buried. Silver was largely and uncharacteristically quiet, and when Elias finally expressed concern, the time traveler brushed it off with a simple admission of 'I didn't know this was what snow looked like'. The thoughts that simple musing left him with sent a different kind of chills down the chipmunk's spine, but he said nothing else, finding a perhaps new outlook on something he'd thought so simple.

Elias appreciated that about his team- they forced him to rethink what he was certain he already knew. They'd opened his eyes in incredible ways- ways he could never thank them properly for.

Nicole had also joined in on their minature expedition, which was a surprise on its own. The artifical lynx usually confined herself to their limited base of operations for fear of running out of power. She was withdrawn from most of them- quiet and polite, but often with a lingering feeling of sadness about her. It made it difficult to interact with her at times, but she still seemed enough at home with this strange band of misfits. But watching her patiently trail after a very energetic, cabin-fever ridden Shard made her reasoning clear enough. Seeing the two apart was rare enough, anyways.

And for all Elias cared, in that moment, they were all happy. And that was the best thing he could ask for.

Even though it was a rather short lived moment of sentimentality.

Shard had made it very clear that he'd always wanted to build a snowman, ranting about how many years he'd spent in lava and explosions to want nothing more than the cold on his fingertips for once instead of heat. Needless to say, the ex-Badnik had a clear objective before they'd even set out.

He was going to build the best Chaos-forsaken snowman he'd ever seen- which had to be saying something.

Considering that he'd seen exactly none.

Regardless, an hour or so into their adventure, Shard proudly sat himself back on his knees, packing loose snow as best he could without damaging the integrity of his creation. "Hey, check this out!" He was calling for Nicole, but his voice was loud enough for them all to hear and turn to his direction. The lynx in question curiously approached, pulled from her silent musings about the large, beautiful pine trees around them. She'd missed this- the wandering and the seeing and the feeling. Despite her numbed heat sensors, her internals- her programming and her emotions and her being- hadn't felt so alive in months. Shard sat with both hands on his snowman, a cheeky smile plastered to his face as he reached around to grab a stick arm and wave it at Nicole. A snowman that looked an awful lot like-- "'Hi, I'm Silver! And I'm a killjoy!'" The ridiculous voice that managed to choke its way out of the robot's vocalizer was enough to send Nicole into a fit of giggles, trying her best to trap them behind her hand and failing.

"Pretty good, am I right?" The robot asked expectantly, his voice laced with amusement. He didn't specify whether he meant the snowman or his impression. "Shard, that's terrible!" Nicole chided teasingly, still finding herself laughing perhaps harder than she should have, "Stop that, or else you might-".

A well placed snowball whipped from the AI's peripheral vision just before it collided with Shard's head. He yelled immediately, more out of surprise than anything, cursing under his breath before instinctively dropping lower and snapping in the direction of the projectile. His artificial green eyes met with Silver's rimmed with blue, and then quickly noted the growing arsenal of icy bullets hovering over the young hedgehog's head.

"Don't think I don't see you over there, you overgrown toaster!" Silver warned, absentmindedly twirling his fingers to spin the snowballs intimidatingly above him.

A wide smile didn't keep itself from Shard's face, the entirety of his body dusted with snow and beginning to speckle and freeze with large patches of frost. He ducked behind his obviously very expertly crafted replica of his assailant and for a moment, Silver expected that he was going to start bellowing and whining about his 'injury' any second now. But when Shard reemerged, he showed no trace of crying for mock mercy. In fact, he stood suddenly so much taller than Silver remembered, wielding his weapon of choice on his adaptive arm. Well, it was sort of like his cannon, anyways. It more resembled a modifed snowball launcher that just happened to look like his cannon--

Snowball launcher.

Silver realized a great threat immediately, suddenly remembering that Shard was the heavy artillery of their team for a reason. A very, very good reason. "You want a war, Fernhead?" The Robian called, his voice crackling with excitement and energy. "'Cause you got one!"

Larry and the Twins, who'd been peacefully making mini snowmen and rolling around making snow angels were disrupted by a sudden onslaught of pellets raining down over them- caught effectively in the crossfire between the two sides. Shard was loading heap after heap of snow into his arm, ducking behind his snowman for protection and launching the resulting packed spheres across the clearing with expert aim. Silver had the foresight to raise a small bank to use as cover while he too fired and armed himself with more ammunition. Elias made a short sound of surprise as a misfire nailed him in the chest before launching into the fray himself. He was momentarily glad that snowballs were flying in every direction- his aim was severely off, the disadvantage of preferring swords to projectiles. Nicole stood off to the side, momentarily stunned before she willed herself into motion, a genuinely happy smile on her face as she dodged the heavy fire while barking strategic weaknesses at both sides between her uncharacteristically wild laughter. All present were suddenly involved, hasily picking sides and dowsing one another in snow.

They'd all hoped for some kind of relief from the war today.

And it turned out, a different kind of war was exactly the excuse that they needed.

All over a stupid snowman.

---

A contest entry for !
I just finished in time, but really just couldn't resist entering this contest- not often that there are other official character related contests! So naturally, I had to whip something out of the best team of all the teams