It's Christmas Eve, and Sonic and Tails are trudging their way through a bitter mountain blizzard to the cursed Ice Palace, 'the most feared place on all of Mobius' (it was either that, or stay at home with Porker eating all the mince pies). Apparently, none of the explorers who sought it out ever returned, though Sonic doesn't believe that the palace is cursed. As the two cross a bridge over a pool of water, they are suddenly attacked by an enormous sea serpent. The monster easily bites through the bridge, and Sonic tries several spin-attacks in the air, before being headbutted by the monster and sent hurtling into the pool. Tails immediately dives in to retrieve Sonic, and pulls him through a hole in the pool wall to another cavern before the sea-monster can swallow them. After climbing