The YWS Christmas Story

Spoiler

Well, I wouldn't want to make this a whole "Anna-Spark & Marco" story but I have to. I'll keep it short.

Mikko, who was busy singing away with the rest of the gang, noticed Marco and Anna-Spark (who had decided she needed a drink because of all the singing) in the far corner of the room, by the bar, chatting. What they didn't know was that a branch of mistletoe was dangling between them from the roof. Marco suddenly looked up and Mikko could read on his lips the words he had just spoken to Anna-Spark:

"It's tradition."

Mikko smiled excitedly, proud of her Christmas gift to Spark and the romantic kiss the two were sharing under the mistletoe, and all of a sudden didn't need a scarf because all the Christmas cheer got her warm again. Or maybe it was the fact that she was standing next to Jabber who be so hot. Whatever the reason, she was happy.

567ajt came back from the future, with his motorcycle destroyed from the lightspeed. TwistedMuffins was alone and 567ajt came over to her. He offered his arm around her for warm, as he had a warm coat of shattered dreams.

"You want some body warmth?" She turned her head.
"Yes," she replied. "Thank you."

He gave her the coat, and realised that he had nothing on. His coat was generally designed for warmth, but his coat was the only thing. Quickly noticing he was nude, he covered himself up embarrasingly. Twisted giggled at the spectacle. 567ajt looked to Lumi for some clothes, and SparkOfDoubt had a heart attack over the sight of 567 squirming about. Mikko slipped over the snow. 567 could help, even though naturally he would, because he had nothing on. SparkOfDoubt used the spark in her name to put clothes into 567ajt.

However, 567 found himself in a dress. Lumi put his head in his hands. Jabberhut gasped.

"AJ," she called. "Why are you in Mrs. Claus' dress?"

Charlie -- The Chemist-mas Lab

"Great Scott!" said Charlie. "I've done it!"

The laboratory was a mess. The benches were strewn with beakers and conical flasks containing a whole spectrum of colours from Bauble Red to Christmas Tree Green. A couple of bunsen burners were alight and, above them, luminous liquids refluxed gently under atmospheric pressure. Charlie stalked among them wearing a heavily stained labcoat and safety glasses.

After months of work Charlie had finally found a viable chemical to cure the most notorious of all diseases. It had taken weeks of synthesis, purification, recrystalisation, but now he had it. Charlie had developed a cure for Writer's Block. All he had to do now was write it down somewhere so he didn't forget abou--

Bzzzzzzzzzt

--wait, what--?

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt

"Heeeello?" said Charlie, answering his phone in the same way he did on Skype. "Yes, it's Charlie. What's that about the celebrations?"

Jabber seemed very excited about something on the other end of the phone.

"More explosives for the crackers?" Charlie asked, stroking an imaginary beard. "Are you sure? Some would say they already go off with too much of a bang."

Jabber, however, was very insistent.

"Oh alright I'll bring some along. But please remember it's very shock-sensitive. You know what happened last time!"

Jabber's excitable voice seemed to be reaching ultrasonic.

"Ok I'll meet you on the Welcome Mat in five minutes."

With that, Charlie snapped his phone shut and picked up his bag. It was time to bring a bit of excitement to the YWS Christmas. He slung the bag over his shoulder and made for the door.

Behind him the first and only sample of the cure to Writer's Block evaporated quietly from its test-tube, never to be seen again.

Lumi

Lumi, who had taken a leave of absence from the massive crowd gathering around Jabber, stepped into the shadows of the Screencap thread as his phone vibrated in his coat pocket. Giving a quick glance around the snowy plaza, he took out the device and squinted at the screen, seeing a blue lightning bolt. He clicked on Answer and held the phone to his ear, listening for the reliable lisp on the other end.

"Thanta'th thleigh ith in pothishun, go thee Aet and Chibth at the thky dock ATHAP."

Lumi closed his phone and stowed it in his pocket, putting on another smile. He slipped away before the others would catch on, and, once out of the Lounge, quickly made his way to the Sky Dock where The Gryphon was landing.

He passed by a dark alley when a pair of robotic hands stretched out of the shadows and nabbed him, pulling him against a wall.

He glared forward at Aet, who backed away in his SUPER FANCY ROBOT SUIT. "Sorry, Lumies. Had to make sure you weren't, like, Anti-Lumi."

Chibibo stepped out of the shadowier shadows and made some ridiculous hand gesture. Aet and Lumi watched him as he rolled around in the alley like a dog on fire.

"...I already apologized about that birthday party, chibs." Lumi cracked his knuckles and looked around the corner at the ship idling in the sky harbor. "Well, as you can see, I'm neither blue nor sinister, so we're fine."

Aet held up his wrist, typing in a SUPER FANCY ROBOT CODE that brought up a map of the harbor. "You guys know the drill. Boss wants us to nab the goods while Bolt handles Grif and the guards. Once I disable the AI onboard, it'll just be a matter of nabbing the presents and hitting the road."

"The boss better be paying us good money for this."

Chibibo took out a stick of gum, pointed to it, and then threw it on the ground.

"Be that as it may, The Boss said there'd be a huge payday off of this one. Something about ransom." Aet flexed his robot muscles and typed in more codes. "Ready?"

Lumi finished limbering up and nodded. "Let's roll."

Chibi

All was quiet and dark as the three silhouetted figures climbed on board the Gryphon. Chibi glanced nervously in the direction of the cockpit: a lot was at stake tonight, possibly more than his teammates were aware of. He gave a start when a figure stepped forward, but gave a sigh of relief as he recognised Bolt.

"He'th out of commission, at leatht for a while," Bolt muttered.
"Good," said Lumi. "Our target's in the cargo hold."

Aet inserted one hand of his exo-suit into the socket beside the cargo doors. After a few seconds of quiet beeping, the light above the doors turned from red to green, and the doors slid open with a gentle hiss. The darkness within the cargo bay would not present a problem: Lumi closed his eyes, concentrating, and was soon giving off a brilliant aura of light.

"Not too bright, Lumeth," Bolt said warily. "We don't want to attract attention." Chibi nodded in agreement, glancing back towards the cockpit again. He turned back to the cargo bay and his jaw dropped.

A mountain of gift-wrapped boxes that would rival Everest stood in front of him. A resplendent red sleigh complete with bells and nine reindeer harnessed to the front was parked next to it, near the second cargo hatch that opened out to the Sky Dock. Giant candy canes were tied together and stacked in the far corner, next to the biggest pine tree he had ever seen which was decked out in lights, baubles and a large ornamental book on the very top.

"All of it?" Aet asked.
Lumi shook his head. "Just the gifts."

Aet hit a button. A hatch burst open on the front of his mecha. He then began picking up gifts and piling them into the compartment in his suit's belly area. Chibi looked on in confusion - how on earth did they expect to fit all these gifts inside this comparatively small robot?
"Shrink ray's on, right?" Lumi asked. Aet nodded. That explained it.

Most of the gifts had been gathered when a large figure appeared at the doorway.
"Whoa-ho-ho," it bellowed. "You'd better put those gifts back! Where are my elves?"

Bolt turned and fired an electrical blast at the doors, which slammed shut.
"Where are his elves?" Lumi wondered. "Bolt?"
"Those thingth were tiny," said Bolt. "I tied 'em up and left them in the cockpit with Grif."

Aet began picking up presents again when a loud slam shook the entire ship, almost knocking him off balance.
"OPEN THIS DOOR!" came Claus's booming voice. The door had a visible dent in it.
"Oh frig," Lumi muttered. "Ok, we have about 90% of the haul, and Kringle's going to bust that door down any second now. We're done here."

Bolt nodded and fired another burst of electricity at the outer cargo hatch, which opened to reveal the Sky Dock. Aet pulled a lever on his mecha, which underwent a minor transformation, revealing a jetpack on the backside. He placed Lumi on one shoulder and reached out a robot arm for the other two -

CRASH. The doors folded inwards as Santa Claus burst through. And he wasn't alone -
"Griffinkeeper," Bolt muttered. "How'd you get out?"
"You kidding?" Grif snorted. "All you did was overload the cockpit door with electricity until it shut down. We have a backup power supply for a reason."

The elves had come in now, looking very displeased. They scowled at Bolt in particular. Nobody moved for a moment.

Then Chibi panicked and scrambled for Aet's mecha. Claus leaped into the air and came down on top of Chibi. Grif began firing at Aet, who lifted off at once with Lumi holding onto his exo-shoulder for dear life. Bolt's hands sparked with energy as he fought off the dozen elves.

Santa climbed to his feet with Chibi squirming in one hand. Chibi, still frantic, reached out and yanked on the big white beard in front of him: Claus howled with pain and dropped his captive, but was pursuing him again almost at once with a cry of "You just made the naughty list!"

Aet had flown out the hatch and was heading away from the Sky Dock.
"Bolt and Chibi are still down there!" Lumi was shouting.
"And they're in less trouble than we will be if we fail to get this haul safely to the boss," Aet responded calmly. "You know what she's like when things don't go her way."
"Yeah..." Lumi muttered, knowing Aet was right. "Like a boss."
Grif squinted up at the escaping mecha, his helmet zooming in so he could see clearly.
"Adelaide," he muttered, "take down this number... seven R zero N L three seven."

Chibi bounced off the head of a random elf and landed head-first in the sleigh. He grabbed something and pulled himself to his feet. Then the sleigh started to move, and Chibi realised just what he'd pulled on. Reins still in hand, he reached over and dragged Bolt into the sleigh next to him before the reindeer galloped out of the cargo bay and into the night sky.
"Yeaaah!" Bolt shouted triumphantly. "Go Deerling, go Deerling, go Thawthbuck and Thtantler!"

"I'll bring them down," Grif muttered, aiming his weapon at them.
Claus knocked it out of his hand. "No! Don't shoot my reindeer!"

The Sky Dock had soon vanished from sight. The sleigh was currently over an uninhabited stretch of road. The sound of sleigh bells echoed across the sky.
"We have got to get rid of thothe," Bolt muttered. He picked up a candy cane from the back of the sleigh and began snapping off the bells, which fell out of sight towards the ground.
"That wath pretty thlick thinking with the thleigh, though," he added. "I didn't even know you could drive one."

Chibi gave Bolt a look that told him all he needed to know:

Spoiler

[In case it's not obvious, Chibi doesn't talk. So no dialogue if he appears in your posts, k? 8D]

Scar:

Jingle. Jingle. Jingle.

Scar skipped along the footpath, staring up at the millions of bright, colourful lights that decorated the street. So pretty, she thought, giggling. Now, she wasn't a huge fan of Christmas, but she couldn't deny the lights and decorations, and especially the presents. Scar loved getting presents. She giggled more and kept skipping, eyes on the lights.

Jingle. Jingle. Jingle.

Scowling, she grabbed the bell attached to the end of her elf hat before smiling and dashing off towards the Welcome Mat. Everyone would be there, right? And it was snowing! Scar had never seen snow before, and boy, did she love it now! Grinning, Scar paused and did a little spin before rushing off again--only to bump right into someone and fall her on butt. She laughed and looked up to see someone she'd been looking for.

"ISHA!" she squealed and promptly tackle-hugged the startled mod.

Wait, where am I? Special Ops: Writers Division, was supposed to drop me off at a secret location in the Sahara Desert. I spat the snow out of my mouth, this is not the Sahara Desert. Almost instinctively I reached for my worldwide radio, after giving it a quick brush off I shouted through the microphone: "Where the hell am I?"

A voice came through the line, shaky and stuttering, probably a rookie. "Agent Podge, there was a mistake...something passed overhead and scrambled our machine. You..." I interrupted him before he could finish his sentence. "Me? Me?! What have I done? You're supposed to have protection against this stuff!" He re-phrased the sentence, obviously afraid what I was planning to do when I got hold of him. "I didn't put all the security and protective measures on the craft, you asked for the top-notch, that was a prototype."

I was still wandering through the snow while shouting down the radio, when I found the first clue that indicated where I am. "Alaska." I whispered, dropped the radio and collapsed to my knees. I turned my head just before the world became a blur and saw a dark figure looming over me.

HPR

HPR skipped through the streets of YWS, swinging a packet with boxes full of home-baked cookies and merrily humming a tune to herself. She headed towards the Welcome Mat. Everyone would be busy hanging up decorations over there. She wanted to help out, too. But she was afraid she might mess up everything as she usually did. As she got closer to the Welcome Mat she saw a few familiar faces. "Muffins! Ajt! Mikster! Sparky!" She yelled, walking over to them. " 'Sup guys?", she said. She looked over at Ajt and, noticing his extremely weird get-up, raised an eyebrow. "What on Earth are you wearing? And why, in the name of the most awesome J. K. Rowling, are you wearing it?", she asked him. "Well, see, Twisted here was walking around all lonely-like and I went over to her and lent her my coat. Then, I realized I wasn't wearing anything and-" "I don't need to know the details, thanks.", said HPR. "Well, basically, SparkOfDoubt here gave this to me." "Good job, Sparky.", then to Ajt, "I think the little frills suit you well. Very manly, aren't they? And those pink bells! They totally don't make you look like a grandmother.", she said sarcastically. Then, she held up the packet that she had been carrying and said, "On a less weird note, I baked cookies! Who wants some?" As Ajt, Sparky, Mikko and Muffins gobbled down the cookies, she stood, looking pleased because now, four more people appreciated her Oh-so-delicious chocolate chip cookies.

Justagirl

Justagirl walked out of where Jabberhut had been decorating and started the hunt for the Chipmunks Disco CD. She looked in ever gas station within twenty miles of the place but couldn't find it. Soon, she was crying.

She ran down a nearby alleyway and sat down, sobbing her heart out. If Christmas was about family, where was hers to comfort her? Where was the CD she so wanted to get them, to make their Christmas so perfect?

She cried harder and soon her shoulders were shaking, and she was hiccuping uncontrollably. Suddenly, she heard a voice, "On a less weird note, I baked cookies! Who wants some?"

Was it BlueBerry?

"BlueBerry?" She called, a sad, dry hiccup interrupting the name.

BlueBerry could be heard walking closer to the alleyway. "CupCake?"

Justagirl ran out of the alley and hiccuped her way into BlueBerry's arms. "I-I-I could'n't find the-the right thin-thing f-for my fa-family." She started to sob again.

BlueBerry, sensing the tears, shoved a cookie into Justagirl's mouth. "Eat it, CupCake, then tell." She said reassuringly, looking a little worried.

Justagirl chewed her cookie, then started her story.

Isha

Isha squeaked, all five foot two of her falling backwards into the snow. That was the best part about winter- the soft landings. She rolled over, laughing away the dizziness, and sat up, peeling off her hat to shake out the snow. "Scarli! How do you like the snow?" Hat back on her head, she pushed herself to her feet and brushed some snow off of the back of her neck.

"I love it!" Scarli exclaimed, positively beaming.

Isha giggled. "I thought you would. Hard to believe that you've never seen it, since I live with it at least seven or eight months out of the year!" Which was fine by her; purple-haired Ishas loved snow.

Scarli nodded, and Isha glanced over her shoulder, scanning the welcome mat. Something was missing... something very important. A frown quirked on her lips, and before either of them could say much, she had grabbed Scarli's arm and pulled her deeper into the Welcome Mat. There was Jabber/Grooby, still productively decorating... but...

"Where's Lumi-Bunny?" She could have sworn that he had been here before...

Twisted nibbled on the cookie Titi had given her, as she heard Justagirl's story. Once Justagirl had finished her story, Twisted slowly, and at first, reluctantly, went and embraced Just in a bear hug. Twisted could tell Just was quite as surprised as everyone else was, since she stumbled back a little, but Twisted held on. She let go of Just, and brushed the snow of her hair and patted her cheek. Just raised a questioning eyebrow.
"I don't celebrate Christmas," Twisted said quietly, "but I do know that it is about one's family and the ones you love. If you love them, and they love you back, it shouldn't be the gifts you've bought that should count, should it? It should be something which you've made yourself, with your hard work and sweat. And more over all, with your love filled inside. So, forget the CD. If you want, I can help you make something for them. Perhaps, your own CD with your own songs? "

Everyone stared in silence. It was the first time TwistedMuffins had said so much, in such a short time. Just smiled, and hugged Twisted. "I think we should do something like that!" she replied.

"Oh, and Ajt," Twisted said, turning towards 567ajt once Just let go of her. She pulled his coat of from her shoulders, and held it out with an outstretched arm, "I think you should keep the coat. You might want to cover that dress. Unless you like wearing dresses, I'll keep it in my bag." Ajt quickly took the coat from her, and wore it, muttering something about dresses being such a pain.

Everyone was in a cheery mood, and they were even happier when Titi stuffed more cookies in their mouths. The group walked their way to the Welcome Mat, to meet everyone else there. They passed dozens of alleys, and as they passed the last one, Twisted thought she saw someone who looked a little like Lumi. Shrugging it off, thinking it might be someone else, since Lumi was supposed to be in the Mat, they went ahead, and Twisted didn't utter a word about the mysterious person in the alley to anyone. That is, until she saw JabberHut looking really worried.

Justagirl

Twisted came over and hugged Justagirl, she was surprised and stumbled back a bit but TwistedMuffins held on. When she let go she brushed the snow off Just's hair and patted her cheek. Then she said, quietly, "I don't celebrate Christmas, but I do know that it is about one's family and the ones you love. If you love them, and they love you back, it shouldn't be the gifts you've bought that should count, should it? It should be something which you've made yourself, with your hard work and sweat. And more over all, with your love filled inside. So, forget the CD. If you want, I can help you make something for them. Perhaps, your own CD with your own songs? "

Justagirl stared for a second, thinking. She nodded, once, "I think we should do something like that!"

And with that, Twisted said something to ajt, and then they all started off towards the Welcome Mat to meet everyone else.

When they finally got to the Welcome Mat Justagirl grabbed TwistedMuffins and BlueBerry and dragged them off to a store she'd seen on the way there... A CD store.

"You guys think we'll be able to mix-and-match a CD for my family here?" Asked Justagirl.

A greasy-haired man popped out of the corner of the shop and answered her question. "Of course, madame." Apart from his greasy hair he looks perfectly jolly with Christmas cheer and was wearing a red-and-green vest (over a crisp, white shirt) with golden bells jingling on the edges and some black slacks.

"Great!" Justagirl brought TwistedMuffins and BlueBerry into the recording room with her... "So, you guys, what songs should we have?"

Smylin'

The lounge looked so purtyful! There were lights and ornaments and holly and tinsel and mistletoe everywhere. Jabbs didn't mess around when she got into the holiday spirit.

Smylin' kept some bounce in her step as she gazed at the beautiful work done. She had a present for Santa Clause this year that needed safe keeping, and was looking for just the perfect member for that safe keeping. And who better than Skins' evil, yellow Paul to protect her present for Santa?

"Merry Christmas!" Smylin' hollered at the jolly old members making snow angels and snowmen in the powdery white atmosphere that overtook the lounge. "Merry Christmassssss!" infinite voices called back.

She continued her journey on through the site, searching high and low for any sign of chaotic ruckus. If she could spot that, she would spot Skinseh. And would therefore spot the devilish Paul to hand her present to. Which was but of course, a giant, fluffy, white, Christmas kitteh! But Skins and Paul had been scarce around the site. She hoped dearly she'd recieved the PM she sent out in the post this morning. This Christmas kitteh needed protecting! There was thievery afoot on YWS.

Smylin' had overheard a sliver of a rumor that something had gone down at the Gryphon's landing. Missing presents. She wasn't sure how serious the situation was, for Griffinkeeper and the other mint-green mods kept all hecticness wrapped up nice and tight around this time of year. However serious the case, Smylin' couldn't risk losing her fat and fluffy Christmas kitteh to present thieves.

She bundled up the kitteh snugger in her toasty-warm pea coat and carried on into the pathway of the Welcome Mat. Where she could soon catch sight of the marvelous JabberHat making holiday greetings and passing out assorted colored candy canes.

"JabberHAT! Look what I got!"

HPR, Titi, BlueBerry

CupCake looked at HPR and TwistedMuffins with eagerness in her eyes. It was quite obvious that she was feeling better now. As HPR watched CupCake browsing through the list of songs they could use, she whispered to Muffins,"You've got a great way of comforting people, you know. Making them feel better when they have problems. Even though the problems aren't so serious, you're still really good at comforting people." Saying that, HPR walked over to CupCake. "CupCake, I think you should sing some Christmas Carols, record them on a CD and give it to your family. They'll like it better if you've sung the carols yourself, right?" CupCake seemed a little uncomfortable. "I'm not very good at singing.", she murmured, loud enough for HPR to hear her. "Pshhh. Don't say that. I heard you singing that day and you're really good!" Muffins had joined them by now. "Isn't she, Muffins? You told me that too, the other day!" She looked at CupCake and, without waiting for a reply from her she said, "I like that one. 'We wish you a Merry Christmas'. I don't celebrate Christmas so I don't know a whole lot of carols but I rather like that one. And there's also 'Joy to the World'. That's a really good one too." HPR looked at CupCake who had been quiet the whole time. "Well? Are you going to sing or what?" "I prefer the 'or what' choice better.", replied CupCake.
"Well, the 'or what' choice is to not get a present for your family."
"I can't do that!"
"Then select some carols, and sing. We'll take care of everything else."
And with that, Muffins, CupCake and HPR began going through the list of carols that CupCake could sing. She had a bounce in her step and a broad smile on her face as she, Muffins and HPR walked out of the CD store an hour or two later.

Scar:

"Lumi was here?" Scar asked, looking round with wide eyes. She frowned and looked back towards Isha, then past her to see JabberHut putting up decorations. The other mod was busy with her decorating, so Scar turned back to Isha. She smiled wildly, then broke into giggles. "Snooooooow," she said, drawing out the word and turning to spin out into the street. Isha watched Scar, giggling. It was clear that they both loved the snow.

Suddenly, Scar paused and turned back to Isha. Grinning, she ran and tackled Isha again, dragging the both of them back to the ground. The modlet laughed and nudged at her friend, the pair giggling in the snow. Scar abruptly became serious and sat up, eyes on Isha's face. Isha frowned at her.

"I forget to tell you something," she said, getting up and dusting off her bottom. She held out a hand and pulled Isha to her feet again before skipping back a couple of steps. "Merry Christmas, Isha!" She abruptly fell into a fit of giggles. This was so unlike the normal Scar. She was probably scaring people--and she didn't care. She was just so happy and excited! She'd finally gotten to see snow and she loved it!