Young Writers Society

Suddenly, one of Santa’s bats turned against its brethren. Wait. Was it one of Santa’s bats?

No, no, it wasn’t.

The bat in question popped into Lorde, Mountain Dew Baja Blast slushie in hand.

“Alright, everyone! As fashionable as those feather boas, they’re not going to cut it on their own. Here!”

Using her friend, the void, she gave everyone Santa hats.

“We have to convince Santa we’re on his side, or the bats will haunt us forever.”

They took a long sip of their slushie. She didn't know what to do. Should they summon more Christmas decorations? Wrap everyone in Christmas lights? No, none of that was enough. There was only one piece of Christmas wear that would be strong enough to withstand the bat attacks.

The ugly sweater.

Or, since it was first over a hundred degrees where they lived, the ugly Christmas tank-top. She reached into the void and grabbed the most Christmasy tank ever made, and put it on.

“Okay, everyone. It’s time to spread Christmas Cheer like the common cold.”

They used chaos magic to make everyone match, giving sweaters, tanks, and t-shirts based on weather and preference.

“Merry Christmas in July. It’s time to fight some bats.”

whatcha liked to think she had been keeping up with the plot quite well up until this point, but now the combination of a short-term sleepy-mushroom coma, along with the appearance of a pink crow (which could've been dreamed up during aforementioned coma, for all she knew), and suddenly finding herself dressed in an ugly Christmas t-shirt complemented by an itchy boa -- well, it was all a bit much, to say the least. And now, on top of everything, they were being attacked by Santa and his bats, while in mid-flight to who knows where the heck.

"Are the sleeves cuffed?" she murmured to herself, hastily rolling them up. "Okay, this is good, we're good. We can work with this."

"Hey, did anyone actually grab that map from @YeOldeYorick?" @LittleLee asked, blinking his wide crested-gecko-eyes slowly. "Because like, I have no clue where those smoky caves are."

Oh, so was that where they were flying to?

@lillianna coasted by, her boa wrapped around her arms that she was flapping like wings. "I don't think the pressing issue at hand is a map, honestly," she noted, waving a make-shift wing vaguely towards the horde of bats that was fast approaching. "We might wanna try dealing with them first, if ya hear what I'm saying."

"Hmm, good observation," whatcha agreed absentmindedly, adjusting the Santa hat that @AlmostImmortal had gifted her. Maybe she could change it to an elf hat, considering she was a half-elf and all that. Nodding decisively, she changed it to an elf hat in a poof of sparkly green glitter. At that precise moment, a bat just happened to fly up to her, and upon inhaling some of the glitter cloud started spluttering like an empty engine. Or something. whatcha was too lazy to come up with a more elegant simile. "Oops, sorry hun," she apologized.

"I don't think you hear what I'm saying, actually," lillianna said with a sigh.

@Carina cartwheeled by, dispersing bats with her flailing limbs. "Isn't this a party! Talk about holiday cheer! Has anyone seen some mistlefeet around?"

"Is mistlefeet the plural of mistletoe?" whatcha whispered to @FireEyes, not wanting others to overhear her ignorance. Speaking of ignorance, she decided to throw a random tag to @Ignorance because why not.

"If 'rina says so, then it must be," FireEyes responded, ever loyal to the leader of chaos.

"Speaking of holiday cheer, holiday cheer!" Carina repeated, circling back. She seemed to hear someone -- perhaps a voice in her head -- and, after a moment of realization, leaned in towards whatcha conspiratorily. "Psst, I think I'm giving you a hint about what you should be doing right now. Can't verify that with 100% certainty though, sorry about that."

Holiday cheer? Oh, right, there were a couple things whatcha could do to convince @SantaYWS to call off the bats. The bats, by the way, were still very much in the picture and proving to be quite an inconvenience throughout this conversation; whatcha was just too lazy to describe said bats and inconveniences.

Let's see, sing in poetic rhyme. whatcha could surely do that -- although if @soundofmind hadn't disappeared with the brain cell whose name whatcha forgot, she could've been of great help with this as well.

Ohhhhhhh,

dear Halloweeny creatures, I don't think it's your season yet
so if you'd just chill out until October, well then we'd be all set.
If that's not what you want though, why can't we all be friends
at very least until this tagbook's done and July is at its end?

You can imagine whatcha singing this approximately to the tune of the Rolie Polie Olie intro and squeezing in the extra syllables as fast as possible where necessary. Talk about innovative composition.


And now for a Christmas in July advertisement. whatcha did a pensive roll in the air while she considered what she wanted her advertisement to look like. She tried to channel her inner @trashykawa graphic design skills, and once she was somewhat happy with the result, she posted it on her wall.

Feeling very satisfied with herself, whatcha moulded a passing cloud into a throne chair and reclined back in it comfortably.

" Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble. "

sanity marvelled at her concoction, taking a moment to herself in admiration of the new-and-inventive brew she had taken a month's worth of time and efforts to design! As if the soul of a mad scientist possessed her, the walls rang with the chilling cackles that gurgled from her throat. How many expeditions did it take? Too many for her taste. The preparations for this special formula required a good deal of ingredients, as she reminisced her over the crazed and deathly trips she'd taken to gather everything, snapshots of terrain flashing upon her inward eye, all of which rolled like tape across the film of her mind: Candy Cane Forest, The Fire Swamp, the Valley of Souls, Arachnida Sinkhole, Poisoned Ice-Fields and Deadman's Grounds - a landmine attraction!




Her grin stretched like an eerie, ripped fault line along the crumbling surface of her face, the marked memories of adventure deeming sanity worthy of the title as the Poetry Plaza's witch. Glorious! she thought, watching the boiling pot spume and froth, as spillages of her magic solution wept onto the puddle of dark fabric pooling at her heels, not seeming to mind the length of her cloak nor its contact with the sloppy, grime-smeared floor.

She could just barely make out the flakes of her dead cat's withering carcass. If she'd done it right, this mixture would restore Sake, the kitten she'd lost to a dragon's breath— narrowly escaping with her life too, at that. If all went well...

...but any semblance of hope had sunk — just like that — down the drain, as her toad, Of, (yes I'm scattering my username across my characters, so what~?) sprung into the air in a sudden, fatal motion: Of leapt like a gold-medalled vaulter — directly above the seething pot —, its eyes on the measly blob of a fly, as his tongue flung out to snatch its prey, only to be betrayed by gravity, as sanity watched a comical drop of her idiot frog. Of splashed into the cauldron, disrupting the peace of an ongoing spellwork. The hell-broth hissed in response, as an empty space within her potion-making room tore away, summoning a manic portal that sucked her in beyond her will.

She was spat out on the other side, its warped presence lasting for only an instant before disappearing back into the void. Now she lost Of, too...

But sanity didn't just spawn anywhere. No. She was sent flying, as if strung by the grey sky's invisible hands like a shadow puppet.

Thrust into the throes of nature, she was caught by an entangled mass of bats midair, the Ho, ho, ho's! of @SantaYWS piercing her ears from a distance.

Speaking in the only language she knew, she howled from the shroud of winged critters:

" Alas, what trials have befallen me yet again!
The mysteries and murkiness of nature shall never end!
Oh, what I would give to join the dead than have them punish me-
For trying to bring life into something that shouldn't be
Come at me then, beasts, for sins I shan't repay!
Never am I to feel regret until my dying day! "


Amidst the chaos, she glimpsed a crew of travelers she believed she'd seen before... not too far away. From the crowd, she could make out: @SilverNight, @Spearmint, @Vincian, @Carina, @veeren, @Liminality, @HarryHardy and @whatchamacallit...

Fire became overwhelmed at the new people and clothes and circumstances. She decided to venture on her own. Fire wanted an ice cream cone for her journey on her own.

She pulled @Spearmint aside. "Hey mint, can I have an ice cream cone?"

"Sure what would you like?" Mint was always happy to give some cones.

"Oh just cookies and cream."

Mint scooped it up right away and put the cone in Fire's hand, delicately wrapped in a napkin with mint's logo.

"Thanks." Fire took a lick and walked off to @Carina. Fire swiftly took the map from her back pocket and started walking away from the crowd. Quietly and softly she walked and the further she got the less laughter and yelling she heard. After a few minutes of walking, and by a few minutes she means 3 minutes of powerwalking, she took off the magically gifted Christmas sweater because she was hot and doesn't celebrate Christmas. She also was The farther Fire walked, the more she wished she had @veeren, @HarryHardy, or @SilverNight with her.

The map lead her to The Unnamed Valley and she kept on walking. The ice cream cone was infused with mint magic so it wouldn't melt and lasts longer when licking it. Although the ice cream wasn't melting, Fire was (ironically.) She took off the fashionable, sustainable, feather boa.

After trekking The Unnamed Valley, Fire was led to The Fire Swamp. But it didn't look like The Fire Swamp because it was the back end. After walking a few feet into the swamp Fire realized something. The map slowly faded to show what it truly read. Fire thought she was nearing up on the Mirror Lake but with a few more steps, it revealed she was indeed in The Fire Swamp. Carina's chaos magic scrambled the map!

Fire became troubled and scared. She knew she couldn't fight off the ROUSs even with her fire abilities. Oh if only she had vereen's rat costume! Then a rumbling came from the sky above Fire and a dragon with the face of a chicken and the tail of a rat came and stole her ice cream cone!!! This was unforgivable.

But then there was a small noise, a twig snapping, and right then Fire knew she was in trouble. Something lunged at her and she did something very out of character. She screamed bloody murder. "CARINAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Forever finally agreed with her brain― She decided to join the search with @Imaginativealice in the DOC. She too has a borrowed phoenix like Alice. 1 Million YWS Points and becoming the richest person in YWSForever thought, Isn't it kind of a daydream?But... to get that, I have to suffer a nightmare before that.
@rida kind of guessed her thought, "Come on," she said, "We are here with you. The DOC will surely succeed in the search."
Forever had a intriguing feeling. She could imagine being alone in the ghostly forest quite vividly and who knows... Perhaps, the quest is gonna be more ghastly. However, she is not the person to stop. She said, "How will we be going there?"
"By our Phoenices, of course." @UniYosha replied with a smile.
"Will not we be facing problems from the bats of Santa?" @Stringbean inquired.
"We are a group. We will overcome it. You have Alice's mushrooms. Don't we? But I don't know if bats―" @NivedaJames22 said.
"We will have to find a way," Alice said, "Can't our magical powers do anything?"
"Yes, it can!" Niveda, Forever, Rida, Stringbean all said together.
"And what if we join hands with the other YWS empires?" Forever asked looking at others for an answer.

alliyah, the chicken goblin, sat cross-legged surrounded by chickens humming "jingle bells" to herself. She did this from time to time when things became ... @_@. Bats were divebombing the YWSers from all around, and @SantaYWS a most beloved celebrity was acting more like the Grinch than Santa. The chickens were squawking and horribly annoyed at the bats stopping their journey. What could be done?

She nodded as @AlmostImmortal plopped a festive holiday hat on her head. @Carina yelled something about using the power of Holiday Cheer™ - and alliyah looked up hopefully as @whatchamacallit sang a beautiful power ballad about the bats while simultaneously throwing fliers in the air to advertise Christmas in July. Maybe @soundofmind or @CaptainJack would grace them with a song next! The bats paused to read the fliers and it seemed to work...

alliyah looked to the other side and noticed a crew with @sakeofvanity05 mixing some magical concoction and she thought she heard the voice of @ForeverYoung299 too, but couldn't spot her in the group - maybe it was just magic~

alliyah, knew chicken magic, but no bat magic. That was for certain. Well.. actually she had read a good book on bats which @Nate had recommended to her once. And maybe they weren't so hideous and scary after-all, you know chickens are like dinosaurs, dinosaurs are like dragons, and dragons are just oversized bats! YES! alliyah asked if she could borrow @Meshugenah's library card and then quickly went to one of those mobile libraries where she found exactly the book she was looking for! She skipped to the last chapter titled "HOW TO THROW OFF A BAT ATTACK IN CASE OF EMERGENCY" and it read! "Confuse the bats with a holiday diversion or poetry" hmm... I guess @Carina knew exactly what she was talking about, her method was in fact legit!

alliyah gestured for some clever poetry rhymers @starlitmind @chikara @Buranko @Liminality & @Traves @silented1 to join her for some rhyme scheming, and then came up with this,



The chickens were alliyah's backup singers as needed during the lyrical poem battle. She watched the sky as bat after bat started exchanging presents and glasses of eggnog (not from @TheEgg of course!) and generally became caught up in the holiday, and slowly they started disappearing from the sky! Maybe those cute little bats weren't so bad afterall, just like creepy halloween chickens alliyah thought to herself. There were still a few lingering there, but things seemed to be taking a turn for the better! With just a little more cheer maybe they could SAVE CHRISTMAS! err.. I mean FIND THE DRAGON!

almost as if a great magic had been arranged from a power beyond them all, faint neon lights in the distance gleamed with the word "ROLEPLAYS".

alliyah rubbed her eyes unsure if she was seeing a facade or trick of @Classified!
🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇

Yoshi had found a trampoline. It was a very weird trampoline. The trampoline told Yoshi:

"Stand on me, and I will grant you a feast beyond anything you ever desired."

Unsure whether the talking trampoline was part of the plot or just there for no reason, Yoshi stood on it.

Then, he was suddenly launched into the sky, which to this day, he is confuzzled about because he clearly never jumped. While in the sky, he saw a huge black cloud flying towards him. It was a bunch of bats. Apparently, @alliyah had made them fly up into the sky for some reason, so Yoshi opened his mouth.

Yoshi ate some bats, as they flew past him. Then he ate some @ChesTacos, who for some reason always appears as food.

"Mmm yommy chesy tacoey," Yoshi said and he proceeded to fall back to the ground, drunk off bat juice and tacos.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.......a?" Fire slowly stopped screaming as she realized nothing was biting her. There was supposed to be a Rodent of unusual size ripping her to shreds. But it was just a little dragon with the face of a chicken and the tail of a rat. Maybe slightly more horrifying. The dragon-chicken-rat hopped over to Fire and began licking her leg. But this wasn't the same terrifying beast that stole Fire's ice cream. This was a different one. "Why hello chicken-dragon-rat I'm gonna name you Curthewstonadle in memory of the braincell I lost to @soundofmind."

Fire looked around and picked up the map she dropped. She also took the dragon-chicken-rat under her wing (GET IT?) and started exploring.

After a few steps the map was all back to normal and there was something Fire had to tell the others. Right next to the Fire Swamp, on the second highest mystic mountain, there were dragon-chicken-rats galore. There must have been a nest, spawns from Nate the Dragon.

Just then a sound came from deep in the Swamp. It came rushing to greet Fire.

"Hi-ho @veeren the rat here. I see you have found my hiding spot!"

"Wait what now?" Fire responded in confusion.

"Oh yeah. You know how the Fire Swamp is directly linked to the Candy Cane forest? Well I came in here before you burned it down. I think I scared away all the ROUSs by t-posing over them to assert dominance." veeren jumped up and down from the joy he had at sharing his new hiding spot.

"So you know how to get out?"

"Yeah of course. How else did I get to the Trampoline Trough?"

"Okay veeren this is very important. I want you to take this map and find the gang. Do not under any circumstances, give the map to @Carina. If you have to give the map to anyone, give it to @SilverNight or @Vincian. I need them to see these lil guys." Fire held up Curthewstonadle for veeren to see. "I think they're spawns of Nate the dragon! I left a sweater about 3 minutes away and in the Unnamed Valley I left a sustainable feather boa. Those'll be your landmarks if you get lost at all."

"Ma'am yes ma'am!" veeren saluted, went down on all fours and trotted away to fins the gang.

Fire would spend this time exploring, trying to find Nate the dragon.