Antauri Claus

Beastfire: I don't own the Monkey Team or any characters related to them, nor do I own Frus and Kyrie. I own Ivy and the triplets. That is all. Enjoy!

It was Christmas eve in Shuggazoom. It was blatantly obvious, too, from the brightly glowing strings of lights all over the city to the wreaths adorning the doors of building after building. Even the Super Robot was decked out for the holidays. The Monkey Team had invited Jinmay over for a small Christmas get together.

As she approached the Robot, Jinmay was taking in the sights and sounds of the season. She wondered how the Monkeys were doing, what Ivy and Frus were up to, and, most importantly, how Chiro was faring. She was excited, as a matter of fact, to see him again. Jinmay reached her destination, only to hear a loud SLAP.

Inside, Sprx had a red mark on his already red face. He was rubbing that with one hand, and holding up some mistletoe with the other. Nova could be seen storming away from him. Otto, Gibson, and Frus were putting the tree up while Antauri was using his powers to hang various decorations. The triplets and their adopted sister were just watching. Chiro was trying to look his best for Jinmay, and Ivy was outside hanging the lights.

Suddenly, Jinmay heard a scream intertwined with some swearing. She looked up to see a meerkat hanging upside down, entangled in a string of lights. Activating the jets in her shoes, Jinmay flew up to retrieve Ivy. After doing so, she landed and went inside, allowing Ivy to sit on her shoulder.

As she entered, she was immediately met by Chiro. His black hair wasn't as messy as usual and his blue eyes were glittering with excitement as he looked at Jinmay's long pink, white-tipped pigtails and bright green eyes. Ivy looked at the two and smirked.

"Think I'll leave you two alone," she said, hopping off of Jinmay's shoulder and walking to her kids.

The four kids could see her coming and jumped on their mother. She connected with the floor, but felt just fine about it. Ivy hugged all four of them, got up, and looked around.

"Hey, Tyr, Dylan, Seamus, Kyrie…where's your dad?"

As if on cue, Frus fell from the tree. Sprx approached them all, not knowing of how Ivy had a plan for him. She'd never quite gotten along with the crimson monkey and had thought of a nice revenge scheme. She'd slip some of her new ultimate beer (version 3.0), that had no scent and could, in no way, be detected, into his eggnog. It was designed to mix flawlessly with any liquid it made contact with.

Ivy looked at a glass of eggnog, assumed it to be Sprx's, and made sure nobody was watching. She used an eyedropper to spike it, then sauntered off, rather pleased with herself. Moments later, she saw Sprx with a can of soda.

"Uh…Sparky?" Frus asked, sensing Ivy's alarm.

"Yeah? And don't call me that!"

"Aren't you going to drink your eggnog?"

"Huh? I don't even LIKE eggnog."

An awkward silence ensued. The silence was soon shattered by the sound of someone hitting the floor. Antauri was drinking the spiked eggnog…and Ivy had fainted. Frus watched as Antauri's eyes started to swirl.

"Antauri?" Nova asked, noticing this new change.

"What do you want for Christmas?" the black monkey asked jovially.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm more than okay…I'm Santa Claus!"

"Antauri, think rationally!" said Gibson, trying to get Antauri back to normal.

Antauri simply ran from the room and re-entered in a Santa suit. His eyes darted around the room until his gaze settled on Frus…particularly his ears. Frus noticed and wished suddenly that his ears weren't quite so pointy. The delusional monkey handed Frus a bundle of clothing.

"Go put it on," he told him.

Frus, not wanting to deny the second in command, did as he was told. There was a pause, followed by Frus' yell of anger and embarrassment. As he stomped back toward Antauri, the jingling of bells could be heard with each footfall. The mongoose was dressed as an elf.

"You're my elf," Antauri informed him.

Chiro nearly fell over laughing, until Antauri had handed him a bundle of clothing and had him put those on. Apparently, Chiro was Antauri's reindeer. It was Frus' turn to laugh. Chiro just glared at him, gaze penetrating his very soul.

Slowly, Ivy began to wake up. Antauri was right next to her, thought she was a cute little kitten, and tied a big red bow around her neck with a piece of holly hanging from it. He patted her on the head and told her not to eat it, went up to the Brain Scrambler, and took Frus and Chiro with him.

"What just happened here?" the meerkat asked groggily.

Otto picked her up and was petting her.

"Antauri's Santa Claus!" he said excitedly. "And did you know that Chiro's really a reindeer and Frus is an elf?"

"Huh?"

Gibson sighed and explained the situation. As he did so, the triplets and Kyrie came over. Tyr and Dylan sat on their mother's lap, Seamus was batting at the bow with his paw, and Kyrie sat down next to her.

"The bow looks really pretty on you, mommy," said Tyr.

Without bothering to take the bow off, Ivy set her sons down and looked around. Jinmay wanted to find Chiro…and FAST!

"Jinmay," said Gibson. "How about you go look for Antauri? Take Ivy with you. The rest of us will stay here in case of attack. The girl nodded, picked Ivy up, and took off via her rockets.

Meanwhile, in the brain scrambler, Chiro was piloting, with Antauri directing him as to where he should go.

"Uh…Antauri," began Frus.

"I believe you mean 'Santa'."

"Er…Santa, what are we supposed to give everyone? We don't have any gifts…"

"You're the elf, remember? Just make some…."

Frus thought for a second. 'If I were a kid,' he thought, 'what would I want?' He decided on what he'd love to get; puzzles. He began creating a whole bunch of them. For enemies, however, he had a different idea. As they passed over Sakko, Frus wrote a note and attached it to a metal rod. They dropped it down to him as they flew overhead. Sakko, who'd been asleep, awoke as it hit him on the head, and read the note. It went like this:

"Sakko,

Here's a Christmas gift for you: your very own

Lightning rod! You've been bad all year, you see,

And we're out of coal. Enjoy your lightning rod and

Merry Christmas!

Santa's helper"

Sakko looked at the drawings on the note, which were basically chibi-ized versions of Antauri, Frus, and Chiro in their costumes. He looked to the sky and shrieked in rage. They'd just left him there, flying over various homes and dropping metal puzzles to allies and lightning rods to enemies. Things were going great…until they reached one really tall building. For there, standing on the flat roof, were Ivy and Jinmay. Ivy had a megaphone and Jinmay had her arms crossed, tapping her foot.

"Antauri," Ivy said, "let the boyfriends go…or at least the mongoose. Whichever."

Jinmay's eyes narrowed as she slapped Ivy upside the head and took the megaphone from her.

"Chiro!" she yelled into it. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, Jinmay," he replied.

"Who's piloting?"

"Me."

"Can you land?"

Antauri then decided to take over, speeding past them. Jinmay had to hang onto Ivy to keep her from blowing away.

"Antauri!" shouted Chiro. "What are you DOING?"

"Driving," Antauri replied.

They sped away from Shuggazoom and ended up at another planet. Coming to a stop, Antauri took out a statue of the planet's founder. Before anyone knew it, they were surrounded by the local law enforcement.

"Evacuate the vehicle please, sirs," came the voice of a cop.

The three of them exited their craft and looked at the police. There was silence for a moment or two, then Frus dropped to the ground, covered his eyes with his paws, and shouted, "Ha! You can't see me now!"

"Uh…you can't arrest us," said Chiro.

"And why not?" an officer challenged.

"Because I'm Santa Claus," answered Antauri.

The cops saw right through him and the three were soon behind bars. Chiro sat in disbelief and looked around. Frus was beginning to freak out.

"What's wrong, my spastic little elf?" asked Antauri.

"This is twice in one holiday season I've been arrested! TWI-I-I-ICE!" Frus exclaimed, stretching out the last part and putting two fingers in Antauri's face for emphasis.

Meanwhile, Jinmay was flying through space in her robotic form, while Ivy was nearby in a bubble of water. Apparently, being amphibious had its strong points, too. The meerkat was tracking them telepathically through Frus.

"Are we close?" Jinmay asked.

"I think so…FOUND 'EM!"

"That was fast."

They landed on the same planet as Frus, Antauri, and Chiro. Jinmay reverted to her humanoid form and Ivy disintegrated the bubble. Both of them ran in a certain direction, Ivy being a little in front. They stopped upon arrival at the prison.

"They're…here?" Jinmay asked.

Ivy just nodded and walked up to the guard, using a highly exaggerated strut. Jinmay had to keep herself from laughing really hard. From her location, she could hear the mutant distracting the guard. Being able to take a hint, Jinmay went to find Chiro, as well as Antauri and Frus. It didn't take her very long, either. Antauri and Chiro heard her coming and Frus was asleep.

"Antauri! Chiro!" Jinmay exclaimed. "Are you okay?"

"Ho, ho, ho!" Antauri yelled in way of a greeting.

"Jinmay! Are we glad to see you!" said Chiro, eyes lighting up.

"How'd you get here?" asked Jinmay.

The first response she got was a loud snore from Frus. Chiro explained what happened as Jinmay went back into her robotic mode, making her pigtails into saws to cut through the cell bars, then returned to normal. No sooner had she done so, than there was a loud scream from where Ivy was. Frus' eyes snapped open. He knew that scream anywhere.

The four of them rushed to the location, wondering what the problem was. Apparently, Ivy had said something to get on the guard's nerves. Chiro slapped his forehead. 'I should have gotten her a muzzle for Christmas,' he thought. The guard was holding Ivy a little too tightly to allow circulation.

"Let her go!" said Jinmay.

"Why should I?" the guard asked.

"Because she's…my pet meerkat!"

"Is this true?"

Jinmay used the Bambi eyes approach next.

"Fine…just keep her on a leash from now on."

"Thanks," said Jinmay, taking and petting Ivy. "And Merry Christmas!"

By the time they got to where the Brain Scrambler was, Antauri had gotten out of his ultimate beer induced high and fell asleep on arrival. Chiro was piloting and they got back to Shuggazoom just in time to open gifts on Christmas morning.

Waiting for them were the rest of the Monkey Team, the triplets, and Kyrie. Kyrie was given one gift a bit early; a translation device so that her home planet's language could be understood by the others. Gibson and Otto had made it and it gave the appearance of a locket. She'd also gotten a teddy bear from her parents. Nova had gotten a new punching bag with Mandarin's face on it. Gibson received a new set of beakers, much to his delight. Tyr, Dylan, and Seamus got a stuffed puppy, monkey, and kitten, respectively. Otto was given some new tools. Antauri's gift? Meditation crystals, of course. Chiro's gift was a new video game, and Jinmay got a new dress, which pleased her well enough. Okay, she absolutely loved it. Sprx received a metal shield strong enough to block off any blows from Nova. Frus' gift was…Ivy waiting for him under the mistletoe (which Chiro and Jinmay used later as well as them). Ivy was given a keg of beer.

They opened the rest of their gifts throughout the course of the morning. It'd been a strange Christmas, to say the least. As for Antauri, he managed to get a confession out of Ivy as to his behavior the night before, but he decided to let it slide, with it being Christmas and all. And so…Merry Christmas!

Please review and no flames!