Young Justice: How the Grinches Stole Christmas
As told by Wally West
1.
"Is there any more pudding of the Fig?"
"Half a bowl left, Kori."
"Ugh, I am stuffed."
"What about dessert?"
"We have pie."
"I'm game."
"Oh man, I missed the ending to Rudolph."
"Chill, Frosty's on next."
"Sweet."
"What about the Christmas Carol movie?"
"After Frosty."
"I want more sausage balls!"
It was December twenty fourth, Christmas Eve, and as always, members of the black ops team and Titans were gathered for a Christmas party. Two years ago, the party was almost ruined by extenuating circumstances including a search for the perfect present, a robbery of mopeds, a hunt for the best Christmas tree, and an insane squirrel. Last year involved Santa Clause paying a visit to Watchtower and one future Titan writing a first account story about it. This year was turning out to be better than the last two, meaning it was uneventful. It was just a simple get together with friends old and new with nothing to do besides eat, drink, and be merry.
The living area inside the decorated Titan Tower was full of food, drinks, Christmas Music, members from different teams, except the League who had their own get together, and merriment. No one was a wallflower as there was something for everyone to do. The large TV displayed various Christmas specials with a large Christmas Tree standing proudly in front of the large windows over looking Jump City. There was no sign of what color the actual tree was as the lights used to decorate it were extremely bright with a seemingly endless amount of ornaments hanging from its branches with a healthy amount of presents just waiting to be unwrapped in the morning nestled atop the tree skirt.
"White Elephant gift time!" Shouted Cassie, the protégé of Wonder Woman. Her normally blonde hair sparkled with red, green, and gold glitter for the party to match her candy cane Christmas sweater.
"Oh my, I have forgotten to capture a white elephant," Koriand'r said in a slight panic. "If you would please point me in the direction of the nearest zoo, I can retrieve one quickly."
Laughing at the Tameran's innocence, Karen, who went by her heroine name of Bumblebee, patted her on the shoulder. "No, Kori, a White Elephant gift is another name for a mystery gift for a game. It doesn't have to be an actual White Elephant."
"Oh. Oh you mean what I purchased at the mall on our girl's only shopping trip last week?"
"Exactly."
"Alright, everyone," Artemis announced, "get your rears over here and we'll get started!"
"And I got the snacks!" Speeding past his wife, Wally took his seat on one of the couches with his daughter in his lap. Both were eating from a large bowl of pink marshmallow dessert with Wally using a spoon and Irey using her hands.
"Might as well be living with pigs," Artemis muttered before joining her family.
"Got the bowl with the numbers." Wheeling herself to the couches, Barbara held out a bowl for all to pick a folded piece of paper from. Each had a number to correspond with those present for the gift exchange.
"Does anyone need a reminder of the rules?" Kaldur asked.
"Land dwellers and their traditions," La'gaan muttered.
"Oh shut up, bottom dweller." Flipping over the back of the couch, Dick Grayson plopped between the fish faced Atlantean and Mal. "It's so simple, La'gaan here can do it."
As Dick went about explaining the rules to those gathered, Conner entered the room with Carter in his arms. M'gann had managed to get their son's biosuit to morph into an elf onesie for the occasion while she dressed as a short skirted Mrs. Clause. She even managed to get her husband, the normally quiet Krypto/human, to don a pair of Santa pants, coat, and hat, proving that women can get men to do whatever they wanted.
"Yes, been waiting for this all day!" Slamming his glass of milk on the counter, Garfield morphed into a dove and flew into the living area from the kitchen.
"A turtle dove, Gar?" Cissie asked as the green teen morphed back to his human form. "Subtle."
Grinning, he knew she was referring to him and Raven and heard her give a laugh when he saw the mostly black clad teen girl join them with Terra following behind her carrying a plate full of cookies M'gann had made.
"Okay, let's get this game started!" Phasing through the wall with one last present for the gift exchange, M'gann placed it under the tree and flew back to Conner and her son. "Everyone grab a number?"
"Nearly finished." Letting Jaime draw his number, Barbara handed the bowl to Cassie next.
"Come on, let us get the game of exchanging gifts started!" Koriand'r shouted. "I am so looking forward to this.
"Like we couldn't tell, Kori," Kara, or Supergirl, laughed.
"Okay, that's the last number," Barbara announced. "Let's have Number On-"
Before she could announce for Number One to go, the power in the tower died, draping everyone in complete darkness.
"AWWWWW," everyone said at once.
"What happened?" Mal asked.
"Power's out, duh," Terra answered as Kyle provided a green light from his power ring.
"Backup should be coming on in a few seconds," Conner told them.
"How long is a few seconds?" Wally asked.
"Sphere, girl?" M'gann called from her seat beside her husband.
Revving up, the sentient robotic orb known as Sphere took off from her place beside Wolf and Silke who were enjoying some peanut butter treats and pulled up beside the green skinned Martian woman.
"Can you please see if something's wrong with the computer system to the lights and the back up generator?"
Beeping happily, Sphere rolled into the hall to do what was asked of her.
"She says 'No problem, smiley face'," Conner told his wife as he read the translator Cyborg built for him to use with the living machine.
"Oh man," Garfield whined. "So what are we going to do now?"
"Turn in? Wake up early for Christmas morning?" Raven suggested.
Narrowing his eyes at her, the green teen pouted his lips. "Not, funny, Rachel."
"It's kinda funny," she grinned, only where he could see.
"Well," Wally said as he slapped his knees after moving his daughter to his side, "luckily for each and every one of you, I have an idea of what to do in a situation such as this, on a day such as this, at a time such as this, at a-"
"Oh just get on with it, Bottomless Pit Number One," Artemis told him. Even married, the two enjoyed their light verbal jabs with each other.
"Fine. I was going to tell you all a story set on Christmas in a mystical land far, far away."
"And what place is that?" Kaldur asked
"Well, it's, uh…it's uh…" Smiling cheekily. Wally sat back in his seat. "It's set in the far off place known as Happy Whoville."
"Happy Whoville?" Conner asked flatly.
"Yeah, Supey. Happy Whoville."
"And what is this story called?" Terra asked through a mouthful of M'gann's Christmas cookies.
"Glad you asked, my little Earth shaker, glad you asked." Moving to sit on the backrest of the red couch he occupied, Wally began to set the mood. "This is a story of Christmas spirit and the two people in all of Happy Whoville who lacked it. This is the tale of, How The…Hm…Oh, How The Grinches Stole Christmas."
Narrowing his eyes at the ginger who looked looked directly at him with a grin, Conner was clearly not amused. Despite that, the speedster continued.