Here is an early Christmas story posted as a birthday present for one of my best fanfic friends, Redbat132! Happy Birthday and Merry Early Christmas! :)
Fresh snow was falling, Christmas carols rung in the air, and shopping malls were packed with customers, New York City was caught up in the good-hearted hurrah of the holidays.
But there was nothing like spending the holidays at a quiet, remote location in the countryside. At Dana's farmhouse, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were spending Christmas with their human friends, April and May.
Their hostess was Dana, a vampire bat mutant. She was in the kitchen rummaging through the cabinets to find enough mugs for hot chocolate. She reached for the cabinet when she felt somebody's fingers tickling her underarms.
"AAAH!" Dana fell, but managed to cling to the counter with her bat-like feet and grab the cabinet to keep herself from falling.
"Man! Talk about ticklish!" Leo said with a laugh.
"Leo!" Dana tried not to let go. "Not cool, man!"
"Hey, come on, Dana! It's a holiday! Loosen up!" He looked at Dana's feet. Dana felt exposed when her crush stared at her furry bat feet.
Dana normally wore her hooded cloak and boots, but not when she's at home. Home was where she was most comfortable anywhere. Dana's transformation was a lot for her to deal with, so she tries to make the best of it. But those creepy bat feet of hers woups always make Dana's self-conscious just like the rest of her.
But Dana's concern changed when Leo ran a finger over her toes. The bat mutant shivered from his touch. "Leo! Quit it!"
Leo grinned his cheeky grin and kept tickling Dana's toes. "Coochy, coochy, coo!"
"Ahahahahahahahahahaha! Quit it, Leo!" Dana laughed herself silly as Leo playfully tickled her.
"Tickle, tickle, tickle!" Leo sang. He moved his hands to her stomach.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! LEO! STOP! I'M GONNA FAHAHAHALL!"
The tickling worked as Dana lost her grip and fell. Leo caught her, but he pinned her to the floor and tickled her stomach. "Coochy, coo!"
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! LEOHOHOHOOOOOOO!"
Leo kept up the tickling until a giant rat tail slapped him across the face.
"Enough noise-making, Blue one! I am trying to watch Jupiter Jim's Holiday on Mars Christmas special!" said Splinter, the mutant rat who was the turtle's mentor and father. He crossed his arms and gave his son a disapproved look. "There are more quiet ways to flirt."
"WHAT?!" Leo's face turned red as Raph's mask. "Dad! I'm not flirting!"
Splinter raised a brow. "Really? That's what it looked like to me." He walked back to the living room.
A very embarrassed Leo helped Dana up. "Sorry, Dana."
"It's okay." Dana smiled. "So, Leo, was this your way of flirting with me?"
"N-No!" Leo replied. But the blush on his cheeks gave him away.
Raph busted into the house. "Hey, Leo! We're gonna take Donnie's new sleds for a spin. Move your shell and let's go!"
Dana patted Leo on the back. "Go on, Leo. I gotta make the cocoa anyway."
"Yeah! Come on, Romeo!" Raph joked as he took Leo's arm and dragged him outside.
"HEY!" Leo yelled.
Outside, the turtles and their human friends, April and May were sledding down the snowy hills on Donnie's newly built sleds.
But they weren't your typical plastic sleds, the gang were ripping down the hill in Donnie's turbo powered her sleds.
"COWABUNGAAAAAAAAAA!" Raph and Mikey hollered over the rushing winds. Their sled hit a bump and they went soaring into the air and landed on a pile of soft snow.
"OH, YEAH!" Raph roared, bursting out of the snow.
Mikey emerged from the snow and flopped on his back. "Snow is always the best at Christmas time!" He started making a snow angel.
"WOO-OOOOO!" Leo and Donnie yelled as they shredded down the hill on their sled aand crashed next to their brothers.
"Thankfully, the cold snow cushions the blow and numbs the pain..." Donnie said, his face planted in the snow.
"I know, right?! WINTER ROCKS!" Leo cheered in his always excited voice.
"HEADS UP!" April battle-cried soared over their comrades in Donnie's turbo charged sled. "APRIIIIIIIL O'NEIL!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" May screamed. "I THINK WE'RE TOO HIIIIIIIIIGH!"
"Jumpin' Jack Flash!" said Raph.
"That is WAY too high!" Donnie estimated.
The girls screamed as they sailed across the sky and landed somewhere in the forest.
Dana, a bat mutant, came outside with a tray of hot chocoate. "Guys! Cocoa's ready!"
"Not now, Dana!" Mikey said. "May and April just blasted themselves into firewood!" He and the rest of the gang ran into the woods.
Dana sighed and set her tray aside. "I told Donnie those sleds were a bad idea." She flapped her wings and flew after them. "But nooooo! He's the genius and doesn't listen to anyone..."
In the forest, the gang tried to find Leo and Donnie.
"Guys! Where are you?!" Raph called out.
"You think they crashed into Santa's sleigh?!" Mikey asked in a worried tone.
"I sincerely doubt that, Miguel." said Donnie. "Luckily, I put a tracker on the sleds." Donnie checked the screen equipped into his bow staff. "Okay, the tracking device survived the crash. They should be right over-" He gasped, stopping dead on his tracks.
The turtles saw that Donnie's sled was demolished. And April and May were nowhere to be seen.
Mikey saw the stunned look on Donnie's face. "Hey, cheer up, D." He patted his shoulder. "You can always build another sled."
"I'm not staring at the sled, Mikey." Donnie pointed to the tree that stood in front of the destroyed sled.
It looked like a normal tree...but there was a door that appeared to be carved into the tree. The door was on the shape of a grinning jack-o-lantern.
"Uh, is that suppose to be a door?" Raph moved toward the tree, afraid, but curious. He reached for the knob and gave it a turn, opening it.
"Whoa..." Raph saw nothing but pitch blackness inside. "Guys! There's a secret passage inside this tree!" Raph's voice echoed from within the tree. "It looks like it goes on forever!"
"April and May must have gone inside that tree!" Raph guessed. "We have to go after them!" But before he could jump in, Leo grabbed Raph by his red bandanna.
"Hold on, Red head." Leo said. "We can't just jump in without-"
Suddenly, a strong wind blew from within the tree and sucked Raph and Leo inside! Mikey and Donnie held onto their brothers before getting pulled on with them.
"WOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The turtles screamed as they fell deeper and deeper into the dark abyss.
Soon, all they could see was darkness.
"Leo! Leo! Wake up!"
Leo was the first to open his eyes. He saw Dana looking down at him. "Leo! Are you alright?!"
"What just happened?" Leo grabbed as he staggered up.
"Well, I was flying over the woods to find the girls. But I saw you guys getting sucked inside a tree! I followed you guys and the next thing I know, we all ended up in this creepy place!"
"Creepy is right!" Mikey said, hiding behind Raph. "This place is beyond creepy!"
Mikey was right. It would appear Dana and the turtles have stumbled into a different world, but this was nothing like the mystic city hooded beneath New York.
This world was a lot darker and scarier. It looked like the set of a scary movie taking place in their worst nightmares.
Raph trembled with fear as he hugged Mikey for comfort. "Donnie, are we dead?!"
"No! We are not dead!" Donnie checked his armband computer. "According to my calculations we're...we're..." Donnie couldn't pinpoint their exact location.
"HE DOESN'T KNOW!" Mikey screamed. "WE REALLY ARE DEAD!"
"GUYS! Nobody is dead!" Leo snapped. "We just need to find April and May then get the heck out of here!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" A familar sounding scream came from within the spooky looking town.
"That sounded like May! She's in trouble!" Donnie rushed off to save his love interest.
"Donnie! Wait up!" Leo said. He and Dana chased after them.
"HEY! What about us?!" Raph yelled.
"DON'T LEAVE US HERE ALONE!" Mikey screamed. They were about to follow them until they heard barking behind them.
Raph spun around and gasped. Mikey turned and his eyes bulged out in shock.
A little dog was behind them...but was floating in mid air. It was glowing white and transparent with a glowing orange nose.
"Arf! Arf!" The ghost dog hovered toward the turtles.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Mikey screamed. "GHOOOOOOST!" He took off screaming.
"WAIT FOR ME PLEASE!" Raph screamed, following his brother.
The little ghost dog chased after the two terrified turtles.
Meanwhile, Donnie was tracking down May and April. He came across a crumbling old house and kicked the door open.
"DONNIE!" May came running and embraced the genius turtle.
"May! Oh, thank Melvil Dewey you're alive!" Donnie said in much relief. He spotted Raph, Mikey, and April hufdled together in the corner of the room.
"How did you find us, Donnie?!" asked May.
Donnie smiled proudly. "I installed a tracking device in that bracelet I gave you in case of emergencies such as this."
May looked at the sparkly purple bracelet Donnie gifted her. "You did?! For me?!" Her eyes lit up. "Donnie, you're amazing!"
"Not as amazing as you." Donnie delivered smoothly with a charming smile.
"GUYS! This is SO not the time!" April yelled, snapping them out of their love staring.
"Donnie! We have GOT to get out of this place!" Raph said frantically. "This place is haunted! We were being chased by a ghost dog!"
Donnie blinked. "Excuse me?"
May looked at him with wild eyes. "This place is haunted! Ghosts! Skeletons! Monsters! Everywhere!"
Donnie stared at May for a long time. "Okay..." He cleared his throat. "Look, there's got to be a logical explanation for-"
Just then, a strange noise reached everyone's ears, causing them to stiffen.
It was singing. A girl's voice was singing a festive little tune.
"This time, this time
Making Christmas
Making Christmas
Making Christmas, making Christmas
Is so fine
It's ours this time
And won't the cildren be surprised
It's ours this time
Making Christmas
Making Christmas
Making Christmas
Time to give them something fun
They'll talk about for years to come
Let's have a cheer from everyone
It's time to party
Making Christmas, making Christmas."
"It's the ghost!" Mikey hissed in fear. "It's trying to lure us in to steal our souls!"
Donnie rubbed his temples. "Do you know how hard it is for me to accept the fact that I consider you my siblings?" He sighed. "Look, there's no such thing as ghosts. Whoever's singing can explain to us where we are. Come on!"
The gang followed Donnie who followed the sound of the haunting singing. The sound grew as Donnie arrived at a door. He slowly opened it and spotted someone. Raph, Mikey, April and May peeked to see what was there.
The figure's back was turned to them, but the turtles can make out two women with long crimson hair. One was taller than the other. The shorter girl was was holding a music box in her hand.
"I just love this box!" said the girl. "Dad is gonna love it!" She closed the box. "I can't wait for Christmas to come, Mom!"
The taller woman took the trinket and placed it in a Christmas box. "Neither can I, Sweetie. Merry Christmas." She hugged her daughter.
Hearing their sweet voices, the turtles relaxed. "Aw! They're mother and daughter!" Mikey fawned.
"And they sound nice." said Raph. "Maybe they can help us."
Donnie opened the door and the turtles approached the figure. "Excuse me, ladies."
The figures turned around.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Donnie screamed. Raph, Mikey, April, and May screamed.
The girl was a skeleton. A living skeleton. "Wow! Those were good screams!" she complimented.
The girl's mother wasn't a skeleton, but she was some sort of creature. She had blue skin with several stitches on her body. She was a rag doll, a living rag doll.
"Ruff! Ruff!" The ghost dog phased through the wall.
"IT'S THE GHOST DOOOOOOG!" Raph wailed. He ran and crashed through the wall.
"I WAS WRONG! I WAS HORRIBLY WRONG!" Donnie scooped up May and ran through Raph's hole in the wall. Mikey, April, and May promptly followed, screaming in terror.
Leo and Dana entered the morbid ghost town. Dana swallowed when she saw a gullitone not too far away from here. "Uh, Leo..."
"Whoa! Check that out!" Leo pointed to a very unusual sight. It was a giant pine tree in the town square. But it was dead and decorated with orange lights, tarnished tinsel and macabre ornaments.
"It looks like a Christmas tree." Dana said.
Leo couldn't help but snort. "Christmas tree?! How can this tower of garbage be a Christmas tree?!" He took a closer look at the tree and screamed, falling flat on his shell.
"WHAT?! What is it?!" Dana rushed to help Leo.
"There are shrunken heads on that tree!" Leo pointed a terrified finger at the tree. Dana peered closer and yelped when she saw several shriveled, gruesome shrunken heads hanging on the tree like they were mere ornaments.
And that wasn't the only thing hanging on that tree. There were skulls, spiders, eyeballs, and glowing jack-o-lanterns.
"What kind of place is this?!" Dana was becoming really scared.
Leo tried to keep himself from shivering. "It...it's gotta be some kind of gag!" he said, his voice shaking. "I mean, t-this setup can't be for real!"
The mutants were too scared to speak. Then a horrified scream broke their silence.
"LEOOOOO! DANAAAAAAAAA!" Donnie, Mikey, Raph, May and April came running toward the bat and turtle mutant, screaming their heads off.
"WHOA! WHOA! WHOA! WHOA!" Leo tried to stop everyone with his voice. But they couldn't stop and collided into each other.
Leo managed to pull himself from the pile of brothers and friends. "What's the big idea plowing into us, guys?!" Leo snapped. "You could have cracked my shell!"
"AAAAH! LEO! LEO!" Donnie screamed, becoming pale as a ghost. He stammered incoherently as he pointed at something behind Leo. The blue wearing ninja turtle saw Dana and everyone else looked petrified and ready to explode.
When Leo turned around, he found himself face to face with a large group of ghosts, ghouls, and all sorts of monsters deformed and demonic.
The ghost dog, the bluish rag doll, and the skeleton girl, was among the crowd of monsters.
But the monster that seemed to lead this nightmarish crowd was a skeleton wearing a black suit with white pinstripes and a bat shaped bow tie.
The turtles and humans couldn't believe their eyes. They truly felt like they were living in a nightmare. Leo took it the worst. He felt like fainting any second.
"Ah! So you're the creatures Sally told me about!" said the skeleton. He offered his hand to a horror-stricken Leo. "I don't believe we've met. I'm-"
Leo's eyes rolled back and fainted with a thud.
Leo! Leo! Oh my gosh! Leo! Wake up!" Dana tried to revive Leo.
The ghost dog saw Leo out cold and started licking the turtle's face.
"AAAH! THE GHOST DOG IS EATING LEO!" Mikey yelled.
"No! I think he's helping Leo wake up!" said May. "Look!"
The licking worked. Leo started to smile and woke up giggling. "Okay! Okay! I'm up! Come on! That tickles!" He was shocked to see a ghost dog, but he began to relax when the little spirit cuddled up to the turtle.
"Hey! Look at that! He's a friendly ghost!" Raph said.
"Good boy, Zero!" said the skeleton man.
"Zero, huh?" Leo patted the ghost dog's head. "You are a good boy, aren't ya?"
Zero barked and gave Leo another lick.
"I'm glad you are alright, Sir." said the skeleton.
"Uh..." Dana began, staring at the skeleton. "Who exactly are you?"
The skeleton smiled and put a bony hand on each of the red haired monsters' shoulders. "I'm Jack, Jack Skellington and this is my wife Sally and my daughter Julie."
Julie smiled. "Welcome to Halloween Town!"
"HALLOWEEN TOWN?!" Raph shouted. "What do you mean Halloween Town?!"
"You mean you don't know?" Julie said, confused. "This is the holiday world of Halloween! Where ghosts, ghouls and monsters work together to make the scariest Halloween ever!"
"Well said, Julie!" Jack congratulated.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Back up!" said April. "You're saying this place is where Halloween comes from?!"
"Precisely!" Jack said.
"But...why do you have a creepy Christmas tree over there?" Donnie asked, thumbing over to the dead tree covered in morbid items.
"Because we love Christmas!" Jack said.
"You're Halloween monsters and you love Christmas?!" May said, dumbfounded.
"Yes! It's the one night of the year we can really cut loose and have fun!" Jack said. "We do love making people scream and make them shiver with terror! But it's nice to take a break from it all."
The turtles and their friends could have been knocked over with a gentle breeze. To think, a world where ghosts and Halloween monsters were real AND celebrated Christmas?!
"Ah-ha! There you lot are!" said a familiar voice.
The turtles spun around and saw Splinter looking cheesed off.
"DAD?!" Leo blurted out.
Splinter slapped Leo with his tail. "I can't believe you kids! While you were wandering off to some ghost town hidden in a tree, I've been back at the farmhouse waiting for my hot cocoa!"
"Oh, we have hot cocoa here if you want some, Sir." A witch offered politely, holding a tray of steaming hot cocoa.
Splinter blinked. Then happily took a mug. "All is forgiven, my sons."
A pause.
"So...what now?" Donnie asked out loud.
Jack smiled. "How would you like to join us in our Christmas party?" he offered.
The gang of mutants and humans shared each other's looks. They all smiled in agreement.
"We're in!" They all agreed wholeheartedly.
"Wonderful!" Jack cheered. "The more, the scarier! Start the band!"
Three ghoulish musicians began playing their instruments. Spooky yet at the same time cheerful music filled the air and everyone began dancing.
Donnie and May started waltzing together as Mikey and Raph guzzled hot cocoa with their father.
Leo and Dana slipped away from the crowd to take in all that happened on this incredible adventure.
"This has to be the most out of control Christmas ever!" Leo said, smiling. "Even more than the year Mikey made his fruitcake pizza!"
Danan laughed. "Fruitcake pizza?! Man! You're family is kookier than any of these monsters and ghoulies!"
Leo chuckled. "That's for sure. But still, we had a pretty awesome Christmas together...with you."
Dana's face grew red. She felt a presence above her head and looked up. "Hey, Leo. Look."
Leo tilted his head up and saw Zero holding a piece of mistletoe in his mouth. He felt flushed. "Is that-"
The moment Leo lowered his head, Dana planted a kiss right on his lips.
Leo felt like he was encased in ice. He stayed frozen until his shock eventually wore off. Seeing the mistletoe still hovering over him thanks to Zero, Leo began to relax and returned a kiss to Dana. As they kissed, they slowly put their arms around each other and kissed each other breathless.
It was without a doubt a most memorable Christmas.
Happy Birthday, Amiga! Hope you like my birthday gift to you! :)