A.N.— Here's the next chapter! Enjoy! XD And happy late Christmas, everyone!
Trixy: Yup! Merry Late Christmas! Now, on with the chapter!
Chapter 4: The Dark Reindeer
"Ohhhh, what happened?" moans Vixen as she and the other wake up. Dancer shakes her head, trying to clear it. Vixen looks around. "And why are we in a cage?"
"I don't know, Vixen. Prancer?" Dancer says turning to the reindeer behind her; he is still asleep. Rudolph groggily sits up.
"Is everyone okay?" He asks. The reindeer that had regained consciousness, Vixen and Dancer, nod. Rudolph looks at the other three still unconscious teammates, Prancer, Donner, and Blitzen. He slowly walks over to them and shakes their shoulders. One by one they slowly wake up.
"Huh? How'd we get here?" Prancer asks. There are shrugs all around as replies.
"I'll tell you how..." says a voice from the shadows outside their cage.
"Who's there? Show yourself!" says Donner, standing up and sticking his brown muzzle through the cage bars.
"And why should I, Donner?"
"Because..." The voice then laughs.
"Because you can't come up with a good reason, because you're the one in the cage?"
"No! It's not that at all." Says Blitzen stepping in for Donner. "It's because he wants to know why you shouldn't. Right, Donner?" Donner nods, going along with it. He hadn't really had a reason.
"Yes, right." The voice laughs again.
"Oh, you sleigh-pullers are so naïve...I'm almost glad I was rejected from the team all those years ago..."
"Wha-What?" say both Vixen and Dancer.
"You heard me..." A reindeer with dark, dark brown fur that could almost be called black, steps out of the shadows. There are gasps from all of the six caged deer.
"Argyle?!" They exclaim. The deer nods.
"Yes. It is me, Argyle. The reindeer that was never good enough to be a sleigh-puller."
"You also cheated at the reindeer-games and made fun of Rudy, here." says Prancer. Argyle nods.
"Yes, I did that too...but then again, who didn't make fun of Rudy? Hmmm?" Argyle says with a smirk. There is silence from the caged reindeer. "Exactly."
"Yes, but you also tried to sabotage Christmas!" Vixen says. Argyle nods.
"True...True, very true...But I wouldn't have if I had been accepted on the team."
"You weren't accepted because you have a black, cold heart, Argyle. Sleigh-pullers have to have a heart of gold and warmth and kindness." Rudolph says. Argyle laughs and walks over to the cage.
"Aww, he still believes in that old credo? That's so cute." Argyle pinches Rudolph's cheek with his hoof. Rudolph growls. "Yes, very cute." Argyle murmurs. He looks at the other caged reindeer.
"Why are you doing this, Argyle?" Dancer asks. He turns and looks at her.
"Is it not obvious, Dancer? I'm ruining Christmas, duh." He grins and walks around on his hind legs. "You see, the way I see it is that, if I keep you all locked up, you'll miss Christmas Eve. And if you miss Christmas Eve the big man in red won't have you to pull his sleigh. And if he doesn't have you to pull that sleigh, presents won't be brought to the children. And if presents aren't brought to the children, then there will be no Christmas and children will stop believing in Santa Claus and Christmas will be ruined FOREVER! Mwahahahahaha!"
"You're insane, Argyle!" Blitzen says. Argyle grins.
"You flatter me, Blitzen...but as you know, flattery will get you nowhere." He starts to walk back towards the shadows. "Ta-ta for now, sleigh-pullers." The other six reindeer quickly huddle up.
"What are we going to do?!" says Vixen.
"What can we do? We're in a cage for St. Nicolas's sake!" says Donner.
"We can hope that the others are safe and are maybe planning a rescue party." Rudolph says. The others nod.
"Yes, we can always hope that Cupid, Comet, and Dasher are better off than we are." Dancer says.
-Meanwhile-
"How much farther, North-polar?" Skipper asks Dasher.
"About the same as it was the last time you asked, South-polar," Dasher says a bit agrivatedly. "Three minutes ago."
"Well, then can we pick up the pace already? We haven't got all day!" Dasher sighs. He had wanted to reject the penguins help, and now he seriously wished that the others had listened; this flat-headed one was really starting to bug him.
"So, Cupid," says Trixy from her spot behind Private on Cupid's back. "I heard that you and Private used to date. Is that true?"
"Yes, we did for about a day...Why do you ask?" Cupid replies.
"Oh, no reason really. I was just...curious. Did you like dating him?" Private this whole time silently wishs to be anywhere but there. He wishes that he had ridden with Skipper, or had stayed with Skippsy and the others and helped with Kidsmas. This was torture.
"I guess I did. He is a really nice penguin." Trixy nods and gives Private a little poke.
"Yes, he is a nice penguin." Private looks back at her.
"What?" he asks. Trixy shakes her head.
"Oh, nothing." She thinks for a moment. "Have you ever thought of ever dating him again, Cupid? Or would you if you had the chance?" Private sighs.
"Well, I don't know, Trixy. I mean, maybe I would, but I just don't know." Cupid replies thoughtfully. "I mean, he is a nice, sweet penguin, but it would be difficult, I think for us to date again. Are you sure you don't have a reason for these questions, Trixy?" Trixy shakes her head.
"I'm positive that I'm just asking out of curiosity."
"Okay..."
"Hey, how is the Christmas Eve flight preparation coming, Cupid?" Private asks, attempting to change the subject.
"I suppose it's coming along well, Private. Dasher says we're running way behind on it, but Rudolph and Donner both say we're doing well, do I'm not completely sure."
"That's nice." Private nods. "I hope it is going well."
"Skipper!" shouts Kowalski very suddenly. Skipper turns around on the back of Dasher to see Kowalski on Comet's back.
"Yes, soldier? What is it?" He asks.
"Rico appears to be showing signs of altitude sickness, sir." And then, as if just to prove his point, Rico starts regurgitating many different objects at random. Kowalski ducks as a rocking horse zooms over his head.
"Whoa! Gross!" exclaims Comet as he swirves to avoid the rocking horse. Skipper nods.
"So I see, Kowalski. See if you can do something about it, because I can't from up here." Skipper says. Kowalski nods with a salute before ducking another up-chucked object.
"Umm, let's see...Rico, can you give me some duct tape?" Kowalski asks Rico.
"Umm, uh huh." Rico regurgitates a roll of the tape before some other miscellaneous things. Kowalski takes it and starts taping Rico's beak closed. "Mmmph?" Rico mumbles confused.
"Sorry, Rico, but it's for the best." Kowalski turns back around in his seat and sees the quickly appraching mountain.
"There she is," says Comet. "Mount Frosty."
