Well, time marches on... Christmas came and went like normal, and it was soon time for all the new young yoshis to meet the other new yoshis... Oh, and be inspected by Santa, as well!
Out on a snowy field, a bunch of young yoshis were all playing around and having fun. A short distance away, Donder, Mrs. Donder, and Rudolph looked on. Rudolph's nose was covered up with green paint, and Donder seemed rather confident.
"Now, don't worry about that nose of yours," Donder assured Rudolph, "Not even the closest inspection would blow your cover! Now, go out there and make your father proud!"
Donder gave his son an encouraging shove in the right direction, pushing Rudolph towards the crowd. Another young yoshi, a completely red one, walked up to him.
"Hey there! How are you doing? My name's Fireball! What's yours?"
"Um... Rudolph..." Rudolph replied, still a little nervous that his disguise might not work.
"Nice to meet ya! You can be my buddy for the day! Come on, let's got play some yoshi games! It's a great way to get some babes!"
Rudolph, now a little less worried, obliged, and ran after Fireball to join in the fun.
Oh boy... 'A great way to get some babes'? Aren't you a little young?... Anyway, the elves were still pretty busy at this time, too. Sure, they weren't making any toys, but that isn't all they have to do, you know!
"Alright everyone!" Waluigi called out, "It's time for elf practice!"
All the toads began to assemble in a line. In front of them was none other than Santa himself, along with Mrs. Claus. Once everyone was there, Waluigi began to address them again.
"Ok guys, let's practice that new song I've been teaching you! Remember, it's for Santa!"
"Just give me the abridged version for now," Santa suggested, looking at his pocket watch, "I have to go down and check on the yoshis."
"Sure thing, Santa! Now, let's begin... A-one, a-two, a-one, two, three..."
With Waluigi as the conductor, the group of elf toads began to sing a rather cute song about themselves and how they help Santa. However, Santa didn't seem that interested in it at all; his mind was set more on checking out the new yoshis. When the song ended, Mrs. Claus applauded, but Santa quickly got out of his chair.
"Well..." Santa mumbled, "It wasn't that bad... There's a little room for improvement, though... Now, if you excuse me..."
Santa quickly got up and left the room. Mrs. Claus, however, stayed for a moment.
"Don't mind him," Mrs. Claus told Waluigi, "He just wants to inspect those new yoshis. Keep the song just the way it is!"
And with that, Mrs. Claus, too, left the room to try and find Santa and talk some sense into her husband. Waluigi, meanwhile, turned back to the elves, clearly upset.
"That was awful! There was barely any tenor section!"
"Wasn't our fault, boss!" one of the toads defended, "Luigi didn't show up for practice!"
"WHAT?"
Meanwhile, Luigi was sitting in the now empty elf workshop, with a dollhouse on the table, a doll in one hand, and a plunger in the other.
"What's that?" Luigi asked the doll, "Your toilet is clogged? Don't worry! I'll fix it!"
Luigi then stuck his head inside the dollhouse's bathroom. Using the plunger, he proceeded to 'unclog' the tiny, wooden toilet. Suddenly, Waluigi busted into the room with such aggression, Luigi's head shot up in shock and slammed into the ceiling of the dollhouse!
"WHY WEREN'T YOU AT ELF PRACTICE?" Waluigi roared.
"I was just fixing the plumbing in this doll's house," Luigi explained.
"JUST FIXING THE PLUMBING? Guess what, bub? There is no plumbing in a dollhouse! It's all made of wood!"
"I just figured it was a good way to fit in..." Luigi replied meekly.
"YOU'LL NEVER FIT IN!" Waluigi screamed as he began to leave the room, "You better show up for elf practice next time so you can learn something important! A plumber... Good gravy!"
Waluigi left the room, as mad as he was when he entered, while Luigi sat alone, quietly lamenting to himself.
"He's right..." Luigi sighed, "I'll never fit in..."
Slowly getting up, Luigi grabbed his plumbing book and went to leave the room. However, he realized that walking by all the elves outside would probably not be a good idea. Instead, he opened a nearby window and attempted to climb out.
"Well, I guess I'm on my own now," Luigi commented as he pulled himself over the windowsill... Only to slip and fall into a snow bank right outside.
"Hey, check it out! Yoshi babes at three o' clock!"
"Um, ok... What should we do until then?"
Fireball playfully knocked Rudolph upside the head.
"No, silly! I mean they're over there!" Fireball specified, pointing.
Looking in that direction, Rudolph spotted a trio of female yoshis. One was pink, one was purple, and the last was light blue. The pink one seemed to be quite interested in Rudolph, making him blush a little. However, he was quickly interrupted by Fireball again.
"Uh, oh! Here comes the coach!"
An adult yoshi, this one yellow, came walking up and tried to get everyone's attention.
"Alright, everyone! Settle down! Settle down!" he called out until all the young yoshis got quiet, "There, that's more like it. Now, my name is Comet, and I'm your instructor. For our first lesson, you have to learn how to fly! You can't pull Santa's sleigh if you can't fly, right? Right! Now, who wants to go first?"
Everyone began to jump up and down, trying to be picked first.
"Woah! Ok, only one at a time now! Hmm... How about you?" Comet said, picking out one of the yoshis (not Rudolph or Fireball), "Why don't you give it a go? It's quite simple: Simply get up enough speed and flutter-jump as hard as you can into the wind!"
The yoshi attempted to do what the instructor had asked, but as he began to flutter-jump, he flipped over and landed on his back! Some of the other yoshis began to laugh at this, but Comet remained optimistic.
"Not bad for a first try! Next!"
"Hey, Rudolph," Fireball whispered, "I don't think he'll get to us for a while. Why don't you go hit on that pink yoshi?"
Rudolph nodded and walked over to her. This was really the first time he was going to talk to a girl, so he was pretty shy. In fact, it was the female yoshi that spoke up first.
"Nice day, isn't it?" she commented.
"Yep..." Rudolph agreed quietly.
"So, you're having flight practice right now, huh?"
"Uh, huh..."
"I bet you'll be the best one out there."
"You really think so? Aw, gee..."
Rudolph began blushing again, but this time, his nose started to glow, too! Fortunately, the green paint covered it up a lot, but it still created an interesting lighting effect.
"Are you alright?" the pink yoshi asked, "Something's glowing on your nose..."
"Oh... It's nothing!" Rudolph quickly retorted, dimming his nose as best he could.
"Well, anyway," she continued, completely forgetting about it, "My name's Clarice."
"Mine's Rudolph," Rudolph replied, "Um... Say... After practice, do you want to---"
"Hey, Rudolph!" Comet interrupted, "Get back over here! You're next!"
"Yikes!" Rudolph shouted starting running back, but before he got to far, he turned back to Clarice and asked her, "Uh, what I mean to say is that, after practice, do you want to go for a walk?"
"Sure!" Clarice answered. Right as Rudolph was about to continue back, Clarice went up to him and whispered, "Oh, and by the way, I think you're cute."
"She... She thinks I'm cute!" Rudolph muttered, "She thinks I'm cute! She thinks I'm cute!"
The now love-struck Rudolph began jumping around everywhere. In fact, he even started to flutter-jump and took off! He was flying sky-high! At this point, Santa had gotten outside and was watching Rudolph fly around.
"Hmm... Donder, your son is pretty impressive out there!" Santa complimented.
Rudolph eventually touched down in front of his pal, Fireball.
"Hey! That was cool!" Fireball congratulated, "You caught on quick!"
"She thinks I'm cute! She thinks I'm cute!" Rudolph kept repeating over and over.
"Heh, that's even better!"
As the two of them were celebrating, Fireball gave Rudolph a strong pat on the back. However, Rudolph wasn't expecting it, so he lost his balance and fell face-first into the snow! Even worse, when he got up, the snow had washed the paint off, revealing his glowing red nose!
"Woah! What the?... Your nose... It's... It's..." Fireball sputtered.
Upon hearing the word 'nose', Rudolph realized what had happened.
"But... But it's just red!" Rudolph tried to explain, "I mean, you're entirely red, right?"
"Hey, now! What's goin' on here?" Comet demanded, when he suddenly saw Rudolph's nose, "Yipe! What the heck?"
It didn't take long before all of the other yoshis began to laugh and call him names.
"Look! He's got a Christmas tree light for a nose!"
"No, it's more like a Pokéball!"
"Or a Summon Matera!"
"Hey, guys, knock it off!" Rudolph pleaded, "Stop making fun of me!"
"Whatever you say, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Yoshi! Ha! Ha! Ha!"
"Oh, dear... I was afraid something like this would happen..." Santa sighed, "And he was really good at flying, too..."
"Ok, everyone! Calm down!" Comet shouted, "Come on, let's get back to practice!... Except for Rudolph! From now on, he can't join in any yoshi games! Got it?"
Santa heard this, and he tried to lecture Comet for being judgmental. Rudolph, however, didn't hang around long enough to see if he succeeded in doing so. Instead, he ran off into the nearby woods. Clarice saw him leave, and she went after him and eventually caught up.
"Oh, man..." Rudolph moaned, "What do you want?"
"You said you wanted to go on a walk with me," Clarice reminded him.
"Are you gonna make fun of my nose, too?" Rudolph mumbled.
"No, I think it looks fine! Much better than that awful paint job you had before!"
"Yeah, right... It's terrible! It's different from everybody else's!"
"That's what makes it so great! You're unique!"
Rudolph started to cheer up a little. The two of them walked around for a while in the woods, chatting and getting to know each other, when suddenly a deep voice bellowed out.
"CLARICE!"
"Huh? Dad?" Clarice asked.
A black yoshi appeared and took Clarice by her hand.
"What are you doing out here with him? No daughter of mine is going to date a red-nosed yoshi!"
The father dragged her protesting daughter away, leaving Rudolph all by himself. Now as depressed as ever, Rudolph sat right next to an odd looking snow bank and began to cry. All of a sudden, the snow bank began to shake, and Luigi popped his head out!
"Oh! Excuse me!" Luigi apologized, "Is this your snow bank?"
"No..." Rudolph replied, "Who are you?"
"Well," Luigi began, pulling himself out of the snow, "I am a plumber!"
"A... A plumber?"
"Well... Actually, I want to be. Right now, I'm just an elf... But I don't need anybody! I'm independent!"
"Independent?... Hmm... Well, so am I!"
"Hey, I know!" Luigi exclaimed, "Why don't we be independent together?"
"Really? You wouldn't mind my red nose?" Rudolph asked as his nose started to glow again.
"Not if you don't mind me being a plumber!" Luigi answered.
"It's a deal!" Rudolph agreed, as the two of them shook hands. Luigi then jumped onto Rudolph's back, and the two of them rode off into the distance.
Now, these two misfits really didn't know what they were getting themselves into. The world is a much more complicated and dangerous place outside of Christmastown. If that wasn't bad enough, let's not forget about the Abominable, who was strangely attracted to Rudolph's glowing nose...