The Search for Christmas
Disclaimer: I do not own the Kids Next Door organization or show. I just wish I did. Oh, yeah, but own Numbuh 192.
Summary: After much thinking, Numbuh 1's philosophical sense is awakened and he finds that this Christmas he is encountering is apparently meaningless. Seeing this, he goes in search around the whole town to find what Christmas is truly about. But peering from above, a new threat watches his unexpecting victims and impending doom seems close at hand.
Notes from the Author: Sorry I'm late. I was too busy. Merry Christmas anyway. God bless.
Chapter 2: Unarmed
Numbuh 1 sighed as he wandered on the sidewalk. Christmas decorations were everywhere. He saw Santa Clauses, plastic snow-men, Christmas lights and wreathes, and star-shaped lanterns. As he walked, he thought aloud, "What is Christmas all about? So many people keep saying all sorts of things about it, that I'm confused."
Thinking deeply, he was confused but he knew one thing: He needed answers. Then, a thought came to mind.
"The Library!" he exclaimed nearly stopping in his tracks, "There are so many books in there, there has to be at least 1 book there that will answer my questions."
Remembering this, he sprinted to the library for some answers. As he accented up the stairs, he stopped to catch his breath. Then, he entered the nicely decorated reading facility. Wasting no time, he rushed to the "Reference" section.
After a few hours in the library, he left to gather his thoughts and to make a conclusion. Still he was it didn't seem to make a difference. It just seemed to give him facts but not an answer.
"Well," he sighed as he wandered around town, "What good is it to know that Saint Nicholas was a 4th century Catholic bishop from Lycia, Asia Minor (present day Turkey), and the Christ was born probably during the Spring because that's the only time when the shepherds brought their flocks out and guarded them? Okay, since Christ was born first and that was approximately year 3-6 BC, I can say that Christ is the reason for the Season, but so what? What does that have to do with me? It means nothing."
"Sounds like you've been thinking much," someone behind him said.
Numbuh 1 jumped in surprise and looked at who it was. It was Numbuh 192, a friend of his from missions past.
"Oh, hi there, Numbuh 192," the Sector V leader acknowledge him, "What are you up to?"
"Not much. I'm just going Christmas caroling with some church members," replied the KND agent wearing winter camouflage attire, "Frankly, I agree with what you just said. I once read that a head of knowledge is useless if it serves you nothing. Honestly, that seems to be what is happening with Christmas nowadays. After all these years, Christmas does seem a bit empty and meaningless. As far, all I see is greed and commercialism. From what I've heard, this is the time when stores make at least 50 percent of their year's sales and profit. What have you been doing?"
"Researching," the British one responded with another sigh, "Lots of researching. I've been spending all this time in the library trying to find the true meaning of Christmas. My head is starting to hurt from all the thinking I've been doing."
"I understand," Numbuh 192 said smiling and patting his hand on Numbuh 1's shoulder as they walked, "It's about 8:30. How about if you join us Christmas caroling. There's free food if you're hungry. Tastes good, too. That ought to rest your aching mind."
"No thanks, Numbuh 192," Numbuh 1 declined the invitation as the other agent stopped at the side-walk's curb, "Thanks anyway."
"Are you sure, comrade?" the other agent asked to make sure, "It's pretty cold out here."
"No thanks, 192," the British leader responded as the Philippine agent, "Finding a meaningful answer about Christmas means more to me than finding myself a warm place to rest in. Thanks anyway…"
"And, Numbuh 1," Numbuh 192 said as he stayed with Numbuh 1 for a few seconds to impart some words, "I may not fully have all the pieces of the puzzle, but I can tell you what pieces I have gathered."
"What is it, agent?" Numbuh 1 asked eagerly, "Tell me. Report."
"I may not remember all the word right, but this is so far what I have from all this caroling. There may be a lot more to it or this may already hold the whole meaning of Christmas but just we haven't pondered it all yet. Anyway, here it is," he said taking a big breath and singing these lines of a song,
"God rest ye merry, gentlemen. Let nothing you dismay.
Remember Christ, our Savior, was born on Christmas Day
To save us all from Satan's power when we were gone astray.
"O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy.
O tidings of comfort and joy.
"Now, to the Lord sing praises, all you within this place,
And, with true love and brotherhood, each other now embrace.
This holy tide of Christmas all others doth deface.
"O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy.
O tidings of comfort and joy."
Numbuh 1 thought about this as the other searching operative sang. When it was done, Numbuh 192 paused a little. Then, he looked at Numbuh 1 and said, "Well, I hope that helped. See you around, Numbuh 1, and Merry Christmas."
"Thanks, Numbuh 192," Numbuh 1 thanked his fellow operative, who only smiled back, nodded his head, and parted, "… and Merry Christmas to you, too."
As he walked aimlessly around town, a bandaged head rose from one of the roofs. Hearing a slight sound nearby, Numbuh 1 suddenly felt alarmed and looked behind him to see what it was. Scanning the horizon, the leader scrutinized the area. Nothing.
"That's weird," he thought, turning forward again and cautiously walking on, "Maybe it was just my imagination… I am tired and maybe my brain is playing tricks on me or something —"
Then, he heard it again except that the sound was accompanied by the rustling of the nearby trees and some snow falling off a high place.
He looked again. Still nothing.
As he quickly scanned his memory of what he had seen behind him, a though suddenly came to mind. A footprint in the snow!… Just between two bushes. Walking hurriedly ahead and placing his hand on his coat pocket, the leader moved forward and turned again at the sound of the noise coming closer and closer. All of a sudden, he heard a foot stepping on the snow just behind him.
"Hya!" the British agent shouted as he turned behind him, jumped backward, and pulled his mustard-bottle hand-gun from his pocket, "Frieze!"
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Meanwhile, in the Tree House…
The Kids Next Door agents were passing the time with video games. Numbuhs 3 and 4 were fighting each other with their X Station Cube 360 Two Advanced. They were racing each other through the cold and snowy streets of Moscow and it seemed that Numbuh 4 was winning.
"Ha-ha!" Numbuh 4 sneered gleefully as he saw that victory was at hand, "No one can beat me in Test Driving 9 International! I've practically memorized all the twists and turns of the game! No one can beat the master!"
"Grrrr," the Japanese girl growled as she drove with the walls off the Kremlin at her side and aimed her missile-launchers at the Australian's red Ferrari, "Take this!"
Hearing the sounds of missiles thrusting forward, Numbuh 4 veered off to the sides and screeched to the left and to the right to evade the all explosions and the dangerous, frying debris.
"You've got to do better than that, Numbuh 3," he said with a smile as he missed the missiles and saw the brilliant St. Basil's Cathedral, "I just passed the red Russian pointy thingy."
"Man, Numbuh 4," the Second-in-Command commented as she watch all the action, "How is it that you can you have memorized all the maps in the game but you haven't memorized all the famous sites in them that you pass?"
Seeing that her opponent was distracted by the smoke, the sounds, the comment, and the debris, Numbuh 3 took advantage of the situation and unleashed her true aim.
"Activating nitro boost!" she exclaimed as she activated a hidden cheat code and zoomed past her delayed opponent in a matter of seconds, "Ha-ha-ha! I'm winning now!"
"Aw, crud!" the stunned Numbuh 4 cried out in surprise as the remaining smoke cleared and he saw that Numbuh 3 was on the lead, "How did you—? How—?"
Numbuh 3 simply smiled and kept her focus on the game.
"Okay, two can play that game!" he shouted activating his own secret weapon, "Booster rockets online!"
Out of his car folded out two, huge booster rockets, an air foil, and aerial stabilizers to speed him up but to still keep him firmly on the ground. But all this was in vain for the finish line was already nearby. As Numbuh 4's vehicle sped forward and it looked as if it would be a tie, the slow-motion camera revealed the bird's eye view of the last few milliseconds of the race. Everyone held their breath. As the two fast vehicles inched forward, the black and white image gave the image of Numbuh 3's car break the plastic, yellow finish line. Numbuh 3 had won.
"NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Numbuh 4 cried out in defeat and accidentally dropped his controller, "NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"Yyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!" the victor jumped up and shouted in jubilation, "I won, I won, I won, I won! I can't believe it! I won!"
"Hey, guys," Numbuh 2 said as he came to the living room to see what the commotion was all about, "Have you guys seen Numbuh 1? He doesn't seem to be anywhere in the Tree House."
"Nope," Numbuhs 4 said as he looked at his comrade, "Haven't seen him."
"Me neither," Numbuh 3 responded and turned to her friend, "Have you seen him, Numbuh 5?"
"He said he'd be out waking around town," she told them, "He said he had to think about something important about Christmas. Why?"
"I heard an airplane flying over us and I checked the mail and supply-drop pad," the master pilot answered his superior, "and I found a many huge crates of Christmas candy, food, and extra stuff. If we add all this stuff to our inventory room, we won't have enough space for them."
"Oh, yeah," Numbuh 5 remembered, "Numbuh 1 told me about that. But why didn't the early-warning Security Alert Speakers and Sirens tell us? We should have heard the alarms a long time ago and prepared."
"You're right," Numbuh 2 thought aloud as he recalled the Sector V Tree House security protocols, "Why didn't it warns us?"
"Numbuh 2," the Second-in-Command ordered the Chief Engineer, "Go and check the early-warning systems."
"Right away, Numbuh 5," the American responded as he put on his thick coat, took up a number of layers, and decided to check the security alert systems from the source, "I'll start from the radar tower. I'll be back later."
"Hey, Numbuh 5," the security officer Numbuh 4 questioned, "Numbuh 1 is armed, right?"
"Yup," the Second-in-Command answered the Australian, "He is."
"He has the mustard gun?" Numbuh 4 interrogated her.
"Check." Numbuh 5 responded.
"The radar beacon?" he inquired.
"Check," she confirm.
"An ammunition round?" he examined.
"Aren't those already in the guns?" Numbuh 5 asked back.
"Of course not," he responded as he got up from he spot on the couch, "It isn't safe to store a weapon loaded with a ammunition. You always have to separate the two for safety reasons."
"This is bad," the girl thought aloud, "Numbuh 1's completely unarmed."
"That's okay," Numbuh 3 said as she turned to them, "It's Christmas-time. Who would want to hurt him during Christmas-time?"
"She's right," Numbuh 4 responded, "No one attacks others at this time of the year. It's Christmas."
"But just to make sure," Numbuh 5 said starting to leave the living room, "I'm sending one of the hamsters to bring him some ammunition just in case."
As she left, Numbuh 4 looked at the past winner and said, "Hey, you won this time but I bet I can beat you in Madrid."
"In Madrid?" Numbuh3 turned it down, "I've already gone there before. How about San Francisco or Sydney or maybe even in London?"
"Or maybe I can beat you in the streets of Germany!" Numbuh 4 suggested with a wicked smile on his face, "With their awesome 'Autobahn' road system, we can really race!"
"Yay!' Numbuh 4 cheered as she and her video game opponent played on.
End Transmission
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That was Chapter 1 of The Search for Christmas. What do you think about it? Love it? Hate it? Read and Review! Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Ramadan, Happy Kwanza, Happy Birthday, and (if none of these apply to you) "Happy (insert your holiday here)!"