A Holiday Adventure… plus Ninja!
Note that there are four separate stories that I've combined into one giant Christmas-themed oneshot. Just a head's up.
A/N: I'm sorry if there are any mistakes, I haven't written in a few months, and I think I'm pretty rusty… :(
A Snowy Sledding Adventure
Though her synthetic skin was filled with touch sensors, Pixal was always surprised at the way the cold seemed to bite at her fake nerves. She shivered, pulling her purple hat down over her forehead.
"Are you alright?" Zane asked, from over by the trunk of one of the various cars the Nina owned. He effortlessly pulled the two sleds out of the trunk.
Pixal shook off the winter chill, smiling up at Zane. "I'm alright. May I help you with those?" She nodded towards the sleds.
Zane's eyed brightened at her smile, and he handed her one of the sleds, closing the car's trunk. "Are you excited?" He asked, taking one of her mittened hands in his own ice colored gloves.
"Of course," Pixal smiled back at him, squeezing his hand. She could've giggled, the tingly feeling of happiness that Zane always inspired flitting through her. This was her very first time going sledding.
It seemed odd that, being the girlfriend of an Ice Master, Pixal hadn't ever been sledding before. When Zane heard about this, he was horrified, as sledding was one of his favorite pastimes. He had resolved to make Pixal's first time as special as he could. It would be perfect!
Exhaling clouds of breath, Zane and Pixal, holding their toboggan-like sleds, begin to climb the hill, together. This little valley was surrounded by snowy forest, and it was a well-kept secret by Zane. He wanted it to stay that way. A tiny bit of paradise and life. A large stag watched them from behind a tree, and Pixal sighed with happiness. It was just lovely to be here now, with the joy of Christmas Eve sparkling across the snow and into her mechanical heart.
The Perfect Tree
"Was it really necessary to wait until Christmas Eve to go looking for a tree?" Kai asked scornfully as he followed Jay into Mount Rainier Christmas Tree Farm. The farm was only located a two hours' drive from the Monastery, making it relatively close to home. Jay and Kai had actually taken the Earth Driller to the farm, because they were looking for a 20-foot tree to put up in the Monastery's courtyard, and that wouldn't fit on a regular car.
Jay waved down an older man, with long silver hair, dressed in a Santa outfit, talking to a family about what kind of tree would be better for their family. The family thanked him and left through the racks to go look at some of the smaller trees.
"So," The silver-haired man approached them with a warm smile. "You're two of the famous Ninja, I presume?" He extended a hand. "I'm Christian Rye, the Owner of this farm."
"Nice to meet you, sir," Jay shook his hand. "I'm Jay, and this is Kai." He nudged Kai with an elbow, who also shook Christian's hand. Kai nodded a hello.
"Now, may I ask what kind of tree you two are looking for? I assume something to decorate that Monastery of yours?"
"Yeah, actually," Jay nodded. "We're looking for a big tree, something for the courtyard."
"And something we can get back on the earth driller," Kai added with a friendly eye roll.
"Alright then," Christian nodded. "I'll take you back to our biggest trees then, alright?"
Jay nodded, and Kai shrugged. He was kind of annoyed at getting dragged along on this minor adventure, he'd much rather be in the city, exploring with Skylor and admiring the lights, not all the way up here, in the chilly mountains, looking for a tree they'd only have for a day anyway. He sighed, but followed Jay and the Christmas Tree Farmer through the snow and towards the larger trees.
An Ideal Gift
"What do you get a guy who has everything?" Cole asked as he and Lloyd rode an escalator up through the floors of Ninjago City's largest mall. It was rather stupid of him to have waited until the eve of Christmas to go shopping for his father. Lloyd squished closer to Cole as a rowdy family of mall patrons squeezed past them on the escalator. The mall was PACKED.
"I don't know," Lloyd offered. "Maybe an instrument or something? New sound equipment?"
"He's got instruments," Cole answered as they stepped off the Escalator and entered Theodore Mahogany, a popular music store. "And he insists on doing everything the old way."
"Maybe a songbook?" Lloyd suggested, looking over the guitar picks and snickering when he found one with his own Ninja symbol enblazened over it. It was always fun to find whatever random Ninja-themed merchandise decorated shops and stores across the city. He didn't remember signing onto an instrument deal. Must be a knock-off.
"That could work," Cole mused, breaking Lloyd's train of thought. "We should look."
Lloyd nodded, watching Cole walk through the aisles, immersed in his own thoughts, before he scurried out of the guitar isle and over to the display Ukuleles and examined them. A big green and red sign, lit up with battery-powered lights. It read: TRY ME!
Grinning, Lloyd looked around to make sure no one else was nearby, before he scooped up one of the instruments. Oh boy, he hadn't played with one of these since music class at Darkleys!
Girl's Day:
It was a relief to finally have Christmas Eve off from training and fighting. Nya watched massive flakes of fluffy snow drift down across the lighted streets of Ninjago city, holding the straps of her backpack and watching a flake fall onto her nose.
An old tradition of Ninjago City was to set up a Christmas Festival on 2nd street, filled to the brim with food, drinks, toys, games, and contests. Nya was meeting up with Skylor this afternoon to explore the festival. Since it was Christmas Eve, Skylor had closed Chen's Noodle House 14 hours early, letting her employees go home after only three hours of work. It was a tradition that the company had held since it was founded. Nya had no idea why Chen would allow his enslaved employees to have Christmas Eve off, but it probably had something to do with the fact the noodle company was little more than a money laundering business.
She checked her phone again. Corner of Mark Avenue and 2nd Street, next to the big fountain, were the instructions that Skylor had sent her. She sat down on a nearby, snowy bench and took in the Festival while she waited for Skylor to get there.
This was the first Christmas in YEARS that she was able to spend with nearly everyone she loved and cared about (it was also the first Christmas after she and Jay had made the sacred Yin-Yang Promise to one another, but whenever she thought about that, it made her blush like a schoolgirl (fortunately, her cheeks were already cold from the snowy air, and therefore, no one noticed)) her parents were waiting to be with her again, to love her and to care about her, several Elemental Masters were going to attend this year's Christmas Party at the Monastery.
Happiness is made sweet however, through the murkeyness of misery. Nya was incessantly reminded of those they'd lost and would never spend another Christmas with. Mystake came to her first, then Garmadon (his good side, duh), then Morro, the Harumi who'd been kind, and the hundreds of citizens who'd lost their lives during the frequent attacks. Christmastime in Ninjago was a bittersweet holiday.
Remembering Christmas Times past, and keeping an eye out for Skylor, for the first Christmastime since she and Kai had become Ninja, she relaxed.
A Snowy Sledding Adventure
As they reached the top of the hill, Pixal look out over the forests and hills, all lightly dusted with soft, powdery snow. The snow also clung in thick clumps to her boots, especially the velcro straps.
"I assume we use these to slide down?" Pixal asked, holding up her sled.
Zane smiled and nodded. "Be careful to only slide on the packed snow. The lightly fallen drifts will give you a hard time." He accented that by pointing to another one of the sledders, a ten-year-old, disappearing into a drift and floundering out.
Zane saw Pixal's worried expression and took her hand in his. "We can go down together the first time so you can get a feel for it, if you'd like."
Pixal looked up at him, his glittering blue eyes portraying kindness and gentleness, the eyes she'd fallen in love with. She smiled and resisted the urge to kiss his nose. "Yes, please!"
The Perfect Tree:
"Oooh! How about this one?" Jay asked, pointing to a large cedar tree, lying on the snow. It was partially obscured by a festive red tarp.
Kai scrunched his eyes. "The branches are kind of… broken."
Christian laughed. "Yup. I wouldn't want the last pick of the bunch either. Fortunately my kids are bringing down another load of 'em. Might be a while, though."
"Oh, okay," Jay examined the tree. "How long?"
"Half an hour," Christian asked. "You two are welcome to wait in the lobby."
"That's alright," Jay was distracted by a huge snowflake falling through the sky. "Maybe in a bit…"
Christian left the two Ninja to their own devices, humming a Christmas carol as he wandered down the heavy slopes and back towards the farm. Kai sighed heavily, and sat down on the trunk of the 20 ft evergreen. He looked up at the grey sky, then over at Jay, who was catching snowflakes.
This is the stupidest thing. Christmas Trees are a waste of money! Why don't we just buy a fake one and use that every year!? Kai's inner Grinch grumbled. Waste of time! Bad for the environment!
"Hey, Kai, what's with the face?" Jay asked, turning away from the snowflakes and bounding over to sit on the log as well.
"Nothing," Kai muttered, looking away from Jay and down towards the mountain. "I'm just tired, that's all." He sighed. "And this is incredibly stupid." Slipped out before he could stop himself.
Jay thought for a moment. He couldn't think of anything funny to say to lift Kai's mood. Oh well. Might as well try a different tactic.
"Hey do you know the origin of Christmas Trees?" Jay asked, elbowing Kai gently.
"Oh?" Kai muttered, scuffing his boots.
The joke went over Jay's head. "No, it was actually a pagan thing before it was a Christmas thing. People would just gather a tree and decorate it. Some guy in the 1600's wanted it to be Christmassy."
Kai snorted. "So they stole a tradition?"
"They didn't steal it, more like… assimilated it," Jay answered. "People thought it was a good idea, so they kept doing it."
"Weird," Kai shrugged. "Why'd you bring that up?"
"I dunno," Jay looked up at the sky. "I thought you'd think it's less stupid if you knew where it came from."
"Kind of," Kai answers, looking at the tree they were sitting on. He smiled slightly at Jay, and Jay smiled back. They both looked down at the tree they were sitting on, and then they grinned at each other.
An Ideal Gift:
Lloyd strummed the Ukulele to the tune of the only song he could play on it, which just happened to be Angels We Have Heard On High. He strummed along absentmindedly, humming a little.
Outside the shop, a little boy tugged on his teenage sister's hand and pointed. She smiled, and handed him a coin. He ran inside and placed the coin at Lloyd's feet, blushing like only an act of kindness causes. Lloyd almost stopped, but another group of schoolchildren had entered the store, and they were watching him, enjoying the music.
Lloyd continued strumming as more people gathered. A little girl sat down near the coin on the floor, placing a toy dinosaur in a sitting position beside her. A teenager with black hair and raccoon-eye makeup smiled and hummed along to the music. A woman with a Karen haircut in her forties grinned at Lloyd and grabbed another Ukulele and joined into the music. Somewhere in the crowd of people, a man in a pride flag sweater with his curly long hair pulled over his eyes began to sing. The girl next to him adjusted her huge glasses and joined in.
Slowly, the entire crowd began to sing along to the music as Lloyd and the Karen lady plinked away at their Ukuleles. A couple older guys from outside came in with their saxophones and trumpets to join into the song. A 20-year-old placed their green, yellow, and red hat in front of Lloyd, putting the child's coin inside. People began to add more and more, and more money until three other people had to place a wolf-ear beanie and a poofy russian hat on the floor as well to accommodate the coins.
Lloyd finally broke away from the trance, and looked up, spotting Cole through the crowd. He had that pleasant look on his face- an idea look. Lloyd hoped his friend had found something for his dad. He finished plinking away at the song and finally stopped, along with the rest of the crowd. Laughter and clapping broke out, as the feeling of being human, being together, and being powerful and devine washed over everyone there.
"What are you gonna do with the money?" Cole asked, walking up to Lloyd. Lloyd shrugged, glancing across the mall.
"I'll figure it out," He smiled. "Did you find something for your dad?"
"No, but your impromptu performance gave me an idea," Cole shrugged with a mysterious look on his face. "Anyway, we have to get back if I'm gonna have enough time to get it done."
Lloyd nodded, but before he could follow, the shop owner walked up to him.
"Thank you for bringing light to the world," She smiled, placing a sticky ribbon bow on the instrument. "And consider this a gift from me."
Lloyd tried to hand the Ukulele back but she'd already disappeared. Someone tapped his shoulder and he turned around to see the Karen from before, with the owner of the first hat and the racoon-eyed teenager beside her.
"Excuse me," She smiled at him. "We were looking at all the coins, and this young lady," She tapped the raccoon-eyed teenager. "Thought that it'd be nice if we put the coins in the Food Bank donation box across the mall."
"Oh! Yeah! That sounds great!" Lloyd answered, leaning down to help the three other people pick up the coins. The crowd helped as they carried the cash to the mailbox-like bin and duped it in. The ear-shattering crash of hundreds of metal pieces smashing into hundreds of other metal pieces was the most satisfying thing Lloyd had heard this year so far.
Then, the crowd dispersed, and Lloyd followed Cole out to their car and back towards home.
Girl's Day:
When Skylor finally approached her, Nya had to laugh. Her friend was dressed in a goofy orange christmas sweater. A clashing purple anacondrai was on the front, tangled in tinsel. A couple of lights were sewn on, making Skylor look like a discombobulated traffic cone.
"I know, I know," Skylor chuckled, plopping down next to Nya. "It was Ugly Christmas sweater day at work!"
"I'm surprised you were brave enough to wear that out in public," Nya laughed, leaning back and breathing in the warm, cinnamony smell of the festival. She sighed happily. "What do you want to do first?"
Skylor shrugged. "I don't actually know. What do you want to do…? Get some gingerbread? Try a festival game? Look for some presents? We have all afternoon to do whatever we want!"
Nya sat up and brushed her staticy hair down with a hand. "Okay.. how about we get some gingerbread, and then go from there?"
Skylor smiled. "Sounds good to me."
Nya never thought she liked gingerbread until she and Skylor bought some from the moustached man and his clean-shaven husband who were running a bakery stall. Then she for sure knew she liked it. Gingerbread was warm, and soft and slightly chewy. It tasted of ginger, molasses, and cinnamon. Next, she and Skylor wandered to a stall selling leather and fur. A taxidermist shop. Skylor looked at the preserved animal tails with surprised awe, and Nya looked over the custom pressed-leather dog collars.
"If you could have any one, which one would you pick?" Skylor asked, poking Nya.
"Why?" Nya asked. "Are we getting something?"
"Just for fun," Skylor shrugged. "I read it in a book when I was like, 13. I thought it might be fun."
"Okay… Nya looked around at the leather around her. "That one." She pointed to a woven leather bracelet that was hanging off the wall. "What would you pick?"
"That tail," Skylor answered, pointing to a soft marble fox tail. "I think it's pretty."
Nya nodded as they left the stall, walking into the wood carving stall next to it. "Well, what would you pick here?"
"I don't know…" Skylor smiled, looking around happily. "Let me see…"
They chose door plates and wall hangings, wreaths and bunting, wine and cookies and books and blankets, and anything else they could find that was beautiful and deserved to be chosen. They chose until it was dark out, and then, by the light of the stars and the Christmas lights, they each bought one final thing. Nya bought a beautiful blue-and-gold katana sheath, and Skylor finally bought a funny pasta measuring tool.
Together, they climbed into Nya's car, and set off towards the Monastery.
That Evening:
Lloyd flopped out in bed. It had been a long, adventurous Christmas Eve, and he was ready to rest. He sighed, thinking about Christmas and family, and hope. Christmas Eve, he decided, was the best day of the entire year. It had just the right amount of excitement and anticipation, with just a dash of joy. It was a day full of friendship. Full of magic. A day where anything could happen.
As he glanced out the window, Lloyd thought he could make out the silhouette of a sleigh being pulled by reindeer, and he could barely hear the jingling of bells. But, well, that was probably his imagination, he decided, as he finally drifted off to sleep.
A/N: Finally, It's finished. And on Christmas Eve nonetheless. Anyway, I hope you enjoy my 2020 Holiday Special. See you after the Holidays!