Animal Crossing

The Jingle Express

Starring:

Laina

Quetzal

Joy

Noel

Jingle

&

Mrs. Jingle

Jangle

&

Karangle

with their kids:

Fandangle

Bangle

Durangle

Narangle

(And other cast of characters I forgot to mention...)

Chapter 1

(Laina, Mrs. Jingle, Joy, Noel, Jangle and his Shadow Dogs, Karangle, Bangle, Durangle, Narangle, and Fandangle are © me, but Laina's player is Animal Crossing. All other characters are © Nintendo. )

In the little animal town of Anime, everyone was celebrating Christmas Eve like everyone else around the world. It was evening, but not quite close to dark yet as the sky was still sky blue with a hint of pink and orange coming in.

Tortimer, the mayor of town, made his way across the snow using his cane to help him walk. His warm cloak waved in the small, cold breeze as he continued toward a small neighborhood of four houses. The other three houses were empty, but the two-story house on the right with the sky blue roof showed that it was alive with activity.

He admired the wreath hanging in the front of the door and weakly knocked on the door. Inside, there were loud sounds of chattering, laughter, and the jazzy Christmas song from the stereo and he wouldn't be surprised if had to knock again, but he was astonished as the door opened.

A smiling face of a human girl greeted him. She was dressed in a gelato dress and matching hat and it made her look like a living red, green, and white candy cane. Her pink hair was tied up in two pigtails tied with two red ribbons. "Hello, Mayor Tortimer," the girl greeted warmly.

"Hello, Laina." The tortoise replied, "Sorry I'm late. I'm not as young as I used to be. I bet you're pretty crowded in there, aren't you?"

"No, no, there's plenty of room in my home. And there's plenty of ginger ale to go around too." She opened the door to let him in.

Her downstairs was decorated in the rare Jingle furniture, the perfect furniture set to fit the occasion. It was hard for any ordinary person to get their hands on Jingle furniture, but if you lived in a two-story house, getting any kind of rare furniture is as easy as ordering it from the catalog.

Three Jingle tables were joined to make one long table that was full of all sorts good things to snack on and a big punch bowl of ginger ale caught the mayor's eyes as he walked in.

Laina looked outside for anyone else coming and then closed the door. She admired the big festive tree that stood in the middle of her room. Before the party, Laina had bought the tree and she along with some of the villager's nieces and nephews trimmed it with colorful, glass orb ornaments, tinsel, stringed popcorn, a few, porcelain figurines, and a golden star that Wolfgang's niece, Valerie, had placed at the very top. Laina wasn't the perfect art critic, but to her, this tree was turned into a beautiful masterpiece.

She looked around at how pretty she had set up her house. People in the living room part of the house sat on Jingle couches and had a gentle conversation and played cards and board games as they picked up and set their mugs of hot cocoa down on the glass-top coffee table and munched on cookies. Even though she wasn't much of a musician, she had bought the Jingle piano and set it against the wall and it somehow perfectly fit there. She didn't mind the children sitting on the bench and played with the keys, making silly and off-key tunes.

She walked passed the retro record player that was playing soft Christmas songs for the approaching evening and sat down on a Jingle loveseat couch in front of the flickering fireplace. She leaned to her right, laying on something soft, warm, and feathery.

Quetzal, a gray eagle and Laina's boyfriend, gently embraced her as they were both warmed by the orange and yellow flames. She smiled gently, remembering their last Christmas together. There was no party that year, just her, Quetzal, and a good ol' fashioned movie. After the film, they exchanged gifts, after the gifts, they exchanged lovers' looks and then lovers' kiss. They've been together ever since.

"Shouldn't you be checking on the turkey, babes?" Quetzal asked as he pulled her in a hug and laid his head on top of hers.

Laina giggled, "I checked it before letting the Mayor inside. You sure do seem pretty calm about a turkey being cooked for a Christmas dinner."

"As long as it's a turkey and not me in that hot oven, I'm okay with it. Besides, just being near you makes me warm enough

Laina smiled, snuggling her head in her mate's chest and listening to his soft heartbeat with one ear and the soft music, the gentle conversation, and the sizzling of the cooking food with the other, then she began to hear quarreling amongst the children. She lifted her head and looked over the couch, seeing the three boys (nephews of some of the villagers) arguing with Valerie, Wolfgang's niece.

Valerie was getting frustrated with argument, beginning to tear at the eyes. The boys laughed and teased before becoming bored and going off to do their mischief outside.

Quetzal himself became concerned when he saw the look on Laina's face, "Anything wrong?"

Laina shook her head slowly, "I'll see what's going on." Reluctantly, she sat up and walked up to the upset wolf cub.

"So mean...those jerks..." She mumbled as she held her Jingle plush doll tightly, trying to stop her crying.

Laina kneeled down to her, "What's the matter, hon? The boys giving you a hard time?"

"They called me a baby just because I think Jingle's real. He is real." She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and looked at Laina, "You don't think I'm a baby, don't you?"

"Of course not," Laina smiled gently, "I believe in Jingle myself."

"You do?"

"Yeah. The boys just don't have enough belief in Jingle because they've never seen him."

Valerie blinked up at her, "Have you seen Jingle, Laina?"

"Actually, yeah, I have." Laina winked, "I even helped him out a li'l bit last year."

"You did?!" the cub smiled, starting to feel better.

The cooking timer beeped very loudly before Valerie could ask anymore questions, getting everyone's attention.

Laina hurriedly pulled the huge, baked turkey from out the oven and placed it in the middle of the dining table, "Alright everyone, dinner is served! Grab ya' a plate and a cup of ginger ale and we can chow down."

Everyone got up from their seats and headed to the dinner table. Laina went back to Valerie and picked her up, following her guests. "Laina, did Jingle give you a Christmas present for helping him out?"

"He sure did," Laina replied as she prepared both of them a plate, "He usually doesn't give gifts to humans, just animals, I know, but he said I was such a big help, he had to pay me somehow." She set the cub down in a chair that was in between her uncle and where she would be sitting.

"Well, this year, I hope he gives you another present. My uncle says you're a hard worker and a great friend so you should get one under your tree."

Laina smiled at Valerie when she said that as everyone ate. She began to think to herself, "I wonder what that jolly 'ol reindeer is doing this minute? I wouldn't be surprised if he was loading up his train right now."

"Jangle! What is the meaning of this?!" Jingle stood in the middle of the large and dim-lit workshop with his wife next to him and all of his workers behind him.

"Shut your trap, brother!" The evil, cold-hearted reindeer shouted standing in front him.

Jangle's wife, Karangle, returned to his side when she let the last guard dog inside and finished locking the door. All the shadow dogs had collected the presents from the train and placed it in a huge pile on the left side of the workshop. Karangle came beside her husband and handed the key to him who then pocketed in his murky coat.

"You know why I'm here." Jangle looked out the window and watched as his demon dogs stood guard around Jingle and his family, growling at any of the frightened helpers who tried to make a run for it.

Jangle looked up at the ceiling, daydreaming of the past, "I've come to put a stop to you once and for all. All December long is always 'Jingle this' and 'Jingle that' and I've just about had up to here with it. While you can bring happiness...I can bring nothing but darkness."

"Jangle..." Jingle tried to speak to his older brother.

"Silence! My husband is speaking!" Karangle shouted for Jangle.

Jangle smiled and nodded a thanks to her and continued, "It's doesn't fair that you get to light up every child's face just by simply bringing them their desired toy," Jangle smirked heartlessly, "Well, this year, I'll bring the children something...nothing." He chuckled when he heard Jingle gasp, "When children all over the world they wake up the next morning and find that you didn't leave them anything; they'll hate you, your reputation will be ruined, and you'll have to live in the darkness just like me, then we can truly be called identical twins."

"Jangle, you're mad," Jingle said, trying desperately to open the door, "You can't do this. Think of what you're saying and the children-"

"Bah," Jangle waved his paw, "I don't see why you bother delivering toys to those snot-nosed bed-wetters. Half of them don't believe in you anyway."

The last sentence made Jingle's heart ache slightly. He knew it was true, but hearing it from someone's mouth hurt just as worse. "That doesn't stop me from what I love doing. Everyone gets gifts whether they believe in me or not. And what about the toys? My helpers spent all year preparing just right for the children."

"Well, you certainly never gave us or our children any gifts," Karangle watched as her three sons, Bangle, Fandangle, and Durangle, and only daughter, Narangle, scurried around them, wrestling and tackling each other like feline cubs.

"Well, if I remember correctly, my dear brother," Jangle summoned his cloud and sat upon it, "Ever since you started this job, you never sent us any gifts because we were always on your naughty list."

"Yar, we never got any toys," Fandangle ripped open one present, pulling out a toy car. He looked over it and made a face of disgust, "Who'd wanna play with these crappy-made things anyway?" He tossed the toy over his shoulder.

The firefox helpers' mouths dropped as the toy went sailing across the air and crashed against the wall. Three bolts zipped off the car wheels and everyone could hear the wooden car's side crack on impact and it fell to the floor, turning from a perfect-made toy car to a broken, one-wheeled toy jalopy.

They gasped as Bangle broke apart an NES system after losing a game. Then Durangle scooted around quickly on a toy train, pretending he was an action hero in a movie, then jumped off before it crashed right through the workshop wall, then little Narangle opened a gift with a new doll in it. She thought it didn't look right and started cutting its red, yarn-stringed hair with a pair of scissors, giving it a very uneven haircut and, dissatisfied with it, she ripped its head off.

"Jangle, please stop your children!" Jingle shouted in a horrified tone, "They're destroying the toys!"

Jangle just watched his children wreck toy after toy and chuckled darkly, "What's wrong, little brother? I thought it was your duty to light up every child's face with smiles. Well, as you can see, my children are very happy at what they're doing."

Karangle leaned over to Jangle, whispering something in his ear. Jangle listened intently, and then began to smile evilly, "That's an excellent idea, my darling wife. That's why I married you: such excellent ideas to act my vengeance upon."

"Jangle, please don't do anything rash," Mrs. Jingle worked up the bravery to speak, "We can work things out."

"Working things out takes too long. We're doing things my way now," Jangle smirked, "I'm going to make sure I get what I want this year so that's why I'm taking all the toys and giving them to my children, seeing as you need to pay them for not giving them any gifts on Christmas."

Jingle could do nothing but glare at his older brother and clenched his fist tightly; one wrong move could make Jangle's shadow dogs do serious damage to him, his wife, and his helpers. Jangle created a black cloud that could probably fit the largest elephants upon it and made even more shadow dogs to carry the presents and pile them on the cloud.

Jingle felt a warm paw slide into his and he looked into the eyes of his wife. He calmed down and nodded reassuringly to her, and then he looked up at his brother, "You may have taken the toys, but we're still here, Jangle. We may be late delivering gifts this year, but it won't stop us from bringing happiness on Christmas like we do every year."

Jangle turned to his brother as Karangle gathered their children on the cloud and then she too sat upon it. She smiled coldly, already knowing what Jangle had in store for his little brother, "Is that so, Jingle?" he walked toward him with no haste.

Jingle stood in his spot, not taking any steps back or forward, trying to read his brother's dark mind. "Everyone says your make your toys with tender, love, and care: all three which come from the heart," Jangle said, stopping in right in front of Jingle, then a light crackle emitted from his paw, "Then let's see how you do without it."

Jangle quickly clamped onto Jingle's chest with one paw, over the area where his heart would be. Before Jingle could react, he felt a strong, painful feeling going throughout his body as if he were being electrocuted. He felt his body getting colder and cold. Jangle chuckled heartlessly as he slowly pulled his paw away and comforting, reddish ball of light came out of Jingle's chest and into the palm of his brother's paw.

Jingle fell to his knees, looking blue from the cold and shivering violently. All of his helpers tried to help him up, but he was so cold that their paws went numb only after a few seconds of touching him. Luckily, Mrs. Jingle had her coat and gloves on and was able to hug her husband, but felt his chilly fur from her warm fabrics.

She looked up at Jangle pleadingly, "What happened? What did you do to Jingle?"

"I simply took what makes him tick: his warm heart," Jangle replied as he used his frost magic to encase the light ball in a heart-shaped crystal of ice, "I bet he doesn't feel so confident without this."

The helpers, now becoming angry at seeing all their hard work being put in the wrong paws and what happened to their leader, began to step forward with their paws clenched, but the shadow dogs' vicious barks and growls reminded them that Jangle was protected.

Jangle took a seat next to his wife and watched as the children clambered over the tower of presents behind him, "Now, now, remember, you don't open them until tomorrow."

"Aw, daddy, do we have to wait until tomorrow?" Narangle whined, holding onto the severed head doll.

"All the noise you cause will keep me from what I like to hear the most," Jangle smiled coldly, "The sad and angry cries of the children when they see no present under the Christmas tree." He whistled for his shadow dogs and they slowly pulled away from their guarding position, giving one last glare and growl so that no one would make any sudden movements just yet, then they disappeared through the walls like ghosts.

The dark cloud rose up into the air, carrying Jangle, his family, and the stolen gifts with it, ""Well, I'm off to my frozen abode. Ta-ta, Jingle. Oh, and after tomorrow, I bet you could find a new job as an ice fisherman." He cackled loudly as the cloud flew out of one of the upper windows and it seemed to echo across the land as it flew him toward the horizon.

It was only silent for a few seconds. One of the helpers, Joy, the female, pink firefox, turned on the lights and gathered with everyone around Jingle.

Mrs. Jingle held him tightly to warm him, but he trembled so hard that she could barely hold him, "Someone bring him a blanket quickly."

A few helpers got an emergency blanket, used for putting out fires, out of the fire safety kit and wrapped Jingle up as best he could. Joy couldn't stand to see her leader like this and clung to her twin brother, Noel, the green firefox, for comfort.

Noel could feel her pain and nuzzled her softly, then spoke to Jingle, "Don't worry, Jingle. We'll have you warmed up in no time, then you just tell us what toys to build and we'll build them."

"It's no use," Jingle said sadly through his chattering teeth, "Jangle has won. He has beaten me. And there will be no more toys for the children."

The helpers blinked and looked around at each in shock; this wasn't the real Jingle speaking.

"It's not going to be that simple," Mrs. Jingle explained, hugging her husband and trying to keep him even warmer, "The frost magic Jangle has done to him has made him cold both physically and emotionally. If we don't do something now, Jingle will end up like Jangle."

There was a gasp among the crowd, "We've got to do something!" shouted one helper.

"Jingle didn't give up on us so we're not doing to give up on him," another one yelled, "Isn't there anything we can do?"

Mrs. Jingle began to think her hardest. The helpers kept silent, giving her the concentration she needed to brainstorm. Her eyelids flew open when an idea pooped into her head, "I have a plan, but we have to get Jingle into the house."

"But the door's locked, Mrs. Jingle," one helped spoke, "Jangle's making sure there's no Christmas this year. How are we gonna get out?"

"Well, that's too bad for Jangle," Noel held up the padlock key, "Because we're gonna make sure there's gonna be a Christmas this year and every year."

Mrs. Jingle's eyes lit up, "The key! How'd you get it?

"While everyone was watching Jangle take Jingle's heart," Noel twirled the key in his finger, "I sneaked behind him, slipped my paw in his pocket without touching him, and I quickly grabbed the key. Now, let's get out of here."

Noel instructed two of his brothers to pull the toy train Durangle had crashed through wall and saw that the collision put a hole in the wall. He handed the key to his sister and she shimmied through the hole into the snow. The helpers wrapped Jingle up as best as they could with blankets and, with a lot of teamwork, they lifted him up in their mitten paws, holding him above them. There was the sound of the keypad being unlatched outside and the door opened with two pink paws holding onto the edge of the door.

They carried Jingle out of the workshop, walking almost simultaneously, through the snowy field and into Jingle's house. They set him in his favorite recliner in front of the fireplace and one of the helpers started a fire on the firewood while others threw a throw blanket on Jingle.

A normal animal would have been complaining of being too hot under all those covers, but Jingle was still shivering, but not as much as before.

Mrs. Jingle hurried upstairs into the bedroom, accompanied by Joy and Noel, and picked up another telescope that was like the one that Jingle used in his study to check up on the children around the world.

"What do we do now?" Joy asked, "Jingle's still cold and Jangle took the presents."

Noel growled in frustration, "We can't just sit here and let Jangle have his way. There's gotta be way we can march up to his castle, take all the presents, and get Jingle's heart back…without being frozen into popsicles, of course."

"That's what we're going to do, Noel," Mrs. Jingle replied as she extended the telescope and viewed through it, "But we'll need an extra helping paws…well, hands, I mean."

"Hands?" Joy leaped beside her, "We're going to ask a human to help us?"

"Not just any human, Joy," Mrs. Jingle searched around and around to find the right town. When she found it, she looked straight at the pink, pig-tailed human girl who was feasting with her lover and good friends, "Ah, there she is."

"There who is? Who?" Joy asked excitedly.

Mrs. Jingle gave the telescope for her and Noel to look through, "Remember the girl Jingle told us about that helped him out of his predicament last year? Her name is Laina. We need to go to her town, Anime, to get her and maybe she could help us."

Noel shrugged as he looked through the telescope, "She looks like an ordinary girl to me. What makes her so special? She'll just get in the way."

"Don't judge a book by its cover." Joy said, waving a finger at her twin brother.

Mrs. Jingle nodded, "That's right. And if she's as brave and strong as she was last year as my husband described her, I'm sure she can help us out."

"Alright. Whatever you say, Mrs. Jingle," Noel handed her the telescope back, "So what's the plan?"

"We'll take Jingle with us to make sure he stays warm," Mrs. Jingle unwrapped a scrolled-up map, showing which way the tracks went that the train followed, "We're gonna operate his train to Anime and, if Laina decides to help us, we'll take it straight to Jangle's ice castle. You two know how to operate it, right?"

"But ma'am," Joy stood up with a bit of panic on her face," The train can't move without Jingle's magic. How will it go?"

Mrs. Jingle smiled, "It might not be able to do much without Jingle, but it can drive as fast like any other train on the tracks."

"And what about everyone else in Polar Powder Station?" Noel asked, "They're all gonna be stuck here and worried while we go find this girl and then Jangle."

"They're going to have to stay here and watch over the station just in case Jangle returns," Mrs. Jingle began to gather maps and other essentials, "Go downstairs and tell the others. Tell them they may return to their village if they like, but be on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary."

Joy and Noel headed downstairs and told their family and friends about the plan. Some disagreed with it and wanted to go along or let Jingle stay home where they could keep an eye on him, but they explained that the train wasn't big enough to hold everyone and it would be better if Jingle came with them so they could keep an eye on him and to keep him away from Jangle if he should come back and cause more damage.

Mrs. Jingle came downstairs fully dressed in her red and white parka, almost looking like Jingle himself, and holding maps in one paw and a large sack in the other, probably full of extra blankets for Jingle and magical items to protect them..

The helpers lifted Jingle and headed outside again, heading toward the train station. The train cabin was like an RV; it had all the comforts of home on wheels. They placed Jingle into the bedroom and tucked him in bed, covering him with even more blankets and turning on the heat.

The helpers hugged tightly to Mrs. Jingle and to Joy and Noel, telling them to be careful.

"We'll be careful," Mrs. Jingle assured them, smiling warmly, "Don't worry, everything will be alright. You'll see."

Noel walked up to engine, feeding coal to the fire as his sister and Mrs. Jingle gave more reassurance and said their last goodbyes to the helpers and got into the train cabin. He pulled a lever to start the train and smoke hissed from underneath the engine. The wheels slowly started to move forward, creaking rather loudly. He tugged on a string and the whistle let out a loud shrill shriek.

Joy waved to everyone as the train slowly trudged forward, blowing on the window to make steam and writing messages with her fingers, although the messages were backwards to them. Noel pushed a button up front that opened the peppermint stick gate in front of the tracks and the train began to pick up the speed as it passed them. When the last car went through the gate, they automatically shut, keeping the rest left behind safe in the Polar Powder Station.

Noel shoveled a few more coal into the fire, keeping the train going at a medium-fast speed, before closing it door and going to join Joy and Mrs. Jingle in the train cabin.

Mrs. Jingle sat at her husband's bedside with Joy, looking over him worriedly. Jingle seemed to stop shivering but only slightly. He would shudder a few times, then hold absolutely still for a few moments, then shiver again.

Joy hugged her small pink and white ringed tail, "I hope he'll be alright until we can get all this fixed.

"Same here. Do you think that he'll really be like Jangle?" Noel looked up to her.

Mrs. Jingle nodded reluctantly, "I've seen what his cold and heartless frost magic has done to others when I used to ride along with my husband on Christmas two years ago. He attacked us and his magic almost caused me my life, but Jingle was right there to save me. That's why I stayed behind from now on because Jingle was too afraid of me getting hurt. Now he's the one who needs my help."

"And we'll be by your side the whole way, Mrs. Jingle," Joy said, "You just tell us what to do and we'll do it."

Noel nodded, grabbing his sister on the shoulder, "And we'll start by keeping the train going to and from our destinations and then getting Jingle's heart back. But first, let's go see if this girl can help us. Mrs. Jingle, you stay in here and keep an eye on your husband's condition. I'll keep this train going and Joy can keep an eye to make sure that girl stays in her place."

Joy skipped into the small kitchen and grabbed cookies for her and Noel before going to the window with the telescope. She peered through the eye scope, searching for the town that Laina lived in until she found her. "Hmm…I wonder who does her hair." Joy waved her tail slowly.

"I still say she looks like an ordinary human," Noel nibbled on a cookie keeping an eye on the engine from behind the door, "What's she doing now?"

Joy replied, "Well, it looks like she just had a Christmas party. Looks like everyone's leaving and some are helping her clean up."