After the close call with the frozen lake, the Polar Express chugged up tracks on a mountain that resembled a spiral. The moon appeared to be very close, making the sight even more beautiful.
Jeremie, Aelita, William, Chase, Anne, and the Conductor were on top of the engine heading down to the other carts.
Anne let out a whistle as she saw them going around and around the mountain. "Wow..."
"Watch your step up here. Its mighty slick here, I tell you, mighty slick." the Conductor advised.
As if on cue, Jeremie accidentally slipped.
"WHOA!" he exclaimed. Seeing this, the Conductor grabbed him and pulled him back up.
"There you go. What did I tell you? Years ago, on my first Christmas Eve run, I was up on the roof making my rounds when I slipped on the ice myself. I reached out for a hard iron, but it broke off. I slid and fell. And yet, I did not fall off this train." the Conductor told them.
"You didn't fall...?" Chase asked, with surprise.
Aelita smiled at the Conductor.
"Did someone save you? An angel, maybe...?" Aelita asked, smiling.
"Maybe..." the Conductor shrugged.
Anne's visible eye widened as she remembered the hobo saving her from slipping earlier. "Wait, did you see the person who saved you?" she asked as they climbed down from the top of the engine and headed over to the next cart.
Jeremie nodded. "Yeah, what did he look like?"
"No, I didn't. But sometimes, seeing is believing. And the sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can't see." the Conductor said.
Everyone nodded, smiling.
"Amen to that..." Chase said, smiling
Jeremie blinked, wondering what the Conductor meant as the latter opened the door leading into the cart, revealing it to be full of broken toys.
Anne went wide eyed, along with the rest of the teens.
"Woah..." Anne said
Chase looked around the cart. "W-What is all of this?"
"Ah, the forsaken and the abandoned..." the Conductor told them sadly. "Mind your step. These poor things have suffered long enough, being left to rust in the back alleys and vacant lots of the world..."
"That's... That's horrible..." Aelita said, sadly.
"What are they all doing here?" William asked.
"Yeah, do you clean them up, or something?" Jeremie asked
Anne carefully stepped over a couple of broken dolls.
Jeremie gently picked up an old toy robot and examined it.
"It's a new concept the boss came up with." the Conductor explained. "Instead of being thrown away, they're collected, refurbished. He calls it, uh... 're-bycycling'? Something like that." he said as he navigated his way through some puppets hanging from the ceiling.
Aelita picked up an old doll with a dirty dress and looked at it sadly.
Chase looked at Aelita, and smiled.
"They'll get sent back to some other kids, Ai..." Chase said, smiling
"It makes me wanna cry... Seeing toys that were treated like this..." Aelita said sadly, remembering her own doll, Mr. Puck.
Chase nodded, in agreement.
"Haven't thought about toys in a long time, but now that I think about it..." Chase muttered, trailing off.
Aelita rose an eyebrow, tightly hugging the doll.
"You had toys, when you we're younger...? I thought you didn't like them..." she said
Chase sighed and looked away. "I used to love playing with fire trucks..." he admitted.
All of the teens stopped, and looked at Chase with wide eyes. Anne and Aelita both smirked.
"Fire trucks...?" Anne asked, smirking
Chase rose an eyebrow as he looked at Anne. "You don't remember how I used to play firefighter sometimes when we played when we were kids?" he asked.
Anne nodded. "Yeah, I remember that..."
Chase sighed as he looked at an old, dirty, beaten up fire truck lying on the ground. "Aw man... Poor thing didn't deserve this..."
"No, it didn't... I can't believe people would do this to toys..." Jeremie said, sadly.
Anne's eyes widened when she noticed a dirty, red plush dog lying on the ground.
"R-Red Dog..." she whispered.
"You recognize that dog, Anne...?" William asked
"I-It's mine..." Anne stammered as she knelt down and gently picked it up.
Chase went wide eyed.
"Oh yeah... I- I remember you having that!" he exclaimed
Anne held the dog plushie gingerly in her hands.
"D-Dylan got this for me one day... I named it Red Dog, since it was... well, red. About a few months after Chase and Dylan moved, this group of boys stole him from me after pushing me down... I never saw Red Dog again..."
The teens nodded, as Chase petted Red Dog, while smiling.
"Never thought I'd ever see him again..." Chase muttered, smiling at the small plushie.
The Conductor walked over to Anne.
"Is that your dog, ma'am?" the Conductor asked
"Uh, yes sir... A bunch of boys took him away from me when I was just a kid..." Anne explained.
"Would you like to have him back?" the Conductor asked, smiling
Anne gasped softly and nodded. "Y-Yes, please..."
The Conductor smiled, and nodded.
"Make sure you take good care of him, okay ma'am?" he asked
Anne nodded and carefully slipped Red Dog into one of her jacket pockets.
Chase smiled.
The Conductor continued to navigate his way through the cart with Aelita, William, and Anne behind him, but Jeremie and Chase were distracted by a couple puppets.
"These hopelessly entangled string puppets, marionettes, holds a particular problem... We've found that the nimble fingers of our work force here at the North Pole are best for working out the knots and tangles." the Conductor said as Aelita opened the door for him as he, William, Anne, and Aelita stepped through.
The Conductor pulled out a set of keys as he prepared to open the next door. "Oh, double-locked..."
Just then, the door closed behind the three. Chase looked over at them and his eyes widened seeing that they were no longer at the door the Conductor was about to open. It was as if they had vanished into thin air.
"Where'd they go?" Jeremie asked.
"I- I dunno..." Chase said, with wide eyes.
Chase and Jeremie headed towards the door to try and catch up with them.
Just then, Jeremie felt a hand land on his shoulder. He stiffened and slowly turned around, seeing an Ebenezer Scrooge puppet.
"You two are just like me, my friends... A SCROOGE!" the puppet exclaimed.
The two teens gasped and stepped back with surprise, backing up into a couple puppets. "Ebenezer Scrooge! North Pole, Santa Claus, this train... It's all a bunch of humbug!" the puppet continued.
Jeremie and Chase looked up and were surprised to see that the hobo was controlling the puppet from a hatch in the ceiling. The duo's eyes widened as they looked back at the puppet.
"A bout of indigestion. Oh yeah, I know what you are; YOU'RE A DOUBTER!" the puppet exclaimed, scaring the two.
Both Chase and Jeremie screamed as they quickly navigated their way through the puppets as the Scrooge puppet/hobo kept screaming at them.
"A DOUBTER! YOU TWO ARE DOUBTERS! YOU DON'T BELIEVE! DOUBTERS! YOU DON'T BELIEVE!"
Finally, the two reached the door and jerked it open, quickly running out and slamming the door behind them, panting. They found themselves back in the passenger cart with the other kids.
Chase panted. "T-That was the SCARIEST puppet I have EVER come across..."
Jeremie nodded, shakily nodding his head.
"How about we NEVER go back in there... Agreed?" Jeremie asked, shakily
"Agreed." Chase said immediately with a nod.
The two walked away from the door to search for the others when Herve suddenly walked in front of them.
"There you two are! You missed it! We rode down some really sharp hills! And then we were on what looked like a frozen lake, but I know it was just an optical illusion caused by moonlight and atmosphere. He said the train was actually on the ice, but I said that was impossible, because you can't put a train track on-" Herve rambled.
Jeremie rolled his eyes, but he looked over Herve's shoulder and noticed that Aelita and the other Lyoko Warriors were in the back cart looking at something. The two walked past Herve, cutting him off.
"Hey, where are you two going now?" Herve asked, a little ticked off that they didn't let him finish. Chase and Jeremie didn't answer as they left the passenger cart.
Chase and Jeremie got to the back cart. They walked to the Lyoko Warriors, with curious looks.
"Guys? What're you looking at?" Jeremie asked
Aelita whipped around and held a finger to her lips. "Shh!" she whispered.
They could hear faint singing. Chase rose an eyebrow with confusion. Dylan gestured to the door leading out to the railing at the back of the cart. They could see the quiet boy from earlier standing there looking out to the night sky.
Aelita gestured for Jeremie and Chase to follow them, but Jeremie shook his head. Aelita nodded her head and motioned again. This time, the two followed them. Anne quietly opened the door so they could listen.
"I'm wishing on a star
And trying to believe
That even thought it's far
He'll find me, Christmas Eve
I guess that Santa's busy
Cause he's never come around
I think of him when Christmas comes to town..." the boy sang softly.
The Lyoko Warriors were silent for a moment before Aelita smiled and joined in singing, surprising the boy a bit.
Aelita smiled, looking at the boy.
"The best time of the year, when everyone comes home..."
The boy gasped, turning around to see Aelita smiling at him.
"With all this Christmas cheer, it's hard to be alone
Putting up the Christmas tree, with friends who come along
It's so much fun, when Christmas comes to town..." Aelita sang, smiling
Anne smirked, remembering the good times she had on Christmas when she was younger. She walked to Aelita's side and joined in singing.
She pointed out at the sky, which had lights and shapes that resembled presents in the snow.
"Presents for the children
Wrapped in red and green." Anne sang.
"All the things I've heard about
But never really seen..." the boy sang.
Aelita smiled.
"No one one will be sleeping on the night of Christmas Eve..." she sang.
"Hoping Santa's on his way..." Anne, Aelita, and the boy sang together.
The red back light on the cart shined in the snow flurries, creating the shape of a red sleigh and a large bag.
"When Santa's sleigh bells ring..." Aelita sang.
"I listen all around." the young boy sang.
"The herald angels sing." Anne sang.
"I never hear a sound..." the boy sang.
"And all the dreams of children..." Aelita sang
"Once lost will all be found..." the boy sang
Anne smiled, looking at the sky.
"That's all I want, when Christmas comes to town..." Anne sang, smiling
Aelita smiled and gently took the boy's hands in her own.
"That's all I want when Christmas comes... to town..." Aelita, Anne, and the boy sang.
The Lyoko Warriors all smiled, as the song finished.
"That was... Amazing!" Jeremie exclaimed
The young boy smiled shyly.
Chase simply nodded his head with a smile.
Aelita then looked out to the sky and noticed something. "Look!" she exclaimed.
The group looked up seeing the Aurora Borealis in the sky.
"The Northern Lights!" Jeremie stated.
The group had awestruck looks, as they stared at the Aurora Borealis. William and Odd however, didn't look very impressed.
"Eh, I can see that on my TV screen..." Odd said, shrugging.
Anne rolled her visible eye.
Jeremie adjusted his glasses as he looked up at the sky. "Whoa... It's so beautiful when you see it in real life..." he remarked.
"Yeah, it is..." Dylan said
Just then, the Conductor stepped into the back cart. "Hey! You guys!" he said as he approached them. "We have just crossed it."
"Crossed it?" Chase asked, curiously
"Crossed what...?" Ulrich asked
"Latitude 66 degrees, 33 minutes. The Arctic Circle." the Conductor explained as he pointed out to some lights in the distance that seemed to be resting atop of an island. "And do you see? Those lights in the distance. They look like the lights of a strange ocean liner that's sailing one a frozen sea."
He looked back at them with a smile as he pointed at the lights. "There... is the North Pole!"
Everyone went wide eyed, as they stared at the North Pole.
"W- We're here? Like, ACTUALLY here?!" Anne asked, with shock
Jeremie's eyes widened. "We... We made it... We're actually here..."
"It's real..." William whispered.
Odd let out a whoop. "YEAH! WE MADE IT!" he exclaimed as he jumped up and down.
Chase laughed, as he and Aelita shared a high-five.
"I'll admit, I was wrong! It DOES exist!" Chase exclaimed, smiling
Yumi hugged Ulrich, who blushed. "I can't believe it! We're here!" she exclaimed.
Dylan hugged Anne, who hugged him back. "This is awesome!" he exclaimed with a laugh.
Jeremie simply remained silent as he stared at the North Pole with his jaw dropped.
For once, the facts were wrong...
The North Pole WAS real...
Aelita smiled as she hugged Jeremie.
They had finally made it to the North Pole.
(REVIEWS ARE LOVE! SO LOVE US!)