That Christmas Feeling

Robo Knight, transformed back into his robotic form peering over the edge of the familiar building overlooking the skyline of the city. Robo Knight sensed that something was strange and amiss. He turned his attention over to the people below. He saw what looked like trees stacked high on their vehicle driving mechanisms. This was puzzling to Robo Knight, he didn't understand why the humans are taking down something that he has fought so valiant to protect.

"Why are these humans cutting down all these trees?"

How could the humans cut and tear down trees which were a vital resource for their planet's containment. Curious, to find answers to his question, Robo Knight sought out his teammates, he knew that they could help him find the answer to his question. Using his internal tracking system, he located the rangers tracking them over at Harwood County Mall. Robo Knight started scanning the coördinates. To his surprise the area was nearby. Robo Knight morphed back into his Lion zord in search of the Power Rangers hoping that they would give him the answers he was seeking.

"Gia over here!" Emma called, spotting her in the passing crowds of people.

She had agreed to meet up with Gia so that they could head over to the Ernie's together. She got gifts for everyone on her list expect for one person. Emma sighed; honestly she wasn't all that sure what to get him at all. She really didn't know what he liked or disliked for the matter, then again she really didn't know much about him, expect for the fact that he made her heart race each time she was in his presence. She clutched hand over her heart; hoping that Gia wouldn't be too suspicious if she asked to do some more Christmas shopping. Emma turned her attention back over to the crowd watching Gia coolly glide through the mingling passerby's.

"So good to see you!" Emma said.

"Good seeing you too!" Gia said reaching out and embracing her.

"Emma, I know that we're supposed to meet up with the guys…but I still had some last-minute shopping to do," Gia asked pulling away.

She glanced at her watch with a wide grin; "Let's see Ernie's party doesn't start for another hour…" Emma started with a sly grin.

"So…does that mean we have enough time to go?"

"Of course…we can go shopping…I need to finish getting some things off my list…" she cried pulling out her small folded up piece a paper.

"Great!" Gia chirped.

"Let's go, I know the perfect place we can go," Emma said.

"You lead the way," Gia replied linking an arm around hers.

A bright smiled touched her lips, as she lead the way towards the mall, hoping that she would be able to find the perfect gift for that special someone.

"Can I get you guys something? My famous eggnog perhaps?" Ernie suggested eagerly.

Troy grimaced; glancing over at both Jake and Noah. "I think I'll have my usual."

"Same here," said Noah.

"How about you Jake?" he asked turning to him.

"Oh…I don't know…" he hesitated glancing between both him and Noah.

Troy shrugged; surprised at his hesitation, usually Jake was the first one to try something new.

"C'mon…I promise you'll love it…" Ernie urged.

"Ernie…buddy…I think I will stick with my usual…"

"Hey…I tell you what I will let you try on the house."

"Is that so?!"

This seemed to have sparked Jake's interest.

Ernie nodded eagerly.

"Oh…alright…I guess it wouldn't hurt to give it a try," Jake said giving in.

"That's the spirit!" he chirped happily swinging his way over to the counter.

"Wow…Ernie sure is into the spirit," Noah chuckled.

Troy smiled nodding in agreement. Looks like all the other people were in good spirits too. Troy was also feeling the Christmas cheer. He looked around at all the colorful Christmas decorations, speckled all over the frozen yogurt shop. Troy took a sniff of the air; taking in the crisp, smells of cinnamon, and ginger, and all the other sweet smells that Christmas time offered. Seeing all the festivities made Troy's heart dance with delight. Looks like he would be fulfilling that wish he kept locked away inside. A familiar voice stirred Troy from his internal thoughts.

"Here you guys go," Ernie said.

"Thanks," Noah said.

"Thanks," Troy replied.

"Enjoy!" he said with a wink handing Jake his tall glass of eggnog.

"Thanks…I think…"

"Well…go ahead and try it…" Noah urged nudging Jake.

Jake glanced up and down at the tall glass, turning it from side to side. "I don't know it doesn't look like your typical kind of eggnog…" he said bringing the glass for closer examination.

"You won't know till you try it," Noah commented with a smirk.

Jake cut his eyes over at him jokingly throwing up a fist. Both he and Noah watched eagerly while Jake slowly dipped his spoon into his treat.

"Here goes nothing…" he cried dipping his spoon into the substance.

Jake slowly took a taste, "ugh…." he cried, "this eggnog…" he said twisting his mouth in a bitter grimace.

Troy leaned back into his chair chuckling as he took a long sip of his juice.

"Want some?" he turned offering some to Noah.

"No…no…no…." Noah said rejecting his offer, "it's all yours my friend."

Troy turned his attention away looking around wondering where Emma and Gia were, they were supposedly meeting up with them that afternoon, before the start of the Christmas party.

"Our Christmas shopping is complete!"

Troy, Noah and Jake turned to the familiar voice. He smiled watching them with their hands full with bags dangling from their arms as they made their way over to the table.

"Hi guys!" Noah called.

"Hey girls," Troy said brightly catching's Emma's eye.

She had a wide grin spread across her youthful face. Emma certainly seemed a bit more happy than usual. Troy shrugged; if anything he was certain that she too had caught a whim of all the holiday cheer in the air.

"Hey guys…this is on the house for my favorite ladies…" Ernie said cheerfully walking over towards them.

"My special candy cane yougurtttt!" he wailed nearly tipping over the special treats with everyone including Ernie sighing in relief, at his near accident.

"That was a close one," Noah commented.

"You can say that again," Jake replied.

"That was close," Ernie said.

Just when Troy thought the coast was clear, he watched in disbelief as their treats tumbled to the ground. Troy looked over at the scene, shaking his head. He heard Jake snickering besides him.

"So sorry…" Ernie cried sadly.

Too bad, looks like the girls wouldn't be able to enjoy their special treats after-all nonetheless, Troy was sure that neither of them were going to let that shake up their holiday cheer.

"Oh…that was so thoughtful of you," Emma said reaching down to help him.

"Yeah, you're really sweet," Gia said grabbing a napkin to wipe up some of the mess with Noah's assistants.

"C'mon…" Emma said lifting up the tray.

"I'm going to go throw this out," said Noah continuing to wipe the stain.

"I'll go get a mop," Gia said hurrying over to the back of the shop.

"Hey man I think we should go help them out," Jake said standing.

"Of course."

Troy stood heading over to the counter where both Emma and Ernie were. The poor guy was still seemed quite distraught over spilling their treats.

"Ernie, you don't have to keep apologizing…" Emma said.

"I know…I know…but…I really wanted you guys to try out my treats…" he whined and huffed.

Emma chuckled; "C'mon Ernie you can always make us another one," she suggested.

"I suppose I can do that…"

"Great…and while you're doing that…we will…" she said glancing over in his direction, "will finish cleaning this up…okay?!"

"Oh…alright…" Ernie sighed dragging his feet over to the yogurt machine.

Emma turned to Troy smiling brightly. "C'mon Troy…let's finish getting up that mess…we wouldn't want anyone slipping and getting hurt."

"Of course, not," he replied.

He watched her glide past him. He stood there, thinking how much he admired her compassion for others.

"Troy!" she called waving a hand.

"Coming," he said making his way over to her.

Noah quickly headed for the doors that lead to the back of the yogurt shop. He slipped open the door, feeling the draft in the air. As he was making his way over towards the trash can, startled by someone familiar.

"Robo Knight!"

"People are cutting down trees."

"What?!" Noah said stepping over to their robotic companion.

"Humans are acting strangely; they're wasting energy, putting up colorful lights."

"The people are cutting down many pine trees."

"No…this isn't bad," he said gesturing out to the city's plaza.

"They are celebrating Christmas."

"Christmas?"

"What is that?" inquired Robo Knight.

Noah sighed scratching his head; trying to think of why to explain what Christmas was and what it meant to humanity. Noah leaned back against the wall trying to think of a plausible answer to Robo Knight's question.

"Well…" Noah started.

Then it, it hit him, a simple, yet logical answer he could give Robo Knight.

"It's the special time of the year…when humans are at their best…everyone is a lot nicer…and people…" he paused, "try a lot harder than usual to do what's right," Noah explained.

"Oh…and we strive for peace on earth."

There now that sounded like a logic explanation or at least he hoped so, no way of knowing if Robo Knight understood what he was explaining.

Robo Knight glanced around the plaza.

"The streets are decorated for peace on earth?"

Noah sighed inward, that was not exactly the message, he was hoping to convey.

"Yeah…" he chuckled, "that and well shopping."

"Humans celebrate the holiday seasons by getting that special someone a gift…and everyone loves getting gifts."

Noah figured that he may as well explain the commercial the reasoning why people enjoyed Christmas time and the holidays as illogical as it may seem.

"I will investigate this further," Robo Knight said stepping away.

"No…hold on," Noah said pulling him back.

"You can't go into the mall…you'll scare everyone!" he warned.

There was no way he was going to let their companion out on his own, and take a chance that he may inadvertently end up hurting someone. But knowing how stubborn Robo Knight was, he was doubtful that he would concede. Noah started scouring his brain trying come up with something that he could use to show Robo Knight what Christmas meant to humans. Then it hit him, he knew just the perfect way that he could show their companion and get a little kick of it too.

"Unless, we can pretend you're a giant toy!"

"A toy?"

"Yeah…but you would have to stand still for like 24 hours…can you do that?"

"I stood still in hibernation for thousands of years."

"Good point," Noah commented, he honestly hadn't thought of that so 24 hours would be a piece of cake for Robo Knight.

Now the only problem was how was he going to get Robo Knight over to the Christmas display without startling anyone or drawing attention to themselves?

"Come with me…c'mon…" he called grabbing Robo Knight remembering the small passageway outside of Ernie's that Emma told him about, that lead directly to mall's courtyard...

Noah excitedly walked through the small passage; he was beaming over the idea of having Robo Knight out on display.

"Where are we going blue ranger?"

"Some place where I know you will understand the true meaning of Christmas."

As they got to end of the passage, Noah peeked out from behind the door.

"Robo Knight…hold on a second."

So, far the close the coast was clear, and then he saw some people heading towards the courtyard.

"C'mon Robo Knight…we better hurry before people start gathering."

He led him over towards the tall Christmas in the middle of the courtyard.

"What is this?"

"It's a Christmas tree."

"A Christmas tree?"

"Yeah…a Christmas tree is one of those trees that you saw people cutting down."

Robo Knight stepped back glanced up and down at the tree.

"What does this tree have to do with this Christmas you speak of?"

"You'll see, please stand right here," Noah ordered directing him to spot near the front of the tree.

"Robo Knight…listen to me carefully, your mission if you choose to accept it," he stopped chuckling, "is to stand here and not move for the next 24 hours, here you will understand what Christmas means to us humans and why we love celebrating it."

"I do accept the mission blue ranger," Robo Knight said moving into place.

Noah moved over some of the decorations and other toys around to take and make Robo Knight a little less inconspicuous.

"There," he chanted, "that should do…I hope."

He stood back thinking something was missing. He looked around, trying to figure out, what could be missing. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a Santa hat lying next the donation display.

"That's it!"

"This should do the trick," he said placing the hat over Robo Knight's head.

"What is this?"

"Just a little something that us humans wear to help us get into the holiday spirit."

"Okay, Robo Knight, stay here and remember don't make a move."

"Got it!" he replied.

Satisfied with his progress, Noah hurried back over to Ernie's, sure that everyone was probably wondered where he was by now.