Ch 8: Christmas Shopping
"Yes!" Scotch exclaimed in delight. "Let's buy stuff today!"
"I like the sound of that," giggled Akiza.
"Yes, it will be nice to get our minds on something fun," Radley said.
Scotch listed places he wanted to visit for decorations, including Walmart, Joann's, and Hobby Lobby.
"I wonder if Carly would like to join us for some shopping?" asked Jack as he took out his phone.
"I'm sure she would," Radley said.
Carly was definitely delighted.
"Ooh yes! I'm totally coming!" squealed Carly. The sounds of car keys could be heard in the background.
Kalin managed to conjure a smile when he saw Scotch's list.
"That's quite a list, Scotch."
"Yeah! And we could check out Target and Hallmark and ..." continued Scotch.
Radley was amused.
"Ok, ok, we get it..." groaned Jack.
"You can meet us at Target," Radley suggested. "I think we'll try there first." Then Scotch could look at toys too.
"Ok, see you guys there!" exclaimed Carly as she dashed to her car and drove out.
They all headed to Target. Scotch hurried in upon arriving. Leo hurried after him. Luna shook her head at the two of them.
"He and Leo are so much alike, I swear they could be brothers," she said.
Radley laughed. "I'm glad they get to have fun."
Scotch ran to the toys first.
Carly ran into Target and waved to the team.
"Hey guys! Carly Carmine is here!"
"Hey," Radley smiled.
"Hello, Carly," Jack nodded.
"Thanks for inviting me here, Jackie," smiled Carly.
"I thought you'd enjoy it," Jack said.
Scotch found Mario and Pokemon toys he liked. Leo was looking the Transformers toys and marveling at the details. Scotch thought those were cool too.
Luna went on to the decorations. Kalin looked at the vehicle toys and looked at Radley.
"I wonder if West would like one of these?"
"I'm sure he would," Radley smiled. "Leo and Scotch probably would too."
"We need to invite West and Nico for our Christmas party."
"Oh, of course. Jordan too," Radley said.
"Right," nodded Kalin. He was jotting down notes on gifts to give each teammate.
Scotch decided to look at the decorations now. Carly, Jack, and Akiza followed him.
"We need to get the biggest Christmas tree ever!" said Carly.
"Yes! Twelve feet!" Scotch said.
Radley heard them and laughed. "That would never fit!"
"Perhaps 8 feet is more reasonable," giggled Akiza.
Scotch looked at the tree displays. "So cool!" Trees of all sizes, with various light displays.
"They sure are! They're so sparkly!" grinned Carly.
Scotch watched a fiber optic one, then switched to one that played carols. "We need this one!"
"Ooh! Nice choice!" nodded Carly. "I found these really colorful ornaments!"
"Yes! We need the purple! And the blues!" Scotch said.
Radley chuckled, going over to look at everything.
"Right!" nodded Carly.
"Ok, Mr. Decoration Expert," said Jack.
Kalin was wondering what Yusei's plans for Christmas was. He figured his friend would be hanging out in the tech section.
Yusei had definitely wandered off to see what was new there, as had Antinomy.
Radley took some of the ornaments and looked at the carol tree. "What do you think, Kalin?" he asked.
"They look great, Radley," nodded Kalin in agreement.
"Do you think the tree playing music will drive you nuts?" Radley smirked. He liked the feature, but he knew some wouldn't.
"Um, depends on what the music is," shrugged Kalin.
"Christmas music, of course," Radley said. "It looks like it has eighteen songs."
"Oh, that's nice. I like that. I wonder what Yusei is going to say about it."
"He'll probably like it," Radley said. He took one of them in box to put in the cart.
Scotch was gleeful. Kalin went to find Yusei.
Yusei looked up. "Hey, Kalin. What's up?"
"Did you and Bruno find anything interesting?"
"Yeah, there's some really great new phones and other tech!" Yusei said.
"Hmm, that phone does look very nice. Radley found this music box."
"It's a musical Christmas tree, actually," Radley said.
"Really?" Yusei said.
"The package says it contains eighteen songs."
"Scotch is listening to them at the display tree," Radley said.
Scotch had been, anyway, but he had decided he wanted surprises, so he had moved on to licensed character ornaments.
"Is Christmas Scotch's favorite holiday?" asked Kalin.
"That, and Halloween," Radley chuckled.
"Heh, true," smiled Kalin.
Scotch bounded over. "There's Eevee ornaments!"
Radley smiled. "Yeah?"
Scotch held some up.
"They have ornaments of Eevees?"
"Yes! They're so cute!" Scotch gushed.
Just then, Luna and Leo returned with some toys.
"We found some plushies to decorate the tables with!" smiled Luna. She was pushing a cart of reindeer plushies.
"Cute!" Scotch gushed.
"Yeah, these will be great!" Radley smiled.
"It's not Christmas without Santa and his reindeer!" said Luna.
"I got some presents for everyone!" grinned Leo.
"Cool," Radley smiled.
"I'm getting presents too!" Scotch grinned. "And yes, there must be Santa and reindeer!"
Leo got toy cars for everyone.
"Did everyone get something?" asked Luna.
"We're still looking," Bruno said.
"Take your time. I actually haven't found anything yet," said Kalin.
"There's a lot to see," Radley said.
"I'm going to keep looking," nodded Kalin as he turned to look around.
"Do you wanna check the tech stuff?" Radley asked.
"Sure. Maybe you might something of interest too, Bruno," nodded Kalin.
"There's a lot of neat stuff here," Bruno agreed, leading them back there.
"Yeah, I'm kind of overwhelmed by it all, to be honest."
"Yusei was interested in these phones," Bruno said, pointing them out.
"Ooh, they're pricey," Radley mused.
"I agree with Radley. Can we afford them?"
"You probably could easier than me," Bruno chuckled.
Radley read over the list of features. "Hmm. This is good."
Kalin also checked the list. "Yeah, it sure does. Perhaps we can split the cost?"
Radley nodded thoughtfully.
"I think I could work with that," Bruno said.
"Alright, sounds good to me," smiled Kalin. He asked a store worker to give them the phone.
They all helped pay for it.
"This is perfect," Bruno smiled.
"I agree," nodded Kalin.
Radley smiled and started curiously glancing around to see what else there was.
"Which one of us should keep it until Christmas?" Bruno wondered?
Kalin thought for a minute before giving his answer.
"You can," smiled Kalin.
"Okay!" Bruno smiled. "I'll take real good care of it."
"You're the team's tech expert, so it makes all the more sense."
"Yeah!" Bruno agreed.
Just then Carly and Jack could be seen hauling a cart full of decorations and snacks.
Radley had to laugh. "Well, they've been productive."
Kalin turned to see Jack and snickered. "Definitely."
"Now, I wonder if all those snacks are for them or for the party," Radley smirked.
"They're for the party of course!" grinned Carly.
"We'll be well supplied," Radley smiled.
"That's right! Jack Atlas never lets the pantry go empty!" exclaimed Jack.
Scotch also brought a Christmas stocking with Eevee on it.
"Hey Scotch. Found more things?" asked Kalin.
"Yes! We need these!" He held it up.
Cute," Radley smiled.
"More Eevee stuff?" asked Jack.
"Yeah!" Scotch said.
"Works for me," Radley said.
"They're adorable!" nodded Carly.
Scotch grinned and put them in.
Radley smiled. "So do we wanna check out some of the other stores now?"
"Sure. Is everyone ready?" asked Kalin.
They were, so they checked out and went to the mall. Once inside, Scotch bounded into Hallmark to look at Keepsake Ornaments.
"I didn't expect him to admire Hallmark," said Akiza.
"He likes the pop culture ornaments and other merch," Radley smirked.
"Ah, those are always popular," smiled Akiza.
Scotch was delighted to find another Eevee ornament. Of course.
Billy looked at the Star Trek and Star Wars ones.
"You guys like sci-fi stuff?" asked Leo.
"Oh yeah," Billy said.
"Same here! I really like Star Wars!" said Leo.
"Star Wars is epic!" Scotch gushed. "Look, they have electronic ornaments!"
"Ooh yeah! The X-Wing makes shooting noises!" exclaimed Leo.
"We need that for the tree!" Scotch said.
Radley laughed. "How is that even remotely Christmassy?"
"Does it even matter?" shrugged Leo.
"Apparently not," Radley snarked. He thought the ornaments were cool, yet he did wonder why they never seemed to have Christmas elements.
Leo took the X-Wing Fighter. Meanwhile, Akiza, Carly, and Luna were all looking at the Christmas cards. Yusei went to look at the cards too.
"These are nice," he mused, seeing a card with Santa riding a motorcycle.
"Find anything that interests you, Yusei?" asked Akiza.
"These cards are unique." Yusei held them up.
"Santa on a motorcycle? My, are they creative!" giggled Akiza.
Scotch grinned. "There's a figure like that too! I've seen it at Walmart!"
"Perhaps we should get it," winked Akiza.
"Yes!" Scotch exclaimed.
Radley chuckled. "It does sound pretty cool."
"Yeah! Get it, Yusei!" cheered Leo.
Yusei smiled. "I think I will. Let's check it out."
Everyone moved to buy their selections.
"Where are we going next?" asked Carly.
"Walmart, I think," Radley said.
They went there to find a table with toys of Santa on a motorcycle near the entrance. The figure was a foot tall or more.
"Hey look! It's an even bigger Santa!" pointed Leo.
"So cool!" Scotch gushed. He grabbed one.
Yusei got one too.
Kalin was slightly amused Yusei would buy an action figure of Santa. "Is this the latest trend?" he asked.
"It's a cool one," Yusei said.
"It plays music too!" Scotch said.
"Yeah! He can travel the world faster!" added Leo.
"Except when he gets to a body of water," Radley chuckled.
"What else do we need to buy?" asked Carly.
"Garland! Icicles! More ornaments!" Scotch rushed to look at all the options for such.
"Yeah!" cheered Carly as she ran after him.
"Man, he's like a tornado," said Jack.
"That's what makes him fun to be around," chuckled Kalin.
Radley laughed. "Definitely."
Scotch started selecting the things he wanted.
"Need any help carrying stuff?" Carly asked him.
"Sure!" Scotch said.
Carly got a cart for them. Scotch put everything in it.
"We should get some cookies next!" said Carly.
"Yes! And stuff to make special Christmas cut-out cookies!" Scotch headed in that direction.
Carly followed after him. Meanwhile, Kalin went to check out what they were doing. Scotch got cookie cutters and frosting. Radley looked at the shaped ice trays. Carly looked at some cake mixes.
"I'm getting hungry just looking at all this stuff," said Carly.
"It sure looks good," Radley agreed.
"I know right? What flavor should we get? Radley, Jack?" asked Carly.
"Well, I was going to bake from scratch," Radley mused. "But I would recommend red velvet."
"Chocolate fudge!" Jack said.
"Ooh, you're going to make the whole cake yourself? That's great!" smiled Carly. She took a container of chocolate fudge and showed it to Radley.
"What Jack said! You have to use this!"
"I meant chocolate fudge cake mix!" Jack said.
"Red velvet is a chocolate cake," Radley said.
"It is? No wonder it tastes like chocolate," said Carly.
"Don't mind Jack's temper," chuckled Kalin.
"There will definitely be plenty of chocolate fudge," Radley smirked.
And I will definitely be there!" grinned Carly.
"I'm sure everyone will be," Radley chuckles.
"I wonder if everyone else got what they needed!" asked Kalin.
Scotch was wandering off to look at toys again. Leo and Luna also went to check out the toys. Radley chuckled and followed. He would get ideas of what to get them.
"Wow! Check out all the cool robots!" exclaimed Leo.
"Yeah! These are electronic!" Scotch started playing with one.
"I wonder how many we should get?" asked Leo.
"You could ask Santa for some," Radley said mildly.
"Ok!" chirped Leo.
"I was thinking of getting something small for everyone," said Luna.
Radley smiled at Luna. "That's a nice idea."
"I'm writing my list now!" Scotch said, pulling out a piece of paper.
"These little plushies look cute!" said Luna as she looked at shelf with Beanie Babies.
"They do," Radley smiled, picking up a cat.
"I think I'll take one of each," said Luna.
"Cool. You know who'd like each one?" Radley said.
"I think Yusei would like the dog, and Bruno would like the cat," replied Luna.
"Makes sense to me," Radley said.
"I'm still figuring out which animal goes with the others," said Luna.
"I'm sure you will," Radley said. "But the same animal might work for several people."
Scotch grabbed a few more decorations and looked at lawn decor.
"You make a good point," smiled Luna.
"What are you looking for, Scotch?" asked Kalin.
"We should put something cool on our lawn!" Scotch pointed to animatronic reindeer.
"You want to get Rudolph?" asked Kalin. "That would be nice." He checked the price, which turned out to be reasonable.
"Yeah!" Scotch grinned. "We could have some on the diner's porch too!"
"That sounds like a great idea. I'll get some string lights too."
"Yes! All the colors!" Scotch said.
"Alright," nodded Kalin as he took a box of multi-color lights.
Radley came over. "Well, what's happening here?"
"We're buying lawn decorations," replied Kalin.
"I knew Scotch would get around to that," Radley chuckled.
"He got that animatronic reindeer and I got these lights. Do you think we should get anything else?"
"Hmm. I'd kinda like this." Radley went to a lawn-size Nativity scene.
Kalin was surprised by his friend's choice. "Oh, that's nice-looking."
"Yeah, it is," Radley smiled and got one.
Scotch was getting an inflatable snowman. Kalin looked over at what Scotch was doing.
Radley did too, and laughed. "Of course, he's getting that."
Kalin couldn't help but laugh as well.
"I guess it isn't winter without a snowman."
"And he'll keep it up all winter," Radley giggled.
"I wonder how the others are doing?"
"Looks like they're coming now," Radley said.
"Hey guys," waved Kalin.
"Hey," Yusei smiled.
"Did you find anything good, Yusei?"
"The TVs are pretty nice," Yusei said.
"Are you planning on getting a new TV?"
"Probably not. I was just looking." Yusei paused, pondering. "Maybe Bruno would like that, though."
"Have you discussed this with him?" asked Kalin.
"I should," Yusei said.
"Oh yes, a big television should be a joint decision," Radley said.
"In the meantime, Scotch, Radley, and I got some colorful lawn decorations," said Kalin.
"That's great," Yusei said.
Akiza had bought several Christmas-themed candles.
Everyone seemed to be ready to check out and go. Scotch was delighted. Everyone bought their things and headed out.
"Are we all satisfied with our purchases?" asked Kalin.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"It was a great trip!" Leo said.
"It sure was!" nodded Luna.
"Wow! Look at all the stuff we got!" exclaimed Carly
"We should have plenty to decorate the diner and some of our homes," Radley chuckled.
"I'm sure West and Nico will be most pleased when they see these as well," smiled Kalin.
"Yeah. We should probably take them shopping later, too," Radley said.
"Perhaps we should do that after we solve the case, though," Kalin's smile suddenly turning into a frown.
"There's really nothing more to do," Radley said. "Not unless you wanna do something with your dad. The lawyer said it could take months to sort out the gem ownership thing."
"Can we truly have a jolly Christmas while we wait?" Kalin sighed.
"I sure don't want this to spoil it," Radley said.
"I'm afraid Yusei and the others have anything else to add to the matter."
"I really think we've done all we can," Radley said. "But who knows, maybe there'll be a Christmas miracle and the lawyer can quickly cut through a lot of the red tape."
"Yeah, you're right. Let's go join the others now."
Everyone else was checking out.
"Hey, guys," Yusei smiled. "Ready to go?"
A small smile appeared on Kalin's face. "Yes, we're ready."
They headed out and then went to Hobby Lobby. Scotch made a beeline for the Christmas decorations.
"Man, that guy acts like a 10 year old kid, the way he runs into every store," scoffed Jack.
"It's good he can be happy," Radley said. "They weren't before I met them."
"And one of them happened to be Kalin, right?" asked Carly.
"Yeah," Radley said.
"I'm going to make Christmas cards for everyone," said Luna as she headed towards the cardstock shelves.
"Really? That's a great idea," Radley smiled.
There were many nice colors and designs to choose from.
"So many colors to choose from," said Luna. "It's kind of overwhelming."
"Snowmen!" Leo grinned. "And trees!"
"We should make these together!" smiled Luna.
"Yeah! That would be fun!" Leo said.
"Would you be interested in joining us, Radley?" asked Luna.
"Sure. I think Scotch would too," Radley smiled.
"I think I'll also give it a try," said Kalin.
"Great!" Leo grinned.
"West and Nico might like it too," Radley said.
"Let's buy 5 packages of cardboard then," said Luna. "And glitter."
So cool!" Scotch exclaimed as he bounded over.
"What other materials should we get?" asked Luna.
"Stickers!" Scotch grabbed some.
"Yeah! Can't forget about those!" grinned Leo.
"Stencils!" Scotch exclaimed.
"And paint!" added Leo.
Radley chuckled, watching them find things they like. It was nice. Kalin came over to check on Radley and Scotch. He was amused they were looking at the stickers.
"So, this is where you guys are."
"Scotch is having a ball," Radley said.
"He's going to help us make Christmas cards!" smiled Luna.
"Yeah! It'll be epic!" Scotch grinned.
"It sure is!" said Leo.
Radley smiled. "You guys can work in the diner to make the cards."
"I'll contact Nico and West later to see if they would be interested," said Kalin.
Radley was sure they would be. Finally Scotch had everything he felt he'd need.
"Do you think we are good to go?" Luna asked him.
"Yep!" Scotch said.
"I wonder what Yusei is getting?" asked Leo.
Yusei was just looking around. Kalin, Leo, and Luna went to go find him.
"Hi, guys," Yusei smiled.
"Hey, Yusei! What are you looking for?" asked Leo.
"I'm just checking everything out," Yusei said.
"Me, Luna, and Scotch are going to make Christmas cards!" said Leo.
"That sounds fun," Yusei said.
"Radley and Kalin will help too," Luna smiled.
"I contacted Nico and West to see if they would be interested as ," added Kalin.
They definitely were.
"That's nice," Yusei said.
"How are the others faring?" asked Kalin.
"They're having fun looking at everything," Yusei said. "This is really a big store. I had no idea a decor store could be this big."
"Neither did I. It's quite overwhelming, actually."
"It's nice, though," Yusei said.
"It's like Best Buy for crafters!" Bruno chirped.
"I always come here to make gifts for others," said Luna.
"Nico and West are going to help you out," stated Kalin.
"Great!" Luna beamed.
"I can't wait to get started!" grinned Leo.
"You can come over for Christmas, if you'd like," Radley said. It was getting late by now.
"Awesome! Thanks Radley!" smiled Leo.
"Yeah, we should all get some sleep," agreed Kalin.
They made their purchases and were ready to start heading home.
"Wow, what a day..." yawned Kalin.
"You said it," Radley said. "And Scotch will want to start decorating tomorrow."
"I'm sure Nico and West will too."
"Oh yes." Radley chuckled. "We'd better get some sleep."
"Mmm," nodded Kalin. "And maybe we'll learn something new about the gems."
"Maybe, but I imagine it'll take longer," Radley mused.
"I know. I can't help but worry a little."
"I know," Radley soothed. "It's understandable."
"Sorry if I worry so much."
"It's reasonable," Radley said. "This is a big problem. We don't want the bad guys to get the gems."
"They'll probably bring ruin to New Domino City if they do."
"Well, let's just hope they'll be kept safe instead," Radley said.
"Yeah. Well, good night, Radley," Kalin said sleepingly.
"Goodnight."
Radley showered and was soon ready for bed. Kalin went to the shower after his friend was done. He finished after about 10 minutes. Radley was settling into bed. Kalin climbed onto the bed as quietly as he could and settled in.
Radley smiled at him. "Hey."
"Oh, hey."
Radley looked sleepy. "See you in the morning."
"You too..." whispered Kalin. And with that, he drifted off to sleep.
Radley snuggled close and dozed.