A Radioactive Green Christmas

OOC: And the electrician did post, for the first time in a millennia.

It was cold.

The sensation gripped Cornelius Drudgson, right through to the bone. It was all he could feel. The rough, rather awful smelling bag pulled over his head stopped him from preventing standing in the cold slush at his feet. Hands pulled at his bound arms, tugging him mercilessly forward.

“Vere are youf taking me?” The words came out garbled, due to the cloth shoved into his mouth. A simple jab in his back with something sharp was all he got as a reply, urging him forward, despite the muffled protests. It carried on like this for several more minutes, with curses muttered from the captors and Cornelius himself. Then it was cut short by an abrupt stop, and the bound man being pushed to the floor.

“Bring him to his feet, and remove the candy bag from his head.” A voice commanded, hearty in sound and powerful in tone. At once, the bag was pulled from Cornelius’ head, and pushed upright. Closing his eyes against the white light that surrounded him, he tried to cover them with his hands, only to find that they were bound tightly to his sides.

Slowly but surely, his eyes adapted, and picked out the figure that had spoken. It momentarily had its back to him, but just from seeing its rear, Drudgson could tell it was a giant of a man. Coated in red with hints of white, the figure must’ve been at least 8 feet tall, and 3 feet wide. A real colossal. And then, it turned around.

~

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming. As you all probably already know, at 3:00am standard time, one of our leading nuclear physicists, Dr. Cornelius Drudgson, who had been working on how to stabilise and multiply the effects of atomic atoms on living tissue, was abducted from his home,” a man in white spoke, his words harsh and loud to the occupants of the room.

Clicking a button on the remote in his hand, he directed their attention to one wall where a picture had appear. A rather bulky mass of green and red color, shaped like a comet, was seen sitting square in the middle.

“This item was caught on satellite, leaving the doctors house. As you can see from the picture, it was moving at a terminal velocity of 350 miles per second, slightly faster than sound. If we clear the image up a bit, we get this.” Clicking the button on his remote again, the comet came into focus, appearing as a bird’s eye view of what appeared to be a sleigh. The eyes of the room were mainly drawn to what was pulling it. Several brown spots, aligned in two rows, were ahead of the brightly colored sleigh.

“Is this some sort of joke?” One of the people shouted out, obviously annoyed that his time was being wasted on what appeared to be a hoax.

“I’m afraid this is no joke. At some time this morning…Cornelius was apparently kidnapped by whoever was in this sleigh. At the moment, the image of our hostage taker is still blurred, but it should come into focus relatively soon.” Outbursts began from all around the room, some finding this idea of kidnap ludicrous, and others berating the speaker. One, however, did no such thing. Instead, he calmly stepped to one side of the room, took out a phone, and hit several numbers rather fluidly, and put the device to his ear.

“Yes?”

“It’s me.”

“I guessed, you’re the only one who has the number. What is it?”

“It is as we feared. Claus has gone AWOL. It is time we stepped in.”

OOC: A mediocre first post, but enough to get the ball rolling. Enjoy.

Erwin sat in the snow.

It was very dark. He sat in front of a fire, two other men stood behind him, and a half dozen figures were wandering around the camp.

The camp was situated in a ruined village. This village was somewhere in eastern France, right near the franco-german border. The smell of corpses sickened Günche, and while other men ate, he sat.

One of the men, dressed in full military uniform came up behind Erwin.

"Mr. Günche, sir, please try to eat, we have another battle tommorow," he said

Erwin was still dazed off, a side affect of his Schizoid personality disorder. He spoke softly. "Soldier, please don't advise me, I'm fully capable of handling myself"

The soldier gave a slow nod and walked away.

A few hours passed, and all the soldiers had eventually found their way to their tents. The only person still awake was Erwin, who stared into the dying embers of the fire, the same way he had been for the last several hours.

Erwin felt a warm sensation on the back of his neck. Then he felt gloves fingers slip around his neck. They clenched his throat, and lifted him. Erwin's body was shoved into a sack. The young Gruppenführer landed on a pile of boxes. The whole time, Erwin stared directly forward and remained as limp as possible.

His body was jostled around a bit, and the familiar feeling of being in a moving object came over Erwin. For the next five hours, Erwin lay on a pile of presents, completely still.

When the ride was over, Erwin was dumped out of the bag into a cell, where he assumed a criss-cross seat on the floor. A gigantic red and white figure moved around on the other side of the cell, managing the presents

OOC: sooo, Erwin's been kidnapped too, wheeee

Nothing’s going on…

Rain yawned as he dangled his legs over the side of the rooftop. Looking down, he saw the people--like ants--bustling around on the glistening city streets, made shiny by the snow that was brushed to either side of the road. It was Christmas time, yes, a busy time for everyone--except…this guy…this one guy, who sat atop a skyscraper, dangling his legs over the side and yawning. He had seen Christmas come and go hundreds of times over.

Oh well. Might as well come down now.

So there were two ways down. The first one was the fastest and most fun. The second was much slower and involved standing in an elevator going down thirty-odd floors.

…I’ll take the elevator.

It was crowded in there. The guy who opened his newspaper to read didn’t make it any easier. He literally scowled at anyone who told him to wait till he got off…Such an impatient fellow. The music playing in the elevator was the same old tune looping over and over and over, no wonder that old guy leaning in the corner fell asleep.

The bell that Rain noticed when it had rung was when the elevator reached the ground floor. It was a magnificent skyscraper, commercial of course. Always clean and shiny, using sleek, neat technology, like those flat panel television screens that hung over the receptionist’s desk.

“Breaking News!” one of the panels said, with white writing and a red background, guaranteed to catch someone’s eye. The reporter came on, fixing up his small pile of papers and looking directly into the camera.

“Early this morning, one of the world’s leading nuclear physicists, a Dr. Cornelius Drudgson was kidnapped. Details of his abduction is sketchy and authorities are continuing to investigate…”

A nuclear physicist, huh? What would anyone want with a guy like that this time arou- His mind snapped as he heard a bus stop just outside. Pouring out of this bus were people of different races and nationalities, speaking languages not native to this country.

Someone’s planning a terrorist attack…? Even if I don’t know what this is all about, this is something too big to ignore. I guess I’ll find some answers at his residence…

Rain looked around, searching for something that could be found almost anywhere in a city: a phonebook.

There we are… he picked up the enormous book from the receptionist’s desk easily with one hand and began flipping through the pages.

***The Drudgson Residence***

The house was huge. That was the first thing that he noticed; these physicist guys must be rolling in the dough. It was large, yes, but it was swarming with the guys in black--most likely the C.I.A. or some other organization. Slipping through their lines would be a challenge in itself…for a normal individual.

Rain leaned against the side of a wall, eavesdropping on the two agents within his range.

“So what’s the latest?”

“I don’t know, man. I know this guy’s been kidnapped… but man, I cannot believe the guys in HQ. This must be some kind of sick joke or something.”

“What’s up?”

“Hm. Intel says that the doctor was kidnapped by something moving past three-hundred miles per second, not only that, they got a satellite image of the thing.”

The man opened a folder and presented the other person with a few photos--pictures of what, Rain couldn’t tell.

“What the hell…?”

“Yeah, it’s sick, isn’t it? HQ’s telling me that those brown things followed by that red thing is-”

“-Santa…Claus…?”

“Yeah. There are some head cases back at HQ, I tell y-”

“HOLY ****, SANTA CLAUS IS REAL?!”

It was hard to believe. Santa Claus being real? No, Rain had always known that he was. Santa Claus kidnapping someone? That was the unbelievable part. He moved out of the vicinity, walking towards the nearest train station--of course, he wasn’t going to run all the way to the North Pole. Rain was going to meet Kris Kringle face to face and ask him what’s going on, so there’s no other train to take but the polar express.

Kyralie frowned down at the snow-covered buildings and huddled closer under her wings, her knuckles white as they gripped her crystal scythe. Below her was a world she rarely visited, not because of the strange technology that replaced magic but because there was just no cause for a Valkyrie to walk in these times.

In a world where you could kill someone with a gun or even destroy a whole city with a bomb you could not find a true heroic soul. People were killed for the pettiest of reasons and only aided others when it would benefit them.

No, in these modern times there were no real heroes. A place with no heroes was a waste of time for a Valkyrie and yet… Kyralie found herself brought here by whatever powers it was that summoned her to become Death’s servant as well as a request from her father.

Ignoring the cry of lost souls in the concrete jungle below her, Kyralie spread her wings and leaped into the overcast sky followed by a flurry of ravens that called to her with the names of the dead.

“Don’t tell me their names; I want nothing to do with anyone here-” she muttered to the black shadows following her, only to be cut off as something fast passed before her in a red and brown blur, tossing her in its wake and scattering the ravens. Spinning on the air and flapping her wings to control her flight, she dropped a few meters and shook her head, the auburn waves glinting in what little light there was.

“That was him!” She burst out; gritting her teeth at the indignity she had just received. Cursing under her breath at what had brought her here, she took a brief glance at the sky to mark her position and where the vehicle had been headed.

“How father could have known he would pass by here…” shaking her head she dropped down to a deserted alley way. She would need to follow that sleigh no doubt. Her father had only told her to fly at that certain spot at that certain time to witness something interesting. Now the chaos blood flowing within her was stirring with curiosity at what kind of havoc could be caused – no doubt a response her father was counting on.

Sighing at what she knew would probably be a pointless endeavor, Kyralie changed into a spare change of clothes consisting of a white button down shirt, hip hugging black jeans and a woven jacket that fell to her knees in creamy folds. On her head was a soft woolen cap, also cream colored to hide her dual shaded eyes.

All she needed now was to find out where exactly that sleigh had been heading and to do that… walking from the alley way, Kyralie looked around until she spotted a possible informant.

“Excuse me…” Kyralie began, sitting down beside her prey.

The young boy looked at her with bright, innocent blue eyes and smiled around the smeared chocolate on his face, “Hi, lady! You have funny eyes!”

Giving a wince of a smile, Kyralie asked, “You like Christmas don’t you?”

An enthusiastic, “Yeah, Christmas is awesome! I’ve been trying really, really hard to be a good boy this year so I’ll get lots of presents from Santa Claus!” was the response.

“Ah… then would you happen to know where Santa Claus lives?” Kyralie asked.

The child rolled his eyes at the ignorant adult before him, “Everyone knows where Santa lives. He lives in the North Pole. If you needed to send him a letter there’s a mail box in the middle of the Square that’s only for Santa Letters.”

“Oh no, I don’t need to send him a letter. Thank you for your help and I hope you do get lots of presents from Santa,” giving him a quick smile Kyralie got to her feet and walked off.

North Pole… from what she could recall that was too far for her to fly which meant she’d have to use whatever transport was available to get her to the general vicinity…

Kyralie checked her pockets to ensure that the fake documents her father had sent were still on her before she made her way to the train station. From there she’d go to an airport and see what kind of plane she would need to sneak aboard.

This whole adventure is going to make my karma go haywire… she thought miserably to herself.

OoC: I suppose I'll respond now. ^_^

BiC: The music playing in the room would be the first thing that any person would hear should they entered. Loud, echoing christmas music filled the air with a strong feeling of happiness and joy. The music was played better then most symphonic bands and orchestras a person would hear, and was from a most strange and unique source. As a person went deeper into this room, they would know from whence it came.

Standing at a stand with a conductors baton stood a green haired man wearing a green mask that hid his face except for his eyes and a small hole for his mouth, where a smile was visible. His band was even stranger, consisting of a large group of small monkeys with miniature, working instruments. Hand carved by the conductor himself and tested to make sure they work, the green haired man kept his monkey band playing christmas music. After all, it had only taken three weeks of working with them for the monkey band to master these pieces, and the monkeys seemed to enjoy playing their instruments and music all together, which made the fencer happy.

In the room itself, snow had thickly covered the pine trees and actually fell from a few of the trees. The room was cool, but not too cold that the monkeys couldn't handle it. Even so, the whole room of the green haired man had a feeling of Christmas about it, mostly including the massive Christmas tree he had in the center of where he and the monkeys were playing beautiful music. Everything was as it should be.

Zorlo had promised Selene that he would come home for Christmas, and he would. It was only just Christmas now, and the fencer wanted to spend some time with the resident monkeys in his room. After all, they helped him out a lot, so why not have a party with them?

As the last song finished, a small monkey walked up to the fencer. A familiar, yet hard to spot monkey in the snow handed Zorlo, oddly enough, a radio. "Thanks, Armond," the green haired man said as he handed the albino monkey his baton and the leader of the monkeys took up conducting. With equal skill to the fencer, the monkey played the music at the right tempo and speed.

The machine buzzed and beeped, mostly because it was clearly outdated technology, and began transmitting a message:

Someone has captured a well known nuclear physicist and taken him away. Aside from that, we have a report saying a sled moving three hundred miles-per-hour has been spotted with someone that looks like Santa Claus in it. Repeat...

At that point, the Aura Master turned off the radio. "Santa? He wouldn't do anything evil, would he?" the fencer asked himself as he grabbed his jacket and swords. He had a problem to go inspect.

Tera had travelled through the void to a planet similar, yet different from her own; it was similar in that it had all the same flora and fauna, yet different in that there were structures which towered high above the people below.

From what she gathered, Tera had landed in a big city in the country of Australia, which was on a planet known as Earth, just before what people kept referring to as "the holiday season". How an entire season could be filled with holidays she was unsure of, but as she approached the first people she saw actually wearing some decorations of this "season" - a group of children - she was set on finding out.

"Excuse me, but what is all this stuff I keep hearing about a 'holiday season'?" Tera asked.

"You're got funny clothes miss," one of the little boys said, pointing at her and laughing.

"Uh huh... now can you please answer my question?"

"It's Christmas of course! Don't you know about Christmas?!" was a different one of the children's replies; presumably of the leader.

"Umm... no actually, I don't."

The children looked at eachother, then the leader seemed to sigh and say, "Christmas is a holiday at the end of the year when Santa Claus goes to the house of every boy and girl in the world to deliver presents."

"Santa doesn't exist!" yelled a girl at the back of the group, "just like the tooth fairy and the easter bunny!"

"They do so exist; I've seen them," another girl retorted, "and Santa visits the shopping centre down the street every December so we can tell him what we want to get for Christmas."

"That's not Santa; that's just Mr. Thompson in a big red suit."

"Liar! It is so Santa!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Not!"

"Too!"

"Hold it you two. How about I find out whether or not it really is Santa by going to him myself?" Tera said, interupting the two children.

"But he's not at the supermarket right now; he'd be in his home at the north pole right now," the believer said.

"Then that's where I'll go," Tera said simply. "Now which way is north?"

And as soon as the children pointed her in the right direction, Tera used her portals repeatedly to travel from her location to the northern horizon, and after it got hotter and then colder again, Tera knew that she could not be far away from the top of the world.