Only 2h 25m left until young blockheads around the OverWorld wake up. Santa's sack of presents was still full. So far, he had only managed to deliver presents to three houses. With time dwindling fast, Santa needed to hurry if Christmas was going to be saved.
With the new modification to his sleigh, he no longer needed magic to fly it. Thanks to Ceres. What a heartfelt, generous wizard huh? Don't worry, Santa has something special in store for him and the Kingdom at which he lives.
As Santa's sleigh flew through the air, they were now approaching the location where Phineas had been taken to...the Dark Elves' cave. Saving Phineas shouldn't be that hard, right?
The spruce trees stood tall. All of the trees had fresh snow on them. A recent snowfall had occurred not too long ago. Santa saw the cave come into his sights. He pointed.
"There it is!" Santa said, "stay quiet. We're going to land over here."
"Santa, I'm scared," Aurora said.
"Don't worry my dear," Santa said, "everything will be okay."
The sleigh then descended towards the ground quickly. Santa made sure to land in a spot where there were enough trees to somewhat hide his sleigh and the presents. It wasn't the magic the Dark Elves were planning to steal.
Right before the sleigh was due to touch down on the ground, Santa pulled the ropes back, leveling the sleigh so it wouldn't get damaged again like the first time. The landing turned out to be much smoother this time around.
Once the sleigh came to a complete stop, Santa got off. Thomas and Aurora jumped off of the sleigh and onto the ground. Moon and Sunshine thought it'd be best to stay behind and watch over the sleigh.
"Be nice to one another, you hear?" Santa said, "or no candy canes when we get back to the North Pole."
"Yes Santa," Moon said.
"Be quiet and stay in the sleigh," Santa said, "we'll be back soon."
And off Santa, Thomas, Aurora, and Lars went. They left Moon and Sunshine behind to keep an eye on the sleigh while they were away. They shouldn't be too long. The cave was only about twenty blocks away from the sleigh. A little too close for comfort perhaps?
As they were walking, a bright light began falling from the sky. What was it? A falling star? No one knew. The bright light floated all the way down to the ground and stopped directly in front of Santa, Thomas, Aurora and Lars. It then dimmed, revealing an angelic female blockhead.
She had a golden halo floating over her head, was wearing a white dress, but strangely no shoes. She was breathtakingly beautiful.
"Santa!" The woman whispered in an intimidating tone, "did you all really think you'd just walk into that cave and demand they return your friend?" The woman questioned.
Santa, Thomas, Aurora, and Lars all looked at eachother. Santa then looked back at the woman and shrugged his shoulders.
"Do you see how fat I am?" Santa asked, "I can't fight. I wasn't made to fight. Only to eat cookies and drink milk...and on occasion Misses Claus' delicious cinnamon eggnog."
"What was your plan anyways?" The woman asked, "all of us Goddesses were watching you from above. We tried not to intervene, but guess what happened? We're intervening now!"
Lars took a few steps forward. He tilted his head back as he looked up at the tall lady.
"Excuse me ma'am, but who even are you?" Lars questioned.
She looked down at Lars. "My apologies. My name is Petra."
"Petra huh?" Lars questioned.
"Yup. That is my name," Petra responded, "anyways I've come here to help you all save Christmas."
"Our original plan was to bargain for Phineas' safe return to us," Santa said, "but by the tone of your voice, it sounds like a bad idea."
"It is," Petra said, "you want to know why?"
"Tell us," Santa responded.
"I have one name for you...EnderBrine!" Petra said, "he's the most evil blockhead to ever exist. He's very powerful and very dangerous!"
"I know who he is. He's been on the naughty list for some hundreds of years now," Santa responded.
"Then you know how dangerous he is?" Petra asked.
"I do," Santa responded, "but when he sees me, he'll try and be good. If I know one thing's for certain, he does hate getting coal every year in his stocking."
"Anyways, I can't stay long," Petra said as she reached into her inventory to grab out a small glass bottle. It was filled with a purple elixir. She gave it to Santa. He took the bottle and examined its contents.
"This elixir will transform Lars into a Dark Elf temporarily. The elixir only works on elves….sorry Santa," Petra said as she walked up to Santa and gave him a big hug.
After she finished hugging him she backed away from him. She smiled at him. "What are you all waiting for? Go save Christmas!" Petra said as she suddenly vanished into thin air.
Lars looked up at Santa, Thomas and Aurora. He was suddenly anxious to drink the elixir in the bottle. He held his hands out. Santa leaned over and hesitantly gave the bottle to Lars. Curious to see if it actually worked, he helped Lars by taking the cork out of the bottle for him.
"Thank you Santa," Lars said kindly as he held the bottle in his tiny hands. Thomas and Aurora got down onto their knees, staring at the bottle and Lars.
Lars tilted his head back and took a tiny sip of the purple elixir. After he took that small sip, he dropped the bottle onto the ground. He began shaking as his appearance began to turn. His clothing turned into a black shirt and gray pants, with a black pointy hat. His skin turned grey and his nose turned pointy. Lars' eyes were closed. But when he opened them, he looked at Thomas, Aurora, and Santa. He held his arms out straight.
"Well?" Lars said, "did it work? Do I look hideous?"
Everyone stared silently at him. They were all at a loss for words. How should they answer him?
"Hideously ugly," Santa answered.
Lars examined his arms, legs and tummy. His entire appearance had changed suddenly. He was now one of them...but temporarily of course. The effects would wear off soon.
"I don't feel any different," Lars responded.
"Well...you are," Thomas said as clapping sounds were heard close by. Santa, Lars, Thomas and Aurora all gazed around at their surroundings. Strangely enough, nothing was seen. No pigs. No sheep. No foxes. Just trees and snow.
"Bravo Santa, bravo!" A demonic, deep sounding voice said as Santa looked up into the air. Descending towards the ground was EnderBrine. He was clapping his hands together slowly.
"EnderBrine," Santa said, "so we meet again. How's being evil been for you?"
"I enjoy every minute of it," EnderBrine said, "I was born to be evil."
"By the looks of it, you're still on my naughty list EnderBrine," Santa mentioned to him. Thomas and Aurora were hiding behind Santa, peeking around him to look at EnderBrine. Lars stood on the ground on Santa's left.
EnderBrine noticed Lars' temporary change of appearance. He nodded his head slowly, praising Santa for Lars' believable appearance. EnderBrine faintly smiled.
"Kudos to you Santa," EnderBrine said, "you managed to disguise your elf well. Almost too well actually."
"We had a little help from someone," Santa stated.
"Wait a second! Let me guess before you tell me," EnderBrine said as he began tapping his chin with his hand. He was thinking of possible blockheads that could've helped Santa. "Was it Victoria? Ceres? Or King Daniel perhaps?"
"All of those are wrong," Santa responded, "what is it you want? Why are you helping the Dark Elves?"
EnderBrine lowered his arm away from his face. He took a few steps forward towards Santa, Thomas, Aurora and Lars. Santa was a brave and jolly blockhead. He wasn't scared of EnderBrine once so ever.
"I'm always the one that always gets coal for Christmas," EnderBrine began explaining, "I chose to help the Dark Elves because if I can't have presents, then nobody else can either. It's not fair! For once, I just want to open one present that doesn't have coal inside of it. I know I've been a bad blockhead in the past—."
Santa interrupted him. "You still are," Santa said.
EnderBrine frowned and put his head down. He was very angry with Santa. He has really been trying to change. The only thing he wants is to fit in with other blockheads. Now was that too much to ask for?
"All I'm trying to say is that I'm working on becoming a good blockhead. The transition isn't easy though. You have to understand Santa. Please don't give me coal again."
Santa sighed heavily. Should he give EnderBrine a real present this year? Or should he receive coal once more? To receive a real present this year, EnderBrine had to do something in return for Santa.
After thinking mentally to himself, Santa decided to bargain with the evil demigod.
"Okay EnderBrine," Santa said, "here's the deal. If you give our friend Phineas back to us, I'll consider leaving a present behind just for you. Do we have a deal?"
EnderBrine rapidly nodded his head. He clapped his hands together once, spawning the cage Phineas is being held in. EnderBrine leaned over to unlock the cage door. Once the door was open, Phineas stepped out of the cage.
Immediately after being set free, Phineas ran over to Santa. He hugged Santa's leg tightly. He was super happy to see him. Being captured by EnderBrine and the Dark Elves was a really scary experience for him. Luckily Santa received his urgent message.
Somehow though, Phineas knew Santa would come to the rescue. He and Santa were very close friends. Santa couldn't just leave his best friend behind. How selfish that would be. One thing is for certain though, Santa wasn't the selfish type of blockhead. In fact, he was very friendly and honest.
"I'm so glad to see you Santa," Phineas said as he stopped hugging Santa's leg. He backed away from him. "I knew you got the message. I just knew it!"
Santa looked down at Phineas and smiled. "I wasn't going to leave you behind...you know that. A friend never leaves a friend behind."
"Thank you Santa," Phineas said.
"You're quite welcome Phineas," Santa responded as Santa redirected his attention back towards EnderBrine.
"Can I get a real present now? I gave Phineas back to you?" EnderBrine questioned. He was anxious to hear what Santa would say back to him. Santa was thinking very hard. All he really needed to do was say yes or no. He then finally made up his mind.
"I suppose," Santa answered, "but under one condition though."
"What's that?" EnderBrine asked.
All EnderBrine wanted was to feel at home. He desperately wanted to fit in with other blockheads. Is there a chance he's beginning to turn away from being bad? Maybe he wasn't born to be evil forever after all, huh?
Being the only bad blockhead to receive coal every year for Christmas, that angered him. Why should everyone else get presents, but not him? Is that really unfair though? After all, EnderBrine did almost succeed with Mineaggedon a short while ago.
Is there a possibility he may never go back to being bad? Can he live without being bad just for a moment? Or will he slip and go back to his devilish ways?
"As long as you 're good and behave yourself until next Christmas, I'll return your name back over to the good list. Can you do that EnderBrine?" Santa questioned.
Santa faintly smiled. EnderBrine nodded his head. His overall mood quickly turned. He was excited about finally getting to open a real present for a change.
"Can I open mine now Santa?" EnderBrine questioned.
"I'm afraid you'll just have to wait. Just like all of the other young blockheads. Come morning, your present will be waiting for you," Santa said as he pulled his black leather glove off of his right hand. He looked down at the band on his wrist. It was glowing red.
There was now only 2h and 09m left before sunrise. Was that going to be enough time to deliver presents to everyone? Santa surly couldn't do all of it alone. He obviously needed help saving Christmas.
Although time is running short, there's still a small window. If Santa flew the sleigh fast enough, he could still deliver presents before sunrise. But he wanted to meet that deadline, he needed to leave immediately. No more time can be wasted.
"Thomas, Aurora, Lars and Phineas," Santa said, "head back to the sleigh. Tell Moon and Sunshine to prepare for a hectic ride."
"Okay Santa," Aurora said as she began walking away from Santa and Phineas. Aurora led the way as Thomas and Lars followed close behind her.
"I'll be right behind you," Santa said as he looked at EnderBrine one last time.
"You know EnderBrine," Santa began saying, "if you weren't so bad in the past, you could've had presents."
"I'm starting to realize that," EnderBrine mentioned. "From here on out, I'll be nothing but good for you Santa."
Santa smiled and nodded his head. "I can see the goodness inside of you EnderBrine. All you have to do is release it. Don't try and be good for me. Do it for yourself. I believe in you."
"Thank you Santa," EnderBrine said, "for giving me another chance. I won't let you down."
"I'll be watching you very closely EnderBrine," Santa said, "all you have to do is put your bad habits behind you. Think positively."
"I will," EnderBrine said.
"Good," Santa responded, "Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas to you as well," EnderBrine responded.
Santa then began making his way back towards his sleigh. Lars, Moon, Sunshine, Thomas and Aurora were all sitting down on the sleigh. They were waiting for Santa.
"Everyone," Santa said as he hoisted himself up onto the sleigh. He sat down and grabbed the ropes. He whipped the ropes, making the reindeer begin running.
"On Dasher, on Prancer, and Vixen too," Santa said, "on Comet, on Cupid, and Donner and Blitzen."
Everyone was holding onto something. Once the sleigh picked up enough speed, Santa pulled the ropes back towards his belly. When he did that, the reindeer began lifting off from the ground and into the air.
"Now off we go. Let's go save Christmas," Santa said as he whipped the ropes once more.