Lending A Hand

We all know who Ceres is right? He helped save the OverWorld from the evil Brine family awhile back. Then he was kept under strict mind-control by the evil Scarlet. Man, he's sure been through quite a lot hasn't he?

As Santa's sleigh was going down earlier in the night thanks to the Dark Elves, the King of the Kingdom of the Plains had ordered a few guardsmen to go and investigate. But it wasn't the adult guardsmen, no. Instead, it was guardsmen in training. Young blockheads who wanted a future in protecting their beloved kingdom. It sure took them long enough to arrive, but their timing couldn't have been any better right?

As for Santa, time was running out. The countdown was still ongoing. As of this moment, only seven hours remained before morning. If Christmas was going to be saved, Santa would be cutting it very close in delivering presents to every young blockhead around the OverWorld in time. Could he pull something to that extent off by himself? Would he be fast enough? Would the Dark Elves try and stop him from accomplishing his difficult task? Let's find out.

"In the flesh," Ceres said as he bowed before Santa.

Lars, Moon, and Sunshine came walking back outside. They walked over to Santa and stood close to him, not daring to venture far away from him. Why were they all being so shy all of a sudden? What good balls they were.

"Who's the magical, old man Santa? He looks old...just like you?" Lars asked as he looked up at Santa. Santa, in return, glanced down at Lars.

Ceres frowned suddenly.

"What? I am not old," Ceres stated, "I'm only 103 years old."

Ceres then looked up at Santa. He seemed to be offended by Lars' comment. Sure, he was 103 years old. To him, that was considered young. Lars was greatly mistaken. In a way, Ceres had to understand why Lars had said that. He didn't know Ceres up until now. Elves don't get out very much.

"I didn't know your puppet could talk?" Ceres asked, followed by him laughing. He wiped a tear away as he did laugh.

"Now, now Lars. Be nice to Ceres," Santa said, "he's our friend."

Lars frowned. He didn't mean to be mean to Ceres. In his defense, Ceres did look like an old blockhead. He had a bushy grey beard, and grey hair afterall. Lars looked over at Ceres.

"I'm sorry Ceres," Lars apologized, "I didn't mean that in a mean way."

Ceres smiled. He appreciated the apology. Of course Ceres knew that Lars didn't mean that in a rude way.

"And I'm sorry for calling you a talking puppet," Ceres responded, "you're just tinier than I pictured you to be."

"How tiny did you think I actually was?" Lars questioned.

"For your sake, I'll just keep it tiny. Don't want to offend you now...midget!" Ceres responded as he threw back another, kind of mean, insult.

In fact, all Elves, including the Dark Elves, were very short. Their entire height only went up to about Santa's knees for example.

"Enough you two!" Santa said. He was becoming angry at both Lars and Ceres. If Ceres wanted any presents, he would have to be nice. Right now he wasn't being so nice. "Unless you want coal for Christmas, I suggest you two knock it off! Both of you will be nice to each other. Starting now!"

Moon and Sunshine were hiding behind Santa. They were being very shy. They couldn't help but laugh and make goofy faces at Lars for how he was behaving. After all, he did kind of deserve to get made fun of didn't he?

"Pardon my elves," Santa said, "they have a tendency to get out of hand sometimes."

"It's quite alright," Ceres responded, "no matter. If you don't mind me asking Santa, what were those things we chased away?"

Santa sighed heavily. He, for one, knew exactly who those creatures were. To bring Ceres up to speed on what was happening, Santa needed to tell him about the Dark Elves.

"We call them the Dark Elves," Santa began to say, "evil, vicious and vile elves. They're known to cause trouble every year around this time. Always trying to stop Christmas from happening. Spreading joy around the OverWorld doesn't seem to be on their agenda."

"Then what is?" Ceres asked.

"For as long as I can remember, they've attempted to steal the magic of Christmas. But every time they'd fail dramatically...until this year. I don't know how they managed to succeed this year, but they did," Santa explained.

"What did they do?" Ceres asked.

Lars, Moon and Sunshine became scared as Santa retold the story of how his sleigh had crashed. The Dark Elves were really scary and frightening. All three of them crawled up Santa's leg and back into the inside of his coat. They felt safer inside of Santa's coat.

"They stole the magic that makes my sleigh fly. Without it, I'm afraid I'm grounded until I can restore the magic to my sleigh," Santa mentioned.

"I thought it was the reindeer that made your sleigh fly?" Ceres questioned.

He didn't know that magic was needed to fly the sleigh. From stories Ceres has read in the past, he was under the impression the reindeer were behind Santa's flying sleigh. Guess he was wrong about that.

"Let me guess. You've read the stories haven't you?" Santa questioned.

Ceres nodded.

"The stories are all wrong. It's the magic, not the reindeer," Santa said. "We crashed nearby. My sleigh was badly damaged once we hit the ground."

"How damaged is it? Can it be fixed?" Ceres asked.

"It can, yes," Santa answered. "I can't fix it alone. I'm going to need help."

"I can help you. If you show me the way to where you guys crashed," Ceres said, "magic should do the trick."

Thomas and Aurora were standing over by their parents. They were still speechless; at a loss for words. Seeing Santa in person and right in front of them was definitely an unforgettable experience. Never before have they seen Santa in person. This was a dream come true for them.

"Does that mean Christmas is saved, Santa?" Thomas asked.

Santa turned around to look at Thomas and Aurora. Ceres too looked over at them. By the look on Santa's face, it didn't look good at all.

"Not quite yet Thomas," Santa said, "but don't worry. The Dark Elves won't succeed. Not on my watch. As long as I'm around, there will be a Christmas. Speaking of which, and if it's okay with your parents, I'd like to bring you two along to help me. My Elves and I could use some help."

At the same exact time, Thomas and Aurora looked up at Juliana and Quintin. They began begging them both to say yes. They were a little hesitant at first, but eventually gave in.

"Alright fine. But just this once," Juliana said.

"Yes mama," Thomas and Aurora said in unison as they ran back inside to get their winter jackets and boots on. After they had done that, they ran back outside. Thomas and Aurora ran right past Juliana and Quintin and over to Santa.

Santa looked over at Ceres. Ceres walked back over to his brown and white horse. He hoped back onto the horse.

"Lead the way," Ceres said.

Santa began walking away, with Ceres and everyone else following close behind him. And just like that, they left Thomas and Aurora's home. Juliana and Quintin went back inside, shutting the oakwood door behind them.

As our brave group of friends began making their way back to the crash site, our not-so-friendly elves were up to no good. Scooter, James, Phineas and EnderBrine were all traveling back to their home. Earl was flying their sleigh. Their home was inside a dark, spooky cave.

Phineas was locked up inside a cage that EnderBrine had made from iron. The entrance to their cave was finally in sight. If one thing is for sure, Phineas was definitely in for a surprise. Living within the cave were dozens more anxious for action Dark Elves.

EnderBrine, Scooter, James and Phineas all walked up to the entrance of the cave. They stopped walking for a moment. Without trying to make noise, Phineas held the golden bracelet he was wearing up closer to his mouth. What was he trying to do?

"Santa," Phineas whispered quietly, "come quick. I need your help. I was captured by the Dark Elves and their leader who calls himself EnderBrine. I don't know what they're going to do with me. Please Santa….you're my only hope.