Training as a Slime(78)

The Santas roared with laughter except for Earth/Eo Santa whose solemn expression sparked a concern amongst his friends.

"Could he be down with a bug," the muscular Santa signalled with his eyes to the other Santa.

"Doesn't seem to be the case, is it contagious?" the Planet Ante's Santa signalled back.

Earth/Eo Santa: "Er hem, I'm still here and I can read what you two are thinking."

"So what were we thinking?" Planet Ante Santa asked.Earth/ Eo Santa signalled back with his brows and rolled his eyes, "Please. I invented it." The 2 Santas roared with laughter at how serious Earth/ Eo Santa was.

"So what's on your mind? Or do you just miss Mrs Claus?" Planet Ante Santa asked.

"Noelle has appeared," Earth/ Eo Santa said with a deadly serious expression.

"Noelle? Who's that?" Muscular Santa asked leaning closer to him.

"Remember the great war of Eo mentioned in the report?" Earth/ Eo Santa said.

The 2 Santas nodded.

"Noelle was one of the 7 archons. Amongst the 7, he was the only one who remained indifferent to both parties. Although he had disappeared, his legacy was inherited by someone summoned from Earth," Earth/Eo Santa explained.

"So? I don't see any issue. People transmigrate all the time!" Planet Ante Santa said.

"But the transmigrator inherited the primordial power of the mother tree," Earth/Eo Santa explained further, "and depending on him, we might have a friend or a foe. The troublesome thing is... he's also from Earth, so I'm obliged to be his guardian."

Planet Ante Santa: "Ah... that's why you haven't submitted this year's report and the big boss had to scrape by with the current facts instead."

"Waitress! 3 quarts of beer for us!" Muscular Santa shouted. Earth/Eo Santa: "At work?" The nimble waitress shouted their order in her hoarse voice and returned with their pints of beer. Using her sweet, charming voice, "Santa Samas, 3 quarts of beers. Enjoy¬."

"Trust me bro, you need it," said the muscular Santa patting him on his shoulder with Planet Ante's Santa nodding in agreement.

"So what's the mission of this new guy?" Planet Ante Santa asked.

The Santa sighed, "I don't know. It's all private and confidential. I can't get anything out of Truck-Kun either."

"Maybe I can help," said a Santa sitting behind their booth. The Santa in shades turned around and passed them his name card which read "Santa Claus - VVIP information provider."

Earth/Eo Santa held the card in his hand wondering what to do with it. "Erm, just stick it on any item to call me. You can put it behind your ear, but I wouldn't recommend it. Works best on objects," the Santa in shades said.

"Sorry, who are you?" the muscular elderly Santa asked, cracking his knuckles.

"Eh, I'm Santa just like you guys. I'm from Planet X," the Santa answered. "If you want any information, I have them at a price. Of course, you can sell me the information in exchange. Since you guys gave me something good today, let me give you some free info. You know the Santa from Nibiru... He was in a similar situation as you, and it turns out the creator of the planet was a devourer- repeating the cycle of creation, destruction, and consumption. You can never be too safe nowadays."

The 3 Santa looked at him in horror. 

"Go speak to the Nibiru guy," the shady Santa said as he discreetly exited.

 "I'm so sorry pal," the muscular Santa pat Eo/Earth Santa on the shoulder.

"Just a scaremongering tactic, don't believe everything he says," Planet Ante Santa said and took a big gulp of his beer.

"Doesn't hurt to be safe. Besides he's a Santa, so he must have some credibility to his words," Earth/Eo Santa answered, slightly comforted that there was finally some headway and traction. "Where's that Nibiru guy though?" he asked.

"At the black hole where Nibiru used to orbit," said the card.

The muscular Santa jerked at the sudden sound, "Whoa! What was that?"

"Better keep that thing away," suggested Planet Ante Santa.

Earth/Eo Santa stored it in his inventory, "Calling card... more like spyware. Ha!"

"Forget about him, let's cheers! It's been a while since we saw each other!" Planet Ante Santa said.

"HoHoHo!" they cheered and bottomed up.

 A lonely sad Santa sat in his carriage with his reindeer looking at the distant black hole swallowing the debris of the beautiful planet he once inhabited. Despite his best efforts, he could not stop the inevitable. Due to the international galaxy alliance, his ability to save the inhabitants was severely limited. He could only gift them the technology to save themselves, perhaps it was fate. But the guilt of leaving Mrs Claus and the elves behind on the planet could never be erased. "Sorry my love, I couldn't save you in the end," Santa cried as images of a spacesuit got pulled into the black hole reaching out to him flashed in his memories.

The Santa stood up and attempted to climb out of his carriage.

A vintage space car who was silently observing him immediately pulled up beside the chariot, blocking Santa Nibiru's path.

"Buddy!" the trio shouted in unison attempting to calm Santa Nibiru.

The Santa was taken aback and tripped over his foot, falling off his vehicle. His reindeer who had been with him through thick and thin, rushed to rescue the clumsy Santa.

"Quick! Throw the rope!" Shouted the muscular Santa. Planet Ante Santa lassoed a rope and managed to secure the chariot.

The red-nosed reindeer bit onto Santa's collar and tossed him back onto the chariot.

"Pull!" Shouted the Santa from Eo/ Earth. Planet Ante Santa activated the engine and started to reel in the rope. Fighting against the gravitational pull of the hole, they drove their vehicle away from it at high speed.

"Come on! Work!" Shouted planet Ante Santa slamming the accelerator and changing to a higher gear.

"Hyperspeed! Change to hyperspeed!" Shouted Eo/Earth Santa. "That would damage the engine with all the load! It will be a gamble!" Shouted the muscular Santa.

Faced with two tough options, Planet Ante Santa unhesitantly switched to hyperspeed and successfully saved everyone except the car.