Chapter 80: Barely Successful Infiltration
The group made their way down a long, winding corridor, the wooden walls lined end-to-end with rows of framed photographs.
Ben skidded to a halt in front of a faded black-and-white picture. He leaned in, squinting at the image of a scrawny older man standing beside a very familiar-looking child.
"Elsgood, is this you?" Ben asked, tapping a finger against the glass.
Elsgood peered at the frame and nodded brightly. "Yes, indeed!"
"Then who is this guy?" Ben shifted his finger to the older man.
"Oh, that is Mr. Jingles," Elsgood explained with a fond smile.
"Oh?" Klein drawled, stepping up to inspect the photo. He stared at the old man's face for a long moment. 'So that is Mr. Jingles,'he thought, his lips twitching in mild disgust.'He really does look like a total creep.'
Gwen leaned closer, inspecting the aged quality of the paper. "When was this taken?" she asked, her brow furrowing slightly.
"Just a few days ago," Elsgood replied, tilting his head. He looked genuinely confused as to why she would even ask such a mundane question.
Gwen exchanged a bewildered glance with her cousins before pressing further. "Okay... then what year was it taken?"
"Why, 1932, of course!" Elsgood answered, as if stating the most obvious fact in the world.
Ben's jaw dropped. "Nineteen thirty-two?! And what was that you said earlier about fleeing away?! Man, this whole Christmas Resort is way too weird! Nope, we have to rescue Grandpa Max right now and get the heck out of here!"
Following Elsgood's lead, the trio sneaked behind a snow-dusted wooden cabin. They crouched low, peering around the corner to observe the massive entrance of the toy factory looming in the distance. Two towering, oversized toy soldiers stood guard at the heavy wooden gates. Every so often, a team of elves would ride past on a sleigh pulled by actual reindeer, slipping smoothly through the entrance.
Klein's mouth twitched. He crouched in the snow, feeling a familiar, deeply annoying sensation washing over him. He was peeping. Again. He blamed Paradox entirely. Ever since that time he had been dragged into secretly observing things with the time-traveling professor, he constantly found himself forced into these ridiculous stealth situations.
Elsgood rubbed his chin, looking troubled. "You need reindeer to get inside. It is a working toy factory, you see, and the guards only let the reindeer through to transport the toys."
"Reindeer?" Gwen smirked, her eyes darting sideways. "We have one of those." She looked pointedly at Ben.
Ben rolled his eyes, catching her drift instantly. "Alright, alright, I get it. I will transform."
He slammed his hand down on the Omnitrix dial. A brilliant flash of emerald light illuminated the snow, and in his place stood the massive, orange-furred, eyeless form of Wildmutt.
Gwen rummaged through a nearby discarded prop bin and pulled out a flimsy pair of plastic reindeer antlers. She casually strapped them onto Wildmutt's large head. "Okay, this will do perfectly."
Finding festive headwear was hardly a challenge; this bizarre Christmas Resort was practically overflowing with stray toys, candy canes, and holiday decorations.
"Well, even if the reindeer problem is solved, what about him?" Elsgood asked, pointing a stubby finger directly at Klein. "He is certainly not an elf."
Gwen fell silent, tapping her chin in thought. She turned her gaze to Klein. "Cousin, just transform into a small alien like Grey Matter. I will hide you on me."
"No problem..." Klein started to agree, before freezing. He looked at her outfit. "Wait a minute, Dork. The only pockets you have are the back pockets on your jeans. Exactly where are you planning to hide me?"
Gwen's face instantly flushed a bright, violent shade of red. Whatever thought had just crossed her mind, she clearly wanted to banish it immediately. "Oh, just do not worry about it! Just transform already!"
'Something is definitely not right here,'Klein thought, his eyes narrowing.'Twelve out of ten, this is a trap.'
Having battled wits with his cousin for far too long to fall for such an obvious setup, Klein decided to handle things his own way.
"I suddenly remembered an alien who can solve this problem perfectly," Klein said dryly. He raised his wrist and slapped the faceplate of the Another Omnitrix. A quiet blue light flared through the snowy alleyway, shrinking his body down until the tiny, mechanical form of Nanomech hovered in the air.
...
A few minutes later, Wildmutt trudged heavily through the snow, pulling a loaded sleigh toward the grand entrance of the toy factory. Gwen and Elsgood sat perched on the wooden bench behind him, trying to look as natural as possible.
The two giant toy soldiers immediately crossed their wooden halberds, blocking Wildmutt's path. Their painted eyes seemed to stare blankly at the extremely strange-looking, orange-furred reindeer.
"Uh-huh-huh..." Gwen let out a stiff, incredibly awkward laugh. "He is a new breed. From Europe." She flashed a strained smile, attempting to bluff her way through the ridiculous situation.
Miraculously, the wooden halberds lifted. The two toy soldiers stepped aside, actually letting them pass without a second glance.
High above them, Nanomech had already shrunk down to a microscopic size, buzzing invisibly past the guards and slipping into the factory.
The interior of the factory was cavernous. Massive conveyor belts formed a sprawling toy production line, manned by hundreds of busy elves hammering and painting away. Right in the dead center of the room stood a towering structure that resembled a giant metallic Christmas tree, crowned with a massive, glowing star that pulsed with strange energy.
In the distance, sitting upon a luxurious, velvet-lined throne, was Grandpa Max. He was fully dressed in a plush Santa Claus suit. Standing right next to him was Mr. Jingles, who was staring at Max with an expression that could only be described as deeply, uncomfortably lecherous.
At least, that was exactly how it looked from Nanomech's hovering vantage point.
However, accidents rarely wait for a convenient moment. Before Gwen and the others could even formulate a plan to begin the rescue, a real reindeer trotted over, sniffed Wildmutt, and immediately realized this orange beast was absolutely not one of its kind.
The reindeer let out a loud, panicked bray that echoed across the factory floor. Instantly, the surrounding toy soldiers snapped to attention, their wooden joints clacking as they marched forward to surround Wildmutt.
"I told you," a tiny, metallic voice echoed from the rafters. "Would it not have been better to just charge in directly from the start?"
As the voice faded, a brilliant, quiet blue light flared near the ceiling, rapidly expanding downward.
"Humungousaur!"
The massive, dinosaur-like bulk of Humungousaur crashed onto the factory floor, shaking the very foundations of the building. Seeing the stealth mission blown, Wildmutt roared, violently breaking free from the sleigh harness and shaking the ridiculous plastic antlers off his head. Beside him, Gwen's body erupted in a blinding flash of magenta light, her skin shedding away to reveal her glowing, energy-based Anodite form.
Elsgood sat on the sleigh in stunned silence. He watched with wide eyes as the three powerhouses unleashed their terrifying might. By the time his brain finally processed the sheer chaos unfolding before him, he realized his only possible contribution to this battle would be acting as a cheerleader.
"Hey, perverted old man!" Humungousaur's deep, booming voice rattled the tools on the workbenches. He pointed a massive, scaly finger directly at Mr. Jingles. "Give me back my Grandpa!"
"Per... perverted old man?!" Mr. Jingles sputtered, his face twisting into an ugly mask of pure rage. He pointed a trembling finger at the intruders. "Get them! Get them for me right now!"
"Mmm! Mmm! Mmm!..." Grandpa Max thrashed in his seat, his mouth gagged. He looked incredibly agitated, but not out of relief that his grandchildren had finally come to rescue him. After all, Max knew exactly how ridiculously overpowered his grandkids were; the moment they broke through the doors, he knew the situation was completely under control.
No, that was not the point at all. The point was that Max had heard Klein's booming accusation, and he realized with absolute horror that his grandson had severely misunderstood the situation. If he did not explain himself quickly, his lifelong reputation was going to be completely ruined.
"Protect yourselves!" Humungousaur roared over the din of marching wooden soldiers. His muscles bulged, his scales shifting and expanding as he triggered his growth ability.
"Protect ourselves?! How do we protect ourselves?!" Elsgood shrieked. Seeing the dinosaur alien grow so massively huge that the ceiling beams began to groan and splinter, the little elf anxiously hugged his head, frantically darting around to find a place to take shelter.
[Humungousaur: Sorry, first time leading such squishy weaklings. Will definitely pay more attention next time.]
Boom!
The now twenty-meter-tall Humungousaur simply stood up, his colossal back bursting straight through the roof of the toy factory in an explosion of wood, metal, and snow.
Chunks of debris rained down from the shattered ceiling. Several heavy stones smashed directly into the glowing giant star atop the central tree, causing its brilliant light to flicker and spark violently, as if it were short-circuiting.
Elsgood squeezed his eyes shut and curled into a tight ball, waiting for the crushing weight of the collapsing roof. But after the deafening crash subsided, he realized he was not buried in rubble. He carefully peeked open one eye, looking up to see a massive, glowing magenta barrier of Mana suspended above him, effortlessly deflecting the falling debris.
Gwen's shield had extended across the floor, ensuring that not only Elsgood, but all the other terrified elves survived the destruction completely unharmed.
Reaching down through the ruined roof, Humungousaur casually pinched the luxurious throne between his massive fingers, lifting Grandpa Max, chair and all, into the air with a single hand.
"Cough, cough, cough..." Mr. Jingles waved away the dust, his eyes widening as he looked up at the giant. "Quickly! Give me back my Santa Claus! Guards! All of you, attack him!"
Seeing his prized Santa Claus being snatched away, Mr. Jingles grew frantic. He screamed at his wooden army to attack, but for some reason, the toy soldiers were stumbling. Their movements had become violently jerky and uncoordinated, their limbs locking up as if they were being electrocuted.
Humungousaur gently set the throne down in a clear patch of snow outside the ruined factory. Gwen floated over, a flick of her wrist sending a blade of Mana to slice through the ropes, finally freeing Grandpa Max.
"Your show is over!" Max growled. He ripped the fake white beard off his face, tossing it into the snow as he stood up to glare down at Mr. Jingles.
"No! No! No! Guards! Attack them for me now! Attack them now!" Mr. Jingles shrieked, completely unable to accept his sudden defeat. But the toy soldiers remained frozen in their jerky, sparking spasms, completely useless.
"Ben, Klein, Gwen. Let us go," Max said, turning his back. He did not want to waste another breath on a pathetic guy like Mr. Jingles.
"Do not go! Santa Claus! Do not go!" Mr. Jingles wailed, tears streaming down his wrinkled face. "What will I do without you?! Waaah... Santa Claus! I cannot live without you!"
Mr. Jingles collapsed to his knees in the snow, sobbing hysterically as he reached a desperate hand out toward Max's retreating back. From his perspective on the ground, Max was constantly moving away, but as he stared, he had to admit, Max's crotch area in those red pants was indeed quite large.
[Klein: What did I tell you?! Mr. Jingles is a total creep! Repeat after me, Mr. Jingles!]
Elsgood quickly stepped forward, offering a hand to help the weeping Mr. Jingles up from the snow.
Although Mr. Jingles had always strictly enforced the rule that elves were not allowed to have their own independent thoughts, looking at the devastation around him, Elsgood could not help but smile. At this moment, he felt that it was actually quite wonderful for elves to have a mind of their own.
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