Episode 9: Christmas

Christmas was fast approaching Shining Hills, and everyone had finished putting up the last of their decorations. Wreaths hung on the doors, the windows were laiden with tinsel and lights and all the Christmas Trees had been brightly decorated. It was pretty festive in the Ranger Base, too. Carly and CB were altering the Pencil Force website, giving a festive look. Liz was out, doing more Christmas shopping, (she was up at 3am, and in the town by 5am). Truro and Carlos were helping Alpha and Billy make the ZACC look festive, and Dan, Carlnados and Cedric were decorating the Hangar. Although, Dan was busy constructing four new vehicles. He was going like greased lightning. Carlnados and Cedric's eyes widened as they saw streaks of blue everywhere. There followed a series of bangity-bang-bang-bangs and boings and whizzes and a few "owch"es, until finally, the new vehicles were complete, in working order, and packaged. Then, Dan pressed a button on a remote, and the four sank into the ground. "Operation Cover-up." Dan said. "Slap me sideways! I don't think I've ever seen anyone move that quickly at Christmas!" gasped Cedric. "Me neither. Um, what were you making, Dan?" asked Carlnados. "I thought you might ask that." laughed Dan. "What you saw sinking into the ground are new vehicles for Truro, Carly, CB and Liz." "Ah, I see." said Cedric. Christmas Eve came two days later, and Dan was back in the Zord Hangar, polishing the Zords. Truro entered the Hangar, and his jaw dropped as he saw Dan speeding around like Sonic, giving everything a good polish. Eventually, everything was spotless. It was so clean, Truro could see his face in the walls. Truro's jaw stayed dropped. "Oh, er, hi Truro. I didn't notice you come in." Dan said. Truro's jaw snapped shut again. "What in the name of . . . " he began. "Dan, you have been busy, haven't you?" "Well, you could say that." Dan laughed. "Er, Cedric, are you ready?" Cedric was standing next to a light switch. "Yeah." came a reply. "Three, two, one!" called Dan. CLICK! The Zord Hangar lit up in all colours. Truro couldn't believe it. "There must be around 5,000 or more lights here." he thought to himself. "Very festive indeed." he said to Dan. "Why don't you look at the Zords." Dan grinned. The Zords glowed in their individual colours. "Dan. I think I can safely say that this is a good job well done." Truro said admirably. "Thank you, Truro." replied Dan. Then, Billy entered the Hangar with a huge box of decorations. "Hey guys." he said. "As if we were not festive enough." Truro laughed. Later that evening, as the rangers settled down for the night, Dan, Carlos, Carlnados and Cedric remained in the Tardizord in the Hangar. They had turned the lights off for the night and soon nodded off. The district of Shining Hills was silent, and in every house, not a creature was stirring, not even a . . . (Well, I won't go into THAT story.) The clock struck midnight, and the sound of bells could be heard as the snow fell. It could only be Saint Nick. His famous "Ho ho ho's" could be heard as he slid down each chimney, his sack filled with presents. When he came to the Ranger Base, he found a lot of mince pies and baskets of oats and carrots for the reindeer. He took them and left presents in return for them. As he went to the Hangar, he saw all the work that Dan and the Nagas had done. He noticed the four large presents, and read the labels. "They must have worked themselves to the bone for these gifts." he thought to himself. Then, he turned to the Tardizord, and opened the door. It, too, was decorated with festive lights and decorations. Santa grinned to himself as he left several presents in the Tardizord for Dan and the nagas. Then, with his sack full of oats, carrots and mince pies, Santa flew off in his sleigh. Hours later, at the stroke of six, Dan was awakened by a knock on the Tardizord door. He rubbed his eyes, stretched and walked over. "Hello?" he said, opening the door. "Ah, you're awake. Happy Christmas!" said Carlnados. "Happy Christmas to you." replied Dan. He looked around the Tardizord interior. The place was riddled with presents. "I think there's a lot of unwrapping to do!" Dan grinned. "Come on, guys." Cedric, Carlos and Carlnados joined Dan in unwrapping the load of presents in the Tardizord. Meanwhile, up in the main building, the other rangers were in the process of opening their presents. "Hey guys, I wonder where Dan went." "I don't know, Carly." replied CB. "His room door is ajar." Truro thought for a moment. "Perhaps he's in the Hangar." he conceded. So, CB, Carly and Liz followed Truro to the Hangar.