Fan:LEGO Universe: A Comedy

LEGO Universe: A Comedy

Author:	Ninjago_Builders
Completion Status:	Incomplete

Template:Alert

Chapter 1

The warning came as sudden as Duke Exeter at the mention of a taco. Alarms flared. Lights flashed. And Gorge snoozed. Yes, you heard me correctly. Immediately the four faction leaders where at the holographic map were Duke Exeter stands all day getting recruits to do his work for him. The only thing that's worse is when Nexus Jay orders every minifigure to get him a drink. Well anyway, Duke Exeter pressed a few buttons and about fifteen little purple and red blips appeared as well as an image of a taco. SkilledHonoredNinja was there, doing Mr. Duke's work, and saw it all. A maelstrom invader came in as fast as you can imagine, and took out an iPod. It immediately started playing hypnotic baby music and everyone in the room started crying except for Dr, Overbuild, who had an invention that played really annoying music so you couldn't be hypnotized by hypnotic baby music, and Vanda Darkflame who drank a weird green liquid that smelled like… brussel sprouts! SkilledHonoredNinja couldn't stand them, granted, he's never had them in his life. It seemed as if the stromling couldn't stand brussel sprouts either, because he ran off before anyone could give him any, taking the iPod with the hypnotic baby noise with him. Everyone was unhypnotized (I know unhypnotized isn't a word! You find a better one) and Duke Exter spoke. "Okay, these purple blip thingies are the maelstrom invaders and these..." Vanda Darkflame cut him off and shouted "What in the Lego Universe is that taco thingy on the map!" Duke Exeter looked up and he saw the taco image for the first time. "Er, uh, nothing." He punched in a few more buttons and the holographic image of the taco disappeared, but SkilledHonoredNinja thought he saw something about where to find the best taco stores in the area before it went away. "So, um anyway," Duke continued "these purple blip thingies are the maelstrom invaders and these red ones are maelstrom invaders carrying away our vending machines. Everyone in the room gasped, even SkilledHonoredNinja. He couldn't help it, it was so horrible.

Chapter 2

Gorge's alarm clock turned on. Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep! An alarm signaling the maelstrom attack flared even as the alarm clock started getting louder. Woo! Woo! Beep! Woo! Woo! Beep! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! BEEP! One of those minifigures that cits in the center all day trying to trade stuff with other minifigures turned on his electrical guitar, started giving imagination to everyone, and added to the din. DER DER DER WOO WOO! DER DER DER WOO WOO DER DER DE-BEEP-ER WOO WOO DER WOO BEEP BEEP BEWOOEP BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDERWOOP. And still Gorge slept. (Yes it is true, he's not known for getting up early.) Then, about five rooms away, somebody mentioned a taco. Gorge sat bolt upright and looked around. At least, it looked like he looked around. He was still asleep.

Chapter 3

Now, sometimes having infrared vision that can pick up the faintest trace of salsa, or being able to sniff out every last crumb of a crunched potato chip with someone pinching your nose can be a good thing, but sometimes, like when Vanda Darkflame asks what a taco thingy on a map is and you hear the word "taco", start start sleep walking toward the sound and walk right into a room that Butterscorch is in, it can be a bad thing. Butterscorch roared.

"ROAR!"

But if an alarm clock, maelstrom alarm, AND an annoying minifigure all together couldn't wake George up, do you think a grumpy dragon will? Butterscorch was a little confused. "Why wasn't this weakling minifigure runing away like the rest of her prey?" She thought. "Hmm, let me try roaring again."

"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE," George said in return. Now that really stunned Butterscorch. Butterscorch was angry and made ready to attack!

Chapter 4

Butterscorch breathed a fire bolt like a little kid blowing bubbles. Oh it brings back old memories. Like that time when she was little and blew her first jet of fire and it made a sound like Duke Exeter blowing a raspberry with his mouth full of food. Oh, Butterscorch was SOOOO cute when she was little. And when she accidently bit her tail…" "ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!" "Don't interrupt Butterscorch! Besides, you were cute when you were ikle bitty hatchling. (Sorry about that, my reader. I'm trying to write a documentary of what happened at the battle for Nexus Tower but Butterscorch keeps on interrupting) "Grrrrrrrrrrrr." "Temper temper Butterscorch. After all, I am the narrator. If you want you can type the story." "Rrrrowl." "Exactly! You don't have fingers to type with, that's why I am typing this. Now anyway, back to the story." Butterscorch breathed a fire bolt like a little kid blowing bubbles. But George was wearing fire resistant pajamas so his clothes didn't catch on fire, and he didn't burn up because he had eaten salsa MUCH hotter than that and so was used to it. He just walked on and muttered something about undiluted Habanero sauce. Butterscorch swiped at George, but he blocked it, said in his sleep, "Temper temper," and walked on. Quickly, Butterscorch flicked her paw around at George and jabbed him in the stomach. The air was knocked out of his lungs slightly, and he bent over slightly, drooling on Butterscorch's paw slightly. "ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!" Translated as: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! He drooled on me!" She ran around, just like when she chased her tail when she was little, trying to wipe off the saliva but only spreading it to her other legs. "ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR" she thought. Translated as: "No! I'm being contaminated!" she thought. Then, she noticed one of the drinking fountains that can be found all over Nexus Tower. It was nearby, just next to the Paradox smashing teleportation device. Hurriedly, before the saliva could soak in to her scales and permanently stain them, Butterscorch ran over to the fountain so she could use the water wash the spittle off her leg. Unfortunately (Or, fortunately if you don't like Butterscorch), one of her claws accidentally hit a pipe so that instead of washing off the drool, the water shot up her nose. "ROOOOOOOOOOO-Gack!-Cough!-Gag!" Flying through the air, she hit the ceiling and made a dragon shaped indent were she was stuck in for a moment, then, with a SPLAT of Nexus Tower floor on maelstrom dragon blubber, Butterscorch landed in the Paradox smashing teleportation device. She smashed, teleporting her to the Paradox headquarters. The minifigures in the room were not happy to see a maelstrom dragon in their headquarters. BOOM! BAM WHACK! SPLAT! SHASH! POW! BOOM! She was sent flying out of the window, over the top of the Nexus Tower, and to the other side. It's a long way up to the top of the Nexus Tower, and it's just as long down. BOOM! CRASH! RUMBLE!

Chapter 5

The ground shook as Butterscorch hit it. When the dust cleared, nearby minifigures could see a hole in the ground just like the one on the roof of Nexus Tower. A battered shape slowly pulled itself out of the indent. Some said it resembled their pet red and green dragons that they got from Forbidden Valley. Others, such as Duke Exeter and George, said it looked like a misshapen taco, and some thought that it was play dough. No one came close to the truth (though the last one was the closest to describing what it looked like). It was Butterscorch. Her tongue lolled out of her jaws and a few teeth were missing. Her nails were cracked her tail was not much more than a stub. No, it was a stub. Fortunately, (or unfortunately if you don't like Butterscorch.) there were some nearby maelstrom who could help her to safety. Unfortunately, (or fortunately if you don't like Butterscorch) they didn't recognize the blob lying on the ground and just walked on. Unfortunately, (or fortunately if you don't like Butterscorch) when she tried roaring to get their attention all that came out was a sort of fiery wheeze. "ROA-wheeze!" Then, that same minifigure who didn't wake up George decided that he needed some more imagination for his Space Ranger Orbital Strikes, and started playing his drum set again for more. Together with Butterscorch's wheezing, it sounded kind of like Butterscorch wheezing to the Lego Bombad Bounty* Jar Jar Binks Star Wars theme song. "Wheeze wheeeeeeeeze, wheeeeeeeeze, wheeze wheeze wheeeeeeeeze, wheeze, and wheee-" Abruptly, the Sentinel Space Ranger's song stopped and he put the drum set back into his back pack, (have you ever wondered how all those weapons and armor and drum sets could fit in one back pack?) and unleashed an Orbital Strike smashing three ronins and damaging two more. Butterscorch wanted to get that minifigure but she couldn't lift herself out of the crater and fell backward, wishing she had her teddy maelstrom ape.

Chapter 6

SkilledHonoredNinja (or Skill for short) had had a very good Easter. First the maelstrom had been driven off. Then, he went to the Easter service at the Nexus Force Church and Sunday School. After that, all the minifigures had dyed some hard boiled eggs, and some Nexus Force employees hid them all over Nexus Tower. The minifigures, Skill included, scurried all across the tower trying to find them. The minifigure who found the most eggs would get a mystery prize, not to mention all the hard boiled eggs he found to eat. The minifigures looked in every corner in the tower, trying to find the eggs before the others. Skill had found a green one right next to the Lego Club Station Alpha door. One of the hardest ones was where Mardalf the orange had used a spell so that one of the Easter eggs was floating right on the ceiling. Nobody looked up there, so it wasn't found until Skill glanced upward for a moment and saw it out of the corner of his eye. Skill was tied for the lead with another minifigure that had leaped along the walls where Hael Storm's compasses had been lost and jumped off the last wall and got an egg which had been hiding behind the backpack flag floating there. They were running along, neck and neck, trying to find the last egg to break the tie. Suddenly, Skill saw it, and dashed toward the spinning Assembly teleported that spins you around and around and around and up to the second story where the inventor sells the rank three armor. The other minifigure was at Skill's heals, for he had glanced in the direction that skill was looking and had saw it too. They were running toward it at breakneck spreads, both intent on getting the egg, and both running as fast as their legs could carry them. They didn't notice a mere forty foot dragon crawl by. The spinning cyclone sucked them up and they spun around and around and around and around and around and around and I'm getting dizzy just typing this. They spun around and around the egg floating in the center of the transporter, each with an arm stretched out to grab the egg, a perfect position for an attack. But the infiltrator waited. The minifigures both reached out for it and the minifigure that was tied with Skill scraped it with the tips of his hand. It stayed annoyingly out of reach, but Skill had an idea. He pulled out the staff Numb Chuck had given him which pulled collectibles toward the user. It was with this staff that Skill had gotten the imagination brick on Forbidden Valley and he could use it on the egg. The egg spun towards him, but then he immerged on the second floor and the egg bounced off his staff and rolled away into the darkness. "Who's going to win now?" thought Skill. "Maybe they'll judge the winner on how cool the looked when they were getting the eggs. I hope I win." Then, after everyone had had some lunch and dessert, a minifigure got up and got ready to announce the winner. Everyone in the room waited. They stared, in silence, watching the announcer, Shouty McBullhorn. He started to speak. "Greetings, greetings. I hope you had a VERY fun Easter." (When he said the word "very," everyone covered their ears. "Now I am going to announce the winner. The winner is…"

To be continued.

No, the winner wasn't "to be continued," Butterscorch. That was supposed to be a cliff hanger that made you want to read the next chapter. What! You want me to go on with the chapter! But…but… then my cliff hanger is useless! Wait, what's that noise. It sounds like all the people reading my story are shouting "Go on! Go on! Go on! Go on!" That's weird. Wait, all the people reading my story ARE shouting 'Go on! Go on! Go on! Go on!' No, I won't go on readers. "Go on! Go on! Go on!" Enough! "Go on! Go on! Go on! Go on! Go on! Go on! Go on! Go on! Go on! Go on! Go on! Go on!" Arg! Stop it! "Go on! Go on! Go on! Go on! Go on! Go on! Go on! Go on! Go on! Go on! Go on! Go on!" Alright! I will, just stop shouting! Shouty McBullhorn Said "The winner is… GEORGE! He found nearly 98% of them with his eggascopic vision!" Then George held up an egg basket filled with eggs spilling over the sides. At the very top was the one Skill had dropped! How had George got that? "In a last minute maneuver," Shouty McBullhorn shouted, "George stepped on the tail of a maelstrom dragon which caused it so much pain that it couldn't get the two minifigures it was going to attack while they looked for Easter eggs! Then, just to top it all, he caught an egg which one of the minifigures had dropped in midair! George will get a giant plastic Easter egg filled with chips salsa for his prize of finding the most Easer eggs, and will receive a free ticket to Taco Land for saving those minifigures! George, what do you have to say to THAT?!" "Snore."

Chapter 7

Butterscorch had had a very bad Easter. First, there had been this Space Ranger who was destroying all the ronins who had been put under her control. Then, when she was about to get him as he tried to get an Easter egg, the very same minifigure who had dared drool on her scales, stepped on her tail, ruining her aim and making shoot her fireball into her eyeball. Ouch. As she reeled in pain, the minifigure ran up her back, stepped on her nose, and jumped for the Easter egg, kicking her in the face and knocking her out the window. They were on the top story. Boom! Crash! Rumble! SPLAT! Ouch. That must've hurt real bad, she landed in a belly flop. Well, that pretty much sums it up: Butterscorch had a very bad Easter.

Chapter 8

It was a bright, sunny morning. Everyone was playing outside. Everyone, that is, except six people: George, Duke Exeter, Vanda Darkflame, Hael Storm, Ninjago skeleton Kruncha, and Butterscorch. George and Duke Exeter were playing Mr. Taco and the Great Taco: The Video Game. Vanda Darkflame was playing Princess Cupcake and the Great Cupcake: The Video Game. Hael Storm was playing Cap'n Crunch and the Great Breakfast Cereal: The Video Game. Kruncha was playing Cap'n Kruncha and the Greatest Breakfast Cereal: The Video Game. And Butterscorch was lying in the mud outside Nexus Tower in belly flop position. Now, it might seem that she had been defeated, but- "Rooooooar!" "Oh, so you weren't really defeated by George? Come on, he defeated you." "Rowl." "So you fought him on purpose, and he didn't push you out of the window into the mud, you flew out and saw the mud as a good place to land? Really, you expect me to believe that?" "Roarowl." "Well to bad for you. Sorry about that, Butterscorch keeps on interrupting the story. You know how arrogant dragons are. Well, the pet dragons at Forbidden Valley aren't, they're just pets, they're not any more arrogant then dogs are, but all the big ones, maelstrom dragons included, are all puffed up with themselves. If all minifigures could understand dragon speech, then Butterscorch would probably be bragging about herself whenever someone passed. Butterscorch is probably the most arrogant of ALL dragons, you know. Well, you probably don't know. But know you probably now know because I posted that Butterscorch is probably the most arrogant of all the dragons that you know." "What's that supposed to mean?" asked a minifigure framed in the doorway and covered in shadow. "I don't know. What a moment! Who said that?! The only people in this room are me and Butterscorch! Why didn't my security traps stop this intruder! The only way to get past them is if you have a security card, and only the faction leaders and other authorized personal have them! The Baron must've kidnapped one of the faction leaders and tortured them until they gave it to him. Well be wary, intruder, I've used my drum set to charge up my imagination for an orbital strike! Don't come a step nearer!" Instead, the intruder came two steps nearer and opened the fridge door. "Got anything to eat?" "…and the faction leaders probably went through many hardships trying not to give it to him and…" "Mmm, ham sandwiches." "… and now he is going to cut off my food supply by taking all my… oh, it's you George. I forgot I gave you a security card." "MMM, these are good, though I still prefer tacos. Hey what's that on the table?" "Oh, that's a documentary about what happened at the battle of Nexus Tower that I'm going to post on Lego Universe Messegebords. Though now I can add in an exclusive interview with you! What is your favorite color?" "I've got two. Pink and salsa red." "What is your favorite movie?" "Mr. Taco and the Great Taco: The Movie." "What is your favorite toy?" "Mr. Taco and the Great Taco: The Action figure. "What is your favorite vacation?" "The one where I went to Mr. Taco and the Great Taco: The Amusement Park." "Thank you, that will be all."

Chapter 9

Enough of the interview back to the story. Now, it might seem that Butterscorch had been defeated, but she still had one more plan. She pressed a button on a walkie-talkie that conveniently was lying next to her. At first, nothing happened, but then a dark, evil shape emerged from the shadows. It was a stromling invader, but not an ordinary stromling invader. In its hands, it held one of the most evil inventions of all time. As it stepped out of the darkness, it held up its hands and dramatic music played. No, wait, not dramatic music, hypnotic baby music! (Now dramatic music plays because I leave you on a cliff hanger.)

Chapter 10

Butterscorch's plan had to work. She had checked and double-checked every detail. "Roar roar roar roar. Roar. Rowl rowl rowl rowl. Rowl. Roarowl roarowl roarowl roarowl. Roarowl!" She thought. Which, by the way, means in the language of the maelstrom dragons, "Do I have all the tacos to throw into lava for that puny little minifigure who likes tacos to go after and smash himself? Check. Do I have the hypnotic baby music to hypnotize the faction leaders with and the Bonk-Bonker to bonk the faction leaders with if they have things to counter the music? Check. Do if have the Space Ranger Away Spray TM to use on that annoying space ranger who keeps on using that annoying drum set and who's coming right toward me to smash me with and orbital strike? No!?" Boom! Crash! Rumble!

Chapter 11

Now that the threat of Butterscorch attacking had been taken care of by Skill and George, there was nothing to stop them from having a party! There were roller coasters, games, one of the famous Mr. Taco restaurants (these went out of business VERY quickly because George bought an all you can eat serving), one of the famous Mr. Burrito restaurants (these were smart enough to take down the All You Can Eat sign when George was in the vicinity), bands that came and played some music (Skill played the drums and once the trumpet), and, for the grand finally, a doggie show! Minifigures from all over brought their best trained, best groomed dogs to be judged! The three judges lined up and looked at all the contestants. "I think my dog is the best," said the first judge "I think my dog is the best," said the second judge. "I think that dog in the back that's twenty feet tall and that is purple and that has the wings is the best." The other judges looked around at where he was pointing. This is what met their eyes. Butterscorch, standing behind the group of dogs and roaring with all her might. "ROOOOOOOOOOOOAR" The judges were a little scarred. A little in the same way that when you drop a five hundred pound weight on a jelly been it will be a little squashed. Butterscorch leapt into the air and flew toward the judges. When it was mere inches from smashing them it stopped, gagged, and plopped to the ground. A little girl walked up. "Do you like my puppy?" she asked. "Uuuuu," said the first judge." "YIPES!" said the second judge. "Yeh, I like it. Where did you get it?" said the third judge. "I found it." Said the two year old proudly. "Where?" "She was just lying in da mud so I put a collar on her. Isn't she cute?" The girl replied fondly. "Ohh." "And then I but a bow tie on her. She was very easy to tame. Usually I have trouble with stuff like dat but this was very easy. Sometimes I also have trouble fighting da maelstrom but this doggie was too nice to be nothing more than a baby. I think she is probably only about three months old, because she was just lying in da mud." "ROOOOOOOOOOAR!" protested Butterscorch. "Oh, isn't she just cute?" said the third judge. "Well, since the other judges aren't saying anything I think that means you win." "Hooray!" "Yup. Here's your free ticket to taco land!" But before the little girl could take it, Butterscorch broke her restraints, flew into the air, and kidnapped George! Skill shot his space ranger gun at Butterscorch, and all of the faction leaders tried to stop the dragon, but Butterscorch evaded them and flew off to the Darkitect's lair.

Chapter 12

"George lay in his prison cell, waiting. Then, the Darkitect arrived, but he was not eating pizza. 'Why would he be eating pizza?' said George, seeing what I wrote here. "Well, the Darkitect emailed me saying that in all the comedies he starts out eating pizza and watching TV, and asked that I don't make him start out eating pizza and watching TV because he wasn't eating pizza and watching TV at the time I'm describing. So, honoring his request, I made him start out eating Smart Joe's Healthy Choice Reduced Fat Pizza, and watching movies on his. i-phone. Hey look, I got an email. It says, 'That's not what I meant. Change it now or else.' I wonder what that means. Whatever, I'm sure it's not anything important and can wait until after I post my chapter."

Chapter 13

"George lay in his prison cell, waiting. Then, the Darkitect arrived, but he was not eating pizza. 'Why would he be eating pizza?' said George, seeing what I wrote here. "Well, the Darkitect emailed me saying that in all the comedies he starts out eating pizza and watching TV, and asked that I don't make him start out eating pizza and watching TV because he wasn't eating pizza and watching TV at the time I'm describing. So, honoring his request, I made him start out eating Smart Joe's Healthy Choice Reduced Fat Pizza, and watching movies on his. i-phone. Hey look, I got an email. It says, 'That's not what I meant. Change it now or else.' I wonder what that means. Whatever, I'm sure it's not anything important and can wait until after I post my chapter." "There! I posted my chapter. Now, let's see who emailed me. Oh, it's the Darkitect. He says 'Don't you dare post it.' Hmm, I wonder if he means my chapter. I'll email him and tell him I already posted it. There, sorry about the wait, the Darkitect's email is very tricky and you have to make sure he doesn't make your computer blow up. Well, since this is a post you wouldn't really notice the wait, would you? Well, at least I kept him from blowing up my computer. Wait, what's that noise?" *Computer self-destruct: 3 2 1.*

Chapter 14

There, I'm borrowing George's computer. Now where were we? Oh yes, the Darkitect arrived, but he was not eating pizza. The baron said, "Ha ha! I have captured George! Soon I shall conquer Nexus Tower! Muhahahahaha-gack-cough-choke!" As the baron tried to cough up the bug that had flown down his throat while he had been practicing his evil laugh, George slouched against the wall, worry etched across his face. "Oh, please let me go, pretty please! I won a contest at Sunday school on Sunday and they were going to give me a tub of Butterfingers today! And now I'm going to miss out! Please let me go!" "No." "Will you let me go if I promise to come back?" "No." "If you send some maelstrom guards with me to make sure I come back? "No." "If I share some of the Butterfingers with you?" "N…OK!" The Darkitect unlocked George's prison and let him out. George walked out the door, and the Baron sent some guards with him. The Baron waited for him to come back. And he waited. And he waited. And he waited. Suddenly, a couple of hours later, the Baron was waiting. He waited. And he waited. And he- "Oh look! Someone's coming!" the Baron exclaimed. "Never mind, it's just the mail man." And he waited. And he waited. And he waited. And he waited. "Arg! I should have never let him go! He probably smashed the guards and ran off!" exclaimed the baron. Then, George walked in. "Where have you been!" the Baron snapped. "Sorry," replied George. "they were having a lesson and I stayed and participated. Plus," George added seeing the scowl on the Darkitect's face, "I won a mega bag of potato chips!" (Need I tell you that the Darkitect's scowl immediately vanished.) "Ok, that's good. Now, to the questioning. Tell me where the secret entrance into Nexus Tower is!" "Easy," replied George. "On the fifth passage on the third floor there is a beam coming down from the ceiling. Go behind it and you will see a smashable just like all the other ones that can be found around Nexus Tower. Smash it and you will see a small door. Go through it and proceed down until you get to a wall with bars sticking out like a ladder. They go up as if you could climb up them to the top but the roof is in the way and they just disappear into it. Go to the third bar from the ground and type in the secret code. Once typed, the roof will fold back and you can climb up to the top. There is a hatch there leading into a taco store near Duke Exeter's command center." After telling the Baron, George reached into the tub and pulled out a Butterfinger bar. "Mmm, mmm." he said while munching on it. "How do I know it's true? You gave it to me just like that. How do I know you aren't trying to trick me?" "Because I've got the map of the pipe for Nexus Tower system on my cell phone. If you look closely, you'll see that one of the pipes doesn't lead to the main valve. It branches of toward the third floor and along the route I just told you. See?" he said, holding up his cell phone. "But, but… why would you just tell me? Aren't you worried now that I know where the secret entrance is?" "Nope." "Why not?" "'Cause the entrance to the secret passage way will shoot every type of missile and rocket imaginable if you don't provide the security card. And believe me, we've thought of a lot of types of missiles." "That's easy," said the baron confidently. "I just force you to give me the security card." "Can't," said George as he relaxed against the prison wall, "I left in my room and you need the password to get into my room." "Then I'll just force you to give me the password." "Can't," said George. "I forgot it. I was just going to get a team of workers to help me deactivate the traps earlier so I could get my discount card for the Mr. Taco And the Great taco: The Restaurant when you kidnapped me. Besides, even if you could get past the door you don't know the secret code to make the roof fold back so you can climb up the bars." "Well…who does know it?" "Me, the faction leaders, and some maintenance workers who sometimes use it when they need to fix some hard to reach pipes." "Ok, tell it to me." "Can't, forgot that too. I wrote it on a piece of paper but I left the in my room along with my security card." "Arg!" "And the hatch at the top has a security measure that's the greatest of them all!" "And let me guess, you forgot how to get past that too?" "Yep." "Great. The Baron reached into the tub for some more Butterfingers and he heard a whimpering sound behind him. "Growl?" Which means in the speech of dragons "Can I have some Butterfingers too?" (As you might have already guessed Butterfingers are Butterscorch's favorite candy.) "No!" said the Baron and George at the same time. They both reached in the bucket, each took half of the candy in one giant handful, and started eating it at the speed of light so that there was none left for Butterscorch. Who knew that minifigures could eat so fast? Once all the chocolate was gone, much to Butterscorch's displeasure, the baron left to gather his army and find a way into Nexus Tower once and for all.

Chapter 15

The Baron sent some maelstrom led by Butterscorch to see if George was telling the truth. They snuck into Nexus Tower and headed for the passage that George had described. Sure enough, when Butterscorch and her maelstrom attack force got there, they had three seconds to show the security card before ion missiles, atomic missiles, acid missiles, goo missiles, Mr. Taco and the Great Taco: The Missile missiles, orange peel missiles, missiles with machine guns strapped on them, spike ball missiles, fire ball missiles, soap bubble missiles, electrical missiles, freeze missiles, and, perhaps most deadly of all, brussle sprout missiles were coming toward them, though the cardboard missiles were pretty dangerous too; you should've seen the paper cuts they gave. Boom! Crash! Rumble! Only Butterscorch and fifteen of the strongest stromlings avoided them all. After all the missiles had shot out, the remaining maelstrom rolled three bombs toward the door to blow it up so they could get into the passage. Beep. Beep. Beep. BOOM! The bombs exploded, frying Butterscorch and the maelstrom and leaving the door intact. Frustrated, Butterscorch shot a bolt of fire at the door, melting it. The fifteen stromlings and Butterscorch trudged through the corridor until they got to a dead end. There were bars going up the wall like a ladder and, just like George had said, after the eighth rung there was just cold, hard stone. Butterscorch approached the third bar from the floor. She wished she knew what the code was, but since the Darkitect had told her she needed to get to the end, she decided to try guessing what the code was. There was a microphone in which to speak the password. "Roar roar roar," she commanded a stromling. He went up to the microphone. "Hmmm…maybe…hmmm. What could the password be? I want to guess it right, but I don't even know where to start." "Growl." "Alright, alright, I'm trying to guess it as quickly as possible. I've got it! Open Sesame." The ceiling started to move. "Yes, I got it!" But the stromling was wrong. The ceiling was not moving upward, it was moving downward. "No, no, no, no, no, no, n…" SQUASH! When the ceiling rose off the floor, there were sixteen purple pancakes on the ground. A plumber, not noticing sixteen purple pancakes, walked on top of them and went to the microphone. "Mr. Taco and the Great Taco: The Password," he said. The ceiling started moving, upward this time. The minifigure climbed up the ladder, reached the top, and spoke the password that closed the door. "Mr. Taco and the Great Taco: The Other Password." The door started to close. Butterscorch unstuck herself from the ground. "Rowl! Rowly roar!" She said in an urgent voice. Which means, "Come on! The door's closing and we need to get in there." Only seven of the stromlings survived this time. Being a giant, overweight dragon, Butterscorch had difficulty climbing up the bars and let the stromlings go first, and yes, Butterscorch, you are overweight. The door was nearly closed, and she scrambled up, clawing and scratching the walls, and flapping her wings as much as she could in the small tunnel. Just before the door closed shut, Butterscorch shot out. Well, almost. With a CRUNCH, the door closed on her tail. It was all bruised and black and blue. Then again, being a maelstrom dragon, her tail is black and blue all the time. Finally she got out. She saw their goal. The hatch that led into the taco store lay just ahead. This was what they had come for. If they used this secret passageway, they wouldn't have to get past all the traps set around the faction leader's bedrooms. Butterscorch looked around. She couldn't see the trap that George had said was "the greatest of them all." Evidently, the stromlings did. They ran off, leaving only Butterscorch to invade Nexus Tower. "Roar!" She commanded them, but they didn't listen. They had seen a $4.03 gift certificate for Mr. Taco and the Great Taco: The Store! The largest gift certificate available was for $2.49! They ran toward it and all made a grab for it at the same time, bumping, tripping, and falling all over each other. One stromling, the one that carried the hypnotic baby music iPod, managed to get to the top of the pile. "Rowl roar rowly roar roar!" yelled Butterscorch. Translated as, "No, don't touch it! It'll probably shoot missiles at you as soon as you do!" He did not heed her warning. As soon as his fingertips the gift certificate, a missile rack folded out from the ceiling, shooting missiles just as Butterscorch had predicted. Fortunately for the stromlings, they all hit Butterscorch instead of them and they were able to escape with the precious piece of paper! Well, maybe escape is not the right word. Machine guns started shooting bullets at all of them. Only one escaped. It was the one that held the hypnotic baby music iPod. He was an elite Stromling, that's why he had been chosen to carry the iPod and why he had survived for so long. He ran down a side passage that was used for plumbing. He heard minifigures ahead, so he took out his minifigure disguise and put it on. He looked just like any other minifigure. There were two maintenance workers walking along the corridor. The stromling followed them in his disguise. Since he didn't have a security card, he couldn't open up the doors, but when the maintenance workers left the tunnels, he could follow them out. They approached a door. One of the maintenance workers spoke. "Ok, uh, there were warnings saying that maelstrom have been sighted so we'll stand guard," he gestured to himself and the other minifigure, "while you type in the code," he pointed to the maelstrom that looked like a minifigure. "Uh, oh," the stromling thought. "I don't know the password. If I ask them what it is, they might become suspicious. Hmm, what was the one that the minifigure said...I want to get it right because last time when I got it wrong the roof fell on my head…Oh, I remember what it was!" he thought. "Mr. Taco and the Great Taco: The Password," he said out loud. There was a rumbling. "Dude," said the other minifigure in a shaky voice. "What were you thinking? The password is Open Sesame." The ceiling started to come down. The two minifigures dived to the wall and showed their ID cards so that a little opening appeared for them to squeeze into and avoid being squashed by the roof. "Hurry up," called one of them. "Show your ID card and the space will become big enough for you to squeeze into." Of course, the stromling didn't have an ID card, so in the end, he went SQUASH! When the roof rose back up, the disguise fell of him. The two minifigures were not happy to see that a stromling had stolen the $4.03 gift certificate for Mr. Taco and the Great Taco: The Store, Nexus Force's most prized possession. Boom! Crash! Rumble!

Chapter 16

SkilledHonoredNinja got ready. He was going to rescue George, and to do that, he would need the bravest warriors in the universe! First, he went to recruit one of the greatest known warriors, Unit55! He found the brave Space Marauder cowering on his couch, hiding from a cricket. Ok, maybe he might be scared of bugs a little (or a lot) but he would still accompany SkilledHonoredNinja on this daring adventure. "Let us go, Unit55, on this daring adventure." said Skill with an air of adventure in his voice. "No way!" said Unit55 "I am sooo not going to accompany you on this daring adventure." "Rats." "Before you leave, tell me who you're rescuing?" "George." Skill said solemnly. "What! They can't have him! I'm coming with you!" Unit55 exclaimed. "Good, now let us go, we have more people to meet!" A map appears and it shows a space shuttle soaring across it, Indian Jones style. "You know," said Skill. "I've been thinking of writing a story of what happed here, about the time I played my electric guitar and didn't wake up George, and the battle of nexus tower. Well, I was thinking, when I post it, maybe I should make a map with a space shuttle soaring along it, Indiana Jones style. I wonder how long it will take to rescue George?" "I hope it's soon, 'cause I want to get back to playing my video games!" replied Unit55. More dramatic music plays. "Hey, we missed our next stopping point!" called Skill. The space shuttle soaring above the Indian Jones style map screeches to a halt, turns around, and flies back to where they were supposed to stop. "There, that's better." Skill got off. "Here it is…" What Unit55 saw was shocking. He saw (drum roll, please)…nothing! "Impressive," said Unit55 sarcastically. "Oops, looks like the Indiana Jones map was right after all. This isn't quite the right place." "Here is the right place." The space ship on the Indiana Jones map screeches to a halt, barely stopping in time. "Ok, maybe that wasn't exactly the right place…" Skill said when as they took off in their space ship, barely avoiding the boulders thrown by the 20,000 maelstrom apes that inhabited the planet. Suddenly, the ship stopped. "Uh oh, I think we must be out of gas, and we're 100,000 miles from the nearest gas station," said Skill. "In case you haven't noticed, the gasoline mater reads full." said Unit55 "I knew that, I was just testing your gasoline meter reading skills!" said Skill. "Then why did we stop?" said Unit55. "Uh, maybe our engine failed." The ship shook slightly. "We're on some strange planet," said Skill. "Nowhere near our destination." Then, a rank three Daredevil walked out carrying a Rutcarver. "Ok, maybe this is our destination, I'm just a couple million miles off, that's all." Unit55 rolled his eyes.

Chapter 17

"Hello, Skill! How're you doing?" "I'm doing ok. I'd like you to meet Unit55." "Hello, Unit55! Kray Z. Risk's the name and being awesome's the game." "Hi," Unit55 replied. "So, Skill, what's been going on lately?" "Unit55 and I are going to recue George from the maelstrom." "Nice! And I assume that you want me to go with you? Sure I'll come. Let's go!" Kray Z. Risk wheeled his rut carver around and hopped into the shuttle." "Look at that!" exclaimed Kray. "You've got one of those Indiana Jones style maps that show your space shuttle flying across it! Awesome!" He started looking at the map, turning it over to examine the back of it, and studying the destinations on it. Next stop: the Gnarled Forest!" Exiting music plays. Bom bom bom bobobo bombombom bom bo!

Chapter 18

Skill sat in his chair, leaning back in it, thinking. They would stop at the pirate camp, get some supplies and meat up with the assembly minifigure, and then go to Forbidden Valley and pick up the ninja. He looked over at the Indiana Jones map. After a while he got bored, and pushed a button on it that played the Indiana Jones song. The Indiana Jones song stopped and Skill turned on the TV. "Today on the boring channel we shall interview this rock!" Skill changed the channel. "Hello. If you're one of those people who really wants to have the nicest fashion of elephant skin, than you're not alone! Come right over to Bart's Big Blow out sale and you could get…" Next channel. "All new on the Anatomy channel: studies show that the minifigures' brain might be made of banana milkshake particles…" Next channel. "Today's weather: Partly cloudy with a high chance of a maelstrom vortex…" Next channel. "Are you having trouble with your computer?" No. Next channel. "Are you bored? Well, just go to Lego Message Boards and read the all new story Lego Universe: A Comedy!" "Hmm," thought Skill. "That story sounds good. I'll have to check it out. Anyway, next channel." "Today on Hit It Big, we shall be seeing who can eat a fifty ton cake in fifteen seconds!" Skill remembered that George had once won that one once. "And then, we shall see who can survive the longest in The Cockroach Room of Doom." Everyone in the audience gasped. "Gasp!" The contestants looked a little less sure of themselves. "The Cockroach Room of Doom," though Skill. Kray and I once entered in that contest together. It's hard. Even though you can kill the cockroaches in one hit, and with Skill's orbital strike, he can kill a lot, there are so many of them they just over whelm you." "WE'RE HERE!" Kray Z. Risk called out. "So we're finally here," thought Skill. "Time to go." And he stepped out of the shuttle.

Chapter 19

They had arrived at the pirate camp and Skill stepped out of the shuttle. Bad choice. Just because they had arrived at the pirate camp, didn't mean that they had landed yet. Skill fell on the ground, went SPLAT, and had his head stuck in the sand. "Where's Skill?" shouted Kray Z. Risk. "I need his help landing this thing." "I think that's him with his head stuck in the sand," replied Unit55. "Mph mph mp mmph mph!" said Skill. "Ok, I guess I'll just have to land this thing all by myself," Kray announced. "Can't be too hard." He tried steering the ship to the left but steered it too much to the left so that the ship spun around and around and around and around and around and into a tree. BONK! It slammed into the palm tree and stopped. Bonk! Bonk! Bonk! A bunch of coconuts fell through the cockpit and onto Kray's head. Kray backed up the ship and turned it around. "Oops, sorry 'bout that," said Kray to Skill, nodding his head toward the giant dent in the front windshield. "There we go, I got the hang of it now." He landed the ship in the middle of the pirate camp. Unfortunately, he landed it on one of the campfires that the pirates had made. "What's that smell?" said Unit55. "Smells like smoke." "Smoke? Ah! Smoke!" the fire alarms turned on. The fire reached the fuel cells. I think most of you know what happens when fire and gasoline are combined. KA-BOOMY! "I HAD MY NEWEST VIDEO GAME IN THERE!" screamed Unit55. "AND MY PORTABLE MAELSTROM TESTING KIT!" The ship was sent sky high. No, wait…according to my calculations it was 5.36 miles less than sky high. Whatever, sky high is close enough. Have you ever heard the saying "What goes up must come down?" "OUT OF MY WAY!" screamed Kray, pushing and shoving other minifigures aside. He sprinted as fast as he could and ran into a cliff face which teetered precariously for a moment, then fell over on Kray Z. Risk. He struggled to get free, and finally Kray managed to poke his head out. He looked up, let out a yelp, and dived back down into the ruble just as the remains of Skill's rocket smashed down where Kray's head had been seconds before. It took a long time to get Kray out of that one.

Chapter 20

Skill hoisted himself out of the dirt, knocked the sand off his clothes and brushed his hair with his hands. He glared at Kray, his eyebrows so slanted that they looked like they would slide off. Then a rank three Inventor walked up and Skill stopped glaring, turned and saw who it was. "Ah, hello Kate!" said Skill to a rank three Inventor. "Hi Skill, what's up?" "The sky." Kate face palmed. "Why didn't I see that coming?" she said to herself. "Why are you here," she said to Skill. "Kray, Unit55, and I are going to rescue George. I wanted to know whether you would like to come with us." "Sure," said Kate. "Alright, Kate, this is Kray Z. Risk and this is Unit55. Guys, this is Kate Ion, Rank three Inventor. "Hello," said Unit55." "Howdy," said Kray. "And now for our final stop: Forbidden Valley."

Chapter 21

They headed for the launch pad at the end of the pirate camp, but before they could reach it a bunch of maelstrom admirals appeared, blocking their path. Then, a bunch of bananas appeared, bonking the admirals on the head and unblocking the path. "Good going Bob!" shouted Kray. "Who's Bob?" asked Unit55. "Why he's me monkey!" Kray said with enthusiasm. "You've got a monkey?" "Yes, he's got rank three armor in all of the Venture League faction armors, and the buccaneer Faction armor comes with a monkey." "Oh. But what's so special about Bob? You just now said good job to a monkey!" Immediately Unit55 was pelted with bananas, and up in a banana tree Skill saw a small monkey slinging some more. When Unit55 got up, there were five banana shaped dents on his helmet. "Don't insult Bob," Kray advised. "Now you tell me," moaned Unit55. He sat up and wiped the banana peels off his visor. "Arg! It jammed my scanners." "Was it strawberry jam or blueberry?" asked Skill sarcastically. "Oh, I almost forgot, it was banana." "Ha ha." Unit55 said blandly. "Stop arguing," said Kate. "The admirals are getting up." The admirals got up. They were not happy that they had been pelted with bananas. Skill flipped out his laser gun and knocked a pirate backwards, then smashed two more with a well placed orbital strike. Unit55 revved up his wormholer, summoning a mech to assist him and firing a stream of bullets at the nearest pirates. Kate shot them down from the back with her inventor gun, then pressed a button on her vest and built a rapid fire turret, cutting down enemies with the blasts. And Kray scooted along on his Rutcarver like it was a unicycle, scurrying away as fast as possible toward the safety of the trees. "I smashed fifty-nine stromlings!" called out Unit55. "I smashed forty-nine stromlings" called out Kate. "I smashed fifty-nine stromlings!" called out Skill. "And I collected sixty-nine gazillion coins without doing any of the fighting at all!" called out Kray, holding up a bag full of money. Skill, Unit55, and Kate all glared at him. "Well, my monkey threw a banana an admiral to helped fight," Kray suggested timidly. "So, anyway," Kray said, changing the subject. "Are we going to rescue George now?" "No," Skill said solemnly, though still glaring at Kray. "We've got one more stop to make."

Chapter 22

At the Forbidden Valley launch pad in Nimbus Station, SkilledHonoredNinja put on a red hood before taking out his rocket. "What's the hood for, Skill?" Kray asked. "The hood allows me to pass through the force fields on Forbidden Valley and if I wear it when I fly to Forbidden Valley, I am allowed to land on the launch pad by the great tree." "Oh," said Kray. Skill pulled out a Ninjago skeleton rocket from his back pack, and put it on the launch pad. He had always liked Ninjago, and he thought that was why his last name was Ninja. He wasn't that thrilled about the paradox, he had always liked the Sentinels and the Assembly better, but he felt at home in Ninjago and had always wondered how he had got his name. He had been given an ID card so that when other minifigures with other cards were around him, his name would appear as a holograph above his head in an orange rectangle. Skill pushed a button on his ship and a seat unfolded behind him, as well as on the sides of the ship. Unit55, Kray, and Kate got into them and Skill rocketed off from the pirate camp. "Why are we using this rocket? Why can't we use the other one where you can get up and walk around and that has a TV and which has a cockpit and which is way more roomy?" complained Kray. "You blew that one up when you tried to land it," Skill said. "Oh, but I left my root beer on that one!" The rocket blasted off. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Kray sobbed over the loss of his root beer. "Wow, you're sure good at keeping calm," Skill said sarcastically. " Anyway, It might be slightly hard to find the person we're looking for since he could be anywhere on Forbidden Valley and knows the art of blending in with his surroundings, so we don't need your crying to make it harder." The ship landed on Forbidden Valley and they got off. "Kate, you search up at the great tree for him. Kray, you check the force field at the beginning of the planet for him. Unit55, you're coming with me to search the maelstrom refinery for him." "Who exactly are we looking for?" Kate inquired. "A minifigure named Shard Ly Swift; he wears a black ninja clothes and is a master of blending in with the shadow. He usually carries a black shuriken in each hand, but sometimes he will use a grey spear. He is investigating something that may help our mission greatly. Alright, move out!" The four heroes, five if you include Kray's monkey, split up and disappeared into the shadow. As they left, a shadow silently dropped down from the sky and looked out after them. This shadow was certainly not a minifigure. It was a creature that wrecked havoc everywhere it went. It was a creature that will have to wait till the next chapter. Dun dun dun!

Chapter 23

She watched. The blue and white minifigure went off in one direction with the purple and black minifigure, the yellow and orange minifigure went another direction, and the greenish one started to go another way but slipped behind some rocks as soon as he was out of sight of the first minifigures. Minifigures, nasty creatures. But she would get them. After all she was the greatest dragon in the world! She would go after the blue one and the purple one first. She walked forward without making a noise. But noise isn't all that the two adventurers relied on. "My five piece bonus that shows dangerous enemies and collectibles is beeping," said Unit55. "It's a dangerous enemy, though I don't know what kind, the scanner doesn't say." They readied their weapons and turned to face the enemy. Suddenly a dragon crashed through the crooked trees scattered around Forbidden Valley and jumped out. It roared "Rooooooooooooooooooar." "Butterfly," muttered Skill. "Who?" "Butterfly," said Skill again. "Isn't that a nickname for Butterscorch?" inquired Unit55. "That's what everyone thinks, but it's not the truth. Butterfly is Butterscorch's little sister." "Butterscorch's little sister?!" said Unit55, slightly surprised. "Yes, she's a Forbidden Valley maelstrom dragon." "What about-" But Unit55 never finished his sentence for Butterfly suddenly shot a bolt of fire at the two of them. Boom! Skill called up an orbital strike-Zap!-and Unit55 threw a plasma bomb. Boom! Butterfly charged thought their attacks and drove them against a cliff. She reared up and was about to strike when the chapter ended.

Chapter 24

Unit55 watched in horror as Butterfly cornered Skill against a cliff. Unit55 ran towards her, firing his gun, but with a sweep of her tail it was sent flying into the shadow. He needed to find something to fight her with. Unit55 reached into his backpack and pulled out a sword. A couple of fire balls latter it was just a glob of molten metal. He rummaged through his pack, desperately looking for something that could help. He shoved aside the pizza he had ordered a few years earlier and forgotten to eat, and pulled out a rocket launcher. Bad idea. The five-year-old pizza box swung open, emitting a rotten pizza that could be smelt a mile away. Unit55 gagged and was knocked out, and the rocket launcher that he had grabbed fell onto the pizza. When it hit the toxic concoction of bread and cheese, it splashed a drop of tomato sauce onto Butterfly! The acidic tomatoes burned through her scales and a pepperoni rolled off the pizza, heading toward her. In desperation, Butterfly shot a bolt of fire at the pepperoni but the flames only made her situation worse. The pepperoni caught on fire and exploded. KA-BOOMY Flaming pepperoni dust drifted down from the sky and settled on the ground, poisoning all plants in the area.

And the moral of the story is to always make sure you have some five-year-old rotting pizza stored in your backpack in case you need some extra ammo.

Chapter 25: Butterfly: A Children's Story

Once upon a time there was a butterfly. But it wasn't a normal butterfly. It was really a dragon named Butterfly! Then, some evil people in space armor came and blasted her! She had to run! See Butterfly run! Run Butterfly, run! Than an evil person in a ninja suit came and threw some spiky triangle things at her. Now remember kids, never throw spiky things. The mean ninja came and took out a grey spear which he whacked her with! He's going to get in trouble if he doesn't stop and say sorry. Than a person in yellow armor came and shot zappy things at her! But in the end, they are bound to get punished. Now remember kids, the moral of the story is never be mean to other people.

Chapter 26

Butterfly ran away from the evil pizza while Skill shot a few laser bolts at her and tried to keep her from getting away. She ran to the edge of the cliff to jump off and fly away, but just before she could, she flopped over as if someone had attacked her. Actually, someone HAD Attacked her. Shard jumped out from the shadows and threw a shuriken at Butterfly's wing, pinning her to the tree right behind her. Hearing the commotion, Kate ran up and shot some blasts at the dragon. Butterfly fell over and off the cliff. She tried to flap her wings and fly back up, but unfortunately the tree Shard had pinned her was still stuck to her wing. Kray and Kate came running up and Kate said, "Sorry I took so long to get here, I was reading this great book called Butterfly: A Children's Story, but I don't think it should be just for children, it's a great book for all ages! There's this nice little dragon named Butterfly, and these evil people in space ranger suits and this evil ninja! I hope Butterfly is Ok. She's just soooo cute, and in that little story, Butterfly: A Children's Story, the evil bad guys attack her! And then-" "Kate! That dragon we just now defeated IS Butterfly! If it wasn't for Shard BUTTERFLY WOULD HAVE BLASTED ME!" Skill shouted. "We could have become crispy critters!" Unit55 chimed in. "We would have become fried minifigure chops!" added Kray. "ALL BECAUSE OF BUTTERFLY!" Skill finished. "But the story was so cute, and the ending is so nice-" "ARG! THE ENDING IS BRUTAL!" "Don't say that, it was nice and peaceful, well, except for the part where that monkey got blasted," Bob let out a strangled screech and toppled off Kray's shoulder, "but other than that it very nice. "Yeh right…" "Though that ninja was also very mean! He kept on throwing things! He should have learned in preschool not to throw things…" Shard tested the sharpness of his shuriken (AKA: Spiky thing) on the edge of his hand, and as Kate rambled on about how "that evil ninja needs a good, hard punishment," he rubbed his shuriken with more and more intensity until Skill had to stop him before he sawed his own hand off. "And that green person, he's so naughty, he needs to get a lesson on being nice to other people, in fact, he…" Kray just stood there, gaping at Kate, his face nearly exactly like his monkey's. "And then that blue person who kept on shooting blue zappies was so mean. He probably was the meanest, he kept on attacking them for no reason! With all those mean things you did you would think that dragon had attacked him first…" Skill just stood there, gritting his teeth and trying not scream at her. "That yellow person, though, she was the worst. She shot Butterfly with orange zappy things! And then she launched a horde of evil bumble bees at her! How cruel!" "Arg!" screamed Skill. "Oh, don't worry Skill, Butterfly was Ok." "Kate...It...Butterfly...Oh, never mind."

Chapter 27

The shuttle landed, and everyone hopped off. Skill headed for the mechanics shop where his space shuttle was being fixed. When he arrived, the mechanic said. "Dude, what did ya do ta this thing?" It looks like some 'un landed dis thing on one of the camp fires 'round here and the fire got to the fuel cells which exploded and sent this thing 5.36 miles less than sky high. And then it looks like it fell onta a minifig. That's strange. "Um…" "Well anyway, here's yer rocket." "Um…Thanks." Skill took the shuttle and set it down. Immediately there was a mad dash toward the ship and Kray burst inside screaming. "MY ROOOOOT BEEEEER!" He ran through the ship, heedless to what he knocked over, and jumped right over the dinner table to a room in the back. Of course, he didn't jump far enough over the dinner table and he landed smack dab in the middle of a lasagna when he was halfway there. From his face, though, you would have thought he didn't notice. He just kept on pushing the table with his hands to try and scoot the lasagna pan forward. He reached his hand out and streeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetched out toward the door handle. His fingers grasped upon it…He turned the handle…He pulled forward…And he fell off the dinner table with the lasagna on top of him. Kray ripped it off and threw it behind him where crashed through the window and it hit Skill in the face. Kray ran forward…He burst through the door…And he found an empty root beer bottle in Bob's hands. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO YOU! WHAY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME! YOU CRAZY MONKEY!" Immediately he was pelted with bananas. "Don't insult Bob," Unit55 advised as he walked into the room. "Oh I'll get Bob for this. Monkeys might be able to pelt random people with bananas when they get insulted, but they can't pelt their own master…" Kray said as a banana peel landed on his head. He strode toward Bob and grabbed him by his tail. The monkey wriggled out of his grasp and dived through the window. Kray dived out after him. They headed straight down toward the sea, Kray trying to grab Bob all the while. Just before they hit the water, Bob grabbed a tree branch that was sticking out and held on, while Kray Z. Risk continued the plunge down to the water. Bob secreeched with laughter until the branch he was sitting on broke and he fell into the water also.

Chapter 28

Dripping wet, Kray Z. Risk emerged from the water holding a still struggling Bob by his tail. He came up to them and said "Got 'im." "Alright, now let's get to business. I think I have a way to find the…Where's Shard?" Skill asked. "Don't know. "No idea," they others said. "Arg. Why does everyone have to wander off?" Skill muttered. "Hey, I didn't," interjected Unit55. "I wasn't talking about you." "But you said everyone…" "Just find Shard, ok?" "Fine." Unit55 walked up to a nearby pirate. "Excuse me, but have you seen a ninja around here? He's named Shard and he'll probably-" "SHARD!" screamed the startled pirate who jumped into a nearby trash can and stayed there for the next hour. "I guess we won't be getting any information from him," Skill said. They looked around the pirate camp for Shard, and passed a ratty old pirate talking with a person who had grey clothes on and a colorful feather sticking out of his hood. Considering the reaction of the first pirate they talked to, Skill decided it would be better not to bring up the topic of Shard with the two people. They walked on, looking for Shard. They passed the two people again on their way back. They looked around some more. And some more. They passed the pirate and the person with the feather in his hat again. And they looked around some more. They passed the two people again, and Kate happened to look into the face of the person with the feather. It was Shard. "Hey, where have you been?" Kate said, "We've been looking all over for you, Shar-" Fast as a ninja, Shard grabbed a banana out of Bob's startled hands and stuffed it in Kate's mouth before she could say his name. Unit55 looked over and said, "Hey, it is you Sha-" Shard grabbed Unit55's helmet and turned it around so all that could be heard where some muffled complaints. "Hmm…" Kray muttered to himself. "I can get the reward for Sh-" Shard tripped him into the water before he could say anymore. Seeing the fate of his other companions, Skill decided it would be best not to push the subject of Shard's name. He waited and listened to the conversation Shard saw having with the pirate. The pirate said, "So Ricardo, who are these people?" "Oh, just some annoying friends of mine." Unit55's complaints grew louder and Shard stuffed his helmet onto his head even harder. Skill looked over at a piece of paper nailed to a palm tree that said:

"Wanted: Shard the ninja for numerous crimes, including the theft of pirate treasure, the freeing of other imprisoned ninjas, attacks on pirates, pirate strongholds, and pirate ships, and many other crimes. 1,000,000,000 coin award to any who catch him."

Then he looked up at a nearby billboard that said:

"COMING SOON

Ricardo the Ninja!!!

Here to preform some of his astounding ninja-flippy-kung-fu-stuff; LIVE!! Yes folks, you heard me right, the one and only Ricardo the Ninja has come to perform straight from his starring role in the hit story, LEGO Universe: A Comedy!! Buy your tickets now to see LIVE, RICARDO THE NINJA!!!!

-SamLoopLoop advertising Inc."

He looked over at another piece of paper nailed to a palm tree that said:

"Ricardo the Ninja! The only pirate friendly ninja in existence!"

Ricardo finished his conversation with the pirate and walked off toward Skill's ship and went inside. Unit55 pulled off his helmet, walked inside the ship after him, and shouted, "Shard! What was that for! You put my helmet on backwards so that I couldn't see anything and then called me annoying! Why?!" Before Shard could answer his question, however, Kate stormed in with banana all over her face a demanded, "Why did you stuff a half monkey eaten banana in my face?!" Before Shard could even utter a word, Kray came inside, dripping wet, and said. "I never would have thought it! The evil infamous, cruel, horrendous Shard was really Ricardo! Who would have thought?!" After a couple of hours of bickering, Skill was finally able to launch the shuttle and go off to rescue George.

Chapter 29

The heroes got into their ship and prepared to rescue George. They...

"Ah, hello George," said Skill, seeing his friend walk into the room. "I was just about to type the part where we went to rescue you. What brings you here?" "TIME FOR THE FIREWORKS!" came Shouty McBullhorn's voice, reverberating through Nexus Tower. "That," said George simply. "FINALLY! It's time!" George and Skill dashed out of the tower and out onto the front lawn, and George pulled a bag of popcorn out of nowhere and they started munching on it. But as they lay in wait for the fireworks, something lay in wait for them. "THE FIREWORKS SHALL NOW COMMENCE!" Shouted Shouty. A group of Nexus Force bombers streaked across the sky and dropped some small fireworks into the air. They exploded in the shape of the Nexus Force symbol, and everyone started clapping. There where exploding bricks that the Assembly shot up, weirdo rockets which some Venture Leaguers had made from some unknown something and which made kazoo sound when they exploded in a burst of green flame, maelstrom missiles which exploded in a could of maelstrom fog, and Sentinel fireworks which just flew up and did nothing. They did come back down to the ground and hit Shouty McBullhorn on the head, knocking him out. The crowd cheered at that because his repetitive commands and instructions where getting annoying. (He had a long talk with the sentinel faction about the quality of their fireworks after that.) They watched more fireworks, imported from the pirate camp and with spectacular results, ones given by the ninjas and which instead of exploding in flam, actually were darker than the sky, and one donated by Bob the minifigure, and which exploded to the sound "BOB RULES!" The fireworks shot up and up, and then the creature saw her chance. Skill had just reached past George to take a sip out of his milkshake when she attacked. Butterscorch flew up into the air and breathed a jet of fire down at the minifigures below. The flames blew past George and hit a small container of fireworks, which promptly exploded and ended everyone's problem of Butterscorch. Who need worry about a dragon who got blown into a nearby pond? They continued eating popcorn as normal, but Butterscorch was not finished. She got out of the pond and bared her teeth. She would smash those minifigures no matter what. They would regret messing with the most powerful dragon in the universe! Fire burned from her eyes with hate. She rose out of the pond and hit her head on a tree branch which was sticking out over the water. Angrily she flew into the air, ripping the tree branch out of her way, and flew at the minifigures. She opened her mouth to blast fire at the minifigures. Now, just as she opened her mouth the fireworks-operator-guy shot two more fireworks into the sky. The first one went up her nose and she tried to get it out. The second one was nowhere to be seen; it had gone down her throat. The firework exploded, and flames spewed out of her ears. She went flying through the air, and landed in a petting zoo. A small little two-year-old girl walked up to Butterscorch and said, "Ooh, look at this little animal. Hey, look mommy, it's that little doggy that I took to the doggy show. And I won mommy! Isn't that great? And now it's here to by petted, oh, it's just so cute!" Butterscorch let out a moan of despair.

Chapter 30

"So, this is a scrap of paper that was found by the battle field," Skill explained to the others. "It turns out that it was written by a stromling." "Ooooo." Everyone gasped. "Yes, yes, now anyway, if we follow the notes written on it we will be able to find the Baron's secret base." "But if it's secret, how can we find it?" Kray inquired. Skill groaned. "Just…just…be quiet. So here it is." He threw down a small scrap of paper. Skill read it out loud. "It is titled, 'My stromling notebook.'" He opened it up. "It says, 'Today I went to my first day of stromling training camp. They told us that most stromlings would run at the minifigures, but the minifigures would just shoot them before they had taken two steps. I know that isn't true, because all of the minifigures shoot me before I take one step. The instructor then told us that to prevent this, we must take a class on dodging stuff. They threw one water balloon at us and we had to dodge it. I did the best in the WHOLE class! I dodged all of them but one! And then we took a class on how to use our weapons. The instructor told me that I was supposed to swing the blade on my hand at the minifigures, not use it to brush my teeth. Great, NOW he tells me. Then we went back to our outpost so which lets you get to the Baron's secret base. The coordinates for our stromling outpost are 537B/87 and 372D/29. There was this other stromling that told me not to put the coordinates here in case it got stolen by some minifigures, but we all know he's crazy. No minifigure is going to find this. Besides, even if a minifigure did find this he wouldn't know that the password to get in our outpost is 'Bubbles'. Our outpost which will let you find the Baron's secret base is entirely safe.'" "Great! Now all we have to do is go to this outpost and then we can find the secret base!" cried Kate. "It's not quite as simple as that," Skill warned her. "Our scans show that the stromling outpost is directly underneath the central assignment corridor for Hit It BIG™. "GASP!" Unit55 gasped. Kray just sat there and said nothing (The first time in his life he's been able to do that), and Bob fell off Kray's shoulder again. "The what is going up the what to the what?!?!" Kate immediately asked. "You know about Hit It BIG™, right?" Skill confirmed. "No." "Ok, hit it big is a TV show where you are given various challenges and the person who does them all wins. It is very hard, and only a few people have completed it. One of them was George. He is the only person yet who has completed the Who-Can-Eat-a-Fifty-Ton-Cake-in-Fifteen-Seconds challenge. Also, one of the most well known of the challenges is the Cockroach Room of Doom." "Oh yes, my friend once told me about it she said it was full of cockroaches and that it was very yucky and that there was this one person who-" Skill cut Kate off. "It's very hard to get through. Kray and I once tried to do it together but we were both overwhelmed. Don't be lulled into a false sense of security because of their size. You won't make it." "And then my friend said, 'I love LEGO friends also,' and we were just about to go and get the-" "Where you even listening to what I said?!?!" Skill cried. "Yes, you just now told me not to get a false sense of security." "Alright, good. Now, we will have to enter, and win, Hit It BIG if we want to rescue George.

Chapter 31

They arrived at the place, the Hit It BIG™ headquarters. They walked into the waiting room. It had a TV in the corner which was playing The Boring Channel. "Today on The Boring Channel, we shall be interviewing BoBo N. Pickle. What is your absolute favorite thing, Mr. Pickle?" "Pickles." "What is your favorite thing that is green?" "Pickles." What is your favorite thing at the supermarket?" "Pickles." "What is your favorite food?" "Pickles." "What is your favorite food that is green?' "Pickles." "What is your…" As the Boring Channel continued asking Bobo N. Pickle more useless questions that anyone with half a brain could guess, Skill waited looked at the contest chart. "Oh no, according to this chart the contest we have to complete to get to the stromling outpost is #5." Kray flinched, Unit55 started muttering "No-no-no-no-no-no-no…" and Kate looked on bewildered. "What's…?" "Number 5? It's the contest course with the Cockroach Room of Doom," Skill answered. Unit55 started muttering with increased intensity. "The Number 5 contest will start in ten minutes," came a voice through the speakers. "Ten minutes to ponder my doom," Unit55 muttered. "Well it can't be that bad, I mean, they pull you out of the room once you lose, right?" said Kate "Yes, but have you ever had one million cockroaches crawling all over you, infesting your armor, crushing you to the ground?" Skill asked. Kate was silent. "It's time we go, Skill" said Shard. "Yes. Let's go." "And now, we shall start, course #5!" The announcer announce. "There's the announcer," observed Shard, "it looks like Bo Staff, a former ninja before he took up the job of announcing for Hit It BIG™." "Stop putting the ™ at the end of Hit It Big whenever you say it, it's getting creepy." Kate shuddered. "And now," Bo Staff announced, "is the first team. Give a round of applause for these brave contesters, SkilledHonoredNinja, Unit55, Kate Fusion Ion, Kray Z. Risk, and Shard Ly Swift." "How did they know our names?!?! This is getting REALLY creepy." "Uh, Kate, I gave them our names on a sign in sheet," Skill told her. "Oh."

"A round of applause for team two, SkullCreeper, DemonDude, EvilBreath, SlicerEvilDestroyer, and Blub. And now here's team three, BuildyBuildy, CoolGuy, Cool Ade, the Cockroach Whisperer, and BoBo N. Pickle." "And the first challenge will be, The GREAT Pie Wars." The audience gasped. "The judges have decided that you can use other foods as long as it is approved by your team administrator."

The heroes walked back into a back room and loaded up with pie weapons, cupcake launchers, and other tools of that sort. Kray Z. Risk drew out a gleaming saber. The label stuck on the side of it said, "This sword is a favorite of those in the Venture League faction. It is made from the sharpest cheese available and has cheese cloth wrapped around the hilt for a non-slip grip." Kate started building an automatic pie detonator, while Unit55 worked on cherry-pit falls to protect their base. Shard practiced throwing tomatoes the same way as his shurikens, and Skill took a long poll with a pie stuck on the end and a handful of small soda bottles which he stuffed in his pocket. Bo Staff's voice streamed out of the loudspeakers.

Attnetion, attention, The GREAT Pie Wars start in three minutes, that's three minutes."

"I guess it's time to head out then," Skill said to the others.

They entered the battle field, and saw team two lining up at their base with deep fried chicken legs ready to clobber anyone who got too near. Team three hurried in last at their base with Explosive cheese balls and Cool Aid launchers.

Bo Staff called out to the crowd. "Let the awesomeness commence!"

Chicken smashed into the fighters, pies flew through the air, dripping fruit juice behind them. A glinting cheese sword sliced through the peach-skin armor of Demon Dude and sent him sprawling backward. He tried to keep his balance and fell over, right into a pit fall; a pit fall filled with cherry pits. Many a man fell to a tomato in the face. Skill attacked the enemy with his Pie-Poll. He reached into his pocket and pulled out one of the soda bottles he put in there. He threw it into the fray, and watched as the cap burst of and the bottle exploded in a bust of Pepsi. It looked as if Team One would win, but then they fell to an onslaught of exploding cheese balls, heat seeking pickles, and a wave of Cool Aid. The heroes were swept off their feet to the ground.

"And it looks as if the battle is over," Bo Staff announced. "The winner is Team Three, with 10,000 points, second place is Team One, with 5,000 points, and Team Two with 3,000 points. Now for the next challenge; MAKE YOUR OWN RAP SONG!"

Chapter 32

Skill groaned.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Everyone turned to see who had shouted. "Heh, heh, I'm just not the biggest fan of rap songs," Unit55 explained. You have Five Minutes to make a rap song," announced Bo Staff. They went into a side room and started discussing what the song should be. "Let's make it about the maelstrom." "No, that's boring. Maybe something about a brave hero." "Rap songs are never about brave heroes. They're about creepy stuff like the maelstrom." "When's the last time you listened to a rap song?" "Um…" "Be quiet guys! I'm trying to think." "Maybe it should be about-"

"Please come to the main stage!" Bo staff announced.

They slowly walked out, discussing about the song all the while.

"Team Two has volunteered to go first!"

Team two walked out, all confident. EvilBreath started making rap noises. "Bom bo shee, bom bu bu shee. DUNCH! Bom bo shee, bom bu bu shee. DUNCH!" Blub added in his own noises. "Blub…Blub…Blub…Blub…Blub…Blub…Blub…"

DeamonDude started on the first verse. "YEH! Once 'pon a time! *DUNCH!* There was a minifigure! *DUNCH!* And he had his motorcycle, *Blub* painted red and black. Ooh ooh yeh yeh!" Bom bo bo, a wako rako smako bom bo! (blub)* "Yeh, yeh yeh yeh yeh yeyeyeyeyyey hehhheheheheheheh ehe eyeheyehye eyheye ehey ehye yeh! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH YEH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA CHOO!" Bom, bom bombobobombobom!* "And then he hopped on his motorcycle, *Bom (blub) Bom!* and CR/-\SHED! YYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Skill sighed with relief. How could a song as dumb as this win the contest? Team Three came on stage. They made a valiant attempt on a rap song, but it slowly evaporated into a marching song all about how tasty pickles and Cool Aid tasted when blended into a milkshake. "Team one!" Skill slowly shuffled forward to the stage. He leaned over to Kray and whispered, "Um, Kray, I don't really know much about how to do a rap song." "Oh, that's fine," he replied. "Leave it to me." Kray strode boldly out onto the stage and sang, "Once upon a time! There was this AwEsOmE dude. Named KRAY Z. RISK! And he was so awesome, yeh, very awesome, very very very very very very very very very very very very very AWESOME!" One of the judges plugged his ears with his fingers. One fell asleep. Then another one. Needless to say, team two won. Bo Staff announce what was to happen next. "And now, what you have all been waiting for… LUNCH BREAK!" The crowd gave a roar and stampeded out of the door, trying to get to the lunch stands first. After a lunch break that involved a lot of pushing and shoving, the next challenge commenced.

Chapter 33

Skill groaned.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Everyone turned to see who had shouted. "Heh, heh, I'm just not the biggest fan of rap songs," Unit55 explained. You have Five Minutes to make a rap song," announced Bo Staff. They went into a side room and started discussing what the song should be. "Let's make it about the maelstrom." "No, that's boring. Maybe something about a brave hero." "Rap songs are never about brave heroes. They're about creepy stuff like the maelstrom." "When's the last time you listened to a rap song?" "Um…" "Be quiet guys! I'm trying to think." "Maybe it should be about-"

"Please come to the main stage!" Bo staff announced.

They slowly walked out, discussing about the song all the while.

"Team Two has volunteered to go first!"

Team two walked out, all confident. EvilBreath started making rap noises. "Bom bo shee, bom bu bu shee. DUNCH! Bom bo shee, bom bu bu shee. DUNCH!" Blub added in his own noises. "Blub…Blub…Blub…Blub…Blub…Blub…Blub…"

DeamonDude started on the first verse. "YEH! Once 'pon a time! *DUNCH!* There was a minifigure! *DUNCH!* And he had his moterscycle, *Blub* painted red and black. Ooh ooh yeh yeh!" Bom bo bo, a wako rako smako bom bo! (blub)* "Yeh, yeh yeh yeh yeh yeyeyeyeyyey hehhheheheheheheh ehe eyeheyehye eyheye ehey ehye yeh! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH YEH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA CHOO!" Bom, bom bombobobombobom!* "And then he hopped on his motorcycle, *Bom (blub) Bom!* and CR/-\SHED! YYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Skill sighed with relief. How could a song as dumb as this win the contest? Team Three came on stage. They made a valiant attempt on a rap song, but it slowly evaporated into a marching song all about how tasty pickles and Cool Aid tasted when blended into a milkshake. "Team one!" Skill slowly shuffled forward to the stage. He leaned over to Kray and whispered, "Um, Kray, I don't really know much about how to do a rap song." "Oh, that's fine," he replied. "Leave it to me." Kray strode boldly out onto the stage and sang, "Once upon a time! There was this AwEsOmE dude. Named KRAY Z. RISK! And he was so awesome, yeh, very awesome, very very very very very very very very very very very very very AWESOME!" One of the judges plugged his ears with his fingers. One fell asleep. Then another one. Needless to say, team two won. Bo Staff announce what was to happen next. "And now, what you have all been waiting for… LUNCH BREAK!" The crowd gave a roar and stampeded out of the door, trying to get to the lunch stands first. After a lunch break that involved a lot of pushing and shoving, the next challenge commenced.

Chapter 34

"BHHBTTINQASBINTSAOATHALOSTMYL." Bo Staff announced.

"BHHBTTINQASBINTSAOATHALOSTMYL, why did it have to be BHHBTTINQASBINTSAOATHALOSTMYL," Unit55 Moaned.

"What's…whatever that is?" Kate asked.

"It's a bunch of random letters." Kray said knowingly.

"It stands for Big Humongously Huge Thing That Is Not Quite A Square But Is Nearly The Same As One And That Has A Lot Of Stuff To Make You Lose." Skill answered.

"I knew that!" Kray reassured everyone.

"Most people just call it 'The Box.'" Skill continued.

"I knew that too!"

"Yep, BHHBTTINQASBINTSAOATHALOSTMYL." Unit55 repeated.

In the background, the crowd started chanting, "BHHBTTINQASBINTSAOATHALOSTMYL, BHHBTTINQASBINTSAOATHALOSTMYL, BHHBTTINQASBINTSAOATHALOSTMYL, BHHBTTINQASBINTSAOATHALOSTMYL," though half of them got the letters wrong so it sounded all mixed up.

"The three teams will enter the BHHBTTINQASBINTSAOATHALOSTMYL at three different locations. The first team to make it out wins. There is only one exit."

The five heroes, six if you include Bob, went to the entrance of BHHBTTINQASBINTSAOATHALOSTMYL,or "The Box," for short.

"Hit the dramatic music button." Bo Staff murmured to the sound crew. The sound crew hit the dramatic music button and dramatic music played. The three teams walked into "The Box." "On the count of three, you will all run in and try to get to the main exit." Bo Staff announced. "One, two-" Before Bo Staff even got close to saying three, SkullCreeper ran into the entrance. "Wait, wait! I'm not finished counting! Wait!" SkullCreeper stopped. "What up." Baffled, Bo Staff was not entirely sure how to respond to this unusual answer. "Um…" "So, are we gonna go, or not?" "Um, yes, of course, but you have to let me finish counting before you run in." "Alright, so hurry up and finish counting. Say three!" "I'm not going to say it until I'm ready." "What aren't you going to say until you're ready?" SlicerEvilDestroyer asked innocently. "Three," Bo Staff said. Immediately, everyone started running for the entrance. "No, wait, I didn't say three! Well, actually I did, but I didn't mean three! Hey, wait come back!" Skill was the only one who stopped. The rest ran on and he was left alone at the front of the entrance. "Oh, well, you go on now." Skill sped off.

Chapter 35

Skill popped a Quick-cycle into his mouth and caught up with his team. "So," he said panting, "What's the plan?" "Well, I found this hologra-map near the entrance, and we should be about here." Unit55 pointed to a spot on the map. "You're holding it upside-down," Skill said, turning the map over. "Oh, thanks, sorry." "So than we are here?" "No I don't think so. See, there's an intersection right here that we should have passed." "No, I think it's up ahead; we haven't passed it." "Hmm, maybe." They reached an intersection, and looked around. "So…looks like the path is clear, let's go." Unit55 started to walk forward, but was sent flying back ward at the wall. "Unit55, are you ok?" Kray asked. "I, hee hee, I was hit, ha ha, by a, a, a, ahahahahahHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH…!" "By a what?" Kray asked, eyes popping." "…AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH…" Skill stared. "It was a, a, a tickle laser." "…AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH…" "Oh no!" Kate cried. "…AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH…" "What should we do?" Kray asked Skill. "…AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH…" "I, I'm not sure. The laser is shielded from lasers and I don't think you bullets will make enough of a dent-" "Leave it to me." Kate turned around "Oh! Shard, I almost forgot that you were here," she admitted. He drew out a gold-tipped suriken from beneath his cloak. "I've been saving this for an emergency; now seems like a good time." He threw at the gun. With a flash of silver and gold, it flew out at the laser, spinning through the air. As It hit the laser golden flames erupted everywhere, blinding everyone for a moment. Then it was over. All that was left was a pile of ashes, frozen in sliver. "…AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-Huh? What happened?" "Way to go Shard!" Kray shouted." "Anytime," was his reply.

Chapter 36

They continued down the hallway and emerged in a large room. It was empty. "Huh, that's strange. Nothing here," Kray remarked. They looked around the room but none of them went forward. They were all thinking the same thing; the room must be trapped. Well, all of them were thinking that except Bob. He was thinking of the best way to extract a banana from Kray's backpack. Kate reached into her backpack. "Hmm, let's see, where is it…Ah here it is!" She drew out a small white and orange box. "What's that?" Unit55 asked. "A Lego Mindstorms kit. All Assembly minifigs are given one during their training." She set it down on the ground and pressed a few buttons on it until she came to a program that was labeled "My own Lego Mindstorms thingy that might explode so should be used with caution." "I hope this works," she murmured to herself. She set the Mindstorms robot down on the ground, and pushed the orange "start" button. It slowly rolled out into the room. Then, it reached the other side. "Um…I guess there's nothing here," Kate said. She was proven wrong as soon as the mind storm started beeping. "Um…I guess there is something here." She looked out at the robot. It seemed to be going a little off course. That wasn't a big worry; they sometimes did that. The big worry was that it was wobbling from side to side in a very strange manner. Then the robot gave a violent shudder, and flew up to the ceiling. "Um…was that supposed to happen?" Unit55 asked. "Um…nope," Kate replied. "Um…why are we all saying 'Um…?'" Kray asked. "Um…I don't know," Skill answered. "Um…" Shard said. "Anyway, the Mindstorms robot just now decied to float up to the roof," Unit55 said. "Any idea why." "Maybe an antigravitationalgenerator?" "English please." "A machine that makes artificial gravity." "So, how do we get past it?" Kray asked. "Well, Space Ranger armor has magnetic boots," Skill suggested. "So does the Space Marauder armor," Unit55 added. "Hmm, maybe if we overdrive the reactor stabilizers we can hyper-react the main core generator to implode on detonation." "English please?" Unit55 asked again. Kate didn't hear him. "Skill, Unit55, you two will use your magnetic boots to go into the room. Throw this onto the ceiling. It should distort the gravitational pull enough to allow me to enter the room." "Got it." Skill said. They activated their magnetizer boots and walked out. Immediately they were jolted by a powerful force that shook them from head to toe. Carefully they slowly plodded on, first raising one foot, setting on the ground, and then raising the other. One wrong move and they would be stuck on the roof until dinnertime. They were reaching the middle of the room when, the gravitational generators in the room switched, and Unit55 was thrown at the side of the room. He hit the side hard, dazing him. The gravity switched back to the roof and he started flying up to the top. Skill raced forward and grabbed his ankle, but the force of it knocked off his helmet, which flew to the top of the roof. Glass raining down on them as the visor shattered. Skill, held on to Unit55 with all of his strength but he was only planted to the ground by one boot and it was starting to give way. He desperately tried to place his other foot down, but he couldn't reach it. He slipped. He fell. He cringed. And he stopped. When he looked up he saw that he wasn't going to miss lunch up on the top of the roof. When he looked down, he saw and extraordinary sight. Kray Z. Risk was holding onto his foot, keeping him from falling. Skill looked around to see what Kray was holding onto. A banana. Which was tied to another banana. Which was tied to another banana. Which was tied to another banana. Which was tied to another banana. Which was tied to another banana. Which was tied to another banana. Which was tied to another banana. Which was tied to another banana. Which was tied to another banana. Which was tied to another banana. Which was tied to another banana. Which was tied to another banana. Which was being held on by Bob. The determined monkey was gripping it in his teeth, and although he was being pulled by the weight of three minifigures, he had wrapped his tail around a pipe and didn't seem to be ready to let go in the next three thousand years. Skill was so relieved. He had been afraid that he would fail and that they would never make it through Hit It BIG. "Thanks Kray," he said, pulling himself to the ground. "You know, that was risky what you did." "Yeh I know. It's all part of being a Daredevil. Geronimo!" He jumped down at the ground and secured himself with banana power. "Now give me that device, will ya?" He took the devise from Skill and loaded it into a large cannon that looked much like that ones at the pirate camp on the Gnarled Forest. "Here it goes." He fired the cannon, and Kate's devise soared through the air. It hit the wall, and the main generator's gravity power pulled the devise towards itself. When it was a foot away, a wave pulsed through the room, and it was much easier to keep on the ground. Kate ran in and used her rank two inventor armor to build a personal fortress that kept her on from falling from whatever gravity remained. She loaded an Ion bullet into the turret and shot it at the generator. It exploded. And Bob was finally able to grab the banana and cram it down to his tummy.

Chapter 37

They walked on. And they walked on. And they walked on. And they walked on. And Bob ate a banana. And they walked on. And they walked on. Suddenly, they were walking on. And they walked on. And they- "We're nearing the final room that will get us out of the BHHBTTINQASBINTSAOATHALOSTMYL," Unit55 said. "Let's see." He reached into his backpack and pulled out a helmet much like the one he had on before the anti-gravitational generator. "My Rank Three helmet shattered in the room back there, but I have my Rank Two armor and its helmet also has a mini-map on the inside. The Rank Two armor doesn't have as much armor or imagination, but at least I can still use my Wormholer." They walked on. And they walked on. And they walked on. And they walked on. And they…well, I think you get the picture. Then, they finally reached it. No not the exit, silly. The hot dog stand! They are stationed all over BHHBTTINQASBINTSAOATHALOSTMYL. They bought a MILLION hot dogs including, Hot Hot Dogs™ which allowed the eater to breath a cone of flame, Pet Dogs which were like normal hot dogs but could be put on pet bouncers, and CrAzY Dogs which where deep fried and had frosting on the top. They all put ketchup on their hot dogs. Well, all except Bob. He put ketchup on his banana. "Would you like to also buy a MintyLemon soda to drink?" A minifigure working at the hot dog boot asked. "Hm, that sounds good," Skill said. "MintyLemon soda, that's very original." "Yeah, I got it off my name. AceMintyLemon. By the way, did you see those guys with the little puppy? It was really cute." A middle-aged man came out from behind the Hot Dog stand. "Ace, how's the hot selling going? Not getting distracted, are you?" "No sir," Ace replied. "I was just telling these minifigures here about the men with the puppy that just passed." "Ah," the man said, turning toward the heroes. "Nice to meet you. The name's Jack. So yeah, there were these people that passed with this cute looking puppy. It looked a lot like one my daughter, Sally, once had. Anyway, I'd better get back to cookin those dogs. Ace, you get back to your work." "Yes sir," Ace replied. 'Men with a puppy?' Skill thought. 'I hope it wasn't that one of the teams had passed us. But why would they have a puppy? Maybe it was just a hamburger seller going to work.' He pushed the thought aside. At the present moment, they had a BHHBTTINQASBINTSAOATHALOSTMYL to win. They entered the last room. It was white, from the floor to the ceiling, and had a grid pattern across the whole room. They entered. Immediately, turrets rose from the sides of the room and fired at them. Parts of the floor rose up and robots unfolded from underneath. Skill summoned an Orbital Strike, and it blasted down on one of the robots, smashing it before it had completely unfolded and damaging two other robots nearby. Kate switched form her Rank 3 Inventor gear to her Rank 2 Engineer gear and a Gunning turret, gunning down enemies with the hail of bullets. Shard appeared staff in hand, and soon a hail of shurikens flew at their enemies. Unit55 revved up his Wormholer, plowing down robots like an unstoppable storm. Kray (of course) was collecting all the coins and rushed to and fro trying to get the collectibles, though he was fighting well in the fight as well. Any robot unfortunate enough to get in his way learned what it was like to get run over by a minifigure on a Rutcarver. And with his Fig on Fire, it was twice as bad. And, as you probably have guessed, Bob sat on the sideline eating bananas and throwing the peals at anyone who passed. Skill ran up to a robot and fired his blaster. It smashed as soon as it hit him. Skill was surprised. "Huh? I thought they had more armor than that." Skill looked around to see what the cause of the robots easy smashing was. He saw that many of the robots looked charred, as if they were burnt. 'It was probably Kray's Fig on Fire. But then how would the turrets become burnt? Some of them are way up near the roof and I don't think Kray would be able to get all the way up there." Skill pushed the thought aside and got back to smashing the robots. It looked as if the robots didn't stand a chance, but then, the Robot Boss came out. He was a GIANT robot, fitted with weapons enough to more than cream the heroes. He drew out the most dangerous weapon of all, and leveled it at the heroes. He pulled the trigger on the horrific apple sauce bomb and it fired. The heroes didn't stand a chance. Now you're probably thinking, "Apple sauce bomb? How is that going to do anything?" but think about this: When was the last time you were hit by a 13' tall wave of apple sauce? So, the heroes didn't stand a chance. They couldn't even stand, for that matter. They were swept off their feet by a wave of mashed apples. The robot aimed its electro blasters and prepared to blast them into unconsciousness, when his legs flew up into the air and flipped him over. The unfortunate robot had unknowingly stepped on the peal of one of Bob's bananas. The heroes made short work of the remaining robots and continued down the hall. The exit came in sight. "There it is!" Skill called. "We made it! Come on!" The raced down the hall, all trying to be the first one to get out. They burst out of the Box and saw…Team three.

Chapter 38

Skill stopped. He was so sure that his team, team one, would win. How could have Team Three gotten ahead of them? Then Skill remembered the scorch marks on the robots. At first he was angry, but Team Three had won fairly and they rightfully were the winners of the BHHBTTINQASBINTSAOATHALOSTMYL. "And now, here comes Team One," Bo Staff announced. "So, now all we have to do is wait for Team Two." Skill sat down to wait for the final team. "So you're the Leader of Team One?" An Assembly minifigure from the other team asked Skill, turning toward him. "Uh, yeah I guess." Skill replied. "Neat. I'm BuildyBuildy, Leader of Team Three." "I'm SkilledHonoredNinja. By the way, how did you get ahead of us in the BHHBTTINQASBINTSAOATHALOSTMYL?" Skill inquired. "Well, we the way we got ahead of you in the BHHBITNIQ, err-whatever it's called-The box, is a secret. So naturally I'm going to tell everyone I meet," BuildyBuildy explained. "We came in through a different entrance, so the first room for us was the geyser room. It was basically a giant room with water shooting up through the floor. BoBo N. Pickle started walking in, but, sadly, a geyser erupted underneath his feet. He was blown nearly 5.36 miles less than sky high. Luckily he landed in a pool of water which cushioned his fall. Well, we wondered how to get though. CoolGuy, your typical Venter Leaguer, suggested that we shoot grappling cables and swing across the room on them. But then the issue came up on how we would carry all of the Cockroach Whisperer's tools, gear, and overstuffed suitcase across. So we decided not to use that plan. BoBo suggested that we surf across on giant pickles, but then he ate the surfboards. CoolGuy suggested that we get out our pets and look for pet bouncers, and he brought out his dragon pet. Of course, there weren't any pet bouncers around, but that gave me an idea. It was a secret that I'd never told anybody. But now I told my team and I'll tell you…

I had formed a team of rank three fighters and we were heading to fight the most powerful dragon in the LEGO Universe. Butterscorch. The crisp night air whipped across my face, and I lead the team to Butterscorch's platform. You can imagine my surprise when we found the floating platform where she usually rested empty. Well, I decided that some other team might have gotten there first and defeated Butterscorch before us so we decided to wait. And wait. And wait. My team got tired of waiting and started to wander off. But I was determined. I was going to wait for a year if need be. And then I saw her. Butterscorch. But she wasn't on the platform like you'd think she would be. She was over by Caldera Mar, and she was slurping up a snow cone. Now I can see why a minifigure might be eating a snow cone, but the most dangerous and infamous maelstrom enemy in existence eating snow cones? I find that hard to imagine. I rubbed my eyes and looked again. That's better. There's nothing. I must have just been imagining it. But then I looked over to the side and found that Butterscorch had just wandered off to get some hot dogs. Ok, right, evil dragons eating hot dogs, perfectly normal. Or not. Well, I followed her to see where she was going. Something was amiss. I soon found out what it was. The minifigure selling the hot dogs didn't notice that it was a dragon who was buying his wares. I snuck up to see what was happening. The hot dogs seller said "Good little puppy, good girl. You want a hot dog? You want a hot dog?" Butterscorch looked annoyed that she would have to endure another round of "good little doggie," to get the hot dogs, but evidently she was pretty hungry so she waited. The Hot Dog seller tossed her a hot dog and she wandered off. Then, I had the greatest idea in the history of minifigure kind; if Butterscorch was so desperate for a hot dog that she would endure the humiliation of being called "puppy," what would she do for fifteen hot dogs? I set my plan in action. I went up to the hot dog seller and asked for fifteen hot dogs. When he asked me what type I wanted, I looked over the menu.

Normal Hot Dog: Just your regular old hot dog

HOT Hot dogs: Stuffed with EVERY kind of spice, chili pepper, and seasoning in the Universe!

Pet Dogs: No only do they make a good snack, but if you haven't learned how to tame pets yet you can also sneak onto those pet bouncers with these!

CrAzY Dogs: These beauties are covered in frosted sugar, and then deep fried, giving you a perfect dessert.

Drinks: MintyLemon soda: A perfect blend of sweet mint flavoring, bubbly soda, and citrus lemon.

I bought fifteen HOT Hot dogs and an Extra-large MintyLemon soda and set my plan into action. I placed the HOT Hot dogs all in a pile by Butterscorch's platform. I sipped on my MintyLemon soda and sat down to wait. Naturally, Butterscotch smelled the almost impossible to smell hot dogs, and came out to find them. Butterscorch hesitated for a moment, looked around her to see if anyone was coming back for the hot dogs, and seeing no one, scooped them all up in one bite. That was where she made her mistake. The millions of chili peppers, spices, more chili peppers, seasonings, and, yes, even more chili peppers hit her full on. Smoke poured out of her ears, fire spewed out of her mouth, her eyes were wild. I backed up a few steps, afraid that she would explode, but she didn't, and instead ran off to find water. Unfortunately (or fortunately if you don't like Butterscorch) she didn't look where she was running and ran right into a telephone pole that was conveniently at Crux Prime. She was knocked out cold. I had single handedly defeated Butterscorch! I went to where she lay, and then I had the greatest idea in the world, even greater than the other greatest idea in the world that I had earlier. With Butterscorch lying at my mercy, I could capture Butterscorch! Quickly, I tied her up with rope and flew to Nexus Tower. I started building a cage, but then at that moment she woke up from unconscious and tried to fly out of the window. She was too big so she got stuck halfway in out the window, and half way in, but then she shot a bolt of fire and blasted free out of the room. I charged up a blaster and fired it at her. It hit her, and she plummeted to the ground below. When I looked out of the window she was just lying in the mud down there. I ran down the stairs, teleported through teleporters, and finally, made it outside. When I looked at where she had been moments ago…there was nothing. Where could she have gone?!?! Then, in the distance, I spied a tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny little girl walking to a certain doggy show. And on a leash behind her no other than Butterscorch. I remembered when the hot dog seller had called Butterscorch "puppy," and concluded that the tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny little girl walking to a certain doggy show must have come to the same misconception. I ran after her just in time to see her lining up with her "puppy," for the show. By the time I caught up with her, Butterscorch had already broken loose and grabbed a certain minifigure that I found out was named George. I ran back to the Nexus Tower and revved up a machine I had built. I hopped in and followed Butterscorch. Due to the fact she was flying and that she had a head start, I soon lost her. I drove back to Nexus Tower, and gave it all up. About a week later, I was helping with the maintenance on the underground tunnels underground that are underground. Did I mention they were underground? Well, I went to a secret ladder that looks like it merges into the ceiling after the eighth rung, but it really opens up if you go to the third bar from the floor and say the secret password into the microphone. I said the "Mr. Taco and the Great Taco: The Password," and the ceiling opened up. I climbed up, and after I had reached the top I pushed a button on the wall which closed the hatch. I walked on, though for some strange reason I thought I heard a giant crunch, as if the hatch had closed on a maelstrom dragon's tail. I paid it no heed and walked on. Later, I was walking down the corridors with a friend of mine, named CoolGuy, who was also working as maintenance that day. We had heard some maelstrom warnings and were on the lookout. There was this funny looking minifigure following us. We came to the exit hatch, and because of the maelstrom warnings, I said to the funny looking minifigure, "Ok, uh, there were warnings saying that maelstrom have been sighted so we'll stand guard," I gestured to myself and my friend, "while you type in the code," The minifigure looking unsure, as if he didn't know the code, but then it seemed as if he remember and he said "Mr. Taco and the Great Taco: The Password." There was a rumbling sound. "Dude," I said in a shaky voice. "What were you thinking? The password is open Sesame." The ceiling started to come down. My friend and I dived to the wall and showed our ID cards so that a little opening appeared for us to squeeze into and avoid being squashed by the roof. "Hurry up," I called. "Show your ID card and the space will become big enough for you to squeeze into." He fumbled about, and you would have thought that he didn't have his ID card, even though it is always repeated that your ID card is the most important thing you have. The ceiling came down on him with a SQUASH! When the roof rose back up, some type of disguise fell of him and it turned out he was a stromling! And to make matters worse, he had stolen the $4.03 gift certificate for Mr. Taco and the Great Taco: The Store, Nexus Force's most prized possession! We weren't' too happy to see him here. After a couple of hours of blasting, he was sent flying out of Nexus Tower. I started thinking, what was a stromling doing in secret passageways that he isn't supposed to be able to enter? And then, in the distance, I heard someone squeal, "Puppy!" and I knew what must have happened. Butterscorch was here, in Nexus Tower, and she had let the stromlings in! I told my friend that I had to go, and ran off. The corridors were empty, and no one was around. Then I heard a crash, which couldn't be the anything but the sound Butterscorch stubbing her toe. I ran and found Butterscorch hopping around, trying to hold her toe, and the tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny little girl say "Wait up doggy, you're gonna come with me!" I told her, "That's not a dog, it's a maelstrom dragon!" "My doggy not a doggy?" The girl looked very disappointed. She looked at Butterscorch, and then her face brightened. "You're right, she's not a doggy!" "Good, now you understand," I said. "Yep. My doggy's not a doggy, she's a kitty!" Butterscorch howled in despair. "Um, Ok." I stammered. 'But at least let me take care of your "kitty," for a while," I continued, concerned that the little girl might get hurt if she had a maelstrom dragon. "You promise to feed her Sugarloops cereal for breakfast every day?" The little girl asked me. "Well, um, I guess…" "Pretty please?" "Oh, alright, I'll feed her Sugarloops cereal for breakfast every day." Butterscorch stopped howling and looked at me as if I already had the Sugarloops for her. "Sorry, Butterscorch," I said. "It's already past Breakfast time." At that, Butterscorch continued her howling. I put a Super Strong, Un-Maelstrom Dragon Breakable Leash™ over Butterscorch's head, and was go was walking back to my room, CoolGuy called me up saying he had gotten an appointment at Hit It BIG. He had to organize a team of six people, and he called me to see if I wanted to do it. I said sure, and he replied "Good, you'd better get over here quick. Hit it Hit It BIG starts in five minutes." I flew over there as fast as I could, but in my haste, I had forgotten to take off Butterscorch's leash, and she trailed behind my space ship the whole way to Hit It Big. I put Butterscorch in a cage and put the cage in my backpack. We went through the challenges until we got to the Geyser Room, and when BoBo suggested flying pickles, it gave me an idea. "Flying," I said. "We can fly across. "Yeh, but how are we going to do that," CoolGuy objected. "It's not like any of us have a dragon just sitting in our backpack." "You mean like this one…" I said, pulling out Butterscorch. "Wait, what, how, how did you get that?" I related the story to my team, and we used Butterscorch to fly over the geysers. At first she didn't want to, but the prospect of Sugarloops cereal was more than enough to get her motivated. We were moving on to the next room when BoBo dropped his pickle. It bounced along the floor and disappeared through the wall. BoBo went to get it, and he in doing so, found a secret passage way that let us skip a number of rooms. We came out in a giant white room with a grid pattern all along it. The room was all the way on the other side of the Box, and we saw that we had traveled a lot. Butterscorch flew us across the room, blasting any robots who tried to stop us, although her blasts have such a bad damage combo the hardly did much other than make the robots a little crisped.

"Wow, that's some story," Skill said. "Yeh, it is," BuildyBuildy replied. Bo Staff's voice blared over the speakers. "The third and final challenge is about to begin. Prepare for, The Cockroach Room of DOOM!"

Chapter 39

T'was the night before Christmas, and all through the Nexus Tower, about a million creatures were stirring, including a mouse. Minifigures were running around in circles setting up decorations. Frostburg's comet was completing its orbit. Assembly minifigures were draping a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG string of Christmas Lights around the outside of Nexus Tower. They plugged the string of lights into the imagination Nexus and they all turned on. Some Nexus Force employees were trying to fit a giant, oversized Christmas tree into the middle of the tower, and a crane was being driven in to lift a star to the top. A Nativity scene was placed right outside the entrance to the Tower, and a group of minifigures where setting it up.

The Nexus force chefs were preparing the best meal they could find in their cook books: Low Fat French Fries and Coke. (They had very short cook books) Luckily, Mardalf the Orange, who was overseeing the Christmas dinner, noticed that they were using Butterscorch's Guide to Horrific Cooking, and immediately replaced it with a cook book that didn't have Broiled Firecrackers as the first recipe. NOW the Christmas dinner was a roasted turkey, broccoli, lightly dusted with cheese, toasted cheese bread, salad, apple pie for dessert, along with ice cream, and of course, the traditional cherry flavored bubble gum. Never mind, Mardalf got rid of the bubble gum. Everyone was happy…except for this one minifigure who really liked Low Fat French Fries…and this other minifigure who really liked cherry flavored bubble gum. But other than that everyone was happy. Except for this one person who really liked Butterscorch's cook books. And that person was Butterscorch herself.

But no one knew of Butterscorch's displeasure. The minifigures did their Christmas shopping like normal. SkilledHonoredNinja was out looking for something to get for Unit55. He was passing a Paradox vendor when he saw it: The Automatic, Portable, Build Your Own Maelstrom Tester Kit Gadget-a-tron II. Coins exchanged hands, and Unit55 was on his way for his own Automatic, Portable, Build Your Own Maelstrom Tester Kit Gadget-a-tron II. Skill took it back to his room in Nexus tower, and started rapping it. He went to his refrigerator and pulled out a banana, a bottle of root bear. He addressed this package to Bob. Kray would be getting his own Daredevil stunt track Game for the Wii. Skill was giving Kate an Assemble Automatic, Portable, Build Your Own Gadget-a-Tron for Assembly Faction Armor. He was giving Shard an Automatic, Portable, Build Your Own Training Course for ninjas. (Skill had gotten a big coupon for all Automatic, Portable, and Build Your Own Items.) He picked up all the presents and stuffed them under the Christmas Tree. BuildyBuildy was also there. 'That's what I forgot!' Skill thought. 'BuildyBuildy's present!' He ran back to his room, pulled out the Gadget-a-Tron ZapZapper he had gotten for him, and put it under the tree. 'Hmm, anything else…Oh yes, George's present. He ran back to his room, pulled out Mr. Taco and the Great Taco: The Gift Card, put in a box, and put it under the tree.

Skill ran back to help decorate the tree. A couple minifigures were having trouble moving a ladder, so Skill headed over to help them. They set up the ladder, and then Skill started to climb up it, and started draping lights around it. Rung by rung, he climbed up and up and up and up and up and up and down to move the ladder and up and up and up and up…until he was nearly at the top. He placed the end of the lights at the top of the tree, and it was done. As he trudged back to his room, the notes of Christmas carols drifter across his path.

"Goɗ rest you merry minifigs, Let nothing you dismay, Remember Christ our Savior Was born on Christmas day…"

Skill reached his room and turned off the light. Seconds later, he was asleep.

"Dong!" Skill bolted upright. The clock struck mid-night. "Dong!" Skill looked around him. Where did the minifigure-eating marshmallows go? They were here somewhere; he had to keep a close watch. Oh yeah, it was only a dream. But then, he heard a clattering on the side of Nexus Tower. Was it the man eating marshmallows? Skill sat up. Duh, of course it wasn't the marshmallows, silly, Skill told himself. They were just a dream. But then what was the clattering? Skill quietly hopped out of bed, and crept out into the hallway. He saw a shape moving in the hallway. Butterscorch! She must have come back for revenge against Mardalf because he didn't use her cookbook! Skill needed to save him. "Stop, Butterscorch!" he called. "I have you now! You won't get away this time!" Skill heard laughing. "Stop laughing! It's getting annoying. Stop! Stop! I mean it!" The laughing continued. "Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho!" "Stop it Butterscorch! You're making me angry! And you don't want to see SkilledHonoredNinja get angry! You got that Butterscorch?" But it wasn't Butterscorch that was laughing. A figure stepped out of the shadows. It was… "Santa Claus?"

"Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho!" "It was you? But then, what's Butterscorch doing here?" "Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho." "Um, excuse me? You're laughing really is getting annoying." "Ho Ho Ho-Hmm, what's that?" "Hoe's are for plowing, not repeating over and over again," Skill said, half-jokingly, half annoyed. "Oh yes, I see. Anyway, Rudolf wasn't feeling too good today, so I super glued a big red light on Butterscorch's nose and I'm having her pull the sleigh. Butterscorch moaned (Translated from the dragon language) "But how are we going to get the super glue off?" "Don't worry, you'll be fine," Santa said cheerfully. "The super glue takes 24 hours to completely dry, and I only put it on your nose a couple of hours earlier." "You glued it on three weeks ago…" "Oh, well, I'm sure everything will turn out fine." "My nose doesn't think so…" Anyway, Skill, I'm having Butterscorch pull the sleigh tonight." "Um, alright…" Skill answered. "Anyway, go back to bed. You're not supposed to see me putting presents under the tree. Shoo! Shoo!" Skill went back to bed.

The next morning, he awoke to the sound of birds chirping outside his bedroom window. As the memory of the previous night floated back to him, he vaulted out of bed, plunged down the stairs, and skidded to a halt at the Christmas tree. Presents were stacked up twenty feet in the air. Skill heard Unit55 tumble down the stairs and stumble to a halt beside him. Unit55 just stood and stared in awe of the presents stacked underneath the tree. Skill walked up to the nearest present. It was labeled:

To: SkilledHonoredNinja From: Unit55

"Thanks," Skill said, turning to Unit55. I see this one's from you." Unit55 just shrugged and said, "It was the least I could do for a friend. You should open it." Skill ripped off the rapper and saw… "Awesome! A Mega Bag of Faction tokens!" "So you like it?" Unit55 asked. "Like it? I LOVE IT!" The two friends continued to search for presents labeled to them. Unit55 disappeared around the branches of the tree, as they each searched a different side. Skill heard Unit55 call "Hey! This one's from you!" and seconds later, "Wow! It's the Automatic, Portable, Build Your Own Maelstrom Tester Kit Gadget-a-tron II! I've always wanted on of these!"

Skill smiled at what Unit55 said, and then bent down over a small parcel addressed to him. There was no label who it was from. Skill opened it, and saw a card it read:

               Dear SkilledHonoredNinja,

I hope you find this gift with the very best Christmas cheer. You are a pretty smart kid. I am enclosing in this package a cloak and hood that have pretty cool abilities. You should try it on. I have also included a batch of elf-made gingerbread cookies. I hope you like them.

P.S. The secret to the Gingerbread cookies is ½ cup of cinnamon and a pinch of my own special blend of spices.

Skill knew that this present must have been from Santa. Unless there was some other minifigure who had a group of personal Elfs making cookies for him.

Skill heard Kray Z. Risk, Kate, BuildyBuildy, and Shard also come down. "Hey, Kray, Shard, come here," Skill said. "There's a present addressed to us."

To: SkilledHonoredNinja, Unit55, Kray Z. Risk, and Shard Ly Swift. From: Kate Ion.

They opened up the rapping and saw…Butterfly a Children's Story. "Great, just great," Skill muttered. "Hi, I see you found the present I got you guys, you were so misinformed about the true nature of Butterfly that I decided you really needed this, and I even got you the special addition version that has a special commentary by Butterfly, and it's even eco-friendly, it helps save the endangered humpback walruses by…" Everyone started to wander off. "Can you believe it?!?!" Kray was asking Unit55. "Butterfly! Our worst enemy! Infiltrating our Christmas presents!" Later in the day, after all the gifts were exchanged, everyone went outside to try them out. They had duels with the new gear they got, built fortresses, and, coolest of all, they got to create awesome LEGO structures with the LEGO's they got. After that, a round of fireworks shot up into the sky, exploding into millions of colors, and the four Faction Leaders got up to read the True Story of Christmas from the Bible. It was a Christmas that would live on in Skill's memory forever.