A Naughty Christmas Carol

written by Curious4ever

with additional writing by Chica

based on The Lost Kids comic 1

Dirk, James and Jonathon were three friends who loved adventure. And that meant they were always getting in and out of trouble. 

One day when they were hanging out at Dirks house looking at the bug collection from last summer, reading up on names in the big bug book Jonathon brought and trying to find out if any of those bugs might be a yet undiscovered species or maybe an alien. 

Thats when Dirk suddenly closed the book, making a loud slapping noise that made his two friends look up in shock. 

"Jonathon... James..." he started announcing dramatically. James accidently squashed a bug in his fist, quickly cleaning his hand on Jonathons pants.

"Wanna do something really cool?" Dirk continued his speach, but the other two were wrestling on the floor. Jonathon sat on james chest and asked: "Whats cooler then bugs?"

A moment later the three were standing in the basement of the house behind a door with a sign saying in clear, blocky letters: STAY OUT! And with handwritten words under it: That means you, Dirk!

"Should we really be here?" James said worriedly. "What is this place?" Jonathon asked and walked over to a gianormous machine that seemed out of a 50s scifi movie.

Dirk flipped a switch and the whole room lit up and little blinking lights as many as the stars in the sky flashed on the machine.

"This is my dad's latest invention, an experimental time and space teleportation device."

"What can it do?" asked wide eyed James

"Wait are you saying this can take us anywhere we want?" Jonathon asked lifting an eyebrow. "Sure."

"Even... to Santas house?" James grinned brightly and Jonathon said: "There is no Santa... or is there?"

"Let's find out!"

The kids imaginations were running wild when they thought about the possibilities. Going to Santas workwhop would allow them to steal an unlimited amount of toys. Well... borrow. 

Dirk fiddled with the buttons and switches of the mysterious machine and set the controls to Santa's Home, Northpole. 

It did a bang and a flash and the three friends saw stars. But when they opened their eyes again they were in a room covered in wood. 

“Looks like my interdimensional warp machine works. This looks just like Santa’s workshop,” Dirk observed as he gazed around the room. He felt very proud that he got it right the first try. The possibilities of getting it wrong were sheer endless. 

“Will it really be alright to break in like this and steal some cool presents?” James asked as he rubbed the side of his nose. 

“Of course James!” Jonathon stated. “Santa’s elves can easily make new ones. It’s not like they have anything better to do. Stupid elves. If I was an elf I would make tons of toys and keep them for myself.”

As the boys sneaked through the old fashioned but very nicely decorated wooden building, suddenly James stopped in his tracks. He pointed at a comfortable looking armchair in front of a nice cozy fireplace, where a young boy was sitting and relaxing in front of a crackling fire.

“Who’s the shrimp?” James asked. The boy was wearing a Christmas style hat and a shirt with the image of a reindeer’s head on it. Below that he wore a pair of footed striped tights.

“Ho ho how are you, kiddies?” the young boy asked. “Oh, you can’t just take whatever presents you find here. Those are for good kids. I think you guys are naughty. Very naughty indeed.”

Jonathon, James and Dirk felt like they were caught red handed with their intentions as clear as snow on christmas morning.

The boy sprang out of the chair like a bouncy ball and landed on his feet with a gymnastic price winning performance right in front of the unimpressed roaring fire..

“I have no idea how you boys found this place, but… you won’t be able to tell anybody once I am done with you!”

“Hey, the weird kid just threatened us,” Dirk said as he scowled at the boy.

“I don’t wanna make Santa angry!” James said as he suddenly realized who the boy was.

“Hey, chill,” Jonathon said with a smug look. “What’s he gonna do? He is just a kid like us!”

Jonathon calmly walked over to the smiling boy. 

“Ain’t that right. You’re Santa? I think you look more like an elf!”

“Oh, you mean those helpers of mine with the giant ears, right?” young Santa said. “Naw, I don’t look like those.”

As soon as Santa said this, Jonathon began to get an uneasy feeling as he suddenly felt a strange tingling sensation in his ears.

His friends could only stare in silence as Jonathon’s ears began to grow and his clothes began to change. His hooded shirt suddenly acquired a colorful collar while a red belt appeared around his waist. His shoes turned into boots while his pants transformed into a pair of striped tights.

“H… help me!” He exclaimed in fear as he saw his clothes begin to transform. “Why am I wearing girl clothes? This is so not funny.”

But then suddenly he seemed alright again as a cute grin appeared on his face as he suddenly began to giggle. No, he wasn't alright at all.

“Not f…. funny… hehe. Why am I giggling? I… I can’t s… stop!”

His eyes opened wide as his mouth opened with a huge smile. “I… I wanna build something! I have so many ideas… for toys! I need a hammer… and a drill… and wood!”

Jonathon couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. Even worse he couldn’t understand why he was feeling so happy and joyful.

As his clothes continued to change Jonathon suddenly began to shrink. He became smaller and smaller and he didn’t stop until he was half his normal size. With his pointed ears and cute little outfit, he looked just like one of Santa’s elves.

Tiny Jonathon stomped the floor with his foot as he continued to giggle and grin.

“So… tiny,” Dirk thought as he held his head over the diminutive elf boy.

“Help, guys!” Jonathon pleaded with a huge grin on his face. “I’ can’t stop smiiiiiling! Hi hi!”

James became very angry as he placed his fists on his waist. He was ready for a fight if it was necessary. 

“Hey! Turn our friend back right now Santa!” he demanded.

James’ threat did not worry Santa in the slightest. In fact he seemed to enjoy James’ outburst.

“Headstrong fellow you are,” young Santa said. “I can use a pet with spirit such as yours.”

“What did you just call me?” James asked as he gave the youthful Santa a menacing look. James’ attention was so centered on Santa that he failed to notice two small bumps begin to pop out of his forehead. 

“I called you a pet, boy,” Santa said as the bumps began to grow on James’ head. As they grew they started to turn into a pair of tiny antlers. James had a worried look on his face as he raised his hands to touch the odd things that were growing on his head.

“Pay attention when your new master is addressing you,” Santa commanded.

James looked down in confusion at his nose as it began to change. It transformed into a cute button nose that popped out of his face like a muzzle. Suddenly his ears began to grow and he raised his hands and gave them a little tug as he felt how big they had grown. 

“Something doesn’t feel right,” he said as he gave his ears another tug.

Then fur began to form all over his body as his most of his clothes began to dissolve and soon he was wearing was a tiny short sleeved open green shirt with a red collar. He felt a strange tingling sensation just above his butt and when he looked back he saw a puffy furry tail was now back there. 

“A tail?” he said in bewilderment and made a cute little grunting sound. “Where did that come from?”

He looked down at the rest of his body and felt very embarrassed at being so naked. He held his furry paws down in front of his groin and looked up with a very sorrowful look. 

Then he tried to take a few steps but when he did he heard an odd clomping sound on the floor. When he looked down towards his feet he saw that they had been transformed into a pair of hooves. Even worse than that was that his hands had also changed and now he only had three short stubby fingers which also looked a little bit like hooves. 

“Grunt! Grunt! I’m naked. Grunt! What… what has happened to me?” he asked in bewilderment.

“You are now a reindeer boy,” Santa said as he placed his hand on James’ shoulder and smiled. “Your name is Bucky and from now on you shall be pulling my sleigh with your other reindeer brothers.”

“Bucky?  Grunt. Grunt. No, my name is… is….”

As his thoughts begin to cloud up the reindeer boy began to forget about his prior existence.

“Bucky. Grunt. My name, grunt is Bucky. Grunt. Grunt.”

Bucky grunted happily as Santa petted him on the head.

“Good boy,” Santa said.

“Grunt, grunt. Why can’t I stop, grunt, making these strange noises? Grunt.”

“You are just becoming adjusted to your new way of speaking,” young Santa said with a smile. “Grunting is how all my reinboy’s speak. Soon you won’t even remember how to speak normal words.”

The reinboy looked around with a confused look.

“Grunt. Why do I feel so warm? Grunt, grunt.”

Young Santa patted him on the head.

“That’s because you’re covered in fur and you are better suited to be outside in the cold and snow. Don’t worry, in a short while you will be out there with the other reinboys.” 

Then the tiny elf got into a very festive mood as he started to prance around the room and sing. 

"My name is Jangles and I'm one of Santa's elves,” the tiny elf sang with a joyful expression. “I make lots of toys that fill Santa's shelves."

Jangles danced around some more as he continued to sing.

“Oh elves are always merry and also very jolly. We are always very busy making every toy and dolly.”

Dirk had a very worried look on his face as he as he watched how his two transformed friends were behaving. “Uh, maybe I should be going now.”

"Going so soon?” Santa said with an evil grin as he pointed at the boy. “I wouldn't hear of it. My party is just beginning."

Before Dirk could take another step he felt a tug as some unseen forced him to lift his arms and leg up into the air. Suddenly a series of strong strings shot down from the ceiling and attached themselves to his arms and legs and head. 

“What… what’s happening? Why can’t I move?”

“Oh, I control your movements now, my little puppet boy,” Santa said as Dirk’s body began to transform. Very quickly his hands and arms began to turn into wood as Dirk quickly turned into a wooden puppet. His long pants turned into shorts and his long sleeve hoodie turned into a short sleeved shirt.

“No, no!” he shrieked in a high pitched voice. 

“Calm down Pinicchio, it’s almost over,” Santa said as the puppet boy’s hair transformed to painted wood.

A short time later Jangles made his way to the toy workshop. He found his way there as if by instinct and as soon as he got there he found an empty chair between two other happy elves. His mind was filled with a multitude of toys that he wanted to build and he quickly started work on a toy rocket ship. He turned to his right and saw that Jingles was busy working on a toy train. He didn’t find it the least bit odd that he knew the names of all the other elves or that they knew his. 

While Jangles was busy working on his toy rocket ship, Bucky was heading out the back door. As soon as his hooves sunk into the blanket of snow on the ground and the cold wind hit his furry body, he began to feel a little more at home. The cold didn’t bother him in the slightest and he actually enjoyed it over the hot and stuffy room that he had just been in. With every step that he took through the snow he started to feel like he was home again. A short distance away he saw a five reinboys dressed in the same tiny little outfit that he wore. They were busy nibbling on some leaves on a large bush and he nervously walked towards them. 

Unsure of how they would react to a new reinboy he came to a stop about a foot away from them and watched. At that moment a reinboy with blond hair stopped eating and began to sniff the air. He kept sniffing as he turned his head and stopped the moment he spotted Bucky. The other reinboys also stopped eating and turned around towards him. Bucky felt very shy as they came over and started to sniff him. After a few short sniffs they grunted a greeting to him. The blond haired reinboy stepped up right behind him and nuzzled his nose against Bucky’s cheek and grunted his greeting. 

“Greetings brother,” he said as he continued to nuzzle Bucky’s face. “I’m Nuzzles. It’s been a very long time since we had a new addition to our team.”

“Yes, a very long time,” said a reinboy with light brown hair as he rested a paw on Bucky’s shoulder. “I’m Cuddles. And we’re all so very happy that you are here.”

“I’m Canoodles,” said a reinboy with black hair. “We are going to have such a fun time together.” 

“I’m Snuggles,” said a reinboy with red hair. “What’s your name?”

“I’m…. I’m Bucky,” he said still feeling a little bit nervous and shy.

Snuggles shook his head and giggled. “No, that’s the name that the boss gave you. We all have names like that. The boss calls me Rocket and Nuzzles is called Lucky. But we all have our own special reinboy name that we call each other. The name that defines us and tells everyone what we love to do.”

Bucky smiled weakly and grunted softly. He wasn’t sure if he had such a name and he was afraid to tell the others that he didn’t know. As he looked at the other reinboys they  all seemed to be very friendly and genuinely happy to have him there. As he thought about this he felt a warm feeling go through his body. He began to feel a very close bond with them and he just had to reach out and give Snuggles a hug.

“Thank you for being so nice to me. I’m so glad to be here with you too.”

It felt so nice to feel the other reinboy’s body pressed up against him. It felt so warm and soft and the warm feeling inside of him got a little bit stronger. Then he turned and embraced one of the other reinboys.

“I just can’t wait to get and know each and every one of you.”

“I bet I can guess your name,” Nuzzles said. “Your name has got to be Huggles. Am I right?”

When Bucky heard that name he felt an intense feeling of joy and contentment enter his body. He smiled and nodded his head. 

“Yes, you are right. My name is Huggles. I love to hug and to be hugged. The boss may call me Bucky but we all know that I’m really Huggles.”

He began to hug each and everyone of them a couple of times as they all welcomed him into their herd. 

If any human had been listening to them talk to each other, all they would have heard was a series of grunts and soft barks. Not only had Bucky/Huggles completely forgotten how to speak in words, he had also forgotten that he ever did. He was now a reinboy both inside and out and that meant that he loved doing what all the other reinboys loved to do.

“So what do you guys do all day?” he asked as he hugged Sunggles one more time.

“Well when we are not playing reinboy games then we get to pull the Boss’s sleigh. You are going to like that. It’s a lot of hard work but it is so much fun. Every day the Boss takes us on short trips for a few hours but once a year we get to pull it all night long.”

“I’ve never pulled a sleigh before,” Huggles said.

“You are going to love it,” Snuggles said. “Now let’s go back to the barn and we can all get to know each other better by playing some fun games.”

They all grunted happily as they raced towards the barn to begin their night of fun activities. 

The reinboys had a very fun time playing various reinboy games. When it was over they were feeling very tired, especially the new reinboy Huggles. Not only was Huggles feeling very tired but he was also very hungry. At that moment a couple of elves came into the barn and began feeding the reinboys. As Huggles munched on a carrot an elf came over and removed his green and red shirt. 

“Wow, I can’t believe how much these shirts stink after being on these animals all day,” one elf said to another.

“Yeah, I don’t even know why they have to wear them. They’re only dumb animals, they don’t need to wear clothes like we do,” said the other elf.

“Well Santa wants them to wear it and it is our job to get them washed and ready for them in the morning.”

As soon as Huggles finished his carrot the elf gave him a gentle rap on the butt. “Okay, time to go to sleep with the other reinboys.”

The elves left with all the reinboys’ shirts and Huggles looked and saw that the reinboys were sleeping on the floor. Most of them were matched up in pairs and they were snuggled close together. The only one without a partner was Snuggles.

“You can sleep with me Huggles,” Snuggles said as he looked up at the new reinboy.

Huggles lied down on the floor and Snuggles got behind him and started to snuggle up next to him. His furry body felt so nice and warm next to him and Huggles started to feel very relaxed.  Snuggles placed his nose on Huggles cheek. 

“I’m so glad that you are here with us,” Snuggles said.

“Yes me too. And there’s one thing I don’t understand. The elves called us smelly animals. But I don’t think we are smelly. In fact, I think you smell really nice.”

Snuggles smiled when he heard that and he licked Huggles on the cheek. “Thanks, I think you smell very nice too. Elves are silly creatures.”

The two reinboys slowly drifted off to sleep in each others arms.

Meanwhile, inside the large nearby structure the wooden boy Pinicchio had a confused look on his face as he wondered down another long hallway. He was lost and his wooden feet made a funny clacking sound against the wooden floor as he walked. He knew that there was somewhere the he wanted to go but he couldn’t remember where it was. Prior to being turned into a wooden boy he had been the smartest boy around but now his mind was so empty of thoughts that he was one of the dumbest. The only thought on his mind was his dream of becoming a real boy one day. 

About two weeks later Santa decided to check in and see how the three newest additions to his Christmas village were doing. The first one that he visited was Jangles who was busy making toys alongside some other happy elves. They were so busy at work that none of them even noticed that he was there.

Jangles was busy putting on the final touches to a cute doll that he had just created. 

“Some little boy or girl will be very happy when they receive that doll Jangles,” said the red haired elf on his right.

“Thank you Bangles, and I know that some little child is going to love that toy car that you are making,” he replied.

He put down his paintbrush and smiled as he looked at his creation.

“I’m so happy that I was born an elf.”

“Did you ever think about what it would be like to have been born a little boy instead of an elf?” Bangles asked.

Jangles just kept on smiling as he shook his head.

“Oh no, I would never want to be a little boy. It’s so much fun making toys that I would never want to play with any of them. There are still thousands and thousands of toys that I want to create. Every time I finish making one, I get the idea for three more to make.”

He picked up a chisel and a block of wood and started to carve away at it.

“And now it is time to start work on my next creation. This one is going to be a wooden toy soldier.”

As Santa left the elves continued with their happy work.

“Well now it is time to check on the next one,” he said as he headed for the barn.

When he arrived at the barn he opened the door slightly and peeked inside. The reinboys wee inside making grunting sounds as they nuzzled and cuddled with each other. 

Since Santa was proficient in every language he could understand the grunting sounds that the reinboys were making.

“I’m so glad that the boss made you lead reinboy on the sled team Huggles,” Cuddles said as he continued to cuddle with Huggles. 

About a month later Santa was resting comfortably in his large comfy chair in his study. On the wall above him were a multitude of framed photos of various children. High above these photos was the word naughty which was elaborately carved in wood. Among the many pictures was one of Dirk, James and Jonathon before their transformation. Santa smiled as he looked up at their picture.

“Well, Jangles, Bucky and Pinicchio are no longer naughty boys. They are all getting a fresh new start and hopefully they learn to better themselves. Or maybe not.”

His mind drifted back to the earlier events of the day. The three naughty boys that he had recently transformed had entirely forgotten about their former naughty lives, and they were adjusting very well to their new existences. 

He remembered the happy look on Jangles face as his picture went up on the wall when he earned the  ‘Elfployee of the month’. Award for building the most toys.

He frowned as he remembered a dejected Pinicchio sat at a desk with the results of a failed exam in front of him. Once again he had to wear the doofus hat because he still could not pass even the simplest of tests. And as Pinicchio sat dejected again at the table, he had just one thought going through his mind.

“I wanna be a real boy!” he said as he rested his wooden hands against his wooden cheeks.

Then Santa remembered the last time he hitched up his reinboys to his sled to give them their weekly workout. Bucky had earned himself the lead position of the herd with his strong determination to pull the sleigh no matter how harsh the weather was. As the heavy snowfall pelted the furry reinboy that day, he pulled with all his might as he shouted out words of encouragement to his reindeer brothers.

“We can do this boys!” he said in his grunting way of speech that only the other reinboys could understand. “Don’t give up!”

Huggles and the other reinboys enjoyed pulling the sleigh and it seemed like the harder it was to pull the happier the reinboys became. There was nothing they enjoyed more than a hard day of work because then they could spend the night resting and cuddling before they had to go out and pull the sleigh the next day.

Santa’s mind drifted away from those three as he began to philosophize about all the transformations that he did to many naughty children. 

“Well if there’s a moral to be learned here it’s always stay curious. For be they naughty or nice I’m always happy when one comes to visit. One can never have too many elves.  Or reinboys for that matter.” 

Santa smiled and chuckled as he sipped on his cup of hot cocoa. 

“Yes indeed, I can never have too many of them.”

The End, until the next time.