The space horse was put in a stable for its safety and Spider Santa retrieved an arm for Plagiarize. The arm looked rather spider-like, but it fit Plagiarize and he was perfectly fine and awake within minutes. Then the gang was led to the location of the first Christmas Trial, which was a pond near the edge of Christmas town. The pond was half frozen and very cold. There were lights in it so they could see, because it was still night.
“For the first Christmas Trial,” began Spider Santa, “four rings will be thrown into this pond. Each ring shall have a name on it - one for each of you. Each of you must retrieve the ring with your name on it. But beware, for there are chompy fish in the water. If you fail to retrieve your ring, you FAIL the first trial.” He then took four plastic rings and threw them into the water. “Begin!”
Bird leaped into the water and within 10 seconds he was out again, holding his ring. He did not get bitten by a single chompy fish. Because Bird made it look easy, Plagiarize, Mushpuff, and Snorter all jumped in after his flawless demonstration. After 3 worrying minutes, Mushpuff emerged. He looked very funny with wet fur, and he was holding his ring. He had many bites all over him. Next came Plagiarize, who had even more bites and was holding a ring, but it was Snorter’s ring. As for Snorter, she had sunk to the bottom of the pond and Spider Santa had to reach his arm in and pull her out. She had seven chompy fish attached to her skin and they had to be painfully removed.
“Bird and Mushpuff, you have passed the first Christmas Trial,” said Spider Santa. “You shall continue on to the next one. Plagiarize and Snorter, you have failed and shall be thrown off the cliff.”
“No wait don’t do that!” yelled Mushpuff. “They’re our friends!”
“Sorry, but rules are rules.”
“Surely we can come to some sort of agreement?” suggested the cat.
“Mushpuff, if you fail either of the next two Christmas Trials, all four of you will be thrown off the cliff. Succeed and none of you will be thrown off. That is my deal.”
“Very well!” said Mushpuff. “I am an expert at Christmas Trials.”
The four of them were taken to the site of the next Christmas Trial and Plagiarize and Snorter were put in the audience. They were the only audience members. The site of the second Christmas Trial was unusual - it was a massive soccer field, complete with giant lights, and two horses were on the field. Mushpuff and Bird were given simple instructions: they must each mount a horse. Then a ball shall be placed in the middle of the field. The first person to get the ball in the other’s goal wins. However, the ground is ice. Additionally, it’s raining bananas.
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The cat and the penguin both mounted their horses and made their way to their respective sides of the field. A whistle was blown and the bananas started falling. Bird knew that Mushpuff needed to win this, so he attempted to move his horse out of the way, giving Mushpuff a free shot. Since he didn’t know how to control a horse, and since the ground was ice, his horse ended up running towards the ball.
Meanwhile, Mushpuff was also struggling to control his horse, which had been hit in the face with numerous bananas. After a time, his horse started going left.
Bird’s horse had reached the ball, but it was freaking out because of the ice and bananas and it accidentally sat on the ball, deflating it. The horse, with the ball under its butt, slid towards Mushpuff’s goalpost.
“NO!” yelled Bird. “BAD HORSE!” He started slapping it in the face with a banana, causing it to panic and run around like crazy. Eventually the ball fell off its butt.
Mushpuff got a hang of controlling his horse and ran towards the ball. The horse hit it, but it was off and went to the right of Bird’s goal. By now there were so many bananas that the ground was almost entirely covered with them and the smell of squashed bananas was strong in the air. Spider Santa sprayed himself with Christmas Perfume to keep his Santa smell.
After many struggles and even more bananas, Mushpuff eventually got the ball in Bird’s goal. As a result, he technically won, but Spider Santa knew Bird was letting him win so he slapped Bird with every banana in the field, and there were thousands of them. Now it was finally time for the FINAL CHRISTMAS TRIAL.
The gang was taken to the site of the final trial. It was a large moat of water in a perfect circle. In the center was an island with grass. The instructions: Mushpuff and Bird would each be given a long stick and they would be thrown onto the island. They must then try to knock the other one off of the island with their sticks. However! The island is rigged with landmines, marked with X’s painted on the grass. Landmines must be avoided. However! The island is being slowly lowered and will soon plunge into the water, which is actually burning acid. However! Mushpuff was not going up against Bird, because Bird was a cheater for letting him win. Instead, he would be going up against some random snail with legs named Yemton. Let the game begin!
Mushpuff and Yemton were flung onto the island by Spider Santa and it started lowering. There was only 1 minute until the island was underwater, so if neither player won by then, they’d both die.
Mushpuff expected this to be super easy because Yemton was a snail and snails are slow. As it turned out, he was right. He took one stab at Yemton with his stick and the snail fell backwards into a landmine, causing himself to be instantly obliterated. The island was covered with snail goo and Mushpuff was victorious.