"What happens in Jingle Cruise exactly?" Skylar asked suddenly.

"Well it's only been a holiday edition for the 2 years now but didn't it have something to do with missing cargo?" Andrew answered trying to recall the story.

"That's right! All the holiday things were shipped out but the plane crashed sending everything all over the jungle." She burst out, remembering most of the background.

"They also sent out a safari group to looking for the missing cargo." He added.

"That's probably where we come in." Skylar thought aloud. She hoped this was the case.

The train stopped and they were at the jungle cruise, specifically the... Hangar. A plane was being loaded up with all the Christmas goods for the season. This including garland, bows, packages and fruitcake with everything else holiday related you could think of.

Zero flew out of the train and around the people who couldn't see that he was there. This made the two children wonder if they were invisible too, so they stepped out of the train and over to the stack of boxes yet to be shipped.

"Here. Load this one on." A man with a camo-Santa hat, shoved a large box into the kid's hands.

They carried the heavy box labeled 'candy canes'  on to the plane. The plane had a very deep cargo space that was almost full. They set the large box on the floor and pushed it to the back of the plane.

It was almost completely dark but a dim glow came from the hatch that was open on the side of the plane, far away from them.

"Are we ready to go Jeff?" A man's voice came.

"All set." Said another guy.

There came a creaking because the hatch door was being closed shut! Skylar and Andrew rushed for the hatch, tripping and falling over the boxes.

The hatch shut with a bang and it was pitch black. Someone hit the plane twice as if to say 'go' and the plane's engine was roared to a start.

Andrew and Skylar stumbled over the cargo calling out for someone to stop the plane. Andrew reached a wall of the plane and pounded on the metal but nothing could be heard over the loud propellers.

The plane began to roll and everything shifted back, pinning the two people against the wall. It picked up speed and then the plane took flight into the air.

Cargo also took flight and flew into the back wall of the plane. Crawling blind, the two tried to make their way up by feeling around. the plane dipped forward and everything shifted with it.

Skylark got slammed into the right wall and Andrew ended up somewhere in the tinsel. Luckily enough most of these boxes were not incredibly dangerous, most of them.

Skylar felt around the smooth cold metal wall and searched for anything to grasp onto. She finally something and grabbed onto it as the plane swiveled left. The thing she had grabbed fell towards her, it was a lever.

The lever clicked and the hatch in front of her opened. Skylar let go of the handle and crashed into the left side of the plane on purpose.

The hatch swung back and forth wildly, leaving the free fall to the jungle floor wide open. The plane leveled and Andrew scrambled over to her on his knees.

"This is what it wants!" He yelled over the noise.

Wind whipped around inside the plane as cargo began to fall out the door.

"What what wants?! You're insane!" Skylar hollered, choking back tears as her eyes watered from the thin air.

"This is what supposed to happen!" Andrew again tried to relay his point.

The plane dipped right and caused boxes, bag and garland to fly out. Andrew and Skylar skidded toward the edge.

Skylar dug her nails into the floor hoping to catch on anything but the end result looked the same. One more jerk and the plane would send them over.

This is exactly what the plane did. Skylar screamed as she fell out of the plane and onto the swinging hatch. Andrew grabbed onto the side of the doorway and that left them both hanging from the plane with their feet dangling.

Andrew glanced down but Skylar couldn't bring herself to. The 10,000 foot drop to the jungle floor was not something to stare at.

Andrew then saw something and came to a conclusion.

"Let go!" He yelled.

"Are you crazy?!?" Skylar screamed back.

She swung wildly on the hatch and the hinge that held the door on the plane was breaking. Andrew say this and knew if she fell with the door it wasn't going to be pretty.

"You've got to trust me!" He urged her to let go.  "On three! One, Two... Three!"

He let go of the doorway and Skylar let herself, screaming, drop from the hatch. The jungle from so far away began to rush up to meet them. Andrew grabbed Skylar and wrapped his arms around her, although she probably didn't notice.

The thing he saw was tinsel, and a lot of it. This one part of the jungle was covered in it. They plummeted through the stinging air and 'landed' in the trees, caught by a strand of garland.

Once 'unraveled', the two gathered their thoughts and began on the journey through the jungle.

The drop had both knocked them wordless and they were still in somewhat shock. So far all they saw were trees, bamboo and a lot of tinsel. The shiny garland was wrapped and strung over everything and it glinted in the sun.

"Where the 'cruise' part of this?" Andrew asked, as they trekked through the jungle.

"I know. I thought we were the ones supposed to be on the boat." Skylar answered absentmindedly.

"Wave goodbye to all the nice people on the doc. Now wave goodbye to all the naughty one." Came a voice from through the trees.

Skylar and Andrew gave each other a look then ran through the trees towards the source of the voice. They came to a river and the jungle cruise boat had just passed them by.

"Now what?" Skylar said shaking her head.

"Onward." Andrew told her and began to walk along the river.

They came to the temple of the forbidden eye, Indiana Jones' ride.

"You know I don't think Indiana will be attending any New Years party this year." Andrew said all of a sudden.

"What?" Skylar confused.

"Because he hates it when 'the ball drops'." He answered anyway laughing at his own joke.

"First of all, not funny. Secondly, you stole that from the ride." Skylar laughed at his poor attempt to lighten the mood.

"You're laughing now."

"At you, not the joke."

"Maybe that's the idea."

They walked on for a moment more, thoughts to themselves.

"Woah, look out folks. This Bengal tiger could jump us. If we 'pull a few strings' maybe we'll make it out of here." Said an unenthusiastic skipper.

"We've got to cross the river and catch that boat!" Skylar exclaimed as soon as she heard that and jumped into the dark water.

"We'll be washed downstream!" Andrew worried, jumping in as well.

The current was strong but they waded through and got to the other side quickly. They ran along the river and came to a dilapidated temple covered in string and trimmings.

Skylar stepped onto a broken down step but withdrew her foot quickly as it moved. It was not a step but an alligators tail! It blended in with the floor and its rigid back looked like the cracks of the temple.

"The alligators aren't the thing to worry about." Andrew whispered in her ear.

"What are you---" Skylar eyes met with the thing he was referring to.

The Bengal tiger was also covered in string and it was not happy about it. It stood up on a rock, it's back hunched and teeth bared. His dark eyes were narrowed and he too blended in, even with the faded orange stripes.

They walked very slowly around the alligators and through the trimmings, never taking their eyes off the cat. It glared at them but didn't move, keeping its posture tense.

Past the point where they could see the tiger they breathed a sigh of relief until a sound of hissing met their ears. Three cobras stood up on end, swinging their head with their hoods puffed out in defense.

Knowing the usual spiel of this ride, the two knew these highly poisonous snakes. All around them were fruitcakes, one of which a snake was wrapped around.

None of the snakes were in a striking position but they were at attention. Skylar and Andrew decided it was best that they went in the river again to avoid any 'complications'.

This brought them to an Indian bathing pool, a bathing pool for elephants that is. Hundreds of elephants were gathered together at the water source and it was a sight to see for they too were in holiday attire.

This is where the shipment of wreaths had fallen. There were wreaths floating in the water and they were even on elephants. They used them as 'bath toys' you could say. A few wore them on their trunk or like a hat!

Back on land, Skylar and Andrew observed this for a minute then carried on. They pushed past some trees and discovered a camp where some of the safari group had been staying. Only it was now taken over, by monkeys.

Monkeys that wore Santa hats and even one with black boots, is what they saw first. As they walked on they saw the whole camp in disarray.

Along with the Santa materials they had received all the baking goods from the plane. Sugar, flour, banana bread and oven mitts, the monkeys had gotten into all of it. They screeched and chattered with each others making up a lot of racket. One monkey was even dipping the baby monkey into a bag of flour!

Skylar and Andrew saw all this from afar and decided not to interfere. They kept along the river to find a gorilla also with a shipment of his own. He had gotten into the candy canes but they concluded it was best to leave him alone too.

They passed the famous 'Switzer Falls' and entered into the Nile. Turning the corner they spotted the end of the boat.

"There!" Skylar yelled, once again running.

They chased after it but once again lost sight of it as the jungle of trees got thicker. This is when they heard a jingle. A faint jingle of bells was heard in the jungle and then it rang again.

"Did you hear that?" Andrew asked as they gave up trying to catch the boat.

"Yeah. It almost sounds like---"

The bells chimed again and then an elephant let out a trumpet-blast somewhere. It was nearby and they ran toward the sound.

Pushing past the trees and through leafy bushes they did spot an elephant. It was trumpeting and roaring and covered in bells. It jingled and chimed where ever it walked, but the elephant seemed overall content.

Another past by them in the same condition. A whole herd of elephants had gotten into the bell of bags.

Beyond the elephants they made it to the African Veldt. Giant rock formations led into a whole safari of animals and cargo. Wildebeest, giraffes, impalas and zebras were surprised to find themselves in snow. Not actual snow but thousands of cut out snowflakes covered the sandstone formations and safari that had floated down from the plane.

Skylar and Andrew walked along the shore, avoiding the main groupings of animals.

"Looks like Santa decided to drop in." Skylar said comically, looking at the floor.

All along the safari were blow molds of Santa and his eight tiny reindeer.

"Looks like Comet wasn't quick enough." Andrew commented and Skylar saw what he was looking at.

A cave just ahead of them was filled with a pride of lions surrounding a beheaded blow mold of a reindeer.

They climbed over the rock formations in order to not disturb their 'meal'. Vultures circled overhead waiting for scraps.

Once again through the jungle they trekked on their long expedition. They made it to the rock beach and the rhinoceros who 'always got his point across'. The safari group that had gone out to look for the missing cargo had climbed up a tall pole to avoid 'complications' with this animal.

"Here we are coming up on the Hippopotamus pool." Came the skippers voice again.

Zero, whom they had not seen for a while, began to bark and fly after the noise. They followed quickly and jumped into the boat just as it was sailing away from the shore.

There was no one aboard it but it kept going by itself. Catching their breath, the two let the boat glide by itself into the pool of hippos and fruitcake.

The hippos blew bubbles and wiggled their ears like usual. They rose and sunk in the water while pushing the heavy but buoyant fruitcake in the water.

"Well we're finally in the boat. What are we supposed to do now?" Skylar sighed, leaning over the side of the boat.

"It's almost over. We've only got the headhunter territory left." Andrew replied, pretending to steer the boat around the bend.

It was on a rail, or so they hoped. Turning the corner, they heard Christmas music and sure enough they had entered headhunter territory. Dressed in Christmas sweaters the hunters danced around a fire chanting.

The boat passed this but more hunters hid in the grass with spears. Although they weren't a threat, for the spears had fruitcake on the end.

"This ride hasn't been super dangerous and look we're done." Andrew said looking on the bright side of things.

They saw 'the back side of water' and were sailing through the last channel.

"Isn't there one more thing?" Skylar asked, vaguely remembering something at the end of this ride.

"What do you m---" Andrew's voice trailed off as he leaned over the boat and stared at something in the water.

"What is it?" She looked down into the water and saw a small wrapped present floating in the water with several bites out of it!

"Hit the deck!" Andrew yelled and pulled her away from the water and onto the floor.

There came sounds of shredding and biting. The boat sounded like it was being clawed at from the under the water.

Then all of a sudden the boat just stopped.

"Not now!" Andrew moaned and ran to the steering wheel.

Skylar had no idea what was going on but glanced over the side of the boat to find razor-sharp teeth piranha teeming in the water. They threw themselves at the boat and with it now stopped, one fish made it over the side!

Skylar yelped as it flopped and writhed on the deck. She picked it up by the tail and flung it  back into the water while grimacing all the time.

Andrew finally got the boat to speed out of there and left the demon fish behind.

"Talk about Piranhanukkah." Skylar breathed with relief.

"We're almost done, just one more ride and Christmas is over." Andrew said, stepping around the situation delicately.

Zero barked and swooped around the boat.

"There is no way I'm going back there."

"We have no choice."

"Good luck with that."

Zero barked and barked trying to get there attention.

"Haunted Mansion Holiday can't be half as bad as what we just did." Andrew tried to make the issue less bleak.

Skylar shook her head violently and began to shake.

"There is no way -- that I'm going to --- even think about---"

Zero barked and lit up his orange pumpkin nose trying to get their attention.

"I know that you're anxious to see what's inside, it's what happens when two holidays collide."

Skylar turned around and to her dismay,
It was not Santa Claus in his cheery red sleigh

She fainted right there,passed out on the floor, as Andrew stood gaping at the elevator doors.

For not a little driver so lively and quick,
was at the door waiting and made them feel sick.

The large mansion lay waiting for them to all enter, And Halloween town sat dark and still in the center.

Andrew gathered his thoughts and picked Skylar up,walking into the mansion, even though corrupt.

Now that they were finally inside, there was no more space that they could all hide.

"Welcome my friends to our Christmas delight, come witness a ghoulishly glorious sight."

The voice cackled and moaned as the doors shut behind them, the two just groaned knowing it was followed by mayhem.

•

•

•
Wow I did this in two days (it's 3000 words btw). I must say I love it and I hope you do too! I added the rhyming bit at the end to create ominousness and I think it did..... See you guys at Christmas!!!! Only 2 days!!!!!!!!