A Christmas Lightball Challenge

After Endings Pt. 2

Summary: Reunited with his wife, Anubis decides to have a little fun with the B-Squad. Snowball fights and Lightball fun, someone get a leash on that dog!

This is a one-shot, it just has four chapters to it. I was in a crazy mood the past five hours typing this while working on another story that I have yet to post because I want to get most of it done before I start. More information about the story will be in my profile.

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Chapter One: Getting the Kat into the Plan.

Two weeks since Grumm's containment and Anubis "Doggie" Cruger, Commander of the Earth SPD, is found watching B-Squad playing a game of lightball. While the team is missing Jack Landors, the other four have adapted to being a group of four. As much as Supreme Commander Birdie demands him to complete the team, Doggie has told him he will not hurry, also telling him he was not in charge of Earth's base.

For Doggie, the past two weeks he has been, as B-Squad has said, on cloud nine. Reunited with his wife as brought out the man no one knew he was. Not even Kat Mynx has seen him like this. His mood swings are rare to see from him now. He barked at Boom for messing up one of the projects Kat had been working, and got scolded by his wife, Isinia.

Sky and Syd now had control over the ball of light, while Z and Bridge stood at ready to either duck, roll, bend, or spin. Syd threw the ball at Bridge, who bent back to avoid it. The ball glance off of Doggie's shoulder and onto the ground.

"Oh, sorry Commander, I didn't see you there!" Syd was frantic. Cruger only chuckled.

"It's alright, Syd, I'm in a bad place." He said.

"Why not play with us, sir." Bridge asked, "I've seen you play against Kat, you seem pretty good.

"I'll face the winner of the next match." He replied, sensing Isinia behind him, "Me and Isinia verses the wining team."

"Doggie, I haven't played this game before." Isinia spoke up.

"Not this version, but one that was very different." Doggie turned to her, and places an arm around her shoulders, "Just think of it when we were ducking rocks from one of Commander Tank's bad days."

"Really?" Isinia was dressed in one of Doggie's uniforms before he got his new one. It was a bit long on her, but she didn't mind. She even took Doggie's old badge with it. "Well, I haven't done any ducking or dodging in a while."

"I usually play twice a year with Kat, or whenever she thinks I need some play time." He said with a soft chuckle, "But when Grumm was about, I had no time to play."

"At least tell me how the game works." Isinia said, elbowing Doggie in the ribs.

"Alright, alright." He said, grabbing her arm to get her to stop. He walked over to one of the stands and pulled out some gloves. "You were one glove, which allows you to hold the lightball. When you throw the ball at someone on the other team, there's a minute or two of dodging before it gets caught again. You win when the players on the other team are tagged." He passed one glove over to Isinia, "See if it fits."

Isinia nodded as she placed it over her left paw. It was slightly loose, but after trying some hard throws, she smiled. It remained on. The Crugers looked over to the two current teams, and smiled, seeing that Sky and Syd have nearly won, Z was giving them trouble. Putting on his own glove, Doggie waited until the game was done.

"Bummer." Z said, walking over to the side, "lost."

"Syd, let's get some water before we play with the dogs." Sky's called receive a growl from both Isinia and Doggie. "Sorry." He said, ducking the book the commander threw.

After the five-minute break, Sky and Syd took their places, facing Anubis and Isinia. Sky started off, throwing the orb as Isinia. She jumped out of the way as the lightball bounced off the way and at Doggie, who did a perfect split to avoid the orb. He could see another cadet wincing in mental pain seeing him like that. The orb bounced off the floor and then the opposite wall before landing in Isinia's hand. She threw it at Sky, who barely dodged it. It glanced off two walls before Syd caught it and chucked it at Anubis. He squatted down and rolled out of the way to get out of the ball's line. Once his feet touched the ground, Doggie did a back flip, catching the ball in his hand.

"You are full of surprises, Commander." Z called from the sidelines. He only nodded in response.

From Doggie's hand to Sky chest caught Sky off guard. He hadn't expected that. The ball bounced on the floor before Syd grabbed it and threw it at Doggie, who didn't have the time to avoid it, nailing him in the left thigh. Isinia grabbed it and looked at Syd. She threw it at Syd's feet, and when she dropped down to avoid it, it bounced of her back.

"Oh… that totally stinks." Syd said, climbing to her feet, "I lost to Commander Cruger's wife."

"And I haven't even played the game before." Isinia said, "But that was a good game."

"Lasted all of… whoa, five minutes!" Sky said in disbelief, "No way."

"I think our morphers were taken from us, Sky." Syd said.

Isinia and Doggie both left the room to two confused cadets. They walked hand in hand into the command center, where Kat was by herself working on getting the information of new cadets into the system.

"You miss it, Kat." Doggie said.

"Miss what?" Kat looked up.

"Isinia playing lightball against Sky and Syd with me." He replied.

"Who won?" Kat asked, looking up.

"We did, or rather, Isinia did." Anubis said, going to his chair, "Took all of five minutes."

"Are you saying, that you got hit?" Kat was surprised.

"After Doggie hit Sky, Syd got him back." Isinia said, looking over Kat's shoulder, "New cadets?"

"Yeah."

"You need a vacation, Kat." Doggie said.

"With all this work…" Kat started to say, Isinia cut her off.

"Work that can wait until after the holidays." According to what Doggie told her, Christmas was coming up in a few weeks.

"Everyone is starting to take vacation." Cruger said, "Take the week of Christmas off."

"But Commander." Kat didn't like the idea.

"I have something I want you to work on." Doggie got up and walked over to Kat and Isinia, "I want to take on all of B-Squad with Isinia, and maybe you, but I want an arena like place so that people can watch without getting hit." He took the files in Kat's hands and put them down. "Command Center is off limits to everyone until after Christmas, starting now."

"Alright, I'll go get Boom and work on the arena." Kat said.

"Just don't let any information slip, this is a Christmas Lightball game, and I have a lot of plans made." Doggie said. Kat nodded then left.

"May your holidays be full of sprit." Isinia said, as they both left the Command Center.

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Chapter Two: Getting Z and Syd to get an Outfit

It was the week of Christmas and Isinia was making sure that Kat got some time away from the base. She had asked Kat to take her to some of the places to get some gifts for both Doggie and the B-squad. Doggie was found in the recreation room, fiddling with a device. He would occasionally glance up and see what Bridge was watching on the TV or over to where Sky was playing a video game with Syd. Z was reading her book in the corner.

Getting up, Doggie got a bottle of water from the machine and left to his room. Many cadets stayed at the academy so they could celebrate the holidays with their friends, and they all made sure the base was ready. Decorations filled the halls and cadets singing carols. Shaking his head with a smile on his face, he enters his room.

All was quiet in there. His Shadow Saber hanging on the wall and his pictures sitting in frames on his desk. The door to the bath was slightly open and his closet was ajar. With a sigh, he places the device on the desk and goes into the closet. It only had a few of his new uniforms and his old ones that he let Isinia wear. He pulled out one set of clothes, which were old. Despite their age, they were still in one piece without strays hanging everywhere, his old uniform from when he was training in the SPD on Sirius.

"Wonder if it still fits me." He mused aloud. With a shrug he places it on his bed and walks over to the desk. He only had three pictures, all from Sirius. One was his squad, one was Isinia's squad, and the last picture was of him and her. "How I miss those guys." He muttered as he started to look at Isinia's dress that she wore. Activating the device, it is seen that he is making a holographic image of what her dress once looked like back on Sirius. A knock on the door told him someone was there.

"Commander?" It was Sky's voice.

"Come in." Doggie said. He didn't mind if Sky spotted the uniform on the bed or him looking at old photos.

Sky walked over to where Anubis was sitting when he spotted the picture of Doggie and Isinia. "Wow, you two look so young in that shot."

Doggie nodded as he put the final touches on the image in the device. "But part of the reason we started to see each other is what our squads did behind our backs." He said, then chuckled, "Shortly after, I started to date her without the help of my squad."

"Turn out good in the end, right?" Sky asked.

"Considering that it was Sunt's idea to take me into town one day to get my sword replaced when I first saw her." He said, then got up. "Is there a reason you wanted to see me?"

"I notice you left the recreation room." Sky said, "Just want to make sure you were alright."

"I'm fine." Cruger said, grabbing his old uniform and placing it back in the closet, "But I'm in need of your girlfriend's help." He joked, Sky punched him in the shoulder.

"She's not my girlfriend." Sky said.

Doggie only smiled, "I tend to think otherwise."

They both left the room and back to the recreation room. Syd and Z were battling it out with a video game. Cruger smiled, but got both of their attention.

"Girls, can you do me a favor?"

"What?" they both asked, jumping up.

"Take this to the tailor, tell them you need it back before Christmas Eve." He activated the device to show a dress, "everything they need is right here."

"Sure thing, Commander." Syd said, "I happen to know the best one."

"Good." Cruger nodded, both darted out. Cruger sat on the couch and picked up the controller. "Play a game with me?"

"Crug, you really have change a lot since your wife came back." Sky said, picking up the other controller and sitting down next to the blue dog, "You are on."

A few hours later, Kat and Isinia entered the Recreation room to see Sky having his butt kick at a video game, against Doggie. The head dog was having a grand old time. After a minute, Cruger gave a soft roar of victory.

"That's 20 times I've beaten you, and you not once beat me." Doggie said.

"That's not cool." Sky said, "I underestimated you yet again, commander."

"Boys and toys." Isinia said, "Love, it's time for bed." She pointed at Doggie.

"Alright, I'm coming." He said, putting down the controller. He got up and walked over to Isinia and puts and arm around her.

"Cruger's changed, right?" Sky asks Kat.

"I've never seen him this way." Kat admitted. "Someone needs to put a leash on that dog before something out of the normal happens."

"Too late for that Kat," Sky said, "Things have already happen that don't normally happen, starting with Cruger playing Lightball with me and Syd."

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Chapter Three: Christmas Day Snowball Fight

Isinia woke up early Christmas morning. It was about six in the morning, so the sun wasn't up yet, and wouldn't be for at least another hour. Behind her was the soft snoring of her husband, Doggie, who wouldn't be up for another hour or two. She lay there for a few minutes before wiggling out of Doggie's hold to get up. She walked into their personal bath and took a shower. After the 15-minute shower was done, she looked over at the dress that Doggie had left out for her. She smiles softly as she puts it on. It was much like the one she wore on Sirius.

"What's you plan, Doggie." She mutters. She walks over where Doggie had also left a present for her with a note on it: 'When you wake, beautiful, you can open this.'

"You sly dog." She remembers a time similar to this on Sirius. It was her birthday and he had left her a gift in her tent. How he ever got it in there was a mystery to her. She opens the gift and finds a necklace with gold lettering on it. In Sirian it meant 'I Love You', and Isinia couldn't help but smile. "You sly dog." She said again.

"Who's a sly dog?" Came a sleepy voice. Isinia looked over and saw that Doggie was awake.

"You are." She said, "Thanks for the necklace."

"Not a problem." Doggie said, climbing out of bed, "I'm taking a shower real quick, be right back." Isinia nodded as she put the necklace on.

Ten minutes later Doggie exits the bath with a towel wrapped around him as he gets into the closet. He pulls out his Sirian uniform and puts it on. Isinia walks over to where his sword hung and took it off the wall, and carried it over to him. She gives him a look over after he finishes getting dress.

"Looks a bit snug." She says.

"Little bit, but I haven't worn it since…" he paused, and Isinia nodded.

"I see." She passed him his sword, which he takes and sheaths, "So why are you in this and not your new uniform?"

Instead of answering, he walks over and picks up one of his pictures and hands it to her. She looks at it and realization hits. "You wanted to dress up to get a new photo?"

"No, just a companion photo." He said, "that and I don't want to be the commander today, even though they will still call me Commander."

Isinia smiles as she places the photograph back. The two head outside for an early morning walk. Hand in hand, the two walk about academy grounds. Isinia takes a deep breath of the icy air and gives a long sigh afterwards.

"I almost forgot what it was like walking in the chill of the morning." Doggie said, commenting about when they were on Sirius.

"Except it was without the snow." It didn't snow on Sirius.

Snow was gently falling around them when they came across B-Squad. Doggie and Isinia stop and looked at them curiously. Z and Bridge were just standing near each other while Sky and Syd were hand in hand and they were all talking. Anubis reached down and pick up some snow and found it very pack-able. He passes it to Isinia in a snowball and makes himself one.

"Think lightball." He whispers in their native language. She nodded and he threw the first snowball, with her right behind his lead. Doggie his Sky and Syd's linked hands while Isinia nailed Bridge in the head, "But tagging them won't put them out." He quickly adds. Again she nods as the team turns around. At first they looked confused, for they haven't seen Doggie in anything but the commander's uniform, but they quickly identified him.

"That's it, its war now, Cruger!" Bridge yelled as the four scrambled to make snowballs.

Doggie quickly made another snowball and threw it at the squad. Isinia found herself make snowballs while rolling out of the way of incoming snowballs. Once she had one made she threw it hard with her left hand, hitting Z in the leg. Doggie got Sky right in the face, only to have Bridge nail him in the face as well.

"Ouf." Doggie grunted as he landed in the snow. Shaking his head, he looks back at B-Squad. Isinia comes to his side and helps him up. "Just what I needed, snow in the face." Doggie joked as he picked up some more snow and threw it at the approaching B-Squad. "Don't think we're done yet, Cadets."

Inside the base, Kat and Boom are standing next to each other watching the brewing fight. It was only seven in the morning and already a snowball fight had begun. Kat stepped outside and picked up some snow. She couldn't help herself as she threw it at Doggie. He noticed and ducked before it hit him.

"Kat! I thought you were on my side!" he calls out, diving out of the way of three snowballs.

"Sorry, I forgot." Kat called out, picking up and dumping snow on the now present Boom.

Another hour past before B-Squad gave up. Everyone got together and headed inside to warm up and have some breakfast.

"Hey commander, what's with the get up?" Bridge asks, pointing at what he was wearing.

"Are you saying that I can't wear something other then the commander uniform?" Doggie countered.

"Well no, its just, you see sir, its not often you actually wear something else, it's always…"

"I get it, Bridge." Doggie said.

The all got their meals and sat down. They talked about how everything was going to work out for later in the day when they pass out gifts. No one except Boom, Kat, Isinia, and Doggie knew about the lightball challenge that would happen later in the day.

"Kat, how's that project I asked you to do coming?" Doggie asks

"Should be ready by the time you want it to start." Kat said, careful not to let any details slip.

"Good, This is going to be great." Doggie nodded, the smiled slyly.

"You sly dog." Isinia chirped in again, elbowing him in the ribs again.

"Can't help it, dear." He said curtly, holding his ribs, "better hope I don't puck." He said in their language, and Isinia only laughed.

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Chapter Four: A Team Effort, Failed

"You know, Doggie, I forgot to say how sharp you look in that outfit." Kat said, "better then those uniforms you have."

"Thanks Kat." Doggie said.

Everyone was gathered within the common room of B-Squad. Other squads could deal with their gifts in their own common room. It was shortly after noontime and they were finally passing out gifts. Jack and his friend, Ally, came for a visit, Jack was playing elf and handing out gifts.

"This one is for Anubis, do we have someone by the name Anubis in here?" Jack joked. Doggie shook his head as he raises his hand.

"I think that's mine, Jack." He said.

"Oh, okay, here you are, commander."

"Jack, just call me Doggie like everyone else."

"Okay, Doggie."

Isinia only giggled. "I remember when you use to scold Kris for calling you 'Doggie'"

"Well, time has changed things." Doggie responded, "Including me."

"Well, you are still a handsome man that I fell in love with way back when." Isinia said in their native tongue so no one heard. Doggie chuckled weakly as he opened his gift. He took note that it was in Kat handwriting with 'From: B-squad' which meant…

"You guys… when was this taken?" Doggie asked, looking mainly at Kat. It was a picture of B-Squad, Kat, Boom, and himself at his desk in the Command Center.

"Before A-Squad came and kidnapped you." Jack said, "With everything that's happen recently, I'm not surprised you don't remember it, it was seconds before we went on patrol when Icthior attack."

"I always thought it was a still image from security." Syd said.

"Nope, Dr. Felix took the shot." Kat said, "I asked him too."

"So you know, Doggie," Sky looked a little uncomfortable saying his name, "That's your new squad, even if Jack left us."

Kat could see the tears welled up in Doggie's eyes as he smiled. No words could form for him, so he just looked back at the picture. Those guys. He thought numbly. Jack went back to passing out gifts. Isinia got some new clothes from Syd and Z so she didn't always wear the old commander outfits that Doggie let her wear. Doggie got another gift from Birdie, it was his new badge. After everything was passed out, Doggie looked at the time. It was almost time to play Lightball. He looked at Kat, who nodded.

"Hey, everyone." They all looked at Doggie. "There's something I want to do…"

Everyone was within the arena that Kat had prepared. All the cadets eagerly waited to see the match. Doggie stood in the center and did a bark to shush everyone.

"This is how it works today." He called, "It's me, Isinia, and Kat verses B-Squad with the addition of Boom and Jack. The losing team pays for everyone's dinner at a chosen restaurant that I have picked." A wild cheer broke. "Don't underestimate my team, just because it's three against six."

"Let's play some Lightball!" the cadets of Delta Base started to chant. Without another word, all the players raised their gloved hand to wait for the orb to appear.

Kat felt the energy build up in her glove, and she looks over to see she had the orb. She held it up for everyone to see. All the players got ready to play. Kat threw the ball at Boom, who tried to avoid it, stumbling and landing on the floor made the ball miss him, if barely. The orb bounced of the floor then the wall, right into Jack's hand. Knowing that Sky had a better aim, he passed it to him, and Sky threw it at Doggie. The orb was heading right at his chest, so Doggie once again did a split and lowered his body to the ground once sitting, and once the ball past him, he sprung up onto his bare hand and caught the ball as it came flying back. Landing on his feet he threw it at Z, who dived to the right to avoid it, but the same could not be said for Boom, who took the hit. Bridge caught the ball and threw it after Boom safely got out. Kat duck as Isinia caught the ball. Isinia threw the ball at Syd and hit her on the hip. Sky caught the ball and waited for Syd to get out of the arena, and once she was out he threw it at Kat, and got her in the shoulder. Doggie grabbed the ball as Kat made for the exit.

"Who let the dogs out?" Jack taunted, and Doggie growled as he threw the ball at him. It missed Jack but hit Z. Bridge caught the ball as Z escaped the arena. At this point only 15 minutes have past, but the remaining players were all panting. Doggie and Isinia stood back to back while Sky and Jack stood to either side of Bridge. Bridge threw the ball at Isinia and both dogs dived out of the way. Once Isinia got back to her feet, she also had the ball in hand. She released it almost as soon as she caught it, aiming for Jack, but he caught it before it hit him. Passing to Sky, they team up against Isinia while Doggie tries to go and stop the ball. She gets hit in the right arm as the ball bounces into Doggies hand.

"Things don't look good for you, commander." Sky called.

"I think they are looking good for me, though." Doggie said, holding a stance, "Bridge might've seen me play a few times against Kat, but he never saw the winner." He threw the ball right at Bridge, who dived to the left and rolled back to his feet. Jack caught the ball and chucked it back at Doggie, who sidestepped it and let it bounce off the wall. It fired right at Sky, who got hit in the shoulder blade. Jack caught the ball as Sky fled the arena and threw it. Again dropping into a split, he let the ball bounce back a Bridge, who got hit in the foot. Jack again held the ball as Doggie stood up.

"I'm not going to let my team pay for all of the meals." Jack called out, throwing the ball.

"Sorry to say, Jack." Doggie said, catching the ball, "But you are." Doggie did what he saw Isinia do when he played earlier in the month, and threw the ball to the ground. Jack tried to avoid it, but he got hit under the chin. "And that's how a smart player plays Lightball." He finished. He walked over and helps Jack up.

"Man, that was something." Jack said.

"Again I underestimated you, commander." Sky said, walking over, "how many more times are you going to prove me wrong?"

"As many as I have to." Doggie said, "Start counting your money, who knows what some of those cadets are going to buy."

'COMMANDER!" B-Squad yelled in usion. He just looks at them, amused, then smiles.

"Next time don't get your hopes of winning up when you are facing me." He said as he walked over to Isinia, "Shall we?"

"We shall." Isinia said, and started to file out with the rest of the Cadets.

Fin.

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This is why you don't let Doggie Cruger loose during Christmas.

Hope you enjoyed and sorry if this is out early, I was in a Christmas in July mood.

Flameshield