Nova stood on the floating platform in the middle of the Orbital Arena with robot 10915 next to him.
“Is everything ready?”
10915 looked at his specs on a tablet. “Ready to go, you have the controls.”
Before Nova, where his normal podium would be placed, was a set of pilot controls. He punched a code in and began navigating. The massive arena broke free from it’s normal orbit and tilted forward. Red lights flashed and a secondary shield system came online. In moments, a blazing red fire surrounded them as they entered the Earth’s atmosphere. Once beyond the layers of upper atmosphere, the Arena blasted through layers of thick clouds and then sped across a vast blue sky with the land far below. The oceans came closer, a tiny dot reflected up from the surface. Soon that dot grew as they headed across the Atlantic toward the icy north. Glaciers broke up the cold waters, and a few cargo vessels sailed away below them. Finally, they zoomed over the open ice lands of the arctic north. All at once, the Orbital Arena slowed down and came to a stop in the middle of a winter wonderland.
“He’s already on his way.” 10915 stated.
Nova smiled, “He’s always prompt.”
Eight tiny reindeer pulled Santa’s glorious sleigh across the sky. The jolly figure of St. Nick flew right through the two layers of shields as if they weren’t there. Stopping next to the platform, Santa disembarked his sleigh and gave Nova a big hug. “Merry Christmas my old friend.”“I don’t hug.”
“But, EB…”
“EB doesn’t listen to anyone.” Nova pressed a button. “Lets get started. The media outlets are waiting.”
“Oh, okay.”
Santa took up the center position on the podium and held his arms out
in a welcoming
gesture. The holo-screens appeared all around him,
some news media outlets, some League HQ’s. “HO, HO, HO! It is my
sincere pleasure to introduce this seasons League Wars. In honor of
my late brother, Krampus, I decided we would dedicate this event to
what he loved most, the icy cold north. Krampus, as you may not know,
loved to ride the waves of snow during a massive avalanche. It
brought him true joy. As such, this seasons League Wars will be
called The Avalanche Games! The specially crafted trophy belts have
been made by my own elves and will go to the winners. Good luck! And,
have a wonderful time, everyone!”