Kali's Flight Before Christmas

Chapter 3

The next morning~

Kali, Niko and Saga had snuck out of Home Valley and had gone to Antler's Hill for Niko to do his flying practice. 

"Okay, Niko. Now just remember what we told you" Kali told Niko while he prepared to fly, instructing him like a coach. 

Niko nodded firmly to Kali in understanding before taking off. 

The little reindeer soon took off running, but when he tried to fly, he just ended up falling again... 48 times in a row. 

Saga laughed while watching Niko, but not in a mean way. 

"Crash-landing maneuver" Niko told her. 

"Never know when you're gonna need it" Kali added. 

"I thought I'd find you here" A new voice said. 

The kids gasped as they saw Julius had found them and was upset with them for sneaking out of Home Valley. 

"What do you have to say for yourself, young man?" Julius came up to Niko, scolding him specifically. 

"You've got to help me" Niko whispered to his flying squirrel friend. "I've been making a fool of myself all morning"

"None of that! It's dangerous out here!" Julius sternly told the young buck. "Straight back to Home Valley with you"

"Please?" Niko and Kali both begged Julius to help them, giving him those puppy dog eyes. 

Julius hesitated at first, but couldn't seem to resist and sighed. "Oh, alright. But only for one minute"

"Yes!" Kali cheered in victory. 

Julius then started thinking of a way for Niko to fly. 

"Maybe you don't have to fly" Julius soon said. "Maybe you could glide" 

"Oh, you're right!" Kali said, getting what the flying squirrel was saying. "It's really just falling, but slower" she told Niko.  

"Hey, I'm great at falling" Niko smiled. The tomboy couldn't help but giggle a little to that. 

"Good!" Julius said, then pointed out to a nearby tree. "Now, climb to the top of that tree and-"

"Are you crazy? Reindeer don't climb trees!" Kali told the flying squirrel. Being the only human here, she knew that for a fact. 

"Yeah, that's just dumb" Niko added. Even he knew that for a fact.

"Wow! Are you really gonna do it?" Saga asked Niko. 

"Oh, yeah" Niko suddenly pretended to act all confident to impress the doe he secretly liked. "And uh, don't try and stop me" 

Kali playfully rolled her eyes over Niko's behavior around Saga, reminding her of how Rudolph and Clarice were when they first met. 

Niko soon started climbing up the tree the best he could. And for a reindeer he did surprisingly well, making it all the way to the top.

"Not bad" Kali smiled to Niko proudly. Julius even gave him a thumbs up. 

Niko smiled to his friends before suddenly, the gang heard the branch snap and then break, causing for Niko to fall and get his leg caught between the branches. Saga laughed again while Niko was stuck hanging upside down. 

"Now, that's a view" Kali remarked. 

Julius came up to the top of the tree to try and get Niko unstuck while Kali would pull on Niko's two front legs to try and get him free that way.