A star to wish for

[bido]

Characters: Bido, Open
Setting: 2am, a square in central Jump city with a large public Christmas tree
Previous Threads: none
Plot Summary: Bido is off ruining Christmas stealing Christmas decoration.

[bido]

"Bido saw the shiny lights again." The lizard man scuttled around the sewer tunnels. Every now and then he stopped. His tongue rolled out, revealing a map he carefully unfolded underneath its plastic wrap. "Bido saw them at the same place as last year. The large square with the big triangle-tree." Three fingers flatly pressed against a particular area of the map. It had smiley faces on it. "This time, Bido is going to take the shiny star back home." Oh how jealous the other dragons would be of him. Bido would have his own star! It would shine at night and keep him company in his lonely lair. The chameleon rolled up his map again. With a quick tongue-move, the precious tool disappeared again into his mouth. "Bido must go left twice, then right. Bido!"

Bido's colors remained grey while he focused on the path ahead. Once or twice, his mind wandered to his mental picture of the triangle-tree with its many shinies. His scales turned bright red and yellow at the distorted memory. "Bido had never seen so many shinies! Shiny colored balls, shiny lights and a shiny star!" It had clearly been the centerpiece of the tree, and Bido had no greater wish than to make it his own. Alas, the next time he visited the square, both the tree and the star was gone. "Bido couldn't even find a single shiny red ball." But not this time Bido had checked the spot every week, waiting for the magical tree to reappear. And last week, it did! Bido had spent the past six days preparing his star-collecting adventure. He stopped right above a manhole. "Bido must check his gear." First, he unfolded the map again, tracing with a finger his escape route. "Bido will break the lights south. That way Bido can escape via the south tunnel." Then he dropped down his bag. It was a musty old thing. Bido's frenetic little hands pulled out a rope with a grapple at the end. "Bido hopes the tree will not break. Bido isn't very heavy and it's a magic triangle-tree." Then there were three stones, one for each streetlamp along his escape. Finally, Bido carefully pulled out a large glass jar. "Bido has been keeping this shiny for a long time. Bido will use it for a special occasion."

After carefully putting all his belongings back where they belonged, Bido made his way up the manhole. He pushed it up a couple of inches, just enough to peek out. But instead of looking around for people, his eyes immediately fixated on the large Christmas tree in the square. His eyes sparkled as reality impossibly outshone his own expectations. "Bido sees giant presents! With bows!" But how was he going to bring those home? Some of those presents were twice his size!

Excitement coursing through his body, Bido jumped out of the manhole. He managed to control himself enough to turn on his chameleon-camouflage. But his eyes and mind were darting around from one distraction to another. "Presents! Red globes! Shiny lights! Blue balls! Orange lights! More presents!" The chameleon-mutant slowly edged closer to the tree, as if scared it was just a fleeting illusion ready to disappear.

[Dark Dreamer]

ooc: I hope you don't mind me throwing Jason into this.

bic: It was late in Jump City. Two in the morning to be more precise; a time most people who did not have to work were fast asleep dreaming sweet dreams. This naturally included Jason and his family. Jason's younger know it all sister, Haley was busy dreaming about being part of her very own superhero team. Their mother, Debbie, meanwhile, dreamnt of her early days as a hero. She was part of a team known as Heroes Inc. Unlike Jason, Deborah and Haley were unable to manipulate and recall their dreams no matter how wonderful they were.

As for Jason, he did have the amazing gift to not only recall his dreams, but to manipulate and change his dreams around as he saw fit. Even his seemingly perfect younger sister envied this ability of his. Still, he is currently unable to visit the dreams of others though he has been told by his own mentor that he has the potential to learn that ability. Jason was in the middle of one of his favorite dreams: a perfect world with no wars, no fighting whatsoever, and everybody getting along. Yes perfect. So perfect in fact there was never a need for violence. Even the clowns in his dreams didn't scare him and were all so very friendly. Jason would just fly around happily and was always in perfect control over all his powers.

He was in the middle of enjoying a slice of chocolate cake on a cruise ship when the surroundings all around him started to ripple. Initially, Jason thought he was merely losing control over his dream; which for the lucid dreamer was a rarity. Still, it was something he could easily accept and move on from it. However, this wasn't that at all. After rippling for a few minutes, the stuff within his dream started vanishing from sight including the chocolate cake he was eating. Soon his dream was replaced with pitch darkness. Suddenly he saw what appeared to be a row of lights and Jason just knew he was meant to follow the lit up trail and so he did. Suddenly the trail stopped right in front of the city's own town square and smack in the middle of it stood a marvelous Christmas tree filled with all sorts of beautiful, shiny ornaments and mesmerizing colored lights. Jason's striking green eyes widened at the gorgeous sight. "it...it's beautiful," he exclaimed, clearly impressed by this year's decorations. They really outdid themselves this year with all the decorating.

Suddenly, he spotted quick movement coming from the corner of his eye. Wondering who or what it was he turned. "Who's there? Stop hiding like a little coward and show yourself," Jason nervously demanded. Jason let out a horrified gasp upon being greeted by not a man, but by some sort of creature. It appeared to be part lizard and part man. Jason couldn't believe his eyes! He had never seen anything like it before! "What...who are you?" he asked. But the creature ignored him for he too seemed mesmerized by the tree. For several long moments the creature silently stood there staring at it as though the tree had somehow put the lizard man under some sort of spell. But before Jason could say something more to it, the creature moved even closer to the tree and then the creature climbed to the very top of the tree and snatched up the brightly shining star as well as other ornaments along the way back down! Jason gasped at the sight. "Hey, you! Stop!" he called only for the creature to literally run right through him before diving back inside a manhole with his bag full of shiny ornaments including the tree's prized star! Jason shivered as the creature ran right through him as though he were some sort of ghost.

It was only then that Jason remembered that this wasn't real at least not yet. It was only a dream or rather a vision. A vision that has plagued the precog for the past few days now. His vision was warning him that somewhere out there was a lizard man planning to pilfer all the Christmas ornaments from the town square's own Christmas tree and it was all up to Jason to stop him. And maybe just maybe if he did a good enough job of stopping the lizard man that would get him noticed by the Titans. Maybe if he does really good they'll even offer him a position on the team! Jason could hardly wait for the chance to prove himself to the Titans! Finally a chance to be a REAL hero! All he had to do was beat the lizard man to the tree and then ambush him! 'He'll never see it coming!' thought Jason slyly. Oh how he loved being psychic! It definitely gave him an edge at times and Jason was ever the opportunist!

He tried telling people of his vision, but as usual nobody outside his family believed him! He even tried to warn the city's decorators who were in charge of the tree as well as the police. But they all just laughed at him and accused him of drinking too much hot cocoa while watching The Grinch. Jason hated that nobody believed him and he just couldn't wait to prove them all wrong!

Not five seconds later, Jason awoke with a start. Out of breath and sweating, Jason checked to make sure he was all there. Upon seeing he was, Jason relaxed some. He checked his bedroom clock and frowned at seeing the time. In his vision it was two a.m, but here it was barely midnight! Jason then gasped at the sudden realization that the lizard man could be striking in just a few hours like in his vision. He jumped off his bed and dashed over to his closet where he rummaged about his clothes. He started tossing things about until he found what he was looking for: a long green hooded cloak. It used to belong to father. He gave it to him after he decided to use his powers to help the Jump City police find missing people. His mother did not want him to have it since his father went crazy while wearing it and so she did not think his wearing it would make a very good first impression. But like his father, Jason liked the color and the feel of it. And besides he wasn't his father. He wasn't about to become brainwashed and manipulated by another. No, he was far too strong minded for that. Plus, hooded cloaks were so cool and heroic like. Jason put the green hooded cloak over some regular clothes; which consisted of black jeans and a green t-shirt. Like his father, green was Jason's favorite color.

Once he had his clothes and cloak on he turned to his window before remembering the bars his own mother had put on; which of course caused his younger sister, Haley to squeal out in delight, "cool!" Jason didn't agree. Not one bit. His mother barred up his bedroom window to prevent him from sneaking out at night to hang out with Don and to prevent Don from sneaking up into Jason's bedroom. Don being his mischievous, troublemaking uncle who was only twenty years old, a mere four years Jason's senior. The two grew up together and became the best of friends due to how close they were in age and how much they had in common. Don was a lot of fun, but he was also sadly a criminal; which was why his mother disapproved of them hanging out. Still, Jason would argue and even accuse his mother of being jealous of their bond since she was already grown by the time her brother was born. It was cruel of him to say, but Jason didn't like being forbidden from seeing his uncle.

With his bedroom window now barred, Jason decided to try his luck sneaking out of Haley's bedroom window. Sneaking out of his room he crept into hers; which was just across from his. Problem was her bed was right by the window, so no way he could sneak out without waking her. So Jason instead decided to just go out the front door. He knew about the security system his mother installed and after watching his mother install it, he knew just how to disable it.

After switching the security system off, he snuck out into the cool, night air. Jason put the hood over his head and taking a deep breath he took off into the air using his telekinesis. Since most people were asleep by now, the city streets were devoid of any cars. Jason used the city's lights to guide him towards the town square form his vision. Pretty soon he arrived and the gorgeous tree was still standing. It was as beautiful as it was in his vision. Just as mesmerizing. Jason checked his watch. 12:30. One hour and a half early and no strange lizard man in sight. Jason sighed. Well there was only one thing he could do and that was stake the place out and wait for the creature to show up, so he can ambush him and join the Titans. Easy enough. He just needed the perfect hiding place. A smile crossed his face when he found it. Jason climbed into the Christmas tree and hid. Pulling out a pair of binoculars, he sat and waited for the ornament thief to come by. 'Just let someone try to steal these ornaments with me here,' the psychic smugly thought.

Jason found himself dozing off a few times, but luckily he managed to wake himself back up. An hour and a half went by and his patience paid off in spades for the would be thief did show up and he was indeed a lizard man just like in his vision! Jason couldn't believe his eyes! His visions were so accurate that it was scary! 'Oh wow I can't believe it! He is real! I mean I know I saw him for the past few nights, but still...' thought Jason as he silently watched the creature with his binoculars from his hiding place in the tree. Jason then heard the creature talk rather excitedly about the tree's decorations and presents. Wait presents? Glancing down below him, Jason noticed the large colored boxes sitting all around the tree. 'Uh doesn't he realize those boxes are empty and are just covered in brightly colored wrapping paper?' Jason thought as he continued to observe the lizard man. Watching the creature he wondered what his next move should be. Should he ambush him now or wait a few more minutes to see what he does? 'What are you talking about? You already know what he's going to do! He's going to steal the ornaments including the star! That's why you're here, to stop him and save Christmas! Oh and to hopefully catch the Titans attention and join their little group! Mom will be so proud!' the precog silently scolded himself. 'Right,' thought Jason taking a deep breath and concentrating, 'focus. Just remember your training and you should be fine. And besides, there's just one of him! I mean what could he do against a psychic and telekinetic?'

With newfound confidence, Jason put away his binoculars and using his telekinesis he lifted up the tree's star and floated it around the lizard man's head just out of his reach. "HALT! Who dares enter my domain and disturb my rest? I am...the spirit and guardian of this Christmas tree and you...lizard man have invaded my personal space! Just why have you come? You better not have come to rob me of my ornaments," Jason called out in his best thundering disembodied voice in the hopes to frighten the poor lizard man away and making him think that it was the star talking. The very star that the poor lizard man wanted all along. 

[bido]

Bido jumped up as the star talked to him. "Bido?" His eyes locked in on the star, Bido became completely transfixed. "The shiny star... guards the tree?" The reptile wet his lips. "Can the shiny star.. protect other things?" His little claws were tightening as Bido mentally pictured grasping for the star. But it was too far to reach. "Like a... very large hoard. A hoard in a cave with little light."

After a while Bido grew impatient. He jumped into the air, snatching at the air below the star. "Bido is too short. The shiny star is too high! Biiiido." Bido landed on the ground. His scales turned an annoyed purple. "Why is the shiny star so evil? Bido only wants his hoard to be shiny and safe." Bido's mood soured for another couple of seconds. Suddenly, his scales shifted colors again, this time going for a camouflaging white. "If Bido can't have the shiny star," He said, "Maybe Bido deserves other presents."

Bido began plucking the tree of its ornament. He was very sneaky about it, taking one Christmas bauble, then darting to the opposite side of the tree to pluck another one. "Bido will have to bring all of these home." Because he couldn't possibly carry them all at once, Bido started piling up his loot in front of the tree. "Unless the shiny star would like to come visit Bido's hoard." Bido kept eyeing the floating ornament.

[Dark Dreamer]

Even though the strange lizard man could not see him, Jason nodded. "I could very well defend and protect other objects,"Jason answered proudly in his continued thundering disembodied voice. "I don't see why not," Jason casually added in response to the lizard man's second inquiry concerning his now not so secret hoard and cave. 'So he has a hoard hidden in a dimly lit cave somewhere? Likely full of various other stolen goodies. How very...intriguing,' Jason thought to himself smiling. Perhaps if he were to locate the creature's supposed enormous hoard himself then maybe he could... Wait, suppose he were to find it what would he do then? He'd be no better if he just took the poor creature's stuff. He needed a plan. First things first he needed to find the hoard and without this strange creature spotting him. Stealth. Yes, good lots of stealth was clearly needed for such a mission. Secondly, he needed to know what to do next. Perhaps take harmless pictures of it? Hmmm...

His mind quickly snapped back to the present due to the creature jumping up and narrowly missing the shiny star Jason was controlling. Jason then observed the now irritated creature change colors like some sort of chameleon. Jason's bright green eyes widened in amazement. Jason wondered how he did that. Was this lizard man seriously just an overgrown chameleon. If so how did that happen, he wondered. Sadly he couldn't see the past only the future.

The psychic's eyes blinked in genuine confusion at the lizard man's accusations. Jason felt insulted. How dare this obvious sneak thief accuse him, someone who only had aspirations of being a hero, of evil? It just made no sense to the hero in training. "Uh I think you got things a little backwards there pal. I'm the hero er I mean the Great and Powerful Guardian of this fair Christmas tree and you sir are nothing more than a mere sneak thief who is trying to steal the very ornaments I've sworn to protect. From my point of view you sir are the villain here not me," Jason's voice thundered.

Jason watched as the lizard man changed colors once more. "That...that's amazing! That whole color change thing you do. How...how do you do it? Are you some sort of...chameleon? I must say I've never encountered a chameleon as tall and as intelligent as you. I mean you are obviously capable of human speech. Who taught you how to talk anyway?" Jason asked mostly out of curiosity. Jason had to admit he was impressed. 'Other presents?' Jason thought getting worried. 'Oh no,' he thought getting a bad feeling about this.

It did not take the lizard man long to make good on his word for he began to quickly plunder the gorgeous tree of its whiny ornaments. Although the lizard man's movements were indeed quick, Jason had a keen eye for such and was able to spot him stealing the ornaments. It was as Jason feared. He then watched as the tell chameleon started a rather large pile of ornaments at the bottom of the tree. 'Don't just stand there gawking like a darn fool! You were supposed to stop him from taking those. Either scare him away for good or attack,' the voice inside his head ordered and the psychic did not dare disobey. The voice, after all, struck him as very wise. 'Don't even worry about it! I'll get him,' Jason mentally reassured the voice.

The psychic was just about to make good on his word and attack when the tall chameleon said something rather unexpected. Jason was very taken aback by the generous lizard man's kind offer to show him the whereabouts of his lovely hoard or at least Jason assumed it to be lovely due to the way the lizard man went on about his hoard. Interestingly enough, finding this creature's hoard was on the top of Jason's To Do List except in Jason's original plan the lizard man was not to know of his...visit due to the possibility of taking some of his hoard for uh hero reasons. But obviously with the lizard man's offer the opportunity was simply too good to pass up. So Jason decided to accompany the lizard man...for now. "Accompany you to this...hoard of yours? Hm, that's an...interesting offer I must say! I suppose I could see your lovely hoard, but I won't be able to stay long. Ya know, guardian duties and all take up a good amount of my time, I'll have to go in my human form as well. Hold on a sec," Jason informed the sneak thief, agreeing to follow him to his hidden hoard.

Concentrating hard, Jason telekinetically floated the tree's shiny star over to where he was hiding. Grabbing the star he stuffed it inside his backpack for safe keeping along with his binoculars. In his mind as long as he had it then the thieving lizard man couldn't have it and that was good enough for him! Placing his backpack over his shoulder, Jason floated himself down from his hiding spot where he landed softly in front of the tall chameleon. Jason grinned at him. "So yeah this is my human form. What do you think?" Jason asked as he kept his hood over his head in an effort to conceal his long scar. "But enough about me! Let's see this hoard of yours. Is it as impressive and as shiny as you claim?"