Christmas Story: The Santa Rescue by Togood

Thank you Togood for entering the Christmas Fiction Contest. Here is their story...

(By Dan Peyton)

Over the bleak, cold arctic north a large BADGE landing craft buzzed through the gray skies. Gliding next to it was the stone hero Gargoyle, keenly watching the white land below.

Nova sat in the command seat of this large craft while his trusty robots managed the controls. He touched a comm device attached to his ear, “Anything yet, Gar?”

Gar answered, “Just snow. I...WATCH OUT!”

The proximity alarm went off and the whole craft lurched to the side as something slammed into them. The whole craft spun out of control, the three robots on the bridge rolled about like toys in a storm while Nova kept his firm grip on the command chair.

Nova looked out the front windows as they fell out of the sky and slammed into the ground. Waves of white powder spewed from either side of the ship as they plowed across the frozen north. After the sliding came to a stop, Nova shoved the emergency exit open and jumped out.

Gar landed next to him, "Sir, look!"
A demon approached,“Ah, Director Nova. It’s been a while.”

“What is it this time, Krampus? You and I both know you’re unable to get into Santa’s palace.”

Krampus resembled a man with shaggy hair all over his body, long demonic horns on his head, a long tail, and goat-like legs. He smiled at Nova with those fangs of his, “True, I could never get into that place. But, things have changed.”
“What are you talking about?”

Krampus answers, “These Morphons are spectacular little blessings, now aren’t they? Some humans have been turned almost into gods with them, and some into demons...depends on what they do with them I suppose. I, already being nearly a god myself, found them to be most delightful.”

Nova growled, “What have you done?”

“What I was always meant to do, punish the nasty little brats of this world. And with Santa out of my way, I think I can do my job unhindered. I think I will go eat at least ten thousand children, for starters. I believe that should make up for the lost years with Santa holding me back. Then, who knows? Maybe I’ll eat a few thousand more, all before Christmas.”

“No, you can’t,” Nova exclaimed.

Krampus laughed, “Who will stop me? Without Santa’s cheer, and morphons surging through my body, I am invulnerable. Now, I think I’ll start with a nice aged appetizer.” He jumped at Nova but was blindsided by a full-body slam from Gar. Without a second thought, Gar punched the demon hard enough to send him sprawling ten feet backward across the snow.

“Stay away, monster,” Gar commanded.

Krampus sat there, wiping a trickle of blood from his nose. “You’re an interesting foe. I’ll enjoy playing with you when I’m done. But, alas, I have other plans.” He vanished in a black puff of smoke, leaving only a cackle in its wake.

Nova let out a furious scoff, “This is serious.”
"What was that thing?" Gar asked.
"A demon who dines on little children. Since you can fly, head back to BADGE HQ and alert the leagues that Krampus must be defeated. I’ll stay here and call on any heroes who can help me find Santa and set this all straight. GO!”

Gar took to the skies while Nova headed back into his wrecked ship. He activated his comm, “Nova to all heroes, I need anyone who can help me find Santa, this is a matter of planetary emergency.”

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(By Togood)

“Inferno, I can’t believe that Nova tricked us all on Halloween, that was one of the best pranks ever and we all got some new powers. The power of illusion and trickery is a gift you already had as a magician Inferno, what power did you gain?”

Inferno replied, “My power was increased tenfold but there is much more for you to learn about magic. Rakly the tech and Captain Aim Eric Ah the mentalist will be assisting me in your magic training as magic uses the same basic scientific fundamentals. All magic is really different forms of science, whether it’s a hidden tech gadget or psychology to trick the mind or even knowing the right incantations and spells to control the time it takes for you learn the skills of the magician, mentalist and technician. I have a gift for you. This is my old Tome of Learning and once you grasp it, you shall have learned these skills in mere seconds.”

So I took a hold of the magician’s tome and when I did, all knowledge filled my mind and I could do pretty much do all that my mentors could do, however, it will take time to master this new knowledge. Inferno also failed to mention that receiving so much knowledge that fast would feel like getting kicked in the head. I got on heck of a migraine now. I hope it passes quickly.

No sooner had I received this new knowledge and migraine from hell, our communicators sounded and alert. “Nova to all heroes, I need anyone who can help me find Santa, this is a matter of planetary emergency!” Gar responded and added, “Attention heroes! Our location is 90.0000° N, 135.0000° W, wear something warm, these coordinates are for the North Pole. Meet Nova and I here. “

The four of us stopped our learning session and I was instructed by Inferno to create a transport orb that would get us to those coordinates instantly. Inferno called it practice. A glowing orb was created large enough for us all and as I was the last on to step in, the orb surrounded us and we were instantly transported to the North Pole where Gar and Nova were waiting.

Gar told us of the evil demon creature he faced and how he disappeared in a puff of black smoke. Nova said, “His name is Krampus and we need to find out what he has done with Santa with his new found morphon powers and stop him from hurting the world’s children. He has a rather large appetite for naughty kids and he can enter Santa’s palace now and that’s how he abducted the Ole Jolly guy.”

I asked Nova, “How are we gonna find Santa Claus in this wide open expanse of cold white nothingness? I thought Santa was just made up fiction.”

Nova replied, “No, he’s not a work of fiction. He is real, just like all the stories you heard growing up and some you didn’t. Santa and I are old friends and he has a micro tracking device implanted in his shoulder. I put it there on a mission we did years ago. All we have to do is turn on the tracking receiver and it will lead us straight to him.” I said, “Wait! You and Santa were on a mission together?” Nova answered,”Yes and it’s still classified, so don’t ask.”

Nova turned the tracking receiver on and we traced the signal to an old set of ruins located in Austria.

With a snap of his fingers, Nova had us there in the blink of an eye. It was the ruins of an old castle. There was old water well in the center courtyard surrounded by a foggy haze and the well glowed red from the inside. This is where the tracking receiver has pin-pointed Santa’s location but no Santa was in sight. Nova sighed, “Grrreat.”

“What is it Nova?” asked Rakly. Nova replied, “It’s a portal to Hell and we have to go through it and it’s sure to be protected by Krampus’ evil minions, dark elves on the other side. Good thing we got some spell casters here. We’ll need a spell to open the portal and a Shield of Protection spell to protect us until we are all, all the way through to the other side.”

Spells were cast and we descended the glowing portal. Drift and Rakly took point. We were through to the other side and Nova warned, “Be on your guard, Krampus’ minions are sure to be close by and ready to protect his biggest prize, St. Nick.”

We went forward from the portal down a dark dank pathway until we detected the dark elves presence in the distance and saw them surrounding Santa and taunting him. They were some ugly critters; they look like Krampus only smaller, smelled bad and sang even worse. They were singing a Krampus poem, Krampus Krampus in the style of Baa Baa Black sheep. It was intolerable and it was time to move in and rescue Santa.

We charged in and confronted the evil little Krampus minions. There were like five of them guarding Santa. We each took a minion while Nova tried to free Santa from his strange bonds. St. Nick looked at Nova and said, “It’s about time ya’ll got here. Can you get me out of this enchanted naughty kid sack? Krampus trapped me in the kiddy sack so I could not absorb morphons as he did. I must get out and absorb morphons as well so I can face him and put back in hell where he belongs.”

Nova replied, “Hang on, I’m trying but nothing I do is working.”

Meanwhile, I hollered over at Nova, “Hey! How’s coming over there, these minions aren’t dying no matter how hard we hit them.” Santa hollered back and said, “You can’t kill them, they’re immortal, you have to trap them somehow.”

We were like, “Good to know.” Then we used the elemental power and turned them to stone which trapped them like statues.

We all tried helping Nova release Santa from the enchanted kid sack but the sack would not open for any of us. Then I had an idea. I Said.”Santa, hold on. I’m gonna fly you outta of this hell hole.” I lifted Santa in my arms and flew him through the opened portal and sat him down in the sunshine where he could absorb morphons of his own. Santa began to glow as he absorbed morphons at a tremendous rate and within minutes he burst out of the kiddy sack all aglow and for a jolly guy, pretty ticked and ripped.

The others arrived through the portal just in time to see Mad Santa in all his glory. “Come on guys, it’s time to regroup at my palace; I’ve got something very special planned for Krampus. It’s not his time yet.”

Once at the palace, Mad Santa looked at Nova and said, “Do you even gift bro?” with a jolly laugh. He gave us all a gift. He was like you get a gift and you get a gift and you get a gift…He loves Oprah. Don’t open till Christmas.