Furious Squirrel raced over the clouds of strange black fog that rolled across the earth. From here, he could hear the odd noises below. People were hollering and playing like it was a giant party, yet there were monsters moving around in the darkness.
“Furi...” a voice rattled through the comm with a lot of fuzziness around it.
Furious pulled a lever back and then used a switch the push more power into the comm system. He yanked down a pipe with a horn on the end and spoke into it. “This is Furious, who is this?”
Clearer now, the voice of Harry Freak came through. “Furious, we need help! We have this monster pinned down, but it won’t die. We need your cannon!”
“On it!” Letting the pipe go, it zipped back up to the ceiling of the pilothouse. He put his goggles on and grabbed the wheel. “Don’t fail me now, old girl!” He pulled back on the entire steering system and then pushed it forward. The Dirigible’s engines turned up, speeding him along quickly.
A red light flashed on the dash, and he slapped it to shut it off. It was warning him that the power levels of the old engine were at critical. He turned hard and zoomed toward a battle happening in the sea near a large city. The monster, Charybdis, was being held at bay by heroes attacking it. But they weren’t making any headway.
“I hope you can handle this, old girl!” He grabbed another lever and pulled it down, clicking it into place and then disconnected a cable from one place and plugged it into another port. He slowed the ship down and pulled out a switch and smashed it down.
Under his dirigible, the large electro-canon descended from its holding bay. The crystal structure on the inside was already white hot, with power surging through it. He sped toward the monster, the sides of his dirigible rattling, the engines turning his pilot house into a sauna.
“TAKE THAT!” He slammed the button again and a bright white beam of light came from his cannon and nailed the Charybdis right in the face. As its body split in two, it screeched and lashed around. With a great crash, the mighty carcass landed in the middle of the bay, never reaching the city. Heroes on the ground created barriers quickly to stop the ensuing tidal wave from causing any damage.
Harry Freak’s voice came over his comm. “You did it! It’s dead!”
Furious replied, “We did it. But this isn’t over. Lady Echidna is still out there. Justin needs us in Antarctica before it’s too late.” With that, he led the way across the ocean as heroes gathered from across the planet.
The battle with Lady Echidna was ethereal. Furious flew his dirigible over hoards of heroes against one villain. She was no giant monster or possessing thousands of demon slaves. She was alone, and yet she was nearly unbeatable. Blast after blast, Furious used all the weapons at his command to bring her down, and in the end, it was his dirigible that crashed into the snowy fields of the bottom of the world.
When the day was darkest and life seemed to be over, a beacon of hope arrived as an angel. Nova fought her in a battle that rivaled anything in all the myths. Then the monster to beat all monsters stomped through, crushing the icy continent as he set his eyes on the woman of nightmares. Midgardsomr joined the fight. Furious was certain that the snake hero had been destroyed, but there he stood, possessing a god-like power.
The Battle was over, and the day was done. Midgard had finally defeated the enemy that seemed unbeatable. Even better, Nova had returned. What was he? No one was certain any longer.
Furious stood near his crashed ship, sad eyes looking at the wreck that has been his tie to his past and his tool of heroism. Arctic winds made this even more painful. A hand reached out and held his shoulder.
“You did well.” The deep voice of Santa said.
Furious nodded. “I pushed her beyond her limits and made this real. But she’s gone. I don’t know what to do. I have crashed her before, but never like this. There is no coming back from this.”
Santa examined the wreckage and then asked the strangest question. “You’re not from this time, aren’t you?”
“No. I traveled from the 19th century to here. Why?”
“Seems like I owe you a century’s worth of Christmas gifts.”
This was not what Furious expected. “I guess... you don’t need...”
“I think I can make it up with this.” He waved his hand and magical reindeer appeared all around the wreck. Golden cords attached to them and the remains of his ship. In moments, the magical reindeer lifted it off the ground and flew it away.
Furious asked, “What are you doing?”
“You’ll see.” Santa touched the side of his nose and vanished.
A month later, Santa's Sleigh made a special visit and brought Furious up north. He zoomed over arctic north and then dove into what appears to be a giant ice berg only to find that the ice was an illusion hiding a large docking bay. The sleigh lands and he steps out. Santa joined him. Both looked out into the vast open bay that was currently without a ship.
“What did you need?” Furious asked.
“Merry Christmas!”
Furious looks at his watch, “It’s March.”
“Are you going to quibble about that when you are getting a centuries’ worth of Christmas gifts from Santa?”
Furious smiles, “This is about my ship?”
“Yup.” Santa clapped his gloved hands three times, and the elves pulled ropes attached to large doors at the far end of the bay.
Furious’s mouth hung open and a giddy smile affixed to his face as he watched a gorgeous boat float in on the water with a large armored balloon on top. The boat had beautiful bright wood with gold and silver accents. It had a small propeller in the front, and an enormous gold spike on the tip of the balloon.
Santa said, “Say hello to your new ship, the Furious One. It comes with magically infused engines that will give it twice the speed your old dirigible had. There are six turrets, three on each side, that are built in and will extend on command. The weapons are all powered by the same magical core the ship has built into it. However, the most powerful weapon on this baby is the lightning cannon on the front.” He pointed to the spike at the front of the balloon.
Furious watched as the incredible boat floated toward him. “Is it like the electro cannon on my old ship?”
“Better. The same unique crystal that your old weapon had powers this baby. It will give it as you move and charge the power in it. One shot from this will do more than twice the damage as your old weapon, and will not overheat.” Santa leaned in and said, “Wanna take her up for a spin?”
“YES!... ahem... I mean, yes I would.” Furious was a giddy as a kid on Christmas morning.
Santa walked him up a plank that met the ship’s top deck. “Unlike your first ship, this one has an open deck and living space. In fact, this ship has three decks, with guest rooms, a mess, and storage. Your hero league can use this as a mobile base, if you want.”
“I think they would appreciate that.”
Santa walked him into the new pilot house, this room as elegant as the outside of the ship. All the dials and controls were exquisite Victorian style, glistening like a new car. Luckily, Santa made the design similar to his old ship, so he knew the controls well.
“Taking us out.” Furious said as he stood behind the wheel and pulled down levers.
The Furious One sailed out of the hidden docking bay and out into open waters. Once clear, the engines buzzed louder, and the ship sped forward. The propellers on the back and front whipped into high gear and the ship lifted out of the icy waters. They gained altitude for a long climb sailing high into the sky. Breaking through the cloud layer, the ship leveled off and soared along as though it were sailing over a placid ocean. The mountains of clouds around it basked in the glorious sunlight, which glittered against the shining gilded hull of this ship.
Santa asked, “So, what do you think?”
Furious was bursting with emotions. “Thank you. I feel at home again.”
“If you need a tuneup, don’t hesitate to call.” Santa said and touched the side of his nose, vanishing away.
Furious finally cried out in joyful noises as he played with his new toy. The Furious One was ready for the world, but was the world ready for the Furious One?
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