Heroes flooded over the small volcanic island of Surtsey. Krampus took a barrage of weapons fire, superpowers, and direct punches. Lord Dragon swooped and spun around the heroes as he used their aid to fight his enemy.
Drift, as a shadowy figure, zoomed across the field, then took physical form and threw a pair of large blades. Drift became shadow again and spend up toward Krampus as Lord Dragon slammed him in the face. Using the opening, Drift attempted to throw another blade right into Krampus’s exposed neck. At the wrong moment, Krampus slapped the blade out of the air and in the same motion, hit Drift. The shadowy figure crashed to the ground as a puff of smoke and then regained his physical form.
“How the hell did he do that?” Drift groaned as other heroes ran by in the thick of this combat.
Skelanimal yanked him to his feet, “He’s an immortal mythic thing, duh.”
“SKELANIMAL!” Drift punched him in the face and then gave him a swift kick to the gut.
“YOW!” Skelanimal stumbled back, holding his abdomen. Just before Drift stuck him with a blade, he yelled, “I’m with the good guys!”
Both waited as a series of explosions rocked the island, then Drift said, “Likely story.”
“It’s true. Spirit of Halloween set me free, but I have to help my old league fight against Krampus.”
Drift glared at him, “I don’t have time to figure this out. You turn against us and I will...”
“I know, I know, stab me, punch me, whatever.” Skelanimal ran away, heading directly for Krampus.
Drift transformed into a puff of smoke again and went for the giant beast the heroes were facing.
Nova watched the action from inside the hovering shuttle, the holographic screen showing him footage from a drone while Chase and Gar both watched out windows.
“Looks like Krampus is a little overwhelmed.” Nova said.
Gar watched through the small window for a moment and then said, “He is really strong. They need help.”
Chase materialized her blades, “Gar, let’s go down there and give them a hand.”
Nova watched the holo-screen, “I agree. We bring Krampus down first.”
“YOU WILL LOSE!” Quark yelled from the back seat, then said, “MY BUTT IS A BLUE LIGHT BULB!”
Gar asked, “What?”
Nova waved a hand, “He’s just too sober. Don’t pay attention to his ramblings. Get down there.”
“TURKEYS, GET THE TURKEYS. MAKE YOU FAT!”
Chase went to press the button to open the door, but Gar stopped her. “Gar?”
Gar had his eyes on Quark, “Turkeys?”
Quark bellowed, “TURKEY DINNER, TURKEY DINNER, GATHER ROUND. ONLY WAY TO BEAT HIM IS TO GO AND EAT THEM, YUM YUM YUM!”
Nova asked, “Gar, what is going on? Get out there before...”
Suddenly the shuttle rocked to the side, and sirens blared. A red wave of light filled every window. Then several thumps banged into the hull. Chase let out a shriek when she saw a hero crash into the shuttle.
The robot pilot announced, “Alert, alert, impact warning. Heroes down, heroes down!”
Nova looked back to the screen, “Oh, god!”
Moments before:
Krampus swiped and punched, kicked and stomped. Heroes fought with all their strength, and he was keeping up with them.
Crimson Guardian raced across the ground, came to a skidding stop and used the energy to throw something like a football. Zen, his legs and wings tucked, flew through the air and smacked right into Krampus’s face.
“Stupid hairball!” Zen flicked out his bladed flippers and stabbed Krampus in the right eye.
“YAH!” Krampus reached up for the pest, grasping at his own eye.
Zen spun around, slicing deep into the monster’s eyelids. “How ya like that!”
Krampus smacked himself in the face, then pulled the little nuisance off. He held Zen in his enormous fist and was about to crush the life out of the heroic Penguin when Midgardsormr suddenly nailed Krampus in the gut with a fist. In a fluid continuation of motion, the giant serpent hit the hand holding little Zen.
Zen flew out of the hand and was caught by a passing hero before he crashed to the ground.
Krampus looked up at the monstrous serpent now his size, “Oh, mighty world eater. You lost to a pitiful little Dragon, what makes you think you defeat me?”
Midgard grabbed Krampus by the horns and yanked his head forward, bashing him with his own head. Krampus stumbled back. Midgard yelled, “I WILL REPAY YOU FOR USING ME!”
Krampus reached up to go after Midgard when a dozen blasts of energy hit him. He didn’t have time to respond before Midgard had him by the horns again, throwing him into the side of the volcano. Krampus lay there, rocks trickling down his shoulders. That onslaught truly dazed him. Heroes focused all their efforts and raced to finish him.
Just then, the powerful, disembodied voice from the ruby said, “ENOUGH!”
The light they had ignored for Krampus became a burning red blast. Waves of red energy exploded out. Heroes of all sizes and powers were thrown away as leafs in a storm. Even Midgardsormr was tossed clear off the island into the frigid ocean waters. Some heroes attempted to return to the fray, but the booming blasts of red energy acted as hurricane winds against them.
Drift held tight to the ground as that energy poured over him. He wanted to turn to shadow, but was certain it would only allow this to send him even further away. Looking up, he saw white blinking lights on every hero. A signal was coming to their BADGE comm units; retreat.
The BADGE shuttle sped away from the growing power. Nova observed the holo-screen.
“Good, the heroes are helping each other get away.”
Chase said, “What just happened?”
“I don’t know. Obviously, we focused on the wrong villain.”
“How could we fight both? Krampus was hard enough.”
The screen changed to an emergency channel, Santa looked at them through the holo-screen. He was haggard and laying on the snowy ground. His voice strained as he said, “Nova... this is bad... she is... stealing our light, our power. We won’t be able to protect the Earth... from the darkness.”
“What is happening?”
“My energy...is so low...I can’t...” He passed out and his comm signal ended.
Nova ordered, “Global image, NOW!”
The hologram turned into the globe again. The little light dots around the planet were all flickering and growing dim. Only one dot grew, the one over Iceland.
Chase asked, “What do we do now?”
“I don’t know.”
“TURKEYS! GET THE TURKEYS! GOOD FOR A GROWING HERO! HAHAHAHA!” Quark yelled out.
“Can you quiet him down back there?” Nova asked Gar. The holo-screen suddenly popped back on with a map of the earth. Thousands of dots appeared all over the place. Nova huffed, “What now?”
A robot from the station came on, “Alert, Director Nova, strange activity detected across planet.”
“Explain!”
The image changed to dozens of pictures of large turkeys walking all over the place. Each was glowing wild colors, some flashing, others sparkling. The robot reported, “Unknown fowl appearing across the planet. No direct threat. Unknown origin.”
“Turkeys?” Nova leaned in to look at the strange birds.
“EAT THE TURKEY IF YOU WANT DESSERT!” Quark yelled.
The robot continued, “Creatures exhibit strong morphonic signatures.”
“Morphonic signatures?” Nova stroked his chin.
Gar suddenly said, “That’s the answer!”
“What?”
“Quark is trying to help us. Back when I fought Krampus, a turkey appeared and when I touched it, it turned into mist and strengthened me.”
Nova frowned, “You aren’t making much sense.”
“No, he is.” Chase said, “same thing happened to me. A wild-looking turkey appeared, touched me, and gave me a boost in power. I think Quark is trying to help, even though he has gone a little more nuts than usual.”
Nova looked back at the screen. “Morphonic powered turkeys... that might work. If these things enhance super powers...” Nova clicked on his communicator and put in the all-contact signal. “Heroes of Earth. I know this is going to sound strange, but it’s our only hope. Glowing, colorful turkeys are wandering all over the planet. Get them. They will give you greater strength. Find them all and then get back to Iceland. No time to waste, MOVE!”
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