Prize-fic dedicated to Batfangirl7773! :D She is writing an awesome story about Freddy Krueger (check it out!). Congratulations, Batfangirl, you are awesome! :)

The Great Glove-Off

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The girl looked tough. Mohawked up, wearing sweet leather, and sporting some blades, hoo boy! But Freddy could smell the fear on her.

Jake's Bar neon sign lit in the background, they faced off, the dim light bouncing off knives. Taryn's were shinier, Freddy noticed. Silver. His were rusted from the blood of a hundred children.

FWWT! Taryn struck first! Freddy countered with a thrust, but she dodged. SWWT! Like a cat, he left four scratches on her leg. "OW!"

She spun around, embedded the blade. Twisted the knife through his tattered sweater, and Freddy held up his gloved hand in mock surrender.

"Why, uh… Why should we fight?" The girl jerked her knives up anyway. "We're old friends, you and I. Remember?"

She hesitated. Her unveiled the final display. "Let's get high." Ten needles, ten beautiful syringes, filled to the brim, just for Taryn.

Her bravado melted away before Freddy's very eyes. He watched her face crumple, and she began to shake uncontrollably. He took one menacing step forward. Panicked, she backed up and then looked down.

Gloop! Gloop! Gloop! Horror filled dear Taryn's face. Freddy smiled. Her old track marks were open, gaping at the sky like a newborn babe, begging to suckle. And he was more than happy to oblige.

"Nyah!" He stabbed quick and precise, like a cat. All ten holes, filled.

"AAARRGHHHHHHHH!"

Taryn crashed against the dirty brick wall, her head thrown back – he honestly believed with both agony and ecstasy. Her screams rent the alleyway.

Instead of the drugs pumping in, it was her life pumping out.

Freddy's eyes rolled back into his head. "Ahhh, what a rush!"

He dropped the dead body of the ex-drug user onto the dirty pavement and breathed in deeply.

BZZ! Suddenly, the light from Jake's Bar went out.

Freddy paused. Nothing happened in his dream world without his say-so. He raised his head, sniffing the air. He couldn't smell anything – no delicious stink of fear. He cocked his head. There was a slight rustling noise, like feathers.

He had the feeling he wasn't alone.

The alley was dark now. Not that the darkness scared him. Nothing sca—

THWICK! SSS! SSS! Freddy jerked wildly. He recognized the sensation immediately, having just given Taryn the same one. Needles! Someone had snuck up on him and injected him with something!

He spun around and the needles withdrew suddenly from his torso. For a moment the world swam. This… he wasn't sure if he liked this. "Who's there?" he snarled.

Nothing. Nothing in the alleyway but him.

His drew back his lip, rotten teeth showing, and took a slow step forward. "Trying to sneak up on me? Is someone hiding in the shadows?" he sneered. "I am the shadows… You can't hide."

A small creaking noise… from behind the dumpster…

He held up his blades. "Come out, come out, wherever you are…"

THWICK! He recognized the same sensation and whirled around, stabbing his blades into the attacker's forearm.

"Nice try, I-" He stopped mid-sentence as he saw who had attacked him.

The intruder didn't say anything – no cry of pain, nor of fear. His mask was eerie – a burlap sack with two metal breathers around its jaws. Freddy could see two shiny black eyes, peering out at him with glee. The intruder had a glove…

Freddy looked with appreciation at the glove. Syringes, like the special ones he had prepared for Taryn, extended from four of the fingers on his right hand. Except instead of blue drugs, they were filled with a mysterious golden liquid. The syringes were half empty.

Freddy cocked his head. This person was… adult-sized.

Cautiously Freddy raised his bladed glove. The intruder in turn raised his syringed one. The two took a cautious sidestep and then began to circle each other, like tigers in a cage.

FWIP! Freddy made a sudden darting movement with his blades. The intruder drew back, then raised one syringed finger in a scolding gesture, wagging it at Freddy.

A smile cracked Freddy's burnt face. "I like your getup!" he crowed, nodding at the glove. "Have you been taking lessons from Uncle Freddy?"

The visitor was silent.

"What? No scream? No whimper? You're wearing a scary mask, oooooh!" he waved his hands mockingly. "This isn't Halloween, kid. This is my nightmare world! And you're one of my children now, Bitch!"

The visitor just stared at him.

"Say something!" Freddy was getting impatient. He was also getting… nervous. This never happened to him. Could it be the visitor's silence, or…? Again, he felt woozy.

"What was in those syringes anyway?" he asked. "Some sort of anti-Sleep Demon aid?"

"Your worst nightmare!"

"Huh?" He was surprised when the costumed man finally spoke.

"You're in my nightmare world now, Sleep Demon!" the visitor chortled. And suddenly, as Freddy watched, the stranger grew to be ten feet tall, with blazing eyes. "Ahahahah-HAAAHAHAHAH!"

Freddy swayed a little and grabbed his head at the distorted laughter. "What're-"

"Any moment now, your worst fears should become reality! No one is a match for my fear toxin!"

"Who-" For once, Freddy was really feeling afraid. "Who are you?"

"I am the All-Terrible God of Fear – Scarecrow!"

A flock of ravens descended suddenly, cawing. Freddy slashed wildly, blood and feathers flying around. Dead ravens littered the pavement, but the drowsiness was too much for the Dream Demon. Slowly Freddy collapsed, the intruder's laughter ringing in his melted ears.

And with that, the alleyway vanished. When Freddy opened his eyes, he was in a blinding white place. Slowly, children came into view. Happy children. Laughing, dancing down the streets in white clothes. He could see a group of little kids jumping rope, singing a happy song.

"One, two, the joke's on you!
Three, four, we're not scared anymore!
Five, six, got no time for tricks.
Seven, eight, because it's getting late.
Nine, ten, no nightmares ever again!"

Freddy smiled. So many wonderful children! He sniffed the air. Ahhh, the smell of innocence. It was like cotton candy, mixed with the warmth of children's hair in the sunlight, with a hint of wet diaper. He hated the smell… Reminded him too much of his childhood.

A little girl ran by, dress billowing out behind her. She was holding a kite in one hand, the tail streaming out in brilliant colors. Another little girl followed, with long black hair and a doll. The perfect picture of carefree joy. They would be his first victims!

"Ahhh!" he smiled contentedly. Children to feed him for years to come! It was like Elm Street, but with no adults! No one to stop him!

He saw one kid, a beautiful little boy with blue clothes, big brown fawn eyes, and soft hair, lying down under an elm sapling for an afternoon nap. Or maybe those two girls would have to wait…

He approached the little boy, invisible to everyone. When the kid's eyes fluttered shut, Freddy put a hand to his forehead, preparing to read his dreams and enter his helpless little mind—

Freddy frowned and looked around. Nothing had happened. He was still here. The little boy was still asleep in front of him, with nary a twitch.

Freddy shut his eyes and tried again. Again, it didn't work. There was a mental block.

He bared his teeth. Was there something special about this boy? Did he have special dream powers? He scrutinized the kid carefully. Nothing looked out of the ordinary.

After a long moment of consideration, he decided to move on and try again on someone else.

His face lit up when he stood. Little mouths everywhere were yawning. Looked like it was naptime in kiddie land!

All the children in white lay down, serene in the sunlight. Before long, they were snoring away, seemingly safe in their dream worlds.

Freddy stretched out his arms, smiled at the saccharine sun, and prepared to enter their collective little minds. This was one sleep session they would—

"WHAT?!" He looked at his arms. Instead of fading into the dream world, they were just… fading! WHY?!

The children rolled over, utterly content. In a terrible moment, Freddy realized that none of the children knew who he was.

He tried to teleport himself, back to the original Elm Street. But no matter where he went it was the same: a golden happy world filled with children wearing white, sleeping peacefully, with no nightmares, no cares, no fears in the world! A world without Freddy!

Freddy looked into the sky, where for the briefest of moments, the sun's image changed. The stranger from the alley – the Scarecrow – stared down at him and cackled. "Having a bad dream, Freddy?"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Freddy screamed.

"You're a part of my experiment now!"

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The end… or is it? :)