Chapter 6: Forest God Fracas
"You will pay for what happened to my friend down there," Nuada said heatedly, pointing at the unconscious Mr. Wink over Hellboy's shoulder.
The big demon casually lowered the Cave-Troll to the ground and brushed his coat back to expose his gun. "Yeah, do you take checks?" he asked. "Only, since he's still alive, this really doesn't need to get violent."
"Yes it does," Nuada replied coldly. As he said this, out of the shadows appeared Pitch Black behind him. Merida instinctively tightened her grip on her bow and pointed it at the Elf's face.
"Stay back, Nuada," Merida warned. "If ye want tae hurt my friend, ye'll have tae get past me first!"
Nuada laughed scornfully. "He is a demon, foolish girl. Born in a womb of shadows and sent to enslave your kind to evil. And you still believe he belongs? You still call him your friend?"
Four years ago, Merida might not have called Hellboy her friend(after all, back then, he had been patronizing, irritating with his nickname of "ginger", and frankly terrifying once he briefly fell under Rasputin's influence) but she had also seen Hellboy's noble actions and willingness to sacrifice himself for those he cared about. So this determined her next reply.
"Aye, I still call him my friend," Merida and Nuada were practically glaring each other down now.
"And so do we!" Rapunzel added, as she and the rest of the Big Four formed a shield around Hellboy.
Pitch Black was the next to speak. "You see, your Highness?" he softly called to Nuada. "The humans call him a friend, when he has nearly killed one of your own friends. He will clearly oppose our plans!"
Nuada nodded, then reached into his pocket, pulling out something that looked like a golden egg. Its surface was coated in stylized Celtic swirl patterns, and a little knob like a crownpiece decorated its tip. But what really interested Jack was the small hinge lines he could make out around the top half of the egg, as though it were something mechanical which unfolded.
"No, brother, no!" Nuala desperately cried, and even Bunny cried out "OH, at the sight of the golden egg. The top of the egg slowly unhinged and opened like flower petals, exposing a small green thing from within- by the look of it, a bean of some kind, with the colour and texture of a marble. Nuada removed the bean, then held it up to his mouth.
"Kill them," he said dangerously to the bean, as though he was speaking into a communicator, and then threw it towards them in the manner of a terrorist throwing a grenade over a wall. Jack instinctively ducked, expecting the bean to explode, but instead it fell to the ground and then bounced a few feet upwards, as if it had a mind of its own.
Then Jack watched as the bean started to bounce away from them, as if it was trying to escape a fight.
Hellboy didn't think that it was that serious. "It's just a jumping bean. Come on."
"THAT'S NOT A JUMPING BEAN, YA DRONGO!" Bunny shrieked at him. "SOMEONE STOP IT! NOW!"
"It's heading for water. Hurry," Nuala frantically implored. Jack quickly ran after the bean, freezing the water leading towards a sewer drain, but the bean kept one step ahead of him until it finally fell straight through two metal bars, into the water, and sunk out of sight.
"Ah, strewth," Bunny cursed, placing his hand over his brow.
Minutes later, the ground started to shake violently beneath everyone's feet. The street traffic came to an abrupt halt, steam rose from the sewer drain where the bean had fallen into water, and neon signposts sparked and flickered, as though suffering a power cut. Manning and Liz emerged from the BPRD truck upon feeling the vibrations, whilst Astrid and Stormfly descended onto the trailer's rooftop, looking around in alarm. Jack turned around to glare at Nuada and Pitch, but they were both gone.
As the vibrations slowed, a now more concerned Hellboy turned to the Easter Bunny. "Hey, Bunny? Why is that bean so dangerous anyway?"
Bunny didn't get the chance to reply, as the road behind them exploded upwards in a shower of tarmac, water and soil which threw parked cars(empty, luckily) on top of one another, smashing windscreens and crushing metal. From beneath the massive spray of dirt, something huge and green emerged. It was at least 14 feet tall, with curving limbs like a squid leading from beneath. Its skin was creased and calloused, like the bark of a tree, and coated with foliage around the shoulders. Two long branches served it for arms, bending and swaying in the breeze, ending in two curved claws, whilst above the neck, four large green leaves hung open around a luminescent yellow closed flower. These leaves then folded together to form the shape of a conical head, with narrow yellow eyes, and a bottom jaw which jutted outwards as though stuck in a constant pout. The massive creature glared at Hellboy and his friends, before letting out a bellowing scream like a whale, spit spraying from its jaws, which opened outwards to expose a jagged-edged mouth.
"What in the name of Snoggletog is that thing?" Hiccup gasped, his own green eyes never straying from the monsters'.
"It's an Elemental," Nuala replied, complete fear in her yellow eyes. "A giver of life…and a destroyer."
"What?" Hellboy asked, just to clarify.
"A Forest God," Bunny and Nuala both said at the same time.
Hellboy turned towards the Forest God again. "A Forest God, hmm? I'm gonna get me Big Baby."
And Hellboy ran off towards his gun cabinet. Jack and Bunny both turned to face the Forest God, one armed with a staff, the other with a really sharp boomerang.
"How come you know that thing's a Forest God, Bunny?" Jack asked.
"There's plenty of these fellas down under, Frostbite," Bunny replied grimly. "Ta be fair, Forest God's a bit of an unfair title. Forest Monster's more like it. They live in the rainforests, and they kill anyone who cuts down a tree without their permission. These things are even more horrific than Nightmares."
"Shame," Jack replied. Cos I really wanna see something that's less horrific than a Nightmare.
The rest of the Big Four prepared for a fight. Hiccup activated Inferno, Astrid got off Stormfly and drew her beloved axe, Merida loaded her bow, and Rapunzel clenched her transforming necklace.
Hellboy quickly returned to the group now armed with the Big Baby, a large gun with six barrels which could fire multiple rounds. But then they heard a desperate screaming from behind them. A young brown-haired woman was hammering on the doors of her car. Hiccup and Toothless quickly ran over to her.
"What is it, ma'am?" Hicccup asked her.
"My baby's in there!" the woman cried hysterically, grabbing him by the shoulders. "Please help!"
It was then that the woman noticed Hiccup's outlandish clothing, and the Night Fury at his left flank.
Just then, Krauss and Abe came up from behind the woman, putting reassuring hands on her shoulders. "It's all right, dear lady. Come viz us," Krauss said sympathetically "Zere's nothing to vorry about."
Even more frightened at being escorted by a man made of gas and a walking fish, the woman nevertheless agreed to leave the car. Hellboy joined Hiccup, and then got hold of one door and ripped it off its hinges, exposing a small crying baby in a periwinkle blue wrap.
"Hey little guy," Hellboy said very softly, reaching in to stroke the baby's head. Toothless stuck his head in the car in addition, managing a gummy smile for the baby. It giggled softly, and then Hellboy took hold of the baby in both his arms before coming out of the car again.
No sooner had he done so, than the Forest God wound one of its arms around the car like an octopus, and started to tighten its grip with a sickening metal crunch, crushing the car in the middle. Flying nearby, an NYPD helicopter started firing bullets at it, but the massive Elemental just turned and threw the car at it. Both vehicles fell from the sky and exploded into fire.
The fight immediately began. Jack shot into the air and began flying around the Forest God, spraying ice from his staff and trying to distract it. With a bellow, it tried to swipe him out of the air, only for Merida to then fire an arrow into its wrist. But the Forest God just paused, looked at the arrow, and then pulled it back out, snapped off the metal head, and then pressed the body against its wound, crushing it into a fresh plaster made of wood.
"Well, that didnae work," Merida cursed, before the Forest God slammed its arm into the ground in front of her. She flew backwards a few feet, only to feel a pair of soft arms cushioning her. On close inspection, they were Nuala's.
Bunny and Flynn quickly ran at the monster's feet, climbing up its legs in a manner reminiscent of Jack and the Beanstalk. The former bandit started hacking away at the foliage that covered the beast's back, but it was so dense, it was like trying to saw through stone. Bunny tried a more useful approach by sticking his sharpened boomerangs into the Forest God's arm and scraping them backwards, spilling green sticky blood onto the pavement. Hiccup, as he climbed onto Toothless' back, could have sworn that the small pool of blood suddenly changed into a small patch of grass and flowers.
The Forest God then swung backwards, slamming into Flynn and winding him against its own body. "How dare you climb on me, little human!" it bellowed, in a voice with the faint undertones of a groaning, creaking tree. This surprised Hiccup, as he hadn't thought that the Forest God could speak at all.
The Forest God then tried to swat Flynn again, only for something gold to wind around Flynn's waist and pull him off the giant's body. Rapunzel began chanting her healing song as she pressed her hair against her husband's wounds.
"Are you alright, Eugene?" she asked.
"I think he broke my smoulder," Flynn groaned painfully.
Jack was the next to be swatted by the Forest God. As he flew backwards, he slammed into something moving and green- not, fortunately for him, the Forest God, but Toothiana. Fairy and spirit flew backwards until they fell to the ground, Tooth on top of Jack.
"This is awkward," Jack murmured, struggling to get to his feet.
"You don't say," Bunny cheekily interrupted, having got off the Forest God just in time to see the pile-up. "Didn't think you had it in ya, Frostbite."
Tooth abruptly got up and protested, "I swear, Bunny, this isn't what it looks like!"
"Riiiiiiiiiight," Bunny replied, a taunting grin on his face. "No worries, Jack, I won't tell North if you don't."(You like this, Rainbow Snowcone shippers?)
Meanwhile, as the fight continued, Dr. Krauss shouted over to the two people who still hadn't attacked the Forest God yet.
"Agent Hellboy!" he called. "Get to higher ground and shoot ze veapon! SHOOT ZE VEAPON! Agent Hiccup, Toosless, go viz him!"
Hellboy straightaway started running, not once letting go of his babies(the crying one and the gun one), whilst Toothless unfolded his tailfins and flew straight ahead. The Forest God rampaged after them, moving on tiptoe like a tap-dancing octopus. Gradually, the street became so packed with cars that Hellboy started jumping on top of the cars and running along the rooftops. Hiccup, due to being on a winged dragon, did not have similar trouble.
"Don't run from me, little demon!" the Forest God snarled, before thumping one of Hellboy's cars with a blow that catapulted him into the air. Drawing his gun, Hellboy shot through an electric cable, then grabbed it with his right hand and swung forwards, until he landed on a large neon hotel signpost(which literally said "HOTEL"). He gripped onto the letter L.
Hellboy quickly passed the baby down into the grip of his prehensile tail. "First praise the tail, kid," he said encouragingly, before he began the long ascent up to the rooftop, where Hiccup and Toothless were already waiting.
He managed to climb all the way to the top letter H, just as the Forest God broke off the letter L beneath his feet.
"Hey, Red," Hiccup called cheerfully.
"Hey, Hiccup," Hellboy called back.
Dr. Krauss called up to them, "Hellboy, Toosless, you must shoot it in ze energy ganglion!"
"WHAT?" Hellboy and Hiccup both shouted back down at him.
"Ze energy ganglion!" Krauss shouted. Upon realising that neither of them had a clue what he was talking about, he swore under his breath in German, and then screamed exasperatedly, "ZE HEAD! SHOOT IT IN ZE HEAD!" whilst indicating his own head with his fingers.
"Oh, shoot it in the head," Hiccup calmly said. "Right!"
The Forest God swung at them again with one arm. Hellboy jumped straight upwards, then dropped back onto the letter H, with such force that the metal attachment started to come undone beneath him.
"Oh poo," Hellboy cursed. Toothless had just jumped backwards to get out of range of the whipping arm.
"You cannot win!" came the deafening roar. "I will take you all down, for you are my master's enemies!"
Just then, Hiccup made out a blue and yellow shape fly straight towards the Forest God. With a screech, Stormfly dropped onto one of its shoulders, jabbing it with her tail spikes and gnawing with her teeth. At the same time, Astrid jumped off, swinging her axe in neat arcs and shaving slivers of foliage from the Forest God's back. Distracted with pain, the Forest God swung violently at demon and Viking again, but missed them by several inches.
Hellboy then passed the baby back into his arms again, saying to it, "You gotta trust me, little guy. Okay?" The baby nodded, and then Hellboy threw him straight into the air. After giggling, the little baby dropped back towards the benevolent demon, who quickly loaded the Big Baby, and then extended out his right hand to catch the baby. As soon as he had done so, he glared right into the eyes of the Forest God. Toothless growled menacingly, and the inside of his mouth began to glow purple.
"You woke up the baby," Hellboy then said, in a low voice, before pointing his gun straight at the Forest God and firing it. At the same time, Toothless released a fire blast from his mouth, and both bullet and blast hit the monster in the shoulder. With a scream of pain, the Forest God fell backwards, sticky green blood spraying onto the building in front of it, and slowly spreading and turning to foliage as soon as it did, with little white flowers growing in the grass.
All this beauty was lost on the two agents, however, as the Forest God fell backwards and slammed into a series of metal balconies, which became stuck in its bark-like flesh. Blood dripped from the shoulder where bullet and fire had torn its skin, but the Forest God was not yet dead.
It was already starting to get back up again, leaning forwards to snarl at the two creatures who had dared to wound it. Dr. Krauss was well aware of this, and he shouted to them, "Agent Hellboy, Agent Hiccup! Take ze shot, right now! Take it! Zat's an order, Agent Hellboy, and you too, Agent Hiccup! Shoot it! Shoot it now!"
Hellboy drew his gun and Toothless prepared to breathe fire again, but before either of them could shoot, a strident voice called out from above them.
"Demon! Dragon!" it cried. Hiccup and Hellboy slowly looked up to see Prince Nuada sat above them, looking down with his dark yellow eyes. Beside him sat Pitch Black, his expression mocking and deadly.
"What are you waiting for?" the Bogeyman continued, pointing at the Forest God with his spear. "This is what you want, isn't it? To get rid of one more monster?"
"Look at it," Nuada continued, also indicating the Forest God, which limped forwards towards them again. "One of the last of its kind, like you and I. You kill it, and the world may never see its' like again."
And then Hiccup looked at the Forest God, and saw the pain in the creature's expression. And he remembered how determined his own Viking tribe had once been to kill all the dragons in Berk. Did he or Hellboy or even Toothless have the right to simply kill an entire species of mythological creature? Even if it had attempted to kill them?
Apparently sensing their indecision, Nuada continued, most likely addressing Hellboy and Toothless, "You have more in common with us than with them. Is it right to fight for those who consider you monsters as well?"
"It's breaking loose!" Krauss shouted from the ground, as the Forest God, regaining its strength, leaned forwards and tore off a good section of the metal balconies embedded in its flesh.
But Pitch persisted, "If you side with us, you could both be kings! But if you cannot learn to command…"
"SHOOT IT NOW! SHOOT IT, AGENT HELLBOY!" Krauss screamed desperately.
"Then you must learn to obey," Pitch finished darkly(well, how else?).
Now the Forest God was charging towards them, clearly keen to finish the fight. Hellboy swore and prepared to shoot, but before he could do so, a female voice screamed "STOP!"
The Forest God turned around just in time to see a large green chameleon climb up onto its left shoulder. The chameleon stood up on two legs and turned from green to purple, its tail shrinking and flattening, its toes fusing together into normal human feet, its scales melting into skin, and long golden hair growing out of its head, until it had resumed its real form: Rapunzel.
And she was far from happy.
"Look around you, Forest God!" she cried. "Look what you're doing to these people! Do you really want to be responsible for so much chaos and terror!"
"Mankind have ruined nature!" the huge Elemental creature growled, though in a softer voice, so as not to damage Rapunzel's ears. "I must stop nature from being damaged any further! This is what I want!"
"No, this is what Nuada wants," Rapunzel replied. "You don't have to obey him just because he created you! If you try to defend nature in this way, you'll only make more enemies, and then mankind will be forced to kill you! Don't you see? If you want to defend nature, do it in a more peaceful way! Haven't you ever had a dream?"
The Forest God lowered its arms, and Hiccup could tell it was taking her words to heart.
"I….am sorry…." It finished, its voice a low rumble. "Do not fear me, little humans….I will leave your city now, and not return…"
With this, the Forest God turned towards the ground, and started digging in the soil exposed by the broken tarmac with its front legs, kicking up a brown spray. As it dug deeper, it finally slid underground head-first, folding its vine-like limbs together like an octopus as it dropped back underneath the pavement, into the tunnel, and out of sight. Rapunzel jumped off its shoulder before it dived underground.
As soon as it had disappeared, flowers and foliage started to grow from the ground where the Forest God had first rushed to the surface. As though it had created something good from something bad.
However, the mood on the ground when the heroes descended was far from pleasant. Huge crowds of reporters and onlookers were gathered, some of them shouting abuse at Hellboy.
One exception, however, was the young mother whose baby they had just saved. As soon as Toothless had descended back to the ground, she rushed over to press her arms around the big adorable dragon's neck.
"Oh, thank you!" she gushed, stroking Toothless' head. "Thank you so much!" She then hugged Hiccup as he got off Toothless' back.
"You're welcome, ma'am," Hiccup replied, just as Hellboy joined the group to pass the baby.
"And thank you as well," she added, patting Hellboy's arm as she cradled her precious baby to her heart. The big demon smiled back, then the woman went back to stroking Toothless as well. "Who's a good boy?" she cooed softly, stroking him under the chin.
"Careful, ma'am," Hellboy warned her. "You stroke a certain spot under Toothless' chin, and he's likely to…"
Toothless abruptly fell forwards, but Hiccup quickly got under him and held him away from the woman, whom he would otherwise have fallen on.
"Do that," Hellboy awkwardly finished.
However, the mood was quickly soured as the angry crowd were starting to fire accusations at Hellboy and the Big Four.
"You put that baby in harm's way, you stupid freak!" one man shouted.
"What's wrong with you people?" Jack Frost shouted back at them- normally they wouldn't have been able to see or hear him, but since they all believed in Hellboy and the Forest God they'd just defeated, they flinched to hear him speak now. "That baby was never in any danger! Hellboy and Toothless are the good guys, alright?"
"The big red one has a weapon in his hand!" a policeman accused them.
"That is his hand!" Liz snapped back, now walking over to stand in front of Hellboy and Toothless. Merida, Rapunzel and Astrid all joined her, forming a protective fence with their bodies.
"Ladies, stay away from them for your own safety!" the policeman said, but Liz was refusing to listen to him.
"Don't you idiots understand?" she shouted. "They were just trying to help you! That's all we do! That's all we've done all these years, trying to defeat evil, to help you! YOU!"
"We don't need your help, you stupid freak!" shouted one of the boozers who had thrown a beer can at Hellboy earlier, now throwing something sharper- a rock, which clipped Hellboy's cheek and opened a cut in it.
This was enough for Liz. Glaring fiercely at the perpetrator, her whole body caught fire as she turned to face him. Stormfly let out a furious screech and started beating her wings violently, but Hiccup quickly brushed past the rapidly-enraged BPRD members and stood in front of everyone, hands held out in a calming way.
"EVERYONE STOP!" he shouted, and it was as if he had fired a pistol into the air. The whole crowd fell quiet, looking up at him, and even the stone-thrower lowered his hands.
"I am Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third!" he shouted. A few minutes' silence, as if to allow laughs. "A great name, I know. But it's not the worst. Viking parents believe that really ugly names scare off evil monsters. You see, I'm a Viking. I come from a time far back into the past, where people like me live alongside dragons. And back then, we used to fear and hate dragons. Killing one was a way of being accepted into society, and since I was a village outcast, I desperately wanted to fit in. But then I found out that the dragons weren't evil- they were being forced to rob from us to feed a corrupt, greedy queen dragon. So me and my friends rode dragons for the first time and we took that thing down! But at a cost to myself." Here he indicated his wooden leg.
The crowd were quiet now, as if Hiccup was a lion-tamer and they were his lions.
"And then, somehow, me, my girlfriend and both our dragons fell through a time portal, and we came out here. And we came to stay at the BPRD. Then I met Hellboy. And I'll be honest with you, I didn't like him that much at first. I thought he was big, fierce and intimidating. But then, I learned about his job, what he does for the good of mankind, and then I liked him. Because, like you, I needed to look beyond the big, scary demon and see the noble, heroic man within. My friends aren't monsters, people. They're kind, beautiful creatures, who can help bring people together!"
He pointed to the assembled crowd behind him; Tooth fluttering graciously in mid-air, her legs tucked beneath her; Bunny, striking a heroic pose with his chest out and his head up; to Hellboy himself, with a more crowd-pleasing smile; and finally, to Toothless and Stormfly, nuzzling heads and smiling to the woman in the crowd, who encouraged her baby to wave back at the dragons.
Now the crowd no longer looked angry. In fact, they looked ashamed for having attacked Hellboy thanks to Hiccup's appealing skills. They lowered their heads, murmuring apologies, and then slowly dispersed, leaving the BPRD group and the Big Four stood before the ruined pavement where the Forest God had emerged. Then low footprints caught Hiccup's attention, and he turned to see Hellboy and Liz approaching him.
Then what they did next took him by surprise.
Hellboy pulled Hiccup into a shoulder hug, a few tears of fierce pride glittering in his yellow eyes. Hiccup chuckled and patted the big demon on the back. After Hellboy got up again, Liz threw her arms around Hiccup in turn. The young Viking accepted the hug, his own eyes misting up as he looked over his shoulder to his friends.
"Hiccup, I'm so proud that you're my friend," Hellboy said hoarsely, wiping one of his eyes with his left hand.
After Liz stopped hugging Hiccup, the rest of the Big Four joined in. Dr. Krauss did not hug him, instead he gave him a thumbs up. Bunny, Flynn and Tooth grinned and winked at him, and last of all Astrid and the dragons came over. Astrid pulled her boyfriend into a passionate kiss.
"And I'm so proud that you're my boyfriend," she whispered into the kiss.