"I didn't sign up for this!" Sarah sighed, even though this was of no help to any of them. Bjork dashed across the room to her giant dresser. She spared no time, and pulled out a series of chains and locks. She started handing them to Rebecca and Iggy.
Rebecca ran off to help shield the house, but Iggy stood to protest. "We need our powers back! We have to be prepared to fight these… Yule Lads or whatever."
Bjork was trying to keep things moving, "The Yule Lads are ancient entities… fighting them will be no task for any of you."
"Hey Bjorkie? There's no toilet paper anymore, next time you get tampons-" Bjork's dad emerged from a doorway. "What are you guys doing boarding up the house?" His face grew red suddenly. He was fuming with anger, "what are you doing eating the food without me!" He looked at the table with pure disgust.
"The Yule Lads are here… worst of all.. Gryla." The room stood still, perhaps coincidentally.
Guomund put his hands over his mouth.
"God help us…" He whispered. "Bjorkie...they've been here already."
Bjork jumped, and she looked around the room. There was something now that she did not notice before.
"The spoons. We have no spoons." She screamed into the dining room. "Eeeeeeeek!" She made her famous dolphin voice. With yet another twirl of her hand, the table and all the chairs went flying, and sent everybody flying everywhere with their food. "This can't be happening!" All the scattered furniture found themselves up against the various windows and doors around them "They won't get in. Not this time."
Bjork extended her hands and an epic fire emerged from it. She trailed her hands along the furniture barricading the windows, and the searing heat from her hands fused everything together.
All eyes and eye were on Bjork, she was turning this house into alcatraz.
Guests began to emerge from the mess that was now the dining room, they were all disoriented and shaken.
"Bjork! Please! Let us help!" Clementine said.
"Absolutely not. They're almost here." Bjork replied. She began to shake. "I can smell them…"
"If they're that close, then we have a shot by working together." Iggy stood up from the rubble in the room and stepped next to Clementine.
"No. They're here…" Bjork whispered.
It began with a slight scratch at the window, and it sent everybody into a complete panic. Bob the minion was knocking things over, trying to find something to hide behind or under. Trixie accidentally ran into Kim, which resulted in Trixie getting a black eye.
"Get off of me you fat rabbit!" Kim tried to swing again. "I may not have my powers, but I pack a mean knuckle sandwich! And I think you're about to try it...maybe with a little mustard then?"
"I don't think you're ready for what I've got bitch!" Said Trixie in her accent. "Us Jersey girls know how to fight! Don't hit your head on the way back down to the valley hoe."
"Ugh!" Kim said.
The scratches at the window got louder while everyone was running around. It was complete chaos, Clementine had never seen anything like it. Sarah was in the corner having her usual meltdown, as if they were scheduled.
Cathy just sat on the side of the room, laughing at the situation.
That was until every window and door in house #12 exploded, each with one of the Yule Lads behind every door and window.
"Everybody stand UP!" Bjork said to everyone. She mouthed a spell, and with a single breath Emilie's hair turned red again, Rebecca was pregnant once more, and Clementine felt like a wolf again.
Gryla stepped forward, and each of the lads trailed behind her.
"What are you doing in my home?" Bjork screamed in Icelandic. Bjork's eyes were pitch black, as if she was a demon.
"It's time for my feast… there's so much power in this house… I just can't stay away."
Gryla opened her mouth.
It was terrible.
As if someone in an airplane broke the window mid flight.
And everyone in the room was being pulled towards her as she sucked harder and harder.
The room's gravity might as well of flipped, everyone was hanging onto the wall framing or the incredibly sturdy table. The rest of the objects in the room launched towards the northern window, alongside Emilie and Rebecca. Emilie shot her hair out like a net, trying to catch Rebecca who was falling below her. Gryla held up to her reputation of stealing children, but none of the foreigners knew that. Emilie's strands broke, and despite Rebecca trying to hold on to something with her bulky arms, they both fell into the abyss of Gryla's stomach. Gryla quickly closed her mouth, satisfied. She made a loud screeching noise, only to be cut by Bjorks angelic voice.
"After them!" Bjork commanded, she had put a lot of points into the leadership skill tree. Sarah morphed into the hulk, Clementine brought out her claws, Iggy howled her goat like yodle, Kim readied her pip-boy, and Cathy started installing Mcafee. Gryla began to run, but not before deploying her set of twins. She pulled them out of her sack, for what they lacked in height they made up for in meat themed attacks. The Sausage Swiper, and The Meat Hooker. With a meat hook of pure mithril, he swiped at Clementine, who promptly dodged by smelling the meat-blood. The Sausage Swiper on the other hand had a much more ranged approach. He used his lasso of sausages, to reach for Emilie, but was stopped midair by her hair-tentacles(hairtacles).
The boys jumped back, and stood back to back. "You will not defeat THE MEAT TWINS!"
It had been an hour. Rebecca and Emilie couldn't see a thing. They were touching at the the shoulder, there wasn't much room in Gryla's stomach-pouch thing. Gryla was still walking they presumed, they felt the rumbling. How far she took them, is what worried them. They did not know Iceland well, and did not want to get lost in the vast neighborhood complex.
"I can't believe this is happening again." Rebecca said.
"Wait. Again? Emilie said.
"Long story. Longer than this one. I don't wanna talk about it."
"Okay...well...I think I can get us out of here, but I'm worried I might crush you" Emilie looked at the wall, assuming Rebecca was standing there. It was dark, so neither knew of the blunder.
"We can't let them harm our friends! The longer we wait the worse this gets!" Rebecca was very insistent, she had known them much longer than Emily anyways.
"Alright, just stay close to me." Emilie tried to get closer, and began the process. She expanded her hair around all edges of their cocoon. She pushed and pushed, and suddenly, Gryla vomited.
"I should've killed you first.. But I just love spicy foods!" Gryla was quickly regaining her strength, so the duo made a run for it. The snow in Iceland was overcoming them, it reached their shin bones at least. They felt Gryla behind them, but they managed to out trudge her somehow.
"I can hardly see 5 feet ahead of me!" Rebecca cried out, she was beginning to lose Emilie. "Stay close to me!" She sped up slightly.
"This is worse than the pouch, I think I'm whiting out!" Emilie tried to warm her face, but was unable to. Her hands were wayyy colder than her face.
"Are you girls lost?" Said a man's voice. The two looked around hesitantly, only to be surprised with a particular snowman.
"Frosty the snowman? Is that you?" Rebecca said.
"You've got that right!" He said. "I see you girls seem to be in a bit of distress. I was just wandering around looking for my wife, Mariah Carey, and I came across you two. What seems to be the p-" Frosty the snowman was cut off when he saw Gryla jump out of the white out conditions, and he tumbled to the ground with her on top of him.
"Oh my word! It's Gryla! Don't let her touch my hat!" Frosty yelled. Rebecca got on top of Gryla who was on top of Frosty, and Frosty moaned in pain at the crushing force on his body.
Rebecca upped her big, meaty arms, and swung at Gryla. She heard a crack, and Gryla cried out as she rolled off of Frosty. She limped off into the blizzard, away from the two girls and (snow)man sat there, nearly exasperated.
Frosty was the first one to break the impending silence.
"What on Earth did you girls do to piss her off?" He said, adjusting the pipe in his coal mouth.
"All we did was visit Bjork, down at house #12."
"Bjork huh? She's quite famous around these parts, I hear. You guys are a ways from house #12 now, that house would be on the other side of this mountain." Frosty pondered.
"We have to cross a mountain to get back to our friends?" Emilie said.
"I'm afraid so. Maybe on the way we can find my Wife, but with Gryla out there, it's best that we stay together."
"Well. What are we waiting for? We should probably get going." Rebecca said.
Clementine was a full wolf now, she had always had a special liking to protein, her carnivorous side was coming out. She ripped through a sausage link in his chain, but the chain was long indeed. Cathy was soaring above, in her giant mechanical suit. She launched several doxxings at The Sausage Stealer, but he was one of the more agile of The Yule Lads. Sarah was an especially useful tank, she blocked 60% of their attacks due to her sheer size. Kim cocked her pip-boy-infused fist and took a giant punch on The Meat Hooker. He was KO'd instantly.
The Sausage Stealer struck Clementine, but she took another bite, and began devouring the entire line. He retracted his sausage-line quickly, and without skipping a beat he returned attack. This time he used those hot-dogs to wrap around Clementines neck. A yodel was heard from behind her, and suddenly Iggy did a really cool jump in the air above the two. Iggy Slammed down on the sausage line with her hammer-like-hooves. From there it snapped out The Sausage Stealer's hands, and was immediately ruined with dirt. Sarah bonked ol' sausage on the head, and the group felt pleased with their work.
"Why did you help me?" Clementine asked hoarsely, she was gripping her throat. It still felt overcooked.
"We have a common enemy, nothing has changed." Iggy turned around and
walked away. Clementine could feel the tsundre leaking from her soul.
"C'mon we need to go after Emilie and Rebecca!" Kim shouted. Bjork calmly approached the group, who stood by the slightly destroyed house.
"Be careful, there are a few ways to go about this." She hovered towards the center of the group. "The 15 Yule Lads can be rid of 2 standard ways. The first one, I recommend; Kill all 15 of them.. The second one, is to wait until sunrise and they will all disappear." She looked at Clementine when she continued to speak. "But all actions are irreversible, and so the death of your friends is very much permanent" The tension was broke with her smile, "Go get em' team!"
The group was disheartened, but still split up accordingly. Clementine, Sarah, Trixie, Bjork and Kim, Iggy, Bob, Cathy. Bjork's parents decided to stay at home and recook dinner, in hopes they lived.
"Can I stay and help?" Pepe pouted. "I don't like the cold."
Guomund put a hand on (a considerably shrunken) Pepe. "Sure kiddo."
And so the gang spread out in search of the girls, hoping to make it in time for second supper.
Emilie's calves were on fire as they traversed the mountains of Iceland.
"How much longer is it?" Emilie asked, and Frosty chuckled.
"Longer than your calves can handle, sweetie. We just have to watch out for the Icelandic wilderness."
"What can be worse than what we've already seen?" Emilie questioned. She pictured everything that she had seen since joining up with Clem
"Give it some time. Iceland is a very special place." Frosty said, tipping his silk cap.
"So, what's your wife like?" Rebecca said. Frosty smiled thinking of the love of his life.
"Her name is Mariah Carey, and boy is she swell. She's got a voice on her, and her Christmas spirit just hits my sweet spot so nice! She's a very strong lady too, someone who can take care of herself. That's why I think she's somewhere out here. Gryla dragged her off to some cave out here in the mountains, and I haven't found it yet. We were sitting at the dinner table one night a few days ago, and Gryla swept in house #8 and took her from me! She always comes during the holiday season, it's quite terrifying." Frosty explained.
"So, Mariah was a victim of Gryla as well, except no one has found her yet." Rebecca recited.
"Exactly. I just want to find her and take her back home where it's safe. A lot of people die up here in Iceland, or they have to be rescued by many rescue teams." He continued. "But first, I'll help you guys regroup."
Through the veil of the white out blizzard, they heard a crunch in the snow. Footsteps different from all the others.
"Uhoh...what is that?" Emilie cried. Another surprise was on its way. There was a faint moan off in the distance, and it added to the goosebumps that were already on Emilie's neck.
"This is gonna be a problem. It sounds like The Snowmen." Frosty said.
"The Snowmen?"
That was when the first one emerged from the conditions. It swept a twig arm at Emilie and Rebecca, who thankfully missed.
"Oh, what the hell?" Emilie shouted. "Not on my watch!" Emilie's hair was able to take the form of blades, and her hair extened all the way out to one of The Snowmen. Her strong split ends were able to slice up one of the Snowmen and it revealed that under all that snow was a walker. Every walker around them was decorated with snowman accessories, a red scarf, black hat, coal smile. The whole sha-bang.
"We should probably get going." Frosty said, quickening his pace. "Once those things catch up to you, it's all over." With the pickup of his pace, the girls moved along behind him.
They moved forward through the awful blizzard, the wind nipping at their faces the entire time. That did not stop their determination, however. Not once did they cower to the storm.
"Hey, I think the blizzard's letting up!" Emilie shouted. Around them, they were able to see more and more of the mountain. Everything around them was coated with a layer of fresh snow, and the hills of snow went on for miles (and kilometers.) But, as the blizzard began to clear, a new threat emerged.
Right before them, there were dozens of Snowmen creeping their way towards the three of them.
Clementine and Sarah stayed closer to each other now that they were both stuck with Trixie and Bjork. One was a savage that tried to kill them, and the other was pretty much a stranger to them. They were in uncharted waters, especially with the likes of Gryla and the Yule Lads running around.
"Does this stuff happen a lot?" Sarah asked Bjork.
Clementine nudged Sarah,
"Don't talk to her, we aren't with anyone else and we barely know her!" Clementine whispered.
"You should not remain shy with me, I am a friend. Truly." Bjork winked at Clementine, and then addressed Sarah. "This happens around this time every year. It has truly become a fight for survival here every Christmas, but we do it because we have the drive to fight. To protect our families, and protect Iceland."
A blizzard was beginning to set in, and they were having trouble tracking Gryla's possible trails.
"I know the other group went off to chase another trail, but how do we know which one is the right one?" Trixie questioned, she was examining the footprints that were in the snow in front of them, and they went for a while.
"We'll know if or when we see Gryla, and hopefully end this horrible horrible night." Bjork responded, she slid onward in the snow, she was levitating above it and was not using her feet to walk at all. Trixie was silent, she blended in with the snow surprisingly well. Clementine stayed right behind Sarah, but the snow was now reaching her knees.
"I peep something… tastey" A deep voice said out of nowhere. The group quickly halted in place, they couldn't see very far and were struck with fear.
The white blizzard continued, "I'm ready to warm these piggies up…" another, younger voice cackled. Suddenly the white haze dissipated, and the four realized they were surrounded. 3 Yule Lads surrounded them, wearing their traditional radish and beet colored clothes. The Yule Lad with the largest nose took a deep breathe. The snow around him was being sucked up into his large nostrils.
"I am The Door Sniffer, and you my pretties, smell incredible." They could feel a strong gravitational pull towards him, but they clung to the ground and held on.
Bjork raised her hand and shot out a burst of energy, "Whoever smelt it, DEALT IT!", instantly vaporizing the Yule Lad. The other two lads spared no time, instantly dealing attacks.
"He was the weaker brother, you will not survive The Candle Stealer and The Window Peeper!" The duo charged forward, dealing a combined force of fire and peeping power.
