Chapter 4: Monster Mash
Krampus' blow caught Jack in the chest, completely knocking him off his feet and sending him shooting back into the house. A moment later, he crashed into the wall on the opposite side of the room, the wood wall cracking under the force of the blow as Jack crumbled to the floor.
"Jack!" Sally exclaimed in terror as she rushed to the skeleton's side.
The Guardians, for their part, quickly assembled in front of the open door, glaring at Krampus as he grinned wickedly at them.
"Ahahahah," Krampus laughed quietly to himself as he ran his eyes over the four Guardians, "My old friends. Is good to see you again."
At that point, his gaze fell on Frost and he pointed a clawed finger at the young spirit.
"You must be Jack Frost," Krampus concluded, his grin showing off his pointed teeth, "Tell, how is North doing? He was bit worn out when I left him."
Snarling angrily, Frost shot towards Krampus, the air kicking up in his wake.
"Jack, wait!" Tooth shouted as she held a hand out to stop Frost, but her reaction proved far too slow.
Glaring at Krampus as he flew towards him, Frost failed to consider the creature's grin as he approached. Then, at the last second, Krampus stepped to the side as he took the large sack off his back and held it open in the spot where he had been standing a moment before. Frost's eyes widened in surprise at this, but was unable to stop himself in time and went flying head first into the sack. As Frost thrashed around inside the sack, Krampus quickly closed it before lifting the bag up and slamming it on the ground a few times. Once that was done, Krampus reopened the bag, grabbed hold of the front of it with one hand and the back of it with the other and then made a tossing motion with it, throwing Frost out of the bag and sending him tumbling down the front stairs of the house.
Groaning in pain as he came to a stop on his back at the bottom of the stairs, Frost opened his eyes to find Samhain looming over him.
"Hello Jack," Samhain greeted as he looked down at Frost, "It's been awhile."
"Oh boy," Jack whispered as Samhain reached down and grabbed him.
"Come on!" Tooth said as she gestured for Bunny and Sandy to follow her, "We attack him together!"
Nodding in agreement, the three Guardians charged towards Krampus, who turned back around to face then. As they reached him, Krampus leapt backwards flipping through the air and landing on one of the spiked iron posts that made up the fence that surrounded Jack's house.
"Three against one not fair," Krampus observed as he placed his sack on the ground, "I even odds."
Opening the bag, Krampus rummaged around for a moment before pulling a pair of objects out and hurling them at the Guardians. Reacting instinctively, Tooth and Bunny caught the objects and looked at them in confusion.
In Tooth's hands was a teddy bear, it's fur a dark brown in color and frayed at the edges, its eyes small, black beads. In Bunny's hands was a small, box colored black and blood red. A crank on the side of the box slowly rotated, causing the object to admit an off key, music box rendition of "Pop Goes the Weasel."
As Bunny looked at the object in confusion, the crack slowed down and the song ended just short of the final few notes. After a single quiet moment, the top of the box suddenly snapped open and what appeared to be the upper torso of a clown sprang out, attached to the box by a metal spring. The clown was dressed in red and black motley, with a matching, belled jester's hat on its head. The jester's face was a crude caricature, with a long nose, jutting chin and a wide mouth stuck in a rictus smile. As it sprung forward, the jack-in-the-box cackled maddly, its hands outstretched to grab Bunny's face as the Guardian cried out in alarm.
Tooth watched the scene unfold with an expression of alarm, which distracted her from the teddy bear as it began to move in her hands. Suddenly, the teddy bear opened its mouth, revealing pointed fangs that it then dug into Tooth's arm. Crying out in pain, Tooth shook her arm and dislodged the teddy bear, sending it flying back into Jack's house. Hitting a wall, the teddy bear bounced off before landing on its feet and rushed towards Tooth as fast as its little legs could carry it.
Whipping his head around in a bewildered fashion, Sandy tried to decide which one of his companions to help. After a moment, he settled his gaze on Frost, who was currently being held off the ground by Samhain, who gripped the front of the Guardian's sweatshirt with both hands.
"I just want you to remember, Jack," Samhain whispered as tendrils of darkness began trailing down his arms towards Frost, "I gave you a choice back when I wore a different face. It didn't have to be this way."
Frost struggled against Samhain's grip, but couldn't pull himself out of the boogieman's grasp, his eyes going wide as the tendrils of darkness drew closer to his face.
Suddenly, a large fist made from glowing golden sand slammed into Samhain from the side, knocking him off his feet and releasing his grasp on Frost. Landing on his feet, Frost looked towards where the attack had come from and found Sandy descending from Jack's house on a cloud of sand, his steely gaze focused on Samhain. Glancing at Frost, Sandy used his head to gesture towards Krampus, to which Frost nodded his head in understanding before shooting off into the air.
"So, you wish to do this dance again, old friend?" Samhain asked, tilting his head to the side as he floated back to his feet and held his hands out to his sides, causing swirling masses of shadow to form around his feet. Wordlessly, Sandy mirrored the gesture as he glared at Samhain, causing his sands to swirl around his as well. With that, the two charged at one another, slamming together in a riot of black and gold.
Still perched on the fence, Krampus grinned wickedly as he watched Tooth and Bunny struggle with his toy minions. Suddenly, he glanced to the side and found Frost rushing towards him, the Guardian having pulled his crook back to swing at Krampus. With a nimbleness that was freakish for a creature of his size, Krampus leapt backwards, somersaulting through the air and landing on the rooftop of a nearby house while Frost swung at the empty space where he had been a moment before, prompting the Guardian to come to a quick stop in mid-air.
"You want to play with me, boy?" Krampus questioned, taking his sack in one hand while grasping his hooked chain with the other, spinning it idly at his side, "Then let us play."
Narrowing his eyes, Frost shot towards Krampus, gripping his staff with both hands. As Frost approached him, Krampus hurled his hook at the Guardian, who managed to bat it to the side with a swing of his staff. As he reached Krampus though, Frost wasn't able to pull his staff back in time to block Krampus' follow up attack as the creature hit him in the side with his sack and sent the Guardian flying to the side.
The impact sent Frost flying a short distance before he was stopped as Krampus hurled his chain at the Guardian, snagging his sweatshirt with his hook. Yanking on the chain, Krampus pulled Frost back to him before he leapt into the air and dropkicked the Guardian with both of his cloven feet, the blow sending Frost flying through the air and crashing through the roof of a nearby house.
Landing gracefully on the cobblestone street, Krampus grinned as he pulled his hooked chain back to him. Krampus turned to leave, but stopped as the front door to the house Frost had been knocked into suddenly banged open and the Guardian walked out. Before Krampus could fully react, Frost shot forward on a large gust of wind and slammed his staff into the monster's stomach, the blow lifting Krampus off his feet and knocking him over the roof of the building behind him, with Frost quickly flying after him.
Digging his heels into the cobblestone street, Sandy skidded to a halt near the center of Halloweentown. Has he caught himself, Sandy caught sight of Samhain charging towards him, the black shadows that seemed to ooze out of him having formed into a large horse that he now rode, the steed glaring at Sandy with burning red eyes as it charged at the Guardian while Samhain formed a large scythe out of shadow and held it aloft to strike Sandy.
Reacting quickly, Sandy waved his hands about, causing his golden sand to coalesce under him, forming a large, coiled spring. A moment later, the spring uncoiled, shooting Sandy into the air and out of harm's way as Samhain swung his scythe at the spot the Guardian had occupied a second before. Flipping through the air, Sandy waved his hands around again, causing a parachute to sprout from his back, slowing his descent.
As Samhain looked back at Sandy, the Guardian made a gripping motion with one hand, causing a slingshot to form in his grasp. Grabbing the sling part, Sandy pulled it back, causing a small, concentrated ball of sand to form in the sling. Releasing his grip on the sling, Sandy sent the sandball shooting towards Samhain, striking him in his masked face, the ball exploding into a cloud of glittering sand as Samhain reeled from the blow. Before he could react, the cloud of sand flowed around Samhain's head and contracted tightly.
As Samhain struggled with the globe of sand around his head, he slipped from the back of his steed and fell to the cobblestone street, causing both the horse and the scythe to dissipate. At the same time, Sandy touched back down on the ground, his parachute and slingshot dissolving into sand once more.
Snarling in fury, Samhain held his hands in front of his face as shadows rushed up his arms, and covered his appendages, quickly forming into long, sharp claws. Reaching up, Samhain used the claws to tear the sand from his face before turning to face Sandy, his rage palpable despite his masked visage. Roaring, Samhain spread his arms and arched his spine, causing tendrils of shadow to sprout from his back. A moment later, the tendrils shifted so that their ends took on the resemblance of eel heads, with glowing yellow eyes and tooth-filled maws.
Thrusting his hands forward, Samhain caused the tendrils to lunge towards Sandy, their jaws open to strike. Acting quickly, Sandy conjured up a large kite shield made of sand and used it to block the first tendril to reach him. Holding out his other hand, Sandy formed a longsword that he used to lop the head off of one of the other tendrils while blocking the rest with his shield. Seeing this, Samhain snarled before forming another scythe and charging at Sandy with the weapon raised. Spotting Samhain's charge, Sandy pushed the remaining tendrils to the side with his shield before stepping forward and parrying Samhain's scythe swing with his sword, glaring up at his opponents masked face as they struggled against one another.
As the battle continued to rage, Jack managed to push himself into a sitting position while holding his skull with one hand.
"Jack!" Sally exclaimed as she kneeled next to him, "Are you okay?"
"I'm alright," Jack replied, shaking his head in an effort to clear it, "What happened?"
"That brute knocked you across the room," Sally explained, "The others are fighting him and that shadow man as we speak."
Looking past Sally, Jack saw Tooth and Bunny still struggling with the evil toys that Krampus had sicced on them.
"Sally," Jack said as he pushed himself back to his feet, "Stay here."
Sally looked at Jack with a stricken expression but made no effort to stop him as the skeleton moved to help the Guardians. Running up to where Tooth was holding the vicious teddy bear away from her face, Jack grabbed hold of the toy by its head and pulled it out of the Guardian's grasp before hurling it at a nearby wall, the toy bouncing off it before flopping to the floor. Seeing this, the jack-in-the-box that had been trying to wrap its way around Bunny retracted itself into its box before it sprung at Jack. With viper-like swiftness, Jack dodged out of the way of the attack before grabbing the jack-in-the-box by it's spring. Gripping the jack-in-the-box tightly, Jack began spinning it around his head as he spotted the teddy bear rushing towards him. Hurling the jack-in-the-box, Jack caused it to wrap around the teddy bear and knock them both out the still open door.
"Are you both alright?" Jack asked as he turned his attention towards Tooth and Bunny.
"Yes, thank you," Tooth replied gratefully.
"Come on," Bunny said as he began making his way to the door, "The others are fighting the real threat while we're standing here chatting."
Quickly following Bunny, Jack and Tooth made their way out of the house, stepping over the still entangled toys as they reached the bottom of the front steps. Looking around, the three quickly spotted Frost flying through the air above Halloweentown, only to disappear as Krampus's hook chain snagged him and yanked him out of view.
"Jack!" Tooth called as she flew in the direction he had disappeared in, prompting Jack and Bunny to follow after her.
As Tooth's wings quickly outpaced them, Jack and Bunny were cut off as a panicked mob of screaming Halloweentown residents came spilling out of a perpendicular road. Their screams were cut off by a monstrous roar as massive black dragon came into view above the nearby rooftops, before it reared its head back and belched a column of sickly green fire down at the townsfolk. Before the flames could strike them, Sandy flew into view, quickly conjuring a dome of golden sand that protected the townsfolk and gave them the chance to run for cover.
While Sandy was distracted by covering the civilians, the dragon lashed at him with one of its massive claws, smashing through the dome and knocking Sandy to the side, sending him crashing through the window of a house.
As Jack and Bunny watched, the dragon shifted in form before settling back into the shape of Samhain. As Samhain turned his attention towards the two, Jack and Bunny quickly tensed up.
"Got any ideas, bonehead?" Bunny asked as he pulled out a pair of boomerangs.
Glancing to the side, Jack spotted a jack-o-lantern sitting on a nearby porch.
"A few," Jack replied, before snapping his fingers.
Seemingly at his call, the jack-o-lantern seemed to spring to life, long vines growing out of its bottom that it used to scuttle over to Jack. Once it was before him, the jack-o-lantern reached up to Jack with its vines, allowing the skeleton to grasp it and hold the jack-o-lantern as if it was a flail.
"Here stands the Pumpkin King in all his glory," Samhain observed as he gave Jack a mocking bow.
"I'm here too, you know," Bunny commented grumpily.
"Oh, don't worry, Bunny," Samhain said with a dark chuckle, "I haven't forgotten about you."
Waving his hand over the ground in front of him, Samhain caused the dark shadows pooling around his feet to stir. After a moment, the shadows solidified into a pair of large hounds with short, pointed ears and burning red eyes. Focusing on Bunny, the hounds snarled, revealing a collection of pointed teeth.
"Uh oh," Bunny muttered, his ears dropping as he eyed the hounds with wide eyes.
"Sic him," Samhain ordered with a wave of his hand, causing the hounds to charge towards Bunny while barking madly. At the same time, Samhain rushed towards Jack, forming a scythe out of shadow and raising it above his head as he came.
Acting quickly, Jack flipped backwards as Samhain reached him, dodging just out of the reach of the scythe's blade as the boogieman swung it down at him. Regaining his footing, Jack whipped his pumpkin flail around, striking Samhain on the side of the head, sending the shadow man reeling.
"Not bad," Samhain commented as he rubbed the side of his masked face while his scythe dissipated, "Perhaps I should try a different tactic."
With that, Samhain thrust his hand forward, sending half a dozen of his biting shadow tendrils shooting towards Jack, who watched them come with wide eye sockets.
Reacting instinctively as the hounds rushed him, Bunny threw both of his boomerangs at the charging monsters. However, before the weapons could strike them, the hounds opened their toothy maws and snatched the boomerangs out of the air with their jaws before crushing the projectiles with thunderous crunches.
"Bugger," Bunny muttered again, his eyes wide as the hounds continued rushing at him.
As one of the hounds lunged at his throat, Bunny managed to nimbly duck under the beast before leapfrogging over the second as it tried to bite his ankles. Spinning around as the hounds turned back towards him, Bunny quickly thumped his foot twice on the ground. As he did, a hole just large enough to fit him suddenly opened up in the earth at his feet. Hopping into the hole, Bunny disappeared underground, the hole closing up behind him just as the hounds reached it.
Whining in confusion, the hounds put their noses to the ground and began sniffing around for any sign of Bunny. A moment later, another hole formed a short distance away and Bunny hopped out, a pair of pastel colored eggs in his hands.
"Hey, you mangy mutts!" Bunny shouted, quickly catching the hounds' attentions, "Take a bite of these!"
With that, Bunny hurled the eggs at the hounds. Seeing the attack coming, the hounds quickly snatched the eggs out of the air with their toothy maws. However, as they bit down, the eggs exploded into pastel colored clouds. Whining and coughing, the hounds were left defenseless as Bunny rushed forward, leapt into the air and landed hard on one of the hounds, crushing it and causing it to dissipate into a cloud of shadows. Spinning around, Bunny then quickly kicked the other hound in the side, knocking it off its feet and sending it crashing into the side of a nearby building, causing it to burst in a cloud of shadows and dissipate.
"I hate dogs," Bunny grumbled before running towards where Jack was still battling with Samhain.
With the nimbleness of a scuttling spider, Jack dodged around Samhain's toothy tendrils as they lashed at him, trying to latch on to his bony frame. Sidestepping one of the tendrils as it came in low, Jack stomped hard on it, holding it place as he swung his pumpkin flail at another of the tendrils, knocking it to the side. Pulling the pumpkin back to him like a yo-yo, Jack held the jack-o-lantern up to his face before blowing on the back of it, causing the gourd to open its carved mouth wide and spew a torrent of flame at Samhain. Seeing the attack coming, Samhain dismissed his tendrils before forming a shadow barrier in front of him to block the flames. As the fires gutted out, Samhain dropped the shield and began moving menacingly towards Jack.
"Oi, bag head!" Bunny shouted as he leapt out of a hole that suddenly formed next to Samhain, "Don't go forgetting about me!"
As Samhain turned towards Bunny in surprise, the rabbit swung one of his large feet around and smashed a roundhouse kick against the side of the Guardian of the Sabbat's head. The blow knocked Samhain completely off his feet, sending him twisting through the air before he landed on the ground in a heap. Recovering quickly, Samhain pushed himself back to his feet, but it still gave Jack the opportunity he needed to swing his pumpkin flail around and strike the boogieman in the chest, sending him skidding backwards.
As Samhain recovered, Bunny flew at him with a flying kick, trying to press his and Jack's advantage. Samhain saw this coming however and, with a grasping motion, formed a claw made of shadow that shot forward and grabbed Bunny by the leg. As Bunny's eyes went wide in surprise, the claw slammed him onto the ground, before dragging the Guardian across the earth and throwing him back into the air.
As he watched Bunny tumble through the air with wide eye sockets, an idea came to Jack. Twirling his pumpkin flail about, Jack tossed it in the direction Bunny was flying in. Seeing the jack-o-lantern shooting towards him, Bunny reached out and grabbed hold of the pumpkin's green vine. As the flail reached its limit and pulled taut, Jack pulled back on it, whipping Bunny through the air back towards Samhain. With no time to react, Samhain could only watch as Bunny shot back towards him before the Guardian dropkicked him in the chest, sending the boogieman flying through the air before he crashed back to the ground a good distance away.
"Not bad, scarecrow," Bunny said, smirking at Jack after landing on the ground.
"I do believe I'm already getting a handle on this Guardians business," Jack answered with a laugh as he pulled his flail back to him.
In a seperate part of Halloweentown, Krampus danced about as Frost continued swinging his staff at the creature, unable to land a hit. As Krampus stepped out of the way of another attack, the sound of rapidly fluttering wings caught his attention. Turning towards the sound, Krampus spotted Tooth flying directly at him a moment before her fist connected with his face, the blow sending Krampus stumbling back a few steps.
"I was wondering when one of you guys would show up," Frost commented with a smirk.
"You're welcome," Tooth replied sarcastically as she fluttered next to Frost with her hands planted on her hips.
"The pretty bird packs a punch," Krampus commented as he wiped his mouth with the back of one of his hairy hands while grinning savagely, "I'm going to enjoy plunking all of those pretty feathers. Will be as fun as carving up old Nicholas St. North."
"You'll pay for that!" Tooth snapped as she charged at Krampus again.
Still grinning, Krampus threw his hooked chain at Tooth. Seeing the attack coming, Tooth pressed forward faster, her eyes narrowed in determination. The moment before the hook hit her, Tooth seemed to explode into a cloud of multicolored feathers. As the hook passed harmlessly through the cloud, the feathers shifted in appearance, turning into dozens of miniature versions of Tooth. Together, the swarm of miniature Tooths surged forward as Krampus looked at them in shock before he let out a roar as the Tooths began punching and kicking at his face, taking advantage of their small size to attack weak points, such as Krampus' eyes and ears.
As Krampus desperately swatted at the Tooth swarm, Frost rushed forward, dragging his staff behind him as he ran. Reaching Krampus, Frost slammed his staff into the creature's stomach, the force of the blow knocking him off his feet and sending him flying into the air. As Krampus tumbled through the air, the Tooth swarm rushed past him, reforming into the full-sized Tooth, who threw a spinkick at the creature that sent him flying back the way he came. Krampus' trajectory was then intercepted again as Frost flew in front of him and struck the creature with flipkick, knocking him higher into the air. As Krampus reached the apex of his arc, Tooth appeared above him, slamming her foot into the creature's face and sending him rocketing back towards the ground.
Down below, Samhain had recovered from Bunny's attack and picked himself up off the ground. Before he could do anything more however, Krampus came shooting out of the sky and slammed into Samhain, creating a small crater as both of them were smashed into the cobblestone street.
Grunting and groaning in pain, Samhain and Krampus picked themselves up out of the crater, only to find Jack, Bunny, Frost and Tooth standing a short distance away, all looking ready to continue the fight. It was that moment that Sandy rejoined the group as well, floating above the others on a cloud of golden sand with his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed.
"It's over for you two," Bunny declared, "We've got you outnumbered and outclassed."
Glancing at each other, Krampus grinned as Samhain let out a sinister chuckle.
"We may have lost this battle, true," Samhain commented as the shadows beneath him and Krampus began to shift and roil, "But the war is far from over."
"Wait!" Frost shouted, shooting forwards as the shadows surged up and engulfed Samhain and Krampus.
"Another time, Guardians," Samhain's voice whispered from the shadows before they disappeared into the ground, causing Frost to shoot through the empty air they had occupied a moment before.
"Damn," Frost swore as he skidded to a halt and turned to face the others.
"Well," Jack commented as he placed his hands on his hips and observed the scene, "It would appear that we are victorious."
"For now," Bunny added grimly.
"So what do we do now?" Frost questioned as he looked back at the others.
"Well, whether we defeated them or not, we got what we came for," Tooth said as looked up at Jack, "Now that we have a new Guardian, we should go back to the North Pole and figure out how to put an end to this, once and for all."
A/N: Happy to get another chapter of this out! Had a lot of fun stretching my fight scene muscles in this chapter, it's a lot of fun when everyone has unique power sets. Hope you guys enjoyed it! As always, feedback and critiques are always welcome, so please review! Later!