Chapter 4: Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash
"Huh, kind of a lackluster name. Elm Street." Ash stood on the sidewalk after reading the sign looking around the seemingly deserted town. "Just a guess, but something evil is probably coming and I have to stop it." Just as he got done speaking he heard maniacal laughter. "Ten points for me." He looked around but could not find the being responsible for the noise.
"Hey, buddy." a voice said. "Up here." Ash looked up at the moon. There was a face in it. A hideously burned face, staring down at him. "Hello, Ash."
"How do you know my name?"
"Oh, I know everything about you, and this." The face faded to reveal the Necronomicon.
"Great." Ash said. "Why can't it be in the hands of a super model or something less life threatening."
"You think I'm scary know, wait'll you experience a full blown nightmare courtesy of Freddy Krueger." The face in the moon disappeared. Ash turned around to see a man standing at the far end of the street with the book in tow.
"The only thing scary about you is your dollar store Christmas sweater."
"You'll be made to forget about that soon enough." Freddy reached his right hand out in front of him. The light from a nearby street lamp cast a long shadow of his clawed hand.
"What's this, shadow puppetry. I don't have time to tangle with a victim of fashion sense." Ash grabbed his gun.
"The only victim here is you. Sweet dreams." With that Freddy's shadow lunged at Ash. The instant Ash was struck in the chest, green sparks exploded from the impact point and the shadow crawled back to Freddy as if it were in pain. Ash watched as the sparks hit the ground and burn out.
"Whoa. What was that all about?" he quietly asked himself. Across the street, Freddy looked at his clawed hand. He felt the sting of pain coursing through it.
"This is my world. You can't do that." Freddy lunged his shadow at Ash again with the same result. He tried once more, but this time Ash caught it in the grip of his robotic hand. He then pointed the barrel of his gun at it and fired. The shadow hand fell to the ground, flopped around a bit then disappeared.
"Now," Ash cocked his gun. "How about my book."
"I don't know how you did that, but it doesn't matter. I'll gut you the old fashion way. As for this," Freddy held the book aloft before it vanished in a puff of black smoke. "I intend to use it to resurrect myself back into the living and still be able to invade dreams. I'm already strong enough to kill in nightmares thanks to Jason, but you, I'll take care of with my bare hands."
"Bring it on, Shirley." Ash started his chainsaw. Freddy began to sprint in Ash's direction. Ash revved up his saw and did the same. As they neared each other, Ash rang out a couple of shots from his gun. Freddy skillfully dodged them and continued toward Ash. The hero raised his saw and swung down as they met. Freddy leapt into the air and slashed Ash in his right cheek.
Ash sat up abruptly. He was breathing hard and sweating. It had been a dream. He reached up and touched his face and was shocked to feel blood running from his cheek.
"What the Hell?" he said as he looked at the blood on his hand. He looked around. It was dusk and he was sitting in the middle of a paved road. The street sign said Elm Street and several people were staring out their windows at him. Just then he heard police sirens right before three white and blue cars rounded the corner and headed in his direction. The cars screeched to a halt and six officers emerged and held their guns at the hero.
"It's him officer." a pedestrian said. "He's the murderer."
"Drop your weapons and put your hands on your head."
"Hey, I don't know what your talking about. I've never even seen these assholes before." A cop fired a warning shot and repeated the order. "You got the wrong guy." With that, the officers opened fire and Ash was forced to run. He tore through somebodies fence and through their yard. From there he scrambled through a bunch of bushes and continued running through more yards on his way to the woods. The police got around a house just in time to see the perpetrator vanish into the dark foliage. Ash ran blindly into the trees not knowing were he was headed. He stopped after a while and listened.
"I think I lost them." he said to himself as he looked around. He started walking through the dark forest. He had only gone a mile or so when he noticed moonlight reflecting off of water. He walked toward it. He made his way through some foliage and came upon a large, old wooden sign on poles. The sign bore the words "Camp Crystal Lake". He looked around at the old cabins.
"This is to coincidental. There is now way something bad is not going to happen here, but, what else do I have." He went into one of the cabins and sat down in an old chair and closed his eyes, just for a second.
He opened them back up only minutes later and found himself back on Elm Street. He looked around to find Freddy waiting for him.
"Welcome back Ash. The book told me how you survived my shadow. Would you like to know how?"
"You're gonna tell me any way."
"Green Eco. According to the book, whatever this stuff is, it's inside of you and makes you the one and only person in the whole goddamn world that can remain unharmed by subconscious, "dream" assaults. But you're still susceptible to physical violence."
"Nice speech pops. So, are we gonna rumble or are you gonna talk all night."
"Watch you mouth, or you just might loose it." Freddy swung his clawed hand at Ash. The hero ducked under it and punched Freddy in the stomach with his robotic hand. The "dream slasher" reeled back and clutched his gut.
"You hit pretty hard hero." he said menacingly.
"Try a hit from this crispy." Ash pointed his gun at the burned villain. Kruger kicked the barrel to away, making Ash miss his mark. Freddy then jumped over Ash and slashed him in the face. Ash whirled his saw behind him, but when he turned, Freddy was gone. He turned back around to see his adversary on the other side of the street.
"I'll save you for later. Somethings coming and I want you for myself. I'd hate for you to die..." Freddy's voice began to fade, as did he. "In your sleep."
"Yeah, that's right." Ash yelled while wiping the blood off of his face. "Take your brown hat and run home to momma."
"Get out of the chair and put your hands on your head!" Ash opened his eyes to see a police officer screaming and pointing a gun in his face. Ash blinked a couple of times while the cop repeated his order. Ash began to stand up when the officer stopped in mid-sentence and coughed out blood.
"Hey, buddy. You alright?" Ash asked. The cop collapsed to the floor and Ash looked up. Standing before him was a giant of a man, his clothes tattered and dirty, topped off by a hockey mask. Clutched in his right hand, a machete, dripping with blood. Behind the mask, two blank eyes stared down at Ash.
"You do know that hockey season's over?" The man just stared back, not saying a word. Just then, the door burst open and several police officers poured in.
"Holy shit!" one of them yelled. "There's two of 'em. They have to be the killers."
"Hey," Ash said. "I'm not with him." With that, the cops opened fire. Ash quickly grabbed his weapons and jumped through a window. Outside, he looked through a crack in the wall.
"So, that must be Jason." Ash watched bullets tear through Jason's rotting flesh with no effect. He kept marching toward his attackers with a very slow and steady pace. He slashed with his blade and eviscerated two officers while the other three backed out the door still firing. One stayed in the doorway, still shooting while his partners put their backs up against the outside wall to reload. Jason made a fist with his left hand and punched right through the face of the cop in the doorway. Ash watched as Jason thrust his blade through the cabin wall. Outside, one of the officers looked down at the sharp piece of metal protruding from his chest. Jason pulled out his machete and the cop fell to the ground dead. The last remaining officer turned and fled to the trees. Jason exited the door and hurled his blade at the running cop. It struck him directly in the back and he fell to the ground. Ash rounded the corner just as the officer met his demise. He rang out a shot the struck Jason in the side of the neck. His head flopped over and black blood ran from the wound. Jason spun around and faced Ash. He then lifted his head back upright and it popped back into place with a sickening crack. Ash holstered his gun on his back and lashed out with his chainsaw. It struck Jason in the side and carved off large chunks of dark, rotten flesh that littered the ground. Jason simply raised his fist and swung down. Ash dodged and pulled his saw free. The smell of festering blood stung his nose and eyes and he decided to run for the trees as well. He looked back to see Jason, in a slow, lumbering pursuit, stop for an instant, gather up his blade and continue on.
"Well, at least I should have time to figure something out." Ash said to himself as he made his way through the trees. He ran for several minutes, before coming upon a construction project on the side of the lake. It looked as though a large concrete and steel pier and boat dock were being placed on the lake.
"This is as good a place to fight as any." Ash said to himself. He turned around and instantly struck his head on a steel beam. He staggered back a few steps before he regained his balance.
"I'm okay." he said to himself. "Definitely okay." He took one step and fell to the ground. Just before he blacked out, he had an idea.
As always, Freddy was waiting for him.
"Welcome back." he was holding the book.
"Nice to be back." Ash fired a shot that Freddy dodged by turning into a shadow. He reappeared right in front of the hero staring him in the face.
"When are you gonna learn that this is my world?"
"Well, maybe we should find someplace else to play." Ash threw a robotic fist that Freddy ducked under. He slashed with his claws and cut deep into Ash's right thigh. Ash swung his metal hand down and caught Freddy in the back of the head. Freddy rolled away and stood up.
"You're starting to piss me off." Freddy lunged his clawed hand at Ash, who dodged to the side and grabbed Krueger by the throat with his robot hand. He then reached over and grabbed the book, that was tucked in Freddy's left arm, with his other hand.
Freddy looked around. He still felt the choking force of Ash's hand, but he didn't feel the book in his arm, he was not on Elm Street. He looked wide eyed at Ash.
"That's right." Ash said. "You're not in Kansas any more, smokey." Ash punched his enemy in the face with his left hand. Freddy landed hard on his back.
"How?" he silently asked himself.
"That book that you were so fond of expels me from whatever world I'm in when I touch it. I took you along for the ride."
"No matter." Freddy said as he stood up. "I'll still butcher you." He slashed repeatedly at the hero, missing several times but able to disarm him of his gun and saw. Ash swung back with his robot hand and, after missing a few attacks, managed to hit Freddy in the jaw, sending him crashing backwards. When the dust settled, Freddy looked up while on his back. He caught a shining glimmer of moonlight reflecting off of a smoth surface.
"Jason." he quietly muttered before he was forced to roll out of the way of the blade crashing down. Freddy rose to his feet and slashed at Jason's mid section. Black blood spewed out of his body as Jason was slashed over and over. Freddy was to quick for Jason to catch with his blade. Ash rushed in and used his shoulder to knock Freddy to the ground. He turned and swung a robotic fist that sent Jason staggering back into a concrete wall. Ash grabbed a piece of metal rod and stabbed Jason through the chest. Ash then used his metal hand to pound the rod into the concrete and bend it around Jason's body.
"That should hold you for a while." Ash turned the Freddy. He was not were he left him. He looked up to see Krueger sprinting to the lake. He shifted his eyes in front of his running adversary. Freddy was running for the book, it had landed on the lake shore. Ash quickly grabbed his gun and fired. Freddy collapsed as he ran, sliding in the dirt. Ash had shot him in the knee. He began to crawl to the book. Ash grabbed his saw and approached Freddy.
"Looks like you're a one legged man in an ass kicking contest." he said. Freddy rolled over onto his back. He started to say something, but instead just smiled. Ash stood puzzled for a brief moment looking at Freddy. He saw a faint shimmer reflect off of Freddy's clawed fingers. Ash quickly ducked as Jason's blade whistled through the air, inches above Ash's head. Ash jumped to the right as Jason came down again with his blade. Ash started his saw and revved it up before he locked it on full throttle. He drove it deep into Jason's chest and let go. The chain continued turning inside of Jason's body. The masked man dropped his blade and attempted to remove the weapon from his body, Ash turned to see Freddy standing by the water, holding the book by it's spine.
"Looks like I've won." Freddy said with an evil grin as he limped toward Ash. Jason had managed to remove the saw and was also walking toward the hero. Freddy thrust his clawed hand at Ash's face. Ash dodged and grabbed Freddy around the wrist with his left hand before spinning him around and striking him in the chest with his robot hand. Freddy stumbled back into Jason who grabbed him and began to squeeze. Freddy's arms fell to his sides as the breath was forced out of his body, but he kept hold of the book. Ash grabbed Jason's machete and stabbed down. Through the book, through Freddy's hand and into Jason's thigh. The face on the book screamed in pain and a red vortex opened up behind the two. Ash looked into it and could see flames. Freddy turned around and saw the swirling wormhole.
"No." he whispered before yelling the same word again at the top of his lungs. Freddy and Jason were sucked into the vortex. Ash watched as it slowly closed. He heard Freddy's voice yelling.
"You son of a bitch. You sent me to Hell. You locked me in here with Jason."
"Now you two play nice." Ash said as the vortex closed, sealing Freddy and Jason were they belong. He turned to see the book lying, smoking, on the ground, a large gouge in the grotesque face that adorned the cover were Jason's blade had been buried.
"I think it's an improvement." Ash collected his weapons, bend down and picked up the book. The blue vortex appeared and carried him off to yet another world.
Ash didn't even bother checking on the book. It was gone and he knew it. He was beginning to grow accustom to chasing the Necronomicon to Hell and back.
"I guess I should be thankful." he said to himself. "Most people never get to travel." He stood up and dusted himself off. He then surveyed his surroundings. He was on an island with no other land to be seen. He then heard a song being sung by a slurred voice. He looked behind him to see a man staggering around a large fire, still singing. He gathered up his gun and saw and walked across the beach to the flame. When he arrived the man was still attempting to dance and sing, neither one was being accomplished very well.
"Who are you supposed to be? Captain Crunch?" he said upon seeing the attire of the man. He whirled around, almost falling to the sand.
"Why are you on my island?" he slurred. "This is a private party and I don't know this Crunch person of which you speak."
"You are drunk off your ass." Ash said bluntly. The man blinked slowly before he replied.
"Maybe so. But I demand to be addressed properly. I am Captain Jack Sp..." he passed out in mid sentence and fell to the golden sand.
"Terrific, of all the people in all the universe, I get stuck with a drunk pirate."