Four Stories Later
Hellfire vs Tazmanian Tornado
"The Dream Demon has lost, and another new player has entered our game." the darkness whispers, "And to the West another challenger approaches the town, though my tazmanian tornado will reach it first. This is where the fun begins! The sudden death challenge!"
"There! That's where the professor lives!" Jack exclaims, pointing to a towering building.
The structure looks uneven, split into two odd pieces connected by a skinny structure. The bottom half looked like a normal building, be that a circular one, making it appear like a large tube. However the top piece seemed to be a giant ball placed gently onto a tiny pole, which connected the two pieces. A flickering glow of electricity illuminated the air around one of the higher windows, and two figures could be slightly seen. All together, the structure didn't seem very sturdy, but Jack walked towards the door without hesitation. His bony fingers wrapped themselves gently around the metallic doorknob, clinking oddly as they did. Without any worry he threw the door open and rushed inside, "Come along fellas!"
Wally hesitated momentarily, then remembered that the laws of this world were unlike his own. He still worried if the laws of gravity followed the same pattern of oddity, but eventually decided the building wasn't going to fall and followed Jack through the large doorway, leaving Kenny outside, still staring at the uneven structure.
Wally poked his head back out of the doorway, "Kenny, are you coming?"
Kenny backed away and put his hands defensivly into the air, mumbling something that couldn't be understood.
"Whatever, it's your choice." Wally replies, and ducks back into the structure.
"Hurry now! Up here!" Jack calls from some place above Wally.
At first he wonders how this can be, but he notices the beginning of a staircase. As he runs towards the stairs themselves, he looks up to see just how far he has to walk. To his distaste, the staircase seems to go on forever, spiraling upwards to an unseen ending. Jack is already five swirls up, and progressing quickly.
"Great," mutters Wally to himself, "Stairs that don't end."
Wally's pocket rustles and the radio pokes out a little, "Hey don't worry kid, if you get tired I'll carry you."
"I feel so reassured." Wally mutters under his breath.
He begins his descent up the endless stairs, leading into nothingness. He decides to run for a while, and attempt to catch up to Jack. However the stairs are steeper then once they seemed, and Wally quickly loses his breath and moves slower then he had originally started. He looks up in a desperate attempt to see the top, and to his delight he spots a doorway with light spilling out of it only a few yards higher. Filled with new energy he rushes upwards and blindly bursts into the light.
He emerges in a circular room, which he guesses is the orb-like upper-half of the building. He looks around. The room is entirely encased in metal; metal walls, metal floors, metal cieling. The cieling, however, has a large window in the center of it, which provides most of the light. Along the walls are many desks with tubes, beakers, papers and other such objects sloppily stacked to fit on the black tops. In the center of the room is yet another metal structure, one that resembles a bed. Strapped to the bed by the ankles is a blue-skinned doll. The doll's orange yarn-like hair flows to her sides. Her limbs seem to be sloppily sewn together, the stitches stretching and esily shown, her clothes are nothing more then rags sewn together in the same manner she herself is. One of the dolls arms are resting on a lab table near-by, yet to be sewn into place, leaves spill from the openings on both the arm and the dolls body. Standing around the bench the doll lay are Jack and another odd creature.
The new creature where's a large labcoat, obviously this is the professor that Jack had told Wally about. This monster is also a creation, or at least modified, as the upper half of his head is held together by bolts and a hinge. His mouth is like a ducks bill and he wears glasses you'd normally see a blindman wearing. He seems to be crippled, as his legs are unusually short and he is seated comfortably on a wheel chair.
Jack begins to speak, "Wally this is -,"
"I am perfectly capable of introducing myself, boy!" the duck shouts, "I am Dr. Finklestein, you must be Wally. Jack told me about you in the time it took you to ascend my stairs."
"Professor we were curious about something we found." Jack begins, and motions for Wally to bring out the stick.
"Someone through this at us. It stabbed into a piece of rock and when we pulled it out the rock turned into dust." Wally says, placing the rod onto the table next to the doll.
The professor leans in to examine it, he snatches it and brings it closer to his eyes, "From what I can tell it's just a stick with a star glued on top."
A fourht voice enters the conversation, "It looks like a magic wand to me."
"Sally! What a splending thought!" Jack says, speaking to non-other then the doll with leaves falling from her arm.
"No, no preposterous, it can't be a magic wand, no such thing exists! I look into after I've finished here." Finklestein answers, and begins to sew Sally's arm back into place, "Jack, didn't you say there was another human with you?"
"Oh yes! Kenny! Hey Wally, where did he go?" Jack asks, an expression of concern crosses his skeletal face.
"He stayed outside. He was afraid the building would collapse. Can you believe how ridiculous he can be?" Wally chuckles.
And as he begins to chuckle, the hear a smashing sound from down below. Crumpling metal, frozen and cracking. The sound was loud as thunder.
Earlier that same day...
Kenny watched Wally disappear into the building. He thought to himself of how ridiculous it was to enter such an uneven building. It was only a matter of time before the orb on the top came crashing down to the ground. He sat on the purple dirt, and grabbed a stick. Though his mittens prevented him from being careful with details, he began to draw pictures in the dirt. Pictures of his friends back in his old home. A tear glimmered in his eyes as memories filled into his mind. How he missed his friends back in South Park. Suddenly the pictures were covered in a cloud of purple dust, and smudged by a suddenly intense wind.
Kenny feels the prescense of evil. He looks up and surveys the area around him. Nothing too out of the ordinary, at least for Halloween Town. He continues drawing in the dirt, but keeps himself alert of those around him. Only seconds after he had looked down a snarling echoes off the walls around him. His head bursts into the air, and this time he sees the creature creating the evil he feels. Snarling and rampaging towards the tower, and Kenny himself, is a brown-furred demon. However short the demon is, it's powerful enough to radiate an energy signature. It's feet are unseen, covered in a tornado like swirl. For a brief moment he stops to stare at Kenny, and during this moment his large feet are seen. Not threatening, however they are very large.
The creatures face flies open, it's mouth covering a large amount of his body. Sharp teeth point in all directions, saliva drips from his fangs and stain the dirt ground. The creatures hands are like a humans, however covered in brown fur and equipped with sharp claws. It's eyes narrow, it's target selected. The feet disappear as the tornado consumes them yet again. Snarling vicously, the creature shoots forward, blasting dirt into the air as it tears a path through the ground.
Kenny jumps to his feet, and with unmatched speed raises his hands into the air. A blast of cold air shoots at the oncoming monster, the air is quickly followed by a blue mist. The mist stings the monsters flesh, and it shows signes of discomfort. But it doesn't stop, it's momentum continuing. Instead of slowing the monstrosity consumes the rest of his body in the tornado. The mist and wind seem to funnel past him. Kenny is barely able to jump out of the monsters path, but he manages to do so by sheer luck. The monster makes a dead stop, and momentarily breaks his swirling shield before beginning the twister-like assault.
Kenny launches another powerful icemist at the monster, but this also goes around him. Pieces of the tower are now frozen into solid ice. Kenny again jumps away, but this time he is caught by the tornado that envelopes the demon. He feels himself spinning uncontrollably, he slams his eyes shut an attempt not to become sick. He feels air rushing past him and the pull from the tornado stop. Pain explodes throughout his body. He crumples towards the ground, landing with a heavy thud. The monster lunges at him again. He lays motionless, numbing his pain is his only thoughts. Suddenly an idea finds it's way into his mind. He slams the palms of his hands into the ground and emits his powers, covering the ground in a slick coat of ice.
As the demon slides over the now-frozen ground, he loses control over himself and slides without influence, as Kenny had planned. Not planned to Kenny is that the monster would slide into the tower's wall, now covered in ice, and as a result, shatter half of the building. Kenny lifts his face off the ground as the ice and metal shatter, sending a noise like a volcano erupting through the town. It seems as if time itself stops as the building tilts and sways, then falls through the air on a collision course with the ground. Kenny ducks, and covers his head with his hands in a futile attempt to shield himself.
Guilt overwhelms him, his friends were in the building...
A voice shouts, "KENNY! MOVE!"
It's a familiar voice. Kenny looks up, Wally is running at him with Jack and two others close behind. They had escaped before the building collapsed! Kenny's guilt disipitates, but it's too late. The building crashes into the ground, sending rocks and dust into the air. The force itself creates a wind so powerful that Wally is knocked back.
"KEENNYYY!" Wally shouts, and rushes into the uncleared dust.
Dust and rock sting his eyes as he runs through the thick cloud of chaos. He squints, a futile attempt to block the debris from his face. Through the water in his swelling eyes a figure appears. He runs towards it, happy that Kenny is alive, but his happiness fades as pain explodes into his shoulder. The figure which had punched him, he determined, was not Kenny. He retaliated, taking a desperate swing at whatever had punched him. The creature is too quick, it dodges Wally's futile attempt with unseen speed. Pain explodes throughout his other shoulder, then his left knee. He looks around, trying to see the creature in the still thick dust. Pain in his right knee, some materials from his pants float into the air. In a desperate attempt he punches at nothing. He feels his fist make contact with a solid object, which he then feels lift off the ground and land somewhere nearby.
A vicous snarl explodes through the dust. Then pain engulfs his entire body. Wally feels a force slam into him, and he feels it's weight still ontop of him as they float through the air. Finally they crash to the ground, landing yards outside the cloud of dust. Wally opens his eyes, without fear of dirt stinging at them. What he sees looming over him, dripping saliva onto his face, is a demon covered in brown fur. It snarls, and raises it's mouth, about to bite down. A white blur flies just over Wally's face, and strikes the demon, knocking it off Wally. Wally feels a strong tug on his hood, and he is lifted to his feet. He spins around, and sees non-other then Jack to the rescue.
Wally nods in thanks to Jack, then turns to the monster who has already risen to his feet. Without thinking, Wally charges at the monstrosity, bring his fist into the air in a prepared strike. The creature leaps out of the way and easily dodges Wally, who stumbles as he brings his arm down and contacts nothing. But the creature lands practically in Jack's lap, and recieves a bony swipe, which leaves several scratch marks along it's face. It's feet are consumed by swirling dirt and rock again, forming the devastating tornado. But it doesn't have time to do anything other then build the wind around itself as it recieves several blows to the side of the head in a combonation of strikes.
The creature falls back, stunned by the sudden assault. It sees Wally standing before it, recoverd from his last incident. The creature leaps to it's feet and swips at Wally, catching him across the chest and knocking away some of his shirt with it's claws. Blood drips from a new wound but Wally shows little hesitation in unleashing another punch on the devil. No combo intention, devastating shock was his attempt. He succesfully knocks the demon several yards through the air before it slides along the ground, into the dust cloud.
Wally and Jack stare at the cloud, waiting for the creature to burst out and begin it's assault yet again. Wally puts a firm hand on his chest, in an attempt to stop the bleeding. For several moments nothing happens, and the two let their guard down for a split second. During that instant the ground beneath them loosens and a savage cyclone bursts from below, snarling and growling vicously. Jack and Wally find themselves savagely attacked. Clawed, punched, bitten and all around beaten within an inch of their life. Wally feels blood pour from his body, and clothes shred. Several of Jack's bones are scattered from the cyclone before either of them are released into the air. Wally smashes into a wall and blacks out, Jack is scattered in several locations and unable to move any of his bones.
The tornado stops, dirt and rocks fall to the ground. For a moment the monster accepts his victory, but he smells more fear. He turns in the direction of the Professor and Sally and stalks menacingly towards them. But before he makes any real attempt to attack them, sharp chunks of ice fly through the air, several of them scrapping the monster's skin and one stabbing directly into his back. He whirls around, enraged. The icicle drops from his back and shatters to the ground.
The dust finally clears, and standing ontop of the rubble that was once Finklestein's laboratory is the heavily clothed figure of Kenny. His eyes narrow on the monster, he's already seen his friends nearly murdered, and lieing in heaps on the ground. A wall of ice builds around him, which he transforms into another onslaught of icicles. All of this round misses, as the demon is ready, and already spinning. Kenny launches one last assault of icicles before the monster is too close for more to be made. Kenny decides to try something new, and creates an ice sculpture resembling a fist around his own hand. With his new club-arm he leaps off the pile of twisted metal, bringing his ice-arm forcefully ontop of the tornado. The monster is smashed downward under the force of the ice hand, and rocks are scattered into the air. It seems over for a moment, but suddenly the ice around Kenny's arm begins to wobble, slowly at first, but that soon changes to an intense motion. The ice shadders and the tornado blasts into the air once more. Kenny is knocked backwards by the force, falling into the metal heap and landing unconsious.
The creature again turns viciously towards Sally and Finklestein. No screwing around this time, he launches full force towards them, full tornado and all. Suddenly a whipping sound is enters Sally's ears, and a stinging sensation explodes along the monsters back. It falls forward, face slamming into the ground. A chain slides off it's back, and returns to it's source. From the feet up it appears to be normal. Black leather make-up the majority of it's clothing, especially it's heavy jacket. Over large spikes adorn the shoulders of the hero's jacket, as well as the knuckles of his black gloves and the wrists of his coat sleeve. The chain wraps itself around it's wielders shoulders twice, returning to place. The head of this character is what seperates him from all the rest. His head is a skull, but unlike Jack's perfectly rounded skull, as he was born in skeletal form, this was a true human's skull. Red flames blazed hotly, creating a frame around the skull and hiding the invertabraic neck.
"The Ghost Rider..." the doctor mutters, though astonished.
The skullman nods, his name is known. He walks over towards the monster lieing face down in the dirt and reaches down to grab it. The creature blasts upwards again, knocking the Ghost Rider backwards.
Ghost Rider wags his finger at the monster, "M-m-mmm." he says mockingly, like a mother to her child.
The monster lunges foraward at the Ghost Rider yet again, beginning it's furious assault. Ghost Rider is caught off guard and takes a blow to the stomach and stumbles backwards a bit. He quickly recovers, but only in time to get knocked in the head by an uppercut. The demon goes all tornado and surrounds the flamming skull in a painful vortex, the same as to Jack and Wally. However, Ghost Rider reaches up and unleashes his chain into the tornado of dirt, rocks, claws and teeth. The end result being the monster flinging himself into the air, and Ghost Rider only falling backwards for a moment.
The monster slides along the ground, but quickly recovers and rushes at Ghost Rider yet again. The boneman is ready this time, and his fist meets the furry face of the monster. The demon is knocked into the air slightly, during this time Ghost Rider brings his foot up and delivers a powerful kick to the savage beast. The brown creature flies through the air, smashing into a sharp piece of twisted metal. Pain explodes, bones crack, the monster writhes. He's lifted into the air by a strong grip, and meets eye to eye with the Ghost Rider.
"Tazmanian Devil, you have the harmed souls of the many. Look into my eye and feel their pain!" Ghost Rider forcefully says.
The demon, apparently the Tazmanian Devil, is irristably drawn to stare into the gaping hole of the skull's eye socket. Flashes of red emerge through the demon's head. He shrieks in silence and explodes in blistering pain. His eyes become consumed, entirely black. Hellfire burns a strange pattern into the blackness of the devil's eyes. Ghost Rider drops the limp body of the Tazmanian Devil to the purple dirt below. He makes his way over to a motorcycle which he had apparently left by the wall when he first arrived. His hands wrap themselves around the handlebars, and he revs it, he turns towards the Professor and Sally, then motions to Wally.
"Watch after him, his role in the Underworld is more important then he himself understands." Ghost Rider demands, then rides off into the distance, leaving hellfire burning in his tire tracks.