Disclaimer: Turning Red and it's characters are the property of (c) Walt Disney Pictures/Pixar Animation Studios.
Elements are borrowed from God of War (2018) and Ragnarök, owned by (c) Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment.
C/W: Sexual references, minor toilet humor, partial nudity
"...with this."
Back at their cabin the next morning, Mei pulled out her sketchbook that she brought along with her on the trip, turned to a page filled with sketches to display a personal plan to pull off the ultimate summer camp fun for the rest of them, laying out and narrowing down every single detail according to that plan. And of course, she couldn't resist decorating it with stars, red pandas, lightning bolts, the 4*Town title and caricatures of her and her friends. And there were different cutely-drawn scenarios of the various camp activities she hopes to do with her besties.
"What's all this, Mei?" asked Priya, adjusting her glasses.
"Just a list of all the activities I hope to do here." Mei explained, showing all three of her friends. "How cute is that?"
"Wow, it's really thought out." Miriam admitted.
"Always come prepared." noted Mei, bragging a little bit.
"It looks even better with red pandas on it!" Abby shouted cutely. "Now I love this plan even more!"
"Some of the activities are actually mandatory, to be honest." Then Miriam couldn't help but identify a few known facts. "Like canoeing and hiking…"
"Duly noted, Mir." Mei nodded, then began breaking down her little plan, pointing things out one at a time. "So here's what I've been hoping for. I definitely wanna go hiking. And then we go take a splash at the swimming pool. Then we could go try canoeing and then archery, backpacking, the caves do sound nice, don't you think?"
"You have ziplining on there, too?!" panicked Miriam.
"Yes, but relax, Mir." Her friend tried giving her all the reassurance possible. "We'll be with you every step of the way. Then I'd also like to try stargazing and arts and crafts, where I'm thinking of crafting something to give to Kris when we get home."
"Nice." Priya smiled, all mellow-like.
"I think he'll really appreciate that." commented Abby honestly.
"And…..that's kind of it, actually." Mei shrugged, seeing that there's not much else she was looking forward to. "I don't really care for those other stuff. I mean, I'll do them, but only because I don't wanna feel left out."
"Same here." Miriam shrugged in agreement. "Night hiking? Fine, but I won't enjoy it. I don't find walking through the woods at night very fun. What if some predator comes out and attacks us, like a wolf or something?"
"Then Mei here can go red panda on that sucker and scare him off." Abby aimed a finger at the surprised Mei and smiled wickedly.
"Def not fishing for me." The Indian goth gagged.
"We're just catching fish, Priya. That's all." Miriam amusedly rolled her eyes. "We're not actually cooking any of them. I hope."
"Yeah, but it doesn't mean I have to like it."
"Tyler can have the basketball if he wants." Abby sassed with an eye-roll of her own. "I'd rather do volleyball and swimming. Speaking of which, I brought a one-piece bikini with me."
Nobody said a sword when a cat's grin graced Abby's mischievous face.
"You always gotta show off the goods, huh?" mused Mei with a half-smile, knowing of her chaotic friend's certain habits.
"It's only sad that Rudolf won't be here to see me in it. He'd be red in the face the moment he saw it." Abby kept her impish smile on her glossed lips.
"I get it." Miriam intoned, shaking her head. "Because you want him to notice how good your ass looks in it, then you would drag him away to someplace private and sit on his face."
"Uh, yeah, obviously!" Abby argued against her as if she was implying that was a bad thing, then smirked. "Though I'd also wouldn't mind doing up my-"
"Shut up, Abby. Not the place nor the time." Mei cut her off, holding the hand to her with a blushing face and a sustained tone, not interested in listening to risqué details while they're at camp right now.
"Don't patronize me, Mei!" barked Abby defensively. "It's not like you and Kris haven't done it before!"
"Well,...yeah, but I like to keep things between us, thanks!" Mei shot back, eyebrows knitted dangerously. "And besides, FYI, if I wanna kiss and tell, I'd like to have it somewhere where no adults can hear us."
And to solidify her point, Mei pointed over to the kitchen where their counselor was located and was, no doubt, hearing everything the girls were saying. Realizing that she couldn't quite argue against that and deciding it's best to drop the subject since they're in the presence of mature adults, Abby just frowned with a displeased moan and crossed her arms, pouting like a child. Miriam and Priya giggled at their friend's childishness.
"But you're right, Abbs. I'd prefer swimming over basketball, too. And I bet you'd look irresistible in a one-piece." Mei smirked at her tubby, but full-bosomed Korean bestie. "We all know you got a thicker bod than me."
This brought another round of giggles, but more so from Abby - however, not in a mocking or self-centered kind of way.
"Take from me, Mei girl." Abby concurred, crossing her legs. "A big butt like yours is like it was designed to turn heads. Haven't you ever noticed Kris sneaking peeks at it before? Because I have. Any girl would kill to have a hot body like yours. Maybe even stupid, sleazy Heather and that skunk has like a 10 in. waist with breasts that are probably fake."
More louder laughs came from the quartet of 4*Townies at the expense of their arch-nemesis. In fact, that remark was in reference to the rumor that Heather paid for breast implants to make herself more attractive to her boyfriend (and basically every other boy she would think was cute).
"Booker must be proud of that." Miriam bragged with the ends of her mouth hovering into a waggish grin, snorting.
"What are you girls talking about in there?" called Counselor Nettles from the kitchen with a fishy tone.
"Nothing!" The girls called back, all innocent-like.
"You know, this little plan is all very well put together and all, Mei, but there is one tiny problem." said Abby, her face switching from a smile to a grimace.
"Yeah, what?" Mei asked her, confused.
However, the Korean girl didn't have even the chance to open her mouth to answer, the air in the room was overtaken by the loud banging on the cabin door, making the girls turn to face it with muddle. How could knocking at their door right now? Perhaps it would be one of the counselors coming to inform them of the next camp activities coming up in the coming hours. Mei had a sinking feeling in her gut about this, however.
"I'm not gonna like this, but….." With resignation and tentatively, Mei arose and meandered over to the door with her sketchbook. "Yea-?"
SPLAT!
When she opened the door, Mei was met with a huge splatter of mud in the face like a splash of water, coating her entire face, her hair and her clothes. And sadly, even her notebook wasn't safe. Her friends rushed over before rage overcame them all when they saw who had done it. Nobody else other than the QRQ's. Kayley, Dana and Jill were the ones holding a bucket that was used to hit Mei with the mud as ordered to do so by their captain. The three of them laughed at poor Mei.
"Surprise!" Kayley shouted jeeringly while Mei wiped the mud from her face and spat it out.
"Hope you like the free mud pack, Lee!" Heather shouted out to her with a shit-eating grin that only the worst of the worst would have on their smug faces. "It's on the house!"
Then all four of the QRQ's marched off with the bucket, still laughing their asses off, leaving a fuming Mei standing there growling like an animal, fighting to keep herself from poofing into a red panda to unleash upon that blonde-haired bitch and clawing the dumb smile of her pretty face while her friends helped wipe off the mud. Mei couldn't be more devastated to see her notebook, all her hard work, ruined by fucking mud….and now she was MAD.
"That." Abby finished with a deadpan.
"Oooohhhh…..!" Mei snarled a primal growl that permeated through her fiercely-gritted teeth. She threw the notebook on the ground in her righteous anger. "It. Is. SO. ON!"
"What's happened here?" Counselor Nettles demanded with his head from the kitchen.
It was official now.
This mud splatter has been taken as an act of war. And so the battle between the 4*Townies and the QRQ's has begun. All bets were off. If Heather was going to push their buttons for the summer, then they were going to push hers back and see how she likes it. An hour later, for their first offensive against the enemy, they needed some markers.
Heather and the trio were lazing around in their cabin, bored to death out of their minds. Kayley was smoking a cigarette from her secret stash that she secretly took with her without her parents' or the counselors' knowledge, Dana was busy doing her nails and Jill was busy jamming out to K-pop music on her headphones, annoying her friends with her loud singing voice. Heather growled in annoyance at her and turned to look about the window that faced the neighboring cabin the 4*Townies were in. What suddenly caught her attention was the girls on the other side standing perfectly in a row, waving at her politely with friendly smiles from their window. However, Heather wasn't buying this for a second. She knew they were up to something here. And she was proven correct when Mei and the girls' 'friendly' smiles took on variations that implicated vexatious intent. And then, the four of them turned right around until their backs were facing Heather before they all gripped the waistbands of their shorts and pulled them (and their panties) down as if peeling them off like bandages and Heather was utterly gobsmacked and speechless to even begin conjuring up words to say for she was now giving a front-row seat to Mei and her friends all cheekily mooning her at the same time, flashing their big, wide, blemish-free derrieres at their neighbor, but the worst part is that on their naked butts were letters written on them in big, bold letters - one letter for each cheek - spelling out an affronting message when put together that said;
'FUCK YOU!'
And the concomitant it got was exactly as you'd expect.
"Oh, very funny, whores." Heather seethed so hard, she was practically steaming with rage at being taunted like this. The 4*Townies mooning her and insulting her with their sizable asses at the same time like a couple of juvenile delinquents was really pushing it for her.
"Hey, no fair!" Jill whined, getting a look herself, but wasn't as calumniated as Heather was. "Does Park really think her booty's, like, bigger than mine? And she has the guts to show it off to me!?"
"Shut up, Jill!" Heather roared at her, shoving her to the ground harshly, then glowered at her enemies. "Alright, cunts. You want a war? You got one."
From that moment, an all-out prank war was initiated.
The QRQ's were the first to strike back against the 4*Townies in retaliation for their butt-message. During lunch, Heather and her gang sat on the other side of Mei and her gang at the mess hall and Heather was confident about what she had in mind. With a bottle of Ex-Lax from Jill's bag of tricks, she snuck over to the 4*Townies' table and while they weren't looking, Jill poured some of the Ex-Lax into Abby's drink and rushed back over to her friends before she could be spotted. When Abby drank it, it took a while, but the effects of the Ex-Lax kicked in and they kicked in loud and clear. Abby's stomach grumbled painfully, making her wince and hold her belly in agony. When some audible toots peeped out of her rear end, she knew that was a sign that nature was calling and she full-on ran to find a bathroom in time. The QRQ's laughed at seeing the success of their prank.
"Man, that worked, like, super fast!" Jill cheered.
"Looks like it's gonna be quite a mess." smirked Dana.
"I almost feel sorry for the janitor that has to clean up the toilets around here." Kayley joked.
But the girls at the other soon realized that Heather and her cohorts had something to do with this, so Miriam stood up and volunteered to make the next move for them. Walking over to their table and snatching up a salt shaker on the way, she put on her fake smile and patted Dana on the shoulder with a laugh.
"Oh, that was really hilarious back there, right? I don't think I could've done it better myself." She giggled, trying to sell the bit then held the salt shaker over Dana's place. "Would you care for some salt? Here, let me help-OH, NO! CLUMSY ME!"
When she poured it, the lid slipped off and Miriam deliberately spilled all of its contents all over Dana, making her shriek in shock and horror from being suddenly doused with salt. So it would seem that Miriam secretly loosened the cap and was making it look like an accident.
"You slimy little….!" She growled at her.
"Oh, nevermind. You can pour it yourself next time." Miriam snorted obnoxiously, walking away back to her friends.
And now the cougar's been let out of its cage.
Much later, Heather gets back at the girls during arts and crafts when they construct a bomb of sorts using a pair of firecrackers and manipulating all other materials into a ball and when rolling it over to the 4*Townies' table after lighting the fuse, it exploded in their faces in a blinding rainbow cloud of glitter, creating a huge mess and mucking up their clothes. It certainly caught them by surprise and left them royally pissed off. If Heather wants to play rough, then they'll get rough. While the QRQ's were taking a shower together, Priya snuck in and pretended to fall against Heather while Miriam replaced her shampoo with a bottle of green hair dye that had the same label. After Heather rudely shoved them out and barked at them to go shower somewhere else, the rich brat distractedly grabbed the bottle and poured some in her hair, unaware that the texture and consistency was different and more lotion-like. After she was done, all of her friends gasped in horror when they saw her, eyeing her as if she grew a second, uglier head. Confused and slightly annoyed by their gobsmacked faces, Heather went to the mirrors and she screamed bloody-murder.
Her beautiful golden locks were an glowing alien green!
Payback time.
The campers were doing some rock climbing now, one person after the other climbing a rocky wall using bungee cords and protective mountain-climbing equipment. Mei went next after Tyler, scaling the wall with her bungees, carefully grappling into one jagged edge to another further upwards. What she didn't know, however, was the extra rope attached to her pants, hooked up to both that and her underwear for a plausible reason that only Heather would know. Waiting patiently for the girl reach high enough off the ground, the now green-haired menace grinned maliciously and yanked on the extremely hard and when she did, it ripped Mei's shorts and underwear right down, revealing her sizable buttcheeks, naked and bare for all the world to see and poor Mei she screamed in horror, now realizing that everyone can see her nude bum as she tried vainly to cover them up, blushing madly in embarrassment while some of the kids below laughed and a few eyed her butt pervertedly, which made her friends whack them in anger for staring. Heather grinned with joy. If Mei and her friends loved mooning her, then now we see how much she loves mooning everyone else against her will.
After that, it was the 4*Townies' turn. For their preemptive attack on the enemy - itching powder. That's right, itching powder. The components were not hard to find for their makeshift concoction, like poison ivy. Once it was complete, our troops snuck past enemy lines and implemented the weapon that would leave them itching for days. And then, Heather and the three were scratching themselves silly, the powder reaching from their backs, their pits and places where young ladies like them shouldn't be scratching in public.
That was that.
Time to settle this once and for all. Those 4*Townies need to be shown who's boss the easy way or the hard way. And predictably, it almost always has to be the hard way. Heather and her lackeys marched over to where Mei and the girls were standing near the camp square to confront their enemies in this whole prank war. However, the 4*Townies only smirked at them since they were still scratching themselves.
"Hey, Heather." Mei greeted her with a big smile that invited her nemesis's fury even more. "Just the person we wanna see. We've been itching to see you."
And then her friends laughed, but Heather growled.
"Shut up, Lee, and don't make this worse." She warned her. "And I've got a bone to pick with you."
"Which one? My scapula or my diaphysis?" asked Mei patronizingly.
"Don't start your weird nerd shit with me right now!" Heather screamed at her, now getting red in the face.
"It's not our fault you never pay attention in class or even do your homework." Miriam jabbed.
"Whatever." Heather rolled her eyes. "Now look here, hoe-bag, and you better listen damn fucking good. The only reason I'm even at this camp right now is because of my dumb and useless dad, so I'd love to get through his backwoods nightmare with my sanity and my looks safe and sound in one magnificent piece. The last thing I need right now is to put up with you sluts and your childish bullshit!"
"But you were the one who-!" Mei started to argue with her, but was ignored.
"DON'T INTERRUPT ME!" Heather screamed at her, much angrier than before. From behind her, Jill started shaking her round butt around in a mocking gyration in Abby's general direction in order to taunt her and it worked; the Korean girl seethed with fury, gritting her teeth and clenching her fists in a manner that was like sharpening knives. "And furthermore, this hair of mine takes ages and ages to get perfectly smooth and silky. None of this happens on its own and now I look even worse than you do! So when we ever get back, you're gonna be hearing from my fucking lawyer."
"You don't have a lawyer." Priya prodded.
"Then I'm gonna get one and then…." Heather then turned sharply around at Jill with an icy glare as if brandishing a sword at her, getting her to stop behaving like a fool and the girl meekly obeyed her silent command. "...and then I'm gonna make sure you never see your ugly Sparky ever again!"
Alright, now that really did it.
Mei glared so hard, she felt a vein throbbing in her head. Nobody calls him 'Sparky', but her and her alone. The insults she can take, the slander she can take, but hearing trash talk about her boyfriend from her bitchy mouth was a step too far. And now Mei was going to make sure Druud would live to regret spitting those vituperative words in her face. But she decided not to use the red panda this time when dealing with a bully.
Instead, she roared a violent growl that pierced the air and pounced right at Heather like a wild cat and started punching her face repeatedly. Then the trio and Mei's friends started attacking each other as well. Miriam and Dana were strangling each other before the latter threw her to the ground and the two engaged in a slap fight. Meanwhile, Priya socked Kayley right in the face as hard as she could before the British punk socked her right back twice as hard, then tackled her to the ground and wrestled with the Indian goth; they tried yanking on each others hair, Priya bit Kayley's arm to loosen her hold, then twisted and bent her leg once she was on the ground next, which made the Brit howl in agony and swear like a sailor, bringing some satisfaction to Priya. Abby and Jill were the quickest to start fighting each other. For starters, they were yanking on each other's hair rather painfully before Abby reached into her opponent's shorts and pulled on the straps of her panties, stretching them far, giving her the advantage to push her to the ground. Once Jill was down, Abby smirked when she sat right on her face, smothering her with her enormous, shapely ass and laughing at her as she pounded against the girl's stomach. It took a lot of effort thanks to Abby's weight weighing her down, but Jill managed to shove her off to allow her to breathe again then she seized her chance to get revenge on her opponent. She shoved Abby flat on her stomach and sat her own big butt on her back, flattening her like a pancake, but Abby was having none of it.
A whistle blew nearby, halting the brawl and forcing all fighters to look up at Counselor Clemens who looked at the battling campers with scorn.
"Alright, that's enough of that, ladies!" She ordered them sternly. "Break it up! Back to your cabins now!"
And back to their cabins they went, still fuming. Mei was enraged to say the least. With a fury was burned brighter than the north star, hotter than a burning cauldron and smoking like meat on a grill. Of all the bullshit she had to put up with from her, snotty old Heather just had to push her luck with that one word.
"I can't believe her!" Mei ranted, pacing around the room. "The nerve of that bitch! Talking to me like that! It's one thing to ruin camp for me and my friends, but to talk shit about Kris is another!"
"Why can't we just have a normal summer without her or her robots?!" grumbled Miriam.
"Exactly!" Mei screamed. "God, I just wish I could go red panda on that Paris Hilton wannabe and scratch her pretty face off!"
But then Abby's stomach started hurting again from the laxatives, making her shoot up from pouting on her bed and rush over to the bathroom in desperation.
"오, 세상에! It's coming back! I don't think I'll make it this time!" She wailed.
"Please don't clog the toilet again!" Miriam called.
"And make sure you spray this time!" Priya annoyedly shouted.
"Ugh!" Mei groaned, trying to calm her nerves down. How can this possibly get any worse than Heather ruining camp for them? Summer camp? More like bummer camp now.
"Pick up the damn phone….!" Elsa hissed to herself, trying to call Stig, who still has yet to answer the phone and it was really starting to worry her.
It's been a long while since the last time she saw him when he told her she was going to the Heartstone with his friends and after that, nothing. Only radio silence. And not even Kris has been answering his phone either. He did warn her that he won't be able to answer the phone since the owners reminded him not to call anyone so much and be ready to only answer their calls when they need to check up on him. While she completely understood that Kris couldn't answer since he was busy housesitting, it was unlike Stig to be ignoring his mother's calls at the time. Nothing bad has ever happened between them for him to be ignoring his phone if it's his mother calling him. Nothing much was going on in the house aside from the two grandfathers were at their usual place by the couch watching another episode of What's Cooking?
Suddenly, the doorbell rang, getting Elsa's attention and interrupting her worried thoughts and what-if scenarios forming in her head while she was busy trying to contact her sons, to which she fundamentally put her cell phone away and went to answer the door. There, she saw Ming standing there, looking despondent.
"I figured you'd come by sooner or later." Elsa nodded knowingly, fully aware of her reason for being here. "Come on in."
"Thanks." Ming smiled gratefully, entering the house and saw the old men at the couch. "Hello, Morten. Carl."
"Oh, hello, Ming. Nice to see you." Morten greeted her while Carl was too focused on the show.
"Hey, how are you?" Then Carl finally responded, eyes glued to the screen.
Then like a pair of domesticated house dogs, Gnasher and Grinder came over to greet their guest and the woman chuckled seeing them behave like this for a couple of ridiculously old billy goats.
"And hello to you, too." She giggled, petting Grinder on the head as she walked past them and followed Elsa into the kitchen.
"They never get tired of seeing you." Elsa chuckled a friendly chuckle, looking around the kitchen.
"Unlike someone…" Ming's happy demeanor disappeared as suddenly as it appeared when she fell into a sad sack again. "What's been going on with you lately?"
"I've been trying to contact my boys lately, but none of them are answering the goddamn phone." groaned Elsa in annoyance. "Though, Kris is in the middle of a housesitting job and won't be back until next Sunday when the owners get back."
"Oh, yeah, that's right." Ming remembered when he mentioned taking different jobs, which made pang of hurt clutch her heart the second she did. "He did mention he was working to get into…"
"Deathfest? Yeah. To see his favorite band on stage." Elsa spoke. "He's been dying to go to that with his friends. I, for one, think it would be a nice experience. I'm something of a fan of Nörthfölk myself. Me and Michael both were."
"You've always been a metalhead as long as I've known you." Ming bantered with amusement.
"And I told him he could go as long as he pays for his own ticket and one for his friends, because the price of admission is expensive." Elsa looked into the fridge as she continued her spiel. "My job at the hospital pays well, but I only receive my paycheck by the end of the month and it may not be enough for all of us combined. Besides, it's good for Kris to have some control in his life without someone doing everything for him."
"I have to agree. Just as long as he isn't, you know, doing nothing but work. I hate for him to miss out on summer break, miss out on activities and having fun with his friends. He already missed out on summer break that-….t-that one time three years ago."
"But that was a long time ago." Elsa waved off, knowing it's been long enough since the fiasco in 2002. "And he hasn't missed anything ever again since then."
"Yeah, but still…." Ming's hands were unconsciously wrapping her fingers around herself nervously, drawing circles and caressing themselves as her mind processed and circled back around to when she entered the house. "So I guess you know why I'm here?"
"It's about Kris, right?" Elsa correctly guessed.
"Yeah, that." sighed Ming as she took a seat, slumping down.
"So what happened?"
"Well, I invited him over for dinner at the temple the other night." Ming exhaled. "Then I tried to offer his old job back, but he refused."
"Oh, yeah, right. He already mentioned this before when he got home so late that night. I was really wondering why it took him so long." explained Elsa, sitting down at the table with her after grabbing a soda.
"I've really been trying to make things right with him. He won't say it, but I know he still hates me." Ming winced, looking away and biting her lip. "All those years he's spent working at the temple, working himself to death to help support his family with you and it was never easy for him. I get that. For years, I've got that. But I swore this job would be easy this time. I promised him better pay, better hours, weekends off if he wanted, newer privileges if possible."
"Well, not trying to crush your hopes or anything, but you were never easy to put up with as a boss." Elsa frowned at her in a fashion that read how she's seen it all already. "Not to mention you called him a….you-know-what that one time when you fired him."
Ming winced again as if she was stung by a bee by that harsh reminder.
"I know that and it was unfair of me. But I thought we were past all that!" She persisted. "I know he's been tolerant of me, but it's been years since we helped him out of that coma that I admittedly put him in! I've been there for him after that! I drove him to school a couple times, I invited you guys over for dinner at our house, I taught him how to speak Chinese, I've even let him pray to Sun Yee with us! All I'm doing is undoing one mistake in the past!"
"Ming." Elsa silenced her by grabbing her hand and getting her to make eye contact with her. "Look, we both already know that he's still healing right now. He's still taking his time warming up to you. I mean, after the amount he's spent dealing with you and your bullying at the temple and then the SkyDome thing, that's gonna be a lot of weight to lift off his shoulders. That kind of trauma isn't just gonna disappear overnight when and if you want it to. And you can't exactly force him to forget about that bad stuff, because that'll just make things worse. Just leave him be, okay? And eventually, he'll come around."
"When, though?" Ming rubbed her head.
"That's for him to decide."
"Hey, Elsa? You might wanna see this." Morten called from the couch and from the sound of his voice, it must be very urgent. Giving a second, he got up and was followed by Ming into the living room to see that the old gents have switched over to the news channel and, just as they were, were both taken completely aback by the news report on the TV. It was showing live footage in Scandinavia where the entire country is suddenly covered in deep snow from an ongoing snowstorm and blizzard that just suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Places, cities and towns everywhere all over the Nordic countries, including Norway, were being plunged into a sudden, bitter and relentless winter ironically in the middle of summer of all times. Live feed showed the viewers thousands of streets being buried in snow, persistent snowfall wherever one went, snow clouds covering the skies and never leaving with not a single ray of sunlight to be seen. Meteorologists and other scientific experts were just as baffled, unable to find a clear answer as to how it was all of the sudden snowing in Norway during the summer. Sure, it was right on the Arctic Circle, but that didn't mean it was always cold or snowing every other time of year and seeing this before their own eyes left Ming and Elsa speechless.
"How is that possible?" gasped Ming. "Isn't it summer?"
By some intellectual instinct and intuition, however, Elsa looked over to face Umbla as if looking for an answer to a question she had in her mind that was related to this winter situation back at her home country. Umbla only had a distant look in her eyes, but her gaze held a mysterious remembrance to it, like she knew a time when this happened before without proper explanation.
What she couldn't very well say to her, however, is where Kris is right now and what he's expected to do.
Kris will need to tell his mother that himself when he gets back. If he gets back.
"I still think this is crazy." Willow shook her head as she and the rest of the teens were back in Asgard, following Odin and Thor over to Valhalla to find the other recruits to help them combat against the foreboding apocalypse. Michael broke off from the group to attend to matters back on Midgard, but promised he'd be back soon.
"So ye've said." Moose moaned.
"Don't mock me." The pink-haired goth warned him. "I'm allowed to be confused."
"How long are we gonna have before Ragnarök comes?" asked Stig to the All-Father.
"Eh, enough for you youngsters to get comfortable, get to know everyone a little better before we start on your training." answered the one-eyed Æsir king.
"Ah'm honestly all out for a little bit o' fightin'!" admitted Moose with a fist in the air. "But this is all a bit sudden, if ah'm being honest."
"So you guys were here before?" asked Toshio to the four friends.
"Oh, yeah." Roar nodded. "Three years ago when Kris was in that coma. We had to collect stuff around the Nine Realms in order to save his soul from the land of the dead."
"Wait. So you were dying?!" Stacy shrieked at Kris and looked at him with expeditious horror; her heart thumping like crazy.
"Yeah, technically." Kris nodded with a heavy sigh. "But it's thanks to them that I managed to return home to my family and friends."
"And your father was here with us, too." Stig turned his gaze over at Toshio, who blinked.
"Really?" He gaped. "This is what he was doing in Norway years ago during Christmas? He never mentioned any of that."
"Did you even ask him?" asked Stacy and the Japanese boy felt his face flush when she spoke to him. He won't admit it yet, but he's been harboring a few strong feelings toward the blonde girl.
"Not really…" He meekly stated.
"What are the Nine Realms exactly?" asked Carter. "They keep saying Nine Realms, but I….I just don't get it."
"As part of Norse mythology and cosmology, there are Nine Realms." Kris explained, flexing his mythology know-how and expertise. "There's the home of the humans where we live, which is called Midgard and the realm you're standing in is called Asgard, home of the gods."
"Woah!" Stacy and Willow chorused, looking all around wide-eyed.
"And then there's Jötunheim." Stig spoke next, joining in on this little lecture of theirs. "Home of the giants."
"Giants?" Moose's breath hitched.
"Yes, but they're not so bad." said the goth boy. "Anyway, there is also Vanaheim, where gods called the Vanir live."
"And there are light elves who live in Alfheim and the dark elves that live in Svartalfheim." remarked Rudolf.
"But the dwarves live with the dark elves in Svartalfheim in a kingdom of their own called Niðavellir. The dwarves are the craftsmen, the blacksmiths, the forgers." Roar noted, adding to his friend's statement. "They can build anything, like Thor's hammer."
"Shut up." Stacy gasped with awe.
"Next, there's Muspelheim, the fiery place where the fire giants live, by my knowledge, which is connected to Niflheim, the land of ice and where damned souls go after death to enter the last realm called Helheim, the realm of the dishonorable dead and let me tell you, it is NOT a fun place down there at all." Then Stig concluded with a grim look in those eyes of his as just speaking about Helheim returned those grisly memories of being tormented by illusions of his dead parents back to him.
And that successfully left a chill inside everyone's spines and took mental note to never try to venture near that forbidden place of death during their stay here in the Realms because the way Stig string his words together in that disquieting appendix left everything they need to know about the afterlife in these lands. They were nearing the hall of Valhalla together and the new teens took in the spectacle of the heavenly hall with equilibrium since it is without a doubt a feeling they had that made them wonder if this is what ascending into heaven after death would feel like. Like everything above was of only light, solemnity, majesty, unending splendor and earnest tenderness, safely free of the evils of the outside world and wrapped in a warm and soft blanket, nice and cozy away from the cold of the misgiving darkness of night and protected from the crisp of wintry air. From the roof of the hall, Stacy noticed a stag on top. But she squinted to look more closely at it, because from where she stood, it was a large stag, much larger than normal, with larger antlers and there the unnatural creature was resting there on top of the roof of the hall of the slain, taking in the view from above ground. And seeing this peculiarly-large animal just filled Stacy with a curious spirit.
"Come on, Stacy." Toshio grabbed her hand and rejoined the other with her, inadvertently bringing a new feeling within the girl that made her blush madly, being touched by her crush.
However, aside from that, Odin and his son entered Valhalla with the children where there was Brunhild and Bödvar inside awaiting the gods' presence and with them were the Light Elf Queen Alva and the Dark Elf King Svartáljǫfurr and the two of them were standing far apart from each other and sending one another a scowl or two like they had personal beef and there was also the Dwarf King Mótsognir (Old Norse: Móðsognir) as well. For the valkyrie and the berserker, they were surprised to see teens with them. They were informed beforehand of the All-Father's plan to unite the remaining descendants of the gods who have their powers, but they didn't expect them to be so young.
"So this is the All-Father's plan?" Brunhild retorted, unimpressed and indignant. "Sending in children to fight alongside the gods?"
"Don't sell yourself short, Brunhild." Thor informed her strictly. "We need all the help we can get. These kids just need a little proper training from the best of the best."
"Well, count me out." The valkyrie snarked. "I don't babysit."
"I remember you, young man." Bödvar chimed in, marching over to Kris when his friends showed up. "Kris Bengtsson, correct? Surely you remember me."
"I remember you knocking me out in the rain." Kris jabbed at him.
"Pardon me?" Stig scoffed. "You did what now?"
"We were in the middle of battle preparation, which is not to be interrupted, may I add." The berserker defended himself harshly. "But for the sake of others during this time of absolute crisis, perhaps it's best we put all that aside."
"Fine, whatever." sighed Kris with reluctance, but he wasn't going to forget about that punch soon.
"It's a lucky thing we need your help, otherwise I'd be more than happy to pound your ass into mush." Thor growled at the berserker with his hands sparkling with bolts.
"That would be fun." Bödvar rolled his eyes, unmoved and unafraid of the God of Thunder's threat.
"You children better hope you're prepared for what's to come, because this is no particular scenario for the likes of all of you." informed the Dwarf King.
"Um, hello?" Stacy greeted him, fazed to see an actual dwarf.
"Hello." Mótsognir greeted her back.
"Up and coming warriors need no better preparation for war than by the gods themselves." Svartáljǫfurr counseled in his booming voice. From a short distance between them, Alva was glowering at him as he spoke. "There's much to learn and much to accomplish before the end of days is soon upon us all."
"Like not to leave their spouses and refraining from communication once in a while." Alva fumed haughtily at him.
"For pity's sake, woman! Can you ever let it go for once?" The Dark Elf King barked at her, now getting enraged.
"Like how you let me go? Oh, gods forbid I be living the high life on my part!" Alva shot back with a lampooning burst of pride, finally closing the distance between her and him, bringing them face to face. By now, everyone, especially the teens, were watching the two arguing elf leaders without comment.
"The reason you're upset is not lost on me, flower." reasoned Svartáljǫfurr, trying to be sensible with his ex-lover, despite his anger.
"Upset? Me? Whatever gave you that idea?" The queen of the light elves fired sarcastically. "And don't you dare start that 'flower' shit with me, mister!"
"Get off your damn high horse! We had responsibilities and you know it!"
While they argued, continually firing back mordacious and acerbis depreciations at each other's glaring faces like a pair of college students fighting after one has caught the other with another person behind their partner's back, Odin came forward and moved the teens over to another part of the hall away from them since they were famously stubborn.
"This is one lover's quarrel we mustn't get involved in." The old man reminded them.
"Are they….?" asked Willow, gesturing to them.
"Was." Thor briefly answered, giving not much else.
"Excuse me, but do you people have a phone around that I can use to call my parents so I can at least tell them I'm okay?" Stacy asked them anxiously, now worried about her parents wondering where she's at right now.
"We'll send a covert word out to your parents so they won't have to worry." Odin told her persuasively.
"Hmmm…." Stacy was still understandably worried as she chewed on her fingertips.
"So where do we even start?" asked Kris.
"Each of you will be paired up with your respective ancestor." explained the King of Asgard. "Only they will be able to assist you in harnessing and honing your godly powers. First things first, you have to familiarize yourselves with your distant antecedents and rely on their teachings, trust them with your heart."
Mei is trying to establish a fun camping experience with her friends, but Heather and the three are just ruining everything for them, resulting in a prank war between the two parties. From mooning to hair dyes, the war is relentless and is only getting worse when Heather invokes Mei into attacking her. Things can't possibly get any worse, but I could be jinxing it.
Ming is going to seek comfort from Elsa since she really feels like Kris is rejecting her, but like Elsa said, it's gonna take a long time for Kris to heal from the events of the first story and Ming can't just force him to forgive and forget. On an unrelated note, the unexpected winter is happened to Scandinavia in the real world as well. It's like Odin mentioned before, the Void and the real world are linked, so whatever happens in the ancient world effects the real one as well.
Next Chapter: Before training them, the teens are given time to familiarize themselves with their Nordic ancestors. Thrúd goes to pay Loki a visit and accuses him of being in league with Hel.
Next Update: July 21, 2023