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: Extreme violence
High up in the mountains, Kris and Stacy followed Michael and Bödvar up the trail leading into the cold, windy mountain range of Jötunheim together on a little quest of utmost importance given to them by Odin to cut them a break from training for the time being. At the least, Kris and the blonde girl stayed close together and kept up with the two bear men so they wouldn't lose them in the blustery winds pulling at them from all sides and the air was getting close to thin, which would affect any normal human being without any demigod abilities. However, high altitude sickness would nonetheless rear its ugly head soon, for it would take some time. The mission in particular was to search for and obtain one of three roosters located in a hidden giant fortress owned by one of the most deceitful giants of them all. It was the three roosters that would crow as to usher in Ragnarök in tandem and right now, it's last known whereabouts was discovered, by Heimdall no less, inside the walls of a palace owned by the jötunn king whose illusions tricked even Loki himself.
It was a place where long ago, after placing Thjalfi and Röskva into a life of servitude, Thor ventured in Jötunheim with Loki and his new servants and it was at this mysterious fortress where they were played into passing three different trials and failed miserably, a failure that greatly affected Thor greatly as both a god and a champion. He, Loki or Thjalfi would've joined the group on their little side quest, but couldn't as they were forbidden from reentering the land afterwards and had taken extreme measures to ensure they would never find it again so chance was the group's only shot at finding it.
That, and Michael was relying on his acutely-sharp senses to locate the presence of a giant, tracking the location by nose like a bloodhound.
So they needed to find the rooster, bring it to Asgard and keep it from crowing, because if it does, it'll cause a chain reaction from the other two roosters, which would be heard across all the Nine Realms, causing a great state of panic and disarray, leading them all the believe that Ragnarök is upon them now. Stig and Willow were sent to fetch the other rooster down on Midgard while the third one, Gullinkambi, was already in Valhalla. The two young teens were still confused as to why they needed to fetch a rooster to help delay the apocalypse. Though, on Kris's part, the only thing rattling his mind was how do you keep a rooster from crowing.
"This training has been dragging me down." complained Kris as they hiked.
"I know, right? I'm trying to create something other than snowflakes." Stacy agreed with him. "And I'm probably missing out on my ski vacation right now."
"I'm sure they postponed it until you got back." Kris replied.
"Yeah…." She sighed in resignation and acceptance. "Still, though. I'd rather be skiing than learning to fight to save the world."
"I've been working to get me and my friends to see Nörthfölk on stage and Mei and her friends are out there at camp probably having the time of their lives while I'm stuck here fighting a battle that isn't mine."
"Just be glad you weren't in my shoes. I don't think I'll ever look at red pandas the same way again." Stacy shuddered at the implied mention of her time in Helheim, then turning to the two adults. "So what are we looking for again?"
"A rooster." Michael explained. "There's three of them. If they start crowing together, everyone freaks the hell out."
"Um, right, okay…." Stacy hesitatingly spoke.
"Fjalarr is being kept as a pet by the biggest giant of all." Bödvar inquired. "And I hear that he's a master of illusions as well, so let's remain sharp. You'll never tell what is real and what is not."
"Sticks and stones." Kris muttered.
The path kept getting higher until it was getting even, so now everyone found themselves traversing through a new land that was chock-full of gigantic boulders and gibbers so intensely huge that many of them were just cluttered along the pebbled ground, strewn about the path ahead that the group had to climb over them. It was no easy feat for sure. But it was all about perseverance and determination.
Fortunately, no one noticed the variety of bones and other skeletal remains of the unlucky in the area.
In spite of the confusing events she's experienced so far since her capture, Stacy was only glad she was getting her steps in and working up a sweat. In her opinion, the best way to go someplace cold was to warm yourself up and get your blood pumping. By now, she was starting to miss home, wondering what her family could be up to. She just hopes they're not wasting resources trying to find her after she went missing. While climbing the rocks, the girl slipped a few times on the rocks with smooth surfaces that were precariously slick. They had scaled the biggest rock formation so far and they all stopped to take a breath. Stacy was the most exhausted, having let herself flop to the ground.
"Rock climbing, nope." She panted heavily, drenched in sweat.
Both she and Kris watched as Michael plopped down to his hands and knees for he was now sniffing up the trail like a trained dog would, which earned the expectant odd stares from the two.
"Your dad is weird." Stacy whispered into Kris's ear.
Now Michael was grunting, snarling and growling like a wild animal on the prowl for defenseless prey or trying to intimidate any potential dangers that may put up a fight.
"Bear or caveman. You pick." The Norwegian boy jested in a neutral attitude.
"You know I can hear you both." said the bear demigod.
"Are you sure you know where we're heading?" Kris cried at his father, now starting to lose hope in this little side excursion.
"This takes some time."
And then out of the blue, that's when Michael realized that chance was indeed on their side. His nose flared, sniffling the air like crazy.
He could smell it.
They were getting close, because that scent was near and nearer the further marched forth with the others following. Now he was sure they were on the right track. It was taking down a lone path in the dirt and into an unforeseeable cloud of fog, making sight nigh-impossible. The fog was thick and had a fetid smell, earning a round of coughs from the two children. Michael had to grab both his son's and Stacy's hands to get them from separating.
"We're here." announced Bödvar.
Everyone stopped dead in their tracks. As soon as the fog cleared, they could see better now. Now Stacy and Kris were taken by surprise, clinging to their breaths and directing their bulging eyes toward it, tilling their heads back while looking perpendicularly skyward because what they were standing before was immensely massive.
UTGARD (Old Norse: Útgarðr)
The Home of Skrymir
Standing 990 ft. tall in height was the biggest and largely constructed fortress they ever saw. No other castle in the entire world could compare to this. Built to scale to accommodate the gargantuan residents by the looks of it and judging by that, these residents must be colossal, probably bigger than any other giants out there. It was so big that when everyone inched closer, the two teens had to crane their necks all the way back until their eyes were facing perfectly upwards to get a good look at the doorway, which, in any honest opinion, was like the size of the Empire State Building. And the group, size-wise, was like either a pair of mice or even cockroaches compared to this place. And the idea alone of being inside a castle this huge full of giants as megalithic as the mountains around them rattled Stacy to the core followed by the crippling possibility of being stepped on.
"Fascinating." Kris gasped with wonder.
"I know." Michael agreed as he and the berserker came closer to the gigantic door until they placed their hands on the wood of it looking ready to push it open, though Stacy was getting more anxious by the minute.
"A-Are you sure the um, giants are okay with us barging in like this?" She asked nervously, twirling her thumbs.
"Don't you worry. Just stay with us and you'll be alright." guaranteed Michael.
"So not helpful." She crossed her arms with a firm stare.
"Help us with this." Bödvar ordered as the two bear-men worked together to try and get the door open with all their might. It was only too of them and their strength was immense and boundless, but neither were on the same caliber as gods like Thor so with those two combined, it was tantamount to a single large bulldozer trying to knock an overpass down by only just one pillar. Kris obeyed and joined them in trying to open it, using his godly strength and now with three of them, they were putting more added girth into it and the doorway started to slowly creak open. Never has Kris ever tried using his own supernatural strength on something this big before. Within minutes of wasting not another second's worth of time, the three's efforts achieved the impossible.
The doorway was now standing only a crack open just enough for them to slip right in before the door closed back up. However, they had been so busy and hyper-focused in their accomplishment that they had forgotten about Stacy. With worry, Kris looked all around for her to make sure she had followed them inside and there she was, standing a few feet from them.
"How did you get in?" He asked her.
"Uh…" Stacy pointed at a sizable crack on the wood of the other door at the bottom just about her size, making it big enough for anyone of her height to just squeeze through.
Kris groaned and shook his head. This could've saved them the trouble of trying to push open a massive, heavy doorway to get inside. Although, not all of them would've been able to have fit through, save for Stacy and perhaps Stacy alone since she seemed to be only one amongst them with the acceptable height. However, it didn't matter now anyway. They were inside and that's all that mattered now.
Now that they were inside, they gave themselves a decent scope of the castle's interior and needless to say, many of them were admonished to see it was just as humongous on the inside as it was from the outside. Virtually everything built in this place was big enough for a giant. Everything from the furniture to the stairs to the chandelier on the ceiling to the tables, everything was fit to match a Jötunn's point-of-view and the four travelers on the floor below were so incredibly small in juxtaposition to everything else that they could be mistaken for bugs. However, surprisingly, not everything was big because there were also a couple of tables and troughs that were small, preferably built for any regular-sized guests. Stacy was as amazed but still a little shaky with the fear of running into any giants that are big enough to live here. Kris wasn't too afraid, however, he felt like a kid in an amusement park. Standing inside a castle a thousand times much larger than himself was beyond cool.
However, a very strange thing that emerged in everyone's mind when they picked up on it was the stunning lack of giants around. The whole place looked very vacant; somewhat abandoned even. Not a giant to be seen or heard.
No footsteps.
No voices.
Nothing of the sort at all.
Only the soft, whistling breeze from outside and blowing throughout the halls from the open windows. And they were told that this castle was brimming with mountain-sized denizens.
"Man, this place is huge." Stacy marveled at the sight around her.
"But where are the other giants, though?" asked Kris.
"The owner of this place prefers solitude once in a while. Giants come and go as it were." answered Michael with a shrug as they started their way around the long, oversized hall. "And so Fjalarr has to be around here somewhere, anywhere."
"How are we gonna find a rooster in this pl-"
CRASH!
Kris was about to ask when a precipitate loud noise next to them interrupted them and it made him jump. He, Bödvar and Michael looked to see that Stacy had knocked over a table of cups and plates to check and make sure it wasn't an illusion, only making a loud racket in the process.
"Looks real to me." She shrugged.
"Stacy!" Kris chided angrily.
"Sorry!"
"You'll land us all in deep shit if you keep that up! Now come on!" Michael ordered her strictly.
The first place they were going to look was the large banquet table at the center of the hall. And so far, no giants were anywhere around still. With this thankfully, coolheadedness had replaced anxiety as Stacy finally allowed herself to relax, feeling nothing to fear. It was a really long walk to get to one side of the table so they decided to pass the time by sharing the story of the time Thor came here once with Loki and Thjalfi.
"So yeah, Thor did come here once long ago." Michael explained. "And there were lots of giants here that time. And the king there decided to put him and the other two to three tests to see how good they were at something."
"Really? Neat." Stacy hummed with interest.
"Loki was challenged to a food-eating contest and lost. Thjalfi was put into a race and ran faster than any normal human and even the king himself admitted he had never seen a human run so fast in his life."
"What about Thor?" asked Kris.
"Oh, like you wouldn't believe it. He had more than one challenge." Michael snickered. "First, he had to drink from a huge drinking horn, lift a cat off the floor and arm-wrestle an old woman. To make a long story short, he failed at all three miserably. So yeah, it was certainly not a good day for the thunder god."
"Huh." His son responded curiously. "That must've been embarrassing."
"Lift a cat? Pfft. Anybody can do that." Even Stacy chuckled at the blatant silliness of the idea. Like anyone can't like a cat up.
So as far as searching the huge table goes, Michael had brought a long rope along with him for just this occasion with a grappling hook that, when tossed high into the air, 89 ft. off the ground, it clung tightly against the woodwork and for easy climbing, the rope had some knots in it to put your feet. They had to take turns since the rope's weight capacity couldn't support all of them at once. Before they all knew it, they were on the table and got a look at their surroundings. Lots of plates, cutlery and mugs all around and even glasses.
"Boy, just imagine." Kris commented out loud, his amazement still present.
"Never have I been inside the palace of a Jötunn." Bödvar expressed with genuine astonishment himself. "This is truly the farthest I have ever gone from the woods on Midgard."
Stacy gasped with horror, but suddenly clamped her mouth shut with both hands to prevent herself from making any noise so she didn't disturb him the second she laid eyes upon him.
The others looked where she was looking and were like deers in headlights. Sitting at the far end of the table, laying head down and completely passed out was a giant. But rather the biggest, largest, enormous and undeniably the most gigantic giant nobody with the courage of a thousand warriors on the battlefield would ever stand before in all their lifetime and hope to see the end of it alive. He was as big as the group was small and it was no mere oversimplification that was like a literal mountain of a man. Messy locks of black-grayish mangled and tangled hair like thick threads, a scraggly beard, skin with a gray-colored pigmentation, wearing clothes that fit his immense size decorated with human-sized objects like pilot ladders and sails, fingers with golden rings and he was sitting in his large, crested chair like a king, sleeping soundly on the table. Nobody dared say a word and nobody had the self-control to let out a peep of surprise when it was the ruler of the Utgard before them snoozing away, Skrýmir, one of the biggest Jötnar to have ever existed in Jötunheim and all the Nine Realms, who was also known as Utgard-Loki (Old Norse: Útgarða-Loki) or Utgarda-Loki, Utgardsloki, for he was infamous for his ability to create such realistic illusions that fooled even Loki, the God of Lies, himself. Only now he was all alone in his solitary fortress high in the mountains of the land of giants, drinking in the peace and quiet away from the likes of gods and much else. If it's any luck, he was able to sleep through the noise of the table being tipped over.
"Look at that big boy." Michael addressed the sight of the sleeping giant meters away from their spot on the table, listening to his soft snores.
"O.M.F.G…." Stacy was unexceptionally speechless.
"Well, they did say he was big." Michael remarked with intrigue and no fear at all.
"How does a guy his size get anywhere around here?" balked Stacy. "Outside of this castle, I mean."
"That must be him."
"Him? Him who?" asked Kris.
"Skrýmir himself. Must be in a food coma." His demigod father answered. "Dude probably had a pretty huge meal today."
"How it is an honor to be standing in the presence of the biggest giant of all." The enthusiasm Bödvar held was like that akin to a fanboy.
"So where's…..?" Stacy asked, looking around.
Clucking was heard nearby.
The sound of a rooster, no doubt. They looked and looked, but couldn't find where it was coming from. But then as Kris turned and faced forward and focused his eyes when he finally had it within perspective, it couldn't be mistaken for one second that he was experiencing an amalgam of confusion, horror and irritation.
The rooster, Fjalarr, poked its tiny head out from the hair….from right on top of Skrýmir's head.
"You gotta be kidding me." Kris groaned, hands on his forehead. As luck would have it, they have to climb a giant's head to retrieve the rooster. "It's never that easy."
"Well, let's get to it already." Michael shrugged and started marching over, but then Stacy panicked with a yelp and rushed over to block his path.
"Wait a minute! We're not actually gonna steal from a giant now, are we?" She asked, frightened.
"I know what this seems like, but thousands are kinda depending on it. Odin gave us our orders. Now come on." He ordered and together, they let him lead the way for them. However, most of them were starting to question their mission here at the moment. They were breaking into a giant's castle uninvited and trying to swipe a chicken from a Jötunn without its knowledge. Though, they needed to do this because Odin warned them of what will happen if the rooster crows when left unattended.
Stacy and Kris were both growing increasingly edgy the closer they got to the sleeping giant. Collectively, the sheer brute size of him sent chilling flashbacks of the SkyDome when Mingzilla attacked the concert and tore it down. Those chills iced poor Stacy's heart with the fear of getting squashed returning with a vengeance no matter how hard she fought to calm herself and as for Kris, he would never forget that fateful night when Ming turned into a red panda kaiju monster, attacked a crowd of innocent fans and definitely not when she had him in her huge paw, screaming in his face and ripping him a new one. Being in front of this humongous giant was like a sense of deja vu and not in a nostalgic way either. Seeing him was like a solid reminder of that bone-chilling reminder and then it made Kris wonder if Ming should even be forgiven for all that, for her actions that night. Should she even be allowed to live those events down and move on? But then again, Ming felt awful about what she had done and fought to correct it when she helped save Kris from Helheim. She wasn't the same person anymore. But how can Kris stop remembering those terrible times? How can he move past it and let Ming into his life?
No time to think about that. They had a job to do.
They all stood before Skrýmir's face; his head was as big as a ten-story building and his snores sounded like winter breezes blowing on a cold afternoon air and Stacy fought every will power in her bones to stay calm. Then Michael threw the grappling hook really high with all his arm strength and it held onto the side of the giant's head tightly surprisingly without waking him up, though Stacy and Kris both winced with worry.
"Relax. Not even Thor and his mighty hammer can wake him up." Michael reassured them as he stepped back. "You two should go."
"Us?" asked Kris, gobsmacked. "What are you gonna do?"
"We'll be too heavy, so we'll stay down here and keep an eye out. Make sure he stays asleep. Now go."
The two teens both let out a sigh of defeat before Kris stood up and grabbed onto the rope first.
"I'll go first." He told Stacy comfortingly and started to climb.
The blonde girl took a second to muster up the courage before joining him on the rope and the two scaled together, thankfully their combined weight didn't disturb the grappling hook's grip. Stacy's hair was blown back when she passed Skrýmir's nose when he snorted, but she kept it together and kept climbing up. Soon Kris was at the top of the head in the thick field of black hair and to him, it was like being lost in a field of tall grass and boy, did it really stink. It burned his nose and made him cough at the foul odor of century's worth of sweat and grime. This guy certainly hasn't bathed in a long time. But he heard the bawk-bawk-bawking of the rooster near him and he rushed over, trying not to trip over any follicles on the way over and picked Fjalarr up in his hands. The livestock animal looked at him curiously and clucked continually.
"I got him!" Kris called triumphantly.
"Well done!" Michael shouted to congratulate him.
"Yes!" Stacy grinned, but then all of the sudden she lost her footing on one of the knots and then she slipped, falling fast and screaming helplessly.
"STACY!" The boy at the top shouted for his friend and rushed to the hook and shook the rope to allow Stacy to grab onto it again before she hit the ground and by instinct, she gripped it tightly so she wouldn't fall again. She shook violently from almost getting seriously hurt from fall damage and opened her eyes carefully.
"Stay calm." Michael instructed her, also fearing for the girl's life.
The girl was right next to Skrýmir's nose again, but still she remained stationary and waited to see whether or not the slumbering giant would react. Her heart pounded, her skin oozed with drops of sweat and her breath came in short pants, but still she didn't move and still she didn't make a sound.
But then,...she felt a huge gust of air sucking inward through the nasal passageways and she felt as if she was underneath a large vacuum cleaner and heartbeat picked up. He was sniffing her.
Then she sniffed again…
..…..and again…
..…..and again…
..…..and again…
…..despite remaining calm and still, Stacy could feel herself about to lose it when she hesitantly turned until she saw his face and because of this, her skin color faded to a pale shade of white when she realized that he was opening his eye…..
.
.
.
.
…..and the pupil turned down until it was looking right at her.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" That was it. Stacy couldn't stand it any longer. She was absolutely terrified beyond belief as she screamed with mortal terror when it became apparent that Skrýmir was now waking up after smelling the scent of a human in front of his face.
"STACY!" Kris shouted, gripped with horror himself.
"Get down from there NOW!" Michael shouted hurriedly, fearing for both their lives, especially his son's. This was the first time they were spending time together after years and years apart and now Kris's life was being put in jeopardy.
Kris was about to climb back down with Stacy, but then Skrýmir's head rose up, stopping him from doing so and the waking giant lifted his body up from the table, making his movement similar to an earthquake to the small ones climbing on him. Then Kris fell from the top and held onto the rope like his life depended on it with his single arm holding onto Fjalarr as he and Stacy were left swinging from the rope along with Skrýmir's sudden movements. But then they both lost their grips and fell freely as Michael cried out for them. Thankfully, Kris managed to grab onto one of the pilot ladders hanging down off the giant's chest while Stacy summoned a huge pile of snow below to cushion her fall on the ground.
"Wha-? What is this? Intruders in my stronghold? Zounds, I tell you! How could anyone find my domain so easily?!" Skrýmir balked with a loud, booming voice that filled the entire hall and bombarded against everyone's eardrums and as he shot up from his chair in his fit of fury, this caused Kris to fall off of him and land painfully on the ground below while keeping hold onto the crowing rooster. Michael and Bödvar both flew into a panic and raced to find a way off the table to catch up to the children below.
"Kris!" Stacy shouted, rushing over to him to check and see if he was okay. Kris stood back up with Fjalarr before Skrýmir turned and looked down to see the two, which brought a look of anger to his grotesque features.
"Children? In my hall? Stealing from me?! I think not! " He growled with a fiery wrath in his thundering tone, reaching a hand down to grab at them to which they both ran for their lives away from the massive hand trying to snatch them up. Now they were being chased by the enraged Jötunn who was now out for blood seemingly since they had trespassed on his private property trying to take something from him. And as he raced after them, each footfall quaked the ground a bit, which threatened to knock the two retreating teens down, but they kept fighting to escape Skrýmir's clutches before it was too late.
"Come back here, you little brats! I'm not finished with you!" He screamed.
They kept running and running with the chicken on them before they suddenly ran face-to-face with a large tabby cat that was big as them, if not a bit taller, and it hissed once it saw them, making them scream and run the other direction when it started swiping at them and now it was after them as well.
"Now I see why Thor couldn't lift it!" Stacy hollered.
"Trespassers! Scoundrels! Bloody blighters! Mutant spalpeens! Ne'er-do-well rapscallions!"
"What is he even talking about?!" complained the girl as they kept running from him. Unfortunately, Kris was caught by Skrýmir as he brought his hand down and lifted him up with his thumb and pointer finger while Stacy was caught by the cat, which held her down with its large paws. "No!"
Kris, on his part, was in a situation similar to the SkyDome, looking Skrýmir right in the eye as the giant glared at him dangerously.
"So you thought you could sneak in and rob me blind, eh?" He accused him. "Do you realize who you're dealing with, boy? I hold the power over you! AHHH!"
He wailed as soon as he felt Michael in his black bear form chomp down on his ankle, chewing a big chunk of his flesh while Bödvar slashed at him with his ax and assumed a bear form of his own as he charged over to the cat right off of Stacy.
ZAP!
With Skrýmir distracted, Kris fired a powerful lightning bolt in his face just like he did to Ming at the arena and similarly, he was relinquished and sent falling when the two bear-men caught him.
"Why must this happen to me?" The boy retorted before they were all now running for their lives away from the giant, now even more enraged than before.
"You're dead meat!" He snarled.
They all ducked into a room and hid for cover underneath a large cupboard, hiding when Skrýmir burst into the room, slamming the door open with his intimidating strength as he thundered into the room, snorting and growling while he rummaged through the room to search for the intruders, looking through drawers and such wildly and frantically and with zero patience.
"You'll never see the light of day again for this! Mark my words! Where are you?! WHERE ARE YOU!?"
While he was occupied with searching, they took their chance in running for the door as he had his back turned, but then Stacy tripped and fell onto the floor, which caught Skrýmir's attention right away and he turned with a hateful glare and a drooling growling mouth full of gnarly teeth.
"Ah-ha!" He cried, stomping ominously over to them. They tried to flee, but they were blocked by the cat. "Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. You're mine now."
But at this point, Stacy has had enough of this as she stepped forward with clenched fists and a determined frown, glaring back at the giant. Then she screamed up at him and stomped on the ground. This act caused her to freeze the whole floor with a slick sheen of ice and once Skrýmir got closer and stepped onto this ice, he slipped, lost his balance and fell backwards on his back, falling unconscious onto the floor, which made the ground shake violently until the four fell down because of it.
The cat meowed and galloped over to check up on its master and the group took their chance and fled down the hall with Fjalarr before the cat hissed and chased after them. They ran until there was a hole in one of the doors ahead and rushed through as the cat pounced, but it slammed against the door, missing them completely.
Everyone stopped to catch their breaths and looked to see they were outside now, but now there was a steep snowy hill far down below.
"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god…" Stacy hyperventilated.
The cat banged on the other side of the door, clawing at the door and trying to grab them from underneath, which indicated that there was no other way to escape but down.
"Now what?!" screamed Stacy.
"Hey!" Kris found something that might help. There were a couple of flat wood boards and a couple of ropes. "You said you were going snowboarding, right?"
"Yeah, but I don't…actually know how." She admitted lamely with embarrassment.
"You mean you were going snowboarding on a ski vacation and you don't know how?" Kris chastised with annoyance.
"I was gonna take lessons when we got there!"
"Well, no time like the present."
Suddenly, the area started to quake and shift with fierce vigor when it became clear that Skrýmir was now pounding against the door after regaining consciousness.
"We gotta go now." Kris hurriedly said and everyone sprung into action, fashioning makeshift snowboards and sleds before the giant could burst open the door and get them.
"Are you sure you know how to do this?" Stacy asked him nervously.
"I've gone sledding before. It's kinda the same thing." He shrugged.
Another pounding against the door trembled the mountain again until suddenly, a huge collection of snow from the top fell downard and an avalanche began to form as a result and everyone took this as a sign to get moving immediately. With no time to waste, they all ran off the ledge with their boards and were running down the snowy hill together as the avalanche got bigger, closer and more intense and with this, they were motivated to steer away, narrowly avoiding the trees. Stacy was afraid, but soon she was starting to have fun. More fun than she ever had. However, that avalanche was nearing ever so closer.
"I wish mom and dad could see me now!" She cried excitedly.
"You're doing good! You're a natural!" Kris encouraged her with a thumbs up.
She smiled at him, but suddenly the avalanche struck and it was like a rogue wave of ice and snow. They all lost momentum and balance as the giant falling cloud of snow barrelled into them all and they were now riding this down the mountain much like they were being swept away by the currents of a river. But Kris held onto the rooster extremely tight so he wouldn't lose him. Before long, they were at the bottom of the slope, buried deep under the snow.
However, Michael popped out of the snow to look around for his son and following his nose, he helped him crawl out of it with Fjalarr, who was shaken, but otherwise okay all the same.
"Stacy!" Kris cried concernedly as he raced around in search of her.
"WOAH!" Then she bursted out of the snow, crying with delight from the rush of adrenaline. The excitement of snowboarding down a mountain to escape an avalanche was like no other. "That was AWESOME!"
Kris smiled. At least she was okay and she had some fun.
Taking the chicken back to Asgard, Fjalarr, Gullinbursti and the other rooster were inside of a pen, mindlessly clucking together while Freya, Forseti, Kris and Stacy were observing from outside the fence located in the goddess's realm of Fólkvangr.
"Nice work, you two." Forseti patted Kris on the back to congratulate them on their success. "Cannot imagine the trouble you went through."
"It was totes nuts." Stacy informed them. "I swear that giant was about to kill us! But….it didn't, thank god."
"So how are we gonna keep them from crowing?" asked Kris.
"I'll just have to take their voices away." said Freya honestly. "It won't last very long. But it will at least buy us some time."
"And you're sure that isn't cruel?"
"We're facing a crisis, boy. Anything must be done." The Goddess of Love told him strictly. "I'm not fond of the idea, myself. But we mustn't take any risks."
Kris frowned at her for that answer and slumped his arms before walking away while wondering how keeping roosters from crowing together would keep the apocalypse from coming. While he still couldn't stand being with the gods nor did he enjoy being forced to train to fight in the middle of his summer, the idea of his whole world plunging into chaos and going up in flames shook him to his core and he couldn't let everyone down, not even Mei. It would break his heart to have let her and all his friends die when the end pokes its ugly head out from the horizon and takes everything and everyone down with it. Nevertheless, he regrouped with the others as they took a walk together through the forests.
Meanwhile in Gladsheim, there so much unpleasant disarray unfolding inside of Valhalla amongst the gods, such as the likes of Thor, Sif, Hermod, Týr, Hodr, Baldur and, whether they like having him there or not, Loki, who would very much rather be anywhere else but there. Nobody else was more displeased than Thor.
"I still think we shouldn't risk the children's lives for ours." Sif argued.
"What other choice do we have?" Thor shot back. "The end of days will soon be upon us all and what if we aren't enough?"
"How do we expect them to be exceptional fighters by the time Ragnarök comes?" Hermod queried. "If it's any consolation, Hel will have made her move already and we won't be prepared."
"What if she sends Hel-walkers on us?" Hodr asked fretfully.
"We're just gonna need to deal with it ourselves until the kids are ready." answered the thunder god. "I refuse to sit by and let that witch cause any more issues."
"Are you still calling her a witch? Must you really be so quick to asperse her?" Loki grumbled with an eye-roll.
"Of course, you're defending her." The large Asgardian prince growled at him.
"Why not? She's my child." came the shape-shifter's quick response. "And she would realize that if you idiots hadn't taken her from me."
"What's done is done!" Sif hissed. "You cannot keep condemning us for the past! Nothing you say or do will bring your children back to you!"
"Then why can't you just let them be here?"
"And leave them to make a mess of our home while you sit by and twiddle your thumbs? Fat chance." Thor spat in his general direction.
"You took her life away, you know." Loki kept on ceaselessly, not resting until he struck a nerve. "All she's ever known was pain, agony and hatred because of all of you. Had you let me had the chance to see her during her little imprisonment, perhaps-"
"You would've told her to conspire against us!" fired back the God of Thunder, tightening his white-knuckled fists.
"Shut the fuck up!"
"Don't start, you two!" commanded Sif, jumping between them and pushing them apart. "This is neither the time nor the place! Regardless, we must keep our heads. And you, mischief-maker, need to learn to clean up your act. You only make things worse than they already are and evidently will get."
"Of course, because I'm always the villain of your story." Loki sassed, crossing his arms. "But at least I love all my children equally, unlike some people."
And this really struck such a HUGE nerve with the thunder god of Asgard when Loki directed this towards him. No way was he going to take that laying down.
Calling Mjölnir to his hand, nobody had any success in trying to stop him and Thor tossed the hammer right at Loki, which, thanks to his brute strength, sent him flying straight through the roof of Valhalla like cannonball with Mjölnir clinging to his chest, making him wince from how it was pressed against him and he couldn't force it off no matter how hard he pushed on it. And as he flew through air, Thor flew up to him and had him by the throat, cutting off his air as his fury intensified, burning like wildfire devouring everything in its path.
"You have no right." He growled into his face. "Last I checked, you stood by while your brats were taken away."
They landed in the forest kilometers away from the city, creating a huge shockwave that almost leveled the land. As the furious Loki rushed up to his feet after the concussive attack nearly knocked the daylights clear out of him, he received another blow from the hammer that knocked him high into a tree far away, leaving him to hang there.
"And what did you do?" Thor persisted, throwing Mjölnir right at him and then Loki dodged it once it embedded itself into the bark. Then Loki leapt out of the way as soon as the giant barbarian leapt right at him with a punch at the ready, though he missed and reclaimed his weapon.
"NOTHING!"
Back onto the forest floor they were and Loki decided that he has had it with taking crap from him and summoned a runic spell that shot Thor away, but his opponent retaliated by tossing Mjölnir at him, slamming him down and calling it back to his palm. With the God of Mischief down and left defenseless, Thor jumped high up with his hammer raised and crackling with lightning, but Loki shot his legs up and kicked him right in the stomach, disrupting his aim and getting him to the ground as payback. Screaming wildly, Loki got on top of him, wrapping his arms around his neck and began to punch his head over and over again. He was still strong enough to afflict some amount of pain on his attacker and then gripped his beard, yanking on it really hard, which really made Thor shout with pain so Loki knew by this that he was succeeding in hurting the Asgardian god. However, this only pissed Thor off even more when he grabbed Loki by his arm, twisted it and again, threw him high into the air far away and flew right after him.
"I still can't believe you guys took on a giant." Roar commented as the group hiked through the woods.
"Like you guys wouldn't believe." Stacy stated. "I mean, I actually almost died, but somehow….it was also kinda fun. Though, like, I'll never understand why I feel that way."
"I'll tell you guys one thing. That guy's hair really smelled." Kris shuddered in disgust. "I'm so due for a shower now."
"And all that for a rooster." Stig dryly said.
"You really should've seen that place. It was massive." exclaimed Stacy. "Everything there was big and huge. It was scary, but also pretty neat."
KA-BLAM!
Everyone jumped with a few screams erupting from their mouths when Thor and Loki landed near them, their fight proceeding close by and they all watched with shock and surprise seeing the two gods duking it out all of the sudden. It was both frightening to see powerful beings of divine power battling each other, but they couldn't stop watching.
And as they watched from a distance, Thor screamed angrily as he again slammed his hammer at Loki knocking far, but not too far.
"Galti Atrás!" Loki shouted, summoning a mystic runic spell by creating a smokescreen to blind Thor before he could attack again and then came at him with two dual sword, glowing green with Vanir magic, slicing at him and trying to land a slash at his exposed skin, actually cutting at Thor's flesh, making him cry with agony. Then Loki socked him in the face, jumped at his shoulders and grabbed him by one arm, flinging him back, to which the thunder god toppled to the ground. Panting hard, Thor summoned his hammer back and activated its lightning powers as he returned to his feet. But unlucky for him, Loki charged him and now he was the one sending them both flying into the air while the teens looked on in awe.
"Finally, something interestin'!" Moose cackled.
Though, Kris looked scared and worried that this probably won't end well for either of them as he ran into the direction of the fight with the others following suit. Back over to Thor and Loki, the two fighting gods now landed near a large waterfall, splashing into the shallow waters near it while they were scrambling back up and standing inches away from one another.
"This is the last time I'm gonna deal with you, Loki!" Thor exploded at him, gripping the handle of his hammer.
"For once, I agree!" Loki screamed back at him.
And now just like that, it was on for real this time.
They charged at each other and once they were close enough, solid punches were being delivered this time. Both were fighting with great effort to land blows on one another, each successfully trading hits. Some in the face, some in the sides, some in the legs and neither side was holding back. Not once inch because they were really giving it their all. The teens arrived just in time, standing from a cliff that overlooked the battle far below, leaving them curious spectators. When Thor swung his fist at Loki, who missed, he elbowed him hard and then grabbed at his hair, flipping him over backwards and bringing the God of Thunder onto his back. Then Loki screamed when he punched Thor in the face over and over and over again until Thor unleashed a giant blast of lightning, knocking him off him and then summoning his hammer. He flew straight up into the air and fired lightning from the storm clouds above, though Loki dodged each one. Sadly, though, one of them caught him and he shouted in pain.
Then Thor slammed back down onto the ground right in front of him and punched him hard in the jaw, knocking him away and then with a sharp clap of his hands, he created a powerful concussive, thundering blast that knocked him even further away. When Loki was about to charge him, Thor threw Mjölnir at him, which Loki tried to block, but it only brought him back to the ground. Loki charged him again, when Mjölnir struck him as Thor called it back to his hand and with a twirl, he slammed his deadly weapon into his opponent, tapping into the full extent of the storm in doing so, but Loki caught it and absorbed the electricity this time; the two glared into each other's souls as the two god dueling gods struggled with Mjölnir - Thor fighting to cap him and Loki fighting to hold the hammer back with all his force.
"Úlfr Hlaup!" With his magical prowess, summoned the wrath of the wolf, transforming into a large wolf that was only as big as Thor himself. The transformed Loki clawed at him, snapped at him with his jaws, actually weakening the storm god before turning back to normal. Unfortunately, now he was back to being a punching bag, because Thor grabbed Loki's leg and proceeded to beat him onto the ground, slamming him over and over repeatedly to try and break some bones, but then the God of Mischief went for another tactic.
"Fálki lið!" This one summoned forth a mystic falcon out of thin air, which materialized and dived into Thor's face, disorienting him and giving its summoner the advantage over him.
"Elgr hríð!" Loki took the form of a strong and mighty elk as he charged at him again with his antler out, stabbing and puncturing his body, shaking him all around, despite his huge weight, and threw him away like a ragdoll before turning back and whipping out his knives again. But then Thor let out a war cry, unleashing all of his insane rage when he blasted Loki with so much electricity, sending currents up and down his body and Loki was in so much grave pain that he couldn't bear to describe. Afterwhich, Thor tossed his hammer at him, but then Loki blocked Mjölnir this time and smacked it away, making it slam into the watery ground.
When Thor called it, Loki grabbed onto it as it flew past him and now the tables were turned because Loki was the one wielding the mighty hammer, much to Thor's displeasure. Growling with hate, Loki careered at him and swung Thor's own hammer at him. He struck him in the face with it, kicked him right in the groin and then went for the leg, bringing him to his knees, but when Loki brought Mjölnir down onto his head, Thor caught it with his beefy hands, absorbing the pain of getting kicked in the crotch and growled as he ripped the hammer out of Loki's hand and retaliate with a hammer-slam to his face.
Then the God of Thunder grabbed his adversary by the scruff of his neck, twirled him around in a circle before hurling him at the mountain wall behind the waterfall, getting him wet in the process.
That was it.
Kris couldn't stand this tomfoolery anymore. Hel was out there trying to end the world and they were in the middle of a dick-measuring contest.
Loki broke through the curtain of harshly-falling water and was just as peeved as Thor was for they were just about to stampede at each other again. But right as that was about to happen, Kris had jumped high from the cliff and landed right in the middle of the two the very millisecond the two gods were careening towards the other and held out both hands.
Then as a result, both Thor and Loki's faces were slammed into both of Kris's palms in his attempt to stop them from keeping this up and with his own godly strength at his disposal, Kris purposely sent both of them pathetically tumbling straight onto the ground, taken aback by this unexpected turn of events. Both gods were surprised when this happened once the boy came right in between them, putting an end to their little violent tussle and there they both were, sprawled against the watery sound.
"That's enough, you guys." Kris chastised them like a scolding parent or teacher. "This has gone far enough."
Then before any excuses or petty insults can be thrown either which way, Kris picked Loki up the ear, making him wince by his tight grip and then picked Thor up easily and held him in a tight headlock that he couldn't escape from, no matter how hard he fought to wrestle out of it while Kris escorted the both of them away while they complained the whole time - which he ignored - while the teens were all dumbfounded by how their friend was brave and bold enough to put an end to a fight between two powerful gods.
"Aw, man, that's not fair!" Rudolf complained, who was really getting a kick out of it. "I really wanted to see the rest of that fight!"
The next phase of preventing Ragnarök involves capturing a rooster, one of three roosters that crow to warn all of the coming of the tragic event.
So Kris goes with his father, Stacy and Bödvar into the kingdom Thor and Loki when to with Thjalfi for one of those particular roosters. It really leaves Kris feeling like he's Jack from the fairy tale, Jack in the Beanstalk. He's entering the large castle of a giant to obtain a chicken (a male one). Of course, Skrymir wakes up and leaves our heroes scrambling to escape. And luckily enough for Stacy, she's learned how to snowboard. So back in Asgard, you can see that things are really heating up between Thor and Loki, which erupts into a brutal fight between them. Although not as strong as Thor, Loki shows that he's capable of holding his own against the God of Thunder in a straight-up fight.
Next Chapter: Thor brings Kris and the kids to Svartalfheim to visit of figure called the Lady of the Forge to construct a weapon for them to use in the final battle.
Next Update: August 18, 2023