Episode 22: Nightmares of the Norse part 1: Rime, Revenge, and Reason
The frosty Scandanavian mountains, as well as the surrounding forests were at peace on a winter's day, the twilight of the season, moving into spring. At the foot of the forest was a Norse village with the everyday hustle and bustle of commerce and other daily activities Norsemen and women would do. Up in one mountain was the home of the Frost Giants, whom the villagers ignored as they knew how dangerous they were, though the Frost Giants, under the rule of King Ymir, ignored them and were more at odds with the dwarves in the other mountain as the dwarves were often very greedy digging for gold wherever they could find it, once trying to snatch the gold from their kingdom.
Tonight, it was different, strange rumblings were heard, both mountain sides and the village felt it, the mortal villagers were fearing that this could be a sign from the gods above. Meanwhile, in the dwarven mountains, underneath in their domain where they mined for precious metals, the force was the strongest. The rumblings came with a shake in the earth every few minutes, especially in the caverns, the heat was intensifying, even though there was no evidence of geothermal energy sources anywhere.
In King Ymir's kingdom it was the worst with the ice falling all over the place and once it reached the ground it started to melt, there seemed to be no explanation or plan of what to do in this scenario. Ymir himself was stuck figuring out while his fellow giants were clamoring, out came a shadow portal from out of nowhere, and out emerged the Z-Team, many of which were all bundled up for this scene, Zack at the ready with his threat detector, his teammates ready with their weapons ready to investigate.
"No need to panic giants!" shouted Zack. "Let us find the source of your earthquake!" The Threat Detector pointed in the direction where the threat was the strongest. It lead to an area where there was a hollow, thin part in the icy floor as if leading to an area down below, the area was starting to glow from icy blue, to orange, and then red, then in a split second out emerged a gigantic being made of fire and magma, flames were shooting out every which way. The Z-team weapons out readied themselves for what was a tough fight, for the frost giants would be at a serious disadvantage here.
Elsa, Simba, Nala, and Moana stepped forth, Moana aimed her oar, while Elsa readied herself for her cyromancy, and the lions crouched into position, but the Fire Giant just laughed at the prospectives. "Ha ha ha! Puny humans and animals trying to stop my long overdue revenge on the Rime Giants? This should be a cinch!" But the members weren't deterred as they prepared for a magic show and called out their respective spells, with Nala's Earthshaker spell keeping the giant off balance, although he was able to fling a few fireballs that the team had to dodge out of the way. It was Moana's turn with her Hydro Surge, it briefly worked in putting out some of the Giant's fire, but no sooner was it put out, the flames returned. Elsa stepped forth and flung her ice magic at the giant, with Moana joining in, it felt a little better but as the Giant's flames were put out it became enraged, stomping towards them and flinging more fireballs. Luckily Elsa didn't forget she possessed the water crystal, so without any further hesitation, she began the procedure of transformation.
"Power of Water…..Morph!" Elsa shouted as she raised the crystal upwards, and in a matter of seconds and in a burst of white light she transformed into the blue turtle Shivoise. Without any further delay raised her hands and sprayed the giant, accompanied by Moana's Hydro Surge and Simba's Rock Shot magic spells. In a matter of seconds, the Giant was defeated, collapsing forward, its flames were put out. With the threat now averted, Elsa began the process to revert back to her normal form shouting out "Morph back!" and in a matter of seconds the turtle form was replaced with Elsa herself again. The Rime giants all around applauded the Z-Team for their efforts, one stepped forth.
"Come!" Boomed the giant cheerfully, beckoning the Z-Team to the main chamber under the mountain. "King Ymir would be pleased to make your acquaintance!" He led them to the King's throne room, and once there the Z-Team, knowing proper courtesy bowed to the king despite his enormous size.
"Ah! So I heard you were able to thwart that Fire Giant's revenge on us after we've trapped him for so long! Thank you!" Ymir boomed with joy and offered a giant hand to the ground so he can pick them up and understand them better. Zack lead his teammates onto the Rime Giant king's hand, it felt like walking on pure cold ice as they stepped onto it, but they tried not to let that bother them, even when they were lifted up so they could meet the king face to face.
"Your most gracious, your majesty!" shouted Zack. "Whenever there's the threat of evil, we come! I'm afraid dark times are ahead of us….forces of darkness are at large. I have a feeling that this Fire Giant was tip of the iceberg to something much more frightening….."
"Why so you are right! Perhaps it's a sign from Loki….the evil god we fear more than Odin himself…." As he said that a pair of large ravens flew in, circled around and then departed. "I have a feeling Odin will be needing to see you at some point…."
"I don't think it's Loki that's involved great Ymir…." Elsa decided to comply. "I believe an even worse being….a Dark Master is on the loose doing all this, we don't know what he'll do next here!"
"Perhaps Odin can see what's ahead for us…" added Simba.
"Hmmm….well we'll just have to prepare ourselves for whatever comes our way and others as well…." Ymir responded with grimness. Just then another of his rime giants came in.
"Your majesty, some dwarves have arrived, they say it's urgent!" the giant said.
"Bring them in…." With that the king's messenger sent for the dwarves to come in, they were all furious, the leader, dressed in skins, armor, and helmet came forth.
"We cannot stand this attempt at treachery Ymir! You hired trolls to raid our home!" the lead dwarf bellowed furiously.
"I am in no allegiance with the trolls King Burgin…."
"Yeah!" squawked Donald. "Your greed has no place in hospitable places!" He readied his spear but Zack put a hand up stopping him.
"Hold it Donald, let's not make any brash decisions!" Mickey and Minnie came forth to further restrain Donald.
"Perhaps you and your champions can explain the meaning of this?" One of Burgin's followers held up a black cloak and one of the unmistakable teleportation devices. The Z-Team's eyes widened at the mere sight of the objects.
"Looks like we've got some Shadow Monk activity!" replied Zack, he then turned to Ymir. "Don't worry your majesty, we'll take care of their problem as well!" He then turned back to Burgin and his dwarf followers. "I understand that you have a rivalry with the rime giants, but you have no need for vengeance on them, this is dark forces at work, but don't worry we'll help you reclaim your homes!" Burgin and Ymir looked at each other and then nodded in understanding.
"I've seen what these fabulous people can do, they helped quell a Fire Giant's revenge on us, they'll thwart your troll problem in no time!" Ymir exclaimed with zeal that even Burgin could feel. With that Zack opened up a shadow portal and then disappeared into in from Ymir's hand.
In a matter of seconds the Z-Team found themselves inside of the dwarven caverns, and without any moment to rest they discovered the area was swarmed with trolls, some of them had 2 heads. It was a fierce battle with magic, weapons, and claws clashing the trolls found themselves no match for the Z-Team and a few fled after many were defeated. With the battle over, some dwarf families came out of hiding rejoicing their freedom from the villains ransacking their dwellings.
The victory and celebration was short lived, Pluto spotted something on the ground, some glass capsule in two pieces, a little green fluid was still in it. Abu came over to Pluto noticed this as well, then gathered up the pieces and delivered it to Zack with Pluto right behind. Immediately as Zack caught sight of the broken objects placed in his hands, he beckoned everyone from his team to him.
"Th…..this is a growth hormone!" Zack said with shock.
"That could only mean that the Fire Giant attack and the troll attack down here was a diversion while some scientists and shadow monks were creating another evil!" Mickey added.
"But what exactly could they have summoned and use this growth hormone on?" pondered Mulan. Simba and Nala caught wind of an unfamiliar scent, following their noses it directed them to what looked like wet tracks on the rocky ground, the tracks that only a snake could make and it led to a nearby river, the tracks got progressively bigger with each track.
"Zack! I think we have a lead on our new monster!" shouted Nala, everyone turned to where the lions were.
"It went into that river!" added Simba.
"We'll need a boat to cross! Perhaps the dwarves can loan us one…." pondered Zack, there was one right across the old fashioned kind with a dragon's head on the front, complete with a lantern in the mouth.
"Feel free to use that Zack!" came a familiar voice, that everyone turned to, it was Burgin himself. "We'll stay put and be on guard, you can explore down the ways and find out what the monster is!" With that the Z-Team got on the boat and began to travel down the underground river to find out what was going down the ways….
To be Continued…...