The Nutcracker Story

The light of day has just started to fade over the chilled city, mounds of snow can be seen on every street corner and dark clouds overhead bare the promise of more to come. On one of these street corners stands a man wearing a red coat and rimmed hat with shifty eyes, a stitched scar runs to one side of his left and up the top of his right. He has his hands up to his mouth to keep them warm with his breath visible in the cold.

“Rotten night to be doing this.” He mutters under his breath “This is the last time I take a job on the holidays.”

Behind him is another building in a row of buildings just like it, the sounds of breaking furniture and yelling can be heard coming from inside of it. The man turns to look up at the four story building, which is dwarfed by the ones surrounding it, when the front doors to it swing open quickly and a gale of hot air comes shooting out of them. The man covers his face, but his hat goes flying revealing his bugged out eyes, as if he’s forever wearing a look of shock.

A man and a woman walk out of the building; the man is wearing a blue coat and hat with a clashing red domino mask over his eyes, the woman is dressed more scantly with short shorts and a top with a modest boob window, all of which is almost unnoticeable thanks to the big metal robot grabbers she has on each arm. These are the people the man in red has come to meet, the ‘heroes’ Conrad and Colette.

“See, I told you Firebug was hold up in this building.” Says Conrad.

The man in red thinks to himself ‘Firebug, a criminal who uses concealed flamethrowers to start fires as distractions for his robberies.’ And sure enough, the villain in question is tired up and unconscious, resting on one of Colette’s shoulders.

“Brr.” Colette shivers stepping out onto the snow covered sidewalk without wearing any shoes “Why is there always something happening on Christmas Eve?”

“This is probably just the opening act.” Replies Conrad “This is why Becky, Cookie, and me celebrate Christmas a few days after the fact. It’s sort of a tradition for us at this point, still confuses Cookie a little though, you should join us, Becky always makes a ton of-...” Conrad trails off noticing the man in red picking up his hat from the ground. “Red? Red Herring? Is that you? What are you doing here?”

“Opening act, huh? Interesting choice of words.” Says Red as he refits his hat. “I got word of something really bad through one of my contacts that I think you and the Justice Comrades might want to look into.”

****

Elsewhere, somewhere far from any city or urban development, deep in a thick forest, two figures are blazing their way through the brush. The first of them is large, mechanical, imposing, and seems to have the feeling of hate projecting from his body, burning or rotting away anything alive too close to him; the second figure is much shorter wearing a tacky orange business suit and a teal featureless face save for a wide mouth and the word “Samefag” sloppily written across where his eyes would be.

“I’m sure it must be this way, totally, but if I’m wrong then it’s because he gave me wrong directions.” He points to the left of himself.

“What, no way, I’m always right, but when I’m not it’s because of his lies!” Says the exact same man only with a sticky note attached to his face with the word “NOT” scrawled across it as he points a thumb behind himself.

“Oh no, you’re not pinning this on me! Not after last time!” Says still the same man, only this time with two sticky notes on his face now reading “Totally NOT Samefag”.

The large radiating monster ahead of him growls and mumble/yells “Shut up.”

“Oh shit, you pissed off the boss!” Says Totally NOT Samefag.

“No, you did, if he’s going to roast someone it’ll be you!” Says Nope, NOT Samefag.

The man continues to argue with himself in a way that appears as is there is more than one of him. The large monster rolls his eyes and groans. “Samefag, if you’re wrong, I will make you suffer unimaginably.”

“Oooo, looks like you’re in the hot seat!” Says Inescapably Samefag

“Come on, boss, sir, your malevolence, IHM, when have I ever lied to you... this week? The fabled fae kingdom’s entrance should be right up ahead, and once we’re in there’s nothing those fairies can do to keep you from their Dream Well!” Says Samefag.

“Yeah boss, lighten up, soon you’ll be taking a dip in a bath of dreams and corrupting the minds of all the children of the world right on Christmas Eve!” Says No Way I’m Samefag.

“Ain’t nobody getting off the naughty list this year!” Cackles Probably isn’t Samefag right as they come upon a ring of mushrooms.

****

Conrad and Colette are now walking up a twisty path to a large manor surrounding by impeccably well maintained hedges, hedge mazes, and park grounds. Conrad rings the bell at the front door and is greeted by a french maid

“Oui?”

“Good evening and Merry Christmas, Agnes.” Says Conrad while taking off his hat to be polite while Colette waves behind him “Is Chaptor in?”

Agnes smiles wide “Oui, sir.” And opens the door fully while giving them a curt bow and ushering them inside before removing Conrad’s coat, taking his hat, and giving Colette a heating pad.

She guides them from the foyer into the large parlor to the side; an enormous Christmas tree dominates the room currently, it is adorned with slips of paper and other assorted ornaments. It is enough to distract from the various mementos and curiosities used to decorate the room, but not enough to distract from the makeshift work area set up near the fireplace and the large finely dress gentleman velociraptor currently poring over some old notes and books with a wooden figure placed in the middle of the table.

He looks up from his work and notices his guests “Ah, Conrad, Colette, you have remarkable timing as always. Come, take a look at this.” As he beckons them over.

As Conrad and Colette approach, the object of Chaptor’s attention is revealed: a simple wooden nutcracker soldier.

“Huh, my aunt had a bunch of these she’d take out every year for decoration.” Says Colette’s

“Yes, but this is no mere nutcracker. Over the course of my life I’ve encountered many strange things, so I knew from a glance when this nutcracker mysteriously appeared on my door step that is was infused with a powerful magic.”

“Magic, huh?” Asks Conrad “Might be related to what we came here to ask you about. A reliable source of mine told me the Sageworthy Society is on the move to night. The reason where the super villains are out and about is because they’ve been forced out. I was hoping you might have some leads to what the Sageworthies might be plotting.”

“Hmm, the doll may very well be connected, but it is dangerous to touch directly, so I’ve not been able to properly examine it.” Says Chaptor.

“Well how about these?” Says Colette holding up her metal robot gauntlet clad arms “If these aren't thick enough to handle the doll, then what is?”

Chaptor taps a talon to his chin a few times “We may very well be short on time, so if you’re willing, then do be careful.”

Colette nods and gingerly picks up the nutcracker with her big robot hands. At first nothing seems to happen as she examines it from different angles, then it begins to glow faintly, then strongly, then flashes brightly enough to cause everyone in the room to look away. When the light fades, the nutcracker in Colette’s hands has changed appearance, no longer is it of a male soldier with a tall black cap and a broad toothy mouth, but of a young woman with white hair that covers one side of his face and a tanned completion.

“This… looks just like my sister, Casey.” Says Colette, shocked.

“Dream stuff. I might have known.” Says Chaptor pensively “Raw magic residue harvested from humans as they sleep and refined into usable magic. Only a few know the collection and refinement process, the majority of which live in the Fae capital of Tir Tairngire.”

“Colette, how do you feel?” Says Conrad with concern in his voice.

“Tired?” Says Colette with some surprise and followed up with a yawn.

“Yes, I’d imagine so, dream stuff can have odd effects on the body in its raw form, no telling what it will do to you the longer you stay awake. The drowsiness is a natural defense mechanism of your body to help process this energy and safely burn it off. That being said, I have many spare rooms.”

Colette looks like she’s about to object to being left out of whatever this is all leading up to until Conrad says “Sleep it off, Colette. You don’t need to magically grow a second head or explode in the middle of a brawl. I know a guy who knows a guy, who knows someone with fae connections in the Justice Coalition. I’ll investigate and call for you if this is actually leading somewhere.”

Colette relents “Alright, but just for a little while.”

“Splendid! Agnes, be a dear and prepare one of the guest rooms?” Inquires Chaptor “And also some of the magical monitoring mechanisms. Can’t be too careful.”

Conrad makes his exit as Colette is guided to one of the guest bedrooms. It’s large, with a four poster bed (complete with curtains), its own bathroom, and several other accommodations. Agnes even prepared a change of clothes for Colette if she wants to change into pajamas, which are neatly folded on the bed.

“Might as well.” Muses Colette.

Before Colette deactivates her gauntlets she places the nutcracker Casey on a bed stand. In a flash of green light Colette’s gauntlets vanish and her outfit changes to the more modest silk buttoned pajama top and pants that were left out for her. Colette places a hand on the bed, it is very soft, yet firm, the thread count of the sheets is much higher than anything she’s used to. After pulling back the covers and settling in she realizes just how cold she had been getting running around all night in her super suit. As Colette’s mind begins to wander, she turns her head to look at the nutcracker Casey again and reminisces about Christmases past when her big sister was still alive.

Before Colette has a chance to dwell on this the nutcracker seems to have moved. Colette at first dismisses this and continues to try to fall asleep until she hears a thud and turns back to see the nutcracker is gone. Colette shoots up out of bed and scans the dark room, she can hear tiny footsteps running across the floor. The door creaks open and shuts just as quickly. Colette jumps out of bed and throws the door to the room open to give chase, but what greets her isn’t the well lite hallways of Chaptor’s manor, it is the interior of her aunt Mercedes home where she grew up. Colette walks over to the mantle next to the Christmas tree where several nutcracker soldiers are sitting and picks one up. Suddenly Colette is as she was as a child, with twin pigtails and a gap in her front teeth.

“Oh, am I dreaming?”

“You better believe it!” Says a very radical voice from behind her.

Colette turns and is suddenly looking at an impossibly large Christmas tree, or rather a normal sized one seen from the perspective of someone who is only a couple inches tall. The voice originated from the tree and from it she spots a radical figure on a sake board dropping from branch to branch, grinding his way down. It’s a sheep wearing semi-transparent, all one lens, double triangle sunglasses.

“Skate Sheep?” Puzzles young Colette. She remembers him from her childhood, how he was always on all the bargain brand school equipment. She was never sure if he was really cool or not since his actions never really matched up with his look.

“C’mon boss lady, we gotta go meet your guest like respectable people of class!” Says Skate Sheep in a very Mikey from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles accent.

He gestures to the base of the tree which is now an elevator going up. Once in the lift, it stops half-way up and another figure walks in: a doll with a rabbit’s head and paws, but a turtle’s body. It squeaks with every step and never says a word.

“Swag Bun?” Wonders young Colette out loud.

The doll turns to look at her and gives what constitutes as a smile for its limited range of expression before turning back to the elevator’s gated door and pushing a floor button. They continue up with young Colette marveling at looking at a Christmas tree from the inside. Sometimes she catches a glimpse of something out of place though, something big and red with an eternally enraged face that replaces the faces of ornaments as they pass. As they continue up the tree, the branches become less lush, the pine needles go from green to a dried out dead brown. They arrive at the top of the tree with an angle in place of a star, she’s beautiful, but the more Colette looks at her, the more something feels wrong, as if her glow is getting increasingly redder until the angle opens her eyes suddenly with her face distorting into a picture of rage and drops the candle she was holding into the tree.

The flames spread quickly, Colette feels a whirlwind of anger and confusion as the tree is being consumed by the flames. Just when this seems like it had been a pointless venture, a voice rings out, a familiar one.

“Hey!” Colette turns and sees normal sized Casey dressed as the nutcracker solider carrying a fire extinguisher “We don’t have time for that!” And sprays the tree.

She reaches out a hand and plucks Colette, Skate Sheep, and Swag Bun from it. She looks them over in her hand before sighing “This will have to do.” And walks towards the door with them.

Through the door is a confusing series of colors and lights before the ground takes form and a burnt up forest comes into view with a fire still raging in the distance. The shock and confusion on Colette’s face  gives way to her reverting back to her adult form and superhero costume, ready to spring into action. Skate Sheep and Swag Bun have grown with her.

“Alright, what’s all this about, Casey?” Asks Colette waving a hand over the landscape.

“The world of dreams is burning, Colette. I came to you for help.”

****

Conrad is sitting at a bar counter, the place is seemingly empty, though in spite of that the bar maid and waitresses are in bustling about as if it were packed.

“So, Maureen, I wanted to ask you about that girl who sometimes makes deliveries here, the one who dresses in all goth, knows some magic, is French.” Begins Conrad.

“You mean Erin? I don’t think she’s your type, sweet heart. I hear she has a think for the half naked kung-fu monk-types.” Replies Maureen teasingly.

“No, no, I mean I heard she knows Hummingbird, a member of the Justice Coalition. I was hoping to ask her something.” Conrad takes a sip from the mug that’s been placed in front of him. “Something bad is going on tonight, something involving the fae and the Sageworthies I think.”

“Mmm-hmm, ‘you think?’ Another of your famous hunches?” Maureen retorts coyly while cleaning another mug. “Well, your hunches usually are right on the money. Hmm… Hold on a minute, I’ll check the back room to see if I can get a hold of Erin.”

“I appreciate it.” Conrad takes another gulp from the mug as Maureen disappears into the back room.

A few minutes go by and Conrad’s mug is now empty; he looks at his watch and stands up, as he does something begins to glow crimson behind him. Suddenly Conrad has found himself falling backwards with the sensation of being drunk, not intoxicated, more like how a glass of water feels. With a flash, Conrad reappears in a dark forest, spins around and falls to the ground.

“Oh, what the hell? I only had one mug.” Laments Conrad.

“That’s a shame, but you did want to talk to me, right?” A young looking woman wearing green with black hair and pointy ears is standing over Conrad looking down at his face with a hand extended to help him up.

Conrad accepts the help “Hummingbird, right? Was that a… demon portal?”

“Sharp one, aren't ya? Erin set that up for me, she can’t get in this neck of the woods thanks to all the demon magic around her.” Hummingbird, with some effort, helps Conrad to his feet. “Well, she can, but usually the folks in Otherworld make her feel unwelcome.”

“Otherworld? Right, the fae kingdom. I wanted to meet with you since a friend of mine touched a nutcracker infused with dreamstuff.” Explains Conrad.

“An object infused with dreamstuff being sent to the human world is only done when there’s big trouble in Otherworld, really big trouble. It’s like a distress call that seeks out the people who have the highest potential to help, or at lest the ones who’d be willing.” Says Hummingbird with concern in her voice “The entrance to Otherworld isn’t far from here, I don’t know if you can get in, but I figured there’s probably a reason why you’re involved; the Grand Narrative is weird like that.” Hummingbird shrugs.

The two of them continue deeper into the forest with Hummingbird’s magic wings lighting the way. Conrad looks around and sees damage to the surrounding foliage, damage that looks very unnatural. Soon enough they come to a clearing with a single massive tree in the middle surrounded by a ring of mushrooms, but what catches their attention is a hole handing in the air, like someone smashed a window in reality to somewhere else.

“That’s… not supposed to be there.” Says Hummingbird, with a hand to her mouth.

“And you’re not supposed to be here.” Replies another voice as Samefag emerges from behind the tree.

“Or at least not here so soon.” Says Yeah, I’m Not Samefag.

“Is that Conrad? No wonder someone showed up so soon.” Muses Definitely Not Samefag.

“Doesn’t matter, they’re not getting past us.” Says Positively Someone Who Isn’t Samefag.

“Conrad, what’s going on? Who is this guy and how is he doing that?” Asks Hummingbird.

Conrad assumes a fighting stance and puts a hand inside his coat “That’s Samefag, a member of the Sageworthy Society. Don’t like him trick you into thinking there’s more than one of him.”

Hummingbird materializes her rapier, Flycatcher, “A Sageworthy? I don’t think the Justice Coalition has ever fought them before. They usually focus on you Justice Comrades.”

“Them? You were totally just fooled right now, weren't you?” Samefag smiles wide. “This is going to be too easy.”

As Samefag grins, Conrad’s fist suddenly connects with his face, though it’s just a normal punch, Conrad put on brass knuckles.

Samefag recoils and puts his hands up to his face crying out in pain “Gah, you punched me in the face!”

“You punched him in the face!” Says Probably Not Samefag.

“Ha, you got punched in the face!” Laughs Totally Not Samefag just has he bends over backwards as if someone forced him to dodge Hummingbird’s blade.

Conrad kicks the feet out from under Samefag causing him to fall on his ass. “He’s nothing special as long as you know his trick. We need to hurry.”

Conrad and Hummingbird jump through the smashed hole in the air.

“Jerks,” Says Samefag “You haven’t beaten me yet.”

Emerging on the other side of the portal, the sight that greets them is a massive tree with a city built into it and around it. It’s an impressive sight to behold for anyone who hasn’t seen the fae capital of Tir Tairngire, but right now small fires pepper the landscape and a clear path is visible of that same unnatural destruction leading straight to the tree.

“Oh crap.” Mumbles Conrad “Looks like that boss of the Sageworthies is here.”

Hummingbird is stunned at the sight of her homeland in this state “It’s… burning. Why is it burning?”

Conrad taps a hand on Hummingbird’s shoulder “Come on, we need to move quickly. This is Hate Machine’s power, he’s the embodiment of hatred, it infects and destroys everything he touches.”

Hummingbird holds out a hand “Even the magic feels… bad. It’s like it’s in pain.”

Hummingbird is knocked out of her trance by the sounds of fighting in the distance. She draws her sword once more and, with her wings out in full, takes Conrad’s hand with her other arm and flies at full speed towards the city.

Conrad and Hummingbird arrive at the base of the enormous tree in the center of the city, there are wounded fae everywhere, some have red wounds that seem to be spreading across their bodies. In the distance they hear yelling

“We’re out numbered!”

“Just how many enemies are there?!”

Conrad looks around trying to pinpoint these enemies, so his horror he spots Samefag, only this time he’s everywhere, fighting with everyone, making human pyramids with just how many of himself there are. What’s worse is he’s laughing.

As he cackles he exclaims “Ha ha! It doesn’t matter if you know my tricks, with this many people here, I’m unbeatable!”

Conrad hardens himself for a tougher fight, Humming bird takes a striking stance, but before taking off asks “Conrad, what’s going on here?”

“Samefag is able to duplicate, but only when someone believes there is more than one of him. As long as someone is fooled, his power will work, though there’s still only one of him.” Conrad states defiantly as he prepares another trick.

Hummingbird takes off into the fray and begins getting the Samefags off of her countrymen, Conrad is weaving and doging his way through the chaos, looking around for some high ground. The battle continues with Hummingbird blowing away enemy after enemy with her sword which seems to coil around and launch them into the air, when they land deep pink slashes are glowing on them, keping them from getting back up by draining their energy.

Conrad produces a megaphone from his coat and blares it right in a Samefag’s ear “IF I CAN HAVE YOUR ATTENTION, YOU FACE ONLY ONE ENEMY HERE!” The collective attention of everyone in the area falls on Conrad, distracting them from the Samefags “DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE HIM AS MANY AND HE WILL ONLY BE ONE!”

As Conrad let his message rip, Hummingbird was able to get Samefag in a headlock. After a second of consideration and a quick survey of the battlefield, it becomes evident that Conrad is correct.

Conrad puts away his megaphone “The hard part begins now. We need to find Hate Machine and stop him from doing whatever he’s doing.”

One of the fae chimes in, he’s wearing glasses, has bright blue wings, and is holding a spell book. Hummingbird recognizes him, “Oberon!”

“Emily! This is bad, the other intruder has gotten into the Dream Well!”

Conrad, Hummingbird, and Oberon are rushing to the Dream Well, it is surrounded by Tir Tairngire’s finest fighters, spell casters, and warriors, all of them struggling to make any headway through it. Once Conrad is able to force his way to the front of the crowd, what he sees is a wall of negative energy forcing them back. In the middle of the secluded grotto are two weeping willow trees growing around a stone pool filled with a glistening rainbow substance, situated in the middle of this pool is the leader of the Sageworthy Society: hate Machine. His presence causes the substance in the pool to bubble and glow red, the willows’ vines float ominously around him, their leaves turning black from his presence.

****

Colette, Skate Sheep, and Swag Bun are following nutcracker dressed Casey through the burnt up forest.

“So you see a scorched forest?” asks Casey “That’s a close enough representation to what’s happening I guess.”

“I still don’t know what IS happening.” states Colette plainly.

“Every person who dreams makes a small amount of magic as a side effect. There’s a magic well in the fae kingdom, a Dream Well, that collects this small amount of magic from almost every human on Earth.” Explains Casey “In a way, it sort of connects with everyone.”

“Skate Sheep says you need eight hours every day!” His third person way of speaking is incredibly corny.

Casey ignores him and continues “Something has gotten into it, and it’s spreading like a plague throughout the dream world. Spreading to everyone connected to the well and filling their dreams with hate. You saw it before.”

“Alright.” Colette smashes a fist into her other hand “So I just need to kick this thing out of the pool. Simple. Straightforward. I like it.”

Something moves behind the trees silently, like a shadow, watching them.

“Well, we gotta get there first.” smiles Casey “But I like your enthusiasm.”

A shadow strikes from a blind spot, Casey reacts first by pulling out her bayonet tipped riffle and stabbing it, pinning it to he ground, then firing the gun. The shadow squirms then melts away before shooting off back to its place below a tree.

“But keep your guard up, nightmares are lurking in every dark corner.” says Casey to an impressed Colette.

They press on through the smoke towards where the fire is still burning. The fire is finally visible, though it isn’t a fire, it is a face, a face of hatred who is instantly recognizable to collect: Hate Machine. He is devouring all that he sees. Colette clenches her fists as the reactors on her gauntlets green reactors flare into life.

Colette jumps into the air “Time to snuff Hate Machine out!” and punches the ground to create a title wave of dirt to pelt Hate Machine.

This serves to get his attention and makes him move away from the still lush parts of the forest and towards Colette. As he moves, more shadows spring to life and advance on Colette, Casey, jumps into action and begins sniping them, Skate Sheep slams one with his skate board, and Swag Bun grabs one with his ears and punches it in half with his paws.

Colette pauses in midair and looks at her gauntlets “I wonder...” and points one at hate Machine’s flame body. A green beam of energy shoots from it and passes through him. “Since this is a dream, that actually worked for once!”

Colette begins shooting green lasers around Hate Machine to cut him off from his fuel source and pour dirt onto him. Waves of shadows begins pouring out of Hate Machine forcing Colette to direct her attention to them.

****

Oberon is the first to notice “Look, the barrier is wavering! The monster seems to be in some mental distress. Someone must have answered the distress call and is fighting his dream world ego!”

“Colette…” Conrad murmurs “Well then, we’ll just have to make his life hell on this end too.”

Conrad pulls out an old boombox from his coat and begins playing classic Christmas tunes.

“All members of the Sageworthy Society are dangerous,” begins Conrad “but each also have very simple weaknesses. For example...” Conrad listens to the holiday music more intently and walks through the hate barrier “Hate Machine gets more powerful the more hate you feel. Block that out and you can get close enough to fight him!”

Conrad makes a dash towards Hate Machine and just narrowly dodges a concentrated beam of pure HATE being shot at him.

“Though that doesn’t do anything to weaken him...” Conrad says meekly while on the ground. “We’re still going to need a lot of firepower to take him down.”

Hummingbird and some of the other fae have figured out the trick and have gotten beyond the barrier now. They begin buzzing Hate Machine like gnats to, if anything, hopefully annoy him enough to make him give chase. Hate Machine is un-budging from his nasty bath and contines to fire off beams of HATE at them, one of the fae is truck causing his hair to fall out as he falls to the ground. Oberon is still paused further back, deep in thought over what Conrad just said.

“Firepower…?” Realization hits Oberon like a brick “I’ve got it! I’ll be right back!” And he flies back to the city.

****

Colette is starting to be get overwhelmed by the animated shadows that leap to life from Hate Machine’s burning dream world ego. Swag Bun is balancing on his ears, using them to spin and slam the creatures with his thick tortoise shell, Skate Sheep speeds through the masses saying “Stranger Danger! Safety is more important than good manners!” before using his skateboard to smash in the face of one of the shadows trying to grab him. Casey is holding her own with a combination of shots, stabs, and hand-to-hand combat, but will soon be overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

“Colette!” yells Casey “Don’t worry about us! We’re just parts of your dream, you need to focus on Hate Machine!”

Colette gives Casey a nod and continues flying around Hate Machine’s face by shooting energy out of her gauntlets and firing them into Hate Machine. To his credit, Hate Machine’s ego isn’t even looking bruised as he continues trying to get back to consuming the untouched parts of the dream world, he looks like he’s getting angrier by the second though. Hate Machine’s anger takes the intensity of his hate to new levels as his face falls into his body of burning energy which begins to condense and glow brighter, soon he’s shrunk to about half his ego’s original size. Without warning, he explodes violently, spamming beams of HATE in every direction, Colette is unable to guard in time as a beam is about to make impact with her.

“Skate sheep says stay in-!” Skate Sheep is cut short, he’s leapt in front of the beam, taking the hit for Colette.

He tried to block it with his Jawsome skateboard only for the beam to easily snap it in half and hit Skate Sheep directly, sending his smoking wool covered body flying at high speeds into the forest. Colette only has time for a quick glance at where he landed before refocusing her energies on dodging the rest of the beam spam. Casey was able to find cover in one of the ditches Colette carved in the ground and Swag Bun threw some of the animated shadows to take the hits. After Hate Machine’s beam spam ends, the ball he rolled himself into begins to reshape, arms and legs emerge from it taking on a semi-human form in comparison to his large ever changing forest fire-like form before.

Colette lands a distance from him, before she can even size him up he’s already on the move, he’s taken off in the direction of Casey and Swag Bun. Swag Bun attempts to position himself in front of Casey only to be kicked away, creating a rip in his shell exposing some of his stuffing. In the same motion he strikes Casey on the right side of her face, sending her into the dirt, then he’s already shot off from them towards Colette.

“NO MORE SHIELDS!” he roars as he accelerates even faster.

Colette braces for a clash, but Hate Machine fires another beam from his mouth at almost point blank range right before impact. Colette is sent tumbling, her gauntlets are glowing red and parts of them look like they’ve been melted, but Colette, aware that this is a dream, wills them to mend themselves.

“It’s a dream, I know it’s a dream, he knows it’s a dream,” Colette thinks to herself “so then how do I do anymore than just stalemate him?”

Colette did not have time to continue this line of thinking, Hate Machine is in the air and thundering his way down to Colette, like a meteorite. Before impact, Colette acts fast and hits him in the face with one of her energy blasts, turn about is fair play. It isn’t enough to injure Hate Machine, but it is enough to give Colette and opening to get a hold of him.

“DON’T TOUCH ME, YOU BITCH!” Hate Machine isn’t liking being touched, much less being touched by a girl.

Now that Colette has a hold of him, Hate Machine can no longer beam spam without risking his own well being. It’s a contest of wills as they begin throwing each other into the ground, into three, through rocks, all while not letting go.

****

Oberon has returned to what looks like a one-sided fight. All the fae forces gathered cannot dislodge Hate Machine’s body from the dream well, his very being is contaminating the magic they draw power from. Conrad is equally ineffective, clever as he is, he has nothing that can give them the raw power they need to move this monster.

A large shadow is cast over the battlefield as a soft, yet booming voice echos over the grotto “So you’re the one causing my friends so much trouble? I may just be an old librarian, but if I can be of some assistance, I’ll gladly join in.” The figure casting the shadow comes into view, it’s owner is a large, golden, serpentine-like dragon “Enchanters, I’d say a condensing spell would be appropriate, and if we have any remembrancers, try to follow this up with all you can muster.”

The Chief Archivist of the fae library pulls back his massive dragon head, flames are already licking up around the curves of his massive mouth, and with a mighty roar he unleashes a torrent of golden flames at Hate Machine. The fae are quick to react and weave a magic net in the air, capturing the flames to prevent them from spreading, then funneling and condensing them into a golden lance of fire which pierces Hate Machine, then another, and another, and another, from all sides as the fae cast spells and sing a song to make the attack repeat. Hate Machine screams in pain.

****

Colette is still in a contest of wills with Hate Machine’s dream ego, his power seems inexhaustible and Colette is at her limit. Suddenly, wounds appear all over Hate Machine and his essence begins to escape his shell. It seems he’s finally starting to weaken, but as Colette begins pushing him back, Hate Machine gets his second wind and begins reabsorbing the hate he just lost. As he does this, he takes a step forward and begins to laugh. Colette’s gauntlets crack as Hate Machine takes another step forward, forcing Colette on her knees. Hate Machine has a horrible jagged smile on his face, one more step and he’ll have eliminated the only threat to his plans to corrupt everyone through their dreams on Christmas Eve.

Hate Machine has his foot raised to take the final step to fully overpower Colette. His mirth is suddenly interrupted when his face is sent to one side, something struck him. Colette looks up and sees Skate Sheep’s triangle Shades embedded half-way into one of Hate Machine’s eyes. Hate Machine recoils and screams in pain, the hate he had be trying to reabsorb from his wounds is escaping again. Colette manages to get back on her feet and look in the direction the shades were thrown like a ninja star from. She sees Skate Sheep with half his wool burned off and looking worse for ware, but he’s smiling, giving what would be a thumbs up.

Colette can’t help be feel something welling up inside her chest “Skate Sheep,” there’s a tear in her eye “that was so cool!”

As she says this, Colette punches Hate Machine right in the face with a fist charged with positive emotions. Hate Machine’s ego can’t take it and shatters.

****

“He’s weakening!” rally the fae “Now’s our chance!”

The fae quickly pour on more offensive magic and Hate Machine is finally dislodged from the Dream Well. The various spell casters in their ranks quickly begin a chant and throw something into the now unoccupied Dream well causing bright flash of light.

****

The dream world is beginning to change back to normal. The forest is recovering and the damage from the battle has all but disappeared. The four battered, but still standing heroes lean on each other for support.

“Is it over?” asks Colette.

“I think so.” answers Casey.

Swag Bun, Skate Sheep, and Casey begin to glow and turn into sparkles which swirl around Colette, healing her.

“Wait, why are you guys disappearing?” asks Colette, alarmed.

“The spell on the nutcracker was to strengthen your subconscious to protect you from harm in the dream world. Now that the dream world is safe again, the spell has ended and we’re just going back to where we belong.” replies Casey.

Colette still looks a little distressed about this “It was nice seeing you again, Casey. Merry Christmas.”

The scene changes to Colette’s aunt’s house with Colette as a child again holding a present with Casey there with her. Casey smiles and says “Merry Christmas.”

****

Colette is in bed in one of Chaptor’s guest bedrooms, suddenly her eyes open wide, she’s very awake and shoots up out of bed, startling Agnes who had been sitting by her bedside.

“What, where?” begins Colette as she looks around before remembering “All a dream?”

“The door to her room opens and Conrad pokes his head in “Colette, you’re awake! Chaptor is throwing a Christmas party-slash-victory celebration downstairs! The fae told me we wouldn’t have won if you hadn’t been fighting Hate Machine in the dream world!” Next to Conrad is his wife, Becky, and their son, Cookie, who comes running in.

Colette still looks a little confused. She turns to the nutcracker still sitting on her night stand right where she left it before going to bed. Just for a moment, it looked like Casey giving her a smile before changing back to a normal nutcracker solider.

Colette smiles and gets out of bed, stretching a little, “So, what happen to Hate machine?” she asks.

Conrad is still standing in the door “The fae did some magic that reversed and repaired whatever he was doing, it also hit him with some sort of backwash that banished him from Otherworld. No idea where he is now, but he probably won’t be bothering anyone for at least a little while.”

****

Somewhere, in a dark place, we see a red glint of light and unintelligible swearing circling up from it. Hate Machine and Samefag are encased in a large lump of coal which Hate Machine is trying to burn away as Samefag blows on it, trying to keep the heat from reaching him.