The Magical Holiday Special [OPEN]

As Simon swooped in and saved JaK from the little snowmen he would ask the dark haired boy where he wanted to be dropped off, to which his somewhat edgy-looking partner would ask him to drop him off by a prize car, likely with mischief in mind "Gotcha! Don't do anything I wouldn't do! Wink wink!" he said, to accommodate for his inability to show that he was winking thanks to his helmet. After dropping JaK down by the car he would zoom away in search of the sneaky slivering Steve's who were trying to get away with all those presents.

Simon would make way for the main exit from the mall, hoping to cut off the retreating Steves before they could escape. If he managed to do so then he would fly between each one and start snatching their stolen presents away from them, not unlike the grumpy green monster that Mumbo had recently compared him to. He would start off with the sacks full of toys and slowly make his way up to the larger gifts like TV's, gathering them in a pile away from the Steves.

He knew there was no way he had stopped each and every one of the little thieves from escaping, but this way he would retrieve as much stolen goods as possible on his own. This made him somewhat miss his team, if all five rangers were here then this would be over in a jiffy. Not that it mattered, because now all there was to stop the Steve's from reclaiming the presents that had been piled up was him; Verdant Gale! If any Steve got close to the pile he would stop them "If you want to ruin Christmas you'll have to get past me, tiny evildoers!"

JaK eyes widened and his jaw dropped as he saw the car get sucked up along with the smoke by Mumbo's top hat. Ok, now this was getting down right annoying! JaK took the moment that the magician was distracted as a chance to catch Mumbo off-guard. He took off his belt as he drew near but he was stopped dead in his tracks when Mumbo suddenly tapped him on the head with the wand by a spell that would rewind him in time with magic as it seemed. "Enough!"

JaK however was BEYOND sick and tired of this game and valiantly resisted the magic, even if momentarily. His very being seemed to fluctuate for a moment as his indomitable willpower took over for a brief moment and his eyes shimmered! He yelled out as he lashed out with his belt and it lassoed out to catch Mumbo by his wand hand. JaK's futile resistance came to an abrupt end within half a second later as he ran backwards. It was as if time itself had taken over but hopefully Mumbo would be towed along with him if the belt had caught him or at least his wand.

Unfortunately the spell in question didn't just make you move backwards- otherwise that would've been a great trick. It simply rewound every action you made within a short time frame; so the motion of lassoing Mumbo, and the taking the belt off, and everything between those two points were repeated- complete with "Enough"

Mumbo used the momentary distraction to move back toward an upward escalator with a sigh of relief. That was TOO close for comfort- shame it didn't last longer. "Close but no cigar kid, and now I think it high time to make my dashing escape!" He just couldn't help but ham it up, when he really should be running. Oh, but he did conjure up some more playing cards that he hurled behind him, the cards growing to large sizes and trying to cover his escape up the escalator. The Sub-Zero Steves seemed to have gotten bored and started wandering off...


MEANWHILE... the non-poofy coated Steves were viciously robbed by The Grinch! That's all there was to it- he was wearing green, and he was stealing the things they had fairly stolen and planned to give away to peoples. There were many a distraught Steve Sound as they feebly tried to keep from being robbed- but Verdant Gale being a character, they stood no chance without Mumbo around to boss them around. If only there was some kind of... under boss- a sub-boss? A miniboss if you will. For now the aggravated Steves that had been robbed and unable to get out one of the entrances (malls had more than one so he would only be able to pick one) would start to rally! They for some unknown reason seemed to know who he was, as they didn't make any immediate move other than to honk, squeak and make various other assorted Steve sounds that no one would be able to understand!

And then music started to play. Some of The Sub-Zero Steves saw this villainous thievery masquerading as fairness and Justice! What was fair or just about not giving people presents? Several Sub-Zero Steves did some weird little dance, and then all crashed into each other at the same time for a flashy and chilly display of light and snow to reveal- A Super Sub-Zero Steve! What was super about him? Well, he was Simon's height, and he had hands instead of nubs... and he was exempt from the fatal flaw of all Steves! Once the epic music picked up, Simon's new foe would start gathering up the air, filling it with ice and frost that he sent hurling Simon's direction! It was the battle of the blowhards!

The irony of trying to save Christmas by stealing presents from small child-like beings wasn't lost on Simon, especially not when he was literally swiping them right out of their little nub-like hands. But he had to do it, even if it meant being labelled as a Grinch. As Simon took all their presents and put them all in a pile the Steves would all start acting unusual, honking and squeaking in their little language that only they understood. Then suddenly he would start to hear an unusual sound playing, something that sounded awfully familiar to him despite not knowing where it was coming from.

"Why do I hear boss music?"

Just as he mused that out loud the Steves would do a silly little dance before forming together to create... some kind of more humanoid version of themselves. It honestly looked a little unsettling to Simon, seeing one those cute cartoonish creatures with humanoid proportions. What also sent chills down the teen's spine was when it froze the air and launched ice projectiles at the hero!

Normally Simon wouldn't bother trying to block something like that and would just avoid them entirely and rush the person throwing them, but as he was flying right in front of the confiscated presents avoiding those attacks would mean allowing the presents to get damaged! For that reason he would instead intercept each one in mid-air and shatter them with a kick, unnecessarily yelling "Haiyah!" with each strike.

After that he would showcase his victory by striking what seemed to be a poorly memorised imitation of a kung-fu pose. He wouldn't revel in this shallow victory for long though as he charged at the Super Steve and swung a kick right at its face, or at least for that general area because Simon wasn't too sure it had a face underneath that unsettling mask.

JaK was rewinded alright, but completely and otherly - he even felt his words re-enter his mouth - weird! JaK was back where he started. He pounded his fist on the ground, beyond frustrated with the situation. His partner was now struggling with some gigantic...well actually no... he wasn't that much bigger than the green dude it seemed, but still! Some larger version of the little oompa loompa snowmen this joker had created. If only JaK had a team, (Insert foreshadowing here) he could've probably been able to take this guy down, but with just him this magician was proving to be damn near impossible for the Gothamite to take on.

"I can't let it end like this," JaK said and took off after the magician but gasped mid-sprint as giant playing cards came hurtling in his direction. The physically gifted super teen juked left, and right to avoid two cards, dodge rolled under the second - just barely avoiding impact - lunged onto the side rung of the escalator to avoid the last one, and sprinted up the side of it after Mumbo. "Stop!" JaK yelled as he hopped on to the floor of the upper level and went to give chase to the evil-doer but saw that Verdant Gale needed help from his peripheral vision.

JaK frowned as he watched the mastermind making his getaway. But JaK also realized working alone hadn't done anything for him in this conflict. He paused for a moment and looked at both scenarios then turned his back on the fleeing Mumbo. JaK would help Verdant Gale! The golden eyed boy immediately surveyed the battlefield/mall from above and with his quick-witt identified a way to aid the green hero. JaK saw multiple large hanging posters for Shneckers Shoes that were strewn around the area.

The advertisements were all hanging from light fixtures which lined up perfectly with the battle JaK was witnessing down below. JaK backed up, took a running start, then leaped from the second level and grabbed hold of one of these posters. The fabric of the advertisement ripped immediately under JaK's weight but not all the way, and certainly not before the pale teen was able to swing the distance between him, the super Steve, and Verdant Gale. JaK let go of the torn poster when he was near enough to the two to dove from above at the holiday themed villain. "I got a lump of something for ya, but it’s not coal!" JaK performed a front flip as he soared through the air and as he opened up he poised himself to deliver a stunning dropkick to the super Steve with the goal of breaking him apart.

Mumbo laughed to see JaK accept the hand dealt to him, and was aso incredibly relieved- he wasn't well versed in the ways of fisiticuffs and probably wouldn't have done well if JaK or the speedy Grinch had gotten close enough to him for long enough. But now he made his escape- it may seem cruel to abandon his minions this way but they all knew what was going on.


Speaking of minions...

As soon as Simon went in for his flashy kick attack, The Super Subzero Steve would just... turn into a sparkly white, and very cold mist that he passed harmlessly through- well... his armor was now covered in a very thin coat of snow and ice but he wasn't frozen. Then he reformed, laughed at him in an unusually not Steve-like pitch- it was high pitched but that was it. The other Simple and Subzero Steves cheered, but as the Super whipped up a pair of large ice pillars, angling them to the aim the flat sides (the other ends were pointed) and prepared to hurl them at him. But then a surprise ambush attack from JaK! Why wasn't anyone paying attention to JaK? Because Steve. JaK's attack hit home and sent The Super flying onto his back, dropping the icy pillars before its body popped back into the several Subzero Steves that did the fusion dance. Panicked Steve Sounds!

Simple Steves sprung into action, trying to snatch the sack of presents while the Subzero Steves tried throwing snowballs at JaK and Simon- covering the Simple Steves to Scurry Speedily away if they succeeded.

Simon was fast as he closed the distance between him and the Super Steve in a literal blink and you miss it moment, but he still wasn't fast enough as Super Steve would suddenly dissipate into a cold mist that Simon just slipped right through, covering him in a thin coat of frost that was quickly blown away by his wind aura. His body was unharmed but his pride was not, especially after Super Steve laughed at him "Darn!"

Before Simon could figure out what to do about this problem it would be solved for him as the dark haired teen from before would swoop in and kick Super Steve in the back, sending it crashing down to the ground and having it split back into the little Steve's that formed it. Huh, that was surprisingly easy. Though that being said the unlikely duo still had to deal with the remaining Steve's as they returned to their initial plan of trying to grab the presents and run off with them.

The Steves that had formed the Super Steve earlier would help them achieve this task by keeping the heroes at bay... with snowballs. Snowballs that were harmlessly scattered by Simon's wind aura before they could affect him enough for him to even feel them. Simon would ignore them to intercept the Steves that were running for the presents and send them flying away by punting them individually "This feels like bullying" he'd remark, none of the usual pomp or extravagance present in his voice.

JaK was quite over this stupid holiday now. With the speed, quickness, and efficiency of the world's finest ninja baseball pitcher, every snowball lunged in his direction was caught and then thrown back at one of the simple steves running about with enough force to knock the little oompa loompa like creatures over. JaK continuously performed this via spinning, and flipping if he had to to keep the momentum going, it was actually kind of amazing to see. In addition as he redirected the projectiles and moved near any of the sub-zero steves they were met face to foot or fist with one of JaK's melee attacks. In between fighting and throwing snowballs JaK spoke back to Verdant Gale. "It's not bullying, it's teamwork."

It would be hard to believe JaK could go from angsty-lone-wolf to competent team player in such a short amount of time, but then again, he had always been a quick study. "Get the ones trying to steal more presents and I'll handle these ones. If we hurry, we can wrap this up before it's time for the victims families to unwrap their presents."

Every Steve- regardless of their elemental affinity or lack thereof, would immediately after being hit by ANYTHING they did, explode into confetti and party horn sounds. Either someone had a twisted sense of humor, or the effect was to ease the pains of attacking a poor defenseless Steve. But that didn't stop them from trying- and failing miserably. But why were a few of the presents seemingly floating away? Small footsteps in the forming snow, plus snow that seemed to be clinging to... something or other would reveal that there were some Steves trying to be Sneaky- being Sneaky Steves as it were. But there weren't very many Steves of any variety left but- oh hey, there was now a big sack just floating around as it seemed to quickly suck up presents as the Sneaky Steif went by! Simple Steves also seemed to get caught up in it which made the problem of cleaning them up that much easier.

Between the combined efforts of Verdant Gale and JaK Sage they were starting to make short work of the present-snatching Steves, taking them down with speedy kicks or by throwing their own snowballs back at them. They were main characters after all. But even when most of the little rascals were taken out there seemed to still be presents being taken, except they were seemingly leaving of their own accord and floating away. For a few moments Simon couldn't figure out what was happening, until JaK told him to 'get the ones trying to steal more presents' which made him notice the little footprints in the snow.

With a battle cry full of gusto Simon would charge at the sneaky steves, using the positioning of the presents and the location of their footprints to guess where they were, and would drop down low and kick them as if performing a slide tackle in a game of Soccer "Gale sliding strike!!!" He would keep this up until either he took them all out or there was some kind of new development. He was hoping for the former, but expecting the latter.

Verdant Gale’s signature move and JaK’s precise strikes in bunches overpowered the Steve army. The duo was victorious! Maybe this teamwork stuff wasn’t half bad after all. JaK smirked and watched the relief on the faces of all the mall residents. Pedestrians, mall police, and shop owners all clapped for JaK and Verdant Gale. This was...nice. This made it all worth it. JaK had made a difference. And that, would be the one present he never wanted but appreciated the most. Maybe playing hero, sometimes, was worth it after all. JaK elbow bumped Verdant gale amidst the applause. This dude was lame, and kind of a 90’s cheesy sitcom type - but as a hero he was the real deal.