The bad kids list and the sorceress of eternal winter

08 - No man left behind (Daniel)

Daniel floored the accelerator and maneuvered down Mikaela's street, trying to ignore his fear of crashing the vehicle as much as possible. The image he saw in the rearview mirror helped him think of something else, but not in a good way.

"Oh my God, that thing swallowed Thomas!"

He and Mikaela looked back just in time to see an extra large version of an evil snowman devour the basketball player.

"I don't believe..." Mikaela whispered and hugged the woman even closer in her arms. "What do we do now?"

We run, what else can we do? Call Godzilla?

Daniel closed his eyes and cursed himself for thinking like a coward. He stopped the van and forced himself to face the huge monster that was now watching them curiously. Like they were the next item on her menu. He thought about Santa Claus and how he had escaped from the forest. Now, Thomas... Enough! I don't want to run anymore! Jonas would never leave a friend behind!

Thinking about his ex-boyfriend and how he always seemed willing to take on the world to protect his friends was something Daniel had done a lot since he'd moved to Clarence. He was tired of not having the courage to stand up for himself and had decided that he would be a new person there. A better version of himself. Someone Jonas would be proud of.

"Look, Daniel! That thing's mouth is glowing!" Mikaela said, getting his attention.

And there really was a golden gleam in the monster's mouth. Gradually, something opened the snow's jaws, and Daniel was shocked to realize that Thomas was doing it alone!

"We have to help him!" Mikaela shouted.

"And we will!"

Without even realizing what or why he was doing, Daniel got out of the van and ran towards the fight. The necklace around his neck glowed, and his whole body became very hot. When he looked at himself, his hands were on fire. On pure instinct, he clenched his fists and felt the flames increase in intensity. They looked ready to fire on his command, and that's what he did.

"Release the blonde!" He thrust his hands forward.

Two fire bolts flew out and hit the snowman on the head. The creature opened its mouth to scream, and that helped Thomas out of his grip. The boy jumped and rolled across the floor, getting to his feet with his shield ready for another fight.

"Release the blond? I thought you were going to yell 'on fire'" Thomas said and laughed as he looked at him.

The rocker couldn't stop himself and joined the laughing.

"I don't want to be a hero of a bad movie franchise. Later, I'll think of a better catchphrase than 'release the blonde'."

Two smoldering holes formed where the fireballs hit the snow monster, and he didn't look happy about it. With a snarl, he lunged at the two and tried to grab them with his huge wooden claws. Thomas crouched down and rolled across the floor, managing to escape unharmed, but Daniel wasn't so lucky.

"Get your paws off me!" He placed his hands over the grotesque fingers that gripped him.

His flames incinerated the wood and he was free. He fell to the ground and tried to roll as quickly as the blonde, but "athlete" wasn't a good word for him. Daniel grunted as he felt his right ankle twist, and he lay flat on the snow-covered ground.

Thomas ran towards him, but the giant snowman opened his mouth again and released his tongue. The basketball player jumped back, away from the tongue that swayed like an ice blue snake. She turned in the direction of an easier target, and Daniel shivered as he saw her approach him. He fired a fireball, but the tongue dodged at the last moment and wrapped itself around his leg. A tug made him scream, and when he realized he was already on his way to the snowman's mouth.

I need to react!

"I hope you like pepper! ON FIRE!" He yelled and closed his eyes, pulling every ounce of power he felt rush through his body.

When he opened his eyes, he saw his world darken as he entered the snowman's mouth, and then everything became very clear and very, very hot. He really was on fire!

The tongue released it down his throat, but Daniel didn't go down for long. Somehow his powers made him float where he was and he laughed. He looked up and then decided he could get out of this situation with a little more style. He flew down to what he guessed was the creature's stomach and then expanded his flames. Bringing his fists together, Daniel fired a larger beam of fire that made a huge hole in the giant snowman's belly.

Finally free, he landed next to a stunned Thomas. He looked back just in time to see what was left of his enemy crumble into a puddle of water. The wooden arms remained in the street, burning and not moving anymore.

Daniel looked at the blond and let his flames die.

"What happened to 'I need a better catchphrase?'" Thomas asked.

Shrugging, he replied.

" Sometimes we need to respect the classics."

With one last look at the remains of their enemy, the two ran back to the van, where Mikaela was waiting for them. As much as he was feeling amazing, Daniel didn't want to wait for other monsters to decide to show up there.

Meanwhile, in Clarence Forest

The spirit of the hunt sharpened his senses again and sniffed the ground and trees. There was no sign of Noel's damn magic scepter in those woods. The winter sorceress wasn't going to be happy about that.

"I thought she had the power to bury humans under ice. Why the hell does she want that scepter so badly?" He wondered, not for the first time since being left behind to retrieve the magic weapon.

Then his nose finally picked up something other than the scents of the surrounding forest. The unmistakable scent of fresh magic. And curiously, the odor was not close to the forest, it came from somewhere inside the city that men had built in that region.

Leaving the cover of trees, the huge wolf looked out at the collection of buildings, houses and streets that made up the concrete jungle that humans called civilization.

"So that's where you ended up, I was almost losing my patience." He smiled satisfied.

Not wanting to waste any more time than necessary within the humans' territory, the wolf began to run, following the trail that his scent clearly showed him.