August 7, 2004

Kristi Halsted hates the Space Jellyfish. She just hates them.

So when she heard that the Jellyfish were having a party in Wisconsin (See Related Story), she went as far from there as she could. And that was Tierra del Fuego, at the southern tip of South America. Kristi had friends there, who are malacologists. "'Malacology' sounds evil - but it's really just the study of molluscs," she said.

Like any clam diggers, Kristi's malacologist friends could use someone who can hold her breath under water. And Kristi could do that as long as any whale could - because she had whale powers! And bear powers, and panther powers too. You might say, she was a regular animal woman. (See Related Story)

So, off to Tierra del Fuego Kristi went. Just in time for the Argentine invasion. (See Related Story)

The invaders captured the bridge from Tierra del Fuego to the mainland, then advanced toward the Chilean city of Porvenir where Kristi was. A battallion of Chilean marines stopped most of them, but some invaders slipped by...

The morning of Thursday, August 5 in Porvenir was dark and cloudy, but no rain or snow. That made it as good as sailing weather gets during the Antarctic winter.

But no ships would leave the harbor. Their captains all said, they'd been threatened with death if they did. There was an Argentine death squad in town, with people strong enough to punch a hole through the side of a battleship, and sneaky enough to not be seen doing it. Kristi's ship went out anyway.

Before long, the ship came under attack! There were three superhumans in the attack force:

Kristi fought them all! Her panther powers sniffed out Doctor Niiño; her bear powers were strong enough to hurt even the Hard Falcon; and she now had mollusc powers to resist marine toxins like El Plasmo's.

But there was one other. They call him El Cero, because he's as deadly as a Japanese Zero fighter, and he can turn invisible. He's also huge, and super strong. He'd come on the boat invisibly with the others, and punched a hole through the boat's hull. They were sinking! While the villains fled, Kristi had to help save the boat's crew.

They came ashore, wet and exhausted. Only Kristi was in any shape to move, because of her whale powers.

Then the villains returned. Unless the little group got help, they were doomed.

To Be Continued - In Our Next Story!

Special to the World Journal Monthly by Sylvester Morrow and Bruce Klybourn