Winter Comes to Ambrosia

[Kopaka]

Kopaka marched sullenly through the underbrush, angrily swatting invasive vegetation out of his way with broad strokes of his Ice Sword. Normally the Toa may have shown a tad more deference for the sanctity of nature, but he had never been as much of a bleeding heart for trees and moss as Gali or Lewa had been. Ice and snow were inherently hostile to living things, however, and as things stood, Kopaka was feeling particularly cold.

It wasn't particularly difficult to locate Ambrosia as a whole; less perceptive beings may have not been able to spot the subtle electronic glow of village lights above the tree tops. The night sky in the Tangled Green, as humid as it was, carried the dull orange aura up into the overcast cloud cover which blanketed away the moon and stars. In time, Kopaka approached the outskirts of the village, and peered into the small clearing of thatched huts from deep within the brush.

Walking into the settlement brazenly would likely raise a note of concern among the populace. A more stealthy approach would be necessary. Kopaka squinted as he wished that he had a Kanohi Huna to wear. The Mask of Concealment would have worked wonderfully in this dark, cover-rich environment. Of course...Kopaka could always summon one if he truly needed to. The Toa shook his head; no, Kanohi were sacred objects, not mere tools of convenience.

Still...the idea clung to his mind like a cloying scent. If he did summon his own Huna, he wouldn't really be any different from the ancient mask makers. Someone had to have crafted the Kanohi in the first place. The biomech held his hand out in front of him, and allowed a small orblet of Omnilium to trickle into existence. Maybe, just this once. For the sake of the mission...

...

An hour later, Kopaka held the fresh mask in his cold grasp. In the interest of maintaining a low profile, the Bionicle had located a secluded spot to perform the summoning. At the time he had felt a sense of elation, but seeing the artifact of power sitting in front of his face elicited fresh pangs of shame. It was nigh unto blasphemy for Kopaka to have done this; an insult to the ancient Tohunga of Mata Nui. Still...there was no sense in letting the Huna go to waste.

With only a slight twitch of reluctance, Kopaka clapped the mask onto his face, whereupon it integrated seemlessly with his existing menagerie of Kanohi. Triggering the power of the Huna, Kopaka's body and weapons vanished completely from sight. Under normal circumstances, his shadow would have been visible, but the night was dark, and the all-consuming jungle flora broke up any subtler shadows perfectly.

One thing was missing, however; a distraction. Even with his newest Kanohi, people might notice strange tracks in the dirt, or doors opening and closing. Kopaka stared up at the sky, gauging his options. The Omniverse had robbed him of many of his faculties, but now, the Toa felt notably stronger than when he had initially assembled. There was certainly enough humidity for a snow storm to form, but doing so would tap every reserve of elemental power the Toa posessed.

There was nothing for it; there could be no more risk for error. Kopaka sat down in the loamy soil and raised his head, calling upon the power of Ice. It was always a humbling experience to serve as a conduit for this much spiritual energy, so it was not take lightly as, one by one, tiny flurries of snow came floating down from the orange heavens. The Toa could already hear the commotion and excitement in the distance. Temporarily giving up his mastery of frost and cold was a steep price, but necessary.

With that, the biomech gently stepped out of the jungle and into one of Ambrosia's odd, reality bending streets. Surely it woudln't be difficult to find either Mouse's place of residence

[Kopaka]

Kopaka stalked through the gently falling snow, trying not to call too much attention to himself. Big, fat flakes of ice were already coating the ground in a sugary dusting. Based on the footprints in the nascent layer of frost, it was easy to tell which roads were more traveled than others. Still, this did not mean he didn't go entirely unnoticed. The town's jubilant and somewhat diminutive population of bipedal, intelligent rahi would cast curious glances upon his visage. If anyone appeared to become more than a little interested, Kopaka simply activated the Kanohi Huna and slipped away through the shadows. The problem with the Mask of Concealment was that it could only work for a few minutes at a time. Hypothetically, the Toa could have moved along the rooftops of the village using the Miru, but the blasts of light from his feet when using that mask would probably defeat the purpose.

The Ambrosians did seem to be enjoying the snow, however. The biomech had heard rumors of their carefree and exuberant nature, and seeing it firsthand had him feeling uncomfortable. There was no doubt that they were industrious; their ability to organize and run a Koro in the middle of a dangerous jungle was proof enough of that. Sure there had to be someone serious somewhere to keep things held together. Kopaka simply could not comprehend a life lived with so much unhindered optimism. On that note, there seemed to be a snowball fight growing in the center of the village, which many of the residents were flocking to. This was good; it would keep them nice and distracted while Kopaka investigated the central palace of Ambrosia.

Skirting around the edges of the central clearing, Kopaka flitted stealthily across the road using the Huna, before moving around to the rear of the immense, pink building. Once secluded, he called upon the Miru, and leaped up to the roof of the structure in a single bound. As he landed, Kopaka cringed at the flare of blue thrust that exploded from the bottom of his feet, but if anyone had noticed, they weren't doing anything about it.

Yet.

It would be best not to linger; Ambrosia had many powerful Primes that called it home, and the Toa did not want to incur their wrath. At least, not before getting what he came for. The roof of the Ambrosia palace had already gathered a slick coating of snow, but being able to traverse treacherous terrain covered in ice was second nature to the Spirit. Half sliding, half walking, Kopaka switched his Kanohi back to the Akaku as he moved along the flat peak of the capitol building. Peering into the half-lit rooms, the Toa did not immediately see anything that might denote that either Minnie or Mickey lived or ever had lived in this building itself. Did they keep a residence in one of the many huts that were scattered throughout the forest? If so, it would take much longer to locate than Kopaka had originally suspected. With a sigh, the Toa stood upright on the roof and surveyed the landscape from atop the tall parapets of Guu's castle. There had to be some kind of indication of where to begin looking.

...And indeed, there was. As the biomech wheeled around, he spotted an odd pair of shapes that stuck out from the normal silhouette of the jungle canopy. On a hill in the distance, Kopaka could barely make out two large, round shapes that jutted up every so slightly over the trees. The Toa knew his prey well enough to recognize the shape of Mickey Mouse's ears, even if they were half hidden by tropical foliage. This was far from the subtle clues that the Toa had been searching for all this time. Did Mickey's ego swell so much that he had built his own house to resemble his form? How disgusting.

With a sharp grumble, Kopaka launched off into the canopy of the jungle, the bright blasts of light from the Miru heralding his departure from central Ambrosia. A strange sensation tickled its way up and down his spine. Was this excitement? Apprehension? It was so hard to say, especially when he himself was not sure what he would find at his destination...

[Kopaka]

Kopaka stood outside of Mickey's Clubhouse, hand gripping his sword tightly. The strange, hemispherical structure was dusted in a light layer of snow, and aside from the light from a small lampost nearby, the building was completely dark. The Toa stalked carefully towards the front door, watching for signs of activity or movement from within, but there were none.

Kopaka breathed steadily as he sidled up to the round, red outerwall, and switched his Kanohi back to the Akaku. Odds are that the door was locked, and though the Toa could have easily broke one of the windows, he doubted he would have been able to fit the bulk of his torso through the miniscule portal. As such, he called upon the Akaku, which revealed to him the mundane interior.

A place for preparing food, a common area, and a small resting room comprised the extent of the interior. More importantly, no one was inside, and based on thermal feedback from the Akaku, no one had been there for quite some time. The entire building was cold, not just because of Kopaka's atmospheric adjustments. There was no residual heat in the building whatsoever. 

It appeared as though Minnie Mouse was travelling. If she was not here, and she was neither in the village nor the palace, then finding her became exponentially more problematic. Kopaka breathed a long, rattling sigh and shifted uncomfortably. Scanning the interior once more revealed absolutely nothing about where the female mouse may have gone, and estranged as he was from the EPD, Kopaka doubted they would be willing to grant him access to any surveillance records.

A dead end, then.

Obviously, Kopaka was not going to give up, but settling on an immediate course of action was going to be difficult. The biomech did not know a great deal about Minnie mouse, so anticipating her motives was also impossible. Asking the townsfolk would not be likely to be of any use either. Any half-educated individual would know of Minnie's fugitive status, and telling her location to an inquisitive stranger would be idiotic.

It was a true conundrum, to say the least.

Whatever Kopaka's next course of action was, he could not simply remain here in the hopes that the criminals would just serendipitously show up. The location was too exposed, and Kopaka needed to be able to reliably track them. They would, however, need to return to their house eventually, which would mean, at least for Mickey, travelling through the gate to the Tangled Greens. It was a chokepoint, with a lot of cover to boot, and Kopaka had a wealth of patience to spare.

That would have to be the plan then; stake out the gate to the Greens on the jungle side and wait for either of the criminals to pass through. In the mean time, Kopaka could certainly take other measures to try and locate the vermin. With a sharp lurch, Kopaka pulled away from the clubhouse wall and recalled his powers of ice to him once more. Over time, the snow would eventually come to a halt as the Toa's elemental connection was rerouted back into his body.

With a firm glare on his visage, the Toa of Ice started making the long march back towards the Gate...