Wheua Mīti [Dark Data]

[Nebula]

The elemental power which Kopaka had drawn upon in order to goad the storm had interfered with a process possessing tremendous inertia. As the Liberators fought to gain access to Nebula's mountain lair, the effect rippled outward, colliding with other weather-systems and forces within the ice, a cresting wave of errant arctic energy. 

As the Toa of Ice set out into the rapidly-worsening gale thunder rolled, and the clouds, hidden though they were behind curtains of tumbling snow, began to roil. 

Fortunately, Keldor wasn't hard to find. Flashes of magic and fire shone even through the driving sheets of windblown ice, and the sorcerer's laughter carried on the wind.  

"Nyeheheheheheheheh! Fools! Imbeciles! Still you think you can stand against my power? Persist in this idiocy and you'll end up... on ice!"

There.

The Warlock stood with his back to the bionicle, surrounded by corpses half-buried in the snow and facing down a dozen or more darklings. Tongues of black flame rose from his body.

"Keldor," the Toa called, his voice carrying unnaturally well through the frigid air, "The path is clear. Your task is complete - but we must hurry. Our foes may yet regroup, and the storm grows wild."

The warlock turned, and for a moment Kopaka thought he glimpsed the fleshless face of a stranger - but then the black flames fell away, and it was just Keldor again. Some effect of the dark energies the man had absorbed, perhaps? Or something else? 

"Nyeeeehhh! Well it's about time. I was beginning to think you'd forgotten about me!" 

He raised his staff, unleashing a blast of magic, and wall of flame sprang up between him and the darklings. It bought only a moment, but it was enough time for the Warlock to break and run. 

The howl of the wind rose to a pitch so high and constant that it formed a single, ongoing, almost musical tone. Snow flew parallel to the ground, great sheets of powdered ice whipping through the air like blankets caught in a hurricane. The two Liberators charged headlong through the gale, the ice elemental calming the weather in their immediate area just enough to ease the passage of his less environmentally-attuned companion. 

Snow crunched beneath their feet, but it was almost an afterthought -there was nearly as much of it in the air as on the ground. Even with the Toa's assistance, Keldor struggled, pulling his cloak tight in a nigh-futile effort to shut out the wind and the ice. 

It took several minutes to reach their goal, hidden within the shadow of the mountain. When the Primes finally charged down the rocky causeway, past hastily-abandoned equipment and the wreckage of battle, it wasn't a moment too soon. 

Within the blizzard, something roared, louder than the storm. A boulder the size of a cottage slammed into the ground, not twenty feet away. 

"I THOUGHT YOU SAID THE PATH WAS CLEAR!" yelled Keldor.  

 "It was," said Kopaka, dodging around a truck half-buried within a drift "and we are within sight of our goal.

Just ahead of them stood the gate, and Weiss stood beside it, hidden from the storm within the lee of one of its massive columns. 

The bionicle crossed the threshold first, unslowed by the snow and driving wind. Weiss followed him, already half-inside, and together they watched the warlock stumble after. 

Beyond the gate lay a sloped tunnel, three stories high, carved deep into the mountainside and hung with strings of electric work-lamps. Their flickering yellow glow somehow made the shadows seem deeper than they would have otherwise been.

The liberators' next course of action required little debate - though there was some brief grumbling on other topics ranging from courtesy to strategy.  In the end though, with weapons drawn, they descended into the tunnels beneath the mountain.

At the bottom of the ramp, they froze. 

The tunnel opened up into an enormous underground space - a great hall with a vaulted ceiling that could have easily fit a moderately-sized castle inside. More lamps hung from above by raggedy electrical cables, lighting the space with terribly inadequate little pools of yellow radiance. 

Covered flatbed trucks with white-tiger camouflage and snow-tires were parked to one side, in several dozen rows of three.  Nearby stood a make-shift loading dock constructed of ancient stone slabs and pieces of sheet-metal - and next to that, a massive pile of white plastic crates. 

In another part of the room, a small barracks had been assembled - tents, trailers, and pre-fabricated housing, buzzing with activity. Tables piled with computer-consoles and esoteric equipment were scattered seemingly at random throughout the space. A cold mist clung to the floor, swirling lazily in the currents of the stale underground air. 

The remarkable thing however, the thing which drew the eye and dominated the scene, was the Throne. 

It deserved the capital letter. 

At the far end of the room, opposite the corridor through which they'd come, stood a massive chair, carved into the foundations of the mountain. It was easily ten stories high, and upon it sat a skeleton, equally gigantic, far larger than the giants with whom the Liberators had so recently contended. The corpse wore long, sapphire robes, embroidered with silver and tied with a violet sash. It's boots were dragon-hide, and a national treasury's worth of gold glittered on its bony fingers - gemstones the size of grown men shining in the hazy electric twilight. A rusted sword the size of a jet-airliner lay across its knees, and the scraggly, frozen ruins of a silvery beard still clung to its skeletal jaw.

Between its feet lay a metal ring, slightly smaller than the ones on its hands, standing on-end. It contained a pulsing purple window into another space, the portal adding its own otherworldly glow to the ambient aura of ancient death disturbed.

From the camp, an alarm went up. As the three Primes watched, a duo of titanic black serpents wound their way out of the outsized royal cadaver's eye-sockets, and curled around its booted feet.

Challenge complete!

Damage Report:
-- Kopaka suffers 1 damage
-- Weiss suffers 2 damage
-- Skeletor suffers 3 damage

The portal to Nebula Space awaits you. You merely have to get past the final obstacle and pass through it. You have five days and one post, up to 1000 words each, to do so. Best of luck.

[Weiss Schnee]

Weiss Schnee looked around at her two companions, as they paused before the macabre giant skeleton. The King Taijitu was an immense monster, and even with her old power, she doubted she could have beaten it back easily. Even with allies, she didn’t think she could-
Hang on. What she previously thought was one opponent turned out to be two, as the creatures separated and slithered forward, side by side.

“...Why aren’t they connected at the middle?” Weiss blurted out, and both of her companions’ heads immediately turned to her.

“What do you mean, why aren’t they connected at the middle, you fool! What kind of snakes have you dealt with?” Keldor asked with a snort of derision, and Weiss looked to Kopaka for support. What she could tell of the Toa of Ice’s body language told her he wasn’t on her side in this conversation, though.

“So you’re just used to one-headed giant snakes?!” the huntress asked the both of them incredulously.

Looking between Kopaka and Keldor, she was beginning to wonder if she hadn’t sprouted an extra head herself.

“Fine. I guess I’m the weird one here.” She muttered to herself, drawing her rapier.

Headcount aside, these snakes still looked incredibly large, incredibly angry, and if they were anything like the snakes back home, probably pretty fast too. They’d need proper co-operation to get anywhere, here, and at the moment? It was probably more likely that she would sprout an extra head than actually get these people to work as anything resembling a unified force.

What would Ruby do in this situation, she wondered?

Other than annoy everyone and somehow get her way, that is… wait, that’s it!

“Kopaka, as you are our team leader, I’m sure you want to make the plan. I’m going to propose something that might use my abilities best to you, however.” Weiss stated quickly, and Kopaka opened his mouth to say something almost immediately. Weiss didn’t let him speak, though, and quickly added,

 “I can use my speed to distract and harass these snakes, keeping them occupied near the giant’s skeleton. I won’t be able to pierce their skin without a big move, though, and they’re probably too fast to allow that. But, I think combined with your skill with swordsmanship, and defensive abilities, the two of us could probably hold them in one spot if you could act as a moving wall for anything that tries to slither past me.” Weiss continued as fast as she could. Kopaka brought up his hand in a motion to pause, but Weiss ignored it, and continued.

 “Meanwhile, Keldor can probably use the time we give him to blast the two with his… magic? Magic. From afar. With the snakes distracted he can probably score direct hits. If he can do enough to stun the creatures, we might even be able to reciprocate with larger attacks of our own.” Weiss added, speaking a mile a minute at this point.

“Schnee, you-”

“I’ll take your silence as an order to start the plan, since time is of the essence. Thank you for your guidance.” She stated with very fake enthusiasm, before taking a much-needed breath of fresh air and dashing forward, leaping at the snake closest to intercepting the group.
 
 
The snakes were very big, but also very fast, and as Weiss used a trio of quick sword strikes to knock away the approaching teeth of the nearest one, she realized that she was correct earlier - if she let these things past her, it would only take a few seconds for the snakes to reach Keldor with the proper motivation.

So Weiss focused on not allowing this to happen, as Myrtenaster’s spokes spun in their familiar song. The two snakes surrounded her, hissing and feinting lunge after lunge, and Weiss knew they were looking for the slightest angle to use against her.

She didn’t know what these weird mutated Taijitu were, but she knew they were highly evolved hunters all the same, with all the same moves and instincts. Thismeant that sooner or later, the experienced huntress would still inevitably end up slipping up and giving them a suitable opening. Instead of waiting for it, then, Weiss handed it to them  - moving her blade a little to the right, leaving her flank *just* exposed, and like she expected, the serpent on her left lunged as soon as it saw the opportunity.

Weiss jumped, and took advantage of the opportunity she was given to activate her fire dust, releasing a crescent-shaped slash of fiery energy that smacked it’s head into the floor. Now that she’d dealt with that, she turned to deal with her next opponent.

“Damnit!” Weiss swore. The massive creatures were more intelligent than they looked, and the second one had reared up with glowing red eyes, blackened fire dripping from it’s fangs.

“...Didn’t account for the fire breath.” Weiss whispered to herself, as she ran towards the creature, springing forward the moment her feet hit the ground. She wasn’t going to be fast enough! The snake opened it’s jaws, and a beam of pure, jet-black energy shot forward…

Glancing off a white, frost-covered shield, and smashing into the nearby wall.

“Never do that again, Schnee!”

The embodiment of winter hissed out that sentence with more anger and frustration than Weiss had ever heard in a single sentence. Despite herself, all she could respond with was a fairly small,

“...Got it.”

Then, an exaggerated hiss sounded from behind her, and Weiss realized she had other, more immediately deadly things to focus on than Kopaka’s rage at the moment. Her hand gripped Myrtenaster firmly, and she dove back into the battle. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take Keldor very long to blast these things to kingdom come, especially considering they still had yet to face the real threats that laid ahead.

975 words according to wordcounter.net
Weiss used flame dust, Kopaka used Hau te Kōpae.
your move, guys.

[Kopaka]

Kopaka grimaced as the human girl sped off towards the oversized serpents. Surely she was joking. Killing the beasts wasn't even their primary goal at the moment; it was to pass through the swirling aperture that manifested in the torus of that ostentatious ring. Still, by the time Kopaka had been able to arrive at his own plan for achieving that goal, Schnee had already thrown herself into the fray against the writhing beasts. There were no curse words in the Matoran language, but Kopaka surely would have sworn an oath as he sped off to intervene in her foolhardy venture.

...

Much to his chagrin, despite being a plan for the wrong goal, this course of action DID seem to be going rather well so far. As the black flame rolled harmlessly off his whirring Ice Shield, Kopaka transitioned seamlessly into a bait-and-switch formation with the huntress, allowing her to take offensive positions that he could provide cover for as the snakes thundered around them. Granted, it was a stalemate, just as Weiss had planned. A flash of bright light and the sound of thunder signaled the Toa that Keldor WAS indeed trying his best to blast away at the black monsters, but finding a weak point in their rugged scales was difficult from a distance.

Several plans formed in Kopaka's mind, but all of them required a large expenditure of energy he wasn't sure the team could afford. They were close to their goal, and resistance had been steadily increasing. Perhaps, like the forward base and the frost giants, the best way to defeat these beasts would be to use their energy against themselves. Small pebbles of mottled ice and granite fell from the ceiling as another bombastic surge from Keldor's energies washed over the marauding serpents. No sell.

"Weiss! We may need to improve on your plans slightly!" Kopaka shouted at the huntress, who had just landed on a nearby extinguished brazier. One of the adders immediately twisted its bulk to consume her, and it was only a speedily constructed wall of ice from Kopaka that saved her. The monster smashed its head into the thick, frozen barricade and veered off to the left. Weiss faltered for only a moment.

"...okay!"

Cunning though they were, the beasts were also voracious and maddened by the shadow that swirled in their veins. Kopaka's optics whirred and clicked as he searched for a location to carry out the operation he had in mind. The girl interrupted his thoughts.

"...so?! Plan?!"

Kopaka swiped a hand in her direction, signaling her to hush. He pointed his sword at a large gap between the giant cadaver's knees. The Toa squinted as a blast of elemental power rushed out of his body, forming a solid bridge of ice between the two giant legs, forming a sort of table.

"There! Can you jump that far?" Kopaka shouted over another peal of arcane thunder. An echoing peal of nasal laughter punctuated the fact that Keldor, at least, was enjoying himself. Weiss scoffed and launched herself at the improvised bridge, with the Toa of Ice following shortly after. Small cracks started to form the moment the icy structure bore both of their weight, and Weiss cast him a dubious look.

"Where are we going with this?" she snapped. Kopaka didn't say anything at first, and pointed at the snake nearest to the huntress.

"Get its attention! Have it attack you head-on!" he shouted, turning to deal with his own attacker. The serpent had briefly elected to start slithering after Keldor, but a sharp blast of ice from the bionicle reminded the beast who its real prey was. Kopaka twirled his sword anxiously as the snake's red eyes glared at him with hungry intent. He hazarded a glance over his shoulder at Weiss, and was pleased to see that the girl had managed to do as asked, without so much as a single scoff. The moment that both Primes were inside the creature's mouths, Kopaka willed his ice-bridge to shatter, causing the pair to plummet to the fog-covered ground far below.

The serpents collided in a hideous crunch of bone and scales, as the confused beasts hissed and bit into each other for longer than Kopaka had even suspected. So powerful was their predatory drive that Nebula's darkness had driven them to true and utter insanity. Spits of black flame spurted from their fangs as they disengaged, but the momentary confusion had been more than enough time for Keldor to brew something special for them. A crackling white beam raked across their merged faces, and flames exploded from them a moment later. The serpents writhed and screeched in pain as their self-inflicted wounds were seared by eldritch fire.

Kopaka stared up at the spectacle, so pleased with himself that he had nearly forgotten that, given their size, fangs were not the only dangerous parts of these snakes.

"Look out!" Weiss shouted, leaping clear of the incoming attack. Kopaka looked at her with a startled expression before getting smacked by the right serpent's tail so hard he was sent flying back to the mouth of the cavern, behind even where Keldor stood. The warlock, despite his wicked disposition, was even taken aback by the brutality of the blow.

"Snowball! Are you alright?" he shouted, calling over his shoulder. The sorcerer dare not take his eyes off the enraged snakes, now that Weiss was temporarily in their midst all on her own. A worryingly long silence passed before Kopaka re-emerged from the shadows of the entryway, his servos and joints creaking painfully. There was something different about the Toa now, as Keldor peered at his fellow warrior. Something more feral, and uninhibited.

Had Kopaka's eyes always been pale yellow?

[Skeletor]

Skeletor refocused his attention on the threat, away from his allies unnerving new eyes. The situation had gotten bad quickly. Their best efforts had done little more than irritate the monstrous serpents, King Hiss himself would have been pleased with the creature’s ferocity, and the Darkling forces were beginning to stumble their ways out of camp and repel the intruders. They needed to get into that portal and quickly. The heroes had thrown away any attempts at a subtler approach. They were going to ruin everything with this kind of lax strategy.

“We need to get through the portal!” The Warlock shouted, closing the distance between himself and the giant skeleton.

He made sure not to make himself too tempting a target, only firing at the snakes to keep Wiess from meeting a sudden end in a serpent’s jaws. The Huntress was doing a surprisingly good job at staying alive all things considered, but she was still burning through a short rope, and it wasn’t going to be long before the girl made a mistake.

“Quickly! Forget about those blasted snakes, the darklings are going to be ready to attack in force soon!”  

There was no time, they had to get through the portal. For all his pretentious parading, the Toa of Ice refused to keep a tight enough reign on his soldiers. Without some focus, there was no chance they would even reach the portal, much less find the time to close it. If the Bio-mech was not going to do his job, then he supposed that someone would have to. The Bionicle started to speak up but Skeletor rolled right over him. It was time for a real leader to take charge.

“Robot! Use your ice powers to slow down the serpents, pin them to walls and floors. Aim for the head and the tail, limit their movements.  Ballet girl, whenever they’re stuck hit them hard. They won’t be trapped long so make every shot count. Focus on the weaker one first, and destroy it. Pull the fighting back to the portal. I will deal with the Darklings myself. Nyeheeehee!”

Skeletor didn’t wait for an objection, moving towards the camp and charging his eldritch powers. Kopaka was clearly not pleased with the mage’s sudden attitude, but he did as Skeletor had ordered. Even here inside the mountain, his elemental powers were at their peak, and large shards of ice burst into being, snaring the serpents where their writhing forms stayed put for more than a second.

The Schnee girl seemed much more open to the change of plans, immediately springing into action. Good, she’s used to taking orders at least.
Leaping far into the air, the huntress did an excellent job of maintaining the serpents’ attention while Kopaka trapped them. As he watched she landed lightly on one of Nebula’s trucks, waiting there for the briefest of moments, then leaping straight up and away from the lunging fangs of one of the serpents. Kopaka’s ice did not hold the beast, but the sudden halting of the momentum threw its aim off. As the snake crashed headfirst into the vehicle, she pushed off an outcropping of ice and drove the rapier’s point into the top of its head.

The shriek echoed through the cavern, and Wiess was flung off the beast as it thrashed about in rage, black fire spewing out of its mouth. She managed to land on her feet then dove again almost immediately, barely evading the other serpent as she regained her footing. The Toa of ice rushed in temporarily attempting to draw fire, but Skeletor could not spare any more attention to their battle, instead turning to unleash his magic on the rapidly assembling Nebula forces. “FOOLS! Your friends didn’t stand a chance when they could see me coming! You won’t be able to stop me with this kind of effort!”

To their credit, the Nebula forces weathered his magical onslaught with a surprising amount of discipline, but every moment that Skeletor was keeping them pinned was more time for them to reach the portal. Skeletor fired with abandon, aiming for flammables and buildings, anything to disrupt the camp from following them through the portal.

A dwarf rolled out from behind cover and there was a bang as blunderbuss shot sprayed Skeletor, shredding holes in his cape and tearing along his arm and side. Skeletor whirled in a rage and unleashed a torrent of eldritch magic at the offending creature, blasting straight through its cover. “The Portal!” Skeletor shouted, “NOW!”

With another volley of missiles to cover his retreat, Skeletor turned and started to sprint the remaining distance. Arrows and bullets skipped and pinged around him as he neared the giant’s skeleton. Wiess and Kopaka were close, but one of the serpents continued to hound them.

“Here, you overgrown slinky!” Skeletor shouted, distracting the beast with a blast from his staff. It wasn’t powerful, but it got the snakes attention, and it turned around to face Skeletor. Kopaka and Wiess had reached the portal, and they paused at the entrance, attempting to cover Skeletor’s retreat with what shards of ice and orange crescents of flame.

The snake lunged and Skeletor leapt, far higher than any normal man should have cleared. Even so the snake’s fangs caught his trailing cape, tearing it free and halting his momentum. His sword clattered to the ice a short distance away, but there was no time for him to reach it. With a cry of rage and dismay, Skeletor sprinted full speed towards the portal. The snake was close, he could hear it, as he raced up the steps, Skeletor pointed up at the Skeleton, using his magic to pull on the honored corpse of the long-dead king. He had little power left, but he managed to nudge the skull loose. With luck, it might bring the rest down with it. As the frost-rimed bone started to tip, Skeletor dove desperately for the glowing portal.

[Nebula]

The three Liberators stumbled through the underground portal - and into the profound, burgundy stillness of an angry sky. After the chaos of their desperate battle, the contrast was jarring. The air was frozen and heavy - not a breath of wind stirred. The ruddy twilight tasted of mud and lightning. A wave of vertigo crashed down upon them as the laws of nature to which they'd become accustomed warped and bent in this dark new realm; For a moment, all they could do was look.     
 
Less than a hundred meters above the tired Primes a sea of clouds roiled noiselessly like the tangled tentacles of some great, restless beast, dominating the heavens for as far as the eye could see. They glowed with an inner luster, the only light in the sky: the angry purple-red pallor of a bone-deep bruise spilled out over the landscape in inescapable shades of crimson and black, as bright and as dark as the night of a full moon; The piercing black-light spilling from the gate through which they’d just stumbled stabbed violet starbursts across the snow.
 
The shining gateway had dumped them onto a broad, paved ledge atop a snow-covered mountain, just shy of the summit. It was just one peak of many, the others largely obscured by distance and the quality of the light. They lurked all around, behemoth silhouettes within a sanguine infinity of otherwise-empty space. Not far ahead, the ledge broadened into a concrete dock for a cable-car. The car itself was absent, and the dock empty, but its lines extended out over the yawning abyss of empty space, so high above the base of the mountain that the ground was lost in the haze far below. The cables terminated amid a cluster of pine-trees and boxy snow-dusted buildings clinging to the side of a distant peak. What looked like a ski-lift could barely be seen near the little compound, wending its way down the far-off slope.   
 
Weiss shuddered, the brooding wrongness of the overcast range twisting her stomach. Keldor felt his magic flicker, like a flame in a high wind. His handsome face began to strobe, threatening to reveal his true countenance.
 
Kopaka had it worst of all. The snow in this shadow-world gave him no strength - quite the opposite; It made him feel ill.
 
It was the warlock who led the way this time, forcing himself to stand upright and pulling his hood closer around his face.  
 
“E-enough lollygagging! We’re finally here - at the center of Nebula’s power! Come on, you layabouts!”
 
Not waiting for a response, he marched across the icy tarmac to the docking bay. It was a simple affair: a cement-lined berth with a ramp on one end - presumably for loading and unloading of passengers or cargo -  and railings all around. There was no visible control panel, and no other path down the mountain.
 
“I don’t see any way to call the car,” said Weiss, joining Keldor on the dock.     
 
“That is not our only problem,” growled Kopaka, bringing up the rear. “Look out!”
 
The Toa pointed up the slope, back the way they'd come, and the other two Primes craned their necks. Something was descending from the summit, switchbacking down the short, steep slope to the ledge on a green-and-grey snowboard with Okor Paleblood's face on the deck.
 
It was a 12-foot tall yeti, ropy muscles bulging with glowing golden veins. A yeti with ‘TriKy FLipZ’ spray-painted on its massive chest in neon green, shining red eyes, teeth filed to razor-points  and purple st elmo’s fire licking at its fur. For the last ten meters or so it entered a barely-controlled fall, spiralling through a gnarly 1080-flip as it plunged towards the tarmac in front of the portal.
 
Its board exploded when it hit the pavement, and for a moment it looked as though the creature was stunned. Then the yeti's eyes snapped open. It rose to its feet, growling - and the nearby snow began to steam.

Portal entered!

Damage Report:
-- Kopaka suffers 3 damage
-- Weiss suffers 2 damage
-- Skeletor suffers 3 damage

Now you face a new challenge! Your new best friend TriKy FLipZ means to stop you from enjoying your stay at this lovely Nebula Ski Resort, and meeting the proprietor. The yeti is by no means a slouch (he's actually quite a dangerous opponent), but the main obstacle will be moving on and progressing down the cable car lines without the car present here to aid you. While you have a giant, angry yeti harassing you.

Once more, you have five days and one post, up to 1200 words to get past your new best friend. Best of luck!

[Skeletor]

“Nevermind that mangy paint bomb!” Skeletor shouted, “We don’t have time for AUGHHHHH!” a neon painted mound of furry flesh collided with the Warlock at top speed, and both prime and yeti cleared the end of the dock. Plunging over the edge into the empty air below. Skeletor lunged, managing to hook the end of his Havoc staff onto a metal bar, and his momentum jerked to a halt as the Yeti continued past him.

“Keldor!” Wiess cried out in what sounded like genuine concern, and her face appeared over the edge of the landing dock. Skeletor looked up at her, hanging suspended above the icy slope, arms gripping tightly to the slick metal of his Havoc staff. Her eyes widened with shock and surprise, and she recoiled. Skeletor wondered if she had seen through his disguise, but her behavior was explained as the massive yeti leapt up and past him with a belittling ease, landing on the dock with a bellow. How had it already managed to get back from that fall so quickly? Kopaka and Wiess dropped into combat positions, as Skeletor struggled to get enough leverage to reach the edge of the dock.

The sounds of yeti fist on bio-mechanical metal sounded from above as Skeletor slowly worked his way, reaching hand over hand, back towards the ledge of the cable car dock. There was a sickening slicing sound, and a howl that shook the nearby mountains, it seemed that at least one of them had managed to score a good hit. Skeletor heaved himself upward with powerful muscles, his toned abs flexing as he grabbed hold of the ledge. He paused for a moment, catching his breath as he watched his allies battling the massive and obnoxious yeti. As he watched the twelve-foot behemoth leapt into the air, dropkicking Kopaka and sending the Bio-mech flying.  The Toa of ice slammed solidly into the railing besides Skeletor, nearly causing him to lose his grip. Wiess glanced briefly back to her allies, but almost the entirety of her efforts were spent simply to avoid the maniacal flurry of punches that the punk yeti was sending her way.

“I could use… some help… here!” she shouted between dodges.

Kopaka was stirring slowly, but it seemed he had taken a heavy blow from their painted friend. Skeletor swung his body, managing to get one foot up and over the edge before rolling back onto solid ground. His faith in the structure was short-lived, as the metal groaned and shook alarmingly. TriKy FLipZ was getting frustrated with the stinging ripostes that the huntress was delivering, and now seemed simply to be trying to bring down the whole cable-car platform.

It worked. As Skeletor stumbled to his feet he saw Wiess’s foot twist as she landed badly from a jump. The Huntress stumbled and their foe capitalized on the opportunity, sending Wiess flying back towards the portal with a double fisted wallop of a punch.

“This isn’t working, ice bucket!” Skeletor hissed at Kopaka, and the Toa’s ice-blue eyes fixed on him with a grim expression.

The yeti had its back to them, and seemed more inclined to gloat its victory than to finish them off, pounding its chest and repeating the same three syllables in a garbling howl. “TREE KEY FLEP! TREEE KEY FLEP!” beating the words spray-painted onto its fur. Wiess was struggling back to her feet surprisingly quickly, and Skeletor though he could see a faint white shimmering about the huntress’s body? How had she managed to weather that blow so easily?

“Do you have a suggestion, mage? Or are you not intending to actually help us get out of here alive?” The edge was very obvious in Kopaka’s words, and Skeletor would never have tolerated such insubordination from one of his minions back on Eternia. But then again, he didn’t have to face a twelve-foot snowboarding yeti in Eternia without the majority of his powers available to him. He would just have to live with the Bionicle’s cheek.

“That thing is going to destroy the entire station at this rate!” Skeletor shouted, the yeti had rushed Wiess before she could fully recover, and the young girl looked to be quite hard pressed.

“Hey! Quit chatting and help me with this guy!” she shouted, spiraling away from a meaty fist and swiping at it with Myrtenaster.

“We need a way to get across that mountainside, and quickly!” the Warlock argued, reaching down and grabbing his Havoc staff once again.

Kopaka got to his feet, spinning his shield as he prepared to charge back in to assist the rapidly tiring Wiess. “Not with this thing after us. If we flee it will bring down the whole structure and send us hurtling down into the abyss. We need to deal with that snow beast first.”

The Bio-mechanical warrior burst into motion sprinting forward and leaping into the air, landing on the creature and planting his blade into the yeti’s muscled back. Kopaka clung to his foe, heedless of the purple flames that licked at his protodermis limbs. Skeletor made a face at the Toa from behind.

“Deal with the beast first? Who do you think you are, you iced over lawnmower!” he muttered to himself as he began to fire blasts of energy at the Yeti. TriKy FLipZ was far more distracted by the white Bio-mech mounted on his back, and for the moment was completely ignoring Skeletor’s attacks, so the Warlock took his time, lining up each shot and aiming for the patches of fur which looked more red already. The yeti seemed to hardly have slowed.

Their foe had finally solved the problem of the Toa on its back, simply by springing backwards into the ground. Kopaka leapt away from the initial impact, but the Yeti turned the seemingly clumsy flop into a series of breakdancing moves, slamming the Guardian of Ice with a flailing limb the size of his torso.
But Skeletor was out of range, and the Warlock produced an emerald talisman in the shape of a ram from his belt. Holding the talisman between outstretched fingers Skeletor uttered the incantation. A brilliant emerald light slammed into TriKy FLipZ, causing the monstrous yeti to stagger backwards and tumble down into a short ravine.

“And that is what happens when you challenge SKELETOR! You pigment impaired sasquatch!”  the warlock shouted in triumph. Heaving slightly with expended energy, Skeletor turned to his companions. “The cables! Follow me and do EXACTLY as I do!” he commanded before jogging over to the end of the cable dock. “Like this!” he shouted and leapt into the air, looping his Havoc staff’s head around one of the cables. The momentum of gravity would take them all the way to Nebula’s front door. Skeletor tried to turn and look behind to ensure they were following, when he felt a massive fist close around his legs. If it were physically possible, the blood would have drained from Skeletor’s face.

“oh no…”

1166 words according to MS word. Skeletor used T1 SA: the Ram Stone

[Weiss Schnee]

Weiss couldn’t believe the sheer scale of absurdity she was now an unwilling accomplice to.

It was a snowboarding yeti.
 
A yeti that snowboards.

Unfortunately, it was also a very fast, very strong yeti that her wizardly companion dangling by the feet, so she didn’t have the option of laughing off the abominable opponent.
Before she could even think of figuring out a quick solution to the problem while dealing with their opponent, though, an icy blade crept up and gave a sharp cut to the Yeti’s shoulders. A white automaton with a set of icy, thin flippers on his feet.

“...You can ski?” Weiss asked with a bit of surprise.

“I am the embodiment of ice.” Was all Kopaka responded with, before grabbing and chucking Skeletor safely away from the yeti. “We need to keep him from pursuing. We have little time for all of this.”

Weiss nodded, dashing down as quickly as she could, as Kopaka skied down the hill and Keldor jumped up, using his sorcerer’s staff as a way to hold onto the lift poles.

Unfortunately, it quickly became clear that even with the boost, Skeletor was starting to fall behind. To be honest, all this quick movement was tiring out Weiss very fast, too. “We need to hold him back!” Weiss yelled out at Kopaka.

“I’m open for ideas, Schnee.” Was the cold response she got in return.

Weiss looked between herself and the yeti. The worst part, as his snowboard got ever closer, was that these conditions were nothing but good for the creature. The powder was soft, the snow wasn’t too deep or too shallow, and it worked well for the snowballs he was now throwing happily at her companion.
Wait… snow.

“Kopaka!” Weiss yelled, before pointing at the yeti behind them. “Heat and snow!” She stated with a smile.

The Toa of Ice looked at her with a cocked head for a moment, before nodding. “...I see. Make it quick, Schnee.”

Weiss judged the distance as best she could. The Yeti was fifty meters away, Skeletor about thirty. If she just…

Her thoughts were interrupted by the popsicle-shaped bombs he began throwing at her companion, and her eyes widened in shock as the impacts sent him flying in the air. Luckily, it looked like he hadn’t sustained any damage… though as he kept flying, she had a funny feeling that would only last so long. “Well… at least he’s going in the right direction.”

“Worry about him later!” Kopaka yelled, and the huntress quickly turned her focus to see the yeti barreling straight down at her.

The creature growled impishly at her, and Weiss just smiled in response, her blade glowing a cherry red as she smacked it into the ground, burning the snow up the slope into water into a plume of slush and water. Kopaka wasted no time, slowing down just long enough to point his sword at the tide of water before it had a second to flow away. The result was a jagged, uneven patch of ice that the Yeti found himself faltering on. Weiss allowed herself a fraction of a smile as the yeti started to spin and tumble on the icy death-trap they’d just created.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the right second to stop and smile, as the snowboard clipped off of the Snowman’s feet and slid at her at a breakneck pace. Instinctively, Weiss jumped to dodge it, only to find herself suddenly sliding down. 

“Wait! Crap!” Weiss swore, finding herself suddenly standing on the stupid snowboard. Before she was given any time to react, Weiss found her feet suddenly stuck in a sheath of ice.

“Use it, Schnee!” Kopaka stated bluntly, and Weiss would have snapped at the stupid white robot if she wasn’t busy dealing with the snow moving towards her at rapid speeds, and the sudden slope as she had to right herself going off an impromptu jump, and-

...Hey. This… was pretty fun!

A smile crossed Weiss’s features. She’d never gotten to do snowboarding or skiing in her free time before. It had simply been too much time wasted on a useless hobby. There was no way she’d be allowed.
Now, though? She fearlessly jumped from plume to plume of snow, as natural as walking. This was probably the wrong time to be getting giddy, but she couldn’t help but smile as she slid down the slopes.

Until she heard a distant yell and felt something large and bulky hit her back harder than Okor’s odor. From the blue hands grabbing onto her shoulders she could see in her peripherals, she figured it was Keldor that now had his knees placed firmly in her back.
“Ow! Get off! What the hell?!”

“Can it, princess! How else do you expect me to get down this hill in time! Besides, My landing was one of pure happenstance!”

“No, seriously, you’re too heavy!” Weiss complained with a groan. “Besides, the Yeti-”

Before she could finish the sentence of “-Doesn’t have a snowboard anyways-”, the Oversized White ape from before pulled in with an intricately designed snowboard, a black and white number with Omni’s ever-present grin showing up in the front. Sliding between her and Kopaka, it made a bunch of grunts, pointed at the snowboard, and pointed back at Weiss. She was no expert in yeti, but she was pretty sure the literal translation was something along the lines of “get the fuck off of my board, bitch!”. 

Instead of doing that, Weiss ignored the important pain signals in her back that were informing her, “yes, Big man is heavy.” and “you’re going to pull all the back muscles if you keep this up.” And crouched, trying to pick up speed. “You’ve seriously got to get off!” Weiss complained.

“Quiet, you, and behold my power!” was the only response she got from the buff wizard. “I’ve got to put this arctic neanderthal… On ice!”

“Okay, you know what? Stay up there. Just… don’t make any more puns. For the love of god.”
 
Mercifully, Skeletor chose to avoid verbal speech and focus on just cackling, as he unleashed a volley of magical blasts across the ice and snow, making the Yeti’s life just a little harder. It made a rude gesture with one finger before replying with a bunch of snowballs, and Weiss immediately regretted giving Keldor any pass. Now, they were just one big target!

As the Yeti grimaced in their direction, though, he failed to notice the wall of ice Kopaka summoned right in front of the creature, taking advantage of it's distraction to pull ahead and she heard a sickening crack behind her as it smashed head-first into the obstacle the Toa summoned.

“That’s another snowboard broken… it’s probably going to be pissed.”


“So these are ‘boards of snow’. I see…” Keldor muttered from on top of her. Weiss could only groan in response. 
 
Her back was killing her.

1,156 words 6,456 characters according to wordcounter.net. On to you, Kopaka. 

[Kopaka]

Kopaka had never really understood the concept of cold before. He certainly understood the function of the sensory feedback, as well as the general effect it had on living creatures, but he had never really experienced it as the way they did. To him, cold was comfortable, more just a lack of heat than an actual, cloying pain. The darkened, unnatural snow of this place now taught him that pain.
 
It crept through his joints, caused his visors to fog, and even made his breath visible in blue-lit puffs. Indeed, the gleam of his optical indicators were the brightest light these slopes had seen in a long time, and it threw the acrobatic yeti into deeper, imposing relief against the dismal backdrop. As the two fighters skidded down the umbral slope, Kopaka’s telescopic servos whirred as he focused on the cumbersome shape of Keldor and Weiss on the other side of a stand of emaciated evergreen trees. With their new combined weight, they would never be able to outrun the yeti. Despite the sapping effects of this dark snow, the Toa of Ice was still essentially in his native climate; it was up to him to find an advantage for the team.
 
Kopaka leaned into the hillside and slid towards the abominable snowboard man, who had seemed to renew his interest in the escaping pair of Primes, despite Kopaka’s abrupt installation of an obstacle. Deft and quick on the powder, the biomech slid past the yeti with ease, and turned his back to the downhill. Moguls and errant trees whizzed past him from behind now as he locked eyes with Flipz. It was clear that this creature, whatever it was, was highly resilient to physical damage. This was fine: the primary goal here was to ensure they made it to the bottom of the hill. What the yeti possessed in brute force, it lacked in concentration. To this end, Kopaka had an idea to help distract him.
 
As loathe as he was to use any amount of elemental power on this exchange, Kopaka looked behind him briefly and fired off a shot of icy fire from his blade, forming an impromptu ramp on the hillside. As he rocketed off of it backwards, he crossed his runners and pulled his body into a double inverse somersault with a half twist, landing back in the snow with a soft plop. He shot a glance of challenge back at the yeti, who produced yet another snowboard with an enraged howl. No one but no one showed up TriKy FLipZ on his own mountain! Moments later, the monster busted a sweet cannonball shifty in response to the Toa’s gratuitous flipping, and eased into the trail Kopaka was carving into the snow. There was no way a snowboarder would normally be able to catch up with an ice elemental on skis, but Kopaka shimmied his blades slightly to slow down, and allowed TriKy to overtake him. The snowman attempted a token haymaker on the Toa’s face as he swished past, but it was easily ducked. Kopaka watched the distracted sasquatch carefully as he veered off to hit an installed ramp on the cable trail. The hillside directly beneath the cables was not groomed, and the trajectory of the inclined plane would sent them both careening from one side of the rough patch to the other.
 
Just as the monster hit the air, Kopaka cut left instead of taking the ramp and allowed the blade of the ice sword to bite into the loose powder on this section of hillside. It gleamed with white-blue power as he did so, and a rapidly expanding sheet of ice beneath the snow caused a growing cascade of cloudy white to begin rolling down the hill. The mini-avalanche would cut TriKy and Kopaka off from his teammates for the time being, at least long enough to improvise something else. Needless to say, the yeti was pissed that Kopaka hadn’t responded to his acrobatics, so the Toa dutifully created another ramp to pull a stunt from. He could already feel these token acts of icy creation draining his reserves, but as long as it kept TriKy FLipZ distracted, the biomech would try to endure.
 
...
 
“Did that ass just start an avalanche?!” Weiss shrieked, looking at the looming wall of snow and ice that was gaining on them. Though she was a natural acrobat, she was still new to this whole snowboarding thing. This seemed a little extreme, even for Kopaka.
 
“No time to panic! We need to think of something!” Keldor shouted, trying to stay audible over the growing rumbling. He glanced back at the dueling robot and yeti as the pair of snow-dwellers each performed ornate maneuvers as they briefly became visible over the haze of the rolling snow. It occurred to the sorcerer just how ridiculous this all had become, but there would be time for him to dwell on that later. Keldor was still determined to use the inert lift cables for his descent, whether these other two Primes like the idea or not. He peered at the rough, partially forested area between the two sides of the lift trail and spotted a half-downed tree. He pointed at the rotting lumber over Weiss’s shoulder.
 
“There! Pull closer and I will rid you of my bulk!” Keldor shouted in Weiss’s ear. It made the huntress rather uncomfortable, the way he said the word ‘bulk’, but she silently complied. As they approached the tree, Keldor abruptly let go of the girl’s back and broke into a sprint towards the ill-fated arbor. The marauding avalanche was even more threatening when he could feel its terrible vibrations through the mountain itself. Still, if he rushed his next moves, his scheme would all be for naught. The warlock carefully picked his way up the heavily leaning tree, the cloud of hoary death roaring closer and closer. Just when the first few shreds of rampaging snow splattered against his blue back, Keldor leapt from the tree and barely managed to snatch the lift cable with one azure hand. With a mighty tug, he hoisted himself up and clung to the rusted metal braid tightly as the wave of snow thundered past beneath him.
 
Weiss, who had been watching over her shoulder, found herself breathing a sigh of relief in spite of her dislike of the creepy magician. With the extra, unwieldy weight shed, the huntress’s acceleration improved drastically, and by the time the Nebula Lodge came into view at the bottom of the hill, the worst of the avalanche had mellowed out. She looked up as she heard a passing “Nyeahahahahaaa!” as Keldor slid by her, down the cable as planned. A shower of sparks marked his triumphant descent, and Weiss chuckled to herself slightly.
 
Meanwhile, seeing that his teammates had managed to get an appreciable distance from himself and the yeti, Kopaka took the liberty of freezing TriKy’s hands to his board with a well placed shot of ice. The white ape roared viciously as his attempt at a sick 720 melon crashed painfully. It was unlikely that the beast had been neutralized by the cheap shot, but Kopaka had to regroup for now.

[Nebula]

As the three liberators rode the slopes, closing the distance to the sinister Ski-Lodge, details began to emerge, no longer obscured by distance and haze. The compound was composed of a group of four buildings, all constructed from felled and varnished tree-trunks in faux log-cabin style. Three smaller cabins surrounded a larger central lodge, four stories tall with enormous picture-windows facing down-slope. A ski-lift snaked upward, through a cluster of pines, finally terminating above the treeline, beside the cable-car dock towards which Keldor was making his gleeful slide.

It would have been picturesque if not for the monsters. half-a-dozen yeti's rode the ski-lift, weaving back down the mountainside on snowboards with varying degrees of success. Half-frozen zombies leaking clouds of gold-flecked darkness from their pale, breathless faces shambled between the cabins wearing designer winter gear in bright neon colors. A cyborg wearing a beaverskin hat, the metallic half of his body bonded to a bright red snowmobile, ripped back and forth across the off-color powder, cackling madly and firing a plasma-cannon seeming at random into the air. Birdlike white shapes, the size of a man, roosted in the eaves of the cabins.

Still, in spite of the strangeness and the chaos, there was a rhythm of industry to it. Some of the zombies pushed handcarts, mounted on skis. When the yetis road the ski-lift, they carried velvet sacks which were mysteriously absent when they came back down.

Near the cable-dock, something glittered.

Unfortunately, all of this was happening on the other side of a ravine. The crimson haze in the air, and the white-on-white lack of contrast made judging such things difficult, but the lodge lay on the side of an adjoining mountain - and the slope which Weiss and Kopaka rode was coming to an abrupt end, leaving some hundred meters of empty space yet to be crossed.

Keldor was well on his way, and the Toa of Ice had bought himself a moment, but with an avalanche at her back and an unknown drop in front of her, Weiss was running out of time.

TriKy FLipZ pulled his face out of the snow, beat his chest, and roared.

Time to get dangerous. The ski lodge headquarters of the frozen fields is just ahead, with one last obstacle to get past to reach it.

3 damage sustained all around.

You all have one post each, up to 1200 words, and one week to make it. Happy skiing!

[Weiss Schnee]

The ravine was hundreds of feet long and probably taller than it was wide. To fall down it, prime or not, would probably be certain death at this distance. Of course, for a huntress with a glyph-based semblance, this sort of obstacle really should have been just a hop, skip, and leap away.
 
Unfortunately, instead of having access to her semblance, all Weiss had was a mask that boosted her power, and a laser beam. The former was useless in this scenario, and the latter she’d barely tested and didn’t understand very well.. That left her dust, and unfortunately, her ice dust seemed to be incapable of operating in this nebula space. It had barely been adapted to the omniverse, too, so she doubted she could create enough of anything with it to push her forward.

All that left was flame dust, and relying on her teammates.

Her first thought was Keldor, but that idea was thrown out as soon as it started. The warlock had a lot of powerful spells and abilities, but most of them involved causing a bunch of destruction. Weiss had to admit she’d grown to respect the wizard’s power, but she didn’t think he had the ability to propel her across that big of a gap.

Kopaka, on the other hand, could create ice… but he seemed unable to create too much of it in this space. Just the stunt they pulled on the snowboarding snow monster seemed to eat away a lot of his stamina. No, she might be able to ask him for something small, but that would be the extent of his help here.
 

Come on, Weiss. Concentrate. What was my landing strategy before?” She muttered aloud, much to Kopaka’s confusion nearby. She’d done something very similar, back in the emerald forest, when she and the rest of the students were literally launched off a cliff into the forest below. Back then, though, the lift was already given to her by a very powerful hidden spring-board, and all she’d had to do was land. She needed something similar..

She couldn’t use glyphs, but maybe, using her flame dust, and with Kopaka helping her with his ice manipulation, she could make this work.
 
Bending her knees down and  crouching on her board, Weiss looked at the ravine in front of her. It was more than just that to her, though. This felt so much like every other challenge she’d been in - inescapable, undefeatable, designed to force her down. And a lot of the time? She’d failed. She’d fell down ravines. She’d been completely incapable of succeeding.

But she wouldn’t let that stop her from trying, and this time? She had a real reason to move forward. They might not be her friends, but now that Weiss had been dragged into this, she realized she felt… protective, towards Kopaka and Keldor. Even if it was by circumstance, they’d already been working together for a while. She’d watched them get angry, cackle madly… and some naive part of her was starting to get worried about the idea of them fighting without her. Of not being there to assist her teammates. They'd do this together.

Weiss smiled, before signalling Kopaka with a determined look and a wave of her hand.

“What, Schnee?”

“I need you to freeze my sword to the snowboard, In about two seconds.” Weiss stated. I don’t believe you’re going to need help actually making the jump, but I’m going to need some.” Weiss admitted.
Kopaka just gave her a quizzical look, but Weiss didn’t have time. “Just leave everything past the handle and the chambers.” She asked, before throwing her sword directly in front of her. This was a risky, dangerous maneuver, and if it failed, she’d be falling to her death off the cliff.

After seeing Kopaka’s precision and abilities, she had nothing but faith in his ability to do this, though, and she refused to fail here. This would work.

The ice froze Myrtenaster tightly to the board, hard enough that even the ability she was about to use shouldn’t be capable of breaking it. Boarding was hard with the sword on it's bottom tripping her up, but Kopaka had frozen it exactly when she’d asked, and so the handle was just under the lip of the board. It was producing some drag, but it wasn’t going to stop her from going off the cliff, seconds away from the edge.

Gravity suddenly asserted itself, and Weiss put a hand down to grip the board as she felt the downward push. She was falling, and the pressure of the gravity wanted to push Weiss into a straight position She was falling a heck of a lot faster than she expected.

She crouched down through the force anyways, struggling to get a grip on Myrtenaster’s handle at the front of her board. With one hand, she thumbed to her flame dust, and then with another switch, she sent the dust through the blade. From there, it just took a spark of her aura, and it ignited.

Weiss Schnee’s falling figure was joined by a loud ka-boom, as the dust was released in a kinetic explosion that sent her spinning upwards, towards the other side of the ravine. She held onto the board with her other hand with a death-grip, and for the first time, she was glad she was a hollow. It was going to take a few explosions like this to reach the other side, and she was sure it would be harder if she was still human enough to blow chunks. Luckily, spinning a few dozen times a second was just incredibly disorienting, instead. She repeated the motion once, twice, three times, a chain of explosions that rang through her knees every time they fired. The approach worked, though, and the goal came in sight.

Unfortunately, it appeared she forgot one thing in her estimations. Kopaka’s ice held like a charm, with nothing more than some chipping from the  explosions.
 
TrikKy FLipZ’ snowboard, however, smashed into wooden fragments at her last explosion, leaving her freefalling just a few feet short of the cliff.

Weiss’s first instinct was that she’d failed, that she was going to fall. This time, though, a second, stronger, instinct joined it.
She refused to fail. There had to be another way.
 
Weiss closed her eyes, bracing herself for what she needed to do. Spinning around, she detonated the sword one more time, as she curled into a ball. The angle would have to be perfect, the timing just right…
 
Weiss ignited the red dust one more time, and smashed it against her stomach just as she flipped around in the air, barely keeping a grip on the sword as she felt pain wrack her stomach, and her body was flung towards the other side of the ravine. For a moment, all she could feel was pain, and gravity pulling her down. Then, she felt very deep snow cushioning her fall into just a sprain of her arm.

Weiss stabbed Myrtenaster into the ground as she stood up, panting. Somehow… She’d made it.

1187 Words according to wordcounter.net.

Good luck, everybody else!

[Skeletor]

Skeletor rode along the cable of the ski lift with a grin. It was entirely possible that the grin was simply the fading illusion spell leaving his jawbone bear to view, but it could also have been the pure glee that the sorcerer felt as he ziplined past the last few feet before reaching the ravine itself. His havoc staff skipped and sparked as it scraped along the metal cable above him, but the eldritch metal that formed it remained sturdy despite the constant friction.

He gave a slight whoop as he crossed the edge of the ground, the yawning depths reaching out below him. Almost immediately, his elation turned to apprehension. He had made the mistake of looking down, and now the unfathomable depths over which he hung became all too readily apparent to him. He tightened his grip on the staff as his hands started to sweat. the cold air sucked greedily at the newfound moisture, robbing it of its heat and starting to freeze his hands to the metal of the staff.

The suddenly uncertain warlock continued to skid across the cable, but as he reached shortly beyond the halfway point, the momentum he had built up during his downwards descent deserted him, and the now thoroughly unhappy Skeletor found himself no longer sliding, instead simply hanging from his staff, above a potentially bottomless abyss. The scourge of Eternia struggled to maintain his composure as he tried to think of a way out of the situation.

Below him, the Schnee girl rocketed herself forwards, using timed applications of what firepower she possessed to extend the length of her jump. It looked somehow like she was actually going to make it. He considered trying to replicate the maneuver with his Havoc staff, but the girl had far more momentum behind her attempt than Skeletor had at this point.  Kopaka’s tangle with the yeti had put him slightly behind them, but he was nearing the bottom of the slope now as well. As Skeletor watched, the yeti leapt, abandoning its third snowboard to the avalanche, instead body slamming the Toa of ice. Skeletor lost sight of them in the cloud of snow, but it was clear he could not rely on the Bio-mech for help. He needed to come up with a solution before he was left here!

Skeletor began to swing, back and forth, building up momentum as best has he could. With a jerk of his impeccable stomach muscles he heaved the Havoc staff forward, hopping it slightly along the cable. With a grunt of effort he repeated the maneuver several more times, trying to get as far as possible. He had made it little more than five feet before he ran out of energy. The mage could feel his grip slippling. Though icy frost was starting to form between his hands and the staff, the cold was only numbing his fingers more quickly.

“Come on, you blasted staff!” the Warlock screamed, the adrenaline of his terror allowing him to force a few more hops out of his quickly tiring muscles. The far edge of the ravine was still a distant thing. How could Skeletor possibly reach it?

A twanging of the cables along with an entirely too excited roar caused the Sorcerer to look behind him with dismay. TRiKy FLipZ, the extreme yeti had somehow knocked Kopaka aside and clambored atop the tower nearest to the ravine. To Skeletor’s horror, the yeti had seized the cables in his massive hands and was actually managing to shake the large metal cords as he yanked at them. The swaying motion twanged its way across the chasm towards the stuck sorcerer, jolting the staff into the air and shaking him violently.

One of Skeletor’s hands came loose, and the warlock made a desperate grab, dropping the havoc staff completely to grab the cable itself with both hands. The Ram-skull weapons started to plummet away from him, as Skeletor used the momentum from another of FLipZ’s jolts to get his elbows up and over the cable.

“You Flea-bitten sno-cone! I will make you pay for that!” Skeletor shouted shaking a fist, though his voice lacked confidence as he hung perilously over the expanse. Quickly, the eldritch warlock grabbed hold of his havoc staff mentally, commanding it to return to him before it fell out of range.  The havoc staff flew back upwards, hovering patiently next to Skeletor as the Sorcerer struggled to get into a more stable positon.

“What do you think of this? Take that, you snow-surfing party suit!” the warlock shouted, pointing a finger at the yeti and firing a blast of magical energy. He swung dangerously from the cables, one arm looped around the metal, swaying slightly as he adjusted his aim.

TriKy FLipZ bellowed in indignation and shook the cables harder. Skeletor grabbed hold with his other arm as the metal cord shook, but the moment he felt like he was not immediately going to fall he fired another blast at the yeti.

“You can’t reach me out here, can you! It looks like this time you’re plans to kill me have been put on ice! Nheeheheehehehe!” Skeletor cackled another beam shooting from his fingertips towards the enraged yeti.

Then FLipZ did the unthinkable. The illusory eyes of Keldor widened in surprise as the spray-painted yeti swung down from the tower and began to make its way out to Skeletor, pacing hand over hand along the cables. The massive paws wrapped snugly around the metal, and the warlock could hear the cable straining as the several ton yeti moved quickly his direction.

All his bravado vanished in an instant, and Skeletor began to frantically shimmy as best he could towards the safe side of the ravine. There was little doubt in his mind that the yeti would catch up to him before he could make it the rest of the way. Even now his shoulders and arms were crying out as he clung to the cold metal cable for his literal life. He needed to think, he needed a plan! Looking back he saw the rapidly approaching form of the yeti, but behind him, a welcome beacon of hope. Kopaka the toa of ice, had just pulled himself out of a snow drift.

“Kopaka!” Skeletor shouted in obvious panic, “The Cables! Quickly!”

1056 words according to MS word.

[Kopaka]

Kopaka uttered a long, synthesized groan as he swept the last hunks of snow off of his frigid body. In passing, the Toa noticed that his Kanohi had been knocked off of his face during the tumbling frenzy of the avalanche. Kopaka dug around in the drifts for a few minutes, mostly inured to the echoing pleas of Keldor. Yes, he was aware that the warlock was currently in mortal danger, but his Mask of Power was the single most important possession he owned. Vexing as it was to find an artifact that granted x-ray vision in a pile of snow, the biomech did eventually pull the Akaku out of the anti-snow and affix it back onto his monolithic, grey features. It was then, and only then, that Kopaka jogged over to the rickety black pylon that supported the cables crossing the ravine.
 
The Toa of Ice immediately had a plan to both rid them of the indefatigable yeti and cross the yawning gulf, but he suspected that Keldor was very much not going to like it. Luckily, TriKy FliPz was far too occupied with harassing the panicking blue man to notice the Toa calmly scaling the ebon metal behind him. Without so much as a word, Kopaka summoned what little elemental energy he had regenerated and fired an icy blast at Keldor, freezing the sorcerer in a bolus of solid rime. Though Keldor was unable to turn to look directly at the Toa, he had no problem expressing his outrage.
 
“B-Betrayer! Fiend! Wastrel! When I am free of this snare you will know the full extent of my wrath–“
 
The masked skeleton’s words were cut off as there came a sharp twanging sound ricocheting up the length of the steel cord. This caused even the monumental yeti to turn his head back towards the biomech, who was steadily hacking the cable in twain.
 
Zdang!
 
“Wait! Kopaka! What are you doing?!”
 
Zdangg!
 
“Stop!”
 
Zztwap!
 
With a vicious snap, the cable came free and whipped through the air, causing yeti and sorcerer alike to plummet into the fathomless gulf below. Keldor howled the entire time he fell, at least for ten seconds, before smashing against the glacial wall of the opposing peak. Reflexes saved his skin, as the shattering ice gave him just enough time to grab the cable and prop himself against the frigid wall. Kopaka came slamming into the mountain a few yards away, his blue optics gleaming peevishly. The shell-shocked sorcerer gave the Toa a blank stare for a few moments before the biomech wordlessly began to ascend the face of stone and ice, bracing his legs against the sheer drop and using the cable for assistance.
 
Keldor followed suit, and as the two worked their way up to the precipice where Weiss had landed, they deigned to share words again.
 
“…I thought this is what you were asking me to do.” Kopaka said in a tone that was borderline apologetic. This was not lost on Keldor, and the self-centered magician capitalized on the passive regret.
 
“Bah! This is the WORST solution to the problem we faced. I was asking you to knock the yeti off, you articulated ice-box!” the warlock sneered, glancing over at Kopaka. The Toa of Ice kept his gaze firmly fixed on their goal. Using the Kanohi Akaku, he could peer through the mountain itself to see Schnee fending off the darkling revelers that had been frolicking minutes prior. The girl could certainly look out for herself, but as loathsome as the truth was, they were a tightly knit team now. It wouldn’t do to leave her to herself. Kopaka doubled his pace, gripping the cable hand over hand in a relentless climb. He quickly got far ahead of Keldor, and it occurred to him that, once again, his ability to move flawlessly on slick, icy surfaces was not a boon that his teammates shared. Oh well.
 
Neither of them had seen or heard from their abominable nemesis, so Kopaka had to assume that TriKy had lost his grip on the cable when it fell. It made enough sense; the sasquatch was immensely heavy. Heck, he may have even cut his fingers off trying to hang on. Either way, in due time, Keldor and Kopaka clambered over the edge of the escarpment. The bruised and blighted sunset in the frozen Nebula Space illuminated the ski village with a surprising amount of warm, golden hues intersect by stretching shadows. The rustic cabins were in poor condition, with windows broken and madness-induced graffiti carved into their pinewood exteriors.
 
Schnee was visibly relieved to see her teammates, skidding towards them after having blasted one of the quaint cottages into flaming oblivion with her explosive dust.
 
“Oh good! I was beginning to worry you two had died.” She said in a chiding tone that was totally transparent. Even Kopaka could tell that she had secretly been immensely concerned about their survival. Once again, the three Primes stood three abreast, arrayed against the Nebula dregs that had scuttled up to meet their unwanted guests. Kopaka was practically vibrating with anticipation; his thirst for violence had been growing steadily since embarking on this farce. He drew the blade of his sword along the rim of the Ice Shield as it spun up to defensive RPMs, eliciting a hollow ring from the split blade.
 
These darkling plebeians would serve well to sate him.

[Nebula]

The horde of undead snowbunnies descended upon the three Liberators, their brand-name winterwear zipping and crackling as they lurched forward. Some wielded ski-poles, sharpened to vicious points. Others wore ice-skates on their hands, slashing with rusted blades; it made them look like idiots, but they were long since too far gone to care. With every passing moment, more appeared, emerging from the cabins or clawing their way out of the dark, drifted snow. 

 From the air, lithe, predatory forms dove and swooped on snowy wings, with the heads and talons of owls and the bodies of elderly women.  Higher on the slopes, beyond the cabins and the central lodge, the yetis bellowed as they raced downhill on snowboards, empty bags in hand. Though they seemed reluctant to interrupt their work, several dismounted, dropping their satchels and lumbering towards the fray. 

On the rear patio of the main lodge, beside a trio of steaming hot-tubs and a heated swimming pool, crystaline goblins in porter's uniforms hawked cups of hot-chocolate from atop folding table. The zombies ignored them, but one of the wintery harpies took a break from harrying the Primes in order to haggle with the diminuitive fiends over a refreshing warm beverage, screeching loudly.  

Blades and magic flashed as the Liberators battled their way forward, off-color snow and tainted ice crunching underfoot. Keldor spun his havoc-staff and smashed a mummified snow-bro wearing a North Face jacket and broken goggles to the ground. He growled at the approaching yetis. 

"Curses! Just what we needed! More hirsute halfwits!" 

Kopaka's sword flashed, cutting down a harpy mid-dive. The creature barreled past the disguised conqueror closely enough that if he'd had a real nose, he would have been able to smell it. 

"Watch your back," the Toa said, bashing a charging revenant in a sweatsuit with his shield. Keldor responded by throwing a blast of Magic past the ice-elemental's shoulder. A blonde zombie in a midriff-bearing pink half-coat and ugg-boots crumbled. 

"You watch yours, machine! We need to get to that Ski-Lodge! There are too many of these frozen fools for us to fight in the op-AH!" 

A ski-pole jabbed him in the back, perforating his sturdy blue flesh. He wheeled, and crushed the dessicated perpetrator with single, mighty blow. "I was TALKING!"

"Less talking," said Weiss, leaping and parrying frantically, her rapier flashing red in the strange, dim light. "More running." 

It was sound advice. The three of them made a dash for the multistory manse at the center of the complex, ducking, rolling, slashing and blasting as they shouldered their way past Nebula's undead servants. Ahead of them, a trio of yetis - smaller and less colorful than TriKy FLipZ, but better dressed in stocking-caps, scarves and designer shades - leapt from the nearby rooftops to block their path, raising a brief flurry of fresh powder when they landed. They had snowboards tucked under their enormous, bulging arms and murder in their eyes.

"This is bad!" said Weiss, skidding to a halt.  

A wicked grin flashed across Keldor's flickering countenance. "Not necessearily."  

The lone snowmobiling cyborg made a pass on his crimson conveyance, cackling madly. The Eternian sorcerer stepped, pivoted, and swung his staff. A crack rang out, like a melon being struck with a sack full of steel bearings, and the half-human thing's head flew free of its shoulders. The snowmobile drifted a halt, its engine idling softly. 

All the zombies froze. The harpies fluttered and stared, chittered and crowed. A feeling of disbelief, sadness, and imminent anger rolled across the snowscape. 

Apparently, the snowmobiler was well-liked.  

"I think we should go." said Kopaka, and hurried to help Keldor, who was forcibly separating the rest of the cyborg from his ride. Weiss agreed, sprinting to join him. 

The Yeti's roared. The Zombies moaned. The harpies screamed. 

All three Primes scrambled aboard, Keldor at the helm, Kopaka at his back, and Weiss clinging perilously to rear. Their enemies charged. The engine roared, and a jet of fire shot out the back, uncomfortably close to the Huntress's feet.

"HAVE YOU EVER DONE THIS BEFORE?" Weiss screamed as they shot across the snow. Their ride briefly went airborne as they crushed a zombie beneath their blazing treads, plowing through several of its putrid peers. Shards of ice flew as they hit the ground, and the warlock whipped them around in a wide arc, trailing fire and clouds of rapidly-refreezing spray. The last-second bootlegger turn just barely avoided sending them rocketing off into the abyss they had only recently crossed. 

Weiss nearly lost her grip, hanging on with just one hand as she swung out over the void, feeling emptiness below her for a moment that  went on for far too long.

Finally, she slammed against Kopaka's less-than-yielding exoskeleton, and the wind rushed otu of her. "I'VE NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE!" Keldor screamed, exultant above the horrible roar of the engine. The treads spun, fighting for a hold in the snow, and for a moment they went nowhere.  "Now hang on tight! "

The treads caught. The rocket-powered vehicle lurched forward, and they were off again.

 The snowmobile hadn't been this fast when its former owner was riding it - but Keldor didn't have time to figure out how the throttle worked. They tore hellbent towards the ski-lodge, barely weaving between decaying cabins and bumping dangerously over winter-sport-revenants as they broke through the shambling mob and closed the last thirty feet between them and the patio.

Only the yeti's stood in their way now. 

"WE'RE GOING TO DIE," said Kopaka. "IN A FIERY, YETI-SMELLING EXPLOSION. YOU IDIOT!"   

He was nearly right. At the last second, the yeti's had the same thought, and they dove aside. The rocket-sled hit the patio's steps with a horrible crunch, and its front-tread tore lose as it left the ground. All three Primes lost their grip on the vehicle -  and each other -  still moving at an insane speed as they tumbled through the sky. Their ride crashed through the ski-lodge, outpacing them mid-air, its still-firing rocket spurring it onward. 
 
There was a brief impression of red leather, tasteful timber, a brick fireplace, and a wall with three empty trophy-plaques mounted on it  - flashing past through a flurry of shattered wood, red plastic, burning debris, and breaking glass. Then, they were embedded in a snow drift, at various uncomfortable angles; The trio had crashed clear through the building in the wake of their fiery chariot, landing on the downslope side of the now-merrily-burning ski lodge. 

Righting themselves with a great deal of wincing and groaning, they found that there was only one enemy in sight on this side of the building: a very round, very angry-looking robot, standing about fifteen feet uphill, in front of the Lodge's shattered picture-windows. 

It's body was a sphere, painted orange on top and white on the bottom, the two colors separated by a jagged blue stripe, reminiscent of a tacky winter sweater. It's arms were spindly, ending in a pair of blue-and-white gauntlets, and its legs were similarly proportioned, terminating in a pair of blue metal boots. 

It didn't have much of a head - just a pair of large yellow eyes beneath an orange winter cap with a white pom-pom on the top. In the middle of its chest, where one might expect an ominously-glowing power-core, was an icon depicting a happy snowman. 


Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, it was on skis. 

"WHAT," it bellowed, in a surprisingly nasal tone, its synthesized voice abuzz with static, " HAVE YOU DONE TO MY SKI-LODGE?" 

Damage Report:
-- Kopaka takes 1 point of damage. 
-- Skeletor takes 2  points of damage.
-- Weiss takes 4 points of damage.
-- Everyone takes 1 point of additional damage from being awesome their snowmobile shenanigans.

You have been confronted with the Darkloid in charge of the Frozen Fields! You know what that means!


[aling=center]Frozen Fields Final Boss

BlizzardMan.EXE

As expected, Blizzard Man is an ace skier, and at home on the snowy slopes of this place. He controls snow and blizzards virtually freely, able to whip up clouds of powder and biting gales in the blink of an eye. Despite his comical appearance, he's extremely tough, and surprisingly competent. Battle stats are as follows:

Proficiencies: Physical Strength, Ranged, Ranged Materialize, Area Attack, Area Defense, Homing, Debuff
Powers: Basic Super Jumping, Master Acrobat, Hive Mind, Disassemble, Survival

Stats
ATK: 4
DEF: 6
SPD: 3
TEC: 2

Moves:

Snow Crash: Blizzard Man rolls himself up into a huge snowball, crashing into a target. It explodes in a shower of razor-sharp icicles and shrapnel, leaving the darkloid to spring back to his feet under the distraction.

Powder Rain: Blizzard Man conjures up a shower of razor-sharp snowflakes to drift down toward his foes, homing in on them. They are incredibly sharp, and incredibly tough despite their fragile apperance.

Snow Cone: Blizzard Man exhales a gust of chilling wind from the snowman emblem on his chest. It reaches out to about two meters, and spreads into a two meter cone. Anything caught in the area is rapidly frozen solid for several seconds. The duration is about ten seconds, minus one for every point of ATK the target has.

Ski Kick: Blizzard Man kicks a target with his skis. It's clumsy, but powerful.

Ski Poles: Blizzard man strikes at a target with his ski poles. It gives him a little bit of reach, and can be used for clubbing or stabbing a target.

These are just some ideas. His full arsenal is more or less open for you to go crazy with.

You have one week to make one post up to 1200 words to combat this blizzard-y scourge. Have at it!

[Skeletor]

The large powerhouse drove through them, scattering the disoriented liberators in a spray of rock-hard powder. It pummeled Skeletor like gravel, and he held his arms up to keep it away from his flickering face. How much longer could he maintain the illusion in this place? He doubted it could be much longer… He considered dropping the disguise entirely, but it might distract those fools when they needed to focus on the enemy.

The Darkloid had skidded to a stop before the blazing remains of the Ski lodge. Its anatomy made it hard to read the figure’s emotions, though its dejection seemed likely given the listlessness with which it turned back to face the three of them.

“YOU WILL REGRET THAT, TRESPASSERS!” the creature screeched. Wiess stared incredulously at the Darkloid and even Kopaka seemed to be a little bit uncertain as the spherical master of the Nebula space drew near.

“Is…” Wiess began, “Is that thing skiing at us uphill?” the Huntress asked, still too confused to react.

“What does it look like, you skirt-wearing simpleton! Get to cover!” Skeletor shouted. He didn’t understand why the other two primes found the darkloid so unusual, it looked uncomfortably like that irksome Trollan Orko, but otherwise it seemed entirely appropriate. The fools probably hadn’t seen enough real combat to know what to expect from battles like this.

BlizzardMan sped past once again, his spray shattering off the trees and rattling the forest with countless collisions. Skeletor fired a few experimental blasts at the darkloid as it passed, though the creatures armored shell deflected much of their impact away, and it was difficult for Skeletor to tell if he was doing any damage. The Warlock stepped out from behind the rocky snowbank and stared down the robotic skier.

“PREPARE FOR PRISTINE PAIN!” the darkloid announced, turning around for another attack.

“I’ve never heard such an insufferable voice!” Skeletor shouted back, “I’m almost glad I don’t have ears with the racket you’re making, you miscolored Christmas ornament!”

Eldritch energies accumulated in the Havoc Staff as his foe came barreling forward again, this time accumulating the snow around it as it went. Soon the darkloid was completely hidden in the growing mound of frozen death. Skeletor’s nerve broke and he unleashed the power, blasting a white beam of energy into the snow, but it did not stop the impending boulder of snow and pain that was coming his way.

A White blur crossed Skeletor’s vision, and the warlock was surprised to see Wiess Schnee move to stop the incoming darkloid, her rapier tinged and glowing with a red light. How did she expect to handle…?

Skeletor’s confusion was sated when the snow boulder came crashing down, the dust-infused power of Myrtenaster stopping its momentum completely. Such power, Skeletor had a brief instant to be impressed before the snow boulder exploded outwards, sending both primes flying through the air as Blizzardman sprung back to its feet. The darkloid did not get a chance to follow up on the attack however, as a humming shield broke through the expanding cloud of snow.

Kopaka Mata, Toa of Ice, pressed the attack, taking advantage of the darkloid’s surprised to score several hits with his blade. The strokes pinged off the metal ball with a disheartening ease, and Kopaka’s eyes narrowed.  He leapt backwards, out of range of a sweeping ski and continued to kite the creature, buying time for his allies.

Skeletor groaned, getting to his feet and glancing around at the nearby snow in a futile attempt to spot his havoc staff.

“We need a strategy!” Wiess shouted, getting to her feet as well, “That thing’s too powerful for us to keep winging it like we’ve been doing!”

Skeletor could not disagree, and he began to look instead for a solution. His gaze landed on the wreckage of the snowmobile, covered in detritus from their brief foray through the ski lodge. Skeletor jogged over to the debris, and began to wrestle with something. Wiess followed him, confused.

“Hey! Are you even listening to me? We need to find some way to beat it!” She shouted in frustration.

“Cease your prattling, Girl!” Skeletor muttered, “I've found a solution!” He turned to face the Huntress with a wicked grin. She looked down at what he was holding.

“You can’t be serious!” she groaned.

---

Kopaka’s shield clanged as he blocked a sweeping ski pole and backed up. Where were those two even? Despite its gangly frame, the darkloid’s strength and speed were impressive. The Toa could feel himself tiring, but the blasted nebula warrior seemed hardly fazed by the battle.

“HEY! Get that overactive bowling ball to follow you over here!” came the needling voice of Keldor from down the slope.

Kopaka barely saw the other two primes, but the voice spoke with enough authority that he would trust its intentions. The Toa slid his way down the slope, the darkloid following close behind. Kopaka’s defenses were down as he skied away from the danger at his back. He would have to trust Keldor’s plan to avoid this ending badly.

---

“This is idiotic!” Wiess shouted as she took position behind a tree. Skeletor had taken a similar position and was bundling up the length of wreath that he had salvaged from the crash. He was pleasantly surprised both that it had remained intact after their flight had torn it free of its natural banister, and at the strength of the cable.  Skeletor growled in frustration, the Schnee girl’s questions grated at him, did she think he didn’t know that?

“Be QUIET!” he yelled back, his flickering mask of a face frowning at the huntress as Skeletor turned back to watch the approach. Their window would be a small one. The white blur of Kopaka zipped between the two ready primes, a spray of snow with a larger one close behind. Skeletor tossed one end of the garland towards Wiess, his magic guiding the strand to her hands more than his throw. The Huntress still seemed unconvinced.

“What makes you think this kind of plan would even work?” She asked incredulously as the massive sphere bore towards them. Skeletor ground his teeth.

“Because this is exactly what that muscle-bound oaf would try, and He’s NEVER LOST! NOW PULL!”

The Eternian sorcerer and the heiress from Vale both threw their entire weight backwards. Pulling the makeshift rope taut as the Darkloid came crashing into it. The momentum of the Nebula warlord tore both primes clean off their feet, but not before they had caught their foe’s legs and spent it tumbling down the slopes in a disorganized array.

Skeletor lifted his head out of a snowbank, spitting the powder away. There was a solid thud as BlizzardMan’s haphazard descent was brought to an abrupt stop by one of the slope's sturdier trees. The darkloid was still moving though. How did that accursed He-man deal with these things so easily?

“Ice Toaster!” Skeletor shouted, struggling back up in the knee-deep snow, “Strike now! Before it has a chance to recover!”

1179 words. bringing that cheesy goodness to the epic boss battle!

[Weiss Schnee]

Weiss stood speechless as Blizzardman was knocked against the tree by Keldor’s plan. The warlock might have been wordy about a lot of things Weiss didn’t understand (and more than a little insulting for her tastes), but his tactics were effective, if a little… silly.

Kopaka followed his words with a grunt of either irritation or exertion - Kopaka had just been told what to do, but he was also exhausted from all the questions he had earlier been given for how to finish this, so Weiss supposed either was possible - and followed up with a beautiful amalgamation of Ice, aiming to crush his opponent with a man-sized recreation of his regular ice blade that he sent rocketing down the snow at Blizzardman. 

Stunned as his opponent was by the tree slam, Blizzardman still refused to be defeated so easily , curling his hands and legs close to his body as his body was covered in a white glow.. Blizzardman suddenly puffed out into a ball of snow in a way that reminded Weiss of a startled cat’s tail. Kopaka’s giant ice blade slammed into the newly covered Blizzardman, and both snowball and Ice blade shattered into a cloud of ice and snow.

A huffing, puffing, but virtually unscathed Blizzardman clutched at his chest afterwards. “Whoosh… I almost become the first robotic popsicle! I should probably end this quickly!”


Blizzardman didn’t give anyone a chance to breathe, holding his hands out as he conjured up a hail of icicles that pinned Kopaka down. The toa held up his shield to block, but the sheer volume of attacks was enough that shards continued to slip past the tired warrior’s defenses, eventually knocking him into the snow.

Skeletor threw a volley of his own magically charged missiles, a hail of small energy bolts striking Blizzardman and exploding across his metal chassis. Weiss added her support to the barrage with her own attack - a blast of flame echoing from her sword. As the light from the attacks faded, though, the only progress Weiss saw was a few scratches on his paint. The evil Netnavi didn’t give them a chance to follow up as he countered with a lightning fast dash across the snow, smashing into Skeletor like a freight truck and knocking him into the trunk of a large evergreen.

Weiss glared forward. She couldn’t count on either of the their help - and, she realized, that was her own fault. Skeletor and Kopaka had been forced into attacking their opponents non-stop with all of their power, while Weiss had mostly taken a back-seat and relied on their abilities. Her hand tightened into a fist. She came here to fight, not to simply be a burden to her comrades. Meanwhile, her partners had had to make up for where she lacked…

Blizzardman held up a hand, bombarding the huntress with ice shards she was forced to parry. Most of the attacks missed her entirely, but a few of the icy daggers made their way through her guard,  piercing her defenses and leaving some bleeding gashes across her legs.

“Guess that’s gonna be that. Three primes, lost in a blizzard. Seeya, kid! Next time, don’t mess with Nebula!”

Weiss just glared in response, as she lifted one hand up to her eyes. The mask by her side disappeared, then reappeared in a flash of vermillion energy, the huntress’s expression hidden underneath a mask of bone and teeth. Scarlet energy collected around her in a circle, and Weiss felt every cell of her body become super-charged with the chaotic energies of hollowfication.

Blizzardman didn’t wait for Weiss’s transformation to finish, rolling himself into a snowball before launching himself at Weiss with all the force and speed of a giant pinball. The huntress waited until the darkloid was a few inches away from hitting her to disappear, reappearing right behind the accelerating ball of slush.

Weiss took a breath, processing what she had just achieved. Nayamasa had said she could get some control over hollowfying eventually, but this was the first time she’d ever done it consciously. The first time she was still in control of herself.

“What’s that? Some kinda power-up? Don’t think it’ll save you from me!” the darkloid growled, before firing a giant icicle forward.

The visored huntress disappeared from sight, dodging the giant icicle and reappearing right in front of the Darkloid with a burst of speed. “I don’t have time to explain.”

Blizzardman wasn’t given the chance to react as he found a fast, angry, and much stronger huntress smacking him backwards with a trio of slashes from her blade. The netnavi  found himself covered with a lot of noticeable, if superficial, scratches across the metal of his body, and countered using a rough swing with an irritated grunt using his own ski-poles. Before his strike could land, Weiss was already behind him, though, sending him stumbling forward as she struck him with a dust-enhanced blow from Myrtenaster. Weiss followed up by appearing in front of the net-navi, grabbing him by the head with surprising strength, and pushed the robot forward. Blizzardman pushed back, but Weiss’s new strength combined with the fact he was trying to brace while on skis left him mostly helpless as the huntress slammed him into another tree.

The frost navi managed to push himself back up to his knees with a surprised expression, noticing the slight gouges the Atlesian huntress had left on his body, before looking up to see the human-turned-hollow hybrid pop in and out of his vision... once, twice, three times, as the woman circled him at high speeds, popping out of the ivory tornado for an attack every time the robot left her enough of an opening. And at the speeds Weiss was moving, she was finding an awful lot of openings

“Enough!” Blizzardman finally yelled, A torrent of ice bursting around him and knocking the hollowfied huntress off her feet. “I was tired after taking out your friends... but now I’ve had more than enough of a breather.” Blizzardman ranted, slicing a finger across his neck with a pointed glare at Weiss. “And now I'm gonna knock the gingerbread outta ya-”

“My sentiments exactly, Slush-for-brains!” Keldor’s voice rang through the din, striking from behind with a concentrated blast of energy that knocked a ski off the netnavis foot.

A blade of ice shot through the air as Kopaka returned to the fight, and Blizzardman barely managed to block with his ski poles in time to avoid losing an eye.

 “So this is your mask’s power.”

The skiing automaton smacked Kopaka away with an icy first before he could say anything more, the embodiment of ice still getting knocked off his feet even after catching the attack on his shield. “Did you really think that just those attacks could really… hurt…”

A red glow spread across the snow, and Blizzardman turned around with a gulp to see Weiss. The hollow had her palm up and facing the evil machine, with a ball of crimson energy gathering in front of it.

“Oh, find me in the Alps-”

“Cero!” Weiss yelled, enveloping the Darkloid boss in a crimson blast of energy.

1199 words according to wordcounter.net.
Weiss is using 2 Order points to utilize her t1 Power-up, an Ivory Visor, for the rest of the combat round.
[spoiler][/spoiler]
Powered-up stats:
ATK: 4
DEF: 3
SPD: 5
Tec: 3

Weiss also used her signature move, Cero in this round

Go smack 'em good, Kopaka!

[Kopaka]

The lance of bloody energy cruised across the sullen snowscape, crashing into the darkloid's hull with a resounding clang. While it certainly knocked the rotund contender onto his rump for a few seconds, it was hard to discern whether or not Weiss's attack had done any appreciable damage. In fact, to that extent, it didn't really seem like any of their attacks were having a tangible effect on the robotic defender at all. For all their efforts, Blizzardman simply kept getting back on his skis and plowing towards them, time after time.

It appeared as though this time was going to be no different, as after a moment dazzled confusion, the mechanical skier pulled himself upright once more with a pronounced whir-click. Weiss was upon the snowman in an instant, attempting to drive the tip of Myrtenaster into any discernible chink in his armor. Sparks flew and growls were uttered, but after humoring the human girl for a short time, Blizzardman casually slapped Weiss towards the blazing remains of his beloved ski lodge. The warm fires mixed with the unnatural purple tint of the snow to create a spectacle of scintillating carmine glitter that danced and flirted at the edge of the clearing. The darkloid's joviality was rapidly diminishing, as more and more tendrils of tenebrous energy began to leak from his inner workings.

"Better get back on your feet, snow-bunny..." Blizzardman said softly, summoning a long dagger of ice into one hand. He raised it over his head as he advanced towards the fallen girl, sadism dripping from every word. "...you're starting to slip!"

With an almost screeching voice, the enraged navi drove the spike of ice downwards, but as he did so, it shattered hard against the whirling bastion of Kopaka's shield. Glowing blue eyes met the heavy red pupils of the navi's cartoonish face, before the bloated mechanoid was unceremoniously booted in the gut. Weiss, to her credit, was already back on her feet, and probably would have been able to dodge the clumsy coup de grâce had she needed to. She nearly launched herself at the brooding navi once more, but Kopaka held his shield up to block her path. This battle was proving to be a war of attrition; it would not behoove them to waste unnecessary energy. Blizzardman, skilled and fearsome though he was, did not have the wherewithal to realize this, thanks to the infectious darkness eating away at his sensibility. They had to play this to their advantage.

"Slow and steady, Schnee." Kopaka said, referencing a human fable he had come to appreciate. It seemed like such a long time ago that he had first walked into the archives of Coruscant in pursuit of knowledge about this world. Now he found himself in the midst of a fight to preserve the integrity of those treasured minutia. Should Nebula's vision come to pass, Kopaka had no doubt that the spheres of knowledge and intellect would become forever the privilege of the pinnacle of society. In his home universe, many Matoran took a dim view of the lofty beliefs of Ko-Koro natives, but let it never be said that they did not share the fruits of their belabored, mental pursuits.

"Think you're pretty slick, eh? You're skating on thin ice, now, robot!" the Darkling huffed, curling himself into a tight ball and starting to spin on the spot. A plume of dark ice was kicked high into the air as the metal boulder came hurtling towards Kopaka. The Toa stood still and waited patiently before switching to the Kanohi Hau at the last minute. The Great Mask of Shielding, immediately extended a veil of electric blue energy over the biomech's body. Not only did it render him immune to the incoming attack, the but what was once an over-complicated body-slam quickly turned into the equivalent of running head first into a solid glacier. Blizzardman crashed into Kopaka's shielded body with an immense clang, and the darkloid sank slowly to the slushy ground with an almost comical slowness.

Ice may not have had any damaging effect on the navi, but it could still restrain the stunned marauder just as well as anything else. Kopaka slowly gathered what little elemental power he had and blasted a half-hearted burst of rime at Blizzardman; enough to root his left foot and ski to the ground.

"Keldor. Weiss. Aim for the center of his mass, and we may be able to breach his armor." Kopaka said softly, drawing the Ice Sword back for a calculated thrust. The Schnee girl and the Warlock gathered at Kopaka's side, and each took their aim. Blizzardman's eyes widened as he came to, and raised a hand charged with icy pain to fend off his Prime opposers. It was too little too late, and as a spray of razor ice plinked and ricocheted off of Kopaka's protosteel carapace, three blades buried themselves in Blizzardman's chest. An added explosive report from Myrtnaster sealed the Darkloid's fate, and it wasn't until the mechanical nebula boss staggered back a few feet that the Liberators were able to appreciate the smoldering, sparking results of their handiwork.

Unfortunately, the smoking gap in his chest served only to incense Blizzardman far beyond the realm of coherent language. With a shrill scream, the irritable Navi jammed a darkchip into his gauntlet, and the appendage rapidly expanded into what equated to an oversized bazooka.

"Scatter!" Keldor shouted, diving for cover. Schnee did the same, but Kopaka stood resolute against the ensuing onslaught. A torrent of dark, glacial energy washed over him with a cacophonous rumble. The Kanohi Hau had not had sufficient time to recharge since its previous use, so Kopaka was left holding his straining shield in front of him. By the time the river of thunderous ice-energy subsided, Kopaka had been handily frozen in place; with purple icicles jutting out behind his immobile form.

"That fool!"

"Seriously!"

Kopaka's teammates complained, but the Toa was relatively comfortable with this situation. Yes, the darkloid's attack had left him encased in heavy ice for the moment, but this in and of itself was not an inhibiting factor for the Toa. He had been able to draw the full brunt of the Navi's trump-card attack onto himself, and could escape from this chilling entombment with relative ease, but only when the time was right. Let Schnee, Keldor and the bumbling ski-master think that nebula had the upper hand, now. When his moment came, Kopaka would be more than ready to show them what a true master of ice could do...

[Nebula]

Blizzardman was having a bad day. His beloved Ski-Lodge, constructed to his exacting specifications for the combined purposes of winter-time rest and relaxation and darkchip manufacturing, was in flames. His tasteful, cheerfully-adorned orange-and-white chassis had a sparking hole in it, leaking a whispy cloud of purple miasma, as well as many terrible nicks, notches, scorchmarks and scuffs. Worst of all, he'd lost a ski!  

 
Fortunately, for the moment the evil icon of alpine fun had the upper hand, and the he took full advantage of that. His arm whirred and clicked, returning to its former shape in series of minute, abrupt mechanical actions as the spent darkchip was ejected, steaming when it hit the snow. At the same time, a fresh green ski emerged from the sole of its foot, unfolding nigh-instantly. 

Keldor and Weiss rushed to the attack, the warlock hanging back to provide magical fire-support as the masked huntress closed the distance.

It didn't go well. 

With no warning save for a sudden near-silent hiss of titanium-runners on snow, they were clotheslined by the outstretched beefy arms of a pair of snowboarding yetis, the massive simian forms covered by crisp, orange designer wind-breakers and their eyes hidden by glare-reducing black goggles. One of them had a boombox held to one ear, comically small in its monstrous grasp. As Keldor went face-first into the snow, it pulled into a tight braking turn and reached across its body to crank the volume, blaring board-punk tunes across the slopes at a volume that was perhaps unwise in a potential avalanche-zone. 

All around the liberators, more darkspawn monsters  flashed past on boards and skis, emerging from behind the burning ski-lodge and doing their very best to run the Primes down as they lay prone, or at least score a potshot as they passed. Some braked, as the yeti's had, and ran back up the slope - whether intent on joining the fray or for another go-around on the hill it was too early to tell - while others simply continued down the mountain, disappearing into the distant haze far below. 

As the liberators began to rise, Blizzardman raised his hands, and a mechanical, buzzing cackle echoing from its voicebox. Its eyes turned from yellow to deep crimson red, making him considerably less cute. He twirled his ski-poles, and rocketed uphill on one foot, the other ski raised awkwardly for a devastating ramming-attack.

"I'll show you punks who rules these slopes! LET'S GET 'EM BOYS!"

The swirling red sky darkened as the wind kicked up, and violet snow began to fall.

The battle rages on! Just like before, you have one week and one post of 1200 words each. Some of Blizzard Man's cronies have joined the fray to further complicate matters, but you can fend them off! ....right?

[Skeletor]

Skeletor’s illusory eyes widened as Blizzardman raced forward yet again. What had at first seemed an almost playful encounter was quickly turning into a desperate fight for survival. The warlock crossed his arms in an attempt to block the incoming ski, but was sent flying backwards into one of the trees scattering the slope. Wiess ducked a passing swipe from a yeti and scored a quick sequence of strikes to the darkloid’s spherical body as it skidded past, though the armor proved as impenetrable as ever. Blizzardman’s arms spun around, rotating about his body unnaturally. Wiess frantically parried the unexpected onslaught of ski poles, struggling to get good footing in the violet powder.

Skeletor landed in the snow, temporarily stunned. The darkloid just didn’t stop! It took everything they could dish out at it and simply kept coming. And now with Kopaka in ice, they were sorely outnumbered. Skeletor struggled to his feet, Havoc staff flying to his hands from its snowy tomb. The already flickering face of Keldor fell away entirely, leaving only the grinning skull of Skeletor behind. He would need all of his energy for this battle, he couldn’t afford to keep up the disguise any longer. If those rotten heroes had a problem with him he would simply take them down too.

Skeletor swept his havoc staff out to his left, the metal shaft slamming into the face of a sickly grinning elf as it slid past. The little darkspawn was laid out cold, and Skeletor wasted no time. Tearing free the shield-like disc on which the elf had stood, he raced over towards Wiess’s desperate defense. Blizzardman seemed to be focusing on the huntress, and though the girl was doing an admirable job, she was in sore trouble.

The warlock fired a blast from his staff, disrupting the approach of yet another of the extreme yetis and sending it tumbling in the snowy banks. Nearing the battle, Skeletor leapt, soaring unnaturally high into the air. With one hand pulling the disc under his feet, Skeletor arced over the darkloid, havoc staff in telekinetic tow.  Blizzard man turned in surprise, but Skeletor’s free hand grabbed hold of his metallic hat wrenching his head suddenly sideways as the warlock finished his flip.

Skeletor’s disc hit snow, and the warlock started to pick up speed. Behind him blizzardman had righted himself and now was in furious pursuit.

“Free that blasted bucket of bolts if you can!” Skeletor shouted over his shoulder towards where he expected Wiess to be, “I’ll handle the overweight maraca!”

He didn’t wait for a response, the enraged darkloid was fast on his heels. Skeletor sped away from the other two Liberators, weaving amongst the trees as he got used to the maneuverability of his transportation. It wasn’t fast enough. The ball of rage bore down on him with a growing wave of snow at its heels. Blizzardman was summoning an avalanche as they sped away.

“You might want to put on some more clothes there, pal!” the darkloid taunted, though its voice was lacking in mirth, “You’re looking a little bit blue in this weather!”

Skeletor’s response was a maddened cackle, as he fired a trio of magical blasts behind him. On his left a winged harpy swooped down, and Skeletor ducked, the claws grabbing futily at his cloak hood as they passed. A magical blast crippled one of its wings, and sent the darkspawn sprawling into the off-color snow. Skeletor glanced behind him, noting the rapid approach of Nebula’s commander. Facing away from his descent for a moment, Skeletor took careful aim, sending a finger beam directly into the gap between Blizzardman’s eyes. It did negligible damage, but infuriated the darkloid even more.

“Don’t think you can handle me on your own, Liberator. It was three against one a moment ago, and I iced one of you up, but good! Burying you will be easy!”

Skeletor’s magic caught a return volley of icicles, and he tossed them aside, beginning to draw power from his Liberator Aide.

“That’s where you’re wrong, you two-toned snowball!” Skeletor cried triumphantly, purplish electricity crackling from the gauntlet strapped to his wrist.

“I have already claimed the powers of your forgotten brother! The fools of Nebula claim their leader’s strengths to be unparalleled! They don't understand that I have it at my disposal as well!”

Skeletor leapt from the disc onto a low-hanging tree branch, gauntlet extended towards the approaching Blizzardman. The crystallized power took shape, a dark shadow stark even against the red-tint that enveloped the Nebula space. Behind Skeletor there was now another figure, smoke forming into a towering bestial figure.

Blizzardman skidded to a stop, red eyes narrowing as the demonic form coalesced behind the straining Liberator. It was taxing Skeletor surprisingly to manifest this power. He had claimed it for his own, wrested it from its corpse of an owner, yet it dared to contest his control? Skeletor ground his bared teeth, and thrust his gauntlet towards the Nebula commander.

The smoking form raised its billowing arms above its head, closing the distance between Liberator and Darkloid in the blink of an eye. The smoke-made arms slammed down into the surprised Blizzardman, driving him down into the snow. Violet powder erupted in a fountain, obscuring Skeletor’s view of the darkloid. A broken ski pole sailed through the air to catch on a nearby branch.

The shadowy form was not done yet, however. Rearing back its bestial head, the vestigial power of the ancient darkloid poured out in a cone of flames, roaring down on the stunned Blizzardman. The discolored snow evaporated under the heat, and when the flames died, the commander of Nebula found himself in a cleared patch of steaming dirt. His red eyes met the shadowed ones of the smoky apparition. As quickly as it had appeared, the form was gone, the smoke blowing away in an errant wind that gusted along the slope.

“There!” Skeletor heaved, arm shaking with the effort of keeping the power in command. It was concerning how tame it had appeared, compared to its unbridled fury. Still, in the end it had bowed to his whims.

“Now don’t you EVER talk down to me again, you walking scrap heap! Or I’ll make sure you end up as a Xerox machine!”

1052 words, MS word
Skeletor uses stolen super attack.

T1 Super Attack: Phantom Hammer

Emerging from the crystal of harvested power, a great shadowy form emerges, humanoid in form but with a bestial, demonic appearance and with a towering height. It is semi-transparent, as if composed of thick, swirling smoke. It forms within just three seconds, before hefting both of its clawed hands, linking them together and striking with all of its massive bulk at the target, smashing them into the earth and releasing a stream of fire from its jaws at the grounded target. Moments after the attack is done, it vanishes in a whirl of smoke.

[Kopaka]

Kopaka's blue eyes gleamed through the distorted glaze of the icy shell. He watched the battle rage to and fro as it passed in front of his entombed body, trying to gauge when the best time to strike would be. It seemed that Keldor had Blizzardman on the defensive, despite the rabble of hooting and chattering monstrosities that had appeared out of nowhere. The biomech sighed inwardly; this was starting to become increasingly tedious. A series of tentative impacts alerted him to the fact that Weiss was trying to chip him out of the ice. This was a poor use of her time; with the numbers stacked against them it would be much more useful for the female to be fighting at all times.

On top of that, it seemed as though the bulk of the lead darkling's forces had taken an interest in what they perceived as two helpless targets. It pleased him that nothing could be farther from the truth. He couldn't tell exactly where the huntress was in relation to him, but what he could see was yet another yeti rearing up to try and smash them both. The toa moved with one fluid movement. The sound of ice cracking accompanied a deep, satisfying squelch as the ice-sword was driven deep into the yeti's body. Even Weiss was startled by the sudden attack, falling back on her rear as Kopaka lunged forward. The chilling toxin of anger rippled up the Toa's spine, fueling his muscles as he wrenched the frozen blade free from the wound. He was almost sad that no blood fell from the deep gash, but watching the erstwhile beast topple over was gratifying, all the same.

He could tell that the Darkness was seeping into him. For so long, even since Nippur, he had denied its presence and its effects. The corrosion of his kanohi mask, the yellowing of his eyes, and the newly acquired taste for gore all pointed at an obvious path he could no longer ignore. How pitiable it was for these darkling wretches that sharing their infection did not mean they were allied. Weiss got steadily back to her feet, brushing the pervasive lavender powder off of her skirt.

"...y-you okay, Kopaka?" she breathed, looking up into the Toa's pulsating yellow eyes. The tone in his voice was worrying; uncharacteristically emotional. Sadistic even. Was this some effect of the ice he had been encased in, or had there been signs all along?

"Oh yes..." the ice elemental said softly, switching masks to the Kanohi Hau. An electric light enveloped his body once again as Blizzardman's hordes bore down on them, causing the ground to rumble under the weight. "...stay close and place your strikes well. I will bear the brunt of this rabble."

"So much for slow and steady..." Weiss griped, sidling up next to the supercooled warrior. A small pack of screeching darkspawn whirled through the air, closing the distance rapidly as their red eyes promised violence. The raking attacks from their infested claws found no purchase on the veil of the Hau's defensive power, and Kopaka banished several of them to nothingness before instinct prevailed and they fled. The yetis were next, slow and unforgivably stupid. How such idiotic creatures could draw an affinity with the element of ice baffled the Toa, and the confusion served to further his self-righteous raid. To his credit, the darkened Kopaka did quite well protecting Weiss, simply dint of being the larger target, but all it took was for her to get in his way once to draw the biomech's murderous ire. Whether by fatigue or simple miscalculation, one of Weiss's swings resulted in her driving an elbow into Kopaka's back, causing the bionicle to be thrown off balance. A towering conglomerate of ice and dark power swatted the pair aside with ease, before curiously lumbering after its new quarry.

"Sorry! Sorry." she croaked, hauling herself back to her feet. They had been smacked into the side of a large snowbank, up against the side of one of the smaller chateaus that had been left standing. Though, for the most part, Kopaka's expressions were inscrutable, Weiss had at least started to learn what the Toa's various glares and leers indicated. The way he was looking at her as he dusted himself off was far from friendly.

"I have had enough of your reckless naiveté." the Toa seethed as his yellowed eyes flickered. Weiss, panic stricken, immediately sprinted away from the marauding mechanical monster, but found her progress cut short as a violently sharp spike of ice burst through the snow and jabbed her in her midsection. The force of the sudden manifestation was enough to wind her...she didn't want to think about what may have happened if her aura wasn't active. Still, she found herself gagging for breath as Kopaka clasped a deeply frigid hand around her throat and lifted her into the air. Her eyes fluttered rapidly as oxygen starvation met with a dangerously cold chill, and Kopaka was more than happy to squeeze harder.

"For all your poise...you are sloppy. Reckless. Imprecise. A mewling nuisance who has been little better than a liability. How many more chances should I give for you to prove yourself?" Kopaka uttered. Though he had no teeth per se, his voice modulator was more than capable of emulating the effect of speaking through a grinding jaw. A sudden explosion between the two of them sent huntress and biomech flying apart. Weiss's quick thinking saved her the agony of suffocation, but Myrtenaster's vicious firepower sent her flipping end over end before plopping unceremoniously in the dark snow. She coughed and gagged horribly, having no choice but to stagger to her feet for the third time in as many minutes. When she looked around for the insane Toa, he was already gleefully slaying darkling dregs as they came at him. Keldor was a few feet away, playing magical sparring games with Blizzardman himself. Though weak, her voice rang through the din of hooting, roaring and death.

"Keldor! We have a-"

She coughed.

"We have a problem!"

"WHAT?!" the warlock barked, momentarily knocking the incensed Blizzardman away with a two-handed whack with his staff. The azure wizard chanced a glance over at the commotion behind them, and at Kopaka's uncharacteristic battle frenzy. Had he possessed eyes, Keldor would have rolled them grievously.

"Superb! The last thing we need right now is a renegade robot on the rampage!" he sneered. 

"I AM NOT..." Kopaka yelled as he kicked the corpse of a fallen darkling off his blade, "...A ROBOT!" 

With this declaration, Kopaka proceeded charged at his estranged allies at full speed, skidding across the ice in a plume of discolored mist.

"Nice going." Weiss quipped.

Used 1 SP to tank hella amounts of damage from darkling ankle biters.

Kopaka is going berserk. He'll attack anyone he feels like attacking.

[Weiss Schnee]

Weiss placed one hand on her arm, and the other on her blade, watching her comrade lay into darklings, branches, anything that got close enough or did something to irritate him. She hid it behind glib statements, but the words had hit home.

“for all your poise...you are sloppy. Reckless. Imprecise. A mewling nuisance who has been little better than a liability.”

It was a damning statement… and yet, hadn’t Weiss thought that, herself, just a little while ago? The words buried deep into her mind like Shrapnel, and she blinked a few times to ignore the pain, even as she smacked another of the small darklings’ attacks, a large, black cannon that fired a blast of crimson energy, away from her with a sweep of myrtenaster. The ball of energy zoomed into a nearby tree, and Weiss hastily exited the area before any more damage could be done.


Instead, she moved over to Keldor’s side, taking his back. “I don’t have any unconventional strategies for this problem, sorry…” Weiss muttered, looking at the crowd that was beginning to form. From smalll chomping things to Yeti’s that darted forward for a pass on their suspiciously quick snowboards, Keldor and Weiss were forced into a tight defensive circle, the silver crescent of Myrtenaster’s swings ringing out in tune with Keldor’s havoc staff as the blocked attack after attack, throwing the occasional countering blast of fire or dark magic. Weiss was surprised again by the Warlock’s dexterity - he was pretty decent on his feet for someone she thought was more of a… well, a less agile person.


Weiss felt boxed in, and she knew that Blizzardman wouldn’t have too much of a problem taking out the two of them individually. She’d already ran out of time on her hollowfication, the broken mask fragments clinging stubbornly to her belt, and with his raw power, combined with his underlings…

Wait, where was Blizzardman?

Weiss looked towards the area Kopaka was fighting, and a chill ran down her spine. The toa was fighting on his own while Keldor and Weiss fought together, cutting down anyone who got too close and using his power over ice to smash anyone too far away.


And the Robotic master of the Nebula gate was zipping towards him at high speeds.


Kopaka was strong, but the Darknavi Sped up before Weiss’s eyes, a white aura trailing him as he built up momentum and knocked Kopaka off of his feet.

Weiss Looked back to Keldor. “Cover me!”

“Ehh?! Where do you think you’re going you white-haired-”

Whatever charming new nickname Keldor had prepared was lost in the wind as Weiss picked up speed, trying to help with the battle. Kopaka was striking with savage fury, and even the blizzard boss took a moment of backing away as the icy Toa advanced, shrugging most of the blows, but seeming just a little cowed by the raw ferocity of the attacks. The raw intensity of the Icy toa’s assault radiated out from him like raw heat, and the other Darklings were momentarily cowed from entering the fray.


Then Blizzardman flashed a wicked grin, Kopaka went for a strike that brought him too close, and Weiss watched as the Iced navi went for a less elemental and more physical approach, grabbing the cyborg by the head and smashing him into the snow, before going for a kick with his skis.


Kopaka pushed up his shield in time to avoid getting properly pounded into the ground, and with a feral strength, he pushed himself back onto his feet with his other fist, not even bothering to let go of his weapon.

Blizzardman Held up his hand, and a pair of brilliant blue orbs of energy lanced out. The blasts struck against Kopaka, and the robot had growths of black ice begin to grow around his body. The Toa responded with a slash, but the Skiing robot dodged to Kopaka’s side, before shooting off behind Kopaka.

“Jus’ try and dodge this, Ice-man!” The Toqued robot yelled, and Kopaka gave an audible snarl in response. The Darkloid Commander held up a hand with a chuckle, and Black energy coalesced at the tip of his finger.


“...Hurk! What are-” The Navi grunted in surprise, as Weiss jumped on the Mech from behind.

“...You’re right!” Weiss stated. “I am sloppy. And I am reckless.” she added. “But you can’t do this alone, either.” The woman added, having climbed up the Robot’s back with a rapier covered in crimson. Affixing it around blizzardman’s midsection as the master kept trying to ashake her off, she released the explosive energy, sending her and the Skiing master of ice skidding along the floor.


Kopaka took that moment to free himself, the icy growths cracking, then shattering as the Toa broke loose. His eyes still held that feral yellow, and Weiss realized that Kopaka was just as sick as she was; only…


Weiss took a deep breath, and let the symptoms flow through her. Yellow eyes showed on black sclera, and she rolled to the side of one of the darkling warriors, quickly cutting through his armor from behind, and pushing him forward. The aggression she was feeling… he was feeling it worse. Had been feeling it longer, and a waves of sympathy rolled over her.


Sheathing Myrtenaster, Weiss disappeared in a blur of motion, dodging the darkling munitions that struck where she was a little while earlier.

“I don’t know why you started this, I can’t say we’re dealing with the same thing… but you’ve saved my life now. Multiple times.” Weiss stated with an uncompromising look. “...Whatever this is, it’s just something that’s seeped into you.” She added with a glare.

Kopaka’s swing came, and she dodged to the side. If she died for this… she was a prime. She’d live with it - literally. The real problem would be if she let this go.

Kopaka attacked a few more times, and Weiss dodged the resulting slashes. “...Stop it. This isn’t you. You came here to stop these things. You came here to protect people.” She added, before dodging another swing from above. “And I came here for the same reason. It’s the job I’ve taken. So you can keep taking shots at me…” Weiss added. “Or you can be better than this. You can be who you’re supposed to be.” She stated with a hard glare. “And if you’re willing to do that… maybe we can beat this guy.”

Weiss took a deep breath. She was sure Ruby might’ve had something better to say. But this was the best Weiss could do, and whatever other flaws she had, she wasn’t willing to let anyone say she didn’t *try*