06-09-2017, 12:40 AM
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.
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.
C O L D