Wheua Mīti [Dark Data]

[Nebula]

While Weiss tried to talk Kopaka down from his unreasoning fury, Keldor was having difficulties of his own. 

"Help me you capricious buffoons!" the warlock cried, knocking a yeti off its snowboard with a well-placed blow to the ankles - only to be toppled in turn as a penguin wearing a goalie-mask taboganned out from among a stand of pines, perpendicular to the slope, and hit him in the back of the knees with a hockey-stick. Another penguin, freakishly large this time, with pale coloration, a hoary twisted bill, tiny, atrophied eyes and calcified sores on its neck and face immediately ran over the fallen liberator. It rode a cheerfully-painted wooden sled with red metal runners, and someone had provided it with a knitted wool stocking cap.

"Ahg! Impudent waterfowl! Your entire phylum will suffer for this!"

As the liberators bogged down in the face of unorthodox opponents and their own incompatible personalities, Blizzard Man rose from the snow.  

Smoky violet sparks blazed, pulsing within the holes and fissures that marred the Darkloid's scuffed and battered two-tone shell. Darker arcs of undirected power fizzed and popped across his soot-blackened joints, illuminated the shattered top of his formerly-cheerful orange hat and glowed behind the smashed and crumpled housing of his now-missing snowman chest-ornament. With a ratcheting groan of grinding metal, the Navi hauled himself upright amid a cascade of violet powder.

This was not going the way he'd hoped. Blizzard Man's deceptively whimsical paint-job was scorched, his armor was compromised in multiple places, and several of his internal systems were threatening to fail from heat-damage. These vermin clearly had no appreciation for the spirit of wintertime sport or the skibum/snowbunny lifestyle (let alone the glory of Nebula - hail Nebula)!

He'd make them pay for that. 

Blizzard Man's eyes narrowed menacingly as he produced a darkchip from within one of his gauntlets, slotting the sinister device into a port on the back of his opposite hand. The intensity of the malevolent power crackling around him and within him grew, threatening a dangerous overload of his damaged systems. The Darkloid general raised his arms above his head - and a wave of violet energy suffused by a faint golden corona erupted from his body and rippled across the mountainside.

The darkchip fell, steaming in the snow. A moment later, the ground began to shake. Blizzard Man took up his remaining ski-pole, and prepared to to make his move.

Apologies for the delays.

Blizzardman's Darkchip creates high-pressure cryo-geysers beneath wherever our heroes happen to be standing at the time - super-cooled water-jets about four feet in diameter that shoot like, thirty-feet in the air, with carbon-dioxide steam for extra funzies - and that this happens every ten seconds, for the next thirty seconds, with a two-second lead-up before each eruption, where the ground under the liberators roils and there's a little tell-tale vapor.

The sudden onslaught of tremors in the area will inevitably cause yet more avalanches.

Everyone has as much time as they want to make one more post, of up to 1200 words. This will be the final round, to finally wrap this up.

[Kopaka]

Kopaka stared hard at the human girl for a moment before adopting a ferocious scowl and hoisting his heavy sword over his head. It was in Weiss's good fortune that a geyser of icy power burst up from under the Toa at that exact moment, sending him rocketing skyward and slamming hard into the lavender snow several meters away. Schnee took a few tentative steps towards the fallen biomech before also being unceremoniously blasted into the darkened air. To her credit, the combination of her heart-filled speech and the distracting attack from Blizzardman did serve to abate Kopaka's blood-haze, if even for a moment. His rage-filled visage fixed sternly on the harried fuselage of the distant Navi, who was exchanging blows with Keldor. Kopaka gripped the haft of the ice-sword tightly.

"I will do my Duty." he murmured, before setting off across the slush. Once again, the Kanohi Akaku was replaced by the savage facade of the Kanohi Hau, and a bright blue radiance enveloped the Toa. As such, he walked with impunity through the intervening horde of darklings and their spawn; their brutal attacks bouncing fruitlessly off of the abjuring energy. His pace quickened as he approached the dueling Primes, until all at once, Keldor was smashed in his flank by the flat of Kopaka's whirling shield.

"One side, magician." the Toa seethed, taking fell strides towards the looming Darkling master. Blizzardman sneered up at him, before spreading his arms wide.

"C'mon now. We're both metal guys, we both got a thing for ice...and I can tell we share the Darkness. Why not join Nebula, eh? Take all that anger out on these two lodge-loafers." the digital warrior snickered, gesturing at the recovering Keldor and distant Schnee girl. Kopaka answered with an adroit slash at Blizzardman's face, which the Navi ducked under with little effort. For all his rage, the Toa was beginning to grow weary, and slow.

"We share nothing, thrall." Kopaka said in a steady but bitter tone, moving between Blizzardman and an escape route back through the sundered village. A geyser of dark-chip might exploded out from under Kopaka's position, but to no avail. The Kanohi Hau protected Kopaka from the assault, but it was not certain that it would last any longer. The Toa leveled his keening ice sword at Blizzardman, his yellowed eyes narrow and dark.

"You call all of this Darkness?" Kopaka said, gesturing with his shield at the chaotic surroundings. "...you say these things, you delight in violence and mayhem, and you propagate the spread of this...vacuous unlight, but you do not know Darkness." Kopaka said, suddenly rushing towards his skirting foe and clashing the edge of his blade against one of Blizzardman's ski poles. The rotund Navi growled before breaking free from the lock of weapons, and tried to sling a sphere of ice towards Kopaka. It splattered and dissipated handily against the rotating flanges of the Ice Shield.

"What's that supposed to mean?! Darkness is all about killing and death! You just gotta give in to it! Feel it!" Blizzardman shouted, skiing towards the Bionicle with poles poised to jab and pierce. Kopaka deftly stepped to the side and stomped on the runners of the Navi's skis as he passed, causing Blizzardman to careen wildly in a tight turn before getting bashed in the face with Kopaka's shield. Keldor moved in to seize the opening, but Kopaka broke away from Blizzardman and grabbed the warlock's havoc staff with his shield-hand.

"I said stay out of this, Keldor!" Kopaka roared, bringing his frigid face close to the wizard's ensorcelled visage. Keldor was about to open his mouth in retort, but Kopaka silenced him with an abrupt headbutt, firmly planting the mage's hindquarters in the snow.

"See? Like that!" Blizzardman laughed. Kopaka rounded on the over-eager metalloid slowly.

"...were it so simple a thing as violence and anger, I would not be swayed by it." Kopaka said in a voice that sounded as if it were spoken through gritted teeth. He pointed sharply at the rusted metal of his Kanohi. "This is an affliction borne of sorrow and listlessness. To be wracked with suffocating ennui, with no end in sight. Darkness cannot exist on its own; it exists only in the absence of light. Hope is the light of the mind, and I have been left forsaken of such radiance." Kopaka said, punctuating his soliloquy by kicking snow in the face of the Navi and attempting to move around to the robot master's flank. A screeching yeti tried to intervene, bounding over the eaves of a nearby chateau. The hairy beast was caught mid-air on the cruel point of Kopaka's ice sword, and tossed to the ground like a stuck pig. The Toa smashed the overgrown monkey's windpipe a few times with his foot, just for good measure.

Blizzardman swiped his arm in a wide arc and summoned forth a fusillade of icy spikes which drove through the air at Kopaka's exposed back. The Toa was able to turn in time to deflect most of the whistling missiles, but was still caught in the knee by one of the savage icicles. Blizzardman's eyes flashed triumphantly, and the overconfident Navi sped towards the downed form of Kopaka with all the haste his skis could muster. At the last moment, however, Kopaka brought his shield to bear against the charging Darkling, creating an impromptu ramp that sent Blizzardman flying into the air. This allowed Kopaka to be certain of his landing arc, and in due fashion, bade a cruel spike of his own ice to breach forth from the hoary ground like an immense needle. Blizzardman's tough carapace shattered the summoned ice, but it left the Navi stunned for a moment; all the time Kopaka needed to dash towards the flagging master of Darkness and grab both his arms fully by their length.

Kopaka wheeled around on the spot and slammed Blizzardman up against the wall of the nearby log cabin, pinning his arms to the wall and barking harsh words directly into the stricken darkling's face.

"Darkness can only be known in despair, and I see no such thing in you, or any of these mindless wretches." Kopaka said, summoning the last dregs of his elemental power to try and seal both Blizzardman and himself in a tomb of ice. The thick, blue glaciation welled up around the Toa's legs and rapidly climbed his gleaming body, spreading over his arms and onto the Navi's own. Panic set in for the heretofore haughty Dark Lord, and Kopaka found strange solace in this.

"...before the end, I will let you know Darkness." the biomech cooed.

[Skeletor]

The Warlock heaved himself back out of the snow, where his erstwhile ally had unceremoniously deposited him mid-battle. Skeletor stared with mouth agape as the Icy crystals formed around Kopaka and the Darkloid. Their ally had possessed this much control over his elemental abilities and chose only now to reveal them? The ungrateful blowhard!

Skeletor leaned on his havoc staff watching the chaos as Wiess floundered under the barrage of Nebula’s minions. The Rightful ruler of Eternia considered helping her for a moment, but any altruistic notions were dashed seconds later by a geyser of ice-cold vapors that sent him flying into the air Skeletor’s limbs were rigid and unresponsive as he crashed through the pines back into the snow.

He groaned, a stiffened arm reaching to clutch at the shorn stave protruding from his abdomen. With a growl of defiance, he tore the broken branch loose. They were fighting rashly, disorganized, like cornered beasts. Skeletor got to his feet only to be slammed in the face by the passing arm of a yeti, the furry creature zipping off into the distance as Skeletor reeled from the blow.

“ENOUGH!” The sorcerer shouted in fury, “I will no longer be hindered by this throng of holidaymakers!” Red lights gleaming in the recesses of his skull, as Skeletor whirled away from the freezing sculpture of the two mechs. The Prime forced his aching limbs into motion, struggling to shake the frostbite away as he trudged through the snow in the direction of the ruined lodge. A few supernaturally powerful leaps were enough to get him onto what remained of the building’s roof, and he stared uphill as eldritch energies started to accumulate in his Havoc Staff.

The mountainside rose steeply above them, the trees giving way quickly to the rocks and snow of the mountaintop itself. Skeletor’s eyeless gaze swept over the heights, seeking a suitable target.

“Sneeze girl! If you can hear me, find some shelter quickly!” The shout of warning was mostly an afterthought, as Skeletor spotted an overgrowth of precarious snow. With a grunt of effort, he sent a blast sailing away up towards it. The magic beam knocking loose the built-up snow to send it careening down the slopes. He began charging up another blast, setting his sights on another block of snow.

“NEBULA!” the Warlock screamed, Bolt after bolt sailing into the mountaintop, “No army you muster, no pawn you bring against me, it cannot stop me!”  bringing a torrent of rock and snow down the slopes. It crashed through the trees, battering the slopes and the remains of lodge. The impact broke down the unstable ruins of lodge, knocking Skeletor off of his perch.

The scourge of Eternia burst out of the snow as the avalanche subsided. Re-orienting his sights on the darkloid, Skeletor began to tear through the snow towards the icy sculpture of the frozen mechs. No thought crossed his mind for the welfare of the heiress, nor for those minions of Nebula that had managed to survive the torrent of rock and snow. His jawbone was stiff and his gaze fel as he closed distance on his quarry.

A telltale rumbling from beneath his feet did halt the Warlock’s charge, and he grabbed hold of the roiling earth beneath him, holding it firmly with his eldritch powers. The rocks splintered and cracked, vapor hissing from the fissures as Skeletor strained against the cyro-geyser.

“No trap you lay, no snare you cast! They will not catch me unprepared!” Skeletor screamed, arms shaking from the force as he held the mounting pressure below the surface. With a growling whine, he leaned the magickly restrained earth at an angle, sending the pressure spraying out to the side and causing him to stumble back from the sudden imbalance of forces.

Skeletor again set his sights on the darkloid once again. Struggling through the snow as his energy fled at an alarming rate. He neared the icy sculpture of the two mechs, and planted his havoc staff in the snow. Withdrawing from his robes once more the jade talisman, Skeletor held the ramstone aloft.  Emerald lightning arced from the violet snow. The energy coalesced into the demented nightmare form of a large ram, with the wrathful sorcerer at the center.


“No general, no soldier, and no traitor you place in my path! None of them can stop me from claiming your power! Nyeheheheheehee!” With a maddened cackle, Skeletor intoned the enchantment. The sparking demonic ram was reabsorbed by the talisman, the emerald glowing and pulsating with an increasing frequiency, before bursting forth in a brilliant beam of power that crashed into the icy sculpture.  

776 words, because life is rough...

Skeletor used one order point to hit Blizzardman with the Ramstone. He's not targeting Kopaka, but after recent events isn't particularly trying to void hitting him either.*shrugs*

Sorry for taking more than a month to post...

[Weiss Schnee]

The arcane, vile magic of Keldor’s ramstone flashed, then evaporated everything between the sorcerer and the ice-encased warriors in a flash of emerald destruction. Weiss’s comrade had only left her a brief moment to react to the apparent attempt to kill off both fighters in one blow. Plenty of emotions filled her in that moment, but she had no time to process any of them as the toxic light washed over ally and enemy alike, faster than even the speedy huntress could hope to react to. Kopaka’s imprisoned form wasn’t ravaged to the same degree as his opponent’s, Keldor’s aim being thankfully focused on Blizzardman, but both program and biomachine had brutal tears all across their metal chassis.

Weiss’s response was to swiftly disengage, dodging past the blow of a large ice troll’s club as she dashed towards Blizzardman. The throng would likely surround Keldor now that the wizard had made himself a target, but after that last display, the last thing the young huntress was thinking of was the warlock’s safety.

Instead, she dashed into the furious melee Kopaka found himself in. Blizzardman was unleashing the entirety of his power, harrying the embodiment of ice with massive blasts of snow and ice from every angle. The ancient warrior’s response was equally impressive, however - instantly deciding whether to block with his rotating shield or parry with a casual flick of his longsword. Even when he lost ground, he chose to do so in the most efficient manner possible, moving with a brutal, yet practiced rhythm as he attacked. He lacked speed, but fought while maximizing his strength, using brute force to smash away attacks just as he used it to lay into the robotic fighter with heavy strikes.

Weiss’s plan was simple as she entered the melee.  she allowed her body’s trained reflexes and response, attacking the corrupted netnavi from the rear with a ferocious volley of slashes aimed at the center of his body. All of the attacks pinged off with a metallic shriek, but she struck at every joint or damaged piece of armor she could find, using the weak spots Keldor’s magics had inflicted in order to maximize the pain she could inflict.

Freezing water jets smashed out of the ground beneath both Kopaka and Weiss, each dodging to their respective lefts as the blasts shot into the air. Blizzardman raised both of his poles to take advantage of their vulnerable positions, only  to find themselves caught by Weiss’s rapier and Kopaka’s shield before he could attempt his strikes. Both Toa and Huntress gazed at their opponent with a withering look.

From there, human and Toa put on pressure from each side of their cybernetic opponent. The empowered darkloid had strength, versatility, and durability, but without his fellow darkloids to assist him, he found himself struggling against the multi-pronged attack. Kopaka threw himself into the melee with all the strength and power of a bear, his hits unbalancing Blizzardman even when the strikes failed to cause damage. If the Toa of Ice was a bear, however, Weiss was a cheetah, striking every time her icy opponent’s attention wavered for even a moment with a flash of silver and steel, punishing every gap in his guard with Myrtenaster’s edge.

But even with this advantage, neither could make headway. The icy navi couldn’t pierce their combined offensive, but neither fighter could get in a good hit on the darkloid commander. He was simply too durable, too strong, and too versatile in power. Dodging a rough slap from the corrupted navi that almost took her head off, Weiss quickly thought of a way to make the necessary opening, eyeing the cliff…

Mouthing a few words to Kopaka, Weiss’s statement was cut off as the robotic skier was knocked straight towards her. Looking up with irritation, she barely dodged out of the way of Blizzardman’s armored form. “Watch what you’re doing!” Weiss yelled in irritation, while assaulting the malevolent snow-bum with an easily blocked slash.

“Pay attention. Assist in combat. And cease complaints.” Kopaka’s voice replied with a sinister edge.

Weiss glared as Blizzardman returned his attention to Kopaka, opting to shout as the warrior was assaulted with an ice-covered fist smashing into his shield.

“I didn’t have to help you here! I chose to fight with you, and this is the thanks-”

Kopaka’s response came in the form of a sword thrust neatly dodged by the rotund Ski captain in front of him… but that struck Weiss right in the chest as he stepped forward with the strike.

“You are correct. Your assistance was unnecessary.”

Weiss’s hand clutched at her chest, her shirt quickly covered in red stains of blood. The huntress’s eyes widened in shock as she stared at the ivory swordsman, before falling backwards into the snow.Blizzardman turned with an eager look.

“You make fun of us darkloids, but at least we don’t squabble like this. Maybe you need some good old-fashioned purpose. Or maybe, ya just need to die.“

Kopaka’s only response was to ready his shield, charging the Navi without acknowledging the statement. The attack was met by Blizzardman’s quick transformation into a rolling snowball, the two titans smashing into each other. For a few moments, it seemed like Kopaka could push the blizzard navi back, the snowball grinding itself against his shield to no effect. Slowly, though, Kopaka’s shield-arm bent under the pressure, and he was flung against a nearby rock. Blizzardman exploded out of the snowball with a wicked grin.

“And alone, you ain’t such a problem.”

“Lucky he’s not alone, then.” Weiss firmly replied from atop the surprised program's back. Her rapier was missing from her hands, replaced with her familiar jacket. Before the surprised captain could react, the youngest Schnee had tied  the bloody garment directly around the surprised navi’s eyes.

Kopaka brandished his blade, causing the ice he’d formed at the tip to shatter, even as Weiss kicked off of the darkloids body, the cut she’d made with myrtenaster now visible on her right hand. Neither warrior had the time to exchange comments, but both made a small nod of approval in the other direction. Blizzardman scrabbled to remove the garment from his face, but his thick hands had difficulty getting any grip on the silken coat.

The Toa of Ice made it even harder for him with a subtle change of temperature, vines of ice melding Blizzardman’s hands to his face.

“B-bastards! When I-”

Weiss didn’t let the navi finish. Crimson flashed across Myrtenaster’s surface, and she sent the robot flying straight into the tip of Kopaka’s blade. This time, there was no ice to cushion the blow, and Kopaka made sure to follow up with repeated strikes with his shield, smashing the robot repeatedly with the rim. Kopaka tilted his sword upwards, still holding blizzardman aloft, and Weiss followed up with another dust-enhanced strike of her blade, sending the navi flying upwards into the air. For a brief moment, the two warriors turned, standing back to back below the Injured navi. Then, both dashed in opposite directions, as twin jet of water erupted beneath where they once stood.

“Unnecessary, but mildly useful.” Kopaka admitted.

1196 words according to wordcounter.net.

Weiss used her flame dust, Kopaka used his weapons as well as his ice manipulation.

Sorry for the lateness, hope it was worth the wait!

[Nebula]

With wisps of pale vapor rising from his ravaged body, Blizzardman crashed unceremoniously into the snow-covered ground. His cheerful hat was gone, revealing a dome of glittering circuitry, and wild energies sparked and sputtered within his torn and crumpled metal shell. 

"Wha-Ha-huzzzt..." he buzzed, static piercing flaring within his failing voicebox, "is wrong with you people? You're not heroes - you're maniac-ac-ac-acZzZt! And you hate each-other! You punks probably don't-t-t-t even like skiing. Why are you even here?" 

Keldor piped up before anyone else could respond. "For power!" he said, stepping forward and placing his boot on Blizzardman's scorched and ravaged carapace. "And now that we've defeated you I will take it from your broken shell, you snowbound simpleton!"

"Heh," said the Darkloid. "Joke's on you, then. HZZZZZZope you li-li-like-k-k ....laffffffvvvvvv..... " 

The Eternian conqueror gave a cry of alarm as his boot suddenly sank through Blizzardman's chest with an unmistakable crunch of tightly packed snow. The defeated Nebula commander began to turn pale, metal sublimating into vaguely violet flakes as the energy crackling within him died and his internal circuity began to curdle, turning to wafers of rime.

The ground lurched once, then a second time, with such violence that it knocked all three liberators off their feet. A wave of foetid humidity washed over them.

"Is it just me," asked Weiss, hissing from the pain of her wounds, "or does it suddenly feel warmer?"

Three peaks over, the top of a mountain blew off, throwing a shower of crimson lava into the sky. Two peaks beyond that, a cliffside buckled with an apocalyptic roar, tumbling away into the abyss. The ground began to shake again, and this time it didn't stop. In rapid succession three more mountains exploded, and as rivers of molten rock cascaded down their slopes like blood across a dead man's face simmering tides of heat cut through the omnipresent haze, burning away the mist. 

Frigid melt-water began to flow downhill, rushing around the Liberators' ankles, carrying debris and the bodies of fallen foes. Creatures of ice and snow screamed as they dissolved, warped faces made grotesque in the orange light of erupting volcanoes. A penguin slid past, squawking as it was carried helplessly along. The few remaining yeti's, already horrified at the fate of their master, bogged down amidst suddenly muddy ground. 

"Yes. And We have another problem," said Kopaka, pointing at the peak of the opposite slope, on the other side of the gorge and some several-hundred meters up. "We are down here, and our way out is  up there."  

You have defeated Blizzarman! 

Weiss takes 6 damage.
Skeletor takes 4 damage. 
Kopaka takes 8 damage.

Which brings our totals to 18, 15, and 16 damage respectfully, provided I didn't botch my math. Weiss is burned, stabbed, and beaten, Skeletor has been tossed around, bludgeoned, and run over by penguins on sleds, and Kopaka has been caught in super-attack crossfire, among other things. Y'all are in pretty bad shape. Thank goodness for that 10 extra HP.

More importantly, everything is exploding. The verse is imploding, and as the opening stage of that process, the icebound mountain-range has gone volcanic. Your mountain isn't molten yet, but it could happen at any-time, and in the meantime there's a serious threat of flash flood and avalanche (the rocky/muddy kind) as the snow-pack melts.

Even worse, the portal out of Nebula-Space is near the peak of the mountain on the other side of the gorge - and Kopaka cut the cable-car cable on the way across, meaning you now have to find a way to cross the gorge and re-scale the mountain before everything explodes and/or the melting/crumbling/exploding mountains realize there isn't actually any ground below them, plunging everything into a rapidly-contracting void.

You have 14 days and as many words as you need to reach the portal and save your collective bacon. 

[Kopaka]

"Well? What do we do then, my all-seeing ally?" Keldor snorted, keeping a wide berth between him and the Toa of Ice. He still didn't trust Kopaka, and with good reason. It seemed that engaging against Blizzarman had snapped something deep within the biomech, and that the elemental warrior's patience for teamwork was fickle at best. The servos within the magnifiers of the infected Kanohi Akaku whirred and clicked noisily as Kopaka stood silently amidst the warming breeze. Billowing clouds of pyroclastic fury and fiery doom loomed heavily on the horizon. The swirling fire and volcanism reminded him of someone...distant. Alas, though he had at least regained his sensibilities for the time being, Kopaka could feel his memories and identity being gnawed at by the Darkness which now sat within him. Perhaps under different auspices, the Toa may have felt fear at the clear choice which had been laid before him, but the heavy blanket of murk made his already repressed emotions nigh inaccessible.

"You wield the power of telekinesis, yes?" Kopaka said, his vocalizer having resumed its normal, smooth composure. Keldor confirmed the query as Weiss stood by, looking impatiently at the decaying landscape around them. Swarms of baddies and uglies was something she could handle any day, but at these times when the world itself needed to be sculpted, she felt uncomfortably impotent. Kopaka brandished the Ice Sword at the thick coils of metal that ran limply down into the misty gorge before them.

"If you call these cables back out of the depths, I can use what remains of my elemental power to fix them in place." the Toa offered, turning to glance at the other two. The Schnee girl shrugged helplessly, leaving Keldor to weigh in on the plausibility. The finicky warlock fidgeted in place, but let out a long sigh after just a moment.

"Haste gives us few alternatives, ice-shaper. Just don't go keeling over half-way done!" the sorcerer snapped, striding towards the edge of the ravine with a dramatized posture. With great theatrics, Keldor jabbed his Ram's head staff at the inert cables, and demanded them to coil into life like ferrous serpents. The glowering orange light of the ambient cataclysm reflected on their polished strands, making them appear as if they themselves had become ember-ridden within these suicidal mountains. Kopaka holstered his sword and shield as he sucked in a deep breath, digging deeply into his elemental reserves. All Toa were capable of purging the extent of their charge in the form of a violent blast, but even then, such an expenditure usually only disconnected them from channeling that power for a few days. Now, here, in this dying world, the Toa of Ice dug deeper even than that.

With finality of purpose, the biomech allowed the icy power to flow out from his entire body like a river, coating and entwining itself around the core of metal that Keldor was calling upwards. It was slow work, at least in the sense that moving any slower would surely result in their deaths. Keldo moved ahead of Kopaka, keeping his arcane focus on the whipping and snapping coils, while the Toa marched behind him, casting the physicality of his very soul to keep the makeshift bridge in place. Only Weiss, who was walking patiently behind Kopaka, could see him beginning to stoop and stumble part of the way across.

Despite the strength of the bionicle's ice, the span groaned and crackled under their unsure footsteps. By dint of that fact, it was all the more concerning that Kopaka was the first among them to stumble, considering that it was impossible for him to lose his footing on ice. As if some sort of geological portent, the thunderous eruption of some distant peak sounded across the chasm as Kopaka fell to one knee, nothing but chilly vapors falling from his body. Keldor clicked his tongue impatiently and turned back to look at the haggard biomech, who leered at him hatefully from beneath the Kanohi mask.

"Out of luck already, eh? Fine mess you've put us in, robot!" Keldor cackled, despite it being the honest truth. It was a hollow mirth, borne from the lack of superior emotions that might encompass the hoplessness of the situation. Weiss hesitantly walked up to the fallen bionicle, and placed a hand on his...warm...shoulder. Kopaka panted heavily, not turning back to look at the bleeding heart of a girl he had come to so deeply resent. Yet, all the same...he was doing this for her and Keldor.

"Kopaka, it's okay. We'll figure something else out...we...we're most of the way across so..." Weiss said, swallowing sharply when she realized she had already reached the capacity of her placations. The Toa raged inwardly, and he could feel the Darkness within his soul, goading him into a new option. No. He wasn't doing this for them. He was doing this to satisfy his need to carry out his Duty. The Darkness...that noisome aspect of Teridax and his ilk...it might rob him of his sense, his memories, and his emotions, but it would never rob him of his Duty. Perhaps it was time the shadow gave something to him, instead. The Toa reached outwards, as he would on any normal summit, and tried to call the spirit of ice into his body. As usual, the only thing that reached him was the bitter numbness of this despicable Nebula un-snow. Ever since they had breached the gateway to this Nebula Space, he had recoiled from that feeling and this hateful slush.

But now he was beyond the point of caring. Kopaka demanded its power, smashing through his own inhibitions and sanity, calling its perverted elemental potency into his soul. Darkness deepened and fury ripened, but Duty rang true. With a scream of self brutalization, Kopaka let a new surge of power out of his body. This ice was not pure and blue like his natural constructions, but black and bloody, resembling solidified pain. Both of his allies were too stunned to move at first, at least until Kopaka roared at them.

"SUMMON THE CABLE, WRETCH." the Toa shrieked. Keldor was too cowed by this new ferocity to retort in defense of his pride, and continued his telekinetic engineering. The tentative march resumed, Kopaka becoming worryingly silent until, finally, the span was complete. Keldor leaped the last few meters to the edge of the far canyon, placing hands on his hips and cackling madly.

"NYAHAHAHA! All too simple for the likes of..." Keldor started, before catching Weiss's eye, "...the likes of US!" he finished. Weiss remained by Kopaka's side, though until now her attention had been on casting worried glances towards the nebula forces fleeing in every direction. Now that she look back towards the Toa, a hand shot up to her mouth as she stifled a small scream. The infection, that rusty, rough coating that Kopaka's Kanohi had been growing, had come to coat most of his upper body. Where previously there had been gleaming white and silver, only brown and black remained. A premonition of dread welled up in her gut as Kopaka turned to look at her, his optical lights illuminated with a pestilent yellow color. The feral Toa was too quick as he grabbed the Ice Blade and swiped at Schnee all in one, lightning movement.

Schnee was far from the type to be caught off-guard twice in one day, however. With dextrous agility, she ducked under the wide executioner's swing and slid to the far end of the cables, joining Keldor's side. Kopaka seemed to take a moment before realizing that he had not, in fact, killed Weiss. His sword arm lowered, holding the immense blade limply as he stared into the disintegrating horizon.

"Can you detonate the bridge?" Keldor whispered to Weiss. The dancing warrior gave the sorcerer a double-take, before realizing the gravity of his concern.

"I mean...maybe? Let's give him a minute." the girl whispered. The Toa had managed to come back to his senses the first time, right? Then again...he had become much more deeply infested in a short span of time. Kopaka, of course, could hear their speech just fine. He stood like a statue on their improvised bridge, the last testament he might ever have to his commitment to a job well done. He had accused the Schnee girl of being a liability not so long ago...now it seemed as if it was he who was the impediment. It begged the question of how many chances he was willing to give himself before...

Before what? He could feel the tendrils of darkened insanity clawing their way up his spine, gleefully seeking any way to finally win this colossus of Duty over to the side of violence and fury. It was an insidious influence...and...

...and...

Ruminating was becoming difficult. If he could no longer maintain coherent thought, then he was truly already dead. Maybe he should just kill them. No. That...wouldn't...NOT kill them. Per se. Duty directed him to...make sure very basic guidelines were met. Enemies needed to be slain, and enemies were things that tried to kill him. Which was them. No. It was him. To them. Killing. It was very important right now that he...killed...something.

He had to kill something.

Right now.

Kopaka turned and glanced at his allies briefly before the entire span of the ice bridge gave way at once in a violent, shattering bang. Schnee's voice hit a new pitch as she screamed 'NO!', watching the darkness infested Toa plummet into the nebulous depths below. Even Keldor had taken a step forward to try and do something, anything, to save their comrade, but it had happened too fast. Keldor could already feel the despair welling up inside the Schnee girl, and though he was far from anything that might be considered soothing, she was too valuable to have in a state of stunned shock.

"Weiss! Weiss we must flee! We can mourn properly later, now is the time for running!" Keldor shouted, grabbing Weiss by the shoulder and gesticulating in exasperation at the summit. Weiss suppressed a few, panicked breaths before her years of training took over. She nodded silently, and the two remaining Liberators started jogging up the shifting, perilous ski slopes. One thing was bothering Weiss, however.

"His eyes..." she murmured. She hadn't expected Keldor to hear her, but he did.

"Eh?" the warlock intoned. Weiss didn't slow her pace, nor did she allow herself to be distracted. She simply said what she had to and got back to the task at hand.

"His eyes, when he fell. They were blue."

[Skeletor]

Skeletor watched the Bio-mech fall with a perplexed look. The Toa had for the first time in their quest hesitated, and it had led to his plummeting death.  And it soon would their own if they stayed any longer. Skeletor grabbed the girl’s shoulder, they needed to leave now. The Huntress followed him with a forced stillness as the two primes began to scramble up the collapsing slope. Wiess’s comment was directed far more to herself than to him, but her declaration sent the Warlock’s thoughts churning.

His eyes were blue? Skeletor had assumed that the power of Nebula had over-taken the Toa, but if this was true then the Toa had accepted, perhaps even chosen to plummet to his death in a collapsing world. A large rumble drove the point home, as the ground shook beneath the runner’s feet, halting them in their tracks as they pushed against the tides of loosened snow. A deafening crack split the air behind them, and Skeletor turned to see the peak of the lodge’s mountain spewing forth molten lava. The remaining denizens of this Nebula verse would find no shelter from this place.

The Toa had just given up. He had been tainted by the darkness that cloaked Nebula, his precious morals compromised in order to maintain their survival. And he had chosen death as a result. Skeletor’s rage at the Toa’s cowardice redoubled his energy, and he began to struggle forward against the tide of mud and snow that streamed down at them. Was the Toa so fragile that he could not adapt? “I had my face melted from my very bones…” the Warlock growled to himself, uncaring whether the Schnee girl heard his words, “I was exiled to a wasteland of brimstone and ash, forced to do party with cretins, idiots, beasts and dullards!” Skeletor planted his staff into the eroding ground, taking another step forward against the onslaught of Nebula’s mountains. “YET I ENDURED!” he yelled.

Through the rapidly disintegrating mountainside, Skeletor could see the glowing light of the portal. Escape was within reach. He took another step forward, one hand wrapping around a stubborn tree that had yet refused to surrender to the tide. Glancing behind him, Skeletor saw that Wiess was struggling to withstand the avalanche, the glyphs she summoned faltering and failing to give her any forward progress. The girl was bleeding badly from her side, and it seemed that her resolve was starting to ebb under the weight of exhaustion.

“That’s what you do, Huntress!” Skeletor shouted, his indignation refusing any further surrender, from himself or his allies, “You MAKE DO! The world is harsh and unforgiving, you walk the path and when you fall, you GET BACK UP!” Skeletor reached out the havoc staff, planting his stance to give Wiess a handhold. She took it with a grimace at the garish design.

“Seek whatever sources of power you need. Allies, artifacts, magic or armies! No depth is too low, no path too dark to take if it gives you the power of control!” Skeletor marched doggedly onwards, “That Fool sought his own death by refusing to face his own consequences. Look your journey in the face, and overcome it with whatever tools are given you! OVERCOME! NOT! GIVE! UP!”

Skeletor and Wiess marched their way slowly and painfully up the slope of the mountain, the purples of Nebula cast into nightmare orange by the glow of lava. They could see the portal, and the station where they had first encountered The snowboarding yeti. They were nearing their exit.

A violent tremor shook their mountain, causing Skeletor’s footing to slip as he began to lose traction. Above the portal, the peak of the mountain was cracking and viscous bubbling liquid was leaking out with ever-increasing velocity. The moorings of the cable station strained, wood cracking under the strain of the avalanche. The Nebula space was not willing to let go of them so easily.

 659 words according to MS word. All you Wiess! Let's get out!

[Weiss Schnee]

Weiss took the slight gap in the moment to take a breath, aware she hadn’t done so for some time now. The sudden loss of Kopaka, Keldor’s burst of will, the torrent of destruction that now threatened them with certain death… It was only her training that had allowed her to keep going as long as she had - Her training, and the wizard that was her only ally left in the gambit
They weren’t friends, exactly - none of them had been. Kopaka had tried to kill her. Weiss had… probably come close to returning the favor. Keldor'd made a good try at eliminating Kopaka for the sake of a good shot on an opponent. And yet…

Weiss blinked back tears. And yet he’d saved both of them, and as much as Keldor might seem to deny it, it had left both of them reeling. The revelation surprised her - she had expected Keldor’s laughter to fill her ears. For him to decry Kopaka as a necessary weak link, one they lost nothing by losing. Yet, as she rushed forward with him from rocky outcropping to rocky outcropping, avoiding the lava that now rushed down towards them, his hand and staff had appeared whenever it was necessary to progress, even as he showed his frustration with the Warrior. His anger at his choice.

The wounded warrior felt weaker than ever in this place - not just of body, but of spirit. Everyone here had been pushed to their limits, and not just physically. Kopaka had been forced to choose between embracing his darkness or keeping to his own code. So had Keldor. Both had came up with different answers, but both had done it with a resolve their actions and voice made clear. By comparison, Weiss felt like a petulant child. She’d been sitting here struggling with her own darkness, barely able to keep her head on the mission. She slogged through the landslide that encompassed herself and Skeletor with mud and grime. When one fell, or slowed down, the other would stop and give them a push onward. It was a pattern that slowed their progress… but Keldor had made it clear that he was beyond physical limitation: He would push through this abysmal heat, no matter the cost or the method. And he would not compromise by leaving his team-mate behind.
Still, a lethal mixture of lava and mud was coming towards them, and the Bare rock that made up the main part of the mountain peak was starting to melt. If they didn’t move faster, they’d be crushed, but at this point, Weiss didn’t see a way…


No. She’d find one. She had to. Looking up with determined eyes, she glanced at Keldor. “Stop for a moment.”
“Every second we waste is one second towards becoming baked mud-pie, woman!”
“Then I’ll only take five…” Weiss answered, holding her palm forward amongst the muck. Her yellow eyes glared forward in the muck. It was difficult, keeping her stance against the mudslide, generating the crimson energy she’d learned to generate, and firing it just high enough to cut through the mud instead of just creating a trench to entomb them with…

Difficult. But absolutely doable. 1 second passed. Then two. A red glow burned it’s way through the mud even as it covered Keldor and Weiss both to the chest. four seconds passed, and Weiss found it hard just to keep her head up, as the Mud made it’s way up to her neck. It made it’s way almost to her mouth by the time five seconds had finally passed.

“Cero.”

The bolt of energy streaked forward and cut a path through the mud, cutting the mud and grime out of the way and creating a break in the tide. The seas of mud and filth parted and revealed the bare rock behind. A platform among the mountain. Their salvation. “Run for it!” White yelled, barely taking the time to register it.
Keldor was quick to follow, but Weiss was faster, Crossing the distance in an instant before clearing the platform in a quick, acrobatic leap. Turning back, she saw Keldor running for it, the brown mass of dirt and muck reforming behind him…

Hang on.
A misshapen mass of muck and Grime parted from the river behind Keldor as well. Massive muscles, red eyes, coating of plasma that burnt the muck away. Triky Flipz.
The creature was missing his board, but he barreled up the mountain towards Keldor with surprising speed, threatening to bowl the sorcerer over.
Weiss didn’t think about it, just readied Myrtenaster, coated in red energy. The Yeti might have been just trying to live, the same as they were, but he was in the way of her teammate’s survival. She threw the rapier at lightning speed, the blade piercing half-way into the giant snowman’s chest. Triky Flipz’ red eyes widened in surprise as the rapier discharged, a kinetic explosion sending both it and it’s victim back into the muck.

Keldor turned to see just what was going on. “No time! Run!.” the huntress urged. She knew she’d just seen the last of Myrtenaster within the destroyed mass, but it didn’t really matter.
If no depth was too low, then surely a weapon sacrificed was a small price to pay.

Keldor ran with the speed only the threat of imminent death could grant, but even now the lethal liquids flowing down the mountain threatened to catch up with him. Weiss crouched, putting out a hand for him from atop the stony peninsula, and stretched out as far as she could.
Every second seemed to stretch on as her companion ran, but neither broke from their mask of determination, and finally, at the last second, her Hand grasped onto Keldor’s own. The wizard got his footing on the rock just as mud and lava covered the place they once stood.
They weren’t out of the woods yet, but the gate was mercifully in sight. It was now a race to see if they could get there before the magma consumed it.

But what was a little lava against their resolve?

Blehh. Very late. I am sorry. 
1025 words as of wordcounter.net
This has been a blast! looking forward to final challenge review.

[Nebula]

At the weary Liberators backs, far off  in the distance, something exploded. 

It was different than the volcanic eruptions ripping through the formerly rime-crusted mountain-range - bigger, brighter, and far more profound. The blast erupted like a flower, cold as moonlight, casting everything in stark white shadows. It sent ripples through the air that were entirely different from the shimmering heat rolling off the melting peaks, tracing arcs and valleys of stillness. 

If silence could rumble, that would have been the sound it made. In a wave of gossamer annihilation, it began to unmake Nebula's realm. 

Neither Weiss nor Keldor looked back, racing and stumbling across the heaving, disintegrating ledge that offered their only route to the gate. It flickered weakly, the metal ring glinting orange and white, native hues completely washed out by the competing radiances of the end of the world. In the shimmering heat, it almost seemed to be running away.

The ground shook,  Lava-flows, almost an afterthought, drew close enough to cook the mud cascading around them into pottery, which promptly shattered into razor-sharp shards. The heat alone began to peel their skin. Numbed by the sheer intensity of a reality that had become a study in sharp edges and pounding pressure, Weiss became dimly aware that her hair was burning.
 
Screaming, the two Primes plunged through the gate - and into an unfamiliar, irregularly shaped, musty chamber. The smell of reptiles was strong. 

Behind them, the portal burned with an actinic flame, vanishing with a sound like a sigh. 

Skeletor takes 3 damage. (18) 
Weiss takes 4.  (22)
Kopaka is dead D: 

Weiss is a little bit on-fire. Both of you look like you've been attacked by igneous alligators. You're inside that giant bearded skull that you may recall dropping on the portal as you went in, inside a tomb, under a mountain.

Congratulations! You have liberated the Frozen Fields! You may now go about your business, or find someplace to chill and recover.  Either way, great job!
 

[Skeletor]

Skeletor stumbled out of the portal to nebula space into the waiting jaws of a massive snake. He reeled backwards, crashing into Wiess as she followed him out of the disintegrating landscape. Ignoring her outrage, the exhausted sorcerer forced himself up and unsteadily held his havoc staff up in a feeble last-ditch defense. The snake was dead. A giant bone spike rib had fallen and impaled the beast. It’s hollow reptilian eyes were dulled by the life-sapping cold. His shoulders sagged in relief and he collapsed against his Havoc staff, entire body overwrought nearly to the point of collapse. Near him, Wiess had gotten unsteadily to her feet, and was beginning to quietly check the rest of the cavern. Their path into the portal had been one of flight more so than conquest. There was little way of knowing whether they should expect a deserted hold or an ambush.

She slowly made her way back over to the exhausted sorcerer. Skeletor was chuckling to himself, a heavy laugh, slow and ponderous. He wasn’t stopping either. He had done it. Skeletor had utterly destroyed the pretender that was Nebula’s lieutenant. Skeletor’s mirth and self-satisfaction began to bubble up into a full bout of laughter.

“SHH!” Wiess hissed as returned, “I didn’t see anyone, but we don’t know if any more of Nebula’s minions are still here!”

“And why should we fear them?” Skeletor asked slowly, a smug twinge to his voice, “We’ve proven ourselves to be the better! I don’t think there can be any mistaking what we’ve done here, Schnee!”

Wiess rolled her eyes. “I get it, we saved the Frozen fields. Don't get me wrong, that's great! That doesn’t mean we should walk cluelessly into an ambush if we…” her retort was cut off by the warlock’s indignant outburst.

“You think I care about that? You must be even more foolish than you look! Saving these Parka-wearing prattlers, while convienient enough, was never my intention! Skeletor does not look to curry favor with simpletons! I am here only to destroy Nebula’s forces, to defeat their armies and claim their power for my own!” There was a somewhat pregnant pause as Skeletor’s ranting led him to realizations between both of the former liberators.

“Wait…” Wiess began her eyes alight with newfound understanding, “You’re saying that…” again however, Skeletor’s shouting interrupted her.

“CURSES!” the warlock shouted, his high-pitched voice ringing in the hollowed cavern, “I was not given sufficient time after the execution of that insufferable spheroid… I did not get a chance to drain his powers…” The rage of frustration and the rage of Nebula molded, morphed and fed each other inside of Skeletor. He did not bother to contain it.

“I have been USED!” he shouted, eldritch lightning, crackling off of him in sparks, scorching stone, ice and bone alike.

Wiess dropped into a ready stance, fatigue fading before the impending and unexpected danger. Keenly she wished that the comforting weight of Myrtenaster was not lost to the void of the collapsed Nebula space. It seemed that Kopaka was not the only one whom Nebula’s corruption had affected… how much longer could she be exposed before the same effects reached her.

“Keldor!” she called out, trying to break into his psyche, maybe she could snap him out of it. Skeletor’s aimless rage was at once crystalized and focused, his attention turned fully on the huntress.

“I AM SKELETOR!” the warlock screamed, the last vestiges of the illusion dismissed with a jarring fury. Wiess’s eyes widened, staring back into two red pinpricks of light sitting in the hollow sockets of a skull. The warlock raised his havoc staff, the ram’s skull facing the huntress as she weighed her options. To fight without a weapon seemed unwise, but fleeing into the tundra wasn’t likely to turn out much better for her at the moment. Skeletor had yet to fire, his heavy breathing seemed to be a sign of his exhaustion as much as his anger. He seemed to be thinking.

“You have proven your skills as a fighter, Schnee girl. Only a fool would claim otherwise. I will allow you to follow me if you wish, I have need of minions.” Skeletor planted the havoc staff back on the ground, his rage giving him new reserves of energy where he was all but spent, “But listen to these words and heed them well. I am going to take Nebula’s power for my own! I shall not be stopped by you, or hoodwinked by some scientist who things they can outsmart me!” Skeletor turned and started towards the exit of the cave, limping more heavily than his bravado would have suggested a moment before. In his fervor he didn't even notice.

“Both Nebula and Doctor Regal will rue the day that they crossed Skeletor! Nya hee hee hee!”

[Weiss Schnee]

Weiss couldn’t believe what the man she’d just considered a comrade was saying. As soon as the danger had left, she’d been discarded as nothing more than a useless tool. The wizard she had just fought and bled with. The man that Kopaka had just died for.

Her hand rose up, pointed like a gun for Skeletor's back, and scarlet energy was barely held back under her closed hand as she pointed it towards her would-be comrade. The feeling of adrenaline pumping through her body gave her energy once again, and the idea of combat appealed to her baser senses. She could kill this one. She could consume this one, like her inhuman senses had been nagging her to do to everyone she’d came across so far. And what was the harm?

He was clearly a monster. He wanted to hurt people. He was just as bad as the people they’d just fought, and if she let him go now, she might be giving the world a threat worse than nebula. If she let him walk away now, that blood would be on her hands, wouldn’t it?

Weiss’s glare sharpened, and as the red glow illuminated the caverns, Skeletor turned to see the source of the illumination.

For a single heartbeat, time slowed, as Weiss realized that she was totally in control of Skeletor’s fate right now. Even if she didn’t kill the fossilized wizard with this blast, she could absolute. Weiss had her own share of wounds from the battles they’d just dealt with, but she’d seen what Skeletor was capable of… and she was confident that she could take him with her. It would be so easy…

But…

Weiss had fought alongside skeletor for a few hours that seemed an eternity, and cold hard reason pierced through her anger.
This was a bastard who’d shot his own teammate just for the chance to hurt an opponent. Someone who’d had no compunction in letting one of his fellows get hurt to save his own skin. He’d put himself first at every opportunity and treated every challenge as a way to inflate his own power…

He was also the man who’d held up garlands with her to trip an opponent. A man who’d just risked his life to save her from a fiery death. A man she’d seen grieve in front of her. And a man Kopaka had seen worthy of saving with his own life.

Her own corruption and Nebula’s had intertwined, Weiss realized. And that corruption had just about lead her into a path she wouldn’t be able to come back from.

Weiss smiled, turned, around, and pointed her hand to the side of the cave.

Nebula’s darkness had tried their best to control her, and her own transformation constantly pushed her to become something monstrous… and they failed.

Weiss fired her cero at the back of the cave, where the Nebula Space portal used to be, just as Skeletor finished turning around. This place had been Nebula’s base. It had lead to the deaths of countless people, and the corruption of countless others. But now, with no small amount of effort, it was finally over. The nebula space, and the fortress they’d infiltrated to get there… They wouldn’t be hurting anyone anymore.


Skeletor’s rage shocked her out of her thoughts like a pack of ice on a swollen ankle. “Schnee! What are you doing!”

“I’m making sure this never gets used again. By anyone.” Weiss responded, as she started walking towards the exit.
Which was only a couple hundred feet… oh crap.

“By burying us under the rubble before we even make it to the exit, with your half-melted plan?!” Skeletor asked. “Great plan, ice for brains! I think you’ve been putting on your mask too tight!”

Weiss was certain that Skeletor had more terrible and mildly hilarious insults to throw at her, but an ominous rumble threatened to throw them both off their feet, and it was clear they had no time to waste.

Without waiting for permission or planning, Weiss’s hand came up to her face, and immediately, her hollow mask manifested. She could feel the corrupting power seep into her body, amplifying her speed and power to a new height.

And both speed and power were absolutely necessary as she ran forward, picked up a struggling and ranting Skeletor in a bridal carry, and ran for her life for the exit with the speed of a cheetah, an avalanche of falling rocks behind her that were almost keeping pace, and her own chant of: “Crap crap crap crap crap!”

“Hurry! Run you fool! The mighty Skeletor has no intentions of dying to the power of pebbles! If you don’t run faster, I’ll turn you into a snow-cone!”


Weiss kept running as fast as she could with a sheepish expression. This was the stupidest thing she could have possibly…

Weiss couldn’t help but snicker a little. Had she just pulled a Ruby?

Unfortunately, her focus on that snicker had her miss a very jagged rock right in the front of the cave, and Skeletor was launched from her grip and Into a conveniently placed snow bank outside the mountain. Luckily for Weiss, as she went head over heels into the all-too-well-kept dirt outside the mountain’s entrance, her awkward Nose-dive into the ground threw her just far enough from the cave entrance that the last boulder missed crushing her by a couple inches.

“Why do I surround myself with buffoons?” Skeletor cried from the nearby snowbank.

Weiss sighed. “Yeah, well... that snow cone thing you said didn’t make sense!”