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myupostsheadcanons · 4 years ago

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Books “Read” in 2020

Previous entries: 2019, 2018, 2017

I don’t rank these based on actual literary quality, but by how much i enjoyed reading/listening to them. Hopefully with Audible’s new “Premium Included” feature it would cut down on so many Average/Below Average books next year, it’ll give me more of a choice on what kind of books/podcasts i want to listen to rather than given a handful to pick from a month.

The “Top 10″

Forging Hephaestus / Bones of the Past: Villains' Code Series - Drew Hayes has became one of my fav authors over the past couple years, from his Vampire Accountant series, 5-min Sherlock, and his Spells, Swords, and Stealth books. FH is one of the few times he wrote Adult Fiction. This is the second time Drew created a world of super heroes (the YA Superpowereds), thus previous experience in dealing with the nuisances and meta of super meta dynamics. I love the main character, Tori, and especially love many of the side characters (like Ivan) and the comedy is the right tone of dark and not-in-your-face (not quite as well -written as something like The Venture Bros or The Tick, but being adult fiction you can get away with having characters named Johnny Three-Dicks and Captain Bullshit)

Dreadnought / Sovereign - the second super hero series I’ve placed on my top list this year, this one is Young Adult. This one is far more serious and deals heavily in issues like trans and women’s rights, mental abuse, and social acceptance. The main character is full of angst, but that should be a given for a 15 yo with lots of mental baggage and new social pressures. The main character is the main draw, most of the side characters are a bit more one-dimensional.

The Trouble with Peace: Age of Madness, Book 2. It isn’t a “First Law” book if you don��t want to strangle half of the main characters. Many are stepping outside of the shadow of the previous generation and finding themselves falling flat on their faces. If they aren’t at each other’s throats, they would soon have to deal with rebellion in the streets and the constant looming presence of Bayaz, who waits to sweep the board clear and rearrange the pieces the way he sees fit.

Michael J. Sullivan’s: The Riyria and Legend of the First Empire Books.

Riyria Revelations: Theft of Swords / Rise of Empire / Heir of Novron

Riyria Chronicles: The Crown Tower / The Rose and Thorn / The Death of Dulgath

Age of Death / Age of Empyre, Pile of Bones

After finishing the Legend of the First Empire books that came out earlier this year, I went ahead and read the prior series that takes place in the same world. I would suggest reading the entire series by Publish order, but they can be read Chronologically. I read the Legends books first, and it helped me see where Sullivan was heading and when he started to plan out the Legends books in more detail. (The early cameo of the Main characters from Legends in a mural in Heir of Novron, and knowing who is behind the events in Dulgath)

The Dresden Files: Peace Talks / Battle Grounds - They really should be read as one book, because that was how they were written. It is a Feast of Crows / Dances with Dragons situation, where the book got too long and got split up. The fans are pretty divided by the book(s) ending and how some of the main characters are handled, but these are Jim Butcher’s characters not theirs and he can drop bridges on whom ever he wants.

What Lies Beyond: Cycle of Galand, Book 6 - This is a “mythology” book (like Sullivan’s Age of Death was) where it introduces most of the Pantheon of their religion and corrects much of the mythology that had been lost over the decades. They seek a weapon to vanquish the Litch and save their world and the afterlife from oblivion, but not all of their Gods are happy about it.

Will Destroy the Galaxy for Cash - Yahtzee (Zero Punctuation!) has to be one of my favorite internet personalities for the past 10+ years, and I eat up every book he puts out and because he wrote the books, and is an actor himself, he could deliver the lines as they are intended to be. The sequel to Will Save the Galaxy for Food does not disappoint and even ups the stakes from the previous book.

The Girl Who Drank the Moon - This has to be one of the most charming books I’ve read. It is magic and wonder at it’s finest, no need for long explanations on how the world works. If you like Ghibli movies, you’ll be interested in this book. It has its dark moments but isn’t outside of what you’ll find in something like Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and Nausicca.

The Goblin Emperor - the youngest son of the Elf King finds himself emperor after the death of his father and brothers in an assassination. The only problem is, that he is only half-elf... his late mother was a Goblin, and he had been in exile as an embarrassment to the family for most of his life. He knows nothing of how the courts work and what’s left of his own family work against him just for being who he is.

Lost Gods: Brom - I liked this book more than I did American Gods (which I read a few years ago). It is darker and bleaker by the bucket loads. One of the few books with a downer ending that I actually liked. I would compare this book to books like All the Pretty Horses and No Country for Old Men-- but it is a Fantasy!

Above Average.

Siege Tactics (Spells, Swords, & Stealth. Book 4) - What happens to adventurers after they retire? A fun concept that is explored with our party of NPCs running across a town full of epic-level characters that no longer have a player.

The Arthurian Saga - The Crystal Cave / The Hollow Hills / The Last Enchantment / The Wicked Day - A more realistic version of the Arthurian tales, taking the POV of Merlin, bastard son of a princess, as he earns notoriety as a scholar and wizard. The Wicked Day takes the POV of Mordred, making him far more sympathetic than other iterations of his character.

Arc of a Scythe - Scythe / Thunderhead / The Toll - Science and Technology eliminates death and in order to prevent over population and complacency an order of grim reapers are chosen to randomly deal out quotas of permanent deaths. An example of what happens when every need and want is satisfied by a higher force and the apathy that causes rot in human society and the superiority complex of those in charge of life and death.

The Diviners / Lair of Dreams / Before the Devil Breaks You / The King of Crows - Horror during the Roaring 20′s. Tackles issues as Racism, Poverty, Government Secrecy, Christian-Evangelical Cults, Nationalism Cult Mentality, Communism, Labor Unions, Eugenics, Post-WW1 trauma... It could almost pass as an adult fiction book. I wouldn’t recommend giving it to someone under High school age.

Ancillary Justice / Ancillary Sword / Ancillary Mercy - Artificial Intelligence takes over human bodies as a form of capital punishment, controlling ships and space stations. The dominate human empire outgrew the need to label any gender, using “she” to refer to everyone rather than the vaguer “them/they” pronouns, and only outlying colonies stick to the binary ideals. Think of “The Left Hand of Darkness” but on a more broader scale and as the default majority/ruling empire. Toss in a solid military action novel on top and it isn’t nearly as boring as Left Hand.

Children of Time / Children of Ruin - War destroys the human population of Earth and those that remain are the ones that headed out to the stars on tera-forming missions. A virus created to advance life forms to prepare a world for human habitation runs amuck with out its overseers, creating intelligent arachnids, crustaceans, and squid.

The Licanius Trilogy - The Shadow of What Was Lost / An Echo of Things to Come / The Light of all that Falls - It is very heavy on info overload, there is a lot to keep track of, so much so there is a summary of book one and two at the start of the third. I like the twist at the end of the first book and that the villain is actually trying to help save the world, and you spend most of the second stuck between who thinks they are doing the right thing and who is actually doing the right thing - a lot to talk about doing the lesser of two evils.

Mythos - Steven Fry - A humorous retelling of Greek mythology. I read Mythology - by Edith Hamilton prior to this book, which is a more scholarly take on the myths, and helps if you are unfamiliar with classical mythology prior to reading Fry’s take on it.

Iron, Fire and Ice: The Real History That Inspired Game of Thrones - a nice history book about Iron Age royalty. It is actually refreshing to read after going through so much faux fiction that is in Philippa Gregory’s books.

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? - Children ask questions to a Mortician about death and what happens to bodies after people die. I listened to her autobiography last year/year before and it is worth picking up this one along with it.

Average, but still good.

Jack Campbell’s Lost Fleet Universe: Triumphant (Genesis Fleet, Book 3) / Tarnished Knight: Lost Stars, book 1 - The realistic space battles just drag me back in each and every time.

The Case of the Damaged Detective: 5-Minute Sherlock - Drew Hayes can’t write a boring book. It isn’t quite on point as his other series, but still fun to read. Hayes is really good at making YA books with Adult Protagonists. It is a road-trip book, the main character is a washed-out operative that is getting his second chance playing bodyguard and future assistant to the 5-minute Sherlock.

Locked In / Head On - Do you remember “Surrogates”? that Bruce Willis movie where people walk around in robotic avatars, well... it’s almost the same thing. A virus kills millions, save for a select few that experience “lock in” syndrome and are able to connect to robots via their brains and the internet. The main character is gender neutral and you get a choice to listen to the book with a male or female reader.

Murder by Other Means: The Dispatcher Book 2 - more John Scalzi! The first book was in my top list a few years ago, and i enjoyed the sequel just as much. Between Scalzi’s The Dispatcher and Locked In series, i like the Dispatcher more.

The Shattered Sea Trilogy: Half a King / Half the World / Half a War - Joe Abercrombie’s attempt to make Young Adult books. It keeps all the grim dark, but lacks all the swearing and humor that made The First Law books more enjoyable. Many of Joe’s favorite character tropes are still present and is one of the better “Fall to Darkness” stories I’ve read. It also has different POV characters each book and is one of those “faux fantasy” settings.

Mage Errant: Books 1, 2 & A Traitor in Skyhold: Book 3 - If you are wanting to get away from Harry Potter, pick up this book series. It takes place in magic school, but it is its own world and setting and not just a hidden world within our own. The main group of kids are misfits among the school, unable to master their powers, that get taken up by the badass librarian to be trained in more unconventional ways.

Dawn of Wonder: The Wakening Book 1 - the main character has ptsd from growing up in an abusive household, and i thought it was handled rather well. He would be rather competent and cleaver most of the time until he gets triggered into an episode, he fights really hard to overcome this short-falling of his. Standard classic affair else wise, family leaves home because the local authority figure doesn’t want them around anymore, goes to big city, kid wants to do good and avenge the deaths he was accused of, joins the badass school of hard knocks... big powerful evil thing trying to consume the world.

The Rage of Dragons - It shares a lot of tropes and story points with Red Rising... just in a fantasy setting, not in space. If you are wanting fantasy with POC main characters and a non-European-centric culture, that doesn’t pull any punches, give it a shot.

Earthsea - Tehanu and Tales from Earthsea - I had read the first three books several years back, and i did re-read them in order to refresh myself prior to reading the final two.

The Secret Garden - I absolutely loved the movie from the 90′s as a kid, and finally got around to listening to the book.

Six of Crows - A heist book in fantasy world with the magic users being heavily “Jewish / Slavic” coded by how they are treated and persecuted. I might have thought more favorably about the book if i hadn’t read other books with “street rat slum” main characters. (Seriously, after spending six books with Royce in Riyria someone like Kas is just second bananas)

Unconventional Heroes / Two Necromancers - Comedic Fantasy, the humor’s not on par with say MogWorld, and has more jokes than Fred The Vampire Accountant. It is still a parody of villains and heroes in fantasy worlds. I would find it safe for a 12/13yo to read, cursing and all, though they might not be aware of many of the tropes that are being deconstructed. The reader of the book did better in this one then he did with Six of Crows and Beezer, still the audio needed some editing because it repeats itself a few times.

Once More Upon A Time (Free Audio Book) - I don’t always care to read romance stories. I like the idea behind it however, to trade their love for each other in order to save their partner’s life, then learn to re-love one another again.

Monster Hunter International - If you think Dresden is too liberal, this takes a hard turn to the right.. replace the magic with GUNS, lots and lots of GUNS. An organization that hates the government but hunts monsters for government bounties. The main cast is multi-ethnic and they do make fun of that at one point. There isn’t a lot of thought into the plot, because action is #1, but it is fun enough to ignore the politicking.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Collection - i bitched about there not being an omnibus last year, and then Audible uploaded one. The ending is still one big clusterfuck.

Stephen King’s Insomnia - this book is the bridge between Steven King’s two universes. It is a sequel to IT and brings up the Darktower often. IT dealt mainly with childhood fears, Insomnia deals with Elderly and feminine fears.

D’Arc / Culdesac: War with No Name - I liked D’Arc more than i did Mort-e, and Culdesac is more on track with Mort-e. The virus that mutated the ants and animals reminded me of the virus from Children of Time/Ruin, even though i read Mort-e first, reading D’Arc after CoT let me notice it.

Michael McDowell’s: The Amulet / The Elementals / Gilded Needles / Blackwater - From the guy that wrote the screenplay of Beetlejuice, and the pioneer of the Southern Gothic Horror. Gilded Needles is a bit out of place, taking place in 1890′s, and is more of a social horror rather than a super natural horror the other books are.

Gardens of the Moon: The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 1 - high fantasy dark fiction. if you really want some CHONKY door stoppers, there’s over 10 of them in this series. Could’ve done less with the manipulative bastard mage that speaks in 3rd person. I had read The Willful Child, an attempted comedy science fiction novel by the same author, and it showed that the author was unfamiliar with that kind of genera and should stick to grim fantasy.

The Knife’s Edge / Citadel of Fire: The Ronin Saga - This is one of those series that I’m always going “oh, that reminds me of [insert another better series]” At times it reminded me of The Licanius Trilogy, Shades of Magic, Arc of Scythe, Riyria, Korra... It is just shy of being as good as them, and is rather firmly in that Sci-Fi Fantasy Ghetto and has a bit of “anime” feel to it with their magic users having ‘power levels’ and the power creep.

In Calabria - My only problem with the book is the massive age-gap between the Main character and his love interest. Outside of that, the whole Unicorns in the modern world concept is done very well.

Pout Neuf (Audible Free Book) - Journalism and romance during WW2. A quick read and the book really shows that research had been done about the setting and time period.

Nut Jobs: Cracking California's Strangest $10 Million Dollar Heist: An Audible Original - Not only does it talk about the heist, it actually touches on the subject of migrant farmers and slave labor, as well as the desertification of the California Valley.

The Science of Sci-Fi: From Warp Speed to Interstellar Travel (Free Audio Book) - a neat little informative podcast if you are looking for an introduction to some of the harder science fiction.

Mythology - by Edith Hamilton - Text book about Greek Mythology. Like “used in schools” text book. It is a good read if you don’t want to go through Ovid, Virgil, Homer, and all the other classical writers on your own.

The Space Race: An Audible Original - America didn’t win the Space Race. Russia did just about everything first. The only thing we did first was put people on the moon. It also goes into detail about how the inventor of the Nazi’s V2 rockets became employed with the US Space program. As well as the government’s announcement to let space travel become privatized.

Pale Blue Dot / Cosmos: A Personal Voyage - It’s Carl Sagan. Come on! Everyone should be reading them. Pale Blue Dot was being turned into an Audiobook in the 90′s but with Sagan’s death, only the first few chapters were read by him and his partner reads the rest of it (she does a decent job, and i understand why they wanted her to read it, it should’ve been done similarly to Cosmos, with guest readers doing each chapter)

Thicker Than Water (Free Audio Book) - start up pharmaceutical company scams people out of millions with promises of a miracle machine that was ahead of its time. Story told from the whistleblower himself as he recounts what his job was within the company and how he knew the owner/founder of the company and how coming out about what was going on ruined his relationship with his family and friends.

Don't Panic: Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - biography on Douglas Adams and the history behind the creative process behind the Hitchhiker’s Guide series.

The Genius of Birds - It reminded me a lot of “The Soul of an Octopus” in quality. It is rather informative about birds, how they behave, and how we judge intelligence in non-human animals.

It’s “ok.”

Les Miserabes - I can see why people favor movies and theater versions because of how dense the book is, getting the cliff notes version of the book instead of reading several chapters about the Battle of Waterloo.

Viva Durant and the Secret of the Silver Buttons (Audible Free Book) - It’s cute, and I spent the next several weeks humming that freaking song.

Challenger Deep - A book about mental illness by the same person that brought us The Arc of a Scythe series. It isn’t a bad read, but if you are prone to get panic attacks and have mental illness yourself, you might get too into it and make you uneasy. It can help with neurotypical people with understanding how some illnesses work.

Into the Wilds (Warriors, Book 1) - Ah, the cat book. It is prob because there are soooo many books in this series that it over-saturates the kids impressionable minds.

House of Teeth (Audible Free Book) - I read this book prior to Monster Hunter International, and thinking back on this one, i am reminded about the other. Save for this one is PG. So... the kid friendly version.

The Martian Chronicles - Space Horror, on Mars. If you like old science fiction, like Classic Trek, Wells, or Forbidden Planet stuff. There is a lot of zerust.

Andrea Vernon and the Corporation for UltraHuman Protection - The third superhero series I’ve read this past year. It is not as ground breaking nor subversive as Villain’s Code or Dreadnought. The humor is a bit too forced and parts of it falls into “we can be more offensive because it is an adult book” category.

Interview with the Robot - Don’t really care for books or programs that are set up in the “interview” format where it is two people talking to one another. (I have no fucking idea how this book got top Kids book of the year on Audible, it is more of a YA book... it must been because it was Free and lots of people picked it because the rest of the choices that month were complete garbage)

Micromegas - perhaps one of the oldest examples of Speculative Science Fiction. Written by Voltaire, it is about a giant from another solar system that is so big that humans and life on Earth are microscopic. “what value are the lives of ants to a man?”

The Three Musketeers - i had forgotten how much espionage there was in this book. I would say this is a good companion book to Don Quixote, as it takes its fair share of inspiration from and even name-drops the character a couple times.

Charles Dickens: Oliver Twist / David Copperfield / A Tale of Two Cities - DC is the standout IMO among the three, it is Dickens’ Magnum Opus. Les Mis did a far better job with the Revolution than Tale did as well. I felt rather obligated to reading these books because of the subplot in the Age of Madness books being about Poverty during the Industrial Revolution and Workers Revolts against the Ruling Class.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - the version i listened too made most of the Americans sound like GWB... which is funny because one of them is Canadian, and the Comic Relief character about how boorish Americans are.

Stuck (Free Audio Book) - it is a neat idea, getting jarred free of time but everybody else isn’t and doesn’t remember. It gets a little heavy for a kids book near the end, edging into YA territory as the character gets older mentally and the people around him age physically.

Phreaks (Free Audio Book) - i knew a lot about Captain Crunch and other phone hackers of the 60′s. There is a subplot of the big radioactive corporation covering up causing cancer to their workers, and the father (voiced by Christian Slater) being in the closet but still homophobic about it.

Silverswift (Free Audio Book) - If you like fairy tales set in modern times, it is worth a look. It is similar to In Calabira in that way. The mom being the nonbeliever and thinking grandma is off her rocker, but the granddaughter knows it in her bones that grandma is telling the truth.

Sleeping Giants - alien mechs from the distant past, once mistaken as the titans and gods form mythology, now being studied and experimented on by the government. This is another “interview style” story telling.

Celtic Mythology: Tales of Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes - there is a lot of names and stories, it is worth prob getting a physical copy of the book to keep things straight and to use as a reference.

How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps - A love letter to The Legend of Zelda’s Ocarina of Time and other RPG games.

Casino Royal: James Bond - the movie was rather faithful, including the part of being tied to a chair. I do wish they kept more of the book’s ending where Bond was ready to retire prior to his secret-spy love interest gets killed.

Aliens: Bug Hunt - a compilation of Alien stores about people landing on various planets and encountering aliens, not always the Xenomorphs we know, but the term “Bug” came synonymous to any dangerous alien lifeforms encountered.

Macbeth: A Novel - retelling the story of Macbeth but in a novel form. If you can’t get past the language of the original play, this would help. It sets it more firmly in historical fiction.

Hannibal: A Novel - I went ahead and re watched the tv show after finishing the book. I’ve seen the movie a dozen times, and i understand why they changed the ending to the movie. The book is the main one that characterizes Hannibal and the show uses a lot of the plot. Hannibal Rising wasn’t really needed because Hannibal (in this book) does think/talk about what happened to his sister and home, and i can see why Harris didn’t want to write that book either. The audiobook is rather poor quality, they talked too fast in places and i don’t really care for their acting...

The Power of Six - I read I am Number 4 several years back and this one popped up on sale so i nabbed it. I like Neil Kaplan, and i think this one is better than the first one and actually gets into the meat of the story.

Cut and Run: A Light-Hearted Dark Comedy - body parts harvesting.... mmmm.

Calypso - non-Fiction, biography of the author. Talks about his family, his life with his partner, and what he does. Much of it is charming and it is read by the author. this was prior to him loosing his marbles about retail workers and becoming a karen.

Our Harlem: Seven Days of Cooking, Music and Soul at the Red Rooster - the history of Harlem and the Harlem Renaissance. I didn’t mind this podcast so much because i was reading The Diviners during the same time.

Malcolm and Me - another biographical book. one of the free books i got during Feb’ Black History Month.

History of Bourbon (Free Audio Book) - Informative about the liqueur industry in America.

Junkyard Cats: Shining Smith Book 1 - post apocalyptic action science fiction novel. the moment that guy showed up i was “that’s your bf.” and it was so... the plot wasn’t hard to figure out, it’s all about the action and setting.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - One of the better Heinlein books. The man can’t write romance and he is rather big on casual polygamy and open marriages. An anarchist-revolution book written by someone that is more on the Libertarian side of the aisle. Mycroft (the computer) comes off as rather antiquated, an AI that runs on a closed server, communicating through the telephone lines and printed paper, makes me wonder what Heinlein would’ve done if he was told about the internet and Deep Fake tech. (the book takes place in like 2075, but written in 1966)

Caffeine: How Caffeine Created the Modern World - the production of coffee and it’s prevalence around the world.

The Life and Times of Prince Albert - Exactly what it says on the can. *rimshot*

The Real Sherlock: An Audible Original - a biography of Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle.

The Design of Everyday Things - using psychology to improve the design of systems, products, and the modern business model. It gives proper terminology for several common design features and how to improve on existing structures.

Bottom of the Barrel.

The Pagan World: Ancient Religions before Christianity. I was hoping there would have been something in there about European Religions, there isn’t, and the book was mostly Greek and Roman life styles and how gods are worshiped. It let me know where the word “auger” came from and why it was used in the Licanius Trilogy.

Life Ever After - disjointed at best. a couple that aren’t good for each other spend the next several hundred years in a crappy relationship.

Beyond Strange Lands: An Audible Original - The audio was complete crap on half of the voices. Which is bad because this could’ve been better. It is a Pod Cast Show and the director couldn’t make sure everybody had decent recording equipment and the sound effects often drown out the actors.

Henrietta & Eleanor: A Retelling of Jekyll and Hyde: An Audible Original Drama - They were going for a modern telling, but the language used is archaic. They speak like Dickens characters even though they talk about cellphones and computers.

A Crazy Inheritance: The Ghostsitter book 1 - The concept is there, but it is too nerfed. It was made for the 8-12yo crowd in mind by people that don’t know how to write for children.

Tell Me Lies (Free Audio Book) - It really wants to be smart. Who’s playing who and who is the actual villain of this story? If you want a quick “who done it?” maybe look into it.

Evil Eye (Free on Audible Plus) - told through phone calls between a mother and daughter. The whole genera of evil boyfriends/husbands isn’t really my cup of tea, and the boyfriend’s actor was too fake and the set up to the meat of the story was annoying.

The Half-life of Marie Curie - I didn’t mind learning stuff about Marie Curie... falls squarely in “made for TV lifetime movie” quality though. You should not carry around a vile of uranium where ever you go.

Alone with the Stars - A girl in Florida hears the call for help from Amelia Earhart, but nobody listens to her. Part fiction, part biographical. It would’ve been better as a biography and talking about various conspiracy theories about what happened to her and finding the pieces of the airplane.

Beezer - The son of the Devil learning to become a good person with a found family... however, most of the characters are annoying.

The Year of Magical Thinking (Free Audio Book) - very heavy on the subjects about loss and death.

Complete Garbage.

The Getaway (Free Audio Book) - A man being a POS by stalking and abducting women. It broadcasts just about everything that is going to happen.

Agent 355 (Free Audio Book) - Do you like “American Mythology?” Like the whole “the founders are the greatest people in the world” kind of vibe? I don’t. I also hate the main character for being one of those “i’m smart, because i read books that women aren’t supposed to” girls when she doesn’t really think for herself at all.

#myu reads #books read in 2020 #audiobooks #booklr #Audible #long post

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achtung-attitude · 5 years ago

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A shadow appears in his peripheral vision, moving swiftly towards him. “I don’t think so,” he scoffs, shaking his head before summoning WEEZER to strike, driving a skeletal fist into the shadow’s center mass. It connects with something hard and metallic with a satisfying crunch, but Toto is taken aback when a torrent of thick white foam covers him, mostly coats his lower body.

The mist begins moving towards a single point, compressing until it is reduced to a single droplet of water clinging to SATURN BARZ’ finger tip. Kilo steps back and allows the object in his hands to drop to the floor. It is a fire extinguisher, with a fist-sized hole gouged out of it.

“Oh, I see…” Toto says, his smile returning, “What? That the best you can come up with? Cover me in foam, and mess up my nice pants?”

“You must not have finished high school, huh?” Kilo retorts, to Toto’s confusion. He goes on, “You know what fire-fighting foam is, right? Mostly it’s chemicals, held together by bubbles… with carbon dioxide inside.”

Toto stares at him, not understanding. Then the burning on his skin begins, and he does understand. “What--?! What’s happening--?!!” he groans. The foam covering his face and body begins to contract and harden into off-white shells that exude a thick mist that flows down to the ground.

“Once SATURN BARZ activates its ability on something, not even I can stop it,” Kilo explains, “But I can make it so the change is delayed. I already worked my ability on the foam before you broke it open, but I needed you to get it all over yourself first. If you really didn’t finish high school, then you probably don’t know there’s a name for solid carbon dioxide: they call it ‘dry ice.’ And the average temperature of dry ice is -109 degrees Fahrenheit.”

Toto’s eyes go wide. He shouts first as the crystals latch to the flesh of his legs like leeches, then burn him like branding irons, instantly inflicting frostbite. The mass glob of solidified carbon dioxide welds him to the floor, as he screams in agony, trying to scrap it off with WEEZER’s fists. This only proves to worsen his situation, as the flesh on Toto's hands burn as he touches it.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!”

“Let’s see you break out of this!!” Kilo shouts over Toto’s agonised howls, before delivering a high kick to his enemy’s jaw that causes him to slump over standing up.

He waits for a moment, watching the assassin’s body, but it makes no move. The dry ice continues to sear his skin, turning it red and purple.

Satisfied, Kilo turns and rushes back to Moya’s side. She remains slouched against her pillar, head down and clutching her stomach.

“D-did you get him?” she asks.

“I got him. You alright now?” he prepares to lift her up.

“Are y-you sure… you got him?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. Come on, we need to find Shizuka.” He takes her arm, draping it over his shoulder.

“The effect… his power… it should be cancelled by now, right…?” Moya’s voice is low and hoarse.

“... It should… I guess he ain’t dead yet. Fine, gimme a minute and I’ll…” he trails off then, noticing her now-uncovered stomach. A small, black puncture wound in her gut, leaking red blood. The kind of wound that can only come from a firearm.

“What the fuck…? I didn’t hear a shot! When did someone shoot you? Hey, Moya!!”

A rivulet of blood spills from the corner of Moya’s mouth and she speaks through gritted teeth. “F-Five… Five years ago… I was shot right here, five years ago…! The bullet went through my guts and got stuck in my back… I was nearly paralyzed for life… It was right in this spot…!”

Too late, Kilo notices the presence behind him. He whirls around to face it, dropping Moya in the process and summoning SATURN BARZ, but too little, too late. WEEZER’s hand grips his face with a frigid hand, and he feels something dark and evil build inside of him.

“Got you… Finally…!” Toto says in a high, strained voice. Dry ice still clings to his flesh, especially around his legs, as it appears that WEEZER has broken off the piece of floor its master was stuck to and dragged it along.

“Never thought you’d push me this far… But you got it wrong… You misunderstood… You didn’t think… WEEZER just brought back diseases… did ya?!”

The twisted Stand squeezes its hand around Kilo’s face. He reaches out for it with SATURN BARZ, but before he can touch it, deep cuts appear all over his body, spurting blood and sending him into shock as pain scorches him all over. WEEZER releases him, and he remembers where the wounds came from.

The rooftop of Jerome’s mansion. Tarantula, the man who killed his best friend, attacking him with a Stand with scythes for fingers. The blades carving him up and leaving deep scars across his body. These scars open up into fresh wounds now, here at Anaheim.

“Tell me, Kilo…” Toto says in a soft voice, but loud enough so he can hear, “what’s the worst thing that ever happened to you?”

END of CHAPTER 37

#jjba #jojo's bizarre adventure #jojo no kimyou na bouken #achtung attitude #kilo staples #toto #saturn barz #weezer #ch37

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jadekitty777 · 5 years ago

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See You Heal

Hey everyone, long time no update, right? Aha!

Alright time for something a little different but still sweet. This entry is a work entirely inspired by @ladyrobiness‘ beautiful Slow Sunrise series. I woke up one morning and the idea just hit me like a truck and well... I had to write it out.

This is a continuation to that series so, reading it first is absolutely required. But why wouldn’t you? It’s a beautiful Fix-It fic with lots of tender moments of healing for Qrow and Clover both along with them just falling in love like the adorable dorks they are <333

Here are the Ao3 links to both:

Robiness’ Story: Slow Sunrise series

My Story: See You Heal

It’s also below the cut!

Rating: K+

Pairing: Qrow/Clover

Word Count: 2800

Summary: Qrow knows ignoring the problem only makes it worse. Unfortunately, dealing with it has its own set of problems too.

Sometimes, Qrow wished his standard for dealing with shit wasn’t ‘‘Ignore it until it goes away’.

It didn’t work. He knew it didn’t work – and yet sometimes his traitorous brain thought: maybe this time it’ll be different. So, when the issue of Clover not liking anyone at his six came up, like a scroll that had been factory reset, he defaulted. Hoped in the most ironic ways that the problem would just fix itself or at the very least, never become a problem.

That was why, as he gusted through the air trying to spot the nearest nomadic settlement, all he could see instead was Clover’s dismayed expression.

Really, he only had himself to blame.

They’d been traveling through Vacuo’s unforgiving desert for hours. It was a six-day journey to reach Shade Academy, most of which they had to do on foot as no locals at the city border ever escorted anyone across the desert without a price. Though they’d gotten an early start, beginning their trek even before the sun had peaked the horizon, as the day waned the sands around them began to shimmer as the heat rose to unbearable heights. Add onto that an unstable ground that left them all unsteady on their feet, relentless winds that whipped sand along exposed skin and eyes, and the occasional Grimm or wildlife lying in wait for an attack, and it just seemed like a recipe for disaster.

So, when the Sidewinder Grimm leapt from the dunes they were walking across and struck out at Weiss, all but two of them either didn’t react fast enough, or stumbled when they tried. The first of the two that had was Clover, who had his fishing line around Weiss in an instant and yanked her his way. The second was Ruby, who sped above the field like a shot, petals and dust following her wake as she managed to get in the first blow.

Within seconds, the rest of them recovered and suddenly the snake had ten skilled opponents bearing down on it. It certainly wasn’t a long battle, but enough to get the adrenalin going. The kids seemed to take it as they saw it, realizing the threat was over once the smoke cleared. But more veteran huntsmen like himself kept on guard a little longer.

Or like Clover – who wasn’t expecting Jaune to come up behind him and give him a congratulatory pat on the back.

The reaction was instantaneous. Clover yelped as he twisted and swung Kingfisher right at the boy’s head.

The clang of metal hitting metal seemed to echo the world into silence.

Jaune, shield shadowing his face, looked tense and a little frightened.

Clover just looked horrified.

And then he was faltering back, dropping his weapon into the sand. “I’m- I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to- are you okay?!”

“I’m, fine.” Jaune answered a little shakily, trying to laugh it off. “I don’t think now is the time for a training exercise though.”

Clover tried to meet him, but his own chuckle rang hollow. “No. No it’s not.” He ran a hand agitatedly through his hair. “I really am sorry. I, I don’t know what came over me.”

“It’s too hot.” Weiss was the one to offer, turning the attention her way. “I’m having trouble too.”

It sounded logical. Believable. Of course the Atlesians weren’t accustomed to blistering heat like this and would be most likely to succumb to its’ effects.

Only Qrow knew the truth of the matter. Tried not to think how a desert wasn’t so unlike a tundra – open space, unsteady footing, extreme weather.

“We need to get out of this sun.” Blake decided.

Ruby nodded in agreement. “Right. Uncle Qrow, can you scout ahead and see if you can spot something?”

That’s how he ended up in the sky, canting in great big circles like a vulture and looking to every horizon as he tried to make out a camp or an outcropping or a cactus. Anything that might provide shade or water. It took a few cycles, increasing his radius at every turn, before finally managing to see several flutterings in the distance. Upon closer inspection, he knew it was the tarps of caravans, moving southwest. Which meant stable ground and civilization.

He dove back towards the group, morphing just shy of his landing. “Looks like someone’s on the move several miles that way. There’s probably a temporary camp nearby.”

Or if there wasn’t, there would be.

“Right, then let’s move.” Ruby ordered, turning to the robot beside her. ��Penny maybe you can try and keep us cool in the meantime?”

“I will give it my best shot!”

Their conversation faded to background noise as his focus instead shifted to Clover who, for the first time since they’d begun traveling together, took lead instead of rear. A silent attempt to rebuild goodwill. But his posture was held straight, an unnatural rigidity to his movements.

Qrow joined him, not quite reaching for his hand, but allowing their knuckles to brush together. The effect was miniscule, but there, just the slightest drop of his shoulders as his face eased into a small, not-quite-there smile.

Okay. He could work with this.

It was funny how easy it was to trick a Vacuon when they thought they were the ones playing it. All it took was some altruistic speeches from the kids about wanting to help because that’s what huntsmen did and the words “free of charge” and suddenly they were traveling with a whole parade of people who thought they were getting protection for nothing. Which was mostly true – except of course, now they had a place to stay in and quicker way to the academy.

It also kept them busy, trading off shifts throughout the day to keep watch on their surroundings. Which meant it was almost two days later before he finally had a moment alone with Clover. The wayfarers who they were assisting had a strict habit of bearing down at the hottest part of the day to conserve resources and energy. With JNPR 2.0 on duty and RWBY helping with lunch, Qrow took the opportunity to retire to their makeshift quarters.

As he stepped into the tent, he found his segue into the conversation was going to be more on the nose then he’d planned for.

Clover was seated on one of the various sleeping mats, Harbinger in his lap as he tended to her gears. “Hey.” He greeted. “How’d scouting go?”

“Uh. Fine.”

Seeming to sense his unease, the huntsman paused, looking between him and the weapon. “Oh, sorry! I guess I should do this later.”

“No!” The word burst out of him, startling them both. Qrow cleared his throat, repeating more levelly, “No, it’s fine really. I told you to take care of her.”

To prove his statement, he took the few steps forward to sit directly across from him.

Clover eyed him skeptically for several long moments, perhaps trying to puzzle out if he was trying a backwards form of recovery or just talking big. He seemed to decide the former as he bent back over the sword. “Well, I’m glad you’re here. A lot of grit is getting in-between the gears. But I’m worried about messing up the mechanics.” He offered him a smile. “Harbinger’s really intricate. You did an amazing job.”

“Laying it on a little thick there, aren’t ya Ebi?” He scooted forward just a little, pointing to the correct parts as he spoke. “First loosen the spindle here. Then you can take out the suspension spring and remove this gear.”

They spent the next several minutes just going about the task. Even though he was guiding another’s hands through the motions, the work was so familiar it was relaxing. He even found it possible to keep hold of the small, easily lost pinions as they were removed. All the while, he studied Clover as he worked, the way his brow furrowed with deep concentration or how his strong hands never faltered as he took out each gear with care and reverence. As if the weapon was as cherished as his own.

“Last one.” Qrow announced as the fifth pinion was dropped into his palm.

“You know, before I really was praising you.” The smallest cog came out with a small pop, being added to the growing collection on the cloth Clover had laid out. He finished his statement with a mirthful smile, “But now I’ve determined you went too far.”

He snorted. “Sorry my sword-scythe-shotgun hybrid is a little more complicated than your basic fishing rod.”

He gasped in mock offense. “My darling may not have all your weapon’s fancy little tricks, but it gets the job done with just as much grace.”

“Oh, that’s what you call all that flailing around?”

“Watch it Branwen.”

“What? Am I-” The rest of his words ‘on thin ice’ died in his throat. “Uh-”

This time, Clover misinterpreted his floundering. “What, am I doing it wrong?”

He focused on where the other’s hands were, his own quickly reaching out to catch his, only to abort the motion just as quickly when his fingertips skimmed Harbinger’s surface. That Clover noticed.

He ran the same hand over the back of his neck. “Uh, don’t remove that unless you want her coming apart completely.”

“Alright.” Clover lifted his hand from the center plate obediently. “Are you doing okay or should we stop?”

Dropping the pinions onto the cloth beside the other parts, he tried not to let it feel like too much of a failure. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that?”

“Why would I be uncomfortable?” He replied with a frown.

Qrow stared. Was he being serious right now? “You’re kidding. If anything you should be more repelled to be holding her than me.”

“But I’m not. I never have been.”

The frustration broke over like a wave so that his next words flooded out like a tide of turbulent emotions, “Why not? You’re the one who got hurt! Why is it so easy for you?!”

No, no. Shut up.

He slouched over, scrabbling hands through his hair, tugging at the ends as if it would ground him back to the present.

This was going all wrong. He wasn’t supposed to be getting angry.

“I-I mean-” He started to say.

Clover cut him off. “Have you ever considered things were different from my perspective?”

He blinked. Looked up. “What?”

The other huntsman’s gaze drifted, falling down to the blade still in his lap. He ran his palm along the surface. “I never saw it. Or if I did, my mind’s blocked it out. I… remember pain. How hard it was to breathe. But as far as anything I saw in that moment? All I can think of is gray. A dark gray, almost black, but kind of green too?”

Qrow frowned, trying to piece that together. Atlas wasn’t exactly known for its abundance of greenery. The only green thing he could think of was Clover’s own pin. Maybe it was just his body going into shock, making him see things that weren’t actually there.

“Either way,” He continued, idly tracing the intricate patterns embedded in the sword’s metal. “What I’m getting at is, the only reason I know this was the weapon that struck me is because I was told it was. To me, it’s kind of removed from the whole event.” His movements stopped, that same dismayed look from several days ago clouding his features. “Instead, I have other problems.”

Seemed like they were going to have that conversation after all. “Like what happened with Jaune.”

“Yeah. I hadn’t meant to attack him. I just thought…” Clover slumped, trailing off.

“That he was someone else. I know.” Qrow said in the space left behind. “Known for awhile, actually. I knew it was an issue, but I hadn’t said anything. Tch. I should of. Maybe then-”

A flick to his forehead had him jerking back.

“Stop.” Clover’s fingers soothed over the spot, sliding down along the contours of his face to cup his jaw. “You’re not responsible for my problems Qrow. It’s my job to acknowledge them and ask for help if I need it.”

There was a lot of things he thought to say, the most prominent being how Clover never seemed to have an issue laser focusing on Qrow’s problems and addressing them (though, to be fair, those results didn’t always pan out) – but what he finally decided on saying was, “Do you need help?”

Teal eyes went wide and he drew back. The look on his face, vulnerable and lost, was heartbreaking. “I, uh. I don’t know.”

“Would you like to try something?” He pressed on gently.

“Like what?”

“An exercise.” He waved towards Harbinger. “Set her aside and take off your shirt – Don’t smile like that, I’m not gonna do anything lecherous.”

Clover laughed. “Ah, there goes all my hopes and dreams.” Still, he did as commanded, laying the blade to his left before peeling off the green shirt he wore.

Qrow managed not to stare at the metal plating built into the center of his chest, stitching his body together like a broken doll. Instead he reached forward, undoing the red bandanna around the man’s arm – one of the only things he’d kept of his old uniform, besides the boots – and tied the cloth around his eyes instead.

“Uh, Qrow?” Now blind, Clover sounded a lot more uncertain.

He ran a hand through short brown locks. “When I used to teach, I would do this with the students.”

“Lot to unpack with that statement.” He was barely containing a laugh.

It was his turn to flick him. “Shut it and listen.” He got to his feet, speaking as he rounded the other. “It was usually for typical stuff. Figuring out what movements they knew by reflex and what they needed to work on. Keeping an ear on their surroundings when their eyes can’t. But sometimes,” He stopped directly behind him. “It was to help break bad habits.”

Clover was already tense. “Really?”

“Ruby’s footwork used to be terrible. Got worse when she discovered her semblance – she was tumbling all over the place. Taking away her sight made her focus harder on every step she made. Made her more aware of everything she was doing.” Qrow reached out, fingertips brushing along the base of Clover’s neck, the skin shuddering under his touch. “That’s what I want you to do. Focus on the way your body reacts and correct it.”

“This… seems a little unconventional.”

He knelt down behind him. “Sometimes it’s the unconventional methods that work. Now,” He laid his palm flat along metalwork layered over his spine, hearing the sharp inhale. “Let’s get started.”

Qrow couldn’t say for how long, exactly, the exercise went on for – but it was certainly not as long as he would have kept one of his students at it. Where he’d push them to continue even just a minute longer, he was more willing to pull back with the brunette, knowing this was taking a mental toll along with the physical one. So, when he noticed Clover’s efforts were turning to frustration, he was quick to call for a break, offering that maybe they could finish up with Harbinger in the interim.

Clover, stubborn man he was, didn’t want to quit entirely though.

That was how they ended up sitting back to back as Qrow polished off the gears and pins and Clover set them into place.

Healing takes many forms, Qrow mused as he handed over the third cog and reached for the next, the anxiety he normally felt completely, blissfully absent.

Felt the stretch of muscles against his own as Clover worked, his erratic breathing and shakes having steadied a while ago.

One day, he hoped they could come out of this without their demons controlling them.

Yet, he knew recovery was a difficult, haphazard mess of a journey; so that day was in a future he still couldn’t quite discern, no matter how hard he looked.

Not that he could say he was surprised. His life had never been simple and that track record wasn’t going to let up a four decades’ long streak so easily – but, for once, he wouldn’t have it any other way.

For the one brightness he could see in all this was right behind him.

Qrow slid down, just enough to rest his ear against the metal along Clover’s back, the reassuring thump-thump-thump of his heart a gift he’d never waste.

For it beat with the promise that he was here.

He was alive.

And, Qrow recklessly dared to believe, he was his.

Another gift he’d never waste.

A devotion he’d never dishonor.

A love he’d forever hold onto.

#qrow branwen #clover ebi #fair game #rwby #fanfiction #Chase Firekitten's Tale

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punkinroses · 5 years ago

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Yugioh Season 4 Quotes Prompt Meme

I am stressed, tired, sick of my job and needing a brain break. Yugioh Abridged is my go to for that at the moment. So. Have a sentence meme thing. Feel free to reblog, change pronouns, etc. Go have fun kids. Be wild. Be gay. Do crime. Love you

“The whole saving the world thing really eats into your study time.” “But my teacher gave me, like, a bunch of gold stars! And an A+ in trying.” “I already know everything I need to know about mathematics from playing card games.” “I was also thinking about doing some of the drugs later.” “(name)’s hand is on fire!” “That sounds like a commotion! .......Yes. Definitely a commotion.” “Well, I’m sure the city can defend itself.” “Those neutral motherfuckers. I never cared for them.” “How the hell did you people get in my house!?” “I’m not sure I like the rich douchebag channel.” “We figured you had more of an emotional connection to these.” “Damnit, (name), we agreed I would do the monologuing.” “My spirit guide has once again served its purpose.” “It’ll be called the bitch ass retirement plan. Named after you, ya bitch ass!” “That’s some OP bullshit right there.” “Broseph...Brosephine...Bro DiMaggio.” “I’ve got shoulder pads!” “Now what are you gonna do, Bromeo and Juliet?” “It’s not often I get to hear the worst insult ever coined by a human being.” “Yeah, they once sucked out Channing Tatum’s soul as a joke.” “I have nothing else in my life, please!” “So you’re someone I haven’t seen in a really, really long time? .........Are you my parents??!!” “Stop abusing the concept of friendship!!” “You must have spent YEARS researching this! Even though you can find this exact information on the back of any Yu-Gi-Oh! DVD!” “King of doors, bitch!” “That’s two points for Middle Earth, zero points for (name).” “I was not prepared to watch this today.” “Okay, so, you’re a lost cause.” “If even one of you makes a Sharknado reference, I will end you so hard.” “Try this on for size, you Sauron-looking motherfucker!” “I thought we had an agreement! You agreed to not be a little bitch, but now you’re being a little bitch!” “Maybe they’ll take someone’s soul that we don’t care about this time.” “Goddamnit, you never help me, ever!!” “Alright, douchebags! I’m sick and tired of us not being on top!” “These meetings get fucking weird.” “How much more specific can I get? SOMEWHERE in CALIFORNIA.” “I wonder if there are card games on the moon.” “I knew it. This is just some cheap trick to get me to come see you, so you can hit on me with a bunch of cheap innuendos, isn’t it?” “And, to think, people call you a diluted egomaniac.” “That’s not possible! I’M the adorable one!” “For some reason, cruising for chicks has caused me to become severely injured.” “I would be so turned on if that wasn’t such a huge waste of trading cards.” “I’d like to spread some vegemite on those things.” “You left me on a blimp with a known psychopath, while I was in a coma, so you could go off and play video games.” “So, in other words, since we’ve never seen your balls drop, we can assume it hasn’t happened?” “My douche-senses are telling me that (name) is mocking me somewhere.” “Should I remind you to tell them to go fuck themselves when we get there?” “He will eat you with his crocodile face.” “Okay, did you have to include the part of the story where they insulted me?” “Hey, a sword! I can stab people with this!” “Seriously? That was your one Koala joke?” “Try believing in the heart of the cards.” “Quiet, you sorcerer.” “If you’re seeing this, (name), it either means I’m dead, leaving behind a very fabulous looking corpse, or my soul has been captured.” “Maybe it had something very kinky on it and 4Kids had to censor it.” “I’ll leave that up to the fanfic authors.” “I’ll write a highly unfavorable research paper about you! With inconclusive findings!” “I feel like I should be concerned, but I just can’t stop thinking about how Copernicus is such a stupid name for a horse.” “You know that thing takes people’s souls and I found it on a dead guy, right?” “That was acting, children! Bravo for me!” “According to my research, I’m in a crapload of pain.” “Learned that trick from playing Super Mario World.” “I’ll just be over here wibbling to myself. Please, pay me no mind.” “Okay, everyone. I’m going to go scream into a pillow for the next five minutes.” “Are you telling me that we can't build an elevator into space?! Because that sounds like something a guy who doesn't want to keep his job would say!” “And let me tell you one last thing. All those times I got angry and declared that I would have my vengeance on you: I WAS FAKING!” “I'm glad we spent all our money on this bag of potato chips and generic brand soda.” “By the way, I memorized several dozen dinosaur puns, just so I could use them in this.” “The only reunion that’s about to happen is my size ten up your buttocks!” “Dorō! Monsutā Kādo!” “You're right, (name). I lost control. At the end of the day, this is just a game.” “We’re going to disturb the spirits of the dead! Yay!” “What the fuck even is this season!?” “Won’t somebody fetch me some ice cream!?” “I’m old and I hold a stick. That automatically makes me the wisest person in the valley.” “It’s a good thing I played all that Assassin’s Creed!” “It’s a good thing I played all that Banjo Kazooie!” “Oh, thank God, because I really wasn’t listening to any of that. Any of it.” “Now, I have to go back down there and challenge that vulture to a card game.” “Okay, (name), I’m going to level with you; I may have lied about the pizza.” “It makes me look really bonkers cool while I kick the shit out of you.” “Actually, he says his name is Cornelius Jr. and he wants to play basketball, just like how his father wanted him to.” “You can talk to snakes!?” “Hey, are you sure it’s safe for us to fly straight into that strange weather phenomenon?” “I guess we’d better confront whatever villain of the week that is.” “Well, these buttons look important.” “We mostly get by using our street smarts and ingenuity.” “No, I'm mad because I never wanted to know what one of Hideo Kojima's wet dreams looked like, and now I do, so thanks for that.” “I swear on my life we didn't keep a single flying war machine of death.” “Well, it would be way more intimidating if its face wasn't so damn adorable.” “Yeah, they’re dead. Dibs on their crappy broken stuff!” “Did you guys notice that this episode had the exact same ending as Bee Movie?” “I'm also glad we're not going to Florida as it means that we are not going to Florida.” “OK, but wait! I'm almost to the part where we met two ghosts in the California desert who just happened to be related to the guy we're fighting. Oh God, you're right; it's all just bullshit, isn't it?” “Breaking stuff will fix it!” “I'm bi a lot of things, but lingual is not one of them.” “Welcome back, asshole.” “Hey (name), wanna reenact a scene from Back to the Future Part II?” “I'd rather throw myself off the roof.” “Damn you, Microsoft Flight Simulator!” “Yes, but you had to steal my catchphrase to do it! Is nothing sacred to you?” “That is the single most offensive thing anyone has ever said to me.” “OK, children, from now on, everybody uses the Buddy System. When I say "Go," I want you all to choose a buddy and form an everlasting and inseparable bond between them 'till death do you part. OK, go!” “(Name), remember, whatever happens, you mustn't become an evil little sh*thead.” “Suckers! Consider yourselves ditched.“ “Well if any other anime in existence has taught me anything, most of the drama tends to happen on...the roof.“ “Just my luck. Dork Fest continues.“ “No! It's got a scythe. The deadliest farming implement known to man.“ “This heavy-hearted metaphor was brought to you by Da, a subsidiary of Doy, Inc.” “OK, this is also total BS. When I came back from the dead, I didn't get a chorus of heavenly music and a light show.“ “It's a good thing I'm so buff or that fall would've killed me.“ “(Name), promise me you're not going to embarrass me in front of the U.S. Military.” “ Guys, I think we took a wrong turn, because I'm pretty sure this is the Chamber of Secrets.” “Those aren't Funko Pops! They're much more disturbing!” “Yeah, makes your measly five thousand years look like a five thousand years of being a bitch, bitch.“ “Okay, but why are we in space?” “I have no idea who that is. You are talkin' fucking crazy right now, man. Are you okay? Do you need water? How long were you in the desert for?“ “For the record, I was dressing up in suits of armor before it was cool.“ “(Name), this is like, the third time you've tried to murder one of my friends, stop it!” “Nah. As a teenager with unlimited access to the Internet, I get to do that every day.” “As I was saying, (name) is a damn handsome and valuable person. Thank goodness for them.” “They died as they lived... pissing me off.” “Okay, who let the posh shithead in here?” “I'm so happy you escaped the cold embrace of death so that I could experience your deathly cold embrace again!“ “Wow. My eBay sensors are tingling.“ “You know, we really have no idea where this portal will take us, but I have total confidence in this decision.“ “None of this matters to you! You're already dead! Blah, blah, blah, omae wa mou shindeiru.” “Glad we came all the way up here so that we could not know what was going on.“ “Does this mean I can take back all the nice things I said?“ “I'm not doing any of those things. I'm just enjoying being with you.”

#sentence prompt #rp prompt #rp prompts #writing prompts #writing prompt #sentence prompts #rp meme #rp memes #rp starters #writing memes #ygotas #ygotas season 4 #ygotas memes

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hardnoctlife · 6 years ago

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Happy Birthday Noctis!

From a discussion in my Discord group about Letterkenny’s “soft birthday” party episode. This short fic is set in the same universe as my OT4 fic “Rain or Shine and Everything In-Between” and “The Long and Short of It All.” Thanks @ldefix and Ericsson for the idea!

"What the hell...?"

Noctis was frozen in the doorway, one hand still on the knob, peering into the entrance as if he were afraid he'd stepped into the wrong house.

Everywhere he looked was pink. Bubblegum, cotton candy, pink. From floor to ceiling, streamers and balloons filled every space in the living room of the town home, all colored in the offensive hue. The prince was still questioning if had stumbled into someone else's house by mistake when he heard the thunder of footsteps, breaking him out of his daze.

Prompto skidded across the hardwood and into view, Gladio close behind.

"Surprise!" the blond crowed, a pointed party hat sitting at an angle on his head. He had thrown his arms wide in emphasis, and Gladio grinned, placing hands on his hips. It was only then that Noctis registered what they were wearing—pastel colored t-shirts and jean shorts, each with feather boas dangling around their necks. Gladio took his off as he stepped forward, hooking it around Noctis’s neck and pulling him in close. The prince sputtered as feathers were shoved in his face, sneezing as one tickled the inside of his nose.

“Happy birthday, princess,” Gladio drawled, pulling the prince in by his waist and planting a sloppy kiss against Noctis’s neck. His stubble tickled Noctis almost as much as the boa, but at least it had a more pleasant effect on his insides. Trying not to look too happy, Noctis swatted at him, unable to break free of the man’s muscled grip. Meanwhile, Prompto rocked back on his heels, hands clapping gleefully.

“D’you like it?” Prompto wondered. He gestured to it—the absurd décor that Noctis was still wrapping his head around.

“Uh…” Noctis trailed off as he searched for the right words, and Gladio finally released him, causing the prince to wheeze from the sudden expansion of his ribcage.

“You said you were tired of fancy balls and parties, so we thought a soft birthday would be best. It kinda started out as a joke, but…” Prompto let the explanation float away as he fixed his best friend with a hopeful look. The prince’s Shield cleared his throat pointedly, and Noctis blinked in response. Gladio coughed louder, tilting his head subtly in Prompto’s direction while wearing a taut smile. He finally got the hint.

“Oh! Yeah, it’s great. If I don’t have to wear a suit, I’m there.” Noctis watched Gladio’s face transform from apprehensive to approving as his sentence progressed. “So, where’s Specs?” Noctis figured changing the subject was safest for now, at least until the shock of the Pepto-Bismol to his eyeballs faded.

“In here,” an accented voice called from the kitchen.

“Wait until you see what else we did! Okay, so it was mostly Iggy, but still.” Prompto was bouncing, excitement palpable as he hooked an arm in Noctis’s. “Close your eyes real quick!”

Humoring him, Noctis did as he was told, but Gladio came up behind him to tie the boa over his face for good measure.

“I’m not peeking!” he laughed at the absurdity of it, only to hear Gladio murmur in his ear.

“You better not, or those birthday spankings are going to come early.”

“Is that before or after the presents?” Noctis questioned cheekily as Prompto began to steer him. There was an ominous chuckle over the prince’s shoulder that had him grinning.

“During the presents, probably.”

“Okay, okay, stand here,” Prompto said, temporarily tabling the conversation between the two. There was some rustling and footsteps as Noctis crossed his arms, making a show of appearing impatient. Then he felt a pair of lips brush over his cheek, gentle and sweet, and the corner of his mouth twitched up. “Alright, you can look now,” Prompto announced, sounding equal parts nervous and eager.

Noctis yanked the boa down to his neck and his gaze swept through the kitchen like a scythe through grain. He took in everything—the tier of cupcakes that was front and center, brightly wrapped presents surrounding it as if they were offerings on an altar, and the trays of food filling the counter from corner to corner. Enthralled by the generous spread, Noctis nearly missed Ignis standing off to the side, but once he saw him, he couldn’t tear his eyes away.

The prince’s jaw worked, but no sounds came out. Prompto and Gladio both stepped forward, and he could see the devilish grins splitting their faces from ear-to-ear out of his periphery. Ignis removed his glasses, face fighting to remain neutral as he pretended to clean the lenses with a microfiber cloth in his hand.

“You.” Noctis started, but stopped, gaze panning downwards as his brain tried to process what Ignis was wearing.

The typically sharp-dressed man had forgone his usual apron. It had been replaced with one that tied at the waist. White, with lacy frills at the hem, glitter shimmered in its folds wherever it caught the light. Stretching beneath the apron were multi-colored fishnet stockings, a rainbow gradient that ended in a pair of high heels that Noctis had no idea Ignis even owned. Taking a page out of Gladio’s book, the cook was shirtless, toned abdomen bare except for a white strap of leather at his neck with a single bell, shaped into a metallic pink heart.

“Cat got your tongue?” Ignis inquired, a little viciously. Noctis made his way forward, licking lips that had gone dry. A hand reached out to rest on Ignis’s hip, and suddenly the prince was salivating, fingers running over a garter belt that attached to a pair of silky underwear.

“A soft birthday party?” Noctis laughed abruptly, throat finally emitting intelligible noises again. “Nothing about this is making me feel soft.” Ignis leaned back into the counter, the picture of poised, somehow looking completely comfortable in his choice of wardrobe.

“I believe it refers to the color palette. And stakes,” Ignis mused. The advisor’s hand found where Noctis’s had begun to wander, grabbing it with an arched eyebrow. “Not until after you’ve had your cake, highness,” he chided.

“It’s my birthday,” Noctis moaned in protest. There was knowing hum from the three of them, not at all sympathetic.

Prompto hopped onto a barstool to pull one of the cupcakes off the display as the prince spoke, and Noctis snorted at the unicorn topping that Prompto devoured in one bite, icing catching on the blond’s cheek. Procuring a plastic tiara from out of thin air, Prompto placed it on the birthday boy’s head. The prince reached up, adjusting the makeshift crown good-naturedly.

“Consider this payback for those dick pics you sent while we were at work,” Gladio said as he took the spot beside Prompto at the island and scooped a ladle of electric blue punch into one of the pink glasses set out beside it.

“You’re still not over that?” the prince gaped. Three stony expressions gave him his answer. “All right, all right!” Noctis raised his hands in surrender, laughing. Gladio slid a drink over to Prompto, already pouring two more.

“C’mon, you got some catching up to do,” the Shield explained. The four gathered close, elbows knocking together as they leaned in.

“To you, princess. Even though you’re a little shit most of the time—

“Hey!”

“—I love your royal ass.”

“I bet you do,” Noctis scoffed, but he was smirking as he raised his glass.

“Happy birthday, Noct. There’s no place else I’d rather be than in this house, eating too much icing, and getting silly drunk with the all of you,” Prompto added. Noctis felt something in his chest pull tight as he nudged his head into Prompto’s.

“Back at ya.”

All eyes were on Ignis now, and the prince’s advisor met Noctis’s eyes as he began his toast, accent thickening with emotion.

“To the best day of the year, for it serves as a constant reminder of the light that guides us, in love and laughter. Noct, there are no words to say how much you mean to all of us, but we hope to make you smile for many more birthdays to come, and all the days in-between. Cheers, darling.”

“Cheers!” came the chorus of voices. Noctis had to duck his head as he drank deep, a burst of tangy flavor hitting his tongue as he swallowed back a pinprick of tears.

“Thanks, guys. You’re the best,” he muttered into his drink, more than a little embarrassed at the sudden shift in mood. He felt arms envelop him from all sides, the heat from three bodies warming him from the outside in, sending his heart soaring. They were quiet for a moment, soaking in the comfortable silence.

Gladio was the first to pull back, voice a little gruffer than usual. “All right, enough of that, let’s party.”

Prompto climbed into Gladio’s lap to give up his stool to Noctis, blue eyes shining emotionally in a way that the prince could empathize with. “Yeah!” the blond agreed, arms looping around the Shield’s neck for support.

Ignis lifted a finger, drawing the group’s attention. “First order of business—His Highness is overdressed.” Noctis glanced down at his slacks and button down, having come directly from the Citadel. When he lifted his head, he nearly cowered beneath the predatory gaze of his three lovers, the warmth that nestled inside him ratcheting up several notches into something that made him squirm.

“What about cake?” Noctis reminded Ignis as the advisor slid a hand into the small of the prince’s back, fingers working to unbuckle his belt. Ignis leaned in, lips skimming over Noctis’s neck and making him shiver.

“Who says you can’t have your cake and eat it too?”

#HBDNoctis #Noctis Lucis Caelum #final fantasy xv #final fantasy xv fanfiction #Ignis #Prompto #Gladio

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niqhtlord01 · 6 years ago

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Rooster Teeth Mortal Kombat Championship Part 8! It seems that the constant fighting is starting to get to the teams. Red team is actively trying to kill each other, ruby and weiss are upset they haven’t gotten more matches, and Cammie’s having the time of her life recording it for the ether. Lopez: *Walks in attaching his head to his body* Rufus: Whoever put you together must have been a true genius. Lopez: *In Spanish* He was a madman who was barely able to read the instruction manual. Rufus: *pushes glasses up bridge of nose, Caliban steps in next to him* *In spanish* And what makes you think I’m anything less? Weiss: *Falls from the sky jumping off her magic circles before landing* Kazu: Great, it’s the magic girl. Weiss: Why does everyone keep calling it magic!? Kazu: *cracks knuckles* Yes, because making giant ice spears out of thin air is so normal. Church: *Looking down sights of sniper rifle* Ironwood: You would be wise to listen to your superiors and stand down. Church: I’ve tried being a blind loyal soldier before.....never again. Ironwood: *Looks, then nods* A poor superior is one who not only wastes their soldiers, but betrays them. You have my sympathies. Caboose: *Enters and puts a flower in his gun barrel* Tyrian: You must be a truly special fool to face me. Caboose: No, I’m Caboose. It says so on the inside of my helmet. Tyrian: *Removes jacket, wrist axes open* When I detach your head I’ll have a look for myself. Ruby: * Whirlwinds in with raining rose petals* Yasamin: What kind of monster trains children to fight? Ruby: The kind who knows that there are monsters worth fighting. Yasamin: *Takes fighting stance* When a life of fighting is all you’ve known you will find it hard to find a life of any other. Nemesis: *Nanotech cloud appears and forms Nemesis* Tucker: What the hell are you supposed to be? Nemesis: Who would you like it to be? Tucker: *Draws energy sword* I’ve seen enough horror movies to know where this is going. Yang: *Drives in on motorcycle before flipping off and landing* Julian: Nice moves kid. Yang: Thanks, though it feels weird to get a compliment these days without sarcasm. Julian: *Hologram flickers* Ya give respect where respect is due in my book. Rufus: *Walks in handing data slates to Caliban to hold* Jaune: I heard what you did to Julian. Rufus: Yes, saving his life was quite the “hail merry” as they say. Jaune: *Pulls sword from shield* I’m tired of people playing with peoples lives as if they’re chess pieces. Adam: *Lands on the ground, rolls, then draws sword* Sheila: Would you kindly stand still for a few moments. Adam: Why, so I could give you an easier target? Sheila: *slowly moves forward while aiming cannon* Oh no, I just enjoy feeling the blood of my enemies greasing my treads. Cammie: *Nugget running out, Cammie behind it to scoop it up* Ruby: What do you know about my snack war with Caboose? Cammie: Not really a war anymore since I ate the last of the cookies before the match. Caboose: *From the crowd* Destroy her! Blake: *Swings in through window and rolls on to the floor* Caboose: Oh yes it’s the cat lady! Can I pet you? Blake: No. No you may not. Caboose: *Pulls out Freckles* Yeah, I was more of a dog person anyway. Kaikaina: *Kicks over stacked crates, before tripping and falling on face* US: I hear you’re the one that likes hitting on people. Kaikaina: Yeah, but I’m way out of your league. US: *Coin flips into air and transforms into nanotech* Please lady. Your league is the size of a soft ball field. Ruby: * Whirlwinds in with raining rose petals* Caboose: Have I introduced you to Freckles yet? *Hefts Freckles for ruby to see* He’s my talking gun friend. Ruby: Why does everyone have a weapon that talks but me now?!? Freckles: *Gun light flashing* Because you did not share the cookies. Caboose: Thank you Freckles! You always know the best words! Adam: *Lands on the ground, rolls, then draws sword* Valentina: So you are the one who Cammie hates. Adam: What is it with everyone defending that hideous human? Valentina: *Pulls out knives* Have you seen her? She’s adorable. Yang: *Drives in on motorcycle before flipping off and landing* Tucker: So you and Ruby are sisters? Yang: Yeah. Is that so hard to believe? Tucker: *Pulls out energy sword* She’s like a dandelion and you’re like a bush of thorns, so yes. Tex: *Smashes wall with bare hands, then walks in* Qrow: I’d say you were my sister, but she’d have already tried to kill me by now. Tex: Whose to say I’m not getting warmed up? Qrow: *Pulls out sword, switches to scythe mode* Right, now I’m vaguely thinking we’re related. Church: *Looking down sights of sniper rifle* Yasamin: How have you survived so long with a team like yours? Church: Survived? Lady, I’ve lost count of how many times my own team has killed me. Yasamin: *Takes fighting stance* I now have several questions that I’m uncomfortable to know the answers to. Valentina: *Removes camouflage cloak* Roman: Well hello my fine friend. After the match want to come back to my place? Valentina: We’ve just met, are about to fight in brutal combat, and you’re already trying to get me in bed? Roman: *Points cane with gun cap opening* In my line of work you tend to skip a base or two and go straight for a home run.

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parasitic-dreams-au · 1 year ago

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do you think ? Do you experience pondering, wondering, imagining, or anything of the sort? Well then we have the solution to your problem! Thinkn't!

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#where did ya come from where did ya go? // scythe ic #everlasting fun! // anons #*wii shop music plays* // silly stuff

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parasitic-dreams-au · 1 year ago

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*PD!Scythe had been assigned as the lookout due to her not having the need for sleep (and the fact that she's afraid to sleep) and was taking that job very seriously, she got up and surveyed the area for any danger with her hat off so her snakes could keep an eye on her flank.*

*pd!scythe is chilling out by the fire as orderscythe is asleep, looking around for a bit and then grabbing her own bag. Inside her bag was a lot of small rodents, as she took off her hat her medusa-like hair snakes sprawled out of it. She sighed as she began to feed them the small rodents.*

(it has been a long day, and even then they have two options on what path they should take to get to the desert: Through Crossroads, through blackrock or through Playground and Thieve’s Den… all as dangerous as each other..)

(Order Scythe was laying on the ground asleep with one of her wings serving as a blanket. Her tail flicks back and force every now and agian..)

#where did ya come from where did ya go? // scythe ic #what goes around comes around // orderscythe #but i don't want to die // rp

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zakurei · 6 years ago

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200 Followers Fanfic

Hello everyone! It’s finally here, the 200 followers fanfic! As you all voted, the scenario is “Ray falling sick while Zack tries to take care of her“.

Please enjoy this collab by Mod Jam and Mod Kami to celebrate 200 followers! And thank you for all the support this blog has received!

She could swear her neck was about to dislocate with how much she’s turning it from side to side. Like a pendulum, he stomps from one side of the room to the other with his arms folded up to his chest. A flurry of swears flies past the man’s lips as he paces the room erratically, hood thrown back as he scowls.

“What should I do…? Should I get more blankets? But what happens if I leave’n she needs somethin’...?” Scarred hands irritably rake through his hair, ruffling the dark strands as he walks.

“Zack…?”

It’s a soft voice -- even quieter than usual, and muffled and croaky to boot -- but it’s a voice Zack will never, ever miss.

“What?” he asks as he peers towards the bed. Anyone else might have flinched by the nearly reproachful tone the man takes; Ray, however, knows better, and merely glances up at the man from where she laid.

“Are you okay?” she asks, completely sincere in her concern, and the man very nearly howls out in disbelief.

“‘Course I’m not okay! You’re sick, Ray!” he hisses back with venom in his voice, though his fiery anger isn’t directed at her specifically. No, he’s angry at whatever it was that caused this to happen - that caused Ray to get so ill and weak that she’s had no choice but to rest in bed for the past several hours. Germs? Some virus or bug? Whatever the accursed thing is, he’s come to a sore realization that he can’t simply drive it away with a good slash of his scythe - lest he slices into Ray and prematurely break their promise.

Everything seemed fine until that very morning when he for once had been the first to stir from his sleep. Nothing seemed too amiss, aside from Ray’s motionless form still tucked under the covers despite him being fully awake then. Usually she’d be the first to get up and much to his chagrin insist on his waking up too.. Because they have to run ‘errands’ or whatever.

When he rolled onto his side to pull her against his chest however, it was then he noted just how hot her skin felt - along with the heavy, laboured breaths that came from the blonde’s parted lips.

Everything from that point until now was nothing more than a frenzied blur to Zack - though he vaguely remembers his voice frantically calling out Ray’s name, the unfocused haziness in her normally attentive blue eyes finally opening up to his calls and his feet carrying him to do laps around their small apartment - supposedly to fulfill her request for a glass of water and a damp towel.

And here they were now - with Ray looking no better than she had been when she just woke up. Skin reddish and scalding to the touch, her hands clasping tightly onto the one pathetically thin blanket they had that failed to hide the violent shivers coming from beneath. And the worst part were her eyes - they showed far more concern for his panicked state than they did of her own condition.

“I’m sorry… for making you worry about me.” her soft murmured out words sends a javelin straight through his chest.

“Huh? Quit worryin’ about me’n’worry ‘bout yerself!” Accompanying that sense of utter uselessness — he’s not able to simply do away with her illness like he can everything else that’s come their way — is pure and utter exasperation that she would apologise for such a thing.

“Of course I’m gonna worry about you! I care about you!” He snaps, not really thinking the words through. Ray is in a critical condition right now — and he’s not exactly someone who carefully considers what he’s about to say normally...so this just makes it even worse.

Plus — he’s not a liar. And...it’s true.

He misses the way the girl’s pale cheeks redden slightly, or perhaps simply chalks it off to illness. She’s so sick she’s shaking on the damn bed — though the lack of warm blankets must not help much.

“You feel better?” Zack’s voice is a little softer now, quieter as, for once, he stands stock still.

“Um, could I have another glass of water...?”

“Oh, right,” the man mumbles, finally turning away to pad into their small kitchen. He retrieves a glass easily enough, thrusting it beneath the faucet to turn the tap on. Once a decent amount of water fills it, he flicks the faucet off and returns to the girl shivering in the bed, holding out the glass to her. Small hands slowly begin to unfurl from the blanket’s material -- but they tremble so harshly that the man uses his free hand to press hers down, and instead helps her sit up as he presses the cup toward her lips.

Rachel’s pale and chapped lips close around the rim of the glass carefully, and the dark haired man tilts the cup to allow her to take sips of the water. Though his concern heightens as he watches how closely she’s drinking, Zack makes no mention of it.

“More?” he asks as the glass empties, and the blonde tilts her head back in order to breath out a soft sigh.

“No, I’m fine now.. Thank you, Zack.” she forces out a few words to express her gratitude before laying back down onto the absurdly warm mattress.

To Zack, the heat from Ray’s body getting trapped within the mattress must not make it a very pleasant surface to sleep on - and yet with how hard the girl was trembling, he could swear that she was laying upon a solid block of ice.

“Anything else?” he asks, managing to soften his voice a tad from his usual tone as he does so.

For a moment, Rachel kept silent from his question, merely darting her eyes to gaze at the morbid grey ceiling above her in deep thought while the man beside her awaited her answer. And while Zack may care deeply for her wellbeing and be willing to tend to her every need now, he was still impatient to a fault.. And the lack of a verbal answer from her prompts him to urge her, this time with a rougher tone in his voice.

“If ya need anythin’, just spit it out!”

Finally, her blue eyes focus back on him and she takes a few seconds more to remind herself that Zack hates liars in order to force out an honest answer despite her fear of troubling him.

“I’m… a little hungry.”

Oh. Of course she is. It’s a little past noon now, and she hasn’t had anything to eat since dinner the evening before. He can still remember the delicious stew she’d made for the both of them, and silently laments not having nearly the same amount of ability to cook as she does.

It’s no wonder then that Zack would look so puzzled and worried.

There was always the option of feeding her something that would take little to no preparation. Perhaps a few fruits they have left in the refrigerator, the half-eaten bag of chips that Ray has never taken a single bite out of before, or maybe the small container of leftover cookies Ray had baked in the past.

But memories of the steaming, home-cooked meals served to him diligently every single day made him feel guilty for even daring to consider cutting corners. He may be dumb, but even he knows that those cabinets of junk aren’t going to be very filling or healthy for her.

“That so,” he mutters, uncharacteristically thoughtful as he considers what exactly he ought to make for her. There’s...not really...anything he can make --

Oh.

How about he just ask her? She’s the smart one, she’s got to know what a sick person should eat. Or what she wants to eat, anyhow.

“What d’ya wanna eat?”

Her eyes close for only a moment as she begins to consider what she’s been asked, her mind pouring sluggishly through the possibilities of what he could possibly make for her -- that wouldn’t trouble him much.

A day or two ago, she had cut some salmon fillets for the both of them...but they hadn’t eaten everything, so there are still a couple pieces in the fridge. That shouldn’t be too difficult for him to prepare. And -- it’ll be warm. She’d really like something warm.

“How about…” It takes a moment for her eyes to open; they feel heavy for some reason. “How about some fish? Could you fry it for me?”

She can already tell by the way the man’s head tilts wordlessly -- considering her request -- that he isn’t exactly thrilled by her proposal. Slowly, despite her head spinning as she does so, Rachel begins to shake her head.

“It’s oka -- ”

“Yeah, I’ll do it,” he interrupts, almost impatiently. “So all I gotta do is fry it, yeah?”

The girl blinks.

“...Yeah. You fry it on a pan...with some oil. It has to heat up on high...then you change the heat to medium after you put the fish on. You’ll know it’ll be ready when -- ”

“Stop, stop, stop, that’s way too much,” the man interrupts, shaking his head. “How the hell am I supposed t’ remember all that crap?!”

Right -- Zack isn’t the best at remembering things, much less remembering a whole laundry list of objectives. Not only that, she won’t be able to write this down; while his reading is getting better, Ray isn’t sure he’ll be able to concentrate hard enough on the words while he’s this agitated.

“Okay.” She takes a short breath. “Do you remember the fish we had a few days ago?” There’s a stiff nod in response. “Okay. Bring me the box with the fish in it. It’s in the fridge.”

Zack isn’t exactly enthused about having to leave her alone -- but nonetheless, he does as asked, entering the kitchen and opening the fridge door.

There’s a shit ton of stuff in here -- and it takes a bit of time pushing around containers and that jug of milk -- but finally he locates the box of orangish stuff and brings it back to the bedridden girl.

It takes a moment for the blonde to focus on the box he’s brought her, but within a few seconds, she knows that he has indeed retrieved the box of salmon for her.

“That’s right. Now you just need to grab one of the pans...and pour some oil on it. Heat it up on high until you see little bubbles start to form...and then lower the heat and put the fish on it.”

The man’s face seems to be permanently set into a frown, but he nods -- hesitantly, but attempting not to show it.

Grab a pan… pour some oil.. Heat it up to high and then lower the heat before putting the fish in. The man recites those phrases in his head again and again like a mantra. It should be simple enough. How hard can grabbing a pan, pouring some oil and then heating it up to cook the fish really be?

“I just gotta cook the fish, right?” Zack asks, and the girl’s head nods slowly.

“Yes, but make sure to lower the heat before putting the fish on the pan, or it’ll burn.”

Right. Lower the heat. Got it.

“Aight.” With a huff, the man finally turns to leave the bedroom and finally, the blonde is able to close her eyes in order to get some well needed rest.

It doesn’t spell good news when Zack drags himself into the kitchen and is immediately frozen where he stands. His mismatched eyes dart around the kitchen, from cabinet after cabinet, to the box of leftover salmon in his hands, and then to the now oddly intimidating looking stove. He’s immediately disoriented by the layout of the kitchen, and the task he’d tried to convince himself would be easy now feels far more daunting by the second.

“Get your shit together,” he hisses through gritted teeth and his grip on the box tightens.

Ray is depending on him to cook this fish. He can’t in his good conscious go back and tell her that he doesn’t want to, or worse, make her cook her own food when she can barely even stand without shaking like a leaf.

He’s reminded of the times Ray has gone the extra mile to take care of him - from cleaning up around the house, to cooking hot, delicious meals for him. He, by comparison, has never really done anything for her.

If he can’t even cook a single piece of fish for her when she’s sick, then he may as well be an absolute waste of a man.

Sucking in a deep breath, Zack finally forces himself forward to begin searching through the cabinet. It takes several tries, but he eventually does find the frying pan in the cabinet next to the stack of plates, which he takes along with the frying pan and sets them on the counter.

Now he has to find the oil, and then heat up the pan.

He grabs the oil from the left most cabinet, and uncaps the bottle of the yellow substance.

Just as he’s about to pour the oil into the pan, however, his hand freezes.

Just how much oil is he supposed to put exactly? Ray said ‘some’ oil, but there’s no way he can understand exactly how much is needed with a vague term like that. Is a drop enough? Does he have to cover the whole pan in it?

As reluctant as he is to return back to the bedroom, Zack does so with slumped shoulders and the bottle of oil in hand.

“Hey, Ray.”

Blue eyes open slowly at the call of her name, and he can swear her eyebrows are furrowing a little as she looks up at him.

“Yeah?”

“How much oil do I gotta add exactly?” With a light shake of the bottle of oil, the man asks and he notes the way Ray’s weakly shifts her gaze towards the bottle, as if focusing her eyes on something in itself was taking her a monumental amount of effort.

When she finally registers his question in her head, she looks back up at the dark haired man.

“Not too much.. Maybe just a quarter of the pan will do.”

A quarter of the pan. That’s a lot more specific than just ‘some oil’.

“Got it.” Zack is quick to stomp back out towards the kitchen, now unafraid to tip the bottle over and pour the oil out onto the pan. He’s careful to not pour more than what he thinks to be a quarter of the pan, caps the bottle and sets it to the side on the counter.

Placing the pan on the stove and turning the flames on is easy enough too, though waiting for the oil to begin bubbling has the man impatiently tapping his foot against the floorboards as he stares into the pan.

So...when’s it gonna start bubbling? Why’s it taking so long? Did he set the heat too low? But Ray had told him the H stood for hot, and -- he glances at the stove -- it’s certainly set to hot.

He’s getting more and more agitated the longer this takes, and he has to resist the urge to run back to the bedroom and ask Ray how he’s supposed to know when the oil starts bubbling.

But then -- suddenly, he sees small little pockets of air forming at the surface of the oil. Does -- does that mean it’s starting to bubble?

He waits a second more before picking up one of the fish fillets and laying it in the oil. Almost instantaneously, it begins to bubble and fizz, small flecks of hot liquid spurting in the air this way and that with a crackle.

“Shit!” Snarling, the man quickly cranks the heat down, grimacing as he steps away. It’s not that he’s unnerved or afraid --

But still, that had hurt. With a scowl and another flurry of swears under his breath, the man deposits the next piece of fish onto the pan, and stares fixedly as the pieces of meat sizzle quietly.

-- How long are they supposed to cook, anyway?

Lifting one hand, he scratches at the back of his head as if in an attempt to coax the answers from the depths of his empty brain. But nothing actually comes to mind, and with a sigh of defeat, he slinks back toward their bedroom.

“Ray…”

It takes a second for a response as the girl forces her eyes to flutter open.

“Yeah?”

“How long’s the fish supposed t’ cook for?”

“Um...until it gets pink...make sure to flip it.”

“How am I supposed t’ do that? I ain’t usin’ my hands.”

“...There...should be…” A cough that seems to shake her entire body interrupts her speech, and the man finds himself tensing in the silence broken only by her rasping. It seems to take way too long for her to be able to start talking again -- “Should be...a spatula in the drawer...near the stove.”

Zack’s silent for a moment, too -- though more out of a simmering anger at the state the girl is in than anything else.

“A spatula,” he finally mumbles. “‘Kay.” He thinks he’s seen her using one of those --

It’s that black flat thing, right? She uses it for pancakes.

“Ya…d’ya need anythin’?” he asks anxiously as he leans to begin making his way out of the room. The girl shakes her head in response, and he waits for just a second more before returning to the stove.

He can already smell cooking fish -- and it makes him a little hungry, too.

But this stuff is for Ray, so -- he shouldn’t really think about eating.

She doesn’t usually eat too much, but when she’s sick, she should probably eat more, so she can get strong and better and stuff.

Zack pulls open one of the drawers to find the black spatula on top of everything else, as if it had just been recently put away. Perhaps Ray had dried it the day before when she’d been frying French toast --

He places the spatula on the stove near the pan for easy reach, and stares blankly into the cooking pan. The fish are steadily frying away…

And they don’t look pink yet, so he guesses they aren’t done yet.

But maybe he should flip them over…?

How’s he supposed to know when he’s supposed to do that? Ray didn’t tell him anything…

He considers going back and asking again, but remembering how she’d struggled to answer him and coughed her damn lungs out gives him pause. Is he really so pathetic that he can’t cook a stupid piece of fish for the girl that he loves?

Eyebrows furrowing in exasperation, he lifts the spatula and slides it beneath one of the fish. Then he flips it over -- clumsily. Oil spatters across the stove, the fish nearly breaks into two, but somehow he manages it regardless. The other side definitely looks lighter in comparison to the other one, the one he hasn’t flipped yet…

Is this pink, then?

The man scratches at his scarred cheek, mismatched eyes flicking wildly between one piece of salmon and the next.

Should...should he ask…?

And if he does...is he supposed to bring the whole pan with him?

Zack very nearly does return to the bedroom to ask her - but the sheer imagination of the shame he’d feel should he have to disrupt her rest for a third time has the man rooted to the ground and his limbs tensing.

He stubbornly watches the pan like a hawk, the sizzling noise grating in his ears, and the scent of cooked fish causing his stomach to unhelpfully rumble.

He regrets not having paid more attention to the colour of the fish when Ray had been cooking them before - or the way she so swiftly darted around the kitchen without so much as a pause in her movement. She’s always been so diligent and skillful in anything she does, but it’s caused Zack as much self-doubt as it has admiration for the girl he’s come to live out his everyday with.

While she’s smart, talented, and practically everything he isn’t, he’s struggling with even cooking simple fillets of fish for her, while she’s suffering in bed.

But he’s always been far too stubborn for a man, and he made a promise.

They’d be together until the day he decides to kill her, whenever that may be in the future. Until the day arrives, he’d protect her and care for her.. So she won’t die before their oath can be fulfilled.

He can’t be serving her raw fish if he wants her to stay alive.

It’s another minute or so before he decides to flip the second fillet over, more carefully this time so as to not cause the hot oil to spill across the stove again. The surface has turned a rather dark orange colour, leading down to a pale pink center. Much to his displeasure, the edges appear slightly charred, but he decides that it’s better than the fish not being cooked enough.

He uses the spatula to take a look at the other fish’s underside -- it seems...about ready? Maybe? Blinking, he picks it out of the oil and places it on the plate, where he then stares at it for a few moments longer -- perplexed.

How can he figure out if it’s really cooked…? Will it bleed if he cuts it?

He pulls out a fork and cuts it in half -- there’s no blood, so he has to assume that it’s probably cooked.

So maybe the second one is cooked, too --

Blinking, he fetches the second one off the pan too, and settles it onto the plate, then repeats what he’d done with the first fillet. It looks just as well-done as the first one, so he must assume it’s cooked as well.

So he turns off the heat and pushes the pan off the hot plate.

But the moment he picks up the plate to take it to Ray --

He can’t get over how utterly pathetic it looks. Two pieces of fish, both of them practically falling apart, one blackened a bit -- it’s an utter mess. It looks nothing like anything Ray’s ever cooked for him...and it certainly doesn’t remind him of the fish fillets she’s made him before. There’s no way he can give this to her with anything resembling pride.

She doesn’t deserve anything like this. He should give her better.

-- Sometimes she, like, puts stuff on the food, to make it “fancier” or some shit -- right? Or to make it taste better…

But he doesn’t really know what he could put on fish.

And he’s gonna put something -- ‘cause he’s not going to give her this sorry looking piece of crap. Plus, more food is gonna make her get healthier faster, right?

Zack gives a glance around the kitchen, his mismatched gaze landing upon the small basket of fruits they keep near the cabinets. Blinking, he takes a stride toward it and pulls a banana off from a bunch of two others. Then, he returns to the still-hot fish on the counter.

Peeling the skin back, he cuts the banana into smaller pieces with the fork and proceeds to layer the a pile of crudely cut banana slices on top of the fish fillets.

-- Well, it...looks a lot better. It’s not quite what he remembers to be the same as the spoonfuls of sauce the girl would serve on top of the fish, but the round banana slices manage to hide the uglier spots of his fillets, while also making the dish look… unique?

Not appetizing by any means, but unique.

Zack feels tempted to try tasting the banana and salmon combination he’s come up with on the plate, but withholds himself from doing so. The food is for Ray, and though she normally doesn’t tend to eat much, he can’t be sure that she wouldn’t feel considerably more hungry now that she was sick.

He isn’t sure what they’d taste like together.. But if they’re delicious on their own, surely they must taste good together too.

And so with a sharp intake of air through his nostrils, he finally manages to sum up the courage to hesitantly march himself to the bedroom after grabbing a fork from the third drawer he opens, where the very first person he has ever cooked for lay in wait for her meal.

Ray appears to be sleeping soundly on the bed, curled beneath the thin material of the blanket as she breathes through slightly parted lips.

If possible, he’d like to be able to not have to disturb her rest again, but she can’t exactly eat while laying down and asleep like this.

“Hey, Ray.” Zack sits himself down on the edge of the mattress where it begins to sink slightly under his weight and reaches a hand out to gently grasp the blonde girl by the shoulder. She still feels hot to the touch, but bubbling thoughts of anger and guilt are swiftly pushed down when he sees the first hints of her deep blue eyes peeking from under heavy eyelids.

“Yeah?” her voice strains to speak, and somehow Zack manages out a small smile as he lifts the plate of cooked fish up.

“Food’s done.”

The girl’s eyes widen and she immediately attempts to sit up, though she evidently struggles to prop herself up onto her shaking, thin forearms until with a sigh, Zack helps her sit up against the headboard with a pillow tucked under her back.

With tired unfocused eyes, Ray glances down at the plate the man is holding and her expression twists into one of confusion.

There’s definitely… something resembling fillets of fish on the plate...

At first glance however, the top of the fillets look odd. It takes a moment for her vision to focus properly enough to see that there were toppings on top of the fish, and a few extra long seconds to process just what was on top of the salmon.

“Um..” the blonde’s eyes shift up to glance at Zack, whose jaw was tensing, before they drift back down onto the curious plate of fish and banana rounds that had been served to her. “Did you put bananas on the fish, Zack?”

The answer should be obvious, and her questioning it only causes the man’s heart rate to spike up.

“Yeah. Thought it’d be nice.”

There’s no response -- for what seems like a far too long time, and it grinds at the man’s already frazzled nerves.

“What?” he snaps, more force behind the words than he really intends. “Somethin’ wrong with ‘em or somethin’?! -- ‘S it gonna taste bad?”

Instead of growing concerned or perhaps upset by the man’s slight outburst, the girl gives a slow shake of her head.

“I don’t know, Zack. I’ve never tried this before.”

The man’s jaw slowly slackens, the rest of his muscles relaxing as whatever perceived attack he’d felt fades away.

“Yeah, I dunno, I didn’t like how it looked all plain’n’stuff so I put ‘em on it...I thought it looked nicer…” The words fade off as he turns his gaze away, almost as if embarrassed to look at her or the plate.

She’s silent again as if deep in thought or hesitation, and with each second that passes with her keeping a response from him, the more agitated he grows.

Ah shit...It was a mistake to have added the damn bananas.

“If ya ain’t gonna eat it then I’ll just chuck it in th’ trash!” He’s about to rise from the bed when Rachel grabs his wrist with a quick shake of her head. There’s a strange look in her eye - as if pleading for some reason.

“No. I’ll eat it, Zack. Because you put so much effort into making it for me,” she responds, voice far more softened than before. And before the man could let out another word of protest, she’s grabbed the fork from his hand.

Hearing the man’s consideration for the presentation of his dish, something she never thought he’d particularly care about, made her realize just how much thought and effort Zack must have put into cooking for her.

It’s hardly gourmet, and to say that she wasn’t at least slightly taken aback by the strange choice of topping would be a lie - but not eating the food that Zack had worked so hard to make would be far too cruel on him.

With an almost expectant stare from the man, the girl moves her fork to cut a piece of the salmon from the plate he held.. And though wary, made sure to get a slice of banana as well. The morsel of food is lifted to her mouth past pale lips that close around the fork before pulling the then empty cutlery out.

Rachel takes several seconds to slowly chew at her food - savoring every revelation of flavour and texture that slowly blends together into a somewhat odd experience. From the flaky, tender meat of the fish to the mushy texture of banana, she’s far too eager to swallow the mixture quickly.

The silence that follows after her first bite has the man shifting slightly on the bed in something vaguely resembling anxiety. She’s not saying anything about the food --

“Well?” he demands uneasily. “How is it?”

The girl looks at him with deep blue eyes -- clearer than earlier, thankfully -- and takes another moment to respond.

“It’s strange,” she admits slowly, carefully. Zack hates liars, after all -- and she can’t exactly say she’s ever tasted something like this before. “But...it’s not bad.” That’s true, too -- while the flavours aren’t anything she’d ever say would go together, normally...it’s nothing she can’t eat.

And knowing Zack had tried so hard to cook this for her just makes her more motivated to eat it. This is the first proper meal he’s ever made...and he made it for her. No one else.

Zack is silent for a moment as he ponders over her answer.

‘Strange, but not bad’.

He’d hoped that the food he made for her wouldn’t be strange entirely at all. After all, there is nothing Ray has ever made for him that he would consider to be strange, besides the few salads that she insists some people do enjoy eating.

However, if she says that it isn’t bad, and he knows the girl would not lie to him in a situation like this, then it must be true.. If it isn’t bad, then it can be good.

“T-that so.” His stutter betrays his attempt to appear composed, and while the man is quick to turn his head away from her gaze sheepishly, Ray knows better than to assume that this was a reaction out of anger or annoyance.

She lifts her fork once more to stab into the food and brings it up to her lips. With each bite of the fish and bananas, the more the strangeness of the combination of flavour and texture fades, and she’s left feeling oddly full in her chest.

Odd choice of topping aside, this was easily the tastiest thing Ray has eaten for a long while - and it’s all thanks to the love Zack put into it.

It takes her a little longer than usual to finish her meal, on account of being ill, but she finishes every last bit -- even the two fillets of fish. Perhaps she was more hungry than she’d thought. The man seems utterly pleased as he takes the plate from her, an enormous smile nearly splitting his scarred face in half. The blonde girl can’t help but give a tiny, weak smile back as she leans back against her pillow.

“Thank you, Zack. I’m full now.”

In more ways than one. In addition to the warm, full sensation her belly has -- her chest feels full in a way only Zack can accomplish.

“‘S’good,” the man mutters, giving her one last glance before he gets off the bed to return the plate to the kitchen. When he comes back, he’s holding a small bit of torn tissue in his hand; he reaches his arm out to the girl and lightly brushes it against the corner of her mouth.

“Ya got crumbs’n’stuff on yer face…”

As if cooking a meal for her hadn’t been enough, the man was thoughtful enough to return with a tissue to clean the stray crumbs littering the side of her lips. The blonde hums as Zack gives a few final dabs of the tissue, before leaning back to gaze back at the girl.

She looks so utterly satisfied and content... Red in the face and dazed from her still burning hot fever, but content nonetheless.. And dare he say… Happy.

“I’m tired, Zack.” she groans out, and makes an attempt to lay back down before clutching the pathetically thin blanket closer to herself. “But I still feel too cold.”

“SHIT! The blankets... I forgot!”

Zack shoots up onto his feet from the bed with a loud swear, his calm expression twisted now into a scowl that Ray recognizes from earlier before.

He looks about to begin pacing around the room again, already muttering something about going out of the apartment to find spare blankets, when Ray quickly reaches a hand up to grab his.

“Zack...stay with me...”

“Huh…?” To say he’d expected her to say something like that would be a lie. After all...she’ll still be cold if he stays, right? So what the hell’s that good for?

“You’re warm…” Sensing the man’s befuddlement from the confused expression he gives her, the girl coaxes him with a couple earnest -- and honest -- words.

Zack is warm. And she’s certain she’ll be nice and cozy next to him -- as long as he holds her in his arms.

With a loud, disgruntled sound, the man relents, shuffling around the bed -- without letting go of her hand -- to lay down on her other side.

“Like that?”

“Yeah.”

Exhaling softly, Zack slides himself a little closer to her, until their bodies touch through the blanket; then he wraps his arms about her as he nuzzles his head next to hers.

“Ya gettin’ warm?”

“...Yeah.”

She feels so utterly content next to him, so full and warm, that she might as well fall asleep again right then and there.

“Zack...?” the girl whispers out his name after what felt to be several long minutes.

Her voice catches the man off guard. After all, he’d expected her to fall right asleep, and was even on the verge of slipping into the realm of sleep himself. He hadn’t expected her to still be awake, let alone want to talk.

“Yeah?” his voice is gentle as he murmurs back into her ear, and she finds herself melting against him even more.

“Thank you.. For working so hard to take care of me..”

Zack is silent for a moment as he stares at the girl through widened, stunned eyes, before he lets out a heavy sigh.

“Nothin’ to thank me for. T’s the least I can do.”

She feels his arms wrap around her form a little tighter, pulling her against his chest so close that she can feel the steady rising and falling of his chest as he breaths.

With a hum, the girl finally closes her eyes and finds herself giving into the warmth, and the very last thing she hears before she dozes off is the beating of their hearts in tandem.

#zackray #fanfic #mod kami #mod jam #by op

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city-writes · 6 years ago

Text

Soul Eater: Zexal!

Its a new year at the DWMA, and that means fresh new faces for the academy! Following in his parents' footsteps, Yuma Tsukumo joins the school for fun, adventure, and long lasting friendships.

For Zexal Month Day 15: XYZ Beyond Time! (The Crossover Day!)

Warnings: Soul Eater AU; Multi chapter fic

Characters: Yuma Tsukumo, Astral, Ryoga Kamishiro, Rio Kamishiro, Durbe, Lord Death, Sid Barrett

[Read it here on AO3!]

The sun was laughing high in the cloudless sky, looking down over the Death Weapon Meister Academy as new students began to gather at the entrance of the school, each separated into one of two groups: Meisters, or Weapons.

The students were all chattering amongst themselves, and only quieted down as Lord Death made himself known, towering above the crowd of children as he spoke in a playful tone. "Why yes, hi, howdy, hello! What's up, kiddos?"

There were scattered greetings returned to Lord Death, though most people were silent, not having expected the Lord of Death to greet them in such a... playful way.

"It's great to see a bunch of fresh new faces for the academy!" Lord Death continued, gesturing to the crowd of students with a large, oversized, gloved hand. "Now before we get right down to business and head inside, there's the matter of matching you kiddos up with a partner! So take this time to get to know your future classmates, and find yourself a suitable partner!"

-------------------------

Ryoga and Rio Kamishiro stood somewhat away from the large group, Ryoga folding his arms as he watched the other students mingle with one another. "This is stupid, Rio." He said, leaning against a pillar. "There's no point in me talking with any of these other people when I know exactly how this is going to turn out."

"Oh?" Rio asked, brushing some dust off of her skirt. "And how, exactly, do you expect this to turn out?"

"We're just going to end up together, as always." Ryoga bemoaned, "You can go see if you can find someone, but I'm just going to wait here for you to come back."

Rio gave a 'hmph!' and turned on her heel, intent on finding herself a Meister to prove her brother wrong.

As she made her way into the group of students, there were many boys and several girls eyeing her up and down, until a boy came up and began talking to her. "Hey there, pretty thing. You wouldn't happen to be looking for a Meister, would ya?"

Internally, Rio rolled her eyes, but on the outside she simply smiled. "Yes, I am." This garnered the attention of several more meisters around her, as rhe boy who spoke stepped forward.

"Well look no further, you've found your Meister!" He pointed to himself with a thumb, giving Rio a cocky grin. "Why don't you show me your weapon form and I'll show you just how compatible we could be."

Rio's smile became much more forced at that, but she shifted into her weapon form nonetheless, an ice blue shortsword, cold to the touch. She found herself on the ground in a clatter, as the boy struggled to pick her up off the ground.

"Augh, whats with you? Why are you so heavy?!"

"I'm not heavy," Rio countered, her voice emanating from the sword, "My brother can wield me just fine. You're just not as compatible as you thought, now are you?"

With a growl, the boy stopped trying to raise her, as another student tried to do the same and failed just as pathetically. This went on for quite a bit, before a young woman was able to slowly pick her up, struggling the entire way. It took the young woman a few moments to raise Rio up to the sky, but the minute she did, their soul wavelengths crashed into each other, not meshing at all. The action sent the girl reeling, and she unintentionally tossed Rio through the air.

Rio braced herself for impact as she flew through the air, staying in her weapon form, and was surprised when a hand reached out and grabbed her by the hilt, holding her up to the sky. The students who had been previously trying to use Rio watched in shock, as this boy who'd grabbed her was holding her with ease, and wasn't recoiling from the difference in soul wavelengths.

In fact, her soul wavelength was thrumming in time with his, and it felt...well, not exactly like when hers and Ryoga's wavelengths were in tune, but it was damn near close.

The boy who'd caught her was barely taller than Ryoga; he wore glasses, along with a white buttondown shirt and a black waistcoat, as well as a green scarf. He lowered his arm so he could look directly at the shortsword in his hand, and spoke. "Are you alright?"

The blade of the shortsword dematerialized and was replaced with Rio's upper half, who nodded in response to his question. "Yes, I'm alright, thanks to you."

The boy smiled and shook his head, "It was nothing. My name's Durbe. And you are?"

"Rio, Rio Kamishiro." Rio smiled back at him, before looking down to the ground. "Would you mind letting me go now?"

"Right, sorry." Durbe let go of the hilt of Rio's blade, and no sooner than he did, did she shift out of her weapon form, her feet landing firmly on the stone floor beneath them. "There you go. Well, it was nice to meet you." He said, beginning to turn with the intent of walking away.

Rio gave him a funny look, shocked that this Meister who handled her without any issue was just walking away as opposed to ogling over her like most people did. "I'm surprised that a partnerless Meister is passing over a weapon they flowed well with."

Durbe stopped and turned back to look at Rio. "As honored as I'd be to be your Meister," he began, raising his hand to motion to the tag on his chest. "I'm looking for one myself."

Oh, Rio realized. His tag said 'Weapon', too. What a shame, she could have proved Ryoga wrong by showing back up with a Meister that would have matched her soul's wavelength. Wait... if Durbe matched her soul wavelength... it'd make sense that he'd match Ryoga's too, right?

Rio smirked then and folded her arms. "What if I said I could find you one?"

"I doubt it," Durbe said, shaking his head. "No one's wanted me as their weapon."

Rio frowned at that, tilting her head just slightly. "Why's that?"

"Because I'm not exactly a 'weapon', per se." Durbe pushed his glasses up then, looking somewhat embarrassed. "My weapon form is a metal shield; A heater shield to be exact, one that curves and comes to a point on top."

"A shield?" Rio murmured incredulously. This was the first time she'd heard of someone's weapon form being something more defensively based as opposed to offensively based. People were usually swords or scythes or something of the sort, but a shield? She took a moment to think, before smiling knowingly. "I don't think that will change anything. Follow me."

With nothing to lose, Durbe agreed, and followed Rio as she made her way back to Ryoga, who was still leaning against the same pillar.

"Back so soon?" Ryoga questioned with a smirk.

"Oh, hush." Rio chided, before gesturing a hand to Durbe. "This is Durbe. Durbe," Rio looked to Durbe then, now motioning at Ryoga. "This is my twin brother, Ryoga."

"Your twin?" Durbe inquired, looking between the two. "It's nice to meet you, Ryoga."

"Really? This nerd is your partner?" Ryoga asked with a bit of snark to his tone, causing Durbe to frown slightly and Rio to put her hands on her hips.

"Nope," Rio replied, leaning in a bit, a mischievous grin on her face, "He's yours." With that, she looked to Durbe. "Do you mind showing us your weapon form?"

Durbe shook his head, and quickly shifted from his human form to his weapon form, which was true to his word, a white metal heater shield. Ryoga instinctively caught Durbe before he hit the ground and blinked frowning as he begrudgingly strapped Durbe to his left arm. He was about to make a comment about how in the hell would he be able to use this guy as an actual weapon, but as Ryoga took note of their matching soul wavelengths, he kept his mouth shut, but frowned nonetheless, a low hum escaping him.

"Well?"

Ryoga looked at Rio upon hearing her knowing tone. "His soul wavelength matches almost as well as yours does." He admitted. When Rio smirked and nodded, he rolled his eyes and looked down at Durbe. "Alright, nerd. What do you have to say about this?"

"My name is Durbe, not nerd, first off." Came Durbe's voice, emanating from the shield. "Secondly, I'm willing to see where this partnership takes us if you are."

"Can you attack at all?"

"Not to my knowledge." Durbe explained, sounding downtrodden, "But perhaps I just need a Meister to draw out my latent abilities."

"Hmm." Ryoga frowned still, but sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "I guess I can work with that." He looked to Rio then, who looked pleased with herself. "And what about you? You still haven't found yourself a Meister."

Ryoga's only reply was Rio saying, "Catch."

With that, Rio lunged for her twin brother, quickly shifting into her weapon form, and Ryoga was quick to catch her, wielding her in his right hand. The moment his hand grabbed at the hilt of her blade, he gasped, feeling the power of two different soul wavelengths mesh in near sync with his own. It was unlike anything he'd felt before, unlike how he felt simply wielding Rio by herself. He didn't know how to describe it, but if he had to put it into words, it was like his soul was humming a tune, and both Rio and Durbe's souls managed to not only match his tune, but find their own respective harmonies to compliment it.

"I think..." Ryoga said after exhaling a breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding, "I think we can make this work."

Simultaneously, Rio and Durbe shifted out of their weapon forms and were soon standing on either side of Ryoga. Looking at themselves amazedly. They surely had felt it too, the same near synchronization that Ryoga himself had felt... They both looked at Ryoga, Durbe with a weak smile on his face, and Rio practically grinning from ear to ear. "I think we can too, Ryoga." They both looked at Durbe then, who was still looking at his hands in awe. He looked up then, feeling the twins' gaze upon him, and nodded in agreement.

"Yes, I think this will work."

---------------------------

Yuma Tsukumo watched as a purple haired Meister paired up with two weapons - a sword and shield - and pouted, rubbing the back of his head with a hand. "Man, I hope I find a partner soon." He looked down at his Meister tag, then began walking around, trying to find a weapon who he could match up with. He was met with nothing but denials and refusals, all from weapons who'd already partnered up with other Meisters.

"Gah!" Yuma used both hands to scratch at his head, a look of duress on his face, "Why is this so hard?!" All he wanted to do was find a partner to be best friends with and go on cool adventures and---

"Alright kiddos," Lord Death announced, "Everyone seems to have found themselves suitable partners! Let's start heading inside!"

"W-Wait, what?!" Yuma asked, his cry going unheard by Lord Death due to the chatter of dozens of students excited by what awaited them, "Does everyone have a partner but me?"

As the students began funneling their way into the school, Yuma simply stood in place, watching as they entered the school without him. "Maybe somebody's late!" He told himself, standing tall with his hands at his hips. "Maybe this is just how mine and my partner's story starts!" He turned and looked out to Death City, seeing if he was right and someone was late. "Maybe--"

"Uh, hello?"

Hearing Lord Death's voice, Yuma froze, and slowly turned his head to look over his shoulder. Upon seeing Lord Death waiting for him patiently, Yuma blanched and turned around immediately, booking it towards the school's entrance. "Sorry, Lord Death!"

"Hold your horses there, kiddo," Lord Death held out a hand in order to slow Yuma down, and looked at him curiously. "You look familiar. What's your name?"

Yuma blinked at that. Familiar? How did he manage to come off as familiar? This was his first time meeting Lord Death face-to-face! "Yuma Tsukumo."

"Tsukumo? Tsukumo..." Lord Death rose a hand to the bottom of his mask, tapping it gently as he looked upward in thought. "Tsukumo... Aha!" Lord Death clapped his hands together, then looked back down towards Yuma. "Your parents wouldn't happen to be Mirai and Kazuma, would they?"

"Yeah, that's my mom and dad!" Yuma said proudly, smirking as he did so. His smirk faltered slightly though as he asked, "How did you know that?"

"You're the spitting image of your father!" Lord Death replied cheerfully. "I remember him and your mother well! They worked for me for a short time, and your mother was well on her way to being a Death Scythe when she and Kazuma decided they wanted to start a family together. How are they doing?"

Yuma looked downward for a moment then, exhaling before looking back up at Lord Death. "They went missing several years ago. There was a gathering of witches near our town, and everyone who could fight went to do so. They never came back."

"Oh..." Lord Death's usually goofy boice became serious then, and he placed a hand onto Yuma's shoulder. "I'm sorry to hear that. Your mother and father were good people."

"Thanks." Yuma nodded at that, then looked up to Lord Death with a smile. "That's why I came here, I want to be as good as my parents were; better even! Then maybe one day I can go out and find them!"

"That's an admirable goal, Yuma!" Lord Death's voice was back to its goofy self again, and he removed his hand from Yuma's shoulder, turning to look towards the school's entrance, "Let's get you a partner and get you settled into the DWMA nicely!"

"But Lord Death," Yuma began, walking with the headmaster into the school, "isn't it too late to find a partner?"

"Not at all!" Lord Death's voice was chipper, and there was a bit of a bounce in his proverbial step as he floated down the hallway, guiding Yuma to where the other students were being shown around by various teachers. "There are some students here who still don't have a partner, so perhaps one of them will be the key to finding you someone to partner up with!"

"You think so?"

"My boy, I know so!" As they joined the rest of the students in the hallway, Lord Death continued, "Let's just have a looksee at your soul," Lord Death said as he stsred right at Yuma, "and I'll be able to tell you if... you... Huh."

Yuma blinked. "Um, Lord Death? Is everything ok?"

Lord Death was quiet for a moment, but soon snapped out of whatever caught him off guard, laughing slightly. "Oh, its nothing. The souls of you youngsters never cease to amaze me!" His laughter slowed to a stop, before he cleared his voice. "How about this: After classes today, before you head home, stop by my office and we'll see about finding you a partner?"

Yuma smiled brightly at that, "Alright, sounds like a plan!"

"Well then, get along and join your fellow classmates before we lose them again!" Lord Death patted Yuma's back gently, and Yuma nodded walking towards the group and waving back at Lord Death, who enthusiastically returned the wave. When Yuma was out of sight, engulfed by the mass of students, Lord Death turned to one of the teachers nearby. "Sid?"

Sid Barrett turned at the sound of Lord Death's voice, and stood at attention. "Yes, Lord Death?"

"How's our friend downstairs doing today?"

Sid hummed lowly, shaking his head. "He still refuses to talk to us, sir. He only asks for books to read and paper to write with. Why do you ask?"

Lord Death looked back towards the disappearing mass of students, and spoke softly, "I believe we might have found a Meister for our magic friend."

#Zexal Month #Krys writes #Zexal #Soul Eater

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srhunt · 6 years ago

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The Messenger

Coco/Grim Fandango Crossover One Shot

Description: Manny travels to the Land of the Living to retrieve his new client, Héctor Rivera.

Notes: This is just me tossing all continuity and timelines out the window because I wanted these two to interact. I honestly didn’t plan on it being this long. If you came here from the Coco side of things without any knowledge of Grim Fandango, you might be slightly confused by how that version of the world of the Dead differs from this. I suggest watching and/or playing year one of Grim Fandango for context, but it’s not required. Thank you @babycharmander for beta reading this, I know your super busy with your own fics, so I appreciate you taking a moment to glance over this and giving me feedback. I am no writer by any stretch of the word, so forgive me if this is trash. ^^;

—

Manny looked out the window as his car drove through the dark streets of the Land of the Living. He had gotten a late night call about some fellow who died suddenly in the street. Most people would be mad about getting called into work so late, but grim reapers don’t save work for the next business day.

The car pulled up to a sack laying in an alley. Poor soul. Died all alone in a dark street.

But the reaper didn’t have time to stand there and feel sorry for the guy, he had a job to do. Manny pulled out his folded up scythe and with one quick slice, the sack was open, revealing a tall, lanky skeleton. The skeleton shot up out of his sack with a gasp.

“Buenos noches, señor” Manny greeted the recently departed soul, but he didn’t appear to notice the reaper.

“How long was I out for? Did I miss my train? Where’s Ernesto? Does it feel breezy or is that just me? Where did my suitcase go?” The man scrambled around, like he was looking for something.

“Uh...hello?” Manny said, trying to get the skeleton’s attention.

The skeleton was still mumbling to himself, “Ack, forget it! I gotta get moving!” Finally, the flustered man acknowledged Manny, “Look, amigo thanks for waking me up, but I gotta get going.” The skeleton began to walk down the alley, full of determination. He still hadn’t realized who he was talking to.

“Going where exactly?” Manny asked.

“To the train station.” He answered without looking back. “I’m going home.”

“Señor Rivera,” Manny called out firmly, “I don’t think you quite realize what’s happened to you.” Manny had seen clients struggle with denial of their own passing, but Mr. Rivera wasn’t in denial, he was oblivious.

“I’m fully aware of what happened. Ernesto and I were walking to the train station, my stomach started to hurt, probably because of that chorizo I ate (never trust under cooked meats) and I must’ve gotten so sick that I passed out. I guess I just needed to sleep it off, cause I feel fine now.” Rivera rambled, keeping his stride.

Oye, can this guy talk, Manny thought to himself.

“By the way, how’d you know my last name? Did you come to the show?” The skeleton still hadn’t slowed his pace. Manny had had enough of this guy. With a quick gesture of the reaper’s hand, his driver hit the gas and whipped the car in front of Rivera’s path. This finally stopped him from getting any farther.

“Hey! What’s the big idea? I got somewhere I need to be!”

“Yes you do,” Manny said as he approached Rivera from behind, “Unfortunately, it’s not where you think it is.”

Finally, Rivera turned around. It wasn’t until he was staring Death in the face that he finally realized what was going on. He looked down at his hands. No skin, just bone. Rivera started to shake so much his bones started to rattle. His determination was now deflated into confusion.

“...No...” he said, “...no, no, nononono!!” The skeleton’s voice sounded like he was fighting back tears. “I was finally going home! I just wanted to go home!”

Rivera looked up to Calavera with a pitiful look in his eyes. “How...?” He sobbed, “How did this happen? Why did this happen?!” Manny opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything, Rivera lunged at him and grabbed his cloak, their skulls were now a nose length away, “Why did you choose to come for me now?! Of all times?! Why now?!”

The blame game, Manny had played this several times before. Clients being so desperate to blame their misfortune on someone, they shoot the messenger.

“Hate to break it to ya,” Manny said, “but it wasn’t my choice. I didn’t open a phone book, randomly picked a name and said, ‘Oh, let’s kill this Rivera guy today just to tick him off!’ No. My job is to pick you up and bring you to the other side. That’s it. Whatever caused you to die was not my fault.” As he spoke, Rivera’s anger slowly drained away, loosing his grip until he slumped down to the ground. His bones clacking against the cobblestone road.

Manny walked over to the passenger side door and opened it. “Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way. I must ask you to come with me.”

Reluctantly, Rivera climbed in, slumping into the seat. Manny followed suit, and as soon as the door closed, the car took off.

The energetic man Calavera had seen seconds before was no longer there. He sat in silence, staring out the window, watching the world go by.

The silence was awkward. You can’t just casually break the ice after a man died so suddenly, and so young. Calavera looked over the paper he received before leaving the D.O.D.

Héctor Rivera, Client number 4113-blah blah blah, ah, here we are...

Manny finally broke the silence, “My notice says you were poisoned.”

Héctor was snapped out of his trance, “¿Que?”

“You asked me how you died, says here you were poisoned.” Calavera repeated, lifting up his paper and pointing to a note that read, Died of: Poisoning.

“Mmph...” Rivera gave a small nod and went back to looking out the window, “Maybe it was that chorizo...” he sighed.

Manny looked from his paper, to the man, back to his paper. He was never good at comforting people. Manny pulled out a cigarette from his cloak and lit it. As he sat there in thought trying to think of how to ease the pain for his client, he heard a faint voice start to sing.

He couldn’t make out the words, but he could hear the tune. It was a slow, sweet, tender melody. Calavera looked over to his client, Rivera was quietly singing as he looked to the moon. Manny didn’t want to interrupt, maybe this would help him cope. He could discuss Héctor’s travel plan later. Maybe he could help Héctor by getting him a ticket on the Number Nine.

#fanfic #pixar coco #coco spoilers #hector coco #hector rivera #grim fandango #manny calavera #manuel calavera

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essu-rwby-desu · 7 years ago

Photo

Episode 1: Argus Limited

-SUPER LONG POST. SPOILERS-

LETS START OFF WITH SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT:

SMILES. When the girls smile, I smile. It’s such a good feeling.

“LONG. LIVE. THE KING.”

...Anyone else feel like having some soft serve right about now? A soft serving of White Rose-

It’s funny because while watching this part in the theater, I think everyone unanimously said in a whisper: “what the fuck was that?” and then laughed. Cuz I know I did LOL.

Keep crying Adam.

Vale is still fucked up, confirmed.

Honestly look at her. How can you not smile.

...Is. Is it Yang’s birthday or something?

You know, if I didn't know any better, I would’ve said Nora’s semblance is instant-posing and teleportation.

AND THE THEATER GOES WILD.

Honestly though, poor Weiss. Breaking out just to. Go back in.

Ugh. LOL. Im sorry, that IS my reaction still.

LIKE. LOOK. THEY FEEL THE SAME TOO.

...Weiss is packing the most, but. She FLED Atlas. How much could she possibly have- DIDNT SHE RUN OFF WITH JUST ONE BRIEF CASE???

Indeed Sisters.

Take a moment and enjoy the facial expressions.

More happy/excited Ruby. There’s never enough.

Ooo Ilia with some new threads, very nice~ Also that piano version of Smile. My heart.

DID SHE JUS-

Oh. Of course she didn’t. YOU CANT JUST SETUP A SHOT LIKE THAT. THAT’S THE UNIVERSAL “Tippy toe kiss off screen” SHOT.

Sun’s turn to say goodby-

NEPTUNE. WOOO. THE BRO-SEIDON. This is a meme in the making. Also where are Neptune’s legs.

Sun is me, Neptune is my brain trying to tell me to do things.

Neptune. Don’t. She doesn’t. (But look at her though, look how cute.)

Welp, there he goes.

The poor useless noodle. LOOK AT BLAKE. SHE WANTED TO STOP HIM BUT. LOL.

Sun is such a good boi. Like. He just wanted to help Blake, help her to realize it’s okay to have her friends’ help. And now:

She’s back with her team.

BUT WHAT’S THIS???

AND THE THEATER GOES: WOOOOOO!!!

See you in Volume 7/8, Team SSSN. Seriously. Scarlet. Sage. It’s over due time.

THE GANG IS BACK TOGETHER. IT’S LIKE THEIR DORM ROOM. AHHH-

Blake. It’s okay. You really don’t have to do that. Yang is fine.

UGHHH YANG, YOU BEAUTIFUL SOUL.

The team is just happy that they’re back together again. And I think everyone is too.

I, too, would whoop my niece’s butt in video games. It’s not like shes almost 2 years old or anything.

Yang is. Always. ARMED AND READY.

Now you see him.

...Now you don’t.

...O-Oh. Did. Did he actually just die? Oh shit.

OH.

GOD.

NO.

I. I feel bad now.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE RELIC ATTRACTS THE GRIMM??? The team had all the right to be angry.

...How strong is Gambol Shroud and Blake? One swipe to be able to decouple a caboose? Also, throw back to the Black Trail-

Speaking of the Black Trailer.

Oof. Not the kind of memories you want to remember.

Does Oscar’s/Ozpin’s fighting style make anyone think of Sora from Kingdom Hearts had he gone with a one handed fighting style?

THE DUEL SCYTHE ACTION. YAS.

Team RWBY: OH GOD, IT’S VOLUME 2. NOT THIS SHIT AGAIN.

Well, at least there’s no Grimm this time.

AYE ITS KATARA. #WaterTribe

OPENING REVIEW:

Blake and Ruby look really bad ass in this shot. Composition people.

Im guessing based off the credits, this character’s name is Maria Calavera?

There was a post I saw a few days ago speculating that Maria was once a warrior with Silver eyes, much like Ruby. IS SHE GOING TO TEACH AND EXPLAIN THE POWERS OF SILVER EYES TO RUBY? FINALLY? WILL RUBY BE THE NEXT AVATAR?

Who’s this hooded figure? Getting more Kingdom Hearts vibes again-

YOU DON’T KNOW HOW LOUD I ACTUALLY GASPED WHEN I SAW ROMAN’S HAT. LIKE I DONT THINK IVE EVER GASPED BEFORE IN MY LIFE. EVER.

“Who is this hooded figur- wait, that’s RoMAN’S- *GASPS* IS THAT NEO!?” PLEASE. BRING MY ICE CREAM ASS KICKER BACK.

But. Upon more observation, there’s 2 things to account for:

The skeleton like left hand. Perhaps a Grimm left hand. Though it is missing the dark Grimmy aspect to it.

The hand and the sword:

Welp, there goes the Neo aspect.

BUT WAIT. What if it was Neo who had Roman’s hat, and it’s NEO’s perspective that we’re seeing. NEO OUT FOR REVENGE FOR ROMAN? WHETHER IT BE CINDER OR RUBY???

...Neo has Silver eyes too, right?

There’s so much gay energy coming from this LOL. WHY WOULD WEISS BE RUNNING FROM RUBY WITH SUCH A HAPPy LOOKING EXPRESSION. ITS NOT LIKE HER??? LOL.

Is that Zelda?

Local boy beats up Farm boy.

LOOK AT THIS TEAM. A GOOD START TO THE VOLUME.

#rwby #Essu's RWBY Reactionu #Like seriously this is a super long post #Maybe I should start doing video reviews...#Essu's RWBY Commentary

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lillaxtrigger · 4 years ago

Text

Young Hope: Chapter 34

The southern side of a mountain left blanket in snow of pure white bellows down along its incline a chilling wind, one that sends shivers down the spines of three figures that attempt the daring climb to the top. All of them come bundled in the warmth of their thick coats, warm hoods, and flapping scarves that mercifully shield them all from the harsh temperatures of the ascending peaks. While the trio continue to trail up through the snowy mountain face, the taller of these figures flips his hood right off to let his rust red hair flow in the cooling breeze; the young boy looking to one of his others that lead their way and question: “So, any particular reason why you up and decided to drag both of our asses towards the top of a giant fuck off snowy mountain? Or did you just wanna see our tits freeze off for shits and giggles?” Upon being given this question, the leader exposes her own orange head to the chilling elements and turns her gaze towards the boy; explaining the situation with: “Ryan, didn’t I tell you two before we up and head out here? We’re here going by the inscription I found in those caves, whatever might be at this mountain could be the next clue we need here.” “Let me try and reiterate here. Why the hell you decide to drag “our” asses through a giant fucking mountain.” “You insisted on coming with since Vivi wanted to.”

The last of the trio finally flips off her own fur hood and lets the cold air beat against her partially skeletal face; turning to the boy and claiming to him how: “Well, I sure as hell ain’t gonna leave a girl hanging. The fuck we got each other for if we ain’t gonna go through this kinda shit together?” “But to the top of a fucking ice cold mountain, really Vivi!?” the boy slightly exclaims to her. “Why your sorry ass bitch so much about it for, anyway? You just worried that all this cold’s gonna make ya dick shrink too much?” “I-bitch? None of us would have to climb through this snow ridden hell hole if you’d stopped being one and just use yer damn scythe to warp us to the top. I seen what that reaper of yours can do with it.” “Hell no! I ain’t usin that damn thing just cause yer fucking sorry dick’s freezing in the cold.” the skull girl harshly retaliates with. “If you don’t like using it that much, then why’d you bother bringing it with you?” Mally then questions. “The hell you on about, Mal? I ain’t got it with-” Vivi’s suddenly cuts herself short when peeking to one of her hands, frightened to find the very scythe in question resting in her palm; its unexpected appearance shocking her enough to toss the weapon into the thick sheet of snow. “Th-the-Holy shit! Why was it on me!?”

Waltzing past the frightened young lass, the red head picks mystical scythe right out from the thick white and brushes off the clinging snow off its blade; the face of the blade reflecting Ryan’s face as he asks the girl: “The hell you so bent up about this thing for? Mally couldn’t stop going on how much ass you were kicking back when the whole town threw a shit show.” “Don’t care. Holding it just don’t sit right with me. We don’t need that fucking garden tool anyway. We got us a whole bunch of other ways we can climb up to the top. Rough it up like a trio of fuckin hikers, go through some of the caves to keep from freezing our anus’s off, even could go back down and get some snowmobiles; all sorts of ways we could up without that fuckin scythe.” Its in that moment that the orange girl that led them swiftly get between the bickering duo, holding her arms out to both of them as she calms them with: “Alright, alright there. Ain’t no need to start with all this. We don’t gotta use the scythe if you don’t wanna Viv. We’ll just let Ryan hold onto it til you want to.” “Thank you there, Mal.” the skeletal lass says. “Why the hell do I gotta be the fuckin pack mule for?” Ryan barks. “Cause you were the one who wanted to bring it with us; so your gonna onto it for her.” “Hells yeah, bitches! Lets conquer this oversized snow cone and make it out dirty little hoe!” the skull girl excitedly shouts; wailing on as she darts further on up ahead towards the peak. Worried that her constant yelping may cause an avalanche to slide right down onto them, both of the skeletal young lady’s friends chase right after her; failing to see the darkening clouds that start to close in towards the mountain.

Both Mally and Ryan trudge through the thick blanket of pure white as they pursue their overly excited pal; the two thankful to see Vivian having stopped right behind a set of snow covered boulders. Once the two return to the skull girls side, the red head to her right starts to warn her how: “Jesus, Vivi. Don’t run off like that. Ya coul’ve gotten lost up here if you didn’t stop.” “Why did you up and stopped?” Mally then wanders. “Just look over and you’ll get yer answer.” she tells them. Like their friend had suggested they do, the two gaze out over the very cluster of snowy rocks that they conceal themselves behind; what they discover beyond the boulders making their muscles tense up alongside their glares. Prowling along the snow covered field up ahead could they all see what was a massive mountain lion; its fur and mane as pure white as the very snow beneath its paws. “Holy shit. That lions borderline giant. I didn’t even know they could grow that big.” Mally whispers out. “Why the hell is a cat this damn big out here for?” Ryan whispers back. “We might’ve just wandered into its territory that it patrolling. Anybody got some idea’s on how we could get through it?” Vivi asks. “Not too sure if we really have to. The oversized bastard doesn’t seem like it knows all of us are here yet. If we just lay low here and not make any loud sounds, it might just decide to fuck off” “I see what your thinking. But I’m pretty sure we need to be ready to run if it finds us, you hear me Viv...Vivi?” When hearing not even a single word from her friend, the two of them look back to find their skeletal friend no longer standing between them. Taking another look beyond the very rocks they hide behind, Ryan lets out a snarling growl upon discovering where their friend is; the skull girl racing out towards the lion while its back was still turned. “God fucking dammit!” he curses out as Mally leaps over the boulders and sprints off after their strawberry blonde pal runs to.

As Vivian approaches the back of the snowy beast, the skull girl dislodges her bone arm right out of the socket and wields her own limb as a makeshift club; ready to swing the blunt end of her own arm the closer she nears the feline. Once right behind the unsuspecting lion, Vivian smacks her own dislodged limb right into the back of the beast as hard as she possibly can; her eager rush nearly causing her to fall flat onto the frosty snow. Saving herself from tumbling onto the blanket of white, the girls eager bravado swiftly shrinks when gazing back and discovering her little sneaky strike leaving next to nothing along the back of its head; not even so much as a nick or dent along its neck. The giant mountain line slowly lifts its head from the ineffective blow to aim its furious icy glare towards its newly found prey; the girl before it helpless to only watch as it swipes its frosty claw towards her very flesh.

The icy beasts lethal claws are suddenly stopped by the blunt wood of a lone hockey stick; Mally holds the ferocious feline back from moving even another inch closer to her friend. “Vivi...Get back!” Complying with her friends urgent demands, Vivian retreats away from the two of them as she watches her hockey stick wielding friend keep the snow covered beast away. After seeing the skull girl get back far enough, the orange skater pushes the massive cat away from her hard enough to send it tumbling through the snowy blanket. “Bad ass Mal! Show that mother fucker who’s the leader of the pack!” the skull girl behind her compliments. Swiftly turning towards her friend, Mally immediately barks at her with: “What the hell were you thinking, Vivi!? You seriously expected to fight that beast just by hitting in the back of the head!?” “I thought it’d be enough to knock the damn cat out, okay!” Coming off of her skeletal pals excuse, the orange skater looks back in the direction she had knocked the deadly apex predator out to, only to find not a single trace of the lion seen among the field of pure white snow. “Where did it...” she ponders to herself as she gauges her surroundings.

Remaining hidden behind the mess of icy rocks, the red head peers out to the very back of the field to witness something emerging out from the snow behind the young strawberry blonde; Ryan leaping to the top of the rocky mound and screaming out: “Vivi, behind you!” Hearing her red headed friends warning, the skull girl starts turning back just in time to see the dangerous feline leap out from the blanket of white; the beast threatening to pounce upon her with its merciless icy claws reaching out for her flesh. Moments before the monstrous cat could dig its fangs right into the girls skin, a metal yo yo encircles Vivi’s very waste and hugs her tight; the girl jerked away from the approaching beast before she could feel the cold sting of its claws. Mally pulls her beloved pal away from the pursuing beast and tosses the strawberry blonde back as the feline lunges right towards her; rapidly swinging its icy claws out to the orange lass. Every attempt to swipe its paws out to the skater is blocked by the durable wood of her weapon; not a single claw able to reach the girls skin. Feeling her grapple yo returning to her side, Mally casts its hard metal shell straight into the beast head growling before her; the force of the blow powerful enough to knock the ferocious feline away. She watches the beast far more closely this time around to keep it from slipping out of her site; discovering an astonishing discover as she stares upon the rising lion. Beneath the monster snowy coat lied a thick layer of solid, transparent ice protecting numerous organs and stringing veins; piece of its face breaking off from where the girl had smack her gadget into it. “Fucking wot?”

Before the girl could comprehend what exactly she had been fighting, the frosty feline suddenly charges out swiftly to the shocked skater; Mally shaking off her confusing and bracing herself for the beasts oncoming charge. Right as overgrown cat was on the verge of pouncing upon her, Mally suddenly thrusts her back into the blanket of snow beneath her feet and tucks her legs in; evading the monstrous beast icy white bite as it glides right over her. Mally then takes the opportunity she had planned out and thrusts both of her feet straight into the icy predators very stomach; the white lion tumbling back from the stunning blow. The young skater leaps right off her back and lands back her own two feet; Mally suddenly feeling an incredibly stinging pain surge along the side of her leg. She looks along where she feels this horrible pain and discovers a ghastly vertical scratch left along the edge of her left calf; the scarlet of her blood leaking out and staining her denim pants. Shit! Hurts like hell here. Need to end this fast.

Ignoring the pain coursing through her leg, Mally limps over just in time to find the frosty predator taking chance to lunge right at her; the lass digging the end of her hockey stick into the snow as it approaches. Once the icy terror was right before her, the skater tosses out a flurry of powder snow straight into the beasts open wound; some of the snow leaking straight onto the monsters organs. Left utterly stunned by the pack of snow tossed into its face, the orange girl takes the time she had bought for herself to wack the oversize ice cat away from her; tossing her grapple yo out to the icy feline as its hurdled back. Her gadgets string entangles itself around the apex predators snow white leg, Mally taking that queue to jerk the horrible ice lion back and begins twirling the beast trapped in her grasps around the flat snowy field. Both Ryan and Vivi’s head spin about as they watch Mally spin the beast round and around; the frosty feline letting out a pained roar as the skater twirls it faster and faster. At last does Mally unravel her gadgets string from the lions leg and lobs the predator that had once troubled then out towards the mountain peak neighboring them.

The sky above them all starts to cast out its darkness as the orange skater drops onto the snow beneath her; kneeling on the blanket of white as both of her friends race to her side to attempt and aid her woes. Vivi’s eyes are drawn by the blood red that stain the snow at her friends feet; an audible hiss seeping through her teeth when finding how deep Mally’s cut was, the lions claw tearing through her pants and exposing her very muscle tissue. “Damn, girl. That don’t look too good.” “It’ll only get worse if we don’t do something. Viv, I’m gonna need one of your coat sleeves to tie around the leg to stop the bleeding. Least you can do after all that.” Ryan claims. Clutching the shoulder of one of her coat sleeves, the skull girl tears the fabric of her coat right off its very stitching; Vivi slinking the torn sleeve right off her skeletal limb and handing it over to the red head. “The hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Come on, Viv; that shit should be obvious. The fact that you just blindly went in and wacked a fucking mountain lion in the back of the head expecting it to just go down in one swing should be enough to tell you what the hell your problem is.” As Ryan starts to wrap his friends torn sleeve around the wounded skaters bleeding gash, the strawberry blonde barks back with: “Gimme a fuckin break here, man. It was the best I could think of then. Figured I try something since I didn’t hear you guys coming up with a plan.” The red head finishes wrapping Vivi’s sleeve around their fallen friends bleeding wound, the fabric of the sleeve soaking up the blood as Ryan finally ties it with a tight knot. “That's cause you didn’t even bother sticking around long enough to hear us out; you seriously just ran in swinging your bone arm to bonk it with. Least you could’ve done was try slashing yer scythe through it. Figure a single slash to the neck would decapitate it with one stroke.” The darkened clouds start to gather right above the mountain, flakes of pure white fluttering down from the very heavens.

As these tiny flakes of ice brush along the strawberry blondes face, her stare begins to embitter upon her friends very words; responding in kind with: “Like hell I need that piece of shit scythe! I can get by hella plenty without having to deal with its bullshit.” “What bullshit you even gotta put up with? Its the scythe of death for god sake.” Attempting to prying herself off the blanket of red stained snow, Mally meekly utters out from her painful groans: “Guys, hang on a sec...” Yet despite her weak little plead, both of her friends continue to argue among themselves; Vivi remarking to the red head on how: “Son of a bitch, you don’t even know what the hell yer talking about. Like you even got a single clue what its like for me to hold that thing. I...I fucking hate it!” “Hate it? You wanna bitch about hate? I hate the fact that your stubborn crap nearly got us all torn apart by a mountain lion, Why can’t you just get over yourself already and just take the damn garden tool?” “At least both of us did something back there. All I seen you do was piss behind a rock while both of us were bustin our asses off.” Ryan can’t help but let out a deeply frustrated growl upon his skeletal friends response, arguing how: “You come up with all these ideas on how to climb this mountain, but you never bother to think any of them through. Did you for once question how the hell were supposed to make a snowmobile go uphill?” “You say that same sort of shit about everything I think of; when the hell you think your gonna quit your bitching and listen to any of my plans for once?” “Like you have any idea’s that anybody supposed to take seriously. I’d wish for once you take just one minute to listen to the bizarre bullshit that comes out of your mouth; you just sound like some kind of fucking weirdo!” The falling snow around them grows ever more dense dark as the air between all three is robbed of any voice; the rage upon Ryan’s face swiftly fading away as he beholds the stream of tears welling in Vivi’s eyes. Before another word could be spoken between any of them, Vivian turns her back to both of them and races off in the opposite direction; every inch of her body disappearing in the growing blizzard’s fog.

The red head lumbers over to where his skeletal friend had once stood before him, his regret gradually transforming into anger as he lifts the scythe in his hands; throwing the weapon down into the snow as he screams out: “Fuck!… Out of everything that had to come out of my god damn mouth, it had to be weirdo, didn’t it? The hell is wrong with me?” Finally standing on her own two legs, Mally limps out from the pile of scarlet stained snow and wonders towards the upset red head; the first thing she asks of him is: “Why were you pushing her to use the scythe so much?” “You’re fucking joking, right? This whole trip through this oversized vanilla dipped snow cone wouldn’t be such a bitch if she just get over herself and use it. What you should asking is what the hell her problem is.” “Well, whatever it may be. Up and calling her names like that didn’t seem like the brightest idea. Wonder why she took so much offense to that anyway? Both my brothers and I have always been called weird ever since we hit middle school, never bothered us even a smidgen.” “Ah...It’s nothing...” the red head grumbles out. “All that didn’t sound like nothing.” “Fucki- Wil you quit bitching at me and help me catch up to her before she winds up getting herself lost?” Watching as the young red head race off into the direction their friend had sprinted off down, the orange skater lets out a little growl as she limps off in the same direction; skipping through the snow while keeping her cut leg off the ground as much as possible.

The constant snowfall beating against the mountain starts to grow heavy and dense as Vivian continues to race through the thick of it all; her footprints beginning to fading behind her as she sprints through the tundra. Ryan’s very voice proclaiming her to be a weirdo rings through her head as she rushes through the darkening blizzard, the insult causing numerous haunting memories to erupt from the back of her mind. “What’s the matter with you?” “What happened to your face?” “Is all that just a costume or what?” “Oh god, why did your arm come off?” “Look at you, you’re a fucking freak!” “Hey, look at what crawled out from the cemetery; just in time for Halloween.” “That bitch ain’t gonna have much of a social life scaring everyone like that.” “Lo and behold, the daughter of Jack Skelington.” “This is Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween!” “Jeez, just look at her. She missing an eye.” These painful memories only urge her to race faster through the thick blanket of snow; the blizzard that bellows around her growing stronger as she blindly continues forth.

A further ways back from where the strawberry blonde had trudged, both Ryan and Mally hurry through the snow before the growing blizzard covers the girls tracks; the orange skater remaining steadfast despite feeling the stinging cold along her wounded leg. “Vivi! Vivi!” the red head shouts out to the fog ahead, his pleading cry failing to pierce through the bellowing winds. “Shit. Of all the times she’s run out, she takes off to an approaching blizzard?” “I’m sure she’s smarter than that Ryan. Betting that she’s just looking for a cave to wait out the storm in.” Mally claims as she limps to his backside. “And why the hell are you still sticking around? Figure the smart thing you could do is head down and get it patched up.” “Their ain’t no way in hell I’m climbing down this mountain without Vivi by our side. Say all the mean shit you want, I ain’t budging til we find her.” The girls resolve calms the young man down from his frustration and turns over to the skater with a collected gaze; stating how: “Whatever then, its your funeral. Just don’t expect me to carry ya when you’re leg freeze off.” “Wouldn’t dream off it.”

Continuing a little further ways through the growing blizzard, the skeletal strawberry blonde finally finds somewhere to shield herself from the creeping cold storm; Vivi racing right through the snow and into the safe walls of a cave entrance. Finally having made it out of the harsh downpour of bellowing snow, the skull girl leans right along the chilling rocky side of the tunnel and holds herself tight to warm up; the hole left by her ripped off sleeve letting the cold seep its way into her coat. God dammit, why the hell he had to say all that shit!? It could’ve worked too; just needed a running start to pick up some real speed. The hell does Ryan know about that scythe anyway; like hell this bad bitch needs something like that. Mally doesn’t; she took that fun sized murder snow cat head on and made it her bitch. Bet even Cayenne wouldn’t have any problems with it either. Some eye lasers to its face and it’d go running out like the pure white prick it is. It’s just...Why can’t I be like that!? Why can’t I be a bad bitch too without having to use that fucking scythe!? Try so much shit to be better, but it’s never enough! There’s always someone better than me! Left utterly frustrated by all this running through her head, Vivian fiercely and repeatedly beats her bone arm into the rocky wall she rests upon; little chips of stone falling out from the wall with each hit. Then all at once does her burning rage quell when feeling the very cave she dwells in start to quake; the caverns trembling far too much to let the skull girl stand back up.

Back out in the middle of the harsh blizzard, both the red head and the orange skater feel the entire mountain tremble beneath their very feet; the blanket of snow sliding off the incline they stand upon. “The hell is up with this earthquake!?” Ryan shouts. “I don’t know.” Mally exclaims. “Vivian! Where the hell are you!?” The young man’s cry proves loud enough to pierce straight through the quaking earth and howling winds, traveling through the fog blizzard and echoing straight into the caverns that the young lady in question dwells in. “Ryan!?” she yells out beyond the rocky cavern. Her voice sounds off through the winds and snow and reaches the young man’s ear, urging Ryan to race over to the source of the call; the skater behind him standing still as her own ears catch a distinct rumble growing closer. Aiming her gaze up towards the very top of the mountain, her pupils shrink upon discover an avalanche of pure white sliding right towards both of them; the snowy slide swallowing whatever dare stood in its way.

As the wounded skater cast her metal gadget out towards the running red head, she looks back to the few tree’s nearby to see which one of them was tall enough to spare them from the wrath of the avalanche; quickly eyeing one of the pine tree’s in question. Ryan’s race towards the cave comes to a sudden snag when feeling something wrap around his very waist, glancing down to find his friends gadget enveloping his lower torso. “What the fuck is goi-” Before the boy could question what the hell was going on, Ryan is jerked back towards the orange girl and ends up landing right into Mally’s very shoulder; the red heads anger shattered when discovering the avalanche about to it them. “Holy shit!” he screams, the young girl carrying her throwing her grapple yo towards the very tree she had eyed. “Hold on tight.” “But-” Moments before their skeletal pal could step out of the very depths of the caverns, an entire wall of pure white snow descends down on the way she came in; the bellowing winds thrusting her deeper into the caves.

The orange girls trusty gadget tangles itself along the very top of the lone pine tree, Mally jerking herself over to the top of the wood while carrying the red head on her shoulder; both of them pulled away from the ground moments before it could be swallowed by the avalanche. The two of them land right at the very tip of the tree and hold tight onto its bark as the avalanche crashes right onto the very base of the pine; Ryan shouting through the raging snow to the girl: “What the hell were you thinking!? She was close to us!” “Both of us ain’t gonna see her again if were dead!”

The tree that they cling onto among the avalanche fails to stay rooted to the ground for very long, the two kids feeling the pine tree being uprooted by the tumbling snow. Feeling the tree threatening to be pushed off the mountain, Mally warns the young man under her to: “Hold on Ryan. I think were about to go for one hell of a ride.” Its then that the tree they stand upon is finally pulled out from the earth and falls along the sliding snow, the two tightly holding onto the bark as they tree they sit on surfs along the avalanche. “Vivi could be buried under a shit ton of snow for all we know!” the red head adds. “Don’t worry. If she stayed in that cave, then I’m sure that she’s fine. Right now we need to find another way into the mountain so we can meet up with her.”

The two soon see themselves riding the avalanche towards an upcoming rocky ramp, suddenly feeling the very ground leave them as the pine is launched right out of the descending snow and glides through the cold mountain air; both of them clinging to the tree bark as he starts dropping back down and brace for impact. The pine needles and branches break apart from the tree upon its trembling landing, Mally and Ryan keeping a tight hold of the bark as the wood calms itself into sliding along the snow. Once the pine they ride on remains stable once more, the red head’s stare grows panicked as he looks out through the broken off branches; warning his orange haired partner that: “I’m not sure we’ll be as alright as her though!”

Peering in the same direction that the boy stares out towards, Mally’s pupils shrink upon staring out towards a wide, long, and deep chasm that swallows the snow and debris that are swept along the avalanche. Gazing out along both sides, the skater fails to find any sort of solid ground left along the chasm, practically slicing apart any options for an alternative escape; especially with a wounded leg weighing her down. Dammit. We’re not going fast enough to make it over the gap. Can’t jump over it with this gash in the way either. Guess there’s really only one thing left to do. Mally stands herself up onto the bark with her single uncut leg as she takes a tight hold of the red heads coat, Ryan looking to the orange skater and demands to know: “Hey, with the hell are you doi-” Before he could even finish questioning what the skaters plan was, Mally lifts Ryan’s ass right off the pine bark and catapults him out towards the side; the red head feeling the cold air blow through his body as he careens through the air with the scythe tight in his hand. “Go and find Vivi! Make things up!” she orders the red head to do moments before the tree she stands upon slides straight down into the fissure, swallowed by the darkness alongside the snow and shattering remains of the pine tree.

Reawakening back within the darkened mountain caverns, Vivi shutters from the cold as she pries herself off the snowy rocky ground of the cave; shaking off the grips that the sudden bellowing wind had knocked her down with. Raising her head right off the cold stone floor, the very first thing her eyes behold is the site of where she had entered this dark and lonely cavern; a surging concern coursing through her as she finds the exit densely packed with piles of snow left from that frightening avalanche. Dammit, dammit, dammit! The skull girl races to the mounds of snow and attempts to thrust through the powdery white with but her hands; her fingers barely able to claw through even an inch of the dense snow pile. Fuck! They were right there! God dammit, Why’d I have to run away like some pussy!? Should’ve just kicked Ryan in the testies and it all be over with… Shit...there ain’t no point in bitching about it now. There has to be another way out of this frozen shit hole. Seeing only one way to proceed onward, Vivian digs through her pants pocket to pull out her trusty mobile phone; sliding her finger through the menu’s until coming to the phones flashlight. Upon switching it on does a powerful bright light cut right through the darkness looming in front of the skeletal lass; illuminating the path deeper into these mysterious mountain caves.

The resulting avalanche has left the slopes of the mountains from top to bottom in a thick blanket of pure white; the pine tree’s and boulders that had littered the face hidden underneath the thicket of snow, with not another sound passing through but the howls of the mountain air. These winds chilling song is soon joined by the sound of shuffling snow, made by a pair of hands bursting out from the blanket with the scythe of death held in its palms; the red head these limbs belong to pulling the rest of his body out from the snowy depths for the winds to beat their cold sonata into his ears. Ryan lets puffs of his breath escape into the open cold air as his eyes wander out through the mountain fog; a wondering confusion stewing within him as he stares to the mystical weapon in his hands. Fucking hell...What was her problem back there? Why couldn’t she just take this damn scythe? What is it about this thing that she’s so afraid of?...Well, since it’s here somebody’s gotta use it.

Clutching the neck of the scythe with both hands, Ryan tucks the weapon back as far as he can before swinging its blade out to the dense fog before him; left ultimately perplexed when finding nothing happening as a result. The fuck? Though the young red head repeatedly flails the head of the scythe through the cold mountain air flowing before him, each and every swing that he takes yields next to no results in the slightest; nothing strange or weird happening before him. The hell his up with this damn thing!? Seen it cut through the air and open up rifts with just one swing. Why ain’t it working now? Is it just being used wrong? How does anybody even use it? Maybe… Lifting the scythe up as high as he can, the young red head thrusts its blade down through the very snow beneath his feet and drags the sharp edge along the white blanket; the weapon cutting cleanly through the powdery snow to make a single straight line. He pulls the mystical blade out from the snow to await for any sort of reaction, witnessing only the falling snow covering up the line he had made; a deep growl escaping between his teeth as the line vanishes in the snow. Why won’t this fucking thing just get me to Vivi already! Left utterly frustrated by the weapons lack of results, Ryan furiously tosses the mystical scythe out through the cold air and watches it as he vanishes into the dense fog. Staring out to where he had thrown the weapon away, his anger is slowly replaced with alight tinge of regret; a tiring groan escaping from his breath as he trudges off to the direction it flew. Son of a fucking bitch…

The red head braves through the bellowing winds that beat against his coated body, peering through the fog in hopes of making out the pure black neck contrasting against the pale white air. Eventually does he come to discover a strange light piercing through the void, the boy following the bright emerald green glow through the fog until coming to the very source of the light; discovering the scythe he had tossed away dug into the snow. Uprooting the weapon from the chilling white blanket, Ryan finds the eerie green light to be shining out from the weapons very blade; its emerald light cutting through the fog surrounding them both. Is it working now? Pulling the weapon back, Ryan swipes the scythe through the air like he had done before; his attempts to invoke a reaction failing like the last time. Ain’t doing shit. So why is it- Before the young man could ponder on what exactly was happening with the weapon in his hand, he feels itself jerking over towards the side and points its tip out towards a part of the snowy fog looming before him. The hell is it doing? What’s it pointing to? The thick void of white set in front of the boy finally starts to part away, the red head staring out beyond its shroud to discover another cavern whose entrance sat along the neighboring mound; the boy letting out a little sigh as he starts to trek towards the way in. Alright, ya damn outdated garden tool, lead the way.

Down along the very bottom of the ice cold chasm, the all the snow that had fallen down into its depths rests in a messy mound of broken tree’s shattered rocks, and plenty of white powder. The very tip of this pile suddenly erupts to uncover a single figure covered in snow clawing themselves out from its depths, shaking off the snow littering their body as they pull the rest of themselves out from the mess of snow tree’s and rocks. As the figure starts to shake off the powder around their body, they tilt off to the edge and start to tumble down the side of the pile; the snow coming off to reveal the figure to be the orange skater herself as she falls straight along the ice cold wall of the chasm. After stopping right at the side of the chasm, Mally pulls herself out from the snow and sits herself along the protruding rock next to her, the lass pulling her pants up to take a look at her wound. The torn sleeve that had mercifully covered the gash was gone, leaving the cut to sting in the cold open air. Need to take care of this…

The wounded girl slips her backpack right off and pops open the lid to dig through the numerous stuff she brought along for the trip; some strands of her blood staining the rock she sits on as she searches. Snacks, heating pads, clothes, water...here! Reaching right into the depths of her snow covered backpack, Mally pulls out a box with a red cross painted along the front; unlocking the seal and opening the first aid kit to reveal numerous tools used to treat life threatening injuries. Gauze, antibiotics, ointment, pills, some base medical tools, and a miniature defibrillator. Pulling one of her snowy mittens off her hand, the orange skater uses it to dust off what snow was still lingering along her wounded leg; a slight hiss escaping from between her teeth as she cleans the cut. Alright, now for the painful part.

Having cleaned her gash free from any pieces of snow, Mally then takes the mitten she brushes it off with and pours a bit of antibiotics onto its cloth; the girl taking a moment to breath before dabbing the cut with her mitten. Painful hisses and agonizing grunts constantly escape from her mouth as she continues to dabble her gash in the much needed medicine; working through the stinging pain as she lathers every bit of the wound. God...Glad to get that over with. Only thing left to do is wrap it up. Reaching right into the first aid kit, the orange skater pulls out a long strand of gauze and starts to wrap it all around her cut calf; the bandages absorbing the blood that is left as she ties it tight to her wound with a well tied knot. That should about do it. Now to put it to the test. The young girl pulls her pants leg back down to cover up the bandaged wound, slowly standing off the rock and onto her own two legs; Mally letting out small huffs and hisses as she applies more and more weight upon it. Finally after standing on her cut leg for a moment more, the pain coursing through it starts to fade and numb; the skater relieved to feel it finally beginning to heal. Least it doesn’t hurt as bad as it did a few minutes ago. Hopefully it’ll stay that way as we get back to business.

Having tended to her cut calf, Mally lifts her eyes up towards the top of the chasm she had fallen in from and finds small pieces of light and snow fluttering down from the fissure overhead. Gotta be a way to get back up. The few bits of light that mercifully shines down from the sky above let the skater see how it shimmers off the surrounding chasm walls; the lass looking closer to find every inch of the rock covered in thin ice. Can’t climb up, the walls are too slick. Lowering her site down to the very caves she stands within, Mally glimpses along the walls for any sort of opening she could enter into; all with nothing but solid rocky walls making up the walls of the chasm. Ain’t seeing any...But maybe. Left unsatisfied with what she finds around her, Mally takes out her metal grapple yo as she wanders over to the icy rock walls that make up the cave she stands in; putting her ear against its cold surface and taps the stone with the shell of her gadget. Pretty solid here. The skater starts to inch along the frozen cave side while continuing to knock along the rock, listening in for any sign the stone could give her. No…No...Come on...Gimme something…

The young orange girl continues to tap her yoyo’s shell along every inch of the icy wall for as far as five yards; a smile creeping out from her as soon as she hears the rock let a hollow clonk. There! Pulling her metal gadget back as far as she can, the skater thrusts her grapple yo straight into the icy wall and punches straight through the rock with but one single strike. The rest of the hollow wall crumbles from the lass’s punch, letting what sunlight their was pour straight into a chilling tunnel lead further down into the cavernous mountain. Finally starting to get somewhere here. Just hope that Ryan and Vivi can take care of themselves long enough til we’re all reunited.

With the light of her phone illuminating her way through the darkness looming ahead, Vivi continues forth through the cold mountain tunnels for any sign of a way out; unfortunately finding nothing but more rocks and darkness ahead of her. How fuckin long is this damn mountain, just been walking through nothing but darkness for around fifteen minutes now; the parts that aren’t just bone are starting to go numb here. Wish’d took the chance to ask Mally for a couple of those heat packets; feels like trudging through the worlds natural cold ass freezer in here. Making fucking popsicles in this freezing hellhole would just ruin them. First lick you try and take of them and your tongue just gets glued on the icy flavoring, with no way of pulling it right off. Just forever doomed to taste whatever piss flavoring you went and put in the mix. Imagine if you had to live with the taste of raspberry in your mouth til your tongue rotted off, You’d get sick of the shit pretty quick.

As the skull girl’s mind could wander any more of the near unbearable temperatures of the caverns that she traverses through, she suddenly slips right off the rocky floor and falls down right on her ass; feeling the chilling ground radiate its cold on her coated bottom. Bitch! God damn...Why the hell is the ground so slick here? Slowly rising off the slippery floor, Vivi aims her phone’s light down to the very ground where she had slipped off and discovers the very stone itself coated in a thin layer of ice; the surface glistening from her flashlight. Even the rocks here are frozen solid. There practically just ice at this point; like damn, its fuckin freezing down here. It can’t just be from how cold it is outside right?

Gazing out through the ice coating the caverns side, the light of her phone catch something peculiarly strange left underneath some of the frost she sees. Is that…? Vivian’s light shines past the surface of the ice to let her behold what lies encased within its cold shell; strands of veins, walls of muscle tissue, even dozens of vital and intact organs, all seemingly still left alive and working. The fuck? Slowly backing away does her light illuminate more of the strange ice that stands before her; the skeletal teen left utterly astonished to discover the icy shell to hold the very form of a lone wolf, devoid of any fur or skin along its frozen surface with only ice glistening along its moving body. The hell...what the hell is it? Its skin...Is it undead? Before Vivi could ponder any further on what sort of bizarre creature stood before her, the icy canine aims its cold gaze to the skull girl before it and lets out a snarling growl on site; its sharp icy fangs shimmering from her phones light. Whatever this transparent thing is, it looks hungry as hell. And it don’t look like it’s not gonna let anything pass without chewing off a chunk of meat. And this girl can’t afford to lose anymore.

Hoping to outrun the frosty wolf snarling before her, Vivi hastily dashes deeper down into the cold cavern tunnels; the icy beast pouncing forth after as its potential prey hurries away. The strawberry blonde keeps herself steady as she races along the ice coated grounds so not to fall on her boney ass again; the girl peeking back to discover the wolf pursuing her skating right towards her, beginning to close the distance between them. This thing is closing in fast. Fine, if this damn ice mutt wants to play that badly, then lets fucking go, ya overgrown animal ice pop! Turning an 180 back to the approaching frosty beast, Vivi witnesses the wolf pounce right towards her with its icy fangs bared; the skull girl holding her exposed skeletal arm out towards the dog as it nears. The frosty canine lands upon the girl and bites down hard upon her skeletal limb with its ice solid jaw, squeezing the arm trapped within its mouth as hard as it could. But no matter how much it tightens its jaw, Vivi‘s calcium bone arm remains strong and intact. A damn good thing that this arm doesn’t have any feeling. But lets see if this frosty motherfucka can feel this.

As the ice wolf keeps its icy jaw locked upon the skull girls bare bone limb, Vivian jerks the beasts transparent head off to the side and slams its head straight into the solid frosty wall; a loud yelp escapes from the dogs maw as it lets go of its prey’s limb. Both the strawberry blonde and the vicious wolf back away from one another, Vivi letting a smile crack between her cheeks when seeing the numerous cracks left along its head; the skull girl letting out a mocking laugh as she taunts the beast with: “Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Bet you ain’t feeling so cool with yerself now huh, ya fuckin excuse for an ice sculpture? Seems all that hard ice keeping ya insides from fallin out ain’t worth shit with how easy it cracks. One swing straight into a wall and you lookin like you on the verge of cracking up on me. The hell you expect to chew off my ass when you can barely keep yours together?” As the young skull girl continues to mock and laugh at the cracked canine, the frosty wolf lifts its broken head up high and lets an ear piercing howl escape from its broken maw; Vivi stopping her taunting laugh and covering her ears from the cry as it echoes through the cave. As she covers her ears from the howl, the skull girl looks over to find the ice that coats the walls surrounding them both to break off the rocky sides and gather right onto the cracked parts of the wolfs head; the ice patching up the broken pieces of the wolf until its icy shell looked good as new. “Oh...shit...” Upon realizing that this fight is one that she herself cannot hope to win, Vivi does the next best course of action she could take and darts right past the reformed wolf; the cold canine resuming its pursuit once back in full form.

Trudging through the blanket of pure white covering the mountains surface, the young red head finally makes it to the entrance of the cave that his friends mystical scythe points him towards; the weapons emerald glow illuminating the way as he proceeds in. This piece of haunted garden equipment better know where the hell it’s going. Ain’t like there are any other leads to follow here. Phone receptions practically dead all this way up. Neither of them are just gonna call out of nowhere and ring up where they’re at. Only thing left to do is hope that those two can hold out through here long enough so they can be found.

As he continues through the mountainous caverns, Ryan is blinded from the floor he walks on by the scythes bright emerald light; failing to see a single speck of the ground. He then feels the rock that he walks on suddenly give out on him and starts plummeting down the depths of a dark icy pit beneath him; the boy loosing grip of the glowing green scythe as he falls down into the void. The mystical weapons tings could be heard alongside the red heads grunts as both tumble deeper down into the pits cold darkness Soon enough does the red head’s body slide along an icy incline that carries him safely down to solid ground until bonking his head right against a block of solid ice; Ryan rubbing his head as she starts to pry himself off the ice. Its in dragging his legs off the icy floor that the scythe suddenly sticks its sharp tip right into the ice between the boys legs; seeing the blade left mere inches away from his crotch makes him panic and back away against the icy wall. Dammit, fucking piece of shit garden hoe! If it does shit like this all the damn time, then its pretty easy to see why Vivi doesn’t want anything to do with it… But that isn’t really what’s up with her, is it? From what that skater said, she was unbelievable with it in her hands; practically unstoppable. So why then? What’s it about this damn thing that she hates?

Shaking off the pain from the rough fall he had, the red head grabs the neck of the eerie weapon and pulls it right out from the floor; the bright light the tip shines growing a wee bit brighter and revealing where exactly Ryan landed himself in. He brings the light over to the very wall of ice he had his back against to finds its surface holding strange carvings all along its body; the carvings seeming to take the uncanny but familiar shape of oakwood bark. What is… Trailing the light towards the top of this piece of ice does he find the top splintering off into countless upward directions; these spikes twisting themselves to splinter off into more lines of ice left decorated by thin shards of frost. Fucking...What? Wh-why is...Why is there a god damn tree made of ice down here? Dropping both his light and his eyes down to the very ground around his feet, the boy makes another strange and startling discovery; countless pieces of ice shaped as flora and fauna all made from carefully crafted solid ice. Every flower, every bush, every bristle, every grassy weed, and every single icy tree he could see reflects the glimmering glow of the weapon in his hand. My god...It’s like a whole forest made from solid ice. All the details in these trees and flowers are insane and complex. Who exactly took the time to sculpt and carve all of this, and all right down underneath this random rocky mountain of all places? Guess it makes sense to put it all down here though. The blistering cold keeps the whole thing from melting into a giant underground lake.

The curious young boy approaches one of the carefully carved tree and brushes his gloved palm against its bark, touching every rough groove and pieces that feels as if he was brushing against an actual tree. This shits crazy man...Not even a single chip out of place. Fucking bizarre. Left wondering what exactly lies beyond the tree’s icy surface, Ryan puts his ear up against hits face and knocks a good couple of times; left surprised to hear something actually scuttling inside the block of ice. The boy follows the sound up towards the top of the frosty tree and witnesses something rather weird and nearly disturbing. Ryan finds what seemed to be pieces of free moving ice taking the shape of blue icy squirrels; the light of the scythe piercing through their bodies and letting him see the colorful and running organs running beneath their transparent shells. What the fuck…

As he stares out to the mess of frosty rodents climbing along the branches of the tree, the sharp sound of shattering ice than sounds off right behind him; the red head quickly peering back to find a terrible monster approaching. Ryan starts to back away in the opposite direction as the scythes light reveals this beasts form; the boy shocked to see before him a giant bear formed from hard rough ice and icicles, with dozens of sharp cold spikes protruding out from its frosty shell and protecting the muscles and veins within. Finding the beast black beady eyes glaring right at him, the red head swiftly takes off deeper into ice sculpted forest with the frosty ursa pursing after; the glow from the mystical weapon reflecting off all the ice as he races on ahead.

Mally’s own spelunking expedition leads her to find dozens upon dozens of strange tunnels and pits all made from carved pure frosty ice; all with no more traces of rock anywhere left among them. Hollowed human and animal heads, melded together bodies of various creatures, hundreds of numerous limbs all holding one another in a chain of arms all connected and congealed; numerous holes leading deeper into their depths made along the eyes and mouths of the heads with some in the chests, backs, and the behinds of the bodies. What even is all this messed background art? What exactly took the time to make them all, and why? All of it looks like something out of hellish art novel from the medieval era, except it all froze over in some sort of nuclear winter just to solidify the borderline existential dread it all gives off. And the detail given to all of them. Jesus. Getting the impression here that they’ve been frozen over and hollowed out. All that from their eyes. Borderline nightmarish stuff right here. Kinda looks pretty cool, not gonna lie. But who the hell took the time to sculpt it all out, and deep down in the middle of a mountain too? Could...Could this be what the Kybr have made for people who passed the trial? Why send them all down here then?

While the orange skater takes in the surrounding ice sculptures that surround her, he ears manage to catch the sound of clopping footsteps echoing down from one of these carved tunnels; Mally brandishing her hockey stick for whatever may come out from the depths of these cold shadows. Emerging out from the icy darkness, the young lass witnesses those very steps belong to what seemed to be a piece of living ice; its shell sculpted in the form of a human baring a pair of goat legs. From where she stands, Mally could see some chunks of the frosty satyr broken off its head, body, and limbs; the muscles and organs held within its icy body work properly despite being exposed to the cold air. Its face remains utterly stiff and frozen as it stares blankly to the prepped and careful girl; the strange frosty creature taking not another step as it instead waves to the young girl before it; Mally lowering her guard upon the unexpected gesture. It’s waving...What’s this things deal? She watches closely as the satyr turns back towards the shadows it emerged from, glancing back to the girl behind it and waving in the direction its icy body faces. ...Alright...Guess we’re doing this now...Ain’t got anything else to go off of. Might as well. Having next to no other leads to follow for finding either of her friends, the orange skater withdraws her weapon and starts to follow the bizarre creature as it whimsically skips through the carved human headed tunnel; taking out her phone and using its light to illuminate the way.

Even with the caverns she passes replacing its jagged rocks with more complexly carved ice in the shape of animals all melded together, Vivi pays little attention to any of them as she continues to sprint away from the frosty canine nipping at her very tail; the skull girl glances back to see the icy beast starting to close the distance. Her racing sprint away from her frosty pursuer soon comes to an unexpected halt as she slips on the icy floor beneath her feet and lands right onto her stomach; the strawberry blonde flipping herself over and helpless to watch as ice cold dog right behind her lunges forth and prepares to dig its icy claws straight into what flesh she has to spare. When just mere feet away from its skeletal prey, a near invisible force bounces the beast away from the girl; Vivian curiously watch as the frosted wolf continues to fruitless beat itself against this very wall between them, like the very space itself was keeping them separated. “The fuck…?”

The young skull girl starts to rise back on her feet as she continues watching the monster that had pursued her clawing the invisible wall between them; a devious smile stretching across her face as she flips the dog right off and jeers it with: “Ha, suck a flaccid dick, ya shitty carved piece of piss ice! Can’t even tear through whatever the fucks keeping ya from chewing on my sweet ass with those stupid icy teeth. They ain’t even tough enough to chew through my fuckin bone. Just crawl back out from the frozen shithole that ya cam-” Before she could continue to pester and taunt the rabid beast any further, the spacial wall that keeps her safe suddenly pushes her away with an odd force of gravity; the push back strong enough to knock the girl on her bottom. “God, fine! I get the memo, alright! God damn, a girl can’t savor her lucky break, can she?” the skull girl shouts as she gets back on her boots. Left with no other way to travel, Vivi starts to trek deeper down into the rest of the carved ice tunnels set out before her; the wolf that was chasing after giving up its pursuit and roaming back where it had came.

While continuing to stroll through the depths of countless icy melded bodies of animals and people, Vivi keeps her eyes to the road ahead as her mind wonders what exactly might’ve saved her ass back there; what had stopped that frosted hellhound from tearing her throat right out. What the fuck even was that? It felt like the space itself was blocking that son of a bitch from tearing straight right through. But where the hell did it come from? These questions swirling through her head, the wondering young lass looks down to both of her own two hands and closely gazes upon her own bare bone limb. Was that shit from me? Did I do that somehow?...Fucking perfect, more strange and weird things to deal with here. As if all the skeleton parts didn’t already make me a fucking freak already. Thought just staying away from that damn scythe would be enough, but with this kind of shit happening...the hell’s even the point. God dammit, why can’t all this just stop!? Why can’t...Why can’t I just be a normal kid?…

Left lost in these saddening self reflecting thoughts, the strawberry blonde fails to find herself walking right towards an ice cold incline; her pitiable stare shattered when falling right on her bum and sliding down the cold slope of ice. Her screams echo through the icy tunnel as her body slides along the cold slick slide, Vivi suddenly taking tight turn after turn through the slope as she witnesses several other things encased in the frost that makes up the tunnel. Despite sliding down at dizzying speeds, she seems to recognize a couple of these things as assortments of mystical and mythic creatures from numerous origins. Hell’s very own demons, mystical elves and wood people, sea monsters and merfolk, ancient dragons and drakes; all of them left with their last moments utterly frozen in terror, sorrow, and despair. As fast as she leaves behind these numerous frozen corpses, the skull girl starts seeing the faint glow of an emerald light shinning out along the other end of this slide; the light bringing with her a feeling of creeping dread.

Coming to the very end of this icy tunnel, she coasts straight towards the light and goes right off a ramp melded along the very end of the slide; Vivi is practically launched out of the tunnel and careens through the ice cold air. In her little unwilling flight through the caverns, the skull girl catches what lies along the very bottom of these newfound caverns and discovers an entire dense forest of solid ice trees and frosty foliage lining the bottom of this chilling opening. Her eyes are then drawn to the very source of the emerald light that reflects off their reflective icy surface; finding one of her friends holding the mystical scythe in his hands as he stares out to the hurdling young girl. “Ryan!” she yells out to him.

“Vivi!?” the young red head exclaims. His eyes remain glued to his skeletal pal as she shoots through the air above him and is lobbed along the other end of this forest chasm, the boy helpless to only watch as she’s then swept straight into another tunnel left along the frosty solid wall. Having witnessed the girl that he had been looking for glide right above his very head, Ryan darts deeper through the ice made forest; weaving around tree after carefully carved tree in his hurry to find a way out of these frosty woods. No mistaking it, that was her alright. From the looks of things, she wasn’t exactly in control of where she was heading. Where the hell’s she even going anyway?

Before he could even ponder on any sort of guesses of where his friend could be going, the emerald glow of his scythe suddenly reveals a coated figure waltzing right in front of him. Though he attempts to stop before running right into the mysterious person, the ice beneath his feet remains too slick to stop his overall momentum in time and sends him running right into them. As quick as both of them had ran right into one another, Ryan and the coated figure stop right into an icy tree set along the wayside; the figure slamming right into the young red heads torso. “Get the hell off me!” he rudely demands while shoving the figure off him. “I-I can’t apologize enough for getting in front of you like that. I heard a couple of people screaming and thought it might have been some of my friends.” the hooded figure claims in a soft spoken tone. “Your friends?” The figure then unfurls their hood and lets her red and orange striped hair flow in the cold air, with a black head band keeping it all from hanging over her eyes. “I rushed over here thinking that I might’ve found them.”

Shaking his head from the encounter, the red headed boy starts to stroll of in the direction he was heading; his departing words to the lass simply being: “Aight then, see ya.” “Hang on a minute! Do you even know where your going down here?” the girl requests as she follows after the boy. “You ain’t the only one who has people to find in this frozen hell hole, and I ain’t gonna have some random girl I ran into just drag me down. I got things to do dammit.” “So you’re just planning on leaving me behind?” “That’s the idea.” “All four of my friends are scrambling through this giant mountain trying to find one another. Maybe theirs a chance that your friends might find mine and try and stick together. Think we might have better luck finding them if we do the same?” A small groan escapes from Ryan’s lungs, partially giving in to the girl’s request with: “If you wanna stick to me, then you better keep up. I ain’t waiting on you for your slow ass to catch up.” “Gee, how very chivalrous of you, how lucky am I to have come across such a gentleman.” “Hey, its the best ya got now. Either me or nothing, girl.” “The name is Roxanne.”

Along another part of these mysterious mountainous caverns, Mally continues to follow the lead of the frosty satyr through hollow ice made remains of dozens of giant creatures; the orange girl staring to their bodies to find veins coursing through them. Damn, this place is...pretty damn sweet. Just all the weird ass ice sculptures around here look really out there and detailed. Just beautiful. As chill as this tour through these icy pieces and frosty caverns rocks is, its still not really that clear where this guy is leading to. Hasn’t hinted or said anything since we first met...not that he could say anything really. Kind sus, but ain’t there’s anywhere else to go down here.

Soon enough does the young skater find her guide skipping right to the very edge of an icy cliff, peering out to what lies beyond the exit of the cavern. As Mally stops aside the icy mystical creature, she glares up to the top of the cave they stand within to find the icicles hanging of the roof of the exit taking on a far more square shape; each of them lined together in a curving line. Is this… Gazing down beneath the curved edge of the cliff, the skater discovers the incline of the cliff to take the shape of a giant curving tongue; the lass putting the pieces together and figuring out that both of them stand within the mouth of a giant frosty head. On the cusp of that very discovery, the icy satyr beside her taps the girls shoulder to nab her attention; Mally looking to her frosty guide to find it pointing out at what lies ahead. Peering out in this very direction, the skaters eyes widen as she stares out to a grand collection of slides and tubes made from transparent ice spread out through an incredibly wide chasm; all of it hanging overhead an endless field of deep darkness. Hot damn, all this looks hella fun to go through. It make one hell of a skate park, that’s for sure.

While looking through the whole collection of whirling slides and looping tunnels does the girl discover something slipping through one of them; her naked eyes failing to see what exactly could be gliding inside. Mally pulls out her phone from the depths of her pocket and quickly turns on its camera; zooming into what could be sliding within these very tunnels and tracking them as the resolution grows. Once the pixels finally smooth themselves out, the skater lets out a sharp gasp upon discovering who it is, recognizing her from her boney arm and strawberry blonde hair. Vivi! Having found her friends careening through out the network of icy tunnels before her, the orange skater wastes not another moment to delve straight down the head’s tongue; the girl looking back to the satyr that had guided her to find it waving her goodbye, Mally waving back in kind.

Coming towards the very end of the head’s tongue, the skater takes off its ramping tip and glides straight towards the nearest slide; landing right along its icy surface and racing into the rest of the frosty network of tunnels. Coming finding the shaft ahead to curve sideways, Mally kicks off to gain as much speed as possible; using her sliding momentum to trail right along the wall of the bottomless shaft until making it to the other end of the tunnel. Ain’t no big difference here? Just like rolling down steep inclines and hills on roller blades. Would’ve brought ice skates if all this was down here. Ahead could she find the open slide before her twisting all around, with the bottom shifting along the side, up the very roof, and returning to the bottom of the shaft. Leaning right in the very direction that the floor twists to, Mally twirls all through the twisted tunnel; keeping her feet to the icy surface of the shaft as it spins all around.

After making out of the corkscrewing tunnel, Mally glances over to find her skeletal pal still sliding right along; the skater taking a deep breath and shouting to her: “Hang on, Viv. I’m coming to get ya!” Upon promising this to the skull girl, the orange lass leaps right off the slide and jumps out into the cold open air; quickly taking out her trusty grapple yo and casting it out towards one of the icy shafts that hang right above her. The metal gadget sticks right to the bottom of the frozen tunnel and lets Mally swing across the abyss below and out to a closed icy tunnel; the young lass sliding across the tunnels roof and right down the steepening decline. Gazing up ahead could the skater find the tunnel ascending upwards, realizing how its way too steep for the girl to make it up with how fast she’s going. So rather than attempting to climb up the steep shaft, Mally looks over to discover another tunnel not too far away; the skater leaping right off and tossing her gadget towards the roof of the other tunnel. She swings through the cold air and lobs herself up to the very top of the frosty shaft, where she lands right on the roof of the tunnel as it starts to make its descent. As she shreds down the face of the dropping shaft, Mally starts to gradually pick of way more speed and momentum; the girl going as fast as 40 mph through the top of the tunnel and speeding straight towards an icy loop de loop. Racing right to the beginning of the loop, the blood almost immediately starts rushing right to her head as she runs right through the loop; Mally keeping herself conscious and focused and as she carries her momentum through towards the very end of the loop.

Out of nowhere does the entire cavern start to furiously tremble as both girls slide along the numerous stretches of ice; Mally keeping her balance along the top of one of these shafts as she fights against the sudden quakes. Aiming her sight up towards the very ceiling of the icy caves, the skater discovers the numerous boulders and icicles that make up its roof breaking off and tumbling down towards the network of frosty slides and shaft. One of these massive rocks winds up crashing straight into the very tunnel that Mally slides right on top of; the orange skater leaping right off the broken slide and out towards a whole pack of giant icicles descending before her. She whips her trusty metal yoyo out to one of these pieces of solid ice and wraps its string around the dropping icicle, swinging through the air and towards a whole set of descending boulders. When landing on one of these giant rocks, the orange lass skips along right towards the next, leaping from boulder to descending boulder until coming to another dropping icicle. After wrapping her trusty gadget around the solid ice and swings her way out towards the very slide that her skeletal friend slides through. The metal shell of the yoyo unwraps around the dropping piece of ice and is swung right towards the very tunnel that the skull girl slides through; Vivi herself reaching out form her friends very gadget as it comes right to her. But a few measly inches are all that keep her from catching the skaters gadget; Vivian left helpless as she continues sliding down the open shaft, watching as Mally plummets down towards the dark abyss beneath her. “Mally!” she calls out for her in desperate dread. Left with only a few precious moments to speak to her, the orange skater takes the moment to shout to her friend on how: “I’ll be fine! Just find Ryan! He wants to talk things out!”

The skull girl hears these words from her plummeting pal as she watches the skater vanish into the void below; the ice she slides through takes her at the very edge of the chasm and hurls her straight into a dark cold hole left along the rock. Among the shadows could Vivian feel nothing but the cold ice freezing her sliding bottom as she tumbles in the darkness; the skeletal teen eventually finding light once more as she drops down upon the bottom of a frost ridden chamber, slamming her ass down upon the hard sheet of ice coating the ground. Vivi swiftly rises from the icy floor beneath her and turns back towards the tunnel she slide down, clawing the steep and slippy incline with both of her own two hands; the strawberry blonde failing to climb up even an inch no matter how much she swipes at the ice. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! Why, why do I have to be so fucking useless at times like this!? Why can’t I spring into action like she does!? Mally did just that to try and reach me and look at what that got her? Just...fuck...Why am I so shitty at everything!?

While fruitlessly attempting to scale the icy incline back up, the skull girls ears suddenly catch something letting out a soft moaning breath behind her; the deep pitch of the sigh suggesting it belonging to something massive. Slowly does Vivian turn away from the steep frosty wall and ultimately discovers the very source of the almost leviathan breathing. Lying before the small strawberry blonde be a bulking giant made from thick frosty ice; its transparent skin giving the girl a view of the numerous organs and muscle tissue that lay sprawling within its very body. When the skull girls soft footsteps echo along the walls of the icy chamber, the monstrous frosty giant aims its glare to the young lady standing before it; Vivi left paralyzed as it stares to her with its cold black eyes. Oh shit…

Along the very edge of the ice made forest, both Ryan and Roxanne waltz out from the depths of the woods to discover what lies out beyond the icy foliage; the two peering out to find countless pieces of twisted floating ice blocks, their swirling and twisted ends connecting to one another as they span out through the cold open void up ahead. After letting a frustrated breath escape him, Ryan starts to carefully trudge along the long strands of ice as slowly as he could; the red headed girl behind him following him and matching his slow and careful pace. Deciding to finally break the drawn out silence between them, Roxanne starts off by claiming that: “You’ve been awfully quiet lately. You seem like you have something on your mind.” “Nope, ain’t nothing worth talking about.” he deflects with. The girl lets out her own little sigh before remarking how: “Guess I’m stuck having to deal with this again?” Peering back from the icy path they walk through, Ryan asks the girl: “The hell is that meant to mean?” “Can ya tell that your not the first person I dealt with who tries and bottle themselves up?” “Maybe that’s cause they wanna keep their shit to themselves and don’t want people prying in their lives.”

The two of them then come to a swirling fork in the road, where both Roxanne follows Ryan straight down the branching right; the red headed girl realizing the distance growing between her and her guide. “Hey uh, mind slowing down a bit, please?” “I warned ya if you were gonna follow me, then you had to keep up. Might as well fuck off if that’s too much for ya.” “Seriously, is their something weighing on your mind that bad that ya can’t even bother to stop for me?” “Really, the only thing here weighing me down is you.” “Ya know, this sort of defensive abrasiveness isn’t new to me. Only reason people act like this is cause they feel guilty about something.” Looking along the boys body could she see Ryan’s limbs slightly twitch upon hearing her state this; this being all too clear sign of her guess being right on the mark. “Well...whatever it might be, their ain’t anything wrong with talking through it all.” “Oh yeah, cause there ain’t any reason I wouldn’t wanna bring it up with some girl I’d just met.” the red headed boy defends with. “Sheesh. With that kinda attitude, I can sure as heck tell you that you aren’t gonna get anything sorted out.” “Do I need to remind you again of the fact that we just met? Just what the hell could you know about me in the half an hour we’ve known each other?” “Well I know that your pretty upset at something, that’s already abundantly clear.” “Upset is my default, woman. This is who I am.” “But...nobody wants to be.”

Distracted with arguing with the young red headed girl, Ryan fails to see path he walks through take a sharp dip and starts tumbling right down; Roxanne watching in worry as the young boy fumbles down the icy slide. The red headed boy soon finds himself careening right towards a curved wall of solid ice; the incline almost immediately bending upwards towards the very top of the icy slope. Ryan tries to break with both of his boots, their heels scraping against the hard solid ice beneath him; the young man however slides way too fast to break in time and continues heading straight towards the frosty wall. The boy’s entire body slams straight into the hard incline on solid ice; the mystical scythe slipping out of his hands and runs the sharp edge of its blade along his arm, cutting right through his coat and through his very skin.

Sliding down the very ramp that the boy had tumbles down, Roxanne manages to stop herself right as his side as she hears him let out a painful hiss; finding his wound bleeding down his arm. The lass kneels down before the young man and attempts to take a closer look at the boys fresh cut, Ryan scooting away from the approaching girl and demanding that she: “Get away from me!” “Just relax, okay. I’ve dealt with plenty of nasty cuts like this in my line of work.” “The hell are you, some kind of nurse?” “Something along those lines.” “Ugh, fine. Just make it quick.” Ryan then tells her, scooting back to her and presenting his open cut.

Roxanne then kneels down to the boys bleeding wound, staring at the cut as the blood stains the boys sleeve and recommending that he: “Just sit back and close your eyes.” The cold air still left stinging his cut, Ryan complies with the girl and does what she instructs; leaning his back against the icy wall and closing his eyes. As soon as he shuts his eyes, he feels Roxanne soft hands brush along his open wound with a sensational warmth replacing the painful sting; the euphoric heat calming whatever sort of painful agony he had felt before hand. “Damn girl, this feels like fucking bliss. The hell kinda good shit you got that’s doing this.” Ryan wonders, opening his eyes and gazing over to his arm. Almost immediately does his relaxation break away when witnessing the girl engulf his arm in a light violet flame, swiftly rising off the icy floor as he smacks the young girl away. “Ah!” Roxanne utters, rubbing the part of her face that the boy had hit. Looking back to the young man, she could see the panicking anger in his eyes as he points his weapons tip towards her; Ryan demanding to know: “What the hell do you think you’re doing!?” “I was trying to heal your arm!” “By lighting it on fucking fire!?” “Just look at it!” Like the girl suggests him to do, the red headed by peeks over to his arms to witness the pyre that had engulfed his cut beginning to quickly fade away; left taken aback by how fast they had made his nasty gash vanish and had healed his arm like new.

Hearing a pained hiss reach his ears, the young man looks back to find Roxanne rubbing the cheek that he had smacked; a sense of terrible guilt left welling within him as he watches the girl groan. The young man waltzes over to the woman’s side and hold his hand out for her to take, looking away as he claims that he’s: “Sorry...about that.” Roxanne takes the boy’s hand and is helped off the cold icy floor, the red headed woman claiming that: “It’s not like this hasn’t happened to me before. But it ain’t nothing, look how fast I can fix it.” The girl then slaps the part of her bruised face with her own hand and ignites a light violet flame along the skin of her cheek; Ryan watching as the mark he had left evaporates before his very eyes. “See, I’m fine. Don’t need to apologize for anything here.” “It ain’t just that. The way I treated you...and you still helped me...I...god I-” Moving over to the stuttering young man’s side, Roxanne puts a single hand on Ryan’s side and comforts him with: “Hey, don’t beat yourself up about it. I know you got a lot going through your head right now and are just on edge.” “I-I practically told you to fuck off and smacked you in the face, how can you not be pissed at me right now?” “I’m not, because I know that you were just panicking. It just comes with the profession of having to keep everyone from falling apart.” The young woman sees the boy taking another look to the arm that she had just freshly healed, the guilt in his eyes clear to see as the ice they stand upon. Moving in front of the young man, Roxanne then offers her hand to him and suggest that: “Why don’t we just keep looking for our friends. I’m sure we can both find them if we stick togeth-” Her words fall apart as the young man simply walks right past without talking her hand, Roxanne glaring to the boy with a sense of worry as she follows him out deeper through the swirling frosty path ahead them both.

The orange skater meanwhile continues to plummet down through the icy dark abyss, feeling the chilling winds bellow beneath her body as she constantly drops deeper down into the shadows. Gonna crash straight into the icy bottom at this rate! Need to do something! Something fast! Taking an urgent gander to her surroundings, Mally discovers a good couple of sizable cracks left decorating the sides of the pit she plummets down; their very presence giving her the idea she needs to save her ass. Swiftly does the young skater pull out both her trusty grapple yo and hockey stick, starting off by wrapping her gadget around her well worn weapon right around the sticks very neck. Once wrapping her weapon around tight enough, the young skater takes her hockey stick and tosses it out towards the crack like an Olympic javelin; the tip of the weapon piercing through the cold air as it travels forth. The head of the hockey stick manages to jam itself straight into the crack, the orange girl swinging out towards the wall and landing feet first onto its icy surface; her gadgets string stopping her from further plummeting down. Once coming to a full stop along the wall, the girl takes a look down and finds the bottom of the pit among the dark shadows; a relieved breath escaping her lips upon seeing the floor. Looks like this drop came to a stop just in the nick of time. While remaining hanging off the frosty wall of ice, her eyes catch something waltzing along the very bottom of the pit; a single figure bundled in a warm coat of white traveling silently traveling through the dark. Nobody in our group came in a white coat. Their way too tall to be Vivi, and they’re build is too bulky to be Ryan either. Who else could be down here with us? Who else knows that all this lies underneath this snowy mountain? Could it be...It can’t...can it?

Curious of who this mysterious newcomer could possibly be, Mally jerks her weapon right out of the crevice along the icy wall and drops down the rest of the way to the bottom beneath her; the coated figure stopping dead in their tracks upon hearing her land upon the icy grounds behind them. Slowly rising off the frosty floor, Mally keeps her eyes glued to the figure in the white coat as she utters out to them: “Tore...is that you?” The figure before her starts to turn in her direction; the details of their face hard to figure out among the misty darkness. Mally nonetheless keeps her eyes to the coated individual as they reach to their back. Mally’s alarms begin to sound off as she sees the very thing the figure pulls from their back taking the shape of fire arms; the orange skater preparing herself as they pull out the pistol and fire a beam of green right at her. The girl slides right onto the ice and glides right underneath the oncoming ray, Mally feeling the beams heat as it skirts right above her and reflects off the ice beneath her body. While continuing to slide along the ice, Mally lunges out towards the mysterious coated figure and swings her hockey stick right to the side of their neck; her strike thwarted when the figure blocks her hockey stick with the side of her green smoking pistol. The orange girl leaps away from the armed figure and gains some distance, finally coming to a stop points the end of her weapon out to them; shouting to them: “Alright, spit it out! Who the hell are you?”

Continuing to stare out the young girl before them, the mysterious figure decides to answer her demanding question by grasping her hood and pulling back; Mally making out their ghostly pale skin and purple eyes among the dim light. Finally goes the figure fully take off their hood and lets their ghastly green locks flow in the cold air like open flames. Oh my god… Baring the figures face in full, Mally’s faces starts glowing a shade of beat red the more she glazes through the flaming haired woman’s body; the skater blushing bright upon getting a full look at the woman before her. Holy shit… Before the young girl could become entranced by her own quivering infatuation struck by the ghostly pale woman standing before her, she starts to shake off her little boiling thirst and brings herself back down to reality; all the red that was on her face flushing away. Dammit, Mally! Don’t do this now. She just went and tried to shoot you! Gotta focus! Go-gotta… Peering back toward the armed woman, Mally manages to catch the green haired woman aiming a particularly piercing gaze; one that seems to stare upon her like the very eyes of a threatening presence. The very stare causes images of her brothers, her mentor, even herself to flash in her mind; the skater realizing what those eyes meant. Those eyes…This woman knows what she’s doing. Willing to bet she’s definitely killed before. She isn’t just some random mountain hiking teen. Might have to go into this way more carefully, she might have anything waiting up those coat sleeves of hers.

Keeping an eye over to the woman’s other side does she see the green haired hunstwoman reaching her hand out along her backside; Mally takes the moment to dash out towards her foe before the woman could pull anything out. Despite getting caught off guard by the young skaters sudden lunge out towards her, the green hunter takes her hand out from behind and tosses out whatever she had in her grip; a small steel ball lobs out to the approaching girl with its surface blinking a bright red color. Seeing the light blink faster and faster, the orange skater realizes exactly what the huntswoman had tossed right at her, ready to swing her hockey stick as she nears the flashing pellet. Gotta get this just right. Right as the blinking ball is just a few inches away from her, Mally thwacks the ticking pellet back like an incoming baseball; the flashing ball now set on a speeding course back towards its very sender. Seeing her own blinking pellet coming right back, the green hunter rolls right off to the side before it could smack right into her; the pellet exploding in a plume of emerald green. The green hunter rolls back on her own two feet and glances up to find her orange foe descending down towards her, threatening to hammer her hockey stick right down on her. Rather than attempting to evade the young girls descending assault, the huntress leaps out to the orange skater and rams her knee straight into the girls stomach; the ascending blow shaking Mally’s entire body and knocking the breath right out of her.

The green huntress’s beefy blow to her stomach sends Mally sliding along the icy floor of the caverns and slams her right into the frosty wall right behind her; the entire cavern quaking upon the girls impact against the caverns side. Recovering back up from this strike straight to her stomach, the orange skater glares up to the green haired huntress and finds her aiming the barrel of her pistol right at her head; ready to pull the trigger at any moment. Taking a look at the woman’s feet however does she see her little distraction having worked, finding her gadgets string wrapped all around her foe’s ankle. Hesitating not another moment longer, Mally jerks her grapple yo’s string back and pulls the huntress’s leg right out from under her; the green haired woman pulling the trigger just as her leg is tugged out and causing the beam to fire right out towards the wall hanging over the orange skater. The laser breaks apart the icy wall hanging over the young girl in an explosion of ice shavings; the snow fluttering down from the explosion smoking a faint green.

As Mally arises back on her own two feet, her green haired foe shakes off the metal yo yo wrapped around her ankle while reaching down in her coat; the orange skater withdrawing her gadget back as she witnesses the huntress pull out a bigger gun and aims its barrel out to the young skater. Seeing the green huntress ready to pull on the trigger, Mally skates off along the icy wall of the cave as the woman shoots out a constant volley of green beams from the tip of her firearms; the orange skater racing across the icy chamber with a whole barrage of deadly rays chasing right after. Continuing to unload every piece of ammo within her rapid fire rifle; the light from her guns green beams reveals something peculiar about her speedy orange foe; the hunter’s eyes squinting upon noticing some red stained bandages wrapped around the girls leg that peek out from her pants.

Eventually does the huntress’s gun finally run out of ammunition, the clicking of the guns barrel being Mally’s queue to kick herself right off the frosty ice wall and towards the flaming haired hunter; ready to swing her hockey stick right into her foe’s head. Witnessing the young skater incoming, the ghostly hunter quickly draws her pistol from her coat pocket; the orange lass proving faster however and swats the fire arms out from the huntress’s hand before she could even take aim. Having left the armswoman wide open, Mally pulls out her trusty grapple yo and clutches the gadget in her hand as she swings her own arm right up to her head; the tools thick metal shell thrusting right into the huntress jaw. The young skaters uppercut sends the green hunter tumbling through the chilling cavern air, the woman reaching in her coat as she careens and suddenly pulling out what seemed to be a hi tech bazooka; the flaming haired woman aiming its glass head right down to the skater below and firing out a big ball of green power. With the ball of deadly green plasma hurdling itself at her like a descending meteor, all Mally could do was attempt to block the oncoming blast with nothing but her metal gadget in a desperate bid to soften the blow; Mally closing her eyes as the crystal gadget letting out a sparkling glow the closer the plasma ball approaches.

The giant sphere of deadly plasma suddenly stops before the blast could collide with the young skater, Mally gazing back to the ball to witness her gadget absorbing the very blast that threatened to vaporize her. Once every part of the deadly ball of green is drawn within the metal yoyo, the orange girl gazes on the crystal embedded with the face of the gadget to find it glowing a brilliant bright green; Mally peering over to her flaming haired foe standing across the cave to find her just as confused as to what transpired. That crystal, did it do this? It just seemed to...eat that green ball. Look like it still has it inside too. Is that what those crystals under the town do? No! No time to think to deep about this. Since this thing caught it, wonder if it can…

Wishing to test what she could do with this newfound ability, Mally takes her gadget and swings out in front of the green haired huntress; the powerful plasma that her yoyo had absorbed expelling out from the crystal in a wave of bright green power. Seeing the powerful wave of bright green careening towards her way, the flaming haired huntress takes a daring leap out to the wave and vaults right over the deadly green plasma; the woman pulling out another pistol and rapidly firing both of them out towards her orange foe. The volley of green beams quickly approaching, the skater swings her yoyo around and catches almost every shot with her wondrous metal gadget; continuing to twirl the invention around in a circle as she sends the barrage back to their sender. The huntress tucks in her arms and legs as she descends down towards the returning barrage, a lot of the green pieces of plasma skirting right past her tucked in body; though a good couple of them manage to scrape past her coat and along her very skin. Despite the stinging pain of her own plasma shot, the green flaming haired huntress manages to land back down on her feet; both girls keeping their gaze to one another for whatever move the other has planned next.

Left to face the frosty giant laying before her, Vivi is left utterly paralyzed by the behemoths sheer size; the bulk of the giant blocking any sort of escape roots she could take around the monstrous piece of living ice. A quiet groan escapes from the hulking ice giants chiseled maw as that gently echoes along the chambers chilling walls; the skull girl attempting to put on a brave face as its glowing eyes continue to stare right at her. “What’s a matter, you oversize piece of frosted shit? All that ice give ya blue balls just facin this bad bitch here!” Upon these taunting words does the freezing golem attempt to push itself off the icy floor, Vivi swiftly backing herself against the dead end that it faces; the frost ogre struggling to lifts its whole body inches off the floor before it drops back down on its stomach. Watching the giant drop back down onto the floor, the strawberry blonde calms herself when finding the ogre missing chunks of its icy shell; the organs and muscle tissue being held within its body on the verge of spilling out at any moment. This pitiable site combined with the ogre’s painful groaning is more than enough to effectively replace Vivi’s paralyzing fright with a sympathetic concern.

Damn. That ain’t looking too good. All those muscles and organs just spilling out like goopy jello. That kinda shit would make anyone painfully pissed off. Just what the hell did this chill giant run into to take a hole that big in its side. It don’t even look bit through either, seems like something just bashed right through its side. This giant bastards entire body is blocking every single way through too. Long as its got that hole along its side, it ain’t gonna move a single inch. But who knows what this massive bitch might try if it does get moving… Well shit, guess the only thing that can be done is try and patch up that chunk of lice and get the fuck outta there as fast as hell. That wolf from earlier got smacked straight in the head hard enough to crack its skull, then the damn doggy bastard patched itself back up with the ice off the walls. This guy seems in way too much pain to reach for any of it. What if…

When an idea starts to ring out in her head, the skull girl takes grasp of her boney limb and uproots it right out from her very own socket; Vivi ready to swing her bone arm out like a makeshift club. The strawberry blonde begins bashing the blunt end of her own arm against the wall of solid ice beside her; each strike from her bone limb echoing along the walls and chipping off small pieces of ice that scatter themselves across the floor. After repeatedly beating the chilling wall of the cave several times, Vivian looks down to how much ice she had managed to beat off the side; the small chips of frost she broke off no bigger than her eye. A frustrated growl escapes from her teeth as she continues to bash the side of the cave with her hard bone limb; the giant lying before her staring to the girl as she works to chip away pieces of the ice. Its then that the icy ogre lifts its solid icy arm off the floor and hammers its giant fist out to the side, the sheer impact of the punch causing the cavern to quake and make the skull girl before it slip down on her ass. A boulder of ice then drops down from the roof of the icy chamber between the two of them; Vivi crawling back as she watches the frosty behemoth grasp the chunk of solid and break it to pieces with its incredible vice grip. The skeletal teen remaining frozen stiff from the giant display of strength, her fright starting to calm when watching the icy ogre point to some of the ice chuck and then to the wounds left along its shell. Uh...O-Oh. Oh! That’s what it was doing. Glad to see we’re both on the same page here.

Having realized what the giant wants her to do, Vivi thrusts her bone limb right back into her socket while rising off the icy floor; the skull girl strolling over to one of the ice chunks that the ogre had broken off for her and hugging the piece of solid frost with both arms. Struggling grunts leak out from the skull girls as she carries the heavy chunk of solid ice over to the ogre’s side, setting the piece of frost down when coming to the broken part of the giants icy shell. Vivi takes a moment to prep herself as she stares to the organs and muscle hanging out from the scar, her fingers nervously trembling before she finally grasps hold of the giants exposed inside. The frosty ogre lets out a pained groan as Vivi attempts to shove its organs right back into its transparent shell; the skull girl pushing the muscles back in as she tells the giant to: “Just bare with it, dammit. Almost got all of it in.” Finally does the skeletal teen get all of the loose organs right back into the behemoths body, Vivian taking the chunk of ice she sat beside her and covers the giants fractured side. While holding the piece of ice over the behemoths wounds, a soft white glow start to shine out from the chunk of frost that Vivi holds down; the strawberry blonde watching as it as the piece of ice merges with the golem’s transparent skin.

The illuminating glow finally fades to reveal the wound that once plagued its body now having fully vanished; Vivian backing away from the behemoth as it slowly rises off the frost covered floor and stands staring down upon her. As the hulking beast towers over the small skeleton, she witnesses the ogre lift its arm from its side and tightly shuts her eyes; left to nervously await for whatever the giant attempts to do to her. Several moments pass as Vivi feels next to nothing, the strawberry blonde opens her eyes to find the towering golem having lowered its hand to her very feet; keeping its icy palm wide open as it waits for the girl to step right up. Vivi hesitates for a moment before finally leaping right upon the behemoths offering hand, the icy ogre lifting its palm right up to its solid icy shoulder as soon as she stands upon its hand. The skull girl jumps right atop the chilling giants side and sits comfortably next to the ogre’s very head; the giant turns back towards the rest of the cavern lumbers forth with the strawberry blond holding on tight. “Hell yeah! Lets go wreck some shit!”

Treading lightly along the narrow path that hovers out through the chilling abyss, Ryan and Roxanne continue to practice caution as they balance themselves along the frosty walkway. Soon do their careful travels lead them to the path they stand on splintering off in several directions; each road presented before them branching off all through the icy chasm. The red headed boy decides to points the tip of the mystical scythe out towards each of the roads stretching out before them, paying close attention to how strong the emerald light of the weapon glows when pointing out to them. Finding the scythe letting out a nearly blinding light upon pointing to one of them, Ryan lowers the weapon to his side and claims that they should go: “This way.” The young girl behind him follows close as Ryan proceeds down the very path that the weapon in his hands had illuminated towards; Roxanne gazing upon the glowing green weapon as she asks: “Does that scythe belong to your friend?” “Yep.” “Is it why you two got separated?”

Rather than giving any sort of answer to the red headed girls question, Ryan remains utterly silence; refusing to even give her a glance of any kind. “Its not too late, you know.” she then claim. “The hell does that mean?” the boy asks as he then peers over to her. “Its not to late to try and patch things up with them. I’m sure that whatever made you all split apart can still be fixed if you just talk it out.” “Oh yeah, I’m sure as hell eager to show all my problems to some random girl I just met in the middle of a cavernous mountain. Haven’t we’ve been over this shit already?” “Listen, you can keep it a secret to me all you want; I’m not a part of whatever is going on with you guys. But I think you all should say something to each other; cause I’m willing to bet that whatever you might’ve said then might not just be weighing you down.” The girls very words leave the boy almost utterly silence, with nothing but a breath escaping him as he points his site back to the path they walk through.

The jagged icy walkway that they careful balance themselves on finally starts to widen out, giving both red heads a little bit more room to fidget around and spread their legs; something that starts to ease their woes as they continue down the icy path deeper into the abyss. This comforting change is suddenly pushed aside when their ears catch the rapid sound of clanging ice growing louder and louder from behind them; almost as if something was quickly scuttling right their way. The two teens glance back towards the very icy road that they had once walked and discover something horridly monstrous crawling towards them; a long strand made from several pieces of solid ice swirling along the top and bottom of the road. Its head aims its beady eyes straight to the pair of potential prey, its icy mouth dribbling out between its icicle like pincers as the two teens take off away from the frosted centipede.

Their race away from the pursuing icy insect leads them to the very edge of what seemed to be a frosty cliff, Ryan peering down to discover the rest of their escape route awaiting down below the steep chilling incline. “Come on!” he demands, grasping the girls hand as he drops down the frosty slide. As both of the red heads descend down the frosty slope, Ryan peers over to the side to find the very ice beside them sporting strange and peculiar carvings; some in the shape of horns, eyes, and a split tongue, all of it coming together to form the head of a chilling demonic creature. Sliding right down the hellishly icy heads very chin, both of the teens plummet down through a dizzying swirl that descends down towards a hole left in the very center. Gliding right down into this hole, the duo start to slow down when the incline starts to ease up; their sliding trip eventually crawling to a stop.

Pulling themselves right off the slippery frozen floor, the two of them peer out ahead to find the path once more splitting out in multiple directions; some of them heading straight up while others drop down into the dark void below. Before either of them could decide which of the roads before them to take, the crackling sound of ice roars out behind them; the red head glancing back to witness the icy centipede crawling down from the hole and approaching fast. Moments before the frosty insect nears, Ryan gets between it and the young girl; the boy ordering her to: “I’ll hold this bug bastard off. Just pick a path and hurry down.” “You really think I’m just gonna leave you behind to face that thing?” “I ain’t giving you much of a choice!” Declaring this does the young man aggressively shove Roxanne away and sends her sliding down one of the slopes descending down into the darkness; her screams echoing through out the wide caverns.

With the young woman sliding right out of site, Ryan turns back to find the deadly icy insect towering over him with its long frosty body; clutching the neck of the scythe in his hands as it starts to thrust its head down towards the boy. Alright, ya damn scythe. This is the last chance to prove your not some shitty gardening tool and live up to the reputation of the grim reapers personal weapon. The very souls stealer used by death himself.

A wave of confidence flowing through his veins, the young red head swings the emerald green glowing scythe right down towards the head of the monstrous insect; the sharp tip of the weapon digging straight into the bugs icy skull. Aiming to strike the leviathan centipede once more, Ryan climbs right on top of the beast itself and attempts to pull the mystical weapon out from the depths of the bugs head; the scythe refusing to move even an inch out from the ice of the insect. Just before he could try and pull it out once more, the frosty centipede lifts its head up high in the chilling cavern air; the red head holding onto the neck of the weapon as he’s left dangling beside the monstrous insects head. Whelp, gave you one more chance and you just fuck it up...And to think that there might’ve been any hope for this damn oversized hoe.

The giant centipede starts flailing its solid icy head about the cold air in a frenzied effort to shake the boy hanging on his head right off; the red head keeping a tight grip of is friends scythe no matter how much he’s flailed around. All the chaotic and frantic shaking about dislodges the scythe right out from the depths of the icy centipedes solid cold skull; the weapon and its wielder are sent careening through the cold air of the icy chasm. His flight through the chilling open air has him crashing right into a wall of solid frost, Ryan falling from the wall for the frost behind him to break apart; revealing the remnants of several numerous remains hidden among the frost. Descending along the side of the chasm, the red head discovers himself plummeting straight down towards an open hole left leading into the wall; the young man acting fast and thrusting the tip of the scythe right toward the wall. But the mystical weapon fails to pierce straight through the ice, the red head falling far too fast to shove the blade deep into the frosty wall and continues to drop down straight into the hole; his screams ringing out from the hole as he plummets right on in.

The orange skater meanwhile continues to evade the explosives thrown at her by the mysterious green huntress; the arms woman drawing her pistol as Mally leaps out from one of the exploding grenades. Witnessing her flaming haired foe fire out a green beam from her pistol, the skater quickly draws her own weapon as the emerald green ray nears; shielding herself from the laser with the crystals set along the face of her grapple yo. Once every bit of the pistol’s green shot is drawn straight into the metal yoyo, the orange lass casts her gadget down towards the mysterious huntress; the grapple yoyo descending down towards the arms woman in sparks of green like a descending meteor. The green haired woman rolls out of the way of the gadgets way as it hammers itself down upon the ice that was once beneath her feet; letting out an explosion of sparking green plasma.

After rolling right back on her own feet, the huntress aims the barrel of her pistol out to one of the falling skaters legs and fires out a single beam of green plasma; the lone shot hitting the mark as it strikes the bandage section of Mally’s leg. Feeling the stinging pain surging through her wounded leg once more, the orange skater fumbles right onto the solid floor; the blood from her reopened wound dripping down upon the chilling ice. “Dammit!” she curses out while grasping her bleeding calf, the bandages that had once closed the wound left sprawling along the floor. Just as she was suffering from this reintroduced pain, Mally gazes up to discover the mysterious green haired woman aiming towering above her; aiming her pistols barrel right to her head. Mally could see the green huntress’s finger ready to pull the trigger at any moment; her reopened wound from her calf making almost next to impossible to dodge her shot at point blank. Shit…

Meager moments before the flaming haired arms woman could finally pop a plasma cap straight into the wounded young girl’s head; both of them catch the growing screams of somebody approaching fast, the two girls gazing around the cave for wherever it could be coming from. Taking a look behind the very woman holding her down at gunpoint, Mally finds where the screaming echoes out from; a hole left hanging along the wall right behind them that spews out what seemed to be a random red headed girl right out from its depths. Witnessing the newcomer drop from the hole and sliding across the ice right towards them, the orange skater quickly rolls right off to the side; the huntress snapping her attention back towards her orange foe and fixes the barrel of her pistol back at her. Just before the green arms woman had the chance to pull the trigger, the red headed newcomer sweeps right through the huntress’s legs and trips her right onto the solid cold floor.

Arising right off the icy cold ground, the huntress glares out towards what had tripped her right off the floor, her near cold and merciless gaze warming up upon finding the young red head before her rubbing her butt as she gets herself up. “Roxanne?” she finally speaks. “A-Artemis! Thank god that you’re still okay. I thought that the avalanche had-” “Wait! Where did that girl go?” “That girl? I didn’t see a girl when I got here.” The green haired huntress then aims her eyes down the cavern behind her and finds the orange skater she was just about to finish off skating away into its chilling depths; Artemis quickly pulling herself off the floor as she demands that Roxanne to: “Come on, we can’t lose her!” “Wait! Lose who?” the red head questions as she follows after.

Along a nearby part of these very icy tunnels, the sound of screaming could be heard echoing out from a hole from the top of the chilling hall; the red head with the mystical scythe dropping right down from the dark recesses of the pit and flopping right onto the hard cold ground. “Ah...fuck...” he utters while slowly pulling himself off the floor. Just as he stands back on his own two feet, Ryan’s pissed attitude suddenly shatters when his ears catching a familiar icy clinking; the boy staring up to the hole he had plummeted down from in a cold sweat as the scuttling grows louder. Fucking hell! This frosty bug bastard just won’t quit, will it? Ain’t got any other choice. Gotta run like hell and hope to lose this giant icy dildo. Almost immediately does the young red head sprint off in the opposite direction of the hole, the young man glancing back just in time to witness the cold centipede that had terrorized him before squeezing itself right out.

The threat of the pursuing icy insect looming over him, the red head races along the icy tunnels as fast as his legs could carry him as he skips across all the cold veins left running along the cold floor; Ryan peeking back to find the cold and nasty bug quickly beginning to close the distance. Among his ever growing panicking, he finally notices the scythe in his hands growing brighter than it ever had before; the red head averting his site away from its intense emerald glow. Agh! The fuck’s going on with this thing? Its practically as bright as a solar light. Can’t even see what ahead-

Failing to see what he races towards, Ryan smacks himself right into what felt like a cold wall of hard solid ice and fumbles right onto the bumpy veiny floor beneath him; the boy opening his eyes from the impact to discover a cold gaze staring right back. Towering right over the laying young man be what seemed to be a colossal giant made from solid frost; its entire transparent body letting him peer into the working organs and muscles underneath its icy shell. Witnessing the ogre reach its massive arm right toward him, the boy braces himself for whatever the giant attempts to do to him; suddenly hearing the beast let out a furious roar alongside the blunt sound of ice hitting each other. Opening his eyes, Ryan discovers the icy sharp pincers of the centipede hovering just mere inches right over his head, the arms of the frosty behemoth keeping the bug from chomping upon his very flesh; the solid icy insect struggling to free itself from its grip as the ogre pushes the monstrous bug away from the young man. Once both of the giant pieces of living ice walk right over him, the young red head pries himself off the cold veiny floor to see a person hanging along the giants very shoulder; a soft hopeful smile cracking along his face as he hears the familiar girl cheer the monster she rides upon with: “Yeah, waste that icy son of a bitch! Break it in pieces like the horribly misshapen cock it is!” “Vivi?” the red head shouts out. Despite the boys voice being as clear as the ice he stands on, the strawberry blonde only pays him a small glance before turning her attention back to the fight. Shit. Guess she’s still pissed about what happened above the surface. Really anybody would hearing all that. Need to say something to her.

In just the short few moments that they fight one another, the frosty ogre pulls the icy insect apart with nothing but its brute strength; the remains of the centipede falling to the floor before scattering away from the victor. As the victorious giant lets out a prideful roar, Vivi joins in with a resounding cheer and shouts: “Hell yeah! That icy piece of long shit ain’t got nothin on this motherfucker! Fuck the rest, this bastards the best! Lets keep this kick ass train rolling!” Upon that request does the ogre start to lumber out to the icy tunnel stretching out ahead, neither of them acknowledging the red head right behind them as they continue forth. “Hang on a fuckin sec!” Ryan requests as he chases after.

Utterly determined to get through to his skeletal pal, the young man runs right behind the lumbering frosty ogre and leaps up to the behemoths unoccupied shoulder, hooking his weapon atop the giants side and pulling himself right up. After taking a seat right next to the frosty behemoths head, the young man peers over to the girl resting along the other shoulder; the way Vivi averts her own site away from his being a clear sign of her still remaining rather upset with him. The young red head takes in deep breath of cavernous cold air before starting off with: “Listen, about-about what happened...above. When I called you...that...I-it-I just had no excuse to call you that, especially with what kind of history you...have. It’s just seeing you race right in to fight that lion with almost nothing, it just...it just...god! You could’ve at least…” After forcing himself to stop mid sentence, he lets out a calming sigh and continues with: “About the scythe...I don’t get what your deal might be with it, not wanting to use something so insanely powerful and strong...but I really don’t gotta, do I. If ya don’t wanna use it, then fine. Have it your way. I don’t need a reason.”

Upon finishing his little attempt to apologize, Ryan finally hear the girl respond to him after letting out a little chuckle; jesting to him how: “Was that really meant to be an apology? I can practically hear ya forcing the words outta your mouth.” While the young skull girl continues to snicker, the red head shouts back how: “I’m tryin to make up for being an asshole here and you’re just being one right back; gimme some fuckin credit here!” Despite his yelling complaints though, the cheeky smile across his friends face is more than enough to bring some comfort to the boy; left happy that she’s at least talking to him.

Her cheeky laughter finally starts to die down, Vivi taking in a needed breath before reluctantly explaining how: “That scythe ya got in yer hands right there, the reason I ain’t so eager to use it…It’s cause it’s just a reminder that I ain’t like everyone else; that I’m just another freak that people expect to wind up becoming a horrible monster. Out of fear or just cause they a bitch, all the other kids just gimme all these glares whatever I do; like they’re all saying that you don’t belong with us, you monster. Some don’t even bother looking at me like that and just say it right to my face. Course I shove my boot in their testies when they do, but that ain’t the point. That scythe ya got there, Ryan, is just another reminder that at the end of the day, all of them are right. That one day, all their hate and jeering will be justified and that I’ll be the horrible monster they see me as now.”

Its in letting out all this remorse and pain for her friend to see in full, her guilt is swiftly replaced with a snapping anger as she hears Ryan start to let out his own kind of laughing. “Now you’re the one being a sappy piece of shit. Never thought I’d here that kind of moping bull come outta yer mouth.” Though his remark leaves the skull girl pissed, she starts to calm when hearing him continue with: “I mean, why the hell should you care what a bunch of fucking assholes think about ya. I never gave a single fuck about any of that and look how I turned out.” “Jeez, you saying that ain’t much of a motivator.” “You know what the hell I mean!” he barks back, causing a big smile to stretch out along the girls face.

Its that a rather loud grunt pierces suddenly pierces through their moment of making up, the two gazing out ahead to where the struggling had echoed from. “The hell was that?” Vivi wonders. “Sounds kinda familiar…That might just be-” “Mally! Hang on, yer home girl’s coming! Time to pick up the pace, my icy motherfucka! Vamoose!” “Wait, hang o-” Before Ryan could even finish, the frosty ogre they ride upon takes off further down towards the caves ahead; the young red head struggling to keep himself from falling off the behemoths shoulder.

The cut on her calf ripped right open, Mally skates herself across the bumpy frosty floor with just a single leg while constantly peeking back for any sign of her pair of pursuers; finding next to nothing but the droplets of blood that stain the ice that she skates past. This isn’t good. Its not good at all. That woman definitely knew where exactly to shoot, opened the wound along the leg of a midair target back up with just one shot. With one leg up short and bleeding out, there could be some serious trouble if she manages to catch up now. No other choice but to try and loose that huntswoman.

In that very moment does she peer back to find a big ball of bright light come zipping out towards her, letting out a sharp yelp from seeing the ball speed right her way; the orange girl instinctively getting down onto the icy cold floor as the glowing light flies right over her head. What...What the heck was that?- “Who the hell is this?” she then hears somebody wonder aloud. When the young skater hears this question being asked, Mally lifts herself up off the solid veiny ground to discover three more newcomers confronting her: A tall young man with slick hair, glasses, and strangely baby blue skin, a girl with green blotches who seems on the verge of melting, and another girl with a blonde bowl cut dressed in a salmon pink coat. “Probably with that asshole who ran off with the treasure.” the girl with the melting face accuses. Wait, treasure?

“Whoever she may be...” another voice then chimes in from behind, Mally snapping back to see both the huntress and red head having caught up with her. The green haired woman fixes her pistols barrel right at the wounded skater as she continues with: “We can’t let her escape.” “Artemis, she just a little girl. Why can’t we just let her go?” Roxanne questions. “She tried to strike me in the neck. She was attempting to kill me!” “Whoa, really?” the girl with the bowl cut exclaims. “Damn, she wasn’t playin then.” the melting girl states. “You tried to shoot me in the head!” Mally then reminds her. “Whatever, if we haveta show back up to Drake empty handed, we can at least blame it on her. Willing to bet that guy who took off with the treasure might be willing to trade if we take her with us.” the man with the baby blue skin suggests. “Ain’t like she can fight back all of us in the shitty state she’s in. Don’t even look like she can even stand up straight.” Dammit. They’re right. Their isn’t any other way around them. Can’t fight all of them at once with a bleeding leg. Gotta think of something, someway out of this mess.

Just as the five of them were ready to pounce out to the near helpless girl set before them all, an incredibly powerful roar echoes out from behind the trio; the roar loud enough to cause the very tunnel they stand in to quake. The veiny ground continues to tremble as loud crashing stomps could be heard approaching, the two girls and baby blue guy turn back in utter terror to witness a massive frosty behemoth charging right towards them all. “Not again!” the girl with the bowl cut utters. “What the hell is that!?” the man with the blue skin frantically asks. “Who fucking care, just run!” the melting lass exclaims. Upon very site of the nearing giant, the four girls follow the blue guy as they race off in the opposite direction; the trio passing right by Mally as she’s left behind to face the monstrous living piece of ice. With the cut left along her calf having been reopened, Mally could do little but sit and brace herself with icy ogre on the verge of ramming straight into her. Right as the giant was running right in front of her, it cleanly leaps right over the wounded young skater; the orange girl opening her eyes to look back and see the behemoth continue to chase after the group of girls. She’s even left further astonished when discovering who rides upon both of the icy beasts very shoulders; both Ryan and Vivi holding onto the monsters sides as it continues charging forth. “Yeaaaah! It’s showtiiiiiiiiiime!” the skull girl excitedly screeches. “Hold the fuck on, I think one of those girls might-” the red head attempts to explain, though his warning is abruptly cut off when he hits his head right on a chunk of hanging ice; the blow causing him to tumble off the giant’s side and fall right to the icy floor. “Ah, shit.”

Mally limps over to the unconscious boys side as their skeletal pal leaps off the beastly piece of ice’s shoulder; Vivi wearing a big smile on her face as she greets the orange girl with: “Nice to see ya in one piece, Mal.” “Uh, same here Vivi. But do you think Ryan will be okay?” “Oh yeah, the jackass will be fine; this ain’t the first time he’s been knocked out. This one time, I accidentally pushed him off my roof while we were looking for my left boot and he hit his head on the ground coming down. He was out for hours after that.” “Huh...guessing from your tone that you two worked things out?” “Yeah, we all good. He gave me his shitty little apology and I forgave the poor bastard. Can’t stay mad at him forever.” “Glad to hear that. But can I one more thing…What the hell did you guys just ride on!?” “Oh ho, man. You won’t believe the kinda crazy shit I’ve been through when we split.”

As the skull girl discusses the events that lead them right to here, the icy ogre continues its lumbering pursuit after the group of girls swinging its arms out towards the blonde with the bowl cut and the partially melting girl closest to it. Seeing her teammates dodging the giants swings by the skin of their teeth, Artemis aims her pistol right at the behemoth behind them and fires out a ray of green plasma right to the giants icy head; the shot failing to slow the beast down even a tad as the beam simply bounces right off its face. “Artemis! Quit fooling around and just use one of yer bombs!” the baby blue man orders out of her. “Can’t. I used them all up.” “What! How!?” “Ain’t gotta worry fam, I got this.” the gooey girl among them claims. From the palms of her arms, the slimy lass casts out a glob of dark violet goo down to where the pursuing beasts steps; the giant stomping right onto the slippery batch of ooze and falling right onto the floor with a thunderous slam. “How you like that, bitch!” the goo girl taunts. Have fun getting yer ass off the floor.” the girl with the bowlcut joins in. “Just shut up and keep running!” the blue man among them demands. Having knocked the icy giant off their tail, the group of girls continue racing down the icy tunnel; all six of them disappearing in the caves icy shadows.

Once pulling itself right off the floor, the frosty behemoth lets out a raging snarl readies to continue pursuing after them all; stopping just before it could take off when it hears the skull girl say to: “Just let em get lost. We still need yer help here.” As the icy ogre starts to lumber back to the trio, Vivi can’t help but ask: “Wonder what the hell their problem was?” “They mentioned how they though I knew a guy who ran away with some kind of treasure.” “In this mountain? The fuck were they on about?” “I ain’t too sure to be honest.” Amidst their confusion that the giant finally stands before them and lets out a low moan as it leans right in; the behemoth pointing its frosty finger out to the tunnels that stand behind them all. “I’m thinkin he’s wanting to show us.” Vivian claims.

Staring out towards where the giant points out towards, Mally then notices something glistening along the vieny frost floor ahead of them; the wounded skater rising off the ground and limping over towards where she sees the glimmering sheen. “Mally?” the skull girl utters. Limping out to the glow does she discover the scythe of death itself dug into the ice, the young skater grasping the weapons neck and pulling it out with just a single hand. “What’s this doing here?” she wonders “Oh, Ryan might’ve just dropped that while we were coming to kick ass.” the skull girl guess. “Hmm. You...want me to hold onto it?” “Ehh, yeah...for a bit.”

The frosty giant lumbers through the solid cold tunnels with the trio sitting atop the behemoths very shoulders; both of girls gazing through the ice making up these shafts to find the veins and that run along the inside growing more numerous and thick as they continue forth. Soon do all of them come to the very end of this long and winding tunnel to behold the site of a massive blue heart hanging right above a giant empty pedestal; the heart continuing to beat the rhythm of life despite being completely encased in a shell of solid ice. “Wow.” the skater awes. “Hot damn!” the skull girl exclaims. Its in the midst of their amazement that the behemoth they all ride suddenly lunges out to the empty pedestal as it lets out a panicked yelp, all three of them falling to the icy floor below; Vivi holding her unconscious friend in her arms as they drop down. Gazing back to the massive hulk of living ice, they find it searching over every side of the lavishly carved pedestal; its glowing eyes growing more panicked as it continues to search. “Jeez. What you think his problem might be.” Vivian wonders. “I think that whatever this treasure might’ve been, must’ve been helluva important.”

With the frosty behemoths search entailing nothing to find, it stands before the front of the pedestal and falls to its knees in defeat; the loud crash of the giants knee’s proving loud enough to snap Ryan right awake. Awakening back to reality, the red head looks over to find both girls wondering over to the pillar that the ogre had inspected; the boy question: “What the hell are you two doing?” “Rise and shine mother fucka, we lookin for clues on who might’ve took what was here.” Vivi states to him. “Gotta be some sort of clue they left behind around here that can...” Mally mutters as she continues to search, her voice petering out when taking a look at what lies behind the pedestal.

Both the skull girl and red head come around from the sides of the icy pillar, Vivi questioning her if: “You find something, Mal?” The two then stand aside the young skater to discover the remains of what seemed to be a withered piece of wood below an entire set of numbers all carved within the surface of the stone. “The hell is that?” Vivian wonders. “Not to sure; but whatever it might’ve been, they were eager to leave these numbers etched here.” “Let me look.” Ryan demands as he gently shoves the two of them aside. The young red head takes a long careful look to the numerous numbers left carved along the rock of the pedestal; informing the girls of how: “These...kinda look like some sort of coordinates. Coordinates that were carved on here really recently.” “You think that whatever might’ve left them here was trying to warn somebody?” Vivi ponders aloud. Staring upon the set of numbers, Mally claims to the two of them how that: “Whatever they were trying to tell us, seems that we’ll have to go and see what it might be ourselves.”

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I wanted to try something a little different this time around with story structure. This chapter of the story is but one half of a complete whole sequence that happens around the same time, the next chapter coming up filling in the blanks and explaining the events and seemingly convenient events that happen throughout this one. The pieces will connect together for you all in the next chapter.

#Young Hope #lillaxtrigger

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