[02] Ice Climbers!

[Kill Town]

Ice Climbers

2-on-2 player Competitive Event

Summary: Two teams of two are deposited with large wooden hammers and no rations at the base of a giant mountain amidst the most epic blizzard possible. The goal here is simple: Climb up to the snowy mountaintop before the other team. The catch? The members of each pair are tethered to one another with an indestructible safety wire. To add to the possible humiliation, one member of each team will wear a blue parka, while the other has to wear a pink parka. Be wary, the mountain is filled with tiny Yetis, dangerous pitfalls, and polar bears with swimming trunks and sunglasses known to bodaciously tear idiots in half. For bonus points, grab the condor at the top of the mountain.

Restrictions: None

Opportunity: N/A

Participants

• Szar
• Piper

• Ashe
• Alura

[Ashe]

"Go where? There?" Ashe asked the strange man that had approached her, her eyes locking onto the giant turning wheel before them.

"Yeah. You, uh," he began, fumbling in his speech a bit but trying to appear more confident than he was feeling. "You looked a little nervous. Do you want somebody to go with?"

She wasn't entirely sure how to take it, but she'd just missed what had looked like Kaden disappearing around the corner of the machine while his companions boarded, so it was either she take a leap of faith, or she run off looking for the courier. "Well..." she said, considering his offer. She'd halfheartedly been hoping that Kaden would invite her to ride with him, but remembering how she'd come on to him a bit strongly during the last event, she hadn't quite figured out how to talk to him yet.

Was she making a big deal out of it in her head?

"How about this... I'll race you to the machine, and..." she started, digging her feet in deeply. Without continuing, she spun around, bursting off into the direction of the seating while laughing hard.

"Whoa, hey!" she heard from somewhere behind her.

Glancing over her shoulder at him, she saw him running after her only to be intercepted by a large blue door, his form vanishing into it as if he were no longer there. At that moment, the device at her side chirped, realization passing over her as she turned quickly back to look in the direction she was running. "Oh, crap!" she cried out, tripping haphazardly and falling into a portal of her own.

It was similar to the cheesy slide transitions that took place in old school science fiction movies. A giant scenario of snowy mountain just seemed to rush past her and envelop her, the blue door closing immediately and leaving her no option for escape. Her fall continued, pitching her forward into a snowy embankment directly in front of a slightly taller... dinosaur person.

"Uh... hi," she greeted, spitting out a mouthful of snow at the feet of the other creature before using her hands to push herself to her feet. "I'm Ashe."

The creature looked her up and down for a moment before blinking. "Friend or foe?" the lizard woman asked, gesturing at the girl with pink hair.

"Uh, yeah, I've been on that," she answered quickly, missing the exact point of the question.

"Forget it," the creature responded, pulling the device from her waist up and looking at it. "It says that you, Ashe, are going to be my partner for this round."

"Delightful," the student replied, pulling out her own machine. Both of them took a moment of silence to read over the small screens before glancing simultaneously at a pair of bags sitting alone atop of a large rock - that rested in the center of an enormous frozen lake. "Obviously they'd put everything we need in the middle of the skating rink. Obviously," she dripped sarcastically, rolling her eyes and looking to her partner, who the screen had identified as Alura. "Any suggestions?"

"Don't step on the cracks," came her answer. "Avoid thin ice. If you can fly, that'd help a lot."

"Right," Ashe confirmed, figuring Alura had thought she'd overlooked the most obvious points. "I guess... here goes nothing," she announced, stepping out onto the ice slowly, watching as one foot slid slowly before she threw her other one out there, immediately doing an uncomfortable split. Growling a bit, the former gym student pulled herself together and climbed back to her feet, carefully watching the frozen mirror beneath her.

"Are you coming?"

The student glanced up to find the lizard had already cleared a spans of the ice without any sign of how, the rope between the two growing tight, stopping Alura in her tracks as she rushed across. "Yeah, yeah, I'm working on it," the girl grumbled to her partner, taking another careful step. "Don't step on the cracks or you'll break your mother's back," she chanted in measured breaths.

"You know what?" the reptile called from across the lake.

Ashe glanced in just in time to see her dig strange feet into the ice and pull hard on the rope. It dawned on her about the time her rear end struck the ice what the new plan was - and that plan was called ice road truckers. "Cold cold cold cold COLD!" she screamed, sliding wildly across the ice as the strange woman crossed one palm after another onto the rope, drawing her closer and closer.

Unable to orient herself until she slid to a stop at Alura's feet, the girl glared from the ice. "That's so cheap," she whined.

"Absolutely free," the creature retorted before suddenly leaping high into the air and coming down to rest directly on the small island frozen in the center of the lake. It turned slowly to see Ashe pushing herself to her feet once more, as slowly and carefully as she could, and counted, waiting carefully for the moment that Ashe spread her arms out to balance herself. "Time's up!"

Finding herself in a position usually reserved for a person behind a speedboat, the girl became a sliding bullet of pink hair, screaming wildly as the creature drew her in like a fishing line. By the time she stopped sliding this time, Alura had already gathered the two bags from the top of the rock and thrown them down, tossing one to the girl's resting place. "I think I'm gonna be sick," the dizzy teenager complained, rolling over and breathing heavily.

"No way I'm wearing pink," Alura spat, pulling a strange woolly outfit from the first bag. She turned, throwing it on top of the recovering girl and withdrew another. "Blue fits me better," she confirmed.

Ashe took a moment to pull the pink suit on before glancing down at the ice to see what her reflection looked like. "Cute!" she gushed, happy with the outcome. Turning around, however, caused her to break into wild laughter.

"Don't you say it," the creature warned from well within its thick bundle of Eskimo outfit.

But Ashe couldn't help herself, given that the creature was trying to hold an intimidating glare while its arms stuck out straight from both sides of the warm suit, a set of warm mittens and ice boots wrapped around limb. Her bag was wrapped around each shoulder. "Oh that's just adorable!"

Alura spun around, walking towards the human before suddenly leaping high into the air, coming down like a meteor into the center of the lake while landing gently enough to keep from cracking the ice. "Yeah, I think I'm going to enjoy this a bit," she announced, grabbing the rope that bound the two together.

"Wait," the girl called to her partner, grabbing her own bag and slinging it over her shoulder before testing her new boots on the ice. "I'll be there in just a second! These boots are perfect for walking on ic-" she attempted, breaking into a scream as her tormentor snatched.

[Alura]

"Slowdown-slowdown-slowdown-slowdownnnnnnnnnnnn!"

The echoes of the shrieking girl tore through the snowy mountain as she slid on her back, protected by a pink wool parka, through the icy lake. She wasn't sliding downhill, however, rather the opposite. Alura had recently met the girl and discovered rather quickly that she wasn't what one would call an expert mountain climber, nor did she appear to be adept at dealing with aliens. They had quickly developed a playful relationship, though Ashe probably would argue the term playful at that particular moment.

Alura was racing up the slightly slanted icy lake, practically skating on the thick sheet of frozen liquids, all the while dragging behind her racing partner thanks a leather strap that kept them connected. Ashe was currently bouncing off of the ice at each solid chunk, finding it impossible to get on her feet, paying for her 'adorable' comment about the embarrassed reptilian who had put a rather small parka on her tall frame.

"ComeonI'msorryIdidn'tmeanitlemmegojustslowdoowwwwnnn!"

Alura did indeed stop, but not because of any kind of mercy she felt, quite enjoying the torture-session of the human in pink. She simply ran out of ice, having to come to a sliding stop into a path of snow. Ashe came sliding up behind her, letting out a late yelp as she realized she was coming face-first into the snow, followed by a muffled thud. Alura cracked a smirk as Ashe's face poked out from the snow and spat out some of the white substance. "That was so mean," the human commented.

"But funny," Alura noted.

Ashe held up her hand, hoping that she could get a hand from the reptilian in front of her. The taller girl hesitated, unsure if she was willing to show any sign of kindness, but she thought about the last human she was hostile towards - Victoria. With that happy thought, she took the hand and helped Ashe to her feet. "Are we gonna get along now?" The girl asked as she brushed the snow off of her parka.

"No promises," the lizard-girl said honestly. "But I'll try."

"Good enough," Ashe admitted.

The blue female looked up at the path in front of them, riddled with trees on either side, signaling that they had only one choice: forward. There was no side path and it didn't appear to have an easy way up except towards the tippy top of the mountain in front of them. "I guess we have to, um...climb," the pink-haired girl noted the obvious.

Alura nodded and moved forward, "Good observation," she said sarcastically, getting an annoyed look from her partner, "Let's get moving. It's a race, so we may as well win while we're here."

To be honest, the reptilian didn't really know why she was being so nasty to the human, who was obviously just trying to make the most out of the situation. Alura felt uneasy around humans, but thus far all the ones she met on this journey had been kind. It had probably been stress; being kidnapped from her city, almost getting swallowed by a sea-dragon, and now being thrown at the bottom of a snowy mountain. It was enough to drive anyone crazy, much less a young female reptilian with no real combat experience.

The slope they came across wasn't particularly steep at first, just covered with slumps of snow that went up to the top of the Ice Climber's boots. "Hey," Alura called with a hiss towards Ashe, who seemed to have barely heard it. The human looked over, broken out of her own thoughts. "I'm sorry. I'm just stressed."

The female threw a surprising smile to the reptilian. "Don't mention it." Alura nodded, keeping her expression as hidden as possible, but was secretly relieved that she hadn't ruined another chance at friendship like she had with Juno. "Let's just keep moving!" The girl said cheerfully.

The two fought against the cold as they moved upwards against the thick sheet of snow. Alura was faster then the human, but she couldn't speed up without dragging Ashe behind her. It seemed like Ashe could handle the cold better, though; Alura's thick scales felt like they could shatter at any second against the sharp coldness of the snowstorm. The reptilian had already attempted to teleport, but it appeared that it had been 'disabled' again. Either that or she couldn't do it effectively with the leather strap around her waist...either way it wasn't going to work with a partner.

"Who do you think we're racing against?" Ashe asked behind Alura as they finally came to some even ground. They took a moment to breath as they finished climbing the hill, getting a clear shot for what seemed like at least a couple hundred feet. "I haven't seen anybody but us. Not even an animal around here."

"Probably another team or two. Maybe two other teams," Alura commented, joining in on the conversation. She moved forward and gently tugged Ashe forward, ensuring that she kept moving. It was Alura, however, who was probably hurting the most. She doubted that the human was suffering from the coldness like she was. "As long as they don't mess with us, I don't care who they are so long as we finish before them."

The two continued down the small field, around white trees and towards another narrow path that led up. The two paused once Ashe pulled on the leather strap connecting the partners, causing Alura to turn. "That's not the snow," The pink-topped girl noted, pointing forward.

Alura had to squint her white eyes at the narrow path where Ashe was pointing. She was right: it was a figure, standing on two legs despite having two short arms that were also used to walk. Alura immediately reached for her backpack, pulling out the wooden mallet from the bag as if she knew it had been there the whole time. She didn't know what the creature was, aside from the fact it was big, round, and white.

Ashe knew what it was. Alura tried to move forward, but Ashe pulled on the cord again. "What?" Alura asked, "Let's go deal with it. It's blocking the path."

"I don't think we should mess with it," Ashe urged.

"Why? It looks fat and slow."

The human wrinkled her nose and seemed to pout a bit. "You don't get it," she told the alien. "That's a polar bear. In a freakin' swimsuit." Alura looked up at the 'bear.' "With sunglasses," Ashe added, as if she was explaining further why this creature was to be feared. "I may not know a whole lot about bears, but I know that you don't mess with a polar bear in swimming trunks."

Alura looked back at the human again in confusion.

[Piper Juunanagou]

A heavy frown spread across Piper’s beleaguered features as she was ushered through the portal by the incessant trilling of the pager attached to her waist. Stepping into the swirling vortex with Szar and the pink-haired woman that Kaden had identified as Ashe, the woman felt a cold breeze of air tickle at her uncovered flesh as she moved forward through the twisting nether. The chilling sensation was the tip of the iceberg, because waiting for the soldier on the other side of the portal was the base of a snow-covered mountain. The jagged peaks stretched high above a layer of fluffy gray clouds that hung low in the sky overhead.

“Ludicrous,” Piper grumbled as she looked down at to see that her military fatigues had once again been replaced. But this time, she had been placed into a large, fuzzy blue parka complete with big matching booties, mittens, and a huge mallet strapped to her back. Rolling her eyes, the woman ran a hand along her large leather belt, and to her compounded amusement, her fingers bumped into a rope tether. “This is ridiculous,” the woman murmured as she gave the rope a tug and quickly realized that it was connected to something else.

“Really ridiculous,” the familiar reptilian voice of Szar remarked from behind the soldier. Turning around, Piper smiled faintly at not only being paired with her compatriot but also at the fact that he was wearing a similar outfit as her—with one exception. “Why the hell am I wearing pink?” The changeling groaned as he tugged at one of the fluffy white seams. Even more degrading than the vibrant pink suit was the blush applied to Szar’s cheeks, but Piper figured she’d hold that fact to herself for the time-being.

“It suits you,” the Sentinel remarked with a chuckle as she diverted her attention away from the fuming changeling and back to the large mountain that loomed in front of them. “So what’d you think we’re supposed to do here, Szar?” She inquired as she took a step toward the jagged mountain.

With a long, drawn-out groan, the Icer tapped the woman’s shoulder and handed her a piece of parchment. Snatching the paper out of the changeling’s mitten, Piper took a brief moment to scan the paper. There were a lot of extra words and superfluous description, but the gist was easy enough to grasp: Climb the mountain before the other pair of climbers.

“Well that would explain why that younger girl isn’t standing around exchanging pleasantries with us,” Piper quipped as she rolled up the piece of artificially yellowed paper. “Who do you think she’s climbing with?”

“Who cares,” Szar growled as he began to tug and tear at the parka. The changeling had discarded the mittens, but even with his clawed digits, he was unable to sunder the fluffy fabric. “What is this infernal things made out of? Some type of Katchin-weave?” He seethed as he abandoned his fruitless scratching and picked his mittens up off the snow-covered earth. “…Well it is pretty cold, even for me,” the changeling barked as he slid the mittens over his hands and crossed his arms over his chest like a frumpy old man who’d just lost a few games of bingo.

“I don’t judge,” Piper shot back as she wrapped her fingers around the bandaged handle of her hammer. “What do you think these mallets are for?” The query elicited a melodramatic groan from the changeling.

“Last time we met, you were a lot more of an action person,” Szar scoffed as he walked passed the woman and toward the ice-glazed walkway. The changeling managed to get about five feet away from Piper before he was brought to an abrupt halt by the tension of the cord binding them together. “Oh, this is going to get really vexing, isn’t it?” He remarked sardonically as he gave the seemingly indestructible rope a couple of weak tugs.

“Oh stop complaining so much,” Piper chided as she yanked off her right mitten. Beneath the mitten, the woman’s hand was still encapsulated in the glossy steel gauntlet from the science-fiction rail shooter. “This is very pleasing,” the woman whispered under her breath as she focused the manic maelstrom of thoughts swirling about in her mind. As the woman centered her thoughts, she watched with a faint smile as the disc imbedded in glove’s palm began to shimmer red. Compared to the last few times, the process of channeling her energy through the gauntlet was becoming less of a strain.

“Still wearing that garish thing?” Szar snickered as he gave their tether a violent tug. Unfortunately for the changeling, Piper reacted by yanking the tether with a little more ‘oomph’ than the alien, causing him to lose his balance and collapse forward onto the snow-covered ground. “I’m going to throttle you,” he groaned as he rose up to his feet and watched his female ally slid the mitten back over the metal glove.

“I’m ready to get going,” Piper said with a smile as she walked around the changeling and toward the pathway.

“Well it’s about time.”

***

Five minutes...

Five whole minutes was the length of time in which the twosome was able to enjoy their (thus far) jolly stroll up the mountain path. At the conclusion of that rather fleeting window of time, they ran into their first obstacle. In front of them, the pathway terminated in a jagged rock wall. On the upside, an upward glance revealed that the rock wall was only a few stories tall.

“Can you fly?” The changeling asked his parka-clad companion.

“Do I look like Super Piper or something?” Piper remarked with a grin as she shot a quick glance at the once again incensed visage of her companion. Despite Szar’s somewhat ferocious appearance, the woman was forced to stifle a fit of laughter at the site of the alien’s blush-covered cheeks.

“What’s so funny?” Szar barked—prompting the woman to slap a hand over her mouth to prevent the subsequent laugh from making its escape.

“Nothing!” Piper said after maintaining her composure and turning to face the side of the completely vertical ascent. “I’m pretty sure this rock wall is uneven enough that we could probably scale it with a little effort. I mean…this event is called ‘Ice Climbers’ for a reason, am I right?”

“The title is probably another stupid reference to one of our host’s sick fantasies or something,” Szar replied as a frown once again return to his reptilian features. Glancing over to her companion, Piper had to fight down the urge to tell him he was going to get wrinkles if he kept frowning so much.

Then again… he’s dead. I wonder if he’ll ever have to deal with wrinkles? The thought brought a smile to the woman’s face as she reached out a traced a mitten-covered hand across the rock wall. Despite looking quite sheen from a distance, a closer examination revealed she was right with her train of thought.

“What happens if we fall?” Szar asked as he walked over to the wall and clasped a hand around a jagged outshoot of rock. The alien gave the stone a couple of tugs before shrugging his shoulders and letting go of the vertical stone outcrop.

“It’s only forty or fifty feet, so a fall shouldn’t hurt us that badly,” Piper responded as she gave Szar a playful slug on the shoulder. “I wager it’d only be about 5d6 damage if we fail the climb check.”

“What the hell does that mean?” The changeling barked.

“I… I have no idea why I said that,” Piper remarked as her mouth twisted up in genuine confusion. “I think this whole fabricated reality thing is starting to play tricks with my head,” she assumed as she reached up and grabbed the highest piece of solid rock she could safely clasp her hand around. With an audible grunt, she pulled herself up off the ground, grabbed another rock with her other hand, and proceeded to procure a stable foothold. Glancing back down at the ground, she flashed Szar a smile and motioned with her head up toward the top of the cliff.

“I hate this already,” the changeling groaned as he reached up and began his ascent behind his partner. For the next few minutes, they climbed the rock wall in complete silence save the occasional grunt or whispered obscenity. After what literally felt like an eternity, Piper let out a victorious shout as she reached her first hand up over the top edge of the wall. Unfortunately for the earthling and her alien companion, their hopes of a seamless climb were abruptly dashed against the uneven wall.

Screee! The ear-splitting shriek heralded the arrival of an overgrown black bird. Plunging through the fluffy clouds that hung overhead, the unnaturally large bird made a bee-line toward Szar.

“Szar!” Piper screamed as she looked down to see the changeling lift a hand and fire off a burst of ki into the bird’s chest right before it slammed into him. Despite its initial tenacity, the bird’s assault floundered as its life left it through the gaping wound in its chest. Even still, it’s collision with the changeling had been enough to break his grip on the rock wall, and just like that, the rope between Piper and Szar went taut as gravity began trying to pull the latter toward the ground. Gritting her teeth as the rope clenched around her bony waist, the soldier laboriously pulled her torso up onto the ledge at the top of the cliff. Reaching down to her side, she grabbed the tether and proceeded to swing Szar up onto the platform with her.

“You owe me,” the woman gasped between breaths of air as the pair of winded mountain climbers moved up onto the solid ground at the top of the drop-off.

“You bet’cha,” the changeling answered as the two stood up off the ground and proceeded to bat and knock off the snow and ice that had clung to their parkas. “But this just means next time you get to deal with the overgrown bird monster.”

“I can’t wait!” Piper replied sarcastically as she scanned their surroundings and managed to deduce in a short span of time that there was only one route for them to take—straight up another cliff. “Remind me to put a bullet through that Gamer boy’s skull when we escape from this virtual reality hell,” the soldier remarked with a frown as she took a few steps forward and resumed the arduous task of scaling upward.

“Only if I get a few punches in first,” Szar said with a serpentine smile as he followed his compatriot up the mountainside.

[Szar]

Szar couldn't help but think this was a waste of his time. If he'd stuck in Hell, if he'd made the trek to Dabura he would have had his life restored. Granted, he was alive, but being stuck wandering through someone's acid trip in one moment and scaling a mountain in the snow while tethered to Piper wasn't what he'd had in mind. Not that Piper was a bad person for him to be working with; he actually enjoyed her company immensely. She had the same sorts of training he had, and looked at situations in the same ways that he did. Together they would make a formidable duo. Years of military training and study couldn't have prepared him for the cold of this mountain.

Szar was an Icer, he had been born on a planet with a climate very similar to this one. However, when he had relocated to Kajin Rala, he had grown accustomed to the climate-controlled temperatures there and thus the cold was quite jarring. Even with his parka--the seemingly unbreakable parka--he was wearing, the wind still bit at him. And from an aesthetic standpoint, the pink hue of the jacket clashed with his purple skin, making him look like some sort of doll. Szar could tell Piper was doing her best not to laugh at him, not that he would have blamed her if she had. He looked ridiculous, plain and simple.

Hoisting himself upward Szar let his eyes wander to the mountain's peak. It was so far away, veiled by clouds and falling snow. The good news was this event, unlike his last, had a defined objective, something he could work towards. He would make it to the peak first with Piper and they would claim victory over whomever they were competing against. His pride wouldn't allow anything less. So, with renewed fervor he set to scaling the wall of ice he and Piper had been clamoring up. Below him the human faltered slightly as Szar's pace increased, but she quickly recovered and set up after him. After a few minute's speed-climbing, the Changeling finally reached the top. Turning around he lowered his hand to Piper, pulling her up with him. Together, they assessed the situation.

"Well, it's level for a little ways." Szar noted, illiciting a nod from Piper. "But from there it's...I'd say 500 feet of steep ice wall. After that...I can't tell, it's too cloudy."

Piper stared into the haze for a moment before nodding in agreement with what the Icer had said. "Well, at least it's flat for a little while. Come on, let's move."

Stepping forward, she stopped in her tracks as she heard the sound of cracking ice. Looking down, she saw cracks spider-webbing their way across the sheet of ice they were standing on. Finally it gave way, and Piper was sent sprawling down into the chasm. Thankfully, Szar had been close enough to the edge of the hole and he'd managed to dig the ice pick into the wall, stopping them from falling to death.

"Now you owe me one." Szar grunted as he fumbled around in the pack they'd been provided for a rope. "I'll have us out of here in just a..."

He stopped as a rope with a hook tied to the end of it whizzed past him, digging into the ground at the top of the hole. Piper was quick to climb past him, grinning as she went by. "What was that you were saying?" she laughed as Szar came up after her.

"I would have gotten us out..." Szar whined as he pulled himself out of the pit and onto solid ground. "It's these damned mittens."

"Yep. It's the mittens fault. Whatever you say. Let's just keep going."

*******

"There's no way we'll make it up there." Szar complained as the duo drudged through the snow. "Who knows, the other team might already have made it up there. What's the point in..."

"Szar, if you're just going to whine this whole time, you might as well just shut up. And who cares if they made it or not. We're not going to stop here just because you think this is a waste of time." Piper had had enough of the Changeling and his whining. "Now come on, we're going."

The Icer was seething as they set up the mountain again, Piper leading the way and Szar reluctantly following. It wasn't like him to be this depressed. He was in the company of a friend on a leisurely climb up an unbelievably tall mountain laden with pitfalls and who knows what else. All for the amusement of some punk with too much money and not enough friends. Whatever, griping wouldn't get him anywhere. He just had to try to focus on the task at hand. And right now, that task was getting to the top as quickly as possible. Besides, if he was going to give Gamer the ass kicking he deserved, he'd need to get close to him. And what better way to do that was to finish all of his events and take first prize? It wasn't likely that Szar would in fact win, but he definitely wouldn't if he didn't try. Steeling his resolve, he pushed himself higher, each step bringing him closer to the top, and event's end.

He was quick to stop when a resounding growl sounded from somewhere. Piper looking down at him confirmed that she had heard it too. Then, they heard the sound again, only now it was coming from below them. Peering down, they saw a strange creature huddled at the base of the incline. It was covered head to toe in thick, white hair. Its face was purple with beady eyes and a nose that looked like it had been punched in, its mouth was agape, sharp teeth clenched in a snarl.

"That...doesn't look friendly." Szar stated to his fellow climber.

"No shit!" she shot back, "let's pick up the pace. Maybe we can lose it."

Nodding his agreement the pair redoubled their efforts, climbing with impressive speed. The beast was hot on their trail, making up the distance quickly. Finally, a small outcropping came into view and Piper hoisted herself on to it, turning back to Szar, her eyes widened.

"Look out behind you!" she screamed frantically.

Szar barely had the time to look down before the snow beast latched on to his ankle. It roared furiously as it used Szar as a ladder, pulling itself up the cable towards Piper. Reaching for his mallet, the Icer gripped it tightly before swinging it at the creature. The blow struck it in the back and it yowled in pain and fury, its attention set on Szar. Raising his mallet again, Szar readied himself to swing again. In that instant the beast was on him, clawing and scratching at his armor.

Abandoning the mallet to the pack on his back, Szar took to grappling with the yeti. Piper looked on, her mittens had come off revealing the gauntlet she'd taken from the carnival. The crystal set in its palm glowing red, Piper lined up her shot. Her opening came when Szar punched the yeti in the face, and it doubled back for a moment. In that instant she fired, striking the creature square in the face with a concentrated burst of ki. She hit it again in the shoulder, and Szar felt the creature's grip loosen. With a forceful swing of his tail, the yeti fell, screaming, to the ground below. Panting from the tussle, Szar threw a thumbs up to his partner, and she returned it.

"Can you pull me up now?" the Icer wheezed, "I just want to get off of this mountain."

[Szar]

After his less-than-intense duel with the Yeti, Szar decided to take a moment to rest while Piper elected to scout ahead.

"I'll be right back." she had told him. That had been fifteen minutes ago and she still hadn't returned. Picking himself up out of the snowbank he'd been lounging in, the Changeling began to follow the cable to his partner. His leg was still sore from when the Yeti had grabbed him; it having buried its nails in Szar's shin. But, after a few minutes of painful trudging he found her. She was staring up at yet another wall of ice, one they would have to scale if they wanted to reach the top. She turned as Szar approached, fists balled, but lowered her guard when she saw that it was the Icer.

"I think Gamer hates us." she quipped half-heartedly. She was trying to put on a strong front, but Szar could tell that she was growing just as tired of this event as he was.

"Why would he put us in so hard of an event so early in?" Szar posed, to which Piper merely shrugged. "Because he's afraid! He wants us to fail, he knows that if we finish we'll kill him. So buck up, we can do this."

She smiled genuinely and Szar let out a sigh of relief. To be honest, Piper was the only thing keeping the Icer going. He was nearing the limits of his strength and was losing hope. His little speech may have served to dissuade Piper from giving up, but it did little to motivate the Changeling. However, he had said earlier that he would see this round through and he had meant it. If nothing else, Szar kept to his word. Stepping up to the wall, he dug his ice pick into it, lifting himself on to the wall. Thus began yet another arduous climb for himself and Piper. It was an uneventful ascent; no yetis or kamikazi birds. It gave Szar a chance to relax--as much as scaling a wall of solid ice allowed, anyway. When the pair reached the top Szar was almost disappointed. Piper reached into her pack for the water bottles they'd been provided, grimacing when she found it frozen solid. She was about to throw it away when Szar stopped her, extending his hand. She offered him the bottle and he took it in both hands, one on the bottom the other on the top. After a moment's concentration the minute amounts of ki he'd been channeling thawed the block of ice and he handed the bottle back to Piper. She took it eagerly, gulping down half of the thermos' contents in a single gulp. With a satisfied 'aah' she re-capped the bottle and put it back into her bag. At this point Szar had already moved on ahead, and Piper jogged along after him.

"Is something bothering you?" she asked once she'd caught up.

Szar shook his head. In truth he was still dwelling on what Orion had said to him in the last round, but Piper didn't need to know about that. Having seen the saiyan again at the carnival had rattled the Changeling, though he would never admit it to anyone.

"You can tell me." Piper said, this time to his mind.

"Stop that." Szar snapped, waving his hand dismissively. "...Sorry, I have a lot on my mind. None of it has any relevance to the mission, so let's just forget it.

"Suit yourself. I'm here if you decide you want to talk."

It was definitely nice having a friendly face with him on this mission. If he'd been alone on this mountain with a complete stranger, or worse, Szar wasn't sure how he would have managed. Up ahead of them a cave's mouth opened wide, waiting to swallow the duo. The change of pace was more than welcome, and they sauntered in fearlessly. Before their eyes had the chance to adjust to the darkness, Szar shaped an orb of ki and loosed it in the air just above his head. Taking point, he and Piper began their trek through the winding caverns. After passing the same ice formation for the fifth time, Piper stopped in her tracks.

"We're lost." she stated, as though Szar himself wasn't already aware of it.

"Well, what do you suggest we do about it? We could always turn around and go up..."

Piper glared at him and he clenched his teeth, trapping the words before they'd escaped. Looking around, Szar saw three tunnels in front of him, but he couldn't remember which one they'd gone through initially.

"So, which way do we go?" Szar asked his partner and she considered the three paths before choosing the left-most one. Trotting along after her, they walked for several minutes before coming to a large room. They were on a high ledge, an ice lake glittering below them, the sun visible through a small opening at the roof of the cave. With no visible way to reach the gateway above them, the Changeling turned around when Piper stopped him.

"Watch this and hang on." Piper told him, and he did as directed. While he waited, Piper began to focus all of her attention on the opening, envisioning herself just above it. Suddenly, in a brilliant flash, she was gone. The Changeling hardly noticed, as he was suddenly dragged upwards, his cable towing him towards Piper. She had somehow teleported herself to the surface, and Szar was left dangling above the lake as she worked to pull him up. Inch by inch Szar went up, Piper heaving on his weight as she towed. When he was near the top Szar placed his feet on one of the walls before pushing off and up, and he managed to land on the lip of the chasm gracefully. Szar bowed after his impressive display of agility, but Piper hardly noticed. She was sitting on the edge of the hole, her feet dangling. She looked winded, and Szar decided to let her rest before they pressed on.

"That's a nifty trick. I wish you'd have mentioned that you could do that sooner. It would have saved us a lot of time." Szar said as he fumbled around in his bag for the water bottle he'd been given, thawing its contents the same way he had Piper's earlier.

"It's not exactly easy to do." she rasped, still catching her breath. Szar nodded as he took a sip of his water before replacing the cap. Standing back up he extended his hand to Piper, "Ready to move?" he asked, "or would you prefer I drag you the rest of the way?" She responded by flipping him off and rising to her feet of her own power. She teetered slightly as fatigue overwhelmed her and Szar moved to catch her but again she waved him off. "I'm fine, just walk."

Walk he did, and together they set off once more towards the top. It was only a matter of time before they reached the summit, the thought of leaving this frozen waste was enough to spur them on. However, they had little way of knowing what lie in store for them.

[Ashe]

The two had been arguing between each other for about ten minutes before Alura tapped her pink haired companion on the shoulder. "So what's the decision, then?" she asked, looking back to the bear that seemed more interested in lying against the mountain to get a tan than the girls hiding behind a large rock.

"Well," Ashe began, not really sure on what to do here. "I don't know, really. I guess I leave the decision up to you."

The reptilian creature in the adorable ice blue outfit peeked back around the boulder before grabbing Ashe's shoulder. "I vote that we rush it. If we both dive in opposite directions at once, we should easily pass this fat slow bastard," she decided. Without giving the human a chance to say another word, she dived out from the boulder, sprinting as quickly as she could in the direction of the bear.

The bear's ears twitched at the popcorn crunching sound of the snow, growing louder as they closed the distance. In direct defiance, the bear rolled to its feet, spreading both arms and roaring loudly, locking its eyes directly onto the incoming pair... as best as they could tell through the sunglasses.

"You go left! I'll take right!" Alura barked from the front. "We'll stretch the rope between us and take the damn things head of-"

Before she had the chance to finish, the bear actually hopped into the air, its massive feet coming down and slamming into the snow. Contradicting reality, the entire mountain suddenly seemed to shake as if an earthquake had ripped through the rocks. The two women found their feet suddenly dropping out from beneath them, each sliding into the snow wildly.

Ashe seemed to roll the hardest, sliding straight over the edge of the path into open air. "Aaahhhh!" she screamed loudly, her shriek cutting through the roar of the pissed off Pooh.

"Shut up, I've got you!" Alura cried out, appearing at the edge of the cliff wall as the student felt the rope go tight in the air, her direction changing to send her back into the flat part of the wall. "You'd better climb this rope quicker than you cross ice," she warned, her gaze quickly falling over her shoulder at something that Ashe could only imagine.

Ashe dug her boots into the side and clamped her teeth together, throwing one arm over the other in effort to scale the rope. She didn't even notice when her companion began pulling the entire rope from her end arm by arm as well. As best as she could tell, she was really burning those calories, given the speed that she threw her arms over the side. "I did it!" she cheered, feeling Alura's mittens dig in to both armpits to pull her over the side.

"Time to go," the reptillian informed her, pointing to the side.

Now the polar bear had seemed to vanish from the area, only to be replaced by a small white bundle of fluff. "What... the heck is that?" the student asked, staring at the beaked creature attempting to puff itself up for intimidation. "I think I used to have one of those as a gift. Dude, those were the creepiest toys you could ever get. If you rubbed its belly, it would be all 'YUMMM' and sometimes it would just be sitting there in the dark and start singing songs. Snoring even. I ended up throwing it in my friend Claire's closet one night at a sleepover. See, she had one two, and man, when they both ended up in that closet together, I swear they started chanting all evil and crap, like they were plotting to take over the wo-" she suddenly cut off, noticing that her friend had pulled her wooden mallet from within her bag. "Whoa, what's that about?" she asked, sliding her own bag off to grab for her mallet.

"Well, here's how we do this, Ashe," the lizard informed her, a sadistic grin crossing her face. "Pretend that thing is a big seal."

"Well, to be honest, it probably should have been a seal, but..." she trailed off as realization reached her. "Seal clubbing? That's horrible!"

"Then you stay here and die to it!" Alura seethed.

Ashe tilted her head sideways. "Staying here is an option?" she asked, thinking of the rope.

"NO!"

The girl took a deep breath, focusing all of her being on imagining that the creature was... "I can't imagine a seal," she whined. "They are too cute and clubbing them is-"

"Imagine its one of those damn toys you were blabbering about!"

Alura had to admit it, on later consideration. Ashe had surprised the hell out of her at that moment. One moment she felt the rope go loose and heard a familiar crunching of snow, the next moment she whirled around to find the girl screaming ferociously as she rushed UP the mountain towards the furry creature, her own weapon raised high above her head.

The tiny yeti, in a moment of clarity, realized that this was a bad thing. It had spun around and scrambled as quickly up the side of the mountain as it could in hopes of escaping from its pursuer, but every glance over its own shoulder penetrated it with a fear far deeper than the cold of the mountain could reach.

"DIE FURBY!" the student cried out demonically.

Alura swallowed hard, finding herself in the position of being drug up the mountain along her back, unable to do anything more than bite down as each rock slammed into her backside. Whatever this creature or toy had done to her in the past, it had left behind some deep emotional wounds. That much was apparent.

The bright side, she supposed, was that they were now making fantastic time up the mountain.

[Piper Juunanagou]

“Do you see the top from there?” Szar asked Piper as the latter reached a hand up over the edge of yet another vertical climb and proceeded to quickly scramble up onto flat ground.

The twosome was at the apex of a nearly one hundred story cliff comprised almost solely of frozen rock and snow. On three separate occasions, the pair of climbers had nearly plunged to their certain doom. Fortunately, Piper and Szar were still clearheaded enough to brace or aid the other when it seemed like one of them was losing their grip or on the verge of slipping off the glistening surface.

“No…” Piper grumbled as she turned around to help the changeling up onto the level surface. Turning away from him, the woman gave a quick scan of their surroundings and found herself relatively amused by that she saw. “But it looks like we found something,” she stated as she pointed to the frozen remains of a campsite.

“That’s…strange,” Szar remarked as he pulled the pink hood of his parka up over his snow-covered skull. The soldier smirked faintly at how awkward her partner looked with the pink fabric stretched over his cone-shaped horns; however, the action triggered her to follow suit a few moments later. After all, the temperature had done nothing but steadily decline since they had begun their ascent from the base of the glacial peak. If the temperature continued to decline at this rate, Piper was certain she’d need to be defrosted at the end of the round.

“Y-yeah,” the Sentinel stammered as she pulled the parka hood tight around her frozen hair. “You think we’re so far behind the other climbers had a camping trip?” She quipped. It was a relatively feeble attempt at humor, but it nevertheless elicited a soft chuckle from her alien compatriot.

“I doubt it,” Szar remarked as he reached out and traced a mitten-clad finger along the outside of the one of the tents. “These are frozen solid, and it looks like they’ve been abandoned for a while,” he added as he walked over to the middle of the circle of tents and kicked some snow away to reveal what looked to be a failed attempt to start a fire. “These logs aren’t burnt in the slightest,” the changeling noted as he crouched down and picked up one of the frostbitten chunks of wood.

“I wonder what happened to them,” Piper whispered as she began to scan her surroundings with fresh paranoia. “The description of this event did make reference to bears.”

“Well if they’re anything like those little yetis than I’m sure we can make due, Piper,” Szar remarked as he relaxed his fingers and let the log roll off his hand back into the snow. “Let’s get going,” he said with a grunt as he returned to a fully vertical position and slowly turned to face Piper. Immediately, the color drained from the changeling’s face and his eyes went wide in horror.

“W-what?” Piper asked as she began to rub her arms in an attempt to generate some warmth in her arms, which were growing increasingly numb the more they stood around and chatted. Rubbing her arms also kept her from shivering, which was something the woman didn’t enjoy.

“Behind you,” Szar stammered as he lifted a trembling hand.

“Oh… great,” the soldier shouted as she turned around to see the fifteen-foot polar bear standing behind her. The anthropomorphic beast was clad in pink shorts and sunglasses, and it sported a large cigar in its tooth-filled mouth. “What the fu—” before Piper could finish, the oversized bear reeled back a giant hand and casually swatted her away like an overgrown toy. Despite the nonchalant look on the animal’s visage, the force of the smack was enough to pluck Piper off the ground and propel her over thirty feet.

“Not good,” Szar managed to spit out before the tether wrenched him off the ground and sent him smashing through one of the abandoned tents, which shattered like glass beneath his parka-clad figure.

“Morons,” the bear said with a malicious cackle as it began to stroll over to the startled changeling. As it reached down with a clawed hand to snatch up Szar, the alien lashed out and sent a rippling blast of ki into the polar bear’s chest. The attack staggered the massive creature just long enough for the deceased warrior to scramble up to his feet. Once up to his feet, Szar erupted forward in a flash of ki that left an image behind that the bear fruitlessly swung at with a meaty fist.

“That was stupid,” the bear remarked as he glanced down at his feet to see that his rather tasty cigar was now half-buried in the snow. The bear’s lips curled up to reveal his yellowed canines as a deep, guttural growl began to seep through his clenched jaw. Throwing his head back, the snow-white bear let out a horrifying, bestial roar that threatened to bring down the ice caps clinging to the peak of the mountain.

“Quick on your feet,” Piper grunted as she leapt up off the ground. “Run!” She added a second later as the anthropomorphic bear dropped to all four legs and began to stampede toward them

“Don’t need to say that twice,” Szar remarked with wide-eyes as gestured to his left and dashed in said direction a beat later. A beat later, the twosome began a mad dash across the snowy clearing. Up ahead of them, there was a narrow passage between two neighboring cliffs that looked a wee bit too narrow for the overgrown apex predator gaining ground behind them.

“Faster!” Piper screamed as Szar erupted ahead of her with a flash of energy. Glancing behind her shoulder, the woman managed to orb away right before the bear’s claws could eviscerate her.

With a shimmer of lights barely visible among the snowy backdrop, Piper popped back into existence a few feet in front of Szar. Turning around, the woman breathed a sigh of relief when the changeling slid into the small passageway. Pivoting sharply, Szar grabbed the few feet of the tether that trailed behind him and reeled it in before the lunging bear could grab it.

“Outsmarted,” Szar snickered as he threw the rope behind his shoulder and extended both hands. Energy began to coalesce in front of the changeling’s open palms as their enraged attacker pressed itself against the opening and tried to grab at him with an outstretched claw. “Enjoy,” the alien rasped as the two spheres of energy erupted forward—slamming into the bears chest and face and forcing it to retreat in lieu of its inability to reach its targets.

“I’ll be back,” the bear growled as the corners of its mouth curved upward in a sinister grin. “And then I’m going to paint the snow and ice red with your blood,” the creature added as its breathing calmed down and it returned to an erect, human-like stance. And just like that, the bear with the sunglasses and the pink shorts turned around and jogged off to from whence it had come.

“Well that was horribly unpleasant,” Piper remarked nonchalantly as she tried to brush the snow off her parka, but despite her best efforts, most of the snow was already frozen solid. “We need to hurry, because this snow isn’t going anywhere…” the soldier added as she began to rub her arms in a futile effort to warm herself.

“We’re almost to the top,” Szar shot back as he lifted his head up and squinted to see through the haze generated by the immense snowfall. “I think I see the opening to this gorge,” he spoke with a certain degree of youthful delight as he smacked his mittens against his legs to shake off the clumps of snow clinging to the leather. Once his hands were sufficiently free of snow, the changeling quickly began to arduous task of scaling the ice-covered wall.

Looking up, Piper verified what Szar had seen and reacted by reaching out and grabbing one of his boots. With a swirl of white and blue light particles, the twosome vanished from the gorge and then popped back into existence on the rim of the small gorge. The normally stoic changeling managed to get in a pair of steps before he fell onto his knees and vomited what little food and liquid there had been swirling about in his stomach.

“It can be very disorientating the first few times,” Piper remarked as she lifted a hand to cup her forehead. The evidence seemed to indicate that having to take people with her when she teleported was a lot more enfeebling than if it was just her.

The headache will pass… stop dallying. Nodding her head at the voice of reason, Piper lowered her hand and patted Szar on his fuzzy, parka-covered shoulder.

“Take your time,” she muttered with a grin.

[Piper Juunanagou]

Up to this point—massive polar bears, yetis, and ice cracks aside—the trip had been relatively unpleasant without being utterly insufferable. Regrettably, as the peak of the mountain grew larger and larger above the heads of the two climbers, they drew exponentially closer to the breaking point. About ten minutes and a few hundred feet in elevation away from the gorge, the situation slowly began to unravel.

“What?” Piper suddenly inquired aloud as she came to a stop at the foot of a small incline. Looking down at her hands, the woman furrowed her brow as she began to attempt to clench her fingers into fists. Despite how simple the act should have been, she found herself watching as the digits did little more than twitch erratically. Szar, who had spun sharply as if he was expecting another monster to attack them, soon found himself staring at the woman’s strange behavior.

“What’s going on?” The changeling inquired after watching the woman gawk at her hands for a few more seconds. “Yes, you have hands…can we please resume our little wilderness expedition? I’d like to reach the summit before our friend the two tons of furry, white death stalks us down again,” Szar barked as he put his own hands on his hips and turned his rather irritated gaze up to the woman’s face.

“It is me, or does it feel like it’s getting warmer?” Piper asked with a faint smile as she lifted her face to meet the changeling’s gaze. “But why are my hands so unresponsive?” She further questioned as she furrowed her frost-covered eyebrows at her alien companion. There was something different about Szar…

“Did you knock something loose when you stumbled a few minutes ago?” The alien demanded as Piper reached a hand out and pressed it against his face. Instead of irritation, Szar was suddenly wrought with confusion and dread, because he realized he couldn’t feel the mitten pressed against his flesh. “What?” The alien stammered as he pulled back and proceeded to place a hand against his chin. To his horror, the skin was almost ice cold to the touch—far too cold for even his own species. What did that mean for Piper?

“I don’t like that look,” the blonde in the blue parka slurred as she took a stumbling step away from Szar and looked back down at her hands. Grasping at the cuff of her left mitten, she proceeded to wrench the nearly frozen piece of cloth off her hand. Discarding the seemingly useless article of clothing, Piper lifted her exposed hand up to her face and noticed that most of her skin had lost what little pigmentation she’d gained. Even more bizarre, the skin beneath her fingernails had taken on a pleasant shade of blue—as if she’d accidentally applied watered-down nail polish on the wrong side of her nails.

“Well that’s just darling,” Piper muttered incoherently as she twitched her marginally unresponsive digits. The intermittent twitching of her fingers caused a slightly drooping smile to appear on the woman’s face.

“W-w-we nuh-need to hurry,” Szar mumbled as held a palm out and began to concentrate his energy. “The cold is starting to numb our bodies and our minds,” he added with a little more clarity as the orb of sparkling violet energy crackled to life above his ice-caked mitten. Closing his eyes, Szar breathed out slowly and then proceeded to refill his lungs with a deep breath of the frigid mountain air.

“Merp?” The garbled, unintelligible reply fell on deaf ears as Szar clasped his free hand around the wrist of his outstretched hand. As the changeling continued to focus, the orb continued to surge as its strength was gradually augmented by the alien. Lifting her numb hand, the woman extended it toward the swirling sphere of ki and smiled faintly when she felt the warmth of the energy globe tickle at her palm and the undersides of her fingers. “…point,” Piper spoke clearly as she stared into the swirling mass of energy.

“There you two are!” A guttural voice roared from somewhere across the stretch of land the changeling and human had been attempting to traverse for the last few minutes. Despite her excellent vision in the dark, Piper had trouble pinpointing the overgrown white bear amidst the blizzard swirling around their cold, frostnipped bodies.

“Oh no,” Szar shouted as his eyes snapped open. “It’s that bear again,” he grimaced as he let go of his outstretched hand and proceeded to pull the amalgamation of ki a little closer to his body. “Can you see it out there in the storm?” The changeling whispered as he squinted in a vain attempt to scope out the hulking frame of their aggressor.

“No,” Piper spoke softly as she tore off her remaining mitten and began to channel her own energy. As the faint waves of ki began to meld together within the gauntlet’s disc the woman felt the feeling start to return to her extremities. With a smirk, the soldier clenched her fist and watched as an obsidian sphere of energy welled up between her closed fingers. If it hadn’t been for the thunderous gait of the polar bear zeroing in from their right, the Sentinel probably could have stared at the warm, pulsing mass of energy for the indiscernible future.

Instead of that, Piper’s head snapped in the direction of the noise, but before she could launch her attack, Szar beat her to the punch. The scintillating orb of energy rocketed forward, narrowly missing the woman’s head as it rocketed toward its destination. As before, the polar bear did little to evade or defend against the attack, but this time, the highly condescended blast of energy was more than enough to shatter the charging beasts’ equilibrium and cause it to crash sideways into the deep snow.

“Take that,” Szar growled beneath his breath as he glared at the collapsed mass of white fur in the snow. Unfortunately for the arrogance of the changeling, the polar bear let out an irritated groan and began to rise up into a bipedal stance. As it rose up, Piper and her companion both noted that the broken remains of its sunglasses were cradled in one of its gargantuan paws.

“Those were five hundred dollar sunglasses, asshole,” the polar bear spoke with a heavy frown as it discarded the ruined remnants of its shades.

Now! Acting on that screaming voice of desperation, Piper chucked the black mass of energy at the chest of the bear. The small ball smacked the creature’s furry chest and then proceeded to start falling to the ground. With a smug look on its face, the bear crouched down and caught the seemingly solid mass of energy before it struck the ground.

Just as the bear opened its mouth to make a snide comment, the sphere in its hand erupted. The condensed explosions tore through everything in its path, reducing the mountain monster’s arm and a gratuitous portion of its ventral side into chunks of gore. When the light layer of smoke was whisked away by a breeze of wind, Piper and Szar noted that the ivory snow had been painted a vibrant shade of red. At the epicenter of the radius of ensanguined snow, what remained of the bear sat in a ghastly, smoldering heap.

“Beautiful,” the changeling murmured as he shook his exposed hands to keep the blood from freezing up in his capillaries.

“What?” Piper asked—her expression indicative of the confusion she experienced upon hearing the seemingly masochistic remark.

“Strategy,” the alien replied as he glanced over at the woman. “That was a beautiful strategy to catch the bear off guard.”

“Oh,” the solider responded before staving down the urge to confess that she hadn’t expected the condensed orb to explode in that manner. “I, uh, figured it best to prey upon its arrogance,” Piper lied as she stuffed her bare hand into the fold of her parka. Her gauntleted fist, despite being covered in whatever skintight metal the device was made from, was far less affected by exposure to the elements.

“Hey look, the storm is clearing,” the changeling whispered as the snowfall that had plagued the two for most of their ascent began to thin. As the veritable veil of snow cleared and eventually yielded to nothing more than a few free-floating whips, both the human and her alien comrade smiled at what they saw revealed to them—

—the summit.

Their goal was now clearly in sight, and even better, it was only a hundred or so feet above their heads. One way or another, the twosome’s trek up the mountain was drawing to a close. It was that wonderful concept that stirred Piper and Szar to shake the frost and numbness out of their limbs and resume their slog up the frozen, monster-infested peak.

[Kill Town]

Gamer hated Nintendo with a passion.

It wasn’t so much what they did, normally, but rather what they didn’t do. Unless it involved horribly dated 2-D graphics, they couldn’t even deliver with the quality of the hardware. Even cult classics like the original Super Mario Bros, or Legend of Zelda couldn’t even provide him respite anymore, although he had given the old systems one last ride during the months it took him to construct the graphic simulator. One such game he had played was Ice Breakers, or…something. He had Baller double-check the title and enter it in the system before shipping him off to his next event.

The game itself didn’t exactly deliver, but the event fashioned after it was…better.

Interesting, even, in some respects. Keith almost wished that he had spent more time choosing the contestants, as there were some sure-fire entertainment with some of the possible pairings—Szar and Orion came to his mind upon retrospect—but those he had placed into the event were proceeding just fine. Who would have guessed that forcing an alien-human relationship would have created so much intrigue?

Szar and Piper had been working together beautifully. It was almost sickening, in a way, to see some of the compliments that they had shot each other during their polar bear conquering exploits. They had apparently known each other from an encounter before, and although they didn’t project to exactly be “chummy,” there they were, acting like BFF’s and not as though they were being forced to work together to survive. It was disappointed in the regard, Gamer supposed, but their encounters with their bear enemies more than made up for any transgression.

“You doing okay back there?” Piper inquired of her partner.

“I’m doing fine,” Szar nodded. “Actually…it’s been pretty peaceful ever since that last polar bear.”

“Yeah, a girl could get used to this,” the medic nodded. Looking off to the side a little bit, she clicked her tongue. “Oh hey, look at that in the bushes. A snow mobile.”

“Wonderful,” the changeling replied.

The pair strolled over to the vehicle. Piper whipped a leg over the seat and positioned herself so that she could drive comfortably. Looking back at her friend, she smiled. “You ready?”

“Yes,” he returned the smile with one of his own. As they drove off, he couldn’t help but sigh. “I wonder how the other group is fairing.”


“OH MY GOD, RUN!” Ashe screamed, dragging Alura off of her back and rushing them both towards the summit. Behind her were half a dozen sunglasses-wearing polar bears, each carrying an uzi. “WHERE DID THEY GET THOSE GUNS!?”

“I didn’t even know bears could hold guns!” Alura shouted back in a similar frenzied tone. The lizard and the teenager ducked under the fire, running in a zig zag pattern, looped around trees and large rocks, and anything else that they could think of to avoid getting lit up by the oncoming bullets. Eventually, the summit was in sight, and it was only a straight shot towards victory.

“We can make it!” Ashe said, doing her best to reassure both herself and her partner. As she got within a few steps, she felt her partner pull hard on their bindings. Ashe winced, assuming the worst but utterly afraid to look behind her. As she made it to the top of the mountain, the bears turned around and began to leave, suddenly forgetful of their purpose. Ahead, huddled around a flag, Szar and Piper sat on their snow mobile, sipping out of tea cups.

They ignored Ashe’s intense glare. Szar laughed. “Can you believe it? We found a compartment in this machine that had iced tea in it. This is the best event ever.”

“But hey, you look upset,” Piper frowned, removing her eyes from the struggling teen to Alura’s bullet-riddled corpse lying next to her. “Oh God.”

1st: Szar and Piper – 40 monies
3rd: Ashe – 20 monies
Alura has been relocated to the prison. She’s not dead, her “in-game death” was merely her means of elimination.