Cisco ducked just in time, and the spear of ice sliced past him, so close he could feel the chill radiating off it. A deep thunk told him it had impaled a tree - not the first one to get speared by ice in this fight.

He threw a boom and saw her dodge, pale hair flying. When she threw her next ice spear, he gambled on a theory and threw a boom straight at it.

It flowered apart, shards flying off sideways so not even a bit of it reached him.

Yes.

But now she was really pissed. She hurled fistfuls of ice, like shotgun pellets except cold and sharp and ow. That was a new and unwelcome technique since the last time they'd thrown down. He tossed up a wave of vibrations to knock them aside, but some of them made it through, pelting his face and hands with stinging pain.

"Give up!" she yelled.

"No!" he shouted back. He had to win this.

She paced the edge of the clearing like some predatory animal. Her eyes glowed creepily in the semi-darkness. She circled her hands together as if putting together an invisible -

Oh, shit.

The snowball hit him square in the face, filling his mouth with snow. He took a step back, and his foot skidded on a sudden patch of ice. He went down so hard it knocked him breathless. As his head cleared and he coughed pinkish ice water onto the ground, he knew his time was up.

She sauntered over to him, her blue lips twisted up in a smirk, mist spilling off her hands. "… eight Mississippi, nine Mississippi, ten."

He swallowed, breathing hard. Snow dripped off his face.

"So," she panted, holding her hand out. The mist dissolved. "That's - best two out of three - by my count."

He wiped his face, took her hand, and got to his feet. "How about - three out of - five?" he asked between gulps of air. He pulled his goggles off and wiped the lenses clean.

She crossed her arms, grinning at him. "Nuh-uh - face it - Vibe. You're springing for the post-training pizza."

He accepted his fate and pulled out his phone, opening the app. "Okay. So. We got one large, half mushroom and sausage, half Hawaiian on a - " he paused to roll his eyes. "Whole wheat crust."

"How about two mediums?"

He raised his brows at her.

"What? I'm hungry! We've been running around this park for hours!"

"Two mediums it is," he said. Sweet. Now she could have her healthy crust and he could get the cheesy garlic. He added two drinks to the order and set it to pickup. They could grab it on the way back to Star.

"Salad, too," she added. "We should have some vegetables."

"Caitlin," he said, swiping back to add one salad. "I keep telling you. There are veggies on the pizza."

"I'm not making you eat salad," she retorted. "Although you should really - "

"Hmm, hmmm, can't hear you, already placed the order." He stuffed his phone back in his pocket.

"Oh my god!" She grabbed his chin. "Cisco, you have blood in your mouth!"

"Hmm?" He ran his tongue around his teeth, which did taste kind of coppery now that he thought about it. "Oh, I think I bit my cheek at some point."

She relaxed. Her fingers were cool, but not too much cooler than usual. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He found his water bottle next to a tree, took a mouthful, swished, and spit. "Yep. Fine." He tilted his head back to study her. "I noticed you pulling a little on your right side. Did you jam your shoulder when I took you down last match?"

"Oh, that, no. I mean, I did land on it, but I shook it off before we got started again. It's just, I think I'm hyperextending when I throw icicles, so I'm trying to fix my technique. My shoulder and elbow have been really sore after the last few sessions."

As she rolled her shoulder and shook her arm out, he reminded himself not to feel bad. Their training sessions had been all pulling punches and apologizing for every little bruise, right up until a meta had wiped the floor with them because they hadn't been training to their fullest potential. They'd promised each other that training sessions were full-out from now on, and they'd fix each other up after and not feel guilty. Mostly Cisco succeeded in that last part.

"Maybe you should ice them," he suggested brightly.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Ha, ha. Am I normal again?"

"Still got a few stripes in your hair, but your eyes and lips are fine." He was almost used to her glowing white eyes when she went full Frost now. The lips still low-key freaked him out. Just, blue lips, yanno? It wasn't supposed to be something you saw on a living person. "Nice job with the ice pellets," he added.

She brightened. "You like that? I've been playing with that. I can pull them together much faster than an icicle even if it doesn't have the same power."

"Yeah, but they stung like crazy. No blood though," he assured her quickly, showing her the backs of his hands. They were peppered with red marks but the skin was intact.

"You blocked most of it with your sound wall. That's coming along."

"Right? Some of yours got through, though, so I don't think the coverage was even." He frowned a little.

She found their coats, hanging from a couple of trees. "We can practice back at Star Labs." She passed his coat over to him.

Although the temperature had fallen along with the sun, he didn't really need it. Not after two and a half hours playing Ambush among the trees and three full-bore rounds of Down for Ten. But he put it on over his Vibe jacket anyway. Last thing they needed was someone spotting them in their full suits as they left the park. Kind of ruined the superhero mystique if people saw them getting into a crappy Honda Civic, bickering about the radio station.

"With, like, ping-pong balls or something, okay?" he told her. "I wasn't kidding when I said they stung like a mofo."

"Ping-pong balls it is," she said. "Do we have some?"

"We've got to. Oh, oh, hey, what if we filmed your icicle technique? I'm thinking it's more javelin than my booms. Those are, like, shotput."

Her eyes lit up - in the usual way, not the Frosty way. "Oh, and once I figure that out, there have to be some sports medicine resources that will help me with my form. You, too, if you want it. Yes! Let's do it."

He slung his arm around her shoulders. "After pizza."

She grinned at him. A strand of still-blond hair stuck to the gleam of sweat at her temples, slowly fading back to brown. "After pizza."

FINIS