"My, my, dearest Ina-yuki," the being peered through the crystal ball smirked as she amusingly watched the snow start to intensify on Axle City with every passing minute. "Yes… feel your rage… let the fjord come… let your powers grow… for soon, it will lead you back… to me,"
X
"Wa-hoo!"
"Yeah-heh!"
"Rawrr!"
"Daring-TOOON!"
"Yee-haw!"
"ZEG!"
"Ya-hoo!"
"Alright!"
The Blazing Team cheered as they drove across the jungle, heading towards Axle City.
Since the race was cancelled that morning, the group decided to take a rest and head off to the jungle for a zoom-about. Now, it was almost afternoon, and after a quick lunch at Stripes's place, they were heading back to the Monster Dome to race.
As they did, however, a chilly wind met them on their travel, causing Zeg to shiver.
"Brr!" he shuddered. "That cold!"
"Cold wind? On a Summer Day?" Gabby frowned as she looked up at the now grey and cloudy sky. "That… doesn't sound right,"
"And since when does it snow during Summer?" Watts asked, looking up to see snow fall from the sky.
"Woah!" Blaze skidded to a stop, as did the others. "Huh, that IS strange,"
"How could there be snow?!" Darington was confused. "It was BURNING hot just this morning!"
"This CAN'T be normal," Stripes said.
"And it looks like the snow is gettin' worse the closer we get to Axle City!" Starla observed.
"We better get back fast!" AJ told them.
"Right," Blaze nodded in agreement. "AJ, give me some speed!"
The boy stepped on the acceleration then the group all zoomed off towards their city. When it came into view, however, they were horrified with what they saw.
The entire city was frozen over with frost, snow and ice. All the buildings were frosted over, all the streets were ice and every truck was gathered together, shivering at the cold and trying to warm themselves up. Snow fell hard from the grey, darkened sky, each snowflake looking bigger and falling faster than the last.
"What happened?!" Darington's jaw dropped.
"Stripes, do you know what's going on here?" Gabby turned to the tiger truck.
"I… I don't believe it…" Stripes was speechless as he stared at the city.
"Why?" Blaze asked. "What happened to the city?"
"The city… it's been cursed into an Eternal Winter…"
X
Crusher came out of his room, feeling much more relaxed than earlier after some peace and quiet, and also a nap.
The air was cold and chilly when he woke up, which was odd because it was still Summer, but it felt relaxing that he just shrugged it off.
He should have been more suspicious of it, though.
"Pickle?" he looked around the dining room to find his best friend. "Where did you go?"
"I-In the living room, Crusher!" Pickle's voice echoed from the other room.
"Pickle?" Crusher frowned at the shivering voice of the green truck as he drove to the living room to find his best friend in front of the lit-up fireplace. "What are you doing?"
"W-Warming up!" Pickle shivered as he rubbed his tires together towards the flames of the fire. "Brr!"
"Warming up?" Crusher looked confused. "Is it… that cold? I don't feel anything,"
"Yeah, it's that cold," Pickle nodded. "It's like a blizzard out there!"
"It… is?" Crusher drove to the window and opened it.
He gasped as a burst of cold air met him, blowing out the fireplace. Pickle yelped before continuing to shiver. Crusher shut the window then he grabbed the blanket and set it around the green truck.
"Th-Thanks, big fella," Pickle gave him a weak smile.
"No problem," Crusher returned the smile before glancing out the window again. "Huh, weird. How is it snowing in Summer?"
"I… I don't know," Pickle let out an icy breath as he spoke. "Man, it's REALLY chilly in here…"
"I'll light up the fireplace again," Crusher offered as he grabbed the match and lit it up before setting it on the pile of wood.
A tiny flame appeared. He lowered down and tried to give make it bigger by blowing against it. Just as he did, the flame turned into ice at the contact with his breath.
"What the?!" Crusher jumped back in shock.
"W-What? What is it?" Pickle asked, dragging himself to the other.
"I… what… the flame…" Crusher shook his head and stared down at the wood in horror. "The fire turned to ice! What the hell?!"
"Woah!" Pickle gasped. "You have ice powers?!"
"No, NO! That can't be!" Crusher shook his head frantically. "Maybe… Maybe it's just cold! So cold that it made the flame freeze!"
"I don't know, Crusher…" Pickle frowned. "Do you even feel how cold it is? It's freezing, and you're standing around like it's a perfectly normal temperature,"
"…good point," Crusher sighed in admission. "But I still won't believe it!"
"Hmm…" Pickle looked around then he motioned to the couch. "How about you try to freeze the couch?"
"Fine," Crusher grumbled, flicking his tire towards the sofa. "but it's not gonna—"
A gust of frost suddenly appeared from his tire, and the couch was frozen in ice in mere seconds. This caused the dark blue truck to yelp in shock and the green truck to gasp in amazement.
"Wow!" Pickle squealed. "You DO have snow powers!"
"But how?!" Crusher was in confusion as he glanced down at his tires in horror. "I've felt the cold a lot of times before! How did this happen?!"
"Huh, I don't know either," Pickle said before grinning. "Ooh! Maybe it's one of those things were you get your special power by your 18th birthday!"
"You think…?" Crusher looked unsure.
"Well, it's the most obvious one so far, so… eh," Pickle shrugged.
"W-Wait, that would also mean…" Crusher's eyes widened in horror. "…oh shoot,"
"What? What's wrong?" Pickle tilted his head, confused.
"It… It was still pretty hot this morning… then I got mad… and a blizzard suddenly came…" Crusher gulped. "Pickle, what if… what if I brought the blizzard…? What if I… I froze the whole city?! And cursed it in Eternal Winter?!"
"Woah, woah," Pickle grabbed him by the shoulders to stop him from ranting and panicking. "easy there, big fella. First of all, we don't know if it's true. Second, if it IS true then we both know that this is all an accident. And third, we… wouldn't wanna make the blizzard worse now, do we?"
"R-Right," Crusher took a deep breath and nodded. "Right, right. But what do we do? What do I do?! I don't know how to take back the Winter!"
"Hmm…" Pickle thought for a moment. "Ooh! Ooh! I know! Maybe we can ask Stripes! He knows all about magic and stuff!"
"Oh NO, NO, NO!" Crusher shook his head immediately. "If he or any of the others, especially Blaze, find out that I was the one froze the city, WHO KNOWS WHAT THEY'LL DO!"
"Okay, OKAY," Pickle sighed, shuddering as he heard the wind blow harder and watched the snow fall faster through the frosted window. "We won't tell the others yet, but maybe we can go to them in case they need help fixing the weather…? I mean, they're gonna find out about it sooner or later—"
"… I guess you're right," Crusher sighed and nodded. "but how are you gonna be able to stand the cold? I mean, I can't feel it, but YOU can,"
"Oh, right," Pickle hummed in thought. "Ooh! Ooh! Maybe YOU can give me something to keep me warm! I've seen it in the movies. Maybe it'll work!"
"You think?" Crusher raised an eyebrow, looking unsure. "I'm not so sure, Pickle… I don't even know how to use my… this curse,"
"Crusher, it's 'powers', not a curse," Pickle frowned.
"Really? Tell it to the dozen monster machines struggling to keep warm out there,"
"Oh, Crusher," Pickle shook his head. "Can you at least try?"
"Alright, alright," Crusher groaned and closed his eyes, raising his tire up. "Let's see if I can—"
He flicked his tires around as he concentrated, allowing a burst of snow and ice magic to appear out and surround Pickle. The green truck gasped in amazement as the icy blue and white magic gave him a green snow cap, a lime green scarf, a thick, dark green jacket, and pale green snow-proof tires, each of them covered in light snowflakes for designs.
"Wow!" Pickle squealed, twirling around excitedly. "This is amazing, Crusher!"
"Really…?" Crusher opened his eyes before his eyes widened to see Pickle, his face reddening. "W-Woah… you… you look amazing…"
"Thanks!" Pickle giggled as a stone of crystal appeared on his head, emerged with his snow cap. "Ooh! Pretty crystal!"
"What kind of crystal is that…?" Crusher questioned, reaching out to gently take it into his tires.
As soon as he did, however, Pickle began to shudder and grit his teeth. The dark blue truck got alarmed and placed the crystal back. The green truck let out a sigh as warmth came back to him.
"That's much better…"
"Okay, okay!" Crusher hissed. "That… thing is keeping you warm. That's good to know,"
"Maybe we should get some for the others?" Pickle suggested. "We can just say that we just found those crystals by coincidence!"
"I… I don't think that's such a good idea, Pickle," Crusher shook his head. "They'll find it weird that I'M not wearing a crystal,"
"Huh, good point," Pickle gave it a thought before grinning. "Ooh, I've got an idea…"
X
"S-So what do you think is g-going on, S-Stripes?" Darington's teeth chattered as he spoke, even when they were all wearing warm clothes to warm them up, while they all gathered at Stripes's treehouse to shelter from the fjord. "H-How did the city get cursed into an eternal winter?!"
"I'm l-looking through it," Stripes hissed at the cold as he flipped through his Encyclopedia of Magic. "I-It says here that an eternal w-winter can only be c-casted and r-removed by a powerful snow-wielder… like… like the Snow Queen,"
"Th-The Snow Queen?" Watts tilted her head, also shivering. "Wh-Who's that?"
"A-According to this, th-the Snow Queen is a… a powerful being with a h-heart as cold a-as ice…" Stripes stuttered as he read through the book. "She… She can freeze cities and c-create blizzards that could… that could destroy civilizations in a second,"
"Yikes!" Blaze shuddered. "D-Do you really think th-the Snow Queen froze our city?"
"B-But why would she d-do that?" AJ asked as he hugged himself to keep himself warm. "W-We have never even m-met the S-Snow Queen,"
"I… I'm not sure," Stripes shuddered. "B-But I do know th-that only she can break a curse th-this strong!"
"Th-Then let's go find her!" Gabby declared.
"But where Snow Queen?" Zeg asked with a slight shiver.
"A-According to this, she is in—"
"Hey, guys!"
The group turned to see Pickle and Crusher entering the treehouse, all bundled up in warm clothing. They each had a crystal on their snow caps, which glistened under the light of the treehouse.
"C-Crusher! P-Pickle!" Blaze drove over to them with a shiver. "W-What are you guys doing here?"
"Crazy weather change," Pickle motioned to the blizzard outside. "so we figured Stripes had something to help fix it!"
"B-But why aren't ya fellas cold?" Starla shuddered. "We're all bundled up, and we're STILL turnin' into truck-sicles!"
"I kn-know why!" Stripes gasped. "Th-Those crystals on their caps are m-magical crystals that shelters the c-cold from a body! Wh-Where did you guys g-get those?!"
"Found them yesterday at the park before we went home," Pickle replied with a shrug. "We didn't know they were magic!"
"Lucky us," Crusher faked a shudder. "It would have been really cold, and Pickle knows how much I hate the cold,"
"D-Did you guys happen to find m-more crystals?" Watts asked with a hiss as another gust of cold wind came from the window.
"Sure did!" Pickle nodded and took out a tire full of magic crystals. "Here!"
"Th-Thanks, Pickle!" Blaze smiled as they all got one crystal each and placed it on their snow caps.
In an instant, the cold seemed to have vanished from their feeling, causing them to sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness to these crystals!" Stripes said as he took his book into his tires. "Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah! According to this, the Snow Queen lives in a hidden kingdom, far North,"
"Then that's where we're going!" Blaze declared.
"Yeah!" AJ agreed.
"Wait, wait, Snow Queen?" Pickle was confused. "Hidden Kingdom? What's going on?"
"Stripes says that this fjord was caused by someone with magic as strong as the Snow Queen's!" Darington told them.
"So Stripes say that friends need to go to Snow Queen to save Axle City!" Zeg added.
"The Snow who?" Pickle tilted his head as Crusher stiffened.
His magic was as strong as the Snow Queen? THE Snow Queen? The one that his Grammy had warned him of that was cold-hearted and dangerous?
HIS POWERS WERE AS POWERFUL AS HER'S ?! HOW?!
"The Snow Queen's a magical, dangerous being that could destroy countries with her storms and fjords," Stripes explained. "A fjord this big could only be caused by her or someone who has similar powers to her,"
Pickle tensed. Crusher and this… Snow Queen had the same powers??? Well that was concerning.
Concerning and… intriguing…
"D-Do you guys have a clue on who froze the city?" Crusher managed to stutter, trying to keep his fast-beating heart steady.
"Not yet," Blaze shook his head. "We were out of the city for the whole morning,"
"Did you guys see anything?" Gabby asked.
"Nope!" Pickle shook his head. "Crusher went back to bed after I told him that there was no race, and I cleaned up the dishes,"
"Neither of us left the house," Crusher agreed with a nod.
"Then maybe you can help us ask the Snow Queen to unfreeze the city," AJ suggested.
"Ooh! Ooh! We'd be GLAD to help!" Pickle grinned, pulling on the dark blue truck with a giggle and a glance. "Right, Crusher?!"
"R-Right!" Crusher faked a grin, seeing the look in the green truck's eyes.
"Alright, Stripes, where's this hidden kingdom of the Snow Queen again?" Starla asked, turning to the tiger truck.
"Far North, is all the book told me," Stripes sighed as he kept the book. "but it'll be a good start,"
"Right," Blaze nodded. "And if we start now, we'll be able to make it there by nightfall or by tomorrow, right?"
"Uh…" Stripes shrugged. "I honestly don't know, but we'll see what happens,"
"Yes!" Darington beamed. "Let's go North!"
With that, the group all zoomed out of the treehouse. Only Pickle and Crusher stayed behind a little bit longer.
"P-Pickle…" the dark blue truck hissed.
"I know, I know," Pickle assured him with a smile. "They won't find out. We'll just… have to lay low while following them. Besides, this Snow Queen might know why you have the same powers as you! We'll be able to figure things out!"
"And get rid of my powers!" Crusher's eyes lit up in hope. "You're a genius, P!"
"O-Oh! I… wait," Pickle glanced at him in disbelief. "You're planning to 'get rid' of your powers? Crusher, those are YOURS!"
"But what if they're a curse?" Crusher said. "What if she can cure me from this curse? Though I seriously doubt that she'll even bother to help…"
"How do you know?"
"Grammy… she… she told me stories of the Snow Queen," Crusher sighed. "Told me how cold-hearted she was… How she killed all those she saw…"
"Oh," Pickle gulped. "Now I see the problem,"
"Yep," Crusher let out a sigh. "Pickle, do you think…?"
"Think… what?" Pickle looked confused.
"I… never mind," Crusher shook his head. "Let's just go and catch up to the others before they get suspicious,"