"Oh, yes, my precious Ina-yuki…" the mysterious figure cackled and grinned as she watched everything unfold through her crystal ball. "Your powers are growing quite nicely! Any more, and you will be here… by my side… and soon ready to take over the world with me…"

X

The group had zoomed over North, driving farther and farther away from their frozen city.

Much to Crusher's dismay, the fjord was spreading outward, and the jungles and forests outside of Axle City were also covered in snow. Because of that, they had no choice but to keep their warm clothes and the crystals on.

During the journey, Crusher and Pickle dragged themselves behind the group, with the green truck doing his best to distract the group while the dark blue truck was trying to cast a spell to reverse the storm.

Easier said than done, of course.

There had been a few close calls, of course, but thankfully, the surroundings were cold and snowy enough to be excused as a coincidence.

After a while, night had began to fall, and the group had to seek shelter. Luckily, they managed to find a cave big enough to fit them all.

"And that… should… do it!" Stripes sighed in relief as he lit up the campfire. "There! That should last us all night,"

"Thank goodness," Starla let out a sigh as Watts cuddled up to her. "My tires were gettin' tired from trekking all day!"

"Are these crystals going to last all the way to the Snow Queen's Kingdom?" Darington asked the tiger truck, snuggling up to Blaze, who had him locked in his tires to help with the warmth.

"They should," Stripes nodded. "These ice crystals usually last decades,"

"That relief," Zeg spoke, laying down as AJ and Gabby sat his sides. "but Zeg hungry now,"

"Me too…" Watts moaned, feeling her stomach grumble.

"Same," Darington whimpered.

"Don't worry, guys, we've got some food supplies," Blaze assured them as he brought out a sack of fruit that he and Stripes had collected for the trip.

"Yes! FOOD!" Starla licked her lips as the sack was passed, causing her to grab the first apple she saw inside. "Man, I thought we were gonna starve out here in the cold!"

"Nah, we've come prepared!" Stripes declared, reaching in for an orange before passing it.

The group each got a fruit as the sack was passed. Only Pickle didn't because he had his own food supplies (cough, pickles, cough). Crusher got a peach and began to munch as the tiger truck skimmed through his book.

"Hmm…"

"What's wrong, Stripes?" AJ asked, biting into a banana.

"Nothing… it's just…" Stripes hissed. "It says here that the Hidden Snow Kingdom is a tricky place to find. There are lots of landmarks that we still need to pass in able to know that we're getting closer to the kingdom,"

"What landmarks?" Gabby questioned.

"Well, FIRST, we need to go over the Mountain of Snow Wolves," Stripes replied.

"What that?" Zeg tilted his head, chewing on a mango.

"According to this, it's a mountain infested with snow wolves, which are dangerous beings that could blend in with the snow and could pop out of nowhere," Stripes explained, reading from the pages. "It also says that the snow wolves respond to warm blooded, living beings like us, so we have to be super quiet if we pass their den,"

"Good warning," Blaze nodded. "What's the next?"

"After passing the Mountain of the Snow Wolves, we'll have to go to the Ice Crystal Forest, the most fragile forest in all the land," Stripes answered. "One loud noise, and everything in the forest might tumble and collapse on all of us!"

"Yikes!" Darington gulped. "How do we pass the forest then?"

"We'll have to drive as quietly as we can," Blaze said, causing everyone to nod.

"Is there another landmark, Stripes?" Watts questioned.

"There's the last one," Stripes nodded as he read. "It's called the Lost Village,"

"Why is it called the Lost Village?" Pickle asked.

"It says here that years ago, the Lost Village had once been a striving village… until the Snow Queen came, kidnapped all the children and froze the entire village,"

Crusher tensed. She 'froze the entire village'? The sentence gave the dark blue truck the harsh feeling of nostalgia.

"Oh no!" AJ gasped.

"Where the children alright?" Starla asked. "Did anyone outside the village rescue 'em?"

"No," Stripes shook his head. "The kids were all turned into ice statues and placed all over the village by the Snow Queen, as a warning to stay away,"

Everyone shuddered at that. Freezing a village and killing children? That was dark, too dark for them to handle.

Crusher's fear rose, and before he knew it, he was beginning to freeze the peach in his tire as the wind grew stronger outside of the cave.

Pickle managed to see the frozen peach and sucked a breath to keep himself from yelling and alarming the others. Instead, he moved nearer to the dark blue truck and motioned to the freezing fruit.

Crusher gulped and quickly threw the fruit away before whispering, "Thanks,"

"No problem," Pickle smiled and snuggled up to the dark blue truck. "Might wanna calm down to not worsen the blizzard, though,"

"Right," Crusher took a deep breath, and both let out sighs of relief as they heard the wind calmed down.

"Stripes, the Snow Queen doesn't sound too friendly," Gabby pointed out.

"How are we going to ask her to help us when she's done all those?" Starla questioned.

"Maybe she changed over the years," Blaze spoke. "We won't know until we see it for ourselves!"

"I'm not so sure, B…" Darington grimaced before sighing. "but if it means freeing Axle City from the fjord, I guess we should at least try,"

"Yeah!" AJ agreed. "For Axle City!"

"YEAH!" the rest of the group cheered, raising their tires in unison before bursting out into laughter.

And the rest of the night was filled with hope as they rested for their journey.

X

{Next Day}

"Ugh, are we there yet?" Crusher whined as they drove through the snow-capped plain.

"Argh!" Starla snarled, already annoyed by the dark blue truck's whining. "One more, Crusher, and I'm gonna LOSE IT!"

"Hey, I'm just asking!" Crusher defended. "Is it bad to ask?!"

"It's 'bad' when you keep asking it every hour or minute!" Starla glared at the dark blue truck.

"Starship, take it easy," Watts grabbed her girlfriend gently.

"Is it bad to complain?" Crusher huffed as he crossed his tires. "It's not my fault that my tires are already tired,"

"Well, according to the map, the Mountain of the Snow Wolves should be right… here!" Stripes pointed forward, and the group gasped to see a tall, TALL mountain covered in snow from top to bottom.

"Woah!" Darington's jaw dropped. "That's really, REALLY high!"

"How are we suppose to climb that thing?!" Crusher exclaimed. "It looks impossible!"

"Of COURSE it's possible, Crusher!" Blaze smiled. "We just need to start hiking, and hope to make it on the other side before sunset,"

"Oh, wow, that's reassuring…" Crusher sighed and face-palmed.

"Come on, Crusher, enough complaining and more climbing!" Gabby urged.

Crusher shook his head but didn't bother to say anything as the rest of them went off to start. Pickle was the only one who stayed.

"Crusher, you alright?"

"I… I don't know, Pickle," Crusher grimaced. "I just… other than my tires are very, VERY exhausted, I have a… slightly bad feeling about this. What if I lose control and wake up the Snow Wolves by accident?"

"Oh, Crusher, I'm sure that won't happen," Pickle reassured him as he held onto his tire.

"How do you know? My powers are so unpredictable!" Crusher let out a hiss.

At his frustration, the wind suddenly picked up, stronger than it was from the previous night. Along with it was snow falling down from the sky.

Pickle glanced up and gasped. "Uh, Crusher, I don't think we need another blizzard,"

"Wh-What?" Crusher looked up as well, and his fear peaked. "Oh, no no no, not again!"

"Crusher, calm down," Pickle grabbed him by the shoulders as the snowflakes came harder and harder. "Take a deep breath, and calm down,"

Crusher did as he said, taking in as much air as he can before letting out slowly. He did it a couple of times, his heart beginning to beat back to normal as the snowflakes were slowly reduced.

"There, that's it…" Pickle sighed in relief at the sight of the snowflakes lessening before turning back to him. "You better now?"

"Yeah... I think so." Crusher let out a sigh of relief. "But see what I mean? My powers are too unpredictable,"

"Just keep calm and hold my tire. Everything will be okay."

"I... alright," Crusher let out a shaky breath, holding onto his tire.

With that, the duo drove after the others to catch up to them.

X

"Oh, my dearest Ina-yuki..." the mysterious being chuckled. "So much to learn, so little time, but don't worry about your powers..." She held out a tire and sprinkled crystals onto her crystal ball. "This should help with those wolves... not so much for your precious friends, though..."

X

The group managed to make it almost to the top of the Mountain of the Snow Wolves. They soon made it to the cave where the snow wolves were sleeping.

"Snow wolves..." Pickle whispered.

"We just need to stay quiet," Blaze reminded them.

"Right," Stripes said. "Follow me."

They crept up after the tiger truck. They stayed as quiet as they could as they went through the giant sleeping wolves. As he followed behind, Crusher noticed crystals falling from the cave ceiling.

"Ohhhhhh no..."

The crystals soon reached some of the wolves, causing one to wake up with a growl.

"Guys...?!" Crusher gulped. "Run... run now...!"

"Huh?" the group turned and gasped to see the wolves waking up, one by one.

"Hurry!" Crusher urged, zipping off.

They all screamed as they dashed through the cave. More wolves began to wake up as they neared the exit.

"Jump! Hurry!" Stripes yelled.

In Crusher's panic, ice slipped out of his tires, causing the floor to suddenly turn to ice as they tried to jump. The group began to slip on the ice.

"Woah!"

"Where did this come from?!" AJ asked.

"Crusher..." Pickle murmured as he and the dark blue gulped.

Suddenly, the biggest Snow Wolf woke up with a yawn. It jumped in front of them, blocking their way to the exit before towering over the group.

"Well, we lunch..." Zeg gulped.

The Snow Wolf glanced over at them with savage golden eyes. It's gaze soon went to Crusher, causing it's ears to lift up as it sniffed the air before going down to sniff the ice.

"What is it doing?" Starla asked.

The Snow Wolf raised it's head and glanced at Crusher one more time before bowing and turning away to lead the other snow wolves back into slumber.

"Uh... why did that wolf bow at me?" Crusher asked.

"I don't know..." Stripes flipped through his book for an explanation. "Says here that they only respond to ice creatures,"

"Maybe it sense your cold heart?" Starla teased.

"Starla!" Blaze fussed.

"What? I'm just kidding!"

"But it really is weird," Darington observed.

"On the bright side, the exit is clear!" Watts pointed out.

"Then let's go before those wolves change their minds," Gabby said.

The group jumped to their tires and zoomed to the exit. They managed to head down the mountain without any further delay or obstacle to stop them. Finally, they reached the bottom.

"We made it!" AJ sighed.

"Thank goodness to that," Darington let out a sigh.

"How long before we reach that forest?" Blaze asked.

"Just a few miles," Stripes said, glancing at the map inside the book. "This way!"

As the group went forward, Pickle turned to confront Crusher.

"Crush, do you know what happened with the Snow Wolves?"

"Not a clue, no," Crusher shook his head. "I have no idea why they suddenly bowed to me, but... I think I have a theory,"

"A theory?"

"I... What if..." Crusher sighed and shook his head. "Never mind. It's silly and stupid,"

"I just... what if... I'm related to the Snow Queen," Crusher grimaced at his own hesitation. "Do you... Do you think it would make sense?"

"Honestly? Yeah, it does," Pickle nodded.

"Ugh, this is all so confusing," Crusher let out a sigh. "but I told you that my powers were hard to control. I almost got us eaten by the snow wolves!"

"You mean the ice?" Pickle shook his head. "Crusher, that was an accident,"

"I know, but... still..."

"Crusher, look at me," Pickle held his tires in his own. "It was an accident, and no one would blame you for it, even if they knew,"

"Well... I guess..."

"Good!" Pickle beamed. "Now come on! Let's follow after the others!"

He then dragged Crusher off to catch up with their group.

X

"Just a few steps closer, my Ina-yuki~" the mysterious being grinned. "but let's make things interesting, shall we?~" She hovered her tires over the crystal ball. "Creatures of ice crystals, rise in my command..."

X

"Here we are!" Stripes cried out as they made it to the Ice Crystal Forest.

"It's beautiful!" Blaze gasped quietly. "But be careful, guys. Nice, slow and quiet."

"Got it," the others gave a nod as they all quietly crept over the crystal ground.

They were midway through the forest when there was snow suddenly falling from the sky.

"Huh... this is a sudden snowfall," Watts shrugged.

Crusher felt himself shudder at the sudden snowfall. It felt... different from the usual snow. It felt... magical somehow.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake, causing the crystals to fall from the crystal trees, one by one.

"W-What's happening?" Starla stammered.

"CRYSTAL GIANTS!" Darington screamed as the crystals falling down slowly morphed into giant creatures with red eyes piercing down at them.

"Blaze, that didn't feel like regular snow!" Crusher blurt out after they all backed up. "It felt like magic!"

"Wait, how-"

Before Blaze could respond, the giants let out a roar and began to stomp towards them.

"Retreat! Run!"

They turned to drive back to where they came from when more giants blocked their paths, causing them skid to a stop.

"Oh... we're doomed!" Darington wailed.

The crystal giants surrounded them, towering over them. Crusher was trembling in panic, his powers slipping out of control as the snow around them began to pick up and swirl around them.

"Uh... what's going on?" Gabby asked.

"Oh no..." Crusher hissed.

The sight of the snow made him panic more, causing the wind to mix with the swirling snow until they were all surrounded in a blizzard.

"A blizzard?! Again?!" Starla panicked.

"Oh no no no no no..." Crusher was trying to get in control of the blizzard, but the pressure weighed down on them wasn't helping as the blizzard got stronger.

The crystal giants didn't seem affected by the blizzard and continued to stomp forward, arms out and ready to grab them.

"Ohh... what do we do now?" Pickle asked.

"Come on, come on..." Crusher tried to calm down and made another attempt to stop the blizzard.

The crystal giants suddenly grabbed him, causing him to scream. The others gasped.

"CRUSHER!!"

"Oh, COME ON!" Crusher snarled and tried to get himself off of the giant's grasp.

"I'll save you, Crusher!" Pickle zoomed forward but was grabbed by another giant. "GAH!"

"PICKLE!" Blaze gasped. "Hang on, you two! We're coming--"

"WOAH!" Darington yelped as he, Stripes and Zeg were grabbed by more giants.

"Blaze, HELP!" Watts screamed as she, Starla and Gabby were also grabbed.

"Oh no!" AJ cried out as he and Blaze were scooped up the giants.

"We have to break free!" Blaze strained. "But... their grip is too strong!"

As the group struggled, the giants marched off and made their way through the blizzard. Then without warning, they tossed the group over to the other side of the crystal forest.

"WOAH-WOAH!" they all screamed as they landed on the snowy grass with a thud, a few steps away from the forest.

"Ow..." Crusher groaned.

"Is everyone alright?" Blaze asked as he groaned and picked himself up.

"I think so, but what was that all about?" Watts asked.

"Which one?" Stripes let out a hiss. "The blizzard or the crystal giants?"

"Both!"

"Well," Stripes took out his book. "The crystal giants were made most likely by the Snow Queen. Only she has the power to create creatures made out of her own ice crystals,"

"But what about the swirling blizzard?"

"...no explanation for that," Stripes shook his head. "This book said nothing about swirling blizzards. The Snow Queen can create them, yes, but only if she was around,"

"Weird..." Blaze muttered. "Crusher told me that the snow before the giants appeared felt magic. But how can that be?"

"Um..." Crusher tensed as Pickle gulped. "I... I just had a feeling, and uh..."

"A 'feelin', huh?" Starla didn't look convinced.

"Yeah. It just had that... feeling in the air."

"Still doesn't explain the blizzard, tho," Gabby pointed out.

"Or the fact that you were panicking because of it," Darington added.

"We can worry about that later," Blaze said.

"Yeah," AJ agreed. "Now we need to get to the Lost Village to get to the Snow Queen's Hidden Kingdom. Let's go!"

The group then zoomed off, with some of the others glancing at Crusher wearily before turning. Crusher gulped and shuddered as Pickle drove to his side.

"Are you okay?"

"I... I don't know, Pickle," Crusher shook his head. "They're getting suspicious, and I... I'm too afraid to tell them,"

"Well... maybe we can ask the Snow Queen why this is happening, and see if she can do something for it."

"Excuse me, WHAT???" Crusher glanced at him in disbelief. "Pickle, the Snow Queen just tried to get us with giants! Crystal Giants! I don't know about you, but I'd rather find a way to stop the fjord without having to face... her,"

"True…" Pickle sighed and patted his tire. "but you know that no one would blame you for the blizzard,"

"Yeah, no, they would," Crusher shook his head and drove forward. "They would, and you know that, Pickle,"

"Maaybe...?"

"Let's just... go," Crusher sighed and went off, with Pickle sighing before following after him.

X

"Oh, that was fun!" the mysterious being cackled, watching the group head to the forest. "And now, they're getting closer and closer! My plan will finally be complete when I have you, my Ina-yuki~"

She then turned to the icy guards standing by the doors of the room. "Guards, there will be introducers at the village. When you see them, grab them,"

"Yes, my queen,"

They stomped out of the room, and she turned to face the crystal ball with a smirk.