DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY TITLE IN THE METAL GEAR FRANCHISE IN WHOLE OR IN PART. ALL CHARACTERS, UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED, BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS. THIS FICTION IS IN NO WAY AFFILIATED WITH KONAMI OR ANYONE WITHIN KONAMI. THIS FICTION IS NOT FOR PROFIT OR PERSONAL GAIN, AND MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED IN ANY FORM. THIS IS A FICTION CREATED BY NOTHING MORE BY A SUPPORTER OF THE SERIES (A "FAN FICTION," IF YOU WILL) AND WAS CREATED SIMPLY TO PROMOTE THE METAL GEAR FRANCHISE.
Snake and Raiden both had took the time to search the entire floor for loose ammunition. What they found were thirteen clips for the M9, a USP, three clips for it, and a few fragmentation grenades. Raiden said that Snake could keep the USP upon Snake's offering, that Raiden was alright with the M9. But when they went to the second floor, everything was strange.
The entire area was a freezer. There were icicles everywhere, snow covered the metallic floors, and their breath was very thick with the cold temperature. Even Snake felt a shivering sensation.
Almost eight seconds after they had entered seven icicles flew past Snake and Raiden, them barely dodging the projectiles. "A step further and you'll be dead."
The Polar Bear – Cryokinetic Soldier
(Rob Paulsen)
Some man, completely decked out in white clothing which blended in perfectly with the environment around him, stepped out from behind a large icy crate. The man himself bore two blue tattoos on his face, one being the symbol of peace and the other the symbol of hostility. But what was truly strange about the man was his eyes. They were a peaceful, calm, light blue that told both Snake and Raiden nothing but peace. "I am truly sorry that my man The Wolverine failed in his task. Oh well, he couldn't see anyway. He wouldn't have made it much farther in life." The man stepped forward again, balls of ice forming in his palms. They were crystal clear ice orbs. "Snake, I have you cornered now. There is no escape for you, I am afraid." Snake cocked his USP. "Like hell you do," shot Snake right back, "you're going down." Unlike many others Snake had faced before, the man didn't laugh, chuckle, or even smile at Snake's mention of his own skill. In fact, he looked concerned. "Do you know the difference between those you have faced that have died and those that have lived that you have combated? I'll tell you. Cockiness. Your foes always placed too much faith into themselves against you, and that is how you lose a battle. Faith is grand to have, but any kind of excessiveness can get you killed. Me? I know I have a damn well chance of dying here and now. As do you, Snake, and...the newcomer." "It's Raiden," replied the operative standing beside Snake, his own M9 pointed to the man. "Ah...Raiden," replied the man upon hearing this. "I do hope you know that you will not have any training wheels this time around, right?" Raiden shot back a face of contempt. "What, like you? No no, wait, lemme guess. You can control ice. Oooohhhhhh..." Raiden added cockily. The man shot him a face filled with as much contempt as Raiden. "Yes, I can. I can control the temperature, can freeze the water vapor in the air around me, can form ice out of it. When performed correctly, it can act as a shield, a weapon, a projectile, a radial burst, anything I want it to act as." Raiden almost laughed. "So you think you're some kind of worthy soldier?" "Yes, I am. As is Solid Snake. But you...you can go straight to hell." Raiden actually did let out a chuckle this time. "You won't find anything more of a job than to keep cans cool. Though I must say a human freezer could be quite effective..." While inside this man was having an inner battle, he showed no more of a sign of anger than Raiden was showing now. "Then let us all fight, and see how the 'human freezer' fares," said the man. "Now, The Polar Bear shall freeze the very air you breathe...C'mon!"
The Polar Bear threw both of the ice balls that he had formed earlier at Snake and Raiden. Raiden ducked to dodge the ball while Snake shot it to pieces with one shot from his USP. When Snake lined up a shot to The Polar Bear, the man formed a huge, very thick plate of solid ice in front of his entire body. Snake shot the USP at where The Polar Bear's head was, but only hit ice as the bullet harmlessly bounced away. Snake shot at it a few more times, but the ice was just too thick. It wouldn't pierce it. At that time, Raiden was running to The Polar Bear's side to get a shot in at him, but he manipulated the snow on the ground to shoot into Raiden's eyes, blinding him for a moment. Using this time to attack Snake, The Polar Bear threw the huge thick ice "shield" at Snake and it hit right on target. Snake flew backwards, landing into the snow, pinned to the floor by the huge ice wall-like formation. Raiden fired the M9 at Polar Bear but he turned around just in time to see it. What he did was form the water vapor in the air to freeze and gather around the flying anesthetic round, weighing it down so much it fell down into the snow. "That's all you got, huh?" said Raiden in a cocky tone. The Polar Bear merely lifted his finger at Raiden and a powerful blast of snow slammed into Raiden, knocking him flying backwards. Raiden stood up quickly, however, and Raiden fired round after round after round of the M9 toward The Polar Bear, The Polar Bear simply duplicating what he did to the first round the Raiden fired. Around this time, Snake had finally wriggled free from under the ice block and was firing his USP at The Polar Bear very rapidly. But The Polar Bear was simply freezing every round that came to him, looking rather bored on his expression. Raiden decided to draw The Polar Bear's attention to himself while Snake drew in from behind by taunting him.
"So how are able to get up in the morning with all that frost covering your eyes? Do you magically wisp it away?" Raiden said. The Polar Bear drew an entire full body shield around him, leaving no trace of him behind the huge mass of ice. Suddenly, the ball of ice exploded into a shower of very sharp ice blades. They went everywhere, but especially toward Raiden. Raiden did a miraculous flip and managed to dodge almost every one of the flying ice shards, each one barely missing him. One however had barely scratched his cheek, blood flowing out of it similar to a paper cut wound. Snake had dived for cover behind a large steel crate. Raiden, after composing himself, drew his M9 to The Polar Bear and fired the last round of the clip. Raiden, diving behind a crate to reload, called Snake via codec.
"Snake, I don't think we can beat him just yet, we may have to get new equipment," observed Raiden. "I know. But you didn't make things easier by angering him. I'll have to agree with what he said; faith in self is a luxury, but excessiveness will kill you one day." "I thought I could loosen him up a little bit, get him angry..." Snake answered almost immediately. "Kid, a fight isn't about loosening people up or trying to attack them mentally. It's either shoot, run, give up, or die." Raiden nodded slowly before cutting transmission.
But after the transmission ended, they both noticed the back exit and the elevator doors were frozen completely shut. There would be no escape. So Snake looked around for any means to get in a good hit on The Polar Bear. There were a few explosive cannisters that were almost completely buried by snow. When The Polar Bear walked near one, Snake fired a round of his USP at the cannister. The explosion engulfed all of the ice and snow around it, and apparently The Polar Bear. The Polar Bear had, however, formed a shield similar to the one he had formed earlier to deflect Snake's USP bullet. The explosion of course had melted most of the shield, and he was channeling all of his energy to form the shield not to melt away. Using this time to fire a tranquilizer round, Raiden shot his M9 at the enemy. Still however, The Polar Bear had weighed down the flying anesthetic round with ice. "You look stupid," said Raiden when The Polar Bear tuned to face him. "Are you supposed to seem intimidating? Well to me you look just like a mad Alaskan with a couple of tattoos." Snake shook his head solemnly. The Polar Bear had finally gotten angered. He formed a huge ice lance and manipulated it to charge straight into Raiden's heart. Raiden flipped sideways to dodge the ice lance, but in doing so he slammed into a steel crate. Forming the snow to form around Raiden, it was huge and heavy, even supporting Raiden's weight. Then he swung the snow covered Raiden into the wall repeatedly before raising him upon into the air, an ice lance formed already where Raiden was going to land. Snake acted immediately. He shot up completely the ice pillar The Polar Bear had created, but Raiden still landed hard to the ground. Then The Polar Bear tossed Raiden's snow-covered form to Snake. Toppling onto Snake, they both were temporarily pinned to the ground. The Polar Bear walked over to them and formed a huge ice pillar right to Raiden's heart, which would go through the Snake's stomach if it went through. But then, The Polar Bear widened his eyes greatly and the ice pillar toppled over beside both of their prone figures. Getting up to their feet, both Snake and Raiden saw that the back exit was no longer frozen, that the ice had turned to liquid and melted into the snow it loomed before. In an almost running pace, Snake and Raiden disappeared behind the door. Snake and Raiden had both, however, heard the door crackle, re-freezing itself.
--
Standing by the elevator was none other than the leader of The Fallen, The Dragon.
"Dragon...why are you here?" The Polar Bear looked surprised. How did The Fallen catch onto their plan so quickly. "It's over, Bear," replied The Dragon in an almost evil tone. Shooting forth a huge spurt of flame, The Polar Bear had crossed his arms in an X-fashion on his chest, forming a huge ice shield to veer the flames away from him. The Dragon wasn't surprised. "So you've finally mastered it, have you?" "Yes, I have...when we last fought, I didn't know how to control ice as well as you did flames." The Dragon got right to the point. "We know what you're trying to do. You're trying to eliminate our base of operations. The rest of The Fallen know not I am here, or of your plan. I must say, did Troubled Hand pay you well?" "He didn't have to pay me anything," said The Polar Bear menacingly, "it's a cause worth fighting for." The Dragon shot forth another spurt of flame. But The Polar Bear had simply formed another ice shield. This time, The Polar Bear counter-attacked with his own blast of ice. The Dragon performed a similar shield-forming method that The Polar Bear had used to veer his flames away. When the ice pillar flew into the rotating vortex or flames in front of The Dragon, it simply melted. Before The Dragon could return his own counter-attack, The Polar Bear had formed a complete 5 foot radius shield of thick ice around him. The Dragon, when he attacked, completely engulfed the huge ice shield to water, melting some of the ice away and almost all of the snow around it. When the ice shield was nearly completely melted, The Polar Bear manipulated all of the snow in the room to head toward The Dragon, to encase him in it. That'd freeze the pyromaniac... When this happened, however, The Dragon simply formed a complete five foot radius flame shield around himself, melting all of the snow that threatened to engulf him. When every last bit of the snow in the room was melted, the entire area was one-forth filled with water, the liquid coming up to their ankles. "Just give up, Deonorth," said The Dragon. "I will never surrender, especially not to the likes of you, Dragon." Hatred filled each other's eyes.
This was the clash of the elements.