Chapter Five: Snowman
"I-I-I didn't touch it!" The staff woman stammered in fear. "I-I-It just opened on its own!"
"Get to the back of the train!" Ribbon Girl urged. "L-Leave this thing to use!" The cold air was making her shiver.
The woman sprinted off behind the five and straight out through door. The figure stood atop the cryochamber seemed to have mechanical legs, though not outworldly robotic like BYTE's. They seemed more like the legs of a shop window mannequin, but with more of a deep purple tone to them. And on its feet were… Pink slippers? Hm.
The figure had been facing to the back of the train, but slowly began to turn in place to face the five fighters observing it. It's upper body, from its waist to its head, seemed to be made of… Snow? Like a snowman stacked upon a shop window dummy's legs. A red beanie sat at the top of its head, with a white pom pom adorned above it. Below the beanie was what appeared to be a pair of ski goggles, with an orange tint to the visor.
It cocked its head to one side. It's upper body, from its shoulders down to about mid-waist, was a long and winding scarf striped with red and orange. The scarf began to twist slightly as the two ends emerged from either side of its shoulders, stretching out into-
... Oh. Those are ARMS.
Min Min cleared her throat nervously. "Is now a good time t-to remind everyone that we gave our masks up?"
"Shhhh…" Master Mummy quietly posed, extending a hand over in Min Min's direction as a dismissal. "It's not… Necessarily… Dangerous…" He looked over the Snowman carefully.
The ends of the Snowman's scarf were graced with what appeared to be typical ARMS gloves, though with a wintery edge to them. On its right ARM was a Seekie, though white in tone with a crude blue face sketched onto it. A yeti, perhaps? A… Yetie? On the other was a red cylinder with a handle - rather like a coffee mug - though given the theming maybe hot cocoa would have been more accurate. But if the right glove was a modified Seekie, what was this one? Some sort of Whammer/Kerblammer? But it was vertical on the end of the scarf, not horizontal. And that opening…
The cocoa mug twisted in place and angled itself toward the fighters, with its opening pointed right at them. The interior of it was a deep brown - definitely coffee or cocoa or some sort of nice warm beverage. Then the opening began to light up, as if some sort of energy were being created in the-
Oh, it's a Dragon .
The blast emerging from it shot out in a thick laser, but the five of them managed to jump out of the way quickly enough to avoid it. The Snowman shrieked and turned away, directing its attention back again to the door at the end of the carriage. Without warning it lunged itself over to it at top speed, smashing through the train door's window, but catching itself with its scarf ARMS before it fell to the tracks below. It climbed its way up the side of the train and onto the roof, where it began stomping down the length of the train.
The five left the cargo cart and headed back into the sleeper carts, following it through the length of the train from below. Mechanica was at her door, nervously peering out. "A-Are those footsteps…?" She asked nervously, looking up at the ceiling.
The five continued past, taking Mechanica with them, and slowly taking the other fighters one-by-one as they passed by.
"This big Snowman… Thing came out of that cryochamber." Ninjara explained as they headed to the engine room.
"A snowman? " Twintelle scoffed. "Wouldn't a snowman be blown away instantly by the train's momentum? And what does any of this have to do with BYTE's missing head?"
"Nothing! ...I think? Is it unrelated?" Spring Man asked, mainly directed to Master Mummy.
"Can't say for sure. But this certainly takes the focus right now - we need our masks back, pronto."
"Uhhh… Guys?" Mechanica squeaked as they passed into the dining cart. "I-It's snowing pretty heavily out there…"
They all paused for a moment to peer out the window. The snowfall was very heavy, and just moments before it hadn't even been snowing at all.
"Do you think that thing is making it snow?" Kid Cobra asked, baffled.
"We have to hurry." Master Mummy insisted, as they head off again to the engine room.
The staff gathered within were also grouped up by the windows, and clearly seemed distressed. The train driver seemed especially concerned.
"We need our masks." Master Mummy insisted. "There's a thing on top of the train. It came out of a chamber in the cargo carriage and it has ARMS."
One of the staff members jolted quickly over to a nearby room to fetch the masks and associated glove cases. The train driver, at his post by the train's console, hurriedly turned to the fighters behind him. "Is that thing responsible for the snow? These conditions are far too dangerous to be travelling in, let alone at this kinda speed. But I can't slow us down - the tracks are getting too slippery! We could derail at any second!"
The gravity of the situation struck everyone at once. "How much damage would it cause to the surrounding area if we derailed…?" Master Mummy asked, fearing the worst.
"Well as soon as we reach civilization a derailing could do tremendous damage and likely collide with nearby people." He shook slightly. "But we're still some time off from the town. At the minute we're still in no man's land."
"Snowman's land." Lola Pop nervously corrected, against her better judgement. "...S-Sorry."
A staff member returned with the masks they had taken from the fighters, and begun to hand them out.
"Alright, we need a plan." Master Mummy began. "We-"
"Shh! Not now!" Min Min grunted down at her side. A small barking sound effect played from BARQ, who seemed to be pestering Min Min.
"Cobra." Master Mummy addressed, turning toward him. "You're used to keeping stance at high speeds when snakeboarding. Think you can stand your ground on the roof of the train?"
"I can try." He nodded.
"Equip your Hydra and try to blast the Snowman as much as you can. I reckon it'll be weak to heat." He turned to face Twintelle. "I'll need you up there too. Your ARMS are in your hair, so you've got both your hands to help you hold on. You can take my Phoenix."
"Gotcha." She replied casually, equipping the Phoenix she'd been given.
"I'll head to the roof too, since I'm the heaviest of us all. I'll use Retorchers." He equipped his gloves as he geared up to leave. "It'll be bad news if any of us fall off. It's soft snow all around us, but that'll only do so much to soften the fall. And I imagine that thing's gonna be fighting back, too. So always keep one ARM on the train and fight with the other, got it?"
Nods from Kid Cobra and Twintelle.
"Mechanica, get in your mech. You can head to the back and grab onto the train. Try to slow it down by blasting your thrusters in the opposite direction. Got it?"
She nodded, but Min Min wasn't as quick to accept that. "Wait wait wait, that's not safe at all. If she loses her grip she's gonna collide with the tracks while in a big breakable metal shell." She nudged off BARQ again, who was still bothering her.
"Alright - Lola, go with Mechanica and keep an extended grip on her and the train interior. On the off chance you both get ejected, pull her close and do your best to bounce safely."
"Sounds like fun." She shrugged.
"Helix, you accompany Mechanica to the back of the train and act as a parachute for it to reduce the train's speed." Helix blobbed randomly in response. "Uhh… Twintelle, make sure he got all that."
Twintelle rolled her eyes and began talking to Helix in short, simple terms, with hand gestures to help him understand.
"As for the rest of you…" Master Mummy folded his ARMS. "Bust the windows out and dangle from them, securing yourselves to the train with one ARM gripping the interior. With your other ARM, use a fire-attack to thaw the tracks as best you can. Ribbon Girl and Min Min on starboard with Dragon and Slapamander respectfully. Then Spring Man and Ninjara on port with Toaster and Min Min's Ramram. Sound good?"
Nods all 'round, except from Min Min, who gave another big hush to BARQ beside her.
"What does he want…?" Mummy asked.
"I don't know! He's been pestering me since we arrived here." She grunted. "There's a time and a place, BARQ!"
"Follow him." Mummy requested. "Quickly see what he wants and then meet back at starboard with Ribbon Girl."
"Gotcha." She nodded back, quickly opening her glove case to pass her Ramrams to Ninjara. The two exchanged a glance, as this was their first interaction since their fight in the cargo cart, but it was clear both were willing to put it behind them while they dealt with the Snowman. Min Min gave a kiss to Ribbon Girl and then turned back to BARQ. "Lead the way, pup!"
"Right, everyone head to your places. We're stopping this train!" Master Mummy clapped his hands together, adjourning the meeting and sending everyone off.
Min Min rushed to the back of the train as BARQ lead her there. All the way back in the cargo cart, BARQ stopped just short of the open cryochamber, and continued to play barking sound effects.
"What is it, boy?" She looked into what she thought was the empty chamber. "... Oh!" BYTE's head was laying inside. She picked it up quickly, just as Mechanica entered with her mech. "Mechy!" She pushed her hands out, showing her the head. "We've got the head! Can you reattach it?"
"O-Oh!" She smiled back, having been so wrapped up in this Snowman situation she had almost forgotten about BYTE's fate. "Yeah! He could be a huge help if we can get him working."
"I'll get blobby boy set up if you two wanna skedaddle." Lola winked.
The two quickly set off back to the front of the train again, which was admittedly pretty exhausting for Min Min as she'd made that length a handful of times at this point. She silently cursed Mechanica for having a mech to take her the distance.
The two came across no other fights on their way back to the engine room, as they had all gone into their set places. They could hear Master Mummy's footsteps on the ceiling above.
Upon entering the engine room, Min Min passed BYTE's head to Mechanica, who began work on reconnecting it. It was remarkably easy to do and thankfully didn't take much time at all. For a moment they thought something hadn't gotten connected quite right, but then BTYE suddenly turned to face them.
"... Hello, citizens." He greeted in monotone.
The two smiled brightly up at him. Min Min wanted to give him a hug, but figured this wasn't the best time. "It's a long long story, but the gist of it is that you got attacked and they nabbed your head. Do you remember who attacked you…?"
BYTE took a moment, as if checking back in his memory logs. "Negative. Electrical-attack sustained to the back while optics were pointed in the opposite direction."
"Guess that's a no, then. Damn. Okay, well, more pressing matters at the minute - we need your help!"
Min Min explained quickly that the cyrochamber had opened and a Snowman figure with ARMS had emerged, which was now causing a blizzard around the train in an effort to seemingly derail it.
BYTE stood up, quietly pat BARQ on the head to the tune of a happy bark sound effect, and equipped himself with Crackers. "I will join the efforts on the roof of the train. Good luck." And with that, he head off.
"We're nearing the town, guys!" The concerned train driver shouted from across the engine room.
"Right!" Min Min clapped. "Now let's get back to work…" The two dashed back through the train. Min Min split from Mechanica as she passed the window where Ribbon Girl was hanging, and Mechanica made the distance to the back of the train again to join Helix and Lola in slowing the locomotive down.
Hot torrents of ARM energy smacked against the train rails below from the four fighters situated at the windows.
At the back, Mechanica clung hard to the exterior of the train and boosted all she had in the opposite direction, as Helix hung above like a squishy green parachute, and Lola supported Mechanica from within the cargo carriage.
And atop the train, Master Mummy, Kid Cobra, and Twintelle were fighting tirelessly to stop the Snowman clung to the snowy top of the engine room's roof before them, doing their best to hang on tight while avoiding the Yeties and the blasts of Hot Cocoa sent their way. Like the return of an old friend in your most desperate hour, BYTE suddenly joined them with an air of lawful justice.
And it was working! The train was gradually getting slower and slower. The driver at the front pressed hard on the breaks, and with the efforts of every ARMS fighter present, the train eventually came to a complete halt about a mile before their intended destination station - the one they would have blitzed right past and through into a derail had they not stopped things just in time.
The Snowman seemed dazed and exhausted, as if it had never expected the train to stop, and flopped itself off of the train's roof to the snow below. BYTE followed it down and extended an ARM around it, coiling it up until it was sufficiently restricted, and then disconnected the ARM, declaring the Snowman under arrest for intention of train derailment and unauthorized use of ARMS for hostile intent outside of an arena.
The other ten fighters dropped down to the ground too, each praising themselves for a job well done, as the staff of the Extravagant Express also disembarked the locomotive with cheers of approval.
Master Mummy, who was the only one not smiling, turned to face Twintelle, who was clapping quietly beside the exterior of the train. Without a word he suddenly grabbed her around the neck, firmly holding her up against the side of the train.
"Ack! L-Let go of me, you brute!" Twintelle grunted, her tiny flesh hands trying to pull as Master Mummy's ARM hand.
Everyone around fell into silence as they watched him pin her. "W-Woah, Mummy, what the hell?" Ninjara shouted, as just one of the many stunned fighters.
"The Phoenix is a fire-attribute variant of the Thunderbird." He explained. "And Twintelle has been using Thunderbirds for years now." His grip tightened around her. " So why did she miss every damn shot she took against the Snowman?" A look of heavy betrayal grew stronger on Master Mummy's face. "She wanted that train to derail."
Silence continued across the snowfield until Twintelle, still pinned to the trainside… Dropped her act.
She rolled her eyes. "Oh fine . I suppose my plan failed anyway. Cats out of the bag now." She gave a small smile, as if proud of herself. "Yes... I killed BYTE ."