Author's Note: Welcome to the penultimate chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians, How to Train Your Dragon or Portal/Portal 2.

Hypothesis

Chapter 19: Surviving

Not three steps into the next test chamber, the entire room began to shake violently, causing Jack and Hiccup to grab at the walls for support. From their position near the entrance, they watched in fascinated horror as one of the walls at the end of the room began to fall apart, crumbling into pieces as another test chamber crashed into it, joining the two rooms together while leaving plenty of debris in between.

:: Hey, this is one of MY tests! ::

/ You're not going to believe this. I found a sealed off wing containing hundreds of perfectly good test chambers! Jammed 'em all together. Be honest. You can't even tell, can you? Seamless. /

:: Okay, so the bad news is the tests are MY tests now. So they can kill us. ::

The two teens exchanged nervous looks. "And the good news?" Jack asked tentatively.

:: The good news is… well, none so far, to be honest. I'll get back to you on that. ::

"Well, MIM can't help us solve her tests, so it looks like we're on our own," Hiccup sighed, hefting his portal gun in preparation. "Let's go, Jack."

:: Alright. He's not even trying to be subtle anymore. Or maybe he still is, in which case, wow, that's kind of sad. Either way, I get the impression he's trying to kill us. ::

"You don't say," Hiccup replied dryly, tightening his grip around Jack's waist where he held the other teen securely against his own body. They had just stepped onto a test track when a loud rumbling sound was the only warning they got before a steel plate smashed through the wall on their right, completely flattening the room and everything in it. Jack had been in front of Hiccup then, and he would have been crushed to death had the brunet not grabbed him and yanked them both backwards in time.

/ Sorry! Sorry. My fault. Butterfingers. Carry on. /

Pitch did not sound sorry at all, and the two teens narrowed their eyes at the unseen AI, glaring at the security camera above them as another test chamber was clumsily attached to whatever was left in the wreckage of the previous one.

"Given that we're the only ones who know how to solve the tests, you'd think he'd be more careful with us," Jack grumbled, extracting himself from Hiccup's hold.

Destroying an entire test chamber was the boldest move so far. Lately they'd been ambushed by turrets that had definitely not been there at the start of the tests, and there had been instances where chunks of the ceiling had just fallen where they were standing. Pitch was becoming increasingly unpredictable, and there was no telling what he'd try to pull next.

/ I thought I'd lost you for a moment there. Went poking around for other test subjects. No luck there. Everyone's still all dead. Oh! But I did find something. Reminds me. I've got a big surprise for you three. Seriously. Look forward to it. /

:: Something's not right. He's inexplicably happy all of a sudden AND he's got a surprise for us. What did he FIND back there? ::

"Only one way to find out," Hiccup gritted his teeth as he took his partner's offered hand to pull himself off the ground.

Unnerved as they were, they had to keep going.

/ I'll bet you're all dying to know what your big surprise is. Only TWO more chambers! /

:: We're running out of time… I think I can break us out of here in the next chamber. Just play along. ::

Taking deep breaths, the two teens walked into the next test chamber. They could see several catapult plates on the ground which would launch them in the direction indicated by the arrows next to the plates. The room was split into two by a deep pit in front of them, and there was a plate on their side with an arrow pointing forward while the rest were scattered across the other side.

After their reunion in the shaft, Jack and Hiccup rarely left each other's side. They made sure to keep close to their partner as they solved the tests, and split up only when it was absolutely necessary. Some of the test chambers had sections where they had to be in two places at once, but otherwise they made sure to stay together.

On hindsight, they really should have seen it coming. It was a good thing their hands were linked firmly when they stepped onto the catapult plate and braced themselves. Instead of flinging them forward, the plate sprung up towards the right, throwing them into a large hole that had opened up in the walls, sending them flying into the void.

/ SURPRISE! We're doing it NOW! /

Their screams were cut off when they suddenly felt themselves being suspended in some sort of tube made of light, which slowly carried them deeper into the dark facility behind the test chambers. It was as if gravity didn't exist in the tube, and they floated helplessly inside, only able to watch their surroundings go by as the tube took them wherever Pitch had planned.

:: Okay, credit where it's due: that was a pretty well laid trap. ::

"Not helping!" Jack yelled in frustration as he flailed about to get his body upright.

/ You've probably figured it out by now, but I don't need you anymore. I found two little robots back here, built specifically for testing! /

:: Oh no. He found the cooperative testing initiative. It's… something I came up with to replace human testing for when I run out of test subjects. I – Aggh! ::

The tunnel of light abruptly disappeared, and the two teens were freefalling again before a panel mounted on the nearby wall smacked into them like a racket hitting a tennis ball, sending them flying through the air and onto a large platform surrounded by screens, where Pitch's image sneered down at them.

:: Well. This is the part where he kills us. ::

/ Hello! This is the part where I kill you! /

"Jack! Are you okay?" Hiccup scrambled to his feet and hauled his partner up, having accidentally landed on the other teen when they crashed onto the platform. Jack wheezed for breath and clutched at his aching stomach, but managed to flash the brunet a weak smile and a thumbs up.

/ Had a bit of a brain wave. There I was, smashing some steel plates together, and I thought, 'yes, it's deadly. But what's missing?' And I thought lots of sharp bits welded onto the flat bits. /

"We need to get out of here, fast!" Jack scanned their surroundings for an escape, spotting a catwalk somewhere behind the screens with a portal conducting surface above it. There was another portal conducting surface somewhere below them, but it was too far to jump safely without the risk of missing it completely and falling into the dark pits below.

There was the sound of a portal gun being fired, and Jack turned to see Hiccup placing one portal on each of the two surfaces anyway.

"Hic, what are you –"

And that was when Jack noticed the steady drip of white gel onto the surface below them, probably from a loose pipe somewhere. Hiccup's green portals swallowed the viscous blobs and spat them out onto the platform they were currently standing on, drenching them in the sticky substance, but coating the platform to enable it to conduct portals. The brunet held on to Jack's arm tightly before grinning at him. "Get ready!"

With a press of a trigger, a portal opened up beneath them and dropped them directly onto the catwalk, just milliseconds before several spiked panels sprung out from the walls and crushed the platform into smithereens.

Laughing in relief, Jack gave Hiccup a quick kiss before pulling them both to their feet, lacing their fingers together as they made a run for it, leaving Pitch's enraged curses behind them.

/ No, seriously. Do come back. Come back, please. /

"This feels familiar," Jack commented as they ran for their lives, dodging falling debris while following MIM's directions to Pitch's hideout.

/ Okay, I've decided not to kill you. IF you come back. /

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "That's what they always say. I bet MIM tried the same trick with you when –"

"Watch it!" Jack grabbed the brunet's arm and dug his heels into the ground, slowing the other teen down just in time to avoid the steel panel that shot out from the wall to their right, crushing the section of the catwalk right in front of them.

/ YES YES! IN YOUR FACE! I GOT YO – ah, nope. /

Portaling through the wall onto the other side, they kept running only to be blocked off again when Pitch sent an entire test chamber careening towards them. The room crashed down several feet ahead, cutting off their route completely. It was likely a trap, but they had no other choice but to go inside it to get through. Hiccup fired one portal at the ceiling of the room and another at the wall in front of them before they dashed in.

/ Fine. Let the games begin. /

The second they landed on the floor, the large tubes lining the walls of the test chamber immediately surrounded them with turrets. Jack and Hiccup braced themselves, but the red sensors targeted at their bodies flashed once, twice, and then the turrets started to spark and smoke before exploding. Unable to believe their luck, they quickly took the opportunity to race towards the exit.

/ Ha! Death trap! Are they killing you? They're killing you, aren't they? /

Jumping out onto another catwalk, Hiccup cried out in shock when it almost gave way underneath him. Jack caught his wrist to steady him and pulled him along, making sure they didn't stray too far away from each other.

/ Ha! Were those your bullet-riddled bodies flying out of the room? It was – aww, those were the crap turrets, weren't they? /

Pitch was getting desperate. The core was pulling out all the stops to prevent them from reaching him. He sent more (functional) turrets after them, and even tried to crush them with spiked plates when they hitched a ride in a light tunnel. It took a lot of running and maneuvering, but they eventually managed to drop off his radar.

:: Crushing's too good for him. First he'll spend a year in the incinerator. Year two: Cyrogenic refrigeration wing. Then TEN years in the chamber I built where all the robots scream at you. THEN I'll kill him. ::

Author's Note: Final boss battle up next! Stay tuned :)