Oh, good, this only took a few months instead of a year. _
Chapter 41:Infinity Mountain:Return of the Ape
"Popo, Nana, wake up!"Wolf growled, blaster at the ready as he stood near the mouth of the cave.
"I don't wanna go to school, Papa..."Popo muttered drowsily.
"Can I have another snow cone, Mr. Fluffy...?"Nana mumbled. Wolf facepalmed.
"Oh, for the love of-GET UP ALREADY!"Wolf howled, shocking the kids awake.
"WAAAAH!"they both screamed, looking around frantically. When they noticed their canine companion glaring at them, they blinked.
"Wolf? What's goin' on?"Nana asked as they stood up.
"What time is it...?"Popo asked, rubbing his head.
"Keep your voices down, we've got company,"Wolf said, eye narrowed."Get ready for a fight."The duo looked at each other for a moment, then quickly stood up and grabbed their hammers, getting behind Wolf and looking outside cautiously.
"What is it?"they questioned in unison.
"I'm not sure, my scanner just picked something up,"Wolf replied, looking back and forth swiftly."All I know is that there's more than one, and they're getting close."When he noticed something moving just a few feet away, he rolled out of the cave and aimed his blaster at the intruders."STOP!"He blinked, realizing that the intruders were a group of 8 robot drones he recognized from his own dimension, one of which had a screen making up its front. The Ice Climbers quickly ran out to see what it was, stumped to find the strange machinations.
"Are those robots?"they asked, heads tilted in confusion.
"Ones from my dimension, as a matter of fact,"Wolf said, blaster still trained on them."Level 3 Fichinan sentry drones. I've dealt with a good number of these things in my lifetime. But what are they doing here?"Then, as if to answer his question, the screen on the front robot lit up, showing a familiar face Wolf thought he would never see again."What the-ANDREW?"
The primate on the screen smirked."Long time, no see, eh, Wolf?"Andrew asked.
"How the...heck are you alive?"Wolf asked, censoring himself in front of the kids."I saw the news reports! You were killed by the Aparoids!"
Andrew grinned cruelly."That's right, those stupid bugs did me in,"he admitted."But now I'm back and ready to help take over the worlds!"
Wolf scoffed."Right, you'll take over the worlds. You and what army?"
"...Uh, hello? The Subspace?"Andrew pointed out, eyebrow raised.
The smashers rolled their eyes."Worst army ever,"the Ice Climbers muttered.
"HEY!"a bunch of small voices emanated from the screen.
"You still haven't answered my question,"Wolf growled, getting them back on track."How are you alive again?"
"Simple, through the will of a being much higher than myself,"Andrew replied enigmatically."With his power, we'll conquer the dimensions one by one, until everyone is under his thumb! But you smashers..."He leaned back in his seat, fingers interlaced in front of him."We're not too fond of you interfering with our plans so far. First, you refuse to give us that insane newcomer of yours."
"You know about Leon?"Nana asked.
"What does he have to do with all this, anyway?"Wolf asked.
"Wouldn't you like to know?"Andrew asked, smirking."Anyway, now a couple of your friends have derailed a few of our plans to conquer their worlds. But I have a proposition for you."
"Now, why do I get the feeling we're not going to agree to it?"Wolf asked sarcastically.
"Just wait until you hear it,"Andrew said."You were once my leader, Wolf, so I do have a bit of respect for you."
"Gee, isn't that nice?"Wolf snarked."You quit Star Wolf to try and take over the Lylat System with the last of Andross' army. As I recall, that didn't go too well for you."
Andrew decided to pretend he hadn't heard that."What do you say we be on the same team again? Except this time, you'll be joining me."
Wolf stared at him for a long moment."What?"he asked flatly.
"You heard me right,"Andrew said."Just think of it, Wolf. With your battle and leadership skills, you would make an excellent general in our army. And when we conquer the dimensions, you can rule our universe with me. Of course, I'm not going to haggle how much of it you'll control. If you agree, we'll take half and half right off the bat, no strings attached, since I know you wouldn't take anything less. All you have to do is capture your two little friends right there."The Ice Climbers blinked, looking at each other worriedly. Would he really...?"So, what do you say? Do we have an agreement?"The lupine glanced back at the kids, who had worried expressions on their faces. After a moment, he looked back at the insane monkey.
"You always were an overzealous idiot, Andrew,"he said coolly, then blasted the screen before receiving a response, destroying the robot in the process. The Ice Climbers didn't have time to cheer for him before he grabbed them and yanked them into the cave, avoiding a barrage of laser blasts aimed at where their heads had been. Wolf leaned around the corner and returned fire, destroying another robot.
Not wanting to be left out, the Ice Climbers held each other's hands and pointed their free hands at the robots, concentrating on manipulating the snow and ice around them. Suddenly, some icicles hanging from the cave's ceiling tore themselves off and floated in front of them. Glancing at them, Wolf's jaw dropped as the makeshift projectiles shot forward, impaling the remaining machines and destroying them. The two young cryomancers released each other's hands and smiled at the dumbstruck Wolf.
"Since when can you two do THAT?"he asked incredulously. They glanced at each other, then looked back and shrugged.
"We've been able to do that for as long as we can remember,"Popo said.
"I thought everyone knew we could control ice,"Nana remarked.
"You never told anyone you could do it like that,"Wolf said, holstering his gun."I mean, sure, we've seen you form ice blocks and other small stuff, but you've never done anything even close to that."
"Really?"Nana asked.
"Well, we can do alot more than that,"Popo said."We get lots stronger when there's more ice around."
"Or even when it's just real, real cold,"Nana said."But we get really tired if we do too much."
"Interesting,"Wolf mused."Well, get your stuff packed. It's almost sunrise, so we might as well get moving. You can tell me more while we're hiking."Nodding in agreement, the two neatly folded up their blankets and placed them in their backpacks while Wolf just stuffed his in his own pack. After having a quick bite (and watching the sunrise, which Wolf had grudgingly admitted was a pretty impressive sight), they began climbing again. During which, the Ice Climbers told Wolf the story of how they met...
(Flashback)
A five-year-old Nana grunted as she was pushed to the ground for the third time. Her lip quivered as the two older bullies laughed at her.
"Aww, what's the matter?"one of them asked tauntingly."Is the little icy freak gonna cry for mama?"
"I'm not a freak,"Nana whimpered."Mommy says I'm special."
"She lied,"the other bully said as Nana pushed herself to her feet, glaring at them and trying not to cry."Ooh, are you gonna use your freaky powers on us? What are you gonna do? Throw a snowball at us? Or hit us with your big scary hammer?"Before the little girl could reply, a voice called out.
"Leave her alone!"Suddenly, pair of large ice balls struck them in the back of the heads, making them grunt in pain and surprise. They turned around to see a little boy who looked surprisingly like Nana wearing a blue parka. In his right hand was a wooden hammer just like hers while his left was raised and pointed at them, a glare on the young boy's face as a icy nimbus floated around him.
"What the-? Another one?"the first bully asked, stunned. Nana stared at her new savior in wonder. There was somebody like her?
"Uhh, maybe we should get outta here,"the second bully muttered as the boy approached, the nimbus around him growing steadily larger. The two immediately ran off, leaving the two kids alone. The icy nimbus around the boy disippated as he ran over to Nana, who could only stare at him.
"You okay?"the boy asked.
She nodded."Uh huh. Who are you?"
"I'm Popo,"the boy smiled."I just moved here. What's your name?"
"Nana,"she said.
"Why were those guys being mean to you?"Popo asked. Nana looked around for a moment, then pointed a hand at the snowy ground below them, causing a snowball to pull itself out of the ground and into her hand, much to the blue boy's amazement."You can do magic, too?"
Nana nodded excitedly."Uh huh! Watch!"She then focused on the snow, causing a few more snowballs to come up and orbit her like planets around a sun.
"Cool!"Popo said happily. The two then spent the next hour playing together with their powers over the ice, making a large snowman, having snowball fights, even going so far as making a snow castle about the size of a small house. The two were having so much fun, they didn't notice their parents approaching from opposite sides.
"Popo?"the boy's parents called.
"Nana?"her parents called out.
"Mommy! Daddy!"the two said happily, running over to their respective parents.
"Nana, who is that?"Nata asked.
"His name's Popo!"Nana replied.
"That's Nana!"Popo said happily to his parents.
"Did Nana help you make that big snow castle?"Zolo asked his son.
"Yep!"Popo said.
"Popo can do magic just like me!"Nana chirped.
"Really?"Nato, Nana's father, asked. The two sets of parents looked at each other, then led their kids over to meet.
After they introduced themselves, Zolo spoke."So, our son tells us your daughter can control snow and ice, too. Is that right?"
"Yes, but we thought Nana was the only one,"Nata said.
After that, the two kids became completely inseperable, going to school together, having play dates and slumber parties nearly everyday and night, and getting to know each other better than any other two friends possibly could.
XXXX
End of Chapter
Huzzah! It is finished! Let there be rejoicing!
And hopefully reveiwing...