(A/N: Well, I'm back to this story, until the end, of course. I decided to add Tilika's story of how she got to the Ice Castle as well as her reason to create a resistance)
Kai, Jay, Cole, Nya, Geoff, who was carrying Forbes on his back, Gewuji, Blake and Krag were moving a giant field of snow, hoping to reach the Ice Castle. The Ninja were armed with spears. Kai turned towards Blake, who just stared ahead. "Blake?" He asked.
"Yes?" Blake asked.
"I'm... sorry."
He became confused. "For what?"
"Getting angry at you for losing the Traveler's Tea when we first arrived. You were following Lloyd's order, and I was selfish."
"Hey, don't worry about it, Kai. All is forgiven." Suddenly, Krag sniffs and growls lightly, making them all stop. "Krag? What's wrong?"
"I think he smells something." Nya said as Krag looks around as Jay sniffs his armpit.
"Like what?" He asked. Snarling was soon heard as everyone turned to a nearby cliff and see some wolves, making Geoff start to hyperventilate. "Oh, not these guys again." Krag started to growl.
"Krag, don't." Blake said, stopping him. "There's too many."
"What do we do?" Gewuji asked.
"Stay calm." Geoff replied, still hyperventilating. "Do exactly what I do. On three. One." Everyone gets out their spears. "Two." He immediately turns around and started to run.
"Whoa!" Forbes yelled as he held onto Geoff as he ran.
"Three!"
They all turn around to see him running away. Looking at each other, they simply comply and start to run as the wolves start to chase them. Geoff still ran as the others caught up. "That was your whole plan?" Kai asked.
"Why are we even running?" Nya asked.
"I'm afraid of dogs, alright?" Geoff asked.
"They aren't dogs, Geoff." Jay replied.
"Dogs, wolves, same difference!"
Forbes soon looked ahead and noticed something. "Hey, look!" He called out, pointing toward it. "What is that?"
Gewuji gasped upon realising. "The Land Bounty." She said. "Nice spotting, Forbes!"
Krag immediately started to bounce very high to reach the Land Bounty before opening the hatch for them to get in. Unfortunately, Geoff was far behind them as they turn around to see him running a little too slow, and not just from having Forbes on his back. "Geoff, pick up the pace!" Nya yelled.
"Geoff, come on!" Jay yelled.
"Hurry up!" Kai yelled.
As he kept running, Geoff suddenly trips with a scream, Forbes rolling forward off his back and stopping a few inches ahead, and they look to see a wolf coming up to him. "Guys!" He yelled while hyperventilating.
"Geoff!" Nya yelled. He kept hyperventilating as the wolf was about to pounce on him before eventually growling, and held his hand out, firing a blast of Sand at it, causing it to yelp.
Geoff started to stand up as Krag soon comes up to him before immediately picking him and Forbes up and ran back to the others.
"Geoff, you okay?" Gewuji asked her brother as Krag puts him and Forbes down.
"Yeah, thanks to Krag." He replied, sighing out of relief.
The rest of the wolves start to catch up as they turn to face them and Kai scoffs. "Not this time, guys." He said before pressing a button, only for a beep to sound off. He soon presses it repeatedly, only for the same result.
"What was that supposed to do?" Forbes asked.
Krag soon started to pull on the hatch to try and close it as the wolves start to get closer. "Take this!" Blake yelled before holding his left hand out, firing a gust of Wind at the wolves, blowing a few wolves back, making them yelp, while the rest kept moving. "Damn it!"
Forbes notices a nearby fire extinguisher, grabs it and came back to them. "Uh, what's this?"
Blake, who was closer, looks at him before taking it. "Fire extinguisher." He immediately throws it and holds his hand out to fire a burst of Wind to send it up higher.
"Zap it!" Nya said to her husband. Jay holds his right hand out to fire a bolt of Lightning at the flying fire extinguisher before hitting it, and it explodes. The spreading carbon dioxide makes the wolves stop and scamper away, scared.
They all sigh in relief. "That won't scare them off for long." Kai said.
"Then we better get this tub of bolts working again. Fast."
In a cell in the dungeon of the Ice Castle, Lloyd started to regain consciousness and groans in pain as Tilika, no longer wearing her armour and had her falcon headpiece, turned around to notice. "Hey, easy." She said, coming up to him. He hesitates a little. "Don't worry. I've been stripped of my rank since I guided you here." He stands up before noticing that he and Tilika had cuffs, made of ice, on their wrists. She then turned to the wall. "He's awake."
"Thank goodness." The prisoner replied.
Lloyd then turned to the wall. "Who are you?" He asked.
"A prisoner. Like you, and Tilika. What is your name?"
"Lloyd."
"Welcome to the Ice Emperor's dungeon, Lloyd. I am Kataru." He was the same boy from Akita's story.
"Kataru? Akita's brother? The bear?"
"How do you know that?"
"She told me. She told me all about you."
He immediately expresses his disbelief. "My sister is gone. She was frozen, along with the rest of my people, by the emperor's Ice Dragon."
"Kataru, she's alive." Tilika said. "I saw her with my own eyes as I slowly guided Lloyd here."
"She's right." Lloyd replied. "We came across the ice together."
Kataru was a little suspicious. "Do you two swear it?" He asked. "Do you two swear she is alive?"
"Yes. She's alive. Actually, she thought you were dead. She thought the dragon took you."
"Boreal. It did. But it didn't destroy me. It brought me here, a prize for its master."
"How long have you been here?"
"I... I do not know."
"It was decades." Tilika said, answering for Kataru.
"She is right. I made marks at first, to keep track of the days and months. But after a while, I gave up. Tilika would often tell me how long I've been here, whenever she gives me food. There is no escape from this place."
"There's always a way." Lloyd said.
Mock clapping is then heard as Lloyd and Tilika turn to see Vex at their door. "Oh, that's the spirit." He sarcastically replied. "So hopeful, so confident. But, alas, there are a few troubling details you don't know. Such as the shackles around your hands." Lloyd looks down at them. "They are made of corrupted ice. If they can prevent a Formling from changing shape, then I think they can also contain your powers."
Lloyd soon came at the bars. "You ****ing coward! You ***ing liar! I don't know how you tricked Zane into believing you, but he'll see through you eventually. He'll see what you are."
"What I am? I'm his trusted advisor. While you are nothing but a traitor and a rebel spy. Tilika was foolish to guide you here. And sooner or later, I will deal with you as I deal with all who stand in my way." Vex soon started to laugh before walking away, mockingly moving a hand along the bars of Kataru's cell.
"Prick." Lloyd silently muttered before sitting down and turns to Tilika. "Akita told me about how you left when you couldn't find your animal form at first. How did you end up here?"
"Long before your friend Zane showed up." She said, also sitting down. "I had just had my Choosing and went on my quest to find my animal form."
Many Decades Earlier
"When I was unable to find my animal form after two weeks, I returned to the village to inform my father, that even though I failed, I would still go on the quest to find it."
Tilika hugs her father before she backed away. "I am truly sorry that you couldn't find your animal form, Tilika." He said.
"It's okay." She replied. "I will return if I do find my animal form."
"Good luck, my daughter."
"Thank you, father."
Tilika then started to walk away from her village as most of the villagers watch her leave. "I told you that you'd be unable to find your animal form." Someone called out to her. Tilika turned to see that it was a middle aged man with black hair, goatee and sideburns, wearing a straw hat, a light brown tunic and black pants. "2 whole weeks out in the forest, and it ends in failure. And now you flee out of guilt."
"Not guilt, Vex. Determination." She turns to face him. "Someday, I will come back, with my animal form. You... I believe that you only want it for power." She soon walked away, leaving the village as Vex growled while watching her leave.
"I hope the journey consumes you." He muttered.
"We shall see, Vex the Formless."
Crossing the Never-Realm was something she probably shouldn't have done without an animal form, but she was completely determined as she walked along a field, in the middle of a storm, hands under her armpits to try and keep warm, until she soon knelt down, exhausted. She then started to crawl as best as she could until she was soon on her stomach before she started to drag herself along, but was too exhausted before laying her head down, trying to catch her breath. Hoping to get back up, Tilika notices a figure in the storm before trying with her might to stand up, and held out her hand. "Help." She spoke as best as she could, and the figure turned to her, just as she soon laid her head in the snow, slipping into unconsciousness.
Once her eyelids opened, she saw a ceiling and felt a warm blanket over her before sitting up to find that she was in a small room with a small window, door, and some books. Tilika pulled back the blanket before getting up to look out the window. She saw that the exterior showed parts of a castle, as well as some guards, who were either training or patrolling before the door was heard opening and Tilika turned to see it was a man in samurai gear, carrying a tray with some food and a teapot on it. "I see you're awake." He said.
"Yeah. Where am I?"
"This is King Grimfax's castle. It was a lucky thing we found you before the storm consumed you." He soon held up the tray. "You hungry?" Tilika saw that it was some berries as well as some tea, which she ate while the man left to let her eat alone before coming back a few minutes later to take her to Grimfax.
In what looked like a throne room, the samurai escorted Tilika inside before they stop as she soon saw a teenaged boy in samurai gear, but not wearing a helmet to show his brown hair. He briefly looked at her before turning away as Tilika looked up a set of stairs to see what looked like a man with a grey moustache, also in samurai gear, sitting at a throne while another man in samurai gear, was holding a pad paper and a quill, was beside him. Out of respect and honesty, Tilika bowed down to him. "I am honoured to meet you at last, King Grimfax."
"It is a pleasure, Tilika, daughter of the elder of the Formling tribe." Grimfax replied. "Rise." Tilika obeyed before noticing the teenaged boy. "You were extremely lucky that my son, Prinz, was out training when he spotted you."
"I am honoured to have been saved by your son."
"The honour is all his. Tell me, what was a young girl like you, doing out of her village?"
"I have failed my Choosing quest to find my form. And I have decided to leave, until I am able to find it, even if it takes me years."
"Then, you are welcome to stay for as long as you like."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Tilika bows.
"And so, for the next 3 years, I spent my time, training with Prinz." Tilika said. Prinz raises a spear to block Tilika's. "Biding my time until I am called towards a voice."
Tilika silently meditates in her room. "But in the end, I started to give up."
In the throne room, Tilika approaches Grimfax before bowing. "My king, I am afraid my time here has been wasted." She said.
"Why is that?" Grimfax asked.
"For the past few years, I have hoped to find my animal form. But since it will not happen, I shall vacate this castle, as of tomorrow."
Grimfax was a little shocked and turned to his advisor, who shrugs, unable to come up with an answer. "The decision is up to you, and you alone."
"I understand. Sorry for wasting your time."
"Father." Prinz called out as everyone turned to see him and some samurai bring in, to Tilika's surprise, Vex. "We have captured this intruder skulking outside the castle."
"Not skulking." Vex said, forcing the samurai to loosen their grip on him. "Walking." He then noticed Tilika. "Ah, Tilika, nice to see you again."
"Likewise." Tilika sarcastically replied.
Vex then turned to Grimfax. "I come seeking you, oh, King."
"For what?" Grimfax asked.
"To offer my services as an advisor."
"I have an advisor already." He points to his advisor, who glares at Vex.
"Ah. But does he know of this woman's kind?" Vex points to Tilika. "The Formlings. They are a tribe of dangerous shape shifters who live to the south of the mountains." He then points to Tilika. "Tilika, the elder's daughter, was unable to find her animal form. So, she was banished from the village." Tilika was shocked at Vex's lie. "Even now, they scheme against you. Plotting and planning."
"Do not listen to this man, your Majesty." Tilika said to Grimfax. "He is lying."
"I know he is." Grimfax replied. "As well as knowing who he is. Vex." Vex was shocked before Grimfax stands up. "You are Vex the Formless. I know of your lies. Formlings have never troubled us, and we will not trouble them. Tilika voluntarily provided us her services to help train my son, while she tries to keep a calm mind, hoping to find her animal form." He then turned to Prinz. "Prinz, give him food, water, and a decent cloak and send him on his way. Before his jealousy sours us all."
"Yes, father." Prinz said, turning around to leave, but Vex stops him.
"You'll regret this moment, all of you." He said before taking off, pushing Prinz aside. "I will return. And you will wish you had treated me better!"
"Vex soon left the castle." Tilika said. "But, I was worried that his threat may seem serious. So, I decided to stay and defend the king at all costs."
Several hours later, Tilika lies down on her bed before shutting her eyes. "And later that night, I almost didn't sleep, but I eventually did."
"Tilika." A voice whispers her name. Tilika opens her eyes before looking out her window to see many clouds. She opens her window and started to walk along them.
A few seconds later, a brown mist soon swirls around her before passing through her, and a falcon emerges. She turns around to it as it squawks before going through her and a light engulfs her.
When the flash fades, only the falcon was there, soaring through the skies before flying down to a nearby lake where it looks at its reflection. But, it showed Tilika's, with a falcon headpiece, just like her father. "I did it." She said to herself. Before transforming into her human form. "I found my animal form."
"Since I had finally found it, I decided it was time to return to the village." Tilika said. "So, I requested an audience with Grimfax, and he granted it."
Once in the throne room, Tilika respectfully bowed. "Your Majesty, I have news I must share with you."
"Before you do, my son has news that he shared to me before." Grimfax replied, turning to Prinz.
"And what is the news?"
"He wants your hand in marriage." Tilika gasped upon hearing the news. "The choice is up to you." But before she could answer, the doors soon open, and everyone turned to see the doors opening, and a stranger, wearing white with metal skin, holding some sort of weapon, with a glowing scroll on it, the top of his head engulf with light blue flames. "Who are you? What is the meaning of this?"
"Have you forgotten me so soon?" Another voice called out. It was Vex, who comes in, stopping next to the metal stranger.
"Vex. What do you want?"
"Only to see justice done, and my lord returned to his rightful throne."
"What lord?" Grimfax stands up. "This throne is mine." He walks down the stairs.
"Not anymore." Vex sarcastically spoke.
"Guards, throw them out!" Three samurai in the room immediately charge at Vex and the metal stranger. The stranger suddenly conjures some ice and throws it at one of the guards, knocking him down. He then conjured and threw another one at another guard. The final samurai tries to attack the stranger, but he suddenly glows and punches him, knocking him aside as another guard comes at him, but the stranger kicks him back before holding out his weapon to fire at the stairs to the throne. Grimfax quickly jumped off as ice pillar started to form on both sides. "Seize them!" Prinz and the remaining guards immediately charge at the stranger, who soon swung his weapon, sending out some sort of wave. Prinz manages to duck down to avoid it while the guards suddenly get ice on their armour, as well as their faces turning blue. "I said, seize him!"
The transformed guards simply move aside for the stranger as he marches forward to Grimfax. "Father, run!" Prinz yelled as he charges towards the stranger, spear raised, and tries to strike him, but the stranger raises his weapon to block it before forcing it back and soon struck Prinz with it, slashing his chest.
"Prinz!" Tilika said, coming up to him and knelt down to him while the stranger passed by and held his weapon out to Grimfax.
"Who are you?" He asked.
"He is the Ice Emperor." Vex replied. "And you will obey or perish." Grimfax groans before bowing towards the Ice Emperor. He then turned to Tilika and Prinz, who is still clutching his wound. "You two will bow before the Ice Emperor as well."
"No." Tilika said. "He is no ruler."
"Then what of your lover?" The Ice Emperor held his weapon out to Prinz, who was instantly shocked before he turned to her, and shook his head, telling her not to comply.
"Bow before me." The Ice Emperor said.
Tilika briefly looked at Prinz before turning back to Vex and the Ice Emperor, and knelt down. "I will obey." She replied, slowly as Prinz did the same, out of reluctance.
A few minutes later, Prinz puts some armour on the Ice Emperor before he walks up the steps to sit on the throne. Once he did so, the Ice Emperor's weapon freezes into his hand and sends out a shockwave, which starts to engulf the Never-Realm in an eternal winter as Vex takes his spot next to the Ice Emperor, whose weapon had now turned into some sort of sceptre.
"And that was how your friend took over the Never-Realm." Tilika said.
Present
"How we were made his slaves. And how we cannot break free."
"I am sorry, my friend." Kataru said, having heard the story. "I wish I could give you some hope, but there is none in this place."
"There's always hope." Lloyd replied, standing up. "Akita's still out there, and my friends are out there." He turns around. "And if I know one thing, it's that ninja never quit. They never give up. Ever."