The young husky's heart was gripped tightly by terror as fierce as the icy power that had entered it, as her friend—now her enemy—slowly came closer and closer to her, even as she tried to back away from him. But with the dome still standing above her, she had no possibility of escaping the Ice Emperor's cold, cruel, unfeeling wrath.
"Zane! Please! Wake up, Zane!" she pleaded with him. "I know you're still in there. I just know it!"
"You are asking for a mere memory, a moment from the past!" Zane roared at her. A lump of fear formed in her throat, and her ears flattened back with terror as he then continued with, "And that memory has been lost—forgotten—shattered!"
Everest was so focused on trying to get through to Zane that she didn't even realize that the frozen Polaris was directly behind her until she tripped right over him. A yelp of pain escaped her as she landed on her back with a sickening thud, and a strong, unnatural chill surged through every fiber in her body. She struggled to her feet just as the Ice Emperor stopped just a few feet from where she stood. With a low growl, Zane finished in the chilliest tone he had ever used, "You are all alone."
Alone? Everest thought to herself, as the sting of Zane's icy words seemed to pierce her very soul, and hot tears sprang to her eyes uncontrollably as grief surged through her unbidden.
Alone? she thought again. And that's when she saw it. Her friends standing there, numb with fright, overcome by bitter sorrow at the scene unplaying before them. Tracker quietly crying—Sweetie (who was normally very hardcore) trembling with terror—Ranger mouthing the words no, please, no over and over again in utter disbelief—Kaiyo gasping softly with fright.
And then she saw, as if through new eyes, the ones who had fallen victim to Zane's corrupt power. Snoutlout—Fishlegs—Meatlug—Hookfang—Rocky—Polaris—Kipper.
Frozen. Trapped. Helpless.
And as she gazed back at her former friend, she was suddenly startled as a strange thought came to her mind, as if Zane was calling out to her in words only she could hear.
Everest! Help me!
And that is when her outlook changed, as one word, one singular call, started to stir within her very heart of hearts.
Protect.
"No!" she declared boldly. "My friend is still in you. And he will fight with me. For he was made to protect. You can try to take him from me, but I will bring him back! For I too was made to PROTECT!"
And as these heartfelt, courageous, loving words echoed within the dome, a change came over the small yet mighty husky. Her eyes suddenly glowed with a pure, ice-blue light, as did her Super Paws. And when she stood on her hind legs, her lost power suddenly reawakened in strength and beauty.
A beam of her own ice power shot out from her outstretched paws, ten times stronger than ever before. It was quickly met by Zane's corrupted power, but a moment later, Everest could see his eyes start to change. The cold blue flickered on and off, as his natural, softly-toned icy blue struggled to push up, to break through. He grunted and trembled profusely as if his true self was fighting the corruption, as if the light was struggling against the darkness within.
And it was, for Everest's words were proving true.
Zane—the real Zane—was fighting with her.
Protect! The cry continued to beat within her heart, to echo in her mind, to surge through her veins.
Protect! Protect! Protect! Protect! Protect!
And as the call kept on beating, Zane started to break through—to actually break through.
"Fight it, Zane!" she cried at the top of her lungs. And then she heard Zane's pure voice cry out in confusion and recognition, "Everest?"
"FIGHT IT!" she shrieked, her determination renewed. But then her strength started to waver, as another chill suddenly trickled through her veins. Her beam began to weaken—her stance, to teeter—her resolve, to fade.
Yet she still heard the cry echoing on and on, Protect! Protect! Protect!
"EVEREST!" Zane cried in desperation, before—to her utter dismay—the darkness took him once again. Any resistance was quenched, and the dark force that had made him this way took preeminence again.
"Your friend…" the Ice Emperor spoke again, "is GONE!"
"NO!" Everest screamed in disbelief. And then—WHAM! The corrupted Ice Power beam suddenly slammed into her, and she was thrown through the air before slamming into the side of the dome. Her impact was so hard that it left a hairline crack in the place she struck, and a numbing weakness overcame her senses as she fell helplessly to the ground.
"EV'REST!" Chinook screamed as all the other pups gasped in horror at the sight. A moment later, she cracked open her strangely heavy eyelids to see Zane—no, the Ice Emperor—begin to approach her once again. And this time, she had no defense against his advance whatsoever.
It was then that all her panic and fright hit the tipping point. For the first time since he had been restored, she was completely, utterly terrified of him—of what he'd become.
"NO! Don't do this! Please!" she begged, her pitch elevating more and more by the second. But he simply kept coming nearer and nearer to her, his sword once again at the ready. It was like he was blind to her presence and deaf to her cries. She struggled to her feet once again, slowly but surely retreating. But he wouldn't stop coming.
Chinook's mind reeled in horror as he unconsciously took first one, then two steps towards the Ice Emperor and the young husky he sought to destroy. And before he knew it, he suddenly broke into a full-out run as he rushed to save Everest—AND Kinnituuk. As he ran, he seemed to hear a voice in his mind, urging him, Keep going…keep going…
"Zane! Stop!" Everest begged with all her might, as she hurriedly backed away from her rapidly advancing connectee. "Snap out of it!"
Almost there…almost there…
"There is no Zane!" the badly malfunctioning Titanium Ninja boomed. "There is only the Ice Emperor!" He lifted his sword to strike Everest down—
NOW!
"Kinnituuk!" Chinook suddenly shrieked as he tackled Zane, ignoring the chill surging through his veins, ignoring the sharp pain in his back and wings as he fought to save Zane, to make him remember who he really was. The sword flew into the air, and when it came down again, it suddenly shattered. The two rolled over and over on the ground, Zane indignantly trying to throw the young Inuk off, Chinook holding on for dear life. Then, in a surge of anger, Zane suddenly unleashed his powers again—in his strongest beam yet. "Chinook!" Everest cried out, as the young boy suddenly flew backwards from the blast.
But no one was prepared for the change that suddenly came over the young Inuk. Silver-white dragon scales suddenly appeared, covering Chinook's upper arms and his legs. His parka suddenly ripped in the back, and his dragon wings, now fully grown, burst through. His ice-blue eyes suddenly glowed with a silver-blue light, and he let out a dragon-like snarl as he landed perfectly on the ground.
Zane let out his own growl at Chinook's sudden transformation, and his hands suddenly lit up again. Everest didn't even have time to let out a cry of warning before ice blasted out of Zane's hands. Quickly, Chinook thrust up his hands, and they too glowed an icy blue. As Everest, Tracker, and the other members of the Ice Team watched in wonder and fear, Chinook created his own ice blasts, pushing Zane's power away from him and causing it to swirl all around him like a tornado. Blinding white flooded his vision, and the young Dracotaur grunted as he struggled to keep from being knocked off his feet by the Ice Emperor's unnaturally strong ice power that threatened to overwhelm his own. His feet started to slowly slip backwards, and he dug his heels in the dirt, hoping that he'd be able to maintain his traction.
"Chinook!" Everest cried out, as Tracker tried to hold her back from running towards the two ice-wielders. "LET HIM GO!"
"No, Everest!" Ranger shrieked. "Don't get any closer!"
"But that's Chinook in there!" she protested.
A sudden giggle diverted Chinook's attention, and he suddenly looked up to see a snowy vision of a young girl being chased by a young boy. The two figures tackled each other, rolling over and over on the ground playfully. Suddenly, the vision faded and was replaced by another, this time of the young boy looking over his shoulder as someone shouted, "Run! RUN NOW!"
Then the visions started to come thick and fast. The two figures he'd seen earlier were being pursued by a great warrior in a mysterious suit. They suddenly skidded to the edge of a cliff. A voice cried out, "Zarah! Migo! Get away from there!" Overwhelmed by the visions, Chinook squeezed his eyes shut. But the voices remained.
He heard the sound of a cliff crumbling. A young girl screamed. A little boy's voice cried out, "ZARAH!" Suddenly filled with great fear, Chinook screamed as his power surged out of him like a shockwave.
The tornado of ice was destroyed, its power creating a massive wave of energy. "DUCK!" all the unfrozen pups screamed at once, again hitting the dirt just in time. But Zane was not so fortunate. The shockwave of icy power hit the Nindroid square in the chest, and he was suddenly launched far, far away.
There was a sharp crack as the icy dome above the team broke, huge chunks of ice collapsing all around them in a great waterfall of icy white before dissolving into snow that the wind suddenly whisked away.
The ice surrounding Fishlegs, Snoutlout, Kipper, Rocky, and Polaris instantly shattered from the blast before it too vanished, and all five of them hit the ground with a simultaneous thud.
As for Chinook, the blast took so much power out of him that he instantly crumpled to the ground, unconscious.