The air was cold, but quiet - tension thick enough to be cut with a knife. Both opposing forces were at a standoff, waiting for the other to make the first move.
The impatience of Leptock got the better of him, as the clown fired icicles at Klonoa. The cabbit dodged with relative ease, causing the sharpened glaciers to shatter against the wall. But that was merely a distraction, as Leptock launched an icy blast towards his opponent's feet.
This time, however, Klonoa was ready for it, and jumped to the side to avoid a repeat of what happened back at Mamett's office. Leptock kept the freezing wind coming, following his foe's movement. The Dream Traveller was just quick enough to be able to outpace the cyborg's attack, running circles around him. Once he was able to get a decent amount of distance, Klonoa jumped towards Leptock and grabbed onto his furry scarf, before using his free hand to fire a Wind Bullet straight at the clown's face. The impact and recoil created some distance between the two fighters - Klonoa jumping away to the other side of the 'arena', and Leptock being knocked back from the attack, spitting out a tooth.
"I liked that tooth." said Leptock, rubbing his cheek. "YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THAT, VERMIN!"
Leptock launched one of his arms at Klonoa. Despite being a considerable distance away, the clown's cybernetic upgrades allowed his limbs to reach far greater distances than before. Klonoa was able to jump over his attack by performing a frontflip over Leptock's claw, using the attacking limb as a 'stepping stone' of sorts. However, he failed to anticipate the floating appendage turning around behind him for a second attack. Before he could react in time, Leptock snatched him up within his sharp talons.
The clown then proceeded to slam the captured cabbit into the concrete multiple times, before launching him over the edge. Luckily, despite the pain he was in, Klonoa was able to grab onto the battlements of the tower, preventing a grisly outcome. He pulled himself back up as quickly as possible, wiping the blood from his nose. But Leptock was already prepping for his next attack - forming a sharp-looking icicle from his palm, and aiming it directly at Klonoa.
"Hell of a show, boy, but I'm the star here! Goodbye."
As the sharpened glacier flew towards him, ready to impale him in a matter of moments, there wasn't much Klonoa could do in regards to evading it; he was still recoiling from Leptock's previous attack. Almost by instinct, he raised his Wind Ring, closed his eyes, and fired a bullet, hoping for the best.
The bullet made a sound as if it made an impact with the icy dagger, but then there was silence. No sounds indicating the shattering of Leptock's icicle. Klonoa opened his eyes, and saw that the bullet had completely halted the projectile. Klonoa moved his ring, and the icicle followed. The wind bullet had grabbed it, as if it was any other inflated creature.
Loaded ring in hand, Klonoa looked back at Leptock with a fiery determination. But the clown wasn't going to let him get the chance, as he prepared another icicle shard, and fired it at the Dream Traveller.
Klonoa dodged the projectile without moving a foot off the ground - only having swayed his body slightly to the left, letting the icicle fly inches away from his face. He then aimed at Leptock with his Ring, and fired the clown's own weaponised ice back at him. The clown's large frame made it much harder for him to be as evasive as the cabbit, and, despite his best efforts to avoid it, the icicle hit him in the chest. While it did stab through slightly, it pierced the metallic armour covering the top half of his body, stopping the projectile before it could have caused any serious damage.
Regardless, the cyborg clown was not going to let this vermin humiliate him again. Yanking the shard out of his chest, Leptock attempted to violently stab Klonoa with it as a makeshift knife. As his opponent kept dodging his sporadic swipes and swings, his rage caused him to shatter the glacier in his clenched claw.
"What's up, Leptock?" Klonoa said at the seething jester, shrugging in a cocky fashion, "I was expecting you to be stronger than you were 5 years ago. Y'know? When I beat you as a 13 year old!"
"SHUT UP! SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH, BOY!"
Leptock was losing it at this point. He couldn't process the fact that he was getting shown up by some meatbag kid who fell from the sky. Again. But he also knew that he couldn't give Klonoa the reaction he wanted. He took a deep breath, did his best to regain his composure, and slowly moved towards the centre of the floor they were standing on.
"Nobody likes a show-off, boy. But if you wanna show-off, it's only fair that I do the same."
On saying this, Leptock outstretched both of his arms to his sides and started blasting freezing air again. This time, however, rather than aiming his trajectory at Klonoa directly, he instead started to spin around in a circle - growing faster and faster with every rotation. In moments, cold mist was everywhere, forming a chilly fog. The Dream Traveller tried to navigate, but he could barely see through it all. When the haze cleared, Leptock slowed down his spin and finished with a flourish.
"Ta-daaa!" the clown exclaimed in a singsong tone, before motioning for the cabbit to look down.
As Klonoa's eyes pointed towards the ground, he realised a moment too late that he had fallen straight into Leptock's trap.
The ground was completely frozen. The cold fog obscured his view, thus allowing Leptock to freeze the floor undetected; and whilst his movement prevented his feet from being frozen alongside the ground, there was no way he could traverse the 'arena' now. Leptock was now at an advantage.
"Dammit." Klonoa said to himself. "Now what?"
"Wait!" Lolo spoke up from within the Ring.
In a flash of light, Klonoa's hoverboard emerged from the weapon, before landing on the icy floor.
"We still have this. We can use it to-"
Before Klonoa could even grab it, Leptock quickly swiped it away.
"Nuh-uh-uuuh."
The board was then swiftly tossed away, off of the tower and out of sight.
"...Uh oh." said the two heroes in unison.
Leptock, having cost his foe an advantage, resumed his assault and fired his arm at Klonoa. The cabbit attempted to jump out of the way, but the slippery terrain made it hard for him to get anywhere. As a result, the clown's claw made contact, grabbing Klonoa and forcing him to go face-to-face with its owner.
As Leptock maintained eye contact with him, a sadistic smile crept onto his face. Whilst the monster's grin was chilling enough to him, Klonoa could feel his chest get colder and colder by the second, and it was spreading. He looked down to see ice slowly starting to form around his body. Looking back at Leptock, whose smile was now spanning from earpiece to earpiece, it was clear that he could freeze things almost instantly, but he wanted the boy to suffer. Slowly.
Klonoa tried to struggle, but the cyborg's grip was too strong, and his body was freezing up. As he saw the ice make its way to his arms, he made sure to drop the Wind Ring onto the ground. It was a risky move, but he couldn't have Lolo join him in his potential frozen tomb. In a matter of moments, he would be completely encased in ice, then Goddess knows what'll happen next.
A moment after the Ring hit the ground, Lolo jumped out from within, and put her hands together. Taking a deep breath, she made sure she wasn't slipping around on the ice, and focused - green energy started forming within her palms.
"Oh no you don't, crybaby girl!"
Leptock used his free hand to swipe Lolo up before she could get a chance to go any further with her idea. They were both trapped now, with currently no way of escaping as the cryokinetic proceeded to give the Priestess the same treatment as her partner.
"BWA-HAH-HAAAH!" Leptock cackled. "My dear, did you really think I'd let you get the chance to stop me from doing what I love?"
"No…" Lolo looked down with a defeated tone in her voice, before looking back up at Leptock.
"...I was just distracting you."
An expression of shock and confusion washed away the sadistic smirk as Leptock heard what sounded like the cocking of a gun.
And it came from right behind him.
-BANG!-
The fired shell connected with Leptock's back. He was knocked forward and lost his grip on Klonoa and Lolo, who both fell to the ground. The impact of the fall caused the frosted terrain to crack. Seeing this, Lolo got an idea.
"Klonoa, fire a Wind Bullet in the ground, please. I want to see if this works."
Klonoa, now free of Leptock's grab, was able to break out of the ice the clown attempted to envelop him within, and grabbed his Ring off from the floor - Lolo jumping into it.
"Right!" the cabbit responded, pointing his weapon towards the frozen surface.
As per the Priestess' request, he fired at the ground. The impact of the bullet caused the entire area of ice to almost completely shatter. The slippery terrain was now reduced to cracked shards, able to be kicked aside to reveal the solid stone underneath.
"Nice!" said an impressed Klonoa.
As the clown got back up, rubbing the singed damage on his back, he looked over to whoever was stupid enough to interrupt the fight and shoot him from behind. The answer didn't surprise him.
It was Mamett, shotgun in hand. Behind him was a hot-air balloon, slowly descending back to the ground below. The Mayor said nothing, but his eyes were filled with a tranquil rage.
"Lemme guess." Leptock spoke. "You met the Bionic, hmm?"
Mamett didn't respond, instead choosing to reload his shotgun, before pointing it towards the clown's head with an angered growl.
"I'm taking that as a 'yes'. I will say, it's not my best work, but it got the reaction I wanted, so I consider that a win for m-ACK!"
Leptock didn't even get a chance to finish his evil monologue before Klonoa fired something into the clown's back. Yanking it out, he saw that it was a piece of the floor he previously froze. He was going to have to wrap this up quickly; both of his opponents now had a supply of ammunition.
After giving the cabbit a quick scowl, he formed another sharpened icicle in his palm. But, rather than firing it, he used it as a melee weapon, thrusting it at Klonoa in an attempt to skewer him with it. Whilst putting most of his concentration on the Dream Traveller, he used his other free claw to try and freeze the area where Mamett was standing.
The Joilantean took advantage of the lack of focus Leptock was giving to him, and was able to avoid being frozen, despite not being as nimble as his long-eared ally. Once he felt able to get the chance, he fired another shell at Leptock - going for the head this time. While the attack was unfortunately unable to cause any significant damage, due to the back of the monster's head being protected by a strong metal, it not only caused him to lose focus, but also managed to destroy the flower-esque propeller on his head.
Leptock grabbed the top of his head in an attempt to feel for the rotor that was no longer there, before being filled with rage and diverting his attention towards Mamett, who looked at the monster with an almost cocky smile.
Sensing an opportunity, Klonoa grabbed an ice shard with his Wind Ring and prepared to fire at the cyborg, before noticing that the core was completely unguarded. He had genuinely forgotten all about the Generator due to being too focused on his opponent, but now was his chance. He aimed towards the glass dome protecting the Element, and launched the shard at it.
The barrier didn't break, but it did start to crack. A few more shards, or something heavier, would probably do the trick.
Unfortunately, the impact got the clown's attention, who quickly swiped up Mamett before he could fire another shot. Despite his aerobic movements, Klonoa was unable to escape his clutches as well, and the two captives were picked up, knocked into each other like a couple of action figures, and thrown to the ground, shattering the already broken ice even more.
"THAT'S IT!" Leptock bellowed. "This show has been going on LONG ENOUGH! But, now that you're both here, I think it's about time I brought out one last trick up my sleeve! I've been saving the best for last, just for you."
One of his arms dispersed and disappeared below the tower somewhere. By the expression on Leptock's face, he was looking for something to bring out. The attacking duo had no idea what he was planning, but they weren't going to give him the chance to, as they both slowly readied their weapons - Klonoa aiming for another ice shard, Mamett reloading his shotgun. But before they could continue-
"Ah-ah-aaah. I wouldn't do that if I were you." Leptock wagged the claw on his free hand. "Can't have you destroying that which you- ah-HAH!"
The cyborg peered down at whatever he found, before looking at the heroes, moreso Mamett, with a devilish grin.
"Remember back at the office, when you told me that I 'shoulda froze those two completely when I had the chance', Mr Mayor?"
Mamett looked at his foe, confusion and doubt in both his face and voice.
"...Yeah? I don't really see how that's relevant to…"
He thought back to when he said that; it was when he was distracting Leptock so his allies could break out of the ice, as only their feet were frozen. The 'two' he was referring to were Klonoa and…
"...wait."
"Let's just say that I thank you for the constructive criticism, and have made sure to rectify my past mistake…"
The clown pulled out his final 'trick', sending a horrified chill creeping up the spines of his foes.
It was yet another frozen victim of the monster's rampage.
But this wasn't just any old townsperson.
It was-
"MOMETT!" Mamett cried out, panicked at the sight before him.
His brother's frozen expression was that of fear and panic. Considering the mallet he previously wielded was nowhere to be seen, it was clear that he was overwhelmed by the monster, before being frozen completely.
"BWA-HAH-HAAAH!" Leptock guffawed at Mamett's state of stress. "I see my latest and greatest work of art has gotten your attention. I call this masterpiece: 'The Bargaining Chip'!"
Hearing this, Mamett's look quickly shifted back to anger.
"Oh, you've got some damned nerve to be using my own brother as blackmail."
"Whatever do you mean?" Leptock put his hands up in confusion. "I'm not hurting anyone, am I?"
The monster paused for a second, before continuing.
"Well….I don't have to hurt anyone, provided you listen to what I have to say."
"I'm sick of your tricks, Leptock!" Klonoa picked up an ice shard with his Ring; he wasn't listening to anything the clown had to say. "You aren't worming your way out of thi-"
Before he could continue any further, Mamett put a hand to Klonoa's chest, wordlessly telling him to hold his horses. The cabbit looked at his ally with dreaded uncertainty. Mamett's expression wasn't much different. They both knew that Leptock wasn't to be trusted whatsoever, but with the potential fate of Momett resting in their hands, the Joilantean needed to exercise caution. Sighing, Mamett walked forward, lowering his shotgun.
"...What are your terms?" the mayor eventually asked, exhausted and exasperated.
Leptock smiled, carefully propping his frozen hostage up against the wall behind him.
"Momett, for Joilant. You and your fellow fleshlings have caused enough trouble for my INCOMPETENT henchbots. I'll let you all leave quietly, showman in tow, to continue wasting your lives elsewhere. I promise I won't loophole my way out of this deal. Pinky-swear."
"Are you kidding?" Klonoa spoke up. "Mamett, you can't trust this guy. Last time you made a deal with him, he double-crossed you!"
"What other choice do we have, kid? It's either he takes the Kingdom, or my brother."
"We can save both! I know we can! If you go for Momett, I can take care o-"
"Klonoa." Lolo interrupted, popping out of the Ring. "We can't risk this."
"We're not having this argument again, Lolo. Please, just listen to me. We can do this if we work together."
"I understand you're frustrated, but please calm down." Lolo was calm, but firm with her tone of voice.
"After everything we've done here, everything we've accomplished, we can't just throw it away and take this…this…monster's word for it!"
"Hey!" Leptock feigned offence. "Words hurt, boy."
"SHUT UP!" Klonoa, Mamett, and even Lolo snapped at the insensitive psycho.
"I…we can't…" The cabbit lowered his head and gritted his teeth, his voice starting to break a little.
"Klonoa, please trust me, I wish I could agree with you. Leptio has caused so much grief and agony, and I want nothing more than to make him pay for all of this. But if there's even the tiniest chance that we can get as many people safe as we can, we must take it. Besides, I don't think either of us have a choice in this."
"Why not?"
The priestess looked at Mamett.
"Because he already made up his mind before either of us spoke a word."
Seeing how determined the mayor was at that moment, Klonoa regained his composure.
"I really hope he knows what he's doing…"
Mamett stopped right in front of Leptock, and looked up at him. Although his gun was by his side, he maintained a firm grip on it. The cyborg noticed, and quickly grabbed Momett by the head.
"Drop your weapons." the commander coldly demanded - a stark contrast to the loud, boisterous character he usually depicted himself as.
Mamett complied, slowly placing his shotgun on the ground. Once the weapon was out of his hands, the clown diverted his attention towards Klonoa.
"That means YOU TOO, Dream boy."
Klonoa was hesitant to drop his Wind Ring; he had a feeling that Leptock would want them to be unarmed and unable to retaliate should he betray them. But, like Lolo said, he didn't have much choice in the matter. Like Mamett before, he slowly bent down and gently discarded his weapon on the floor, holding his open hands up to show that he wasn't going to attack.
"Okay," Mamett said to Leptock, "you get the Kingdom, we get Momett. Give us 24 hours to evacuate the city, and you've got yourself a deal. Deal?"
"Deal." Leptock answered - a mix of sincerity and smugness in his voice.
Outstretching his arm, the clown grabbed Momett and brought him over to Mamett. But before the mayor could take his brother off Leptock's hands…
"Actually…" The clown slowly moved the frozen hostage away. "Before we shake on it, there's… one more thing I forgot to mention."
"Oh for f-" Mamett was starting to lose his patience now. Regardless, he regained his composure before his temper could potentially jeopardise the exchange. "What now?"
"Oh, nothing much, my friend! Just a little bit of advice that could probably benefit you and your buddies!"
"...And that would be?"
"Never trust a pinky swear from someone who doesn't have pinkies…"
Mamett didn't even have the chance to stop Leptock, as the monster tossed Momett behind him, straight over the side of the tower.
"NO!"
The mayor rushed towards the edge, almost as if he believed he had a slim chance of catching him before he was out of reach. He couldn't. All Mamett could do was watch helplessly as the last piece of family he had left fell further and further down, towards the concrete ground below, until…
-SMASH!-
The showman completely shattered to pieces upon impact. Shards of pinkish ice were strewn everywhere - there was nothing identifiable of him left. Everyone was completely speechless. Klonoa and Lolo didn't even need to see the aftermath to know the grisly outcome. Mamett couldn't even bring himself to cry at the death of his own brother; he was in that much shock to show any kind of emotion other than absolute horror.
"Shoulda listened to your furry friend there, ol' chum." Leptock casually taunted, completely nonchalant over the life he just took. To him, Momett was just another number added to the kill count.
"He had the right idea of no-"
"GRAAAAAAGH!"
Leptock had no time to react as Mamett lunged at him mid-boast. He didn't even bother going for his shotgun; the Joilantean went straight for the monster's throat, grabbing onto his scarf and launching several punches to the face of the clown. The mayor's bloodlust almost overwhelmed Leptock at first, until he was able to pull him off and slam him to the ground, pinning him down. Without hesitation, he used his free hand to form an icicle, ready to stab his bloodied skull through.
"That's the problem with you fleshy fools." Leptock got close to Mamett's face so that the mayor could feel the venom spitting out from his words. "You're all so predictably sentimental towards each other. It makes me sick, how stupid you all are."
"You…you…" Mamett struggled to get any words out, as the commander's tight grip was squeezing the air out of his lungs. He used as much strength as he could to try and loosen his opponent's grasp enough for him to speak.
"...you mean like the kind of stupid who takes his eyes off of the one person who kicked his ass before?"
Leptock looked up at where Klonoa was standing before, only to see that he was gone. As he heard footsteps behind him, he did his best to act on a potential ambush. But it was too late. The cabbit was able to stab Leptock in the back with an ice shiver from the ground. Avoiding the armoured parts of his body, Klonoa pushed the shard further into the clown's torso, before it broke off from the Wind Ring. The pain the attack brought to Leptock caused him to loosen his grip on Mamett enough for the mayor to scramble away and grab his shotgun. The shard must've caused some serious internal damage to the cyborg, as not only did it look like sparks were flying out of his mechanical parts, but the icy mist propelling him upwards was starting to malfunction too.
"NO! NO NO NO!" The clown screamed in anguish, flailing around and twitching in agony.
Mamett and Klonoa used this chance to whale into the enemy - landing shot after shot without mercy; Leptock powerless to stop the assault, as his body continued to fail on him.
Eventually, Klonoa delivered a powerful kick to Leptock's chest, knocking the clown back until he was on the edge of the arena. His body had pretty much given up now - the once-energetic Cryo Clown was reduced to a broken mess, both physically and mentally. He couldn't even gather the strength to spout any one-liners or sadistic taunts, as Mamett walked up to him, pushing the barrel of his firearm against Leptock's forehead.
"Why…you…" the monster sputtered out.
"Show's over, you twisted freak!"
-BANG!-
The impact of the shotgun blast sent Leptock flying over the same edge his former hostage was thrown off of. With his body on complete shutdown and his face pretty much blown off, the clown was powerless to break his fall, as he collided with the fast-approaching ground.
With a loud crash, Leptock the Cryo Clown was done for, his countless victims avenged and his Generator completely unguarded.
Without another word, Klonoa knew what had to be done now. Walking up to the glass dome, he aimed his Ring, and fired one last bullet on the battlefield.
With a loud smash, the dome shattered, Klonoa grabbed the Element of Joy, and Joilant was freed.
END OF CHAPTER 3