The path to the Ice Cave has been chosen...
"I just wanted to be a super sexy, badass spellbreaker. Why does the world gotta' be so lame?"
As the air grew colder, Joseph, keeping his own sort of cool, looked over at his younger companion. "Uh...go on?"
The handsome, dark-haired, beefy brawler in the jersey sighed. "I'm used to pullin mad studs left and right, Joey. Breakin' necks and cashin' checks. Now? I gotta deal with this spooky crap." He gestured to the misty woodlands, where balls of fox fire floated eeriely through the branches of gnarled trees. "Do those stuffed suits at Aradia REALLY think a bunch of horny, muscle heads in colorful underwear are the best dudes to save the world?"
Joseph smiled knowingly. It was funny. He saw bits of himself in Robbie, Cian, Kengo, and even in Spike. Still gems that hadn't been cut to shine to their true potential, quite yet.
"Yes. The world is full of unlikely heroes. Did you attend public school, Robbie?"
"Yeah? Why?"
"And did they have a cafeteria there. With lunch ladies?"
Icewolf screwed up his face, confused. Still, he knew Joseph usually always had a point, even if it took awhile to get there. "Oh yeah. Mrs. Thompson! She was a really scary old bat, but she always used to give me an extra helping of mashed potatoes. Said it would make me strong. She was the best." He patted his stomach, hungrily.
"Then she was a hero."
"What?"
Joseph shrugged. "She fed all those kids, every day. Do you know how much patience a job like that must require? It's no stretch of the imagination to say that without her generous helpings, you might not have built the bone and muscle mass needed to take you into your athletic career."
"Woah...you're right."
"And if all those cafeteria workers suddenly disspeared? Or doctors. Or sanitation workers. Or mailmen. This whole world is full of important people doing important things. We're just a few cogs in this strange machine, young Wolf."
"Damn, bro. Good lookin' and smart?" He sighed, in envy. "Wish I was that brilliant."
Joseph laughed, though his eyes were trained on the dark shape looking up ahead. The rocky craig of a slope ahead. They were close to the base of Mt. Fuji now. "How many languages do you speak?"
"Uh..." Robbie counted the number on his fingers. "Four?"
"Do you know how many languages most people speak? You and Spike really need to stop calling yourselves himbos."
"Yeah, but it's like, part of the gimmick!" With that out of the way, Robbie's attention-deficient brain jumped back to the present situation--this haunted, annoying-as-hell adventure. "This forest sucks, bro. I don't understand the stereotype that people like me are supposed to be...good at nature, and stuff. I mean, I know a few survival things, but I was mostly brought up playing sports."
Joseph stopped outside the rocky passage. The mountain face loomed above him, taller than the trees. "Stereotypes are annoying, yes. I don't like how most people assume I can just do kung fu. Which is especially irritating, because I actually do know how to do kung fu." He scratched his neck, sheepishly. "But that's why I appreciate the GSA. If I was forced to do an insulting gimmick, I wouldn't have stuck around the become champion. And, I can still incorporate some of my signature, wuxia flare on my own terms."
"Oh yeah, just like how I sometimes wear those pretty, beadwork trunks my mom made for me." Robbie immediately turned a bright shade of red. "Er...don't tell anybody my mom made them for me, bro. Not that I think I could throw you into a locker or anything, but..."
"Haha. Exactly. It's good that you're proud of your heritage, Robbie. I think you'll go far. Er...maybe...just cut back on the bullying, once in awhile."
"Aw, but it's sooo much fun. Huh?" Robbie glanced at the cold, cavernous maw up ahead. He could see the frozen mist leaking from the rocky opening, like the mouth of a great, ice dragon "Oh, snap, this it?"
Joseph nodded. "Be on guard."
Robbie made an 'x' with his arms. "Ready to play defense, bro."
"Heh. Good."
The two athletes entered the frozen space, marvelling at the frozen ceiling and icy floor, which appeared to glow and give off light of its own, magickal accord. The temperature shift was sudden and sharp, and even Joseph--battle-hardened as he was--couldn't help but shiver.
"I can fix that," Robbie suggested.
"Hm."
Icewolf scratched his head. "Yeah, internal temperatures. I can make your body acclimate to the cold so it's not as tough."
"Oh! How kind. So...what are you waiting for?"
"Er."
"You look embarrassed."
"Well, it's just...the way I have to do it. I kinda' have to...um..."
"Yes?"
Robbie sighed. "I gotta' kiss you bro."
"EXCUSE ME!?"
"I gotta' kiss you bro! I don't make the rules."
"Ugh, but Lachlan..." Joseph turned his head away, before Icewolf could see his cheeks redden "F-fine. Will it be quick?"
"Yeah, I guess."
Joseph sighed, and faced his bulky companion. "Okay. But the moment I feel tongue, you're getting put into a rocking horse hold. Got it?"
"I mean, don't tempt me with a good ti--"
"ROBBIE."
"Yes, yes! Got it. We're just bros being bros." Robbie clumsily reached behind Joseph's neck and pulled him closer. He gave him a brief kiss, imbuing his body with the ability to fend off the cold.
Joseph's eyes fluttered. "Minty." He coughed. "Okay, that's quite enough. I said no tongue!"
"It wasn't tongue, honest!" He bit his lip. "You...your lips are softer than I thought they'd--"
"Robbie."
"Just sayin'!"
The two men continued into the cavern, unbothered by the cold (though their breath was still visible in the air). Icewolf flicked his wrist, reshaping the ice crystals on the ground and forming a solid path, free of slippage.
The next passage was a wide room with tall columns of crystalline ice, so impressive and thoughtfully placed that Joseph thought them wrought by human hands. The cavern held the aura of a temple, or sacred space.
"Wow," Joseph said, unable to contain his awe.
"Wow is right, dude. It's...like...beautiful." Then, Robbie felt his boot brush up against something. "Hmm?"
At first, he thought it was a pile of rocks, deliberate stacked as some sort of bygone ritual. Ice had formed like crystals along the surface. At second glance though, the ridges and curves of the strange rock formation...
Icewolf gasp. "J-j-o Jo."
"My name is not JoJo," White Tiger sighed, hand to his head. "Gimme a break. What's wrong?"
Robbie pointed down at the skeleton. "Joseph, it's bones."
"Oh."
Sure enough, the cavern was littered with them, mostly tucked away in the corners and nooks...almost deliberately.
"These look old. Could be just be bears."
"And that's supposed to make me feel better, bro?"
Joseph scanned the room for activity. The ice was still. He could practically see his reflection in the smooth walls. "Mt. Fuji is still an active volcano. This must be a lava tube. I do, however, feel the presence of strong magick here."
Robbie agreed. "Yeah, I--"
A flicker of movement. A shadow along the wall.
"Huh!"
FHEWWWM
Joseph pivoted around and threw himself at Robbie, tucking his hand around his head and throwing him to the ground. "Robbie!"
The blade of ice, a shuriken, embedded itself in the column behind Robbie, where his head had been less than a second ago.
"Thanks," Robbie said, wincing, as White Tiger got off of him. "Damn, Joey, you're takedowns are no joke. Who the hell is that?"
From his position on the ground, Joseph stuck out his hand. "Hmph." A gust of wind shot up from the ground, throwing the second blade of ice off course.
A figure darted just outside of sight. The room was quiet again.
"Ninjas!?" Robbi growled, standing and readying himself for a scrap. "You gotta' be kiddin' me, bro."
"I don't think it's ninjas," Joseph said, conjuring a plume of snow-laden wind with one hand, and a geyser of black water with the other, arming himself with his elements. "Probably another yokai. Watch out!"
The figured (winged, apparently) jumped from behind the column and made a graceful arc through the air, scattering several more blades of ice sent in Robbie and Joseph's direction. The two men split apart, jumping in the opposite direction to avoid the frozen weapons. Now, the figure was clear. It positioned itself, balancing on a frozen needle jutting up from the ground. A winged creature, half bird, half man, wearing a mask of stone. The strange, erratically moving entity cocked its head to the side, in a pantomime of curiosity.
Robbie stepped forward. "Come over here and wrestle me, bro!"
The creature answered the challenge by flipping into the air and diving straight for Robbie's head, tossing another volley of frozen shuriken.
Icewolf threw himself back, curving his arm upward in a upper-cut motion. The sheet of ice on the ground bent itself in the same arc, creating a shield that managed to block all but one of the creature's ice daggers.
The last one, White Tiger knocked away with a jet of black, inky water. It had missed Robbie's face by a hair. Way too close.
Before the men could turn their attention on the creature, it latched onto a high wall, skittering across the ceiling like an insect, and vanishing into the shadows of the cavern ceiling.
"It's keeping a distance for just that reason," Joseph said. He kept his helix of water at the ready, waiting for the thing to rain ice daggers on them like missiles. "We're grapplers. It knows our strengths."
"Ugh, LAME!" Robbie spat. He stepped out into the room, conjuring a shield of ice with one hand, and a frozen javelin with the other. "Throw my own element at ME, bro? I'll make you sworry!"
The creature, a daitengu, responded with a flurry of more ice blades, this time larger than before. They cut into Robbie's shield with such a force that his protection shattered.
The last blade grazed his arm, drawing blood. Unable to concentrate, Robbie's magickal hold on his ice javelin shattered, the weapon turning into snow.
"Ghaa." Robbie knelt down and grabbed his arm. Realizing he was out in the open, he jumped back and rolled behind a column on ice, just as a barrage of more ice shuriken made a line for his vulnerable body. He barely escaped.
Joseph, sucking on his teeth in frustration (and at enough of a distance that he wouldn't be able to rescue his partner) pressed his back to the column. "Robbie," he called out. "A breather, man, you get way too out of focus when you're mad. Just take one step back and concentrate. If you get riled up, you'll get hurt."
"Ughh..." Robbie looked down at his wound. It wasn't bad, but it put him in a tricky spot. Blood ran down his left triceps and bicep. "Not good."
"We can fix it." Joseph looked to the ceiling. It was up there, somewhere, this sniper. "Damn it. This thing is fast." He channelled his focus, knowing he had faced more precarious situations before.
You've already won this fight, Tiger. You and Robbie are already safe. Now, just work out how you got there, champ.
The champion of the GSA looked to his injured partner, understanding that the thing on the ceiling only needed to reposition himself before it took the next shot. "Ok, Icewolf. I need you to approach this as a tag team with me."
Robbie took a deep breath and placed his right hand over his wound. He winced as he froze his own blood, cauterizing the damage with a cold burn. "Breather," he said. "Got it." He sat up, creating a dome of ice over his head to block any incoming barrages. "Okay, punk. You think you can upstage me at my own game? Fine. We won't wrassle."
He stepped out, deliberately, into the open.
"We'll...dance."
"Robbie?" Joseph whipped his head towards the centre of the room. Is he insane? He'll be killed...
Robbie snapped his fingers. Blades of ice formed beneath his hiking boots, turning them into skates. "1948," he said, blocking a blade assault.
"Yes?" Joseph said, confused. "That is a number. Good start...?"
Icewolf skated into the open, gracefully sliding past another bolt of sharp ice, doing a figure eight around another. He held his hands out, letting his element carry him.
"1948, Olympics," Robbie said, calmly. He stopped short in a piroutte, 'feeling' where the the ice shuriken from above would land. They missed him, the daitengu miscalculating. "Barbara Ann Scott. Canada's sweetheart. She had a pair of blades, the ice, and a DREAM, bro."
Robbie stopped himself short, at an angle, cutting into the ice floor and sending up a wave of diamond dust. With a graceful flourish, he turned the plume of ice into his own arrows. With a cooler head, he was able to 'feel' where the ice shuriken were coming from, and charted a course back to the source. It was just like hockey. Lines. Distances. Take the shot.
He hit his goal.
A strange cry, half crow, half wind-chime, echoed through the chamber--the daitengu, struck, fell from the ceiling. It righted its course and corrected itself in the air, bolting straight for Robbie.
It was pissed.
Robbie, breathing heavily, skated around and faced his opponent head on--a game of chicken. "Triple axle FLIP," he said. He motioned to Joseph. "When I say 'go', you do your water thing, got it?"
Joseph didn't exactly 'get it', but he agreed with Robbie's confidence. "Right." He readied himself.
Here I go. Damn, wish Cian could see this. Icewolf skated forward, just as the daitengu darted down, ready to strike its target. "Pachelbel's Canon," Robbie muttered, hearing the music in his head. "Pachelbel's Canon." It became a war mantra. Perhaps it was a little more enthusiasm than what was needed.
But when had the 'Ice Cold Killa'' ever turned down the cool?
"PACHELBEL'SSSS CANONNNN!"
As the daitengu threw out a sharp dagger of ice, Robbie jumped up into the air, and flipped over the creature, landing perfectly behind it, arms up in a victory pose.
"GO!"
Joseph threw out his geyser, blasting the daitengu with a jet force of black water.
Robbie was ready. He turned the water into ice, freezing the daitengu to the spot.
"Got him!" Joseph shouted. "Ten from the judges, Robbie!"
Robbie pumped his fist in the air. "Hell yeah!"
Inside its prison, the daitengu struggled to free itself.
"Now..." Joseph said, walking closely forward. The snowy wind whipped around his arms and legs. "You hurt my friend." He grabbed the daitengu's feathery head with his claw, gripping down hard. "I'LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THAT."
Now, Robbie was scared. For the creature. "Uh, Joseph."
CRACK.
Joseph ripped the creature out of the ice, swivelled around it, and gripped it by the hips. He jumped into the air, high enough that he nearly smashed the damn beast into the ceiling.
"RETRIBUTION OF THE FOUR GUARDIANS!"
Mid air, Joseph turned his movement into a deadly super-plex, smashing the creature back into the ground twice.
It shattered into a million pieces of ice.
Robbie's jaw dropped. "Oh my Goddess, Joey, you suplexed him so hard he broke!"
Sweaty, and taking deep breaths, Joseph looked at the fragments of ice on the ground...and the stone mask in the center of the crater. "He...was made of ice...I guess?"
"Oh." Robbie scratched his head. "That too."
Joseph bowed his weary head at his defeat opponent. "We really do take magick for granted. These Chalices have put us on the path of some ancient forces."
"Yeah, like, truly weird s***". Icewolf collapsed against the pillar, exhausted and shot with adrenaline. "Now I see why Buck wants to get an on-site therapist. After this, I'll need one." Hey, do you hear that?"
"Gods, what now?"
"No, like...it sounds like rushing water." Icewolf cocked his ear to the side, and quickly added, "And not like, rushing water coming at us either."
"Well, thank goodness for..." Joseph stood, listening. "Yeah. It's coming from up ahead." He conjured up another helix of wind and water, intertwining the elements around his hand like he did his signature red ropes. "Follow behind me."
Getting to his feet, Robbie stretched out to the frozen ceiling, inviting misery. "Ugh. They wouldn't throw another monster at us, would they?"
Robbie followed Joseph into the cramped passage, his concerns shifting from being mauled by monsters to being trapped and suffocated inside a cave passage. He lamented having gone through a bulk phase. This bod is built for bruising, not caving...
Preoccupied with claustrophobia as he was, Robbie failed to pick up on the sudden change in temperature, and the warm light growing from the end of the passage. Joseph slid out of the fissure, and Robbie followed close behind.
He stepped out into the light. The ice cave was beautiful on its own, but was hidden at the end of the tunnel blew his mind. "Woah."
The domed cavern was open to the sky, but it was impossible to see out of it, as the sunlight coming through was so strong as to be blinding. A waterfall cascaded through the passage, emptying into the lucid pool in the center of the chamber, ringed with indigo colored wisteria trees. Their petals covered the ground and pool, harmonizing with the light and casting everything in a deep, blue-purple glow. A simple wooden shrine, impossibly old, and ringed with sacred rope, sat at the head of the pool.
"'Woah' is right," Joseph said, allowing his magickal shield to dissipate. There was no danger here. "This is...beautiful. And it's definitely the Wellspring."
Robbie had no argument. Filled with a sudden and welcome peace, he sat down on a rock and watched as Joseph went about dipping the Chalice into the spring. The indigo water crystalized inside the vessel.
"I could stay here forever," Robbie said, smiling, his eyes closed. The sunlight against his skin felt like heaven. He was at peace. Whatever the energy in the room, it quieted his mind.
Joseph approached him. "You did well, Robbie. I'm proud of you." The tall, muscular hearth throb hero sat next to his friend. "You, Spike, Cian, and Kengo are the next gen of the GSA. I think we'll be in good hands."
Robbie looked over at him. "Thanks, bro. Really. Uh...so, do you think you'll for for the World Champ title?"
Joseph looked up into the sunlight. His mouth twitched. "I've been asking myself that same question. Am I happy where I am now, or do I have something to prove? I never set out to be the best spellbreaker. I just wanted to be a hero." He laughed at the thought. "Then again, what kind of hero would I be if I didn't shoot for the title? Still, I had hoped to crush Vahni Rage myself. I think him and Spike--"
"Totally want to bang each other?" Icewolf laughed. "Yeah, bro. Even I'm not that dense."
As much as Joseph wanted to indulge in light conversation, though, too much weighed heavy on his mind. "I'm afraid this world championship is so much more than spellbreaking, though. Dark forces are amassing. I don't think Firebird is the full extent of the threat we're facing." He looked down at the Chalice in his hand. "I'm no oracle, but I get hunches. Something big is coming. I can feel it."
Robbie scratched his head, nervously. Then, looking into the pool of churning water, he gathered his strength. "Then we'll be ready for it, eh?"
To Be Continued
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