The Bloodforged Kin

Chapter 216 - 210: Safehold - Abominable Safehold - The Toys

Weeble sprinted across the cul-de-sac. He let out a sharp whistle and called out something he'd been practicing the last couple of days.

A rapid-fire stomping of legs answered his whistle and he looked backwards and grinned.

"Power me up, Lady Tutu!" he yelled and she barked with glee, legs turning into a blur as she played her new favorite game: Hit the skinny man with the flat face so hard that it made her head hurt. She loved that game so much.

If anyone had been looking inward, rather than outward, they would have seen Weeble sprinting across the makeshift courtyard for the wall, Lady Tutu repeatedly sprinting and leaping to slam into his back, dropping to shake her head, then sprint back at him with a huge canine grin.

Weeble reached the base of the wall and pushed stored kinetic power out of the bottom of his feet at the last step, vaulting himself into the air and over the first wall. He landed heavily on the second, making sure to land in a superhero landing pose.

"Superhero landing pose," he said, then stood up to see what everyone was looking at.

Sure enough, a massive, furry abomination was crossing the distance to them with huge strides. It must have been 20 feet tall and had arms that almost dragged to the ground. It was covered in thick, white fur and the exposed skin of its hands, feet, and face were a deep purple. Its eyes shone with a crystal blue light and its teeth were the size of pillows, pure white and perfectly flat.

"HIT IT, DJ!" Slinky's voice called out and 'Jump Around' by House of Pain blasted into the morning air.

WEEBLE: Rock'Em, power me up. I'm going in high. After that, you box with it and keep the hands off of us. Slinky, go crazy on the joints - try to take it out at the elbows and knees. Beyblade, face and joints, use your big one on the chest. I'll be useless after the first hit so I will try to intercept blows. Rock'Em, keep powering me up and keep me from falling down.

The string of 'Got it' notifications scrolled across his feed and they were in the air, leaping to land as one on the ground below.

Rock'Em sprinted ahead of the group then turned to look back. Weeble reached him at a sprint and leapt into the air. Just as he passed Rock'Em unleashed a steel-coated haymaker into Weeble's back, sending the man flying forwards like a cannonball while imbuing him with the strength of the blow.

Weeble tucked his legs and arms in close, reducing air friction as much as possible. He was at the thing in an instant and he opened up, arching his back and clasping his hands together over his head. He brought his hands down in a double-fisted chop and unleashed all of the power into its chest. He'd hoped to get high enough for the head, but they'd never practiced with anything this tall before so Rock'Em's aim had been off.

Regardless, the impact had the desired effect and it was thrown backwards, digging a deep furrow in the snow as it slid across the ground. It climbed to its feet with a roar before the group could reach it.

Damn, knocked it back too far. Shouldn't have had Lady Tutu power me up, he thought. He'd wanted it on the ground where it didn't have the height advantage, but it'd landed far enough away to get back to its feet before they could reach it..

Slinky was past Weeble in a flash, zig-zagging across the ground in erratic patterns and reminding Weeble of the countless anime characters he'd loved watching. It roared at her approach and swept its long arms along the ground, but Slinky's tinkling laughter was all it caught. A purple hand, wider than she was tallk reached her, but she just flipped onto it and sprinted up its arm, silvery metal glinting as she did. Red streaks followed her run as shallow cuts followed every step. She sprinted to its shoulder and leapt onto the back of its neck.

WEEBLE: Slinky, I said go for the joints! The neck is too wide - your blades won't get around it!

SLINKY: Imma take its head off real quick first though!

Weeble's heart dropped as the thing reached one long arm up and grabbed the girl from its neck then hurled her like a baseball at the onrushing Toys.

Weeble pivoted his run, calculating her trajectory. He poured on every ounce of speed and leapt to intercept her flight. She was a fastball of legs and limbs, and if he missed she'd be torn apart as she bounced along the frozen ground. He leapt, praying he timed it right.

Slinky struck him in the chest and he instantly accepted her kinetic energy, dropping her speed to nothing. They dropped to the ground, Weeble landing on his feet and holding Slinky.

"Thanks boss!" she said and sprinted off towards the Snowman again, laughing wildly. Weeble shook his head and ran to catch up.

Weeble stayed at its front, blocking blows and trying to conserve as much energy as possible for his finishing move. To the people watching he looked like he was on a trampoline, bouncing high into the air as he pushed energy out from his feet, placing himself between strikes that would have hit Rock'Em or Slinky, occasionally landing heavy hits on the Snowman's face.

Rock'Em harassed its knees, trying to break past the thick muscles and tendons to collapse it. Beyblade launched a constant stream of projectiles that peppered its face, shoulders, and arms. He gave up on going for the torso - the easy target was too heavily muscled for him to do more than surface damage.

Slinky just climbed over it with the grace of a monkey, leaving shallow cuts everywhere she went.

'Power' by Kanye West came across the distance and Weeble smiled under his mask.

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

WEEBLE: Hey, it's my song!

ROCK'EM SOCK'EM: Predictable.

BEYBLADE: Honestly, it's a bit on the nose, don't you think?

WEEBLE: Let's see if you guys do bett-

His communication was cut off with a woof as he took a blow that sent him flying backwards. In his distraction he hadn't seen it coming and hadn't chosen to accept the energy. Panic surged through him - if he hit the ground with anything but his feet he'd lose all the power he'd been building up, and his finishing move was done. He didn't know if they'd last long enough for him to build it back up.

The ground rushed at him and he tried to pivot, seeing that he'd never get his feet under him in time. The ground came up and suddenly Rock'Em was underneath him, sliding on his knees to catch him before he hit.

WEEBLE: You're a mensch!

ROCK'EM SOCK'EM: Pay attention.

He set Weeble down on his feet and the two turned back to the fight. The creature was swinging wildly, trying to catch the agile Slinky while batting away Beyblade's attacks.

BEYBLADE: This isn't working - we're not doing enough damage.

WEEBLE: We'll need our finishers. How close are you?

BEYBLADE: My regular blades are almost out - 22 left.

WEEBLE: I could use a few more hits, but don't know if we have time.

SLINKY: Hey guys, it's doing something!

The Abominable Snowman had pulled its arms in close and ducked its head. It was breathing heavily and the air around it crackled with the sound of breaking ice.

WEEBLE: GET BACK, NOW!

Slinky leapt from its shoulder and tumbled to the ground in a roll that carried her to her feet. Beyblade sprinted towards Rock'Em and Weeble, trying to catch up to the nimble Slinky. Power built in the air and ice began to form on their eyelashes as the group reached each other.

They bunched up and Rock'Em threw his arms around the group, touching the piece of marble on his belt and sending its properties throughout his entire body. He'd only be able to do this once today - his finishing move had a long cooldown, but it just might be enough to protect them all.

The Snowman flung its arms wide and roared, a blast of pure cold clearing the ground around it and leveling the trees in a 100-foot radius. Silence filled the air, the blast cold enough to stop even sound. It looked around in triumph, seeing the dome of ice that had frozen over the small things that had been pestering it.

It walked forward slowly, relishing its victory. It looked down at the frozen bodies and lifted a foot high to stomp them flat. 'Centuries' by Fall Out Boy reached its ears at the same time as it heard the cracking of ice. It stomped downward, and cried out in pain.

Rock'Em broke the ice apart with a heave and formed his marbled fists into pyramid spikes. He stabbed his arms upward, catching the descending foot. It cried out with pain but continued to push, bending Rock'Em backwards and buckling his legs.

Beyblade and Slinky broke out in opposite directions - Slinky jumping up to grab its foot and climb her way to its head. Beyblade ran away from them, getting enough distance to get a good line-of-sight on its chest. The Snowman reached for Slinky, but its hands were knocked away by Beyblade's projectiles each time. He kept a close eye on the count - when it reached zero he'd be able to activate his ultimate attack. Every level he got increased the number and power of his smaller projectiles, but pushed his ultimate attack further out of reach.

Fortunately for him, and unfortunately for the Abominable Snowman, his ultimate attack grew more powerful each level too.

They executed the Big Bastard Attack with practiced precision. Slinky climbed to its head and drove her blades into its flesh. Its skull was too hard for her to penetrate, but it still had eyes and a mouth - and that was plenty for her. Her finishing move activated and thin, silver blades snaked out of her and into the awaiting orifices, puncturing eyeballs and slicing its tongue apart. When they took root in the soft flesh of its interior she pressed her feet firmly on its neck and pulled backwards, trying to force its head up.

BEYBLADE: I'm on.

Slinky pulled back harder and Beyblade leaned forward, the swirls on his mask coalescing into a disk six inches thick and as wide as a manhole cover. It spun in place with a dull gray light, becoming solid in seconds. With a shout he pushed the last of his power into it and sent it spinning at the Snowman's chest. He'd have liked to go for the throat, but was worried he'd take Slinky out if he did.

The projectile slammed home, burying itself halfway into its ribcage. It tumbled backwards, ripping its foot free from Rock'Em's spikes with a wet squelch and leaving bloody footprints as it stumbled. It windmilled its arms, trying to keep its balance. Slinky retracted her blades and ran down its body, jumping into another neat roll and sprinting to join the rest of the group.

The Toys watched with fascination as it stumbled, windmilled, and roared. By all rights it should be dead - but the damned thing's bones were too hard, even for Bey's ultimate attack. It stopped spinning, coming to a heaving, huffing stop. It let out mewling, angry, pained cries as it did, swinging its arms around it trying to hit anything that might be close. It was blind and injured, but it wasn't dead.

"Hey buddy, you're not looking so good."

It whipped its head around at the voice, homing in on the sound. Weeble stood at a distance from the rest of the Toys, looking like a true toy standing in front of the monstrosity. It outweighed him by a couple thousand pounds, and just one of its legs was bigger than Weeble's entire body. It may not be able to see, but it could still hear - and it was ANGRY.

Weeble whistled, locking in his location and keeping it away from his team. "I'm over here, bud. Before I kill you,though, I just wanted to give you a little 'thank you.'"

The creature couldn't understand his words, and wouldn't have cared if it could. It charged, roaring and swinging its arms in front of itself, searching for the noise.

"Thanks for giving me a new type of energy."

The abomination was blind to the six-foot wide spike of ice and power that pierced its chest, hurling it backwards into the distant treeline.

ROCK'EM SOCK'EM: Oh man.

WEEBLE: I know! Cool, right?

ROCK'EM SOCK'EM: Not that.

SLINKY: Don't pout.

WEEBLE: What is happening right now?

BEYBLADE: He didn't get his song.

ROCK'EM SOCK'EM: Sucks.

The roar of Safehold reached them as they approached the walls, spears and machetes lifted high in victory salutes. The Toys waved with all the drama of showmen who had just killed their last performance - literally. The made their way to one of the doors and walked inside to find some warmth.

Slinky trotted to the keg of beer, leaping onto it in a one-handed handstand, using the other to bring the tap to her mask.

Beyblade made his way to his house, crawling under the covers to fall into a heavy sleep.

Weeble sought out Tess, wanting to finish their conversation while it was still fresh in his mind.

Rock'Em found his own source of warmth as the Mehta sisters found him and took him by the hands to their house.