Thunder Snow (GOTP AU)

1. Flash and Freeze

A chill pulled Cody out of the dark; the cold, and his memory flashing back to the moment he'd fallen into the dark.

The virus had grabbed him, and then whipped around, and Cody couldn't do anything as Heatwave had a blade shoved into his stomach.

The shock, the pain, the fear, it all flickered in Heatwave's optics as he still tried to protect the boy. Cody could see the light in his optics going out, just like they had before... when they'd all passed away.

Cody...Run...!

The shudder of that moment pulled him out of the dark enough to feel the cold all around him, and his eyes opened, closing again tightly as they were met with a blinding white. "Ah!... Augh...!"

He brought a hand to his eyes to rub them, wincing as he rolled over onto his stomach. As he did so, there was the unmistakable feel and crunching sound of snow under his body. He opened his eyes again- that certainly explained the blinding whiteness of his surroundings. "Ergh..."

He pulled himself up into a sitting position, wincing at the brightness around him, trying to make sense of it. There were several inches of it all around him, but as he looked up, he found a large, protruding rock blocked the majority of it from hitting him directly, leaving a small space under the rock that had only a light dusting from the wind blowing flakes inward. Beyond the rock, the snow was still falling steadily, and he scooted back a bit away from the edge where he laid to keep flakes from hitting his head.

He tugged on the sleeves of his coat and looked around; where was he? And how did he get here? He remembered being grabbed by the virus, Heatwave... the virus fleeing the scene as he heard the other bots cry out in horror, and then... nothing past that.

He couldn't be on Griffin Rock. Snow was possible this time of year, but incredibly unlikely, and if it were another weather machine event, he figured others would be out and about in it... another thing about that. It was too quiet, and he couldn't make out any buildings out amidst the falling snow. The ground would have to be sloped for it to be natural snow on the mountain, and this ground felt relatively flat.

But then the silence was broken by the sound of a loud, enraged roar. Cody looked out into the snow, and his eyes caught sight of a shape- no, two shapes- engaged in combat. Four-legged, their long tails lashed, their heads butted together and short horns locked like stags in a duel, and their wings... wait, wings?

As one of them broke free of the headlock and smashed its horns into the other's chest, Cody saw them more clearly- dragons. One was mostly gray- the other, smaller and blue with patches of white and red. The gray one had been the one to attack, knocking the other backwards towards the boy. The victim stumbled for a few steps, coughing as the wind was knocked out of their lungs.

"Give up! You tire, while I remain fully combat capable!"

Cody's eyes widened a bit as he heard the gray dragon speak; that voice... it was the same one that had been cackling and mocking Heatwave in the entry... It couldn't be! If that dragon was now the Morocco Virus, then who was he fighting?

The blue dragon coughed hard again, standing up straight on shaky legs and spitting red into the white snow. Try as they might, they were knocked off of their feet again and into the snow, pressed down into it by the virus.

"I...I will never yield...!" They rasped.

Cody gasped as he recognized their voice, "Chase!"

Chase's head seemed to prick at Cody's voice, and the virus looked at the teenager with hunger and excitement. It started towards him, but was unprepared for Chase to reach up and snap his jaws into its back leg. The virus howled in pain, trying to shake itself loose as Chase held on like a python, refusing to let go of its prey.