Onyx and the Possession

Into the Eye

"The Blind Man's Eye will be passing the peak in T-minus four hours." Nya's voice came through the ninjas' headsets. "Good, then if there isn't any trouble, they should be able to get there in time," Wu's voice said. "You know us. We are literally magnets for trouble," Onyx said. "No, that's just you. And out of curiosity, why is it they call it the Wailing Alps?" Ronin's voice asked. "Because when the unnaturally strong wind gusts blow through the canyons, it creates a wailing sound. They say some gusts are strong enough to blow someone clear off the face of the mountain," Misako's voice answered. "Right. No trouble at all. I take it back, Nixy. It's all of you," Ronin said.  Their radios crackled into silence.

"So this Sword of Sanctuary. You really think you can see all of your opponents' attacks? If we had that kind of power, not even Morro could stop us," Jay said. Onyx frowned thoughtfully, curious as to how the Sword worked. "But if Morro got his hands on it, nothing would stop him, which is why we cannot fail. We just have to keep climbing. Ugh, Zane. How much further is it to the top?" Jay asked. "Thar be a long way. At least a hundred thousand steps up," Zane answered.

"A hundred thousand? Good thing I'm not counting," Kai groaned. "267, 268, 269, 70, 71, 72, 72—oh, look, a little goat!" Jay said suddenly, his counting interrupted when a Walloper distracted him. "That's not a goat. Don't you remember? We rode one of those, Kai said. "It's got horns. It's a goat," Jay said. Onyx nearly choked on her laughter. "Jay, I think that's the dumbest thing I've heard you say," she said. "Yeah, even giraffes have horns. And that's not a goat. It's a yak," Kai argued. "A yak? No way. Maybe it's a cow," Jay said. "I'm about to have a cow," Kai grumbled. Onyx and Cole caught each other's glances, both shaking with silent laughter.

"Arr! Look! Tracks!" Zane suddenly said, pointing. "Maybe another YAK?" Kai said, pointedly looking at Jay. "Or a COW!" Jay returned. "Or maybe a mech. Those definitely aren't yak or cow or whatever the heck you're thinking of tracks," Onyx said. "Aye. Pixal has analyzed ye tracks. We not be the first ones to climb this pass today," Zane agreed. The mood immediately sombered. "You think it was Morro?" Kai asked. "Who else is crazy enough to be at this altitude? If he's ahead of us, we're bound to cross paths," Jay said.

A wailing sound suddenly echoed eerily through the peaks. "What's that sound?" Cole asked. "Wind gust! Batten down yer hatches!" Zane shouted. Onyx immediately dug her mech's hands into the ground, hunkering down. "Hold on, everyone!" Kai yelled as the wind picked up, blowing violently down on them. Onyx gasped as Cole's mech slipped off the mountain. "I can't hold on!" He cried. Zane just barely managed to catch him with his grappling hook before he could fly off the face of the peaks. "That was close. I owe you one," Cole gasped as Zane pulled him back in.

A few seconds later, the wind gust settled down and the ninja stood their mechs back up. "The gusts are getting worse," Onyx noticed, brows knitting in concern. Kai frowned and kept walking. "Come on, there's still a lot of mountain to go," he said. The others nodded in agreement and began to follow again.

Nary twenty minutes later, a soft rumbling sound reached Onyx's ears, and she frowned. The sound was familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. "Now what's that sound?" Jay asked. "Another gust?" Cole suggested. Kai's eyes widened as a wall of snow suddenly appeared, shooting down the slope they were attempting to scale. "Worse. Avalanche! Here it comes! Hold on!" Kai shouted as it drew closer.

The ninja spun their mechs around in an attempt to flee from the wall of snow, but they were only delaying the inevitable, and moments later the snow enveloped them, bringing their mechs crashing to the ground as the snow swept over them.

Onyx choked as snow filled her face, blocking her airway and painting her vision white. She could hear the others shouting but couldn't make out their words through the snow clogging her ears. Onyx put her hand into her mouth, scooping out as much snow as she could and then covering her mouth, trying to keep her airway open. She curled in upon herself in the cockpit of her mech, trying to keep her body intact.