A Beacon of Hope in a Castle of Ice.

An Alternate Ending

Pov: Blake Belladonna

       "You're not getting away this time Torchwick. You're mine!" I shout, shooting the glass window of the large warehouse that I have been looking through for the past four hours. I got a lead from the bad side of town that there had been some White Fang activity near the edge of Southeast Vale. It was only a rumor, but I had no other choice but to follow it and hope it would bring me to my goal. Seems like it paid off.

       I dive in through the shattered window, rolling to my feet and observing the dark warehouse and several trailer-sized containers. Oddly enough there are no White Fang present, but straight ahead of me is none other than the orange-haired, White-suited crime boss, Roman Torchwick.

       "Nice to see you again, Kitty. I know you aren't stupid enough to come after me alone. Where's Banana Boy? Red? What about the creepy kid that took down two of my airships?" He's spinning his cane-cannon; that damned Melodic Cudgel of his. Just because he was able to take care of me one time, he thinks I will let him get the best of me a second time.

        "I don't need anybody to deal with you, Torchwick!" I snarl, grasping the string of my bow and pulling it off, exposing my cat ears. I tie the bow to the end of the hilt/trigger of the katana of Gambol Shroud, and wrap the rest of the long ribbon around my right arm. Slowly I pull the cleaver-hilt of Gambol Shroud off of the katana, and hold it in my left hand. With the katana in my right, I give a flick of the hilt, making it shift into its compact, striker fired pistol form.

        "No need to be so hostile. Look, we can sit down, strike a deal, and I will be out of here with all this dust by morning." As he speaks he constantly waves around his cudgel in a casual manner. He should know that I have no interest in striking a deal with criminal scum.

       "I'm not here to strike a deal, Torchwick!", I scream, aiming my pistol at him and not hesitating to pull the trigger. He quickly raises his cane up, twirling it in his fingers to block the oncoming bullet with an audible sigh as he grips his cane by the handle and begins walking towards me.

       "Hope you gave Banana Boy a kiss goodbye, then." He enters striking distance, winding his cane up over his head and swinging it wildly at my head. I raise my cleaver to intercept it, and change my pistol back to its katana form before swinging it towards his kneecap.

      Our exchange begins, Torchwick blocking my alternating attacks with ease. Bringing his cane down to block my katana, high to block my cleaver, and waiting patiently for his time to counter. I grow angry at his defensive posture, switching my katana into its pistol form once more and tossing it at his head. As expected he tilts his head just enough to avoid the bladed top hitting him, but with the dim lighting of the warehouse, he can't see the dark ribbon attached to gambol shroud.

       I smirk, raking my arm back to cause the ribbon to clench the trigger and cause my gun to fire, sending it spinning back towards me, and more importantly, at the back of Roman's head. I swing my cleaver at him as well. He can't dodge both. I finally have him. My eyes widen when I see him swing his cane behind his head, giving it a swift twirl to wrap the ribbons attached to my katana-gun, and adjust the trajectory of the oncoming weapon around him, right to my cleaver to be precise. The result being my own spinning gun hitting my cleaver out of my hand, and the ribbon still being wrapped around the barrel of Melodic Cudgel.

       "Face it, Kitty, you can't win. We're leagues apart." He grins, yanking his cane far behind his head, forcing me to step forward when the ribbon stretches out as far as it can go and tugs at my arm. The moment I get closer he grabs his cane by the barrel, and swings it at the foot I just used to step forward, hooking my ankle with the curved handle of the cane and tripping me down to my back.