Marooning through the heavy snowfall, Ari and Buttons continued following the voice they heard occasionally calling for help.
"Is it just me or should we have not gotten to her by now" Ari whispered to her hand. "Yeah I've got half a mind to turn into a snowmobile and get us there faster?" Buttons responded flatly.
"Wait you can turn into a snowmobile and you're just now telling me?" Ari asked as she stopped in place and stared at the hand Buttons was speaking through. "Well no cause I don't have an engine so..." he replied sarcastically.
"Were you this weird when I was a kid?" Ari asked in a bemused tone. "You always voiced me as a witty action hero and you were six and had no wit so..." Buttons retorted.
"You cheeky bit-" Ari said with a smirk that was wiped from her face as a blood curdling scream off in the distance.
"Shit, Buttons come on we gotta go faster somehow" Ari said as she began running through the thick ankle high snow.
"Wait I got an idea" Buttons said as he grew in size, taking back control of his body and going on all fours running like a bear with Ari in his mouth.
"Oh shit great idea" Ari said as she rode in his large cloth mouth. "Hear that?" she asked as they picked up the pace and could hear an engine in the distance.
"There up ahead" Ari said as she saw figures in the distance. As the snow storm began to calm down and they got closer she saw they were three hooded figures on snowmobiles, catching up to a girl running in the snow.
"That must be Stephanie" she said as the girl fell in the snow as the figures on the snowmobile closed in on her. "Stay away from her!" Ari shouted instinctively as she and Buttons closed in on then. The hooded figures turned to face her and Ari looked at their faces. They were regular humans, one a pale young woman with blonde hair peaking out from her hood and the two either side of her were a pair of olive skinned twins. All three had their faces contorted into wide grins and their eyes remained unblinking.
"You have a plan or?" Buttons asked Ari as he felt her moving around in his mouth. "Well unless you can eat them let's go back to the suit, I wanna beat these things up" Ari said intently as Buttons began to shrink back down.
After some maneuvering and awkward adjusting Ari was stood back in the suit facing off with the grinning bullies, with Stephanie on the ground between them, sobbing uncontrollably.
As she started crying the bullies began to cackle, their faces not moving besides their eyes. "Look at this dumb bitch!" the bully in the middle said despite her mouth never moving as the other two continued cackling. "Hey sweetheart, you got legs stand up!" she said as the other two continued cackling.
"Hey slut how's that bridge you ju-" she said before Aro threw a fist full of snow at her. Consumed with rage Ari ran at the three, despite being ankle deep in snow her and Buttons mustered the energy and force needed to run through the snow. The bullies ran forward a second later than Buttons and Ari.
Buttons took control of the suits arms and extended them, collecting snow in each hand. Ari lept over Stephanie and while in the air Buttons threw snow in the faces of the two men either side of the woman in the middle.
"You read my mind" Ari said with as Buttons pulled back the arms then launched them back, grabbing both distracted men by the back of their heads and pulling himself and Ari forward which allowed Ari to leap into a kick to the girl who was stood between the men which sent her flying back.
Ari and Buttons landed in between the now enraged bullies. Working together Ari and Buttons exchanged control of different parts of the suit as they ducked and dodged the marauding attacks.
Easily avoiding the two bullies' clumsy attacks Ari got an idea and dropped to her knees and with Buttons' help, propelled both fists as hard as possible, punching both men in the crotch and springing up as they dropped. Landing a powerful uppercut on one as he dropped and turning around to land a vicious punch to the other's head while he was on his knees. As they both dropped to the ground they dissolved into pixels.
As Ari got up the girl she'd kicked had gotten up as well and tackled her to the ground. Despite her diminutive stature she was the most physically strong of the three and Ari felt herself being overpowered at points.
As soon as Ari had pinned her down the bully kicked her off and sprung up to her feet. As Ari scrambled back to her feet as well they were stood face to face. While the other two had vacant unblinking stares the girl had a more present look in her eyes, one of anger and bitterness.
"Oh you're the main bitch out of the three huh?" Ari said through gritted teeth. "What do you even want with this skank anyway" the bully said pointing to a now pale, unconscious Stephanie.
"What's your problem with her anyway?" Ari spat angrily. The girl looked at Stephanie for a second before turning back to Ari and shrugging, "I don't know" she mumbled half heartedly.
"You don't give a fuck she died?" Ari asked as she felt her blood begin to boil. "I mean like we didn't even do anything to her, she must have been depressed or whatever if a couple pranks made her jump off a bridge or whatever" the girl responded dismissively.
"Hey Buttons you still reading my mind?" Ari asked under her breath. "I'm an extension of your subconscious so" Buttons replied as he and Ari came up with an unspoken plan. Ari began to circle walk in a circle around the girl who kept turning to keep her eyes on her.
Unbeknownst to the bully Ari had been slowly stepping backwards to increase the distance between them.
Ari thought back to the tackle the girl had gone for earlier and how feral she was as they grappled. Deciding to try and use that to her advantage Ari ran at the her. The girl began running to her too. Keeping her eyes on the girl's hands Ari waited for them to be extended as though she was going for another tackle.
As soon as she saw them raise in front of the girl she jumped and as the girl lowered her head for the tackle Buttons grabbed her by the back of the head and Ari kneed her square in the face, hearing a stomack churning crunch sound as she drove the knee into the girl's face.
As soon as they landed on the ground Buttons grew exponentially and ran to Stephanie. Picking her up and swallowing her whole she landed in his stomach next to Ari who grabbed her. As goosebumps formed on Ari's skin as she held the now ice cube cold Stephanie all she could do was hope she'd be fine.
[Mission Completed] flashed up in front of Ari in green writing as what little light she had inside Buttons' stomach disappeared as everything faded to black.