SNOW PLAY SHOWDOWN #3

With betrayal on the menu for all the parties involved, the battle of Snow Peak in the Hidden Garden would eventually go down in history as one of the top ten anime betrayals of the year. Involving Opal and Paprika turning their backs on their respective snowball fighting partners, Clover and Pepper, it had come down to the wire and it was very clear that not only was this tournament not going to be a best two out of three situation, but the tables had turned in such a manner that Clover and Pepper were sinking deeper into a snow sinkhole while their friends-turned-enemies gloated above them.

“Did you think that it was going to be so easy?” Paprika said. He chose not to stay standing once the ruse had been up. After all, his wings were fully functional - a fact that many did not remember because of how difficult it was to imagine him flapping wings like a bird.

Opal grinned too. “Yay, betrayal! I thought it was going to be a surefire failure, but we did it. Your mean streak is over, Clover. Haha. Cl-OVER, if you will.”

Pepper looked at Clover. “Oh, you’re mean to them in a fight. I get it.”

Clover snorted, filling his nose with snow. “I am not! I just know what I’m good at. She was the one who fell for the trap first. I’m only in here because she pulled me in.”

Pepper dug herself out of the falling snow and stood over Clover, who was getting more and more buried despite his best efforts. Paprika and Opal were laughing above them.

“We will get them,” Pepper said. “By any means necessary.”

“Fine but I have to get out of here first,” Clover said/

Pepper began digging Clover out of the hole, sending up a stream of ice and snow as she burrowed around Clover. He was able to get out, but just barely as Paprika and Opal made their way out of earshot, likely to commit more heinous betrayals. Betrayals such as eating all the snacks and drinking all the hot cocoa. Pepper was unphased as Clover jumped out of the hole, wringing his hands together.

“We are going to have to surprise them. They know all our plans.”

Pepper pulled herself out of the hole as well. “How do you have so many plans for a snowball fight? This is supposed to be a game, right? Do you plan for games normally?”

Clover hummed. “I have a lot of issues I need to work through so the short answer is yes. We don’t have time to get into the specifics. Paprika has a lot of resources at his disposal so we are at an extreme disadvantage.”

“I was just going to maul him to be honest,” Pepper said. “Full on animal style. Like he was attacked with a seam ripper. Is that still allowed in your master plan?”

Clover thought about it for a lot longer than he should have considering the imagery that Pepper had put forth and how much he loved his brother despite all the flaws. Betrayal being one of those flaws unfortunately. “No, that won’t be necessary. He should revel in his humiliation if he is going to use such tactics. I’m more worried that Opal will have a stroke of genius. He is known to have those from time to time. There’s no doubt that Paprika is banking on that.”

“What in the world are you talking about?” Pepper asked. “It’s a snowball fight. We make the snowballs. We throw them. I will take care of Opal.”

“Then I shall go after Paprika. If both of us are found dead, the house goes to COU 69.”

Pepper ignored that entirely and made her way to the chokepoint, for you see, they had discussed their plans in code, but tactical planning was a boring thing to get into without enough build up and the battle was almost over so the point of it would have just been nothing important. What was important was that there was a chokepoint, as there often was in tactical planning, and there was also snow involved.

Not an avalanche as before, but a very specific series of maneuvers that would definitely involve a lot of snow, but also a lot of laughter and a lot of mayhem. That was what this was about anyway. Mayhem in a controlled fashion.

The ultimate snow showdown of epic proportions.

It was actually rather anticlimactic. As soon as Pepper and Clover had cornered Opal and Paprika, it was over. They had gathered their snowballs, come up with their really intense guerilla warfare snow tactics, and had made all the preparations for the battle to end all battles. And what had happened when they had shown up was a surrender.

Yes, as soon as Pepper and Clover had come to enact their beautiful plan for ultimate victory, Opal and Paprika had surrendered.

“No, please don’t, we will surrender!” Opal said.

Paprika had also surrendered, but it had been from the skies because he had already witnessed and experienced the feeling of a mountain of snow down his shirt. He wasn’t cold, as he really couldn’t be cold at the point of his life that he was, but he did not like being wet. So he had flown off.

Clover frowned, wanting to utterly destroy the competition, but Opal looked very submissive and willing to do anything to not have his cute outfit ruined by snow. And Paprika was out of range, even for Clover’s keen eye. The price Clover played to have a cool floral eyepatch.

Pepper and Clover accepted the surrender without issue. And that is the story of one of the top ten anime betrayals for the year. It didn’t get as much fanfare as expected, but there was something to be said - somewhere - about a dysfunctional group of goths at a fancy snowball party during the winter season.

Who would have guessed?