Winter air tore at his skin, and Steven idly wondered when the hell he’d gotten so high up.

The valley stretched below him, the horde of blue and red scarfed forms slamming into each other, parting around the two giants.

He was falling. Fuck! Why the hell was he falling?

They’d escaped the keep, and then…the Snow Lord. While the two Snowzilla fought, she had pointed at them, and when Steven woke up, he was hundreds of feet in the air.

That hit should have broken every bone in his body to launch him like that. It must be some Skill bullshit.

Shit! If I got launched, what about the others?

Steven tried to turn, his arms flailing. It was enough to send him into a spin. It was disorienting as hell, but he could see he was alone in the sky.

Good.

…I’m going to die.

Almost as soon as he thought it, a line of light blasted past him.

Tyler appeared, falling through the air beside him.

The man was grinning like a fool, and his eyes twinkled with joy.

“Sup!” Tyler yelled over the rushing wind.

“Not much!” Steven shouted back.

“Can you do anything about the falling to our death problem?”

Tyler’s grin widened. “I got you, buddy!”

He stuck his hand out, and Steven took it.

He pulled him close and pulled his spear back.

“Hold onto the spear tight! This is going to really kick!”

Tyler clenched his hand, and Steven felt a wave of burning power slam into the spear.

It blasted to the side, hurting away from Tyler as if it had been launched from a cannon.

Steven’s death grip, enhanced with Michael’s buff, was barely enough to hold on as it ripped him to the side.

His momentum shifted entirely, sailing through the air without dropping at all.

How fucking hard had Tyler just thrown him?

Tyler reappeared next to him and snatched the spear.

He waited for several terrifying seconds before aiming the spear upward.

“Hold on again!”

Steven tensed.

Tyler threw.

The spear bucked, pulling him upward.

Combined with the first throw, it was enough to completely burn away his inertia.

He started to slow, and before Steven could drop all together, he called a Hand-Shield.

His weight settled onto it, and he quickly called another shield.

He sighed in relief.

That had been way too close.

He took three deep breaths, then turned his attention back to the battle.

He was around fifty feet in the air, and Tyler was nowhere to be seen.

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He looked down, his position giving him a Bird's Eye view of the fight.

His friends surrounded a knight with a red scarf, along with Kory, James, and Alissa.

They were tearing into the thing, but a squadron of six knights with three wizards was rushing to intercept.

And Tyler was… Steven scanned the battle, and then his gaze turned to the Snowzilla.

A spear slammed into the red scarfed giant, staggering it and punching into its shoulder.

Tyler appeared behind the spear and grabbed onto it. He swung, curling his entire body like an acrobat as he released.

He flew to its shoulder, narrowly dodging a blast from the Snow Lord.

Tyler had flung himself right at the boss like a maniac.

Well, he was a maniac that had saved Steven’s life.

He dodged another blast from the Snow Lord, ripping his spear from the monster's shoulder and deflecting the shards of ice.

“Why is she called the Snow Lord? Shouldn’t it be Snow Lady?” Steven thought idly.

“You shut the hell up! It sounded cooler!”

Steven’s gaze flicked between his friends and Tyler.

More enemies were attacking his friends, but there were more of them as well.

Tyler was alone fighting the Snow Lord and her monster. Well, not totally alone. Their blue scarfed giant swung, its massive fist slamming into the red scarf with a boom!

But that wasn’t entirely helpful. Tyler wobbled as the Snowzilla staggered beneath him.

He looked back to his friends in time to see them spreading out to meet the knights.

They had this; Tyler needed the hand more.

Steven began to call, his shields appearing under his feet as he ran.

He’d never done this so high up before, adding extra pressure to his shoulders, but he’d gotten pretty good at this by now.

And while timing his shields and his body at the same time used to be hard, that had gotten easier too.

His innate sense of his shields had grown over the weeks, and while it was far from perfect, it made this a lot easier.

He picked up speed until he was sprinting towards Tyler’s fight.

A blast clipped him, and Tyler barely managed to stab his spear down before being tossed off the Big Red’s shoulder.

I need to help!

The thought coursed through him, and his shields thrummed in his mind.

Faster!

Steven flew downward, reaching the fight in seconds.

He called, hurling a shield up in time to catch an icicle the size of a crossbow bolt.

The shield cracked but held.

Tyler grinned and spun, putting his whole body into the throw.

Light flashed from the butt of the spear as it blasted forward like a ballista bolt.

The Snow Lord waved her hand, her icy face expressionless, and a wall snapped into place.

The wall stopped the spear, technically. It didn’t reach the boss, but the wall exploded, icy shrapnel showering the Snow Lord.

She flinched, and then Tyler was there.

He burst from the line of light, his spear already swinging.

The boss danced back, and icy shards launched from the platform.

Tyler gave his spear a shorthand toss and slipped into its trail.

He was gone for barely a second, popping back into place at the platform's edge.

That Skill is ridiculous! He had just spot-dodged!

He caught his spear and slashed out, catching the Snow Lord in the arm.

She reeled back, nearly falling off the platform.

Tyler didn’t give her any space.

He drove forward, leading with his spear.

The Snow Lord screamed, and ice and wind exploded out.

It hurled Tyler off the Snowzilla and into open air.

Steven started running again.

I need to hit level 10! Kinetic Give would probably let me catch him!

Tyler kept a hold of his spear and, after a few tumbled flips, threw it straight up.

He vanished, then appeared sailing straight up.

Steven had been pretty sure before, but that confirmed it. The direction of the man’s momentum would change depending on how he threw his spear.

Tyler’s inertia started to bleed away, and Steven called two shields under him, leaving Steven to balance on a single shield.

Tyler wobbled as he landed but quickly regained his balance.

They exchanged looks as the Snowzilla continued to battle, completely ignoring them.

Tyler scratched his head. “Well, shit. What do we do now?”