Ice Strike

by Steve Skidmore

  www.franklinwatts.co.uk

  This ebook edition published in 2012

  Franklin Watts

  338 Euston Road

  London NW1 3BH

  Franklin Watts Australia

  Level 17/207 Kent Street

  Sydney, NSW 2000

  The authors and illustrator have asserted their rights in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

  All rights reserved.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN: 978 1 4451 1347 0

  Franklin Watts is a division of Hachette Children’s Books,

  an Hachette UK company.

  www.hachette.co.uk

  www.franklinwatts.co.uk

  www.orchardbooks.co.uk

  www.hodderchildrens.co.uk

  www.waylandbooks.co.uk

  How to be a hero

  This book is not like others you may have read. You are the hero of this adventure. It is up to you to make decisions that will affect how the adventure unfolds.

  Each section of this book is numbered. At the end of most sections, you will have to make a choice. The choice you make will take you to a different section of the book.

  Some of your choices will help you to complete the adventure successfully. But choose carefully, some of your decisions could be fatal!

  If you fail, then start the adventure again and learn from your mistake.

  If you choose correctly you will succeed in your mission.

  Don’t be a zero, be a hero!

  The story so far…

  You are a member of a Special Forces military unit. You have been involved in many dangerous missions and have won many medals for your bravery. You are skilled in all forms of combat and weaponry. You have been recruited by Earth Defence to undertake a highly dangerous mission.

  Earth Defence is an ultra-secret unit whose job is to defend Earth from attacks by hostile alien forces. The Earth Defence HQ, called Area 61, is based inside a mountain.

  You have been given an amazing piece of technology to help you with your quest. It is a Defence Armed-Response Teleportation suit (DART for short). Not only does the suit have an incredible weapons system, but it also allows you to travel to distant planets and different dimensions.

  Its inventor is an alien member of Earth Defence, called QTee. He is the technical genius behind all of their weapons and equipment.

  Earth has already been attacked by Hurrikano, the ruler of Airworld, and Vulkana, the ruler of Fireworld. Hurrikano used his power over air to attack and Vulkana used her power over the element of fire to activate the Earth’s volcanoes.

  You stopped their attacks by travelling to both Airworld and Fireworld to defeat the two rulers. You have also captured the crystals from each Staff of Power. QTee has placed them in the DART suit, which means that you now have control over the elements of air and fire.

  And you will need them, because you know that Tyranno will continue with his plans to invade Earth. There are dangerous days ahead…

  Go to 1.

  1

  You are taking a test flight in the DART suit over the forests that surround Area 61. You are testing the suit’s new fire controls by sending streams of flame shooting across the sky.

  Suddenly from out of nowhere, a huge snow cloud forms around you. The temperature plunges as a raging snowstorm erupts. Icy winds blow you around like a rag doll. Ice begins to form on the DART suit.

  “DART systems failing,” warns the suit’s computer.

  If you wish to try to melt the ice with fire, go to 28.

  If you want to use super speed to try to melt the ice, go to 45.

  2

  You swoop down and open fire on the frost bears with your eGun. You score one or two hits, but the others just keep shooting at you.

  The frost bears track you across the sky with their guns. Two ice beams cross over in front of you, and you only just manage to fly under them. You know that you can’t continue to dodge the bears’ attack and shoot at them with your eGun.

  If you want to attack using fire, go to 26.

  If you wish to try to get away using super speed, go to 30.

  3

  Before you can give your order to the DART suit, your enemy lunges forward and bites you with its piercing icicle teeth.

  The suit is punctured! You feel the ice cold grip at your body.

  “Systems failing…”

  “Teleport,” you order, but it is too late, the DART suit doesn’t respond.

  Once again the ice snake bites at you with its diamond-hard teeth, ripping holes in the armour.

  Then it takes you in its mouth, shakes you around and flings you against the mountainous sheets of ice. Your body is broken and you drop through the air onto the frozen ground.

  Go to 49.

  4

  The teleport to Iceworld takes seconds.

  The bright white light fades away and you find yourself standing in the middle of a huge frozen lake.

  “Outside temperature minus 90 degrees Celsius,” the computer warns. You know that if your suit is damaged you will freeze to death very quickly.

  As you stand wondering whether to head north or south, you see movement ahead of you. Several white shapes are heading your way across the ice. They are travelling at high speed.

  “Scan ahead,” you order.

  “FROST BEARS,” replies the computer. “Highly dangerous.”

  If you wish to fight the frost bears, go to 43.

  If you wish to fly away and avoid them, go to 19.

  5

  To cause a diversion you aim the gamma-ray laser at Arktos’s ice palace and fire. The laser beam hits the palace.

  Nothing happens. You curse QTee and his experimental weapon. Then suddenly all hell breaks loose. The palace glows bright blue and explodes as it vaporises and sends a shockwave across the glacier. Arktos’s forces panic. They rush around in a state of confusion, firing their weapons and trying to get away from the melting glacier.

  “Scan and locate Arktos,” you order the computer.

  “Enemy ahead, two hundred metres and closing.”

  You look up. Arktos is mounted on a battle mammoth and is charging towards you. He is using his Staff of Power to summon a huge ice storm. A raging plume of cloud towers up into the air.

  If you wish to fly to attack Arktos, go to 7.

  If you wish to attack him with your weapons, go to 22.

  6

  You head upwards and into the clouds. The wind picks up and hammers against you. It reminds you of the ice clouds you had to deal with back on Earth. You continue upwards, but the mountain seems to be never ending. Just when you think you glimpse a peak, another wall of ice appears — it is as if it is growing.

  If you wish to blast your way through the mountain of ice, go to 34.

  If you wish to try and find another way through, go to 37.

  If you wish to head to Arktos’s southern palace, go to 41.

  7

  You try to fly up and out of the storm cloud, but the DART suit fails to respond. Ice now covers your visor and is forming inside the suit. You feel yourself dropping from the sky.

  Your mind goes numb as your body freezes. You smash into the ground. The suit explodes and you shatter into millions of ice crystals.

  You are dead. Start again at 1.

  8

  “Super speed,” you order the suit.

  You fly at head height, skimming along the glacier towards the main entrance.

  Suddenly, a solid wall of ice shoots up from out of the glacier! You have no time to react and you smash into it. Your head smashes against the helmet’s visor. You pass out and crash to the ground.

  When you gain consciousness, yo
u look up and see a huge glacier giant standing over you, holding an ice trident at your throat.

  To try to fly away, go to 27.

  To teleport back to Earth, go to 14.

  To fight the glacier giant, go to 48.

  9

  You continue to fire at your enemy but there are too many of them. They slam into your body.

  “Evasive action!” you order, but you are too late.

  Before the DART suit can respond, you are overwhelmed by the frost bears. Their great teeth rip through the tough suit and into your flesh and bone.

  You scream in pain as the great beasts tear you to pieces.

  You have failed, Arktos will invade Earth! To try to stop him, go back to 1.

  10

  The frost bear is in pain. It growls at you.

  The DART suit translates.

  “You have won, kill me now and let me join my brothers,” it says.

  “I will take away your suffering if you tell me where Arktos is,” you reply. “In the north or the south? And do not lie to me.”

  The frost bear laughs. “It doesn’t matter if you know where my master is. He will defeat you. He is all-powerful. He is in his palace in the north, waiting for you. Now keep your word.”

  If you wish to keep your promise, go to 23.

  If you don’t want to, go to 46.

  11

  You decide to head down the pass. “Missiles ready. Automatic firing,” you order the suit. “Super speed.”

  The suit reacts immediately. As you hurtle down the pass, the columns transform into living ice snakes. They spit thousands of deadly icicle missiles at you. You spin and weave, and they explode around you.

  The suit replies, sending streams of missiles at the snakes. You hit several of the creatures and they explode, lighting up the dark sky.

  You continue to fly though the pass, destroying your enemies, one by one.

  You come to a sudden stop. Ahead of you is the way out, but it is blocked by two goliath ice snakes.

  If you wish to try to fly straight between them, go to 44.

  If you wish to fight them, go to 29.

  12

  QTee presses a button and a large metal storage unit emerges from the floor. It is filled with many types of weapon.

  He picks out a large gun. “A gamma-ray laser gun,” he says. “Its light beam hits any target and sends radioactive shockwaves through it. This then causes the target to vaporise. It is especially good against anything with high water content.”

  “Like ice,” you say.

  QTee nods. “Exactly. But it’s an experimental weapon — it’s not fully tested. If you do use it — and it works — you must be further than fifty metres away from your target. Otherwise you’ll receive a fatal dose of radiation. It can only be used once and it is a high-risk weapon. That’s why I haven’t shown it to you before now. It is up to you whether you wish to take it.”

  If you wish to take the gamma-ray laser gun, go to 31.

  If you don’t want to, go to 25.

  13

  You know that with your suit broken open, you have little time. Quickly, you remember what happened to the ice snakes. You send a stream of missiles at Arktos. He easily blasts them with ice bombs.

  “You are no match for me! Give up now and save yourself.” Arktos roars with laughter. But the thick smoke from the missiles drifts towards Arktos, blocking his view like a smokescreen. He cannot see you! However, you can see him with your DART suit’s NAV system.

  As he continues to launch ice bombs, you fly behind him and take aim.

  “Fire!”

  A stream of energy blasts hit Arktos. He drops his Staff of Power and, as the cold begins to seep through your body, you quickly fly towards it. You grab hold of it with your icy fingers.

  “No!” he cries as he falls to the floor.

  You snap the staff in half.

  There is a great whirlwind of ice and snow as the storm disappears and the landscape transforms instantly. Ice and snow disappear and the temperature of the planet shoots up. Grass and plants suddenly appear amongst the rocks and earth and all about you, the forces of Arktos are disappearing.

  You stand over the body of Arktos. He is dying.

  “You lose,” you say.

  He laughs. “No. I have completed my task for my Lord Tyranno. It was not about my forces invading Earth. I am merely a diversion…”

  His eyes close for the last time.

  “Teleport,” you order.

  Go to 50.

  14

  “Teleport,” you order.

  A white light envelops you and you find yourself back in the OPS room in Area 61. QTee and Agent Roberts and Agent Lee are amazed to see you.

  “Why have you returned?” they ask.

  “I took a bit of a battering, patch me up and I can return to Iceworld.”

  QTee shakes his head. “We can mend you, but there is no point now! You were our only hope to defeat Arktos. You won’t have time to return and defeat him. The Earth will soon be frozen over and Arktos will become its ruler!”

  What a disaster! Get back to 1 if you’re feeling brave.

  15

  You send a stream of energy blasts at the nearest snake. It rears up in pain. Another burst from your eGun hits home and the snake shatters into a million shards.

  The other snake hurls itself at you, spitting a volley of icicles.

  You spin away from the deadly missiles and send a burst of energy blasts at the snake. They explode around the snake’s body, but it keeps on attacking.

  If you wish to change weapons, go to 3.

  If you wish to continue to attack with the eGun, go to 20.

  16

  “Take me back to Area 61,” you tell the NAV system.

  Within seconds you are flying carefully through the snowstorm. The suit twists and turns, avoiding the trees and ridges of the mountain.

  Soon you are back at HQ and in the OPS room. QTee and agents Roberts and Lee are present. They look worried.

  “So where did that storm spring up from?” you ask. “Is the Earth under attack again?”

  QTee nods. “Show data,” he orders the computer.

  The plasma screens on the walls light up, showing dozens of figures and pictures.

  “The Earth’s ice sheets are beginning to grow at a rapid rate. If it continues, the Earth will become a giant snowball! Plant life will die, oxygen won’t be produced, seas will freeze up. All humankind will die out!”

  “So who is responsible for the big freeze?” you ask.

  QTee continues. “Intel points the finger at Arktos. He is the ruler of Iceworld, in the Khule dimension.”

  “So it looks like I’m going to pay him a visit,” you mutter.

  Roberts nods. “Take your mittens, it’s going to be cold!”

  If you wish to head off to Arktos straightaway, go to 21.

  If you wish to hear more about your mission, go to 40.

  17

  You aim your eGun and finish off the creature.

  You check around, but no more of your enemies are alive.

  Where to go now? you wonder. North or south?

  If you wish to head towards Arktos’s northern palace, go to 33.

  If you wish to head to Arktos’s southern palace, go to 41.

  18

  You know that you are hopelessly outnumbered. You will only have one chance to get near enough to Arktos to try to capture his Staff of Power. He is standing in front of the palace.

  “Distance to target?” you ask the computer.

  “Three-hundred-and-fifty metres.”

  You arm the gamma-ray laser and take a deep breath.

  If you want to try to cause a diversion, go to 5.

  If you wish to get as close to Arktos as you can and then attack, go to 42.

  19

  You fly up into the air above the oncoming creatures. As you gain height the air is suddenly filled with solid white beams.

  “Frost bears ar
e armed with ice-beam guns.”

  “Thanks for letting me know,” you mutter at the suit.

  The frost bears open fire again, and you are forced to dodge the freezing beams. The air crackles around you as the beams move closer…

  If you wish to fight the frost bears with fire, go to 26.

  If you wish to use your eGun, go to 2.

  To try to escape using super speed, go to 30.

  20

  You continue your attack, spinning away from the icicles the snake shoots at you.

  You target the snake’s head. A burst of energy blasts hit the snake’s head and it smashes apart. Its lifeless body crashes down the side of the mountain.

  You stare into the pass and can make out more “columns”. You order the DART suit to scan these.

  The computer confirms your suspicions. “Ice snakes.”

  You curse. Time is running out. You wonder if you could try to blast a way through the side of the ice mountain and avoid the snakes.

  If you wish to head further into the pass, go to 11.

  If you wish to try to blast your way through the ice wall, go to 34.

  21

  “I need to get to Iceworld right now and make things hot for Arktos,” you say.

  “Slow down,” replies Agent Lee. “Before you pack your thermal underwear, you need to know more about Arktos and his world. Without that knowledge, you’ll die and Earth will be at his mercy.”

  QTee nods. “Arktos is more powerful than your previous opponents. You will have to think carefully about how you are to defeat him.”

  Go to 40.

  22

  You send a stream of fire towards Arktos. He counters your attack by sending a cloud of ice and snow from his Staff of Power. The flames are extinguished.

  He is almost upon you as you leap upwards and over him, attacking with a burst from your eGun. You hit the battle mammoth and it crashes down dead. You float down onto the glacier as Arktos is thrown to the ground. The ice storm closes in and huge bowling-ball size hailstones begin to fall. You blast at them with your needle gun while Arktos quickly regains his feet. You turn to face him just as he throws his ice axe at you. It catches your DART suit, ripping open a hole in the armour. You feel a blast of icy air.

  “Suit damaged…” warns the computer.

  Arktos continues to attack, blasting you with ice bombs.

  To try to escape, go to 38.

  To try to repair your suit, go to 47.