Mid-afternoon, and the gang arrives at a ski resort in the Snowfields; without a pause, they head into the forest that borders the lower slopes.
"I hope you know where we're going!" Hanna yells over the roar of five engines and the clattering of two trailers.
"Have I ever steered you wrong before?" Rob yells back.
"Am I wearing a collar that could kill me at a moment's notice?" Hanna retorts; Rob doesn't respond.
After half an hour, Rob halts the convoy near a cliff edge. "The Metal Crystal is in this ravine," he explains. "We'll need to rappel; there's no path to ride down."
"A nice easy start," Hanna quips sarcastically.
"Shush and grab a rope," Rob responds. "And don't forget to take a torch; it doesn't look too bright down there, and unless we're lucky, night will fall before we find the Crystal."
In silence, the five friends set up five ropes, anchoring them securely to the nearest trees to the cliff edge. After a quick test of their stops, they begin the long descent into the ravine.
One hundred and fifty feet down, Maria is the first to hit the bottom; she unclips herself from the rope, and scans the immediate surroundings while the others finish their descent. "I don't see the Crystal," she calls to the others.
"Well, I did throw it into the ravine," Rob informs. "Ancients know where it would have bounced to… assuming it survived the impact."
"There's a lot of loose rocks down here," Danny observes. "Xander, we may need you to shift some of the larger ones."
The group begins their search.
"I'm bored now!" Maria states loudly; after three hours, not one person has found the Crystal.
"We can't stop, Maria," Danny reminds. "If we don't find them, then that Aquila guy's not going to make our deaths easy."
"I'd love to shove my ninjato right up that nasty captain's-" Maria starts; the shock from her collar leaves her silent and gasping.
"Bad kitty!" Aquila's voice crackles from Maria's collar.
"Hanna, when I hid the Fire Crystal originally, how did you find it?" Rob asks, remembering four weeks previous.
"Y'know, I'm not actually sure," Hanna responds. "I closed my eyes, and… just felt it."
"Worth a shot," Rob shrugs; he closes his eyes, and empties his mind of all thought. As he slips into a trance, he feels a familiar sensation. The Crystal… I can feel it. Opening his eyes, he walks robotically towards a pile of boulders; he snaps back to full alertness when he's within six inches of the pile.
"Xander!" Rob calls. "You're up!"
"Right!" Xander acknowledges. "Just need a moment to warm up, then I'm on it!" Xander runs through a brief but thorough warm-up; a minute later, he climbs the boulder pile, and begins the laborious task of dismantling it.
"I hope it worked," Rob mutters to Hanna as Xander progresses.
"If your connection to the Metal Crystal was anything like mine to the Fire Crystal, then it'll have worked," Hanna assures.
"That's not as comforting as you intended," Rob sighs.