Bwa-ha-ha, you didn't think we'd have this up this quickly, did you? *evil laughter followed by coughing fit* Anyway, there's not much to say that we didn't say in the last author note, except that reviews fuel our souls! You don't want to be responsible for our depression, do you? Kidding. But seriously, please review. It really would make us happy. Thank you!

Chapter 8: Climbing Mount Everest/Ihu

When I woke up, I was in a very familiar setting. I was in the same room that I'd woken up in when Kopaka had found me out in the storm. I recognized the Kane-Ra decor and there were several stones covering up the hole where said Rahi had busted in. The giant fire in the middle of the room was still going strong, and most of the people in the room—Takanuva, Hahli, Jaller, Kongu, and Nuparu—were huddled around it, especially Jaller. Kopaka was there too, but he was as far away from the heat source as he could get.

Kongu was the first to notice that I was awake, and he rushed over to help me sit up. "Are you alright, Kay? We were sad-worried about you!"

"'M fine," I mumbled, rubbing my head with my good arm. "How'd I get here?"

"I carried you," Takanuva explained, coming over, with the Matoran and Kopaka following. "You said we had to go to Ko-Wahi, so I took you here. We're in the Ko-Suva, a shrine to Kopaka."

I smirked up at the Toa of Ice. "You have a shrine?"

He shrugged wordlessly. "How is your arm?"

A little surprised at his concern, I glanced down at it. "Well, it hurts. But that's normal, right? I mean, I'm pretty sure it's broken."

"Then it is imperative that we find the next artefact immediately," Kopaka said, striding to the door.

"You know where it is, Brother?" Taka asked, standing up as Hahli and Kongu helped me to my feet.

Kopaka paused. "Not exactly. But I do know of a place very similar in description to the two shrines where the others were found. It's worth finding. The only problem is..."

We waited. He seemed to be lost in thought a little, and was looking at me. "Um, Kopaka? Are you alright?" I asked, walking up to him and waving my hand in front of his face. He ignored me and tore out the door like the hounds of Makuta were on his heels. "Kopaka?"

There was a rumble from outside, which halted abruptly. It was silent for a long time. Then the rumble started again, this time quieter, as though from farther away. Kopaka walked back inside as if nothing had happened. "Avalanche," he explained at the sight of our confused faces. "Headed right for Ko-Koro."

"You stopped an avalanche?" I sputtered in disbelief.

He shook his head. "Not stopped. Simply moved."

I stared at him. Everyone else nodded like it was perfectly normal and Nuparu asked, "So what's the problem?"

"The problem is that the only one who knows the shrine's location is—"

"Is me."

We all turned to see Matoro emerging from another entrance. "I explained to Turaga Nuju the situation. He agreed to let me show you the way to the cave; he's not doing much right now."

"Then let's go," Kopaka said, striding out the door again, obviously eager to get this over with.

We trudged up the mountain that Kopaka informed me was Mount Ihu, a barren wasteland of snow and ice, and apparently the site where I first appeared on Mata Nui. Fortunately, my legs had had time to rest after all of their activity, so climbing wasn't too hard, but it still hurt. The pain in my arm hadn't let up either, so the journey was not only long, cold, and boring, but it was painful, too. And remembering that I was wearing nothing but a wet tank top and jean shorts, it was really cold. We passed the time with idle banter, mostly from Taka and Kongu, with Jaller and Hahli holding their own conversation about kohlii, whatever that was. Kopaka, true to form, didn't say much, while Matoro was leading us, leaving me with my Toa buddies and Nuparu.

"Kay," he said after a while, "what's it like in your world?"

I was surprised by the question. "Well, it's...it's really different from here, for sure. People rarely live past ninety, for one thing." That seemed to shock him. "We have these things called cars, trains, and airplanes to get us around. There are lots of smaller land masses divided up into sections called countries, and each country is divided up into smaller sections. Those are provinces, states, territories, prefectures, and so on. Then there are villages and cities in the smaller sections where humans live. Most humans have my basic structure, but each one is unique. You can't have two people who look exactly the same in every way. Even identical twins rarely look exactly the same."

Nuparu and the Toa Ihar kept asking me questions about Earth, things like "Do people have jobs there like we do here?" and "What kind of sports do you play?" Kopaka, annoyed with all the chatter, finally said "We're here."

"Here" turned out to be a big cave mouth at the very peak of Mount Ihu. I was utterly unimpressed. "More caves? Really? Do you know how tired of caves I've become in the past day? Whoever hid these must really like caves."

"Must be a cross-wired Onu-Matoran," Kongu said, nudging Nuparu.

"Or a crazy Le-Matoran with a twisted sense of humour," Nuparu shot back.

Taka lit his mask to a soft glow, illuminating our surroundings. "Well, let's get going. The sooner we get going, the sooner Kay's arm gets healed."

"It's not far inside," Matoro assured us as we walked in. "But it's guarded by—"

"I know, I know, giant evil Rahi thing," I grumbled. "This is starting to get old."

"Rahi? No, it's guarded by a being that looks a lot like Kay!"

Everyone was shocked. There was another human on Mata Nui? How did that happen?

"He asks three questions of whoever comes looking for the Anklet," Matoro continued. "If you get them wrong, you have to fight him. To the death."

I swallowed. "Well, I'd better get them right, then."

As we entered another hallway, we heard a voice yell, "Stop!"

We stopped and looked around. Standing next to a wall was a decrepit old man. He was hunched over, dressed in rags, and pretty bedraggled. I was reminded of the Old Man From Scene 24 in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, my dad's favourite movie of all time. I glanced at Matoro, who nodded, confirming that yes, this was who we were looking for. I walked over to the old man. "I'm here for the Anklet that you guard," I said boldly, or at least in a pretty good imitation of boldly.

"I am the Warden. Whosoever searches for the artefacts must answer me these questions three, or hide nor hair of the Anklet she'll see," he recited. From the sounds of things, he'd been reciting that same thing for years upon years.

I licked my suddenly-dry lips. "All right. Do your worst."

"First question. What...is your name?"

You've got to be kidding me, I thought. "Kayla Amelia Denver," I stated. There was muttering from behind me; apparently I'd never actually told them my full name. Oops.

"Second question. What...is your quest?"

Oh for crying out loud! "To find the artefacts with the Toa Ihar trapped inside and the Rahi Blade and free the Toa Ihar." After a pause, I quietly added, "And then to go home." Kahiki pulsed reassuringly in my hand.

"Third question."

"If you ask me what my favourite colour is, so help me, I'll..."

"No, no. The third question is this: Two cars start out 307 kilometers away from each other. If they are travelling towards each other, with one car going 67 kilometres per hour and the other car going 83 kilometers per hour, how long will it take until they pass each other?"

I stared at him. "Uh...42?"

A sword materialized in his hand and steely resolve glinted in his eyes. "Wrong answer."

He started to mutate into a giant white behemoth, even bigger than the Guardian had been, though mercifully smaller than Mr. Keeper. He looked kind of like the Abominable Snowman from Bugs Bunny, but given the really big teeth and horns, I didn't think he could be pacified simply by offering a little bunny rabbit/duck named George. He flexed his claws (also not in Bugs Bunny) and tossed his sword from hand to hand. He grunted and snarled at me. Apparently transforming into giant snowmen robs you of your ability to talk.

I, in turn, whirled and ran like hell, screaming my mouth off. The Warden-snowman rumbled through the cavern after me, swinging his sword to make a point (ha ha, puns).

"What do I do?" I yelled at Taka and Kopaka as I ran by. They may have answered, but the Warden-snowman roared loudly, threatening to pop my eardrums.

Kopaka froze it.

Hearing the giant footfalls stop, I also stopped and looked at the Warden-snowman. "That's cheating," I said. Kopaka shrugged.

The Warden-snowman busted out with a flex of its muscles and the chase resumed. "CHEEEEEEEEATERRRRRRRRRRRRR!" the Warden-snowman said. Okay, so my voice-robbing theory was wrong. Oh well.

"Not my idea!" I shouted over the cacophony.

"Kay!" Prolan yelled. "The lasers!"

"What?"

"The lasers! I can fire lasers, remember? That was, like, the first thing I said to you! I can fire lasers using my mask power!"

Oh, yeah. Doy. I whirled on the Warden-snowman and held up my good arm. A green laser shot out of it, a very...um...interesting experience, burning a hole in the side of the Warden's leg. It roared in pain and fell to the ground.

"And there's more where that came from," I said proudly, brandishing my arm.

Then the wound healed instantly. The triumphant grin dropped from my face and I started to run off again, but something I noticed stopped me. The Warden-snowman was chipped.

Chipped? Why would it be... I glanced at Kopaka and the others. Taka and Kopaka had noticed as well, and I ran over to them to see if they had any theories.

"It's made of ice" was all Kopaka said.

"That means it should melt," Nuparu said thoughtfully. "But since it can heal itself, you'll have to melt it all at once...or at least really quickly."

I smirked. "I have an idea."

Turning to face the Warden-snowman, I called on the Bracelet's speed and zoomed around him. I started blasting him with lasers as fast as I could, and it was working. I was melting him faster than he could heal himself. Finally, all that was left was a puddle of water and a head.

I held my arm out, palm facing the head. "Alright, it's my turn to be asking questions," I said. "And don't try that self-healing thing again, or you're going to become a permanent part of the floor."

The Warden-snowman started to open its mouth, but suddenly it shattered into a million pieces. I whirled to glare at Kopaka. "What did you do?"

But he seemed just as surprised as I was. "Nothing," he said.

"What, so he just up and shattered on his own?" Matoro asked. "If Toa Kopaka didn't shatter him, who or what did?"

"That was me."

We all turned to see a Rahi, about the size of a Turaga, walking towards us on its back legs. It had to use a cane to stay up, and it looked incredibly ancient. "I am the real Warden," it said, "though in a previous life I was known as the Turahi."

I knelt down to the Warden's height. "Look, Warden, or Turahi, or whatever, I need some answers. If I'm really this warrior that everyone says I am, I think I'm entitled to them."

It nodded. "Of course. I also have history with the one who did this to the Toa Ihar." I glanced at the Pendant. Silence from all three Toa. "Once, I was a Turaga. What I was before that is not important. But the Shadow Organization kidnapped me and used me in one of their...experiments. Now, I am a combination of Turaga, Nui-Jaga, Muaka, and Kane-Ra, forced to work for the Shadow Organization's one remaining member." It was true: it had the body of a Turaga, Muaka legs (from what I'd seen in pictures Taka had shown me), Nui-Jaga wings (again from the pictures) and the head of a Kane-Ra. It looked like some weird kind of Sphinx.

"Why do you have to work for him?" Jaller asked. "You made that other Warden, right? Couldn't you make more and beat him up?"

The Warden laughed softly, without humour. "He is infinitely more powerful than I," he explained. "Only the power of the Toa Ihar can defeat him, like they did so many years ago. Also...he has my people. I cannot oppose him, or I risk placing them in jeopardy."

"Is that why this guy doesn't want me to get the artefacts?" I asked.

"Oh, he wants you to get the artefacts...in fact, he's counting on it." The wall that the fake Warden had been standing in front of suddenly melted away, revealing a third shrine. "The Anklet is there," the Turahi said, turning to leave.

I grabbed its arm. "Hold it! Which of the members is the one still left alive?"

It shook its head, a pained expression on its Kane-Ra face. "I cannot say more. Take the artefact and go." And it disappeared.

There was silence. Then I huffed and stood up. "Fine, no one tell me anything," I grumbled, heading for the shrine and grabbing the Anklet. "Let's get this Toa awakened." I placed the thin silver circle in the puddle left by the Warden-snowman, and it flashed once before turning blue. I attached it to my ankle and a soft female voice spoke in my mind. "What...where am I?"

"Sister!" Prolan said happily. "You are ever-awakened!"

"Prolan?"

"Brelx, it is good to hear from you again," Kahiki said softly. This was a different side of Kahiki that I had never seen.

"Kahiki? Is that you?"

"Aww, the love-Gukko are back together," Prolan said sarcastically.

While Brelx's brothers filled her in quickly, I stood up. "Looks like we're good here, guys," I said. Then I noticed that my arm didn't hurt anymore. I undid Nuparu's makeshift splint, made from some broken oars and vines, and swung it back and forth. "Huh. That's weird."

"Maybe Brelx's power automatically fixed your arm?" Hahli offered.

"Yeah, that probably makes the most sense. Can we get out of here now, please?" I asked. "I'm really tired. I've had a long day." It was true; I could feel myself sagging.

As we left the cave, Brelx asked me a question. "You've found three artefacts in a single day. How?"

"I had a lot of help," I told her, indicating my travelling group. I was holding up the rear, dragging my feet because I was so tired. "Don't tell them, but I like them a lot more than I lead them to believe."

"Really?" Kahiki said.

"Really really. Sure, they can be kind of annoying sometimes, or talkative, or whatever, but they still have good qualities. None of them ever give up, they'll always come through for a friend, and no matter what, they always stay positive."

Up ahead, I heard Taka say, "She's saying nice things about us, guys!"

I turned red; they'd heard me? "No I'm not!"

Kopaka picked me up and glanced at Takanuva. "I'll see you at the Suva," he said, skiing down the mountain with me.

Surprisingly, everyone else was keeping pace, or at least not falling too far behind. Kopaka had left his shield, which Jaller, Hahli, and Matoro were using as a toboggan, and Taka was piggybacking Nuparu and Kongu as he hopped from outcropping to outcropping. While they weren't far behind, they were behind enough that I could have a semi-private conversation with the Toa of Ice.

"I have to ask," I said. He glanced at me and his eye widened in that Spock eyebrow imitation. "Are all Toa of Ice like you?"

"I would not know," he said shortly. "I have never met one. And what do you mean, 'like you?'"

"You know, all cold and distant."

"I simply don't speak if I have nothing to say."

"Good for you." I meant it, too; it really annoys me when people go on and on and don't say anything worth listening to. Maybe that's why I don't like Shakespeare.

True to form, he didn't reply. "Fine, don't say any...thing..." The next thing I knew, I was zonked out. Again.