Things began to look a little different as Slash and Jam lounged in
the room, especially for Nancy and Tommy. Both the kids were approaching a
large area, and the muddy tunnel they were walking in was becoming bone-
chillingly cold. As they headed down the tunnel, they came across a sign on
the wall, covered in frost. Tommy took his large mitten and wiped the frost
off, revealing what the sign said.
"You have but two minutes to board down this ice slope, for the winds will pick up, and eternal cold will consume you."
Nancy shivered, she didn't like the sound of that, she already wasn't wearing very much on her sleeves, she couldn't even think of getting frozen solid, especially in an already cold place! Tommy grunted, putting his board down and getting atop it, shimmying towards the edge, ready to board down the hill.
This was no hill though, for it was merely a very, very large, hollowed out icicle, twisting and churning down what seemed endlessly in a vortex-like spiral. Other icicles inside the great icicle itself seemed to also add to its difficulty, one false move and Tommy or Nancy could careen off the side of the icicle, falling to an untimely doom.
Tommy looked at Nancy; they both had fearful looks in their eyes. "Tommy." said Nancy, with a shaky voice from fear as well as cold, "If either of us don't make it, let's make sure we remember one thing, we're always going to be friends, right?" Tommy nodded sagely, obviously seeing Nancy's likewise fear, and also wished the same of Nancy.
And so they leapt off the side of the hill, they landed with an uncomfortable sensation of the snowboard onto solid ice. Tommy, needless to say, already began to feel the effects of the ice, as he began to attempt to turn on the first banked turn of the icicle, his board was moving, but his momentum was not going to correct way, he soon found himself boarding sideways and heading up the side of the bank!
"AHHHHH!!!!" Tommy yelped as he went careening over the side, he began to fall for what seemed a good 10 seconds, then realized that he was, on solid ground, but yet still moving, he looked down, to see himself on the next level of the icicle, but still sliding down the icy path that made up the icicle, he quickly got back on his board and attempted to catch up with the speed that he had begun to fall behind from.
Nancy, on the other hand, was doing remarkably well on this course, on every banked turn she would do a quick nose grab, catch the bank and use the leverage to keep the speed going. Nancy was using this course definitely to her advantage, the ice actually speeding her up rather than slowing her down, and Nancy's handling of the turns and corners added to her advantages, she was over half way down the path by the time the first minute was up.
Then, a rushing sound could be heard from the top of the icicle, as if something had crashed, but it was a lot worse then that.
The kids looked up for a brief moment to see a large amount of icy water being dumped down the starting area of the icicle, and was flowing down the icy path towards them! "That must be why this course is so icy." Thought Tommy, "If that water keeps flowing down here, then no snow can collect on the course, making it hard to control."
Tommy had just gotten half way done about 15 seconds after Nancy did, Nancy looked on to find a humongous jump yawning before her. "Whoa, I've never done anything THAT intense!" Nancy thought to herself. "But here goes!" As Nancy went off the jump, she propelled herself with her knees and legs, grabbing the side of her board and putting it directly in front of her and spinning completely forward, she spun for what seemed almost a complete sphere-shape before landing. Her landing was a little rough, but she managed to keep her balance all the same. "Wow!" Said Nancy, "That was fun! And now all I gotta do is wait for Tommy."
She didn't need to wait much longer, for Tommy was coming up right behind her, Tommy's beady little eyes were widened with terror as an enormous wave of chill water rushed behind him, he leapt off the jump and landed with a thud at the end area, face first into a pile of snow.
Nancy and Tommy turned towards the exit to find what seemed to be an ice-wall maze, a sign was etched into the side of the front area of the maze, it read.
"Though you've mastered what the element of fire can do, your speed of reaction must be as fast as your speed of board. Go now, enter the accursed Ice Maze, and may you truly call yourselves Masters of Ice."
The kids nodded to each other, slowly approaching the icy entrance. Tommy quickly lost his footing at the start and fell again on his face; Nancy just shook her head and patted him on the back. "You gotta work on that balance of yours Tommy, I know you're good on snow, but on ice you seem to always lose it." Nancy said. "Eh, there's still time for me to learn, but right now we've got more important things to worry about." Tommy replied.
They walked slowly through the maze, discerning right from wrong, left from right, front from back, it puzzled as well as confused them. A couple of arguments ensued between the two, but nothing serious enough for them to start a true fight. Finally they approached the last leg of the maze, which was a large, very large dip, again covered in ice, but this time, and at the bottom rested an enormous pool of ice water.
"What the." Tommy said, "You've gotta be kidding me, we board down there we're gonna freeze!" "No, no." Said Nancy, studying the dip, there's a small bump in the ice there, if you can get it just right, you can glide along top the water, and make it to the other side."
Tommy had no idea what Nancy was thinking he was capable of; Tommy was already convinced that he could not make the jump no matter how hard he tried. Tommy, finally running out of reasons to try and get away from the option, quickly got on his board and raced down the tip, Nancy followed close behind.
Tommy gulped, attempting to maintain his balance as well as his composure, he approached the jump and began to aim himself into place for the bump, he closed his eyes, and at that moment, he felt a large "THUD" under his board, and saw himself in the air, looking over a large pool of ice water. Tommy found some confidence inside his heart, biting back his lip, and leaned into the board.
He landed softly in part of the water, and glided gently across it, his speed seemed to allow him to hydroplane across the water like how a boat floats on water. Tommy glided all the way to the end of the pool, stopping slowly alongside the pool. He cheered out loud, obviously very happy for himself and for luck smiling on him.
Nancy then had taken to the air, but Tommy's cheering had done something that he would soon regret, for as Nancy landed and began gliding, a rain of icicles came flying from the icy ceiling, falling at Nancy!
Nancy screeched with fear as she felt almost as if she was in the middle of a hailstorm, which she technically was. An icicle caught her completely off guard and made Nancy completely flip her board over and made her go face first into the water, she was completely immersed in the water by the time Tommy ran to the edge of the water to yell out to her.
Tommy attempted to find any sort of way to reach Nancy, whether it was use his board as a boogie-board to finding ice sheets to walk on, he tried everything he could, but could find no way to reach Nancy. By the time he had virtually given up, he found that Nancy was no where to be seen in the water.
"You have but two minutes to board down this ice slope, for the winds will pick up, and eternal cold will consume you."
Nancy shivered, she didn't like the sound of that, she already wasn't wearing very much on her sleeves, she couldn't even think of getting frozen solid, especially in an already cold place! Tommy grunted, putting his board down and getting atop it, shimmying towards the edge, ready to board down the hill.
This was no hill though, for it was merely a very, very large, hollowed out icicle, twisting and churning down what seemed endlessly in a vortex-like spiral. Other icicles inside the great icicle itself seemed to also add to its difficulty, one false move and Tommy or Nancy could careen off the side of the icicle, falling to an untimely doom.
Tommy looked at Nancy; they both had fearful looks in their eyes. "Tommy." said Nancy, with a shaky voice from fear as well as cold, "If either of us don't make it, let's make sure we remember one thing, we're always going to be friends, right?" Tommy nodded sagely, obviously seeing Nancy's likewise fear, and also wished the same of Nancy.
And so they leapt off the side of the hill, they landed with an uncomfortable sensation of the snowboard onto solid ice. Tommy, needless to say, already began to feel the effects of the ice, as he began to attempt to turn on the first banked turn of the icicle, his board was moving, but his momentum was not going to correct way, he soon found himself boarding sideways and heading up the side of the bank!
"AHHHHH!!!!" Tommy yelped as he went careening over the side, he began to fall for what seemed a good 10 seconds, then realized that he was, on solid ground, but yet still moving, he looked down, to see himself on the next level of the icicle, but still sliding down the icy path that made up the icicle, he quickly got back on his board and attempted to catch up with the speed that he had begun to fall behind from.
Nancy, on the other hand, was doing remarkably well on this course, on every banked turn she would do a quick nose grab, catch the bank and use the leverage to keep the speed going. Nancy was using this course definitely to her advantage, the ice actually speeding her up rather than slowing her down, and Nancy's handling of the turns and corners added to her advantages, she was over half way down the path by the time the first minute was up.
Then, a rushing sound could be heard from the top of the icicle, as if something had crashed, but it was a lot worse then that.
The kids looked up for a brief moment to see a large amount of icy water being dumped down the starting area of the icicle, and was flowing down the icy path towards them! "That must be why this course is so icy." Thought Tommy, "If that water keeps flowing down here, then no snow can collect on the course, making it hard to control."
Tommy had just gotten half way done about 15 seconds after Nancy did, Nancy looked on to find a humongous jump yawning before her. "Whoa, I've never done anything THAT intense!" Nancy thought to herself. "But here goes!" As Nancy went off the jump, she propelled herself with her knees and legs, grabbing the side of her board and putting it directly in front of her and spinning completely forward, she spun for what seemed almost a complete sphere-shape before landing. Her landing was a little rough, but she managed to keep her balance all the same. "Wow!" Said Nancy, "That was fun! And now all I gotta do is wait for Tommy."
She didn't need to wait much longer, for Tommy was coming up right behind her, Tommy's beady little eyes were widened with terror as an enormous wave of chill water rushed behind him, he leapt off the jump and landed with a thud at the end area, face first into a pile of snow.
Nancy and Tommy turned towards the exit to find what seemed to be an ice-wall maze, a sign was etched into the side of the front area of the maze, it read.
"Though you've mastered what the element of fire can do, your speed of reaction must be as fast as your speed of board. Go now, enter the accursed Ice Maze, and may you truly call yourselves Masters of Ice."
The kids nodded to each other, slowly approaching the icy entrance. Tommy quickly lost his footing at the start and fell again on his face; Nancy just shook her head and patted him on the back. "You gotta work on that balance of yours Tommy, I know you're good on snow, but on ice you seem to always lose it." Nancy said. "Eh, there's still time for me to learn, but right now we've got more important things to worry about." Tommy replied.
They walked slowly through the maze, discerning right from wrong, left from right, front from back, it puzzled as well as confused them. A couple of arguments ensued between the two, but nothing serious enough for them to start a true fight. Finally they approached the last leg of the maze, which was a large, very large dip, again covered in ice, but this time, and at the bottom rested an enormous pool of ice water.
"What the." Tommy said, "You've gotta be kidding me, we board down there we're gonna freeze!" "No, no." Said Nancy, studying the dip, there's a small bump in the ice there, if you can get it just right, you can glide along top the water, and make it to the other side."
Tommy had no idea what Nancy was thinking he was capable of; Tommy was already convinced that he could not make the jump no matter how hard he tried. Tommy, finally running out of reasons to try and get away from the option, quickly got on his board and raced down the tip, Nancy followed close behind.
Tommy gulped, attempting to maintain his balance as well as his composure, he approached the jump and began to aim himself into place for the bump, he closed his eyes, and at that moment, he felt a large "THUD" under his board, and saw himself in the air, looking over a large pool of ice water. Tommy found some confidence inside his heart, biting back his lip, and leaned into the board.
He landed softly in part of the water, and glided gently across it, his speed seemed to allow him to hydroplane across the water like how a boat floats on water. Tommy glided all the way to the end of the pool, stopping slowly alongside the pool. He cheered out loud, obviously very happy for himself and for luck smiling on him.
Nancy then had taken to the air, but Tommy's cheering had done something that he would soon regret, for as Nancy landed and began gliding, a rain of icicles came flying from the icy ceiling, falling at Nancy!
Nancy screeched with fear as she felt almost as if she was in the middle of a hailstorm, which she technically was. An icicle caught her completely off guard and made Nancy completely flip her board over and made her go face first into the water, she was completely immersed in the water by the time Tommy ran to the edge of the water to yell out to her.
Tommy attempted to find any sort of way to reach Nancy, whether it was use his board as a boogie-board to finding ice sheets to walk on, he tried everything he could, but could find no way to reach Nancy. By the time he had virtually given up, he found that Nancy was no where to be seen in the water.