Disclaimer: The Toa Nuva aren't mine falalalala lala la la...

Dangerous Climbing

"So this is the place? A cavern where everyone can get in?" asked Pohatu. He, Gali and Kopaka had just reached the place where the Ilsao was supposed to be.

-Yes, a cavern where everybody can get in, the last place where you'd look- answered Sirkul, with a bored tone.

"And what if somebody came to rest and got the Ilsao?"

-Yeah right, I guess that everybody that wants a rest climbs on the ceiling!- laughed Kal. Kopaka turned to her.

"On the ceiling?" he repeated. Kal nodded.

-Come and look!-

The Ihar led them deep inside the cavern until they reached a place where a set of icicles hung from the ceiling, and stuck in the middle of the longest one, the farthest from the walls, was a glistening white stone.

"Is that shiny thing the Ilsao?" asked Pohatu.

-Yep, that's the Heerole- answered Hoti. -And as you see, it's there so that everyone can get it!-

"How did they get it in there?" interrupted Gali. "It's completely covered by ice!"

-The ice grew over it through the years- answered Sirkul.

For some time, nobody said a word, they all just stared at the icicle, inside which was the Ilsao.

"Okay," Gali finally said. "So all we have to do is climb up the walls, swing to the middle, and then free the Heerole while holding with one hand to the icicle."

"Yeah, it's nothing if you compare it to the Bohroks, or the Rakshi," said Pohatu. "Even though in this moment I wouldn't mind facing one just to get my powers back." he added in an undertone. Gali ignored him.

-So,- interrupted Hoti. -Who is the poor mo...uh... brave guy who is trying it?-

The Matoran looked at each other. Who was going to go?

"I guess Gali is out of this," started Kopaka. "I don't think it's a good idea for her to climb in her conditions... which leaves me."

"You left somebody out!" Pohatu pointed out. Kopaka shook his head.

"No, it's my Ilsao," he said. Then he stepped over to the wall. A thick sheet of ice covered the rock, leaving no place to hold on to. Kopaka took out his sword and dug it into the ice, it held. Kopaka took a deep breath and started climbing.

It was hard with only one sword. He first had to cut a small handhold with his sword, use it to hold on, and then dig the sword a step farther up. It was a very slow work, and a wrong step on the slippery ice would have sent him falling down.

Kopaka managed to climb to the ceiling without any incidents. But that had been the easiest part, now he had to move on to the first ice stalactite without falling down. He wished he had another sword.

With a sigh, he dug himself a solid foothold, and over that another one. Then he grabbed his sword with one hand and grasped the wall with the other. He swung forwards to dig the sword in the stalactite. And in that moment, the thin hole he had been holding to broke, and he fell forwards, towards the bottom of the cave.

Gali gasped and Pohatu shouted something to him. But Kopaka wasn't listening. He held on as hard as he could to the sword with one hand, and with the other, he tried to grasp the icicle. Luckily, the sword was already blocked firmly inside the ice, and he managed to grab the icicle with his hand. But that didn't stop him from banging against the ice. Shaking his head, he pulled himself up towards the ceiling.

Kopaka had to move even more slowly here. He had to climb around each icicle and then move on to the next one without crashing to the ground. From time to time, one of his feet slipped, and then he would hear gasps or warnings from his friends. He wished they would stop it, he had to concentrate.

Finally, he reached the biggest icicle in the middle of the cave. At the top, it was as large as two of his hand spans, and in the middle, glistened the Heerole.

Now came the hard part, he had to balance on the icicle and dig it out with the sword, all this without breaking the fragile ice.

Kopaka prepared himself for the long work. He dug himself two supports for his feet and one for his hand. This time, he tested them to make sure they wouldn't break. Then he swung himself on the icicle and started digging through the ice.

It was harder than he had imagined. His feet kept slipping, and his arms were growing tired from the continuous work. But he kept digging, he had to get that stone, and it wasn't only because he wanted to become a Toa again. No, it was different. It was as if the stone was screaming: 'Free me! Free me!' all the time. He had to get to it! Then, when he had nearly reached the Ilsao, the ice under his feet broke.

Kopaka grasped the ice with both hands, but doing this, he let go of his sword, which fell to the ground with a clang.

"Kopaka!" shouted Gali. "Kopaka!"

"Kopaka, come back down!" shouted Pohatu.

"No!" came Kopaka's voice.

"Kopaka it's no use! You won't get to it without the sword!" cried Gali.

"I'm nearly there!"

"Yeah, you're near to smashing on the ground! Get away from there!" yelled Pohatu.

But again, Kopaka wasn't listening. He pulled hinself closer to the hole he had been digging and looked inside it.

The Ilsao was nearly free, a bit of the Heerole was already showing. All he had to do was to take off the remaining ice and pull it out. Easy, huh?

He started to scratch off what remained of the ice. The Heerole was now nearly free, he didn't have to dig more. He could pull it out. He stretched his hand and closed his fingers on the glowing stone.

"Aaaah!"

"Kopaka! What happened?" asked Gali.

Kopaka didn't answer. His arm! It was frozen! Frozen from the tip of his fingers to the top of his shoulder! The Heerole had frozen his arm!

"Kopaka?"

Now what? He had to think of something. His right arm was useless, and using his left arm to grab the Heerole would have meant a suicide.

Unless...

He took a deep breath, then he let go of the ice and grabbed the Ilsao.

This time, it didn't freeze his arm. In fact, it didn't do anything at all.

But the next second, it broke off the ice, and Kopaka felt himself fall backwards.

"No!" he thought. He tried to grab the ice with his other hand, but he couldn't even move the arm, and in the other hand was the Ilsao. He was falling! He closed his eyes and waited for the end.

Seconds passed... and the end didn't come. Kopaka opened his eyes. He was hanging in mid-air, Sirkul was holding him up with his power.

-Everything alright?-

"Yes...I think so..."

Sirkul brought him slowly to the ground, where the others were waiting.

"Kopaka! I thought..." started Pohatu, then his eyes fell on the Kopaka's arm. "What happened to your arm?"

"Frozen,"

For some reason, Pohatu started to laugh, he seemed to find that incredibly funny.

"So that thing wanted to make you find out how your enemies feel when you freeze them? Well, now you know!"

Kopaka ignored him, he turned around to tell Sirkul that they had to move on, but doing this, his eyes fell on Gali.

The Ga-Matoran was staring at Sirkul, arms crossed, her golden eyes were flashing with anger, but she didn't say a word until Sirkul asked her what was the problem.

"You," answered Gali bitterly. Everyone stared at her in surprise.

-What?-

"Do you like it so much to put us into danger?" she snapped. "First the Muaka, then this. Say, couldn't you just break the ice with your powers and let the Heerole fall down?"

-I don't control ice-

"Yeah, but you've got the powers of telekinesis!" she cried. Sirkul stared at her in surprise.

-How do you know what you can do with telekinesis?-

"I just know," she answered. For a split second, a hint of a smile appeared in Sirkul's eyes, but then the Ihar just turned around an walked out of the tunnel.

XXXXX

They had been walking for a while, when Kopaka started hearing voices inside his head. They were voices of Matoran, and they sounded familiar too. But Kopaka couldn't remember when he had heard them, for he was sure that these voices were just a memory.

"I can't find it! There's nothing here!" was screaming a young female.

"What?" came a deeper, harsher voice.

"Hey, guys. You'd better be quick! I don't know how much those guys are gonna believe in the story that our friends cooked up!" this voice was younger than the second one, but definetly a male's voice.

"It's a lot if they believed it in first place," commented the second Matoran.

"Would somebody explain me what's going on here and why there's a sword at my throat?"

Kopaka nearly screamed as he heard the last voice. That couldn't be! That was his voice!

The Heerole started pulsing madly, and a few seconds later, and avalanche started down the mountain.

"Kopaka! Run!"

Only then Kopaka realized that he was in the way of the avalanche. He started running, but slipped and fell face forwards in the snow.

"Kopaka!"

"Gali, no!"

Kopaka stood up and ran towards safety, then he realized that the Ilsao wasn't around his neck anymore. He turned around, but he couldn't see it anywhere, it must have sunk in the snow.

Cursing, he ran back to the place where he had fallen and started looking for it. The avalanche was getting closer.

"Kopaka! Leave the Heerole! Get yourself to safety!"

Kopaka's hand finally closed itself on a pointy stone, he pulled it out and started running. But it was too late, the avalanche hit him and started dragging him on its path.

"Kopaka!" cried Gali. She had just seen how her friend had been buried by an avalanche, and she was just standing there!

-Come on, let's follow that avalanche!- shouted Kal. Gali jumped on her, and then Kal started running down the mountain, alongside the avalanche.

While she was riding, Gali's eyes met Sirkul's. Again, the blue Matoran felt a surge of angryness. Why hadn't Sirkul helped Kopaka? Why hadn't he pulled him out? But there wasn't any time for questions now. They had to save Kopaka!

She suddenly thought she could see his head in the middle of that chaos, but it disappeared immediately. Kal ran faster.

In front of them, the avalanche divided in two. The most of it went to the right, where it ran towards the desert. But a bit of it went to the left, where they where, and it went towards a frozen lake.

Gali searched the snow to find Kopaka, but she couldn't see him anywhere. Then she spooted something glint in the left side.

"There!" she shouted. Kal sped faster, soon they were at the same hight, but then, all of a sudden, Kal stopped abruptly.

The had reached the edge of a cliff, underneath them, was the frozen lake. Gali saw how a large chunk of ice broke through the frozen surface of the lake. Then she saw Kopaka, how he went over the cliff, how he fell down to the lake, and how he disappeared beneath the icy surface.
Whoa! That was quick! I practically wrote it in two days. (Yes, I know it took me more to post it, but I've been lazy,besides, I wanted to post it together with CA8). In case anybody is interested, I'm updating CA too. A last before-Christmas present.

HazeNuva Toa of Thunder: -sarcastically- Yeah, you're right. Kopaka really doesn't do anything.

fred: Yeah, but this story is getting really long... more than 20 chapters at least... so I don't know when I'll finish it!

Regrem Erutaerc: Whew! I thought this was NOT getting freaky.

ToaMaster: Uh, I don't think I got the name of your other account.

Calendar: Christmas is getting nearer! Oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree..

Note: Sorry for the carols, but you should hear how it is here!

Since this is the last update before Christmas and 2005: Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year!