DiabloCat: I'M BACK! I don't know if you noticed I was missing, but I was on holidays with no computer, thus the long wait. But now I'm back!

Chessrook44: Thanks for the info! A hardened Bionicle fan, eh? Well, I'll keep in mind all you said. Thanks again!

Jade: Ow, dying hurts, huh? Yes, I've read Northern Lights (and loved it) and also Deltora Quest (loved it too). And you never know, there could be some strange boy out there called Jade. For my parting comment - CATS RULE!

Nightbu08: Yep, Garth Nix is a master of the written word.

Now, on with the story!

DEMON TRAVEL – A MEETING

Demon appeared next to me. I folded my arms and tried to lean forwards, which is rather hard to do in midair. I looked him sternly in the eye and said firmly, "No. Definitely not. Don't even THINK about it."

"Aw, come on Carleigh. It'll be a dramatic entrance."

"What do you mean?"

"The whole alternate dimension thing will be even better if you do the traditional drop-out-of-the-sky thing."

"NO! I don't care how dramatic it looks! I'll be killed!"

Demon rolled his eyes. "In case you've forgotten, one of them IS the Toa of Air."

"That doesn't mean he'll catch me," I retorted. "I wouldn't save a weird looking creature that fell out of the sky!"

"Don't worry; I'm not going to let you die before you even got started. If they don't save you, I'll do it myself. You'll just hit the ground and roll a little. I'll even take away the pain."

"Oh, geez thanks," I said sarcastically. "Rolling along the ground after falling a hundred feet is something I've always dreamed of doing."

"Oh, don't be such a sook. Okay, there THEY are," he said, pointing at a cluster of coloured blobs. "So that's where you'll land."

"What if they decide to kill me?"

"They won't. Just convince them you're a friend."

"I swear you purposely try and make it difficult," I grumbled. "Every bloody ti-AARRGGHH!"

Demon, with an evil grin, waved goodbye as I dropped out of the sky, yelling the whole way.

I gave Demon the finger on the way down, then twisted round so I could see the ground I was about to hit. I was still holding my sword, so I sheathed that. It wouldn't be much fun stabbing myself when I landed.

The little coloured blobs seemed to have noticed me. Not surprising really, considering I was still yelling my lungs out. Falling out of the sky ain't fun, even when you know you won't die.

When I was about thirty feet from hugging hard rock, the green blob – though he looked less like a blob this close – raised his arms. A gust of wind swirled around me, and my descent slowed considerably. As it was, I still hit the ground hard enough to bounce and roll along the ground, until a large rock halted my progress.

I slowly climbed to my knees with a groan. Since the Air Toa had helped, Demon hadn't taken away the pain.

"Man, I'm gonna feel those bruises tomorrow," I muttered under my breath. I looked up a little – and instinctively froze. Six pairs of coloured clunky feet were standing about a metre in front of me. And there was a red sword pointing at my nose.

I put my hands up in the air. I wasn't sure if the gesture was used here, but it at least showed I had no weapons in my hands.

The six Toa looked rather taken aback at the sight of me.

"What is it?" asked the brown one. Pohatu, I think.

"I don't know. It's like nothing I've ever seen before!" said the black one, Onua.

I felt mildly offended. It? I was not an it! "That's because I'm not from here. I -"

I broke off as the sword moved a little closer to my nose. I swallowed nervously. "Ah, please don't spear me on that."

"How do you know our language?" demanded the Tahu, the red Toa.

"I'm...er...well-educated?" I hazarded. This was not the greeting I had really imagined. If I wasn't careful, this would end up as a new record for the shortest time in a story ever. Maybe if I appealed to their nice side...they WERE the good guys!

"I'm not going to hurt you," I said. "I'm here to help."

The blue one cocked her head. "Help us?"

"Yeah, that's what Dem-...er...my Master said." I cringed at calling Demon Master, but saying I was the friend of a demon doesn't sound too good.

"And your Master sent you here?" asked Pohatu.

"Yeah. He said that...um...that trouble is coming. Really bad trouble. So I got sent over." Okay, so making up prophesies isn't my thing. Hopefully it would convince them.

"What kind of scarybad trouble? Will it threaten the homevillages?" piped the green one. The Air Toa, Lewa.

"I'm not really sure, but it's bad." Damn, what WAS the trouble? I wasn't sure in what time period Demon had dropped me. Was it the Bohrok, or the Rahkshi, or something else entirely? And who was the crazy mongrel who made up these weird names in the first place!!!

"What are you?" asked Pohatu, peering at me curiously.

"I'm a human," I replied. "The main species from a different...er...dimension."

They all stared at me. "A different dimension?"

"Yeah. We kinda all look like this over there. Well, not all but mostly."

There was a pause. I could see the Toa were imagining a planet full of people that looked like me. Must have been a bizarre thought, because, as one, they all shuddered.

I felt slightly indignant, but decided not to comment. Tahu was still pointing the sword at my face. Time to do something about that.

"Uh, Tahu? Can you stop pointing that thing at me? I swear I'm not going to attack you."

Oops. Mistake. The sword edged closer to my nose. "How do you know my name?" he demanded.

"My Master gave me some information about this world. Like how to speak you language, and names and stuff."

Gali rested a hand on Tahu's shoulder. "I believe it. It means no harm."

The white Toa, Kopaka, spoke for the first time. "Yes, it seems to be telling the truth."

I sighed with relief. At least I wasn't going to become a Toa shish-kebab. "Great. So, can I stand up now? The ground's sort of rocky."

Tahu grudgingly removed his sword, and I climbed to my feet, wincing. Definitely going to feel those bruises. Pohatu chuckled. "Nothing wrong with rocks."

I wrinkled my nose at him. "Easy for you to say." For the first time, I got a good look at the Toa.

They were tall. Really tall. I'm talking seven foot high, skeletal figures. It was slightly unnerving, but at least they weren't going to kill me. I'd hate to have to fight one. For one thing, skin is a lot frailer than...whatever they were made out of.

"Do you have a name?" asked Onua.

"Yeah. Back home, they call me Carleigh. Oh, and I'm a she, not an it." I didn't need to worry about a different name.

"Car-lee," Onua said, trying out the word. "Strange. And you are female?"

"Yeah. Looks like I'm kinda outnumbered though." Suddenly my stomach grumbled. Demon had interrupted me before I'd had a chance to eat breakfast, and now I was STARVING!

"Hey, is there a chance I could get something to eat?" A horrifying thought hit me. "Do you even eat?"

They laughed at that. Great, now I was the funny creature from another dimension.

"Of course we eat!" said Pohatu.

"My village is closest," said Lewa. "I could quickfly you there, if you'd like."

I accepted. I had passed the first danger, and now the fun was really about to start!

DiabloCat: Yay, now stuff starts to happen! I'm going to enjoy this...(Rubs hands gleefully)