After making a small camp for the night, Stohn continued leading Gawae and Nekora to Ga-Kyla. Nekora was drawing a map in his book and Gawae was admiring the cool sand. The sun was up and was starting to melt the ice. By noon, the ice had turned to sludge and had mixed with the sand, creating a mix of wet and clumpy ice and sand. They were walking east and to their left was the vast desert of Po-Kyla.

Stohn was giving geography lessons to the two as they walked.

"We're going to Ga-Kyla, as it was called, but the truth is, there were numerous Ga-Kylas around Barordak. These beaches stretch across the island, except when they hit the northern mountains and hills. Then jagged and rough cliffs are your ocean viewpoints."

"I lived in the west Ga-Kyla, the one at the mouth of the river," Gawae said

"Ah the west river," Stohn sighed, "Le-Kyla is on that river too, high up in the trees where you can't see it. Most Kylas are hidden from view like that. It worked well for a while, but once it's found out, it doesn't work."

"Where are Onu, Ta, and Ko-Kyla located?" Nekora asked, roughing out dots of Kylas on his map.

"Onu-Kyla's entrance is a natural cave. The first few rows of mountains have a lot of caves, and they're all interconnected. A web of caves connects Onu-Kyla to tunnels of the Great Mine, where resources and lightstones are mined. Further north is higher, jagged mountains. That's where the Great Volcano is, noticeable from far away. A stream of lava comes out from the base and that's where Ta-Kyla is. Not very well hidden."

"You said something about Ko-Kyla's mountains being unpassable?"

"Yes. Constant blizzards plague the final range of mountains, the air is thin, and any path made would be covered up by snow in an hour."

"What's the deal with the Great Archive?"

"Onu-Matorans carved out the mountain Ko-Kyla is on and built the Great Archive. It's separated into two floors. The first is the Library, where any written things are kept. Sometimes copies are made for the more popular texts. The lower floor is the containment area, where creatures were kept for study and research."

"Was that… humane?"

"Not… particularly. Trapped in tubes, fed three meals a day, and never let out of their cage. Subject to random tests, some common creatures probably got killed and replaced. They've probably all starved to death by now."

"Eww," Gawae said

"What if they weren't though?" Nekora asked, "What if those creatures were still alive? We could repopulate Barordak with them."

Stohn racked his brain for a bit, trying to remember something the Toa of Ice had told him, "I think… I think the Ko-Matoran had a contingency plan for a mass extinction event. Yes! It was the Baravohkii Plan."

"Barren Life Plan?"

"In the possibility that Barordak became a desolate continent, the Barren Life Plan would activate, releasing two of each creature."

"Wow." Gawae said, "What else did the Ko-Matoran think of?"

"Many strange things. There was a theory that the stars told prophecies. Another one was that underneath Barordak was a factory for Makutas."

The trio kept walking until they found logs buried in the sand and a river flowing from the mainland into the ocean.

"We're here. Ga-Kyla." Stohn said, looking over the destroyed village.

It seemed that the Glacier had knocked over the huts, and pushed the logs and leaves into the ground, and covered them up. The entire village was gone, reduced to nothing.

"Not much," Nekora said

"I say we keep our current Ga-Kyla." Gawae turned around and started back towards the new Ga-Kyla.

Stohn and Hoei agreed and followed Gawae back to the new Ga-Kyla. When they went inside Stohn's tent, Hoei, Cas, Lopek, and Tadan sat around, talking about Po-Koro and General Firecougher. Soon everyone was around the tent, listening to Hoei tell the story.

Afterward, Lopek held out his hands and noted the lack of his spear. It had floated away during the fight, and Lopek couldn't find it afterward. "So, what do I do?"

"Use the wind," Stohn said and Lopek blankly stared back

"You have no clue, do you?"

"No."

Lopek had thought about punching things, so he asked Cas, "Does it hurt when you punch something?"

"Ever punch metal?"

As Lopek screamed in despair, Hoei asked Stohn about General Firecougher. Stohn had never heard of anyone with the name OR description.

"So, Hoei. What are you going to do with Firecougher?" Stohn asked, "Are you going to keep him underneath Nekora's room? What if Firecougher can change your realm?"

Hoei's face dropped. He hadn't thought about Firecougher being able to change his realm. It wasn't related to Toas, as Stohn had changed the realm, so maybe anything with thought could change the realm.

"And please, tell me if you brought his body over here."

"Not that dumb." Hoei got up, walked out of the tent, and shortly after dragged the limp body of Firecougher into the tent. "I put him over where we restrained Witchdoctor."

Firecougher's flame had died out and his metallic grey hand was empty. Stohn reached behind the shield he carried and undid a clasp. The shield broke off into two swords.

"How did you know that would happen?" Hoei asked

"Signature weapon of Makuta Ikatakk."

Stohn moved to the other arm, the grotesquely long one. He examined his hand for any hidden blades or ignition mechanisms, but nothing was there. Then the sword of fire would be Firecougher's power.

"Did he use a mask of power against you three?" Stohn asked, but all three shook their heads no.

Touching the mask, Stohn tried to pull it off. It didn't budge, but his entire head moved. It seemed that either the mask was fused to him, or that was his head. Either would be strange.

Nekora sat up and tapped Hoei's mask, "Let's frt him out. You guys out here restrain him."

"No." Stohn replied, "We'll confuse him."

Confused, Hoei and Nekora went along and entered Hoei's realm. Stohn explained his plan.

Inside the pocket realm, the entire building was on fire. The chairs had been smashed, doors were broken down, and on top of the table was a burning throne of fire with one Firecougher sitting on it.

"Welcome. To Lord Takan's dream." Firecougher extended his sword of fire to Hoei's face.

"Dreams are often disappointingly shattered," Nekora said and thought of a great flood bursting in from the window and dousing the fire. Every one was swept up by the water and stumbled around.

A slash of fire flew by Hoei's feet and saw Firecougher's sword was ablaze and alive. Nekora slightly died inside but seam over and hooked his claws around Firecougher's throat. He tilted his head back as Hoei slowly forced his hammer through the water, but the impact was gone.

Firecougher noticed his apparent lack of breath and thought the floor away. All three were falling through the purple stars and nebulas swimming their way up for air. The falling water had kept its shape as a falling cube, Hoei and Nekora were at the top while Firecougher was swimming down, to fall out of the water.

"Hoei! Can't you think him out of here?"

"He's running. He has nowhere to go but he's running. I think he's scared of us." After finishing, large solid words of Scared manifested around Firecougher. "Also, we need to give the others time to 'confuse' him"

Nekora accepted that and watched Firecougher fall. After a bit, he swam off the side and followed. "Let's make him scared."

Hoei swam off too and the two were getting closer to Firecougher, wildly swinging at the words, trying to burn them away. He noticed the Toa get closer and smirked to himself. Once they were near, he turned around to face them and laughed.

Between them, he summoned another person into the realm or more precisely created a clone. The larger-than-toa person had a flame about them. Their charred, black mask was pointy, with two small horns sticking out the side. Small slits let a menacing, dark red glow out, and the mouth was shaped in a stern frown. The chest piece was black, with red ornamental lines dashing through the contours. In the center was an emblem—a silver circle with an X creating negative space. Long and heavy pauldrons pointed out and made him seem even wider. Long chains and tattered cloth fell into a clacking and noisy cape. Thick-plated arms went down into what Firecougher had. A shield that split in two and a sword of fire. Their long, dull silver legs had a mid-thigh long skirt of chain, and heavy, muddy boots finished it off.

Without any introduction, the war machine slashed its sword in an instant, burning Hoei and Nekora. While they recoiled, Firecougher laughed and thought of a floor. He landed gracefully along with his titan friend, but Hoei and Nekora slammed hard, disorienting them. Hoei braced himself on the floor, using both hands to dig his fingers down. Looking up, the height difference was unimaginable. This person was probably an extra matoran taller than him, and the great sword of fire made Tadan look like a spark. Hoei noticed something about the blade. Unlike Tadan or Firecougher who had it come from their hand, this person had a handle big enough to be used two-handed.

Nekora shot up from the impact and stumbled around until he was standing straight.

"I suppose this is Lord Takan?"

"Smart," Firecougher said, hiding behind Lord Takan. Seeing the man cower, Nekora noticed that Firecougher was shorter than the Toa. He looked like a matoran hiding behind a tree.

"I'm not interested in him. I want you, Firecougher. Show yourself."

"Hmm, let me think about that." And without a beat, "No."

Lord Takan bolted forward, grabbed his handle with both hands, and swung at Nekora aiming for his head. Hoei scrambled to get up and protect him, but Nekora didn't budge. The hulking mass of metal and fire swung their sword right through Nekora.

"He isn't real. Not here at least."

With the look of shock on Firecougher's face as a sign, Hoei whisked him back into reality. Lord Takan's apparition was still present, so Hoei shrunk him and punted him off the platform.

Hoei turned to Nekora, "Lord Takan was real, he burned us with his sword just moments ago. How did he not hit you?"

"I made him intangible. Just to throw Firecougher for a loop."

"Interesting…" Hoei thought back to the intimidating Lord Takan, "We're supposed to beat that guy? I think he would wipe the floor with us."

"Destiny is a cruel mistress."

"Oh wow look at Mr. Poetry over here. Let's clean this place up before we get philosophical." Hoei waved his hand against the purple and blue space and a door appeared. Walking through it the two were back in the burnt meeting room. Nekora and Hoei got to work "think-cleaning" the place up. Nekora slowly opened the door to his room, preparing for his books to be burnt to a crisp. Shockingly, no fire had touched this room, but all the books were opened and scattered everywhere, with some making a pile at the bottom of the hole in his floor.

Firecougher woke up confused. The previously damaging thought clone of Lord Takan had just phased through the Toa of Stone. Before that though, a single swipe had sent the two flying backward. He had won! Except… Now he was somewhere new. Getting up off the floor, Firecougher noticed that his shield was gone. He was somewhere humid. Looking around he recognized the swamp of Baror-Kyla. That's far away from the south he thought, but remembered that Toa of Ice had teleportation.

"Pff, teleporting the villain to some random location? That's about as much of a victory for you as it is for me! I guess I can give my report to Lord Takan now,"

Tck, fools. I know they're hiding, watching me from the shadows. I'll lead them into a Bohrok nest and wipe them out. Now THAT will be a real victory.

Firecougher started wading through the mossy water east, deeper into the jungle.

They'll think his base is this way, and not north.

So Firecougher kept walking until he reached a cave hidden behind deliberately placed leaves and snuck in, making sure to leave the entrance noticeable. He hid in the darkness and awaited the Toa.