Author's Notes: Okay, okay, so something abtually happens in this chappie. That cool or what? Hee. And I need more readers/reviews people… plz?
Disclaimer: Don't own W.I.T.C.H., don't own Bionicle, blah blah blah… you get the point, hun?
Irma Lair felt herself nodding off as the tutor whom her parents had hired rambled on and on…
"…and three-fifth of this number is equal to what exactly, since you are paying so much attention?"
"Hun?" She lifted her head from the wooden desk lazily. "Um… some sort of decimal number?" she offered.
The tutor sighed. "Look-"
Irma's watch suddenly beeped and her face lit up. "Ha!" she declared triumphantly, "4:00. I'm dismissed!" Grabbing her bag and hastily stuffing in her math textbook (which then crushed her science assignment which was also in her bag), she hopped off her chair, slung her handbag over her shoulder, and walked through the doorway. She couldn't resist throwing a wink at the tutor who was staring at her in disbelief though.
But there was another reason she was so eager to get away, apart from the obvious fact that her tutor was dead boring. Taranee had slipped her a telepathic message in Art Class. There was going to be another W.I.T.C.H. meeting this afternoon. Apparently, the Heart had been acting strangely lately, and Will was concerned. But Irma simply believed the Oracle, or as he was now called, Himerish, had finally woken up.
After a minute or so, she realized she was practically skipping across the sidewalk. Grinning slightly to herself, she slowed down to a slight jog. Maybe she was hanging with Hay-Hey too much.
Besides an insignificant run-in with a car, she made it to the door of the house that was previously Mrs. Rudolph's without incident. Mrs. Rudolph was happily back in Metamoor now, so the house belonged to them, which was actually kind of cool. Irma thought of it as their secret hideout.
Her hand moved to the doorbell, but the door was ripped open, yes ripped open, before she could press it. Cornelia (surprise, surprise…) was standing there. "Hey, you're late, you know?"
Irma quirked an eyebrow sarcastically. "Oh, because it is so my fault that Mr. Grimly wouldn't let me go."
Cornelia rolled her eyes as Irma walked through the door. "Well, yeah, maybe if you hadn't failed every one of your math tests this term you wouldn't need a tutor," she retorted.
Irma walked into the living room where the others girls were seated around a table and slumped onto a vacant space on the couch, dropping her handbag on the floor. "Well bite my head off, why don't you? God, Corny."
Cornelia scoffed and sat down on another couch, directly opposite to Irma. She was about to reply with some sort of smart remark when Will cut in.
"Guys? Um, I don't want to interrupt," she said, "but I think the Oracle wants us. Now."
The Water Guardian winked. "Yeah, the boss wants to see us. I'm betting he's got another mission or something for us." She patted their leader on her back. "Lead the way, Will!"
The redhead nodded. "Cornelia? The Breath of Time?"
"Don't need to remind me."
"Great." She closed her eyes for a brief moment. When she reopened them, the Heart of Kandrakar was gleaming brightly in the palm of her hand. "Take us to Kandrakar."
As soon as those words were out of her mouth, they were enveloped by blinding light. Irma couldn't help but flinch. They had done this so many times before, but teleportation always had this strange alien sensation linked to it. Being whipped from one's current position to a completely other dimension completely always left her feeling disoriented.
When the woozy sensation finally stopped, she found herself surrounded by the now all-too-familiar Congregation. She, along with the other girls, had transformed into their elegant Guardian alter-egos.
The hall of the Congregation was still the same, with its prefect mosaics set upon greenish walls. Through the windows brilliant light poured in, bathing the whole chamber in warmth.
In the middle of the hall, Himerish was sitting before them in the lotus position. He was smiling slightly in greeting, but everyone present could feel the tense atmosphere in the celestial room. Whatever the Oracle had to say, it sure wasn't going to be pretty. Had she done something wrong again without being aware of it? "Greetings to you, Guardians of Kandrakar! I am pleased to note that you answered to my call, for we have great need of you at this moment." he stated formally, like he always did.
Will nodded. "We will serve you the best we can, Oracle."
"You'd have to if you want to succeed on this mission…" he muttered more to himself than to them. "I need you to retrieve an artifact for us."
Irma cut in. "What? Have we been demoted or something? You just want us to fetch something for you?"
The words just came bursting out, but the Oracle simply sighed. "Please, Irma, patience. I shall explain."
"Well that's a first."
Paying no heed to the Water Guardian's sarcasm, Himerish continued, "I need you to bring us the Ignika, Kanohi Mask of Life."
"Ig-wha?" asked Hay Lin.
Yan Lin then came towards them, appearing from what seemed to be absolutely nowhere, with a heavy leather-covered book with a gold lock. "Ignika, my dear Hay Lin," she said, "a powerful mask which has absolute control over the forces of life. Here, read this." She thrust the book into Will's arms, and opened it with a bronze key she had happened to be holding.
With the other Guardians of Kandrakar huddled close to her in an almost comical attempt to catch a glimpse of the ancient book, Will started reading, loud enough for everyone to hear her.
"The Ignika is a Kanohi, a special type of mask with special attributes which could only be used by a biomechanical being. It has absolute power over the mighty element of Life, and is just as powerful as the Vahi, Kanohi of Time.
"It was forged by the members of the Congregation right shortly after the creation of Kandrakar. Then, with the Oracle's consent, it was placed on a biomechanical world, under a volcano. Soon after, the Order of Mata Nui, an order dedicated to protecting the Great Spirit Mata Nui, discovered it and sent guardians to protect it.
"It is also said that only one being, chosen by destiny, may carry it. Anyone else who touches it will be cursed." She winced at the last phrase. "Nevertheless, the guardians keep it safe with stunning ferocity against friend and foe alike."
She paused. "Friend and foe alike?" she repeated.
Irma rolled her eyes. "Wow, like just how much sense does that make?"
The other Guardians of Kandrakar all shrugged, before turning back to the heavy volume resting in Will's hands.
But the Keeper of the Heart shook her head regretfully. "Sorry guys, there's really nothing else in here." She snapped the book shut, and handed it back to Yan Lin.
The Oracle then spoke, his voice still in a neutral tone. "But you must understand that the current situation of the Ignika is much more complicated. The volcano on which it was placed broke off from the rest of the continent and is now drifting at sea."
Irma smirked. "Well it's not that bad, Oracle."
Himerish gave Irma a gaze that clearly meant it was going to be harder then she had thought. He stopped floating and uncrossed his legs, his bare feet now touching the silver floor. He lifted an arm gracefully. "Now Guardians, depart."
Before any of them could protest, they were engulfed in a blinding light once more.
&&&
Kongu ran faster than the Rahi, but the Burnak was determined to catch him. The large feline-like beast was still chasing after him with rabid rage.
The Toa Inika of Air cursed and sprinted further off. "If only I could high-fly like Toa-friend Nuparu, large Rahi-beast wouldn't catch-hurt me. Kongu Toa-hero too!" he said to himself, leaping agilely over a rotten log. Too bad the log didn't prove an obstacle for the Burnak either.
The Rahi beast stopped in its tracks and sniffed the air. Kongu slowed to a jog and looked over his shoulder. He frowned as the Rahi seemingly forgot all about him and darted off somewhere else. "Hun?" Creasing his brow, his Mask of Telepathy activated itself.
In the mind of the Rahi beast, he distinguished one thought: food. It had found some other prey… Oh, no. No doubt it had caught the scent of some stray Matoran or something…
Sighing, the Toa of Air turned and ran after the Rahi. Being a Toa-hero comes with pros and cons, Turaga Matau…
At that moment, the clouds let go of their heavy load, and rain started falling on Voya Nui…
&&&
Hay Lin had stepped forwards to ask her grandmother more about the Order of Mata Nui, but stopped when she realized that she was no longer in the divine fortress of Kandrakar, but in the middle of some bizarre forest. "Hun?"
She really should have been used to this by now. Except this time, she saw that she was alone. Either the other girls had ditched her-they wouldn't do that-or they had landed in different areas of this world. In which case, she had to find her friends pronto. Man did she envy Taranee's telepathic capabilities at the moment.
Okay, don't panic, you're just on an alien world… all alone… and-oh, no. She felt a drop of water hit her nose. It was quickly followed by another, and another. In the space of a few seconds, the sky had started pouring water on her. She covered her head with her arms desperately, and ran around the place looking for shelter. Oh, could this get any worse? Alone on an alien world, and it's raining. Great. Perfect. Swell. It's cold…
Stumbling over some branches, she wished Irma was present. She could have created a shield from the rain, a magical umbrella, with a snap of her fingers. She stopped in her tracks when a low growl reached her ears. She looked around her frantically, trying to distinguish anything between the thick undergrowth. She stepped backwards into a puddle, wetting her purple boots. "Who-who's there?" she asked, trying to hide her fear in her voice.
There was a loud, sharp, growling and a green figure surged out of the bushes right in front of her, and pounced. The beast looked a lot like the remote-control tiger Irma's brother, Christopher liked to play with, except enlarged at least ten times. Hay Lin screamed, and instinctively raised her hands to protect herself and sent a powerful gust of wind at the beast, sending it flying backwards.
It landed on all four paws, and snarled, showing rows of gleaming white teeth, and glared at her with two big yellow eyes. What is that thing? Some sort of robot? she asked herself. I've never seen anything like it before. Oh, wait; this is an alien world…
She braced herself for combat with the creature, but was startled to hear a masculine voice, originating from a… tree?
"Oh, no you don't, Rahi-beast!"
A figure dropped from the branches and landed right on the creature's back. He didn't seem any more organic than the creature that had just attacked her but appeared fairly confident in his skills though, since he laughed as he wrestled the beast.
"Come on, now, let's see if riding a Burnak is anything like riding a Gukko bird!" he laughed. He had his long arms wrapped around the beast's neck, and was crushing it under his weight. Hay Lin noticed that he was also holding some sort of shiny weapon in his right hand.
The Burnak(as the stranger had called it), enraged, bit down on his arm, and when he had loosened his grip, agilely wriggled out of his grasp.
"Owwww!" he howled, clutching his arm. "That hurt-bad, you stupid Rahi!" he shouted. Pointing his weapon at the Burnak, he aimed, and a bolt of laser shot out of it, nailing the Burnak in the head.
The beast roared one last time in defiance before retreating, fleeing back into the undergrowth.
The stranger, satisfied, lowered his arm, then turned to examine Hay Lin. It was then that the Air Guardian finally got a good look at her savior.
He was bulky enough, and also, for the most part, green. Hay Lin noted that as the reason why she hadn't found him earlier; his green complexion provided natural camouflage in the dense jungle region. He wore silver armor on his chest and his shoulders. He had two flat feet which, honestly, reminded Hay Lin of duck feet, with four small toes on each one. And then there was his face. It was also green, but seemed to be the only part of his body that was organic… in a reptilian sort of way. He had a fearsome expression, and stared at her with large yellow-green eyes.
He made the Metamoorians look perfectly normal in comparison.
He spoke first. "Who are you?"
Hay Lin couldn't tell if his tone was friendly, neutral, or hostile. Well, since this is his world, and I am the intruder here, it suppose it's only fitting I introduce myself first. Struggling to try to smile, she answered in a small voice, "Um… my name's Hay Lin, and I'm the, uh, Guardian of Air."
He simply cocked his head to one side and stared at her funny. "Guardian? Where do you originate-come from?"
"Earth."
He cocked an eyebrow at this, but made no comment, so Hay Lin dared to ask, "And who might you be?"
He seemed to smile then, but Hay Lin wasn't sure. Then, standing up as straight as he could, puffing up his chest, he pointed at himself and declared proudly, "You're talking to Kongu, Toa-hero Inika of Air."
The Air Guardian blinked blankly. She had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, but it was obviously some sort of title that he was very proud of having, so she forced herself to smile and pretended to understand. "That's… amazing, Kongu. So, um, are all the people on this planet like you?" she inquired.
When she saw Kongu's smile disappear and his eyes narrow, she knew she had made some sort of mistake. Oh no, I think I somehow offended him…
"Of course not!" exploded Kongu. "I'm a Toa! A Toa! You get it, a Toa-hero!"
Um… okay, a Toa… Biting her lip, she asked, "And what exactly is a Toa?"
Kongu looked like he was about to faint. "Mata Nui, what is wrong with you?" he asked, more to himself than to her.
Hay Lin really didn't know what else to do but smile sweetly at him.
&&&
Avak chuckled as he watched the enslaved Matoran dig. "Faster, faster!" he crowed, large smile lighting up his hideous face. He was leaning against a metal railing. On the other side was an immense hole the Matoran had been digging at his request. His red eyes surveyed the scene with cruel pleasure. He kicked the metal railing and left a large dent in it. "Faster!" he roared.
The brainwashed Matoran were working as hard as they could. Their digging claws dug in the stone and scratched at it numerous times. They were focused on nothing but their task. Avak didn't care though.
"Faster!" He raised his dual weapon, which was a combination of a pickaxe and a jackhammer, and waved it at them threatening. "Zaktan told me to make sure you guys worked… so work!"
He winked at a Matoran who had just tripped over a rock. "Aww… are you okay?" He climbed over the railing and jumped into the hole, landing right next to the Matoran, who was flat on his face.
When he tried to get up, Avak casually stepped on his frame with his left foot, pinning him down. He bent down and asked, "Are you tired? Do you want a break? Well you can't have one!" he teased cruelly, and breaking into a fit of maniacal laughter, apparently finding the situation funny. Lifting his foot from the Matoran, he kicked him, sending him flying. He finally landed on another Matoran, and the impact made the other Matoran fall as well.
Avak sneered. "Get back to work." he growled. "Now."
He used his dual weapon to help him climb out of the hole, which had grown quite large. That was to be expected. After all, the Matoran worked day and night on it, and only because Avak had a hunch that they would eventually find something that would help them find the Ignika.
When he dragged himself over the railing, he found Reidak there, waiting for him. The Earth Piraka grunted, "My shift." Then he fell silent.
Avak sneered at him, then turned his back and walked away from the hole. "I'm going for a walk," he said to Reidak, "and I'll be back in time for my shift. Oh, and, try not to kill any of the Matoran until I get back."
&&&
"Ugh, my feet hurt! I'm not made for walking long distances!" Cornelia Hale complained to, well, thin air, seeing as there was no one around. She blew a stray strand of her long blonde hair away form her face, agitated.
She was standing on some sort of stone plateau, with, well, not much in sight but rocks. And more rocks. Just for the heck of it, she made a plant sprout out of a crack in the ground with a wave of her hand. It grew with unnatural speed, and when it had reached a height of about a meter, it stopped abruptly and at its tip, a red flower, with a diameter of roughly a decimeter blossomed.
She smiled and stepped back to examine her work. Crystal-blue orbs looked the delicate plant over, until, satisfied, she finally declared, "There! That should add some life to this otherwise dull and boring place."
Her celebration was cut short when a laser blast suddenly appeared and incinerated her beautiful creation. Her jaw dropped as her brain registered what had just taken place. Cornelia spun around to face the one responsible for its destruction.
A brown figure was sneering at her gleefully, weapon in hand. It looked like one of those biomechanical beings the Oracle was talking about. And this one was guilty of the total destruction of one of Cornelia's plants.
The Earth Guardian opened her mouth to reprimand him when he laughed. "Hey," he said, "I don't know who the hell you are, but make me another one of those targets, would you? I need to work on my aim." He crossed his arms and continued sneering, waiting for Cornelia's reaction.
Who does this guy think he is? fumed Cornelia inwardly. "Y-you… you jerk! You can't just walk around shooting anything you want!" she screeched.
Anyone who knew Cornelia personally would've known to back off. Not Avak though. His sneer faded and he growled. "Why can't I?" he demanded.
Taken aback, Cornelia blinked a few times, before answering, "Because it's other people's property! What, you got rocks for brains?"
Avak's orange-red eyes narrowed dangerously. "Why, I'll teach you not to mess with Avak!" he roared. Uncrossing his arms, he raised his left arm. He was holding a Zamor Sphere Launcher, and he aimed it at Cornelia.
Her eyes grew wide. Someone was going to shoot at her with some sort of weapon. Reacting quickly, she bent down and placed her hands on the rocky floor, and willed her green magic to flow through her body and out of her fingertips.
Avak's sneer reappeared as his finger pressed down on the trigger, and released the antidermis-loaded Zamor.
&&&
Hakann growled with pleasure as he lowered his dual weapon, a lava launcher with a claw on the other end, into a stream of magma. He smirked as his launcher, which was previously empty, filled up with ammunition.
The Piraka raised his weapon and stared at it fondly. A small Gafna, a sort of scorpion-like Rahi, scurried by. Hakann grinned as he felt his eyes heat up, then sent a devastating blast of heat towards the poor creature, who squeaked in agony upon impact.
Hakann laughed as he watched the defenseless creature burn up, then he kicked away the remains after it had died. That was Hakann alright. Killing Rahi for no apparent reason was a hobby of his.
He laughed cruelly, then turned his head around in search for more prey.
&&&
Taranee yelped in surprise as a small creature skidded past her. It looked like a big, red and white scorpion to her. Second one she's seen so far.
The wildlife here is quite diverse, considering that it's a volcanic region, she noted.
Yeah, huh? came Will's voice in her head. I'm in some sort of, erm, cold place. Okay, so it's friggen' freezing here! Just snow, snow, and more snow… Surprising how the climate varies around here. Doesn't make much sense, unless we're on complete other sides of the planet, which I sincerely hope isn't the case.
Taranee smirked wryly. Yeah… I know it's weird. Here, I'll see if I can find Irma.
Concentrating, she struggled to find her friend's mind, then linked them.
Irma? You hear me? she asked.
Taranee! What took you so long?
Sorry. Where are you, by the way?
Er… I've been walking along a beach for a while, replied the Water Guardian.
Beach? asked Will, You're at a beach? Lucky enough, I'm caught in the middle of a blizzard.
Taranee stared at another one of those scorpion-like creatures. It was traveling the in same direction as the other one. Seemed as though they were trying to escape something…
She turned her attention back to her conversation. I contacted Cornelia a while ago. She's at a plateau somewhere… bare desert-like place.
And Hay Hey? asked Irma, curious as to where her best friend disappeared off to.
No, not yet… should I?
Why not? We need to be together at a time like this… answered Will.
Irma agreed with her, so Taranee closed her eyes to focus… when something sizzling hot zipped by her face. Her eye snapped open and she saw, a fair distance away, a red figure smirking and kicking at one of those scorpion creatures. He didn't look too friendly, and he held a dangerous looking weapon in each of his hands.
He laughed harshly. "Hey there. That's one shot down, so I've got four more left in this here lava launcher. Four is three more than enough." His voice was harsh and his sharp teeth looked really menacing.
Taranee? What's wrong? Will's voice was filled with concern.
I-I… there's this ugly looking brute standing in front of me.
Irma answered her. So what does he want?
Taranee voiced her question to him. "What do you want?"
Hakann appeared to be hurt. "Hey… is that any way to treat a Piraka?"
The Fire Guardian just shot him a quizzical look. Guys, what's a Piraka?
Irma seemed as clueless on the subject as she was. I don't know; you're the smart one, Tara.
Hakann interrupted. "Well don't just stand there!" he growled, "Pay attention when I, Hakann, am talking!" He shook his head. "Why am I even bothering? Might as well add you to my legion of slaves…"
&&&
Hahli peered at the Water Gafna from behind her mask. The Rahi matched her gaze. The Toa of Water frowned when the Gafna scurried away. Too bad, I'll just have to find something else to do then…
She turned her gaze to the rising tide and shuffled closer to the water. As the liquid touched her toes, it began to cackle with electricity. Curious way of turning into a Toa; getting struck by lightning.
It was Kazi's theory that the bolt of lightning had been sent by the Great Beings themselves. Kongu was skeptical, Matoro believed him, and Hahli just didn't know what to think. Water conducts electricity…
It was true enough. But that made her extremely powerful. She could electrocute just about anyone who had as little as a toe in water.
It was then that her Mask of Detection suddenly reacted again. She gave a small cry as the sharp headache appeared without warning, then disappeared just as abruptly. Someone's coming… Who could it be? The Toa were all busy with the Matoran in the icy regions of the island. Well, except Kongu, who had gone for a walk in the jungle. And she doubted her mask would disturb her on account of a Rahi. So who was it?
&&&
I don't know; you're the smart one, Tara.
The Fire Guardian didn't answer her, causing Irma to frown. Tara?
Still no response. It was then that she realized Will was gone too. Taranee had cut their link. "Aww…"
She kicked at a pebble on the beach. It was then that she noticed a set of inhuman footprints. Her eyes widened, but she quickly calmed herself down. Well, it is to be expected. This place is populated.
But the footprints looked fresh. The brunette lifted her head. She could have sworn she heard something. Irma froze when she felt something sharp against her back.
"Don't move." The voice was commanding, and noticeably female.
The Water Guardian smiled feebly and raised her arms. "Okay, okay. Not moving." She eyed the water though. She was at a beach, putting her in an advantageous position. To her delight, the water shifted slightly.
"Who are you?"
She shrugged. "I could ask you the same thing, you know."
"Are you allied with the Piraka?"
There it was. The same word that Taranee had used. She decided to be cautious with this matter. "Are you?"
The sharp object poked at her back. "I asked first."
She winced. "Okay, okay. Um, I don't even know what a Piraka is!"
She heard a sigh of relief (or was it agitation?) behind her, and the sharp object lowered. "Turn around, and don't try anything funny."
She complied, and had to force herself to not gasp when she saw the one who was previously threatening her. Inhuman wasn't strong enough a word to describe her. Just like the Oracle boss man said. Biomechanical.
The face was odd enough. It looked like she was wearing some sort of weird-looking scuba-diving mask. The yellow-green eyes stared straight back at Irma, who thought it was an appropriate time to break the awkward silence.
"So, uh…" Her eyes subconsciously moved to the sharp object which had been poking at her back. It was activated with a laser and glowing brightly. "What exactly are the Piraka? And who are you?"
Those eyes just kept staring, and a long time passed before she finally answered, "I'm Hahli, former Chronicler of Metru Nui, and Toa of Water. Who are you?"
&&&
Garan cursed when he tripped over an icy stump. He fell flat on the snow, his arms and legs spread out. He got up slowly, pushing himself off the snow with his pulse bolt generators, and spat out a mouthful of frozen water.
He squinted, attempting to distinguish shapes in the raging blizzard. "By Mata Nui, this is like being blindfolded!"
Garan was heading to his hideout, where the other Matoran and most of the Toa were, when he got caught in the blizzard. He didn't like this. He could get attacked by a Rahi at any moment. Not to mention that the Onu-Matoran, being black, stood out like a sore thumb in this sea of white. "This accursed island…"
True, Voya Nui had been his home for as long as he could remember, but still, the place was nicknamed the 'Daggers of Death'. Why? Because of its unreasonably harsh climate, of course.
He trudged forwards, even though he had no idea where he was going. He had lost all sense of direction about ten minutes ago anyways. He thought he heard an Ice Burnak roar somewhere.
He tripped again. Scolding himself for his clumsiness, he got back up and shook the snow off his body. Pull yourself together, Garan. You've fought with Piraka and survived, you can't let a little bit of inconvenient weather take you down!
Garan stumbled once more. Damn… where am I going? "Mata Nui help me…" The Onu-Matoran raised an arm to protect his face from a gust of wind.He couldn't repress a violent shiver. Ah… I'm not going to last long at this rate…
&&&
Will bit her lip when Taranee's voice disappeared from her head. Oh, god, I hope she's alright… The Keeper of the Heart had her own problems though. As in the sudden transformation from just snowing, to violent blizzard.
Her eyes desperately scanned the landscape for any sign that might help. Nothing. Just a lot of snow. If she had to guess, then she'd say that the only reason she wasn't already an icicle was because of the Heart of Kandrakar, nestled deep within her being.
Wait a minute… what was that? There was a speck of black in the horizon. Either that or she was hallucinating. And she could have sworn the black dot was moving. So it was alive. Friend of foe, though? Will didn't really care at the moment, and decided to take her chances. Anything was better then staying lost in the middle of a snowstorm. Flailing her arms around, she shouted, "Hey! Hey! Over here! Hey!"
The black figure seemed to hear her, as it stopped in its tracks. After a brief moment, the dot seemed to grow bigger. It ran towards her. It seemed an eternity until it was finally close enough for Will to see it properly though.
It was a fairly… short guy. Actually, she was surprised he had run so fast with those stubby legs. Almost completely black, with something on his face that couldn't have possibly been anything other than one of those Kanohi-or-whatever-they-were-called things the Oracle mentioned. She sighed, and couldn't help but wish Himerish was more revealing. The short guy held two objects which looked like cutting tools in his hands, and stared at her curiously.
"Who are you? Friend or foe?" he asked, frowning. Will noted that he looked half-frozen. Or maybe the slight layer of ice that was forming was natural. She didn't know, she'd just been transported to another world where the laws of physics could have been different, for all she knew.
Will shivered. "Um, I'd kind of have to know who you are if you want me to answer that last question."
The black guy, who was moderately covered in snow, answered promptly. "I'm Garan, and I lead the Voya Nui Resistance Team! Now friend or foe?"
"… Sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm just lost here! What about you? Do you know how to escape this blizzard?"
Garan tensed. "Well, you see, that's sort of the problem-"
He was interrupted by a blue laser blast that came right between them and struck a puny snow-covered tree which was in lethal danger of giving in to the raging wind at any moment. Both turned their heads just in time to witness the tree instantaneously freeze (okay, it was already frozen, but the ice became notably thicker).
A faint chuckling was heard, and both the Guardian and Matoran turned their heads away from the tree in a synchronized motion and their eyes set upon another figure who had somehow approached them without being noticed.
Garan's yellow eyes widened considerably and he murmured something so quietly that Will barely heard him, his voice filled with dread.
"Thok."
Author's Notes: 5272 words! Whee! Okay, okay, so that's kinda low for the average writer, but it's like a new record for me! YES!
Haha, I think I just left you guys on three separate cliffhangers(having encountered Avak, Hakann, and Thok). Of course, I wouldn't be me if I didn't leave you on a cliffie. but three of them? LOL, I'm pure evil...
So, besides all the frustrating suspense, I hope you liked it so far. Yeah. LOL, I just noticed that even though I wrote each of the guardian's parts in a totally random sequence, I've somehow managed to spell the acronym W.I.T.C.H. backwards. Like I did Hay Lin/Kongu first, then Cornelia/Avak, Taranee/Hakann, Irma/Hahli, then Will/Garan. Funny. LOL, XD
Okay, okay, I need more reviews here… I seriously feel like I'm being ignored. Yeah. Dude, being ignored is annoying. I should know, since I do have to struggle to maintain a social life. Meh.