The Sinking Stones, Of Pohatu and his journey Options

[King Kobra]

The Six mighty Toa had descended into the depths of the Mangaia, knowing with certainty that what awaited them was far worse than anything they had ever seen. But when it came to the height of evil, this new problem they were confronted with knew no bounds.

"It goes against the first of the three virtues to even think that we can do this!" Tahu growled, frustrated at the mess they were in. After defeating the dreaded Manas as the Toa Kaita, they now faced a tougher enemy.

Devision.

After the Manas had fallen and the Toa Kaita had seperated back into the six heroes, barriers had sprung up between them all, forcing them to lose their unity and breaking their confidence. A tunnel opened up for each Toa to make their own individual journey through, but none of them had left, for they feared what trickery awaited them ahead.

"We must be strong, Tahu." Gali said calmly, "We can't let the Makuta get to us this easily."

"Our paths are apparent," Kopaka looked at his comrades, "we must go on alone."

"The Turaga told us that only in unity will we destroy the Makuta!" Shot back Lewa.

"The Turaga don't know the struggles of a Toa," Kopaka quietly retorted, "And they obviously don't know our powers. We can handle ourselves."

"As much as I hate to admit it," Onua chimed in, "I think our icy friend is right."

"As do I," Pohatu joined the conversation, "we must continue and defeat the Makuta, no matter what lengths we must go to." He looked around at his fellow warriors, knowing that this may be the last look he'll take. Lewa looked determined now, and said nothing more. Tahu seemed on edge still, but knew his duty and turned from the group.

"So be it," Tahu spat bitterly, "If this is our destiny, then let us fulfill it and be reunited at the end of it all. I will see you again, brothers, sister."

The other Toa watched as he walked into his tunnel, and cringed as it shut menacingly. One-by-one the Toa gathered their courage and walked out of the huge chamber. Only Gali and Pohatu remained. "Pohatu, be heartened," Gali said, smiling at him, "this is not our end, I can feel it in the air, today will be a joyous day." She touched the barrier between them, and turned to disappear into the darkness.

Pohatu took a breath and then turned to his own tunnel. He began to walk, noting how loud his footsteps were relative to the others. Every footfall echoed like an explosion in the wide cave, giving him the feeling of being an intruder. He walked for what seemed to be hours, but it might have been minutes, for he wasn't keeping track. He was simply focusing on each foot falling in front of the other, making the reassuring echo and letting him know he was still alive. But then...

Splash!

Pohatu stopped dead, his eyes (which had been scanning the walls and ceiling) widened. He slowly dropped his gaze to the floor, which was now murky, gray water instead of the rock he was just treading on. The beautiful, wonderful, solid rock.

Frozen for a whole minute, all Pohatu could do was think of how badly he wanted to turn back, how badly he wanted to be playing a careless match of Koli with his Po-Koran friends. But he couldn't, and brooding on it wouldn't help. He was here, now, in the lair of the Makuta, facing his worst fear.

Water.

He took a deep breath, and with it a second step.

Splash!

"As if the echoes weren't bad enough" He thought aloud, "well, at least it's shallow...." Not. He took one more step and found himself waist-deep. Another sent him up to his neck. He switched to his Kaukau grudgingly, knowing what was coming next. He took one more step and-though he expected a drop-the following underwater cliff surprised him more than a little.

He sank like a stone, falling a hundred feet down in seconds. When he finally reached the bottom of the murky depths, he felt the squish of weeds under his feet and felt the ground below them crack. He regained himself, trying to forget what just happened and how horribly wrong this day had just become, and trudged on.

The plants danced around him and-was it his imagination?-wrapped around his limbs every now and again. He desperately hoped that this was as bad as it got, because he didn't think he could handle much more of this.

But, as irony usually works out, it did get worse.

He walked along in silence, ignoring the rippling plantlife and endless shadows until he knew something must be wrong. He had a feeling he was being watched, as he had the entire time they had been in the Mangaia, but now more than ever it pressed onto him. He abruptly stopped and turned around, and would've fallen onto his back were he not in water.

There, standing not a foot behind him, was himself. But not the Pohatu he knew himself as, the one with tan and brown armor, and bright-red, cheery eyes. No, this Pohatu was all black, but it wasn't the black that he saw when he looked at Onua, it was the black he saw when he looked into deep water. The black of pure shadows. And to accent the gruesome Pohatu copycat were eyes that could only be that of Makuta's himself.

Silence...

Pohatu stared into its eyes, waiting for it to make a move, to try and kill him. But nothing happened. He took a step back, and it mirrored with a step forward. Now what, he though, confused more than ever. He slowly turned and began to walk again, watching the specter behind him following intently. Maybe...

He filled his lungs with air, switching to his Kakama and using its powers to tear through the water at breakneck speeds. When he finally stopped because of his lack of oxygen, he switched back to his Kaukau and looked behind him. To his dismay, his tail had not moved an inch, it almost seemed closer if anything.

And then, the wicked voice of his darker self rang out into the water. "Confused yet, little Toa?"

Pohatu was taken aback, but he replied. "What is your game Makuta? You try and destroy us for so long and now you simply watch, do you wish to kill me or not?"

"We both know there are things far worse than death, Pohatu." It said with an evil smile, spreading its arms to designate the surroundings. "I'm surprised you haven't gone mad yet."

"It will take much more than this to break me, fiend." He stated flatly.

"Then how about this, if I can't harm your mind, and I see no fun in destroying your body, let's aim for your pride, shall we?" The Dark Pohatu raised its arms above its head, and a Koli field rose out of the dark weeds and sand. Two more shadowy Toa of Stone walked out of the darkness. "This is probably all that you've been thinking of, am I right?"

Pohatu shifted uncomfortably. He had been thinking about Koli a lot down here, but he wouldn't dare admit it. "What are your terms?"

"It's simple, you win, you continue on. I win, you'll see." The evil grin spread once again across its face.

"I'm fine with that, let's just get this over with Makuta, so I can fight you face-to-face."

Each of the shadow Toa walked to their respected goal, and Pohatu followed suit. The ball dropped from above and drifted through the murk and haze into the center of the field. "Begin" hissed Dark Pohatu.

Pohatu ran forward to the ball, but before he could touch it two clones of himself blocked his path as the third kicked the ball through his goal for a quick score.

"One to nothing," Cackled the specter, "We're playing to three, to let you know."

"I should've known you would cheat your way through this." Pohatu muttered.

The second ball fell into the middle of the field, but as Pohatu went for it, a chunk of his opponents goal went sailing past him and into his. "Two to zero."

Pohatu stopped in his tracks, furious. "You seem to leave a lot of explaining out, Makuta." He growled.

"You should've asked!" Hissed his counterpart.

Pohatu though quickly as he watched the third ball fall from above, and knew exactly what to do. He switched to his Kakama, racing not at the ball, but to the second and third opponents. Using his Pakari, he kicked them with as much force as he had in his whole body. The two shadows rocketed into the first one, through his goal, and out of sight in the depths. "Three to two," Pohatu said, grinning, "Winner: Pohatu."

Suddenly his Kaukau was unnecessary. He looked around and found himself not deep under water, but just inside the entrance to his tunnel. So everything was an illusion? You're a clever one Makuta, I'll give you that. He turned around and saw what he sought, a huge stone door with a Kakama carved into it. He stepped forward and gave it a sharp kick, sending the doors flying open and revealing a small chamber where his brothers and sister stood waiting for him.

He looked to Gali, who was smiling at him, and laughed. "A joyous day, indeed, Gali!"

END

For those of you that didn't understand, in the Mangaia the Toa had to each fight a shadow version of themselves, and I've always had my ideas of what happened in those fights. So this was my idea for Pohatu. Hope you enjoyed it all 1500+ words of it


KK=-

[Lhilertoro]

That was cool, I would never have thought of an illusion or Koli. Could you write your version for the other Toa?

[King Kobra]

That was cool, I would never have thought of an illusion or Koli. Could you write your version for the other Toa?

I actually DID write one for Kopaka a looong time ago, you can read it here if you'd like. Feel free to comment, you would be the first one out of over 150 that just looked at it XP


KK=-

[Tahu Nuva 3.0]

Cool. I do remember your Kopaka one. I really like the Shadow Toa stories. There shoud be more of them on BZP. Good job on the story. Pohatu really struggled for a bit it seems.