TNTOS

Chapter 6: Assignments & Missions Akuna woke up the next morning feeling much better than she had last night. Though she was still slightly hurting, her back ached less and her legs did not feel like lead anymore. She also felt a little bit more cheerful, too. She didn’t know why, but perhaps it was because she had slept so well she was happier. It might also have had something to do with the fact she had slept on a real bed for the first time in a while. Of course, she was still a little sleepy, and almost thought about sleeping in when Nastan softly nudged her and said, in a quiet voice, “Wake up, Akuna. Aren’t you hungry? They’ve given us breakfast.” Despite the fact she was warm and comfortable where she was, she realized that she was extremely hungry now. She had forgotten that she hadn’t eaten a proper meal in a few days (or weeks, depending on who you asked) and opened her eyes slowly to see Nastan staring down at her. “Good morning, Nastan,” she yawned, stretching her arms and legs a little as she did so. She raised her head a little and asked, “Where is breakfast?” “Over there,” said Nastan, pointing in the direction of the door. She glanced in the direction he was pointing and saw a small table had been put on the right side of the door, where Addis, Barilo, and Chimoy were currently sitting, eating and drinking without talking much. Lying down, curled underneath the blankets with Nastan, she could not tell what kind of food it might be, but she was so hungry that she thought she could’ve eaten whatever it was, even if it was just stale bread and dirty water. Nastan got up and helped her out of bed. Akuna, with Nastan at her side, walked hungrily over to the table and sat down on one of two unoccupied chairs, the second one which Nastan took. She noticed that the food was indeed stale bread and dried up berries mostly, while the water in the jug looked surprisingly good, though it was not necessarily crystal clear. Still, she was quite hungry and began to absorb the energy from the food with one hand, while at the same time drinking her water a little too fast, causing her to choke a little. Addis noticed this and said, “Hey, don’t drink too fast, Akuna. Don’t want to accidentally drown yourself, eh?” Akuna, swallowing the rest of her water, looked sheepishly at Addis and said, “Sorry, I was just-“ She stopped midsentence when she realized that Addis looked different. At first, she could not place what was so different about him exactly, but then noticed that he was wearing a different mask. He no longer wore a hastily rebuilt Suletu; he now wore a gleaming red mask of a shape she could not place at the moment, which was slightly dented in some places, as though it had been handled roughly. Evidently noticing the expression on her face, Addis pointed at his mask and said, “Like it? It’s a Tryna, Mask of Reanimation. It’s the only Great Mask that they could find in the Dark Hunters’ old loot, though they think there may be more hidden somewhere. Joha says one of his original teammates, Serixo, used to wear a Tryna and thinks it’s the same one, but he doesn’t know for sure, though he’s letting me keep it anyway. They brought it here this morning with the breakfast.” “Cool,” said Nastan, who had finished taking a huge swig of water from his cup. “So what does it do?” “I think it reanimates dead things,” said Addis with a shrug. “Not bring them back to life, per se; I just will them to live. Haven’t tried it out yet, but maybe I’ll get my chance soon, if the Tuikas are as bad as everyone says they are.” “I hope you never do,” said Chimoy quietly, drawing the attention of the others towards himself. “Because you know what that would mean, if you ever got to use it . . .” Akuna was at first puzzled by this statement, but then its implications sunk in quickly and abruptly. Horrified, she glanced at Addis, who seemed to have reached the same conclusion that she had, judging by his shocked face. Nastan looked confused, but Barilo, bizarrely enough, did not seem to have noticed what either Addis or Chimoy had said and was merely eating and drinking as though nothing had happened. “That’s not what I meant, Chimoy,” said Addis, sounding slightly shaken. “You know I would never wish for that to happen. You’re right. I don’t ever want to use my Tryna. I shouldn’t have said that. Sorry.” “What is there to apologize for?” asked Barilo unconcernedly. He was drinking rather strangely; it was almost as though he were not used to it, the way he was holding the cup, with water dribbling down his chin a little. “I see nothing wrong with wishing to test out a new mask. Personally,” he added, leaning back in his chair with a yawn as he put his cup back on the table, “watching reanimating bodies dancing would liven up this rather boring place.” For a moment, there was nothing but stunned silence as they all looked at Barilo, who was still leaning back in his chair as though enjoying the way they were looking at him. Then Addis said indignantly, “What the Karzahni are you talking about, Barilo?” “Er, nothing, nothing,” said Barilo suddenly, changing his expression from one of smugness to that of fear, so quickly that Akuna almost missed it. “I was just . . . joking. Yes. That was all. Just having a laugh, though I suppose the joke wasn’t the most appropriate for this situation, was it?” “You bet it wasn’t,” said Chimoy. “Why would anyone want to seriously see dancing corpses? It’s morbid and disgusting.” Akuna was taken aback by the way Chimoy was acting. He was usually very quiet and reserved and rarely spoke up except when necessary. To see him speaking as loudly as he was now, and with as much emotion in his voice, was rather unsettling to her. Maybe Nonzra’s death hit him harder than he would like to admit, she thought. He was always closest to him, after all. “I agree, Chimoy,” said Barilo, who now looked unconcerned again. “But must we worry about the past and the dead? There is no reason to when we have our own present to worry about. The dead can worry about themselves; we can only worry about ourselves. So relax, and take life easy for a change, my friend.” Chimoy looked like he did not know what to say, so he merely shook his head, muttering darkly under his breath, and continued eating. Barilo merely smiled in a strangely satisfied way and continued his breakfast, too. “So,” said Addis, who was clearly relieved to see that the encounter was over, looking from one Toa to the other. “I don’t know what we’re going to be doing today. I think Jokao or one of the others will probably come up here and tell us what to do. Or we could just go down and talk to them ourselves. I don’t know. Depends on how everything works around here, I guess.” “So long as it isn’t one of the Dark Hunters or Oggak, I’ll listen,” said Nastan. “Oh, I don’t know,” said Barilo. “I wouldn’t mind it if Oggak came up here. I would like to . . . get to know her better, if you know what I mean.” “No,” said Akuna, feeling rather uncomfortable as she watched Barilo crush a dead berry in his hand and toss it away. “I’m not sure if I want to know.” “Of course, I did not mean anything inappropriate by what I said,” Barilo continued. “If we are going to be working alongside her, we might as well become . . . allies, should we not?” “Barilo, you must be insane,” Nastan said, staring at him in disbelief. “She’s a Toa of Shadow! I would rather die than become friends with her.” “I never said become friends with her,” Barilo snapped, looking angrily at Nastan. “I just think that we should not act extremely hostile towards her. We are all Toa here, aren’t we? So maybe we should give her a chance, if you will.” “I’m not following you, Barilo,” said Nastan, shaking his head. “You’re saying we should give a Toa of Shadow a ‘chance’? Don’t you remember what the Shodios tried to do to us? What they did to Nonzra?” “I do indeed,” Barilo said, more calmly now. “But if you don’t want to know her, then I will. I am just more open-minded than you are, I guess.” “Open-minded or foolish?” countered Nastan. “I can’t tell the difference at the moment, to be honest.” Before Barilo could respond, there was a quick knock at the door and Addis, sitting closest to it, said, “Come in.” The door opened almost before he had finished speaking and a small Ce-Matoran entered, looking a little nervous. She wore pale gold and blue armor, with some other pieces of armor in different colors slapped on in various places, which made her look as though she had splattered many colors of paint all over herself without much thought to aesthetics. “Hello,” said the Ce-Matoran with a quick bow at the five Toa, who were now all looking at her. “M-my name is Reesha, the Chronicler of Koro Nui. I have been sent to deliver orders to the Toa Shika.” “Well, hello, Reesha,” said Addis as he turned in his chair to face her. “What, er, did you just say?” Reesha took a deep breath and said, “Orders. Turaga Joha has sent me here to give you your assignments. Joha says that now that you are here you will have to help defend Koro Nui like everyone else.” “Well, obviously,” said Barilo, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “There’s a surprise.” Reesha seemed taken aback by Barilo’s attitude, but Nastan told her, “Don’t mind him. He’s been acting weird lately.” “Uh, okay,” said Reesha, though she was still staring at Barilo warily. “Right. Well, Turaga Joha has told me to tell you that some of you will stay here to protect Koro Nui and that the rest of you will be sent on an expedition around the island to search for any survivors of the Tuikas’ attacks.” “Which of us will do what job?” asked Addis curiously. “Um,” said Reesha, pulling two tablets out of her bag and looking at them. “Toa Addis, Toa Nastan, Toa Akuna, and Toa Chimoy will assist in protecting Koro Nui, while Toa Barilo will be going on an expedition with Toa Jokao and Toa Oggakia later today.” “Is that all?” asked Addis. “Yes,” she said, bowing. “Er, I’ll be leaving now, since that’s all I . . . all I have to say. Good bye.” Reesha then turned around and left, though she was still looking at them over her shoulder as she went. Akuna wondered why Reesha was staring at them like that, before remembering that the Matoran of Koro Nui had only ever known two Toa, Jokao and Oggak, and so were not used to seeing five other Toa living in their village with them like this. “Why is Barilo getting to go on an expedition?” Nastan said, snapping Akuna out of her thoughts. “Not that I want to go with that piece of shadow spit, but I don’t really want to be locked up here all day, either.” “I don’t know,” said Addis with a shrug. “Maybe Joha thinks he can help somehow.” “Well, I see no reason to complain,” said Barilo with an odd grin on his face. “If this means I can speak to Oggak privately, then I will merrily go along.” “Right,” said Akuna, casting the Toa of Gravity a wary look similar to the one Reesha had worn earlier. “Well, guard duty sounds a little bit safer, in my opinion, and after all the danger we’ve been through, I’m not sure if I want to openly expose myself to the enemy like that.” “Probably necessary, though,” said Addis as he finished his breakfast. “There may still be some Matoran out there who need help. If so, they need to be saved, and who better to do it than Toa heroes, who are supposed to protect and keep them safe in the first place?” “Besides,” said Barilo, rubbing his hands together rather eagerly. “I can easily crush the Tuikas – literally.” “What-?” Nastan said, before the door flung open again and Jokao entered without, looking a little tired as he approached them. “Good morning,” said Jokao, rather drowsily, to the five Toa Shika, who all stood up immediately and greeted him in return. He then shook his head and continued in a much more brisk voice, “The only reason we let you sleep in late like this is because you guys obviously needed the rest. But now that you’ve finished your breakfast, time to do your jobs. I assume Reesha has already filled you in?” “Yes, she has,” said Addis, nodding. “So Barilo goes with you and Oggak, while I and the others stay behind to protect the village from any Tuikas attacks?” “Right,” Jokao confirmed. “You’re supposed to start your shift now. And Barilo, we’re leaving soon, so get your weapons and armor ready.” “You’re . . . right,” said Barilo through gritted teeth. It was almost like he didn’t like to admit that Jokao was right, despite the fact that Barilo had never shown such reluctance before. He pulled out his axe and eyeing it with disgust added, “I’ve never been much of a fan of axes anyway. Er, I mean,” he said hurriedly, upon spotting the questioning look on Akuna’s face, “my axe is getting old, you know. It may be time for a new weapon. Perhaps a sword would do, like our dear old friend Nonzra had.” “Perhaps,” said Jokao, nodding, though Akuna noticed he had a slightly confused look on his face. “A new weapon might help better you than your old damaged one. Come on, then,” he added, turning around in the doorway, “we’re late. Also, I’ll be showing you guys where you’re supposed to be and what you are supposed to do if you spot any of the Tuikas coming.” - The Toa Shika were separated and put in the four towers that extended from the fortress’ main body. Akuna was placed in North Tower, Nastan in South Tower, Addis in West Tower, and Chimoy in East Tower, while Barilo and Jokao left to go meet Oggak on the ground level, in the courtyard. Before leaving, Jokao had told all of the Toa what they were supposed to do in case of a Tuikas attack. If they saw any Tuikas coming or any sign of them, they would have to raise the alarm immediately and without hesitation. According to Jokao, those precious few seconds when the Tuikas were still out of range of the fortress could mean all the difference in everyone living or dying, since all of the Matoran knew what the alarm meant by now and knew exactly where to hide in case of an attack. Other things they had to do were attack the Tuikas with whatever they got and to make sure that no one got hurt badly, though that last one, Jokao had told them, was nearly impossible to pull off and told them not to worry too much if someone did get badly hurt, because that was to be expected if you fought the Tuikas. He had said nothing about what to do if someone was killed, which worried Akuna a little. Perhaps he figured that they would react the same way as someone getting badly injured, but she wasn’t so sure since she had never dealt with allies dying in battle like Jokao might have. Well, except for Nonzra, obviously. She still didn’t know how she would react to it, however, which was what worried her most. She didn’t want to be distracted by someone’s death and get herself killed because she wasn’t paying attention to her opponent’s moves. So Akuna now sat in the highest room in the North Tower, with two other Matoran guardsmen who carried swords and shields that were slightly too big for them. Huge Cordak blasters were mounted on the windows, aiming towards the sky, which was where the Tuikas always came from, according to one of the Matoran guardsman she was stationed with. The tower itself looked as though it had seen a few battles during the past few weeks. Large chunks of the walls, ceiling, and even the floor had been hastily repaired with various bits of metal and stone that were surprisingly firm, though Akuna was still worried that the floor could fall in underneath them if it was hit hard in the right spot. There wasn’t much in here, either. Aside from some stools, the aforementioned Cordak blasters, and some light stones for when it got dark, there really wasn’t any kind of furniture or decorations. Akuna assumed that was because, if they had a lot of furniture up here and the Tuikas attacked, that would mean a lot more unnecessary cleanup work for them. And there wasn’t a whole lot of room for anything else anyway. Her fellow guardsmen were two Matoran. One was Dusa, a Ta-Matoran who acted a little bit like Nastan, though slightly more serious. The other was an Et-Matoran named Ferha, who was more like Chimoy, in Akuna’s mind: quiet, rarely speaking except when necessary, but a reliable person all around. “What is it like when the Tuikas attack?” asked Akuna as she examined her staff, which was a little bent near the top. She wondered if it would affect her fighting style much. She hoped not. “Death and chaos reign,” Ferha replied, manning one of the Cordak blasters. She was not looking at Akuna; instead, she had her eyes focused entirely upon the sky. Akuna understood that Ferha was one of the best gunners in Koro Nui and therefore never took her eyes away from the sky for even a moment if she was at work, just in case the Tuikas were hiding somewhere in the clouds overhead. “Things get smashed and people die or get hurt badly. It’s not pretty.” “She’s summed it up pretty well, in my opinion,” said Dusa, running one finger along his sword’s edge. “There is really nothing more to add except that if you survive, you usually feel extremely guilty about being a survivor. You have lots of questions; like, why did I survive? Why did everyone else die? Stuff like that. You usually forget about them, though, when the next attack comes ‘round and you need to have your wits about you to just survive. Have you ever felt that way, Toa Akuna?” He asked that without looking at her. He seemed unused to the Toa of Lightning, which was probably the case, since he hadn’t known any other Toa besides Oggak and Jokao before the Toa Shika. She considered his question. She had never really felt that way before, since no one she knew or had been close to her had ever died while she survived. But then her thoughts drifted towards Nonzra. He had died and she had survived. She had never thought about why she or the others had lived while Nonzra had died back there. Nor would she have time to worry about it. She had plenty of other things to think about at the moment; no need to worry about why she was the survivor, since she didn’t know why and doubted she ever would, though she did miss Nonzra quite a bit. “I’ve never really felt that way before,” she said slowly. “I mean, Nonzra’s died and I survived, but I’ve never really questioned myself about it, even now.” “Well, good,” said Dusa, who was now done with his sword and was also looking out the window with Ferha. “That means you can focus on something else, like the Tuikas, for example.” “Uh, right,” Akuna said, though she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. “Well, how long have you been a guard, then?” “Ever since we first took this place as our home,” Dusa replied. “Fortunately I’ve survived every attack, but that doesn’t mean I’ll always survive. Some day – maybe even today – I’ll be too slow or make a wrong move and bam,” he punctuated this by slamming his fist into his other hand, “I’m dead.” Akuna was amazed by Dusa. Despite being a Matoran, he was already displaying the attitude of a Toa, or how a Toa should act, anyway. Guess these Matoran have had to learn to be strong to survive, she thought, now glancing out the window with the other two. They’ve already accepted death as part of their life. Dusa, at least, doesn’t seem horrified or even slightly frightened at the prospect of death. Then again, these Matoran have been through the cruel enslavement of the Dark Hunters and the wrath of the Tuikas. Perhaps they learned to be strong a long time before I even noticed. Her staff leaning on her shoulder, she decided not to think about it at the moment. If what Dusa said was true, then she would need to keep all of her attention focused completely on the sky, where the Tuikas were likely to strike from. She didn’t want to die like a fool, unaware of her surroundings, allowing a much cleverer enemy to strike her down when she least expected it. That would be stupid, especially considering all she’d recently been through. Review Topic

Chapter 5: Possession If what Hajax said was indeed true, then Barilo knew there was nothing he could do. Despite this, he was still flailing his arms and legs like a madman, struggling to free himself. He heard Hajax tut disapprovingly behind him. “There’s no reason to prolong your death, Barilo,” the Makuta said without a hint of compassion in his voice. “Really, you’re just making things worse for yourself.” Barilo’s mind ran through many different ideas and plans of escape, each one just as unlikely to work as the last. He had to agree with Hajax; it looked like he wasn’t strong enough to beat him after all. Despite everything he had been through, the Toa of Gravity was still not strong enough to defeat Hajax. And with that thought, he gave up all hopes of freeing himself and stopped flailing. There was no reason to continue; the Makuta had won. With one final surge of power, Hajax tossed the weakened Barilo aside. Though not dead, the Toa of Gravity no longer posed a significant threat to him anymore. Hajax considered finishing him off, but decided against it. As appealing as it sounded, that was another side effect of the soul splitting process: The original soul had to stay alive, at least for a while, during the replacement period, otherwise Hajax would just end up killing himself in the process, since Barilo’s soul was still too tightly connected to the rest of the body to make killing the Toa immediately a wise decision. So instead, he turned to face Barilo and said, “Be gone, pathetic Toa! Get out of my sight – now!” Instantly the floor opened up beneath Barilo and sucked him inside. Within minutes Barilo’s limp form was gone, and Hajax smiled. He had done it; he now had a new body. He would be able to continue his legacy, to rebuild his forces and strike at his former brothers and sisters, who had all betrayed him many years ago. Of course, he realized that he could not merely announce his presence to a room full of Toa immediately, weakened though they all may be. That would be suicide; he would first have to work alongside them for a while, and learn the truth about the Tuikas, something that the Toa of Shadow named Oggakia had apparently decided to keep a secret from the rest of them. The Tuikas being creations of the Brotherhood was a laughably simple story, he thought, amused. Ever since the Great Cataclysm Toa and Matoran had begun making up lies and stories to make him and his race look bad. True, he did not think much of his former brothers and sisters anymore, but the story of the Tuikas’ creation was so stupid he wondered why the Toa Shika and the others hadn’t seen right through it immediately, as he had. Then again, these are Toa and Toa are very gullible beings, he thought with a smirk. Besides, no one has offered an alternative explanation, so they don’t see any reason not to believe her. I knew lesser beings were stupid, but these people just fell to a brand new low of stupidity. As he knew very well, the Tuikas were not creations of the Brotherhood; nothing like them had ever been created by the Makuta, last he checked. Of course, there could have been changes since the last time he had visited Destral, but he knew for certain that the Tuikas, at least, were not Brotherhood creations. As a matter of fact, he did not know anything about the Tuikas, for the library of forbidden knowledge on Destral made no mention of them in any of its records, except for one very obscure, off-hand piece of text he remembered reading a while ago. The words suddenly appeared in his mind as clearly as though on a tele-screen like the kind found in the city of Metru Nui: Among some of the strangest tales of this universe are those of the Tuikas. Of course, they are also the most mysterious and little - if anything - is known about them, save that they are supposed to be hidden underneath some faraway land. Their purpose is unknown, but it is clear that they are important to the universe in some way, shape, or form. Now onto the legends of the southern lands . . . That had been where the text had ended. No wonder I didn’t remember it until now, Hajax thought, annoyed. It’s so vague to be almost unimportant. However, I know the Tuikas exist for real now; if they didn’t, then the Toa, Matoran, and Dark Hunters wouldn’t have had to relocate into the fortress. But what is the truth about them? Oggak must know, otherwise she wouldn’t have lied. And if she knows, then I will have to get that information out of her myself, though I do not know why she lied in the first place. It was decided. Though at some point he would have to reveal himself to the Toa, take over Shika Nui, and wipe out the Tuikas and others who would stand in his way, he had to be patient. He did not want to act until he knew exactly what the Tuikas were, what they were doing (or thought they were doing), what they were capable of doing, what their purpose was, who put them there, and why. He would have to be subtle about it, but he was sure that, with his amazing skills of persuasion and cunning he would be guaranteed to get the information out of her soon. Sometimes I love being myself more than I already do, Hajax thought with a smile. But I shouldn’t be celebrating too soon; it would make me overconfident and cocky, both of which are the pitfalls of cunning and persuasion, among other things. So, slowly lapsing into unconsciousness, he decided that, however long it may take, he would learn the truth about the Tuikas, whether Oggak wanted to share it with him or not. - Jokao slammed the door to his room shut, seething, as he sat down on his makeshift bed. He looked around for something to smash, to relieve his anger, but there was nothing in this little room save for his bed (which he needed to sleep on), a small chest (which held his weapon and a few other objects he needed), and a lightstone embedded into the ceiling, which was the only source of light in here. So he merely punched his other hand with his fist and cursed under his breath. Why would anyone think Oggak’s evil? he thought angrily, as he made a fire ball appear and disappear in his hand, merely to release his frustration and annoyance in a non-violent way. She’s never done anything bad to any of us. Those Shodios may have been evil, but just because they’re evil doesn’t make her evil, does it? She even betrayed them when she was a Matoran because she was disgusted by their evil ways! If that isn’t good, then what is? He quite understood what the others had gone through; he thought that perhaps he would have had the same attitude as they had he experienced what they did. But it was still frustrating, since they hadn’t even asked him if she had done anything good. They could even ask any of the Matoran if they didn’t believe him, who would probably tell them about how she’s fought the Tuikas, saved many Matorans’ lives during many journeys across the island, and on more than one occasion saved Jokao’s own life. He could not see how any of that could be seen as ‘evil.’ Personally, he thought they were being paranoid. Lying down on his bed, he thought, Maybe after they’ve got to know her better they’ll like her a bit more. They’ll learn she’s not evil, nor cruel, nor sadistic, nor any other negative words that you could use to describe someone. She’s good, and that’s that. He heard a soft knock on the door just then and said, without sitting up, “Come in.” The door opened and looking up he saw Oggak enter, looking a little concerned at him. Jokao wondered what she was here for, though he wasn’t very surprised by this visit. Since he and Oggak had been the only two Toa on Shika Nui for the past few weeks, they had grown close and were good friends. It was not unusual for either of them to come meet each other like this, and in fact Jokao often enjoyed these visits from her. “Jokao, it’s your shift,” Oggak told him as she closed the door behind her. “Mine just ended a few minutes ago.” “Oh, yeah,” said Jokao, sitting back up and looking at her. “I forgot. Sorry.” “It doesn’t matter,” said Oggak, shaking her head. “I understand that what the Toa Shika said about me has been affecting you. You probably forgot it was your shift in your anger.” “How’d you know that?” asked Jokao, amazed, as he leaned forward. “You didn’t make much of an effort to hide punching Nastan earlier,” she replied as she sat down next to him. She was smiling slightly at him. “Nor did you try to conceal your defense of me, either.” “Er, I guess I did overreact a bit,” said Jokao sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. “But I just don’t like what they were saying about you. All of it is untrue.” “It doesn’t matter,” she said, shaking her head again. “I know that if my best friend had been killed by Toa of Shadow I probably wouldn’t trust them, either, but seeing as I am a Toa of Shadow, I suppose that’s kind of a moot point.” “So none of what they say bothers you?” he inquired, getting up and walking over to his chest, intending to retrieve his weapon before taking on the night shift. “Nothing?” “I won’t lie and say it doesn’t,” she admitted, watching as he held up his fire mace and closed his chest. “Because a lot of their words aren’t kind. However, I’m not going to worry about it. What they’ve been through has probably given them a bad mental picture of a Toa of Shadow – one that more resembles, say, Teivel than me – and it will likely be a long time before they will even think about trusting me. I won’t bother them about it and I don’t think you should, either.” Jokao shook his head in amazement. “See, this is the reason they’re so wrong. If you were as bad as those Shodios, you wouldn’t be saying something as wise as that, in my opinion.” “Thank you, Jokao,” said Oggak as she stood up and followed him to the door. “But I don’t want you punching Nastan or any of the others again, even if they do say bad things about me, okay?” “Okay,” said Jokao with a nod, though he privately wondered if he would be able to resist, depending on how bad they talked about her. “See you later, then.” “All right,” said Oggak, hugging him tightly before letting go. “Hope you survive.” Jokao smiled grimly. Guard duty, especially at night, was always a tense and often dangerous job. One never knew if the monstrous Tuikas would be the last things you ever saw, if you even saw them coming from the shadows in the first place. Jokao knew many Matoran guards had been killed in past attacks without ever seeing more than a claw or a blast of energy before dying. Both he and Oggak knew the high stakes involved with the job, but it was necessary, otherwise Koro Nui would have fallen long ago and Shika Nui would have been totally leveled. So the two Toa left the room and separated in the hallway, Oggak heading towards her room, Jokao towards the towers. The halls were empty tonight. All of the Matoran were asleep in one room or another. Few Matoran had a room to call their own. They had to share, which often made living conditions dirty and crowded. However, there was no way to expand the fortress or relocate the villagers to the outside, both of which would simply allow the Tuikas the chance to kill more innocents, something they had been desperately trying to prevent these past few weeks. Still, the Matoran were used to this by now. All of them knew where they had to sleep, for they had been sorted to make sure that no one room had significantly more Matoran than the others, and whenever he and Oggak brought new villagers back home with them after a rescue mission there was always more sorting and relocating. It used to take a long time back in the old days, when the Matoran were still new to it, and had been quite chaotic, too. But now it didn’t take nearly as long and was much more organized. Jokao, personally, was looking forward to the day when the Tuikas would be vanquished, since that would mean the Matoran would be allowed to go and reclaim Shika Nui. It would, at last, be the property of the Matoran again, since it had been in the ownership of the Dark Hunters for the past 25,000 years or so. True freedom was so close, he thought, yet at the same time so far away. But enough thinking about things that might come, he decided. He had to focus on the here and now, not the then and before, or the soon and coming. He knew all too easy what would happen if you did not pay attention when battling the Tuikas. You get killed, as he had seen happen to many unlucky Matoran over the past few weeks. He was determined that would not be his final fate. Review Topic

Chapter 4: Discussions & Suspicions It took them several minutes to reach the 12th floor, mostly because all of the Toa Shika were very tired and hurting, though they managed to make it anyway. By the time they made it all of the Toa were exhausted, even more than they had been before. Akuna felt just about ready to collapse as Death led them to the room at the very end of the stone hallway, near the stone staircase that led up to the top floor. He opened the door for them and stood back to let them enter. Akuna’s first impression upon entering the room was that it was, indeed, large. The ceiling was very high above them, while the walls stood many feet apart. Evidently this place had been used as some kind of storage facility, for she noticed a bunch of spare tools, masks, armor, and other assorted things scattered about the floor, though they all looked broken or damaged in some way as to be totally useless. And then her eyes landed upon five beds that sat in a corner, all alone, and she heaved a sigh of relief. True, the beds looked rather old and moldy and probably were not as comfortable as she thought they might be, but she was too tired to care. I just want to rest, she thought as she and the other Toa Shika began walking over to the beds. Like, right now. “We use this room for storing our broken or damaged tools, masks, armor, and anything else,” Death explained, still standing in the door way as he gestured at all of the garbage. “The Dark Hunters used it as a storage place, too, though they had put treasure and other things inside, since it was a fairly heavily guarded room before the Tuikas came.” Nastan, who was already pulling one of the beds towards the middle of the room, asked with more than a hint of annoyance, “Is there any reason you’re telling us this or is it because you’re trying to bore us to death?” He smirked, apparently amused by his own joke. “I merely thought you would be curious about the place, so I decided to inform you of its previous and current uses,” said the Dark Hunter with a shrug. “That’s all.” Addis, looking around with a little bit of a greedy expression on his face, asked, “Where is this treasure you spoke of, Death? You said the Hunters had stored some up here before. What happened to it?” Akuna smiled to herself as she pulled her bed next to Nastan’s. Though now a Toa, Addis had been a thief as a Matoran and so still seemed to carry a vestige of the greed that came with the job, even now. But Akuna, too, was curious about what happened to the treasure, for surely they would not toss it all out, would they? If this room was heavily guarded, she thought as she glanced around the room, then throwing it all out like that seemed foolish unless it was absolutely necessary. “Most of it was being transported off Shika Nui when the Tuikas attacked,” Death explained. “The Tuikas flew out to sea and sunk the ships, including the treasure. So right now it is all probably sitting at the bottom of the ocean where no one can get it . . . at the moment, anyway.” He paused, and then added, “I should be leaving now. You all need your rest and you cannot get it if I stand here and give you a history lesson. So good bye and good night, my friends. Hope to see you at the front lines soon.” With that, Death left the room, closing the door behind him as he left. Akuna fell down onto her bed – which wasn’t very soft, but better than sleeping on the ground, at least – and was just about ready to sleep when she heard Nastan snort. “My friends . . . what a joke. A Dark Hunter, thinking of us as friends?” said Nastan disgustedly. “I’m not buying it. Nor do I believe Kigin or Oggak is trustworthy, either.” “Well, what can we do about it?” asked Barilo with a yawn. Akuna looked up and saw he was lying on his bed, too, with some old blankets stretched out over his body. He seemed relaxed. “I mean, I don’t like them much, either, but as far as I can see, they have been helping protect the Matoran from these ‘Tuikas’ or whatever they’re called for the past few weeks and both Jokao and Joha seem to trust them. So I don’t know . . .” “I agree with Nastan,” said Chimoy in a quiet voice. He was not lying on his bed; he was sitting up, looking at them all. “It was a Toa of Shadow that killed Nonzra . . . and now we have one, right in our midst. I don’t like it; it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.” “Not to mention the Dark Hunters aren’t too friendly, either,” said Addis, who was sitting on his bed and rubbing his leg. “Ow . . . Dang leg won’t stop hurting . . .” “Well, I think we should just let the Tuikas have the Dark Hunters and Oggak!” said Nastan, punching his old pillow with a lot more force than was necessary. “We can’t trust any of them.“ “That sounds a bit extreme, Nastan, even for Dark Hunters or Toa of Shadow,” said Barilo with a frown. “I mean according to the others, the six Tuikas slaughtered the vast majority of Dark Hunters and Matoran quickly, easily, and mercilessly. It would be just too cruel to hand them over to the Tuikas like that, in my opinion. However, I agree we can’t trust them, even if Jokao and Joha are convinced they’re trustworthy. How do we know they really are good? That’s what I want to know.” “It isn’t a matter of whether they are ‘good,’ I think,” said Akuna, propped on her elbows. “What matters is if we can trust them. I don’t think we can, really.” “It seems rather amazing that after we’ve been enslaved by Dark Hunters for 25,000 years, chased, attacked, and nearly killed by Toa of Shadow, that Joha and Jokao expect us to trust them!” Nastan said indignantly, shaking his head. “I mean, I respect Joha and all, but I think he’s going a little senile in his old age. After all, he’s spent the last 25,000 years warring against the Dark Hunters by himself, never giving up once. So I find it very hard to believe that he really, truly trusts them.” “No one said he did,” said Chimoy with a hint of coldness in his voice. “Perhaps he really doesn’t trust them and only tolerates them because of the fact that they protect the Matoran. If so, then we shouldn’t trust them, either, I think.” “Yeah, that makes sense,” said Addis, who was now lying on his back with his covers over him. “If he doesn’t truly trust them, then I doubt we can, either.” “Maybe the same goes for Oggak, too,” said Nastan, visibly seething in anger, lying down on his mattress. “I mean, I know she’s a Toa, but as we all learned in Wyoko, not all Toa are good, and the Shodios are the prime example. Maybe she’s just tricking them into believing she’s good; that would make sense, since the Shodios and Kra-Matoran were masters of deception and falsehood too.” “Probably,” said Akuna as she snuggled up next to him. “But we can’t prove it. And it seems to me, at least, that we should try to work with them anyway. I know I don’t want to do it, and no one else does, but if you realize our current situation, fighting them rather than the Tuikas would be very stupid.” “I guess . . .” Nastan grumbled as he put one arm around Akuna and pulled her close. Their beds were right next to each other, so making physical contact was easy. “Maybe you’re right, Akuna, as you usually are.” Akuna smiled at him and said, “You’re right sometimes, too, you know.” “Er, perhaps we should go to sleep now,” said Addis uncomfortably. Akuna wondered if he was feeling nervous at the way she was outwardly showing her affection for Nastan like this, though she found she didn’t care much. “I’m just too tired to talk any longer. Let’s get some rest, and maybe, if there’s time later, we can continue our discussion. Good night.” “Good night,” the others said in unison. Akuna fell asleep quickly, her head on Nastan’s chest and her arms around his body. She felt a little happier now, lying in Nastan’s arms like this, and felt slightly safer, too. She felt like she would be able to sleep well tonight at least, even though every bone in her body was aching badly. - Barilo was sleeping, but his mind seemed incapable of shutting down for the night. He kept replaying Nastan’s words over and over in his mind, “not all Toa are good,” again and again until he pretty much had them down pat. For some reason they kept grabbing at his conscience, even though he had no reason to feel guilty anymore, not after making peace with Nastan back in Wyoko. A while ago, Barilo, in a fit of rage, had tried to kill Nastan but failed and as a result had been kicked off of the team for a while. Though the others eventually forgave him and allowed him to rejoin, Nastan hadn’t, and it was only until after Barilo saved his life in Wyoko that the Toa of The Green forgot all feelings of enmity and had rebuilt their friendship. So there was no real reason for Barilo to feel guilty about something he had done so long ago, not anymore, especially since Nastan wasn’t upset about it anymore. That was why the words hit him the most, he thought as he rolled over in his bed. He had not been a ‘good’ Toa before. In fact, he had been very greedy and arrogant and cared little for the wellbeing of others. He was more Toa-like now – and for that he was thankful – but there was still a little voice in the back of his mind that kept reminding him about his mistake, no matter how hard he tried to stifle it. You had nearly killed your friend, the voice said. Barilo imagined the voice belonging to some shadowy figure, standing high above him, pointing at him accusingly as though he, Barilo, were on trial. Sure he has forgiven you, but tell me, do you feel forgiven? Doubt it. Your conscience will gnaw at you for the rest of your life until you are finally driven to the point of suicide. Guilt can do that to a being, you know, especially a self-proclaimed ‘hero’ like yourself. “No . . .” Barilo muttered, swatting at thin air as though an invisible bug was annoying him. “It’s not . . .” Suddenly, he was flying through a white, empty space, so fast that he almost felt sick. He had no idea where he was, what he was doing, but he seemed to have a very specific destination in mind. He concluded he must be in a dream, which would explain why he also seemed incapable of speaking, try though he might. He flew for a while, before his feet abruptly hit the floor. Now he felt disoriented. He had been sure he had been flying forwards, yet if he hit the ground that must have meant he had been flying backwards, even though that made no sense. He concluded yet again that, since he was in a dream, it didn’t have to make sense, though he still felt confused and disoriented just the same. Where should I go? Barilo thought, looking around the vast empty space of white. He could see absolutely nothing for miles around in every direction. North, south, west, or east? Or some other direction entirely? Suddenly, he felt another presence in his mind . . . a darker one, one that definitely did not belong to him. It was very familiar, yet at the same time, it made no sense for it to be there. He was dead, which was a fact; Barilo had seen the Dark Hunters killing him before he and the others left for Wyoko. There was no way he could still be alive, and moreover, inside the Toa of Gravity’s own mind. But the presence was unmistakable; it belonged to him, all right, and he seemed to be hiding somewhere in the darkest depths of Barilo’s mind. Barilo didn’t know why he hadn’t sensed him before, though he supposed his enemy must have been cloaking his presence from detection somehow. “Makuta Hajax! Show yourself!” Barilo shouted, stamping his foot and glancing in every direction. “Show yourself, or I’ll-“ All of a sudden, a cloaked figure, floating cross legged in midair, appeared fifteen feet in front of Barilo. That cloak didn’t fool Barilo, though; he immediately knew it was Makuta Hajax, ex-Makuta of Shika Nui. How he was still alive, Barilo didn’t know, but he knew that this being that floated in front of him was not some mysterious entity of unknown origin. He was dangerous; a threat to not just Barilo, but to his friends and very possibly the universe itself, too. “Or you’ll what?” asked the figure with a hint of sarcasm. “Kill me? Expel me from the confines of your mind? I think not. You do not have the power nor will to kill me, and trying to force me out will simply make it easier for me to take over.” “So you are Hajax!” Barilo said, pointing at the cloaked figure. “Or are you just a figment of my imagination?” The cloaked figure merely shrugged and his coat disappeared, revealing a hulking, blue and yellow armored figure with a long tail wrapped around his waist, looking almost bored at the Toa of Gravity. Barilo recognized that form as the one the Makuta had taken during the battle between the Dark Hunters and Hajax’s own forces, and it wasn’t any better than his previous form, either, Barilo thought. “I am not of your imagination, Barilo,” said Hajax. “I am just as real as this place.” He looked around the dream world, and added, “Bad example. Perhaps it would penetrate that thick skull of yours if I tell you that I am as real as yourself. I am alive and well, Barilo, and ready to take a new body for myself.” Barilo whipped out his gravity axe and got into a battle stance, eyes locked on Hajax, sensing a fight coming. “I don’t believe you,” said Barilo, his axe never wavering. “We all saw you get slaughtered by the Dark Hunters. I doubt even your essence could have survived that, Makuta, since it looked pretty brutal from what I saw.” “You are quite right about that, my annoying little Toa friend,” said Hajax, with a grin of triumph and superiority on his face. He leaned forward a little and whispered, almost too quietly for Barilo to hear, “I am dead.” Barilo frowned. How could someone be both alive and dead? He figured Hajax must be playing mind games with him, but he wasn’t going to fall for it. He was smarter now; Hajax couldn’t fool him like he had in the past. “Your trickery and mind games are pathetic, Hajax,” Barilo snapped, pointing at the Makuta with his axe. “You can’t be both alive and dead. You’re either alive, or you’re dead. No exceptions.” Hajax chuckled. “Perhaps I should have been clearer, my friend. What I meant is that my original self is dead – and I am now born anew in the deepest, darkest corridors of your mind. Isn’t that amazing? Even I sometimes surprise myself with my own genius.” “You were . . . born anew . . . in my mind?” said Barilo slowly, confused now. “What’s that supposed to mean?” “Obviously, it means that I planted a part of my soul inside your mind, which bloomed when I ‘died,’” said Hajax, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. “You see, when I lived, I discovered ‘soul splitting,’ a technique that allows me to split my soul into as many parts as I see fit and to put any part wherever I want, whenever I want. I could put parts of my soul in physical objects, such as a stone . . . or inside the mind of another being. As you can see, I chose the latter and you will be my new host now. Isn’t that exciting?” “Wait, you put yourself in my mind?” Barilo asked, temporarily forgetting to hold his axe up. He put his free hand on his head in wonder. “But how-“ “When we shared a mental connection, I knew that I had a high chance of possibly dying,” Hajax continued, as though Barilo hadn’t spoken at all. “I did not want to die, since I had cheated death once before. So I split my soul and put part of it deep in your mind, buried under your most forgotten memories. That way, you would not discover it before I needed you to otherwise your friend Addis could have easily extracted it with his now-destroyed Suletu.” “Well, why haven’t you tried to attack me before?” asked Barilo, who had regained his battle stance. “I mean, there was that one time you visited me in Wyoko-“ “I was weak back then,” Hajax replied. “You see, I still needed time to grow, otherwise I have no doubt in my mind that you would have killed me fairly easily. But now that my original self is gone, I need to act. That is one of the unfortunate side effects of soul splitting: if the original soul dies, then the other pieces will, too, unless they activate beforehand and take over their hosts, which will give them enough energy to survive for as long as their host lives.” “So let me get this straight,” said Barilo. He was telling himself to move, to strike Hajax now, while the Makuta was still distracted, but for some reason he couldn’t. Maybe it was part of the dream, or perhaps Hajax was doing it to him, he didn’t know for certain. “You split your soul, put part of it in my mind, and when your original self died you woke up and have been growing steadily more powerful ever since. Correct?” “One hundred percent, my friend,” said Hajax, who was no longer floating; he was standing on his feet, his sword suddenly at his side. “But you will not live much longer to enjoy it, Barilo, because in order to claim your body I will have to kill your soul.” One moment, Barilo had been standing upright; the next moment, he was sent flying and smashed into a stone wall that had appeared out of nowhere. He slid down it, dazed and hurting, and glanced up in time to see Hajax, moving faster than anything he had ever seen before, bearing down upon him, sword raised high above his head, perhaps unrealistically so, though because this was a dream he didn’t think about it much. The Toa of Gravity hesitated for a split second before rolling out of the way of the sword, which split the wall behind him in half, causing the two halves to fall in opposite directions and smash into pieces, filling the air with dust that Barilo could barely see through. But he could hear Hajax running towards him and knew that the dust must not be affecting the Makuta’s range of vision the way it affected his. So he raised his axe just in time to block a stunning blow from Hajax, which actually sent him falling through the floor. He landed with a thud in another white room and saw Hajax hurtling towards him. Barilo once again rolled out of the way and Hajax, moving too fast to stop, crashed headfirst into the ground so hard that he did not get back up. Nor did he move much, either. Barilo, having rolled a significant distance away from Hajax for his own safety, got painfully back to his feet and looked around. He watched Hajax’s unmoving body tentatively. Had he died? Or was he simply stunned? Barilo didn’t know, but he doubted it was the first; Hajax was a Makuta and had survived much worse in the past than simply hitting his head on the ground too hard. Yet he wasn’t moving at all. As far as Barilo could see, Hajax did not even move a finger, though he didn’t dare let his guard down. He knew just how tricky Makuta could be, and wasn’t about to relax just because Hajax wasn’t moving. It was almost too easy, in his opinion . . . far, far too easy. Hajax faded out of existence so rapidly that Barilo barely had time to register what happened. An armored hand, with thick, long nails closed around the Toa of Gravity’s throat without warning and squeezed, causing him to flail his arms and legs madly, trying to hurt his attacker but failing miserably, for Hajax was holding Barilo well away from his body to avoid getting hit. “Too easy,” Hajax said with a laugh. “You Toa are always like that, always letting your guard down just when you think you’ve won. How stereotypical you are, Barilo.” Barilo would have corrected him, but since there was a hand tightly squeezing his throat he could not get out much other than some incomprehensible grunts of pain. “Now, time to finish you, Barilo,” said Hajax. Barilo felt extremely weak at that moment, as though his very life was being sucked right out of his body. “Don’t panic, don’t protest. It’ll be all over in a few minutes, and when the deed is done, I shall be the new owner of your body, Barilo. Count on it." Review Topic

It's not illogical. It transcends logic. There is a difference . -TNTOS-

Chapter 3: Revelations & Explanations It looked as though all of the remaining Matoran of Shika Nui were here, which was probably the case, Akuna thought as she and the others walked through the rapidly parting crowd, lead by Jokao and Oggak. There didn’t seem to be as much as she originally thought, though; possibly only a couple of hundred, from what she could tell. The hallway didn’t seemed to be as cramped, either, though it wasn’t exactly wide open. The Matoran were all quiet now and staring up at her and the others with a mixture of expressions that she couldn’t quite identify, for her eyes were still adjusting slightly to the light. All of the Matoran were in the hallway of the Dark Hunters’ fortress, which seemed to be lit with old light stones that were growing fainter and fainter each minute, or so it looked to her, anyway. As for the Matoran themselves, they looked as though they had been fighting some kind of war. Many wore mismatched armor, as though they had had to replace broken pieces with whatever they could find instead of simply creating new armor from protodermis. Most seemed to have been wounded in some way, for they wore bandages wrapped in many places all over their bodies; some had blood smeared on their armor. Akuna, horrified, wondered what had happened to them. Perhaps these Tuikas that Jokao had mentioned had something to do with it? She knew she would probably learn soon enough, but she was still frightened just the same. Jokao and Oggak, after explaining to the Matoran villagers who the Toa Shika were and where they would be taking them, had begun leading the Toa towards the throne room, where Joha was supposed to be. Akuna didn’t mind; all of the Matoran staring at her made her feel extremely uncomfortable. It wasn’t that she disliked it, per se, but she just wasn’t used to being looked at with awe and wonder instead of fear and hate like she had been by the Dark Hunters and the Shodios, and judging by the expressions on the faces of the others, they weren’t, either. “What happened?” asked Addis, who was still limping beside Jokao, but managing to keep up quite well. “Why is Koro Nui the last village on Shika Nui? I don’t understand.” “The Tuikas mercilessly destroy the rest of them,” Jokao replied grimly as they winded their way through a crowd of Matoran, who all looked up at the Toa as they passed, without uttering a single word at them. “Survivors managed to make it here or were rescued by Oggak and me. We sometimes make trips outside of Koro Nui to see if we can find any survivors who need shelter and protection. We’re usually successful, though sometimes we are ambushed by the Tuikas or we don’t find anyone at all.” “Or worse,” added Oggak, “we find people, but then they . . . then they get killed by the Tuikas, or get heavily wounded. Sometimes we just find corpses and nothing more.” “But why choose here, of all places?” Addis demanded. “This is where the Dark Hunters lived. It has been a physical representation of our people’s suffering and enslavement ever since it was first erected 25,000 years ago. I can’t imagine any of us wanting to live in here unless we absolutely had to!” “Addis, you just answered your own question,” Jokao replied as they turned down a corner, passing a few Matoran on the way. “We have no other choice. This is the most secure place on the entire island. Every other village was exposed and undefended, which is part of the reason they fell so easily to the Tuikas. Thus far, we’ve managed to protect it fairly well, but at the cost of many Matoran. Joha concluded it was the only reasonable place to stay in, hate it though we may. Besides, it isn’t such a bad place once you get used to it.” “Why didn’t you just leave the island, then?” asked Nastan incredulously. “Aren’t there some Dark Hunter boats docked at the harbor you could have hijacked or something?” “All ships were sunk and destroyed by the Tuikas,” Jokao said shortly as they walked down a long hallway. “Some Dark Hunters did try to escape via warship, but it was sunk and . . . let’s just say that what the Tuikas did to them wasn’t pretty and leave it at that.” Since no one else said or asked anything after that, Akuna let her mind wander and began looking at the hallway all around them. She had been in this fortress only once before, and that had been when they had attempted to escape through The Door. She remembered seeing dead Dark Hunters, Visorak, some broken Rahkshi armor, smashed furniture or statues, and at least a few rooms had been blocked off. It looked slightly better now, as though they had cleaned it up a little. Many of the broken statues had been moved away and there did not seem to be any kind of decoration in the hallways at all, probably to make room for the Matoran that now inhabited it. Yet it also stank of death, as though it were imbued into the stone itself. Parts of the ceiling and walls were ripped off or destroyed and had been replaced with bits of metal or stone that obviously didn’t match the rest of it. She figured the Tuikas might’ve been responsible, though she didn’t know for sure having never seen what a place looked like when the Tuikas were done with it before. Finally, after a more few minutes of walking, they arrived at a large stone archway, which Akuna recognized as the entrance to the throne room. They passed through it and soon found themselves inside a huge, stone chamber, its only occupants three beings that stood at the very end of the room, apparently in conversation with one another. The room looked pretty much as she remembered it: Four entryways split off the sides, most likely leading into other parts of the fortress, though again she noticed the absence of the furniture and carvings, save for the throne itself, which seemed to have been repaired during their journey. The suits of armor that had been here previously seemed to have been moved out to make room for dozens of empty makeshift beds, with a straight line down the middle that lead to the throne itself. The beds were probably for the Matoran, since despite its immense size there didn’t seem to be enough room in this massive fortress for all of the villagers. But she wasn’t paying much attention to that now. No, she was now paying attention to the three beings that were standing at the end of the room, near the throne. One of them she identified as Turaga Joha, the only remaining member of the original Toa Shika team that had predated her team by about 25,000 years, who was sitting on the throne. She was happy to see him again, but she was surprised and even a little angry to recognize the other two as she and the others followed Jokao and Oggak towards the throne. The two beings in conference with Joha were two Dark Hunters whom she knew very well from her past encounters with them. The first one, an orange and green colored being of about Toa-height, with a short horn on his head, was Kigin, a nasty Hunter who had lead the squad that had been ordered to kill her and her team in the past. He looked up at them as they approached and Akuna saw an expression of dawning recognition and hatred rising on his features. He seemed to remember them, too. The second one wore gold, spiked armor and was named Death, another Dark Hunter who had hunted the Toa Shika in the past. Though he was a lot quieter than most Hunters she knew, she still was not thrilled to see him, but when he looked over his shoulder to see them his expression was that of surprise. He had evidently not been expecting them, though she didn’t blame him, since no one had been expecting her or any of the other Toa Shika to return, if the reaction of Jokao was any indication. Joha, meanwhile, looked thunderstruck as the seven Toa approached. He looked from one Toa to the other with his mouth hanging wide open. Akuna noticed he looked quite tired, just like Jokao had said. His eyes were darker and his lids hung heavily over his eyes, while he sat slumped in the throne instead of sitting straight. She was quite surprised he was managing to stay awake for as long as he was. Then again, he did survive in the mountains all alone for 25,000 years as a Toa, she thought. This must be nothing to him, if that is the case. “Turaga Joha, Oggak and I have found the Toa Shika,” said Jokao as he bowed with Oggak. “They were coming up the dark tunnel back there and were nearly killed by the shadowed entity. But Oggak managed to absorb him and saved them, fortunately, but they are still quite tired.” “We thought you would like to see them again, Turaga,” Oggak added in her usual soft voice. “They are old friends of yours, are they not?” “Why this . . . this is incredible,” said Joha, who sounded as though he was not sure how to react. “What a pleasant surprise. For a moment there, I thought you six would never return, but I’m glad you did, since we are in desperate need of new warriors to aid in our fight against the Tuikas.” Addis stepped forward with a grim expression on his face as he said, “While I am thankful to meet you again, I should tell you that not all of us made it back here alive, sir.” “What?” said Joha, his eyes widening even more than before. He counted them again and said slowly, “You’re right. I don’t see Nonzra. Where is he?” “He is . . . dead, sir,” said Addis bitterly, looking down at his feet. “He died just as we escaped Wyoko.” “Wyoko?” repeated Death curiously. “You know, I think Oggak has mentioned that place before, but I’m not sure . . .” “Yes, because that is where the rest of my people are currently imprisoned,” Oggak answered. “I have already explained my past to you, so you should know what they are talking about.” “But how did Nonzra die?” asked Joha, who sounded shocked and sad. “Did one of the inhabitants of Wyoko kill him?” “Yes,” said Addis, nodding, and he then explained, as briefly as possible, what the Toa Shika had found and done in Wyoko, from their capture by Ira and Rhatara all the way to their final confrontation with the Shodios and eventual escape. Once Addis finished, Joha looked at Oggak, who nodded, as though confirming their words. Then he said, pointing at them, “So, Nonzra was killed by the leader of the Shodios, Toa Teivel?” “Yes, sir,” said Addis. “That’s what happened. We only brought his mask with us because, well, we didn’t think we could bring it with us and get past the Dark Hunters at the same time. Too heavy for us to both carry and fight the Dark Hunters, is basically what we thought.” “Of course you couldn’t,” Kigin answered before Joha could say anything. “If the Hunters were still alive, you wouldn’t have survived longer than a minute against us, much less so if you had been dragging a corpse with you!” “Enough, Kigin,” said Joha sharply. “You will be working with them in the future, so you ought to learn to hold your tongue unless necessary.” “Whatever,” the Dark Hunter said, shaking his head. “Just saying . . .” Nastan, who had been surprisingly quiet during Addis’ tale (which had included Nastan’s transformation into a Toa of Shadow), suddenly said to Joha, “But sir, forgive me if I sound ungrateful or rude, why are you allying yourself with Dark Hunters and Toa of Shadow?” Joha shifting uncomfortable in his chair, said, “We need as many fighters as we can get, Nastan, to protect the Matoran, whatever our differences may be. The Tuikas are-“ “But we can’t trust them!” Nastan protested, taking a few steps closer, his eyes focused entirely on Joha. “They’re nothing but no-good-“ “Scumbags? Liars? Traitors? Torturers? Slavers?” Death offered with a slightly annoyed-sounding voice. “Is that what you think we all are?” “That, and a lot more colorful names I can think of, too,” Nastan snapped at Death. “This is not the time or place to discuss this,” Joha said sharply, breaking up their argument quickly. “We have far, far more pressing matters to deal with at the moment.” Akuna, though just as annoyed as Nastan that there were apparently a few Dark Hunters working with them, was nonetheless amazed at the way Joha managed to break up their argument so quickly. Nastan, who heavily respected Joha, quieted at once, though he looked rather annoyed; Death, too, became silent and merely looked questioningly at Oggak, who shrugged. The Toa of Lightning didn’t know what that was all about, though she assumed Death must have been asking her if she was sure about the Toa Shika, though why her and not someone else, she did not know. After making sure neither Nastan or Death would start another argument, Joha looked at Addis again and, upon noticing his hastily repaired mask, asked, “Addis, what happened to your Kanohi? Was it damaged by the Shodios, too? If so, we’ll have to get you a new one.” “Not the Shodios, no,” said Addis, who seemed slightly taken aback by Joha’s sudden business-like behavior. “The shadowed entity destroyed it so that I wouldn’t be able to use it against him. Chimoy repaired it as best as he could, but he’s no Metru Nui Ta-Matoran mask maker, so it doesn’t work anymore. No offense to you, Chimoy,” he added. “None taken,” the Toa of Iron replied. Akuna realized Chimoy was holding his left arm, which seemed to be hanging limply at his side, though it didn’t look like it was permanently damaged, fortunately. “Well, like I said before, we need to get you a new mask pronto,” said Joha. “I know we have some extra masks, but I’m not sure if any of them are Great Masks . . .” “That’s fine, Turaga, but we’re still confused,” said Addis, gesturing with his hands at the chamber all around them as he spoke. “I mean, we just got back here. We don’t know who or what the Tuikas are, or what Shika Nui’s current status is (besides being apparently uninhabitable), or who Oggak is, or . . . well, a bunch of other things, too. An explanation would be nice, sir, because we’re totally lost.” “What was that?” said Joha, shaking his head as though to clear it of water. “I am sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.” Addis sighed, slightly exasperated, and repeated his request for an explanation, this time more slowly. Once he finished, Joha nodded and said, “Of course, if you have been gone for all of these weeks-“ “Days,” corrected Nastan automatically. “We’ve been gone days, sir.” “We told you, you’ve been gone for weeks,” Jokao snapped, glaring at the Toa of The Green. “You must have lost track of the time.” “No, I’m definitely sure we haven’t,” said Nastan defensively. “Of course, it is kind of hard to tell the time in a place that doesn’t have anything that looks even remotely like a sun, but still, I think I’m right.” “Actually, it is possible that both of you are right,” said Oggak calmly, causing the two arguing Toa to look at her in surprise. “Time in Wyoko goes by differently than here, at least from what I know of the place. So it is possible that it looked like days had gone by to them because days had gone by, while for us it seemed like weeks and weeks really did go by.” “That explanation makes my head hurt more than it already does,” Nastan muttered, turning away from her to look back at Joha. “However long you’ve been gone – whether it was days or weeks – does not matter,” said Joha, slightly raising his voice, as if making sure they could hear him speaking. “What does matter, however, is that you get your explanation. Unless you wish to rest up a little first? You look as though you have been through a war, my friends.” Akuna glanced at the others. Joha was correct; they did look like they had been through a war. There were cracks running through their armor, some of it broken off or smashed completely, and all of them had an injury of some kind, some more obvious than others. For example, Addis’ limp was far more pronounced than Barilo’s bleeding shoulder, and Akuna herself didn’t feel exactly perfect, either, so the idea of sleeping for a long time, possibly on a soft, cozy bed, sounded quite appealing to her right now. But Addis shook his head vigorously and said, “No, Turaga, we can rest later. If we’re going to be fighting the Tuikas, then we need to know as much as we can before we laze around.” “You do not care about your physical well-being?” asked Death, and much to Akuna’s surprise, he sounded genuinely concerned about them. She could not think of any reason why a Dark Hunter would seem worried about any Toa, especially Toa he had personally helped hunt down in the first place. “We care, but I think information on our common foe is more necessary at the moment,” Addis replied, almost defiantly. “That’s all.” Death seemed to not understand him completely, but did not pursue the subject any further. So Joha said to the Toa Shika, “I’d say, then, that the time for explanations is now.” Akuna smiled. Tired though she was, she had almost as many questions as Addis, if not more, and was glad to hear that answers were coming at last. “But it will not be me who explains,” Joha continued. “Oggak shall explain to you. She was the one who first told us what the Tuikas really were and I think she will be able to explain it much better than I ever could. Oggak, dear? Will you please tell them what you told us a while ago?” Oggak? Akuna thought quizzically as she and the others turned to look at the Toa of Shadow, who now looked very uncomfortable that everyone was paying so much attention to her. How could she know anything about the Tuikas? Oggak was shifting her weight from one foot to the other. She obviously did not like being the center of attention, but she managed to look at them all anyway with her red eyes that reminded Akuna so much of Teivel. Akuna also noticed that the Toa of Shadow really didn’t look like she wanted to be there at the moment, though Oggak did not complain or do anything to suggest she disliked the attention besides looking a bit nervous. The Toa of Shadow took a deep, long breath and said, “Well, I suppose it all began with the Order of Mata Nui, a secret organization that is dedicated to carrying out the will of the Great Spirit himself in secret. Until a couple of weeks ago no one knew about them – now, I guess everyone does.” “The Shodios mentioned the Order,” said Barilo, who was now leaning up against one of the walls. “We didn’t know who they were, though. Didn’t bother to elaborate.” “The Shodios hate the Order,” Oggak replied. “You probably already know that, though, so I suppose I’ll just continue on: “Anyway, it, er, actually begun with the Brotherhood of Makuta about 50,000 years ago. For whatever reason, they decided that they would need to create more powerful Rahi than they had ever created before. So, using the skills and talents of all of the Brotherhood’s best scientists they created the Tuikas – naming the individual members Skik, Kidah, Arija, Koya, Zoil, and Draza, respectively – which were supposed to be the most powerful Rahi they had ever – and would ever – create. They succeeded and began studying their new creations in order to find out how to duplicate the process and make a whole army of powerful, Tuikas-level Rahi. However . . .” “However what?” asked Nastan, who despite himself seemed actually interested in her story. “The Tuikas escaped,” she continued, with a slightly more confident-sounding voice than before. She seemed to be on a roll now. “They broke out of their cages on Destral, which was situated at the northern continent at the time. They rampaged on the northern continent for a long while and the Brotherhood just couldn’t capture them, no matter what they did. So the Brotherhood merely gave up, believing the Tuikas’ natural lifespan would run out eventually and they would just die, since the Tuikas were designed with a short lifespan in case something like this would happen. “So the Order of Mata Nui took action instead. Some of our best agents were sent to the continent, where they managed to subdue the Tuikas and faked the monsters’ deaths so the Brotherhood wouldn’t go looking for them. To make sure that the Tuikas would not escape again, the Order hid them underneath Shika Nui in stasis tubes, which put them in stasis, obviously.” A memory suddenly stirred in Akuna at these words. She remembered a large cavern and six stasis tubes . . . and she also remembered Nonzra wiping dirt off the surface of one of them to reveal the name Tuikas, a Matoran word meaning ‘fear.’ She hadn’t thought about them at all until now. She then came to a sudden realization. Mata Nui . . . she thought, horrified. Did we . . .? It seemed as though the others were making the same connection, for she could see expressions of comprehension dawning on her friends’ faces, except for Barilo, who had not been with them when they had first discovered the Tuikas under Shika Nui. Nastan actually said, “Wait, we saw some Tuikas under Shika Nui, so does that mean-?” “Yes,” Jokao answered shortly. “The Tuikas who we found and the ones Oggak mentioned are indeed one and the same. In fact, it was all because of us that they awoke, wasn’t it, Oggak?” “From what I can tell, yes,” said Oggak quietly, nodding. “The Tuikas had remained in stasis until you visited them and they managed to reach the surface shortly after you went to Wyoko. They totally wiped out the Dark Hunters and slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Matoran. They’ve been a threat ever since.” “We unleashed that?” asked Barilo, who sounded horrified. “But we didn’t mean to-“ “I know,” said Oggak gently, though without a smile on her face. “I doubt any of you meant to do it. No one would ever want to knowingly unleash the Tuikas, especially upon an island of innocent Matoran and . . .” “And not-so-innocent Dark Hunters,” Death finished for her. “Er, yes,” said the Toa of Shadow, nodding again. “I guess so.” “So let me get this straight,” said Nastan, who sounded slightly confused. “The Brotherhood of Makuta made the Tuikas, which escaped onto the northern continent but were stopped by these Order of Mata Nui guys. And then the Order of Mata Nui locked ‘em up here for . . . some vague reason that I don’t know. It sounds incredibly far-fetched, in my opinion.” “Yet it is true,” Jokao said to Nastan with a hint of impatience in his voice. “Oggak wouldn’t lie. Besides, it’s the only explanation that makes any sense. We all know that the Brotherhood just loves making bigger and more dangerous Rahi as a hobby; it makes sense that they would try to make super Rahi or whatever just to see if they could.” “Well, that still doesn’t explain where she came from, though!” said Nastan, pointing accusingly at Oggak. “We know that all Kra-Matoran were locked up in Wyoko. I mean, if there were still some out there we would know, wouldn’t we? So how is she here?” “Because she wasn’t locked away, of course,” said Akuna, now clearly remembering what the Shodios had told them about a Kra-Matoran named Oggak back in Wyoko. “That’s why. The Shodios told us that, remember? They said something about a traitor named Oggak, I think.” “You’re correct, Akuna,” said Oggak. “Because of my services to Mata Nui’s will – which is a nicer way of saying that I had betrayed my people –“ she sounded bitter here, as though the words she spoke left a bad taste in her mouth, but continued on normally, “I was given freedom and allowed to live outside Wyoko. But on one condition: That I live on Daxia, the Order’s island headquarters, day in and day out, never to visit any other lands or see anyone besides those who worked for the Order. They did that because there would be a lot of unnecessary questions asked if someone saw a Matoran of Shadow walking around when there aren’t any others, especially since that was a time when the Order was trying to make sure that nobody remembered the Kra-Matoran anymore. So for all intents and purposes, I didn’t exist for about 100,000 years. Depressing, I know, but I managed to live with it.” “Okay, but then why are not you still on Daxia or whatever it was called?” asked Nastan, tapping his foot impatiently. “Why’d they let you come back here?” “Because, Nastan, the Order of Mata Nui is now at war with the Brotherhood of Makuta,” she replied, but paused suddenly when Kigin made to leave. “Where are you going?” she asked, looking inquiringly at him. “Leaving,” the Hunter answered, already at one of the exits. “I’ve heard all of this already. Besides, I don’t like being in the room with Toa I don’t like for a prolonged period of time anyway, especially these Toa. I’ll be in my room if anyone needs me. Good bye.” He then left, and Oggak looked somewhat uncertain for a moment, as though she had forgotten where she was. Akuna thought it was rude that Kigin simply left like that while Oggak was still speaking, but then she remembered that Kigin was a Dark Hunter. If Hunters were not above stealing and killing, then it should have came as no surprise to her that Kigin, a Dark Hunter, would rudely leave like that. “Um, where was I?” asked Oggak, slightly nervously, shaking her head as if to clear it of unnecessary thoughts. “Ah, now I remember. Er, um, the Order of Mata Nui is at war with the Brotherhood of Makuta now, so almost everybody knows about our existence. As for why I’m here . . . the Order’s forces, while strong, are not nearly as numerous as that of the Brotherhood and so they need as much allies as they can get. The Dark Hunters have already made an alliance with the Order, after the Shadowed One agreed to our offer. The Order then sent me, along with about a dozen other agents and a few Hunters, to this island to inform the Dark Hunters here about the alliance. I came along because Helryx, the leader of the Order, thought that you Toa Shika would be more likely to listen to a fellow Toa such as myself than some strange beings of an Order you had never even heard of until now, or the Dark Hunters, who we correctly guessed you hated and wouldn’t trust or listen to.” “Got that right,” Nastan muttered angrily. “We don’t like you, either.” “Watch it,” Jokao snapped, waving his mace threateningly at the Toa of The Green. “Or I’ll weld your mouth shut for you.” Ignoring these two, Addis asked Oggak, with more than a hint of surprise in his voice, “So the Order knew about us? When not even the Dark Hunters were aware of our existence until we took out Tyu and Kigin?” “The Order knows a lot more than you’d think,” Oggak replied. “Anyway, the Order thought you would be valuable allies against the Brotherhood. Originally, they didn’t want to send me, since they thought it would be too risky. But I was getting restless – living on a secret island for 100,000 years without ever even being allowed to leave even so much as once a year does that to you – and when I heard that some agents would be sent to Shika Nui, my home, I asked Helryx if I could go and, after some persuading, she agreed. She thought that, since the Order’s public now, my existence couldn’t stay secret forever and that it was only a matter of time before someone learned of me. So she sent me with everyone else.” “We were shocked to see Oggak when she first arrived,” Joha told the Shika. “We were as skeptical as you were about her being a Toa of Shadow-“ Not skeptical, just annoyed, Akuna thought angrily, but she kept her mouth shut and let Joha continue. “-but she has proven her courage, strength, and heroism these past few weeks as we fought the Tuikas, protecting the Matoran alongside Jokao and the Dark Hunters,” Joha continued. “We are all very grateful for her, especially since she knows so much about the Tuikas. Why, it’s almost frightening, how much she knows, really. She can describe any of them without hesitation and is quite capable of strategizing against them. Almost like she was right there when they were created, really.” For a moment, Akuna thought Oggak had glanced at Joha with horror in her eyes before quickly resuming her reserved, mostly emotionless face. Akuna thought that was odd, but then, Oggak was a Toa of Shadow and, if she was anything at all like the Shodios, then perhaps being a little odd was one of her better qualities. “So why hasn’t she left, then?” asked Nastan loudly, who now seemed to be ignoring Oggak. “Why didn’t she just leave Shika Nui when she realized we weren’t here?” “She couldn’t,” Jokao said, looking at Oggak with surprisingly gentle eyes. “When she and those Order agents arrived, the Tuikas eliminated them and she barely escaped alive. The ship she had come in was destroyed, too, along with every other ship on the island, so she was stranded. She’s been with us ever since. Not that I am complaining, of course,” he added hastily. “Well, okay, then,” said Nastan restlessly. Searching for a new question, he suddenly asked, pointing at the Toa of Fire, “That explains her, but what about you? How the Karzahni did you end up a Toa, when last we saw you were a Matoran barely taller than four feet?” Jokao shrugged and said, “That’s the odd thing about it, actually. You see, when Joha and I retreated to my home village, Ironos, we were shown the recent discovery of a small old wooden chest that the Matoran in Ironos had found in the mines. The chest contained six Toa stones, with a note from Turaga Ujat explaining what they were. They had apparently been left there by him, but we have no idea why he had buried them in a chest like that, nor what he had planned to do with them, since the note had been very vague about their actual use. But when I picked up one of the stones, I was actually transformed into a Toa, surprisingly enough, and soon after, I met Oggak. I’m still not as good as her, elemental powers and mask power wise, but I’ve been learning fast, otherwise I would have been killed by the Tuikas a long time ago.” “That’s another thing that is bothering me,” Nastan snapped. Even Akuna, who mostly agreed with Nastan’s suspicion of Oggak, thought he was stretching the point a little too much now. “Why do we even trust her? She’s a Toa of Shadow! They’re evil! They’re cruel! They’re-“ But they never got to figure out exactly what Nastan thought Toa of Shadow were (though Akuna could guess), for Jokao bellowed in rage and punched Nastan so hard in the face so fast that it was almost a blur. Nastan stumbled backwards as Jokao advanced, breathing deeply and looking quite enraged, waving his mace in the air rather faster than necessary. “Jokao! Nastan! Stop your fighting!” Joha shouted firmly, actually standing up and slamming his staff on the ground hard. “Now!” Neither of them listened, however, and now were circling each other, looking almost like two Muaka cats getting ready to tear each other apart. “Nastan, I am your leader and I command you to stop,” Addis ordered, limping forward and grabbing the Toa of The Green firmly on the shoulder. Nastan tried to shrug him off, but Addis held on tightly. “Fighting Jokao won’t get you anywhere.” “Get off me, Addis!” Nastan snapped angrily, trying to make Addis let go but failing again. “He’s being stupid! They’re all being stupid, trusting a Toa of Shadow like that! After all we’ve been through-” “She’s a good person,” Jokao responded shortly. Akuna noticed with a slight tingle of fear that fire energy was crackling in Jokao’s hands. Experienced though he may be, Akuna knew that in a fight, Jokao’s fire would beat Nastan’s plants every day. “It’s just bigotry, it is. You’re being intolerant and insulting. You haven’t even gotten to talk to her much yet you’re already assuming she’s worse than Karzahni himself!” “You didn’t see what the Shodios did to us, or tried to do to us,” Nastan snarled, now ignoring Addis completely and focusing his whole attention on Jokao. “They tried to kill us at nearly every opportunity, without mercy or remorse. And they succeeded, too; they got Nonzra. They killed him without reason, just because he resembled some guy named Ukio or something like that, one of those Toa Avha they mentioned, when he never did anything to them at all!” “And you hate Oggak just because she happens to be a Toa of Shadow, like them?” Jokao said. “You’re being very hypocritical. It’s wrong for them to hate us but right for us to hate them? Really logical, Nastan.” Nastan was apparently at a loss for words and instead merely grunted angrily. He seemed to calm down somewhat, but Addis was still gripping his shoulder as a precaution. Akuna walked over to Nastan and said quietly to him, “There’s no reason to fight him, Nastan. If what they said is true, then the Tuikas are our true enemies. We don’t really need to fight among each other, not now.” “Akuna is right,” said Joha with a nod. Before either Jokao or Nastan could say anything further, he continued, sitting back down on his throne now that everything was under control, “I believe we have told you everything there is to tell. You may rest in one of the many rooms within this fortress. Addis, we shall get you a new mask very soon. I’ll have one of our Matoran send one right up from our spare mask pile.” “Thank you, Turaga,” said Addis, letting go of Nastan’s shoulder for a second to bow. “Come on, guys. We need our sleep if we’re going to be fighting the Tuikas soon, eh?” “I agree,” said Barilo, who seemed to be quite relieved that the argument was over. “My back is sore; in fact, my entire body is sore and I can barely stay awake.” “Good to hear that you agree, Addis, Barilo,” said Joha with a smile. “Igici, will you please escort them to the big room on the 12th floor?” It took Akuna minute to figure out who “Igici” was until Death said, “Yes, sir.” I suppose Death isn’t his real name, she thought. Must’ve just been a code name he used or something. Think I remember hearing about how some Dark Hunters use code names. I guess ‘Death’ was Igici’s code name. “Igici will take you all to the biggest room on the 12th floor, as you already know,” Joha told the Toa Shika. “There should be about five or six beds for you all to sleep in. They may not be the most comfortable beds ever, but I hope you enjoy them anyway.” “Thank you, Turaga,” said Addis again, with yet another bow. “We haven’t slept in real beds for a while now, so this should hopefully be nice.” “Follow me, then,” said Death, who was walking toward the door, gesturing them to follow him. “I think the Matoran are already going to sleep, so the hallways shouldn’t be too crowded. Let’s go.” Review Topic

Read it whenever you feel like it, fishers, although waiting for it all to be posted is probably a good idea. I think the Shika Trilogy is better when read as a whole, anyway, even though I originally posted each epic separately. In the meantime, why not take five minutes from your day to read the greatest Bionicle fanfic ever written, if you haven't already? It's too great for me to describe here with mere words. Read it yourself and be in awe. -TNTOS-

Chapter 2: Unpleasant Revelations “Akuna . . . wake up, Akuna . . . C’mon . . . Get up . . .” The voice speaking to her sounded distant and faraway, as though being spoken to from the other side of the island. Yet at the same time she recognized it as belonging to Nastan, as it had the same concerned tone he used when speaking to her if she was hurt or if he was worried about her. She didn’t know what he was talking about; why should she wake up? She hadn’t got a good night’s sleep in a while and didn’t really feel like waking up right now. Her body, however, disagreed with her on that. The aching in her joints was hurting her and making it impossible for her to sleep any longer now that she was aware of it, even though that was all she wanted to do. She tried to ignore it, but that seemed to make it worse in her opinion. She opened her eyes a few inches and saw Nastan’s face, which seemed to be a mixture of worry and excitement, staring into her own. How long she had been unconscious, how much time had passed, she didn’t know, but she wasn’t going to ask him, mostly because her head was starting to hurt badly and she didn’t think she could ask too many questions right away at the moment. So in a tired voice, she asked, “Nastan? Where . . . where are we?” She tried in vain to sit up, but failed miserably. “Are you okay?” he asked her, helping her into a sitting position on the hard, rock floor. She did not fall over, fortunately. “Do you still need to sleep?” “No, I’m okay,” she answered, quickly hugging him before letting go and looking around, rubbing the back of her head with her hand as she did so. It was quite dark; she could barely see her hand, despite the fact that her eyes were now adjusting to the darkness. “Thanks for asking, though.” She winced at the pain she felt in her joints, but tried her best to ignore it anyway. “Anyway . . . um, what is going on, Nastan? Why aren’t we dead? Or are we?” She added worriedly, looking at Nastan with slightly fearful eyes. “No, we’re not dead,” said Nastan, whose face was now breaking into a smile. “We were saved, Akuna. We were rescued from the shadowed entity by – you’ll never guess – Jokao!” “What?” Akuna said, looking at the Toa of The Green in surprise. “But Jokao’s a Matoran. I mean he’s a tough guy, but he’s still just a Matoran and if we couldn’t beat the entity, how-?” Nastan laughed, which sounded slightly painful, as though he was still experiencing some pain, though he didn’t complain about it. “He’s not a Matoran anymore, Akuna. He’s actually a Toa!” “You’re pulling my leg,” she said in disbelief, shaking her head. “There’s no way-“ “He’s over there if you want to see for yourself,” said Nastan, pointing behind her somewhere into the darkness. “He’s also got a new friend, apparently, though he hasn’t introduced her to us yet.” Akuna twisted around to look in the direction he was pointing and was surprised to see a small fire lit about ten or fifteen feet away, where she saw Barilo, Addis, and Chimoy sitting with two other Toa, Addis speaking to them. One wore crimson and orange armor that had fiery designs on them, while the other wore black armor which was almost the exact shade of black as the shadows, making it difficult to distinguish between her and the shadows. She didn’t know who the other Toa was, but the red one’s Mask of Spirit did look very familiar to Akuna. She wondered for a moment why she hadn’t noticed them before, but decided that she must have been too distracted by the pain in her head to have taken any notice of them. “See?” said Nastan with a chuckle. “Our Jokao, a Toa now! Man, I remember when he barely reached my waist. Now he’s the same size as me!” “But how did he become a Toa?” asked Akuna, now thoroughly confused. “Why is he here? How’d he save us? And how long have I been asleep?” She was too puzzled and tired to put all of her questions in any kind of coherent order, but Nastan didn’t seem to mind. “You’ve been asleep for a few minutes at most,” said Nastan gently. “As for the other questions . . . I don’t know. Addis and the others might, though. I’ve been trying to get you up the entire time and haven’t been talking to him. But how’s about we go speak to them now? Do you feel good enough to walk over to them?” “Yes, I do,” she said, slightly embarrassed by how he was worrying about her like this. “You don’t need to worry, Nastan. It’s just a few feet away.” She smiled at him, which seemed to reassure him slightly. “Okay,” said Nastan, though he did not sound entirely convinced by her words. “Here, let me help you up.” He took her hand and lifted her back to her feet. Akuna cursed very softly under her breath at the pain, but managed to stand just fine, though her balance was a little off and she had to lean on Nastan for support, though he did not seem to mind too much. So they began walking towards the other five, who all turned to look up at approaching couple. She looked at all of them as she and Nastan sat down around the fire. Chimoy and Barilo looked tired, though okay, while Addis looked like the worse. His eyes were dark and tired-looking and he was wearing his Suletu, which seemed to have been repaired by Chimoy, though rather hastily in her opinion. She wondered briefly why he was not simply wearing Nonzra’s Kanohi, but then she decided that the Zatth had been worn by a corpse earlier, so it might not be entirely healthy for a living being to wear. That, perhaps, and maybe it would have been disrespecting Nonzra’s memory to wear his Kanohi so soon after his death, though she personally couldn’t think why. She looked at the red Toa, who wore a Mask of Spirit and flame-styled armor, giving him the look of a Toa of Fire. She really couldn’t believe that was Jokao, despite the fact that Nastan had assured her it was. However, she could see why he might be Jokao, because aside from his mask (which was the same as Jokao’s, except in Great Kanohi form) he had the same, apprehensive eyes Jokao usually wore, though they also looked slightly more confident now. As for the black Toa who sat next to Jokao, Akuna had absolutely no idea who she was. Her element was a mystery, too; she didn’t look like a Toa of Earth or any other elements commonly associated with the color black. She had unique-looking armor and seemed like a very quiet and shy person. Her mask looked different, too, though Akuna thought its design seemed familiar, but she could not place where she had seen it at the moment. “Are you all right, Akuna?” asked Addis grimly, who was not smiling. “Yes, I am,” said Akuna, slightly exasperatedly, rubbing the back of her head with her left hand as she spoke. “But you don’t look too good yourself, Addis.” He nodded. “My mask doesn’t work anymore, either. Got to get a new one sometime, I think.” He paused, then added brightly, “Oh, Akuna, look who saved us . . .” he pointed at the Toa of Fire, who merely looked at Akuna for a moment before staring back into the fire, “. . . it’s Jokao! He and his new friend here saved us from the shadowed entity! We were just talking about it right now, actually.” “Thank you, um, Jokao,” said Akuna, somewhat awkwardly. Fortunately, Jokao was still not looking at her, or any of the others, for that matter. “And you, uh . . .” “Oggakia,” the black Toa replied quietly. “But you can call me Oggak for short if you want. Everyone else does.” “Er, right,” said Akuna, nodding. She wondered why the name Oggak sounded so familiar to her, but like Oggak’s appearance she could not put her finger on it. “Thanks.” “Well, it’s great to see you again, Jokao,” said Nastan, who had put an arm around Akuna now. She found this slightly uncomfortable, mostly because her shoulders happened to be hurting quite a bit right now. However, she ignored the pain to focus on the conversation instead. “We missed you quite a bit when we were in Wyoko.” Jokao suddenly looked up at Nastan and snapped, “You obviously didn’t miss me enough to want to return, did you? Maybe you thought I’d stop you from pulling even greater heists than before. After all, that was one of the first things you told me when we first met. You wanted to become greater thieves than ever before, didn’t you? And how else could you accomplish that but going to other lands? Clearly, Shika Nui was much too small for your tastes.” “What are you talking about?” asked Nastan in surprise. Akuna was surprised by this outburst, too. Jokao had never snapped at them like this before; was there something bothering him? “Don’t play dumb with me, Nastan,” Jokao said angrily, his fists clenched in fury. He sounded as though he had wanted to say this for a while. “You know exactly what you did. You and your friends simply abandoned us to our doom. Right when we needed you the most, you simply disappeared. Ran away like the cowardly thieves that you are is what you did. Didn’t even stop to think of the consequences of your actions, did you? Didn’t even stop to think that maybe we needed your help?” “Jokao, we have no idea what you’re talking about,” said Addis firmly, leaning forward and looking at the Toa of Fire with a mixed expression of confusion and seriousness. “We didn’t leave Shika Nui by choice-“ “Oh, yes, you did!” Jokao yelled, which caused the fire to expand widely and heat the area up to uncomfortable temperatures before shrinking back to normal size and cooling off a little. He pointed at Addis and continued, “You knew about the Tuikas; knew that they were under Shika Nui, sleeping and waiting for their day of destruction. You’re nothing but a lying, dishonest little thief who does not want to face the consequences of his actions! You’re all like that, actually!” “I’m telling you, we didn’t leave Shika Nui willingly!” Addis replied in an annoyed voice. “We were forced in and could not escape!” Jokao laughed hollowly. “Oh, that’s good. ‘We were forced in and could not escape!’ Where you were taken? Why couldn’t you escape? Or are you simply trying to justify your cowardice?” He looked around at them all, and then added, “And where is Nonzra? I count only five when I know six left. Perhaps you simply left him behind? Or maybe even killed him because you didn’t want to split the loot?” A shout of anger was the only warning Jokao got, for the next moment Chimoy had leapt to his feet and sent a devastating punch at the Toa of Fire, which connected and sent him flying away from the fire, landing hard several feet away on the rough dirt ground. Akuna, alarmed, looked up at Chimoy with the others and saw that he looked extremely angry. This was surprising, for Chimoy was more reserved than the others and rarely displayed emotions of any kind. To see him now looking as though he would be willing to commit murder frightened Akuna even more than nearly being killed by the shadowed entity earlier. “Chimoy . . .” said Akuna in a pacifying voice. She didn’t think it would be wise for Chimoy to get into a fight with Jokao, especially in his current state. “Don’t you ever accuse us of killing Nonzra,” Chimoy said quietly, though threateningly, to Jokao, who was still lying on the ground and moaning in pain. “I would never . . . We didn’t do it. It was Teivel. He killed Nonzra.” Jokao sat up and wiped some dirt off his mask. “Teivel? Who-?” “Teivel, a Toa of Shadow and leader of the Shodios,” said Oggak promptly. Everyone looked at the black-armored Toa in disbelief and shock. Akuna wondered, in amazement, how Oggak had known that. No one else knew about the Shodios or, indeed, the Kra-Matoran tribe in general, except perhaps for the Order of Mata Nui, which the Shodios had mentioned to them back in Wyoko. So how did Oggak know this? That questioned buzzed through her head like a Nui Rama swarm, but she had no answer to it. “How’d you know that?” Nastan asked her in confusion. “Nobody else knows about the Shodios but us. Can you read minds or something?” Oggak looked at Nastan and Akuna realized just how red her eyes were. Almost the same shade as Teivel’s, really . . . “Because, Nastan, I know who Teivel is because I was once a . . .” Oggak said, though her voice trailed off and Akuna, suddenly remembering where she had heard the name ‘Oggak’ before, was beginning to put two and two together. The conclusion she was coming to was nonsensical, yet at the same time seemed to be the only explanation that did make any sense. “Because you were what?” asked Nastan eagerly, leaning forward a little to listen better. “Did you know him? Are you a member of the Order of Mata Nui?” Now Oggak looked uncomfortable and glanced at Jokao, who had now rejoined their group. The look she gave him was almost like she was asking him something. He returned the look with a reassuring nod, and Oggak smiled slightly and nodded back. Turning back to Nastan, she said softly, “Because I was a Kra-Matoran, Nastan. That is why.” “Wait a minute,” said Nastan slowly as he looked from Oggak to Jokao, a look of dawning comprehension upon his face. “But if you were a Kra-Matoran, then that must mean-“ “That I am a Toa of Shadow, yes,” said Oggak reluctantly. Suddenly, all five of the Toa Shika moved backwards and looked at Oggak suspiciously. Though she had heavily suspected it and frankly would have been surprised had she been wrong, Akuna was still shocked to it hear Oggak confirm it and even felt a little angry now. Why was Jokao hanging out with a Toa of Shadow? Akuna didn’t even want to be in the presence of a Toa of Shadow. After what she and the other Toa Shika had been through, after nearly been killed time and again by the Shodios and their Kra-Matoran servants, after Nonzra’s death, she had a deep mistrust of anyone who was associated with the shadows. Akuna now began to question Jokao’s sanity, because really, who in their right mind would ever willing ally themselves with a Toa of Shadow? It was almost as bad as being a friend of a Makuta yet at the same time somehow even worse. Addis tentatively leaned toward Jokao and, doing his best to avoid Oggak’s gaze, said, “Jokao, did . . . did you know this?” “Yes, I did,” said Jokao. He seemed surprised at the way they were reacting to learning Oggak’s element. “It was one of the first things I learned about her. So? What’s so bad?” “But, Jokao,” said Addis exasperatedly, glancing at Oggak for a moment before looking back at the Toa of Fire. “She’s . . . she’s a Toa of Shadow. They’re evil. A Toa of Shadow actually killed Nonzra, you know.” “Evil? She’s not evil,” Jokao said, shaking his head in disagreement. “She’s just as good as any Toa I’ve ever met, though I supposed that isn’t saying much, since the only Toa I’ve ever met are a bunch of cowards like you!” “I thought we made it clear that we are not cowards?” Chimoy said quietly. “Do you even care that Nonzra died to save us from . . . from her people?” He pointed at Oggak, who was no longer looking at any of them and was instead staring into the fire, as though hoping they would somehow forget about her. “Of course I care!” said Jokao angrily, his eyes glowing. “But just because the others are evil doesn’t make her evil!” “Jokao, I don’t know what you’ve been doing, but you can’t honestly trust her, can you?” said Nastan indignantly. “She’s a Toa of Shadow, and shadow, as we all know very well, is evil. I should know more than any of us ‘cause I was a Toa of Shadow myself at one point, for Mata Nui’s sake! I know how seductive it is, how it eats away at any attempts to do good and makes you think otherwise. She’s probably nothing more than a manipulative little-“ “Now who is the one making false accusations here?” Jokao said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. “You know absolutely nothing about her and yet you’re already jumping to conclusions? Totally not hypocritical, eh?” Nastan actually looked unable to respond to this and merely shook his head helplessly, muttering something about the Shodios and Oggak. Akuna realized - though she really wanted to deny it - that Jokao had a point. Nastan was jumping to conclusions, though that did not make Oggak instantly trustworthy, did it? Then again, Jokao did seem to trust her, so maybe . . . No, Akuna thought. She can’t be. The Shodios were evil, cruel, and downright rude at times. They saw other living beings as merely obstacles that should be dismantled. Why would she be any different? She might be tricking Jokao, which I wouldn’t put past a Toa of Shadow. She glanced at Oggak, who had remained completely quiet during this entire argument. The Toa of Shadow did not look particularly threatening or even evil, but she knew all-too-well how easily it was to disguise one’s evil, as she and the others had learned when an entire village of Kra-Matoran had fooled them into believing that the villagers were actually good but turned out to be just as foul as their Shodios leaders. Barilo, who seemed to have been trying to stay out of this argument, said quietly, “Well, I don’t think there is much else to discuss, is there? Can’t we discuss this subject, er, later? I mean,” he looked pleadingly at the other Toa Shika, “am I the only one here who wants to see pure sunshine again? The only reason I’ve tolerated this place for as long as I have is because I wanted to talk to Jokao. So can we please leave now?” “Okay,” said Jokao, who was still glaring at Nastan, who looked defiantly back at him. “Come on, then. We’ll be safer back in the village.” “Yeah,” said Barilo, nodding, as he rose to his feet, leaning on the cavern wall for support. “What if the Dark Hunters come in here? In fact, now that I think about it, how did you get past the Hunters anyway? Must’ve taken some skill to get past them all, since there were like what, three hundred of them or something like that?” Jokao rose to his feet and then helped Oggak up. He looked back up the tunnel, from which a bright light was shining, and said, without looking at Barilo, “We . . . we didn’t need much skill to get into this place. Not much at all, I’d say.” “What? Did you just blast them apart or something?” Barilo asked curiously. Jokao turned to look at the Toa Shika, all of whom were on their feet now. He looked extremely grim. “They are all dead. That’s why it didn’t take much effort; no one was there to stop us in the first place.” Akuna was thunderstruck by this revelation. All of the Dark Hunters are dead? It didn’t make sense, but she could tell that he wasn’t joking or lying. Yet how could it be true? There were at least 300 Dark Hunters on Shika Nui before – possibly even more – and most of them had been quite alive last she checked. She glanced at the others, all of whom looked just as shocked as she felt. Barilo actually looked frightened, and she couldn’t blame him. If there was something lurking on the surface that could kill all of those Dark Hunters, then what chance did they have at surviving for longer than a few seconds? Unless whatever was the source of the killing had left, Akuna felt as though she would rather be back in Wyoko, facing the wrath of the Shodios, than out there with whatever it was that might have slain the Hunters like that. But she didn’t turn and run. The light ahead, though small and rather insignificant, tempted her greatly. She wanted to keep going until she reached the light, and if it meant facing those things, well, that was just how things would have to be, even though fear was creeping up her spine. Her desire to be in the light overrode her fear of whatever might be out there. “But what killed them all?” asked Addis, who began walking slowly towards Jokao. Akuna noticed he had a limp now; whether it was from the shadowed entity or acquired from their adventures in Wyoko, she did not know, for she hadn’t been paying that much attention to what kinds of wound were inflicted on the others before. She’d been too distracted by her own. “What could possibly have enough power to wipe out a small army of Dark Hunters like that? You’re joking, right?” “He is not joking,” said Oggak softly, speaking suddenly without so much as a warning, which irritated Akuna. “They were killed weeks ago.” “Weeks?” said Nastan, frowning. “We’ve been gone for days, not weeks.” “You must not have been keeping track of time, then,” said Jokao shortly, rolling his eyes at him again. “You’ve been gone for weeks, and that is a fact. But to answer your question, Addis,” he said, addressing the Toa of Plasma now, “the Tuikas are responsible for the Dark Hunters’ deaths.” “Just what are Tuikas?” Addis demanded impatiently. “You’ve mentioned them before but have never-“ “Tuikas are, to put it simply, living nightmares,” Jokao said. He pointed at his shoulder, which had a bad wound on it, something Akuna had never noticed before. “They make the Dark Hunters look like saints, basically. We’ll tell you more about them later, though; right now we have to return to the village. Turaga Joha may be worrying about our absence.” “Joha?” repeated Nastan, with a slightly more interested voice. “He’s still alive? How’s he doing these days? I’ve missed him quite a bit since we left.” “Overworked, doesn’t get enough sleep, and nearly ready to collapse into teeny tiny bite-sized pieces,” Jokao answered curtly. The seven Toa had now begun walking up the tunnel towards the exit. “He’s been working night and day to make sure that the Matoran are kept safe and that the Tuikas do not breach our walls. Otherwise, he’s ‘okay,’ if you want to even use that word.” Nastan, evidently offended by Jokao’s tone, shook his head and whispered to Akuna, so that no one else could hear, “Geez, what’s his problem? Ask a simple question and he just snaps.” Akuna, who didn’t know how to answer, merely shrugged. She thought perhaps Jokao sounded overworked himself, though she did not say this aloud. She simply wanted to get back to this village Jokao mentioned, which would surely be in the bright, pure sunshine of Shika Nui, which was something she had sorely missed. Though she was still surprised by the fact that the Dark Hunters were all dead, she did not weep for them. They were, after all, her enemies and had been cruel to her and her friends for over 25,000 years, so their deaths did not bother her much, if at all. However, as they drew closer to the glorious light, she did notice one odd thing. The light up ahead began to look less natural, more like the bluish glow of the light stones instead of the yellowish sunshine of Shika Nui. She decided that that was because there were going to be inside the Dark Hunters’ fortress, not actually on Shika Nui itself. She felt slightly disappointed by this; she had been looking forward to emerging into the sun. At least we won’t stay in there forever, she thought as she walked. We’ll have to go outside eventually, where the village obviously is. It is probably bathed in sunshine. Personally, I think I’ll spend all of my time lying in the sun, though if these Tuikas are as bad as Jokao says, then I don’t think I’ll have a whole lot of time to relax. All of a sudden, a silhouette appeared at the top of the tunnel. The figure looked small, about Matoran-sized, and seemed to be looking at them. Akuna, who had been taken by surprise far too many times in the past few days (most of them by lethal and evil beings), whipped out her staff of lightning, ready to fight whoever it might be, but Jokao put his hand on her weapon and gently lowered it. “Don’t attack,” he whispered. “The Matoran up ahead is a friend.” He then looked back up at the figure at the entrance and shouted, “Hey, Reesha! We’ve found friends! Look! New Toa!” The Matoran up ahead titled her head, as though trying to get a better look at them, and then disappeared. Akuna was surprised that there was a Matoran here at all. Wasn’t it dangerous to take a Matoran with them to here? It seemed irresponsible to her. What if the Matoran got hurt or even killed? This tunnel did lead into the Dark Hunters’ fortress; what if there was still something lurking around in there? But as they approached the exit, she heard hundreds of voices jabbering up ahead. She could not tell what they were saying, but their tone sounded both frightened and excited. She then felt disappointed with Jokao again. First he allies with a Toa of Shadow, and now he’s brought along hundreds of Matoran, too? What the Karzahni is he thinking? What if they all get hurt or killed somehow? she thought, annoyed. Maybe there’s more to this, but this seems awful irresponsible to me at the moment. They ought to be in a village, safely protected by its walls and defenders, not here, in this unsafe place. It did not take long for them to finish their journey; after a short walk (though it felt long to Akuna), they reached the very top of the tunnel and were right at the exit itself. Akuna, exhausted, took one glance into the chamber before them, shrieked in pain and took a step back into the darkness, her hands over her eyes. Her eyes were so used to the darkness that the light was actually quite painful to look at and judging by the stumbling she heard all around the others must have been affected the same way. But her audio receptors still worked as fine as ever, and the sounds of Matoran talking was so loud and near now to be almost uncomfortable. She was almost longing for the quiet darkness; somehow the light and sound seemed too much for her now, despite that being what she had wanted in the first place. Once her eyes stopped hurting so badly, she lowered her hands slowly, and realized that the light no longer irritated or hurt her eyes, much to her relief. She then opened her eyes – for she had had them closed behind her hands – to enjoy the light, but what she saw was too shocking for her to do anything more than gasp, for words failed her at the moment. Hundreds of Matoran of various tribes stood near or around the entrance, all chattering and looking over the heads of their neighbors to see the new arrivals. They were all crammed into the hallway that the tunnel ended in, the cracked walls looking like they were straining to not burst open and pour all of the villagers out. Jokao took a step forward, turned around, and said to the Toa Shika, spreading his arms wide, “Welcome to Koro Nui . . . the last remaining Matoran settlement on Shika Nui.” Review Topic

Book Three: An Unlikely Alliance Table of Contents: Chapter 1: A Forgotten Enemy Says Hello Chapter 2: Unpleasant Revelations Chapter 3: Revelations & Explanations Chapter 4: Discussions & Suspicions Chapter 5: Possession Chapter 6: Assignments & Missions Chapter 7: A Familiar Place Chapter 8: Only One Way to Go Chapter 9: Battle & Pain Chapter 10: Tunnels Chapter 11: New Ambitions Chapter 12: The Loss of Life Chapter 13: Tamers Chapter 14: Speculation & Conspiracies Chapter 15: More than Meets the Eye Chapter 16: A Visitor Chapter 17: Expedition Chapter 18: Truths & Falsehoods Chapter 19: Of Insanity and Betrayal Chapter 20: He Escapes Chapter 21: Target Locked Chapter 22: Renewed Determination Chapter 23: Deals & Conflicts Chapter 24: Underneath Chapter 25: How to Save a Life Chapter 26: The Clash of Shadows Chapter 27: No More Chapter 28: Reunited at Last Chapter 29: A Hero’s Sacrifice Chapter 30: In Memoriam Epilogue Chapter 1: A Forgotten Enemy Says Hello Despite the bright glow of her Mask of Night Vision to illuminate the place, Toa Akuna, Toa of Lightning, could still not see very far ahead. The shadows in the tunnel were thick, with the possibility of hostile Dark Hunters hiding in wait ahead, ready to ambush her and her friends at any moment. She was not very afraid of that, however; merely cautious with a budding hatred of the shadows. All she wanted to do was get out of here as quickly as possible, because though she was unafraid, the darkness still made her feel uncomfortable. One reason she was not particularly afraid was because she had been through quite a bit in the last few days, much more than just walking down a seemingly-endless dark tunnel. She had fought beings that controlled the shadows and that were relentlessly cruel and evil towards all who were not from their tribe. She and her friends had managed to beat them and escape their wrath, though not all of her friends had made it alive, she reflected sadly. Another reason for her confidence was the fact she still had most of her friends, who had been with her through thick and thin. She felt that she could take on whatever might be lurking in this tunnel or on the surface with them at her side, especially Toa Nastan, Toa of The Green, who was walking beside her, his bow at the ready, aiming straight into the darkness ahead. She glanced at him as they walked. Nastan was normally a more lighthearted, optimistic and slightly idealistic kind of guy, but he seemed to be more serious now, if a little more cynical and less easily trusting of others. This was no surprise to her, since she remembered what he had experienced personally during their adventures in Wyoko, all of which contributed to his change in personality. Of course, we’ve all changed, Akuna thought, glancing over her shoulder at the others behind her. Ever since we left, ever since Nonzra’s death I think we all matured. Perhaps even before; certainly, one could not go through what we did without at least experiencing a little change in personality. Her brief glance over her shoulder had shown her Toa Addis, Toa of Plasma and leader of the Toa Shika speaking in low tones with Toa Barilo, Toa of Gravity and deputy leader of the team. She had also seen Chimoy walking just a little bit behind them, looking even more quiet and serious than usual. Akuna knew Nonzra’s death had affected him the most, since he had been very close with the Toa of Sonics before Nonzra died. All of them, in fact, were looking more serious than before and were all, she knew, feeling sorrowful about his death. However, Addis had not let Nonzra’s death stop him from devising a plan for the rest of the Toa Shika. Since the tunnel they were traveling went straight into the heart of the Dark Hunters’ fortress on Shika Nui, simply walking through it casually would be impossible, since they weren’t exactly the best of friends with the Hunters. So the plan was that, once they had reached the surface, they would run as fast as they could through the many corridors and hallways of the fortress, beating back any Dark Hunters they came across, until they would eventually find a way out (or make their own, if that proved impossible). They then would reunite with Turaga Joha and Jokao, a Ta-Matoran, two friends of theirs who had stayed behind to rally the local Matoran slaves into rebellion against their Dark Hunter masters. Though she did not mention this to Addis, Akuna felt the plan was a little too risky. For one, how were they supposed to make it past the hundreds of Dark Hunters when they themselves were all wiped out from their battle with the Shodios? She could barely walk, let alone battle Mata Nui-knows how many Dark Hunters as well. Secondly, what would they do if Joha and Jokao were dead? That was a very distinct possibility, since, though Joha had been a great fighter in his days as a Toa, he was no longer as physically fit as he used to be and therefore would likely be an easy target for even the weakest of Dark Hunters. Akuna worried greatly for the safety of their two friends. She didn’t know what she would do if she learned that both Joha and Jokao were dead on top of Nonzra’s own death as well. Aside from that, she was bothered by something else. Despite the fact that The Door to the Light had been unlocked the entire time during their journey, no Dark Hunter had ever entered it, so far as she knew. She didn’t know why. After all, what kept the Dark Hunters from entering their own fortress, going down the tunnel, and through The Door to Wyoko? Of course, that’s if they even know we’re down here, she thought as she remembered how distracted the Hunters had been when she and the others had first escaped them into this tunnel, not too long ago. For all they know, we could have gone straight through the fortress and out the other side. Maybe they’re still searching for us on the surface. If so, then maybe our chances of escaping will be a little higher than I thought. Just a little, though. Not by much. Another thing that she was wondering about was the shadowed entity they had faced prior to entering Wyoko. He had been a guardian of The Door, created by the Dark Hunters to keep intruders out, but had been defeated by the Toa Shika, thanks to Addis’ Suletu. Unless Addis had actually killed it, she wondered why it was not attacking them now, why their journey was progressing so easily with no obstacles. It didn’t make sense, but she was glad for that and merely assumed the shadowed entity was dead. That was one thing they didn’t have to worry about, at least. Of course, there were still the Dark Hunters themselves, and they were no walk in the park. Their first encounter with seven Dark Hunters had wounded up with them on the losing end of the battle. What if they went up against eight or nine or ten or twenty, even? True, they were a great deal more experienced than before going to Wyoko and might be able to survive a scuffle with more Hunters, but she was still worried quite a bit. She glanced at Nastan again. He was merely staring straight on and did not seem to be wearing much of an expression on his face. She wondered if he was thinking the same thing as her, or if he was thinking about something else. Anyway, she was glad he didn’t look frightened; she felt a lot braver with him by her side. She then noticed a small light ahead at the end of the tunnel, which was growing steadily closer as they approached. At first, she wondered what it was, having not seen such a thing in a long time. But then she realized what the little glow ahead was: pure, simple sunshine. Having been in Wyoko for so long, she had forgotten what real light looked like and immediately felt her spirits soar. She was about to go home . . . she was about to be back in the light, where she would be able to see the mountains and the proto forest and everything that she had known and loved about Shika Nui. The emotions she was feeling right now nearly overwhelmed her, but she held them back. She needed to keep a level head here otherwise she would be running straight into the Dark Hunters themselves and end up dying early. Still, her paced quickened anyway, her eyes and attention focused solely on the light at the end of the tunnel. She looked at Nastan, who was actually smiling a little now. He seemed to have noticed the light too, and, based on the expressions on the others’ faces, they had as well. Addis looked eager, pointing it out to Barilo, who looked excited; and Chimoy, though usually reserved, seemed to have gotten some of his energy back and was walking faster than the other Toa and soon was ahead of Akuna, even. In fact, all of the Toa were now walking so fast they were nearly running. The presence of the light – even from such a distance – had given them renewed energy and vigor. None of them had seen such beautiful light since they had went to Wyoko, the land of shadows, and they did not want to lose it ever again. Akuna was beginning to feel impatient. Despite running fairly fast now, it seemed like the closer they got the farther the light became. She simply wanted to reach it now, or else she didn’t know what she would do with herself. She hadn’t realized before how much she had taken light for granted; she decided to never take it for granted again for as long as she lived, remembering the dark, sunless land of Wyoko. What is taking us so long to get there? she wondered as she ran. Why does it feel like . . . like I’m moving, but not making any progress at all? She glanced at her feet. They were moving, all right, but it seemed like they were running on the same stretch of dirt and stone as before. Though she was no Toa of Earth, even she realized that she was simply running on the same spot, over and over again, with no discernable differences. This puzzled her greatly. What’s going on? she thought, still running. Am I in some type of time loop or what? Or is it something else entirely? She was starting to feel disoriented now. Running in the same place for this long, adding to the pain she was already experiencing from their battle with the Shodios not too long ago, was beginning to get to her, making her wish she could just stop and rest. But she couldn’t; she just couldn’t stop, no matter how many times she told her legs to halt. They weren’t listening to her and now she was getting worried. Would she and the others keep running and running forever, never reaching the tempting light that they so wanted? Were they destined to just keep going and going, not stopping for even a minute? Would they never reach Shika Nui again? “Hey,” said Nastan, who like her was running fast without making any real progress. “Am I the only one who notices that we’re not any closer to the light than we were about five minutes ago?” “I noticed that,” Addis said, who was now beginning to look quite tired. “Must just be our imagination, I think. This tunnel is just really, really long, that’s all, and we’re just really tired.” “Then why can’t I stop?” asked Akuna, unable to hide the panic in her voice. “I’m really tired, but I can’t stop my legs at all.” “Let me try,” said Addis. She looked over her shoulder and saw Addis running slower, but he was not stopping. His face had a look of extreme concentration on it, but he finally gave up. “You’re right, Akuna. I can’t stop, no matter what I do.” “Then are we going to be stuck like this forever?” asked Barilo, who also sounded slightly panicky. “Why? Who or what is doing this?” “I don’t know, Barilo,” said Addis, frustrated. “Maybe it’s some kind of new security system that the Dark Hunters installed while we were gone.” “Or just an old one seeking revenge,” said a dark, hoarse voice from somewhere within the shadows. Akuna felt a sudden cold fill her body as the tunnel appeared to get a little darker. “Who’s there?” demanded Nastan as he ran, looking all around the cave but seeing no one and nothing. “And what do you mean ‘an old one seeking revenge’? Are you the one responsible for this?” “You have forgotten me that quickly, then?” said the voice with a sarcastic chuckle. “Your memory must be faulty. Don’t you remember the shadowed entity you had faced before you passed beyond the wall? Don’t you remember how you defeated him by simply overwhelming him with mental energy, an attack he had not been prepared for?” Akuna gasped, though it was more because she was out of breath than because she knew who it was. “Is that you? The one who had guarded The Door? The shadowed entity?” “The very same, my friend,” said the shadowed entity sinisterly. “I am still alive . . . alive, and seeking revenge on those who had defeated me for the first time in my 25,000 years of existence. Your very name brings uncontrollable anger to me, one that has been smoldering inside me since you escaped me beyond the ancient wall of protodermis long ago.” “What do you plan to do to us, then?” asked Nastan in a slightly breathless voice. “Kill us?” “Oh, not just yet,” said the shadowed entity. Akuna did not like that the entity did not have any apparent physical form. It just made him all the more dangerous. “Because of the illusion I have trapped you in, you will simply run on and on forever and ever, until your legs break and your lungs burst into a million little pieces. And I will simply watch you die, one by one. I noticed that the Toa of Sonics died back there; soon, you shall join him in the afterlife.” “Well, if this is an illusion, we can just break it if we try hard enough, couldn’t we?” asked Barilo. “All we got to do is-“ “I would like to see you try,” the shadowed entity laughed. “Your weak Toa minds are incapable of breaking this illusion. Even if you somehow manage to do, I will simply kill you anyway. You have no way to fight me. You shall all simply die here, from the powers of my superior mental abilities, just as I was instructed to do.” “What, too frightened to actually fight us?” asked Addis aggressively. “Before you were okay with attacking rookie Toa, but now you’re just happy to see us run until we can’t run anymore? No wonder I was starting to forget about you; you’re utterly pathetic.” The shadows around them seemed to bristle with anger as the entity said, “Do not test my temper, Toa Addis. I was designed specifically to deal with intruders like you. Besides, why waste my energy killing you myself when I can simply make you kill yourself?” “And then what, shadow spit?” said Addis in a mocking tone. “Have your Dark Hunter masters come and drag our corpses away, or will they simply keep them here until they rot, leaving you to tolerate the stench?” “Quiet, Toa, or I will-“ “Or you’ll what?” Addis taunted. “Curse us? Threaten us with empty threats? Admit it, ‘shadowed entity.’ You’re nothing more than shadow; no form, no substance, nothing. I don’t even know why I feared you before. Guess I was just intimidated by the darkness, wasn’t I? Well, I no longer am, after what we’ve all been through, so I’m not afraid of you anymore, either.” “I could kill you now, Toa, if I wished,” the shadowed entity said angrily. “And maybe I will, just to prove my point.” “I’m not afraid of death,” said Addis, without a hint of fear in his voice. “Nor am I afraid of the shadows anymore. I have . . . I have conquered my fear of the shadows after Wy . . . Wyoko . . .” His voice sounded ragged and weaker now; it was obvious the strain of running and speaking at the same time was getting to him. Akuna didn’t blame him. Her legs were beginning to feel like lead and her lungs felt close to exploding, just like the entity said. She glanced at Nastan, who looked just as worn out as she felt. Barilo and Chimoy both looked equally tired, Chimoy looking close to collapsing even. She knew it wouldn’t be long before at least one of them stopped and fell. Or can we stop, even if we fall unconscious? she wondered, despite her mind being too tired to do a lot of hard thinking. This illusion is so strong that I don’t think I’ll be able to keep running for long. We’ll just keep going and going, unless we stop him. Perhaps Addis will use his Suletu again? As though he were somehow reading her mind, a bolt of shadow lanced from out of the darkness and hit Addis squarely in the face, causing him to cry out in pain as his mask shattered into pieces, though he didn’t stop running. “Now I remember how you defeated me last time, Toa Addis,” the shadowed entity hissed. “And I won’t allow you to do it again. Now there is no escape. You are incapable of beating me. You could melt the walls, fry the dirt, or do whatever it is you Toa can do, but none of it will be any good. Your pathetic lives end here, Toa Shika. My masters will be plea- ah! No! Stop!” The shadowed entity’s cry of pain caused the illusion to abruptly shatter and all five of the Toa Shika stopped running and fell to the ground in exhaustion. Akuna looked around, but did not know what was happening. The shadows were swirling all around them like water while shrieks of pain and anger came from every direction. Panting hard, she glanced at Nastan, who was lying on the ground in exhaustion and seemed to have lost consciousness. “Stop! What are you doing?” the shadowed entity screamed, so loud that Akuna had to cover her audio receptors to protect them. “Who do you think y-? Gah! This. . . . I can’t. . . . No. . . .” “Wh-what’s going on?” asked Barilo, who was on his hands and knees and panting hard. “I don’t-“ “No!” the shadowed entity bellowed loudly. “Get out of my- Stop it! No . . . I can’t . . . I won’t . . . die . . .” And with one last, prolonged shout of pure pain that was like a blast of cold wind, the cavern became as silent as the dead. The shadowed entity, it seemed, was gone. Akuna, however, could care less about what happened to him. Her mind was dazed, her body ached all over from the hard running she had done, and she was just about ready to fall asleep right here in this dark cave. She didn’t know or even cared who had saved them. She merely fell face forward onto the ground and into unconsciousness, though right before she fell asleep she thought that she had seen two beings silhouetted against the light shining from the exit. She didn’t know if they were friends or enemies; but it didn’t matter, for at that moment she fell fast asleep, as though someone had hit her hard on the back of her head with a heavy stone. Review Topic

Hi, everyone! I am pleased to finally announce the release date for my upcoming epic, In the End. Originally I said I'd post it sometime in early or mid 2014, but I have now set an official release date for it. Here it is: Monday, March 31st, 2014. Because I don't want to be posting In the End alongside The Shika Trilogy Omnibus, I have also decided to change the posting schedule for the Omnibus. I will be posting one chapter a day every day for the rest of this month, starting today (as soon as I finish writing this blog post, actually). This works out because the final epic in the Omnibus, An Unlikely Alliance, has 30 chapters (plus an epilogue), so unless something goes wrong, I should have the entire epic posted by the end of this month. I also hope to post at least one more blog post in the Looking Back series before the month is over, but no promises. That's all for now, so see ya, -TNTOS-

Welcome to the herd blogs, fishers . Don't expect to have lots of fun here, though, because this is the boring part of BZP. Nothing interesting or controversial ever happens here. Ever. Just a heads up . -TNTOS-

Thank you for the positive review, Baltarc. At least someone here recognizes good literature when he sees it. -TNTOS-

I am pleased to hear that this work of ours touched the lives of at least a few people. That is what great literature strives to do, after all, and seeing as this is the greatest Bionicle fanfic ever written, it is obvious that it would inevitably succeed in that endeavor. I've known english teachers that would burn this out of pure ethical outrage. Your English teachers know nothing about English or literature, then. This work is clearly ahead of its time and anyone who fails to appreciate its genius is either incapable of appreciating great art or doesn't know how to read. There is no in between. That is what we in the world of literature call "artistic license." When you understand that, then you will truly understand why BIONICLE: TALE OF THE MATOA is the greatest Bionicle fanfic ever written. -TNTOS-

Epilogue Nonzra’s dead body just lay there, stiff and cold as the snow of the mountains of Wyoko, with no life inhabiting it anymore. Barilo wasn’t looking at anything else but the lifeless carcass that was lying before him. It was as if time itself had frozen as he considered the fact that he had been confronted with death of a close friend for the very first time in his life. Oh, yes, on Shika Nui he had seen countless disobedient Matoran killed by the Dark Hunters, and in Wyoko he had killed Jero and seen Teivel die, as well as other Kra-Matoran in the final battle. But never before in his entire life had he ever encountered the death of a loved one, and he wasn’t sure how to take it, really. Beside him, he could hear Akuna sobbing into Nastan’s chest, and he could also hear Addis and Chimoy sobbing as well, surprisingly. And then, to his amazement, he began sobbing at the death of his friend, too, and he felt a little angry as well. Why did Nonzra have to be the one to die? Barilo thought angrily. Why hadn’t it been me? He should have lived, not me. He never killed anyone, and I’ve killed two people already. I’m not the one who should live, not me. He shook his head, however, and reminded himself, Get over it. He is dead. There’s no way to go back in time and redo it again. No need to blame yourself at all. Regardless of these thoughts he was having, he saw his tears hit the floor of the tunnel and for a while there he was both sad and mad, mostly at himself. And then he looked up and saw Addis bending down and taking Nonzra’s Kanohi Zatth off of the corpse’s face, a serious and grim expression on his face as he looked at the mask that he was clutching in his hands. Barilo could still see the tears in Addis’ bright red eyes, although the Toa of Plasma wasn’t sobbing anymore. “My team,” Addis said, looking around at them all seriously while trying to hold back the emotion in his voice, but he was failing for he had a slight quiver in his voice as he spoke. “Nonzra died a hero, and for that he will be remembered. He may not have done as much as some of us, but I must remind you all that, if he were still alive, he would not have liked to see us crying like babies about his death. He would have wanted us to continue on and remember his name in gratitude of his brave deeds. For that I will take his mask back with us to Shika Nui and later, once we free our home of the Dark Hunters, we will return for his body and give him a proper funeral to honor his life and his sacrifice.” Nastan and Akuna had stopped sobbing, but they were still in each other’s arms now, looking over at Addis. Chimoy was quiet again, too, but looking at Addis with sober eyes. “You’re right,” Nastan said, wiping the tears out of his eyes. “He would want us to continue on. I know he would. Once we return to Shika Nui, I say we give him the hero burial that he deserves!” “Yeah,” said Akuna, nodding and sniffling slightly at the same time. “I agree, a funeral is what he deserves.”’ “Yes, that is right,” Chimoy said quietly. “We should return to Shika Nui. No point in crying over him now that he is dead. It is disrespectable to his memory to do that, when he would have wanted us to continue on, regardless of what happened to him.” “Then let’s get going, guys,” Barilo said, now with a new tone of determination in his voice. “Onward to Shika Nui. . . . onward, I say, to freeing the Matoran of their 25,000 year old enslavement by the Dark Hunters!” The other four Toa Shika all agreed, and, after paying their respects to Nonzra for what they knew would be the last time for quite a while, they turned as a group back up to the surface with expressions of determination underneath their masks. Each one was ready and willing to take on whatever the Dark Hunters (which would be no doubt waiting for them at the end of the tunnel) had to throw at them, confident that whatever it was, they would be able to take it as a team. Yet, despite this feeling of renewed encouragement, Barilo couldn’t help but look over his shoulder at the unmoving corpse of Nonzra, and wonder, Will that be one of us next? Will one of us die, like Nonzra? It doesn’t seem like any of us are safe anymore. I used to think that since we took on a Makuta and won, that we would never get killed. But maybe we aren’t as invincible as I thought. If so, we’ll all have to be careful from now on. Even as they walked up to the surface, none of the Toa noticed a ghost-like hand scrawling one lone word into the ceiling of the cave, one that they would all know very well soon: Tuikas. Review Topic

Fixed. And noted. Good sir, what you are advocating is book burning, which is the worst crime against literature imaginable. You simply don't understand perfect art when you see it. Unfortunately, this is all we wrote of this amazing piece of literature. I think we planned to write more, but like most kids at that age, we quickly lost interest in it and sadly forgot about it. If we had written more, though, I definitely would have shared it here because it's the greatest Bionicle fanfic ever written and great literature DEMANDS to be shared with the world, even if the world doesn't want anything to do with it. -TNTOS-

Nine years ago, my brothers and I collaborated to write the single greatest Bionicle fanfic ever written. True, most of us didn't know how to write at the time and we had absolutely no experience writing any sort of fiction at all, but gosh darn it we didn't let those minor inconveniences get in the way of us writing the greatest Bionicle fanfic ever written (and yes, the italics are totally necessary. Why? Because it's the greatest Bionicle fanfic ever written that's why). You must understand that this is the greatest Bionicle fanfic ever written. It's a deep postmodern look into the 2004 story, with biting political satire and a daring experimental literary form. It's quite short, but I can assure you that this story will become an instant classic, beloved by all Bionicle fans and lovers of great literature (in fact, I believe that this fic alone will show LEGO why Bionicle should come back, but that's getting ahead of myself). Enough of my rambling. The only way to understand why this is the greatest Bionicle fanfic ever written is to read it yourself. Unfortunately, the original story was written on paper. Thankfully, I have the original copy on hand, so I shall faithfully reproduce it down to the last period and comma in this blog post. Read on: (WARNING: This is the greatest Bionicle fanfic ever written. If you are allergic to great literature and/or achieving enlightenment, then you may proceed.) (WARNING #2: The original story is written in ALL-CAPS. Therefore, in order to accurately convey the atmosphere of the original piece, I have transcribed the entire story with caps lock on. My apologies to your eyes.) BIONICLE: TALE OF THE MATOA CHAPTER ONE GATHERED FRIENDS, LISTEN TO A NEW CHAPTER OF THE BIONICLE IN THE TIME BEFORE TIME IN THE GLORIOUS CITY OF METRU-NUI, THERE WERE TWO MATORAN PO-TU AND LE-TU. PO-TU IS A PO-MATORAN LE-TU IS A LE-MATORAN. ONE DAY WHEN THE MATORAN WERE CALLED TO THE GREAT COLLISEUM THEY WITNESSED THE SIX TOA THAT PROVED THEMSELVES AS TOA TURAGA DUMA SAID THAT THEY WERE IMPOSTERS RESPONSIBLE FOR TOA LIKAHNS DEMISE ALL OF A SUDDEN THE MATORAN STARTED HATING THE TOA ALL EXCEPT FOR PO-TU AND LE-TU PO-TU THOUGHT UP AN IDEA. "WHAT IF WE BECOME TOA" HE SAID "THAT'S A GREAT IDEA" SAID LE-TU. SO THEY WENT BACK TO PO-METRU BECAUSE PO-MATORANS ARE BUILDERS PO-TU WORKED ALL DAY AND THEN FINALLY THESE NEW SUITS WERE FINISHED THEY BOTH PUT THEM ON AND THEN THEY BECAME THE MATOA. SO THEY ADVENTURED THROUGH METRU-NUI AND THEN THE TAXES AND GAS PRICES ROSE! SO THEY DECIDED TO LEAVE METRU-NUI SO THEY WENT NORTH AND SO LE-TU NOTICED SOME ICEBERGS AND IN THEM WERE FROSTELUS WHO BROKE OUT WHEN THEY SAW THEM THEY CAME TOWARD PO-TU AND LE-TU. "AHHH!" SAID PO-TU AND LE-TU THEN THE FROSTELUS DESTROYED THEIR BOAT THE LAST THING PO-TU SAW WAS LE-TU GOING DEEPER INTO THE WATER PO-TU AWOKE ON AN ISLAND HE GOT UP THIS IS WHERE I'M GOING TO STOP NARRATING SO PO-TU AND LE-TU CAN TALK PO-TU SAID: "WHAT IS THIS ISLAND?" "BEETS ME" SAID LE-TU WHO HAD ALSO WASHED UP ON SHORE ???: "YOU ARE ON THE ISLAND OF MECHA-NUI" BOTH TOA: "AHHH!" PO-TU: "WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU SMELL LIKE CHEETOES?" ???: "MY SNACKING PREFERENCES AREN'T IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW BUT WHAT IS IMPORTANT IS MY NAME I AM TURAGA MUH-KU" (INSERT CHOIR GOING "AAHHHHHH") I'M BACK AND I'M ALSO THE NARRATOR AND SO TURAGA MUH-KU SHOWS THE TOA AROUND THE ISLAND AND THEN THEY SEE A MATORAN PO-TU ASKED: "WHO IS THAT?" TURAGA MUH-KU: "THAT'S REE-REE" AND THEN THEY NOTICED ANOTHER MATORAN AND THIS TIME LE-TU ASKED WHO IT WAS "THAT'S FORREST" SAID TURAGA MUH-KU. FORREST: "HI" AND SO TURAGA MUH-KU TOLD THE STORY OF THE TATOOA HE TOLD THE TWO MA-TOA THAT THE TATOOA WAS A MEMBER OF THE BROTHERHOOD OF MAKUTA -TNTOS-

I remember this. Still as funny as always. -TNTOS-

Chapter 23: A Destiny Fulfilled, a Life Lost In the forest of shadow, a small Kra-Matoran quickly dashed out of his hiding place and into the camp, his eyes scanning the place for the Shodios. Once he spotted the five Toa, all of them huddled together and talking to one another, he dashed toward them and, bowing quickly, said, “Honorable, wise, and awesome Shodios, I have spotted the Toa Shika walking toward this very forest. They seem to have emerged from the lake, for they look very wet.” Teivel smiled a sort of twisted and evil smile that sent shivers up even the Kra-Matoran’s spine. “Good job, villager. If they have been swimming (although why they would I have no idea), surely they must be dead-tired and thus be easy targets. Gather the rest of the troops and hide them in strategic places to wait for the arrival of the Toa Shika. Then we strike as soon as they enter this clearing.” “Yes, Master Teivel,” said the soldier, solemnly bowing at the Toa of Shadow’s feet. “Today the Kra-Matoran Empire shall rise again!” With that note of pronouncement, the villager ran off and began congregating with the rest of the Matoran soldiers, helping them all clean up the camp so as to make it look like that they had never been there and showing them good places to hide, for this villager had lived in a village near the forest and therefore was knowledgeable about the wood and its many hiding places. While that was going on, Turaga Krashadi walked up to the five Shodios and told them, “I do not wish to hide. I will be out here to face them, which I know will throw them off guard. After all, if they see I, a feeble, old Turaga, is their only opponent that they must pass to get to The Door, surely they will become overconfident and cocky enough for your squad to finish them off?” “It sounds like a good idea,” said Jero, nodding. “But I do not expect the Shika to fall for it easily, however. They have had dealt with our treacherous dealings far too often not to be expecting a trap.” “And we can’t trust that you won’t kill them first,” Ira added. “We’ve all have been waiting for an equal chance to rip off their heads and mount them on poles outside of Castle Kra. If you kill them first, then it would rob us of a joy we’ve all been patiently awaiting.” Krashadi’s dark, black eyes flashed at Ira and when he next spoke, his voice sounded like that of an earthquake about to start. “Ira, my dear friend,” Krashadi began. “I understand your desire to eliminate the light spit, but they have already proven themselves more than capable of escaping our clutches without much effort. We will have to kill them efficiently and quickly. The downfall of many beings is their inability to simply kill their foes quickly, instead jabbering on about their secret plans or gloating over their triumph. That is a mistake we will not be repeating today, I can assure you of that.” He paused, and then added, “And you will attack on my signal, meaning when I begin my own attack, not before, and not after.” “Then let’s take positions already!” Rhatara said irritably. “If we stand around all day they’re going to see us and we’ll lose the element of surprise!” So the five Shodios quickly hide in the thick bushes and dark trees of the wood, none of them moving even slightly. Turaga Krashadi decided to stick with his original plan and stood right in the middle of the clearing, already preparing for his own assault. He would strike without mercy, and if he killed a few Kra-Matoran as a result, so what? Better a few Kra-Matoran die than have the entire population locked up again. - “So, what happened to the squid and Cracko anyway?” Nastan asked as the Toa Shika walked toward the forest. “I was unconscious and didn’t see what happened.” “I am eager to know as well,” Akuna said in agreement. “Barilo and I were under the shadow river at the time, saving Nastan, so we don’t know what happened.” “Well,” said Addis. “When you guys dove under for Nastan, the squid and Cracko’s fight started to get closer to us. We were afraid they might hit us, so Nonzra and I used our own elemental powers to keep them away. “The squid got burnt by my plasma and went back under the shadow again to get away from us, while the Crack could not take the super loud noise that came from Nonzra. It flew way back up and we never saw it again.” “Not as epic or awesome as I thought it was going to be,” Nastan said with a chuckle. But then he suddenly became serious and said, “Wait, Akuna. Did you say that Barilo actually helped you save me?” “Of course,” said Akuna, nodding. “In fact, had it not been for his lightening up your personal gravity, we probably would never have made it to the surface alive. But I helped light the way with my Ruru.” She added as an afterthought. Nastan seemed impressed by this and he asked Barilo, “You really risked your life to save mine?” “Yes,” said Barilo, nodding. “Does that mean we’re friends again?” Nastan paused, as if thinking. For a minute Barilo feared that Nastan would say no, but then the Toa of The Green smiled and said, “I guess you’ve earned my trust again, since I think saving my life counts for that. Unless you really just wanted to be the one to kill me and didn’t want to get beaten by shadow or water or whatever that stuff was.” He added with a sly smile. The six Toa laughed, but it was short, for Addis quickly shushed them up, saying, “I just saw a Kra-Matoran run into the forest. Coincidence? I think not. Methinks the Shodios are waiting in there for us and that Matoran was probably their watch dog to tell them when we were coming.” “They always seem to be one step ahead of us, don’t they?” Nastan asked. “Not necessarily,” said Chimoy, shaking his head. “If they were, we would be dead. Teivel and Jiki wouldn’t be dead and we wouldn’t have survived for as long as we have. Perhaps it is we who are one step ahead of them.” “Either that, or just plain dumb luck,” Nonzra added. “It comforts me to know that we can outsmart 100,000 year old Toa who’ve probably got loads more experience at this than we do,” Barilo said with a grin on his face. “Shhh!” Addis snapped. “The more we talk the more we let ourselves known! We need a plan if we’re going to enter the forest without getting caught.” “What kind of plan?” Nastan asked. “Does it involve running headlong straight into the trap with nothing but our weapons and armor?” “No,” said Addis, shaking his head. “I’ve already thought a plan up. Here it is. . . .” - Turaga Krashadi, despite being a patient Turaga, had to admit he was getting rather impatient at the moment. The Toa Shika hadn’t arrived yet for some reason, even though the scout had clearly reported that they were on their way here. He knew that they should have been here by now. Had they stopped to make a plan of action? They may have seen the scout who had been posted at the edge of the forest, although he hoped that they didn’t. If they did, that would mean that they would need a new plan to take them down. Get a hold of yourself, Krashadi, he told himself. The Toa Shika can’t have any sort of plan. They do not know we are here, and by the time they do, they will be dead. It is nothing to worry about. Suddenly, he heard the soft sound of crunching leaves, indicating that someone was walking up the path. He braced himself for battle, but then saw to his disappointment (and confusion) that only one Toa entered the clearing. It was Barilo, who had his axe drawn and was looking grim, yet also determined at the same time. “Barilo!” Krashadi said in a mock-excitement. “Come to leave Wyoko, have you? Where are you friends? Did they abandon you?” “You know they haven’t,” Barilo snapped. “Your scout saw us on the way here.” “Then where are they?” Krashadi demanded, his body now glowing an extremely dark shadow of black. “It will be quite boring to dispose of just one Toa instead of six, you know . . . “ Barilo noticed that Krashadi’s body was glowing strangely black and his voice was getting darker and heavier. In fact, it seemed as though the shadow of the area was being sucked straight into the Turaga of Shadow’s body, but Barilo took a step forward just the same, with a determined expression on his face. Yet he was also wondering what Krashadi was doing, since normal Turaga can’t do that. Was he going Nova, like Teivel had back in the volcano? Don’t lose your cool, Barilo, the Toa of Gravity thought calmly. Remember the plan! “Today, Toa Shika, you shall face the wrath of the true shadow!” Turaga Krashadi bellowed as he disappeared in a ball of shadow. “Now my Shodios and Kra-Matoran . . . Attack!” Just like that, 50 Kra-Matoran plus five Shodios seemingly popped into existence from the trees, hurling bolts of shadow and spears at Barilo. There was no way Barilo would be able to dodge the attack, and the Shodios, Kra-Matoran, and Krashadi were perfectly aware of it. Yet despite knowing that, Barilo was merely calmly standing around as if he wasn’t getting attacked by over 50 soldiers and was merely enjoying the breeze. The reason for his calmness appeared just as quickly as the Shodios had. A huge, thick wall of protosteel shot up around Barilo, blocking the projectiles easily. Then lightning bolts and plasma balls began to strike the ground, Krashadi (though he merely absorbed the hits), and the Kra-Matoran and the Shodios, who all began to try and get out of the way of the sudden attacks. “What’s going on?” Teivel shouted angrily as a lightning bolt nearly fried him. “Up there!” Rhatara bellowed, pointing up at the sky. Several hundred feet above them, Akuna and Addis, riding on a Cracko, were shooting blasts of lightning and plasma furiously, while Chimoy was hovering near them, using his power over metal to weaken the weapons and armor of the Kra-Matoran, which was working perfectly because of how old their equipment was. Turaga Krashadi, however, was ignoring them and slowly eating away at the huge protosteel wall that was protecting Barilo, but the Toa of Gravity managed to get himself out of the way by executing a superb jump, landing awesomely on the ground. As he landed, he used his power over gravity to uproot some of the large, old trees of the forest and hurl them into Krashadi’s true shadow, but they didn’t do anything except get absorbed by the transformed Turaga. Meanwhile, during the chaos of having their armor and weapons disintegrate before their eyes, along with the lightning and plasma falling from the sky, Tikcah and Rhatara had somehow managed to get out of the way of the attacks and were now shooting shadow at the three flying Toa, but were mostly missing because Addis, Akuna, and Chimoy kept flying out of the way, although they broke Chimoy’s concentration so that their equipment would stop rotting. At that moment, Nastan suddenly appeared atop one of the trees and then reached out with his power over plant life to make several tree branches extend from their usual length and capture many of the Kra-Matoran tightly in their grasp, causing the villagers to drop their weapons in shock. What should have been a quick ambush had suddenly turned into the most violent battle in the history of Wyoko. Shadow, lightning, and plasma bolts flew every which way, trees squeezed villagers, a giant ball of shadow was absorbing everything in its path, including Matoran, and to add to all of this it was extremely dark out as well. As much as Teivel wanted to keep fighting, he knew this must be a distraction of some kind, for all of the Toa Shika was moving toward The Door, although if you hadn’t been paying attention (unlike himself) you wouldn’t have been able to tell. Taking precious cover behind a tree, he counted only five Toa. Where was the sixth, Toa Nonzra? That question was answered when, amid all of the fighting and explosions, he saw Nonzra, the sixth Toa, sneaking through the shadows toward The Door. Hmm, seems like we’re not the only ones who do the sneaking around, Teivel thought. And then another thought struck him like the lightning bolts of Akuna. He’s going to open The Door for the rest of the light spit! It makes sense! While the other Toa Shika distract us, he is silently sneaking toward The Door, and once he’s reached it everyone else will abandon whatever it is they are doing and rejoin him! What fools we’ve been taken for! I must stop him, no matter the cost. He drew his shadow blade, which looked heavily melted from the lava but still strong enough to stab through the armor of a Toa, and he began to advance on the Toa of Sonics, raising his blade higher and higher as he tried to dodge all of the fighting. Barilo was slamming trees, rocks, dirt, dropped weapons, and anything he else could find into the true shadow, but none of it was working. It was absorbing everything and he didn’t have any new ideas to use against Krashadi. This guy’s a monster! Barilo thought as he backed up against a tree. He’s like acid, destroying everything that goes in him without mercy! What the Karzahni should I do? As it turned out, his friends were also beginning to pull back. Now the that the initial shock of the surprise attack by the Toa Shika had worn off, the Shodios and the Kra-Matoran that hadn’t been eaten by Krashadi’s true shadow were regrouping and mounting attacks, particularly on Akuna, Addis, and Chimoy, who were still flying in midair. The Cracko that had been summoned by Nonzra’s Kanohi Zatth was beginning to tire as well and wasn’t moving nearly as swiftly or quickly as it usually did. Nastan, however, was still doing fairly well, taking advantage of his power over plant life to capture their enemies, although the Shodios and Kra-Matoran were starting to get smart and were beginning to dodge or destroy any trees that came in their way (although Barilo noticed Jero get caught by one from behind and squeezed into unconsciousness). Nonzra was at his position, though, Barilo noticed. He was standing in front of The Door, trying to pull it open. The original plan had at first been that they would attack the Shodios and scatter them and then in the confusion of the battle they would all regroup and help Nonzra get through The Door. Now, it seemed, with the Shodios and Kra-Matoran recovering and with Turaga Krashadi’s new form that came absolutely out of nowhere destroying everything in its path, they would have to make a new plan or they would all die. Maybe one of them should go Nova and hope to stop the Shodios? No, too risky, Barilo thought as he quickly jumped out of the true shadow as it shot a beam of darkness at him, destroying the tree that he had been standing in front. Could kill us all, especially if Addis has to be the one to do it. But another new thought had entered his head at that moment, a new, creative thought: Should he try to use his gravity powers and lighten or increase the gravity of Krashadi? It might work and it was most certainly worth a try, but at the same time he was hesitant. Krashadi had turned into pure shadow; what if he didn’t have gravity? After all, shadow has no weight or anything like that. For all he knew it would be futile effort. Better a futile effort than no effort at all, Barilo thought as he dodged another attack by the transformed Turaga of Shadow. The Toa of Gravity landed on his feet and turned around to look at the ball of shadow, which was moving toward him very slowly but threateningly. He took a deep breath and concentrated really hard on Krashadi. Please let this work . . . he thought as he aimed to make Krashadi as light as a feather. The true shadow stopped for a minute, as if feeling too tired to move, but then it tried to proceed further until it realized it could not move any further at all. In fact, it noticed that it was actually flying up, higher and higher, faster and faster, until it was almost beyond the clouds. The strong, clever mind of Turaga Krashadi was panicking. Gravity wasn’t something he could fight. Gravity was not a physical force that could simply be absorbed or destroyed. It was a part of nature, a natural thing that no one could fight or control unless they were a Toa of Gravity, and he instantly knew that Barilo was behind this, but he couldn’t do anything about it. In fact, he was so shocked by being so high in the sky that he lost concentration and then the ball of shadow shrouding the Turaga disappeared instantly, revealing a tiny old man who was shaken and unconscious. Barilo managed to see it happen just in time, though, and then decreased Krashadi’s gravity, watching the elder sink slowly toward the ground until he was well-beyond the trees, which he had floated behind somehow. One down, Barilo thought triumphantly. Time to help the others. - The Cracko that Addis and Akuna were flying on got one of its wings shot off by an expertly aimed shot by Rhatara and it crashed into the trees, but fortunately Akuna and Addis managed to jump off before it made contact and the two Toa swiftly landed on the ground, hurling lightning and plasma at the Shodios and the few Kra-Matoran that were still alive. “Die, Toa!” Rhatara shouted as he threw his chain link around a tree. With a loud grunt he ripped the tree off of its roots and then tossed it at the two Toa. Addis melted it in half with a plasma ball, however, and the two parts went flying behind them and hit the two Kra-Matoran villagers that had been sneaking up behind them. “Nice,” Ira said in a sarcastic voice. “Try this!” She suddenly disappeared into thin air and for a minute Akuna wondered where she went until she heard the unsheathing of Ira’s knife and whirled around as the Toa of Shadow brought it down upon her. Akuna, however, managed to pull up her staff just in time and block the blow. But Ira was now moving incredibly fast and within a few minutes kicked Akuna very hard in the midsection, sending the Toa of Lightning falling down, moaning in pain. “Akuna!” Addis shouted, temporarily taking his eyes off of Rhatara and Tikcah to make sure she was all right. But those precious few seconds were all that the two Toa of Shadow needed to attack, for within minutes they shot off half a dozen shadow bolts and they all hit Addis, knocking the Toa of Plasma down, his red and brown form barely moving because of the pain. “I think it’s time to finish you annoying, idiotic Toa once and for all!” Rhatara shouted, whirling his chain over his head as he shouted those last few words. Addis managed to look up and saw the chain swinging toward him. He had no time to dodge it and he knew that once it hit him he would most likely die. So he closed his eyes and gave a quick prayer of hope that somehow the others would survive and defeat the Shodios . . . Suddenly, he heard the sound of something flying overhead and then he heard lots of shouting and then he heard a noise that sounded a lot like something exploding out of the ground and grabbing someone, plus a person’s shout of protest in reply. And then there was silence. He didn’t know what to do since he didn’t feel dead, so he decided to open his eyes and check things out to figure out what had delayed his inevitable death. When he finally opened his eyes, he saw Tikcah and Rhatara wrapped up tightly in some newly formed plants that seemed to have come from nowhere, and, judging by the expressions on their faces, both of the evil Toa were shocked by this sudden turn of events. The remaining Kra-Matoran soldiers had also been caught by plants as well and were struggling to get free, just as the Shodios were. He wondered where the plants had come from for a minute until he realized that Nastan was bending over Akuna, who was lying right next to him. The Toa of The Green had a look of worry in his eyes as he helped Akuna up “Are you okay?” Nastan asked, more to Akuna than to Addis. “A little dazed, but I’m fine,” said Akuna, quickly giving Nastan a big hug before letting go again. “Thanks for saving me, although I could have done it on my own.” She added slyly. “Right,” Nastan said with a slight smile on his face. Above, Chimoy dove down and landed next to Addis, helping the leader of the Toa Shika back up onto his feet. Addis thanked him, looked around quickly, and saw that Ira, too, had been captured by plants, and she, like Rhatara and Tikcah, was struggling to get free but having no success whatsoever. Addis noticed that Nastan was now looking over at the captured Shodios with an expression in his eyes that looked far too much like the one he wore back when he had been a Toa of Shadow, and when he next spoke to them he sound extremely angry. “So, you tried to kill my girlfriend, is that it?” said Nastan, his eyes glowing even brighter than before as he spoke, although it wasn’t a nice glow. “Yes,” Rhatara spat, still trying to get free. “And we would’ve killed you, too. Besides, these plants can’t hold us forever! We’ve gotten out of worse traps than these, and we’ll get out of this one, too!” “Agreed!” Tikcah shouted as she struggled. “For Teivel’s sake, the universe shall fall before us once again!” “No,” said Nastan, shaking his head. “I don’t think so.” With that, he held out his hand and forced the plants binding the Shodios to squeeze the three evil Toa so hard that they actually began to scream in pain. His eyes looked dark and hollow, as if he wasn’t aware of what he was doing, and he was wearing that same crazy grin that he used to wear as a Toa of Shadow. Akuna seemed to notice this, though, and was horrified by it. She grabbed Nastan’s arm and shook him roughly as she said, “Stop it! Stop killing them! Nastan! You’re better than this! You’re not evil anymore! Suppress your evil!” It was not clear if it was her pleas of protest or if shaking him did it or both, but either way Nastan suddenly sunk back into reality, and shook his head as if awaking from a daze. The plants had stopped squeezing Tikcah, Rhatara, and Ira now and they were unconscious, their heads hanging limply on their chests. Nastan, however, was still troubled by this and looked down at Akuna, with a terrified sort of look in his eyes as he said, “I looked a lot like I did when I was a Toa of Shadow, didn’t I?” “Yes,” Akuna said through an emotion-filled voice. “It was terrifying, especially since you seemed to have been enjoying it.” “Interesting, isn’t it?” a voice said from behind them. The four Toa whirled as one and saw, to their surprise, that Jero was now walking toward them with his claws raised high as shadow energy began swirling in his palms. “Despite the fact you are now ‘cured,’ you still have those same violent tendencies that you had as a Toa of Shadow. Which reminds me, how did you go back to normal anyway? I thought the process was irreversible!” “That’s none of your business, Jero,” said Nastan. “All I know is that I am no longer evil anymore and I will never again be like my old, evil side. He is gone forever.” Jero laughed a cold, insane laugh as he said, “Gone forever? I think not! You still have shadow in you, do you not? And as long as you have shadow, that evil, ill-tempered side of yours will always be there. He is waiting for just the right opportunity to reveal himself to the world again and bring more evil, chaos, and discord and disunity to all.” Nastan didn’t want to admit it, but Jero was right. Nastan might have been normal again, but he still could do evil, still could kill without mercy just as the Shodios could. Nastan admitted to himself that he still had a hard time fighting the evil shadow inside of him, the side that wants to kill, lie, and do all sorts of other bad things, and that even then parts of it leaked through in his speech and actions. So, instead of answering the Toa of Shadow, he merely glared at him, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he could torment Nastan by planting that thought into his head. “Now I’ve noticed that you’ve knocked out my brother and sisters,” said Jero, gesturing to the unconscious Rhatara, Tikcah, and Ira. “But you know what? I am not going to let any of your get me. I am charging up a shot so powerful that I calculate that once it hits you four it will kill you all instantly and painless . . . maybe. It will move so fast that none of you will get a chance to counter. So don’t try to move or anything. . . . “ Nastan noticed that one of the trees behind Jero was beginning to sway ever so slightly, so slowly and quietly that Jero did not hear it moving until he heard a loud crack and then, looking over his shoulder, he saw to his horror that a giant, 50-foot-tall tree was falling toward him so fast that he had no time to move out of the way. In mere seconds the large shrubbery landed on him with a sickening thud, and then there were no more traces of the sadistic Toa of Shadow except for the sounds of his screams of pain as they died out into the wind. “Who did that?” Akuna asked, slightly shaking. “Who killed him?” “Me,” answered Barilo, walking out from behind the tree. “I used my gravity powers to uproot the tree and then make it fall. I was the one who killed him.” Nastan stared at him with a sort of angry look in his eyes as he said, “Why’d you kill him? Toa don’t kill! He was just-!” “But Nastan, don’t you see?” Barilo asked as he walked over to his comrades. “There was nothing else I could do. He would have killed you guys in a second if I had tried any other way. Killing him was the only option, although that doesn’t mean I liked it. On the contrary, I feel just as bad about as the day I killed Iroko back on Shika Nui, and I felt very bad about that deed.” Nastan was still staring at him distrustfully, but he said, “Okay, I guess. I still trust you, Barilo, but I do not think you should be killing our enemies like that anymore. It reminds me too much of my shadow self, of the evil I used to be, even if I never actually killed anyone.” “Well, anyway, looks like the battle is over, doesn’t it?” Akuna asked, trying to veer away any sort of argument between Barilo and Nastan. She was right. The battlefield was empty of any fighting Matoran. Most of the villagers were dead, some killed by Addis and Akuna’s earlier attack, some by Krashadi’s true shadow form. Others were unconscious, knocked out by being captured by trees that Nastan had commanded, some knocked out by accidentally hitting each other. The trees were all melted or burned by the plasma and lightning of earlier. Some of them had been ripped off of their roots and quite a few were still burning ever so slightly, illuminating small areas under their glow, giving the place an eerie look that made Nastan feel uncomfortable. All in all, the place looked like a war had happened, with all of the dead bodies, burnt trees, and the scarred ground covering every inch of the place. The scene did not fill any of the Toa Shika with any sort of pride. They all felt equally frightened and sick of the place. But then Chimoy, who had looked over at The Door for a minute, gasped and said, “Teivel is about to kill Nonzra!” The five Toa all whirled around and saw, to their horror, that their friend really was about to be killed by the Teivel, who was now standing over him with his sword raised high, Nonzra clutching a wound in his stomach, looking as though he had been stabbed. Although it was a mystery to them all how in the world that Teivel was still alive when they knew that he had died in the eruption just a day ago, they had no choice but to go and rescue their comrade from the evil Toa. And that they did, running toward him with their weapons raised, yelling at the top of their lungs, ready for to defeat Teivel once and for all. - A few minutes earlier. . . . Nonzra blocked Teivel’s blow with his sword, but he was still surprised at the identity of his attacker. “Teivel? How did you survive the eruption of those mountains?” asked Nonzra. “Weren’t you killed? Did you come back as a ghost or something?” Teivel gave a cold, harsh laugh and said, “Could a ‘ghost’ do this?” With a single stroke of his sword he sliced the tips of Nonzra’s fingers off, causing the Toa of Sonics to drop his weapon, and then reared back and stabbed his blade into Nonzra’s stomach, causing the Toa to cry out in pain and fall over. He was huddled up on the ground now, his hands clutching his exposed stomach as blood bleed out. “Or this?” Teivel asked as he kicked Nonzra in the face. “I think not!” But suddenly, Teivel felt a large metal block hit him in the side and into The Door, making a loud clanging noise as his mutilated body made contact with it. Pain shot through his form as he looked up to see who had done it and saw, to his surprise, the other five Toa Shika walking toward him, weapons aimed at him. All of them looked angry at him, but he noticed that Chimoy was bent over Nonzra, apparently trying to make sure that he was okay. Looking behind the five standing figures he saw that Krashadi was nowhere to be seen, Tikcah, Ira, and Rhatara were all unconscious, all of the Kra-Matoran was either dead or unconscious like the other three Shodios, and underneath a fallen tree he saw something that looked remarkably like one of Jero’s arms. Teivel cracked a huge, ugly smile and said, “So, you managed to defeat Krashadi, all of us Shodios, and our 50 Kra-Matoran? And none of you got seriously wounded aside from your dying friend here? I am impressed. You six are just like the Toa Avha, never giving up even when the odds were totally against them.” “And the Toa Avha succeeded,” Nastan said with a grim look on his face as he stood up. “So will we. Now you either get out of the way or we’ll make you move!” Teivel laughed. “Oh really? And why should I move when I am so close to freedom that I can practically taste it? Even if you do destroy my body, heroes, I will simply reform as I did before. And then I will come back and open The Door, as I have already killed your friend, Nonzra.” “I am not dead,” Nonzra gasped, still clutching the wound in his stomach. “I . . . will help my friends lock The Door for good!” “But, Toa, are you so sure that you wish to return to Shika Nui?” Teivel asked in a voice that sounded much more like a growl that sounded oddly familiar to Barilo. “Why wouldn’t we?” Nastan asked defiantly. “Sure, the Dark Hunters are there, but if we managed to beat you guys, we will figure out how to beat them, too!” “I said that because, before I reformed my body, I was truly one with the shadows, barely what you would call ‘alive,’ but one with them nonetheless,” said Teivel. “And, before I recreated my body, I took a quick peek of Shika Nui, just to see my home one last time before killing you all. . . . And let me tell you, Toa, it is not pretty at all. “It is vile, almost as bad as this place, perhaps even more so in some cases. I saw that strange creatures are roaming your land now, Toa Shika, ones that not even I have seen before. Your island is a ruin of what it once was, of what it could be, and had I not been waiting 100,000 years for this moment, I wouldn’t want to return there. But I would rather take my chances with the creatures of your island, Toa, than live for 100,000 more years in this vile place!” With that, the Toa of Shadow seemingly-activated his Mask of Shape Shifting and suddenly a large beast stood where Teivel had been standing before. Now a hulking behemoth with dull, blue armor and hundreds of tiny, sharp-looking teeth in its large mouth stood before them and its endlessly black eyes focused upon them. It looked just as melted and dead as Teivel, but despite its mutilated appearance Barilo instantly recognized it from his dream. “The Graalo!” he shouted suddenly. “That is what the mysterious figure in my dream meant when he said ‘The Graalo is closer than you think’!” Then he stopped, as if suddenly realizing something. “Then . . . does that mean. . . .” The Graalo/Teivel laughed, which sounded like rocks being ground to dust. “Of course this is what I truly am, Barilo. Or, really, this is what I am now.” “What do you mean?” Barilo demanded, his axe drawn. “What I mean is, before I was exiled to Wyoko, I encountered a Graalo on the southern continent,” said the Graalo/Teivel. “I shape shifted into it, fought it, and killed it, but I discovered one secret ability that the monster had: The ability to transfer its physical appearance to shape shifters. “From then on, this Graalo has been my true form. My Toa form is now a shape shifted form, not truly my real form as it had been previously. I have to constantly keep my mask power on, or else I will end up as this creature forever. Somehow I knew that, but how, I cannot say for sure. Perhaps it is because I know how shape shifters work, how they discover their true forms. . . . And that is when I learned that I had changed into this Graalo forever. “Only Ira ever learned that I was really a Graalo and I forced her to keep it a secret. Even then, however, it had become too painful to stay in my Toa form for too long because my body yearns to be like that of a Graalo, like that of its true form. So I occasionally retreated to the Shahada Desert and turned into my Graalo form for a while.” His voice seemed to be slightly quivering, but he continued on just the same. “And now, Toa Shika, I shall eliminate you once and for all and become king of the universe once more!” He reared back and then jumped with surprising agility, aiming straight for Barilo! He was coming too fast, his claws were too long. There was no way that he could dodge Teivel and he knew that once the Graalo’s sharp claws made contact with his body it would kill him. . . . But then suddenly a large ball of plasma hit Teivel’s Graalo head in the side, melting his already disfigured face and making it look even worse. The attack was apparently strong enough to hit Teivel off course, because he slammed into a large gathering of burning trees, knocking them over onto him, crushing his body and setting it aflame. Barilo was breathing very hard and very fast now, and then looked over to see Addis, who was holding up his plasma cannon, which he had shot at Teivel. He had a scared, yet brave, look on his face as he watched the unmoving form of Teivel. Then the Graalo, despite being almost dead, lifted his head up and was, to Barilo’s horror, actually smiling, which looked extremely ugly on his mutilated face. “That attack may have killed me now, Addis, but you do realize that I will just come back, don’t you?” Teivel growled in the low voice of the Graalo. “That is the special power that Mata Nui gave me, a power which will bring me back as king of the universe some day!” “That may be so,” said Akuna. “But you’ll never escape this place. Ever. We’re going to lock The Door to the Light and even if you do come back, you will never be able to leave this place again!” “Then I will use my shadow abilities and leave this place!” The Graalo/Teivel shouted. “Watch, my enemies, and learn with an all encompassing fear as I leave this place for good!” With that, his head flopped in a dead way onto his side, the red eyes of Teivel showing no light in them. But suddenly, a being of shadow that looked remarkably like Teivel emerged from the Graalo’s body. It resembled a ghost similar to how Wanderer had looked, although it was completely and utterly black and it looked down upon the six startled Toa Shika with cold, dead eyes. “Today, the Kra-Matoran Empire shall rise once more!” Teivel shouted as he shot toward The Door to the Light. “No!” Barilo shouted, but he was too late. Teivel’s ghost laid one hand upon The Door and then grinned triumphantly. But the grin only lasted for a few seconds, for a huge burst of light enveloped The Door and, by extension, Teivel’s now-horrified-looking ghost. The Door glowed so brightly that it became impossible to see it or Teivel’s ghost. However, they all heard Teivel’s loud, long, and painful-sounding screams coming from somewhere in the all-consuming light. When the light finally passed, there was no trace of Teivel. Only The Door remained now, and it looked just as normal as ever. The six Toa Shika merely looked at The Door in awe. None of them were celebrating. All of them looked at The Door to the Light with puzzled expressions on their faces, wondering what just happened. Akuna gathered the courage to voice her question, the one question that all of the Shika were thinking but were too afraid to ask: “Is he dead?” “Maybe,” Barilo said in a voice that was barely more than a whisper. “The light must’ve destroyed his spirit completely.” “But why?” Nonzra wondered, still clutching the wound in his stomach. “Why did The Door shine so brightly when Teivel’s ghost touched it?” “Perhaps . . . . Perhaps, whoever made this door, knew that Teivel could never truly die,” Chimoy said, but he sounded as though he were thinking it in his mind, rather than saying it out loud. “Maybe they knew that if Teivel were to accidentally die, he would realize that he could escape and somehow open The Door from the outside. Maybe they fueled it with light like that to destroy him if he attempted it. Maybe the light was so pure, and so good, that if a being’s spirit was full of evil and darkness like Teivel’s, it would destroy them totally. The reason it didn’t destroy him or the others prior to this, even though they’ve probably touched The Door several times over the years, was because they had their physical bodies to protect their spirits from total annihilation.” There was silence now as the other five Toa all reflected on Chimoy’s theory. It made sense, but none of them knew if they were glad to see their worst enemy’s spirit destroyed. What lay beyond death? What happened to spirits that got destroyed? Would any of them ever suffer such a horrific fate? Those hard questions and more all buzzed through their heads and none of them had the answers for any of them. Addis didn’t want to have to think over these questions, however. He had to deal with the now and then and the now was that they were merely inches away from leaving Wyoko forever. So he said, in a small, quiet sort of voice, “We ought to get going now. No point in staying here to wait for the other Shodios to wake up and get us, right?” The others quietly agreed, all of them secretly deciding that those questions were worth thinking about later, and then Chimoy helped Nonzra up to his feet, though the Toa of Sonics was still clutching his wound painfully. “Are you okay, Nonzra?” Akuna asked in a concerned tone. “Yes,” said Nonzra, though he didn’t sound okay. “I think I can make it past The Door all right.” “Then let’s get going,” said Addis. “Chimoy, open The Door.” Nodding, the Toa of Iron raised one hand, concentrating his power over metals on The Door, and then the large protosteel door gradually creaked open until the black, lightless tunnel that lead up to Shika Nui was revealed. And then the six Toa Shika, taking one last look at the land of Wyoko behind them, moved as one beyond The Door even as Chimoy closed it. They had finally left Wyoko, this land of shadow, and although they had only been inside of it for less than a week, it had felt likes years to them, and now they were truly going home. Finally, they crossed the threshold into the dark tunnel and The Door closed behind them with a loud bang. And then they turned as one, all six of the Toa Shika raised their hands and shot off narrow beams of each of their respective elements at the same time at the barrier that lead into the land of the exiled, Wyoko. Lightning, plasma, sound, plant life, iron, and gravity energy all sped toward The Door to The Light. As they flew, straight and true, to the very middle of the enormous gateway, they met at the same point and were all transformed one beam of solid protodermis that hit The Door. And when it collided with the barrier, protodermis, pure and strong, instantly began icing over The Door like ice on a wet tree in the middle of winter. In minutes, the entirety of The Door was covered and a Toa Seal appeared over it to finish it off as they heard a loud clicking sound that signified the locking of The Door. For the second time in 100,000 years, Wyoko was sealed away, a true disaster, averted by six brave heroes who did not want history to repeat itself. The Toa all dropped their fists and were now panting, since that one act had taken a lot of skill and power out of them. But once the reality of it sunk in, that Wyoko was locked up and that the Shodios and Kra-Matoran weren’t going to be terrorizing the universe again, almost all of them broke into grins and began cheering and laughing. They had gone to Wyoko and survived! They had entered what might have been the worst threat to the universe and had survived! Now they were to return to their home at last, this time returning as true heroes. They were willing to take on all of the Dark Hunters now, even if they died as a result. And yet, not everything for the assembled Toa Shika was cheerful. Nonzra, who had been looking very weak since Teivel had stabbed him, immediately fell to his knees and began coughing up blood. Shocked, the other five Toa ran over to try and help him up, but he waved them off, saying, “It’s no use. Don’t waste your time on me.” “Nonzra, you can’t die!” Chimoy shouted. “You can’t!” “It’s happening, Chimoy,” Nonzra coughed as he lowered himself onto his back. “Teivel’s blow had been fatal. I am going to die, right here and now, and I will never see Shika Nui again. . . .” “Don’t talk like that, Nonzra!” said Nastan, the fear in his voice evident. “You went through too much not to be able to come back with us!” “Sorry, guys,” said Nonzra, his voice becoming so low that they had to strain to hear him. He gave them a weak smile and said, “I’ve had a lot of fun with you guys. Being a Toa was amazing, and I understand why Nastan likes it so much.” He coughed again, but continued on as if he were struggling to cling to the last drops of his life to deliver these last few words. “But my time in this world has come and gone. I may not have been the most philosophical guy while I lived, but even I understand that something great awaits me beyond death. I do not know what it is, but I am prepared to meet it head on, whatever it is.” He coughed once more and then finally said, “Tell Jokao and Joha that I said good bye. . . .” And with that last breath, Toa Shika Nonzra, Toa Shika of Sonics, good friend of Chimoy and of the rest of the Toa Shika, gave one last cough and died, his heartlight fading away slowly until it was completely colorless. The five remaining Toa Shika still stood there, looking down at his dead, cold body, and then they all realized that they had not only lost a teammate, but also a good, devout (if a little snarky at times) friend. Review

Chapter 22: Going Down the River of Shadow Akuna was having difficulties moving her oar because of its weight. She had to lift it up, turn it around, and then pull it back to keep it going at the same speed as the rest of the oars, although she could tell that her friends were having an equally hard time moving theirs. The bottom of the ship where the oars were was quite large. It looked like it could hold at least twenty Kra-Matoran villagers, all of whom were supposed to row the oars. But since it was just these four Toa with only their raw strength to move it they found that they had a hard time getting it moving, since the oars seemed to weigh about a ton each and the ship seemed even heavier. Still, they were making progress at least, and that was what mattered most to her. As long as they kept rowing the oars and as long as Barilo and Nastan kept a watch out for any Kra-Matoran, she was sure that they would be getting out of Wyoko very soon. A new thought popped into her bran as she rowed her oar. Why did Addis put Nastan and Barilo on the surface? Doesn’t he know how distrustful Nastan is of Barilo? she thought as she rowed. Maybe he is trying to get Nastan to trust Barilo so we will have true unity. After all, they do have a major trust issue going on and they will have some alone time up there so they can talk it over, hopefully. They had been rowing the ship for hours upon hours, with Nastan or Barilo occasionally coming down to give a report on where they were headed. They had already gone down several forks in the river, each way directed by Nastan or Barilo so that they would be heading toward The Door, which seemed to be getting closer according to the two watchers. It seemed to Akuna that there weren’t any villages near the river, otherwise Barilo and Nastan would have told them. So perhaps that meant that they would get to The Door with little to no mishaps, which was a relief to Akuna. She didn’t want to have to fight any villagers on their way to The Door because she wasn’t so sure that they could win, especially if they had to fight on the river. Suddenly, the ship lurched sharply to the left, then to the right, and then to the left again. Akuna and the others tried to keep it steady, but it kept shifting itself all of the time and they had no way to stop it at all. Addis gave up try and looked over his shoulder at his three friends and he said, “Okay, who’s rocking the boat?” All of them shrugged, indicating that they weren’t doing anything and that they hadn’t a clear idea of what was happening, either. “Maybe we got caught in a current,” Nonzra suggested. “I hope not,” Addis replied as the ship lurch again, this time more aggressively than before. “It may have swept us off course toward The Door.” All of a sudden, they felt something brush against the side of The Endless Shade and then the wall burst open as a giant squid tentacle and water-like shadow came gushing in, causing the four Toa Shika to get knocked off their feet, and the next thing that Akuna knew she saw the squid tentacle coming toward them menacingly, ready to kill them all. “That is what caused the shifting, Addis,” Nonzra said as he looked at the appendage in surprise and fear. - A few minutes ago. . . . Nastan and Barilo were sitting on deck, looking over the dirty, run-down ship and over to the shoreline, where they didn’t even see so much as a Rahi walking along it. Why weren’t there any villages or animals? They could see roads, but none of them had any Kra-Matoran traveling them. Ah well, Nastan thought as he watched. Better to have no Kra-Matoran than a hundred, eh? Both of the two Toa had been quiet the entire time, barely speaking to each other. Nastan was feeling rather angry at Addis for pairing him up with Barilo and Barilo didn’t particularly like Nastan, either. Occasionally they went down below deck to tell the others the progress of their journey but other than that they tried to keep out of sight as much as possible in order to avoid being detected by any Kra-Matoran. In the distance they could see The Door coming closer and closer as The Endless Shade sailed smoothly over the surface of the dark river. They were getting closer, and that was what mattered most to Nastan at the moment rather than some personal grudge that he had against Barilo. No, it’s not a just ‘some’ personal grudge against Barilo, Nastan thought. It’s a real issue, one that I honestly am thinking we’ll have to deal with eventually. He remembered his little talk with Akuna about his trust issues with Barilo, but he wasn’t so sure that he was ready to talk with Barilo. After all, the Toa of Gravity tried to kill him once before and what if he tried it again when Nastan tried to talk to him? So he simply sat there and listened to the sound of the river rushing by him. Barilo looked a little uncomfortable, too, and didn’t seem to want to talk. But then suddenly, he said, “So. . . . How’s life been treating you?” “Horribly, I guess,” Nastan replied. “Can’t say I like being stuck down here in this weird place, but hey, at least Akuna is with me, so I’ll be okay.” There was silence again and then Barilo said, “Nastan, I don’t think we should keep dodging the issue.” “What issue?” asked Nastan, though he thought he already knew. “The trust issue,” said Barilo. “If we’re going to be working together from now on, we have to trust each other.” Nastan seemed slightly surprised by this, but he answered anyway, saying, “Well, to be frank, Barilo, I don’t trust you as much as the others and I don’t know if I can trust you. I mean, I trust you over the Shodios, certainly, but among us, well, I just don’t feel comfortable around you because of what you tried to do to me in the past. It’s hard to trust someone who almost killed you, you know?” “I understand,” said Barilo, nodding. “I would lose trust in a person, too, if he tried to kill me.” He paused, as if lost in thought, then said, “Well, how can I earn your trust? I realize the mistake of what I did in the past and now I want to rectify it. I just want to trust all of my teammates and since you’re on the same team as I, I think that we should trust each other, you know?” Nastan was surprised. Barilo really wanted his trust? That seemed an odd thing for Nastan to hear him say. But then, Nastan thought, maybe Barilo really had seen his mistakes and really wanted to become friends with Nastan again. But something inside the Toa of The Green was holding back that forgiveness for some reason. What if it were all a trick? He knew just how ridiculous and paranoid that would have sounded to anyone else, but he knew that Barilo was certainly capable of fooling others. “I don’t know,” Nastan said slowly. “I mean, I don’t know what you should do to regain my trust. Save my life, maybe? It isn’t easy to mend one’s wounds so easily just by saying ‘I forgive you.’ “ “So there isn’t a way to regain your trust?” Barilo asked, sounding slightly disappointed. “Why can’t we just be friends?” “Because, Barilo, when someone tries to kill you, you don’t usually forgive them just like that.” Nastan snapped his fingers. “It isn’t something you forget easily.” “Oh, okay,” said Barilo. “I understand.” Although he didn’t seem to really understand it at all in Nastan’s opinion. All of a sudden, however, the ship lurched to the left, then to the right, and then to the left again. Barilo stomped his foot on the ground and shouted, “Hey! What’s going on down there? Are you guys trying to throw us off or something?” He heard no answer. Instead, there were a few more abrupt shifts and then they heard a loud crashing noise like someone had burst through a wall and then they heard a loud scream. Nastan recognized the scream as Akuna’s, and it sounded horrified. “What’s wrong?” asked Barilo, looking at Nastan with a worried face. “Was that Akuna who screamed?” “Think so,” Nastan replied, jumping to his feet and running to the lower deck. Just as he got to the door, it burst open and the other four Toa came running out of it, their armor drenched in shadow, followed by what sounded like a crashing sound below. Addis, Akuna, Chimoy, and Nonzra looked like they had just been swimming, for they were wet and were panting hard but had their weapons out just the same. “What happened?” asked Nastan. “Why are you guys wet?” “Giant squid,” Addis answered. “Attacked us. Nearly killed us all. . . .” “Giant squid?” Barilo repeated, walking over to them, his gravity axe out. “You’re sure?” “Positive,” Akuna replied, now standing up straight as a rod. “It broke through the hull and is now going after us. We barely got out in time!” Just as she said that, several giant tentacles shot out from the shadow around them, surrounding the ship immediately. Nastan drew his bow and shot off several arrows into one of the tentacles, each one hitting on target because he was using the power of his Kanohi Sanok, the Mask of Accuracy. That tentacle went down back into the shadow, but just as it did that, a giant beak broke through the floor of the ship, breaking The Endless Shade into hundreds of pieces, sending all six of the Toa Shika flying into different directions. Barilo landed on the shadow and floated there for a bit before the squid reached out with a tentacle and grabbed him, holding the Toa of Gravity high above the river. Barilo was hitting his axe against the squid’s tentacle, but it kept bouncing off its soft, squishy surface, although he saw that it was still doing some damage. He could see the squid looking at him with one of its evil red eyes, a sort of hunger in its gaze. In the river itself, the rest of the Toa Shika were trying to fight and swim at the same time, but were having no luck. Addis was trying to fire plasma balls but kept missing and instead they went into the shadow, while Chimoy and Nonzra had been captured by the squid like Barilo had been and were attacking the tentacles, trying to cut them off. Akuna and Nastan, meanwhile, were both holding onto a large piece of debris, shooting lightning bolts and plant life at any tentacles that came too close. “How are we going to get out of this one?” Nastan asked as he used his powers to create a thick vine around one of the tentacles, causing it to start flailing around in order to get the tight plant off. “It’s got more tentacles than we have Toa!” “Maybe I should electrocute the shadow, see if it will get knocked out,” Akuna suggested as she expertly stabbed an appendage with the sharp point of her staff. “Akuna, the idea is good, but you might hurt the others,” Nastan replied as he hit one of the tentacles with a well-aimed punch. “Also, you shouldn’t worry about knocking it out. If we’re going to survive we’re going to need to kill it, at least.” “But isn’t it in the Toa code not to kill our enemies?” “Yeah, but Rahi are the exception,” Nastan answered. “Although I admit, being a Toa of The Green, the idea of killing an animal, even if it tried to kill us first, seems a little disgusting to me.” “But you are right,” Akuna said as she shot another lightning bolt at a tentacle. “I may need to kill it, although I don’t know how I can do that without hurting the others.” “Just shot it in the eye,” Nastan said, temporarily letting his guard down. Because he wasn’t paying attention, a tentacle shot forward and smashed into the Toa’s mask, knocking him out and sending him falling deep beneath the shadow. “Nastan!” Akuna shouted worriedly just as a tentacle wrapped itself around her body and lifted her out of the water. “Nastan! Don’t be dead! Nastan!” - The Door to The Light was an ancient relic, said to have been designed and crafted by Artakha himself. It was made out of extremely thick protosteel and was the only thing that was keeping the Shodios, Turaga Krashadi, and the entirety of the Kra-Matoran Empire from escaping and restarting their conquest of the universe. It was a sight universally hated by all Kra-Matoran, yet also revered as well, for no one had been able to destroy it at all during the 100,000 years that they had been in Wyoko. Even when all of the Shodios had teamed up and used their powers as one upon The Door, its Toa Seal that had been created by the Toa Avha had merely deflected the attack. Now it was open for the first time in over 100,000 years, although the Shodios weren’t going to leave just yet, despite the fact that they were all there in the forest of shadow that surrounded the place. Instead, they were waiting for the Toa Shika to arrive, planning to kill the six Toa once they appeared there. They were not alone. With them were at least 50 well-armed Kra-Matoran and Turaga Krashadi, too. No one thought it odd that a Turaga wanted to participate in what was sure to be a quick and bloody battle, for Krashadi always got what he wanted. Currently that Turaga was examining The Door, his hand upon its cold, hard, old and smooth surface. He had seen it many times in the past, yet now it looked new to him, since it was open now, but it still emitted that strangely electric blue light that always reminded him where to look for The Door whenever he needed it. I sincerely hope that the Toa Shika get here soon, Krashadi thought as he ran his hand along its metallic surface. I have waited 100,000 years, maybe even more, for this day when I would be free. If those pathetic Toa are going to dwindle and never arrive, then I will personally hunt them down. Nearby, Teivel was leaning up against a tree, his mutilated eyes closed. None of the Kra-Matoran soldiers were near him, for they thought he looked weird and scary and so therefore they didn’t want to bother him, even after they had heard the explanation as to why he looked the way he did now. Tikcah and Ira were sitting nearby, talking to each other, though it wasn’t very loud and it didn’t sound interesting whatever it was they were conversing about, though Tikcah kept shooting worried glances over to Teivel for some reason. Rhatara had his chain length out and was casually waving it in the air, although he looked quite impatient and mad. Jero, meanwhile, was sitting up against a tree, apparently studying some notes. All of the 50 Kra-Matoran that they had brought with them were talking, comparing weapons, and tending to their Rahi that they had brought with them. The tone of the forest was one of excitement and seriousness, for they were all excited for the chance to be some of the first to leave Wyoko forever, but they also knew that they had to be quiet so the Toa Shika wouldn’t hear them if they were nearby. Yes, it was true. Krashadi and the remaining Shodios had already decided that, after they killed the Toa Shika (which they were sure would be a quick battle), they would take this group of Kra-Matoran and leave Wyoko at once and secure Shika Nui. After that they would send some messengers back to Wyoko, gather the remaining villagers, and then take them back to Shika Nui. Then their conquest of the universe would begin anew once they set up a fortress on the island and got some ships built. All we need now is for the Toa Shika to arrive, Turaga Krashadi thought. They will be the final piece to the plan, and once they are out of the way for good, no one in the known universe will be able to stop us. - Little did Krashadi know, however, that right now that the Toa Shika were all probably going to die at the tentacles of a beast. Addis didn’t think any of them would survive. Akuna, Nonzra, Chimoy, and Barilo were caught by the behemoth and trying and failing to get out of its grasp, while Nastan was unconscious at the bottom of the river somewhere. He himself was holding onto a piece of driftwood while viciously firing plasma everywhere to scare the squid’s tentacles off, but they were started to get braver and he was starter to get more tired and he didn’t know how much longer he could hold onto the debris and shoot plasma. It seems almost pointless, Addis thought tiredly. Practically all of my team is out of commission and I myself am almost ready to kick the bucket. Is this the end for us? Were we all destined to die at the hands of a giant, ugly squid? Even as such undesirable and miserable thoughts entered his mind, he suddenly saw, several hundred feet above him that something big was flying down from the dark sky of Wyoko. It was swooping so fast that it was almost a blur, but he thought he recognized it. A . . . Cracko? he thought, puzzled. Why’s a Cracko coming down here? Is it friends with the squid and wants to help it eat us? As it turned out, however, the Cracko wasn’t very interested in eating them. Instead, the giant bat-like creature began clawing and screeching at the squid with its sharp toes and wings and the squid, Addis forgotten, began to swat at it with its tentacles. The rest of its slimy appendages, the ones that had been attacking Addis, all quickly began trying to hit the Cracko, but the flying rodent was moving too fast for it to hit, frustrating the river monster even more, though it still wasn’t letting go of the other Toa. Now’s my chance! Addis thought, aiming his plasma cannon at the squid’s tentacles. He shot off four balls of plasma, each one striking one of the tentacles that held the other Toa, dropping his friends into the shadow and causing the squid to shriek with pain at the same time. He saw the rest of the Shika break the surface and begin swimming toward him and away from the frightening beasts that were beating the stuffing out of each other. “Nice shot, Addis,” Barilo said as he grabbed onto the same piece of flotsam as Addis. “Although it was really hot and I nearly got my mask melted off.” “Well, it’s good that you guys are still safe,” said Addis, nodding. “By the way, anyone have any idea why that Cracko suddenly decided it would be fun idea to pick a fight with a giant, hungry squid?” “That was me,” Nonzra replied, sharing a piece of wood with Chimoy. “Thought I’d use my Zatth and see what happened. Either that, or it was a stupid Cracko, though I’m betting that my mask had something to do with it.” “Did you go for Nastan?” Akuna asked, also sharing the same piece as Barilo and Addis. “He’s under the shadow you know!” “No, I didn’t,” Addis admitted. “I was more concerned for you guys-“ “Then I’m going after him,” Akuna replied, pulling out her staff. “And I’m going to rescue him.” “Akuna, no!” Barilo shouted, but the Toa of Lightning had already dived beneath the waves and was gone from view in seconds. “Mata Nui, what’s up with her?” “Love must make people act stupid,” said Nonzra. “She loves the guy and wants to save him, although it is a rather stupid thing for her to do in my opinion.” “No, it’s not stupid,” Chimoy said, shaking his head. “It’s what Toa are supposed to do. Not only do we save others, but we should save ourselves.” “Sounds like something Nastan would say,” Addis remarked. “But you’re right. Akuna may need help under there. Who wants to go and help her?” “I will,” Barilo volunteered. “Then go!” Addis barked, pointing at the shadow. “If the Cracko or squid try to get us we’ll let you know by having Nonzra send a wave of sound down, okay?” Nodding, Barilo took a deep breath and then dove under the shadow. It was a very black and dark world underneath the surface of the river. If he thought that Wyoko was the epitome of shadow, then he was wrong. This shadow made Wyoko look like the core of the universe it was so deep. He could not see more than an inch ahead of him and he had no idea where Akuna and Nastan might be. Worse yet, it really did feel like he was underwater, since he could see bubbles everywhere he moved his limbs and he could feel the cold creeping into his body. Please let Akuna have her mask on, Barilo thought hopefully as he swam. If she doesn’t then I won’t be able to find her or Nastan! It was also very cold under the river, almost cold enough to make him want to retreat, but he didn’t. Still, more than once he had to rise up and get a quick breath of air before continuing his seemingly-fruitless search. Finally, after what seemed like hours of swimming and searching, he saw a small point of light ahead, though he thought it was the most glorious and beautiful he had ever seen after having seen nothing but shadow and darkness everywhere for the last few minutes. So he picked up speed and swam faster, his eyes fixed on the light. He finally arrived at the light to find Akuna swimming a few feet above Nastan, who was unconscious. Akuna, despite being a strong Toa herself, was having a hard time lifting Nastan up, who seemed to have become nothing more than deadweight now. When Barilo swam into the light, Akuna first thought he was some kind of sea creature and tried to spear him with her staff until she recognized him. They could not talk, for if they did they would let shadow into their lungs and lose air and drown. So Barilo communicated with hand gestures to her until Akuna finally figured out what he was telling her what he was going to do. The Toa of Gravity grabbed Nastan’s other arm, while Akuna still clung to the other. Now it was time for Barilo’s plan. He activated his gravity powers and focused on Nastan, lightening his personal gravity until he began to float upwards very fast, but not fast enough. So he extended the field of light gravity to himself and Akuna until they were moving so fast that Barilo was afraid they might fly straight out of the shadow. Akuna was looking upward, her Mask of Night Vision still on. It was then that Barilo realized that he was beginning to run out of air and by the look on her face, Akuna was, too. He couldn’t decrease their gravity anymore and he wasn’t sure if they would make it up to the surface in time or if they would end up drowning. So he and Akuna began kicking their legs to increase the speed, although it was obvious that it wasn’t really helping much, if at all. But finally, just when Barilo had given up any hope of surviving, the three Toa broke the surface of the river of shadow and Barilo cut off his gravity power, allowing them to float gently on its surface. Akuna and Barilo were gulping for air, but he thought that they were both okay. He looked around wildly until he spotted Chimoy, Nonzra, and Addis swimming toward them, the squid and Cracko nowhere in sight. “Help us!” Akuna shouted, her voice sounding hoarse as she coughed out shadow. “We gotta get Nastan to the shore!” Nodding, the other three Toa quickly grabbed Nastan and the five Toa Shika began pulling the Toa of The Green to the shoreline until finally they reached it and hauled Nastan onto the sand, flopping him face up. He did not look good at all. “He’s not breathing!” Chimoy shouted. “Somebody needs to get air into his lungs now!” Without so much as volunteering, Akuna bent down and put her lips to Nastan’s, putting air into his mouth. Then she stopped and began pumping his chest very hard with her hands, hoping against hope that he was still alive. This went on for some time as the other Toa watched helplessly, hoping that Nastan was not dead. Finally, after several long minutes of Akuna pumping his chest and giving the Toa some more air, Nastan sputtered and coughed and Akuna pulled back, looking surprised that he had woken up so suddenly. He was coughing up shadow as if it was water and he was breathing very deeply. He opened his eyes but did not sit up. Instead, he looked around at them with a weak expression in his orbs. “What happened?” Nastan muttered in a hoarse voice. “Did I drown? Is this Paradise?” He looked around at the wet Toa, the debris of The Endless Shade out on the river, and at his own dented armor and then asked, “Why does Paradise look so much like Wyoko?” Akuna merely happily smiled at him, and then, for the second time in 24 hours, hugged him tightly although this time he hugged her back without hesitation. They were like this for while, until Addis, now feeling slightly impatient, said, “If you two are done, we’re very close to The Door now. We can probably walk the rest of the way there.” “Oh, yes,” Nastan said, quickly separating from Akuna and looking up at Addis. “Yes. Let’s do that. I am sick of seeing shadow and darkness and death everywhere, although I suppose it isn’t all bad. . . .” He looked at Akuna in the eyes as he said that. So the two lovers quickly got back up to their feet (Nastan had a hard time balancing properly because of how weak and tired his limbs were) and then they rejoined their fellow Toa and soon they were walking again, this time toward The Door, which was within walking distance as Addis had said. They could see the forest of shadow, sitting at the foot of The Door to The Light, the trees silently shaking in the cold wind. They all knew that they would be returning home very soon and that thought, more than any other, gave them the courage and strength and encouragement to keep going. What they did not know, however, was what was waiting in the very heart of the wood itself. The remaining five Shodios, Turaga Krashadi himself, and about 50 well-armed and well-trained Kra-Matoran were all awaiting the Toa Shikas’ eventually arrival, ready to kill them and restart their conquest of the universe as they had done 100,000 years ago. But even if the Toa had known that, they would still have confidently walked on to The Door anyway, preparing to meet their destiny. Review Topic

Chapter 21: The River of Shadow That night, sitting around a campfire (Nastan created some wood using his powers and they created a fire the old fashioned way when they realized that Addis’ plasma only melted, not burned, the wood) in a cave, the other five Toa Shika informed Nastan of all of the events that had taken place while the Toa had been evil. Once they had finished telling him, Nastan shook his head and said in a grim tone, “I was pretty bad, wasn’t I, wanting to murder everyone like that?” “Yes,” said Akuna, nodding. “You were practically unrecognizable. For a while I was afraid that you might even kill me!” Nastan did a double take and stared at her with big eyes. “Kill you? Why, even if I was the biggest, most evil being in the entire universe I would never so much as harm you!” “Well, you did want to kill me,” said Barilo. “I thought you had gotten over your dislike of me after we got here, but your shadow side apparently wanted to act upon those sour feelings of yours.” Nastan looked into the fire for a minute or two, thinking. Then he said, “Well, I must tell you, Barilo, I do still distrust you a little. I would not want to kill you, certainly, but I have a hard time trusting you after what you almost did to me back on Shika Nui.” There was an awkward silence as the six Toa Shika sat around the fire, all of them not knowing what they should say to that. Finally, Nastan spoke again, this time saying, “So this Wanderer girl. . . . Was she a good friend?” “She was all right,” said Nonzra. “A little feisty, spoke her mind most of the time, but she was overall okay.” “I wish I could have met her while I was in my right mind,” Nastan sighed. “She sounded really interesting. You don’t get to meet ghosts every day.” And once again there was silence. Then Nastan said, “I tried to kill other people, too?” “Uh huh,” said Chimoy, nodding. “You attempted to kill Jiki, or wanted to, at least. But the avalanche got her, you know, and now her body probably isn’t much more than a melted wreck.” “So now we only have four Shodios to deal with,” said Nastan, counting his fingers. “Plus Mata Nui knows how many Kra-Matoran, and Turaga Krashadi himself. I like our odds.” Barilo looked at him like he was crazy and Nastan looked back at him with a serious face until he broke into a grin and Barilo said, “I knew it.” For the first time in a while, the six Toa Shika all laughed. It was loud laughter, despite their attempts to stifle it. They were all letting out all of the tension that had been building in the last few days and after they finished laughing they all felt pretty good, joked a bit more, and then decided to go to sleep before it got too late in the night. “Well, good night, my friends,” Nastan said to them as he lay down. “See you all tomorrow.” After saying good night to each other, they all went to sleep. Nastan and Akuna slept next to each other, one of Nastan’s arms around Akuna’s body. Though it was several degrees warmer outside than it was before – thanks to the eruption of the volcano and the lava that now surrounded the mountains – neither of the two wished to be separated again after all that they had gone through in recent days ever again. - The next morning Addis opened his eyes into the darkness of Wyoko. He looked around. The fire had gone out, with small plumes of smoke coming from the burnt ashes of the wood. The other Toa were all still asleep and he could tell it was slightly lighter outside, meaning it was day time, and that the Toa Shika had to get moving if they were to get to The Door first. He sat up and shook his head. He had slept somewhat well last night, but had no time to get over his drowsiness. He decided to wake everybody up and that he did, shaking them all awake while saying “Rise and shine, everybody. We gotta get going.” Soon all of the Toa were up and they were all still a little sleepy, though they knew that they would need to get a head start to The Door before the Shodios got there first. So after having a quick breakfast (Addis noticed that they were running out of food and decided that they would need to find some more supplies later) the Toa team was now on its way north, where they had last seen The Door. Addis had told the rest of the team that they would need to stay off any and all roads and stay out of sight from any villages. He didn’t want them to have to fight and possibly lose against any of their enemies, and what with the deaths of Teivel and Jiki, the Shodios were more than likely to have armed each and every villager with at least a sword and spear, if not an entire weapons cache. They would also have to be as quiet as possible and not talk very much, though Nastan found this hard to do because he still had so many questions to ask them about what they had been doing between the time he had been a Toa of Shadow and when he was turned back to normal again. So he mainly stuck by Akuna, whispering to her and asking her questions, while she happily answered in a whisper as well. “So, you guys rode a giant bat to those mountains?” Nastan asked, trying to be as quiet as possible. “Yes,” Akuna confirmed, nodding. “But let me tell you, it’s not fun. The Cracko kept floating up and down with every beat of its wings and it almost got me sick. I’d prefer to have a Kadin, though I don’t know how well those fly.” Addis was in the front of the group, creating a rough path for the six Toa to walk through. He stepped on bushes and kicked aside stones, though he did all of it quietly for on the other side of the hill they were walking behind was a road and he wasn’t sure if there were any Kra-Matoran (or Shodios) on it. The Toa of Plasma was thinking of several things, mostly how they planned to get to The Door, since he did not doubt that they would need to get past the Shodios and several Kra-Matoran if they were to make their way there. They’ve probably set up guards and sentries at The Door to stop us from getting through, Addis thought as he kicked a plant aside. Which means that we’ll need to make a distraction. But really, it all depends on how many Kra-Matoran are there and if any of the Shodios are there as well, so I can’t really talk about any sort of plan just yet, although planning is always good to do anyway. - Traveling through shadow was a disliked way of traveling by almost all of the Shodios, though especially Ira. It wasn’t as though the ability was useless. No, one could get from Castle Kra to the Shahada Desert fairly quickly this way. But the downsides of it were that it drained a Shodios of much energy, plus they had a limit as to how far they could go (like they couldn’t travel from Castle Kra all the way to the Nui Mountains, for example). Also, the shadow travel gradually made one weaker, which made it a very difficult form of transportation. Still, Rhatara was right. It was the quickest way to Castle Kra. Walking or taking a caravan would have taken hours and by then the Toa Shika might have already gotten to The Door and escaped. She still didn’t like shadow travel, but it made sense to use it now. The ability to travel through shadow was actually a recent acquisition. About 300 years ago, Teivel had discovered, through rigorous training, a way to travel through shadow and reappear in virtually any area of Wyoko. Each one of the Shodios trained to do it and they all mastered it. They even tried to train a few Kra-Matoran how to use the ability, but one practice session alone told them that only they had the power to do it, lest they waste any more villagers on pointless, impossible tasks. Since they couldn’t travel from the Nui Mountains to Castle Kra, they had gone beyond Wael and the Nui Mountains to a rocky plane near the village, where each one of the Shodios called upon their powers and were now soaring through what seemed like a weird pocket dimension of pure shadow. Beside her, Rhatara was soaring so fast that he was almost a blur. Not that she could see him anyway in this darkness. Despite the fact that all of the Shodios had extremely excellent night vision, whenever they traveled by shadow they could not see through this place’s darkness. Jero had made several theories, such as perhaps it wasn’t really shadow at all but some other dark substance that merely reflected the user’s spirit, and since all of the Shodios had dark spirits, the place looked like darkness even though it really wasn’t which could explain why they couldn’t see in it. Ira didn’t think it made since at first, but now she was beginning to think that there might be some truth to it. And just like that, the four Shodios landed on their feet in front of the draw bridge of Castle Kra. Ira felt a little disoriented, but she always felt that way after shadow traveling. Rhatara, on the other hand, didn’t seem to, or he was just hiding it well, for he was immediately standing up straight and barking orders to the Kra-Matoran on the walls above to let down the draw bridge, which they did. Several minutes later the four remaining Shodios were running up the staircase to Turaga Krashadi’s tower, already planning on how they were going to break it to him that the Nui Mountains were covered in lava and that two Shodios had been killed by the Toa Shika. As it turned out, they needn’t plan it at all, for when they reached the tower Turaga Krashadi simply looked at them and said, “Did everyone survive the eruption of the Nui Mountains or did a few of you die?” “How did you know that?” Rhatara demanded, stunned. “Simple. I can see the Nu Mountains from my tower here and the eruption was so bright and loud that I couldn’t help but look out of my window and see what was happening,” Krashadi replied. “Because Wyoko is such a dark place, I wondered where the Karzahni all of that light was coming from. I assume that the Toa Shika is somehow responsible for this?” “We think so,” said Jero, nodding. “They were last spotted going into the Nui Mountains and we did not find any of their bodies in the hardened magma. So we think they’re still on the loose somewhere.” Krashadi was scanning the group with careful eyes, however, and said, with a slight frown, “And where, exactly, are Teivel and Jiki? Were they caught in the eruption?” “Yes,” Tikcah said through a rather emotion-filled voice. “We found Jiki’s mask and thought she was dead before the eruption, but we didn’t find Teivel and we . . . we. . . .” “. . . Think he’s dead,” Ira finished for her sister. “No one could have survived that.” “Ah, but you didn’t find a body, did you?” Krashadi said sharply. “Yes,” Jero said in exasperation. “But that doesn’t mean he is still alive. His corpse may have been melted by the lava and fire. It would be totally illogical for him to have survived somehow.” Krashadi jumped off his chair and started to pace around the room, his wooden staff of office making a soft thud as it hit the stone floor. “Teivel isn’t a normal Toa of Shadow. He may still be alive.” “But how?” Jero roared angrily. “There is no logical way for him to have survived getting melted alive! No way at all!” “Jero, you are a man of logic, true,” said Krashadi, nodding. “But sometimes you fail to see things that I and others do. The Great Spirit Mata Nui designed Teivel last of all of us and I know for certain that he made him for a special purpose. He could not die. Not yet, at least.” “Turaga, as much as I may dislike Jero, he is right,” said Rhatara. “Not even Teivel could have survived. What makes him so ‘special,’ anyway? Explain yourself, elder.” “Or perhaps I should explain,” came a dark, rebounding voice that seemed to come from the very foundation of the castle itself. “Teivel?” Tikcah asked hopefully, looking around the chamber with the rest of them. “Is that . . . you?” “Yes, it is I, Tikcah,” the booming voice came again. “And I did survive the eruption, unlike poor Jiki. It is a . . . unique experience to feel one’s very own body melt as the being lives itself still lives on. But it is not an experience I wish to go through again anytime soon.” “Show yourself, Teivel!” Rhatara shouted as he brandished his chain link. “If you are alive, why not show your true form instead of hiding in the shadows like a common thief?” Teivel’s voice laughed, yet it sounded like a painful laugh. “Ah, Rhatara, isn’t that what we all are doing now? We practically live in shadow itself. Wyoko is the epitome of shadow. We hide in it, stalk our enemies in it. Even the Toa Shika has learned to use it. So don’t compare me to a common thief, shadow spit. “But if you must see me,” he continued, “then who am I to deny my dear brother such an innocent request?” Suddenly, in the corner of the room the shadows began swirling and swirling, faster and faster like a whirl pool. At first it seemed like a portal was opening, but then the shadow began to take shape, the shape of a familiar Toa of Shadow, becoming solid as the shadows splashed and zipped like an artist painting on a canvas. Finally, after several tense minutes, Teivel stood in all his evil, though he looked very different now, and in a very frightening way. His Mask of Shape Shifting was horribly melted, almost unrecognizably in some places, while the mouth area had been burned off, revealing his skeleton-like lower jaw. His arm, while it still had fingers and the general shape of a limb, was a skeleton of what it originally was and looked burnt in several places. His left arm seemed to have taken the most damage, because the shoulder armor seemed to have been melted onto his body and he didn’t seem to have the ability to move it anymore. His legs were also skeletal, though much less so than his right arm, and his feet had been melted into blobs that were unrecognizable as the body parts they were supposed to be. And the spikes on his back, while a few of them looked normal, but the majority of them were melted, or burned off entirely. All in all, he looked like a grotesque skeleton that had been burned and was back from the dead. “Oh . . . my. . . .” Tikcah gasped, falling into Rhatara’s arms, though she did not faint. “Mata Nui.. . .” Jero muttered as he looked at his brother. Rhatara’s mouth was just hanging open as his dark eyes took in the bizarre form of Teivel. “What happened to you, Teivel?” Ira asked in a very terrified-sounding voice. “I mean, what happened to your whole form?” Teivel smiled, which looked extremely ugly and painful in that form as he said, “Well, the Great Spirit Mata Nui gave me another power, one which I shall explain to you all right now. “Years ago, when we were first created by the Great Spirit himself,” he paused here and coughed a bit before moving on, “I was given a special ability, one that Mata Nui thought would come in useful: The ability to recreated my body out of shadow should it ever be destroyed totally or if I should die. “Now I’ve never had to use this power before, because I have never died, nor has my body ever been totally and utterly destroyed until now. You see, right before my the lava melted my body, my spirit was thrown from it into a endless dimension of shadow, where I waited until a few hours, for that is how long I must wait for my power to work, apparently. “Then I summoned the shadow around me to recreate my body. The problem is, my power truly recreates my body the exact same way it was before I got killed. So as you can no doubt tell, this is how my body looked as it got melted by the lava of the Nui Mountains. And I still feel the pain of the magma in my veins, too, so it isn’t a fun power to play with unlike, say, shadow travel.” For a while, none of the beings in the room spoke. They all just stared at Teivel with horrified expressions on their faces. All of them except for Krashadi, who had a thoughtful-looking expression on his face as if thinking about this recent revelation. Finally, Rhatara found his tongue and hissed, “How come Mata Nui gave you that power, Teivel? What makes you so special? Is it just because you’re the leader or something?” “Be quiet, Rhatara, my impatient brother,” Teivel growled lowly. “Or I will kill you horribly. As for why he gave me this power, I can only assume he was going to rely on me for some special task, perhaps to protect the universe. It would make sense. After all, if I cannot truly die, then I would be the ultimate defender of the universe. Nothing would be able to defeat me, at least for good. They would just have to keep striking me dead again and again until I get bored enough with them to end their miserable lives. He didn’t give you morons this power because he probably doesn’t trust you guys.” “Teivel, you are no better than us,” Jero snapped. “And I thought Mata Nui doesn’t show favoritism?” Teivel chuckled and said, “If he didn’t show favoritism, the Matoran would not be held up so highly in his esteem. No, they would be just as hated and despised as Zyglak if he did not favor them over the other species of this world.” The mutilated Toa of Shadow paused, as if lost in thought, and then added, “Then perhaps, if I am supposed to protect the universe, maybe the Toa Shika is just hopelessly fighting against destiny, which means that they will surely die.” “Enough,” Krashadi said abruptly, stepping in between the five Toa of Shadow. “While you power to spontaneously regenerate is remarkable, Teivel, I must inform you all that even as we speak the Toa Shika may be out there, heading toward The Door. And if they get there first, they will surely lock us in here, and whatever you destiny may be, Teivel, you may never get a chance to fulfill it if that happens.” “Then let’s send word all over Wyoko to keep their eyes open for any sign of the Toa Shika,” Teivel ordered, standing up tall now. “Give all villages everywhere the permission to use lethal force against the Toa Shika if they find them. Those pesky Toa have been at large for far too long now and have been delaying our - my - inevitable destiny. Today they will be crushed!” - Nastan and Akuna were holding hands as they walked, mostly staying behind the others just to be alone. They were talking to each other and walking very close, though they were mostly talking about what they would do once they got back to Shika Nui. If we get back, Akuna thought as she listened to Nastan talking. She sort of had a more realistic view of things compared to Nastan, but she enjoyed listening to him talk anyway, since it had been so long since she had heard him say a positive thing. “So I say we’re gonna need to sneak through the Dark Hunters’ fortress,” said Nastan, slipping his hand out of hers and putting his arm her shoulder and pulling her close. “We may need to run for it, you know, blasting any Dark Hunters we run across out of our way. After that I think we should reconnect with Jokao and Turaga Joha. Then after that, we should lead a rebellion against the Dark Hunters.“ Akuna knew who Jokao was. Jokao was a Ta-Matoran who had traveled with the Toa Shika back on Shika Nui and had been something of a friend to them, although he did not trust Barilo much, mostly because of Barilo’s attempted murder on Nastan. Last Akuna saw, he and Joha had left to visit one of the villages back on the surface, but she wasn’t sure if the two were still alive or not. “Nastan,” said Akuna, looking up at the tall, slightly gangling Toa. “What if Joha and Jokao aren’t, well, alive? I mean, last we saw, the Dark Hunters had killed Makuta Hajax. With him out of the way I kind of doubt that the Dark Hunters would leave them alive unless all of them are morons.” “Well, Joha was a brave Toa back in his day and Jokao is a pretty capable Matoran himself,” Nastan said encouragingly to her. “Why, it wouldn’t surprise me if Joha’s already formed a resistance and has managed to keep the Dark Hunters at bay.” Akuna nodded, and then another thought came to mind as she stepped over a rock. “I do wonder, though, what is keeping the Dark Hunters from just barging into Wyoko. I mean, they have the numbers to force The Door open if it won’t budge, but we haven’t heard or seen any Dark Hunters down here since we arrived. Surely they would have sent a party of Dark Hunters to come down here and hunt us all down by now?” “Like I said, Joha and Jokao must be giving them loads of trouble up there,” said Nastan, pointing skyward with his index finger. “Must be giving them enough trouble to distract them from coming down here after us.” “Maybe,” Akuna said as she rested her head on his shoulder. She thought of the recent events of the past few days, and then suddenly said, “Barilo!” “Somebody say my name?” Barilo called back, looking over his shoulder. “No,” Akuna replied, shaking her head. “We’re just talking.” “Okay,” said the Toa of Gravity and he went right back to walking again. “Why’d you say his name?” Nastan asked in a whisper with more than a hint of curiosity in his voice. “Oh, it’s just, well,” she said, trying to find the words. “I mean, I have to ask. . . .” “Yeah, what?” said Nastan, looking down at her. “Back when you were a Toa of Shadow, you hated Barilo with a fiery passion and always talked of killing him,” Akuna said, so quickly that one word tumbled over into the next. “When we released you from your straps you tried to kill him then! I’ve just been wondering if your shadow self was just showing the anger you have hidden about Barilo. You know, when he tried to kill you back on Shika Nui?” Nastan’s warm and friendly smile suddenly faded, and when he spoke next, it was in a much more serious tone than before. “I . . . don’t know, Akuna. I would like to say that I trust him, but I think you are right. Ever since he tried to kill me back on Shika Nui I’ve had this deep anger boiling up in my heart, but I tried to hold it back because I didn’t want to scare you or any of the other Toa with my violent anger. My shadow side must have shown it without restraint if what you and the others have told me is true.” He sighed heavily and told her, “Akuna, it isn’t easy to trust your friend right after they’ve tried to murder you. Even if it was an accident, you begin to keep a close eye on him just in case he snaps again. It’s a kind of thing that needs to be worked on, a kind of trust problem that needs both people involved to work it out. It just doesn’t go away like the wind.” Akuna was starting to feel slightly ashamed of bringing up Barilo in the first place. She didn’t mean to make Nastan act all serious and depressed and frankly he just wasn’t acting at all like his usual cheery and upbeat self which she had seen so little of in the past few days. “Nastan, I shouldn’t have brought this up,” Akuna said quickly. “This is an issue you and Barilo need to sort out. I probably shouldn’t have said anything in the first place if it’s going to make you all depressed and everything. Let’s drop it.” But then, to her amazement and delight, Nastan hugged her tighter than before in a warm embrace with that same smile on his face that she loved. And then he said to her, “Akuna, don’t feel sorry. I was meaning to talk about it myself, too, though I was hoping I wouldn’t have to be the one to bring it up. But you’re right, I guess. Barilo and I will have to figure it all out, though I don’t know when. . . .” They hadn’t realized everyone that had stopped walking in front of them and the two lovers accidently walked into Barilo, nearly falling over before realizing what was happening. Barilo turned around and saw the two lying on the ground, slightly shaken. “What were you two lovebirds doing?” Barilo asked. “You should watch where you’re walking, you know!” Nastan felt his temper flare slightly and said, “Well, if you hadn’t been standing there like a brainless, idiotic brakas monkey, then maybe that wouldn’t have happened!” Akuna, anticipating an argument and name-calling contest, quickly helped both herself and Nastan up and said, “So, uh, why’d everyone stop, Barilo?” She looked over his shoulder and saw Addis, Chimoy, and Nonzra looking down at something. “What are they looking at?” Barilo and Nastan glared at each other for a minute before the Toa of Gravity broke his gaze from the Toa of The Green and turned to Akuna, saying, “Well, it’s pretty amazing and pretty weird at the same time. Go and look for yourself.” Puzzled, Akuna and Nastan walked past Barilo and then stood beside Chimoy. Akuna gasped. It was a river . . . of shadow? It looked like extremely black water, yet at the same time she could tell that it was pure shadow. It was rushing like water and it sounded almost exactly like a river, dashing against rocks and sandy beaches along its coastline. She could not see what was beneath the surface, but she really wasn’t interested in what was under the shadow. No, what she was interested in was what was on the river. It was a large ship with four paddles sticking out of both sides. It had a large mast with Turaga Krashadi’s mask on it, while the six Shodios’ masks dotted its surface. It was painted completely black and almost indistinguishable from the rest of the river save for the name of the boat, which was written on the side in large, blood red letters that read, The Endless Shade. All in all, the boat looked big enough for six Toa to ride on, if that was what Addis was thinking of using it for. “Wow!” Nastan said excitedly. “A boat . . . I’ve always wanted a boat of my own!” “How’d you find this?” Akuna asked Addis. “Just stumbled upon it right here,” Addis replied. “I was just walking along when I heard what sounded like rushing water and then I saw the boat and the river of shadow just sitting there. I don’t see any Kra-Matoran around and the boat looks pretty beat-up and old, so maybe it’s abandoned which means we can use it to our advantage.” He gestured to the rest of the Toa Shika and said, “Let’s go down to the dock and check it out!” The six Toa climbed carefully but quickly down the hill, since all of the Toa were interested in the ship. In minutes they had managed to reach the ground and were already moving across the worn, beat-up dock that the ship was tied down to. The ship looked old but still seaworthy, although none of the Toa Shika knew how to pilot a boat. “Perhaps four of us should just go below deck and row it,” Chimoy suggested. “I don’t feel a wind strong enough to move that huge sail.” “Sounds good to me,” Addis said, nodding. “Okay, so four of us will be below deck and row, while two of us will stay topside and keep an eye out for any Kra-Matoran. Everybody got that?” “Yeah,” the other five Toa said in unison. “Good,” said Addis, nodding. “Chimoy, Nastan, Nonzra, and I will row the ship, while you two, Akuna and Barilo, will stay topside and warn us to keep a look out for any Kra-Matoran, okay?” “Why can’t I row with you guys?” asked Akuna, feeling slightly offended. “Do you think I’m not strong enough to move the oars or something?” “Okay, you can,” Addis snapped, a little more harshly than he intended. “Nastan and Barilo will keep a look out while you stay with us, rowing the oars. Now let’s get in. This boat may lead us to The Door, since I do remember seeing a river near the forest that surrounds The Door. Hopefully this is the same one.” So the six Toa all climbed onto the ship, Addis, Nonzra, Akuna, and Chimoy heading below deck, while Nastan and Barilo stayed topside. Nastan quickly untied the rope and then pushed the ship away from the dock and soon the vessel was sailing gently down the wide river, hopefully toward The Door and toward their home. Review Topic

Chapter 20: Wanderer’s Mission “Oh . . . my . . .” Barilo said in a voice that was barely more than a whisper. “Everybody . . . look. . . .” The other five Toa Shika painfully lifted their heads from the snow and looked at where Barilo was pointing. Even Nastan, the most cold and evil of them all, looked positively terrified by what he saw. What they saw was that the mountains that they had been briefly lost in no longer had the white, pure snow that they had grown so used to seeing. Instead, lava was covering the landscape, melting all of the snow and burning anyone or anything that got in its way. The volcano itself, they saw, was enormous, bigger than all of the other mountains around it, with smoke and ash still bellowing from its mouth like a roaring Muaka. Some of the lava had already hardened, giving the land a sort of hard, stony look that differed greatly from its once soft, snow-white appearance. Even from their distance they could still feel the heat of the lava, though not nearly as much as when they had been in the heart of the mountain. The sky looked different as well. It no longer was the pure, purplish-black shadow that usually hung over Wyoko like a blanket. Now it was a gray, burning smoke that added to the impossibility of seeing anything. There was not a cloud in the sky, at least none that they could see since the smog was covering everything. Barilo could see a few lava eels, mostly the bigger ones, crawling out of the crater of the volcano with the lava, looking slightly confused as to why they were no longer in their warm home in the heart of the mountain anymore. “No one . . . I mean no one could have survived something like that,” Akuna breathed as the light of the burning lava reflected off of her slightly fearful eyes. “Why, I bet you there isn’t so much as a single mask left of any of the Shodios or of their Kra-Matoran now.” - Unknown to the Toa of Lightning, she was partly right and partly wrong about that. Rhatara, Jero, Tikcah, and Ira had managed to escape the exploding mountain, but in the process had abandoned their hunting parties to die in the unbearably hot lava. All four of them had regrouped back at the edge of the mountains, each one of the Shodios watching the scene with a mixture of anger and confusion. Jero, at least, was extremely curious about the volcano. “I wonder how it managed to erupt,” Jero said in a tone of wonderment. “It must have taken a great and powerful force to do that, and I had no idea that there was a volcano, of all things, here in Wyoko. I must study it sometime.” “The Toa Shika,” Rhatara spat, as if the name was poison to his mouth. “They somehow found their way into the volcano and activated it. I just know it. They were trying to kill us!” “We will have to kill them, then,” Ira said in a tone that suggested that they slay the Shika in extremely horrible and cruel ways. “If they survived, then I am now, more than ever before, convinced that we should have killed them instead of trying to feed them to the shadow eels back then.” Tikcah, however, looked quite worried about something else compared to the others. “Where’s Teivel?” she asked, looking around for any sign of the one she loved. “Did he-?” “Probably,” Rhatara said in disgust. “He probably thought that he could kill all six of the light dwellers himself and then probably got caught in the explosion. It wouldn’t surprise me if his corpse is somewhere beneath that lake of lava right now, boiling and melting.” Jero seemed to notice that someone else was missing, too. “Where is Jiki? Not that I miss her, but I do wonder why we didn’t find her in the Nui Mountains and why she isn’t here with us right now.” “My guess is she either got caught by the lava or got killed by the Toa Shika,” said Ira, the lava reflecting her black, evil eyes. “She was the first one after them, after all. They must have thought ‘Screw her’ and then killed her. Or maybe she was just stupid enough to decide that playing with lava would be fun.” Ignoring Ira, Tikcah said, “Oh, I hope Teivel’s all right. I don’t know if I will be able to live without him!” “Learn to live without him, then, Tikcah,” said Rhatara. “He’s dead, killed by the volcano’s eruption no doubt. If he was still alive he would have been here to meet us now. What an idiotic fool.” Tikcah whirled around and, in one swift motion, had a dagger to Rhatara’s throat. She seemed to have an angry look in her eyes that told Rhatara he had said the wrong thing. “Don’t . . . you . . . ever . . . insult . . . our . . . leader,” she hissed into his audio receptor. “Or else I will personally kill you.” Rhatara, unimpressed, said, “Fine, fine, whatever. He’s not alive anymore, so there’s no reason I can’t call him a fool, since he can’t fight back.” Tikcah still held her dagger up to his throat as if daring him to move or say something else. Jero, however, knowing that a fight would be pointless and would waste their time and energy, managed to get in between the two Shodios, and said to them, “I suggest that we ignore our own conflicts and find the six Toa Shika. We should return to Wael and take some of their Kra-Matoran with us and search the rest of these mountains.” Rhatara broke his gaze from Tikcah and then looked at Jero. “Why should we? The Toa Shika probably got killed, too. No need to do that, in my opinion.” “I wouldn’t say so,” said Ira, “The kind of light loving Toa that they are have an extremely annoying habit of surviving these kinds of things when normal beings shouldn’t have. I think we all remember the Toa Avha well.” “Of course,” said Jero, nodding. “They should have fallen before us, but somehow those light dwellers beat us and imprisoned us down here, despite the fact they were against an entire army of Kra-Matoran, us, and Turaga Krashadi. That is the reason why I suggested that we search for their corpses in the first place. I do not want to be hoodwinked by a bunch of inferior light lovers.” “Okay, but let’s not take any Kra-Matoran from Wael with us,” said Rhatara. “It will take too long for us to get to Wael on foot and if the Toa Shika is still alive they might escape while we’re heading there.” “Okay,” said Ira, nodding, “sounds good to me. Only, let’s not split up. If they got Jiki and Teivel by themselves, then surely they will get us, too, if we are alone. I doubt they can take on us as a team.” So the four Shodios began their searching, planning on immediately killing the six Toa Shika once they found them. Even Jero seemed to think that they should be killed, although that mean that he would be losing one valuable experiment and five fresh test subjects. But now he was more interested in leaving Wyoko than in experimenting anyway. - For a long while, the Toa Shika and Wanderer just sat there, watching the volcano as it spewed out the last of its lava, lighting up the dark sky with a reddish-orange glow that seemed eerily out of place in Wyoko. Now only smoke was coming out of its crater and even that was beginning to thin too. So Addis, knowing that they had a long way to go, stood up in the ash and snow and said to the others, “Come on. We have to get to The Door.” He pointed behind them, and they all looked in his direction. There it was, The Door to the Light, standing on what looked like the other side of Wyoko. It was obviously night time now, for the shadow was practically complete, though The Door itself seemed to be emitting a sort of electric blue glow that was very out of place in Wyoko. “That’s it?” asked Wanderer. “Looks a lot smaller and less grand than you guys said it was.” “It’s a lot bigger closer up,” said Barilo. “We’re just too far away from it now.” So the six Toa Shika rose from their feet and brushed the ash and snow off of their armor. Barilo kept his eyes on The Door, which looked like it would take quite a while to get there. But as long as they kept out of sight of the Kra-Matoran villages, they would be okay, he thought. That was when a huge, powerful blast of shadow came from behind and knocked him and the other Toa onto the ground face first. It was almost enough to knock him out, but Barilo managed to stay conscious, if a little bruised. He rolled over onto his back and saw Nastan standing over him, his bow aimed at the Toa of Gravity’s mask, an evil grin on his face. “What are you doing?” Wanderer demanded, floating toward him. “Just getting rid of a problem is all,” Nastan replied. “He tried to kill me back on Shika Nui, you know.” “It was an accident!” Barilo shouted, fear in his voice. “I was going insane! I-“ “Stop the excuses!” Nastan shouted, pulling the arrow back a little bit more. “You know you really did want to see me dead. Don’t try to say Hajax made you do it. That is an idiotic way to justify your almost-murder.” Barilo wanted to argue that Nastan was wrong, that he really had been driven insane from having had his mind link with Makuta Hajax snapped. Yet at the same time, he knew that there was a certain truth to Nastan’s words. He had to admit that he had wanted to kill Nastan at the time. But he hadn’t really, at least not really, really, really wanted to kill him. But even then as he tried to justify it in his mind, a horrible thought suddenly appeared in his head: Was he just trying to justify almost killing his friend? Was Barilo no better than Hajax or any of the Shodios? The very thought of it sent a chill up Barilo’s spine and he did not like it at all. “Okay, Nastan, I admit, I did try to kill you under my own free will,” Barilo confessed, looking up into the red eyes of his fellow Toa. “I didn’t do it just because I was going insane (though for the record I was slightly out of my mind at the time). I did it because I was angry, I had the power, and I was willing to do it, too. But now,” he added, “I have seen my mistake and I ask you for your forgiveness. Please, Nastan, find it somewhere in your heart to forgive your fellow Toa for wronging you. Please.” He looked up at Nastan with pleading eyes, and for a second he thought he saw a look of mercy in the red orbs of his friend. But then the Toa of Shadow shook his head and said in a cold, hard voice, “Nice try, Barilo. But I don’t forgive my enemies.” Right before he could shoot off the arrow, however, Wanderer drew her spear and shield off of her back and charged Nastan, hoping to somehow stop him, despite knowing the fact that she was a ghost and could not touch or harm a physical being like Nastan. Still, she really didn’t want to see murder happen right before her eyes, even though she had seen it done in the past, but that didn’t mean she enjoyed it or tolerated it at all. Suddenly, just as the tip of her ghostly weapon made contact with Nastan’s shoulder, she disappeared, as if she really hadn’t been there at all. Barilo wildly looked around to see if he could find her, but did not see hide or tail of Wanderer anywhere. Where’d she go? All of a sudden, he heard Nastan shout a cry of pain and then he looked up just in time to see the Toa of Shadow drop his weapon onto Barilo and stumble backwards, head in his hands, screaming in pain. The rest of the Toa had gotten back on their feet and also had drawn their weapons, but they weren’t using them. Instead, they, like Barilo, watched Nastan, who seemed to be in some sort of horrible, unstoppable pain that affected his whole body, particularly his head. Akuna, worried for his safety, tried to move forward to somehow help him, but Addis put an arm in front of her to stop her. Whatever was happening to Nastan, he didn’t want Akuna or any of the other Toa Shika to interrupt in case they hurt themselves or Nastan. “My head!” Nastan shouted, clutching his skull with his hands. “Get out of my head! Get out of my head, ghost!” - Wanderer smoothly landed in a dark, barren land that looked an awful lot like Wyoko. She looked around, wondering where she had ended up in. She saw no snow, ash, smoke, mountains, or any Toa, so she thought it might not be Wyoko. Last I remember, I was flying into Nastan, trying to stop him from killing Barilo, she recalled. Did I get teleported somewhere? It’s so dark here, like Wyoko. She decided to explore the place and began walking through the shadowy fog. There were no buildings, no people, not even a Rahi in this place. Then again, the darkness was pretty thick, so maybe she just couldn’t see anybody. It was starting to make her feel a little edgy, because she was somehow solid in this place, despite being a ghost. So she knew that she could get attacked if she wasn’t careful. Her two-toed feet hit the ground softly as she walked, her ghost-white eyes darting all around at the weird place. It seemed like she had been walking for hours before she finally saw a small, barely visible light up ahead. It was too little and far away to make out clearly, but any source of light here must be good, she reasoned. So she picked up the pace and the bright light started to grow even brighter. She knew she was close. Finally, after what seemed like even more hours she finally reached the light, which turned out to be a huge wall of pure brightness that was almost too much for her to look at directly. She shielded her eyes, but caught sight of something else as she did so. Over to her right she noticed something that looked like a well. It looked like any other well she had seen: Small, made of stone, with two wooden beams holding a small rooftop over it, although it was strangely absent of a bucket for gathering water from it. But something about it seemed to be calling her over, as if beckoning her to examine it. So she walked over to it, curious to figure out what it was. When she leaned over to take a look inside of it, she saw to her surprise that something was in the bottom of the well. Not water, but some sort of silvery liquid-like substance that was far too deep for her to make out. She wondered what it was supposed to be when suddenly she heard a small sound behind her that startled her. “Ah!” she exclaimed, turning around. “Who’s there?” She wildly glanced around, but saw nothing, until she heard the sound again and looked down at her feet. To her surprise, she saw a Matoran in green-ish blue armor carrying a bucket in his arms, looking up at her with sad-looking eyes. He also had a quizzical look in his orbs as he watched her, as if wondering who she was. It took her a minute before she suddenly realized the identity of the quiet Matoran. “Nastan?” Wanderer gasped. “Is . . . is that you? Why are you a Matoran? And why isn’t your armor black?” Nastan the Matoran frowned at her and said, “You are Wanderer, are you not? A ghost that is supposed to be intangible, yet now you are physical, solid as a rock. I suppose that makes sense, at least in here it does.” “Yes, I’ve been wondering about it, too,” she said, not at all liking this bizarre situation and wondering why Nastan was a Matoran when he should clearly be a Toa. “Now answer my questions I asked you earlier, please. I do not like being left in the dark.” Strangely, Nastan chuckled and said, “You are in the dark, Wanderer.” He gestured to the shadow all around. “Look at your environment. Shadow and darkness everywhere you look. I need not be the one to leave you in the dark, my friend.” “But you would like some answers, wouldn’t you?” Nastan continued, walking past her and tying the bucket to the rope that hung above the well. “First, I can tell you that I am both Nastan and not Nastan at the same time.” “What does that mean?” “It means I am a memory,” Nastan the Matoran replied as he lowered the bucket into the well of silver liquid. “I am what Nastan used to be, what he remembers. I do not technically exist. I am a memory of the time when he was a simple, innocent Matoran villager.” “Innocent, eh?” Wanderer snorted. “I don’t think being a thief counts as ‘innocent.’ “ “Well, more innocent than I am now,” Nastan said with a sly grin spreading across his face. “I am what Nastan wants to be. His mind may be full of darkness and evil, but his transformation into a Toa of Shadow was not truly, 100% complete, for if it was I would be behind that barrier over there with the rest of Nastan’s good memories and thoughts.” He gestured to the wall of light that Wanderer had seen earlier. At the mention of it the light seemed to grow suddenly brighter, as if it wanted to be noticed. “Yet he also knows that he can’t be me anymore,” Nastan continued. “All of the evil that Jero put in his mind has stopped him from being good. It has poisoned him, corrupted him, to the point where he now actually enjoys harming others and being evil. It scares him, it scares me.” Now Wanderer was putting two and two together as the Matoran version of Nastan spoke. He had mentioned that he was one of Nastan’s memories, that he was the only good memory left on the other side of the barrier that blocked all of Nastan’s good memories and thoughts, and there can’t be a Toa version of someone and a Matoran version at the same time, so she concluded- “I am in Nastan’s mind,” she said, slightly horrified. “I can’t believe it.” “So you finally figured it out, eh?” said Nastan, who was now peering over the edge of the well, as if to get a better look at its contents. “Yes, that is where you are, my friend. This is what is left of his mind: Darkness and shadow. Oh, he can think and do intelligent things and talk and stuff, but now his mind is little more than a barren wasteland of death and shadow. “Before he had his shadow taken away from him, however, it was a much better place. There were good thoughts and memories, grass, trees, and flowers everywhere. Occasionally there was a thunderstorm or some sort of dark cloud whenever Nastan got angry or sad or upset, but it was usually a pretty nice place to live if you’re one of his memories. But then, a mighty shadow appeared and locked the others away, but I managed to stay, for I had an important duty to complete for Nastan’s mind.” “So Nastan can’t remember any good thoughts at all?” Wanderer questioned. “No, he can,” Nastan the Matoran replied. “He remembers being a Toa of The Green. He remembers all of the good times he shared with the other Toa Shika, especially Akuna, and he also remembers other good things as well. But now, because of all of the shadow in his mind, he sees them through a mirror of evil, one that makes him think his old days as a light Toa were pathetic and weak. How misguided he has become!” Finally, he withdrew the bucket and placed it on the ground. Now Wanderer had a better look at the silvery contents that were in the well. To Wanderer, now that she had a better look at the contents of the well, it seemed to be nothing more than a bunch of mixed colors that made little-to-no sense to her at all. What was the point of looking at this stuff? She wondered. Nastan the Matoran, however, seemed to know something she didn’t, for he muttered, “Not good enough,” and dumped the silver stuff back inside the well. Curious, Wanderer asked, “What was that silvery stuff?” “Some of Nastan’s most recent memories and thoughts,” said Nastan, who was now frowning again. “His thoughts have been very dark and evil nowadays and not worth taking out and examining.” “Why do you take them out and examine them?” she asked. “Because I act as a filter for Nastan,” Nastan the Matoran answered. “I collect his raw, untamed thoughts and memories and emotions and decide how Nastan should see them. These ones he has just recently acquired aren’t very good and I don’t want him to remember them, but even if I do toss them back in the well they will still stay in his mind forever until he forgets them.” “Why will they?” “Because memories are never truly gone, even if I get rid of them,” the Gre-Matoran sighed. “It would be cruel, I suppose, if whenever I tossed out any thoughts or memories that I did not like, he never remembered them, never even got a chance to decide for himself whether they were good or bad. But whatever the case,” he shook his head as he said, “it is not my place to debate moral issues like that. My job is to filter his memories and thoughts. Nothing more, nothing less.” “You seemed to be a rather big thinker for someone who is allegedly not supposed to debate moral issues,” Wanderer observed. “When you live in someone’s mind like I do, you have little else to do but think of philosophical things like that,” Nastan replied. Now they were quiet and Wanderer simply watched the Matoran as he dropped his bucket in the well again and pulled out some more thoughts. This went on for some time, as he had a few other buckets as well that seemed to have came out of nowhere. Finally, he finished his job and picked up his buckets with the caution of someone holding a valuable treasure. “Do you need any help?” asked Wanderer. “No!” Nastan said in an alarmed voice. “You may spill them, and if you do, they will be lost forever and be totally irretrievable. I can’t risk losing them.” With that, Nastan started to walk away. Wanderer watched him go, but the she had a sudden question and shouted, “Hey! What am I supposed to do here? How do I get out of this dark hole? Is there any way out at all?” Right before he entered the shadows, Nastan looked over his shoulder and called back, “You must do what destiny tells you to do, Wanderer. I cannot give you any specific instructions beyond that because frankly I don’t know what you’re supposed to do, either.” With a playful smile on his face that Wanderer thought must have been how Nastan smiled originally before becoming a Toa of Shadow, the memory of Nastan the Matoran disappeared into the shadows. Wanderer just stood there, her expression one of frustration and anger. What did he mean ‘do what destiny tells you to do’? How was she supposed to find out what destiny wanted her to do, anyway? This was her least favorite part of being a spirit wanderer. Her missions were never clear and almost always took a long time to figure out. What, does he expect Destiny to come down from Paradise and tell me what to do? she thought indignantly. Mata Nui, he’s a fool! She was so angry that she wanted to throw her spear at something. She glanced around and saw the barrier keeping Nastan’s good thoughts and memories from entering the Toa of Shadow’s mind. She tilted her head now, thinking. She wasn’t angry anymore, nor did she want to throw her spear at something to release her anger. In fact, she was now hatching a new plan, one that might just be what destiny wanted her to achieve after all. I gotta break that barrier, Wanderer concluded. That must be what I am supposed to fix. Nastan isn’t supposed to be evil. He’s supposed to be good, so I, being a spirit wanderer, must fix Nastan, changing him back to normal, and then I will be teleported back home. I will use my spear and strike the barrier. Maybe that will shatter it. She knew how dangerous that could be. What if she got hurt as a result of unleashing Nastan’s good thoughts and memories? What if she got killed, in fact? What if it she was not supposed to do it at all and she was doomed to an eternity of sorting memories, emotions, and thoughts with Nastan’s very own mini-me? Or what if she couldn’t break the barrier at all? Gotta stop doubting and gotta start throwing, she decided, already aiming with her spear. But before she threw the weapon, one final thought entered her mind: Was this right? Is it in my place to turn Nastan back to normal? Wanderer questioned suddenly. He never asked me to do this. Maybe he’s happy this way. Maybe I should just find another way out of here. She frowned, angry with herself. She hated thinking deep, philosophical thoughts. There just never seemed to be a definite answer to her and she was never sure if she did the right thing or not. She assumed that being inside of Nastan’s mind must be making her do a lot of thinking, just like what was happening to the memory Nastan. Yet, I can’t help but feel that maybe Nastan will be better off being good again, she thought. I can’t see how anyone would want to be separated from their loved ones just in pursuit of evil. From what the others have told me, Nastan used to be a pretty nice guy. I think I would be doing Nastan - and his friends - a favor for doing this. With that, she hefted her large weapon above her shoulder, aimed for the middle of the barrier and, with one mighty thrust of her strong arm, sent the long, thin spear flying into the barrier. It flew straight and true, hitting the wall exactly in the middle where she had been aiming for. It stuck and for a minute nothing happened. Have I failed? was the first thought to enter her mind as she watched the spear just sit there, as unmoving as a stone. But then all of a sudden, cracks started to appear around the spear, spreading through the barrier. They gradually extended to the rest of the wall and light began to leak through in sparse amounts. Finally a large portion of the wall broke open, weakening the rest of it so that it exploded, unleashing light and energy upon Nastan’s mind. Wanderer never even had a chance to move. The light hit her like a sledgehammer and she was sent flying away, going so fast and so hard that for a minute she was afraid that if she stopped she would fall and die. But instead she just kept flying away, farther and farther, faster and faster, until the long, green grass, tall, blooming trees, and other features of Nastan’s mind became little more than distant, indistinguishable little dots. . . . - Back in the physical world, Nastan was now lying curled up in a ball in the snow on the ground, unconscious and shivering slightly. The other Toa Shika had gathered around him now, unsure of what to do. Akuna was the most worried of the group, her green eyes reflecting her own helplessness of not being able to do anything to help him, but just the same she wanted to do something to help Nastan. Please don’t be dead, Nastan, Akuna thought. I don’t know what I will do without you- All of a sudden, Nastan’s armor began to slowly fade from pure, jet-black to his original blue-ish green color scheme right before their eyes. He also seemed to be becoming less intimidating-looking as well and there seemed to be a general evil leaving his form. In fact, it was only in a few minutes that he was all the way back to his old self again, while the other five Toa Shika all looked on, wondering what had happened, and why. And then Wanderer suddenly appeared right next to the Toa Shika. She looked just as confused as they were and was glancing around the area, apparently trying to make sure she was still in Wyoko. Then she looked down and noticed Nastan had changed and instantly she knew what had happened. “Ah ha!” Wanderer said triumphantly. “It worked!” “What worked?” asked Akuna, taking her eyes off Nastan for the first time in minutes to look at the ghost. “Well, it’s hard to explain,” said Wanderer. “So long story short, I ended up in Nastan’s mind somehow and destroyed a mental barrier keeping the light from returning to him, so he’s back to normal now.” Akuna looked thunderstruck. “What? You . . . you healed him?” “Well, yeah,” said Wanderer, nodding. “Wasn’t I supposed to do that?” “I’m not mad,” Akuna said eagerly. “Oh, no, definitely not mad. I am just extremely happy and can’t believe what just happened.” “Well, you might want to turn around,” Wanderer suggested, pointing over her shoulder. “Because what you will see will probably make you even happier, I think.” Nastan was stirring now, moaning in pain, his eyes opening slightly. His eye color was back to its normal yellow color, although they had a dazed and somewhat confused look about them. He sat up and shook his head and said, “Whoa. . . . Where am I? How’d I get here?” He looked around and said, “And just why the Karzahni are we all covered in ashes and snow?” “Nastan . . .” Akuna breathed, bending down next to him. “Can you . . . remember anything?” “Yeah, I think I do,” said Nastan, putting his left hand on the back of his head, as if thinking. “Oddly enough I think I might have been able to shoot shadow and I distinctly remember being bound in uncomfortable metal bounds for a while there. I think it might have all been a dream, though.” He added. “A really weird dream, at that.” “It . . . wasn’t a dream,” said Akuna, who was now looking like she could cry with happiness, though she was holding back the tears. “You were a Toa of Shadow for a while and we did have you tied up to keep you from harming Barilo.” Nastan stared at her with wide eyes. “What? Really? Man that explains why my back hurts, although I still don’t know where I am.” “We’ll explain later,” said Addis, who was smiling slightly. “We’re just glad to have you back.” “You might also want to thank your savior,” Barilo added. “She’s standing right over- Hey!” He noticed that Wanderer was starting to fade in and out of existence rapidly. The other five Toa Shika noticed this and all watched as the ghost began to disappear. Wanderer did not look frightened, though she did have an expression of disappointment and pride on her face even as she began to fade away. “Looks like I finished what I came here for,” said Wanderer, though her voice was strangely distant and echo-y sounding, like when they had first met her. “Time for me to go home.” “Wait!” said Akuna, looking alarmed. “I haven’t thanked you for healing Nastan!” “Well . . . you don’t need . . . to . . .” Wanderer said with a slight smile on her face. “I’ll just . . . accept . . . a simple thank you. . . . Bye . . . you . . . six . . . were . . . interesting. . . .” And with that, Wanderer disappeared into thin air, her spirit having wandered back to its original body. All of the Toa except for Nastan now felt strangely sad for seeing her go, despite knowing her for only a few hours. Especially Nonzra, who seemed to have taken a liking to the ghost despite how he snapped at her earlier. Nastan just looked plain confused, however, and said, “Um, who was that? Why was she a ghost? And why did she disappear?” He felt like he had just walked in the middle of an incredibly long and complex story that seemed to have too many questions and not enough answers to a new listener. Akuna, however, just turned to look at Nastan and smiled. “We’ll explain later. For now, I think we gotta get going. . . .” Suddenly, inexplicably, Akuna launched herself onto Nastan and hugged him very hard. Nastan was slightly taken aback by this, but he eventually hugged her back. The other Toa, all of whom had been standing by, had averted their eyes so as to give the two some privacy. Finally, Akuna regained control of her emotions and tore herself away from Nastan, instead preferring to stare deeply into his eyes. Nastan returned the look, and for a few minutes they just looked at each other. But eventually, Addis began to get slightly impatient and said, as he extended a hand to Nastan, “We really gotta get going, like Akuna said. The Shodios may be nearby and we can’t afford to let them catch us off guard like this.” “Uh, okay,” Nastan said, taking Addis’ hand and standing up. “I would like it if someone explained to me, though, what has been happening these past few days.” Addis suddenly noticed that it was even darker out than usual, which meant that Wyoko’s weak sun had set for the day and now it was time for sleep. “We’ll explain to you when we rest for the night,” he told Nastan. “For now, let’s find some place to sleep without being found by the Shodios. They’ll want us killd if they discover that Teivel and Jiki died.” “Teivel and Jiki are dead?” Nastan repeated, thunderstruck. “Man I must’ve missed out on a lot!” “Actually, you were there for the whole adventure,” Akuna said as she slipped one of her hands in his. “You just don’t remember it, I guess.” So the now-completed Toa team restarted their journey to The Door, all of them informing Nastan of the events of the last few days. Each one of them was happy to have Nastan back on the team as a true, official member, but they also felt sad that, despite the fact she had not been a true Toa or a true member of the team, Wanderer was gone. They had all be begun to think of her as a friend in some small way, but now it seemed they had exchanged one new friend in for an old friend. Yet I don’t doubt that we will meet her again someday, Chimoy thought as he walked behind the rest of the chattering Toa. We may meet her again as a ghost, or maybe as a physical being. Destiny is a funny and complex thing, somehow both at the same time. Perhaps if we return to the surface we may run into her again. That would be nice, and I think Nonzra would like that, even if he doesn’t want to admit it. - None of the Shodios had found the bodies of Jiki, Teivel, or the Toa Shika, although Rhatara did discover Jiki’s half-melted Kanohi Achi not too far from where they had started. They were now at the edge of the mountains again, and Tikcah was worried, since they had found no clue whatsoever of Teivel. “We should give him a funeral, at least,” she suggested. “We may not have his body, but we can always just do it to show him respect.” “I don’t think that would be a good idea,” said Jero. “We have six Toa on the loose, six Toa who may already be at The Door or are on their way to there. We didn’t find their bodies, so there is a high possibility that they somehow managed to escape.” “Which means we’re going to have to find them,” said Rhatara, who was now seething in anger. “I shall be the leader of our team now. I was Teivel’s second-in-command, of course, and I say we go after the Shika instead of worrying about funerals for melted arrogant fools. Who’s with me?” Ira and Jero nodded, but Tikcah didn’t at first. Finally, after some thinking, she said, “Okay, let’s do it. It is what Teivel would have wanted, had he still been alive. It is a god way to honor his memory, I think.” “Good,” Rhatara said, cracking an evil grin. “Let’s go to Castle Kra and inform Turaga Krashadi of the deaths of our two teammates. It is most unfortunate that they had to die, but then that is life. Let’s go.” As the four Shodios turned as one and began their slow descent down the hardened lava that covered the mountains, none of them heard the ever so faint sound of laughter being carried across the harsh, cold winds of the Nui Mountains, a laughter that would have been all too familiar to the four Shodios, one that would have sent chills even up their spines. Review Topic

Suddenly, nostalgia. -TNTOS-

Chapter 19: Into the Core of the Mountain The cave was very icy and dark, thus causing them to slip and stumble a bit as they walk on. Akuna was in the lead, her Mask of Night Vision activated to let them see ahead. All that they saw were more icicles, some stalactites and stalagmites, and occasionally piles of snow every now and then. Wanderer didn’t need the light, as ghosts can see in the dark, but she mostly hung out in the back, lazily floating above Nonzra and teasing him, which annoyed the Toa of Sonics. There were no other entrances that lead off the path, so they had to keep going straight on. None of them present had any idea of where they were going. All they knew was that it was very cold and very dark and that if the Shodios were waiting at the end of the tunnel, they were in for a fight. “Hey, Wanderer,” snapped Nastan, looking for an excuse to get somebody angry. “Why don’t you just go ahead and scout for us instead of being a lazy good-for-nothing? After all, you are a ghost. Nothing can hurt you, after all.” He was sarcastic in tone, but he was right. She couldn’t be hurt by any physical threats like the Toa Shika could and therefore was the perfect scout. “I would,” Wanderer said thoughtfully. “But I really don’t want to because I want to stick with you guys for now and see if there are any troubles that I should be fixing.” “Well, there is Nastan,” said Nonzra, gesturing at the Toa of Shadow his head. “He isn’t normally a Toa of Shadow. He normally controls plant life, so maybe you need to fix him.” “I don’t need any fixing,” Nastan snapped. “I am stronger now, more powerful. I do not need to be a pathetic and weak Toa of The Green again. With just one blast of shadow I could bring this entire cavern down upon all of us!” “If you were free, shadow boy, you probably could,” said Wanderer. “I am not sure if I can fix him, since I have never heard of someone having their light forcibly taken from their body. It sounds crazy, yet it’s true.” “Truth is often stranger than fiction,” Chimoy said thoughtfully. “Well, whatever is ahead, we can deal with it,” said Addis, nodding at his team. “We have six Toa and a ghost on our side. Heck, there may not even be anything up ahead at all. It may just lead to an exit that we could use to get out of here.” So the party was silent again. Akuna thought that they were an odd party. Five Toa restraining their sixth member who was evil along with a sarcastic ghost was supposed to help people solve problems. The thought of how weird her team was would have probably amused her if her boyfriend wasn’t the evil one and if they weren’t on the run from five other evil Toa. As they continued to descend deeper into the tunnel, Akuna wondered what they would do once they got out of this place. Probably try to find the quickest route to The Door or maybe find a way to cure Nastan. She hoped that there was a way to cure Nastan, because she couldn’t stand to see her dearest and closest friend acting no better than a Dark Hunter or Shodios. - Teivel and his hunting party had followed two tracks of foot prints to a small clearing, one he had never seen before. It was empty, though there was a bunch of Toa foot prints that obviously belonged to the Toa Shika and saw to his surprise a saw a large, unblocked cave mouth, looking as if its entrance had been melted open. At the foot of the doorway was a small puddle of water, obviously melted snow. So the Toa Shika think they can evade capture by hiding in a cave? Teivel thought, unimpressed. How unoriginal. Though I do wonder how they figured it was there in the first place. Wyoko’s dim, barely visible sun was setting as Teivel lead his party into the cave. He knew that there was going to be a fight, so he had shadow energy crackling in the palm of his hands for when he would inevitably see the backs of the Toa Shika. Behind him his Kra-Matoran were also charging up shadow and making sure their weapons were in perfect order. Today, he knew, there would be no more Toa Shika in Wyoko anymore, and once that deed was fulfilled, the Kra-Matoran Empire would truly rise again for the first time in a millennium. What could be better than that? - Akuna, being in the front of the group, was the first to notice the gradual change in temperature. At first the cave had been as cold as the mountains outside, but now it was getting warmer and becoming more a bit more bearable and comfortable. There were fewer icicles now and not as much snow this deep inside, and soon there wasn’t any at all. In fact, it was getting almost as warm as hot days on Shika Nui were, which were, if she remembered correctly, quite nice. “Am I the only one who feels warmer?” Akuna asked as she shut off her Ruru. She didn’t need it on anymore because the cavern was also becoming brighter with an orange-ish glow that was accompanying the heat. “Or is it just me?” “I feel it, too,” said Barilo, wiping away a drop of sweat from his forehead. “There seems to be some sort of heat coming from the mountain’s core.” The other Toa, too, were feeling the heat. To Chimoy and Nonzra it felt especially hot because of their added weight of having to carry Nastan as well. Nastan was getting even more impatient with the appearance of the heat. He was now grunting more loudly and muttering to himself a lot, mostly about how he wished that the others would just let him walk with them, but Addis wasn’t convinced that Nastan wouldn’t run away or start a fight that would result in a cave-in. Wanderer, being a ghost, could not feel the heat, so she did not feel much of a difference in temperature, though she did notice that it was getting lighter and brighter inside. “I wonder where all of this light is coming from?” Wanderer wondered as she floated above their heads. “Snowy mountains don’t usually have bright cores like some sort of planet. Maybe we’re all going crazy or there’s some strange illusionist playing tricks on us.” “I don’t think it is an illusion, Wanderer,” said Akuna, who was now panting because of the heat. “The warmth feels too real and there is definitely light.” The heat did feel good after so many hours out in the cold wind, but eventually it was getting to the point where all of them except for Wanderer were feeling temperamental and impatient. When were they going to reach the end of the tunnel and why was it so . . . dang . . . hot? Finally, after what seemed to Barilo like hours of walking, he saw a small, bright light at the end of the tunnel. It wasn’t very big, but it looked like an exit. Spurred on by the sudden appearance of this way out, the party started to walk faster and faster, their eyes fixed on the exit, ignoring the blazing heat as best as they could that was accompanying them as they ran. They soon reached the end of the tunnel and almost congratulated themselves on a job well done when they saw the source of the heat and light, which caused all of them to look at it in awe and shock. “Mata Nui. . . .” Akuna muttered, taking a step back. “I don’t believe it. . . .” Addis breathed, staring straight into the source. “What is it?” asked Nastan, who was craning his neck to try and see what they were talking about. “What is everybody making a big deal about? Did we walk into the middle of a bunch of corpses that are rotting? What is it?” “It’s. . . .” said Barilo, trying to find the words to describe it. “It’s. . . .” “Lava,” Wanderer finished for him. “A huge pool of lava, at that.” She was right. There was a large lake-sized pool of lava that was unleashing sheer heat and light all around the circular chamber that they had emerged in. Lava eels of varying sizes, ranging from ones that could’ve easily fit in the palm of Barilo’s hand to ones that would have rivaled even a shadow eel in length, could be seen swimming and diving in the lava as if it were water. The ceiling of the immense cavern was closed shut with an extremely thick dome of ice that was too far up to be affected by the heat of the lava. A long, narrow, crude rock bridge was a few suspended above the magma led to what must have been the exit, but the sheer warmth of the molten rock was almost enough to make the six Toa turn around and leave. “So, do we walk across the bridge or find another way around?” asked Barilo, who’s eyes were focused on the lava eels below. “That’s the only way to go,” answered Addis. “We can’t go back because that leads back to the Shodios and the endlessly cold mountains. We just go by single file and-“ Suddenly, a shadow bolt went flying over Addis’ head and hit the wall on the other side of the chamber, leaving a charred, burnt spot where the energy had hit. The Toa and Wanderer whirled around to see Teivel and a group of Kra-Matoran, all armed with swords, axes, spears, and other weapons, advancing, shadow energy crackling in their palms and at the tips of their weapons. “Who are they?” Wanderer asked, fearing that she already knew the answer. “That is Teivel, leader of the Shodios,” answered Barilo, already drawing his gravity axe. “And those are Kra-Matoran, villagers of darkness, though I have no idea what the wolves are. Probably some of their vicious pets or something.” “Chimoy, throw up a barrier to cut them off from us!” Addis ordered. The Toa of Iron obliged. He threw up one of his hands and a thick protosteel wall shot through the ground and covered the entrance that they had just left. They could hear the faint sounds of shadow and weapons striking the wall and all of them knew that it wouldn’t take long for their enemies to get through. “Wanderer, fly ahead of us to the exit,” said Addis, but he was interrupted by Wanderer. “Hey, I’m not member of this team,” she said defiantly. “You can’t boss me around.” “Come on!” shouted Addis. “We need you to see what is up ahead, okay? I know you’re technically not part of the team (“Got that right,” Nonzra muttered) but you have to cooperate with us if you want to help us solve . . . whatever it is our problem is, okay?” Reluctantly, Wanderer nodded, and soon she was flying across the bridge of stone and the vast pool of lava, eying the lava eels below in case they tried to do anything. “Now we go single file,” Addis said to the other Toa. “It is too narrow for us all to go at once. Chimoy and Nonzra should go first because they have Nastan. Then Barilo and Akuna and I will bring up the rear.” Nodding, Nonzra and Chimoy quickly heaved Nastan up and walked as fast as they could across the bridge without accidentally falling off. Because of the rickety nature of the bridge and because Nastan was very heavy, they almost fell off a few times, but they managed to straighten up every time and soon they were at the end, panting hard, while Wanderer floated above them to make sure that they were okay. “Let’s go,” Barilo said to Akuna. The Toa of Lightning nodded and soon they were making their way across the bridge as fast as they could. The heat was even worse when on top of the viaduct. The warmth of the magma hit them full force and Barilo nearly fell off, though Akuna managed to get him back on, though she seemed to be slightly blushing for some bizarre reason that Barilo couldn’t fathom at the moment. His feet were burning against the hot rock, but very soon he and Akuna got to the other side with the others and then collapsed next to Nastan, who had been placed on the ground so Chimoy and Nonzra could take a small break. “You two okay?” asked Wanderer. “Yeah . . .” Barilo said in a breathless voice. “Let’s never do that again.” Now it was Addis’ turn. He could hear the tearing of metal behind him as he ran and he took a risk and threw a quick glance over his shoulder. He could already see Teivel and his Kra-Matoran coming through the barrier, hurling balls of shadow at him and at the others. He gathered speed, but suddenly a stray shadow bolt hit a part of the bridge in front of him, causing it to create a great, big hole. The rest of the bridge started to collapse as well and Addis knew that he couldn’t run over it or he’d melt. So he decided to jump. Mata Nui grant me strength! He thought as he ran. With one great leap, he landed feet first on the hard, hot rock and immediately fell to his knees, which was fortunate for him because a shadow bolt that was aimed for his head flew right through Wanderer instead. “Hey!” Wanderer shouted, angrily shaking her fist at Teivel. “That didn’t hurt, but it wasn’t polite!” “Save the instructions on politeness later,” said Addis, rising to his feet despite how tired he felt. “We gotta go!” On the other side of the chasm, Teivel saw with increasing anger that the six Toa Shika (plus their mysterious new ally that he had never seen before) were recovering and he knew that they were going to leave through the exit. Because the bridge had collapsed, there was no way he or any of his Kra-Matoran could catch up to the Shika, but he hadn’t come this far just to give up. He hurriedly glanced around and soon his red eyes set on the weak cavern walls which the shadows of the Toa Shika were dancing on. He made his decision quickly: He was going to bring down this cavern on himself, his hunting party, and on the Toa Shika. It was the only way to kill the Toa Shika for sure, and probably himself in the process, but he wasn’t afraid of dying. As long as it killed them, and as long as it meant that the Kra-Matoran were free of Wyoko, he didn’t care what would happen to himself. Teivel outstretched his arms till they were rigid, and then immediately gathered all of the shadow energy inside of him. He was going to go Nova, that technique that all Toa had the potential to do but they rarely ever did, for whenever a Toa did go Nova it usually resulted in the deaths of many innocents plus the Toa himself. But he didn’t care. This would surely destroy the Shika, he knew. His breathing was becoming more rapid and ragged and his Kra-Matoran all looked up at him curiously, wondering what he was doing. None of them had seen a Nova Blast before because none of the Shodios had ever gone Nova, so they were quite curious as to why he was suddenly turning extremely black to the point where he looked like a silhouette of his normal self. Neither did any of the Toa Shika know what he was doing. They stopped in the doorway and watched him curiously. “What’s he doing?” Nonzra asked with a tone of caution in his voice. “No idea,” Addis replied. “Maybe he’s given up.” Wanderer, however, seemed to be wary of Teivel, for she was flying back down the tunnel, a note of fear in her eyes. “Wanderer, what’s wrong?” asked Akuna. “Why do you look so scared?” “That . . . that Teivel guy,” she said in a tone that was unmistakably one of fear. “He’s going to go Nova!” “Nova?” Barilo repeated, suddenly looking very frightened. “He’s going to go Nova? In here?” “Yes! I’ve seen Toa go Nova in the past,” Wanderer said quickly. “Look, he’s going extremely black. He’s drawing together all of his shadow energy and is about to release it in one blow!” “If he goes Nova, this whole cave will collapse and will not only kill him, but us, too!” shouted Addis. “Quick! Run! Now!” The six Toa and Wanderer turned as one and ran (or, in Wanderer’s case, floated) away as fast as they could from Teivel, who was still becoming so black that he didn’t look real. But even as they ran, Teivel shouted, with a strangely magnified voice, “You aren’t getting away from my shadow that easily, light spit!” And with that, he exploded into a blast of shadow and darkness, swallowing the entire chamber up in minutes. The Kra-Matoran and snow wolves next to him took the brunt of the blast, apparently not expecting a Nova Blast, and were destroyed - and thereby killed - as a result. The rest of the shadow smashed into the walls, roof, and lava, shaking the chamber so much that it felt like an earthquake was happening. Some of the darkness nearly got the Toa Shika, but fortunately for them they had ran at just the right time for the shadow merely hit the exit that they had taken and sealed it with debris. Had the Toa Shika decided to stick around a little longer, they would have seen the roof of the cavern shatter into pieces and they would have also seen its pieces let in a whole lot of snow that had been collecting on the top of the volcano. They would have witnessed the snow immediately melt as soon as it came near the hot, burning lava. And then they would have noticed that the lava was bubbling even more than usual, rising gradually higher and higher, while the mountain itself seemed to be rumbling. As it was, only Teivel, lying nearly unconscious on the floor, was there to notice and he himself had no time to scream for help as the lava exploded through the top of the long-dormant volcano and shoot through the air. Not that it would have helped, since there was no one there to help him, anyway. The only things that the Toa Shika felt as they ran was a huge, earthquake-like tremor that nearly made them fall off of their feet. They heard a loud, deafening explosion coming from the cavern behind them, and to their horror, they saw the sealed exit they had used to escape the chamber was melting. Lava was burning through the rock and debris that had covered it and it was slowly coming toward the six Toa and Wanderer. Chimoy desperately put up a wall of protosteel to hold it off, though how long that would last, he had no idea. “Run for your freaking lives!” Addis shouted as loud as he could over the long, loud explosion overhead. All of the Shika obliged and ran, but it immediately became clear that if they were all to make it out of there alive they would need to have Nastan walk by himself for Chimoy and Nonzra could not run fast and carry him at the same time. “But we can’t let him run!” said Barilo, sounding alarmed. “He’s going to kill me!” “I think he prefers to living to killing you at the moment, right, Nastan?” Addis asked Nastan. “Sure,” Nastan said in a hurried voice. “Yes, I will refrain from killing Barilo. Just let me go and we can all get out of here alive, especially me.” Reluctantly, Chimoy used his metal powers to snap Nastan’s binds and soon the Toa of Shadow as standing up again, stretching his arms and legs, though he had no time to do anymore stretches, for the rest of the Toa Shika and Wanderer were running again and Nastan, despite having long limbs, had to run in long strides to keep up with them. Behind them, the protosteel wall that Chimoy had constructed was turning a burnt black, rapidly melting at the same time, while lava was oozing out onto the floor toward the Shika, though it was moving much, much more slowly than it was before and they outpaced it with ease. They quickly ran as fast as they possibly could, Chimoy using his iron powers to bring up some new barriers to keep the lava in check. It worked, for he made several large, thick protosteel walls that would take some time for the lava to break down. They were running down what seemed like an endless tunnel to them, which twisted and turned every few miles it seemed until Barilo began to think he and his friends had wound up in some sort bizarre maze of death and lava. Finally, after several long, hurried minutes of running through the underground tunnels that were leaking lava onto the floor and making progress even more difficult than it already was, the six Toa Shika and Wanderer saw a small light up ahead. It didn’t look like the kind of orange, burning light lava gave off. It was the same dark, evil, scary light of Wyoko that shrouded that shadow country, and Barilo could not remember the last time when he had been so happy to see that light. “We’re almost there!” Addis shouted over his shoulder to the others. “Just keep running!” But as soon as they were within feet of the exit, a blast of lava shot across the ground in front of them, which practically blocked the way out. They were ready for this, however, and all six of them jumped at the exact same time out of the cave and onto the cold, wet, dark snow of Wyoko, while Wanderer merely shot out into the sky as lava and smoke and ashes rained down from the volcano’s peak. Each one of the Toa landed face first on the soft slush and soon they were panting in the snow, too tired to get up, while Wanderer, who never truly got tired because of her ghost nature, flew high above them, although she did look thoroughly relieved to be out of that tunnel. Wanderer glanced over her shoulder and saw that the cave mouth that they had emerged from just seconds ago had re-sealed itself and now no longer looked like an entrance to the heart of a volcano. It looked more like it was a part of the snowy hillside now, almost indistinguishable from the rest of the area. She noticed that they had also apparently traveled several hundred miles away from the rest of the mountains. Below, she saw that Barilo had managed to roll over onto his back and was now staring at the mountains with horrified eyes. Curious, she looked back up at the mountains and now she, too, was horrified by what she was seeing. Review Topic

While looking for a Weedle in Santalune Forest, I came across a Shiny Scatterbug, which I quickly caught and nicknamed "Shinybug." It's the first Shiny Pokémon I've gotten this generation. I'm still surprised that I ran into one at all, but also quite pleased. -TNTOS-

Chapter 18: Spirit Wanderer Barilo looked up at the sky. It seemed to be getting darker and, at Akuna’s urging, they had been waiting an hour and a half for Addis, Chimoy, and Nastan. Yet he knew that they couldn’t just keep sitting out here in the shadows and snow, with no protection or heat to keep them safe or warm. They would freeze to death out here. “Let’s get moving,” Nonzra grumbled. “The more we move the more I’ll begin to like this place.” “I agree,” said Barilo. Akuna started to object, but the Toa of Gravity cut her off and said, “Akuna, I am afraid to say it, and I wish I didn’t have to, but Addis, Chimoy, and Nonzra are not coming. They’re probably just as lost as we are and have no idea where to find us. It may be for the best to keep moving. Who knows? Maybe we’ll find them along the way. Heck, they’ve probably already left the mountains and might be waiting for us.” Akuna looked worried, but she agreed. “Okay. Let’s go, then.” But just as the three Toa stood up to leave, they heard the sound of stomping feet coming from around the corner. Barilo gave Nonzra and Akuna a look that said “Get out your weapons.” They drew their tools and then took up strategic positions around the clearing. This way, if it was Kra-Matoran coming, they would get the drop on them and have a significant advantage over the villagers. They were being very quiet now as the sound of crunching snow got nearer and nearer. “Aim your weapons,” Barilo muttered. “If they’re enemies, we get them quick before they realize what is happening.” Just as they got their weapons up, however, the owners of the footsteps suddenly appeared, and to Barilo’s surprise, it was Addis, Chimoy, and Nastan, though Nastan was bounded with metal for some reason and was being carried by the earlier two Toa. Akuna, however, seemed overjoyed. She jumped down from her perch on a well-hidden boulder and ran over to greet them. She was smiling until she realized that Nastan was tied up quite well and that he didn’t look very happy about it, either. “What did you guys do to Nastan?” asked Akuna. Addis and Chimoy flinched and sighed heavily. They had been expecting a much more positive welcome than a question about why Nastan was bound. “He went a little out of control,” Addis explained as he and Chimoy marched into the clearing. “We had to carry him this way otherwise he would have come after you guys on his own and killed Barilo.” “That is what I should be doing,” snapped Nastan, struggling in his straps, “killing Barilo. He’s just a useless, dumb piece of-“ “Nastan, stop talking like that,” Akuna said in a tone that was a bit harsh than she had intended. “Please. That isn’t you talking.” “I already heard your speech about how it isn’t ‘me’ talking and how it’s something else,” Nastan muttered. “No one wants to hear your dumb speech. I am what I always was: A being of shadow. I just never realized it until Jero came and showed me the light. Or, should I say, he showed me the shadow.” “Enough talking,” said Addis, helping Chimoy prop Nastan up against a stone wall. “We have also got some more news.” “News about what?” Barilo asked as he and Nonzra came forward. “Well, for one, Jiki is dead,” said Addis, sitting on a nearby stone and stretching his arms and legs. “She got trapped in an avalanche with Chimoy, Nastan, and I, but we managed to escape alive. I tried to help her, but she was already dead by the time I dug her body out.” “I would like to add that the other Shodios have invaded the mountains,” Chimoy added. “I saw them when I was searching for you guys with my Kadin. They have organized search parties and everything and are most definitely coming after us. We have to get out of here now, or we’ll end up even worse than Jiki.” “Well, we don’t know our way out of the mountains,” admitted Barilo. “We just sat here waiting for you guys to return.” Addis shot him a reproving look and said, “Well, that seems like a dumb thing for you to do. You could have spent all of that time getting out of here or searching for us. We would have survived alone. You didn’t need to worry about us.” “Well, it was Akuna’s fault,” said Nonzra, sharply pointing his thumb over his shoulder to the Toa of Lightning. “She wanted to stay in case her evil boyfriend happened to drop by for a visit.” “Shut up,” said Akuna, who was now feeling embarrassed. “I was worried for Addis and Chimoy, too.” “Well, you never stopped talking about Nastan,” Nonzra argued. “You just went on and on about how you miss him, how you wish he wasn’t evil anymore, etc. It got really annoying after a while.” “Hey, don’t diss her,” said Nastan. “Though I admit, while I appreciate her pathetic worries and fears, I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself, something these two geniuses didn’t think I could do.” He gestured to Addis and Chimoy with his head. “Let’s stop quarrelling,” Addis said in a tone that said the discussion was over. “As much as it may matter to you, we have better things to worry about. I think we ought to send Chimoy up to find a quick route out of these mountains before the Shodios find us. I do not want to get lost again.” “I don’t know,” Chimoy said slowly, looking up at the sky as he spoke. “I can’t risk getting spotted by the Shodios . . .” “Chimoy, it will be quick,” Addis snapped suddenly. He could feel his temper rising, but tried to keep it down. “Just fly up, do a quick search of the area, and then fly back down and report what you saw to us. It isn’t that hard and the Shodios will more than likely not see you, since they are probably preoccupied with searching the ground than searching the skies. And you weren’t afraid of exposing yourself earlier, I might add.” “Addis, while I do think it is a good idea, I just don’t really want to risk the Shodios or one of their Kra-Matoran seeing - and finding - me,” said Chimoy. “I don’t want to accidentally lead them to you guys.” Then he added sharply, “And I wasn’t afraid earlier because that was when I thought there were only Jiki’s Matoran here, not the entire Shodios plus a bunch of their own Kra-Matoran as well.” He seemed to be fighting to not snap, but his voice tone was revealing his impatience. “Fine!” Addis said in a voice that was nearly a shout. “Then don’t fly! Let’s just go wandering around the mountains, running around and getting lost! Yeah, that will definitely work! The Shodios won’t stumble upon us at all! Who’s with me?” No one said anything. They all had caught his sarcasm and were being quiet. Addis, apparently, was trying to release all of his anger, so none of them tried to interrupt him as he ranted. “I am just trying to be a good leader,” Addis raged. “Yet you won’t listen and do what you are told. What’s up with that? You’ve done it before. The Shodios won’t see you, and if they do, so what? We can just easily avoid them by taking a route out of these mountains! You guys get to give suggestions and I take them, when it should be I who is giving the orders around here! And you don’t want to fly, Chimoy. Why not? Do you think this makes you better than me or wha-“ “Sounds like someone is grumpy,” said a misty, distant voice that caused all six of the Toa, including Nastan, to start and look around for the source. “I think you just need to cool down, Addis.” “Who’s there?” Addis demanded, drawing his plasma cannon out, while the rest of the Toa except for Nastan drew their weapons as well. “Are you an ally of the Shodios?” “No, I am not,” answered the voice, with a bit of a laugh. It seemed to be coming from the mountains themselves. “In fact, I had no idea those guys existed before I got here. Funny how these things work, you know?” “Who are you?” Barilo demanded, looking around everywhere for the source of the voice. “If you are not an ally of the Shodios, then are you a friend of us?” “Maybe,” the voice replied. “Or maybe not. All I know is that there is something wrong here and that I, Spirit Wanderer, must fix it. But you can call me Wanderer for short if you want.” “So Wanderer’s your name, eh?” said Addis, still aiming his plasma cannon around. “Did you come through The Door?” “The Door?” the voice repeated blankly. “No idea what that is. No, I came via my own special power to this place.” “If you’re so special, then why don’t you show yourself?” asked Nonzra, his hand that was gripping his sword shaking because of the intense cold. “You seem an awful lot like a coward to me to hide from us.” “I would like to tell you that I am most certainly not a coward,” the voice responded indignantly. “I have fought many monstrosities in my time, Toa, and each one of them was far more powerful and frightening than you could ever hope to be. Don’t talk to me about cowardice. It is you, I might add, who is a coward, running away from those Shodios like that-“ “They have enough power to kill us all,” Barilo answered. “That is why we are running from them instead of fighting. If we fight, we die and the whole universe is once again threatened by the Kra-Matoran. We can’t let that happen.” “Hmm,” the voice said in a tone that meant it obviously wasn’t convinced. “Well, I guess that’ll do. I suppose I’ll show you my true form, as you have asked. But be prepared. Not many folks are used to seeing a ghost appear out of thin air.” Suddenly, with a sound that reminded Barilo of a whip cracking, the voice materialized in front of them with a body of its own. It was tall, taller than any of the Toa present, with a long, sharp spear in its left hand. On its back it had a large shield that resembled a turtle shell and it had on a face that resembled a Rau, except with a round mouth. The most startling feature of Wanderer was that it looked like a ghost. It merely floated high above the ground a few feet and was quickly lowering. It seemed to be completely transparent and Barilo wondered for a moment if he could actually walk through Wanderer, though he dare not try it in case it got it angry. “I am Wanderer,” said the being, whose voice sounded much more clear and distinct now. Barilo could tell that it was female, for her voice was much more feminine. “And I am here to help.” The six Toa Shika just stared at her. They had no idea what to say. All of them stood with their mouths hung open, just staring at her as she stood in front of them. She looked around at them all with curious little ghost-like eyes and said, “What? You guys look like you’ve seen a ghost.” “You’re a ghost,” said Nastan, who sounded very surprised. “Of course I am,” Wanderer replied, as if it were the most obvious fact in the universe. “I told you guys that before I became visible. What were you expecting, a zombie or something?” “Where did you come from?” asked Nonzra, who couldn’t tear his eyes away from her bizarre, ghostly form. “And what do you mean ‘I am here to help’?” “Well, I can answer those questions, I suppose,” Wanderer said as she floated toward them. She didn’t walk, Barilo noticed, only flew, which he supposed was what ghosts did instead of walking. She flew over them and sat down on a boulder, her chin in her hand. She looked like she was thinking. “Where to start, oh where to start?” she said, as if trying to remember where she had put her favorite Kanoka disk. “Well, let’s start at the beginning, I guess: “I have this power, see, this power that allows my spirit to leave my body and travel all over the universe to wherever I have to go. My people call me a ‘Spirit Wanderer,’ and as you can no doubt tell by the name, I am a spirit and I can, well, wander. I don’t know why I can do that, but it is something that my people have told me is a power passed down from generation to generation. Interesting, isn’t it? “But the catch is, I can’t use it whenever I feel like it. I need to be asleep, for one thing, and something needs to be wrong in the universe that I can either fix or help fix. So you can imagine what it must be like to lay down on your bed one day to take a quick nap and then waking up and realizing you’re in the middle of a full-scale war where you have to help assassinate a well-known and well-respected military leader. Very different from taking a nap, no?” The Toa nodded their heads, but it was obvious they were not completely taking in her words, since they were still shocked to see a real, live (or dead) ghost sitting in front of them. “Anyway, so I was going to sleep a few hours earlier, but then I woke up and I ended up in. . . . What’d you call this place again?” she asked. “Wyoko,” Barilo told her. “Right, Wyoko,” said Wanderer, nodding. “Anyway, so I was here in these mountains and I realized that I was spirit wandering again. I decided to see what I was supposed to do when I discovered you guys here and followed Addis, Chimoy, and Nastan to this spot. I am assuming that whatever it is I am here to fix has something to do with you guys.” “Why do you say that?” asked Akuna, who, like the rest of them, was goggling at the ghost. “Because of him,” Wanderer replied, pointing with a ghostly finger at the bound Nastan. “Why’s he all tied up anyway?” “Because they don’t understand progress!” shouted Nastan, struggling to escaped his confines. “They think I’m evil!” “Why do they think you’re evil?” Wanderer asked curiously. Before Nastan could answer, Addis interrupted him and said, “Wanderer we, uh, need to talk before we explain to you our situation. Is that all right with you?” “Sure,” Wanderer said as she casually leaned back. “I’m used to people not trusting me upon first sight, though I understand it. After all, if a sassy female ghost like me suddenly appeared out of thin air and gave me a weird back story like that, I would think I’d have gone crazy, myself, or worse.” The five Toa Shika huddled up, Nastan excluded since they didn’t want to have his rude comments in their discussion and he probably didn’t have anything to add that didn’t somehow involve killing Barilo anyway. “What do you think?” Barilo asked to Addis. “Should we trust her?” “I am not sure,” said Addis, looking over his shoulder at the laid-back ghost, who was now hovering above Nastan, taunting the Toa of Shadow for the heck of it. “She doesn’t seem to be a threat. . . .” “But remember the Kra-Matoran of Wael?” asked Akuna. “They pretended to think of us as heroes, but they were just playing us! What if she’s an ally of the Shodios, too?” “Well, she seemed to be honestly confused about the Shodios,” said Chimoy. “Although I do agree that she can’t be trusted without any proof to back up her story.” “But then again, what if she’s legit?” said Addis. “We sure could use an ally or two to help us. Heck, with her ghost powers she may be able to help us find a way out of these mountains.” “I don’t like how she called me a coward,” said Nonzra, throwing a dark look over his shoulder at Wanderer. “She doesn’t understand what it is like to have an entire country after you!” “Let’s just try her out for a while,” Addis said in a whisper. “She may be legit, and hey, how many people get to have ghosts as their allies?” Akuna, Chimoy, Barilo, and Nonzra all looked doubtful of his wisdom, but they went along with it anyway. They broke their huddle and walked back over to Wanderer, who looked back up at them as soon as she heard them approaching. “Get her out of here!” Nastan shouted, his chest heaving in and out very rapidly. “She’s been annoying me the entire time you guys were trying to decide if she was trustworthy or not!” “Oh, don’t be a baby,” said Wanderer, rolling her eyes. “I was only teasing you.” Nastan glared daggers at her, but he didn’t get a chance to say anything else, for Addis said, “Wanderer, we’ve decided to let you come with us. But,” he added upon seeing Wanderer smiling her approval, “just because you get to hang out with us doesn’t mean we trust you. We are still suspicious about you and you have no proof to back up your story, so we can’t necessarily believe you.” “Fine,” Wanderer said. “I don’t particularly trust you guys, either, but I must follow what destiny says, and destiny says I have to figure out how to fix . . . whatever it is needs fixing.” She paused, as if lost in thought, then said, “By the way, mind filling me in on what the situation is? If I am going to be traveling with you I don’t want to get lost in your amazingly complicated and odd conversations.” She was being sarcastic, of course, but they knew that she was interested in what they were doing, how they got there, and other things regarding Wyoko. So the five Toa all told her about where they came from, about the Shodios, Kra-Matoran, and Turaga Krashadi, what their current situation was, how Nastan became a Toa of Shadow, and they each told her a little bit about themselves as well. Once they had finished, Wanderer shook her head and said, “Man that is quite . . . complicated. I don’t think I will be able to remember it all.” “Don’t worry, we don’t expect you to,” said Addis. “Anyway, uh, being a ghost and being able to go through walls and stuff, do you know of any secret entrances that lead out of these mountains we we could possibly use it to escape the Shodios?” “Oh, just because I am a ghost instantly means I know all the secrets of Wyoko, eh?” Wanderer said indignantly. “Just because ghosts are all mysterious and stuff in Matoran fiction doesn’t instantly mean I am, too. Mata Nui, I didn’t think I’d get stuck with a bunch of generic-stereotyping Toa!” She sounded very angry and offended and Addis hesitated to say anything else. Suddenly her tone changed to an almost bored tone and she said, “But for your information, yes, I did find a secret tunnel while following you guys. It’s over there behind that snow.” She gestured to a wall of ice and snow behind them, the same one that she had been hiding in earlier. “Think it leads out of here, but I don’t know for sure since I haven’t explored it yet.” Addis glanced at Barilo with a look that said, “What’s up with her?” But he didn’t actually say it and instead said, “All right. I’ll just melt the snow, then.” He carefully aimed his plasma cannon at the wall that the ghost had indicated. Then he pulled the trigger and a ball of extremely hot plasma went flying out of its barrel and into the snow, melting it and revealing a Toa-sized cave mouth that had icicles hanging from its ceiling. Water from the melted snow was dripping from its entrance, giving the cave mouth a very eerie look. “Wow, so there really was a tunnel!” Nonzra said in surprise. “I thought you were just making it up!” “Why would I lie?” she asked as she followed the six Toa into the tunnel (Chimoy and Nonzra were carrying Nastan). “I am an honest ghost, after all.” “Yeah, but we don’t exactly trust you with our lives, per se,” Nonzra said as he carried Nastan by his legs. “I, at least, don’t consider you a friend yet.” “Well, I don’t like you either, but in my culture spirit wanderers generally don’t get to chose who they get to help, whether they like the person or not,” Wanderer shot back. “Would you two stop arguing for a minute and be quiet?” Addis asked, annoyed. “We’ve got to stay quiet. The Shodios may be nearby and I certainly wouldn’t want to get capture by them, would you?” “Well, I wouldn’t be able to die,” Wanderer said dryly. “So that says something about my opinion of those Shodios guys.” “Let’s just get going,” Akuna said hurriedly. “I want to see where this cave leads.” So the six Toa plus Wanderer continued to walk down the ever-deepening tunnel. But in the excitement of possibly leaving the cold, dreary, mountains, none of them realized was that they had forgotten to seal the cave mouth. Nor did any of them realize that not too far behind them, Teivel and his group of Kra-Matoran were searching for the Toa Shika and would soon discover the cave. Would they ever realize it? Probably, but by the time they do, it will be too late for them to do anything about it. Review Topic

Chapter 17: The Hunt Begins Nastan felt strangely warm, despite being buried alive underneath several tons of snow. After the avalanche had hit himself, Addis, Chimoy, and Jiki, he had fallen into unconsciousness. Strangely, despite being buried underneath tons and tons of freezing, icy-cold ice did not feel like he was frozen. In fact, he felt warm and comfortable and didn’t want to wake up at all. . . . This feel nice, Nastan thought as he lay there with his eyes closed. Freezing to death isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Maybe I just need to lay here for a while, take a quick nap and then go back to find Akuna again. . . . Unfortunately for him, he had no time to take a nap because two hands burst through the snow and hauled the Toa of Shadow out from his mask. Nastan snapped back to attention. Now the cold was returning to his body and he started shivering. His vision was blurred for a few minutes before he realized who had picked him up. It was Addis, who was panting and breathing hard. Behind him Nastan could see Chimoy standing over something large and frozen, though he could not tell what it was. “You okay?” asked Addis. “Yeah,” said Nastan, standing up unsteadily. “By the way, I didn’t need your help.” Addis, furious, said, “How is about I rebury you beneath the snow and see if you can get out on your own? It took me half an hour to dig Chimoy out and for a minute I thought you were dead until I saw the spot where you were buried moving slightly.” “Whatever,” Nastan said. He pointed at Chimoy and asked, “What’s he looking at?” Addis looked over his shoulder and the grimaced. “He found. . . . Oh, you should see it for yourself. It’s bad, and I don’t really want to be the one to describe it for you.” Nastan followed Addis over to whatever it was Chimoy was examining and soon he was standing over the frozen, dead form of Toa Jiki half-buried in snow. The snow and ice had apparently froze her to death. He could tell she was dead because her heartlight was out and she had no heat coming from her body, though Toa of Shadow generally did not have much heat anyway. Had he been a Toa of The Green, he would have been repulsed by such a sight. But as a Toa of Shadow, he merely shrugged and said, “So what? We’ll leave her as a warning to her fellow Shodios not to mess with us.” “Despite the fact we did not kill her?” Chimoy asked sharply. “Addis and I tried to save her, but then we realized she was already dead and thus there was no point in saving her. I didn’t like her much either, but I felt that saving her would have been the most Toa-like thing to do.” “Shut up,” Nastan snapped. “Let’s go find the others. I wish to kill Barilo.” “Nastan, that shadow is corrupting you,” said Addis, staring at the Toa of Shadow in the eyes sternly. “Stop thinking those dark thoughts.” “Never!” Nastan roared, causing some more snow to fall onto the ground from a nearby cliff. “I am thinking rational thoughts. Perhaps it is you who should be the one not thinking dark thoughts, Addis. Who are you to go around bossing me like you own the place?” “Would Joha really try to kill his enemies?” Chimoy asked suddenly. The mere mention of that Turaga’s name was enough to silence Nastan. Turaga Joha had been one of the original Toa Shika back on Shika Nui, before Nastan and the rest. Joha had also been the last member the original Toa Shika to survive, because the Dark Hunters had wiped out all of the rest 25,000 years ago. As a result, Joha had fled into them mountains and waged a one-man war against the Hunters, although he hadn’t had much success. So he had created six Toa stones which fell into the hands of the current Toa Shika of Nastan and co, his plan being that with six more Toa they could beat the Dark Hunters. Since Nastan and the rest became Toa, Joha became a Turaga as result. Last they’d seen Joha he had been heading toward a Matoran village to await the return of the Toa Shika. Nastan heavily respected him, or used to, anyway. Nastan just glared at Chimoy and said, “So what? What would I care what an old fool like he has to say? He’s weak. He gave up his Toa power to make us into Toa, the fool.” Addis looked at Nastan with disappointed eyes for a few minutes, and then said, “Fine. We have no time to argue about this. We need to find our friends like you just said, Nastan. Except no killing Barilo.” “I’ll never agree to that,” said Nastan. “I may as well just find them on my own if you’re going to set up those restrictions!” The Toa of Shadow turned around, but suddenly bands of protosteel popped into existence around Nastan’s arms and legs, binding him up so quickly that he had no time to react. He fell and hit the soft snow and cursed. “We can’t let you just wander off on your own,” said Addis. “The results would be disastrous.” “Let me go!” shouted Nastan. “Let me go!” “No,” Chimoy said firmly. “We’ll carry you until we find our friends. Then we’ll all find a way to turn you back to normal, okay?” “No,” Nastan said angrily. “I am better now, stronger. I do not need light. It is weak. Consciences, morals. . . . All are for the weak!” “We can’t convince you otherwise,” said Addis. “But we can take you along with us, whether you want to or not.” With that, Chimoy grabbed Nastan’s legs and lifted him up at the same time when Addis hefted him up by his shoulders. Chimoy winced for a minute, the pain in his shoulder suddenly appearing as he lifted the bound Nastan up. Addis seemed to notice this and asked, “Chimoy, you sure you can lift Nastan up with your shoulder hurt like that?” “Yeah,” Chimoy grunted, nodding. “It’s only a flesh wound. It’s not as bad as Barilo’s and will probably heal quickly.” “Then let’s go,” said Addis, looking around. “I see a path we can take over there. Maybe it will lead us to the others.” So the two Toa, holding their partner, continued on, with Nastan protesting all of the way. But none of the three Toa Shika noticed a tall, ghost-white figure, standing up on the top of a nearby boulder that was half-covered in snow, watching the three Toa with interest. Nor would any of them realize that the ghost-like figure decided to follow them, perhaps to find out more about these Toa and what they were doing or going to be doing. She silently glided over the dead body of Jiki and soon was quietly trailing behind the three Toa without making a single sound. - “My feet hurt,” Nonzra grumbled as he walked with Barilo and Akuna. “Stop complaining,” said Barilo, who was now beginning to feel frustrated and tired. “We probably don’t have to walk for too much longer.” “Can’t we take a break?” asked Nonzra. “We have plenty of time to waste. After all, Addis, Chimoy, and Nastan are still missing. Perhaps we should just wait until they find us.” Barilo stopped and thought about the suggestion. Then he nodded and said, “Okay. Let’s do that, then. This looks like a good spot.” The party was in a small clearing with a few boulders and a path that seemed to lead deeper into the mountains. The sky was dark and bleak and held no encouragement for them. The snow, while it was a pretty bright white, seemed to be black at the same time, although Akuna knew it wasn’t. She felt a cold wind blow through the clearing and she shivered. “I wish I’d have brought a coat,” said Akuna, wrapping her arms around herself to keep in her body heat. “Or maybe just a thicker and warmer set of armor.” “Me, too,” said Barilo, nodding. He, too, was shivering, though slightly less than Akuna. “But personally, I just want to find the others and get the Karzahni out of here.” “Definitely,” said Nonzra, nodding. “This place just seems to suck the happiness right out of you, you know? Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like these mountains do more than just make me cold. I feel like they are forcibly sucking out any and all goodness in me or happy memories.” “It’s you,” said Akuna. “I don’t feel that way at all.” She looked up at the sky and sighed. “I sure do wish Nastan was here.” “I dunno,” Barilo chuckled. “I don’t think I want a murderous Toa of Shadow sitting next to me.” “Barilo, that’s not funny,” said Akuna, glaring at him. “Nastan can probably be turned back to normal. We just need to figure out how is all.” “And what will you do if we can’t?” asked Barilo. “Join him? He honestly doesn’t like me, or any of the other Toa. And he also wants to convert you into a Toa of Shadow, too. You don’t want to become evil just to be with him, do you?” Akuna, now feeling even more uncomfortable, could not think of a satisfactory answer. True, she really did want to be with Nastan, yet at the same time she also didn’t want to become a Toa of Shadow. She had already witnessed the brutality of the Shodios and Kra-Matoran and of Nastan’s own nastiness. It seemed naïve to believe that Nastan could be turned back to normal, yet it was a hope that she clung to just the same. While Akuna wrestled with her feelings about Nastan and about her own light, Barilo was thinking of a plan. He already decided that, if the others didn’t find his team in the next hour, he, Nonzra, and Akuna would get going, leaving the mountains behind. He was sure that that is what Addis would have wanted him to do. Besides, what were the odds of Addis and his crew staying in these mountains anyway? Not very high, he thought. So it would make sense to just go and leave, or at least he thought it would. He, too, was also sad about Nastan. Not as much as Akuna, but still sad for his friend just the same. While he knew that Nastan had bitter feelings toward him because Barilo had tried to kill him back on Shika Nui, he still wished that Nastan hadn’t become a Toa of Shadow. It seemed to be messing with him, making him very evil and quite unstable. After all, what was to stop him from harming the rest of the team besides Akuna? Heck, maybe even Akuna too if she tried got in his way. How does one heal a being of shadow? Barilo thought as he stared absentmindedly around at the snow. I have never heard of beings having their light forcibly removed from them. What if there is no cure? Am I going to spend the rest of my life running from one I consider a friend? It wasn’t worth thinking about right now, he thought. He had to worry about the here and now. Maybe later when things got more under control he would think up some way to save Nastan. - It seemed that Addis and Chimoy were hopelessly lost in the dark mountains. Every twist and turn looked the same to them, every single snowflake looked similar to the ones that they had seen before, and there did not seem to be a single trace of the other Toa Shika. Not even footprints to tell them that they were at least on the right track. Nastan had calmed down now and was being quiet, merely muttering curses under his breath now. Apparently he had decided to give in and believed that he was in no position to escape, at least not right now anyway. Chimoy suddenly had an idea and said, “Hey, Addis?” “Yes, Chimoy?” Addis said from up ahead, lifting Nastan up by his shoulders. “What is it?” “I got an idea,” said Chimoy. “I have the Mask of Flight, right? So why don’t I just fly up above the peaks like before, and find the others? It would be much faster than just wandering aimlessly around these mountains.” “I don’t know,” Addis said slowly. “What if the Kra-Matoran see you? Remember, Jiki came here with a squad of Kra-Matoran that we last saw were hunting down Barilo, Akuna, and Nonzra. I don’t think we can just let you go flying around carelessly like that.” “It won’t be carelessly, though,” said Chimoy. “It will be quick, and if I see any Kra-Matoran I will fly right back down immediately. Please, I want to find the others just as much as you do and this seems to be the best and easiest idea to me.” “Fine,” Addis said finally. “Just be quick, though. I don’t want Nastan here to think he can get away from us.” Putting Nastan’s feet down, Chimoy replied, “Will be back in a minute.” With that, he soared up high into the sky. Once again he felt the exhilarating feel of flying, soaring through the clouds like a bird and zooming in and around the peaks, though he attempted not to go too fast, for he did not want any of the Kra-Matoran to notice a Toa flying around the mountains. He landed on the top of a high peak and looked around. He could see a group of Kra-Matoran walking through the snow several hundred yards behind him and he could also see. . . . The Shodios, he thought, feeling slightly afraid. He was right. The other five still-living Shodios were at the foot of the mountain, organizing search parties, it seemed. He wondered how the heck they had gotten there so quickly, but he decided not to worry about it. The Matoran that were with those evil Toa were all heavily armed and he saw quite a few fearsome Rahi beasts with them as well. He gulped. If the Shodios were to find them, there was no way he or any of his friends would survive. But he managed to avert his gaze from the Shodios and saw, to his delight, a small clearing in the north were three familiar beings sat together. They were too far away to see clearly, but he instantly knew who they were. Nonzra, Barilo, and Akuna! Chimoy thought, now feeling relieved. Thank Mata Nui that they’re still alive! He then activated his Mask of Flight and took off, shooting back down into the mountains to report his news back to Addis, never noticing a transparent being floating toward him and his friends. The Toa of Iron landed hard on the ground and stumbled a bit before telling Addis, “I saw them! Barilo, Akuna, and Nonzra are over there, in the north.” He pointed north. “Great!” Addis said as he smiled. “Let’s go find them, then.” “But I’ve also got some bad news,” said Chimoy. “I saw the other five Shodios here at the foot of the mountain. They had heavily armed Kra-Matoran, and quite a few nasty-looking beasts, too. I saw them all organizing teams. Methinks they aren’t here to go on a nature hike.” Addis’ expression instantly changed now. He was looking serious and said, “Then let’s get moving. We can’t let them find our friends before we do.” “Oh, goody,” Nastan said in a sarcastic tone. “All of our friends have came here to play with us. What game should we play: Kill Barilo, or kill Barilo? I say we play kill Barilo, personally. What’d you say?” Ignoring the Toa of Shadow’s sarcastic comments, the two Toa picked his metal board up and carried the bounded Nastan off in the direction that Chimoy had pointed, knowing that they would probably be reunited with their friends soon. - Teivel growled angrily at the extremely cold snow that was being blown in his face, his thick coat hanging loosely off of his body. Behind him a group of Kra-Matoran, each one armed with swords and shields and other weapons, were following him along with a few snow wolves that would be essential to tracking down those Toa, since snow wolves could find beings that trekked snow easily. The only problem now was whether the Toa Shika were still alive, since there was a report of an avalanche happening not too long ago. Surely they would be dead, but Jiki might be, too, unless she was smart enough to get out of the way of the avalanche. Then again, he reminded himself. If she really had been smart, she would have waited for us to arrived before heading straight into the Nui Mountains with a bunch of Matoran. He stopped at the edge of a cliff. It looked like snow had fallen off of it. Perhaps an avalanche really had happened recently. He looked down it and saw tons of snow at the bottom. Maybe someone had been buried beneath the snow, if an avalanche had caused the snow to end up down there. He decided to check it out. “Matoran!” he barked. “Set up the ropes and follow myself down this cliff. I think there’s something down there beneath the snow!” With that, he used his Mask of Shape Shifting and transformed into a Gukko bird and flew down. He immediately stopped as soon as he was a few feet above the white snow and landed with a crunch. He shape shifted back into his normal form and then he looked back up the rocky cliff. The Matoran were faster than he had thought, for they had already thrown down about a dozen ropes and they were climbing down very fast. The snow wolves, being natural mountain climbers, were going down the cliff’s face with ease. He didn’t want to have to wait for them to come down, however. He was going to inspect this place himself. It did not take long for him to discover a dead body, half-buried in snow. He quickly used his shadow power to blow away some of the snow and saw a familiar frozen face. It was Jiki, dead and frozen. The snow must have frozen her to death, for she looked unmoving. He kicked her in the side just to make sure, but she did not move or say anything. She was really, truly dead. The Toa of Shadow who had lead armies against the universe 100,000 years ago, his sister Toa who had been banished here with him and the others after their failed attempt of conquering the universe, was dead. Part of him felt sad for her death, but another, more prominent part appeared in his mind and gave him this grave conclusion. If these Toa Shika killed Jiki, they will not hesitate to kill me or the other Shodios, he thought, feeling a sting of fear creep up his spine. Which means I must somehow warn the others before the Shika get to them. The Kra-Matoran squad he had assigned to himself quickly ran up to him and then they began chattering among themselves at the sight of the dead Jiki. Many had their faces looked solemn. Others were looking terrified. After all, if their great, powerful, and wise Toa had been killed by outsiders, then that meant they were not safe at all, since they were weaker than the Shodios. The snow wolves were sniffing her dead body, apparently trying to figure out why she looked like Teivel yet didn’t have any sort of scent. Another sight caught Teivel’s sharp eyes. Two sets of footprints were walking away from the scene of the murder, two sets of Toa footprints. They were walking in the west and disappeared around a corner. Teivel acknowledged one of the Matoran and said, “Villager, look at these footprints.” The Kra-Matoran ran over to him and then examined the prints that he was indicating. Then the villager said, “They look like Toa footprints to me, almighty Teivel.” “That is precisely what they are,” Teivel said coldly. “Get the snow wolves to sniff them. They may still have the stink of the light spit that had made them. If we’re lucky, we’ll have two less light dwellers in this place by the time we catch up with the unfortunate beings that made those.” Review Topic