TNTOS

Just saw it today. All I can say is that I really want to see Series 4. Like, right now. Sadly, we probably won't see it until 2016 at the earliest, if the release schedules for the last three seasons are anything to go by. Guess I'll just have to wait. -TNTOS-

Played Pokémon X yesterday. Trying to breed a Shiny Doduo using the Masuda method (not because I especially like Doduos or anything but because I just want a Shiny and Doduo just happens to be the only other Pokémon I own that can breed with my Japanese Fletchling). -TNTOS-

Chapter 9: The Mountains Iroko followed the Toa, who were quite lost. The mountains weren't exstensively explored because of the treacherous terrain and the steep heights, so they were literally walking around in circles. Addis had been here before, a few days ago. He had stolen the six Toa stones from Toa Joha, who lived here, but he only used a short-cut that he learned of and didn't do much exploring at all. Iroko knew her way around the mountains, so it was kind of frustrating to see them walking every which way, having no idea where they should be going. I ought to kill them all right now, She thought angrily. But they've too close to each other for me to kill them one by one, so I'll wait a little while. Wait a while, yes, that's exactly what I'll do. She stopped for a minute. I don't think I can wait a while. Being a Skakdi, she had a hard time being patient, waiting until they stopped. The Skakdi decided to wait for them to stop for the night, then she would kill them in their sleep. Yes, that would work well, She thought. That would work very well indeed. - The six Toa Shika and Jokao came to a fork in the mountain pass. Nonzra looked both ways, but wasn't quite sure what was ahead of either trail. "Do you think we're lost?" the Toa of Sonics asked. "Probably," Addis replied. "But we have to decide which way to go. Left or right?" "Left!" Akuna exclaimed. "No way," Nastan disagreed. "I've heard bad tales of what happens when people go left, so I say we go right!" "We don't know what is down either way," Jokao said. "Maybe we should camp here for the night. It's getting pretty dark out. Then we'll come to a decision in the morning." "Sleeping sounds good," Nonzra agreed. "But you know, we could be being followed." "What makes you say that?" Akuna asked. "We're the only ones up here, as far as I know, and I don't think anyone saw us go up into the mountains anyway." "Well, I feel a like that for some reason," Nonzra said. "I don't feel secure in places I am unfamiliar with unless I am with friends, but even now, I still feel insecure, like someone is watching us." There was a long pause. A goat could be hard yelling somewhere deep within the mountains. No one was sure what to do now. It was either left or right and they couldn't agree which way they wanted to go. So after more arguing and debating(Mostly by Nastan and Nonzra), they decided to sleep on it, not going either way until the morning,. "What are we going to sleep on?" Nastan asked. "We don't have any beds or anything. Are we going to use rocks for pillows?" "And we don't have anything to sleep under to keep us warm, either," Akuna added. "I have heard it gets pretty cold up in the mountains." "Well, I don't know," Addis said. "I didn't think what we will sleep on or use as covers. Maybe you two could go and find something for us to use as a bed." There was a pause, before Nastan realized something. "Hey! How could I have been so stupid?" the Toa of The Green exclaimed. "I am a Toa of The Green! I can make us beds using my elemental powers! Watch and be amazed!" Seven beds, made of reeds and other kinds of plants, exploded out of the ground. Then, still using his powers, Nastan shifted the plants around until they looked like more comfortable, six big ones for himself and the other Toa and one small one for Jokao. "Tada!" Nastan said. Nonzra walked over to one of the beds and sat down, making sure that it wouldn't fall apart. It didn't, it supported his weight and he decided to lay down on it. "Well, Nastan," Nonzra said, not sitting up. "You did a good job. But I do not think it would be wise for us to sleep out in the open, without maybe a tent or something." "Hmm, you're right," Nastan said. Instantly, a tent made of many different plants appeared out of nowhere, covering the seven beds. "Better?" "Much." the Toa of Sonics called from the tent. After that, the other five Toa Shika and Jokao crawled into the tent and got into their beds, quickly falling asleep, never knowing a Skakdi was watching them or just what she was planning to do to them. Review Topic

Chapter 8: Into The Mountains The next morning the six Toa Shika and Jokao set out for the mountains. They made their way through the forest. Nastan made his way in and around the tress easily, but the others had a hard time dodging trees and keeping from tripping on vines and broken branches. Jokao in particular had a hard time climbing over the big, fallen trees because of his short size. "Gosh, Nastan, would you stop going so fast?" Nonzra complained. "Not everyone here knows the forest better than their hut, you know." "Well, sorry, Nonzra," Nastan snapped. He jumped onto a stump and turned around to face the Toa of Sonics. "We have to keep moving and we will not get there if you keep complaining." "Sheesh! I was just asking you to slow down is all!" Nonzra said. "Stop it with the arguing already," Addis told the two Toa. "We have enough to worry about already and we don't need any arguing to make us all irritable." "Okay, whatever," Nonzra grumbled. "But I was winning the argument, Nastan." The Toa of The Green was ignoring the Toa of Sonics now. He continued moving through the forest and the others followed, not one of them saying a word. Jokao was walking behind Chimoy, thinking of what he had just gotten himself into. Okay, I'm with six Toa who either want to save Shika Nui or don't want to save it, depending on which Toa you talk to, while my friends don't know if I am alive or not and now we're heading to the mountains because a Makuta told us to, the Ta-Matoran thought. What's wrong with this carving? I originally planned to go and get more Matoran to join my rebellion, not end up on the run from the Dark Hunters with six Toa who don't seem to care that much about the island. What should I do? Try to lose them? No, I'd end up dead if that happened. So I guess for now I should just stay with them. Who knows, maybe we really will free Shika Nui from the Dark Hunters. Chimoy had jumped over a tree trunk, but Jokao was too lost in his thoughts to notice it, so he walked straight into it. "Ow!" Jokao shouted. "Stupid tree trunk. Who put this here?" The Toa of Iron stopped and turned around. He saw Jokao cursing the trunk and then Chimoy continued walking with the others, apparently forgetting Jokao. The Ta-Matoran quickly caught up with them and continued following the six Toa. Akuna looked at the trees and wondered how anyone could live here. Sure, it was beautiful, but it was also hot and humid and you could only really enjoy it if you were a Gre-Matoran. Even then, you'd have to have a strong tolerance for humidity and heat. This forest reminded her of the time she and Nastan had stolen a valuable artifact from the Dark Hunters. They had been spotted and ran into the forest. Unfortunately, it was dark and they had no lightstones, so she was afraid they would get lost and maybe end up in the mouth of some strange Rahi, even though she knew that the only Rahi that lived in the forest were brakas monkeys. Still, she didn't like being in the forest at night, but at least she wasn't alone. Nastan had grabbed her hand and led her out of the forest, somehow knowing the way out. Later she asked him how he knew his way out of the forest in pitch-blackness, he told her that he knew his way around the forest and he wasn't afraid, so he could think clearly. After that, she kind of devolped a crush on Nastan, but not a major one. These forests can get pretty scary, Akuna thought. Especially at night. I wonder if anyone else is afraid of these woods? The Toa of Lightning looked at her companions. None of them looked afraid, but none of them would admit they were afraid anyway if they wanted to look tough. All of them but Jokao looked tough. The Ta-Matoran just looked annoyed and was grumbling about tree trunks and how he would burn them if he were a Toa of Fire. Addis was behind Nastan, walking and trying not to trip over some loose vines or anything like that. He also cared little for the forest, but he also knew that destroying it all with his plasma powers would draw the unwanted attention of the Dark Hunters. They could have used a short-cut, but that would have meant having to go out into the open and that would also mean that a Dark Hunter might see them and they might get killed, so going through the forest was the safest way to the mountains. Nastan stopped, then signaled for the others to stop as well. He had seen someone or something and watched to see who it was. Two Dark Hunters walked through a path in the forest, but fortunately the didn't notice the six Toa and Jokao standing in the forest. One was tall and skinny and the other one was short and bulky. They looked tired and were talking to each other about last night. "Who would have thought that one Toa would cause so much trouble?" the tall one said. "Not as much trouble as that Makuta Icetraz came back with," the bulky Hunter replied. "He destroyed half the fortress and almost got away with it, too. Good thing Icetraz froze him before he could cause anymore damage." "Yeah, many Matoran servants died because of him, but who cares about Matoran? Now we have to rebuild the fortress and make sure that Makuta doesn't get away," the skinny Dark Hunter complained. "Stupid Makuta." Nastan looked back to the others. None of them had heard any explosions of any sort last night. We must have been sleeping pretty hard last night, Barilo thought. "Thank goodness he didn't destroy the cave to the ancient wall of protodermis, otherwise we would be in BIG trouble!" the tall Dark Hunter said. "Yeah," the short Dark Hunter agreed. "That treasure behind the wall would have been gone for good!" That caught the attention of the six Toa Shika. When they were Matoran they had all been thieves and they were all interested in treasure. Only Barilo looked a bit worried, because he was planning on keeping it a secret, but now they knew about the wall and there's no telling what would happen now that they knew about it. "Well, we better get going," the tall and skinny one said. "We better make sure none of the Matoran escaped during the attack." "Good, 'cause I never liked this forest," the short and bulky one said. "Even though brakas monkeys are the only Rahi that live here, I never felt comfortable out here. I always felt as if someone, something, was watching me." The two Dark Hunters continued walking until they were out of sight. Then Nastan turned to the others. "Did you hear that?" Nastan asked excitedly. The others nodded their heads. "There's giant wall of protodermis and behind it is a ton of treasure! Isn't that great?" "We should go back for it," Addis said. "We don't need to go to the mountains. We go to the wall and get that treasure and then boot the Dark Hunters off this island." "No!" Barilo yelled. The others turned to look at him, surprised. The Toa of Gravity was usually the first one to want to go after treasure, yet he didn't want to for some reason. "Barilo, what's wrong?" Akuna asked. "You're usually the first to go after treasure and now you're against the idea? What's up with that?" "Well, I already knew of the ancient wall of protodermis, because in the fortress I found a entry of a journal that talked about it," Barilo explained. "I was waiting for a better moment to tell you guys, but now the surprise is ruined." "Okay, but I guess going there would be a stupid idea anyway," Addis said. "There are too many Dark Hunters and then there is that Makuta they were talking." "Yes," Barilo agreed. "We go to the mountains like Hajax told us to." "But after we do that, we go to their fortress and take the wall," Nonzra said. "Sure," Addis agreed. The six Toa Shika and Jokao continued on, but the Toa were too busy thinking of what kind of treasure could be behind the door and what they would do with it than anything else. Perhaps we will become kings and queens of Shika Nui when we get the treasure, Nonzra thought. I think I would look pretty good in a crown, myself. - Makuta Hajax, in the body of a super Vahki, arrived at a cave. Inside the cave were abandoned Rahkshi, Exo-Toa suits, and various other things used by the Brotherhood of Makuta. This cave had originally been the place where the Dark Hunters would dump anything from the Brotherhood of Makuta that they had stolen or salvaged. However, due to the bad weather around the area and a cave-in, they stopped going there and soon they forgot it even existed. But Hajax had found it and was now using it as a base and hideout for his allies. His 'allies' were rogue Brotherhood of Makuta minions. Many of them came to Shika Nui secretly so they would not be found by either the Dark Hunters of the Brotherhood. Hajax had met them years before and became the leader of them after killing the original and making the murder look like a accident. None of the Dark Hunters were aware of their existence and Hajax planned on taking over Shika Nui and then using it to attack the Brotherhood of Makuta. As the Makuta walked past various minions of the Brotherhood, ranging from rogue Visorak to Vortixx, he kept looking for Iroko. The female Skakdi was Hajax's second in command and was a trained assassin. He found Iroko sharpening her sword on a big rock. Makuta Hajax's super Vahki body had no voice box, so he couldn't verbally speak to anyone. So he spoke mentally to her. Iroko, I need to talk to you for a second, Hajax said. She turned around, surprised to see the Makuta. "You're early," Iroko said. "What do you want to talk about? Does it have anything to do with the Dark Hunters?" Yes, and no, the Makuta of Shika Nui said. There are six new Toa on this island and I want all but one of them eliminated. He went on to explain how he had met Barilo and how he had tricked him into believing that he was their ally. "So, you want me to kill all of them but the Toa of Iron?" Iroko said. Yes, that's exactly what I want you to do, the Makuta confirmed. "But you said that Barilo and you had a psychic link, so both of you could read each other's minds," the female Skakdi said. "What if he reads your mind and finds out what he plans to do to him and his friends?" Do you think a talented telepath such as myself would ever truly let my mind free to be read by everyone who came by? Hajax snapped. Of course I wouldn't. I have put mental barriers up just in case something like that would happen. Fortunately, that stupid Toa hadn't ever thought that I would double cross him. The blue-ish green Skakdi nodded. "Good thinking." Now go, Iroko, before they get too deep into the mountains, Hajax ordered. Oh, and by the way, I know what you're thinking. You're grumbling about being ordered around by me. Typical of you Skakdi, but as long as you do what I say, you might live. She didn't like the sound of the word 'might', but she wasn't going to admit it. So Makuta Hajax continued on, telling her the location of the Toa and the easiest route to get there. Iroko listened, but she wanted to be part of the attack on the Dark Hunters fortress, not going around killing novice Toa, but she wasn't going to say that aloud, since the Makuta probably already knew what she was thinking anyways. - The party of seven arrived at the foot of the mountains. There was a narrow path that lead up the mountains, but no one had gone up the the huge rock in years, except for Toa Joha. But now the Toa Shika and Jokao were about to climb the gigantic piece of rock and earth. Nonzra looked up at the almost tower-like mountain. It was the home of many different kinds of bird Rahi and goat Rahi, all of which were not Toa-friendly, if what he heard among the Dark Hunters was correct. Why they had to go up there in the first place, he had no idea. The mountains itselves had four peaks and one peak in the middle. Legend has it that strange creatures live on those four peaks and that the fifth one in the middle is the only one ever explored by Matoran. The mountain was also the home of Toa Joha, but the reason why no Dark Hunter ever bothered to go after him was because you could get real lost real fast in the mountains if you didn't know your way around. The Toa of Sonics could see Rahi birds flying around the peaks, looking so peaceful and content. Sometimes he wished that the mountain would just fall on the Dark Hunters and crush them, but Nonzra knew that wasn't going to happen anytime soon and it was kind of a silly thought anyways. Still, it would be funny, Nonzra thought. "All right, guys," Addis said. "Let's get climbing up the mountain. Who knows, maybe we'll run into some giant dragon or something." Nonzra looked up at the mountain again. Then again, maybe it should fall on Addis's head, the Toa of Sonics thought. "How far should we go into the mountains, Barilo?" Akuna asked the Toa of Gravity. "Did Hajax even say?" "Uh, no. No he didn't," Barilo replied. "All he said was to go into the mountains and wait. He didn't say how far we should go or how high we should go." "Then maybe we should just wait here," Chimoy said. The others looked at him, surprised. The Toa of Iron was usually quiet and never said anything. Him speaking, even if he says only one word, is quite a surprise. "Wait here? Why?" Barilo asked, still shocked and surprised by Chimoy speaking. "Well, since you weren't ever told how far we should go in, I say we stay here," the Toa said firmly. "I agree with him," Nonzra said. "We don't know what is hiding up there. For all we know, there could be a gigantic Rahi dragon. Or something worse." "For all we know," Nastan shot back. "There could be nothing up there. So I'm going with Barilo on this. We should explore it." "Well, I don't think we should go exploring uncharted territory," Akuna said slowly. "But we're Toa. We can take on whatever is there, right? So I'll go with Barilo and Nastan on this." "Exploration sounds good, but dangerous as well," Addis said. "So I say we don't go until we know more about it. I'm going with Nonzra and Chimoy on this." Barilo turned to Jokao. "What do you want to do? Do you want to go up into the mountains or just stay here?" The Ta-Matoran was somewhat surprised that Toa Barilo was asking him this, because up until yesterday the Toa of Gravity had been treating Jokao like dirt, so he didn't answer immediately. "So? Do you even have a opinion on this?" Addis asked. "Well, you guys are Toa, right? Whatever might be there, you guys could probably easily defeat," Jokao said slowly. "But, even though all of us have lived here on this island for as long as we can remember, we still have no idea what's up there besides goats and birds. I can't decide. I'll go with whatever we do." "Well, it's decided, then," the Toa of Plasma said. "We wait here until Hajax comes." "If he ever comes, that is," Nonzra added. "Look, guys, me and Hajax share a psychic link, so I'll ask him if there is anything dangerous up there and when he will get here, okay?" Barilo said. Before anyone could stop him, his mind was now searching for the Makuta of Shika Nui's mind. About a minute later, Barilo was finished talking with Hajax. "I told him about the fact that we are split over entering or not, but he said we should go in because there is nothing up in the mountains that could kills us easily," the Toa of Gravity said. "Well, if what you say is true..." Addis said slowly. "Then I guess we could go into the mountains. After all, the Dark Hunters probably won't look for us there." The Toa of Plasma turned to walk up the mountains. The others followed him one by one, but Chimoy still felt uneasy about this. He wasn't sure why, though. - Iroko had been watching the Toa argue among themselves for quite some time. None of them had noticed her because she, like all Skakdi, had a special power: The power to turn invisible. She wasn't planning on attacking them while they were arguing, because that would mean having to take on six Toa and one Matoran and she wasn't sure she could take them all on, even though they were novices. Taking them out one by one will be alot of fun, She thought. Better than taking on all six. Trying to take on six Toa alone is madness. I remember one of my fellow Skakdi, Reidak, tried to take on six Toa at once. He won all right, but it took a long time and just wasn't worth it. Iroko saw the Toa and the Ta-Matoran walk into the mountains and disappear. The Skakdi would have to follow them quickly, or else she'd lose them. Getting out from her hiding place, Iroko climbed up a wall. She would be up above them and would be able to follow them easily without being noticed. The Skakdi could have used her invisibility power, but she wanted a challenge and this was somewhat of a challenge, following six Toa and a Ta-Matoran into the mountains without knowing exactly what lives there. Oh well, it can't be worse than the living mountain on Xia, Iroko thought. Review Topic

Yeah, probably. -TNTOS-

It takes some ideas and characters from The Sign of Four, but is otherwise a completely different story. It's still excellent, of course, but don't watch it thinking it will replicate the plot of the original story perfectly, otherwise you'll be a bit disappointed. -TNTOS-

Just saw it. Again it was brilliant, possibly my favorite episode in the series so far, though as before I shall refrain from spoiling it for those who haven't see it. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to clue for some looks. Or something like that. -TNTOS-

Chapter 7: Escape From The Fortress Outside the fortress, the other Toa and Jokao were waiting in the forest around the Dark Hunters' headquarters, waiting for Barilo to come out with the information they needed. They were aware that Barilo could spend many hours in there, since no Matoran, Toa, or anyone who isn't a Dark Hunter had ever went into there willingly, so the Toa of Gravity was probably going to be looking through many different rooms before finding what they needed. Nonzra watched as the three Dark Hunters at the front of the fortress fought each other. It seemed like the two guards would win, because they were both bigger and stronger than the first one. However, the first one was smaller and faster and he was using that to his advantage to attack them quickly. "Look," Nonzra said, pointing towards the battling Dark Hunters. Another, even bigger Dark Hunter was walking towards them. "Another one. How will Barilo get out now?" "It looks like to me that that bigger Dark Hunter is going to break up their fighting, Nonzra," Akuna said, pointing at the mini-giant of a Dark Hunter casually walking towards the fortress. She was right. The humongus Dark Hunter got in between the three combatants and stopped their fighting. He then scolded them, but none of the Dark Hunters spoke back to him because of his obvious strength. The two guards went back to guard duty and the third one just walked right into the fortress, looking like he wasn't too happy with how that bigger Dark Hunter had stepped in between them instead of letting the first Dark Hunter defeat them. As for the bigger Dark Hunter, he just smiled and walked towards the back of the fortress, satisfied with what he just did. "Well, I certainly wouldn't want to mess with him," Jokao said in awe. "That guy was huge! He looked like he could have ripped those three guys apart easily!" "Yeah," Addis agreed. "Now let's hope that Barilo doesn't run into him or we'll end up with bite-sized Toa of Gravity pieces." - Barilo was roughly tossed into a cage. He had already met Icetraz, the leader of the Dark Hunters of Shika Nui. He was quite a sight, with his Kikanalo-looking head, his twin Cordak blasters and his big, bulky body. As soon as he saw the Toa of Gravity, he immediately sentenced him to death, but since a Brotherhood of Makuta sea vessel was allegedly seen off the shore of Shika Nui, attacking and sinking Dark Hunter ships, he put it off until tomorrow and personally went himself to sink the Brotherhood's ship, because of the reports that a Makuta was seen aboard the ship. During that time Barilo actually got to see the female Dark Hunter who had captured him. Her name was Yehiku and, in Barilo's opinion, she was beautiful. She was about the same size as himself and had red and black armor. Her eyes were green and it was very hard to keep his eyes off her. But she didn't seem to share his same feelings, because she kept giving him the death glare every time he looked at her for too long. And she was also the one who roughly tossed him into the cage, too. "Welcome to your new, temporary home, Toa," Yehiku said sarcastically. "Make yourself at home, but you're going to be too busy dying to make it homey anyway, so I don't think you should even bother." She left the room. Now Barilo was all alone. It wasn't dark. There was a lightstone in the ceiling that lit the room up dimly, but there wasn't much to see in the room. No furniture, no windows, no nothing. Am I in love with Yehiku? Barilo thought. Or am I going insane? You very well might be insane, Makuta Hajax, the Makuta who had a psychic link with Barilo, said. After all, everyone I know who has had a psychic link with a Makuta has gone insane at one point in their lives. Or you might have real feelings for her. I don't know and I don't care, because phase one of the plan is going in action. Barilo saw the cage door open, obviously by the power of Hajax's magnetism. The Toa of Gravity activated his mask power, making himself almost invisible. He walked out of the cage and quietly pushed the door of the room that he is in open. He looked both ways down the hallway and then made his way quickly to the left, but closed the door to his room to make sure no one noticed he was gone. As the Toa of Gravity made his way past Dark Hunters, he contacted Hajax. Barilo needed some of his own questions answered and Hajax was the one who had the answers. Hajax, where are you? Barilo asked. In your mind at the moment, Makuta Hajax replied. Or do you mean where I am phyiscally? If that is what you want to know, then I'm not happy to say that I no longer have a physical body. Barilo stopped, then moved to lean against a wall as two Dark Hunters walked down the hallway. What do you mean that you don't have a phyiscal body? Barilo asked. Are...are you a ghost? Hajax laughed. Of course not. I am in some sort of green-ish black gaseous form. I wish I had my body, because then I would get revenge on my old 'friends' that they so richly deserve. Whoa, there, Hajax, Barilo said. What are you talking about? Start at the beginning, because I'm confused. Very well, Barilo, Makuta Hajax sighed. Let me begin. Many years ago the Brotherhood of Makuta held a convocation. Makuta Teridax, the lieutenant to Makuta Miserix, had a plan he believed would give us Makuta full control over the universe. Of course, Miserix was totally against the Plan, but the other Makuta agreed with the Plan and Miserix was kicked out of leadership and Teridax was put in charge. Now not all of us Makuta agreed with the Plan. Some of us simply sided with Teridax for fear of being killed. I was one of them and after the convocation, any Makuta that Teridax believed unloyal to the Plan were hunted down and killed by Makuta Icarax and Makuta Gorast. They killed the others in under a year, but I hid for a long time until they found that I had came here. They found me and, after a short battle, ripped my armor open, letting my gaseous form drift into the open. It just so happened that at that moment, a fierce wind blew by, dispersing my form. Icarax and Gorast believed that the wind killed me and left, but there was still a little bit left of myself, so I was worried that I was going to die soon. Luck was on my side, for the Dark Hunters had stolen some plans from Metru Nui to make super Vahki. The Hunters' top scientists worked until they finally perfected it. They made many, but found that they weren't any good for fighting, so they wound up as personal servants of the Dark Hunters instead. I learned that I could possess robots and I did, possessing one of the many robots. That is how I survived for so many years. Well, how come I haven't seen any of those so-called super Vahki around the fortress? Barilo asked. Most of them were destroyed by Visorak, Rahkshi, Exo-Toa, and Dark Hunters who were just in a very bad mood. Fortunately, no one knows that I am in a super Vahki and I have learned many, many secrets from listening in on the Dark Hunters who believe that I am a mindless machine and not a intelligent Makuta, Hajax explained. You sure seem to talk alot, Barilo said. Anyway, I need to get out of here. You've been here longer than me, so do you know the least guarded area that I could escape easily? The western area is guarded by one guard and he isn't that smart, so sneaking by him should get be easy for you, Makuta Hajax said to him. Barilo turned to the western area and went only two steps when he heard a alarm go off. The door to his room was open and a Dark Hunter was coming out, yelling. "The Toa has escaped!" The Dark Hunter shouted. "Everyone get on alert! He's somewhere in this fortress and he has escaped!!" After that, hundreds of Dark Hunters poured into the fortress. Barilo had a tough time dodging all the Dark Hunters who were running up and down the hallways. The Toa of Gravity was glad that his mask had not been taken from him, because he surely would not have been able to escape if he didn't have it. He remembered why they had let him keep his mask. When Icetraz learned of the Brotherhood of Makuta vessel, he was in too much of a hurry to have Barilo's mask taken from him. Good thing that Brotherhood of Makuta ship was sighted, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to get out here, Barilo thought. - Kigin lead his team of Dark Hunters towards the fortress. They hadn't found the Toa and it was becoming dark. None of them were truly afraid of the dark, but none of them were ready to spend all night in the forest either, especially after the army of brakas monkeys that had attacked them earlier. They preferred the security of the fortress to the wilderness forest. Tyu noticed all the Dark Hunters running to and fro, talking and shouting. The winged Dark Hunter thought he heard one of them say that a Toa of Gravity had escaped. If he remembered correctly, a Toa of Gravity had almost defeated Tyu earlier that day. Had that Toa been captured and then escaped somehow? Tyu decided he needed to know, so he grabbed a Dark Hunter running by. The Dark Hunter, who had bronze armor, turned angrily to see who had dared grab him. He saw Tyu and the other six. "Oh, hey, Tyu!" the Dark Hunter exclaimed. He waved at the other six. "And you six, Julok, Kigin, Death, Six Arms, Giho, and Viho. Where were you? Have you heard the big news?" "What big news, Vawe?" Tyu asked. "There's a Toa of Gravity that was found stealing the map of the fortress. Yehiku caught him and he was thrown into a cage," Vawe said. "But now he has somehow escaped and we're looking for him. All Dark Hunters on Shika Nui have been ordered to keep their eyes open for any Toa of Gravity and most are searching for him now." Tyu looked back towards his six comrades. They looked at him. All seven of them were thinking the same thing: That Toa of Gravity is the same one they had fought! The question is, where are the other Toa? Tyu thought. "Um, Vawe, were any other Toa seen around the fortress?" the winged Dark Hunter asked. "No," the bronze armored Dark Hunter answered, surprised. "Why? Did you guys see any others?" "Yes, we did," Giho replied. "Five more, to be exact." "There are five more Toa on this island?" Vawe repeated, shocked. "Five? Are you sure?" "Yes, we're very sure," Julok replied. "We fought them and won." "Then where are they?" Vawe asked. "What did you do with them? Did you kill them?" All seven of them looked embarrassed. "They, uh," Yhio said. "They got away from us." The bronze armored Dark Hunter burst into laughter. He laughed for a very, very, long time. In fact, Death thought that maybe Vawe was going insane because of how long he laughed. Finally, Vawe stopped, though he was still laughing a little. "Oh that's a good joke, Viho," Vawe said. He laughed again. "But seriously, what really happened to those Toa?" "We're serious, Vawe," Death said in a serious tone. "We fought and defeated them and were planning on taking them to the fortress, but hundreds of brakas monkeys attacked us and they escaped in the confusion. We still don't know where they are, but now we have a idea on where one of them is." Vawe looked surprised. "Well, you can help us find that Toa of Gravity and maybe we can make him talk," Vawe said. "He'll tell us where the rest of his friends are." - Barilo kept having to hide in doorways and dodging any Dark Hunters, but that was becoming increasingly difficult to do, because more and more Dark Hunters seemed to come in every minute. The Toa of Gravity reflected on the plan that Makuta Hajax had told him and how it would benefit everyone on the island of Shika Nui except for the Dark Hunters. The plan was simple, or so it seemed. All Barilo had to do was get out of the fortress, meet up with the other Toa and then attack the fortress with the help of Makuta Hajax. If it were successful, then the Dark Hunters would be off the island, but the entire thing seemed unrealistic to Barilo. For one, how would they, six Toa, one Matoran and one Makuta, defeat hundreds and hundreds of Dark Hunters? Oh sure, Makuta are very strong, but Hajax didn't have his original Makuta armor and he would be very easily destroyed by any well-trained Dark Hunter. And then Barilo and his friends were novices and had a hard time against seven Dark Hunters. What would happen if they took on hundreds? Barilo didn't want to think about the results. But the Toa of Gravity also thought of Jokao, who would surely be killed as soon as the battle started. As much as Barilo didn't want to admit it, he was worried about the Ta-Matoran. Maybe Hajax has a plan to take out most of the Dark Hunters, Barilo thought. Barilo rounded a corner and then found the western entrance. As Hajax had told him, there was one guard standing with his back to the entrance. Apparently he didn't think anyone would come out of the fortress and attack him, since Barilo smashed him down with his gravity powers and the Dark Hunter looked totally shocked and surprised. But the Hunter was knocked unconscious, so it didn't matter much anyway. The Toa of Gravity lifted his axe, ready to kill the Dark Hunter, but then he saw a super Vahki running towards him. He could tell it was a super Vahki because hit vaguely resembled one. It's head looked like a normal Vahki head, but the rest of it's body was different. For one, you couldn't even tell it was based off the Vahki unless someone told you so. It had a very skinny body and the entire build looked fragile. It's arms were long and had no armor. Legs were the same as the arms, except for the feet, which had razor sharp nails at the end of each toe. There were three toes on each foot. It was blue and purple, which was odd, considering that it was based off the Vahki and there were no Vahki that were blue and purple. At first, Barilo considered destroying the robot, but Hajax mentally contacted him right before he could increase the gravity of the super Vahki ten thousand times it's normal gravity. Don't even think of it, Hajax warned. I'm using this body and you won't be living any longer if you try it. Fine, fine, Barilo replied. I wasn't really going to do it anyway. Now if you will excuse me, I have a Dark Hunter to kill. As much as killing a Dark Hunter sounds amusing to me, it would be a bad move, Hajax said. Another Dark Hunter is surely going to see his ally killed and everyone and their Energy Hound will know you went this way. Okay, geez, Barilo said. Where do we go now? I cannot believe you forgot about the plan already, Barilo, the Makuta of Shika Nui snapped. But I might as well refresh your memory anyway. We're to find your friends and convince them to attack the fortress. They wouldn't do that, Barilo said. Toa aren't as dumb as you think we are. We'd be smashed and killed by them easily. No sane Toa would do that, even with a Makuta on our side. I have more plans, Toa, that will definitely help out cause, Hajax replid. Now you go and find your friends and I will go and get my allies. Before Barilo could ask him who the Makuta's 'allies' were, Hajax was off, rounding a corner and disappearing. Realizing it probably wasn't the healthiest idea to stay around here any longer, the Toa of Gravity ran into the forest, making his way to the rest of the Toa Shika. - The other five Toa Shika and Jokao watched as hundreds of Dark Hunters of all kinds were running, jumping, and even flying around the fortress, looking for something. The seven Dark Hunters who the Toa Shika had escaped from earlier had came back to the fortress and were now helping their allies search for whatever it is that they were searching for. "Did Barilo blow his cover?" Nonzra asked. "Or is this some kind of emergency drill and it got out of hand?" "No doubt they're looking for Barilo," Addis said. "I told him that this was a stealth mission, not a attack on the fortress!" "Um, Addis?" Jokao said. "Can I ask you a question?" "Sure," Addis replied. "What is it?" "Yesterday, you said that you didn't want to help free Shika Nui because of the impossible odds, but now you are gathering information on them for a attack," Jokao said. "What changed your mind?" "I don't know, actually," Addis said. "All I remember is being against attacking the Dark Hunters one minute, then immediately I changed my mind and wanted to attack the Dark Hunters the next." "That's strange," Jokao commented. "Toa don't just change their minds without knowing why. In fact, no one changes their mind without knowing why." "Exactly," Addis agreed. "But we don't have time to wonder about that. What we do need to do is find out if Barilo is still alive or not." "And I am," Barilo, who had just walked out of the forest, said. "Barilo! Thank Mata Nui you're alive!" Akuna exclaimed, relieved. "What is up with the Dark Hunters going crazy?" Nonzra asked. "Well, sit down and I will explain," Barilo said. He went on to talk about his capture and his escape. He mentioned that Hajax already was getting some of his allies to help attack the fortress, but he had no idea of who or what these allies were. He didn't mention his discovery of the Ancient Wall of Protodermis, because he wanted it to keep it a surprise until he was sure he could count on the others going along with it. "So we just sit here and wait?" Nastan asked. "We wait until Makuta Hajax and his allies come? How do we know he will even bring allies?" "Well, I can tell if he's double-crossing us," Barilo replied. "He made a psychic link between myself and him, so I can read his mind and he can read mine, so if he is double-crossing us, I'll know." "Okay, where do we go, then?" Nonzra said. "Where did Hajax say his allies were coming from?" "Um, I was never told, actually," the Toa of Gravity said sheepishly. "All he said is to wait in the mountains until he comes to get us." "That's all?" Addis asked. "That's all," Barilo answered. "So we have two options. We wait here and hope the Dark Hunters don't find us or we go to the mountains, which is the last place any of them would look for us." "Well, if this Makuta is as good as you say," Addis said slowly. "Then we go to the mountains." "Can we save my friends first?" Jokao asked. All six of the Toa Shika turned to him, apparently haven forgotten their Ta-Matoran companion. "My village is near here and-" "Don't worry, Jokao," Barilo said. "If this plan goes well, then your village and every other village on Shika Nui should be free." "But when will we get our freedom?" Joka asked. "Will it take days? Months? Years?" Toa Barilo didn't answer that. He wasn't sure when Shika Nui would be free. All Hajax had told him was that Shika Nui would be free and that's that. So he just turned away from Jokao and said, "Let's go. It's getting darker and we don't want to be found so close to the Dark Hunter fortress, do we?" The others nodded. One by one they all made their way deeper in the forest, with Nastan leading, since being a Toa of the Green, he knew his way around forests easily. But Chimoy kept doubting what Barilo said. Now I've never met a Makuta before, but I've heard plenty about them, Chimoy thought as he followed behind the others. The entire thing sounds fishy to me, but I don't know why. I have no reason to doubt trusting a Makuta if it means that Shika Nui will be freed, but there is something about this that doesn't make any sense. Why would a Makuta ally himself with six Toa and a Matoran? If Makuta are as strong as I think they are, then he should be able to kick the Dark Hunters off this island no problem. Maybe I'm just tired. That's it. All I need to do is sleep, rest my brain a little. Maybe tomorrow I will be able to think clearly. - Makuta Hajax, in the body of the super Vahki, made his way around the fortress. No Dark Hunter had seen him, which was good, because they would most likely order him to find Barilo and the Makuta would have to go along with it to keep his disguise up. He was going to the eastern edge of the island, where his allies would be waiting. Hajax had been planning this attack on the Dark Hunters for many years. The Makuta of Shika Nui was originally planning on putting his plan into action 1000 years before, but when the Dark Hunters declared war against the Brotherhood of Makuta, he didn't have time to attack. But now there were these Toa on the island and all the Dark Hunters were going crazy trying to find them. He needed the Toa of Iron alive, to fix his broken armor, which was in the custody of the Dark Hunters. At least, Hajax was sure that the Toa of Iron could repair his armor, if the Toa knew how to make protosteel. The Makuta of Shika Nui wondered if the rest of the Brotherhood had become gaseous forms as well and how they managed to live with it and if it affected the Plan at all. Probably modified their armor to stop their forms from leaking out, Hajax thought as he ran. Maybe they had the Nynrah Ghosts modify them. But it doesn't matter. All I need to do is get to my allies and soon the island and it's treasure will be mine. Hajax hadn't told Barilo why he had sent him into the mountains, but the Makuta was well aware of what was waiting in the mountains. Makuta Hajax didn't plan to go and get them. He would send someone to go and watch the Toa. This someone would take the out one by one, until only the Toa of Iron was left. I honestly don't care about Barilo, Addis, or any of those other Toa. Only the Toa of Iron, Chimoy, is who I really need if I am to get my armor back, Makuta Hajax thought. Oh, sure, these six Toa aren't as noble as Joha, but if they were to find out what will happen to them, then they would surely try to defeat me. He stopped for a moment, as if lost in thought. If his robotic body could make facial expressions, then he would be smiling, Not a happy smile, but a evil smile. Then he continued into the forest, making plans on who would follow the Toa. Iroko would be the best candidate to kill them, given her stealth ability, Makuta Hajax reasoned. After all, killing is what she does best and killing is exactly what she will be doing. Review Topic

Chapter 6: Infiltration The next day the Toa and Jokao were chained together, walking through the forest. The seven Dark Hunters were all making sure none of the Toa made a break for it by staying on all sides of their captives. Addis had tried to melt his chains off with plasma, but the Hunters beat him up and now he could barely walk, discouraging any other escape attempts. The forest they were walking through was called the proto forest, because of the vast amounts of protodermis that was in the forest. Brakas monkeys were the most common Rahi found, with little insects found throughout the forest. The proto forest originally was bigger and more vast until the Dark Hunters came and chopped down most of the trees. Now the forest was still big, but it wasn't quite as big as before. Nastan was angered by what the Dark Hunters had done to the forest. Like all Gre-Toa, Matoran, and Turaga, he loved nature and hated seeing it get destroyed or harmed in any way. But at the moment there was nothing he could do about it, which made it that much more frustrating. "Where are you taking us?" Nonzra asked. "To the fortress," Six Arms replied. "Where you will be punished." "I'll never understand why you work for the Dark Hunters," Akuna said. "Why would anyone want to work for such a evil organization?" "That's none of your business, Toa," Death growled. "Be quiet now or else I will personally teach you the meaning of the word 'death. Oh, and not everyone on the Dark Hunters is 'evil', Toa. Some work for them because no one else wants them and they have nowhere else to go.'" It seemed like Death's voice sounded sad for some reason, like he was telling a truth that he did not like at all. Akuna decided she shouldn't ask, since he didn't seem like the kind who'd talk about that anyway. For a while, there was no sound in the forest except for the sounds of brakas monkeys yelling somewhere deep into the forest and the sound of fourteen beings marching through the forest. Chimoy took this time to observe the trees and other plant life. As a Matoran, he never really spent his time around the forest or any other natural area of Shika Nui, but now since he was captured, he really had nothing else to do. He noticed all the many different types of trees and plant growth. He would never be able to name all of them, but they were all beautiful. It seemed so peaceful in this forest. Nothing but the sound of brakas monkeys. Nonzra, however, wasn't quite thinking of how beautiful everything was. He was too concerned with being captured by the Dark Hunters that he barely noticed all of the beauty. Maybe I can unleash a devastating sonic blast that could make the Dark Hunters deaf? Nonzra thought. Of course, doing that would also make me and my friends deaf, so that scratches one plan. Then another thought entered his mind. Maybe it was possible to use his Kanohi mask? There was no telling what it would do, since the Toa of Sonics knew very little about masks and knew even less about how to use them. But it might be worth a shot anyway, Nonzra reasoned. It might kill us all, but being dead would be much better than being a captive of the Dark Hunters for the rest of my life. He closed his eyes and focused his mind on his mask. He could feel the power of the mask activating, though it is a hard thing to describe because after he used it, everything seemed to happen so quickly. First, the faint sounds of brakas monkeys from deep in the jungle became louder and louder. Then, the sounds became so loud that Nonzra could have sworn that the brakas were right next to him. "Kaukau! Kaukau!" The Toa of Sonics then heard the seven Dark Hunters screaming and shouting curses, apparently being attacked by something. Nonzra opened his eyes to see an entire horde of brakas monkeys, hopping and jumping and climbing everyone and everything. The monkeys were also attacking the Dark Hunters and the Hunters were having less luck beating the monkeys because of how fast they were moving and of how many of them that there were. Now that the Dark Hunters were distracted, Chimoy broke his chains and then used his elemental power over metal to break the other Toa and Jokao out. Barilo took this moment to use his power over gravity to make Tyu heavier, causing the Dark Hunter fall hard to the ground. "Quickly!" Tyu shouted. "Someone get the prisoners! They're escaping!" But it was of no use. The other Dark Hunters were too busy fighting off the Rahi monkeys to chase the Toa and Jokao. When they finally either killed or drove off the rest of the brakas, the prisoners were nowhere to be seen. - The six Toa and the Ta-Matoran moved stealthily through the forest. They never slowed down until they were sure that they were deep enough into the forest so the Dark Hunters would never follow them. They sat down in a quiet part of the forest where the trees were the thickest and there was barely any light at all, so Nastan used his elemental power over plant life to move some trees over, but not all of them in case a Dark Hunter was flying overhead. All seven of them were panting from all the running that they did. "So, since you're the nature expert, Nastan," Addis began, turning to Nastan. "Is it normal to see hundreds of brakas monkeys attacking Dark Hunters for no reason?" "No," Nastan replied. "That is something that never happens. But sometimes brakas monkeys will attack intruders in their realm if they feel threatened." "Then what caused that to happen?" Barilo asked. "I don't know," Nastan said. "I think I have the answer," Nonzra said. "Really? Why do you think they attacked the Dark Hunters?" Barilo questioned. "I think it was my mask power," The Toa of Sonics replied, tapping the Kanohi Mask of Power that was on his face. "I think I can summon Rahi with it." "It's either that," Jokao said. "Or the brakas hate the Dark Hunters as much as we do." "Well, whatever happened," Addis said. "We should plan out our next course of action." "Maybe we should leave the island," Barilo suggested. "After all, we can't beat the Dark Hunters on our own anyway, right?" "Too coward-y," Addis replied. "Besides, we'd never be able to find a boat that could take us out into the sea. And even if we did get out into the sea, the Hunters might see us and blast us into oblivion anyway." "Then maybe it's time we learned to use our mask powers," Akuna suggested. "We all seem to have some control over our elemental powers, but most of us can't use our mask powers." "But we don't know how to use our masks, Akuna," Nastan said. "Maybe Nonzra knows how to use his mask, but I don't know how to use mine." "Well, I'm pretty sure I can teach you guys, even though I've only used my mask once," Nonzra said. "Who wants to go first?" - Tyu flew above the trees of the proto forest. He was searching for the Toa and the Ta-Matoran, but the trees were so thick that he could not see anything except for the occasional brakas monkey and he hated the darn monkeys after that last encounter with them. He wished that he could see through the trees, because it would make his job go by much more faster, but he had to be contented with having the ability to fly at the moment and not x-ray vision. Tyu decided to head back to the others, because it was taking too long to find the prisoners and flying above the same trees fifteen times in a row can get quite boring after a while. The Dark Hunter turned around and flew back. He saw the others standing amidst the destroyed trees and dead brakas monkeys. He landed next to Kigin, who looked up at the black and blue Dark Hunter expectantly. "So?" Kigin said. "Did you find the Toa?" "No," Tyu replied, shaking his head. "I couldn't find them. The trees are too thick." "Then let's thin'em out a little," Giho said, holding his axe up. Julok shook his head. "No, if we did that, then other Hunters will start asking what we're doing and when they hear that we lost six Toa and one Matoran, they will laugh at us and most likely tell Icetraz," Julok said. "So we keep searching, regardless of how long it takes us." "Fine," Kigin sighed. "We keep searching." Then he added. "And if we find them, kill them. Take no prisoners." - Jokao was amazed by how quickly the six Toa Shika had learned how to use their mask powers. Nastan had discovered that his mask power was the Kanohi Sanok, the Mask of Accuracy. He discovered that by throwing a blade of grass at a nearby tree. It hit the tree so hard that the tree fell over. Toa Akuna's mask was the Kanohi Ruru, the Mask of Night Vision. She found that out because of the big glow that her mask gave off, lighting the dark forest are up. The Toa of Lightning quickly turned it off so the Dark Hunters wouldn't notice it and come to see what was over there. Not that the Ruru is anything too special, Jokao thought. Or useful. Addis had a Suletu. He proved he could read minds by reading everyone's minds and accurately telling what each person was thinking. Toa Chimoy already knew that his mask was the Kadin, but he tried to use it and ended up flying into a tree so hard that it almost fell on him(Fortunately, Nastan had used his elemental powers to stop the tree from crushing his Toa of Iron friend.). Barilo learned that his mask was the Kanohi Volitak, the Mask of Stealth. When he first used it, he turned almost invisible and he wasn't casting a shadow. The other five Toa and Jokao panicked for a second until they realized that the Toa of Gravity had simply used his mask power. Nonzra figured his mask was the Zatth, the Mask of Summoning, which made sense, considering all the brakas monkeys that attacked the Dark Hunters for no reason. Barilo's Kanohi gave Addis a idea. He turned over to the Toa of Gravity. "I have a plan and it involves you," Addis said to Barilo. "And your mask power. Think you'll be up to it?" "First I have to know what it is," Barilo replied. "But whatever your plan is, I think I'm up to it, if it involves kicking Dark Hunter behind." "Good," Addis said, smiling. "Because this will be a very important mission that might just help us get the Hunters off this island for good." - The Dark Hunter's Fortress was huge. It had many towers, all of which were rather sinister-looking. There were many guards on duty, all of them not looking like they wanted to be your best friend. The huge gate that lead into the fortress was closed, but not locked. Barilo, using his Mask of Stealth, was making a observation. He was almost completely invisible and any Dark Hunter who might notice his extremely dim outline would have dismiss it as a trick of the eye. The Toa of Gravity was to infiltrate the fortress and gain valuable information on the Dark Hunters. Now and then, a Dark Hunter or two would exit the fortress, heading for the where the slaves worked no doubt. Barilo need to get in when a Dark Hunter was entering or exiting. He noticed one Dark Hunter was walking up to the fortress, no doubt heading in. He quietly made his way behind the Hunter, even though he didn't need to do it quietly, since the Volitak took away any and all sound that he made except if he was talking. But talking wasn't what he was interested in at the moment. Getting in without being noticed was what he considered interesting. The Dark Hunter walked up to the two other Hunters who were guarding the entranceway. He flashed a identity tablet and the guards nodded. The two guards moved out of the way and opened the gate, letting the first Dark Hunter walk in. Now was Barilo's chance to get in. He dashed in, accidently pushing the first Dark Hunter in. The Toa of Gravity, still using his Volitak, moved out of the way as the Dark Hunter he accidently pushed turned around and walked back out, looking very angry. "Which one of you bozos pushed me in?" The first Dark Hunter demanded angrily. "What are you talking about?" One of the guards asked, confused. "I didn't push you and neither did Hokeg. At least, I didn't see anyone push you." "I felt someone push me in and there is no one else around here besides you two and myself and I very much doubt I would push myself," The first Dark Hunter explained. "So which one of you did it?" "None of us," The second Dark Hunter, Hokeg, said. "We was standin' rights here likes we was supposed to and then you came out demandin' us to tell you who pushed you and we's don't know who did it." "You're definitely lying, I can tell that," The first Dark Hunter said, still angry. "Now one of you just confess and I'll be on my way. Who did it?" "No one!" Both guards shouted in unison. "We didn't do anything!" That was the last straw for the first Dark Hunter. He knew one of them pushed him and since none of them were going to confess, he fired a beam of firy-ice, hitting both of the guards. Now the two Dark Hunter guards were angry and they attacked back, sending beams of energy at the first Hunter. While those three were fighting, Barilo made his way around the fortress. He had no clear idea of where the Dark Hunters kept their records, so he decided to check every opened door he came across. Because opening doors and finding Dark Hunters inside who see him open the door and don't see anyone will get suspicious and Barilo might get caught was not a good idea. There weren't many opened doors and what opened doors he did find had Dark Hunters in them, usually discussing security issues or other things that the Hunters considered important. While it would have been important to listen in on their conversations, they usually closed the doors and the Toa of Gravity didn't feel like going in and being trapped with two or more Dark Hunters anyway, even if he did get some information. Maybe they keep maps of the fortress on stone tablets somewhere, Barilo thought as he walked through the dark hallway. Question is, where do they keep the tablets? As he walked through the fortress, he looked around at the many hallways, doors, and stairways that lead to who knows where. He also noticed a what looked like a giant cave opening. It was quite strange looking, compared to the rest of the fortress and it looked like it was apparently carved artificially, most likely by the Dark Hunters. He noticed that there was a sign carved into the wall next to the cave. Letting his curiosity get the best of him, he walked over to read the sign. It read: Here leads to the ancient wall of solid protodermis. Bring a lightstone if you wish enter, for it is a dark and forbidding place where anyone without a light has perished. Beware the darkness, for it is as black and dark as a Makuta's heart. Barilo looked towards the cave mouth. What ancient wall of solid protodermis was this warning talking about? The Toa of Gravity knew of no walls of solid protodermis and this certainly made no sense to him at all. I have no time to ponder this, Barilo thought. I have information to find and maybe when I find that, I will have time to ponder this. The next few minutes were rather uneventful. He dodged a few Dark Hunters and investigated a few open doors, but nothing too interesting. He finally found a opened door that had many different tablets stacked on top of each other. Fortunately, no Dark Hunters were in the room or near it, so Barilo walked in and quietly closed the door, just to make sure no one sees him reading the tablets. Turning off his Volitak, he began looking at each tablet. It was taking him a long time, but he was purposely doing this, because he believed that there weren't any Dark Hunters coming any time soon, why not read through all or most of them anyway? He wasn't in any hurry. Most of the tablets had the bios of most of the Dark Hunters, while others looked simply like carvings that someone made. They were quite strange, the carvings were. Some showed Dark Hunters training, while others showed treasures, islands, and many other things that Barilo couldn't identify. Finally, he found a tablet that showed a map of the Dark Hunter's fortress. He put it into his backpack and was about to leave, when he noticed one more tablet. The tablet showed a picture of a wall, but it looked different from every other wall that the Toa of Gravity had seen before. Intrigued, he picked it up to get a closer look at it. As he examined the picture, he noticed that there were words carved onto it. Apparently, the wall was called the 'Ancient Wall of Solid Protodermis.' Barilo stopped reading for a minute. That cave mouth that he saw and the warning near it said that a ancient wall of solid protodermis was deep within the cavern. What could the Dark Hunters possibly want with it? Barilo knew he wouldn't learn the answer by thinking about it, so he continued reading the tablet. It read like a diary or journal. Here is what it said: We came to this island of Shika Nui because of a ancient wall of solid protodermis. Legend has it that, in the beginning of the universe, a team of Toa consisting of a Toa of Gravity, a Toa of Plasma, a Toa of Lightning, a Toa of Iron, a Toa of The Green, and a Toa of Sonics locked a giant door off using a Toa seal. After that, they burried the way to the door to make sure no one got into it. Nobody knows exactly what is behind the door. Some say it is a great and wonderful treasure that would make one richer than their wildest dreams. Others say a legendary Kanohi mask was hidden there to keep away from evil beings. And then there are others who believe that a great and evil spirit was locked away, along with a great army of darkness that has enough power to crush the universe. The Shadowed One believes a great treasure is hidden there, so he sent I and eleven other Dark Hunters to capture Shika Nui. The attack was successful and only one Toa got away, a Toa of Stone named Joha. Already we have dug the entrance out to the cave. We're stuck trying to break the protodermis wall. Only Toa can break Toa seals and we have no Toa, let alone six, so we have been chipping away the protodermis little by little and it's wearing out our Dark Hunters. I have already proposed that we get the Matoran to do the work. Most of the others agree and I think we'll get the little creeps to work sometime soon. What do I believe is behind the door? I don't know, honestly. For now, I will go with what the Shadowed One believes and hopefully a vast treasure is hidden there and not our dooms. Barilo stopped reading. This explained why the Dark Hunters came to Shika Nui. At the time, Barilo and the others had just assumed that the Hunters had came because of Shika Nui's vast amount of protodermis in the proto forest or something else. Now he knew the truth. They came here to take whatever might be behind the door and they don't care who gets in the way, Barilo thought. Then he thought something else. Maybe I could convince the others to unlock the door and see what is inside. After all, we have all the right elements and we're Toa. But first we'll have to boot the Dark Hunters off this island. The Toa of Gravity put the tablet in his backpack, just in case the others need to see it. Now time to get out of here, Barilo thought. He turned around and was surprised to see that the door was opened. I thought I closed that! He ran over to try and close it, but before he could get to it, he felt a blade go up to his throat. He stopped before he moved any further. "You're a Toa, aren't you?" The female voice behind him said. Before Barilo could answer, the voice spoke again. "Before you ask how I got in here without you noticing, I must say you must not be very observant." "Who are you?" Barilo asked. He couldn't tell who was behind him, but he figured she is a Dark Hunter and will most likely kill him simply because he is a Toa. "My name isn't important," The female voice snapped. "What I want to know is what you have in your backpack." Barilo could feel a hand digging through his pack and he couldn't do anything to stop her. He felt her pull one tablet out, then another. "Looks like you were doing a little spy work, Toa," The female voice said. "Kigin and Tyu were right. There are more Toa on this island, since you are obviously not Toa Joha." The Toa of Gravity was surprised by this. Usually Dark Hunters call Toa, any Toa, just 'Toa,' yet she was calling Joha by his real name, and it wasn't in a sarcastic or mocking tone, either. What is Mata Nui's name is up with that? Barilo thought. Does she actually have some sort of respect for Joha or something? "Where are the rest of your friends, Toa?" The female voice asked. "Are they hiding near the fortress, ready to attack? Or are you the only Toa left on this island, aside from Joha? Answer, Toa, and you might live. Might." "Never," Barilo said. "I may not be the noblest Toa out there, but I would never reveal the location of my friends. Especially to a Dark Hunter." At first, the Toa of Gravity wasn't sure if his head would be on his body any longer, but surprisingly, instead of slicing his head off, the female Dark Hunter just made him walk. "Where are you taking me and why didn't you kill me?" Barilo asked. "Icetraz has said that he wants any and all prisoners taken to him so he can give them a proper punishment," She replied. "So be still and don't make any sudden moves." For a while they walked through the winding hallways of the fortress. Some Dark Hunters saw them go by and nodded their heads in approval. Others simply glared at Barilo just for being a Toa and then there were the curious few who followed the Toa and Dark Hunter. All the while the Toa never saw how the female Dark Huntress' looked and none of the other Dark Hunters ever called her by her name. Barilo glance at carvings on the wall. They looked like pictures. Pictures of Dark Hunters, to be exact. Of course, he didn't know for sure, but it seemed like a reasonable guess because of the names under them. Obviously they were code-names, since most of them were actual words and not names someone would be named. One door was opened and no one appeared to be inside it. As they walked by, the Toa of Gravity glanced into the room. There was a giant suit of armor. It looked grand, elegant(In some strange way), and evil, even though it had many holes punched into it. Whoever wore that armor must have been powerful, Barilo thought. But I most certainly don't want to meet the guy who killed whoever wore that! The Dark Huntress took the blade from the Toa of Gravity's neck and then quickly cuffed his hands with energy cuffs. Barilo didn't like these energy cuffs at all because of how it brought back bad memories of when he and the others had been defeated and captured by the those other seven Dark Hunters. Oh, sure, it had happened only about a day or two ago and he was still a novice Toa, but he felt that he could have killed them and then proceed to kill the rest of Hunters on this island, effectively freeing Shika Nui. But nooooo, Barilo thought angrily. Nastan believed that killing our enemies is wrong because Joha and all those other Toa on his original team didn't kill anyone. Who cares if Joha didn't kill his enemies? I don't and I would be glad to take away all the gravity from this fortress and then give it too much gravity, killing all the Dark Hunters in it. Genius, I would say. Right, said a voice in Barilo's head. Sounds something more like what a Makuta would do than a Toa, don't you agree? The Toa of Gravity was shocked and surprised by this voice. Was he going insane and he was hearing multiple voices in his head, or was someone mentally speaking to him? Barilo was about to find out. Who is there and how am I talking to you if I don't have a Suletu? Barilo asked the voice. Addis has the Suletu, not me. Am I going crazy? You wish, Toa, The voice answered. You are not going insane. I am a Makuta and I want to help you, Toa. Barilo didn't answer. He had never met a Makuta before and didn't know how to answer, so the Makuta went back on talking. It may seem strange to you, Toa, to have a Makuta of all beings help you, The voice said. But I want the Dark Hunters off this island just as much as you and your friends do and I need a body if I am to help you. But you still didn't answer my other question, Barilo thought(Or said, he wasn't quite sure which one it was in his mind). How come I can reply to you, even though I can't read your mind? I bridged our minds together, Toa, the Makuta explained. We share a sort of psychic link now, so you can hear my thoughts and I can hear yours. Now do you agree to help me? If you help me escape from the Dark Hunters, then I will, Barilo said to him. After that, we'll talk. Good, good, very good, the Makuta said. I already have a plan and here's what you do. As the Toa of Gravity listened to the Makuta's plan, he wondered if he made the right choice, Surely the others would agree with helping a Makuta if it meant that Shika Nui would be free. And who knows, maybe Barilo would become leader of the island and close it's border to all Dark Hunters. It was well worth thinking about, Barilo decided. After all, the Dark Hunters say that Makuta are evil and cruel beings who don't care about anyone but themselves, but what if they aren't? What if they want to actually make world peace and the Dark Hunters are just trying to do the opposite? The Toa of Gravity decided to ask this Makuta about it sometime. One thing is for sure, Barilo thought. This island will be freed of Dark Hunter tyranny and all be well. Or so Barilo thought, but he would soon learn what happens when you trust a Makuta. He will learn that very soon indeed. Review Topic

It was good, but Benedict Cumberbatch plays a better Sherlock than Khan, in my opinion. Also yes to Catching Fire. Probably one of the best book-to-movie adaptations I have ever seen. Definitely want to see Mockingjay: Part 1 when it comes out later this year. -TNTOS-

3/5 -TNTOS-

Chapter 5: All Out Battle! The other four Toa and Jokao were sitting quietly. No one had said a thing since Addis and Chimoy went to bury the loot and no one really wanted to talk at the moment anyway. Nastan was wondering when Addis and Chimoy would get back. They've been gone too long, The Toa of The Green thought. Maybe they're still trying to find a spot to bury the loot in. Or.... Nastan didn't want to think about that. If there were Dark Hunters in the forest, then Addis and Chimoy were as good as dead. Suddenly, both the Toa of Iron and the Toa of Plasma ran out from the forest, looking like they had been chased by a Kikanalo herd. The other four Toa instantly shot up. Addis and Chimoy were panting, almost out of breath. "What happened?" Barilo asked. "You guys look like you've seen a ghost." "Dark Hunters!" Addis gasped. "They followed us from the hideout and nearly killed me and Chimoy!" As if on cue, seven Dark Hunters burst out of the forest, all firing off blasts of energy at the Toa. Chimoy tried to bring up a wall of metal to cut themselves off from the attackers, but the Hunters easily destroyed it and began attacking again. Akuna fired a bolt of electricity at one of the seven Dark Hunters. The Dark Hunter easily dodged the blast and then fired a ball of lava at the Toa of Lightning. It hit Akuna, sending her flying into a nearby rock. The Hunter who had hit her with a ball of lava ran over to the fallen Toa and aimed his sword at her head. "Toa," The Dark Hunter began. He wore gold armor that had giant spikes coming off of it. He held a sword that was gold as well. "You're going to be dead soon. And as I believe anyone deserves to know who their killer is before being sent to eternal darkness, I will introduce myself. I am Death. It's not my real name, just a code-name, but it's good enough, I guess." His sword began to glow. "And Death will be the last name you'll ever know." Death finished. Akuna looked around to see her friends fighting off the rest of the Dark Hunters. It was obivous that her friends were going lose. I've got to do something! She thought. Maybe it's not what most Toa would do, but I've got to act fast or I'll be as good as dead. Acting quickly, she pulled out her Lightning Staff and, moving even quicker than Death could aim. Akuna whacked the Dark Hunter in the face with her staff, sending him tumbling over. Then she quickly hit him with a bolt of lightning. Death was surprised by this. Kigin and Tyu had said the Toa were rookies and should have been easily killed, yet this Toa of Lightning was already beating him! No way will I go down in history as the Dark Hunter who was beaten by a rookie Toa, He thought angrily. A ball of lava to her heartlight should bring her down good! He got back up before Akuna could attack him again. He realized she was too close to him and if he tried to hit her at this close range, he might end up as dead as the Toa of Lightning. That was when he got a idea. Death aimed his sword at the ground and fired off a ball of lava, which obscured the Toa's vision. He also couldn't see, so he quickly moved out of the dust cloud and saw her. She was blind from the explosion, so there is no way he could miss! Good bye, Toa, Death thought as he aimed his sword at Akuna. You might have been destined to be a hero. You might have been destined to save the Great Spirit Mata Nui's life, but whatever your destiny is, it probably won't be fulfiled now. - Chimoy found himself in combat with a Dark Hunter, code-named Six Arms. He was not code-named that for no reason. He really did have six arms. His body was rather short and fat-looking and the Hunter's legs were too short for him to run. His colors were purple and brown("A rather ugly color scheme," Chimoy had thought) and he carried no weapons such as a sword. Instead, he had claws on all six of his arms. Six Arms face was hidious. It looked like a mixture of a Muaka and a Rahkshi with a little bit of a gadunka thrown in for good measure. Worst of all was the fact that he used his six arms to his advantege. Everytime the Toa of Iron managed to block one or two arms, the other arms would strike him when he left part of his body exposed. Chimoy was already tired and he hadn't been fighting for more than fifteen seconds! "Are you getting worn out, oh great Toa of Iron?" Six Arms said mockingly. His voice also sounded terrible. "I would take a rest if I were you, but then you wouldn't be able to defend yourself from me, would you? Of course you wouldn't." Now Chimoy was getting frustrated, but then he had a idea. He summoned a wall of metal to appear in between himself and Six Arms, giving the Toa of Iron some time to rest. Unfortunately, it only kept Six Arms away for about four seconds, then it was torn down by the Dark Hunter's multiple arms. Chimoy wondered if he could use his mask. He never had tried to before, but he had seen Joha use his before, so maybe Chimoy could do the same? He had studied his mask the day before and figured it was the Kanohi Kadin, the Mask of Flight. And flight would be very useful at the moment, Chimoy thought. Chimoy wasn't paying attention to Six Arms, who punched the Toa of Iron with three of his arms, then used his other three arms to pick up Chimoy. "Now, Toa of Iron," Six Arms said. "I want to finish you off, but I think I will let you choose your fate. Should I tear you apart with my claws or should I maybe drown you in the ocean? Both of them sound very fun, don't you think?" Chimoy just groaned. "Well, since you obviously can't chose between the two, I'll say you should drown," The Dark Hunter said, evilly smiling(Which looked quite ugly). Six Arms, using his other arms to walk, walked over to the beach, ready to drown the defeated Toa. - Nastan and Jokao were up against two Dark Hunters. One was a tall, thin, being named Julok and another one who called himself Giho. Julok was, as said before, tall and thin. He was red and yellow and he was wearing what looked like a Pakari, but Nastan could not be sure. His limbs were long and thin as well and his hands ended in claws. He had some sort of power over telekinesis, since he tried to throw a tree at Nastan, without actually throwing it himself. Julok also didn't really have much armor. Giho was well armored and was about the size of a average Toa, except a few inches shorter. He was gunmetal and red-ish black. He carried a axe that looked as if it could easily cut threw solid rock. He had a face that wasn't very ugly, nor was it nice-looking. Sort of a mixture of the two. Toa Nastan knew that Jokao couldn't last more than five minutes in battle, maybe even less. So he used his power over plant life to bind both the Dark Hunters. It held them for about three seconds, then they broke out. But almost as soon as they broke out that even more vines burst out of the bround to bind them. "Jokao!" Nastan shouted. "Go find some place to hide! I'll take care of the Hunters!" The Ta-Matoran obliged, taking cover behind a nearby boulder. Nastan turned back around just in time to see a rock fly right in his mask. Julok had used his telekinesis to throw a rock at the Toa. "Is that all you Dark Hunters can do?" The Toa shouted. "Throwing rocks at Toa? Geez, I thought you guys were better than this." "Shut up, Toa," Giho growled. "Or you'll find your head will no longer be connected to your shoulders in a few minutes. Perhaps your head will come off anyway." Julok manged to rip the vines that had bound him using his claws and he was charging at Nastan. The Toa of The Green tried to fire a arrow at Julok, but the Dark Hunter dodged it and then slammed into Nastan, sending him flying into the water. "Can you swim, Toa?" Julok said, walking over to the water. "No matter. I'll kill you just the same and-" He was interrupted by a unknown flying object hitting him in the side, sending him flying into a nearby wall. Julok looked over at what had hit him. It was Six Arms! He had been battered into unconsciousness, apparently. But who did it? Just then, he saw the Toa of Iron that Six Arms had been battling walking over. He held a giant, steel hammer in his hand. He lifted the hammer up, and then smashed it on the sand, sending a tremor through the beach. Giho, who had gotton out of the vines, fell over because of the tremor. Julok lifted Six Arms off of himself and then used his telekinetics to lift a nearby boulder off the ground. Behind the boulder was Jokao, who had been hiding. The Dark Hunter moved the giant rock over the Ta-Matoran. "Toa," Julok said. "You know exactly what I'll do if you try anything. Your Matoran friend here will become squashed Matoran. So why don't you give up peacefully and drop your weapons?" Chimoy looked over at Jokao, who looked downright afraid. The Toa wasn't sure what to do. Should I try to save Jokao? Or should I give up, like the Dark Hunter said? Chimoy thought. On one hand, I don't think I'll be able to stop him in time to save Jokao, but on the other, I could possibly defeat him somehow. I don't know how, though. At that moment, Nastan crawled out of the ocean. He wasn't the biggest fan of swimming, but he managed to get out okay. He noticed Giho getting back up and also noticed that Julok and Chimoy were apparently having a staring contest of some kind. His eyes locked on Jokao, who was standing under a giant boulder. Oh, no.... Nastan thought angrily. If that Dark Hunter is stooping down to low-level of threatening a innocent Matoran's life, then he's a big coward. I'll teach him. The Toa of The Green pulled out his bow, then loaded a arrow in it. He aimed at Julok and fired, even as Chimoy called out to him to stop. Julok saw the arrow coming for him. Instead of dodging it or dropping the rock on Jokao, he simply used his telekinetics to stop it in mid-air. This surprised both Chimoy and Nastan. "What, did you think I can only focus on one object at a time?" Julok said. "Of course not. I can focus on multiple objects at one time." Chimoy glared at Nastan, because of how stupid it was to attack the one who holds Jokao's life in his hands. Nastan just looked at the ground, trying not to see Chimoy's expression. "Now, Toa," The Hunter said. "What matters to you most? This Matoran's life or defeating me? Now do as I said before, if you really care about this Matoran's life, drop your weapons and I might let you live, depending on what Icetraz wants." Seeing as their was no way to defeat Julok and save Jokao's life, Chimoy and Nastan dropped their weapons. Giho and the revived Six Arms moved in to bind the Toa's hands in energy cuffs. Julok moved the boulder right next to Jokao, then walked over and put the Matoran's hands in energy cuffs as well. "That was too easy!" Giho laughed. "'Easy'?" Six Arms repeated. "I got my behind handed to me by this Toa of Iron here." "Well, whatever," Giho said. "Two Toa are down. Now only four remain." Nastan wondered how Nonzra, Barilo, Akuna, and Addis were doing. I hope they don't fall as well, The Toa of The Green thought. Otherwise there's no hope for Shika Nui. No hope at all. - Barilo dodged the solar energy beam of the Dark Hunter named Tyu. Tyu was black and blue and he weilded a metal chain with a spear attached to it's end. He about the same size as Barilo, but far more sinister-looking. He had two wings which he used for flight and he also had spikes jutting out of his armor. And apparently he could absorb energy from the sun and use it to fire a beam of solar energy, which is very devastating, as Barilo noticed when he saw the beam he dodged hit a rock and blow up, causing rock to rain down from the sky. The Toa of Gravity unleashed his power over gravity, making the Hunter get heavier all of a sudden. Tyu hit the sand hard and found that he could not get up. Barilo walked over to him and raised his axe, ready to finished Tyu off for good. But before he could land the killing blow, a burst of lava blew up next to the two combatants, blinding them both with sand. When the sand cleared, Barilo saw Akuna running over to him, with the Dark Hunter code-named Death chasing after her. Somehow she had gottton away from the Hunter and was going to join Barilo. Then Barilo realized something. "Where'd Tyu go?" Barilo said, looking around. What he didn't know was that the Hunter had burrowed under the sand, so the Toa was quite surprised to feel two hands pop out of the sand and grab his ankles. He was pulled under right as Akuna got over to him. "Barilo!" Akuna shouted. She tried to grab Barilo's hand, but it went under too quickly. Then a ball of lava blasted her from behind, sending her flying into the water. "Your friend is most likely dead, Toa," Death said, walking over to the water. He reached out and grabbed Akuna. At first, the Toa of Lightning believed he was helping her out of the water for some reason. Instead, he just hauled her out of the water and dropped her on the beach. "What are you going to do now, Dark Hunter?" Akuna asked. "Are you going to kill me? Or will you do something worse?" "I did plan on killing you, but now look over at your other three friends," Death replied, gesturing to the left. She looked over and saw Nastan, Chimoy, and Jokao being lead by three Dark Hunters. Akuna noticed that the that the two Toa and the Ta-Matoran had energy cuffs over their hands, keeping them from escaping. She turned back to look at Death. "Is that what you plan to do to me?" Akuna said. Death nodded. "Of course. Besides, Icetraz will most likely think of some form of punishment. Like maybe you'll be fronzen to death or fed to the Takea sharks." "Death!" Julok said. "Where did Tyu go?" "He burrowed under the sand and took that Toa of Gravity with him," Death answered. "Now if you will excuse me, I will be cuffing this Toa of Lightning now." Moving faster than Akuna's eyes could follow, Death circled behind her and then cuffed her hands. He forced her up and then moved her over to stand with Nastan and the others. "Tyu should be coming out any time now," Death said. "If we're lucky, the Toa will be the dead one and not Tyu. But if we're even luckier, then they will both be dead somehow" Everyone waited to see who would come up. They waited what seemed like forever, then there was a slight shift in the sand, and then Tyu broke out, flying up towards the sky, screaming in sheer terror. Barilo scrambled out of the sand and then stood tall. "Like what I did to your friend?" Barilo said to the other four Dark Hunters. "Pretty soon he will be out of my range and then he will fall to his death. What do you think of that, Hunters?" The only reply from them was a ball of lava being fired by Death. It hit Barilo, sendind him flying into a nearby boulder. He hit the wall and was knocked unconscious. Julok looked up at the sky and saw Tyu was falling back down to the ground. The black and blue Dark Hunter was trying to use his wings to fly and land painlessly on the ground. It slowed him down, but he still hit the sand with a loud crash. Tyu got right back up, albeit painfully. Giho had ran over and cuffed Barilo. The unconscious Toa of Gravity was dragged next to the other Toa and Jokao. The winged Hunter looked around, angered by almost being killed by a Toa. "Whatever punishment Icetraz gives them," Tyu said angrily. "I will enjoy watching every minute of it." "Tyu, no one asked for your thought of the day," Julok snapped. "We should go help Kigin and Yhio defeat the last two Toa. Come on." - Yhio clinked weapons with Nonzra. The Toa of Sonics had a average sword, but on such short notice, it was the only thing he could use as a Toa tool. Yhio was silver and orange. He was a rather bulky sort, but he was good with a sword, which the Hunter was using. Yhio was taller than Nonzra, but the Toa of Sonics was almost a even match in terms of swordplay. Those sword lessons I had as a Matoran were worth every widget, Nonzra thought as he blocked a blow from the Dark Hunter. And I mean really worth it! Addis was fighting Kigin, the leader of this small group of Dark Hunters. Kigin was taller than Addis by about a few feet, but he was definetely a even match in fighting. His colors wer orange and green. He had a horn on his head and also weilded a mace. The Toa of Plasma fired a ball of plasma at the Dark Hunter, but Kigin simply bashed the plasma ball out of the air with his mace. Then he hit Addis with the mace, knocking the Toa off his feet. Then Kigin wrapped his mace around a tree and pulled, causing it to fall on Addis. "Toa, you are a novice," Kigin said. "Did you really think you could beat me, a experienced Dark Hunter?" "Well," Addis said, under the treee. "I beat you before, didn't I?" "That was because we weren't expecting you, Toa," Kigin snapped. "Now my leader, Icetraz, told me to kill you and take your body to him, to prove that you Toa exist. However, my allies have defeated the rest of your teammates and haven't killed them. They may have other plans for you." Addis could not see anything, because of the tree on top of him. He could blast the tree into oblivion with his plasma powers, but he might hurt himself by accident if he blew the tree up, so he had to do lift the tree up off himself. He tried to lift the tree, but it was too heavy. "What do you plan on doing to me then, Dark Hunter?" Addis said, having a little difficulty talking under a big, heavy tree. "I will do whatever Icetraz wants me to do to you, Toa," Kigin replied. He then wipped his mace and smashed the tree, breaking it into splinters. "Now just get up and let me-" The Hunter was interrupted by a ball of plasma hitting him in the chest, sending him flying into Viho. Nonzra's keen eyes noticed the Dark Hunter flying and quickly moved out of the way. Viho was confused for a minute untill he saw Kigin flying towards him. He noticed him too late, for Kigin flew right into him, knocking both of them out like two lightstones. "Yeah!" Addis shouted, doing the traditional Toa fist hit with Nonzra. "We got those two good, didn't we?" "Yeah, but..." Nonzra pointed at the five Dark Hunters coming, with their prisoners. "Can we possibly defeat five Dark Hunters on our own?" "Don't worry, Nonzra," Addis said. "If could we beat those two, then we can beat those five!" - The six Toa and Jokao were now bound together. Giho and Yhio were standing watch, making sure that the Toa would not get away. It was getting dark, so the Dark Hunters had made a camp for the night and the Toa and Jokao were tied up to a tree. "'If could we beat those two, then we can beat those five!'" Nonzra said sarcastically. "Nice going, plasma for brains." "Nonzra, just shut up, okay?" Addis snapped. "We don't have time to argue. We have to escape." "Shut up, Toa," Yhio said. "I didn't want to have to watch you, especially after that humiliating defeat." "What will happen to me?" Jokao asked. "No one cares what will happen to you, Matoran," Barilo growled. "If we hadn't rescued you, we would NEVER have gotton in this situation." "Hey, I thought Toa always cared about Matoran," Giho said. "What's with you?" "Not all Toa are the same, Hunter," Barilo snapped. "But I guess they never taught you that in the Dark Hunter schools, but I don't blame'em. You'd probably forget it anyway, considering how dumb you are." "Shut up, Toa, or you will be going for a midnight swim and won't be coming out to dry off ever again." Giho threatened. "Fine, fine," Barilo yawned. "I'm getting tired of insulting someone who is lower in intelligence to me anyway." The Dark Hunter just glared at him. "Whatever punishment you get, I hope it's long and painful, Toa," Giho said. "Now be quiet." "Make me," Barilo said defiantly. Giho smiled. "If that's what you want...." The Dark Hunter put his hand in front of the Toa of Gravity's face. Nothing happened. Barilo tried to say something insulting to him, but all that came out of his mouth was nothing. His mouth moved, but no words came out. He looked up at Giho, confused. "It's my silence power," Giho explained. "I can silence anyone at anytime. Pretty handy, don't you think?" None of the other Toa answered, because none of them could think of any good comebacks. So instead they just tried to sleep, which was a hard thing to do when you are tied up to a tree. Great, Jokao thought. Just when I thought these Toa were going to save me, they let me down. And now look where we are! I've got to find a way out or else we're all going to end up as dead meat. Review Topic

Just saw the episode. And it was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Well worth the wait. I cannot wait to see the next episodes. I seriously want to know what happens next. Anyone else seen it? (In case any of y'all are curious, I am being purposefully vague in this blog post to avoid spoiling it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet.) -TNTOS-

Chapter 4: Revelations The six Toa and Jokao had found a rather isolated area near the beach to sleep for the night. The only one who couldn't sleep was Barilo, who knew that the Dark Hunters could track them down and kill them. So why not attack first? Why not get to them first, before they knew anything? He certainly thought about it. After all, The Toa of Gravity thought. I could easily take away their gravity away and make them fly away. Or, I could increase their gravity and crush them on the ground. I never realized all the ways you could kill someone with gravity before. Barilo sat up. He wasn't used to using his power over gravity yet, so he should practice using it before taking on the Dark Hunters. He looked over at a nearby rock. It was huge. He could not lift that thing on his own, but with a little gravity taken away, he could make it go up into the air and then toss it in the ocean. So he concentrated on the rock. Nothing happened. He stuck his hand out, trying to get it to obey. Again, nothing happened. He remembered something about Joha now. Didn't he use a Toa tool to channel his elemental power? Barilo thought. So maybe I should get my own Toa tool. I'm quite sure we packed a few weapons with us when we left the hideout. He quietly got up and walked over to one of the many bags that they had brought with them. He opened one of them. It was too dark to see what was inside, so he just stuck his hand in and hoped he would grab something useful. The Toa of Gravity felt something and grabbed it. He pulled it out. It was a battle axe. Engraved the handle were the words Gravity Axe. Gravity Axe? Barilo thought as he swung it around. What could that mean? Oh, well. I'm a Toa of Gravity, so maybe this was meant for a Toa of Gravity such as myself. He dramatically aimed his axe at the rock. Nothing happened at all. The rock didn't sink into the ground, not did it fly up into the sky. Now Barilo was frustrated. C'mon, stupid gravity powers! Barilo shouted in his mind. Lift the stupid rock already! He kept trying, again and again and again, over and over, never succeeding. Now he was angry. The Toa ran over and sliced the rock in half with his axe. Surprisingly, the split rocks flew up into the air. That caught him off guard. He watched as the stones flew up, until they were out of sight. Barilo looked down at his axe, wondering if it was his own power over gravity that did that, or maybe it was the axe's. Then it hit him like a ton of stones. This Gravity Axe must have done it, somehow, Barilo thought. Although I'm not too sure why I think that. I didn't feel anything when the rock halves flew into the air. I should test it later, because I'm getting tired. He put his axe away and them crawled back into his sleeping bag that he had brought along when they had to evacuate the hideout. He fell sleep quickly, dreaming of defeating the Dark Hunters in numerous ways. - Tyu expected to see the Toa and Matoran still in their little hideout. Toa, he knew, were brave and fearless and would never run from battle(Especially if they are new and cocky). But instead there was nothing. All the loot that had been there before was gone and there was no sign that anyone had been here. "Looks like they cleared out before we got here, eh, Tyu?" Kigin said. "Yeah, looks pretty deserted," Tyu agreed. "They probably figured out we escaped and left, taking everything they got with them so we wouldn't get it." Tyu and Kigin had arrived with about five other Dark Hunters, ready to kill those Toa. Now those other five Hunters were searching the place, thinking that maybe the Toa were hiding somewhere. When the Dark Hunters came to report back to Tyu and Kigin, they reported that the Toa were nowhere to be found and neither was the Ta-Matoran. "Then we follow their trail," Kigin commanded. "Uh, Kigin?" Tyu said. "We don't know where they went. For all we know, they could be heading to the main fortress right now to raid it." Kigin smiled. "Oh, Tyu," Kigin began. "If those Toa were smart enough to leave this place behind, then they definitely would have enough brains to not attack the main base. Trust me on this one." "Whatever," Tyu sighed. He then noticed something. It was a small piece of gold, followed by another, and another. In fact, there was a trail of them, leading from the hideout to the north. He hadn't noticed it before, but he figured he knew who had left that trail of gold. "Kigin, look," The black and blue Dark Hunter said, pointing at the trail of gold. Kigin looked at it, and immediately called the over five Dark Hunters over. After showing them the trail, the seven Hunters took off, following the trail and knowing they would find six novice Toa and a rebellious Ta-Matoran at the end. - The sun rose and Nastan was up already. He was up early because he wanted to test his powers. The Toa of The Green already knew how to make arrows out of wood, now he was trying out other things, such as causing a tree to split it half. So far, the tree didn't do anything. "C'mon!" Nastan shouted. He kept trying to make it split, but nothing happened. "Joha made it seem easy." A ball of plasma went flying in the tree past Nastan, making it explode. The Toa turned to see Addis walking, his plasma blaster smoking. "Where'd you get that blaster?" Nastan asked, looking at it. "I took it with us after we left the hideout," Addis replied. "It's pretty cool, don't you think?" Nastan looked over at the tree (or what was left of it after it had exploded). There was only a smoldering crater left. He felt sad. Nastan was, after all, a Toa of The Green and all Toa, Matoran, and Turaga of The Green felt more at home with trees and plant life than others. Sure, he may have been trying to split it in half, but he still felt different about it than maybe Addis would. "Well, did you really need to blow the poor tree up?" Nastan said. "Weren't you trying to do the same thing?" Addis asked. "No," Nastan replied. "I was just trying to split it in half to see if my elemental powers would work." "Oh, well, Jokao is ready to explain why the Dark Hunters were chasing him now, if you're interested," Addis said. "Okay," Nastan said. "It's something I've been wondering about ever since we saved him." - All six Toa were sitting cross-legged around Jokao, ready to listen to his tale. "Okay, I'm feeling better today, thanks to you six," Jokao said. "I was originally the leader of the slaves in the mines. My primary job was to break up arguments among the slaves, since the Dark Hunters were too busy doing 'important' stuff." Jokao coughed, still hurting a little. "At first, it was pretty nice. Nothing too bad happened and we were all pretty content.....until that one Brotherhood of Makuta raid on us that killed dozens of Matoran about 2000 years ago. The Visorak, Rahkshi, and various other beings were either killed or driven off, but instead of helping us repair our huts we lived in or giving us help, they made us work twice as hard to make up for the loss of Matoran." Chimoy nodded. He had been in the slave village that was attacked at the time, trying to steal a valuable weapon that the Dark Hunters had stashed there. Unfortunately, the weapon was destroyed by a Exo-Toa and Chimoy barely escaped in time. He remembered seeing the dozens of dead Matoran bodies and seeing the Dark Hunters fight off the Rahkshi and Visorak and Exo-Toa. It was a sight he would never forget. "When I realized that the Hunters cared nothing about us and thought of us only as slaves who would work no matter what," Jokao continued. "I pretended to work for them, but while they thought we were perfectly happy with how things were run, I was convincing as many Matoran as possible that to join a rebellion against the Dark Hunters. "After I convinced all the Matoran in my village to rebel, one of my friends was sent to another village in secret to convince all the Matoran there to rebel against the Hunters. Unfortunately, the Dark Hunters found him and killed him, because no Matoran is supposed to be outside the village when the slaves are working. When I heard the news, I was angered. I wasn't thinking and then I ran away from the village to hide in the village my friend was heading to, hoping that I could convince the Matoran there to rebel. However, those two Hunters, Tyu and Kigin, spotted me and gave chase. I got hurt by them, but I managed to keep going until you guys found me and saved me." "That's why they want you?" Addis said. "Are they even aware of the Matoran rebels in your village?" "No," Jokao replied. "All they know was that I was supposed to be working, not wandering away, so they gave chase. But now that you know my story, what about you six? Who are you and what are you doing here? Are you here to defeat the Dark Hunters?" Akuna looked over at Addis. She wondered if he'd tell Jokao that they were originally Matoran criminals and now no interest whatsoever in defeating the Dark Hunters. Addis looked just about ready to talk, but Barilo instead told the Matoran. "We're Toa who were once criminals and we have no interest in saving Shika Nui from the Dark Hunters," Barilo said abruptly. "Wait...." Jokao said slowly. "So you're not going to save our island, like the legends foretold?" "Yes," Barilo continued. "In fact, we plan on pulling bigger heists now, since we're Toa and Toa are obviously better at stealing things than any Matoran." "Barilo!" Addis snapped, annoyed. "What?" Barilo said. "I was telling this Matoran the truth. The whole truth." Addis turned to Jokao. "We're sorry, but he is telling the truth," Addis said. "I'm sorry if you thought we were going to free Shika Nui. To tell you the truth, we really just want to be even greater thieves than we were before becoming Toa. Besides, have you seen all the Dark Hunters on this island? There is no way any of us could defeat them." "But, isn't that why we have Unity, Duty, and Destiny?" Jokao asked, naming the Three Virtues. "Aren't you unified against the Hunters? Isn't it your duty to protect the Matoran? And, most important of all, maybe it is your destiny to free Shika Nui from the Dark Hunters? What are any Toa without those three virtues?" "Listen, Matoran," Barilo snapped. "I'm only interested in money and-" "Barilo!" Nastan shouted. "What did Joha stand for? I'll tell you: Unity, Duty, and Destiny, that's what, and-" "And he was a failure, even with those virtues to 'back him up,'" Nonzra finished, joining in the debate. "If Joha failed, even with the Three Virtues, what chance do we have against the Dark Hunters? I mean, he is far more experienced than any of us and he failed. So I agree with Barilo about this." Nastan couldn't think of a reply, but he didn't have to. Jokao did. "Maybe....Maybe it was his destiny to do something greater than defeat the Dark Hunters?" Jokao said. "I mean, only beings who are destined to do something can do it. Maybe it wasn't his destiny to defeat them at all." "Then whose destiny is it?" Barilo asked. There was a pause. A long, silent, pause followed. Nearby trees swayed in the wind and one could hear the sounds of brakas monkeys in the trees. Then Barilo realized something. "Are you saying that it's our destiny to defeat the Dark Hunters?" The Toa of Gravity said. *"Turaga Ujah used to say that no one knew what their destiny was exactly unless someone told them," Jokao replied. "Most times, he had said, your destiny would find you." Nonzra just stared at him. "That doesn't make any sense to me." Nonzra said. "Well," Addis said. "If your guys are done talking about destiny and stuff, me and Chimoy will be burying the loot in the forest. C'mon, Chimoy." Chimoy stood up and helped Addis drag the loot into the forest. - Addis and Chimoy dropped the last of the loot in a hole which they had dug out. Now the two Toa were burying it quickly, when Addis heard something. It sounded like a Nui Rama was angrily buzzing, but Addis knew that Nui Rama didn't live naturally on Shika Nui, so something else was making that noise. But what? He motioned for Chimoy to be quiet(No need for that, since Chimoy was almost always quiet) and he carefully walked in the direction he heard the noise. The Toa of Iron was following behind him, holding a giant hammer of iron that he had created using his power over all metals. The sound got louder and louder, until they were right next to it. It was only on the other side of these trees. Addis and Chimoy backed up and then the Toa of Plasma fired a ball of plasma at the small group of trees. It hit the trees, causing them to vaporize, but instead of a Nui Rama waiting for them, there was something far worse. Standing there were seven Dark Hunters, one of which had his mouth open. The one who had his mouth open was tall and green with orange. He closed his mouth, since he was apparently the one causing the Nui Rama-like noise. "Hello, Toa," The green and orange Hunter snarled. "I am Kigin. No doubt you expected to see a Nui Rama instead of seven Dark Hunters, but that's the beauty of being able to copy any noise just by remembering it." A black and blue being stepped up. "I can't wait to hang your Kanohi masks of the wall in my room," The black and blue being said. He pointed at Addis' Kanohi. "That Suletu will look especially good on my wall." "Be quiet, Tyu," Kigin snapped. "We have Toa to kill." He turned to the other five Dark Hunters. "My fellow Dark Hunters," Kigin began. "As you all know, we were put together to kill these Toa and that is exactly what we will do. And as I know most of you are dying to hear me say it, so I will. ATTACK!" Review Topic

Chapter 3: Jokao The Ta-Matoran named Jokao awoke, but he was hurting badly and couldn't sit up. His eyes were open, but his vision was blurred, so he couldn't really see anything. He could still hear, however, and what he was hearing were voices of others, but they did not sound anything like the two Dark Hunters who were chasing him. Who are they? Jokao thought. They don't sound like the Dark Hunters, nor do they sound like my friends. Jokao could make out six blurry forms standing around him, but he couldn't tell who or what they were. He remembered a being that looked like a Toa and he also remembered hearing the two Hunters shouting at the Toa, but he wasn't sure. Had they killed the Toa? He certainly hoped not, because if they did, then he wouldn't last long for sure. He tried sitting up, but he was too weak to move. So, he tried to get his eyes to focus on the ceiling. It worked! His eyes were working better now and maybe he could see his who was near him. The Ta-Matoran turned his head to the left, then to the right. He saw six tall, powerful-looking beings who wore masks. They all looked just like Joha in design, but they were differently colored and had different masks as well. He decided that these six must be Toa and that they must have saved him from the Dark Hunters! Jokao decided to say something to them. "Who.....are.....you?" The Ta-Matoran asked. He was still hurt badly and it was a pain to talk, but he needed to know who his saviors were if he were to properly thank them. "Who are we?" The brown and red Toa said. Jokao knew he must be a Toa of Plasma because of his colors. "Why, we're Toa of course." "At least," The silver and gray one added. "That's what we think we are." "Of course we are, Nonzra," The blue-ish green one answered. "We look like Toa, don't we? We have Great Kanohi Masks of Power just like Joha and we each have a Toa tool, right?" "You know, Nastan," The silver and gray one, which Jokao figured was Nonzra, snapped. "There is more to being a Toa than looking like one. You, Nastan, out of all of us should know that." "I know, I know," The blue-ish green one, who Jokao believed to be Nastan, replied. "I was just saying that we had all the stuff that normal Toa have." "Right," Nonzra said. He looked down at Jokao. "Can you tell us who you are?" "My.....friends.....call....me....Jokao...." He said with a cough. "Well, Jokao, welcome to the Shika Hideout." The red and brown being said. "I am Addis, leader of our group. As you no doubt know by now, he is Nastan and he is Nonzra." He pointed to the two Toa. "My name is Akuna and I-I'm sorry." Akuna said quickly. Jokao looked at her in a confused way. "Sorry?" He managed to get out. "What.....do....you....have....to...be.....sorry.....for?" "When we were fighting the Dark Hunters, I accidentally zapped you," Akuna explained. "Will you hold it against me?" "No," Jokao said. "I....won't......if it.....was a accident, that is....." Those last words were very hard for him to get out so quickly. "Well, the silent guy here is Chimoy," Addis said, pointing to a completely gunmetal Toa. "And this fellow here is Barilo." He pointed at gray and purple Toa. Jokao nodded in the direction of the Toa of Iron and the Toa of Gravity. Barilo just gave him a bad look, while Chimoy nodded back at Jokao. The Ta-Matoran assumed that maybe Barilo was just having a bad day or something. "I think we should leave you alone for a while," Akuna suggested. "So you can rest." "That's a good idea, Akuna," Addis agreed. He looked down at Jokao. "Well, Jokao, we'll let you sleep for a while, okay?" Jokao nodded. "Alright, c'mon, guys." Addis lead the other Toa out of the room. - The next morning, Addis found something very, very, bad when he went to look on the prisoners. They had escaped! There were shreds of metal all over the room and the Toa of Plasma knew exactly what they'd do: They'd get their friends and come here to kill himself and the rest of the Toa! He quickly ran back up to the first floor and yelled: "The prisoners have escaped! We have to evacuate now!" "What are you talking about?" Nonzra asked. "The Dark Hunters!" Addis shouted. "They escaped during the night and no doubt they have already contacted their friends! Get Jokao and the others. We leave now!" - The six Toa and Jokao left the Shika Hideout quickly, heading north. Nastan had used his power over plant life to make a bed of plants and branches, which Chimoy was carrying. They had only taken the essentials, which was practically all their loot. If they were going to be gone forever, they wanted to make sure no one would take any of their loot. "How will we take this stuff with us?" Nastan asked as he pulled a bag of loot along. "What if the Dark Hunters attack us?" "Well, we keep moving until nightfall," Addis replied. "Then, me and Chimoy will dig a hole and bury the loot in it. That way, the Hunters won't get their hands on it and we won't have to worry about them finding it." "Sounds like a good plan to me." Barilo agreed. The six Toa continued on, confident that they could outsmart the Dark Hunters. - The two Dark Hunters, one named Tyu and the other named Kigin, had arrived at the Dark Hunter fortress. The fortress was tall and one could see all of Shika Nui if one stood on top. The fortress had at least nine different towers sticking out of it and they all looked exactly like claws. After showing a identity tablet to the guards around the fortress, the two Dark Hunters quickly made their way to report what had happened. Who were they reporting to? Why, none other than a Dark Hunter named Icetraz. Icetraz was one of the original twelve who attacked Shika Nui 25,000 years ago. It was because of his power over ice that he and the other Hunters survived Joha's Nova Blast, since the Hunter had used his power to make an extremely thick ice barrior to protect himself and the others. He was rather big and bulky compared to most Dark Hunters. He was humanoid, except for his face, which resembled a Kikanalo face with razor sharp teeth and a shorter horn. He was almost always seen carrying his twin Cordak revolving blasters. Today, he was in charge of the Dark Hunters base of operations on Shika Nui. For some days he had lead the Hunters in battle to keep Brotherhood of Makuta minions and servants off the island. He knew the only Toa left on the island was Joha, so it was quite a surprise to hear that six more Toa had defeated Tyu and Kigin. "What did you say?" Icetraz asked. "That six Toa defeated you two in battle?" He laughed. It was a terrible sound. "We're telling the truth, boss," Tyu insisted. "I even got zapped by one of them!" "Oh, really?" Icetraz said. "Did you catch that disobedient Ta-Matoran who didn't do what he was asked?" "Well....No," Kigin said slowly. "We, uh, got beat by the Toa and then the Toa of Iron bounded us together to make sure we didn't escape. But, as you clearly see, we did escape and we wish to lead a strike force to go and kill those pesky Toa." "And I will personally deal with the Ta-Matoran." Tyu added. Icetraz sat there for a bit, pondering whether he should send a strike force or not. For one, he didn't know if these Toa really existed or if they were just fiction. But if there really were Toa, then they would have to be eliminated immediately or else the Dark Hunters would have trouble on their hands. "Kigin, Tyu," Icetraz said. The two Dark Hunters stood up straight immediately. "I will give you a small strike force to kill these Toa you speak of. If you find them, then kill them and take their bodies to me. I want to make sure I am not being deceived." "Yes, sir!" Both Dark Hunters said in unison. They ran off, already thinking of all the gruesome ways to kill the Toa. Review Topic

As of this morning, I posted the epilogue of my latest comedy, My Little BIONICLE: Friendship is Explosive. At 15 chapters, it is officially complete, so I'd say this is the perfect time to read it, especially if you are a Bionicle or MLP fan. In other news, I recently started reposting the Shika Trilogy in an omnibus format here in the Epics forum with a five chapter a week schedule. It's the perfect opportunity to snark at my old writing, so I'd take it if I were most of you . Regarding In the End, I have not yet started editing the third draft. I have a bunch of other projects at the moment that are a bit more pressing. I will keep y'all posted on this leading up to its release. I am going to be doing more blog posts in the Looking Back series, although again I am not sure how many. The next one will be about my favorite stories from the Shikaverse, although I won't say what they are just yet or when I will post it. I intend to get that blog post out before the end of the month, so stayed tuned for that. That's all for now, so see ya, -TNTOS-

Epilogue (Party's over. Everyone can go home now) “You are reading words.” -TNTOS, after running out of funny/irrelevant quotes to put at the beginning of each chapter Six months later. . . . Dear Princess Celestia, You may be surprised to be receiving this letter from me; after all, now that I am a Princess, I generally record my lessons in the friendship journal I keep with my friends instead of sending you a letter. This isn't even my research paper on the mating rituals of paraspites, either (although that's coming along swiftly, don't worry!). Instead, I am sending you a report about my adventures in Spherus Magna and what I learned from the experience. Yes, I know that that was six months ago, but it was such a bizarre experience that I needed some time to digest it fully. Besides, I thought that your interaction with the biomechs in the realm of nothingness had already given you a good glimpse of the sheer, well, oddness of the Spherus Magnans, so I felt a report wasn't necessary right away. Having said that, I have been working on this particular report on and off ever since I returned. I wrote the first sentence as soon as I returned to my room in the Crystal Castle, but I wrote the second sentence a week later. This is largely because of my new duties as Princess, but also because it's hard to find the words to describe the things I saw and experienced in Spherus Magna. (In addition, I am unsure whether this counts as tipping the balance of the multiverse, although I don't think it does.) I've talked with my friends about it, although their knowledge is as limited as yours. None of them were of much help. The only two who seemed to understand were Pinkie Pie, who has been depressed on and off ever since we got back (I think she likes Berix, although I'm not sure), and Rarity, who apparently got some fashion tips from the one called Oris. I'm not sure that biomechs have very good fashion taste, seeing as they don't wear clothes, but Rarity tells me she has a new line of clothes in the works that are based on his advice, so what do I know? Spike is the only other person who has experienced the same things I have. He's been a bit depressed, too, but unlike Pinkie Pie, it has nothing to do with missing anybody. Back in Spherus Magna he was getting rather powerful, but here his power is limited once again. I think that made him sad. (Also, those boulders that magically appeared above your head six months ago? Those were from Spike. It was an accident. We didn't know his magical fire could send objects trans-dimensionally. Spike apologizes.) I won't bore you with all the details of that other world, Princess. Most of it was largely incomprehensible. There was no coherency or consistency to the laws of physics. The only consistent rule, from my observation and experience, was that anything is possible as long as you either A) do not know it is impossible or B) know, but do not care. I mean, when Spike and I first arrived, we saw Mata Nui punt the sun into the moon. That should give you an idea of the craziness we experienced. In spite of all that, Spike and I managed to win the trust of four natives of that world: Mata Nui, Kiina, Bucket-head, and Berix. Their goal -- defeating Sunset Shimmer -- was similar to ours, so they agreed to travel with us until we defeated her. I'll be honest, Princess: I didn't really like any of them at first. Mata Nui had an ego the size of the multiverse, Kiina beat up anyone who dared to criticize Mata Nui, Bucket-head was too cynical, and even Berix, who was probably the nicest one, was still too crazy for my tastes. Mata Nui in particular seemed to think that the universe revolved around him (though to be fair, I think he may not have been entirely inaccurate about that). Yet, despite their obvious flaws, there was something endearing about them. Mata Nui did save me and Spike several times on our journey. In spite of his incredible selfishness and gigantic ego, I think there is a good pony inside of him. It's really, really, really, REALLY deep down inside, and probably drunk more than half the time, but I think it's there. I just wish he would show it more often, as it makes him a lot more pleasant to be around. Regardless, I think you were correct to destroy the magic mirror when we got home. We can't risk another pony like Sunset Shimmer using it to become a goddess or destroy the universes again or do something worse. Where did that mirror even come from, anyway? I've checked out all my books in the Golden Oaks Library and not a single one mentions anything about a magic mirror that links two different worlds. I want to go to the Canterlot Library sometime and see if any of the books there talk about the mirror's origin. Or do you happen to know it, Princess? If so, could you tell me in your response? In addition, everyone on Spherus Magna insisted that they were in a 'comedy' and made several references to some kind 'author.' To this day I still do not know if they were being literal or if everyone there uses the story metaphor as a way to explain life. I think it's the latter, although based on my experiences there I can't say that with any kind of confidence. Now you probably want to know the friendship lesson I learned while over there, Princess. That was probably the hardest part about this letter to write, seeing as I am not sure I learned anything over there that I hadn't already learned here. But after much deliberation, I have discovered the lesson I have learned. So here it is: I learned that you have to dig really deep in someponies in order to find the goodness within. This can be a hard and sometimes even scary process and there's no guarantee you'll always find that inner goodness, even if you try your hardest. Yet you should always strive for it, because by looking for the best in others, you will ultimately find the best in yourself. Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle P. S. I have heard reports of a yellow-armored biped spotted in the Everfree Forest. I'm going in there with Zecora soon to check it out. Do you think it might be him? - And that's the end. I hope you all enjoyed reading this bizarre crossover as much as I enjoyed writing it. It is probably the last comedy I will write and post on BZP and I think it's a good way to end my comedy career. (Then again, I said that TLI was going to be the last one, too, and then I wrote this, so what the heck do I know?) If you are interested in reading more of my works, you can find links to them all in my library here, including links to the original Legend Trilogy, which this comedy takes place after. I hope you find something in there to your liking . See ya, -TNTOS-

I don't know about you, but I remember a time when those types of comedies were MUCH more numerous than they are now. Nowadays there's only one and it's not really updated much anymore. But yeah, I agree that the Comedies forum might as well be dead. I am currently in the process of posting a comedy there, but it has only one more chapter left and when that is posted tomorrow I doubt I'll visit Comedies very often unless someone asks me to review something there. Kind of sad, really, because it was the Comedies forum that got me writing fanfics in the first place, which in turn is what got me into writing at all. I suppose nothing lasts forever, though. -TNTOS-

Chapter 2: Dark Hunters! Nastan looked over at Addis, confused by what he said. "What'd you say, Addis?" The new Toa of The Green asked. "I said we are Toa now," Addis replied. Then quickly added. "I think." Nonzra walked over to a nearby mirror and studied his new form. He was tall, like every other Toa he had seen and he looked similar to Toa Joha, except for his mask and colors. His colors, which were silver and grey, were over his armor and body. The silver was mainly on his armor, while his grey took up his body, mostly. The new Toa of Sonics turned around to look at his friends, who were still quite confused. "Why are we Toa anyway?" Akuna, the new Toa of Electricity, asked. "Better question is how we became Toa, sister." Nonzra said, walking up to the others. "I think it had something to do with those six strangely glowing stones over there." Nastan said, pointing over at the six stones on the table where they had left them. The new Toa of The Green reached out to grab a stone with his long arm and grabbed one. He examined the stone, but could see nothing out of the ordinary, except it wasn't glowing anymore. In fact, none of the stones were glowing anymore. "Uh, why aren't they glowing anymore?" Chimoy asked. "Don't know," Nastan replied. "It looks like a normal stone now." Addis had a idea. "Do you think these six stones were.....Toa stones?" "Toa stones?" Nastan repeated. "What are Toa stones?" "Well, I don't know too much about them," Addis replied. "All I know is that Toa create them by absorbing a small amount of their Toa energy in to them and give them to destined Matoran, who become Toa.....somehow." "How'd you know that?" The new Toa of Gravity asked. "Well, I remember when I was stealing a tablet, I read a little of it and learned a little bit about Toa stones. I didn't think much of it at the time, but now it just came back to me." Addis replied. "Why didn't you notice the glowing stones were Toa stones, then?" Nonzra asked annoyed. "I guess I just forgot." Addis said. Nonzra was about to make some snappy comment about Addis having bad memory when he heard something. It sounded like a Matoran was screaming and then there was a big flash outside. The six new Toa went to the window and saw two Dark Hunters chasing a Matoran. "Get back here!" One of the Dark Hunters shouted. "Never!" The Matoran shouted back. The six Toa could tell he was a Ta-Matoran because of his red armor and he looked badly damaged. Addis was surprised that that Matoran was running so fast, especially because of how badly damaged he looked. Nastan knew the Ta-Matoran would never be able to outrun two Dark Hunters, especially since he was very damaged. He turned to Addis. "What should we do?" Nastan asked. "We can't let those savage Hunters kill that Matoran." "But if we try to save him, no doubt they would kill us as well," Addis said. "We just became Toa about a couple hours ago. We stand no chance of defeating two experienced Dark Hunters." "And if the Hunters escaped, they would surely call up some of their 'friends' and try to kill us again and probably succeed." Nonzra added. The Toa of The Green turned to Akuna. "What about you? Do you think we should help the Matoran?" Akuna shrugged. "I think Addis and Nonzra are right about this. We're just novices and those Dark Hunters are surely far more experienced and well-equiped than any of us." Nastan looked over at Barilo and Chimoy, who were still watching the Hunters chase the Ta-Matoran. "What do you two think?" He asked. "Should we or should we not save that Matoran?" Barilo wasn't really interested in saving the Matoran, so he simply answered, "No." Chimoy seemed to agree with all the others, as he nodded in agreement with Barilo after the Toa of Gravity had answered. "So, it seems we have come to a decision," Addis said. "C'mon, guys. Let's go steal stuff." All the others turned to follow Addis out of the room, except for Nastan, who had jumped out of the window and landed on the ground. The other five Toa ran back to the window, shocked and surprised he would do this. Apparently, the Hunters hadn't noticed him, so it was a bit of a surprise to them when Nastan shot two arrows made out of wood at both of them and both the arrows hit their targets. The two Dark Hunters turned around to find out who hit them and were surprised to see Nastan standing there. "I must be dreaming," The first Hunter said. "He's a Toa. I thought Triglax said that there was only one Toa left on this island?" "Well, it doesn't matter," The second replied. "He's going to die just like the rest of 'em." The second Dark Hunter then threw his spear at Nastan, but the Toa of The Green easily dodged it and then fired another arrow of wood at the Dark Hunter. Nastan had got his bow from a weapons cache which he found in the abandoned Dark Hunter base, but he found no arrows. Now that he is a Toa, he can easily create arrows made of wood, so he has a almost unlimited amount of arrows at his disposal. The Hunter dodged the arrow and pulled his spear back to him, which was attached to a chain. Nastan realized that too late when he felt the chain of the spear whip his back, stunning him. The first Dark Hunter then quickly ran over to Nastan and punched the Toa in the mask, knocking him out like a lightstone. "Looks like he's out," The first Hunter said after inspecting Nastan's body. "Now we can get that-" A blast of cold metal hit the Dark Hunter in the back, sending him flying into a nearby stone wall. When he turned around, he saw five other Toa, all looking quite angry at him. "You mess with one of us," Addis began. "You mess with all of us!" The Dark Hunter was then zapped by lightning, but since Akuna wasn't used to having electrical powers, she accidentally zapped the Ta-Matoran who was nearby, but not nearly as bad as the Hunter had been. The Dark Hunter fell unconscious, but the Ta-Matoran was just damaged even worse than before. "Looks like he's down." Barilo said, referring to the Dark Hunter. The second Dark Hunter had been taken by surprise earlier before he first one was defeated. Now he was up and was now using a sword instead of a spear and was charging into Chimoy. None of the Toa were near enough to save Chimoy, but that didn't seem to be a problem, as the new Toa of Iron had turned around and had a sword in his hand, blocking the villain's blow that probably would have killed him. You see, Chimoy was a Toa of Iron, so he could use his elemental power to make a weapon out of thin air. Back to the story, the Dark Hunter was surprised by this, letting his guard down. Now Chimoy's brain may have been damaged, but he knew when there was a opening and kneed the Hunter in the gut, bringing the Dark Hunter down for good. - After tying the two Hunters up with metal bonds that Chimoy had created, the six Toa put the Matoran in a bed, to let him rest. Akuna was the most concerned about him, since she had electrocuted him by accident. It was by accident, she thought. I don't think I could take it if he died because of me. But why am I feeling this way? I don't even know him. Why would I care if he died or not? For all I know, the Dark Hunters could have had a justifiable reason for chasing him and we just stopped them from carrying out what they're supposed to do. Akuna noticed that Barilo was looked concerned, too, even though he didn't really like other Matoran because of how he was disliked as a Matoran himself, so she decided to bring it up. "You seem to be concerned for him," Akuna said to Barilo. "I don't blame you. I think we're all concerned for-" "I'm not concerned for him." Barilo cut her off. "I'm more concerned of those two Hunters breaking free and calling their friends to come over and kill us all, including the Matoran." "That makes me wonder why they were chasing the Matoran," Nonzra said. "Did he wonder away from the other slaves? Or did he try to do something else stupid, like insult the Shadowed One?" "I don't know," Barilo replied. "And I don't care. We should kill the Dark Hunters and toss their bodies into the ocean. That way, no one will find them." "No!" Nastan shouted, standing up. "Not only is that unToa-like, but the Dark Hunters are surely going to realize two of their members are missing and will probably send a search party to find them. Remember why the Dark Hunters are at war with the Brotherhood of Makuta in the first place? It's because the Makuta of Metru Nui killed two members of the Hunters!" "Well, we'll just kill any search party they send our way and we'll keep on killing them until the Shadowed One himself comes," Barilo replied. Then he added, "And we'll kill him, too." "But, Joha never killed anyone and never will," Nastan said. "If you won't follow his example, then I will." "Maybe that's the reason Joha hasn't freed our island yet, Nastan," Nonzra said. "Maybe he should have killed them all and be done with it." "Enough talk about killing!" Akuna shouted. All the others looked at her, surprised that she had raised her voice. "We have a seriously injured Matoran in there and he could die any second. Please, if you're going to talk about something, just talk about something else." "Okay," Barilo said. "I'll just go to bed now, since it's getting dark out. 'Night, everyone." And he left the room. For a while, no one said anything, until there was a sound, a sound that came from the Ta-Matoran's room. It sounded like a moan. Addis got up and walked into the Matoran's room. He came back out, looking excited. "Guys!" Addis exclaimed excitedly. "He's waking up! The Matoran is waking up!" Review Topic

Those sound like fine goals for the New Year. I wish you the best of luck in completing them. -TNTOS-

Chapter 1: We Are.....Toa? Toa Joha clinked blades with a Dark Hunter who had a chameleon power of sorts, as he was is the form of a giant, yellow, one-eyed Rahi. As he fought the Dark Hunter, he remembered what happened just two hours ago. A Dark Hunter battle ship had landed in Shika Bay and launched a surprise attack on the nearest village, killing dozens of Matoran and seriously injuring others. Fortunately, Joha and his team had been visiting the village to discuss how to defend the island in case an attack from sea were launched upon the island of Shika Nui. Unfortunately, they were unprepared for the battle and were losing already. It was obvious that the Hunters were more skilled at combat than he and his friends were, but that wasn't about to stop him from protecting Shika Nui from the Dark Hunters. He glanced toward his left and saw his friends were laying on the ground dead, unmoving as rocks and the Hunters were moving toward himself. There was no way he would be able to defeat these fiends by himself. He had no choice. He would have to go Nova to defeat these villains. He closed his eyes, already feeling his elemental power draining from his body ready to be unleased in one mighty explosion! But before he could go Nova, something- Joha, Toa of Stone, awoke, startled. He looked around his stone room and sighed with relief. It was that dream again. The kind of dream you wished wasn't real, but was. That dream kept replying every week or so, showing everything happening the exact same way he remembered it. The Toa of Stone wished it was just a dream, but it wasn't. It all happened 25,000 years ago, when an elite group of Dark Hunters arrived, killing all his teammates and many Matoran. After that, the Hunters took complete control of the island and enslaved the Matoran. The only one brave enough to stand up against them was Joha and he knew he couldn't defeat them on his own. That's why, The Toa thought. I have created these six Toa stones. All I have to do is give them to the six chosen Matoran and they will become Toa who I will lead to free this island. Joha looked toward the table where he had last saw the Toa stones, but was horrified at what he saw: The six Toa stones were gone! "Where could they be?" Joha said, sounding more than a little worried. If the stones were stolen, then that must mean that a Dark Hunter stole them. But it made little sense, since any of the Hunters would have killed him while taking the stones. So, perhaps someone else stole them? "But who?" Joha wondered aloud. "Who would steal the vital items that could free this island from the Dark Hunters' tyranny?" - The answer to the Toa of Stone's question was not a Dark Hunter, nor a curious Rahi beast, but a Matoran of Plasma who went by the name of Addis. Addis, who was the leader of a band of Matoran thieves, had snuck into Joha's cave and taken the Toa stones and snuck out undetected. He was heading toward his hideout where his five friends, Akuna, Chimoy, Nonzra, Nastan and Barilo, were waiting. While he was walking there, he pulled one of the strangely glowing stones out of his back pack and examined it while he walked. He had never seen anything like this before, but he knew they had some importance or Joha wouldn't have had them in his home. It's so strange, Addis thought as he put the stone in his pack. I wonder what they do? Obviously, they must be important, so I will bring these to the others and see what they think. The Matoran of Plasma walked faster, as the sun was setting and, as Addis knew, it was incredibly dangerous to be out after dark, especially if a Dark Hunter was patroling the area. - The Matoran hideout, dubbed the Shika Hideout, was a little known Dark Hunter warehouse that was abandoned because of a accident a few years back that involved a group of Dark Hunters, Toa Joha, and a Brotherhood of Makuta expierment that had four legs, six arms, no head and a snake-like body. As you probably imagine, the entire place was wrecked, so it was only logical that Addis and the others would make a base here, since no one would ever even think, let alone conceive, of any Matoran ever making a home here. It sure was home to Addis, as he walked through the wrecked area toward the meeting room, where he would show the others what he had got. Addis, looking around the room to make sure everyone was here, dumped the contents of his bag out on to the table. "What are they?" Barilo, a Matoran of Gravity, asked. "I've never seen anything like them." "They're just rocks," Nonzra, a Matoran of Sonics, said. "I thought Joha had something of way more importance, like maybe a legendary Kanohi mask or something." "I don't know," Nastan, a Matoran of The Green, said. "Why would a mighty Toa of Stone like him carry unvaluable things like these around if they were not important?" "'Mighty Toa of Stone'? You've been reading too many legends, Nastan," Nonzra replied. "He got himself beaten to near death and he only escaped because he went Nova. Now thanks to him, the entire island of Shika Nui is under Dark Hunter control! Why would you call him mighhty?" "It wasn't his fault," Nastan protested. "He was ambushed. He and the others had no idea tha the Hunters were attacking." Akuna, a Matoran of Lightning, sighed. Nastan and Nonzra argued alot, so much that it seemed as though they actually liked arguing with eachother. She did not like arguing herself, mainly because she wasn't too good at it plus most of the time they argued about pointless things that she never really understood. "Enough arguing!" Addis said loudly, startling Nastan and Nozra. He waited a moment before speaking again to make sure they weren't going continue arguing again. When they didn't continue, Addis continued on. "Alright, then. We're keeping the stones until we can find someone who would buy these from us at a fair price. We each keep one of the stones until I decide when to sell them and to who. Got it?" One by one, they nodded their approval. Addis knew at least one of them was going to try to keep the stone they got to keep to his or her self and, when he found someone who was willing to buy all six, would claim they had no idea what happened to it. Chimoy, a Matoran of Iron, looked down at the stones. He was about to say something, then stopped, as if lost in thought or something. It was normal to see him act like that. Back about 100 years ago or so, Chimoy had tried to steal a valuable artifact from the Dark Hunters. The mission was going well, with most of the Dark Hunters distracted. Unfortunately, the other Hunters that weren't distracted ganged up on poor Chimoy and beat him senseless. Fortunately, Joha had appeared to fight off the Dark Hunters while Chimoy escaped. The Matoran of Iron had never been the same since. All six Matoran picked up their stones simultaneously. At first, nothing happened. Then they all felt something inside them blow up, sending each and every one of them flying in different directions of the room they were in, knocking the Matoran criminals unconscious. - Barilo awoke. His back hurt. His head hurt. In fact, his entire body was hurting and he wasn't sure what to do about it. He couldn't lift himself up because he hurt so badly, so he just laid there. It was far to dark for him to see the others, but he could hear them all groaning in pain and agony. Why.....Why do I feel so strong? Barilo thought. I feel.....Alot stronger than any Matoran. What happened to me and who turned all the lightstones off? Am I dead? Barilo then felt intense heat coming from where he had seen Addis thrown. Groaning with pain, he slowly lifted himself up to his full height to find out where the heat was coming from. He was surprised at how tall he was now. He was far taller than he was before, which made him wonder just what it was that happened. He decided to wonder about that later and find out why their was heat coming from where Addis was. He walked over to the semi-conscious form of Addis and realized that the heat was coming Addis himself! He turned around and saw they others, with the help of Addis' small light he was giving off. What he saw surprised him: Standing in front of him, all the others looked exactly like Toa! I must be dreaming Barilo thought. Or perhaps I've gone insane. I hope it is the former. He could hear Addis getting from behind him and the new Toa of Gravity turned around. Addis looked very confused for a moment before finally saying: "We.......Are Toa?" Review Topic

I mentioned in my last blog post that I was going to repost the entire Shika Trilogy starting today. And now I am pleased to announce that I have begun reposting it here. Expect five chapters a week, Monday through Friday, unless otherwise noted. This should hopefully tide y'all over until In the End is ready to be posted. Go read it. -TNTOS-

Introduction: Dear readers, My name is TNTOS. I'm a fanfic writer and have written and posted over 40 epics, comedies, and short stories over a seven year period on this website. Some were great, some weren't, but nonetheless each has helped me grow as a writer and I wouldn't be where I am today without them. Among my early works was a trilogy of epics known as the Shika Trilogy, consisting of The Tales of Shika Nui, Tapestry of Evil, and An Unlikely Alliance. Originally posted over a two year period, the Shika Trilogy chronicled the adventures of a Toa team composed of six former thieves on or near the island of Shika Nui (hence the title of the trilogy). It was never a particular popular trilogy, but it was my first ever completed trilogy and laid the foundation for my larger Shikaverse, the universe in which all my fanfiction (sans comedies) is set. Unfortunately, all three epics of the Shika Trilogy were lost when the BZP Archives were taken down earlier this year. I did not repost them, mostly because I did not believe they are a good representation of my ability as a writer (and they still aren't, by the way). Besides, if I ever wanted to reread them, I had them saved on files on an external hard drive, so nostalgia was not a good reason for reposting them, either. Recently, however, I have received a few requests from my readers to repost the Shika Trilogy, especially from readers who have not read it but want to. In addition, I am almost finished writing In the End, the epic that will be the finale to the Shikaverse as a whole. That epic does rely on a lot of ideas, concepts, and characters introduced in the Shika Trilogy, which most people would not understand without first reading the Shika Trilogy. With the arrival of the New Year, I decided that now would be a good time to repost the entire Shika Trilogy here in the Epics forum. Not only that, but I would repost all three epics in one topic so you can conveniently read the entire trilogy in one place (hence the use of "omnibus" in the title of this topic). I also believe the trilogy is more enjoyable when read as a whole, rather than read individually. Please note that the Shika Trilogy is NOT an example of my current ability as a writer. It is a reflection of who I was as a writer back in my younger days, when I was first learning how to write well. Whatever problems you notice, I am already aware of, so you don't need to write a comprehensive review pointing out every tiny error I have made. (If you want an example of my current ability as a writer, I suggest reading Dimension Hoppers or another of my most recent epics in my library.) I am reposting this solely to make the Shikaverse more understandable for people who haven't read it, although if you have some comments to make you are welcome to share them here in the review topic. Read the omnibus itself here. -TNTOS-

Introduction: Dear readers, My name is TNTOS. I'm a fanfic writer and have written and posted over 40 epics, comedies, and short stories over a seven year period on this website. Some were great, some weren't, but nonetheless each has helped me grow as a writer and I wouldn't be where I am today without them. Among my early works was a trilogy of epics known as the Shika Trilogy, consisting of The Tales of Shika Nui, Tapestry of Evil, and An Unlikely Alliance. Originally posted over a two year period, the Shika Trilogy chronicled the adventures of a Toa team composed of six former thieves on or near the island of Shika Nui (hence the title of the trilogy). It was never a particular popular trilogy, but it was my first ever completed trilogy and laid the foundation for my larger Shikaverse, the universe in which all my fanfiction (sans comedies) is set. Unfortunately, all three epics of the Shika Trilogy were lost when the BZP Archives were taken down earlier this year. I did not repost them, mostly because I did not believe they are a good representation of my ability as a writer (and they still aren't, by the way). Besides, if I ever wanted to reread them, I had them saved on files on an external hard drive, so nostalgia was not a good reason for reposting them, either. Recently, however, I have received a few requests from my readers to repost the Shika Trilogy, especially from readers who have not read it but want to. In addition, I am almost finished writing In the End, the epic that will be the finale to the Shikaverse as a whole. That epic does rely on a lot of ideas, concepts, and characters introduced in the Shika Trilogy, which most people would not understand without first reading the Shika Trilogy. With the arrival of the New Year, I decided that now would be a good time to repost the entire Shika Trilogy here in the Epics forum. Not only that, but I would repost all three epics in one topic so you can conveniently read the entire trilogy in one place (hence the use of "omnibus" in the title of this topic). I also believe the trilogy is more enjoyable when read as a whole, rather than read individually. Please note that the Shika Trilogy is NOT an example of my current ability as a writer. It is a reflection of who I was as a writer back in my younger days, when I was first learning how to write well. Whatever problems you notice, I am already aware of, so you don't need to write a comprehensive review pointing out every tiny error I have made. (If you want an example of my current ability as a writer, I suggest reading Dimension Hoppers or another recent epic in my library.) I am reposting this solely to make the Shikaverse more understandable for people who haven't read it, although if you have some comments to make you are welcome to share them in the review topic (link at the bottom of the post). Table of Contents: Book One: The Tales of Shika Nui Prologue Chapter 1: We Are.....Toa? Chapter 2: Dark Hunters! Chapter 3: Jokao Chapter 4: Revelations Chapter 5: All Out Battle! Chapter 6: Infiltration Chapter 7: Escape From The Fortress Chapter 8: Into The Mountains Chapter 9: The Mountains Chapter 10: Turaga Joha? Chapter 11: Not A Hero Anymore Chapter 12: The Secret Village of Shadow Chapter 13: Dragon in the Dark Chapter 14: The Return of Barilo Chapter 15: Chaos! Chapter 16: What Is Behind The Door? Epilogue Book Two: Tapestry of Evil Book Three: An Unlikely Alliance Now with that out of the way, let's kick off this omnibus with: Book One: The Tales of Shika Nui Prologue 25,000 years ago A huge battle ship sailed quietly through the sea of Shika Nui. Aboard the ship was a band of thieves, murderers, would-be tyrants and other lunatics, who were all hungry for battle and conquest. They were Dark Hunters. Under order of their leader, a dark and frightening being known only as the Shadowed One, they were sent to take control of this island, for it had a secret that they all were sure would suit the Dark Hunters cause well. A Dark Hunter, named Triglax, was standing at the wheel, steering the boat toward their destination. He was considered obnoxious by some and that might be true, though he'd never admit it, mainly because of his ego. What do any of them know about me anyway? Triglax thought as he steered the gigantic boat toward the mysterious island of Shika Nui. There is a good reason the Shadowed One chose me to lead this operation, because I am the most qualified to lead, of course. He was being sent, along with at least a dozen other well armed Dark Hunters, to take over this island they were heading. They would land there and kill the local Toa team and the Turaga who lead the island, thus giving them complete control over the entire island of Shika Nui. If all went well, then by nightfall, the island would be Dark Hunter property. And when we strike, Triglax thought, a smile creeping on his face. They won't know what hit them. Review Topic

Three thousand left? We should totally make a new group of BZP members dedicated solely to locating these remaining three thousand minifigs. It would probably be expensive, difficult to organize, and not at all worth it in the long run, but it would still be awesome. Who's with me? I completely forgot about this until I read this article. Guess I must not have lost anything important or something. Anyway, I think 2013 was a pretty good year overall, at least for me. I eagerly await whatever surprises 2014 has in store for us. -TNTOS-