TNTOS

Chapter 3: Revelations & Explanations

It looked as though all of the remaining Matoran of Shika Nui were here, which was probably the case, Akuna thought as she and the others walked through the rapidly parting crowd, lead by Jokao and Oggak. There didn’t seem to be as much as she originally thought, though; possibly only a couple of hundred, from what she could tell. The hallway didn’t seemed to be as cramped, either, though it wasn’t exactly wide open. The Matoran were all quiet now and staring up at her and the others with a mixture of expressions that she couldn’t quite identify, for her eyes were still adjusting slightly to the light. All of the Matoran were in the hallway of the Dark Hunters’ fortress, which seemed to be lit with old light stones that were growing fainter and fainter each minute, or so it looked to her, anyway.

As for the Matoran themselves, they looked as though they had been fighting some kind of war. Many wore mismatched armor, as though they had had to replace broken pieces with whatever they could find instead of simply creating new armor from protodermis. Most seemed to have been wounded in some way, for they wore bandages wrapped in many places all over their bodies; some had blood smeared on their armor. Akuna, horrified, wondered what had happened to them. Perhaps these Tuikas that Jokao had mentioned had something to do with it? She knew she would probably learn soon enough, but she was still frightened just the same.

Jokao and Oggak, after explaining to the Matoran villagers who the Toa Shika were and where they would be taking them, had begun leading the Toa towards the throne room, where Joha was supposed to be. Akuna didn’t mind; all of the Matoran staring at her made her feel extremely uncomfortable. It wasn’t that she disliked it, per se, but she just wasn’t used to being looked at with awe and wonder instead of fear and hate like she had been by the Dark Hunters and the Shodios, and judging by the expressions on the faces of the others, they weren’t, either.

“What happened?” asked Addis, who was still limping beside Jokao, but managing to keep up quite well. “Why is Koro Nui the last village on Shika Nui? I don’t understand.”

“The Tuikas mercilessly destroy the rest of them,” Jokao replied grimly as they winded their way through a crowd of Matoran, who all looked up at the Toa as they passed, without uttering a single word at them. “Survivors managed to make it here or were rescued by Oggak and me. We sometimes make trips outside of Koro Nui to see if we can find any survivors who need shelter and protection. We’re usually successful, though sometimes we are ambushed by the Tuikas or we don’t find anyone at all.”

“Or worse,” added Oggak, “we find people, but then they . . . then they get killed by the Tuikas, or get heavily wounded. Sometimes we just find corpses and nothing more.”

“But why choose here, of all places?” Addis demanded. “This is where the Dark Hunters lived. It has been a physical representation of our people’s suffering and enslavement ever since it was first erected 25,000 years ago. I can’t imagine any of us wanting to live in here unless we absolutely had to!”

“Addis, you just answered your own question,” Jokao replied as they turned down a corner, passing a few Matoran on the way. “We have no other choice. This is the most secure place on the entire island. Every other village was exposed and undefended, which is part of the reason they fell so easily to the Tuikas. Thus far, we’ve managed to protect it fairly well, but at the cost of many Matoran. Joha concluded it was the only reasonable place to stay in, hate it though we may. Besides, it isn’t such a bad place once you get used to it.”

“Why didn’t you just leave the island, then?” asked Nastan incredulously. “Aren’t there some Dark Hunter boats docked at the harbor you could have hijacked or something?”

“All ships were sunk and destroyed by the Tuikas,” Jokao said shortly as they walked down a long hallway. “Some Dark Hunters did try to escape via warship, but it was sunk and . . . let’s just say that what the Tuikas did to them wasn’t pretty and leave it at that.”

Since no one else said or asked anything after that, Akuna let her mind wander and began looking at the hallway all around them. She had been in this fortress only once before, and that had been when they had attempted to escape through The Door. She remembered seeing dead Dark Hunters, Visorak, some broken Rahkshi armor, smashed furniture or statues, and at least a few rooms had been blocked off.

It looked slightly better now, as though they had cleaned it up a little. Many of the broken statues had been moved away and there did not seem to be any kind of decoration in the hallways at all, probably to make room for the Matoran that now inhabited it.

Yet it also stank of death, as though it were imbued into the stone itself. Parts of the ceiling and walls were ripped off or destroyed and had been replaced with bits of metal or stone that obviously didn’t match the rest of it. She figured the Tuikas might’ve been responsible, though she didn’t know for sure having never seen what a place looked like when the Tuikas were done with it before.

Finally, after a more few minutes of walking, they arrived at a large stone archway, which Akuna recognized as the entrance to the throne room. They passed through it and soon found themselves inside a huge, stone chamber, its only occupants three beings that stood at the very end of the room, apparently in conversation with one another.

The room looked pretty much as she remembered it: Four entryways split off the sides, most likely leading into other parts of the fortress, though again she noticed the absence of the furniture and carvings, save for the throne itself, which seemed to have been repaired during their journey. The suits of armor that had been here previously seemed to have been moved out to make room for dozens of empty makeshift beds, with a straight line down the middle that lead to the throne itself. The beds were probably for the Matoran, since despite its immense size there didn’t seem to be enough room in this massive fortress for all of the villagers.

But she wasn’t paying much attention to that now. No, she was now paying attention to the three beings that were standing at the end of the room, near the throne. One of them she identified as Turaga Joha, the only remaining member of the original Toa Shika team that had predated her team by about 25,000 years, who was sitting on the throne. She was happy to see him again, but she was surprised and even a little angry to recognize the other two as she and the others followed Jokao and Oggak towards the throne.

The two beings in conference with Joha were two Dark Hunters whom she knew very well from her past encounters with them. The first one, an orange and green colored being of about Toa-height, with a short horn on his head, was Kigin, a nasty Hunter who had lead the squad that had been ordered to kill her and her team in the past. He looked up at them as they approached and Akuna saw an expression of dawning recognition and hatred rising on his features. He seemed to remember them, too.

The second one wore gold, spiked armor and was named Death, another Dark Hunter who had hunted the Toa Shika in the past. Though he was a lot quieter than most Hunters she knew, she still was not thrilled to see him, but when he looked over his shoulder to see them his expression was that of surprise. He had evidently not been expecting them, though she didn’t blame him, since no one had been expecting her or any of the other Toa Shika to return, if the reaction of Jokao was any indication.

Joha, meanwhile, looked thunderstruck as the seven Toa approached. He looked from one Toa to the other with his mouth hanging wide open. Akuna noticed he looked quite tired, just like Jokao had said. His eyes were darker and his lids hung heavily over his eyes, while he sat slumped in the throne instead of sitting straight. She was quite surprised he was managing to stay awake for as long as he was.

Then again, he did survive in the mountains all alone for 25,000 years as a Toa, she thought. This must be nothing to him, if that is the case.

“Turaga Joha, Oggak and I have found the Toa Shika,” said Jokao as he bowed with Oggak. “They were coming up the dark tunnel back there and were nearly killed by the shadowed entity. But Oggak managed to absorb him and saved them, fortunately, but they are still quite tired.”

“We thought you would like to see them again, Turaga,” Oggak added in her usual soft voice. “They are old friends of yours, are they not?”

“Why this . . . this is incredible,” said Joha, who sounded as though he was not sure how to react. “What a pleasant surprise. For a moment there, I thought you six would never return, but I’m glad you did, since we are in desperate need of new warriors to aid in our fight against the Tuikas.”

Addis stepped forward with a grim expression on his face as he said, “While I am thankful to meet you again, I should tell you that not all of us made it back here alive, sir.”

“What?” said Joha, his eyes widening even more than before. He counted them again and said slowly, “You’re right. I don’t see Nonzra. Where is he?”

“He is . . . dead, sir,” said Addis bitterly, looking down at his feet. “He died just as we escaped Wyoko.”

“Wyoko?” repeated Death curiously. “You know, I think Oggak has mentioned that place before, but I’m not sure . . .”

“Yes, because that is where the rest of my people are currently imprisoned,” Oggak answered. “I have already explained my past to you, so you should know what they are talking about.”

“But how did Nonzra die?” asked Joha, who sounded shocked and sad. “Did one of the inhabitants of Wyoko kill him?”

“Yes,” said Addis, nodding, and he then explained, as briefly as possible, what the Toa Shika had found and done in Wyoko, from their capture by Ira and Rhatara all the way to their final confrontation with the Shodios and eventual escape.

Once Addis finished, Joha looked at Oggak, who nodded, as though confirming their words. Then he said, pointing at them, “So, Nonzra was killed by the leader of the Shodios, Toa Teivel?”

“Yes, sir,” said Addis. “That’s what happened. We only brought his mask with us because, well, we didn’t think we could bring it with us and get past the Dark Hunters at the same time. Too heavy for us to both carry and fight the Dark Hunters, is basically what we thought.”

“Of course you couldn’t,” Kigin answered before Joha could say anything. “If the Hunters were still alive, you wouldn’t have survived longer than a minute against us, much less so if you had been dragging a corpse with you!”

“Enough, Kigin,” said Joha sharply. “You will be working with them in the future, so you ought to learn to hold your tongue unless necessary.”

“Whatever,” the Dark Hunter said, shaking his head. “Just saying . . .”

Nastan, who had been surprisingly quiet during Addis’ tale (which had included Nastan’s transformation into a Toa of Shadow), suddenly said to Joha, “But sir, forgive me if I sound ungrateful or rude, why are you allying yourself with Dark Hunters and Toa of Shadow?”

Joha shifting uncomfortable in his chair, said, “We need as many fighters as we can get, Nastan, to protect the Matoran, whatever our differences may be. The Tuikas are-“

“But we can’t trust them!” Nastan protested, taking a few steps closer, his eyes focused entirely on Joha. “They’re nothing but no-good-“

“Scumbags? Liars? Traitors? Torturers? Slavers?” Death offered with a slightly annoyed-sounding voice. “Is that what you think we all are?”

“That, and a lot more colorful names I can think of, too,” Nastan snapped at Death.

“This is not the time or place to discuss this,” Joha said sharply, breaking up their argument quickly. “We have far, far more pressing matters to deal with at the moment.”

Akuna, though just as annoyed as Nastan that there were apparently a few Dark Hunters working with them, was nonetheless amazed at the way Joha managed to break up their argument so quickly. Nastan, who heavily respected Joha, quieted at once, though he looked rather annoyed; Death, too, became silent and merely looked questioningly at Oggak, who shrugged. The Toa of Lightning didn’t know what that was all about, though she assumed Death must have been asking her if she was sure about the Toa Shika, though why her and not someone else, she did not know.

After making sure neither Nastan or Death would start another argument, Joha looked at Addis again and, upon noticing his hastily repaired mask, asked, “Addis, what happened to your Kanohi? Was it damaged by the Shodios, too? If so, we’ll have to get you a new one.”

“Not the Shodios, no,” said Addis, who seemed slightly taken aback by Joha’s sudden business-like behavior. “The shadowed entity destroyed it so that I wouldn’t be able to use it against him. Chimoy repaired it as best as he could, but he’s no Metru Nui Ta-Matoran mask maker, so it doesn’t work anymore. No offense to you, Chimoy,” he added.

“None taken,” the Toa of Iron replied. Akuna realized Chimoy was holding his left arm, which seemed to be hanging limply at his side, though it didn’t look like it was permanently damaged, fortunately.

“Well, like I said before, we need to get you a new mask pronto,” said Joha. “I know we have some extra masks, but I’m not sure if any of them are Great Masks . . .”

“That’s fine, Turaga, but we’re still confused,” said Addis, gesturing with his hands at the chamber all around them as he spoke. “I mean, we just got back here. We don’t know who or what the Tuikas are, or what Shika Nui’s current status is (besides being apparently uninhabitable), or who Oggak is, or . . . well, a bunch of other things, too. An explanation would be nice, sir, because we’re totally lost.”

“What was that?” said Joha, shaking his head as though to clear it of water. “I am sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.”

Addis sighed, slightly exasperated, and repeated his request for an explanation, this time more slowly.

Once he finished, Joha nodded and said, “Of course, if you have been gone for all of these weeks-“

“Days,” corrected Nastan automatically. “We’ve been gone days, sir.”

“We told you, you’ve been gone for weeks,” Jokao snapped, glaring at the Toa of The Green. “You must have lost track of the time.”

“No, I’m definitely sure we haven’t,” said Nastan defensively. “Of course, it is kind of hard to tell the time in a place that doesn’t have anything that looks even remotely like a sun, but still, I think I’m right.”

“Actually, it is possible that both of you are right,” said Oggak calmly, causing the two arguing Toa to look at her in surprise. “Time in Wyoko goes by differently than here, at least from what I know of the place. So it is possible that it looked like days had gone by to them because days had gone by, while for us it seemed like weeks and weeks really did go by.”

“That explanation makes my head hurt more than it already does,” Nastan muttered, turning away from her to look back at Joha.

“However long you’ve been gone – whether it was days or weeks – does not matter,” said Joha, slightly raising his voice, as if making sure they could hear him speaking. “What does matter, however, is that you get your explanation. Unless you wish to rest up a little first? You look as though you have been through a war, my friends.”

Akuna glanced at the others. Joha was correct; they did look like they had been through a war. There were cracks running through their armor, some of it broken off or smashed completely, and all of them had an injury of some kind, some more obvious than others. For example, Addis’ limp was far more pronounced than Barilo’s bleeding shoulder, and Akuna herself didn’t feel exactly perfect, either, so the idea of sleeping for a long time, possibly on a soft, cozy bed, sounded quite appealing to her right now.

But Addis shook his head vigorously and said, “No, Turaga, we can rest later. If we’re going to be fighting the Tuikas, then we need to know as much as we can before we laze around.”

“You do not care about your physical well-being?” asked Death, and much to Akuna’s surprise, he sounded genuinely concerned about them. She could not think of any reason why a Dark Hunter would seem worried about any Toa, especially Toa he had personally helped hunt down in the first place.

“We care, but I think information on our common foe is more necessary at the moment,” Addis replied, almost defiantly. “That’s all.”

Death seemed to not understand him completely, but did not pursue the subject any further.

So Joha said to the Toa Shika, “I’d say, then, that the time for explanations is now.”

Akuna smiled. Tired though she was, she had almost as many questions as Addis, if not more, and was glad to hear that answers were coming at last.

“But it will not be me who explains,” Joha continued. “Oggak shall explain to you. She was the one who first told us what the Tuikas really were and I think she will be able to explain it much better than I ever could. Oggak, dear? Will you please tell them what you told us a while ago?”

Oggak? Akuna thought quizzically as she and the others turned to look at the Toa of Shadow, who now looked very uncomfortable that everyone was paying so much attention to her. How could she know anything about the Tuikas?

Oggak was shifting her weight from one foot to the other. She obviously did not like being the center of attention, but she managed to look at them all anyway with her red eyes that reminded Akuna so much of Teivel. Akuna also noticed that the Toa of Shadow really didn’t look like she wanted to be there at the moment, though Oggak did not complain or do anything to suggest she disliked the attention besides looking a bit nervous.

The Toa of Shadow took a deep, long breath and said, “Well, I suppose it all began with the Order of Mata Nui, a secret organization that is dedicated to carrying out the will of the Great Spirit himself in secret. Until a couple of weeks ago no one knew about them – now, I guess everyone does.”

“The Shodios mentioned the Order,” said Barilo, who was now leaning up against one of the walls. “We didn’t know who they were, though. Didn’t bother to elaborate.”

“The Shodios hate the Order,” Oggak replied. “You probably already know that, though, so I suppose I’ll just continue on:

“Anyway, it, er, actually begun with the Brotherhood of Makuta about 50,000 years ago. For whatever reason, they decided that they would need to create more powerful Rahi than they had ever created before. So, using the skills and talents of all of the Brotherhood’s best scientists they created the Tuikas – naming the individual members Skik, Kidah, Arija, Koya, Zoil, and Draza, respectively – which were supposed to be the most powerful Rahi they had ever – and would ever – create. They succeeded and began studying their new creations in order to find out how to duplicate the process and make a whole army of powerful, Tuikas-level Rahi. However . . .”

“However what?” asked Nastan, who despite himself seemed actually interested in her story.

“The Tuikas escaped,” she continued, with a slightly more confident-sounding voice than before. She seemed to be on a roll now. “They broke out of their cages on Destral, which was situated at the northern continent at the time. They rampaged on the northern continent for a long while and the Brotherhood just couldn’t capture them, no matter what they did. So the Brotherhood merely gave up, believing the Tuikas’ natural lifespan would run out eventually and they would just die, since the Tuikas were designed with a short lifespan in case something like this would happen.

“So the Order of Mata Nui took action instead. Some of our best agents were sent to the continent, where they managed to subdue the Tuikas and faked the monsters’ deaths so the Brotherhood wouldn’t go looking for them. To make sure that the Tuikas would not escape again, the Order hid them underneath Shika Nui in stasis tubes, which put them in stasis, obviously.”

A memory suddenly stirred in Akuna at these words. She remembered a large cavern and six stasis tubes . . . and she also remembered Nonzra wiping dirt off the surface of one of them to reveal the name Tuikas, a Matoran word meaning ‘fear.’ She hadn’t thought about them at all until now. She then came to a sudden realization.

Mata Nui . . . she thought, horrified. Did we . . .?

It seemed as though the others were making the same connection, for she could see expressions of comprehension dawning on her friends’ faces, except for Barilo, who had not been with them when they had first discovered the Tuikas under Shika Nui. Nastan actually said, “Wait, we saw some Tuikas under Shika Nui, so does that mean-?”

“Yes,” Jokao answered shortly. “The Tuikas who we found and the ones Oggak mentioned are indeed one and the same. In fact, it was all because of us that they awoke, wasn’t it, Oggak?”

“From what I can tell, yes,” said Oggak quietly, nodding. “The Tuikas had remained in stasis until you visited them and they managed to reach the surface shortly after you went to Wyoko. They totally wiped out the Dark Hunters and slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Matoran. They’ve been a threat ever since.”

“We unleashed that?” asked Barilo, who sounded horrified. “But we didn’t mean to-“

“I know,” said Oggak gently, though without a smile on her face. “I doubt any of you meant to do it. No one would ever want to knowingly unleash the Tuikas, especially upon an island of innocent Matoran and . . .”

“And not-so-innocent Dark Hunters,” Death finished for her.

“Er, yes,” said the Toa of Shadow, nodding again. “I guess so.”

“So let me get this straight,” said Nastan, who sounded slightly confused. “The Brotherhood of Makuta made the Tuikas, which escaped onto the northern continent but were stopped by these Order of Mata Nui guys. And then the Order of Mata Nui locked ‘em up here for . . . some vague reason that I don’t know. It sounds incredibly far-fetched, in my opinion.”

“Yet it is true,” Jokao said to Nastan with a hint of impatience in his voice. “Oggak wouldn’t lie. Besides, it’s the only explanation that makes any sense. We all know that the Brotherhood just loves making bigger and more dangerous Rahi as a hobby; it makes sense that they would try to make super Rahi or whatever just to see if they could.”

“Well, that still doesn’t explain where she came from, though!” said Nastan, pointing accusingly at Oggak. “We know that all Kra-Matoran were locked up in Wyoko. I mean, if there were still some out there we would know, wouldn’t we? So how is she here?”

“Because she wasn’t locked away, of course,” said Akuna, now clearly remembering what the Shodios had told them about a Kra-Matoran named Oggak back in Wyoko. “That’s why. The Shodios told us that, remember? They said something about a traitor named Oggak, I think.”

“You’re correct, Akuna,” said Oggak. “Because of my services to Mata Nui’s will – which is a nicer way of saying that I had betrayed my people –“ she sounded bitter here, as though the words she spoke left a bad taste in her mouth, but continued on normally, “I was given freedom and allowed to live outside Wyoko. But on one condition: That I live on Daxia, the Order’s island headquarters, day in and day out, never to visit any other lands or see anyone besides those who worked for the Order. They did that because there would be a lot of unnecessary questions asked if someone saw a Matoran of Shadow walking around when there aren’t any others, especially since that was a time when the Order was trying to make sure that nobody remembered the Kra-Matoran anymore. So for all intents and purposes, I didn’t exist for about 100,000 years. Depressing, I know, but I managed to live with it.”

“Okay, but then why are not you still on Daxia or whatever it was called?” asked Nastan, tapping his foot impatiently. “Why’d they let you come back here?”

“Because, Nastan, the Order of Mata Nui is now at war with the Brotherhood of Makuta,” she replied, but paused suddenly when Kigin made to leave. “Where are you going?” she asked, looking inquiringly at him.

“Leaving,” the Hunter answered, already at one of the exits. “I’ve heard all of this already. Besides, I don’t like being in the room with Toa I don’t like for a prolonged period of time anyway, especially these Toa. I’ll be in my room if anyone needs me. Good bye.”

He then left, and Oggak looked somewhat uncertain for a moment, as though she had forgotten where she was. Akuna thought it was rude that Kigin simply left like that while Oggak was still speaking, but then she remembered that Kigin was a Dark Hunter. If Hunters were not above stealing and killing, then it should have came as no surprise to her that Kigin, a Dark Hunter, would rudely leave like that.

“Um, where was I?” asked Oggak, slightly nervously, shaking her head as if to clear it of unnecessary thoughts. “Ah, now I remember. Er, um, the Order of Mata Nui is at war with the Brotherhood of Makuta now, so almost everybody knows about our existence. As for why I’m here . . . the Order’s forces, while strong, are not nearly as numerous as that of the Brotherhood and so they need as much allies as they can get. The Dark Hunters have already made an alliance with the Order, after the Shadowed One agreed to our offer. The Order then sent me, along with about a dozen other agents and a few Hunters, to this island to inform the Dark Hunters here about the alliance. I came along because Helryx, the leader of the Order, thought that you Toa Shika would be more likely to listen to a fellow Toa such as myself than some strange beings of an Order you had never even heard of until now, or the Dark Hunters, who we correctly guessed you hated and wouldn’t trust or listen to.”

“Got that right,” Nastan muttered angrily. “We don’t like you, either.”

“Watch it,” Jokao snapped, waving his mace threateningly at the Toa of The Green. “Or I’ll weld your mouth shut for you.”

Ignoring these two, Addis asked Oggak, with more than a hint of surprise in his voice, “So the Order knew about us? When not even the Dark Hunters were aware of our existence until we took out Tyu and Kigin?”

“The Order knows a lot more than you’d think,” Oggak replied. “Anyway, the Order thought you would be valuable allies against the Brotherhood. Originally, they didn’t want to send me, since they thought it would be too risky. But I was getting restless – living on a secret island for 100,000 years without ever even being allowed to leave even so much as once a year does that to you – and when I heard that some agents would be sent to Shika Nui, my home, I asked Helryx if I could go and, after some persuading, she agreed. She thought that, since the Order’s public now, my existence couldn’t stay secret forever and that it was only a matter of time before someone learned of me. So she sent me with everyone else.”

“We were shocked to see Oggak when she first arrived,” Joha told the Shika. “We were as skeptical as you were about her being a Toa of Shadow-“

Not skeptical, just annoyed, Akuna thought angrily, but she kept her mouth shut and let Joha continue.

“-but she has proven her courage, strength, and heroism these past few weeks as we fought the Tuikas, protecting the Matoran alongside Jokao and the Dark Hunters,” Joha continued. “We are all very grateful for her, especially since she knows so much about the Tuikas. Why, it’s almost frightening, how much she knows, really. She can describe any of them without hesitation and is quite capable of strategizing against them. Almost like she was right there when they were created, really.”

For a moment, Akuna thought Oggak had glanced at Joha with horror in her eyes before quickly resuming her reserved, mostly emotionless face. Akuna thought that was odd, but then, Oggak was a Toa of Shadow and, if she was anything at all like the Shodios, then perhaps being a little odd was one of her better qualities.

“So why hasn’t she left, then?” asked Nastan loudly, who now seemed to be ignoring Oggak. “Why didn’t she just leave Shika Nui when she realized we weren’t here?”

“She couldn’t,” Jokao said, looking at Oggak with surprisingly gentle eyes. “When she and those Order agents arrived, the Tuikas eliminated them and she barely escaped alive. The ship she had come in was destroyed, too, along with every other ship on the island, so she was stranded. She’s been with us ever since. Not that I am complaining, of course,” he added hastily.

“Well, okay, then,” said Nastan restlessly. Searching for a new question, he suddenly asked, pointing at the Toa of Fire, “That explains her, but what about you? How the Karzahni did you end up a Toa, when last we saw you were a Matoran barely taller than four feet?”

Jokao shrugged and said, “That’s the odd thing about it, actually. You see, when Joha and I retreated to my home village, Ironos, we were shown the recent discovery of a small old wooden chest that the Matoran in Ironos had found in the mines. The chest contained six Toa stones, with a note from Turaga Ujat explaining what they were. They had apparently been left there by him, but we have no idea why he had buried them in a chest like that, nor what he had planned to do with them, since the note had been very vague about their actual use. But when I picked up one of the stones, I was actually transformed into a Toa, surprisingly enough, and soon after, I met Oggak. I’m still not as good as her, elemental powers and mask power wise, but I’ve been learning fast, otherwise I would have been killed by the Tuikas a long time ago.”

“That’s another thing that is bothering me,” Nastan snapped. Even Akuna, who mostly agreed with Nastan’s suspicion of Oggak, thought he was stretching the point a little too much now. “Why do we even trust her? She’s a Toa of Shadow! They’re evil! They’re cruel! They’re-“

But they never got to figure out exactly what Nastan thought Toa of Shadow were (though Akuna could guess), for Jokao bellowed in rage and punched Nastan so hard in the face so fast that it was almost a blur. Nastan stumbled backwards as Jokao advanced, breathing deeply and looking quite enraged, waving his mace in the air rather faster than necessary.

“Jokao! Nastan! Stop your fighting!” Joha shouted firmly, actually standing up and slamming his staff on the ground hard. “Now!”

Neither of them listened, however, and now were circling each other, looking almost like two Muaka cats getting ready to tear each other apart.

“Nastan, I am your leader and I command you to stop,” Addis ordered, limping forward and grabbing the Toa of The Green firmly on the shoulder. Nastan tried to shrug him off, but Addis held on tightly. “Fighting Jokao won’t get you anywhere.”

“Get off me, Addis!” Nastan snapped angrily, trying to make Addis let go but failing again. “He’s being stupid! They’re all being stupid, trusting a Toa of Shadow like that! After all we’ve been through-”

“She’s a good person,” Jokao responded shortly. Akuna noticed with a slight tingle of fear that fire energy was crackling in Jokao’s hands. Experienced though he may be, Akuna knew that in a fight, Jokao’s fire would beat Nastan’s plants every day. “It’s just bigotry, it is. You’re being intolerant and insulting. You haven’t even gotten to talk to her much yet you’re already assuming she’s worse than Karzahni himself!”

“You didn’t see what the Shodios did to us, or tried to do to us,” Nastan snarled, now ignoring Addis completely and focusing his whole attention on Jokao. “They tried to kill us at nearly every opportunity, without mercy or remorse. And they succeeded, too; they got Nonzra. They killed him without reason, just because he resembled some guy named Ukio or something like that, one of those Toa Avha they mentioned, when he never did anything to them at all!”

“And you hate Oggak just because she happens to be a Toa of Shadow, like them?” Jokao said. “You’re being very hypocritical. It’s wrong for them to hate us but right for us to hate them? Really logical, Nastan.”

Nastan was apparently at a loss for words and instead merely grunted angrily. He seemed to calm down somewhat, but Addis was still gripping his shoulder as a precaution. Akuna walked over to Nastan and said quietly to him, “There’s no reason to fight him, Nastan. If what they said is true, then the Tuikas are our true enemies. We don’t really need to fight among each other, not now.”

“Akuna is right,” said Joha with a nod. Before either Jokao or Nastan could say anything further, he continued, sitting back down on his throne now that everything was under control, “I believe we have told you everything there is to tell. You may rest in one of the many rooms within this fortress. Addis, we shall get you a new mask very soon. I’ll have one of our Matoran send one right up from our spare mask pile.”

“Thank you, Turaga,” said Addis, letting go of Nastan’s shoulder for a second to bow. “Come on, guys. We need our sleep if we’re going to be fighting the Tuikas soon, eh?”

“I agree,” said Barilo, who seemed to be quite relieved that the argument was over. “My back is sore; in fact, my entire body is sore and I can barely stay awake.”

“Good to hear that you agree, Addis, Barilo,” said Joha with a smile. “Igici, will you please escort them to the big room on the 12th floor?”

It took Akuna minute to figure out who “Igici” was until Death said, “Yes, sir.”

I suppose Death isn’t his real name, she thought. Must’ve just been a code name he used or something. Think I remember hearing about how some Dark Hunters use code names. I guess ‘Death’ was Igici’s code name.

“Igici will take you all to the biggest room on the 12th floor, as you already know,” Joha told the Toa Shika. “There should be about five or six beds for you all to sleep in. They may not be the most comfortable beds ever, but I hope you enjoy them anyway.”

“Thank you, Turaga,” said Addis again, with yet another bow. “We haven’t slept in real beds for a while now, so this should hopefully be nice.”

“Follow me, then,” said Death, who was walking toward the door, gesturing them to follow him. “I think the Matoran are already going to sleep, so the hallways shouldn’t be too crowded. Let’s go.”

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Chapter 2: Unpleasant Revelations

“Akuna . . . wake up, Akuna . . . C’mon . . . Get up . . .”

The voice speaking to her sounded distant and faraway, as though being spoken to from the other side of the island. Yet at the same time she recognized it as belonging to Nastan, as it had the same concerned tone he used when speaking to her if she was hurt or if he was worried about her. She didn’t know what he was talking about; why should she wake up? She hadn’t got a good night’s sleep in a while and didn’t really feel like waking up right now.

Her body, however, disagreed with her on that. The aching in her joints was hurting her and making it impossible for her to sleep any longer now that she was aware of it, even though that was all she wanted to do. She tried to ignore it, but that seemed to make it worse in her opinion.

She opened her eyes a few inches and saw Nastan’s face, which seemed to be a mixture of worry and excitement, staring into her own. How long she had been unconscious, how much time had passed, she didn’t know, but she wasn’t going to ask him, mostly because her head was starting to hurt badly and she didn’t think she could ask too many questions right away at the moment.

So in a tired voice, she asked, “Nastan? Where . . . where are we?” She tried in vain to sit up, but failed miserably.

“Are you okay?” he asked her, helping her into a sitting position on the hard, rock floor. She did not fall over, fortunately. “Do you still need to sleep?”

“No, I’m okay,” she answered, quickly hugging him before letting go and looking around, rubbing the back of her head with her hand as she did so. It was quite dark; she could barely see her hand, despite the fact that her eyes were now adjusting to the darkness. “Thanks for asking, though.” She winced at the pain she felt in her joints, but tried her best to ignore it anyway. “Anyway . . . um, what is going on, Nastan? Why aren’t we dead? Or are we?” She added worriedly, looking at Nastan with slightly fearful eyes.

“No, we’re not dead,” said Nastan, whose face was now breaking into a smile. “We were saved, Akuna. We were rescued from the shadowed entity by – you’ll never guess – Jokao!”

“What?” Akuna said, looking at the Toa of The Green in surprise. “But Jokao’s a Matoran. I mean he’s a tough guy, but he’s still just a Matoran and if we couldn’t beat the entity, how-?”

Nastan laughed, which sounded slightly painful, as though he was still experiencing some pain, though he didn’t complain about it. “He’s not a Matoran anymore, Akuna. He’s actually a Toa!”

“You’re pulling my leg,” she said in disbelief, shaking her head. “There’s no way-“

“He’s over there if you want to see for yourself,” said Nastan, pointing behind her somewhere into the darkness. “He’s also got a new friend, apparently, though he hasn’t introduced her to us yet.”

Akuna twisted around to look in the direction he was pointing and was surprised to see a small fire lit about ten or fifteen feet away, where she saw Barilo, Addis, and Chimoy sitting with two other Toa, Addis speaking to them. One wore crimson and orange armor that had fiery designs on them, while the other wore black armor which was almost the exact shade of black as the shadows, making it difficult to distinguish between her and the shadows. She didn’t know who the other Toa was, but the red one’s Mask of Spirit did look very familiar to Akuna. She wondered for a moment why she hadn’t noticed them before, but decided that she must have been too distracted by the pain in her head to have taken any notice of them.

“See?” said Nastan with a chuckle. “Our Jokao, a Toa now! Man, I remember when he barely reached my waist. Now he’s the same size as me!”

“But how did he become a Toa?” asked Akuna, now thoroughly confused. “Why is he here? How’d he save us? And how long have I been asleep?” She was too puzzled and tired to put all of her questions in any kind of coherent order, but Nastan didn’t seem to mind.

“You’ve been asleep for a few minutes at most,” said Nastan gently. “As for the other questions . . . I don’t know. Addis and the others might, though. I’ve been trying to get you up the entire time and haven’t been talking to him. But how’s about we go speak to them now? Do you feel good enough to walk over to them?”

“Yes, I do,” she said, slightly embarrassed by how he was worrying about her like this. “You don’t need to worry, Nastan. It’s just a few feet away.” She smiled at him, which seemed to reassure him slightly.

“Okay,” said Nastan, though he did not sound entirely convinced by her words. “Here, let me help you up.”

He took her hand and lifted her back to her feet. Akuna cursed very softly under her breath at the pain, but managed to stand just fine, though her balance was a little off and she had to lean on Nastan for support, though he did not seem to mind too much.

So they began walking towards the other five, who all turned to look up at approaching couple. She looked at all of them as she and Nastan sat down around the fire. Chimoy and Barilo looked tired, though okay, while Addis looked like the worse. His eyes were dark and tired-looking and he was wearing his Suletu, which seemed to have been repaired by Chimoy, though rather hastily in her opinion. She wondered briefly why he was not simply wearing Nonzra’s Kanohi, but then she decided that the Zatth had been worn by a corpse earlier, so it might not be entirely healthy for a living being to wear. That, perhaps, and maybe it would have been disrespecting Nonzra’s memory to wear his Kanohi so soon after his death, though she personally couldn’t think why.

She looked at the red Toa, who wore a Mask of Spirit and flame-styled armor, giving him the look of a Toa of Fire. She really couldn’t believe that was Jokao, despite the fact that Nastan had assured her it was. However, she could see why he might be Jokao, because aside from his mask (which was the same as Jokao’s, except in Great Kanohi form) he had the same, apprehensive eyes Jokao usually wore, though they also looked slightly more confident now.

As for the black Toa who sat next to Jokao, Akuna had absolutely no idea who she was. Her element was a mystery, too; she didn’t look like a Toa of Earth or any other elements commonly associated with the color black. She had unique-looking armor and seemed like a very quiet and shy person. Her mask looked different, too, though Akuna thought its design seemed familiar, but she could not place where she had seen it at the moment.

“Are you all right, Akuna?” asked Addis grimly, who was not smiling.

“Yes, I am,” said Akuna, slightly exasperatedly, rubbing the back of her head with her left hand as she spoke. “But you don’t look too good yourself, Addis.”

He nodded. “My mask doesn’t work anymore, either. Got to get a new one sometime, I think.” He paused, then added brightly, “Oh, Akuna, look who saved us . . .” he pointed at the Toa of Fire, who merely looked at Akuna for a moment before staring back into the fire, “. . . it’s Jokao! He and his new friend here saved us from the shadowed entity! We were just talking about it right now, actually.”

“Thank you, um, Jokao,” said Akuna, somewhat awkwardly. Fortunately, Jokao was still not looking at her, or any of the others, for that matter. “And you, uh . . .”

“Oggakia,” the black Toa replied quietly. “But you can call me Oggak for short if you want. Everyone else does.”

“Er, right,” said Akuna, nodding. She wondered why the name Oggak sounded so familiar to her, but like Oggak’s appearance she could not put her finger on it. “Thanks.”

“Well, it’s great to see you again, Jokao,” said Nastan, who had put an arm around Akuna now. She found this slightly uncomfortable, mostly because her shoulders happened to be hurting quite a bit right now. However, she ignored the pain to focus on the conversation instead. “We missed you quite a bit when we were in Wyoko.”

Jokao suddenly looked up at Nastan and snapped, “You obviously didn’t miss me enough to want to return, did you? Maybe you thought I’d stop you from pulling even greater heists than before. After all, that was one of the first things you told me when we first met. You wanted to become greater thieves than ever before, didn’t you? And how else could you accomplish that but going to other lands? Clearly, Shika Nui was much too small for your tastes.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Nastan in surprise. Akuna was surprised by this outburst, too. Jokao had never snapped at them like this before; was there something bothering him?

“Don’t play dumb with me, Nastan,” Jokao said angrily, his fists clenched in fury. He sounded as though he had wanted to say this for a while. “You know exactly what you did. You and your friends simply abandoned us to our doom. Right when we needed you the most, you simply disappeared. Ran away like the cowardly thieves that you are is what you did. Didn’t even stop to think of the consequences of your actions, did you? Didn’t even stop to think that maybe we needed your help?”

“Jokao, we have no idea what you’re talking about,” said Addis firmly, leaning forward and looking at the Toa of Fire with a mixed expression of confusion and seriousness. “We didn’t leave Shika Nui by choice-“

“Oh, yes, you did!” Jokao yelled, which caused the fire to expand widely and heat the area up to uncomfortable temperatures before shrinking back to normal size and cooling off a little. He pointed at Addis and continued, “You knew about the Tuikas; knew that they were under Shika Nui, sleeping and waiting for their day of destruction. You’re nothing but a lying, dishonest little thief who does not want to face the consequences of his actions! You’re all like that, actually!”

“I’m telling you, we didn’t leave Shika Nui willingly!” Addis replied in an annoyed voice. “We were forced in and could not escape!”

Jokao laughed hollowly. “Oh, that’s good. ‘We were forced in and could not escape!’ Where you were taken? Why couldn’t you escape? Or are you simply trying to justify your cowardice?” He looked around at them all, and then added, “And where is Nonzra? I count only five when I know six left. Perhaps you simply left him behind? Or maybe even killed him because you didn’t want to split the loot?”

A shout of anger was the only warning Jokao got, for the next moment Chimoy had leapt to his feet and sent a devastating punch at the Toa of Fire, which connected and sent him flying away from the fire, landing hard several feet away on the rough dirt ground. Akuna, alarmed, looked up at Chimoy with the others and saw that he looked extremely angry. This was surprising, for Chimoy was more reserved than the others and rarely displayed emotions of any kind. To see him now looking as though he would be willing to commit murder frightened Akuna even more than nearly being killed by the shadowed entity earlier.

“Chimoy . . .” said Akuna in a pacifying voice. She didn’t think it would be wise for Chimoy to get into a fight with Jokao, especially in his current state.

“Don’t you ever accuse us of killing Nonzra,” Chimoy said quietly, though threateningly, to Jokao, who was still lying on the ground and moaning in pain. “I would never . . . We didn’t do it. It was Teivel. He killed Nonzra.”

Jokao sat up and wiped some dirt off his mask. “Teivel? Who-?”

“Teivel, a Toa of Shadow and leader of the Shodios,” said Oggak promptly.

Everyone looked at the black-armored Toa in disbelief and shock. Akuna wondered, in amazement, how Oggak had known that. No one else knew about the Shodios or, indeed, the Kra-Matoran tribe in general, except perhaps for the Order of Mata Nui, which the Shodios had mentioned to them back in Wyoko. So how did Oggak know this? That questioned buzzed through her head like a Nui Rama swarm, but she had no answer to it.

“How’d you know that?” Nastan asked her in confusion. “Nobody else knows about the Shodios but us. Can you read minds or something?”

Oggak looked at Nastan and Akuna realized just how red her eyes were. Almost the same shade as Teivel’s, really . . .

“Because, Nastan, I know who Teivel is because I was once a . . .” Oggak said, though her voice trailed off and Akuna, suddenly remembering where she had heard the name ‘Oggak’ before, was beginning to put two and two together. The conclusion she was coming to was nonsensical, yet at the same time seemed to be the only explanation that did make any sense.

“Because you were what?” asked Nastan eagerly, leaning forward a little to listen better. “Did you know him? Are you a member of the Order of Mata Nui?”

Now Oggak looked uncomfortable and glanced at Jokao, who had now rejoined their group. The look she gave him was almost like she was asking him something. He returned the look with a reassuring nod, and Oggak smiled slightly and nodded back.

Turning back to Nastan, she said softly, “Because I was a Kra-Matoran, Nastan. That is why.”

“Wait a minute,” said Nastan slowly as he looked from Oggak to Jokao, a look of dawning comprehension upon his face. “But if you were a Kra-Matoran, then that must mean-“

“That I am a Toa of Shadow, yes,” said Oggak reluctantly.

Suddenly, all five of the Toa Shika moved backwards and looked at Oggak suspiciously. Though she had heavily suspected it and frankly would have been surprised had she been wrong, Akuna was still shocked to it hear Oggak confirm it and even felt a little angry now. Why was Jokao hanging out with a Toa of Shadow? Akuna didn’t even want to be in the presence of a Toa of Shadow. After what she and the other Toa Shika had been through, after nearly been killed time and again by the Shodios and their Kra-Matoran servants, after Nonzra’s death, she had a deep mistrust of anyone who was associated with the shadows. Akuna now began to question Jokao’s sanity, because really, who in their right mind would ever willing ally themselves with a Toa of Shadow? It was almost as bad as being a friend of a Makuta yet at the same time somehow even worse.

Addis tentatively leaned toward Jokao and, doing his best to avoid Oggak’s gaze, said, “Jokao, did . . . did you know this?”

“Yes, I did,” said Jokao. He seemed surprised at the way they were reacting to learning Oggak’s element. “It was one of the first things I learned about her. So? What’s so bad?”

“But, Jokao,” said Addis exasperatedly, glancing at Oggak for a moment before looking back at the Toa of Fire. “She’s . . . she’s a Toa of Shadow. They’re evil. A Toa of Shadow actually killed Nonzra, you know.”

“Evil? She’s not evil,” Jokao said, shaking his head in disagreement. “She’s just as good as any Toa I’ve ever met, though I supposed that isn’t saying much, since the only Toa I’ve ever met are a bunch of cowards like you!”

“I thought we made it clear that we are not cowards?” Chimoy said quietly. “Do you even care that Nonzra died to save us from . . . from her people?” He pointed at Oggak, who was no longer looking at any of them and was instead staring into the fire, as though hoping they would somehow forget about her.

“Of course I care!” said Jokao angrily, his eyes glowing. “But just because the others are evil doesn’t make her evil!”

“Jokao, I don’t know what you’ve been doing, but you can’t honestly trust her, can you?” said Nastan indignantly. “She’s a Toa of Shadow, and shadow, as we all know very well, is evil. I should know more than any of us ‘cause I was a Toa of Shadow myself at one point, for Mata Nui’s sake! I know how seductive it is, how it eats away at any attempts to do good and makes you think otherwise. She’s probably nothing more than a manipulative little-“

“Now who is the one making false accusations here?” Jokao said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. “You know absolutely nothing about her and yet you’re already jumping to conclusions? Totally not hypocritical, eh?”

Nastan actually looked unable to respond to this and merely shook his head helplessly, muttering something about the Shodios and Oggak. Akuna realized - though she really wanted to deny it - that Jokao had a point. Nastan was jumping to conclusions, though that did not make Oggak instantly trustworthy, did it? Then again, Jokao did seem to trust her, so maybe . . .

No, Akuna thought. She can’t be. The Shodios were evil, cruel, and downright rude at times. They saw other living beings as merely obstacles that should be dismantled. Why would she be any different? She might be tricking Jokao, which I wouldn’t put past a Toa of Shadow.

She glanced at Oggak, who had remained completely quiet during this entire argument. The Toa of Shadow did not look particularly threatening or even evil, but she knew all-too-well how easily it was to disguise one’s evil, as she and the others had learned when an entire village of Kra-Matoran had fooled them into believing that the villagers were actually good but turned out to be just as foul as their Shodios leaders.

Barilo, who seemed to have been trying to stay out of this argument, said quietly, “Well, I don’t think there is much else to discuss, is there? Can’t we discuss this subject, er, later? I mean,” he looked pleadingly at the other Toa Shika, “am I the only one here who wants to see pure sunshine again? The only reason I’ve tolerated this place for as long as I have is because I wanted to talk to Jokao. So can we please leave now?”

“Okay,” said Jokao, who was still glaring at Nastan, who looked defiantly back at him. “Come on, then. We’ll be safer back in the village.”

“Yeah,” said Barilo, nodding, as he rose to his feet, leaning on the cavern wall for support. “What if the Dark Hunters come in here? In fact, now that I think about it, how did you get past the Hunters anyway? Must’ve taken some skill to get past them all, since there were like what, three hundred of them or something like that?”

Jokao rose to his feet and then helped Oggak up. He looked back up the tunnel, from which a bright light was shining, and said, without looking at Barilo, “We . . . we didn’t need much skill to get into this place. Not much at all, I’d say.”

“What? Did you just blast them apart or something?” Barilo asked curiously.

Jokao turned to look at the Toa Shika, all of whom were on their feet now. He looked extremely grim. “They are all dead. That’s why it didn’t take much effort; no one was there to stop us in the first place.”

Akuna was thunderstruck by this revelation. All of the Dark Hunters are dead? It didn’t make sense, but she could tell that he wasn’t joking or lying. Yet how could it be true? There were at least 300 Dark Hunters on Shika Nui before – possibly even more – and most of them had been quite alive last she checked.

She glanced at the others, all of whom looked just as shocked as she felt. Barilo actually looked frightened, and she couldn’t blame him. If there was something lurking on the surface that could kill all of those Dark Hunters, then what chance did they have at surviving for longer than a few seconds? Unless whatever was the source of the killing had left, Akuna felt as though she would rather be back in Wyoko, facing the wrath of the Shodios, than out there with whatever it was that might have slain the Hunters like that.

But she didn’t turn and run. The light ahead, though small and rather insignificant, tempted her greatly. She wanted to keep going until she reached the light, and if it meant facing those things, well, that was just how things would have to be, even though fear was creeping up her spine. Her desire to be in the light overrode her fear of whatever might be out there.

“But what killed them all?” asked Addis, who began walking slowly towards Jokao. Akuna noticed he had a limp now; whether it was from the shadowed entity or acquired from their adventures in Wyoko, she did not know, for she hadn’t been paying that much attention to what kinds of wound were inflicted on the others before. She’d been too distracted by her own. “What could possibly have enough power to wipe out a small army of Dark Hunters like that? You’re joking, right?”

“He is not joking,” said Oggak softly, speaking suddenly without so much as a warning, which irritated Akuna. “They were killed weeks ago.”

“Weeks?” said Nastan, frowning. “We’ve been gone for days, not weeks.”

“You must not have been keeping track of time, then,” said Jokao shortly, rolling his eyes at him again. “You’ve been gone for weeks, and that is a fact. But to answer your question, Addis,” he said, addressing the Toa of Plasma now, “the Tuikas are responsible for the Dark Hunters’ deaths.”

“Just what are Tuikas?” Addis demanded impatiently. “You’ve mentioned them before but have never-“

“Tuikas are, to put it simply, living nightmares,” Jokao said. He pointed at his shoulder, which had a bad wound on it, something Akuna had never noticed before. “They make the Dark Hunters look like saints, basically. We’ll tell you more about them later, though; right now we have to return to the village. Turaga Joha may be worrying about our absence.”

“Joha?” repeated Nastan, with a slightly more interested voice. “He’s still alive? How’s he doing these days? I’ve missed him quite a bit since we left.”

“Overworked, doesn’t get enough sleep, and nearly ready to collapse into teeny tiny bite-sized pieces,” Jokao answered curtly. The seven Toa had now begun walking up the tunnel towards the exit. “He’s been working night and day to make sure that the Matoran are kept safe and that the Tuikas do not breach our walls. Otherwise, he’s ‘okay,’ if you want to even use that word.”

Nastan, evidently offended by Jokao’s tone, shook his head and whispered to Akuna, so that no one else could hear, “Geez, what’s his problem? Ask a simple question and he just snaps.”

Akuna, who didn’t know how to answer, merely shrugged. She thought perhaps Jokao sounded overworked himself, though she did not say this aloud. She simply wanted to get back to this village Jokao mentioned, which would surely be in the bright, pure sunshine of Shika Nui, which was something she had sorely missed. Though she was still surprised by the fact that the Dark Hunters were all dead, she did not weep for them. They were, after all, her enemies and had been cruel to her and her friends for over 25,000 years, so their deaths did not bother her much, if at all.

However, as they drew closer to the glorious light, she did notice one odd thing. The light up ahead began to look less natural, more like the bluish glow of the light stones instead of the yellowish sunshine of Shika Nui. She decided that that was because there were going to be inside the Dark Hunters’ fortress, not actually on Shika Nui itself. She felt slightly disappointed by this; she had been looking forward to emerging into the sun.

At least we won’t stay in there forever, she thought as she walked. We’ll have to go outside eventually, where the village obviously is. It is probably bathed in sunshine. Personally, I think I’ll spend all of my time lying in the sun, though if these Tuikas are as bad as Jokao says, then I don’t think I’ll have a whole lot of time to relax.

All of a sudden, a silhouette appeared at the top of the tunnel. The figure looked small, about Matoran-sized, and seemed to be looking at them. Akuna, who had been taken by surprise far too many times in the past few days (most of them by lethal and evil beings), whipped out her staff of lightning, ready to fight whoever it might be, but Jokao put his hand on her weapon and gently lowered it.

“Don’t attack,” he whispered. “The Matoran up ahead is a friend.” He then looked back up at the figure at the entrance and shouted, “Hey, Reesha! We’ve found friends! Look! New Toa!”

The Matoran up ahead titled her head, as though trying to get a better look at them, and then disappeared. Akuna was surprised that there was a Matoran here at all. Wasn’t it dangerous to take a Matoran with them to here? It seemed irresponsible to her. What if the Matoran got hurt or even killed? This tunnel did lead into the Dark Hunters’ fortress; what if there was still something lurking around in there?

But as they approached the exit, she heard hundreds of voices jabbering up ahead. She could not tell what they were saying, but their tone sounded both frightened and excited. She then felt disappointed with Jokao again.

First he allies with a Toa of Shadow, and now he’s brought along hundreds of Matoran, too? What the Karzahni is he thinking? What if they all get hurt or killed somehow? she thought, annoyed. Maybe there’s more to this, but this seems awful irresponsible to me at the moment. They ought to be in a village, safely protected by its walls and defenders, not here, in this unsafe place.

It did not take long for them to finish their journey; after a short walk (though it felt long to Akuna), they reached the very top of the tunnel and were right at the exit itself. Akuna, exhausted, took one glance into the chamber before them, shrieked in pain and took a step back into the darkness, her hands over her eyes. Her eyes were so used to the darkness that the light was actually quite painful to look at and judging by the stumbling she heard all around the others must have been affected the same way.

But her audio receptors still worked as fine as ever, and the sounds of Matoran talking was so loud and near now to be almost uncomfortable. She was almost longing for the quiet darkness; somehow the light and sound seemed too much for her now, despite that being what she had wanted in the first place.

Once her eyes stopped hurting so badly, she lowered her hands slowly, and realized that the light no longer irritated or hurt her eyes, much to her relief. She then opened her eyes – for she had had them closed behind her hands – to enjoy the light, but what she saw was too shocking for her to do anything more than gasp, for words failed her at the moment.

Hundreds of Matoran of various tribes stood near or around the entrance, all chattering and looking over the heads of their neighbors to see the new arrivals. They were all crammed into the hallway that the tunnel ended in, the cracked walls looking like they were straining to not burst open and pour all of the villagers out.

Jokao took a step forward, turned around, and said to the Toa Shika, spreading his arms wide, “Welcome to Koro Nui . . . the last remaining Matoran settlement on Shika Nui.”

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Book Three: An Unlikely Alliance

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1: A Forgotten Enemy Says Hello
Chapter 2: Unpleasant Revelations
Chapter 3: Revelations & Explanations
Chapter 4: Discussions & Suspicions
Chapter 5: Possession
Chapter 6: Assignments & Missions
Chapter 7: A Familiar Place
Chapter 8: Only One Way to Go
Chapter 9: Battle & Pain
Chapter 10: Tunnels
Chapter 11: New Ambitions
Chapter 12: The Loss of Life
Chapter 13: Tamers
Chapter 14: Speculation & Conspiracies
Chapter 15: More than Meets the Eye
Chapter 16: A Visitor
Chapter 17: Expedition
Chapter 18: Truths & Falsehoods
Chapter 19: Of Insanity and Betrayal
Chapter 20: He Escapes
Chapter 21: Target Locked
Chapter 22: Renewed Determination
Chapter 23: Deals & Conflicts
Chapter 24: Underneath
Chapter 25: How to Save a Life
Chapter 26: The Clash of Shadows
Chapter 27: No More
Chapter 28: Reunited at Last
Chapter 29: A Hero’s Sacrifice
Chapter 30: In Memoriam
Epilogue

Chapter 1: A Forgotten Enemy Says Hello

Despite the bright glow of her Mask of Night Vision to illuminate the place, Toa Akuna, Toa of Lightning, could still not see very far ahead. The shadows in the tunnel were thick, with the possibility of hostile Dark Hunters hiding in wait ahead, ready to ambush her and her friends at any moment. She was not very afraid of that, however; merely cautious with a budding hatred of the shadows. All she wanted to do was get out of here as quickly as possible, because though she was unafraid, the darkness still made her feel uncomfortable.

One reason she was not particularly afraid was because she had been through quite a bit in the last few days, much more than just walking down a seemingly-endless dark tunnel. She had fought beings that controlled the shadows and that were relentlessly cruel and evil towards all who were not from their tribe. She and her friends had managed to beat them and escape their wrath, though not all of her friends had made it alive, she reflected sadly.

Another reason for her confidence was the fact she still had most of her friends, who had been with her through thick and thin. She felt that she could take on whatever might be lurking in this tunnel or on the surface with them at her side, especially Toa Nastan, Toa of The Green, who was walking beside her, his bow at the ready, aiming straight into the darkness ahead.

She glanced at him as they walked. Nastan was normally a more lighthearted, optimistic and slightly idealistic kind of guy, but he seemed to be more serious now, if a little more cynical and less easily trusting of others. This was no surprise to her, since she remembered what he had experienced personally during their adventures in Wyoko, all of which contributed to his change in personality.

Of course, we’ve all changed, Akuna thought, glancing over her shoulder at the others behind her. Ever since we left, ever since Nonzra’s death I think we all matured. Perhaps even before; certainly, one could not go through what we did without at least experiencing a little change in personality.

Her brief glance over her shoulder had shown her Toa Addis, Toa of Plasma and leader of the Toa Shika speaking in low tones with Toa Barilo, Toa of Gravity and deputy leader of the team. She had also seen Chimoy walking just a little bit behind them, looking even more quiet and serious than usual. Akuna knew Nonzra’s death had affected him the most, since he had been very close with the Toa of Sonics before Nonzra died. All of them, in fact, were looking more serious than before and were all, she knew, feeling sorrowful about his death.

However, Addis had not let Nonzra’s death stop him from devising a plan for the rest of the Toa Shika. Since the tunnel they were traveling went straight into the heart of the Dark Hunters’ fortress on Shika Nui, simply walking through it casually would be impossible, since they weren’t exactly the best of friends with the Hunters.

So the plan was that, once they had reached the surface, they would run as fast as they could through the many corridors and hallways of the fortress, beating back any Dark Hunters they came across, until they would eventually find a way out (or make their own, if that proved impossible). They then would reunite with Turaga Joha and Jokao, a Ta-Matoran, two friends of theirs who had stayed behind to rally the local Matoran slaves into rebellion against their Dark Hunter masters.

Though she did not mention this to Addis, Akuna felt the plan was a little too risky. For one, how were they supposed to make it past the hundreds of Dark Hunters when they themselves were all wiped out from their battle with the Shodios? She could barely walk, let alone battle Mata Nui-knows how many Dark Hunters as well.

Secondly, what would they do if Joha and Jokao were dead? That was a very distinct possibility, since, though Joha had been a great fighter in his days as a Toa, he was no longer as physically fit as he used to be and therefore would likely be an easy target for even the weakest of Dark Hunters. Akuna worried greatly for the safety of their two friends. She didn’t know what she would do if she learned that both Joha and Jokao were dead on top of Nonzra’s own death as well.

Aside from that, she was bothered by something else. Despite the fact that The Door to the Light had been unlocked the entire time during their journey, no Dark Hunter had ever entered it, so far as she knew. She didn’t know why. After all, what kept the Dark Hunters from entering their own fortress, going down the tunnel, and through The Door to Wyoko?

Of course, that’s if they even know we’re down here, she thought as she remembered how distracted the Hunters had been when she and the others had first escaped them into this tunnel, not too long ago. For all they know, we could have gone straight through the fortress and out the other side. Maybe they’re still searching for us on the surface. If so, then maybe our chances of escaping will be a little higher than I thought. Just a little, though. Not by much.

Another thing that she was wondering about was the shadowed entity they had faced prior to entering Wyoko. He had been a guardian of The Door, created by the Dark Hunters to keep intruders out, but had been defeated by the Toa Shika, thanks to Addis’ Suletu. Unless Addis had actually killed it, she wondered why it was not attacking them now, why their journey was progressing so easily with no obstacles. It didn’t make sense, but she was glad for that and merely assumed the shadowed entity was dead. That was one thing they didn’t have to worry about, at least.

Of course, there were still the Dark Hunters themselves, and they were no walk in the park. Their first encounter with seven Dark Hunters had wounded up with them on the losing end of the battle. What if they went up against eight or nine or ten or twenty, even? True, they were a great deal more experienced than before going to Wyoko and might be able to survive a scuffle with more Hunters, but she was still worried quite a bit.

She glanced at Nastan again. He was merely staring straight on and did not seem to be wearing much of an expression on his face. She wondered if he was thinking the same thing as her, or if he was thinking about something else. Anyway, she was glad he didn’t look frightened; she felt a lot braver with him by her side.

She then noticed a small light ahead at the end of the tunnel, which was growing steadily closer as they approached. At first, she wondered what it was, having not seen such a thing in a long time. But then she realized what the little glow ahead was: pure, simple sunshine. Having been in Wyoko for so long, she had forgotten what real light looked like and immediately felt her spirits soar. She was about to go home . . . she was about to be back in the light, where she would be able to see the mountains and the proto forest and everything that she had known and loved about Shika Nui. The emotions she was feeling right now nearly overwhelmed her, but she held them back. She needed to keep a level head here otherwise she would be running straight into the Dark Hunters themselves and end up dying early. Still, her paced quickened anyway, her eyes and attention focused solely on the light at the end of the tunnel.

She looked at Nastan, who was actually smiling a little now. He seemed to have noticed the light too, and, based on the expressions on the others’ faces, they had as well. Addis looked eager, pointing it out to Barilo, who looked excited; and Chimoy, though usually reserved, seemed to have gotten some of his energy back and was walking faster than the other Toa and soon was ahead of Akuna, even.

In fact, all of the Toa were now walking so fast they were nearly running. The presence of the light – even from such a distance – had given them renewed energy and vigor. None of them had seen such beautiful light since they had went to Wyoko, the land of shadows, and they did not want to lose it ever again.

Akuna was beginning to feel impatient. Despite running fairly fast now, it seemed like the closer they got the farther the light became. She simply wanted to reach it now, or else she didn’t know what she would do with herself. She hadn’t realized before how much she had taken light for granted; she decided to never take it for granted again for as long as she lived, remembering the dark, sunless land of Wyoko.

What is taking us so long to get there? she wondered as she ran. Why does it feel like . . . like I’m moving, but not making any progress at all?

She glanced at her feet. They were moving, all right, but it seemed like they were running on the same stretch of dirt and stone as before. Though she was no Toa of Earth, even she realized that she was simply running on the same spot, over and over again, with no discernable differences. This puzzled her greatly.

What’s going on? she thought, still running. Am I in some type of time loop or what? Or is it something else entirely?

She was starting to feel disoriented now. Running in the same place for this long, adding to the pain she was already experiencing from their battle with the Shodios not too long ago, was beginning to get to her, making her wish she could just stop and rest.

But she couldn’t; she just couldn’t stop, no matter how many times she told her legs to halt. They weren’t listening to her and now she was getting worried. Would she and the others keep running and running forever, never reaching the tempting light that they so wanted? Were they destined to just keep going and going, not stopping for even a minute? Would they never reach Shika Nui again?

“Hey,” said Nastan, who like her was running fast without making any real progress. “Am I the only one who notices that we’re not any closer to the light than we were about five minutes ago?”

“I noticed that,” Addis said, who was now beginning to look quite tired. “Must just be our imagination, I think. This tunnel is just really, really long, that’s all, and we’re just really tired.”

“Then why can’t I stop?” asked Akuna, unable to hide the panic in her voice. “I’m really tired, but I can’t stop my legs at all.”

“Let me try,” said Addis. She looked over her shoulder and saw Addis running slower, but he was not stopping. His face had a look of extreme concentration on it, but he finally gave up. “You’re right, Akuna. I can’t stop, no matter what I do.”

“Then are we going to be stuck like this forever?” asked Barilo, who also sounded slightly panicky. “Why? Who or what is doing this?”

“I don’t know, Barilo,” said Addis, frustrated. “Maybe it’s some kind of new security system that the Dark Hunters installed while we were gone.”

“Or just an old one seeking revenge,” said a dark, hoarse voice from somewhere within the shadows. Akuna felt a sudden cold fill her body as the tunnel appeared to get a little darker.

“Who’s there?” demanded Nastan as he ran, looking all around the cave but seeing no one and nothing. “And what do you mean ‘an old one seeking revenge’? Are you the one responsible for this?”

“You have forgotten me that quickly, then?” said the voice with a sarcastic chuckle. “Your memory must be faulty. Don’t you remember the shadowed entity you had faced before you passed beyond the wall? Don’t you remember how you defeated him by simply overwhelming him with mental energy, an attack he had not been prepared for?”

Akuna gasped, though it was more because she was out of breath than because she knew who it was. “Is that you? The one who had guarded The Door? The shadowed entity?”

“The very same, my friend,” said the shadowed entity sinisterly. “I am still alive . . . alive, and seeking revenge on those who had defeated me for the first time in my 25,000 years of existence. Your very name brings uncontrollable anger to me, one that has been smoldering inside me since you escaped me beyond the ancient wall of protodermis long ago.”

“What do you plan to do to us, then?” asked Nastan in a slightly breathless voice. “Kill us?”

“Oh, not just yet,” said the shadowed entity. Akuna did not like that the entity did not have any apparent physical form. It just made him all the more dangerous. “Because of the illusion I have trapped you in, you will simply run on and on forever and ever, until your legs break and your lungs burst into a million little pieces. And I will simply watch you die, one by one. I noticed that the Toa of Sonics died back there; soon, you shall join him in the afterlife.”

“Well, if this is an illusion, we can just break it if we try hard enough, couldn’t we?” asked Barilo. “All we got to do is-“

“I would like to see you try,” the shadowed entity laughed. “Your weak Toa minds are incapable of breaking this illusion. Even if you somehow manage to do, I will simply kill you anyway. You have no way to fight me. You shall all simply die here, from the powers of my superior mental abilities, just as I was instructed to do.”

“What, too frightened to actually fight us?” asked Addis aggressively. “Before you were okay with attacking rookie Toa, but now you’re just happy to see us run until we can’t run anymore? No wonder I was starting to forget about you; you’re utterly pathetic.”

The shadows around them seemed to bristle with anger as the entity said, “Do not test my temper, Toa Addis. I was designed specifically to deal with intruders like you. Besides, why waste my energy killing you myself when I can simply make you kill yourself?”

“And then what, shadow spit?” said Addis in a mocking tone. “Have your Dark Hunter masters come and drag our corpses away, or will they simply keep them here until they rot, leaving you to tolerate the stench?”

“Quiet, Toa, or I will-“

“Or you’ll what?” Addis taunted. “Curse us? Threaten us with empty threats? Admit it, ‘shadowed entity.’ You’re nothing more than shadow; no form, no substance, nothing. I don’t even know why I feared you before. Guess I was just intimidated by the darkness, wasn’t I? Well, I no longer am, after what we’ve all been through, so I’m not afraid of you anymore, either.”

“I could kill you now, Toa, if I wished,” the shadowed entity said angrily. “And maybe I will, just to prove my point.”

“I’m not afraid of death,” said Addis, without a hint of fear in his voice. “Nor am I afraid of the shadows anymore. I have . . . I have conquered my fear of the shadows after Wy . . . Wyoko . . .” His voice sounded ragged and weaker now; it was obvious the strain of running and speaking at the same time was getting to him.

Akuna didn’t blame him. Her legs were beginning to feel like lead and her lungs felt close to exploding, just like the entity said. She glanced at Nastan, who looked just as worn out as she felt. Barilo and Chimoy both looked equally tired, Chimoy looking close to collapsing even. She knew it wouldn’t be long before at least one of them stopped and fell.

Or can we stop, even if we fall unconscious? she wondered, despite her mind being too tired to do a lot of hard thinking. This illusion is so strong that I don’t think I’ll be able to keep running for long. We’ll just keep going and going, unless we stop him. Perhaps Addis will use his Suletu again?

As though he were somehow reading her mind, a bolt of shadow lanced from out of the darkness and hit Addis squarely in the face, causing him to cry out in pain as his mask shattered into pieces, though he didn’t stop running.

“Now I remember how you defeated me last time, Toa Addis,” the shadowed entity hissed. “And I won’t allow you to do it again. Now there is no escape. You are incapable of beating me. You could melt the walls, fry the dirt, or do whatever it is you Toa can do, but none of it will be any good. Your pathetic lives end here, Toa Shika. My masters will be plea- ah! No! Stop!”

The shadowed entity’s cry of pain caused the illusion to abruptly shatter and all five of the Toa Shika stopped running and fell to the ground in exhaustion. Akuna looked around, but did not know what was happening. The shadows were swirling all around them like water while shrieks of pain and anger came from every direction. Panting hard, she glanced at Nastan, who was lying on the ground in exhaustion and seemed to have lost consciousness.

“Stop! What are you doing?” the shadowed entity screamed, so loud that Akuna had to cover her audio receptors to protect them. “Who do you think y-? Gah! This. . . . I can’t. . . . No. . . .”

“Wh-what’s going on?” asked Barilo, who was on his hands and knees and panting hard. “I don’t-“

“No!” the shadowed entity bellowed loudly. “Get out of my- Stop it! No . . . I can’t . . . I won’t . . . die . . .”

And with one last, prolonged shout of pure pain that was like a blast of cold wind, the cavern became as silent as the dead. The shadowed entity, it seemed, was gone.

Akuna, however, could care less about what happened to him. Her mind was dazed, her body ached all over from the hard running she had done, and she was just about ready to fall asleep right here in this dark cave. She didn’t know or even cared who had saved them. She merely fell face forward onto the ground and into unconsciousness, though right before she fell asleep she thought that she had seen two beings silhouetted against the light shining from the exit. She didn’t know if they were friends or enemies; but it didn’t matter, for at that moment she fell fast asleep, as though someone had hit her hard on the back of her head with a heavy stone.

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Epilogue

Nonzra’s dead body just lay there, stiff and cold as the snow of the mountains of Wyoko, with no life inhabiting it anymore. Barilo wasn’t looking at anything else but the lifeless carcass that was lying before him. It was as if time itself had frozen as he considered the fact that he had been confronted with death of a close friend for the very first time in his life. Oh, yes, on Shika Nui he had seen countless disobedient Matoran killed by the Dark Hunters, and in Wyoko he had killed Jero and seen Teivel die, as well as other Kra-Matoran in the final battle. But never before in his entire life had he ever encountered the death of a loved one, and he wasn’t sure how to take it, really.

Beside him, he could hear Akuna sobbing into Nastan’s chest, and he could also hear Addis and Chimoy sobbing as well, surprisingly. And then, to his amazement, he began sobbing at the death of his friend, too, and he felt a little angry as well.

Why did Nonzra have to be the one to die? Barilo thought angrily. Why hadn’t it been me? He should have lived, not me. He never killed anyone, and I’ve killed two people already. I’m not the one who should live, not me. He shook his head, however, and reminded himself, Get over it. He is dead. There’s no way to go back in time and redo it again. No need to blame yourself at all.

Regardless of these thoughts he was having, he saw his tears hit the floor of the tunnel and for a while there he was both sad and mad, mostly at himself. And then he looked up and saw Addis bending down and taking Nonzra’s Kanohi Zatth off of the corpse’s face, a serious and grim expression on his face as he looked at the mask that he was clutching in his hands. Barilo could still see the tears in Addis’ bright red eyes, although the Toa of Plasma wasn’t sobbing anymore.

“My team,” Addis said, looking around at them all seriously while trying to hold back the emotion in his voice, but he was failing for he had a slight quiver in his voice as he spoke. “Nonzra died a hero, and for that he will be remembered. He may not have done as much as some of us, but I must remind you all that, if he were still alive, he would not have liked to see us crying like babies about his death. He would have wanted us to continue on and remember his name in gratitude of his brave deeds. For that I will take his mask back with us to Shika Nui and later, once we free our home of the Dark Hunters, we will return for his body and give him a proper funeral to honor his life and his sacrifice.”

Nastan and Akuna had stopped sobbing, but they were still in each other’s arms now, looking over at Addis. Chimoy was quiet again, too, but looking at Addis with sober eyes.

“You’re right,” Nastan said, wiping the tears out of his eyes. “He would want us to continue on. I know he would. Once we return to Shika Nui, I say we give him the hero burial that he deserves!”

“Yeah,” said Akuna, nodding and sniffling slightly at the same time. “I agree, a funeral is what he deserves.”’

“Yes, that is right,” Chimoy said quietly. “We should return to Shika Nui. No point in crying over him now that he is dead. It is disrespectable to his memory to do that, when he would have wanted us to continue on, regardless of what happened to him.”

“Then let’s get going, guys,” Barilo said, now with a new tone of determination in his voice. “Onward to Shika Nui. . . . onward, I say, to freeing the Matoran of their 25,000 year old enslavement by the Dark Hunters!”

The other four Toa Shika all agreed, and, after paying their respects to Nonzra for what they knew would be the last time for quite a while, they turned as a group back up to the surface with expressions of determination underneath their masks. Each one was ready and willing to take on whatever the Dark Hunters (which would be no doubt waiting for them at the end of the tunnel) had to throw at them, confident that whatever it was, they would be able to take it as a team.

Yet, despite this feeling of renewed encouragement, Barilo couldn’t help but look over his shoulder at the unmoving corpse of Nonzra, and wonder, Will that be one of us next? Will one of us die, like Nonzra? It doesn’t seem like any of us are safe anymore. I used to think that since we took on a Makuta and won, that we would never get killed. But maybe we aren’t as invincible as I thought. If so, we’ll all have to be careful from now on.

Even as they walked up to the surface, none of the Toa noticed a ghost-like hand scrawling one lone word into the ceiling of the cave, one that they would all know very well soon:

Tuikas.

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Chapter 23: A Destiny Fulfilled, a Life Lost

In the forest of shadow, a small Kra-Matoran quickly dashed out of his hiding place and into the camp, his eyes scanning the place for the Shodios. Once he spotted the five Toa, all of them huddled together and talking to one another, he dashed toward them and, bowing quickly, said, “Honorable, wise, and awesome Shodios, I have spotted the Toa Shika walking toward this very forest. They seem to have emerged from the lake, for they look very wet.”

Teivel smiled a sort of twisted and evil smile that sent shivers up even the Kra-Matoran’s spine. “Good job, villager. If they have been swimming (although why they would I have no idea), surely they must be dead-tired and thus be easy targets. Gather the rest of the troops and hide them in strategic places to wait for the arrival of the Toa Shika. Then we strike as soon as they enter this clearing.”

“Yes, Master Teivel,” said the soldier, solemnly bowing at the Toa of Shadow’s feet. “Today the Kra-Matoran Empire shall rise again!”

With that note of pronouncement, the villager ran off and began congregating with the rest of the Matoran soldiers, helping them all clean up the camp so as to make it look like that they had never been there and showing them good places to hide, for this villager had lived in a village near the forest and therefore was knowledgeable about the wood and its many hiding places.

While that was going on, Turaga Krashadi walked up to the five Shodios and told them, “I do not wish to hide. I will be out here to face them, which I know will throw them off guard. After all, if they see I, a feeble, old Turaga, is their only opponent that they must pass to get to The Door, surely they will become overconfident and cocky enough for your squad to finish them off?”

“It sounds like a good idea,” said Jero, nodding. “But I do not expect the Shika to fall for it easily, however. They have had dealt with our treacherous dealings far too often not to be expecting a trap.”

“And we can’t trust that you won’t kill them first,” Ira added. “We’ve all have been waiting for an equal chance to rip off their heads and mount them on poles outside of Castle Kra. If you kill them first, then it would rob us of a joy we’ve all been patiently awaiting.”

Krashadi’s dark, black eyes flashed at Ira and when he next spoke, his voice sounded like that of an earthquake about to start.

“Ira, my dear friend,” Krashadi began. “I understand your desire to eliminate the light spit, but they have already proven themselves more than capable of escaping our clutches without much effort. We will have to kill them efficiently and quickly. The downfall of many beings is their inability to simply kill their foes quickly, instead jabbering on about their secret plans or gloating over their triumph. That is a mistake we will not be repeating today, I can assure you of that.” He paused, and then added, “And you will attack on my signal, meaning when I begin my own attack, not before, and not after.”

“Then let’s take positions already!” Rhatara said irritably. “If we stand around all day they’re going to see us and we’ll lose the element of surprise!”

So the five Shodios quickly hide in the thick bushes and dark trees of the wood, none of them moving even slightly. Turaga Krashadi decided to stick with his original plan and stood right in the middle of the clearing, already preparing for his own assault. He would strike without mercy, and if he killed a few Kra-Matoran as a result, so what? Better a few Kra-Matoran die than have the entire population locked up again.

-

“So, what happened to the squid and Cracko anyway?” Nastan asked as the Toa Shika walked toward the forest. “I was unconscious and didn’t see what happened.”

“I am eager to know as well,” Akuna said in agreement. “Barilo and I were under the shadow river at the time, saving Nastan, so we don’t know what happened.”

“Well,” said Addis. “When you guys dove under for Nastan, the squid and Cracko’s fight started to get closer to us. We were afraid they might hit us, so Nonzra and I used our own elemental powers to keep them away.

“The squid got burnt by my plasma and went back under the shadow again to get away from us, while the Crack could not take the super loud noise that came from Nonzra. It flew way back up and we never saw it again.”

“Not as epic or awesome as I thought it was going to be,” Nastan said with a chuckle. But then he suddenly became serious and said, “Wait, Akuna. Did you say that Barilo actually helped you save me?”

“Of course,” said Akuna, nodding. “In fact, had it not been for his lightening up your personal gravity, we probably would never have made it to the surface alive. But I helped light the way with my Ruru.” She added as an afterthought.

Nastan seemed impressed by this and he asked Barilo, “You really risked your life to save mine?”

“Yes,” said Barilo, nodding. “Does that mean we’re friends again?”

Nastan paused, as if thinking. For a minute Barilo feared that Nastan would say no, but then the Toa of The Green smiled and said, “I guess you’ve earned my trust again, since I think saving my life counts for that. Unless you really just wanted to be the one to kill me and didn’t want to get beaten by shadow or water or whatever that stuff was.” He added with a sly smile.

The six Toa laughed, but it was short, for Addis quickly shushed them up, saying, “I just saw a Kra-Matoran run into the forest. Coincidence? I think not. Methinks the Shodios are waiting in there for us and that Matoran was probably their watch dog to tell them when we were coming.”

“They always seem to be one step ahead of us, don’t they?” Nastan asked.

“Not necessarily,” said Chimoy, shaking his head. “If they were, we would be dead. Teivel and Jiki wouldn’t be dead and we wouldn’t have survived for as long as we have. Perhaps it is we who are one step ahead of them.”

“Either that, or just plain dumb luck,” Nonzra added.

“It comforts me to know that we can outsmart 100,000 year old Toa who’ve probably got loads more experience at this than we do,” Barilo said with a grin on his face.

“Shhh!” Addis snapped. “The more we talk the more we let ourselves known! We need a plan if we’re going to enter the forest without getting caught.”

“What kind of plan?” Nastan asked. “Does it involve running headlong straight into the trap with nothing but our weapons and armor?”

“No,” said Addis, shaking his head. “I’ve already thought a plan up. Here it is. . . .”

-

Turaga Krashadi, despite being a patient Turaga, had to admit he was getting rather impatient at the moment.

The Toa Shika hadn’t arrived yet for some reason, even though the scout had clearly reported that they were on their way here. He knew that they should have been here by now. Had they stopped to make a plan of action? They may have seen the scout who had been posted at the edge of the forest, although he hoped that they didn’t. If they did, that would mean that they would need a new plan to take them down.

Get a hold of yourself, Krashadi, he told himself. The Toa Shika can’t have any sort of plan. They do not know we are here, and by the time they do, they will be dead. It is nothing to worry about.

Suddenly, he heard the soft sound of crunching leaves, indicating that someone was walking up the path. He braced himself for battle, but then saw to his disappointment (and confusion) that only one Toa entered the clearing. It was Barilo, who had his axe drawn and was looking grim, yet also determined at the same time.

“Barilo!” Krashadi said in a mock-excitement. “Come to leave Wyoko, have you? Where are you friends? Did they abandon you?”

“You know they haven’t,” Barilo snapped. “Your scout saw us on the way here.”

“Then where are they?” Krashadi demanded, his body now glowing an extremely dark shadow of black. “It will be quite boring to dispose of just one Toa instead of six, you know . . . “

Barilo noticed that Krashadi’s body was glowing strangely black and his voice was getting darker and heavier. In fact, it seemed as though the shadow of the area was being sucked straight into the Turaga of Shadow’s body, but Barilo took a step forward just the same, with a determined expression on his face. Yet he was also wondering what Krashadi was doing, since normal Turaga can’t do that. Was he going Nova, like Teivel had back in the volcano?

Don’t lose your cool, Barilo, the Toa of Gravity thought calmly. Remember the plan!

“Today, Toa Shika, you shall face the wrath of the true shadow!” Turaga Krashadi bellowed as he disappeared in a ball of shadow. “Now my Shodios and Kra-Matoran . . . Attack!”

Just like that, 50 Kra-Matoran plus five Shodios seemingly popped into existence from the trees, hurling bolts of shadow and spears at Barilo. There was no way Barilo would be able to dodge the attack, and the Shodios, Kra-Matoran, and Krashadi were perfectly aware of it. Yet despite knowing that, Barilo was merely calmly standing around as if he wasn’t getting attacked by over 50 soldiers and was merely enjoying the breeze.

The reason for his calmness appeared just as quickly as the Shodios had. A huge, thick wall of protosteel shot up around Barilo, blocking the projectiles easily. Then lightning bolts and plasma balls began to strike the ground, Krashadi (though he merely absorbed the hits), and the Kra-Matoran and the Shodios, who all began to try and get out of the way of the sudden attacks.

“What’s going on?” Teivel shouted angrily as a lightning bolt nearly fried him.

“Up there!” Rhatara bellowed, pointing up at the sky.

Several hundred feet above them, Akuna and Addis, riding on a Cracko, were shooting blasts of lightning and plasma furiously, while Chimoy was hovering near them, using his power over metal to weaken the weapons and armor of the Kra-Matoran, which was working perfectly because of how old their equipment was.

Turaga Krashadi, however, was ignoring them and slowly eating away at the huge protosteel wall that was protecting Barilo, but the Toa of Gravity managed to get himself out of the way by executing a superb jump, landing awesomely on the ground. As he landed, he used his power over gravity to uproot some of the large, old trees of the forest and hurl them into Krashadi’s true shadow, but they didn’t do anything except get absorbed by the transformed Turaga.

Meanwhile, during the chaos of having their armor and weapons disintegrate before their eyes, along with the lightning and plasma falling from the sky, Tikcah and Rhatara had somehow managed to get out of the way of the attacks and were now shooting shadow at the three flying Toa, but were mostly missing because Addis, Akuna, and Chimoy kept flying out of the way, although they broke Chimoy’s concentration so that their equipment would stop rotting.

At that moment, Nastan suddenly appeared atop one of the trees and then reached out with his power over plant life to make several tree branches extend from their usual length and capture many of the Kra-Matoran tightly in their grasp, causing the villagers to drop their weapons in shock.

What should have been a quick ambush had suddenly turned into the most violent battle in the history of Wyoko. Shadow, lightning, and plasma bolts flew every which way, trees squeezed villagers, a giant ball of shadow was absorbing everything in its path, including Matoran, and to add to all of this it was extremely dark out as well.

As much as Teivel wanted to keep fighting, he knew this must be a distraction of some kind, for all of the Toa Shika was moving toward The Door, although if you hadn’t been paying attention (unlike himself) you wouldn’t have been able to tell. Taking precious cover behind a tree, he counted only five Toa. Where was the sixth, Toa Nonzra?

That question was answered when, amid all of the fighting and explosions, he saw Nonzra, the sixth Toa, sneaking through the shadows toward The Door.

Hmm, seems like we’re not the only ones who do the sneaking around, Teivel thought. And then another thought struck him like the lightning bolts of Akuna. He’s going to open The Door for the rest of the light spit! It makes sense! While the other Toa Shika distract us, he is silently sneaking toward The Door, and once he’s reached it everyone else will abandon whatever it is they are doing and rejoin him! What fools we’ve been taken for! I must stop him, no matter the cost.

He drew his shadow blade, which looked heavily melted from the lava but still strong enough to stab through the armor of a Toa, and he began to advance on the Toa of Sonics, raising his blade higher and higher as he tried to dodge all of the fighting.

Barilo was slamming trees, rocks, dirt, dropped weapons, and anything he else could find into the true shadow, but none of it was working. It was absorbing everything and he didn’t have any new ideas to use against Krashadi.

This guy’s a monster! Barilo thought as he backed up against a tree. He’s like acid, destroying everything that goes in him without mercy! What the Karzahni should I do?

As it turned out, his friends were also beginning to pull back. Now the that the initial shock of the surprise attack by the Toa Shika had worn off, the Shodios and the Kra-Matoran that hadn’t been eaten by Krashadi’s true shadow were regrouping and mounting attacks, particularly on Akuna, Addis, and Chimoy, who were still flying in midair. The Cracko that had been summoned by Nonzra’s Kanohi Zatth was beginning to tire as well and wasn’t moving nearly as swiftly or quickly as it usually did.

Nastan, however, was still doing fairly well, taking advantage of his power over plant life to capture their enemies, although the Shodios and Kra-Matoran were starting to get smart and were beginning to dodge or destroy any trees that came in their way (although Barilo noticed Jero get caught by one from behind and squeezed into unconsciousness).

Nonzra was at his position, though, Barilo noticed. He was standing in front of The Door, trying to pull it open. The original plan had at first been that they would attack the Shodios and scatter them and then in the confusion of the battle they would all regroup and help Nonzra get through The Door. Now, it seemed, with the Shodios and Kra-Matoran recovering and with Turaga Krashadi’s new form that came absolutely out of nowhere destroying everything in its path, they would have to make a new plan or they would all die. Maybe one of them should go Nova and hope to stop the Shodios?

No, too risky, Barilo thought as he quickly jumped out of the true shadow as it shot a beam of darkness at him, destroying the tree that he had been standing in front. Could kill us all, especially if Addis has to be the one to do it.

But another new thought had entered his head at that moment, a new, creative thought: Should he try to use his gravity powers and lighten or increase the gravity of Krashadi? It might work and it was most certainly worth a try, but at the same time he was hesitant. Krashadi had turned into pure shadow; what if he didn’t have gravity? After all, shadow has no weight or anything like that. For all he knew it would be futile effort.

Better a futile effort than no effort at all, Barilo thought as he dodged another attack by the transformed Turaga of Shadow.

The Toa of Gravity landed on his feet and turned around to look at the ball of shadow, which was moving toward him very slowly but threateningly. He took a deep breath and concentrated really hard on Krashadi. Please let this work . . . he thought as he aimed to make Krashadi as light as a feather.

The true shadow stopped for a minute, as if feeling too tired to move, but then it tried to proceed further until it realized it could not move any further at all. In fact, it noticed that it was actually flying up, higher and higher, faster and faster, until it was almost beyond the clouds. The strong, clever mind of Turaga Krashadi was panicking. Gravity wasn’t something he could fight. Gravity was not a physical force that could simply be absorbed or destroyed. It was a part of nature, a natural thing that no one could fight or control unless they were a Toa of Gravity, and he instantly knew that Barilo was behind this, but he couldn’t do anything about it.

In fact, he was so shocked by being so high in the sky that he lost concentration and then the ball of shadow shrouding the Turaga disappeared instantly, revealing a tiny old man who was shaken and unconscious. Barilo managed to see it happen just in time, though, and then decreased Krashadi’s gravity, watching the elder sink slowly toward the ground until he was well-beyond the trees, which he had floated behind somehow.

One down, Barilo thought triumphantly. Time to help the others.

-

The Cracko that Addis and Akuna were flying on got one of its wings shot off by an expertly aimed shot by Rhatara and it crashed into the trees, but fortunately Akuna and Addis managed to jump off before it made contact and the two Toa swiftly landed on the ground, hurling lightning and plasma at the Shodios and the few Kra-Matoran that were still alive.

“Die, Toa!” Rhatara shouted as he threw his chain link around a tree. With a loud grunt he ripped the tree off of its roots and then tossed it at the two Toa.

Addis melted it in half with a plasma ball, however, and the two parts went flying behind them and hit the two Kra-Matoran villagers that had been sneaking up behind them.

“Nice,” Ira said in a sarcastic voice. “Try this!”

She suddenly disappeared into thin air and for a minute Akuna wondered where she went until she heard the unsheathing of Ira’s knife and whirled around as the Toa of Shadow brought it down upon her. Akuna, however, managed to pull up her staff just in time and block the blow. But Ira was now moving incredibly fast and within a few minutes kicked Akuna very hard in the midsection, sending the Toa of Lightning falling down, moaning in pain.

“Akuna!” Addis shouted, temporarily taking his eyes off of Rhatara and Tikcah to make sure she was all right.

But those precious few seconds were all that the two Toa of Shadow needed to attack, for within minutes they shot off half a dozen shadow bolts and they all hit Addis, knocking the Toa of Plasma down, his red and brown form barely moving because of the pain.

“I think it’s time to finish you annoying, idiotic Toa once and for all!” Rhatara shouted, whirling his chain over his head as he shouted those last few words.

Addis managed to look up and saw the chain swinging toward him. He had no time to dodge it and he knew that once it hit him he would most likely die. So he closed his eyes and gave a quick prayer of hope that somehow the others would survive and defeat the Shodios . . .

Suddenly, he heard the sound of something flying overhead and then he heard lots of shouting and then he heard a noise that sounded a lot like something exploding out of the ground and grabbing someone, plus a person’s shout of protest in reply. And then there was silence. He didn’t know what to do since he didn’t feel dead, so he decided to open his eyes and check things out to figure out what had delayed his inevitable death.

When he finally opened his eyes, he saw Tikcah and Rhatara wrapped up tightly in some newly formed plants that seemed to have come from nowhere, and, judging by the expressions on their faces, both of the evil Toa were shocked by this sudden turn of events. The remaining Kra-Matoran soldiers had also been caught by plants as well and were struggling to get free, just as the Shodios were. He wondered where the plants had come from for a minute until he realized that Nastan was bending over Akuna, who was lying right next to him. The Toa of The Green had a look of worry in his eyes as he helped Akuna up

“Are you okay?” Nastan asked, more to Akuna than to Addis.

“A little dazed, but I’m fine,” said Akuna, quickly giving Nastan a big hug before letting go again. “Thanks for saving me, although I could have done it on my own.” She added slyly.

“Right,” Nastan said with a slight smile on his face.

Above, Chimoy dove down and landed next to Addis, helping the leader of the Toa Shika back up onto his feet. Addis thanked him, looked around quickly, and saw that Ira, too, had been captured by plants, and she, like Rhatara and Tikcah, was struggling to get free but having no success whatsoever. Addis noticed that Nastan was now looking over at the captured Shodios with an expression in his eyes that looked far too much like the one he wore back when he had been a Toa of Shadow, and when he next spoke to them he sound extremely angry.

“So, you tried to kill my girlfriend, is that it?” said Nastan, his eyes glowing even brighter than before as he spoke, although it wasn’t a nice glow.

“Yes,” Rhatara spat, still trying to get free. “And we would’ve killed you, too. Besides, these plants can’t hold us forever! We’ve gotten out of worse traps than these, and we’ll get out of this one, too!”

“Agreed!” Tikcah shouted as she struggled. “For Teivel’s sake, the universe shall fall before us once again!”

“No,” said Nastan, shaking his head. “I don’t think so.”

With that, he held out his hand and forced the plants binding the Shodios to squeeze the three evil Toa so hard that they actually began to scream in pain. His eyes looked dark and hollow, as if he wasn’t aware of what he was doing, and he was wearing that same crazy grin that he used to wear as a Toa of Shadow.

Akuna seemed to notice this, though, and was horrified by it. She grabbed Nastan’s arm and shook him roughly as she said, “Stop it! Stop killing them! Nastan! You’re better than this! You’re not evil anymore! Suppress your evil!”

It was not clear if it was her pleas of protest or if shaking him did it or both, but either way Nastan suddenly sunk back into reality, and shook his head as if awaking from a daze. The plants had stopped squeezing Tikcah, Rhatara, and Ira now and they were unconscious, their heads hanging limply on their chests.

Nastan, however, was still troubled by this and looked down at Akuna, with a terrified sort of look in his eyes as he said, “I looked a lot like I did when I was a Toa of Shadow, didn’t I?”

“Yes,” Akuna said through an emotion-filled voice. “It was terrifying, especially since you seemed to have been enjoying it.”

“Interesting, isn’t it?” a voice said from behind them. The four Toa whirled as one and saw, to their surprise, that Jero was now walking toward them with his claws raised high as shadow energy began swirling in his palms. “Despite the fact you are now ‘cured,’ you still have those same violent tendencies that you had as a Toa of Shadow. Which reminds me, how did you go back to normal anyway? I thought the process was irreversible!”

“That’s none of your business, Jero,” said Nastan. “All I know is that I am no longer evil anymore and I will never again be like my old, evil side. He is gone forever.”

Jero laughed a cold, insane laugh as he said, “Gone forever? I think not! You still have shadow in you, do you not? And as long as you have shadow, that evil, ill-tempered side of yours will always be there. He is waiting for just the right opportunity to reveal himself to the world again and bring more evil, chaos, and discord and disunity to all.”

Nastan didn’t want to admit it, but Jero was right. Nastan might have been normal again, but he still could do evil, still could kill without mercy just as the Shodios could. Nastan admitted to himself that he still had a hard time fighting the evil shadow inside of him, the side that wants to kill, lie, and do all sorts of other bad things, and that even then parts of it leaked through in his speech and actions. So, instead of answering the Toa of Shadow, he merely glared at him, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he could torment Nastan by planting that thought into his head.

“Now I’ve noticed that you’ve knocked out my brother and sisters,” said Jero, gesturing to the unconscious Rhatara, Tikcah, and Ira. “But you know what? I am not going to let any of your get me. I am charging up a shot so powerful that I calculate that once it hits you four it will kill you all instantly and painless . . . maybe. It will move so fast that none of you will get a chance to counter. So don’t try to move or anything. . . . “

Nastan noticed that one of the trees behind Jero was beginning to sway ever so slightly, so slowly and quietly that Jero did not hear it moving until he heard a loud crack and then, looking over his shoulder, he saw to his horror that a giant, 50-foot-tall tree was falling toward him so fast that he had no time to move out of the way. In mere seconds the large shrubbery landed on him with a sickening thud, and then there were no more traces of the sadistic Toa of Shadow except for the sounds of his screams of pain as they died out into the wind.

“Who did that?” Akuna asked, slightly shaking. “Who killed him?”

“Me,” answered Barilo, walking out from behind the tree. “I used my gravity powers to uproot the tree and then make it fall. I was the one who killed him.”

Nastan stared at him with a sort of angry look in his eyes as he said, “Why’d you kill him? Toa don’t kill! He was just-!”

“But Nastan, don’t you see?” Barilo asked as he walked over to his comrades. “There was nothing else I could do. He would have killed you guys in a second if I had tried any other way. Killing him was the only option, although that doesn’t mean I liked it. On the contrary, I feel just as bad about as the day I killed Iroko back on Shika Nui, and I felt very bad about that deed.”

Nastan was still staring at him distrustfully, but he said, “Okay, I guess. I still trust you, Barilo, but I do not think you should be killing our enemies like that anymore. It reminds me too much of my shadow self, of the evil I used to be, even if I never actually killed anyone.”

“Well, anyway, looks like the battle is over, doesn’t it?” Akuna asked, trying to veer away any sort of argument between Barilo and Nastan.

She was right. The battlefield was empty of any fighting Matoran. Most of the villagers were dead, some killed by Addis and Akuna’s earlier attack, some by Krashadi’s true shadow form. Others were unconscious, knocked out by being captured by trees that Nastan had commanded, some knocked out by accidentally hitting each other.

The trees were all melted or burned by the plasma and lightning of earlier. Some of them had been ripped off of their roots and quite a few were still burning ever so slightly, illuminating small areas under their glow, giving the place an eerie look that made Nastan feel uncomfortable.

All in all, the place looked like a war had happened, with all of the dead bodies, burnt trees, and the scarred ground covering every inch of the place. The scene did not fill any of the Toa Shika with any sort of pride. They all felt equally frightened and sick of the place.

But then Chimoy, who had looked over at The Door for a minute, gasped and said, “Teivel is about to kill Nonzra!”

The five Toa all whirled around and saw, to their horror, that their friend really was about to be killed by the Teivel, who was now standing over him with his sword raised high, Nonzra clutching a wound in his stomach, looking as though he had been stabbed. Although it was a mystery to them all how in the world that Teivel was still alive when they knew that he had died in the eruption just a day ago, they had no choice but to go and rescue their comrade from the evil Toa. And that they did, running toward him with their weapons raised, yelling at the top of their lungs, ready for to defeat Teivel once and for all.

-

A few minutes earlier. . . .

Nonzra blocked Teivel’s blow with his sword, but he was still surprised at the identity of his attacker.

“Teivel? How did you survive the eruption of those mountains?” asked Nonzra. “Weren’t you killed? Did you come back as a ghost or something?”

Teivel gave a cold, harsh laugh and said, “Could a ‘ghost’ do this?”

With a single stroke of his sword he sliced the tips of Nonzra’s fingers off, causing the Toa of Sonics to drop his weapon, and then reared back and stabbed his blade into Nonzra’s stomach, causing the Toa to cry out in pain and fall over. He was huddled up on the ground now, his hands clutching his exposed stomach as blood bleed out.

“Or this?” Teivel asked as he kicked Nonzra in the face. “I think not!”

But suddenly, Teivel felt a large metal block hit him in the side and into The Door, making a loud clanging noise as his mutilated body made contact with it. Pain shot through his form as he looked up to see who had done it and saw, to his surprise, the other five Toa Shika walking toward him, weapons aimed at him. All of them looked angry at him, but he noticed that Chimoy was bent over Nonzra, apparently trying to make sure that he was okay. Looking behind the five standing figures he saw that Krashadi was nowhere to be seen, Tikcah, Ira, and Rhatara were all unconscious, all of the Kra-Matoran was either dead or unconscious like the other three Shodios, and underneath a fallen tree he saw something that looked remarkably like one of Jero’s arms.

Teivel cracked a huge, ugly smile and said, “So, you managed to defeat Krashadi, all of us Shodios, and our 50 Kra-Matoran? And none of you got seriously wounded aside from your dying friend here? I am impressed. You six are just like the Toa Avha, never giving up even when the odds were totally against them.”

“And the Toa Avha succeeded,” Nastan said with a grim look on his face as he stood up. “So will we. Now you either get out of the way or we’ll make you move!”

Teivel laughed. “Oh really? And why should I move when I am so close to freedom that I can practically taste it? Even if you do destroy my body, heroes, I will simply reform as I did before. And then I will come back and open The Door, as I have already killed your friend, Nonzra.”

“I am not dead,” Nonzra gasped, still clutching the wound in his stomach. “I . . . will help my friends lock The Door for good!”

“But, Toa, are you so sure that you wish to return to Shika Nui?” Teivel asked in a voice that sounded much more like a growl that sounded oddly familiar to Barilo.

“Why wouldn’t we?” Nastan asked defiantly. “Sure, the Dark Hunters are there, but if we managed to beat you guys, we will figure out how to beat them, too!”

“I said that because, before I reformed my body, I was truly one with the shadows, barely what you would call ‘alive,’ but one with them nonetheless,” said Teivel. “And, before I recreated my body, I took a quick peek of Shika Nui, just to see my home one last time before killing you all. . . . And let me tell you, Toa, it is not pretty at all.

“It is vile, almost as bad as this place, perhaps even more so in some cases. I saw that strange creatures are roaming your land now, Toa Shika, ones that not even I have seen before. Your island is a ruin of what it once was, of what it could be, and had I not been waiting 100,000 years for this moment, I wouldn’t want to return there. But I would rather take my chances with the creatures of your island, Toa, than live for 100,000 more years in this vile place!”

With that, the Toa of Shadow seemingly-activated his Mask of Shape Shifting and suddenly a large beast stood where Teivel had been standing before. Now a hulking behemoth with dull, blue armor and hundreds of tiny, sharp-looking teeth in its large mouth stood before them and its endlessly black eyes focused upon them. It looked just as melted and dead as Teivel, but despite its mutilated appearance Barilo instantly recognized it from his dream.

“The Graalo!” he shouted suddenly. “That is what the mysterious figure in my dream meant when he said ‘The Graalo is closer than you think’!” Then he stopped, as if suddenly realizing something. “Then . . . does that mean. . . .”

The Graalo/Teivel laughed, which sounded like rocks being ground to dust. “Of course this is what I truly am, Barilo. Or, really, this is what I am now.”

“What do you mean?” Barilo demanded, his axe drawn.

“What I mean is, before I was exiled to Wyoko, I encountered a Graalo on the southern continent,” said the Graalo/Teivel. “I shape shifted into it, fought it, and killed it, but I discovered one secret ability that the monster had: The ability to transfer its physical appearance to shape shifters.

“From then on, this Graalo has been my true form. My Toa form is now a shape shifted form, not truly my real form as it had been previously. I have to constantly keep my mask power on, or else I will end up as this creature forever. Somehow I knew that, but how, I cannot say for sure. Perhaps it is because I know how shape shifters work, how they discover their true forms. . . . And that is when I learned that I had changed into this Graalo forever.

“Only Ira ever learned that I was really a Graalo and I forced her to keep it a secret. Even then, however, it had become too painful to stay in my Toa form for too long because my body yearns to be like that of a Graalo, like that of its true form. So I occasionally retreated to the Shahada Desert and turned into my Graalo form for a while.”

His voice seemed to be slightly quivering, but he continued on just the same.

“And now, Toa Shika, I shall eliminate you once and for all and become king of the universe once more!”

He reared back and then jumped with surprising agility, aiming straight for Barilo! He was coming too fast, his claws were too long. There was no way that he could dodge Teivel and he knew that once the Graalo’s sharp claws made contact with his body it would kill him. . . .

But then suddenly a large ball of plasma hit Teivel’s Graalo head in the side, melting his already disfigured face and making it look even worse. The attack was apparently strong enough to hit Teivel off course, because he slammed into a large gathering of burning trees, knocking them over onto him, crushing his body and setting it aflame.

Barilo was breathing very hard and very fast now, and then looked over to see Addis, who was holding up his plasma cannon, which he had shot at Teivel. He had a scared, yet brave, look on his face as he watched the unmoving form of Teivel.

Then the Graalo, despite being almost dead, lifted his head up and was, to Barilo’s horror, actually smiling, which looked extremely ugly on his mutilated face.

“That attack may have killed me now, Addis, but you do realize that I will just come back, don’t you?” Teivel growled in the low voice of the Graalo. “That is the special power that Mata Nui gave me, a power which will bring me back as king of the universe some day!”

“That may be so,” said Akuna. “But you’ll never escape this place. Ever. We’re going to lock The Door to the Light and even if you do come back, you will never be able to leave this place again!”

“Then I will use my shadow abilities and leave this place!” The Graalo/Teivel shouted. “Watch, my enemies, and learn with an all encompassing fear as I leave this place for good!”

With that, his head flopped in a dead way onto his side, the red eyes of Teivel showing no light in them. But suddenly, a being of shadow that looked remarkably like Teivel emerged from the Graalo’s body. It resembled a ghost similar to how Wanderer had looked, although it was completely and utterly black and it looked down upon the six startled Toa Shika with cold, dead eyes.

“Today, the Kra-Matoran Empire shall rise once more!” Teivel shouted as he shot toward The Door to the Light.

“No!” Barilo shouted, but he was too late. Teivel’s ghost laid one hand upon The Door and then grinned triumphantly.

But the grin only lasted for a few seconds, for a huge burst of light enveloped The Door and, by extension, Teivel’s now-horrified-looking ghost. The Door glowed so brightly that it became impossible to see it or Teivel’s ghost. However, they all heard Teivel’s loud, long, and painful-sounding screams coming from somewhere in the all-consuming light.

When the light finally passed, there was no trace of Teivel. Only The Door remained now, and it looked just as normal as ever. The six Toa Shika merely looked at The Door in awe. None of them were celebrating. All of them looked at The Door to the Light with puzzled expressions on their faces, wondering what just happened.

Akuna gathered the courage to voice her question, the one question that all of the Shika were thinking but were too afraid to ask: “Is he dead?”

“Maybe,” Barilo said in a voice that was barely more than a whisper. “The light must’ve destroyed his spirit completely.”

“But why?” Nonzra wondered, still clutching the wound in his stomach. “Why did The Door shine so brightly when Teivel’s ghost touched it?”

“Perhaps . . . . Perhaps, whoever made this door, knew that Teivel could never truly die,” Chimoy said, but he sounded as though he were thinking it in his mind, rather than saying it out loud. “Maybe they knew that if Teivel were to accidentally die, he would realize that he could escape and somehow open The Door from the outside. Maybe they fueled it with light like that to destroy him if he attempted it. Maybe the light was so pure, and so good, that if a being’s spirit was full of evil and darkness like Teivel’s, it would destroy them totally. The reason it didn’t destroy him or the others prior to this, even though they’ve probably touched The Door several times over the years, was because they had their physical bodies to protect their spirits from total annihilation.”

There was silence now as the other five Toa all reflected on Chimoy’s theory. It made sense, but none of them knew if they were glad to see their worst enemy’s spirit destroyed. What lay beyond death? What happened to spirits that got destroyed? Would any of them ever suffer such a horrific fate? Those hard questions and more all buzzed through their heads and none of them had the answers for any of them.

Addis didn’t want to have to think over these questions, however. He had to deal with the now and then and the now was that they were merely inches away from leaving Wyoko forever. So he said, in a small, quiet sort of voice, “We ought to get going now. No point in staying here to wait for the other Shodios to wake up and get us, right?”

The others quietly agreed, all of them secretly deciding that those questions were worth thinking about later, and then Chimoy helped Nonzra up to his feet, though the Toa of Sonics was still clutching his wound painfully.

“Are you okay, Nonzra?” Akuna asked in a concerned tone.

“Yes,” said Nonzra, though he didn’t sound okay. “I think I can make it past The Door all right.”

“Then let’s get going,” said Addis. “Chimoy, open The Door.”

Nodding, the Toa of Iron raised one hand, concentrating his power over metals on The Door, and then the large protosteel door gradually creaked open until the black, lightless tunnel that lead up to Shika Nui was revealed. And then the six Toa Shika, taking one last look at the land of Wyoko behind them, moved as one beyond The Door even as Chimoy closed it. They had finally left Wyoko, this land of shadow, and although they had only been inside of it for less than a week, it had felt likes years to them, and now they were truly going home.

Finally, they crossed the threshold into the dark tunnel and The Door closed behind them with a loud bang. And then they turned as one, all six of the Toa Shika raised their hands and shot off narrow beams of each of their respective elements at the same time at the barrier that lead into the land of the exiled, Wyoko.

Lightning, plasma, sound, plant life, iron, and gravity energy all sped toward The Door to The Light. As they flew, straight and true, to the very middle of the enormous gateway, they met at the same point and were all transformed one beam of solid protodermis that hit The Door. And when it collided with the barrier, protodermis, pure and strong, instantly began icing over The Door like ice on a wet tree in the middle of winter. In minutes, the entirety of The Door was covered and a Toa Seal appeared over it to finish it off as they heard a loud clicking sound that signified the locking of The Door.

For the second time in 100,000 years, Wyoko was sealed away, a true disaster, averted by six brave heroes who did not want history to repeat itself.

The Toa all dropped their fists and were now panting, since that one act had taken a lot of skill and power out of them. But once the reality of it sunk in, that Wyoko was locked up and that the Shodios and Kra-Matoran weren’t going to be terrorizing the universe again, almost all of them broke into grins and began cheering and laughing. They had gone to Wyoko and survived! They had entered what might have been the worst threat to the universe and had survived! Now they were to return to their home at last, this time returning as true heroes. They were willing to take on all of the Dark Hunters now, even if they died as a result.

And yet, not everything for the assembled Toa Shika was cheerful. Nonzra, who had been looking very weak since Teivel had stabbed him, immediately fell to his knees and began coughing up blood. Shocked, the other five Toa ran over to try and help him up, but he waved them off, saying, “It’s no use. Don’t waste your time on me.”

“Nonzra, you can’t die!” Chimoy shouted. “You can’t!”

“It’s happening, Chimoy,” Nonzra coughed as he lowered himself onto his back. “Teivel’s blow had been fatal. I am going to die, right here and now, and I will never see Shika Nui again. . . .”

“Don’t talk like that, Nonzra!” said Nastan, the fear in his voice evident. “You went through too much not to be able to come back with us!”

“Sorry, guys,” said Nonzra, his voice becoming so low that they had to strain to hear him. He gave them a weak smile and said, “I’ve had a lot of fun with you guys. Being a Toa was amazing, and I understand why Nastan likes it so much.” He coughed again, but continued on as if he were struggling to cling to the last drops of his life to deliver these last few words. “But my time in this world has come and gone. I may not have been the most philosophical guy while I lived, but even I understand that something great awaits me beyond death. I do not know what it is, but I am prepared to meet it head on, whatever it is.”

He coughed once more and then finally said, “Tell Jokao and Joha that I said good bye. . . .”

And with that last breath, Toa Shika Nonzra, Toa Shika of Sonics, good friend of Chimoy and of the rest of the Toa Shika, gave one last cough and died, his heartlight fading away slowly until it was completely colorless. The five remaining Toa Shika still stood there, looking down at his dead, cold body, and then they all realized that they had not only lost a teammate, but also a good, devout (if a little snarky at times) friend.

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Chapter 22: Going Down the River of Shadow

Akuna was having difficulties moving her oar because of its weight. She had to lift it up, turn it around, and then pull it back to keep it going at the same speed as the rest of the oars, although she could tell that her friends were having an equally hard time moving theirs.

The bottom of the ship where the oars were was quite large. It looked like it could hold at least twenty Kra-Matoran villagers, all of whom were supposed to row the oars. But since it was just these four Toa with only their raw strength to move it they found that they had a hard time getting it moving, since the oars seemed to weigh about a ton each and the ship seemed even heavier.

Still, they were making progress at least, and that was what mattered most to her. As long as they kept rowing the oars and as long as Barilo and Nastan kept a watch out for any Kra-Matoran, she was sure that they would be getting out of Wyoko very soon.

A new thought popped into her bran as she rowed her oar. Why did Addis put Nastan and Barilo on the surface? Doesn’t he know how distrustful Nastan is of Barilo? she thought as she rowed. Maybe he is trying to get Nastan to trust Barilo so we will have true unity. After all, they do have a major trust issue going on and they will have some alone time up there so they can talk it over, hopefully.

They had been rowing the ship for hours upon hours, with Nastan or Barilo occasionally coming down to give a report on where they were headed. They had already gone down several forks in the river, each way directed by Nastan or Barilo so that they would be heading toward The Door, which seemed to be getting closer according to the two watchers.

It seemed to Akuna that there weren’t any villages near the river, otherwise Barilo and Nastan would have told them. So perhaps that meant that they would get to The Door with little to no mishaps, which was a relief to Akuna. She didn’t want to have to fight any villagers on their way to The Door because she wasn’t so sure that they could win, especially if they had to fight on the river.

Suddenly, the ship lurched sharply to the left, then to the right, and then to the left again. Akuna and the others tried to keep it steady, but it kept shifting itself all of the time and they had no way to stop it at all. Addis gave up try and looked over his shoulder at his three friends and he said, “Okay, who’s rocking the boat?”

All of them shrugged, indicating that they weren’t doing anything and that they hadn’t a clear idea of what was happening, either.

“Maybe we got caught in a current,” Nonzra suggested.

“I hope not,” Addis replied as the ship lurch again, this time more aggressively than before. “It may have swept us off course toward The Door.”

All of a sudden, they felt something brush against the side of The Endless Shade and then the wall burst open as a giant squid tentacle and water-like shadow came gushing in, causing the four Toa Shika to get knocked off their feet, and the next thing that Akuna knew she saw the squid tentacle coming toward them menacingly, ready to kill them all.

“That is what caused the shifting, Addis,” Nonzra said as he looked at the appendage in surprise and fear.

-

A few minutes ago. . . .

Nastan and Barilo were sitting on deck, looking over the dirty, run-down ship and over to the shoreline, where they didn’t even see so much as a Rahi walking along it. Why weren’t there any villages or animals? They could see roads, but none of them had any Kra-Matoran traveling them.

Ah well, Nastan thought as he watched. Better to have no Kra-Matoran than a hundred, eh?

Both of the two Toa had been quiet the entire time, barely speaking to each other. Nastan was feeling rather angry at Addis for pairing him up with Barilo and Barilo didn’t particularly like Nastan, either. Occasionally they went down below deck to tell the others the progress of their journey but other than that they tried to keep out of sight as much as possible in order to avoid being detected by any Kra-Matoran.

In the distance they could see The Door coming closer and closer as The Endless Shade sailed smoothly over the surface of the dark river. They were getting closer, and that was what mattered most to Nastan at the moment rather than some personal grudge that he had against Barilo.

No, it’s not a just ‘some’ personal grudge against Barilo, Nastan thought. It’s a real issue, one that I honestly am thinking we’ll have to deal with eventually.

He remembered his little talk with Akuna about his trust issues with Barilo, but he wasn’t so sure that he was ready to talk with Barilo. After all, the Toa of Gravity tried to kill him once before and what if he tried it again when Nastan tried to talk to him? So he simply sat there and listened to the sound of the river rushing by him.

Barilo looked a little uncomfortable, too, and didn’t seem to want to talk. But then suddenly, he said, “So. . . . How’s life been treating you?”

“Horribly, I guess,” Nastan replied. “Can’t say I like being stuck down here in this weird place, but hey, at least Akuna is with me, so I’ll be okay.”

There was silence again and then Barilo said, “Nastan, I don’t think we should keep dodging the issue.”

“What issue?” asked Nastan, though he thought he already knew.

“The trust issue,” said Barilo. “If we’re going to be working together from now on, we have to trust each other.”

Nastan seemed slightly surprised by this, but he answered anyway, saying, “Well, to be frank, Barilo, I don’t trust you as much as the others and I don’t know if I can trust you. I mean, I trust you over the Shodios, certainly, but among us, well, I just don’t feel comfortable around you because of what you tried to do to me in the past. It’s hard to trust someone who almost killed you, you know?”

“I understand,” said Barilo, nodding. “I would lose trust in a person, too, if he tried to kill me.” He paused, as if lost in thought, then said, “Well, how can I earn your trust? I realize the mistake of what I did in the past and now I want to rectify it. I just want to trust all of my teammates and since you’re on the same team as I, I think that we should trust each other, you know?”

Nastan was surprised. Barilo really wanted his trust? That seemed an odd thing for Nastan to hear him say. But then, Nastan thought, maybe Barilo really had seen his mistakes and really wanted to become friends with Nastan again. But something inside the Toa of The Green was holding back that forgiveness for some reason. What if it were all a trick? He knew just how ridiculous and paranoid that would have sounded to anyone else, but he knew that Barilo was certainly capable of fooling others.

“I don’t know,” Nastan said slowly. “I mean, I don’t know what you should do to regain my trust. Save my life, maybe? It isn’t easy to mend one’s wounds so easily just by saying ‘I forgive you.’ “

“So there isn’t a way to regain your trust?” Barilo asked, sounding slightly disappointed. “Why can’t we just be friends?”

“Because, Barilo, when someone tries to kill you, you don’t usually forgive them just like that.” Nastan snapped his fingers. “It isn’t something you forget easily.”

“Oh, okay,” said Barilo. “I understand.” Although he didn’t seem to really understand it at all in Nastan’s opinion.

All of a sudden, however, the ship lurched to the left, then to the right, and then to the left again. Barilo stomped his foot on the ground and shouted, “Hey! What’s going on down there? Are you guys trying to throw us off or something?”

He heard no answer. Instead, there were a few more abrupt shifts and then they heard a loud crashing noise like someone had burst through a wall and then they heard a loud scream. Nastan recognized the scream as Akuna’s, and it sounded horrified.

“What’s wrong?” asked Barilo, looking at Nastan with a worried face. “Was that Akuna who screamed?”

“Think so,” Nastan replied, jumping to his feet and running to the lower deck.

Just as he got to the door, it burst open and the other four Toa came running out of it, their armor drenched in shadow, followed by what sounded like a crashing sound below. Addis, Akuna, Chimoy, and Nonzra looked like they had just been swimming, for they were wet and were panting hard but had their weapons out just the same.

“What happened?” asked Nastan. “Why are you guys wet?”

“Giant squid,” Addis answered. “Attacked us. Nearly killed us all. . . .”

“Giant squid?” Barilo repeated, walking over to them, his gravity axe out. “You’re sure?”

“Positive,” Akuna replied, now standing up straight as a rod. “It broke through the hull and is now going after us. We barely got out in time!”

Just as she said that, several giant tentacles shot out from the shadow around them, surrounding the ship immediately. Nastan drew his bow and shot off several arrows into one of the tentacles, each one hitting on target because he was using the power of his Kanohi Sanok, the Mask of Accuracy. That tentacle went down back into the shadow, but just as it did that, a giant beak broke through the floor of the ship, breaking The Endless Shade into hundreds of pieces, sending all six of the Toa Shika flying into different directions.

Barilo landed on the shadow and floated there for a bit before the squid reached out with a tentacle and grabbed him, holding the Toa of Gravity high above the river. Barilo was hitting his axe against the squid’s tentacle, but it kept bouncing off its soft, squishy surface, although he saw that it was still doing some damage. He could see the squid looking at him with one of its evil red eyes, a sort of hunger in its gaze.

In the river itself, the rest of the Toa Shika were trying to fight and swim at the same time, but were having no luck. Addis was trying to fire plasma balls but kept missing and instead they went into the shadow, while Chimoy and Nonzra had been captured by the squid like Barilo had been and were attacking the tentacles, trying to cut them off. Akuna and Nastan, meanwhile, were both holding onto a large piece of debris, shooting lightning bolts and plant life at any tentacles that came too close.

“How are we going to get out of this one?” Nastan asked as he used his powers to create a thick vine around one of the tentacles, causing it to start flailing around in order to get the tight plant off. “It’s got more tentacles than we have Toa!”

“Maybe I should electrocute the shadow, see if it will get knocked out,” Akuna suggested as she expertly stabbed an appendage with the sharp point of her staff.

“Akuna, the idea is good, but you might hurt the others,” Nastan replied as he hit one of the tentacles with a well-aimed punch. “Also, you shouldn’t worry about knocking it out. If we’re going to survive we’re going to need to kill it, at least.”

“But isn’t it in the Toa code not to kill our enemies?”

“Yeah, but Rahi are the exception,” Nastan answered. “Although I admit, being a Toa of The Green, the idea of killing an animal, even if it tried to kill us first, seems a little disgusting to me.”

“But you are right,” Akuna said as she shot another lightning bolt at a tentacle. “I may need to kill it, although I don’t know how I can do that without hurting the others.”

“Just shot it in the eye,” Nastan said, temporarily letting his guard down.

Because he wasn’t paying attention, a tentacle shot forward and smashed into the Toa’s mask, knocking him out and sending him falling deep beneath the shadow.

“Nastan!” Akuna shouted worriedly just as a tentacle wrapped itself around her body and lifted her out of the water. “Nastan! Don’t be dead! Nastan!”

-

The Door to The Light was an ancient relic, said to have been designed and crafted by Artakha himself. It was made out of extremely thick protosteel and was the only thing that was keeping the Shodios, Turaga Krashadi, and the entirety of the Kra-Matoran Empire from escaping and restarting their conquest of the universe. It was a sight universally hated by all Kra-Matoran, yet also revered as well, for no one had been able to destroy it at all during the 100,000 years that they had been in Wyoko. Even when all of the Shodios had teamed up and used their powers as one upon The Door, its Toa Seal that had been created by the Toa Avha had merely deflected the attack.

Now it was open for the first time in over 100,000 years, although the Shodios weren’t going to leave just yet, despite the fact that they were all there in the forest of shadow that surrounded the place. Instead, they were waiting for the Toa Shika to arrive, planning to kill the six Toa once they appeared there.

They were not alone. With them were at least 50 well-armed Kra-Matoran and Turaga Krashadi, too. No one thought it odd that a Turaga wanted to participate in what was sure to be a quick and bloody battle, for Krashadi always got what he wanted.

Currently that Turaga was examining The Door, his hand upon its cold, hard, old and smooth surface. He had seen it many times in the past, yet now it looked new to him, since it was open now, but it still emitted that strangely electric blue light that always reminded him where to look for The Door whenever he needed it.

I sincerely hope that the Toa Shika get here soon, Krashadi thought as he ran his hand along its metallic surface. I have waited 100,000 years, maybe even more, for this day when I would be free. If those pathetic Toa are going to dwindle and never arrive, then I will personally hunt them down.

Nearby, Teivel was leaning up against a tree, his mutilated eyes closed. None of the Kra-Matoran soldiers were near him, for they thought he looked weird and scary and so therefore they didn’t want to bother him, even after they had heard the explanation as to why he looked the way he did now.

Tikcah and Ira were sitting nearby, talking to each other, though it wasn’t very loud and it didn’t sound interesting whatever it was they were conversing about, though Tikcah kept shooting worried glances over to Teivel for some reason. Rhatara had his chain length out and was casually waving it in the air, although he looked quite impatient and mad. Jero, meanwhile, was sitting up against a tree, apparently studying some notes.

All of the 50 Kra-Matoran that they had brought with them were talking, comparing weapons, and tending to their Rahi that they had brought with them. The tone of the forest was one of excitement and seriousness, for they were all excited for the chance to be some of the first to leave Wyoko forever, but they also knew that they had to be quiet so the Toa Shika wouldn’t hear them if they were nearby.

Yes, it was true. Krashadi and the remaining Shodios had already decided that, after they killed the Toa Shika (which they were sure would be a quick battle), they would take this group of Kra-Matoran and leave Wyoko at once and secure Shika Nui. After that they would send some messengers back to Wyoko, gather the remaining villagers, and then take them back to Shika Nui. Then their conquest of the universe would begin anew once they set up a fortress on the island and got some ships built.

All we need now is for the Toa Shika to arrive, Turaga Krashadi thought. They will be the final piece to the plan, and once they are out of the way for good, no one in the known universe will be able to stop us.

-

Little did Krashadi know, however, that right now that the Toa Shika were all probably going to die at the tentacles of a beast.

Addis didn’t think any of them would survive. Akuna, Nonzra, Chimoy, and Barilo were caught by the behemoth and trying and failing to get out of its grasp, while Nastan was unconscious at the bottom of the river somewhere. He himself was holding onto a piece of driftwood while viciously firing plasma everywhere to scare the squid’s tentacles off, but they were started to get braver and he was starter to get more tired and he didn’t know how much longer he could hold onto the debris and shoot plasma.

It seems almost pointless, Addis thought tiredly. Practically all of my team is out of commission and I myself am almost ready to kick the bucket. Is this the end for us? Were we all destined to die at the hands of a giant, ugly squid?

Even as such undesirable and miserable thoughts entered his mind, he suddenly saw, several hundred feet above him that something big was flying down from the dark sky of Wyoko. It was swooping so fast that it was almost a blur, but he thought he recognized it.

A . . . Cracko? he thought, puzzled. Why’s a Cracko coming down here? Is it friends with the squid and wants to help it eat us?

As it turned out, however, the Cracko wasn’t very interested in eating them. Instead, the giant bat-like creature began clawing and screeching at the squid with its sharp toes and wings and the squid, Addis forgotten, began to swat at it with its tentacles. The rest of its slimy appendages, the ones that had been attacking Addis, all quickly began trying to hit the Cracko, but the flying rodent was moving too fast for it to hit, frustrating the river monster even more, though it still wasn’t letting go of the other Toa.

Now’s my chance! Addis thought, aiming his plasma cannon at the squid’s tentacles.

He shot off four balls of plasma, each one striking one of the tentacles that held the other Toa, dropping his friends into the shadow and causing the squid to shriek with pain at the same time. He saw the rest of the Shika break the surface and begin swimming toward him and away from the frightening beasts that were beating the stuffing out of each other.

“Nice shot, Addis,” Barilo said as he grabbed onto the same piece of flotsam as Addis. “Although it was really hot and I nearly got my mask melted off.”

“Well, it’s good that you guys are still safe,” said Addis, nodding. “By the way, anyone have any idea why that Cracko suddenly decided it would be fun idea to pick a fight with a giant, hungry squid?”

“That was me,” Nonzra replied, sharing a piece of wood with Chimoy. “Thought I’d use my Zatth and see what happened. Either that, or it was a stupid Cracko, though I’m betting that my mask had something to do with it.”

“Did you go for Nastan?” Akuna asked, also sharing the same piece as Barilo and Addis. “He’s under the shadow you know!”

“No, I didn’t,” Addis admitted. “I was more concerned for you guys-“

“Then I’m going after him,” Akuna replied, pulling out her staff. “And I’m going to rescue him.”

“Akuna, no!” Barilo shouted, but the Toa of Lightning had already dived beneath the waves and was gone from view in seconds. “Mata Nui, what’s up with her?”

“Love must make people act stupid,” said Nonzra. “She loves the guy and wants to save him, although it is a rather stupid thing for her to do in my opinion.”

“No, it’s not stupid,” Chimoy said, shaking his head. “It’s what Toa are supposed to do. Not only do we save others, but we should save ourselves.”

“Sounds like something Nastan would say,” Addis remarked. “But you’re right. Akuna may need help under there. Who wants to go and help her?”

“I will,” Barilo volunteered.

“Then go!” Addis barked, pointing at the shadow. “If the Cracko or squid try to get us we’ll let you know by having Nonzra send a wave of sound down, okay?”

Nodding, Barilo took a deep breath and then dove under the shadow.

It was a very black and dark world underneath the surface of the river. If he thought that Wyoko was the epitome of shadow, then he was wrong. This shadow made Wyoko look like the core of the universe it was so deep. He could not see more than an inch ahead of him and he had no idea where Akuna and Nastan might be. Worse yet, it really did feel like he was underwater, since he could see bubbles everywhere he moved his limbs and he could feel the cold creeping into his body.

Please let Akuna have her mask on, Barilo thought hopefully as he swam. If she doesn’t then I won’t be able to find her or Nastan!

It was also very cold under the river, almost cold enough to make him want to retreat, but he didn’t. Still, more than once he had to rise up and get a quick breath of air before continuing his seemingly-fruitless search.

Finally, after what seemed like hours of swimming and searching, he saw a small point of light ahead, though he thought it was the most glorious and beautiful he had ever seen after having seen nothing but shadow and darkness everywhere for the last few minutes. So he picked up speed and swam faster, his eyes fixed on the light.

He finally arrived at the light to find Akuna swimming a few feet above Nastan, who was unconscious. Akuna, despite being a strong Toa herself, was having a hard time lifting Nastan up, who seemed to have become nothing more than deadweight now. When Barilo swam into the light, Akuna first thought he was some kind of sea creature and tried to spear him with her staff until she recognized him.

They could not talk, for if they did they would let shadow into their lungs and lose air and drown. So Barilo communicated with hand gestures to her until Akuna finally figured out what he was telling her what he was going to do. The Toa of Gravity grabbed Nastan’s other arm, while Akuna still clung to the other. Now it was time for Barilo’s plan.

He activated his gravity powers and focused on Nastan, lightening his personal gravity until he began to float upwards very fast, but not fast enough. So he extended the field of light gravity to himself and Akuna until they were moving so fast that Barilo was afraid they might fly straight out of the shadow. Akuna was looking upward, her Mask of Night Vision still on.

It was then that Barilo realized that he was beginning to run out of air and by the look on her face, Akuna was, too. He couldn’t decrease their gravity anymore and he wasn’t sure if they would make it up to the surface in time or if they would end up drowning. So he and Akuna began kicking their legs to increase the speed, although it was obvious that it wasn’t really helping much, if at all.

But finally, just when Barilo had given up any hope of surviving, the three Toa broke the surface of the river of shadow and Barilo cut off his gravity power, allowing them to float gently on its surface. Akuna and Barilo were gulping for air, but he thought that they were both okay. He looked around wildly until he spotted Chimoy, Nonzra, and Addis swimming toward them, the squid and Cracko nowhere in sight.

“Help us!” Akuna shouted, her voice sounding hoarse as she coughed out shadow. “We gotta get Nastan to the shore!”

Nodding, the other three Toa quickly grabbed Nastan and the five Toa Shika began pulling the Toa of The Green to the shoreline until finally they reached it and hauled Nastan onto the sand, flopping him face up. He did not look good at all.

“He’s not breathing!” Chimoy shouted. “Somebody needs to get air into his lungs now!”

Without so much as volunteering, Akuna bent down and put her lips to Nastan’s, putting air into his mouth. Then she stopped and began pumping his chest very hard with her hands, hoping against hope that he was still alive. This went on for some time as the other Toa watched helplessly, hoping that Nastan was not dead. Finally, after several long minutes of Akuna pumping his chest and giving the Toa some more air, Nastan sputtered and coughed and Akuna pulled back, looking surprised that he had woken up so suddenly.

He was coughing up shadow as if it was water and he was breathing very deeply. He opened his eyes but did not sit up. Instead, he looked around at them with a weak expression in his orbs.

“What happened?” Nastan muttered in a hoarse voice. “Did I drown? Is this Paradise?” He looked around at the wet Toa, the debris of The Endless Shade out on the river, and at his own dented armor and then asked, “Why does Paradise look so much like Wyoko?”

Akuna merely happily smiled at him, and then, for the second time in 24 hours, hugged him tightly although this time he hugged her back without hesitation. They were like this for while, until Addis, now feeling slightly impatient, said, “If you two are done, we’re very close to The Door now. We can probably walk the rest of the way there.”

“Oh, yes,” Nastan said, quickly separating from Akuna and looking up at Addis. “Yes. Let’s do that. I am sick of seeing shadow and darkness and death everywhere, although I suppose it isn’t all bad. . . .” He looked at Akuna in the eyes as he said that.

So the two lovers quickly got back up to their feet (Nastan had a hard time balancing properly because of how weak and tired his limbs were) and then they rejoined their fellow Toa and soon they were walking again, this time toward The Door, which was within walking distance as Addis had said. They could see the forest of shadow, sitting at the foot of The Door to The Light, the trees silently shaking in the cold wind. They all knew that they would be returning home very soon and that thought, more than any other, gave them the courage and strength and encouragement to keep going. What they did not know, however, was what was waiting in the very heart of the wood itself. The remaining five Shodios, Turaga Krashadi himself, and about 50 well-armed and well-trained Kra-Matoran were all awaiting the Toa Shikas’ eventually arrival, ready to kill them and restart their conquest of the universe as they had done 100,000 years ago.

But even if the Toa had known that, they would still have confidently walked on to The Door anyway, preparing to meet their destiny.

Review Topic

Chapter 21: The River of Shadow

That night, sitting around a campfire (Nastan created some wood using his powers and they created a fire the old fashioned way when they realized that Addis’ plasma only melted, not burned, the wood) in a cave, the other five Toa Shika informed Nastan of all of the events that had taken place while the Toa had been evil.

Once they had finished telling him, Nastan shook his head and said in a grim tone, “I was pretty bad, wasn’t I, wanting to murder everyone like that?”

“Yes,” said Akuna, nodding. “You were practically unrecognizable. For a while I was afraid that you might even kill me!”

Nastan did a double take and stared at her with big eyes. “Kill you? Why, even if I was the biggest, most evil being in the entire universe I would never so much as harm you!”

“Well, you did want to kill me,” said Barilo. “I thought you had gotten over your dislike of me after we got here, but your shadow side apparently wanted to act upon those sour feelings of yours.”

Nastan looked into the fire for a minute or two, thinking. Then he said, “Well, I must tell you, Barilo, I do still distrust you a little. I would not want to kill you, certainly, but I have a hard time trusting you after what you almost did to me back on Shika Nui.”

There was an awkward silence as the six Toa Shika sat around the fire, all of them not knowing what they should say to that. Finally, Nastan spoke again, this time saying, “So this Wanderer girl. . . . Was she a good friend?”

“She was all right,” said Nonzra. “A little feisty, spoke her mind most of the time, but she was overall okay.”

“I wish I could have met her while I was in my right mind,” Nastan sighed. “She sounded really interesting. You don’t get to meet ghosts every day.”

And once again there was silence. Then Nastan said, “I tried to kill other people, too?”

“Uh huh,” said Chimoy, nodding. “You attempted to kill Jiki, or wanted to, at least. But the avalanche got her, you know, and now her body probably isn’t much more than a melted wreck.”

“So now we only have four Shodios to deal with,” said Nastan, counting his fingers. “Plus Mata Nui knows how many Kra-Matoran, and Turaga Krashadi himself. I like our odds.”

Barilo looked at him like he was crazy and Nastan looked back at him with a serious face until he broke into a grin and Barilo said, “I knew it.”

For the first time in a while, the six Toa Shika all laughed. It was loud laughter, despite their attempts to stifle it. They were all letting out all of the tension that had been building in the last few days and after they finished laughing they all felt pretty good, joked a bit more, and then decided to go to sleep before it got too late in the night.

“Well, good night, my friends,” Nastan said to them as he lay down. “See you all tomorrow.”

After saying good night to each other, they all went to sleep. Nastan and Akuna slept next to each other, one of Nastan’s arms around Akuna’s body. Though it was several degrees warmer outside than it was before – thanks to the eruption of the volcano and the lava that now surrounded the mountains – neither of the two wished to be separated again after all that they had gone through in recent days ever again.

-

The next morning Addis opened his eyes into the darkness of Wyoko. He looked around. The fire had gone out, with small plumes of smoke coming from the burnt ashes of the wood. The other Toa were all still asleep and he could tell it was slightly lighter outside, meaning it was day time, and that the Toa Shika had to get moving if they were to get to The Door first.

He sat up and shook his head. He had slept somewhat well last night, but had no time to get over his drowsiness. He decided to wake everybody up and that he did, shaking them all awake while saying “Rise and shine, everybody. We gotta get going.”

Soon all of the Toa were up and they were all still a little sleepy, though they knew that they would need to get a head start to The Door before the Shodios got there first. So after having a quick breakfast (Addis noticed that they were running out of food and decided that they would need to find some more supplies later) the Toa team was now on its way north, where they had last seen The Door.

Addis had told the rest of the team that they would need to stay off any and all roads and stay out of sight from any villages. He didn’t want them to have to fight and possibly lose against any of their enemies, and what with the deaths of Teivel and Jiki, the Shodios were more than likely to have armed each and every villager with at least a sword and spear, if not an entire weapons cache.

They would also have to be as quiet as possible and not talk very much, though Nastan found this hard to do because he still had so many questions to ask them about what they had been doing between the time he had been a Toa of Shadow and when he was turned back to normal again. So he mainly stuck by Akuna, whispering to her and asking her questions, while she happily answered in a whisper as well.

“So, you guys rode a giant bat to those mountains?” Nastan asked, trying to be as quiet as possible.

“Yes,” Akuna confirmed, nodding. “But let me tell you, it’s not fun. The Cracko kept floating up and down with every beat of its wings and it almost got me sick. I’d prefer to have a Kadin, though I don’t know how well those fly.”

Addis was in the front of the group, creating a rough path for the six Toa to walk through. He stepped on bushes and kicked aside stones, though he did all of it quietly for on the other side of the hill they were walking behind was a road and he wasn’t sure if there were any Kra-Matoran (or Shodios) on it. The Toa of Plasma was thinking of several things, mostly how they planned to get to The Door, since he did not doubt that they would need to get past the Shodios and several Kra-Matoran if they were to make their way there.

They’ve probably set up guards and sentries at The Door to stop us from getting through, Addis thought as he kicked a plant aside. Which means that we’ll need to make a distraction. But really, it all depends on how many Kra-Matoran are there and if any of the Shodios are there as well, so I can’t really talk about any sort of plan just yet, although planning is always good to do anyway.

-

Traveling through shadow was a disliked way of traveling by almost all of the Shodios, though especially Ira.

It wasn’t as though the ability was useless. No, one could get from Castle Kra to the Shahada Desert fairly quickly this way. But the downsides of it were that it drained a Shodios of much energy, plus they had a limit as to how far they could go (like they couldn’t travel from Castle Kra all the way to the Nui Mountains, for example). Also, the shadow travel gradually made one weaker, which made it a very difficult form of transportation.

Still, Rhatara was right. It was the quickest way to Castle Kra. Walking or taking a caravan would have taken hours and by then the Toa Shika might have already gotten to The Door and escaped. She still didn’t like shadow travel, but it made sense to use it now.

The ability to travel through shadow was actually a recent acquisition. About 300 years ago, Teivel had discovered, through rigorous training, a way to travel through shadow and reappear in virtually any area of Wyoko. Each one of the Shodios trained to do it and they all mastered it. They even tried to train a few Kra-Matoran how to use the ability, but one practice session alone told them that only they had the power to do it, lest they waste any more villagers on pointless, impossible tasks.

Since they couldn’t travel from the Nui Mountains to Castle Kra, they had gone beyond Wael and the Nui Mountains to a rocky plane near the village, where each one of the Shodios called upon their powers and were now soaring through what seemed like a weird pocket dimension of pure shadow.

Beside her, Rhatara was soaring so fast that he was almost a blur. Not that she could see him anyway in this darkness. Despite the fact that all of the Shodios had extremely excellent night vision, whenever they traveled by shadow they could not see through this place’s darkness. Jero had made several theories, such as perhaps it wasn’t really shadow at all but some other dark substance that merely reflected the user’s spirit, and since all of the Shodios had dark spirits, the place looked like darkness even though it really wasn’t which could explain why they couldn’t see in it. Ira didn’t think it made since at first, but now she was beginning to think that there might be some truth to it.

And just like that, the four Shodios landed on their feet in front of the draw bridge of Castle Kra. Ira felt a little disoriented, but she always felt that way after shadow traveling. Rhatara, on the other hand, didn’t seem to, or he was just hiding it well, for he was immediately standing up straight and barking orders to the Kra-Matoran on the walls above to let down the draw bridge, which they did.

Several minutes later the four remaining Shodios were running up the staircase to Turaga Krashadi’s tower, already planning on how they were going to break it to him that the Nui Mountains were covered in lava and that two Shodios had been killed by the Toa Shika.

As it turned out, they needn’t plan it at all, for when they reached the tower Turaga Krashadi simply looked at them and said, “Did everyone survive the eruption of the Nui Mountains or did a few of you die?”

“How did you know that?” Rhatara demanded, stunned.

“Simple. I can see the Nu Mountains from my tower here and the eruption was so bright and loud that I couldn’t help but look out of my window and see what was happening,” Krashadi replied. “Because Wyoko is such a dark place, I wondered where the Karzahni all of that light was coming from. I assume that the Toa Shika is somehow responsible for this?”

“We think so,” said Jero, nodding. “They were last spotted going into the Nui Mountains and we did not find any of their bodies in the hardened magma. So we think they’re still on the loose somewhere.”

Krashadi was scanning the group with careful eyes, however, and said, with a slight frown, “And where, exactly, are Teivel and Jiki? Were they caught in the eruption?”

“Yes,” Tikcah said through a rather emotion-filled voice. “We found Jiki’s mask and thought she was dead before the eruption, but we didn’t find Teivel and we . . . we. . . .”

“. . . Think he’s dead,” Ira finished for her sister. “No one could have survived that.”

“Ah, but you didn’t find a body, did you?” Krashadi said sharply.

“Yes,” Jero said in exasperation. “But that doesn’t mean he is still alive. His corpse may have been melted by the lava and fire. It would be totally illogical for him to have survived somehow.”

Krashadi jumped off his chair and started to pace around the room, his wooden staff of office making a soft thud as it hit the stone floor. “Teivel isn’t a normal Toa of Shadow. He may still be alive.”

“But how?” Jero roared angrily. “There is no logical way for him to have survived getting melted alive! No way at all!”

“Jero, you are a man of logic, true,” said Krashadi, nodding. “But sometimes you fail to see things that I and others do. The Great Spirit Mata Nui designed Teivel last of all of us and I know for certain that he made him for a special purpose. He could not die. Not yet, at least.”

“Turaga, as much as I may dislike Jero, he is right,” said Rhatara. “Not even Teivel could have survived. What makes him so ‘special,’ anyway? Explain yourself, elder.”

“Or perhaps I should explain,” came a dark, rebounding voice that seemed to come from the very foundation of the castle itself.

“Teivel?” Tikcah asked hopefully, looking around the chamber with the rest of them. “Is that . . . you?”

“Yes, it is I, Tikcah,” the booming voice came again. “And I did survive the eruption, unlike poor Jiki. It is a . . . unique experience to feel one’s very own body melt as the being lives itself still lives on. But it is not an experience I wish to go through again anytime soon.”

“Show yourself, Teivel!” Rhatara shouted as he brandished his chain link. “If you are alive, why not show your true form instead of hiding in the shadows like a common thief?”

Teivel’s voice laughed, yet it sounded like a painful laugh. “Ah, Rhatara, isn’t that what we all are doing now? We practically live in shadow itself. Wyoko is the epitome of shadow. We hide in it, stalk our enemies in it. Even the Toa Shika has learned to use it. So don’t compare me to a common thief, shadow spit.

“But if you must see me,” he continued, “then who am I to deny my dear brother such an innocent request?”

Suddenly, in the corner of the room the shadows began swirling and swirling, faster and faster like a whirl pool. At first it seemed like a portal was opening, but then the shadow began to take shape, the shape of a familiar Toa of Shadow, becoming solid as the shadows splashed and zipped like an artist painting on a canvas. Finally, after several tense minutes, Teivel stood in all his evil, though he looked very different now, and in a very frightening way.

His Mask of Shape Shifting was horribly melted, almost unrecognizably in some places, while the mouth area had been burned off, revealing his skeleton-like lower jaw. His arm, while it still had fingers and the general shape of a limb, was a skeleton of what it originally was and looked burnt in several places. His left arm seemed to have taken the most damage, because the shoulder armor seemed to have been melted onto his body and he didn’t seem to have the ability to move it anymore.

His legs were also skeletal, though much less so than his right arm, and his feet had been melted into blobs that were unrecognizable as the body parts they were supposed to be. And the spikes on his back, while a few of them looked normal, but the majority of them were melted, or burned off entirely. All in all, he looked like a grotesque skeleton that had been burned and was back from the dead.

“Oh . . . my. . . .” Tikcah gasped, falling into Rhatara’s arms, though she did not faint.

“Mata Nui.. . .” Jero muttered as he looked at his brother.

Rhatara’s mouth was just hanging open as his dark eyes took in the bizarre form of Teivel.

“What happened to you, Teivel?” Ira asked in a very terrified-sounding voice. “I mean, what happened to your whole form?”

Teivel smiled, which looked extremely ugly and painful in that form as he said, “Well, the Great Spirit Mata Nui gave me another power, one which I shall explain to you all right now.

“Years ago, when we were first created by the Great Spirit himself,” he paused here and coughed a bit before moving on, “I was given a special ability, one that Mata Nui thought would come in useful: The ability to recreated my body out of shadow should it ever be destroyed totally or if I should die.

“Now I’ve never had to use this power before, because I have never died, nor has my body ever been totally and utterly destroyed until now. You see, right before my the lava melted my body, my spirit was thrown from it into a endless dimension of shadow, where I waited until a few hours, for that is how long I must wait for my power to work, apparently.

“Then I summoned the shadow around me to recreate my body. The problem is, my power truly recreates my body the exact same way it was before I got killed. So as you can no doubt tell, this is how my body looked as it got melted by the lava of the Nui Mountains. And I still feel the pain of the magma in my veins, too, so it isn’t a fun power to play with unlike, say, shadow travel.”

For a while, none of the beings in the room spoke. They all just stared at Teivel with horrified expressions on their faces. All of them except for Krashadi, who had a thoughtful-looking expression on his face as if thinking about this recent revelation.

Finally, Rhatara found his tongue and hissed, “How come Mata Nui gave you that power, Teivel? What makes you so special? Is it just because you’re the leader or something?”

“Be quiet, Rhatara, my impatient brother,” Teivel growled lowly. “Or I will kill you horribly. As for why he gave me this power, I can only assume he was going to rely on me for some special task, perhaps to protect the universe. It would make sense. After all, if I cannot truly die, then I would be the ultimate defender of the universe. Nothing would be able to defeat me, at least for good. They would just have to keep striking me dead again and again until I get bored enough with them to end their miserable lives. He didn’t give you morons this power because he probably doesn’t trust you guys.”

“Teivel, you are no better than us,” Jero snapped. “And I thought Mata Nui doesn’t show favoritism?”

Teivel chuckled and said, “If he didn’t show favoritism, the Matoran would not be held up so highly in his esteem. No, they would be just as hated and despised as Zyglak if he did not favor them over the other species of this world.”

The mutilated Toa of Shadow paused, as if lost in thought, and then added, “Then perhaps, if I am supposed to protect the universe, maybe the Toa Shika is just hopelessly fighting against destiny, which means that they will surely die.”

“Enough,” Krashadi said abruptly, stepping in between the five Toa of Shadow. “While you power to spontaneously regenerate is remarkable, Teivel, I must inform you all that even as we speak the Toa Shika may be out there, heading toward The Door. And if they get there first, they will surely lock us in here, and whatever you destiny may be, Teivel, you may never get a chance to fulfill it if that happens.”

“Then let’s send word all over Wyoko to keep their eyes open for any sign of the Toa Shika,” Teivel ordered, standing up tall now. “Give all villages everywhere the permission to use lethal force against the Toa Shika if they find them. Those pesky Toa have been at large for far too long now and have been delaying our - my - inevitable destiny. Today they will be crushed!”

-

Nastan and Akuna were holding hands as they walked, mostly staying behind the others just to be alone. They were talking to each other and walking very close, though they were mostly talking about what they would do once they got back to Shika Nui.

If we get back, Akuna thought as she listened to Nastan talking. She sort of had a more realistic view of things compared to Nastan, but she enjoyed listening to him talk anyway, since it had been so long since she had heard him say a positive thing.

“So I say we’re gonna need to sneak through the Dark Hunters’ fortress,” said Nastan, slipping his hand out of hers and putting his arm her shoulder and pulling her close. “We may need to run for it, you know, blasting any Dark Hunters we run across out of our way. After that I think we should reconnect with Jokao and Turaga Joha. Then after that, we should lead a rebellion against the Dark Hunters.“

Akuna knew who Jokao was. Jokao was a Ta-Matoran who had traveled with the Toa Shika back on Shika Nui and had been something of a friend to them, although he did not trust Barilo much, mostly because of Barilo’s attempted murder on Nastan. Last Akuna saw, he and Joha had left to visit one of the villages back on the surface, but she wasn’t sure if the two were still alive or not.

“Nastan,” said Akuna, looking up at the tall, slightly gangling Toa. “What if Joha and Jokao aren’t, well, alive? I mean, last we saw, the Dark Hunters had killed Makuta Hajax. With him out of the way I kind of doubt that the Dark Hunters would leave them alive unless all of them are morons.”

“Well, Joha was a brave Toa back in his day and Jokao is a pretty capable Matoran himself,” Nastan said encouragingly to her. “Why, it wouldn’t surprise me if Joha’s already formed a resistance and has managed to keep the Dark Hunters at bay.”

Akuna nodded, and then another thought came to mind as she stepped over a rock. “I do wonder, though, what is keeping the Dark Hunters from just barging into Wyoko. I mean, they have the numbers to force The Door open if it won’t budge, but we haven’t heard or seen any Dark Hunters down here since we arrived. Surely they would have sent a party of Dark Hunters to come down here and hunt us all down by now?”

“Like I said, Joha and Jokao must be giving them loads of trouble up there,” said Nastan, pointing skyward with his index finger. “Must be giving them enough trouble to distract them from coming down here after us.”

“Maybe,” Akuna said as she rested her head on his shoulder. She thought of the recent events of the past few days, and then suddenly said, “Barilo!”

“Somebody say my name?” Barilo called back, looking over his shoulder.

“No,” Akuna replied, shaking her head. “We’re just talking.”

“Okay,” said the Toa of Gravity and he went right back to walking again.

“Why’d you say his name?” Nastan asked in a whisper with more than a hint of curiosity in his voice.

“Oh, it’s just, well,” she said, trying to find the words. “I mean, I have to ask. . . .”

“Yeah, what?” said Nastan, looking down at her.

“Back when you were a Toa of Shadow, you hated Barilo with a fiery passion and always talked of killing him,” Akuna said, so quickly that one word tumbled over into the next. “When we released you from your straps you tried to kill him then! I’ve just been wondering if your shadow self was just showing the anger you have hidden about Barilo. You know, when he tried to kill you back on Shika Nui?”

Nastan’s warm and friendly smile suddenly faded, and when he spoke next, it was in a much more serious tone than before. “I . . . don’t know, Akuna. I would like to say that I trust him, but I think you are right. Ever since he tried to kill me back on Shika Nui I’ve had this deep anger boiling up in my heart, but I tried to hold it back because I didn’t want to scare you or any of the other Toa with my violent anger. My shadow side must have shown it without restraint if what you and the others have told me is true.”

He sighed heavily and told her, “Akuna, it isn’t easy to trust your friend right after they’ve tried to murder you. Even if it was an accident, you begin to keep a close eye on him just in case he snaps again. It’s a kind of thing that needs to be worked on, a kind of trust problem that needs both people involved to work it out. It just doesn’t go away like the wind.”

Akuna was starting to feel slightly ashamed of bringing up Barilo in the first place. She didn’t mean to make Nastan act all serious and depressed and frankly he just wasn’t acting at all like his usual cheery and upbeat self which she had seen so little of in the past few days.

“Nastan, I shouldn’t have brought this up,” Akuna said quickly. “This is an issue you and Barilo need to sort out. I probably shouldn’t have said anything in the first place if it’s going to make you all depressed and everything. Let’s drop it.”

But then, to her amazement and delight, Nastan hugged her tighter than before in a warm embrace with that same smile on his face that she loved. And then he said to her, “Akuna, don’t feel sorry. I was meaning to talk about it myself, too, though I was hoping I wouldn’t have to be the one to bring it up. But you’re right, I guess. Barilo and I will have to figure it all out, though I don’t know when. . . .”

They hadn’t realized everyone that had stopped walking in front of them and the two lovers accidently walked into Barilo, nearly falling over before realizing what was happening. Barilo turned around and saw the two lying on the ground, slightly shaken.

“What were you two lovebirds doing?” Barilo asked. “You should watch where you’re walking, you know!”

Nastan felt his temper flare slightly and said, “Well, if you hadn’t been standing there like a brainless, idiotic brakas monkey, then maybe that wouldn’t have happened!”

Akuna, anticipating an argument and name-calling contest, quickly helped both herself and Nastan up and said, “So, uh, why’d everyone stop, Barilo?” She looked over his shoulder and saw Addis, Chimoy, and Nonzra looking down at something. “What are they looking at?”

Barilo and Nastan glared at each other for a minute before the Toa of Gravity broke his gaze from the Toa of The Green and turned to Akuna, saying, “Well, it’s pretty amazing and pretty weird at the same time. Go and look for yourself.”

Puzzled, Akuna and Nastan walked past Barilo and then stood beside Chimoy. Akuna gasped.

It was a river . . . of shadow? It looked like extremely black water, yet at the same time she could tell that it was pure shadow. It was rushing like water and it sounded almost exactly like a river, dashing against rocks and sandy beaches along its coastline. She could not see what was beneath the surface, but she really wasn’t interested in what was under the shadow. No, what she was interested in was what was on the river.

It was a large ship with four paddles sticking out of both sides. It had a large mast with Turaga Krashadi’s mask on it, while the six Shodios’ masks dotted its surface. It was painted completely black and almost indistinguishable from the rest of the river save for the name of the boat, which was written on the side in large, blood red letters that read, The Endless Shade. All in all, the boat looked big enough for six Toa to ride on, if that was what Addis was thinking of using it for.

“Wow!” Nastan said excitedly. “A boat . . . I’ve always wanted a boat of my own!”

“How’d you find this?” Akuna asked Addis.

“Just stumbled upon it right here,” Addis replied. “I was just walking along when I heard what sounded like rushing water and then I saw the boat and the river of shadow just sitting there. I don’t see any Kra-Matoran around and the boat looks pretty beat-up and old, so maybe it’s abandoned which means we can use it to our advantage.” He gestured to the rest of the Toa Shika and said, “Let’s go down to the dock and check it out!”

The six Toa climbed carefully but quickly down the hill, since all of the Toa were interested in the ship. In minutes they had managed to reach the ground and were already moving across the worn, beat-up dock that the ship was tied down to. The ship looked old but still seaworthy, although none of the Toa Shika knew how to pilot a boat.

“Perhaps four of us should just go below deck and row it,” Chimoy suggested. “I don’t feel a wind strong enough to move that huge sail.”

“Sounds good to me,” Addis said, nodding. “Okay, so four of us will be below deck and row, while two of us will stay topside and keep an eye out for any Kra-Matoran. Everybody got that?”

“Yeah,” the other five Toa said in unison.

“Good,” said Addis, nodding. “Chimoy, Nastan, Nonzra, and I will row the ship, while you two, Akuna and Barilo, will stay topside and warn us to keep a look out for any Kra-Matoran, okay?”

“Why can’t I row with you guys?” asked Akuna, feeling slightly offended. “Do you think I’m not strong enough to move the oars or something?”

“Okay, you can,” Addis snapped, a little more harshly than he intended. “Nastan and Barilo will keep a look out while you stay with us, rowing the oars. Now let’s get in. This boat may lead us to The Door, since I do remember seeing a river near the forest that surrounds The Door. Hopefully this is the same one.”

So the six Toa all climbed onto the ship, Addis, Nonzra, Akuna, and Chimoy heading below deck, while Nastan and Barilo stayed topside. Nastan quickly untied the rope and then pushed the ship away from the dock and soon the vessel was sailing gently down the wide river, hopefully toward The Door and toward their home.

Review Topic

Chapter 20: Wanderer’s Mission

“Oh . . . my . . .” Barilo said in a voice that was barely more than a whisper. “Everybody . . . look. . . .”

The other five Toa Shika painfully lifted their heads from the snow and looked at where Barilo was pointing. Even Nastan, the most cold and evil of them all, looked positively terrified by what he saw.

What they saw was that the mountains that they had been briefly lost in no longer had the white, pure snow that they had grown so used to seeing. Instead, lava was covering the landscape, melting all of the snow and burning anyone or anything that got in its way. The volcano itself, they saw, was enormous, bigger than all of the other mountains around it, with smoke and ash still bellowing from its mouth like a roaring Muaka. Some of the lava had already hardened, giving the land a sort of hard, stony look that differed greatly from its once soft, snow-white appearance. Even from their distance they could still feel the heat of the lava, though not nearly as much as when they had been in the heart of the mountain.

The sky looked different as well. It no longer was the pure, purplish-black shadow that usually hung over Wyoko like a blanket. Now it was a gray, burning smoke that added to the impossibility of seeing anything. There was not a cloud in the sky, at least none that they could see since the smog was covering everything. Barilo could see a few lava eels, mostly the bigger ones, crawling out of the crater of the volcano with the lava, looking slightly confused as to why they were no longer in their warm home in the heart of the mountain anymore.

“No one . . . I mean no one could have survived something like that,” Akuna breathed as the light of the burning lava reflected off of her slightly fearful eyes. “Why, I bet you there isn’t so much as a single mask left of any of the Shodios or of their Kra-Matoran now.”

-

Unknown to the Toa of Lightning, she was partly right and partly wrong about that. Rhatara, Jero, Tikcah, and Ira had managed to escape the exploding mountain, but in the process had abandoned their hunting parties to die in the unbearably hot lava. All four of them had regrouped back at the edge of the mountains, each one of the Shodios watching the scene with a mixture of anger and confusion. Jero, at least, was extremely curious about the volcano.

“I wonder how it managed to erupt,” Jero said in a tone of wonderment. “It must have taken a great and powerful force to do that, and I had no idea that there was a volcano, of all things, here in Wyoko. I must study it sometime.”

“The Toa Shika,” Rhatara spat, as if the name was poison to his mouth. “They somehow found their way into the volcano and activated it. I just know it. They were trying to kill us!”

“We will have to kill them, then,” Ira said in a tone that suggested that they slay the Shika in extremely horrible and cruel ways. “If they survived, then I am now, more than ever before, convinced that we should have killed them instead of trying to feed them to the shadow eels back then.”

Tikcah, however, looked quite worried about something else compared to the others.

“Where’s Teivel?” she asked, looking around for any sign of the one she loved. “Did he-?”

“Probably,” Rhatara said in disgust. “He probably thought that he could kill all six of the light dwellers himself and then probably got caught in the explosion. It wouldn’t surprise me if his corpse is somewhere beneath that lake of lava right now, boiling and melting.”

Jero seemed to notice that someone else was missing, too. “Where is Jiki? Not that I miss her, but I do wonder why we didn’t find her in the Nui Mountains and why she isn’t here with us right now.”

“My guess is she either got caught by the lava or got killed by the Toa Shika,” said Ira, the lava reflecting her black, evil eyes. “She was the first one after them, after all. They must have thought ‘Screw her’ and then killed her. Or maybe she was just stupid enough to decide that playing with lava would be fun.”

Ignoring Ira, Tikcah said, “Oh, I hope Teivel’s all right. I don’t know if I will be able to live without him!”

“Learn to live without him, then, Tikcah,” said Rhatara. “He’s dead, killed by the volcano’s eruption no doubt. If he was still alive he would have been here to meet us now. What an idiotic fool.”

Tikcah whirled around and, in one swift motion, had a dagger to Rhatara’s throat. She seemed to have an angry look in her eyes that told Rhatara he had said the wrong thing.

“Don’t . . . you . . . ever . . . insult . . . our . . . leader,” she hissed into his audio receptor. “Or else I will personally kill you.”

Rhatara, unimpressed, said, “Fine, fine, whatever. He’s not alive anymore, so there’s no reason I can’t call him a fool, since he can’t fight back.”

Tikcah still held her dagger up to his throat as if daring him to move or say something else. Jero, however, knowing that a fight would be pointless and would waste their time and energy, managed to get in between the two Shodios, and said to them, “I suggest that we ignore our own conflicts and find the six Toa Shika. We should return to Wael and take some of their Kra-Matoran with us and search the rest of these mountains.”

Rhatara broke his gaze from Tikcah and then looked at Jero. “Why should we? The Toa Shika probably got killed, too. No need to do that, in my opinion.”

“I wouldn’t say so,” said Ira, “The kind of light loving Toa that they are have an extremely annoying habit of surviving these kinds of things when normal beings shouldn’t have. I think we all remember the Toa Avha well.”

“Of course,” said Jero, nodding. “They should have fallen before us, but somehow those light dwellers beat us and imprisoned us down here, despite the fact they were against an entire army of Kra-Matoran, us, and Turaga Krashadi. That is the reason why I suggested that we search for their corpses in the first place. I do not want to be hoodwinked by a bunch of inferior light lovers.”

“Okay, but let’s not take any Kra-Matoran from Wael with us,” said Rhatara. “It will take too long for us to get to Wael on foot and if the Toa Shika is still alive they might escape while we’re heading there.”

“Okay,” said Ira, nodding, “sounds good to me. Only, let’s not split up. If they got Jiki and Teivel by themselves, then surely they will get us, too, if we are alone. I doubt they can take on us as a team.”

So the four Shodios began their searching, planning on immediately killing the six Toa Shika once they found them. Even Jero seemed to think that they should be killed, although that mean that he would be losing one valuable experiment and five fresh test subjects. But now he was more interested in leaving Wyoko than in experimenting anyway.

-

For a long while, the Toa Shika and Wanderer just sat there, watching the volcano as it spewed out the last of its lava, lighting up the dark sky with a reddish-orange glow that seemed eerily out of place in Wyoko. Now only smoke was coming out of its crater and even that was beginning to thin too.

So Addis, knowing that they had a long way to go, stood up in the ash and snow and said to the others, “Come on. We have to get to The Door.”

He pointed behind them, and they all looked in his direction. There it was, The Door to the Light, standing on what looked like the other side of Wyoko. It was obviously night time now, for the shadow was practically complete, though The Door itself seemed to be emitting a sort of electric blue glow that was very out of place in Wyoko.

“That’s it?” asked Wanderer. “Looks a lot smaller and less grand than you guys said it was.”

“It’s a lot bigger closer up,” said Barilo. “We’re just too far away from it now.”

So the six Toa Shika rose from their feet and brushed the ash and snow off of their armor. Barilo kept his eyes on The Door, which looked like it would take quite a while to get there. But as long as they kept out of sight of the Kra-Matoran villages, they would be okay, he thought.

That was when a huge, powerful blast of shadow came from behind and knocked him and the other Toa onto the ground face first. It was almost enough to knock him out, but Barilo managed to stay conscious, if a little bruised. He rolled over onto his back and saw Nastan standing over him, his bow aimed at the Toa of Gravity’s mask, an evil grin on his face.

“What are you doing?” Wanderer demanded, floating toward him.

“Just getting rid of a problem is all,” Nastan replied. “He tried to kill me back on Shika Nui, you know.”

“It was an accident!” Barilo shouted, fear in his voice. “I was going insane! I-“

“Stop the excuses!” Nastan shouted, pulling the arrow back a little bit more. “You know you really did want to see me dead. Don’t try to say Hajax made you do it. That is an idiotic way to justify your almost-murder.”

Barilo wanted to argue that Nastan was wrong, that he really had been driven insane from having had his mind link with Makuta Hajax snapped. Yet at the same time, he knew that there was a certain truth to Nastan’s words. He had to admit that he had wanted to kill Nastan at the time. But he hadn’t really, at least not really, really, really wanted to kill him.

But even then as he tried to justify it in his mind, a horrible thought suddenly appeared in his head: Was he just trying to justify almost killing his friend? Was Barilo no better than Hajax or any of the Shodios? The very thought of it sent a chill up Barilo’s spine and he did not like it at all.

“Okay, Nastan, I admit, I did try to kill you under my own free will,” Barilo confessed, looking up into the red eyes of his fellow Toa. “I didn’t do it just because I was going insane (though for the record I was slightly out of my mind at the time). I did it because I was angry, I had the power, and I was willing to do it, too. But now,” he added, “I have seen my mistake and I ask you for your forgiveness. Please, Nastan, find it somewhere in your heart to forgive your fellow Toa for wronging you. Please.”

He looked up at Nastan with pleading eyes, and for a second he thought he saw a look of mercy in the red orbs of his friend. But then the Toa of Shadow shook his head and said in a cold, hard voice, “Nice try, Barilo. But I don’t forgive my enemies.”

Right before he could shoot off the arrow, however, Wanderer drew her spear and shield off of her back and charged Nastan, hoping to somehow stop him, despite knowing the fact that she was a ghost and could not touch or harm a physical being like Nastan. Still, she really didn’t want to see murder happen right before her eyes, even though she had seen it done in the past, but that didn’t mean she enjoyed it or tolerated it at all.

Suddenly, just as the tip of her ghostly weapon made contact with Nastan’s shoulder, she disappeared, as if she really hadn’t been there at all. Barilo wildly looked around to see if he could find her, but did not see hide or tail of Wanderer anywhere. Where’d she go?

All of a sudden, he heard Nastan shout a cry of pain and then he looked up just in time to see the Toa of Shadow drop his weapon onto Barilo and stumble backwards, head in his hands, screaming in pain.

The rest of the Toa had gotten back on their feet and also had drawn their weapons, but they weren’t using them. Instead, they, like Barilo, watched Nastan, who seemed to be in some sort of horrible, unstoppable pain that affected his whole body, particularly his head. Akuna, worried for his safety, tried to move forward to somehow help him, but Addis put an arm in front of her to stop her. Whatever was happening to Nastan, he didn’t want Akuna or any of the other Toa Shika to interrupt in case they hurt themselves or Nastan.

“My head!” Nastan shouted, clutching his skull with his hands. “Get out of my head! Get out of my head, ghost!”

-

Wanderer smoothly landed in a dark, barren land that looked an awful lot like Wyoko. She looked around, wondering where she had ended up in. She saw no snow, ash, smoke, mountains, or any Toa, so she thought it might not be Wyoko.

Last I remember, I was flying into Nastan, trying to stop him from killing Barilo, she recalled. Did I get teleported somewhere? It’s so dark here, like Wyoko.

She decided to explore the place and began walking through the shadowy fog. There were no buildings, no people, not even a Rahi in this place. Then again, the darkness was pretty thick, so maybe she just couldn’t see anybody. It was starting to make her feel a little edgy, because she was somehow solid in this place, despite being a ghost. So she knew that she could get attacked if she wasn’t careful.

Her two-toed feet hit the ground softly as she walked, her ghost-white eyes darting all around at the weird place. It seemed like she had been walking for hours before she finally saw a small, barely visible light up ahead. It was too little and far away to make out clearly, but any source of light here must be good, she reasoned. So she picked up the pace and the bright light started to grow even brighter. She knew she was close.

Finally, after what seemed like even more hours she finally reached the light, which turned out to be a huge wall of pure brightness that was almost too much for her to look at directly. She shielded her eyes, but caught sight of something else as she did so.

Over to her right she noticed something that looked like a well. It looked like any other well she had seen: Small, made of stone, with two wooden beams holding a small rooftop over it, although it was strangely absent of a bucket for gathering water from it. But something about it seemed to be calling her over, as if beckoning her to examine it. So she walked over to it, curious to figure out what it was.

When she leaned over to take a look inside of it, she saw to her surprise that something was in the bottom of the well. Not water, but some sort of silvery liquid-like substance that was far too deep for her to make out. She wondered what it was supposed to be when suddenly she heard a small sound behind her that startled her.

“Ah!” she exclaimed, turning around. “Who’s there?”

She wildly glanced around, but saw nothing, until she heard the sound again and looked down at her feet. To her surprise, she saw a Matoran in green-ish blue armor carrying a bucket in his arms, looking up at her with sad-looking eyes. He also had a quizzical look in his orbs as he watched her, as if wondering who she was. It took her a minute before she suddenly realized the identity of the quiet Matoran.

“Nastan?” Wanderer gasped. “Is . . . is that you? Why are you a Matoran? And why isn’t your armor black?”

Nastan the Matoran frowned at her and said, “You are Wanderer, are you not? A ghost that is supposed to be intangible, yet now you are physical, solid as a rock. I suppose that makes sense, at least in here it does.”

“Yes, I’ve been wondering about it, too,” she said, not at all liking this bizarre situation and wondering why Nastan was a Matoran when he should clearly be a Toa. “Now answer my questions I asked you earlier, please. I do not like being left in the dark.”

Strangely, Nastan chuckled and said, “You are in the dark, Wanderer.” He gestured to the shadow all around. “Look at your environment. Shadow and darkness everywhere you look. I need not be the one to leave you in the dark, my friend.”

“But you would like some answers, wouldn’t you?” Nastan continued, walking past her and tying the bucket to the rope that hung above the well. “First, I can tell you that I am both Nastan and not Nastan at the same time.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I am a memory,” Nastan the Matoran replied as he lowered the bucket into the well of silver liquid. “I am what Nastan used to be, what he remembers. I do not technically exist. I am a memory of the time when he was a simple, innocent Matoran villager.”

“Innocent, eh?” Wanderer snorted. “I don’t think being a thief counts as ‘innocent.’ “

“Well, more innocent than I am now,” Nastan said with a sly grin spreading across his face. “I am what Nastan wants to be. His mind may be full of darkness and evil, but his transformation into a Toa of Shadow was not truly, 100% complete, for if it was I would be behind that barrier over there with the rest of Nastan’s good memories and thoughts.”

He gestured to the wall of light that Wanderer had seen earlier. At the mention of it the light seemed to grow suddenly brighter, as if it wanted to be noticed.

“Yet he also knows that he can’t be me anymore,” Nastan continued. “All of the evil that Jero put in his mind has stopped him from being good. It has poisoned him, corrupted him, to the point where he now actually enjoys harming others and being evil. It scares him, it scares me.”

Now Wanderer was putting two and two together as the Matoran version of Nastan spoke. He had mentioned that he was one of Nastan’s memories, that he was the only good memory left on the other side of the barrier that blocked all of Nastan’s good memories and thoughts, and there can’t be a Toa version of someone and a Matoran version at the same time, so she concluded-

“I am in Nastan’s mind,” she said, slightly horrified. “I can’t believe it.”

“So you finally figured it out, eh?” said Nastan, who was now peering over the edge of the well, as if to get a better look at its contents. “Yes, that is where you are, my friend. This is what is left of his mind: Darkness and shadow. Oh, he can think and do intelligent things and talk and stuff, but now his mind is little more than a barren wasteland of death and shadow.

“Before he had his shadow taken away from him, however, it was a much better place. There were good thoughts and memories, grass, trees, and flowers everywhere. Occasionally there was a thunderstorm or some sort of dark cloud whenever Nastan got angry or sad or upset, but it was usually a pretty nice place to live if you’re one of his memories. But then, a mighty shadow appeared and locked the others away, but I managed to stay, for I had an important duty to complete for Nastan’s mind.”

“So Nastan can’t remember any good thoughts at all?” Wanderer questioned.

“No, he can,” Nastan the Matoran replied. “He remembers being a Toa of The Green. He remembers all of the good times he shared with the other Toa Shika, especially Akuna, and he also remembers other good things as well. But now, because of all of the shadow in his mind, he sees them through a mirror of evil, one that makes him think his old days as a light Toa were pathetic and weak. How misguided he has become!”

Finally, he withdrew the bucket and placed it on the ground. Now Wanderer had a better look at the silvery contents that were in the well.

To Wanderer, now that she had a better look at the contents of the well, it seemed to be nothing more than a bunch of mixed colors that made little-to-no sense to her at all. What was the point of looking at this stuff? She wondered.

Nastan the Matoran, however, seemed to know something she didn’t, for he muttered, “Not good enough,” and dumped the silver stuff back inside the well.

Curious, Wanderer asked, “What was that silvery stuff?”

“Some of Nastan’s most recent memories and thoughts,” said Nastan, who was now frowning again. “His thoughts have been very dark and evil nowadays and not worth taking out and examining.”

“Why do you take them out and examine them?” she asked.

“Because I act as a filter for Nastan,” Nastan the Matoran answered. “I collect his raw, untamed thoughts and memories and emotions and decide how Nastan should see them. These ones he has just recently acquired aren’t very good and I don’t want him to remember them, but even if I do toss them back in the well they will still stay in his mind forever until he forgets them.”

“Why will they?”

“Because memories are never truly gone, even if I get rid of them,” the Gre-Matoran sighed. “It would be cruel, I suppose, if whenever I tossed out any thoughts or memories that I did not like, he never remembered them, never even got a chance to decide for himself whether they were good or bad. But whatever the case,” he shook his head as he said, “it is not my place to debate moral issues like that. My job is to filter his memories and thoughts. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“You seemed to be a rather big thinker for someone who is allegedly not supposed to debate moral issues,” Wanderer observed.

“When you live in someone’s mind like I do, you have little else to do but think of philosophical things like that,” Nastan replied.

Now they were quiet and Wanderer simply watched the Matoran as he dropped his bucket in the well again and pulled out some more thoughts. This went on for some time, as he had a few other buckets as well that seemed to have came out of nowhere. Finally, he finished his job and picked up his buckets with the caution of someone holding a valuable treasure.

“Do you need any help?” asked Wanderer.

“No!” Nastan said in an alarmed voice. “You may spill them, and if you do, they will be lost forever and be totally irretrievable. I can’t risk losing them.”

With that, Nastan started to walk away. Wanderer watched him go, but the she had a sudden question and shouted, “Hey! What am I supposed to do here? How do I get out of this dark hole? Is there any way out at all?”

Right before he entered the shadows, Nastan looked over his shoulder and called back, “You must do what destiny tells you to do, Wanderer. I cannot give you any specific instructions beyond that because frankly I don’t know what you’re supposed to do, either.”

With a playful smile on his face that Wanderer thought must have been how Nastan smiled originally before becoming a Toa of Shadow, the memory of Nastan the Matoran disappeared into the shadows. Wanderer just stood there, her expression one of frustration and anger. What did he mean ‘do what destiny tells you to do’? How was she supposed to find out what destiny wanted her to do, anyway? This was her least favorite part of being a spirit wanderer. Her missions were never clear and almost always took a long time to figure out.

What, does he expect Destiny to come down from Paradise and tell me what to do? she thought indignantly. Mata Nui, he’s a fool!

She was so angry that she wanted to throw her spear at something. She glanced around and saw the barrier keeping Nastan’s good thoughts and memories from entering the Toa of Shadow’s mind. She tilted her head now, thinking. She wasn’t angry anymore, nor did she want to throw her spear at something to release her anger. In fact, she was now hatching a new plan, one that might just be what destiny wanted her to achieve after all.

I gotta break that barrier, Wanderer concluded. That must be what I am supposed to fix. Nastan isn’t supposed to be evil. He’s supposed to be good, so I, being a spirit wanderer, must fix Nastan, changing him back to normal, and then I will be teleported back home. I will use my spear and strike the barrier. Maybe that will shatter it.

She knew how dangerous that could be. What if she got hurt as a result of unleashing Nastan’s good thoughts and memories? What if she got killed, in fact? What if it she was not supposed to do it at all and she was doomed to an eternity of sorting memories, emotions, and thoughts with Nastan’s very own mini-me? Or what if she couldn’t break the barrier at all?

Gotta stop doubting and gotta start throwing, she decided, already aiming with her spear.

But before she threw the weapon, one final thought entered her mind: Was this right?

Is it in my place to turn Nastan back to normal? Wanderer questioned suddenly. He never asked me to do this. Maybe he’s happy this way. Maybe I should just find another way out of here.

She frowned, angry with herself. She hated thinking deep, philosophical thoughts. There just never seemed to be a definite answer to her and she was never sure if she did the right thing or not. She assumed that being inside of Nastan’s mind must be making her do a lot of thinking, just like what was happening to the memory Nastan.

Yet, I can’t help but feel that maybe Nastan will be better off being good again, she thought. I can’t see how anyone would want to be separated from their loved ones just in pursuit of evil. From what the others have told me, Nastan used to be a pretty nice guy. I think I would be doing Nastan - and his friends - a favor for doing this.

With that, she hefted her large weapon above her shoulder, aimed for the middle of the barrier and, with one mighty thrust of her strong arm, sent the long, thin spear flying into the barrier. It flew straight and true, hitting the wall exactly in the middle where she had been aiming for. It stuck and for a minute nothing happened. Have I failed? was the first thought to enter her mind as she watched the spear just sit there, as unmoving as a stone.

But then all of a sudden, cracks started to appear around the spear, spreading through the barrier. They gradually extended to the rest of the wall and light began to leak through in sparse amounts. Finally a large portion of the wall broke open, weakening the rest of it so that it exploded, unleashing light and energy upon Nastan’s mind.

Wanderer never even had a chance to move. The light hit her like a sledgehammer and she was sent flying away, going so fast and so hard that for a minute she was afraid that if she stopped she would fall and die. But instead she just kept flying away, farther and farther, faster and faster, until the long, green grass, tall, blooming trees, and other features of Nastan’s mind became little more than distant, indistinguishable little dots. . . .

-

Back in the physical world, Nastan was now lying curled up in a ball in the snow on the ground, unconscious and shivering slightly. The other Toa Shika had gathered around him now, unsure of what to do. Akuna was the most worried of the group, her green eyes reflecting her own helplessness of not being able to do anything to help him, but just the same she wanted to do something to help Nastan.

Please don’t be dead, Nastan, Akuna thought. I don’t know what I will do without you-

All of a sudden, Nastan’s armor began to slowly fade from pure, jet-black to his original blue-ish green color scheme right before their eyes. He also seemed to be becoming less intimidating-looking as well and there seemed to be a general evil leaving his form. In fact, it was only in a few minutes that he was all the way back to his old self again, while the other five Toa Shika all looked on, wondering what had happened, and why.

And then Wanderer suddenly appeared right next to the Toa Shika. She looked just as confused as they were and was glancing around the area, apparently trying to make sure she was still in Wyoko. Then she looked down and noticed Nastan had changed and instantly she knew what had happened.

“Ah ha!” Wanderer said triumphantly. “It worked!”

“What worked?” asked Akuna, taking her eyes off Nastan for the first time in minutes to look at the ghost.

“Well, it’s hard to explain,” said Wanderer. “So long story short, I ended up in Nastan’s mind somehow and destroyed a mental barrier keeping the light from returning to him, so he’s back to normal now.”

Akuna looked thunderstruck. “What? You . . . you healed him?”

“Well, yeah,” said Wanderer, nodding. “Wasn’t I supposed to do that?”

“I’m not mad,” Akuna said eagerly. “Oh, no, definitely not mad. I am just extremely happy and can’t believe what just happened.”

“Well, you might want to turn around,” Wanderer suggested, pointing over her shoulder. “Because what you will see will probably make you even happier, I think.”

Nastan was stirring now, moaning in pain, his eyes opening slightly. His eye color was back to its normal yellow color, although they had a dazed and somewhat confused look about them. He sat up and shook his head and said, “Whoa. . . . Where am I? How’d I get here?” He looked around and said, “And just why the Karzahni are we all covered in ashes and snow?”

“Nastan . . .” Akuna breathed, bending down next to him. “Can you . . . remember anything?”

“Yeah, I think I do,” said Nastan, putting his left hand on the back of his head, as if thinking. “Oddly enough I think I might have been able to shoot shadow and I distinctly remember being bound in uncomfortable metal bounds for a while there. I think it might have all been a dream, though.” He added. “A really weird dream, at that.”

“It . . . wasn’t a dream,” said Akuna, who was now looking like she could cry with happiness, though she was holding back the tears. “You were a Toa of Shadow for a while and we did have you tied up to keep you from harming Barilo.”

Nastan stared at her with wide eyes. “What? Really? Man that explains why my back hurts, although I still don’t know where I am.”

“We’ll explain later,” said Addis, who was smiling slightly. “We’re just glad to have you back.”

“You might also want to thank your savior,” Barilo added. “She’s standing right over- Hey!”

He noticed that Wanderer was starting to fade in and out of existence rapidly. The other five Toa Shika noticed this and all watched as the ghost began to disappear. Wanderer did not look frightened, though she did have an expression of disappointment and pride on her face even as she began to fade away.

“Looks like I finished what I came here for,” said Wanderer, though her voice was strangely distant and echo-y sounding, like when they had first met her. “Time for me to go home.”

“Wait!” said Akuna, looking alarmed. “I haven’t thanked you for healing Nastan!”

“Well . . . you don’t need . . . to . . .” Wanderer said with a slight smile on her face. “I’ll just . . . accept . . . a simple thank you. . . . Bye . . . you . . . six . . . were . . . interesting. . . .”

And with that, Wanderer disappeared into thin air, her spirit having wandered back to its original body. All of the Toa except for Nastan now felt strangely sad for seeing her go, despite knowing her for only a few hours. Especially Nonzra, who seemed to have taken a liking to the ghost despite how he snapped at her earlier. Nastan just looked plain confused, however, and said, “Um, who was that? Why was she a ghost? And why did she disappear?” He felt like he had just walked in the middle of an incredibly long and complex story that seemed to have too many questions and not enough answers to a new listener.

Akuna, however, just turned to look at Nastan and smiled. “We’ll explain later. For now, I think we gotta get going. . . .”

Suddenly, inexplicably, Akuna launched herself onto Nastan and hugged him very hard. Nastan was slightly taken aback by this, but he eventually hugged her back. The other Toa, all of whom had been standing by, had averted their eyes so as to give the two some privacy.

Finally, Akuna regained control of her emotions and tore herself away from Nastan, instead preferring to stare deeply into his eyes. Nastan returned the look, and for a few minutes they just looked at each other. But eventually, Addis began to get slightly impatient and said, as he extended a hand to Nastan, “We really gotta get going, like Akuna said. The Shodios may be nearby and we can’t afford to let them catch us off guard like this.”

“Uh, okay,” Nastan said, taking Addis’ hand and standing up. “I would like it if someone explained to me, though, what has been happening these past few days.”

Addis suddenly noticed that it was even darker out than usual, which meant that Wyoko’s weak sun had set for the day and now it was time for sleep.

“We’ll explain to you when we rest for the night,” he told Nastan. “For now, let’s find some place to sleep without being found by the Shodios. They’ll want us killd if they discover that Teivel and Jiki died.”

“Teivel and Jiki are dead?” Nastan repeated, thunderstruck. “Man I must’ve missed out on a lot!”

“Actually, you were there for the whole adventure,” Akuna said as she slipped one of her hands in his. “You just don’t remember it, I guess.”

So the now-completed Toa team restarted their journey to The Door, all of them informing Nastan of the events of the last few days. Each one of them was happy to have Nastan back on the team as a true, official member, but they also felt sad that, despite the fact she had not been a true Toa or a true member of the team, Wanderer was gone. They had all be begun to think of her as a friend in some small way, but now it seemed they had exchanged one new friend in for an old friend.

Yet I don’t doubt that we will meet her again someday, Chimoy thought as he walked behind the rest of the chattering Toa. We may meet her again as a ghost, or maybe as a physical being. Destiny is a funny and complex thing, somehow both at the same time. Perhaps if we return to the surface we may run into her again. That would be nice, and I think Nonzra would like that, even if he doesn’t want to admit it.

-

None of the Shodios had found the bodies of Jiki, Teivel, or the Toa Shika, although Rhatara did discover Jiki’s half-melted Kanohi Achi not too far from where they had started. They were now at the edge of the mountains again, and Tikcah was worried, since they had found no clue whatsoever of Teivel.

“We should give him a funeral, at least,” she suggested. “We may not have his body, but we can always just do it to show him respect.”

“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” said Jero. “We have six Toa on the loose, six Toa who may already be at The Door or are on their way to there. We didn’t find their bodies, so there is a high possibility that they somehow managed to escape.”

“Which means we’re going to have to find them,” said Rhatara, who was now seething in anger. “I shall be the leader of our team now. I was Teivel’s second-in-command, of course, and I say we go after the Shika instead of worrying about funerals for melted arrogant fools. Who’s with me?”

Ira and Jero nodded, but Tikcah didn’t at first. Finally, after some thinking, she said, “Okay, let’s do it. It is what Teivel would have wanted, had he still been alive. It is a god way to honor his memory, I think.”

“Good,” Rhatara said, cracking an evil grin. “Let’s go to Castle Kra and inform Turaga Krashadi of the deaths of our two teammates. It is most unfortunate that they had to die, but then that is life. Let’s go.”

As the four Shodios turned as one and began their slow descent down the hardened lava that covered the mountains, none of them heard the ever so faint sound of laughter being carried across the harsh, cold winds of the Nui Mountains, a laughter that would have been all too familiar to the four Shodios, one that would have sent chills even up their spines.

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Chapter 19: Into the Core of the Mountain

The cave was very icy and dark, thus causing them to slip and stumble a bit as they walk on. Akuna was in the lead, her Mask of Night Vision activated to let them see ahead. All that they saw were more icicles, some stalactites and stalagmites, and occasionally piles of snow every now and then. Wanderer didn’t need the light, as ghosts can see in the dark, but she mostly hung out in the back, lazily floating above Nonzra and teasing him, which annoyed the Toa of Sonics.

There were no other entrances that lead off the path, so they had to keep going straight on. None of them present had any idea of where they were going. All they knew was that it was very cold and very dark and that if the Shodios were waiting at the end of the tunnel, they were in for a fight.

“Hey, Wanderer,” snapped Nastan, looking for an excuse to get somebody angry. “Why don’t you just go ahead and scout for us instead of being a lazy good-for-nothing? After all, you are a ghost. Nothing can hurt you, after all.” He was sarcastic in tone, but he was right. She couldn’t be hurt by any physical threats like the Toa Shika could and therefore was the perfect scout.

“I would,” Wanderer said thoughtfully. “But I really don’t want to because I want to stick with you guys for now and see if there are any troubles that I should be fixing.”

“Well, there is Nastan,” said Nonzra, gesturing at the Toa of Shadow his head. “He isn’t normally a Toa of Shadow. He normally controls plant life, so maybe you need to fix him.”

“I don’t need any fixing,” Nastan snapped. “I am stronger now, more powerful. I do not need to be a pathetic and weak Toa of The Green again. With just one blast of shadow I could bring this entire cavern down upon all of us!”

“If you were free, shadow boy, you probably could,” said Wanderer. “I am not sure if I can fix him, since I have never heard of someone having their light forcibly taken from their body. It sounds crazy, yet it’s true.”

“Truth is often stranger than fiction,” Chimoy said thoughtfully.

“Well, whatever is ahead, we can deal with it,” said Addis, nodding at his team. “We have six Toa and a ghost on our side. Heck, there may not even be anything up ahead at all. It may just lead to an exit that we could use to get out of here.”

So the party was silent again. Akuna thought that they were an odd party. Five Toa restraining their sixth member who was evil along with a sarcastic ghost was supposed to help people solve problems. The thought of how weird her team was would have probably amused her if her boyfriend wasn’t the evil one and if they weren’t on the run from five other evil Toa.

As they continued to descend deeper into the tunnel, Akuna wondered what they would do once they got out of this place. Probably try to find the quickest route to The Door or maybe find a way to cure Nastan. She hoped that there was a way to cure Nastan, because she couldn’t stand to see her dearest and closest friend acting no better than a Dark Hunter or Shodios.

-

Teivel and his hunting party had followed two tracks of foot prints to a small clearing, one he had never seen before. It was empty, though there was a bunch of Toa foot prints that obviously belonged to the Toa Shika and saw to his surprise a saw a large, unblocked cave mouth, looking as if its entrance had been melted open. At the foot of the doorway was a small puddle of water, obviously melted snow.

So the Toa Shika think they can evade capture by hiding in a cave? Teivel thought, unimpressed. How unoriginal. Though I do wonder how they figured it was there in the first place.

Wyoko’s dim, barely visible sun was setting as Teivel lead his party into the cave. He knew that there was going to be a fight, so he had shadow energy crackling in the palm of his hands for when he would inevitably see the backs of the Toa Shika. Behind him his Kra-Matoran were also charging up shadow and making sure their weapons were in perfect order. Today, he knew, there would be no more Toa Shika in Wyoko anymore, and once that deed was fulfilled, the Kra-Matoran Empire would truly rise again for the first time in a millennium.

What could be better than that?

-

Akuna, being in the front of the group, was the first to notice the gradual change in temperature. At first the cave had been as cold as the mountains outside, but now it was getting warmer and becoming more a bit more bearable and comfortable. There were fewer icicles now and not as much snow this deep inside, and soon there wasn’t any at all. In fact, it was getting almost as warm as hot days on Shika Nui were, which were, if she remembered correctly, quite nice.

“Am I the only one who feels warmer?” Akuna asked as she shut off her Ruru. She didn’t need it on anymore because the cavern was also becoming brighter with an orange-ish glow that was accompanying the heat. “Or is it just me?”

“I feel it, too,” said Barilo, wiping away a drop of sweat from his forehead. “There seems to be some sort of heat coming from the mountain’s core.”

The other Toa, too, were feeling the heat. To Chimoy and Nonzra it felt especially hot because of their added weight of having to carry Nastan as well. Nastan was getting even more impatient with the appearance of the heat. He was now grunting more loudly and muttering to himself a lot, mostly about how he wished that the others would just let him walk with them, but Addis wasn’t convinced that Nastan wouldn’t run away or start a fight that would result in a cave-in.

Wanderer, being a ghost, could not feel the heat, so she did not feel much of a difference in temperature, though she did notice that it was getting lighter and brighter inside.

“I wonder where all of this light is coming from?” Wanderer wondered as she floated above their heads. “Snowy mountains don’t usually have bright cores like some sort of planet. Maybe we’re all going crazy or there’s some strange illusionist playing tricks on us.”

“I don’t think it is an illusion, Wanderer,” said Akuna, who was now panting because of the heat. “The warmth feels too real and there is definitely light.”

The heat did feel good after so many hours out in the cold wind, but eventually it was getting to the point where all of them except for Wanderer were feeling temperamental and impatient. When were they going to reach the end of the tunnel and why was it so . . . dang . . . hot?

Finally, after what seemed to Barilo like hours of walking, he saw a small, bright light at the end of the tunnel. It wasn’t very big, but it looked like an exit. Spurred on by the sudden appearance of this way out, the party started to walk faster and faster, their eyes fixed on the exit, ignoring the blazing heat as best as they could that was accompanying them as they ran.

They soon reached the end of the tunnel and almost congratulated themselves on a job well done when they saw the source of the heat and light, which caused all of them to look at it in awe and shock.

“Mata Nui. . . .” Akuna muttered, taking a step back.

“I don’t believe it. . . .” Addis breathed, staring straight into the source.

“What is it?” asked Nastan, who was craning his neck to try and see what they were talking about. “What is everybody making a big deal about? Did we walk into the middle of a bunch of corpses that are rotting? What is it?”

“It’s. . . .” said Barilo, trying to find the words to describe it. “It’s. . . .”

“Lava,” Wanderer finished for him. “A huge pool of lava, at that.”

She was right. There was a large lake-sized pool of lava that was unleashing sheer heat and light all around the circular chamber that they had emerged in. Lava eels of varying sizes, ranging from ones that could’ve easily fit in the palm of Barilo’s hand to ones that would have rivaled even a shadow eel in length, could be seen swimming and diving in the lava as if it were water. The ceiling of the immense cavern was closed shut with an extremely thick dome of ice that was too far up to be affected by the heat of the lava. A long, narrow, crude rock bridge was a few suspended above the magma led to what must have been the exit, but the sheer warmth of the molten rock was almost enough to make the six Toa turn around and leave.

“So, do we walk across the bridge or find another way around?” asked Barilo, who’s eyes were focused on the lava eels below.

“That’s the only way to go,” answered Addis. “We can’t go back because that leads back to the Shodios and the endlessly cold mountains. We just go by single file and-“

Suddenly, a shadow bolt went flying over Addis’ head and hit the wall on the other side of the chamber, leaving a charred, burnt spot where the energy had hit. The Toa and Wanderer whirled around to see Teivel and a group of Kra-Matoran, all armed with swords, axes, spears, and other weapons, advancing, shadow energy crackling in their palms and at the tips of their weapons.

“Who are they?” Wanderer asked, fearing that she already knew the answer.

“That is Teivel, leader of the Shodios,” answered Barilo, already drawing his gravity axe. “And those are Kra-Matoran, villagers of darkness, though I have no idea what the wolves are. Probably some of their vicious pets or something.”

“Chimoy, throw up a barrier to cut them off from us!” Addis ordered.

The Toa of Iron obliged. He threw up one of his hands and a thick protosteel wall shot through the ground and covered the entrance that they had just left. They could hear the faint sounds of shadow and weapons striking the wall and all of them knew that it wouldn’t take long for their enemies to get through.

“Wanderer, fly ahead of us to the exit,” said Addis, but he was interrupted by Wanderer.

“Hey, I’m not member of this team,” she said defiantly. “You can’t boss me around.”

“Come on!” shouted Addis. “We need you to see what is up ahead, okay? I know you’re technically not part of the team (“Got that right,” Nonzra muttered) but you have to cooperate with us if you want to help us solve . . . whatever it is our problem is, okay?”

Reluctantly, Wanderer nodded, and soon she was flying across the bridge of stone and the vast pool of lava, eying the lava eels below in case they tried to do anything.

“Now we go single file,” Addis said to the other Toa. “It is too narrow for us all to go at once. Chimoy and Nonzra should go first because they have Nastan. Then Barilo and Akuna and I will bring up the rear.”

Nodding, Nonzra and Chimoy quickly heaved Nastan up and walked as fast as they could across the bridge without accidentally falling off. Because of the rickety nature of the bridge and because Nastan was very heavy, they almost fell off a few times, but they managed to straighten up every time and soon they were at the end, panting hard, while Wanderer floated above them to make sure that they were okay.

“Let’s go,” Barilo said to Akuna. The Toa of Lightning nodded and soon they were making their way across the bridge as fast as they could.

The heat was even worse when on top of the viaduct. The warmth of the magma hit them full force and Barilo nearly fell off, though Akuna managed to get him back on, though she seemed to be slightly blushing for some bizarre reason that Barilo couldn’t fathom at the moment. His feet were burning against the hot rock, but very soon he and Akuna got to the other side with the others and then collapsed next to Nastan, who had been placed on the ground so Chimoy and Nonzra could take a small break.

“You two okay?” asked Wanderer.

“Yeah . . .” Barilo said in a breathless voice. “Let’s never do that again.”

Now it was Addis’ turn. He could hear the tearing of metal behind him as he ran and he took a risk and threw a quick glance over his shoulder. He could already see Teivel and his Kra-Matoran coming through the barrier, hurling balls of shadow at him and at the others. He gathered speed, but suddenly a stray shadow bolt hit a part of the bridge in front of him, causing it to create a great, big hole. The rest of the bridge started to collapse as well and Addis knew that he couldn’t run over it or he’d melt. So he decided to jump.

Mata Nui grant me strength! He thought as he ran.

With one great leap, he landed feet first on the hard, hot rock and immediately fell to his knees, which was fortunate for him because a shadow bolt that was aimed for his head flew right through Wanderer instead.

“Hey!” Wanderer shouted, angrily shaking her fist at Teivel. “That didn’t hurt, but it wasn’t polite!”

“Save the instructions on politeness later,” said Addis, rising to his feet despite how tired he felt. “We gotta go!”

On the other side of the chasm, Teivel saw with increasing anger that the six Toa Shika (plus their mysterious new ally that he had never seen before) were recovering and he knew that they were going to leave through the exit. Because the bridge had collapsed, there was no way he or any of his Kra-Matoran could catch up to the Shika, but he hadn’t come this far just to give up.

He hurriedly glanced around and soon his red eyes set on the weak cavern walls which the shadows of the Toa Shika were dancing on. He made his decision quickly: He was going to bring down this cavern on himself, his hunting party, and on the Toa Shika. It was the only way to kill the Toa Shika for sure, and probably himself in the process, but he wasn’t afraid of dying. As long as it killed them, and as long as it meant that the Kra-Matoran were free of Wyoko, he didn’t care what would happen to himself.

Teivel outstretched his arms till they were rigid, and then immediately gathered all of the shadow energy inside of him. He was going to go Nova, that technique that all Toa had the potential to do but they rarely ever did, for whenever a Toa did go Nova it usually resulted in the deaths of many innocents plus the Toa himself. But he didn’t care. This would surely destroy the Shika, he knew.

His breathing was becoming more rapid and ragged and his Kra-Matoran all looked up at him curiously, wondering what he was doing. None of them had seen a Nova Blast before because none of the Shodios had ever gone Nova, so they were quite curious as to why he was suddenly turning extremely black to the point where he looked like a silhouette of his normal self.

Neither did any of the Toa Shika know what he was doing. They stopped in the doorway and watched him curiously.

“What’s he doing?” Nonzra asked with a tone of caution in his voice.

“No idea,” Addis replied. “Maybe he’s given up.”

Wanderer, however, seemed to be wary of Teivel, for she was flying back down the tunnel, a note of fear in her eyes.

“Wanderer, what’s wrong?” asked Akuna. “Why do you look so scared?”

“That . . . that Teivel guy,” she said in a tone that was unmistakably one of fear. “He’s going to go Nova!”

“Nova?” Barilo repeated, suddenly looking very frightened. “He’s going to go Nova? In here?”

“Yes! I’ve seen Toa go Nova in the past,” Wanderer said quickly. “Look, he’s going extremely black. He’s drawing together all of his shadow energy and is about to release it in one blow!”

“If he goes Nova, this whole cave will collapse and will not only kill him, but us, too!” shouted Addis. “Quick! Run! Now!”

The six Toa and Wanderer turned as one and ran (or, in Wanderer’s case, floated) away as fast as they could from Teivel, who was still becoming so black that he didn’t look real. But even as they ran, Teivel shouted, with a strangely magnified voice, “You aren’t getting away from my shadow that easily, light spit!”

And with that, he exploded into a blast of shadow and darkness, swallowing the entire chamber up in minutes. The Kra-Matoran and snow wolves next to him took the brunt of the blast, apparently not expecting a Nova Blast, and were destroyed - and thereby killed - as a result. The rest of the shadow smashed into the walls, roof, and lava, shaking the chamber so much that it felt like an earthquake was happening. Some of the darkness nearly got the Toa Shika, but fortunately for them they had ran at just the right time for the shadow merely hit the exit that they had taken and sealed it with debris.

Had the Toa Shika decided to stick around a little longer, they would have seen the roof of the cavern shatter into pieces and they would have also seen its pieces let in a whole lot of snow that had been collecting on the top of the volcano. They would have witnessed the snow immediately melt as soon as it came near the hot, burning lava. And then they would have noticed that the lava was bubbling even more than usual, rising gradually higher and higher, while the mountain itself seemed to be rumbling.

As it was, only Teivel, lying nearly unconscious on the floor, was there to notice and he himself had no time to scream for help as the lava exploded through the top of the long-dormant volcano and shoot through the air. Not that it would have helped, since there was no one there to help him, anyway.

The only things that the Toa Shika felt as they ran was a huge, earthquake-like tremor that nearly made them fall off of their feet. They heard a loud, deafening explosion coming from the cavern behind them, and to their horror, they saw the sealed exit they had used to escape the chamber was melting. Lava was burning through the rock and debris that had covered it and it was slowly coming toward the six Toa and Wanderer. Chimoy desperately put up a wall of protosteel to hold it off, though how long that would last, he had no idea.

“Run for your freaking lives!” Addis shouted as loud as he could over the long, loud explosion overhead.

All of the Shika obliged and ran, but it immediately became clear that if they were all to make it out of there alive they would need to have Nastan walk by himself for Chimoy and Nonzra could not run fast and carry him at the same time.

“But we can’t let him run!” said Barilo, sounding alarmed. “He’s going to kill me!”

“I think he prefers to living to killing you at the moment, right, Nastan?” Addis asked Nastan.

“Sure,” Nastan said in a hurried voice. “Yes, I will refrain from killing Barilo. Just let me go and we can all get out of here alive, especially me.”

Reluctantly, Chimoy used his metal powers to snap Nastan’s binds and soon the Toa of Shadow as standing up again, stretching his arms and legs, though he had no time to do anymore stretches, for the rest of the Toa Shika and Wanderer were running again and Nastan, despite having long limbs, had to run in long strides to keep up with them.

Behind them, the protosteel wall that Chimoy had constructed was turning a burnt black, rapidly melting at the same time, while lava was oozing out onto the floor toward the Shika, though it was moving much, much more slowly than it was before and they outpaced it with ease.

They quickly ran as fast as they possibly could, Chimoy using his iron powers to bring up some new barriers to keep the lava in check. It worked, for he made several large, thick protosteel walls that would take some time for the lava to break down. They were running down what seemed like an endless tunnel to them, which twisted and turned every few miles it seemed until Barilo began to think he and his friends had wound up in some sort bizarre maze of death and lava.

Finally, after several long, hurried minutes of running through the underground tunnels that were leaking lava onto the floor and making progress even more difficult than it already was, the six Toa Shika and Wanderer saw a small light up ahead. It didn’t look like the kind of orange, burning light lava gave off. It was the same dark, evil, scary light of Wyoko that shrouded that shadow country, and Barilo could not remember the last time when he had been so happy to see that light.

“We’re almost there!” Addis shouted over his shoulder to the others. “Just keep running!”

But as soon as they were within feet of the exit, a blast of lava shot across the ground in front of them, which practically blocked the way out. They were ready for this, however, and all six of them jumped at the exact same time out of the cave and onto the cold, wet, dark snow of Wyoko, while Wanderer merely shot out into the sky as lava and smoke and ashes rained down from the volcano’s peak. Each one of the Toa landed face first on the soft slush and soon they were panting in the snow, too tired to get up, while Wanderer, who never truly got tired because of her ghost nature, flew high above them, although she did look thoroughly relieved to be out of that tunnel.

Wanderer glanced over her shoulder and saw that the cave mouth that they had emerged from just seconds ago had re-sealed itself and now no longer looked like an entrance to the heart of a volcano. It looked more like it was a part of the snowy hillside now, almost indistinguishable from the rest of the area. She noticed that they had also apparently traveled several hundred miles away from the rest of the mountains.

Below, she saw that Barilo had managed to roll over onto his back and was now staring at the mountains with horrified eyes. Curious, she looked back up at the mountains and now she, too, was horrified by what she was seeing.

Review Topic

While looking for a Weedle in Santalune Forest, I came across a Shiny Scatterbug, which I quickly caught and nicknamed "Shinybug."

It's the first Shiny Pokémon I've gotten this generation. I'm still surprised that I ran into one at all, but also quite pleased.

-TNTOS-

Chapter 18: Spirit Wanderer

Barilo looked up at the sky. It seemed to be getting darker and, at Akuna’s urging, they had been waiting an hour and a half for Addis, Chimoy, and Nastan. Yet he knew that they couldn’t just keep sitting out here in the shadows and snow, with no protection or heat to keep them safe or warm. They would freeze to death out here.

“Let’s get moving,” Nonzra grumbled. “The more we move the more I’ll begin to like this place.”

“I agree,” said Barilo. Akuna started to object, but the Toa of Gravity cut her off and said, “Akuna, I am afraid to say it, and I wish I didn’t have to, but Addis, Chimoy, and Nonzra are not coming. They’re probably just as lost as we are and have no idea where to find us. It may be for the best to keep moving. Who knows? Maybe we’ll find them along the way. Heck, they’ve probably already left the mountains and might be waiting for us.”

Akuna looked worried, but she agreed. “Okay. Let’s go, then.”

But just as the three Toa stood up to leave, they heard the sound of stomping feet coming from around the corner. Barilo gave Nonzra and Akuna a look that said “Get out your weapons.”

They drew their tools and then took up strategic positions around the clearing. This way, if it was Kra-Matoran coming, they would get the drop on them and have a significant advantage over the villagers. They were being very quiet now as the sound of crunching snow got nearer and nearer.

“Aim your weapons,” Barilo muttered. “If they’re enemies, we get them quick before they realize what is happening.”

Just as they got their weapons up, however, the owners of the footsteps suddenly appeared, and to Barilo’s surprise, it was Addis, Chimoy, and Nastan, though Nastan was bounded with metal for some reason and was being carried by the earlier two Toa.

Akuna, however, seemed overjoyed. She jumped down from her perch on a well-hidden boulder and ran over to greet them. She was smiling until she realized that Nastan was tied up quite well and that he didn’t look very happy about it, either.

“What did you guys do to Nastan?” asked Akuna. Addis and Chimoy flinched and sighed heavily. They had been expecting a much more positive welcome than a question about why Nastan was bound.

“He went a little out of control,” Addis explained as he and Chimoy marched into the clearing. “We had to carry him this way otherwise he would have come after you guys on his own and killed Barilo.”

“That is what I should be doing,” snapped Nastan, struggling in his straps, “killing Barilo. He’s just a useless, dumb piece of-“

“Nastan, stop talking like that,” Akuna said in a tone that was a bit harsh than she had intended. “Please. That isn’t you talking.”

“I already heard your speech about how it isn’t ‘me’ talking and how it’s something else,” Nastan muttered. “No one wants to hear your dumb speech. I am what I always was: A being of shadow. I just never realized it until Jero came and showed me the light. Or, should I say, he showed me the shadow.”

“Enough talking,” said Addis, helping Chimoy prop Nastan up against a stone wall. “We have also got some more news.”

“News about what?” Barilo asked as he and Nonzra came forward.

“Well, for one, Jiki is dead,” said Addis, sitting on a nearby stone and stretching his arms and legs. “She got trapped in an avalanche with Chimoy, Nastan, and I, but we managed to escape alive. I tried to help her, but she was already dead by the time I dug her body out.”

“I would like to add that the other Shodios have invaded the mountains,” Chimoy added. “I saw them when I was searching for you guys with my Kadin. They have organized search parties and everything and are most definitely coming after us. We have to get out of here now, or we’ll end up even worse than Jiki.”

“Well, we don’t know our way out of the mountains,” admitted Barilo. “We just sat here waiting for you guys to return.”

Addis shot him a reproving look and said, “Well, that seems like a dumb thing for you to do. You could have spent all of that time getting out of here or searching for us. We would have survived alone. You didn’t need to worry about us.”

“Well, it was Akuna’s fault,” said Nonzra, sharply pointing his thumb over his shoulder to the Toa of Lightning. “She wanted to stay in case her evil boyfriend happened to drop by for a visit.”

“Shut up,” said Akuna, who was now feeling embarrassed. “I was worried for Addis and Chimoy, too.”

“Well, you never stopped talking about Nastan,” Nonzra argued. “You just went on and on about how you miss him, how you wish he wasn’t evil anymore, etc. It got really annoying after a while.”

“Hey, don’t diss her,” said Nastan. “Though I admit, while I appreciate her pathetic worries and fears, I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself, something these two geniuses didn’t think I could do.” He gestured to Addis and Chimoy with his head.

“Let’s stop quarrelling,” Addis said in a tone that said the discussion was over. “As much as it may matter to you, we have better things to worry about. I think we ought to send Chimoy up to find a quick route out of these mountains before the Shodios find us. I do not want to get lost again.”

“I don’t know,” Chimoy said slowly, looking up at the sky as he spoke. “I can’t risk getting spotted by the Shodios . . .”

“Chimoy, it will be quick,” Addis snapped suddenly. He could feel his temper rising, but tried to keep it down. “Just fly up, do a quick search of the area, and then fly back down and report what you saw to us. It isn’t that hard and the Shodios will more than likely not see you, since they are probably preoccupied with searching the ground than searching the skies. And you weren’t afraid of exposing yourself earlier, I might add.”

“Addis, while I do think it is a good idea, I just don’t really want to risk the Shodios or one of their Kra-Matoran seeing - and finding - me,” said Chimoy. “I don’t want to accidentally lead them to you guys.” Then he added sharply, “And I wasn’t afraid earlier because that was when I thought there were only Jiki’s Matoran here, not the entire Shodios plus a bunch of their own Kra-Matoran as well.” He seemed to be fighting to not snap, but his voice tone was revealing his impatience.

“Fine!” Addis said in a voice that was nearly a shout. “Then don’t fly! Let’s just go wandering around the mountains, running around and getting lost! Yeah, that will definitely work! The Shodios won’t stumble upon us at all! Who’s with me?”

No one said anything. They all had caught his sarcasm and were being quiet. Addis, apparently, was trying to release all of his anger, so none of them tried to interrupt him as he ranted.

“I am just trying to be a good leader,” Addis raged. “Yet you won’t listen and do what you are told. What’s up with that? You’ve done it before. The Shodios won’t see you, and if they do, so what? We can just easily avoid them by taking a route out of these mountains! You guys get to give suggestions and I take them, when it should be I who is giving the orders around here! And you don’t want to fly, Chimoy. Why not? Do you think this makes you better than me or wha-“

“Sounds like someone is grumpy,” said a misty, distant voice that caused all six of the Toa, including Nastan, to start and look around for the source. “I think you just need to cool down, Addis.”

“Who’s there?” Addis demanded, drawing his plasma cannon out, while the rest of the Toa except for Nastan drew their weapons as well. “Are you an ally of the Shodios?”

“No, I am not,” answered the voice, with a bit of a laugh. It seemed to be coming from the mountains themselves. “In fact, I had no idea those guys existed before I got here. Funny how these things work, you know?”

“Who are you?” Barilo demanded, looking around everywhere for the source of the voice. “If you are not an ally of the Shodios, then are you a friend of us?”

“Maybe,” the voice replied. “Or maybe not. All I know is that there is something wrong here and that I, Spirit Wanderer, must fix it. But you can call me Wanderer for short if you want.”

“So Wanderer’s your name, eh?” said Addis, still aiming his plasma cannon around. “Did you come through The Door?”

“The Door?” the voice repeated blankly. “No idea what that is. No, I came via my own special power to this place.”

“If you’re so special, then why don’t you show yourself?” asked Nonzra, his hand that was gripping his sword shaking because of the intense cold. “You seem an awful lot like a coward to me to hide from us.”

“I would like to tell you that I am most certainly not a coward,” the voice responded indignantly. “I have fought many monstrosities in my time, Toa, and each one of them was far more powerful and frightening than you could ever hope to be. Don’t talk to me about cowardice. It is you, I might add, who is a coward, running away from those Shodios like that-“

“They have enough power to kill us all,” Barilo answered. “That is why we are running from them instead of fighting. If we fight, we die and the whole universe is once again threatened by the Kra-Matoran. We can’t let that happen.”

“Hmm,” the voice said in a tone that meant it obviously wasn’t convinced. “Well, I guess that’ll do. I suppose I’ll show you my true form, as you have asked. But be prepared. Not many folks are used to seeing a ghost appear out of thin air.”

Suddenly, with a sound that reminded Barilo of a whip cracking, the voice materialized in front of them with a body of its own. It was tall, taller than any of the Toa present, with a long, sharp spear in its left hand. On its back it had a large shield that resembled a turtle shell and it had on a face that resembled a Rau, except with a round mouth. The most startling feature of Wanderer was that it looked like a ghost. It merely floated high above the ground a few feet and was quickly lowering. It seemed to be completely transparent and Barilo wondered for a moment if he could actually walk through Wanderer, though he dare not try it in case it got it angry.

“I am Wanderer,” said the being, whose voice sounded much more clear and distinct now. Barilo could tell that it was female, for her voice was much more feminine. “And I am here to help.”

The six Toa Shika just stared at her. They had no idea what to say. All of them stood with their mouths hung open, just staring at her as she stood in front of them. She looked around at them all with curious little ghost-like eyes and said, “What? You guys look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“You’re a ghost,” said Nastan, who sounded very surprised.

“Of course I am,” Wanderer replied, as if it were the most obvious fact in the universe. “I told you guys that before I became visible. What were you expecting, a zombie or something?”

“Where did you come from?” asked Nonzra, who couldn’t tear his eyes away from her bizarre, ghostly form. “And what do you mean ‘I am here to help’?”

“Well, I can answer those questions, I suppose,” Wanderer said as she floated toward them. She didn’t walk, Barilo noticed, only flew, which he supposed was what ghosts did instead of walking. She flew over them and sat down on a boulder, her chin in her hand. She looked like she was thinking.

“Where to start, oh where to start?” she said, as if trying to remember where she had put her favorite Kanoka disk. “Well, let’s start at the beginning, I guess:

“I have this power, see, this power that allows my spirit to leave my body and travel all over the universe to wherever I have to go. My people call me a ‘Spirit Wanderer,’ and as you can no doubt tell by the name, I am a spirit and I can, well, wander. I don’t know why I can do that, but it is something that my people have told me is a power passed down from generation to generation. Interesting, isn’t it?

“But the catch is, I can’t use it whenever I feel like it. I need to be asleep, for one thing, and something needs to be wrong in the universe that I can either fix or help fix. So you can imagine what it must be like to lay down on your bed one day to take a quick nap and then waking up and realizing you’re in the middle of a full-scale war where you have to help assassinate a well-known and well-respected military leader. Very different from taking a nap, no?”

The Toa nodded their heads, but it was obvious they were not completely taking in her words, since they were still shocked to see a real, live (or dead) ghost sitting in front of them.

“Anyway, so I was going to sleep a few hours earlier, but then I woke up and I ended up in. . . . What’d you call this place again?” she asked.

“Wyoko,” Barilo told her.

“Right, Wyoko,” said Wanderer, nodding. “Anyway, so I was here in these mountains and I realized that I was spirit wandering again. I decided to see what I was supposed to do when I discovered you guys here and followed Addis, Chimoy, and Nastan to this spot. I am assuming that whatever it is I am here to fix has something to do with you guys.”

“Why do you say that?” asked Akuna, who, like the rest of them, was goggling at the ghost.

“Because of him,” Wanderer replied, pointing with a ghostly finger at the bound Nastan. “Why’s he all tied up anyway?”

“Because they don’t understand progress!” shouted Nastan, struggling to escaped his confines. “They think I’m evil!”

“Why do they think you’re evil?” Wanderer asked curiously.

Before Nastan could answer, Addis interrupted him and said, “Wanderer we, uh, need to talk before we explain to you our situation. Is that all right with you?”

“Sure,” Wanderer said as she casually leaned back. “I’m used to people not trusting me upon first sight, though I understand it. After all, if a sassy female ghost like me suddenly appeared out of thin air and gave me a weird back story like that, I would think I’d have gone crazy, myself, or worse.”

The five Toa Shika huddled up, Nastan excluded since they didn’t want to have his rude comments in their discussion and he probably didn’t have anything to add that didn’t somehow involve killing Barilo anyway.

“What do you think?” Barilo asked to Addis. “Should we trust her?”

“I am not sure,” said Addis, looking over his shoulder at the laid-back ghost, who was now hovering above Nastan, taunting the Toa of Shadow for the heck of it. “She doesn’t seem to be a threat. . . .”

“But remember the Kra-Matoran of Wael?” asked Akuna. “They pretended to think of us as heroes, but they were just playing us! What if she’s an ally of the Shodios, too?”

“Well, she seemed to be honestly confused about the Shodios,” said Chimoy. “Although I do agree that she can’t be trusted without any proof to back up her story.”

“But then again, what if she’s legit?” said Addis. “We sure could use an ally or two to help us. Heck, with her ghost powers she may be able to help us find a way out of these mountains.”

“I don’t like how she called me a coward,” said Nonzra, throwing a dark look over his shoulder at Wanderer. “She doesn’t understand what it is like to have an entire country after you!”

“Let’s just try her out for a while,” Addis said in a whisper. “She may be legit, and hey, how many people get to have ghosts as their allies?”

Akuna, Chimoy, Barilo, and Nonzra all looked doubtful of his wisdom, but they went along with it anyway. They broke their huddle and walked back over to Wanderer, who looked back up at them as soon as she heard them approaching.

“Get her out of here!” Nastan shouted, his chest heaving in and out very rapidly. “She’s been annoying me the entire time you guys were trying to decide if she was trustworthy or not!”

“Oh, don’t be a baby,” said Wanderer, rolling her eyes. “I was only teasing you.”

Nastan glared daggers at her, but he didn’t get a chance to say anything else, for Addis said, “Wanderer, we’ve decided to let you come with us. But,” he added upon seeing Wanderer smiling her approval, “just because you get to hang out with us doesn’t mean we trust you. We are still suspicious about you and you have no proof to back up your story, so we can’t necessarily believe you.”

“Fine,” Wanderer said. “I don’t particularly trust you guys, either, but I must follow what destiny says, and destiny says I have to figure out how to fix . . . whatever it is needs fixing.” She paused, as if lost in thought, then said, “By the way, mind filling me in on what the situation is? If I am going to be traveling with you I don’t want to get lost in your amazingly complicated and odd conversations.” She was being sarcastic, of course, but they knew that she was interested in what they were doing, how they got there, and other things regarding Wyoko.

So the five Toa all told her about where they came from, about the Shodios, Kra-Matoran, and Turaga Krashadi, what their current situation was, how Nastan became a Toa of Shadow, and they each told her a little bit about themselves as well.

Once they had finished, Wanderer shook her head and said, “Man that is quite . . . complicated. I don’t think I will be able to remember it all.”

“Don’t worry, we don’t expect you to,” said Addis. “Anyway, uh, being a ghost and being able to go through walls and stuff, do you know of any secret entrances that lead out of these mountains we we could possibly use it to escape the Shodios?”

“Oh, just because I am a ghost instantly means I know all the secrets of Wyoko, eh?” Wanderer said indignantly. “Just because ghosts are all mysterious and stuff in Matoran fiction doesn’t instantly mean I am, too. Mata Nui, I didn’t think I’d get stuck with a bunch of generic-stereotyping Toa!” She sounded very angry and offended and Addis hesitated to say anything else. Suddenly her tone changed to an almost bored tone and she said, “But for your information, yes, I did find a secret tunnel while following you guys. It’s over there behind that snow.” She gestured to a wall of ice and snow behind them, the same one that she had been hiding in earlier. “Think it leads out of here, but I don’t know for sure since I haven’t explored it yet.”

Addis glanced at Barilo with a look that said, “What’s up with her?” But he didn’t actually say it and instead said, “All right. I’ll just melt the snow, then.”

He carefully aimed his plasma cannon at the wall that the ghost had indicated. Then he pulled the trigger and a ball of extremely hot plasma went flying out of its barrel and into the snow, melting it and revealing a Toa-sized cave mouth that had icicles hanging from its ceiling. Water from the melted snow was dripping from its entrance, giving the cave mouth a very eerie look.

“Wow, so there really was a tunnel!” Nonzra said in surprise. “I thought you were just making it up!”

“Why would I lie?” she asked as she followed the six Toa into the tunnel (Chimoy and Nonzra were carrying Nastan). “I am an honest ghost, after all.”

“Yeah, but we don’t exactly trust you with our lives, per se,” Nonzra said as he carried Nastan by his legs. “I, at least, don’t consider you a friend yet.”

“Well, I don’t like you either, but in my culture spirit wanderers generally don’t get to chose who they get to help, whether they like the person or not,” Wanderer shot back.

“Would you two stop arguing for a minute and be quiet?” Addis asked, annoyed. “We’ve got to stay quiet. The Shodios may be nearby and I certainly wouldn’t want to get capture by them, would you?”

“Well, I wouldn’t be able to die,” Wanderer said dryly. “So that says something about my opinion of those Shodios guys.”

“Let’s just get going,” Akuna said hurriedly. “I want to see where this cave leads.”

So the six Toa plus Wanderer continued to walk down the ever-deepening tunnel. But in the excitement of possibly leaving the cold, dreary, mountains, none of them realized was that they had forgotten to seal the cave mouth. Nor did any of them realize that not too far behind them, Teivel and his group of Kra-Matoran were searching for the Toa Shika and would soon discover the cave. Would they ever realize it? Probably, but by the time they do, it will be too late for them to do anything about it.

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Chapter 17: The Hunt Begins

Nastan felt strangely warm, despite being buried alive underneath several tons of snow.

After the avalanche had hit himself, Addis, Chimoy, and Jiki, he had fallen into unconsciousness. Strangely, despite being buried underneath tons and tons of freezing, icy-cold ice did not feel like he was frozen. In fact, he felt warm and comfortable and didn’t want to wake up at all. . . .

This feel nice, Nastan thought as he lay there with his eyes closed. Freezing to death isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Maybe I just need to lay here for a while, take a quick nap and then go back to find Akuna again. . . .

Unfortunately for him, he had no time to take a nap because two hands burst through the snow and hauled the Toa of Shadow out from his mask. Nastan snapped back to attention. Now the cold was returning to his body and he started shivering. His vision was blurred for a few minutes before he realized who had picked him up.

It was Addis, who was panting and breathing hard. Behind him Nastan could see Chimoy standing over something large and frozen, though he could not tell what it was.

“You okay?” asked Addis.

“Yeah,” said Nastan, standing up unsteadily. “By the way, I didn’t need your help.”

Addis, furious, said, “How is about I rebury you beneath the snow and see if you can get out on your own? It took me half an hour to dig Chimoy out and for a minute I thought you were dead until I saw the spot where you were buried moving slightly.”

“Whatever,” Nastan said. He pointed at Chimoy and asked, “What’s he looking at?”

Addis looked over his shoulder and the grimaced. “He found. . . . Oh, you should see it for yourself. It’s bad, and I don’t really want to be the one to describe it for you.”

Nastan followed Addis over to whatever it was Chimoy was examining and soon he was standing over the frozen, dead form of Toa Jiki half-buried in snow. The snow and ice had apparently froze her to death. He could tell she was dead because her heartlight was out and she had no heat coming from her body, though Toa of Shadow generally did not have much heat anyway. Had he been a Toa of The Green, he would have been repulsed by such a sight.

But as a Toa of Shadow, he merely shrugged and said, “So what? We’ll leave her as a warning to her fellow Shodios not to mess with us.”

“Despite the fact we did not kill her?” Chimoy asked sharply. “Addis and I tried to save her, but then we realized she was already dead and thus there was no point in saving her. I didn’t like her much either, but I felt that saving her would have been the most Toa-like thing to do.”

“Shut up,” Nastan snapped. “Let’s go find the others. I wish to kill Barilo.”

“Nastan, that shadow is corrupting you,” said Addis, staring at the Toa of Shadow in the eyes sternly. “Stop thinking those dark thoughts.”

“Never!” Nastan roared, causing some more snow to fall onto the ground from a nearby cliff. “I am thinking rational thoughts. Perhaps it is you who should be the one not thinking dark thoughts, Addis. Who are you to go around bossing me like you own the place?”

“Would Joha really try to kill his enemies?” Chimoy asked suddenly.

The mere mention of that Turaga’s name was enough to silence Nastan. Turaga Joha had been one of the original Toa Shika back on Shika Nui, before Nastan and the rest. Joha had also been the last member the original Toa Shika to survive, because the Dark Hunters had wiped out all of the rest 25,000 years ago. As a result, Joha had fled into them mountains and waged a one-man war against the Hunters, although he hadn’t had much success. So he had created six Toa stones which fell into the hands of the current Toa Shika of Nastan and co, his plan being that with six more Toa they could beat the Dark Hunters. Since Nastan and the rest became Toa, Joha became a Turaga as result.

Last they’d seen Joha he had been heading toward a Matoran village to await the return of the Toa Shika. Nastan heavily respected him, or used to, anyway. Nastan just glared at Chimoy and said, “So what? What would I care what an old fool like he has to say? He’s weak. He gave up his Toa power to make us into Toa, the fool.”

Addis looked at Nastan with disappointed eyes for a few minutes, and then said, “Fine. We have no time to argue about this. We need to find our friends like you just said, Nastan. Except no killing Barilo.”

“I’ll never agree to that,” said Nastan. “I may as well just find them on my own if you’re going to set up those restrictions!”

The Toa of Shadow turned around, but suddenly bands of protosteel popped into existence around Nastan’s arms and legs, binding him up so quickly that he had no time to react. He fell and hit the soft snow and cursed.

“We can’t let you just wander off on your own,” said Addis. “The results would be disastrous.”

“Let me go!” shouted Nastan. “Let me go!”

“No,” Chimoy said firmly. “We’ll carry you until we find our friends. Then we’ll all find a way to turn you back to normal, okay?”

“No,” Nastan said angrily. “I am better now, stronger. I do not need light. It is weak. Consciences, morals. . . . All are for the weak!”

“We can’t convince you otherwise,” said Addis. “But we can take you along with us, whether you want to or not.”

With that, Chimoy grabbed Nastan’s legs and lifted him up at the same time when Addis hefted him up by his shoulders. Chimoy winced for a minute, the pain in his shoulder suddenly appearing as he lifted the bound Nastan up.

Addis seemed to notice this and asked, “Chimoy, you sure you can lift Nastan up with your shoulder hurt like that?”

“Yeah,” Chimoy grunted, nodding. “It’s only a flesh wound. It’s not as bad as Barilo’s and will probably heal quickly.”

“Then let’s go,” said Addis, looking around. “I see a path we can take over there. Maybe it will lead us to the others.”

So the two Toa, holding their partner, continued on, with Nastan protesting all of the way.

But none of the three Toa Shika noticed a tall, ghost-white figure, standing up on the top of a nearby boulder that was half-covered in snow, watching the three Toa with interest. Nor would any of them realize that the ghost-like figure decided to follow them, perhaps to find out more about these Toa and what they were doing or going to be doing. She silently glided over the dead body of Jiki and soon was quietly trailing behind the three Toa without making a single sound.

-

“My feet hurt,” Nonzra grumbled as he walked with Barilo and Akuna.

“Stop complaining,” said Barilo, who was now beginning to feel frustrated and tired. “We probably don’t have to walk for too much longer.”

“Can’t we take a break?” asked Nonzra. “We have plenty of time to waste. After all, Addis, Chimoy, and Nastan are still missing. Perhaps we should just wait until they find us.”

Barilo stopped and thought about the suggestion. Then he nodded and said, “Okay. Let’s do that, then. This looks like a good spot.”

The party was in a small clearing with a few boulders and a path that seemed to lead deeper into the mountains. The sky was dark and bleak and held no encouragement for them. The snow, while it was a pretty bright white, seemed to be black at the same time, although Akuna knew it wasn’t. She felt a cold wind blow through the clearing and she shivered.

“I wish I’d have brought a coat,” said Akuna, wrapping her arms around herself to keep in her body heat. “Or maybe just a thicker and warmer set of armor.”

“Me, too,” said Barilo, nodding. He, too, was shivering, though slightly less than Akuna. “But personally, I just want to find the others and get the Karzahni out of here.”

“Definitely,” said Nonzra, nodding. “This place just seems to suck the happiness right out of you, you know? Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like these mountains do more than just make me cold. I feel like they are forcibly sucking out any and all goodness in me or happy memories.”

“It’s you,” said Akuna. “I don’t feel that way at all.” She looked up at the sky and sighed. “I sure do wish Nastan was here.”

“I dunno,” Barilo chuckled. “I don’t think I want a murderous Toa of Shadow sitting next to me.”

“Barilo, that’s not funny,” said Akuna, glaring at him. “Nastan can probably be turned back to normal. We just need to figure out how is all.”

“And what will you do if we can’t?” asked Barilo. “Join him? He honestly doesn’t like me, or any of the other Toa. And he also wants to convert you into a Toa of Shadow, too. You don’t want to become evil just to be with him, do you?”

Akuna, now feeling even more uncomfortable, could not think of a satisfactory answer. True, she really did want to be with Nastan, yet at the same time she also didn’t want to become a Toa of Shadow. She had already witnessed the brutality of the Shodios and Kra-Matoran and of Nastan’s own nastiness. It seemed naïve to believe that Nastan could be turned back to normal, yet it was a hope that she clung to just the same.

While Akuna wrestled with her feelings about Nastan and about her own light, Barilo was thinking of a plan. He already decided that, if the others didn’t find his team in the next hour, he, Nonzra, and Akuna would get going, leaving the mountains behind. He was sure that that is what Addis would have wanted him to do. Besides, what were the odds of Addis and his crew staying in these mountains anyway? Not very high, he thought. So it would make sense to just go and leave, or at least he thought it would.

He, too, was also sad about Nastan. Not as much as Akuna, but still sad for his friend just the same. While he knew that Nastan had bitter feelings toward him because Barilo had tried to kill him back on Shika Nui, he still wished that Nastan hadn’t become a Toa of Shadow. It seemed to be messing with him, making him very evil and quite unstable. After all, what was to stop him from harming the rest of the team besides Akuna? Heck, maybe even Akuna too if she tried got in his way.

How does one heal a being of shadow? Barilo thought as he stared absentmindedly around at the snow. I have never heard of beings having their light forcibly removed from them. What if there is no cure? Am I going to spend the rest of my life running from one I consider a friend?

It wasn’t worth thinking about right now, he thought. He had to worry about the here and now. Maybe later when things got more under control he would think up some way to save Nastan.

-

It seemed that Addis and Chimoy were hopelessly lost in the dark mountains. Every twist and turn looked the same to them, every single snowflake looked similar to the ones that they had seen before, and there did not seem to be a single trace of the other Toa Shika. Not even footprints to tell them that they were at least on the right track.

Nastan had calmed down now and was being quiet, merely muttering curses under his breath now. Apparently he had decided to give in and believed that he was in no position to escape, at least not right now anyway.

Chimoy suddenly had an idea and said, “Hey, Addis?”

“Yes, Chimoy?” Addis said from up ahead, lifting Nastan up by his shoulders. “What is it?”

“I got an idea,” said Chimoy. “I have the Mask of Flight, right? So why don’t I just fly up above the peaks like before, and find the others? It would be much faster than just wandering aimlessly around these mountains.”

“I don’t know,” Addis said slowly. “What if the Kra-Matoran see you? Remember, Jiki came here with a squad of Kra-Matoran that we last saw were hunting down Barilo, Akuna, and Nonzra. I don’t think we can just let you go flying around carelessly like that.”

“It won’t be carelessly, though,” said Chimoy. “It will be quick, and if I see any Kra-Matoran I will fly right back down immediately. Please, I want to find the others just as much as you do and this seems to be the best and easiest idea to me.”

“Fine,” Addis said finally. “Just be quick, though. I don’t want Nastan here to think he can get away from us.”

Putting Nastan’s feet down, Chimoy replied, “Will be back in a minute.”

With that, he soared up high into the sky. Once again he felt the exhilarating feel of flying, soaring through the clouds like a bird and zooming in and around the peaks, though he attempted not to go too fast, for he did not want any of the Kra-Matoran to notice a Toa flying around the mountains.

He landed on the top of a high peak and looked around. He could see a group of Kra-Matoran walking through the snow several hundred yards behind him and he could also see. . . .

The Shodios, he thought, feeling slightly afraid.

He was right. The other five still-living Shodios were at the foot of the mountain, organizing search parties, it seemed. He wondered how the heck they had gotten there so quickly, but he decided not to worry about it. The Matoran that were with those evil Toa were all heavily armed and he saw quite a few fearsome Rahi beasts with them as well. He gulped. If the Shodios were to find them, there was no way he or any of his friends would survive.

But he managed to avert his gaze from the Shodios and saw, to his delight, a small clearing in the north were three familiar beings sat together. They were too far away to see clearly, but he instantly knew who they were.

Nonzra, Barilo, and Akuna! Chimoy thought, now feeling relieved. Thank Mata Nui that they’re still alive!

He then activated his Mask of Flight and took off, shooting back down into the mountains to report his news back to Addis, never noticing a transparent being floating toward him and his friends.

The Toa of Iron landed hard on the ground and stumbled a bit before telling Addis, “I saw them! Barilo, Akuna, and Nonzra are over there, in the north.” He pointed north.

“Great!” Addis said as he smiled. “Let’s go find them, then.”

“But I’ve also got some bad news,” said Chimoy. “I saw the other five Shodios here at the foot of the mountain. They had heavily armed Kra-Matoran, and quite a few nasty-looking beasts, too. I saw them all organizing teams. Methinks they aren’t here to go on a nature hike.”

Addis’ expression instantly changed now. He was looking serious and said, “Then let’s get moving. We can’t let them find our friends before we do.”

“Oh, goody,” Nastan said in a sarcastic tone. “All of our friends have came here to play with us. What game should we play: Kill Barilo, or kill Barilo? I say we play kill Barilo, personally. What’d you say?”

Ignoring the Toa of Shadow’s sarcastic comments, the two Toa picked his metal board up and carried the bounded Nastan off in the direction that Chimoy had pointed, knowing that they would probably be reunited with their friends soon.

-

Teivel growled angrily at the extremely cold snow that was being blown in his face, his thick coat hanging loosely off of his body. Behind him a group of Kra-Matoran, each one armed with swords and shields and other weapons, were following him along with a few snow wolves that would be essential to tracking down those Toa, since snow wolves could find beings that trekked snow easily.

The only problem now was whether the Toa Shika were still alive, since there was a report of an avalanche happening not too long ago. Surely they would be dead, but Jiki might be, too, unless she was smart enough to get out of the way of the avalanche.

Then again, he reminded himself. If she really had been smart, she would have waited for us to arrived before heading straight into the Nui Mountains with a bunch of Matoran.

He stopped at the edge of a cliff. It looked like snow had fallen off of it. Perhaps an avalanche really had happened recently. He looked down it and saw tons of snow at the bottom. Maybe someone had been buried beneath the snow, if an avalanche had caused the snow to end up down there. He decided to check it out.

“Matoran!” he barked. “Set up the ropes and follow myself down this cliff. I think there’s something down there beneath the snow!”

With that, he used his Mask of Shape Shifting and transformed into a Gukko bird and flew down. He immediately stopped as soon as he was a few feet above the white snow and landed with a crunch. He shape shifted back into his normal form and then he looked back up the rocky cliff.

The Matoran were faster than he had thought, for they had already thrown down about a dozen ropes and they were climbing down very fast. The snow wolves, being natural mountain climbers, were going down the cliff’s face with ease. He didn’t want to have to wait for them to come down, however. He was going to inspect this place himself.

It did not take long for him to discover a dead body, half-buried in snow. He quickly used his shadow power to blow away some of the snow and saw a familiar frozen face.

It was Jiki, dead and frozen. The snow must have frozen her to death, for she looked unmoving. He kicked her in the side just to make sure, but she did not move or say anything. She was really, truly dead. The Toa of Shadow who had lead armies against the universe 100,000 years ago, his sister Toa who had been banished here with him and the others after their failed attempt of conquering the universe, was dead.

Part of him felt sad for her death, but another, more prominent part appeared in his mind and gave him this grave conclusion.

If these Toa Shika killed Jiki, they will not hesitate to kill me or the other Shodios, he thought, feeling a sting of fear creep up his spine. Which means I must somehow warn the others before the Shika get to them.

The Kra-Matoran squad he had assigned to himself quickly ran up to him and then they began chattering among themselves at the sight of the dead Jiki. Many had their faces looked solemn. Others were looking terrified. After all, if their great, powerful, and wise Toa had been killed by outsiders, then that meant they were not safe at all, since they were weaker than the Shodios. The snow wolves were sniffing her dead body, apparently trying to figure out why she looked like Teivel yet didn’t have any sort of scent.

Another sight caught Teivel’s sharp eyes. Two sets of footprints were walking away from the scene of the murder, two sets of Toa footprints. They were walking in the west and disappeared around a corner. Teivel acknowledged one of the Matoran and said, “Villager, look at these footprints.”

The Kra-Matoran ran over to him and then examined the prints that he was indicating. Then the villager said, “They look like Toa footprints to me, almighty Teivel.”

“That is precisely what they are,” Teivel said coldly. “Get the snow wolves to sniff them. They may still have the stink of the light spit that had made them. If we’re lucky, we’ll have two less light dwellers in this place by the time we catch up with the unfortunate beings that made those.”

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I saw the movie yesterday and really enjoyed it (Batman was my favorite character, though Benny was great, too). Also enjoyed the Bionicle reference, as brief as it was.

-TNTOS-

Chapter 16: Confrontation

The snow was blisteringly cold, yet Nastan walked as though he were taking a stroll through a field of flowers. He noticed his seeming-immunity to the cold, too, though he assumed that since he was empty of all light and warmth that the cold did not feel all that much different compared to the darkness inside of him.

His eyes spotted a Toa-shaped figure fly up through the clouds, scan the area, and then descend back down. He immediately knew that that was Chimoy, for none of the Shodios possessed a Kadin. He now had confirmation on what he already knew: The rest of the Toa Shika was in this mountain. It was going to be a happy reunion, he knew, right after he killed Barilo, of course.

He had been walking for hours now, having taken a break last night to rest, though it was an extremely brief nap and he had wasted no time getting up and restarting his hunt again.

As he walked, he wondered if any of the Shodios knew where the Toa Shika had gone.

They probably do, Nastan thought, kicking up snowing as he traversed the area. Wonder if they sent the whole team? If so, this is going to be the reunion of reunions, and I’ll have six more morons to kill, it seems.

He was extremely glad that he was going to be with Akuna again. Despite being a figure of pure shadow now, he could still feel the emotions that he could when he had been a Toa of The Green: Love, anger, confusion, happiness, and so on and so forth. So he knew that when he reached Akuna he would be happy again. He also knew that when he killed Barilo he would be even happier.

Today’s going to be a happy day, Nastan thought cheerily.

-

Chimoy quickly told Addis what he had seen. The Toa of Plasma was not happy.

“Chimoy, it seems like a big risk to me,” said Addis. “We will basically be walking right underneath the enemy! What if they find us?”

“Well, it’s the only path I could find that leads out of this place,” said Chimoy, folding his arms. “We all just need to be really quiet and we’ll get by them.”

“I don’t know,” Addis said doubtfully.

“Come on!” said Barilo. “I’m getting sick of this cold and all this snow! I’d risk fighting a Shodios and a handful of Kra-Matoran than stay here any longer.”

“Fine,” Addis said reluctantly. “But if we get killed, I will know who to blame. Come on.”

With that, the other four Toa followed behind Addis, with Chimoy up in front with the leader. He was giving Addis directions as best as he could, though he speaking in a whisper in case Jiki was within earshot.

Soon the party arrived at the trail that Chimoy had told them about. It was steep and narrow and looked slippery. Barilo wasn’t so sure that they could safely climb down it without slipping, but Addis seemed to think that they could.

“Okay, guys,” said the Toa of Plasma, turning around to face the others. “We’ve got to go down this trail. Chimoy says it will lead us out of the mountains. I know it looks slippery and dangerous, so we’re going down one Toa at a time so we don’t all slip and go crashing down and make a lot of unnecessary noise. I’ll go first and catch the next person who comes down, okay?”

However, before Addis could climb down the steep incline, they suddenly heard the sound of someone walking in the snow above them. All five of the Toa froze in place, their hearts beating loudly. Whoever was above them seemed to have found them, because he did not moved any further and they could hear the sound of snow being crunched on by armored feet.

“Draw your weapons,” Addis mouthed as he pulled out his plasma cannon. The rest obeyed. They were not going to get killed by a stupid ambush. They planned to go down fighting.

Suddenly, a tall, Toa-like figure jumped down from a nearby rock and landed behind them so quietly that he was almost unnoticeable. But the five Toa noticed him and immediately aimed their weapons at the unknown figure. It was too dark to make out who he was, but they all knew that he probably wasn’t friendly because he had his bow drawn.

Wait. . . . Akuna thought, tilting her head. Bow . . . .?

It couldn’t be, she knew, could it? Maybe it was him. She decided to find out by activating her Mask of Night Vision, even though Addis was quick to tell her to shut it off so as to not provoke him, but she ignored him. The bright, blue light of her Ruru revealed the tall, skinny form of-

“Nastan!” Akuna shouted carelessly. She lowered her weapon and dashed straight into Nastan’s arms, almost bowling the Toa over. Behind her the other four Toa Shika all looked completely stunned.

“Nastan?” Barilo repeated. “Is that really him?”

“Yes, it is me,” said Nastan. His voice was strangely cold. “I am back. Isn’t that great?”

“Oh, Nastan, I’ve missed you so,” said Akuna, burying her face in his chest. “Please don’t wander off again like that!”

“Oh, I won’t,” said Nastan. Barilo thought he had a very eerie expression on his face. “I’m not a fool like Barilo.”

“Hey, I’m no fool,” Barilo said defensively.

“Nastan, where have you been?” Addis asked sternly. “We thought the Shodios had gotten to you!”

Nastan cocked his head in Addis’ direction, looking straight into the Toa leader’s eyes. It was at that moment that Addis noticed his eyes were now blood red, not the usual bright yellow they used to be. And, perhaps worst of all in Addis’ view, they held none of the warmth and happiness that Nastan usually had in his eyes.

“Ah, the Shodios did get to me, I can assure you of that,” said Nastan, pulling Akuna closer to him. “But I got away. . . . Though not before they really got to me.”

Suddenly, Akuna looked up at him, puzzled. “What does that mean, Nastan?”

“Haven’t any of you noticed my appearance?” asked Nastan. “Haven’t any of you noticed something . . . different, about me?”

Now that he mentioned, Barilo thought, Nastan did look a little different. For one, his eyes were blood red, and two, his armor looked much darker than usual, even in the light. In fact, his whole demeanor seemed to change. He seemed much less like the brave, heroic Nastan that Barilo had known. Now, however, there was something strangely reminiscent of the Shodios about him, which was not good.

“Your armor is different,” Chimoy said immediately. “It’s black now. And your eyes. . . .”

“Bingo!” said Nastan, a crazed look in his crimson orbs. “You are correct! And can anyone here tell me exactly what I am now?”

Akuna, still held firmly against his body, did not feel the warmth of his torso that she usually did in the past. No, what she felt now as a dead kind of cold. A kind of cold that she knew all too well, one she recognized instantly as-

“Shadow,” she breathed into his chest, the fear rising in her body.

“Akuna is correct!” said Nastan, though his voice sounded strangely mangled, like he was attempting to be threatening and cheerful both at the same time. “Not only is she beautiful, but she is smart, too. Yes, folks, I am no longer Toa Nastan, Toa of The Green. Now. . . .”

He raised a hand shot a blast of shadow at a nearby mountain. Suddenly, snow began to fall from it and soon the trail that they had been following was blocked, filled with snow and slush so thick that it would be impossible to dig through.

“ . . . I am Toa Nastan, Toa of Shadow!” Nastan finished, grinning insanely.

“What the Karzahni?” Nonzra shouted in confusion. “How did that happen to you?”

“Simple,” said Nastan, gripping Akuna firmly. She was trying to get away from him now, though he wasn’t about to let her go. “I was taken to Castle Kra shortly after a shadow storm transported me into the Shahada Desert. There I listened to the boring history lesson of a Kra-Matoran prisoner, was taken out soon after by Jero, and then that same Toa went ahead and used his new toy ball to take away all of my light, making me the Toa you see today.”

“No way,” said Barilo, gravity axe gripped firmly in his hands. “There’s just no way-“

“Did you not just see the shadow I shot at the snow?” Nastan snapped. “I have given you undeniable proof that I am a powerful, almighty Toa of Shadow now, and that all of you are mere insects in my way!”

“Nastan stop talking like that!” Akuna shouted, trying to get out of his embrace but failing to break his incredibly firm grip. “You’re not a bad person! You’re a Toa, a hero! You’re sounding an awful lot like those Shodios now!”

“So what if I am?” Nastan said, his red eyes piercing her own green eyes. “I am better now. I can now fully understand why the Shodios do what they do. You are inferior to my power. Shadow can defeat all, because no matter what the environment, shadow rules! Remember the tales from before the creation of the universe? There was darkness until the Great Beings came and created us. Darkness shall again rule when I take over this place!”

“Nastan, you are speaking madness!” Addis shouted.

“No. I am speaking reason,” said Nastan. His voice now sounded delusional and distant, like he wasn’t real. “I have seen the darkness and I understand all now.”

Suddenly, he felt a small jolt of electricity surge through him. He yelped in pain and let Akuna go, who quickly ran back to the rest of the Shika. She drew her staff of lightning and took a battle stance, her face set.

“Akuna, I thought that you loved me,” said Nastan, who was now aiming his bow at the Toa Shika. “I thought that you wouldn’t object to my newfound shadow power.”

“I do love you,” she answered. “But not this you. I love the Nastan who is a brave and heroic person, who is willing to protect his friends and his honor, even at the cost of his life. I am not in love with the loud, obnoxious, evil person I see in front of me today. You are not Nastan. You are just an ugly, evil shadow who took the form of my beloved Nastan. Not a real being.”

“How poetic, Akuna,” Nastan chuckled. “Well, I originally planned just to kill Barilo and the others and take you as my queen once I am king of the universe, but I guess you are a little too noble for my tastes.”

Suddenly, Jiki and her gang of Kra-Matoran appeared above them, standing on a plateau, looking into the narrow ravine. They saw the six Toa immediately and the Toa Shika saw them at the same time. There was a long pause as the enemies looked at each other, startled by the sudden appearance of the female Toa of Shadow and her squad. Jiki was quiet surprised herself, but she quickly recovered and ordered, “Kra-Matoran, aim your weapons and kill all six of the Toa Shika!”

-

Jero, Teivel, Rhatara, Ira, and Tikcah, along with a large band of Kra-Matoran, were heading toward the Nui Mountains. Along with them they had Rahi beasts such as Muaka and snow wolves, with caravans filled with weapons. This time they weren’t about to underestimate the Toa Shika. While the heroes may have been weaker than them and less experienced, they seemed to be just as clever as the Shodios and fast thinkers, too.

Jero saw the huge, dim outlines of the Nui Mountains coming into view, and scowled. They were too far away and it would take at least several hours to get there. By that time Jiki might have already killed them or the Toa Shika might have escaped.

The reason why the Shodios weren’t using shadow travel was because they couldn’t bring their Kra-Matoran, Rahi, and other things with them that way, and they didn’t want to underestimate the Toa just because they believed themselves to be superior, which seemed to be a flaw that Jiki had, Jero noted.

She is underestimating them again, Jero thought, shaking his head. Why doesn’t she realize that underestimating her opponents will eventually lead to her downfall?

Then again, Jiki was never the cleverest of the Shodios. She was always the first into battle, and the last standing. He remembered one time when they had been taking over the northern continent and Jiki had been assigned a squad of Kra-Matoran to take the acid falls. They had succeeded (quite easily, in fact) but almost all of the Kra-Matoran had got bad burns from the acid and quite a few of them had got killed. Jiki herself had gotten hurt by the acid, but still somehow managed to take several villages and claim them as property of the Kra-Matoran Empire.

That is why Krashadi bothers to keep her alive, Jero thought. She’s a bumbling fool who deserves to die, but at least her methods work, which is what Krashadi values the most: Results.

Teivel was in front of the group, looking just as stone-faced as ever. Tikcah was sitting right next to him on their caravan, her head lying on his shoulder. Tikcah’s feelings for Teivel were not unusual. She had always loved him, or so Jero thought. He also knew that Ira, for some reason or another, seemed to dislike her for this, though Jero knew that whatever the reason for that was, it was private, although he had the feeling that Rhatara knew why she was like that, since he could read minds. He acted like he knew it, too.

They were passing through a village when suddenly a Kra-Matoran ran up to their party, apparently out of breath. He was one that Jero had never seen before, but he seemed to have some important news.

“Sirs and madams!” said the Kra-Matoran, bowing in front of them. “We have just received an important message from the wise and strong Toa Jiki!”

“What is it?” Rhatara snapped. “Did she get caught in an avalanche and needs help?”

“No, my lord,” said the Kra-Matoran, shaking his head. “She has reported finding the six Toa Shika and is attempting to kill them even as we speak.”

Jero shot him a double take. “Six Toa Shika? Are you sure she said six?”

“Absolutely certain, sir,” said the Matoran. “All six of them.”

“So now we know where Nastan is,” Teivel said in a cold voice. “And he has apparently rejoined with his little friends as well, the fool.”

“Then let’s keep going,” Rhatara said hurriedly. “I wouldn’t want to miss this reunion, would you?”

-

Addis, Chimoy, and Nastan ran and dodged Jiki’s shadow bolts, rolling out of the way of snow that was falling as a result of the Toa of Shadow’s attacks off-target attacks.

Earlier all six of the Toa Shika had been united as a group, but then Jiki and her team of Kra-Matoran had arrived and found them and scattered them into teams of three. Nonzra, Barilo, and Akuna had gone another way in the confusion of the battle and Addis, Nastan, and Chimoy had gone this way. Addis hoped that they would all regroup eventually, though he had no idea how far into the mountains Barilo’s team might have gone or if they were even still alive.

Nastan was firing balls of shadow back at Jiki. It didn’t really work, because she was mostly immune to the energy, but it was the best that they could do right now, for they were all running and had no time to think about doing anything else.

“We’re going to die unless we kill her first!” Nastan shouted as he ran. “Let me kill her!”

“No! We can’t slow down,” Addis yelled, dodging a bolt of shadow that smashed a rock wall to his left. “We’re like ants to her! She’s got thousands of years of experience using her elemental powers and she just needs to strike at us with one solid blow to kill us all instantly!”

Nastan didn’t argue any further, for the three Toa had now reached a dead end. It was a high, steep, frozen stone cliff. It looked too slippery to climb and they couldn’t smash it, for it seemed to be part of the mountains’ very foundation. Addis looked over his shoulder and saw Jiki advancing rapidly, her axe glowing with shadow energy.

“We’re going to die,” Nastan said bitterly. “And it is all your fault, Addis!”

“How is it my fault?” asked Addis. “I didn’t do anything!”

“He’s right,” Chimoy said hurriedly. “Anyway, now’s not the time to argue. We gotta think of something quick, otherwise Nastan’s right. We’ll end up deader than a rotted corpse that was burned.”

Addis glanced desperately around the area that they were trapped in. He could find no way to escape, no tunnels to hide in, nothing to hide behind or hide atop. It seemed like they were going to die, which prompted him to say, “Guys, draw your weapons. We’re going to fight and, as much as I hate to say it, Nastan’s right. We’re going to have to kill Jiki and get to our friends if we’re going to survive.”

“Finally,” Nastan muttered, drawing his bow and placing an arrow inside it. “I’ve been waiting for you to say that!”

Chimoy created a long, thick sword out of thin air along with a shield. He got into the stance of a soldier ready for combat. “I’m ready.”

Addis drew his plasma cannon and aimed it straight at Jiki, who had now stopped and was looking at them. She seemed to be amused about something, because she was smiling and she was not throwing blasts of shadow energy at them anymore, either.

“So you’ve finally decided to fight me,” said Jiki, twirling her axe in her hand. “Great. I was hoping that I’d get to fight you guys before killing you in the snow.”

“I was, too,” said Nastan, shadow energy swirling around the tip of his arrow. “But, just so you know, we’re going to win and I am going to kill you in cold blood.”

“Ha! You, beat me?” Jiki laughed, shaking her head. “You are still pebbles compared to my mountain-sized experience as a Toa. But why should I waste time talking when I can spend it smashing your skulls in?”

She suddenly shot forward, dodging plasma balls and Nastan’s arrows as she ran. As soon as she got into their midst, she swung her axe around and scattered the three Toa, hitting them in all directions. Chimoy was the first to his feet and blocked her axe with his shield. He lifted his sword and brought it down on her, but she blocked it with her arm blades. With little effort Jiki pushed Chimoy back onto the ground and then brought her axe down. It was coming too quick to block, so he rolled over just as her weapon cracked the ground where he had been a few minutes before.

Nastan was back up, too, and was shooting as many arrows as he possibly could, yet they all bounced off of Jiki’s hard, thick, battle-damaged armor, even when they had shadow energy channeled through them. Addis knew that his plasma could probably penetrate her armor, but she kept dodging it and kicking up snow in his face.

Chimoy tried to stab her with his sword but she merely grabbed the tip of it and ripped it off, causing the Toa of Iron to stumble backward. She lifted up the sword tip and brought it down into Chimoy’s shoulder, causing the Toa to scream out in pain. But he managed to get her off of him by kicking her off with his still-functioning legs, sending her stumbling backward into a wall.

“Die!” shouted Nastan, shooting a burst of shadow at Jiki.

She jumped out of the way, allowing the shadow to hit the wall, cracking it. Before any of the combatants could do anything else, however, they all heard a loud rumble like thunder, though there was no lightning in the sky. Jiki glanced around and then looked up. Her eyes widened just as she screamed, “Avalanche!”

She was right. Coming down toward them, covered in darkness, yet still clearly visible against the shadowy sky was an avalanche of a size that none of the assembled Toa had ever recalled seeing in their lives. It was moving too fast for them to dodge and in minutes it hit the ground and smashed into the four fighters, covering them all in several feet of ice-cold snow.

-

Barilo, Akuna, and Nonzra were having a much easier time than Addis, Chimoy, and Nastan were.

They had managed to lose the Kra-Matoran that had been chasing them in the twisting valleys of the mountains. So now they were walking calmly, or as calmly as one could be when one is lost in cold, snowy mountains with half of your friends missing while being hunted down as a fugitive by the land’s inhabitants, that is.

Akuna was the most worried of them all. Disgusted though she may be at Nastan’s recent transformation, she still had feelings for him and couldn’t seem to stop talking about how she missed him.

“I hope he is okay,” Akuna said, glancing around the icy walls as if expecting to see Nastan come running back out of nowhere. “I mean, he’s got Jiki on his tail and she’s tough! What if he dies? Or what if he’s already dead? What’s to stop Jiki from killing him and the others? Am I the only one who heard what sounded like an avalanche earlier? What if he got buried beneath it and is dying right now? He may be evil and insane now, but I terribly miss him. I already went through a very long time separated from him before! That’s it, when we reunite I will personally make sure that he never leaves my side again!”

“Akuna, please!” Nonzra snapped, thoroughly frustrated and tired from the cold. “We get it! You can’t live without your boyfriend and you will die unless he miraculously reappears in shining armor!” He turned to Barilo and whispered, “Geez is this how everyone acts when their loved ones are missing or what?”

“Don’t know,” Barilo whispered back. “Maybe it’s just Akuna.”

“I am not acting crazy!” said Akuna, glaring at Nonzra. “I am simply worried for Nastan. I just don’t want him to be dead. . . .”

“Whether he’s dead or not, I think we still ought to continue on,” said Barilo. “I am leader of this group, since I am Addis’ second-in-command. You can worry about Nastan all you want, though I suggest that you do it in your mind, because I don’t want the Kra-Matoran to find us again. Besides,” he added, “it wouldn’t surprise me if Addis and his group have already left the mountains. Maybe they’re waiting for us to get out, too.”

“I hope so,” Akuna said in a miserable voice. “I don’t know what I will do if Nastan is dead. I don’t know if I will be able to live without him.”

“You’ve done a fine job of it in these past few days,” said Barilo, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“I guess so,” said Akuna, looking back at Barilo, although she was worried just the same. “Thanks anyway, however.”

“Then let’s stop talking and get walking!” said Nonzra impatiently. “Come on. Maybe we’ll run into the others on the way there.”

So the three Toa continued their journey into the ever-deepening mountains, Akuna worried that, if they did not find the others soon, they would never find them at all.

Review Topic

Chapter 15: Lost in the Mountains

As they flew farther west, the air got increasingly colder around them. They could see their breaths now and the Cracko was starting to shiver and shake. It didn’t seem to be used to the cold weather and seemed to want to get out as soon as possible. In fact, it was looking quite tired already. It was obviously not used to carrying five Toa on its back and it fatigue was showing through the way it flapped its wings with less speed than before.

The cold wind nipped at Addis’ fingers, freezing the metal chain he was holding and making his hands numb with little icicles on them. But he held on firmly anyway, even though he desperately wanted to let go and warm up his hands.

“Addis, I think we should land somewhere,” shouted Barilo. “The Cracko’s getting weak!”

“Hold on!” shouted Addis. “It’s going to be okay! I just need to find a safe place to land-“

But the Cracko, apparently, did not want to wait for him to find a safe place to land. Instead, giving into its weakness, it fell straight out of the sky, falling with the force of a rock. All five of the Shika were screaming, looking down as they flew through the dark clouds.

Is this it? Barilo wondered. Will we die here on a giant bat? Mata Nui, I always thought I’d die fighting an evil universal monstrosity or something like that. You know, dying as a hero.

“We’re all gonna die!” shouted Nonzra.

As if that isn’t obvious enough, the Toa of Gravity thought.

But surprisingly, despite the fall, they were not nearly as high up from the ground as they thought they were. They hit a snow peak, smashing into it with enough force to knock the Crack out cold. The impact of the fall caused the Toa Shika to go flying off of its back, but the soft snow helped to break their fall somewhat.

Barilo lay half-buried in the snow, nearly unconscious. He saw the rest of the Toa had fallen off of the Cracko, too, and were scattered around him like leaves that had been caught in an updraft. He couldn’t tell if any of them were awake or not because of the blizzard that was blowing loudly in his ears and the snow that was whirling in his eyes. The fall had hurt his back and he didn’t really wish to move at all, but he knew that if he didn’t move he would freeze to death and therefore he put a bit of effort into sitting up.

Over to his left, he saw the Cracko recover quickly, and then shot off back into the dark sky, disappearing from view until Barilo could no longer hear the flapping of the bat’s wings.

“Wait. . . .” said Barilo, holding his hand up weakly after the beast. “We need you. . . .”

But his plea for help was drowned out by the sound of the howling wind, and even if it had heard him it wouldn’t have returned. He supposed that it made sense, since the Cracko had been their unwilling mount. Yet he knew that it might very well be their only way off of this freezing mountain and if they didn’t move fast they would all be buried underneath tons of cold, icy snow.

“Addis!” shouted Barilo over the howling wind. “Akuna! Chimoy! Nonzra! Is anyone awake?”

“Yes,” Nonzra, who was looking like he had fallen on something hard, gasped. “Though right now I wish I wasn’t. . . .”

Barilo could see the other Toa Shika moving, too, but none of them were getting up. Finally, he saw Akuna, wiping the snow off of her armor and using her staff as support, stood up. She looked very tired, but she had enough strength to go and help Addis up.

After all five of the Toa Shika had been rescued from the snow, Addis gathered them behind a thick frozen tree that was standing on the top of the mountain, which blocked the wind somewhat, though it still whipped their faces and bodies.

“Okay, guys!” Addis shouted over the howling wind. “We’re going to need to find a way off of here!”

“As if that isn’t obvious,” Nonzra mumbled in a disgruntled voice.

“Akuna, we need you to use your Ruru to light the way!” Addis told her. “I saw a path near this tree that might lead to the ground!”

Akuna looked at him as if he were insane. How did he expect her to be able to see in this dark blizzard even with her mask? She decided to voice her opinion and said, “Addis, I really think we should find a cave to hide out in for a while. No telling when this blizzard will end!”

“She’s right,” Chimoy shouted over the storm. “We really ought to find some shelter to endure this storm!”

“Okay,” said Addis, looking from Toa to Toa. He wasn’t too used to others objecting to his plans, but he decided that Akuna’s idea made more sense than his did anyway. “Let’s hold hands so we don’t get lost! And Akuna, I think your Ruru may help anyway.” He added.

With Akuna in front, her Mask of Night Vision alight, the five Toa walked down a small, barely visible path that Addis had seen, the strong airstream trying to knock them off the top of the peak. Akuna was having a very hard time seeing herself, even with her Ruru activated. It was like trying to walk through the thick proto forest back on Shika Nui, except replace vines and thick trees with snow and ice cold wind that stung her body and you’d have a pretty good idea of how it felt.

Fortunately, it did not take them long to find a cave to hide in, though if Barilo had not pointed it out they might have missed it completely.

“Look! There’s a cave over there!” Barilo shouted, pointing at a grotto that was barely visible underneath the snow.

“Let’s go over there, then!” Akuna shouted as she led the other Toa over to the snow-blocked entrance.

After quickly digging through the slush they quickly filed in one by one until all five Toa Shika were safely in the back of the cavern, all of them shivering. It wasn’t much warmer inside the cave than outside in the storm, but at least they didn’t have snow always being blown into their masks or the wind nipping at their fingers and bodies.

Chimoy momentarily took off his Kanohi and wiped the snow off it. As he put the Mask of Flight back on his face, he said, “When do you think this storm will end?”

“No idea,” said Addis, shaking his head, shivering. “But until then we should make a fire.”

Barilo glanced around the small cave. He looked up at the icicles hanging from the ceiling like stalactites, but saw no wood or anything else that could be used to start a fire.

“Uh, just how do you expect to do that?” asked Barilo, who was growing increasingly irritable as a result of the storm. “We’ve got no wood, so your plasma won’t be that useful!”

“Well, I’m sure I can think of something,” said Addis, waving his hand. “Just give me a minute.”

“In a minute I’m afraid I will be half-frozen,” Nonzra replied bitterly.

“Hey, remember that frozen tree outside?” asked Akuna. “Maybe one of us should go out there and chop it down and use it as fire wood. It should take too long to dry with your plasma and it might burn well after that.”

“Good thinking, Akuna,” said Addis, nodding. “I will do it. I can cut it down easily with my plasma.”

“Hurry back,” Barilo called as the Toa of Plasma left the cave.

The howling, stinging wind struck Addis in the face like a sledgehammer, but he braved the wind anyway. It shouldn’t take too long to get to the tree, he knew. All he needed to do was get up there, use his plasma, break it into pieces, and bring back as much as he could carry and then go back and get the rest. Not too hard, he thought, at least compared to what I’ve had to do in the past.

When he reached the peak, he saw the frozen tree, standing just as still as always, sitting at the edge of the cliff. He walked over to it, his arms tightly around his body to keep in the warmth. He finally got to it and pulled out his plasma cannon and aimed it at the tree. But before he could shoot, the wind blew away some of the snow that was on it and he gasped and nearly dropped his weapon.

It wasn’t a tree. No, it was a pillar of rock, standing up high in the sky. Its tips were branching out a like tree branches and it towered over him menacingly, looking down at him with a faceless front. It looked artificial, like someone had made it, but who had, he didn’t know.

What he did know was that they couldn’t burn rock, so he decided to head back and tell the others that they weren’t going to have firewood this Naming Day. As he walked through the freezing weather, he wondered if they were all just going to die out here in the icy mountains without ever being remembered by anyone except for the Kra-Matoran and Shodios. It wasn’t a cheerful thought at all.

-

Jero was getting very worried. He and his group of Kra-Matoran had yet to find any trace of Nastan. It seemed like he had disappeared into thin air or something like that. It frustrated Jero because he knew that Nastan didn’t have any sort of teleportation ability and couldn’t travel via shadow, since he probably doesn’t know of that ability yet.

Or does he? Jero wondered. Who says the experiment didn’t give him any extra new abilities, such as teleportation? No idea what else he may or may not have, but that just increased his threat to Wyoko.

He looked up at the large temple which used to be the main area of worship for the Kra-Matoran ever since they had been imprisoned in Wyoko until smaller temples had been created in each village. As a result of having more local temples, people starting visiting it less and now it was mostly a place where Jero occasionally experimented in. It was still the largest and tallest temple in Wyoko by far, but it had none of its original glory and beauty that so many Matoran had once admired.

All of a sudden, Tikcah emerged from the shadow of a nearby tree. It didn’t startle Jero too much, since he was used to his fellow Shodios using shadow travel to get from place to place quickly, but he wondered what she was doing here anyway.

“Tikcah, what are you doing here?” asked Jero. “Did Krashadi send you to help me recapture Nastan?”

“No,” said Tikcah, shaking her head. “I came here on my own. Jiki told me that she nearly caught five of the Toa Shika, but they escaped on the back of a Cracko and were last spotted flying toward the western mountains.”

“Idiotic Toa,” Jero spat. “How the heck did they get a Crack on their side?”

“No idea,” said the female Toa of Shadow. “But Jiki is going after them with a team of Kra-Matoran she got from Wael. She sure is full of herself, I noticed.”

“Indeed,” said Jero, turning back to look at the huge temple. “Why did you tell me this, anyway? What is the point? It has nothing to do with Nastan, and that, might I remind you, is my mission, to find that rouge Toa of Shadow and-“

“Well, if you want to know the reason why I came here to tell you is because those other Toa are Nastan’s friends, right? So what if he saw them fly toward the mountains? What if he’s going after them, too?” asked Tikcah. “It makes sense. I suggest going there with Jiki to trap them and possibly catching Nastan at the same time, too.”

Jero stood still for a few minutes, thinking over her suggestion. Yes, it would make sense for him to go there. After all, this way they would capture all six Toa in one go, kill Nastan, and take the other five as new experiments. Yet he also felt reluctant to go. The Nui Mountains were, after all, known for their frequent avalanches, which is one of the reasons why it is one of the few places in Wyoko that had was not populated by the Kra-Matoran. He didn’t want to end up buried underneath tons of snow and ice, freezing to death with no way to escape.

The avalanches will probably kill the Toa Shika unless they’re careful not to shout, Jero thought. But what if it kills Nastan, too? He’s needed if I am to figure out what went wrong with him so I may not repeat those same mistakes with future test subjects.

“Okay, I’ll go,” Jero said finally, turning around to face Tikcah. “Where will you go, Tikcah? Do you wish to join me, too?”

“Okay,” she said, nodding. “I think Teivel, Ira, and Rhatara will come as well. They’re getting bored and want to fight and I already told them about Jiki’s report.”

“Well, then,” Jero said grimly, looking back up at the dark, black sky. “It seems like the whole gang is coming together just to kill a few pesky Toa, then. I do wonder what that says about our character. . . .”

-

“I s-sure w-wish that N-Nastan was s-still with us,” Barilo said through chattering teeth, “b-because we c-could have used s-some o-of his elemental p-powers right n-now t-to burn s-some wood, . . .”

“M-maybe w-we s-should huddle up t-together,” Akuna suggested, “to s-share o-our b-b-body h-heat.”

“T-that s-sounds l-like a g-good idea,” said Addis, shivering. “B-But will it b-be e-enough?”

“It is w-worth t-trying, anyway,” said Nonzra. “I’m f-freezing!”

So the five Toa Shika (the four males feeling very uncomfortable) huddled up together with each other. Though they were all freezing cold, they at least felt warmer than before. Barilo felt uncomfortable, but Akuna was right next to him, so it didn’t feel all that bad, at least.

“We’re g-going to h-have to s-sleep here t-tonight,” said Addis. “O-Okay?”

The others nodded. It was clear, however, that none of them were going to sleep well that night, what with the loud, howling wind, the cold air, and the uncomfortable situation that they were all in. Barilo remembered his bed back on Shika Nui. It had been a good, warm bed, with a thick blanket for cold nights during winter. It was so nice compared to the situation he was in now and he wished that he had at least his blanket to cover himself with. But he had to content himself with huddling up with the other Shika, which was a lot worse than his blanket.

So they were up all night, listening to the loud, screaming wind outside and trying to stay warm. Barilo assumed he had fallen asleep at one point, because soon he could not hear the storm anymore and it was slightly less cold now, though still quite frosty. Addis looked up and said, “R-rise and s-shine, everybody!”

Grumbling about the conditions that they had to sleep in, the other four Toa Shika separated and sat up, yawning and trying to wake up. Akuna was still leaning slightly against Barilo, but she was awake, though feeling a bit like she just wanted to sleep instead of moving. She saw Addis get to his feet and the Toa of Plasma said, “C-come. We c-can’t s-stay here all d-day. We m-might f-freeze.”

Like we haven’t already, Akuna thought bitterly. She normally didn’t think this way, preferring to take a more sensitive and optimistic approach to her thoughts like Nastan (if slightly more realistic than him, however). But sleeping in an ice-cold cave in the middle of a winter snow storm in a land of shadow make people act a lot more different than they usually would.

So with some effort the group of Toa all rose to their feet and began leaving the cave, stretching their frozen limbs and yawning some more. The storm was over: Now they were in a winter wasteland, with snow in all directions. Because it was slightly lighter outside now, they could see that their peak they had landed on was actually one of the smallest, despite the height that they had dropped from, and they could see that at least one of the mountains rose above the clouds.

“Okay, guys,” said Addis, trying very hard not to stutter. “We survived the night and now we’ve g-got to get down this mountain to warmer ground.”

“Then let’s get moving!” Nonzra shouted. “I am sick of this cold! The sooner we get down the better!”

“Maybe Akuna should go first,” said Addis, looking down the steep cliff. “It is very dark down there and we have no idea what is coming up. She has the Mask of Night Vision and will alert us of any obstacles coming up.”

Akuna walked over to him and looked over the edge. It was deep, dark, and vast and she didn’t think that even her Ruru could pierce the shadows. She looked up at Addis and said, “Addis, I am not sure I want to be the first down. The side looks unstable and with the shadows as dark as they are I kind of doubt my Ruru will be useful.”

“Come on, Akuna,” Addis urged. “It’s not that dark!”

“Well, isn’t there a safer way down, at least?” asked Akuna. “I doubt all of us will be able to climb down without causing some sort of avalanche.”

“Akuna, there’s no reason to worry,” Addis snapped, a bit more harshly than he intended. “You’re a Toa. If there’s anything wrong we can fix it. Trust me on this.”

Akuna looked up at him with a doubtful expression on her face, but she said, “Fine,” in a tone of resentment and, after tying a rope to her waist just in case she were to fall, began to gradually climb down the cliff side, her Mask of Night Vision shining down in the darkness. As she climbed, the other Toa followed her, climbing down just as slowly. Addis and Barilo climbed down the rocky, cold cliff last at the same time. Barilo decided to talk with Addis about the way he had snapped at Akuna earlier.

“Addis, I think you were a little too harsh on Akuna earlier,” said Barilo, carefully placing his hand in a handhold. “She really did have valid concerns about this climb.”

“So what?” Addis said in an irritated-sounding voice. “I am the leader, and she, like the rest you, is supposed to follow what I say.”

“Yeah, but you’re not a dictator,” Barilo pointed out. “We’ve always had a sort of ‘everyone counts’ view of leadership, even when we were Matoran. You would talk to us and ask us for our opinions before doing anything.”

“Yeah, well, Barilo, we are in a different environment now,” said Addis. “We are no longer Matoran. We are Toa now, stuck in a land where we are fugitives just for existing and are always on the run, and Shika Nui, I might add, is still in the hands of the Dark Hunters. In this place we need to work together firmly and I just can’t stand anyone who tries to get me to change my mind when we can’t afford any mistakes!”

“Well, maybe you should consider their point of view like you used to,” said Barilo, trying to keep his temper down. He hadn’t got much sleep last night and was feeling very bad like everyone else. “Maybe they have a reason for trying to change your mind.”

“Like I said before, we can’t afford any mistakes,” said Addis. “I have thought through my reasons enough to know that we can’t afford conflict or we’ll end up dead. Do you want to end up dead? I don’t.”

“I know, but I just thought you were a little harsh on her is all,” said Barilo. “I know I would certainly hesitate to climb down a dark, seemingly-endless cliff, even if I had a Ruru. I just think you should sympathize with her is all.”

Addis was very quiet for a few minutes, climbing slowly down after Chimoy. Finally, he said, “Barilo, it is very hard being team leader, especially during this time. I am the one who has to make the big decisions that will determine our destiny, in a way. Our team being incomplete only further complicates that and having to sleep in a dark, cold cave all night didn’t help my temper much, either.”

“Oh, well, I just wasn’t used to you being so temperamental is all,” said Barilo. The hard surface of the cliff felt very cold beneath his fingers, but he dare not let go for fear of falling to his death. “I understand. I’m not in too good a mood right now, either.”

“Well, we can discuss this later, I think,” said Addis, looking down. “Looks like Akuna, Nonzra, and Chimoy have already discovered the bottom.”

He was correct. The three Toa had finally arrived at the end of the ominous cliff side and were waiting for Addis and Barilo to join them. The two Toa climbed down quickly and immediately landed next to the others. Akuna was looking slightly annoyed, but Addis assumed it was because she hadn’t got much sleep last night, if any at all, and not because she had been the first one down.

“Where do we go next?” asked Nonzra, looking around at the dark, snowy area. “Which way leads out of this nightmare?”

“Um,” said Addis, thinking hard. “I . . . don’t know, unfortunately. We will have to go in a random direction or something-“

“Wait,” Chimoy said abruptly. “Does anyone here remember that I wear the Kanohi Kadin, the Mask of Flight? I’ll just fly above the mountain tops and find a trail for us to follow.” He saw Addis open his mouth to object, but the Toa of Iron cut him off. “Don’t worry, Addis. I’ll try to stay out of sight so that none of the Shodios or Kra-Matoran will notice me.”

“Okay,” said Addis. “Fly, then. But come back down here as soon as you find a suitable trail.”

“Sure,” Chimoy said just as he activated his mask.

Within minutes the Toa of Iron was now flying well-above the heads of his fellow Toa, streaking through the dark, snow-filled clouds. Flying always felt exhilarating to Chimoy. The way the air pressed against your face, the sheer feeling of being weightless, and the powerful and quick flight power his mask provided added immensely to the pleasure. Out of all of the masks of the Toa Shika, Chimoy always felt his was the most, how would he put it, fun.

He shot up higher, trying to get above a particularly tall peak until he was so high up that he could not see any of the other Toa Shika. Finally, he stopped in midair and looked beneath him.

This was his least favorite part of flying: Looking down. It always made him feel woozy, like he was going to fall. But he knew that he would need to scout for a trail and looking down was the only way to accomplish that mission, although he wished that it wasn’t.

His sharp eyes found a path at last. It was narrow and steep, but he could tell just by looking at it that it led out of the mountains and into the rest of Wyoko. He was about to fly down to tell the others when he saw a flash of black armor against the snow and immediately looked back to see what it was.

Chimoy saw Jiki trudging through the snow, a small band of well-armed Kra-Matoran following her. You didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that these guys were not planning to have a harmless snow fight. They were walking near the trail that he had spotted, but he was sure that, if he and the other Toa moved quietly enough, Jiki would never notice them as they slipped past.

As he descended toward the ground where the other Toa awaited, he did not know that he had failed to see one other thing, another Toa walking through the snow, though not a Shodios. Though it was forgivable because the Toa in question was moving very fast and quietly, so even if he had been paying his utmost attention he still might have missed him.

The Toa was Nastan, who was heading to meet his fellow Toa, and once he did that he would kill Barilo. But Chimoy did not know this, nor would he find out until it was far too late.

Review Topic

So many memories I don't even know where to begin. I'll just list the ones that immediately come to mind:

Being a member of the Epics Critics Club was great. Had tons of fun reviewing epics and hanging out with my fellow critics on Skype (most of whom I'm still friends with, actually).

Posting (and, more importantly, finishing) my first ever comedy, My Bionicle Road Trip, was pretty fun, too. Yeah, it was terribly written dreck, but it was my terribly written dreck. The comedy itself is not on BZP anymore (you can thank the Dataclysm for that), but I will always remember the fun times I had with my readers and the fun times I had writing the crazy thing.

Being able to ask Greg questions about the Bionicle story was really awesome. How many other fandoms get to talk directly to the writer of the franchise itself? It may very well have been one of BZP's best selling points back in the old days. It was definitely one of my favorite parts.

BZP has given me a lot of good memories and experiences over the years. It hasn't been completely perfect, obviously, but I don't regret joining this site for one minute. The good times and good experiences, for me at least, trump the bad ones every time, and always will.

-TNTOS-

Anyone up for a quick trade? I need help evolving my Electabuzz into Electivire for my team, so I want it to be a quick back-and-forth trade. So you won't keep the Electivire or anything and I won't keep whatever Pokémon you trade to me.

If you're interested, send me a PM with your Friend Code and I'll send you mine so we can trade later.

-TNTOS

Chapter 14: Escape Wael

It took only minutes for Addis to decide what to do.

“We gotta climb the building from the outside,” said Addis. “Get to the others before Jiki gets to your room!”

“Yeah, but how?” Barilo said in puzzlement. “The building is completely smooth on the outside. We can’t climb it!”

Addis looked out of the window. Jiki and Daaj were nowhere to be seen now and he saw a nearby hut that looked abandoned. He stared at its roof, which looked strong enough to hold at least two Toa. He looked back at Barilo and then said, “I think I know how we can get up there.”

“How?”

He pointed at the roof of the hut. “Get me up there with your gravity powers and help me get up to the rooms of the other Toa.”

Suddenly, they heard footsteps, a door being swung open, shadow being blasted, and then Jiki’s enraged shouts, all coming from Barilo’s now-abandoned room.

“Where did the Toa go?” they heard her demand.

“We don’t have time to use your plan!” Barilo whispered hurriedly. “Quick, when they open the door I shall use my gravity powers and knock them out and then we’ll run up to the higher floors.”

Addis looked doubtful, but he agreed with the plan anyway just as their door blasted open, an enraged Jiki and Daaj and four guards standing in the door way, shadow energy practically radiating from their bodies because of the power they were about to use.

“ ‘Night, Jiki!” shouted Barilo, using his gravity powers to slam Jiki and the Matoran into the walls. He pinned their unconscious bodies to the stone barriers and then turned to Addis and said, “Addis, let’s go up to the higher levels. The other guards might have heard the commotion down here and might be trying to kill Chimoy, Nonzra, and Akuna!”

Addis nodded, and soon the two Toa were running up the stairs. Barilo heard a low ‘thump’ from below, signifying that Jiki and the four villagers had fallen off the walls they had been pinned to. They were still unconscious, although he hoped that they would stay unconscious for a little while longer.

When they arrived at the landing of the second floor, they saw the guards of Chimoy and Nonzra’s rooms were gone, with the doors to the rooms ajar.

“Do you think they’re already got them?” Barilo asked worriedly.

Suddenly, a blast of earsplitting sound came from Nonzra’s room and two unconscious guards went flying out of the chamber and smashed into the wall, leaving a large dent where they had hit. Then Chimoy’s sentries shot out of his room and smashed into the wall as well, though they were bound with metal straps. Chimoy and Nonzra emerged from their rooms, weapons drawn and faces apprehensive. Once they spotted Addis and Barilo, they ran over to the two Toa and Chimoy said, “Addis, Barilo, what’s up with these Matoran? Why were they trying to kill us?”

“They nearly stabbed me in the face!” said Nonzra, angry. “Are these guys crazy?”

Barilo quickly explained to them what he and Addis had heard and when he finished Chimoy said, “We ought to find Akuna, too. She might get killed!”

But as soon as the words left his mouth two stunned guards broke straight through the ceiling and then smashed through the floor behind the four Toa and into the first floor. Above them, Akuna looked through the hole in the ceiling, saw the other Shika and the unconscious guards near them and said, “Well, maybe I was a little too trusting of the Kra-Matoran. But why did they suddenly attack me - and from the looks of it, you guys, too - for no reason?”

After having it explained to her, Akuna looked slightly hurt and said, “So, I guess we really were morons, considering we believed them.” She sounded very unhappy.

“It’s not your fault,” said Barilo. “Like you said, we all believed them, though I was still suspicious of them.” He added.

“Whatever,” Addis said, shaking his head. “We got to get to the roof of this place! Jiki could get up any minute now!”

Addis, Barilo, Chimoy, and Nonzra jumped over the hole in the floor that Akuna had created and then ran up the stairs to the third floor, where Akuna was waiting for them. She looked just as worried as ever, but led them over to a staircase that apparently headed up to the roof.

The roof of the building was completely flat but felt very solid underneath their feet. There was no sign of any way off of it. No ladders, either, and jumping off seemed like a very bad idea considering how high they were above ground. They could hear the sounds of Jiki and her Matoran running up the stairs behind them and knew that they needed more time to figure out a way off.

“I’ll stop them,” said Addis, aiming his plasma cannon at the entrance.

He fired off two balls of plasma, both of which melted the entrance closed. He didn’t doubt that Jiki and the Kra-Matoran could break through eventually, but it gave them a little extra time to think of a venue of escape.

“Anyone got any ideas?” asked Addis, putting his plasma cannon away.

“No,” said Akuna, shaking her head.

“Don’t ask me if I can use my gravity to get us down there,” said Barilo. “Because one, I can’t focus on us all, and two, we have some unwanted visitors waiting below for us, if you know what I mean.”

Addis looked over the ledge and saw what must have been the entire village of Wael waiting at the bottom, all of them holding weapons and shouting what sounded like cheers for Jiki. He did not doubt that they would tear down the entire building if it meant getting at the Toa Shika, especially if Jiki told ordered them to.

“So jumping is out of the question,” said Addis, sighing. “We only have one other choice, then.”

“What is that?” asked Nonzra.

“We fly,” replied Addis.

“Uh, in case you haven’t noticed, only Chimoy wears a Mask of Flight and I am pretty sure that he can’t lift all of us,” said Barilo, exasperated. “Flying is out of the question.”

“No, it isn’t,” said Addis, looking up at the dark sky. “What are the chances of a huge Rahi that could hold five Toa flying around at this very minute? Maybe Nonzra could use his Mask of Summoning to summon whatever it is.”

“Well, Addis,” said Nonzra, hearing the sound of Jiki breaking through the melt entrance behind them and talking quickly. “I agree with you, but remember I can’t control what my mask summons. For all we know it could summon some horrible evil creatures that would want to eat rather than save us from the Kra-Matoran.”

“Try it anyway,” said Barilo, looking over the edge. “The Kra-Matoran is getting very impatient. Whatever you summon probably won’t be much worse than that mob down there.”

Nonzra sighed and said, “Okay. I’ll do it.”

He activated his Mask of Summoning, feeling its power reach out to the wilderness around him. He had no idea what it would choose, but hoped that whatever it was it would be useful.

Suddenly, out of the blackness of the Wyokan sky, a huge, dark, bat-like shape came hurtling into view, moving faster than Nonzra’s eyes could follow. Soon it landed on the roof of the structure they were standing on, its black eyes regarding them curiously.

“What is it?” asked Akuna, standing slightly behind Barilo. “It looks like a giant, ugly bat!”

It indeed carried a very close resemblance to that of a bat. Its large, thin wings were spread out at its sides, flowing gently in the wind. It had large, sharp teeth, with purple metal and fur covering its body. Its sharp toenails were digging into the roof, as if it were trying to steady itself and it was drooling what might have been shadow. Barilo thought it looked big enough to hold all five of them, but they needed to tame it, and they didn’t have enough time to tame it.

“Chimoy, make me a chain,” Addis said immediately as he tossed a glance over his shoulder. “Jiki’s going to break through the entrance any minute now!”

“Here you go, Addis,” said Chimoy, a long chain instantly springing into existence in his hands. “I think you know what you are going to do, although I can’t say if I think it will work or not.”

Addis took the chain and then, with the speed and agility of a skilled athlete, ran and jumped onto the giant bat’s back, simultaneously latching the chain around its neck and pulling the creature’s head up.

The monster didn’t like the chain around its neck nor Addis sitting on its back and tried to shake him off, but Addis firmly held the chain around its neck and twisted and turned it until it gave up fighting, which only took a few minutes, surprisingly.

“Get on!” shouted Addis to the others, who all looked impressed with his ability to quickly tame the creature. “We’re taking this beast out of here!”

“Uh, sure,” Barilo said in an awed tone. I didn’t know he could control a giant bat so easily!

He did not think about it any further, though, because Chimoy dragged him to the monster. Everyone else was already on its back and soon he was as well. With a loud “Yah!” from Addis the giant bat flew off and into the dark night sky.

It was immediately obvious that, with the weight of the five Toa on its back, it could not fly as fast or as graceful as it had before, and Barilo was sure that they would get hit by the Kra-Matoran on the ground. He looked down and saw all of the villagers, who looked like ants from his perch, standing with their mouths open, awestruck. He wasn’t sure if they were surprised at the appearance of the beast or of the Toa Shikas’ chosen method of escape. Regardless, he knew he and his friends had escaped from the villagers and were hopefully on their way to safety.

Behind them, he could hear Jiki, standing on the roof of the building, cursing at them as loudly as she possibly could and also shooting shadow blasts at them, but missing because their ride was dodging the blasts rather skillfully despite the weight of the five Toa. He thought he heard Jiki call their mount a ‘Cracko,’ which he thought was a rather odd name for a giant bat.

Soon Wael was out of sight, with the Kra-Matoran, Jiki’s curses, and the entire village disappearing into the darkness of Wyoko as their rather bumpy ride flew higher and higher in a random direction with apparently no help from Addis to guide it.

“Where are we going?” Akuna asked with her arms tightly wrapped around Addis’ waist to avoid falling off.

“To be honest, Akuna, I have no idea,” Addis replied. “I am hoping toward The Door.”

“Well, I still think we should search for Nastan,” said Akuna. “Considering how hostile the villages are, what if they tried the same trick on him and he fell for it? I can’t stand knowing that he’s still out there somewhere!”

“Well, maybe we can find him from up here,” Barilo said, who was looking down. “But we’d have to get real close to the ground. It’s too dark up here to see anything.”

He was right. Below them there was nothing but darkness and shadow. There were no lights from the ground because the Kra-Matoran hated light and therefore used it as little as possible. But there seemed to be light near the ceiling of Wyoko’s dome, for they could see small, dim pinpoints of light on the ceiling, letting them see shadow clouds and a few other flying Rahi in the distance, but not too much else besides that.

“By the way, Addis,” said Barilo, who broke his gaze away from the dark sky. “How come you’re so good at taming this Cracko? You got it to agree with you awful quick.”

“Well, it doesn’t seem to be as violent as I thought it was going to be,” said Addis, looking over his shoulder. “It didn’t put up much of a fight as I expected it to do, but that’s better than getting ripped to shreds by it, right?”

Suddenly, the Cracko lurched to the side and Akuna gripped Addis around the waist even tighter to avoid falling off. The others did the same, holding on tightly to one another. Then the giant bat flew down toward the ground, passing through dark clouds and flying by other Rahi (one of them looked oddly like a giant flying squid to Barilo) as it dove. Addis was pulling it around the neck with his chain so that it would go back up, but it ignored him and kept flying down.

“This thing is going to crash if it keeps this speed up!” shouted Addis.

“Maybe it’s trying to shake us off,” Nonzra muttered. “If it is, it’s working quite well.”

“Just hang on tightly and I’ll see if I can get it back up!” Addis replied, pulling hard on the chain.

The Cracko reluctantly went back up, if only to ease the pain on its neck as a result of the hard, metal chain being pulled against its collar. So now they were flying again, and Barilo wondered where they would be going now. After all, they were too high up to see The Door and he doubted that the Cracko knew or cared about where it was. Addis looked like he was thinking hard, probably making up a new plan for them to use.

“Okay, guys,” Addis shouted the sound of the loud flapping of the Cracko’s wings. “I’m going to try to get this beast to fly near the ground and then we’ll dismount and walk to The Door.”

“Walk?” Barilo asked in disbelief. “But we’ll be seen if we walk!”

“Not to mention it will take much longer to talk to The Door than to fly,” Chimoy added.

“I know,” said Addis. “But this creature is getting rebellious and might try to shake us off again, plus we can’t afford to be spotted by the Kra-Matoran or Shodios and then get shot down. If we walk we will be able to hide more effectively than flying, and, might I add, we don’t know where The Door is exactly, and we’ll be able to see it clearly from the ground, or at least know of its general direction.”

“But first,” said Addis, looking down. “We ought to fly quite a ways away. The Matoran of Wael might be nearby, maybe sending a search party to find us. Remember, they can see us in this darkness and we can’t, so they have an advantage over us. We gotta land somewhere far away enough from Wael so the Matoran won’t find us. Yah!”

He pulled the chain again and the Cracko shot forward toward the north, the cold wind of Wyoko whipping their faces as they flew. Akuna kept looking down all the way, hoping to see some sign of Nastan, though she knew it was a false hope, for they were too high up to even see the ground.

-

Nastan ran through the darkness of Wyoko, his mind ablaze with all kinds of thoughts and emotions. First he felt angry, then he felt happy, then he felt sad, then he was confused, and then he was angry again and then he suddenly felt all of the emotions in the universe and now he was happy again. Despite his very conflicted mind, he knew one thing for sure: He was in his natural environment.

I cannot understand why the Shodios would ever want to leave this place, he thought, glancing around at the dark forest that he was in. This is perfect for a Toa of Shadow like me! Complete and utter darkness, scary nightmare creatures everywhere I look. It is practically paradise. I even have night vision! How cool is that?

But, despite his newfound happiness, he felt . . . lonely, somehow. He missed the other Toa Shika, despite them not actually being Toa of Shadow. He missed Akuna most of all, whom he now knew he loved very much, though he knew that Barilo would simply have to be killed if his friends were to become Toa of Shadow like himself. And, he thought, if any of the others got in his way, he would have to kill them, too.

Akuna could become a Toa of Shadow like me, he thought happily. She would love it because she loves me and would do anything for me, even give up her light. And hey, being a complete shadow being sure is fun!

The whole reason that he had abandoned Jero back at the Place of Lightlessness was because he had wanted to search for the other Toa Shika by himself, and he didn’t like Jero much anyway. He had no idea where they were. Maybe they were in a village? He doubted it, considering what the Kra-Matoran think of the Toa Shika. So they obviously must be in the wilderness somewhere, probably heading toward The Door, Nastan thought.

Just like them, he thought bitterly. Leaving me behind here in Wyoko without even trying to find me. Barilo most likely persuaded them to do that. Hopefully Akuna will separate from the group to try and find me, at least.

With the agility of a ninja, he launched himself onto a tree branch and then started climbing. Now he may not be a Toa of The Green anymore, but he still had his amazing tree climbing abilities, though he noticed that they had lowered considerably, since he was taking a longer time to climb, branch by branch. He was also getting noticeably more worn out as he climbed higher, an obvious side effect of his abrupt change from being a Toa of The Green to a Toa of Shadow.

Finally, he reached the top and sat on the highest branch, scanning the landscape around him, panting, almost out of breath. He saw The Door, though he was many, many miles away from it and it was nothing more than a small sparkle of light in the distance. He saw a few villages, plus Castle Kra, but they were all far away as well. He spotted the western mountains to the left of him, with their huge, white snow capped peaks. His eyes, however, wandered up to the sky above them, where he saw a most unusual sight.

Flying very close to the peaks of the mountains was a giant bat, of a species Nastan had never seen before. He thought it was extremely weird, but regardless, it was flying awkwardly, looking as if it had something heavy on its back. In fact, Nastan did notice what looked like a large, multicolor lump on its back that was moving slightly.

It can’t be them, can it? he thought as he watched from his treetop perch. How the heck did they end up on a giant bat? Well, I should probably go and greet them. Looks like they’re going to-

The giant monster suddenly fell out of view into the dark mountains.

-fall, he thought. Hopefully Barilo got impaled by some sharp rocks or something. But nevertheless, they are within my grasp, so I don’t have to be away from Akuna any longer.

Climbing back down the tree, his blood-red eyes fixated on the mountains, he planned to give his five friends a very nasty shock. Especially, he thought, Barilo.

Review Topic

so how about that

 

 

Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks teaser?

 

Like I said earlier, not sure if yay or nay. I don't want to judge it yet until we get more information or more substantial clips.

-TNTOS-

Chapter 13: Lies

The experiment, Jero thought, was a success as he watched as Nastan, his armor completely jet-black and his eyes a light red color, rose from the stone slab he had been lying on. The absorbing sphere had worked perfectly: Nastan was no longer a defender of light, a self-righteous ‘hero.’ Now he was a Toa of Shadow, stripped of all of his light. His physical appearance was largely the same, except now he was completely black, Jero noted.

“So, Nastan,” said the scientist, looking up at the new Toa of Shadow. “How does it feel to have no light anymore, to be a complete ally of the shadow?”

Nastan, who had been examining his new form, glanced up at Jero, as if noticing him for the first time. He smiled a sort of crazy smile and said, “It feels good. Really good. Like, stealing a bunch of Cordak blasters all full of ammo from a heavily defended Dark Hunter fortress and getting without being seen kind of good. I love it.”

“Experiment loves it,” Jero muttered as he wrote notes. “Anything else? Like, how did it feel to get your light forcefully taken out of you? Did it hurt?”

“At first, yeah,” said Nastan, now leaning up against a wall and examining his hands, as if he had never seen them before. “But as the light left me, it felt . . . painless. I was starting to accept it, love it, to know that I was part of the darkness and that it was pointless to reject it.” He looked around the room for a minute and exclaimed, “Wow, being able to see in the dark is tons different than being able to see in the light. The only bad thing is that there is nothing in here to look at but your ugly mask, Jero.”

Jero fought the temptation to hit Nastan over the head for insulting him. He knew that the Toa of Shadow’s body and mind were still adjusting to the drastic changes that had resulted in having his light taken away and therefore he would be pretty unstable for a while. He had deduced this by studying the way Nastan reacted to his new powers and appearance. But Nastan was still annoying just the same.

“So, what do we do next?” Nastan asked eagerly. “I want to show Akuna my new powers.”

“That is, if we can find her,” said Jero. “That shouldn’t be a problem, though. All of Wyoko is on watch for the five Toa Shika and are ordered to take them alive or kill them if they resist.”

“Spare Akuna and Barilo,” said Nastan.

“Why? Are you close to them?”

Nastan shot the Toa of Shadow a look that even gave him the chills and replied, “Akuna, yes, we’re very close to each other. But Barilo . . . He’s a different story.”

“Why is that, Nastan?” asked Jero. “Did he do something to you in the past that makes you angry at him?”

“Yes,” said Nastan, though it was clear he did not want to talk about it, for it brought back painful memories. “He tried to kill me once. He was stopped, obviously, and was exiled from the team. But later everyone but me forgave him and let him rejoin the team. Even Akuna agreed to it. Yet none of them considered my feelings. What if I still didn’t trust him? What if I thought he wasn’t worth being a Toa and should stay exiled? But no, they unanimously voted him back in without hesitation.”

Jero noticed shadow energy starting to crackle in Nastan’s palms. It was obvious, because of his outburst of emotions, that he was losing control of his powers, since he did not seem to notice what was happening. Jero didn’t bother to tell him, for he wanted to see Nastan use his new shadow powers for the very first time.

“I want to kill him,” Nastan said savagely. “I want to see his corpse burning. I want to see justice served. I want to see him dead!”

With that last shout, he fired a huge blast of shadow energy at a nearby wall, blasting the barrier apart and creating a huge gaping hole in the wall of the temple, revealing the outside which looked just as bleak and depressing as the inside. Nastan was still seething, while Jero stood up and clapped his hands, grinning evilly.

“Very good, Nastan!” said Jero, smiling. “The experiment is a full success and you are living proof of it. I am so proud of myself!”

“Who cares if it was a success?” Nastan snorted. “I am just so very happy that I do not have that stupid conscience to annoy me anymore when I want to do something that it says is ‘wrong.’ Now I need to find Barilo. I want to kill him with my own bare hands!”

“You’re moving way too much ahead of yourself, Nastan,” said Jero. “First, I have to show you to the other Shodios and Turaga Krashadi, just to prove to them that it is indeed possible to artificially remove the light out of a being. Perhaps then the old coot will allow me to start mass producing the things.”

“Why didn’t he allow you to make more before?” asked Nastan.

“Because he is not a man of science like me,” said Jero. “He did not think I could succeed in sucking the light out of a being and thought it would be a complete waste of time and resources. But now I have proved him wrong. I can’t wait to see the look on his face when he sees you.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever,” said Nastan dismissively. “Let’s get going already. This place is too cramped for my tastes.”

With that, he blasted yet another hole in the wall and leapt through it with such speed and grace one might have mistaken him for a brakas monkey. Jero looked through the hole and saw that, though they were several dozen feet above ground, Nastan had somehow managed to land safely without so much as a sprained ankle, at least from what he could see, anyway. The new Toa of Shadow shouted from below, “Let’s go! I am getting tired of waiting!”

“Um, uh, coming!“ Jero said, slightly taken aback by Nastan’s quickness. He pulled out his note pad and scribbled, Subject A’s agility has been increased as a result of having his light take away. Will need to monitor him for now to see if there are any other unforeseen side effects that I am unaware of.

With that, he decided to take the stairs down to the ground level. Nastan may be fast and very agile, but Jero was a rather old Toa, and while he may have been stronger and more powerful than a Kra-Matoran or Krashadi, he still did not trust his legs to give out underneath him were he to drop from such a height.

Once he reached the bottom, Nastan was nowhere to be seen. He glanced around the dark area and saw only the caravan they had taken to get here, which was flipped over. He saw two pairs of legs sticking out from underneath it; two pairs of legs that belonged to the villagers who had driven the wagon here. He did not wish to find out what the rest of their bodies looked like.

After conducting a quick search of the immediate area, he concluded that Nastan must have run away, which added one more problem to today’s list.

First, the Toa Shika got away and their location is unknown, thus turning all of Wyoko into a energy hound that keeps an eye out for intruders on its territory, he thought. Then, Nastan, now a Toa of Shadow and equipped with an insane and unstable mind, has run away and his location is unknown, too. Mata Nui, what is this place coming to? Will we all end up dying in the end?

-

Several thousand miles away, in the village of Wael, Toa Barilo had a hard time sleeping, twisting and turning in his soft bed. His mind was bothered by a lot of things, mostly by the welcoming Kra-Matoran. He couldn’t name it, but there was something about them that seemed very wrong, deceptive almost. While the others seemed to have accepted the Kra-Matoran, he himself was not so sure.

But it didn’t seem to be a trick, either. After all, if they gave the Toa Shika the things that they normally reserved for the Shodios, then they obviously must be genuine, right, considering how much they worship the Shodios like gods? Well, that was something he was not so sure about, even though he had no evidence to back up his doubts.

Why would they suddenly start to act so happy and nice and friendly when other members of their tribe have been far more hostile to us? he thought, troubled. I want to accept this as genuine, but something in the back of my mind is keeping me from doing it. That little voice is telling me that this doesn’t make sense, that there is more to this than meets the eye. But what is it?

He wondered if any of the other Shika might be thinking the same thoughts he was. If so, maybe they had their own reasons that Barilo did not know, something they may have noticed about the Kra-Matoran that tipped them off, if anything at all.

He decided to go and talk to Addis, who he was close friends with. He kind of doubted that the Kra-Matoran would let him visit Addis, but this could also be a test. If they let him go and talk to Addis about this, then he would be convinced that they are the real deal. If they didn’t let him go and talk to Addis, then there would be a very good chance that all of the Toa Shika were in great danger tonight.

There were two Kra-Matoran guards stationed outside of his door. At first he had insisted that he would be fine and would not need any guards, but the villagers had insisted that he should have at least two and that’s how those two ended up there. As he placed a hand on his doorknob, he froze at the sound of the two villagers talking to each other, though they were talking very quietly.

“Man, I am getting sick of treating these light lovers like they’re Turaga Krashadi himself!” one of the Kra-Matoran complained.

“Don’t worry, I heard that a message has been sent to Toa Jiki that the Invisible Black Mask has been defeated, but that we have the five Toa Shika here for her to take,” said the other guard. “Or kill them, whichever one suits her.”

Barilo was thunderstruck. So they really didn’t like the Toa Shika! The Kra-Matoran was just playing with him and his friends all along! It was a trick! He needed to somehow get the others out of here, but first he would have to convince them.

But how would he get to their rooms without first getting past the guards? It was clear to him that the Kra-Matoran would not let him go and leave his room just because he wanted to. If Jiki really was coming, and if she was coming to get the Toa Shika, he would need to break out and get to his friends before it was too late.

He looked at the window near his bed. It was open and looked wide enough to allow someone of his size to get through. Perhaps he could climb out of it and into the others’ rooms to warn of them of Jiki’s coming? He saw only two flaws in the plan: One, he would need to make sure no Kra-Matoran were waiting outside the building just in case they saw him climbing the structure and tried to get him down. Two, he would need to find a way to convince the others that this was all a sham, that they would need to get out of Wael quickly before Jiki arrives, since he had no solid proof that Jiki really was coming to get them.

Barilo looked out of his window. He did not see any Kra-Matoran, nor did he see anything else but lots of huts. It was a risky plan still. What if the guards heard him climbing out and warned the other guards, or just stopped him entirely? But he knew he needed to get out and rescue his friends, so he decided that it was a risk worth taking.

Since he was on the bottom floor, his window was located only a couple of feet above the ground. Jumping out of it, he landed silently on the ground and then tiptoed over to Addis’ window, which was on the same level as his. Unfortunately, Addis had shut his window, which meant that Barilo would have to open it through sheer force.

He pulled out his trusty axe and then, as silent and quickly as he could, started to cut around the bottom of the window. It took a few minutes and more than once Barilo looked over his shoulder just in case someone was watching him or had heard him, but eventually he managed to force it open and crawled inside Addis’ window, closing it as he entered so no one would look in and see two Toa where there should only be one.

The Toa of Gravity quickly and quietly fast walked over to Addis, who was fast asleep on his bed, muttering to himself in words that Barilo couldn’t understand.

“Wake up,” whispered Barilo, shaking the Toa of Plasma. “Addis, it is a trick. The villagers really don’t like us as much as they say they do and are going to hand us over to the Shodios if we don’t get ourselves out of here soon!”

“What?” Addis said sleepily, sitting up and yawning. “Barilo, what are you doing in my room? How did you get in here? And why are you in here?”

As quickly as he could, Barilo explained to Addis about the conversation he heard between the two guards and how they should get out of Wael before Jiki arrives. Addis only half-listened, however; the rest of his mind was still in dreamland.

“That’s nice, Barilo,” Addis yawned, laying back down and turning over. “Why don’t you just get some sleep and we’ll think about this tomorrow?”

“There won’t be a ‘tomorrow’ when Jiki gets here!” said Barilo, trying to keep his voice low. “We’ll all be dead by then!”

“But you have no proof or evidence to support your theory, Barilo,” said Addis, now sounding annoyed. “Why should I believe you?”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because we’ve known each other for over 30,000 years?” said Barilo sarcastically. “When you’ve known the Kra-Matoran for barely more than a day?”

“I still don’t know. . . .”

Suddenly, they heard voices outside of Addis’ window. The Toa of Plasma looked toward it, wondering who the voices belonged to. He recognized Daaj’s, who was speaking as loudly and enthusiastically as usual, but the other voice was muffled, as if it were whispering. The two Toa moved toward the closed window and cracked it open ever so slightly.

In the shadows of the night they saw two figures standing just outside Addis’ window. One was obviously Daaj, for it was holding her walking staff and had the same voice. The other was Toa-sized and had a large frame. They recognized that one as Jiki, for it had the same voice as her.

“So you really duped the Toa into believing you are their allies?” asked Jiki. “I am impressed. I never thought that mere Matoran such as you were capable of such elaborate deceptions.”

“Oh, Toa Jiki, it would have been harder had they used their brains,” said Daaj, who sounding quite proud of herself. “All of the light on the surface must have fried their brains, don’t you think?”

“You say the Toa are in this building?”

“Yes, Toa Jiki, they are. They’re all fast asleep. Shall I have my guards go in and capture them all and bring them out here for you?”

“No,” Jiki said, shaking her head. “We tried to capture them before, and they escaped. This time, we’re going to kill them all, because if we capture them they will just escape again and, with the situation as it is, we can’t let them get away and possibly reunite with their lost friend, what was his name, Nastan, that’s it.”

“I agree, wise and wonderful Jiki,” said Daaj, nodding her head in agreement. “Perhaps you should kill them quietly, ma’am. I do not question your wisdom or knowledge, but I do not think we should have a long fight on our hands that could possibly damage Wael.”

“Whatever,” said Jiki, who was now getting impatient, “I just want to kill them and be done with it.”

“Then come right his way, Toa Jiki.”

Addis and Barilo looked at each other. They instantly knew what they had to do: Find the others and get them out of here!

-

Turaga Krashadi sat at his desk in his tower, scribbling plans for the battles on the surface that would surely come as Teivel quietly entered the room, his face half-covered in darkness, though it did not necessarily hide it, for Krashadi could see in the darkness quite well.

He looked up at the leader of the Shodios and said, “Teivel, what brings you here today? Do you have more news on the Toa Shika situation?”

“Jiki has sent a messenger,” Teivel said in his usual cold tone. “She says she has found the Toa Shika in the village of Wael and plans to kill them.” He stopped talking, as if expecting Krashadi to say something in disagreement with Jiki’s plans.

But he was to be disappointed, for Krashadi said, “I suppose that makes sense. They have been giving us such a hard time that I wouldn’t bother keeping them alive, either.” He paused, as if lost in thought, then said, “How does Jero’s experiment on the Toa of The Green go? Any news about that yet?”

“None,” said Teivel. “He hasn’t reported back-“

Suddenly, Toa Jero burst into the room, looking as if he had just run several miles, which he probably had, considering the condition of his armor. He had dirt splattered all over his chest and feet and looked like he was out of breath, which he probably was.

“Nastan . . . escaped! Gone!” Jero panted, clutching his chest.

“What?” Teivel snapped, surprised by the sudden appearance of Jero. “Explain yourself, scientist!”

“That Toa I was experimenting on,” said Jero, trying to explain what he was trying to say. “My absorbing sphere was a success! But then Nastan escaped!” He had a very mixed tone, sounding like he was proud of his success, yet he also sounded as if he were worried.

“So, there’s a new Toa of Shadow roaming Wyoko without any supervision?” said Krashadi. His tone was becoming increasingly darker and more thunder-like as he spoke. “Why in your right mind would you let such a valuable experiment loose upon our people? Are you trying to figure out what would happen if you let a homicidal maniac out onto a continent full of innocent Matoran?”

“No experiment!” shouted Jero. “He ran away on his own! I don’t know where he is!”

“Did he give you any clue as to where he might be going?” Teivel asked sharply.

“Well, he did mention wanting to kill that Toa of Gravity, Barilo,” said Jero. “But he has no idea where his friends are.”

“But what is to stop him from intercepting one of our messengers and forcing the Matoran to tell him the location of the rest of the Toa Shika?” questioned Teivel. “He may be heading to Wael, which is where the Toa Shika are at this very moment.”

“He may, but for we know all he could simply be wandering,” said Jero. “I noticed he had a very sudden change in behavior after I changed him into a Toa of Shadow. I suspect his mind must have been damaged because of the imperfect technique that I used on him, which may mean he is simply insane and might not be a serious threat to us.”

“But just the same, it would make sense to kill him,” Krashadi said calmly. “He doesn’t know what to do with his new shadow powers. He may attempt to do something stupid, like attack this castle. He may be insane, but being insane does not instantly make one stupid.”

“You’re right, Krashadi, we can’t have a being like that wandering around our realm,” said Teivel, nodding. “I shall go search for him from the skies. If he is heading for Wael, I can intercept him and kill him.”

“Hey, I gave you no permission to kill my experiment,” Jero said angrily. “He proves that I could mass produce absorbing spheres and we could use them on other light dwellers. I still need to study him to figure out what went wrong!”

“It’s obvious,” said Teivel. “You’re just a bad scientist. I honestly don’t know why we would want to convert our enemies to our tribe, especially if they’re all going to be as unpredictable as Nastan.”

“I think that the new Toa of Shadow should be killed,” Krashadi said in tone that made it obvious that the discussion was over. “Jero, form a search party of the best Kra-Matoran in this castle and then lead it to try to find to Nastan. Teivel, find the other Shodios and bring them to this castle. We have to discuss battle tactics when we begin our conquering of the surface world.”

“Yes, Turaga,” said Jero, bowing slightly. “I will bring Nastan-“

“-dead,” Krashadi finished for him. “Teivel is right. He is too unpredictable and unstable to be allowed to wander free like that. Kill him and bring the body back to me.”

Jero glared at Krashadi, but he left anyway, leaving the small room and running down the staircase. Teivel followed soon after, leaving Krashadi all alone in his study. The Turaga of Shadow jumped off of his chair and then walked over to the window, looking over the whole land of Wyoko. Beyond it he could see The Door to The Light, which was closed, but not, he knew, locked. He could not wait to go through it, but with the Toa Shika and Nastan still running around, it may be a long time before he would ever see the light of the surface again.

Still, he knew that, if need be, he could simply destroy the Shika himself. If he knew light Toa - and he thought that he knew them - they would survive Jiki’s attempted murder and then, like all Toa, would attempt to raid Castle Kra, because they would assume that Nastan was here. Once they got here, Krashadi decided, he was not going to hold back. He was going to wipe them off the face of the universe and after that he would lead his people out of Wyoko to begin a new Kra-Matoran Empire, one even better than before.

Yes, he thought as he gripped his staff tightly in his hand. The Kra-Matoran Empire shall rise again and this time, no one will stop us.

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Chapter 12: Trickery & Schemes

Nastan lay on a large, flat stone slab, his arms and legs bound to the table with protosteel straps, making escape impossible. He had been struggling to get himself free for a while now, but it was a useless effort because the straps were too thick and tight. So he decided to just lay there in the dark room, wondering when Jero would return with whatever it is he had promise would ‘change’ Nastan, though he didn’t know what that meant and really didn’t want to.

A few hours ago, Nastan had been taken from his cell in Castle Kra to the area of Wyoko known as ‘The Place of Lightlessness’ to its inhabitants. It was an old, seemingly abandoned temple in the shape of the one he had seen in Kra-Koro back on the surface of Shika Nui. It was incredibly dark and scary, with more than one figure moving in the shadows that Nastan could not identify.

Jero had explained to him that it was called The Place of Lightlessness because it was dark even compared to Kra-Matoran standards. Plus, there were a few rumors that stated that anyone who went there that wasn’t a Shodios or Turaga Krashadi would be eaten alive by beings of made of pure shadow, which discouraged anyone visiting this place. Nastan hadn’t seen any, but he had an awful feeling that the rumors of shadow beings may very well be true. He sincerely hoped not.

Suddenly, the door swung open and Jero entered, holding a small orb in his hand that was covered with a cloth. It was too dark to make out what it was he was holding, but Nastan really didn’t want to know. After all, if whatever it was made a Shodios giddy, then it had to be bad.

“Nastan, I know you probably cannot see me very well in this darkness, if at all,” Jero said in a quiet tone. “But I would like you to know what is about to happen to you first, so that you may understand its significance once the transformation is complete.”

“Transformation? What transformation?” Nastan asked, with more than a hint of fear in his voice. “What are you going to do to me?”

“This is an absorbing sphere,” said Jero, unveiling the ball from the cloth. It was dull and dark, as empty as a dark pit. “It is one of my newest creations.”

“What does it do?” Nastan asked, straining his head to get a better look of the ball.

“I do not know for sure,” admitted Jero. “But if my theory is correct, it should be able to absorb all of your light inside you and transform you from an idiotic Toa of The Green to a powerful Toa of Shadow. If it doesn’t, nothing should happen, but you never know. . . .”

“You can’t do this to me,” said Nastan, now staring at the absorbing sphere with fear. “What if I don’t want to become a Toa of Shadow? What if I’m happy as I am?”

“Think of yourself as a lab rat,” Jero said, now holding the sphere above Nastan’s face. “And think of this as an experiment. I am the scientist and I am curious and want to find out how it works, so I use you, the lab rat. If the experiment is a success, you will survive, perhaps even for the better. But if it fails, I will have to dispose of your corpse and work on another light dweller, perhaps one who has already allied him or herself with the shadow and therefore would not resist nearly as much, if at all.”

“This is inhumane!” Nastan shouted, still struggling against the bonds. “This is insane!”

“On the contrary, I find this to be quite exciting,” said Jero, in a voice that suggested he was getting very eager to begin. “I began this project a few years ago and just recently perfected it in this absorbing sphere. I have been testing it on Rahi beasts, but they have very little light and there is little to no difference in their attitudes or appearances.” He paused, as if lost in thought, then said, “Perhaps it is because they were made to fit into this environment. Regardless,” he added. “I was hoping that I would get a light dweller to test it on. But I thought it was a stupid dream, since until recently The Door has been locked up tightly. Then you and your friends came along, however, and I just couldn’t believe my luck.”

“I just can’t believe my unluckiness,” Nastan muttered.

“Unluckiness?” repeated Jero. “I wouldn’t necessarily call it ‘unlucky.’ After all, how many people get their light forcibly removed from their bodies and become Toa of Shadow every day? If this process works, as I theorize it will, then I will mass produce them and use these on other light Toa and Matoran on the surface and recruit more beings into our army, thus eliminating even more potential foes that will try to stop us.” He sounded proud, yet slightly crazed. “Turaga Krashadi will be proud, I suspect.”

“Now enough talking,” said Jero, shaking his head. “The experiment officially begins now.”

With a sound of a ‘click,’ Nastan suddenly started to feel . . . different. He felt like someone had reached into his stomach with a giant fork and was trying to grab his innards . . . and succeeding. He tried to fight the impulse to do evil, but as his light began to get siphoned off into the absorbing sphere, he found the temptation of evil becoming greater every minute.

But even if he could resist the evil temptation of shadow, there was still the unbearable pain that followed it. It shot through his form like a lightning bolt and burned and stung every inch of his body. He couldn’t scream. Instead, all he did was struggle and heave, but he knew it was pointless to try.

“Don’t struggle, Nastan,” Jero breathed, as he watched the orb in his hand gradually fill with light. “Soon, it will be over. Soon, you will have no reason to resist darkness. Soon, you will be the brother of shadow, of the Shodios. And soon, you will have no reason to struggle at all.”

-

Back with the rest of the Toa Shika, Barilo was sure that the Kra-Matoran would attack them, since they were light dwellers, and based on how the other Kra-Matoran they had met acted around them, it only made since.

But instead, the villagers bowed deeply at their feet, chanting ‘Hail the Toa!’ at the top of their lungs as if it were a ritual that they performed every day. None of the Shika knew what to make of it, though, and they were all standing around, dumbfounded, not sure of what to do or if they should do anything at all. Maybe run away while they’re distracted? Perhaps stay and ask what they think they’re doing? Fight them, possibly? Or do something else entirely?

Suddenly, one of the Kra-Matoran, a tan and black colored villager wearing a Huna, broke away from the crowd and ran up to the Toa Shika. She was obviously the leader of the group, for she wore a robe and held a staff of office similar to a Turaga’s, but she did not look like a Turaga. On the contrary, she seemed quite lively and young, which made Barilo wonder how she could have became leader of the village. Barilo instantly recognized her as the Kra-Matoran he had rescued earlier from the rubble of that damaged hut, for she had the same piercing crimson eyes, though he wondered why he hadn’t noticed the robes before

“Welcome, Toa!” she said enthusiastically, bowing in front of them as if they were some sort of higher beings. “I am Daaj, the leader of Wael, this village you are currently standing in. We fully appreciate your efforts to defeat the Invisible Black Mask that has been terrorizing our village since earlier this morning! Honor the Toa!” She whirled around and lifted her staff high, apparently some sort of signal for the Kra-Matoran to begin shouting again.

“Honor the Toa!” the group of Kra-Matoran shouted in unison.

Daaj turned around to face the Shika again and said, “We also appreciate the fact that you saved me from that smashed hut, Toa of Gravity.”

“Uh, you’re welcome?” said Barilo, a little overwhelmed by the way the Kra-Matoran was acting toward them now.

“Please tell us your names so that we may properly address you,” said Daaj, looking up at them.

After the five Toa informed her of their respective names, she smiled broadly and said, “Your names are . . . different from what we’re used to, but since you are Toa we shall refrain from ridiculing your rather ludicrous-sounding names.”

Barilo wanted to tell her that she had just insulted their names now, but she seemed to have ignored them and now gestured to about five other villagers to enter a nearby warehouse. Soon they had emerged from the building with five well-decorated thrones that were obviously reserved for Toa such as themselves, probably for the Shodios.

“Please sit in the thrones,” Daaj said, motioning to the fancy chairs. “They are normally reserved for the amazing and wise Shodios, but today we offer them to you five.”

“Uh, thanks, I guess,” said Addis, taking a seat, followed by the other four. “We, uh, appreciate this? I guess?” He looked over toward Barilo and the rest, all of whom simply shrugged.

Daaj looked from one Toa to the other with a curious expression on her face as she said, “If I may ask, is there a sixth member of your team? Surely you have a full team of six Toa, do you not?”

“What makes you think there was a sixth Toa?” asked Barilo.

“Because Toa, with a few exceptions, always travel in groups of six,” said Daaj. “It is practically a rule in your world, isn’t it?”

Now that she had mentioned it, Barilo could not name any Toa team off the top of his head that was more than six. He knew that, in the Dark Hunter/Toa war back on Metru Nui all of those years ago that there had been at least 300 Toa then, but they had been part of an army. Was there some sort of unwritten rule that made sure that almost all Toa teams to have no less or more than six Toa unless it is was an emergency?

He had no chance to ponder the thought further, however, because the Kra-Matoran were now busily bringing a large amount of food and drinks to them, and placed them on a long, flat table that lay before the Toa. All of the foods looked quite exotic and odd to Barilo. One of the foods looked like a tentacle with a spike sticking through it, and another might have been a fish at one point but now it looked like it had been turned inside out for some reason. Barilo wasn’t quite sure what to eat first.

Then again, I am not sure if I should eat at all, he thought as he looked at the odd food.

He glanced down at the others, who were all looking just as uncertain as he was. He didn’t feel particularly hungry and he thought the others didn’t either, but then he saw Nonzra pick up a piece of fish, eyeing it distastefully, and then absorbed its energy into his body. For a moment, nothing happened. Nonzra did not look sick, so maybe the food really wasn’t poisoned, but he certainly looked like he didn’t want to eat any more of the chow.

Despite Nonzra’s attempts at eating and finding it to be not poisoned, no one else bothered to eat the food because they didn’t trust the Kra-Matoran nor were they hungry. Well, they really were starving, but they did not want to just take the food without thinking. It seemed the villagers knew that, however, for more Matoran appeared and took the food and drinks away. None of the Kra-Matoran looked disappointed or offended by this. Barilo assumed that they were used to the Shodios ignoring their food, but he didn’t blame them. He thought he had seen one of the berries in the food move, though he rationalized away that he had just been seeing things. I hope, he added silently to himself.

Next, the Kra-Matoran insisted that the Toa go inside the temple, where they would ‘worship’ them and ‘entertain’ the Toa. But the five Shika respectfully declined the offer, all of them feeling tired and wanting to sleep and possibly think of a plan to get away at night when the Kra-Matoran villagers were asleep. Besides, they didn’t want to be worshiped, anyway.

But before they entered a large building that the villagers insisted was where the Shodios slept whenever they entered the village, Akuna asked Daaj, “Have you seen our sixth Toa, Nastan, Toa of The Green? He has a long arms and legs and is blue-ish green and wears a Mask of Accuracy and also wields a bow.”

“Nope,” she said immediately. “Never saw him and never heard of him.” She paused and asked, “Why did he leave you guys? Did you guys get into a fight with or something and he decided to go out on his own? It is very dangerous to travel around Wyoko alone if you don’t know the place, you know.”

“Actually, he did not run away because we had a dispute,” said Akuna, her temper rising. “If you need to know, he and I were very close friends and he would never leave without telling me why. We just woke up earlier this morning and he was gone. We tried to find him, but couldn’t. We don’t know where he is now.” Then she added under her breath, “I hope he’s safe.”

“Earlier this morning?” questioned Daaj. “That’s when he disappeared?”

“Yes. Why? Did something happen?”

“Yes, a shadow storm started near the forest over the mountains and came near this village,” said Daaj. “It didn’t get us, but it did leave us that nifty little Invisible Black Mask. Your Nastan may have been caught in it and, given the nature of shadow storms, is probably on the other side of the land by now. He may be in another village, I don’t know.”

Akuna felt relieved. At least she knew that Nastan was safe, somewhere. Maybe tomorrow she and the others would leave and try to find him. But before she went into the building, she had one more question to ask Daaj.

“Why are you treating us like this?”

“Treating you like what?” Daaj said in a puzzled tone.

“Like we’re royalty, like we’re the Shodios,” said Akuna. “Aren’t you aware that we were given a mock trial, sentenced to being eaten alive by shadow eels (whatever those are), and then we escaped? Why are you guys treating us like the Shodios, when all of the other Kra-Matoran we’ve met acted like we’re worse than a Piraka?”

“Well, Toa Akuna,” said Daaj, looking slightly alarmed. Akuna could tell she hadn’t expected this question, but the Kra-Matoran was going to answer anyway. “I don’t know about the mock trial or the sentencing to getting killed by shadow eels. That doesn’t sound like the Shodios I know. Sounds like a huge misunderstanding, which it was, in fact,” she added. “We got news from Castle Kra that any village that found the Toa Shika were supposed to let them in and treat them as we’d treat the Shodios. They now think of you five as allies and maybe they will help you find your friend if he hasn’t already found a village of Kra-Matoran that are willing to let him into their homes by now. That is why we’re treating you like this despite the fact you are not Toa of Shadow, Toa Akuna. You are now considered a friend of the Shodios, and indeed all of Wyoko.”

Akuna felt slightly happy. Was it possible? The Shodios, the ones who had acted the most evil and cruel to them, now accepted them as equals? This further supported her earlier theory; the Shodios and Kra-Matoran weren’t as evil as she and other Toa had originally thought. They were simply misunderstood, it seems, and now that they realized their mistake, maybe she and the others should help the Kra-Matoran leave Wyoko.

After all, she thought as she entered the large building. With an entire army of Matoran of Shadow on our side, plus the Shodios, the Dark Hunters won’t stand a chance against us. We’ll be able to free the Matoran of Shika Nui! And with twelve Toa, no one would ever be able to take Shika Nui away from us ever again.

She felt very optimistic about the whole thing as she was directed to her own room, located on the top floor of the building. The structure, she learned, had three floors, with two rooms on each floor. Each room held one bed, one chest of drawers, and one window. They were also quite large, with lots of room to walk around.

Akuna sat on the bed in her room, feeling very happy. With the Kra-Matoran and Shodios on their side, the future was looking up indeed. She felt happy; no, more than happy. She felt overjoyed, actually. Tomorrow she was going to tell the others what Daaj told her, unless they had already been informed, in which they could skip directly to the part where they would find Nastan with the help of the Shodios.

But even as she pulled the scratchy purple and black blankets over her, a small voice in the back of her head was still voicing her hidden doubts, that all of it a trick, that it was all fake, that she shouldn’t be feeling so happy-go-lucky, especially with Nastan still missing. But she pushed those doubtful thoughts away and went to sleep, hoping that soon she would be reunited with Nastan.

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Chapter 11: Hailed As . . . Heroes?

Toa Barilo peeked through the window of a warehouse-like building. All he saw were crates, dust, and darkness. No Nastan. He sighed and climbed down from the window sill. There were still a lot of other places to check, but he doubted any of them held Nastan.

But I must check anyway, Barilo thought. Even if there’s the possibility that he is not in this village at all, I must search. After all, I wouldn’t want to disappoint his girlfriend.

Suddenly, he heard a slight growl to his left and he turned his head just in time to feel something big and invisible smash into his side, sending him flying into a hut. He smashed into the roof and ended up in the living room of a Kra-Matoran, who had been sitting on a chair reading a stone tablet. The villager looked up from what she was reading and then her mouth hung open, surprised to see him. Barilo suddenly realized what had happened: His mask had shut off and now he was completely visible for everyone to see.

The invisible thing suddenly bashed through another wall, causing the Kra-Matoran to scream and run away through the door, slamming it shut as she left. The Toa of Gravity got to his feet in time to dodge the unseen monster, and he immediately knew he had only one option: Call for help from the other Toa.

“I need help!” he shouted as loud as he could before getting cut-off by the beast before he could finish. He only hoped his words had been carried by the wind and heard by the other Toa, though they were very high up a large cliff and might not have heard him at all.

-

As it turned out, the minute Addis, from his high perch above the town, saw Barilo go flying into a hut inside of the village, he quickly organized the team and got them down the cliff, though with some difficulty considering they also had to be slow and steady so as to not fall down and get accidentally kill themselves.

Once that was finished, the Toa ran up to the gate, which was strangely guard-less, though Addis supposed it was because that all of the guards were going to catch Barilo. The gateway was locked, but a quick use of Chimoy’s power over iron quickly broke down the entire gate with a loud crashing sound (“Not a very subtle entrance,” Nonzra commented) and now they were all running down the street of the Kra-Matoran village, hoping to find Barilo still alive somewhere.

Fortunately for them, they did. Except he was seemingly jumping around and doing all kinds of acrobatics while buildings and structures got smashed and broken as he jumped out of their way. It looked like Barilo was going insane to Addis, for he was not sure what the Karzahni Barilo thought he was doing or what was smashing the huts.

“Hey, Barilo!” shouted Addis. “What are you doing?”

“Trying . . . to . . . dodge . . . invisible . . . thing!” the Toa of Gravity answered as he jumped again. “Don’t just stand there! Do something! Help me!”

“We can’t see it,” said Akuna, who had now activated her Mask of Night Vision and was looking around the area.

“It’s invisible of course we can’t see it!” Nonzra snapped. “Maybe we should just-“

Suddenly, the invisible thing rammed into his lower body and he went flying into a hut, smashing into its roof and falling into its depths. Chimoy tried to guess the location of the creature by creating iron walls wherever it went, but it seemed to be able to break them down quite easily with little-to-no effort at all. Barilo had stopped jumping around now and was standing on the roof of a building, looking at the fight scene below, while Kra-Matoran villagers were all evacuating their huts, screaming and running around everywhere.

What the Karzahni is that thing? Barilo thought as he tried to trace the beast’s movements. Suddenly, he remembered the conversation that two of the Kra-Matoran were having, something about an ‘Invisible Black Mask’ or something like that. Could that be what they were facing now? It was a possibility, he thought, though how he and his friends could possibly defeat an invisible creature, he had no idea.

It didn’t help that it was very dark out, too, which added to the already bad situation. With no light, he could tell his friends were already having a very hard time dodging the Invisible Black Mask’s attacks, and he doubted that the Kra-Matoran would be willing to help them with it.

Or would they? he thought. Perhaps I can make one of them talk and tell me what this thing is and how I could defeat it.

He scanned the village and saw one Kra-Matoran stuck underneath some rubble, struggling to free herself, but failing miserably from what he could tell. He started to move, but stopped. What if she tried to attack him if he tried to help her out? She might attempt it, but he had no doubt in his mind that she might have an idea on how to defeat the Invisible Black Mask and also might tell him how to do it. He knew it was a risk worth taking.

He nimbly jumped from rooftop to rooftop until he arrived at the ruins of the hut. Using his gravity power, he lifted the debris off of the Kra-Matoran and tossed them away, much to the surprise of the villager. She quickly scrambled to her feet, though, and immediately shadow energy began cracking in the palms of her hands, a look of caution in her eyes.

“Who are you?” she questioned. “Where do you come from? Are you one of the Toa Avha? Have you come here to kill us?”

“No,” Barilo said, shaking his head. “I am not interested in killing you guys at all, and I have never met the Toa Avha, either.”

“Well, I can obviously tell you’re on outsider,” said the Kra-Matoran. Suddenly, comprehension dawned on her face. “Wait . . . does that mean The Door is open? We’re free. . . . ?”

“Yeah it’s open,” said Barilo, throwing a glance over his shoulder at the fight going on in the middle of the village. “Look, my friends and I need to know what that invisible thing is and how to beat it.”

The villager gave him a doubtful look with her red eyes and she said, “And just why should I tell you that, as Toa Jiki is going to be arriving soon-“

“But soon enough to save you guys?” he asked. “Look, you have five able-bodied Toa right here, three of whom are fighting that monster. Just tell me what it is and how to beat it and we’ll be on our merry way, got it?”

She looked a little like she didn’t want to tell him, but seemed to think that his offer made sense, for she sighed and said, “Okay. The monster fighting your friends is called an Invisible Black Mask. They are invisible creatures who rely on their unseen forms to kill their opponents.”

“Okay, how do you beat it?”

“You have to trick it into becoming visible,” she said. “Making it visible will stun it fast enough to kill it.”

Barilo looked into her eyes. He knew she could easily be lying, though she had no signs of deceit in her red eyes. She looked completely honest, though a little angry and excited at the same time. He assumed she was like that because of The Door was opened, though he had no time to ponder that further, for he said, “Okay. Thanks,” and soon was heading back to the scene of the battle, trying to figure out how one fools a Black Mask into revealing its visible form.

When he returned to the sight of the battle, he saw that Chimoy and Akuna were trying to hit the creature with iron and electricity, but because they had no idea where the monster was they were having little success. Addis was attempting to use his plasma to burn holes in the ground to cause it to trip, but nothing doing. Nonzra was nowhere to be seen, though Barilo assumed he was still unconscious somewhere.

Running over to Addis, Barilo tapped the Toa of Plasma on the shoulder.

“What is it?” Addis asked irritably.

“I asked one of the Kra-Matoran how to beat the Invisible Black Mask and she told me that we had to trick it into becoming visible in order to defeat it,” Barilo said quickly.

Addis looked doubtful. “You sure she wasn’t lying just to get us killed?”

“Well, she didn’t look like she was lying to me,” said Barilo, though he was having the same doubts as Addis. “Still, it’s the only plan we have right now and I say we should at least try it.”

“Okay, but how do we do it?” Addis asked, while signaling Chimoy and Akuna to get closer. “How do we trick an invisible being into becoming a visible being?”

Barilo looked like he was thinking. First he looked over at the carnage, then at Addis’ mask, then back at the ruins again. A slight smile crept onto his face as he said, “I think I know how, but it will involve your Suletu.”

“Sure,” said Addis, nodding. “What is it?”

-

The Invisible Black Mask was frustrated, tired, and more than a little hungry.

Not too long ago, it had arrived in this Kra-Matoran village looking for a meal, but most of the inhabitants hid from it and only a few stayed out, searching for it with weapons. The Invisible Black Mask began to get bored until a gray and purple-colored Toa appeared, apparently sneaking around the village, though why was a mystery to the Black Mask.

Still, it didn’t care and had attacked the Toa because it had thought that a Toa would make up for the Kra-Matoran, but almost as soon as it did strike, four more Toa appeared out of nowhere and began to attack it. It didn’t like that and began to attack back. Already it had knocked out at least one Toa and it hoped to get all of them and have a grand feast, but they weren’t going down very easily, it seemed.

Now, however, something odd was happening. The Toa were beginning to fade in and out of existence. Even the Invisible Black Mask, despite having the dull brain of a Rahi beast, knew that beings didn’t usually fade in and out like that as if they weren’t real, so it knew that something was wrong.

Yet it also didn’t want to do anything to disturb them. The Black Mask decided that it was going to wait and watch them as they disappeared like ghosts, just to see if it could spot any weakness in them that it could exploit.

But instead, they all disappeared and were totally gone. The Rahi immediately began wondering why that was or where they went.

Maybe they weren’t real at all, the Invisible Black Mask thought. Maybe I was fighting illusions, though they didn’t seem like illusions to me.

Still, it decided that, since there weren’t any other fighters around, it dropped its invisibility and then it was suddenly hit by a large bolt of lightning that came out of nowhere, smashing into its face and knocking it out instantly.

-

“Good job, Akuna,” said Addis, nodding his approval as he walked over to check out the unconscious Invisible Black Mask.

“Thanks, but if it hadn’t been for your Suletu, I wouldn’t have been able to do it,” said Akuna, smiling slightly. “I had no idea the Mask of Telepathy could make illusions!”

“I’m just as surprised as you are, Akuna,” said Barilo. “If it hadn’t worked, then we would have had to find a new way to beat it.”

“But it wasn’t really an illusion power,” said Addis, shaking his head. “I fooled it into thinking that we weren’t there anymore. We, of course, are still here, but it didn’t know that, so it thought it would be okay to become visible again.”

“I wonder if that can work on Matoran,” said Nonzra, looking around the destroyed area. “Who is willing to bet we’re gonna be run out of this town? Or, better yet, get killed where we stand?”

“Well, I doubt my mask would work on beings like Matoran,” said Addis. “Their minds are probably strong enough to resist it. But look at this thing. . . . Have you ever seen a Rahi that looked exactly like a giant Kanohi?”

The Invisible Black Mask was not called ‘mask’ for nothing. It literally looked like a giant Hau, except it had a full back, like it was a living organism. It looked a lot more organic than mechanical, though, and Barilo wondered where it had come from. He had never seen such a beast before and he doubted that he would see something like it ever again.

“This explains why it rammed into us instead of swiping with claws or something,” said Barilo, “because it didn’t have any!”

Suddenly, the sound of stomping, marching feet and Matoran digging through rubble signified that the villagers had recovered from their initial shock and were now gathering around the Toa. As Barilo looked around, he saw Kra-Matoran gathering all around on top of the pile of debris everywhere, looking down at the Toa with curious and intrigued eyes. Some of them were standing in the streets not blocked off by wreckage and by the looks of it there was nowhere to run for the Toa Shika to run.

“Think we’ll have to fight our way out?” Nonzra asked as he drew his sword. “Because that fight with the Rahi took a lot out of me and I sincerely doubt that I could fight my way out of a village full of Matoran, most of who seem to be at full strength.”

Addis looked around, a look of worry and anger on his face. Barilo wondered if the Toa of Plasma was thinking about the impossibility of the situation and how they could possibly get out without suffering any casualties. But nothing seemed to have come to his mind, so Addis said, “Guys, I don’t think we’re going to survive. So let’s just drop our weapons and-“

Before he could finish his sentence, however, all of the Kra-Matoran unexpectedly bowed down at the feet of the five Toa, which surprised the heroes quite a bit. The villagers then started chanting something in unison and at first the Toa were unable to hear it because they were all speaking very fast, almost incomprehensibly fast. Then, as the Kra-Matoran started shouting louder, the words began to form in the audio receptors of the Toa and none of them were quite sure if what they were hearing was good . . . or bad:

“Hail the Toa! Hail the heroes who saved our village! Worship them! Hail the Toa!”

Review Topic

Chapter 10: History

Barilo carefully climbed down the cliff face, occasionally looking down toward the village below to make sure that no Matoran were coming up toward him. He was using his Mask of Stealth, so even if any of the Kra-Matoran were coming up, they would not be able to see him. Nor hear him, for that matter. Still, just to be careful, he was moving as slowly and gingerly as possible. Above, Akuna and the other Toa were looking down at him. The Toa of Lightning looked very impatient.

“C’mon,” she muttered. “Get going already . . . Nastan isn’t going to wait forever if he is down there. . . .”

“Don’t pressure him,” Chimoy whispered, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “There is still that chance that Nastan is not there. We don’t want him to recklessly run straight into a trap, you know?”

“I know,” Akuna whispered back. “But Nastan could be hurt.”

“Both of you be quiet,” Addis snapped. “We can’t risk exposing ourselves. It is too dangerous.”

Akuna glanced down over the cliff again and said, “I think he made it to the bottom now.”

She was just saying that, though. None of them knew for sure if he had made it to the bottom yet because of his Mask of Stealth and the darkness of Wyoko made it almost impossible to see him, at least with their naked eyes. Akuna was not going to use her Mask of Night Vision, for that would surely attract the unwanted attention of the local villagers, so they just had to hope that he had made it safely into the village.

She was partially correct, however. Barilo had indeed made it down to the bottom of the cliff, but he hadn’t gotten into the village yet. The gate was protected by two Kra-Matoran guards, one in black and green armor, while the other was in black and blue armor. Neither of them looked like they would be willing to let him inside if he asked and he knew that he would need to either trick them into opening it or do it himself, for fighting them would just attract the unwanted attention of the rest of the Matoran, which was something he was trying to avoid.

So, using the slightest bit of his gravity power, he caused a stone to go flying up into the sky and fall down on one of the guards’ head.

“Ouch!” the black and green Matoran said, massaging her head. “Where did the rock come from?”

“Someone probably threw it as a stupid joke, Taya,” said the black and blue Matoran.

Now that they were distracted, Barilo quietly walked past them toward the gate. Unfortunately, it was locked and he was not going to open it with the two villagers standing only few feet in front of the gate. So he used his elemental powers again to make the same stone fly up and into the cliff wall and the two guards, curious about what had caused the sound, dashed over to see what had happened. Neither of them realized that Barilo had stolen Taya’s keys while she was distracted and neither of them heard him open the gate ever so slightly and enter the village.

Barilo looked around. The village seemed lifeless to him. He saw only a few Kra-Matoran walking the streets, all of which were armed with swords and spears and other weapons, so he assumed that the villagers were perhaps staying inside their huts because of some kind of danger, though what they might be hiding from, he had no idea.

Good, the Toa of Gravity thought. That way I will have less obstacles that I will have to get past.

Though he still wondered what they might be hiding from. Perhaps some kind of Rahi beast was loose in the village and they were all hiding from it? He decided not to think about it, since the fewer obstacles the better. Anyway, he doubted that he would have to fight the Rahi if there was one.

Where should I start? Barilo thought, looking around the village. It’s rather large and all of the buildings look the same to me. What did Addis tell me? ‘Check the bigger, more important-looking buildings.’ Okay, sounds good to me.

He looked around. It was not hard to find the bigger structures, which looked a lot like warehouses. He quietly ran from alleyway to alleyway, trying to dodge the patrolling Matoran. Barilo heard two of the Matoran talking with each other about something as he hid in between two huts.

“. . . .They’re sending Jiki, I hear,” one of the villagers was saying.

“I hope she can beat it,” the other said grimly. “We’ve lost several Matoran already and I think it is still prowling around the village.”

“Has Jiki ever fought an Invisible Black Mask, though?” the first villager inquired. “I remember she has fought Cracko and shadow eels before. . . .”

“Aw, she’s fought practically all of the creatures in this place at least ten times. Surely she has fought an Invisible Black Mask before, and she probably beat it, too.”

“I suppose you’re right. But I still think they should also send another Shodios along, maybe Toa Rhatara-“

“Brother! We aren’t supposed to question who they are sending and who they aren’t,” the other villager sternly said. “Whoever Turaga Krashadi is sending will surely help our village, right? He is always right, you know.”

What in Mata Nui’s name is an Invisible Black Mask? Barilo thought. Well, whatever it is, I should get out of this village quick after I find Nastan. If Jiki’s coming, I do not want to be here when she arrives. She’ll get me and the others for sure!

So he continued on his way to one of the large buildings, never realizing that he was being followed by an invisible, mask-like being that made no sound as it passed over the huts, never even realizing that despite his Kanohi mask power it could still see him as clearly as day, and it was hungry . . . hungry for Toa.

-

Nastan slumped against a cell in the dirty and grimy dungeons of Castle Kra, looking quite grim.

After being knocked out by Teivel, he had been taken here and placed in a cell. He had been assured that Jero would be coming along shortly to take him to a location called ‘The Place of Lightlessness,’ though he had no idea what ‘The Place of Lightlessness’ was or what Jero planned to do with him there. Kill him, perhaps?

That would certainly fit with their nature, he thought grimly. I just hope it’s quick and painless.

This cell, he knew, was not the same as the one he had been in when he had been first taken to Castle Kra about a day ago. Nor were the ones around him the same as the ones his friends had been inside when they had been here, either. This was a new set of cells in another area of Castle Kra, but they were just as run-down and gritty as the first ones, if not worse.

But one thing was certain: The bars were as strong as if they had been built just yesterday and they still absorbed his elemental power whenever he tried to use his power on them. So now he was all alone, with no friends but plenty of foes all around.

“When I became a Toa, it had never occurred to me that I would find myself in the dungeons of a castle ruled by a crazy Turaga and evil Toa,” Nastan said to no one in particular, frustrated. “Nor did I ever think that I would be alone, either!”

“Is someone there?” asked a hoarse, ragged voice from another cell several chambers down. “Who is it?”

Nastan was surprised. He didn’t know there was someone else down here. Who was it? Another outsider who got caught by the Shodios, perhaps? Unlikely, but he decided that he was going to find out.

“Yes,” said Nastan, getting to his feet and placing his hands on the bars, trying to get his head through the bars but failing yet again. “I am Toa Nastan, a Toa of The Green. I am not native of Wyoko, obviously, and I am prisoner here, as you can no doubt clearly tell.”

There was silence, and then the voice asked, in a quivering, fearful sort of voice, “The Door to The Light is open, then?”

“Yes,” said Nastan, nodding. “My friends and I opened it because we thought there was treasure or a weapon behind here or something like that.”

“How foolish,” the voice said in a sad tone. “You were motivated by greed, just like the Shodios, and did not stop to think of the consequences of your actions. You are lucky that our crimes will not result in your people being exiled to a place of shadow such as Wyoko.”

“Hey, we didn’t know that the Shodios were behind here,” said Nastan, sounding annoyed. “We had no idea at all. And, by the way, who are you? What’s your name, your story? Are you a Kra-Matoran or. . . . ?”

Suddenly, a Matoran’s thin, flat head appeared out of a cell several feet down, but because of the combination of the distance and of the shadow, he could not clearly make out the villager’s features.

“My name?” said the Matoran. “I am Siklo, a Kra-Matoran, obviously. I was thrown in this dungeon by Rhatara when he overheard me calling him a bad name. He rebuked me, and then tossed me in here, though I think he has forgotten me, because he promised to let me out in six months . . . and it has been 600 years since then.”

“Oh,” said Nastan. He was now starting to feel sorry for the Matoran, although he also didn’t want to feel too sorry for him, for Siklo was a Kra-Matoran and he very well might be trying to deceive him. “That’s harsh.”

“At least the guards remember to bring me food and water every day,” Siklo sighed. “But I miss my home village, Daol. I miss climbing the mountainside and exploring the caves. It wasn’t the best place in the universe, but better than this pit. This dungeon is just . . . I can’t describe it. . . .”

Nastan listened. Siklo did sound sincere and he thought it wouldn’t be too out of character for Rhatara to toss someone in prison and forget about them for years based on what he knew of Rhatara’s personality.

But this could all still be a trick, he reminded himself. He may just be fooling me, although I’m starting to think otherwise. . . .

“What about you?” Siklo asked. “Why are you in here?”

Nastan then explained about how he and the others came from Shika Nui, got captured by Rhatara and Ira, were given a rather unfair trial by the Shodios and Krashadi, and then how he and the others escaped and how he got separated from them and got recaptured by Teivel. When he was finished, Siklo said, “From what you have described, Nastan, it sounds like a shadow storm got you.”

“A what?”

“A shadow storm,” Siklo repeated. “Shadow storms are rare in Wyoko, though they can happen anywhere at any time. They are impossible to predict and when you do get caught, they usually transport you far away from where you originally were. Some of my best friends have gone missing for months after getting caught in a shadow storm and then when we found them they were be gibbering lunatics who no longer resembled their original selves. You are one of the very few, it seems, who didn’t go insane. You are a very lucky Toa, Nastan.”

Nastan made a mental note to tell the others what had happened to him if he ever escaped Castle Kra. Siklo, Nastan decided, was not like the rest of the Kra-Matoran. Unlike the other villagers, he was almost friendly and did not seem to be a big fan of the Shodios. So Nastan decided to ask the most important question that he had on his mind.

“How did you guys end up here in Wyoko?” asked Nastan. “I’ve only heard bits and pieces of your people’s past from the Shodios and Krashadi, though I only really know that something happened 100,000 years ago and you guys got put under here by the Order of Mata Nui and the Toa Avha. Would you be willing to tell me what happened all those years ago?”

There was a very long, silent pause now and for a moment Nastan was worried that he had said something wrong. He should have thought before he spoke. After all, whatever had happened 100,000 years ago was obviously a painful chapter in the history of the Kra-Matoran and Siklo, being a Kra-Matoran, might not be too excited to talk about it. But to his amazement, Siklo said, “Okay, I shall tell you what had happened, all those years ago. I really do not want to talk about it, because it is a memory that is in the minds of almost all of the Kra-Matoran that live in Wyoko today and it is still too painful and real for many of them as though it had happened yesterday, even if though it had been about 100,000 years ago.”

“Well, if you don’t want to talk about it-“

“But I must,” said Siklo. “I must, for I feel that I should recount it to you, a warrior of light, if you are to combat the Shodios and escaped Wyoko.”

“You’re against the Shodios, even though you are a Kra-Matoran?” Nastan asked, amazed.

“If you had ever been tossed in prison for 600 years by a Shodios, then yes, I would think you would understand why I don’t worship them as gods like the rest of my people do,” Siklo replied. “Anyway, now onto the story:

“100,000 years ago, at the dawn of time, the Great Spirit Mata Nui decided to create a new tribe of Matoran, one he dubbed the Kra-Matoran. He believed that the elements were unbalanced, or so I was told, and thought creating us would help balance them out so he would not have to worry about what was happening in his universe. He did not realize that it was all a great, big mistake and his own subjects would soon learn that for themselves.

“He placed us on Shika Nui, gave us six Toa, who were known as the Toa Shodios back then, and a Turaga, Krashadi, to lead us. At the beginning, we had good relations with the other islands around us and quickly became known as a dependable, if a little antisocial, people. But none of them knew that, because we had more shadow in us than others, we were more prone to violence and bursts of anger and frequently got into arguments with one another. Whenever we had visitors to Shika Nui, though, we always pretended to be peaceful, happy villagers like those of Metru Nui, for example.

“Perhaps it was that violent and angry nature that caused Teivel to approach Krashadi with a plan of universal domination. I do not know why he did, but this I do know: It wasn’t too long after our creation, perhaps a year or two at most, that he convinced Turaga Krashadi to mobilize an army of Kra-Matoran and conquer the rest of the universe. He had managed to get the rest of the Shodios on his side and it was only a matter of time before Krashadi agreed to their plan.

“It was two months after that meeting that we first struck. We took over Stelt, Xia, and nearly got Zakaz, but the Skakdi beat us back, at least for a little while. This started an era known by us Kra-Matoran as the ‘Golden Years.’ Your own people, from what I remember, refer to that era as the ‘Dark Years.’

“We struck various islands and places until we practically had the entire universe in our hands. The only places that we hadn’t yet taken were Metru Nui, Tanjo Nui, Karzahni, Artakha, Daxia, Destral, and parts of the northern continent and the majority of the southern islands. It seemed to us that soon we would have the whole universe in our grasp.

“But destiny was not on our side, it seemed, because a team of Toa, known as the Toa Avha appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, along with a small group of beings known as the Order of Mata Nui. They struck hard and fast, taking down several of our most strategic fortresses and rallying the people of our conquered lands to rebel. Teivel and the others thought they would be easily destroyed, but they proved to be our downfall.

“Eventually, they made it to our main fortress on Shika Nui and took us out swiftly. Originally, the leader of the Order of Mata Nui, a Toa of Water named Helryx, wished to have us all slaughtered to prevent us from ever rising again. But the leader of the Toa Avha, a Toa of Lightning named Klio, disagreed and convinced her to place us in Wyoko and lock us away forever. The Golden Years of the Kra-Matoran Empire had ended the day when we had all been locked away under here. All except Oggakia, who because of her faithfulness to Mata Nui’s Will and because she had been passing important information to the Order and to the Avha was granted to freedom to live on the surface with everyone else.”

“What happened after that?”

“I do not know,” Siklo said, his head drooping slightly. “I do not know what they did to all of our forts, bases, and histories. I can only assume that they destroyed them all so no one would remember us. It seems to have worked well, for you come from Shika Nui, our very homeland, and yet did not know of us until you and your friends came here!”

All of this information was almost a little too much for Nastan to take in. The Kra-Matoran Empire had once taken over the entire universe? These beings had once lived on the surface, conquering lands and spreading fear and death wherever they went? And yet, like Siklo had said, Nastan had not known any of this until Siklo had told him!

Whoever these Order of Mata Nui guys are, they really are pretty good at completely destroying any traces of entire civilizations, Nastan thought. Really, really, really good.

Suddenly, there was the sound of a door opening and slamming shut and the echo of feet walking slowly down the staircase that lead to the dungeon. And then two Kra-Matoran guards appeared at the foot of the stairs, holding spears and shields. They walked past Siklo’s cage and several others until they arrived at Nastan’s cell.

“You’re in luck, Toa,” one of the guards snapped. “Toa Jero is here and is ready to take you to the Place of Lightlessness.”

The cage doors flung open without warning and two shadow rings burst into existence around Nastan, trapping him and sapping him of his energy. The two guards grabbed him roughly by the shoulders and got him walking. As he walked by Siklo’s cell, he whispered, “I’ll return for you someday, Siklo. You’re not like the rest.” The Kra-Matoran prisoner merely nodded at Nastan as the three beings went quietly up the stairs and disappeared from view.

It did not take long for Nastan and the two villagers to arrive in the courtyard, where he saw Jero, who was sitting at the top of a large vehicle, looking just as evil as ever. He smiled evilly at Nastan as the two guards brought him up to the caravan.

“Ah, Nastan, I have been hoping I would get to test my newest creation on a light dweller,” Jero said eagerly.

“What does that mean?” Nastan demanded with more than a hint of fear in his voice.

“It means I get to use this on you,” he answered calmly as he dug through his bag and pulled out a large crystal ball that sent a shiver up Nastan’s spine.

“What does it do?”

“Well, let’s just say that when we’re done with you, you won’t even recognize yourself. In fact, if all goes well, you should feel right at home here in Wyoko. Won’t that be fun?”

Review Topic.

This seems pretty cool. I hope it stays because it seems like a good idea to me.

-TNTOS-

Chapter 9: “The Key to Defeating Our Enemies”

Barilo and the other four Toa Shika were traveling among the rocky hills of Wyoko. While he would have preferred it if they could have taken the roads or something, Addis had told them that it would be too dangerous, for the Kra-Matoran probably would see them, considering how much their rather-bright color schemes contrasted with the dark shades of the Wyokan skyline.

The Toa of Gravity could tell that Akuna was not thinking about her own safety, for more than once she nearly fell off of a steep cliff. It was as if she was not paying any attention at all to where she was going, which made Barilo slightly curious.

“Akuna, what’s up with you?” he asked as he climbed a large boulder. “You look even more worried than Addis!”

“Oh, Barilo, I just fear for Nastan’s safety,” she said, climbing up after him. “It isn’t like him to just wander off and not return to us. Someone must have gotten to him. What if that someone is trailing us, too?”

“I kind of doubt it,” said Barilo. “I do not hear anything nor has Addis picked up any other mental signatures but our own and a few Kra-Matoran traveling on the roads beneath these hills.”

“Addis’ Suletu can do that?” Akuna asked in disbelief.

“Well, yeah,” said Barilo, nodding. “He’s using it to help us navigate through these hills, he told me. How else do you think we’ve managed to avoid the Kra-Matoran all of this time?”

“Well, whatever,” said the Toa of Lightning. “I just hope that, wherever Nastan is, he’s safe.”

“Unlikely,” said Barilo, shaking his head. He pointed up ahead and said, “I think we should catch up with the others. They’ve stopped and are looking at something.”

The two Toa walked quickly to catch up with their friends and soon were behind the three Toa, who were all staring at something down the cliff. Once Barilo got a good look at what it was, he knew why their progress had halted.

On a plateau near the base of the cliff, a medium-sized Kra-Matoran village rested. They could see huts and a few large warehouses and a large gate that acted as the entrance to their cliff and to the village itself, with two Matoran guards standing in front of it, both of them well armed. On the other side of the village another entrance was visible, guarded by Kra-Matoran who, like the first guards, was well armed with weapons and armor. It was completely blocking their path, and Barilo could see that it was too large for them to go around without being noticed by somebody.

Addis quickly crouched down and gestured for the others to do the same. Once they were all down, Addis quickly whispered, “I hope all of you saw the village of Kra-Matoran down there?”

“Yes, we did,” said Barilo, nodding. “Looks well-defended.”

“May I be the first to suggest that we find an alternative route, Addis?” Chimoy offered. “It isn’t very likely they will let us walk through the village alive.”

“That was what I was thinking,” said Addis in agreement. “We should-“

“But what if Nastan is down there?” Akuna asked who had now diverted her attention back to the village. “This place is close to our camp site and we don’t know where Nastan went. Maybe they’re keeping him prisoner down there or have already killed him!”

“It doesn’t seem very likely,” said Addis, peering over the edge of the cliff. “I mean, Nastan’s smart enough to not walk straight into a village full of Kra-Matoran that probably hate us with a passion.”

“You’re right, but maybe he didn’t just walk in. Maybe he wandered a little too far from the forest and they captured him,” she suggested. “Can’t we at least check it out?”

“But how?” asked Barilo. “It’s not like we can just walk down there and say, ‘Hey, we think one of our buddies is down here, maybe a prisoner, we don’t know. So could we check the village just to be sure? Thanks.’ That just isn’t going to work.”

“He is right,” said Addis, thinking. “We can’t just walk in there. . . .”

Chimoy looked like he was thinking, too. But he apparently got an idea before Addis and said, “What if we send Barilo down there? He’s got a Volitak. He can simply use it and check the village out real quick. He’s sneaked into the Dark Hunter fortress before, and that, might I add, was much more heavily defended than this place.”

“I don’t know,” said Barilo. He really didn’t want to have to risk his life for Nastan, mostly because he was still sore about their argument earlier.

“What a great idea, Chimoy!” said Akuna, her eyes ablaze with excitement. “He can do it! He’s always been the spy of our group, even as a Matoran!”

“Hey, I am an intelligent being, you know,” said Barilo, sounding irritated. “Don’t you want my opinion?”

Akuna turned to Barilo and touched his arm with her hand. She looked into his eyes and said, “Please? Would you go? Just do a cursory check of the village and come back. Nastan could be down there. Would you do it for me, at least?”

Barilo was having a hard time saying no to the way she was looking at and touching him, but fortunately he did not have to say anything, for Addis spoke up and said, “Well, firstly, I am the leader of this team, so I need to give the okay, otherwise he isn’t going.”

“I-I’ll go,” said Barilo, raising his hand up. “Just a quick check, like Akuna said.”

Akuna smiled, but Addis said, “Are you sure? You’re going straight into the middle of enemy territory and we won’t be able to follow you in to make sure that you don’t get yourself killed.”

“I’m sure,” said Barilo. “I can defend myself, and if I do get in trouble, you guys can come and save me, right?”

Addis looked like he didn’t want to have to risk losing his second-in-command, but he said, “Okay, you may go. But check quick and only look in the bigger, more important buildings. We can’t waste any of our time, not when the Shodios are probably already heading toward The Door.”

-

Jero tapped a small, dark crystal hanging from the ceiling of his hut. To anyone else, his manner would have been curious. His hut, which looked pretty much like every other hut on the outside, was mostly bare in the inside, with no furniture at all and only a few windows. But Jero knew what the crystal was hiding: His laboratory.

He had designed it this way not too long after first arriving in Wyoko. He had decided that he would need a large and private space to conduct his experiments in without being interrupted by any of the other Shodios or any Kra-Matoran. So he built this hut and then dug out a lower basement level that acted as his lab. The other Shodios knew about it, but they rarely ever entered without his permission because he always went ballistic whenever someone entered without his okay.

A panel in the floor slid away, revealing an old, worn stone staircase. He walked down it and then the panel replaced itself without a single indication that it led to a secret lab. That was good for him, for he valued his privacy very much.

It didn’t take too long for him to arrive at his laboratory. Tall, thick tubes of protoglass, filled with the same liquid used by the Makuta for their experiments, kept in beasts that were in various stages of mutation. Like the Brotherhood of Makuta, he had devoted himself to studying and mutating Rahi beasts and had actually succeeded in creating his some of his own design, though not too many and they usually didn’t last long.

Perhaps once we get out of here, I will conquer Destral and take all of their best viruses, Jero thought as he sat at a desk. Then maybe I will finally be able to create some actual worthwhile Rahi that will last longer than two weeks.

He picked up a stone tablet and began to read his notes where he had last left off before Rhatara had brought the news of The Door being opened yesterday. According to his notes, he had been in the middle of a Rahi experiment on a Cracko, trying to give it more wings and failing spectacularly. He grunted and then looked up at a glass bottle in the corner of his lab, where the Cracko he had been experimenting on rested in suspended animation.

Maybe I should start on something new, he thought. I have been on this same Cracko for weeks now. Perhaps I can convince Jiki to catch a mask thief for me. Then again, we will be leaving Wyoko very soon, so maybe I should just wait until then. After all, there will be a greater range of Rahi – and intelligent beings – for me to use then.

Suddenly, he heard the footsteps of someone climbing down the staircase of his secret entrance and minutes later the cloaked form of Tikcah appeared at the foot of the stairs, looking quite worried.

“Tikcah, go away,” said Jero, scowling at her. “I am in the middle of an experiment. You didn’t even ask for permission! Mata Nui, what could be so important that you have to come here and bother me about it?”

Tikcah opened her mouth to speak, but seemed to be at a loss for words. Annoyed, Jero said, “Out with it, woman!”

“The Toa Shika escaped,” she said so quickly that one word tumbled into the next. “They got free of the escort that was taking them to Ghenla and their whereabouts are currently unknown!”

Jero dropped the protoglass bottle he had been holding. When it hit the hard stone floor, it made a shattering sound as it smashed into pieces. The Toa of Shadow sat back down in his chair, holding his head with one hand, looking surprised.

“They . . . escaped?” he asked. “How?”

“I don’t know how,” Tikcah admitted. “But all of them are on the loose. . . . Well, almost all of them.”

“What do you mean, ‘almost all of them’?” Jero asked.

“Luckily for us, my dear Teivel brought one of the Toa, Nastan, back to us,” said Tikcah, with more than a hint of admiration in her voice. “He found him in the Shahada Desert and thoroughly beat him. He says he’s willing to give Nastan over to you to experiment on.”

“What use could I find for a Toa in my experiments?” Jero asked in an exasperated tone before he suddenly stopped, as if realizing something for the first time. “Wait a minute. . . .”

He darted over to another desk and ripped open one of its drawers. He dug through it for about a minute or two and then pulled out a small sphere made entirely of protoglass. He seemed to be eying it with a sort of triumphant look in his eyes, though Tikcah had no idea what was so great about the ball, for it looked nothing out of the ordinary.

“This is what Teivel must be talking about, sister,” Jero said, holding the orb up high with both hands. “This is the key to defeating all of our enemies!”

“What is it?” she asked.

“Well, I can’t tell you yet,” said Jero, putting the ball lightly in his bag as if it were a bomb that was about to explode. “It is still in its experimental stages. I told Teivel about it a while ago and now apparently he thinks that I can put it to use on the Toa of The Green.”

“No fair that you’re keeping it a secret from me!” said Tikcah, striding over to him angrily. “Can’t you at least tell me what its name is?”

Jero turned to face her and said, “Sorry, Tikcah. I do not want to tell you what it does, for I do not know if it will do what I programmed it to do quite yet. But trust me. If it does indeed work the way I expect it to work, then you will be seeing its effects soon. Actually, very soon in fact if I can get to Castle Kra quick enough.” He put a hand on Tikcah’s shoulder and said, “Good bye. I am going now.”

With that, he ran past her and soon had sprinted up the staircase, leaving behind a confused-looking and extremely frustrated Tikcah.

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