Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle, only Kit, Darcius, Tehreisha, and Darcius' monsters (for the most part).
Toa Gali stood on the beach, watching the sun set on the waters of the ocean. She could hardly believe it, yet it made sense. Not only were the Turaga of Mata Nui once Toa, but Kit was also involved in whatever happened in the far off past, no doubt because of her trip through that strange warp. It sent her back into the past and onto the island city of Metru Nui—the very same island that was recently uncovered. 'No wonder the Turaga always seemed to have that look in their eyes when she arrived,' the Water Toa thought to herself, remembering the look of remembrance Nokama had when she brought the girl to the village. Shortly afterward, her brother Toa told her of the same thing; every single one of the elders, in their own way, seemed to appear and act like they knew Kit. And, for good reason—to them, it was like an old friend had returned. Realizing how late it was, Gali set out for the Kini Nui, where Turaga Vakama promised the night before to share another tale of the Toa Metru and their human ally.
The dark figure sat on a rock that was fashioned into the form of a throne, his eyes closed in concentration. It had not been that long ago that he decided to make the vast cavern his base of operations on this world and, using his powers, changed it to suit his liking. He could feel them, sense them; they were near, getting closer. Suddenly, Darcius opened his eyes and stood up; it was time to strike.
She was in what appeared to be an underground village of some sort. Frightened Onu-Matoran were running and screaming in a panic. Suddenly, a red figure stood in front of her. He was a Toa, but there was something very wrong with him. He had a nasty looking green scratch on his cheek and his eyes burned with anger. She pleaded to him to stop, but the crazed Toa was deaf to her and he charged, the twin swords in his hands blazing. All the while, she could barely hear a voice calling her name.
Kit's eyes flashed open and she would've sat up if not for a firm grip on her shoulder. She relaxed her breathing as she looked around, finding Whenua right next to her. "Are you ok?" the Toa Metru of Earth asked, a little concerned.
Kit nodded, "I think so. What's going on?"
"We're heading out," the Toa answered and helped the girl to her feet.
Before them, the other Toa were getting ready to move once again. Ever since they left the realm of the plant creature that called itself Karzahni, the team had been traveling through the tunnels to get back to Metru Nui, and during that time, Kit had been having strange dreams. Although, she was beginning to suspect that they were not just mere dreams, but her lost memories that were beginning to resurface. 'Then why can't I remember the names of the faces I see in them!' she thought, a bit frustrated. She had to admit that she was getting a little tired of someone or something looking familiar, but not being able to identify it. The annoyance was instantly replaced with a feeling of fear that made her heart clench and she stopped in her tracks. She didn't know why, but something suddenly didn't feel right about the tunnel.
Onewa, who was walking near the rear, was the first to notice Kit wasn't following. "Hey, kid, c'mon," he called, but the girl didn't budge. The Toa of Stone then noticed the anxious look on her face and how her eyes seemed to dart this way and that. "What's the matter?" he asked as he approached her.
"Do you get the feeling we're being watched?" she asked. When the Toa didn't answer or shook their heads, she elaborated, "Something's coming, and it's not a Rahi, nor friendly. I can feel it."
Before anyone could say anything, Nuju was suddenly blasted forward and would've fallen if Vakama hadn't caught him. The Toa of Ice staggered to his feet, stunned but otherwise unharmed. "Knock knock," said a voice further up the tunnel, and a man dressed in a black suit with a black cape showed himself.
"Acquaintance-friend of yours?" asked Matau.
"I really hope not," Kit replied.
"Who are you? What do want?" demanded Vakama.
"The name's Darcius," the man answered, "and I want you, or, rather, what makes you all Toa."
The Toa Metru brandished their weapons, ready for battle. "Sorry, but we're in a bit of a hurry, so you've got two choices," said Onewa. "Either get out of our way of your own free will, or we'll mow you down."
Darcius chuckled, "I'm flattered."
Vakama and Nuju both shot out a fireball and a streak of ice. Darcius, however, just casually swatted the fireball away like it was nothing more than an annoying insect, but flinched just a tiny bit when the ice hit his hand, freezing it. At first, it seemed to the heroes that they had the upper hand. But, Darcius lifted his hand in front of him, as if he wanted them to see something, and, just like that, the ice coating shattered into hundreds of pieces when he clenched it into a fist. The Toa and Kit could only gawk at the sight as Darcius said, "But, hardly impressed. Now it's my turn." Reaching out his left hand, he let loose bolts of purple energy, but the group dispersed and scattered all over the tunnel. The Toa Metru fought with everything they had, elemental and mask powers alike, but, though they were able to hit him bad enough to cause pain, Darcius just kept on fighting. Seeing an opportunity, Matau transformed into a Muaka and pounced, pinning the man to the ground. "Not bad," Darcius growled as he struggled against the Air Toa. "But, it'll take far more than that to defeat me," and he blasted Matau with just enough power to get him off, the shock forcing Matau to return to normal. Darcius then stood above the Toa of Air and released some more energy bolts that connected with the Toa's chest. Immediately, Matau could feel that something was not only different, but wrong as well. Unlike the bolts Darcius had been using earlier these weren't meant to harm or kill, but it felt like something was being sucked out of his body. At the same time, for some odd reason, he couldn't move, as if his body was frozen in place. A strange weakness followed shortly after and it hit him.
"My Toa-power, what are you doing?" he asked.
"You and the others will learn soon enough," was Darcius' only reply as he smirked and continued his assault.
Just when he began to feel something in his hand, he turned to a cry of, "No!", and found himself blasted to the ground by a yellowish-gold energy burst, allowing Matau a chance to get to his feet.
Growling, he got up only to find himself surprised and confused when he located his attacker. 'A human?' he thought when he saw Kit in her Toa armor suit. He never saw any human characters in this realm; since when did they exist? 'No matter,' he said to himself, he could take her easily, but that would have to wait. He had more important things to worry about. He launched his bolts at the girl, but Kit was ready and dodged while she fired some more energy attacks. Darcius needed all of his reflexes to either dodge or block them. He had to admit, this girl was good. But, not good enough, it seemed, when he managed to land a hit, sending her to the wall. Kit fell to the ground, dazed and, for a brief moment the Toa looked to her with concern. In doing so, they gave Darcius the opening he needed and he launched the same bolts he used on Matau at all six of them. In an instant, they were paralyzed and were getting weaker and weaker by the minute, their Toa power being drained away. Kit, recovered from her slight knock out, lifted her head and gasped at the sight in front of her. All of the Toa began to glow and, painfully, she struggled to get up, but her movements were slow and shaky.
Vakama slowly opened his eyes, his blurry vision slowly clearing. "Finally, you're awake," said a familiar voice. He turned his head to find Kit sitting near him. "I was beginning to wonder. Are you ok?"
"I think so," he replied as he sat up. It was then he noticed something was different. "Kit, what happened? You've . . . grown."
With a lop-sided grin, as if she didn't want to smile but couldn't help it, she picked up a piece of ice, a remnant of their fight with Darcius, and answered, "No, Vakama. I haven't grown, you shrunk." Kit held up the ice piece and, when Vakama saw his reflection, he gasped and grabbed it. In the ice he saw himself—as a Matoran.
After he felt his mask and looked down at himself countless times, he looked around the tunnel and found the others, starting to stir, in the same state as him. Once the others were awake and were over the initial shock of their present condition, Kit explained that after he changed them into their Matoran forms she tried to stop Darcius, but he shimmered away before she could. "The question now is what are we going to do about it?" asked Whenua.
"Easy-simple," said Matau, "we get our Toa-hero powers back."
"If that battle was any indication, I'm afraid that's going to be far easier said than done," pointed out Nuju.
"Plus, we don't even know what he did with our powers, or if we can get them back," said Nokama.
"I think I know where they are," said Kit. "Now that I think about it, I remember seeing some little colored balls in Darcius' hands after you guys were fully transformed. Each one was your respectful color."
"And I'll bet my mask that those were our powers," said Onewa, "given some kind physical form."
"But, what would he want our powers in the first place?" asked Vakama.
"I don't know," Nuju admitted, "and that's what worries me the most."
"And, how are we going to handle Darcius if we have to confront him again?" Nokama asked. "Our powers are gone; we're only Matoran now, and Kit can't fight him by herself; he's too powerful."
"But we can't just quit. Not when there are still hundreds of Matoran back at our city counting on us save them," said Onewa.
"Onewa's right," agreed Kit. "You guys may be Matoran now, but you're still the Toa you were at heart. That's what you are, you've already proven that, and no one can truly take that away."
The others looked at her in wonder, then to each other, and back at her. Then, simultaneously, they nodded their heads with determination in their eyes. They still had a job to do, and they were going to finish it—starting with getting their powers back.
Later, the group decided to make camp somewhere in the tunnels. However, sleep wasn't coming easy to Kit. Looking at the Matoran, they seemed so vulnerable and helpless compared to the proud and powerful Toa they were. Hearing some quiet scuffling, she asked, "Hey, Matau, you asleep?"
"No, this is me speak-talking in my sleep," the former Toa of Air grumbled.
"Can't sleep either, huh?" Kit guessed.
The green Matoran sat up and said, "I keep hope-thinking that this is some kind of bad vision-dream and I'm gonna wake up and things are going to be as they should be—the others and me as Toa-heroes and taller than you."
"I understand what you mean," Kit smiled in agreement and sympathy.
Of all of them, Matau was taking their current situation the hardest, considering, from what she heard, he was the most excited about becoming a Toa. Sighing, the Matoran lay back down and was fast asleep before Kit knew it. 'Where do we go from here?' the girl thought to herself with a frown. The Matoran at Metru Nui still had to be rescued, but Vakama and the others had to get their powers back, and none of them had any idea what that Darcius guy did with them. Thinking of him, Kit realized that Darcius actually seemed familiar. Just like Makuta, she had the feeling she'd seen him before, but something was different. The picture of him in her mind appeared a bit . . . older.
Kit walked down some stairs and toward a kitchen, where the same brown-haired woman, girl with brown hair, and man sat at the table. Only, they all seemed a bit younger than they appeared in earlier visions, and the woman's hair was longer. She took her seat between the girl and man and, unintentionally, she saw her reflection in a window. It was her, but younger, smaller, and her hair was past her shoulders.
She opened her eyes and now she knew for certain. Those weren't dreams she'd been having lately, they were memories. Seeing that the Toa-Matoran were also awakening she got up and suggested they just start walking. When Nuju protested, she said, "If you've got any better ideas on how we're going to get your powers back, let's hear them." The former Toa of Ice, however, didn't have any, and relented. And so, the group started walking. After a while, they came to a fork and paused. The left tunnel seemed ok, but the right one looked darker than usual and forbidding.
"What do you think?" asked Whenua.
Kit just suggested they go down the right tunnel, believing it was the most likely route to find Darcius when Vakama's mind was suddenly lost in a vision. He went down the tunnel to the left. Every now and then, he thought he heard something lurking in the shadows and had the very uncomfortable feeling he was being watched. Terrible beasts of all shapes and sizes with teeth that would rip him to shreds, huge wings, claws reaching out to grab him. Finally, he saw what appeared to be some kind of base, with Darcius standing on the front, and the vision ended. "What did you see?" asked Kit.
"We have to go down the left tunnel," he announced, and they proceeded.
Meanwhile, at his base, Darcius gazed at the last orb, admiring his work, before placing it down on a pedestal. As humans of any realm say, draining the Toa Metru of their Toa powers was like 'taking candy from a baby'. That reminded him of the girl with the Toa and a puzzled expression formed on his face; an answer as to why she was there still eluded him. With a shrug, he let the matter go; now that he was successful in taking what he came for, he could begin putting his master plan to work and wait for the chaos to start. He smiled at the thought; he could hardly wait.
"Are you sure this is the right way, fire-spitter?" Onewa asked. "It seems awfully peaceful for a route to a madman's lair to me."
"For the fifth time, I'm sure," Vakama confirmed, sounding slightly irritated. "This is exactly what I saw in my vision. It starts getting bad as we travel farther." The Po-Matoran just 'hrmphed' to himself and folded his arms across his chest.
Kit rolled her eyes; it was becoming clear that losing their powers was getting to all of the Matoran, some more than others, thus putting a strain on the team. 'I sure hope I never lose my powers,' she commented to herself as she took out the crystal she wore around her neck, 'else we'll be in real trouble.' Sometime later, they decided to call it a day and made camp. Nuju and Matau volunteered to take turns keeping watch. To Kit's private relief, she had been watching over the others over the past two nights. She got as comfortable as she could and fell right to fast asleep.
Kit saw a light blue colored glow float toward her. A tiny ball circled her twice before it exploded. When the glare was gone, in its place was a beautiful woman dressed in flowing light blue garments, long dark brown hair pulled into a high and tight ponytail, and a veil hid the lower half of her face. Though the woman looked familiar, her name escaped Kit's memory. She slightly growled, getting very tired of this. The woman gently took the girl's chin in her hand and slightly lifted her head so her eyes met hers. Kit felt a soothing feeling of tranquility, as if the stranger was flowing her calmness to her. "Be at peace, Kit," the woman said in a warped, yet beautiful, and familiar, voice. "It will come."
"How do you know my name?" Kit asked, bewildered.
Unfortunately, before the woman could answer, she disappeared and the scene changed. She was in a dark cavern when she spotted a Ta-Matoran. He was tied to what was probably once a stalagmite and struggling to free himself. Kit felt she was supposed to know him, but his name remained at the tip of her tongue, unable to bring it out. With a shrug, she went to help him. Suddenly, a mighty roar filled the cavern and she discovered a dragon-like creature was in there with them. Again, she felt she saw this creature before, but couldn't recall where. Teeth bared, it lunged at her.
Kit bolted up with a scream, waking up the Matoran and alerting Nuju, who remained at guard. "Are you alright?" Nokama asked. Kit nodded in response upon feeling her hands on her shoulders and, breathing hard, willed herself to calm down. That had been the most frightening recollection yet.
"What happened?" asked Matau as he rubbed his eyes.
"Kit had a nightmare, that's all," Vakama answered.
"Boy, the strain of the journey must really be getting to you, too," Onewa guessed.
"No, this isn't the first time," Kit shook her head. "I've had these dreams before. They started shortly after we left Karzahni's lair. Except, and I don't know exactly how I know this, they're not dreams. I think they're my lost memories starting to come back as dreams. Oh, that poor Matoran . . ."
"What do you mean?" asked Whenua.
"In the memory, there was a Ta-Matoran in trouble," the girl explained. "He and I were being attacked by some kind of dragon monster. I couldn't, and still can't remember his name, but I felt like I knew him somehow."
The Matoran looked at each other with looks of disbelief, wonder, and, to some degree, horror. Just what kind of a past did Kit really have, and did they, even Kit, really want to find out? Seeing their worried expressions, Kit reassured them that not all of the memories were bad, like the one of the blue-clothed woman. Now that everyone had calmed down, Nuju insisted that they get back to sleep with another long day ahead of them.