Lhikan stared down over the city, the rush of the wind completely drowning out the sounds that he had grown so used to down in the streets. He never really told anyone about this habit of his, sitting even above Dume, keeping an eye on everything. The only thing this high up was Nivawk, that ungodly pet of the Turaga's, who never ventured much beyond the tower, save for whenever Dume moved throughout the city, almost as if to guard him.

Catching a flash out of the corner of his eye, Lhikan turned to see a blue pillar rising into the sky near the border between Onu and Ko-Metru.

Naho can't give me an hour without a break, can she?

Gripping his board in hand, Lhikan stood and let himself tip forward, pushing off just as he tipped over the edge of the roof, sending him plummeting down the side of the shining building, the sunlight rippling like water off of the metal beneath him. Watching as the ground approached, he slowly pulled the board under him and then rose, his feet locked in, slowly pulling up and flying away from the tower, the wind nearly ripping his mask away as he shot off towards the signal.

Flying along the water, his board glowing as he felt the power coursing through it, he dipped lower and lower until the shell of air around him dipped into the water, sending up a spray behind him. Flying was one of the most foreign things for a Ta-Matoran, but Lhikan never had that trouble. His mind floated back to his youth, when he lived on an island covered in jungle, and the only way around without getting caught up in vines was riding the Gukko birds, whose dives and twists many times had led to a spell of dizziness upon arrival at the destination, but the sheer thrill of it got Lhikan more and more into it, even taming his own Gukko to ride.

Hearing a shout, Lhikan looked up to see a building tumbling over from Onu-Metru, heading directly for him. Pulling up as much as he could, Lhikan felt his board shake under the effort of slowing down enough for him to turn out of the way, followed by the smack of the wave of air as the building plunged into the water. Flying up to where the shout had come from, he saw a group of Po-Matoran, pulling along a cart full of tools.

"Are you alright?" Lhikan stepped off of his board as he reached the ground, kneeling down to see eye-to-eye with the Matoran, who looked very shaken.

"We were called away from repairs in Ko-Metru to look into tremors underneath the Archives when we saw the building start to crumble, and none of us knew what to do, but luckily Onewa over here had the sense to yell out to you, one of the rest of us could even look away," said one of the Matoran, gesturing over to the one who was staring with eyes as big as discs at Lhikan.

"And you, Onewa, are you alright?" Lhikan gently put a hand on the Matoran's shoulder and looked him over.

"Y-yeah I think yeah uhh yes Toa I just-"

"Relax. You just saved my life, so you don't have to look at me like I am a Muaka about to bite your head off."

"Sorry. I just- I- I've never seen you up close before."

"Well I appreciate your wonder, but as you luckily noticed, I was on my way to a place, so if you want to admire me more, it will have to be another time," joked the Toa as he stood, patting Onewa on the head. The Matoran nodded, slightly more composed, and Lhikan hopped back on his board and flew up over the Metru. Onu-Metru was so hard to see, the dark colors of the buildings combined with how packed together they were made the streets almost invisible in the shadows. Peering down, it looked like the streets were rivers of dark water, flowing towards the edges of the city, which he realized must be all the Matoran running away.

Looking back up, Lhikan saw another pillar of water fly up near the city center, followed by a burst of flame that reached almost twice as high. Flying as fast as his board would take him, Lhikan watched in horror as he approached to see the top half of a giant black-and-red Rahi emerging from the Archives, as a torrent of water barreled into it, with seemingly no effect, not even turning its head as it continued to claw its way out of the caves. Flying down to the stream of water, Lhikan hoped off his board and split in into his two swords, charging them up with his elemental power as he came up besides Naho.

"Sister, I do not think you are going to have much of an impact on it at this rate," he said, making the blue Toa jump and the stream wavered, but then resumed with full force.

"Lhikan, that took longer than usual, where have you been?" Naho looked frustrated, her armor covered in dust from the crumbling buildings around her. Turning to Lhikan she cut the stream of water and her shoulders sank. He could tell that she had been at this for some time now, she rarely looked this drained, although she had no apparent injuries.

"I got attacked by a building on my way here, and this one really was moving, not like usual when I just get distracted. Besides that, it appears we have an issue, any idea what this thing is?"

"I heard from some of the Archivists that it is a Kanohi Dragon, a creature that was trapped in a cave beneath the sea some 9,000 years ago, and now apparently it escaped, although it still seems to be quite cold, it looked pretty tired after that burst of flame, so I thought I might be able to subdue it before it got all the way out, but that obviously didn't work."

Lhikan nodded as the creature struggled more to try and escape the tunnels of the Archive, its lower half obviously not designed for small spaces. The thing looked to be as large as many of the taller buildings in the Metru, and, judging from the claw marks digging deep into the ground around it, it was strong enough to level the whole place.

"Got a plan?" Naho looked nervous, the dragon seemed to be making progress out of the tunnels, and there was no way of knowing how dangerous it would be once it was free. Lhikan looked around, but seeing nothing nearby that would help, he figured they would have to rely on their strength alone.

"Screw it, if we can't hurt it maybe we can drive it back into the caves of we startle it enough. Naho, I want you to shoot a stream after me when I get close to its face, and I think I know how to get it to back off." Getting a running start, Lhikan fit his swords back together into a board and flew up towards the beast, which was steadily emerging from the caves now, the tremors collapsing many surrounding buildings, but the rahi paid them no mind, not even when some fell onto its back.

"Now Naho!" Lhikan neared the face of the dragon and looked it right in its glowing red eyes as he channeled the power inside of him and felt his body begin to radiate heat. As the stream of water approached, he released his energy in a blast which hit the water right in front of the beast's eyes, turning it to steam, which provoked a roar from the beast.

The steam clouded up the air around Lhikan, and he tried to peer through, but was met with the head of the beast shooting through the steam, smashing into him and throwing him from his board and sending him rocketing down towards the buildings below.

Turning as he fell, Lhikan used the last of his consciousness to send the remaining power he had to his mask, and a shimmering light enveloped him as he smashed through a warehouse and then bounced off of the next building and his power failed as he finally slammed into the pavement in an alleyway, and his vision began to fade when he saw a pair of feet step into the alley and a strange energy began to flow through his body.

"Hey you, quite the fall you had there, everything alright?" Lhikan looked up to see a dark green Toa standing over him, his mask glowing. He tried to get up, but the Toa bent down and stopped him. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, you still have quite a few injuries, just give me a second and you should be all fixed up." The Toa looked over Lhikan and more energy flowed through him, pooling in the places where he felt the most pain and flushing it away.

"Who are you?" Lhikan managed to prop himself up onto his elbows to get a better look at the new arrival, whose armor appeared to be organic, rather than made from proteomic.

"Yeah figured that would be good to know, the name's Inaku, I came from an island nearby, our turaga sent me after his old pal Dume called for help. Oh! Yeah umm I know you are kinda in the middle of a fight right now but we really need to get to your turaga as fast as we can, he is probably in trouble." Inaku helped him up as they heard another roar, and saw the dragon rising up from the rubble, now airborne.

"Let's go then, I have a feeling we are going to have to deal with that later," Lhikan said, looking around for his board.

"Looking for this?" Naho appeared behind the two toa, holding Lhikan's board. "You dropped it when you got head-butted, you were lucky it couldn't see you or you would have gotten swallowed whole."

"Thanks for the encouragement, I often find narrowly avoiding being eaten to be one of my greatest skills," remarked Lhikan with an eye roll. He had the two other toa grab onto him as the three flew off towards the Coliseum.

Nearing the shining pillar, they flew up towards Dume's throne room, where one of the windows had been smashed in, and Lhikan could see three large figures standing within. He flew to just below the windows, making sure to stay out of sight, and then prepared to help the other two up. Giving a boost to Inaku, Naho jumped up herself and Lhikan floated away, trying to figure out the best way to enter the situation.

He watched as Naho and Inaku climbed in through the window, silently hiding behind two pillars. Lihkan waved for them to move around the side, as he aimed himself right for one of the three figures and then flew into the room at full speed, his board slamming into the back of the biggest of the three, knocking the black figure into the wall where vines quickly grew over him and Inaku ran over, holding a rapier to the throat of what appeared to be a black Skakdi, as Naho grabbed another by the neck with her whip, another Skakdi, but this one blue.

Lhikan turned to face the third figure, another Skakdi, but saw the brown figure step aside to reveal Dume trapped in a cage of stone seemingly formed from the ground around him.

"Stand down or the turaga never leaves this room alive," boomed the brown Skakdi. Lhikan kneeled and set his blades down in front of him, standing up with his hands above his head.

"Let the turaga go and we will do the same for your companions," Lhikan said, lowering his hands, one slightly behind his back, which he let all his power flow to.

"My companions and I have one mission and we intend to finish it, and that is to establish a base on this island for the Dark Hunters, and in return we will protect you and the island, starting with that dragon." The Skakdi gestured out the window as the dragon flew over the city, headed in the direction of Ta-Metru. "You toa alone stand no chance to stop it, but with my help, as well as my friends Rediak and Vezok, we will make short work of the beast."

Lhikan stared out the window for a moment longer, before he caught a glimpse of a shadow moving, and saw another figure looking at him, with a finger to his mouth. Lhikan turned back to face the brown Skakdi and nodded solemnly.

"So be it, I see we have no other choice. I, Toa Lhikan, surrender." Lhikan made a grand gesture of kneeling, trying to draw more attention to himself as he watched the other figure move in the shadows. "What shall I do in order to appease your demands?" The brown Skakdi smiled even wider, its blindingly white teeth shining.

"You are wise, o Toa Lhikan. Now rise and face me, Avak." Lhikan did as he said, and saw the face of the other figure appear over the shoulder of Avak, and a glimmer as a blade slipped out from the shadows and around the neck of the Skakdi.

"I think he is quite wise, after all, he was smart enough to keep you occupied for me," hissed the figure, whose blade was now pressed against Avak's neck. "I thought a Skakdi would know by now to always watch his back, but apparently you forgot even that." Avak growled in frustration, then made a quick movement and spun, turning to grab onto the figure, but he disappeared as fast as he had appeared.

Lhikan took this as his chance, kicking his blades as hard as he could, sending them flying towards Avak, who narrowly dodged them, but Lhikan rammed into him at full force, holding him up against the wall with one hand, the other holding a fireball burning blue-white with pure heat.

"Leave! If I ever catch any of you on this island again-" Lhikan brought the fireball closer and closer to Avak's face and then smashed it into the wall right next to his head "-I won't miss." He released the Skakdi and gestured for the other two to release their captives as well. The three quickly scrambled away and out the window, the cage around the turaga crumbling to dust as they did.

"Toa Lhikan, you arrived just in time, I fear they would not have let me stall much longer." Dume stood up, brushing bits of the dust off of his robes.

"I would not have made it if not for Inaku here, he was the one who let me know you were in danger." The turaga turned to look at the green Toa, who was sheathing their rapier in a sheath of vines at their waist.

"You must have been sent by Turaga Okama, I assume?" Dume walked over to the Toa and shook their hand. "She never did want to leave me here alone, I cannot blame her for sending you here on such short notice, I am only glad she picked up on my call for help, I did not know if her Suletu was still strong enough to hear me this far away. Inaku laughed, and shook the Turaga's hand with vigor.

"She has been meditating constantly, tapping into the flow of energies across the world, she appears to be able to hear thoughts from farther away than ever, which is good for helping me find trouble quicker, but is also putting me through quite a workout running all over the place. I am just glad that I was sent to the right place, the Matoran who gave me a ride here seemed very unsure of where they were going."

"I am glad we are all having a happy reunion, but where did that other toa go?" Naho was looking around the room, and Lhikan too wondered where they had gone.

"I assume you are referring to me," said the same serpentine voice as the other toa stepped out from the shadows, seeming materializing from thin air. "I had been trailing those Dark Hunters for some time, and decided to step in and make sure things didn't get out of hand. His armor speared much lighter than before, and the green Voltiak on his face explained his stealth easily enough. Still though, Lhikan felt slightly uneasy towards the toa, as if faced with an old enemy.

He shook it off and approached the green figure, reaching out his hand.

"Welcome to Metru Nui, brother, I am grateful you were here to help."

"Nidhiki," replied the toa, turning away from Lhikan and facing Dume. "I noticed you have an infestation and I would like your permission to go after it, and exterminate it." Dume nodded, stroking his cane.

"Turaga, I do not think it is wise for someone," Naho interjected, turning to face Nidhiki, "no matter how skilled, to go after this beast alone." She turned back to the Turaga and continued. "Lhikan and I tried to take it on by ourselves and I fear Lhikan would not still be alive if not for Inaku's healing skills. Sending one toa out there is suicide-"

"I think what my friend is trying to say, Turaga," interrupted Lhikan, "is that we should all go together. If we can handle three Dark Hunters without a single injury, we stand a much better chance of going up against his beast together, as a team." Lhikan looked at the other toa, Naho and Inaku nodding in approval, while Nidhiki huffed and crossed his arms, but offered no opposition.

"Lhikan, I think that is a brilliant idea, but I know this beast," said Dume, going into his storytelling voice that Lhikan knew so well. "When I first visited this island, my whole team was nearly wiped out in trying to imprison it the first time. You will need more than a few toa to take it on. Let me handle gathering more help for you, and you all in the meantime go scout out ahead, make sure the Matoran are safe. Do not make any moves until you hear from me to go ahead, or I fear the consequences." Lhikan and the others nodded, and they turned to each other, save for Nidhiki, who had slipped away and with a gust of wind flew out the window.

"Inaku, you and Naho go find someplace safe for her to stay, and Naho I want you to scout out ahead with your mask to try and help Inaku find Matoran in need of help. I will go on ahead to try and make sure our new brother doesn't make any stupid moves without us, and to figure out what this dragon is trying to do." The other two toa looked at each other and then headed out the window, Naho creating a layer of water for them to slide down on. Lhikan grabbed his board out of where it had stuck into the wall, and prepared to head out as well, when he felt the turaga's cane around his leg.

"Lhikan, I need you to lead this team, it is something long overdue for this city, we need protectors. We need Mangai." Lhikan nodded slowly, all the memories of his past experience on a team flooding back to him. "Do not think of your failures. There was no way you could have stopped what happened from happening. This is your duty, to the Matoran, and to me. Do not let the demons of your past stop you from your destiny." Dume looked up at the toa, and Lhikan gathered himself.

"I will not let you down, turaga." He stepped onto his board and hovered out of the window, turning to face Ta-Metru, and speeding off

I won't let anyone down again.