Disclaimer: Bionicle is no property of mine, nor are the characters below. They're LEGO's.

Toa In Training

"Lewa! Get back!"

"Surefine, earth-brother, surefine, but I tell you, I feel -"

"Lewa?"

"What?"

"Hush."

The green Toa complied, his sleek and rounded Miru bobbing slightly at the black Toa behind him. All he could really see, though, were the emerald glows from his optics from the darkness.

To be honest, he was yammering more than he would have. Lewa hated the cavern that his brother had picked out to be their hidey-hole before the signal to move out is given: an orange light from his fire-brother, Toa Tahu.

The place was filled with musty air that reeked, and he could not flush it out since their water-sister told him to conserve his energy, already backed up with his vast amount of energy broiling inside him.

They all had seen a sudden lack of activity from the Makuta during the recent days. The infected Rahi were less abundant and were not, for once, rampaging through the villages but hiding in the jungle.

All the better for the training mission they were instructed to carry out to be situated at the beach.

The Turaga had thought it was time to prime their Toa for any larger and more ferocious battles in their lives, and instigated this training mission to see them all co-operate together. Everyone decided that it was a good idea; they all were bored and had gone their separate ways to enjoy some peace with the Tohunga they protected, but it was quite a while since they had ganged up together again.

He did not see what was there not to like about the Toa team.

He took his words back when a sudden draft of chilly wind brushed over his shoulder, causing him to jump.

"Ice-brother!"

The white being looked up at the harsh murmur, his rounded features somewhat visible in the permitted sunlight that shone into the cavern, and ignored him, giving another muted sigh.

Of course, Lewa forgot of the spite that occurred that led to the temporary break-up. There was no need to explain what happened when the guilty parties were red, white, and a certain green one who agreed that staying apart would help them control their tempers.

The plan had been as so: Lewa and Onua were the sentries, Tahu and Kopaka the frontline warriors and Pohatu and Gali were to bring up the rear, being that the area around them was literally water, rock, and rather tiny and refined rocks called sand.

There were to be enemies, Turaga Nuju, or more likely Matoro had said, and they would be waiting for them.

The fellowship of the Toa was hiding in a set of caverns that were carved into the cliff after much erosion and abrasion. There were only three entrances, but all of them linked together in the back into a fine cavern, large enough to hold a horde of Toa inside, and deep enough to lure at least ten Muaka and then some, and still have space to stuff more in.

But it was now their hiding spot, where they were sitting ducks. They were cornered, and what were they going to do about it?

'Play Peek-A-Boo with the enemy until they quickfire first,' Lewa silently groused, tilting a morose look to the Toa of Fire behind him, who was sharpening his blade against a boulder he just found. With all his flair, the Toa was standing proud and all while the others were supposedly seated.

His eyes lingered to Pohatu, who was playing some game with a pebble he found. Everything in Lewa held him back from joining his brother. He was having so much fun with that little piece of shiny, glinting plaything, and he badly, no, itched so badly to join his brother in that game.

What was Pohatu doing now? Well, the lucky chap with rear duty was doing what a brakas he observed one day had done with the sticky remains of a bula pit would: bouncing it, watching it rise into the air and then being pulled down by the taut juices and fibres of the fruit's pip, and bounce it again when it has descended to its finger.

Well, it was not as difficult to play it as to describe it. Pohatu was dexterously dribbling the pebble from the ankle of one foot to the other and back again to the first. Lewa's own ankles were twitching in sync with his brother's with each tap the pebble made with the ankle, as if he were playing the game with a phantom pebble and was dribbling it parallel to the ground.

The tan and brown Toa caught Lewa's gaze, and offered a sorry smile to his brother before returning to his game.

His vision drifted to Toa Gali, who was staring back intently at him from her cross-legged seat on the ground. That look on her Kanohi spoke a short phrase that said much:

'Stop staring and get back to your duty!'

Relenting, the mirthless Toa stared back out again, his head tilting in exaggerated motions to show that he was looking left, right, up and down the entrance from his side of the cave mouth. There was a slight whisper in the cave he caught, but he tuned it off.

This was boring.

"There!"

Onua's hushed baritone caught Lewa off his guard.

A finger slipped from the shadows into the light rays, and indicated a specific spot on the ground, no more than a few paces away from them.

At the entrance were small fragments of rocks.

They were not there many minutes ago.

"Kopaka."

Summoned, the white Toa strode up, and stopped paces away. There was no need for words when the subject was in plain sight.

There was a sound of whirring and clicks that seemed deafening against the quiet of the cavern. All activity stopped. Even Pohatu had ditched his entertainment for this.

The white Toa nodded, or did some sort of signal, for Onua caught it with his Pakari.

"It's them."

A flash of orange and red lit the walls of the cavern, and disappeared as soon as they came.

There was no real need for the signal, though, for the Earth guardian's words were all the Toa needed.

Tahu took his place at the entrance of the cave, Kopaka a few steps behind.

Lewa and Onua sidled up to each other behind the two. It was obvious why the white and red guardians did not stand shoulder to shoulder, while the green and black were touching each other's shoulder guards.

Lewa did like Onua. The day they came down to Mata Nui, Lewa liked the black one's quiet ways, and his knack for appearing when he is needed during an instance that involved a stricken Le-Matoran, an enraged Nui-Kopen, and his battle axe stuck in a bog nearby. Onua had sprung from the soil and immediately took down the beast, and helping Lewa fetch back his weapon was an extra plus, though Onua was too polite and said something about being en route to Ta-Koro and passing a message, and helping a fellow Toa.

But now was no time to be looking back at the past. The future was about to unfold into the present, and Lewa's conscience was needed there for that to happen.

"CHARGE!"

With the war cry, the six Toa hurtled into the sunlight, the blast of heat from the sun-baked sand and air surging at their faces, and straight into – nothing.

Lewa swivelled around to face the cliff.

And something collided with his mask.

With a cry of stark surprise, the Toa raised his arms instinctively and niftily unlatched the axe on his back and tossed it in the general direction from where the red substance came from-

Something else struck him in the face, and his vision was now a swirl of red and blue.

Another well-aimed strike and green was added to the mess of colours on his optics.

He had barely drawn the back of his hands across his face to clear the mess when he was struck on his arms and legs, and was literally pummelled by an onslaught of projectiles.

Shouts of anger and shock rang across the beach. From what a blinded Lewa could surmise midst each blow he received, they were suffering from the same attacks he was currently attracting.

Now, he summed it all up. It was every Toa for himself.

Hiding his head in his hands, he ran for cover. Back into the cave, the only shelter he could think of right now, was the only command riding in his mind.

If he was suffering a spring shower of attacks just now, it had surmounted to a thunderstorm. The increase of attacks fazed the Toa, but it was not enough to stop him in his tracks.

He could hear someone else following suit, coming in from the right some steps behind. He had to agree with Turaga Matau there: once one was blind, the whole world was audibly clearer.

When he felt the cool dark of the cavern replace the blistering heat of the midday sun, the mystery follower was revealed to be Toa Kopaka, but Lewa had a little difficulty recognising him.

His Akaku was knocked askew, and it was not white. It was a fine mess of pink and red! Down the Toa's body were large blotches that spanned an arm's length of different colours: cobalt blue was the Toa's new arm colour, a sickly brown stained the abdomen of the Toa, and black was splattered over his right leg.

The most amusing part of this, however, was that not a single cio of white on that Toa, and was more of red than white now. He looked like Tahu's lost twin brother that had a bad day in the art and craft store-

PAINT!

Lewa looked down on himself, suddenly his head was cleared of the fog that came with the first hit. He himself was a colourful sight. There was no colour that took precedence on his makeover, but why were his limbs coloured mostly blue? It did not help that a large splash of white had covered his chest, and the green Toa mused that at least some green could be seen through the paintjob.

"Nice colourchange," Lewa quipped.

The latter was silent for a moment. Lewa could guess what was running through his mind: Oh, by the Spirit, there goes all my dignity, from Mount Ihu to the Mangaia.

"You too," the white Toa caught Lewa unguarded.

Holy Kanohi, Kopaka spoke!

And there was something else on his face as Toa Kopaka righted his mask – THERE!

A smile! It was a tiny one, barely the length of his thumb. But still!

Toa Kopaka was smiling!

And, to top it all off, a barely-controlled snigger rose from the Toa of Ice. It was barely a whisper, but Lewa could hear it clear as crystal.

Lewa himself was starting to snicker, in a strange fashion that caused him to jitter and shake at each spasm of laughter.

They were sorry sights.

"Brothers! There you are!"

A Kaukau dotted with white and yellow circles at the cheek areas, each colour a side, peeked into the cavern. Lewa jumped at his sister's silent approach, but Kopaka betrayed nothing.

"Come out! You've got to see this!"

Both Toa scurried out into the sunlight, to see that no Toa was spared by the hail of paint.

Tahu was looking considerably white, with some black and blue thrown in for good measure. His face ran the gamut from anger to laughter, and he seemed to be unable to choose which one he would go with.

Pohatu had a bright beam on his face, and the sunny yellow that covered the top of his mask and painted a third of the three protrusions of his mask added brilliantly to the effect. He was posing, with green hands, red and white legs and his body was covered with the colours of the rainbow, he was sure.

Onua was the least affected by the whole affair, it seemed. A calm smile was on his face, but he could see the twitches on his body. That Toa would break out in laughter soon enough.

He was still mainly black, but pink, a good lot of pink, and brown was added to his colour scheme decidedly. Where the others were the works of the amateur artist, Onua was the handicraft of a master. The pink spots on his back and front were almost symmetrical in place and position, and the brown spots dabbed his knees and trickled down to his feet.

Gali was not spared from Lewa's eyes, and she looked so comical! What happened to the cerulean blue? It was all a decided battle of red, white, black, brown and green, save her mask, and it seemed that each and every colour owned a similar area to the rest on her. The green had occupied her arms and hooks, the brown her legs, the black her torso, the white part of her Kanohi and the neck and the red took territory of her abdomen and feet.

There was laughter in the air, and it sounded like it was coming from behind.

Spinning around, he looked up at the cliff top.

Multitudes of Tohunga dotted the natural feature, all snatched in laughter. The red ones were, decidedly, the Ta-Koro Guard cadets. Some blue made up the middle range, and the girls were giggling and tittering away.

Vines dangled down to the middle of the cliff face, and there were the mischievous Le-Tohunga, waving their tainted hands at the heroes below. Raucous laughter rose from the troop as they fought to cling to the vines while guffawing to their heart's content. There were daring Tohunga in their midst, so he discovered, by some black ones and even a blue one on one vine dangling to the right, a brown one next to her. There were no prizes for guessing who they were, as they waved their yellow and black hands.

And, much to Lewa's surprise, there were white specks that were standing at the far ends of the rocky feature, and they were noticed by the laughter that rose from them.

Lewa spared Kopaka a sceptical look, which was avoided by the latter.

In fact, the entire populace at the cliff was echoing with laughter from the villagers. There was no one on that cliff that had a poker-straight face.

He spied six figures, slightly taller than the Tohunga, as they stepped in front of the villagers. A hushed silence replaced the sonorous din that once filled the air, but some snickering was still evident.

"Toa!" Turaga Vakama began, and Lewa's eyes caught his own Turaga with a musing smile on his Mahiki, and much cheeriness in his glowing optics.

"You have witnessed the true power of unity, and I hope you have learned your lesson well!"

The cliff once again burst into mirth, and it was a worse wave of hilarity as some Tohunga were now off their feet, and those who hung precariously from the vines almost lost their grip.

Lewa looked about his brothers and sister.

He did not need their permission.

Throwing his head back, he let out a well-needed laugh, and the other Toa's voices joined his.