A/N- Hey everyone! Arc 2 of Book 1 is here. I'm hitting a wall on my other series, so I decided to post this. I made you all wait long enough, so here we go!
Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle.
The wind howled, the rain came as if there was no end to it, lightning flashed followed by roars of thunder, and the waves rolled. A lone craft tried to fight its way through the storm and keep itself afloat at the same time, a task easier said than done for it was not built for travel over water. Onboard, a tall brown mechanical-like figure slid into one of the exterior walls, banging his head with a solid thunk. However, before he did he passed a tall, young blonde and blue haired human girl, who was holding on with all her might to the railing in order to keep from being either thrown overboard or about like some of her companions. With a yelp, she slipped, loosing her footing, and hit the ground on her left side due to how slippery the seawater made it, but somehow managed to maintain her hold.
"Remind me again; WHOSE BRIGHT IDEA WAS IT TO TAKE THIS THING OUT INTO A FRAGGIN' STORM?!" Emma cried above the crashing of the waves and the siren the Vahki transport made as a useless distress signal.
"Don't ask me! - Whoa! - Ask the fire-spitter!" Matau called back from the cockpit, trying to steer the thing as best as he could. "I told him this thing - Yikes! - wasn't meant to handle storm-tossed waters, but - Arg! - did he listen-think? Oh no."
"Less talking, more driving up there, Matau!" shouted Vakama, who was clinging to another wall of the transport in a vice-like grip.
Matau grumbled and complied while Emma shot the Toa of Fire a death glare over her shoulder, angrily recalling how she and the other Toa Metru had argued that going out in this storm was not only extremely stupid, it was also very possibly suicidal.
"Are you INSANE?!" Emma shouted, voicing the thoughts of the five Toa standing behind her.
Vakama stood unmoving, arms crossed as he simply stared down at the shorter being. Though his left eye began to twitch in irritation.
Emma continued to rant, absolutely furious. "Do you have any idea of how fast this could go south?! There is a reason on Earth why it is recommended that unless you have a fraggin' TANKER, you do not ever, EVER, go out into a storm covered ocean! Hell! Not even a tanker could handle certain storms, especially since open ocean - or seas - can have swells at LEAST forty feet high! AT LEAST!"
Emma continued on her tirade, so infuriated with the Fire Toa's stubbornness that she began to pace. The rest of the Metru took a couple steps back in slight fear.
"You idiotic MORON! We only have a stupid Vahki transport, that may I remind you, is NOT MEANT FOR SEA FARING TRAVEL!"
"But the Matoran-!" Vakama tried to cut in.
"-Can wait another day! Or did you forget about the fact that they are safely secured in STASIS PODS?! You heard the Makuta's plan - he was not going to touch them while they sit inside the pods! And now that he's been dealt with, we have ABSOLUTELY NO REASON to charge in heads first, unless you want to LOOSE SAID HEAD!"
"Now hang on a-!"
"I'M NOT DONE YET!"
Even with Emma's 'reasoning', Vakama would not hear otherwise, and not even Onewa's timely suggestion that they send a scout to check out the situation in the city could persuade him. Thus, they went on their way back to Metru Nui to retrieve the rest of the Matoran that were left behind, and were now trapped inside of the very storm that she and the other Toa had been trying to avoid.
Stupid Vakama… she growled, tightening her grip as she began to pull herself back up. Grrr… when I get my hands on him…
Hearing some groaning, Emma turned her attention to Nokama standing at the bow of the transport. All of this time, the Toa of Water was trying to use her powers to calm the waters a bit, but it was apparent that it was not as easy as it sounded.
Finally, she gave up, saying "The storm is too powerful! I can't control it!"
Vakama snarled, before he began to urge everyone to get inside the cargo hold for safety. "Quickly everyone!"
Emma did her best to follow Onewa, Whenua, and Nuju, but the rocking of the transport made it difficult. Her shoe suddenly slid in a large puddle, and then went out from under her. She lost her balance, slid across the deck, and went over the railing with a scream. She suddenly stopped in mid-air and felt a strong grip on her wrist. Looking up, she saw it was Nuju, and he hauled her back onboard.
Feeling thankful for having the insights to leave her backpack with her phone and that back on the island, and saying a quick, "Thanks!" to the Toa of Ice, the thirteen year old rushed toward the hold, but not before noticing the biggest tidal wave yet; it had to be at least fifty feet high!
The transport rode the wave for a few heart stopping minutes, before it finally began to tilt and capsize. Emma didn't know how she managed to grab a breath of air prior to slamming into the water, but somehow, she did. Now, she had to fight her way back up to the surface before she had a panic attack and drowned.
Emma swam as hard as she could, but the waves tossed her around under the water like a piece of driftwood. Just when she was certain her burning lungs were going to burst, she broke the surface, gasping and coughing and spitting out seawater. As Emma fought to keep her head above water, she called out to her friends. A hand appeared a little ways ahead of her and, fighting the raging waves, she swam toward it. She just managed to grab it when a wave sent her back under and into blackness.
When Onewa awoke, he wasn't sure if he had; it was dark all around.
"Ow…"
He felt something try to move underneath him and thought he felt a familiar squishy hump of soaked clothe. "Hey, kid, you awake?" he asked.
"O-Onewa? Wher' are you?" Emma's raspy voice came from the lump.
"Right on top of you." He deadpanned.
Emma grunted, shifting slightly so she could look up in the general direction of his voice. "Wher' are we?"
"My guess is buried under what's left of the Lhikan II." The Toa answered with a grunt, "Now take it easy, I'm going to get us out of here."
With that, the Toa of Stone wrapped his arm around her waist and, with a powerful shove, he and Emma burst out of the debris.
"You okay kid?" he asked, and she nodded with a pained groan. "Well, that stunk." He grunted.
Hearing coughing behind them, Emma and Onewa turned and yelped at a figure shrouded in dust.
As the dust cleared, it was revealed to be none other than Nuju. "It would appear there was an error in our transport." Announced the Toa of Ice with venom. "Pilot error."
"Hey!" Matau, who was trapped under some debris, protested, "I was only order-taking! Vakama was the one order-giving."
"No need to be critical, Matau." said Nokama as she walked to shore, shanking some remaining water from her frame. "Regardless of how gracefully, we made it here."
"Whatever." the Air Toa grumbled. "Uh, hey, could, uh, somebody dig me up?" In a few powerful strokes, Whenua's drills cleared away the wreckage. "There ya go."
"Thanks." said Matau as he brushed himself off.
"It's what I do." replied the Toa of Earth.
"Are we gonna stand around all night?" asked an approaching Vakama, who looked as though nothing had happened. "Or, are we going to rescue the Matoran?"
"Ever wonder why he needs us?" Emma muttered to no one in particular. She couldn't help but recollect on the past week; ever since they started heading back to the island city, Vakama's behavior seemed to have changed. His newfound confidence now bordered on arrogance, and it worried her sometimes. It made her wonder what he was now capable of, especially where she and the others were concerned.
I liked him better when he was shy and uncertain. Emma grumbled to herself, feeling more and more resent towards the fiery being. At this rate he'll be as bad as Tahu!
The group quickly gathered their bearings, and began to walk among what was left of what was once a glorious city. Those chutes that weren't destroyed completely were broken and nonfunctional, with strange green webs and an eerie green mist everywhere, giving the place an spooky and poisonous feeling.
"What's with all the webs?" asked Matau with a shudder. "Not exactly encouraging my Toa-hero spirit."
A roar up ahead stopped them in their tracks. Soon it was followed by the sounds of other animals; it was quickly apparent that the entire city was overrun by Rahi of all shapes and sizes.
"Well, there goes the old neighborhood." Came Matau's sarcastic comment.
"It's just as I feared," answered Whenua, "the Archive must've been breached."
"Uh, Whenua, what exactly did you have in there?" asked Emma with fear tinged in her voice.
"Everything." replied the Toa of Earth. "Most of it dangerous."
"Rahi?" guessed Vakama.
"The Onu-Metru Archive houses a specimen of every Rahi beast ever discovered." Whenua supplied. "At least, it used to."
"A-And the webs?" Emma asked, pressing close to Nuju. Please not be spiders! Please not be spiders!
"Visorak." Whenua answered, smashing Emma's silent prayer. "Nasty creatures."
"Comin' from you, that's not good." Onewa deadpanned.
"But, what does it change?" asked the Toa of Water.
"Nothing!" Vakama replied quickly. "We go to the Coliseum, we rescue the Matoran, we leave."
"Or get pulverized." noted Whenua.
"It is a possibility." Nuju agreed, wrapping his arm around Emma as the girl let out an involuntary whimper.
"We faced the Makuta and won," said the Fire Toa with bravado, "I really doubt a few crusty relics are going to give us much trouble. Agreed?"
The others either voiced or nodded their agreement nervously when asked, and Vakama beckoned them to follow him, only to be hit by something and he stopped moving. Before anyone could make any sense of what was happening, one by one, they were all paralyzed, unable to move. Then, like dominoes, one lost his balance and fell onto another, until they all ended up in a pile on top of each other.
Emma landed atop of Nuju, "Did I hurt you?" The Toa of Ice managed to shake his head, though his arms were still wrapped around her small form, meaning that she was stuck there.
"Everyone… okay…?" Vakama asked, his voice sounding a little crushed considering he was near the bottom.
"Yeah, we're right behind you fearless leader, literally." Came Matau's venom filled answer.
"Bickering won't get us out of this, Matau." Nokama chided.
"No," the Air Toa agreed, "but think-talkin' before charging straight into a TRAP might have."
"If you have something to say, Matau, say it." growled Vakama, but Matau refused. "Forget it!"
Emma was about to tell them to knock it off when she heard some scuttling nearby.
"What's that?" Onewa took the question out of her mouth.
There was silence until Nuju announced, "We'll soon find out."
Twin red glowing eyes pierced through the mist before a chorus of screeches sounded. Then, the mist parted to reveal arachnid-like creatures with huge mandibles.
"Let me guess: Visorak?" Matau asked Whenua with a shudder.
"Yeah," answered the Earth Toa, "or in their tongue, 'the stealers of life'."
"Do they even have tongues?" asked Onewa in a futile effort to lighten the mood of their predicament. "All I see are teeth."
The Visorak screeched at their catch, revealing their saw-like fangs, and their eyes were gleaming with delight.
"Vakama, what do we do?" Nokama asked, but the Toa of Fire remained silent, not sure of what they could do.
When one of the Visorak approached her, Emma's shaking increased. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't even move a finger. "Whenua, you never mentioned that the Visorak were giant spiders," she said through clenched teeth, arctic blue eyes darting around in fear.
"You never asked," said the Toa of Earth, "and what does that have to do with anything?"
"Because, I really, really hate spiders." the girl hissed shakily as the metallic spider picked Nuju up in its mandibles, and thus her, and carried them away.
Soon, the Toa Metru and their human friend were taken to the Coliseum, where, while they were still under the effect of whatever paralyzed them, they were wrapped in cocoons and left to hang in the air, far above the ground. The cocoons had barbs inside that jabbed at them as they struggled, which turned out to be a big mistake. Nuju figured out quickly that the barbs secreted some kind of venom that was injected into them as they fought to free themselves, and they could feel it start to course through them.
Emma hissed as she felt a barb nick her right calf, and began to shiver from where she was trapped within the confines of Nuju's arms. Because the Toa of Ice had been paralyzed with his arms wrapped protectively around her, they had been wrapped in a cocoon together. Emma pushed her face into Nuju's chest, scared beyond silly.
Her fear of spiders and heights was starting to drive her crazy. Considering the fact that there were Visorak nearby and that they were suspended hundreds of feet in the air…
…this was definitely not her day.
Emma winced as she felt another barb scrape against her arm, tearing into her jacket sleeve. She could hear the other Toa arguing in the background, with Nokama defending Vakama, but the panic induced roaring in her ears prevented her from fully hearing. Then, just as she managed to hear said Toa finished his apology speech, the cocoons glowed a sickening green, and the transformation began.
Emma yelped as Nuju changed right in front of her, the sickly green glow filling her vision. She felt his arms shift around her, along with several sickening cracks as his body was warped.
Pain began to flair through her veins - a hot, burning sensation that made her feel as though she was being burned alive. "Nuju!" Emma cried out in distress.
"Emma!" The mutated Toa managed to get out between his pained cries, which slowly began to turn into animalistic howls. "Stay close!"
After what felt like an eternity passed, the cocoon suddenly bursted open, sending them tumbling through the air. Nuju still had his arms, now akin to front legs, wrapped around her. Emma pushed her face into his chest, the burning in her veins beginning to ebb as the cool air rushed around them. Unfortunately, that only seemed to remind her of the fact that they were in free fall.
Just as she began to believe that this was the end, Nuju jerked suddenly upwards. She tightened her grip with a small yip, and felt Nuju's grip do the same. As the air flow around the two changed, she remembered. Right, the Rahaga…
Feeling a strange, pain-freeing tiredness overcome her, Emma involuntarily drifted off, subconsciously knowing that Nuju would not drop her. The last thing she felt was a soothing wave flow through her, offering freedom from the burning, then nothing.
Nuju lowered his reshaped head down, automatically sniffing her to check on the human's condition.
"How is the little one?" An aged voice asked.
Nuju's now wedge shaped head jerked up at the voice, a gust of air leaving his nose in a startled snort. The icy Toa knew that he and Emma were being carried by a creature who resembled what Emma had once called a 'firefly'. He was unsure, however, of the new creature's intentions. But seeing as the being and it's friends had saved them, he would give the 'firefly' the benefit of the doubt.
Again glancing down at the limp girl snuggled in his now front legs, Nuju sighed in relief as he realized Emma was only asleep, the events prior most likely having drained her. "She's fine, just tired."
The being carrying them smiled in relief. "Excellent."
Nuju unconsciously pulled Emma's body closer to him protectively, and he watched as the other creatures carried himself and his teammates to - hopefully - safety.
Roodaka gazed at the little red stone she held in her hand, carved out from its far larger counterpart that stood in the middle of the room.
"Rest, my Makuta. Sleep, and know that as you do, I draw close to awakening you," she purred as she placed it into the middle of her chest. Privately, she admitted to herself that it was rather a shame that she couldn't 'study' the Toa's pet - a pure organic, Makuta told her - more. She wanted to keep her alive in a cocoon, trapped in wakeless sleep for eternity, as a trophy of conquest. But, sadly, the Visorak had been unable to pull her from the Toa of Ice's arms, thus sealing her fate. It was no bother, as she could at least study the body.
Though, that didn't stop the questions that formed in her head: Where did her species reside? What sort of effect, or effects, would the Hordika venom have on her? Would there be any changes? Would she be affected at all? She had heard her scream in pain.
She pushed the curiosity out of her mind and went back to her 'reporting' to the stone, as if in belief that through it Makuta could hear her inside his protodermis prison on the Great Barrier.
When Matau awoke he found himself alone and near a fountain, a clue that he was in Ga-Metru. He called to the others, but no response came.
"Darn Vakama…" he muttered to himself. "Why'd we ever listen to him?"
Suddenly, the Toa of Air tripped over something, and fell with a pained grunt. Pushing himself up, he caught a glimpse of his reflection in the water of the fountain. What he saw made him gasp; an ugly monster looked back at him.
Unable to believe what he was seeing, he splashed the water, hoping there was some kind of mistake. However, the monstrous image was still there - along with five others; quadruped monsters with wedged shaped heads, striped metal and flesh hides, long reptilian tails, and a sail trailing down from between their eyes to their tails that split at the hunch on their back. Matau lashed out immediately in a panic, new tail spazzing and sail raising, warning them to stay back, until one of them, the blue one, spoke in an all-too-familiar voice.
"Nokama?" He wondered, sail flattening in shock.
"Matau, it's alright." Assured the Toa of Water, her own sail lowering from it's startled position.
"Alright!?" exclaimed Matau, his sail raising again and the stripes on his hide flushing an orange shade against his green hide. "You call this 'alright'?"
"We're all here." Emma said as she limped slightly around from behind Nuju, using her spear to help her walk, and placed her hand on his shoulder, "We'll find a way. Together."
"Cause that's what friends do." Whenua added, padding up to them, and nearly tripping over his new front legs.
Matau just looked down at the ground, tail twitching slightly as the stripes faded. He then angrily turned to Vakama, who had stayed silent this whole time. "I don't hear you saying that, smelt-head. What's the matter? Too busy cooking up another master plan?"
"I'm through making plans!" the Fire Toa snarled, his own sail raising and stripes flushing a deep red against his red-orange hide.
"Well, that's the first happy-good thing I've heard since I've been hideous!" Matau retorted, stripes flushing again.
Nuju, having enough of this bickering, snarled as he shoved himself between the two. "Regardless of how we look, it might better if we use our energy to find out why we've become…" he growled "whatever it is we are."
"Yes," Nokama agreed, clenching a paw, "the sooner we do that, the sooner we can rescue the Matoran."
"And, how are we going to do that when we're the ones who need quick-saving?" asked Matau, and - as if summoned - a voice presented itself.
"If you are wise, if you wish to be your old selves again, you will listen." The Toa and Emma looked up at one of the statues to find a small red figure that one would describe as a Turagafied Rahkshi. At first, the Toa thought, because of the Rahkshi resemblance, that this creature might be an enemy, then they figured if it was giving them reasonable advice, perhaps it could be an ally.
A/N- Just for safety's sake, so to speak, I've decided to take the precaution of rating this story "T" for the violence in future chapters. This is going to be one of the first darker arcs in the series, so the "T" rating should be rather accurate.
As for the Toa's new forms, I took inspiration from Omicron The IceQueen stories with Hordika. She is an amazing author, so I highly suggest reading her stories.
Please read and review!
Till next time!