Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle, only Kit.
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 figure slid into the wall, banging his head, but not before he passed a young human girl who was holding on with all her might to the railing to keep from being either thrown overboard or about like some of her comrades. She slipped and fell to the ground due to how slippery the seawater made it, but managed to maintain her hold. "Ok, whose bright idea was it to take this thing out into a storm?" Kit asked above the crashing of the waves and the siren the Vahki transport made as a distress signal.
"Don't ask me, 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 wasn't meant to handle storm-tossed waters, but, did he hear-listen? Oh no."
"Less talking, more driving up there, Matau," shouted Vakama.
Matau grumbled and complied while Kit gave the Toa of Fire a death glare, recalling how she and the other Toa Metru argued how going out in this storm was not only stupid, it was also very possibly suicidal. Still, the Fire Toa wouldn't hear otherwise, not even Onewa's suggestion that they send a scout to check out the situation in the city when Rahkshi were discovered running about, and they went on their way back to Metru Nui to retrieve the rest of the Matoran that were left behind. Hearing some groaning, she 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 that the storm was too powerful for her to control. Vakama then urged everyone to get inside the cargo hold for safety. Kit did her best to follow Onewa, Whenua, and Nuju, but the rocking of the transport made it difficult. 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 ankle. Looking up, she saw it was Vakama just before he hauled her back onboard. Saying a quick, "Thanks," to the Toa of Fire, she rushed toward the hold, but not before noticing the biggest tidal wave yet. The transport rode the wave for a few minutes before it capsized. Kit didn't know how she managed to grab a breath of air prior to slamming into the water, but she did. Now, she had to fight her way back up to the surface before she could drown. She swam as hard as she could, but the waves tossed her around under the water. Just when she was certain her burning lungs were going to burst, she broke the surface, gasping and coughing and spitting out seawater. As she 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.
When Onewa awoke, he wasn't sure if he had; it was dark all around. He felt something try to move underneath him and thought he felt a familiar squishy hump of a hood. "Hey, kid, you awake?" he asked.
"Onewa? Where are you?"
"Right on top of you."
"Where are we?"
"My guess is buried under what's left of the Lhikan II. Take it easy, I'm going to get us out of here."
The Toa of Stone wrapped his arm around her waist and, with a powerful shove, he and Kit burst out of the debris. "You ok, kid?" he asked, and Kit nodded. "Well, that stunk." Hearing coughing behind them, Kit and Onewa turned and yelped at a figure shrouded in dust.
As the dust cleared, it was revealed to be Nuju. "It would appear there was an error in our transport," announced the Toa of Ice. "Pilot error."
"Hey," Matau, who was trapped in 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. "Regardless of how gracefully, we made it here."
"Whatever," the Air Toa grumbled. "Uh, hey, could somebody dig me up?" In a few powerful strokes, Whenua's earthshock drills cleared away the wreckage. "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. "Or, are we going to rescue the Matoran?"
"Ever wonder why he needs us?" Kit 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, how Vakama's behavior seemed to change. His newfound confidence now bordered on arrogance, and it scared her sometimes. It made her wonder what he was now capable of, especially where she and the others were concerned. 'I think I liked him better when he was shy and uncertain,' she said to herself.
The group walked among what was left of what was once a glorious city. Those chutes that weren't destroyed completely were broken and not functioning, green webs and a green mist were everywhere, giving the place an eerie and poisonous feeling. "What's with all the webs?" asked Matau. "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; the entire city was overrun by Rahi of all shapes and sizes. "Well, there goes the old neighborhood," commented Matau.
"It's just as I feared," said Whenua, "the Archive must've been breached."
"What all did you have in there?" asked Kit.
"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. At least, it used to."
"And the webs?"
"Visorak. Nasty creatures."
"Comin' from you, that's not good," said Onewa.
"But, what does it change?" asked the Toa of Water.
"Nothing," Vakama replied. "We go to the Coliseum, we rescue the Matoran, we leave."
"Or get pulverized," noted Whenua, which Nuju pointed out was a possibility.
"Where do we go from here, Kit?" asked Nokama, remembering that their human friend was from their future. "How exactly do we rescue all of the Matoran?"
"I don't know," the girl confessed. "I don't know anything about what's going on right now. See, in the present—your future—whenever somebody asks you about the far off past, you respond in riddles."
The Toa Metru looked to one another, wondering why they would they be so secretive about their history. Inwardly, Kit was relieved that this time she didn't have to leave out anything and feel guilty. "C'mon all of you, we faced the Makuta and won," said the Fire Toa. "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, they fell into a pile on top of each other.
Kit landed atop of Nuju, "Did I hurt you?" The Toa of Ice shook his head and Vakama asked if everyone was ok, his voice sounding a little crushed considering he was near the bottom.
"Yeah, we're right behind you fearless leader, literally," answered Matau.
"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.
Kit was about to tell them to knock it off when some scuttling was heard 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.
"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, their eyes 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, Kit's shaking increased. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't even move a finger. "Whenua, you never mentioned the Visorak were giant spiders," she said through clenched teeth.
"You never asked," said the Toa of Earth, "and what does that have to do with anything?"
"Because, I hate spiders," the girl replied as the metallic spider picked her up in its mandibles and carried her 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 that the barbs secreted some kind of venom that was injected into them as they fought to free themselves and they could feel it coursing through them. Whenua looked around at the others to see how they were holding up. His fellow Toa seemed ok, considering, but Kit looked like she was fighting to remain conscious. Then he noticed that two Visorak, a blue one and a red one, were fighting. The blue one was tossed off of the web and, as it fell, its brethren screeched and snapped their mandibles in a jovial manner. "That's encouraging," he muttered sarcastically as he thought of the spider falling to its death, as they soon would.
"Well, fire-spitter, we can't say you didn't show us the city," said Matau. "Course, we can say that you got us captured, poisoned, and, seeing as I don't think-believe we've been brought up here for the view, imminently smashed-dashed." The Toa of Fire winced at the Air Toa's comment and Onewa tried to speak through the webbing of his cocoon, but everything came out muffled. "He agrees," said Matau.
"This is not Vakama's fault," Nokama scolded, coming to Vakama's defense.
At this point, Kit was just so out of it she couldn't even make out what the Toa of Fire was saying. She heard him say something about him leading them as best as he could and wishing he was better at it, but that was all. Though she had stopped trying to fight her way out of her cocoon due to lack of strength, the barbs still bit into her as she kept still. Her head pounded like crazy, her body hurt all over, and she was just too darn weak to care anymore. Sudden movement from Vakama's cocoon made her perk up a bit, and his arm ripped itself out. Only, the limb was so strange and horrifying-looking, Vakama couldn't believe it was really his. Soon, the remaining Toa went through the same process, their cocoons glowed before they were ripped apart and they fell, except for Vakama, who hung by his foot, which got caught on a thread of webbing. "Nokama! Kit! Help!" he called before a spasm overtook him. Kit weakly called his name as she and the Toa of Water still hung in their cocoons, unable to do a thing. Vakama shuddered as he felt his body change. "I'm sorry I let you all down . . . again," he apologized, and the thread snapped. Nokama and Kit gasped in horror as they watched the Fire Toa plunge toward certain death before their cocoons finally burst an instant later. The Water Toa looked frantically for the others, but the clouds obscured her vision. Finally, she spotted Onewa, at least what she believed was him, below her. A light suddenly appeared from nowhere and the Toa of Stone was gone. Hearing a whirring sound, she looked to see another light, felt something grab her, and the next thing she knew she was flying.
The light kept her from seeing the face of her rescuer, but it did enable her to spot another figure hidden amongst the clouds. "Kit!" she cried, and the figure descended into a power-dive. Once she was close enough, Nokama grabbed onto the girl, and the flyer took to the sky to rejoin some others who had also rescued the Toa. Now assured that her brothers were safe, the Toa of Water turned her attention to Kit, who hung limply in her arms and was unresponsive to what was happening. She was about to check her heartlight when she remembered humans don't have heartlights. Instead, she settled for placing her hand on her chest and felt a heartbeat. 'At least she's alive,' she thought with relief. That was when she saw her hand, deformed; the shape and the fingers were wrong. Remembering what happened to Vakama's right arm, she looked to find hers was practically the same story. In place of her hand was what appeared to be a weapon of some kind. "What am I?" she asked in a low voice. "More than you were," replied the stranger that carried her, "and, yet, less."
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 said 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 ally—a human, Makuta told her—more. She wanted to keep her alive in her cocoon, trapped in wakeless sleep for eternity, as a trophy of conquest. But, her telepathic message from Makuta specifically stated that the little one was to suffer the same fate as the Toa Metru—mutation, then death. Though, that didn't stop questions from forming in her head: Where did her species reside? What sort of effect, or effects, would the Hordika venom have on her? 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, fell, and saw 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. Matau lashed out immediately, warning them to stay back, until one of them, the blue one, spoke in an all-too-familiar voice. "Nokama?" he wondered.
"Matau, it's alright," assured the Toa of Water.
"Alright!?" exclaimed Matau. "You call this 'alright'?"
"We're all here," Nokama continued as she placed her remaining hand on his shoulder, "We'll find a way. Together."
Matau just looked down at the ground, then angrily turned to Vakama, who had stayed silent this whole time. "I don't hear you saying that, smelt-head. What's the problem-matter? Too busy cooking up another master thought-plan?"
"I'm through making plans," the Fire Toa snarled.
"Well, that's the first happy-good thing I've heard since I've been ugly-hideous," Matau retorted.
Nuju, having enough of this bickering, growled 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 . . . whatever it is we are."
"Yes," Nokama agreed, "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 a voice presented itself.
"If you are wise, if you wish to be your old selves again, you will listen." The Toa 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.
Matau looked back at the group, confused, and counted. "Where's Kit?" he asked with a hint of fear. Did she not make it? Hearing the Toa's question, the creature above beckoned for them to follow. It led them deeper amidst the statues and pointed. Kit was lying on the ground, being tended to by another Rahkshi-like being that was blue. The Toa came closer to get a better look and the creature stepped aside. Kit was unconscious, breathing hard, sweat beaded her face, and the veins that could be seen in her hands and lower arms seemed to be very green. "What's bad-wrong with her?" asked Matau.
"She's very sick, and has a fever," Nokama replied. "That's all I can tell, for now."
"Do you think it could have something to do with that venom?" Onewa inquired. "Maybe she's being affected differently than us?"
After giving it some thought, Nuju figured Onewa might actually be on to something. "It is possible that her fully organic physiology could somehow be hindering the venom's progress in her system, maybe even trying to fight it off completely," he theorized. All of the Toa silently hoped and prayed that their friend would get better.
Author's Note: Just for safety's sake, so to speak, I've decided to take the precaution of rating this story "T" for violence in future chapters. However, if you, the readers, believe a "K+" rating will suffice, please let me know after reading said chapters.