Chapter 1

Gladiator

"Watch out!"

Tenerus ducked under the blow from his opponent as the latter swiped his sword again. The Toa of Plasma then raised his shield and bashed it against his opponent's face. His opponent, a Toa of Plant Life named Heluk, growled and braced himself for another attack. Gladiator matches were banned by the Toa League ever since an increase of deaths, so the fighters either were jailed, rehabilitated, or went underground. Heluk and Tenerus were two such fighters.

"Come on! Can't you do better?" Tenerus snarled.

"Shut up!" Heluk snapped, lunging in for another attack. Tenerus stepped to the side, reached out with his arm, and grabbed Heluk by the throat. The crowd of Matoran, Vortixx, and others roared in excitement as Tenerus began to choke Heluk.

"And here I thought you could do better," Tenerus sneered.

"I can," Heluk replied. Without warning, a vine shot up from the ground and slapped away Tenerus. The Toa of Plasma was forced to release his grip on Heluk, who recovered his weapons and was prepared for another attack.

Tenerus rose to his feet, grabbed his axe, and charged at Heluk. The Toa of Plant Life then used his Kanohi Calix to leap out of the way and hit Tenerus in the back with his shield. Tenerus growled, rose and was about to attack again when Heluk kicked him in the midsection, then slammed his shield against the Toa of Plasma's head. Before Tenerus could recover, Heluk laid his sword on Tenerus' throat and said, "Do you concede?"

Tenerus took a deep breath, looked away from Heluk, and said, "I do concede."

Heluk grinned, raised his weapon into the air, and shouted, "The Champion concedes!"

The crowd broke out into a roar of approval mixed with disappointment, although the latter was mostly from those who had placed bets on Tenerus. Suddenly, an explosion sounded through the desert arena, and seven heavily-armed Toa stepped in.

"Sorry folks," the lead Toa, a Toa of Air, snapped. "Party's over."

Heluk prepared to attack when a Toa of Shadow used her Kakama to speed over and place a knife on the Toa's neck.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," she sneered.

The remaining Toa leaped up into the stands and cleared away or caught the spectators, depending on whether they ran or aimed guns at them. The Toa of Shadow took away Heluk's weapons along with Tenerus', then bound their arms with handcuffs.

"What the Karzahni is going on?" Heluk demanded.

"Didn't you know?" the Toa said. "Being a Gladiator's illegal. Been like that for 20 years."

"Who are you?" Heluk snapped.

"Name's Leena," the Toa of Shadow replied. The Toa of Air that led the group approached Leena and said, "Let's go. Prisoners are rounded up."

"Right," Leena replied, grabbing Heluk and Tenerus and dragging them to the desert that laid outside the arena. Leena carelessly tossed Heluk and Tenerus in a cage that was on the back of a cart pulled by three Ussal crabs and driven by an elderly Ko-Matoran wearing a Hau.

"That's the last of them, Junik," the Toa of Air reported.

"Good," Junik muttered, then ordered his Ussal to haul away the prisoners.

Heluk glanced at Tenerus, who seemed to be silently focusing on something. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Quiet, 'Champion,'" Tenerus growled. He used his Plasma abilities to melt through the handcuffs and proceeded to release two other prisoners. He was about to continue when the cage glowed green, and the three freed prisoners slumped to the ground, unconscious.

"Don't y'all be tryin' to free yourselves, now," Junik said. "This here cage has an ability to knock all freed prisoners."

Halek growled. He briefly wondered how to break free when an arrow lanced forth and hit Junik in the chest, killing him. Several gunshots were heard, and Harek caught a glimpse of a Cordak blaster hitting the cage before he blacked out.

"Mission successful," a Skakdi wielding a Cordak said. "No way he could've survived that."

"Don't be so sure," his Zyglak companion replied. "Remember the last time you said that?"

"Yeah, but this time I'm sure!"

The Zyglak, Vreekus, rolled his eyes and leaped down from the ledge he was standing on. His mechanical wings allowed him to glide beside the wreckage of the cart and examined the bodies. He found the corpses of the majority of the prisoners, including Tenerus, but of Halek, there was no sign.

His Skakdi companion, Greekal, raced beside Vreekus and said, "Where's that Toa of Plant Life?"

"I'm not sure," Vreekus growled, "but I think I may know who interfered. Let's go. He's not patient with those who take too long, nor is he patient with failure. But I'll make sure I'm not the one punished."

Greekal paused, trying to figure out what Vreekus meant, before turning and racing off, following the Zyglak.