Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle.
In a dark tunnel, a little biomechanical scorpion crawls along the floor. It looks around itself, as if searching for something. Suddenly, it stiffens, frozen in its tracks as it goes on the alert. It hears footsteps, heavy, fast, and many footstepssomething is coming. The sound increases in intensity, a warning to the little insect that it must get out of the way. Normally, it wouldn't back down from anything, but, unfortunately, it doesn't have its fellow brethren to back it up. It finds shelter in a crack in the wall just as six bipedal figures enter the tunnel. They are panting hard and each has an expression of anxiety on their masks. A roar is heard from farther down the passageway along with the pounding of even heavier footfalls as the tunnel's shaken. They are being pursued.
"Hurry!" Nokama calls out to her brother Toa. Behind them, an enraged Kane-Ra trails them, nostrils flaring.
"Did you have to go and get, of all the Rahi on Metru Nui, that Kane-Ra mad, Onewa?" Nuju asks.
"Like I knew he was there," the Stone Toa retorts. Earlier, Onewa tried to use his Toa powers to open a pathway blockaded with boulders by kicking them out of the way. However, one of those dislodged boulders landed on the Kane-Ra's head, disturbing it from a very pleasant nap. How and why the Toa Metru didn't notice the Rahi until then they didn't know, and at the moment, didn't really care. Right now, the only thing they had on their minds was to lose the Rahi, for they were starting to lose their breath and their legs were beginning to feel heavy.
"Everyone, follow my lead," Whenua, who had been in the lead the whole time, announces. At first, the remaining Toa are confused, following the Toa Metru of Earth is what they had been doing for the past fifteen minutes, since he knew these tunnels better than any of them. Then, before their eyes, Whenua went downwards with a yell. They all look down to discover the floor before them descends down at an angle and, while trying to stay on his feet, Whenua is sliding down the slope. He almost looks like he is trying to surf without a board. There's nothing before them but darkness when they try to see if they can find out where they will end up if they follow their comrade, but with a Kane-Ra who has the intention to stomp them to the ground right behind them, they agree that they don't really have much of a choice. So, slide they do, and down into the shadows they go. Matau looks back with a grin on his mask, believing that the Kane-Ra wouldn't dare to try to chase them down this slope. However, what he sees next is a very disappointing sight. Instead of stopping, the bull Rahi leaps and slides after the Toa. The crash of the Rahi's landing prompts the other Toa to look behind them as well. Although the expectation that the Rahi would finally call off the chase is dashed, Nokama notices something, and a little bit of her hope is restored. In order to avoid tumbling down the hill and injuring itself, the Rahi backpedals the treads that function as its back legs. This way it's able to control its momentum. But, because it slowed down its pace, the Toa are beginning to lose sight of it. They are finally putting some distance between themselves and the Kane-Ra. All six Toa Metru are reunited at the bottom of the incline.
"Now what? It'll be down here in any minute," worries Nuju.
"This way," Whenua points to another tunnel, and leads the way. Not too soon after the Toa leave, the Kane-Ra touches down and enters the tunnel. If the Rahi's getting tired, it doesn't show it; it just continues charging down the tunnel, with no idea of what it passed.
Matau waits to deactivate his hologram until he can't hear the bull's hoof steps anymore. The Toa are inside a small room-like inlet in the wall of rock, the entrance hidden, thanks to the green Toa using his Mahiki's power of illusion to project a hologram that kept the entrance hidden from plain sight from the outside. "Phew," sighs Matau, "That was much-close."
"Is everyone alright?" asks Vakama.
"We're all fine, Vakama," Nokama replies, "Though I do highly recommend that we stay here for a while." Looking around, Vakama understands Nokama's point. Everyone's exhausted from their run from the Kane-Ra and looking like the only thing they want to do is rest. ' I'm pretty tired myself,' he admits to himself. With a nod, he goes to sit down against the wall.
"Oh," groans Onewa, "I don't think I've ever run so hard in my life." Just as he says this, Onewa's hand presses down on a rock. Suddenly, the wall next to Whenua and Matau starts moving with a low rumble.
"By the Great Spirit, what's that?" observes Nuju.
"Looks like a secret door," Whenua answers, "Onewa, give me a hand." Together, the Toas of Earth and Stone pull the stone-door open, revealing a secret, dark room. A pentagonal shaped stone with a large crystal sticking straight out of its middle sits in the center of the room, like an altar of some sort.
"What is this thing?" Vakama asks with wonder.
"Don't know," Whenua replies, "I've never seen this room before." As the others admire the standing crystal, Matau leans on the 'altar' to get a better look. Only, as he places his hands on the rock, his left happens to land on a carving that looks like a symbol. The symbol begins to glow and everyone takes a step back.
" Matau, what did you do?" Nuju scolds.
" Nothing, I just touched it," replies Matau.
Then, a reverberating humming sound is heard. The source is discovered to be the giant crystal. The sound's accompanied by a light within the crystal; a light that, little by little, gets brighter and brighter. Too afraid to come any closer, yet too consumed with curiosity to leave, the Toa remain where they stand. Suddenly, six bolts of light shoot out from the crystal. Each one establishes contact with a Toa's chest, and, in the blink of an eye, the guardians of Metru Nui vanish, leaving the room empty.
That's it for Chapter 1. Please review and tell me what you think (but, please, no flames, this is my first Bionicle story).
