Disclaimer: And bionicle still isn't mine... aaaaaaaaargh!
Mining Incidents
"So, what do you think?" Tahu was asking some time later. After Gali had caught up with Takanuva, and talked sense into him, Tahu had proposed that they went to his house and talked about it before doing anything else. It was always a bad sign when he said so, because it meant that the situation was far worse than it seemed.
"I think Vakama should stop forging great masks and disks," said Pohatu, playing with a small stone as he did so. "Not to sound like Onewa, but his head really did cook up this time."
"Or goodbetter, Whenua's," agreed Lewa.
"So you'd search for the missing Matoran?" Tahu asked.
"Yep, what else?"
"We do what the Turaga told us," said Kopaka in a flat tone.
"No we don't!" cried Takanuva, jumping up. "I'm not leaving Jaller to a certain death! No matter what the Turaga said!"
Kopaka stepped forwards and pushed Takanuva back into a chair.
"Listen carefully," he said in an icy voice. "If your Jaller and four other Matoran are missing, it's because we didn't listen to the Turaga and didn't care about the creatures. Do you want to make this even worse?"
"No, but I can't just let..."
"Jaller is already dead, you idiot!" hissed Kopaka. "We'll be of much more help if we make sure no one else gets hurt!"
Takanuva started at him with a questioning, angry look. Kopaka sighed, annoyed.
"Why do you think the creatures brought him away? Do you really think they only survive on elemental energy?"
Those words were followed by a complete silence. Until then, nobody had thought about why the creatures had taken away the Matoran in first place. They just hadn't thought about it! But they all had enough experience with Rahi to know that there could be only one reason: food.
Pohatu was the first to break the silence: "He's right, you know," he said softly. Lewa also nodded.
"As much as I badhate this," he said.
Takanuva turned to Gali, searching for help. But the blue Toa, merely stared at the ground, and when she did look up, there was only compassion in her yellow eyes.
"I'm sorry," she said. "But I hadn't though, that..."
She didn't finish the phrase, she didn't need to. Takanuva had already understood. A single word, and all of a sudden Jaller was just a helpless Matoran again. He turned to Tahu. There was a disapproving look in his eyes, as if the whole thing didn't convince him., but he didn't say a word. Once again, Takanuva couldn't help but being surprised by how much Tahu had changed since that had landed on Miko Nui. He was fulfilling his role as a leader much better, and had stopped deciding exactly the opposite just because it was Kopaka's idea. Even though he would do that any other time. When he realized that Takanuva was watching him, he turned his head around, so that he didn't have to face him.
"So," said Tahu, avoiding Takanuva's eyes carefully. "Who's in favor of doing what the Turaga told us?"
Over their heads, a tall, green figure was lying face up on the house's roof. Hearing Tahu's phrase, he smiled. Everything was going exactly as planned. The Turaga were doing their job nicely, insisting that the Toa had to clear up the archives before they did anything else, before they even looked for the missing Matoran! Kopaka had pointed out neatly how the creatures had probably already eaten Jaller and the others, and even Tahu was standing to their plan!
"I'm not exactly in favor, but..." he head Pohatu say.
"No! No you can't! Please!" Takanuva was pleading.
"I'm sorry, Takua, I really am... if there was just one chance..."
That girl's voice could only belong to Gali. The figure laughed softly thinking of how stupid the situation was: all the Toa called Takanuva Takua, because it was shorter. But Takanuva's best friend kept calling him 'Toa'.
A sound made him turn his head around, and he saw a small figure rush away from the hut. He knew that Hahli had been listening to the whole conversation, trying to find out whether the Toa were going to save her beloved Jaller. Well, they weren't, and she knew that. This was getting better and better, and probably it meant saving them a lot of work. Now, if the Toa could just speed things up a bit and get on with act two...
"What about you, Onua?" Tahu asked. "You still haven't said anything!"
"Some time, ago back on Mata Nui," answered a deep, rumbling voice. Onua, obviously. "Whenua told me that a Toa's true power is here, in its head, and here, in its heart. He said that my powers can move the earth, but that my heart and my mind can move the mountains."
Dude, quick-speed with it, no one's interested in what your powers can do, thought the figure. And I'm getting sick of still-lying on this roof.
"So?" asked Tahu, annoyed. It seemed as if he wasn't the only one not interested in what Onua's powers could do.
"Well, my mind tells me that the Matoran are probably dead, that if we don't obey the Turaga we'll make things even worse and get into lots and lots of trouble."
"And your heart?" asked Takanuva hopefully.
"My heart is telling me who I really am: an outlaw and the friend of the greatest thief ever in the history of Metru Nui. And it's telling me that if I don't give it at least one try, I'll hate myself for the rest of my life."
"And what will you follow, your heart, or your mind?" Gali asked softly.
"The same thing I followed when I decided to turn into a Toa," answered Onua. "And you?"
From the roof, Awel smiled. Yes, everything was going just as planned.
XXXXX
Hahli slammed the door behind herself and threw herself on her bed. The Toa's words kept buzzing in her head, each phrase chasing another as the Toas' decision kept resounding in her brain. Jaller... and Kotu... and all those poor Matoran would be left to their destiny! But what was worse, none of the Toa had spoken against that, no one had said a word. It had been a decision they had taken together. All of them. Well, not really...
Takanuva was against it, thought Hahli. But then again, he's Jaller's best friend, or at least was... it wouldn't have been normal if he hadn't.
No, definitely not. Still, this could turn to her favor. Maybe she could talk into him, and with his help, convince the other Toa that it was the wrong decision. That the five missing Matoran were more important than...
Than what? The archives? She thought. But it's not because of the archives that they have taken this decision, and aren't looking for the missing Matoran.
No, it definitely wasn't. She had heard Pohatu, and Lewa, and she had heard Kopaka. If they weren't looking for the missing Matoran, it was because of what the Turaga had said. About the thousand Matoran compared to five. There was little she could say against that. She was sure that Takanuva wouldn't care, he wanted to save Jaller as much as she did, but what about the other Toa? They weren't close friends of Jaller, and Kopaka especially wasn't going to change this decision that easily.
It doesn't matter, she told herself. It doesn't matter what they say, or what they do. I'll go looking for Jaller, only with Takanuva if it's necessary... or alone.
XXXXX
The Toa silently walked down the archives corridors, keeping an eye out for anything that moved that might be one of the creatures. They had decided to start searching for the Matoran straight away, as it was only a matter of time before the Turaga realized that they weren't doing what they had been asked for. They had agreed that they wouldn't tell anyone about what they were doing. The chance that the information somehow slipped was too risky. It was one of the many things they had learned while living as outlaws, when they had been Matoran. Also, Tahu had said that they couldn't take more than three or four days. Afterwards, the Turaga were bound to realize what was happening. Without counting that the Matoran would probably be dead by then.
It was obvious that the voice that the creatures had taken five Matoran had spread, because there was nobody in the archives apart from them. The only noises to be heard were the sound of their footsteps and their breathing. It was as if someone had turned the sound off, or stopped time. Nowhere an Onu-Matoran, squabbling over a rare Rahi, nowhere an occasional Le-Matoran, coming to repair this or that. The only other 'living' creatures were the Rahi, suspended in time inside their stasis tubes, unmoving, unblinking... barely even breathing. Lewa stared sadly at a tube containing an ash bear, it felt so cruel to close those poor animals up, keeping them from having their life...
One day, he though as they passed the last few tubes. I'll free you all, I promise.
None of the other Toa seemed to care about it, and the last few tubes were soon left behind, and they entered another, darker zone. The floor was full of shattered glass, rocks and broken columns. It was one of the places where the creatures were often spotted, and so it had been abandoned from the Onu-Matoran. Lewa shook his head. Back in Le-Metru, they had practically been encircled by Rahi and other jungle creatures, and a visit like the ones here had been nearly part of the daily program. He just couldn't understand what was so different here.
The Toa paused a second to scoop up a couple of lightstones, then proceeded down to the abandoned zone of the archives. Here the silence was even more complete, though the darkness was still lit up by few streaks of lightstones engraved in the walls. But the dim light only provided more eeriness to the place, as it cast huge shadows on the walls, where they melted together to form larger ones and split up to become more. Lewa shuddered, it seemed as if there were eight shadows instead of seven, and even though he knew it were only light tricks, he couldn't resist the temptation to look backwards, but behind him was just darkness, crisscrossed by dim, glowing lines. He forced himself to look back forwards and follow the other Toa, who were moving rapidly.
Had he looked just a second more, he would've seen how a shadow split from the other seven as they walked on, and had he followed the shadow, he would've seen how it disappeared in the darkness of a hole in the ceiling, where two shocking purple dots were glowing: eyes. The owner of those eyes stared after them for a while, until they disappeared round a bend, then it scuttled silently after them, careful not to be noticed.
They had been walking for quite a while, when Tahu, who was on the lead, broke the silence.
"Has any of you thought that maybe it wasn't the creatures that kidnapped the Matoran?" he asked, looking over his shoulder. The other Toa stared at him.
"Who else?" Pohatu asked with a shrug. Tahu merely shrugged back.
"I don't know, maybe the Leehar..." he suggested.
"The Leehar?" asked Onua, frowning. "But they're gone! They ran away through the Tikohl, remember?"
"Maybe they came back," suggested Lewa, who seemed to like the idea that it might not be the creatures that had kidnapped the Matoran.
"How?" asked Onua. "We broke the Tikohl barely a week later, and it had always been under control until then. We would've known if they had come back."
Gali shook her head. "As much as I hate the idea that the Leehar could be here, now, we must not exclude this possibility... and be ready for it."
Onua couldn't help but notice how dangerous and cold her voice had become with the last few words. It wasn't only her, all of the Toa's faces had darkened, and he himself felt a silent anger rise inside him as he thought of what the Leehar had done... or what they hadn't.
"We're there," said Kopaka curtly, pointing to the three dark openings in front of them. Here, the last bits of lightstones strands disappeared, and the tunnel split in three. Originally, this had probably been a large chamber, and the tunnels had served to reach various zones of the archives faster, but now, it was just a larger cave with three openings that started from it. It was here, where the Toa had always stopped pursuing the creatures the other times. And now, their search was going to start from here.
"Okay," said Tahu. "Onua, Gali and Lewa can take the right tunnel, Takanuva and Kopaka the left one and I'll go in the middle one with Pohatu."
The only answer were a couple of silent nods from the others. Then, each group took a lightstone, and the headed down the tunnels. Only a few seconds after the last Toa had disappeared down the tunnels, an eighth figure scuttled in the cavern. It searched the room with its purple eyes shortly, before quietly scuttling down the left tunnel.
Tahu hadn't chosen the groups casually. He had made sure that in each group there was someone who either had the power to create a source of light, or someone who could see well in the dark. A wise decision, as it turned out. Lewa, Gali and Onua had just turned around the first bend, when they found a huge pile of rubble blocking their way. After trying to go round it without success, the Toa were forced to throw away the lightstone and climbed over it. It wasn't an easy climb, as the rubble often slipped under their feet, making them tumble back down. Of all the Toa, Gali was the one having most trouble, as she was neither a good climber, nor could she see well in the dark. In the end, Lewa had to help her the way up. It was a relief when they finally reached the top.
As they stopped a second to catch their breath, Onua shot a glance at what lay before them... and his mouth dropped open. The tunnel before them was covered in broken chunks of rocks and shattered glass. He could even see holes here and there. Strange creatures climbed up and down the piles of dirt and rocks, and he could hear many sounds that didn't belong to Toa or Matoran. It couldn't have been more obvious that they had left the repaired area of the archives. That in front of them was a wild zone.
"What?" asked Lewa.
"Look your..." he stopped remembering that his two companions didn't have his night vision. "There's rubble, broken glass... everywhere! It's as if there never was anything here... except a large tunnel."
"Yeah, that's what happens when nobody tidies-cleans up," joked Lewa. Onua, though, looked thoughtfully at the two other Toa.
"I don't know if it's a good idea for you to go on..." he started.
"Not-never!" exclaimed Lewa. "Either all three, or nobody."
Gali nodded, but Onua shook his head.
"No offense, but you'd only be in the way. I'll go alone." he finished firmly.
The look on Lewa's face told him that the green Toa was offended, but Onua knew him well enough not to care. Ignoring Lewa's angry glances, he turned around and made his way to the bottom of the tunel: half walking, half slipping down the pile of rubble. He had nearly reached the end, when he definitely slipped and tumbled to the ground. He landed face forwards in a zone full of small glass shards, which cut into his hands as he reached forwards to stop his fall. He could hear Lewa snigger from the top of the mountain. Ignoring him, he pushed himself up, rubbing his hands free of a couple of glass shards that had stuck to them. Then he set off to continue his exploration.
For a long time, nothing happened. Onua just walked on and on in the dark tunnels, straining to hear a sound that might belong to the creatures. But nothing was to be heard from them. Not that there wasn't any kind of life form in the archives! No, there were all sorts of creatures scuttling up and down the rubble that lay all around him. Some were even bold enough to run between his feet or climb up his legs. But none of them was larger than a hand span, and none of them were the ones he was looking for. It was strange, because normally the creatures always turned up, even when you didn't need them.
Suddenly, he stopped. In the air was now a new sound. A well-known, familiar sound, yet he hadn't heard it for a long time. It was the sound of the earth rolling and moving, shifting and turning. The sound of a coming earthquake. The creatures around his crawled away to safety, hiding in their homes and shelters. They must have sensed it too.
And a few seconds later, the earthquake came, shaking the tunnel with a huge force. Rocks rained down on him from the ceiling, and one nearly hit him before he realized completely what was happening and jumped to the walls, where it was safer. Using his powers for that strip of wreck would just be a waste of energy.
Suddenly, a scream echoed through the tunnel, and Onua's eyes flew wide open. Gali and Lewa! He concentrated, willing the earthquake to stop. Remembering the huge pile of rubble where they had stood, he felt his insides turn icy. And what if...
The earthquake stopped as quickly as it had come, leaving a deadly silence behind him. Without waiting, he ran back up the tunnel as fast as the rubble and the uneven terrain would permit him to. The silence certainly didn't mean anything good, and Lewa's muffled calls that broke through the air a second later seemed to prove it.
Faster, faster, thought Onua. He jumped over a large rock, slipping on the glassy shards that littered the ground as he landed. The entrance was straight ahead, he knew it. He just had to turn around that bend...
And stopped dead in horror as he saw the disaster that the earthquake had caused.
XXXXX
Kopaka pushed himself over the large stone in his way and crashed to the ground on the other side. Groaning, he looked up just in time to see Takanuva land neatly next to him.
"Are you alright Kopaka?" he asked. Kopaka shot him an angry glare and stood up, then looked forward in the darkness.
"How about some light?" he asked. Takanuva obediently raised his staff to project some light in the tunnel before them. And what they saw made both their mouths drop open.
"No way!" exclaimed Takanuva. "This gotta be a sort of bad joke!"
The tunnel in front of them was full of rocks and glass shatters, like any other abandoned zone of the archives, but in the middle of the rubble, was a large passageway that led down the tunnel and disappeared behind a bend. Takanuva moved his staff around as if it was a torch to see their surroundings. Nothing moved around the large piles of rubble, it seemed as if they were the only living things in this place.
"Where do you reckon it leads to?" Takanuva asked, pointing at the passageway.
Kopaka shrugged. "There's only one way to find out," he said, heading down the tunnel. Takanuva hesitated a second, then followed him, the sound of his steps resounding through the empty hallway as he walked around the bend.
For a while, they just walked on. Whoever had created the passage had done a good job, stapling the dirt and rocks to the sides so that they wouldn't fall in the middle of the way. A well done work, no doubt about that, and it was exactly this what annoyed Kopaka. This hadn't been the creatures, he didn't need Onua or Pohatu to see that. These had been Matoran… or Toa. He suddenly remembered Gali's words, and instinctually, his hand went to his sword. The Leehar….
Suddenly, a strong earthquake hit the area, sending both Toa off their feet. Takanuva's staff rolled away, leaving them in nearly complete darkness. Kopaka looked up just in time to see something collapse on them. He grabbed Takanuva and dragged him away with him a second before something large and heavy crashed to the ground. All around them, the dirt piled up was swaying dangerously. Threatening to bury them under itself. The work hadn't been done that well after all.
Then, just as quickly as it had come, the earthquake stopped, leaving an eerie silence behind. Kopaka blinked in the darkness and looked around for Takanuva's staff. But all he could see was darkness and darker outlines, probably of fallen rocks. But there was no trace of something that might be Takanuva's staff. He turned to the golden Toa, who was also looking for his staff, it didn't seem as if he was having more luck than him though.
"Say, your mask used to glow, can't it do it again?" asked Kopaka sharply, even though he had just come to the idea. Takanuva gave him a short look and shrugged.
"Doesn't seem so... but maybe I can activate my staff from here and..."
"Then do it!" snapped Kopaka. Takanuva hesitated a second, then seemed to concentrate. A dim glower diffused through the cavern, and the two Toa were able to spot the staff, lying between some fallen rocks not far from them. Takanuva walked forwards and bent down to grab it, but he had just touched it, when he heard a sound. A soft, calm breathing... right over him!
Slowly, he looked up... and screamed in surprise when he saw the shocking purple dots over him.
"What?"
Takanuva didn't even hear Kopaka, he tried to stand up and back away, but tripped over a stone and slammed hard against the ground, his staff flew once again away from his hands. The creature recoiled with a sharp hiss, then jumped down before him. Takanuva tried to grab his staff to point it at the thing in front of him, but before he could even touch it, the thing spat a sizzling something at him, and Takanuva felt a fierce pain spread through his body.
It was like nothing he had ever felt before: every limb of his body was burning. Knives were cutting into his chest. He couldn't breathe, his lungs were like full of ice, so cold that it burned. His head felt like it would explode any second, just to feel like squashed a moment later. A horrible scream was piercing his ears, and he didn't know whether it was him screaming or whether it was just an illusion. Kopaka was saying something, but he couldn't hear, and a second later he too was lying on the ground, twitching horribly besides him. Takanuva's view faded to black and cleared again as the pain became worse, consuming him from the inside. He was struggling not to let go, though every part of his mind told him to do so, because somehow he knew, that if he let go, it would be the end.
-
Sorryyyyy! I tried to stay in time, but didn't make it! I'm trying to update once a week (yeah right), but something always seems to get in between. Plus, I recently get distracted damned easily, and so... then I wanted to make this chapter worth the wait... result? Even more wait! ''':-) (hope that does for sweatdrops) Anyway, I hope you won't have to wait that long for the next chapter... though I have my doubts. For one, I'm having a couple of tests next week. For another, the week after I'm away. Maybe I'll write faster once away, you just hope for that.
And, by the way: there's a movie quote in this chapter... who can spot it? (hints at the end for who can't)
Now, to my reviewers...:
Regrem Erutaerc: Quick information as usual... okay, you're my official Bionicle information source:-) So, if Onepu was his second, then Taipu was the strong guy. Okay. So I didn't make any mistake... I hope... Pohatu? swimming lessons? Hadn't thought about that. Yeah, probably... or used to, before he became a Toa. hmmm, gotta remember that, it could turn out useful... Hehe, the 'cute French'...(probably no one's understanding what I'm blabbing about. The fact is, that i had fun imagining where each Toa would come from if they were sent to earth. And... go on, you can guess the last bit :)
Slythergrl2004: That the answer to my question? Yeah, the creatures... so you don't think it was them, right? Lhikan? Uuuuuuuuuh... (just kidding, i sorta got that one out)
ToaMaster: Ilag? What about her? Hehe.Okay, if I'm way behind, then YOU tell me how I see anything except black boxes! The song? No idea, I wouldn't put question marks if I knew it. Is that: for Slythergrl review all for Slythergrl or is that thing about your mind blowing up for me? -confused- And WHICH first story? Because if you mean the lhikan thing and my first story, then I understand even less. Where exactly did I explain something in the first story? -even more confused-
ToaLhikan: I liked Lhikanliveson better... So I'm NOT the only one who noticed that Vakama and Nokama and most other metru are more good-looking than the nuva...