Chapter 3! Yay! We get to meet more of my messed-up characters! Read on!

Thank you to my reviewers Leveluplewa, InTheLight1396, and the reviewer who did not leave a name. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own the Toa Nuva or Visorak. I do own the humans/ex-humans?

The Pack

"Does anyone else feel like we're being watched?" Pohatu asked the other Toa.

"We're on an island crawling with Visorak," Tahu snapped. "Of course we're being watched."

Gali glanced over her shoulder and stopped short at the sight of two pale glowing eyes looking back at her. The creature held her gaze for a long moment, then vanished behind a cluster of leaves.

Gali stood totally still for a minute, then backed away toward the others until she bumped into Onua. The Toa of Earth turned and looked at her questioningly. "I saw something," she whispered.

"What was it?"

"Something in the bushes. I think it might be following us."

Onua eyed the fog-shrouded overgrown shrubbery. "We have other things to worry about right now. If it shows any signs of a threat, we'll take care of it."

Gali nodded uncertainly. This place was unnerving her, to say the least.

"Visorak!" Tahu shouted. "Look out!"

Gali spun to see a Visorak perched on a web right above them, spinner activating and eyes trained on the Toa. Gali frantically debated whether to run, attack, or try to dodge the spinner when it came.

Her struggles to decide what to do turned out to be pointless. A dark shape flew out of the weeds and webs and slammed into the Visorak, breaking the web it stood on. A sickening crunch told of the spider's fate.

The Toa stood silently for a moment, then without a word moved on. Except for Lewa.

Anali's claws scratched at the dead Visorak's shell. There's a crack here somewhere, I just know it, she thought. Aha!

Her claws sank into the muscle beneath the armor, and she ripped off a large hunk of armor. She continued to rip the dead creature to pieces, eating anything organic and tossing mechanical parts. One bounced away and clattered on something metal. Anali glanced over and saw a green Toa, staring at her in horror.

Anali's eyes narrowed to pale slits and she snarled a threat. The Toa took a tentative step towards her and held out one hand. With another snarl, she turned and darted away into the fog and overgrowth.

Lewa stood and stared at the dismembered corpse of the Visorak that had threatened him and his brothers and sister. That…Hordika thing had saved them. Was it to helpsave Toa, or just for a quick snack-meal?

Anali darted from shadow to shadow. She had to get back quickly. They needed her there. She spread her wings, jumped up and flapped violently. She finally managed to get airborne and fly several bio before gravity took its toll and began to drag her down to the ground. She used the elastic webs spanning from trees and former guard towers to bound above the ground. A tall hill with a cave in its side rose up ahead of her. Anali smiled and picked up her pace. With a final leap and wing-flap, she glided smoothly down to the ground in front of the cave mouth. She came to a stop, folded her wings over her back, and roared a call. Another Hordika hopped out on muscular legs that appeared to bend backwards, waving two large winglike arms. Anali smiled gently, not showing so much teeth as she could have.

"Hello, Jidu," she growled in a friendly tone, using the language of the Muaka. "How are the others? Been taking good care of them while I was gone?"

Jidu nodded his shaggy head of hair. "Zikia managed to sit up for five minutes without any help or support," he announced in Matoran. "And…"

"Na-yi Na-yi Na-yi!" A small, furry creature barreled out, tripping over his big feet, going into a comically ungraceful somersault and landing in a sitting position. Anali and Jidu laughed, and Anali sat back on her haunches so she could pick up the little Hordika baby with her forelegs.

"Hello, Pup," she growled.

"Anali?" A weak voice called out. "Is that you?"

Anali's smile faded. "Yeah…is me," she answered. "Be rrright in."

She shifted Pup to her back, returned to walking on all fours, and entered the cave she had come to call home. A large pot filled with thick soup hung over a crackling fire. Four bales of flax were pushed together against a wall to form a bed. A small sickly girl lying on it twisted her blond head to see the approaching Hordika. "Zikia," Anali rumbled. "How have you been feeling?"

"Stronger," Zikia answered, then coughed violently.

Anali moved to stand beside the human girl and helped her sit up with her wing. She smiled softly. "You'll get even strongerrr someday," she reassured the girl.

Zikia nodded with a brave, weak smile, allowing Anali to lower her carefully down onto her bed. "Rrrest," she growled gently. Zikia closed her eyes, and her breaths grew deep and even. Anali sighed and sat down at the cave mouth. The human village here had been reduced to three mutants and a bedridden girl, and the oldest was seventeen. Anali gazed out at the sinking suns, wondering.

Why did it have to be this way? Why couldn't an adult have been able to survive as long as they had? Why did Pup have to grow up without knowing who his parents were? Why did Jidu have to grow up so fast when he was still a child? Why did Zikia have to be so weak, yet be the only human who had survived so long after being freed from Visorak sleep? And why did Anali have to care so much about each of them? Watching Zikia cough so hard she vomited, feeling Pup snuggle against her when he was scared or tired, hearing Jidu's stifled crying in the middle of the night when he relived the death of his parents in dreams, all of it made Anali's heart ache. And knowing that all three of them trusted her to take care of them and make everything turn out alright…

She loved and hated the feeling it gave her.

She didn't deserve to be looked up to like this. At least that was what she had thought two years ago, when she had saved Jidu from a Muaka, and the mutated boy became her shadow. Things had changed since then.

Whether she deserved it or not, these kids were her responsibility and her family, and she loved each of them like she had loved her brothers. They're my pack, Anali thought grimly. And no one, Visorak, human, or Toa is taking any of them from me. I will not lose this family, too.

Awww, Anali's got a nice side! Sort of. Whatcha think of my having Anali speak Muaka? I'm sure that's possible, since Nokama spoke to a Muaka in its language, and the fliers apparently have an official language. Next chapter, I think I'll go more into the other survivors' backstories.

Please leave a nice review!