I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender, Bionicle or Avatar: the Legend of Korra and no copyright infringement is intended.

Ok… first, sorry this took so long. In between having a flu and internet problems (not my fault) I had an enormous amount of papers to do. But don't worry, none of my stories are done yet and all of them will continue to be updated. Just don't expect it to speed up until summer

Chapter 3

Hidden Motives

At one point Lhikan thought that the hardest thing to handle was a rampaging Rahkshi. Now… he knew differently. He had been around Korra for a week and he was just about ready to give up. She was loud, stubborn, and on top of all of that she treated Ignika like he was a child.

"Hey… Ignika, have you figured out how to talk right yet?" She joked as they walked the last few miles to Ba Sin Se.

"N… no… no…t… not yet." Ignika stuttered.

"Korra would you please stop picking on him?" Ty Lee asked. "It's not his fault he can't talk right." Korra rolled her eyes and continued walking. Lhikan nodded his thanks to Ty Lee and fell back to talk to Ignika.

"Look… I know that you're new to this world and your body but you don't have to take that." Lhikan whispered to him.

"I… it's ok." Ignika said quietly. "At… at least she's talking to… to me."

"Oh Artakha I wish that she would stop talking." Lhikan sighed. "Look, just don't take it lying down. You are one of the most powerful beings in this world now. Come to think of it… you were pretty powerful back home too." Ignika shrugged and smiled shyly. Lhikan shook his head as he caught up with Ty Lee.

"She really doesn't mean it." Ty Lee smiled apologetically.

"Really? Could have fooled me." Lhikan muttered. "I just don't get why he isn't standing up for himself."

"A girl can do weird things to a guy." Ty Lee laughed.

"Yes… but he's naive enough to let it ruin him. I was." Lhikan said bitterly.

"You're still torn up about Tuyet, aren't you?" Ty Lee asked.

"You expected anything else?" Lhikan answered.

"Lhikan it's been twelve years… you need to move on." Ty Lee sighed.

"Would you?" Lhikan asked.

"No… I guess I wouldn't." Ty Lee said. "And I didn't." She whispered to herself.

"What was that?"

"Nothing…" Ty Lee smiled disarmingly.

"Hey dunderheads… we're here!" Korra called back. Lhikan and Ty Lee caught up to the two others and the four of them looked at the massive wall of Ba Sin Se.

"Wow… it's so…" Korra started.

"Small." Ignika finished.

"Yeah… wait… what?" Korra and Ty Lee asked in shock.

"It… it's only a… a tenth of the size of… of… of Metru Nui." Ignika stuttered. Ty Lee and Korra looked at Lhikan silently.

"Actually… if you count the archives it's only about a twentieth of the size." Lhikan smiled.

"True… I… I had forgotten about the Archives." Ignika agreed. The two of them continued walking towards the city chatting about the world of Bionicle. Ty Lee and Korra looked at each other in shock.

"We… we really know nothing about them. Do we?" Korra asked.

"No… no we don't, and not from lack of trying." Ty Lee answered as she started following them.

…

The small earth kingdom bar was as rowdy as always. And as usual the main attraction was a bounty hunter who was either beating up a drunken patron or out drinking four others. This is why the entry of two rather unusual figures did not make anyone pause. The smaller of the two gestured at the bounty hunter. They walked over just as she finished throwing one of the drunks off to the side.

"We hear that there is a bounty hunter here who is the best at finding people… no matter where they are." The smaller one said as he sat down at the table.

"Yeah… what of it?" She asked.

"We have need to… locate someone of importance to us." He smiled.

"Well, what are you going to pay with?" The bounty hunter asked.

"Would you be interested in some rather…unique weapons?" He asked.

"No, I only deal with real money." She said.

"What if we make you help us!" The bigger one growled. Suddenly the bar grew quiet. The bounty hunter stood up and looked at him.

"Touch me and you will pay with more than gold." She calmly stated. The smaller of the two reached up and smacked the larger one.

"Krekka… go wait outside." He said.

"Uh… ok Nidhiki." The beast said. Nidhiki turned back to the bounty hunter and shrugged.

"I apologize, my… partner, is an idiot."

"But you're not?" She asked.

"No… and that's why I think you should reconsider what I have to offer."

"Forget it green, no weapon tech has any chance of selling any more. Not since those Bionics brought some of their tech in. All of our weapons are reverse engendered from what was left of their tech."

"Then how would you like to have some of the original tech?" Nidhiki smiled. The bounty hunter sat down and looked at Nidhiki in surprise.

"You have some?"

"Yes."

"Prove it." The bounty hunter demanded. Nidhiki smiled and placed a disk launcher on the table. The bounty hunter looked it over and then nodded to Nidhiki.

"Ok then… NOW I'm interested. The name's June." She said as she reached across the table to shake Nidhiki's hand.

"Nidhiki… now, let's talk business." The green Toa smiled.

…

As the sun set Lesovikk and Vezon were forced to make camp for the pure reason that they could not see any farther than their hands in front of them. Lesovikk never took his eyes off of Vezon as the two set up the camp and as soon as the little Piraka had done his part he was tied to a log.

"Aw… come on… is this really necessary?" He pouted.

"Yes. I don't want you stabbing me in the back while I sleep." Lesovikk said quietly as he lay down on the ground. Vezon continued to mutter, but Lesovikk ignored it. He looked up at the moon and the stars and tried hard not to remember his old life, he wasn't very successful. Not a day went by without the faces of his team… and, her… echoed through his mind. He could still hear their screams as the Zyglak tore them to pieces. His mind filled with horrifying pictures he looked up at the moon. Surprisingly the sight of it calmed him considerably. He had never really looked much at the stars in his home world, looking up meant that he would notice the five missing stars, his team. Here the stars looked different, less… important.

"You have a strange aura about you friend. Are you suffering?" Lesovikk jumped to his feet at the sound of the voice. He quickly drew his blade and took a defensive stance. The girl who had spoken was by far the strangest he had ever seen. She was dressed in white robes and had a luminescent quality about her. Her hair was done up behind her and she stood calmly before him as if it was not a bit unusual for someone like her to appear in a camp late at night.

"You ask a personal question when you do not even know me." Lesovikk snarled.

"I may not know you, but I can sense when someone needs help. It is one of my… gifts." The girl smiled, completely unfazed by his hostility.

"Your, gifts, would be better put to people who wanted your help." Lesovikk said.

"Why are you so hostile?" The girl asked. "I can see in your heart that you are not going to hurt me, so why do you act like you are?"

"I learned long ago that appearances are deceiving… and I'm not as good as you might think." Lesovikk said with a twinge of sadness.

"I think that you underestimate yourself." The girl smiled. "You drive yourself to great lengths in order to achieve perfection but doubt success… Why?"

"I have failed before… I will not fail again."

"How did you fail?"

"I… hesitated." Lesovikk said. He had lowered his blade and taken a more neutral stance then he had intended. Something was up, he trusted this girl for no good reason, which was bad. He hadn't trusted anyone for far longer then he dared to remember. "Why do you care?" He asked.

"I hate to see anyone in pain." The girl smiled as she reached out for his downcast face. Lesovikk shook his head and took a step back.

"Stay back!" he snarled. The girl just smiled.

"It's ok, I understand. You also have lost someone very special to you. If you wish to find your way back home then travel east until you get to the city of Omashu, there you will find someone who might be able to help you." With that she turned to leave.

"Wait…" Lesovikk started before stopping himself.

"What?" The girl asked.

"It…. It's nothing." Lesovikk said as he stared downwards. "I just wanted to know your name."

"Yue…" She said with a dazzling smile. "My name is Yue." Lesovikk looked up to say something else, only to see that she was gone.

"Wow… you might be a Toa but you SUCK when it comes to the ladies." Lesovikk turned and glared at Vezon. The small Piraka had managed to teleport out of the rope that he had been bound in.

"I should execute you right now." Lesovikk threatened half-heartedly as he lay back down. "Why do you even hang around? You can obviously escape whenever you want."

"Why leave, this is just getting good." Vezon smiled insanely. Lesovikk mumbled quietly as he tried to go back to sleep. One thought kept rolling around in his head for hours until he finally managed to fall asleep.

"Why me?"

…

For once Korra was being quiet. She dashed from one thing to the next, amazed by all the color and the sheer amount of people. Ignika shrunk away from it all, the large amounts of people and noise made him nervous. Lhikan smiled at the two young ones as he led the group through the city to where Solek, Toph and Takua lived. To his surprise he was stopped by two young earth kingdom guards as he tried to enter the residential district.

"Um… stop right there." One of them said uncertainly.

"You… you're under arrest." The other backed him up as they leveled their spears at him.

"Under arrest? Why?" Lhikan asked.

"You are Toa Lhikan… right?" One of them asked.

"Yes." Lhikan said as he folded his arms. This small act made of the guards flinch and the other one take a step back.

"Then you… you are in direct violation of the anti-Bionicle code put in place a short time ago." The braver of the two guards said. He was barely managing the courage to speak and his knees were visibly knocking.

"What insanity are you talking about?" Lhikan asked in surprise. Without warning metal cuffs flew from the shadows and snagged his wrists, arms, ankles and legs. He turned to see ten Dai-Lee walk out of the shadows.

"Take him in." Their leader said emotionlessly. Ty Lee moved to intercept the Dai-Lee.

"Now wait just a minute…" the leader pushed her aside as he moved to further restrain Lhikan.

"Stand aside citizen." He said as he turned to her. "Unless you want to be thrown in prison with him." There was a sizzling sound behind him and he turned to see a very ticked off Lhikan drawing his blades.

"Don't…. touch… her!" He snarled. The Dai-Lee whistled and reinforcements jumped between Lhikan and the others. Lhikan took a glance around and saw that he was vastly outnumbered. Thinking quickly he jumped up in the air and formed his hover board out of his swords. "Catch me if you can!" He called out as he took off towards the center of the city. The Dai-Lee followed quickly and in seconds the street was empty once more. Ty Lee picked herself up and shook her head at the swiftly vanishing silhouette.

"Does he always have to make an exit as dramatic as possible?" She joked as she walked over to Ignika and Korra. "Look, we can catch up to Lhikan later. Right now we need to find Solek and Toph."

"But… how… how will Lhikan find us?" Ignika stuttered.

"Oh, he'll catch up with us somehow." Ty Lee smiled back. "At least the Dai-Lee only recognized Lhikan. I guess you don't look like you're from Bionicle." Ignika looked at himself. They had changed his armor for some normal clothes several days ago.

"As if there was ever anything special about him anyway." Korra said jokingly as she started off in the direction they had been heading. Ignika looked at his feet and slowly began to follow her. Ty Lee shook her head; she was going to have to talk to Korra about spouting her mouth off. The three of them walked until they reached what had once been a relatively normal home. The door had been knocked down and the entire house was in a state of disrepair.

"What happened?" Korra asked.

"It looks as if Toph and Solek were attacked." Ty Lee frowned. "I doubt they were caught, nothing could take the two of them together. They must have left the city." Suddenly a voice rang out from the shadows.

"This is a restricted area! What are you doing here?" Ty Lee, Korra and Ignika turned to see a Dai-Lee enter the house in a defensive pose. Ty Lee drew her fans and stood in front of the kids.

"Back off… I am a Kyoshi warrior and a personal friend of the Earth King. And this is the Avatar!" She proclaimed with more bravado than she felt.

"The Avatar is dead… there can be no others." The Dai-Lee proclaimed.

"But there is! I am Ty Lee of the Kyoshi warriors and I bring documents from the Southern Water Tribe proving that this is the Avatar!" Ty Lee insisted as she gestured to Korra.

"Wait… Ty Lee? Is that really you?" The figure stepped into the light to get a better look at them. "Ty Lee! It is you!" He exclaimed happily as he ran up and clasped her hand. "Don't you recognize me?"

"Wait… Haru?" Ty Lee said uncertainly.

"Yes, it's me." Haru smiled.

"What are you doing working for the Dai-Lee?" Ty Lee asked as she recognized her friend and enveloped him in a big hug.

"Not here… they might find us. Is this really the Avatar?" Haru asked as he looked at Korra in wonder.

"Yes, yes it is." Ty Lee smiled.

"You can tell me all about it, but first we need to get to somewhere safe." Haru said as he gestured them out of the house. "They've sighted one of those cursed Bionicles in the city."

"Hey… watch ho… how you… talk about… about us!" Ignika frowned. Haru looked at him in surprise.

"Wait… you're TRAVILING with one of them?" He asked Ty Lee.

"Two actually." Ty Lee frowned at him. "Why?"

"Two of them… I'll explain back at my place. Just be quiet about it or I might have to arrest you for fraternizing with the enemy." He said as he led them through the city.

"What… why?" Korra asked.

"Because as of last week it's war." Haru said grimly. Ty Lee put a hand on Ignika's shoulder as then followed Haru. This did not sound good.

…

The large figure lay on the ground where he had fallen. His scorching chains burned into the grass at he tried to sit up. His body bore none of the scars or wounds that he had received in his previous fights. Nor was there any sign that he had been, up until a minute ago, dead. His twisted mask surveyed the world around him. Working slowly, as if he still could not believe that his body was intact he stood up, his hulking frame stopping just short of ten feet tall. He was most likely taller but his back was slouched. Cruel red eyes scanned for enemies. He did not know what delivered him from death but he did know one thing, this world was doomed. It was not he that was the cause of this doom. Rather, he was a product of it. He could feel something coming, and event that would shatter at least two universes. As demented as he was he would not let his new life end so quickly. Karzahni took his first few steps in this new world, his protodermis body easily pushing aside anything that stood in his way. It has been said that animals can sense things that normal people are unaware of. Either by this or for some other reason it seemed as if the trees themselves bent away from his body. He was Karzahni, ruler of nightmares. His name was spoken in quiet whispers in ghost stories by Matoran that barely believed that he existed. Dark Hunters refused to even consider his realm a plausible place to go, for even they were afraid of him. Only two beings had ever opposed him, one a Makuta who bore the mask of shadows, the other a Toa of air. It had been the Toa that had killed him, struck him down in cold blood. Karzahni could feel his presence in this world, the despair that he had felt the first time he had battled this Toa… Lesovikk. Soon this world would know true fear, for Karzahni could show them what they feared most… the future.