Crime of Shadows

Chapter 7

oxoxoxo

Mazeka

Night had nearly fallen since I left Shu Jing, and I had made it to the next village. Apparently, this was the place where the disappearances had taken place, and since I promised Zuko I would, I asked around to see if anyone knew what had happened.

My investigating led me to a man that people called 'Old Man Ding.' I decided to track him down.

Later that evening, I found him trying to board up one of his windows, but not having much success. I sighed, removed my hood and approached him saying "Here, let me help you."

He grumbled about it, but gave me the board and let me do the hammering. "Thanks kid." He said. "But I'd best be getting inside, there's a full moon tonight."

"I know." I said. "That's actually why I need to talk to you. I heard you escaped whatever has been kidnapping people under the full moon. I'm investigating these disappearances for the Fire Lord."

"So Zuko finally decided to do something about that huh?" Ding said skeptically. "Let me tell you, yeah I escaped, but I never saw anything trying to take me. One moment I was in the woods at night, the next I was walking into the forest's heart. I was almost at that mountain," He pointed to a mountain in the distance that could be seen from the village. "When the sun came up and I regained control of my body and was able to run for my life."

I thanked Ding and then made my way back to my speeder bike. Whatever was taking people sounded like it used mind domination to do it. It was in that case a good thing I had left Tanma and On Ji behind; since I was the only one immune to that kind of attack.

Once I had gotten to my bike, I decided to send my companions a message via messenger hawk about the full moon tonight and the danger they might be in. I then pulled up my hood, and made sure all my weapons were in place before getting on and leaving for the mountain.

oxoxoxo

Tanma

"'Take the ussal cart' he said." I muttered. "Yeah great idea, we only get there about a day after you."

On Ji giggled from her seat next to me. I cracked a smile. We had left earlier today and stopped at sundown to set up camp in the forest. The Ussal had been fed, and we had set up our tents.

We had also decided to put on the hooded robes that Piandao had given us. I had put mine on to find that it was the same design as Mazeka's, but were black and grey instead of black and red.

Once finished, I went to check on On Ji to see how she was doing. She was hiding it well, but I could tell she was still sad about Hahn dying. After seeing so many of my own friends either turn to the darkness or die in battle, I knew she needed someone right now.

"On Ji?" I called out.

"Over here." She replied from behind some trees. I walked over and was about to push the trees aside to talk to her when she said "Wait, I'm still changing."

I had seen enough of this world to know that you don't enter a room while somebody's changing. I had never understood it when I was in my world where everyone just wore masks and that's it. But I had seen somebody walk into the women's changing room at the school in the Fire Nation. He had walked in after talking to a few friends of his, and what I heard after that was screams, the sound of something hitting something else and I saw him fly out the door with a red, hand shaped mark on the side of his face.

I don't know about him, but I'd prefer not to do that.

I was so lost in thought that I didn't notice On Ji come out until I heard her yelp in surprise and trip over a root and begin to fall. Being right next to her, and a nice person I tried to catch her.

That didn't go quite as well as I thought it would. The combination of being unprepared to catch her, combined with another root behind me plus the momentum she had pushed us both over and she landed bodily on top of me. I had no idea what to do. I couldn't move (And not because of her weight, I could have lifted her). My face was burning.

When she got up a bit and saw just what she had landed on her reaction was quite similar, as she just stayed there and her face turned red.

After I cleared my throat, we both got up and turned away from each other. I scratched the back of my head. The only thing I could think about were those brown eyes…

What just happened? Why am I thinking like this?

oxoxoxo

On Ji

That was… awkward…

I was just on the ground on top of Tanma. I couldn't get my face to stop burning.

I turned around to try to say something to him and maybe diffuse some of the awkwardness, when he said "Shh, did you hear that?"

I wasn't sure what he meant. Then I heard it and saw what made the noise. A messenger hawk fluttered down onto Tanma's shoulder.

Tanma sighed with relief before opening the message.

Tanma and On Ji

I hope you get this because you may be in danger.

All of the disappearances have taken place under the full moon and in the forest. Since tonight is a full moon and you two will likely be camping in the forest, keep one of you up to keep watch.

Also, since the kidnappings seem to have something to do with controlling the mind or body, if either of you feel like you can't control yourself, try to yell. That may alert the other to your distress.

Good Luck

Mazeka

Tanma folded up then message. "I'll take first watch." He said. "You get some sleep."

I thanked him then returned to my tent, changed from my black and white robes into sleepwear, and thought to myself 'nothing like a dire warning to diffuse an awkward situation.' Even so, I still couldn't stop thinking about it.

oxoxoxo

Mazeka

As I approached the mountain, I could only hope that Tanma and On Ji had received my message. After stashing my speeder bike in some bushes, I made my way to the base of the mountain. I got there and found a small doorway at the base of the mountain.

I took the two skyblasters out from my robe and kicked open the door. Inside I found a staircase that led down below the ground. There was only one path and it was lit by torches.

I sighed. I did promise Zuko that I would investigate. I started down the staircase. At the bottom of the stairs there was another door. It was made of wood and looked fairly weak. I had an idea of how to get through the door, but first I checked my skyblasters to make sure each one had a full charge. Once I knew they did, I made my move.

My boot met the door and my boot won, the door swinging open to reveal… nothing? This room was completely empty. No people, no animals, just nothing. I moved around the room and tried to find another door, or a map or something that would lead me to whoever disappeared. The room was completely stripped.

I was about to go back up the stairs and leave when I heard something that made my blood run cold. Footsteps were coming down the stairs toward me. I didn't know what else to do. I hid behind one of the pillars. It wasn't much, but it was all I could find, and I could see the door for when these people left.

When I saw what came through the door I was confused. A man in a green coat was leading three rahkshi into the chamber. He looked around the room and sad "I think that was all of them. Search the rest of the room and bring back any that you find. You," he said pointing at one of them, "Guard the door until these two are finished. I'm going back to the inn."

He then did something I didn't think possible: He turned into a cloud of… insects? I'm not sure, but the rahkshi were advancing into the room and I needed a way to beat them without being killed. I drew my skyblasters and hoped they wouldn't see me when they came by. I would kill the first one from my hiding place, then the other two once the first one was dead.

The first rahkshi was almost here. I could see its purple face looking around the room for anything. I was about to shoot it when it looked right at me. I thought it would attack but it just walked away.

This confused me to no end. I looked down at myself to find that I couldn't even see myself anymore. Wait, the Great Beings said Vultraz's powers were fully realized in this world, mine must be as well. And since I wore the mask of stealth in my world, I now had that power. It was no control over ice, but I could do that later.

Right now I had to escape these rahkshi.

I put away one of my skyblasters and drew my sword. It would make less noise when the rahkshi died. I walked behind the purple rahkshi and pulled back it's faceplate to reveal the kraata. Before the rahkshi could make a sound, I plunged my blade into the kraata, killing it instantly.

I then moved on to the brown rahkshi also searching the room. I was just out of sight of the purple one, and so it had not seen what I did. I crept up behind it and grabbed at its face. I missed however and got its chest. When it felt the touch of another being it screeched and smacked at me. I managed to dodge, spin around and shoot it with my skyblaster. The shot impacted its leg and forced the creature to one knee. I corrected my mistake and shot the creature in the face.

The third rahkshi was going to be more difficult. It had heard its companion's shout and my shots, and was now running for the exit. It would fly off and inform that man that I had been there and he might tell Vultraz. It already had a head start, but I was no slouch.

I chased the grey rahkshi all the way back to the surface before it switched to flight mode and flew off. I raced to where I hid my speeder bike and flew after it.

The rahkshi was flying fast, but this speeder bike was just as fast. And I wasn't playing tag. I drew one of my skyblaters and started firing. The rahkshi managed to dodge most of the shots, but one hit it in the back. I was expecting it to fall out of the sky, dead, but then I remembered something about this type of rahkshi: they had limited invulnerability. I was going to need to keep hitting it in that spot.

It was then that I remembered something else I had received from the Order of Mata-Nui. I caught up to the Rahkshi and took something off the side of my speeder bike.

The rahkshi turned to see me right at his side. It was about to try and run me through on its staff when I took the double barreled midak scattergun and blasted it. The two shots tore through the rahkshi's armor and into the kraata. The rahkshi fell.

I circled back and headed for the other edge of town. I needed a rest, and to place some distance between me and that mountain. I set up camp on the other side of town and got to sleep.

oxoxoxo

On Ji

Tanma and I had arrived at the outskirts of the village where the rahkshi tracks had led. Our greeting was the sound of a skyblaster firing.

It was slow and controlled firing, so that was a good sign, and following it led us to Mazeka shooting targets. "Ah good," he said "You're here." Mazeka explained to us about the cavern under the mountain, and the man with the rahkshi, and the discovery of his new power.

I stopped him there. "Wait, what's a 'mask power?'"

"In our world," Tanma replied "Matoran and Toa wear Kanohi masks of power. However, only a Toa can use the power in the mask, and since Mazeka and I have had a power upgrade in this world we can use those powers once we figure out how to do so."

"So his power is stealth. What's yours?"

Tanma looked at the ground. "I'm not sure yet. My mask was a different design from many others, so I still have to figure that out."

"Whatever happens with our mask powers doesn't matter right now." Mazeka said "The map I picked up from Lee's house says where he sold the Idol is just on the other side of town."

Tanma and I nodded. Whatever would happen with this Vultraz guy, it would happen now.

oxoxoxo

Vultraz

I trained out behind the inn with my zweihander. The rahkshi sparring with me was fast, but due to my condensed muscles so was I. I slashed and it blocked with its staff. It stabbed at me and I dodged before spinning around and slashing again. This time I connected and its head rolled away.

I was about to go back inside and call Hama out to clean up what was left of the rahkshi, but before I could I heard slow, almost mocking clapping coming from the doorway. Zaktan stood there a smirk on his face. "Great show there." He said sarcastically. "It almost looked like the rahkshi wasn't holding back."

"What do you want?" I growled.

"Just came to tell you some good and bad news." He replied. "Which would you like to hear first?"

"Good news." I decided.

"Good news is that all of Hama's captives have been taken care of. I made sure of it last night."

"And the bad news?"

"It seems that whoever killed your assassin that you sent after that boy is here. The rahkshi I sent to do a final search of the cave are all dead, with some of them having marks of skybaster shots on them."

I said nothing, simply going back into the house and into my private chamber. I opened the crate from the swordmaster's house. With this, whoever killed my soldiers was unimportant. With it, my conquest was made that much easier. And with it I had enough power to simply end whoever was doing this.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by a knock at the door. "Just a second." I called. I closed the long crate and hid it beneath a cloth covering. I opened the door to see Zaktan standing there. "What do you want now?"

"Simple," he replied. "I was going to tell you before but I am taking a vacation. An old friend of mine is in this world and I would like to see him again."

"That's lovely." I droned. "Now why don't you tell me what you're really doing."

"I just did. An old colleague from my time on Voya Nui has taken up residence in this world after becoming somewhat famous here."

"So where will you be going?" I asked.

Zaktan's eyes glowed and he gave me an evil grin. "I hear the South Pole is lovely this time of year."

oxoxoxo

Hama's prisoners are gone, Vultraz has an evil scheme, Tanma and On Ji seem to be getting closer, and Zaktan is going to pay a visit to an old friend.

Events in this story are starting to come to a close, likely only a few more chapters until then end.

Until then, please rate and review.

Seriously, all of three people have reviewed, and no one reviewed the last chapter.