"So, what's your name anyway?"

Onua winced as he sat up and squinted around the very dim room. "Onua. What's yours?"

The figure smiled as he held out Onua's glasses. "My name is Bomonga. Now then, what I want to know is how you fought the Visorak off in the condition you're in presently. You were an awful mess when Pouks and I found you."

The new mutant blinked slowly as he put his glasses on and looked around again. "I didn't. He replied as he studied Bomonga's features better now that he could see clearly. He was surprised to see that Bomonga was shorter than him by around half a foot, leaving him at approximately five feet. Another feature that Onua noticed right away was Bomonga's thick and rough looking grey hide. He also had clawed hands and feet, pale green eyes, and long, smokey grey hair that he kept back with an old, forest green ribbon. The small, yet very muscular being wore not but a slightly torn, black muscle shirt and a pair of ragged, black jean shorts that'd probably been full length pants at some point in history.

Bomonga raised an eyebrow at Onua's reply. "If you didn't though, who or what did?"

"Not a clue." The new Hordika confessed, shrugging slightly as he tried to recall how it all unfolded. He remembered being hit in the back and collapsing, but everything went black at that point, and then he was here. "All I know was that I got shot and fell over…" He moved to run a hand through his now loose and atrociously messy hair, only to freeze and stare at the long, claw-like bones that now protruded from his knuckles, each nearly ten inches long, if not longer. His skin was now pebbly in appearance, and seemed to be covered with smooth, miniscule scales the color of thick dust on a black surface. At first, all he could do was stare in shock and mild horror as his new features became fully believable to him now.

Though all words had escaped him for a while, he finally re-discovered his voice and asked. "What… what is this?" He sounded worried, if not a bit scared about his new form.

Bomonga hesitated before giving a response, expression grim and eyes showing sympathy. "It's you, Onua. Rather, what you've become. You're a Hordika now, and judging by the muttering you did in your sleep, your Rahi side is a lot more personable than what we've seen so far. Why, it almost seemed as though it were having a conversation with you." The Rahaga gave a small laugh. "That or you just talk in your sleep with very strange speech patterns."

The Earth Hordika just blinked slowly before shaking his head. "Let's just focus on what sort of weirdness I'm working with now." As he said this, he indicated his new hand claws. "I'd rather know what I'm fighting with instead of fight against something potentially peaceful."

Bomonga nodded slightly. "True enough. Just be careful while you're getting up. Don't need you getting dizzy and hurting yourself." Onua gave a faint nod of his own, gingerly swinging his now clawed and shoeless feet off the bed and letting them rest on the cold stone floor. Shivers rippled up and down his spine as the new Hordika stared at his far-from-normal feet for several long, drawn out seeming seconds, during which he tried to figure out just how much trouble he'd gotten himself into.

It was then that he became aware of the long scaly thing beside him on the bed, colored the same way that his own skin was. "No way…" He mumbled with unease, gingerly trailing his fingers along the mass, only to discover that the tail was, in fact, his own. "This can't be real, can it?" Onua asked worriedly. "This is all just a really weird dream… right?"

"Hah, you wish." A different voice said from the next room over, his tone seeming to show that blunt and straight forward were two traits he'd always had.

Bomonga shook his head and sighed, though whether it was to say no or simply show his lack of approval for his partner's comment couldn't be deciphered. "Like Pouks so harshly suggested, this is all quite real. But there is still hope. There is a way to change you back to normal. Pouks and I were actually on our way to find the Toa Metru that are still sane, and give them the news that Kualas relayed to us. Though, I think he may have tracked down Nuju already. It's hard to tell with him sometimes. In any case, we should get moving as soon as your Le-Matoran friend is awake. Staying here for too long could be very dangerous, especially if your inner Hordika is an impatient one."

Onua hesitated on that, trying to figure out what that meant. "Inner Hordika?" He asked.

"He means you're an animal!" Pouks' voice came again, showing no signs of caring how rude that sounded.

"Pouks must you be so harsh?" Bomonga questioned, his voice showing exasperation incredibly well. He then looked at Onua and explained. "When you were mutated, a more primal part of you was woken up; a second personality, as it were. Sometimes that personality is just content to ride it out and see what happens. Most often though, it fights for mental dominance. For some it's easy to fight off, for others… well, you've seen Vakama. If he stays like that for too long, the monster you met will consume the Toa hidden behind it."

Onua didn't like the sound of that at all. "And… how do we know if it's been too long?" The answer he got wasn't a good one.

"We don't. For Vakama, it might already be too late. Right now, the only definite thing is that we need to get to the Great Temple. The key to locating Keetongu is in there somewhere, and he is the only hope you have left if you want to be a Toa again."

The Earth Hordika gave a small nod, though he had a lot more questions he wanted to ask. However, he only asked one. "Why is Pouks so…" He hesitated, trying to come up with an answer that wasn't rude. "So forward with his words?"

Bomonga gave a small smile at Onua's tactfulness. "Pouks has always been noisy and blunt." He replied with the faintest of chuckles. "For him to be anything else would just be abnormal. You grow used to it eventually, though I'll admit he does get to be a bit grating after a while."

"I'm sure." Onua replied with a small nod. He then thought for a moment before speaking again. "Do you know where my other friends went?"

Once again, Pouks' commentary showed up. "You mean there's more of you hopeless cases running around? Dang, here I was hoping you and the chute-speaker were the only ones."

Bomonga chose to ignore Pouks this time. "I'm not sure where they are, to be honest." He replied. "But I sincerely hope they're alright. This island isn't what it used to be."

"No kidding…" Onua replied quietly, sighing as he remembered back to his days as a Matoran living on the streets of Onu-Metru. "A person could actually survive on their own, even if they were homeless."

The Rahaga merely nodded, though going by his expression, his thoughts were elsewhere. That was when Pouks spoke up. "Hey, the airhead is awake. Can we move out now?"

Hearing that Baku was awake seemed to boost Onua's mood, and as he carefully stood up, he asked. "How badly was he hurt?"

"He's dazed, but he'll be fine eventually. "Pouks responded, as though being injured wasn't a big deal. "He's a Le-Matoran; he's as much of a crash test dummy as your former Air Toa was."

A dull cough came from the wounded Matoran, followed by a quiet mumble. "Actually, I'm an architect…"

Pouks ignored the comment as he poked his head into view, revealing his thick, darkly tanned, hide-like skin, light orange eyes, and short, dusty blonde hair. He also appeared to be very short. So, whenever we leave, we'd better make it soon, alright? All this waiting is starting to really get on my nerves."

Onua blinked slowly as he looked over at Pouks, having expected someone a lot taller going by how deep his voice was. However, he said nothing of it, deciding he'd get used to walking around with his new form instead of argue or cause a fuss about Pouks' manners, or lack thereof. Instead, he asked. "How can Baku be alright if his leg is damaged? Will he be able to walk?"

"Dunno." Pouks replied with a small shrug. "Better hope he can though; I'm not carrying him."

Onua sighed quietly, but nodded before looking down at himself, deciding right away that he was going to need all the help he could get with figuring out his new form. What disturbed him, however, was the little voice in the back of his mind that agreed.