Chapter 4: In The Balance
Previously…
"Wait!" called Keyok. Shane turned around, none too pleased.
"What now?"
"Did you find the gems?"
"Not yet. But it probably won't be easy..."
—-
"Captain Disaster needs to hurry up…"
Onewa had arrived in Ko-Metru and was now waiting for Shane to help with the search. Of course, Shane was trying to "warm Laney up." The decidedly unromantic Stone Toa had no interest in finding out what that entailed. Then he noticed Nuju was looking… unsettled?
"Nuju, what's going on?"
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." Nuju looked away quickly.
"Likely story." Onewa folded his arms. He activated his ability of mind control. "Tell the truth."
"I thought we agreed not to use our mask powers on each other!" Vakama chucked a powerless disk at Onewa. In return, Onewa threw a rock at Vakama.
Nuju was oddly relieved at the bickering. Now he could sort out his feelings…
"Vakama! Onewa!" Peyano snapped. The two rivals stopped arguing. "Laney should be finished soon."
"Yeah, she'll finish all right…" Keyok pretended to gag at the thought.
Cairos rolled his eyes. "Once, just once, get your head out of the gutter!"
"Like that'll ever happen."
Nuju blushed again at hearing Laney's voice. She had since emerged with Shane at her side, wearing a snug nanofiber bathrobe. Her skin was gleaming like a pink pearl, and her long black hair looked silkier than usual.
"Nuju, is something wrong?" asked Laney.
The normally composed Ice Toa fumbled over his words. "Yes! No! I mean, kind of!"
Laney nudged Shane and giggled. "He's acting like you."
"No I'm not!" Nuju was even more flustered. Now, the three fire types were laughing.
"Come on, Pretty Boy," said Onewa, "we have gems to find."
"I'll be back, Laney-khi." Shane gave Laney a tender kiss, causing Nuju to blush turquoise and Onewa to gag. It took Onewa muttering something about explicit content, but Shane finally headed in the direction of Po-Metru.
Cairos snickered. As if my boyfriend wasn't obvious enough…
Keyok overheard his boyfriend's thoughts. Time for a linked conversation.
I heard that, Cairos.
Oops.
It's one thing for me to be obvious because we both said yes to loving each other. Nuju is a different story.
Well, you had a crush on Laney for a while. What caused you to set things straight?
Simple. You helped me realize that I'm not.
Well, that won't work in this case…
"Come on, you two." said Vakama. "We have to head to Le-Metru."
"Why Le-Metru?" asked Keyok.
"I had a vision." Vakama rubbed his head. "Either flyboy's in trouble, or he's going to be."
"What about Keika? She normally bails him out." Cairos pointed.
"I don't know if Keika can change her courage into recklessness." Vakama rolled his eyes. "And at this point, I don't think there's much we can do about it… you know what, let's just stay here."
—-
"Refresh my memory, what's the riddle again?" asked Onewa.
Shane had taken a cue from Laney when it came to remembering the riddle. He had written it on his arm. Unstrapping his left gauntlet, he read the riddle:
"Shadowed spear comes near the suns
In the balance, three as one."
While Shane put the gauntlet back on, Onewa scoffed. "That riddle makes absolutely no sense. There's only two of us."
"Then maybe we need a third person." Shane reasoned.
Just then, they heard a loud HISS! Shane looked over his shoulder a second too late. It was a Rahkshi! This one was red with orange limbs - laser vision.
Shane looked from the Rahkshi to Onewa. "Onewa, if this doesn't work…"
"Tell Laney you love her?" Onewa rolled his eyes.
The impatient Rahkshi had wanted to avoid making the first move. But that didn't seem to be an option. It guessed that between a Toa and a humanoid - no, single-heart - the single-heart would be a better option. No hard metal armor to block a hit; also, no powers.
A voice - a command - echoed in the Rahkshi's mind. Pity he's so attractive. Mar his appearance, but no grave wounds. I want him brought back alive!
Pulling its double-bladed staff from a pocket dimension, the Rahkshi charged. Shane drew his twin stun-staffs from their respective holsters and combined them to make a single staff. He leapt back to avoid the charge, lashing out at the Rahkshi's head with a jumping roundhouse kick. His armored boot connected with the Rahkshi's faceplate with a CLANG! Unfortunately, this only served to annoy the Rahkshi. Shaking its head rapidly to offset any internal damage, it screeched in rage.
Onewa covered his audio receptors. He wasn't used to the noise. Shane had heard much louder at the mountain pass. Still, hearing cannons screaming through the air at enemy archers was one thing… this was another.
Seeing that Onewa was in some sort of shock, the Rahkshi lunged. Onewa snapped out of it and grabbed his proto-pitons. He swung one over his head in a few circles to gain momentum. Once it had picked up enough speed, he made a throwing motion. The cable shot outward, and the hook grabbed the staff right out of the Rahkshi's grip!
"Hah!" Onewa taunted. "What are you going to do without your… OW!" A hard metal fist made contact with Onewa's chest, causing the Stone Toa to stumble. Rahkshi weren't interested in trash-talk, and this one was no exception. The hit had knocked the wind out of Onewa. The staff fell to the ground, and the Rahkshi picked it back up again.
"Shut up and fight!" Shane was losing his patience as he swept his combined staff at the Rahkshi's ankles, tripping it. It glared up at Shane, as if to say "how dare you?!" Shane didn't have time to laugh, as the Rahkshi's eyes began to intensify. A laser shot from its eyes, forcing Shane to leap out of the way. Soon, the Rahkshi was back on its feet and back in the fight. Then realization dawned: "Three as one…" Shane mumbled. "Onewa!" he shouted. "Use your mask power on the Rahkshi!"
"And how does that help?"
"Just do it!"
Rolling his eyes, Onewa focused his ability of mind control on the Rahkshi. The Rahkshi just looked more annoyed than before, aiming another eye-laser at Onewa. Onewa barely had time to dodge; the laser blasted a hole in his left shin-guard and went through the flesh underneath. The determined Stone Toa didn't show his pain. Instead, he set his face with the hardness of an industrial diamond and picked up a pile of rocks with his power over stone. "Shane, get down!"
Shane rolled out of the way as the rocks came flying at the Rahkshi. It managed to blast through some of them with its laser vision, and hit some away with its staff. But another one made direct contact with its faceplate, smashing it in. The damaged and disoriented Rahkshi dropped its staff, giving Shane a chance to grab it. Almost instantly, he felt the Shadows coming over him. It amplified his physical strength, but pained him deep within his soul. If he didn't let go of it… no time for that. Shane threw the staff like a javelin towards the sky.
Onewa shielded his vision from the two suns as the staff went higher and higher, showing no signs of coming down. Finally it hit an apex and struck an old sculpture nearby. The sculpture crumbled, and a brilliant light exploded from the remains. Once the dust settled, Shane and Onewa ran towards the wreckage. The gems had been carved into the core of the sculpture and were now free! Shane and Onewa each grabbed a cluster. But they didn't have time for celebration...
"Onewa, your leg!" cried Shane.
"What about my - holy citrine!" Onewa had been running on adrenaline and not paid attention to the wound. Scarlet blood was running down his left leg. The laser had blasted through his metal shin guard and flesh, eventually piercing a small artery.
"Focus on your breathing, it'll slow down the blood." Shane got his standard-issue medical kit and took out a bottle of disinfectant fluid. It was a clear, viscous oil that both cleansed the wound and helped speed up clotting. He dumped the contents on Onewa's left leg. Onewa inhaled sharply, trying to ignore the sensation of his flesh sticking back together.
"You're going to need a new shin guard," said Shane, "but if you're careful, you should be fine. In the meantime, we should probably see what Matau and Keika…"
"I'm happy-fine!" interrupted a cheerful male voice.
A bell-clear soprano retorted, "Said the one who didn't have to bail a reckless airhead out of danger…"