Lookie that. Chapter two. Already. ^^ (A/N: *coughs* well, it was already when I'd done it…) I'm so proud of myself. And I come bearing images! ^^ We have… Tahu, Lewa, Gali, Nuju, good pictures of Onua and Pohatu and Kopaka in colour! ^^ why no I didn't go on a drawing spree when I should have been doing homework/sleeping, why ever would you think something like that? (A/N again: *coughs again* and looking back on those pictures… they suck. So no pictures right now… but yeah… soon.)

As I forgot to do this in the last chapter: I do not own Bionicle. They are merely my playthings. Though I do own their human designs and the Riders.

I want to dedicate this chapter to Green Devil, for proving that there —are— other people who see the yaoi…

Chapter Two

Kopaka awoke with a groan a few hours later to a face-full of snow. Heaving himself out of the mushy snow Kopaka was faced with an astonishing sight. He was about twenty meters away from the cave, which was now surrounded by about fifteen meters of bare rock, followed with about six meters of mushy, half-melted snow.

As Kopaka slowly took this all in, only one word came to mind: "Fu-uck…"

Kopaka looked around for his sword and shield. He found his sword about three feet to his left and his shield around ten feet behind him. When he saw his shield he raised his eyebrows in surprise. The shield was cracked down the middle and was covered by a black film that stuck to it and wouldn't come off when he tried to rub it off. "Hmn…" was his only comment as he ran his fingers along the crack.

Kopaka finally hefted the shield onto his back with his sword and began up the mountain to Ko-Koro.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It was a normal day for Turaga Nuju. He'd spent the majority of the day reading the wall and helping the Ko-Matoran with their problems.

It was a nice day, the sun was out, something rather unusual for Ko-Koro, and the Matoran were in good spirits. Until Kopaka entered the village. He was covered in a filmy black substance that got thicker in a circle on his chest. Sort of as if something round and black had hit his chest and exploded into the film that covered him.

Kopaka stalked into Nuju's hut and threw his shield onto the small table. Nuju and Matoro whirled around to look at Kopaka at the clatter. "We have a problem," he informed his Turaga.

"I would say so," Nuju said coming to have a closer look at the damaged shield.

"I w—"

"I know," Kopaka said, interrupting Matoro with a wave of his hand. The small Matoran looked put out by the curt dismissal and Kopaka felt slightly bad, but he shoved it aside for another time, this was more important than the feelings of one Matoran.

"What happened?" Nuju asked incredulously, running his hand over the crack. Kopaka looked pointedly at Matoro, then back at Nuju with a raised eyebrow. "Leave us Matoro," Nuju ordered his translator.

Matoro did as he was told but you could tell he was insulted by the fact that he had been dismissed so quickly by the leader and hero of the village. "Now," Nuju said, turning back to Kopaka when Matoro had closed the door behind him. "What happened?"

Kopaka cleared his throat self-consciously. "I may have, ah… released some Shadows…"

"Shadows?"

"Yeah… in this cave… on the side of the mountain…"

"The Riders…" breathed Nuju before running to a section of the wall, mouthing the words to himself as he read them.

"Well that just makes me feel so much better," Kopaka murmured sarcastically.

"Shush," Nuju ordered. Kopaka fell into silence, leaning against the wall, absently rubbing his shield in an attempt to get some of the film off.

Nearly two hours later Nuju stepped back from the wall. Kopaka looked up from his absent rubbing, which had had no effect. "So, how screwed are we?" Kopaka asked flatly.

"Very," Nuju informed him, which caused Kopaka to raise an eyebrow, that wasn't the answer he'd expected. "The Riders are unlike any enemy you have every faced before. They are stronger and more evil than anything you could imagine."

"Mn…" Kopaka said thoughtfully. "Isn't that what you say every time we face a new enemy?"

Nuju sighed in annoyance, "The Great Beings had problems defeating them. And even then they couldn't destroy them, they could only imprison them."

"Awuh?" was the only thing Kopaka could think of to say.

There was another frustrated sigh from the Turaga, "The records are annoyingly vague. They only mention that it took the combined effort of several Great Beings to imprison them. There are no details as to what they are, or how the Great Beings finally defeated them."

"So basically we're flying blind against an insanely strong enemy?"

"On the bright side they've been captive a long time and are still in their corporeal form. It will take them some time to recover."

"'Some time'? How long is that?"

"I'd guess somewhere around a month."

"Lovely."

"I will send messages to the other Turaga. You should go to Onu-Koro to see if they can fix your shield."

Kopaka nodded, "Alright then."

"One more thing." Kopaka paused in the doorway to look over his shoulder at Nuju, "Your own emotions will be their greatest weapon against you if you do not come to terms with them."

"I thou—"

"One more thing," Nuju said, interrupting Kopaka, "I would refrain from telling the other Toa that you released the Riders."

"Well duh," Kopaka said in a tone that would have surprised the other Toa had they heard. Nuju was the only one who saw this side of Kopaka, the side that could say such a light-hearted comment without feeling self-conscious or out of place.

Nuju shook his head as Kopaka turned and left the hut before calling in Matoro to organize the messages to be sent to the Turaga. As he began to compose the letter, Nuju couldn't help but feel guilty for refraining from telling Kopaka all the wall had said. But it would be better for the island if he found out on his own…