Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle. Yes, I know you know. The characters of my inventions are mine. You can recognize them because they have nothing to do with the known saga.
The Secret Passage
The next morning, the Toa and the Turaga met in front of the Ga-Koro temple. There didn't seem to be anything wrong whith it, but as they tried to enter it, a flash of blue energy shot at them barking madly.
"What's that?" asked Tahu.
"The reason nobody can get into the temple." explained Uhat. "She came here about two years ago and she never left it. Some Onu-Matoran tried to archive her, but they came back after about ten minutes. None of them was seriously hurt, but none of them was left unscathed either."
Lewa stared down at the weird creature, which had stopped at a short distance in front of them, still barking madly. She wasn't very big. But her body was slim and muscular, perfect for hunting. Her head reached just above his knee, still, he was sure that if she had raised herself on her back legs she would have reached his throat. Not something he wanted to try. Every time she barked he could see glistening sharp teeth, that even a Muaka could envy. On her front, between her light blue eyes and her pointed ears, was a lighter spot that appeared to be glowing. He definetly didn't look forwards to putting himself against this Rahi.
"What sort of Rahi is that?" asked Pohatu.
"We don't know." answered Lhikan. "She isn't originary of the island. But some Matoran call her an Ihar. Because she acts totally opposite of a Rahi."
Tahu took a step forwards, but the Ihar put herself in front of him and bared her teeth, growling. Tahu wiped his sword at her. She didn't budge.
"Don't hurt her!" said Whenua. "We don't know were she comes from, and it would be nice if she was tame."
Tahu frowned, but backed away slightly. Kopaka instead stepped forwards and froze the Ihar's tail as a warning. The Ihar immediately showed she didn't like that. She jumped on Kopaka and closed her teeth on the Toa's blade, tugging on it with such a force that she nearly pulled it out of Kopaka's hands.
Tahu laughed seeing the Toa of Ice fighting against a creature no taller than a Turaga. Kopaka gave him an icy stare before pulling the blade out of the Ihar's jaws.
He had just done this, when Kotu came from behind the corner. Seeing the Ihar growling at Kopaka she let out a low whistle. The Ihar immediately stopped growling and ran towards her wagging her tail. Kotu smiled at the puzzled look on the Toa's faces.
"She's tame, don't worry," she explained. "Her duty is to guard the temple, it's the only thing the Ga-Matoran ask her in change of food."
Tahu glared at Uhat, who shrugged and put on a I-didn't-know-anything expression. But when turned around to look at Lhikan, Tahu could see that he was smiling.
Lewa bent down to pet the Ihar, who jumped up at him to lick his face.
"What's her name?" he asked.
"The others call her Kida," answered Kotu.
"Alright then, Kida. We have to get in that temple, so please don't get in the way."
The Ihar barked. But she jumped off him and let them go through all the same, and Lewa could still feel her eyes on his back as he went inside.
There didn't seem to be anything special about the temple. The Toa started slooking around, not knowing exactly what they were searching.
"There's nothing in here!" said finally Auno. "Let's get out."
"Yeah," agreed Awel, starting towards the door. But doing this, he tripped and bumped against the wall with his shoulder. Something clicked, and then a floorboard moved to reveal some stairs that led somewhere below the surface.
"Maybe nothing in here, but down there." said Takanuva.
The Toa looked at each other, then Tahu started down the staircase, shortly followed by Uhat, and then, one by one, by the other Toa. Lewa was last. As he put his foot on the stairs, he heard a bark behind him, and turning around he saw Kida staring at him. He knew that it was stupid, but he could have sworn that she didn't want him to go down there.
"Sorry girl." he said, then he turned around and followed his brothers.
The stairs went on for a long time, and it became so dark that Onua, Whenua and Auno had to take the lead. Uhat didn't seem too happy about this, but after nearly slipping and falling he decided to let them in front. Finally the stairs stopped. Onua looked around, the room was quite small, and his head scraped slightly against the ceiling. He smiled as Uhat had to duck to get in, so did Utahop and Auno. On the other side, Awel and Ilag could walk around with no problem at all. On the other end of the room was some sort of door, and as Tahu tried to open it, it turned out to be locked.
"Great, a set of concealed stairs that lead to a tiny room with a locked door. Now I see how these Matoran have disappeared," he mumbled.
Onua studied the door, it was made of protodermis -- obviously, and looked very solid. When he tried a quakebreaker on it, it made a horrible screeching noise that made him change his mind.
"What's that door made out of?" asked Takanuva, who, like the others, had put his hands on his ears.
"I'm not sure it's a door." said Onua, then he turned to the Toa Nuva. "The Bahrag's nest."
The Toa Nuva looked at each other, worried, while the Toa Leehar just looked confused.
"What do you mean 'the Bahrag's nest'?" asked Utahop. "I don't know any Bahrag, and this is a door. A door that can be broken."
And to prove it, he kicked the door as hard as he could. But all he he didn't reach anything except a sharp pain in his foot. Gali laughed.
"Haha," he said. "Let's see if you can do better!"
Gali stopped laughing, but was still wearing a smile.
"Onua is right, this isn't a door." She said, then she went towards the wall and opened it. Onua stared. No, she didn't open the wall, she opened a door in the wall.
"You all walked past it without noticing it."
Utahop stomped there and brushed Gali aside, then he went into the other room. The others followed. The next room was larger, and it was lit up by...
By what?
The light came from a strange stone in the middle. It wasn't a lightstone, and Pohatu couldn't recall seeing anything like that ever before. It was semi-transparent, and as big as a normal Matoran. It kept changing light, first blue, then red, then yellow, then purple... He couldn't resist streching his hand to feel it. But as soon as his hands touched the glowing rock, a small electric shock went up his arm and through his body.
"Ouch!"
"What is it?" asked Uhat.
"Nothing, but don't touch this thing."
In the meanwhile Kopaka was looking around the room, suddenly thought he had seen something on the wall. But as he came nearer, there was nothing. Probably his imagination had played a joke on him.
And yet...
He let his hand run over the smooth wall. Nothing, there wasn't anyth...
He stopped, his hand had just run over a small crack in the wall. A perfectly straight crack. Frowning, he started feeling around, finding other cracks, that, together, formed a rectangular form.
"Did you find anything, brother?" asked a deep voice behind him. Turning around, he saw it was Pohatu.
"Maybe," he answered, letting Pohatu take a look at it. The Toa of Stone frowned, then he turned to Kopaka.
"I don't want to take it out, the whole room could collapse on us. Is it worth a try?"
Kopaka shrugged, then he activated his mask to see what was on the other side. Indeed, there was something, a small hole, and inside it...
"Yes, take it out."
Pohatu started carfully removing the slab. It came out easily, once the hole behind it was revealed, Kopaka reached inside and took out a golden pendant. As he touched it, a some sparks exploded from his hand and went down all the way to the rock. But nor him, nor Pohatu noticed it. As Pohatu too grabbed it to study it, the same thing happened, and once again nobody saw anything.
"What have you got there?" asked a voice behind them. It was Akapok. As he saw the pendant, his expression changed. "Anjai, the Ilsao of Light," he said, then he reached out for it. Pohatu drew his hand back.
"No way! If it's the Ilsao of Light, then it belongs to Takanuva!" he said. The he threw it over Akapok's shoulders. "Get it!" he shouted.
Tahu caught it. Once again some sparks set off from his hands. Uhat, who was nearest, made a grab for it. Tahu jumped aside and threw the medaillon towards Lewa, but it hit the ceiling and fell on the floor. Both Lewa and Gali made a grab for it, and as they touched it, more sparks set from their hands. Utahop threw himself onto the Ilsao, but Lewa was quicker and threw it to Onua, who gave it to Takanuva. Other sparks started from their hands.
"Stop that!" shouted Vakama and Lhikan. Suddenly, the Anjai started to glow, brighter and brighter.
Takanuva stared at it in shock and tried to throw it away. It was a second too late. The Ilsao exploded with such a force that all of them were thrown against the walls. Tahu felt his head hitting the rock, then everything went black.
XXXXXX
Tahu woke up a couple of hours later, he was still in the room. Every part of his body was hurting, but he especially felt a sharp pain in his head.
Groaning, he stood up, rubbing his forehead. He was going to have a nice talk with the Toa Leehar about this exploding stone. Suddenly, he froze. There was something wrong. He felt his mask again, it was strangely smooth. Not completely smooth, but smoother then it should have been, and it felt oddly familiar...
What's happening to me? he asked himself. He looked at his arms and hands, they looked different, somehow. But it was probably only the shock of the explosion.
He turned around, he couldn't see the Turaga or the Toa Leehar, but some voices coming from outside told him that they were probably in the other room. How long had he been unconscious?
He turned to the place were Takanuva had last been standing. He had gotten the worst of the explosion, and Tahu wanted to make sure he wasn't hurt too badly.
"You are lucky that you weren't hurt, Turaga. Why didn't you tell us about that stone?" came Utahop's voice from outside.
"It doesn't mind now, what about the...?" said Vakama.
"They're all right," said Auno with a weird undertone.
Tahu ignored the voices, suddenly, he spotted the Anjai on the floor. Intact. But he couldn't have imagined the explosion, and he was sure that the Ilsao had been the source of it. He picked it up, turned to were he tought Takanuva had been thrown to, and froze to the spot.
Takanuva was lying there, unconcious, and as he stepped nearer, he could hear him breathing. Only that he wasn't Takanuva.
He was Takua.
"Tahu?" said a voice behind him. Tahu turned around and found himself face to face with a Po-Matoran wearing a Mask of Speed.
"Pohatu?"
"Mata Nui!" came a voice from behind them, they turned around. Onua, and he too was a Matoran.
"All right," said Pohatu. "This is just some crazy dream. Now I'll wake up and I'll be in Po-Koro. If possible before the Rakshi."
Tahu opened his mouth to answer, but in that moment the door slammed close.
"Hey!" he said, running to the door and trying to open it. Nothing, it wouldn't move.
"Somebody open this thing!" screamed Pohatu slamming his fists on it.
"Tahu? Pohatu? Onua? What happened to..."
Nobody got any further, the Anjai started to glow again. At the same time, stone inside the room started to change color, faster and faster, until it was impossible to say which color it was glowing. Staring at it, Pohatu felt a strange force invade the room, then a flash of blinding white light. Then, it was over.
When it darkened again, the Toa-Matoran weren't in that room anymore. They had disappeared, without leaving any trace, just like the many matoran before them.
Whew! The first test is over! Now I have two days to relax, then a week of vacation. During which I'll have to study again because I have another test straight afterwards (nice vacations). I won't have a computer during that week, so I'll try to post the next chapter before then.
Thanks to all those who read this story and a special thanks to those who gave me a good luck.
ToaMaster: I must say I did expect something like that. About the time between the Metru and Mata Nui saga you are wrong. Vakama always talks about thousands of years. I know. Huh? How much do these guys live? Don't worry, i won't say a word. (sends e-mails to friends containing review) See? I didn't! (sees guardian advancing with sword raisen) Alright! Alright! I was just kidding!
Regrem Erutaerc: I was asking myself when somebody was going to ask me a Tahu/Gali pairing. But I didn't think that somebody was going to try so hard. I mean, you are actually telling me: Look, the air is right, the place is perfect, come on, make Gali and Tahu kiss. Well, Merger Creature, you get to do the FRAaT/GP dance! Anyway, read this carefully everybody! I've been planning this story since I saw MoL, changing it a bit as I found out more things. It has changed so much since then that it doesn't even look like the first layout, and I'm not looking forwards on changing it any more. BUT! This story is mainly based only on three points. So, as long as you don't ask me anything against those three points, I might think about it. (Toa pairing is not against those points)
Slythergirl2004:Thanks for reviewing, I have to tell you that ToaMaster wants your and my E-Mail, but you shouldn't post it in a chapter or you'll get tons of e-mails.
