Disclaimer: Bionicle isn't mine, as you all know.

Escape

Uhat smiled as the Turaga entered the tower one by one, perfect, just like the plan. Once locked inside, they would have been free to run around Metru Nui, and help Makuta regain strength. They were so near, so near to a victory they had never had... when Vakama stopped on the doorway. Uhat's smile disappeared immediately.

"What is it?" he asked. Vakama turned around.

"Someone must tell the Matoran what's happening,"

"We'll take care of that," proposed Ilag.

"No," said Vakama firmly, "I wish to tell them myself."

Uhat sighed, another obstacle, but they couldn't just kill the Turaga, right?

XXXXX

"How did you find out about the Leehar?" asked Takua, he had never been so glad to see his friends.

"We met a talking Rahi in that room underneath the temple," Hahli answered. "He told us the Toa Leehar were working for Makuta."

Sirkul? - asked Kishro, taking Macku and Hewkii by surprise. -Is our brotherfriend still alive? -

"Yes," answered Hahli, a bit unsure. "Kotu is taking care of him."

A smile appeared on the Ihars' faces, and all four Matoran could have sworn that there was a smile in Kopaka's eyes too.

"So," asked Tahu. "How do you think you're getting us out?"

"I don't know," asked Jaller. "We thought, there'd be a lock or something..."

Gali laughed humorlessly, then she turned to the Matoran, "Is there some kind of stone out there?" she asked. Jaller looked at her as if she was crazy.

"Yes," answered Macku with a sarcastic tone. "There are lots of stones."

"Anyone different?" insisted Gali.

When Macku shook her head, Gali cursed under her breath, so that the Matoran couldn't hear. Pohatu gave her a questioning look, what was she looking for? The only strange stones he could think of were the Ilsao, but those were in the hands of the Leehar, right?

Then it came to him.

"Gali," he asked. "When Utahop pushed you, you didn't fall on Ilag by mistake, right?"

Gali smiled, "No, I was trying to get hold of one of the Ilsao, but with these hooks..."

"You couldn't get hold of it and you hope one fell out," Onua finished the sentence for her.

"Exactly,"

"An Ilsao?" asked Hewkii. "There's nothing like an Ilsao here."

-If it's the Puneko that fell out, you won't recognize it with a quick look- said Hoti -The stone looks just like any other rock chucked off from a building, except that there's a string going to it.-

"And it's different," added Pohatu suddenly. "To a trained eye, it's different."

Hewkii frowned, then he started jogging around the prison's entrance, eyes scanning the ground.

"So you found the Ilsao?" asked Hahli. "I thought they were only a legend."

-Well, you were wrong,- said Nairof.

"And," asked Jaller. "Did you find the thief?"

The prisoners' eyes all turned to Tahu, who looked around frantically. He knew this was going to come, but he still wasn't ready to take that decision. He looked at Gali, then at Jaller. What to do?

Thankfully, he was saved from answering by Hewkii's shout.

"I found it!" called the Po-Matoran, I found the Pume... the Pone... that stone!"

XXXXX

Uhat looked first at the Turaga, then at the Matoran. He had missed the chance to erase the Turaga's presence forever, and now, in front of the Matoran, it would have shown who they really were.

Why had he hesitated? There was no one around, no one looking. Utahop was ready to give the deadly blow with his staff, like he had done with Kida, and with Narubi before that, he was just waiting for his order. But it had never come, and they had lost the right moment.

Why, he kept asking himself. Why didn't I give that order?

XXXXX

"Uhat," hissed Akapok in his ear. "Utahop wants to talk to you."

Uhat turned around and walked over to the other Toa Leehar, once there, Utahop threw the Ilsao at his feet.

"What?" Uhat asked.

"Count them," was the answer. Uhat stared at the Ilsao. One... two... three... four... five... six. Six Ilsao.

Six?

"One's missing, isn't it?" asked Utahop. "And I can also tell you when it happened: when that thief 'fell' on Ilag."

"You think so?"

"Yes," said Utahop, eyes flashing. "The thief stole it from the bag, the Toa will soon be free, if they aren't already."

Uhat cursed.

"We can't let the Turaga see they can control the Ilsao," added Akapok.

"No," agreed Uhat. "We can't."

"So it's settled," said Utahop, grinning like a maniac. "As soon as Vakama has finished explaining: Bye bye Turaga."

XXXXX

Pohatu finished tying the Puneko to the thick iron bars of the prison, then he turned to Gali.

"Now what?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" asked Gali.

"You're the one who knows how to make these things work," said Pohatu. Gali smiled sourly.

"Pohatu, I can't help you with this. It's your Ilsao, and you have to learn how to control it yourself."

"Wait a second," interrupted Jaller. "Aren't Ilsao known to blow things up, or worse?"

"Yeah," said Onua. "We were hoping for that."

-But naturally- said Kishro, eyes twinkling. -There's nothing more unpredictable than an Ilsao. Except maybe an Ihar.-

"Right," said Lewa, smiling. "In fact, I was sure you were gonna say that."

Kishro's eyes twinkled, then they both turned back to Pohatu, who was staring at the Ilsao, frowning.

-Maybe,- suggested Hoti. -It explodes when the power inside is too much.-

-Hoti!- snapped Kal. -We aren't supposed to tell them! We promised, remem...-

"It's alright," Gali cut her off, then she took a quick glance at the listening Matoran and bent down to Kal. "We know who we are."

Hahli turned to Jaller, Hewkii and Macku, confused. All of them just shrugged, they didn't understand what the Toa meant.

"Too much power?" asked Pohatu frowning. Hoti nodded with his cat-face.

"But how..."

Don't ask how and why,- interrupted Thau. -It won't help. Just do it!-

Pohatu stared at him, then he turned to the Puneko and grabbed it, concentrating, not knowing exactly how, to build enough energy. He had as much idea of what he was doing as Onua had had back in the tunnel, when he had raised that dirt wall. He found it quite hard to do, and tiring. Every second that passed he could feel a bit of his energy, his power, drain away from him, into the Puneko, and slowly, he felt the power inside the small stone grow.

"Jaller," said Tahu suddenly. "Say, what's happening out there?"

"The Toa Leehar are escorting the Turaga to the Tower..." started Jaller.

"WHAT?" yelled Onua.

"Yeah," said Hahli. " 'For their own safety,' because you escaped while they were bringing you to an unknown place,"

"Great," mumbled Kopaka. "I guess the wisest thing would be to stay here then."

"There's no time for that!" shouted Tahu. "The Toa Leehar have the Turaga, and if they realize the Puneko is missing..."

He was broken off by Pohatu's scream. The Puneko was glowing of a brown light, and it was getting brighter every second, the Matoran outside backed away from the gate, and the prisoners threw themselves on the ground, covering their heads. Only Pohatu was still standing in the middle of the room, holding the Ilsao, he wanted to make sure there was enough power inside it. Finally, he let go.

The second he did it, he realized the mistake he had made. While he was holding the Ilsao, he and the stone were somehow sharing the same energy, so he hadn't quite realized how much he had given away, and how little he still had.

He tried to jump to the walls of the cave, but his knees buckled and he tripped in his own feet before he could even try it. The next second, he crashed to the ground. At the same time, the Ilsao suddenly brightened up, now that it wasn't sharing energy with anyone, they didn't have much time.

"Pohatu!" he heard Onua yell, and then his friend was at his side, helping him up. But the Ilsao was now dangerously bright, it could have exploded any second...

An that was exactly what it did.

Jaller looked at the prison, something was going wrong, he could feel it, even if he couldn't see. When he heard the distinct noise of something heavy crashing to the ground, he knew something was growing wrong. And when the Ilsao suddenly glowed so brightly he could hardly stare at it, he was sure something was going really wrong.

So he wasn't surprised when the explosion turned out to be five times as strong as it was needed, and he also wasn't when the ground around the prison cracked, nor when everything shook like in the middle of an earthquake. He stopped his friends from rushing to the hole and forced himself to wait too for the black smoke to clear. Then he rushed to the edge of the pit, that now looked more like a crater than anything, and looked down. A shield was flaring around the Toa and the Ihar. When Tahu spotted them, the shield disappeared.

"Thanks Mata Nui you're alright!" cried Hahli. "That explosion was so big..."

"Yes," muttered Tahu. "We're alright. But if none of the Leehar heard or felt that explosion I'll eat Tahu."

XXXXX

Tahu was right. Auno was too a Toa of Earth, and he felt the explosion the moment it happened, and unfortunately, Whenua did too, as everyone in Po-Metru.

"What was that?" the Turaga asked.

"Hmmm, I don't know," grunted Auno. "Earthquake?"

"No," said Whenua. "I mean yes, that too, but I'm sure there was more."

"I didn't feel anything strange." he said, then turned his back on the Turaga and went to the other Toa Leehar, telling them they had to talk, that it was urgent. They Leehar found a place away from the Turaga and waited for him to tell them.

"So?" Uhat asked.

"There was an earthquake in Po-Metru, just now." he explained. "Or at least, that's what I told the Turaga." he added quickly, seeing the look on Uhat's face.

"What was it really?"

"An explosion. Big one. I don't know where it took place, but Po-Matorans don't usually go around the place blowing things up, right?"

Uthat snatched the bag of Ilsao from Ilag and rummaged inside it, counting the Ilsao as he did. One... two... three... four... five... six. Six Ilsao.

Six?

"One's missing," he said angrily.

"And I can also tell you when it happened: when that thief 'fell' on Ilag,"said Utahop, eyes flashing. "The thief stole it from the bag, and now the Toa are free."

Uhat cursed.

"We can't let the Turaga see they can control the Ilsao," added Akapok.

"No," agreed Uhat. "We can't."

"So it's settled," said Utahop, grinning like a maniac. "As soon as Vakama has finished his nice talk: Bye bye Turaga."


You might have noticed that this time I posted two chapters together. the reason my keyboard broke in the last few weeks. so i had to write with a mac keyboard, and macintosh and windows dont seem to go along with each other, apart from having trouble writing. anyway, i never figured out how write the on that stupid thing, so i couldnt log in. you'll find the thanks to reviewers and everything else in the next chapter.