Disclaimer: As usual I remind the readers that Bionicle belongs to Lego, and that Lego was founded in Denmark by a man whose name I can't remember. This story, however, is mine. (useless information will be further added only on request)

The Last Decision

Tahu saw how Uhat frantically looked around, probably looking for a way to run away. The other Leehar were staring angrily at Gali or at Uhat. The Turaga looked confused. At first, Tahu couldn't understand why, then he remembered they weren't supposed to know about the Visorak. So what? Weren't they allowed to ask for information?

He stared at the Matoran impatiently, waiting for the answer. What was wrong with him? Was he too scared to speak?

Anything but not this! pleaded Tahu. Then the Matoran finally seemed to find his voice.

"T-the Visorahk?" he stuttered. "I-it was out protectors. The Toa Leehar!"

Silence followed. The Turaga were all staring, the Leehar were all looking for an escape, the Toa Nuva were all fighting not to scream in joy. Finally something went right!

"Are you sure?" Vakama asked quietly. The Matoran nodded.

"But..." said Nokama. "What about the Toa Hordika?"

"Toa Hordika?" The Matoran didn't understand.

"Yeah," said Onewa with a hint of anger. "Toa Hordika. Never heard of them?"

The Matoran shook his head, suddenly unsure whether to be afraid of Gali of the Turaga. Akapok's face had gone deadly cold, and it stayed so as Vakama turned to him, eyes flashing.

"Akapok, what's this story?" he asked.

Akapok didn't answer, he just stayed there, staring coldly into the air. Sometimes, silence was the best solution.

Too bad Utahop didn't seem of the same idea.

"I don't know..." he started. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find an excuse this time. "Maybe... maybe we were misunderstood... but we did do a lot of the cleaning after all... no... I mean... I don't know why this Matoran doesn't know... Lhikan! Ask him! He'll tell you..."

"Stop!" said Vakama. "I'd like to know the truth, for a change."

"The truth is," said Tahu. "That they are the traitors, not us."

Akapok shot him a death stare, Tahu ignored it.

"They've been working for Makuta the whole time," continued Tahu, calmer than he'd ever been. "They sent us on Miko Nui. It was all their idea."

"You're wrong there," grumbled Utahop. "It was really Kida, that sent you there. Smart, but risky. You could've all died. Ihar... their minds work in a funny way..."

He shook his head, then continued. "When we found out where you were, it was clear that we had to get you out of there as soon as possible. Before you realized there was something wrong here. But when we got there, it was too late."

Suddenly, he raised his head, eyes flashing. "However, if you think you won the war, you're wrong. This was just a battle. Just like many others..."

"You can't take over the island now," said Tahu. "You've lost."

"No," agreed Akapok. "We didn't take over the island."

Auno understood. "Yes, but we didn't lose either. For you won't get me... you won't get none of us!"

With that, he joined his hands and swung them against the Tower, only using his mask powers. There was a crack, then the huge building started to fall, between crunching sounds and creaks. And Lhikan was still inside!

The leaned dangerously towards the ground, then it stopped. But everyone knew it was only a matter of time until it crashed to the ground.

"Quick!" ordered Tahu. "Kopaka, Takua, go and get the Matoran away from here! Gali, Lewa, get Onua out of there and bring him to safety too. I'll see to Lhikan. Turaga... GET OUT OF HERE!"

There was no time for discussions, everyone did as they were told. No one was thinking of the Leehar anymore, so no one saw them run away, towards the Ga-Metru temple. And no one saw five figures follow them, step for step.

Tahu shot up the spiral staircase on the tower. Something not easy to do, now that it was leaning to one side. Rocks were lying everywhere, and he had to be careful not to trip on them. Suddenly, the tower fell another bit, and the stairs under Tahu's feet collapsed. The red Toa found himself dangling in midair, holding on to what remained of the staircase, that was bound to fall soon too.

Grumbling, he pulled himself up and looked at the damage done. The hole was quite large, and even though the stairs below weren't so far, it was way too risky to use them. He was going to have to find another exit. Cursing whoever had built the tower, Tahu rushed up to the top.

Here he found a wall of stones and rubble. However, the short fall had moved a couple of rocks, creating a hole big enough for him to slip through. On the other side, he found Lhikan sitting on a pile of rocks, staring at the walls.

"Turaga!" he called. Lhikan turned to him, then jumped up.

"You!" he hissed.

"It's not how you think, Turaga," said Tahu. "I'm here to help you!"

Lhikan didn't answer. Tahu slipped completely through the hole and looked around. His eyes fell on a pile of shining, silver weapons. Their Toa Tools! He rushed to the pile and pulled out his lava blades. Maybe he could do something with them? He tried to picture the walls of the tower in his head. The Tower was hexagonally shaped, so the walls had to be flat. Perfect.

He let his eyes wander through the room, in case there was something else. There was. The bag of Ilsao was lying around, forgotten. Tahu grabbed it and looked inside. There were six Ilsao and five Kanohi Nuva in total. Onua had one Ilsao and he and Pohatu had the remaining Kanohi. Nothing seemed to be missing. He tied the bag to his waist, and in that moment, the Tower fell another bit reminding him of their situation. He ran to the window that pointed towards the sky.

"Turaga, come here," he ordered. Lhikan merely stared.

"Turaga, there's no time! The whole thing will fall in a couple of seconds!"

Lhikan sighed and walked over to Tahu, grumbling something under his breath. The red Toa jumped out through the window, then he pulled Lhikan out too. Now they were standing on one of the outer walls of the Tower. Lhikan looked down at the ground, far away.

"Are we going to jump?" he asked.

"It'd be a suicide. No, we'll go down the wall." said Tahu.

"Even if we run, we'll never get down before the Tower starts falling" asked Lhikan.

"I didn't say that we'll run," said Tahu. Then he picked up Lhikan and threw him over his shoulders, so that Lhikan could hold on to his neck. Lhikan looked first at the Toa, then at the slope. What did this guy have in mind? Then his eyes fell on Tahu's magma blades, that were joined together to make a surf. He looked at Tahu. Tahu smiled back.

"Exactly,"

With that, he jumped on his surf and they both started sliding down the Tower. Lhikan tightened his grip. The wall were quite steep, and soon they were just a blur for whoever was looking. Lhikan saw the ground come closer and closer and pleaded that Tahu knew what he was doing. On his side, Tahu hoped that he was going to get some idea on how to slow the surf before they smashed on the ground. Then, the Tower cracked and started falling. Fast.

The slope started to disappear, and became flatter and flatter. Tahu knew they had to reach the ground before the Tower crashed to the ground, or they'd fall with it. He forced the surf for more speed...

And before he realized what was happening, they had reached the end, and the tower had reached the ground. The wall was lying at about five bios over the ground, so that Tahu and Lhikan shot through the air. Tahu heard Lhikan scream as they glided through the air and hit the ground hard. They slid on some more before Tahu pulled around the surf and came to a halt. Lhikan immediately let go and fell to the ground.

"All right, Turaga?" asked Tahu. Lhikan nodded, then, a smile spread over his face.

"This reminds of when Toa..." he stopped suddenly, shook his head, and walked away. Tahu stared after him for a while, then he turned around and walked to the other Toa, Onua, who had woken up by then, greeted him by slapping him on the back.

"That was mad-crazy!" said Lewa, laughing. "Where did you leave your brains?"

"They must've walked away with yours," he answered, smiling. Then he became serious again. "Where are the Leehar?"

"Probably still hiding..." started Gali, but stopped. For in that moment, a message from Thau reached them.

-In case you noticed that the Leehar aren't there anymore- he started. -Let me tell you that they just left the island. We don't know where they went to, but it's not Miko Nui. We asked a bit around, nobody saw them.-

For a couple of seconds, the Toa didn't say anything. They just stood there and stared at each other.

"They're gone?" asked Gali.

"For real?" added Lewa.

They looked at each other. Then, a smile spread over their faces, and they screamed in joy, hugging each other. Who cared if there still were five Leehar running around? Who cared if no one knew where they were? Metru and Miko Nui were safe! That was what mattered! They were going to get another chance to defeat the Leehar! The Turaga couldn't understand why the Toa were so happy, but they hadn't started fighting the Leehar back to the time when they still lived on Metru Nui. They hadn't been humiliated, tortured, menaced, nearly killed by the Leehar. They hadn't seen how they fought in vane for years.

This hadn't been the closest thing to a victory ever since they started their fight.

XXXXX

"So these are the Ilsao," said Vakama, looking at the seven stones lined up on the table -- the Kosnero, the Heerole, the Ringlu, the Puneko, the Shilara, the Jinoka and the Anjai.

Toa, Ihar and Turaga were all inside one of the Ga-Metru huts, more precisely, the one where Sirkul was. Vakama shook his head. "And I always thought they were just a legend... so you can control them?"

"Well... yes," said Tahu. "Kind of... we need a bit of practice, but in general... yes."

Vakama nodded. Then, he gave each of the Toa his or her stone.

"You must keep them," he said. "They chose you."

The seven Toa nodded and hanged the Ilsao around their necks. They already knew all this, but the Turaga didn't have to know.

"So, everything ended well," said Nokama.

"Except for one thing." said Matau.

The Toa looked at each other. What was Matau talking about?

"I don't understand Turaga," said Pohatu, frowning.

"All this started with an easy mission," continued Whenua, smiling. "The only one that hasn't been fulfilled."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Turaga," said Takua.

Onewa laughed, "Maybe you remember, that you were supposed to find out who the thief of Ga-Metru is."

Tahu slapped his forehead. Gali! He had completely forgotten about that problem! Now what? Should he tell the Turaga? He looked over to Gali, she was staring at the ground.

Suddenly, there was a series of clicks and whistles, and everyone turned to look at Turaga Nuju. Matoro nodded and translated.

"The Turaga says... that if the Ilsao where on the Island, the thief must've been there too, and he asks whether you found any clue to where she's hiding."

Silence fell in the room. Everyone was staring at Tahu, who was doing his best to hide how nervous he was. Everyone knew that it was up to him to decide. Tahu turned to the Turaga and stared at Vakama. Gali looked up to him, trying to guess what he was going to decide, but there was no telling.

What was he going to say? That she was the thief? He had made it quite clear that he was going to.

Finally...

"Yes, Turaga," said Tahu. "We did find something."


-stares at chapter critically, especially at surfing part- ooooooookay, The next one is the last chapter and I insert a cliffhanger. great, I can be really stupid sometimes. or maybe not? bah. no idea. next chapter IS the last, by the way. dunno how much it'll take to write. I just saw the movie 'robots', dunno where i got that stupid tower surfing thingy... okay, i cant think clearly, so i guess ill answer to my reviewers.

ToaMaster: Is the thief's story a sequel or a prequel? good question. it's a prequel, but it's actually the toa telling the story. id say more a prequel. As for aaron, i wont put him in this trilogy. BUT, im having the idea of posting the beginning of a story (four of five chapters) and then, let someone else go on with it. then you'd be able to use Aaron (if you participate).

Regrem Erutaerc: vote added, yes i know, you don't give up... now i have to fix the not-all-toa-nuva-thingy

Nova of the Khalai: dunno, i never saw kopaka as a matoran. guess he kinda looks like Matoro.

ceestar next chapter is the last. sequel up in some time if you vote!

not-a-hacker: does this mean ill be reading more of your story?