Chapter 4

Takanuva sent a laser straight through a Keelerak, killing it and sending its two companions skittering into the darkness. He fell to one knee and breathed heavily. He used up a lot of elemental power in the fight, too much. But it seemed to be over for now. He looked around and could see no sign of living Visorak. Everyone else looked as winded as he did. "We clear?" asked Takanuva.

"Looks that way," said Lhikan as he helped a Matoran to his feet. A Vohtarak spinner had grazed him and he was still recovering from the pain.

Takanuva looked up at the moon and estimated about an hour had passed since Nidhiki and the others had left. "They should have been back by now," he murmured. He turned to Potan. "All right, Potan, I want you to go out and find Nidhiki. I'm worried something has happened to them. Take someone with you just in case."

Potan nodded and looked over at Liko, a female Toa of Ice. "Liko, you up for a rescue mission?"

She pulled her spear out of a Visorak and smiled at Potan. "Race you there." She activated her Kakama and took off.

Potan sighed before he jogged after Liko. "She always does that," he growled.

"What about Malohi?" Vamkoda asked. "I haven't seen him since Nidhiki left."

Lhikan's eyes scanned the area. "I don't see him but he must be right here somewhere. Let's find him."

Just as the group began to disperse to search for Malohi, a loud screech went up from the south of the village. Takanuva turned to see several eyes surging toward them. "Here comes the second wave of the Visorak!" he called.

"We got something else coming from the north!" shouted Hewkii.

"More Visorak?" Reymar asked.

"No, they're on two legs."

Takanuva looked back to see an army marching toward them. He was wondering who they were and if they were friendly when one shot off a Rhotuka at them, barely missing his head. "I guess that answers that question," he muttered to himself. To everyone else, he said, "Get ready! This is going to be one heck of a fight!"

Potan ran through the countryside, feeling winded from the battle and run. Ever since the Great Cataclysm, it felt like he had just been going nonstop from one calamity to another. And today was no different, going from a battle with Visorak to a rescue mission. He hoped Nidhiki and the Le-Matoran were all right. Truthfully, he was worried about the Toa of Air. Potan worried that his mind was still too fragile to be confronted with this level of evil again for so long. The allure could prove too strong. But Lhikan seemed to have faith in him. In Potan's opinion, the Toa of Fire's judgment was obscured by feelings of comradery.

A white blur came racing toward him and looped around to fall into place next to the Toa of Stone. "What are you doing back here?" asked Liko with a smile.

"Running," Potan panted. "Not all of us have a Kakama, you know."

"Well you should pick one up."

"Yeah, I'll be sure to do that. Too bad the Brotherhood has made it all but impossible to acquire new Kanohi."

Liko laughed. "That's just the excuse of a slacker. Anyways, I've scouted the area. Nidhiki, Orkahm, Piruk, and Malohi are being held captive by seven Skakdi."

"Malohi's with them?" asked Potan, surprised.

"Yup. Guess he decided to tag along without telling anyone, as usual. So I say you use your Huna to sneak into the middle of the Skakdi and show them what real elemental powers can do. I'll zip around the perimeter and take the outliers down."

Potan nodded. "Fine, you're the boss."

Piruk looked up at the Piraka fearfully. Thok loomed large over him, mostly not paying any attention to the Matoran, but when he did catch Piruk staring at him, the Skakdi would give a wolfish grin. Piruk shivered. He imagined having to live under a Piraka taskmaster. It was something he hoped he would be spared from.

He glanced over at the other three. Orkahm seemed about the same as him, just resting on his knees, waiting for something to happen while Malohi constantly fidgeted. Nidhiki looked up at the Piraka, looking like he was carefully examining them, watching for an opportunity. And all the while, Zaktan kept his eyes trained on the crater that Reidak and Avak were digging. Piruk didn't know what it was for, but he hoped it wasn't a grave for him and his friends.

The excavation was tedious work. Apparently, Skakdi couldn't use their elemental powers on their own and had to work in tandem with another one. This led to quite a bit of quarreling between Reidak and Avak. Sometimes it got so bad that Zaktan had to threaten them with physical violence to get them back on track. But they seemed to have fallen into a bit of a groove and were working somewhat well together. It was at that moment that Piruk spied a piece of carved stone poking out of the crater.

"Zaktan, this what we looking for?" Avak called.

Zaktan walked closer and looked out at the hole. "Yes," he said. "That is it. Keep digging, once you uncover a crack large enough for me to slip through I'll go in and confirm the location."

Hakann frowned. "How did this temple even get buried in the first place? This couldn't have happened on its own over time, someone had to have buried it."

"Maybe it was the Vokuru," suggested Vezok.

"Unlikely," said Vezon. "You need to start paying attention to the intelligence reports as well. They were just a bunch of backward villagers until Stelt took them in. They wouldn't have even known what they were looking at if they found the temple."

Vezok scowled but Zaktan spoke before the Skakdi of Water could reply. "There. I shall return shortly." Before Piruk's horrified eyes, Zaktan's body began to dissolve into a green cloud of swarming protodites. "Avak, Reidak, keep excavating and don't let any of the prisoners escape." The green cloud flew toward the dig site and slipped into a crack far too small for Piruk to see.

A small bat flew onto the scene, landing on Thok's outstretched arm and the Piraka took a small tablet from its claw. "Huh. So Onarax is here."

"What's he doing here?" asked Hakann.

"Doesn't trust us as usual, probably," said Vezon. "Typical."

"A contingent of his army is assaulting the Vokuru village right now," continued Thok. "They've encountered resistance in the form of Matoran and Toa."

"Hey, that's our friends!" Malohi shouted.

Vezok growled. "Shut it, pipsqueak!" He kicked the Le-Matoran onto his back.

"Why?!" he cried.

Piruk saw Nidhiki was carefully watching Vezok. When he turned his attention back to the other Piraka, the Toa whispered, "Now's our chance! Run!"

"Are you cross-wired?!" Orkahm whispered back. "There's too many! We'll never make it!"

"It's now or never!" replied Nidhiki. "With Zaktan gone, we'll never get a better chance. Run in different directions, now!"

"Don't have to tell me twice!" said Malohi as he jumped to his feet. He began screeching loudly as he took off for the hill they had come down.

"What the—?" said Hakann, turning to see what was going on.

"What's that darned fool doing?" asked Vezon. "Is he damaged?"

Thok smiled as he readied his ice gun. "He soon will be."

Nidhiki grabbed his air claws and clutched Thok's weapon in them, bending it badly. "I don't think so, buddy." He attached the claws to his back and took to the sky, blasting the Piraka away with a large gust of wind.

"Stop them!" Hakann shouted as he focused his gaze on Malohi. The Le-Matoran let out a cry of pain as he gripped his head and fell to the ground.

"No, Malohi!" cried Piruk.

"Don't stop, quick-run!" said Orkahm, pushing him away. "Nidhiki will help him!"

Piruk ran off into the night as Orkahm ran in another direction. Behind him, the sounds of battle were escalating, but he didn't dare look back. He had to escape, even if he was the only one. If he found Takanuva or any of the others, he could tell them what happened and maybe they could mount a rescue mission.

The sounds of battle were growing fainter, but oddly, not that persistent buzzing noise he had assumed to be Vezok's buzzsaw. In fact, the buzzing was getting closer. Soon it overtook him and Piruk was consumed by darkness. He coughed and choked, closing his eyes. He didn't know what could be attacking him but such thoughts were driven from his mind by the stinging pain of millions of microscopic bites.

Then the attack let up and he opened his eyes, wide in horror in fact, as Zaktan was just reforming in front of him. Piruk ground to a halt as Zaktan readied his sword. "Foolish Matoran," he said. "All alone with no Toa to help you." He brought his sword down but was stopped as his whole body was flash frozen.

"Nice to see you, Piruk," said Liko as she ran up to him. "But you're going the wrong way, the action's behind you."

"What?" Piruk said before the Toa of Ice grabbed him and placed him on her shoulders. Then she activated her Mask of Speed and ran back to the fight. In less than two seconds, Liko was planting her shield in the middle of Thok's midsection. The surprised Piraka was thrown off his feet and almost crashed into Hakann.

Piruk leaped down from Liko's shoulders and saw Potan standing over Malohi's inert body, fending off Vezok's water daggers with his flail. Orkahm was on the outskirt of the battle, taking potshots with his disk launcher at the Piraka. Hakann recovered from almost being bowled over and began vaporizing the Kanoka with his heat vision. Nidhiki had reentered the battle and went into a screaming power-dive straight at Vezon. "Head's up, freak!" shouted the Toa.

The Piraka smiled in anticipation. "Come on, hero. Let's do it." Nidhiki swooped down and planned to take Vezon off his feet with his scythe but the caped Piraka jumped over his tool.

Reidak and Avak had stopped digging and moved to join the battle. They loaded their launchers and fired at Potan, barely missing him. Wherever the spheres hit, a fire erupted. "I guess no one ever told you not to play with fire," said Liko, aiming her spear. "Let's cool you off." She shot out a beam of ice, freezing the two Skakdi's feet to the ground.

"Blasted Toa," spat Avak as he began to chip away at the ice with his jackhammer. Reidak struggled against his bonds with brute force, causing the ice to crack.

Liko threw her shield at the black Piraka's face, knocking his head back. The Toa caught the shield on the rebound and was preparing to attack again when a laser blast scorched the ground at her feet and forced her to jump back. Piruk looked to see Zaktan flying in toward them, his head in the middle of a swarm of protodites. He fired his laser vision again. This time Liko had to bring her shield up to stop the attack. "Do not bother with them!" Zaktan barked at his Piraka as he reformed in front of them, facing Liko. "This is indeed the temple! Clear the entrance and then go get that disk. We can use it to burn these miserable cretins to ash."

Avak scowled as he broke himself out of the ice. Reidak did the same next to him. "You always get to have all the fun," muttered Avak as he turned toward the pit.

"Stop complaining!" Zaktan snapped. "This is more important than personal glory." Then his eyes turned red and he fired another laser blast at Liko. She activated her Kakama and ran forward, ducking under the attack. She thrust her spear into Zaktan's torso, but it simply passed through his body harmlessly. Liko tried to retrieve her tool but the Piraka's protodites latched onto the icicle spear and pulled back. "Lost something, Toa?" asked Zaktan. He smashed his fist into Liko, sending her sprawling into the dirt. Zaktan advanced on her and pulled the spear out of his body and held it over his head. "Here, let me give it back to you."

Zaktan brought the spear down with such speed that Piruk almost missed it. Liko barely rolled to the side, just avoiding the attack. "Potan!" she cried. "I could use some help!"

"I'm a bit busy myself!" shouted Potan. Piruk turned to see him holding off Vezok's and Hakann's attacks. The Le-Matoran was also shocked to see that the hill had come to life and was trying to crush the Toa of Stone under its weight. Potan was chipping at its mass but he couldn't focus on two places at once. Orkahm launched a disk at Thok who seemed to be staying on the outskirt of the battle. The Piraka barely ducked the projectile and his eyes flashed. Orkahm suddenly started stumbling, almost falling over a few times.

Piruk then looked to see Nidhiki land in front of Vezon and swung his scythe down. The Piraka brought his spear up and blocked the Toa's strike. "Not bad, Nidhiki," said Vezon, pulling his spear back and trying to smash the Toa in the side of the head. Nidhiki just avoided the attack, putting him off-balance. "But you always overextend yourself!" Vezon jabbed the bottom of his spear into Nidhiki's abdomen, knocking him off his feet. Nidhiki landed hard and sent a ferocious blast of wind at Vezon to keep him back.

Seeing that there was no one else to help, Piruk knew he had to act. He charged Zaktan who was still struggling with Liko. He swung at the Skakdi's side with his shredder claws. Apparently the leader of the Piraka was unprepared as Piruk's claws met some resistance as they sliced through, killing thousands of protodites. Zaktan cried out in pain and wheeled on the Matoran. "Foolish hero," he hissed, readying his sword. "See if that feeble attack was worth it."

Suddenly a Rhotuka flew through the air and grazed Zaktan's arm. Its acidic touch burned him and he roared in anger. Piruk looked to see two dozen Visorak descending on the fighters. "There's those Visorak I warned you about!" shouted Vezon.

"I see that!" Zaktan shouted. "Vezok, to me!"

The Skakdi of Water loped over to Zaktan's side and the two combined their elemental powers, creating a storm that raged over the battlefield. The pressure temporarily off of the Toa, Liko and Nidhiki ran to Potan's side with Orkahm and Piruk coming as well. "Plan?" asked Liko.

"Working on one," said Nidhiki.

Piruk knelt and checked on Malohi. His heartlight was still burning brightly and his breathing was steady. He breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the hill monster that Thok had apparently brought to life trudging over to the Visorak. "Maybe we can slip away in the confusion," Piruk suggested.

"Not without that disk," said Nidhiki. "We won't get another chance like this."

A Keelerak charged at the Matoran and Toa, launching into the air, spinning at a high speed. "Watch it!" Liko cried, jumping forward and tackling Potan to the ground. Nidhiki managed to just avoid the flying buzzsaw but Liko wasn't as lucky. The Visorak's razor-sharp legs sliced into the Toa of Ice's back. She collapsed into Potan's arms and cried in pain.

"Liko!" shouted Potan.

Piruk looked to see the Keelerak land and skid through the dirt. It roared and began preparing a Rhotuka. Orkahm took a knee and fired a Kanoka even as the Visorak fired its own projectile. But the disk was made in Ko-Metru and dodged around the Rhotuka. The two Le-Matoran dropped to the ground to avoid the Rhotuka and they glanced back to see the spinner fly off and strike the hill monster, burning a hole through it. Then Orkahm's Kanoka struck the Keelerak and shrunk it to the size of a Hoto. The Visorak no longer a threat, Piruk turned his attention back to Liko. "Is she all right?"

"I'll be fine," she groaned.

"All the same," said Nidhiki, "you're sitting out of the rest of this fight. Potan and I will handle this."

"I hope we can," said the Toa of Stone as he saw a few Visorak eyeing them appraisingly.

"We have to," replied Nidhiki. He looked up at the storm raging overhead. "We don't have any other choice."

"Zaktan!" Reidak shouted over the howl of the wind. "We've cleared the entrance!"

"Then go and get that disk!" shouted Zaktan. "And make it quick!"

"That's my cue!" cried Malohi as he sprang to his feet. He charged past the Piraka and Visorak straight for the pit.

"Malohi!" Piruk cried. "Where are you going?"

"Don't tell me you were deceit-pretending to be unconscious!" shouted Orkahm.

"I'll answer later!" Malohi called back. Avak pulled a Makoki stone out of his satchel which Malohi promptly snatched as he ran between the two Piraka. "Yoink!" And then he jumped into the pit. "Wheeeeee!" he cried as he slid down the side toward the temple.

"What the—?" said Reidak.

"After him!" shouted Avak, jumping down after Malohi, Reidak right behind him. "Get back here, you little rat!"

Malohi reached the bottom of the pit and ran through the doorway. Fortunately, the layout was identical to the temple on Nahi Nui. The little statues were in better shape than back home but he had no time to examine them. He ran to the one of Onarax and pushed it, opening the secret stairway. He charged down to the vault door and placed the Makoki stone in the slot for it. As the door opened, Malohi could hear the two Piraka running upstairs.

As soon as he could slip through, Malohi entered the room and found the Kanoka Nuva of Fire floating in a stasis field on a pedestal. He grabbed it and took notice of the map on the back wall. His eyes scanned across it and quickly and took note of a location. Then he turned and raced back toward the exit, grabbing the Makoki on the way.

As Malohi neared the stairs, Reidak and Avak appeared, aiming their projectile launchers at him. But the Le-Matoran was expecting them. He jumped into the air and threw the disk at them. It struck Reidak and unleashed a plume of fire, engulfing both Piraka. As the two began to panic, Malohi vaulted over them and reclaimed the disk. Then he raced up the stairs and out of the temple. "Hey, guys! I got the disk!" he shouted as he scrambled out of the pit. "Let's get out of here!"

"Can you walk, Liko?" asked Potan as he helped her to her feet.

"Yeah, I should be able to run as well. I'll go tell Takanuva. We'll meet you at the boats." She activated her Kakama and took off in the direction of the village.

"Come on, Malohi!" Nidhiki shouted, ushering him over.

Reidak and Avak pulled themselves out of the pit, badly burned. They aimed their launchers and fired, barely missing Malohi. The Le-Matoran shrieked as the ground erupted in flames around him. He reached Nidhiki and the others and then they took off in the direction of the boats, leaving the Piraka to fight the Visorak.

A little over an hour later, all of the Nahi Nui forces met up at the boats and retreated from the shores of Visorak immediately, leaving the terrible island behind them. Once it was out of sight, everyone released the breath they had been holding. "Excellent job, everyone," said Takanuva. "Especially you, Malohi." The Le-Matoran beamed with pride.

Vamkoda embraced Malohi. "Stop running off, all right? You scared me half to death."

"Okay, I promise I won't until I do it again."

"Are you doing all right?" Potan asked as he knelt down before Liko. Reymar was using her Mask of Healing to mend Liko's wounded back.

Liko smiled. "Yeah, much better now."

"You really shouldn't scare me like that," said Potan, smiling as well.

"Then you should pay more attention to what is going on around you."

"I can't believe we pulled that off," said Lhikan. He took the Kanoka Nuva from Malohi and examined it. It was an orange disk that looked much like a Kanoka disk from Metru Nui. However its only identifying mark was the Nuva symbol for fire. "So now the question is… what do we do with it?"

"We should destroy it," said Hata. "An artifact this valuable cannot be allowed to fall into evil hands."

"But we may need to use it," said Gravon. "Fight fire with fire, so to speak."

Hata shook his head. "All of you young Toa are alike. So eager for battle and full of bloodlust. Live through a couple of dozen millennia of fighting and see if you still feel the same."

"Better than being a coward," scoffed Gravon.

"All right, enough!" Takanuva snapped. "Let's not go down this road. I agree with Hata that we can't allow Onarax to get it, but I am not willing to destroy the disk. We know he already has one, what if he gathers more before we can? This Kanoka Nuva could be all that remains between him and domination. I will send it back to Nahi Nui immediately with a small escort. It will be safe inside the temple vault."

"But where to next?" asked Takua.

"I found a map! Down in the temple!" Malohi said excitedly. "Toa Lewa's Nuva symbol was pointing at the northern continent! Maybe another disk is there!"

"Specifically the Kanoka Nuva of Air," said Takanuva. "Good work, Malohi."

"But the northern continent is a big place," said Nidhiki. "It could take years to scour it. And that's assuming that the map is accurate."

"I might have a way to authenticate it," said Mateku. He walked to the back of the boat and dragged out a being of indeterminate species.

"Who is that?" asked Reymar.

"Don't know," replied the Toa of Plantlife. "But he was with a squad of Onarax's goons that attacked us. The rest of his buddies broke like saplings in a maelstrom so he had enough brains to surrender. I thought he might come in handy. Onarax might know of its location already and so might his troops."

Takanuva walked up to the soldier who cowered in fear at his presence. "Where are you from?" asked the Toa.

"The south, far to the south," said the soldier fearfully. "Please don't hurt me, w-warlock."

"Toa don't do that," Lhikan remarked. "Haven't you ever met one before?"

The soldier shook his head violently. "No, never! I'm just a s-simple farmer! Never seen any scary w-warlocks like you!"

Nidhiki looked at the others and rolled his eyes. "This is getting us nowhere."

"Let me talk with him," said Hata. "I've dealt with a lot of southerners from my time during the Recovery." He approached the soldier who still cowered before him. "What's your name?" Hata asked gently.

"S-Skriv," replied the soldier.

"Well, Skriv, I'm Hata. Your accent sounds like you're from Paakuu, is that the case?"

"C-Close, Ganji."

"Ah, I never traveled to Ganji but I've heard of it," said Hata. "Now, I can tell you've been taken against your will, right?"

"Yes," said Skriv. "There are scary things to the south, horrifying! Onarax protects us from them if we join him. Don't want to but have to!"

Gravon rolled his eyes. "What do you want to ask next? His favorite color? How is this important?"

"Hush," Lhikan commanded. Gravon immediately obeyed his old commander. "Give Hata a chance."

"So," Hata continued, ignoring the others, "I know you hate Onarax. Why not help us, and we'll let you go free?"

"But Onarax will find me!" Skriv argued.

"Not if we have anything to say about it," said Takanuva. "We plan to stop him."

Skriv considered it. "What do you want to know?"

"These Kanoka Nuva Onarax is hunting," said Hata, taking the disk from Lhikan and showing it to Skriv. "Is there another one on the northern continent?"

"Don't know, don't know anything about continents," said Skriv. "But there is an island to the northwest that might know. They know many things."

"An island?" asked Reymar. "What kind of an island?"

"A factory," said Skriv. "A factory of war…"

Author's Note: Thank you for the reviews, I thought I would use this space to reply to them.

TFAN: They were able to save the Matoran before the Visorak mutated them so that's what happened there.

Jason: Yup, I do plan on having Roodaka show up again at some point, although not in this story.