Disclaimer: I own Kit, Darcius, and the dragon-creature, but not Bionicle.
Back at the cavern, Takua continued to try and free himself. He didn't even realize that Darcius was back until he was right next to him. As he lifted his hand, Takua immediately recognized the familiar light purple bolts that danced across his palm and fingers, waiting to be released. Panicking, the Ta-Matoran resumed his struggle as Darcius slightly smiled. "Your fate is sealed, Chronicler," he said as he raised his hand, preparing to deal the death blow. Suddenly, he cried out when something struck him in the back of his head and he unintentionally fell to his knees, catching himself on the pillar.
"Better check your crystal ball again, Darcius," a voice echoed.
Whirling around, he found Kit standing in the entrance. "You've got a lot of nerve coming here alone," he growled as he rubbed his head.
"Yeah, I guess I do."
"As for the rock, no one does that to me and lives to boast about it."
He fired the shot at her and she ducked behind a rock. Three more times he fired the bolts at her, and three times she ducked behind stalagmites or rocks. "You can run, Kit," Darcius called out. "But you're running out of places to hide." Just then, it occurred to him that this wasn't like Kit at all. Usually she would've tried to move in for an attack long before now; instead she was just scurrying about the place like a scared pussycat. His train of thought was interrupted when he spotted Kit trying to sneak past him. Just when she was almost to Takua, Kit felt herself floating into the air and was flung to the ground. Shaking her head, she found herself laying a few yards away from Darcius. "Nice try, child," he commented. A glint of purple on his belt caught the girl's eye.
'My crystal,' she thought.
Instantly, she was back on her feet and charged Darcius so fast, he didn't have time to react. As she reached for her crystal, he tried to wrestle her away from him. With a hard shove, he pushed her off. "I've had enough of this," he growled as he narrowed his eyes. He launched more of his energy bolts and they assaulted Kit's body with a vengeance. She screamed in a pain so terrible, there was no describing it; no words could do it justice. Finally, Darcius called off the attack and, groaning, Kit collapsed. For a few minutes, her fingers, arms, and legs twitched involuntarily, purple energy sparking as a result.
'Now I know how a piece of bacon feels,' she thought to herself.
"I'll take care of you as soon as I'm finished with your little friend here," Darcius informed her and he turned his attention back to Takua.
Once more, he powered up his energy bolts, preparing to kill the Ta-Matoran who struggled helplessly. No matter how much she tried, Kit couldn't make herself get up; her body ached so badly, it just hurt too much to move. Still, with gritted teeth, she tried again to stand up, only to fall back down. Now on the verge of giving up, all she could do was watch. Takua, meanwhile, pulled at his bonds so hard his wrists started to hurt. "Help!" he shouted. "Help me!"
Darcius' hand was descending toward Takua's chest; in any minute it would be all over. Hearing Takua's cries for help, Kit felt as if something sparked inside of her. She couldn't just give up, she wouldn't. Her friend was in danger, about to be killed right in front of her eyes. On top of that, according to the story, Takua was destined to become the Seventh Toa. What would that mean for this world's existence if anything happened to him before then? Realizing that, she somehow found the strength to attempt to get up once more. Again she felt like thousands of white hot knives were jabbing into everywhere on her body and collapsed. 'I've got to get up,' she thought as she propped herself on her elbows. 'I have to.' Darcius' hand was almost there and, upon pure instinct, Kit reached out. Feeling something happening in her hand, she looked to find a familiar ball of energy forming before it discharged and hit Darcius in the small of the back, sending him flying over the pillar and into the wall. Takua and Kit couldn't believe their eyes.
"How did that happen?" asked the Matoran.
"I don't know," Kit replied as she stared at her hand.
Hearing groaning, Kit and Takua looked to find Darcius getting up. He seemed to be as shocked as they were. "How? How is it that you still command your powers without the crystal?"
"To tell you the absolute truth, that's what I want to know," Kit answered. "But, while we're at it--"
She fired another energy ball at him, but Darcius dodged it, flipping over her. In mid-arc he fired his energy bolts. Kit, ready for this, turned on to her back and countered the bolts with her ball, causing the two attacks to cancel each other out in a small explosion. Darcius somehow managed to land while shielding his eyes from the light of the blast, and, when he looked again, an energy ball half his size was flying right at him. It knocked him clear into the wall where he was attacked by a barrage of energy balls, courtesy of Kit. Finally, she stopped and slowly, and painfully, got up and walked toward him. Locating her crystal, she grabbed it and said to the unconscious form, "This is mine." While she worked on fastening the crystal back around her neck, she walked to Takua.
"Are you ok?" she asked.
"You're the one who got the shock treatment, and you're asking me if I'm ok?"
Kit couldn't help but smile. Before she could start working on the straps, however, a voice spoke from behind her.
"You may have won this one," said Darcius. "But neither one of you will leave this cavern alive."
He lifted his hand, as if in signal, and the same kind of dragon-creature appeared in front of them. Certain that there was no escape for both the girl and the Matoran, Darcius smirked and vanished. Kit impulsively planted herself between the creature and Takua. The creature lunged toward the girl who shot an energy ball at its forehead. The creature staggered back a bit. 'Need a little boost, I see,' she thought. Using the Dragonball-like technique, she launched a more powerful ball. This time, the beast felt pain and it didn't like it one bit. Before Kit could launch another attack, the creature swiped at her with its tail, knocking her away.
"Kit!" Takua cried out in concern.
As she sat up, Kit tasted something hot in her mouth and felt something drip down the right side of her chin. Placing a finger to her mouth, she discovered blood. Hearing a roar, she looked to find the dragon leering at Takua. Before she could cry out and the creature could attack, it suddenly changed into an ice statue. "What the--" Kit wondered and turned to the sound of someone clearing his throat. It was Kopaka. Without a word, the Toa approached the pillar while Kit followed. Within minutes, they had Takua free.
"Kit, you're hurt," the Matoran gasped when he saw the nearly dry blood on her lower face.
"It's nothing," the girl smiled sheepishly and she wiped it off with the back of her hand.
"Let's get out of here," said Kopaka, and they left.
Fifteen minutes had passed and the trio still trekked through the tunnel, with Kopaka in the lead. Finally, Kit asked a question that had been nagging at the back of her mind.
"Just one question, Kopaka. How did you find us?"
"Some of my village's trackers heard the noise and requested I investigate."
A moment of silence followed before Kopaka spoke again. "You know, kid, going off on your own like that was very foolish. You could've been creature-bones."
Kit nodded as she looked down at the ground. "But Toa Kopaka," Takua said, "if she didn't arrive when she did, I would've been Darcius-bones." The Toa of Ice nodded and offered a slight smile to the girl which she returned. Suddenly, Kopaka stiffened and placed his ice blade in front his companions. The shadows around them seemed to change, become darker than before.
'Not this again,' Kit thought as she placed a protective hand on Takua's shoulder.
In the blink of an eye, Kopaka swung his blade and shot a beam of ice just a quarter of an inch away from Kit's face. Kit screamed in surprise and, before she could yell at him, she saw something covered in a coat of ice was moving away from her and she heard a pained groan. It was big clawed hand and it was then that she saw its owner—Makuta. However, with a little effort, he managed to clench his hand into a fist, shattering the ice coating. "Stay put," Kopaka commanded and prepared to face the giant himself while Kit and Takua remained where they stood. Makuta, however, laughed.
"Do you really believe you can take on the Master of Shadows by yourself, little Toa?"
"You're nothing but an overgrown bully," remarked Kit.
Ignoring the girl's comment, the robotic Goliath swung his hand and Toa, Matoran, and human were thrown off their feet by what felt like a gust of wind. Makuta then approached a dazed Kit, an evil smile on his Krahhkan. Just when his hand was about to clasp around her shirt, Kopaka ambushed him. After struggling with him for a few minutes, Makuta elbowed the Ice Toa to the ground where he lay stunned. Then he placed a foot on the Toa's chest and applied just enough pressure to compress it. Kopaka groaned as he felt the air pressed out of his lungs and found himself gasping for breath. He placed his hands on Makuta's foot in an attempt to utilize his ice powers on it. Makuta just smirked; that trick wasn't going to work this time. Instinctively, the Toa of Ice began to struggle frantically, kicking his legs and trying to push the giant's foot off of his upper torso. But, his strength was leaving him fast and his lungs screamed for air as his vision blurred. "Can't . . . breathe," he wheezed weakly.
Kopaka was fading, Makuta could feel it. In a few moments, the Toa would be no more. "Yo, Makuta!" a voice called. Makuta turned to find Kit on a sloping ledge up above, her back braced against the wall and her legs against a boulder. "Think fast," she said, and, with a grunt of effort, she kicked the stone toward him. Makuta smashed it, creating a cloud of rock dust. As it cleared, a light shone in the haze. Before Makuta could make sense of what it was, Kit landed a hard, solid punch, sending the giant down the tunnel. The sound of the behemoth's body scraping through the ground, forming a short trench, echoed throughout the earthen tube. Kit, meanwhile, just gawked-first down the tunnel, then at her fist. A light yellow light slowly dimmed, making her hand look like a glowing orb. When the light completely vanished, she automatically flexed her hand.
"Seems this day's just full of surprises," said a voice.
Turning around, she found it was Takua trying to help a coughing and gasping Kopaka into a sitting position. "First we find out that you're able to use your powers without wearing your crystal, now you pull off a totally new technique that's powerful enough to knock out Makuta," the Ta-Matoran commented. "How are you doing it, Kit?"
Kit remained dumbfounded a moment longer before responding, "I really don't know." Forcing herself to take her eyes off her hand, she went to go help Kopaka to his feet. "All in all, I'd say I did good didn't I, Kopaka?" she asked the Ice Toa with a small grin. "Knocking down Makuta like that."
The Toa stood silent for a moment before responding with a slight, but friendly, smile, "Yeah, you did good, kid."
He rubbed the girl's head gently and her grin evolved into a proud smile.
Meanwhile, the other Toa were gathered at the entrance to the massive tunnel. They all either sat or stood, anxiously waiting for the only one who was yet to arrive—Kopaka. "Where in the world is he?" Tahu growled under his breath. "It's been about an hour since the last of us arrived."
"It's not like Kopaka to keep us waiting this long without any word whatsoever," Onua commented.
"Maybe we should go search-look for him," Lewa suggested. "Or, at least, way-send a messenger."
"That won't be necessary, brother," a voice from the cave spoke.
To say the least, the remaining Toa were surprised to find not only Kopaka, but also Kit and Takua exiting the tunnel.
"Mata Nui, Kit," Gali exclaimed. "You look like you had a wrestling match with a Tarakava."
"Not a Tarakava," the girl corrected. "Darcius and a dash of Makuta."
The Toa exchanged looks with each other, Kopaka, and Takua. Then Pohatu placed his hands on his hips and said, "Sounds like we've got a bit of a story to hear."
Once the group arrived back at Ta-Koro, the very first thing they did was let Takua visit Jaller. The Captain of the Guard looked a little better from the last time Tahu and Kit saw him and was extremely relieved to see his friend alive and safe. Then, finally, everyone, Turaga Vakama and Nokama included, heard Kit and Takua relay the story about the events in the cavern. Once they had finished, Kit asked the turaga the question that had been nagging the back of her mind all of those hours. "Vakama, Nokama, how was I able to use my powers without having my crystal around my neck?"
The two turaga glanced at each other.
"We're not exactly sure, Kit," Vakama answered. "Your crystal is as much of a mystery to us as it is to you."
"Maybe you were able to access your powers because you were in close proximity with the crystal," Onua suggested.
"Possible," Kit agreed, rubbing her chin. "And what about the trick I did with Makuta? I was never able to do that before now."
"It's possible that your capabilities with the crystal are growing, or expanding," Nokama offered. "Over time, you learn new abilities."
"In that case, I almost can't wait until my next 'visit' with either Darcius or Makuta," Kit grinned. "I want to try out my new move again and see what other ones I can come up with."
Every mask in the hut stared at her in disbelief.
"Hey, I said 'almost'," she repeated.
A moment of silence, then everyone burst out laughing.
The days came and went, and once again everything on Mata Nui was as peaceful as it could get. Not to mention, Kit once again found herself practicing meditation with Gali on the Water Toa's favorite peak, her strength and wounds fully recovered. She curiously looked at the Toa, who appeared so focused and serene. She closed her eyes and, almost instantly, her thoughts seemed to go back and forth in between her first meeting with the Makuta and during her mostly solo rescue mission. She recalled how frightened and vulnerable she felt in both situations. Then, they shifted to her running back to help the Toa and her second confrontation with Makuta. Both times she felt no fear. Why? 'Because I felt a need to do something,' she thought. 'I wanted to help my friends. And, apparently, my dedication to my friends was stronger than my fear.'
"It wasn't your fault, Kit . . . you were naturally afraid . . . you have nothing to be ashamed of," Nokama's voice said as she recalled that day on the beach.
In her anger and guilt, she simply disregarded the turaga's words. Now they brought her comfort. More than that, they made her realize that Nokama was right; no matter where you stand, being afraid was nothing to be ashamed of. What mattered here and now was how she handled that fear and that she did everything in her power to fulfill her responsibility. With that resolved, she opened her eyes, only to fall to the ground with a squeal. She landed with a soft thud, and laughed along with Gali. "What in the world happened?" asked the Toa in between laughs.
"I think I somehow managed to levitate a bit," Kit replied. "And lost it when I opened my eyes."
Helping the girl up, Gali walked back to the village with Kit trailing right behind her. Little did they know that down at Ga-Koro, Turaga Nokama was watching them make their way down the cliff. Her eyes glowed with the warmth of a proud smile.