Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle.
"Lewa has been having nightmares?" asked Gali after the turaga were done speaking.
"That's correct, Gali," Nokama replied. "Ones that were as disturbing as they were frightening."
"But we all get those every once in a while," said Tahu, who was not understanding why this was worthy of discussion, let alone what it had to do with helping Lewa.
"For almost an entire month?" asked Vakama.
"Lewa's been having nightmares during the whole month?" Onua inquired, taking the question right out of the Fire Toa's mouth.
Turaga Matau nodded solemnly. 'No wonder he's been so fatigued lately,' Kopaka thought to himself as he reviewed the past few times he had interacted with the Air Toa. It all made sense, as if all of the pieces of a puzzle had just been put together.
"Why weren't we informed of this sooner?" asked Pohatu.
"At first, I believed-thought it was just a phase," Matau explained. "But, when the dreams started recurring so often, I had Toa Lewa speak-tell them to me, much-hoping that I could help him somehow. Now, I've come to realize that it was far-out of my hands from the start-beginning."
"In fact," Turaga Onewa spoke, "we now believe that Lewa's dreams were not exactly dreams at all. They were messages."
"From who?" Tahu asked with impatience in his voice. He was now more eager than ever to get on with a rescue mission. The turaga, meanwhile, almost seemed to hang their heads, as if they were dreading to respond.
Lewa woke up in a dark cavern lit only with a few spread out lightstones. He was about to get up when he discovered to his surprise that he couldn't move his arms. Looking around himself, he found that he was shackled to the ground by black strap-like tendrils on his wrists and ankles. He tugged at them with every ounce of strength he could muster, but the straps held fast. "I wouldn't bother if I were you," a familiar voice spoke from the darkness, and the Air Toa immediately halted his efforts of escape and darted his head in every angle he could, trying locate the one the voice belonged to.
"Those things could subdue a Kane-Ra bull," another voice said, and it hit Lewa like a blow from the aforementioned beast.
'I've heard these voices before,' he said to himself.
"Indeed you have, Toa," said yet another voice, startling Lewa.
"You've heard-read my mind?"
"Don't sound so surprised," a menacing voice spoke. "We are very familiar with your telepathic connection with the swarms. Therefore, we can hear your thoughts with little effort."
At first, the Toa of Air was confused, but once he put two and two together, an expression of shock and fear could be seen on his Miru. "No, it can't be," he said shaking his head. He didn't want to believe it, but the solution that came to him was the only logical one he could think of. He became aware of the sound of footsteps walking toward him. First, six pairs of silver feet came into the light. As the rest of the forms followed, Lewa couldn't help but widen his eyes as he found himself staring at too-familiar creatures. Creatures he had thought long defeated. "Bohrok-Kal," he gasped as he continuously blinked his eyes, his brain unable to comprehend what he was seeing.
"Yes," Tahnok-Kal answered.
The Air Toa shut his eyes. "This is all just another nightmare," he whispered to himself. "Pretty much-soon I'll wake up." The metallic, cold laughter of Gahlok-Kal made him snap his eyes open.
"We're afraid this is as real as it gets, Toa."
"The Bohrok-Kal are back!" exclaimed Pohatu, unable to believe his ears.
"We're afraid so, Pohatu," replied Whenua.
"But how is that possible?" asked Tahu. "We defeated them months ago."
"That's just it, Tahu," Kopaka spoke. "Though their mechanical shells were destroyed, the krana-kal that controlled them were not."
"That's right," Gali agreed. "The krana-kal managed to escape their 'vehicles' before they themselves fell."
"But then, how is it that they are back?" asked the Toa of Stone. "Many of the machines were ruined when their powers became too great for them to handle. And, why would they want Lewa?"
After a tense moment of silence, Vakama stepped up. "As for how they came back, we cannot say. The only thing we've been able to conclude is that, somehow, they either got their old forms reconstructed or replaced. As for why they would want Toa Lewa, as of yet, they must wish to use him as a means to get to the rest of you." Tahu recognized the tone in his turaga's voice. It was one where he wanted to give something concrete for the Toa to go with, but couldn't.
"At least this time they didn't go around stealing our power symbols," Pohatu said in a half-hearted attempt to lighten the mood. Nobody even cracked a smile.
Standing up, Tahu cleared his throat, "C'mon, Lewa needs our help."
"But, Tahu," Gali called as her brother headed for the door. "We don't even know where they could've taken him."
Kopaka nodded in agreement, "I really doubt that they would take a chance at the Bahrag's old lair again."
"We'll go back to where Lewa was abducted," Tahu replied. "Maybe we'll find something there." The other Toa, though, looked doubtful and Pohatu stood up.
"Tahu just might have something there. Besides, if we're going to find them, we've got to start somewhere."
With that said, the remaining Toa had to agree and they all followed their two brothers out of the hut. The turaga reached the guardrail just in time to see the five Toa running down a path below. 'May Mata-Nui watch over you, Toa Nuva,' Turaga Vakama prayed as he and his fellow turaga watched the group vanish into the jungle.
Meanwhile, Lewa could hardly believe he was encircled by the six Bohrok-Kal. As the Air Toa struggled against his bonds, he asked, "How is it that you're--"
"Here?" Pahrak-Kal finished. "As I believe you will recall, we were successful in escaping our 'bodies' before we were destroyed ourselves. For weeks on end, we were left to scuttle around this island's underground tunnels, when I happened to come across this." The Bohrok-Kal stepped aside to reveal a large and strange black stone. It seemed to give off an aura of pure darkness and evil. "Naturally curious," Pahrak-Kal continued, "I went closer to it. As soon as I touched it, I felt this mysterious energy coursing through me, and the next thing I knew I was in my metal shell. Realizing the stone's potential for our purposes, I set out to find my brethren."
"Pahrak-Kal found us all," Kohrak-Kal cut in. "And soon all of our shells were restored to us. And, the very first thing we had on our minds was the extermination of you Toa."
"And we could still finish the job," said Lehvak-Kal. "Starting with you."
It lifted its claw-like shields and sent out a beam of power at the Toa. The next thing Lewa knew, he was gasping for breath, the air sucked out of his lungs. Lewa knew what was happening—the green Bohrok-Kal was using its vacuum power to extract all of the oxygen in the space that he was occupying. His mind screamed for air as he fought and writhed as much as his restraints would allow him. Soon, he found himself getting weaker and weaker, to the point where he dropped all effort of escape. His breathing slowed down to a dangerous rate and his vision began to blur. He was blacking out when he faintly became aware that someone was shouting and the sound of metal striking metal. All of a sudden, Lewa's eyes opened wide and he found himself coughing and gasping for air. Once his vision returned to normal, he spotted Lehvak-Kal rubbing its helmet and growling, as if it wanted to argue but knew better. Lewa noted that the creature seemed to be—panting. "Why . . . haven't you--" he began to ask as he caught his breath.
"Destroyed you yet? Considering we could easily do so when there's no hope of you freeing yourself?" Tahnok-Kal finished for him. "Quite simple really, part of the reason is though the crystal did give us back our bodies and powers, our powers themselves are not yet up to the strength we once had. So, at least for a time, we cannot use our powers without draining our energy."
"And what's the other half-part?" Lewa asked.
"They don't harm you, at least their not supposed to, because we told them not to," a voice answered.
"We've decided that, for the moment, you're more useful to us alive than dead," continued another voice.
Lewa scanned the shadows, attempting to discover the sources of the voices. He knew that neither came from any one of the Kal, therefore it had to mean one thing—there were two more beings in the chamber. "Did I forget to mention that once I had my brethren gathered, we also used the crystal's power to bring back some familiar faces?" Pahrak-Kal mockingly asked. Then, it stepped to the side, allowing the captive Toa to view a familiar form. At first, it looked like a giant block of protodermis, but, when he looked harder, he saw that there were two giant figures. Twin pairs of red eyes began to glow, and Lewa knew what they had to be—Cahdok and Gahdok, the twin Bahrag queens of the Bohrok swarms.
Meanwhile, back at the site of Lewa's abduction, the Toa arrived. "Now what do we do?" asked Pohatu.
"Onua, can you sense or hear anything?" Tahu inquired.
The black Toa placed an ear against the rock. He knew this was a long shot, but, as Pohatu said, they had to start somewhere. Kopaka watched and let out a quiet snort of mild irritation. 'This is ridiculous; Lewa could be anywhere. What does Tahu hope to find?' Just then, the Toa of Earth stiffened his movements, immediately catching his brothers' and sister's attention. From past experience, they learned to know that whenever he did this, it meant he found something.
Gali approached him, "What is it?"
The Earth Toa raised a hand, asking the others to remain silent. A few more moments passed and Tahu joined him.
"Brother, do you hear anything?"
"Yeah."
"What?"
"Voices and I recognize one them as Lewa's."
"Are you sure?" asked Gali.
Onua nodded, "They're faint, but they're there."
While the Earth Toa took out his quakebreakers, Kopaka, Tahu, Pohatu, and Gali backed away. Onua then revved his tools to life and got to work doing what he did best—digging. Within minutes they were moving forward through the little inlet Onua created. Finally, they caught a break when the quakebreakers revealed some sort of hollow space in the rock. The Toa of Earth turned to Tahu, who nodded his head, and gave another push. The earth gave way and the group walked in to find themselves in a tunnel. "Where does this tunnel lead to, Onua?" questioned Gali.
"I don't know. I'm not familiar with it; there's not even supposed to be a tunnel here."
Kopaka found this rather unsettling. If no Onu-Matoran built this, then who or what did? And for what purpose? Near them, Pohatu felt the walls of the tunnel. "This tunnel was dug fairly recently," he observed. "And judging from the size and width, I'll give you all three guesses as to what made it." The other Toa didn't need three guesses for they already knew what had to be responsible for the tunnel.
"The Bohrok-Kal," Onua growled as he clenched his fist.
If those monsters did anything to his brother, they were going pay, and dearly. Tahu's voice snapped him back to reality. "Onua, can you determine which direction we go from here?" Onua closed his eyes and willed himself to focus. The same voices he heard earlier still sounded soft and faraway, but were loud enough to tell him what he needed to know.
"That way," he announced, pointing ahead of him.
"Then let's go," urged Tahu.
The Fire Toa took off down the tunnel with the rest of the team close behind.
'Mata Nui, please don't let us be too late,' Gali silently prayed.
"Unfortunately, for all its amazing powers, we have been unsuccessful at using the stone to free our queens," Kohrak-Kal explained. "That's why they still remain in that blasted prison you Toa formed."
"But, we will soon remedy that when the time is right," said Gahlok-Kal.
Lewa gave another tug at his bonds before asking, "What do you desire-want with me?"
From within the protodermis prison, Gahdok laughed. "Why revenge, of course. Then, once we are freed, we're going to lead the swarms into doing what they were meant to do—cleanse the island and remove all obstacles."
"And you, Lewa, are going to help us with this mission," said Cahdok.
"Not-never!" exclaimed the Toa of Air with eyes slightly narrowed. Why those creatures ever thought that he would help them was way beyond him.
Gahdok's eyes, however, could be seen gleaming. "You don't have a choice."
Cahdok nodded to Gahlok-Kal, who nodded back and briefly left. When it returned, it was holding something in its right claw. At first, Lewa had difficulty determining what it was. But, as the blue Kal came closer, the form in its claw became more visible. The Toa of Air recognized the thing and widened his eyes in horror. It was a krana, a Krana Za to be exact. "Not just any krana, mind you," said Gahdok. "That is the very same Krana Za that infected you."
Gahlok-Kal rejoined the ring of its brethren. Then, Lewa became aware the Pahrak-Kal was approaching him. Realizing what the bronze colored creature had in mind, the Air Toa instantly began to struggle against his bonds. "No," he instinctively pleaded, "No, don't." Pahrak-Kal knelt beside him and reached for the Toa's mask. Try as he might, Lewa couldn't even slip a hand free and the monster grabbed hold of his Miru. "No, no, noooooooooo," he cried as he felt his mask being pulled off of his face.
In the tunnels, the Toa heard their brother's scream and shared the feeling that their hearts had stopped. Forcing themselves to get over their shock, they willed their legs to move faster.
Lewa dropped to the ground with a soft thud and a feeling of weakness flooded his form. Woozy and vision slightly blurred, he looked up at Pahrak-Kal, his mask in its claw. He tried to struggle again, but found he didn't have the strength to do so. Gahlok-Kal then proceeded to place the krana on the Air Toa's face. However, it only took two steps when an explosion rocked the chamber, sending rocks everywhere and forcing the Kal to shield themselves. "What in the world--" began to ask a stunned Kohrak-Kal before it was cut off. Soon, the rest of the Kal found themselves under attack, being sent to the ground in the blink of an eye.
Tahnok-Kal was the first to work its way to its feet when it heard a voice demand, "Leave him alone, Bohrok-Kal."
Peering into the clearing cloud of rock dust, the creature could not only make out a familiar form, but also a pair of red eyes that blazed like hot flames. "Toa Tahu, how good of you and the others to save us the trouble of hunting you down," the red Kal greeted in a mocking manner as the dust cleared, revealing the rest of the Toa. "A rather unanticipated bonus for taking your precious Toa of Air captive."
Lewa perked when he heard the name and looked in the direction the Kal were facing. Despite his vision being all fuzzy and distorted, he was somehow able to make out the forms of his brothers and sister and felt a sense of hope well up in him.
"Look," said Pohatu as he pointed at the cage Cahdok and Gahdok were in. Though they did expect to find the Bohrok-Kal and the Air Toa, they weren't expecting to find the Bahrag. Tahu, though, was the first to get his mind focused on the task at hand.
"Release our brother this instant," he commanded, pointing his sword at the line that stood between them and Lewa.
"Never," Levahk-Kal responded. "You want him? You're going to have to come and get him."
"That can be arranged," the Toa of Fire smirked, confusing the Kal.
"Look out!" Gahdok called out to the Kal.
But her warning was too little too late. Each of the Kal were blasted away by powerful spouts of water. Gali, who had used the darkness in the chamber to her advantage in order to sneak behind the monsters, leaped to Lewa's side and was shocked at what she found. "Brothers," she called, "they've removed his mask. Find it." She then returned her attention to the Toa of Air, but froze when a shadow descended upon her. She turned to spot Lehvak-Kal about to bring its claws down on her. However, using her aqua axes, she blocked the attack and, from there, it was a test of strength. Meanwhile, Lewa vainly tried to free himself to help the Water Toa, but could do nothing more than watch helplessly. Suddenly, he felt something slimy crawling on his side. He looked to see what it was and, with a little effort put into focusing his weakening vision, he saw it was the krana. Somehow, it had found its way to him, despite the fighting going on, and was now slowly but surely slithering toward his face.
"Almost there," the krana spoke to him in his mind. "And then, it will be just like 'old times'; you will help us fulfill our destiny."
The creature was on his chest now, soon it would be upon him and no one was paying attention. He tried to wiggle the krana off of him by shaking his body, but the creature wouldn't let go.
"Gali," he croaked, trying to get his sister's attention.
Fortunately, Gali heard him and saw what was happening. "Sorry, Lehvak-Kal," she said to her attacker. "But, playtime's over." She shoved the monster away from her and gave it another blast of water that sent it across the chamber. Just when the krana was about to establish contact with the Air Toa's face, Gali grabbed it and threw it against the wall. It fell to the ground, out cold.
"Sister," said Lewa weakly, "h-help me."
"We will, Lewa, don't worry," the Toa of Water assured her brother as she knelt down. Gently, she clanked her fist against his hand, and, in spite of how weak he was, he returned the gesture.
Suddenly, Tahnok-Kal screeched so loudly, the Toa had to cover their ears. "Bohrok-Kal, use your powers," it hissed.
"But they're not yet up to full strength," Gahlok-Kal pointed out.
"Use them I say," the red Kal commanded. "They're close enough to full strength."
"Gali, stay with Lewa," Pohatu called to her. "I've got a bad feeling that this is going to get ugly."
"Yeah, alright," the Water Toa replied, and she planted herself between the upcoming battle and the Air Toa.