Funny thing in lieu of disclaimer: Real message in a store, fresh out of the "Truth in Advertising Dept.": Try our cough syrup. You will never get any better.
XXX
The Toa prepared themselves for the inevitable, when they heard a familiar humming noise. A squad of Vahki flew in, and immediately radioed for backup when they saw the situation. All the battle-ready creatures below looked up, dumbfounded, and the Toa made their move. They began by hacking at the Bohrok Kal, causing each of the mechanized creatures to explode. They continued to work their way through, while Takanuva fired light energy at the Rahkshi, right to their hearts would be, if they had hearts, which they didn't. The hits caused the Rahkshi to fall defeated and violently expel their kraata. The kraata slithered quickly from the arena in retreat, and their brothers on the ground followed suit.
The reinforcement Vahki arrived, stun staffs set for kill. It seemed as though every Vahki in the city had come. Lhikan hoped in his heart and soul that it would be enough, but he guessed it wouldn't be. Suddenly, Nidhiki appeared in front of him. "We have a score to settle, Brother!" he rasped. Lhikan immediately back-flipped instinctively-right into the waiting arms of Krekka. Krekka grabbed Lhikan's arms to hold them back. Nidhiki began stabbing Lhikan with his huge claws. They didn't do much damage, but they really, really, hurt. Lhikan was now writhing and yelling in pain as Nidhiki gradually increased the speed, power, and depth of his jabs, beginning to draw blood. Both Dark Hunters began to howl with laughter.
Nidhiki plucked away the fire greatswords from Lhikan's hands, and Krekka flung him into the air. The two immediately began alternately shooting at him, Nidhiki with the energy blasts from his mouth, Krekka with his shoulder-mounted disk launcher. The shots gradually sent Lhikan soaring higher and higher. Vakama caught sight of this.
"YOU WILL NOT TAKE HIM AGAIN WHILE I'M ALIVE!" Vakama cried out.
Vakama immediately loaded a freezing disk, which he fired at Nidhiki and hit dead center, and afterwards a shrinking disk, which hit Krekka perfectly. As a result Lhikan fell to the ground and promptly grabbed stabbed his fire greatswords into the ground, and created a ring of lava, of which he was on a small island at the center. The Dark Hunters sank screaming into the lava pool and were incinerated.
"Thanks," said Lhikan.
"Hey, you saved me from them once, now we're even," replied Vakama with a smile.
As Nidhiki and Krekka sank slowly into the lava, a Nivawk hunting falcon soared into the air, unnoticed, and began its long journey back to the Shadowed One. Just after the falcon took wing, the faces of Nidhiki and Krekka touched the lava, and no one noticed them suddenly turn into Rahkshi, wearing infected masks, before they sank below the lava.
Whenua and Matau looked at each other. They nodded, and began their calls for reinforcements.
XXX
Nuparu's orders had been clear. The moderate earthquake launched by Whenua was the signal. He turned to Onepu and said sternly, "Ready the boxors." In Le-Metru, Kongu saw the cyclone rise and shouted, "All vine-swingers capable of strong-fighting, prepare the Ussalry!"
XXX
The Vahki were certainly fighting well, but were being taken down almost as quickly as the Bohrok now were. Then the Matoran army arrived. The Bohrok no longer stood a chance as the boxors punched their cranial cases open, knocking the krana inside to the ground. The Boxors also struck at the easily overpowered Bohrok Va. The Ussalry went for the Rahi, particularly fighting the Nui-Jaga with a vengeance.
Jaller nimbly leapt over a Bohrok, landing on its head. He plunged his double-bladed sword into the Bohrok's head, impaling its krana. He yanked the blade straight out, and began jumping from Bohrok to Bohrok, slashing their krana. He jumped into the middle of a crowd of Bohrok, and, with the reflexes that had made him the defender of the Ta-Metru Kolhii team, he made a slashing whirling jump that chopped each them neatly into fourths. He continued leaping and stabbing, but knew he could not hold all of them off for long. Then he saw the Bohrok-Kal at a distance. He leapt up, onto the head of one Bohrok, and jumped from head to head, quickly reaching the Kal. He had pierced the krana-kal of Tahnok-Kal before the others had a clue as to his presence. The other Bohrok-Kal began to use their powers against him, but he dodged effortlessly, cause their powers to strike each other. He only had to attack two more Bohrok-Kal before all six crumpled, unconscious or dead.
The Toa Metru began to attack the Visorak, their old enemies. Spider after spider fell before the whirlwind of elemental and mask energies. The multitude of Toa tools struck the arachnoid creatures, slashing and smashing them into death or unconsciousness. The creatures could not stand before the might of the Toa.
The Toa Nuvas' veins chilled when they heard the telepathic cries of the twin Bahrag. They powered up their tools to maximum with elemental strength, preparing to fire at the Bahrag and overwhelm them, when they each felt stabbing pains in their minds. The Bahrag had a new telepathic trick, it seemed. Mustering his willpower, Tahu projected his mask's shield powers to the others, to defend them from this mental barrage. Their minds clear now, they launched off their elemental blasts, and Takanuva added a blast of light with it. The energies of the six had imprisoned the queens before, but with seven Toa Nuva, they could not withstand the raw power, and crumbled into dust. As the Bahrag vanished, the Bohrok went limp and to the ground.
Makuta isolated Takanuva for a one-on-one battle.
"I will have that mask!" roared Makuta as he launched attack after attack with his Kolhii staff of darkness, each stronger than the last.
"Only in your dreams, Makuta!" Takanuva retorted, deflecting each attack with his Kolhii staff of light, with clearly increasing difficulty.
Finally Makuta launched a final attack, in a last-ditch attempt to destroy Takanuva. Takanuva fired a similar blast of energy at the same time. The two collided in midair, and both began trying to increase their energy level enough to force the other back. Makuta was clearly winning now. The purple-black energy blast was strongly pushing the platinum blast back toward Takanuva. It was now inches from the end of his staff. Takanuva increased his concentration and the black blast slowed to a grinding halt. This time the platinum blast began pushing stronger. Takanuva focused on the Matoran virtues of Unity, Duty, and Destiny, and the blast continued moving. The meeting spot reached a point right between the two duelists, and completely halted. Takanuva was showing signs of strain.
"He needs our help!" shouted Lhikan.
The thirteen other Toa mustered their energies and fired away at full force toward the platinum beam, adding to its strength when they hit it. The blasts began moving again, quickly, toward Makuta. The blasts made contact.
"NOOOOOOOOOO…" yelled Makuta, his voice trailing off as he was torn apart by the blast.
His mask alone remained and fell to the ground
Takanuva collapsed, exhausted, and his world went black.
XXX
Kind of long compared to those before it, I know, but the story isn't anywhere near over. The mask of presence won't even be mentioned for another three or four chapters.
Angela Toa of Color: Thank you for reviewing! You have no idea how much it means to me, but what do you mean by "too many rushes"?
Feline Freak: You were asking why last chapter was a little rushed? Not dramatic enough? I was saving the drama for this chapter!
By the way, people, start reviewing before I start cracking skulls.
Sorry about the one-day delay last week and the two-day delay this week. I'm going to try to return to the proper rhythm.