ULTIMATE BIONICLE

Chapter 7: Disappearance

Gali grumbled as she awoke on the moist underbrush. She felt tired and very stiff. They must have been celebrating all night.

Gali slowly got to her feet. She put her arms behind her head and stretched tiredly. Everything was a mess. She chuckled, "Air types."

She looked around at everyone, when suddenly she noticed something. Onua and Nuhvok were gone. Though Gali wasn't all that worried at the time, she felt the need to make sure.

Gali approached Tahu who was sleeping on the ground. She then drenched his face with water. Tahu rose upwards in great surprise and shook his head back and forth. He then looked up at Gali, very irritated. "Don't do that!"

"Onua and Nuhvok aren't here." Gali told him, changing the subject. "Are you sure?" Tahu said, his voice becoming serious. "Everybody get up!" Tahu suddenly yelled making Gali jump.

"Holy crap where's the fire!" Lewa woke up flailing then rolled off of the table he was sleeping on. He then looked up at Tahu, "Oh, there it is."

Kopaka tiredly poked his head from the side of a platform in the canopy.

"What's with all the noise?" Pohatu complained, slowly getting up.

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"So you're telling me they're gone?" Lewa asked. "That's what he just said you dolt." Kopaka responded rottenly. "Shut up both of you!" Tahu yelled.

"When was the last time anyone saw them?" Gali asked them. "Well the last time I saw them Nuhvok had wandered into the forest and Onua followed shortly after." Pohatu stated.

Kopaka scoffed. "I knew that freak was treacherous!" "What are you talking about?" Gali said angrily. "That little bastard lured Onua into a trap! I knew it would come to this!" "Stop jumping to conclusions just because the situation favors your beliefs!" Gali yelled.

"ENOUGH!" Tahu screamed. The Toa fell silent. "What any of you think of this doesn't matter right now. What matters is finding them and making sure that they're okay, alright?" The Toa all nodded their heads. "Now let's split up and try to find them. We should search around the surrounding area and hopefully we'll find them." Tahu ordered.

Lewa started to head back to Le-Koro. "I'm bringing Arkam with me." Lewa had started to become really good friends with Arkam. They were very much alike.

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Kopaka was now wandering Le-Wahi alone. It had been about half and hour since they started searching, and he was getting impatient. The whole time he had been ranting inside his mind about how stupid Onua was.

"It was all a show," he thought to himself, "The helping us, the false loyalty, it was all just an act in order to get close to us, and now he's got one of us. Stupid Onua. I never thought he would be so naïve. I'd expect that from Lewa, but not him. Just hope he's alright…"

Suddenly he heard a groan from within some bushes. Kopaka stopped and looked towards the noise. He spread open the bush and there lying within it was the badly beaten Nuhvok.

"Well, well, well. Look who had trouble with Onua. Guess your plan didn't work out so well after all did it?" Kopaka said mockingly. "W-what are you talking about?" Nuhvok said confused. Kopaka then kicked him in the face, knocking him out.

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"No fair! You're too fast for me!" Arkam yelled struggling to keep up, swinging on the vines. "Come on! You can do better than that!" Lewa yelled back at him laughing. Suddenly Lewa noticed something that made him stop in mid swing. "Watch out!" Arkam yelled. He swung into Lewa, sending them both crashing to the soft forest floor.

They grumbled as they got back to their feet. "Why did you stop?" Lewa didn't answer. He was too busy observing the area. Arkam then noticed as well. Everything was trashed. The ground was disturbed and torn up. Branches and trees were broken and had fallen over. It looked to them like there was a big struggle here.

"Whoa." Arkam said. "Yeah. Whoa. I better get the other Toa over here." "How are you gonna do that?" Arkam asked. Lewa suddenly held out something and grinned. It was a fire-work and a loud one at that. "I took it from Ta-Koro." It had a string on the end of it, that when pulled would send it off into the air then detonating it after a few seconds.

Lewa fired it into the air and it went off with a huge bang. Shortly after, all the other Toa appeared on the scene. Kopaka arrived last, carrying the beaten and unconscious, Nuhvok.

"Look who I found." Kopaka announced to the other Toa. "What the in the name of the spirit did you do?" Tahu questioned.

"I found him this way. All I did was knock him out." Kopaka argued defensively. "Well bring him over here," Gali instructed. "Let's wake him up and find out what happened."

Kopaka grumbled in disagreement, but lay Nuhvok down in front of them. Gali sprayed water on top of him to wake him up. Nuhvok coughed and shook his head, slowly coming to his senses.

He lay there awake, just staring at the sky for a moment trying to collect himself. He turned his head towards Kopaka. "Why did you kick me in the face." He said weakly.

"That's not important right now Nuhvok." Gali said in a calming voice, getting his attention. "We need to know what happened to Onua." Pohatu continued, crossing his arms. "We were attacked…by…some sort of serpent like creature with arms and legs…wielding a staff. Onua told me to get help. On my way back I was confronted by three others. I barely escaped with my life."

"But what happened to Onua?" Tahu asked eagerly. "I don't know." Nuhvok replied. He slowly started to get to his feet. "Arkam, escort Nuhvok back to Le-Koro for treatment." Tahu ordered. "Right." Arkam replied obediently.

Pohatu was now carefully examining the area. It looked to him like a large blast of energy had been fired. It looked like the trees and even the ground had been forced in one direction by immense force. He looked along the path of destruction until he suddenly saw a red figure in the distance, holding a staff.

It looked right back at Pohatu, then started to run off. "Hey!" Pohatu yelled, starting to chase it. His shout caught the attention of the other Toa and they immediately began to follow Pohatu.

They finally caught up with Pohatu, who was standing in front of a small cliff. At the top of the cliff standing in a row were six creatures, which fit Nuhvok's description perfectly. There was one of each elemental colour.

"What the hell are those things?" Gali asked in disgust. She thought they looked hideous. They were definitely creations of Makuta. "We are the Rahkshi and we have been assigned…no, created for the sole purpose of making all of you dead." The red one said with an evil grin.

"What have you done with Onua!" Lewa yelled in anger. If there was one thing that really bothered Lewa, it was death of comrades. He wanted him to make sure he was okay. "Answer me!"

Their attention was suddenly diverted to the black one, who started to reach for something behind his back. As he began to pull it out it shimmered against the afternoon sun. He then tossed it at Lewa's feet.

Lewa picked it up. A disturbed expression appeared on his face as he stared at it. The other Toa could see it as well. Just the site of it gave them a deep feeling of dread.

It was a golden Pakari. It was Onua's mask!