ULTIMATE BIONICLE

Chapter 12: Strangers

"Lewa, come here quick!" Arkam yelled out. He was standing on the western shoreline of Le-Wahi.

"What is it Arkam?" Lewa yelled urgently coming out of the trees. Lewa suddenly halted has he stared in awe at the site before him. Two crashed machines, lying smoking on the beach.

"What are those things?" Arkam asked in wonder. He had seen machines like the boxer-vehicle before, but never anything this advanced.

"They looked like ships." Lewa replied, not taking his eyes off of them.

"Where did they come from?" Arkam continued.

"I don't know, but somebody was operating them." Lewa replied.

The first one looked as though the fronthatch had been smashed open from the inside. Lewa poked his head inside of it as Arkam checked out the other one.

Sparks were still jumping every now and then. It looked like the vessel could hold about twenty Matoran. There were seats, some of which that were smashed and out of place. It appeared to be meant primarily for passengers.

Lewa jumped inside and sat in the front seat. He looked at the switches and couldn't help but see if one did something. He pressed a couple but nothing happened. He looked at a ledge on the left side. It had a circular slot that looked like an object of appropriate shape would fit into it.

Lewa then looked beside his seat to the right. There were a few strange disks sitting stacked up. Not resisting the impulse, Lewa picked one up and it loaded perfectly into the slot. He then noticed a lever right next to the slot. Lewa pulled it back hard and the disk was launched flying into the air and crashed into some rocks, destroying them.

"Whoa…" Lewa said in shock.

Arkam had jumped inside the other one. Inside there were strange weapons all along the wall.

"Huh, looks military. It must have been chasing the othership." Arkam thought out-loud.

"Hey Arkam come out here!" Lewa yelled to him, poking his head in the ship. Arkam followed him out and they stood on top of the ship.

"What is that?" Lewa asked curiously, pointing out at sea, at the horizon. It looked like there was land there, but barely visible.

"I'm not sure. I think it's an island. A ship travels across from the water there occasionally. Though it hasn't come here in a very long time. Usually, there is only one guy that comes off the ship, but the Turaga never let us see him." Arkam explained.

"Well how come I've never known of this?" Lewa asked suspiciously.

"Is it possible that you have never been here before?" Arkam asked gleaming. He already knew the answer.

"Well…I guess not!" Lewa said with a big grin on his face. They both started to laugh. As they did Lewa's eye's trailed to the sandy beach below.

"Hey check out those foot prints!" Lewa exclaimed, jumping off the ship and landing on the beach. Arkam followed.

They both inspected the prints. "They look fairly fresh. It looks like there are three different types of prints too." Lewa stated.

"You mean three beings?" Arkam asked.

"No I mean three different types of beings. We had better inform the others of this." Lewa said, gesturing for Arkam to follow him.

&&&&&&&&

One hour earlier…

The air vessel did a side-ways barrel roll, dodging a blast from the ship behind it.

"Matau if you do that again I swear to the spirit I will make you pay!" Whenua said, feeling sick.

"Whenua you need to get your flying nerves in order, otherwise this is gonna be an unpleasant flight for you my friend." Matau said laughing.

"Trust me Matau; I will make things very unpleasant for you later if you do that again." Whenua retorted.

"Why don't you now then? Huh, tough guy?" Matau jokingly challenged. A blast hit the ship making it shake. "That's why, now pay attention to where you're flying!" Whenua yelled.

"Matau maybe I should fly it. It took me a while to build this and I don't want you to wreck it." Onewa suggested.

"Hey! We built it together! Plus, remember the rules; you build, I fly. That's the law." Matau argued.

"And what law would that be?" Nokama asked, humoring Matau.

"The laws of the air!" He said, suddenly accelerating. Nuju was working the radar. "It's gaining on us Matau!" He yelled.

"Maneuver smart, not recklessly." Vakama commanded.

"Don't worry; your Toa of Air has got it all under control! There's nothing to-." Suddenly a blast hit their rear. "Uh-oh…" Matau said lowly.

"What 'uh-oh'?" Vakama asked anxiously. "The uh…engine just got blasted…" Matau was now nervously rubbing the back of his head.

"I swear to…!" Whenua started but then Matau quickly countered. "I can still guide us to a safe landing though. Don't worry guys, we're close enough." Matau unconfidently assured.

"I'll try to slow them down!" Nokama said. She opened the top hatch. "Be careful Nokama." Whenua said. "Don't worry about me, I can handle this!" She replied.

Half of Nokama's body was sticking out of the hatch. She crossed her two weapons. "Now if I can just hit where we hit earlier…" She said. "Wave blast!" She yelled firing energy from her crossed weapons. The blast hit the spot directly and she could see the enemy ship start to lose control.

She ducked back inside and shut the hatch. "That should slow them down." She said smiling.

Their ship was falling towards the beach of the island. They crashed and grinded across the sand about 50 feet. The ship was severely damaged afterwards.

Banging noises could be heard from inside their ship. The hatch then flew off, and Whenua climbed out. Whenua looked back into the hatch. "Tehutti you ok?" He grabbed Tehutti's arm and pulled him out. Whenua then pulled out Vhisola, Orkham and Ehrye.

Whenua jumped down, letting the others out. They all got out. "You ok Nokama?" Whenua asked. "Yeah, I'm fine."

The other ship suddenly crashed right next to them. Out of the ship burst six elite Vahki. "Run!" Vakama yelled.

"You will not get away this time!" One of the Vahki shouted. The Toa and four Matoran sprinted in different directions into the forest.

Ehrye looked back as he was following after Nuju. "Where is it Nuju?" He asked. "I don't know Ehrye, just keep running for now and we can meet up with the others." Suddenly he heard a loud scream. It sounded like Nokama.

"Nokama!" Whenua yelled, turning back around. "Master Whenua we have to keep running!" Tehutti insisted. "Forget that!" Whenua disagreed. Suddenly someone got Whenua in a bear-hug, holding him back. It was Onewa.

"Damnit Onewa!" Whenua shouted, struggling. "Let go of me!"

"Calm down Whenua! We regroup now, fight later!" Onewa insisted.

"But..." Whenua started. "But nothing. Don't worry, we'll find Nokama again. Besides, she can take care of herself." Onewa assured. Whenua groaned in disagreement butstarted to desist. He wanted to fight, but more importantly, he wanted to help Nokama.

"Now let's get out of here!" Onewa yelled. The three of them ran off further into thejungle.

&&&&&&&&

"How I have come into being I am unsure of. Who created me or what my purpose is, I have no idea. I do know something however. I know thirteen names of importance. The names of thirteen enemies that will try to stop me. I feel their strength, even now. I can sense it. I hunger for this strength, but I feel others as well. I feel all that inhabit this island. Every creature that makes up the island's very ecology. But, not only do I take their strength. I must also take the power of their relics. The relics that they keep with them religiously. The ones that they would rather die to protect than give up. Their relics will be the key to my greatness! And nothing will stand in my way! Nothing! "

Note: Ultimate Bionicle has now truly begun...