ULTIMATE BIONICLE

Chapter 15: Vorak the Shadow Rahkshi

Whenua hiked alone in the jungle of the Le-Wahi region, lost deep in his thoughts. He was thinking of back home in the Onu-Metru Archives. They were nothing like this lush untouched jungle. He liked the sound of the jungle's birds singing and the bugs chirping. It was very wild yet tranquil at the same time.

Whenua remembered the Archives. It was a place where a Matoran could learn about the extensive history of their Great city; Metru Nui. Whenua had lived and worked there his entire life, before becoming a Toa Metru. However, despite his extensive knowledge of history due to living and working there, he couldn't care less.

In fact, the one thing he actually liked about the job, despite disapproval from local Vahki, was fighting Rahi that had broken loose. Most of his life Whenua had dedicated himself to becoming a stronger Matoran, and nothing had really changed.

Whenua hated constantly being viewed as a stereotypical Onu-Matoran. Someone who was often called a 'librarian', especially by Po-Matoran. His views on living life based on the past he saw as rather foolish. Sure, it's good to save it, but why dwell on it? Day in and day out, doing nothing but stocking Rahi in tubes and putting tools and artifacts on display. Not the type of life he wanted to lead. Which is why he was so thrilled to find a Toa stone lying on the ground in the Archives that fateful day.

Whenua laughed to himself. He was thinking about how much he didn't like home, and yet here he is dwelling on the past. Really to focus on one aspect of life such as the future like a Ko-Matoran, or the past like Onu-Matoran, didn't really matter anymore to him. He was a Toa now, and he now believed that a Toa must worry about the present most importantly, plan for the future, and learn from the past. Learning from the past, unfortunately, was not one of his strong points as of yet.

Whenua thought of Tehutti. Tehutti was the first friend he had ever had. The other Onu-Matoran were mostly just stuffy historians so he couldn't really relate. Tehutti was younger than Whenua and always seemed to look up to him, which confused Whenua. As a Matoran he wasn't much to look up to.

Whenua suddenly noticed something odd. All the noises of the forest had ceased. Whenua stopped, and tried to listen for any trace of what caused the silence. He listened carefully. Whenua then heard the noise of someone's feet landing softly on the ground behind him, as if it descended from the air.

Whenua turned around. He was confused at first, because it appeared that what stood before him was the Rahkshi of Earth he had killed the day before. However it soon became evident that this was not the same one. This one looked almost exactly the same, except he had large clawed arms, and no staff.

Whenua slowly pulled out his earth-shock drills. "Who the hell are you?" He said, staring him down.

"I am Vorak, the bringer of torment and pain to every living thing on this island." He said boastfully. "And I am excited to finally test my abilities on a Toa such as you. After all, I have fully completed my collection of powers."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Whenua said with confusion.

"Permit me to show you my awesome power. But beware, you shall not survive this." Vorak continued to taunt.

"We'll just see!" Whenua said, running at Vorak. Vorak ran as well and clasped his claw around Whenua's neck. Whenua was now off his feet, being pushed back by Vorak's shear power. Vorak started smashing Whenua through the trunks of trees as he sprinted at an incredible speed. He then leapt into the air, rising high above the canopy. Vorak threw Whenua, sending him smashing to the forest floor.

There was a crater where Whenua landed. Whenua slowly got to his feet. "Holy crap…this guy's not kidding." He said groggily. Vorak landed.

"Well I'm surprised you survived. I guess I'll have to put in a little more effort!" Vorak kicked Whenua, hurling him towards a tree. Whenua maneuvered and managed to brace himself for the impact, stopping himself with his feet. He kicked off, launching himself back at Vorak.

Vorak did not move a muscle. He just stared at Whenua as he was flying through the air to make his counter attack. Whenua got ready to swing one of his drills at Vorak. Vorak held up a claw and Whenua stopped in mid air.

"What the hell!" Whenua yelled, struggling to move. Vorak began to laugh mockingly. "Telekinesis is a wonderful power isn't it?" "You bastard!" Whenua yelled angrily.

"So that's what he meant by collection of powers…"

"What should I do with you Whenua? What should I do? Should and thrash you around a little? Or just rip you limb from limb right now?" Vorak said. He was enjoying every second of this. And yet there wasn't even a hint of insanity in his eyes. His actions were purely choice.

Whenua's limbs started to stretch out as Vorak began to pull with his mental attack. "GGGAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Whenua yelled in agony as he felt himself being ripped apart. Vorak started to move his claw around violently, smashing Whenua all over the place. He spun him around in the air and smashed him through a few trees, then sent him flying high into the air.

Whenua fell, but Vorak stopped him from landing an inch away from the ground. Whenua sighed heavily. He was then sent back into a large boulder, breaking through it.

Vorak approached the dust ridden area where Whenua smashed through. "Are you dead yet Toa?" He taunted. Whenua burst out of the rubble and tackled Vorak. He continually smashed Vorak with his drills as they went rolling down a hill.

Vorak began punching Whenua rapidly. Whenua grabbed his shoulders, stopping his arms for a brief second and head-butted Vorak with the spikes on the forehead of his mask. Blood spurt out of Vorak's face on impact.

They reached the bottom of the hill. They both rolled in opposite directions and got back to their feet. Whenua was panting heavily. He had never been in a fight so intense before.

They ran at each other again and Whenua managed to knee Vorak in the gut. Vorak however, jumped past him, did a roll and shot back at Whenua, giving him a punch to the stomach.

Whenua gasped for air as the impact knocked the wind out of him. He fell to his knees in pain holding his gut, and fell forward resting his head. Feeling a strange sensation inside of him he then coughed up blood.

Without warning, Whenua was kicked in the ribs, sending him into the air. Vorak upper-cut him, then spun around and gave him a back handed punch to the chest. Whenua was knocked into a boulder where he was indented into it.

Whenua fell forward out of the indent and staggered on his feet. His vision was all hazy and he felt dizzy. A fog started to manifest. Suddenly he could see the other five Toa Metru emerge from the fog. They were all facing him, and they looked angry.

"You're pathetic…" Nokama said, her voice sounding echoed. "I told you not to go by yourself you idiot…" Vakama said. "HAHA! Look at how weak you are Whenua!" Matau said. "Foolish librarian…" Nuju said shaking his head. "Go back to the Archives where you belong…" Onewa said.

"No! You're wrong!" Whenua yelled back at them. Tehutti suddenly appeared. He looked at Whenua with an expression of disgust then struck him in the face, knocking him to the floor. "Look! You're so weak even I can hurt you!" Tehutti said laughing.

They all started walking away. Whenua got up and went after them. "What's wrong with you?" He said, grabbing Nokama's shoulder. She turned around and slashed his chest with one of her weapons. "Keep your hands off of me…"

Whenua sat on the ground shocked, not sure what to do. "Wait a minute…" He thought in realization. "This isn't real. None of this is real…"

The illusion faded and once again Vorak was standing before him. "So, you're strong enough to fight back against my illusions. I'm impressed." Vorak said with a grin.

Whenua was breathing hard, but not from fatigue. He was furious. "I'm tired of your tricks Vorak! I have worked hard all my life to strive to be something more than just an Archivist. So there is no way I'm going to let you win this!" Whenua yelled angrily.

Whenua rushed at Vorak and jumped, giving him a hard kick the face. Vorak skidded backwards. Whenua's drills started to spin. He thrust one into Vorak's gut, but he blocked it with one of his claws before it could penetrate the skin. Whenua swung the other one into Vorak's face, sending him off his feet, skidding through the dirt.

Whenua swung a drill down at Vorak but he quickly dodged it, making Whenua's drill dig into the ground. Vorak grabbed the back of Whenua's head and started punching him in the face with his other claw. Each punch caused Whenua's face behind the mask to bleed.

Still grasping the back of his head, Vorak dragged Whenua over to a large boulder. Vorak proceeded to continually smash Whenua's face into the rock. Vorak let go of Whenua, who fell forward and slouched limply against the boulder. "Looks like your ambitions were all for nothing huh? You think you've got more strength than you actually do." Vorak taunted. Whenua groaned in pain.

He grabbed Whenua's leg and dragged him away from the boulder. He then started to smash Whenua back and forth on the ground. In mid swing above him, Vorak let go and jumped up and uppercut Whenua in the chin, then kicked him to the ground again.

Vorak grabbed Whenua's shoulders and lifted him to his feet. Whenua looked as though he was not all there. He couldn't keep his balance and couldn't even hold his own head up.

"Wake up Toa. You're not dead yet." Vorak grabbed Whenua's left arm with both hands, letting his body fall limp. "Here, let me remind you!" Vorak bent Whenua's arm, breaking it. "AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Whenua screamed in agony, falling to the ground. "You gotta love pain eh? Let's ya know your alive!" Vorak yelled, laughing.

"Err, you monster. You won't get away with this!" Whenua yelled at Vorak. He wished it could be like that, but it was starting to look like the end for him. Vorak kicked him in the chest. Whenua was now lying on his back. Whenua was wincing from the pain. He opened his eyes and saw the sky. It was so beautiful and blue…

Vorak lifted Whenua off of his feet by the neck with his left hand and pinned him against a large tree. Whenua grasped Vorak's claw with his right hand, trying to release his grip, "I've got to try…" but he had almost no strength left. Whenua let go from the strain.

"Never thought it would end like this…" Whenua thought to himself. "So many things I haven't achieved. Sorry guys…I guess I'm not coming back after all. I want to fight back but…I can't move. I'm sorry Nokama; I just hope you made it back alright."

Vorak had been building up massive amounts of energy in his right claw. A powerful ball of energy was now built up in his hand. "Any last words Toa? You could always beg for mercy and I might just let you go." Vorak said with a grin. Whenua spit in Vorak's face.

"Fine, have it your way!" Vorak placed his hand over Whenua's stomach. He released all of the energy upon Whenua. The beam lanced through his body, through the tree, and continued into the sky.

Vorak released his grip from Whenua's neck. He slid down the side of the tree and collapsed at the based. Vorak began to laugh triumphantly. He then turned invisible and flew off.

"I feel…cold."

Author's Notes: The Earth Rahkshi's name was 'Vorahk' pronounced: VOH-RAK, while Vorak's name is pronounced: VOR-AK. Similar names, but not the same. If you want to see an image of Vorak or other characters I have made, then click the homepage link in my profile which will lead to my Brickshelf account.