ULTIMATE BIONICLE

Chapter 29: The Wind Dies Down

"What! Why would he go to the Coliseum?" Pohatu asked. Vakama sighed. "Probably because he wants to get revenge on Dume as well."

"That's insane though!" Matau said. "I'd be surprised if anybody could stand up to the arsenal of power that Dume has backing him up."

"Then we should help him shouldn't we?" Pohatu said. "If we let him go alone he could die."

"Are you nuts!" Matau shouted. "That's suicidal!" Whenua frowned at Matau. "Aren't you the one always talking about how great of a hero you are?"

"Well sure. But even a great hero like me has his limits!" Matau said defensively. "We're talking about: Nidhiki, Vorak, Krekka, and an army of Vahki!"

"We don't have to fight all of them, Matau." Nokama said with assurance. "All we need to do is find Nuju and leave. We might be able to find Nuju before we even get to the Coliseum."

Matau hung his head. "…Fine. Let's go then…"

"Okay we're all going then," Tahu said. "The Matoran will stay behind and look after Gali, but we need someone else to stay in case of trouble. Who's gonna stay behind?" Tahu asked. "I'll stay behind." Onua volunteered.

"What's the matter, Onua? Are you too afraid of a little danger?" Whenua taunted. "You keep running your mouth like that and Gali won't be the only one who's gonna need looking after." Onua retorted angrily.

"Should we do anything?" Onewa asked Vakama. "Only if it gets ugly," Vakama answered. "If they don't let the anger out now, it'll linger for a while."

"Not my fault you're a coward." Whenua responded angrily. Onua started to walk up to Whenua angrily. Whenua stood his ground. Without any warning Onua kicked Whenua in the stomach; knocking the wind out of him and sending him to his knees. Onua then kicked Whenua in the face, knocking him onto his back. "You're lucky that that's all I'm gonna do!" Onua taunted, turning around and walking away to where Gali was.

Whenua stirred and coughed on the ground. The other Toa started to leave the area, but Nokama stayed behind. She held out her hand and helped Whenua up. "Are you alright?" Nokama asked. "Yeah…I'll been fine." Whenua answered.

Nokama slapped him across the face. "Arrgh! What was that for!" Whenua asked angrily, holding his cheek. "What kind of nerve do you have starting fights like that! He's our friend, Whenua!" Nokama shouted angrily. "He's no friend of mine." Whenua responded.

"Well that's a little obvious! What have you got against Onua huh? If it were anyone else you wouldn't have said anything!" Nokama argued. Whenua remained silent, just staring at Nokama. "Well?" She asked impatiently. Whenua's face became furious. "Why don't you just SHUT UP! It's my business who I like and dislike! How does this even involve you anyway!" Whenua shouted angrily. Whenua walked away, not saying another word.

Nokama stood there feeling hurt. "You, okay?" A voice asked her, causing her to flinch in surprise. She turned around to see Onua standing there. "Are you okay?" Onua repeated. "Yeah, I guess…" Nokama said, hanging her head. "What was that all about?" Onua asked. "Oh, nothing…" Nokama said, "Whenua's just a jerk that's all." Onua chuckled, "Well I can't argue with that. You'd better go with everyone else though, otherwise you're gonna lose them." Onua turned back around to go back to Gali and the three Matoran.

"Hey, Onua…" Nokama said, blushing. Onua turned around and was caught off guard with a kiss. Nokama pulled away, a light blue blush on her face. "Thanks." She said with a smile before following after the others. Onua smiled as he watched her run off into the distance.

&&&&&&&&

The Legion of Toa were out of the canyon and making there way through Po-Metru; being careful not to get noticed by any Matoran or patrolling Vahki. They all hid behind a building while Vakama used his Huna to scout ahead on the ground and while Matau used his swords as wings to scout in the air. Nokama finally met up with the group.

"Where were you?" Whenua asked. "What business is that of yours?" Nokama scorned. Vakama suddenly appeared before the group as Matau landed. "There's clear path through a few allies that way." Vakama told them, pointing in the direction. "You'll have to follow me."

"I'll use my mask to make us all look like Matoran." Matau said, using his mask of Illusions. The Legion of Toa then continued their way through Po-Metru.

&&&&&&&&

All ten Toa reached the foot of the steps of the Coliseum. They looked back and forth, "Okay, Matau. Remove the illusion." Vakama said. Matau lifted the illusion and they all appeared as their normal selves again.

Slowly, they all walked up the steps and through the main gate. "That's odd." Onewa said. "There's usually lots of Matoran in here."

Suddenly, the front gates all slammed shut, and dozens of Vahki swarmed out of different corridors and surrounded them. The Toa all pulled out their weapons. "It's a trap!" Takanuva yelled.

They then heard maniacal laughter as Dume walked to the edge of a balcony above them. Vorak stood beside him. "You Toa really are foolish aren't you?" Dume said with a sinister grin. "How did you know we were coming here?" Vakama asked angrily. "Let's just say, a little bird told me. Or a really big bird I should say." Dume replied.

"What have you done with Nuju?" Nokama asked. Dume raised an eyebrow. "Last I heard of Nuju, he left your pathetic group. He never came here."

Matau looked at Nokama and frowned. "I'm never gonna let you talk me into anything ever again." He said with exasperation.

"Attack!" Dume commanded the Vahki. The Vahki all swarmed in on the Toa and the brawl began.

Whenua fought off Vahki; back to back with Onewa. He swung an Earth-Shock drill; smashing the face of one Vahki, then doing an uppercut with his other, smashing another Vahki. Onewa extended one of his Proto Pitons and it hooked onto a Vahki's shoulder. "Duck!" Onewa shouted. Whenua crouched down as Onewa swung the Vahki around; hitting away many others in the process.

As he was crouched, Whenua stuck both his fists in the ground and prepared for a double Tremor Blast. He guided the blasts in opposite directions through the ground. They both erupted in large masses of Vahki; taking out many. Whenua knew it was a very critical situation, but he couldn't help feeling the thrill of battle. He loved fighting Vahki; no matter what he did to them, he didn't feel bad.

Onewa stopped swing the Vahki and retracted his Proto Piton. Whenua got back to his feet. He started both his drills spinning. He rushed into a crowd of Vahki, swinging his drills violently. They broke their way through many Vahki, though it took straining effort to do so. He brought his drills close together, and smashed them down upon one Vahki's head; then spread them apart and outward, destroying two more.

Whenua was then knocked forward by a Bordakh hitting him in the back with the blade of its staff. Whenua struggled as Vahki started to dog-pile on top of him; stabbing and slashing as they did. "Damn it! What do I do? If I use a Tremor Blast I might kill myself. And I can't get my weapons free!" Whenua thought to himself.

"Wave Blast!" He heard someone shout. All the Vahki were blasted off of him. Whenua painfully got back to his feet to see that it was Nokama that had done it. "Thanks." Whenua said. Nokama did not return a comment or expression. She simply continued to fight.

Suddenly a Zadakh did a swipe kick, knocking Whenua onto his back. He quickly rolled out of the way as the Vahki drove its staff down towards him. Whenua drove one of his drills through the Vahki's head as he got back up. Whenua panted tiredly, "This is a lot harder than it looks." He said. Just then he noticed that all the Vahki around him had backed away, even though they were fighting the other Toa. "Huh?" Whenua said in confusion.

Vorak landed next to Whenua with a crash. "Oh, great." Whenua said sarcastically. Vorak outstretched his claw and lifted Whenua with telekinesis. Vorak began smashing Whenua back and forth into the ground. Vorak flung him up into the ceiling, then back down to the floor. Vorak then lifted up on of his legs and stomped it down towards Whenua. Whenua tried to roll out of the way, but his left arm got trapped under its crushing force.

"Arrrrrrgh!" Whenua yelled it pain. Suddenly Vorak stepped back as Onewa's Proto Pitons hooked onto each of his shoulders and pulled him back. "Hurry, and attack him now!" Onewa yelled, straining to hold the Shadow Rahkshi back. Whenua got up slowly, cringing with pain. "Damn it," Whenua said in pain. "I can't move my arm."

"Hurry up, Whenua!" Onewa yelled. Whenua snapped to attention and forgot about his smashed up, bleeding arm. Whenua swung his right Earth-Shock drill at Vorak; hitting him in the chest then face. Vorak struggled angrily. Whenua jumped and kneed him in the face, then kicked him in the chest with both feet as he fell to the ground. The attack sent Vorak down to the ground.

Onewa retracted his Proto Pitons. "Nice moves." He said, giving Whenua a thumbs up. Onewa then turned his attention back to the battle at hand. Whenua held his arm again; which was bleeding a lot. He fell to his knees; the pain starting to overcome him.

Vorak started to get back up. "Damn…" Whenua said with frustration. "But I've got to try. I'm not just going to let myself get smacked around again!" Whenua yelled valiantly. He ran at Vorak and gave him a hard body-check with his right shoulder. Vorak stumbled backwards from the impact. Whenua then crouched, and did a sweeping kick at Vorak's feet; knocking back to the ground. Whenua got to his feet and started driving his Earth-Shock drill into Vorak's chest.

"You may be a lot stronger. But you're a hell of a lot dumber!" Whenua yelled, his weapon slowly drilling into Vorak. Vorak thrust his claw upward at Whenua, latching it onto Whenua's chest.

Vorak got back to his feet; still holding up Whenua with his claw. The claws dug into Whenua's chest, to the point where it bled. Whenua dropped his Earth-Shock drill and grasped the claw; trying desperately to pry it off. His hand burned from trying to grab one of the green talons.

Suddenly, with tremendous voltage, electricity came out of the claw and surged through Whenua's body. "Gaaaaaaaah!" He screamed in pain as every inch of his body felt the horrid pain of being electrified.

Onewa looked over the crowd of Vahki and saw Whenua's elevated body, writhing and screaming in pain. "Oh no, Whenua!" He shouted, trying to force his way through the crowd of Vahki. However, he was overtaken by the large mass of Vahki.

The pain was tremendous; like all the pain he felt while being tortured was compacted together, and used against him. Soon Whenua stopped shouting in pain, and fell limp as the energy continued to shock him and make his body twitch.

Vorak stopped the electricity from flowing through Whenua's body. Whenua hung there motionless. Vorak tossed him against a wall and immediately fired a Kanoka blast at him. Whenua hit the wall and then the Kanoka hit him. Fortunately, the shot was a little off, hitting Whenua in his injured arm and blowing it off, instead of hitting Whenua in the face or torso.

Whenua hit the floor, still not moving a muscle.

The numbers of Vahki were starting to diminish. Vakama, Nokama and Kopaka were all next to each other; fighting off Vahki. Kopaka spun his sword; slashing many Vahki's limbs off. He stabbed one end forward, plunging it into the face of a Vorzakh, and then freezing it.

Nokama slashed with her weapons, and then crossed them; performing a few more Wave Blasts. Suddenly her head began to throb with pain; so much to the point that she dropped her weapons and fell to her knees grasping her head. Vakama blasted a few more Vahki away with his launcher and then crouched down to try and aid Nokama.

"What's wrong?" Vakama asked. "I…don't know." Nokama said, her head throbbing with pain. "I sense horrible feelings….someone is about to do something horrible!" Nokama cringed in immense pain. "Who? Who is?" Vakama asked anxiously. "I don't know!" She yelled, becoming tearful.

Suddenly, Nokama pointed in a direction, though she did not look. Vakama stood up and looked. There were not nearly as many Vahki as there were before; there were maybe twenty left in the room. He saw where Nokama was pointing; she was pointing directly at Matau. Matau just finished doing a cross-slice with his swords on a Vahki's head, before continuing to fight.

"But Matau isn't doing anything wrong." Vakama said with puzzlement. He saw Matau turn around. He had the same, heroic and thrilled expression he always had when he was in a battle. Just then, something caught Vakama's eye on a ledge just above Matau. Nuju stood above him, looking directly down at him. Vakama immediately felt horror, instead of relief in seeing his comrade.

Nuju held both his Crystal Spikes in his hand, but there was also something much more different about him. Nuju had black spikes sticking out of his arms and legs. What disturbed Vakama the most however, was the look in Nuju's eyes; that of pure hatred.

Nuju jumped off the ledge, falling directly above Matau, and pulled his weapon back behind his head. Adrenaline flowed through Vakama's body at that instant, and he rushed towards Matau. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion "MATAU!" Vakama yelled desperately. Matau turned to him, unaware of the attack coming from above. "NUJU DON'T!" Vakama yelled.

The Crystal Spike smashed into the less protected back of Matau's head. Blood gushed into the air on impact. Nuju landed in a crouched position behind Matau. Matau's eyes went from bright red, to black and dead as he fell to his knees and then to the floor. Vakama skidded to a halt. "No…. NO! Matau! MATAU!"