Gresh watched with an equal blend of amazement and disgust as the last of the creatures deployed from the robot. "What…what are those things? They're headed for the other Glatorian. I need to—" Gresh started to join the battle, then abruptly stopped and turned back to the open hatch.
The Jungle Glatorian was torn for an instant. Did he go help his friends, or take advantage of the opening to get inside Makuta's robot? Then he realized there was really no choice at all. Kiina and Ackar would put saving the world first. He had an opportunity to do that, and he wasn't going to waste it. He started for the open hatch, then stopped. Wait, someone else is coming. More figures were coming out of it, exiting behind the army. Gresh braced for a fight. Well, this time I attack first and worry about identities later.
The first two beings to step into the sunlight were a red-armored warrior and another in white and gold. Gresh greeted them with a cyclone from his blades. "Back where you came from, invaders!" he shouted defiantly. His attack caught both newcomers, slamming them against the metal wall of Maktua with a loud clang.
"What in Mata Nui's name—?! Unnghh!" one coughed, the wind knocked out of him. The white-and-gold being quickly righted himself and dashed through the sands at Gresh. "No one treats the Toa of Light that way! You just bought yourself a pounding, stranger."
Before Gresh could follow up with a second attack, a blast of light blinded him. He staggered, trying to clear his vision before the attack he knew was coming.
"Who is he?" one voice said, the voice of the white-and-gold figure. "He doesn't look like one of Makuta's creations."
"Maybe Makuta had agents here already, somehow," another voice replied. "Take him out. We don't have time to waste."
"Wait!" shouted Gresh. "I'm no friend of Makuta's! I thought you were!"
The glare was starting to fade now and Gresh could make out the shapes of dozens of warriors streaming from the hatch. One came up and grabbed his arm.
"So those are your pals out there, fighting the Rahkshi?" asked the red-hued figure.
"Yes," Gresh answered. "But what are Rahkshi?"
"We call them the 'sons of Makuta,' where I come from," the figure replied. "They're killers…and your friends are in more trouble than they know. My name is Tahu, and this is my brother, Takanuva. We are Toa of Fire and Light."
"Gresh," the jungle Glatorian returned. "Tesara Glatorian."
Tahu turned back to the warriors, large and small, who stood behind him. "Let's go. These people need our help." Tahu looked over his shoulder at Gresh. "You coming?"
"I'm going inside," the Glatorian replied. "I have to stop this Makuta."
Takanuva laughed. There wasn't any humor in the sound. "What do you think we've been trying to do for months? You can't do any good in there—you'll just get yourself killed. So hide here, or fight with us."
"Then I'm with you," answered Gresh, already racing toward the battle. "Let's do this."
"Eager sort, isn't he?" asked Takanuva, following behind.
"Yeah," chuckled Tahu. "Reminds me of you."
Takanuva chuckled back. "I guess I was like that, wasn't I?" he said, looking back at Tahu. Then he stopped in his tracks.
Tahu wasn't moving. He was standing in the middle of the sand, staring straight ahead, as if in a trance. Takanuva ran back to him and started to shake the Toa of Fire. "Hey, Tahu!" said Takanuva. "What's the matter? Come on, speak to me!"
But Tahu couldn't hear him.
X X X
Neither the Glatorian nor the Agori were aware of hate-filled eyes watching their attack. From high upon a rise, Stronius watched the battle below. Once, he had been one of the most elite of Skrall warriors. His tribe had seized control of the city of Roxtus and threatened all the villages of Bara Magna. The period of inactivity while waiting to attack the villages of Bara Magna annoyed him, to the point that he began wandering the desert, attacking and robbing any Glatorian he ran across. Regardless, under the leadership of Tuma, and with the help of an Agori traitor, the desert was about to be theirs.
Then fate played a joke on the Skrall. A warrior named Mata Nui appeared on the planet. He rallied the villages against the Skrall and actually defeated Tuma in single combat. In the battle that followed, the Skrall broke and fled the city. Now most were scattered all over the mountains and desert. Tuma had been disgraced and abandoned by his tribe for his defeat to Mata Nui, left to wander in the desert. Stronius had managed to gather together only a few Skrall warriors and troopers to strike for revenge. But they would be enough.
In the distance, he could see the two giant robots fighting. He did not know who they were, nor did he care. He wanted Mata Nui, but that miserable desert rat was nowhere to be seen. His friends, though—Ackar, Kiina, and the others—they were in the middle of the fight of their lives. It was a conflict that could go either way, and just the sort of situation Stronius could use.
"The Glatorian are attacking the giants—they are doomed," one Skrall commented.
"No! Revenge belongs to the Skrall. They must fall to us, and no one else," asserted another.
Let Mata Nui hide wherever he will, thought Stronius. I will send my Skrall to aid the invaders and wipe out the Glatorian. And then he can live with the knowledge that his friends died for him.
"Go!" he yelled to the cheers of his warriors. He drew his own weapons. "We attack—now! Our vengeance begins today!"
X X X
A moment ago, Tahu Nuva had emerged from the interior of the giant Makuta robot into the sun-scorched desert of Bara Magna. His adaptive armor had taken mere seconds to shift in exposure to the new environment, its equipment including a sand filter on his mask, shaded eyepieces, a hydration pack, internal cooling systems, and even extra seals between the joints to keep out the sand. But as quickly as Artakha's armor had adapted, his surroundings changed just as fast.
Tahu was now standing on a lava field. The place seemed familiar, but he could not quite place where…yes, of course, now he knew. He was back in Ta-Wahi, the region of flame and magma he had first visited. This plain was on an island that he knew no longer existed. It was here he had begun his quest for the Kanohi Masks of Power, and here his battle against Makuta had begun.
There was a mask hovering in the air before him, but…wait, this wasn't right. It was no mere Kanohi he saw, it was the Mask of Life itself confronting him. How could that be possible? The Mask of Life was never on that island, Tahu thought. It was someplace else entirely, and my team did not find it. It was other heroes who achieved that—it was brave Jaller and the Toa Inika. So why am I seeing it where I know it cannot be? What is this?
A voice came from the mask, although its "mouth" never moved. Tahu simply heard the words in his mind. You are seeing what you need to see, said the Kanohi Ignika. A message has been sent; a message has been received. Now I must pass the knowledge onto you.
"So that's it. I'm inside an illusion," said Tahu, his words echoing like thunder. "I can hear myself speaking, but I'm not really talking at all, am I? It's all in my head. This is some trick of Makuta's, and I'm going to—"
There was a blast of color and sound, cutting him off. A billion images shot through Tahu's mind at once. He saw his universe, beings both familiar and unfamiliar, adventures he had not been part of yet now knew must have happened. In that micro-instant, he was more certain than he had ever been of anything that what he was now experiencing was no trick.
The hordes of the Makuta are unstoppable, said the mask. The Glatorian and Agori will fall.
"Thanks for the inspiration," Tahu said. "Well, I didn't go through all I have been through—fighting Makuta, taking an energized protodermis bath and transforming into a Toa Nuva, almost getting killed a hundred times—to give up now."
Yes, you are a Toa Nuva, the mask said softly. But to do what you must, you must be what you were. Becoming a Nuva gave you great power, but it cannot be allowed to stand.
Tahu realized too late what the mask was telling him. "Wait, what?! What are you—?" he began to protest. It was already too late. The power of the Mask of Life washed over him, draining him of his internal power and undoing what the energized protodermis had done to him so long ago. His body, mask and armor changed, going back to what they had been when he was first created, changing him back from a Toa Nuva into a normal Toa Mata. Tahu could already feel his elemental power weakened by the change.
"What…what have you done!?" he raged. "I'm about to fight the battle of my life, and you reduce my power…turn me back into the Toa I used to be?" His adaptive armor had reverted back to his first form as well, causing him to look much the same as when he first arrived on the island of Mata Nui. His adaptive Hau Nuva was lost, replaced by a generic Hau—for he could no longer use the Nuva's capabilities.
The ways of Life are not for you to question, the mask replied. The Great Beings planned for much, though not all. They knew a rampant infection might one day threaten their robot, and they meant for a Toa to stop it. To do so, they gave me the knowledge to create a golden suit of Toa armor. A message has been sent…a message has been received. Now it is time you learned of the power of the Golden Armor.
"Golden Armor? What Golden Armor? I wore a golden mask once," Tahu said, still bitter over the mask's actions. "It was powerful, but it couldn't do what you claim. Even that was replaced by my Hau Nuva…the one you just took."
Those masks were mere candles beside a bonfire, the Ignika replied. I can create the armor, but be warned…it can be used but once, and there is no telling what its use will do to you, Tahu.
The Toa of Fire felt the world spin around him for an instant. Then he was once more in the Bara Magna desert, with Takanuva shouting at him.
"Tahu!? Tahu! Wake up!" yelled the Toa of Light.
Tahu gently pushed him away. "I'm…I'm alright."
"No," said Takanuva, looking his brother up and down. "No, you're not. Tahu, you're not a Toa Nuva anymore. What happened to you? You've…changed."
Tahu reached up and felt his mask and armor. It hadn't been just an illusion, then. The Mask of Life really had turned him back into what he had been before. No longer could his Mask of Shielding protect others besides himself, nor would his fire power be as strong as he had grown used to, and he doubted it would stop the army Makuta had assembled.
"That cursed mask," Tahu said, in a tone of barely controlled fury. "It's ruined me." More irritated than he had time to admit, Tahu changed the subject. "Never mind that. The Mask of Life is creating that Golden Armor," he said, pointing upward.
Takanuva tore his eyes from the strange sight of Tahu transformed. Something was happening up above. Shafts of golden light were erupting from one of the two giant robots. Wherever they touched the sand, a piece of golden armor formed. Takanuva watched as five segments took shape, followed by a sixth in the shape of Tahu's Mask of Shielding.
"Get them fast, Tahu!" the Toa of Light called.
Tahu and Takanuva rushed forward, each grabbing one piece—Tahu grabbing the golden mask and Takanuva a shoulder plate. But before they could gather the rest, the larger of the two robots hurled a burst of energy down at them. Takanuva pointed up at the attack. "Look out!" Too late to move, it struck with a massive explosion, scattering the two Toa and the remaining pieces of armor.
It took a few moments for Takanuva to recover his wits. He lifted his head from the sand and looked around.
"Hey, Tahu? Was that armor really important?" Takanuva asked.
"Yes," said Tahu bluntly.
"Must be why Makuta just blasted it all over the desert," Takanuva groaned, pushing himself up.
Tahu pushed himself up and retrieved his fire sword. "And why we better find all the pieces…fast! The Ignika said I can use it to stop Makuta's evil. All I have to do is put it on."
Beyond the newly formed crater, Takanuva spotted a yellow-armored Rahkshi snatching up one of the armor pieces before running off into the battle. "Then I think we have a problem."
"I got that."