Turaga Dume looked out over his beloved city from the tower of the Coliseum. Beside him stood a Vahki Zadakh as a bodyguard, with a Vahki Rorzakh behind them as a messenger. The suns were beginning to darken and set over the City of Legends, casting long shadows and a vibrant red tint to cover the city. Clouds gathered around to cut off the light for the night, but still, for just under an hour more, it would still shine as time passed.

"The time is drawing near," the elder of the city said to the brown-armored Vahki next to him. It wasn't much of a conversationalist, but it was the nearest confidant he had. "And still three Toa plague me with their interference."

Dume glanced up to the darkening sky, resolve in his aged eyes and hunched form. "They cannot be allowed to block the destiny of the Matoran." The Turaga turned to look at the order enforcer, causing it to crouch lower and await the next statement. "You know what to do," Dume said. "They will attempt to free their friends. They must not succeed."

The Zadakh nodded once, then left to prepare. Behind Dume, the Rorzakh stepped up to take its place. Dume watched the small exchange before turning to survey Metru Nui's iconic skyline again—he loved that sight, from the forges, to the chutes, to the towers, to the sculptures. Among those elements, he spotted something that was not part of Metru Nui. It was a lean, agile flying Rahi. Long legs with spikes on its knees and claws on its feet made up the creature's lower half. The top portion was recognizable by the two expansive wings it used to fly.

"Ah, Nivawk returns, with good news, I trust," Dume murmured to himself.

Nivawk routinely landed next to Dume and pulled its wing over its face as it began talking to him. The two of them were at the highest point of the city and alone. No one but Dume would even understand the language, but if there were a translator or someone who knew how to learn the language, this was simply an extra practiced step of precaution and security. Nivawk squawked in a language that relayed everything it had seen—the Toa's fight against the Vahki, their struggle on the chute, and, most recently, the Dark Hunters forcing their way onto the airship in pursuit.

Dume listened until Nivawk finished. He pushed his lips together in thought before saying, "Return to the airship, and make sure the Dark Hunters succeed." With conviction, he jabbed his staff against the floor of the Coliseum. "For the sake of all the Matoran, the Toa Metru must fall!"

Nivawk squawked in reply, then took to the skies again, flying in the direction of the district of Le-Metru.

X X X

Nuju's concentration was broken by the sound of metal against stone. Sitting with his back against the cell wall, he had begun to think about his existence as a Toa a few moments ago. Now, some close cacophony was blocking his logical thoughts from proceeding. He looked up in aggravation, seeing Onewa swing his tools against the wall, obliterating a large portion. The Toa of Ice was familiar with the open skies of Ko-Metru, where beings were actually punished for disturbing his studies. Now, Onewa was acting like he was back at home, carving away to a synchronous rhythm.

"What are you doing?" he asked sharply.

Onewa's arms slumped—from surprise, not fatigue. He turned to look at Nuju. "Are you serious?" He looked at his work, then back at the white Toa. "Let's think about it… Got it! I'm escaping," he shot back. "Didn't you hear my plan?"

Nuju didn't respond.

Onewa groaned. "I'll carve an opening in the cell wall large enough for us to fit through. Once we make it through the architecture, Whenua's drills can do the rest."

Nuju looked over to see Whenua lift his inactive earthshock drills, simply showing he was in support, if unconvinced. "We have to do something, Nuju. We have to keep trying—we're Toa," the Toa of Earth said. "Toa save the city. And the city needs us now more than ever."

Nuju dropped his gaze to ponder that, until Onewa clanked again. That time, though, he had succeeded in bringing down the stone wall. Behind, tightly-packed earth rested and began to tumble through the opening. "Alright, archivist—you're up," the Stone Toa said, backing away.

Whenua came over. He started to lean toward the wall, preparing to drill, then stopped to ask Onewa, "Loud or quiet?"

"The Vahki probably heard me," Onewa replied. "Loud."

"Wait a moment," Nuju said, quickly standing up in protest. "We are going to run from Rorzakh again?"

"And what would you do instead?" asked Onewa, facing him. "Wait here for help? Help from our leader, Dume? Or our protectors, the Vahki?"

"The other Toa are still out there," Nuju said.

Onewa stepped forward, challenging the Toa of Ice. "Yeah? Well we're Toa in here, too. And I'm not going to sit around, waiting for someone else to come rescue me." He held his Toa tools up between him and Nuju. "Not as long as I've got these."

Nuju waited before replying. "I can't say I like our chances."

"Then stay here," Onewa said casually, then he turned back to Whenua. "Do it."

Whenua nodded, despite the tension, revving his drills to a fast vibrating and rotating speed. Then he set them into the earth of the prison wall, quickly carving a new tunnel onward. Onewa retracted his proto pitons before hunching down into Whenua's work, too.

Nuju started to take a step forward but stopped when he heard an alarm ring out through the bars of their cell. A red rotating light was spinning at a fast pace, alerting the enforcers to the break-out attempt. I like our options more than our chances, he thought to himself, icing over the door to buy time. And I dislike our options.

Then he turned back to the fast progress the Toa of Earth was making and ran through the tunnel.

X X X

"Owwww!"

Matau's comedic cry of pain rang out a few seconds after he and Vakama hit the ground. The Toa of Fire's layer of ice did not make the fall any more pleasant, or his weight any lesser. Nokama, off to the side, let out a sigh of relief as her shoulders slumped from their tensed position—Matau had saved Vakama once again.

Nidhiki and Krekka still watched from their overhanging truss of the airship, gusts of the high-altitude winds blowing into the vessel from their entry. Nidhiki frowned at the sight of the Toa's rescue. "Smash the Toa of Fire into fragments," he ordered the blue-and-white giant. "I will deal with Nokama."

"Fun," Krekka growled, jumping off the metal. He landed ungracefully with a large crash not far from Matau, beginning to stalk toward the two.

Up above, Nidhiki crawled over to get a better view through the cargo containers. He stood at a curve, not right-side-up, nor exactly sideways on the platform's edge. Snapping his large pincers in anticipation, he charged an energy net. "Time to end this, Toa of Water!" he hissed down, launching three sizzling bolts at his target.

Nokama ducked underneath the first, dove and rolled to avoid the second and finished by slicing the third into a dissipation with her tools. Then she spun again, hurling one of her hydroblades in Nidhiki's direction. "I agree!" she called.

The tool's sharp-edged head flew straight through the air, its flexible cable trailing behind. Nidhiki quickly jumped out of the way, an impressive feat for his odd body. His four green-and-silver legs propelled him from one part of the ledge to another, where his upper humanoid form's arms swayed to reacquire his balance. "Ha! You missed, little Matoran!" he taunted.

Nokama grew determined. "I'm not a Matoran. I'm a Toa." The flying Toa tool kept on course, shearing through two supports of another walkway. Those supports doubled as suspension security for the ledge Nidhiki was on—something Nokama had noticed, but the Dark Hunter had not. She stood tall. "And I never miss," she ended, as the entire walkway slanted forward before falling to the ground of the storage room.

"No!" Nidhiki cried, falling with the ledge. The metal's own weight, now unevenly supported, tore in half as the Dark Hunter fell below to the rest of the battle scene. The latter half of the support promptly landed on top of him.

Meanwhile, Matau was having trouble finding a way to keep Krekka at bay. His swords hadn't proved much use against the brute's armor, and wind blasts and currents hadn't been strong enough to have an effect. Anything larger would just affect the other Toa. Consequently he had resorted to simply annoying the Dark Hunter with quick-witted comments, and fast movements, punctuated by the occasional punch and kick.

Whatever distracts him, I think-guess… Matau thought to himself. Shouldn't be too hard.

Krekka received another kick, this time to the back of his leg and followed by a clang of Matau's aero slicers on his shoulder. Krekka turned, swinging his arm, but Matau had already flipped away. "Stand still, Toa!" he commanded, frustrated. "Quicker that way."

Matau's misdirection affected Krekka so much the Dark Hunter didn't even notice his original goal had just gotten harder. Vakama's ice shattered into tiny ice fragments and puddles of water. Finally managed to generate enough heat to free myself…that must have been a strong disk, Vakama thought. He looked around at the scene to see where his efforts were most needed. Nokama stood over rubble, not confident enough to go searching through, but obviously the victor of a short battle. The Toa of Air, however, was still enacting his hit-and-run strategy. With that, Vakama started over to him.

Matau saw Krekka prepare and then launch a Kanoka disk. The glimpse he caught was that it was some kind of Po-Metru disk. Something that strong would have enough physical strength to send him out the wall of the airship…if the disk's effects didn't do him in, first. He ducked underneath at the last second, letting it fly overhead and punch another hole in the airship, as predicted.

Krekka stamped on the ground with both feet in anger. He pointed accusingly at Matau. "No fair! You moved!"

Matau raised an eyebrow, wondering if perhaps he had overestimated Krekka's intelligence. Still crouched, he glanced over his shoulder at the new hole, then back at the Dark Hunter. "Noticed that, did you?" he muttered.

But Krekka's comment had not amused Vakama, only angered him. Disk already loaded, he aimed at Krekka. "You kidnap a Toa, threaten Matoran, and try to harm us—and you dare talk about what's 'fair'!?" He fired his Kanoka, earning a direct hit on the surprised adversary. "Take a trip, Dark Hunter!"

The The Le-Metru disk flew straight, true, and fast. As soon as it contacted Krekka's form, he warped out of view in a mix of blue, purple, and red light. Matau stood back up, nearing Vakama. Looking back and forth between Vakama and the spot where Krekka had been, he asked, "You teleported him…but to where?"

Vakama turned away, shrugging. "I don't know," he replied.

X X X

Krekka was confused.

That happened a lot, but it was hard enough to keep up with the complicated world as it was, let alone when reality changes in an instant. One moment, he was about to surely hit the green Toa with a second Kanoka disk, the next, he was nearly sixty bios high over Ta-Metru.

He wasn't there very long, though. In fact, it was only about four seconds before he was back on the ground of Ta-Metru, his arrival accompanied by the sound of an explosive crash. (Teleportation could be disorienting for any being, which was undoubtedly the reason why he didn't think to fly.) The Ta-Metru furnace that had embraced him back to the city crumbled when he struck through it. Among the rubble, Krekka wasn't thinking much when he got back to his feet to try to make a new plan without Nidhiki.

Hate Toa.

X X X

Vakama and Matau walked over to where Nokama was. She stood ready, but not wary, with both her tools back in hand. "He's in there," she said. "And still alive, though he might want us to think otherwise."

As if hearing her, the crumpled metal began to stir as Nidhiki pushed himself up through it. "I see you have spirit, little Toa," he said, as he rose. "I hate spirit."

With the odds now three-on-one, the Toa felt much more confident in the next conflict. But Nokama knew there was a time and place for everything, and fighting Nidhiki here, now, was not the best use of their time. "We will settle with you later, after we have freed Toa Lhikan," she said boldly.

Nidhiki smiled, laughing a sinister chortle. He launched a weakness Kanoka at the doorway to the storage area, decimating the exit. His pincer gestured over his shoulder at the hole he and Krekka had created to board. "And how do you propose to leave here? Do you think you can go through me?" He opened his pincers, preparing for a charge. After all, it seemed like what most Toa would do.

Instead, Vakama and Matau grabbed Nokama's arms. "Actually…" Vakama began, as he placed his disk launcher on his back and Matau readied his wings.

"We were thinking…" Nokama continued, smiling.

"Over you!" Matau finished. The two on either side of Nokama took off, Matau with his powers and Vakama with his tool. Nidhiki reached overhead with his claws, but missed. By the time he loaded a Kanoka, the three were already through the hole in the airship and soaring over the city.

"Let's go!" Vakama instructed. "Toa Lhikan is waiting!"

"But we are too sky-high!" Matau said. "Too many Vahki eyes!"

"Looks like someone will have to settle for more 'ground-walking'," Nokama teased, earning an eye-roll from Matau. Begrudgingly, the Toa of Air helped steer them to a safe landing, where they could resume their travel on foot.

X X X

Still aboard the airship, Nidhiki watched through the opening, his eyes trailing after the Toa until they were lost from view. I could pursue them, but better to find Krekka, he thought, smiling. After all, I know where they are going, even if they don't…and I can get there first.

Then his eyes spotted something else, and his smile disappeared. His glance rested on another aerial being, this one no Toa, possessing taloned feet and large wings. Already it was turning back from the spectacle and moving in the direction of the Coliseum.

Nidhiki scowled in irritation. Fly home, creature, he commanded Nivawk in his mind. Somehow tricking himself into believing it was following his own orders made its constant spying more bearable. The Dark Hunter converted to his own flight mode and left the aircraft. Tell your master one battle was lost, he continued, but the war is far from over.

X X X

"Why we ever decided to give these things Rahi-like sound effects, I'll never know," Onewa muttered to himself.

The machine in front of him, Nuju, and Whenua was letting out another high-pitched fluttering screech as it stalked toward them. Six insectoid legs carried its swaying reptilian design. The number of joints and links down its spine and side supports allowed its body more fluid motion than the Vahki, truly giving its mechanical form an organic image. It loaded and charged a Kanoka disk, shooting at Nuju. Onewa pushed him out of the way just in time, then had to turn to hold off a Rorzakh. After pushing it back with his tools, he checked back on the Kraahu, seeing that it was still coming for him and the Toa of Ice.

Nuju pointed his crystal spikes toward the prison area floor and let his power loose, icing over the surface. "Onewa, Whenua, grab hold of something!" he ordered.

Onewa slung his proto pitons into the ground and Whenua dug his drills in as handholds. Nuju followed by firing an ice blast at the Kraahu, trying to take out the biggest threat first. The elemental attack hit it, sending it skidding in a circle. Nuju's triumph was cut short, though. The tips of the Kraahu's spiked legs suddenly branched out into three smaller spikes, each, which cut through the ice like his own snowshoes would. Then it righted itself and stalked back toward the Toa.

"That's a problem," Whenua commented at the sight.

"We've got twelve more," Onewa answered.

The two squads of Rorzakh and Zadakh that had arrived to stop their break-out were initially neutralized by the ice, but quickly adapted into their flight mode, spinning back toward the Toa. Now six of each kind raced back to apprehend the heroes.

Nuju recalled the elemental ice sheet. It had been a good idea, but it had run its course and failed. The Vahki were flying toward him and his comrades in front and the Kraahu was still leisurely approaching them from behind. "Onewa, can you think of any weaknesses to the Kraahu?"

The Toa of Stone slung his proto pitons toward two Vahki, taking them out of the air. "High-power electricity, magnetism, and maybe superheated substances," he called back. "Nothing we have here!"

Nuju wasn't even going to look around. Here, in this damp, dark prison cave in an unknown location, there were no magnetic devices, superheated weapons, or electric Kanoka lying around. The only option he saw was that the Kraahu, as an elite enforcer, was not designed to chase as effectively as the regular Vahki. It could pursue, defend, and protect, but not trace with the same versatility and speed, due to its size.

"Whenua, Onewa, if we can defeat the Vahki, we might have a chance!" Nuju called.

That assessment quickly changed, however. The Kraahu wasn't just impressive mechanics and strong servos. It hunched down, bending its legs to lower it as it moved toward the Toa. From underneath its Kanoka disk launching "mouth", a pressurized yellow gas hissed out in the direction of the Toa. It wasn't meant for the Vahki, but that didn't matter. It wouldn't affect them—they didn't need to breathe. The Toa, on the hand, would need to choose between not breathing and either winding up a prisoner again or a new exhibit in the Archives.

Even though they had just switched, Nuju backed up to the Toa of Stone. "Um, Onewa?"

Turning around, Onewa became just as concerned, but thought fast. "Whenua! See if you can blow that stun gas away!" he ordered, quickly turning around the grapple with a Rorzakh.

"Too bad Matau's not here," Whenua muttered, dropping his guard to activate his earthshock drills. They didn't work as effectively as a controlled windstorm would, but when he swung their rotating shafts at the gas cloud, it still momentarily dispersed.

Nuju aimed his crystal spikes at Vahki after Vahki, quickly icing over them or firing a bolt of ice that critically damaged it. Onewa was next to him, slinging his weapons at the enforcers, too, driving them back. When he glanced over his shoulder and saw that Whenua's drills had pushed the Kraahu's stun gas back, he moved to distract the elite order enforcer. That left Nuju to shift positions and continue to hold off the Rorzakh and Zadakh on his own, but he knew that the Kraahu was more deserving of two Toa than even a dozen ordinary Vahki.

The fight went their way for a while. Nuju and Onewa were able to cover each others' backs against the Vahki, slowly dropping the numbers of the stone and earth enforcers' squads. Whenua was able to penetrate the stone floor and tunnel into the earth with his drills. Moving through the ground below, he surprised and distracted the Kraahu time after time.

Then the plan met with simultaneous success and failure. Nuju and Onewa managed to defeat all but one Vahki Zadakh. It slipped through their final team attack, hitting Onewa with its Staff of Suggestion. Nuju quickly corrected his aim and swung his spikes at the machine, crippling it, but not before giving Onewa new directive. Under its influence, he sent a ripple through the stone ground, knocking Whenua off his feet before he could tunnel again.

Nuju came over to the Toa of Stone, weapons still ready. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Onewa replied. "Thanks."

"Am I speaking with Onewa?"

The Toa of Stone shot him an irritated glance. "Yes. If you didn't spend all day with your head in the stars and actually paid attention to your city below, you'd know." Nuju lowered his weapons as Onewa picked up his fallen Toa tools from the struggle. "Nuurakh Staffs of Command have a lasting effect, even after the Vahki are destroyed. Sometimes that can be too much, though, so Zadakh's powers are different. They only last as long as the Vahki is sending those suggestions. Yes—it's Onewa."

"I am convinced," Nuju said sharply, running back to the Kraahu.

Meanwhile, the Kraahu had moved into a position towering over Whenua, with the Toa of Earth under its center body and in the center of its six legs. "Uh, guys?" Whenua asked. He moved back and forth, desperately trying to evade capture from the middle two, while the other four kept the Kraahu standing tall. It shrieked again as it lunged for him, barely missing.

Nuju came running at the machine, causing it to pause and turn toward him. Then it shifted its weight from four to three legs, with its middle two still jabbing and grabbing at Whenua. Its unused front right leg pointed at Nuju before shooting off in his direction. It nailed into him, knocking him off his feet and onto his back. He cried in surprise as the leg continued to fight him even on the ground, its three joints allowing it to take the form of a spearheaded, snake-like enemy. It wasn't long, though, before it managed to snake between his arms and torso and release a high-power electric shock. The attack jolted Nuju into a spastic state before he finally succumbed to unconsciousness.

The Kraahu called back its remote-acting leg from the defeated Toa of Ice. Its body shook as the leg flew back into place, only for all its joints to separate and attack right after.

Onewa put up a good fight, trying to raise stone barriers to protect himself by jabbing his tools into the ground. But before long, he, too, fell before the electric onslaught of three "leg-snakes" attacking from three different directions at once.

Last was Whenua, who managed to avoid, evade, and run away from the appendages. The large body of the Kraahu, now hovering without any legs to support it, tracked him with its Kanoka launcher. It fired a level 6 weakness disk at the Toa of Earth, and when it hit, he was the final Toa to go down.

Editor's Note: There is some material in this chapter that is not actually canon, but was written completely by me. The material to which I'm referring contains two scenes: the prison escape attempt by Onewa, Nuju, and Whenua and the scene where they fight Vahki and a Kraahu. I just wanted to explain that they are not canon, and then follow up with why they were added.

Simply put, they help fill in a hole of the timeline. In the comics, we see those three Toa imprisoned by Rorzakh in Onu-Metru while they still have their weapons. But the next time we see them is in the book/movie, imprisoned in Po-Metru WITHOUT their weapons. This could be excused as a simple artistic rendering in the comic to make them look more like their toy counterparts, except that there is a direct quote by Onewa pointing out that they still HAVE their tools. Addressing this fact with a quote seems much more deliberate. (That scene was compiled in the Chapter 3.) Then, in the book/movie, there are comments about them NOT HAVING their Toa tools/weapons.

So, to fill in the blank between whether they do or don't have their tools and the Metru where they're located, I included those two self-written scenes. In the first, they attempt to break out; in the second they fight a Kraahu and fail. I chose a Kraahu because we get to see a Kranua later in-story, but we never actually see a Kraahu in action. I thought the setting of these self-written scenes would be an effective/appropriate place to put its appearance, and the scenes help explain how the three Toa would have been moved to a more secure location with their weapons confiscated.

I hope that wasn't too long or complicated of an explanation. I just want my readers to know where all this material is coming from. Thank you for reading!