Brutaka's Game Ch 12

"I can't believe I tried to make out with him!"
Sarah smirked at Janet's distant rants as she quickly snuck away while everyone was disassembling camp. She followed the trail B.J. and Mark made for over a half hour while taking time to think over her thoughts.
Knowing that it was a matter of time before she faced a Toa again, she figured it would be best to desensitize herself over the idea of intentionally trying to kill someone. To do that, she planned to watch Lewa's execution.
A small part of her already wanted to see him die. He did lie and break her heart after all. A male voice from behind snapped her out of her thoughts and she jumped.
"That was quite the plot twist, wouldn't you say?" smiled Mr. Brute.
"What do you want?" spat Sarah.
"I'm just checking upon you. After all, you've become my favorite player. That fight with the water Toa was thrilling."
"And I suppose you enjoyed it with a nice bag of popcorn?" Sarah asked sarcastically.
Mr. Brute chuckled. "With butter drizzled on top," he teased. "But I will admit, I wasn't expecting a Toa to actually pull something like that off. It certainly makes things more interesting. Especially when he actually tried to lure you into being his friend. Speaking of which, I think you should hurry. The execution is about to start." He then turned around and walked away.
Sarah would've gladly pursued after, but having already reached a considerable amount of altitude with her pack rubbing against her burns, she didn't want to go down and then repeat the trek up.
Suddenly, she heard a gunshot in the distance. "Shoot." She hurried up the hill. She was so focused getting to the top that she didn't notice the small tremor beneath her feet. As the hill plateaued, she saw a large meadow ahead. Sarah stopped behind a large bush, in shock to see a brown Toa cutting Lewa loose. Both had their backs turned to her and there was no trace of B.J. or Mark.
Sarah realized that if they were dead, then she was the only one who knew what has happened. The only question was: should she try to kill the Toa now and risk being killed herself, or sneak back to camp and warn everyone while the Toa disappear and have Lewa reveal everything he learned?
She then remembered her goal to be accustomed to death and drew out the sword and pointed it at Lewa's head. The sword began to glow and shot a spear of ice at the Toa of air. Before it reached him, a pillar of earth rose out of the ground and stopped it mid-flight. Lewa and his brother spun around, startled.
Sarah was as shocked as the Toa and she wondered how on Earth she could've been foiled.
Suddenly, a hand grabbed her on the arm while another grabbed the sword. She looked up over her shoulder and found herself starring straight into the eyes of a black Toa.
Sarah screamed. "No! Let go of me!"
"Not a chance," replied the Toa. "But I will give you this chance: drop the sword." he said sternly.
Sarah continued to scream and struggle, trying to pull herself away. The Toa gave her a cold look and pulled. He gave a good, solid yank while squeezing hard on her arm. They both heard the sound of a crack, followed by Sarah screaming even louder.
She fell on one knee and released the sword. He let her go and she cradled her arm.
"Well, well."
Sarah looked up to see the brown Toa approach her. She quickly fumbled back on her feet.
The brown Toa smirked and crossed his arms. "So, you're the one that tried to kill our sister. I don't know about you, but it's time for some playback."
Sarah's eyes widened and she took a few quick steps backwards before spinning around and made a run for it. Out of nowhere, a hand of earth erupted out of the ground and snatched Sarah. She screamed and cried out.
"Brothers, stop!" cried Lewa. "Don't hurt-harm her!" He then ran to Sarah to make sure she was all right. "Heart-sorry about that Sarah," he whispered. "Onua and Pohatu are actually great to be around when you get to know them."
The two Toa looked at him, shocked.
"Lewa, she tried to kill Gali, and the others nearly killed you. She even tried to kill you just a moment ago," reminded Onua. "And you're here trying to be her friend?"
"I know. But it's not what it seems. It sounds crazy, but when we take her to the others, everything will be explained."
"Oh yeah?" Pohatu asked sarcastically, and then pointed towards the woods. "Then explain that."
Over a dozen Rahkshi approached and began to surround them. Leading the group was Mark. When Mark saw Sarah bound up, he was surprised but then became cross.
"Don't let them take her!" he ordered.
"Uh, change of plans," said Lewa.
Onua removed the hand of Earth and Pohatu then snatched Sarah and carried her in his arms. Onua took her backpack and Lewa took Kopaka's sword. They then fled into the meadow.
"So what now?" asked Pohatu.
Lewa looked over his shoulder and saw the Rahkshi pursuing. "We get her to Onu-koro. I want to have a word with Turaga-elder."
"No," protested Onua. "We're not taking this thing into my village."
"We're not," grinned Lewa. "We're going to sneak-pass her into your house."
Sarah gave Lewa a bothered look. She then saw his mask change to look identical to Pohatu's.
"Race-match you to the tunnel."
The mask glowed and, in a blur, he was gone. Sarah's eyes widened. Soon Onua was gone, and then she saw the world around move past her at incredible speed. Just as fast as they started to run, they stopped. Sarah looked up to find herself being carried into the mouth of a cave.
She then looked over Pohatu's shoulder and saw Onua summoning a wall of earth, sealing them inside.

Mark clutched his fist. "This can't be happening." He paced around, trying to figure out how to salvage the situation. "It looks like they were headed for Onu-Koro. If that's the case, then I shouldn't have anything to worry about." He then looked at the Rahkshi. "Come, my sons. We have some business to take care of with the Humans." He paused. "And the other Toa."

"Keep it down back there," said Onua.
"How can I? She won't stop squirming," Pohatu shot back. He held her tighter, but that only made her screaming and squirming worse.
Sarah had enough and tried to bite him.
"Hey! Stop that!" protested Pohatu. When she didn't heed him, he stopped and, without warning, dropped her.
Sarah yelped and landed on her back. She quickly struggled to get up while holding onto her arm. Onua grabbed the arm and she yelled. She tried to use her good arm to pull herself away.
"Let me go!" she cried. "You're hurting me!"
"After what you've done, I don't really have any sympathy for you," said Onua.
"Wait," said Lewa, "Let me take a look."
Onua raised a brow and took a step back. Lewa's mask changed again, this time into an Akaku. The eyepiece whirled and zoomed in on her arm. With the mask of X-ray vision, he saw through the flesh.
"Her arm is broken." He then gently positioned Sarah's arm.
Sarah hissed and tried to pull away. When she saw Lewa pull out Kopaka's sword, she looked at him worriedly.
"Don't worry, you'll be fine," smiled Lewa.
The sword glowed and a cast of ice was made around her arm. He then stood up and took a step back.
"Better?"
Sarah stared down and quietly nodded. Pohatu then picked her up again, this time she didn't fight back.
Lewa smiled. "That should do-work for now. When we foot-walk to the village, I'll get to work on the first aid."
As Lewa walked down the tunnel, Pohatu exchanged a confused look to Onua. "What's first aid?"

Mr. Petrik looked around nervously. So far, he had successfully led the group through the forest, southward. But Sarah had disappeared and there was no sign of B.J. and Mark.
"Mr. Petrik," cried Mackenzie.
The teacher spun around and saw Mark panting as he ran towards them.
"What happened?" asked Mr. Petrik. "Where are B.J. and Sarah?"
"Toa," panted Mark. "They ambushed us. B.J. is dead, and they took Sarah away. I tried to stop them, but there were too many."
For a moment, everyone around was speechless.
"What do we do now?" asked Mackenzie.
Mr. Petrik paused. "We keep going till sunset. Then we'll figure out how to deal with the Toa."
Mark grinned. "Funny you should mention that. I just happened to have found it along my way back."
Everyone was startled at a hiss as a Rahkshi came up behind Mark.

Onua, Pohatu, and Lewa crouched at the mouth of a tunnel opening into the village. The Matoran were busy in their work, oblivious to their presence.
"I see the Turaga," said Onua.
The Turaga stood near the center of the village, reviewing with the workers.
"Can you distract him?" asked Lewa.
Onua stretched out his hand and made a small section of a tunnel collapse on the other side of the village. The cave-in caught everyone's attention and they rushed over to see if anyone was hurt.
"Let's go," said Onua.
All three made a run for Onua's hut. When inside, Onua shut the door tight.
"You don't think anyone saw us, do you?" asked Pohatu. He placed Sarah on the bed while Onua peeked out side.
"Don't think so." He and the Toa stood around Sarah. "What are we supposed to do with her now?"
Lewa shrugged. "Keep her locked up while we talk to Turaga-elder."
"No problem." Pohatu took Sarah's good arm and used his pincers to cuff her to the wall.
"Is that necessary?" asked Lewa.
"To me, it is. I don't trust her one bit."
"That's okay," replied Sarah, "I don't like you either."
"Enough. There's no need for word-fighting." Lewa took the sword and removed the cast. "How does it feel?"
"It still hurts," she grumbled. She tried as hard as she could to hide the pain.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. "Onua?"
The Toa froze.
"I thought Turaga-elder was distracted?!" whispered Lewa.
"I thought so too," replied Onua.
Pohatu pulled a blanket over Sarah and joined Onua at the front of the door as it was opened.
"Whenua," smiled Onua.
Whenua's mask lit with surprise. "Toa. We haven't heard from you in a while. Have you dealt with the threat?"
Pohatu and Onua gave each other looks.
"Well, not quite," said Pohatu. "Let's just say a plan of ours didn't go very well."
"That's a shame," replied Whenua. "But I recently remembered something about them that you all should know."
"Oh really?" blurted Onua. "If it's alright, let's discus this in your hut."
When the two Toa left and the door shut, Lewa let out a sigh of relief and pulled the sheet off of Sarah. She looked at him, confused.
"What's that all about?"
Lewa shrugged. "Just some confusion that needs to be sort-sifted out." He then looked through Sarah's backpack. He found what he figured to be a medical kit and pulled it out. He then began addressing the broken arm.
Sarah kept her head down and looked away.
A gut-wrenching feeling told Lewa he needed to talk to her. But he couldn't figure out what to say.
"Sarah," he whispered, "I know you're upset, but please understand. I didn't do the things Mark said I did. I didn't kill your friends, he did. He's a Makuta who's trick-playing you to do his dirty work."
"I understand," she whispered. But she then looked at him with a bitter face. "I understand very well. After all, your brothers stabbed me in the leg, burned my shoulder, and left my whole upper body scarred and battered. Then you come along and pretend to be one of us and lied to me. You used me! What in the world makes you think I'm going to believe anything you say!?"
Lewa was almost speechless. "Because I know the truth now. My brothers and I aren't your enemies; we're your friends."
Sarah rolled her eyes. "And I'm a prime example of their hospitality."
Lewa sighed in defeat. After a long period of silence, he spoke again. "Will you at least trust me to fix-work your arm?"
"You don't know anything about fixing arms."
"You'd be surprised." He placed his hands close together and a swirling green sphere of energy began to form.
It caught Sarah's attention. "What are you doing?" Her voice sounded uneasy.
"Quick-healing your arm." He placed the sphere over her and let it fall onto her arm. Sarah felt the energy get absorbed into her and flow through her arm. It was a warm, yet tingly sensation. In a few seconds, the feeling was gone.
"How's that?" asked Lewa.
She flexed it around. "Still hurts a bit, but much better."
Lewa let out a soft smile before his legs gave out. He used the side of the bed to keep himself up, while his head rested on the bed and he closed his eyes.

"So what was it you wanted to tell us?" asked Pohatu.
Whenua put his hand behind his back. "Recently, I remembered that the Humans have a unique power."
Onua tiled his head. "And what would that be?"
"They have mind controlling abilities. But it only works when they are calm and level headed. But they do have an alternative: If they spend enough time around you, they can persuade you to believe anything they want you to believe: a brother of yours is a spy, the sky is red, even talking an enemy into being their friend, ally, and protector."
Onua and Pohatu exchanged uneasy looks.
"Once someone is in their grasp, it's difficult to pull them out because they honestly believe in what they're doing to be true."
"How exactly do you free someone from their persuasiveness?" asked Onua.
"It's simple," replied Whenua. "Destroy whomever is controlling them."
The Toa paused.
"How do you forget something that important?" blurted Pohatu.
Whenua shrugged. "It's been centuries since I've at least seen or heard of them. What do you expect?"
Pohatu wasn't quite pleased with the answer. "Well, I guess it's better than not remembering at all. Thank you Turaga."
Both Toa bowed and left the hut.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" asked Pohatu.
"Yeah," replied Onua. "We have to free Lewa. Question is who's controlling him?"
"It has to be the one we're holding."
"Or not," said Onua. "If we destroy her now and it doesn't work, we not only loose the one person who actually knows who's controlling him, but Lewa will freak out. There's no telling what he'll do."
"Onua?"
The Toa stopped and looked down at Nuparu.
"Can I talk you? It's about Whenua."
Onua looked at Pohatu and nodded for him to leave before kneeling down to meet the Matoran eye-to-eye.
"What is it?"
"The Turaga has been acting strange since you left. He's been a bit more aggressive, he rarely comes out of his hut, and has all the miners building a tunnel. He won't even tell us where it's going. All he says is that it's for our own protection."
Onua tilted his head. "Well, that sure is odd of him. But rest assure, I'll talk to him about it."
The Matoran gave a thankful nod and walked off. Onua strolled back in his hut. When inside, he looked at Pohatu bolting Sarah's other hand to the wall, and then saw Lewa passed out on the side of the bed.
"What happened here?" Onua asked.
"Apparently, Lewa used his healing powers on Sarah," answered Pohatu. He then walked up to Onua and whispered. "So what do we do now? Talking to her might put us under her influence."
"Well, she's been rather quiet. We'll just keep the conversations short and to the point." They looked at Sarah, who was half asleep.
"But I guess we'll have to rest first. It's been a rather long day," yawned Pohatu. Soon, they both heard Matoran screaming and the familiar sound of Rahkshi in the distance.
Pohatu's shoulders sunk. "Or I guess we can take a nap later," he groaned.

As B.J. awoke, the last thing he remembered was being dragged away by monsters. He felt himself restrained by thick vines.
His eyes adjusted to the dim light. There was a black and green fog around him and a few sickly green pillars that reached high into the ceiling. Some were badly damaged while others were destroyed. In the center of the massive room was a glowing pool that took on the shape of a symbol. At one end of the room was a badly damaged door. At the other was a massive suit of armor, appearing to have been crushed by a large sculpture of a mask. From the corner of his eye, something moved. He spun around and looked straight into the green orbs of a robotic being.
"AH!" yelled B.J.
The robot yelled and jumped back. It was shorter than him, with large hands and wore a sash on its shoulders.
"What are you suppose to be?" asked the robot.
"What am I? What are you!?
The Robot brought its head back, appearing aghast that he would ask such a thing.
"Well, isn't it obvious?"
B.J. looked him over. "No."
"I'm a Turaga."
"Doesn't really mean anything to me."
The robot looked at him angrily and kicked him.
"Ow!"
"Respect your elders!"
They both froze as a screech echoed in the room. B.J. looked over and saw two Rahkshi patrol the entrance.
"Oh man, I have to get out of here," said the pilot.
"Good luck with that," said the Turaga. "I've been trapped here for a few days at least."
B.J. looked back at the Turaga. "What are you here for?"
The Turaga shrugged. "I don't know. I was inspecting a tunnel when the world around me went black. The next thing I know, I'm a hostage of Makuta, along with you."
B.J. paused as he recalled what had happen between him and Mark. He raised a brow and leaned back. "Really? Tell me about this... Makuta."

Pohatu landed on his back with a thud. After slowly getting back on his feet and shaking his head, he saw a beach ball-sized rock and kicked it at a Rahkshi, knocking it out. Onua used his powers and summoned a hand of earth to crush another. A Lerahk was about to sneak up on the unsuspecting Toa when a gust of air blew it off its feet and straight into a wall. Lewa then leaned against a house for support.
"They better not be here for your 'friend'," growled Pohatu.
Lewa was about to reply when he caught something from the corner of his eyes. He looked over his shoulder and saw a Rahkshi carrying Sarah away in its arms.
"No!" Lewa struggled to run after her. His brothers followed, only to be stalled by more Rahkshi.
Sarah slowly opened her eyes, dazed and confused. She looked up and stared at the Rahkshi's scaly skin and beady yellow eyes. Its body felt as cold as its appearance. It started to get dark and she looked around to find them entering a tunnel.
"Where are you taking me?" She began to squirm. Sarah then looked over the Rahkshi's arm to see Lewa trying to pursue. Two other Rahkshi got in his way. In response, Lewa's katana glowed and a twister erupted out of it. It sucked them in and shot them straight into the ceiling.
Suddenly, Sarah felt herself falling. A hole formed underneath her captor, deep enough to bury it up to its waist. The hole closed in and the Rahkshi was trapped in place. It screeched in anger.
With Kopaka's sword, Pohatu froze the Rahkshi, but left Sarah untouched. Onua grabbed the Rahkshi arms and pulled them apart, freeing Sarah.
Lewa came over and placed his hands on Sarah's shoulders. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine."
The Toa of air smiled, and then picked her up.
"Let's get you back inside before Turaga-elder finds-" The three Toa stopped and stared at Onua's hut. There was a big, gaping hole where the Rahkshi had broken in.
"What now?" said Pohatu.
The Toa looked around for a new hiding spot.
"Hey," smiled Lewa, "I have an idea."