WT A/N

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Dang I'm really bad at uploading stuff in a reasonable time period, aren't I? Maybe this story is just destined to be a once or twice a year thing now. ...Nah. I'll work on this some more and try to at least upload again by say June or July. Any-who, I didn't do the resolution I mentioned in the last note but I did work on some of my stories so at least there's that. So my new one, on New Year's Eve, is to write. That's it. : ) So, enough gibber gabber from me.

biolaj1998: Yeah heh I've gotten so slow. Sorry for the wait, mate. But hey, I'm here now : )

Species Unknown: Lol yep! Though Roxie isn't the kind of gal to just sit and knit. She'll have a hand in this rescue, guaranteed.

AllSpark Princess: Yup, you are right and don't worry. It's not her time to die yet. ^u^ And Nikolaj does but most of his talent's will be shown later.

Galem: Thanks! Nice to know I have backup X ) Yep, Nikolaj gets a chance to shine! However small or big X3

Bionicle fangirl: Reqest granted. Oh, and by the way, when I saw your review in Oct It's what kick started me back to writing on this story. So thanks : )

Chapter 10

No One's POV

In our last chapter of A Bionicle Adventure, our Heroine Roxie and the gang were heading for the Twin Villages or more commonly known as Tesara, when they settled down for the night at some rocks at the halfway point. Later that evening Roxie found herself under attack by Skrall and was stuck fighting alone because sadly, all the Glatorian were asleep! Even our new Hero Nikolaj was catching up on his 40 winks while Roxie fought, then was sadly beaten, and put in a sack. Her calls unanswered, her friends sleeping peacefully, and she tied up inside a sack and tossed in the get-away vehicle, what hope of a rescue is there for Roxie?! What do the Skrall plan to do with her, and why were they at the camp in the first place? At least two of those questions shall be answered-

Next!

While Roxie rode inside the sack the one Skrall had brought, in the back of the caravan, she tried to think of what to do. The Glatorian's hadn't helped her when she needed them, making her think that they had all been drugged somehow. Or were just really, really sleepy. Without help, she had ended up losing her fight with the Skrall and had been knocked down; and then her arms and ankles were tied together. They even joined the ropes behind her back; which made her both uncomfortable, but oddly flattered. Mostly because she realized that if they thought they needed to tie her up like a cow at a rodeo (but backwards), then she must have impressed them so much that they didn't want the chance of her escaping. And then, to add to the lovely experience, she had been stuffed in the sack that one Skrall had been carrying and now felt quite like a pretzel.

She wasn't quite sure why they didn't take her backpack first, but at least it was soft.

Once she was inside the sack, she was—literally—draggedto the caravan and lifted into the back. She was dropped a bit roughly, but Roxie didn't complain much; having been fully expecting to be thrown inside. Or lay on top of whatever animal the Skrall rode on. At least she ended up on her side. Of course, since Roxie never saw what she was dragged to, she didn't know it was a caravan. She had just figured that it was a car of some sort; mostly thanks to how dark everything got once she was laid down. The caravan was mostly just a large metal box on treads that was so dark it blended in to the darkness of the night. For how big it was, it surprisingly didn't make that much sound.

After what had to been only a minute, Roxie felt her ride start moving. Finally, it hit her that if she didn't get help right then and there, she stood a good chance of not being found ever again.

"HELP! GUYS, HELP! OI! I'M BEING KIDNAPPED! HE-E-E-L-L-P-P-!" Roxie yelled, which eventually just gave way to screaming. But it was all for naught. All Roxie ended up with was a painful case of sore throat, and a small case of angry humiliation when she heard unusual but clear laughter. Roxie felt her face start to burn as she was squashed in her sack, and closed her eyes, since leaving them open was a waste of time.

It's time to face facts, girl. You're caught and with no help in sight. Literally. Your only hope is to escape on your own and hope you can backtrack before everyone is long gone. She thought to herself, giving herself a confident head nod. Then she paused. Unless they're all dead and eaten by something…Way to kill the moment, me.

The ride was a long one. If Roxie had to guess, the trip took about a half hour. It might have been longer though, for Roxie found herself dosing off here and there. No real surprise; it was the middle of the night. When her ride came to a stop, Roxie jolted awake from her light nap, and stiffened when she felt her sack being grabbed and lifted. Holding her breath while holding back her feeling of panic, Roxie was surprised when she felt herself being carried between two people; having expected to be dragged again or carried by one guy. As they walked, she kept quiet as everything went from shady, to bright, up to pitch black at different moments.

Roxie was carried for a few minutes in the dark, going from left to right and down as her captors took her deeper into their lair. Roxie forced herself to remember every turn she could; but deep down she worried that she'd forget one or miss a door when—or if—she tried to escape. In the end though, she had made a decent mental map; given that she could not see anything. Finally, there was a pause. Roxie's ears twitched when she heard talking and guessed the Skrall was telling someone about her. Then she heard the sound of metal moving, and after a few steps felt herself being brought into a room. The sack shifted and, with a yelp, the sack opened and with a strong flick Roxie fell hard out of the bag and went rolling onto the dirt.

"Bleech!" Roxie quickly spat out the dirt that got in her mouth and after shaking her head to remove the dust, she looked up at the Skrall. In the seconds it took for her eyes to adjust to the lighting she heard the Skrall laughing at her again. It was quite irritating. Alas, glaring at them did nothing, but it made Roxie feel a little better about the whole thing. Her glare faltered when one of the Skrall came toward her.

"Stay away from me!" Roxie exclaimed as she tried to move away. But it's quite hard to move when you're tied up with your hands and feet behind your back. The Skrall knelt down behind a tense Roxie and, with a sharp black knife it had on its hip, cut the rope that was holding her legs and wrists together. Before she could react more than making a sound of surprise, Roxie was lifted up to sit on her legs. The Skrall made a quick sound and another came into the room. In a second it had the shield on its arm in Roxie's face, and with a growl suddenly set it spinning. Roxie gulped, leaned back a bit then held still as the obvious threat rang through.

Don't move, or you lose your head.

Message well received, Roxie didn't fight back when her arms were grabbed, and she felt the backpacks' straps cut so the bag fell away. Roxie immediately grew even tenser—everything she had, everything useful-everything, was inside that bag! Even earlier, she had managed to slip her bow staff back inside before she was shanghaied, not wanting to lose it. Now she was regretting that idea and really wished she had the forethought to put a knife in her shoe or something. Not that she could once she switched to her gym shoes…The Skrall, their jobs done, moved away and thanks to a really unnecessary push, Roxie hit the ground again, this time on her back. By the time she opened her eyes again, having closed then from the surprise and pain, the door was shut again and in moments she was alone.

Roxie quickly sat up then sighed, maybe a tad louder than necessary but hey, she was captured.

"Well, this is a fine pickle I got myself into." She muttered. Roxie drew her knees up and she dropped her head onto them. "Boy, I really hope the others notice I'm gone before these guys do something really unpleasant to me." She scoffed the next part, feeling a bit cynical. "Of course with my luck a sand storm will come out of nowhere and ruin all the tracks; if the Skrall were even sloppy enough to leave any. Ooohhh brother…"

(5.5)

Nikolaj's makeshift skateboard was holding up even better than he expected. On it, Nikolaj had been keeping up with the caravan and staying just out of sight; which wasn't that hard, given it was still night and the moons had started going down. Even though the whole group had traveled for a really long time that afternoon and he only slept for a few hours that evening; Nikolaj felt great. Well, except for one of his companions-the only other human he's met in this world (so far)-being shanghaied while everyone else caught up on their beauty sleep. That put a dampener on the mood.

Nikolaj's stamina was strong and as the moons disappeared into the horizon and the suns started to rise in the sky, Nikolaj and his target made it to their destination. A large cave in an even larger rock, that looked a bit too short to be a mountain. Hiding behind some boulders as the driver got out, Nikolaj watched as the black and red kidnapper, who looked similar to, but not quite like the Glatorian, opened the back of the caravan and pulled out a large sack. The kidnapper and one more carried the sack inside and while the caravan was moved to another spot, others joined the first guy and headed inside the cave.

Now Nikolaj, somewhat tentative, had another decision to make in the span of an hour. Should he: go inside the cave now, wait a while longer and then go in, wait outside and hope they bring Roxie—who he guessed was in the sack—back out and he could try to break her free, or go around the rocks and look for a different entrance?

Honestly, it wasn't much of a choice. If he didn't follow the guys with the sack, he might never find Roxie. Besides, it wasn't the darkness in the cave that worried him; it was the tunnels that were probably inside the caves. Still, he stood a better chance of getting inside and breaking Roxie out if he had a general idea of where she was. So, Nikolaj put the skateboard back inside his backpack and traded it for his axe. Then, he silently sneaked inside the cave.

(-.0)

After a few minutes with her head down, looking all good and depressed, Roxie lifted her head and sighed.

"Well. That should be long enough. Now, to find a stone or a sharp rock to cut the ropes—I can't believe I just said 'stone or sharp rock'. Goof." Roxie giggled to herself, and then started the weird, challenging and—to anyone else—funny to watch task of moving with her arms behind her back. She carefully laid herself down on her back then wiggled her arms under her bum and up so that her arms were now facing the front. Feeling proud of herself for the accomplishment, Roxie moved on to her next task—finding something sharp to use to cut herself free.

That took even more effort, since she had to basically inch like an inch worm on the sand. Roxie had no idea where she was exactly but she guessed she was inside the Skrall's hideout. She wondered if it was a cave, given how the walls and floor were dark stone under all that sand. Roxie decided to think on that later; since it wasn't very important at the moment. After a while of crawling from one corner of the cell to the next, Roxie hit the jackpot. Buried under a small mound of sand in the far right corner was a small animal's tooth, about the same as a shark's tooth. Or, maybe a claw, since so far Roxie hadn't seen anyone on this world with 'teeth'-per-say. After doing a quick check that she was still alone, Roxie picked it up, and looked over the claw and lightly smirked. The claw was still covered in sand and only about as big as a sharks tooth-but it was sharp and tough.

I wonder if whoever this was in this cell before left it here on purpose. Roxie wondered as she looked at the claw. Then she shifted it, shook off most of the sand, and then started to awkwardly cut at the ropes. It took time and patience, two things she luckily had in abundance (at least in this situation). As she cut herself free, Roxie mused on how she was going to get out. She felt she remembered enough of the turns to make it back, but what if she was wrong? Heh, getting totally lost was a big possibility. What if she couldn't find her way out? Or, just as likely, she bumped into one or more of the Skrall? She, without her weapons and only a claw smaller than an adults' pocket knife. Roxie, like Nikolaj before though she didn't know it, had her own big decision to make. To make a break for it, or wait for help.

Huh, help. Roxie thought pessimistically then winced as she nicked her left palm, leaving a small cut. That is if they are even awake yet and find the tracks before a freak sandstorm or something wreaks them. If there are any-

Right then Roxie heard a snap and looked down at her wrists with a smile, her thoughts put on hold for the moment as she pulled her wrists away from each other and the rope fell off.

"YE-yes!" Roxie started a bit loud then with a giggle cheered for herself quietly. After throwing the rope away, Roxie rubbed her wrists then moved on to her ankles. As she hummed to herself as she worked, a stray good thought went through her brain.

I should keep the rope on my ankles just in case a Skrall comes and checks on me. Honestly, it's a bit of a miracle none have. A weird miracle, but one all the same.

After that thought Roxie just worked in mental and physical silence. The ropes on her ankles were tighter than her wrists so it took a bit more time, but at least she wasn't cutting herself anymore. When she cut herself free, she untwisted the rope on her ankles and instead just laid them on top of her ankles.

Well, now she was free. Now she had to decide what to do next. After a moment she decided that she should escape when someone came to give her food, since she didn't want to trigger anything by opening the cell door. So she sat. And sat. And sat some more.

"Sure wish I kept that diary on me." Roxie muttered to herself, now very, very bored. She couldn't even pace, or she could risk getting busted. "Be the perfect time to read…" So Roxie started making sand hills to at least do something. She was on her third one when she heard someone coming. She quickly flattened the hills and put her arms behind her back and ducked her head down. She didn't want to give anything away and as the Skrall appeared she breathed out to calm herself.

This was it. Her chance to get outta dodge and run for her freedom. The Skrall did something to the door and Roxie guessed correctly he (or she? Eh) was unlocking the cell door. The Skrall opened the door after a bit and, after looking at her in the corner for a beat, he walked in with a food tray in hand. The Skrall knelt down to put her tray on the floor in the middle of the cell, and in the moment its eyes weren't on her, Roxie shifted into third gear. Moving even faster than when she was running from those bullies so long ago, (but actually it was only a few days ago now-huh. Time sure can fly), she moved into a crouch then ran two steps, and using her momentum as best she knew how she spun on her left leg and kicked the Skrall with her right ankle. The kick ended up catching the Skrall on the neck and to Roxie's utter shock her kick sent the just-as-surprised Skrall flying away to slam into the left wall. Roxie finished her spin-kick but went a bit off balance and hit the ground. It wasn't that bad so Roxie was able to get up after a groan.

Roxie glanced at the Skrall and, seeing he (or she) was already getting up, she booked for the door, sliding on the sand a bit as she did. Once she was outside the cell she turned and just about slammed the door shut. Panting slightly she smiled in triumph, and then before she got a big head took off for the exit.

Roxie hadn't gotten very far when she bumped into someone. Stumbling a few steps back, Roxie moved her arms up to defend herself, and then turned the movement into a hug. "Nikky!"

"Whoa! Nice welcome, Roxie." Nikolaj said, laughing and returning the hug lightly. The two separated. "And here I was coming to rescue you!"

"Well you still can." Roxie said with a wink and started marching in place. "Because I am about 99.99% sure I'm going to get lost and/or get busted getting outta here, so Onward my trusty companion!" Roxie pointed up the path she was heading up and that he just came down. "Onward, to glory and freedom! Huzzah!" And with that Roxie started off, a laughing Nikolaj coming up right behind her. Roxie paused when Nikolaj handed her back her backpack and with a big smile she thanked him. He told her he found it in a treasury room and knew it was hers when he saw it. She started to put the bag on but then remembered the straps were cut so she just took out her bow staff and hugged the bag to her chest as they moved on.

The teens backtracked and with the combined memories of the tunnels the two had, they (somehow, someway) managed to go the way they came. As they did they stopped off at a room Nikolaj had found when they heard Skrall coming up behind them. Roxie was surprised to find the room was a treasury room full of stuff and, after she and Nikolaj hid behind some weapons until the Skrall walked past, they snuck out again.

"Was that…?" Roxie started to ask if that was the room and Nikolaj nodded. Question answered, the two continued to sneak out of the hideout in silence. It was a few more minutes later when they finally saw daylight. With a happy but carefully shared look the two teens took off for the exit. Roxie's grip on her bow staff tightened as they did, since other than the Skrall they hid from back at the treasury room, they hadn't seen any more. Yet. At a risk of jinxing it, Roxie thought the whole thing was going a bit too easily.

And that's when the Skrall came out of the walls.

"Dang it!" Roxie let out as Nikolaj and she narrowly dodged the Skrall as they came out of secret doors in the walls.

"Kør!" (run!) Nikolaj shouted and the two ran out of the cave. Both winced at the sudden light, Nikolaj more so than Roxie, oddly enough, but neither had time to complain. They ran and quickly hid behind some large rocks. Behind them the angry Skrall rushed out of their lair and started splitting up to find them.

"Quick, get out your bike! "

"I left it out back at camp!" Roxie whisper-yelled back, making Nikolaj hit his forehead.

"Well we better figure out an escape plan fast or we're in big trouble. I doubt we can out run those guys,"

Roxie bit her lip then, with a sudden epiphany, opened up her backpack. After the two knelt down lower onto the sand to hide better, she started to desperately dig around in the bag for another bike or for skates or anything to help. But thanks to her mounting panic she looked but just couldn't find it. In an effort to get things out of her way Roxie pulled out the board from before and put it to the side with a bit more force than necessary.

"I should have taken my chance and asked you to put wheels on that dumb thing." Roxie grumbled. Nikolaj opened his mouth as he pulled out his makeshift skateboard but Roxie continued, cutting him off, her panic making her sound increasingly annoyed and nervous by the minute. "But nooo, I'm such rubbish at fore-thought that it's no wonder. And what is even the point of these things?"

Roxie stood and without thinking stamped onto the board and stood on it with both feet. That's when Roxie got the next big surprise of her life. The moment she put both feet on the board, it started to lightly shake under her feet and as Roxie gasped the board lifted, actually lifted up from the sand.

"Oh snap!" Roxie let out in surprise and almost fell off the board if Nikolaj hadn't jumped up and steadied her.

"How'd you do that?" he asked, shocked and intrigued. Roxie looked at Nikolaj then down at her feet then at him again.

"I. Have. No clue, mate." Roxie said. Nikolaj let go of her arms and Roxie experimentally leaned forward. The board started moving forward and as the shock wore off Roxie smiled in excitement, completely forgetting about the Skrall looking for them. "Dude you have to try this with yours!"

"Ohhh no, I'll stay on the ground, thank you very much." Nikolaj said with a chuckle and a wave of his hands. "Besides, I was on my board all day yesterday and mine didn't glow and lift a foot of the ground at all—unless I wanted it to. Now let's go, before the Skrall find—"

"Don't say it!" Roxie hissed, waving her hands to stop her friend from jinxing the two of them but it was too late. Three Skrall came around some rocks to the side and spotted the humans instantly. They let out loud yells, signaling they had found their captive and the captives' partner and started running to them. Roxie and Nikolaj stared for a moment.

"—us." Nikolaj finished. Nikolaj and Roxie shared a look then Nikolaj jumped on his board and kicked off. "Let's go!"

"Right—wha-whoa—behind y-you!" Roxie leaned forward with her board, just managed to keep her balance, and then she and the board took off. Flying turned out to be quite hard, even though the principles were simple. Lean right to go right, lean left to go left, lean forward to move and to stop just lean back and stand up straight. It was still hard though and Roxie didn't say one word to Nikolaj on the matter. Well, other than to tell him to stop laughing at her behind his battle axe. He wasn't being very subtle.

The pair only just managed to out ride the Skrall, who followed them for a while shooting large, hard spiked balls at the two. Nikolaj was the one to find out the balls exploded when he had glanced behind himself, saw one headed for his head, and literally jumped and landed on his board facing behind himself. And with a swing that'd make any baseball player proud, he swung and hit the ball with his axe. The arch was both graceful and powerful and the ball went flying back at the Skrall. The Skrall saw their doom approaching and tried to escape it.

But sadly it was not to be. Well, sadly for the Skrall anyway. When the ball hit the sand behind the retreating Skrall it exploded, sending sand and rocks and Skrall flying everywhere. Nikolaj and Roxie froze and stared, and then after the sand cleared enough they could see the Skrall laid out on the ground, but thankfully still moving, the two friends took off again.

This time they weren't followed and the two humans made it back to the camp site in about an hour. By this point they had told each other their parts of what happened since everyone went to sleep and Roxie had gotten used to flying. She wasn't a pro yet, but standing on that board seemed so…natural to Roxie that she didn't fall off more than four times in that hour. By the second neither could keep themselves from chuckling at her expense, even if it did hurt.

The two wove between the rocks and then got off their rides at the last rock and walked into the camp site on foot—but were quite surprised to find the place empty of any life forms. As a matter of fact, if not for the foot prints and signs of Roxie's struggle still there, you couldn't tell if someone had stayed the night.

"Where is everybody? They couldn't have past us, could they?" Roxie asked Nikolaj, quite confused.

"I don't think so." Nikolaj replied uncertain. He walked over to where the Thornax had been parked and made a sound of understanding. "Roxie, over here; tracks that lead away from the camp and go left instead of back."

"So, they left? They didn't even try to track me and you down?" Roxie felt a bit hurt and offended, even though her inner voice told her to not jump to conclusions.

"I don't think that what happened. Or at least what they wanted to do." Nikolaj followed the tracks for a few steps then nodded. "It looks like they drove the car out from the rocks and tried to find us. But I'm guessing a storm hit while we were inside the tunnels, there's no tracks once you get away from the rocks."

"Oh." Roxie said relived and feeling quite a bit silly. "So then, I guess our next move would be to follow their tracks and hope we catch up with the guys."

"I can track them easily." Nikolaj said with confidence and a wink. He pointed his axe in the direction of the tracks and off to the blurry large things in the far distance. "As long as they didn't go any other direction then straight ahead," he added humorously.

"Well then let's go! I'm tired, hungry and have no intention on being here if those Skrall decided to follow us again."

With that the two got back on their boards and with Nikolaj in the lead they headed for Tesara.

Word Count: 4,545

Last Update: Jan 4 2014