"I'm not moving."
The Visorak hissed and clicked in rage as it struggled in vain to get the nineteen year old Toa of Earth off its back. Onua, luckily, had been more aware of his surroundings than his would-be attacker had expected, and was now perched on the Rahi's back, pinning it down and preventing it from getting up again. The Visorak continued fighting anyway, and Onua couldn't help but admire its determination.
"You know," He commented, as though starting an amusing conversation. "You and I could learn a lot from each other. I mean, there's probably a lot we could teach." He paused before adding. "Well, other than the fact you probably would just say that you wanted to kill me. You nearly got me, you know. Just a little faster, and I'd be gone." The spider-like creature sputtered angrily at him, thrashing harder, though since Onua was using his incredible strength to hold it down, the agitated creature wasn't getting very far. The Toa laughed quietly.
"You're just going to wear yourself out, Rahi. You probably won't want that." He paused, thinking a while. "Tell you what; let's call this a draw, make a truce, and get on with our lives as though this never happened. Sound reasonable to you?" The creature sputtered irritably again, though it stopped struggling to escape, just shifting a bit and clicking with displeasure. Onua grinned.
"I knew we could come to an understanding." Carefully, he slid off the Rahi's back, watching closely as it got up, turned, and fixed him with a death glare, though it made no move to attack him. "So," The Toa said with a faint smile. "You'll go you're way, I'll go mine, and we'll be perfectly fine, got it? No back stabbing, no nothing. Just turn and go, got it?" The Visorak hissed irritably at him, clicking its pincers as it slowly started to back up, eyes fixed on the young man as it did so. Slowly the Toa started backing up as well, until finally they were out of each other's eyesight. Grinning a little, Onua turned around and continued on his way, limping due to the burns that had resulted from a fire, which he had a strong feeling was started by Tahu. Rubbing his hands, still bearing bandages and pain-filled wounds on his palms from the battle with Teridax seven years ago, he sighed as he remembered the pain of when he first grabbed the Makuta lord's staff, how it felt like his hands were enflamed with a fire that could never be put out with normal water.
"Gali tried so hard to heal my hands after that…" He said quietly. "Never had the heart to tell her that it didn't do very much…" He shook his head. "And as it is, I'm never going to be able to hold anything painlessly again…" He looked up at the foggy sky and once more let out a sigh." Mata Nui help me through this…" A sudden clicking right behind him jolted Onua out of his thoughts and he turned…only to discover it was the same Visorak he'd pinned down only minutes before. Blinking, he was startled to see that it was watching him with an almost hopeful gleam in its bright orange eyes.
"You…want to follow me?" He asked curiously, trying to guess what the Rahi wanted. It clicked a few times, moving closer before clicking at him again. He quirked a faint smile. "Guess that's a yes…alright, go ahead. Just don't kill me, okay? I'm in pain as it is." He didn't really get a response, and thus quirked a faint smile once more. "Guess you understand that too…" He turned and started walking again, the Visorak following him quietly, and occasionally making a clicking noise with its pincers. After a while of near silence, Onua spoke again.
"Must get lonely without anyone to talk to." The Rahi merely clicked in response. "Not sure if that's a yes or a no, but nice to know your opinion." He glanced around again, coughing quietly and spitting on the pavement. "When I find Tahu…" He muttered, wincing as a stab of pain shot up his burned legs. "I'm going to make sure he sees the damage he caused…" Shaking his head a bit, Onua adjusted his glasses and sighed. "One would think I'd enjoy silence after being with the others for so long…now I just want to hear them again…" The sound of crumbling stone caught the Toa's notice and he froze, eyes watching closely for the cause of the noise. After a few more seconds he heard it again, this time closer. Without giving warning he turned, just in time to dodge a bright red energy disk. "Geez, just when I thought the party was over, someone has to go and start it again!" He could see the Visorak that'd been following him making a hasty retreat to avoid the fight, and couldn't help but wonder if it was the reason he had been found. Deciding he could think about it later, the Toa of Earth shifted his fingers a bit, three blades sliding into place and locking positions when they were at a length that Onua found suitable. Long, shaped like claws, and jet black, the weapons had obviously been designed both for battle, and digging holes.
The first of the attacking Visorak came into view now a total of three, each colored differently, and all rather large in size. Onua took on a defensive stance, his eyes seeming to glitter as he scooped up a large rock with his battle claws. Bracing himself, the nineteen year old shifted, winding his arm back and carefully taking aim before throwing his weight forward, hurling the chunk of rubble with every ounce of his strength. He barely had himself steadied when the projectile hit the first target, killing the Rahi on impact as it was flung backwards and into several others that, along with the other two, were advancing still. The remaining Visorak hissed and clicked in anger as they opened fire, hurling energy disks of a wide variety of colors along with thick strands of webbing. Onua ducked for cover, leaning back against the building he was hiding behind as he tried to devise a strategy. So far the odds were against him, as he was outnumbered, outgunned, and quite possibly outmatched. Thinking quickly, he dug his claws into the wall behind him and pulled, loosening several parts of it.
"It's a farfetched gamble…" He thought grimly. "But if I can pull fast enough, I might be able to make an opening and get in before the wall can collapse…" He paused, soon realizing that pulling wouldn't get him anywhere fast enough. Dislodging his claws and ducking an energy disk as its releaser came around the corner, Onua slammed his frame back against the wall, causing it to cave in and dropping him into the room behind as the stones above the opening fell. Scrambling backwards, the Toa Mata barely made it out of the way as the wall collapsed, sealing the opening and cutting out most of whatever dim light there had been. Dusting himself off, Onua let out a low whistle, looking over the damage he'd caused.
"Wow…that's a Pohatu-styled mess if ever I saw one. Too bad he isn't here to see it." Obviously satisfied with his accomplishment, the Toa of Earth turned and looked around curiously. He appeared to be in the living room of someone's house, judging by the moth-eaten and incredibly dirty furniture. Surprisingly, hardly anything, other than what Onua had just obliterated, appeared to be damaged, other than by aging and dust. Quietly walking over to the mantle over the fire place, the nineteen year old gingerly picked up the largest picture frame, his claws sliding back into his gloves as he lightly rubbed the glass in the hopes to see the image behind it. At first, nothing really became clearer, but after a while, Onua's patience paid off, and he was able to see who was in the picture.
Six grinning boys, each with green hair of varying shades, could be seen clustered around they're Le-Matoran father, and Ga-Matoran mother, the latter of which holding a baby with bright yellow-orange eyes. The mother's expression was a tired, yet cheerful one, showing her happiness and pride in her seven children, the oldest appearing to be somewhere in his twenties, with the second and third oldest close behind him. The third youngest wasn't that far behind the older ones, looking to be seventeen, with the second youngest looking to be around fifteen. The youngest boy was only two years old, and was sitting on his father's knee. Now turning his gaze to the father, Onua was surprised to see a very familiar facial shape and expression. Why, if he didn't know better, he would've considered this man to be Lewa as an adult. But if this was Lewa's family portrait…
Why wasn't Lewa present? Scanning the children's faces again, particularly the youngest three boys, Onua confirmed that the Toa Mata of Air wasn't present in the photo.
"Where is he…" Onua murmured quietly, carefully turning the frame in case something was on the back, only to find it blank. Sighing, the Toa of Earth replaced the picture on the mantle, and picked up one of the smaller ones. Rubbing away the grime on the glass, he couldn't help but smile. There was Lewa, trapped in a headlock and laughing, his older brother, Onua couldn't tell which, grinning as he held Lewa with one arm, and messed up the boy's already disastrous hair with his free hand. "There you are…"
A sudden noise caught Onua's attention as he turned, setting the photo back where it belonged as he did so. Near the staircase, the nineteen year old could make out the shape of a small figure, no taller than a three year old child. Blinking, Onua moved a little closer, trying to make out a distinct shape.
"Hey," He asked softly. "Are you alright?" The figure shook its head, the voice of a young girl quietly replying.
"I-I'm scared…" Onua smiled weakly.
"Truth be told, I am as well…are you here alone?" The little girl shook her head, pointing at something behind the Toa of Earth. Blinking, Onua started to turn, wondering what was behind him, but a heavy object came crashing down on his head before he could see who or what was there. Staggering, he blinked dazedly, dropping to his knees as he mumbled.
"Sneaky…little…devil…" And with that, the Toa went limp, collapsing fully and seeing no more.
