A cold and wet cloth being pressed against his forehead woke Onua from his unconscious state, and he groaned quietly. His head felt like it'd been hit with a sledge hammer, his ears were ringing, and as he slowly opened his eyes, he discovered that his glasses were gone.
"Oh…my head…" Through the ringing in his ears, the disoriented Toa of Earth could hear someone stand up and hurry out of the room.
"Brother, that black person you hit is awake!" It was the voice of the little girl he'd seen earlier. The voice of a young man spoke now, sounding flustered.
"Hahli, he's not a black person. He's from Onu-Metru. They all wear-show black clothes…wait…he's open-eyed?"
"Mhm." The girl responded. "His eyes are a funny color and are all glowy!" There was a pause before the sound of hurried footsteps drew closer, and a dark green haired figure moved into Onua's incredibly blurry vision.
"Who are you?" The figure asked, identifying him to be the young man. Onua blinked slowly, trying to focus on the stranger's face.
"Toa Onua…what about you?" The young man seemed horrified to hear this.
"M-Makito…I-I had no idea you w-were a Toa-hero, honest! I wouldn't have hard-hit you if I knew!" Onua gave a quiet laugh, shaking his head weakly as though to say it wasn't a big issue.
"Don't worry about it…" He said with a quiet and weak chuckle. "Lewa's done far worse to me before…" Makito's eyes widened, mouth open slightly.
"Lewa's live-breathing? Really? I thought-figured he was dead-gone. Where is he? Is he still free-safe?" Onua grimaced, going out on a limb as he responded.
"As far as I know, your brother is still okay and with any luck, has Kopaka with him. I just wish I knew where he was. We all got separated during an attack, and I haven't seen any of them since." Hahli tilted her head slightly, her glasses sliding a bit and making her look even cuter than she already was.
"Mr. Toa…" She asked meekly. "Are my brothers gonna be okay?" Even without his glasses, Onua could make out Makito's worried expression. These two brave Matoran were desperate for answers and guidance. Unfortunately, Onua was more of a follower than he was a leader. After giving it some thought, however, the Toa replied quietly.
"I'm sure they'll be just fine." Makito took him for his word. Hahli, however, pressed on.
"Positive?" She asked hopefully. He gave her a weak smile.
"Positive." There was a sudden and frantic knocking sound, followed by a door bursting open, and a teal haired young man racing into the room, a six year old boy with forest green hair clinging to his back.
"Makito we have to leave, now!" The young man gasped out, eyes wide and expression fearful. The eldest brother blinked and looked over quickly.
"Why? What's the trouble-matter? Were you sight-spotted?" The younger man shakily nodded.
"Yes…The Visorak are already coming after us. Kongu nearly got shot by a Boggarak! We don't have any time to lose!" Makito's face went white, and it became clear to Onua that whatever a Boggarak did was horrible.
"Hahli, quick-grab your things, I'll get the Toa-hero back on his feet." He then turned his attention to Onua, who was already forcing himself to sit up. The twenty-one year old who'd just arrived looked startled.
"You found one of the Toa?" He asked with alarm. "Which one? Who is he?" Makito grimaced as he handed Onua's glasses over to their rightful bearer.
"He's name-called Onua. He's one of Lewa's Toa-Brothers." The other Matoran gasped as Onua stood up, looking the Toa of Earth over with shock.
"I'll explain later." Onua said, seeing the 'unnamed' Matoran's expression. Just wait until we're somewhere safer first." As he said this, Hahli returned, a little patchwork backpack slung over her shoulder.
"I'm ready!" She said quickly, clambering onto Makito's back as he knelt. Once she was settled, he stood up again, picking up a cast iron frying pan as he did so. Deciding not to ask if this was the same 'weapon' that was used to knock him senseless, Onua asked.
"Does anyone know where we're going?" Makito shook his head grimly.
"Baku and I never really had to quick-leave permanently before…we don't have anywhere to go." The Toa of Earth grimaced. He didn't like the sounds of that. Thinking fast, he said quickly.
"Okay, we'll hide in the Archives, even if it's only for a little while. It's the only safer place that I can think of. Are there any objections?" The two eldest shook their heads. "Okay, let's get…" He was cut off by the sound of numerous feet climbing the walls. Baku started to panic.
"We're trapped!" He moaned. "We're finished now, I know it!" Onua looked around hurriedly, his gaze falling to the stairs.
"We're not finished until we're all out cold! Now follow me!" He headed down the steps, Makito and Baku close behind with Kongu and Hahli holding on for dear life. As they moved into the living room, Onua asked.
"Do you have a basement?" Baku, too panicked to care about the absurd question, nodded and pointed to a door across the room from them. "Good, because we're going to need it." Hurriedly, he and the Matoran crossed the room, the sound of clicking now ringing loudly in their ears. Ushering the four Matoran as far back in the basement as they could go, Onua turned and knelt, one hand on the floor as he watched the doorway. "I apologize now for demolishing your house."
Before Baku or Makito could ask what he was talking about, the Toa of Earth narrowed his eyes, the veins in his hand and lower arm starting to glow a pale, dusty teal color. As this happened, everything around them began to shake. Makito stumbled, quickly getting down on his knees and hugging his little sister close, eyes squeezed shut as he appeared to brace himself for a premature burial. Baku dropped to his knees as well, Kongu whimpering as he slid off his brother's back and huddled against his side.
"What are you doing?" Baku shouted over the noise as the sound of destruction seemed to ring out all around them. Onua didn't answer. He couldn't risk losing concentration on the earthquake he'd started. Losing control would mean that he and the others would be buried alive, trapped, or crushed. In any of those cases, death was a high risk, and not one that the nineteen year old was willing to take. Soon the sounds of breaking and crashing were nearly deafening, and even still Onua held onto his natural disaster, unwilling to take any chances on having the Visorak survive.
After almost a full minute longer, the Toa's earthquake dissipated into non-existence, the glowing veins on Onua's hand and arm faded, and as he stood up, a wave of dizziness washed over him, causing the black haired nineteen year old to collapse, disoriented and exhausted. Makito and his siblings were all staring at him, wide-eyed and utterly speechless. After several moments of silence, Kongu asked weakly, his voice holding all the amazement of a child who'd seen a magic trick.
"Wh-what'd you do?" Onua coughed out a faint, highly amused laugh.
"I already told you…I demolished the house…" Smiling a little when he heard one of the Le-Matoran gasp, he commented. "Never did get good marks in the clean house department…so, is everyone okay?" Makito spoke up.
"Other than being nearly ever-deaf, I think so…what about you? You're the one flat-sprawled on the ground-floor." The Earth Toa laughed quietly.
"I'll be fine, Makito. We just gotta get moving soon." Baku moved closer, carefully pulling Onua to his feet and holding him upright while he got re-oriented with standing. As he regained balance, Onua looked around the basement. A lot of things had been knocked over, though thankfully nothing extremely breakable was smashed. Grinning a little as he looked over the damage, he muttered to himself with mild amusement.
"Pohatu, let's see you beat this."
