He had to admit, things were not quite going the way he had imagined. Of course, Matau had imagined that he would be the best, most awesome ToaHero on the battlefield, and that the Visorak would be terrified to the point of cowering as he drew near.

'Stupid ToaHero slowthinking.' The Hordika part of him grumbled in his mind. 'Now you've gone and splitleft the others, and we're surrounded!'

Air whirled violently around him as Matau fought to ignore the voice, determined to maintain control of the cyclone he was attempting to create. He couldn't lose focus now; he'd seen what happened the last time his powers got out of hand, and the startled – if not fearful – shouting by Iruini still echoed loudly in the back of his mind. The twenty-two year old had nearly killed himself and the air-based Rahaga that day, and while they had both made it out of the collapsing chute's way in time, it was still only by a minute margin, which was far too close a call for him to try and face again. No, this time he would stay in control. He would make a proper tornado that would protect him. He would-

'Slowthinker is gonna get walloped if he doesn't quickmove!'

Eyes widened as Matau lost his focus, the wind dissipating as he scrambled backwards... narrowly able to avoid a whirling, black-purple Rhotuka as it hurtled past, striking a Visorak and swallowing it in darkness before utterly vanishing, leaving no trace of the victim at all. The young mutant cringed as he saw this happen, recalling Bomonga's warning about the Kahgarak and their shadow spinners, as well as the fact that there was little to no escaping the pocket dimension of one unless it opened the way itself.

'At least you're a quickdodger.'

Matau huffed as he fought to see where the other Toa Metru were, ducking and darting in a frantic pseudo-dance to avoid the volley of oncoming attacks. Nokama, he noted, was back-to-back with Nuju, whilst Onewa and Whenua were tag-teaming several feet away. But where was Vakama? No matter how hard he tried to spot him, the Air Hordika couldn't see his fiery brother anywhere.

'That dirty sneaktraitor probably ran off to tattletell Roodaka you were here.' He heard in his mind. 'Vakama abandoned you all to die here. He's been on her side the entire time.'

Matau blinked. Surely that wasn't true... was it? Had Vakama actually double-crossed them, and fooled everyone? Was he secretly telling Roodaka about everything they had planned? Had the vision he'd claimed to see been nothing more than clever acting?

He then realized something; if that was allegedly his thought, why did it say 'you' instead of 'we' or 'us'? Cherry eyes narrowed as he scanned around, taking note of the black Visorak that was hanging on the webs above him. It hadn't been his thought at all!

Growling angrily, Matau launched skyward, lashing out on the treacherous Rahi the moment he was able to, and sufficiently sending it falling to the ground. "Get your filthyucky thinkthoughts out of my head!"

From his new, airborne vantage point, Matau searched the battlefield again, determined to learn the truth about just where Vakama had ended up. It took a little while, not to mention some hasty manoeuvring to dodge oncoming spinners, but soon enough Matau found the answer he was looking for. It seemed that the 'firespitter' was, in fact, headed for the Coliseum building, though certainly not of his own volition. Instead, the Visorak had him corralled, pushing him gradually further from his team by focusing their attack angles from specific spots. Even worse, it seemed as though Vakama had no idea this was happening, being given no quarter in regard to chances to think about anything aside from dodging and avoiding getting hit.

That was when Matau saw her. Tall, beautiful, and fully clad in light, form-fitting armor, Roodaka was making her way through the horde... straight towards the cornered Hordika.

Matau would have none of it. Beating his wings as quickly as he dared, the mutant Air Toa hurtled toward his trapped Brother, knowing that, if he couldn't make it in time, Vakama was as good as gone. Part of him wanted to shout a warning to alert his fire-wielding Brother of the danger, but a smarter side held him back, knowing that doing so would not only throw off Vakama's concentration, but also alert the Visorak – if not Roodaka herself – to his own approach. No, there was only one thing Matau could do, and he had to hope his feral side was better at making a landing than he was. "Okay Rahi-me, show me what you got!"

The change could be felt immediately, Matau's 'civilized' mindset getting thrust to the back as the Hordika side took over. He could feel his flight feathers adjusting, shifting minutely as he soared towards his trapped comrade, and took note of how much faster that small adjustment seemed to make him go.

'Huh...' He thought, a little surprised. 'Never knew that would do anything.'

He heard himself – with a more graveled, growly tone – laugh. "Of course you didn't. You're a babyflyer, and wouldn't let me teachshow you. So it's time to get schooled, Hordika style!"

In moments, Matau was hurtling downward, the dive far steeper and faster than he could ever recall going before. It looked like he was going to crash! 'What are you doing?! I don't wanna die!'

The Hordika didn't respond to his frantic thoughts, maintaining course and aiming straight for Vakama. Mere moments from a collision, however, Matau felt himself pull out of the dive, and heard himself shout as he did. "Firespitter, jump!"

To Matau's amazement, Vakama actually jumped, straight into the waiting talons of the twenty-two year old's Hordika-controlled frame. The added weight, however, dropped his speed considerably, forcing Matau to beat his wings even harder as he struggled to stay airborne. Add the struggle of avoiding Rhotuka to the mix, and it seemed impossible to escape. "Gonna need some cover-fire Vakama!" The Hordika growled through gritted teeth, the strain in his voice obvious. "Because we're Rahi bones if you don't!"

"What do you think I'm trying to do?!" Vakama growled back, hurling several balls of fire at the Visorak below as he spoke, each orb exploding when it collided with either its target or the ground and forcing those around it to scatter. "Focus on getting us out of here and leave crowd control to me!"

A jet of purple energy streaked past as he finished, narrowly missing Matau's right wing as he carried Vakama back toward the others. Eyes widening, Matau felt every ounce of himself pushing even harder to get away, and heard the Hordika grumble loudly. "Oh surefine, as if this wasn't a big enough strugglechallenge already!"

"Shut up Matau!" Vakama growled, though notably sounding a bit uneasy. "Just get us away from her before she actually manages to hit us!"

Avoiding the second shot, however, was impossible, wrenching a scream from Matau as he was struck in the back and sent careening toward the ground, every ounce of his sensory and nerve system registering what could only be described as bone-splitting agony. Somewhere seemingly distant, he thought he heard someone shouting, trying to get his attention. Moments after, he had crashed on something vaguely soft, like soil that had been mixed around with something cold. And then?

Darkness.

^v^v^v^

"Hurry Onewa, they're almost on us!"

A low growl rumbled in the Stone Hordika's throat as he fought to control his elemental energy. It was hard enough without distractions, he didn't need Nokama screeching at him about having a time limit. As it was, it had been a remarkably lucky break that the four Hordika were able to regroup, as well as take note that Matau – carrying Vakama – was headed for a crash landing. Luckier still, that Whenua and Nuju had been able to create a cushion of snow and dirt to catch the falling Hordika so they didn't meet a rather unpleasant end.

Now it was up to Onewa to create a rock dome over everyone so they had a chance to recuperate, and try to figure out how to deal with their new predicament. "Come on..." He growled through gritted teeth, eyes narrow as he watched the stone wall forming up and around them, plunging them into darkness as it sealed overhead. A great sigh of relief escaped him as the twenty-two year old relaxed, the struggle for focus melting away as he sat against the wall he had just made. "There." He panted out. "That ought to hold them out for a while..."

"But for how long?" He heard Nuju ask. "Will we have enough time to come up with a plan?"

"I already have one..." Vakama replied dazedly, a small fire dancing to life in his palm and mildly illuminating the inside of the dome. "And all we need is for Matau to wake up."

"Well, guess we're all as good as dead." Onewa grumbled. "A plan that rides on Matau being reliable is as useful as a hammer with no head."

Whenua frowned over at him. "You can still hit things with it." He pointed out. "And given that we are presently in a fight, that's a good thing."

As the others turned their attention back to Vakama, Onewa scowled. So far things had gone from the frying pan to the Great Furnace, as far as he saw it, and now they were relying on the same person who got them there, to get them out of it again. Wasn't the definition of insanity doing something repeatedly and hoping for new results each time?

'I think you should listen to him.' He heard his feral half remark, sounding rather bored. 'It's not like you've been much better.'

Onewa tried to ignore the voice. So what if he hadn't? At least he hadn't nearly gotten everyone killed repeatedly.

'You're the idiot who didn't bring water when you were searching Po-Metru earlier.'

Well, there was that. Begrudgingly, Onewa turned his focus to Vakama again. "Fine, I'll listen. But it better be good because we can't stay in here forever."

All eyes turned to him again, Whenua blinking as he asked. "That's... almost uncharacteristically nice of you, Onewa; if we get out of this alive I'll make a record of it."

"Oh shut up." The younger Toa grumbled crossly. "It's not that big of a deal. Besides, it's not like anyone else has a plan."

"For once in his life, Onewa's made an unpredictably good point." Nuju remarked, unable to hide traces of a smirk as he looked back to Vakama. "So, what exactly is your plan?"

"It's fairly simple, actually." The twenty-four year old replied. "We are going to trap Roodaka in a Toa Seal. She's out there on the battlefield already, and is more than likely making her way here. AS it is, she wants our power so she can free the Makuta from his own prison, so the Visorak aren't going to try and kill us outright when this dome goes down. So, I think we need to trap her before she has a chance to even realize what we are doing. With Roodaka out of the way, the Visorak should scatter."

"So that's why you need Matau." Nokama murmured, understanding flooding her expression. "We need him for a Toa Seal..."

Onewa spoke up. "So let me get this straight. We're going to wait for Matau to wake up, break down the dome I just put over us, and try to surprise attack someone who knows we're in here, gambling on the fact that she may or may not expect it to happen?"

Vakama shifted uncomfortably. "Well... Yes, actually. That's the plan."

The Stone Toa frowned somewhat. "Hopelessly outnumbered, very little chance of success..." His frown melted into a smirk. "Sounds like a typical Friday night."