A/N: I'm so sorry guys! I didn't mean to take this long to get the new chapter ready. I had a pretty awful case of writers block for about a week, and for the life of me could not figure out how to write the middle part of the Chapter. Then I got an awful sinus infection and my allergies are driving me nuts. As it is, the chapter is substantially shorter than the last, mostly because I have a lot to cover in the next chapter.
Thank you so much to Shatter Dave and LokaCola for their reviews and the continued use of their OCs, Dave and Mark,
Thanks to Andonexus Knight of the Damned for Reviewing.
And a big thanks to biolaj1998 for reviewing, twice, and for adding this to their Alert List. Welcome to the club.
As always, I don't own anything except for my characters and the Plot. Dave Shatterfate belongs to Shatter Dave, and Mark Johnson belongs to LokaCola.
Please Guys, Review and if you have any ideas or suggestions, please let me know! I would love to hear from you!
That's done… Now on with the Chapter
***Previously***
Lizzy reached over her shoulder and drew her sword, which blazed with light and energy. Taking their cue, the others drew their weapons. Dave drew his double Tomahawks and fit them together, the handles elongating to form a double ended staff. Mark swung his ax, assuring himself that he had enough room to fight while Brianne coiled the chain to her Kamas loosely around her wrists. Katie took a deep breath and reached back for her weapons. She drew out two small knife looking things. She turned them over in her hands; they looked like polished wood but felt like metal. Noticing a button on the side, she pressed it and the knife sprang open, it's catch released, to reveal…
"A fan… a fan-"*presses the button again* *Swish* "Oh cool… a fan with blades along the top." Katie whispered, awed. She pressed the button on the other fan and out came its hidden blades. The weapons fit her hand perfectly and she instinctively knew how to hold them and how to fight. Next to her, the Fire teen looked over at the Air teen, who stood on Katie's other side. The Air teen shrugged and pulled out his own weapon. It looked like a smaller version of Kongu Inika's Energy Crossbow, only the edges were sharper and it could be wielded like a sword. The fire boy, still freaked out, reached behind him and pulled out two swords, exact replicas of Tahu Mata's Fire Swords, albeit a little shorter. The swords blazed with leaping flames, and the Fire Boy smiled. He could do this, dream or not.
At the front of the group, Lizzy scanned the end of the street, looking for some sort of movement. Behind her, she could hear the others' heavy breathing and their shifting stances as they waited. Suddenly there was movement.
Lizzy gulped a breath…
…
Makuta had brought friends…
…
Rahkshi
…
"Oh Crap."
***Welcome to the First Fight***
Rahkshi.
The sons of Makuta.
Nasty things inhabited by eel-like parasites called Kraata. Lizzy knew what the toys looked like and what the comics depicted them to look like, but nothing prepared her for what they actually looked like; something that still bothered Bionicle fans on Earth. Rahkshi looked exactly like the ones in Mask of Light, the first Bionicle Movie, only in real life, these things were slime ridden, rusted in patches and shrieking like the nine Nazgul.
"Lizzy? What are those things?" Brianne asked, her voice devoid of emotion. Lizzy didn't answer, she couldn't. She was frozen in place, staring at the enemies gathered before them.
"Lizzy? Lizzy! Elizabeth!" Dave shouted at her. Lizzy jerked at the sound of her full name, turning to see the others behind her. In her eyes was a certain hopelessness; in short, she was scared. "What are those?" Dave repeated, pointing at their smaller foes. Lizzy turned back to see their enemies slowly advancing on them.
"Rahkshi" She whispered, just loud enough that the others could hear it. Behind her, Brianne, Dave and the Air powered teen gasped. "We are royally screwed." Suddenly, Brianne slapped the back of Lizzy's head, the chain around her wrist jangling against itself, by far the loudest sound in the nightscape. Lizzy spun around to stare at her best friend, mouth agape at Brianne's audacity, her free hand rubbing the back of her head. She took a breath to complain.
"Get your head in the game!" Brianne growled, forestalling Lizzy's reaction, "We can't afford to lose this. We still have to find your sister. We still have to get the Av-Matoren out of here. We still have to find and save the Toa Nuva. You just said 'no more fear.' There is no turning back from this. You are our leader… So LEAD!" When Brianne mentioned Lizzy's sister, the Light powered teen's eyes hardened. Across her face flashed the Ahvokii, momentarily blinding the others.
"Good answer." Dave muttered. Lizzy smirked at him, then turned back to the enemy. Arrayed in front of the seven teens were five Rahkshi (Red, Blue, Green, White and Brown). Makuta, who towered over them, stood about a hundred feet behind, his twisted mask twisted even more in a cruel smirk. The behemoth raised a hand and beckoned to Lizzy and her team. Lizzy growled low, the sound rumbling in her chest, sounding more like a Hordika than a Toa. Behind her, Katie whimpered.
"No fear," Lizzy whispered, glancing over her shoulder, "Unity, Duty, Destiny. We fight as a team." It sounded like she was trying to convince herself, but after she said this, the entire group felt a surge of strength. Katie felt her confidence grow and her fear fade, Brianne felt her strength grow, the air around her face flickering orange, Dave felt his senses sharpen as the scene before him came into ice sharp focus , Mark, who was struggling with worse fear than Katie, felt his fear lessen and a sense of purpose grow. The Air powered teen felt a sense of kinship grow, while the Fire boy felt a sense of calm.
"Before we get into this," the Air boy whispered, "My name is Alex and the brooding kid over there is James."
"Me 'n Alex will take the Brown." James said.
The rest of the group recognized his outburst by nodding their heads, never taking their eyes off their foes.
"Dave, I'm on blue."
"Brianne. I've got red."
"Mark, I'll take green."
"K-Katie, yellow"
"Lizzy. I'll tackle big ugly. Now let's kick some Rahkshi butt. Just be careful. The red, Tahurak, his staff creates Fear, the blue, Guurahk is Disintegration, the green, Lerahk, is poison, brown, Panrahk, is Shattering, and the white, Kurahk, is Anger."
And with that, the seven of them raced into battle.
Brianne charged forward, aligning herself to face the red Rahkshi. She felt, as the one with the least fear, that she should be the one to face the one that created fear. She ran, as if to face the thing head on, but at the last moment, as the Rahkshi swung its staff, she slid under the staff, hooked a Kama around its leg and slipped behind it, the chain of her weapon unfurling behind her. Brianne slid across the ground, then flipped over, landing on her knees, the chain reaching backwards over her shoulder. She yanked and Tahurak tripped over, shrieking. Brianne stood, turning back around. She drew her hand upwards, while a large rock erupted from the ground at the same time. Holding the rock at about waist height, Brianne wound up and let fly a mighty kick. Her converse-covered foot connected with the rock and sent it hurtling at the Rahkshi. The Red monster staggered to its knees, hissing, when the rock collided with the side of its "face". The Rahkshi was thrown back a few feet, as Brianne recalled the rock, setting her foot on it as if it were a soccer ball.
At the same time, Katie was running toward the White Rahkshi, calling on her powers, feeling them build with in her. From her fans, which she held behind her as she ran, water streamed out, colaceing behind her until she was being followed by a huge sphere of water. Katie focused on Kurahk, focusing on attacking it before it had a chance to use its staff on her. The liquid behind her burst into motion, releasing a tidal wave. Katie jumped up, and rode the wave, steering it until it wrapped around the White Rahkshi. It thrashed, trying to free itself. Katie refused to let it free and maneuvered the water into a whirling tornado of Rahkshi and water. After a moment, a White blur was flung out of the vortex and into the side of a building. Katie chased after it, water glowing with elemental power.
Behind her, Dave stood in front of the Blue Rahkshi, trying to gauge its next move. The Kraata inside its head shrieked at him, the front piece of the armor opening slightly as it did so. Dave dove to the side, narrowly avoiding being struck by the staff. With a swirl of wintery wind, Dave launched a spear of ice at his foe, then dove to the side and slid along a patch of ice both to avoid the Rahkshi and to get behind it. Coming up beside it, Dave lashed out with his foot, aiming to trip the Rahkshi, but his foot met with unyielding metal and bounced off. He swore, retreating from his adversary, trying to assess the damage to his leg. He was sure that, while not broken, his ankle had borne the brunt of the attack. He gingerly tested standing on it, wincing as the pain flared momentarily; he felt relieved when his leg held his weight, the pain fading slightly to a dull ache. Dave looked up, barely in time to jump back again, avoiding a savage slash from his foe. The Rahkshi screamed at him as Dave slid away, out of reach, his quick mind racing trying to figure what to do next. It followed, swinging its staff, just barely missing the boy, who bent back to avoid the blow. With a smashing ring that echoed all around, the Rahkshi's blow skittered off of Mark's ax, as he deflected the strike.
"Thanks Mark." Dave called, as he jumped back deflecting the attack from Mark's opponent.
Mark acknowledged him as the two traded places again, Dave herding the blue Rahkshi backwards. Mark returned his gaze to his enemy, concentrating on his own fight. In a rush of movement, the green Rahkshi bore down on him, its staff a blur as it stabbed at Mark's stomach. Moving his heavy weapon faster than one would expect him to, Mark swung his Ax around, blocking the stab and following through the motion and using the momentum of the strike to slam into the underside of the Rahkshi's rotting upper body. The Rakshi stumbled back, flailing its arms. Mark hissed in pain as the wildly waving staff caught his left arm, tracing a short but deep cut. The wound burned like fire. Falling back, Mark dropped his weapon and fell to a knee, clutching at the gash. The Rahkshi recovered its balance, and charged toward the boy again. Thinking quickly, Mark grabbed his ax with his uninjured hand and chucked it at his approaching foe. The heavy weapon struck it, tangling its legs and causing it to fall in a heap, hissing angrily and buying Mark a couple of moments to deal with his injury. Ignoring the hissing Rahkshi, Mark tore a piece of cloth off his shirt, and began tying the strip, clumsily, around his arm. A pair of faintly glowing hands entered his field of vision. Looking up, Mark cried out in shock. Kneeling in front of him was an insubstantial image of Lizzy. The figure smiled faintly, quickly tying off the rough bandage. It patted his arm, though he felt nothing then jerked its head towards where Lizzy was fighting furiously against the giant sized Makuta, then towards Mark's opponent, which suddenly found itself busy fighting a figure made of stone. Brianne called out from across the field, asking if Mark was okay. He called back that he was fine, then cried out a warning. Brianne's attacker had taken advantage of her momentary distraction to the welfare of her teammate and kicked her in the chest. She fell to the ground, winded; the stone figure defending the distracted Mark, wavered, its expressive face grimacing and then crumbled apart. The glowing image of Lizzy darted forward and took up the fight with against the Green Rahkshi, flashing around its face, distracting it. The Rahkshi swatted at the image, screeching every time the ghost Lizzy's sword seemed to hit it. Barely noticing this, Mark felt his new Heartlight flare as he reacted to Brianne's injury, the greyish light illuminating his surroundings faintly. A black blur flashed forward from Mark and dove in between Brianne's panting form and the descending staff of the red Rahkshi she faced. The black blur caught the blow, deflecting it away from the girl, who struggled to her feet. The blur resolved into an image of Mark made of earth, a fierce scowl on its face. The image disengaged and drove the red Rahkshi backwards, giving Brianne enough time to recover and make it to her feet. She nodded once to the image, which smiled grimly and vanished. Mark did not see this since he was busy reengaging in his fight against the green Rahkshi. But when the image of himself vanished, Mark felt satisfied that Brianne had recovered and was back in the fight, though he did not see it. Also, as soon as he returned to his fight, the image of Lizzy flashed him a quick salute, which he returned, then vanished itself.
Removed from the Rahkshi fights, Lizzy sighed as she felt something return to her, and she felt assured that Mark and Brianne were both alright. She refocused on her fight, just in time to throw up a shield to keep herself from being crushed by the giant's enormous staff. Lizzy was fighting shadows, both with her sword and with her mind. At the beginning of her fight, Lizzy had stared into Makuta's glowing red eyes, calling on her power to bring forth her Ahvokii mask to glow bright. The ensuing fight took place in Lizzy's mind, as she fought off the tendrils of Shadow that threatened to invade her mind, aiming to devour her inner Light and take control over her being. She struggled to repel the attacks, using every defense she could think of or remember reading in various books. One trick that seemed to work well, one that she had jokingly used over the years, was direct from The Inheritance books. Lizzy focused on the image of a glowing gold wall around her mind, condensing her thoughts into a small sphere, singing softly to herself. Fighting against the darkness that pressed against her, sometimes she had to strike at his mind; it was like looking into Fear itself. Currently, though, Lizzy was having a difficult time defending her mind and fighting in the real world at the same time. She relied on her smaller size and maneuverability against Makuta's strength, dodging around his strikes and throwing light bolts up at him. These did little more than infuriate him, but they did keep his attention on her rather than allowing him to see the other fights going on below and taking action against the other teens below. Several times, though, Lizzy either slipped and fell avoiding a swing or blow, or was hit by the giant's sword and was thrown, tumbling to a stop. Each time she would shake herself off and jump right back in. In the back of her mind, she realized that she had bruises and cuts everywhere and that her side was still pained. But she forced herself to ignore the pain and keep her fight going.
Finally, she darted up the side of a building, her eyes picking out the quickest route up, using ledges, cracks in the foundation, and holes in the side of the building. She grabbed a bar and swung up, the strength of a Toa infusing her. As she neared the top, she slipped slightly, arms flailing a moment, when the ledge she jumped to wobbled dangerously. A shower of pebbles and other debris fell to the ground, raining down on Kurahk, interrupting its fight with Katie. The Rahkshi glanced up, to see a huge piece of masonry falling towards it. It shrieked, trying to get out of the way, but Katie, shouting incoherently, gripped by the power of its staff, trapped it using bands of water to hold it down. The masonry fell on it, crushing it with sickening crunch, then silence as a viscous green liquid seeped out from under the rock. Up above, Lizzy, who had jumped clear and was on another, much more sturdy ledge, shuddered at the sound, while Katie flinched, scrambling backward and was violently sick. Casting a worried glance at Katie, Lizzy turned back to Makuta, who stood shuddering. He bellowed and swung at Lizzy again, his wild swing connecting with the side of a building, causing more masonry and chunks of building material to rain down on the combatants. Lizzy stood frozen, watching as a piece fell right for her, when from out of nowhere a blur of silver slammed into her side, the momentum carrying Lizzy and the other person clear. Lizzy shook herself, mentally scolding herself for freezing up, then nodded to Dave in thanks for the quick save. A questioning glance made the Ice powered teen jerk a thumb over his shoulder displaying a staff-less blue Rahkshi frozen solid in a column of ice. Nodding again, Lizzy darted forward and dragged Katie out of immediate danger. The three hunkered down under an outcropping of stone, as the rain of debris continued. They could hear the muffled bellows of Makuta, as the stuff smashed into him; his shadow built body could not take the damage, and shattered into wisps of smoke. The dust settled and the smoke dispersed, revealing Brianne and Mark still fighting the red and green Rahkshi. Lizzy led her group forward to help them out.
Just as they reached them, over everyone's head was thrown the Brown Rahkshi, hurtling down to earth, with an almighty, ground shaking crash. Following its trajectory were Alex and James; Alex supported by wind, with James hanging onto his leg. Alex's control over the wind was imperfect though and the two boys tumbled to the ground, instead of landing gently like the Air Teen planned. The brown Rahkshi hissed and screeched at the two trying to get around them. Rolling to his knees, James raised his fire-swords, firing off fireballs in quick succession while Alex recovered from the landing. The Air powered boy shook himself muttering about screwy air currents and up-drafts, then looked toward the Rahkshi. Jim called to him and Alex turned his head ever so slightly, allowing the Fire boy to slide into his peripheral vision. Jim mimed firing a gun, then ran behind Alex, who raised his crossbow-sword to his shoulder, lined up the sights and blasted away at the rotting brown figure in front of him. It shrieked as the concentrated Elemental energy slammed into its chest; its voice piercing a decibel high enough to shatter glass. Above the battle field, the chutes of Metru Nui shattered, raining glass and watery protodermis down on the teens. Jim's fires sizzled and sputtered while above them, but still underneath the chutes, Lizzy's light flickered, fading away. Darkness seeped back, shadows lengthening as night reclaimed the battlefield. From behind the brown Rahkshi, there flared a red flickering light, as James called his fires back. With a yell, he jumped at the Rahkshi, and, just as it turned, drove his twin Fire-Swords into its casing and through the Kraata, which shrieked, burning from the inside out. The stench of cooked Kraata was overwhelming; Alex choked on the fumes, scrambling backwards to Lizzy, Dave and Katie. Lizzy, her eyes never leaving Brianne and Mark's fight, Leaned down and helped the shorter, green wearing teen to his feet. The cries of the Brown Rahkshi's Kraata as it burned caused the Red and the Green to react, giving Brianne and Mark the chance to dispatch them. The darkness of the Metru Nui Streets was filled with orange and grey light as the two remaining combatants focused their powers. With a shout, Brianne yanked on the chain of her weapon, throwing the Rahkshi overhead and sending it crashing into the green one. The two Rahkshi struggled to untangle themselves. Brianne and Mark closed their eyes, concentrating; the ground rumbled with the strength of an earthquake. Lizzy and the others staggered, Katie falling to her knees, as the ground buckled and heaved under them. With a groaning, crashing sound, the ground around the Rahkshi tore open and the two were swallowed, each only able to scream once, before they were buried in rocks and dirt.
When the sounds of the dying creatures faded away, Lizzy and the others made their way over. They each looked around, breathing heavily. For a moment, all was silent. Overhead, a hawk-like Rahi flew unperturbed, its flight uninterrupted by the smoke and billowing clouds of dust from the battle field below.
"We won…" Katie whispered, the realization setting in. Brianne barked out a laugh, rubbing her arm, trying to alleviate pain.
"That was… different." She said, "Never thought I could fight like that."
"I didn't even know I could fight at all." Mark said hoarsely. Lizzy grinned, even though she was both mentally and physically drained, even more so than the others.
"Let's head back to the camp… I don't want Tanma and Solek to get jumped." She said, still panting. The whole group, though tired, turned and ran back down the street that, so recently, they had charged down. Their spirits were light; they had won their first true battle.
But sadly such victory can never last; such is the way of the Rules of the Bionicle Universe.
There was a silent explosion from behind them that sent out shock-waves of sound and energy, knocking all the teens off their feet. They rolled to a stop, groaning as they landed on bruises or cuts, creating new ones on top of the old. They staggered to their feet, clutching aching arms, sides or backs, (in Katie's case, her head, where a cut sent rivulets of blood trickling down the side of her face). Behind them, stood a slightly more solid appearing figure of Makuta Teridax.
Barely suppressing a groan of frustration, Lizzy hoisted her sword once more. She launched a barrage of light bolts at the figure, charging after them trying to catch Makuta off guard. She swung her sword at Makuta's head, her arm muscles burning from exhaustion. Makuta's weapon, his staff, met hers with a ringing crash. Lizzy disengaged then sidestepped a stab. As she moved, she blinked, trying to rid her eyes of sweat and blood. Her vision obscured, she did not see the next blow. Makuta punched the young girl in the stomach, sending her skidding back past her teammates with a cry of pain. She struggled to her hands and knees, coughing, while the others charged forward to attack. Lizzy tried to warn them, to call them back, but the pain from the blow and her coughing fit prevented it. She could only watch the others as they fought. While they fought a losing fight.
Brianne and Mark charged forward, under a blanket of shots from Alex. The two split up just before they reached Makuta and headed for opposite sides. Katie called on her flagging strength and pulled as much water from her surroundings as she could. She then slipped around Makuta and came up from behind, a wall of water looming overhead. Dave and Jim came from the front, with Alex right behind them. They converged on Makuta, elemental energies spilling out and whirling into a frenzy.
Before they could make their full attack though, the Master of Shadows exploded with force, the ground around him welling up with snake-like tendrils that grabbed and threw each teen back to where Lizzy was struggling to her feet. The others tumbled to a halt. Brianne cried out as she landed, back first, against the corner of a stone slab. She slid to the floor, barely hanging on to consciousness. Dave and Mark landed in a heap, while Alex landed on a pile of rocks, the fall knocking him out. Jim hit the ground and rolled to a halt next to Lizzy.
Lizzy picked herself up off the floor with a groan. She knew that she and her team were in trouble; that there was a strong possibility that they would lose everything right there.
How are we going to get out of this? Dawn is coming, everyone is tired and injured. They have to get to the village and get ready to go… and we still have to find Evangeline.
Lizzy finally made it to her feet, swaying slightly. Battle fever had run its course, and her adrenaline powered burst of energy was gone; she was exhausted. Suddenly in her mind, she saw a flash of light, and Takaena Rahini step forward.
Arm yourself, young light, and you will defeat your foe. You have much to do and you cannot lose here.
Her voice echoed through Lizzy's head.
Lizzy felt a growing power with in herself, and her Heartlight began to glow brighter than ever before. The light enveloped her, flared, then died away revealing Lizzy standing straight and tall, wearing armor similar to what Takaena wore, only Lizzy's protected more of her body. The armor was gold with a chest plate, and greaves and bracers. Underneath it was a full body jump-suit, made a material like to Kevlar but more durable. Her shoes also had changed. They now had armor, shaped like Bionicle feet (think Toa Mata) and were connected to her flexible greaves. Any injuries she had were healed, including the bruising from her broken ribs. Over her face was her Ahvokii mask, slid and glinting in Lizzy's light. Behind her, the other teens (those who were conscious at least) gasped in surprise.
Lizzy stared Makuta down, then took a single step forward. The Master of Shadows took an involuntary step back, fear and pain written across his face as Lizzy, especially her armor, began to glow brighter and brighter, the light focusing on Makuta like a spotlight. Lizzy launched a barrage of light at him, thinking to force him back again. With a sinister laugh, he vanished from where he was standing as the light barrage crashed downward, reappeared in front of Lizzy. The teen froze, locked in the grip of tendrils of shadow. Her armor vanished, leaving her defenseless as Makuta leaned close to her mask and whispered something; Lizzy's eyes widened in shock and she struggled visible against her bonds. Behind her, Mark had silent tears running down his grime streaked face as he remembered how strong the grip of those tendrils is. Makuta stepped back, cackling at Lizzy's shock then vanished, morphing into cloud of Darkness that sped down the streets and out of sight. A moment later, the bindings that held Lizzy sizzled and snapped as her light ate away at them.
Lizzy stared after Makuta's retreating form, her thoughts racing. The Master of Shadow was after her sister; she had to find her first. The light powered teen glanced back at the rest of her team. Katie was awake, trying to wake Alex up; Dave sat nearby, flexing his left wrist, the one that he had landed on (thankfully it had not broken, only sprained). Brianne was slowly coming back to consciousness, sitting up and shaking her head slowly to clear the shadow induced fog. Jim was staggering to his feet watching the Light teen. Lizzy looked at the Ice boy, her face clearly showing her panic.
"Go" Dave said, guessing what Makuta had said, "We will meet you at the coast. And we will fill in the others. Go find her and bring her back." Lizzy nodded, then looked at Brianne, who nodded once.
"I'll be back soon." Lizzy whispered, then she turned and started running down the street. Halfway down, she glowed a brilliant gold and her armor appeared on her body. With a burst of energy, Lizzy poured on the speed, focusing on following the retreating cloud.
A/N: Ok... like I said, shorter than last time... but in the next chapter, you will finally meet Evangeline, Lizzy's sister. Check out my profile for the new Fire and Air character descriptions.
And, as always, PLEASE REVIEW! It makes my day seem so much better.