A/N: OH MY GOD I AM ALIVE!
Lizzy: Yeah hi everybody, this is Elizabeth Toren, better known as Lizzy from The Toa Rahini Chronicles… Half-Angel-Writer would apologize but I feel that it would be superficial at best and not worth your time reading some lame ass apology from her. I will say this though: Updates over the summer will happen, hopefully, much more frequently seeing as she won't have school to freak out over and I will be standing over her shoulder with my sword.
Angel would be here to write the A/N but she is currently digging either a bomb shelter or a grave in the backyard… I can't tell which. I think she afraid of the angry reviews she is about to get.
That being said, I will apologize for Angel not giving you a warning about this being the last chapter. Now before you freak out, it is not the last chapter of the entire story. What kind of an author would she be if she left her favorite character locked in some heinous unnamed and hereto unknown villain's damp, moldy, Rahi infested dungeon? And what kind of a character would I be if I let her. No, I'm not going there.
Anyways, here are a couple of things she asked me to put in here for her.
To ShatterDave and LokaCola: Thanks guys for all the support and the continued use of your OCs. Angel hopes they still live up to your expectations. And Loka? Don't worry, Mark's Makuta backstory will come up in the first chapter of the new story.
To biolaj1998: Dude, you have given Angel some awesome ideas. But please, lay off the nagging a little. She's got enough people yelling at her at home and at work. Oh and she might have to tweak your characters a little bit to fit them into the story. It will be interesting, though, I promise, I've seen the story outline she has planned.
To Toatiftaf: Please tell me you read the rest of the story too and not just the crappy ass prologue. Please? Oh but thanks for the cookie… want some fudge?
And to Kage uingu shukun and nomercy745: Thanks for adding this to your alerts list.
Evangeline: Sis? Do the disclaimer, shut up and let them read.
Lizzy: Okay, Okay, fine. Disclaimer: Half-Angel-Writer only owns the plot and her characters. Everything else belongs to … um…
James: To the people who own Bionicle. Don't make it to complicated, Lizzy.
Lizzy: Yeah, whatever.
Enjoy, while I go keep Angel from convincing Mark and Brianne to bury her alive.
Chapter Nine
To the Turaga Metru, From Mata Nui
"It's about time the two of you got back! We were beginning to get worried. We thought you were Makuta-bones. Oh and you found a bunch of strange Rahi and brought them with you, brilliant."
Lizzy grinned, looking at the Av-Matoren who had accosted Tanma and Solek at the entrance to the village on the coast. Tanma started yelling and carrying on about being dragged along on a mad expedition, being chased by Ash-bears (the way he told it, the bear had been about thirty feet tall), attacked by Makuta and then having to deal with a bunch of girls the whole time was, quote "worse than several love sick Ga-Matoren." Shaking her head, Lizzy walked out of earshot of Tanma, who was then breathing hard with Solek hanging on his arm trying to get him to calm down. The Light powered teen laughed quietly, hearing Solek giving a better account of their adventures with the teens. She walked back over to the other teens standing in the center of the small village, some of whom were pulling on sweaters, gloves or scarves against the dropping temperatures. James had a camera out and was busy snapping pictures of everything while talking to Brianne who was looking back towards the City, paying the Fire powered teen little attention. The other teens were looking around themselves, curious about the small huts and piles of supplies and weapons that the remaining Av-Matoren had stockpiled, and curious about the Matoren themselves. In return, the twenty or so Av-Matoren who remained on Metru Nui, gathered around, peering around doorways, walls, and their friends. Katie was hiding behind Alex trying not to meet the staring eyes of the Matoren.
Lizzy walked up to the group and made a conscious effort to speak English rather than the Matoren Language, so the Matoren would not understand. She smiled reassuringly at Katie and fist bumped Alex. Coming out of from behind Dave and Mark, Eva handed her sister a thick sweater before hugging her arm as if it were a lifeline.
"So the Av-Matoren believe Solek, Tanma and I, when we say that the eight of us are the Destiny Heroes, but they don't believe us when we say that we need to evacuate the City. They seem to think that their combined abilities, plus the Great Temple -which I might remind you is in ruins- will protect them from anything Makuta will throw at them." Lizzy said, smiling down at Eva, and then looking at each of the others in turn.
"Are you serious?" Dave nearly yelled. Katie jumped, startled by his outburst.
"Ackk! Jeeze, Dave! Chill out and bring it down a couple decibels"
"Sorry… Are they serious? They don't see the clouds gathering over the Coliseum, or notice the wind picking up, or the general feeling of darkness that as increased since we left the City? They don't notice every textbook clue of a villain attack? Okay, so now what? I say that we just pack up, find or build a boat and leave them here to deal with it themselves." Dave said, throwing his hands up in exasperation.
Brianne punched him, lightly in on the arm; or rather, lightly to her. Around her face flickered an orange image of a Great Mask of Strength. Dave stumbled to the side.
"Whoops, sorry Dave." Brianne said, laughing. "I'm still having a hard time controlling my mask here." Lizzy smiled, while Alex laughed with James and Katie. Even Evangeline hid a grin behind her hand. Grumbling, Dave turned away from the Stone powered teen.
"Why would we leave them behind? Isn't it, like, a Toa's job to protect Matoren?" Asked Katie, "From what Solek told me, the Toa have always been protectors."
"We are not Toa, in case you haven't noticed." Dave retorted, glancing at her.
"Yet… we are not Toa yet." Evangeline said softly, her voice barely above a whisper. The other teens turned to the Shadow powered teen. "We are meant to become Toa, someday soon. That is was Xiaxtl told me when I came through the portal." And what I saw when Lizzy was showing me her memories, She thought, But if I told them that, they wouldn't believe me. Embarrassed, she ducked her head down, hiding behind her bangs to escape everyone's gaze. Pulling playfully on her sister's ponytail, Lizzy looked at the others.
"We will have to try and convince the Av-Matoren to leave. Metru Nui isn't safe anymore, even for Light Matoren. James, what do you think we should do?" She said, turning to the Fire teen.
"Ah bahbah wha… why are you asking me?" James nearly shrieked, waving his hands in front of himself.
"Because you are supposed to be the leader." Dave growled.
"S-says who!"
"Says tradition, that's who." Brianne said, her eyes hard.
"Screw tradition! Lizzy should be the leader! I don't want to; I might mess up real badly."
"In every Toa Team, the Fire Toa has always been the leader, not the Light Toa." Katie piped up. Lizzy stayed silent with Evangeline. As much as she would have like to been the leader, having had plenty of experience as one beforehand, she understood how it worked and agreed with the others that James should be the leader.
Alex slung an arm around his friend's shoulder. "You can't fight tradition, dude. We need a game plane, because, judging by how quickly the temperature is dropping and how fast the wind currents are changing, I'd say we have about two hours before all hell breaks loose." James looked at his friend. Alex was being oddly serious for someone who was always goofing around. And if James had learned anything from being friends with Alex it was that when Alex is being serious, you know you are in trouble. James closed his eyes, trying to think. What would Tahu do in a situation like this? He wondered. When he reopened his eyes, he flinched. The others were looking expectantly at him.
"Alright, alright! I'll do it, Okay? Sheesh." Sighing James ran a hand down his face. He grabbed a short stick nearby and knelt on the ground.
"Okay, here's what I think we should do. The Great Temple is right on the shoreline, right? Ok so we have to move all of the Av-Matoren's transports to behind the temple and anchor them there. I agree with Lizzy's theory that the Great Temple serves as a nexus for Toa energies, so we should have the best chance of holding out there for a while. We would have to build defenses, like ramparts, walls, pitfalls, traps; you know that kind of stuff. If we can hold Makuta there long enough and without too much difficulty, then we should be able to leave the Av-Matoren there and they should be relatively safe. If not, we evacuate to the transports and head for Mata Nui." James spelled out his plan, giving details as to the defenses of the Temple, based on Lizzy's description of the place and sketched out a rough map in the dirt by their feet. The group crouched down to see the map and make their own suggestions to the defenses. Each teen received something to work on, based on their abilities. Behind them, Solek walked up and looked over their shoulders.
"What are you guys planning?" He asked. The teens looked up to see Solek right behind them with Tanma and the leader of the Av-Matoren walking up to them. Katie elbowed James, to give him a hint that he needed to explain.
"Oh… um… we were just planning defenses for the Great Temple." James said, switching from English back to Matoren.
"We are not moving from our village!" The village leader stated, his mask set in a determined expression, "We will not be chased from our homes again."
"That is the worst thing to do now! And the worst place to do it. This village has no defenses and the way it is designed there is no way to make a decent defense!" Lizzy cried, jumping to her feet and staring the Matoren down. "Teridax has more power than ever before and he will stop at nothing to destroy you; us too. Teridax is not like any of the Makuta you fought in Karda Nui. He is the mastermind behind everything that those Makuta did. He's a psychotic genius masterminded villain who has nearly unlimited power now that Mata Nui is gone."
"We have made our choice. We WILL hold him here. Any outsiders can leave." The leader scoffed at the teens. He turned away, leaving Solek and Tanma staring after him. Tanma turned to the Teens.
"Do you really think that it will be that bad?" He asked. Mark nodded. Behind him, Dave was seething with anger. James sighed and drew a new map of the Av-Village, trying to see if defenses would be feasible. He looked up at Lizzy and Dave.
"There is no way they could defend a village like this, even with our help." He said, hopelessly. Lizzy groaned in frustration. Dave glowed slightly, his face glowing with white light while his eyes were icy blue-almost white and hard as diamonds instead of their usual brown. Suddenly there was a *Bang* and the Ice Teen disappeared. He reappeared with another *Bang* in front of the Village leader. Across his face, glittering frosty white, was a strange mask that none of the other teens recognized. Dave seized the leader and slammed him against the wall of one of the buildings, glaring at him. Lizzy and James ran forward to drag him back, before he hurt the Matoran or himself.
"You would condemn your people to death or enslavement because you cannot unbend your pride enough to take advice and retreat? Do you really think you can hold off the currently most powerful being in this dimension? It would be a massacre. If you thought that Makuta using your people to create Shadow Matoren was bad, just wait. I'm sure Teridax knows how to keep us from reversing the effects like Takanuva did. You and your people will be lost forever." The irate teen growled. Lizzy laid a hand on his shoulder and when he glanced over his shoulder, she shook her head almost imperceptibly. The Ice teen's eyes were still glowing. James cleared his throat quietly. Dave jerked his head around to look over his other shoulder and met James' eyes briefly. Dave slowly looked back at the Matoren, who was hanging about a foot and a half of the ground by Dave's hand. Slowly the Ice teen lowered the Matoren to the ground and stepped back, breathing heavily through his nose, trying to calm himself down. The Matoren massaged his chest-plate and stared at the taller boy.
James stepped forward slightly, drawing the Matoren's attention away from Dave, who Lizzy was trying to drag back. "You will get your people ready to move everything to the Great Temple. You will have your transports ready to go at a moment's notice. And you will help us defend the temple and if need be, you will help us get past the Great Barrier and get to the Island of Mata Nui." The boy's voice was harsh and betrayed a temper to rival Tahu's. Lizzy stared at the back of James' head, hardly believing her ears. James sounded like a natural born leader and was surprised by his intensity. The Matoren was quivering, out of fear she thought, but it might have been anger. Turning on his heel, the Matoren fled. Lizzy let out a sigh and released her death grip on Dave's arm; James watched the retreating figure, his shoulders tense. As the Matoren vanished from view, James let out a huge sigh of relief and sagged, his tough leader persona extinguishing like a candle flame. The other teens, who had been listening to the whole exchange, came up behind him and clapped him on the shoulder, complimenting him on how he handled the situation. Even Dave, who kept shooting glares at the point where the Matoren had vanished, was with them. Behind the group, Lizzy stood with a thoughtful expression on her face, her arms crossed and head tilted to the side as if she was considering something. Smirking slightly, she turned away and walked over toward the edge of the village. Staring off at the distant City, Lizzy saw darkness covering it, giving it the appearance of a hurricane. Out of the darkness came flashes of lightning, illuminating the clouds around it. Beside her, James walked up and stood, staring in the same direction.
"Well that could have gone better, I think." He spoke up. Lizzy grinned and elbowed the taller teen in the side.
"Nah, it went as well as it could." She said, turning to leave and help the Matoren pack their supplies and start moving to the Temple. She paused a moment, next to James and said quietly, "You did good, Jim, You did good. You are going to be a great leader." James turned to look at her as she walked away. That is one odd girl, He thought, shaking his head and turning to his own tasks, I still think she would be a much better leader than I would. He met up with Brianne, Mark and Katie and headed to the Great Temple to start building the defenses before the Matoren arrived.
Within an hour, the entire village was empty of life. The Matoren made their way to the Great Temple, accompanied by Lizzy, Eva, Dave and Alex. The two boys had used their elemental abilities to create a sled made of Ice and moved by gusts of wind created by Alex, who wore a ridiculous grin every time he used his power. Below them and to the front of the sled, the Matoren walked briskly, chatting quietly. The majority of them were glad to leave. The oppressive darkness had begun to weigh on their minds, causing them to become depressed and they missed their friends among the other Matoren. Many still remembered their time as Shadow Matoren and were struggling not to panic. As they moved towards the Temple, Tanma and Solek led the way, while the four teens brought up the rear. Evangeline kept looking around because she felt that they were being followed. Lizzy could also feel something, but she kept brushing it off as feeling the approaching darkness from the City. The other two focused on moving the supplies, Dave paving the way for the sled with ice and guiding the barge-like ice sculpture. Ga-Metru was devoid of sound and Rahi, both of which should have been plentiful. The silence was eerie, and when they noticed it, the four teens grew tense and anxious. Lizzy called up to Dave and Alex, both riding on the sled to keep it moving, and had them stop. The two jumped down and had a hurried discussion.
"Something's off, I can't be the only one who's noticed" Lizzy whispered.
"No, I noticed too." Dave said, glancing around again. "We're running behind schedule and out of time."
Alex nodded in agreement, his face serious. "We have to move faster. The transports are all ready to go and judging by the shift in power, we are going to have to evacuate. There is no way that we can keep all this back."
"Shift in power? You felt it too?" Lizzy asked. Alex nodded.
"Some shift; we all felt it too." Tanma piped up behind Dave.
"Not good, especially if the Matoren can feel it. We have to get everyone to the Temple, now." Lizzy said.
"Guys…"
"How do we do that?" Alex asked.
"How fast can you guys move the sled? We have to load everyone on board and use that." Lizzy replied.
"Guys? Problem here."
"I think we can move substantially faster. So long as we can keep the Matoren calm." Dave mused.
"Hey! Guys! We have a problem here." Eva yelled, grabbing Lizzy's arm and pulling her out of her huddle with the others, pointing back towards where they had come from.
"What Eva? We already know we have a problem." Lizzy said exasperatedly, turning around. "Oh, that problem."
Behind them, the storm system had begun to move, forming into a huge clawed hand reaching out from the center of the city. The temperature around them dropped like a rock, causing the humans' breath to fan out in front of their faces. Lizzy's eyes widened in shock; Dave swore under his breath; the temperature drop was not his doing, but rather the effect of the storm system or whatever power Makuta was using. Eva whimpered slightly. The clouds were moving quickly.
Spinning around, Lizzy shouted to the others. "Hurry! Get them all on the sled and get it moving! We're not too far from the Temple." Dave ran to the sled and focused on his powers, the icy sled quickly doubling in size as the teen used the surrounding moisture and the already near freezing temperatures to add to it. On the side, he created a set of stairs. Lizzy and Eva gathered up the Matoren and soon almost all were on the sled, except Tanma and Solek. Alex ran forward and launched himself up to the rear to the sled. He let loose a blast of air, a steady torrent that forced the sled to move forward. At the front of the sled, Dave kept up a continuous stream of ice, paving a track for the sled. Slowly at first, but quickly picking up speed, the sled moved forward. Lizzy, her mask glittering over her face, grabbed Tanma and Solek and threw them onto the stairs of the sled. They scrambled up the stairs and stood next to Alex. Lizzy grabbed Eva and ran after the sled. Drawing up next to it, Lizzy shoved her sister onto the stairs. Her momentary loss of speed caused her to fall behind, losing ground as the sled pulled away.
"LIZZY!" Eva cried, hanging on to the stair rail, leaning out and reaching for her sister. Lizzy ran her hardest, but without her armor to boost her stamina, she tired quickly. Crying out again, Eva let loose a stream of Shadow that reached out for Lizzy. Reaching out herself, Lizzy shot out her own stream of Light, which intertwined with Evangeline's. The combined streams of power looped around Lizzy's waist and yanked her off her feet, pulled her forward and slammed her into the stairs. Breathing hard, Lizzy found her sister hugging her tightly. Lizzy patted her head, then got to her feet. With Eva trailing behind, Lizzy hurried up the stairs, to find the Av-Matoren huddled at the center of the sled. She sent Eva to check on Tanma and Solek, and then went to stand near Alex. The Air powered teen seemed to have a permanent scowl on his face, while drops of perspiration dotted his forehead. Lizzy realized that his output of power was going to tire him out very quickly.
"Alex, you have to access your armor ability." She shouted over the sound of hurricane force winds. The Air boy shook his head.
"I have to have my mask power first." He called back. "James kept trying on the way to the village and couldn't. Brianne was able to get hers for a moment, but couldn't sustain it for long because she doesn't fully understand her mask yet. That's a theory at least. Katie couldn't figure out what to do or how to trigger it even though she has her mask."
Lizzy was about to say something when Dave yelled out, "We're here! Alex, kill the wind or we're going to crash!" The wind coming from the boy stopped, and he fell to his knees, exhausted. Lizzy helped him up, slung his arm over her shoulder and half dragged him over to the stairs. Dave led the Matoren off and into the temple, past Brianne who was waving them through a gap in a wall of rock.
"Come on Alex. We've got to hurry." Lizzy hissed. The Air boy, tired as he was, tried to pick up the pace. Lizzy staggered, as Alex lost his footing. Suddenly, Eva seemed to appear next to him and seized his other arm. Both girls hurried forward until they reached the wall. There, Mark replaced Lizzy. Ahead of them, they saw Dave dumping the remaining supplies behind the wall. There was a flurry of activity as a group of Matoren surged forward and grabbed everything, carrying it off to load onto the transports. Dave then vanished behind the ramparts.
"James needs you on the wall with him." The Earth powered boy said to Lizzy, as he and Eva helped Alex walk to the back of the Temple. Once behind the wall, Lizzy glanced around and spotted a steep flight of stairs set into the side of the wall and climbed up. Below her, Brianne ran inside. She stood just behind the open section and, with a quick movement, caused the missing section to thrust up out of the ground and form a seamless wall once again. Lizzy reached the top to find James glancing through a pair of binoculars. Next to him, Dave was concentrating on using the now unneeded sled to fortify the wall and coat the ground in front of the wall with slippery ice. Katie stood a little ways away, steadily filling a wide trench with water. Over this trench was an ice covered bridge, which suddenly broke apart and fell into the water with several splashes. Lizzy turned to see Brianne staring intently at where said bridge used to be. Next to her were Tanma and Solek, both more serious than Lizzy had ever seen them, save in the stories. Nodding to her best friend, Lizzy walked over to James.
"All the Matoren are inside the defenses." She said, "James, there is no way we can keep this back, or even fight it for long." James nodded.
"How bad do you think the attack is going to be?" He asked.
"Worse than anything you've faced before, I would think." Came a voice from behind those on the wall. Katie and James turned to see Evangeline mounting the top of the stairs, Mark right behind her. She walked over to the group and stood next to Lizzy and Brianne, while Mark stood next to Katie.
"Alex is resting with the Matoren. He thinks that he should be recovered enough to join us in a few moments." Eva mumbled, shivering almost convulsively. Lizzy reach over and grasped her sister's hand, hoping to calm her down.
"What's the matter, Eva?" Brianne asked. Eva continued to stare out at the storm front.
"The Darkness… it's so strong. I-I've never felt it this s-strong before. H-how are we s-supposed to fight this? W-we're not s-strong enough." Eva stuttered. Brianne put an arm around the younger girl's shoulders and hugged her tightly. Lizzy's heart fell seeing her sister so affected by the approaching storm.
"It's okay, we just have to hold it long enough for the Matoren to get the transports off the ground" James, assured them, matter-of-factly. The others nodded. Lizzy looked over at Dave, who now had his eyes closed.
"Hey Dave? Did you figure anything else out about your Mask?"
"Yeah, I think so." He replied, opening his eyes and turning to her. "It's called the Norahki, the Great Mask of Teleportation. I'm still trying to figure out the limits, but as far as I can tell, I can teleport up to ten people with me. I'm not sure about the range though." Lizzy nodded, impressed. Behind them, they heard slow footsteps on the stairs. The whole team turned around to see Alex standing at the top of the stairs, hands on his knees, panting hard.
"Dudes, you couldn't have, *whew* made the stairs *pant* a little less steep?" Alex said looking at Mark and Brianne, who grinned. The two ground element powered teens walked over to the Air and helped him over to the others. "Oh jeeze! We have to fight that? Great, just great. As if the Rahkshi weren't hard enough."
"Not really the best time for joking around." Mark said softly. Suddenly, Eva doubled over, clutching her head. At the same time, Lizzy cringed, one of her hands flying up to her eyes. The other teens flinched slightly, feeling a shock. Eva looked up from the ground, her eyes glowing brilliant violet, while Lizzy straightened up, her own eyes glowing golden once again. The other teens crowded close, as Evangeline stood up, her eyes hard.
"It has begun." The sisters said together. James froze, staring at the approaching storm. Dave whirled around and said to the two Matoren behind them, "Tanma, Solek, go tell the others to start loading the Transports. And if they already are, tell them to hurry up and get going. We will catch up and meet you at the Great Barrier." The two Matoren saluted and hurried down the stairs. The teens heard a stumble, a cry, several thuds, then a clear "Ow!" Katie hurried over to the edge of the wall and glanced over. Slowly she walked back, a small smirk on her face.
"Solek must have tripped and knocked Tanma over and they fell down the stairs." Katie reported.
Below they heard, "That was your fault Solek" *thunk*
"Ow… I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
The team let out a few chuckles which quickly subsided. They turned back to the front of the wall. The Storm was closer than before. The two sisters still stood at the edge of the wall, looking like ancient sentinels, ready for battle. Lizzy pulled out her sword and lit it up. Behind her, Lizzy heard the sounds of the other teens pulling out their weapons. Eva turned to see. With a rattle of chain links, Brianne uncoiled her Kamas. Dave held his tomahawks, trying to decide whether to use the staff function or not; he decided to keep them separate until necessary. Mark's battle ax rang slightly as he drew it while James pulled out his twin fire swords and turned up the flames. The flickering light spread a warm feeling to all of them. Alex checked over his crossbow, making sure that the metal was undamaged and the firing mechanism was clear. Katie drew her fans, which glimmered slightly with watery light. Lizzy turned to her sister.
"Now would be a good time to see what kind of weapon you were given." She whispered to her. Eva nodded and reached over her shoulder. Confusion then panic spread across her face when she felt nothing. Alex tapped her on the shoulder then pointed to her side. Hovering on either side of her waist were two handle-like thin cylinders. She took them and held them in front of herself. With a clicking/clinking sound, the weapons expanded themselves outward, metal sliding out and locking into place. The weapons formed into odd bladed weapons, the handles set into the weapons, which curved outwards, tapering to a sharp point. If you looked at them right, the weapons looked like they would fit together and form a deadly version of the Yin-Yang symbol, the coloring being purple and silver rather than black and white. Eva gripped the handles and the weapons curved over her arms, the points ending behind her elbows.
"Now those are cool!" Brianne said, staring at them. The other teens were looking at the Shadow teen's weapons, impressed.
"Can we get back to the matter at hand and ogle at the shiny blades later?" James said, stepping up to the edge of the fortification. "Not that those aren't cool; they really are, Eva, they are awesome. But we just don't have time to stop and stare." The sisters grinned.
The Storm was less than a mile away and closing fast. Lizzy raised her sword and pointed it skyward. Using it to channel her power, she created a sparkling wall of light in front of the walls of the temple. James' plan was to distract Makuta long enough for the Matoren to get away. The teens also thought that exposing Makuta to a large amount of Toa energies would weaken him and perhaps keep him from following them for very long, if they could keep his attention on them. Lizzy took a deep breath, and braced herself for the onslaught of Makuta's attack. The Storm slammed into her shield, static electricity snapping and crackling as the two opposite elements touched. Lizzy could feel the shield as if it were a part of her, so the attack was mental and physical to her.
"Ahh!" She grunted at the suddenness of the pain. She slid backward, digging her feet into the ground as the force of the Storm pressed against the wall and caused it to recoil slightly. Shouting, Evangeline threw out her arm, an arc of Shadow energy lashing out and spreading out against Lizzy's shield, covering the cracks and strengthening the weakened areas. James signaled to Katie and Alex who nodded and lifted their arms, calling on their own elements. Above the fight, the clouds of the true Metru Nui sky darkened to a tumultuous bluish-green. Thunder growled when lighting flashed, and a torrential rain began. The winds of the teen-controlled storm blew against those of Makuta's storm, forcing it back slightly. Down below, Dave noticed a change in the Shadow Storm's structure. The dark clouds fell to the ground, resolving into shapes, indistinct at a distance. Dave called to James and pointed out the new threat.
"Okay, that's different." James muttered. The Storm had resolved itself into a vast army marching on the Great Temple.
"Since his first assault failed to have any results, I would guess that Teridax is changing his plan of attack." Brianne mused aloud, "and if we can hold them at the wall, it gives the Matoren more time to get away." The others agreed, each trying to think of a defense plan. The teens spread out along the wall, each readying their elemental powers, preparing to unleash them in full force against their attacking enemies. The Shadow army closed in on the Temple and the eight teens let loose with all their might. Torrents of water and blasts of fire carved trenches through the lines of foes, drowning some and burning others to a crisp. The earth rumbled, pieces of it falling or rising, crushing the attackers or swallowing them whole. The wind blew, shrieking and biting cold, as ice and snow swirled around in frantic patterns. Enemies freezing in place then bashed together and shattering as the wind blew them around. The few enemies that were able to make it through the front lines suddenly found themselves surrounded by darkness streaked with purple, then suddenly a bright harsh light would blind them. While they flailed around blindly, the shadow-made warriors, one-by-one, disintegrated. Through the darkness of Eva's elemental power, a gleaming golden sword or a pair of glowing silver and purple weapons darted around, cutting all of them down, keeping them from gaining any foothold on the wall.
Once all of the shadow enemies had vanished, Lizzy and Eva emerged from the gloom staring at the remaining army. The shadows swirling around her, shrinking and moving to reform her cloak, Eva mumbled something, too quiet for Lizzy to hear. Without taking her eyes from the battle field, Lizzy leaned her head to her sister.
"WHAT was that?" she half shouted.
"There are too many of them for us to take!" Eva said, louder than last time. Lizzy agreed then glanced up at James on the top of the wall. The Six teens atop the ramparts were focusing on pushing the enemy back. With a sudden rush of wind that countered Alex's winds, the shadow-created army was sucked back up into a cohesive whole, a cloud of blood red darkness that loomed like a malevolent storm overhead.
"James?" Lizzy called over her shoulder as she watched the unfolding events. Muttering to himself, James tried to decide what to do next. Next to him, Katie staggered as the feeling of impending doom and darkness threatened to over whelm them while down below Evangeline cried out before passing out. Making his decision quickly, James called down to Lizzy, telling her to get her sister back behind the wall.
"Come on guys, one last effort. Push him back far enough so we can get to the airship." He said to the other five on the wall, trying to rally them. Brianne, who was breathing heavily with her hands on her knees, pushed herself upright. Alex, who was already exhausted from powering the ice sled, was utterly spent, but he forced himself back to his feet, using the last of his strength for one last go. Dave was supporting Katie though he was losing strength fast. Mark was fading fast, fear adding to the drain on his powers. But nonetheless, the five teens put aside their exhaustion, their differences, their fear and stood straight and tall, staring up at the storm. The cloud shifted to form Makuta's Krahkan Mask, his blood red eyes glaring at them. Not a word was said, no taunts exchanged; the winds, both Alex's and the ones stirred by the darkness, died away. The silence was deafening. Moving in unison, the five on the wall raised their weapons in clear defiance of the darkness. Channeling the last of their energy, they focused their powers through their weapons and fired at Makuta. The five streams of elements joined to form one stream of energy, interlaced with the colors of the elements. The stream of energy slammed into Makuta's face rather than passing right through him; the amount of power shocked him. He had never thought that fleshlings could be so powerful. The power that he felt in them and their elemental energies was ancient, more ancient that he was. Still he pressed on, wanting to devour their power, their "good", turn them if he could, destroy them if he could not. Pain flooded him, but he had felt worse; it was an annoyance to him. He was stronger than ever, so such a paltry attack of combined elements could do him no lasting harm. Or so he thought. From behind the teens standing on the wall, from behind the wall itself, came another stream of energy, golden in color. It twined around the energy from the five and hit Makuta. Now it hurt worse and he fell back slightly. Makuta hated light; it hurt. It always did. Now it was in a concentrated beam and penetrating his very being. But it still could not deter him from continuing to attack. Finally, one last beam of pure energy joined the fray. It was glowing purple and felt like shadows, save it was kinder, gentler, but laced with pain, fear and anger. That final burst of energy is what finally finished it.
Makuta let out an echoing scream of wrath and pain. The feeling of good shadow energy was too much. He had never felt anything like the pain coming from seven combined elements. With one final explosion of power, Makuta was knocked completely unconscious and his mind was sealed temporarily. The explosion destroyed all traces of his storm-form. When the glare died away, the teens stood quietly for a moment. Then they quickly, turned and ran down the stairs and out the rear of the Great Temple, unaware that they had been granted a reprieve from Makuta's attacks and unaware of his mind being sealed. They all thought that he was merely defeated and would soon be hot on their heels chasing them all the way to Metru Nui.
The seven teens stumbled onto the small airship that remained for them to escape on. Lizzy was the first to board, setting the barely conscious Evangeline on a bunk in the middle of the cabin, and then the older sister hurried into the cockpit. She was surprised to see Tanma and Solek sitting at the controls, finishing the preflight checks.
Behind her, James, supporting Katie, was the last to board. Brianne and Mark helped a semiconscious Alex onto the bunk opposite Eva, while Dave ran to the front of the ship. Solek grinned up at the two shocked teens, while Tanma called for takeoff. James helped Katie up the ramp even as the craft left the ground and the ramp began to retract.
"Mr. Wizard, get us out of here!" He yelled to the front, as the automatic door slid shut behind him. HE gently set Katie in a chair and staggered to the front. Lizzy had pulled Tanma from the pilot's chair and was busy settling herself in. Next to her, Dave, though tired, was sliding in to the chair, taking Solek's place.
"What are you two doing here?" James asked incredulously. Solek shrugged.
"Well someone had to get this thing started in case you had to leave before prepping for takeoff." Tanma said, brushing past the teen leader and heading to the bay where the other five were.
Glancing back, Lizzy sighed, saying, "I'm not going to argue with them this time. It's not worth it." James nodded in agreement. Lizzy made a small adjustment to their course and looked, first at James, then at Dave. "I just realized something!" She exclaimed, her eyes wide with shock. "You both have your masks on!" Sure enough, Dave had his gleaming Norahki over his face, while James had a familiar Great Mask over his.
Reaching up and running a curious hand over it, James asked "What is it?"
"It's a Huna." Lizzy said softly, "The same as Vakama." Silence fell. Then Lizzy and Dave jumped to their feet as James spun on his heel. They all had had the same thought; if James had his, even though he had not figure out its power beforehand, then perhaps the others had theirs too. They burst into the back to see Katie looking at herself in a mirror, fascinated by the Komau resting over her face. Brianne turned to grin at the newly arrived team members, a Pakari glowing orange over her face. Mark was talking to Alex, who had the mask of Fate, called the Calix, on. It was the same as the one that Jaller Inika wore; only Alex's was not organic like Jaller's. Mark had an oddly shaped mask that Lizzy hadn't seen before; nor had any of the others ever seen it. Lizzy turned to her sister's bunk to see how she fared. The younger girl was staring at her knees. She looked up and met her sister's eyes, fear filling them. On her face, glowing purple was a mask of Shadows, only the angles on hers were softened and the edges more rounded that Makuta's. Lizzy grinned, her own mask shimmering into existence over her face. Reaching up, Lizzy pushed the mask until it rested on the top of her head like a hat. Eva giggled slightly at her sister. The others laughed at Lizzy, mostly because she looked rather ridiculous. From there the conversation strayed from topic to topic for hours.
****Later****
"There it is, Humans." Tanma said staring out the front window of the cockpit, "the island of Mata Nui."
"Wow." Katie whispered, awed.
"There are the other airships, Lizzy. Down there; land in the water." James said from the copilot's seat.
"Thank you, James. I Know." Lizzy said sarcastically, steering the airship toward the ground. The bottom of the ship splashed into the water and floated to the shore. Brianne laughed suddenly, causing the others to glance back at her. Still laughing, Brianne pointed behind her, to where Alex lay on the ground having forgotten to hold on to something solid as the aircraft landed in the water.
"Really, Alex?" Katie laughed.
The whole team shook their heads, as Alex shrugged and regained he footing.
The teens turned their attention back to the approaching shoreline. The Air Ship ran aground on the beach with a crunch and the front ramp extended. The doors opened and the eight teens followed the two Matoren down, shielding their eyes from the sudden brightness of the sun. Six short figures, all bearing staffs, stood waiting just beyond the bottom of the ramp. The teens walked down the ramp and onto the soft sands of the beaches of Ga-Koro.
"Welcome, young heroes." Spoke up one of the figures. "Welcome to Mata Nui. I am Turaga Vakama. We have been expecting you."
***End The Beginning***
Katie: Please keep an eye out for the next installment of the Toa Rahini Chronicles: The Toa Rahini Chronicles: Rescue Mission. And if you are mad at Angel about the Beginning being ended, please be nice. If you must yell or complain or bitch at her, do it over PMs, not through Reviews.
A/N: I made some minor alterations on the advice of my Beta reader. See if you can spot them.