(A/N): :Phew!: Finally got another one up. Don't worry, more of the toa will be coming on their way. :Thinks for a moment: Other than that, there's not much to say except there might be a little violence in this chapter. Anyway, enjoy and please comment!
Disclaimer: I do not own Bionicle but I do own Tommy and the rest of the gang.
Chp. 6-Accidental Fight
Tommy gave out a groan as he got up from the unseen floor. His eyes finally snapped open when he saw where he was. As far as he could tell, it looked as if he was in a darkened theater, even though he couldn't make out anything except the dark around him. He gave out a short 'humph' and stomped his foot on the ground a few times to make sure he was actually standing on something. The stomps echoed throughout the entire room. His mind was taken off of this when he heard the clanging of metal from behind him. He spun around and saw a sight that made his eyebrows jump.
He saw two people having a struggle with one another, trying to attack the other with what looked like long daggers, not long enough to be swords, but too long for a knife. The fight was so fierce that sparks would fly from the daggers at each hit causing Tommy to avoid being caught on fire. Tommy blinked when he noticed whom they were, who were taking no notice of him at the moment. He recognized one and it was…himself. One looked like him when he was normal except he looked great (given his condition he didn't really care either way).
This Tommy had his hair in a ponytail and he looked fitter than before. He also seemed to be paler and his eyes were a near white blue instead of his usual brown eyes. As the actual Tommy watched on, the human-Tommy seemed to be fighting a crouching, shadowy entity that seemed to have the upper hand in the fight, something Tommy could hardly distinguish. After a while, the human-Tommy began to breathe hard from the strain he was put under and the entity saw an opportunity. The entity slammed the handle of its dagger into the human-Tommy's chest, causing him to fall over, wheezing like an elderly man. It wasn't until the entity stood over the other Tommy that the real Tommy got a good look at it. When Tommy got a good look at it, Tommy swore out loud.
Tommy's eyes widened. "HOLY-!" Tommy was cut off when he noticed the entity was smirking at him. It had long dark hair that went down to its elbows and encircled a long narrow head that looked eerily similar to Tommy's. As a matter of fact, it looked almost exactly like him at the moment, except he was completely dark except for two golden orbs shining from its eyes, freezing Tommy on the spot. It was very rare for Tommy to get frightened, but the entity's eyes just seemed to glue him to the spot. The entity smirked at Tommy and grabbed the dagger's handle with it's misshapen claws, sending shivers down his spine, and positioned his dagger over the human-Tommy's chest, now giving Tommy a pleading look.
The real Tommy began to run towards the human-Tommy. "NO! Get away from him!" He shouted at the evil-Tommy, who seemed to get farther away from him with each step. Tommy began to gasp for breath but still pressed on. "…Don't…" He gasped while he ran "Don't you dare-"
The entity gave out a harsh laugh, cutting Tommy off. "I dare then." The entity sent the dagger sharply towards the human-Tommy's chest, causing Tommy to cry out, blacking out as he did.
Tommy's eyes snapped opened and sat up in his tent. He noticed he was breathing heavily and was sweating profusely. Tommy wiped some sweat from his brow and looked around the tent, wondering where he was at first. He then remembered what happened the previous day and gave a groan at this. He gave one last thought about his strange dream before dismissing it as a reaction to the previous day's events. He pulled his shirt back on, which was more difficult than he thought, put his hat back on and went outside into the morning.
It was fairly nice out that morning, even though it was only slightly chilly out. Tommy assumed it was around maybe nine or ten that morning, even though there was still quite a bit of dew on the grass and bushes. Tommy cracked his neck and noticed that he was the only one there since the other five tents were empty and no one else was seen. Tommy was looking around the area when he noticed a large orange tent that was about the same size as the biology lab at his school. He then saw a man crouching at a corner of the tent, pounding a stake into the ground to hold the tent down.
The man had messy brown hair that was pulled back into a ponytail, five o' clock shadow, and an oily tourist T-shirt to boot. The man was rubbing sweat off his brow when he saw Tommy standing there and got up. This caused Tommy to tense up slightly, considering this was a total stranger who just happened to show up at the campsite and the fact of their little…problem. Tommy then became puzzled when the man walked right up to him, put on a friendly grin and stuck his hand out in greeting.
"Good morning," the man said cheerfully "you must be Tommy am I right?"
"Err…Yeah." Tommy was caught off guard by the man's introduction. "And who're you?"
"I believe you met my brother and sister last night correct?" Tommy nodded then cocked his eyebrows.
"Wait a sec…so you're one of them?" Tommy thought it was odd because he couldn't picture an all-powerful warrior wearing something from a souvenir stand and being the one to set a mammoth of a tent up.
The man chuckled. "Yes, my name is Toa Pohatu, but for the time being, you can just call me Pohatu." Pohatu looked down at his hand, which Tommy had yet to shake. "I believe it is custom around here to shake hands with one another when introducing each other, correct?" He said lightheartedly.
Tommy was once again caught off guard by this and shook Pohatu's hand, if a bit stiffly from the fact that his comment had annoyed him slightly.
Tommy cleared his throat to keep his composure. "So…where's everyone else?"
"Off helping the others with the equipment and some supplies while you're all here. You slept in quite a bit by the way. You also missed breakfast too."
Tommy muttered under his breath. "Crap…" That was when he realized that his stomach was complaining about his hunger.
Pohatu seemed to notice Tommy's annoyance and reached over to a bag near the orange tent. After rummaging through it for a minute, he pulled out a cinnamon and raison bagel, took out a pocketknife and cut it in half. Pohatu gave Tommy one of the halves.
"Here." He said with a kind grin. "It's not much, but it'll hold you I guess,"
"Thanks." Tommy began to munch on the bagel, despite the fact he wasn't a huge fan of raisons, but it was better than nothing.
Pohatu then gave out a sigh. "Well, better get that tent up before the others accuse me of being lazy," Pohatu turned back to the tent and went back to work pounding the stakes into the ground. While watching him work, Tommy couldn't help but notice that he was pounding the stakes into the ground farther than they're supposed to. After swallowing the last bit of bagel, Tommy spoke up.
"Just to throw my two cents in, but aren't those stakes a bit too deep?"
Pohatu stopped working and looked the stakes over. Pohatu waved it off. "That'll just mean that the tent will be held in place better, that's nothing to worry about."
"It'll be a real pain to get those out of the ground." Tommy said matter-of-factly.
Pohatu was still insistent. "It'll be fine for now, don't worry about it."
"Well when you have to take that behemoth apart and you can't get those out, I'm not helping." Tommy said while laughing. He then turned and went to lean up against a tree, watching Pohatu with a cocky grin. Pohatu, on the other hand, chuckled and gave a patient grin, as if he dealt with this on a regular basis.
After about fifteen minutes, the others began to arrive with Kopaka and Gali, each carrying a large cardboard box. Tommy went over to help unpack the boxes into the orange tent, each filled with an array of equipment. Some boxes contained the most complicated fold up tables and chairs he had ever seen. One box also contained a portable generator while the others contained the most important gear. The equipment included microscopes, test tubes, laptops, and other machines that Tommy couldn't identify.
The rest of the day was spent trying to set it all up in the tent. Tommy, Benny, and Duncan helped set up the tables and the generator, but left the more complicated work for Abby, Pete and Curt such as setting up the machines, with the help of Kopaka and Gali of course. The other boys decided they would probably just ruin the machines if they even lifted a finger to help.
The other boys decided to hang out in the woods while this was done, with them boys trying to at least have a normal conversation. It was very hard since Duncan would always bring up the subject of how they were going to change back, which would make Tommy uncomfortable and try to talk about something else. Benny, however, wasn't helping by cracking jokes (which were hardly funny in the least) about the worst-case scenario, which caused Tommy to snap at him in annoyance.
Once twilight started to fall, Tommy felt relieved because he wanted to go into downtown and find out any news about the group. Tommy went up to ask Gali if he could be the one to check if there was any news.
Gali thought about it for a moment before answering. "I guess so," she said carefully. "Just try not to draw attention to yourself."
Tommy had to chuckle. "Yeah I'm sure that's the one thing I really want to do right now."
Tommy went over to his tent and got out his coat and put it on with the collar positioned up. He also put the shoes he wore the day before, which were still able to fit even after the change. He then asked Pete if he could use his gloves but only to find out that they didn't fit on his hands. Tommy just gave a frustrated sigh and decided just to keep his hands in his pockets while he was there. With that, Tommy went into the forest and into the direction of the town.
Downtown couldn't have been drearier in Tommy's opinion. Right when he got there not a soul could be seen on any of the sidewalks, in the alleys or seen in the buildings. It was so quiet that two people could stand on either side of the street and whisper and still hear each other. Tommy decided that a good place to look for any news would be near an old convenience store that was probably closed by that time.
Tommy strode over to the store, keeping his collar at a good height while walking. By the time Tommy got there, the store's windows were already dark and the door's locked for the night. Usually posters like for a lost dog or community event would be posted on the window for people to see, which was his best chance for any news. Tommy began to scan the glass, not being able to find anything at first. After a few minutes, Tommy was able to find one poster. On it was six pictures, each with a different person from the group. Each picture looked like it came from their yearbooks from the year before, probably their parent's last resort. There was also a 'missing teens' title at the top of the poster with information of each person; along with home phone numbers if someone had important information of the group's whereabouts.
Tommy then started to think about his mom and what she was probably doing at that moment. She would probably be sitting near the phone with puffy eyes from crying, waiting for news about her son's whereabouts or thinking about what could've happened to him. Tommy had a good idea about this since she acted the same way when his dad left.
He then began to wonder how they others' parents were handling this. Each of his friends only had one parent with them, since the other parent would leave the family for an odd reason and without warning. The puzzling thing was that there was almost no reason for leaving; it wasn't for another spouse, problems at home, or anything like that, they just left. When each parent left, it left a lasting impression on each person in the group, including Tommy.
Tommy began to feel depressed at this and thought to himself that at least some people cared they were gone. After that he had to remind himself that they could not be found until they were cured, which just made Tommy even more depressed. Tommy gave a heavy sigh and rubbed his temples, trying to ignore these feelings. He took a deep breath, trying to get these thoughts out of his head. He then decided that the poster was all he was going to get and decided to head back.
Tommy left the convenience store and started to head back down the street passing by some of the most dingy alleys he had ever seen. While he was passing by a particularly miserable alley, Tommy thought he heard a familiar voice. He pressed up against the wall outside of the alley and tried his best to peek into it without revealing himself.
He saw a tall teenage boy in a ski cap who looked like he was having a hard time handling a girl, since she was trying to run away from him and was screaming bloody murder. Tommy at first thought it was the guy's sister until he actually slapped her. The teenager's left side was facing Tommy, who noticed three piercings in his left ear. The one thing that got Tommy's attention was how unique they were; each earring was a black stone stud, each similar to that of obsidian, each with a single drop of red paint in the middle, the exact same studs Eric would wear.
He finally was able to listen to the voice. "Shut it you little brat!" The voice said coldly. "Unless you want to go back to them, then cooperate or there won't be of piece of your parents to find!" Tommy's hunch was right. The boy down there was Eric.
This seemed to horrify the girl. "NO!" She said shrilly and kept repeating. "I don't wanna go! Leave me 'lone! Please!"
Tommy then became torn between two choices; leave the situation and keep a low profile like he was told to, which disgusted him, or to beat the sorry traitor that got him into his mess into carrion for the buzzards. Unfortunately, almost all thought had left Tommy at that point; as a matter of fact, it felt like something else was at the controls now. Now, instead of being inconspicuous like he was told to, he had one thing on his mind: revenge.
Tommy's eyebrows furrowed, clenched his fists, and, without even realizing it, started to run down the alley faster than he had ever ran before. Eric looked up from the girl to see who coming, only to receive an extremely hard punch to the chest. The girl took the opportunity and hid in an alley that branched out from the one they were in.
Eric doubled-over from the hit and began to wheeze, having some of the wind knocked out of him. Eric was prepared to beat the crap out of whoever did that and looked up, eyes widening in the process.
Eric shouted out. "HOLY CRAP!" He was cut off when Tommy sent a fist against his left cheek, throwing him to the side.
Eric was able to quickly get up and began to throw a punch towards the underside of Tommy's head, despite being rattled by Tommy's appearance. This made contact, but Tommy was able to grab his arm and twisted it and forced it towards Eric's side, causing Eric to cry out in pain. Tommy used his other hand and grabbed the collar of Eric's shirt and slammed him against the wall, causing Eric to cough up a little blood.
Tommy let go of Eric's arm and began to land punches in Eric's face, swearing at him while he did it.
Tommy yelled at the top of his lungs. "YOU SON OF A-!" While Tommy was spewing profanities, Eric went wide-eyed, he'd recognize that voice anywhere.
"…Tommy…?" He said weakly and fearfully.
This seemed to make Tommy even angrier because after that he raised Eric even higher and threw him against the wall. Eric got up, legs shaking from the beating he was taking. The boy clenched his fists, gave a glare at Tommy, and charged at him, yelling at the top of his lungs. Eric brought a fist careening towards the side of Tommy's neck, which Tommy blocked with the side of his arm. Tommy raised his other fist up and sent it towards Eric's sternum, which Eric blocked as well.
This sparring went on for a few minutes until one made small miscalculation. Eric put his hands together, creating a large fist and was about to send it towards Tommy's temple. Tommy, however, had seen Eric use that in many gang fights and dodged it with ease by stepping to the side, with Eric accidentally sending himself flying forward. Tommy took the opportunity and slammed his arm into the side of Eric's head. This caused the so-called friend to stagger and slammed into the wall, falling onto the ground like a limp rag.
Tommy was left standing there, breathing heavily from the fight and grinning sinisterly from his victory. Reality finally slapped Tommy back to existence, and Tommy blinked for a moment, looked down at Eric and was surprised by what he saw. Eric was lying on the ground with blood trickling from his mouth and from under his ski cap. Bruises could be seen on his arms and on his head and, although Tommy wasn't able to tell, broke a few bones in the process.
Tommy whispered. "My god…" and began to rub his temples, wincing in the process. Did he do that? He thought, trying to remember what had happened. The entire fight was like trying to recover a memory from eons ago. All he remembered was watching Eric struggle with the girl, becoming furious, then…nothing.
Tommy looked around frantically, knowing he was going to have to leave or there might be a good possibility that he would end up in a mental institution. Taking a deep breath, Tommy was about to leave when he felt something slam against the back of his legs. Tommy looked around and raised his eyebrows in surprise.
The girl that Eric was trying to kidnap was grabbing his coat, burying her face into it while crying. The girl had orange hair, pulled up into a ponytail, and was wearing an old green t-shirt with a pair of torn jean shorts with more dirt marks than Tommy could count.
The girl sobbed harder. "T-thank you," she said sobbingly. "Thank for s-stopping him…that bastard kept hurting me when I tried to escape but he just-" The girl couldn't keep going.
Tommy cocked an eyebrow. He was a bit surprised at the girl's language, since he had never heard a girl at that age talk with the mouth of a teenager. The other thing that took him aback was the fact that he didn't do it on purpose and he had gotten into an accidental fight in the proccess, but despite this he responded, "Err…no problem kid." He looked at her suspiciously. "Shouldn't you be at home or something?"
This just seemed to make her go even more hysterical. "No! Please not there! My parents'll do it to me again if they find out I ran away!"
"They beat you?" Tommy said surprised.
The girl started to cry again and said. "Please take me with you. I don't have anywhere else to go." she couldn't finish again.
Tommy was in a dilemma. Obviously, she hadn't seen what he looked like; otherwise she wouldn't be clinging to him like a snail to a building. Also the others probably wouldn't enjoy having someone know about them and what they were doing. Unfortunately, it looked like the girl didn't seem to have a very good home life and it would be heartless to put her back in that situation. Tommy finally gave out a sigh.
"Alright," He said with a sigh. "You can come. Just don't look up okay?"
The girl, whether she was puzzled by his request Tommy didn't know, complied with this and moved up to his side, face still buried in his coat. Tommy then began to walk at a brisk pace with the girl following him like a dog on a leash. Once in a while, Tommy would give a quick glance at the girl, who was surprisingly following Tommy's request along the entire walk. Almost during the entire trek, not a word was spoken between the two until Tommy's curiosity got the best of him.
"By the way," he said, "What's your name?"
The girl gave out small answer. "It's Anne Fredericks."