The cries of toa rang out around him as Likhan scrambled for cover, rolling out of the way just as a Rhotuka hit behind him, sending him flying into a rack of armor, which them collapsed on top of him, sending weapons scattering across the floor and catching the attention of one of the Frostelus, who turned and looked at Likhan, before a hand grabbed its leg and tried to bring it down, but the rahi paid it little mind, stabbing clean through the arm of the toa who had grabbed it.
"Lhikan!" Nidhiki shook Lhikan out of his memories and suddenly the heat came flooding over him, and he snapped back to the present.
"Sorry, just…planning."
"Can you maybe share some of this planning with me?" Nidhiki looked out the window of the small room they were holed up in, checking again to see if the dragon was coming.
"Oh so now you want to follow my plan, what happened to the great toa-hero who can take out the dragon all on his own," Likhan quipped. Nidhiki completely ignored him, and kept looking out the window. "Okay fine. So we have no idea where Naho and Inaku are, and we have been holed up here for the past week trying to get closer to the dragon, which you can't sneak up on because 1) you can't handle the heat in the furnace and 2) even if you did sneak up on it, your scythe can't actually do any damage to the thing. Our only real plan is to wait for help, because I can't do much of anything until my leg heals."
"I told you I was sorry, okay? You didn't have to come rushing in to save me." Nidhiki left the window and fell to sitting against the wall opposite to Lhikan. "You should have left me there."
"I never leave a toa behind. You are no exception, although I admit I really wanted to after your behavior this far. We will never make a good team if you don't start acting like you are a part of it, which you are, believe it or not."
"You know a lot about being on a team, so it seems, what happened to your old one?" Nidhiki still couldn't look Lhikan in the eyes, rather he was fiddling with the handle of his scythe. Lhikan took a deep breath and tried to stop the memories from coming back, but was plunged back in.
Lhikan crawled out from under the weapons and ran back into the interior of the fortress, trying to get out of the courtyard where the conflict was the most intense. Running down the hallway, he saw a few toa scattered like leaves along the floor, armor shattered. He reached the end of the hallway and looked out the window to see more and more Frostelus crawling up the walls into the fortress from the iceberg that had appeared the night before. He heard heavy footsteps behind him and spun, suddenly face to face with a large figure.
Shaking his head to clear his mind, Lhikan took several deep breaths and looked up to see Nidhiki looking at him, concerned.
"You have done that twice now; do I have to worry about that happening in battle?"
"No."
"Are you sure, I only want to- "
"I SAID I WAS FINE!" Lhikan flew to his feet, his body instinctively radiating heat as his fists heated up, before he felt his leg give out and he crumpled to the ground, hitting his head against the wall as he went.
"I didn't mean to… I'm sorry." Nidhiki helped Lhikan back to sitting against the wall, and continued to watch over him still with the same concerned expression.
"Listen. The last time I was on a team- " Lhikan closed his eyes and tried to calm his mind "- it didn't end well. You heard about the Toa Fortress on the islands east of Xia?
"Wait, but nobody made it out of there after the- "
"I did. I was a new toa there, sent for training. I had just been given a Toa Stone by Dume after he said the stars had chosen me to be his successor on Metru Nui, and so I had to obey, he was a toa and he had already saved my life, so I owed it to him. I went off as fast as I could to my islands Kini Nui and I transformed, and within the week I was sent off to the fortress to be trained. I trained for several years there, perfecting my elemental powers and learning how to channel them through my sword."
"Only one?" Nidhiki was now intently listening to the story, but still fiddled with his scythe. Lhikan looked down at his two blades and ran his fingers over the carvings he had done on them.
"These were…given to me. I had a friend back in the fortress- "
"Lhikan, you need to leave," said the massive toa of air. He pressed the board into Lhikan's hands and punched through the window. "We don't have much time, fly to the other tower and grab the Makoki Stone, then get out of here. Someone needs to live to tell what happened here, and we must get that stone off the island safely. Now go!" The air toa sent out a burst of wind that carried Lhikan and the board out the window and Lhikan, gripping the board as hard as he could, fearing he might fall, turned to see his friend waving him off, before a blade shot through his neck and he was pulled out of sight.
"Hey, you are here, don't let that stuff come up. You are stronger than your memories." Lhikan struggled to come back to reality and saw that Nidhiki was now kneeling beside him, his hand on Lhikan's shoulder. "Growing up where I did, we had lots of hard times. A lot of my friends died, and most of the ones that lived had this same problem. We all have these thoughts, buried down deep so they can't hurt us, but you can't let them control you."
"Thank you…brother," whispered Lhikan as he pressed the memories away. "I lost too many good toa that day. Too many friends. One of them saved my life with these," he said, gesturing to the blades, "and then he died as I was helpless to save him. I couldn't even complete the mission he gave me, the item I was supposed to take had already been stolen. I failed everyone on that island, they all died in vain because of me." Lhikan felt the emotions wash over him and he began to sob, everything from that day replayed over and over every instant until he felt nothing, and the crying stopped.
"You are still here, and if not for that, I would likely be a stain on the claws of that dragon right now. To me, they didn't die in vain because they saved you, and you saved me, and I am sure you have saved many others, so to this city, their sacrifice was the best thing that could have happened. I know it hurts, losing people. But if you can't accept that as a leader of a Toa team, you will never succeed."
"Thank you…" Lhikan could barely talk, his mind felt like fog, unable to think or feel anything. All he could feel was pain all over his head as if the memories had physically hurt him. "I think I just need some time to come back to reality."
"I don't think that dragon is coming anywhere near here for a while, so take your time." Nidhiki stood and headed back over to the window, where he pulled up a stool and kept lookout. A few hours passed, Lhikan trying to use his leg more and more, but the cut from the dragon's claw was still not healing, the burn did not help it either. Just as he was adapting to it and successfully walking across the room a few times, he was knocked flat on his back by a black blur that seemingly came out of nowhere.
Nidhiki shot to his feet, scythe in hand, but whatever had been in the room was gone. Lhikan crawled over and grabbed his swords, sliding up the wall to his feet and bracing himself against it so he could be ready to fight.
"Lhikan! Nidhiki! Are you in there?" Naho's voice yelled from somewhere outside, and Nidhiki looked out the window to see her, Inaku, and a black toa all standing at the door of the building.
"Lhikan is hurt, we were just attacked, you guys should watch out, Nidhiki relayed, still tensed up behind his scythe. The black toa laughed at this, and then suddenly disappeared, only to reappear in the room with them with a gust of wind.
"That would have been me, terribly sorry for the bump I gave you, checking this many buildings got so repetitive that I didn't realize anyone was in here until after I was already out the door and actually processed I hit someone." He turned to Lhikan, who had lowered his blades, but was still leaning against the wall. He gestured to Lhikan's leg. "I hope that wasn't me, was it?" Lhikan shook his head as Naho and Inaku came up the stairs behind the black toa.
"Pardon the newbie, his name is Voma and he is still getting used to things. How long did you say you have been a toa?"
"About a week."
"Exactly," remarked Naho, as she made her way over to Lhikan. "Hey Inaku, how much do you know about claw marks this size?"
"Enough to fix that pretty quick, but I would suggest sitting down," said Inaku as they came over to help Lhikan back to sitting on the floor, then concentrating and their mask began to glow as Lhikan again felt the energy flowing into him, this time stinging more at the cut, and he grimaced in pain. "Sorry about that, cuts can be a hard time, especially ones this deep." Inaku continued as Naho made her way over to the window, looking out over the Metru.
"We found the dragon, it is in the Great Furnace, which it seems to like a lot, and hasn't left since it arrived, which made our job easy. Only bad thing is, it feeds off heat, so the longer it is there, the more powerful it gets. We need to take it down sooner rather than later, but we keep running into the same issue. None of us can hurt it, especially me down here, I can barely use my powers at all. I heard that more toa should be arriving tonight, Dume told us that they would be the last ones, but there will be six of them, so we will have plenty of support, and if we attack at night, we can possibly catch the dragon while it is sleeping, and take it out nice and easy."
"You make it sound like we haven't been defeated every time we go near it," quipped Nidhiki. Naho sighed and Inaku patted her on the shoulder, giving her a comforting smile.
"If we work together," said Lhikan as he rose, testing out his leg again, "we can definitely succeed, especially with the help of other toa. We can manage this, and we will." Lhikan stood tall again, his strength fully returned. "All we need to do is work together and compensate for each other's strengths and weaknesses. Our first priority should be making our way to meet the new toa who are joining us, where did you say they were coming in?"
"Le-Metru, should be getting in within the next few hours, so if we leave now we should catch them in time," said Naho, who was looking visibly happier after Lhikan's speech.
"I can scout ahead if you like, make sure the path is clear so we don't end up taking a wrong turn and ending up at a pile of rubble blocking the street," added Voma. He looked very lean for a Toa of Earth, but Lhikan gave him permission, and he shot out of the building in a streak. The rest followed on foot, making their way through the ruined Metru.
The heat was much more unbearable than usual, probably because none of the workers were around to control the flames like normal, and it's not like the dragon would want to cool off. Buildings were crushed all around, the dragon apparently took its sweet time actually getting to the furnace, leveling half of the Metru, and not every Matoran had made it out, as Lhikan could tell from the broken masks and occasional hand sticking out from the rubble.
The toa finally left the heat of the Metru after about an hour, without finding any survivors. The motivation from Lhikan's speech had all but died off, everyone much quieter, and Nidhiki going back to his usual cold self, walking slightly behind the rest of the group. Lhikan tried to keep his head up, but all the bodies they had seen on the trip to Le-Metru had left him feeling hopeless. Countless lives had been lost, and they had been unable to do anything to stop it. Naho and Inaku looked most defeated, seeing all those they had failed to save.
Heading towards the docks, night fell as the suns disappeared, casting the city into a glow with the lights from Le-Metru still shining bright, although Lhikan could barely stand to look back at Ta-Metru, which was completely dark save for the firey glow of the furnace. He remembered all the time he had spent there when he had first arrived, trying to get more in touch with his element in such a new place. He had met with the mask-makers and crafters, and slowly honed his elemental prowess until it became what it was today, and many of the Matoran who had helped him were now probably buried under hundreds of tons of stone.
The waves lapped gently at the docks as the group arrived, and they sat, waiting for the boat to come in. Nobody talked much, Lhikan and Naho siting at the end of the dock watching the water, while Lhikan could hear the pacing of Voma, accompanied by the exasperated sighs of Nidhiki.
"Lhikan, can you hold on to me for a minute? I am going to see if I can't look ahead for them," said Naho, and Lhikan obliged, putting his arm around her to hold her as she went completely limp and cold.
"Woah, is she okay?" Voma had come up besides Lhikan and was looking at Naho's seemingly lifeless body. Inaku chuckled and stepped forward, their armor covered in flowering vines. Lhikan had wondered what their power was, and this was a beautiful display of it, the vines covered in light blue flowers decorating the armor as if it had been carved in. He caught himself staring at the vines and brought his gaze up to meet Inaku's, and looked down in apology. Inaku smiled at this and then turned to Voma.
"She wears the Iden, the great mask of spirit. She is still fine; she is just exploring while leaving her body behind. So long as she is in that form she cannot be seen or heard, or even touched. Only issue is her body is left behind, and so it can certainly be destroyed, but just so long as her body is safe, she is safe." Inaku said, kneeling down beside Naho's body. They looked over her, and suddenly her eyes snapped open with a gasp.
"Well this is new! I assume you are the welcoming party? I didn't expect us to get so close so soon," said Naho, winking at Lhikan, as her head rested in his lap. She sat up and looked around at the group, as if for the first time.
"Naho, is that you?" Inaku looked at her, a questioning look on his face.
"Oh yeah! That's who I must have passed! Nononono. I just happen to share the same mask as this lovely toa, which means we can swap bodies and powers and such, it's a fun deal, but I had never gotten a chance to try it. I assume my body will be showing up soon, along with the rest of the toa you requested. My name is Tupu, Toa of Stone, native of Nyrnah, or at least I have lived there all my life, growing up learning from the best crafters in the world, if I do say so myself."
Lhikan pushed the toa up off of his lap. "As much as we appreciate your arrival, I have a feeling Naho will be none too happy about you taking her body, so would you mind giving it back?" Tupu laughed and nodded.
"Yes of course. I apologize, I was scouting ahead to make sure we weren't lost when I found a body I could get into. Let me handle that for you." He stood up tall and then closed his eyes, and Naho's body crumpled to the ground, Lhikan and Nidhiki both rushing to try and catch it. They bumped into each other and Nidhiki seemed to teleport away with how fast he moved back. It seemed unlike him to help someone for their own sake, but Lhikan shrugged it off and looked back down at Naho, who once again opened her eyes and this time jumped to her feet and turned towards the sea, where a wave formed and then crashed, near a far-off light.
The water began to stir up beneath the dock, and two tendrils of water rose and swirled around Naho's legs as she channeled her power. A wave began rushing at ridiculous speeds towards the dock, growing larger and larger until it stopped just before it, with a brown figure trapped inside the water. Naho moved the wave over the dock and Lhikan watched as the wave crashed down, bringing the figure inside of it slamming down onto the dock with a resounding smack.
"Touch my body again and you will wind up at the bottom of that sea in an instant," she said, tendrils of water wrapping around her body and making her seem much larger and more imposing than normal, and Lhikan found himself unsettled by just how powerful she seemed at times.
"That is one helluva toa, let me tell you, do not let this one off on her own, people are bound to get killed," said the brown figure, who Lhikan suspected must be Tupu. His armor was very simple in build, but it had carvings and designs all over it that made it look so much more intricate. Rising to his feet, the toa brushed himself off. "Also, darling, I would love to take you up on that whole free diving offer, but I have a bit of an issue, see, I sink like a stone in water." Naho scoffed at this, but Likhan could see she was holding back a smile. Something about this toa made the whole team seem a little brighter, and Lhikan was glad for it. The only outlier was Nidhiki, who was still standing off to the size, looking the new arrival up and down, like he was dinner.
"Welcome to the team. Glad to have you here in your own body," Lhikan said, reaching out a hand to Tupu. The toa gladly accepted the handshake and pulled Lhikan in for a hug, giving him a solid smack on the back. The sound of a motor whirred behind him, and Likhan broke the hug off after about five seconds to turn and look as the boat carrying the other toa approached, all of them standing with weapons drawn.
"Brothers! And Tuyet. Welcome to Metru Nui, my friends," announced Tupu, which was met with exasperated sighs from everyone on the boat.