Chapter Five/Eighteen: Chocolate Killed the Video Star

"Johns Video" was warm and smelled of sweat, but a strange cooling air seemed to negate this. Tanika walked inside, smiling at her handiwork. At first she had planned to leave the planet, heading straight for Tamaran, but a growling hunger threatened to drop her dead… so she stayed. It probably wouldn't have mattered if she'd gone; the Gordanians would've found her anyway. Oh, the pains of having nine stomachs.

As she emerged through the big jagged hole, edges and debris still glowing red-hot, the girl took in her surroundings. It was dark, although shelves of objects could be made out. Tanika floated to them, ever curious, and picked one up. It seemed to be… some sort of case? She looked for an opening, pulling the thing apart, and was surprised to find a disc. Was it important? A hologram viewer was not in obvious view, so she went to go look for- oh, right, food…

A small counter lay by the entrance, covered with strange plastic toys, but Tanika ignored those and went right for the alluring scent. A small bucket, the source of the smell, had been placed behind the counter, and she picked it up eagerly. Licking her lips hungrily, she reached inside. Finally, sustenance! The Gordanians hadn't been feeding her well at all, mainly shoving meager leftovers in her mouth, and Lewa's planet hadn't been much better in that regard, so it was nice to get something of worth in her stomachs.

The first thing she took was a small, hard bar covered by a plastic wrapper. Looking at it lustfully, she placed it in her mouth and took a bite, slowly chewing to take in the flavor. Mmm, that was good- YUCK!

Oh X'hal, that wrapper did not taste good at all. She spit it out, taking off the rest, and went back to the sinfully good bar, moaning as she did so. It tasted thick and viscous, like the Taurunu's goop her knorf'ka had once given her, and left a fulfilling aftertaste in her mouth. She quickly licked it off and took the bucket; if that was just one bar, there was bound to be more delights in the whole thing! Tilting the container over, she breathed and opened her mouth. In its contents went.

A few popped corns lay on her tongue, overwhelming her with flavor, but she knew they would have to be digested… so she wolfed them down, savouring each treat as they were eaten. Again the sinful feeling took her by surprise, and again she chewed, taking in the taste and the texture and the feeling they had on her tongue and oh X'hal she may very well have been-

Suddenly, a group of stragglers walked in. Tanika frowned. The food was hers… why did they want it?

"Uh…" one said, pausing, "those taste better without the wrapper."

Oh. She remembered that voice.

Tipping down the last of the corn into her mouth, the girl turned over her shoulder to give him a smouldering look before wheeling around to face the others she knew had to be there- and lo and behold, they were. Rob… in, the one with the jagged hair and flashy outfit, the large man with robotic parts… Beast Boy? Tanika assumed it had to be. When the name had been called she had been busy lifting a bus. Either way, his green skin and stupid mask gave him away. She also spotted a pale girl in a robe, the one who had saved her; that was nice of her; and… Lewa.

They had allied with a clone, a clone of her dead friend to be precise. Tanika knew it was a silly assumption to make, but the Gordanian Lieutenant, H'ssiah had taken him before her and his friends' eyes and thrown him in something called protodermis. He had never returned. The reptiles had then removed them from the cave and taken them before Lord Tro'gaar, who blatantly outlined that she were not going to escape… obviously he had known her powers were going to get out of hand again, and had taken steps to prevent this; the cuffs, the cell, the torture, the clone.

The former three had been made to curb her growing abilities, but the latter clearly was not… he was merely a decoy, designed to goad her into coming back and being thrown to the Gordanian hounds. The others must have been sent by them to help. NO. This wouldn't do.

Snarling softly, she activated her starbolts and glowered at the group. They gasped, body language indicating surprise. Served them right.

"Tanika-"

Robin took a step towards her. "It's alright," he said. "We're friends… remember?

No. She did not remember.

Lewa frowned. Tanika didn't seem too hot about meeting him again. He was about to pull Robin back and tell him of this, but then she spoke.

"Friends?" she asked, advancing. Everyone quickly backed up. "Why? For what purpose did you free me?"

Robin smiled. "Just… trying to be nice?"

Tanika growled. "'Nice.' We do not have this word on my planet. Closest is 'rutha.' Weak!"

Lewa started to object; she'd acted pretty nice back home, so why was she so bitter now? He thought better of it, though.

Cyborg glared at her. "Well… around here, 'nice' means 'nice.'" He, too, took a step forward. "And if you want us to keep being nice, you better tell us why the Lizard King took you prisoner."

"I already speak-told you! They went to her home-planet, captured her, and kidnapped-took her in as the product of a-"

"I want the Cliffs Notes version!"

Lewa pouted. "Okay, fine. See what happens when they quick-find her and you aren't able to think-figure why they keep speak-talkin' about peace-treaties and armies and the like."

"Technically," Cyborg frowned, "you'll be seeing it too."

"Whatever!"

Tanika sighed, powering down her starbolts. They didn't seem that bad. "Not prisoner," she said. "I am… prize. The Gordanians deliver me to the Citadel, to live out my days as their servant."

The pale girl raised an eyebrow. "And the Citadel are…"

"Not nice," the alien finished bitterly.

Robin crossed over to her. "Then you're not going with them," he scowled as Beast Boy joined him. "Not if I have anything to say about it."

Beast Boy glared. "Um, don't you mean 'we?'"

BOOOOOOOOOMMM!

The group was hurled to the floor by the force. Lewa coughed, using his powers to clear the smoke, which revealed several Gordanian troops standing outside a new hole in the wall.

"Y'know," he rasped, "it's kinda rude-mean to interrupt a good moment like that-"

"Seize her!"

The platoon charged. Lewa quickly got back on his feet, as did the other five. Tanika may not have liked him anymore, but he wasn't going to let these guys take her away.

The Missouri plains rolled by, the two lazily driving down the road in the motorcycle. After a while of driving and being stuck in the cornfield (Malum threw up,) Akhmou had finally managed to get them out onto a main road. There had also been a problem with where exactly to drive, but quick "consultation" with a few drivers and the police ended that. Malum was especially thankful that the Justice League existed, whatever the heck it was.

"How long do you think we'll have to drive for?"

Malum laid a head on the middle of the handlebar and sighed. "I don't know. A day? Six months? This country seems huge. Did you know that this is all a country?"

Akhmou gaped. "No."

"Well good, because I didn't either." The Glatorian concentrated ahead of him. "This is actually more hopeless than I'd thought," he spat. "We have a good idea of where Toa Lewa is, but we have no idea how to get there, what to do when we get there, and what to say when we get there. Can you sign 'I'm sorry' now?"

"That wasn't my fault!"

"Yeah, and it's not the Great Being's fault for destroying our planet. Get over yourself."

The Matoran growled. "Why I outta-"

"Don't. It's not worth it."

Akhmou moaned and lay bad in his seat. "What else should we do? Head into a tavern and whine about our problems?"

As he said this, one passed by.

"Oh…" He grinned. "Hey, I just predicted the future!"

"So you did," Malum groaned.

It was a small tavern, if anything, barely the size of a Metrunan's house. Akhmou thought this peculiar; most were usually bigger, so that those from all types of work could visit to drink.

"'Lo's Greatest Beer,'" he read. "Do you want to?"

The Glatorian thought this over than slumped again. "Yeah, why not." He directed the cycle into a tiny lot and fell out of the vehicle. Soon, the Matoran did as well. It was a very good thing that they had found this, perhaps maybe too good…

Cyborg was the first to get a hit, bringing a robotic fist into a Gordanian's face, and was soon followed by Beast Boy as a rhinocerous in knocking one down. Lewa raised his sword and slashed, knocking two to the wall in a blast of wind. Tanika took out a soldier in a devastating right hook while Robin, using a new staff, smashed some of the aliens on their heads. Finally, the witch murmured some words, her eyes glowing white, and threw some Gordanians backward.

In a surge of light, another part of the wall exploded, rattling some cars and throwing Tanika out with it. She backed up out of the growing dust cloud, uncrossed her arms from their previous spot protecting her head, and lowered them to shoot a few starbolts. Three troops were in the target zone, flying towards her; one was directly hit and spiraled downwards, the second noticed this and pulled back, and the last dodged it, moving to fight the girl more closely. She held up a starbolt-infused fist to punch him but was knocked to the pavement, the surface cracking on impact. The soldier dropped down, holding up his spear to take her out, however Robin, busy fighting with another Gordanian, noticed and kicked the adversary with a mighty boot, punching away his own rival in the process. Tanika smiled but gasped when she saw the remaining troops going after him. She was quickly airborne again, hands on fire and screaming towards them. Robin took the rug out under one with a kick while she shot one down, flying upwards to take down more Gordanians.

Meanwhile, Cyborg and Lewa teamed up to take out a Gordanian of their own. The Toa played around a bit, the alien a few times before jumping behind him and kicking him to the man. The robot fought similarly before a long tail curled around the two's legs and threw them down. The soldier sneered and held his spear at them, Lewa shielding the duo with his Kanohi. He chuckled for a bit before another kicked him in the back of the head and deactivated it, leaving them helpless. The spear had fully charged up and was about to shoot before Cyborg rolled out of the way with the Toa and pulled a few acrobatic moves to dodge some more shots. They stood still, rapidly breathing, but were soon caught in a vicious crossfire that covered them in smoke.

Lewa cleared the smoke, eyes glowing, but was shocked to find that the man's garments had been destroyed. Underneath, what should normally have been skin was completely covered in the same paneling and circuitry as his arm, robotic body not unlike his own. He frowned and moved to ask him about this, but stopped. Gordanians. Right. The robot threw an angry look at the garment-destroyer and jumped towards him, moving past energy blasts to punch and break his spear. He lifted the alien high into the air, throwing him into a flying squadron before picking up another and throwing him to Lewa. The Toa paused for a moment before holding up his Skyblaster and shooting him away.

More shots rang out, landing close to the two; three soldiers threw them off balance before Beast Boy, as what appeared to be a Gukko bird, airlifted Cyborg out. Now alone with the Gordanians, Lewa turned to them, smiled evilly, and raised his sword high in the air, bringing back down forcefully and sending speeding towards a nearby streetlight and a destructive impact. The witch picked up the light with her powers, concentrated, and swung it towards three more who were all quickly knocked out of view.

Further down the road, a number of Gordanians lay still or still moving on the ground. The remains of the First District looked at the sextet and gaped. The rutan'gah alone was bad enough, but with five others she was all but unstoppable. H'ssiah gazed upon the damage done with a fearful look in his eyes- the Glatorian! Still alive! But how?

A soldier looked at him funny. "Sergeant?" He quickly found himself in the officer's grip.

"The Glatorian is still alive, Le'ede," H' hissed. "How is this possible?"

"Beats me, sir, but I know I don't want to take him on again," Le' said, rubbing his head."

ssiah paused. "I… I agree. I do not either. RETREAT!"

With that, those who were able to lifted off, many scared and in pain, and flew off. The victors looked at this, Beast Boy, in human form again, gazing in wonder.

Tanika gave a small smile. "I believe your expression is 'thanks.'"

"Ever-welcome," Lewa said. He sighed. "Look, Tanika- if you want to believe I'm dead, go on and do so. I… don't really mind. I know you're mad at me for that, and I'm sorry. I'll just go quick-ahead and beat down those Karzahni-spawn myself and we can be on our way."

"Who said anything about us being on our way?"

The Toa frowned. "I did… why?" He felt his hand being squeezed and gasped. "Too… strong! What-"

Tanika smiled and squeezed harder.

"Tanika? Why?"

She grinned. "Anyone who is willing to help his friend like that deserves a second chance."

Lewa grinned too. "Aaw, that's sweet. Thanks, Tanika- URK!"

He was being squeezed again.

"Ow… too hard…"

Robin saw this and gaped. "Um… put him down, lady!"

She squealed and did exactly that. Lewa groaned. "The power sap hasn't changed anything, I see…"

"No. It would not. I regained everything. Righteous fury and boundless confidence have brought the strength back."

Robin raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"These emotions are the fuel of my power," Tanika said, looking to the other trio.

"Oh, okay… you know her, Lewa?"

The Toa groaned. "Only have for a bit… but given her personality, I suppose I do."

Cyborg eyed the shredded scraps of his outfit and moaned. "Aw man, my suit!"

Beast Boy grinned. "So? You look way better without it."

"Yeah," Cyborg deadpanned, taking them off. "Like I'm taking fashion advice from the guy in the goofy mask."

The green boy looked at him with open eyes, lip trembling. "Goofy? My mask is cool." His eyes trembled as well. "Isn't it? Bionicle? Creepy pale girl?"

All shook their heads. Beast Boy sighed, pulling at the bottom of his mask. "But… what about my secret identity?"

"What secret identity?" Raven asked. "You're green."

The male frowned at this, deep in thought. He hemmed a bit, then, sighing again, took it off.

Robin, Tanika, and Lewa crossed over to the three. "This isn't over," Robin said. "Now that we've interfered…"

"Tro'gaar will strike harder," Tanika continued. "It is only a matter of-"

BREEEEEN.

The beams from the capsule sparked into action again, flashing into the sky to reveal the head Gordanian's image again. They all turned to see it. He seemed very angry, and rightfully so. "Fools!" he yelled and paused. "The earth scum were warned. Your insolence will be punished. Your city will be DESTROYED! Trigger the cannon!"

As a large crowd watched, the screen blipped out of existence, the ship bearing closer to the populace. A few more mechanisms could be heard, then a large gun appeared, turned down to the street, and glowed, powering up. The six looked at it, eyes widened; Lewa's especially so.

"Protodermis?" he shouted. "No way! We're so dead…"

Raven rolled her eyes and sighed. "Great."

Kiina and Gresh stood at the monitor, gaping. This was unreal. How could he have gotten his hands on protodermis?

"I bet you're both wondering how I got my hands on your protodermis," Tro'gaar smiled.

Kiina frowned. "Read my mind."

He smiled harder. "I tend to do that! Well… the news of the Toa's death was surprising, but in all actuality it was not a hard process to harvest it…"

Tro'gaar detailed how H'ssiah had told him of the results of the experiment. He'd said that the Toa had disappeared, but noted that live bait and some stories hadn't been much evidence for them to go on their uber-powerful resource theory. Tro'gaar had not been happy at first, given that he had accomplished all that he wanted to do, but he then realized that punishing the inhabitants for their actions would be a good idea.

So after giving a speech to his subjects, he had gone down to survey the extent of H'ssiah's damage. Most of it was contained to huts, debris littered across the sand, but a major explosion had hit a larger bulding that seemed to house the planet's government. Tro'gaar had not been thrilled to see that a large majority had been destroyed, but had been surprised to find a note in the rubble; it had taken him a while to decode it, but he eventually got "Toa. Aliens destroyed the Confederation Building. Find us in the caves." The caves mentioned seemed to be pretty hard to find, so Tro'gaar had gone to the adjacent arena instead. It had, strangely enough, not been hit, although an eerie entrance lay in the ground. Feeling curious, Tro'gaar had gone in.

It had been dark, but Tro'gaar's ears were strong enough to see anyway (he had been crowned exactly for this reason.) The tunnels were long and rocky, but he managed to navigate them okay. Eventually, he had come across a large hole in the wall, and encountered a large rotunda.

"It was beautiful," Tro'gaar recalled. "Tall, extravagant, and wildly detailed. Almost reminded me of home."

The murals told him nothing, and the room seemed wildly bare, so Tro'gaar had moved to leave. However, he had stopped upon realizing this was the room with the protodermis. Running over to it, he had seen a mask and frowned-

"That was Velika's lab!" Gresh gasped.

"Yes, so it was. Quite the find. He'll be ever so happy that I took it."

"He's dead."

Tro'gaar frowned. "Maybe he won't be now."

He had called for some men to harvest the protodermis out- quite a struggle to do so, as the tools were either destroyed or transformed into completely random things. After some time, though, they had managed to get everything out- to their shock, though, a frail robot lay on the floor.

"Find the Great Beings," he had said. "Stop this now…"

The Great Beings had been found, H'ssiah said, so Tro'gaar did nothing. Instead, he had gone over to an altar to see what it was for, only to cry out in pain when he did so. A weapon dropped to the ground. He had picked it up, hemming when he realized what it was. A spear. The weapon of yore. He silently thanked the robot and looked over the altar- then he had realized. There was a small hole in the black rock, probably for it, and Tro'gaar had tested this by jamming the spear in. To everyone's surprise, it was! The altar had sprung to life, glowing intensely, and the rock had popped straight off the altar into the sky.

"Woah," Kiina said. "That was the Great Beings' beacon mechanism, for use if their ship ever crashed. Are you sure you're not manipulating destiny?"

Sm'ist hissed and held her tighter, choking her. "This is his destiny, you fool!"

Apparently it was. A small metal wheel had been hidden under the altar, and when Tro'gaar turned it, the whole thing flew open. Underneath that, he found a room, home to some small scared robots and two larger angry ones.

"You!" one had said. "What have you done to the protodermis?"

"Taken it," Tro'gaar had said with a smile.

"It is not for your use."

Tro'gaar ignored this and pushed them all away. Spotting a large book in the center of the room, he had moved over to it. The other angry robot turned to him with a pleading look on his face.

"Please don't tell me you've done anything with Lewa," he had said.

Tro'gaar had smiled. The robot growled clenched his fists. "Don't even think about- I'll-"

"You'll do nothing."

Tro'gaar had pushed them away further, buried them under some rock, taken the book and some other memorabilia, and walked away. As he did so, he heard the robots arguing. Most of it was useless filler, but some of it had interested him to a deadly degree.

"Tahu, he's taken Lewa," one said.

"We can't do anything about it now," said the other.

"I know- I shouldn't be going against everything- but he might have died!"

"Don't worry brother," the other said. "We'll do what we can."

Everything besides this, again, was baseless fighting, so the Gordanians left the room, climbed out of the tunnels, and headed back to the ship. It took a while to start it up again, after some cheeky villagers had ruined its engines, but they were eventually able to leave- not after Jone'z got on board, of course.

"So you see," Tro'gaar finally finished, "we've taken all of your protodermis. It was very useful in upgrading our old training spears. Thanks!"

Kiina growled. "Onua was right. It's not for your use."

"Oh, pish posh. Who's never heard of the Law of Natural Resources?"

"Anyone with a brain," she hissed.

"Quiet!" Tro'gaar yelled. "There is no use in arguing now. I do not see any reason to kill you, as if the cannon does its work, we will not need to."

Gresh gaped. "What? You wouldn't…"

Sm'ist smiled. "Oh, yes. He would."

"Gaze upon the beauty of 'Jump City,'" the lord said, voice dripping with pride, "for it is about to be destroyed… along with your precious Lewa, from the looks of it."

"LEWA!"

The two Gordanians laughed, tandem guffaws rocking the Stormfront in emotions.

The cannon continued to power up, muzzle directly over the sextet.

"So," Beast Boy said, "after trashing a pizza place and a perfectly good video store," he said this last part with much dramatics, "now we've managed to make a humongous space gecko mad enough to vapourize our entire town?"

Cyborg soured. "Go team."

Tanika turned to Lewa and Robin and growled. "All the fault is YOURS!" she bellowed. "I commanded you leave me alone, but you INSISTED upon the being nice!"

Robin growled as well, sparks flying. "MY fault? You blast me, you kiss me, but you never stop to mention they have a giant particle weapon?"

"We didn't know!" Lewa yelled.

"But that doesn't mean you should've let us go off to fight them like that!"

"They were going to capture her!"

"I thought they were just going to do THAT!"

Tanika's eyes glowed. "Could you not have called for help?" she said tersely. "Is there not a team of warriors to come to your aid?"

Robin screamed. "The Justice League is on HIATUS!"

"You shouldn't have COME here!"

During this, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and the witch stood off to the side. Raven frowned, concentrating. "We are doomed!" Beast Boy whimpered, looking at Cyborg. "I can't believe I let you talk me into this!"

Cyborg gaped. "Say WHAT? I was ready to walk before you-"

"QUIET!"

The yell echoed through the street, startling everyone enough to listen to the source… Raven. As five pairs of angry eyes turned on her, she struggled to come up with more words.

"Hi," she finally said, waving timidly. "I'm Rachel. Raven. Roth. Rachen. Rothen- No! Don't- I'm just- just Raven. I'm… Raven."

Robin sighed. "Look," he said, turning to Lewa. "It doesn't matter how we got into this mess. We're in it, and we will get out of it- together."

Tanika paused before nodding grimly; soon, Cyborg and Raven did so as well. Beast Boy smiled, corners of his mouth curved mischievously. Lewa felt Robin's gaze on him and breathed softly, mouth open.

"I- I don't know. I don't even know why I'm here- Gordanian just dumped me- should I? Onua said- look- sorry- I mean- not trying to- but- ugh- I- I mean- oh, man, I don't-"

"Lewa."

The Toa looked up to see Robin offering his fist.

"Don't worry. We'll help get you through this."

Lewa stopped, eyes shifting around, to the city, then the ship, then the others and their encouraging smiles. Finally, he too smiled, determined expression on his face, and returned the gesture. Toa or not, he was going to help them.

Robin grinned. "Come on, then. We've got a city to save."

Plink!

As a tiny bell rang out, Glatorian and Matoran slung themselves into the tavern. The place was surprisingly bare- a counter, some booths, and a few pictures littered the paneled brick walls, but other than that there was not much to say.

A few creatures- humans, Jon had said- sat by the counter, occupying some stools, but Malum ignored them. He could not understand them, and he did not want to invoke their wrath again. Akhmou probably felt the same way. So he and his companion took their place in one booth, giving a good view of the window and the darkening sky.

Music, some kind of jumpy tune with drums and a forceful sort of instrument, filled the bar. The Matoran sighed and put his head on the table. "So… what… do you… want?"

"Just… ale," the Glatorian replied.

Akhmou acknowledged this and went up to the counter to order. Malum leaned back, trying to fight off the darkness of sleep. All the day's running, fighting and driving had made him very tired. He listened to some obnoxious screaming and plinks of the door.

"Hey, dude, you okay?" someone asked.

"Yuh…" Malum slurred. "I'll… beh fine."

"All right. If you say so."

Akhmou reached the counter and frowned. He wasn't going to be able to get up there, was he? It was just like on Spherus Magna, except there weren't any Agori to balance out the size ratio. Damn humanoids.

The bartender, a stocky man in an Italianesque mustache, noticed his plight. "What can I get you, son?"

Akhmou frowned, and began to sign.

"Uh, hello? Son?"

Oh. He couldn't see him. To the laughs of the bargoers, he manned a chair and signed faster.

"Ah, yes! Just ale, then? I can do that pretty quickly. It'll help out your sleepy friend over there," the bartender said, pointing to Malum.

Akhmou nodded and waited for the drinks to come, pouting as the bargoers ogled him and talked, seemingly wondering why a baby would come to their shop. When they did, he reached over and growled when he realized his arms were too short to do anything. Karzahni! He was going to call upon Makuta to vapourize the place… except he couldn't. Ugh. The conman sighed as two large bearded men in leather jackets took him in their arms and gave him the drinks. Then they sat him down on his booth and patted his head.

"Uhn," the Matoran moaned. "I hate Vahki."

"No kiddinguh," the Glatorian said, taking his ale. "Least they'ruh not Skrall, though."

"Skrall? Really? How bad are they?"

"Baduh enough to put uh scar on muh back…" He pointed to the position, a jagged cut lining the exposed tissue.

Akhmou stared in awe. "Wow. How'd they do that?"

"Welluh- I was walkin' through duh desert when Iah-"

"Malum? Why'd you stop?"

"Looks likes someonuh is here to see yuh…" Malum moaned, falling asleep.

"Oh, come on!" Akhmou slammed the table. Stay up, Malum, we need to find some place to stay-"

HELLO BASTICHES

YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE EXPECTING SOME STUPID DINGY COMMENTS IN HERE WERE YOU WELL FRAG YOU YOUR NOT GETTIN EM NEXT CHAPTER