Normally, I would wait until after I've made corrections to the latest chapter before I post the next one. However, I think three weeks is long enough to wait for such an epic chapter as this one. Everyone, it's time for you to meet one of my favorite Bionicle characters: Vezon.
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Chapter 19
The Chamber of Life“Ready?” asked Nuparu, his laser drill aimed at the locked gate.
“As ever-ready as can be,” replied Kongu, tightening his grip on his laser crossbow.
“Ready for anything,” said Cera, speaking for her friends.
“All right, let's crash the Piraka's party!” exclaimed Hewkii, before swinging his laser axe against the massive gate. That, combined with his elemental power weakening the surrounding rock, was enough to loosen its hinges.
All it took was one shot from Nuparu's weapon to blast the gate open.
Once the gateway was wide open, the Toa Inika charged inside. The young dinosaurs followed right behind them. However, they had gone only a few steps before they all suddenly came to a stop. Beyond the gateway was a large chamber that was almost entirely surrounded by lava channels, but that's not what made the group stop in their tracks.
Everyone had been expecting the Piraka to have set up another ambush. Instead, all six Piraka lay scatted about the chamber, unconscious. There was also something else inside the chamber. Standing at the other side of the chamber was a giant spider-like Rahi with red and black armor, red eyes and massive fangs. Riding atop this monstrous beast was what appeared to be another Piraka. Unlike the six other Piraka, this black and silver armored Piraka had no spine or spikes, and wore a torn black cape. In his right hand, he held a weapon that appeared to be a spear. He was also bound by a chain around his left wrist to the creature's neck.
The mysterious Piraka seemed excited when he noticed the group of Toa that had just entered his lair. “How wonderful, more company!” he exclaimed. “The Piraka were amusing guests, but they break so easily. Are you made of sterner stuff? Of course you are. You're Toa, even with those very strange masks.”
“Who are you?” demanded Jaller. “And how do you know who we are?”
“I am Vezon, of course, and I know the same way I know everything ó the mask tells me,” replied the strange Piraka, turning his head around so that everyone could see the back of it. Fused to the back of Vezon's skull was what appeared to be a Kanohi mask. Some of the Toa and young dinosaurs also caught a glimpse of an empty pedestal at the far end of the chamber. Without a word, all of them had reached the same conclusion: The Kanohi mask that was fused to Vezon was the Mask of Life itself!
“Oh, not directly,” continued Vezon, “but when I bring my attention to it, my eyes begin to act strangely. You see?”
Twin beams of red light suddenly shot from Vezon's eyes to the floor in front of the group. In the gleam of those beams, the group saw the Toa Inika struggling in a fight against the large Rahi while the young dinosaurs watched helplessly from further back.
“Future sight,” continued the seventh Piraka. “I can see things ó most things ó before they happen. Not quite as much fun as making things explode with a glance, but hey, I take what I can get. They call it the Mask of Life, but it might as well be a Mask of Death. Ask anyone who has tried to get their hands on it.” Vezon then turned his attention to the creature he stood atop of. “In a few moments, we'll have even more for the lava, won't we, Fenrakk?”
The giant spider Rahi, Fenrakk, hissed in response, dripping some of its acidic saliva onto the floor. The rock sizzled as it was covered in the acid.
Vezon turned his gaze from the Toa to the gang and smiled. “And what do we have here? An audience!” he happily exclaimed. “Go ahead, kids, have a seat, grab a snack, enjoy the show. You're going to love it, trust me.”
“Something tells me that won't be the case,” muttered Littlefoot in concern.
Toa Hewkii had had enough and was ready to fight. He grabbed a nearby stalagmite and snapped it off of the floor. He then pointed the blunt end ahead of him and threw it at the wall behind him. Thanks to the Toa of Stone's mask power, the projectile deflected off the walls two times before it headed for Vezon's head. Vezon saw the incoming object at the last second and moved just enough so that it hit his shoulder. Surprisingly, he had almost no reaction to the impact.
“Like to throw things, hmmm?” said Vezon quietly. He quickly yanked on the chain and Fenrakk slammed one of its forelegs onto the ground, sending large chunks of stone flying up into the air. Vezon caught one that was about as wide as his torso and threw it at Hewkii. The Toa of Stone easily dodged it.
Toa Matoro made the next attack by hurling icicles at Vezon. Vezon made no effort to dodge. When he was struck, he actually seemed unfazed by the attack.
Nuparu summoned a giant earthen fist and slammed it into Vezon. The Piraka took the full force of the impact almost willingly. When the dust eventually cleared, he was seen to be still standing atop Fenrakk. Amazingly, he didn't seem to be hurt at all.
Jaller made the next move and fired a jet of flame from his sword to the ceiling of the chamber, causing large chunks of rock to rain down upon the Piraka. Vezon effortlessly smacked away any rocks that came near him. Still, his armor showed no signs of damage.
Hahli and Kongu nodded to each other and simultaneously struck Vezon with their elemental powers. Hahli unleashed a torrent of water, while Kongu sent forth a mighty gust of wind. It was hard to see what was happening until the two Toa ceased their attacks. Vezon still stood upright and unharmed. The huge grin on his face was enough to show how amused he was, rather than injured.
After a light chuckle, Vezon asked, “All done? It's my turn.” He yanked on the chain again and Fenrakk charged forward at an incredible speed. The Piraka also showed off incredible strength by striking Toa Jaller with the flat side of his spear with enough force to send the Toa of Fire flying across the chamber.
Nuparu acted quickly with his mask power and caught Jaller before he would have slammed into the rocky wall.
Toa Hewkii tried to strike Fenrakk from behind, but one kick from the giant Rahi was enough to fling him across the chamber and almost into the lava.
The gang could only watch in horror as the Toa Inika struggled in battle. It was hard to tell what was happening, but they did notice that the more the Toa tried to strike Vezon and Fenrakk, the stronger those two seemed to strike back. They certainly wanted to help, but had no idea what to do. How could they succeed where the Toa failed?
All six of the Toa were soon weakened to the point where they were down on the ground, but still conscious. Vezon yanked on the chain again and brought Fenrakk to a halt. “Poor Toa,” said Vezon in mocked pity. “Relying so much on your strength and your weapons and your elemental powers, and not any one of them will do you any good here. Watch.” Vezon grabbed a nearby rock and slammed it against Fenrakk as hard as he could. He then repeated the process two more times. Fenrakk showed almost no signs of being affected by the attack. Vezon smiled and continued, “The power of motion. Any blow is only as strong as the motion that delivers it, and I feed on the energy that fuels that motion. When you strike me, when I strike you, I get stronger. Oh, and I shared my power with Fenrakk here, of course. It's only polite.”
“Of course! Now it makes sense!” exclaimed Littlefoot in realization. “If hitting him only makes him stronger, then we need to find some way to stop him without touching him.”
Littlefoot's friends immediately realized how impossible this idea seemed to be. “But how are we going to do that?” asked Chomper.
When Vezon caught a glimpse of Chomper ó and his sharp teeth ó he got a sinister idea. “Hey, little purple guy!” he shouted, immediately getting Chomper's attention. Vezon then calmly asked, “What do they call your species?”
Chomper hesitated for a moment. Considering that he was suddenly the focus of Vezon's attention, it was easy to understand why. “I'm... I'm a Sharptooth,” he replied nervously.
“A Sharptooth, hmm?” thought Vezon aloud with excitement. “That sounds like a very deadly creature.”
“But I would never hurt anyone!” Chomper quickly added. “I'm a nice Sharptooth, maybe even the nicest one in the world!”
“Oh yeah?” countered Vezon, pointing his spear at Chomper. “Well, I see another Sharptooth in this chamber. And he's a mean one!”
“Where!?” asked Chomper, looking around in panic.
“Right here!” answered Vezon as some strange energy crackled around the head of the spear. A bolt of energy suddenly shot from the tip of the spear towards Chomper.
Chomper was paralyzed in fear, so he could do nothing as he watched the strange energy head right for him. When he was struck, it was unlike anything he had ever experienced. It felt like his body was literally being ripped apart. It was all over in a split second. Chomper fell to his hands and knees. He felt exhausted and in great pain. He took a moment to catch his breath.
“Get up, weakling!” someone suddenly shouted.
Chomper turned to see who had said that, but was thrown to his back by a sharp kick to his side. He groaned in pain as he tried again to see the stranger. As soon as he realized who it was, Chomper gasped in shock.
Standing over Chomper was another Chomper. However, the look on this Chomper's face was nothing short of pure evil.
“Come on, you can get up,” continued the other Chomper, showing no remorse at all as the first Chomper slowly stood up. “After all, you are me, and I am you. That sounds confusing, doesn't it? We can make it easier if there was just one of us. Maybe I should die ó no, no, I've got that wrong. Maybe
you should die!” And with that, the other Chomper raised a clawed hand and scratched the first Chomper across his muzzle. The first Chomper shouted in pain.
The rest of the gang gasped at what they just saw. Ruby turned to Vezon and exclaimed, “What did you do!?”
Vezon proudly held up his spear and answered, “It's called the Spear of Fusion. This is not any ordinary spear, oh no. It does more than stab people. I can use it to fuse two beings into one ó which is how I ëconvinced’ Vezok and Reidak to attack the other Piraka ó or I can use it to split one being into two. How can it split someone in two, you ask? Well, what you see is two bodies, but it's still just one mind. What happens is that mind gets split in half and put in separate bodies. One is all kind and caring, while the other...” The other Chomper violently scratched the first Chomper again. “... is a vicious psycho!” After a brief evil laugh, Vezon finished by excitedly saying, “Isn't it fun to see what happens when you split somebody into two beings and have them fight each other?”
Cera was downright disgusted. “You're insane!” she exclaimed.
“Why thank you,” said Vezon as if he had just received a complement.
Cera's jaw dropped at the further craziness she was witnessing. “Okay, he's beyond insane,” she quickly muttered to herself.
While Vezon was distracted, the Toa were able to recover a little from their defeat. Jaller, still in pain, slowly stood up and exclaimed, “We... didn't come all this way... fight all of these fights... only to lose!”
Vezon just grinned and said, “Don't be silly. Of course you did. Do you know how many have tried to get their hands on this mask over the millennia? And do you know what happened to them? I'll give you a hint: the lucky ones only went mad.”
By this time, the rest of the Toa Inika were back on their feet, albeit still weakened. “If the mask is so terribly dangerous, why did the Piraka want it so badly?” asked Hahli.
“Because they're fools!” exclaimed Vezon.
“Yet they thought they could get it,” said Matoro. “Or... someone thought they could.”
“Smart, smart, smart,” said Vezon happily. “Isn't he just as bright as a new Kanohi mask, Fenrakk? It will almost be a shame to shatter him into ice crystals, won't it?”
“So somebody put them up to this?” asked Nuparu. “Who? Why?”
“No way to guess who did it, but I think I know why,” answered Jaller. “You risk death a hundred times trying to make it to the Mask of Life, and evidently you risk worse by actually getting it. The Piraka were expendable. If they died trying to carry out their mission, it would be no great loss, and whoever gave them the idea to do this could just try again with someone else.”
“Not if we get the mask,” said Hewkii as he raised his laser axe, ready to fight again. “So let's swat the spider and take it!”
“Haven't you learned you can't defeat me?” laughed Vezon. “All you can do is amuse me.”
“Then loud-laugh this off, you lunatic,” said Kongu as he summoned a cyclone around Vezon and Fenrakk. Its wind speeds were great enough to suck the air out of their lungs, considerably weakening them. He couldn't keep it up for very long, but it was enough to do the job. The Toa of Air then turned to Hahli and said, “Your turn, Hahli.”
The Toa of Water nodded and called upon her elemental power to remove all of the moisture in the air near the Piraka and his pet.
As if being dehydrated and short of breath wasn't bad enough for Vezon and Fenrakk, Toa Matoro decided to make things even worse for them by quickly dropping the temperature around them. The freezing cold weakened them so much that they could now barely stand.
“Give it up, Vezon,” said Jaller. “You heard what Littlefoot said. We don't have to hit you to hurt you.”
Vezon simply shook his head in response. Fenrakk began to pound its right foreleg on the stone floor, slowly at first. It seemed unimportant, until the pace of the Rahi's pounding began to speed up.
“The impact!” exclaimed Jaller in realization. “Fenrakk is using the energy behind its blows to the floor to restore its strength!”
As soon as those words were spoken, Fenrakk was already back to full strength and charged ahead at the Toa. Hahli and Matoro were caught off guard when they were struck by one of the Rahi's legs and slammed into a nearby wall. Fenrakk went for Kongu next, but Nuparu activated his mask power, grabbed Kongu, and carried him just far enough to evade the attack.
While the battle was happening, the gang was watching another one in horror. In fact, the fight between the two Chompers seemed more like a one-sided pummeling. The evil Chomper was doing all of the kicking and scratching. The nicer Chomper, who was now covered in deep cuts and scratches, made no attempt to fight back at all. It wasn't that he didn't want to fight, but rather he just couldn't! Being attacked like this for seemingly no reason at all would usually be enough to make him want to fight back, but for some reason, the urge just wasn't there. The nicer Chomper didn't ó no, he couldn't ó feel any anger at all, just hurt and confusion at what was happening.
Ruby couldn't take it anymore. “We can't just stand here and do nothing!” she exclaimed. “We have to turn the two Chompers back into one Chomper!”
“How do you expect us to do that?” asked Cera skeptically.
“I'm afraid there's only one way,” answered Littlefoot. “That weapon Vezon has can both split and fuse. If we use it again on those Chompers, it will turn him back into just one Chomper.”
“Are you sure that will work?” asked Cera, just as doubtful of this idea. “How can you be sure we won't end up making more of them?”
“That would be very bad. It would, it would,” added Ducky.
Spike nodded in agreement.
“We don't know how to use that weapon, but Vezon knows how to use that weapon,” replied Ruby.
“Sure, like he's going to suddenly be a nice guy and undo what he did,” said Cera with sarcasm. “Didn't you see how funny he thought it was to split Chomper?”
“Then we'll just have to trick him into fusing the two Chompers back together,” responded Ruby. Her expression brightened as she got an idea. “And I know how we can trick him to fuse the two Chompers back together! I'll need you.” She then grabbed Cera by her neckshield and pulled her along with her.
“Ow! Hey!” protested Cera.
Once she made sure that she was directly between Vezon and the fighting Chompers, Ruby wrapped her arm around Cera's neck and shouted, “Hey, Vezon!”
Fenrakk was about to stomp Hewkii into the ground when Vezon reined the giant spider to a halt. Vezon turned his attention to the pink Fast Runner.
“We've seen you split one of us in two, but we haven't seen you fuse two of us into one.” continued Ruby. “Well, I'm very fast, and my friend here is very strong. If you want to fuse anyone, you'll want to fuse us!”
Cera turned to Ruby in shock at what she just heard. “Have you lost your mind!?” exclaimed Cera.
“Don't worry, I know what I'm doing,” whispered Ruby.
Vezon though it over for a few seconds, then grinned the way only a being with no sanity like him would. “Hmm, now that sounds like a great idea!” exclaimed Vezon excitedly. He quickly pointed the Spear of Fusion at the two and fired another energy bolt.
As soon as the energy bolt was shot, Ruby pushed against Cera and shouted, “Run!”
Cera, realizing it was time to stop asking questions, did as she was told.
The energy bolt passed between the Threehorn and the Fast Runner and instead struck the two fighting Sharpteeth. After another flash of light, only one unscathed Chomper remained. Like last time, he was down on his hands and knees and was breathing heavily. This time, he recovered quickly and slowly stood back up. It soon became clear that his heavy breathing was not due to exhaustion, but intense anger. Chomper glared at Vezon and growled, “Okay... now I'm mad.”
Vezon was speechless for a moment as he tried to comprehend what had just happened. Finally, he simply smiled and said, “Oh, you guys are good.”
Realizing the opportunity presented by Vezon's distraction, Jaller decided to take action. He aimed his flame sword towards Vezon and began to concentrate his elemental energy into it.
Vezon quickly noticed the Toa's glowing weapon. He turned to the Toa Inika of Fire and shouted, “Go ahead! Sizzle me, shock me, you'll only make me stronger!”
Jaller smirked in response and said, “Who said I was aiming at you?” The Toa of Fire unleashed a blast of flame with lightning from his sword, which struck the floor beneath Fenrakk and caused the stone to turn molten. The massive creature was startled by this and backed up a bit. This wouldn't have seemed like such a bad thing if one of the lava channels didn't happen to be right behind Fenrakk. The Rahi lost its balance as its back legs slipped on the ledge.
Vezon looked back at the lava, then back to the Toa. Everyone had expected him to be terrified of this. Surprisingly, he grinned as he yanked on the chain, causing him and Fenrakk to topple backwards into the lava. They never even made a sound as they disappeared beneath the fiery waves.
Everyone gasped in shock at what they had just witnessed. Only Littlefoot dared to run over to the ledge to see where the Piraka had plunged. All he saw was nothing but sizzling lava. “He's... gone,” he slowly said in shock.
“Mata Nui preserve us,” said Nuparu quietly. “He... he did that to himself!”
“And he took the Mask of Life with him,” added Jaller. He then started walking towards the lava. “I have to go in there after it.”
“Jaller, no!” exclaimed Hahli as she tried to hold Jaller back. “You won't last more than ten seconds in that cauldron!”
Toa Jaller gently lowered Hahli's hand on him and said, “That's ten seconds longer than any of the rest of you would. With my natural resistance to heat and flame, maybe I can buy enough time to retrieve the mask and toss it to you. After that...” He turned to the Toa of Stone. “Take over as leader, Hewkii. Keep the team together and get the Mask of Life to wherever it has to go.”
The other Toa stared at Jaller as he turned around and walked up to the ledge where Littlefoot stood. Nobody said a word as the Toa of Fire prepared to sacrifice himself to retrieve the Mask of Life. Having spent much of his life in Ta-Koro, he was more than familiar with lava, especially what would happen to anyone unfortunate enough to fall in. He never forgot the sight of a helpless Rahi after it had stumbled into the lava near his village. He hesitated for a second when he glanced over at the young Longneck standing next to him.
The poor kid shouldn't have to see this, he thought grimly.
“Wait!” Littlefoot suddenly shouted. “Look!”
Jaller followed Littlefoot's gaze towards that lava and couldn't believe what he saw. Floating on the surface of the lava was the Mask of Life!
“Quick! Grab it!” exclaimed Littlefoot.
Jaller quickly shrugged off the shock of what he was seeing and reached for the Mask of Life. His hand was about to touch the mask when it suddenly flipped over to reveal that it was still attached to Vezon's head. “Surprise!” shouted the very much alive Piraka.
Jaller and Littlefoot jumped back in shock. While everyone else couldn't see it for themselves, the all too familiar voice was enough to make their eyes widen.
“Don't tell me...” muttered Cera.
Everyone watched in horror as Vezon began to rise up out of the lava. The molten rock seemed to have had no effect on him whatsoever. Soon, the creature he rode atop also began to emerge, but it was not Fenrakk. It was something much more terrifying. The giant creature resembled a big Sharptooth with large wings on its back.
“Oh no, no, no!” exclaimed Ducky in fear.
“Oh yes, yes, yes!” retorted Vezon excitedly. The massive creature then swiped one of its clawed hands at Jaller, sending the Toa flying across the chamber. Jaller was knocked unconscious when he impacted the wall.
Littlefoot quickly ran back to his friends, fearing that he would be next.
Vezon looked around the chamber at everyone and asked, “Why so startled? Did you think that I had left you for good?”
When the giant Rahi opened its mouth, a powerful blast of energy was unleashed against the Toa, throwing them all to the ground. Littlefoot and his friends panicked and ran behind a nearby rock for cover. The powerful creature stepped towards the center of the chamber as the Toa, minus a still unconscious Jaller, slowly stood back up.
“Who is this, you wonder?” continued Vezon. “Where is Fenrakk? Well, my friends, this
is Fenrakk... in a way. It is all part of the mask's curse. Defeat us however many times you like, and we will always come back more powerful than before. Should you drive my new friend here ó who I have named Kardas, by the way ó down to certain destruction, it will simply rise again in some worse form, and I will be right there with it.”
Vezon's bragging was interrupted when Kongu fired an energy bolt from his crossbow. Unlike Fenrakk, Kardas did react in pain to the physical attack. The beast responded by unleashing another blast of energy at the Toa of Air. Kongu was unable to dodge it quickly enough and ended up getting thrown into the stone wall so hard that he smashed right through it and into another chamber.
“Good Kardas,” cooed Vezon as he patted the Rahi on the back of the neck. “Nice devastating monster. Are you my favorite engine of destruction? Yes, you are.” He turned his attention back to the four remaining Toa. “Energy. Kardas produces it nonstop, so it's either release it by blasting you, or else go boom himself. Which do you think we would choose?”
“Me no like this,” muttered Petrie in worry.
Hahli fired a bolt from her energy harpoon, then followed it with a powerful blast of water with lightning. “And you're known for your good choices, aren't you?” taunted Hahli. “That's how you wound up a master of monsters!”
After being struck by both attacks, Kardas retaliated with another energy blast. Hahli was barely able to dodge the attack, which blew a large hole in the wall behind her.
“Now see what you're making him do!?” shouted Vezon. “I have to live here, you know!”
As Kardas began to charge forward, Matoro covered the stone floor in ice. The Rahi slid forward uncontrollably until it was slammed backwards by a powerful stone fist that was summoned by Hewkii. The Toa of Stone smiled and said, “Nice to have something to hit again.”
Toa Nuparu activated his mask power and began to fly around Kardas as it stood back up. He attempted to drive the Rahi back by blasting the surrounding ground with energy bolts from his laser drill. Instead, Kardas unleashed another energy blast at the Toa of Earth. Nuparu fell, but was caught by Hewkii before he would have impacted the ground.
“We all have to strike at once,” said Toa Hewkii. Jaller and Kongu were still unconscious, so only four of the Toa Inika would be able to unleash their final attack. The four Toa reached their weapons out and, as one, fired their pure elemental energy at Kardas. The massive creature roared and fired another blast of energy of its own. The two attacks came together in the middle, pushing against each other to reach their target. The Toa's attack had the upper hand at first, but it was eventually outmatched by the Rahi's unlimited energy supply.
Straining against their opponent's attack, Hewkii shouted, “Get down!” None of the Toa were able to move fast enough as they were overwhelmed by the beast's energy blast. In only a split second, the four remaining Toa had fallen.
“That's better,” said Vezon with a smile on his face. “Now, I wonder what the Spear of Fusion could do with the four of you? Or maybe I should use it on each of you alone, and see if I can split the Matoran you used to be from the arrogant fools you are now?”
Jaller had recovered just in time to see the outcome of the final attack and realized the danger his fellow Toa were now in. He glanced a little to the left and saw the gang still hiding behind that rock they had run to for cover. The young dinosaurs had been forgotten in the heat of the battle, and he decided it was time to change that.
Littlefoot, desperate to find a way to save the fallen Toa Inika, looked around and saw Toa Jaller as he took out the Zamor sphere that Axonn had given to him back at the stronghold. Jaller gave a quick nod to him. Littlefoot, understanding what the Toa of Fire was planning, nodded back in response. He then jumped out from behind the rock and, ignoring the protesting of his friends, ran to the center of the chamber as he called, “Hey, Vezon.”
Vezon lowered his spear and turned his attention to the little Longneck.
Littlefoot struggled to come up with something to say without sounding too suspicious. “Uh... How did you get the Mask of Life?” he asked. “I'm sure you went through a lot of trouble to get it.”
“Not as much as you might think,” laughed Vezon. “Besides, if I told you, I'd have to kill you.”
“You can do that after you tell me everything,” responded Littlefoot. “But I have to warn you, I ask a lot of questions.”
“So do I, but who's complaining?” said Vezon with a shrug.
“I don't know whether to call him very brave or just stupid,” whispered Cera to the rest of the gang.
With the primary distraction set in place, Jaller glanced around and saw Kongu stumble back into the central chamber through the hole in the wall. “I have an idea,” he whispered to the Toa of Air.
“Good,” replied Kongu. “I hope it starts with, ëMata Nui is just taking it easy for a while and he'll feel better. Let's go home.’”
“I need you to use your mask in a way you haven't before,” continued Jaller. “I'm not sure, but I think there's more to the Mask of Life than we know. Remember what Umbra said? It created the Protodax to guard it. Kongu, it may be that mask is capable of some kind of thought!”
“So it's evidently one up on you,” said Kongu, expressing his doubts. “Masks don't think.”
“This one does,” insisted Jaller. “Maybe not like we do, but... Use your Mask of Telepathy. Try to read the mask's thoughts and then project them into Vezon's mind. If you can distract him for a few moments, I think I know how to end this.” Jaller held up the glowing yellow sphere to show what he was talking about.
Kongu would have continued to argue, but he realized how limited his options were when he glanced at Vezon. The Piraka had his spear aimed at the other Toa and was speaking to Littlefoot. Still convinced the idea had no chance of working, the Toa Inika of Air triggered his mask power and concentrated on the Mask of Life.
Meanwhile, Littlefoot had succeeded in keeping Vezon occupied while Jaller had explained his plan to Kongu. Vezon had agreed to not kill him until after he finished telling the story about his life. Littlefoot knew the deal would give Jaller and Kongu plenty of time to carry out their plan, since Vezon loved to boast about himself.
“It all began when the Piraka decided to abandon their lives as Dark Hunters and strike out on their own,” explained Vezon. “They had heard rumors that Makuta had been killed, and decided to raid his lair for anything valuable. All they found was this spear, which Hakann carelessly handled by firing it at Vezok, which is where I come in.”
“Wait, you mean... you used to be part of Vezok?” asked Littlefoot.
“Yup, just like what happened to your Sharptooth friend here,” answered Vezon. Chomper growled angrily in response to this. “Except I ran off with the Spear of Fusion before anyone could use it again. I made it to Voya Nui before the others and came to this chamber much earlier than they did. The funny thing about the Mask of Life is that it curses anyone who touches it. As you can see, it cursed me by fusing itself to my head, fusing me to the back of an enlarged Rahi ó you knew it as Fenrakk, of course ó and giving me all of my other powers. I've been down here ever since, serving the will of the mask as its final and most powerful guardian of all.”
“What about all of the guardians you faced on your way down here?” asked Littlefoot. “You should know as well as the rest of us how hard it must have been to get past them.”
“Guardians?” laughed Vezon. “What guardians? My path to the Mask of Life was wide open!” Vezon grinned as he thought about what that meant to him. “It's almost as if the mask wanted me to have it.”
Right after making that last remark, Vezon's face suddenly fell. Against all odds, Kongu had succeeded in projecting the thoughts of the Mask of Life into Vezon's mind. The insane Piraka now knew what the mask really thought of him, and it wasn't pleasant.
“No!” shouted Vezon in both anger and sorrow. “I did everything you asked! I beat the Piraka! I beat the Toa! No one is touching you! No one is taking you from this place! Ever! And I won't be gotten rid of after all this! I won't!”
Littlefoot ran back to his friends, fearing that Vezon's rage might end up being directed at him.
Vezon quickly turned to Toa Matoro, who was just starting to recover with the rest of the Toa Inika. “So it wants you, does it?” hissed Vezon as he aimed his spear at the Toa of Ice. “Let's see if it still does when I'm through with you. You can be the ultimate chamber guard, Toa, once you are fused forever with the lava that courses through this chamber.”
Jaller had finally managed to retrieve his launcher by the time Kongu had unleashed the second distraction. Having no more time to waste, he quickly loaded the special Zamor sphere, aimed it at Vezon, and fired. The sphere struck its target, causing a strange blue glow to surround Vezon and Kardas as both of them suddenly stopped in mid-motion. Without stopping to figure out what had just happened, Jaller rushed over to the other Toa as they struggled to get back up.
“I'm okay,” said Hahli as Jaller helped her back to her feet.
“What did you do to them?” asked Ducky as she and her friends walked out from behind the rock.
“Are they... dead?” asked Nuparu.
“No,” said Jaller as he looked upon the face of Vezon, frozen in time in intense anger. “Something much worse ó they're still alive.”
“We have to get the mask now, while we can,” said Hewkii as he began to approach Vezon.
“Let Matoro do it,” Kongu suddenly said. Everyone looked at him in confusion.
“Why?” asked Hewkii. “What difference does it make whoó?”
“Just... just let Matoro do it, okay?” insisted Kongu.
Hewkii just shrugged in response as Matoro moved behind Vezon. The Toa of Ice reached into the strange energy field and grabbed the Mask of Life with both hands. Expecting some form of resistance, Matoro pulled with all his might. Surprisingly, the mask came off so easily that he actually fell backwards as he yanked it free. The Toa of Ice quickly stood back up and proudly held up the Mask of Life. “I've got it! I've got it!” Matoro shouted victoriously.
“Excellent, and we have you.”
The Toa and the young dinosaurs turned back to see the six Piraka were back on their feet and ready to fight.
I can't believe we forgot about them! thought Cera, mentally kicking herself for not noticing their absence earlier.
“You have defeated Vezon and his monster,” continued Zaktan. “In gratitude, we will destroy you as quickly and efficiently as possible and take the mask. No need to thank us ó that is just the type of beings we are.”
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Read and review, as always.
Here are the images of everything first seen in this chapter:
Vezon and FenrakkFenrakk (without Vezon)Kardas Dragon (without Vezon)The Mask of Life