Quest for the Mask of Life

[The Chronicler]

Pangaea: I'm sure I've already said this, but I understand that you have things in real life to deal with, so I'm hardly ever annoyed by how long it takes for you to reply. (I guess I'm just used to it by now. ) Besides, if anyone should be apologizing here, it's me. I finished college back in the first week of May, so I should have had plenty of time to work on the next chapter. While that's true, I just kept putting it off like a high school homework assignment, choosing to instead do other things.    It was when you reviewed the last chapter that I finally decided to actually get back to work. That and the fact that the Bionicle Wiki is now fully restored had left me with no more excuses, so I figured it was time to stop goofing off.

Okay, I think you've all waited long enough. Time to move on to the next stage of the story.

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Chapter 25
The Underwater City

Littlefoot slowly began to wake up. He was in a dazed state, not sure of his surroundings. As his vision slowly began to clear up, one thing was becoming obvious: He was underwater!

The surge of panic at this realization caused him to gasp, not noticing until a split second later that doing such a thing was sure to doom him. But... it didn't. He was still alive... and breathing... underwater. This makes no sense, thought Littlefoot. I can't breathe underwater. But... why does this not feel any different from breathing air?

Littlefoot began to look around, trying to make sense of what was happening to him. He quickly noticed Cera floating past him, still unconscious. “Cera? Cera!” called Littlefoot.

Cera's eyes slowly opened, then snapped wide open as she made the same shocking discovery as Littlefoot did. “Littlefoot?” questioned Cera. “What's going on? What's happening?”

It wasn't long until the rest of the gang had recovered, all of them just as shocked and confused by what they were now experiencing.

Littlefoot had hundreds of questions, but he knew that only one of them could be answered right away. “Where are the Toa?” he asked his friends.

Chomper pointed to six figures treading water nearby and said, “I think that's them, but... they don't look like the Toa.”

It was true, these six Toa-like beings looked almost nothing like the Toa Inika. Their Kanohi masks appeared to be typical armor-like masks, not the unusual organic masks. While the Inika had armor that was shaped mostly the same for all six Toa, each of these beings had a unique shape to their armor. However, there were some similarities, such as the presence of strange, tube-like attachments to their masks. The one thing these beings seemed to have in common with the Toa Inika was the colors of their armor.

“Relax, kids, it is us,” said the black-armored Toa, Nuparu. “And I'm sure you're just as confused as we are.”

“Um, Kongu,” said the yellow-armored Toa, Hewkii. “We're underwater, right?”

“Yes,” answered the green-armored Toa, Kongu. As was typical of a Toa of Air, he hated water, and the tone of his voice made that very clear at this moment.

“But we're breathing... and talking... and I haven't sunk to the bottom yet,” said Hewkii, stating some of the things that were on everyone's minds. He then noticed something in the water that had been momentarily forgotten. “Oh, and there's a giant eel heading right for us. This is another one of those illusions, right?”

Although the oversized eel had been driven off by the strange light, it was now back, just as hungry as before.

“Don't think so,” replied Kongu, looking around to see where his laser crossbow had gone. “No one's mad-twisted enough to conjure up anything this weird... or this wet.”

“Kongu!” shouted the red-armored Toa, Jaller. “Save the conversation for later. Use your mask and read that creature's mind ó find out what it wants.”

“That should be a quick read,” muttered Kongu as he triggered his Kanohi mask power and focused on the giant eel. His mask began to glow as a sign of this ó something that had never happened to the Toa Inika's organic masks, the young dinosaurs noted. Kongu immediately noticed something wasn't right. Contrary to previous times, he was not hearing any thoughts from anyone. To make things even weirder, hundreds of small eels had suddenly appeared from virtually out of nowhere to surround the Toa of Air. Startled, Kongu shouted in surprise and quickly backed away from the school of eels.

Almost immediately it became clear what those eels were really doing ó they charged at the much larger eel, as if they had a chance to stop it. Not surprisingly, the battle was over in no more than a second as the monstrous eel effortlessly consumed the entire school of eels in one gulp. With that distraction taken care of, it turned its attention back to the Toa.

“Well, that was pointless,” commented Cera.

The white-armored Toa, Matoro, had doubts that his Kanohi mask power could be useful in a situation like this. With options quickly running out, he activated his mask power anyway. His first surprise was that his spirit was still inside his body as his mask glowed. The second surprise was far stranger. Below them on the ocean floor, the remains of a long-dead Takea shark began to move on its own. It soon began to swim up to the giant eel, as if it was alive again. Its less than graceful movements proved that it wasn't really alive, but rather artificially reanimated. One thing that wasn't artificial about this moving skeleton was its sharp teeth, allowing the shark's jaws to easily bite onto the giant eel.

The gang was a little creeped out by the strange sight. Petrie and Ducky were noticeably pale from seeing a dead creature move on its own. “I've seen Matoro use his mask power before, but I've never seen Matoro's mask power do that before,” said Ruby.

Knowing there wasn't time to ask questions, Matoro took advantage of the distraction to unleash his elemental ice power, despite his concerns that the interlaced electricity could harm his allies in this watery environment. The attack consisted of pure ice, with no additional energy to go with it. Although ice began to build up on the body of the giant eel as hoped, the Toa of Ice was still troubled. “This is impossible,” he said to himself. “I'm a Toa Inika! Our bodies are full of energy... Where did it all go?”

The thick coating of ice restricted the monstrous eel's ability to move, which it did not like at all. Snapping its body like a whip, the massive eel shattered the encasing ice and flung the skeletal shark away in pieces. Matoro, Kongu, and Jaller were hit by some of the flying chunks of ice. Jaller had tried to use his Kanohi mask power to dodge the oncoming ice, but like Kongu and Matoro, his mask power had failed to work as expected. Instead, he was hearing sound bouncing off of nearby objects ó a rather useless ability at this particular time.

The gang swam over to the stricken Toa. While some ó like Ducky ó were more graceful in the water, others had more difficulty getting very far. “Are you okay?” asked Ducky.

Jaller grunted in pain. “This is bad,” he said. “Our weapons are gone, our masks have changed powers, and if we don't get a handle on what we can do now, we're going to be fish food.”

We could sure use a change of luck right now, thought Littlefoot.

A blur suddenly shot by to the left of the group, heading straight for the monstrous eel. It then slowed down just enough to reveal that it was the blue-armored Toa, Hahli. She continued swimming incredibly fast, now going in circles around the eel. As the Toa of Water did this, she also hurled bolts of electricity at the eel. Her glowing mask indicated that she was using her new Kanohi mask power, whatever it was.

Before anyone could say something, Nuparu suddenly faded into view above the giant eel's head ó the fading glow of his mask noticeable for only a second. Calling upon his elemental powers, the Toa of Earth raised a large chunk of the ocean floor and slammed it into the beast. Jaller set aside his thoughts and followed up by hurling a series of fire bolts at the massive creature, ignoring the fact that, like Matoro, his elemental attacks also lacked the electrical addition it once had.

Despite the Toa's best efforts, the monstrous eel seemed to remain physically unaffected. Eventually, it apparently had enough of this and charged forward, slamming into the Toa and barely missing the young dinosaurs. The beast then turned around and opened is enormous mouth.

“No good, no good, no good,” Petrie nervously muttered, knowing what the outcome of this would be.

The giant eel was fast approaching them. It continued to move swiftly through the water, but then it was strangely starting to slow down. This wasn't the creature's own doing ó it still tried to power its way through the water at full force. As its forward movement slowed to a stop, it also began to rapidly sink. The eel was powerless as it slammed into the ocean floor and was knocked out by the tremendous impact.

Everyone was confused by what had just happened until they turned to Hewkii. He had a big grin on his face as he rather pathetically swam to rejoin the group. He tapped his mask and said, “Now this is more like it! Hey, a Toa of Stone ought to be able to make something sink like a rock, right?”

Curious about exactly what happened, Chomper asked, “How did you do that?”

“Gravity,” Hewkii simply said. The gang continued to stare at him in confusion. Then realizing that it was an alien concept to the young dinosaurs, he added, “It's what causes everything to fall. I used my mask power to increase the gravity around that thing, making it so heavy tható”

“That there was nothing it could do but fall straight down,” finished Littlefoot, understanding the idea rather quickly.

“Well, I'm just glad we're done fighting that big thing,” said Cera. “Now I'd like to know what happened to us. I mean, we're underwater, for crying out loud!”

“Maybe we should find a cave or somewhere to hide so we can talk,” Chomper nervously said. “I don't feel really safe out here in the open.”

“Me agree,” Petrie quickly added, just as nervous as the young Sharptooth. “Who knows what other ever-dangerous monsters down here?”

“There might be a better place we could go to,” said Nuparu. “I think I see a village right below us.”

It was hard to see anything clearly down in the darkness, but the group trusted Nuparu. Being a Toa of Earth, he was naturally capable of seeing things in the dark more easily. What they could barely see was a small plateau at the base of the Cord. Atop that plateau were some unusual structures, but the details were hard to identify.

“Hey, I think I see movement in the village!” Nuparu added. “Are they Matoran? How could they survive down here? Then again, how are we doing it?”

Littlefoot suddenly remembered what the Matoran of Voya Nui had told him before the group had left them. “I think that might be the village that used to be on Voya Nui, but sank a long time ago,” he said. “Maybe we could ask them for help.”

“I don't know about that,” said Cera with uncertainty. “Remember what happened when we first met the Toa Nuva back on Voya Nui? These Matoran could easily do the same to us.”

“In that case, wait here while I scout out the village,” said Nuparu. “My new mask power seems to work like the Mask of Stealth once worn by Toa Nidhiki. It makes me invisible and incapable of making any noise, so it should be perfect for the job.” His mask began to glow as he activated his Kanohi mask power. A split second later, the Toa of Earth completely vanished.

“Who's Nidhiki?” asked Chomper.

“A Toa of Air who once lived in Metru Nui. He died a long time ago,” answered Hahli. She and the other Toa knew there was more to explain, but decided to not tell the full story to the young dinosaurs. There would be time for that later.

Meanwhile, Nuparu had swum closer to the village, which was indeed inhabited by Matoran. It was one of the most incredible places he had ever seen! All of the buildings were surrounded by giant bubbles of air, and any Matoran that left the giant bubbles were surrounded by smaller bubbles in the shape of their bodies. Being an engineer, Nuparu was very fascinated by everything he saw in this location. He wished he could spend all day asking thousands of questions to the Matoran, studying everything that made life in such a hostile place even possible.

Unfortunately, it seemed the eager Toa of Earth would have to save those questions for a better time. The Matoran who lived here seemed to be in a very tense state at the moment. They had strange weapons at the ready, anticipating an attack at any second. It was obvious they wouldn't react kindly to the whole team arriving at once. Perhaps they would not see him as a threat if he stood alone. Deciding that was the best option, Nuparu swam back so that he wasn't too close to the village to make the Matoran feel threatened. He then shut off his mask power.

When the Matoran saw the Toa of Earth suddenly fade into view, they reacted immediately. About a half dozen of them quickly aimed their weapons at him and fired strange spheres. One of them hit Nuparu, not reacting like a solid object but rather dissolving into a cloud of air. He found the substance surprisingly toxic as he started to choke on the gas. Just when he thought he could catch his breath, another one of the spheres hit him, resulting in a similar experience. All he wanted was to tell them he meant no harm to them, but they weren't giving him a chance to even say or do anything at all!

Above, the rest of the group could see what was happening. Without a word, the Toa quickly swam down to help their friend, soon followed by the young dinosaurs. Jaller hurled a jet of flame hot enough to make it through the water and to the largest of the launchers, melting it into a useless state without harming any of the Matoran. The Matoran who had operated that launcher fled into a nearby building... then came out with a replacement launcher. As they dragged it into position, Jaller knew he had to stop this needless fighting immediately.

“Hold it!” shouted Jaller. “We're not here to fight you!”

“Got a funny way of showing it,” shot back a Po-Matoran, pointing at the destroyed launcher. “We know what you Pit types are like ó a bunch of liars and murderers. Well, you're not getting into Mahri Nui!”

“Pit? Mahri Nui? What are you talking about?” asked Hahli. “We were told there was a Matoran village down here that needed saving, andó”

“We can save ourselves,” said the Po-Matoran. “Next thing, you'll be telling me you're not from the Pit ó that you're Toa, or some black water like that.”

“But we are Toa,” said Nuparu.

“Yeah,” added Kongu. “Who else would have masks and armor like this?”

“Then where were you?” the Po-Matoran asked, pain and anger in his voice. “Where were you when Mahri Nui sank? Where have you been all this time, when Barraki were picking us off one by one for the fun of it?”

“Enough.”

A Le-Matoran stepped forward from within the largest building in the village. He put a hand on the Po-Matoran's shoulder and then nodded to two other Matoran. They came and gently led the disgruntled villager away. Once he was gone, the Le-Matoran turned to the Toa and the kids. “My name is Defilak. I am the leader of Mahri Nui's council for this span-time. What do you want here?”

Jaller was about to speak up when Matoro suddenly came forward and said, “I am Toa Matoro. We came to your village seeking a mask that has been lost. It is vital that we recover it.”

Defilak frowned. Clearly, he was not happy to hear this. “You are the second being to ask me about a mask in the last day,” he said. “The first followed up his question by killing one of my friends, just to show-scan that he could do it.”

“I'm... sorry,” Matoro said sadly.

The group now understood why the Matoran here felt so threatened, but still couldn't understand why they initially distrusted them so much.

“Only two of you may enter the village: one Toa and one... um... of the other creatures.” said Defilak. “The rest of you ó if you really are heroes ó defend Mahri Nui. The Fields of Air are held hostage by ever-dangerous Rahi.” He pointed in the approximate direction of that area. “The Airweed that grows there is ever-vital to our survival. Free them, and perhaps my people will see you for what you speak-say you are.”

Littlefoot immediately volunteered to represent his friends, who had no objections to the choice. The young Longneck swam toward the village, but was rather surprised to see Matoro by his side. He had expected Jaller to join him. Looking back, he could tell by the look on his face that the Toa of Fire was not exactly approving of Matoro's decision.

As Matoro and Littlefoot swam towards the Matoran village known as Mahri Nui, the rest of the group turned and headed for the Fields of Air. Ruby glanced back at Matoro one more time before following the others.

Littlefoot was a slower swimmer than Matoro, so the Toa of Ice was the first to pass through into the large air bubble. He only managed to set his feet down on the ground when he started jerking around. Littlefoot came to an abrupt halt, fearing that whatever was happening to Matoro might happen to him if he went any further. The Toa of Ice was gasping and choking, struggling to catch his breath. It felt like he was suffocating!

Defilak had started to enter the large structure when he heard the gasps of the Toa of Ice. He turned around and, seeing what was happening, immediately ran over to Matoro and shoved him back out of the giant bubble.

It wasn't until he was back in the water that Matoro was able to finally catch his breath. Littlefoot didn't know what to say. The unexpected sight had left him very confused. Once Matoro had fully recovered from his near-death experience, he said, “I don't understand. What just happened?”

“How can you not know?” asked Defilak. “You are a creature of the sea, Matoro. You must have known you can't breathe air.”

The Toa and the Longneck could only stare at the Le-Matoran in shock, eyes wide and mouths open. Those last three words echoed through their minds over and over again: “can't breathe air.” If that was true, their lives had just changed forever. If they couldn't live on land anymore, then how would either group ever be able to return to their homes? Could finding the Mask of Life really be worth all of this?
________

As the team of Toa and young dinosaurs made their way to the Fields of Air, one thing was becoming very clear to Chomper: he was by far the slowest swimmer of them all. Due to his small size and short arms, he was quickly falling behind, which made him very scared. Fortunately, Spike had decided to stop to munch on a piece of seaweed he found. Chomper decided to take the opportunity to climb onto the Spiketail's back. He was breathing heavily after all of the effort to just keep up with them. When Spike looked back at him, he said, “Maybe I should ride more often, now.”

Ruby looked back and was relieved to see that Chomper was safe. She wouldn't admit it to anyone, but she had actually forgotten about the little Sharptooth. Her mind was occupied with Matoro's decision to stay at the village. It just makes no sense, she thought. Why would Matoro want to talk to the Matoran leader? Jaller is the Toa's leader, so he should be the one to talk to the Matoran leader, just like our leader, Littlefoot. Glancing up at the Toa of Fire, she added, I have a feeling Jaller feels just as confused as I feel right now.

Meanwhile, Ducky was enjoying her new surroundings very much. On land, her small size had often been a bit of a hindrance. She wasn't as tough as most of her friends, and was usually comfortable with riding on Spike's back. Here in the water, things were very different. To her, this was like a dream come true, despite the dangers. Now that there was no need for her to resurface to breathe, she felt more free than ever before, and that she wouldn't need to rely on her bigger friends anymore. The little Swimmer just couldn't hide her happiness as she continued to swim in circles around just about everyone, much to the annoyance of some of them.

Petrie, on the other hand, was feeling the exact opposite. He never liked water, especially the large bodies of water such as the sea. Right from the start, he knew his time down here at the bottom of the ocean was going to be one of the worst experiences of his life. At first, he tried to make the best of it, figuring that swimming in water ó which he could now breathe ó would be no different than flying through the air. Unfortunately, the difference in density between the two meant that flapping his wings required far more effort than he was used to. He gave up after only a minute, choosing to instead ride on Cera's back for the rest of the way. He was glad that she didn't mind... as long as he kept his mouth shut.

It wasn't long until the group reached the Fields of Air. Just the name alone was a testament to how valuable this place was to the Matoran. Without air, the Matoran were doomed to drown. Regardless of how such a substance could be grown on seemingly some type of seaweed, they knew they had to free this area from whatever Rahi had decided to stay here.

Spike noticed a small plant nearby that looked just like the Airweed that was abundant all over the fields. What was interesting about this type of seaweed was that it had bubbles of air throughout the whole stalk. Spike just couldn't resist taking a sample to taste, but soon regretted it. When he punctured the bubbles and the gases started to flood his mouth, he quickly spat out the plant as he choked and gagged on the air. Once he regained his breath, he saw everyone staring at him. Spike lowered his head and whimpered. The message was clear: these air-producing plants were strictly off-limits.

“This shouldn't be too difficult,” said Hahli, looking out across the Fields of Air. Movement could be seen among the strange plants, but it took a moment to realize that it wasn't the plants themselves that were moving. There was a massive number of crab-like Rahi all over the fields, and they certainly weren't as friendly as the Ussals they were familiar with. It was no wonder the Matoran had trouble getting into the fields.

“Eleven of us, eleven thousand of them,” said Kongu, his voice full of sarcasm. “I like your idea of fair odds. And what's with the fins?”

“What?” asked Hahli.

“You have fins. They look kind of like wings. And you have a big claw.”

“Have you looked at yourself lately? Or any of the others? We've all changed.”

“I dodged the fins thing, though.”

“Well, not all of us changed,” Cera pointed out. It was true ó only the Toa seemed to have had their bodies changed entirely. The young dinosaurs still looked like the land walkers they once were. It seemed the only thing that had changed about these kids was that they could now breathe underwater.

“The Mask of Life,” said Jaller as a realization hit him. “I... heard it... felt it... when we entered the water. It must have done this to us so we could survive down here.”

“Then it's officially off my Naming Day gift list,” grumbled Kongu.

“The one thing I hoped we might get out of being underwater is that Kongu wouldn't be able to talk,” said Hewkii.

Cera was also upset to think that the Mask of Life could have done this to them. “Sometimes, I almost wish I could just destroy that mask,” she muttered. She then noticed everyone turned to stare at her. “I said ëalmost,’” she emphasized.

Jaller shook his head and said, “Come on, we have a job to do.”

“Um, maybe we don't. Look,” said Nuparu, pointing to the fields.

It was hard to see what was happening, so Jaller summoned a flame bright enough for everyone to see clearly. The light revealed a rather unusual sight. The crabs ó all of them ó were simply leaving the fields. They weren't running away, but rather marching up to the edge of the plateau, where they stopped and turned to face the assembled group. Soon, other creatures of the deep sea joined them: sharks, squids, eels, rays, and more. None of them made any advances. They just hovered in the water and simply stared at the group of Toa and dinosaurs.

The group was speechless at this odd sight. “Okay, Hahli, you're the one with water on the brain,” Hewkii finally said. “Do sea Rahi like this normally act this way, or is it what it really looks like ó really creepy?”

“No, it's not normal,” replied Hahli. “This is weird... ëMakuta comes up and gives you a hug’ weird. It's almost like they're... waiting for something... or someone.”

“And so they are.”

Startled, everyone turned around to see who had spoken. Floating before them were six strange beings, shaped vaguely like Toa, but with mutations that made them look like bizarre sea monsters. Behind them were even more of the gathered sea creatures, eager for a good hunt.

Chomper gulped before saying, “I think I've figured out why my parents wanted me to leave that island.”

“And people wonder why I hate the water,” said Kongu.

“Me too,” Petrie weakly added as he cowered behind Cera's neckshield.
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Read and review, as always. I'm glad to say that finishing this chapter over the past week has reignited my commitment to getting this story done, so hopefully it shouldn't take too long for me to get the next chapter done.

Here are the images of everything first seen in this chapter:
Jaller
Hahli
Kongu
Matoro
Hewkii
Nuparu
Mahri Nui (from a distance, close-up, from above)
Defilak

[Pangaea]

What’s this? Pangaea has posted a review within a day of the new chapter being released? Grab your umbrella hats and watch the skies for flying pigs! And turn on the news for reports of a blizzard in Hades!

In all seriousness, however…

Chronicler, if you don’t think I need to apologize for taking so long with my review, then you shouldn’t have to apologize for taking so long with the next chapter. As the author, you should be able to take a break from writing the story if you need to. (It’s a relief to hear that you’re accustomed to my tardiness, anyway, not that that’s going to put me off from attempting to improve the promptness of my reviews.)

Overall I found this a very interesting chapter. Lots of new things, and it was fun to see the characters’ reactions to their new situation. I especially liked the scene later in the chapter when the gang was swimming to Fields of Air, and you described how each of them was adapting to having to swim constantly, Ducky’s description being my favorite (That was pretty much exactly as I’d imagine her to act if she were given the ability to swim without needing to go up for air). Poor Petrie, though; he’s going to freak out when he learns that he can’t even breathe air anymore, much less fly through it (even though I’m guessing this will turn out to be only a temporary change).

The confrontation scene with the giant eel was vividly descriptive enough to be exciting for me, and the Toa discovering that their powers had changed and coming to grips with them added to the tension. The gang’s reactions to the reanimated shark felt appropriate, and props for having Hewkii need to explain gravity to the gang, with Littlefoot catching on at the last minute.

I think it’s also safe for me to revise my previous theory about the mysterious light source at the end of the previous chapter; that it was most likely the Mask of Life and definitely not the Matoran. As for the pain they experienced, I’m guessing now that that was a side effect of being physiologically modified to breathe underwater. The fact that it (temporarily) drove off the eel may have just been a bonus.

The weight of the ice caused the monstrous eel to start sinking, which it did not like at all.

Forgive me for being overly scientific in regards to a story that is hardly such, but does ice in the Bionicle universe usually sink? I would imagine that being encased in ice would make it more difficult for the eel to move and reduce its speed considerably (effectively “weighing it down” as the original text for this story describes), but ice is typically less dense than water, and if anything one would expect that it would cause the eel to float. I’m willing to accept that ice produced by Toa powers works differently, though, so you’re free to ignore this comment.

His mask began to glow as a sign of this ó something that apparently had never happened to the Toa Inika's organic masks, the young dinosaurs noted.

Just my opinion, but “apparently” seems unnecessary in this sentence.

“Well, that was pointless,” commented Cera at what had just happened.

This sentence sounds a bit awkward, and again I think it is unnecessary. I would just delete it.

Chomper gulped before saying, “I think I just remembered why my parents wanted me to leave that island.”

Not an error, but I’m confused as to why Chomper is saying this. I don’t understand how it applies to the current situation.

That’s about all I’ve got for this review. It seems that I’ve been finding fewer and fewer errors in your chapters. You should be proud of that.

[The Chronicler]

Pangaea: Although it's good that you're not finding many errors, I still very much appreciate whenever you do point them out. In this case, the first and last ones you mentioned looked like I should have reworded them a little differently for them to make more sense. (That last one, I was trying to show that those beings of the sea made Chomper possibly becoming scared of the deep sea, so he now has another reason why he's glad he doesn't live on an island in the ocean anymore.)

I took a little time off again, but I was able to get this next chapter done relatively quickly.

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Chapter 26
Imprisoned

The young dinosaurs huddled together in fear. First impressions of these mutated beings ó and the surrounding masses of deadly sea creatures ó were anything but pleasant. They made even the Piraka seem like such a friendly bunch.

The blue-armored mutated being swam forward a little and looked across the group of Toa and dinosaurs. His body was lean and slightly bent in the middle. His face had small red eyes and ó like the other beings ó mandibles that snapped open and shut repulsively. In his hands were a pair of long blade-like weapons. He also carried some kind of launcher, like the other mutated beings. “Ah, me, what have we here?” he rasped. “Five little Toa who have lost their way? And six odd creatures who seem out-of-place in the sea? We would have been here sooner to greet you, but you know, it's never wise to go swimming too soon after a meal.”

“I don't like it,” the brown-armored mutant spoke up. His body was short and stocky; the complete opposite of the first being. He also had a pair of large crablike claws. “What are they doing here now? Something smells.”

“That would be you, Carapar,” said the first. “Comes from eating those two-bio-long blood snails...”

“Quiet,” said a white-armored being, who resembled what the young dinosaurs considered a swimming sharptooth; known in this universe as a shark. At first, the Toa thought he might have lost an arm in combat, but then they realized he was just keeping one hand behind his back. In the visible arm, he held a strange blade-like weapon. There were also parts of his armor that were red in color, though the kids weren't sure if that was its usual appearance. “I am Pridak. We are the Barraki, and this is our realm. Tell us why you are here, and perhaps you will live to see another tide.”

The blue-armored Barraki leaned forward and carefully whispered, “Better listen to Takadox, masked ones. Pridak was... not himself... or rather, too much himself, a little while ago. I did a little trick of mine to calm him down ó otherwise, he might kill you first and then ask questions of your corpses. This way works much better, you see.”

“Answer,” continued Pridak. “What did you do to be exiled here?”

“Exiled?” said Hewkii. “We're notó”

“óIn the habit of explaining ourselves to every bait fish that comes along,” Hahli interrupted. “By what right do you and your pathetic schools of minnows interfere with us?”

The red-armored Barraki surged forward. He had tentacles on the back of his head and a very long one on his left hand. He also had three eyes, though the one in the middle seemed to have been damaged, since it didn't give off any light like the other two. “By right of conquest!” he shouted before he reached forward with his tentacle to try and grab Hahli. The Toa of Water effortlessly grabbed and yanked the tentacle hard, sending the Barraki hurtling through the water toward her. He slammed face-first into her open hand and fell to the ocean floor. Muttering under his breath, he made no effort to try again.

“Do you have any other answer to give?” asked Hahli, turning her attention back to the other Barraki. “Or are you content to tread water and bluster like toothless Takea sharks?”

Hahli's behavior was catching her friends entirely by surprise, both Toa and dinosaurs. This was nothing like the shy Ga-Matoran they once knew, not too long ago. Did she have no fear for these creatures of the deep sea, or had she completely lost her mind?

“You have heard of the Barraki before?” asked Pridak.

“Yes,” answered Hahli. “Their name has come down the millennia... a relic used to frighten pathetic Matoran and keep them in their beds at night.”

The other Barraki looked at Pridak, almost as if they were concerned about what he would do next. Apparently, what happened next was not what they expected. Pridak simply smiled, revealing his many rows of sharp teeth ó a sight that definitely made the kids shiver in fear. “Perhaps,” he said. “Our day was long ago, but a new era is about to begin... and it starts with this.” Pridak brought his hand from behind his back. The group couldn't help but gasp at what they saw. He was holding the Mask of Life. “You recognize it?” he said. “Interesting. So few have seen this mask and lived.”

“I do,” said Hahli. “And I have. Aren't you worried about its legendary curse?”

“Curse?” Pridak repeated. Then his tone changed to pure rage. “Look at me! Look at where I dwell! Look at my companions! Once rulers, now monstrosities, and tell me ó how much more cursed could we be!?”

“Relax, Pridak,” said Takadox, almost chanting as he stared into the eyes of the furious Barraki. “Stay in control.”

Carapar turned to Takadox. “I thought you said there were thirteen of them,” he said in confusion. “I only count eleven, including the tiny ones.”

“It counts?” said Hahli, acting surprised. “Amazing. To answer your dull-witted question, we were thirteen, but profits go farther shared among a smaller group, if you catch my current.”

The group of Toa and dinosaurs couldn't believe what they were hearing coming from the Toa of Water. She was speaking like a Piraka! Had she lost all sympathy for her own teammates and friends?

After thinking for a few seconds, Pridak said, “Bring them along. We have a long journey ahead of us, and disgraced Toa might prove useful.”

“As allies?” whispered the red Barraki.

Pridak shook his head and said, “It's always best, when traveling, to make sure you bring lunch along, Kalmah.”

Kalmah, Carapar, and the green Barraki ó a lean, hunched being with sharp spines all over his back, who held a pair of long, claw-like weapons ó moved behind the Toa. Pridak, Takadox, and the black Barraki ó identified by another Barraki as Mantax, a hunched being with a large pincer in one hand and had bulky armor with sharp spikes all over it ó turned and began to swim away. It was clear the group was supposed to follow them. With no other option, the group swam towards an unknown destination, guarded on the front and back by the Barraki, and flanked on the left and right by the armies of sea creatures. The kids felt very nervous, but having the Toa with them was enough to avoid outright panic.

Hoping to set aside some confusion, Jaller turned to Hahli and quietly said, “So... When did you become ëHahli the Barbarian’?”

“Trust me, I know what I'm doing,” replied Hahli. She then smiled and added, “Besides, it's sort of fun.”

Only Nuparu and Ruby were able to overhear what the two Toa had said. I don't see anything “fun” about acting like a bad guy in front of a bunch of bad guys, Ruby thought bitterly.
________

The Barraki had escorted the group to a desolate area near the face of a cliff that had numerous caves.

“This is where you will be staying as our guests,” said Pridak. “Our only request is that all five Toa occupy a separate cave for each of them.”

“What about the rest of us?” asked Cera. Although she feared the Barraki as much as her friends did, her hatred of any creatures of the sea helped her get past that fear and at least be willing to stand up to the Barraki.

“Well, I don't see how the six of you could pose any threat at all, so we will allow you to pick a Toa to stay with,” answered Pridak.

Petrie quickly scampered up to Kongu's shoulder and said, “Me stay with Air-Toa, Kongu.”

“If anything goes wrong, I'd trust my life with Jaller,” said Cera as she moved to stand next to the Toa of Fire.

“I will stay with Hahli,” said Ducky. “Yes, I will.”

“I would prefer to stay with Matoro, but since Matoro is not here, I will need to stay with my second choice, and that second choice of mine is Hahli,” said Ruby.

Spike silently walked up to Hewkii, still nervous by the sight of the assembled Barraki.

Chomper turned to Nuparu, but the Toa of Earth stopped him and said, “Go with Hewkii and Spike. Trust me, its best that I be left alone.” He tapped the side of his mask to help the little Sharptooth understand what he meant.

Chomper understood the message and nodded, before joining up with Hewkii and Spike.

“Good. Now that you're done, let us take you to your accommodations,” said Pridak. He and the other Barraki gathered a small number of their armies and escorted the Toa and kids to separate caves. They made sure the “guests” wouldn't turn their attention to anything but their specific cave. This meant that none of the heroes would know where any of the others would be staying.

Once everyone had moved into their respective caves, the various sea creatures that had escorted them remained just outside the cave entrances, never leaving. It was now clear to the Toa and young dinosaurs that they were actually more like prisoners. With the task done, the Barraki and the rest of their armies left.

In one cave, Hahli, Ruby, and Ducky all sat on a large rock near the back of the cave. Ducky was still confused by Hahli's earlier behavior. “I cannot believe you actually talked to them like that, Hahli. Oh no, no, no,” said Ducky.

“That's actually because Hahli was only acting like someone who's not Hahli,” answered Ruby.

“She's right,” confirmed Hahli.

“But why would you do that?” asked Ducky.

“That is a good question, because I would like to ask Hahli that question, too,” added Ruby.

“Hahli!”

It was only a loud whisper, but the suddenness of it caused the three of them to be startled enough to jump off the rock and nearly scream in surprise. They turned around and saw Nuparu standing right behind them. No doubt, he had used his new Kanohi mask power to sneak out of his cave and into this one unnoticed.

“Nuparu!” exclaimed Hahli, doing her best to keep her voice down. “Makuta's bones, you scared ten thousand years off me! What are you doing here?”

“You told Jaller you knew something,” replied Nuparu. “I figured it was time for share and tell.”

Hahli nodded and began, “You might recall that I recently mentioned how I spent some time in the Onu-Metru Archives studying many of the old tablets I found there, trying to understand what they said. One particularly old carving told the story of the League of Six Kingdoms, which happened about 80,000 years ago. At the height of their power, the six members of the League ó Pridak, Takadox, Carapar, Ehlek, Mantax, and Kalmah ó dominated most of the known universe. When they tried to combine their armies and rebel against the Great Spirit Mata Nui, they were crushed by the Brotherhood of Makuta. The records are sketchy after that, saying only that they were condemned for their crimes and taken away for punishment.”

“Then what are they doing down here?” asked Ducky.

“I don't know,” replied Hahli, “but maybe... What if they were imprisoned somewhere... and when the Great Cataclysm struck Metru Nui a thousand years ago, it hit other places, too? A massive earthquake could have shattered their cells and set them free. But, mutated as they are now, they can't reclaim their kingdoms... unless somehow the power of the Mask of Life can make them what they once were.”

There was no need to explain any further. It was now clear how dire the situation had become.

Nuparu was the first to speak up. “Our only advantage is they think we're as bad as they are and were condemned here as well. We need to break out and get the mask before they can use it.”

“It's worse than that,” said Hahli. “While we were being taken to this place, I overheard Takadox and Kalmah talking. The mask is starting to crack; its power is leaking out. If we don't act soon... there won't be any Mask of Life to save.”
________

Littlefoot and Matoro stood on a small rocky ledge just outside a large air bubble near the edge of Mahri Nui. Defilak, who stood inside the giant bubble, wanted to keep them away from the center of the village to keep the high tensions between them as low as possible. Two armed Ta-Matoran stood on either side of Defilak, showing that these Matoran were not taking any chances.

Finally, Defilak was ready to start talking. “This has been a disastrous day,” he said quietly. “Dekar is missing... Sarda is dead... and who knows how many other Matoran heroes were injured.”

“I'm sorry,” said Matoro. “I wish we had gotten here sooner. But time is running out and we need that mask.”

“Mask! Mask!” Defilak suddenly snapped. “There is no mask! I have never heard of anyó”

“The Fields of Air are free again!”

The shout came from a Ga-Matoran as she swam up to Defilak, barely able to contain her excitement. “The Keras crabs have withdrawn. We can harvest the air again!”

Toa Matoro and Littlefoot looked at each other and smiled. Their friends had done their job and proven that they were true heroes. Now they could focus on reclaiming the Mask of Life.

“We told you,” said Matoro. “I knew the others wouldn't let you down.”

“The others?” said the Ga-Matoran in confusion. “Do you mean the five who look like you and those six strange-looking Rahi? I saw them talking with the Barraki, and then they left with them.”

Matoro and Littlefoot looked at each other in concern. Although they weren't quite sure who the Barraki were, they knew it meant trouble. “They're prisoners?” asked Matoro, turning back to the Matoran.

“No,” replied the Ga-Matoran. “Looked more like partners to me.”

Defilak turned to the Longneck and the Toa of Ice with a very suspicious look on his face.

Littlefoot was very sure the report had to be a mistake, so he knew his had to convince the Matoran otherwise. “Wait! It's not what you think!” he exclaimed. “My friends would neveró”

He was cut off when Matoro froze the water between them and the village, just as the Matoran had aimed their launchers at the two outsiders. The Toa of Ice grabbed Littlefoot and began to quickly swim towards the Fields of Air.

“What are you doing!?” exclaimed Littlefoot. He was very upset that he wasn't given a chance to explain themselves to the Matoran.

“It's hopeless, Littlefoot,” answered Matoro. “These Matoran seem to think everyone is against them. We need to find the others and find out what's going on down here before we can try again. If not... then we'll have to find the Mask of Life on our own.”

Littlefoot was about to speak up when something shot through the water and exploded nearby, close enough for the shock wave to send them tumbling through the water and land on the ocean floor.

Matoro was dazed, but remained conscious. He quickly noticed he was lying at the feet of a figure in pitch-black armor. He looked up to see the rest of this stranger. He had a few long blades attached to his left wrist and had some type of multi-shot blaster attached to his right wrist.

“Welcome to the Pit, runner,” the figure said, regarding the Toa as being no better than dirt. “My name is Hydraxon. You have the right to remain jailed.” He reached down and lifted the Toa off the ocean floor, who was too dazed to put up much resistance.

Littlefoot, unlike Matoro, had landed on a soft patch, so he was able to remain alert. He couldn't believe what was happening now. “What are you doing!?” he protested.

Hydraxon didn't hesitate to grab the little dinosaur by the neck and lift him off the seafloor. “What a strange creature,” he mused. “And it talks, too. No doubt, another runner to be captured.”

“I'm not a Runner, I'm a Longneck,” responded Littlefoot, his voice straining from the tight grip against his neck.

Most would have laughed at this pathetic statement, but Hydraxon didn't even crack a smile. In his mind, he had a job to do, and he had no time for jokes. Either this creature was naive or was simply playing dumb to avoid being captured. He quickly decided on the latter.

With the two in his custody, Hydraxon began to swim toward an unknown destination. “I'm feeling generous right now, so I'll let you both share a cell,” he said with a cold voice.

Littlefoot refused to say anything. He was in complete disbelief at how things had quickly gone from good to bad to worse. If things were this bad for him, he couldn't imagine how terrible they must have been for his friends.
-------

Read and review, as always. The next few chapters will get interesting, so I hope I can get them done more quickly now. (I got this one done in less than a week, once I got around to actually working on it.)

Here are the images of everything first seen in this chapter:
Pridak
Ehlek
Kalmah
Takadox
Mantax
Carapar
Hydraxon

[Pangaea]

I had something of a double-sided opinion of this chapter. On one hand, it really turned the tension factor up to eleven; by the very end, things have never looked worse for our protagonists. The Barraki are very interesting to me, and there was one scene in the chapter that I really enjoyed (more on that later). On the other hand, there was quite a lot of borrowed text in this chapter, and a lot of it was hardly changed from its original wording. In addition, the gang of seven had hardly any role in the chapter at all. Cera, Chomper, and Petrie had no lines; in fact they along with Spike were only even mentioned by name when the Barraki split their prisoners up. The gang were more or less as the Barraki viewed them: sideline curiosities of little significance or threat. I guess there wasn’t that much in the original book that could be adapted to give them something to do in this chapter, and maybeóhopefullyóthe Barraki’s dismissal of them as inconsequential (except as living Lunchables) will come back to bite them.

My favorite part of this chapter was definitely Hahli’s confrontation with the Barraki. Even if a lot of it was lifted directly from the book, I enjoyed Hahli’s witty insults and overall bad@$$itude (for lack of a word that I’ve ever used before ), and both sides’ clever water-themed idioms (“live to see another tide” and “if you catch my current” being most memorable). I also greatly appreciated seeing a lone protagonist spontaneously take action (and the spotlight). While it makes sense that the Toa (along with the gang) work as a team almost all of the time, the specific actions of any one individual do not particularly stand out when the characters all act at once, or in quick succession, such as in many of the battle scenes. Hahli had a chance to shine by herself in this chapter; something that readers will remember her for. I hope that other characters will get opportunities like this in later chapters.

In his hands was a pair of blade-like weapons.

Should be “were”.

His body was more short and stockyó the complete opposite of the first being.

I would delete “more”, as it makes the sentence sound awkward. Also, you might want to consider replacing the em dash for a semicolon.

“Quiet,” said a white-armored being, whose mutations made him resemble a shark.

I know the gang has learned a lot of “our” names for things since making contact with the Matoran, but I think it would feel more like the narrative is coming from their point of view if you described Pridak as resembling the swimming sharptooth they encountered on their first visit to Chomper’s island.

Also, it didn’t occur to me to bring this up earlier, but did the Toa or Matoran ever explain the concept of mutations to the gang? From their perspective, I don’t think they would even be able to tell whether the Barraki were mutated. How would they know whether their sea creature characteristics were part of their natural appearance?

The red-armored Barraki surged forward. His mutations made him resemble a squid. He had tentacles on the back of his head and a very long one on his left hand. He also had three eyes, though the one in the middle seemed to have been damaged, since it didn't give off any light like the other two.

I would just remove the whole highlighted portion, since I don’t think the gang is particularly familiar with squids, Kalmah doesn’t really look that much like a squid (in my opinion, at least), and the way you describe him immediately afterwards is much more helpful for conveying what he looks like.

The group of heroes couldn't believe what they were hearing coming from the Toa of Water. She was speaking like a Piraka! Did she even have any sympathy for her own teammates and friends?

I think the red-highlighted portion should be modified to include the gang. (“Hahli’s friends”, perhaps?) Also, maybe this is just me, but the blue-highlighted sentence comes off as a bit…hyperbolic, maybe? Despite Hahli acting and talking very atypically, I wouldn’t expect them to immediately assume that she had suddenly turned evil or something just because of one thing she said (which the Toa know is a lie, and I’m not sure the gang would even understand. Are they even familiar with the term “profits”?).

Kalmah, Carapar, and the green Barraki ó a lean, hunched being with sharp spines all over his back, and held a pair of long, claw-like weapons ó moved behind the Toa.

Should be “who”.

With no other option, the group swam towards an unknown destination, flanked in the front and back by the Barraki, and on the left and right by the armies of sea creatures.

I think “flanking” exclusively refers to being to the side of something. So the group would be flanked by the sea creatures, but fronted and backed by the Barraki.

The group of heroes was led to a desolate area. The five Toa were each asked to occupy one of the several caves along a cliff face. Since the little dinosaurs appeared to pose no threat at all, they were allowed to choose a Toa to stay with. Cera went with Jaller, Petrie with Kongu, Ducky and Ruby with Hahli, and Chomper and Spike with Hewkii, while Nuparu insisted on being alone. Pridak assured them they were “guests”, but the various sea creatures that stayed and hovered outside the cave entrances indicated they were seen more like prisoners. Once everyone had move into their caves, the Barraki and most of their armies left.

Similar to one of the paragraphs quoted above, I would remove “of heroes”, since, as I understand it, that term is basically interchangeable with “Toa” in the Bionicle universe, and does not apply so much to the gang. Also, typo alert: “move” should be “moved”.

As a side note, the scene in this paragraph of the Barraki introducing the group to their “accommodations” is one that I think could have been fairly easily expanded to include dialogue. It would be much more entertaining, and allow the gang some more lines.

As for other ways you could potentially edit this chapter to give the gang more of a presence, I think there are several points where you could insert some short segments describing the characters’ feelings about, or reactions to, the situation they’re in at the moment. I can most easily think of examples for Cera. Considering her often less-than-amiable relationship with aquatic life (especially crabs), I can easily envision her shooting irritated glares at the Barraki’s minions, thinking about how loathsome she finds the Barraki, and, if she were feeling especially gutsy, insulting one of the Barrakiómost likely Caraparóto his face. (You know, if Carapar is close enough to Cera’s size, it would be hilarious to see her finally take out her frustrations with crabs on him in a later chapter. )

Sorry about the less-than-shining review. I hope at least some of this was helpful.

[The Chronicler]

Pangaea: To be honest, I knew that inevitably some chapters would seem more modest, once I got to a part where I would need to use borrowed text again. As I've said countless times, I try to add as much original material as I can at every opportunity. For example, Jaller had mentioned that the Toa had lost their weapons right after their transformation, but some Toa are shown to have their new weapons (aside from those blasters they all carry, which they grab latter on) soon after. To me, this seems like a contradiction, so I decided to go with what Jaller said, which means I'll give them their unique weapons at the same time they grab those blasters (that'll be the next chapter, not this one). Also, over the next few chapters, you'll see why I had Littlefoot go with Matoro.

Things are starting to pick up in this story now, so I'm glad I'm now getting back into the habit of working on these chapters more frequently.

-------
Chapter 27
Escape!

Chomper and Spike had a very good reason to feel nervous. Hovering just outside the mouth of the cave was a Takea shark, its gaze never straying far from them. Hewkii decided to test it by picking up a small, dead fish he noticed on the cave floor and tossing it out. The predator of the deep quickly snatched the fish carcass and gulped it down.

“Okay, sneaking by it is out of the question,” stated Hewkii. “Looks like we'll have to fight our way out.”

“Just make sure you stop it for good,” suggested Chomper. “Where I'm from, swimming sharpteeth never stop until they get their food.”

Spike nervously nodded in agreement.

The Toa of Stone turned back to the guarding Takea and thought about which tactic to use. He only needed a few seconds to come up with a foolproof plan. “Well, you've seen what too much gravity can do to something,” said Hewkii. “This time, let's try none at all.”

Chomper and Spike watched as Hewkii triggered his Kanohi mask power. Almost instantly, the Takea shark began to rise uncontrollably. The three of them walked to the mouth of the cave so they could see where it was going. There was a moderate current near the surface, and when the weightless shark reached it, it was carried away like a leaf in a strong breeze.

“Bye bye, shark,” said Hewkii with a smile on his face.

Chomper and Spike burst out laughing. Hewkii had to admit that what happened to that shark, combined with his response, was pretty funny. But as the laughter dragged on, he started to get irritated. He knew there was no time to waste, so he saw no point in waiting for them to stop on their own.

“Come on, let's go,” Hewkii said irritably before smacking Spike on his posterior and swimming off to find the others.

Spike yelped in surprise, then grumbled angrily as he helped Chomper climb onto his back before following the Toa of Stone.
________

“Now can we get out of here?” asked Cera impatiently.

Jaller had insisted on waiting until a few minutes after the Barraki had left before making any attempts to escape. He only wanted to be sure that the eels guarding the cave would be their only opponent. Needless to say, Cera's impatience was getting on his nerves.

Sighing in frustration, the Toa of Fire walked toward the mouth of the cave. The eels immediately noticed him and prepared to attack. Jaller held out his hands and focused his elemental powers into them. He then unleashed a large blast of flame for only a few seconds. The eels were barely singed, but the attack was enough to frighten them all away.

Cera walked up to Jaller and said, “See? That wasn't so hard.”

Jaller leaned against the wall of the cave, exhausted. “Oh really? Why don't you try and start a fire underwater and see how easy it is?” Jaller rhetorically asked.

Cera ignored him and said, “They might come back. We'd better get going.”

As much as he disliked working with Cera, Jaller had to admit the young Threehorn was right. Doing his best to conserve his energy, he decided to climb along the undersea cliff, followed by Cera swimming nearby. He stumbled a little when a small outcrop broke off in his hand. He looked at the rock in his hand and soon got an idea. He wasn't exactly sure where the others were hidden, but perhaps his new mask power could help make the task easier.

Cera noticed the Toa of Fire stop, then his Kanohi mask start to glow. Jaller lightly tapped the rock against the cliff once and waited. “What are you doing?” asked Cera.

“Quiet,” said Jaller before tapping the rock against the cliff once more. He listened carefully for a few seconds, then moved further along the cliff and repeated the process. After a few seconds of apparent silence, he shut off his mask power and said, “I think I've found Kongu and Petrie.”

Cera was very skeptical of this. “How do you know?” she asked.

Jaller tapped the side of his mask and said, “Sonar. Sound actually bounces off of most objects, which in certain cases results in that effect you dinosaurs call a ëtalk-back’. Some creatures have hearing so sensitive that they can tell how far away something is and what it's shaped like, just by listening to a little bit of noise. My new Kanohi mask power gives me that ability.”

Cera had a hard time understanding the concept, but as long as it worked, she wouldn't complain about it. “Well, in that case, let's go burn some more sea slime and free those two air heads,” said Cera.

Jaller sighed and muttered to himself, “Like I have a choice.” He let go of the cliff and swam with Cera to where he was sure they would find the right cave. He knew he had to get the team back together as soon as possible if they were going to retrieve the Mask of Life. Besides, the sooner he could stop working with no one but Cera, the better.
________

“How are we going to get out of here?” asked Ducky. She ó along with Ruby, Hahli, and Nuparu ó was looking out at the mouth of the cave, which was guarded by a giant squid.

“I could use my mask power to simply swim right by undetected, but that won't help the rest of you,” stated Nuparu.

“If Nuparu's mask power can't help all of us escape, then maybe Hahli's mask power can help us all escape,” suggested Ruby.

“But that does beg the question: What does your mask power do?” asked Nuparu to Hahli.

“You have nothing to worry about,” assured Hahli. “It took some practice, but I've figured out what my Kanohi mask power is. I can get us free, but you must not look my way, no matter what. I'll let you know when it's safe.”

The Toa of Earth and the two young dinosaurs nodded and turned away. Ruby and Ducky decided to take an extra precaution by covering their eyes.

Meanwhile, Toa Hahli walked up to the mouth of the cave and stood perfectly still. The squid noticed her and began to reach out with its powerful tentacles. As Hahli's mask began to glow, something amazing happened that made the sea creature stop. Bands of color were traveling up and down her body, moving faster and shifting in intensity. The squid continued to watch the display, its huge eyes staring at her. After a few moments, Hahli shut off her mask power, causing the bands of color to fade away. The sea creature made no reactions at all; it had been entranced.

Satisfied, Hahli turned back to tap Nuparu on the shoulder and whisper, “Let's go.”

Nuparu nudged Ruby and Ducky to let them know it was now safe to look. Despite their confusion, they followed Hahli as she swam right by it without any trouble at all. Once they were a good distance away, Ducky asked, “What happened?”

“My Kanohi mask power lets me mimic the powers of any sea creature,” answered Hahli. “I remembered there was a hypnotic Rahi fish that could entrance prey, so I summoned that ability. The giant squid is unharmed, but when it awakens, we will be long gone.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Toa Hewkii as he swam towards them, followed by Chomper and Spike. “The problem with water is it's so... wet.”

“How did you get past your guard?” asked Hahli.

“I didn't. Used my mask power to cut off his gravity,” said Hewkii. “Too bad you missed it. You would believe a Takea shark can fly.”

Chomper and Spike burst out laughing at that statement. Hewkii face-palmed at having started another giggle-fit out of those two.

The others merely stared at the trio in confusion. “Uh, I'll take your word for it,” said Nuparu.
________

Petrie was perched on Kongu's shoulder as the two of them thought of how to get past the stingrays guarding the cave.

“Why not try mask power?” suggested Petrie.

“I don't know,” replied Kongu. Having used his new mask power only once ó which seemed to do nothing but attract a school of eels ó the Toa of Air still wasn't sure what it could really do. “I guess it's worth a shot.” He concentrated on the rays outside the cave and activated his Kanohi mask power.

Within seconds, a pair of Takea sharks had arrived and immediately began attacking the stingrays. The two sharks put up a good fight, but were ultimately overwhelmed by the power and number of the rays.

Kongu and Petrie stared at the mouth of the cave in silence. “Uh... try again?” suggested Petrie.

Kongu turned to the little Flyer on his shoulder, not sure if he was really being serious. The Toa of Air was snapped out of his thoughts when a minor jet of flame passed in front of the cave, startling the rays. However, it wasn't enough to drive them away, and they quickly turned their attention to their attacker. Kongu walked up to the mouth of the cave and saw Toa Jaller, now locked in battle against the stingrays.

Jaller let loose another flame from his hand, but it was even weaker than the last one. He knew he needed some assistance. “Kongu! Use your mask power!” exclaimed Jaller.

Toa Kongu shook his head and said, “I'd really rather not.” He was now sure that his mask power summoned various creatures to fight on his side, but he had no way of knowing exactly what his mask would summon, and he really didn't want to see what would come next.

Meanwhile, Cera was watching the battle in disbelief. Although she knew better than to senselessly charge right in, she almost wished she could do something more than just be a helpless bystander. “Come on, Jaller! You can do better than that!” exclaimed Cera.

“Not helping, Cera!” snapped Jaller. One of the rays rammed into him, sending him down onto the ocean floor. He was about to get back up when he heard a noise behind him. He turned around and saw a crablike creature scuttling towards him. He recognized it as a Hahnah crab, which seemed to be attracted to what little fire he was able to summon. Fortunately, this large crab apparently showed no threat to the Toa of Fire. If anything, it seemed to be simply curious by his presence.

“Stop playing with that dumb sand creeper!” shouted Cera. “Get back to burning the bad guys!”

Kongu finally realized it was time to take action. Summoning his elemental powers, he unleashed an underwater cyclone that quickly scattered the rays, flinging them far away.

With the danger passed, Kongu, Petrie, and Cera swam over to join Jaller. They then heard a noise that  sounded like some kind of launcher being fired. Before anyone could react, a slimy squid slammed into Kongu's back and latched itself on with its tentacles. Kongu tried to pull it off of him, but a strange feeling came over him once the squid was in place. It was draining his life energies! Kongu twitched and spasmed before sinking to the ocean floor. In the process of this, Petrie was flung off of Kongu's shoulder and landed right on Cera's back.

Jaller rushed over to the Toa of Air, but didn't make it far when he heard the launcher again. He turned around and saw another squid hurtling towards him. Jaller unleashed all of what little elemental power he could from his hand. The resulting flame was small, but it was enough to incinerate the sea creature.

The launcher was fired a third time, but Cera was prepared. She knew the attacker was behind them, so she swam over to a large rock for cover. Looking back to see the oncoming squid, she had barely enough time to shove the rock aside just enough to block the creature's path. She heard it smack into the rock and thought that was the end of it.

Cera started moving to look over when a bunch of slimy tentacles reached around the rock to try and grab her. She shrieked and shoved the rock over, squishing the squid against the rocky sea floor. She was breathing heavily ó almost hyperventilating ó from her panic. Once she noticed the tentacles had fallen limp, she knew that now the slimy sea creature was dead.

“Ha! Score one for me!” gloated Cera.

Cera and Petrie heard a crash and turned to see Jaller in the clawed grip of Carapar. The Barraki slammed Jaller against the ocean floor again, but was knocked off balance when the Toa of Fire kicked his legs out from underneath him.

Before Jaller could even get back to his feet, a large tentacle wrapped around his neck. Kalmah, who had fired those squids from his launcher, now had the Toa of Fire in his grip. Carapar quickly got back up and grabbed Jaller by the legs. “Time to make a wish,” taunted Carapar.

Cera quickly shifted her attention to the weakening Kongu. Despite her pride, she knew that taking on two Barraki would be suicide. But if she and Petrie could save Kongu, the Toa of Air might be able to do something to save Jaller.

Before Cera could even get moving, something else came to the rescue. It was the Hahnah crab, which jumped onto Kongu's back and began attacking the squid with its claws. Since the squid was already attached to its prey, there was nothing it could do to prevent itself from being ripped apart.

Kongu had been on the verge of passing out when that squid was finally torn loose. With the parasite dead, his strength began returning to him, but not as quickly as he was hoping. If he was going to save Jaller in time, he had only one option... He had to use his mask power.

Toa Kongu shut his eyes as he triggered his mask power, determined to not see what would be unleashed. It did little good, as he could feel the ocean floor starting to shake. Everyone nearby was looking around in panic, including the two Barraki. It sounded like something big was about to rise up from deep below.

Finally, the sea floor blew apart. Kongu, Cera, Petrie, and the Hahnah crab were tossed aside, tumbling through the water. Once they landed, Petrie immediately covered his eyes and pleaded, “Please no tell me what you see!”

Kongu and Cera turned to see what had just been summoned, and immediately wished they hadn't. To say this was a creature of nightmares would have been a huge understatement. It was a grotesque, clawed, two hundred foot long sea monster. It was hard to see any other details in the dark water, but what little they saw of it was already beyond terrifying. It was a beast from an ancient past that had slumbered for ages, and it had awakened in a very bad mood.

The two Barraki and their Toa captive were paralyzed in fear for only a few seconds. Kalmah made the first move by hurling Jaller towards the beast. He and Carapar used the diversion to make their escape. Kongu jumped off the sea floor and rushed to save Jaller.

The beast saw the red Toa and, without a second thought, smacked him back down with its clawed limb. Jaller collided with Kongu on the way down and they both slammed against the ocean floor. Careful not to draw the monster's attention, Cera lifted Petrie onto her back and made her way over to the two Toa. The Hahnah crab followed, much to Cera's annoyance.

Jaller rubbed his head as he looked up at the summoned beast. “What... what is that?” he asked. “Where did it come from?”

“Well, I told you I didn't want to use the mask,” replied Kongu.

Fortunately for the Toa and young dinosaurs, fate seemed to be on their side today. The ancient sea monster ignored them and swam off.

“Where's it going?” asked Cera.

“Don't know, don't care,” said Kongu.

“It gone?” asked Petrie, uncovering his eyes. He glanced around and saw nothing to be terrified about. He relaxed and let out a sigh of relief.

“Regardless, we need to find the others,” said Jaller, already starting to swim away. “Let's try this way. My mask power should be able to help us.”

“Good, because I'm not using this mask ever again,” grumbled Kongu as he, Cera, Petrie, and the Hahnah crab followed the Toa of Fire.
________

Matoro and Littlefoot were thrown roughly into a cave. Before they could even get up, a barred door was slammed shut behind them.

“You could probably break out of here, runners, if you really want to,” said Hydraxon. “Let me show you why you don't want to.” He turned around and gestured for someone out of sight to approach.

A large, crimson, mechanical being stepped out of the shadows. It carried a twin-bladed sword in its left hand, and had a weapon mounted on its right shoulder that was just like the multi-shot blaster Hydraxon had. It also held tightly to a chain with its right hand. At the other end of the chain, which served as a leash, was a vicious-looking Rahi that stood on four legs, had sharp teeth and claws, and had spiked spines along its back.

“This is Maxilos,” said Hydraxon. “Being completely mechanical, he is the perfect guard, for he cannot be bribed or deceived. His reflexes are faster than any living being. Watch.” He picked up a small rock and tossed it into the cell. The instant it passed between the bars, Maxilos reacted unbelievably fast by firing an electric bolt from its sword, blasting the rock into dust.

“The pet is Spinax,” continued Hydraxon. “Once it has your scent, it will follow you to the edge of the universe and beyond for however many centuries it takes. So I suggest you make yourselves comfortable, runners. You're going to be here for a very long time.”

Matoro and Littlefoot watched Hydraxon walk away. Only Maxilos remained, standing guard like a statue. Littlefoot sighed in defeat and slumped to the cave floor, convinced that his chances of escape were hopeless. Matoro, on the other hand, immediately began thinking of possible ways to get by the mechanical guard. Regardless of how he would do it, he knew that timing would be critical. He just needed to wait for the right opportunity.

Matoro and Maxilos stared at each other for a few tense moments. Finally, the mechanical being turned around, but remained where it stood.

This was Matoro's chance. He had to strike hard and fast. He reached out and prepared to unleash his ice power, but then he hesitated. A strange feeling came over him that he couldn't understand. He felt confusion one moment, then exhaustion the next, followed by anger, then fear, and countless other emotions. The sensation ended as abruptly as it had started, causing Matoro to collapse. He was down, but not out.

Littlefoot started paying attention to his surroundings again. Once he was sure Matoro was fine, he turned to Maxilos. The mechanical being turned around, revealing that it had changed. Its body was still the same in every way, but its eyes that were once expressionless blue lights were now an all too familiar shade of red.

“We meet again, Matoro and Littlefoot,” said Maxilos. “The last time, our positions were reversed... I was the vanquished, while you stood with the victors. But you were always wiser than Jaller, Hewkii, Cera, and the rest of those spineless, self-important fools. You two had known I wasn't gone for good.”

Matoro looked up at Maxilos and felt cold beyond any ice. “You can't be here...” he muttered in fear.

“And why not?” continued Maxilos. “This is a perfectly good, if stiff and ungainly, body. And you must admit, it is better than life as a green and black cloud stuffed inside a crystal vat.”

“Makuta...” whispered Matoro in disbelief. Although he wasn't exactly sure what “last time” Makuta was talking about, he was sure he didn't want to know about it. He then managed to speak up. “Are you here to kill us, then?”

“Are you here for the Energy Stones?” asked Littlefoot, too terrified to think what the Master of Shadows would do if he found out those stones were nowhere to be found in this universe.

“Call me Maxilos,” replied Makuta. “Everyone else here does. I prefer to keep my true identity to myself for now. As for your questions... kill you, Matoro? Steal the Energy Stones, Littlefoot? No, I'm here to free you. But first...”

Maxilos/Makuta raised his right hand toward Matoro and struck him with sonic, electric, and shattering attacks in rapid succession. None were intended to cause serious damage, but the pain was sure to last. Maxilos needed only to glance at Littlefoot to send a similar message to the little Longneck.

“Now we understand each other,” said Maxilos/Makuta. He then grabbed the cell door, ripped it off its hinges, and tossed it aside. “I'm on your side in this, Matoro and Littlefoot. You would be wise to see that I stay there.”
-------

Read and review, as always. Another example of how I try to add in original material, that Hahnah crab that follows Jaller is never given a name in the canon Bionicle storyline, but with the gang here I figured they would be willing to name him. I have an idea in mind, but I'd be interested in any suggestions you have. Who knows? I might end up like one of those ideas enough to use it.

Here are the images of everything first seen in this chapter:
Maxilos and Spinax
(the Hahnah crab appears at the bottom of the Jaller image two chapters back)

[Pangaea]

Sorry I’m late again. And I hope I don’t sound too negative in this review. I’ve been a little stressed lately and have had a hard time writing things.

After a few seconds of seemingly silence, he shut off his mask power and said, “I think I've found Kongu and Petrie.”

I would change this to “apparent”.

Meanwhile, Toa Hahli walked up to the mouth of the cave and stood perfectly still. The squid noticed her and began to reach out with its powerful tentacles. As Hahli's mask began to glow, something amazing happened that made the sea creature stop. Bands of color were traveling up and down her body, moving faster and shifting in intensity. The squid continued to watch the display, its huge eyes staring at her. After a few moments, Hahli shut off her mask power, causing the bands of color to fade away. The sea creature made no reactions at all; it had been entranced.

Ironically, some cuttlefish (the closest relatives of squid) use this exact same method to apparently mesmerize their prey and make it easier to catch. (Not sure if that’s where the Bionicle creators got the idea for the rahi Hahli mentioned afterwards.)

“Sounds good to me,” said Toa Hewkii as he swam towards them, followed by Chomper and Spike. “The problem with water it it's so... wet.”

Should be “is”.

The introduction of the Hahnah crab threw me for a bit of a loop. Though I like the idea of a team pet, the characters have spent the last few chapters being almost constantly attacked by sea creatures, including a virtual army of them that the Barraki appear to have at their command (and I’m still not clear on whether those creatures are simply obedient to the Barraki like a swarm of aquatic attack dogs, or if the Barraki are forcibly controlling them through telepathy or somesuch). So it’s a little confusing that, in the midst of a fight with the Barraki, a large crab shows up, and it is somehow immediately clear that it is not threatening to our heroes (and moreover apparently decides to help them). Personally I think there could have been a little more descriptiveness in that scene to make it more apparent how the gang so quickly recognized that the crab was just curious (and somehow not put off by the fighting going on around it), and was not simply another minion of the Barraki sent to attack them.

If anything, it seemed to be taking a liking to Jaller; much like how the Ussal crab Pewku had always liked to be with Takua.

In my mind, noticing that a creature is “taking a liking to you” is not something that one can observe and recognize the first time you see said creature, but more of a behavioral trend that you come to notice over a period of time. It would make more sense for this sentence to be used in a later chapter, after the crab has been following the group for a while.

Actually, I’m wondering if you really even need the crab, plot-wise. Granted, I don’t know whether the crab will later have a role in the story that can only be filled by a large armor-plated clawed sea creature, but at this point the crab seems to me to be just another character tagging along that will reduce the gang’s already scant opportunities to participate in the story. Couldn’t Cera have just as easily removed the squid from Kongu’s back (I know she already took out one of them, but Chomper’s not around and Petrie probably couldn’t do it on his own). Understand that I have nothing against the crab, and I must admit it’s refreshing for them to finally find a creature in the deep seaóa rahi, no lessóthat’s actually helpful to them.

If you do decide to keep the crab, I’m afraid I can’t think of any names at the moment. What was your idea?

Before anyone could react, a slimy squid slammed into Kongu's back and latched itself on with its tentacles.

Do all squids in the Bionicle universe (like the giant squid earlier in this chapter) look like tentacled lampreys? If not, then I would say “squid-like creature”.

Jaller unleashed all of what little elemental power he could from his hand, but the flame was enough to incinerate the sea creature.

This conjunction doesn’t really suit the sentence (it is meant to imply that “despite Jaller’s weak power…”, but it comes off more like “despite Jaller’s attempt to use his power…”). I think it could be improved if you split this sentence in two and changed the second part to “The resulting flame was small, but it was enough to incinerate the sea creature”.

She heard it smack into the rock and thought that was the end of that.

I would change this to “it”.

Toa Kongu shut his eyes as his triggered mask power, determined to not see what would be unleashed.

I’m guessing you meant this to be “as he triggered his mask power”.

This is perhaps a fairly minor and subjective gripe, but I felt that the scene with the giant sea monster Kongu summoned could have a lot more impact. It just felt…lackluster, somehow (though I loved Petrie’s response; it felt very appropriate). The scene in the original text was already very short, but here it was even briefer and less descriptive. I would have liked to know a little more about what the thing looked like (is the description in the book all you have to go on?); as it is I’m not even clear whether the creature’s “claws” are like a crab’s pincers or like a set of taloned hands or paws (though I’m assuming the former).

Also, I think I still may be misunderstanding something about the way Kongu’s mask power works, since I was confused as to why the sea monster struck Jaller (even if not hard enough to seriously hurt him) if Kongu was controlling it. Does he simply have a limited degree of control over the creatures he summons, or did he lose his concentration or something so that the monster was freed from any control he might have had?

I can’t remember if I’ve ever mentioned this, but my second main concern about this story (the first being that the gang is not getting enough of a role) is that your “rewritten” version of the canon Bionicle storyline is at times less detailed and interesting to read than the original text, and that shortcomings in the descriptiveness of the original narrative simply translate to your version, rather than being compensated for by you adding in your own details.

I’m sorry that this is such broad and unspecific advice (and maybe you are already trying your best to do this, in which case I apologize again), but when you come to a part of the story that the original text skims over in terms of detail, try to use your own creativity to fill in the gaps. For instance, you can give your own description of what that sea monster looked like (surely you had some kind of mental image). It certainly doesn’t matter if it doesn’t match up with the image the creators of the original had in mind.

At the other end of the chain, which served as a leash, was a vicious Rahi that stood on four legs and had sharp teeth and claws.

I would change this to “vicious-looking”. Description-wise, it also might be worth mentioning the rows of spines on his back. (Heck, his name means “spined” in Latin.)

“We meet again, Matoro and Littlefoot,” said Maxilos. “The last time, our positions were reversed... I was the vanquished, while you stood with the victors. But you were always wiser than Jaller, Hewkii, Cera, and the rest of those spineless, self-important fools. You two knew I wasn't gone for good.”

Since the characters have already encountered Makuta since the “last time” he speaks of (in the Cord when he briefly took over Matoro’s body), maybe this dialogue should be altered somewhat. (It would make things rather interesting if Makuta brought up the fact that he had talked to Littlefoot and the others very recently, but Matoro had been absent from that meeting because it was his body that Makuta was occupying at the time.)

(the Hahnah crab appears at the bottom of the Jaller image two chapters back)

Oh. Somehow I think I mistook the crab for Jaller’s foot
Jaller’s foot.

[The Chronicler]

Pangaea: That Hahnah crab will play a minor role later on, which will be hinted at in this next chapter. To describe Kongu's mask power more specifically, I guess you could say that it does little more than summon creatures and give them a target, so he really has no control over what he summons or what they do. (There's already a Kanohi mask of Mind Control anyway. ) Jaller was simply in the way, as far as that sea monster was concerned. By the way, I guess I never really gave much thought in describing that sea monster since it appears very briefly, and I think it will make only one more short appearance later on. Aside from the description in the book, there is one image from one of the comic books, but even that's not much, so I've decided to say that further details were hard to see.

Okay, here's the next chapter.

-------
Chapter 28
Stopping the Hostility

Toa Hewkii sighed in frustration. “Where did that gear-head run off to this time?”

His group had decided to split up to find Jaller, Kongu, Cera, and Petrie, and maybe even the Mask of Life if they were lucky. Hahli and Ducky had joined back up with Hewkii, Ruby, and Spike, with neither of the two groups finding anything. Now they were looking for Nuparu and Chomper, but that was proving to be difficult.

“Don't worry, I'm sure Nuparu wouldn't have gone far,” assured Hahli. “Especially since Chomper decided to go with him.”

“I have noticed that Chomper sure does like spending time with Nuparu,” commented Ruby, “and that's something I've really started to notice lately.”

“I wonder why he likes being with Nuparu so much,” added Ducky. “I do, I do.”

Spike nodded in agreement.

Hewkii swam up to yet another cave and looked inside. He turned to the others and said, “Found them.”

The others swam up to the cave and saw Nuparu and Chomper, sitting on the cave floor with their backs facing the cave entrance. There were all kinds of unusual equipment stored inside this cave, most of which were some kind of large multi-barreled weapons. Nuparu was busy tinkering with one of them while Chomper watched eagerly.

Hewkii walked into the cave and asked impatiently, “Nuparu, what are you doing?”

Chomper and Nuparu were startled by Hewkii's sudden appearance. The Toa of Earth fumbled the weapon in his hands and accidentally hit the trigger, causing a rocket-like projectile to fire from the launcher and blast a hole in the cave wall right next to Hewkii. Everyone flinched from the explosion, but thankfully, none of them were harmed.

“Um, sorry,” said Nuparu. “You shouldn't sneak up on people like that.”

“Says the Toa wearing a Mask of Stealth,” Hewkii grumbled as he stood back up. “What is all this? Planning to start a war?”

“No,” said Nuparu, looking back down at the launcher in his hands. “Just planning to still be around when it's over.”

“I actually found this cave,” Chomper spoke up. “I noticed you and most of the other Toa lost your weapons, so when I saw all of the stuff in here, I knew Nuparu would like to see it.”

Hewkii was about to say something when he heard a faint voice outside the cave. “Me hear crash-bang that way,” it said.

“Was that voice I heard Petrie's voice?” asked Ruby.

Ducky and Spike walked back to the cave entrance and looked up. Ducky pointed up and happily exclaimed, “Look! They found us! The others found us! They did, they did!”

They stepped back into the cave as Jaller, Kongu, Cera, and Petrie arrived. Though they weren't quite as enthusiastic as Ducky, they were just as pleased that they were all together again.

Hahli briefly shared a hug with Jaller before asking, “Any luck finding the Mask of Life?”

“Nothing,” replied Jaller. “No sign of the Barraki, either.”

“But there is this stupid crab thing that won't stop following us,” grumbled Cera, looking at the Hahnah crab that stayed close to Jaller's feet.

“He seems to be attracted to my flames,” added Jaller. “At least he doesn't seem harmful. Petrie told me this crab even saved Kongu's life, which in turn saved mine as well.”

“Do you have a name for him?” asked Ducky.

“You want to give it a name?” asked Cera incredulously. The others didn't even acknowledge her.

“If this crab likes fire, then I think this crab should have a name that is like fire,” said Ruby.

“How about ëTorch’?” suggested Chomper. “That's something like fire, isn't it?”

“I like it,” replied Hahli as she lightly patted the Hahnah crab. “Torch it is, then.” Jaller couldn't help but smile at the sight.

Cera rolled her eyes and thought, Great, now we're teaming up with sea creatures. How can this place get any worse?

Kongu stopped in his tracks when he noticed the big hole in the wall. “Somebody got a little smash-happy,” he commented.

“It was an accident!” Nuparu defended. “Anyway, I have no idea who these weapons belong to, but with the risk of another run-in with the Barraki, I'm not taking any chances. I think we should definitely have these launchers with us.”

“What are they?” asked Hewkii as he grabbed one of them.

“The inscription on the side says ëCordak revolving blaster’,” replied Nuparu.

“ëCordak’ is an old Matoran word meaning ëdesolation’,” added Hahli, so the young dinosaurs would understand its meaning.

“A name like that speaks for itself,” said Jaller as he grabbed one for himself and one for Hahli. “Anyone on the wrong side of a blaster like this would think twice about picking a fight.”

“Great! Let's go deep-sea fishing for Barraki,” said Kongu as he reached down and grabbed two of the blasters. He had a grin on his face as he admired the powerful Cordak blasters in his hands. He turned around and saw everyone giving him questioning looks. “What?”

“Why you take two?” asked Petrie.

Kongu smirked as he held up the blasters and simply said, “Two hands.”

Nuparu stared at the Toa of Air for a second before saying, “I don't know about you, but I'm fine with just one. Especially since there are other weapons to choose from in here.” He gestured to the stockpile of various blades, swords, shields, and other weapons stacked nearby.

Hewkii immediately grabbed a large blade. He swung it around a few times to get a good feel for it. There didn't seem to be anything special about it, but it was for that very reason that he liked it.

Jaller picked up a sword and quickly felt like it would be the perfect tool to channel his fire powers.

With Kongu refusing any other weapons and Hahli satisfied with her talon, that left only Nuparu. He was about to make a decision when he noticed Ruby handling one of the extra Cordak blasters. “Whoa! Whoa!” he shouted as he rushed over and snatched the oversized weapon out of the young Fast Runner's hands. “I'm sorry, Ruby, but that's where I draw the line.”

“But I'm not carrying it so I can use it,” defended Ruby. “I'm carrying it so Matoro can use it.”

“Let me handle that,” said Nuparu as he strapped the blaster to his back. “You saw me nearly take off Hewkii's head by accident, and I don't want something like that happening again. I'm sure you understand.”

Ruby nodded.

Nuparu turned his attention back to the racks of weapons and settled on taking a large shield with razor sharp edges.

“Speaking of Matoro, I suggest we return to the Matoran village,” said Jaller. “He and Littlefoot are probably waiting for us by now. With any luck, they should have the Matoran on our side.”

The others agreed and they left the cave. Not surprisingly, the Hahnah crab ó now named Torch ó continued to follow closely behind Jaller. It seemed to be taking a liking to Jaller; much like how the Ussal crab Pewku had always liked to be with Takua.

“If that thing's going to be following you around, why don't you make use of him by, I don't know, maybe mounting your Cordak blaster on his back?” joked Hewkii.

Jaller glanced down at Torch and replied, “I'll keep that in mind.”
________

If there was one thing the gang had learned about the Pit by now, it was to always expect the worst. Their return to Mahri Nui was proving to be no exception. Matoro and Littlefoot were nowhere to be found, and the Matoran had once again unleashed their launchers of solid air bubbles against the outsiders.

Cera barely managed to dodge one of the projectiles. “I am really starting to hate this place!” she exclaimed.

“Turn back!” shouted Defilak, who stood next to one of the launchers. “We have no need for ever-friends of the Barraki here!”

“All right, we don't have time for this,” said Jaller to the others. “Hewkii, you and I will take out the launchers, and the rest of youó”

“I know an easier way,” Hahli cut in. “Kongu, use your elemental power. Make the air inside that bubble shove him out of it.”

“What good will that do?” asked Kongu. “He has a personal air bubble around him, so he can breathe in the water. He'll just swim back into the city.”

Hahli simply smiled and said, “Oh, no, he won't. Do it.”

Kongu shrugged and then summoned his elemental powers. Defilak never saw it coming. A very  powerful gust of wind flung the Le-Matoran off his feet and, with nothing to grab onto, out of the giant air bubble. Hahli wasted no time and began to swim rapidly in circles around Defilak. The velocity was soon high enough to strip away his personal air bubble, leaving him at a great risk of drowning.

The vortex of water made it difficult for everyone to see what was happening. Just when all seemed hopeless for Defilak, he was suddenly flung out of the vortex and back into the giant air bubble of Mahri Nui. The Matoran leader stood back up and saw Toa Hahli hovering in the water right in front of the launchers, an almost suicidal place for her to be.

“You see? If I wanted you dead, you would be dead,” said Hahli. “I don't. Neither do my friends. We'd like to help, if you would just stop shooting at us long enough to let us do it.”

“Why should I faith-trust you?” asked Defilak. “Nothing in the Pit can be trusted.”

“I am not of the Pit,” replied Hahli. “I am of the sea ó it belongs to me, not to the Barraki or their servants. And through me, the sea belongs to you, too.”

There was a tense moment of silence. The Toa and young dinosaurs knew that this really was their last chance at convincing these Matoran of their good intentions.

Defilak looked to the Toa of Water and finally said, “Very well. We will lower our weapons... for now. But how will you help us?”

“The Barraki have something that belongs to us,” answered Jaller. “We are going to get it back.”

“And they're going to resist... which is just too bad for them,” added Hewkii. “Give us a hand, and maybe you'll have six less Barraki to worry about when it's all over.”

Ruby suddenly remembered a promise she and her friends had made not too long ago, and whispered something to Hahli. The Toa of Water nodded and gently said, “Once that's done... there are some other friends you might want to meet. I know they will want to meet you.”

“If you are what you say you are, we have much to talk-discuss,” said Defilak. “But first, we will need to seek-find your other companions. They quick-fled into the black water and never returned... but with luck, maybe there is still a body or two left to recover.”

“This is why I hate this place so much,” grumbled Cera. “Everyone always assumes the worst.”
________

Not far from Mahri Nui, Matoro, Littlefoot, and their unlikely ally swam towards the underwater village. They were close enough to have heard the last few comments made.

“How sweet of your friends,” said Maxilos/Makuta. “They are willing to spare a moment to recover your corpses.”

“Shut up,” muttered Matoro.

“Perhaps we should swim over there and tell them reports of your deaths are... premature,” continued the possessed robot. “But not a word about who inhabits this crimson shell ó you know what I can do to your friends, if I so choose.”

Littlefoot felt almost sick to his stomach at having to join forces with perhaps the most evil being he had ever known. “Why are you doing this to us?” he asked desperately.

“Isn't it obvious?” Makuta asked rhetorically. “It's because you're so good at keeping secrets, Matoro. And you will do anything for the sake of your friends, Littlefoot.”

“Let's just get this over with,” said Matoro with resignation in his voice. The unlikely trio resumed their swim to the sunken city.

It wasn't long until the others were aware of their arrival. It was Nuparu who spotted them first. “I think we can cancel the rescue mission,” he said, pointing towards the approaching trio. “It seems they've found us.”

The five Toa and six dinosaurs were very happy to see their missing friends were alive and seemingly unharmed. Ruby was especially overjoyed. She wanted to just swim up to Matoro and hug him, but decided against that as she realized everyone would likely be watching. However, she did remind Nuparu to give Matoro that extra Cordak blaster she had asked him to bring. Like Hahli, the Toa of Ice also had a weapon that was part of his left hand, so there had been no need to bring any additional weapons.

As soon as the group had welcomed back Matoro and Littlefoot, Kongu asked a question that was on everyone's minds. “Who's the big guy with a pet?”

Matoro and Littlefoot were very reluctant about introducing their new “friend”, but they knew there was no way of avoiding it. “Uh, this is Maxilos,” Matoro hesitantly replied. “He's a fully mechanical being that I... found down in the Pit. It seems like he wants to help, so I let him follow me and Littlefoot.”

“The Rahi here is named Spinax,” continued Littlefoot, glad that Matoro handled the hard part. “His sniffer is just as good as Chomper's ó maybe even better ó so that could help us track down anyone who might have the Mask of Life.”

“That would be the Barraki,” said Cera. “Consider yourselves lucky you haven't met them yet.”

“At least that leaves us with a place to start,” said Jaller. He turned to Defilak and asked, “Do you know where exactly they dwell?”

Defilak shook his head and said, “Those who were foolish enough to search have never returned.”

“So much for that hope,” grumbled Hewkii. “Now what? Do we just search the entire ocean until we bump into one of those psychotic former warlords?”

“It is a very big area we have to search,” said Ruby, “and such a big area could take a very long time to search, and I don't think we have a lot of time to search for the Mask of Life in such a big area.”

Maxilos whispered something to Matoro. The Toa of Ice looked at the mechanoid with uncertainty. He thought it over for a few seconds and eventually decided there was no better alternative. “Perhaps we should split up,” said Matoro. “We'll be able to cover more ground in less time.”

“Good idea,” said Jaller. “But with all the hazards of the deep ocean, I feel it would best that none of us travel alone ó not just one kid with a Toa, but groups with two Toa. I'll take Kongu, Cera, and Petrie. The second group will consist of Hewkii, Nuparu, Chomper, and Spike. The rest of you will make up the third group.”

“That's all right,” said Toa Hahli, “but I will move faster on my own. After all, I'm more at home here than any of you.”

“Me too,” said Ducky. “I will go with Hahli so she will not be all alone. Yep, yep, yep.”

“I'll stay with Matoro andó” began Ruby.

“Go with Hahli and Ducky,” Littlefoot interrupted without hesitation.

“But Littlefoot, Ió”

“Just... just go with Hahli and Ducky. Please?” Littlefoot glanced up at Maxilos before quietly adding, “Trust me, it's for the best.”

Ruby looked to the Toa of Ice, who simply nodded in agreement. Ruby sighed and swam over to join Hahli and Ducky.

As the Toa double-checked their weapons, Defilak swam up to them and said, “Perhaps living so long in this night-black water has made us see only darkness in others. If you are truly about to face great trouble-danger of behalf of Mahri Nui... we would be honored to call you Toa Mahri.”

The six Toa ó now known as Toa Mahri ó smiled at this. They had already proven themselves worthy of being Toa back on Voya Nui,  and now they were about to do it again for Mahri Nui. The seven young dinosaurs also couldn't help but smile at the assembled team of Toa they would be working alongside with, while also knowing that  they would also need to prove themselves to the Toa that they could help in even the worst crisis their universe had ever seen.

“The honor is ours, Defilak,” said Matoro. “We'll try to prove worthy of your trust.”
-------

Read and review, as always. In the canon Bionicle storyline, all six Toa got their new weapons the moment they were transformed, but Kongu later discarded his so he could have a second Cordak blaster. No descriptions of that weapon exist, and I didn't want to come up with one since it would just get thrown away, so I made some changes to have some of the Toa actually find and grab their new weapons. (I let Hahli and Matoro have theirs from the start, since their particular weapons appear to be part of their hand, and thus irremovable.) I certainly look forward to writing the next chapter. All I'll say is that one of the gang will start to make a significant impact on this story.

[Pangaea]

Well, another month-long wait between chapter and review. Sorry about that.

“I have noticed that Chomper sure does like spending time with Nuparu,” commented Ruby, “and that's something I've really started to notice lately.”

Maybe it’s just me, but I thought that this sentence felt a little unnaturally repetitive even for Ruby. She’s basically uttering the same statement twice, rather than repeating words and phrases within the same statement.

“If this crab likes fire, then I think this crab should have a name that is like fire,” said Ruby.

“How about ëTorch’?” suggested Chomper.

If I’m going overboard on the nitpickiness here, you can ignore this suggestion, but I just thought that since the LBT dinosaurs probably aren’t used to using the word “torch” (having not encountered the word or the concept prior to the events of Quest for the Energy Stones), Chomper might be inclined to follow up with a brief explanation of the word, either for the benefit of the rest of the gang in case they aren’t as familiar with the term, or to clarify with the Toa that he is using the correct word (e.g. “Isn’t that what you call those sticks with the fire on them you guys use to light your way in dark places?”).

Hewkii immediately grabbed a large blade. He swung it around a few times to get a good feel of it. There didn't seem to be anything special about it, but that's why he liked it.

“Of” should probably be “for”. Also, “that’s why” makes the sentence sound present-tense. You could simply change it to “that was why [he liked it]”, but it might sound even better “it was for that very reason that [he liked it]”.

I think the group’s return to Mahri Nui would have been more interesting if you had described it in “realtime” rather than making a jump cut with a summary of what had happened, but compared to other cases of scenes in this story that have suffered from lack of detail, I suppose this one isn’t quite as significant.

If there was one thing the gang had learned about the Pit by now, it's[COLOR] to always expect the worst.

Should be “it was”.

“Perhaps we should swim over there and tell them reports of your deaths are... premature,” continued the possessed robot. “But not a word about who inhabits * crimson shell ó you know what I can do to your friends, if I so choose.”

*Insert “this”.

“The Rahi here is named Spinax,” continued Littlefoot, glad that Matoro handled the hard part. “His sniffer is thousands of times better than Chomper's, so that could help us track down anyone who might have the Mask of Life.”

In my opinion, it doesn’t sound quite natural for Littlefoot to say “thousands of times”; more likely he would say something like “even better than Chomper’s”. Also, I can’t help but think that Chomper might take a little offense at such a statement (I imagine he has a lot of pride in his sense of smell).

[The Chronicler]

Despite the length of this next chapter, I'm sure I would have gotten it done sooner if I wasn't so busy with other interests over the past few weeks. Anyway, it's done now (just in time to celebrate the failed Mayan doomsday ), and I hope you like the bit of original material I've included.

-------
Chapter 29
Creeps from the Deep

Hahli, Ducky, and Ruby were swimming through a massive coral reef. They moved slowly not only so they wouldn't miss the Mask of Life ó if it was to be found here ó but also because the reef was one of the most beautiful places they had ever seen. There was such a wide variety of fish, corals, and other sea creatures that simply identifying them all would have been a lifetime's work. There was no time for that right now, but the three of them welcomed the relaxing scenery, anyway. Ruby especially appreciated it, since it helped to take her troubled mind off things.

“This place is amazing!” said Ducky, swimming around with a big smile on her face. “It is, it is!”

“Yeah,” agreed Hahli. “I wish Matoro or Jaller could see this. They are both always so serious, especially Jaller. I wonder where it's written that Toa of Fire are not allowed to smile?”

Before either dinosaur could respond, a large pincer suddenly burst from the ocean floor, grabbed Hahli by the waist, and slammed her down. In panic, Ruby and Ducky fled in opposite directions; Ruby to the left and Ducky to the right. Ducky hid behind a small rock and watched as Hahli swung her claw behind herself at her attacker. It soon struck something, causing the attacker to grunt in pain and loosen his grip just enough to allow Hahli to yank herself free.

Hahli spun around to face the black Barraki, Mantax, who was currently half-buried in the sand. Gripping his shoulder painfully, Mantax pulled himself the rest of the way out and charged at the Toa of Water, positioning himself so that the red spikes on his head would strike. Hahli jumped aside and fired her Cordak blaster at the seafloor, kicking up a thick cloud of sand.

Once the sediment dispersed, the Toa of Water was nowhere to be found. Fearing for her own safety, Ducky immediately ducked behind the rock. With Hahli missing, the little Swimmer knew that if the Barraki noticed her presence, she would be a goner.

As minutes passed by, Ducky remained crouched behind the small rock, fearing for her life. Realizing there had been nothing but absolute silence since Hahli vanished, Ducky gulped nervously as she dared to slowly peek around the rock. At first, she saw nothing. Then she noticed that Mantax had buried himself in the seafloor again, only the very top his head was barely visible. There was no doubt that he was waiting to ambush the Toa of Water again.

Ducky noticed movement to her left. She could see something approaching, but it was hard to tell what it was. The little Swimmer remembered how a mysterious dinosaur known as Hidden Runner had been apparently able to disappear because it could blend in with its surroundings. Perhaps Hahli, thanks to her Kanohi mask power, was using the same technique to sneak up on Mantax.

Just as Ducky had suspected, Hahli was revealed as she shut off her mask power and fired her Cordak blaster at Mantax. The Toa of Water had just begun to charge forward when she suddenly faltered.

Rising up from the seafloor behind Hahli was Mantax, head spikes jabbing into her leg. Unbeknownst to each other, Hahli and Ducky simultaneously turned to where they had thought the Barraki had been hiding, only to see nothing but a disrupted pile of bones. They had fallen for a decoy.

Satisfied, Mantax yanked himself loose and swam off. Hahli collapsed to the ocean floor, her body already weakening from the venom that had just been injected into her.

Ducky remained motionless in shock, unable to say or do anything. The poor Swimmer was blaming herself for Hahli's defeat. If only she had carefully watched Mantax rather than simply cowering behind a rock, perhaps she could have warned the Toa of Water about the deception. She could have done something to help Hahli, and she failed.

For the first time since she had dived into these waters, Ducky felt powerless, alone, and scared.
________

Jaller, Kongu, Cera, and Petrie had returned to the caves close to where they had recently escaped imprisonment. It had seemed like to good place to start looking for the Mask of Life, but there were simply far too many caves to count.

Toa Kongu had been surprisingly quiet for the last few minutes, which somehow was starting to get on Jaller's nerves. “All right, say it,” the Toa of Fire finally said.

“Say what?” asked Kongu, confused.

“You know what,” answered Jaller. “Some treespeak complaint about being cold and wet, bumping your head on cave ceilings, and already being tired of smelling like fish... Just say it and let's get it over with, so we can keep searching.”

“No, I don't deep-think I will.”

“Why not?”

“I don't have to,” said Kongu. “You already speak-said it. By the way, is this cave number four hundred or five hundred? I lost count.”

Cera smacked herself in the face with her right front foot, silently wishing that Jaller had not made the Toa of Air speak up.

Jaller sighed and asked, “Do you ever stop joking? You didn't act like this when you commanded the Gukko bird force in Le-Koro, did you?”

Kongu shrugged and said, “I wasn't one of six Toa deciding the fate of the universe then, either. Sure, I was grim and serious a lot of the time running the force ó but Toa Lewa taught me that sometimes a little humor helps everyone relax and keep things in perspective. Besides, Jaller,” he added with a smile, “between you and Hewkii, ëgrim and serious’ is already covered on this team.”

“Don't forget Cera and Littlefoot,” added Petrie. “They just as dark-serious, too.”

Cera took it as an insult, but didn't act on it. The little Flyer had actually brought up a good point, regarding Littlefoot. Why did he insist that Ruby not go with him and Matoro? Was he trying to hide something from his friends? If so, what was it, and why hide it? I'll need to ask him some questions, once we get back together, thought Cera. And I won't take silence as an answer!

Meanwhile, Jaller was struggling to make sense of his own team. Kongu's comments reminded him that the Toa of Air was just as capable of taking charge of the team as he was, though it wouldn't seem as obvious at first. The Toa of Fire had also trusted Hewkii to take charge if anything were to happened to him. But Hahli and Matoro were a different story. They had had almost no combat experience when they were Matoran, and yet they were the ones who refused to partner up, despite Jaller's warnings. Before this crisis is over, he thought, this team is going to have to come together behind one leader ó whether it's me or someone else.

The group of four swam into the next cave. Torch seemed hesitant about entering this particular cave, but the others paid little attention to his reaction. Expectations of finding anything ó let alone, the Mask of Life ó were very low at this point, but they knew they couldn't be too sure until they actually looked.

“Hey,” said Kongu. “What are those?”

Cera, Petrie, and Jaller turned to where the Toa of Air was pointing. To their right, the floor of the cave was covered in dozens of small white spheres. Cera and Petrie had a hunch on what these things were, but it was when Jaller decided to touch one of them that their suspicions were confirmed.

“There's something alive in there!” said Jaller, eyes wide from the unexpected find. “I can feel it moving!”

“They must be eggs!” said Cera in shock. Most nests she and her friends had seen before never had more than ten eggs, so it was the sheer number of them in this cave that surprised her and Petrie.

Kongu pointed back at the cave entrance and said, “There are more back there, and the shells are cracking. Do you think this is some kind of home-nest for really short Bohrok?”

“Or that thing that attacked you before...” replied Jaller, holding his sword and Cordak blaster at the ready. “Be prepared for anything.”

“Oh, I could prepare a lot better from outside... way outside, even,” muttered Kongu, tightening his grip on his Cordak blasters.

“Then what are we waiting for?” exclaimed Cera. “Let's get out of here before we get trapped!” Although the young Threehorn was typically more aggressive than any of her friends, even she knew when the smart choice was to run. With Petrie clinging to her back, she turned around and wasted no time getting out of the cave.

Cera looked back to see tentacles of various colors poking out from the cracks in the eggs, confirming Jaller's fears. Due to this distraction, Cera failed to notice two pairs of legs standing in her way until she collided with one of the red ones. Rubbing her head, she and Petrie looked up and froze at finding themselves face-to-face with Kalmah and Carapar.

“I'll deal with you later,” muttered Kalmah. The red Barraki snatched Cera in his tentacle and flung her up and away from the cave with incredible strength.

While Cera helplessly tumbled far away through the water, Petrie had been thrown off in her wake. The world around him kept spinning until he hit something solid. After taking a moment to shake his head to clear the dizziness, he was partially relieved to find himself sitting atop the rocky entrance to the cave. He was glad that he himself was out of harm's way, but worried about what the two Barraki would do to Jaller and Kongu.

Sucking up what little courage he had, Petrie leaned down to peer inside the cave. He had expected to see the Barraki pounding the Toa, but what he saw was even worse. The Barraki didn't need to do anything to win this fight. Jaller and Kongu were covered in dozens of those squids that Kalmah had hurled at them earlier, and their life-draining effects were already taking their toll on the two powerful Toa.

“Feed, my little ones,” said Kalmah with satisfaction. “But leave something for your master as well.”

Much as Petrie wanted to look away, he just couldn't. With Jaller and Kongu dying in front of him, and Cera almost certainly lost in the open ocean by now, only one meek thought went through his head.

Not good...
________

Hewkii, Nuparu, Chomper, and Spike had decided to start their search at the bottom of a trench. So far, they had found no sign of the Mask of Life. At least they had not yet come across any Barraki or other hostile creatures, which gave them time to think.

Spike sighed sadly.

“What's wrong, Spike?” asked Chomper from the Spiketail's back. “Do you miss the Great Valley?”

Spike nodded.

“It's okay,” assured Chomper. “I miss it, too. I bet you miss your family, too.”

Spike nodded again.

Chomper chose not to say anything else. True, he also missed his parents, but he had left them long before he and his friends had arrived in the Matoran universe. He was used to it by now, but certainly wouldn't mind having an opportunity to see them again.

Inspired by what he heard from Chomper and Spike, Nuparu turned to Hewkii and asked, “Can I ask you something?”

“What?” responded Hewkii.

“Do you ever miss home? I mean, Metru Nui?”

Hewkii shrugged and said, “Sure, I do. Don't you?”

“All the time,” said Nuparu. “I guess it's just... you were always so popular, and you had a lot of friends. You have a lot to miss, but you don't talk about home very much.”

Hewkii stopped and turned to Nuparu. “Listen, just because I don't sit around complaining about how much I miss my home and friends, that doesn't mean I don't think about them. But we have a job to do, Nuparu, and I figure the sooner we get it done, the sooner I can see home again. Feeling sad about what I miss is a luxury I don't have time for right now.”

“I understand,” said Nuparu. He turned his attention back to the trench ahead of the group and quickly noticed something unusual. “Hey, what's that?”

There was a strange object sitting in the middle of the trench. The best way to describe it was that it looked similar to the lower half of a huge tree, flipped upside down so that its roots stuck out in all directions. Chomper got down from Spike's back as the group slowly approached the unusual object. As they got closer, the “roots” appeared to be slightly moving.

Once again, Nuparu's natural ability to see in the dark allowed him to discover what was really in front of them. “Eels!” he shouted.

Just a second later, Hewkii also saw the eels. It was at that moment that the eels noticed intruders and quickly left their nest for the attack. “Oh, no, you're not,” muttered Hewkii as he triggered his mask power, increasing the pull of gravity on the oncoming eels and making them slam into the ocean floor.

“Good thing we have Toa here to protect us,” commented Chomper to Spike. Spike was always the silent type, so it wasn't surprising that he said nothing. However, if Chomper hadn't been so focused on the battle in front of him and looked back, he would have noticed the young Spiketail's mysterious absence.

Meanwhile, Toa Nuparu used his elemental powers to rip open the ocean floor, creating a deep gap wide enough for the eels' nest to fall into. Hewkii didn't waste any time with his own elemental powers as he ripped loose a large stone slab and sealed up the hole in the seafloor, trapping the nest for good. The few eels that had managed to escape swam away in panic.

Nuparu chuckled in satisfaction. “Hahli would be proud,” said the Toa of Earth. “Earth and stone, victors under the sea! Right, Hewkii?”

There was no response. Nuparu turned to Hewkii, only to see the Toa of Stone had vanished. A quick glance back confirmed that Chomper and Spike were also missing.

“Hewkii? Chomper? Where are you?” said Nuparu. Hewkii was a strong Toa, meaning that whatever happened had caught him completely off guard. Not wanting to suffer a similar fate, Nuparu quickly activated his Kanohi Mask of Stealth. Confident that he would now avoid detection, the Toa of Earth began to retrace his steps to find his missing friends.

Unfortunately, even Nuparu's best efforts weren't enough. A long claw quickly snatched the Toa of Earth and, the instant it made contact, sent a powerful electric shock through his body. The jolt was enough to immediately render the powerful Toa unconscious.

Satisfied with his latest victim, Ehlek dragged the Toa to the edge of a small canyon and tossed him over the ledge. Nuparu landed beside Hewkii, Chomper, and Spike. They weren't dead... yet. But considering where the green Barraki had dumped them, that would soon change.
________

Littlefoot couldn't believe the rotten luck he and Matoro seemed to be having lately. First, they found out they could no longer breathe air, then they got chased off by an entire village of over-reactive Matoran, locked up by a crazy jailer, and then forced to partner up with the greatest force of evil known to exist. Now, they found themselves confronted by a huge army of Takea sharks and other odd sea creatures. With odds of one to one hundred, it was clear that they were in a very bad position.

Toa Matoro knew that he would have to improvise, but he also had to be careful to not let his opponents know that he was doing so. The Toa of Ice turned to Maxilos/Makuta and said, “All right, here's what we do...” The robot made no response. In fact, the distinctive red eyes that indicated Makuta's presence had now returned to the original blue lights. The Master of Shadows had apparently decided to leave Matoro and Littlefoot on their own. Great, thought Matoro, being careful to not let his emotions show. When he's not wanted ó which is virtually all the time ó you can't get rid of him. When you do want him, he's back to being a puff of smoke someplace else.

Two Barraki, Pridak and Takadox, swam up to the front of their assembled army. Takadox was clearly full of confidence. “Tell us, Toa ó where is the Mask of Life?” he asked.

Pridak snapped his attention to the blue Barraki and quickly said something to him. Although he spoke quietly enough to not be heard, he was clearly enraged.

Littlefoot turned to Matoro and quietly asked, “Why is he angry?”

“I'm guessing they've lost the mask ó probably think we took it,” Matoro quietly replied. “But just in case we didn't, Pridak didn't want us to know. Too late, now.”

Littlefoot smiled slightly ó not so much that the Barraki would notice. If what Matoro assumed was true, then perhaps their luck was finally changing for the better.

Toa Matoro turned his attention to the two Barraki and said, “Sorry, I never discuss such important matters in the middle of an aquarium. Tell the sharks to take a walk ó or a swim ó and we can have a talk.”

Pridak smiled as the sharks slowly moved in closer. “Do you know where you are, Toa?” said the Barraki leader. “This is a Takea shark hunting ground. The sea floor underneath you is littered with the bodies of creatures that weren't fast enough to get away. Do you think you're fast enough?”

“I don't have to be,” answered Matoro. “Not as long as I'm strong enough to fight back.” He called upon his elemental powers, freezing the water surrounding Pridak and Takadox into a solid block of ice that began drifting up to the surface.

Once the frozen Barraki were out of sight, Littlefoot said, “That was easy. Nice work, Matoro!”

The victory was short-lived when they heard an explosion near the surface, followed by chunks of ice flying through the water. Pridak and Takadox quickly descended back to where they had been as they scraped off ice fragments that remained stuck to their limbs.

“Is that the best you can do, Toa?” said Pridak, mildly irritated.

Matoro turned to Littlefoot with a grim look on his face that said, “I won't like this, and neither will you.”

The young Longneck understood what Matoro had to do. It wouldn't be pretty, but they were running out of options.

“I don't know,” answered Matoro. “Are you worthy of my best?”

Matoro's Kanohi mask began to glow and Littlefoot knew what was coming. Still, he refused to look down. One by one, long dead sea creatures rose up from the ocean floor and swam up into formation behind the Toa of Ice. There were dozens ó hundreds of them! Some looked perfectly fine, while others had clearly suffered serious damage. Together, they formed one of the most formidable armies to have ever roamed the seas.

Not wanting to stick out as the weak spot, Littlefoot swam behind Matoro and clung onto his back.

Pridak stared long and hard, sizing up his foe and looking for any weak spots. Now that the little Longneck had decided to take cover, there were none to be found. “We appear to be evenly matched,” he finally said.

“Not so,” replied Matoro, spreading out his arms to his army of reanimated sea creatures. “My side has nothing left to lose.”
________

Ruby was lost ó in more ways than one.

First of all, she had gotten herself lost in the maze of coral after fleeing from Mantax's ambush. Neither the Barraki, nor Toa Hahli made any noises, so she couldn't hope to be steered in the right direction. She could swim up and over the coral reef, but that would leave her exposed out in the open ocean, and she wasn't willing to take such a risk without a Toa by her side.

In addition, the young Fast Runner was also emotionally lost. She still couldn't believe that Littlefoot had absolutely insisted that she not join him and Matoro. Couldn't he see that Hahli and Ducky would have been fine on their own? Did he not realize that she would have felt much better with his group instead? And most importantly, why did Matoro seem to completely agree with Littlefoot? None of this made any sense to her.

After wandering around in the maze of coral for countless minutes, Ruby finally reached a large clearing. She then quickly ducked behind some nearby coral when she noticed something standing in the clearing, its back turned to her. It was definitely one of the most hideous creatures she had yet encountered under the sea. He was a  big brute who stood on two legs and had four arms. He had spikes along his head and limbs, and parts of his armor glowed in the dark. He held a pair of sharp blades in his lower arms. He held one of the Barraki's strange launchers in his upper right arm, and his upper left arm extended into a tentacle. But it was what the monstrous being held in that tentacle that really caught Ruby's attention.

It was the Mask of Life!

The golden glow was much fainter than when she had last seen it, but there was no doubt that she had found the Mask of Life. She would have celebrated if it wasn't for that fact that it was now in the possession of someone who looked like he could easily rip her to pieces.

But it was when the four-armed monster snatched a passing fish that she realized what her biggest problem really was. The fish was dead the moment it had been touched, and the four-armed monster sighed in disgust. He had no idea how to explain his strange new ability, but Ruby did. Remembering Vezon's words, she knew that the Mask of Life cursed anyone who touched it. In this case, it gave this beast the ability to kill anything with just a simple touch.

Clearly, Ruby was going to have a very tough time trying to retrieve the Mask of Life from this guy.

“ëStay here,’ he said,” muttered the four-armed monster. “ëKeep the mask safe.’ Safe from what? I'm bored.” He then tossed the mask behind his back as if it was worthless.

Ruby couldn't believe her luck as she watched the Mask of Life settle on the sandy seafloor. The most powerful mask in the entire Matoran universe, and this beast had just simply thrown it away like it was junk. Now it was just sitting there, waiting for her to take it. She knew that the four-armed monster would almost certainly look back at the mask in a matter of seconds ó Pridak's earlier reactions proved how irresistible such a powerful mask was. If she was going to take the Mask of Life, it was now or never!

Jumping out from her hiding spot, Ruby dashed for the Mask of Life. Her movements were slower through water than she was used to on land, but she pushed on regardless of this. She was rapidly getting closer. She reached her hand down. Just a few more steps...

In one swift move, Ruby grasped the mask, brought it close to her body, and continued running at her relatively swift pace. She got it! She had the Mask of Life! The one object that she, her friends, and the Toa Mahri had come for was now in her own hands! All she had to do now wasó

“Hey!”

Ruby felt a tentacle quickly wrap around her neck and lift her off the ocean floor. A split second later, she found herself staring at the hideous face of the four-armed monster.

“Mask not yours!” he shouted.

Ruby felt the tentacle tighten around her neck, strangling her. She choked and gagged as her neck was being crushed by the powerful tentacle. Despite the pain, she continued to grasp the Mask of Life as if it was the only thing that mattered. She knew she had to keep the mask away from this beast, but she also knew that unless a miracle were to happen, she would be dead in a matter of seconds.
-------

Read and review, as always. Just so you know, that big guy having the Mask of Life is part of the Bionicle cannon. Pridak had given it to him to keep it safe, but then he got bored and walked away from where he usually stays. It was when they noticed he had gone missing that the Barraki panicked and started going after the Toa again. Obviously, the part with Ruby is my original material, but it'll eventually get to a point where it will merge back with the cannon storyline again. By the way, Pangaea, thanks for reminding me a few chapters back that ice actually floats, so I was able to keep that in mind for this chapter.

Here are the images of everything first seen in this chapter:
Nocturn (the four-armed monster)

[Pangaea]

The opening scene of this chapter (at least up until Mantax’s attack) was one that I wish had been in LBT IX. I can easily imagine Ducky being exhilarated about visiting a coral reef.

I enjoyed seeing one of the Barraki behaving like an actual sea creature (a stingray, in this case). It bothers me a little that Hahli dropped her disguise before she fired her blaster, though; it seems rather foolish of her to reveal herself like that. It would make more sense to me if she had still been hidden when she fired the blaster, making it clear that Mantax only found her by seeing where her shot was fired from, and Hahli’s camouflage only dissipated after Mantax stabbed her.

Toa Kongu had been surprisingly quiet for the last few minutes, which somehow was starting to get on Jaller's nerves. “All right, say it,” the Toa of Fire finally said.

“Say what?”asked Kongu, confused.

“You know what,” answered Jaller. “Some treespeak complaint about being cold and wet, bumping your head on cave ceilings, and already being tired of smelling like fish... Just say it and let's get it over with, so we can keep searching.”

“No, I don't deep-think I will.”

“Why not?”

“I don't have to,” said Kongu. “You already speak-said it. By the way, is this cave number four hundred of five hundred? I lost count.”

Cera smacked herself in the face with her right front foot, silently wishing that Jaller had not made the Toa of Air speak up.

This whole conversation was amusing, but for some reason, Cera’s facepalm (facepaw? facefoot?) at the end was what really sold it for me.

By the way, is this cave number four hundred of five hundred?

This should be “or”, shouldn’t it?

They had * almost no combat experience when they were Matoran, and yet they were the ones who refused to partner up, despite Jaller's warnings.

* An extra “had” should be inserted here.

He was glad that he himself was out of harm*s way, but worried about what the two Barraki would do to Jaller and Kongu.

* Insert an apostrophe.

Spike sighed sadly.

“What's wrong, Spike?” asked Chomper from the Spiketail's back. “Do you miss the Great Valley?”

Spike nodded.

“It's okay,” assured Chomper. “I miss it, too. I bet you miss your family, too.”

Spike nodded again.

Chomper chose not to say anything else. True, he also missed his parents, but he had left them long before he and his friends had arrived in the Matoran universe. He was used to it by now, but certainly wouldn't mind having an opportunity to see them again.

Nuparu turned to Hewkii and asked, “Can I ask you something?”

“What?” responded Hewkii.

“Do you ever miss home? I mean, Metru Nui?”

Hewkii shrugged and said, “Sure, I do. Don't you?”

“All the time,” said Nuparu. “I guess it's just... you were always so popular, and you had a lot of friends. You have a lot to miss, but you don't talk about home very much.”

Hewkii stopped and turned to Nuparu. “Listen, just because I don't sit around complaining about how much I miss my home and friends, that doesn't mean I don't think about them. But we have a job to do, Nuparu, and I figure the sooner we get it done, the sooner I can see home again. Feeling sad about what I miss is a luxury I don't have time for right now.”

Personally I think that a better way to write this scene would be to have a single conversation between Chomper, Spike, Nuparu, and Hewkii, rather than two separate conversations on similar subjects between the respective pairs.

It was at that moment that the eels noticed intruders * quickly left their nest for the attack.

* Insert “and”.

It seemed that this entire chapter was a series of each group of characters ending up in a situation of apparent imminent doom, so it was refreshing to see one group (Matoro and Littlefoot) finally gaining the upper hand for a change. Things have been so consistently bad for the protagonists lately that I’m worried that in the next chapter the Barraki will come up with yet another trump card that utterly defeats Matoro’s zombie sea creature army, and the odds will be stacked against the gang yet again. I hope not, though.

The golden glow was much fainter than when she last saw it, but there was no doubt that she had found the Mask of Life.

Should be “had last seen”.

I really enjoyed the last scene of the chapter, partly because it was all original material, and also because it was great to see one of the gang doing something proactive for the titular quest.

There are two things readers might be confused about, however. One is why, if the Mask of Life cursed Nocturn to kill anything he touched, why Ruby did not die the instant he grabbed her. My guess (which may not be correct) is that Ruby is rendered immune to his curse as a result of holding the mask. If that is the case, then it would give Ruby another very good reason not to let go the mask; something that you could potentially mention in the text. (It would also mean that, ironically, if Ruby were to give in and drop the mask, she would die instantly from being in contact with Nocturn; her only chance of survival would be for Nocturn to release her first. Maybe she could trick Nocturn into letting her go and giving her a chance to get away by informing him of this fact and telling him that she’ll give Nocturn the mask if he lets go of her?)

The other issue is, isn’t Ruby concerned about being cursed herself when she touches the mask? Does the curse only affect creatures from the Matoran universe?

[The Chronicler]

Pangaea: Your questions about what happened to Ruby will be answered in this next chapter. Once thing I can say right here is that the mask's curse is not permanent (except for the first guy to have been cursed by that mask, but that's a different story). When Nocturn threw away the Mask of Life, the curse it had on him wore off after a few seconds, because he was no longer touching it. So, in a way, you could say that Ruby wanted to keep the mask away from Nocturn because if he touched it, that curse would come back to him. But that's not the only reason Ruby isn't dead.

Here's the next chapter.

-------
Chapter 30
Underwater Skirmishes

Nocturn ó the four-armed monster who was now strangling Ruby ó finally had something to be excited about. Ever since Pridak had “politely asked” him to hold the shiny mask, he had been completely bored with such pointless guard duty. True, his sudden new-found ability to kill with just a touch had been amusing for a short time, but he soon realized that it took all the fun out of hunting. He was no longer interested in the mask, and had decided to give it back to the Barraki. The only problem was that he had no idea where they were.

But now, he was definitely not bored. An odd-looking pink creature had been foolish enough to try to take the mask, and he was more than happy to follow through with Pridak's orders: “consider them a free meal.” It felt great to finally have something in his grasp, struggling for its life.

However, as seconds turned to minutes, his excitement faded away again. This time, it wasn't replaced with boredom, but with frustration. Nocturn tightened his grip on the pink creature's neck, but she continued to struggle and gasp, her iron grip on the mask never failing.

Nocturn growled in frustration as he tightened his grip even further. Nothing seemed to change. He put all of the strength he could possibly muster into his tentacle. He was certain he was now squeezing with enough force to decapitate the creature, but she still continued to struggle.

Nocturn roared in frustration and shouted, “WHY WON'T YOU DIE!?”

A massive rock suddenly landed hard on Nocturn's head, causing him to roar in pain and drop the pink creature in his grasp

Ruby struggled to breathe. Although she was miraculously still alive, she was also very weakened from the incredible constrictive force of that tentacle. But as Nocturn continued to stumble around aimlessly from the impact, she knew she had to at least try to get away. At first, she was only able to drag herself across the sea floor, but then she started feeling her strength gradually return to her. Soon, she was crawling, then staggering, then walking, and then finally running, as if there was nothing wrong with her at all.

Ruby quickly made her way back into the maze of coral. She hoped that it would be easy to lose the beast that would inevitably follow her, especially since many of the passages would be too tight for him to squeeze through.

Ruby ran around another corner and was surprised to see a familiar young Threehorn. “Cera?” she asked as she came to a stop.

“Don't ask me how I got here,” responded Cera. “What matters is that I saw you were in trouble and was able to save your life.”

Rube realized that Cera must have pushed that large rock off a cliff and onto Nocturn's head. “Oh, thank you, Cera,” said Ruby. “But... you should have been too late to save me. That... thing... he was choking me for a long time by the time you saved me. I should have been dead by the time you saved me, but I'm not dead. Why am I still alive when I should be dead? For that matter, why do I not even feel hurt at all?”

As Ruby was busy speaking her thoughts, Cera finally noticed that Ruby was carrying a certain shiny object. “Uh, Ruby? Is that... the Mask of Life?” she asked, hardly believing that it could be true.

Cera's question snapped Ruby out of her thoughts. “Oh! Yes, it is the Mask of Life. I saw that big guy had the mask, but then he threw it away, so I decided to take it, but I guess he still wanted this mask.” Ruby's eyes widened as a sudden realization occurred to her. “Of course! It all makes sense now! I'm holding the Mask of Life!”

“Yes, I can see that,” said Cera, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Don't you remember what Vezon said about the Mask of Life?” continued Ruby. “The Mask of Life curses anyone who touches it. And since I'm the one holding the Mask of Life right now, the mask is cursing me. It seems to have cursed me by preventing me from dying or even getting hurt. That is why you were not too late to save me, because as long as I held onto the mask, my life was never in any danger.”

Cera was very skeptical of what Ruby just said. “I find that hard to believe,” said Cera. “But at least we have it now. Let's find the others so we can finish saving this universe.”

A large hand rushed forward and barely missed grabbing onto Ruby. Ruby and Cera jumped back to see Nocturn, wedged between the narrow walls of coral, trying to reach for the Mask of Life.

“Mask not yours!” he shouted. He then stepped back and began shattering the coral with the blades of his lower arms.

Cera knew that they had to keep the mask away from this monster, no matter what. “Get out of here!” she told Ruby. “I'll hold him back.”

Ruby immediately turned and headed further into the coral reef. There was no time for second thoughts. Cera was willing to buy Ruby some time, and she absolutely had to take advantage of it.

Within seconds, Nocturn had demolished enough of the coral to allow him to pass though. Cera stood defiantly in his path and said, “If you want her, you'll have to go through me first!”

Nocturn had no time for such nonsense, so he casually picked up Cera with his tentacle and flung her away. He would hunt her down later, but right now, he had to get that mask back.

Ruby quickly ran out of the coral reef. Not much further from where it ended, she found herself at the edge of a very deep trench with sheer vertical walls. The dark water below prevented her from seeing just how deep it really was. With nowhere else to go, she turned around, only to see a very angry Nocturn marching right up to her.

“Mask not yours!” he shouted. “Give me mask, now!” If this pink creature valued its life, then it would certainly give up the mask right away.

Ruby looked up at Nocturn, back to the trench, then down at the glowing mask in her hands. Her panicked expression quickly changed to one of determination. There was a reason the Mask of Life was in her hands, and she was going to take advantage of it. “If you really want this mask, then you will have to come and get this mask!” exclaimed Ruby, before turning around and jumping off the cliff and into the deep trench.

“What? Hey!” Nocturn reached for the mask with his tentacle, but he had acted just a second too late. The pink creature was now beyond his reach as she plunged deeper into the trench. He looked over the edge. If not for the glowing mask, he would have already lost sight of the odd creature by now. As the light grew fainter, one thing was clear to Nocturn: “Pridak's not going to like this,” he muttered to himself.

Not willing to face the wrath of Pridak, Nocturn had no choice but to go after the mask. Simply jumping was nearly suicidal, so he decided to climb down the rock wall of the trench. He stabbed the blades of his lower arms into the rock, alternating between one and the other as he quickly descended after the Mask of Life.
________

Once Ducky was sure that Mantax wasn't coming back, Ducky swam over to Hahli's motionless body. The little Swimmer was on the verge of tears, convinced that the Toa of Water was dead. “I am so sorry, Hahli,” Ducky quietly said. “I wish I could have done something to help you. Yep, yep... yep.” She sadly embraced Hahli's mask, and stayed like that for a few seconds.

“You have nothing to worry about.”

Ducky was startled and jumped back as Hahli lifted her head to look at her. “Hahli? You are alive!?” asked Ducky.

“Thanks to my mask power, once again,” replied the Toa of Water. “There are a few Rahi that are immune to such venom, so it was simply a matter of calling upon that ability.”

“But you looked like you were...”

“I decided to play dead, because I figured Mantax wouldn't bother staying if he thought he had won.”

“If that is why you did that, then it worked very well. It did, it did. I do not see Mantax anywhere. No, no, no.”

“Excellent,” said Hahli as she stood back up. “Now let's go find him again.”

That caught Ducky by surprise. “Why?” she asked. “I thought we should stay away from the Barraki.”

“We don't have the Mask of Life, but neither does he,” replied Hahli as she began to swim away. “Perhaps with a few words of encouragement, I could convince him to work with us.”

“Oh, no, no, no,” said Ducky, shaking her head as she swam up onto Hahli's back. If they were going to encounter Mantax again, she didn't want to be out in the open. “The Piraka were bad enough. I do not like working with bad guys like this. No, no, no.”

“Just trust me, Ducky. I know what I'm doing.”

Ducky found Hahli's new attitude to be rather unsettling. Perhaps it was a side-effect of having the knowledge to deal with the Barraki, or perhaps it was because she was now a Toa and had to take more responsibility, or maybe it could have been for both reasons. Either way, Ducky knew she was in safe hands with Toa Hahli. That just left only one question. “What about Ruby?” asked Ducky.

“Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find her,” answered Hahli. “She's likely hiding somewhere in the reef.” By now, the Toa of Water and her little companion had left the coral reef and now swam across some rocky terrain.

It wasn't long until they found the black Barraki. Although he had not yet spotted them, Hahli didn't waste any time. Calling upon her elemental powers, Hahli sent forth a rush of water that pulled Mantax off his feet and slammed him against a rock wall. She unleashed another sudden current in the other direction, sending Mantax against another wall of rock. Not once, did the Toa of Water stop her advance. She was now close enough to the dazed Barraki to speak with him.

“Riptide,” said Hahli. “You really should watch out for those.”

“Impossible,” said Mantax. “Riptides only happen near the shore. We are nowhere near land.”

“Nothing is impossible,” said Hahli. “I learned the ways of water from Turaga Nokama and Toa Gali. The ocean shelters me, heals me... and obeys me.”

Hahli unleashed a third current, but Mantax was ready this time. He anchored himself to the rock with his pincer, preventing him from going anywhere. “Then speak, Toa,” said Mantax. “A Barraki knows when to fight and when to listen.”

“Why did you attack me?”

“How did you survive?”

“There are beasts of the sea immune to any venom, and I am as well, if I choose,” answered Hahli.

“I want the Mask of Life,” said Mantax. “I thought you had it.”

“And I thought you did,” said Hahli. “While we're fighting, whoever does have it will be escaping with it.”

“Your friends?”

“No,” said Hahli, shaking her head. “Yours.”

Mantax pondered those words. Toa ó well, most of them ó rarely betrayed each other, and could hardly be considered ruthless. That also meant that Toa typically never lied. His expression turned serious as he realized what the Toa of Water was implying.

“I have no friends,” Mantax said coldly. “Only enemies I haven't killed yet.”

Ducky could only shake her head as she continued to cling onto the Toa's back. As much as she loved the water, she was finding the Pit to be one of the worst places she had ever visited. At this point, she was even willing to give up her ability to breathe underwater if it meant taking her away to a much friendlier place.
_______

Chomper woke up, confused by his surroundings. The last thing he remembered was watching Hewkii and Nuparu fight off a nest full of eels. Now he found himself at the bottom of a rather deep trench. He noticed Spike and Nuparu were still down, nearby. The young Sharptooth turned around and saw Hewkii looking away from the unconscious group. “Hewkii?” asked Chomper. “What's going on?”

Toa Hewkii turned back to see Chomper was now awake. “My guess is we got ambushed and tossed into this trench,” answered Hewkii. “And before you say anything else, you might want to take a look at the sides of this trench.”

Chomper looked up and saw holes all over both sides, but it was what was in those holes that worried him. Jutting partially out of each hole was an eyeless eel, its mouth full of very sharp teeth. These eels would occasionally rush out to snatch any fish that were unfortunate enough to pass by. There was no way of knowing just how long these eels were, but seeing as some of them reached more than halfway across the trench, it was safe to assume they were quite long indeed.

Chomper gulped at what he saw. “Something doesn't want us to leave,” he said grimly.

“Then that's too bad for them,” said Hewkii, “because I sure don't intend on staying here. All we need is a plan...”

His first idea was to use his mask power. Rather than risk his ó or Chomper's ó life, he decided to test it out on a nearby rock. Calling upon his Kanohi Mask power, Hewkii cut off all of the gravity on that rock, causing it to rise quickly. Unfortunately, the eel's reflexes were even quicker, as it soon snatched the rock in its mouth and thrashed around a bit before spitting it back out.

Hewkii took a step back and said, “Good thing I decided to do a test run, first.”

“Why not use your mask on them, instead?” suggested Chomper.

“If you can tell me how many of them there are, I'll be happy to give it a try,” remarked Hewkii.

Chomper nodded, understanding Hewkii's point. “What about your stone powers?” he suggested next.

Hewkii figured it was worth a try. Calling upon his elemental powers, Toa Hewkii raised a large rock up to one of the holes, shoved the eel back into it, and sealed it up. However, once he broke his concentration on the rock, the sediment immediately gave way and the rock tumbled back down to the bottom of the trench.

“Any other ideas?” asked the Toa of Stone.

Chomper shrugged. “How about you?”

“A few, but they're rather risky.” Hewkii looked over at the unconscious Toa of Earth and added, “Maybe Nuparu will have some better ideas.”

“Good idea, Hewkii,” said Chomper, nodding in approval. “I'll go wake up Spike, while you're at it.”

Hewkii walked up to Toa Nuparu and shouted, “Nuparu! Wake up!”

“Go away,” muttered Nuparu. “I don't want to go to work today. There's a spare Boxor vehicle over there, if you want one.”

“Nuparu, you kolhii-head, you're dreaming!” exclaimed Hewkii, before smacking the Toa of Earth in the head. “And if you don't wake up quick, you might not wake up at all.”

Nuparu jumped awake and took a quick glance at his surroundings. Rubbing the back of his head, he irritably said, “What did you hit me for? You know we can get out of here whenever we like.”

“Good. Then tell them,” replied Hewkii, gesturing over his shoulder at the countless eels above.

While Hewkii explained the situation to Nuparu, Chomper did everything he could get Spike up, but that was easier said than done. “Come on, Spike!” groaned Chomper as he pushed against the Spiketail. He then kicked Spike in frustration, but that only resulted in a hurt foot.

Running low on ideas, the young Sharptooth looked over at Spike's tail. Chomper really didn't want to do this, but time was crucial, and he could always apologize. He sighed before he walked up to Spike's tail, opened his mouth, and bit down hard on the tail.

Spike immediately bolted awake, yelping in pain. He looked back to see Chomper ó who had let go as soon as he was awake ó looking down shamefully.

“I'm sorry I had to do that to you, Spike, but we can't stay here much longer,” said Chomper, looking over to the two Toa nearby. Spike followed his gaze, curious about what could have prompted Chomper to take such a drastic action.

“Before I tried anything that could get us permanently dead, I figured I'd better wake you up,” Hewkii finished explaining to Nuparu.

“I know a way out,” said Nuparu. “But I'll need your help to make it work.”

“Does it involve levers, pulleys, bits and pieces of Bohrok, or gears bigger than I am?” asked Hewkii.

“No,” said Nuparu, a grin forming on his face. “It involves explosions. Lots and lots of explosions.”

Hewkii smiled and said, “Then I'm your Toa.”

Chomper never really admitted it to anyone ó not even Ruby ó but he always found destruction to be quite fascinating, especially the explosive kind. Naturally, he was quite eager to see what Nuparu had in mind.

After Nuparu finished explaining his plan, he and Toa Hewkii stood back to back, while Chomper and Spike stood between the two Toa. As far as they knew, this was their only way out, and they would have only one shot at getting it right.

“Go!” shouted Hewkii.

Calling upon his elemental powers, Toa Nuparu made the earth beneath the group's feet quickly rise up as a column. As the pillar carried them higher, the two Toa fired their Cordak blasters at every eel they could see. While most of the eels weren't hit directly, many were sent flying in all directions from the explosions.

Chomper couldn't help but smile at their progress. They were already more than halfway to the top. But then he spotted one particular eel launch itself straight at Hewkii. “Look out!” he shouted.

The warning came too late, as the eel wrapped itself around the Toa of Stone. Hewkii was thrown off balance and almost fell off of the rising column, but Nuparu was able to grab his arm. Now that eel was being dragged up with them, and it was reaching for Hewkii's neck.

“Let go!” shouted Hewkii. “I can't shoot the blaster with you so close!”

“If you use it at such close range, you'll blow your own head off!” Nuparu shouted back. He dropped his Cordak blaster nearby and grabbed the eel near its head. The eel thrashed its head around, trying to strike its prey.

Now that he had some breathing space, Hewkii was able to use his mask power to cut off all gravity for just the eel. The sudden change caused the eel to loosen its hold on the Toa of Stone and, once Nuparu let go, float up above the group. Then, with a level of skill that amazed Chomper and Spike, Hewkii raised and lowered gravity on certain parts of the body, resulting in the eel being tied into a knot. He shut off his mask power, grabbed the now incapacitated eel, and flung it back down into the trench.

Nuparu and Hewkii clanked their fists to congratulate each other, not only for getting rid of that eel, but also because they had now made it to the top of the trench. Unfortunately, it seemed a certain Barraki had prepared for their escape.

“Did you really think you could escape so easily, Toa?” taunted Ehlek, who stood amongst about three dozen electric eels.

“Uh-oh,” said Chomper, taking a step back in fear.

Spike cowered behind the Toa and put his forelegs over his head.

“All right, let's take him apart,” grumbled Hewkii. “And when we're done down here, I don't want to see even a puddle of water ever again.”

“Got a better idea,” whispered Nuparu with a smile on his face. “There are a few big sharks swimming way above where our friend is standing. What do you think would happen if they suddenly gained weight?”

Toa Hewkii nodded, quickly understanding what Nuparu had said. Triggering his Kanohi mask power again, Hewkii increased the gravity around the sharks that were barely visible in the water above. The sharks plummeted, slamming into Ehlek and his eels. Convinced it was a deliberate attack, the eels responded with electric shocks, which prompted the sharks start a real attack. As the eels scattered, Ehlek quickly swam for safety. It was hard to hear exactly what the green Barraki said, but it was clear that he was now furious at Pridak.

“You know what?” said Nuparu. “I think we just ruined a friendship.”

“Yeah,” agreed Hewkii, smiling. “And I'm all broken up about it.”

It was only a matter of seconds before Chomper, Spike, Hewkii, and Nuparu were all laughing. They couldn't deny how great it was to watch their enemies turn against each other. With the Barraki's attention no longer on them, the group turned away and began to head back to Mahri Nui.
________

Petrie could only watch in horror as Jaller and Kongu slowly succumbed to the dozens of little squids that drained their life energies. But then Jaller reached over and grabbed Kongu. Petrie assumed Toa Jaller must have used his elemental power to heat up their bodies because within a split second, all of the squid quickly detached themselves and swam away.

With the squid gone, the two Toa slowly stood back up, their strength already returning to them. Despite the victory, Petrie decided to stay hidden until he was absolutely sure the two Barraki were gone.

“You call yourselves warlords?” Toa Kongu spat. “Warlords don't quick-hide behind Rahi beasts. They do their own killing.”

“We are also smart enough to tell when an enemy is trying to bait us,” said Kalmah. “In our time, entire nations bowed before us... cities fell... armies were destroyed. Do you really think a group of condemned Toa will prove more than a moment's annoyance?”

“We weren't condemned here,” said Jaller. “You Barraki got it wrong.”

“Why else would you be here?” asked Carapar. “Nobody comes here unless they have to.”

“We came from an island on the surface called Voya Nui,” replied Jaller. “We're here for the Mask of Life. Help us get our hands on it, and we'll show you the way out of this place.”

Petrie could hardly believe that Jaller was willing to make a deal with the Barraki. He had never expected to see anything like this, before coming to the Pit. Perhaps there was something about this place that seemed to bring out the worst in everyone.

Kalmah had a different reaction to Jaller's offer. He laughed for a long time, not a pleasant sound for most Toa. “Escape to where? Look at us, Toa ó we have been changed by this place. We can no longer live on the surface, and neither can you.”

Jaller smiled and said, “But the mask can change that ó that's what you think, isn't it? That's why you want it. We can make a deal... or we can fight, and risk the mask getting destroyed in the battle.”

“Since when do Toa make deals?” asked Carapar, snapping his claw angrily at the Toa of Fire. “Don't treat us like we're Rahi. Before we wound up here, your kind lived in fear of us. Everyone did.”

“Past days,” said Kongu. “Is that all you have?”

“We earned the right to rule,” said Kalmah quietly. “It is a right we never willingly surrendered. If we aid you now, it means going up against our allies... What do you have to offer that is worth that?”

Jaller was silent for a moment before speaking up again. “When the Mask of Life is back in our hands, Barraki, we'll make sure you get all you have earned and everything you deserve. Oppose us, and I swear to you by Mata Nui, we will destroy the mask before you ever get your claws on it.”

There was a tense moment of silence. Would the Barraki really agree to such a deal?

“Your offer is intriguing,” said Kalmah. “But promises and vows mean nothing beneath the waves. Even if we agreed, Pridak would never go along with aiding Toa. So you are going to do a favor for us in return for our assistance.”

“What favor?” asked Jaller.

“Kill Pridak. Then we'll talk.” And with that, Kalmah left the cave, soon followed by Carapar.

Petrie remained hidden as the two Barraki swam passed. By the time Jaller and Kongu walked up to the mouth of the cave, Petrie felt safe enough to leave his hiding place and rejoin the Toa. Torch, the Hahnah crab, also quickly rejoined the group.

Jaller was relieved to see one of the young dinosaurs was okay, but quickly realized the other one from their group was missing. “Where's Cera?” he asked.

“Barraki quick-fling her out of cave,” replied Petrie. “Me no see where she went.” He shrugged at this last statement.

Kongu stared out at the open water outside of the cave and muttered, “We'll never quick-find her out there.”

“Let's just hope she knows the way back to Mahri Nui,” added Jaller, “because that's where we're heading, next. It's time to regroup.”

Petrie perched himself on Kongu's shoulder as the two Toa swam back to the underwater village. “You really make deal with Barraki?” asked Petrie, still concerned about what had been said back in the cave.

Kongu turned to the young Flyer and simply said, “Toa don't kill.”

It was all he needed to hear to know the deal was already off.
________

It was beyond the scariest sleep stories Littlefoot had ever had. He and Toa Matoro were surrounded by chaos and carnage as Takea sharks fought against their reanimated victims, in vain. The sharks may have been powerful, but their foes were filled with artificial life, making them practically invincible. Every time one would fall, Matoro's Kanohi mask power simply brought them back. Littlefoot just wanted to look away and wish that everything would just stop. He turned to Matoro, and his expression showed that the Toa of Ice had similar thoughts.

“Is this the price the Mask of Life asks to save the Great Spirit Mata Nui?” Matoro asked himself as he continued to stare at the battle in front of them. “Already, we've seen Matoran enslaved, Piraka driven mad, Brutaka betraying everything he ever believed in, all in the name of a cursed mask. And now more death and destruction, this time through my actions. Where does it end?”

“It doesn't, you fool,” said Maxilos.

Matoro and Littlefoot turned back to the mechanoid behind them. The glowing red eyes indicated that Makuta had returned.

“So... You are still in that body,” said Matoro. “I thought you had fled at the first sign of danger.”

“It seemed like a good idea to remain silent,” replied Maxilos/Makuta. “The Barraki and I are... old friends. It is an acquaintance I prefer not to renew.”

“I don't think you'll have a choice,” said Littlefoot. “They're not backing down.”

“There are always choices... some easier than others,” continued Makuta. “The Barraki made theirs eighty thousand years ago when they decided to challenge Mata Nui. Now they are living with the consequences.”

“Just like you?” asked Matoro.

Makuta laughed from within the mechanical body of Maxilos. “Yes, I made my choices, too. But it is not I who will have to face the consequences of them ó it's you and your kind, Toa. You have not yet begun to pay the price demanded of you.”

A sudden change in the movements of the battle made the three of them snap their attention to the right flank of Matoro's reanimated army. A large school of Takea sharks plowed their way through the ranks, with no signs of slowing down. Matoro tried to react quickly by freezing solid as many of the sharks as he could, but there were just too many.

“You could help!” Matoro snapped at Makuta. “You keep saying you want me to win.”

“Choices, little Toa,” said the Master of Shadows. “It all comes down to choices. Unless I'm mistaken, the Barraki called Ehlek has made a very bad one for himself and a very good one for us.”

To the right of the advancing sharks, Matoro and Littlefoot now saw a massive army of eels in numbers beyond counting. But this army wasn't heading for them ó they were charging towards the sharks. Their sheer numbers, combined with their electric shocks, sent the sharks scattering, completely destroying Pridak's attack. They didn't need to look to the white Barraki to know how furious he now was at a certain “ally”.

“What's going on?” asked Littlefoot. “I thought all the Barraki were on the same side.”

“Throw a group of your enemies into the vilest prison imaginable and they will forge a stronger bond, for they are all sharing the same misery,” replied Makuta. “But offer even the glimpse of a means of escape, and they will tear each other to shreds scrambling for the exit.”

Neither Matoro nor Littlefoot said anything in response. Just moments earlier, they thought they were seeing something beyond their worst imaginations, but what they were seeing now just took it another step further. The armies of Pridak and Ehlek were tearing each other apart, quickly forgetting who their real enemies were. Takadox was not willing to choose sides, and had decided to pull his army out of the chaos. Not wanting to spend another moment in front of such carnage, Matoro shut off his mask power, letting the remains of the dead float back down to the bottom of the ocean. Without a word, Matoro and Littlefoot left the battlefield and began swimming back to Mahri Nui, followed closely by the possessed robot.

“Consider yourselves lucky,” continued Makuta. “It's not every day one gets to see a war begin.”

If this is what war is like, then I never want to see another one for the rest of my life, Littlefoot thought grimly.
-------

Read and review, as always. Things will get very interesting for Ruby and the Mask of Life in the next chapter.

[Pangaea]

Once thing I can say right here is that the mask's curse is not permanent (except for the first guy to have been cursed by that mask, but that's a different story). When Nocturn threw away the Mask of Life, the curse it had on him wore off after a few seconds, because he was no longer touching it.

Oh. Duh, I forgot about that. It appears that my crappy memory is causing me to lose the plot.

I guess my next question is, how directly do you have to be touching the Mask of Life in order for its curse to affect you? For instance, if you picked the mask up with a pair of tongs, would you be safe from the curse?

An odd-looking pink creature had been foolish enough to try to take the mask, and he was more than happy to follow through with Pridak's orders: “consider them a free meal.”

I’m pretty sure the first letter should be capitalized, though it may be a stylistic choice.

Ruby's eyes widened as a sudden realization occurred to her. “Of course! It all makes sense now! I'm holding the Mask of Life!”

“Yes, I can see that,” said Cera, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

While not quite a laugh-out-loud moment, I found Cera’s context-oblivious response here amusing, and totally in-character for her.

He then stepped back and began shattering the coral with the blades of his lower arms.

Hey, you, that stuff takes hundreds of years to grow! Stop damaging the reef ecosystem!

Nice save by Hahli, too (both the venom immunity trick and playing possum afterwards). I didn’t see that coming.

These eels would occasionally rush out to snatch any fish that were unfortunate * to pass by. The was no way of knowing just how long these eels were, but seeing as some of them reached more than halfway across the trench, it was safe to assume they were quite long indeed.

*Did you mean to include the word “enough” here?
Also, “The” should be “There”.
And while not technically an error, I think you should include the detail that the eels have no eyes. (If they’re like a lot of poorly sighted deep-sea fish, they probably have no pigment either, and would appear ghostly white, if you wanted to use that as well.) It helps to visualize them better.

“Then that's too bad for them,” said Hewkii, “because I sure don't intend on staying here. All we need is * plan...”

*Insert “a”.

Nuparu jumped awake and took a quick glance at his surroundings. Rubbing the back of his head, he irritably said, “What did you hit me for? You know we can get out of here whenever we like.”

“Good. Then tell them,” replied Hewkii, gesturing over his shoulder.

Please forgive my cluelessness, but until I checked the quoted text, I couldn’t tell for certain that Hewkii was gesturing at the eels. I think you should specify that. (Also, maybe you should clarify that he’s gesturing above him, since “over his shoulder” sounds like he’s just pointing behind him at Chomper and Spike.)

He then kicked Spike in frustration, but that only resulted in a hurt foot.

Chomper never really admitted it to anyone ó not even Ruby ó but he always found destruction to be quite fascinating, especially the explosive kind.

Heh. Looks like Chomper would be a MythBusters fan.

The sudden changed cause the eel to loosen its hold on the Toa of Stone and, once Nuparu let go, float up above the group.

Should be “change caused”.

Nice work on the description of the sharks vs. zombified sea creatures battle, especially Littlefoot’s point of view of it. And great choice of line for closing the chapter.

[The Chronicler]

Pangaea: Yes, it is safe to handle the Mask of Life with something like a pair of tongs; that's how two of the creators of the mask were able to carry it down to the Chamber of Life under Voya Nui. (They were very careful with it after they saw what it did to one of their own, the first guy to have been cursed by it.)

Here's the next chapter, where things get rather interesting.

-------
Chapter 31
Dark Waters

The Toa Mahri and young dinosaurs regrouped at the edge of Mahri Nui. Each group had arrived at relatively the same time. But after waiting for nearly a half hour, Hahli, Ducky, Ruby, and Cera had yet to arrive, which left the others very worried. Even worse, the situation from the Matoran's perspective had gone from bad to worse.

“I've received reports that the sea has gone mad-crazy,” Defilak told the Toa and kids urgently, as other Matoran scrambled around him to strengthen the city's defenses. “Sharks are at war with eels, keras crabs and squid have quick-vanished from the waters, and there are rumors of attacks by rays on anything that moves. The safe hour we have always relied on each day is no more.” His voice became more desperate. “What have you done? We have ever-lost two of our herders and half a dozen Hydruka in the last six hours! The battles come closer to the borders of Mahri Nui every moment! Is this how you protect us?”

Hewkii shrugged and said, “Turning them against each other seemed like a good idea. Who knew they would be so good at destroying each other?”

“It was a good idea,” said Jaller. “Remember, we still need to find that mask. If the Barraki's armies tear each other to pieces, that buys us time to search.”

“Is this what we've become?” asked Kongu. “Sacrificing Matoran lives, Rahi lives, just so we can quick-finish our mission? Hahli and the three missing kids could be dead, for all we know, and all you care aboutó”

“Don't, just... don't,” Matoro interrupted. “If we fail at this, there won't be any more Matoran, or Rahi, or Hahli, or... any of us. None of us are happy about what's been done.” He quickly glanced at Maxilos. “But I think we are going to have to do far worse before this is over.”

Littlefoot, Petrie, Spike, and Chomper had remained silent the whole time. None of them had any idea of what happened to their three missing friends. True, Petrie had been with Cera, but having not noticed where she ended up did little to reassure him and the others.

A Ga-Matoran swam up to Defilak and quietly said something to him. Defilak nodded and turned to the kids and Toa. “It's now a fact,” he said. “The rays are on the move, heading straight for Mahri Nui. And they are being led by your Toa Hahli!”

The five Toa looked at each other in shock and confusion. Did Hahli somehow manage to tame an entire Barraki's army, or had she gone mad and joined the other side? Either way, it was clear the Toa Mahri of Water had become very unpredictable.

“What about Ruby and Ducky?” Littlefoot quickly asked, hoping the latest report would have some answers.

“Only the little green one was seen with her,” replied Defilak.

Spike sighed in relief at the news.

“Well, at least we know Ducky is okay,” said Littlefoot, trying to stay optimistic, despite the new question it raised.

And it was Chomper who asked that question. “But what about Ruby?”
________

Ruby continued her descent into the dark trench. She had no idea how far she had fallen, or how much farther there was to fall. Under normal circumstances, she would have been terrified of falling in such a place. But she knew that as long as she continued to hold the Mask of Life, everything would be okay. Ruby's fall finally came to a sudden stop, signaled by a sickening crack and explosive pain all over her body. She had just broken her back on a rock.

As Ruby slumped over on her side, she did her best to ignore the excruciating pain. She didn't care about the pain, or the potentially lethal injury that was causing it. She didn't care that she was in a deep, dark place where her friends would almost certainly never find her. She didn't care about anything but the Mask of Life. The mask gave her a sense of security, and as long as it remained in her hands, she knew everything was going to be just fine.

Within seconds, the curse of the Mask of Life began to take effect. Ruby felt the damage done to her body slowly begin to reverse. Her spine shifted back to its original alignment, broken bones fused back into their original shape, scrapes and cuts closed back up. In virtually no time at all, Ruby's body had been restored to its healthy, undamaged form.

Ruby stood up and looked down at the mask in her hands. There was something about it that made her feel so attached to it. It could have easily been due to how the Mask of Life was cursing her, by practically making her immortal. That would have been understandable, but Ruby felt there was something else.

Defilak's earlier reaction to questions regarding the mask showed that whatever had happened, the Matoran village had had a bad experience with it. Ruby remembered seeing Pridak practically turn into a psychopath when he held the mask, and then Nocturn was given a death touch. But then she came to possess the mask, and while others had clearly suffered some consequences, she had seemingly been blessed by it. To her, it was almost as if the Mask of Life wanted her to have it.

This mask could easily be the most powerful artifact in the entire Matoran universe, and here it was, in her own two hands. There were evil forces that wanted the mask, but she had succeeded in taking it away from them. In her current state of wonder, she had completely forgotten why she and her friends had even sought out the Mask of Life in the first place. All that mattered was that the mask was in her grasp, and she was never going to let it go.

Ruby could have just stayed there, staring at the glowing mask for hours, but the noise of falling pebbles caught her attention. She looked up and could barely see the glowing armor of the four-armed monster from whom she had taken the mask. He was still chasing after her, despite her best efforts.

Ruby knew the glowing mask in her hands would easily give away her location in such a dark place, so she had to get creative with how she would escape this time. She quickly started wandering around, using the mask to illuminate her surroundings. She reached one of the sheer vertical walls of the trench and soon found a portion that curved in such a way that kept herself and the mask hidden from the beast as he descended.

Knowing it would only be a matter of time before he arrived, Ruby had to make her escape now. After reminding herself that she was underwater, she jumped and began to swim for the top of the trench. She had to move with a precision that would have impressed even Ducky. She had to keep herself hidden behind the rock wall and maintain her grip on the Mask of Life as she continued her way up.

Ruby was nearing exhaustion by the time she finally reached the top. After taking a moment to catch her breath, she looked over the edge and could barely see the glowing speck that was Nocturn at the bottom of the trench.

“Where is it!?” shouted Nocturn. “Where's the mask!?”

It was time to have a little fun with the bad guy. “Nice try, monster,” Ruby shouted down to him, holding up the Mask of Life in victory, “but if you really want this mask, you will need to try even harder to get this mask!”

Nocturn was beyond furious by what he saw. He growled, then roared, then let loose a flood of profanity that went on for almost a full minute.

Ruby could only step back and say to herself, “Wow... and I thought my uncle had a bad mouth.” Not wasting another moment, she turned and started running, hoping to put as much distance between herself and that brute as possible.

Not far away, a pile of rocks shifted. The rocks fell away, revealing Cera to be underneath the pile. She sluggishly unburied herself, then suddenly jerked a bit before shoving aside more rocks to reveal an electric eel that had just shocked her ó again. When Nocturn had hurled her away, she had slammed right into a small school of electric eels. Unsurprisingly, the eels reacted by repeatedly zapping her. She had finally managed to make them stop after unintentionally slamming her head against a cliff, causing a small rockslide to bury her and leave her unconscious for a short time.

Cera quickly brushed off the electric eel before pulling herself the rest of the way out of the rock pile. “If I ever get out of this place, I'll live in a desert,” she muttered to herself. She then noticed Ruby running by, the Mask of Life still in the Fast Runner's hands. “Ruby!” she called.

Ruby stopped and looked over at Cera. “I can't stay here, Cera!” she said urgently. “I need to get away from him so he won't catch me!”

“You're talking about that big guy, right?” asked Cera, looking in the direction Ruby was running from. “I don't see him.”

“He's down in the trench, but that doesn't mean he'll stay in the trench,” replied Ruby. “I need to get as far away as I can before he comes out of the trench.” Not waiting for any response, Ruby immediately started running again.

Cera ran after Ruby and blocked her path. “Then where are you even going?” she asked suspiciously. “I'm pretty sure Mahri Nui is that way.” She pointed to her left.

“I... um... uh...” Ruby wasn't sure how to respond.

“Look, how hard does this have to be?” continued Cera. “We go back to Mahri Nui, we give that mask to the Toa, they save Mata Nui's life with it, that saves the Matoran universe, and then we can go home. You can't ask for things to be any simpler than that, so let's just go already!” She began heading for the sunken city, but then stopped and looked back when she realized Ruby wasn't following.

“Um... do I have to give up the Mask of Life?” asked Ruby. “Why can't I just hold onto this mask until the moment they need it to save Mata Nui? Then they can give it back to me when they are finished using it to save Mata Nui.”

“Give it back to you?” asked Cera, getting even more suspicious. “What are you talking about? We're not the ones who need that mask, it's the Toa. The only reason we're here is because we wanted to help them, so let's prove it.”

Ruby tightened her grip on the Mask of Life. “I'm not sure if I should really give them this mask. The Mask of Life has been very helpful to me.”

“Look, I know it's been giving you some kind of superpower, but keep in mind what it's really called: a curse. Curses are bad!”

“I thought you didn't believe in the curse of the Mask of Life.”

“I still don't! I just thought I should remind you about the entire silly story you seem to believe in. I mean, honestly, you're making yourself more gullible than Petrie, and that's saying something!”

Ruby pointed behind Cera and shouted, “Oh no! The Barraki found us!”

Cera quickly looked back. Her initial fear was quickly wiped away when she saw nothing but open water. “Wait a minute,” she muttered suspiciously. She looked back at Ruby, who was already running away at top speed. Cera growled in frustration and immediately gave chase. “Get back here!”
________

The group near Mahri Nui had quickly decided to head for where Hahli was last seen, along with Mantax's army of rays. Toa Jaller had suggested that they should spread out to improve their chances, due to the possibility that the Toa Mahri of Water might have quickly moved to a new location. Littlefoot agreed with the idea, figuring it could also help them find Ruby and Cera.

But now, finding himself swimming with Matoro and Maxilos/Makuta once again, Littlefoot was having second thoughts. Now that everyone else was far enough away to not hear any conversation, he knew it was time to listen to things he didn't want to hear about.

“What if we can't find the Mask of Life in time?” asked Matoro.

“Ah, if only all Toa had words like ëcan't’ in their vocabulary,” replied Maxilos. “My path in life would have been much easier. I thought your kind thrived on being optimistic to the point of insanity?”

“I just asked a question,” Matoro snapped.

“To which you know the answer ó if Mata Nui dies, the universe that you, and I, and all your little Matoran friends know will be no more. Jaller will lose his chance to live up to the legacy of Lhikan, Vakama, Tahu, and all those other lukewarm Toa of Fire... Hewkii will never see his friend Macku again... and you? You will know that in Turaga Nuju's last moments, he branded you a failure.”

Toa Matoro refused to respond. He simply stared ahead and kept swimming.

Maxilos/Makuta decided to change the subject. “When this is all over, I really must retrieve my Kanohi Mask of Shadows. Those idiot Piraka let it fall into the sea near Metru Nui. Most think it just allows me to spread physical darkness, or breed a little rage here and there, but it's much more than that. My Kanohi lets me see the darkness inside everyone, all the nasty little things they hide in the shadows of their spirit. I miss that... of course, I hardly need it with you, Matoro. Yours are practically written on your mask.”

Matoro was quickly losing his patience with the Master of Shadows. He looked over his shoulder at Maxilos and quietly said, “Let me tell you something ó if the universe ends, if everyone and everything is going to die... I'm going to make sure you die first.”

Maxilos laughed and said, “You wouldn't want that. After all, if anything happens to me, you will never know what to do with the Mask of Life when you get it ó ëwhen,’ Toa, not ëif.’ I have no intention of letting you fail.”

“If you know so much, then tell me ó if we get the Mask of Life from the Barraki, then what?” asked Matoro.

“I would think it would be obvious,” replied Maxilos/Makuta impatiently. “All must be as it was for Mata Nui to be healed. That means Voya Nui cannot remain floating above us like some discarded Matoran tool. Once the mask is in your hands, you will need to destroy the stone cord linking Voya Nui to Mahri Nui, the cord you passed through to reach this place.”

“And then?”

“Pessimistic and dense ó you truly set a new standard for Toa,” Maxilos/Makuta added sharply. “Then Voya Nui will return to where it came from. Of course, anyone living on it will be killed in the process... and Mahri Nui will be completely destroyed, along with its occupants. Acceptable losses to save the universe, wouldn't you agree?”

The Toa Mahri of Ice didn't know how to respond. If what Maxilos was saying was true, then he and his friends really were going to do far worse than what had already been done. All in the name of saving Mata Nui.

Maxilos/Makuta patted Matoro on the back and said, “Cheer up, little Toa. When all is said and done, and two islands' worth of Matoran are dead, your name will live in history ó right alongside mine.”

Littlefoot had intentionally kept himself out of the conversation. He did not like working with Makuta at all. Yet, he couldn't help but get the feeling that his troubles had only just begun.
________

Ruby had made it back to the reef and was now running through the maze of coral once again. The good news was that she still had the Mask of Life in her hands. The bad news was that she had a very angry Threehorn hot on her tail.

“Ugh, this is ridiculous,” muttered Cera as she ran after the greedy Fast Runner.

Ruby tried going through every twist and turn she came across, but Cera was still able to keep up. They had even reached a dead end at one point, but Ruby simply swam right over the coral for a short distance before descending back into the maze. Although it did slow down Cera for a few seconds, she was still able to follow Ruby.

The pursuing Threehorn believed the density of the water was working to her advantage, since it helped to slow down the Fast Runner, compared to if they were on land. Regardless, Ruby never stopped. She was not going to allow anything to separate her from the Mask of Life.

“Why are you even running!?” shouted Cera. “Just give it up so we can help the Toa!”

“You don't understand, Cera!” exclaimed Ruby. “The Mask of Life is giving me its life powers, so that can only mean the Mask of Life wants me to have it!”

Cera had finally lost all patience for the Fast Runner. “For the last time, it's just a mask! Masks... can't... THINK!”

As Ruby neared another exit from the reef, she decided that the open water ahead would give her a chance to pick up the pace and hopefully lose Cera. She had taken only three steps out in the open before a tentacle wrapped around her throat and lifted her off the seafloor. Once again, she found herself face-to-face with Nocturn, only this time he was far more enraged.

“Mask... not... YOURS!” Nocturn shouted in the Fast Runner's face.

Something sharp shot through the water and struck Nocturn's tentacle, causing him to drop Ruby. Ruby didn't waste any time questioning what had just happened, and immediately started running again.

“Hold it right there, runner!” someone shouted. Ruby stopped and turned to see a tall figure in dark armor with numerous kinds of blades attached to his wrist and back. His Cordak blaster was aimed right at her. “Drop the mask and surrender.”

Cera had made it out just in time to see the new, and dangerously armed, being. Things were suddenly not looking good, so she decided to hold back and not act unless if the Mask of Life was put in any danger.

Nocturn yanked the blade out of his tentacle, black ink leaking out of the wound. When he turned to see his attacker, his anger turned to confusion. “You're Hydraxon?” he said. “But back when the earthquake hit and we all escaped into the black water, Takadox killed you. I saw it. You're dead.”

“I got better,” said Hydraxon indifferently. As far as he was concerned, he had not been killed, and certainly not by a Barraki. “And you're going back where you belong.”

“But where we were isn't there anymore,” continued Nocturn. “Don't you remember? The ground shaking, the walls falling, the water flooding in...”

Seeing as Nocturn's confusion was distracting Hydraxon, Ruby took the opportunity to sneak away. She didn't make it far before the jailer of the Pit saw her attempt to escape. Without hesitation, he aimed and fired his Cordak blaster at her. The rocket struck the seafloor right at her feet sending her flying through the water before slamming into a nearby wall of rock. Ruby fell to the seafloor, Mask of Life still in her hands. Despite the serious injuries, she was still alive, but now unconscious. She would not be doing any more running for the moment, which suited Hydraxon just fine.

He turned back to Nocturn, who immediately fired a squid from his launcher. Hydraxon was certain that such a creature was intended to do harm to him, so he grabbed one of his razor-edged boomerangs from his wrist and hurled it at the squid, slicing it in half. He followed that up by grabbing one of his back-mounted blades and hurling it at his opponent, knocking the squid launcher out of his hand.

Nocturn was not going down without a fight, so he wrapped his tentacle around Hydraxon's waist and dragged him towards him.

Hydraxon responded by aiming and firing his Cordak blaster at a nearby rock, completely obliterating it. “Next time, it's your arm,” he warned.

Seeing some of the rubble land nearby gave Nocturn an idea. He released his hold on Hydraxon and decided to take advantage of a weakness he knew of. He swiftly picked up two rocks and slammed them together as hard as he could. The loud, sharp crack was too much for Hydraxon's sensitive hearing, causing him to falter for a brief moment. It was all Nocturn needed. He slammed into Hydraxon, knocking him onto his back. Nocturn kicked the blaster away from his opponent's right hand and pinned down his left hand. His hold on Hydraxon was complete when he wrapped his tentacle around his throat. “I'm using my arm right now, sorry,” said Nocturn. “But thanks for all the weapons ó I'll take them off your body when you're dead again.”

“Then start with this one,” said Hydraxon. Within the blink of an eye, he grabbed his other back-mounted blade with his free hand and stuck it into Nocturn's tentacle, pinning the beast to the ocean floor and forcing him to loosen his grip. He kicked Nocturn off of him and jumped back to his feet. Hydraxon quickly retrieved his Cordak blaster and held out his left arm, ready to hurl another of his wrist-mounted blades at his opponent. “I'm here to bring you back. It really makes no difference to me if some of your parts don't make the trip.”

Hydraxon never made idle threats, so Nocturn knew when it was time to admit defeat. The four-armed beast sighed and remained where he stood, not even bothering to remove the blade that held him to the seafloor.

Cera had watched the whole battle from the sidelines. While the two titans were busy fighting each other, she had carefully made her way over to Ruby. She quickly noticed the Fast Runner was indeed unconscious, yet still managed to hold onto the Mask of Life. Its curse had already undone Ruby's injuries, but not her unconscious state. Cera had considered taking the mask to the Toa herself, but decided against it for two good reasons. The mask had clearly affected Ruby's behavior, and Cera didn't want to risk finding out what it could do to her. The second reason was about to arrive.

Hydraxon kept one eye on his captive as he walked over to the unconscious pink creature that still held the glowing mask. He was quick to notice something wasn't quite right. Strange, he thought to himself. I'm very sure she was in much worse condition when I struck her down. Hydraxon didn't dwell on this mystery, since he had a job to do. He didn't even bother to acknowledge the yellow creature who had just shown herself, so long as she made no moves to take the mask.

Hydraxon reached down and picked up the glowing mask. For two escapees to be fighting over it, he knew this mask had to be important, and should be kept away from dangerous hands. But then a memory flashed before his eyes, one that couldn't have been his own, and yet it was. This traumatic memory told him this mask was so powerful that its very existence was a threat to everyone around it. When he noticed a faint crack in the side of the mask, he knew exactly what to do.

“Hey!” exclaimed Cera as Hydraxon took the Mask of Life away from her unconscious friend. “What do you think you're doing!?”

“This mask is simply too powerful,” said Hydraxon as he gently placed the Mask of Life at the base of the rock wall a few paces away from the two dinosaurs. “It is a very serious threat to everyone around it, especially if it fell into the wrong hands. I can't allow that to happen. So, for the good of all, there is only one thing to do.” He aimed his Cordak blaster at the glowing mask. “I must destroy this mask.”

Cera threw away all caution the instant she heard that last statement. She quickly shouted, “No, you idiot! Don'tó!”

Hydraxon fired his blaster.
-------

Read and review, as always. Just to let you know, the next chapter (or two, not sure yet) will be like an interlude kind of chapter, focusing on Littlefoot and Matoro (and Makuta). The text I'll be using for that chapter comes not from one of the books but from one of the online serials (I'll post a link to it when I post the next chapter). You'll have to wait until the chapter after that to find out what happens to the Mask of Life. (That may take some time anyway, because now, for the first time in nearly a year, I'll have to start copying down text from the next Bionicle book. Yes, I've finally reached the end of yet another book in the series.)

Edit (March 18): I just found out in a recent review to my first fanfic on Fanfiction.net that both of my fanfics have been recommended on TV Tropes. I'm honestly quite amazed that my stories have become so popular to have something like this.

[The Chronicler]

Sorry for taking so long to make any progress with this fanfic. Normally, I'd wait until after making final edits to the previous chapter before posting the next one, but I think more than three months is a long enough time to wait. I have to say, this is definitely one of the darkest chapters I've written for any of my stories so far. You'll see what I mean.

-------
Chapter 32
Working with Makuta

Just hours earlier, if anyone had told Littlefoot that he would eventually find himself allied with Makuta, the Master of Shadows himself, the young Longneck would have denied them more quickly than even Mr. Threehorn would. But now, things were very different. Littlefoot found himself in a situation he did not like at all ó he and Toa Matoro had to work with a robotic guardian that was possessed by the spirit of Makuta, and were forced to keep his identity a secret from their friends.

Despite all of this, Littlefoot was able to see a bright side to it. Ever since Makuta invaded the Great Valley one year ago, many questions had bothered the young Longneck. Since Matoro had decided to swim ahead of them, the young Longneck figured now would be his best opportunity to get some answers.

“Why did you do it?” asked Littlefoot. “Why did you attack my home?”

“Considering your very young age, I'm not surprised at all by your confusion,” said Makuta from within the Maxilos robot. “I never had any interest in the Energy Stones. My true focus at the time remained on the Matoran ó and even then, I knew their stay in your world would be temporary.”

“But that doesn't answer my question,” replied Littlefoot. “You're making it sound like my friends and I stopped you for nothing.”

“If I had even tried, I could have killed all seven of you with little more than a wave of a hand.”

“So why did you not do that?”

“I had nothing to gain from killing seven children.”

“Then why go through all of that over... well, nothing?”

“Ah, Littlefoot... so curious about everything around you. I can say from experience that obtaining the right kind of knowledge can have so many advantages. Of course, if you're not careful with how you ask your questions, it just might be that last thing you'll ever do.” Makuta paused before continuing. “The Energy Stones serve a rather weak purpose, one I would have been fine with ignoring. But a secretive group ó for reasons they refused to explain ó wanted you and the others to have them. But those stones couldn't be simply given to you like some Naming Day gift ó you would need to go out and collect them in a time of crisis. That's where I come in. They wanted me to provide such a crisis to ensure the Energy Stones would be ërightfully placed’ within your possession.”

“But you still haven't answered my first question: Why?”

“They foolishly believe that I will not be successful with my own plans, so in return for my services, they agreed to provide information that will prove useful later on, at a point they doubt I will even reach at all.”

“What kind of information? Who did you make that deal with?”

Makuta smirked. “Now that would be telling.”

Littlefoot felt uneasy, knowing that he likely wouldn't be getting any more answers from the possessed robot. What especially worried the little Longneck was that he was sure he remembered hearing that last statement somewhere before, but he couldn't quite recall who it was, exactly.

Maxilos/Makuta decided to leave the child to his thoughts and swam up to join Matoro. “Why so quiet?” he asked the Toa of Ice. “We have seen death and destruction today with the promise of much more to come. We have seen heroes behaving like villains. You yourself have done things even I would be reluctant to do. It is a time for celebration.”

“Shut up!” snapped Matoro. “I'm doing only what I have to do to save the life of Mata Nui ó a life you put in jeopardy!”

Makuta laughed and continued, “Think what you like, little Toa, and try to avoid admitting to yourself that you are one bad day, one moment of cruelty, one fit of rage away from being me.” Makuta suddenly swam down to the seafloor. “Come with me. I want to show you something.”

“What?” asked Matoro irritably as he and Littlefoot reluctantly followed the possessed robot.

“Call it an answer to some of your questions,” replied Makuta, as they arrived at a large gap in the ocean floor. “I discovered this shortly after taking over the body of Maxilos. It's an entrance to the original Pit, the prison once inhabited by the Barraki and others like them. There is something down there I think you should see.”

“How do I know this isn't a trap?” asked the Toa Mahri of Ice.

“You don't. But surely a strong and brave Toa like yourself fears nothing. And I'm sure the little dinosaur has already seen and tolerated more darkness than most of his kind could even live with. Follow me.”

After Maxilos/Makuta swam down through the opening, Matoro checked his Cordak blaster and said to Littlefoot, “Stay close to me.” They cautiously followed the Master of Shadows.

The extreme darkness made it very hard to see much of the abandoned prison, but as their eyes adjusted, they were gradually able to see the ruins of the Pit. Virtually every cell door had been either ripped off its hinges or mangled beyond recognition. Bits and pieces of armor scattered across the floor was a common sight. The only sign of life was the occasional small fish that would dart through the water to another place to hide. It was unlike anything the Toa or the dinosaur had ever seen.

“When you two are through brooding, I have found what I was seeking,” said Makuta pointing into one of the damaged cells. “Here.”

Matoro and Littlefoot peered inside and saw a Kanohi mask and blue armor on the floor in a certain, eerie arrangement.

“What is it?” asked Littlefoot.

“All that remains of a Toa of Water named Tuyet,” replied Makuta. “She was condemned here many thousands of years ago. She died here, though I don't know why. Perhaps she was trying to escape.”

Littlefoot wasn't sure what to say. Seeing the lifeless remains of a Toa was creepy enough, but the fact that this also used to be a bad Toa just annihilated his old perception that all Toa were heroes who never died except only at the hands of a very powerful evil.

“Why was she sent here?” asked Matoro.

“It is hard for me to give an exact reason since I did not even know ëhere’ existed until a few days ago,” replied Makuta. “But I do know her crime. She tampered with an object of power that did not belong in her hands. It was too much for her. She went wild, was defeated by Toa Lhikan and Toa Nidhiki, and the object was destroyed, or so the heroes thought.”

“Get to the point,” said Matoro, losing his patience.

Maxilos/Makuta laughed and said, “I would have thought that it would be obvious. Tuyet is dead, but she is also the only one who might know how the powerful artifact, the Nui Stone, could be recreated. I want you to use your Kanohi mask power, Matoro, the Great Mask of Reanimation. I want you to bring her back.”

Matoro and Littlefoot looked over at Maxilos/Makuta, completely shocked at what he had just said. “Are you really that crazy!?” exclaimed Littlefoot.

“I won't do what you ask,” stated Matoro with no hesitation.

“I must have missed the part where I gave you a choice,” responded Makuta. “I want you to use your mask power to reanimate this corpse, and I want you to do it now.” When the Toa of Ice made no response, he added, “I could just kill you, Matoro, take the mask and do the job myself, but it's so much more amusing this way.”

“Even if I bring her back, she won't be able to help you recreate the Nui Stone,” insisted Matoro. “She'll have no spirit, she'll have no mind!”

“I have always found the minds of Toa to be vastly overrated anyway,” said Makuta. “Now get to work.”

Matoro sighed and muttered to himself, “I don't think any Toa in history has ever hated their own mask more than I do.” He then reluctantly called upon the power of his Mask of Reanimation, concentrating on the pile of armor in front of him. The mangled armor and damaged Kanohi Mask slowly began to move, rearranging themselves into a crude shape of what they once were. It was a somewhat gruesome sight that neither Matoro nor Littlefoot could ever forget.

Finally, the body of Toa Tuyet had been reassembled. The reanimated Toa of Water stood unsteadily, waiting for Matoro's orders. It was then that Littlefoot and Matoro noticed something unusual. Embedded within the Toa's blue armor were countless tiny shards of some kind of crystal.

“Behold,” said Makuta. “When the Nui Stone exploded so many thousands of years ago, most of it vaporized, but some fragments survived buried in Tuyet's armor. With these I can recreate the stone as it once was. All I need is the proper tool.”

“What tool?” asked Littlefoot.

“The Staff of Artakha,” answered Makuta. “And unless I am mistaken, the Toa Nuva are about to get it for me.” Without waiting for a response, Maxilos/Makuta turned and headed back out of the old Pit. Littlefoot and Matoro looked at each other uncertainly before following, taking the reanimated Toa Tuyet with them. They had many questions, but there was no doubt that Makuta was up to no good again.

The unlikely group didn't get very far from the entrance of the old Pit before some unexpected visitors arrived.

“Matoro!”

“Littlefoot!”

The two turned and saw Hahli and Ducky swimming towards them, followed by the army of manta rays they had reportedly been leading. There was no sign of Mantax, the Barraki who typically controlled such creatures.

“Where are you going?” asked Hahli. “And who is that Toa with you? She looks, uh... Matoro, what have you done?”

Before Matoro or Littlefoot could say anything, they both heard Makuta's voice in their minds. He “told” them, We have a meeting to attend. One of my allies waits near Mahri Nui, but he will not wait long... and you would not make us late, would you? And one more thing: breathe a word to either of your friends, and none of you will live to see another tide.

Matoro turned to the Toa Mahri of Water and slowly said, “Hahli, don't worry, everything's fine ó just trust me.”

“I do trust you,” responded Hahli, “but I think you have become a little too used to keeping secrets, brother. I'm starting to wonder if you trust me, or any of us.”

Meanwhile, Littlefoot and Ducky had their own tense exchange. “You do not need to worry about me, Littlefoot,” assured Ducky. “Hahli has been taking good care of me. She has, she has. Though I would feel better if I knew what happened to Ruby.”

“I thought you would know where she was,” said Littlefoot. “Cera has also gone missing. Why don't you and Hahli go find them while Matoro and I deal with... other things.”

“Like what?”

Littlefoot was so glad that he was not on Ducky's side of this conversation. His unquenchable curiosity could have caused some serious problems. There was no time to waste, so Littlefoot knew he would have to do something he normally wouldn't do.

Littlefoot pinned Ducky against a nearby rock with his front foot and quietly said, “I'm serious, whatever you do, don't tell anyone about what you saw here. Understand?”

Ducky was shocked to see Littlefoot behaving like this, so all she managed to do was nod her head in response. Littlefoot let go and swam back to Matoro.

At the same time, Matoro also tried to explain what he could to Hahli. He decided a memory that Makuta couldn't know would send a subtle enough message. “It will all work out,” said the Toa of Ice. “Everything is going just as planned. As smooth as that time Nuparu used his Mask of Flight to transport you over the chasm, remember? I ó we ó have to go now.”

With that, Matoro, Littlefoot, Maxilos, and the reanimated Toa swam away. Hahli and Ducky were both upset by what had just taken place; Hahli more angry and Ducky more scared.

Hahli then realized something wasn't right. “Wait a minute... when I flew with Nuparu, he dropped me,” said Hahli. “I almost got killed! Matoro was trying to send us a message: he and Littlefoot are in trouble.”

“How do we get them out?” asked Ducky.

“I wish I knew, Ducky,” replied Hahli. “I wish I knew.”
________

Littlefoot had tried to ask Makuta all kinds of questions regarding the Nui Stone, the Staff of Artakha, and what the Toa Nuva had to do with any of this. But every question was given nothing but silence from the possessed robot. In addition, Littlefoot and Matoro were not looking forward to meeting this “ally” of Makuta.

Faster than even Makuta could react, a burning chain lashed out and wrapped around the sword he held. The attacker yanked the chain hard, pulling the sword out of the grasp of the Maxilos robot. The others had only enough time to turn to see their attacker before he swung his chain again, shattering the reanimated Toa Tuyet to pieces.

“I know you,” said Matoro in shock. “The water may have mutated your body, but I still recognize your weapon. Why are you here, Karzahni?”

Littlefoot gasped at this revelation. Hahli had told him and his friends about the ancient legend of Karzahni, who ruled over a realm where Matoran who worked poorly were sent to and never heard from again. The Toa Inika/Mahri had spent their last moments as Matoran passing though his realm on their way to Voya Nui and narrowly escaped. The experience had apparently been so traumatic that none of the Toa were willing to provide any details of what happened, so Littlefoot had no idea what to expect.

Not waiting for an answer, Matoro moved to attack. Karzahni must have unleashed some kind of mental attack, because just a fraction of a second later, Matoro had stopped and stared ahead at apparently nothing while occasionally screaming in terror.

“What did you do to him!?” exclaimed Littlefoot.

“Wouldn't you like to find out?” taunted Karzahni before striking the young Longneck as well.
________

Littlefoot found himself in a desolate landscape. He stood at the edge of a rocky valley in the middle of nowhere. There were no signs of life, not even a single plant. Somehow, this place seemed vaguely familiar to him.

Littlefoot's attention was suddenly drawn to the bottom of the valley when he faintly heard grunting noises. He gasped in shock as he saw... himself, fighting Cera, while Ducky, Petrie, and Spike looked on in fear. Everything made sense now. Littlefoot was witnessing a moment of his past.

The younger Littlefoot and his new friends had been searching for the Great Valley for many days with no success. The younger Cera had finally had enough and wanted to go her own way. Littlefoot had refused to let her go, insisting he was going the right way. The conflict reached a boiling point when Cera had called his dead mother stupid and refused to apologize. Now the fighting had gotten physical, and it wasn't hard to imagine who would win.

Present Littlefoot was forced to watch every moment of this horrible memory. Although he and Cera had long since made up, the event still gave him scary sleep stories. Finally, the fight was over, and the younger Cera walked away triumphantly. Despite how far away he was, present Littlefoot could hear his past self shout, “Go ahead! Go the wrong way! We never wanted you with us anyway!” Those words tore at present Littlefoot's heart, reminding him just how close he came to losing his friends that day. Soon after, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike had abandoned the younger Littlefoot and chose to follow Cera instead.

Among all the low points in Littlefoot's life, this one was second only to the death of his mother right in front of him. He was glad that this horrible vision would be over soon; he remembered what happened next. He had continued to climb up to the other side of the valley, but as he realized how much he and his friends needed each other, he had decided to turn back and retrieve them. It had been the right choice, as their lives had been placed in great danger, and it was only because of his efforts that saved them.

But that's not what happened here. Present Littlefoot watched his past self reach the other side of the rocky valley and look back. Past Littlefoot shook his head and moved on.

Present Littlefoot suddenly found himself in a different location: the burning mountains. Littlefoot saw his friends in danger, but his past self was nowhere to be found. He desperately shouted to his friends, but since this was a vision, there was nothing he could do but watch every gruesome moment as his friends, one by one, suffered a horrible fate. Ducky and Spike were incinerated by lava, Petrie drowned in tar, and Cera was pummeled to death by some enraged Domeheads.

The horrible vision then moved back to the younger Littlefoot, who was now getting closer to the Great Valley. Eventually, he arrived at a pond... and saw Sharptooth himself nearby. Alone, starving, desperate, and not thinking clearly, past Littlefoot decided to get rid of Sharptooth once and for all... by himself. The outcome was predictable, and present Littlefoot was forced to watch every second of the truly horrific sight of Sharptooth devouring the younger Littlefoot.
________

“...and I hate to be late.”

Littlefoot awoke from his vision to see Karzahni had been struck down by Makuta. Karzahni climbed back to his feet, revealing one of his arms had been dislocated. The ancient ruler yanked it back into place without even flinching, a sight that Littlefoot would normally be too squeamish to watch, but was nothing compared to the traumatic vision he had just been released from.

“Yes, I've heard of you, Makuta,” spoke Karzahni. “A tin-covered tyrant who wishes to be lord of the Matoran... as if being worshiped by insects had some meaning. I do not know where you were going... but your journey is about to end.”

Something emerged from the surrounding dark water. Creatures that Matoro and Littlefoot recognized: Manas crabs, hundreds of them. Littlefoot and his friends had fought against only a dozen of them on their way to stop Makuta back in the Great Valley, and their success was thanks mostly to some mysterious armor that gave them just enough strength to stop the monstrous crabs. Now he was alone, powerless, and against a much larger swarm... and yet, he didn't find it really scary at all.

Matoro hurled his elemental ice powers at the approaching swarm, but the attacks were ineffective. There was nothing Littlefoot could do, so that just left Makuta. The Toa of Ice turned to the Master of Shadows and exclaimed, “Don't just stand there, do something!”

Makuta did nothing within the robot Maxilos as the Manas came ever closer. Once they were within striking distance, Makuta finally unleashed his real power. With dozens of abilities at his command, Makuta needed only one ó mental control over wild beasts ó to turn the giant crabs against each other. The army was wiped out in mere seconds as the Manas effectively tore themselves to pieces. The sight was horrible enough to force Matoro to look away. Littlefoot would have done the same... but he didn't. Not even mass carnage could compare to his recent vision of darkness.

Makuta simply laughed and said, “Pests. They do make such a mess. Perhaps, Karzahni, I should set the survivors on you.”

Karzahni smiled, knowing he could do something Makuta couldn't. He had already unleashed his power to give nightmarish visions on the Toa of Ice and the long-necked creature. Now it was Makuta's turn.

Karzahni struck Makuta with a vision that was sure to stop him. The Master of Shadows watched as his plan failed and the Toa Nuva succeeded in waking the Great Spirit Mata Nui, who then unleashed his vengeance upon him.

Littlefoot looked on as Makuta screamed from his own terrible vision. The young Longneck couldn't believe he was admitting this, but... he actually felt sorry for the Master of Shadows.

Finally, Makuta went silent. Everything was still. Matoro and Littlefoot looked over at the Maxilos robot. Makuta simply stare at the ancient tyrant. If looks could kill, Karzahni would have been vaporized.

After a long moment of silence, Makuta finally said slowly, “You... made a... mistake, Karzahni. You see, I don't get nightmares...” Using his magnetic powers, he brought his sword back to his hand. “I give them.” He struck down Karzahni with the flat side of his sword. “Your shadow plays are impressive, tyrant ó but never forget who is the true master of shadows.”

Makuta often liked to toy with his foes in numerous ways, but Karzahni had given him real pain, and there was only one way the Master of Shadows would respond to such an attack: full power.

Makuta ó using mental attacks ó unleashed everything he had at the old dictator, shredding his mind to the point of savagery and beyond. Then, with only a fraction of his magnetic power, Makuta hurled Karzahni away. In a split second, the ancient tyrant was gone.

Normally, Littlefoot would have been terrified by a demonstration of Makuta's power, but in this case, he actually felt... inspired. Littlefoot could never see himself as a villain, but seeing two titans of darkness face off against each other had taught him something very important. Scare tactics could only go so far; it takes real power to win a war. Now that he was finally free from the shock of Karzahni's vision, Littlefoot was more determined than ever to keep his friends together and lead them to victory.
________

Not far from where Karzahni had attacked the unlikely trio, Makuta swam ahead to meet with his “ally.” The dark water made it hard for Matoro or Littlefoot to see any details, but they were actually okay with that. They weren't interested in meeting another force of darkness.

The exchange was brief and to the point. Makuta snatched the staff from his “ally” and dismissed him with a simple nod. The stranger vanished and Makuta turned back to his companions. He swam over to the shattered remains of Toa Tuyet and spotted a single shard of the Nui Stone among the armor. “That is all the staff needs,” he said quietly. “One piece, and its power will recreate the stone as it once was.”

“And what good will that do you?” asked Matoro. “What do you plan to do with it?”

“Very well, my curious little Toa,” replied Makuta. “Think on this: Tuyet, and later Nidhiki, were not the only Toa to ever turn bad. And if the next one should happen to fall under my sway, well, what could be better than to use the Nui Stone to increase his power a hundred-fold, a thousand-fold. Imagine an all-powerful Toa at my command, wiping your kind from the face of this planet.” Makuta pointed the Staff of Artakha at the fragment and triggered its power. Other pieces began to float through the water and slowly started to come together.

Realizing Makuta was up to his old tricks again, Matoro charged forward and shouted, “I can't let you do this!”

Makuta simply waved his hand and Matoro suddenly stopped moving. Littlefoot wasn't sure what had just happened.

“And I can't let you stop me,” said Makuta. Seeing the confused look on the little Longneck, he simply said, “Stasis field. You can stay there, or I can make you stay, like your friend. Either way, no one can stop me now.”

A blast of raw power struck Maxilos/Makuta in the back, causing him to drop the staff, terminating its progress. At the same time, Matoro was released from his stasis field. “Who dares?” growled the Master of Shadows.

“In my time, I dared lots of things,” came a reply. “Maybe too many things. I fell a long way from the light, and I can never find my way back.”

The trio turned around and saw a familiar face. Floating in the water behind them was Brutaka, former guardian of the Mask of Life and now condemned prisoner of the Pit. The waters of the Pit had changed his body in a few ways ó spikes along his armor and a dorsal fin on his back ó but he was still easily recognizable.

“But the darkness is not so complete that I can't recognize a monster when I see one,” finished Brutaka.

Makuta fired a blast of shadow energy at Brutaka. In one flawless move, the former guardian dodged the attack and dove for the Staff of Artakha, snatching it within the blink of an eye. “Botar!” he suddenly shouted.

What happened next was almost too quick to follow. A large being suddenly appeared, took the staff from Brutaka, gave a quick nod to him in approval, and suddenly vanished, taking the staff with him.

Brutaka turned to Maxilos/Makuta and said, “It's gone. The staff is gone where you cannot reach it. You've lost.”

“If I have lost the staff, then you are about to lose everything,” said Makuta with barely contained anger.

Brutaka laughed as if he had received an empty threat. “You seem to have me mistaken for someone who has anything at all left to lose.” He turned to Matoro and Littlefoot and shouted, “Get out of here, now! Get back to your friends ó I'll handle Makuta!”

“As you handled the Toa Nuva and Toa Inika?” taunted Makuta. “Are you two foolish enough to think you can trust him?”

Trust a former guardian of good, or the embodiment of darkness himself? Neither Matoro nor Littlefoot needed a moment to consider their choice. As one, they turned to each other and said, “Let's go.” Littlefoot grabbed onto Matoro's back as he propelled them through the water at top speed.

Once they were far enough away, Littlefoot asked, “What now?”

“It's time to forget Makuta,” said the Toa Mahri of Ice. “Brutaka's right, we need to find the others.”

Matoro began heading straight for Mahri Nui, hoping that all of their friends had come back together. They didn't get far before a blast of shadow shattered a nearby rock, causing them to momentarily stop.

“Change of plans!” shouted Makuta. The possessed robot pointed his sword to his right. “This way! NOW!”

Whatever had enraged the Master of Shadows had to be very serious. Matoro and Littlefoot had no choice but to follow at top speed.

“W-w-what's going on?” asked Littlefoot nervously.

“It would seem your friend Ruby has found the Mask of Life,” answered Makuta, “but Hydraxon has been sighted close to her location. If that fool were to get his hands on the Mask of Life, it would be bad news for all of us.”

Makuta refused to explain any further, but he didn't have to. Littlefoot and Matoro understood how dire the situation really was right now. Maxilos/Makuta lead the way as they rushed to retrieve the Mask of Life.
-------

Read and review, as always. Even though I still plan on finishing this story, I'm anticipating that I'll still be as slow, if not slower, at writing new chapters. I'll get the whole thing done someday. But how long it will take, I don't know.

Here are the images of everything first seen in this chapter:
no images of Tuyet exist
Karzahni (the big guy, not the Matoran in that image)
Botar

Here is the text I used for this chapter:
(since the source is exclusively online, I'll save myself some effort and just link to it)
Into the Darkness (chapters 1-7)
Dreams of Destruction (chapters 6 & 7)

[Mumbling]

This fanfiction has been submitted for the 2013 fanfiction awards. Give the author some feedback and a rating for the story in this topic.

[Pangaea]

Six months without reviewing…I think it’s clear that Pangaea is broken.

Nonetheless, here are my reviews of the last two chapters:

Chapter 31

Ruby continued her decent into the dark trench.

Should be “descent”.

Realistically, I’m not sure that Ruby could be injured so badly from an underwater fall, but I guess we could chalk that up to physics working differently in the Matoran universe.

She looked up and could barely see the glowing armor of the four-armed monster from whom she had taken the mask from.

The second “from” is redundant, and should be removed.

*sigh* Ruby, if I were you, I would have let Nocturn continue fruitlessly searching for the mask at the bottom of the trench, rather than show him that you had it so that he could get back to chasing you right away.

Then again, considering some of Ruby’s behavior in the next scene with Cera, maybe her decision to taunt Nocturn with the mask was a result of the “One Ring effect” the mask seems to be having on her…

Not far away, a pile of rocks shifted. The rocks fell away, revealing Cera to be underneath the pile. She sluggishly unburied herself, then suddenly jerked a bit before shoving aside more rocks to reveal an electric eel that had just shocked her ó again. When Nocturn had hurled her away, she had slammed right into a small school of electric eels. Unsurprisingly, the eels reacted by repeatedly zapping her. She had finally managed to make them stop after unintentionally slamming her head against a cliff, causing a small rockslide to bury her and leave her unconscious for a short time.

Cera quickly brushed off the electric eel before pulling herself the rest of the way out of the rock pile. “If I ever get out of this place, I'll live in a desert,” she muttered to herself.

Poor Cera…

Hydraxon fired his blaster.

My thoughts, summed up in two words or less: Oh crap.


Chapter 32

Wow, I definitely agree with you about this being one of your darkest chapters yet. However, well written as Karzahni’s scene was, I can’t get over the feeling that his rtole in the chapter seemed a little superfluous (there must be a better word than that, but I can’t think of it). To me it felt like he just came in out of the blue, abused the characters, engaged in an exchange of dramatic dialogue, before being dispatched (in a manner that left his exact fate unclear). I felt like Karzahni’s entire appearance in this chapter could have been omitted and it wouldn’t have affected anything, though I’m guessing this isn’t the last we’re going to see of him, and I can’t blame you if you’re just following the original storyline. In any case, I think you should add a description of Karzahni’s physical appearance when he first shows up.

Again, no offense to you or your storytelling decisionsójust my opinionóbut I felt rather disappointed by the conversation at the beginning of this chapter. Did Makuta really let the gang win their climactic battle with him in Quest for the Energy Stones? As I have mentioned before, the gang have already spent much of this story feeling like virtually powerless characters in the Matoran Universe, and if what Makuta says is true, they evidently didn’t hold much clout as adversaries even when they were in control of powerful Matoran artifacts, which I find rather depressing.

“But I do know her crime. She tampered with an object of power that did not belong in her hands. It was too much for her. She went wild, was defeated by Toa Lhikan and Toa Nidhiki, and the object was destroyed, or so the heroes thought.”

Eegh…is it just me, or does this story sound disturbingly similar to what’s happening with Ruby right now? :unsure:

The mangled armor and damaged Kanohi Mask slowly began to move, rearranging themselves into a crude shape of what they once were. It was a somewhat gruesome sight that neither Matoro nor Littlefoot could ever forget.

Just my opinion, but “somewhat”? I should think that it’s probably the most gruesome thing Matoro has done with his mask so far!

Littlefoot awoke from his vision to see * Karzahni had been struck down by Makuta.

*Insert “that”.

He had already unleashed his power to give nightmarish visions on the Toa of Ice and the long-necked creature.

Should be “to”. Alternatively, you could rewrite this entire sentence as “He had already used his power to unleash nightmarish visions on the Toa of Ice and the long-necked creature.”

Makuta simply stare at the ancient tyrant.

Should be “stared”.

That’s about all I’ve got. :unsure: For whatever little it’s worth, I’m sorry for not reviewing. Writing reviews is yet another skill I’m just no good at anymore.

[The Chronicler]

Well, seeing as I've long since decided to cancel any further progress to this story, I might as well give a basic summary of how the rest of it would have gone, along with all the further sequels I had planned that I will now never write.


To start where I left off, Hydraxon had just fired his blaster at the Mask of Life, intending to destroy it. However, a sudden shift in the currents causes it to miss the mask. This is quickly revealed to be because of Hahli using her elemental water powers, just as she and Ducky arrive on the scene. While Ducky checks on Ruby and finds out from Cera what has been going on, Hahli and Hydraxon briefly battle over the Mask of Life, only to accidentally send it right into the hands of Mantax. Hahli and Hydraxon try to go after him, but find out the hard way that the mask has cursed him by him absorbing the life force of anyone who gets too close. Mantax embraces the curse and demands to those around to inform the other Barraki to meet him at the Razor Whale's Teeth the next day, where he would lay out his terms for a deal. Mantax then departs, and Hydraxon, after discovering that Nocturn had fled during the conflict, also leaves.

The rest of the Toa and the gang (including Littlefoot, Matoro, and Maxilos/Makuta) soon arrive and hear from the others what had happened. Ruby has fully recovered by this time, and she ends up giving a very uneasy apology to everyone for trying to run off with the Mask of Life on her own. Cera claims it'll take much more than an apology to earn her forgiveness, and Littlefoot reluctantly agrees. The group soon agrees on a plan: The meeting of the Barraki will be their chance to take back the mask, but first the Toa must gather the Matoran of Mahri Nui and guide them up the cord to the safety of the underground caves of Voya Nui. That way, once the cord would be destroyed, no innocent lives would be lost. But since it would likely be a very dangerous mission, the gang agree to stay behind and spend the night hidden away in a small cave.

That night, Littlefoot has a dream where, somehow, he finds himself alongside Zaktan inside a fortress that is under attack. Zaktan tells the young longneck that there's a hidden room they must find before the fort is overrun. They soon manage to find this secret room and discover strange markings all over the walls. Zaktan soon manages to activate a mechanism that rearranges the markings into text. Littlefoot can't understand what any of it says, but Zaktan reveals that it's a complete description of Makuta's plan for taking over the Matoran universe, with the most startling part being that letting the Toa Nuva awaken Mata Nui will somehow allow Makuta to win. Zaktan decides to use this knowledge to his advantage, so he quickly destroys all the surrounding evidence. To be extra sure, Zaktan decides to also get rid of the only other person aware of this room and its knowledge, Littlefoot. The instant he is struck down is when the dream ends.

The next morning, the gang emerge from the small cave and meet up with the Toa Mahri just as they return from their mission, assuring the young dinosaurs that the Matoran of both Mahri Nui and Voya Nui will be safe. Almost immediately, the battle between the Toa and the Barraki begins. While most of the heroes keep the other Barraki occupied, Jaller, Matoro, Litttlefoot, and Ruby go for the Mask of Life. At one point, Ruby manages to grab onto the mask. Now caught in the middle of a battle between the Toa, Barraki, Hydraxon, and Maxilos/Makuta, Ruby ends up taking a beating, but thanks to the mask's curse on her, any injury she suffers is quickly healed. Unlike the first time, Ruby understands very well what's at stake, so she doesn't hesitate to pass the mask to Matoro, and the heroes quickly flee the scene, with Maxilos/Makuta suspiciously choosing not to follow.

Along the way back to the now abandoned Mahri Nui, Jaller reveals to Matoro (along with the gang) that when Kongu had used his mask power on the Mask of Life back during the battle with Vezon, he discovered that the mask wanted Matoro to be the one to hold it, which explains why he's the only one to not be cursed by touching it, though no one is quite sure why it chose him over everyone else.

Finally, the Toa Mahri fire their Cordak Blasters at the cord, completely destroying it and causing Voya Nui to sink beneath the waves, crush Mahri Nui underneath, and then somehow start speeding away towards some unknown destination. The Toa and the gang quickly swim after it, but the Barraki and their armies are also in hot pursuit. Matoro leads the group, due to the Mask of Life pulling him ahead, but then the mask suddenly stops glowing and comes to a stop. Matoro quickly realizes that this means they are too late, and the Great Spirit, Mata Nui, has died.

Despite everyone's sadness at this apparent failure, Matoro refuses to give up, and is convinced that there might be a way he can revive Mata Nui. With the Barraki and their armies quickly closing in, the rest of the Toa decide to stay and fight them off, despite the impossible odds, to buy Matoro time. In addition, the gang decide to follow behind Matoro and serve as a last line of defense. They know that if the Barraki defeated the Toa and reached them before getting to the mask, they wouldn't last for more than only a few seconds, but those precious few seconds may be all Matoro would need. So Matoro quickly takes off after the still moving island of Voya Nui, the other Toa stand their ground, and the gang follow Matoro as quickly as they can. Before long, the gang loses sight of not only the Toa behind, but also Matoro ahead, and they soon witness Voya Nui settle into a mysteriously vast hole in the ocean floor.

For a moment, the gang is left unsure of what to do next, but then are suddenly teleported to a place they had never seen before: the city of Metru Nui, the original home of the Matoran they had met back in the first story. This means they're now on dry land, and have regained the ability to breathe air again. Not far away, they find the other Toa Mahri have also been somehow teleported to the city, but the celebration is cut short when they realize that Matoro is missing. They group is soon approached by Turaga Vakama, who reveals he just had a vision showing him what happened to Matoro: Matoro had fallen into the massive cavern beneath where Voya Nui belonged and put on the Mask of Life, thus sacrificing his life force to revive Mata Nui. Matoro accepted his fate, but not before committing one last act of kindness by asking the mask to send the Toa and the gang safely back to Metru Nui. The group is devastated by the loss of their friend, especially Ruby due to her particular closeness to him, but they all understand that it was done to save the entire Matoran universe. Vakama invites them to attend a ceremony in honor of Matoro.

Later, the gang finally reunites with their old friend Takua, who had since become Takanuva, the Toa of Light. After some time passes, Takanuva is suddenly attacked but some strange small creature that starts draining the light within him, but it only absorbs half of his light by the time he manages to destroy it.

With the gang looking helplessly at the unconscious and slightly altered Takanuva, they are soon met by a mysterious Toa of Water and a now reformed Brutaka. As they carry Takanuva to a safe place, the Toa reveals to the gang that the powers of the Energy Stones they had found in their world are now a part of them, and they each have elemental powers almost as powerful as those of a Toa. Chomper controls earth, Spike controls stone, Ruby controls ice, Petrie controls air, Ducky controls water, Cera controls fire, and Littlefoot controls light.

The gang are surprised to find out about this, and the Toa is surprised they didn't know about this already. She tells them that their world will soon be in great danger, and only they would have the power to save it. But first, they would need to learn to master their new powers, so she sends them, via Brutaka's Mask of Dimensional Gates, to Karda Nui, a massive cavern at the center of the Matoran universe where the Toa Nuva are battling against the Brotherhood of Makuta (revealing to the gang that there's more than one Makuta) in the final effort to awaken Mata Nui. The gang is hesitant at first, but eventually agree to go once the Water Toa assures them that Takanuva will soon follow them.

The gang arrive in the last free village in Karda Nui, where they meet the Toa Nuva (now with new armor) and some of the few remaining free Matoran who live here. After some discussion, the group agrees to split up. Cera, Ducky, and Spike go with Tahu (Toa of Fire), Gali (Toa of Water), and Onua (Toa of Earth) down into the swamp at the bottom of the flooded cavern to retrieve the Mask of Life, while Littlefoot, Petrie, Chomper, and Ruby go with Kopaka (Toa of Ice), Pohatu (Toa of Stone), and Lewa (Toa of Air) to stay up in the high-elevation village to fight the invading Makuta.


(By this point, I've since forgotten many details that I had thought of for this story. Just as well, considering how long this description seems to be taking.)


Littlefoot's group battles against five Makuta (Antroz, Vamprah, Chirox, Mutran, and Icarax), recover some mysterious artifacts known as Keystone pieces, and are joined by a mysterious mute Toa. Littlefoot and Ruby quickly befriend this strange Toa, who the group soon realizes has elemental powers over life and happens to be wearing the Mask of Life itself. This Toa is literally the embodiment of the Mask of Life. After a series of battles, Icarax is captured while the rest of the Makuta escape down to the swamp to regroup with the other Makuta down there. The group of heroes decide to go after them, while the Mask/Toa of Life stays behind to guard their captive.

Down in the swamp, Cera's group splits up to cover more ground in their search for the Mask of Life, unaware that it had already left on its own. Ducky goes with Gali, Spike goes with Onua, and Cera goes with Tahu. As they battle against three more Makuta (Krika, Bitil, and Gorast), they discover the rest of the Keystone pieces, despite not knowing what they're for, and find a mysterious large structure known as the Codrex.

A large battle breaks out when both groups of both the heroes and the Makuta come together in the swamp. Eventually, things calm down enough for the group of heroes to be joined by Takanuva (finally arriving much later than intended) and the Mask/Toa of Life. Takanuva delivers a message that when Mata Nui awakens, Karda Nui will be engulfed by massive energy storms that will kill everything in the area. In addition, the Mask/Toa of Life (now barely capable of speaking) reveals that it had heard from Icarax that the Mask had become silver instead of gold because it was undergoing a countdown which, when complete, would drain away all life in the Matoran universe, and the only way to stop it was to get the Makuta out of Karda Nui. Despite all this dire news, Ruby takes the opportunity to ask the Mask/Toa of Life for its name and receives the answer "Ignika".

The Toa and the gang eventually figure out what needs to be done to awaken Mata Nui. Using the Keystone pieces, they gain entry into the Codrex, where they find three vehicles and the site from where the Great Spirit Mata Nui must be awakened. After even more battles, Takanuva finds a way to restore his full light powers and free all of the Matoran before warning them to leave before the energy storms strike, Toa Ignika agrees to sacrifice himself (like Matoro) to awaken Mata Nui, and the Toa and the gang barely escape from Karda Nui on those three vehicles, leaving behind the Makuta to be destroyed in the energy storms.

The heroes later gather in Metru Nui to celebrate the revival and awakening of Mata Nui, but the ceremony is cut short by Makuta himself, who reveals that he has taken control of Mata Nui's body, which also happens to be the entire Matoran universe itself, and that Mata Nui's mind and spirit had been forced into the Mask of Life, which was then shot out from the universe, beyond any hope of recovery.

After a few days of barely surviving the merciless and now godlike Makuta, the gang begin to loose hope they'll ever find a way home, until they suddenly receive help from the most unlikely of beings: Vezon wearing a Mask of Dimensional Gates. The gang eventually reluctantly decide to use him to get home, figuring that any place would be better than what had become of the Matoran universe. Not to mention, there was nothing left for them to do in the Matoran universe, and their home world needed them for some reason. (Now here's the part that would've become my favorite chapter of all: "Walking Between Worlds") However, Vezon has no control over that mask power, so he ends up taking to gang to many random locations, including a face-to-face encounter with Makuta in the giant robot body formerly occupied by Mata Nui. At one point, they even arrive in an alternate universe where Littlefoot's mother is still alive, and the gang has to convince Littlefoot that the longneck is the other Littlefoot's mother and not his mother before they continue on their way. Finally, they arrive at a desert landscape for the third time, but due to a minor mishap, Vezon unintentionally departs for another location without the gang, leaving them stranded in a world completely unknown to them.


There's still much more to the story, but I'm running out of time now, so I'll continue this summary whenever I can get a chance.

[The Chronicler]

To continue where I left off with my summary...


The gang wanders across the seemingly endless desert for quite a while before they finally find something, which turns out to be nothing more than a twisted piece of seemingly useless scrap metal. However, a blue Matoran-like being suddenly runs up to them and grabs the piece of junk. After a rather awkward confrontation, the gang introduce themselves to new arrival, who then introduces himself as Berix, a Water Agori from the village of Tajun. The gang soon realize that, although Matoran and Agori are both biomechanical beings, Matoran are mostly mechanical, while Agori are mostly biological. In addition, Agori don't need to wear masks for survival like Matoran do, but instead wear helmets for nothing more than simple protection. When the gang asks why Berix wanted that piece of scrap metal so desperately, he admits that he likes to collect all kinds of scrap and junk he can find, since there's not a lot of resources to go around in this world, known as Bara Magna. However, his collecting habits have given him a false reputation of being a thief, explaining why he's usually on his own. The gang can't help but see a number of similarities between him and their old friend Takua, so they decide to become friends with Berix and stay with him, despite his poor reputation. The gang also quietly agree to not reveal to anyone on this world about the elemental powers given to them by the Energy Stones.

It's not long before Berix and the gang are suddenly being chased by savage thieves known as Bone Hunters, but they are soon rescued by three Toa-like beings known as Glatorian. Unlike Toa, Glatorian have no mask or elemental powers, so they fight using only their weapons and agility. After chasing off the Bone Hunters, the three Glatorian (Gresh from the jungle village of Tesara, Tarix from the water village of Tajun, and Strakk from the ice village of Iconox) escort Berix and the gang to the nearest village and explain to the newly-arrived gang how things work on the desert world of Bara Magna. With virtually every imaginable resource in scarce supply, disputes between the villages frequently break out, and the best solution is to have each village hire a Glatorian to fight in an arena until one opponent concedes, with the winner of the match winning the dispute for their village. The gang is naturally shocked that the people of this world live such a brutal lifestyle, but with the only alternative to such disputes being all out warfare, they reluctantly decide to not do anything about it. Lately, however, a race of warriors known as the Skrall have been dominating in the arena, and after watching Gresh lose to one of them, the gang sees just how tough they really are.

Some time later, Berix and the gang travel to Atero (the only city on all of Bara Magna) to watch the annual Great Tournament, where Glatorian from every village gathers to compete and see who is the best in the arena. While there, the gang also meet and befriend Raanu, a Fire Agori and leader of the fire village of Vulcanus, and Metus, an Ice Agori who recruits Glatorian to fight for whatever village is willing spend the most for their services. They also become acquainted with some other Glatorian: Ackar from the fire village, Kiina from the water village, and Vastus from the jungle village. Once the tournament begins, everyone is confused by the absence of the Skrall. It's not long before that confusion turns to panic as a massive army of Skrall quickly invade the city. The gang and all the Agori and Glatorian they know are able to escape alive while the Skrall destroy the city.

More time passes, and while the gang have been staying with Berix in Tajun, the Glatorian system has remained unchanged, despite the advance of the Skrall. One day, a former Ice Glatorian, Gelu, arrives and reveals troubling news regarding the village of Vulcanus. Although Berix chooses to stay in Tajun, the gang decides to travel to Vulcanus with Gelu, Metus, and Gresh to see how they can help. When they arrive, Gelu shows Raanu a map of the village he had found with a Bone Hunter, suggesting that an attack on the village would be very likely very soon. The gang do what little they can to help strengthen the village's defenses, and when the Bone Hunters finally attack, the Glatorian are barely able to fight them off.

Although the village is safe, the gang's friendship is strained due to Littlefoot's continued reluctance to let any of the Bara Magna natives know about their elemental powers. Once the battle is over, the gang go their separate ways. Chomper and Ruby return to Tajun to continue staying with Berix. Ducky, Petrie, and Spike head for Tesara, figuring that the jungle environment of that village would be the closest they would ever get to returning home. Cera stays in Vulcanus to watch an upcoming match between Ackar and Strakk. And at Metus's request, Littlefoot agrees to travel with him for a little while. As they travel, Metus asks Littlefoot about what makes his group of friends so special, and after Metus promises to keep the conversation strictly between the two of them, Littlefoot agrees to tell him everything, including their elemental powers granted to them by the Energy Stones.

Later, as Littlefoot and Metus are on their way back to Vulcanus, they see an object fall from space and decide to investigate. When they arrive at the crash site, they find a mysterious yellow Glatorian who neither of them had seen before. When the Glatorian introduces himself as Mata Nui, Littlefoot is astonished and quickly realizes that the "helmet" he's wearing is actually the Mask of Life, but he barely manages to hide his shock and is careful to not reveal too much about what he already knows as the three of them travel to Vulcanus.

They arrive at the arena and watch the fight between Ackar and Strakk. At the same time, Littlefoot reunites with Cera, who is then just as shocked as he was that the new Glatorian with them is Mata Nui himself. When Strakk starts to fight dirty, Mata Nui suddenly jumps into the arena and fights in Ackar's place. During the fight, Mata Nui accidentally touches a small blade to his mask, causing the blade to somehow transform into a large sword, allowing him to win against Strakk. As the Glatorian depart, Metus considers what a great Glatorian Mata Nui would be, so Littlefoot and Cera (both realizing how absurd that would actually be) decide to follow him.

When they meet up with Mata Nui and Ackar, Mata Nui immediately refuses Metus's offer without any hesitation, so the Ice Agori quickly leaves. When Mata Nui reveals his otherworldly origins, Ackar, Littlefoot, and Cera agree to help him return to his home. Kiina suddenly arrives and also agrees to help by taking them all to Tajun, on the condition that Mata Nui takes her with him to his home world. Along the way, they consider the possibility that the Skrall have become so strong because a traitor has been giving them valuable information.

They arrive at Tajun only to discover that it has been attacked, although the villagers appeared to have safely gotten away. They soon find Ruby, who takes them to an injured Gresh. After making the shocking discovery that the village has been overrun by both Skrall and Bone Hunters working together, the group then takes refuge in a hidden underground place, where they bump into Chomper and Berix. Kiina is not happy to see Berix, but reluctantly holds back her anger. While Berix and Chomper help treat Gresh's injury, the others explore the rest of the place and soon discover that the Great Beings, Mata Nui's creators, had been here before.

Once the Skrall and Bone Hunters leave the ruined village, the group leaves the hideout and prepare to head for the nearest village, Tesara, to warn everyone about the new combined threat. Before they depart, Ackar wonders if Mata Nui could use his mask to improve their weapons, like he did with his own. He first tries Ackar's sword, who is then surprised to see that it has now given him elemental power over fire. Mata Nui does the same with Kiina and Gresh's weapons, respectively giving them water and air powers. With the Glatorian now possessing such incredible power, Littlefoot finally agrees to finally reveal the elemental powers that he and his friends have possessed during their time on Bara Magna.

The group arrives at Tesara, where a Glatorian match is taking place between Tarix and Vastus. Ackar swiftly interrupts the fight and reveals the real threat to all of them is the combined forces of Skrall and Bone Hunters. All the Glatorian and Agori decide to put their differences aside and unite to defend themselves. In addition, the gang (now finally completely reunited) also agree to help out in any way they can.

The next day, Metus tells everyone that Kiina, Berix, and Chomper have been captured by the Skrall. Raanu argues that it's a trap to lure the Glatorian away from the village to make it more vulnerable, so Mata Nui decides to rescue them alone. At the Skrall village, Chomper, Berix, and Kiina are locked up inside a cage and can only watch as Mata Nui arrives, challenges the Skrall leader Tuma to a one-on-one battle, and miraculously manages to win. The victory is short-lived when Metus suddenly steps forward to reveal himself as the traitor, who told the Skrall all about the abilities of every Glatorian (plus the gang's elemental powers), convinced them to join forces with the Bone Hunters, and made him their leader in the event of Tuma's fall.

It's not long before the rest of the heroes arrive to fight off the Skrall and Bone Hunters. Metus tries to escape, but Mata Nui catches him and uses the Mask of Life to turn him into a snake. Soon after, the combined powers of all the heroes are too much for the Skrall and Bone Hunters, who are left with no choice but to flee.

Later, the Agori decide to symbolize their newfound unity by dragging the shelters from all the villages together to one location. The gang watches alongside Mata Nui, Ackar, Kiina, Gresh, and Berix as the massive shelters come together, and all are surprised to see them form the body of a giant robot, not much different from the one Mata Nui used to have. Mata Nui reveals that what they have witnessed is only the beginning of what they must do.

Some time later, Mata Nui admits that his destiny is to reform the world of Spherus Magna, which had fragmented long ago into Bara Magna and it's two moons. In addition, he is also well aware that Makuta will soon find and destroy him, so he needs to be ready for his arrival. First, he journey's north to find and recover a power source for the reassembled giant robot. Once he get's that done, he has to persuade the villages leaders to abandon their combined shelters so that he could take control of the giant. Raanu and the other village leaders eventually agree. After the gang and the others give him a final wish of good luck, Mata Nui enters the giant and removes the Mask of Life, dissolving his Glatorian body and allowing his mind and spirit to take possession of the giant. He then begins the process of drawing the two moons back towards Bara Magna, but it's not long until Makuta (in possession of the entire Matoran universe within his giant robot body) finally arrives.

As Makuta battles with Mata Nui, he unleashes a massive army of Rahkshi on Bara Magna, who are quickly joined by Piraka and Skrall. The gang fights alongside both Glatorian and Toa and do whatever they can to win. It's not long before Tahu is granted a set of golden armor by the Mask of Life, but before he can grab it, the pieces are suddenly scattered across the land. The heroes race to retrieve all the pieces of the golden armor, and once Tahu puts them on, all of the Rahkshi are swiftly vanquished. This leaves Makuta stunned, just long enough for Mata Nui to shove him back into one of the incoming moons, which slams into the back of his head, killing Makuta once and for all.

After the now lifeless shell of the Matoran universe falls, the gang rushes over and are relieved to discover that all of their Matoran friends are okay. With the battle now over and all three fragments of Spherus Magna finally fused back together, Mata Nui uses the last of his energy to restore the world back to its former glory. Everyone is awed at seeing such a wonderful paradise rise up from the sands of the desert, but then everyone grows worried as they witness the giant form of Mata Nui turn to dust. They rush over to where he stood and find nothing left except for the Mask of Life. From within the mask, Mata Nui tells everyone that he restored this world for its natives and his people to peacefully coexist, and now that his duty was done, it was now time to him to sleep within the mask for the foreseeable future. He reveals that as he restored Spherus Magna, he had also opened a dimensional gateway within the underground place at Tajun, which would take the gang back to their home world and close only once all seven of them had passed through. Finally, he gives everyone one final mission: find the Great Beings and let them know that Spherus Magna had been reformed. And with one last goodbye, Mata Nui and the Mask of Life fall silent.

Later, the gang and all of the friends they had made are gathered in front of the dimensional gate. Matoran, Toa, Turaga, Agori, and Glatorian say their final goodbyes to the gang and wish them good luck in their next adventure. Finally, the gang step through the gateway, which automatically closes once they're through, and find themselves back in the Great Valley, where they are happily reunited with their families.

Later that day, they return to where they had left the Energy Stones and discover they have now been reduced to just useless rocks. The gang quickly realizes they still have their elemental powers and wonder what awaits them next. In the epilogue, a week has past since they returned home, and the gang follow an instinct from a dream they all had and enter a certain mysterious cave entrance they had never seen before.


And that's it for how the rest of this story would have gone. You know, now that I've finally got it all out, I'm realizing just how ridiculous this whole idea really was. Regardless, I understand there were at least some people who found this story and the first one to be interesting, so I'll also write some brief summaries of all the additional sequels I had also planned to write (once I can find the time to do so, of course).