The Fight for Gundaru Nui - Chapter 11

Zakita flinched as a narrow beam of light shot past him, nearly hitting his jetpack.  Behind him were two of what Zakita was sure were the most hideous creatures he had ever seen, and both of them were trying to eliminate him.
It didn’t make it any easier that he was airborne.  Sure, he could move a lot faster in the air than he ever could on the ground.  But, as it turned out, so could these ugly things, and they were just as deadly in flight as they had been on foot.
He stole a glance over his shoulder just in time to catch a glimpse of a brightly glowing ball of plasma before it engulfed him.  He directed a strong wind at the plasma, sending a wave of hot ionized gas back at the creatures.  They banked around the redirected attack and continued their pursuit of the Toa of Air.
Zakita cursed.  If he had been on the ground he would have been able to defeat these creatures a long time ago.  However, because his jetpack was powered by his thoughts, he had to constantly think about it to keep it running.  He didn’t dare try to do anything drastic with his elemental powers, for fear it might break his concentration and send him plummeting to the streets below.  He may have survived his last fall, but he didn’t want to take any chances.
His was violently pulled from his thoughts when he felt a searing pain in his left leg, causing him to yell in pain and surprise.  He looked down and was horrified to see his leg engulfed by a jet of plasma.  He forced a massive amount air through his jetpack, giving him a burst of acceleration that carried him well out of range of the creatures.
Zakita flew down close to the roof of a large domed building and deactivated his jetpack.  Hitting the roof, he rolled before he collapsed in exhaustion.  He took deep breaths for a bit before getting no his feet.  Although he had outdistanced them considerably, Zakita knew that it wouldn’t be long before the strange creatures caught up with him.  He looked back in the direction he had come from, and sure enough he saw the two creatures coming at him at high speed.  Before they could get off a shot at him, he activated his Mask of Density, decreasing his molecular density until he passed through the roof he was standing on and into the interior of the dome.
As soon as he had passed through the ceiling, Zakita deactivated his mask power.  He allowed gravity to pull him for a few seconds as he got his bearings.  The building turned out to be a large sports arena.  Zakita remembered coming here a few times with his friends for pick-up games Kohlii. As he activated his jetpack he was vaguely aware of Matoran shouting in surprise upon noticing him.  He flew right at the wall of the complex and became intangible again as he passed through it.  Once outside, he shot off towards the Toa headquarters.  Looking over his shoulder, he saw the creatures on the roof of the sports complex.  He laughed out loud at his clever trick.
Unfortunately, the creatures heard him, and they immediately took flight.  Zakita cursed as he increased his speed and dove towards the streets, hoping to lose them in the streets of Gundaru Nui.
* * * *
“Hey,” called Hedak nervously as he entered the Toa’s outdoor training area.  “Has anybody seen Trelex?  I haven’t seen him for hours.”  He cautiously glanced back and forth, scanning the place for any sign of the orange and yellow Toa.
The other Toa turned to the Toa of Sonics.  Tanire smiled.  “I never expected I would ever hear you say that, Hedak.  Why would you, of all beings, be looking for Trelex?  Everybody knows that his idea of fun is pranking others, particularly you.”
“That’s what I’m scared of,” he replied, taking another quick look around.  “I haven’t seen Aroda or Zakita either; I’m positive they’re all plotting some elaborate scheme together to make me look like an idiot.”
“You’re getting paranoid, Hedak,” Buna chuckled, although secretly he hoped that the three missing Toa were planning on pranking Hedak.  The Toa of Sonics was so full of himself sometimes that it was nice to be able to laugh at him every now and then.
“Maybe that’s a good thing!” Hedak countered.  “I’ll be ready for them when they –“
“Look out, guys!”  Hedak wheeled to see where the voice had come from.  He recognized the voice as Zakita’s, and he braced himself for the prank that he was sure was about to come.  He waited for the Toa of Air to drop some vile substance on him from the sky, but nothing came.  Instead, Zakita landed amongst the gathered Toa.  He opened his mouth to say something, but Hedak stopped him.
“Don’t you say a word!  I know you guys are up to something!”
Zakita was shocked.  “What the Karzahni are you talking about?” he yelled.  “I just flew around the entire island being chased by two hideous monsters, and this is the welcome I get?”
“I don’t believe you for a second!  I bet Trelex and Aroda are going to charge out at any second dressed up like monsters to scare me!  Well I’m not having any of it!”
Suddenly a laser blast shot past Hedak, barely missing his shoulder.  He yelled in surprise as he wheeled to see where it had come from.  His heartlight skipped a beat as his eyes fell upon two monstrous creatures flying straight at the Toa.  As he looked, one of them, colored red and tan, released a ball of glowing plasma towards the Toa.  They dodged it easily, but it left a huge scorch mark on the ground.  Pronak recovered quickly and fired two wide jets of water back at the creatures.  The red and orange one was able to avoid the attack, but the red and tan was caught off guard.  The powerful impact of the water knocked it out of the sky, and it landed on the ground in a heap.
The surviving creature swooped down and flew straight at Verau.  She summoned a thing vine from the ground that swiped at the creature, but it was too fast for the writhing tendrils.  The creature continued towards her, and its eyes glowed as it prepared to blast the Toa of Plant Life with its deadly laser vision.  Verau was frozen in fear as she faced her demise.  All she saw were the creature’s glowing red eyes.
Suddenly Tanire was in front of her, his mask aglow.  He had activated his Mask of Opportunity, causing his body’s perception of time to slow down and allowing him to move at extreme speed.  In an instant, a ball of energy had formed in his hand and he had thrown it at the creature.  The energy struck the creature dead in the center of its chest.  The creature screeched with the impact as its body began to twist and warp under the effects of Tanire’s power over metal.  Within mere seconds it had been reduced to a large lump of metal that fell to the ground with a dull thud.
Zakita grabbed Hedak and pointed at the defeated creatures.  “Did that look like a prank to you?” he yelled frantically.
“Okay, okay!” Hedak said defensively, “I’m sorry!”
“What were those things?” Sasi asked, tentatively poking the ball of metal with the end of her scythe.
Zakita let go of Hedak and turned to her.  “I have no idea, but Trelex and Aroda are stuck with another one.  We need to go and help them, right now!”
“Okay, let’s go!” Jakorak said.
“I agree!” said Buna.
The rest of the Toa also agreed, and they followed Zakita out of the training area.
* * * *
A lone Ba’aru silently watched the Toa Rukua from an alley outside the Toa headquarters.  When the Toa were out of his sight, he turned his attention to his communication device.
“The rest of the Toa Rukua are on their way to assist their comrades,” he hissed into the device.  “Everything is going according to Makuta Vidaraz’s plan.”