Bionicle: Renewal [Wattys 2017]

Chapter 7: Attack on Toa

A Skull Soldier ran through the halls of the Mask Maker's castle. It had been taken over by Kulta and his minions many years ago. The Skull Soldiers were villagers who had been taken over completely by the Skull Spiders. They were all now completely subservient to Kulta and Makuta's forces. Finally, the Soldier appeared in the brothers throne room. Four figures stood around the pit of molten metal. One of the figures had a gaunt figure and an iron mask covering his face. Two swords sat on his back, with another on his hip. Green armour covered his frame. This was the Skull Slicer. Another figure was a bit shorter than the slicer, but much larger in stature. His legs were bent like a bull, and two horns stuck out of his head. Fur covered many parts of his body. This was the Skull Basher. One of the figures stood in the corner in shadow. The Soldier couldn't see many of his features, but the large antlers let him know that this was Umerak the Hunter, one of Makuta's soldiers of darkness. Finally, there was Kulta, the Skull Grinder. He stood taller than all others in the room, besides Umerak. His skeletal frame was covered by bulky red and black armour, and an iron battle mask equipped with demonic horns sat on his face.
"Master Kulta, the Toa are approaching the city." The Soldier reported. "They got past the Lord of Skull Spiders easily, and they're currently approaching the tomb of wall."
Kulta turned from his place at the forge to look at the Soldier. "These Toa are more powerful than I thought." He said. "Where are they exactly?"
"The outskirts, my master." The Soldier reported. "We have soldiers all over the walls surrounding the city. There's no way they can get in."
"Good." Kulta grinned wickedly. "Back to your station."
The Soldier nodded and ran back to his station. Kulta turned back to the forge. Umerak stepped foreword from the darkness.
"I don't understand why we don't just destroy the Mask of Creation now." He said.
"The forge isn't ready yet." Kulta explained. "In order for the mask to be completely destroyed, the forge must be at its highest temperature. That way, the power can transfer to the Mask of Control."
"I see." Umerak nodded. "How much longer now?"
"A few days at most. The Skull Soldiers should keep the Toa at bay, but just in case..."
He turned to the Skull Slicer. "You. Go back to the Arena. Lure the Toa there and destroy them if they gat past the walls."
The Slicer grinned behind his mask. "Of course, Master." He took off out of the castle while Kulta turned to the Skull Basher.
"And you. Go the Ekimu's tomb. Do not let anyone in." He said. The Basher grunted in agreement and stomped off towards the tomb. Kulta grinned as he held up the Mask of Creation.
"With this out of the way, Makuta will be free to return to this world." He said. "And finally, we shall rule this Island."

Night fell on the city as the Toa found a place to rest. It was a small empty stone building with only one room. It was nearly falling apart, but it looked stable enough to rest in for the night. They each removed their Masks and armour and placed them on the ground. It was cold, so Tahu started a campfire in the centre of the building. It didn't take long for the Toa to fall asleep, but Tahu stayed awake. He looked over at Gali, who was also still awake. He scooted closer to her.
"So... looks like we're gonna have to get used to each other, huh?" He chuckled. Gali noticed him talking to her and smiled.
"I guess so." She said.
"So you control water?" Tahu asked. "That's pretty cool."
"And you control fire." Gali said. "That's also pretty cool."
"I guess we all have something cool about us." Tahu shrugged.
"Yeah, especially Kopaka." Gali sighed. Tahu grimaced and raised an eyebrow. He didn't really like Kopaka that much. "What about him?" He asked.
"Did you see his ice powers?" Gali asked. She was starting to get excited while she was talking. "Maybe our powers can work together. Ice is just frozen water, after all."
"Yeah, maybe." Tahu shrugged. "Well, goodnight."
Gali was about to reply, but Tahu had already walked back over to his sleeping bag. Gali sighed and pulled her own sleeping bag over her shoulders. Seeing as everyone was asleep, she held up her finger to create a ball of water, and sent it at the fire to put it out.

The next morning, the Toa headed out on their journey. Tahu grimaced as he saw Gali walking close to Kopaka. His discomfort was noticed by Lewa, who was flying above them all. He landed next to Tahu and walked next to him.
"You alright, Tahu?" He asked. "You look a little glum."
"I'm fine." Tahu said. "Still a little tired I guess."
"I think we're all a little tired." Lewa complained, cracking his back. "I could barely sleep in that stupid place. I think ended up sleeping on a rock."
Tahu chuckled. "Well, hopefully when we find Ekimu, we can live at his castle or something."
"That would be awesome." Lewa said, placing his hands behind his head. "Man, being a hero has it's perks."
Eventually, they came to a massive wall. They deduced that the wall surrounded the inner city, including the forge of the Mask Makers.There was no entrance they could find. Pohatu tried to break a hole into the wall, but it didn't work. Onua tried to tunnel under it, but the ground was too hard. The only other option was for Lewa to fly over. He jumped into the air and landed on top of the wall.
"Okay, now I just need to get the others over..." He trailed off when he saw a group of figures approaching. Upon looking closer, he saw that they resembled skeletons, and were all wearing dark grey armour. Some were carrying spears, others were carrying swords, and some were carrying bows and arrows.
"Uh oh." Lewa gulped. He jumped back down before the army of skeletons got to the wall.
"Did you find a way for us to get in there?" Gali asked.
"Well... no. But we should probably take cover now." Lewa suggested.
"Why is that?" Onua asked. He got his answer when a blue arrow struck the ground near his feet. The Toa looked up at the top of the wall, where several skeletons had gathered, holding bows and arrows ready to fire.
"That's why." Lewa said.
Kopaka erected an ice shield to protect the Toa as a storm of arrows rained down. "What are those things?" He asked.
"I think that's what happens when a Skull Spider takes over a villager." Tahu assumed.
"Uh... guys?" Gali said. Everyone turned around, seeing more Skull Soldiers clawing their way out of the ground. They began to approach. Kopaka turned to Lewa.
"Can you handle the ones up there?" He asked.
"I can try." Lewa nodded. He flew up away from the ice shield and towards the top of the wall. He managed to take out some of the soldiers, turning the rest of their attentions towards him. One of the soldiers was wearing red face paint smeared over one eye socket. Lewa guessed he was the leader. The leader pulled out a spear and pointed at Lewa, signalling the others to attack him. Luckily, this distracted them from the other Toa below. Kopaka lowered the shield, and the others attacked the soldiers who had just begun to advance. Even more soldiers were coming, digging their way underneath the wall. Kopaka's eyes narrowed as he began to strategize.
"Tahu, Gali, you take the ones behind us." Kopaka said. "Pohatu, get up on the wall and help Lewa." Pohatu nodded and summoned a whirlwind to shoot himself up on top of the wall. Kopaka continued to speak. "Onua, you're with me."
"You got it, Kopaka." Onua nodded. He smashed his hammer into an approaching soldier. Gali and Tahu turned around to face the soldiers approaching from behind, though Tahu wasn't exactly happy to follow Kopaka's orders. He swallowed his pride and attacked the soldiers along with Gali. She summoned a small wave, allowing her to practically surf on the land. Tahu did the same by using his lavaboard to slide on a stream of lava summoned from the ground. They both used their maneuverability and speed to attack the soldiers around them. Suddenly, Tahu looked up and saw a storm of blue glowing arrows coming towards them. He gasped and hopped off the board.
"Gali, look out!" He shouted. She noticed the arrows as well, and sent the wave upwards. Tahu did the same with his lava, creating a wall of obsidian that stopped the arrows in their tracks. Gali sighed in relief while Tahu smirked.
"That was lucky." Gali muttered.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure luck's on my side." Tahu bragged. Gali rolled her eyes and continued to surf towards a group of soldiers. Tahu followed quickly behind her. Meanwhile, Kopaka and Onua fought the oncoming waves of soldiers coming from underneath the wall. Onua laughed as he smacked three of them in separate directions with his shovels.
"These things are no match for us!" He chuckled. Kopaka ignored him as he used his shield to deflect an arrow back to its sender.
"That may be, but there's still quite a few of them." He said. "We can't keep fighting them forever. Well, actually we probably could, but I don't want to."
"The soldiers are digging their way under the wall." Onua said. "Lets try to do the same thing."
Kopaka nodded. He ran over to the wall, where three soldiers had just appeared. They aimed their bows and arrows at him, but he destroyed them all with his spear before they had a chance to fire. He motioned for Onua to come over to the hole.
"We should be able to get under if we make the hole a bit wider." Onua said, brandishing his shovels. He dug the hole wider, managing to get underneath the wall. Realizing the plan worked, Kopaka looked behind him at Gali and Tahu.
"We've found a way under the wall!" He called. Gali was the first to come over, while Tahu was still finishing off a skeleton. Once he was done, they both slipped into the hole. Once they were all under the wall, Onua punched the ceiling, sealing the entrance behind them with dirt and rock.
"They won't be able to get through that." He said.
"Good. Let's go." Kopaka said.
"Wait a sec." Tahu interrupted. "Aren't we forgetting Lewa and Pohatu?"
"Tahu's right. They're still out there." Gali agreed. Tahu smirked at the fact that Gali agreed with him. Kopaka noticed his smirk and sneered, rolling his eyes.
"We'll notify them once we get to the other side." He said, turning around. "Now let's go."
Gali seemed to be satisfied with this explanation. Tahu on the other hand, was starting to get fed up with Kopaka's forced leadership. He decided that the first chance he could find, he'd take the lead.