Bionicle G2: New Legends, New Heroes

Chapter 9: By the Sea Shore

"Was it a good idea for us to split up?"

After his spear swatted at a blue Skull Spider, Voriki shrugged at Keela and told her, "Not really, but it's not like we have a choice in the matter."

Down the Region of Water's shoreline, on the sands lit by the setting sun, the Toa of Iron's hammer went THUD atop another Spider. "What about this new Toa?"

"Leave that to-wait a second." Channeling power into his spear, Voriki fired a crackling web of electricity at the crawlers approaching him. Once they were blown away, he continued, "Leave that to Maram. If what I've seen is right, then he can look after Rhem."

"Are you certain?"

"Well..." Voriki withdrew his spear from the sand, "... Maram won't try to attack him."

Keela's silence told Voriki she was satisfied enough. At least, he believed that. It was hard to get a reading on her. Then again, he had his own reasons for splitting up. After what he saw, he wanted to avoid anymore problems by keeping more volatile Toa-namely Kaze-apart.

Keeping focused, Voriki grimaced at the Spiders between him and Keela. "Just where are these bugs coming from?" he grunted in annoyance.

"From the blue color," Keela's hammer clanged three more times on three more targets, "the water, I suppose."

Voriki pushed aside the droll comment with the fourth Spider. "I can do without the humor. And I can handle this myself, you know. You didn't have to come along," he spoke up.

"I thought I should, especially with-" Keela paused to bash a Skull Spider from her foot, "-especially with my protector dropping her fragment here... She must trust yours if she's willing to do that." She paused again to glanced at her feet. "Speaking of trust, catch!"

By the time Voriki whirled around, Keela kicked a Spider towards him. It latched onto his leg, and his eyes widened at the creature. "What-?" he said, distracted enough for the other Skull Spiders to crawl on him. "Hey, get off!"

The Spiders on Voriki's legs were three, then the number increased to five with more crawling up his body. They were already touching Voriki's torso when the Lightning Toa gripped his spear with both transparent hands. "Right! You asked for it!" he growled and channeled the electricity from his hands into his spear.

Again, Voriki stabbed into the ground. Unlike the previous short-ranged fizzle, the burst expanded around him and the surrounding sands, almost blocking out the sun on the horizon. The knowledgeable Keela backed onto a rocky growth on the beach, knocking any incoming Spiders towards the electrical bubble. Voriki, at the center of it, released volts of power against the crawlers on and around him, blowing them all away.

Any remaining Spiders sensibly scurried away back into the water or over the rocks. They didn't even notice a Toa of Iron studying the half-orb dissipate into the air. The irritated Toa of Lightning yanking his spear out of the scorched sand and glared at Keela. "You knew that would happen, didn't you?" he said in his frustration.

Keela shrugged nonchalantly, her lonely eye smiling. "I guessed."

If Voriki had anything to say, it was cut off by a scream. Keela whirled one-eighty agrees, her scope focusing at the source, and shouted, "There's someone over there!"

Voriki already bounded over the rock and past Keela, who rushed behind him.

The further they ran, the more they noticed old wreckage littered across the sands and waters. There, a young Water Okotan scurried her tiny body up the bow of a flipped ship, reaching the top to get away from a blue, scaly tentacle. Seeing the danger, Voriki looked over his shoulder to Keela. "Get to her! I'll hold it off!"