The Creatures in Darkness

The Creatures in Darkness is the second story in the series 'The Darkness Crime' It takes place in Lakaria, jungle of Tylor-Magna.

Chapter I: Night of watching

Tila, A bo-matoran, Stood on the top of a jungle mountain, Looking down at the village Palkar, strange things had been happening at her village. Smiths at the village, Who'd make their weapons from a hard type of vines called vinesteel, made weapons and armour, Came back to them the next day, and they had been eaten away! And it was unlike Vinesteel to decay. As she thought about this, Another matoran called Juma came up the mountain, "Hello Tila, Thought of any new theory for this mystery?" Said Juma "Yes actually i have, What if it isn't a natural cause? What if it's a creature doing it?" Replied Tila, "Hmm i have a plan..What if try and catch this "Creature", tonight?" said Juma, "Ok let's go." Tila said, And they climbed down to Palkar. When they got there Tila asked one of the smiths to Make a vinesteel sword for them, at first he was reluctant, Saying that it would just be eaten, But he soon then said yes (Mainly because Juma offered more widgets), So that night, Tila and Juma were watching the sword from the shadows, So if it was a creature, it wouldn't see them. They had been waiting for one and a half hours and there had been nothing, But as it became midnight, Tila spotted something, Like a dark greenish snake, "Whats that?" Whispered Tila, "I don't know," Juma replied "it looks like a tree serpent, But it looks so much...Worse." Replied Juma, As he finished speaking, The serpent-like creature climbed the anvil on which the sword was lying, The two matoran gasped, As the creature started eating the sword! "Is it me, or is it getting bigger?" Tila said, "Yes, it's getting bigger alright, We'd better warn the village leader tomorrow." Juma said as they crept away.

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The next day, Tila and Juma rushed to the leaders house to tell him of the reason the weapons were being eaten, When they got there, Fenara, The villages leader, was praying at the Living tree, Which was at the center of Lakaria, the jungle of Tylor magna, Fenara turned, "Ah, Tila, Juma, What news do you bring?" Said Fenara, "We know what destroying the Armor and weapons! Well sort of, Tila, You can explain better." Juma said, So Tila told Fenara what happen the night before, "Hmm..Yes very interesting, Did you see which way this serpent came from?" "Yes, The south gate" Replied Juma. "Right, i will send two toa to root out the source of the creatures you speak of, And with luck they will find the source and destroy it." and so, Fenara picked the toa to search. Gtara, A toa of plantlife, and Konaro, A toa of earth, and at dusk, The two toa headed south.

Two hours had passed and they had found nothing,  even with Gtara's mask of life detection. "Let set up camp here." When they had finished setting up camp and were sitting around the fire, They saw a massive flash and a short while after, a sound like an explosion. "What in Tylor's name was that?!" yelled Konaro, "It came from over there!" Said Gtara as he pointed west, They ran west to find a semi-large crater with fire all around, Gtara used his power to overgrow the fire and put it out, When the smoke cleared, They saw a yellow and grey figure lying at the bottom of the crater. "Gtara, use your mask, see if he's alive." Said Konaro, As Gtara used his mask power, "Yes, he's alive, Barely." Said Gtara, And then, The figure stirred, And one of his eyes opened, And the figure said "Oh hello, Where am i?" Before falling unconcious again, "better take him back to the camp," When they got back to the camp, They put the unconcious figure onto a vineleaf  bedroll, As Konaro looked at him, He suddenly thought "Hey, Gtara, What element would a yellow toa be?" He said, Gtara replied "How do you know it's a toa? He could be something else, but if by chance he is a Toa.... I don't know, Toa of stone are sometimes yellow, i guess." "He may be a Toa of stone, but there is no way to tell yet, i'll guard the camp, You get some sleep,"

Chapter II: The darkness

One black serpent slithered toward a cave, But the serpent knew it wasn't just a cave, It was where the master serpent was.

The next morning, Gtara woke up to find Konaro alseep on the floor, And the yellow 'Toa', Had gone! Gtara got up quickly and looked around, And as he just saw a glimpse of yellow, suddenly he couldn't breath! He dropped to the floor, But then, suddenly found he could breath again, Then the yellow 'Toa' came up to him and said "Awfully sorry about that, My power seems to be a bit off." The Gtara then said, 'Who are you and where did you come from?" rising to his feet "The first question i can answer, The second i'm afraid not, But back to the point, I am Xenius, Toa of gas." Gtara then said, "A toa of gas? There've not been any Toa of gas on Tylor magna for 100'000 Years!" "Tylor magna, Tylor magna..... Somehow i know that name. And trust me, i mean no harm to you." Said Xenius, "Hmm...Why should i trust you?' Said Gtara "After all, you did attack me." "Well, since i crashed into the ground at considerably high speed, "Xenius said making hand gestures whilst talking "My power core may have been damaged, Making my power over gases not as responsive as i'd want it too be." Gtara then stared at him for a long while, And then said "You're not biomechanical? What are you?" "As i said, I am a Toa of gas, But i can't seem to remember why i'm not fully biomechanical." Xenius replied "But lets not worry about what i am or who i am, What are you doing out here?" And Gtara told him about the So called 'Shadow serpents' and the weapons being eaten. After Gtara explained, Xenius said "Well, That seems like two scenarios, It's just coincedence, and they may go away after awhile, Or someone, Or something is sending them," Gtara Thought about this. After a long while he said "If either of those are correct, there will still be a source, And we have to find it." and so they both woke Konaro and Gtara introduced him to Xenius, After the greetings, They started walking west,

In a small inconspicuous cave, Something lurked in the shadows as it looked out of the cave, it thought Well, These toa may come for me, but all they will succeed in doing is causing the destruction of Palkar! The creature laughed and slowly retreated into the cave....

The next morning, The three toa were walking thourgh the jungle with still no luck of finding the source of The Shadow serpents, Gtara was using his mask of life detection, Suddenly he gasped and said "Somethings coming, Something big, the three toa readied their weapons and started making an ambush for whatever was coming, When they had nearly finished the ambush when Gtara yelled "It's Coming closer!" As they were in position, The toa saw the creature, it was a massive, Greeny-black spider-like creature with razer sharp metallic pincers, it charged through the ambush the toa set, And suddenly stopped, Turned, It saw the toa and roared, and then it charged at the toa, As the toa started running, Konaro said "Any plans for deafeating this thing?" as he ducked under a low branch, Then Xenius said "Yes, In fact, I do have a plan, Gtara and i can do it, I spray it with gas so it can't breath, Then Gtara makes a sphere of plants to knock it out!" So the toa stopped and turned to the monster,  And As it got close enough, Xenius yelled "Now!" And Xenius sparyed the creature with an unbreathable gas, But the creature didn't stop at the gas, It only slowed, But it sped up again and bashed Konaro into a tree, Knocking him out, Then the creature turned too where the other two toa were, But they weren't there! The creature looked around, Just as Gtara leaped from a tree, and landed on the back of the creature, He then got out his blade And struck the creatures head with the flat of the blade, That seemed to do nothing but anger the creature, It reared, But for Gtara that was good, He used his power over plantlife to make bindings out of vines, And then Xenius used his power to make all the air around the creature rise up and then slam it back to the ground knocking it out. "perfectly executed Xenius." Said Gtara walking over to him "But have you seen Konaro? i didn't see where he went." Xenius replied "I think he was hit by the creature, I did see something fly over that way." Pointing north. "Lets look around for him, He could be badly hurt." Gtara said. They started running to look for Konaro, Gtara using his mask, And then Xenius saw something over near a tree, It was Konaro! They ran over to him, and Xenius said "Is he alive?" "Yes" replied Gtara "He'll probably come round shortly." They waited a few minutes for Konaro to come round, After three minutes he began to stir, Gtara rushed over to him and said "Konaro! Are you ok?" Konaro said "Yes...I should be able to get up now." Gtara helped Konaro up and then he said "What happened?" "You were kicked by that creature, We've delt with it now." Replied Gtara. "We should get back to searching for the source of these serpents, If more get created, the more danger Palkar is in." Xenius said. So the three of them started walking again.

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They had been walking for about two hours, and found nothing, But then they came to a clearing, As they walking through it, they all spotted something, It was a serpent, about 2 feet long, black and green with bright orange eyes. "That looks like that matches the description that the matoran gave of the serpent that they saw." Whispered Konaro. "lets follow it," Said Xenius "It could lead us to its source," As he said that, the serpent started slithering away into the jungle, And the toa began to follow. The creature was heading south to the Yiala mountain, And the toa continued to follow.

When the serpent got to the foot of the mountain, It turned to a small rocky patch of ground, And to the toa's amazement, it slithered to a flat wall of rock, and went right through it! The toa went over to where the serpent had been. As they looked around, Gtara said "Konaro? Do you think your launcher could blast away that bit of rock the snake went through?" "I'll give it a try, Stand back." Konaro then lined up a shot from his toa tool, Which was a explosive javelin launcher, As Konaro charged up the weapon, the javelin began to spin, Faster and faster. And then it launched the javlin at a extremely fast speed. It hit the stone wall and exploded, When the smoke cleared, It reveled a cave that went deep down into the mountains core, "Well, If this where we need to go, Lets go." Said Gtara. And waiting no longer they headed down into the cave. Gtara looked back at the jungle to notice some smoke to the north. "Konaro! Xenius! Theres smoke coming from the direction of Palkar!" Konaro and Xenius rushed to see what Gtara was talking about, "If that is Palkar, One of us needs to go and see whats happening," Xenius said. Gtara said "I'll go. I've never liked caves" And so Gtara ran off in the direction of Palkar. And Xenius and Konaro headed into the cave...

Chapter III: Siege on Palkar!

Three hours ago....

Fenara was worried. it had been two days since he sent the two toa to find the source of these 'Shadow serpents' And they were still not back. As he was thinking about this, Four matoran came in: A Ta-matoran, A Vo-matoran, An Onu-Matoran, And a Po-Matoran. Fenara turned to looked at them and said "Hmm..? And who might you be?" The ta-matoran answered "I am Casd, The Vo-Matoran is Teesla, The Onu-Matoran is Kor, And the Po-matoran is Nerva." "Casd, Teesla, Kor, And Nerva? Oh yes... you're the matoran that found that Draxtor lair, weren't you?" Fenara asked. "Yes, we are, And we've come here to see about these 'Shadow serpents' And see if we can uncover anything." Said Casd. "Well if you are truly here to help. I will give you the latest information. Six Shadow serpents have been seen over the last three days, More defences have to be made for if a horde of serpents attack, And lastly, And most worringly, Two matoran, Tila and Juma, Went missing last night." Casd thought about this, And then said "One of us could go back to Derata to get reinforces." Then a small while after, There was a sound of an explosion, and matoran screaming. All five of them rushed outside to see a huge hole blasted in the west wall, And about twenty shadow serpents came through it. And also Snake-like bipeds, "By tylor, It is as i feared" Fenara said. "I know what they're here for, The living tree, if that is destoryed, The entire village, and probably a lot of the jungle, Will be destroyed..." All four of the matoran gasped. Then Nerva said "Well, Are we just going to stand around while these monster attack the village? Kor, Teesla, you guard the living tree, Casd, me and you help to fight these serpents!"

Tila woke up on a rough stone floor. All of her limbs ached, She remembered guarding the village, Along with Juma, Then she saw a shadowy figure coming toward them, The next thing, she felt something wrap around her legs, And then everything was blank. she Tried to get up and walk around, But then she found that she was chained to the wall with vinesteel chains. As she struggled to free herself, She heard a grinding voice that said "If i were you, Matoran. I wouldn't try and escape, I can call five angry shadow serpents to devour you, If you can make it out." "Who are you? Show yourself!" Tila demanded. " 'Show myself?' I will show my self. But you may regret it for the rest of your life." And then Tila saw a figure, No, Three figures coming toward her. The one in the middle of the three she presumed was the creature that was speaking before. Then she saw the creature. It was tall and completely black, Apart from it's eyes which were glowing orange, It had double jointed legs and clawed feet, And it's arms, it had two arms, the elbows split off into two smaller arms, "Welcome to my domain, weakling" The creature said "I am Krexsairn, Master of the serpentines." "What do you want with me?" Tila said angrly. Krexsairn replied "Hmm..? What do i want with you......Good question" Then he kneeled down near to Tila and Whispered "I know your destiny, Weakling, And i simply can't let it happen." And with that he said to the two of biped serpents "Take her to the serpent pits, There should be a cage spare" Then he walked of into the darkness. The two others grabbed her and started dragging her to the serpent pits....

Back at Palkar, Things were not going any better than they had been before, The defense of the living tree was holding, But there seemed to be endless amounts of the serpents. Casd was helping as much as he could, He was helping five bo-matoran fight off a bipedel serpent, While Nerva was struggling with four shadow serpents, Then Nerva saw something out of the corner of his eye, A flash of blue and green, Then he saw all the plants around him come to life. Oh great, He thought. Now i'm going to get killed by some lively shrubs. But as the living plants crawled nearer. To Nerva's suprise they started try to pull the serpents off of him. And after a while, they managed get the serpents off. And then he saw a Tall, Blue and green figure running to him and said "Thought you might've needed some help there little one." He said helping him up. "Who are you?" Nerva said. "Gtara, Toa of plantlife, Now whats going on here?" Said Gtara. And Nerva breifly filled him in on what was happening. After hearing it all, Gtara said "The living tree, eh? I never knew it was so powerful. But we'd better get to defending it" So they ran off to help defend the jungle.

Konaro and Xenius were walking through what seemed like a maze. It had been one and a half hours since they found the cave, And more interestingly, They saw carvings on the walls which show of Tylor, Founder of civilization on this planet, Giving what seemed like Toa stones to six matoran, And it showed them stopping some sort of cataclysm caused by something, But the rest of the carving was rubbed away. "What do you make of that, Konaro? Konaro?!" Xenius turned and saw that Konaro was gone! Then he heard a voice like stone againt metal "Well, Xenius, I see you have read the carvings of destiny, But that is forbidden knowledge, You know, So i'm afraid you'll have to be delt with." Then Xenius saw two snake-like bipeds coming toward him, One raised his hand and fired what seemed to be a thorn-vine, Xenius ducked out of the way of the projectile. Being in a very narrow tunnel, it was quite hard move around, But Xenius was a skilled warrior, So as the other creature fired a thorn-vine, Then Xenius leaped behind the creature that fired the projectile, used his power to make sleeping gas around the creature, It coughed, and fell to the floor. While the thorn-vine it had fired planted itself in the other creatures chest, instantly entwining vines around the creature like chains. As it struggled with the vines, Xenius said "Don't like the taste of your own medicine, eh?" And he ran off down the tunnels...

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When Xenius finally got to a opening, He was in awe at what he saw. It was a large, naturally lit cave which was dominated by a large, pulsating crystal. Then he saw one of the bipeds snakes, Which he now knew the names of, They were Crala, According to carvings that he saw. As the Crala came nearer, He saw it was escorting another being, It was hard to make out it's features because of the light, but it seemed like a tall, slightly different version of the Crala, As it came close to a wall near where he was hiding, He could hear him murmering to himself "Matoran, Pah! when the living tree is destroyed all of them will bow to me!" Then the creature slowy walked off. Xenius thought The living tree? I've never heard of that, But it seems it will do something bad. Then when the creature was out of the room. He slowly crept round the room, Then he saw a cocoon, he crept up to it, Sliced a bit of the vine cocoon, and inside he saw a familiar mask, It was Konaro! He quickly cut the vines a quietly as possible, Since the Crala was still in the room. When all the vines had been cut, Konaro dropped to the floor with a rather loud thud, That alerted the Crala, Which instincivly fired five thorn vines at the two toa, Just as Konaro got up, Xenius shouted "Look out!" They both jumped out of the way of the vines, Then they saw the Crala running at them with it claws in front of it's head, It leaped at Xenius and struck him with his tail, Luckily for Xenius it was a glancing blow, So Xenius quickly slashed at the Crala's tail, Chopping it in two. He then noticed that sparks flew from the tail. "It's mechanical!" Said Xenius. "Hmm...i have a plan..." Konaro said, Then he used he power to make a pod made of earth around the Crala. "A little oxygen and heat might help him Xenius" Said Konaro. Xenius smiled, and filled the pod with oxygen, Then a tiny amount of plasma, Then they saw the pod glow brightly and then melt away, All that was left was a small pool of molten protodermis. "It's not about what powers can do friend, It's what they can do with others." Concluded Xenius. And so they walk into the dark tunnels...

Tila thought her end was near, She had been taken to what Krexsairn called the Serpent pit, Which was a long room filled with cage's hanging over pits full of shadow serpents, she was put in one of those cages left there, She looked around, and then saw someone she recgonised. It was Juma! He was in a cage as well, "Tila? Is that you? Do you know where we are?" Said Juma. "Yes, i know where we are. well, sort of, We are in the shadow serpents lair, And i've met the ringleader, And i overheard him saying something about destroying the living tree to build something, But that's all i heard." Replied Tila. "And i think i have a way of getting out of here..." Said Juma. "I have studied the mechansim of these cages, And it apears that they dissolve after a certain amount of time, ergo dropping the things inside into the serpent pits. So when these cages dissolve, We can jump clear of the pits and escape." "Great." Tila said "How long have we got until the cages dissolve?" "About thirty seconds." Juma replied. So they waited Thirty seconds and then Juma shouted "Jump!" And just as he said that the cages dissolved and both the matoran leaped for the walkway in the middle of the room, Tila landed perfectly, She looked round for Juma, Then she saw a pair of hands clinging on to edge of the walkway, She rushed over to find Juma hanging on for dear life, She helped Juma up, And he said "Well, that was close." Then Tila's eyes widened and she said "And so's that!" She saw a Crala running at them at top speed. "Run!" Juma yelled. And they ran off down the corridors. It was quite hard to see in the winding tunnels since the natural light wasn't exactly bright. "I think we've lost him" Said Juma. As they crept along the tunnels, Tila whispered "Hide! Hide! Someone's coming!" They looked around for anywhere to hide, But found nowhere, As the figures came closer, Juma saw who one of them was, Konaro! He quickly said to Tila "It's ok! it's Konaro and someone else!" As Konaro came forward, He spotted both of them and readied his weapon and said "Stop! - Wait, Tila? Juma? What are you two doing here?" Tila and Juma ran to them and Tila told them what had happened. "So this Krexsairn plans to destroy the living tree and build something? Interesting, let me tell you what happen to us and why i'm with old gassy here." So Konaro told Tila and Juma about Xenius, the smoke from Palkar and the massive serpent creature. When he was finished, Tila said "Palkar's in danger? We must go back to help!" Konaro then held up his hand and said "There's no need, we suspect the village has been attacked by the serpents, And Gtara has gone to aid the matoran, So we must fight here and now."

Krexsairn stood in the crystal room waiting for the toa, He knew how he could be defeated, But of course the toa didn't. The Green crystal in the center of the room was a Rahi crystal, Whoever posessed it could control entire armys of rahi. Krexsairn then heard footsteps, Of he presumed, the toa's, When the Toa came into the room, Krexsairn was rather shocked to see they had those two Matoran with them. How could've they escaped? He thought Could they have let them selves free? or did the toa set them free? Then one of the toa said "Right, Krexsairn, We have a score to settle with you!" "Is that so? Is the score my 'Pet' in the jungle?" The yellow toa then said "So it was you who commanded that rahi to attack us?" "Oh yes, and now i might just command those Crala and shadow serpents behind you to attack." The toa and matoran turned to see about thirty-five Crala and shadow serpents, The toa readied their weapons for the battle ahead.

Chapter IV: All reigns come to an end

Casd, Kor, Teesla, and Nerva were fighting a lost fight. The living tree still stood, But most of the houses were burning or completely destoryed, and at most nine matoran had been killed or injured, But the Shadow serpent numbers had been reduced slightly. Gtara was still fighting strong, using his power to entwine the biped serpents in vines and shoot projectile's of vines. But then one of the Biped serpents attacked him by suprise, slashing at him damaging some of the organic tissue inside his armor. Gtara staggered and fell to the floor, On the edge of unconsciousness.

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Teesla and Kor still defended the living tree. Kor using his claw tools to fend off the creatures. Whilst Teesla used her sparksword to stun the them. "Tell you what, i'll never take freelance work again." Kor said as he hit a shadow serpent on the head with the back of his claw. Teesla looked back at the living tree to see one of the biped serpent creeping toward it. the creature raised it's claw. Teesla yelled "No!" But just as the creature was about to hit the tree. it stopped, looked fearful, then ran out of the leaders longhouse, Teesla looked back to see all the serpents were fleeing. she looked to Kor, he shrugged. They looked outside and saw a blue and green figure lying unconsicus. They rushed over to him and Teesla saw he had four large gashes in his side. Teesla said "Kor. Go and find Nerva and Casd, see if they know anything about what just happened, i'll tend to him." She said, pointing at the figure on the ground. So Kor rushed off to look for Casd and Nerva. He finally found them chasing off some of the straggling serpents. "Nerva! Casd! Do you know what happened?" He said running to them. "No, one minute they looked like they had us, the next minute they were running all over the place." Casd replied. Kor thought about this and said "What about that blue and green toa? do you know who he is?" "The toa? That's Gtara, He's a toa of plantlife, Has anything happened to him?" Casd asked. "Four gashes in the side, it looked like they penetrated the armor, Teesla's tending to him now, But we should gather up the bo-matoran and start rebuilding." So the three of them started gathering up all the matoran.

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When Casd Kor and Nerva had finished gathering the matoran. Fenara came up to them and said "You fought bravely you three and Teesla, You may be matoran, But your hearts are of a toa, May your ventures bring you fame, and i bid you farewell." He then turned and started walking away. When the building was underway, One of the matoran guarding shouted "Two matoran and two toa approach!" Fenara walked over to see it was Konaro, Tila, And Juma! But there was also a yellow toa who he did not know. He walked over to them and said "Hail! welcome back. you bring another with you, i see." "Yes. This is Xenius, i will tell all matoran the tale that we have in the longhouse when it's repaired, Actually, What happened here? and what became of Gtara? I was worried when we saw smoke from direction of Palkar." "Gtara has four wounds in his side, Teesla's tending him and he will recover shortly." Fenara replied "And the shadow serpents attacked the village, As you can see it was a rather hard struggle, But an hour ago, All of them creatures fled, And i presumed you had destroyed the source." "Well, sort of, Let me tell you what happened." And Konaro recited the story.

One hour ago...

The Crala and shadow serpents slowy advanced on the toa and matoran. But Konaro was thinking of a plan the entire time, "When i say 'Now' Jump out of the way, i'll do the rest." He whispered to Xenius and the matoran. So when the Crala and shadow serpents were almost upon them. Konaro shouted "Now!" They all leaped and Konaro made a wall made of earth around the Crala and shadow serpents. As Tila and Juma got up, Tila yelled "Look out!" but is was to late, Two vine coils had shot out of the shadows and grabbed both the matoran. Then coming out of the shadow was Krexsairn. He pulled the matoran toward him and said "Any move against me and both of them die. But for me that would only be two less matoran in the way of me building my empire!" His empire eh? Konaro thought. i Think it won't need to many guards. Then he looked over to the wall of earth that he used to block the Crala and serpents amnd saw that one of the Crala had almost dug through it. Konaro Used his power to lower the earth wall and then fired his launcher at the Crala. It Exploded into a shower of sparks and protodermis. Then all of the other Crala and shadow serpents charged toward the toa, Shooting thorn-vines as they ran. Xenius ducked and dived, trying to avoid the projectiles. then one shadow serpent bit his shins, It felt as cold as a grave. He quickly batted it away with the flat of his sword. Then turned to see a Crala, Claw raised ready to strike. Xenius ducked and kicked the Crala's legs, Knocking it off it's feet. Krexsairn watched the chaos unfold and he thought Now they appear to accutally be beating the serpents, I can't let that happen. So he threw Juma and Tila at a wall and charged in, Making six thorn-vine daggers with his power. He ran at Konaro and slashed with three of his armed at blinding speed. Konaro barely avoiding it, He rolled and loaded a fire javlin into his launcher and fired not at Krexsairn, but at the ceiling above him, melting it. The molten stone slowly ran to where Krexsairn was standing. But as he looked down to look at Krexsairn he saw that he was gone! Then he felt a pain in his back and went tumbling toward where the molten stone was. He tried to use his power to make a wall of earth between him and certain death. But his power would not respond. He closed his eyes and braced himself for the inevitable. But no pain came when he hit the molten stone. He opened his eyes to see He was next to the crystal in the middle of the room. He had no time to think about what had happened before three Crala and two shadow serpents were upon him. He quickly got up and load a water javlin into his launcher, Just as he was about to fired it he saw a vine wrap itself round the javlin and crush it, Then he saw Krexsairn walking towards him, daggers at the ready, He said "Time for one last match, Toa." He then threw two daggers in Konaro's direction, He made a wall of earth to block the daggers. One missed the earth wall by an inch and hit a Crala in the arm, It roared in pain and charged at Konaro, He made a hand of earth with his power to hold the Crala in place, That won't hold it for long, but it will do. he thought. He turned to see Krexsairn charge at him with two large shadow serpents flanking him. Krexsairn then lept at Konaro and fire a thorn-vine at him, It hit him in the chest and wrapped vines around him, Krexsairn looked over him and said "Well look here, the almighty toa of earth unable to do anything about his fellow toa whose fighting for his life, and many others, but of course matoran are worthless to me, so he and them can die." He then laughed a spine chilling laugh, and then went to confront Xenius.

Xenius was slashing at a Crala when he saw Krexsairn running at him. He tried to use sleeping gas on Krexsairn, but he lept over it. Krexsairn then tried to kick Xenius in the side. But he ducked out of the way and then thrusted his sword at Krexsairn. It hit him in the left shoulder, rendering that arm useless. As Krexsairn back stepped twice. Xenius saw Konaro struggling with coils of vines around him. He used his power over gas to make the oxygen and hydrogen behind Krexsairn shoot forward, blasting him into a wall. He then noticed all the shadow serpents and Crala gathering round Krexsairn. Right, He thought Now that gives me time to free Konaro. He rushed over to Konaro and used his sword to carfully cut the coils of vines around him, In one minute, he was free. "Quickly! get up! those serpents won't stay around him forever." Xenius said. Then Konaro yelled "Look out!" Xenius looked at where Konaro was pointing and saw fifteen Crala and shadow serpents with Krexsairn running at them. Both of them lept out of the way, and then Konaro load a fragmentation javlin into his launcher and without aiming, fired. The javlin missed one of the Crala by a inch and hit the crystal in the center of the room, And it shattered into a million pieces. Krexsairn then looked at the shattered crystal fragments with fear in his eyes. Because he knew that if the rahi crystal was destroyed, the Shadow serpents would turn against him, He had built the Crala to make sure that if that rahi crystal was destroyed, all the shadow serpents would be killed at once. But they were focused on the toa at this moment, Then he felt the first bite of one of the shadow serpents. He looked down at his body to see it was decaying at a alarming rate, And for the first time, and last, he screamed. The toa were fighting off the Crala when the Crala suddenly stopped fighting, and started running away! The toa were puzzled at why this happened, Then they saw why it had. Where Krexsairn had stood there was a small pile of some sort of dust, and fifteen shadow serpents. five of them bigger than the other ones. Xenius used sleeping gas on them and they slowy stopped aand went to sleep. Xenius looked at them and said "That won't keep them asleep for long, now where are the matoran?" Konaro looked around the room, and then found both of them unconcius near a back wall. He beckoned for Xenius to come over and then he said "We will see if they're alright when he get out of this hell-hole." Xenius nodded and said "I'll carry one you carry the other." So they both picked up Tila and Juma and started out of the cave.

*    *    *

When they got out of the cave. Konaro said "I'll seal the cave off, you see to the Matoran." So Konaro used his power to seal off the cave, After he'ed done that, he went over to Xenius and asked "Are they alright?" "Yes, they will come round shortly, But we should carry them until they do." So they picked them up and started the journey back. "By the way Xenius, was it you who made me avoid that molten stone?" Konaro asked as they walked. "Yes it was, you see,  i can make any gas that i've seen, and once i saw a type of gas that can teleport a being." "Well, thank you friend, thank you."

After Konaro had finished the tale, Fenara said "Well done, you were brave to take on beasts such as those, And Xenius, we may not know where you're from, but you can call Palkar your home." and with that he nodded his head and walked off.

Five weeks later....

By know Palkar had been fully repaired, and blacksmiths were working all day now. Gtara was walking through the village when he saw a ko-matoran running to him, As the matoran approached he said "Got a tablet message for you, Toa, Said it was very urgent." and then the matoran ran off. Gtara read the tablet that said 'Come to Kragmar, need you. -Malloruu' Malloruu? what does he want? well, if it's very important i'll need a team. He thought I know a few toa who can help me. And the toa he knew were of course Konaro and Xenius, But also Jarmara, a toa of psoinics, Retamd, a toa of fire, And Sartig, a toa of lightning. Right, i'll go get them. And without wasting any time he told Xenius about the message, So then they both ran off to get the toa for there team.

Next in the series: Black ice

(Next one is my best so far In my opinion, but you may think it's terrible! which you probably will!)