Hidden Light

Hidden Light is the life story of Seihu.

Note
Seihu's story takes place in a universe identical to the actual canon; therefore it uses some real canon objects, characters, locations, storylines and events. It is pretty much a fanon side-story to the actual canon.

However there are characters that are exclusive to this story.

Prologue
The city of Metru Nui, also known as the City of Legends, was a glorious city and the most functional location in the Matoran Universe.

It holds six districts: Ta-Metru, the fire district; Ga-Metru, the water district; Po-Metru, the stone district; Ko-Metru, the ice district; Le-Metru, the air district; and Onu--Metru, the district of earth.

The city is occupied by villagers known as the Matoran, each belonging to the different districts; defended by warriors known as the Toa; and led by an elder known as a Turaga.

The year is 60,000 BGC, and a certain Matoran was finding his way around the city. He lived in Onu-Metru for a week before traveling throughout other Metrus for many years. He returned to Onu-Metru as the fifth place on his itinerary.

Chapter 1
In the quiet district of Onu-Metru, it was a quiet and dim underground place in the city of Metru Nui, adorned with lightstones as well as layers of the history of the City as thick as the layers of sediment in that district. It was dim and dark, but not scary. There was a sense of warmth, mystery and history teeming from even the stalactites of the region alone.

A just then a Matoran villager was just through with viewing the Archives of the city.

“Well, that was mind-blowing. I never thought I would see that many Rahi and artifacts there. But their story is what got me,” said the Matoran satisfied.

He was an anomaly among the Matoran of that city. Not only because of his armor being dual colored black with white accents instead of the mostly solid colors of Matoran from Ta-,Ga-,Le-, Ko-, Po-, and Onu Metru, and the fact he wore a white powerless Miru but because of his traveler and nomadic attitude. Despite that, the Matoran were mostly accepting of him.

This Matoran had gone from district to district for several years, in a pursuit of him not only seeking to acquire knowledge on the city, but to acquire knowledge on which he is in the group of fellow Matoran. All this villager knew was his name, Seihu.

Seihu lived in Onu-Metru at first, but was eager to see the rest of the city, so he left 3 days after waking up there to discover the rest of the city.

While leaving the underground city, he took inventory of his journey.

“Let’s see where I have been:  I forged tools and masks at Ta-Metru, assisted in building and testing vehicles at Le-Metru, went to Ga-Metru for education, went to Ko-Metru for scholarly studies, and now came back and learned about the history of the city at Onu-Metru. Now, off to Po-Metru, there’s got to be more to learn and do there”.

What Seihu didn’t know was that at the last city on his itinerary, he would discover more than just the district itself…

Chapter 2
Seihu went to the rocky city of Po-Metru. He was amazed by the sculptures and carvings that were decorating a dusty and rocky city. The sounds of hammers and chisels hitting against rocks were so routine that it was almost like an orchestra to him. He was interested in the Po-Matoran making Sculptures at the Fields of Construction.

“These guys are dedicated to their work; I can learn something from them. Why not? I learned a lot from the other Matoran”, though Seihu.

Then Seihu noticed a chisel rolling down and stopping once it tapped his foot.

A Po-Matoran carver asked, “Hey …umm…would you hand me my chisel?”

Seihu crouched down as he picked it up and handed it to him.

“You don’t look like you’re from around here”, the carver observed while tilting his head.

“I travel a lot, although I have lived here in Metru Nui for as long as I can remember, but I have a hard time knowing which place I belong to”, said Seihu.

“Well, now that you’re here and we could use an extra hand” suggested the Po-Matoran, “Are you good with tools?”

“I helped out with making a few tools as well as using them every now and then” nodded Seihu

Seihu worked as an assistant in the fields. He helped with providing the tools and was even taught how to use some of them and carve by his Po-Matoran friend.

A week later at night, he was called to help out with a project that the Po-Matoran were working on in the Sculpture fields.

“The carvings I helped out with at the Fields of Construction are small compared to these,” thought Seihu.

“I would also be careful here if I were you, there are fearsome Rahi around here, like the Catapult Scorpion” warned one of the Po-Matoran.

“What are they like?” asked Seihu.

“That!” yelled the Po-Matoran as it just saw a Catapult Scorpion.

There was the Catapult Scorpion, a black and mostly silver monster that looked like nightmares, fear and violence worked together to make a painting.

“Everybody Run!” yelled a Po-Matoran.

Seihu followed them and ran alongside a Po-Matoran but unfortunately the Po-Matoran tripped. Just when the Po-Matoran was about to be a goner, Seihu looked back and said “I’m not going to lose one of my new pals”, and ran back. He picked up the Po-Matoran and said “I’ll keep it busy, run and this time stay standing as you run.”

The Po-Matoran argued as the scorpion as charging up its stinger tail reading to blast molten lava, “Are you mad? You’re going to get killed”

“Yeah, whether I will or not, all I know is you shouldn’t be. Now go!” countered Seihu.

The Po-Matoran reluctantly ran.

Seihu looked back and courageously approached the creature as it was ready to strike…

Chapter 3
The Catapult scorpion blasted one of the Magma Balls from his tail. Seihu tumbled to his left and rose up with his fists clenched. Just then, the scorpion turned around and kept firing with Seihu sprinting and dodging with acrobatic moves. In one jump, Seihu then landed on a ledge of one of the mountains and ricocheted off of that wall until he unwittingly kicked the Scorpion’s tail with both of his feet after spinning in mid-air. Bending the tail and causing the magma from the Scorpions tail to build up to the point where it caused the tail to explode. Seihu rolled out of the way of the oncoming Magma. The magma spilled on the Scorpion and stung it badly, but it didn’t give up so easily.

The Scorpion lunged at Seihu with its right pincher and Seihu ducked and swayed to the right of the Scorpion and just as the scorpion was turning around, Seihu put his hand on the surface of its pincher as he vaulted over it and delivered a hard kick and punch to the Scorpion’s face until it broke its teeth.

The Scorpion fell and just when it got up, Seihu had his fists clenched. The Catapult Scorpion wasn’t intelligent as it was violent, but it knew that it had to run away. As Seihu turned around he saw faces of Po-Matoran popping out from behind the Sculptures. They looked bewildered, with their eyes as dilated as their jaws. Then their expressions of bewilderment turned into expressions of gratitude.

“Are you okay?” asked another Po-Matoran.

“Yeah barely, that Scorpion almost won” Seihu panted.

The Po-Matoran that Seihu met asked, “How did you know how to fight like that?”

Stunned, Seihu answered, “I don’t know”…

Chapter 4
The day after Seihu was done with his shift at Po-Metru, Seihu went to one of the quietest mountain regions in Po-Metru.

“To think I just beat that Scorpion with my bare hands and feet” looking at his hands and feet.

“I wonder…”

Seihu got some stones and struck some with his hands and feet.

As he did it Seihu responded “Fascinating! With my hands and feet, I can attack with precision, speed and power!”

But Seihu thought, “Maybe there is more that I can learn in terms of my talents. Maybe I should go back to each of the other Metru for physical training as well. Why do I think that? I’m not sure…There could be something there. I learned precision from Po-Metru through carving, so why not? ”

So Seihu went back to the different districts in Metru Nui to engage his body physically as he did mentally.

One of the places we went to was Ga-Metru. There he learned how to swim. Seihu jumped in the water and remembered how some Ga-Matoran did it. He pushed off with his body and moved his arms and feet and took off. He was a fast learner. From doing that, his movements were more fluid and flexible.

Then he went over to Le-Metru, and remembered how he ricocheted from the mountains at Po-Metru, and that gave him an idea. He decided to do some free running and stunts off of the tall buildings and structures of Le-Metru. His movements after that became more wild, light, and swift.

In Onu-Metru, he kept lifting rocks. This helped him with his stamina and body strength, keeping him stable as the earth itself.

In Ko-Metru, Seihu learned how to balance on Ice poles and walk carefully on ice. This helped him with balance and concentration.

He ended his journey at Ta-Metru, where he learned disk throwing and surviving in hot conditions, this built up his courage and balance of power and speed.

After that, Seihu sighed, “Whew that was such a hard workout. I think I may get a feeling of what the Toa have been going through right now.”

After that, Seihu did encounter more dangerous Rahi, like the Muaka, Kane-Ra, and another Catapult Scorpion. This time he fought in a more experienced fashion with his experience through his training and knowledge of the Rahi.

Unfortunately for Seihu, the Rahi were not the only threat he would encounter...

Chapter 5
On his way to the Great Temple for more sightseeing, a wild Stage 3 Rahkshi of Chain Lightning was scaring off some of the Matoran. Seihu was shocked to see what went on.

Seihu read about general information about the Rahkshi, but didn’t know what this particular Rahkshi was or what it wanted.

“What is a Rahkshi doing here at this time?” asked Seihu to himself.

The Rahkshi spotted Seihu and moved towards him.

Seihu built up enough courage to run towards the Rahkshi and challenge it.

“Rahkshi! I don’t know what you’re here for, but I’m going to make sure that you are either going home or going down!” yelled Seihu.

Seihu grabbed the nearest pole he could find and went to attack the Rahkshi. Seihu stood with the metal pole clenched with both hands at his right side. The Rahkshi twirled its staff and tried to hit Seihu on his right with its staff. Seihu blocked it with the metal pole. Seihu kept parrying and dodging the blows, then just as Seihu leapt up, the Rahkshi smacked him with its staff, knocking both Seihu and the pole from his arm.

“Okay, time to do this MY way” Seihu decided as he cracked his knuckles ready to fight the Rahkshi unarmed.

Then it grabbed Seihu by the throat, then Seihu in a desperate move gave a chop to its elbow and as it released him, he delivered a right backfist and left jab and a kick combo. The Rahkshi got angry and furiously attacked Seihu. Then it used its Chain lightning to give Seihu a mild but painful shock. Seihu was physically stunned and could barely stand.

“Oh snap, this one has electric powers,” thought Seihu. “I shouldn’t have used that metal pole. Good thing it didn’t use its powers on that.”

Just when the Rahkshi was about to move in for the kill, a Toa Mangai of Air by the name of Nidhiki swooped in and knocked the staff out of the Rahkshi’s hands and hit it with the blunt end of his Scythe. Before the Rahkshii could pick up its staff, with one swipe from his Scythe, Nidhiki blew the Rahkshi away with a gust of wind.

Seihu was struggling just to get up and a group of Matoran came and picked him up.

Nidhiki looked over his shoulder and walked up to Seihu.

“As heroic as you were, let us Toa handle it next time” smiled Nidhiki as he put his hand on Seihu’s left shoulder.

“Sure thing, Toa Nidhiki” Seihu mumbled with his head down in subtle humiliation…

Just as Nidhiki went away and the rest of the Matoran went on with their duties, Seihu pounded the stony road with his fist in frustration.

“I will never allow myself to lose to that again,” vowed Seihu…

Chapter 6
The failure to destroy the Rahkshi got to Seihu tremendously.

“I can’t believe some fellow Matoran saw me lose to that Rahkshi, and I can’t believe one of the Toa had to save me like that. I’m glad they came no doubt, but I don’t want them to think I’m just a weak Matoran,” grumbled Seihu as he was sitting on a road scraping a twig against the ground. “I don’t understand how my training wasn’t enough. I mean, I was able to do just fine before.”

Seihu pondered, “Now, how do I counter electricity?”

Seihu went to a Kanoka toss arena in Ta-Metru, where he got a Ta-Matoran Kanoka Toss champion to shoot wooden Kanoka sized disks at him. Seihu wanted to quicken his reflexes by learning how to deflect the fastest disks that were coming for him.

“Let the disks fly,” yelled Seihu.

The Ta-Matoran hesitantly obeyed, “Okay, but be careful”.

Then the disks flew and Seihu kept trying to deflect them all but missed one and then the rest of them hit him until he fell. The disks hit Seihu so much that he felt the disks even after he got hit.

The Ta-Matoran ran up to him and provided some aid to Seihu.

“I’m fine, just let me take a little breather” Seihu winced as he put his hand up in subtle protest.

“You’re crazy for doing a workout like this, at least wear a helmet” admonished the Ta-Matoran.

“Well crazy stuff has happened to me in the first place, so why not?” snapped Seihu.” What are you standing around for, let’s do more!”

Seihu tried again and at the 20th time, he was able to deflect all of the disks. He deflected them through punches, kicks, and various elbow, hand, and knee strikes.

The next day he worked on dodging the disks which took him the same amount of time to do.

Seihu recalled Nidhiki’s moves and strategies and used it to come up with his own.

Seihu also secretly walked in on the training sessions of Toa Lhikan and his team.

Seihu also observed the defense mechanisms and fighting characteristics of the Rahi at Onu-Metru with the help of a Ko-Matoran visitor named Matoro.

Seihu even went as far as observing and visiting a Metru Mantis, an Ussal, Gukko, Kewa, Kikanalo, Fusa, Mahi and a Phase Dragon that he ran into frequently at Le-Metru when he was testing vehicles.

Seihu adopted a few of the defense mechanisms they had into his own fighting, especially since some of them were enemies of many dangerous Rahi he encountered and had characteristics that Seihu was fascinated by.

With the help of Nuparu and another Onu-Matoran inventor, Seihu made mechanical dummies that simulated a Rahkshi’s movements and trained with them.

Seihu also went to a lab in Ga-Metru and using scientific knowledge that he learned in the Ga-Metru schools, he made some gloves, knee and elbow pads, and foot protectors that were coated with electricity resistant material.

He was ready to meet the Rahkshi again…

Chapter 7
A few days after it got beat by Nidhiki in Ga-Metru, the Rahkshi came back about to wreak havoc in the caves of Onu-Metru. Seihu was ready for it. The Rahkshi was moving into one of the caves from a rocky shore near the Metru.

Seihu threw an old Kanoka disk at the Rahkshi.

When a Kanoka disk was thrown at the Rahkshi, a metal clank was heard so loud that the echoes in the Onu-Metru caves were small vibrations.

The Rahkshi turned back to see Seihu.

“Welcome back, Rahkshi. I’ve been waiting for you”, Seihu sternly greeted as he put on his gloves.

In an intense altercation, Seihu fought that Rahkshi again.

They went at it again in a spectacle of strikes, blocks, parries and dodges. The Rahkshi elevated to stage 4 and came back with a few new moves and new powers.

Seihu was pushed back briefly.

“You learned new moves, but you’re the same old oversized Kraata.” said Seihu wiping the dirt off. “I learned new moves just for you”

A few members of the Toa Mangai came in and just when they were about to move in, Seihu remarked,

“This is between me and the Rahkshi”.

The Toa were hesitant about it because they did not want to let a Matoran fight a Rahkshi especially in the way Seihu was fighting it, so they on standby with their weapons and watched in case things got ugly.

Just as Seihu cracked his knuckles and stretched his legs and arms for a few seconds, he went back into the fight.

The Rahkshi unleashed a fierce fury of physical attacks with its staff as well as fire its electric based attacks. But using a vast array of new reflexes, parries, dodges and physical attacks, derived from his training and with the help of his new gloves and boots; Seihu was able to counter those attacks and overpower that Rahkshi.

After several strikes and beatings, the Rahkshi suit was so badly damaged that the Kraata that was in it had to flee. Seihu immediately grabbed the Kraata with his gloved hands.

Seihu was wondering what to do with it when a Toa came up to Seihu with a jar ready.

“Do you want me to…?” Seihu asked.

The Toa nodded with approval.

Seihu happily put the Kraata in the jar that a Toa was holding, and the Toa contained it.

The Toa looked at the sight with approval.

A Toa with his hands crossed walked up and told Seihu, “You just got lucky this time, Matoran."

"What's your name, Matoran?" asked the Toa

"Seihu" Seihu replied.

"Be careful next time, Seihu. The Rahkshi are fierce opponents” warned the Toa.

The Toa left with the Kraata and Lhikan nodded with approval at Seihu.

Seihu looked at the scraped and battle-tattered gloves he wore with a smirk of accomplishment.

“I did it!” Seihu marveled with a wide grin.

Chapter 8
A few months after Seihu beat that Rahkshi, a war was going on in Metru Nui or better yet the Matoran universe.

“Things seem way more hostile now than they used to be. There’s something about this air that breeds contention, contention that I never even felt when fighting the Rahkshi of Chain Lightning“, worried Seihu.

This was the Toa/Dark Hunter war.

Seihu knew that the time to train the most was now.

He was out in a secluded area in Ga-Metru where he was practicing his forms. Seihu’s actions were quick and powerful. A barrage of kicks, punches, strikes, and blocks were part of his moves and put together in such a rhythm that it had a smooth but intimidating motion, but with power and grace.

“Hey look, some weird Matoran is trying to learn how to fight” observed a black, lime and red Toa-sized figure.

“Isn’t that hilarious? Let’s show him what fighting is all about!” said a dark blue, black and dark red Toa-sized figure with a mischievous grin.

“But it’s just a Matoran, why waste our lives on getting Matoran?” asked the white, lime and red figure.

“Matoran play a vital part in this universe. If we can get one, we can get them all”, said the darker figure.

The dark colored member came up and introduced in a quasi-friendly voice, “Hey Matoran! I am Toa Burosa”. Burosa pointing to the black, lime, and red figure,” And my friend here is Toa Sterok”. “We have seen you in action and think you are really good. We are looking for a sparring partner. Are you up for some sparring with us ‘Toa’?”

“Huh, you don’t look like any Toa I’ve ever met or read about” Seihu examined.

That is because they were anything but Toa, by code, morals and appearance.

“That’s because we have been on other missions, and in some of those missions we were overpowered and captured by some of the Rahkshi and experimented on by Makuta himself” said Burosa.

“I’m sorry to hear that”, Seihu sympathized.

“It’s okay. Anyways are you up for it?” challenged Burosa.

“If that’s what you want then so be it,” said Seihu.

Burosa and Sterok looked at each other with a smile and lunged at Seihu. Seihu dodged and got fighting ready.

They sparred together and Seihu impressively held his own against them. The “sparring session” ended with both those figures bruised and battered on the ground with Seihu still standing with only two hits on him.

“This Matoran beat us. That was not what we planned”, thought Sterok.

“It’s time for plan B”, Burosa said.

They then offered gave Seihu an offer that he can’t refuse.

“You are very good. I believe that you can be as great as the Toa one day” affirmed Burosa. “We run a Toa training program and we want you to be a part of it.”

“Yeah, Yeah, really good” Sterok nodded with an eager giggle.

The Burosa smacked Sterok on the back of his head.

“If you join us, you can beat any foe that tries to destroy your Matoran friends, and be a hero” Burosa propositioned. “But you have to survive some tests first”

“I’ll think about it. Give me a day” said Seihu.

“Okay a day, just don’t let us know too late” urged Burosa.

The next day, Seihu accepted the offer…

Chapter 9
After Seihu accepted the offer, the “Toa” he met secretly trained and sparred with him for about almost a year for twice a week, before one of the events.

One night, a conversation between Sterok and Burosa took place.

“Why are we training him?” asked the Sterok.

“We need him for our assignment” said Burosa. “Besides whether he lives or dies, it’s only for the entertainment and profit. Besides we are getting paid generously for this.”

The next day, Seihu and the two mischievous figures went to an underground fighting arena in a shady part of Ta-Metru. In there were so many fighters from all over the Matoran universe who had one goal: To beat whoever is there, and be the best.

Just when the sweltering heat of the great furnace was not enough, the heat of battle and the burning passion of the fights were enough to compete with the furnace.

Seihu watched as many fighters were training and polishing their weapons.

“These guys are really going at it, I could learn something from them” said Seihu.

“Oh don’t worry about them, it’s your time to shine, Hero” said Burosa.

“I got a new mask for you, huh?” asked Burosa.

Seihu responded, “But my mask is just fine.”

“Nonsense, the new mask is to show off the powerful yet heroic essence you project now” said Burosa.

“Well…” pondered Seihu looking up with his hand on his chin.

“Sterok! Get the mask!” commanded Burosa

Sterok got a mask that was red and black, almost rectangular, with hornlike eyebrows, and an imposing appearance.

“Try it on, champion” said Burosa.

“Well, okay,” decided Seihu looking left to right in thought. He took off his white Miru and put on the new mask.

“This feels pretty good” smiled Seihu.

Burosa nodded with a mischievous grin.

“Excuse me for a minute; I need to talk with a few ‘Toa’ friends.” Burosa lied.

Just then a Skakdi came in and said, “I hope you supplied the entertainment for the fight.”

“Don’t worry about that we got a foolish and odd Matoran to come here.” smirked Burosa. “He’s perfect, once he dies, he won’t be around to complain anymore.”

The tradition in these fights was that for entertainment before a fight, the best fighter in the ring has to torture either a naïve or unwilling Matoran until it dies, in order to warm up a crowd.

The fight started and the announcer spoke, “Greetings all you Matoran Universe beings, welcome to the Underground fighting exhibit.” We would like to start this event with some entertainment. Get ready to laugh.” In this corner, from Karzahni, here is the reigning champion, Kraezukor!” Just then Kraezukor came out, he was a big bulky dark gunmetal gray, black, orange and lime figure came out and said “Bring it on, I love this game”,

“Get ready, because in the next corner, the sacrifice, a Matoran from Metru Nui!” yelled the Announcer. The crowd went wild and cheered.

“Listen to the crowd cheer for you” said Burosa to Seihu as he was getting ready.

“Wow, people like me already” said Seihu.

“Yes, now go out and make me happy…I mean…make yourself a Toa” said Burosa trying to hold back a laugh.

“You know it!” Seihu exclaimed.

The moment Seihu eagerly ran and left, Burosa and Sterok laughed maniacally and loudly until they fell over.

Seihu had no idea that he was going to be set up for a life or death game…

Chapter 10
Seihu went out to the small ring with an amazed look as he saw the crowd.

Seihu looked up and with his eyes widened saw the figure he was fighting. Seihu was surprised at his bulky and tall size mixed with his pugnacious smile, but was ready nonetheless.

“Shouldn’t you be doing tending to your village, Matoran?” Kraezukor mocked stooping over Seihu.

“Well, I travel a lot and taken up many jobs, I came here…” said Seihu.

Just when Seihu was about to finish, Kraezukor punched him and kicked him so hard that he flew to the wall.

The crowd went wild and laughed as Kraezukor boasted. Seihu regaining consciousness stood up and just when he did, Kraezukor was about to run him over, but gathering some strength, Seihu rolled out of the way and tripped Kraezukor causing him to fall headfirst into the wall.

The crowd went silent, and then laughed.

Seihu thought, “This must be another training tip, always be ready for your opponent’s next move. This guy is serious, that means I should be too.”

Just when Seihu got his guard up, Kraezukor ran towards him about to deliver a smash to Seihu but Seihu jumped to the side and rolled away as Kraezukor tried to smack him across the side. Kraezukor tried to perform several kicks to Seihu, with Seihu dodging some while blocking others, even going as far as to counter kick one. Angry, Kraezukor tried to deliver a heel kick on Seihu, but before Kraezukor’s foot dropped down; Seihu tumbled underneath Kraezukor and grabbed Kraezukor’s non-kicking leg and threw it up. This caused Kraezukor to fall on his back.

The crowd gasped and got even wilder at the sight with many laughing even more.

Getting up angrier, Kraezukor jumped up and tried to repeatedly punch Seihu, but Seihu dodged and kept moving so swiftly and agile that it made Kraezukor dizzy.

Kraezukor shook his head and wondered where Seihu was. Not knowing that Seihu kept on going behind him out of sight.

Seihu turned around with his back towards Kraezukor’s and whistled. But the moment Kraezukor looked behind him, Seihu kicked Kraezukor’s belly him to bend over to Seihu’s height as he was holding his belly enabling Seihu to deliver a tornado kick to Kraezukor’s face which sent him spinning. Krazukor retaliated and tried punching and stomping again, but after blocking, dodging, and parrying, Seihu delivered a series of punches, kicks, and strikes to his face, belly, and legs.

Kraezukor spun as he fell to the ground, he got thought, “I just have one more chance, and I won’t be the laughing stock”. He got out his knife with his right hand moving in to stab Seihu. Seihu swayed to his left as he grabbed the knife wielding hand with his two hands, elbowed Kraezukor in the face, punched him, disarmed him, and with some torque, Seihu threw the “champion” over his shoulder, causing Kraezukor to flip and fall on his back.

Seihu finished with a chop to the former champion’s gut.

All Kraezukor could do was groan in agony as he was knocked out.

There was a silence so deafening that it was almost deadening. Even Burosa and Sterok had their jaws dropped. The announcer was even trembling at the sight, “Uhh…winner, the Matoran from Metru Nui”.

In a few seconds, the crowd yelled, “Matoran! Matoran! Matoran! Matoran”!

Seihu looked at his hands and marveled.

Seihu even gave a respectful bow to the audience.

Kraezukor got his assistants to lift him up, and although he was still alive, he couldn’t look up due to his damaged pride. Even his assistants were snickering at the sight.

“Oh Karzahni No! He actually beat Kraezukor” yelled Sterok. “What do we do now, boss?”

“You should be glad that I come up with the plans around here, otherwise you’d be Kanoka-Bones”, barked Burosa.

“I got one …”

Chapter 11
Seihu went back to the training room and washed his face.

Just then, he heard hands clap.

Seihu with his eyes scrunched in confusion looked behind him, only to see Burosa walking in clapping.

“Well done, Matoran,” applauded Burosa, “You have fought wonderfully. Your training has paid off”

"Thanks, but is Kraezukor going to be okay?” asked Seihu. ”I think I went a little too overzealous on him especially with that last chop”.

“Forget about him, he was in way over his head to fight you, champion” said Burosa.

Seihu shrugged his shoulders at that.

“Say, let’s go out and have a little chat”, suggested Burosa.

“So, do you have a place to live?” asked Burosa.

“No, I travel a lot” said Seihu.

“But now you will be traveling with us from now on” said Burosa.

“Yeah come with us, we have an extra space in our lair…” said Sterok. Burosa elbowed him. “…I mean our home.”

“Okay, but let me say bye to my friends first” said Seihu. .

“Nonsense, training waits for no one. You can say goodbye to your friends anytime”, interrupted Burosa.

“Yeah, goodbye our way” muttered Burosa.

“What was that?” asked Seihu.

“Nothing, it’s just that times, are dangerous now, Toa and Dark Hunters are at war, remember? You got to be ready” said Burosa trying to cover up his intentions.

“Well, I do want to be ready.” said Seihu.

“Okay, then let’s go” directed Burosa.

He went with the two beings on a stolen Vahki transport and Burosa threw Seihu’s Miru on the ground when he wasn’t looking.

For about three months, Burosa and Sterok managed Seihu’s career as an Underground arena champion in many venues in the Matoran universe; Karzahni, Zakaz and Xia.

Seihu stalemated only two of his opponents, but destroyed the winning streak of many of the champions. He fought many people including a few dark hunters who took part in the fighting games. Seihu took them down with his developing agility, strength, dexterity and speed. His kicks, punches, strikes, throws and takedowns made him a favorite among the fighters in Matoran Universe.

Seihu went from being the unaware joke of the arena, to one of the most feared opponents in the games.

Eventually, the Phase Dragon that Seihu met on Le-Metru went through Ta-Metru looking around for Seihu, then it saw Seihu’s mask on the ground picked up its scent and with its mouth, picked the mask itself up. Once it picked up Seihu’s mask, it went back to Le-Metru.

In the morning in Le-Metru, Lhikan, Naho, a Toa Mangai of Stone, a Toa Mangai of the Green, and a Le-Matoran were discussing plans for how to counter the Dark Hunters in the war and guard the city starting with the Chute System.

Just then the Phase Dragon woke up at the sight of the Le-Matoran and the Toa and appeared before them.

The Toa Mangai of Stone got out his hammer and chain at the sight of the Phase Dragon, perceiving it as a threat.

The Le-Matoran eased, “Stand down, this Rahi is not an enemy, it’s fast-chase but happy-smile friend.”

The Toa of Stone put down his hammer.

The Phase Dragon put down Seihu’s white Miru.

The Toa looked with feelings of shock and confusion at the sight…

Chapter 12
The Toa of Mangai Stone said, “That mask looks like that Matoran’s mask. What was the Matoran’s name?”

Lhikan explained, “His name is Seihu”.

The Le-Matoran even looked kind of scared.

The Toa Mangai of Stone angrily asked while holding his weapon, “What did that beast do to him?!”

The Phase Dragon was leaping, making grunts and growling sounds as if it was trying to talk.

“Now, what’s it doing?” the Toa of Stone asked easing his weapon a little.

“Wait.” Naho spoke as she used her Great Rau to understand the beast. “It says that the Matoran named Seihu went missing and all that was left was his Mask in Ta-Metru. It found his mask just now.”

Just then a small pigeon like Rahi called the Carigi flew to the Toa, and landed on Naho’s shoulder.

“What’s this?” Naho asked.

Naho looked and the Carigi simply cooed at her and moved its head.

Naho smiled as she petted it briefly.

Just then the Carigi blinked its eyes and a purple light shone out of them. Then Naho had a vision of Burosa and Sterok dropping Seihu’s Miru in Ta-Metru, going with Seihu going across different parts of the Matoran world, and coming back to Metru Nui, particularly Po-Metru. With a voice saying, “go to the Assembler’s village tonight”

As the Carigi flew away from Naho’s shoulder, it went to the other Toa briefly, and ended with Lhikan. They all saw the same vision.

“Burosa and Sterok” Lhikan muttered with bitter annoyance. “Those two are at it again. I thought they gave up from the last time Nidhiki and I confronted them after they threatened Turaga Dume into giving them Matoran for their sick experiments.”

“It seems like they just don’t know when to give up” said the Toa of Stone.

The Rahi flew back to Naho and landed in her hand.

Naho was amazed at this Rahi, it has never been seen before in Metru Nui before.

“For such a small rahi, it holds such a vast amount of knowledge” Naho remarked as she held the Carigi.

“I used my mask, and found out it wasn’t lying”, A Toa of Mangai of Ice wearing a Kanohi Rode said, “It also said that Burosa, Sterok and Seihu would be coming tonight”

It growled and jumped in its typical fashion Naho translated this, “It said that finally caught a strong sight of Seihu’s scent, it’s getting stronger this moment”.

The Phase Dragon growled and muttered in an urgent fashion and walked.

Naho used her Rau again and “It wants us to follow it.”

“You guys keep watch, we can’t leave this city unguarded” directed Lhikan. “I’ll go after Seihu”

Lhikan decided to follow the Phase Dragon to Po-Metru.

Even the Carigi followed them…

Chapter 13
When Burosa, Sterok and Seihu arrived back at Po-Metru, the site of Burosa’s hut, Seihu was talking to Burosa about some of his travels.

“…And the Muaka just fell after a few hits, rear throws and choke” recalled Seihu as his eyes lit up with excitement. “What about you, what about the battles you have gone through?”

“Well, I have been called on a lot of missions, like retrieving a sword from Xia that was going to be used for twisted and truly disgusting purposes” said Burosa.

“Like what?” Seihu asked.

“Well, by power hungry criminals like some corrupt Toa who want nothing to do but to harm innocent Matoran like you,” said Burosa.

“That’s just low, I didn’t know there were corrupt Toa out there”, exclaimed Seihu.

“That is why I’m training you with the best in order to strike them like the lightning that personifies your skills”, said Burosa. “Hey I got a great nickname for you. How do you like ‘Lightstrike”?

“Lightstrike? Catchy name.” said Seihu. “I will keep fighting to make myself worthy of the name”.

Just then there was a knock on their door. Sterok said, “Umm…boss…there is some green Rahi outside that looks almost like a Tahtorak.”

Seihu looked down and thought, “It can’t be…”

“Please let me deal with this, my mentors”, Seihu pleaded.

“By all means” encouraged Burosa.

Seihu followed the Phase Dragon to a mountain at night time.

“Hey boy, what are you doing here?” asked Seihu as he crouched down petting and hugging his Phase Dragon pet.

“I was about to ask you the same question, Seihu” remarked Toa Lhikan as he was walking from the shadows with his arms crossed.

“Toa Lhikan!” exclaimed Seihu happily. “I missed you!”

“Likewise”, solemnly remarked Lhikan. “I almost couldn’t recognize you with that mask on.”

It’s a new look” Seihu chuckled. “How did you find me?”

“Let’s just say that the key to finding you came straight from the Phase Dragon’s mouth” Lhikan pointed to the Phase Dragon.

“Well, it’s great to see you again,” said Seihu eagerly. “I have some great news!”

“Please share it” calmly demanded Lhikan.

“I met these two Toa who are mentoring me”, Seihu told Lhikan as he pointed to the hut.

Lhikan’s eyes closed in exasperation and disbelief after hearing what Seihu called them, “Toa”.

“Isn’t it great? Now I can learn to serve the city of Metru Nui and protect Matoran…” exclaimed Seihu.

“I’m glad you want to help with the right cause, but what are the names of these Toa?” asked Lhikan pretending ignorance.

“They don’t want anyone to know their names because they are on the run from Makuta and he can take on all shapes and sizes” said Seihu.

“I agree with the Makuta part. But don’t they know that it’s not right for ‘Toa’ to keep secrets from other Toa?” asked Lhikan.

“Really?” asked Seihu.

“Yes, it’s part of the Toa code. I thought Burosa and Sterok would know better by now” said Lhikan with an emphasis on their names.

“Oh, so you do know them!” chimed in Seihu with a sigh of relief.

“But sadly, you don’t, Seihu” said Lhikan.

“What do you mean, Lhikan?” Seihu questioned with confusion in his tone.

“Seihu, they are not who you think they are…” warned Lhikan.

“Lhikan, I can’t believe you would say that about your comrades” Seihu criticized with disbelief.

“Seihu, listen up!” yelled Lhikan with concern in his voice. “Those two are not Toa; they are some of the most notorious criminals in all of the Matoran Universe. They are using you!”

“Wait a minute, Toa do not divide other Toa unless they are under the influence of Makuta. You do agree that Makuta can take all different forms” remarked Seihu. “That must mean that YOU are under the influence of Makuta himself!”

Lhikan bowed his head in disbelief again.

“Oh, so now you have been found out”, declared Seihu with his hands crossed. “Well guess what, you won’t stop me from doing my duty to help the city of Metru Nui and carry out the will of Mata Nui himself. Stay away from me before I get my mentor Toa to stop you and set you straight!”

“You can go ahead, but they won’t. But Seihu, look carefully and then ask yourself if following them is really worth all you’re doing.” Lhikan challenged him.

Lhikan being the patient Toa that he was, didn’t want to spend time in petty arguments, and he left shaking his head in disbelief.

The Phase Dragon looked at Seihu, put its face down in sadness and walked away as shown by its body language.

Seihu walked back to Burosa’s hut annoyed and looked back in disbelief and shook his head.

“Fool me once, shame on you, Makuta!” Seihu muttered angrily…

“I don’t need to prove he is deceived, but I’ll make sure he knows the truth sooner or later” vowed Lhikan as he flew back on his hoverboard.

Lhikan didn’t give up on Seihu and hired some Toa to watch over him.

Chapter 14
Seihu walked inside the house with an annoyed expression on his face.

“So what happened over there?” asked Burosa staring into space.

“I ran into Lhikan,” explained Seihu.

Burosa’s eyes widened as he said that.

Sterok woke up from his nap with eyes widened in alarm after hearing the name, “Lhikan”.

“L...L...Lhikan?”  Sterok asked with trepidation unusual for a bigger guy like him.

Burosa’s widened eyes then frowned.

“Sterok…” Burosa gritted.

Sterok went back to sleep abruptly.

“What did he say?” asked Burosa with a fake smile trying to cover up his guilt.

“He said something about you guys deceiving me and harming Matoran. But that’s not true right?” asked Seihu.

“No, no, no, no, he’s lying”, Burosa said with kind of a creepy stare.

“Anyways, go get your rest. You need it for the next training match” said Burosa.

“Okay, good night”, said Seihu as he went to his room to sleep.

A few minutes after Seihu went to sleep, Burosa was angrily pacing the floor.

“This is a bunch of Kane-Ra!” exclaimed Burosa. “What is Lhikan doing here? Shouldn’t he be guarding his city?”

“Yeah, He should go home!” added Sterok. “Or maybe we should go home!”

Burosa immediately jumped out of his seat and angrily grabbed Sterok by his ear and pulled him out of the hut with him so Seihu couldn’t hear anything.

“YOU FOOL! WE HAVE NO HOME!” Burosa ranted angrily. “Ever since the Makuta of Metru Nui stripped us of most of our powers, stripped us of our Rahkshi project; and after he discovered us for our experiments to get on equal footing with him, he stripped us of our home; we have NOWHERE else to go! Now we were forced to provide entertainment for fights, starting off in Stelt. MUST I REMIND YOU OF EVERYTHING!!!?”

“That’s why we must make sure that our business never gets found out!” commanded Burosa while grabbing Sterok by the neck.

“Okay, okay” choked Sterok.

Burosa let go of Sterok.

“In the meantime, it’s a good thing we have a naïve champion to keep us swimming in widgets and power like Takea and Ruki in the Silver Sea” Burosa sighed as he gradually relaxed with a maniacal chuckle.

What they didn’t know was that they were getting found out, not only by some Toa that Lhikan recruited, but by another party…

Chapter 15
In the morning, Seihu and his managers went to Stelt for the next match.

In Stelt, the figurative stench that filled the air was that of greed and conflict, combined with its desolate landscape. It was perfect for a match like this and easy for Burosa and Sterok to make fast money.

Fighters kept lining up at the gate.

Seihu could sense the fighters’ bodies hunger for war like a Kinloka for solid protodermis.

Seihu had a feeling of what this would entail, that it was going to be one of the fights for his life.

The Semi-final tournament began with fighters from various places facing off.

Seihu as usual kept on beating his opponents and moving up on the ladder to victory.

As the announcer kept on screaming “Lightstrike wins” at the end of every fight, Burosa muttered with a mischievous smile while counting his money, “And I win too”.

The final match of the evening took place; Seihu went up against a bulky Steltian champion 3 times his height named Hulgon who advanced to the finals.

The arena was dark and damp with the sweat of several fighters who fought vigorously at this stage.

“Fighters, ready?” asked the announcer.

Seihu and Hulgon got in their respective fighting stances.

“Begin!” yelled the announcer.

Seihu with a running start charged towards Hulgon. Hulgon delivered a jumping back wheel kick to Seihu but Seihu avoided this as he slid underneath the path of Hulgon’s kick and sprung up behind him, then turned to deliver a chop to Hulgon’s neck, only for Hulgon to grab his hand and throw Seihu over its shoulder like a Kanoka disk. Seihu countered this by rebounding off of the wall he was about to slam into and flipping over his opponent and bouncing off of another wall. Hulgon back fisted Seihu into a wall as Seihu was about to kick him. Hulgon didn’t speak or boast, but its body language showed that he was taking the fight seriously.

Burosa was looking in disgust at the sight. His source of money was going to make him bankrupt.

Seihu stood up as Hulgon walked toward him standing with an emotionless look, and Seihu was getting angry and tried to fight Hulgon off. Seihu kept on kicking, punching, and chopping until he got exhausted, but Hulgon blocking his attacks and pushing him away. Hulgon had some decency to allow Seihu to catch his breath. The moment Hulgon delivered a round kick, Seihu gathering enough energy ducked it and leg sweeped Hulgon down and punched him in the face twice before he grabbed Seihu’s fist and then stood up and locked Seihu’s arm. Seihu tried to counter it by stepping on Hulgon’s foot, but it let go before Seihu stepped on it and kicked Seihu’s back. Seihu ran towards him in fury and Hulgon attempted to trip him, but Seihu having enough sense did a spinning jump over it and punched Hulgon’s back. Seihu in another rage of fury tried to run Hulgon over, but Hulgon moved aside only for Seihu to kick the wall again and Hulgon punched Seihu so hard that he was flying two ten far. Seihu could barely stand up.

Burosa was so disgusted that he intervened and paid the announcer enough money to call a timeout.

“What’s going on here? You should be beating this guy!” Burosa mulled in anger.

“I’m not sure, this opponent is just something else” inhaled Seihu as he is breathing heavily and holding his shoulder.

“Then come up with something else!” yelled Burosa “Remember that move that I taught you? Here is the dart to start it off”.

Seihu looked at the dart with unease

“I don’t know, won’t this…?” asked Seihu.

“He’ll get over it” Burosa interrupted.

“But…” Seihu questioned.

“Do you want to become a hero or not!” Burosa angrily interrupted as he pounded his fist on the seat.

“You know I do!” exclaimed Seihu

“Then go!” yelled Burosa.

Seihu took the dart and ran off with it.

Seihu returned to the fight and got ready.

“Okay, now we are back. Let’s continue this fight.” yelled the announcer.

Seihu got ready and ran towards him and Hulgon likewise. Just as he did that, they jumped and Seihu did a one two kick as Hulgon crossed his chest to block Seihu’s kicks. Just then Seihu kept punching and kicking, with Hulgon blocking, and the reverse. They also exchanged an equal amount of blows, two hits to each one. Seihu and Hulgon were getting fatigued. Just then a Seihu got so angry over the fact that he could lose that he built up enough energy and in one dirty move, Seihu used a poison dart on Hulgon and repeatedly kicked and punched him in head, chest, and legs.

Burosa and Sterok enjoyed watching this, and clapped at the violent sight.

Just when Seihu grabbed Hulgon by both his arms, ran and fell backwards and jettisoned Hulgon over with his foot, it ended by Seihu jumping on him and in a fury that would rival that of Makuta himself, repeatedly beating Hulgon until he appeared not to be moving.

“Lightstrike wins!” as the announcer raised Seihu’s arm.

The crowd cheered again.

Seihu won the fight, but in his facial expression, outside of a smirk, he appeared emotionless until he left the arena.

Just when Seihu limped out of the arena with Burosa and Sterok, he saw some of Hulgon’s friends trying to get their champion back up. But they couldn’t, he appeared to be either in a coma or dead.

His friends glared at Seihu with disbelief, anger and sadness.

Seihu couldn’t believe what he just witnessed. Normally when he fought, he made sure that when his opponents lost they would just simply lose while breathing, but Seihu didn’t know how to deal with his opponent not only losing the match, but losing its life…

Chapter 16
Seihu was still in shock over what he did as he laid down at his bed. The scene of what he did and the Hulgon’s friends trying to help their champion, who also happened to be their best friend, kept playing in his head.

Seihu was almost in tears.

He decided to talk to Burosa.

“Burosa”, inquired Seihu. “I need to talk.”

“What?” Burosa asked lying down.

“I think I killed Hulgon as I was fighting. I got angry during the fight” confessed Seihu with his eyes to the floor.

“Don’t let it get to you,” replied Burosa rolling his eyes without Seihu looking.

“Besides you won anyway, the people fight dirty in Stelt so they wouldn’t notice. Sometimes Toa have to bend the rules a little.”

“But, how much do Toa have to bend the rules before it gets out of line?” asked Seihu pensively.

“...It’s all about defeating the undesirables”, countered Burosa, refusing to answer the question. “If it makes you feel any better, don’t do that trick anymore”

“Now get ready for the next few tournaments, it’s going to be one of the defining points for you to become a Toa. They are going to be here in Metru Nui” said Burosa.

Seihu didn’t know that this was going to an event in which he was going to get drafted to be a member of the Dark Hunters, the biggest mercenary organization in the Matoran universe. The Dark Hunters prepared for it and were bringing in their best soldiers to fight.

While training outside at night, Seihu came across a mutated Matoran experiment turned Dark Hunter named Phantom, who came to Po-Metru in violation of the Dark Hunters orders.

Seihu was alarmed, and had his guard up with his body shaking for a fight.

Phantom trying to diffuse the situation, “I’m not here to fight”

“Then what are you doing here?” Seihu questioned with his hands in a battle ready position.

“Leave while you still have the chance. As a Matoran, you don’t belong with them. Don’t become like me” warned Phantom.

“Those are Toa, not monsters.” Seihu retorted with anger.

“You are deceived”, Phantom sighed.

Seihu couldn’t take it, as he tried to strike Phantom, Phantom dodged and flew away.

“Get back here!” roared Seihu, throwing rocks at the Dark Hunter.

“What’s with everybody nowadays?!” pondered Seihu as he was walking back to his hut in Po-Metru, thrashing his fists in anger.

Seihu then got reminded of Lhikan’s words “They are not who you think they are… ask yourself if following them is really worth all you’re doing”, then Burosa’s words after Seihu’s confession, “Sometimes Toa have to bend the rules a little…Besides you won anyway”, and Phantom, “As a Matoran, you don’t belong with them. Don’t become like me.”

Seihu also remembered the incident with him and Hulgon at the ring, the excessive gambling, and even one undocumented time when he saw a corpse in one of the lockers.

“Is this really for real?” wondered Seihu. “I mean, Lhikan is has been too trustworthy for me to have made such an accusation about him, and Burosa seemed almost unremorseful and didn’t answer my question, and these Toa program fights have been kind of shady.”

Just then, he saw Burosa and Sterok in a conversation. He listened outside and secretly overheard it.

“This is great. Now the Dark Hunters want Lightstrike” Sterok cheered.

“Exactly, the best part is that now that we tricked that Matoran into fighting these underground fighting rings, after the final fight we will have enough money to buy off the Dark Hunters from The Shadowed One. We had to settle for being power stripped scientists, then entertainment managers to kill off Matoran and Toa, and even having to release some Rahkshi from the Archives, but how often do you get a Matoran working for us and beating people up the way that we would have if we still had our powers? Makuta may have stripped us of 40 of our Kraata powers because of his power hunger, but with Lightstrike, we will have enough to infiltrate the hunters and buy a whole group of powers that will take down anyone our way. We’ll have Labs, Dark Hunters, Weapons, you name it!”

Seihu heard this and gasped inaudibly,

“The most hilarious part is that he thinks we are Toa!” laughed Sterok

“Yes, that is hilarious that he would associate us with that fire-spitting pest Lhikan, and that old gas bag Dume” laughed Burosa. “He’s so stupid! He’s an incredible fighter, but an foolish Brakas”.

“Yeah those do-gooding idiots” chortled Sterok.

“Now that he killed Hulgon, thanks to me implanting my anger powers in his mask last night, we can make him kill Toa and the Dark Hunters’ leader for us so we can take over” Burosa sneered.

Seihu heard what was said and could not believe it. Seihu was in horror over what he heard. It was a combination of horror and sadness. This time the anger came from Seihu instead of Burosa’s manipulation. They insulted him, the Matoran, the Toa, and Dume, and most importantly used him for their selfish, violent agenda.

“Ah yes, looking at all we have done okay. Forget Makuta, we are now the ones going to be the ones everyone will fear.” said Burosa.

Seihu realized that Lhikan was telling the truth all along.

“This is not what I signed up for, I wanted to fight to be a hero and help others.” Seihu sniveled with his hands on his head.

Seihu wanted to find a way out inconspicuously. So he observed his surroundings for any loose objects to avoid and stealth fully walked around those objects and ran for Onu-Metru.

Chapter 17
Seihu was on the run from Burosa and Sterok and hid in Onu-Metru for a moment. In the morning, Seihu was still running and in a desperate move he called on his Kewa with a whistle. The Kewa flew in and it could tell it was Seihu by his voice despite him not wearing his Miru.

Seihu got on the Gukko and quietly instructed with his voice breaking and head down, “find Toa Lhikan and his team”.

The Gukko flew him all the way to Ta-Metru and there, by chance, he saw Toa Lhikan again, talking to his team.

As Seihu walked towards them with his head down, the Toa team saw Seihu and tapped Lhikan’s shoulder to show him that they had a visitor.

“Toa Lhikan?” whimpered Seihu with his head down.

Lhikan stepped forward and asked with a calm but patient demeanor, “You want to talk, Seihu?”

Unable to compose himself, Seihu broke down and sobbed uncontrollably, “Lhikan, I’m so sorry! Burosa and Sterok used and lied to me! They truly are monsters; I never should have trusted them. I’m sorry I even accused you of being Makuta as well. I betrayed all of Metru Nui by falling into their trap, I’m not worthy of carrying the name of ‘Matoran’. Just kill me now!”

Lhikan put his head down not wanting to show emotion, but he was moved by Seihu’s genuine sorrow. Lhikan looked back and his team members solemnly nodded their head with approval for Lhikan to handle it gracefully.

Seihu was still sobbing bitterly as Lhikan turned to Seihu and crouched down to his height.

“Seihu, what you did was misguided and would have been a catalyst from advancing this war”, scolded Lhikan.

Lhikan put his arm on Seihu’s shoulder, “But if I decided to kill anyone because they were cheated into doing something wrong, many of the Matoran wouldn’t be here right now. You’re forgiven; I don’t hold it against you.”

Seihu added, “But you have no idea what I did, I lost so much control that…I killed a fighter in Stelt!”

“You did what?” a booming voice out of nowhere asked.

“Who asked that?” asked Seihu trying to wipe away his tears.

The figure behind the booming voice stepped forward with some bandages, and revealed to be Hulgon, the Steltian champion that Seihu supposedly killed, arriving with a few of his friends who were trying to wake him up after Seihu knocked him out.

Seihu’s eyes widened and as they widened, Seihu was almost speechless.

Chapter 18
“Hulgon?!” cried Seihu. ”But…you…I did…you shouldn’t be…” stuttered Seihu over the sight of the fighter still being alive.

“I have had thick skin in the past, only for it to get figuratively and literally thicker these past few years, unlike my heart. It takes a little more than a few dirty tricks to take me down this time around ‘Lightstrike’ or should I say, Seihu”, Hulgon said with a warm grin, patting Seihu’s head.

Seihu was starting to smile, but was still speechless at the sight.

“But nobody would have survived that.” Seihu said.

“Yes, nobody would have, that’s why what you think happened didn’t happen” replied one of Hulgon’s friends.

Seihu shrugged, “I don’t get it”

Hulgon walked past Seihu as he explained “When Burosa was in the audience a few seconds before he got the announcer to call a time out, we knew that he was going to try a sleazy trick.”

“Then I used my telepathic powers to read Burosa’s mind. He planned on using a poisonous dart to kill Hulgon.” One of Hulgon’s friends added. “But he didn’t want to do it himself, lest the audience see his actions and suspect him, so he wanted to make you do it, Seihu.”

“That is where I came in. When Sterok was getting the dart from his bag outside, I hit him with a dart of my own that knocked him out for a minute, took the dart from his bag and switched it with a mere tranquilizer dart that resembled the dart’s appearance before Sterok woke up” added another one of Hulgon’s friends.

The scene flashed back to Seihu listening to the event.

“So the dart you hit Hulgon with was only an anesthetic, instead of the killer that Burosa intended it to be” repeated a female friend of Hulgon.

Seihu’s was standing there motionless with his eyes open after hearing that. Just when Seihu finally snapped out of it,

“I don’t know what to say.” Seihu responded with a bit relief mixed with surprise.

“It’s alright, Seihu” Hulgon said.

“During the last few minutes of the fight, I used my telepathic powers to see what was going on in your mind, only to see anger and rage, with the amplifier of it being the mask. Now, I can see that you have come back to your senses and the mask’s hold is temporarily broken” added Hulgon’s female friend.

The shock from hearing Burosa and Sterok’s conversation combined with a lot of the true Seihu left in him caused Seihu to break free of Burosa’s hold on him.

“But how did you guys know I would come here?” asked Seihu to the former Steltian champion.

“Let’s just say my friends weren’t as helpless as you thought they were” explained Hulgon. “They monitored you ever since your first match. They and I are part of a group with members that as one member puts it, makes me seem like a cuddly Ussal crab.”

“We went undercover to look into the underground fighting matches. I went under the guise of making a comeback. These shady types of events are just what you’d expect from my home country and others like it. I used to be grafted into them myself and the champion several years back until I met someone who not only beat me, but set me straight and helped get me out”, explained Hulgon. ”I was also interested to hear of a Matoran being in one of those fights. I have heard of Matoran being set up and killed in these types of sports, but never once was one of them set up who became an underground legend like you.”

“I’m surprised that for a Matoran, especially with a good moral compass, you were active in places like that” remarked one of Hulgon’s friends shaking his head.

“I couldn’t believe what I was set up for myself” grumbled Seihu shaking his head.

“You should consider yourself lucky that both you and Hulgon are still alive”, Naho cautioned.

“I have to admit, for a Matoran, he fought me in a way that surpassed even my toughest opponents, I never had bruises like that before,” chuckled Hulgon.

“You should be thankful that there were also 2 other Toa that Lhikan recruited watching over you throughout that time, Seihu,” said The Toa Mangai of Stone.

Seihu was moved that Lhikan cared that much.

“But Lhikan, how did you know?” asked Seihu again.

“One day a messenger from them told us about Burosa and Sterok’s scheme and about you a few months ago.” Lhikan explained while pointing to the Carigi. ”It also told us of the arrival of Hulgon and his company and we all met at the Great Temple to discuss it. They knew about Burosa and Sterok as well.”

“They have gotten every type of being to take part in their fast money making strategies in attempts to monopolize anything, including some of my brothers from my home country. It took a beating given by one of my seniors for them to get a clue.” Hulgon recalled.

“I guess that much shows how many friends they have made.” Seihu sarcastically remarked crossing his arms and looking to his side.

“So, what do we do now?” Seihu asked while looking back at them.

“You go back in the final competition and meet them where they are.” said Lhikan.

“But the final tournament is in 3 months in the Canyon of Unending Whispers. How can I train properly in that short amount of time?” said Seihu.

“We have connections to allow you to train” advised Hulgon.

“And I will help train you, this time the right way” added Lhikan.

“Yeah, but what do I do now?” asked Seihu “I just ran from Burosa and Sterok right now and they would come looking for me”

“Don’t worry Seihu, my friends injected a sleep serum into them so they would be asleep for the next few months“, said Hulgon.

“Three months?” Seihu replied, “That’s quite a serum.”

“Indeed. Now, let’s discuss the plan” commanded Lhikan.

The Toa, Seihu, and others huddled up and discussed a counter plan…

Chapter 19
Seihu rode on the Kewa’s back to the Po-Metru after training with the Toa Mangai, Hulgon and members of his team, and with some of his Rahi.

“Thanks boy. You can return back to Lhikan for more instruction.” Seihu said.

The Kewa bowed its head and immediately flew away.

Seihu gulped as he looked at and put the red and black mask on and walked back to the hut and met up with Burosa and Sterok. This time the mask was a replica made from an empty Kanoka disk by Vakama by request.

Yet, it still didn’t change how corrupt and sick Seihu felt inside from wearing a mask that resembled the one that set him up for almost killing a fighter.

Burosa and Sterok were pacing around Po-Metru half an hour after the sleep serum wore off. They paced until they saw Seihu.

“Where have you been?” impatiently inquired Burosa.

“I was taking a jog before the big event. It’s today, right?” asked Seihu.

“Yes, your defining moment to the road of heroism” Burosa reminded. “Now, hurry up and let’s go to the final test for Toa-dom.”

In a small field in the Canyon of Unending Whispers; beings like Dark Hunters, Steltians, Vortixx, and Skakdi were all in the audience watching the event.

This fight was advertised in a way that brought almost all the Matoran Universe species together.

The head of the Dark Hunters, The Shadowed One, was even watching from the Balcony, along with his slender, tall, and dark blue-green figure assistant, Lariska; and his bodyguard, Sentrahk.

“This event had better be good for us to be here and give 3 of our hunters. Burosa and Sterok’s champion had better deliver” muttered the Shadowed One.

“If not, I know how to deal with them” assured Lariska while twirling her knives.

“This is going to be the grandest fight of them all, creatures. Are you ready?” yelled the Announcer.

Seihu was getting ready to fight each of the 3 dark hunters.

“This is it, Lightstrike, your big chance to prove yourself worthy” declared Burosa. “Screw this up, and there will never be any chance for you to be a hero. Don’t play around” chided Burosa in the same breath and he walked away.

“I don’t play, unlike you two” smiled Seihu under his breath.

The crowd yelled and cheered energetically, with a lot of fists pumping, and bodies jumping.

“Let’s bring out the first challenger” yelled the announcer.

The arena door opened and out of it came Charger; a mutated Kane-Ra turned Dark Hunter, snorting and huffing.

“And in this corner, defending his title for the one of the biggest matches of his life, give it up for renowned and the new legendary champion, Lightstrike”.

Seihu came out of the arena door walking with a humble but confident swagger in his walk.

The Shadowed One saw Seihu from the balcony and seethed with a bit of disappointment at the height of him.

“He really doesn’t look like much for a champion. I kind of feel sorry for getting Charger in the fight. This Matoran-sized ‘champion’ is going to seal his fate.” said the Shadowed One.

Seihu walked up and looked at his opponent, and knew from its appearance it was eager to fight.

“Let’s get ready to…” said the announcer before Charger swatted the announcer away like a fly and charged for Seihu.

Seihu quickly back flipped his way out of Charger’s path.

“This fighter is quite the beast. He’s got great strength and sapience. But the instincts of a Kane-Ra,” thought Seihu. “So it will go down the same way as one”.

The fight was as fierce as the Rahi from which Charger was mutated from. Seihu was fighting the best he ever fought. His experience with fighting wild, dangerous and feral Rahi prepared him for this fight with Charger.

Seihu used his speed, agility, and intellect to not only distract Charger, but to bring him down and take him by the horns. He got him to keep running into walls and other solid objects.

Seihu kept this up until it was losing its breath, and in one swift move. Seihu jumped up and delivered a flying knee to its face. Charger was about to show why he was named “Charger”. He was charging towards Seihu, Seihu jumped, grabbed both of his horns and Charger kept moving towards the wall, and flipped over him until Charger hit the wall again. Charger’s legs were shaking with its face towards the wall. Before it could turn, Seihu ran up the wall, and after a jumping spin off of the wall, delivered a punch to Charger. Then as Charger tried to ram Seihu one more time, Seihu tripped Charger, and then jumped on him like a Kikanalo jumped as Seihu screamed with power.

Seihu won that fight.

The Shadowed One was taken aback by the sight and muttered as he was picking his chin.

“Charger is all brawn and no brains anyway. But that little guy’s got spunk, let’s see how he does with his next opponent” …

Chapter 20
After the fight with Charger, Seihu knew that he was going to have to possibly start fighting with a weapon for the next few opponents. Although he was fighting efficiently unarmed, he remembered a training session he had with the Toa during his the final week of his training.

* Flashback to the final week of training in Ko-Metru for the tournament*

Seihu wore his old Miru again in the training session with a hood over him.

“How come you aren’t going to let me fight without a weapon? You saw me beat that Rahkshi with my hands and feet.” Seihu commented pointing to his arms and legs.

“Yes, and that’s commendable. But it’s rare that in a fight, an unarmed fighter goes into battle and comes out alive” said Lhikan “You see Seihu, it’s not enough to know how to dodge, parry and strike with your bare hands and feet. You succeeded in unarmed fighting and mental training with some members of Hulgon’s group; agility, acrobatics and stealth with Nidhiki; speed with [name of Toa Mangai of Earth] and strength training with [Toa Mangai of Stone]; but sometimes, a situation calls you to extend your reach.”

“How so?” asked Seihu.

“Watch this. [Toa Mangai of Ice], if you please?” Lhikan called and walked backwards to let a Toa of Ice come forward.

The Callux-wearing Toa Mangai of Ice walked up and made 6 blocks of ice, each as thick as a two Kanoka disks.

The some of the Toa put down two wooden blocks to balance rest the ice.

“Seihu, cut these blocks of ice as best as you can with your bare hand.” Lhikan said.

“Yes, Toa Lhikan.” Seihu obeyed while cracking his knuckles.

Seihu breathed as he closed his eyes and concentrated, then Seihu mentally pinpointed on the middle spot of the ice, Seihu prepared his attack 3 times, and then Seihu gathered enough energy and broke the blocks of ice, shattering it to pieces.

“Yeah, I did it” shrugged Seihu while shaking his wrist.

“Did you? You merely broke the blocks of ice instead of cutting them” replied Lhikan with a raised eyelid.

Seihu shook his head at that.

“Now watch” Lhikan said.

Lhikan called the Toa of Mangai of Ice back up to demonstrate.

Seihu and Lhikan moved out of the way as the Toa of Ice stepped forward with his sword.

Seihu quietly watched as the Toa of Ice prepared. Cool, calculated and focused, the Toa of Ice exemplified his element while holding his sword in a relaxed and ready position. In one swish of his blade, the Toa of Ice cut the ice with precision and a cut so clean and straight that it separated the block of ice into two cubes.

Seihu looked with his eyelids raised.

The Toa of Ice reassembled the ice, tucked his sword back into his sword compartment and walked back to his seat.

“But Ice is just his element” Seihu responded with eyes scrunched, “How do you expect me to…”, before Seihu finished his sentence, Lhikan cut the same type of ice with one of his Greatswords.

“…do that…” Seihu slowly gathered almost as frozen as the protodermis of the Metru.

“Okay, you got me” Seihu responded.

“You see Seihu, you are right; the body is the most necessary tool in doing work and the foundation for action. But, there are areas in which it needs to branch out.” Lhikan lectured.

“Take [the Toa Mangai of Ice], for example” Lhikan said with his hand out with fingers towards the Toa of Ice.

Seihu briefly looked at the Toa of Ice before looking back at the Toa talking to him.

“He used his sword, but the sword was just an extension of his innate set of weapons: his will, focus, speed, body movement and dexterity that allowed him to perform effectively” said Lhikan.

“Ohh” Seihu mustered.

Lhikan put his hand on Seihu’s shoulder as he taught him a lesson “You see Seihu, there are those who live life relying on extensions, overlooking what’s close to them. For them, if their weapon is gone, so are they. But there is another extreme, those who feel like they can go through life without extending their reach that they will fall short when it’s time to stretch. In the same way, weapons in battle are only to be used only in situations where you can’t work with just your mere body parts alone to achieve an end. When an opponent extends their skill, you must too.”

“Besides, if you didn’t believe that, then why did you make special gloves and boots for fighting that Chain Lightning Rahkshi?” playfully inquired the Toa Mangai of Stone.

Seihu had something like an epiphany moment after the Toa of Stone said that and remembered the fight with the Rahkshi.

“It’s true, the gloves and boots didn’t replace my hands and feet. It only adapted them. My mind, body and intentions were the real weapons” he thought.

Seihu simply nodded as he looked at his hands. “I understand now” he said.

“Good, now…” Lhikan holding two practice swords places one in Seihu’s hand, “…Let’s put your skills to work, its time you learned to fight with a weapon.”

Seihu got the sword and sparred with Lhikan and the Toa of Ice for hours each day until he was proficient in the sword.

Seihu also learned how to use two sticks, a staff, a bow and arrow, boomerang and a knife.

At that point, not only did Seihu become skilled with weapons, but he became even more skilled in unarmed fighting by adapting weapon moves with unarmed fighting and vice-versa. He became ambidextrous in armed and unarmed fighting.

At the last day of training, Seihu performed a display of his skills for four of the Toa Mangai, his Rahi, and members of the organization Hulgon was a part of, near a river bank in Ga-Metru.

He started off with a choreographed display of all his unarmed skills (punches, kicks, strikes, blocks, parries and footwork). Then he performed breaking techniques with bricks, and finally did unarmed sparring with members of Hulgon’s organization, including disarming and deflecting an armed opponent.

From there he transitioned to weapons by performing forms with various weapons (sword, staff, two sticks, and nunchucks), cutting wooden dummies and blocks of ice, and shooting targets with a bow and arrow. The weapons test ended with him engaging in swordplay with Lhikan and the Toa Mangai of Ice, consecutively. After managing to stalemate the two, Seihu ended with a bow to his instructors.

There was a decent amount of clapping for Seihu to know that he passed the final exam.

After the small audience left, Lhikan walked over to Seihu.

“You did well Seihu”, Lhikan commended.

“I don’t deserve all the credit, Lhikan. I just had some great instructors this time.” shrugged Seihu. “The training you put me through made my self-training seem greenhorn.”

“Well Seihu, remember what we taught you, ‘If an untrained Toa who wields a powerful sword fights a trained Toa that wields even a bamboo stick, the trained Toa will still win. A weapon will only work, if the wielder does’” lectured Lhikan.

The playback of that event faded back to Seihu’s time.

“A weapon will only work, if the wielder does” Seihu repeated in an almost trance-like fashion.

Then Seihu immediately noticed a sack in his locker.

“I don’t remember this being there.” pondered Seihu.

On it saw a note that read, “Fight well, ‘Lightstrike’” by Hulgon, Lhikan, and Naho.

Hulgon got an invisible senior member of his organization to place the sack in Seihu’s rented locker, while he was fighting Charger.

Seihu looked inside and saw two small carefully crafted boomerangs and a pair of short convertible proto-steel sticks that can each unscrew into nunchucks.

“Thank you, everyone.” whispered Seihu holding the note in appreciation.

“Now, get ready for the next fight,” yelled the announcer.

Seihu got one of the boomerangs and one of the sticks ready for his battle, and placed the stick and the boomerang on his sides.

“Only for emergencies” reminded Seihu.

Seihu ran to face his second to last opponent, Devastator…

Chapter 21
“In this corner, from the Dark Hunters as well, a towering mass of black and silver armor, claiming to have the strength of 5 Toa. Here’s Devastator!”

Devastator smugly walked out of the arena doors with his chin up, demanding for applause.

“In the next corner, reigning champion, give it up for Lightstrike!”

Seihu walked out of the arena doors ready to rumble, not shying away from even saluting the audience.

The fighters came to the arena. Devastator looked down at Lightstrike and chuckled a bit.

Seihu was offended by the chuckle, but made sure not to lose his cool during the fight.

“Let’s rumble.” Yelled the Announcer.

Seihu got his fighting stance ready as he looked up at his opponent.

With his fist, Devastator almost smashed Seihu.

Seihu dodged the attack by back handspringing away from the descending fist.

Devastator saw that Seihu was quick. Thus Devastator used his telekinetic powers to hurl boulders at Seihu.

Seihu used his agility and acrobatics to dodge those boulders. Seihu turned the fight then into a playground with his jumps, somersaults, cartwheels, and evades.

Just as Seihu finished evading all the boulders, Devastator moved towards Seihu and performed a hook punch, but Seihu ducked and backflipped away. Seihu tried to deliver a flying kick to Devastator, only for Devastator to turn into sand; Seihu missed the Devastator and ended up gliding over him. Seihu landed on his feet and turned around, Seihu walked towards the sand, and when he saw the sand materializing, Seihu jumped back but got kicked like a ball. When Seihu slowly got back up, Devastator was about to stomp on him, but Seihu rolled away before Devastator could land even a single hit. Devastator moved in and kept on punching, kicking, and smashing as Seihu kept dodging and parrying, and vice-versa. Seihu moved back and tried to punch Devastator, only for Devastator to turn into sand again and move towards Seihu. Devastator materialized and uppercut Seihu 15 feet into the air and hit him until he fell on the ground face down.

“Poor Lightstrike, this isn’t going to end well for him. This reminds me of what my enemies went through while fighting me.” said Lariska.

Seihu thought as he was getting up, “He turns into sand which distributes freely, how I can hit the guy?”

Seihu thought back to one time when he went to a beach in Ga-Metru and saw the waves gathering the sands and solidifying it, even studying sedimentary rock formation at Ga-Metru.

“That’s it!” Seihu excitedly thought.

Seihu frantically looked around him for water only for him to see a Protodermis pipe above him. Seihu thought.

“I guess it’s time to do what Lhikan said and extend my skill set.”

Devastator was moving toward him, Seihu got back up, and decided to take Devastator by surprise. So he appeared to run for Devastator. Devastator telekinetically threw objects at Seihu again only for Seihu to again evade them. Seihu then jumped off one of the boulders and performed a triple spin, as he did this, Devastator threw another boulder at him and Seihu kicked the boulder back at Devastator. To avoid it, Devastator turned into sand. As Seihu spun once more, he threw his boomerang hard at the Protodermis pipe above Devastator and Protodermis ran out of it like a faucet onto Devastator’s semi-sandy form. Devastator’s once sandy form turned into mud. Seihu ran towards Devastator who was trying his hardest to fight. Seihu took the opportunity and placed a lot of strikes, and ended with a punch.

Devastator was in a mud state and couldn’t return. Devastator lost the fight.

“Well played, Lightstrike” mumbled the pile of mud that was Devastator.

“Winner! Lightstrike!” yelled the Announcer.

Burosa smiled again mischievously.

Seihu had one more match and this one was going to be the focal point.

But, The Shadowed One decided to have a chat with Seihu before that event…

Chapter 22
Seihu was getting ready for the final match…with Gladiator.

Just then, Seihu’s sharpened mental skills allowed him to sense a dark presence as he was in a hallway towards his locker. A dagger was being thrown at him and Seihu moved out of the way. The dagger stabbed the floor and attached to the dagger was a note. Seihu’s head tilted in curiosity and he walked up to the dagger, picked it up and it read.

“If you are alive to read this, my master wants to have a word with you in the balcony.”

“Wow, fan mail already”, jokingly remarked Seihu as he picked up the note.

Seihu went up to the balcony and got acquainted with The Shadowed One and Lariska.

“I see that you got the message my servant sent you.” said The Shadowed One pointing to Lariska. “I was worried that you would have died before you read it”.

Seihu could sense the coldness and darkness from The Shadowed One

“I don’t recall receiving welcome notes by a dagger, so I admire your creativity. And you are?” asked Seihu.

“You can call me The Shadowed One” said The Shadowed One. “What about you”?

“Lightstrike”, introduced Seihu.

“Catchy name, it seems that there is a bigger stature to you than what I saw. I was wary about entering some of my best fighters on you. I was too concerned that they would appear too challenging for you. But it seems that it is the other way around…”

“I see” said Seihu.

“What led you to get involved in these fighting matches?” asked The Shadowed One.

“Normally I travel a lot, trying to find myself” said Seihu.

“Hmm, I would be rich for every time I heard that from potential recruits.” said The Shadowed One twiddling his fingers.

“Listen, I normally don’t draft mere Matoran on the spot. But I want you to consider the following. You have great skills; skills that can make you earn a living. You can be as good a fighter as a Toa. I could provide a real home for you, more than your managers or anyone else can offer. Just consider that, there will be a place for you, as long as you survive the final match, otherwise the only place for you is under the Silver Sea.”

“You have quite the way with words, Shadowed One.” Seihu said with a smirk. “But that sword cuts both ways, you had better be more concerned for the last opponent.”

“Ahh yes, brash fellow aren’t you”, remarked The Shadowed One. “Get ready for your next match, it should be good and do not forget my offer.”

Seihu simply bowed in feigned respect as he left to go back to his locker.

“I’m not having that” quietly muttered Seihu as went to his locker.

Lariska asked, “You are not really going to get that Matoran in the hunters, are you?”

The Shadowed One responded, “We’ll just wait until he can survive his final opponent…”

Chapter 23
“This guy should be quite the challenge. I better arm myself a little more if things get ugly” Seihu thinking as he got the second protosteel convertible stick from his sack.

The moment Lightstrike was announced after Gladiator, Seihu went out with his arsenal ready.

As Seihu approached his final opponent in the Canyon, he looked up and thought.

“And Great Pits of Ta-Metru, is that ugly.” He thought.

Gladiator looked like a tank, a tank with claws, red eyes and a hunger and thirst for battle that when he was in Stelt, he was known as a regular customer in all-you-can-beat buffets before the Dark Hunters hired him.

As soon as the gong banged, Seihu got ready to fight his opponent.

As Seihu got his fighting stance ready, Gladiator lunged at him with its claws. Seihu dodged Gladiator’s attacks by ducking and parrying. But Seihu also responded with multiple kicks to Gladiator.

Gladiator grabbed Seihu’s leg when he delivered a jump kick, and threw Seihu. Seihu got back up, but Gladiator kept lunging at Seihu with its multiple claws, Seihu kept on evading and kicking Gladiator’s claws away.

What caught Seihu the most was his challenger’s maneuverability in addition to its strength. Seihu caught that as he tried to sweep Gladiators leg, it jumped and spun over Seihu and delivered a kick to him that sent him flying. It then pinned Seihu to the floor and tried to claw Seihu. But Seihu responded by smacking its legs and flipping it over. Seihu got back up, but so did Gladiator.

Seihu retaliated, “Enough of this, Time to even out the odds”.

With that said, Seihu brought out his two Proto-steel sticks that he tucked into his belt.

The audience awed at the sight.

“Whoa, looks like Lightstrike decided not to come empty handed, but is he going to leave that way?” asked the Announcer.

“This is for those who helped train me through all of this” thought Seihu.

After a deep breath, Seihu ran towards his opponent.

The sight was crazy; the two opponents were going at it, claws versus sticks. The amount of swishing and clanging sounds was enough to cause the audience stay in their seat. It was almost musical.

Combined with a few acrobatics to dodge some of Gladiator’s many blows, Seihu was on equal footing with Gladiator. Seihu needed to draw on everything he had to survive. Seihu then resorted the placing one of his sticks in his pocket and unscrewing the other one turning it into nunchucks.

Gladiator tried to slice Seihu, But Seihu ducked and hit Gladiator’s arm with his nunchucks. Seihu then twirled the nunchucks around and stood in a whip ready position.

Seihu’s eyes tightened with intensity at his opponent, and Gladiator frowned the same way.

As Gladiator lunged forward, Seihu kept whipping Gladiator with his nunchucks. Seihu went as far as to even allow Gladiator to try to stab him. As Gladiator attempted, Seihu caught Gladiator’s arm with his nunchucks, pulled his arm down, flipped over it and delivering an Axe kick to his left clawed arm, which bent all three blades of the claws. Seihu delivered a back kick to Gladiator’s belly. Seihu blocked Gladiator’s right arm with his spare stick as he switched weapons. He kept hitting Gladiator with his nunchucks as it tried to fight back. Gladiator was trying to stand up and finish the fight, only for Seihu to jump up and run across Gladiator’s arm like a Silver Chute Spider running up a cable and deliver a finishing punch to Gladiator.

The match was over and only one was left standing…Lightstrike aka Seihu

“We have a winner!” cried the Announcer.

The crowd cheered loudly.

Burosa and Sterok were laughing in delight over the victory of their champion.

But that wasn’t the end…

Chapter 24
“Congratulations Lightstrike, you won the fight. As promised the Grand Prize is a place with the Dark Hunters.”

“Gasp…I never would have guessed” sarcastically thought Seihu.

“What do you have to say?” asked the Announcer.

The Phase Dragon heard this and went to Naho roaring and muttering.

Naho said, “Seihu is making the announcement”

“Good, now let’s move” said the Toa Mangai of Earth.

“I would like to take time to thank the managers” Seihu said before shifting the tone “…who deliberately set me up and lied to me about this being a Toa training program in order to not only endanger the lives of many and make money off of me, but to use me as a key for their purpose of taking over the Dark Hunters, using them for their research experiments and thirst for power, and even going as far as to recruit me to assassinate the leader!” Seihu pointed to Burosa and Sterok.

“Give a hand for the intelligent duo behind this, Burosa and Sterok!” yelled Seihu as he clapped loudly and sarcastically.

The audience gasped.

Burosa and Sterok glanced at each other with a look of a mix of disbelief, guilt and fear, because they were caught, and looked across at The Shadowed One.

The Shadowed One was fuming as he turned his icy hot gaze towards Burosa and Sterok, with Lariska and Sentrahk following.

“Also, I will not take part in these games anymore. Endangering the lives of many for short lived victories and money is not my life. No longer will I be set up for even the prize that is offered. ” Seihu yelled. “That is the difference between a warrior and murderer.”

Sterok asked, “Should we start running now?”

Burosa slapped him upside the head and yelled “Move!” as they tried to run.

As Seihu ran for them, he was antagonized by Hordika Dragons and four arena fighters, which were sent by the duo as a distraction. However the ten Toa who watched over him came in and evened the odds.

“Lightstrike, we got you” said a Toa brandishing his weapon.

“We’ll even out the odds to clear your path” said another Toa.

“What took you guys so long?” Seihu asked with a smile.

“We just wanted to make our appearance look good” a Toa joked.

Then a few arena fighters stepped forward to Seihu, Seihu had his guard up with adrenaline to fight flowing through him like the Protodermis Falls through Ga-Metru.

Then the fighters turned around and fought the Hordika Dragons along with the Toa.

Seihu eased his guard down a bit and shifted his eyes left and right puzzled.

One of the fighters looked back and charged, “What are you standing around for? Get Burosa and Sterok, and leave this to us!”

Seihu uttered and nodded, “Huh?…oh..kay”, then he ran to go face off against Burosa and Sterok

As Burosa and Sterok left the Canyon, they were halted by the Toa Mangai of Earth as he used his Kakama, and a wave of fire coming from Lhikan’s swords. Lhikan, the Toa of Earth, Naho and a few members of the Order showed up.

“Uh oh” Sterok complained.

“I thought I would find you two here again.” Lhikan said with one of his swords rested on his shoulder and another pointing at them.

“You were behind this plan, weren’t you Lhikan?” muttered Burosa.

“Not only them, but…” Seihu commented as he somersaulted over them from behind and then kicked them with both of his feet. “Me too.”

Burosa and Sterok fell after that hit.

“Nice kick” replied the one of the Toa.

The Guardian Toa came out each with two pummeled Hordika Dragons on a leash.

“Burosa and Sterok, by the will of the city of Metru Nui and Mata Nui himself, you leave this city now or we will be forced to kill you”, threatened Lhikan.

Burosa knowing that they have been found out knew they had to leave, so he got Sterok and grudgingly left.

Seihu walked up to Lhikan after seeing Burosa and Sterok being escorted away by Hulgon and the Toa Mangai of Earth.

“Toa Lhikan, forgive me for causing all of this mess, I should have known that they were what they were.” Seihu apologized, “What can I do to make things right?”

“Seihu, normally this would have led to betrayal, had you have not figured it out and turned away. There wasn’t too much damage done, but Turaga Dume and I’ll come up with something for you.” said Lhikan.

Seihu nodded with a grim but cooperative expression.

“But you did well, Seihu. I’m proud of you for coming to your senses and doing what was right. Mata Nui would be proud”, lauded Lhikan as he put his hand on Seihu’s shoulder, “Now let’s go home.”

Seihu smiled as he heard that.

The four arena fighters approached Seihu and the others;

“Wait!” cried out one fighter.

Seihu was getting in the fighting position.

“My whole life has been about fighting. When I was recruited by Burosa and Sterok, years back, they said I would fight for my home town which was damaged in a war, but I ended up losing more than just my friends and my arm, I lost my honor.” One fighter confessed.

“I’m also a result of their experiments. I became a Muaka/Xian hybrid because of them, and my own home shunned me” said a native of Xia.

“I remember what it was like to have honor like yours.” said another Steltian to Seihu.

“We also want out too. These years of fighting were an addiction to a lost cause.” requested the fourth fighter.

Seihu scrunched his eyes “Uhh…Okay”.

Hulgon walked up to Seihu, and put his hand on Seihu’s shoulder. Seihu looked behind him at the former champion.

“They are telling the truth” reassured Hulgon.

“How can you tell?” asked Seihu.

“I see it in their eyes, and I learned how to spot a liar. They are telling anything but lies.” reassured Hulgon. “They need our help.”

“Okay, if you guys are serious, then we will help you” said Seihu…

In another region, as Burosa and Sterok were getting their bags and leaving for new island in the Matoran Universe, they were hit with a stun dart by Lariska and brought to Odina, the lair of The Shadowed One.

Burosa and Sterok were upset about how they got caught.

“So, what was it about you assassinating me again?” inquired The Shadowed One twirling with his staff.

“Uhh…” droned Sterok.

Burosa trying to make an excuse, “Technically, it was Lightstrike who volunteered.”

“No, he was a naïve pawn in your schemes” calmly retorted Lariska with intimidation in her voice.

“Besides, as spectacular as his skills are, he is still small fry compared to the Toa and you two,” added the Shadowed One.

“Sentrahk, take them to the dungeon…” ordered The Shadowed One.

Sentrahk dragged Burosa and Sterok away.

A few days later, it was a sign their last scheme was definitely their last scheme.

“Good riddance”, smirked The Shadowed One as he thanked his bodyguard Sentrahk…

Chapter 25 (Epilogue)
It has been several years since Burosa and Sterok were caught by The Shadowed One and killed by Sentrahk; also the main perpetrators of the arena fights were arrested and sent to prison by members of the parent organization of Hulgon’s group.

It was also the time when the Toa/Dark Hunter had ended. Although the war was won, there have been many losses along the way; Lhikan lost 2 of his comrades to the dark side, although there are still some Toa left on his team. Despite the losses, there was still a small aroma of peace, particularly for Seihu.

Seihu has finished doing service with members of Hulgon’s organization and then daily community service in Metru Nui and wore his white Miru again.

Around that time, he was mentored by Turaga Dume on Metru Nui.

“Seihu, you should not focus on whether you belong in Ta-Metru, Ga-Metru, Le-Metru, Ko-Metru, Po-Metru or Onu-Metru. As long as you are a Matoran, your role here is the same as everyone else.” Dume taught.

“I know, but I want to be a hero for this city. I want it to be safe; I love this city, Turaga Dume.” said Seihu

But Dume replied “Being a hero is not about how many battles you take part in or whether you are a Toa, but how you serve your fellow Matoran wherever you are.”

Those words stuck with Seihu the most.

Seihu also reunited with his old Matoran friends and received new matoran friends from all over Metru Nui. These Matoran helped Seihu find truly find his place among the Matoran, and provided him with the friendship, accountability, and mentorship that he needed.

They helped reinforce in him the first virtue: Unity.

Seihu also continued to train with several Toa over the years, along with a group of diminutive creatures known as the Rahaga, who taught him not only how to hunt Rahi, but also tame them.

One day the Toa along with Turaga Dume approached Seihu “Seihu, Hulgon and us arranged something for you”, said Toa Lhikan.

The Toa of Stone gave Seihu a box that was as big as three stacked Kanoka disks.

Seihu opened it and in it was a note above some special foam that was covering a seemingly metallic object.

“Read the note” said the Toa of Stone.

“For coming to the truth and using it to bring the dark activities of Burosa, Sterok and the Dark Hunters to the light. On behalf of Hulgon’s friends, and the Toa Mangai, I present you with a gift as a token of your dedication and growth. Continue to be a Matoran of truth and honor.”

Seihu looked inside and found the a round, silver mask with a fin on it, also known as the Kanohi Rode, Mask of Truth.

“Mata Nui, this is amazing”, gasped Seihu trying to hold back tears but failing. “Thank you everyone.”

“Well, what are you waiting for? Put on your new mask!” a Toa excitedly ordered

Seihu took off his old Kanohi Miru and put on the Kanohi Rode. On the surface this seemed to be exchanging one Kanohi for another, but deep down, it was a sign of Seihu’s journey to leadership and maturity.

Seihu was also rewarded with a small abandoned school in Ga-Metru to make into his home. Seihu’s years of mentorship and training convinced him to plan on sharing his newly acquired wisdom to others, resulting in him creating a new style of fighting, “Mata-TaeKworu Zhex” also known as "The Way of the Honorable Mata Fist".

“I have called this fighting style Mata-Taekworu Zhex, named and taught in honor of Mata Nui. This will be more than just mere fighting. It will be one that demonstrates the value of honor. Through Honor, it will allow us to demonstrate fairness towards others in unity, allow us to perform our duties with integrity and hard work, and allows us to achieve prepare ourselves for our destiny. Honor in my personal experience, came from learning the three virtues“, Seihu wrote in his journal.

This was the beginning of the next chapter to Seihu’s life…

Book II
Coming soon

Actual Canon Characters

 * Toa Mangai
 * Lhikan
 * Nidhiki
 * Naho (although Kanohi isn't known in the actual canon)
 * Other Toa Mangai
 * Matoro
 * Vakama
 * Nuparu
 * Dark Hunters
 * The Shadowed One
 * Lariska
 * Sentrahk
 * Charger
 * Devastator
 * Gladiator
 * Phantom
 * Order of Mata Nui (although not mentioned by name)
 * Makuta Teridax

Story-Exclusive Characters

 * Seihu
 * Burosa
 * Sterok
 * Kraezukor
 * Hulgon
 * Hulgon's friends