BC1 - Hits from Shadow Double

Tahu’s mysterious opponent leaped off its rock and surfed across the bubbling lava. Its smile broadened. “Come, give in to the flame,” it whispered. “Let it consume you and all you hold dear - I know you can feel it burning deep inside.”

Tahu gasped, startled out of his own anger. What sort of enemy was this? He looked around for help and saw that five more attackers had suddenly appeared, as if out of the shadows themselves, each moving in on a different Toa….


Nearby, Gali struggled against another mysterious attacker. The stranger’s form mirrored her own, but rather than the clean blue of the open sea, its body was the muted, sickly brownish-black of an oil slick.

“Who are you?” Gali gasped as she released a raging flood of water toward her attacker.

A chuckle poured out of the attacker, who seemed unaffected by the flood. “Who am I?” it said. “Is wise, all-seeing Gali really so blind? I am – you!”


Pohatu jumped atop an enormous boulder just in time to avoid being swept away by Gali’s flood. “Hey!” he cried, his usual good nature overwhelmed by near panic. “Gali, take care not to fight your friends as well as your enemy!”

His opponent smirked. “So much for the teamwork,” it said in its gravelly voice. “This is how your friends repay your loyalty. Makes one wonder why one should bother with friends at all, doesn't it?”

“Not at all.” Pohatu leaped to the ground and immediately swung his weapon at the boulder. It shattered into hundreds of flying shards, ricocheting off the walls toward the mysterious attacker.

The stranger laughed as he dodged the rocks. “Too bad, Pohatu,” it taunted. “Good thing you expect nothing in return for your loyalty to your friends. Because now that the chips are down, it seems they've left you to fight me all alone.”


It was getting hard for Lewa to concentrate on his own battle. First he'd nearly backflipped into the pool of lava that had suddenly appeared to cover half the cave. Then a flood of water had washed through.

“AI-AI-AI-AI-AI!” he yodeled, flipping himself up and over his attacker’s weapons and out of the boulder’s path.

CRRRRAAAAAACK!

The cavern shuddered as the boulder struck the wall. Lewa glanced hopefully back toward it, wondering if his opponent might be trapped behind it.

“Looking for me, Toa of Air?”

What is this creature, this quickdodging dark-stranger? Lewa wondered as he leaped into the air to escape another blow. It looks like me - but not like me.

He took in the stranger’s pitted mask, blackened as if by a creeping forest moss. Its skin beneath was green - the washed out green of a diseased leaf.

Tumbling out of range and lifting his arms, Lewa focused his energies on the air all around him. Soon a whirlwind roared through the cavern. It swept up Lewa’s enemy, and the Toa of Air laughed with delight.

But his opponent merely laughed in return as it glided easily through the currents and soon landed back beside the startled Toa.


It hadn’t taken Kopaka long to realize what was happening - Makuta had created these shadowy versions of the Toa to challenge them where the Manas and all the other creatures had failed.

And so far, the plan seemed to be working.

Kopaka fought on grimly. Neither he nor his enemy was wasting any energy on words. Kopaka found his frustration rising as each of his carefully executed moves was met and returned with equal precision.

This isn’t working, he thought. There has to be a better way….

“This should cool you off,” he muttered.

He touched his ice sword to the ground and focused his energy. Instantaneously, the cavern floor froze into a solid sheet of ice.

Even as he did it, Kopaka realized he'd miscalculated. His enemy smiled as it glided across the ice, its moves more graceful and controlled than ever.

“I see you've just recognized the cold, hard truth,” it whispered in a voice as sharp as an icicle.


Onua shook his head, willing himself to focus, to think through this problem. He had already tried overpowering his enemy with raw strength, but its might matched his own. He had attempted to trap it by tunneling through the cavern wall and then collapsing the tunnel atop it, but the creature had burrowed out easily.

We can't go on this way, he thought desperately.

Right now the Toa were at an impasse, evenly matched with their enemy. But if even one of them went down, it could mean the end of all of them.

Feeling uncharacteristically desperate, the Earth Toa struck the ground before him with all his might. The earth rumbled at the blow, shaking the entire cavern and sending a hailstorm of rocks and earth raining down on all the fighters.

Onua felt despair grip him as he saw that while the other Toa had been knocked off their feet, his own opponent merely leaped over the torn earth and moved in to press the attack.

[...]

Kopaka hit the ground hard as the quake rumbled beneath him. His enemy was on him in a flash. He managed to block the blow with his shield and then swing his ice blade upward. If he could just aim . . .

SKREEEEEEEK!

Kopaka smiled as he saw that his enemy was frozen in place. Kopaka sent the frozen enemy skittering across the ice until it smashed into the cavern wall. The creature shattered into hundreds of icy shards.

And each of the ice shards formed into a new enemy!

Nearby, Onua glanced over and gasped when he saw Kopaka’s predicament.

This is bad, Onua thought helplessly, dodging another blow from his own enemy. How can I fight one so much like myself? How can any of us?

He blinked as the answer dawned on him at last. Of course!

“Listen up!” he shouted. “We’re going about this all wrong. We can’t hope to defeat our own shadow doubles - but that’s why we’re a team!” He wanted to say more, but he didn’t have the chance - he had to dive aside to avoid another blow from his opponent’s weapon.

Pohatu heard Onua’s words, but he couldn’t respond for a moment. He was too busy fending off his own attacker. But in the back of his mind, he turned over the Earth Toa’s plan and found it made sense.

“Who are you kidding?” his opponent chortled mirthlessly, as if reading his thoughts. “They’re not going to fight for you, Toa of Stone, or even with you. They’ll use your strength to save themselves, then leave you behind.”

“No,” Pohatu said firmly, putting all his strength into one leg as he shattered another boulder with a mighty kick. His enemy fell back to avoid the shrapnel of stone, but instead of pressing the advantage, Pohatu spun away and glanced quickly around the cavern.

He saw the Fire Toa desperately trying to fend off a volley of blows with his fire sword. “Tahu!” Pohatu shouted. “Stand back!”

Gathering his energy, he leaped upward and struck the ceiling of the cave with a mighty blow of his fist. As the pieces broke off and fell, Pohatu directed them straight onto the Fire Toa’s opponent.

“Aaaaaaaah!” the smoky stranger cried, raising its arms to protect itself. Flames shot out of its sword, but it was no use. It couldn’t melt the falling stones fast enough. Within seconds it was buried beneath a mound of rocky debris.

Tahu stared at Pohatu in surprise. “What did you do that for? I was just about to-”

“Never mind,” Pohatu yelped, turning to defend himself against his opponent. “Help Gali!”

Tahu glanced over his shoulder and saw that the Water Toa was on the ground at the edge of a lava pool, her enemy advancing upon her.

“Gali!” Tahu cried. “Hold on, I’m coming!”

“Tahu!” Gali gasped. “Don’t – this thing is too strong!”

But Tahu didn’t hesitate. As the Shadow Gali whirled to face him, he pointed his fire sword. Heat and flame danced out from the end, wrapping around the enemy as it howled in surprise.

Steam hissed out in all directions, obscuring his view. When it faded, nothing remained of the Shadow Gali but a puddle on the cavern floor.

The defeat of two of the shadow enemies gave the other Toa new strength of purpose. Gali re-formed her flood and sent it gurgling towards Shadow Onua. It cried out in dismay as water pounded against it, eroding it away into nothing but a bit of sand.

The distraction gave Onua the chance to help Lewa. Seeing that the Air Toa’s enemy was somersaulting high in the air out of reach, Onua quickly summoned the earth beneath his feet to rise up, trapping the high-flying enemy in a floor-to-ceiling column of dirt and stone.

Freed from his enemy, Lewa saw that Kopaka and Pohatu remained under attack.

While Pohatu was holding his own, the ice-shard enemies had Kopaka surrounded.

“I’m coming!” Lewa shouted, tumbling through the air around the icy battle. “Kopaka!” he cried. “DUCK!”



- BIONICLE Chronicles 1: Tale of the Toa, Chapters 15 and 16