Ignition Comics

2008 - Ignition Comic 12.5: Spirits of the Sky

Adapted by Michael Larson. Edited by Jeff Douglas.

Lewa Nuva and Tanma soared down through the sky of Karda Nui. Tanma was shaking his head. “Why are we running? We should turn and fight!”

“Great deep-thought there, Tanma,” Lewa replied. “And what happens if we lose?”

Tanma shook his head. “We won’t lose! As long as we have right on our side, nothing can stop us.”

Lewa sighed and his flight slowed. “Little brother, I used to quick-talk like that, too. That was an infected mask and a Bohrok krana ago, though. Trust me,” he added loudly. “We need help to save the others.”

A booming voice turned Lewa’s flight into an idle hover. It came from all around him and Tanma, but the speaker, Antroz, was nowhere to be seen. “Three little Toa, soaring through the blue—one choked on shadows, and then there were two.”

Tanma crossed his swords in front of him, turning wildly to find their foe. “Show yourself, Makuta!”

Lewa, though alarmed and wary, kept still. “They are keen-masters of illusion, Tanma. One could be fly-standing right close-near and we wouldn’t know it.”

Antroz’s echoing voice went on, “Two little Toa, their time almost done—one met a Shadow Leech, and then there was one.”

“But on the other hand, they really stink as poets,” Lewa added.

Tanma pointed ahead, “What’s that!?”

Lewa looked. Where there had been nothing before, there had appeared a swirling vortex of darkness in the middle of the sky, coming closer and closer.

“The Makuta are trying to make us warm-feel at home…” he said. The Toa unleashed a huge cyclone. “But Toa-heroes make lousy guests.”

The air attack met the shadow one, tearing into its mass and shredding the darkness into scraps. Wisps of shadow energy drifted slowly down from the attack.

Lewa listened for more taunting, but none came. With a frown, he motioned for Tanma to climb aboard his back, and then the two set off once again.

✴        ✴        ✴

Antroz’s wings flapped rhythmically, keeping himself aloft in the air near an unconscious Kopaka, Pohatu, Solek, and Photok. They dangled in the air, their wrists bound with chains made of shadow and their bodies suspended from the ceiling of Karda Nui. Through Radiak’s eyes, from the Shadow Matoran’s connection on his back, Antroz looked on with anticipation.

“Your friend will be here to join you soon… Toa are too noble, too brave, and too stupid not to rush right to their dooms. When he arrives, he will see that even if he did defeat me, the chains I made would vanish—and all four of you would fall.”

Makuta Antroz shifted his gaze from the Matoran to Kopaka and Pohatu. “Teridax says we need you alive… he never said undamaged, which opens up a world of opportunity for us. Perhaps Chirox and Vamprah will let you bounce once or twice before retrieving you…”

For a moment, he considered using his own Kanohi Jutlin, the Great Mask of Corruption, on their armor or even their weapons, causing them to rot and break down. But there might still be some use for them as well.

He looked away. “He will try a sneak attack, or course, your friend. But his Toa power is a light breeze on Destral, his Mask of Levitation is a joke, and his weapon—annoying, true, but nothing a true Makuta cannot handle.”

An enormous impact smashed into him from behind, causing Radiak to shout in pain. “Really?” Lewa asked. “Then how are you with good old-fashioned socks to the jaw?”

Antroz pulled himself away. “Impossible! How did you evade Makuta Vamprah and Chirox?”

Lewa took aim with his skyblaster. “I have been high-flying a lot longer than you bat-winged losers. Now free my brother-friends or I light things up.”

Antroz smiled. “Do you really think even a blast from that weapon can harm me?”

With almost impossible agility, Lewa, combining his weightlessness from the Kanohi Miru with his own flight equipment, wheeled in mid-air and fired.

“Who speak-said I was aiming at you?”

The light burst struck Toa Pohatu, who was jolted awake. The Toa of Stone looked around, startled and disoriented. “Huh? What? Where—?”

Lewa was now firing his skyblaster, this time toward Antroz who scrambled to dodge. “Three more questions than we have time for, Toa-brother! Get ready—get set—”

On Lewa’s back, Tanma’s body suddenly illuminated, glowing like a star behind the Toa. Lewa began to really open up with the skyblaster, drawing light from the Matoran himself like a battery.

“Go!!”

With Antroz’s concentration broken by Lewa’s attack, the shadow chains faded around the incarcerated Toa and Matoran, allowing them to fall from the cave roof. Pohatu, flying at super-speed, gathered up Photok, Solek and Kopaka before they could fall far.

“Hmmmm…” Pohatu mused. “It never rained Matoran on Mata Nui.”

Tanma kept glowing, concentrating on pouring his light energy through the Toa. The attack kept Antroz at bay, but through the onslaught Lewa could see Vamprah and Chirox flying toward the scene of battle. “Pohatu! More shadow-flyers!”

Pohatu wheeled back toward Lewa, even his propellers and might faltering under the weight of the three unconscious allies. “Then we fight another day… when our hands are free,” he said. As Lewa flew in range of the Stone Toa’s Kakama Nuva, the two retreated, soaring away at high speed.

Lewa threw a glance at the Toa of Ice in Pohatu’s grip. “Next time, Kopaka can hard-fight, and I will take the dream-nap!”

“Let’s just hope Tahu and his team are doing better than we are,” Pohatu replied, “or else this is going to be one of those short missions that ends with dead Toa.”

“Yeah, hate those…”