It should be understood that it goes against a Toa’s nature to sneak. Toa, by tradition, operate in broad daylight, so that the Matoran we protect can see us defending them and trust in us. So it was a little uncomfortable for some of us to be sneaking onto the shoreline of the island of Odina.
Not that we had much choice. Odina is the home base of the Dark Hunters, heavily defended and notoriously difficult to invade. Even six Toa Nuva could not count on victory on these shores.
We had approached from the north, intending to go over the mountains and attack the fortress by surprise. There were fewer guards in this region, since the natural barriers made it difficult to pass. A formidable blue and white Dark Hunter that Tahu recognized as Minion was the only sentry visible. Before we could decide how best to handle this, Kopaka Nuva had flash frozen him in mid-step.
“Now we’re on a deadline,” joked Onua. “We have to finish our mission before the spring thaw.”
Pohatu lead the way as we climbed into the mountains. None of us spoke. Our minds were on the job up ahead - invading a fortress filled with enemies to retrieve the Staff of Artakha.
Lewa climbed up a rock, leapt off and used his Mask of Levitation to hover in the air and scout. I was about to warn him about being spotted when an energy web dropped from the sky and entangled him. It was rapidly followed by a stream of acid that just barely missed the falling Toa.
I glanced up. A winged creature was swooping down toward us, more energy webs already flying from his chest-mounted launcher. Tahu threw a shield around us and the web bounced off. Kopaka iced the creature’s wings and Onua threw his Mask of Strength behind a blow that knocked him out.
“Two down,” smiled Lewa. “And only 200 to go!”
Nobody laughed.