DiabloCat: Aha! I managed to finish a chapter! I suggest reading it very slowly. From previous experience, it'll have to last about six months! (Grins sheepishly) I know, I know, terrible habit. But the good news is I actually have an accurate outline of the plot and original lines! My younger cousin owns the book, so I borrowed it off him. Well, actually, I nicked it from his bookshelf. Hey, what he doesn't know won't hurt me. And now that I have the book, I will be able to write the story faster. Hooray!

I don't believe I've done a disclaimer so far. So here it is: I own nothing to do with Bionicle. I do own myself (at least I think so), Demon, and the whole Paper Doorways thing (that's what I plan to call it if it ever evolves into a trend). So if I catch anyway stealing it, I will send you evil glares and Demon will find the most evil villains possible and send them after you.

One last thing that I have forgotten to mention: this story contains GREAT HONKING SPOILERS! Most of you would have figured this out already, but if you haven't and you haven't seen the movie, then you may want to do that first.

And to my beautiful reviewers:

Nightbug08: I always forget. All – the – time. I swear, two seconds after someone tells me something, I have to ask them to repeat it. It's a serious…serious…what was I saying?

Tahalli: Sorry to keep you waiting so long. And thanks for the school encouragement. I got pretty good grades! Yippee! Hope this chapter is good enough to make up for the long wait.

Feline Freak aka Jade: Glad that's all cleared up. As to changing the storyline and putting it all back – I believe it's been done, but in other stories. Maybe not this one, cos whenever it happens, it means a lot of hard work, and that means extra thinking and writing…and I'm already pathetic at updating. But maybe another time…

And now (after this unnaturally long chattering) -

CHAPTER 7: TENSION AND TOURNAMENTS

"Oops. Sorry! 'Scuse me. Oh geez, I'm really sorry about that…"

I sidled through the stands, muttering apologies as I accidentally trod on pretty much every single Matoran's feet. I don't think it hurt them too much though, considering their feet are ten times harder than mine.

Finally I made it to where Tahu, Gali and Pohatu were sitting. I slumped down in my seat with a relieved sigh. Back in my world, I practically never went to big sports matches. Now I remembered why. Noise, noise, noise – and did I mention ear-splitting, babbling noise?

Thankfully, Turaga Vakama stood and signalled for the crowd to be silent. His voice echoed over the field. "We are thankful to the Great Spirit for his six guardians who represent the elements…"

I listened to this speech with one ear, but used the rest of my senses to examine the scene. One thing I loved about this world was the colours. They were so vivid and bright, and also come in handy when identifying things. As you can imagine, red, blue, green, brown, black and white are most common. In the stone bleachers, however, only three of the colours were evident. Half were filled with stocky brown Po-Matorans, who were the ones mostly responsible for the noise. The other half were taken by the quieter blue Ga-Matorans, and interspersed between the two groups were the quick-tempered red Ta-Matorans.

"…and given us hope for the future, for our history's next chapter." Vakama turned and bowed in our direction. "Three of these protectors are with us today. Let us welcome them. First, the spirit of fire, Toa Tahu!"

Tahu leapt up from his seat, waving his swords about to produce a spurt of fire. The event underground obviously hadn't tired him out at all. In fact, it seemed to have given him an extra spur of energy. I scowled. Lucky hunk of plastic.

Vakama continued. "From the village of water, Toa Gali!" Gali stood, saluting the crowd by raising her aqua axe. "From the village of stone, Toa Pohatu!" With his natural, casual humour, Pohatu waved, his huge claws shining in the sun. "And of course, our resident traveller from a far away land, Carleigh!" I also saluted the crowd, but used the traditional salute from Earth.

Vakama then launched into a long speech that basically laid on praise and worship to the Toa. I understood that they owed a lot to the Elementals, but sometimes it seemed a bit much. I leant back in my seat, and attempted to stifle a yawn.

Tahu bowed to Gali, who had yet to sit down again. "Pleasure to see you again, Gali."

"Thank you Tahu," was the cool reply. I raised an eyebrow. It was all very polite and formal, the normal sort of talk for those who have only met recently. But these two HADN'T only met recently. They were brother and sister, for crying out loud!

The strangeness continued as Tahu offered the seat next to his own, only to have Gali sit in another one, leaving an empty seat between them. A rejection if I ever saw one. Pohatu and I exchanged an exasperated glance, before he bounded over and sat in the empty seat. He wrapped an arm around their shoulders in a half friendly, half you're-being-stupid-so-stop-it way.

"You two," he said, shaking his head in mock-despair. "Still so ill at ease?"

"I think my brother is afraid of having his fire extinguished," Gali said, her voice carrying double tones much like Pohatu's gesture.

Tahu obviously caught the hidden messages, and responded in exactly the same way. "Sister, against me you'd be nothing but steam – hot air, as they say."

I flicked my eyes at Pohatu. The tension between the siblings was surprisingly strong, considering all they'd been through. Normally I'd have piped up by now with some inane comment to try and lessen the atmosphere, but I was unsure that would help this time. It might actually make it worse!

Suddenly the crowd fell quiet again, and I noticed Vakama was wrapping up the speech. "We dedicate this new Koli field to the Great Spirit, Mata Nui. And to the three virtues: unity, duty and destiny!"

In a great roar, the crowd chanted back, "Unity, duty, destiny!"

Vakama smiled. "Let the tournament begin!"

The roar came again, but this time it was sheer joy and excitement. I was startled to realise that I was quivering with anticipation, despite the fact I already knew how it was going to end. It was just the thrill of BEING there, with the cheering Matorans and the vibes flowing through the air so thickly I had a sudden urge to swipe the air in front of me to try and clear it.

The announcer took over from Vakama, his voice booming out over the crowd's chatter. "Ta-Koro welcomes three teams!" There was a grinding sound and part of the arena wall twisted and opened to create a goal, and a passageway for two brown contestants. "From the desert village of Po-Koro, Copper Mask winners and undisputed Koli champions…Hewkii and Hafu!" The two contestants raised their stick to an enormous cheer, especially from the brown section of the stand. Pohatu beamed proudly.

Another grinding noise, and another goal and pair of players, this time blue. "From Ga-Koro, the challengers – Hahli and Macku!" Another cheer, but from the other side of the stands and it was Gali who was smiling.

Rock grated against stone for the last time, and I grinned as Takua and Jaller skidded into view, sending up a spray of dirt. "And from Ta-Koro, the Captain of the Guard and the Chronicler, Jaller and Takua!" From the wide grin on Takua's face, he was enjoying this a lot.

I smiled sadly. Jaller and Takua were some of my closest Matoran friends on the island. Yes, I always make it a point to get to know the main characters, but I probably would have liked them even if I'd never seen them before. They just had that sort of personality. And I naturally would have loved to see them win the tournament. Unfortunately, the plot had other ideas.

Takua, Hahli and Hewkii moved into the centre of the field, and exchanged the customary greeting 'play well'. They then tensed, eyes staring at the circle from which the Koli balls would erupt.

There was a click, and the circle opened to let two Koli balls soar into the air. The three players leapt into action, accompanied by a cheer from the crowd. Hahli was the first to scoop up a ball, and she darted away before either of the boys could stop her. Instead, they tussled over the remaining ball. Takua scooped it up for a second, but stumbled, allowing Hewkii to snatch it off him. I could see the scowl on his face as he sped after his opponent.

In the meantime, Hahli had reached the Ta-Matoran goal, and knocked the ball towards it at a speed that would have sent me diving for the ground with my hands over my head. Jaller, however, simply knocked it away with his stick.

In the typical Matoran good spirit, she smiled and complimented him on the save. I couldn't hear the exact words from this distance, but I saw Jaller puff himself up a little, cross his arms and cock his head. He was definitely bragging. I winced. Everyone knows that bragging is the male species way of trying to impress the female, but it's not a good idea to do it unless one is absolutely certain they're correct.

There was a sudden roar from the crowd, and I started, having forgotten about the rest of the game. As it turned out, Hewkii had managed to get a ball past the Ga-Matoran goal, giving Po-Koro one point. Two more, and they would win the tournament.

The game raged back and forth. Hewkii scored another goal, and Hahli managed to sink two, though none of these were in the Ta-Matoran goal. Jaller didn't brag without reason – he was good. Takua was good too, but he just wasn't quick enough. I had to admit, mind you, that his opponents were hard. The Ga-Matorans were graceful and agile, while the Po-Matorans were extremely quick. I could see he was getting disheartened. I shot a quick glance sideways. Tahu was too. The Fire Toa's fists were clenched, and he was staring at the game in desperation.

Again the balls flew out of the circle, and again Hahli was the quickest to respond. That girl had amazing reflexes! The balls bounced along the ground, heading in different direction. Takua and Hewkii found themselves jumping for the same ball, and accidentally collided, sending both of them flying backwards. Ouch.

For once, Takua was quickest off the mark, and managed to scoop the ball up before Hewkii could reach it. He then launched into his 'special move', something I'd seen him practising on my last trip here. Back then, it had sent the ball spiralling into the goal faster and with more force than any other I'd seen.

Here, however, his shot went wide. It didn't lose any of the power or speed though, and ended up embedded in the stands, narrowly missing some spectators who'd had to scramble beneath their seats to get out of the way. And just to make things worse, Takua didn't land properly, and instead ended up munching dirt.

"Ooh, I don't think we've seen THAT move before!" cried the announcer, sounding positively gleeful. I felt insulted on behalf of my friends, and glared in his direction, though he couldn't see. Beside me, Tahu groaned and placed his head in his hands.

I looked back at the field, just in time to see Hahli finally get the better of the Captain of the Guard. Jaller leapt, swinging wildly with his stick, but it zoomed past and landed with a loud 'clunk' at the back of his goal.

"Hahli scores! Goal and tournament to Ga-Koro!" The blue section of the stand immediately began cheering and laughing, waving their hands about and leaping about all over the place.

Gali gave a delighted laugh, and turned to clank fists with Pohatu, who gave a wry shrug as if to say 'never mind, maybe next time'. She then turned and offered her fist to Tahu. The Fire Spirit didn't even acknowledge her. He simply gazed down at his feet. I heaved a silent sigh. It was rather ridiculous. Whenever one tried to be courteous, the other would reject them.

The three teams gathered in the centre of the field, and Turaga Vakama stood again. "Congratulations to Ga-Koro! And well played by all."

"They did play well," I said. "I mean, I can hardly lift one of those balls, let alone bash it round a field." Pohatu laughed, Gali chuckled, and even Tahu gave a brief smile. I grinned, with a touch of smugness. If I have but one talent, it's the ability to make people laugh. I hate depressing atmospheres, and don't mind mocking myself if it'll get a smile.

The contestants raised their sticks to salute Vakama. I leaned forward slightly, eyes fixed on Jaller. As his stick went up, his Koli bag was knocked askew – and the Mask of Light tumbled out. It thudded onto the ground, resting against Takua's foot. Instantly, a ray of light, brighter than that of the sun's, beamed out and Jaller was caught right in the middle of it. He stumbled back, hands up in front of his face, blinded by the intensity of the light.

The Mask rolled off Takua's foot, and the light faded away. Jaller dropped his arms and stared at Takua, who simply stared back. Vakama hobbled over, awe lacing his voice when he spoke. "Come, we must take this to the Suva immediately!"

"A Great Kanohi Mask!" murmured Pohatu. "How did that young Matoran come to have it?"

"Found it in the caverns," replied Tahu shortly. He stood and began striding down to the Turagas and Matorans, with Gali and Pohatu close behind him.

"Mind if I tag along?" I called after them. This was where the plot really started to kick in, and I didn't want to miss it.

"Not at all," Tahu shouted back. "But hurry up!"

I sighed and rolled my shoulders, wincing as bones cracked. I was still somewhat tired after the lava cave incident, but there was no time to rest. Soon the purpose of the Mask would be revealed. Soon the quest would begin. And soon trouble would start raining down.

"Oh, don't sound so glum," whispered a disembodied voice in my ear. Demon. "You like trouble."

"Shh," I hissed back. "I'm not supposed to admit that."

He chuckled. "Well, unless you want a different sort of trouble, I suggest hurrying. They're leaving you behind."

I yelped, and began to jog after my friends.

DiabloCat: I hope that was satisfactory. It was longer than any other chapters, so I hope it at least half makes up for the long wait.

BIG thanks to all who review. Ciao for now!