Chapter Five: The Beasts of Our Centers

Hesia and Tahu had entered the Volcanic area of the island, once they were in the said area, the two continued across the area at a walking pace. Heisa brushed her short dyed hair out of her face, making her cap move a small bit as she did so. Her mark on her hand was in a fire like color, signaling it was matching to the Toa Element Fire from their location on the island and to help hint Hesia what element her center was based of.

A sound of wings flapping was suddenly heard, making Hesia and Tahu come to a complete stop. Tahu held his arm in front of Hesia in a protective way. A bird like screech was heard making the two look seeing a Phoenix like bio organic bird flying in the air.

"Woah..." Hesia mumbled amazed at the Phoenix like bio-organic bird in front of her and Tahu. Tahu was too but was also shocked as well. "It's the Ikir..." Tahu said in shock and disbelief. The Ikir flew up to the Fire Toa and Hesia and began to fly around them in a slow paced and continuous circle, as if inspecting the two. "It's just making sure we're not a threat Hesia." Tahu told her as he rested a hand on her shoulder, seeing she looked rather anxious at the Ikir's actions.

Hesia let out a sigh as she nodded her head softly, but still felt anxious. He did something rather surprising to both Hesia and his own self, even the Ikir was a little shocked at this-
Tahu wrapped his arm around Hesia's shoulders and pulled her into his side in a protective but warm grip. 'He's so warm. Well, he isn't the Uniter of Fire for nothing...' Hesia thought to herself as she started to immediately enjoy the amount of warmth coming from the Fire Toa despite the area they were in of the island. Her nerves started to calm down from Tahu's grip on her along with his warmth, making a soft smile come onto her face.

"The Toa of Fire and Toa of Magic have made their appearance here I see?" A soft and warm sounding female's voice was heard in both Tahu and Hesia's heads. "Who, actually said that?" Tahu asked as he gazed around the area from where he was staring as he still held Hesia protectively. Hesia stared at the Ikir, who was flapping its wings to keep itself airborne as it stared at the two as it flew in front of them. "I think it was the Ikir.." Hesia said as she got out of Tahu's grip, getting the Fire Toa's full attention to her.

"Indeed it was me, young Magic Toa." The voice replied, now identified as the Ikir. Hesia reached her hand with her mark out to the Ikir. Making the Ikir fly back slightly..Heisa quickly retrieved her hand back as she said a quick 'sorry' to the Ikir. A soft giggle came from the Ikir's voice in the two's heads. "It is quite alright Magic Toa. But it is the Fire Toa that I am the two's of yours center. It is another creature that is the Magic Toa's. But is in dire need of help at the moment." The Ikir told the two.

"Whats wrong with it?" Hesia asked getting worried. "The Lava Tiger is in a large amount of pain, that it makes it rather impossible for it to stand on its own paws at this current moment." The Ikir told her and Tahu. "Lava Tigers aren't really seen often..." Tahu said outloud to himself. "That is because there are those bothersome Poachers of them Fire Toa." The Ikir told him, in a matter of fact tone that could be easily mistaken as sarcasm to some.

"No matter to that, what matters now is that this Lava Tiger needs help." Heisa told the two getting back onto topic. "The Magic Toa is right. But you both must cross a rather dangerous pathway to get to the Lava Tiger, as it was a rather last resort for it to keep it safe from anymore attacks to it." The Ikir told them as it agreed with Hesia.

"So it's ether in a lava pool or being guarded by it?" Tahu asked the Ikir as he crossed his arms over his chest. "It would be the second one on that to answer your question. Though it is quite a distance across large pools of lava, I can easily tell that you two are able to cross the large pools of lava to get to it." The Ikir told them.

"O-Okay, hold up on that please." Heisa said getting the attention of both the Ikir and Tahu, as she raised both her hands up in a pause motion. "Y-You really think that I know immediately how to cross over large pools of LAVA? Okay, I just gotten lucky somehow of how to take down how many cursed beings of Makuta with these newly gained abilities I have. A-And-" Hesia was cut off from her talking when she felt something or rather someone, hug her from behind, pulling the young girl into a tight and protective grip, that was also a comfortable warmth.

"Hesia," Tahu began, now making the said organic girl realize that he was the one hugging her from behind, which she had to fight a blush from appearing on her face for the situation at hand. "I know your feeling anxious at the thought of having to try to cross lava. But I'm not gonna let you fall in." He told her, trying to reassure the girl. "What do you mea- T-TAHU WHAT THE HELL?!" Hesia yelled as Tahu swept her off her feet immediately, literally at that, as he carried her bridal style. "Mind leading the way then Ikir?" Tahu asked the Ikir, not even struggling at the slightest to carry Hesia or from her struggling to get out of his strong and firm grip and ignoring her wishes to put her down as if they were nothing.

"Of course Fire Toa." The Ikir told him. "Follow me." The Ikir told him as it immediately went down a hole of the 'platform' ground of the ground they were on, to the various sizes of pools of lava there was. Tahu began to follow after it, grabbing his lava board off his back as he did so. "T-TAHU! DON'T YOU FUCKIN' DARE!" Heisa yelled, which the said Toa ignored her screaming against what was going through his head.

Hesia buried her face into his chest plate as she shut her eyes tightly, as he jumped down into the hole, awaiting a painful death. But it never came. Hesia slowly opened her eyes seeing that Tahu was surfing across the Lava on his board now as he followed after the Ikir. "Finally realize I wasn't get the both of us killed now Hesia?" Tahu asked her, as he had an amused smirk under his battle mask, as he still focused on where he was going as he followed the Ikir.

Heisa growled as a snarl appeared on her face. "Well maybe next time, TRY TO FUCKIN' WARN ME OF SOMETHING STUPID AND CRAZY YOUR ABOUT TO DO!" Heisa screamed at him. "Where's the fun in that then?" Tahu asked her smugly at the fact that Hesia was clinging to him as if she was in love with him and was thinking he was her knight to rescue her. Tahu nearly felt his own heart stop at that sudden strange thought of imagining the actions Hesia was doing.

He could immediately feel something in his heart, something, warm and fuzzy at the small thought of if the organic girl had those kinds of feelings for him. He looked down at her from the corner of his eye, seeing Hesia looking around, now amazed than mad at him still, at the beautiful glow of light the lava pools gave off, as she still clung to him, as if she would refuse to let go even if her life depended on it.

Hesia's dyed orange and red hair of the colors of fire itself flew in the air gracefully as she stared amazed at the beauty around her, as her blue eyes sparkled like the stars he would love to see in the night sky above the island. She looked almost like a goddess to his eyes.

He focused back on where he had to go of following of where the Ikir lead him as he continued to surf across the large lava pools. "We're almost there you two!" The Ikir yelled and told the two. "Let's hope we're not to late..." Tahu heard Hesia mumble in fear of what could've happened in the small period of time to the Lava Tiger. Tahu rubbed her back in an attempt to comfort her, which seemed to relax her nerves a bit. "OVER HERE!" The Ikir yelled as it began to fly, taking a sharp left, to a cave which thankfully no lava was in it.

Tahu made it to the 'shore' of the lava and Hesia stood back on her own feet of her black sneakers as Tahu put his board back on his back which fused back into his armor. Heisa held herself close, as her anxiety was still rather high for it to be comfortable with even in the slightest. "Follow close to me you two. And be careful of where you step. We mustn't take any chance of alerting any creations of Makuta that may be around." The Ikir told the two as they followed behind it. Hesia still held herself, scared of what could possibly happen. She didn't even think that Mata Nui himself knew what was going to happen. Tahu noticed how anxious she was by her body stance, and how her breathing was, strained and tense as she struggled to keep her breathing calm and quite.

He rested a hand on her shoulder making her jump slightly from the sudden touch, she looked at him from the corner of her eye as she saw through the small curtain of her hair from her bangs seeing that Tahu was the one who had rested his hand on her shoulder, his eyes glowing slightly in the dark lighting. "It'll all be okay Hesia." Tahu mouthed to her. "How the actual fuckin' hell are you sure?" Heisa mouthed a reply and question to him. He rolled his eyes at her as he leaned into her ear. "I'm not letting you get hurt, cause people will most definitely have to go through me to hurt my princess." Tahu whispered in her ear, almost in a possessive manner and tone.

Hesia could feel her heart wither up at how his voice sounded so smooth in a whisper tone. It would've made her fall on her own knees of how it made her melt, if she didn't fight against it. Especially at the fact that he had called her his princess. "Stay here you two, I must warn the Lava Tiger of your arrival." The Ikir told the two Toa's which the two stayed where they stood as the Ikir told the Lava Tiger of their arrival to help it. Heisa sighed shakily as her anxiety began to rise again.

Tahu took notice of this immediately, which he rested his hand on her head this time. Hesia just continued to shake in the slightest of her anxiety and fear getting to her. "Why the heck are you so anxious right now Hesia?" Tahu asked her in a whisper tone. "I-I have a bad f-feeling something b-bad is gonna happen..." Hesia replied in the same whisper tone as Tahu did but stuttered as she did so.

He raised a brow(?) at that. Hesia sighed shakily immediately noticing his confusion of how she thought something bad was bad was gonna happen. "I don't know what it is, I just got a feeling we're being watched, and not be a friendly force ether." Hesia told him still in a whisper tone as before. Tahu sighed at that. "Alright I'll admit, I feel it as well." Tahu admitted to her. "Is this like, something that comes with Toa powers?" Hesia asked him.

Tahu rose a brow(?) at that question. "H-Hey, I'm still new to this Toa deal so give me a break for not knowing anything about this, okay?" Hesia explained then asked him. He shook his head with a sigh at that. "Not really sure myself actually, just keep your guard up, okay?" He told her. Hesia nodded at that, "Right." She agreed with him. "You two may come in now." The Ikir's voice told the two. Hesia and Tahu walked in carefully as they watched where they stepped.

Hesia immediately gasped in shock seeing the Lava Tiger, both of its looks and its condition of injuries. It had a bleeding wound on its front forearm along with its back left foreleg, and had some bleeding cuts and wounds on its body. It was staring at Hesia and Tahu as they walked in. Hesia was a bit scared at it, since how tigers usually were in her world. "Do not fear me, young Magic Toa." A more of a male's almost of a raspy veterans voice said in both Hesia and Tahu's heads, but directed mainly to Hesia. "I will not harm you, especially since I am wounded." The voice told her.

"Okay..." Hesia said shyly as she walked up to the Lava Tiger. Hesitance in each step she took to it. She finally reached the Lava Tiger and squatted down next to it, and looked over its wounds. "What the hell happened to you? You looked like you went through hell and back twice." Hesia mused dryly aloud, earning chuckles from both Tahu and the Lava Tiger. "To answer your question young Magic Toa, Makuta's creations had attacked me, I had hid here to where they couldn't be able to get to my weakened form." The Lava Tiger explained to Hesia and Tahu. "God damn, they did a number on ya' that's for sure." Hesia mused dryly, before getting back on to the matter at hand, helping it.

"What do we need to help you out?" Hesia asked it. "Lava Crystals and Blue Fire are able to help me heal rapidly and quickly before Makuta's creations can find us here and I will be back to full strength again." The Lava Tiger told them. "Blue Fire is easy for both me and Hesia to create since it's one of the hottest temperatures of Fire," Tahu begun as he thought aloud, bringing a hand to his chin. "But Lava Crystals are so scarce around here due to the villagers mining them for their beauty and worth." He continued. "Where in the name of Mata Nui himself are we gonna find one?" He asked aloud to no one in particular.

Hesia then felt a new presence in her head like when Mata Nui had talked to her and gifted her Toa of Magic abilities. This one felt wise and strong like a seasoned warrior. "Check your bag Miss Hesia." A female's voice told Hesia in her head. Hesia didn't even let any thought of who told her that in her head, as she quickly took off her backpack off her back gaining Tahu, the Ikir and the Lava Tiger's attention to her as she opened up her bag.

The same fire like glowing light from before she woke up here came from inside her bag, but it was more toned down of a brightness. Hesia reaches her hand into her bag and pulled out the object, revealing it to them all including Hesia herself was a beautiful crystal that had a lava like pattern inside it and glowed softly like molten lava as the pattern inside the crystal itself resembled a Lava Plumb.

"Where in the name of Mata Nui himself did you get that Lava Crystal Hesia?" Tahu asked her in shock at the Lava Crystal she held in her hand. The said organic girl shrugged her shoulders at that, "I-I didn't even know I had it in my bag. I heard a voice in my head like before with Mata Nui, but this one was a female's voice." Hesia admitted as she held the crystal in hand, stuttering slightly in shock.

"We'll get back at to that another time, let's just help the Lava Tiger." Tahu said after a bit of silence. Hesia nodded as she placed the lava crystal in the palm of her hands as she focused her Toa powers to change to the Fire element to form Blue Fire around the Lava Crystal. The ground began to shake slightly making Hesia, Tahu, the Lava Tiger and the Ikir look to see creations of Makuta advancing to them. "Shit." Hesia swore as Tahu drew out his twin swords from on his back.

"I'll keep these guys busy, just focus on healing the Lava Tiger Hesia." Tahu told her which she nodded and focused back on forming the Blue Fire around the Lava Crystal again..Hesia gasped slightly as she caught sight of one of Makuta's creations getting ahold on the Ikir. "TAHU! THEY GOT THE IKIR!" Hesia yelled gaining the Fire Toa's attention, he narrowed his eyes as he advanced to the creations at the Ikir and began to fight them off of the being.

Hesia gasped again as a blue fire formed and burned brightly around the Lava Crystal. "What do I need to do next?" Hesia asked the Lava Tiger. "I need to consume both the Blue Fire and Lava Crystal at once, as soon as I do so the healing process will speed itself up." The Lava Tiger told her making Hesia nod..She held the Lava Crystal and Blue fire in her hand with her Toa mark out to the Lava Tiger, the Toa mark glowed a beautiful fire like light softly as the Lava Tiger consumed the Lava Crystal and Blue Fire from Hesia's hand.

Once the Lava Tiger swallowed the Blue fire and lava crystal, he looked at Hesia. "Go help the Fire Toa." He told her, Hesia was hesitant but trusted them, nodding as she focused her Toa powers to a random element. Hesia focused a weapon to form once she knew the element was formed, which in turn formed a Bass Axe like Marceline's from Adventure time but more of a cordless Electric Guitar than the electric Bass it was originally.

Hesia looked at the Toa mark on the palm of her hand seeing it still fire based making her raise a brow before she felt another presence in her head but was different than Mata Nui's and the previous female's. "Music Toa's are known for using song and instruments to their advantage." Another female's voice said, though unlike the previous one, this one had almost sounded much younger than the first one.

Hesia strapped the axe guitar on her and strung the strings as she immediately thought of a song for her to help her and Tahu win this fight.

__________
Song: Feed The Machine by Poor Man's Poison

[Hesia's Singing]

Here's to the greater good, for all
Do what you know you should, for all
We all may die

Tahu immediately took notice of her singing but continued to fight as he felt power surge through him.

Something's going on, just look around
Fear is on the rise
And there's blood all over the ground
Let's all just blindfold the poor
We must remind them what's in store
We got 'em now
Just break them down a little bit more
(Ah)

Hesia grinned as she got to the Chorus and began to slash the enemies around her and Tahu with the axe guitar.

I said, "Hey (hey), you (you), feed the machine
Bring them all back down to their knees
There's no time to waste
Remind the slaves
They ain't gonna make it out alive today"
I said, "Hey (hey), you (you), poison the well
Watch it all burn, take them straight to hell
He's got the whole (whole) world (world) in his hands
It was nice to know ya
We've all been damned, c'mon"

Tahu and Hesia faught vigilantly as their backs were flushed against another to keep the enemies from getting their blind spots.

Nothing's going on, no need to fear
And we're all in this together
And just to make it all clear
We want the same thing as you
This will all be over soon
Now here's a little pill
Here's the truth
We're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna
We're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna
We're all gonna die

The Ikir soon joined the fight at Tahu's side as the three faught.

"Hey, you, feed the machine
Bring them all back down to their knees
There's no time to waste
Remind the slaves
They ain't gonna make it out alive today"
I said, "Hey (hey), you (you), poison the well
Watch it all burn, take them straight to hell
He's got the whole (whole) world (world) in his hands
It was nice to know ya
We've all been damned, c'mon"
We've all been damned c'mon

As Hesia neared the end of her song, the Lava Tiger had joined the fight fully healed, as it also had morphed, it now reached Hesia's shoulders in height, one of it's ears seemed to be pierced with a few small gold hoop earrings and serval gold chains as it's eyes and fangs glowed like molten lava.

I said, "Hey (hey), you (you), feed the machine
Bring 'em all back down to their knees
There's no time to waste
Remind the slaves
They ain't gonna make it out alive today"
I said, "Hey (hey) you (you), poison the well
Watch it all burn, take them straight to hell
He's got the whole (whole) world (world) in his hands
It was nice to know ya
We've all been damned, c'mon!"
We've all been damned c'mon
(C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon)
We've all been damned c'mon

Hesia, Tahu, the Ikir and the Lava Tiger had won the fight and we're still prepared to continue fighting, Tahu has both his sword ready, the Ikir on his right shoulder with it's wings high to take flight again, Hesia as she seemed to be ready to strike another cord of her guitar and the Lava Tiger in a defensive stance next to her. Thankfully for the four of them, the enemies seemed to have stopped making them relax their stances.

"God damn, that's a needed relief." Hesia said as she made the axe guitar disappear into thin air as she fixed her hair and hat. "Think it's late in the day that we need to set up camp?" Hesia asked Tahu as he sheathed his swords on his back, "It would be easier for us if we just head to a nearby village, I know the way and it's a bit more safer than camping here where more of Makuta's creations can get to us." He told her, the Ikir relaxing itself on his shoulder.

Hesia nodded at that in agreement. "Gotcha." She said, "Though," Tahu began getting her attention again making Hesia tilt her head in curiosity at that. "We can get there faster if we fuse temporarily with the Ikir and the Lava Tiger for the respected person." Tahu said making Hesia raise a brow at that, "And how the hell do we do that?" She asked him as she shifted her weight to her left leg making her lean slightly to the left. Tahu justed smirked at her, "Just watch." He said as the Ikir flew off his shoulder, landing on his back as it formed to be one with him, making Tahu look like he had a golden part of his mask and wings like the Ikir.

Hesia stared in shocked at that, "You act like I already know how to do that when I fucking don't Toa Tahu!" Hesia snapped at him, a small vein popping from her forehead at that. Tahu sighed as he shook his head slightly, "You just need relax and let your energy form with the Lava Tiger's." Tahu told her, as if it was simple.

Hesia sighed as she took deep breaths to calm herself down, once she felt her nerves loosen enough, she reached out to the Lava Tiger, 'Just relax, and allow your energies merge.' Hesia told herself mentally, allowing her mental walls to lower as she felt the Lava Tiger's energy clashing with her own.

In a flash of light, the Lava Tiger and Hesia had fused. Hesia still looked the same, but while her hat was gone she had the Lava Tiger's ears in it's place and the Lava Tiger's tail coming from under her skirt, swishing in half circles behind her. Hesia opened her eyes which were a Hetorochromia like as her right eye was her usual blue as her left eye was like the Lava Tiger's.

Hesia looked over herself seeing the tail and feeling the ears on her head. "Woah.." she mumbled in amazement. "No time to simp over yourself," Tahu said making Hesia look up at him. "Let's head before anymore of Makuta's creations can get a chance to rise up." Tahu said making Hesia nod.

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Chapter Five: The Beast of Our Centers

END

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