Axonn crouched down behind a low stone wall, and watched the Fire and Ice bolts fly by overhead. Beside him, Brutaka was peering around the crumbling bit of cover now and then, hurling a blast from his sword.
"Knock on the front door," grumbled Axonn. "Great strategy. I think all that time in Mahri Nui left you with a waterlogged brain."
"Oh, come on," said Brutaka, smiling. He picked off an attacker with a bolt of energy, then winged another. "You love this, and you know it. After thousands of years sitting around on Voya Nui waiting for something to happen, you need the exercise."
A green-fleshed Skakdi climbed over the wall, spiked club in hand. Axonn quickly made him regret it.
"This was supposed to be a nice, simple job. Go to Zakaz, find warlord Nektann, arrange an alliance between the Order and the Skakdi. Not get pinned on a beach by an angry horde."
"Are we pinned? We're not pinned," said Brutaka. "Watch."
Brutaka popped over the wall and fired an energy bolt at a half-crumbled building. Shearing through its only support, he sent the structure toppling down on a mob of Skakdi. When the dust cleared, all of them were trapped beneath the rubble.
"Now those guys, they're pinned," said Brutaka.
Axonn sighed. "Just like the good old days," he said. "Now I remember why I hated them so much."
"If you liked that idea, you'll love this one," Brutaka replied. Before Axonn could react, Brutaka had grabbed him by the back of the neck. He dragged Axonn to his feet and stood beside him, free arm in the air. "We surrender!" Brutaka shouted to the Skakdi army. "Take us, we're yours." ***
Elsewhere, a trader on the island of Stelt would, over the course of his life, see pretty much everything at least once. The place was a crossroads for the crooked, the desperate and those just looking for fast money, or a deal best kept hidden from Toa. This particular trader, though, had recently seen more than he would have wished. A small group of warriors, including the hated Roodaka, had stolen one of his best ships. Worse, they had done it in such a way that no one would even believe it had happened. Things had at last settled down though; he had managed to find a replacement ship and recover those members of the old crew who were still alive. It was back to business as usual; at least until a 20 foot-tall dragon tore the roof off his shop.
"Where's Teridax?" the dragon growled.
"Teridax? Who or what is that? And how would I know?" said the trader, reaching frantically for a weapon, and coming up with nothing better than a cracked Kanoka disk.
"I know Stelt," said the dragon, "A Nui-Rama doesn't buzz on the Tren Krom Peninsula without you scum hearing it. So I'll ask again, where is he? Where is the Makuta of Metru Nui?"
"I don't know! I swear it!" shouted the trader.
The dragon scooped his victim up in a great claw. "I don't have time for this. I have places to be, and bodies to break. I want you to send out a message to all your friends, to everyone who sails in and out of this island. Tell them Miserix is back, and when I find him, Teridax is dead!"...