Really hate how I don’t seem to have much time for writing these days… Still, slowly but surely the story continues; I still have some points that I really want to get to.
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Chapter 28
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I looked over to the door to see the distinctive, green form of a Toa of Air. “Lerome?” I was rather surprised to see him here.
“Aw, what up, sis?” he approached, walking with that characteristic swagger, that beat to his step, and was followed in by the two other members of our team: Kirall and Jahlpu, Toa of Water and Earth, respectively.
“Oh, not much,” I shrugged. “Been traveling. What are you all doing here?”
“Same as you,” Lerome replied as he planted himself on the seat next to Kopaka. “We’ve been living up this town, right?” he turned to his companions.
“You have no idea,” Kirall added. “I mean, the size of this place, all the stuff you do…” Jahlpu nodded in agreement with our sister.
“Never seen anything like it,” he commented. I nodded too, a bit stumped by their sudden entrance. This was a really inconvenient time for them to show up.
“The light shows at that party in the Vo-Matoran place,” Lerome said, “seriously, you should’ve been there.”
“Oh, it was like, totally epic,” Kirall added, taking the seat next to me. “There were these laser things that made all these patterns in the air, and a bunch of Glatorian were there, and we danced that night away!” I continued feigning a smile… I knew full well how much Kirall appreciated the company and attention of those Glatorian.
“It was really cool,” Jahlpu added, having taken a seat as well. Unlike the smooth-talking Lerome and ditzy Kirall, our Toa of Earth was one of relatively few words.
“Nothing compared to Le-Koro-Nuva, though,” Lerome said proudly. “Man, we were up for days in those tree huts!”
“I’m sure it was great,” I nodded, nervously casting a glance at Kopaka, who didn’t much appreciate the interruption.
“Don’t forget the parkway,” Kirall added. “Like, the day after that party, those Glatorian took me there; that place is shopping heaven! Look at what I got!” She raised up a leg, proudly displaying what appeared to be an attachment to her foot to raise her heels.
“Ehm… nice.” I remembered Toa Hahli had sported similar modifications.
“They say it’s this big thing among the Vortixx,” Kirall continued, lowering her tone as though whispering me a secret. “They say it makes me look… powerful.” A sly smile and much emphasis accompanied the word “powerful.”
“Do they?” I asked, confounded as to what exactly the point was.
“Oh yeah, watch!” Kirall stood up and struck a pose, then another which was accompanied by a smile and wink. Lerome looked and nodded approvingly, while Jahlpu rolled his eyes. If “powerful” was the point, I think Kirall missed the mark, but a Glatorian or Agori would certainly have described her as “alluring.” She had a certain poise, though I couldn’t help but feel that those… attachments had to be messing with her balance. “Best part,” she mentioned, “is that I got a massive discount, ‘cause guess what, I’m a Toa!”
“Yea, we can pretty much walk in anywhere and get served for free,” Lerome laughed. “It’s awesome being a hero!” I was about to reply when, suddenly, the train started to move and my misgivings about Kirall’s balance were proven correct. Standing effectively on her tip-toes, she could do nothing to brace herself and ungracefully tumbled head-over-heels as the train rapidly accelerated beneath her. Lerome burst out laughing at the undignified spectacle. Jahlpu rolled his eyes but couldn’t help a smile.
“That was hilarious!” the Toa of Air gasped. “Straight-up wipeout!”
“You try it, buster,” Kirall scorned as she picked herself up and took back her seat.
“You might need more practice,” Jahlpu helpfully pointed out.
“Yeah…” Kirall admitted. “I’m working on it. But,” she turned to me, “you know Toa Hahli has these, right?”
“Yeah, I know,” I replied. Kirall idolized Hahli; she’d been religiously following her news broadcasts practically since the day she’d been activated.
“This is, like, just the start,” the Toa of Water continued. “I’m gonna look like her someday.”
“That’s… uhm… that’s a lot of work to be done,” I hesitantly pointed out. “I mean, Hahli didn’t get that done overnight, did she?”
“Oh, of course not.” Kirall waved the thought away. “Point is, look where she’s at today. I’m going to get there, too.”
“Sure…” I remembered talking with Hahli on the subject of what all she’d had to do to herself to get there; Kirall had no idea what she was in for.
“No, really, I am,” Kirall insisted, apparently thinking that I didn’t believe her.
“Oh, I’m sure you will,” I assured her, “but… you’re going to sacrifice a lot for that.”
“Meh,” she scoffed. “I’ll manage.” I wasn’t sure, but I wasn’t going to stop her… Whenever Kirall wanted something, nothing and no one could get in her way. Lerome at last recovered from his laughing fit.
“Sheesh, sis, you’ve been missing out,” he added. “We’ll have to get you back there at some point, shake it loose, you know?”
“Get wasted,” Jahlpu added.
“Yeah, sure…” I suddenly noticed Kopaka’d vanished from his seat a midst the commotion.
“No, trust me, you need it,” Lerome went on. “Unwind a bit, sis; the Skakdi gave up, remember?”
“Uh-hm…” I spotted Kopaka sitting at the other end of the train, the very back of the car.
“Remember?” Lerome repeated.
“Oh… yeah, sure.” I turned back to him.
“We’re gonna see Onu-Koro-Nuva first, though” Kirall added, not sounding as excited about that prospect as she sounded about just about everything else. “Jahlpu here wants to see… what did you want to see again?” She turned to the Toa of Earth.
“The great mine,” Jahlpu reminded her. “It’s the biggest mine on the planet; that’s like the holy grail for Onu-matoran. No way I’m not going to see it.”
“Yeah, we’re checking out a hole in the ground,” Kirall shrugged.
“Riveting stuff, I’m sure,” I smiled towards Jahlpu, well aware of how much he’d had to put up with from the other two Toa. He nodded back.
“So, what’ve you been doing in the big city, then?” Lerome asked me.
“Uhm… wandered about a bit,” I answered, not wanting to get specific about everything that had transpired in front of me over the past few days. “I, uhm… I saw that fight between Tahu and Stronius.”
“Oh, you did!?” Lerome exclaimed. “We were there, too! Awesome, am I right?”
“It was… impressive,” I nodded.
“Man, that finishing move,” Lerome leant back, remembering whatever the fight looked like from his angle. “Sometimes I wish I could do that with fire, you know?”
“You’d just send them flying,” Kirall pointed out.
“Exactly!” the Toa of Air exclaimed. “It sucks sometimes…”
“Tahu can’t fly, though,” I noted.
“That’s true…” Lerome admitted. “I wouldn’t give that up, no way… did you go and see that big Kolhii match, too?”
“Unfortunately, no,” I shook my head. “Didn’t really have the time.”
“Sucks,” Lerome continued. “It was epic. Hewkii pulled the overhead launch like five times!”
“That seems a bit… excessive,” I replied, vaguely remembering something about the “overhead launch” being Hewkii’s signature move.
“Oh no, they set him up perfectly,” Lerome explained. “Passed that ball to him right down the fourth line, then he’d rotate around the 45th, and suddenly, no defenders left beyond the goalie, and no way that guy alone was gonna stop a well-aimed shot from the master. They pulled that trick five times; those guys didn’t have an answer to it!” Excited hand-gestures accompanied his explanation, but I could only nod and pretend to know what he was talking about… I just didn’t follow Kolhii all that closely, whereas Lerome positively qualified as a fanatic.
“His favorite team did well,” Kirall translated. “Like, really well.”
“I figured.”
“And Hewkii’s his favorite player,” she continued, as though I hadn’t heard Lerome sing his praises a hundred times before. “He’s a Toa of Stone…”
“I know…” I rolled my eyes.
“He’s the greatest player there is,” Lerome repeated what he’d said many, many times before.
“Yeah, yeah,” I acknowledged. “You’ve told me.”
“It bears repeating,” Lerome concluded. For a moment, the car fell silent as no one really had much of an answer to that.
“Well, I’m going to check out the catering,” Kirall decided.
“Good idea,” Lerome chimed in. Both Toa got up and momentarily looked to me and Jahlpu.
“No thanks,” I turned them down. Jahlpu likewise shook his head. To tell the truth, I was feeling a bit peckish, but I wanted to go check on Kopaka first.
“Okay, suit yourselves. We’ll be right back.” Lerome and Kirall departed.
“Fun times, hm?” I said to Jahlpu after the door closed behind them.
“Sure,” the Toa of Earth admitted. “So, who’s your friend?” he pointed down the car to the end, where Kopaka was sitting hunched over with his hood up, concealing his identity from my brother.
“Oh, he’s…” I struggled to come up with an explanation. “He’s another Toa. Bit older. I’ve been… keeping an eye on him.”
“Ah,” Jahlpu nodded. “Hero from the past?”
“Yeah… I should probably go check on him,” I admitted.
“Go ahead,” Jahlpu said, gesturing in Kopaka’s direction.
“I’ll be right back.” I got up and made my way over the back end of the car, where Kopaka was sitting with his hood still up, concealing his identity from my companions. I took the seat across from him.
“Sorry about them,” I began. “I really didn’t expect them to show up here.”
“I figured,” he replied in as icy a tone as I’d ever gotten from him.
“They’re my teammates,” I continued, not sure exactly what else to say about them. “They’re… uhm… riding a bit high on the whole being a Toa thing.”
“They are not Toa,” Kopaka asserted. “Not even close.”
“Well physically, they are…” I argued half-heartedly, but Kopaka’s death stare cut me off.
“After everything that you have seen, do you really think that being a Toa is all about that?” he said sternly, almost disappointedly.
“No, not really…” I confessed.
“Being a Toa is not about the powers, or the toys, or the generous gratitude of others,” he continued. “We serve the Matoran, not the other way around. Those who forget that do not deserve the title.”
“I don’t think anyone ever told them,” I sighed. Kopaka merely grunted, signaling disapproval but not dignifying the statement with a response. “So, the final battle… it may have to wait a bit,” I continued. “I can’t really ask them to leave, so…”
“No concern,” Kopaka said, though his tone of voice indicated he wasn’t pleased. “Go see to your friends, the battle can wait.”
“Thanks.” I got up and went back to my previous seat. “He’s okay,” I assured Jahlpu, who looked slightly concerned.
“If you say so.” He shrugged. I appreciated his concern; within our team, Jahlpu was arguably the most sensible Toa… the most Toa-like, perhaps, going by Kopaka’s definition. “How did he turn invisible?” the Toa of Earth suddenly asked.
“Did he?” I was shocked.
“When Kirall fell,” Jahlpu explained, “he just… vanished, and then reappeared over there after a while.”
“Oh…” Suddenly I got it. “Kanohi Huna,” I replied. “He can turn invisible for a short time.”
“Useful,” Jahlpu nodded. “So, where are you headed, then?”
“Ko-Koro-Nuva, probably,” I replied.
“You want to come check out the mine with us first?” he offered. “I mean, you’d probably find it more interesting than those two.” He gestured back to the door through which Lerome and Kirall had vanished.
“Maybe…” I said, looking back towards Kopaka.
“They’ve got a statue of another old Toa there,” Jahlpu continued. “Toa Onua Nuva, a Toa of Earth. A true hero, he was, the hero of the Onu-Matoran.”
“Do they, now?” I got an idea. “Hold on a moment,” I said as I got up again, and walked back to Kopaka.
“Want to make a stop in Onu-Koro-Nuva?” I asked the Toa of Ice.
“No” was his curt reply. He didn’t even look up at me.
“They’ve got a statue of Onua there,” I continued. “Thought you might like to see it.”
“Why would I want to see it?” Kopaka wondered.
“Onua died, right?” I said. “Before you go back… wouldn’t you like to know how, and what he did?”
“I know what he was doing when I left,” Kopaka countered. “Why should I spend time getting to know how he died?”
“I don’t know… get closure?” I offered. “I mean, he was your brother, too.”
Kopaka paused for a moment, then looked up at me. “After seeing two of my brothers and my sister already, do you really believe that I want to see more?” He was suppressing it as usual, but I could detect pain behind that question… what he’d seen, especially Pohatu, had hit him harder than he was willing to admit.
“Perhaps not,” I concluded, feeling a bit bad about pressing the issue in the first place. “It’s just that… they’re going to see it, and the mine, and I think it would be interesting to know what happened with Onua… and you still have to show me that final battle.”
“I will,” he assured me, “and you will get to see whatever you are planning on seeing in there with them.”
“Okay then…” I shrugged and turned back, figuring that he’d already come up with a plan that accounted for the changed circumstances. “I’ll come,” I told Jahlpu as I took my seat by him again.
“Great!” Jahlpu smiled; I guess he was glad that at last he’d have some more company than just Lerome and Kirall. “You’re going to like it, I’m sure.”
“Probably more than Kirall will with those heels.” I couldn’t help but smile at the image of Kirall trying to navigate uneven, rocky ground with her new ‘upgrades.’
“Yeah, probably,” Jahlpu acknowledged. “Anyways, that statue… have you heard about Onua?”
“In name, but I’d like to know more,” I answered.
“The guy’s a freaking legend,” Jahlpu continued, getting excited. “He practically dug that whole mine…” Before even really getting started, he was interrupted by the return of Jerome and Kirall, both carrying tasty looking sandwiches.
“So, it turns out, the catering’s pretty good,” Jerome announced as he took his seat again.
“Seriously, you should check it out,” Kirall added.
“Later, maybe,” I told her, noticing that Jahlpu looked a disappointed; he probably wouldn’t get much of a word in edgewise while these two were around, never mind tell the story of Onua.
“What were you talking about?” Kirall wondered.
“Jahlpu was telling me about Toa Onua,” I replied, hoping that he’d get the chance to continue.
“Onua… isn’t that the one they’ve got the statue of?” Kirall asked.
“Yes,” Jahlpu replied.
“Oh, the one that worked with Lewa!” Lerome suddenly exclaimed.
“The one from Le-Koro-Nuva?” Kirall wondered.
“Yeah, remember?” Lerome continued. “The one Kongu told us about.”
“Oh, right…” Kirall recalled.
“Sorry,” I interrupted, “Kongu? As in, Toa Mahri Kongu?”
“Yeah, that one!” Lerome said excitedly. “He told us all about the Toa Nuva!”
“Really?” Now I was curious… how much of what I’d seen and learned about the Toa Nuva had Kongu told them?
“Yeah,” Lerome answered. “He does these tour things. Like, with the statue they’ve got a museum of what the Toa Nuva did… mostly Lewa. It’s a really cool place.”
“Bit boring,” Kirall complained.
“Well, the museum, maybe,” Lerome admitted, “but Toa Lewa was a ■■■■■■.”
“What did Kongu tell you?” I wondered.
“Well,” Lerome recalled, “it started on this island place… Mata Nui.”
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#####author’s note: I’ve spent quite a lot of time trying to come up with a few details regarding Lis’ background, in particular who she worked with, and in this chapter that finally comes to fruition. Nothing particularly stunning happens, but Lerome, Kirall, and Jahlpu clearly have been living it up, courtesy of having become Toa. Kopaka might disagree about the ‘Toa’ part, though, and Lis has some reservations on the subject. In some ways it comes down to that age old question: “Do you know, what it takes to be a hero?”
I’ll post more chapters as I finish them. Enjoy!
