Wow! I can’t wait to see the rest of your story!
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Thanks! Did you read it all the way through?
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Yes, I did. It was great!
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Awesome! Thank you so much, that means a lot to me! My primary purpose was to create a story that is accessible to new potential fans as well as nostalgic and familiar to fans of the original Bionicle line, so I’m hoping I achieved that.
You certainly have me hooked!
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I’ve read all three parts so far, and I gotta echo the statements of others here- I’m hooked!
Well, on that I’d say you’re succeeding so far. I’m digging this setting- what we’ve seen of it so far as well as what you’ve alluded to- and I also find the characters enjoyable. And the call-backs and references you’ve worked in made me smile.
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Thanks! I’m really glad you enjoy it!
Part 4 - "THE DINER"
The Scarlet Misery had an impressive silhouette. Its deep black wood gave it the appearance of shadows, especially threatening at night when it sulked through the darkness with almost perfect invisibility. The bold crimson sails had grown infamous in much of the outer reaches, becoming the inspiration for the name of the gang which crewed the ship and its neighboring fleet, the Scarlet Sails.
Much of the crew were diverse and unique, ranging in appearance, size, form, builds, experience, and intelligence. The smartest and most experienced of the crew got to be captain. That was how it worked. That was how it always worked. But, oh!, how badly each of the more ambitious pirates yearned for the title. To be captain was to be the man or woman behind the greatest pirate vessel on the Nine Oceans! To be captain was to rule the seas.
However, the current captain was indisputably the greatest among the crew. No one had performed as many heists, sailed through as many storms, or escaped as many prisons as Captain Crau. Once a great warrior from the island of Visk, Crau yearned for more than just battle to satisfy his unceasing thirst for excitement. After establishing himself as the greatest warrior on Visk, he did the most sensible thing. He climbed aboard the next pirate ship to dock in town, challenged the captain of the time, threw him overboard, and placed the captain’s hat upon his own crustacean head. Since then, the Scarlet Sails have been unstoppable in its lengthy streak of robberies.
As he sat in his cabin, Captain Crau had his back turned to his five lieutenants, choosing to examine the wall of trophies he had surmounted over his years as captain rather than the mixture of confusion and jealousy that stunned the faces of his chosen council.
“Do you know why I collect trophies from all my former rivals?” Crau asked his associates.
The lieutenants each winced from the sound of his grating voice, which put the taste of salt water in their mouths/mandibles. No one dared to speak up. Even when asking a question, the captain often snapped at anyone who interrupted his monologuing.
“No one?” Crau said, faking amusement. “Well, it’s to remind myself of where I’ve been, of who I am.” He thumbed a glittery golden harpoon mounted on a wooden plaque. “This reminds me of how I struck fear into the supposed “Fearless Fenosta,” General of the 1,000 Nawadan Unit.”
He turned his attention to a rusted helmet on a stand. “This reminds me of the time I laid waste to the Aornia Wildlands. Its villagers were so proud of the wealth their farms had brought them - until I burned their fields to ash and soot.”
Finally, he stared in self-awe at the Visk halberd held at the center of his collection. “And finally, the weapon of my brother, whom I exiled to the Acid Lakes after defeating him in combat.”
He turned to face his audience, his dark beady eyes and swimming antennae glaring beneath his cap. “I have proven time and time again my worth. I have proven that I didn’t need a part in those disgraceful oceanic warlords’ little team-up to amount to something great. I am the king of the Nine Oceans! Me! Captain Crau!” His claws clicked as they raised up beneath his cloak magnificently. “So, you might be able to imagine my… frustration when I hear that there is some sort of pretender going around, commanding the waves as if they belonged to him. Did I hear that right, Pinchy?”
The mandibled marauder nodded his head swiftly. “With one fist, he summoned the power of a tidal wave! It was as if he used the ocean to throw me!”
“How trivial I will prove this fraud to be…” Crau smirked, clasping his hands behind his back. "I can already see my victory over him. My swift, painless triumph over this water wizard."
“Well, now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure he didn’t control the waves by himself…” Pinchy interjected.
Crau whipped around, coming so close to Pinchy that his antennae stroked the pirate’s face. “Please, elaborate…”
Pinchy gulped. “He had some sort of tool, shaped almost like a… Like a mask?”
The captain’s eyes narrowed, the intensity of his glare causing all five of his lieutenants to shiver. “What… mask?”
Gotta find Elder, Gotta find Elder…
Kido’s mind raced as he sprinted across Mako Village. It was early morning, now, just as the starrise was happening on the other side of Moda Nui. It was dark, but that didn’t keep the villagers from getting up and about at this hour. It was prime fishing time, when the gilled things were still a bit groggy, though Kido saw his and Neida’s boat still docked. His sister must be sleeping in, or something. She probably deserved it. He felt a twinge of guilt thinking about Neida. He had ditched her an entire day ago, and she still had no idea where he was…
But that didn’t hinder his pace to find Saane. Right now, the Elder was likely at Jiina’s Dine-In Delights, feasting upon a #7 special - the Breakfast Barracuda Burrito. Man, I could really go for one of those right now… His stomach chamber buzzed in agreement.
“Kido, where are you running?” Rida asked as Kido zipped past the old farmer.
“Hey, Kido!” called the town artist, Bayola. “Neida was looking for you last night! Did you see her?”
“Kido, where’s the fire?” teased Hetiru, the baker.
The frantic Matoran dashed past them all. He even ignored a puzzled Kaidi as he pushed towards the diner.
Jiina’s Dine-In Delights was the most well-built establishment in Mako Village, beating the town center by a mile. Its wood wasn’t the flimsy palm trunks used to form the village huts, no, this was real, imported Fauna Jungle oak. Jiina had insisted upon it himself. The roof was tall and proper, built three layers deep so that not even the ocean storms could pound a leak into its reinforced frame.
Kido skidded up to the double doors, Kanohi mask pressed against his back. He was pretty sure no one in Mako Village would have any clue what it was, but he still felt like it was something he should keep secret. As he plunged through the double doors, he came face-to-face with the stout, shark-eyed chef owner of the diner, Jiina himself.
“Well, well, well, Kido,” he grunted, waving a fish-smelling cleaver in the frightened Matoran’s face. “I give you and yar sista the day off, and you spent it skippin’ town like ya ain’t got nothin’ ta do?”
“I’ve actually got something really important to do right now…” Kido said, scanning the tables for Saane.
“Well, it bettar be findin’ me some ripe fish fer tonight’s dinner rush,” Jiina said. “‘Cause ya ain’t gettin’ two days off.”
“Please, I need to talk to-”
“Fifteen big ones,” Jiina snarled, tapping Kido’s chest with the blunt end of the cleaver. “By tonigh’.”
“Yes, sir,” said Kido.
“Good.”
The moment the chef turned away, Kido scanned the restaurant. It was almost entirely empty this early in the morning, save for one frequent customer who always got up with the star to prepare for a long day ahead. Kido made a beeline for the elder, who had taken a window seat and was just finished up his burrito special, licking the last bits of seaweed from his thumb.
“Elder Saane!” cried Kido, thrusting the Kanohi onto the table.
“Whoa, Kido!” Saane chuckled, raising his hands into the air. “What’s the hurry?” He glanced at the mask. “My boy, I’m not taking this mask, now…”
“No, I’m not giving it away,” promised Kido. “I’m keeping it.”
The Elder’s eyes narrowed. “You mean, you’re-”
“Yeah!” said Kido. “I’m going to try it. For a little bit, I mean. Just because… I don’t know… Maybe I was too scared before. Maybe I can really be a… a…”
“A Toa?” asked Saane.
Kido’s excitement wavered now that he had given himself a moment to think about it. “No, never mind. It’s crazy. I mean, I just… I don’t know…”
“My boy, slow down for a minute,” Saane pleaded, pushing his plate to the side. “Breathe, okay?”
Kido hadn’t realized how quickly he was panting.
“Last night, you told me you didn’t want anything to do with the Toa. You were so certain that you were nothing more than a fisherman. Now, here you are, telling me the opposite. What happened in the last eight hours that’s completely turned you around on this?”
“After we talked,” Kido began to say, “I went out to put the mask back where I had found it. I didn’t want it, like, at all. But while I was doing that, someone attacked me, someone not from Moda Nui.”
Saane leaned in, taking a swig of his kokonut shake.
“He was some sort of treasure hunter, or pirate, or something,” Kido recalled. "He said something about an… a "Scarlett Sail… "
Mid-sip, the Elder’s eyes widened as he went deathly still.
“What? Does that mean something to you?” asked Kido, intrigued.
Saane blinked. “No, I’ve just been trying to come up with a band name, and I was picturing that on a poster.” He noticed Kido’s obvious disapproval. “It’s not a good name, don’t worry.”
“Yeah, okay,” said Kido. “So, anyways, he almost had me beat, but then I put on the mask, 'cause I thought, ‘maybe this’ll help,’ I don’t know, it was pretty spontaneous, and I… and I threw him! Just with my arm, but it was like the water helped me do it! He just went flying, it was amazing! I’d never felt anything like that before! I don’t know how, and I don’t know why, but I just feel like this power… It’ll help me, in some way. Maybe… Maybe I am supposed to have this mask.”
“Excellent,” said Saane, a trace of a smile across his face.
Kido waited. “…So? What do I do now?”
“Go home, get some rest. Eat some food.”
“What? But I just sort of decided that I might possibly become a Toa, you know, sometime in the future! I can’t just… ‘go home’!”
“Look at you, you’ve been up all night.”
Kido felt his face, noting the lack of heat stemming from it. He hadn’t noticed just how exhausted he was until now. “But… What if they come back?”
“They won’t,” said Saane. “I promise. You showed them what would happen if they did.” He nodded towards the Kanohi on the table.
“Jiina just gave me an order…”
“I’ll talk with Jiina. But you should rest.” Saane then bowed over the table, nearing Kido as he whispered, “You’re going to need it.”
Kido grinned a little. “Okay.” He picked up the mask and got up from the table. He gave one last aching look at the Elder before he ran off, and Jiina arrived to take Saane’s plate and complain about an overly tense spot on his back.
By order of its captain, the Scarlet Misery turned its crooked figurehead towards its next destination, a small island by the name of “Moda Nui.”
Part 5 - "THE CAPTAIN"
The door creaked as Kido pushed it open. The hut would be empty by now, so Kido wouldn’t have to worry about-
"Where have you been?"
Neida was sitting on her stool, positioned so that she would be watching the door. She was waiting for him, perhaps this entire time.
Kido froze. “Out.”
Neida’s eyes sharpened into a glare. "Well, obviously." She gave Kido a chance to say more, but when he didn’t, she said, “I have been wondering where on Moda Nui you might be for over twenty-four hours, Kido! You ran off without saying a word - right when I needed your help, which was not cool - and then you vanish for an entire day? Nobody knew where you were! I asked Jiina, I asked Kaidi, I even asked old man Hoffa, for some reason. But no one had any clue! You had just vanished off of the face of Moda Nui, and I was starting to doubt I would ever see your stupid face or hear about your stupid dreams again!”
Shamefully, Kido bowed his head.
“Mom made me promise, promise that I would be there for you when you needed me, just like Dad made you promise you would be there for me when I needed you, remember?” Neida continued. “Well, I’m here. I’m here, as I always have been. So stop running from me, and tell me what’s going on with you!”
Kido allowed a second of tense silence to pass. He wanted to just explain everything, but his sister was upset, and deservedly so. He had decided to turn to the town Elder over his own sister when he was confused and needed guidance. Just because it turned out to be a good choice didn’t make it right.
“Last morning,” he began, “I was upset. I had a strange nightmare. A ‘stupid dream’, and it scared me. It still does.”
“Okay,” said his sister skeptically. “What about?”
Kido had to think for a minute. The dream felt so long ago, almost faded. Had it truly only been two nights ago that he had had it?
“It was about a storm,” he said. “And I was in the middle of it. There were these… red eyes in the clouds, staring at me. And then there was this voice…”
Neida crossed her arms. She was not impressed.
“Well, look, I’ll just-” He revealed the Kanohi, which he had hidden behind his back. “This is why I was gone for so long.”
“A mask?”
“No, not just a mask. A Kanohi mask. Elder Saane told me about it.”
“You were with Elder Saane?”
“No, not at first. I found the mask, and then I went to talk to him after it got dark.”
“Kido, are you sick? You sound like you’re not well.”
“I’m fine, I just-”
"Then why on Moda Nui was your first thought to bring this to Elder Saane?"
“Well, he knows a lot about weird things, so I thought-” Kido stopped himself. I’ll just show her. He lifted the mask up to his face and rested it upon his head. A shine of blue and gray poured from the Kanohi, encasing him in its power as it began to reshape his body. In an instant, he became the tall, athletic being he was slowly getting used to.
“See? Weird,” he said, his voice mighty.
Neida’s jaw plummeted, her eyes as large as seashells. “What…?”
“It’s taken some getting used to,” Kido said. “I’m still not 100% confident this is supposed to be for me, but some pretty wild stuff has happened already, so maybe… Maybe I’ll try it on for a while.” He kneeled to come mask-to-face with the stunned Neida. “Hey, I’m sorry. For everything I’ve done this past twenty-four hours and more. Still siblings?” He held out his arms for a hug.
“Take th-the thing of-off,” stuttered Neida.
Kido did as she asked, and was reverted to his Matoran self.
Neida slowly nodded, still processing what had just occured. “Okay. Yeah. Still s-siblings.” Rather than a hug, she gave him a friendly handshake, though her hand did most of the shaking. “S-so, what are you going to do with that th-thing?”
“I’m… actually not sure yet…” Kido said. “Elder Saane says that the wielders of these masks protected people, and, honestly, I don’t see a whole lot of people who need protecting right now.”
As if invited by the words themselves, a shout echoed from the beach, crying, “Someone, help us! Save us!”
Kido went still, startled.
“Well? Go! Put it back on!” ordered Neida, waving him back out the door.
“We will talk later,” said Kido. “I promise.”
“Go!” repeated Neida.
Outside, the citizens of Mako Village were caught in intense chaos. They swarmed the sands, arms in the air, trying to find shelter from the sudden appearance of invaders. A series of nearly a dozen ships, each made up of a dreadful black wood and fitted with dark crimson sails. Their very sight induced fear upon the lowly villagers. They were terrible.
Fishing boats rapidly pulled into the docks, their captains not even bothering with the tethers. The waves rose as the shadowy vessels neared the shore. The sounds of jeering and guffaws roared from the passengers. The tips of blades, harpoons, and hooks danced above the gunnels of the ship. It was clear to anyone who caught sight of these monstrous vessels: these were pirates.
A few villagers grabbed fishing equipment such as spears and ran to face the boats, stepping out onto the beach and waiting defensively. Their arms quaked and trembled in obvious fear.
The main ship, a huge, five-masted boat with a bent figurehead of dark silver, seemed to roar as it approached the sands. It chewed up the docks and several small dinghies as it ripped through their weaker material and finally came to a rest against the beach. The villagers began to whimper. One even dropped his spear and sprinted to his hut.
At the head, a cloaked figure emerged, an impressive tri-corner hat perched across his crustacean face. His claw hands clicked in a mini applause of delight as his eyes feasted upon the sight of his latest territory. This strange island, with its odd people, would fall before him. Just as they all had.
“Do not tremble before me, my new subjects!” he bellowed down to the scattered crowd of Matoran. “You may cower, and perhaps grovel, or at the very least kneel, but trembling is absolutely horrible! How can I see the faces of all my new underlings if they are shaking constantly?”
The plea did little to soothe the quivering villagers.
“Very well,” said the man. “You will soon come to respect the command of Captain Crau. But, as is reasonable, that will take time. However, until then, I do not intend any harm upon any of you. However, I would like to see this ‘Warrior of the Waves’ my lieutenant tells me about. Is he around here, by any chance?”
The villagers looked at one another in confusion. Warrior of the Waves?
“He’s supposed to be fairly tall, wields water as some sort of tool?” Crau continued to question. “No?”
“He was one of them!” cried one of the passengers. Pinchy scuttled up to his captain’s side. “He gave the illusion of being one of them! And then he… he transformed!”
Crau frowned. “Very well. Let’s see if we can draw him out.” He suddenly jumped from the stern, his cape following after him as he fell nearly three stories before crashing into the sands, his tremendous strength catching him. From his side, he pulled a large, jagged cutlass, which he pointed at one of the villagers. He tapped the end of the spear with the blade, and the wooden weapon was immediately broken free from their feeble hands. The poor Matoran rattled as the Captain’s crustacean antennae reached forwards and gently brushed his face.
“Now, now,” Crau said in an unexpectedly soothing voice. He then grabbed the Matoran in his free claw and hoisted him over his head, roaring, “Does no one lay claim over this people?! Will no one stand up to their oppressor?”
“I will,” a triumphant voice said over the cackling of the crew. From the crowd of villagers emerged a great, heroic-looking figure in bright blue armor. A collective gasp murmured throughout the Matoran, as they were each filled with wonder. From the outskirts of the town, Elder Saane smiled.
“Ah… So you’re this legendary adversary I’ve heard so little about!” said the captain as he lowered his catch. “It seems there has been a bit of a misunderstanding. I am the ruler of the seas, which means that any and all mysterious items related to them belong to me. If you want to be the King of the Nine Oceans, you must earn it, as I have, instead of cowering here with a bunch of Matoran lowlifes.” He threw his captive onto the ground, who immediately scrambled away from the captain.
Kido’s fists clenched. “Who are you?”
“I’m Captain Crau,” said the pirate with a bow. “And I have traveled every ocean, sought out every adventure, stared down every horizon. My quest has been long and brutal, but it’s rewarded me in ways you’d never imagine. I hope you understand how much of an honor it is for you for me to even consider you a rival.”
“You’ve… you’ve been out there? You’ve been… that far?” Kido said in awe, pointing to the very end of the ocean. He knew this was a bad guy, but… it had been his dream for so long…
“And farther,” said Crau. “Do you wish to know what my many, many journeys have taught me? They taught me that everything worth having in life is also worth taking . Your mask, for instance. Whatever it does, it seems to pose some kind of threat to my rule. So, I would allow you to just hand it over, and I could just adopt your people into my domain peacefully, but I genuinely believe you might be some sort of threat. Do you know what the seas taught me about how to best deal with threats?”
Kido didn’t care to answer.
“Stamp them out,” growled Crau and immediately pounced forwards with his blade.
Kido shot into the air, flipping over the captain and landing on the other side.
“Impressive,” said Crau as he struck again.
The masked Matoran ducked under the swipe, and made a kick at the foe’s legs, only for his attack to bounce uselessly against Crau’s armor.
“Hah!” the captain cheered. “Real Havorian steel! Armor fit for a king such as I!”
Kido jumped out of Captain Crau’s range and thought to himself, Come on, water. Do the thing. He rushed at the captain, heart pounding, fear racing through his body as he threw a fist forwards, and-
His hand clanged against the steel chest plate, and nothing happened.
No!
“Did you miss the part about the Havorian steel?” said Crau, almost disappointed. “Oh, that’s right. You weaklings have likely never been off your pointless rock-of-an-island.”
He bent down to swipe at Kido, who reached into the ocean and splashed a handful of water at the captain’s face. It irritated the pirate, but did nothing remarkable.
Do something, Kanohi! Kido tried to scream at the mask. It didn’t seem to respond. He looked up at the exasperated Crau and flinched as the captain lifted up his cutlass to bring down upon him.
Just before the Captain made the move, something swung against his head. Crau slowly turned around to see a little Matoran carrying nothing but a wooden shaft.
“Hello, little girl.” A terrible grin spread across Crau’s crustacean face.
“Neida!” shouted Kido. “No!”
“Don’t you dare lay a… a claw on him!” Neida screamed at the pirate.
Crau stepped near her. She took a step back.
“Oh, I wasn’t dreaming of touching you poor hero, girly!” said Crau. “I was simply going to… use my blade to pry the mask from his head! No physical contact required!”
Neida held up the staff, its point at the captain’s chest. “We don’t have anything valuable to you here. We have no money, no gems…”
“I already have money,” said the pirate, taking another step. “I already have gems. What I don’t have is a mask that would allow me to control the very waves on which my ships travel. And I think I would rather like one of those, so unless you can find me another one…”
Kido sprang up from the sand and began running at the captain. Just before reaching him, an orb of flame was shot down at him, exploding the moment it touched the ground. Kido was sent flying, far beyond Mako Village and into the palm tree jungles beyond.
Crau looked up at his ship. From the deck, Pinchy held a smoking cannon, pointed at the spot where Kido had just stood.
“Why… in the Nine Oceans did you just do that?!” roared the captain, his voice hissing with fury.
“He was about to get you, Cap’n!” Pinchy said, saluting.
“Moron!” shouted Crau, turning to the Matoran before him. He reached down and plucked her up, ignored her strikes with what to him was a wooden stick. He sheathed his cutlass and stared at the girl.
“Would you like us to gather a search party?” asked Lieutenant Leefy.
“Don’t bother with one,” said the captain with a smirk. “We’ll lead the hero to us.” He looked around at the village. “Gather up anyone you can find. We’re taking the Matoran for a little trip offshore.”
“But, Sir!” called Lieutenant Urcha. “He’ll likely be stronger out there! The ocean is his element!”
“As it is mine,” said Captain Crau as he took one last look at the trees the masked hero had vanished into. "I shall await our next encounter with eager anticipation, hero…"
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Part 6 - "THE FAILURE"
The shouting didn’t stop until about noon.
By that time, Kido’s joints had stopped hurting when he moved. It was remarkable, the mask. It seemed to take his injuries and unwind them, fixing the gears, wiring, even down to the dents in the plating. Where pain once was, there simply wasn’t anymore. But what it could not fix was the heaviness he felt in his core. It pulled deep in his chest, wanting to just give into gravity, seep out of his body, and pour out onto the ground.
Kido couldn’t bring himself to leave the crater he had made when he fell. He belonged in here, sitting in the dust of his failure. His village, his people, had depended on him. Saane had said that Toa were meant to protect the innocent. This was Kido’s first attempt at actually protecting, and it was a catastrophe. Whatever Captain Crau was doing to his people now was his fault. He was responsible.
Kido lifted the mask up from his face, reverting to Matoran form. He held the mask up, turning it as if he was putting it on the sky.
“You belong to a hero,” he told it. “That was never going to be me.”
The star winked through the eye hole of the mask.
Kidoma…
"What does that mean?" Kido screamed as he threw the mask out of the crater. “I don’t understand! I don’t get it! Why in all of Moda Nui was I the one you chose? What makes me special?”
Kido heard the shuffling of sand, and suddenly the Kanohi mask was sliding down the lip of the crater, riding the dust until it hit his feet.
What…?
“Ah, there you are!” a voice called down. Above, Kido saw the shape of Elder Saane peering into the hole with intrigue, staff in hand. “Care to join me for a walk, or are you too busy sulking yourself into sponge pudding?”
“I failed them, Saane,” Kido said. “I had a chance to help them, and I couldn’t. I couldn’t do anything.”
“Well, sitting in a crater isn’t doing anything to fix that,” said Saane.
“At least I can’t hurt them in here.”
“That’s remarkably untrue. Crau has taken half the village aboard his ships. He’s holding them as hostages, all to lure you into a fight.”
“I guess I’ll just have to disappoint an evil pirate captain, then.”
Saane laughed a little. “And your sister. She was the first one he took.”
Kido launched himself to his feet. “What?! He took Neida?”
Nodding, Saane said, “You left her behind when you decided this pit was a more appealing position than by her side.”
“That’s not fair, I was hit by a fireball!” Kido shouted. “Wait, how did you escape?”
“If there’s one thing pirates are good at,” said Saane, “it’s leaving their work unfinished. Well, that and making the most melodious of sea shanties!”
Kido thought of his sister. Neida had jumped into the battle to defend him, even without any special mask abilities. Demoralized, he slumped to the ground again. “I guess I’m no better at being a brother than I am at not being shot by fireballs, or using Toa powers, or being a hero. I’m an all-around failure.”
“You’re a good fisherman,” Saane said.
“I’m not even so sure of that, anymore.” Kido’s stomach felt limp inside of him.
After a minute of shared silence, Saane finally began saying, “I remember this old story of three mountain climbers, each one attempting the Obsidian Peak Summit, the most treacherous and exerting climb in Moda Nui. The first climber clawed and fought his way up the mountain side, but could not make it more than a few feet off of the ground. He tried and tried again, but could not make it. He eventually gave up, sat down in a hill of snow and felt bad for himself for the rest of his days. The second one tried the same thing, only this time, she never gave up. She tried, and tried again, and tried again, and-”
“And eventually, she made it to the top,” said Kido, his voice barely above a grumble.
“Absolutely not!” the Elder said.
Kido tilted his head in interest.
“She tried and tried the same thing again and again, and for the rest of her days could not make it up that mountain,” said Saane. “Now the third one, he struggled the same way the first two did, but he stopped for a moment and thought. Then, he went to the nearest convenience store, rented some mountain climbing equipment-”
“Pretty sure they don’t have mountain climbing equipment at a convenience store-”
“Well, in this fictional world, they do! Anyway, he returned to the mountain with his tools, and, through some hard work and physical strain, he did what the other two never would - he made it to the top.” Saane leaned down and prodded the Kanohi with his staff. “All he needed were the right tools.”
“But I had the mask before,” said Kido. “It didn’t work. I couldn’t use my powers.”
“When you tried to use the Kanohi, what were you thinking about?” asked Saane.
Kido shut his eyes as he attempted to remember. “I was… I was afraid.”
“Of what?” the Elder continued. “Of the big, mean Captain Crau? Of losing your sister?”
“No,” said Kido. “I was scared… I was scared I wouldn’t be able to do it. I was scared that I couldn’t be a Toa.”
Saane was silent for a moment, but then broke into hysterical laughter.
“What?” Kido asked. “What did I say?”
When Saane had calmed down, he cleared his throat and then said, "So, you expected to fail, and then were surprised when you failed. That is something I believe is funny. While Captain Crau’s confidence has turned him into a self-absorbed villain, your lack of it has brought you to a crater of apathy. Kido, you were chosen for this task. Not because you are special, but, I believe, because you are not."
Ouch… thought Kido.
“You are the first Toa to be found in centuries. The first Toa in all of Moda Nui! That achievement could have belonged to anyone, like the President of Aero City, or the Supreme Major of the Flickering Wastelands!”
“Yeah! And maybe it should!” said Kido. “That’s what I’ve been trying to say this whole-”
“And yet, it came into your hands,” the Elder said. "That must mean something. Anyone can wear the mask. But not just any body."
“What does that even mean?” scoffed Kido.
“No idea,” said Saane. “But you’re not going to find out in that dismal pit you’ve put yourself in.” He held out his hand for Kido to take. “It’s time to come out, Kido. It’s time to fulfill your duty as Toa Kidoma, Master of the Ocean.”
Kido took the hand, though hesitantly. He picked up the Kanohi, and let himself be pulled from the crater. As he rose above its lip, he was now longer surrounded by walls of ash and dust, but now by swaying palm trees and soothing sand dunes.
“I do believe it is time to provide you with your tools,” Saane said and gestured to the mask in Kido’s hand.
“Are you going to teach me how to use it?” wondered Kido, excitement flavoring his words.
Saane nodded once.
“Do you know how?” Kido asked.
Saane shrugged. “I have a few hunches.”
“But you don’t… you don’t know for sure?”
“Did you forget the part where I said you were the first Toa seen in centuries?” growled Saane. “I’m old, my boy, but certainly not that old. No, I don’t know how to train you to the powers of the Kanohi mask. But that’s going to be part of the fun, isn’t it?” He placed a hand on the young Matoran’s back, leading him away from the pit, and towards the beach. Towards his duty.
The lower deck of the Scarlet Misery was nowhere near as well-kept as the upper deck, or the Captain’s quarters. Crau let his crew run it however they chose, much to the detriment of… well, the crew. The berth was marked by cots and sheets lazily thrown about, food crumbs and emptied mugs dashed across the floor.
Captain Crau growled in disgust as he marched down the passageway, towards the brig. Slobs… Do they not realize who they serve under? Surely they don’t think so little of the great Captain Crau as to keep my ship so… so filthy! The crew members lived as animals before Crau had found them. He had offered up a place on his ship to them, and this is how they treated his generosity? Perhaps he should return them to their miserable former lives. They seemed better suited for it, anyway.
He pushed open a door and entered the brig. Rows of cells lined the walls, filled to capacity with blue-painted creatures that barely reached his shoulder in height. Matoran… Crau hated Matoran, though he himself wasn’t entirely certain as to why. It was likely that he just enjoyed the feeling of hating Matoran than anything else.
“Sir, please!” one cried, at his knees. “We need food! We’re starving!”
“I’m sorry,” said Crau, feigning remorse. “My crew and I are quite low on food ourselves.” The great feast of roasted birds and fruits went over quite well with the pirate staff. “I would offer you some, but I’m not convinced we’d even make it to our next destination with our current supply.” Lieutenant Anglir had an entire cargo room dedicated to grapes alone. “If I am going to be able to feed you, it will need to be provided to me from your village.”
“Please, you took everything we have!” the Matoran pleaded. “Sir, please!”
But Crau had moved on, leaving the begging Matoran in his cell.
“Where is the one who defended the hero?” Crau questioned. “Where is the girl?”
The prisoners shuffled, revealing the Matoran girl who had attacked Crau with the wooden shaft.
“Ah. Hello, again,” said Crau. He crouched down to reach eye level with the girl.
The Matoran glared at him with her yellow eyes. “What do you want with us?”
“Please, let us not ignore our manners, girly.” A sinister grin appeared on the Captain’s crustacean face, his antennae snaking out and wrapping around the rusted iron bars.
“Oh, of course,” snarled the Matoran. “Formalities.”
“As you undoubtedly know by now,” said Crau, unbothered by the sarcasm, “I am Captain Crau, King of the Nine Oceans. If you’d like, you can just refer to me as ‘Crau’. You’ve earned that much of my respect.”
“Okay, lobster-face.”
The Captain held a claw over his heart before turning it outward towards the Matoran. “Would you do me the honors of providing your name? I’ve been rather hospitable and courteous to you.”
She looked him up and down. “Neida,” she said curtly.
The grin reappeared on the Captain’s face. “Excellent, Neida. It is very wonderful to meet you. In response to your earlier question, I actually don’t want anything from you. You are simply my assurance. Now that I have answered your query, would you care to answer one of mine?”
Neida crossed her arms. She appeared to be waiting.
“What is your connection to the masked hero at the beach?” Crau asked.
The defensive image the Matoran girl had created broke for a second.
“Oh, it’s no mystery to me that you two are somehow related, the way you tried to defend him. Valiant effort, by the way, even if it was meaningless in the end,” said the Captain. “But I would like to know, who is he?”
Neida paused for a moment before answering, “He’s my brother.”
There was a collective expression of shock in both the Captain and the overhearing Matoran crowd.
“Kido?”
“Surely not…”
“He’s just a fisherman!”
Crau ignored them. “I refuse to believe that a great warrior such as he and a humble villager like you descend from the same lineage. Who is he?”
“I don’t know,” said Neida, showing a hint of sorrow. “At least, not anymore. But he used to be my brother, like I said.”
“Interesting,” said Crau as he raised his claw to stroke his antennae. His beady eyes glimmered in the torchlight. “Perhaps he’s not as special as I originally believed. Thank you for speaking with me, Neida. I hope you get to become acquainted with your so-called ‘brother’ soon.” As he rose, he adjusted his cloak. He picked at something in his pocket and removed an entire loaf of slightly stale bread. Leftovers, from last night’s feast. “For your compliance.” The Captain tossed it to Neida and began stomping away. “Good-bye, for now, honored guests!” he called before finally leaving the Matoran alone in their cell.
A few prisoners tried reaching for Neida’s treat, but she held it away.
“Just wait,” she told them, breaking the bread apart. “Share.” Neida handed out the pieces of bread, hoping there was enough for everyone to get at least a little as she struggled to hold onto her hope. Come on, Kido… she prayed. Please, don’t let us down…
Part 7 - "THE STAFF"
“It’s not doing anything…”
“You must be quiet.”
“…”
“…”
“It’s still not-”
“Quiet. You must focus to meditate.”
“…”
“Are you focusing?”
Kido lunged to his feet and kicked up sand as he stomped against it. “No, I’m not focusing!”
Saane opened an eye. “Then you will not succeed.”
After he flailed his fists in his fury, Kido said, "My sister - and half of my village - have all been taken by some madman who thinks he rules the ocean, and are probably locked in some cell, hoping that someone is on their way to save them, and here I am, sitting cross-legged on a beach and trying to move water with my mind!"
Saane lifted his shoulders. “Makes sense to me.”
Kido’s frustration declined. It was hard to be angry with someone as constantly untroubled as Saane. The old Matoran’s easygoing response to yelling seemed to show how pointless yelling actually was.
“How do you expect me to focus right now?” Kido asked with genuine hope for an answer. In the distance, Crau’s ships loomed, a terrifying reminder of his responsibility.
“You may find this hard to believe,” Saane said, “but it is your sister that you must focus upon.”
Kido frowned. “What does that mean?”
“Our families are trapped, we are practically alone, and the only way to stop that villain is for you to master your power over the waves. Does that not inspire you, Kido?” asked Saane. “Are you not filled with determined, untapped emotion? Focus, right now, on your sister. Let her become your motivation, your driving force. Control that emotion, and reform it. Let it become the power with which you manipulate the waters. Don’t detach yourself from it. Make sense?”
“I guess…” Kido said with a sigh.
Using his staff to prop himself up, Saane gestured to the edge of the water. “Stand there,” he said.
Kido did as he was commanded, setting his massive Toa feet in the water. The waves came up and lapped his ankles, seeming to glow brightly as it touched the aquamarine metal.
“Now, I want you to reach out with your mind,” Saane said. He lifted his staff up, pointing out to the horizon. The star was close to setting, but the ocean and sky shared a brilliant, vivid blue. “Feel the ocean, Kido. Seek out its waves, feel the life it holds within.”
Kido shut his eyes, and in the darkness he saw a mass of watery blue, swirling and spiraling in every direction. He reached out, and felt its shape. He saw shapes, shapes of creatures, of boats. He grabbed a shape and followed it, racing across the blue. He trailed rivers and streams, exploring all of Moda Nui, from the Iron Mountains to the Rimelands, from Aero City to the Fauna Jungle… And then more! He saw outwards, to islands and formations he had never witnessed before, beautiful reefs where life rampaged, and chasms where light could not descend. He could feel the weight of a hundred ships on his back, and still managed to carry them dozens of miles from the ocean floor. He found the ships just off the beach, crimson sails blowing before him… And if he could just reach inside, he would find…
The vision collapsed, splashing back into the tumult of waves and foam. Kido felt light-headed, as if he had just inhaled a bucket of saltwater and spit his stomach chamber out. Wow, I can’t do that a ton.
“Well, that didn’t work,” said Saane with a scowl.
“No, it did!” Kido said, coughing. “I felt it, Saane! I felt the entire ocean! It was… actually really terrifying, now that I think about it.”
Saane smirked.
“Okay, I’m ready.” Kido positioned his feet shoulder-width, his knees bent slightly. He could feel the waves at his ankles again, grounding him to the present, here and now. He wouldn’t drift his vision off of Moda Nui, as before, but he still wanted to tap into that power. He breathed in and out, matching his breath with the push and pull of the waves at his feet. It was an amazing moment of peace in the midst of all that was happening right now.
Focus…
His mind drifted to Neida. He thought how she laughed whenever he made a fool of himself. He thought of her encouragement when he felt low. He thought of her determination to protect him during his fight with Crau.
“Mom made me promise, promise I would be there for you when you needed me.” Neida’s voice said in his memory. “Well, I’m here, as I always have been.”
Kido smiled, as he felt his eye drop a glowing orange tear down his mask. How he wished she was here now, to tell him what he needed to hear! He needed her.
No. Neida needs you now.
It didn’t feel right. She was supposed to be the one to rescue him, not the other way around! And certainly not from pirates!
He thought of Captain Crau. The crustacean-faced crook was out there, sitting on his boat, waiting for his challenge. Well, Kido would give him one, if he could.
Kido reached out with his hands, palms towards the ocean, and drew them back. He channeled his emotion, his energy, and his fear into the motion, wishing to pull the water with them… but, as he expected, the water just continued its usual pattern of raising and lowering.
Elder Saane noticed his attempt. “Still no luck…” He looked at his staff.
“No, Elder,” Kido said, sulking. “I know I have to. I know she needs me. But how do I… How do I just… become a Toa? Like you said, it’s been centuries! There isn’t anything of the Toa left.”
“That’s not necessarily true,” said Saane, holding out the rod in both hands. “Take it.”
In Kido’s hands, the staff raised to about his chin in height. It was partly covered in a fine blue silk kept there by an orange cord than snaked around its thin frame. He spun it around in his hand. It felt well-balanced. Natural.
“This,” the Elder said, “is the old instrument of the Toa of Water before you, so I’m told. It was used to harness their focus and imagination, acting as the driver of their powers.” He examined it in Kido’s grasp. It fit him. “Either that, or it’s an old fishing shaft I redecorated for my own purposes,” he added with a wink.
“But it’s the first one, right?” Kido asked.
Saane smiled.
“Right?”
“You are only able to accomplish what you allow yourself to accomplish, Kido,” the Elder said. “You must stop focusing so much on what you can and can’t do. If you rely on your own strength, I’m sorry to say, but you will fail. You will only gain control by relinquishing it.”
Kido groaned. “What does that even mean?”
Saane just pointed out to the water. “Use the staff. Shape the waves. Save your people.”
Rolling his eyes, Kido turned the stick to the ocean and focused again. This time, he didn’t focus on what he thought he could or couldn’t do. He shut his eyes and found that sliver of determination and honed it into a blade. Something sharp, with both precision and utility… He forgot his anxieties and failures, anything that wasn’t simply, " Save Neida."
When he opened his eyes again, he saw his staff dipped into the water. As he removed it, some of the water clung to the tip. He pulled the stick free, a sharpened diamond of water shaped on its end. The repurposed water was turquoise in color and glowed with a brilliance reminiscent of the Kanohi. As he moved the staff, the point delayed a little, giving the appearance of a large paintbrush, its smooth tip following close behind. But Kido knew he hadn’t made a paintbrush. As he felt out the tickle that occupied a portion of his thought for as long as he kept this tool intact, he realized exactly what it was: a magnificent spear, formed of wood and water.
“Great Nui!” Saane gasped. “You actually did it!”
“You didn’t believe I could?” Kido wondered.
Saane crossed his arms. “I thought you might be able to do something… Can you do anything else?”
“Let’s find out,” Kido said with a grin.
He thrust the spear forwards, pointed out to the water, and felt a surge of energy launch forth, a ripple shooting down the water as if an invisible projectile was skimming its surface. He waved the spear to the right, and the water followed, a large pool shaping the curve of a mound. He pulled the spear back to the left, and the water obeyed. He transferred the water in circles, then down into a whirlpool, and then up into an aquatic explosion.
“Well done!” said Saane, giving Kido a kind pat on his back. “You’re making it look easy all of a sudden!”
“Watch this,” Kido said, smirking. He jutted the spear outward, and then swung it over his head. A spray of water launched from the waves up into the air, arching around them, and then splashed onto the beach. Saane watched the display in awe as the water began to make its way back to the ocean.
“How have you learned it so fast?” Saane asked.
“I’m not sure,” said Kido. “Actually, I am. It’s exactly like you said. I just had to relinquish control. No one can control the ocean. You have to fight with it, not against.” He began to spin the spear in his hands, painting a glowing blue ring before him. The water began to follow its spin, directed into a whirling tunnel large enough to walk through. Kido kept the spin going and began to walk towards it.
“Um…” Saane reached out his hand. “Kido, I wouldn’t be so overly confident as to-”
Kido stepped out onto the water, and, amazingly, it held his weight. As he walked, the water beneath his feet lifted up to form glowing blue stepping points, lifting him into the tunnel. Kido walked into the center and began waving the spear around in all directions, closing the back end of the tunnel and encasing him in a cocoon of water. As he continued, the water began to lift, reaching towards the sky as he led it. Finally, touching the roof of the chamber, the creation sprayed out in a miraculous rainfall upon the beach, leaving a very drenched Saane and a completely dry Kido.
“Incredible, Kido,” Saane said as sea water dripped into his grin. “I believe we truly have a fighting chance, now.”
Kido nodded in agreement. He held the spear by his side, its blunt end wedged into the sand. The Elder wouldn’t mention it, but now, as he gazed upon this heroic-looking figure, power and confidence emanating from his form and circling his mask… This was exactly how he imagined the Toa to appear.
Towards the horizon, Kido and Saane watched Crau’s ships, crimson sails ablaze with light from the star. There, was their destination.
“Thank you, Kido,” said the Elder.
“For what?” asked Kido. “I didn’t do anything.”
“You inspired hope in us once more.”
“‘Us’? What do you-”
From behind him, Kido heard rustling. He quickly snapped his spear towards the jungle and scanned for enemies.
Instead emerged the old, wild-eyed Matoran, Hoffa.
“I was wonderin’ when you would figure it out. Quite an impressive show!” he said, clapping.
Alongside Hoffa were as many as fifteen other Mako Villagers, friends and neighbors Kido had lived alongside since he came into the world. Now, they were here, to take back the village Crau had taken from them.
Saane said, “I gathered all the remainders I could find. They’ve been watching, though I asked them not to interfere while you were still… uncertain of your duty.”
“Wow,” gawked Kido. “Creepy, but cool.”
“You think we can really do it?” asked Bayola.
“Are you kidding? Did you see what the kid just did?” Laani snapped.
“Don’t think this means yer off the hook at the Diner,” growled Jiina. “But we’re here for ya, if ya’ll have us.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Kido said with a respectful nod. “I’m going to need you all for this. I can’t thank you guys enough for your bravery, but I… I’m still new at this whole hero thing. I’m not sure I’m going to be able to pull this off.”
“We are,” said Kaidi with a gentle smile. “We believe in you, Kido. What you just did… I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Not even in your story?” asked Kido. “The one about the Golden Matoran?”
“Oh, yeah.” Kaidi looked a little embarrassed. “I forgot I made up that old story…”
Kido’s amber eyes narrowed behind his mask in both surprise and irritation. "Wait, what?"
“I apologize for interrupting this riveting conversation,” said Saane, no amount of remorse present in his tone, “but I believe we are all wanting to return our friends and families to their homes as soon as we are able, so if we may…”
“Oh, yeah, of course,” Kido said. He turned to the crowd. “People of Mako Village, I call you to my side, not in desire of battle or war, but as our duty. Our friends, our neighbors, our loved ones are under the wrath of a lunatic pirate captain who claims the ocean is his. I say we show him and his crew what power the ocean really has!”
As his audience cheered, the Toa lifted his spear into the air. A blast of water followed it into the sky, a brilliant display of the Kanohi’s power as the star began to sink into the horizon, forming the stage of the battle which was to come.
These got too long to put in a single post, ha
3 Likes
Ooh very nice! I really like how you wrote it and I’m excited to see what happens next!
1 Like
Saane is quickly becoming my favorite character in this story.
2 Likes
Because he’s the best
Part 8 - "THE HERO"
“Captain!” Pinchy called from his ship, the Lazy Knot. “Something’s happening!”
“I understand something’s happening,” said Crau, standing on the bow of the Scarlet Misery. “I want to know what is happening!”
“Captain says he wants to know what is happening!” Pinchy shouted to the next ship over. A few moments later, the answer was telephoned back to him. “Lieutenant Sting says Lieutenant Urcha says Lieutenant Angler says Lieutenant Leefy says that there’s a boat out on the water!”
“Is that so?” Crau said in disbelief.
“Hey!” yelled Pinchy. “Hey, Sting! Crau asks, ‘Is that so?’”
Crau spent the minute he waited for a response grumbling to himself. The sky was beginning to light in a warm fire as the star began to dip into the distant ocean line. Crau had positioned his ships in a line, Leefy’s nearest to the beach, so that he could keep his ship as far from harm’s way as he could, should the masked warrior return stronger than in their last fight.
“Yes, it’s so!” said Pinchy. “Oh, there’s a few more boats! Small ones, filled with little blue people!”
“So the Matoran wish to try their fate,” the Captain said, greatly amused. “Fan out! Target the crafts! I don’t care how you get that mask, but I want it in my grasp by stardown!”
The pirates cheered in unison, pumping their weapons in the air as the sails were unfurled.
“Today, we show these ocean villagers who their king is!” cried Crau, holding his cutlass aloft. “And I claim that which deserves to be mine.”
The wicked vessels lurched into attack positions.
Kido barely even felt like he was moving, he propelled his boat forwards so quickly. He held his staff to the side, using it to create a wake of waves that helped push along the line of rowboats full of villagers to either side of him. They surged with daring speed, moving ever closer to their destination.
Mako Village didn’t have much in the way of weapons, so they had armed themselves with staffs, wooden spears, harpoons, and fishing rods. Farmer Rida had even grabbed her second favorite pitchfork, worried that her first favorite might get broken. Regardless of their lack of armaments, Kido was glad to have them. He wasn’t going into this fight alone, and that meant a lot.
“I need you all to search each boat!” he called over the whipping breeze. “We don’t know which one our people are in, so we’re going to need to look in every one!”
“Aye, aye, commander!” said Jiina in affirmation, twin cleavers in hand. He wore a greasy headband and an apron, which certainly were not typical battle gear, but seemed to fill the cook with unrivaled exhilaration.
“You’re going to make a fine Toa!” shouted Saane in the back of Kido’s boat. He held a twisted tree branch like a sword, a satisfactory substitute as he worked on picking out a new staff.
Kido grinned. “Thanks!” But he wasn’t thinking about being a Toa right now. His only focus was on helping his sister. Well, her and the other villagers.
“Look out!” shouted Bayola from underneath her straw hat. The looming ships had launched a volley of flaming spheres at the rapidly approaching boats.
Kido pushed the staff out in front of him. “Hold on!” The waves that carried them slid underneath the rafts and burst out before them in a protective wall of water. The fireballs slammed into the wave, drenching a few of the villagers but dissipating upon contact.
“Excellent!” complimented Elder Saane. “You are really getting a hang of your powers!”
“Hey, the water’s doing all the work!” said Kido. It wasn’t necessarily a joke, even. Kido would simply picture in his mind what he wanted the water to do, and the mask would “communicate” it to the ocean. Using mental force would just drain him of energy; all he had to do was just imagine, and the water would listen.
The shadow of a great scarlet sail crossed over Kido’s face. They had arrived.
“Get ready!” Kido said, thrusting his staff high. Around the boats, pools of water began to circle, before erupting in a series of blasts, launching the boats into the air. The villagers held fast to the wooden crafts, and landed upon the pirate vessels with speed and ease.
Jiina was the first to lumber out of the boat. “Attack!” He drew his two cleavers and went for the nearest pirate. The crew of rogues stared at the Matoran with open jaws and wide eyes, making them simple targets for the eager villagers.
As the battle began, Kido watched, inspired by the bravery of the Matoran. He had lived with them for years, and had never known they had it in them to charge into a fleet of pirates with nothing but sticks and stones.
“It’s because of you, you know,” said Saane. Beside him, Rida successfully pushed a pirate overboard with her pitchfork, cheered, and jumped back into the fray.
Kido shook his head. “No, it can’t be. Like I said, I’m just a fisherman. Or, well, I was. I’ve lived my entire life in search of adventure, and the first moment I stepped into one, I broke down. In fact, it only took me a few more steps before I had a second breakdown. I feel like every two minutes since I found this mask, I’ve been falling apart.”
“Is this an adventure?” Saane asked, pointing with his stick at the dueling Matoran and pirates.
“I’d say so.”
“And are you falling apart?”
Kido looked down at himself to make sure. “No,” he said with a smile, “No, I’m not.”
“And that’s inspiring,” said the Elder. “It wasn’t the fact that you were born courageous and heroic, but that you’re learning to be. You’ve got a long way to go in your journey, Kido, but you’ve also come a long way. Your friends are here to enjoy a part of it with you.”
In the center of the battlefield, Kaidi had just kicked a pirate into the mast, knocking him out. She looked up at Kido. “Did you see that?”
Kido nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah! Yeah, I did! That was amazing!”
When he looked back at Saane, an amused grin had inflicted the old Matoran’s face.
“What?”
The Elder shook his head. “Nothing. Now, go! Show them some of that newfound courage you’ve learned!”
Taking a deep breath, Kido began to walk forwards. His walk broke into a run, then a gallop, and then suddenly he was sprinting - right off the edge of the boat.
“Where’d he go?” Hoffa asked, taking a break from prodding an octopus-headed pirate with his cane.
Kido shot up from the sea, riding a swirling snake of water like a surfboard. In the dimming light of the star, the watery serpent glistened like silver, a silver dragon that Kido had tamed and now guided. It was an impressive sight.
He streamed the water forwards, riding it until he was above the next ship. He swung himself upside-down and released his control over the water, which splashed down with him onto the deck, where a tempest of pirates were waiting for him, blades drawn.
Before the water began to leak through the cracks, Kido drew from it a slice of it to reform the radiating spear tip he had made on the beach. He swung it forth, the purposed water meeting the cutlass of an attacking fiend as if it was no less solid than it.
“How are ye-” the pirate stammered as Kido planted a firm kick into his bony insectoid rib cage. “Rah!” he cried as he was sent soaring.
A trio of thieves encircled the unwelcome passenger, who spun his spear in a warding arch.
“You wanna end up like him?” Kido asked, gesturing to the pirate who had just taken a tumble into the ocean.
The pirates each growled and dove at him.
“Apparently so!” Kido took his spear and whirled it around, forming a ribbon of water from the spear tip and slashing at all three in one swipe. They were thrown backwards, tumbling into a cabin.
From behind Kido, he heard a growl. Snapping his spear towards the foe, he faced an ugly fish-headed creature with a wormy extension growing from his scalp. A bulb hung from its end, emitting a faint pulse of light.
“Welcome to my world, shrimpling!” the creature said, its bulb dangling. Its lanky form balanced on top of the gunnel.
“Ah,” said Kido. “You must be the captain of this fine vessel!”
“Aye,” he confirmed. “Lieutenant Anglir at yer service!”
“Pleasure to meet your acquaintance.”
“The pleasure is mine!”
The two each bowed.
“Ha!” shouted Anglir, swinging his axe. “I tricked you into being polite!”
Kido pushed himself back, dodging the attack. “No you didn’t! I’m polite by nature!” He jumped forwards, ramming his shoulder into the fish-man, causing him to fall off the boat.
“Excuse me,” Kido said. He quickly shot over and descended the ladder to reach the lower decks, jumping down several steps at a time. He was immediately assaulted by an intense smell of fish and rotting fruits, so much so that he reached to cover his sensors before remembering that his mask was already covering them. He reeled a bit, but maintained his standing and began searching the mess hall for the Matoran prisoners.
“Don’t hurt us!” a voice cried to his right.
Kido spun around. Three pirates were standing in a cabin, hands raised. One had a towel wrapped around his head. None were carrying weapons.
“If we promise not to fight you,” a shark-jawed pirate said, “will you promise to let us go?”
“None of you guys want to fight?” asked Kido, pointing the spear at the towel-headed one and a single-eyed one.
They each shook their heads.
“Well, thanks for making my job easier,” Kido said, releasing the water at the tip of his staff. It splashed against the dark wooden planks, seeping through the planks back into the ocean below. “Do you know if there are any prisoners on board?”
The three shook their heads consecutively.
Kido was inclined to believe them. If they were lying, they were about to see what he could do. “Alright. You guys can go.”
“Really?” One-Eye said, clicking his mandibles.
“Yeah, of course,” said Kido. “Oh, um, you might wanna jump on your lifeboats, or something.”
“Oh, we um… we don’t have any,” said Towel.
“Yeah, Cap’n says we needed more room for the fire cannons!” said Shark-Jaw.
“Sorry for shootin’ those at yer,” said One-Eye with genuine shame.
Kido shrugged. “It’s alright, I guess. I blocked them.” He scanned the chamber, looking for something he could use, but it didn’t look like ragged cots and mugs filled with spoiled milk would help him with anything… The floor! He pulled some water that was dripping off his armor and fashioned a small glistening dagger in his hand. He sliced up the wood of the structure into three pirate-sized planks, which he then distributed to the surrendering party. The water cut through the material surprisingly easily, like a warm knife to seaweed sponge cake. Kido’s stomach chamber vibrated in excitement at the thought of that. How long had it been since he had eaten last?
“What 'er these for?” asked Shark-Jaw, examining his board.
“Floating,” said Kido, shoving his appetite back down. “Go up top, jump overboard, and rest on these planks. Oh, and you’d better let your friends on them, too. They’re probably getting tired of treading water by now.”
The three forced some quick nods and marched up the stairs.
“Thank you much, sir!” said Towel.
As they scurried away, Kido caught one say, “I liked him! He’s much nicer than Cap’n.”
How badly must these guys have it that they’re stuck in these terrible lives? Kido began to wonder how many of the pirates actually wanted to be pirates. He couldn’t blame 'em for not want to working under Crau. The dude was a bully. There was no better way to put it.
Kido looked down at his staff. Think later. Save Mako Village now.
He shut his eyes. Again, he pictured the colossal, writing mass of blue liquid, filled with the outlines of the astonishing diversity of sea creatures that inhabited it. When he reached out, he couldn’t quite touch it, so he tried to pull it towards him. He called with his mind, reaching with his hand, trying to get into contact with the ocean…
There! He felt its grip, its electrifying strength; it would be his to guide. He gripped the spear with both hands, holding it down at the floor, closest to the ocean. He coursed his power into the waves directly before him, feeling them bubble under his strength. He took the staff and jerked it upwards, taking the water with it. The wood creaked and groaned and then snap!, it was overcome by the force of the water beneath it. Sea water shot up from below, slamming into the ceiling and pouring into the innards of the ship.
“Ha!” exclaimed Kido. “You took my home from me, Crau. Now I’m taking yours.” He leaped around the artificial geyser, and repeated the process again a few steps further, and then again a bit further after that. He swung himself back around and raced for the stairs, his feet splashing in the growing water level.
He emerged back on the top deck, feeling his ship rapidly sinking.
“Kido!” he heard. Jirita, the spry little boat repairwoman, was standing on the crow’s nest of the other ship, waving to him. “We’ve cleared this one out! No sign of the prisoners!” When she finished her report, she leaped from the mast, holding a rope swing she had fashioned to sling her on to the third ship, where the other villagers were locked in an intense fight. She landed on top of a mantis-like pirate, shouting, “You may take the people out of the village, but you cannot take the village out of the people!” The villagers cheered. They liked that. Maybe she’d be a motivational speaker some day.
Kido ran up to the starboard side and turned to face the now empty vessel. He began to run, accelerating into a charge as he jumped off port side and plummeted towards the water. He yanked his staff up and caught himself with another tendril of water. He held the tendril with his hand and had it jerk upwards, flinging himself into the air, high above the ensuing battle. Another round of fireballs was shot at him, but he was too small a target to accurately track at this range. They all flew by without a hit, his sensors picking up their immense heat as they scorched past him. He dropped upon the emptied ship, rolling into a somersault to convert his momentum. He rolled a bit too far, however, and ended up slamming into the port side gunnel.
“Ugh,” he moaned, picking himself up. He immediately shook off the pain and got to work. Standing in the center of the boat, he reached out both hands, reaching for the water on either side of the boat. He summoned great tendrils to surround the vessel, feeling their roaring and twisting shapes creep up its sides. He tightened his hands into fists. He heard a powerful crack! as his watery appendages splintered the material, spraying chunks of wood outward. This ship, too, began to dip into its oceanic gravesite.
Just as he was admiring his work, a great and powerful voice suddenly cried out.
“Courageous warrior!” it said mockingly.
Kido turned to face it. Crau…
Standing proudly on the crooked figurehead of the flagship was the now-familiar Captain Crau. His cape blew behind him in the wind, his silver armor glimmered in the fading starlight, accented to his dull rusty orange carapace. In one claw, he gripped his jagged cutlass, its cruel shape not able to strike as much fear in Kido’s core as what lied in his other grip. Grappled in his terrible crustacean claw, flailing her arms against his hand to try to free herself, was Kido’s sister, Neida.
“You’ve fought bravely against my forces,” said Crau, his voice carrying over the sounds of fighting and the crackling and groaning of the two sinking vessels. “But I believe we both agree that this fight is really between you and me.”
Kido glanced at the other boat, the one the Mako villagers were battling on.
“Don’t worry 'bout us, kid!” said Jiina. “We’ve got this 'un!”
“Go!” shouted Kaidi. “Help her!”
He looked at Saane for his input, but he was busy striking his clam-headed opponent on the shell with such force the opponent dizzily stumbled back.
Neida…
I’m coming.
He broke into another run, this one filled with as much determination as he had left in him - maybe even more. He bounded over the edge of the ship and dove into the water. He swam like a jet, slipping underneath the waves with all the practice he had gathered over the years, and all the might of a Toa powered by rage and motivation. The water rumbled beneath him, and launched him up, throwing him back into the air with a spray of crystal droplets. He flew onto the flagship, repeating his roll, only this time he stopped himself by catching the deck with his hand and thrusting his feet onto it just after, skidding to a stop as he faced the captain of the Scarlet Sails. He held his staff at the ready. This time, he wouldn’t let his lack of confidence get to him. This time, he wouldn’t let Crau win. No matter what.
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Part 9 - "THE MATORAN"
Crau’s rigged lips were creased in a vicious sneer. “Warrior of the Waves,” he said in his false tone, “welcome to the Scarlet Misery. I hope you enjoy your short time here.”
“Give her back,” Kido said with a growl. Neida’s yellow eyes glinted with both fear and hope when she looked at her brother.
“Maybe,” Crau said. “Or maybe I’ll make you win her back.” He lifted his claw up to his mouth to help project his voice and shouted, “Lieutenants!”
From the sides of the ship, the rigging, and secret doors leading from below deck, five hidden fighters emerged.
Kido drew drops of water from his armor and formed his accustomed spear point at the end of his staff, holding it by its center beam defensively behind him. "Whatever happened to ‘this fight is between you and me?’’ " He dropped his voice to imitate the gruff sound of Crau’s speaking.
“I’m a pirate,” the Captain said with a shrug. “I’ve made a living out of lying!”
One of the lieutenants, a woman whose violet skin riddled with spikes, made the first attack, charging at Kido with her pointed lance.
He jumped to the side and swiped his tool down against hers, wedging the lance’s point into the planked floor. He thrust the butt of his spear at her, clanging against her helmet.
Lieutenant Anglir, who must have swam to the flagship to join his allies, performed an overhead strike with the axe, though his lanky form made his attack slow and awkward. Kido easily managed to avoid it.
The hero jumped and flipped above him, reshaping his spear tip into a cord. The watery cord tightened around Anglir’s waist, which Kido capitalized upon by yanking it towards him as he landed. As the fishy pirate neared him, Kido thrust a kick onto his back, which sent him tumbling back over the gunnel and into the ocean.
“Not again!” he heard Anglir cry as the pirate fell.
Another lieutenant, one with strange plant-like extensions of his skin and an elongated snout, swung a mace at Kido. When he missed, he swung again, and again, roaring as Kido backed towards the edge of the boat. As soon as the water was in sight, Kido summoned a jet of water, which he directed to spray into the lieutenant’s peculiar face. As the pirate gurgled, the spiky-skinned woman returned, once again running at him with her lance. Kido lured her towards the leafy lieutenant and simply watched as she passed by and tackled the other lieutenant, sending him over the edge.
“You were so shrimpy before!” she said with a snarl, looking down at her two allies treading over the waves.
“I guess Toa grow up fast!” said Kido. He didn’t notice Crau’s beady eyes narrow as he said this.
A sharp pain shot up Kido’s leg. His knees buckled, and he fell to the ground as an electrifying energy shot through him, making his limbs go rigid.
“Don’t turn your back on all six of your opponents, dear!” the spiky Lieutenant said, jeering.
Behind Kido were the two remaining pirates, one a flat-faced woman wielding twin whips, each with fizzling electricity running down the strings. Her stout form stood over Kido, striking him again with one of the whips. Kido flinched as pain seared through him, paralyzing him.
The fifth lieutenant, a scrawny foe with two swords, cackled, his mandibles clicking together. “Remember me?” he asked in his scratchy voice. “We fought on the beach! Just last night!”
Kido groaned in pain. “Yeah… Yeah… I remember you.”
“Exceptional performance, Lieutenant Sting,” Crau said, approaching his fallen victim. He threw Neida over to the mandibled Lieutenant, who locked her in his scrawny arms with his swords.
She looked down at her brother, dismayed. Get up, she silently urged him.
"All that work, for nothing." Crau grinned as he lifted Kido up by the head. His eyes were shut closed. The spiky lieutenant and Sting snapped to the hero’s sides, holding his arms in place. Sting wrapped one of her whips around him, locking him into place, prepared to deliver another electric shock if provoked. “You really thought you could do it, didn’t you? You thought you would be the one to take back the ocean.” He leaned in, his antennae prying Kido’s eyes open so that they could stare into his. “Don’t feel too bad. You’re not the first to try. You didn’t get quite as close as others, but you definitely made it further than many.”
“Y-you haven’t won y-yet,” Kido said, straining to form words.
“You’re right, as much as it perturbs me,” said Crau. “Tell the crew they may ready the cannons.” He was eyeing the ship the Mako fighters were dueling on. They were working in surprising unison, battling less like soldiers and more like… like a village. They were winning. Wow, were they winning.
“On our own ship, sir?” the mandibled lieutenant questioned.
“Yes, on our own ship,” said the Captain. “We can rebuild. They, on the other hand…” A vicious glint of evil flashed in his eyes. “They will be helpless. They will beg us to be their rulers. They will need us.”
Kido lashed out in rage, trying to attack Crau, but Sting sent another pulse of lightning through her whip and stunned him. His staff clattered to the ground.
“Well, well,” the Captain said, picking the staff up to study it. “I am a fair and merciful captain. If you relinquish your mask and command your forces to cease their pitiful resistance, I will spare them as I have spared those below deck.” He took the staff by the middle, and crushed it into halves.
“No!” Kido’s anger bubbled forth again, but he kept it restrained, barely. He looked at the neighboring vessel, longing for some other option. He watched Jiina, the old chef, bravely fending of a four-armed scoundrel with nothing but kitchen utensils. He saw Hoffa, the old man, sprung from his lazy days of fishing to show the soul of a defender as he stared down a foe of his own, overpowering him with a measly fishing rod and walking cane. And Kaidi… She had tied up several opponents with a net and chain, and was relentlessly snagging more into her makeshift prison. They were warriors. Each of them.
But… he had a duty, didn’t he? To protect the Kanohi from villains like Crau? Isn’t that what a Toa would do?
He caught sight of Saane, standing in the midst of the battle, staring back at him. The Elder gave a gentle shake of his head. How… Did he know what was happening? Did he understand what Kido was questioning?
He looked once again at the villagers. No.
No, he had a duty, and it wasn’t to the mask. It was to his people. It was to the Matoran. The mask doesn’t make a hero. The core does. And Kido’s core belonged to Mako Village.
“Okay,” he said in defeated submission. “You can have it.”
“No…” said Neida softly. The mandible lieutenant closed his swords closer to her throat.
Crau grinned. “Excellent. Now, how do I remove it?”
Kido paused. “Um… you take it off.”
“Really? There is no… magic… lock or anything?” the Captain wondered aloud.
“You know, I thought the same thing at first,” he said. “But nah. You just take it off.”
Crau grabbed the mask with his great claw, obscuring Kido’s vision for a moment, and pulled the Kanohi free.
With a sea blue flare of light, Kido’s shape reformed back into his native Matoran state. At this size, Crau, Sting, and the other two lieutenants towered over him. They each glared at him with jeering menace in their eyes.
Now, with the mask in his hand, Crau looked at the Matoran, as if piecing something together. “I wasn’t able to believe it at first, but now, I understand…” He started to laugh. “You aren’t some great warrior or hero defending these Matoran! You are just another one of them! You’re a pretender!”
Kido bowed his head. Crau was right. He wasn’t anything special. Saane had said that, too.
“And, when it came down between courage and cowardice,” Crau continued, “you chose cowardice. You gave up your mask because you were afraid of what I might do. You quit fighting, because you aren’t a fighter.”
“I’m a fisherman,” Kido said gloomily. “I’m just proof that anyone can wear the mask.” At this height, he wasn’t able to see over the lieutenants’ shoulders to the ship his people were fighting on. “Mako Village!” Kido shouted, hoping his voice would carry. The shouting seemed to die down a little, so that was a good sign. “It’s over! Crau has the mask! He said he’d spare you! You can go home! I’m… I’m sorry!” He felt tears begin to well up in his eyes, and had to shut them to keep himself from crying.
The sounds of fighting slowed.
“Urcha, go down and let the crew know they may fire the cannons when ready,” said Crau.
“Aye, boss,” said Urcha, the spiked-lieutenant, and darted below deck, leaving Sting alone to hold the Matoran.
“What? You said-” Kido stammered.
“When will you understand?” asked Crau. “I’m a liar!”
“No!” The shout was from Neida. “No! You must keep fighting! All of you! We will not let this thug take our home away from us!” She looked down at her brother. “You too, Kido. You are a hero. You showed that today.”
“I’m not,” said Kido. “And it’s okay. I’m not a warrior, I’m not a fighter. I never knew what it was like to have strength or power until I held that mask.”
“Indeed, boy,” said Crau, his free claw grabbing the top of Kido’s head and wrestling it around. “You aren’t so much as an inconvenience to one such as I. Now, watch the image of your biggest failure! Sting, have him face both me and their ship!”
The lieutenant twisted Kido around, setting him behind Crau. As she did, Kido noticed the whip wasn’t as tight around his Matoran form as it was around his Kanohi one. It slacked a little around his arms. If he just wriggled himself around…
“What do you want me to do with her?” wondered the lieutenant with Neida in his clutches.
“I don’t care, Pinchy,” said the victorious Captain. “She doesn’t matter. What matters is this, my crowning moment!” He lifted up the mask, preparing to don it. The star’s final light illuminated the silver of the mask, a deep red glare against it. Kido could feel the coming darkness, and knew he was powerless to stop it. As powerless as the broken staff by his feet, its two halves sitting sadly against the deck.
But he didn’t feel powerless. No, he felt something else. It wafted from his core, filling his senses with fire and his mind with energy. It was some indescribable amount of stupidity, or some unbelievable recklessness that he had heard described before as “courage.”
“Crau!” he called. “You can’t put on that mask!” He prepared to run, placing one foot forwards and bending his knees.
The Captain whirled around, partially annoyed, partially eager to prove someone wrong. “You said it yourself, little Matoran. Anyone can wear the mask.”
“Yeah, but not everyone should!” He launched himself at the Captain, knowing he was charging towards his doom but letting that fear be all the more adrenaline behind his sprint. Please, let this work.
It was starting to make sense now. The mask didn’t choose Kido because he was special, it was because he wasn’t. He was a nobody. He wasn’t some knight or savior. He was a guy on the beach who stumbled by a power he was only fit to wield because he couldn’t believe he was. Rely on your own strength, follow your own will, run on your own might, and you will be swallowed by the ocean. But to accept weakness, to take mistakes as lessons, and to always get up, those are teachings no one is born understanding. Those lessons are learned from failures, failures that everybody has. It takes a nobody to become an anybody. An example, a story to follow. Someone to look up to, because you don’t have to look too high to see them. And isn’t that all a hero is? Someone who stands up, so that others will stand up with them? And if that was true, then nobody - and anybody - can be a hero. A Toa.
Kidoma…
The whip started to unravel around Kido, its loose length slipping behind him as Sting reactively triggered another line of shock through it. Rather than freeing himself, Kido grabbed onto the string, pulling it with him. He scanned Crau’s form, looking for a weak spot. There were areas where his crustacean carapace was exposed, but Kido didn’t imagine that would be very effective. His cloak, also, provided some protection, but what caught Kido’s eye were the pair of shining Havorian steel boots the Captain was so proud of.
Kido, now the perfect height to grapple the shape of the boots, used the hand free of the cord to grab onto the metal just as the electricity caught up to him, zapping through his metallic Matoran body, and connecting with the boots and their bearer.
Crau’s leg seemed to go limp entirely with shock, his organic matter beneath his boot especially weak to the lightning. He fell immediately, feeling the same effects of paralysis Kido did. They both slumped to the floor, the Kanohi mask spinning free of anyone’s grasp.
“Cap’n!” Pinchy yelled.
Kido could hear Sting’s steps as she began to run for either her boss or the mask.
No… Come on, Kido… He felt the electricity still stunning his arm, but he tried to push through it. He pushed with all his determination, all his willpower, and it still felt like it wasn’t enough. Come on…
The ship suddenly lurched as it was struck by a large wave, and the mask dropped right into his grasp. He yanked it towards him, wrapping his Matoran self around it.
“Give it here, kid!” he heard someone - probably Sting - tell him, but he would not let the Kanohi go. He pushed it up and laid his face into it, reshaping into his Toa self.
Pulling himself up to his feet, he looked down upon the remaining two lieutenants.
“Why don’t we call a truce?” asked Pinchy. He sheathed his blades and released Neida. “Here, you can have your sister back, but why don’t you… not hurt us?”
“Run down below deck,” said the Toa. “Go, let your friends back on board. I want to have some words with your captain.”
Sting and Pinchy hurriedly dashed down the ladder. As the latter passed by Neida, the Matoran stuck out her leg to trip him, which sent him tumbling down below. She grinned playfully.
“No…” he heard Crau growl from the deck. The crustacean pirate was awkwardly rising onto his knees. “No… Not possible… I am the King of the Nine Oceans… The fearsome Captain Crau! There isn’t an ear in the universe that doesn’t hear my name and plead for mercy!”
“Matoran don’t have ears,” Kidoma said, picking him up by the collar of his cloak. “We have sensors. And we don’t do well with pirates.”
“Don’t think yourself unique, boy,” said Crau. “I have faced my fair share of insurrections before. I always see my victory, eventually.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt it,” said Kidoma with a raised brow, clearly doubting it. He started dragging Crau by his cloak to the gunnel.
“Wait, no!” The pirate began sprawling and protesting. “No, what are you doing? This cape is wool! Boy! I will see justice!”
Kidoma smirked. “This is justice, Captain.” He threw the pirate outwards, watching the foe plummet down to the waves below. Before he reached them, Kidoma drew up a stream of water with a fist. Slamming into the captain, the geyser rocketed up, carrying the screaming villain towards the sky, and out to the horizon, chasing after the setting star, until his fading form was no longer visible, swallowed up by the ocean. Kidoma spent a moment just to admire the beauty of the moment. The sky was red, as scarlet as the sails of the ship he stood upon, but the light was fading, replaced with the silvery array of stellar beams that drafted the scene with light.
Next to the flagship, the battling had ceased. With their captain gone, who was going to feed the pirates? There wasn’t really a reason to fight.
“You did it, huh, Kido?” Neida said, coming beside her brother. She didn’t like having to look up at him, but she would get used to it.
Kidoma dropped to a seat. There. Now he was shorter. “Looks like it.”
“Why didn’t you get scared, like last time?” she asked.
“Oh, I was terrified. Every second, I was terrified.” He raised his shoulders. “But I didn’t let that stop me from doing what I did.”
Neida smiled. “I don’t really understand what’s going on right now, but I think it’s bigger than just a brother and sister.”
“Definitely bigger. Some things are going to change.” The Toa beamed, and laid an arm around his sister. “But other things won’t.”
“You finally did it, Kido,” Neida said, putting her arm around him. “You finally lived your dream. You had an adventure.”
Kidoma nodded. “Yeah… Yeah, I really did.”
The two stared up at the skies and watched the stars dance and glimmer in unison of the surfing waves below, sitting upon the deck of the Scarlet Misery. They were, once again, together, and for the moment, that was all they needed to be.
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Part 10 - "THE TOA"
1 WEEK LATER
The “Liberation Day Feast” was overseen directly by Jiina. Rida and Hetiru chipped in with cooking supplies and skills, and old Hoffa supplied the taste-testing, which he insisted was the most pivotal job. Bayola had designed a beautiful banner depicting the great Toa Kidoma’s sinking of the two ships, which was hung over the town center. Kaidi had begun transcribing the story to parchment using much of the flowery language she had used in her Golden Matoran tale. Elder Saane even said she may make a fine chronicler, one day. Though Kidoma himself had initially objected to the celebration, he had started to see it more as a community event than simply the expression of the growing adoration for him.
With Crau gone, leadership of the Scarlet Sails, by default, went to one of the lieutenants. Urcha and Leefy argued over it for nearly two days before they finally decided to give it to Pinchy, the neutral ground. What they did not know was that Kidoma had made a plot with the three pirates he had spared, “Mandibles,” “One-Eye,” and “Shark-Jaw,” (named “Clansa,” “Roft,” and “Sure Bert,” respectively) who had volunteered as navigators, and the Sails would soon find themselves in the hands of the law enforcement on some other island. When the Toa expressed concern for the three, they shrugged it off, saying that perhaps jail time was the best thing for them, in case their plea deal didn’t amount to much. It’d give them plenty of time to plan out their dream job of running a sea-faring bakery company.
Kidoma spent most of his time relaxing. Jiina pretty much gave him the entire decade off (especially since the new holiday was bringing in scores of tourists, which meant a boost in business), and he figured catching fish would be really easy with his Kanohi powers if Neida ever needed the help. So, besides helping the Scarlet Sails prepare to set off again, which they promised they would do after the feast, he didn’t really do much. He did practice his powers quite a bit. Controlling a massive construct from such a limitless source of power as the ocean was surprisingly easy compared to creating something small and defined out of, say, a kokonut shell of water.
He also spent a lot of time with Neida, more than making up for the day he skipped out on her. They would often take out the boat, not to fish or anything, but simply to sit and talk. The village had been given one of the remaining four pirate ships for what the fiends called “reparations,” though it really felt more like a bribe to allow the scoundrels to enjoy the feast with them. But, for the time being, Neida and Kidoma were fine just sitting out in their dinghy. He never wore the mask when it was just the two of them. It made it easier to talk, it seemed. He would tell her about the night he found the Kanohi, the talk with Saane, the duel with Pinchy, the crater, the staff, all of it, and she would tell him about the sharing of the bread, about the only eventful thing that had happened to her during their time apart.
“This means you’re going to need to leave, huh?” she asked him one day.
Kido went silent.
“The village acts like you’re going to stay here as their guardian forever, but that’s not true, is it?”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I know you made a promise to Mom to always protect me, but the Kanohi returned for a reason. There’s some danger that’s approaching, and I have… just this feeling in my core, this knowledge that it wasn’t just Crau. Something big is going to happen, and it won’t just be Mako Village that’s in danger. I’m going to need to protect all of Moda Nui. I’m sorry.”
Neida nodded. She laid a hand on Kido’s shoulder. “Promise me you won’t disappear. You’re leaving after you say good-bye, and then you’re going to stop by every so often to make sure your sister hasn’t gotten mad in her isolation, okay?”
“You’re not in isolation!” Kido protested. “You’ve got all those lovely people!” He waved his hand at Mako Village at the shore.
“Okay?” she repeated.
“Of course,” said Kido.
“Thank you,” Neida said with a nod.
Kido responded by tackling her with a huge bear hug, threatening to flip the boat over with their combined weight.
When they pulled into the shore, Hoffa was waiting for them.
“You know, I’ve been meanin’ to tell ya,” he said as Neida anchored the boat to the dock. “Those pirates weren’t much of nothin’. I remember once, this village was attacked by bandits at least twice as large. They had shooters, too! Real ones, not cannons that spit out mere fireballs!”
“Good to know,” Kido said, replacing the mask and shifting into Toa form. “I’ll keep an eye out for them.”
“Did you have to fight them uphill both ways?” joked Neida. The siblings exchanged a laugh.
In town, Kidoma was assaulted with all sorts of fans. A group of Aero City tourists gawked as he walked by, and he simply bowed his head in greeting to them. He noticed Kaidi working on her writing project outside Jiina’s, but when he attempted to sneak a look, she pulled it away, telling him he wasn’t allowed to see it until it was finished.
“Kidoma! Toa Kidoma!” he heard. He turned to face Laani, the town seamstress, holding something behind her back.
“What is it, Laani?” he asked, looking around as if for a threat. He could never be certain whether shouts were cries of fear or not anymore.
She revealed the item behind her back. “Saane told me it carries some sentimental value to you, so I thought I’d fix it up. It’s not pretty, I know, but it holds together. It’s Wrangler’s Kelp, too. It’ll loosen if you twist it one way, and tighten if you twist it the other, so if you’d rather have two batons then, well, you get it.”
In her hands lied Saane’s old blue and orange staff, which Crau had snapped into two. Now, though, it had been repaired with a deep green seaweed that held it fast together, in one piece.
Kidoma gasped as he took it from her, feeling its strength. It was good as new. He twisted the two ends and felt the kelp give way, allowing him to hold the two halves as individual tools. He swung them up and around, performing an improvised dance before twisting them back together. The kelp fastened the two back into a solid shape and stuck there.
“It’s incredible, Laani,” he said with a beam. “Thank you. So much.”
She grinned, bowed, and ran off to continue preparations.
Across the village, Kidoma noticed Elder Saane, speaking with an excited white-painted Matoran evidently from the Rimelands.
Crossing the crowd, he made his way to the Elder, who finished his speaking and turned to the Toa.
“You’re late,” he said, amused.
Kidoma froze, surprised. “We had a meeting?” Panic began to shoot through him. Had he forgotten something? Oh, no, what if this was the start of a pattern? What if he was about to become unreliable in everything he ever did? Could he even make it as a Toa? Would people be able to depend on him?
“No,” said Saane. “I just wanted to see what fear looked like behind that mask of yours. I had begun to forget.” He smirked.
“Oh.” Kidoma scratched at the back of his head, embarrassed.
“Well, you’re a Toa now,” the Elder said, beginning to lead Kidoma through the trees, towards the beach.
“So they tell me,” said Kidoma.
“Is it anything remarkable?”
Kidoma thought for a minute. “Yes and no. It’s cool, the powers and stuff, but those all kinda feel normal, now. It’s weird. What’s the hard part is getting used to the glowing praises and the awestruck smiles and the bowing and the gifts and the… I guess it’s the celebrity life that’s hard.”
Saane itched his chin. “Eh. Takes some of the attention off of me, so I don’t feel as bad for you as I do feel happy for myself, I’m afraid.”
They broke through the last line of palm trees and emerged on the Great White Shores, standing before the magnificence of the ocean.
“So, anyone can wear the mask. Anyone can be a Toa,” said Saane, “but not just anybody. What does that mean?”
Once again, Kidoma required a minute to think. “It means that a Toa can come from anywhere, be anyone. Everybody has the chance to act as a hero, an opportunity to help people. But not just anybody will choose to take those chances. Not everyone will choose to be become a Toa.” He became more confident in his answer as he continued to elaborate. “It’s those that do that are made into heroes.” He looked to Saane. “Right?”
“I’m not sure,” said the Elder. “I choose to let those who hear my words find the wisdom in them. Occasionally, they don’t mean anything.”
Kidoma jumped back, startled. They don’t actually… What? He caught a look of mischief in the Elder’s violet eyes. Oh. He’s joking. Right?
“I’m starting to think I’m going senile,” Saane said. “That’d be odd. For me to shut down before old man Hoffa.”
“My parents did,” said Kidoma, remembering his and Neida’s brief time with their parents before their energy was depleted.
“Your parents lived full and happy lives, Kido.” Saane laid his hand on Kidoma’s back. “They would be proud of how far you and your sister have come.”
They stood quietly for a moment, resting in the sounds of the waves and the warmth of the star.
“Toa Kidoma, solo protector of Moda Nui,” Saane said. “Nice ring to it, though it is a rather large responsibility.”
“I won’t be alone.”
“Oh?”
Kidoma smiled. “The Toa. They never fought alone. They had each other, right?”
Saane tilted his head. “You think there are others?”
“Of course. A Kanohi with the power of the ocean washes up on the Great White Shores. Why wouldn’t a Kanohi with the power of the earth be found in the Iron Mountains?”
Deep in the frozen cliffs of the Iron Mountains, a group of black-armored Matoran huddled together in terror. The mountains was shaking, and snow was racing down the side in a ferocious avalanche. Just as they felt they would be drowned in snow, a large figure jumped in front of them. A man seemingly made of silver.
“Stay behind me!” he said in a booming voice. He thrust his gauntlets into the ground and pulled up the earth and stone in the shape of a firm wall. The avalanche roared as it slammed into the barrier, skirting around the amazed Matoran. They stared at the heroic figure in great awe.
“Interesting hypothesis,” remarked Saane. “I assume you’d think the same for the Flickering Wastes, Rimelands, and the Fauna Jungle?”
“Why not?” said Kidoma. “And why not Aero City, too? They’re all around us.” He faced the village. “Heroes. People willing to do what is right regardless of the challenge, regardless of the consequences.”
Cinderforge Plaza was flooded past its capacity with soldiers and citizens. Orange and red plating muddled together in a fiery sea of Matoran, quite dazzling to stand over and look at.
“Are you ready, Toa?” Commander Khadal asked, standing at attention.
It was strange to the Toa, to no longer be expected to salute and bow to what once was the higher authority. Now, he was the higher authority.
“Yeah, I guess so,” he said in his standard husky voice. That didn’t change with the transformation.
“Then get out there,” said Khadal, “and show the people their hero.”
The Toa nodded, and began to walk out onto the balcony, welcomed by an ocean of applause.
“Heroes can be found anywhere,” Kidoma said. "Some only work in small little ways, helping a neighbor, being a friend, but they all have that same courage and selflessness as the Toa who singlehandedly sunk two entire pirate ships. Our strength doesn’t come from how much we can carry or how long we can fight for, but from how willing we are to keep pushing, to keep fighting, because we know we’re fighting for something good."
“Boss, you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
“I dunno, some sorta ‘whoosh’ sound!”
The boss chewed down hard on his toothpick. Fourteen months in the jungle, and not a single hint of their less-than-legal operation’s discovery. He waved the henchman out of the tent. “Go, find it.”
As the henchman stepped outside, there was the quick sound of skirmishing, and then quiet. A blade pierced through the curtain, opening the way for a green-armored figure to step in side. She was tall and athletic, much larger than the boss thought Matoran as being. The cyan eyes of the intruder glared at him from behind a magnificent slender-faced mask, decorated with runes and patterns. Whatever this creature was, it wasn’t like anything that had been seen in Fauna Jungle before.
“You’ve come a long way, Toa Kidoma,” said Saane, patting the young Toa. “I know you will do great things.” He looked at the staff Kidoma had slung onto his back. “Take good care of her, for me. I always liked that stick.”
Kidoma grinned. “Of course, Saane.” He paused for a moment, breathing gently. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Everything.” Kidoma placed a hand on the Elder’s shoulder. “Old man.”
Saane beamed. “The Toa are legends, Kido. Legends never cease being told. But, the thing about legends, is that they never are told the same way twice. I do not know how your journey will end, but I know that you will face darkness and trials. But as long as you hold fast to your duty, experience the strength of unity, you will one day get to face your destiny.”
Nodding, Kidoma said, “Yeah, that’s kind of a lot.”
“You’d better get used to it,” said Saane. “Being a Toa’s ‘kind of a lot.’ There are millenniums of legends tied to that mask. To your responsibility as the Toa of Water.”
Kidoma breathed slowly. The future was waiting before him, but he knew he wouldn’t have to face it alone. And, for now, he could just sit and enjoy this moment with his mentor. As far as he could tell, his destiny was still pretty far off.
They watched the star dip lower together, and rested in the peace of it all.
The Matoran’s hands chipped through the icy wall, forced to carve a hold rather than find one. She could see the light above her, and knew the cave’s exit must be just over this ridge. She felt the fear tap into her core, but she refused to let it stay there. She swallowed down her emotion and just focused on the next step. She hit the ice once more, and a sizable chunk broke free. She grasped it with her hand and used all her strength to pull upwards, until, finally, she was scrambling over the top. Her feet were on solid rock again. The Matoran rubbed her hands together, trying to chip off the frost clinging to her white-plated fingertips.
As she surveyed her environment, she saw not the opening of the cave, but another wall of ice, much steeper and much more daunting. The light, it seemed, came from somewhere within. As she stepped closer to the wall, she saw the shape of something within… Something metal, with strange prongs extending outwards. She touched her hand to the ice wall and pressed her face against it. Two holes were cut into the metal object, almost like… eyes. A mask? she wondered.
The light from the mask seemed to beat, like the heart of an organic.
Narale… Toa Narale…
Crau leaned against one wall of the chamber, his leg still healing from its electrical burns. It wasn’t supposed to fully heal, but he was still holding onto hope that his natural strength would push through and he would walk normally once again.
“Describe him again to me,” the slithery voice requested.
“He was about my height,” said Crau, annoyed to even be reminded of his humiliation. “With the mask on, at least. Carried a stick. Was painted blue. He had this irritating voice, probably some kid. He controlled the waves.”
“And you are certain he called himself a Toa?” the voice asked.
Crau’s gaze sharpened. “Yes.”
“Interesting…” The owner of the voice enshrouded himself in the shadows, only his two circular red eyes staring out beneath his hood. His fingers, like an entire set of rusted blades extending from his hands, would sometimes be caught in the firelight, clasped together like a bramble of swords.
“So, are you going to pay me?” asked Crau, disinterested in his employer’s semantics.
The red eyes turned to him, unblinking and unreadable. “What for?”
“I did your thing,” the former Captain said. “I found it.”
“I did not hire you to find a Toa! Oh, no, no, no, what I detected was far larger than the donning of a Kanohi, good Crau,” the red eyes said. "The spike of elemental energy came from something much more… extravagant."
Crau wanted to argue, wanted to fight, but knew it would be in vain. This was it. He had lost everything, now. His crew, his ships, his fortune, his job.
“Perhaps I’ll make use of you in the future,” said the eyes. “But for now, I believe Moda Nui has demanded my personal attention. For as alluring as the return of the Toa is, especially to one with my… history, whatever it was that brought them here, whatever it was my devices caught readings of, that is something much, much more intriguing…”
END OF CHAPTER 1, “DUTY”
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Wow. You have written an amazing story!
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Thank you! That means a lot!
ooh this is so cool
I really love the battle scenes, the lessons he learned, and the revelation of other Toa. Also the shadowy guy at the end really reminds me of Makuta.
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Maybe… He is a Makuta!
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I mean it’s not like I’d be that surprised if that was true…
Maybe… Shrugs
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