The job of a matoran is to ferry toa canisters to their destination planets, and perhaps one day become toa themselves, if the great beings deem them worthy. This was Khaita’s dream, to become a toa, traversing the universe and helping planets form peaceful and happy civilizations. But first, they would need to prove themself worthy. Unfortunately for Khaita, scouts like them were rarely made into toa, as scouts did not often possess the traits that were sought after in toa.
They were not built to fight like guards and weapon engineers, and they were thought of as cowardly for running from danger as their job demanded, for if they did not survive a scouting mission, who would alert the remaining crew of the dangers? They also did not possess the vast stores of knowledge that the various engineers and scientists did, nor the the processing capacity of analysts. But most of all they lacked the leadership skills of captains, the most likely matoran to become toa. Nevertheless, scouting was an essential task for matoran, either to better understand a planet to help the resident Toa adapt, or to ensure a toa pickup goes smoothly.
Khaita as a matoran:
fun fact
As a scout, Khaita was assigned a personal vessel called a solar sailer to quickly traverse the surface of any planet. Khaita named their solar sailer the “Comets Tail”:
Despite the shortcomings of the body and mind they were made with, Khaita was determined to become a toa. They began teaching themselves how to be brave and face their fears, eventually getting to the point where it became reckless. Due to their newfound recklessness, Khaita nearly died while scouting a jungle planet. This led to the captain of Khaita’s mothership to assign a guard matoran named Hoari to protect Khaita on their scouting missions. Khaita and Hoari quickly became friends, and Khaita’s ambition inspired Hoari. Khaita then asked Hoari to train them how to fight better, which Hoari gladly obliged.
Hoari:
fun fact
Hoari means sword in Māori (at least according to google translate). Also, Hoari is missing an arm due to a programming defect that causes arms connected to that joint to haywire.
Shortly after beginning their training with Hoari, Khaita visited a weapons engineer named Cyprus to acquire some better weapons. Cyprus was a lower class weapons engineer who had failed to climb the ranks despite having a brilliant mind. This was because of his very experimental ideas that often didn’t function properly due to their complexity. Hoari had recommended Cyprus to Khaita as Hoari and Cyprus were good friends. Once again, Khaita’s pioneering spirit rubbed off on an already ambitious Cyprus, who then proposed to Hoari and Khaita the last the three of them should have a friendly competition to see who could become a toa first. News of this friendly rivalry spread throughout the mothership, and began to attract other ambitious souls.
Cyprus:
fun fact
I did not know what Cyprus meant before I came up with this name and ended up looking it up. For those of you who are like me and have no idea what it means, Cyprus is an island country that is apparently the third largest/most populous island in the Mediterranean. Who knew.
The first of these ambitious individuals was mechanic who worked on the mothership’s engines and thrusters and was named Pūkaha. Pūkaha Admired the toa, and though he had heard of matoran becoming toa before, he never thought it was actually possible. When he heard about the challenge between Khaita, Cyprus, and Hoari, he was inspired to try and become a toa. He saw it not only as a chance to become something more, but he also saw it as a chance to change his body to better suit who he was on the inside. When he got a chance, he approached the group of three friends and said he was going to join their race to become a toa, and they accepted him with open arms. The four friends began training together or alone in their free time, teaching each other the special skills only they had. As their mothership voyaged on, news of their rivalry continued to spread throughout the mothership, finally landing in the ears of its captain: Kohua.
Pūkaha:
fun fact
Pūkaha means engine in Māori, which I think is pretty interesting. Also, yes, this character is meant to be trans masc.
When Captain Kohua heard of the four rivals, he was concerned that they might cause some trouble. But, being the fair captain he prided himself on being, he decided that he would keep an eye on them. Well, he personally couldn’t keep an eye on them himself, as he was far too busy running the ship. Instead, he had one of his top analysts, Tyrrahn, observe them for him. Tyrrahn was good at subtlety and stealth making him the perfect matoran for the job. He was also very good at infiltration, though skills like these were rarely useful on the mothership. Despite his subtlety and stealth, somehow Khaita seemed to stumble into Tyrrahn, often tripping over him or bumping into him in hallways. This caused Tyrrahn to worry that his cover was blown, only to realize with further observation that Khaita was in fact just klutzy.
Tyrrahn as a matoran:
The more Tyrrahn observed Khaita, the more fascinated he became, almost obsessive. Eventually, Tyrrahn began to purposefully meet Khaita in hallways, making it seem accidental, in order to try and get closer to Khaita, something he had never really wanted to do in the past. Khaita remembered Tyrrahn and after a few more encounters between the two, Khaita ended up asking Tyrrahn to hang out with their group. Tyrrahn of course said yes, seeing it as a perfect opportunity to complete his job and an another way to get closer to Khaita.
When Khaita introduced Tyrrahn to the group, they all seemed to give Khaita a knowing look, which once again made Tyrrahn worry that his cover had been blown. However, not long after Tyrrahn became a full memeber of the rivalry, even swearing to race the others to become a toa, Khaita did something unexpected; they asked Tyrrahn out on a date.
This question gave Tyrrahn butterflies in his stomach, so to speak, but it also caused him to realize something. He had been compromised, not by being discovered, but by having a crush on one of his targets. He suddenly became very anxious, and ended up running away towards the captains quarters without answering Khaita’s question. Tyrrahn reported back to Captain Kohua and told him about what had happened, saying that he had failed his mission and that he was ready to receive whatever punishment the captain deemed fitting.
Kohua:
fun fact
Kohua means pot in Māori. The reason I chose it was because I wanted his name to be something like mud or clay (which both translated to the same word, lol) and eventually tried pot when spelling out pottery and it just sounded right for the character.
Kohua just knelt beside Tyrrahn and said to him “Tyrrahn, it has been clear for a while that Khaita and his group are nothing to worry about. I kept you on that mission because I could tell that you liked Khaita. I should have said this a long time ago: your mission is complete, if you want to be with Khaita, then I give you permission to do so. Now go, tell them how you feel.” Tyrrahn then thanked Kohua and left to go back to Khaita. As he did so, Kohua received a call from Hub, the great being who coordinated all of the motherships around the universe.
“I see you have delivered your last toa team and are currently on standby Captain Kohua” Hub said to Kohua.
“Yes Syr!” Kohua responded. Hub nodded.
“Good, it is time for you to choose matoran to join you in taking the toa examination. I hope by now you have some in mind?” Kohua smirked
“I think I know just the matoran for the job Syr”
Good. Return to Ultra Magna immediately, dismissed” and with that, Hub’s communication cut off, and Kohua relaxed a bit. He hailed the navigators and said “set a course for home” and the mothership began to move.
Group shot:
Alright, that’s it for this post, but if you enjoyed the story keep an eye out, because there’s plenty more to come. See ya soon!