Wind and Rain: a Mata Nui adventure (complete)

Creative Content Literature
1

Prologue

The Le-Matoran have learned to know the winds. When you’re riding on the back of a large Gukko bird, directing it where you want to go, you have to know the wind the way the bird does, see it before it hits you, know how to go with it. They say the most skilled Le-Matoran can ride into the eye of a hurricane and emerge unscathed.

Vhisola wasn’t a Le-Matoran, but she had been working with them for a while. She had riden their birds many times, and knew how to ride the wind just as well as they did. No natural wind could ever be her master.

But the wind that struck her now was not natural. It sent her tumbling back through the tree branches, feeling them snap painfully against her as she tumbled.

“You stay out of this,” a voice said. “You don’t belong here. Don’t make me hurt you.”

Vhisola groaned and looked up, but she couldn’t see the figure who had spoken. He was at home in the forest, just as good at hiding as any Le-Matoran. He wouldn’t be seen unless he wanted to be. She wasn’t sure she would be able to stand seeing him anyway. That mask…

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Only a couple of days ago, the long-prophesied day had come: the Toa had arrived. After centuries of living in fear of Makuta’s shadows and monsters, the Matoran finally had heroes to protect them, who could defeat Makuta and free the island.

Makuta was having none of this. His Rahi attacks had grown in ferocity, and a swarm of Nui-Rama was about to swarm the village. Vhisola and her companions had to protect the village, just as they’d always done. Only this time, it was different. This time, the Toa were here. Well, one of them was, at least.

One of the Le-Matoran bounded onto a branch in front of Vhisola, helping her get out of the tangle of branches and leaves. “Show yourself!” he called to the darkness.

Vhisola thought she spotted movement, and flung a disk in that direction. There was a blur of quick motion and a sharp cutting sound, and the bamboo disk fell to the forest floor, cut neatly in half.

Vhisola jumped in that direction, landing nimbly on another branch, then leapt again. She was almost to the next branch when another gust of wind caught her, and she let out a cry. But it wasn’t the wind that startled her. It was what she’d seen just before it hit her.

Toa Lewa, the Toa of Air and hero of Le-Koro. Hidden among the trees, barely visible in the dark. Except one thing was wrong. His green mask was gone. In its place, he wore a similar mask, except this one was blackened and rusted.

The mark of an infected mask. The Toa of Air was now another pawn of Makuta.

“I warned you,” Lewa said. “Stay out of this, Gukko Force. Le-Koro will fall.”

Author’s notes: fairly short, yes, but this is only a quick sneak peak of what’s to come. Chapters will be the same length as stuff from my Story Serial project. This will feature a few plot threads from MNOG as well as the comics.
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Interesting so far, curious to see more.

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Weird, when I see it in the sentence it looks right, but then when you crop it out like that my brain says “that’s not how that’s spelled.”

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Ooho very nice. Definitely would be interested in seeing more…

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Chapter 1

Not long before, Vhisola was travelling with some other members of the Gukko force, following the banks of the eastern Kanae river, on their way back to the village. They had already passed the nexus of the river, and were getting close to the Kanae lake. Their home village was just north of that.

Anyone looking at the group would have seen five Le-Matoran, obvious from their green armor. If one were to take a closer look, however, they would realize that one of the Matoran had armor that was a mix of green and blue, and blue muscle tissue underneath, marking her as a Ga-Matoran. It wasn’t unheard of for a Matoran from another tribe to aid one of the other Guard Forces, but Vhisola had become a permanent member of the Gukko Force, and even lived in Le-Koro with the Le-Matoran.

It was, by all appearances, a totally normal day. In fact, it was strangely peaceful. They had run into hardly any infected Rahi on their patrol for the past few days, and none today. One of the Le-Matoran, Shu, had postulated that the Makuta had gotten tired and was giving up the attack. Taiki, ever the suspicious one, had countered that Makuta was probably preparing something big, and they should be ready. For her part, Vhisola didn’t really care why the Rahi weren’t attacking. She was just happy for the reprieve.

Claws, teeth, slashing from all directions from a beast that was three times her size…

She winced slightly as the memory came back to her, the first time she’d fought against Makuta’s Rahi. It had gone horribly, nearly traumatized her. She had thought she was ready, and learned the hard way she wasn’t.

“Almost back to village,” their leader, Boreas, announced. “Stay focused, team, watch out for Rahi.” Boreas took his role in the Guard very seriously – some would say too seriously, even. He was nearly chosen as the Captain of the Le-Koro Guard – the Gukko Force, as it was commonly called – but their Turaga had chosen Kongu instead. When it became clear that the Guard Force needed a secondary commander, Boreas took on the role.

“Oh, relax, hardmask,” Shu said. It was a nickname he had come up with for Boreas, and it had stuck. “No Rama anywhere today. Peacedawn is around us!”

The Le-Matoran had an odd way of talking, merging certain words together and paring down their sentences, in addition to talking very fast; it gave some other Matoran difficulty, trying to understand what they were saying. Treespeak, they called it. Vhisola had gotten used to it, after working with them for so many years. She even used some of the merged words herself sometimes.

“Hmm,” Afa said. “Village seems more brightloud than usual.”

He was right, Vhisola realized. Le-Koro was one of the loudest villages on the island, with music constantly playing and the sound of Matoran talking constantly, loud and fast. But there was a commotion of some sort in the village, and the drums were playing a song of great celebration.

“They threw sing-song party without us!” Shu said indignantly.

“Something happy-cheer has happened,” Boreas said. “We should go see what!”

The group of Matoran quickened their pace back toward their village. As they approached, they could see Tamaru standing outside the lift to Le-Koro, as he usually did. There was a big smile on his face.

“What’s the big-news?” Boreas asked.

“Oh good, you guys are back just in time,” Tamaru replied. “He’s here, finally here. Kongu found him!”

“Who’s here?” Vhisola asked. When Tamaru got excited, he was one of the fastest-talking Le-Matoran there was.

“Won’t give it away and ruin surprise. Go uptree and see!”

Vhisola shrugged and hopped into the lift, a hollowed-out chunk of wood connected to a vine that used weights to lift visitors up to the treetop village. Of course, any Le-Matoran worth the name would just climb the tree; the lift was intended for visitors from other villages. The other members of Vhisola’s group were already bounding up the tree, as graceful as Brakas monkeys. All but one, that is; Taiki joined her on the lift, to her surprise.

“You’re not climbing the tree?” Taiki said. “I know you are able to.” Unlike other Le-Matoran, Taiki didn’t use treespeak, and spoke very slowly and deliberately.

“I don’t have the energy you guys do,” Vhisola said. “We’ve been walking all day, and I’d rather take a lift then climb a tree.”

Taiki nodded. “I’ll go with you,” he said. She didn’t bother asking him why. Sometimes Taiki just did things.

The lift was a little slower with two Matoran, but it still lifted them up to the village. As soon as they got there, Vhisola immediately noticed a crowd of Matoran gathered around Turaga Matau’s hut, as if waiting for something. The rest of the members of the Gukko Force were already gathered there.

“What’s going on?” Vhisola asked the crowd.

Before anyone could reply, she got her answer as a figure stepped out of the hut. He was taller, much taller than a Matoran and even the Turaga, clad in green armor much like the Le-Matoran. He wore the same mask as Kongu, the mask of Levitation – a mask Kongu wore in honor of him. A large axe was strapped to his back.

Beside him stood Turaga Matau. “Rejoice, Le-Koro!” the Turaga announced. “The promised hope-dawn is here. Toa Lewa has arrived!”

The Toa of Air nodded to the Matoran, who cheered in response. Then he walked to the edge of the platform and jumped off, gliding away on the wind. The Matoran watched him disappear into the foliage.

“Well,” Shu said. “If Lewa is here, then other Toa must be as well.” He turned to look at Vhisola. “Gali as well.”

Vhisola blinked. Of course; Gali, the Toa of water, prophesied defender of Ga-Koro. Maybe she was in Ga-Koro right now, meeting the other Ga-Matoran. Vhisola had only been back to Ga-Koro once, and she considered the Gukko Force her home now, but she still felt a longing to meet the Toa of her own element.

Perhaps it was time for her to pay a visit to her old home after all…

Author’s notes: or course I couldn’t resist including Afa, the recently revealed Le-Matoran who was cut from MNOG II. This chapter is mostly setup of the characters, hinting at what’s to come.
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Very cool

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And finally, the plot kicks into gear.

Chapter 2

“And then Gali hopped onto the back of the Tarakava, and the beast roared forward and splash-plunged into the lake, and there was splashing and noise as the two struggled, and then the Tarakava emerged, and we were all scared, but then it fell again, and then Gali emerged…”

Vhisola’s trip back to Ga-Koro had been an eventful one. Not only had she gotten to see the Toa of Water, she’d seen that Toa’s first fight with a Rahi, a Tarakava that had attacked the village right after Vhisola showed up.

“Apparently Macku found Gali, and told her what happened,” Vhisola explained. “Turaga Nokama has asked Macku to stay in the village for now, but she let me return to you guys, of course!”

Shu nodded. He and the other members of Boreas’ group were setting up camp not far from the village, listening to Vhisola’s tale. Tomorrow, they would continue their patrol. Just because the Toa were here, that didn’t mean the Matoran could just sit back and relax. Six Toa couldn’t be everywhere at once, especially when they had masks to find.

Vhisola wondered what the other Toa were like. So far, the two she had met were amazing. Lewa was aloof and mysterious, Gali courageous and caring. She almost wanted to travel the island and find each of the Toa. But she had a job to do here, just as the Toa had their own job to do. She wasn’t Takua, she couldn’t just go running off looking for adventure.

Actually, she had a newfound respect for Takua, after he’d saved her from a sunken hut during the Tarakava attack. But he was still an irresponsible oaf, even if he was heroic sometimes.

Vhisola was wondering how long it might take the Toa to rid the island of infected Rahi when she heard footsteps, quickly moving through the jungle. All of the Matoran stood up, disks ready, in case it was a Rahi attack. But they relaxed when they finally saw the figure emerge from the brush, and it was a Matoran, not a Rahi. Vhisola recognized him as Kumo, a disk-maker for the village of Le-Koro.

“Guardsmen!” the Le-Matoran called. “Help! My friend trapped under fallen tree!”

Boreas immediately responded. “I’ll stay here, watch camp,” he said. “Rest of you, aid Kumo.” Someone had to watch their Gukko, make sure that Makuta didn’t get to them. Vhisola wondered if Boreas was being lazy, volunteering himself for that role, but then reminded herself that Boreas was also the least physically strong member of the group.

Vhisola and the three Le-Matoran bounded through the woods, following after Kumo. This, too, was their duty. All Matoran had a duty to help others in need, no matter their job. If it meant they were a bit more tired during their flight tomorrow, then so be it.

It took them a while to reach the fallen tree. Along the way, Kumo explained how he was on his way back from the Lewa shrine at Le-Kini, where he was doing some repair work. One of the Gukko Force members, Vira, was there to protect him in case Rahi showed up. Suddenly, one of the trees they were bounding through collapsed when they landed on its branch, pinning Vira, and Kumo had run for help.

Interestingly enough, apparently the two of them had been out of the village when Lewa showed up, so Shu got the pleasure of informing him that the Toa were here.

Soon, they reached the tree. “Aye, old-wood and short-root,” Afa observed, looking at the tree. “Going to fall soon regardless. Not too big, easy to quick-lift.”

Together, the four of them lifted the trunk of the tree. Despite what Afa had boldly declared, the tree was big, and hard to move much at all. Still, they were able to move it enough that Kumo could pull his friend out from under it.

“Thank you!” Vira said. “Think we shall return to treetop village now.” The two Matoran began to hop through the trees. Vhisola and co began to follow, heading back to their camp.

They had made it about halfway back when they heard a growl, the unmistakable sound of a Muaka. Vhisola instinctively turned to look, and saw the beast far off through the trees, no threat to them. She was about to turn back to her path when she saw a figure falling through the air toward the beast, about to be crushed by its jaws. The figure was definitely not a Rahi.

“No!” she cried, bounding toward the scene. Immediately, she could tell she was going to be too late. She could see the figure grabbing at a vine, trying to stop their fall, but in seconds, they would hit…

And then something amazing happened. To Vhisola, it looked like the ground itself suddenly grabbed the Rahi, pulling it down. The beast tried to free itself, but something was pulling it down. The figure crashed into the ground next to its head and rolled away.

“What’s happening?” she heard one of the Le-Matoran call out. They must have noticed her sudden departure and followed.

Vhisola wasn’t sure herself. It seemed like the Muaka was fighting the very earth itself. She looked to the figure it had almost eaten, and gasped in recognition. It wasn’t a Matoran. It was Toa Lewa! The Toa was missing his mask; she caught the glint of light reflecting off of something metal nearby.

Then she heard a noise every Le-Matoran feared: the buzz of a Nui-Rama. She looked up and saw a group of the giant insects were swarming around over the struggling Muaka. Just as Vhisola noticed them, they noticed her, and the swarm flew in toward the Matoran.

Things suddenly looked very bad.

Author’s notes: those familiar with the 01 story know what’s going on here, so I won’t give it away. However, I will say this much: Lewa probably won’t die. At least, I highly doubt it.
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This won’t be good…

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Chapter 3

The problem with Rama was that they were quick, and they flew. When you fought them, it was inevitable that you would become surrounded.

As quick as the Rahi were, the Matoran had to be quicker, flinging a disk before the Rahi could move and knocking off the infected masks that controlled them. Vhisola also carried a bamboo spear, a tool that was often used by the Ga-Koro Guard, and used it to keep the Rahi at bay. Their stingers were powerful weapons. Vhisola hadn’t been stung by them before, but she had spoken to other Le-Matoran who had, including her friend Shu. It was not fun.

That said, their claws were just as dangerous. She heard a yelp as one of the Rama lifted Taiki into the air. Fortunately, a lucky disk throw hit the beast in the head, and though it didn’t knock the infected mask loose, it did cause it to drop its prey. Taiki fell to the ground, rolled, and jumped to his feet, ready to fight.

Another of the insects swooped in, catching Vhisola by surprise and knocking her off her feet. She felt its claws scrape against her back, luckily only hitting the armor.

She got back to her feet, flinging a disk. She watched the disk strike the corner of the infected mask, knocking it off. Freed from Makuta’s control, the Rahi fell.

“Look out!” Afa cried.

His warning came too late, as Vhisola felt claws grab her from behind, lifting her into the air. She struggled, trying to jab at the beast with her spear, but she couldn’t reach it. The beast rose into the air… and then suddenly stopped abruptly.

Vhisola heard gasps from the Matoran. She felt something jostle the Rahi, and it dropped her. She got to her feet, turned to look, and saw the Rahi behind her, its stinger held in the grip of a large, black-armored figure. The figure spun the Rahi around, then let go, flinging it through the air, where it slammed into the other Rama, sending the whole group crashing into the woods, stunned.

Vhisola stared up at the stranger, stunned. He was clad in black armor, much like an Onu-Matoran, but much bigger than a Matoran. He had two large sets of claws attached to his hands, and wore a mask of strength. It took her a moment to realize who he was, but then she gasped.

“Toa Onua!” she exclaimed.

The Toa of Earth nodded. “Are you okay?”

The Matoran all nodded. Vhisola realized he must have been the reason why the ground had been attacking that Muaka earlier; he was using his powers to attack it. Glancing past him, she saw the Muaka lying on the ground nearby, the infected mask gone from its face.

Then she remembered Lewa.

“Wait!” she said. “Where is the Toa of Air?”

Onua turned around, glancing back toward the spot where Lewa had fallen from the sky and nearly been eaten. There was no sign of the Toa of Air now.

“Where’d he go?” Afa asked. He looked to the others, but they all shrugged. They’d been focused on fighting the Rama; none of them had seen Lewa get up. Maybe he had gotten back to his mask, but if that was case, why hadn’t he come to help the Matoran? Surely he would have.

“I guess I have to find him,” Onua said. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

“We’ll help!” Afa shouted.

“We will?” Shu said.

“Sure!” Afa said. “We know Le-Wahi best. We can–”

“No,” Taiki said. “Leave the heroics to the Toa.” Shu’s face fell. He was always looking for an opportunity to be a hero. “We need to get back to camp.”

Onua nodded. “Do not worry, I will find my brother, no matter what he’s gotten himself into.” He turned and lumbered off into the woods, looking for Lewa’s trail.

Vhisola and the Matoran began their trek back to camp. “Hey, Afa,” Vhisola asked. “Is it bad for a Toa to be missing their mask?” She knew that a Matoran without a mask was weakened to the point of collapse, and would lapse into a coma within minutes, but she wasn’t sure if the same thing applied to Toa.

If anyone would know, it was Afa. He knew all about the legends of the Toa. “Toa-hero without a mask is half a Toa-hero,” he said. “Not as weak-drained as us, not as strong as true Toa-heroes, but won’t fall into deep-sleep.”

Vhisola nodded. That was about what she’d expected. So Lewa wasn’t in immediate danger. Well, he wasn’t in danger from losing his mask. With Makuta’s Rahi around, there was always danger.

By sheer force of habit, she looked up. Le-Matoran knew to watch the skies, keeping an eye out for Nui-Rama – or worse, Nui-Kopen. As she looked up, she spotted a group of Nui-Rama flying over the treetops. A big group, far bigger than the group they’d just fought.

They were heading south. They were heading toward the village.

“Rama headed for the village!” she shouted. The other Matoran looked up, seeing what she saw. It was the biggest group of Nui-Rama they’d ever seen. If it hit the village…

“We have to quick-run back to camp!” Afa cried. “Get Boreas and our Gukko, aid village!”

Man, I am not getting any rest this evening, Vhisola thought. But she couldn’t complain; this was her job. They’d gotten a break before the Toa arrived, but now the action was starting again. The Matoran took off, heading as fast as they could back to their camp.

They never made it. A powerful gust of wind, like a sudden tornado, sent them scattering through the trees. Vhisola fell to the forest floor and lay there a moment, stunned and confused. That wasn’t supposed to happen.

“What was that?” Taiki said. “An attack by Makuta?” Makuta could manipulate the island around them in some way, Vhisola knew that, but she’d never actually seen it happen herself.

“Not Makuta,” a voice said. “Me.” Vhisola didn’t recognize the voice, though she felt like she should.

“You won’t stop us!” she said, getting to her feet. “Come on.” She and Taiki hopped up onto a nearby tree branch, jumped to another, and another – and then someone landed on the branch in front of them, bringing them to a halt.

That was when Vhisola first saw the sight that would haunt her nightmares, the sight of the infected Lewa, Toa of Air and servant of Makuta.

Author’s notes: tying the events of the comics together with the events from FIOG(Face Island Online Game) was one of the main motivations for writing this story.
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This is the chapter that made me want to post this story

Chapter 4

Vhisola was hiding in the woods, crying.

She was hiding from the Rahi, and she was crying because she’d failed her first mission. She was supposed to protect a Ga-Koro messenger on a regular trip to Le-Koro. Instead, they’d been attacked by a pair of Muaka, and Vhisola had… she ran. She got scared, and she ran, and she didn’t even know where she was going, and now she was lost in the woods and crying and wasn’t sure if her charge was even alive and she couldn’t go back and face her fellow Matoran after what she’d done…

She wasn’t sure how long she’d been out there. Left to her own devices, she probably would have stayed out there until she died. But destiny had other ideas.

She heard a rustle in the trees, and glanced around, but saw nothing. That is, until a Le-Matoran dropped from the trees above, landing in front of her and scaring her, and she backed up against the trunk of a tree. The Le-Matoran held up his hands, palms out, as if to show he meant no harm.

“Woah, sorry!” Shu said. “Didn’t mean to fright-scare you. You okay?”

So many years had passed since that day. Shu had helped her overcome her fear of the Rahi, and she’d eventually joined the Gukko Force. She had learned of the messenger’s survival, and apologized for her cowardice, and her fellow Ga-Matoran forgave her. Now she wasn’t scared. She could face any Rahi down, not having to run and hide.

But facing a Toa who was working with Makuta? She was not ashamed to be hiding from that.

Shu crawled up onto the branch she was standing on, pressed against the trunk. “We can’t win this,” he said. “We need to seek-find Onua.”

Vhisola nodded. There was no way four Matoran could defeat a Toa. Maybe if they had the rest of the Gukko Force by their side, they could pull it off, but their best option was to have another Toa fight Lewa. Onua was the only one who was around that they knew of.

Well, Afa was going to get his wish of seek-finding a Toa today, even if it wasn’t the Toa he’d originally expected.

Vhisola wondered what was going on back at the village. Had the Nui-Rama attacked? Could the Gukko Force drive them off? It might not matter, if Lewa went after the village as well. With both Lewa and the Rama, Le-Koro didn’t stand a chance.

They had to find Onua, and they had to do it quickly.

“We have–” she choked. “We have to retreat!” she shouted. “Fall back!”

That gave away her position, and she felt a gust of wind blast by, but the trunk of the tree protected her from the brunt of it and she stayed where she was.

It didn’t take long for the other Matoran to appear, and they began to run, away from the village and away from Lewa. Vhisola glanced back, but Lewa didn’t seem to be following them. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

“What’s our plan?” Afa asked.

“Seek-find Onua,” Vhisola said. “Only…” she faltered.

“Only he can help-save us,” Shu finished.

“How do we do that?” Taiki asked.

“We go back to where we last saw him, and start from there,” Vhisola suggested.

It took them a few minutes to find the site where they’d fought the Rama. It was Taiki who finally spotted the large crater that Onua had created during his struggle with the Muaka.

“All right,” Afa said. “Divide and search. Taiki with me, Shu with Vhisola…” He paused for a moment, just long enough for Vhisola to remember that Boreas wasn’t with them. Was he still at camp? Had Lewa found him? They’d have to worry about it later. Afa turned and walked off, Taiki following him.

Vhisola and Shu went if off into the jungle, heading in the general direction they’d seen Onua plod off. As if by some unspoken agreement, Vhisola and Shu went by the ground, while Afa and Taiki took to the trees to search.

Once they were a good distance away from the others, Shu spoke. “All right. What’s wrong?”

“What do you mean?” Vhisola said, genuinely confused.

Shu paused for a moment before replying. Vhisola knew him well enough to know he was gathering his thoughts. “Something is troubling you. I can tell. Tell me what’s wrong.”

Vhisola stared at him in surprise. He wasn’t using Treespeak, he was speaking very slowly and deliberately. The last time he’d done that was during their very first conversation, when he’d found her in the woods. Midway through, he had realized his speech was confusing her, and he wanted to be understood, wanted to understand her.

“I…” she paused, unsure how to even put it into words. “The Toa, they… they’re supposed to defeat Makuta. They’re supposed to be these powerful, unstoppable heroes that can defeat Makuta, something no one else can do. And yet, and yet here – they – Makuta defeated one of them! Makuta defeated a Toa, put an infected mask on him, made him his own pawn. What if he can do that with the others? What if Onua has already fallen as well? What if… what if the Toa can’t defeat Makuta?”

It was a hard thing to admit. It was admitting that destiny was wrong, that all their hopes were wrong. It was admitting that their was no hope. Vhisola couldn’t even have imagined such a thing before, but now, seeing it with her own eyes…

Shu didn’t reply immediately, didn’t tell her she was being silly. He was quiet for several seconds before saying anything. “If a Rama attacked us right now, could we beat it?”

She thought it was an odd question. “Just one? Probably, yeah.”

“What if Rama had attacked you when you foot-walked here the first time? Could you have fought it then?”

Vhisola thought back to that day. It was the first time she had ever seen any of Makuta’s Rahi up close. It was her hard-luck to run into one of the biggest ones, but even if it had been a Rama… “I probably wouldn’t have been able to,” she admitted.

“You see?” Shu said. “You lost your first fight against Rahi. Now you win. No Rahi makes you run now. You lose, you learn, you win. What if Toa are the same?”

Vhisola thought about that for a moment. She imagined what would happen if Lewa was freed from Makuta’s control. Surely a Toa would learn from his mistakes. Whatever had caused him to lose his mask, he wouldn’t make that mistake again. Just like she wouldn’t, if she were in the Air Toa’s shoes.

“You’re right,” she said. “The Toa aren’t perfect, but they can learn. Just like us.”

“Indeed we can.”

Vhisola jumped at the sudden voice. From behind a tangle of brush, the Toa of Earth emerged, covered in twigs and sticks from his trek through the bramble. Vhisola immediately glanced at his mask. It was black, just like his armor, but not rusted and pitted. It wasn’t infected.

“It is good to hear such wisdom from the Matoran,” the Toa of Earth said. “Now tell me: where do I find my brother?”

Author’s notes: this moment wasn’t planned when I started this story, but it wound up being my favorite moment. Vhisola’s arc is what makes this story, in my opinion. There’s more to come, too.
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I’m not late, you’re late! I ordered pizza 45 minutes ago, and your site said 30 minutes or it’s free. But I don’t want your pizza anymore! It’s cold and hard, and I already drank all my soda waiting–

Er, I mean, uh…

Chapter 5

Vhisola stood in the center of Le-Koro, shocked.

The village was a mess. Damaged huts, stuff strewn about, clear signs of a Rahi attack, but that wasn’t what had her so scared. It was the lack of noise. Le-Koro was never, NEVER quiet. There was noise here day and night. The Le-Matoran were loud, it was their nature. But now, there were no Le-Matoran. Now the village was… empty.

It wasn’t the first time she had found nothing to see. After finding Onua, the Matoran had gone back to their camp, hoping to get to Boreas, but both their leader and their Gukko birds were gone. There had been no sign of Lewa on the way to the village, either. Vhisola had hoped that they would return to the village and find Boreas there, helping the rest of the Gukko Force fight off the Rama.

She wasn’t sure what to make of this. There were no bodies, no masks. The Matoran were just… gone.

“Come on,” Afa said. “Let’s look around.”

“Hey, you guys again!”

Vhisola blinked in surprised and looked up to see a familiar Le-Matoran hanging from a branch above. It was Vira, the Matoran they’d saved only an hour or two earlier.

“Vira!” Afa shouted. “What happened? Where the other Matoran?”

Vira dropped nimbly to the floor of the village. “Rama came, took Matoran, only few of us escape. Takua come, offer to help us. Rama come back, we prepare for battleflight. Kongu and others on their way to the hive!”

“Boreas?” Shu asked.

“He was here, left with the others,” Afa said. Vhisola felt herself relax a little. At least Boreas had made it back.

“What about Toa Lewa?” Taiki asked.

Vira shrugged. “Haven’t seen him.” So he didn’t know about what had happened to Lewa.

Onua nodded. “He must be at the hive, then. Stay here. I will go help my brother.”

“Wait!” Afa said. “You can’t do all alone. Le-Koronans need help. You rescue Lewa, we rescue our fellow Matoran.”

Onua considered for a moment. “All right. I think I know how to get us close…”

The Rama hive was a massive structure, made of dirt and twigs, the home of the insects. It was constantly surrounded by the bugs, and most of them, if not all, were under Makuta’s influence.

Fortunately, it did have one weakness: the Nui-Rama covered the land and the sky, but they couldn’t stop an approach from underground. And Onua, Toa of Earth, was a master tunneler. Vhisola watched him work in awe, his claws digging through the earth as easy as a Ruki fish might cut through the water.
It was so easy, she realized, to slip into old habits, to view the Toa as all-powerful, infallible heroes. But she knew now that wasn’t the case. Even if Onua managed to free Lewa, she’d never be able to forget. It wasn’t scary, though; in fact, it was strangely comforting, knowing that the Toa weren’t perfect. They made mistakes, and they learned from them. Just like us.

Onua paused, listening to the ground. Vhisola wasn’t sure how he did that. Somehow, he could put his ear to the ground and know what was going on at the surface, feel the noise through the earth.

“I think we’re underneath the hive,” he said. “Get ready. When I burst through, I’m going after Lewa. You go help your friends.”

The Matoran nodded enthusiastically. This was it, the ride-or-die moment that everything came down to.

Onua unleashed his power, and the cieling of the tunnel rumbled, shook, and then exploded, rock and dirt raining around them. Onua was the first to hop through the hole, landing in the midst of the Nui-Rama hive. Vhisola jumped up to get a closer look through the dust, and spotted him, mask-to-mask with the infected Lewa.

Behind Lewa, a Nui-Kopen hovered in the air. The large insect held a silver Mask of levitation in its claws. Lewa’s mask. So there it was.

Lewa had already sprang in to attack Onua, and the fight was on, a massive clash between the two Toa. Onua had apparently found quite a few masks, and was using them to his advantage against the Toa of Air. Vhisola saw him switch to the mask of Shielding to block one of Lewa’s attacks.

Right, she couldn’t just stand there watching the fight. She had a job to do.

Author’s notes: I’ll admit, a part of this was “fixing” MNOG. There are a bunch of Matoran in the hive, but then only a handful are shown leaving at the end, so I decided to address where all the others went.
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It ends tonight.
The story, I mean. The world doesn’t end until next week.

Chapter 6

The hive was full of Rama swarming through the air. On the floor, there were Matoran, all the Matoran taken from Le-Koro. Makuta’s Rahi had put them to work, digging at the floor of the hive. It was pointless work, something the Rahi could have done themselves. So Makuta intended to break their spirits.

Well, it hadn’t worked. The Matoran cheered when they saw Onua emerge, and again at the sight of Vhisola and her companions. Vhisola spotted Kongu with a wounded Kahu, showing how he’d gotten here. Strangely, she also saw two Matoran who weren’t Le-Matoran. One of them was an Onu-Koronan, who she didn’t recognize. The other she knew all too well, unmistakeable in his unique mix of colors: Takua.

She could guess what had happened. Takua must have heard about the trouble in Le-Koro, and thought he could be a hero again, just like he was at Ga-Koro. Instead, he’d just gotten himself captured. Maybe that would teach him not to go running after adventures better left to the Toa. Right, and maybe Makuta would decide to forget his evil plans and throw a Naming Day party for the Matoran; that seemed more likely than Takua giving up adventuring, somehow.

“Into the tunnel, quickly!” Afa shouted. He and the others began to take up positions to defend the Matoran from the Rama as they made their way to the tunnel Onua had made.

“My Kahu won’t go in dark-tunnel!” Kongu shouted.

Vhisola ran to the beast. She could see that it’s wing was hurt, and it would have a hard time flying. If only the Toa of Water was here, she would know what to do…

The Toa are just like us.

There was another lesson to be learned from all this. The Matoran couldn’t just look to the Toa to solve all their problems. They had gotten along just fine for years before the Toa came. Maybe only the Toa could defeat Makuta, but it didn’t take a Toa to patch up an injured bird. Vhisola had done it before.

She focused, drowning out the sounds of the fight, of the two Toa clashing. She whispered softly to the bird, taking its wing in her hands and feeling it, feeling where it was wrong. And then, gently, she pushed.

The Rahi screeched in pain for a second as the wing bones were pushed back into place. Then it flapped its wing, tentatively at first, then more boldly. Vhisola could still see the pain in its eyes, but it would be able to fly. Not as good as the Toa of Water could’ve done, maybe, but good enough.

Kongu nodded to her, then hopped onto the bird. Another Matoran hopped on behind him, and began pulling disks out of a satchel. Makuta had failed: the Matoran had just as much fight in them as before.

Vhisola turned back to see Onua being flung into the ground by the Toa of Air. They weren’t out of the danger yet. Lewa was winning his fight with Onua, and if Onua lost, then all this was for nothing. She watched Onua get back to his feet. He’d been slammed into the ground hard enough to knock a Matoran unconscious, but he was still standing. Vhisola wondered if all the Toa were that tough, or if it was just him.

Then he switched masks once more, to the mask of telekinesis. Rocks began to float around him, then sped through the air toward the Toa of Air. The Toa slashed them apart with his axe with ease, laughing.

That is, until he saw an electric bug heading for him, and paused for a second. The electric bugs were working with Makuta, shocking the Matoran to make them work, and Lewa apparently considered it an ally. That hesitation cost him, as he didn’t realize that the bug was being driven forward by Onua’s mask. The bug smacked against Lewa’s head, knocking the infected mask off. The Matoran cheered.

“His mask! Get his mask!” Kongu called out.

Onua turned his focus to the Nui-Kopen, telekinetically pulling the regular mask of levitation out of its claws, letting it float down in front of Lewa, who grabbed it and put it on. Then he jumped into the air, facing the Nui-Kopen, and switched to another of his own masks, the mask of Mind Control. Now the Nui-Kopen was his.

“Let’s go!” the Air Toa called.

Kongu hopped onto his Kahu. “Taipu, Takua, with me!” he cried, and Takua hopped on, along with the Onu-Matoran. Onua hopped on as well. Meanwhile, Lewa’s Nui-Kopen flew down, picking up a pair of Matoran and Turaga Matau.

Kongu turned to Vhisola, but she shook her head. The bird couldn’t carry them all, and she would rather be with her friends. She ran, making her way back to the tunnel. As she jumped in, the dirt shifted and collapsed, blocking the hole. Onua was covering their escape.

In the dark of the tunnel, the Matoran ran.

It didn’t take long after that. Lewa’s new pet took a few of the Matoran, and Kongu’s Kahu took a few more. The others escaped into the tunnel, led by Boreas and the other members of the Gukko Force. In less than an hour, they were all back home.

Le-Koro was once again noisy, as a party was being thrown in celebration. The Onu-Matoran Taipu had stayed, though Takua had already left, no doubt seeking his next adventure. Taipu brought with him great news: the Le-Koro highway, the tunnel from Le-Koro to Onu-Koro, was finally complete. This would make travel between the villages far easier.

As for Vhisola and her friends, they had had their fill of adventure for now. They were joining in the celebration. Vhisola was tending to Kongu’s Kahu, helping it recover from its injuries. It was still in pain, but it would fade.

Tomorrow, they would go back to work. Their were still plenty of infected Rama out there, and they could strike again at any time.

But if they did, now Lewa would be here to protect them. And when he wasn’t around, the Matoran would protect themselves. No doubt they would have to do exactly that while the Toa went to face Makuta.

The future of Le-Koro – of the entire island – was looking brighter than ever.

Finis

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Bravo, Willess! This was very nostalgic, and it was nice to spend time with Vhisola after the Metru Nui arc

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Would you please stop leaking my schedule

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