Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle or most of the events in this story, which take place in the books, only Kit.
Another morning dawned on the city of Metru Nui. There was still much to be repaired and rebuilt in the City of Legends, which had been abandoned for thousands of years, but, thanks to the efforts of the Matoran, much had already been accomplished in the past few days at making their home functional again. About half of the vast chute system that covered the city was operational, the Great Temple was almost finished being rebuilt, and everything else was going as smoothly as possible. Soon, everything would be ready to re-teach all of the Matoran the technology they used to know like the backs of their own hands.
However, in spite of all this, Turaga Dume's heart was heavy. As he gazed out in the distance, he recalled events that had happened over the past few weeks: sending the Toa Nuva to a dangerous island where a Kanohi Mask of Life could be located, which was needed to save the life of the Great Spirit; not hearing from them and fearing they must've perished; Jaller demanding to know what was going on; Nokama telling him, even though the Turaga agreed the Matoran were not to be told of the impending doom that was sure to occur with the Great Spirit's death; and Jaller, a few other Matoran, and the Toa of Light gone missing, no doubt to try to find the Toa Nuva. Though the Turaga assured him surely now that their human friend, Kit, their realm's Protector, was back, things would turn out fine after all, he was still skeptical of what she could possibly do to avert the coming apocalypse. When he met her, she seemed so . . . simple.
On top of that, thinking of Nokama's actions made him burn up a little. Despite their decision, she had to go and tell Jaller everything. Although, according to what Vakama and the others told him, this wasn't the first time Nokama shared information that the other Turaga believed was best kept secret. She once, begrudgingly, trapped Toa Gali in an underwater cave where she found an ancient carving of herself and the Toa Metru and Kit, something that the other Turaga had wished to stay hidden. Both times, Nokama claimed that both the Toa and the Matoran had earned the right to know the truth.
Dume, personally, couldn't understand it. Whereas he usually stayed in the Coliseum, away from the casual sights of Matoran, he noticed that the other Turaga seemed to have a paternal relationship with the denizens of the city. Along with that, he had been the sole ruler of the city for centuries. The fact that he now had to share that rule with six other Turaga was a little . . . uncomfortable, to say the least.
"Oof!" Hewkii grunted as he hit bottom.
The remainder of the Toa Inika and Kit soon followed. "Now I know why humans call the first step a woozie," Nuparu commented.
"I believe you mean 'doozie', Nuparu," Kit corrected.
Jaller, meanwhile, sat up a little and shook his head to clear it. When he looked up at the others, he noticed someone was missing. "Where's Kongu?" he asked. Feeling something tap his shoulder, the Fire Toa looked behind to find his comrade right underneath him.
"Could you please get off of me, Jaller?" the Toa of Air asked in a slightly squished voice.
Jaller was on his feet in an instant and apologized as he gave Kongu a hand up. "Everybody ok?" he asked, turning back to the rest of the group.
"Fine, considering," Matoro answered as he dusted himself off.
Jaller then began to lead the way down the tunnel ahead with the others in tow—except for Kit, that is. Standing in the hole she landed in, she looked up, hand to her brow. Up above, a near pin-prick speck of sunlight shone through, marking the surface from which they descended. Hewkii noticed the girl wasn't following, and walked back to see what was going on. He followed her gaze, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary.
"What are you looking for?" he asked.
"My stomach," the girl replied, "I think I left it up there."
"Ah, get outta there," the Stone Toa said as he picked her up by the hood of her shirt; he knew she was joking.
Kit giggled as he lifted her and set her back on the ground and they left to catch up to the others, never even suspecting that several pairs of hateful, murderous eyes were watching them.
After several minutes, the group was still walking in the nearly complete darkness of the tunnel. Jaller used his fire to light the way. The silence of the trek was broken by an almost audible growl, causing Kit to stop, startled. Nuparu noticed, "What's the matter?"
"Didn't you guys hear a growl?" the girl asked in a bit of an apprehensive tone.
Suddenly, Matoro caught a strange glint of light at the corner of his eye. "Hahli, look out!" he shouted, but it was too late. Hahli just managed to turn her body slightly when something clipped her in the side. She cried out in pain and fell; Jaller just barely caught her. Many shrieks filled the tunnel, and the Toa Inika and their human companion turned in the direction from which they were coming.
Before them was a squadron of humanoid reptilian creatures, all armed with wicked-looking daggers and spears. "What the heck are those things?" asked Kit.
"Zyglak," Hewkii answered.
Launched spears flew through the air, which Kit and the others were almost not successful in dodging. After summoning her new Inika armor suit, Kit fired a couple of energy balls. Both balls blew away a few of the advancing monsters, leaving the others surprised at the little one's power. "Just once—just once!—I'd like to take a trip-walk without someone trying to kill me!" Kongu shouted after narrowly avoiding a thrown dagger.
"I know what you mean, Kongu," Kit shouted back, almost not seeing the spear lunging down at her in time. Instinctively, she caught the weapon with her wrist-claws, but the Zyglak still fought to bear it down. Grimace changing into a sneer, Kit simply spread out her arms and the spear fell to the ground in pieces, courtesy of her claws. Taking advantage of the creature's surprise, Kit launched a kick, with her boot-claws extracted. The Zyglak cried out as the blades grazed the armor on its side. Angry and slightly bleeding, it attacked, only to have its knee knocked out from under it. Kit used its bent leg as a stool, jumped toward its backside, and, making sure the claws were retracted, spin-kicked it into the opposite wall. The Zyglak sank to the floor, out cold.
Kit wasn't given a chance to enjoy her victory though; she moved to avoid a spear, only to find a wall right behind her. Before she could rejoin the Toa, a dagger came at her and, not having the time to summon a shield, she shifted her head to the side. The blade sliced off a few threads of hair and she found herself facing a Zyglak up close. The creature sniffed and peered at the girl with a look that was starting to become all too familiar. 'Honestly, I'm starting to get really tired of this with the bad guys,' Kit said to herself. 'First the Morbuzakh, then the Piraka, now these Zy-whatchamacallums. What's next? Humanoid sea monsters?'
The Zyglak, meanwhile, admired the young human with evil curiosity. Not only was she powerful, but she was also a very skilled fighter; attributes it believed could be useful to it and its brethren. However, there was a problem: by fighting alongside the Toa, this being had proven that she was, somehow, associated with the Great Spirit—and the Zyglak hated anyone and anything that had that kind of connection with a vengeance. Therefore, that left only one alternative for the small one—death. The Zyglak grabbed hold of its spear, intending to skewer the girl, but it never got the chance. Before it knew what happened, it was blasted into the wall with a powered-up sucker punch, thanks to Kit.
Seeing Hahli having trouble, she went to go help the Water Toa. Kit frowned at her friend's wound, which was worse than she first thought, slipped an arm across her shoulders, and tried to support her as best as she could, considering Hahli was now a good two to three feet taller than her. "I hear water up ahead!" the Toa called to the others, and Kit helped her hobble down the passage with the other Toa Inika behind them. The group stopped in its tracks, however, when it rounded a bend.
Before them lay ocean water that flooded the rest of the tunnel. "Anybody have a Toa canister in their pack?" Hewkii asked. "I didn't think so. We might have stronger lungs than most, but that's a lot of water out there."
"And, that's a lot of Zyglak back there," Nuparu pointed out after another hail of spears sounded behind them. "Looks like the last one in the pool is skewered meat."
Suddenly, a tremor shook the tunnel so bad cracks formed; small pieces of stone fell all around, and the Zyglak halted their attack for the moment. Jaller urged the team to dive in the water, but Hewkii pointed out that, even with his swimming lessons with Macku, he was still not a powerful swimmer. When the tunnel's shaking grew worse, causing the Zyglak to retreat in fear, Kit asked, "Got any better ideas?" When none came, Jaller took a deep breath, dove into the water, and the others followed, even though some were a little reluctant about it.
Everyone followed Jaller's lit sword and, within minutes, they found themselves out in the open ocean. However, the light from Jaller's tool also revealed the source of the tremors—a giant creature that resembled either a giant eel or a sea serpent. Like a boa constrictor, it had wrapped itself around the stone cord that led back up to Voya Nui and was squeezing it with all of its might. Kit tried to gesture for the Toa of Fire to turn off his weapon, but it was too late—the monster had already spotted the light from his sword and was heading toward them.
The group had just prepared for battle, despite the fact that chances were they'd run out of air before long, when a sudden flash of white occurred. It seared their eyes, even as they were closed, and tore at their minds and bodies. The pain and shock of it all was so great, the Toa Inika and Kit couldn't help but scream. While this was happening, they all heard something they could only describe as a voice in their minds—the voice of the Mask of Life. It was calling for help. Jaller wondered to himself why the mask would ask for their help, yet attack them as well. Then, it was over, and the Toa and their human ally just floated idly in the eddies of the ocean, all as still as death itself. Therefore, whatever predator was nearby simply ignored them.
How much time had passed? Minutes? Hours? Days? He didn't know at the moment. Vision clearing and body aching, he groaned as he regained consciousness. "What happened?" said Matoro, realizing a moment later what he had done. "This is impossible," he said to himself. "I can breathe." That's when he noticed five others around him. Though their appearances, along with his, had changed, he recognized his friends. "Everyone, wake up," he said as he gently shook Hahli's shoulder.
The remaining Toa stirred awake and were just as or more surprised than Matoro to discover that they were breathing underwater. Almost immediately, Nuparu noticed one of their number was missing. "Where's Kit?"
The sound of bubbles being released caught Hahli's ear and she glanced up. Sure enough, there was the unconscious form of Kit, floating toward the surface. Without being told to do so, the Water Toa retrieved the girl, and at a speed so fast, she even surprised herself. It was then the source of Kit's rapid ascent was discovered—a tank of some kind was strapped to her back. "Kit, are you alright?" asked Hahli as she gently shook her.
To the Toa's relief, Kit stirred, "What happened?"
"That's what we'd like to know," Jaller replied.
"Um, Kongu," Hewkii said as he took a look around himself, "We're underwater, right?" When the Toa of Air replied an affirmative, the Stone Toa commented, "But, we're breathing . . . and talking . . . and I haven't sunk to the bottom yet."
"Not to mention you guys have got new masks and I've got a new suit," Kit added as she tried to admire her new armor suit.
It, too, was similar to the ones she had before except the claw apparatus' on her arms were gone. A helmet covered her head, where she could hear the soft sound of air pumping in and out. Feeling something else on her back, she reached behind her and found a pair of blue mechanical fins, much like the ones Hahli now had, and attached to her green boots, with matching thigh guards, were toe-like extensions with webbing in between, giving them a fin-like appearance. Considering it couldn't be seen anywhere else, Kit guessed the helmet was white. Curious, she mentally commanded the fin extensions on her boots to respond. To her and the Toa's amazement, the extensions folded the webbing into itself, making the boots actually look like boots. After glancing at her friends, she looked back down at her feet, mentally reflexed, and the extensions and webbing returned.
Her admiration was cut off, however, when she heard a sound behind her. It was the giant eel, which had regained consciousness and was heading right for them. After being told to by Jaller, Kongu tried to use his mask power to read the monster's mind. The next thing everyone knew, and to the Air Toa's surprise, hundreds of regular-sized eels came out of their hiding places. The sea Rahi charged as one toward the larger creature, only to be swallowed in the span of one gulp. Next Matoro tried his luck, only to discover that his mask had switched powers, too—and the raw power of electricity was missing from his elemental power.
Kit, meanwhile, watched on in worry as her friends tried to fend off the monster; if the Toa Inika didn't figure out what their new mask powers were, and fast, they were all going to wind up as fish food. Apparently ticked off now, the giant eel plowed through the group, scattering them. Kit just managed to regain her bearings when she spotted it moving in on Hahli and Nuparu, who got caught in its wake. "Oh, no you don't," she proclaimed, releasing a spirit burst at its head. The attack met its mark, stunning the eel for a moment. When it saw the smaller one was responsible, it changed direction, intending to swallow the girl whole. However, it soon noticed that it was getting harder and harder to swim and it felt heavier than normal. Finally, it became so heavy it sunk quickly to bottom of the sea, where the impact was great enough to render it unconscious.
Confused, Kit turned her attention to the approach of Hewkii, who was talking to Hahli, and smiled as she placed her hands on her hips. Though she couldn't hear him, his gesturing to his mask gave him away. "Hey, where'd Nuparu vanish-disappear to?" asked Kongu as he looked around. Hearing Matoro, they looked where he was pointing—Nuparu trying unsuccessfully to put some distance between him and what they guessed was the underwater city they heard about.
"That answer your question?" Kit asked, and she and the Toa of Air swam to join the others.
Although, unintentionally, Kit found herself shooting forward faster than she'd ever moved. The girl zoomed all over the place, not too much unlike her first flight with the rocket pack of her lost Metru armor suit, to the surprise of the resident Matoran. Jaller, meanwhile, took advantage of the confusion and fired flames at the launcher the Matoran were using. While Nuparu and Kit, who'd just managed to get her fins under control, rejoined their friends, Jaller noticed that the Matoran were getting another launcher ready.
"Hold it!" he called. "We're not here to fight you!"
"Got a funny way of showing it," said a Po-Matoran who gestured at the ruined launcher that was now nothing more than a pile of molten metal. "We know what you Pit types are like—bunch of liars and murderers. Well, you're not getting into Mahri Nui!"
Kit moved to the front of the group, beside Jaller. "Look pal, the only reason why he fried your little toy is because you weren't backing off long enough to give Nuparu a chance to tell you he was not a threat!"
The expressions on all of the Matorans masks changed into ones of confusion and wonder; a few even cautiously came closer to the edge of the bubble that housed their village to try to get a closer look.
"What's with them all of a sudden?" asked Nuparu.
"Well, weren't you the same way when you first met a human?" Hewkii retorted.
Matoro, however, shook his head and had his hand to his chin, "I think there's more to it than that."
The Po-Matoran, after carefully noting Kit's new armor suit, found his voice again and asked the girl, "You're an air-breather, aren't you?"
"Yes," she replied a little suspiciously.
"Then, why are you out there with them?"
"Because they're my friends, plus we're on a mission."
Hahli, then, decided to speak up, "We were told that there was a Matoran village down here that needed saving, and--"
"We can save ourselves," the Matoran cut her off.
"Uh huh, sure you can," Kit responded in a sarcastic tone.
The Po-Matoran gave her a momentary glare before continuing where he left off, "Next thing, you'll be telling me you're not from the Pit—that you're Toa, or some black water like that."
"Not this again," Kit groaned as she placed a hand to her forehead, remembering the recent events on Voya Nui.
"We are Toa," Nuparu said.
"Then where were you?" asked the Matoran, the pain and anger clearly evident in his voice. Kit admitted to herself that, for a minute back there, she was expecting to see tears streaming down his eyes. "Where were you when Mahri Nui sank? Where have you been all this time, when Barraki were picking us off one by one for the fun of it?"
If it weren't for the arrival of a Le-Matoran who appeared to be the leader, Kit would've bolted toward the Po-Matoran and 'had a few more words with him'. After the Matoran was led away by two others, the Le-Matoran turned to the group out in the water. "My name is Defilak. I am the leader of Mahri Nui's council for this span-time. What do you want here?"
Matoro moved to come closer, but was stopped by Kit, who gestured that she should go forward. Understanding the girl's reasoning—that the Matoran might feel a little more comfortable in the presence of one who didn't seem threatening—the Toa of Ice nodded and she approached Defilak. "I'm Kit," she introduced herself. "Those are Jaller, Hahli, Hewkii, Kongu, Matoro, and Nuparu. We're looking for a mask we lost and have reason to believe is in the vicinity."
"You're the second being to question-ask me about a mask in the last sun-day," Defilak responded, frowning. "The first followed up his question by slay-killing one of my friends, just to show-demonstrate that he could do it."
Kit's expression became sympathetic, "I'm sorry." Defilak then consented to let one of the group in the village and gave the rest a mission—protect the village and free a location known as the fields of air from dangerous Rahi. "Matoro," Kit called, "I think this is your department." The Ice Toa nodded in agreement, and he and the girl switched places. Moments later, Kit heard a gagging sound. She turned and found Matoro looking and sounding like he couldn't breathe. Defilak, thankfully, managed to push the Toa back out of the bubble and, after a few minutes, Matoro was back to normal.
Though she was still a fair distance away, Kit could just barely hear Defilak say, "You're a creature of the ocean-sea, Matoro. You should have realized-known you can't breathe air." Kit found herself as shocked as Matoro. She was about to move back toward the bubble, to offer to take his place, but the Ice Toa politely waved her off, indicating that he'd be fine.
With a reluctant nod, the girl left with the other Toa and told them what happened. As she swam, Kit observed the varied degrees of distress on her friends' masks and wondered to herself, 'If the Toa can no longer breathe air, how can they ever return to Metru Nui? Did the Mask of Life condemn them to a life under the sea? And, why was I spared the transformation?'
