Onu-Koro, ~9 months before Mata Nui's reawakening
Nuparu's head jerked up as he woke to the sound of his hammer falling off of his worktable. He stared blearily at the half-constructed mining tool he had been working on in front of him, trying to force through the sleepy haze in his mind. What made the hammer fall...?
A loud boom sounded around him, shaking more items on his table. Right, he thought, standing as he became fully awake. The world is falling apart.
Nuparu ran out of his hut to find droves of Onu-Matoran running past his residence. He grabbed one by the arm as he came by. "What's happening?" he asked. "What's causing all the noise and shakes?"
"Rahkshi!" the Matoran answered, pointing down the tunnel he must have just come out of. "In the cavern!"
Nuparu released the Matoran, who resumed his quick pace to get to anywhere-but-here. Nuparu ran against the tide, some part of him needing to see what was really happening with the Rahkshi. Were they harassing defenseless Matoran? Was Onua here? Was Onua okay?
He stepped into the light of the massive room and took in the sight before him. He had not seen such destruction since the bohrok days. The earthen floor lay torn open; Onua's handiwork, he was sure. Nuparu spotted Onua himself, prone on the floor...
That wasn't normal...
Nuparu ran to the fallen Toa of earth. "Onua!" he called. The hero weakly rolled onto his side, trying to raise himself on his hands. "What happened?"
"Those..." Onua said, weakness showing in his voice as well as his body. "Those blasted beasts got in. The black one... stole my strength..."
"Is there anything I can do for you?" Nuparu asked worriedly.
"Not to worry," he said, placing his hands firmly on the ground. Lines of blueish energy seeped up from the earth and into Onua's fingers. He already seemed stronger.
Nuparu scanned the area further and spotted the black Rahkshi, facing down Toa Pohatu, who stood at a good distance. He must have seen what the thing did to Onua and knew to stay well away. Further inspection showed that Toa Tahu was here, facing down the white Rahkshi, while the red one wandered the village unopposed, searching for... something.
"Anything I can do to help against them?" Nuparu asked, kneeling beside Onua, who had risen to his knees.
Onua chuckled. "The brave spirits of Matoran never cease to amaze me," he said. "Do not worry about these creatures, Nuparu. All of the Toa Nuva will be gathered soon, and surely we can deal with three measly Rahkshi." He ran off, then, fully regenerated now, to join Pohatu and the others.
Nuparu sighed, both in frustration and relief, and started running back the way he came, toward relative safety. As he was about to head into the connecting tunnel, he looked back once more, just in time to see Onua release a burst of elemental energy into the cave ceiling. The whole room shook, and earth rained from above. Nuparu's eyes flicked down, then, towards the huts below. The Rahkshi were there. They would be crushed! A brilliant move on Onua's part, this was.
But... there was something else in the cave.
There were still Matoran in there.
Nuparu resisted the urge to run back in immediately, knowing that if they were caught by the falling earth, he would be as well. There was nothing he could do for them...
Oh, who was he kidding. That was quitter's talk! And if anyone knew Nuparu wasn't a quitter, it was Nuparu.
He kept running through the tunnel and beyond, straight towards Turaga Whenua's hut, and pounded on the door.
A moment later, the door swung inward, revealing a purple-masked villager wielding a handheld drill. "Back, creature!" he shouted.
"Calm down, Onepu," Nuparu said, stepping in and brushing Onepu's drill aside. "There are worse creatures than me afoot." He spotted Whenua on the opposite side of the hut, looking somewhat relieved.
"Such chaos," Whenua muttered. "And there is naught that we can do..."
"That's what I came to talk to you about, Turaga," Nuparu said. "I—"
"Nuparu," Whenua said, looking to him with sternness in his deep green eyes. "It is too dangerous for us to face the Rahkshi. We must let the Toa do their duty and face them."
"It's not about that," Nuparu said. "Onua collapsed the ceiling of the cavern to trap the Rahkshi, and it worked. What I fear, though, is that Matoran were still in there and may have gotten pinned as well. We need to get in there and help them."
"That's crazy!" Onepu interjected. "What could we possibly do? Those rocks must be enormous! We can get the Toa to help once they're ready."
"We can't wait that long!" Nuparu said forcefully, slamming a fist into the hut's wall. "If someone is trapped in there, they might not have much time, if any. Turaga, we need to mobilize the boxors, and check for any trapped Matoran." Onepu seemed to see the wisdom in this, and relaxed.
Whenua stood silently in thought for a moment, then nodded. "Take who you will, and do what you can. But... do be careful. I fear what the Rahkshi are capable of, and what they may do to you or our Toa..."
Nuparu nodded hesitantly. "Onepu, will you come with me?"
"Me?" Onepu asked incredulously. "Surely there's someone else more qualified."
"You were there when I made the first one," Nuparu said, extending a fist as he had seen the Toa do so often. "Will you ride with me for what might be the time they fall apart?"
Onepu's shoulders slumped in resignation, but he smiled. "Might as well," he said, solidly bumping Nuparu's fist. "If I'm going to defend my home and people, might as well be in a big robot... thing."
"That's the spirit!" Nuparu said. "Let's go!" The pair of them exited the hut, moving toward the equipment storage area. They came upon the heavy metal door that marked the entrance, finding it already partially opened. They looked at each other in confusion, then moved in cautiously. A figure was inside, already trying to find his way into one of the boxor.
"Taipu!" Nuparu said, admiring the other Onu-Matoran's initiative. "Just the Matoran I wanted to see."
"Nuparu!" Taipu said. "I... I think I put my head where my hand is supposed to go, and now I'm stuck."
Nuparu inspected the situation, and found that Taipu's mask was indeed firmly lodged between one of the control handles and the plating. He pried him out, saying, "No time for games, Taipu. We've got Matoran to save!"
"Right, yes," Taipu said, correctly orienting himself in the boxor as the others did the same in their own. Nuparu maneuvered his in front of the others, leading the way out and shoving the door open further effortlessly. The trio stomped out, avoiding fleeing Matoran and heading for the cavern one more time.
The three Matoran broke into the room at a run, or at least what passed as a run when you were piloting a boxor. Nuparu saw battle out of the corner of his eye. Further inspection revealed that Toa Tahu was firing bursts of fire at Toa Gali! What would cause him to do that?! Then he remembered what Whenua had said about what the Rahkshi might do to the Toa... The white Rahkshi can cause anger, he recalled. Perhaps that was the answer.
But there was no time to worry about the Toa. "Start digging through the fallen earth!" he called to his companions. "Look for anyone pinned underneath!" The three split up, using the powerful claws of the boxor to dig easily.
Nuparu suddenly heard a gasp to his left. He turned and saw a small figure poking out from a pile of rubble. I knew it! he thought, though the realization held no true joy. He was glad he had mobilized a response to this, but wished he hadn't needed to.
"Don't worry," he said reassuringly. "I'll get you out of there." He carefully manipulated the boxor's claws to lift the biggest chunks of earth away. In moments, the Matoran was only covered in small bits of earth.
"I..." he said. "Thank you." He stood shakily before running towards the exit. Nuparu looked and saw that his friends were doing the same for several other Matoran around the cave.
"Be careful," he said. "The three rahkshi are under here somewhere. Try not to unearth—"
A scream from Taipu cut him off. He turned and saw Taipu stepping back from where he had lifted a large chunk of stone. The rubble in front of him stirred and Nuparu could hear a vicious hissing sound as something stood.
"Rahkshi!" he called. "Watch out!" He turned to fully face the white-armored creature. It pointed its staff at him and released a blast of power. He tried to move to his left to get out of the way of the blast, but the machine wasn't designed to move quickly that way. Then something crashed into his boxor from the side, knocking him out of the way and onto the ground.
Nuparu righted his boxor, examining his savior. "Thanks, Onepu," he said.
"Don't mention it," his friend said. "Though, you could stand to make the sideways movement on these things a little faster. You know, so I don't have to save you in the future."
"Already noted," Nuparu said. "Now, let's see what we can do about these Rahshi."
"What?!" Onepu said, barely dodging a blast of power from the red Rahkshi. "You want to fight them?!"
"For as long as we can," Nuparu said, moving behind a large piece of fallen stone for cover.
"I thought you were crazy to come in here to save Matoran," Onepu said as he joined Nuparu, "but actually trying to fight the things off? Why not just run away?"
"Because of that," Nuparu said, gesturing towards the Toa in the distance. Tahu was still firing intense waves of fire at Gali, and he could see the other Toa closing in on the conflict. Nuparu thought he could feel the heat from where he stood.
"Why would he do that?" Onepu said.
"I think the Rahkshi got to one of them. Can't tell who from this distance, but something out of the ordinary is happening here. The Toa will be distracted taking care of whoever is acting strangely, while the Rahkshi will be free to roam."
"Unless we do something about it," Onepu said. "I see. You're right, once again. Infuriating, that is."
"Sorry," Nuparu said with a wry grin. "Somebody around here has to keep you humble."
A scream came from nearby. The two Matoran peaked from behind their rock to find Taipu in his boxor, pinned beneath the might of the black Rahkshi. He screamed in terror as the thing attempted to rip strength from him. All held their breath, expecting Taipu to go limp as Onua had, if not something worse.
Taipu's scream turned to laughter. Nothing was happening! It seemd the thing was trying to pull energy from the boxor, but that clearly wasn't working. Perhaps it can only pull from organic beings? Nuparu thought.
Taipu pulled a mechanical arm back and jabbed it into the Rahkshi's stomach, sending it flying backward, the slimy creature in its head giving a savage hiss.
Nuparu and Onepu cheered Taipu's brilliant offensive, then Nuparu noticed the other two Rahkshi closing in on him. "We have to go help!" he said, climbing around the rock, Onepu close behind. Nuparu picked up a decently sized piece of stone from the ground and hurled it at the Rahkshi, striking the red one in the head. It turned to look at him, hate in its burning red eyes.
"Right," he said, trying to come up with a plan. "Split up!" Onepu followed the order, running to his left. That left Taipu, still on his back, to his right. He ran to his fallen friend while Onepu tried to keep the Rahkshi busy with more thrown rocks.
Taipu screamed again as he saw Nuparu approach. "Oh, Nuparu, it's just you," he said, relaxing a bit. "Mind helping me up? Darned thing won't work with me…"
"No problem," Nuparu said, grasping the shoulders of Taipu's boxor and lifting it up. "Now, we're going to fight these things off for as long as we can. The Toa are a little busy, and I don't want these things running free in Onu-Koro."
"Of course," Taipu said. "We can handle them."
"By Mata Nui, I hope so," Nuparu muttered. He saw that the black Rahkshi had returned, looking as strong as ever, and stood with its comrades. "Keep spread out," he called, moving away from Taipu. "We just need to keep them distracted for a bit!"
The three Matoran gave it their all; they hurled boulders, delivered powerful blows when a Rahkshi got too close, and kept the Rahkshi from moving into other parts of Onu-Koro.
A cry to Nuparu's left. The black Rahkshi had gotten close to Onepu and, instead of using its power drain ability, had simply knocked him to the ground with a powerful swing of its staff. The thing towered over Onepu's fallen boxor, ready to deliver a swift thrust downward.
Nuparu moved as quickly as he could, running toward Onepu while also picking up a fallen boulder.
"Nuparu, watch out!"
Nuparu threw his rock, but turned to see what was the matter too late. The red Rahkshi had sent a blast of energy hurtling towards him. It had been perfectly aimed to hit him as he moved, and he couldn't slow down now.
He could only pray that this wouldn't destroy him, or turn him against his friends. Nuparu braced for impact.
It never came. He looked to his right, and saw Taipu, convulsing on the ground. Nuparu slowed, moving to check on him. Taipu lay in his cockpit, eyes wide and flitting about, breathing heavily. He saw Nuparu and screamed. Unlike before, he did not stop. He seemed frantically be trying to get up, but when that didn't work, he hopped out of the boxor and ran toward the tunnel behind them.
Okay then, Nuparu thought, looking to see that Onepu was okay. The black Rahkshi lay some distance off, looking dazed. Just us two now. I need to think… How to hold them off? He looked at Taipu's abandoned boxor.
Yes… I can rewire the power source, run it straight into itself…
"Onepu!" he called. Onepu had rolled his boxor over and stood back up. "I need you over here!"
"What now?" Onepu said, trotting over as quickly as he could without being hit by blasts from the Rahkshi. He noticed the empty boxor. "Where's Taipu?"
"Rahkshi got him," Nuparu explained, hopping out of his own boxor and into Taipu's. "The… the blast was meant for me, but he took it. Seemed to fill him with fear, and he just ran off."
"Huh," Onepu said nonchalantly. "What do you need me for?"
"Keep me covered while I work," Nuparu said, "then help me toss this thing when I'm done."
"Toss the—" Onepu stammered as he tossed boulders toward the Rahkshi. "Are you crazy?! Those things take forever to build!"
"I know, but if just us two keep fighting, I don't think we'll last. I didn't bring us out here to die, and this thing will help accomplish that. Done!" Nuparu climbed back into his boxor. "Help me lift it!"
They each grabbed an arm of the empty boxor. "Okay," Nuparu breathed. "This thing's gonna blow in about ten seconds."
"Wha—?!" Onepue began.
"No questions," Nuparu said. He began to swing the boxor back and forth, building momentum. "Ready, and… go!" They released the boxor, letting it soar through the air. The Rahkshi stood, dumbstruck, as the mech fell down in front of them. They stared at it, confused, then—
Boom.
The boxor exploded, disappearing in a cloud of dust and fire. The two Matoran couldn't see a thing.
"What happened here?" a voice said. Nuparu turned and found Toa Kopaka standing not too far off, accompanied by all the other Toa, except for Tahu and Gali.
"We… we were fighting the Rahkshi," Nuparu said. "We kind of detonated a boxor in front of them."
Toa Lewa chuckled. "Some mind-smart little villagers we have here!" he said with a grin.
"Don't put your guard down, brothers," Pohatu said, facing the settling cloud of debris. "I think our foes are not quite defeated yet."
The Toa of stone was correct. The Rahkshi appeared behind the smoke, though two were leaning on their staffs. The red one stood at the head of them. Seeing the gathered Toa and the two Matoran still ready, it shook its head, and walked away, its brethren following suit. The three creatures gave short leaps into the air, folding their legs beneath them, then took off flying up one of the chimneys that led out of Onu-Koro to the surface.
"Should we chase them?" Onua asked, looking to his brothers.
"No," Kopaka said. "We need to regroup. They'll lay low for a while anyway."
Nuparu stared after the Rahkshi. They have to be stopped, though, he thought. Or they'll raze this island, trying to find whatever it is they're looking for. But if they come back, we'll be ready. I'll fight again and again, as long as I have to, to defend my home.
Nuparu entered Taipu's hut. The Matoran sat on the edge of his bed, wrapped in a blanket, staring at the wall. He seemed… disengaged.
"Taipu?" he said. "You okay?"
"I ran, Nuparu," Taipu said. "I got scared, and ran. Like a coward."
"What? No! Taipu, you did the bravest thing I've ever seen out there!"
"You must have been hanging around some really big cowards then."
"I wouldn't call saving a friend cowardly," Nuparu said, patting Taipu on the back. "That blast was meant for me. But you took it anyway. You saved me."
Taipu looked at Nuparu finally, his green eyes gaining focus. "I… I saved you?"
"I would go as far as to say that you saved Onu-Koro!" Nuparu said. "You saved me, I was able to use your boxor to weaken the Rahkshi, and then the Toa showed up. It all worked out for the better."
"But if I hadn't ran… I could've helped…"
"Taipu, it wasn't your fault for running. I can only imagine what it would feel like to be struck with that creature's power. Whatever you did, it wasn't you. You're a hero, Taipu."
"A hero…" Taipu muttered. "I'd forgotten how good it felt to be a hero."
"Come on," Nuparu said, moving to the door. "They're going to have a celebration. I'm sure they'll want the hero of Onu-Koro to be there."
The two left the hut. "You go on," Nuparu said. "I need to take care of a couple of things first."
"All right," Taipu said. "See you there!"
As he ran off to join the celebration, Nuparu circled around Taipu's hut to find Onepu, standing by the window.
"Way to go," Onepu said. "You've inflated his ego."
"He needed to hear it," Nuparu said. "He was getting depressed."
Onepu chuckled. "It was all worth it, wasn't it? Terrifying, but worth it."
"I suppose."
"Matoran are alive now that wouldn't be if you hadn't brought us out there."
"Just doing my duty. I'm glad to help them, but…"
"What is it?"
Nuparu sighed. "Making another boxor to replace that one is going to be a pain."
A/N: There you have it; the fourth entry into the Mahri-toran One-shots! This entry was pretty fun. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much I did writing it. Comments, reviews, criticism always welcome (and give me fits of joy)!