Heroes of the Present

Spies Everywhere

Jaller stared sadly of the round window. He was in Hahli's hut, and the window gave a beautiful view on the sea. Especially now, when the twin suns were setting, was it worth living in Ga-Metru just to see them.

But Jaller had no place in his mind for sunsets. His mind had traveled back in time, back to to when Takanuva, the Toa of Light, had still been Takua. When they still had had fun together, before the Mask of Light was found, and before...

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" A soft voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Hm?"

"The sunset," explained Hahli, coming nearer.

"Wha...? Oh! Oh, right," answered Jaller, finally turning his attention to the sunset, which was turning everything of various shades of yellow and orange. Even the silver sea had become of a warm, sparkling golden. Yet it didn't seem to fit, not with Takua so far away from him... "Yes, very nice. Very... golden."

Like Takanuva, he thought sadly.

Hahli sighed and placed a hand on his shoulder, "What are you thinking of?"

"Nothing important," answered Jaller without looking at her. One side of him didn't want to talk about it. Not with Hahli, or with anyone else. But then there was this other side, urging him to tell her everything that was going through his mind...

"Come on, there's something on your mind. What is it?" insisted Hahli.

"Nothing, really!" Jaller wondered why he kept lying. Hahli would've surely known what to say, she always did. Why did he insist in not telling her?

For a while, they stood in silence. Jaller was aware that Hahli kept looking at him, as if trying to guess what he was thinking of. Though she probably already had, knowing her...

"It's Takanuva, isn't it?" inquired Hahli.

Jaller gave no answer, but he shot her a short glance that told her that she was right.

"You know nothing has changed between you two," said Hahli softly. "He just had lots to do, like all the other Toa. I haven't talked to Toa Gali for weeks either, and I only saw her twice in the last few days."

"It's not the same thing!" answered Jaller sharply. "Toa Gali has always been Toa Gali! Toa Takanuva was Takua, before the Mask of Light was found. And he was my friend!"

"He still is your friend, Jaller,"

"Are you sure? He is always with the other Toa! I don't think he cares much about me anymore."

"Don't say that!" said Hahli firmly. "It's his duty to protect us Matoran, and you know that better than me, Jaller!"

"Yes, but I learned that there are many ways to do your duty. You can do it because you like it, because you want to do it. Or, you can just do it because it's your duty. Who tells us that he really cares about us? Do any of the Toa? Does your Gali care about you?"

"Yes she does!" replied Hahli firmly, nearly shouting. "And so do all the other Toa. And you shouldn't talk like that Jaller. Takanuva cares for you, he'd give his life for you! He already did!"

Those words had the same effect as a slap. He did his best to forget what had happened in Makuta's lair, not to think about it... but no matter how hard he tried, the horror often haunted him at night. Still, it made him realize that Hahli was right. It was just anger making him speak like that, he was just angry at Takanuva. He was stupid thinking that the Toa didn't care for them... that Takanuva didn't care for them. It was just stupid...

"Sorry," he said. "It's just that I miss him. I really miss him."

Hahli hugged him tightly, like a mother would do with her child.

"I know," she said quietly.

None of them noticed that a pair of purple eyes were watching them through the darkness.

XXXXX

Pohatu sped through the building of Po-Metru, cursing himself for being so late for the meeting with the other Toa. If he just hadn't fallen asleep... but now all he could do was run and hope that he hadn't missed anything. Luckily, the meeting took place in the outskirts of Po-Metru, so that it wouldn't take him much to reach the place. He turned around the last bend and ran in the large plaza where they should be meeting, just to discover that all the Toa, even Lewa, were already there. He opened his mouth to explain what had happened, but stopped when he realized that something was wrong. He groaned, it looked at if Tahu and Gali were fighting again. They were shouting angrily at each other while Takanuva desperately tried to restore peace.

"What's up this time?" Pohatu asked Onua.

"Same old thing," answered the black Toa. "Elemental powers."

"What again? How did Tahu start it this time?"

"He..." started Onua, but was interrupted by Gali, who had started shouting at the top of her lungs, so that they could understand every single word.

"... NO RIGHT! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO JUDGE WATER! NONE OF YOU HAS!"

"Whoa! Gali, lower you voice!" said Takanuva, but neither of the two Toa heard him.

"Why not?" asked Tahu. "I know water, we all know water. We know its power!"

"With the exception of Lewa, non of you ever had to face water without me! I was always there. And you Tahu, never had to face it in first place! How can you know my power?"

"Tahu, Gali, stop it..." pleaded Takanuva. But Tahu didn't even hear him.

"I know that water calms and lulls the spirit to sleep, that it has soothing qualities, that's no true power, Gali. You must admit that."

"You don't know what you're talking about, you have NO IDEA!" screamed Gali. "Water, is a source of life. Yet within its depths, it hides dangerous currents, and ferocious sea monsters. Water can drown any living creature, no matter how powerful, it can make anything disappear, never to be found again. It just has to be deep enough."

Tahu opened his mouth to answer, but Gali raised a finger to stop him.

"Mark my words, Toa of Fire. One day, you'll have to face water, alone. And then we'll see, Tahu. Then, we'll see."

With that, she turned around and wanted to go away, but bumped into Pohatu, who had placed himself behind her. The Toa of Stone promptly grabbed her shoulders and held her firmly. Knowing her, she had probably forgotten of the meeting in her anger.

"Hey hey hey! Where are you going?" he asked, while Gali angrily tried to free herself from his grip. "Don't tell me that the meeting is already over!"

At these words, Gali stopped fighting against his grip, and a flash across her eyes proved him that his suspects had been right. Smiling, Pohatu let go of her. Gali huffed in annoyance and turned to face Onua, as it had been him that had called for that meeting. Apparently, it had to do with something that Whenua had told him.

"What did you want to tell us, Onua?" she asked, trying not to sound impatient no matter how much he wished to go away.

"Today, Whenua came up to me and said he wants us to get rid of the archives creatures," explained Onua with a shrug. "Nothing else."

The Toa groaned. They had guessed it could be that. The strange creatures that had popped up in the archives a few weeks before were top priority for Whenua.

"I say, couldn't you guys just archive them?" Pohatu wanted to know. "You've been doing that for years! What's so different with these things?"

That caused Lewa to make a disgruntled sound. He didn't like the archives and had never liked them. He insisted that Rahi should be left free, not closed up in stasis tubes or anywhere else.

"The Onu-Matoran don't want to get near those creatures," said Onua with another shrug. "They say the creatures are like possessed."

"Possessed?" asked Lewa, confused. "You mean controlled?"

"No, I mean possessed," answered the earth spirit. Lewa made a skeptic sound.

"What's the difference?" Tahu wanted to know.

"Controlled is if someone takes over your mind, someone alive, 'real'," explained Onua. "While possessed is..."

"If someone dead takes over your mind, I get it," interrupted Tahu.

"No, no," said Onua, smiling. "Well, not really. It's if a spirit takes control over you. Dead cannot take control over someone."

"In other words, the Onu-Matoran scarefreaked out because they are so used seeing Rahi having blankdead eyes that they don't know how life-full eyes look like," explained Lewa.

Tahu huffed angrily. "It's the same. The problem are still the creatures. I say: we go in there and finish them once and for all!"

There were mumbles from the other Toa. All of them knew the strange creatures that had popped up in the archives. Even though they were normally calm and didn't attack anyone if left alone, they could go berserk if annoyed, let alone if attacked. And then, they started hitting everything with their powerful tails. What the Toa didn't understand was where the creatures came from. They had never been seen on Mata Nui before, yet they simply popped up in the archives, as if they came from the very heart of them. The Toa's best guess was that some forgotten stasis tubes had broken.

"Come on guys! Don't tell me that you are afraid of some stupid Rahi!" taunted them Tahu.

"Those are not 'some stupid Rahi', Tahu," snapped Gali. "They are powerful creatures, and..."

"And you just said that water can drown any living creature, no matter how powerful," said Tahu, 'casually'. "Come on, go and show us your true power."

Gali stared at him with her mouth open, not knowing what to answer. She hadn't expected that. Yeah well, she hadn't expected to be seeing Tahu for the rest of the day either.

A triumphant grin spread over Tahu's face, and Gali felt her insides cook as if she had been filled with boiling water. She wanted to slap herself, how could she have though that Tahu would have let her pass after what she had said? And now what?

"And how exactly is she going to do it, if the creatures suck out her elemental energy?" asked Kopaka. Gali's head spun around towards him, surprised that he was taking her defense.

The ability to suck elemental energy out of their opponents, and then turn it into pure energy was what made the creatures so dangerous. Even though the Toa didn't know much about elemental energy, they knew that is was what gave strength to their powers. If a Toa was left without elemental energy, he or she couldn't conjure earthquakes, fires or anything else anymore. On the other side, a sudden outburst of energy could be devastating if, using all your strength to conjure a strong wind, a cyclone came out instead. Both things had already happened to the Toa: the first when a creature had sucked out nearly all of Tahu's elemental energy. Afterwards, the red Toa hadn't been able to conjure a decent fire or a strong shield for days, much to Kopaka's entertainment.

Another time, a creature had sent a ball of pure energy at Onua, and the Ilsao around his neck had absorbed it. Onua had then concentrated hard to let the earth split just enough to let the creature fall in, but the Ilsao had released the elemental energy, and a crevasse had appeared in the ground, nearly swallowing the other Toa and making the chamber collapse. Since that day, the Toa had decided that it was safer to leave the Ilsao home.

"I... she..." mumbled Tahu, surprised that Kopaka had taken Gali's defense. It wasn't at all like Kopaka, and Tahu guessed that it was only to annoy him, something that made anger rise in him. "The point is that we must face the creatures to get rid of them! That and only that is important!" he snapped.

"Fine, fine!" said Pohatu, raising is hands. "Tomorrow morning in front of the archives?"

"How about tardylate morning?" suggested Lewa.

"Having a party at Le-Metru?" Takanuva wanted to know.

"Yep, wanna come?"

"Sure, I could use some fun."

"Anyone else? Pohatu, Tahu, Gali... Kopaka?" he asked, pronouncing the last name in a way that told the others that he didn't really mean it. Kopaka gave him an annoyed stare and shook his head. Onua also didn't want to come, but Pohatu and Gali both agreed, while Tahu just looked nerved.

"Okay then, late morning," said Tahu.

"Are you coming?" Lewa wanted to know.

"No," said Tahu, shaking his head. "Knowing Le-Metruan parties, it will go on for quite a while, and we've got work to do, tomorrow."

Lewa rolled his eyes and said something about taking the job too seriously, then the seven Toa bid their goodbyes and left the place.

A few minutes later, an eighth person crossed the grounds and headed for Ta-Metru.

XXXXX

At the same time, a tall figure was flying rapidly between the Le-Metruan buildings. No one noticed it, for it moved without making a sound, and no one looked up to the evening sky. Occasionally, it would fly lower to the ground, and then some Matoran would look up, but no one spared it more than a glance, and one or two would even wave to it.

The figure smiled, pleased with what it was seeing. It nodded shortly at the waving Matoran, then flew back up towards the sky, landing on the top of the tallest building of Le-Metru, where another person was waiting.

"So?" asked the person.

"No one cared about me," answered the figure. The other one smiled and looked up at the quickly darkening sky.

"Perfect..."

I don't think I have to say that this is the sequel to Heroes of the Past, and that I'm back. Instead, sorry for the boring explanations, I try to do them short, but elemental energy is a complicated thing, and I myself am still sorting out this and that, so if you have questions, tell me. Besides, you know me: better long at the beginning that short in the middle of a fight.

Also, I'm not answering to the reviews of HotP's last chapter, 'cause 1. you probably don't even remember what you wrote (I wouldn't) and 2. the only two or three that really need an answer are the ones involving critique because Lhikan is supposed to be dead, and I can't answer here to a review of someone that is still at the 4th chapter. Which brings me to an important note: if you leave a review to the first chapters when the story is at its sixth, you'll find an answer in the seventh, as usual.

Nothing else? No, i don't- oh yeah, um, I have this small problem that's called: forgetting to explain minor things that leave confused in the first story. I think I gotta explain: Lhikan's death, what Gali did to Takua and a couple of other things that I'll probably remember by re-reading HotPast. So, please tell me what I have to explain, okay?

And no, ToaMaster, I'm not using Aaron in this story.