The Legend of Toa Lujaka
Disclaimer: I do not own Bionicle, if I did I would have made sure the story would have continued on, awesome RPG/action games and movies of the original Toa Mata had been made.
Summary: A matoran is chosen to be the protector of his ravaged island. Along the way he discovers several things about himself, his people and of places far beyond. This is the story of Toa Lujaka…
Author's notes: The story of Bionicle got really confusing near the end, so this story will most likely have some of the facts changed (as I don't really know the whole story after the Toa Nuva), but the main things are that the Toa Mata became Toa Nuva and Matoro still sacrificed himself for Mata Nui (the Great Spirit, not the island) and some of the matoran still live on Mata Nui. This can be considered a prologue to Shinji Inika or a story all on its own.
"He, who finds courage in the face of despair, will be granted the title of a warrior, not for being without fear, but for overcoming fear itself."
Chapter 1: Matoran on the tree tops
A matoran was gathering fruit from high tree in Le-Vetra with his trusty hatchet. His name was Lujaka, he wore a powerless, green kanohi Miru and his body was mostly green with his joints being silver and black. He was something of an outsider in his village, in reality he was a foreigner, he was originally from Mata-Nui, but he was lost at sea during a storm and washed away to Vetra-Nui, near the harbour of Ga-Vetra. He was lucky to have been rescued by a Ga-matoran, Tuuran, who was out fishing and noticed the poor Le-matoran clinging to some driftwood.
He was welcomed into Le-Vetra by Turaga Ganji, a wise one of the village who possessed a noble kanohi Akaku, a mask of X-ray vision. The Turaga was interested in his tales of the Toa Nuva and the brave Toa Mahri of Ice, Matoro, who sacrificed his life for Mata Nui to live. This was about twenty years ago and the island was relatively peaceful, aside from a few enraged Rahi, there was nothing to fear.
Well, that was what Lujaka thought before he heard someone cry out on the bottom of the jungle floor. Lujaka swung from his perch to climbable tree and clambered down as fast as he could to the source of the scream. Landing on the grass, the green matoran ran to help his fellow matoran.
What he saw was disturbing, a creature that stood at the height of a Toa (6' 5'' give or take), with wicked fangs, sharp claws for fingers and a tail with a sharp spike at the tip, stood, hunched over a matoran gnashing its teeth to terrorise the frightened being before devouring it.
Picking up a rock, Lujaka tossed it at the foul creatures head, causing it to snap its head back and bare its fangs at the brave little matoran who dared to interrupt its meal. Lujaka gulped, but raised his small hatchet, which appeared smaller than it had been a while ago, ready to give his fellow Le-matoran time to make it back to the village on top of the trees.
'Run, I'll take care of it!' shouted Lujaka to the Le-matoran, who seemed undecided on leaving his saviour in the face of this monstrous Rahi.
The monster pounced at Lujaka, but he was able to evade the creature easily due to his small stature. Lujaka swung his hatchet, cutting the creatures tail halfway, it yelped in pain and lashed out at the matoran, knocking him against a tree.
Lujaka was still dazed and when his vision cleared the creature was right above him, a deep growl came from its throat and Lujaka was sure that it was about to remove his upper torso, but a kanoka disk flew from the trees, catching the creature on the side of its head and sending it flailing sideways.
'Lujaka, Kiri, quick-climb up the trees now!' a voice shouted at the two Le-matoran, who were only too happy to oblige.
Getting to the tree tops, safe from the monster, the two matoran panted and looked for the one who had launched the kanoka. It turned out to be none other than Le-Vetra's own weapons smith Oruwa, with his specialised kanoka disk launcher holstered on his back.
'Thank you, Oruwa,' Lujaka was still out of breath, but managed to get his thanks out.
Kiri could only manage a nod to agree with Lujaka, having a large beast such as that…thing staring you down and gnashing its teeth would do that to a matoran.
'Only following the Turaga's instruction-order, many of these monster-beasts have been sighted in our jungle-home just now' the smithee explained
'Does the Turaga know what these creatures are, or where they came from?' asked a worried Lujaka, he thought he had left swarms of monsters, like the bohrok, behind on Mata Nui.
'He had no speak-time to tell me,' answered Oruwa, who was not used to situations like this.
'Well, best to get to the village-home quick-fast' said Kiri, who had regained his breath.
-[The Legend of Toa Lujaka]-
'Oh praise-thank Mata Nui! Excellent job-work Oruwa,' said Turaga Ganji, thankful for the safe return of the last of his village's members.
'What about the others, are they together-well?' Kiri asked the wise one, the other villagers had always gone to the jungle floor for food, water or entertainment, so it was likely that they could also be in trouble.
'You two are the last matoran to have been lost-found, the others are only injured-hurt and will heal' answered the wise Turaga, with a sad look in his eyes, he hated having his people hurt.
'Turaga, what was that creature?' Lujaka asked, hoping to find out what they were and how they could be stopped.
'They are name-called the Veruks, very nasty-dangerous' he said, concern apparent in his voice.
'Why are they here, why have we not seen them before?' asked Lujaka, he had been on Vetra-Nui for a short time, but someone would have mentioned these creatures before.
'I am ashamed-sad that I cannot answer, water-sister Doran may know more on the story-tale.'
'It does not matter where-sprung these creatures, we must defend our home!' said Kiri, his short sight not allowing him to see the bigger picture.
'But if we knew how to stop them then we would not need to defend our home forever,' said Lujaka, he had experience in this type of situation, although it was always the Toa that stopped these threats, and Vetra-Nui had none.
'Lujaka is right, Kiri. To keep the island-home safe we must stop these creature's forever-good,' said the Turaga, knowing that Lujaka was correct in his statement.
'But, Turaga we still need to keep Le-Vetra safe, how will we do that, if we all go adventure-seeking?' asked Oruwa, he agreed with Lujaka, but if they all went looking to find a way to stop the Veruks, then their home would be gone by that time.
Ganji furrowed his masks brow, Oruwa spoke the truth and the only idea that the Turaga could come up with was one that he did not like at all.
'We need someone quick-fast, brave and knowledgeable in these hard-tough times' he turned to face Lujaka, 'Lujaka, are you willing to take-do this quest?'
'Uh,' Lujaka did not like this at all, going on solo missions was meant for Chroniclers turned Toa, not a simple Le-matoran like him, but…his new home was depending on him and he had a debt to pay, 'I'll do it Turaga.'
'Very well,' the Turaga then turned to face the weapons smith, 'Oruwa, Lujaka will need many-great weapons to keep him sound-safe. Come back to me when you have prepared-made everything.'
'Of course, Turaga,' answered Oruwa, he signalled for Lujaka to follow him to his hut.
Walking towards the hut, the two matoran noticed several of their comrades and friends being brought to the healers hut or being consoled by close friends. Lujaka let a sad sigh escape his mouth, this was something he hated, his friends harmed by mindless monsters.
'In here.'
Opening the door (a leaf that hung over the hole of his hut), Oruwa walked in and Lujaka followed, gasping as he took in the sight before him. There were weapons in all shapes and sizes, some for close combat and others for ranged combat.
Noticing his fellow matoran's awe, he explained, 'I have a friend from Onu-Vetra, he has some brilliant-smart ideas.'
Grabbing a kanoka disk launcher, that seemed to be modified quite a bit, from the rack and handed it to Lujaka, 'this should keep them away-far from you. It has a greater-better range and power than the usual ones; it should help on your journey-quest.'
'Thank you Oruwa, I suppose I should go see Turaga Ganji and then say good-bye to everyone.'
'Yes, but hold-wait' the smithee then scavenged through a desk that held diagrams of his weapons and other such things, 'here, take this map and see if Whekaru can help-aid you with better weapons.'
Lujaka took the map and saw that it held detailed information on the caves of Onu-Vetra, and where to find the Onu-matoran who designed weapons, 'Thank you, Oruwa.'
'I pray-hope he can help you on your journey quest' Oruwa said.
Oruwa wished him luck and went to check on the injured and arm the healthy, while Lujaka made his way to the Turaga's hut, putting on a brave face to hide his real emotions.
'I see that Oruwa has given you one of the fancy-smart launchers' said the Turaga, as Lujaka entered the hut, 'I am sorry to drop this heavy-hard quest on you.'
'It is alright Turaga, I understand.'
'Very well, first you will need a map to find-search your way to Ga-Vetra quickly-safe, and perhaps this cloak to keep you warm when you pass into Ko-Vetra' handing him the items in question and then went on, 'when you enter Ga-Vetra ask Turaga Doran how to fight-stop the Veruks and remember to tell-warn the villages of the Veruk threat, better for them to be prepared-ready than surprised.'
'I will Turaga, and I promise to do my best.'
'I am sure you will, I wish you luck' he said with a sad smile.
After wishing the other Le-matoran good-bye and them wishing him good luck in return the burdened Le-matoran Lujaka made his way through the trees, hoping the foliage would provide cover from the eyes of the dangerous enemy that was starting to overtake the jungle floor, bit by bit.
-[The Legend of Toa Lujaka]-
It had been a tough few days, swinging and climbing the jungle trees to avoid the Veruks that where becoming more and more of sight in the jungle. Luckily, for some odd reason, the Veruks did not seem to climb the trees much, only when they spotted Lujaka and saw no other way to get to him did they climb, but his new launcher made sure that they stayed away from him.
Finally, the Le-matoran made it to an area of the jungle where the temperature dropped drastically with every step he took, that meant that he was nearing the Ko-Wahi region.
'Mata Nui, it's freezing!' exclaimed the green matoran, throwing his small bag to the ground and retrieving the cloak that the Turaga had given him. Putting it on, he discovered it did help keep the cold air out, but not by much. At least he was able to move without fear of his joints freezing up, so he trudged his way through the snowy terrain he had entered, hoping the map was correct in the direction of Ko-Vetra.
It said it was just 5 kio…up the mountain. With a sigh at the long, cold walk ahead of him, Lujaka started up the mountain. He slipped up a few times, but he got back up, for he could not let down his new home. After awhile he heard someone woo-hooing and looked up.
A Ko-matoran was skiing down the mountain and the matoran noticed far too late that he was about to hit a pedestrian…
[Chapter 1: end]
Well, hope you enjoyed reading and are eager for more. If you don't mind, a few reviews would be nice as reviews do speed up how fast I update (just so you know). And any tips, hints, idea's or whatever it is, you can add into the review, I don't mind at all and remember: there is no such thing as a bad idea!