Well, here's a story I wrote and published on another site a few days ago. Dunno why I'm posting it now, though. :P Aw well. It's not like ya'll would miss that which you never had, correct? X3 Not unless you all suddenly turned into major stalkers, and stalked me down on that other site. o.o And then was pissed off that I never published it here until just now.
Suddenly, that's seeming more and more... Likely. D:
JKing. And BTW, this story is from Tahu's P.o.V. So if there's any confusion now, then you can't flame me! =D
Tahu looked around stealthily, reddish-pink eyes examining his surroundings carefully. He and his small group of Toa had learned the location of one of the masks the Turaga had spoken of. Having trekked across the Motara Desert in search of one of the Great Masks, the Matoran and Turaga had hinted them to this desert.
Looking behind himself, he saw the other two Toa who were accompanying him in their journey for the Masks of Power. Gali was studying the area, keeping an eye out for Rahi, as the area they were in were full of the creatures, many of them infected by Makuta. What few that weren't infected had escaped.
Onua, unlike Gali, was shielding his eyes against the intense sunlight. Tahu snapped his head back, irritated that one of the members of his team had a disadvantage in fighting in the sun. At night, and underground, was the only time he was useful. Onua had proven his worth in being on the team so far, but Tahu still had second thoughts in his fighting skills in sunlight.
He then spoke up, "Turaga Vakama told me that the Mask of Speed, the Kakama, is down there, in the canyon." They had finally reached their destination, with little help on exactly where the canyon resided. Tahu grunted irritably, the flames on his sword starting to faintly flicker.
"He told us all." Gali snapped at him, the heat finally irritating her. "They expect us to get the mask, and not kill ourselves in the prospect, too. Or anything else."
Tahu ignored her, along with her blunt comment about the tree he had burned down for his Miru. Putting a foot on the edge of the canyon fearlessly, he spoke, "I have no intention of killing myself. Just the desire to finally obtain all of my Kanohi."
Onua spoke for the first time in hours. "Power? Or death? Which will kill you first? Or maybe your foolery you get when angered?"
A few sparks flew off his fire sword, and Tahu attempted to ignore Onua's comment. However, he was unable to keep the irritation in that flooded as soon as Onua's comment was finished. "Says the man who is blind in sunlight, but can see in the dark. Which of that is the greater weakness?"
His comment caught the Toa of Stone off guard, but then the Toa recovered, and showed no sign of having heard it. All this occurred in less then a second. Turning his head back to the canyon, Tahu spoke, still feeling a deep irritation over the argument, but instead spoke of more pressing matters.
"Is there a way into this canyon outside of jumping? Or do we make our own entrance and exit?"
"We have Onua search for an entrance." Gali spoke up, showing more irritation over Tahu's comment to Onua then Onua had shown. "After all. His eyesight may be weak in the sunlight, but with all his other senses, he will find a way inside far more easily."
"Gali." Onua spoke, "Drop the matter. We don't need quarrels."
Gali glared at Onua, before going into a fitful silence. Tahu sighed, feeling more irritation at his fellow comrades combined then for Kopaka. Before they had left, Kopaka had spoken a short sentence, to Tahu, insulting him. "Will that temper of yours ever go out?"
Looking around shortly and finding no entrance in, Tahu decided to stop wasting his time. Taking a jump into the canyon, he landed on a large stone, that gently shuddered as his bodyweight hit it. Seeing another one close to him, he jumped towards that one. He heard his comrades, mostly Gali, yelling at him for his recklessness. Ignoring them, he continued his pathway down the canyon, reaching the bottom after an estimated twenty minutes.
Standing up triumphantly, he looked up to the top of the canyon once again, prepared to yell his victory up to the pair at the top. Just as he was about to, he heard an all to familiar voice behind him. "Just what did you think you were doing?"
The female voice behind him shocked him, and he twisted around to see both Gali and Onua. "I got impatient." He said heatedly, irritated that the others beat him. Then he asked another question. "How in Makuta's name did you two beat me down here?"
Gali glared at him. "Obviously, we did a quick search and found a hidden tunnel. It was twisty and narrow. And very, very steep and slick. Perfect for sliding down."
Tahu glared at her, irritated he had been beaten. Turning back around, Tahu stalked down the canyon, fuming so much his footsteps left burnt marks on the ground. Sword sparking furiously, showing his irritation, he heard neither the warning yell nor the screech of a Rahi due to his irritation. What he did hear, or feel, instead, was the heavy vibrations of the ground, as a Sand Tarakava broke through the ground.
Hearing its roar at last, Tahu's sword fully burst into flames, and he attacked by sending a swirl of flame around it. Seeing a fist erupt from the wall of flames, he barely jumped backwards in time to avoid it crashing into the ground. Landing backwards, skidding slightly on the ground, he saw a wave of water erupt over the beast, putting out his flames.
The creature roared, both in anger and pain, at being set on fire, and then viciously being attacked with by water. Tahu looked behind himself, at Gali. "I can handle this on my own." He told her angrily, "The beast is weak against flame."
Turning back to the Sand Tarakava, Tahu unleashed another wall of fire against it. Bringing up his Hau, he felt the familiar shield cover his body. Preparing himself to attack the Tarakava, he charged it. However, he was unprepared for the attack that came from the side, knocking him heavily into a rock like his body were that of a doll.
His shield faltered at the same time the attack hit his body, causing him to feel the damage done to him by the blow. Breathing heavily, he forced his body up, and charged the second Tarakava that had appeared. His path was stopped when a massive wall appeared in front of the Sand Tarakava, and he glared at Onua in rage.
Onua shrugged, before speaking. "I decided you might need some help. Gali's already attacking the one I kept from attacking you." Tahu ignored him, upset that Onua had decided to interrupt his battle. His battle.
Turning his attention on the Sand Tarakava that he had burnt beforehand, he set his sword aflame once again. Ducking one of its punches, he flipped over it, landing on its back. He then took the handle of his sword, and rammed it into the Rahi's face, effectively breaking its mask.
It screeched from both pain and terror. Tahu knew that it would. Its conscious had been trapped for an unknown period, while its body was forced to fight fights it didn't want to fight, and was forced to do that which it was reluctant to do. He shuddered, unable to imagine that feeling. The feeling of being trapped in your own body, forced to do the opposite of what he would want to do.
Jumping quickly off its back, he gave it room to burrow back underground, and then the wall Onua had created crumbled, revealing that Gali, too, had defeated her opponent. Unlike him, however, she held up an undamaged mask.
She looked at him, holding up the infected mask, as if to haughtily say that he failed in recovering the mask undamaged. "Let's go." Gali said, moving deeper into the canyon. "Let's get out of here as quickly as possible."
Tahu looked at her, before taking the lead ahead of her, and starting to lead the way in her place. "Vakama said to look for-"
"A low plateau, leading to a very narrow, very short tunnel, barely ending within arms length. Inside there, will be the second-to-last Kanohi Tahu will need." Onua interrupted Tahu's speaking.
Tahu looked at the black Toa in irritation. "Right." He said gruffly, "How do you think we should go about finding this cliff?"
"However you two wish to find it." Onua said, ruffling Tahu's anger towards him.
Turning his back on the Earth Toa, Tahu started his search, ignoring both Gali and Onua. After some time of searching, Tahu looked at the surrounding area, furious at the hidden mask. "Where is it?" He mumbled to himself, attempting to calm down and failing at it.
"The way to find the mask is right in front of you, Tahu." Gali spoke, having heard his mumbling, "Just ask that black little Toa, right over there."
Tahu looked at Onua, before swallowing, sucking in all his pride so that he could find the second-to-last Kanohi he needed to complete his collection. Stalking up to the Toa, he spoke for the first time in hours to him. "I need your help."
Onua looked up at Tahu, "Of course."
Tahu calmed down, feeling relief at the idea of being so close to receiving his Kanohi Kakama. Onua got up from his seat, and put his ear to the ground, tapping on it occasionally. Waiting patiently, Tahu let him continue to listen for the vibrations from the hole Vakama had described.
After several tense minutes, Onua finally got up, ready to report the news. Instead of talking, however, he walked over to one of the cliffs, scaling it with ease, then reaching into a hole and pulling out the mask. Tahu felt relieved.
"Catch." Onua called to Tahu, throwing the mask in his direction. Tahu, catching it with ease, put it onto his face.
Seconds later, a third Rahi, another Sand Tarakava, burst through the area Onua had climbed too, sending the Toa flying. Tahu responded almost immediately, when Onua waved him down. "You and Gali had the first two." He said, "I want this one."
Getting onto his feet, Tahu saw the Earth Toa close his eyes, and wait several seconds. In that period, the Tarakava had begun to attack, chasing him with a screech. Onua ducked last minute, bringing his foot up and, with a powerful swing, sent it hitting the Tarakava's thin body. This effectively tripped the Rahi, sending it sprawling on the ground, screeching in horror.
Seeing the Toa jump onto the Rahi's head with ease, he saw the Toa finally open his eyes, and peel the infected mask off the Rahi. Almost immediately, the exact same thing happened to the Rahi as for the first too. It even started burrowing underground, despite Onua still being on its head.
He jumped off, however, as it was about to dive underground.
"And that, Brother," Onua turned to Tahu, speaking calmly, "Is what one can do when they can barely handle the sunlight."
Tahu merely looked on at the Toa, gaping in amazement.
Hrmm... Interesting story, no? If anyone finds any inaccuracies mask-wise, please be aware that it's been a while since I had studied the storyline. However, I did some massive estimating, carefully thought over which mask Tahu hadn't recovered yet that wasn't unmentioned, and then plotted out as to whether he had retried the last two masks beforehand. Hopefully, I got everything accurate, but I was told that there was a tad bit to much irritation. Probably true, since even I found myself believing there was to much irritation in the story, BEFORE others told me about it. :P My excuse: First time writing from the P.o.V. of another persons character, thus resulting in minor mistakes. But, who doesn't have that trouble? :P
...I might do another chapter for this, adding on to Tahu's finding the other mask. But that's only if people really, truly and sincerely, enjoyed this story. :P More then likely, I'ma still type that part up, and if this story has few-to-none adorers, I'll just publish it on BZPower and ignore it here. So yeah, I think it'd be kinda easy to guess my BZP name. =P (Points to name on this one)