A/N: This is my first fan-fiction. I hope you like it.
1
Hewkii woke with a start, breathing heavily. He put his hands on his mask. Another nightmare, he thought. He'd been plagued by these dreams ever since he had settled down after the defeat of Makuta Teridax. They seemed to highlight the darkest parts of the adventures he and his friends had recently experienced. The Piraka, the Barraki, the Skakdi-Fusion, and more.
Even Matoro...
He looked out his window to find that it was early morning. He was already quite awake and decided he wouldn't try to sleep any more. It would be pointless to try. He stepped out his door and took in the sights he saw every morning. Grass, sunlight, trees, other houses, and stone. Beautiful, decorative stone all around his house (courtesy of himself). He took a deep breath and headed into town. There was always work that needed to be done around the growing village where the Toa Mahri were stationed. The new council of Turaga and Agori elders had decided to call it New Stelt, despite the negative reputation of its namesake.
The town was located about three kio west of New Atero and was now home to around 4000 Matoran and Agori. The Toa Mahri and Turaga Whenua had been sent here to lead and guard it as it grew.
Hewkii stepped into the small town hall building where the job board was. He, along with a few other Matoran and Agori, scanned its contents, seeing which jobs he was best suited for. Practically all of them, he thought. He noticed a construction job on the south side of town and knew that would be the perfect thing to start with. When he was about halfway to the job site, someone came running behind him, shouting his name. He stopped and turned only to have Kongu slam into him.
"Sorry, Toa-brother," said Kongu as they stood after the collision. He used twin gusts of air to free their armor of dust. "Haven't quite got the hang of my wind-assisted foot-running yet."
"What's this about, Kongu?" Hewkii asked rather grumpily.
"This is about the Toa-team getting assigned to safe-guard the Ignika at the shrine this week. Brutaka himself specifically requested us." Kongu was obviously proud of the offer.
"But I was just on my way to—"
"There's no time for that! We need to go over there now. The others are already on their quick-way and we are standing here bickering about your petty day-to-day doings! Let's go! This is exciting!"
"Maybe I don't want to have the exciting job for once!" Hewkii blurted out. Kongu looked confused. "I like my 'petty day-to-day doings', okay? Maybe for one day, I could just live my life-like it was before I was a Toa."
Kongu was a bit downcast. "I suppose I can't force you to come, if that's how you feel, brother." He started walking away. "See you in a week."
Hewkii stood still, thinking. He could just go on, do his normal job, and not go to the shrine. If he left New Stelt now, he would miss that boat ride he and Maku had planned to go on tomorrow. But if he didn't go...? What would his team think of him then? What would everyone think of him for ignoring his duty?
No. He must be a good role model to all. Ignoring one of the key virtues of their culture would destroy his reputation, which would harm more people than just himself. People would start to get the wrong ideas about Toa…
"Kongu!" he called, catching up to the Toa of air. "I'm going to the shrine, but you go on without me. I need to leave a message for a friend first."
"Sounds great, Toa-brother," Kongu replied with a smile, giving Hewkii a solid fist-bump. "I'll save a rock steed for you at the stables while you talk to Maku."
Hewkii didn't ask how Kongu knew he was going to Maku and just shook his head before running off to her house.
Jaller checked behind his shoulder for the 57th time since they'd left New Stelt. "Where are they?" he muttered. He, Hahli, and Nuparu had slowed their rock steeds to a walk to give their brothers time to catch up.
"I'm sure they're on their way, Jaller," said Hahli. "They wouldn't abandon us." A few seconds after she said these words, they heard the distant sounds of something running through grass. They all checked behind their respective shoulders now to see a Toa mounted on a rock steed rapidly approaching.
Kongu slowed his mount when he caught up to the other Toa. "Sorry to keep you long-waiting, brothers and sister," he said. "It took a bit of... convincing to get Hewkii to agree to this."
"But he is coming, right?" asked Nuparu.
"Sure. He just had to give a message to his lady-friend first." Hahli stifled a giggle at this. Nobody asked any questions. They simply rode on to their destination.
When Hewkii finally caught up to the other Toa, they had already reached the shrine, effectively having them all arrive at the same time. He had decided not to ride a rock steed, instead relying on his elemental power to tunnel through rock in the ground; much faster (and more comfortable, in his opinion) than the beast most beings used. He was warmly greeted by all and given time to rest and rejuvenate some of his elemental energy before they all headed into the shrine.
They had all been here before: once during its completion and again on another occasion like this one when they had been randomly selected to help guard it for a small amount of time. This time, though, it was not random. Brutaka, a high-ranking Order of Mata Nui member had specifically requested them this week. While all the Toa were still a bit suspicious of Brutaka because of his past deeds, they also knew that it was always a great honor to guard the resting place of Mata Nui himself. They walked through the halls, filled with ornate arches, pillars, and the like until they came to the lounge room where they were told they would meet—
"Axonn!" cried Kongu. "Good to see you, my giant-ax-wielding friend."
"Likewise, Toa of air," the mighty warrior replied. "Though I am a bit disappointed if my ax is all that identifies me to you."
"Well, I suppose I could also call you Battler of Fiends, Peacemaker, and Saver of Toa Backsides."
Axonn gave a hearty laugh before sweeping up all five Toa in a giant ash-bear hug. "I've missed you all," Axonn said, relaxing them. "Ah, Brutaka!" The Toa turned to see the blue and gold figure standing in the doorway. "Your team has arrived!"
"So I see," the other warrior said. He moved into the room. "Welcome, Toa Mahri. I'm so glad to have you here. The last few guardians we've had have been rather... unsatisfactory."
Nuparu noticed Brutaka's mask: he had an Olmak again. "How did you get your mask back, Brutaka?" he asked. "Last I heard, your Olmak was destroyed."
"It was. That mad Great Being we saved, however, was able to siphon out the power of the one Vezon had stolen and been fused with. He fashioned a new mask to hold the power. The new mask was given to me to replace my old one."
"There is no time for any more pleasantries," Axonn interjected. "We must get to business." Axonn set to assigning the Toa certain sections of the shrine to watch over. Once everyone had their areas mapped out, they all moved to them and began the slow work of keeping Mata Nui safe.
After a few days of keeping an eye out for nothing, Jaller was wearing thin. He'd patrolled his route outside the shrine time after time and had no action whatsoever. Even Nuparu had managed to be attacked by a crazy vorox.
Bells began to ring. The fire alarm! He looked up to find smoke rising from the south-west side of the building. He ran inside to go help quell the flames.
He arrived in a matter of minutes to find Hahli dousing the flames. Jaller absorbed the rest and asked, "Where are the others?"
"Axonn is down," she replied, "and the other Toa are chasing after Brutaka."
"Brutaka? Why would they be chasing him?" She told him as they ran to catch up with their teammates. In short, Brutaka had knocked out Axonn from behind, grabbed the mask, started a decoy fire, and ran for it. On the way to help with the fire, however, the Toa had run into Brutaka. They had split up from there.
"... and that brings us to when you found me," Hahli finished. "Can you believe he would do a thing like this?"
"Absolutely," Jaller grimly replied.
"Same here." And they ran on.
Nuparu was elated when he saw his teammates finally catch up with him and the other Toa. "Glad you could make it," he said.
"Glad to be here," Jaller said. "Now be quiet and let's chase down that son of a manas."
"With pleasure," Kongu said, giving the group a boost with a blast of wind.
In minutes, the Toa had caught up with the fleeing Brutaka. "Strike as one!" commanded Jaller. Kongu stopped his wind and all five Toa thrust forward with their respective elements. Brutaka, cradling his cloth-wrapped prize, expertly leapt and twisted in the air, effectively dodging every blast. When he came back to the earth, he did not continue fleeing.
"We should have known better than to trust you!" Jaller said to Brutaka as all the Toa came to a stop. "Once a traitor, always a traitor!"
"I'm touched, Toa of embers," Brutaka replied with a grin, cradling the Mask of Life. "After all I did to help save the world, to protect Mata Nui's spirit, you're still willing to fight me. Allow me to return the favor." He unleashed a wide burst of energy from his blade towards Jaller and his team. The five Toa all dove out the way. In that time, Brutaka had already started running again.
Jaller stood again and began racing after the thief. He would not let this being defile Mata Nui's residence! He launched a sustained blast of flame from his sword. Brutaka simply opened a portal and channelled it away. "Why don't you just use one of those to escape?" Jaller inquired. "You could already be thousands of kio away from here!"
"I don't need to," Brutaka replied, still running. "I have other plans."
The other four Toa Mahri had caught up with Jaller now. They were all throwing every elemental ability they had at Brutaka, and he deflected or sent away each attack. Even Hewkii's mask of gravity could not stop him: more concentration would be needed to create a strong enough force to stop Brutaka, and for that he would have to stop running.
Brutaka finally sighed and said, "I tire of this chase. You five are very boring pursuers." After that, several things happened very quickly: Brutaka activated his Olmak, but just as he did, Hewkii sent a rock at his face. Brutaka was so concentrated on opening the dimensional gate, he did not deflect the stone projectile. It collided with his mask, damaging it.
A large portal in front of the pursuing team and sent them all away. Brutaka cursed. He'd intended to send them to a small pocket dimension he'd discovered a short time ago, but with the mask damaged, he had no way of knowing where the Toa Mahri had gone. No matter, he thought. Just another problem I won't have to deal with, I suppose.
To be continued...
A/N: So there you have it. Hope you enjoyed it, and expect chapter 2 soon-ish. C&C very much appreciated.