LEGEND OF THE TOA
Chronicle of the Shadowed One
With dark forces pushing Matoran defenses backwards and backwards until the point of demise, the once-peaceful island of Mata Nui is facing its most dangerous trial yet. The only thing keeping the Matoran fighting for their lives is their faith in the arrival of six brave warriors, called Toa, but their Turaga leaders have finally become uncertain... and one Matoran is making sure the Toa never arrive.
Chapter One
Desperately pushing branches aside in his desperate run for his life, Takua the Chronicler stumbled on a rock and fell mask-first onto the leaf-covered ground of Le-Wahi. He turned around to see nothing, however, he knew his attacker was out there, waiting for him to make another stupid move which mean the Matoran's end.
A pair of glowing poison-green eyes appeared in the darkness. Takua crawled backwards, knowing there was no hope. After all, there had been no hope for a long time now.
Breathing in a deep breath, Takua stood up, picking up the longest stick he could find on the ground.
"Come out, you beast! You can't hide forever!" Takua yelled, trying to sound more confident than he was.
The eyes disappeared, and for a brief moment, Takua felt that the beast following him had left. But then, it sprang at him, sharp rotting fangs desperately searching for Matoran armour to gnaw on. The Chronicler had to force every working in his body to not run for his life, and instead, engage the enemy. He stepped to his left, bringing the long stick above his head, and then smashing it down onto the beast's skull. It's jaw hit the ground with a loud crunch, and Takua took a step backwards to prepare himself for more attacks.
The beast that had attacked Takua was a Rahi, which usually lived in peace with the Matoran that inhabited the island of Mata Nui. But ever since the Makuta shadows had arrived, the Rahi had been enslaved by wearing infected Kanohi masks. This Rahi was a Nui-Jaga, a scorpion-like creature which had great powerful jaws and also a fire-launching stinging tail. The Nui-Jaga twitched, and Takua slammed the stick against the Rahi's skull yet again. It lay there motionless, but Takua knew that it wasn't dead by the glowing heartlight on its chest.
Takua wasn't a cruel Ta-Matoran. He could have easily killed the Rahi, but instead, he grabbed the infected mask and pulled it free of the Nui-Jaga's face. It stopped retaliating and rested there. Takua flung himself away and landed on the ground. Slowly, the Nui-Jaga stood up and stared at Takua. Gulping, the Ta-Matoran wasn't sure whether the Rahi would attack him or try to kill him again. Instead, the Nui-Jaga lent the Ta-Matoran his left claw, which Takua grabbed to get to his feet. The Rahi bowed before turning around and crawling out of sight.
Takua puffed out his chestplate, proud of himself. As he was about to turn around and go back to his home village, a friendly voice stopped him from leaving.
"Hello, Takua."
The Ta-Matoran turned around, smiling. "Nice to see you, Kongu."
Takua's friend stood at the front of a little group of Le-Matoran. He wore a greenish-blue Kanohi mask and bright lime green armour. He wielded a small axe, which was actually a sharpened piece of metal tied to a long stick. The only other Le-Matoran Takua knew was Tamaru, the one standing to Kongu's right.
"We saw you deal with that Nui-Jaga. Very impressive!" Kongu said.
"... For a Chronicler," one of the Le-Matoran muttered.
Takua ignored him. "So you guys would have let me die instead of getting your green-butts scratched?"
"Of course not, but you seemed to be handling yourself perfectly," Kongu replied.
"Well, I must be getting back to Ta-Koro, so if you don't mind, I'll be going," Takua said, turning around, but then a Le-Matoran appeared in front of him, blocking his path.
"Actually, Takua, we do mind," Kongu replied. "You're coming with us."
The last thing Takua saw before everything went black was Kongu ramming the hilt of his stick-axe into the space between the Ta-Matoran's optics.
When Takua woke up, he was tied to a bambu chair inside a leaf dome. He could be in Le-Koro, Ga-Koro, or Ga-Wahi, and being that unsure made the Chronicler nervous.
"Hello?" Takua shouted. "Kongu!"
The leaf dome's entrance opened, and Kongu and the Onu-Matoran called Nuparu (an engineer) walked inside.
"Welcome to Le-Mangaia, Takua," Kongu said.
"What? Le-Mangaia? Don't you mean...?"
"No, I don't. Now, you're here becuase you have lots of information that is very valuable to us about the To - I mean, the Makuta. Tell us everything you know that we don't!" Kongu said.
"You're insane, Le-Matoran! All of the villages of Mata Nui know the exact same about the Makuta! They're evil, they've infected the Rahi of the island, and they want to kill us all! That's all there is to know," Takua yelled.
Kongu clenched his fist and punched Takua in the mask. The chair fell over and Takua's head hit the hard surface. Kongu then kicked Takua' head, sending teh chair back upright. Takua breathed slowly, his head hanging low. Kongu grabbed him by the mask and stared him in the optic, saying: "Tell me what you know, Takua..."
Takua sneered. "If I knew anything else, I wouldn't tell you."
"So be it."
Kongu tightened his grib on Takua's mask and ripped it off of his face. Takua began breathing heavily, as know Matoran or Turaga could live longer than two minutes without a Kanohi mask. Everything went blurry. Kongu and Nuparu approached a machine towards Takua's naked face, and it plugged into the socket where Kanohi masks were meant to be clipped onto. Suddenly, unbearable pain surged through Takua's head and body. He screamed, and shook his body violently. Finally, he wriggled his wrists free of the rope they were tied by and he ripped the machine from his face.
Instead of being in the so-called Le-Mangaia, he was inside the Mangaia Lair, home of the Makuta. Infected Tarakava had been simulating a dream which would have been going on, yet with a dark machine that had something attached to Takua's face and also his heartlight. Takua had ripped off the wires attached to his face, and could find himself suffocating again. The infected Tarakava Rahi were now angry. In shock, the Ta-Matoran ripped off the infected Kanohi from the first and slammed it into the skull of the other. As they were distracted, Takua ripped out the glowing wire attached to his heartlight and found his Kanohi mask on the ground. He picked it up and placed it on his face. It glowed and re-moulded itself to fit his face. The distracted Tarakava finally regained lucidity, but Takua was too quick. He grabbed the wire that had been plugged into his heartlight and shoved it into the Rahi's optic. It roared in pain and confusion, and Takua made a run for it. He found an exit, but it was a long way above him.
Suddenly the Tarakava was rigth behind him. The wire was still inside its optic. Takua leapt onto it and swung himself onto the Rahi's head as agile as a Le-Matoran, and with as much strength as he could gather, he leapt onto the side of the tunnel in the roof, and then bounced higher until his hands reached the exit. Pulling himself onto land, Takua panted in disbelief.
He started laughing. "I did it! I did it..."
As he got up, Takua noticed that a large crab was approaching him. He smiled, got up, and mounted the Rahi crab.
"It's been a long time, Pewkuu! Come on," Takua said, patting the crab's shell. "To Ta-Koro!"