Over the next few days, in between his duties, my new master, whose name I was beginning to recognize as 'Lewa', worked patiently with me. Whenever he wanted me to sit, he'd say the command for it while gently forcing my rump down with one hand. To get me to lie down, he'd first get me in a sitting position, then pat the ground to get me to come down. 'Drop it' was made possible when he'd put a hand on the top half of my mouth along with saying the command. Each time I did what he wanted, he'd praise me and give me a treat. It was through this treat system that I learned if I did what he said, I'd be rewarded. 'Stay' and 'come' were a little more of a challenge, but were not impossible. To both of our surprise, I turned out to be a fast learner; I was so eager to please Lewa, I was responding to all of his commands within a week. He even taught me how to do some tricks like walking on my hind legs, placing a paw on his fist, and rolling over.
Two more weeks went by and, not only was I fully trained, I was now a good half a foot taller. I now wore a vine as a collar which I sported with pride. On this particular morning, Lewa patted my head as he talked to me. Although, I couldn't understand every word he said, I got the idea through his touch and tone that he was going somewhere for a while and I was to stay behind. Taking out his blades, he got a running start and took to the sky. Still being a puppy, I was curious as to where he was going, so I looked around for a way to get down from the trees since jumping was out of the question. I spotted one of those large barrel-things that I've seen the Matoran use to get up and down from the trees and, after making sure no one was watching, I went inside. Grabbing the lever with my mouth, I pulled it down and, the next thing I knew, I'm on my way down to the ground below at safe rate, although the jerk of the barrel starting to move made me jump a little. Once on the ground, I took off at top speed in the direction Lewa was going; I didn't want to lose sight of him. After a little while, I came upon a ridge where I gazed upon some wide open land. In the distance, I could see a fiery wasteland. Just as I was wondering what in the world could possibly live there, I noticed Lewa was landing in the open field . . . and there were five other beings like him down there as well. Curiosity piqued, I went to see what was happening. When I got down there, I saw that Lewa was fighting a white person his size. I almost bolted out there when I realized how carefully calculated the fight was. They weren't really fighting, they were play-fighting, or practicing. I noticed a brown one sitting closest to the trees. It looked friendly enough, and I loped closer.
As Toa Pohatu waited patiently for his turn to spar, he heard something in the bushes. Something was coming at him and it had glowing yellow eyes. Before he could grab hold of his climbing claws, it tackled him to the ground. The other Toa, hearing their stone brother's cry of surprise, turned and Lewa and Kopaka halted their match to see what was the matter. What they saw left them speechless, to say the least. The Toa of Stone was laughing as a little kavinika-like Rahi stood on top of him, licking his mask.
"What in the name of the Great Spirit?" Gali wondered aloud as she came closer, only to wind up a victim of a good-natured licking attack herself.
"Tahvi," Lewa spoke, catching the puppy's, and his fellow Toa's, attention, "that's no way to speak-say hello." Tahvi barked as he trotted over to the Air Toa's side. "Sorry about that, brother."
"No matter," Pohatu said as he straightened up.
"I'll take it you know this Rahi, Lewa," Tahu said a bit suspiciously.
Lewa grinned sheepishly, "Brothers, sister, this is Tahvi, my new pet."
The other Toa eyed the young dog, some with interest, others with wariness.
"And, what sort of Rahi is Tahvi, Lewa?" asked Kopaka as he scrutinized the animal with his scope.
The Toa of Air nervously scratched the back of his head. "I'm . . . not totally-exactly sure. He kind-sort of looks like a kavinika, but he's completely organic and a lot nicer." Seeing how Onua was looking at Tahvi, the Air Toa said, "It's alright-ok, brother, he's very friendly," as he stroked the underside of Tahvi's neck to prove it.
The Toa of Earth inched closer and reached out his hand. Tahvi, on his part, wasted no time sniffing and licking it and wagged his tail when Gali came beside him and stroked his back. "Alright, guys, break's lasted long enough," said Tahu. "Let's get back to training." And so, Lewa and Kopaka got back to their match while the others either stood or sat aside, Tahvi next to Gali.
From that moment on, Lewa and his friends continued with their play-fighting, taking turns against each other. At one point, during a break, the brown one combined his two bladed weapons into a large ball. Curious, I sniffed it and walked around it, trying to figure out how I could possibly pick this up in my mouth. Then, the brown one kicked it out into the field and got some kind of game going with Lewa, the black one, and the red alpha male. I watched, fascinated with the ball until I couldn't take it anymore; I wanted to join in the game, too. When I spotted my chance, I bolted out and used my head to maneuver the ball away from the brown one. Within seconds, Lewa and the others were chasing me all over the place.
"Lewa, will you please control your pet?" Tahu asked his teammate as he and his brothers chased the puppy to try and get the ball back. Lewa called out to Tahvi to stop, but the puppy didn't seem to hear him. Meanwhile, Gali and Kopaka watched from the sidelines and the Water Toa couldn't help but smile at the fiasco. Finally, the four Toa managed to surround the puppy and leapt in. But, Tahvi moved quickly and butted the ball with his head and just avoided being trapped, thus all four Toa ended up doggy-piling on top of each other instead.
"Did we get him?" asked Tahu.
"Nope," replied Onua. Then, the Toa of Earth, who was at the top, let out a little grunt when something hopped onto his back.
It was Tahvi, balancing on his back and letting out what one might call a few barks of victory. Gali giggled and Kopaka smiled, as did the other Toa, including Tahu.
That night, Lewa and I lay down to sleep after the eventful day. However, hours later, I suddenly just woke up feeling very uneasy; something somewhere wasn't right. Getting up and careful not to make too much noise so as not to disturb Lewa, I walked out of the hut. Outside, the feeling was still there, but I couldn't pinpoint what it was. Then, all of a sudden I heard it and perked up my ears. Though the sound was faint, it was there; a scratching-like noise I didn't like the sound of. Something about it just made the hairs on my back bristle. Quickly turning around, I made sure that Lewa was ok. I then followed my ears to the source of the sound while making sure the villagers were also alright. Finally, I got to where the sound was coming from—Turaga Matau's hut. Peeking in, I saw a sight that made my blood run cold. It was a snake poised to strike the sleeping Turaga. Then, as fast as my blood turned to ice with fear, it was warmed up as if by a raging fire that was borne out of an instinctual need to protect Matau. The hairs on my back stood on end and my lips curled up as I let out a warning growl. Even if it couldn't hear me, if it sensed my presence the snake gave no notice and slithered a little closer. I snarled, muscles tensing and ready to spring.
Matau woke up to some snarling. 'What in the name of the Great Spirit's going on?' he wondered. Looking over his shoulder, he found Tahvi, teeth bared. "Tahvi, what's--" then gasped when a bog snake revealed itself, hissing. The Rahi lunged to bite the Turaga—only to be stopped short. Like a bolt of lightning, Tahvi leapt at the snake before it could make its mark, his jaws clasped around its lower neck. Before the Rahi could react, the puppy began to violently shake his head, sometimes battering the snake's head against the floor, growling and snarling. It was as if the snake was a rug or a piece of cloth he was trying to shred.
Elsewhere, Kongu and Tamaru woke up to a commotion in the Turaga's hut. It even woke up Toa Lewa. He was about to command Tahvi to stay put when he discovered the puppy wasn't at his sleeping spot. Already fearing what was going on, the Air Toa sprinted to the hut in question. Kongu and Tamaru were already there. Neither Matoran, nor Toa, could believe their eyes. Before them, Tahvi was trying to kill a bog snake.
The snake tried to fight back and break free, but my grip was too strong. I was shaking it too much for it to bite back. I felt it even desperately try to wrap its tail around my neck as if in hope it could dissuade my attack by choking me, but it did it no good. A few moments later, I realized it wasn't fighting anymore. It just hung limply in my jaws, dead. Seeing Lewa standing in the doorway, I walked up to him and deposited the snake at his feet. While Kongu and Tamaru went to check on the Turaga, Lewa took the snake in one hand and patted my head with the other as he praised, "Good boy." I'd never felt so proud of myself in my life before that; I was still only a puppy, yet I put my life on the line to save another. Of course, I just did what any other loyal dog would've done.
The months passed, and I was now about as big as I was going to get. I was now as tall as the Toas' knees. Aside from the occasional Rahi attack, everything on the island was pretty peaceful. Even though Lewa would let me come with him on his errands, visits to the other villages, or training matches with the other Toa, I still had to stay behind at the village every once in a while. I didn't mind, though; I managed to keep myself busy by spending some time with the Matoran, helping around the village, or keeping Turaga Matau company.
One day, Tamaru and I were playing in the jungle when we both suddenly became aware of a strong breeze that seemed to appear from nowhere. That was when Kongu found us. He told Tamaru something I couldn't understand, but I could tell from his tone and the look on Tamaru's mask that it was serious. Without warning, we all heard thunder that sounded awfully close. I looked to the sky and, not too far off in the distance, I could see a larger-than-large mass of dark storm clouds heading our way. Thanks to the wind that had picked up incredible speed at an alarming rate, before either of us knew it, seemingly in the shake of my tail, the thick blanket of clouds covered the entire sky, blotting out the noonday sun. A flash of lightning, another clap of thunder that hurt my ears, and buckets upon buckets of rain poured down on us.
"We'd better hurry-back to the village," said Kongu as he tried to shield himself from the windswept rain that felt like insect stings on his body. Tamaru nodded in agreement and called for Tahvi to follow. The two Le-Matoran leaped through the trees while the dog trailed them on the ground. Meanwhile, the flash flood was making the river rise far above its normal banks. Up in the trees, Kongu took a moment to stop on one, which turned out to be a big mistake. The soggy ground could no longer maintain the tree's weight and lurched, causing the Captain of the Gukko Force to lose his balance and almost fall off. He grabbed ahold of the branch, but before he could steady himself enough to jump, the tree fell. Kongu screamed as he was thrown off of the tree before he hit the river with a splash.
"Kongu!" Tamaru cried in horror. Tahvi barked and ran after the Le-Matoran. Tamaru, seeing what the dog was going to do, called out, "Tahvi!", but the dog leaped into the rapids with a big jump.
When Tahvi finally broke the water he searched for Kongu. He spotted him a little further downstream. With a burst of strength that seemingly came from nowhere, Tahvi kicked his legs and swam to catch up to the Le-Matoran. He was almost there, and Kongu just spotted the dog coming, when a swell forced him underwater. Tahvi dove in after him. A second later, Tahvi returned to the surface—with Kongu, arms wrapped around his neck—and he fought against the current to shore. It was slow going, but, somehow, the dog and his rescuee made it. While Tahvi shook himself, Kongu was sputtering and coughing up water, but he was alive. Tamaru ran to him and helped him to his feet. Kongu stood before the dog and petted and praised him. Tahvi simply licked his mask and the three of them made their way to the village, safe and sound, where they waited out the storm.
A week-and-a-half later, Lewa took me with him to one of the other villages on the island. Ever since that last big storm we had, he'd been checking on his fellow Toa, both to see how they and their villages were doing and, if they were also hit by the storm, if there was anything he could to help. As for Le-Koro, some tree branches wrecked some huts and some bridges were dismantled, but it wasn't anything that couldn't be repaired and, thankfully, no one was hurt. As we flew, I noticed that the air was getting colder. When Lewa landed, he bent down to let me off—and I landed on some white stuff that crunched under my feet. I sniffed at it and when I lifted my head, I saw to my amazement that the white stuff covered every inch of the land. Even the huts that the local Matoran lived in were made of it. I pawed at the stuff, finding it very weird. It felt like cold, wet sand. I started cautiously walking in the what-I-would-later-learn was called snow, high-stepping my paws. I admit I must've looked silly, but I didn't know what to make of it; this was my first time in Ko-Koro. That's when I heard approaching footsteps. It was Toa Kopaka.
"First time he's seen snow?" asked the Toa of Ice.
"Yeah," Lewa replied.
"What brings you here, brother?"
"Just checking how you're all doing after that last nasty-big storm we had."
"Thanks to our location, we weren't hit very hard. Although, the Matoran could use some help that requires your expertise at the far end of the village."
"Where are you way-going?"
"Patrolling," answered the Ice Toa, and he took his leave.
The Toa of Air simply grinned as he shook his head; he knew his brother Toa well and that he was simply going out to be by himself. "Sorry, Tahvi, fun-playtime's going to have to patient-wait for a while." The dog gave a slight whimper, but otherwise didn't protest.