Ta-daaaaa! Chapter 3!
I need a life. Badly. Where was I when they were handing those out?
Um, no flames about how I transferred the Matoran culture to our world. It just seemed to work. Also, I would like to humbly apologise to the Roman god of the Underworld, Pluto, for making a mockery of the planet named for him. Please don't kill me.
Oh geez, Onewa XD I love you.
Thanks for reading! Please review. Constructive critisism is always appreciated.
*I only own Bhek but not for long~*

Chapter 3: Explain

Bhek knelt before his master. "I-I'm sorry, Master. I have failed you."

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you," growled the ominous voice.

"B-because..." He hung his head. "I don't have one, Master."

The being chuckled. "You are honest and brave, Bhek. I'll almost regret your destruction."

"That's all I could ever ask for, Master."

Then the master started laughing and the servant started screaming.

Lhikan herded the group into the small security room. "Sorry it's such a tight fit. This room wasn't meant for so many people."

There was a short old man with salt-and-pepper hair watching a million TV screens at once. He was wearing a red and black windbreaker with the word 'SECURITY' printed in white on the back in bold capitals. He turned to face them. "The Toa Metru," he said with a satisfied smile. "We've been waiting for you. My name is Dume."

"Okay, listen, you," Onewa snapped, striding up to him and jabbing a finger in his face. "I have questions and I want them answered now!"

"Patience, young Toa. I'll see what I can do."

"Again with the Toa! What the hell is a Toa?"

Dume gestured to all of them. "You are, now. Have you heard of Mata Nui?"

"Sure," Matau said. "It's a college-school."

"Not quite," Lhikan said. "The school was named after the Great Spirit Mata Nui."

"Oh! That's the god for this one religion, what was it called..." Nokama muttered. "I know we covered this in World Religion last year..."

"It's the religion with no name, at least to most of the world," Dume said. "To those who practise it, however, it is known as 'Matoran.'"

"Wait, why is the school named after a god?" Whenua asked sceptically. "I've heard of schools named after saints and stuff, but as far as I know, there's never been a 'Bhudda High' or 'Zeus College.'"

Dume shrugged. "That's not important. Take it up with the founder of the school. The more important question, the one I'm sure is burning in all of your minds right now, is what Mata Nui has to do with Toa and, even more importantly, you." Each of them nodded. "A Toa is a hero who serves the Great Spirit and honours his three virtues of Unity, Duty, and Destiny." As he said each virtue, Vakama felt a shudder run through him. This all sounded so familiar...why was that? Dume turned to each of them in turn. "Nokama, Toa Metru of Water. Nuju, Toa Metru of Ice. Whenua, Toa Metru of Earth. Onewa, Toa Metru of Stone. Matau, Toa Metru of Air." A small smile played on his lips as he turned to the last Toa. "And Vakama, Toa Metru of Fire. It is your destiny, as a group, to overcome evil and save the heart of Metru Nui."

Vakama brushed his fingers against his forehead. This whole thing was starting to give him a headache. "Th-the heart of the city? I don't know what you—"

Something stabbed through his head and he let out a cry. Everything went white, and all he could see for miles was nothingness. Then suddenly in front of him appeared what seemed to be the skyline of Metru Nui. But it was different, somehow, darker, devastated. Vakama's heart thumped out of his chest and into his throat as he tried to run towards the city, but he was running in place, going nowhere. With a jolt, he realized that he recognised this from the dream he'd been having ever since he arrived at the college a week ago, but then something occurred that had never happened before.

Vines snaked around him and lifted him into the air. Then six objects that looked suspiciously like Frisbees flew past him. Light danced from them, destroying the vines and causing Vakama to fall on his head. Their job done, the discs joined together into one in a flash of light and...

"Vakama? Vakama!" That was Nokama's voice; she was shaking him a little. He shook his head, glazed yellow eyes becoming focussed again. "What happened?"

"I-I don't know. One minute I was here, the next..." He described what he'd seen. "And that's not all. For the past week, I've been having the same dream every night, and it's exactly the same as this...whatever it was. Except it always stopped before the vines."

Dume frowned. Had this incarnation also been blessed with the visions the other had had? "The city destroyed...vines...this can only mean the return of the Morbuzakh!"

"Return of the what-now?" Matau asked.

"The Morbuzakh vines once ravaged Metru Nui's, um, sister city," Lhikan said. He scratched the back of his head. "Okay, how best to explain this...? See, there's more than one Metru Nui. There are about...six or seven, each in its own respective universe."

Vakama couldn't help but stare in disbelief and scepticism. "You've been watching too much Star Trek."

"No, really. In different universes, the different incarnations of Metru Nui are on different planets. In one universe, it's on Pluto."

"That's not really a planet," Nuju couldn't help but interject.

"Not in our universe. In that universe, Pluto revolves around the North Star and is inhabited entirely by highly intelligent canines. Anyway, in the universe that we need to be concerned about, Metru Nui is on a planet called Spherus Magna. It used to be on Aqua Magna, but that's another story." Vakama was curious as to how a city moved from one planet to another, but he kept quiet. "On Spherus Magna, people are...well, biomechanical robots."

Matau burst out laughing. "Robots? No more sugar-snacks before bedtime for you, firespitter!"

Vakama blinked. "Firespitter? And what's with the random joining of words all of a sudden, Matau?"

The Toa of Air stopped laughing abruptly. "I...I don't know. Firespitter just popped into my head, and I never spot-noticed the word-joining before...augh! I did it again!"

"That's an Air Toa trait; you get used to it," Lhikan shrugged, waving it away. "And it's true. They really are biomechanical beings. The original Toa Metru appeared there."

"Original?" Whenua asked.

"Yes. Almost everything that's ever happened in this Metru Nui has already happened there. That's why things probably seem really familiar to you, because it's already happened." He nodded at Vakama. "What you saw in your vision was probably the Morbuzakh vines, which attacked Spherus Magna's Metru Nui. They exist simply to destroy."

"If the Morbuzakh vines are returning, then they must be stopped!" Dume declared. "Only the power of the six Great Disks, wielded by the Toa Metru, could defeat them the first time. You must find them!"

"Great Disks? Must? We? Whoa, whoa, whoa," Onewa interjected. "I don't 'must' do anything, and especially not as a 'we.'"

"That doesn't even make any sense," Lhikan retorted, rolling his eyes.

"Shut up!" snapped Onewa. "Whatever it is we're supposed to be doing, I'm not getting involved. My parents aren't paying this place to make me save the world or whatever."

"But Onewa," Nokama protested.

He looked at her with surprise. "Don't tell me you actually want to go along with what they're saying?"

"Onewa, listen. I think...we've been brought together for a reason. I'm a big believer in fate, and, well, what they're saying...it makes sense. Doesn't it just feel right?"

Onewa was about to retort, but something stopped him. She was right; it did feel like everything they were saying was true, like it really was meant to be. But that doesn't mean I'm going to make it easy on them, he thought. "Whatever," he muttered.

Lhikan laid a hand on Onewa's shoulder. "Look, I know what it's like. It was really weird and kinda scary for me when I first became a Toa, too. But Dume and I will be here to guide you through it, to help you hone your powers."

"What about that Bhek guy?" Vakama asked.

Lhikan tensed. "Ah. Yes, we're not entirely sure who he's working for, but whoever it is, he or she doesn't want you guys around. If you don't learn how to properly control your powers, you'll never be able to stay safe. Trust me, those who control the shadows are bad news."

"So basically, it's do or die," Whenua summed up.

"Yeah, that's the gist of it. Well, what do you say?"

They looked at each other, some with fear, some with confidence or cockiness, but they all seemed to come to the same decision. Vakama turned to Dume. "So where do we start?"