Chapter 04

Hakann leaned back on the roof of a temple in Ga-Metru, which towered high above the surrounding structures and looked over into the desert regions of Po-Metru. It was nearing dusk, and the sunset glittered brilliantly over the landscape.

"What a despicable sight," Hakann grumbled under his breath.

Hakann was a Dark Hunter. Specifically, he was a Skakdi with dormant elemental powers of fire. But his lack of elemental powers were made up by his heat beam eyes and mental blasts, as well as his brutish demeanor. He had a large toothy grin, spikes down his arms and back, and large clawed feet. He also had an abrasive personality, and many of the Dark Hunters nicknamed him Piraka, which was a Matoran curse word for a thief and murderer. It fit Hakann just fine.

But behind his cruelty, Hakann also had a sharp mind, and he was always scheming. He had joined the Dark Hunters against his will; The Shadowed One had seen potential in him and forced him to become one of his mercenaries. Hakann didn't like working for him; he would rather strike out on his own, to steal whatever he wanted and keep it for himself. But the only way to turn down The Shadowed One was by death, and Hakann preferred to keep breathing. Instead, he spent most of his energies on trying to turn a profit for himself while keeping The Shadowed One and his minions in check.

Hakann's ability to do so had been hampered quite a bit by the war. Now he was just another soldier fighting for the Dark Hunters in Metru-Nui. This was not what he wanted to be doing. But the only way he could see The Shadowed One pulling out was if the Toa were utterly defeated. So he wanted to crush them, as to end this war and get as far away from this dreaded island as he could.

When he had heard about the special project Lariska was putting together, he knew that it could be the blow that would end the war in their favor. And so, against his better judgment, he had volunteered to help see it through. And now here he was, on a rooftop in Ga-Metru, on sentry duty.

"What are you grumbling about?" Hakann's companion, codenamed Optics, asked.

Optics was yet another Dark Hunter who had a dark history with The Shadowed One, although he wasn't nearly as strong headed as Hakann. Optics was of a bird-like species; he had a somewhat humanoid build, but also had two large feathered wings folded up against his back, which he could use for flight. Although he had clawed hands and talons, he was not particularly skilled in hand to hand combat. Rather, his species was renowned for their sense of sight and hearing, which were among the best in the Matoran Universe.

Optics had originally used his gifts to steal from traders, often picking out his target from afar, then swooping in and out with his plunder without anybody noticing. But when he tried to steal from the Dark Hunters once, they had captured and eventually recruited him. The Shadowed One, impressed by his eyesight, had decided to make modifications, adding various lenses to Optics' eyes. The modifications increased his vision threefold, but The Shadowed One had built in a failsafe to blind him if he ever left the Dark Hunters. As such, Optics was another reluctant Dark Hunter in this war.

Many other Dark Hunters shared similar backstories. Hakann reflected that The Shadowed One was mighty confident to employ so many reluctant beings of power. Yet he ruled so forcefully that many of them seemingly had no choice but to go along with it.

In response to Optics' questioning, Hakann replied, "Just thinking of the day we'll be able to leave this wretched island. Don't get me wrong; I like slaughtering a Toa every now and then, but this drawn out war is just ridicules."

"If Lariska's plan goes through..." Optics started.

"Yeah, I know," Hakann grumbled. "But it's fallen on its face quite early. We attacked this region and all, but we have nothing to show for it. And now I'm stuck on guard duty, just waiting for the Toa to make their way back."

Optics was about to respond, much to Hakann's displeasure. Optics didn't always understand social cues, in particular the ones Hakann left to tell him to shut up. He suspected that's why they had been paired up; few other Dark Hunters would put up with Hakann for as long as Optics, who let the Skakdi's harsh words just bounce off him. Hakann figured that the eye modifications had probably also meddled Optics' brain too, draining him of emotions like greed and anger. As such, Hakann had very little he could relate to with Optics.

But then Optics perked up and looked across the desert, completely distracted. "Something comes," he spoke.

"Is it Toa?" Hakann asked. "If it's Toa, then they were pretty quick; we only attacked just this morning."

Optics shook his head. "I do not believe so. I cannot see it yet, but it appears to be a single craft. A Hover-Bike, I believe."

"A Hover-Bike is a Matoran craft," Hakann said, frowning. "Few Toa would use one of those; they'd be too large for them."

"It indeed sounds like Matoran," Optics said. "But something is odd about this."

"Yeah, why would any Matoran fly over here?" Hakann asked. "Are they crazy or something. They'll totally be out of their league."

"That's not it," Optics said. "One of them appears to be... singing."

Meanwhile, not far away, Kulagi was racing his Hover-Bike across the Po-Metru desert, keeping low to the ground to avoid getting sighted by any more Dark Hunters. However, he was having trouble remaining inconspicuous, partially because Triki was belting out a song behind him.

"Ninety-nine Kanoka discs on the wall, ninety-nine Kanoka discs," Triki sang. "Take one down, toss it around, ninety-eight Kanoka discs on the wall!"

"Triki, will you cut that out?" Kulagi shouted. "I think your voice is louder than my Hover-Bike's engine right now. We don't want to attract too much attention."

"Gotcha, I will be silent as the Lohrak," Triki said.

"Wait, Lohrak aren't silent at all," Kulagi said.

" Zactly!" Triki exclaimed, and then continued to sing. "Ninety-ten Kanoka discs on the wall..."

Kulagi shook his head. Triki was often a pain to travel with, even when they weren't heading into enemy territory. But in a fight, Kulagi would rather rely on the crazy Le-Matoran than any of the Matoran Guard. Although hopefully they could avoid a fight this time, so long as Triki didn't attract any attention.

"Pretty sunset," Triki said, breaking off from his song finally. "So many colors. And I didn't have to head-slam to see em!"

"We're almost on the border of Ga-Metru now," Kulagi said. "We'll cross a cannel and then be amongst the labs where Sufina works. Her living space is further in, so we'll check there first. She might've holed up there when the Dark Hunters attacked, but there's also a chance she found a better hiding place."

"What if Dark Hunters got-snagged her?" Triki asked.

"Sufina's smarter than that," Kulagi said. "She would've hidden somewhere before they got to her. And she knows some of the darker parts of the Metru now too."

"Ooh, has she turned criminal-like too?" Triki asked. "Or is she just nocturnal like night-Rahi?"

"She's not a criminal," Kulagi shot back. "Although she might have occasionally hung out with one," he added under his breath. After all, he had visited Sufina quite often, and they would take trips to restricted areas where Kulagi could collect some pure Ga-Metru protodermis. While those actions were technically illegal, their ventures had shown them the best places to hide from the Bordakh Vahki. Those same places would also be useful for hiding from Dark Hunters, or at least Kulagi hoped they were.

"The colors!" Triki said, describing the sunset again. "So many reds and yellows. And green too!"

"Green?" repeated Kulagi, glancing back. Against the sunset, there was a bright green streak of light rising into the air. It was some sort of flare, and worse more were joining it, until Kulagi could count at leave five coming from various directions.

"Not good," he said. "That must be the Dark Hunters signaling each other. They might have sighted us."

"I see-not any of them," Triki said, looking around intently.

"Well, you know what they say about Dark Hunters striking from the shadows and all," Kulagi said. "Load your launcher and grab on tight; I'm going to be speeding up."

Kulagi began accelerating, but he kept low to the ground, and sped through the narrow streets between the Po-Metru buildings. It was a reckless and dangerous move on his part, but Kulagi was an excellent Hover-Bike driver, having evaded many Vahki before in various chases. But this time, he was up against Dark Hunters.

"Big white guy approaching!" Triki shouted suddenly. Kulagi glanced backwards to see that there was already somebody in pursuit. The figure was tall and white with orange highlights, and appeared to have six limbs. However, he was folded up in a flight mode and was catching up quickly. Kulagi had heard that some Dark Hunters had implants that would let them fly like Hover-Bikes, but he had never seen them in action. This particular Dark Hunter appeared to be even faster than Kulagi's Hover Bike, and was gaining ground.

"Let's see how he is on the turn," Kulagi said, swerving to the side down an alley. The turn was sharp, and his Hover-Bike blades just missed grazing the side of the building. But he made it. Unfortunately, the Dark Hunter also made the turn, with extra elegance at that.

"Triki, shoot him down!" Kulagi shouted.

"Right-o!" Triki said, swiveling in his seat so that he was facing backwards. He fired his Kanoka, but the Dark Hunter flicked it aside with his scythe.

Kulagi turned down another street, and blocks away he could see the canal border between Po-Metru and Ga-Metru. He sped up, but then he sighted a dark blue creature jumping from a nearby rooftop. This new Dark Hunter was a behemoth; he was easily twice as tall as a Toa with muscular arms and legs, and a jagged sword in one hand.

Just one swing from the new player would destroy his Hover-Bike. But Kulagi wasn't going to give him the chance. He loaded Kanoka into his dual launchers and fired. The massive Dark Hunter wasn't expecting this attack, and was forced to shield his face as the discs struck him.

"Um, hate to be news-of-bad giver, but white-spikes is about to catch us!" Triki shouted.

Kulagi spared a glance back to see that the white and orange Dark Hunter was only two body lengths away from reaching the Hover-Bike. He was now lifting his scythe again, and the tip started to glow green.
Meanwhile, the blue Dark Hunter had recovered from the Kanoka attack, and he was not happy. He charged forward, ready to ram the Hover-Bike out of the air.

And Kulagi couldn't help but grin.

At the last moment, Kulagi angled the Hover-Bike into a steep incline, shooting up and over the blue Dark Hunter. The white Dark Hunter was angling himself to gain altitude too, but then he got slammed by his comrade, and both were thrown into the ground. Meanwhile, Kulagi and Triki blasted away on their Hover-Bike.

"Krekka beat on Matoran who shoot him!" the blue Dark Hunter said, pounding his fist on the white Dark Hunter.

"Krekka, you imbecile, I am not a Matoran!" the white Dark Hunter snarled.

"Oh," Krekka said dumbly, standing up. "Sorry, Kavihkli."

Kavihkli got to his feet and pointed his scythe at Krekka's throat. "Do that again and I'll make sure you never breathe again."

"Yes, Kavihkli," Krekka said. "But what about the Matoran?"

Kavihkli sneered. "Looks like I will not have the pleasure of taking them down myself. A shame; the one was a good flyer."

Meanwhile, Kulagi flew over the canal and over the labs in Ga-Metru. "I think we managed to lose them, Triki," he said. "Now let's continue our mission and find Sufina..."

A heat beam laced through the air, and sliced off the back blade of Kulagi's Hover-Bike. He yelped as he lost control and they started to descend. He managed to pull up before they crashed into the street, but then another projectile struck the side of the Hover-Bike, tipping it over completely. The Hover-Bike smashed into the street, and Kulagi and Triki painfully hit the ground next to it.

"That was not-good crash-bad landing," Triki said dizzily. "And I know crash-bad landings."

"The Dark Hunter who shot us down was from over there," Kulagi said, pointing down one street. "But then the next shot came from that way..." he added, pointing in the opposite direction. He cursed. "They have us surrounded."

"They want to play Ring-Around-The-Rahi then?" Triki asked hopefully.

"Probably not," Kulagi said, retrieving his Kanoka launcher. His shoulder and head ached from the landing, but he ignored the pain, because a fight was inevitably coming up.

Indeed, he soon sighted the shadows of his enemies. Their silhouettes appeared in the growing darkness, approaching from multiple directions. Kulagi counted at least five of them. He could've held off one or two, maybe three with Triki's help. But there was no way the two of them could take down five, especially when his Hover-Bike was out of commission.

The first Dark Hunter stepped out of the shadows, and Kulagi could see his big, toothy grin. It was Hakann. "Greetings, Matoran," he said. "Welcome to Ga-Metru."