Chapter 4 is up and ready to go! I do not own Bionicle, just the characters I imagined and built myself! The chracters can be seen on my MOCpages account (I'm called Porauku over there)
Enjoy!
Chapter 4: The Truth
Gashema wasn't saying anything. I wasn't saying anything. No-one was saying anything. I continued to look around before slowly backing away. Before my feet were back on solid ground – well, as solid as sand could be – A figure emerged. The Akaku alerted me to movement and my head quickly turned, the kanohi examining every detail before compiling the results. No weapons, over 800 cycles on this island, Ga-Koran in origin.
I eased up and nudged Gashema, who turned around to see the figure. I breathed a sigh of relief when the silence was broken by Gashema's reassuring voice:
"Nokama. We come seeking your help. I understand why they are apprehensive – they don't have a reason to be, but whatever floats their village, I guess. My friend, is without memories and seeks his home."
"Have you tried Ko-Koro?" Nokama's voice had an unmistakable air of wisdom etched within each word.
"The first place we tried. No such luck," replied Gashema.
The villagers slowly began to disperse yet the feeling of their collective unease stayed. Turaga Nokama gestured for us to follow her.
Inside her hut was a myriad of strange tools. Nokama looked at me and studied my armour.
"Hmmm. Traces of Ta-Koran embers, Onu-Wahi sands, Ko-Koro's frost. You are without memories, correct?"
I nodded in response.
"Your past self was quite the traveller. He has been everywhere. May I?" She asked, gesturing towards my arm-mounted boneshield.
I allowed her to unclasp the shield and analyse it. A small piece was chipped off ("I shall put it back afterwards") and placed it in a jar with a strange clear liquid. Nokama reached up to a shelf and placed down six jars bearing pieces of armour, each labelled with a place of origin. Le-Koro, Po-Koro and Ta-Koro were but a few of the names.
"Armour is more than just a piece of protection. It tells a story that no Chronicler could ever tell. Are you aware of the Toa Nuva's adaptive armour?"
I didn't know who, or what, a 'Nuva' was, thanks to the amnesia. Luckily, my Ga-Koran friend seemed well-versed in their legends.
"Of course. The armour adapts to its environment and alters its properties, design and colours," She explained, more for my sake than anyone else's.
"Matoran armour is equally adaptive; albeit in a different way. Matoran armour adapts to the home environment but then doesn't change once the Matoran is fully grown. That is why it is important that Matoran do not leave their homes, or it may lead to some strange combinations and mutations."
I looked at Gashema's armour. She noticed my glance:
"That's not what happened to me, friend. What happened there was a whole different barrel of lightfish..."
Nokama continued.
"Each armour is adapted for its village. Ko-Matoran armour is thick for insulation against the cold and the Matoran are usually short to increase the speed of flow around their bodies to prevent tiobite."
She pulled a piece of thick, white armour out of its jar. The jar was slightly frosted.
Another jar was opened, which was clouded up, was opened. The steam released to reveal a thin piece of long, vibrant red armour.
"Ta-matoran armour is thin an has minuscule gaps in the armour to allow for easy breathing. Ga-Matoran armour is –"
Gashema interrupted.
"Can I explain Ga-Koro armour?"
Nokama chuckled at her enthusiasm.
"Go ahead, Gashema."
"Ga-Koro armour is smooth for swift water movement and is watertight. Also, you'll notice that your armour has little pieces of rust beginning to appear on it –" I looked at my chest armour to see small pockets of rust beginning to appear.
" – Ga-Matoran armour is water-resilient – That rust is temporary, by the way – and we have a larger lung capacity than other Matoran."
A piece of armour was picked out of its submerged jar. The armour looked to be almost silken in nature. Nokama took a breath before continuing her explanation:
"Le-Matoran armour –" she picked the contents out of a jar and, rapped in vines, was another piece of armour. It was smaller and than the others and looked like it weighed little more than a feather.
"– Is lightweight and doesn't cover the joints. This means they are light and agile in their movements. They have a special hollow protodermis to further reduce weight," said Nokama.
"Onu-Matoran armour is thick and sturdy. In the past, they have been able to survive entire cavern system collapses and be unscathed. Their vision is unparalleled, no doubt to be able to see in the dark."
A larger, opaque jar revealed a piece of Onu-Matoran armour. It didn't have the reflective sheen that the other pieces possessed, instead opting to exhibit a dull, unpolished finish. I guess shiny armour wouldn't help with no light to reflect.
"Last but not least is Po-Koran armour. Their armour is specifically designed to not absorb the sun's heat with a complex outer coating material that we have yet to fully understand and utilise. Additionally, The Po-Matoran can go for days without food or water because of their fiercely efficient mechanisms and storage systems."
This was nice to know, but I couldn't help but think: where did my discoloured armour fit into all of this?
"But not even the Great Spirit himself could craft a metal strong enough to withstand the sandstorms that ravage the area. Po-Matoran must take shelter or their armour will be scratched away, losing their colour – and consequently, their properties," Nokama explained whilst looked at the piece of armour that was in the jar and compared it to mine.
Despite the differing colour, the two pieces seemed to react to each other. They seemed to be re-arranging their protodermal layer and mimicking each other. The mere close proximity was enough to incite a reaction like long-seperated brethren.
"Porauku, you are indeed a Po-Matoran."
Amidst the assortment of emotions that were running through my head, I heard Gashema ask a question I would have forgotten to ask:
"Turaga Nokama? Do you know of someone who can return lost memories?"
"I cannot help you with that. But Turaga Vakama may be able to help. Seek him in Ta-Koro."
So that's it. We had a place of origin. We had a name. We have a way to restore memories. Our goal was in our mind and we were ready to sort this mess out. This was a nice turn of events after what happened early in this day-cycle.
Ta-Koro – Our next destination. This was turning out to be quite the island tour.
Tiobite: Something I made up. It's like frostbite, with 'Tio' coming from the maori word for 'ice'. As you may know, Bionicle names and some terms (like 'toa') come from the maori language.
So Porauku is of Po-Koro and we see some tension in Ga-Koro. What will happen next? I enjoyed writing this chapter as I like creating my own little interpretations of things. I thought of the idea behind differing armour myself but it seems I am not the first person to do so.
Thanks again to Sumi-Sprite, my trusted Beta-reader! Sumi helped out quite a bit with this chapter.
IMPORTANT: Now, the bad news. Settle down, the story will continue - I'm not that cold-hearted (It just doesn't beat...) but the chapters will come a lot slower. Need something to thank for that? thank my SD card for malfunctioning. As you know, I created a buffer zone so I won't be pressured into overloading myself. Chapters 8 - 12 are gone. Half of chapter 7 is gone. The surviving chapters have not had their later modifications, meaning I will, essentially, have to partially re-write them. My updated notes that have aspects I thought of later are gone. My idea for a sequel; gone. Updates will be a lot slower as I think a portion of my enthusiasm for Porauku's ventures was deleted as well. Even when I re-write the chapters, I'll always end up comparing them to the SUPERIOR deceased predecessor. I may be able to salvage something but expect updates to slow down.