Authors note:
Hi, so sorry if it seemed like I had just forgotten about this! But you will now be treated to an extra special long chapy! And special thanks to: Shatter Dave and InTheLight-Hija! Your input is invaluable! And all you other readers, don't be afraid to leave a review! (yes, I know you're there!)
He stared at the strange little "matoran" that was now in his arms, inspecting her with his scope. She was a strange one; her skin still held a large amount of color in it, like most young matoran children. However, unlike matoran children who's skin colors matched their elements, she only had one color, which was a light cream. Nuju had no idea what kind of matoran had that coloring, perhaps plasma? There were no visible mechanical parts to her anywhere. She wore a material akin to the robes of a turaga or those worn for festivals, instead of the usual armor. The girl, now unconscious, was snuggling up to him, finding relief in the cold that radiated off of his being. But the most bizarre thing about her was the fact that she didn't wear a Kanohi and her face had small brown spots on it. "What sort of sickness dose she have that would do that?" Thought Nuju when he noticed the little spots dotting her pale face.
The girl was sweating and groaning from the unbearable heat. Nuju looked over to his new water sister, and questioned in his normal, even voice, "Nokama, where is the closest clinic in Ga-Metru?" The rest of the Toa were still in a bit of a shock when she answered, "Come, it's this way..."
Along the way, the new Toa noticed a lot of attention coming from passers-bye, as well as a few odd looks. Many stared at the "matoran child" they were carrying, and asked what had happened and whether the Toa were here to stay. One of these was an elder Ga-Matoran with a motherly nature, an old teacher of Nokama's, who approached the Toa of water, "is the child alright, Toa, what happened?" Nokama shook her sapphire Kanohi, "I truly do not know, Mahlan, one moment we were next to the Suva, the next she appeared." Mahlan nodded thoughtfully, "when she is well enough, will you give this to her then, Toa?" She fished into a small pouch hanging at her side and quickly pulled out a doll in the form of a Ko-Matoran wearing a light blue Akaku. Handing it to Nokama she added, "I have heard that an occupied child will normally heal faster than one locked in a healer's room with nothing to do but stare at walls." Nokama smiled, "thank you, teacher, I will be sure she gets it."
They had been traveling for about a half hour or so when, unfortunately, Nuju realized that even with the strength of a Toa, he still hadn't nearly as much upper body strength as a few of his brothers. So he had to hand off the girl to the verystrong Toa of earth nearly half way there. Neither minded much though, Whenua's archivist nature had become active at the strange nature of the girl and Nuju didn't like to carry her around much anyway.
Not that he didn't like her, he had yet to know a thing about her, but the fact that she gave off about as much heat as a small Ta-Metru forge did put him off quite a bit. Moreover, he wasn't about to look like more of a weakling in front of the other Toa by holding someone that drained his powers with her own body heat. It was just illogical.
XxXxXxX
Kaylynn had been drifting in and out of consciousness ever since appearing on that table thingy, though it did seem a bit too round to have been a table; another thing to think about later. She heard small snippets of conversations during the moments she had regained enough awareness to think straight, but it sounded strange; the people were speaking in a foreign tongue she had never heard before. God, where am I? She thought the language sounded reminiscent of modern Japanese. But that told her nothing about where she was or how she got here.
It was during one of these moments of thought that she felt herself handed off to another person. This new person was fairly different than the last, and smelled like the red woods Kaylynn used to go camping in with Gran. This new person also felt stronger too, giving no sign at all that she was a burden to carry.
Kaylynn felt she had enough strength to open her eyes, if only for a moment. Her emerald eyes blearily opened, catching a glimpse of a black armored shoulder. Why would they be wearing armor, did I show up in the middle of a battle somewhere in Japan or something? None of these things were helping her figure out what was going on, and this heat and splitting headache wasn't helping anything. Kaylynn finally decided that she could use her energy to problem solve later. For now, sleep sounded like a much better idea...
Lhikan sat at the steps to the Ta-Kini, nervously twiddling an ember flower in his golden gloved hands. He enjoyed the time away from his duty, who didn't? But he just couldn't relax with the thought of six new Toa tromping through the city. He had known there had been risks to letting them go off on their own, but he thought this would probably be a good chance to test the strength of their unity. After all, Lhikan needed to know what he was dealing with, what type of training would work and who got along with who. Just the basic stuff that would tell him what weak points needed to be worked on in the group.
"Maybe this was a bad idea," he mumbled, standing up. "Maybe I should go check on them..." Lhikan had just taken out his twin swords to put together into his hover-board, when a Ga-Matoran ran up to him shouting. "Toa, Toa Lhikan!" Lhikan set down his tools and turned to the young matoran, "Yes, young one, what is it?" The Toa of fire supported the girl with a hand on her shoulder as she caught her breath, "Toa Lhikan... the new Toa... at the Ga-Metru clinic... said you should get there soon..." Lhikan tried to hide a grimace, Great, only Toa for a few hours and at least one of them has managed to injure himself! "Thank you, little one, I will be there soon; you have been very helpful." The girl turned and started heading back for Ga-Metru, her brown braids bouncing off her back and a smile on her Kaukau. Just wait until the girls at school hear how I had spoke to a Toa! Hahali's smile broadened. My name will probably be heard in conversations over the next few days, at least! She knew she shouldn't go and rub something like that in another one's face, but she was still relatively young and too excited to care.
"Kanluku marani salantu, Vakama, sapanti Kini-Nui."
"Kukam salan ninji, Nokama."
"sar Mata-Nui tel jin..."
Kaylynn turned her head and groaned. What are they saying now? And can't they keep it down? Got a headache here! Kaylynn turned to her side and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, "Oh, my head..." A warm metal-gloved hand was placed on her arm, the owner asking in a gentle male sounding voice, "komnar caln sugi?" Kaylynn opened her eyes and studied the red glove for a few moments before looking up into a deep red mask lined in gold with glowing orange and red eyes. Kaylynn's own eyes became saucers, and it took all her self control not to scream. Which resulted in a choking, squeaking sound in her throat. "Um... komnar caln su...?" as he repeated his question, at least, Kaylynn assumed it was a 'he'. His mask moved just like a face with a concerned expression written upon it. All of a sudden, the room started to swirl and go blurry; the edges of her vision darkening. "Why the room all twirly?..." Kaylenn barely felt her head bump against the hospital bed as she fainted.
XxXxXxX
"Oh, now look-see what you did, fire-spitter!" groaned Matau. "Well, I... uh... well, " Vakama spluttered, embarrassed; he had never caused anyone to faint before. "Matau," Nokama scolded, "It wasn't his fault, she was probably just surprised is all." The Toa of air rolled his ruby eyes, "Yeah, what ever you speak-say, water-sister." Meanwhile, Whenua poked his head out of the door, "could we get a healer over he- Toa Lhikan?" Matau and Onewa joined their earth brother at the door to greet the elder fire Toa, "hi-hello Toa Lhikan!" Lhikan smiled, "I had thought the injured one was most likely to be you, Matau. Guess I was wrong." Matau took on a slightly crestfallen expression, made complete with his lower lip protruding just a little. Onewa chuckled and clapped Matau on his emerald back.
Lhikan turned and spotted Vakama, "Hello friend, would you mind telling me who exactly was the one messing around enough to wind up here?" Vakama moved out from in front of the pallet to reveal the unconscious girl, "well, Lhikan, we aren't really certain as to how it happened..." his voice drifted off as he saw the expression on Lhikan's Hau. I can't believe it! A human! Lhikan thought incredulously, I thought they were all gone and done for! He swallowed, and asked with a shaky voice, "Vakama, how did you find her?" Quickly, Vakama and the others related how the girl had appeared above the Suva, and asked what they should do. "The healers said that they couldn't do anything, her body is rejecting masks and they are sure its not a mechanical problem because she doesn't have any mechanical parts to begin with!" The gathered Toa looked to their elder fire Toa, hoping for an answer.
"Our matoran medicine wont work for her kind," Lhikan said, a bit more ominously than he probably needed to. Pulling a finger sized silver vile from his deep space pack, "I was sort of hoping I wouldn't have to use this." Nuju quirked an eye ridge, what was their long time hero going to do? There was a collective gasp as Lhikan produced a needle and injected the liquid from the vile into the girl's arm. Her eyes snapped open and looked about the room wildly...
