Ed: We're baaaaaaaaack! Sorry it took so long to get this up, but circumstances beyond our control...and some laziness...well, you know how it is.
PB86: Luckily, to compensate, the seventh chapter should be finished..in a day or 17.
Ed: It's summer vacation, so we might be posting less often but writing more often. In other words, we may post up multiple chapters at a time. And no, we won't be abandoning this story...on purpose...anytime soon.
PB86: EXCUSE ME? more like not at all! :( (laughter abounds)
Ed: Okaaaaaay...anyway, please enjoy the sixth chapter. Reviews and constructive critisism are welcome as always! (wink wink nudge nudge saynomore)
PB86: I tried to make the lines funny for everybody!
Ed: Yes, yes, you did that. Now on with the show!

Chapter 6: Superpowers

"What kinds of powers does the Bracelet give you?" Taka asked excitedly as we followed Nuparu.

"I don't know," I admitted, looking down at my newest accessory. "I'll ask. Hey, Kahiki," I said, digging the Pendant out of my pocket again. "What does the Bracelet do?"

"Absolutely nothing."

I stared. "You're kidding."

"Nope. You have to awaken the Toa inside first. If memory serves, Toa Onako should be in the Bracelet. He's the Toa Ihar of Earth. He had the Kanohi Akolibal, the Great Mask of Tongues, which allowed him to speak any language, including Rahi languages. The Bracelet itself should give you the speed of a Kane-Ra Bull."

I explained this to Taka, then went back to Kahiki. The whole business of having to tell everyone what Kahiki was saying was starting to get annoying. "Two questions. One, how do I awaken Onako, and two, how come you didn't need to be awaked?"

"I'm not really sure how you awaken him," the Toa admitted. "Something to do with the earth, I would imagine..."

I thought of something I'd seen on World of Quest one time: they had to get the Earth Sword to work, so they stuck it in the earth. "No, it couldn't be that simple," I muttered. But I got everyone to stop for a minute anyway, dug a hole, and stuck my wrist with the Bracelet on it into it. Hey, I was desperate.

Nothing happened for a few seconds. I sighed and was about to say something witty, when suddenly the Bracelet started to glow. I yelped and pulled it out of the hole. It wasn't clear and colourless anymore; it had changed to black. There was another voice in my head, slightly deeper than Kahiki's. "What the...what happened?"

"Brother! It's good to hear from you again!" Kahiki said happily.

"Kahiki? Where are you? I can't see anything..."

While Kahiki filled Onako (I assumed it was Onako) in, I stood up and grinned at 'the boys,' as I'd started calling them. "It worked...! I hadn't thought it would, since it was so obvious, but it did!"

"Sometimes, the most obvious path is the right one," Taka said wisely. I raised an eyebrow at him and he shrugged. "I read it on a carving somewhere. Let's keep going."

I followed, shaking the Pendant to get Kahiki's attention. "Hey, Matchstick. You never told me why you didn't need to be awakened."

"That's because I really don't know. Maybe I wasn't sealed completely, or I was dropped in fire and awakened already, but I'll never know. Convenient, no?"

I frowned. "A little too convenient, if you ask me."

"Oh, don't think so much. Like your boyfriend said, 'sometimes the most obvious path is the right one.'"

I shrieked with laughter. "Boyfriend? Don't be ridiculous!" The boys looked at me funny, but I guess they'd figured that if it looked like I was talking to myself, I was usually talking to Kahiki.

"Hey, Kahiki, who else is there?"

"I'm Kay," I told the Toa of Earth. "You're Pinako, right?"

"That's Onako," he sighed. "Who exactly are you?"

"I told you, I'm Kay. Well, my full name is Kayla, but I go by Kay. And I'm the one who's going to get you out of that little bracelet."

"We're here!"

I looked up to see an exit to the outside world ahead. The sudden light almost blinded me, and I squinted at Nuparu. "Thanks a lot, man. I owe you."

"Well, you'll have plenty of time to pay me back," he replied, shielding his eyes against the light as he walked, "because I'm coming with you."

"What?" I wasn't against Nuparu coming with us, I just hadn't been expecting it.

"Toa Takanuva said it was okay!"

"All right, all right. You can come. Let's just get out of here."

We trekked up to the light, and Taka shivered a little. "Whew...! I've got nothing against Onu-Wahi, but Mata Nui it's good to be back in the light!"

I'd noticed that Taka had been even more fidgety than usual while we were wandering around in the tunnels and felt guilty for not saying anything. "You don't like the dark...?"

He laughed. "I'm the Toa of Light, remember? Of course I prefer being out in the sun! So, where are we going, oh wise Kay?" I could totally tell he was teasing me, so I elbowed him. Big mistake; he was wearing really hard armour and it hurt me more than him.

"The Guardian said there was something in an underwater cave, so probably to the coastline. I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest Ga-Koro?"

Taka clapped his hands together. "Ga-Koro? Great! I have friends who live there! Let's go!" He took off in what I hoped was the direction of Ga-Koro.

Kongu seemed less ecstatic as he trudged along behind us. "Ga-Koro? Great. From dark-scary tunnels to water-yuck. I can't wait until we quest-trek back to Le-Wahi."

After about half an hour (I was really starting to hate all the walking), Nuparu seemed to be struck with a sudden thought. "Kay, what would happen if you tried to teleport? You were teleporting in that battle with the Guardian, right? Why couldn't you teleport to Ga-Koro?"

I thought about it. "Well, for one thing, I've never been there. I don't really know what it looks like, so I wouldn't know where to concentrate on. And I've never teleported that far before, either. I don't know, Nuparu, I just don't want to risk it."

"I'd help," Kahiki offered.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'll learn on my own...later."

"What about the Bracelet's speed?" Kongu piped up. "You could try that!"

I glared at them. "You guys just want me to do random Rahi Warrior stuff, don't you?" They squirmed uncomfortably. "Okay, fine. I'll see what I can do." I raised my wrist. "Hey, Onako, how does this speed thing work?"

"Just start running."

"That seems simple enough. Okay, here goes nothing." I took a deep breath and started to run. I promptly tripped and crashed into Taka. "Ow...!"

"You okay?" he asked, laughing.

"Stop laughing. I'm fine." I stood up and dusted myself off as Taka did the same. "I was trying to access the Bracelet's powers, but I kind of messed up."

"Well, practise makes perfect. Try again."

I licked my lips and crouched into a racer's starting position. "Tally-ho," I muttered, and took off.

It was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. Sure, I'd been a 'passenger' with Kopaka and Pohatu, but it wasn't quite the same. I felt like I should be saying 'beep beep' and foiling a certain coyote's plans. I definitely wasn't going as fast as my aforementioned carriers, but I was still going pretty fast. Then I got an idea and dropped to all fours. My speed doubled. I'd never run so fast in my life!

My run was cut short as I ran headlong into a house. I stumbled back, clutching my head and moaning. Now I knew what it was like to see stars. It hurt. A lot. I was still moaning when I heard a voice.

"Kay? Is that you?"

I looked up and could sort of make out a tall blue person. "Toa Gali?"

"Just Gali," she replied. "You okay? You took quite the hit there!"

"'M fine." Then I shrieked, making Gali jump. "Taka and the others! I left them back there!"

"No, you stay right here," she said, forcing me to stay seated. "They know where you are, right?"

"Er, no, I kind of just took off."

"Why did you take off? Did you have an argument with Takanuva?" Gali looked genuinely concerned, and I smiled. I liked that about her. From what I'd seen of her, she always put others first. Even though she didn't know me too well, she was upset to think that I'd had a falling out with her brother Toa.

"No, I didn't get into a fight with anyone. Well, unless the Guardian counts. I got the Bracelet." I held it up for her to see. "Apparently, it gives speed powers, and I was testing them. I didn't realise I'd gone so far." I looked around. "Where am I, anyway?"

She swept her arm out, indicating what looked like a village. "This is Ga-Koro, the Village of Water." I still couldn't focus too well, but from what I could see, a lot of houses seemed to be drowning or floating on the water. When I pointed this out, she laughed. "No, no. Most of the buildings are built on large lily pads in the water."

"Just my luck," I muttered. "I would run into the one house built on land. At least I didn't run into the water and drown or something."

"Kay!"

I looked behind me to see Takanuva loping over to us, Kongu and Nuparu huffing and puffing as they brought up the rear. "Are you okay? You just took off...! I've never seen anyone without the Kanohi Kakama run so fast!"

"I'm fine, guys," I said, grinning sheepishly. "I kind of hit my head...wait, what's a Kanohi Kakama?"

"The Great Mask of Speed. That's what Toa Pohatu wears," Nuparu piped up. He was examining my head. "It doesn't look like there's any real damage, but there's some red stuff coming out of the top of your head."

I immediately started to panic. "WHAT? Oh, no, I'm bleeding! Quick, I need a piece of cloth or something!" I pressed my hand to the top of my head, looking around for something I could use as a bandage.

Gali removed my hand, then held her hands slightly apart, palms towards each other. A small ball of water started to grow between them, and when she released it, it flew over my head and expanded over my entire head. Surprisingly, I didn't have trouble breathing, and the pain in my head subsided. Then the water was gone, and Gali sagged. Taka caught her. "Th-thank you," I said, still unsure of what she'd done. I reached up and felt the top of my head. Aside from finding it was wet, I also found that the wound was gone, as though it had never existed. "Thanks," I said again, because this time I knew that she'd healed me. I didn't know water could do that, I thought in awe.

I decided to take a look at my new surroundings, now that I could see clearly again. Green, weed-like houses lined the coastline of a large bay. Blue Ga-Matoran scuttled back and forth, reeling in fish, taking down houses, and building large boats out of wood and weeds.

"A lot of work going on here," I said, pointing around the Koro.

"Yes," Gali wheezed, hauling herself onto her legs. Taka backed off, as she seemed steady. "We're preparing to return to the Matoran's original home, Metru Nui. Believe it or not, the Turaga were once the Toa of that island."

"SERIOUSLY?" My mouth dropped in confused shock. I tried to imagine Vakama as a Toa, fighting giant Rahi with his flame stick. It was kind of creepy, really.

"Yes, we used to live there, until Makuta—" Taka went on, but as he said that, the Matoran within earshot gave a visible shudder, each of them. "Until he put us all into stasis and shut us in spheres. They wiped our memories, and he was going to awaken us and teach us the exact opposite of what is right: Mata Nui the bad guy, and him the good guy. Luckily Vakama and his team of Toa saved us all. This was before Gali and her brothers showed up, so we had to depend on the Toa Metru to save us. They fled Metru Nui after defeating Makuta—" Again with the shudders. "Oh come on, he's dead now! Do you have to do that shudder thing every time I say his name? Anyway, they fled because Makuta had wrecked the city with earthquakes. And, so we came here, and the Toa used their power to wake us up, transforming into Turaga in the process. And now, we've come full circle."

"That is the longest thing I've ever heard you say," I said, not digesting a word of what was said to me. "Wait—you said that Makuhita guy wiped your memories, so how do you remember everything?"

"Turaga Vakama has been telling us stories of Metru Nui so we'll be prepared when we return," Gali explained. "And it's Makuta, not Makuhita."

"Right, Makuhita's a Pokémon," I muttered.

"Gali, do you know any underwater caves along the coastline?" Takanuva asked.

She gave him a 'look.' You know the type—the kind of look that people give you if you've just asked a really stupid question that either has no answer or has a bajillion answers. "Taka, I'm the Toa of Water. I know almost every underwater cave around Mata Nui. Be specific."

"We're looking for one with an artefact in it, probably guarded by some kind of giant Rahi thing," I explained. Together, the boys and I filled Gali in on what had happened in Onu-Wahi.

She nodded thoughtfully. "I think there might be something kind of like that near Ga-Koro, actually. I can take you there, if you want."

Kongu's eyes grew wide and he shook his head rapidly. "Oh, no. You are not getting me to go deep-diving!"

"Fine, you can stay here," I told him. "Keep an eye out for anything evil-looking."

"If you come back and I've been eaten, I'm never speak-talking to you again," he grumbled.

"Hey, Takanuva!" Two Matoran were running towards us. One was a Ta-Matoran with a yellow mask, the other was a blue Ga-Matoran. The Ga-Matoran held a staff of some sort in her hand.

"Hm? Oh, hi Jaller!" Takanuva said to the yellow dude, who I assumed was Jaller. "What are you doing here? Ta-Matoran hate water. I know, I fell in a few times when I came by here. Besides, all the other Ta-Matoran are living in Le-Koro."

"Jaller decided to stay with us in Ga-Koro, for who knows what reason. He's been really helpful for building boats and whatnot," said the Ga-Matoran.

I swear, Jaller blushed right then. No one else noticed though, so it might have been an illusion. I decided to think it was real.

"So, who's this, Taka?" Jaller said quickly, pointing at me. I was still suspicious over why he'd come here instead of going to Le-Koro, and what the Ta-Matoran were doing in Le-Koro in the first place, but I couldn't dwell on that for long.

"I'm Kay," I said, sticking out my hand for a handshake. Jaller looked like he was going to run off startled, but he gathered his confidence and shook.

"I'm Jaller, and this is Hahli," said Jaller, gesturing to the Ga-Matoran. "She's our current Chronicler. What are you?"

"I'm a human," I said, relieved someone hadn't thought I was an animal.

Jaller cocked his head to one side. "Is that some kind of new talking Rahi?"

I resisted the urge to feed him his feet. "No," I said patiently, "I'm just me."

"Technically," Takanuva said brightly, "since 'Rahi' means 'not us,' you actually are a Rahi, since you're a sentient being that's not a Matoran."

"Taka? Not. Helping."

I saw Gali cover a smile with her hand. "Come on," she said, leading the way into the surf. "We should get going."

I nodded and stood up, my legs groaning in protest after my run. "Coming," I muttered. Then I realised something. "Hold on a second. This underwater cave is underwater, right?" Everyone gave me a look that clearly said "Congrats, Holmes." "No, I mean...I can't breathe underwater, here, people."

Gali tapped her mask. "I wear the Kaukau Nuva, the Great Mask of Water Breathing. I can share its power with those near me, so don't stray too far."

Well, that cleared that up, anyway. I followed her, Takanuva close behind. Kongu and Nuparu opted to stay on the beach instead (gee, go swimming and watch a girl attack a Rahi and possibly die or stay on dry land with all the pretty girls? Hmm, tough decision), but Hahli wanted to come with us. "It would make a great story!" she said. Takanuva explained that as the new Chronicler, she was, like the previous one, always looking for new stories. I assumed that when he said 'the previous one,' he meant him.

Jaller took a look at the surf uncertainly, then looked back at Kongu and Nuparu. He did that four times, then said, "Alright, alright, I'll go with you guys."

"You sure about that? I mean, Ta-Matoran hate water, and you're a Ta-Matoran..." trailed Hahli, but Jaller gathered his resolve and said firmly, "I'm going with you guys."

Hahli held up her hands in defeat. "Okay, it's your decision." Jaller blushed again and mumbled something about 'the Captain of the Guard never runs away' or something before following us into the water.

I've always loved swimming. Amy says I was a fish in a past life. It just feels so good to let the water run over you, soothing all your aches and pains. This swimming trip was slightly less relaxing, though, because of a) my aching legs, and b) the fact that I was probably going to have to fight something. Gali's mask worked as advertised, and I found I could breathe water as easily as I could breathe air. It was a weird experience, but cool all the same.

After swimming for a little while (I made a mental note to take a nice, long break when we got back to dry land, or if we got back to dry land), we reached a small cave. Just inside the cave mouth was a short pedestal, and on top of the pedestal was—

"That's it!" I shouted, excited. I was a little surprised to find I could talk underwater as well, but I was too happy to be worrying about minor details like that. "That's the Gem!"

Hahli looked confused. "How do you know that's the specific Gem you're looking for?" she asked.

"I...I don't know. I just do. I'll go get it." I started to swim towards it, when Takanuva let out a shout.

"Be careful! It might be a trap!"

"Fine, and I'll just do a barrel roll while I'm at it, why don't I," I muttered.

I swam over to the algae-coated pedestal. It was exactly the same as the one underground had been (or so I had to assume, since the other one was, you know, dead). A round-ish gem of some sort sat in the center, about the size of my fist, clear as glass. Naturally, I picked it up.

And that's when the giant stone slab fell from the ceiling, separating me from the gang.