Chapter 34
Into the Jungle
Ruby was very pleased that her family would be staying in the Great Valley, even if only for a short time. She wanted to show them everything there was to see in the valley, but with only half the Energy Stones found, she knew she wouldn't have enough time for that. She was also very pleased that a few Ta-Matoran guards were now assigned to protect her family, knowing the potential danger they were now in.
While Ruby went to help find another Energy Stone with her friends, her family decided to visit Saurus Rock that day, after hearing about what the Po-Matoran were doing there. They thought it would be interesting to see them working at what they did best. This suited their guards fine, as the original patrol assigned there had been reassigned to take out Nui-Jaga nests to the north.
Again, the gang was ready to reveal the clue to the next Energy Stone. "Well, who wants to go next?" asked Takua.
"Me no like places where us seek-found first few Energy Stones," replied Petrie. "Me want to seek-find Energy Stone above ground, not below it." He then flew up to the tablet and landed on it. By touching the tablet, he caused another single row of letters to appear on it. He was startled by the sudden appearance, causing him to lose his balance and fall off of the tablet, landing flat on his back.
Takua chuckled and said, "You talk like a Le-Matoran, you act like a Le-Matoran, and you even fly like a Le-Matoran."
Petrie wasn't sure if it was a complement or a joke, so he simply replied, "Yeah, me guess that true."
Takua looked at the tablet. The symbol next to the newly revealed words was three wavy lines that were aligned vertically. "Looks like it's your lucky day, Petrie. The next Energy Stone we're going to find is the Energy Stone of Air. The clue says, 'atop a tall tree, found by an exile'."
"Looks like you got your wish, Petrie," said Chomper. "We're going to find an Energy Stone up in the trees."
"But which tree?" asked Cera.
"We do know it can't be one in the Great Valley, but that still means there could be thousands of trees to look through," said Littlefoot.
"The clue said, 'found by an exile', so that could only mean that someone else might have already found it," said Takua.
"Someone else?" asked Ducky.
"I do hope that someone else who found that Energy Stone is not Makuta," said Ruby.
"Don't worry, it can't possibly be Makuta," assured Takua. "He's not exiled from anywhere. Although he would definitely become exiled from the universe if Mata Nui ever awoke from his endless sleep."
"So who is this exile?" asked Cera.
"I don't know," replied Littlefoot. "But somehow I've got the feeling that the exile found the Energy Stone, but didn't take it."
"Maybe he did not see anything useful about it." suggested Ducky.
"Regardless, we still need to find that Energy Stone," said Takua. "We do know that we'll find it in the treetops, but it's obvious that most of us aren't good at climbing trees. Perhaps Kongu would be willing to lend us a few Gukko birds for us to ride. That way, we can search from the sky and make it easier for us to find the Energy Stone."
"Are you sure that's such a good idea?" asked Cera, who was already feeling quite uncomfortable about flying.
Takua shrugged. "It wouldn't hurt to ask." Takua then headed for Le-Koro. Somewhat reluctantly, the others followed him.
Considering how useful the Gukko birds were in fighting off Rahi, the gang wasn't that surprised when they arrived to see fewer Gukko birds than the day they first came here. They were pleased to see Kongu here, as they had hoped. He was busy talking with a Gukko Force pilot. When Kongu noticed the gang approaching, he dismissed the Le-Matoran and turned towards them.
"Kongu, we were wondering if you're willing to lend us a few Gukko birds so that we can find the Energy Stone of Air more easily," said Takua.
"I can't offer such help, fire-spitter and young ones," said Kongu. "Not enough Gukkos available for such a task. Besides, I'd never let you fly them without me keeping a watch-eye on all of you. Piloting Gukkos is not easy."
Cera sighed in frustration and complained, "We'll never be able to find that Energy Stone."
"Perhaps I could be of help-assistance," suggested Kongu.
The gang then heard a crash behind them. They turned around to see Tamaru on the floor nearby. He had been swinging through the trees when he lost his grip on the vine, causing him to fall and hit the wooden floor. Tamaru quickly got up and asked, "What kind of talk-discussion is going on here?"
"We're trying to find help in finding the Energy Stone of Air," replied Ruby.
"Energy Stone? Count me in! Where do we begin?"
"As I was speak-saying," replied Kongu, "I can be of help-assistance. Some way-finders claim to have found the Energy Stone you seek-find. Exact tree is unknown, but approximate area is. We shall ground-walk to a small jungle to the south, then seek-find the Energy Stone up-tree."
"Ground-walk? Why not wind-ride?"
"Not enough Gukkos," replied Petrie.
"Besides, Kongu wouldn't even allow us to fly them," added Cera.
"We have little time to waste," said Kongu. "Follow me and hope that the way-finders were true-speaking." The group followed Kongu as they left Le-Koro and headed south.
After walking for over an hour, the group was in the Mysterious Beyond and walking through a jungle similar to the one that surrounded Le-Koro. "How are we going to find the Energy Stone?" asked Chomper.
"No thought-plan, yet," replied Kongu. "However, we are now in the right area. The trick now is to seek-find the Energy Stone."
"But the Energy Stone is supposed to be atop a tall tree," said Takua. "How are we going to find it? Most of us can't fly or climb trees, you know."
"Then hard-luck for you, fire-spitter," said Tamaru.
Littlefoot looked at Takua and asked, "Fire-spitter?"
"It's a tree-speak word for a Ta-Matoran," replied Takua. "Usually, it's used by other kinds of Matoran as an insult to Ta-Matoran." Takua then turned to Tamaru. "If I'm the fire-spitter, then why aren't the tree-swingers up in the trees?" he joked.
"Yup, tree-swinger Le-Matoran! That's us!" said Tamaru.
"Yeah, until the vine snaps," commented Cera. "Then you end up face-down on the ground, just like you did earlier today." Everyone couldn't help but laugh at this comment.
Soon after the laughter died down, Kongu suddenly stopped. He then started looking around, as if he was expecting something bad to suddenly appear. The rest of the group soon noticed that Kongu wasn't walking with them, so they turned around to see him quickly looking around.
"What is it, Kongu?" asked Ducky.
Everyone soon heard a faint buzzing noise. Kongu looked back in the direction the group had come from and looked to the sky. He saw a dozen Nui-Rama, large flying insect-like Rahi. For Nui-Rama, this was a small swarm. However, it soon became obvious that the Nui-Rama in this swarm were wearing infected masks.
"Rama swarm!" shouted Kongu, as he quickly took out his throwing disk. Tamaru did likewise. Takua was uncertain at first, but he quickly decided to take out the throwing disk he had.
The swarm was now closing in on them. With great speed and accuracy, Kongu and Tamaru threw their disks and each hit a Nui-Rama, knocking off the infected masks. They quickly retrieved their disks and continued to hit the Nui-Rama in this way.
Takua didn't throw his disk. The Nui-Rama were moving so quickly, he didn't think he would ever get a good shot. He then saw one of them coming directly towards him. Using all of his strength, he threw the disk. The Nui-Rama easily dodged it. The disk flew up to a tree branch, but rather than passing between the leaves, the disk hit someone, who grunted in pain before falling off the branch and falling to the ground. The stranger hit the soft ground and the disk landed nearby.
Kongu noticed this and quickly knocked off the infected masks from the Nui-Rama that Takua had tried to hit. The Nui-Rama flew away, along with the rest of the swarm, which was now without the infected masks.
With the danger passed, Takua rushed to the stranger he had accidentally hit. The stranger was an adult Flyer who had a skin color similar to that of Petrie. "Sorry about that," said Takua, as he put away his throwing disk. "I was trying to hit that Nui-Rama and I didn't see you in that tree."
"That's okay. Accidents happen," replied the Flyer, as he began to stand up. Fortunately, he wasn't seriously injured.
"Wait a minute, I recognize that voice," said Littlefoot.
When the Flyer turned to face the group, some of the gang immediately recognized who he was. It was Pterano, Petrie's uncle.
"Pterano! It you!" exclaimed Petrie, as he flew towards his uncle and hugged him. "Me so glad to see you!"
"Yes, I'm just as happy to see you as well, Petrie," replied Pterano, hugging back his nephew. He soon noticed Takua and the Le-Matoran. He had never seen such creatures before, but seeing them so close to the kids made him think that they wouldn't be any harm. "Who are you?" he asked, looking at Takua.
"I'm Takua and I'm a Matoran, a Ta-Matoran, to be exact," replied Takua.
"A Matoran? Ah yes, I remember hearing about the sudden appearance of such creatures in the Great Valley recently. It's good to know that your kind were welcomed there." Pterano then looked at the two Le-Matoran. "I assume they are also Matoran."
"Yes, they are Le-Matoran. Kongu and Tamaru."
"Pleased to meet you, wind-flyer Pterano," said Tamaru, cheerfully.
"Wind-flyer?" asked Pterano.
"Tree-speak," replied Takua. "It's the way Le-Matoran speak. By the way, Petrie seems to like tree-speak so much that he decided to always speak it."
"Are you sure he knows how to properly speak it?"
"Me know how to talk tree-speak," replied Petrie. "Me great at quick-learning tree-speak."
"I suppose that's true," said Pterano. "Anyway, what brings all of you this far out into the Mysterious Beyond?"
"It's kind of a long story, so I'll try to explain it as quickly as I can," replied Takua. "About a week after the Matoran arrived at the Great Valley, another being arrived from our universe: Makuta, the master of shadows himself. Using infected masks, he was able to control Rahi creatures to constantly attack us. When such attacks began in the Great Valley, we knew Makuta had followed us. We knew that Makuta had to come here for a reason, and we later found the answer. The Energy Stones are the only known way to send Makuta back to the universe he came from, and he's been trying to stop us ever since we started searching for them."
"In that case, I assume you're here to find one of these Energy Stones."
"Yes, we are currently trying to seek-find the Energy Stone of Air," said Kongu. "The clue said that we shall seek-find it atop a tall tree."
"Atop a tall tree? You know, come to think of it, I recall recently seeing a rather strange-looking stone within the top of a tall tree. Perhaps that might be the Energy Stone you are looking for."
Most of the group was uncertain about it. After all, they knew what happened the last time Pterano came across a mysterious stone. How could they be sure that it wouldn't happen again? "Maybe you should let us talk about this first before we decide what to do," said Littlefoot.
Pterano had actually expected a response like this, so he agreed with them. The group then turned away from him so that they could talk without him hearing them.
"Why should we trust him?" asked Cera. "I'm sure we all remember what happened last time."
"I'm sure that even he remembers that as well," replied Littlefoot. "Besides, as far as I can tell, he doesn't have a real reason to have that Energy Stone, if he did find it."
"Remember Ruby's brother? He ran off with the Energy Stone of Ice and tried to give it to Makuta! What if Pterano is trying to do the same thing?"
"If that were true, Makuta would already have the Energy Stone, since Pterano says he has seen it."
"Wait, I just realized something," said Takua. "The second part of the clue said that the Energy Stone was found by an exile. Pterano is an exile, even if only temporarily. I think he actually has found the Energy Stone, and the only way we can find it is to have him take us to it."
"An excellent thought-plan, fire-spitter," commented Kongu.
"Me agree," said Petrie. "Pterano deserves second chance."
The group then turned to face Pterano. Takua decided to explain the plan to Pterano. "We have decided that we need to find that Energy Stone, and the quickest way to find it is if you take us to it. That is, if you really have found it."
"I have indeed found an unusual stone," said Pterano, "but having not seen anything that could tell me that it's an Energy Stone, I have no way of knowing if it is the Energy Stone you are searching for. I know what you are thinking, and no, I don't wish to keep it for myself as I have no reason to do so. Besides, even if I wanted it I still wouldn't have it, as it is stuck inside that tree in such a way that I can't even reach it."
"Good enough for me," said Takua. "Lead the way, Pterano."
Pterano then flew into the air and said, "Follow me and I shall take you directly to the tall tree with the stone in it." He then began flying in the direction he knew to go, making sure to go slow enough so that the rest of the group could easily keep up.
As the group followed Pterano, Cera asked Takua, "Are you sure about this?"
"Not exactly, but it could be our only hope of finding the Energy Stone," replied Takua.
The group continued to follow Pterano, hoping that he would lead them to the Energy Stone of Air.