Chapter 2: Here on the Island

The island of Mata Nui

Ga-Koro

SPLASH!

Mulan hit the water, sunk a few feet, then took a big gulp of air as her head broke the surface. "Cold again?! I just can't win!" She started treading water, trying to stay warm. It wasn't working, so she swam up to a large lily pad and clambered onto it. It was sturdy enough to hold her - along with a hut made of dried seaweed and driftwood. "What the…?"

Suddenly, a trident pointed at Mulan's chest. She scrambled backwards and fell in the water again.

The trident slowly lowered. Mulan looked into a pair of gently glowing pale yellow eyes, set in a rounded light blue face. Looking further down showed a meter-tall body covered in flexible blue metal and plates of lightweight armor. A royal-blue robe with a silver sash draped from shoulders to knees.

"My goodness, I apologize." The small - person? - sounded old but not tired. "May I know your name?"

"Tell me yours first." Mulan pulled herself back up on the lily pad. Despite the temperature of the water, her annoyance hadn't cooled off in the least.

"Turaga Nokama."

"Is Turaga your family name?"

"No… it's my title. I'm the elder of Ga-Koro." Nokama passed Mulan a surprisingly warm towel. It felt like a thick cotton blanket. Mulan was more than happy to wrap up in it. "Now, your name."

"Fa Mulan."

Nokama's face turned to one of surprise. "It's an honor to meet you, Mulan."

As Mulan tried to process what was going on, some thoughts passed through Nokama's head.

It must have worked! But she's too short for a Toa… and she's fully organic… There's only one way to determine if this is the real Toa Mulan.

"Mulan, this is probably a personal question, but didn't you dress up like a man and join your nation's army?"

Mulan looked slightly offended, her face twisting into a frown. "Very personal, but yes."

"Why did you? Wasn't that against the law?"

"Yes, but Father couldn't serve because he was old and sick and weak. He got wounded in the last war… I couldn't just sit home and let him die."

"Did you catch the eye of a handsome young officer, by the name of Shang?"

"Also yes. I wish he were here to warm me up." Mulan hugged the towel tighter around herself.

"Well, that can be arranged…" Mulan felt a kiss on the top of her head. She looked back and saw Shang in a small wooden boat - shirtless yet again. He stepped onto the lily pad and knelt at Mulan's level, wrapping his warm strong arms around her.

"Mmm, Shang, this feels good." Mulan settled in comfortably as Shang rubbed her with the towel.

Nokama smiled and decided to give the lovers some privacy. He doesn't look like a Toa either. But the names are right and the story is right….

She entered her hut and saw Matau passed out on the guest hammock. Thinking back to last night's party, she remembered Matau had a few too many shots of palm-leaf liquor. He had been in no shape to return to Le-Koro, and Nokama couldn't bring herself to leave him on the beach.

Upon hearing an entrance, he stretched and yawned.

"Ouch..." he groaned, rubbing his head. Then he saw Nokama. Matau, suddenly more awake, got tangled up in the hammock and hit the driftwood floor. "Double ouch!"

Nokama cringed, and helped Matau to his feet. He slumped on her like a deadweight. "Sorry love..."

Great. He's not using Treespeak. That means he's REALLY wasted. "Matau, haven't you learned anything in six thousand years?" Nokama rolled her eyes.

Matau threw his arms up. "I couldn't let that fully organic kid beat me in a drinking contest!"

"WHAT?!"

"She held her liquor better than anyone!"

"Do you remember her name?"

"Start-letter was an M. That's all."

Good, he's recovering.

Matau began spilling details about the girl's physical appearance. Slightly taller than him, light golden-tan hide, clothed in a light blue shirt and matching short pants. Thick blue-black fibers on her head that came to her shoulders. Almond-shaped brown eyes with bright blue streaks. Somewhat thin but unusually strong for her size. "And - she said her mother's name was Mulan."

"Well you'll have to explain all this. Mulan's outside and so is her husband Shang."

Matau suddenly recovered in full. "The Toa-heroes from your legend-story?!"

"They don't look like Toa, but yes."

The island of Mata Nui

Ta-Koro

Meanwhile, Kara had run into a predicament of her own. She was not prepared for the volcanic heat of Ta-Koro and on the verge of passing out. She slumped over one of the few cool rocks in the area and tried to rest. No sooner had she closed her eyes than she felt something sharp prodding her side.

"Ow!" Kara fell backwards and found herself face-to-face with a two-foot-tall Ta-Matoran. His armor was deep crimson, with unusually long arms, short legs, and large feet. His mouth seemed stuck in a surprised o-shape, but then twisted into a suspicious scowl. He was also armed with a spear.

"Who are you?" The audacious Ta-Matoran pointed his spear at her again.

"My name's Kara. Li-Fa Kara. And your name?"

"Nuri." said the Matoran.

"Cute name for a cute kid." observed Kara, smiling.

Nuri looked offended. "I'm not a kid! I'm sixteen hundred years old!"

"Wait WHAT?" Kara's brain reeled as she tried to do the math. In human years, Nuri was sixteen. Technically not a kid, but still young enough to cause trouble and potentially get away with it. But her exclamation caught the attention of a group of Ta-Matoran. They held an assortment of weapons - disks, spears, tridents, and clubs. Nuri took his place among the ones holding spears.

"Hey, back off!" Kara warned. She got in a fighting stance. If she had to defend herself she was outnumbered.

One of the Ta-Matoran, mostly scarlet with some yellow points, came to the front of the group. He looked Kara up and down, decided she wasn't an immediate threat, and told the others to leave. They obeyed… all except one.

"Jaller, are you sure this is a good idea?" pointed one Matoran, armed with something that looked like a strange hockey stick with a net on the other end. He was pure red with some peacock-blue points.

"Takua, I'm positive." Jaller tried to dismiss his friend. "Go look for a story or something."

"Are you joking? This is a great story! A fully organic being crashes on our island home! I gotta tell Turaga Vakama!" Takua scribbled something in a journal, stuffed it in his pack, and ran off. He vaulted over his sports equipment and bit the dust.

Jaller shook his head. "Sorry about all that. Some of the Ta-Koro Guards overreact sometimes. And my best friend Takua... loveable idiot. What's your name?"

"Kara. Li-Fa Kara."

Jaller paused. "Wait - like in the legend?"

"What legend?" asked Kara. What did these Matoran know that she didn't?

"Uh... the legend of Toa Mulan. Turaga Nokama told us the story last night."

Kara figured this was not the time to say Mulan wasn't a Toa, as that could put the triad in danger. "Yeah… she's my wife. And she and I are both married to Shang."

Jaller tried to wrap his head around this new development. "That wasn't in the story…"

"It didn't seem necessary to tell that part," a new voice entered the conversation, "but apparently it is now." Jaller hastily bowed and so did Kara. When on Mata Nui, do as the Matoran do.

"Turaga Vakama, my apologies…" Jaller scrambled for words.

"The chronicler already told me what happened." Vakama brushed it off. "In other news, he really needs to stop trying that vaulting stunt..."

Kara got a better look at the elder in front of her. He was about a meter in height, with glowing light-orange eyes. His armor was a deep orange-red, like the lava rocks, and he wore a draping scarlet vest with a bronze belt.

Vakama did his best to hide concern. "So, Kara, what brings you here to Ta-Koro?"

"I'm looking for my children. One looks like me and the other... doesn't."

"Ah, twins?"

"Yes. Their names are Heliu and Ruhuo."

"Well, we could help you search..."

The island of Mata Nui

Le-Koro

Matau had since returned to his treetop village. But before he could sit down, he felt a fire under him. He yelped in pain and jumped. His first guess was someone had pulled the "Hot Seat" prank (putting embers on someone's chair). But there were no embers… just a serpentine lizard with a surprisingly expressive face. First came a smirk, then upon seeing Matau rubbing his sore hip plating, hooting with laughter.

"Not joke-funny, lizard!" Matau snapped.

"DRAGON!"

"Sorry-oops." Matau hoped he could salvage this interaction. "Turaga Matau. Happy-welcome to sing-song Le-Koro!"

"Name's Mushu," said the dragon, bowing dramatically.

"Mushu… you don't mind-know Treespeak?"

"You mean how you're sticking your words together? I can…" Mushu paused before continuing. "I can quick-learn!"

Matau formed a fist and bumped it against Mushu's claws. "We'll be just happy-fine! My love-dear Turaga Nokama will like-adore you too!"

"Sure-certain?" Mushu was getting used to Treespeak very quickly.

"Sure-certain!"

The Island of Mata Nui

Po-Koro

The sand swirled around the cliffs in the desert wind, making patterns of all sorts on the dunes. Meanwhile, a Po-Matoran by the name of Hewkii was making patterns of his own. He was tracing the mallet end of his kohlii stick on the sports arena, which was sheltered from the heat and wind.

"What are the odds of new Toa showing up?" he mused absentmindedly. He drew his best impression of a championship game in the tightly packed sand.

"Hiya! What's going on?" Hewkii dropped his kohlii stick at the exclamation. He turned around and saw Mai. She had arrived at the party in Ga-Koro last night, somehow beat Turaga Matau in a drinking contest, and found her way back to Po-Koro with Hewkii.

"Mai, don't scare me like that!" Hewkii pouted. Mai couldn't help but laugh.

"I have a question: how exactly did you beat Turaga Matau in a drinking contest?"

Mai's brown-and-blue streaked eyes darted around. "Promise you won't tell?"

"Promise."

"I put water in my shots."

Hewkii snorted with laughter. "That's gold! And don't worry, your secret is safe! Anyway, I was about to practice my goal shots, I'm the defense/offense on Po-Koro's kohlii team. But we don't have a goalkeeper right now."

"Can I be the goalkeeper?" asked Mai. "Just show me what I have to do!"

Hewkii held up his finger in a "gimme a second!" gesture, and zipped off. Sometimes the other Po-Matoran wondered if his Mask of Speed actually had some power to it… but that was impossible. Hewkii came back holding a large backpack of sorts. "You'll need these."

"Armor?" Mai looked in the bag and saw lightweight metal gear. It consisted of plated hip-chest-and-shoulder armor, wrist-forearm guards, and shin guards. It also had special shoes.

"Yeah... the balls are made of rocks bound in steel. We give these to all the new players."

Mai put two and two together. "You mean I'm on Po-Koro's team now?!"

"Hafu's dealing with a serious leg injury and there's a championship coming up in a few days… I'll have to run it by Turaga Onewa."

Just then, the person in question walked up. Onewa was one of the shorter Turaga, a little less than a meter tall and clad in sandy-tan armor. His eyes were the same light blue as the desert sky, and he wore a cloak the color of copper and sandstone.

"Speaking of, here he comes."

"Well, if it isn't the champion himself!" Onewa clanked Hewkii's fist. "I see you're about to practice. Who's your new girlfriend?"

"Li-Fa Mai, and I'm not his girlfriend." Mai declared, although both she and her new Matoran friend were blushing.

Mai began to ramble. "Hewkii said I could be the new goalkeeper. I mean, if it's all right with you…"

"Well…" Onewa looked up, thinking. Then his blue eyes focused back on Mai. "Mai, show me what you've got."

Mai put the armor on over her clothes. She ran to the goal, picking up a spare kohlii stick along the way.

"She's quick on her feet, I'll give her that." noted Onewa. He set down a ball made of stone with veins of steel. Then he stepped back, his cloak swishing with the movement.

Hewkii ran towards the ball and kicked it with the side of his foot. Mai twirled her kohlii stick like a fighting staff and deflected the ball to the other goal.

"Impressive." noted Onewa. Mai ran to the other goal and picked up the ball in the sticks's catching end. She ran with the ball, then twirled the stick so the ball was on the ground. Within seconds, she gave the ball a good kick…

...and it ended up flying into the spectator's area. She went up to retrieve the errant ball, then placed it back on the field.

"Oops?" Mai realized that could possibly land her in trouble during an actual game - then heard Onewa clapping!

"Bravo, Mai! You'll make an excellent goalie!"

"Just be careful where you kick." Hewkii admonished, slinging his arm around Mai's shoulder.

Rong was waiting for them in the equipment room. "Hua-Lan's going to kill you if she finds out you like someone else. Especially from a whole different dimension."

"I don't like him." Mai retorted. "Not like that anyway. Hewkii's my friend and kohlii team mate. Nothing more."

"We need some water," pointed Hewkii.

"You also need a bath," pointed Rong, holding her nose, "you both stink!"

Hewkii shuddered at the mere thought of being immersed in water. Mai tilted her head in questioning. "It's too cold," Hewkii told a half-truth, "and the soap hurts my eyes."

Mai snickered. "You sound like Mama."