Kulagi made good time, as he blasted across the desert going full speed on his Hover-Bike. Ordinarily, he would've never been able to get away with this, because the Vahki would inevitably attack due to some violation he was committing. The chutes, after all, were more ideal for fast transportation across Metru Nui. But today Po-Metru was abandoned, and there were no Vahki to stop him.
Even as he flew, his mind was abuzz with thoughts of Sufina and what she was facing in Ga-Metru. Sufina was a very intelligent Matoran, but she wasn't the bravest or best in a fight. If the Dark Hunters managed to corner her, she was a goner. But hopefully Sufina would be able to find a place to hide and keep away from the Dark Hunters. At least until he managed to get there.
Huaju's words echoed in the back of Kulagi's mind. Just exactly what did he expect to do for the Ga-Matoran? Kulagi was a decent duelist, but he was not running into a potential duel; he was running into a full warzone, and the Dark Hunters were certainly more than powerful enough to take on a Matoran.
"But I'm not just any Matoran," Kulagi muttered to himself. "I can and will fight back. I'm not going to sit back and rely on the Toa. I'm going to take them down myself if I have to."
"What you say?" Triki shouted from behind him. "I cannot hear you over loud-wind!"
"It's nothing," Kulagi called back. "But we're already more than halfway there, so it shouldn't be long until we reach Ga-Metru."
"And then we play with fuzzy Rahi?" Triki asked hopefully.
"No, then we fight Dark Hunters."
"Okay, that good too."
Kulagi sighed. To anybody else, it would seem that Triki wasn't taking their mission seriously. But that was just how Triki was, and Kulagi had seen him snap into action at a moment's notice. Triki's unconventional methods and random movements often helped him in disc battles, so Kulagi wasn't worried about him. However, Triki did prefer to use Reconstruct at Random discs, and sometimes his targets would turn out more dangerous after he struck them. It was something Kulagi would have to be wary of.
Kulagi just caught the glint of light from the ground, and was shocked when a dagger flew through the air and narrowly missed his Hover-Bike. He glanced down at the assembler's village below, searching for the thrower, when two more daggers struck the side of the bike, causing it to tip to the side. Kulagi gripped the handlebars and cut back on their speed, but Triki wasn't able to grab onto something fast enough, and toppled off of the Hover-Bike.
"Triki!" Kulagi shouted. But the Le-Matoran was already acting. As he fell past a statue, he reached out and grabbed onto a ledge. He spun on it, using up the force of his downward momentum, and then safely dropped to the ground. Triki might be crazy, but he was just as acrobatic as the next Le-Matoran.
However, Kulagi took a moment too long to glance back at his friend. As he righted his Hover-Bike, he was already planning to spin around and retrieve him. But then he caught sight of yet another dagger flying towards him. He swerved again, and the blade missed him. But in doing so, he tipped his bike completely over, and spiraled downward. Despite his flying skills, Kulagi couldn't avoid the crash landing. As he hit the ground, he was thrown off his bike, and landed in the dirt nearby. He got to his feet, and pulled his disc launcher off his back, with a level six freezing disc already loaded.
"Who attacked us?" he wondered. "I didn't even see where those daggers were coming from!"
"Indeed, but it was still impressive that you were able to dodge them at all."
Kulagi spun at the sound of the female voice. Walking out from under a statue was a slender figure, slightly taller than the average Toa and clad in blue-green armor. She had a long, reptilian face, and her deep red eyes focused on the Onu-Matoran. In her hands were more daggers, similar to the ones that had nearly struck Kulagi.
"Dark Hunter!" Kulagi gasped.
"Oh, so you've heard of us," the being said. "I must say, I wasn't expecting a pair of Matoran to come flying this direction. Are the Toa now so desperate that they're sending their servants into harms way? And here I was hoping for a challenge."
Kulagi regained his composer, and aimed his launcher. "Just because I'm not a Toa doesn't mean I can't fight."
The being grinned. "Oh, you're a feisty one, aren't you? Very well, Matoran, let it not be said that Lariska will refuse a challenger!"
In a blur, Lariska grabbed a dagger and threw it at Kulagi. Kulagi used his reflexes to dodge to the side as if it were a Kanoka disc, but even so the blade still sliced the air right next to his mask. But he was already retaliating, and launched his Kanoka directly at her. He doubted a freezing disc would take her out, but it would slow down for a time.
However, Lariska snatched the disc out of midair with her arm, and then crushed the Kanoka with her bare hand. She let the pieces fall to the ground as Kulagi stared on in amazement.
"How did you..." he started.
"Years of hard training," Lariska responded. "And it helps that this arm is completely mechanical. Puny Matoran weapons don't stand a chance against it."
Kulagi narrowed his eyes, angered that she had insulted Kanoka discs. To buy time, he said, "You do know that I'm not alone. My friend will be coming along shortly, and you'll be outnumbered."
"Is that supposed to scare me, Matoran?" Lariska sneered. "Two Matoran are no threat to me. And besides, I'm also not alone."
There was a loud crash in the distance, and Lariska turned and gestured to the sound. "That would be my associate Charger. Sure, he's dumb as nails, but that's to be expected from a mutated, sapient Kane-Ra. All the same, he likes to smash things, and by the sound if it, one of those things is your Le-Matoran pal. Now, why don't you come along quietly so I can add your mask to my personal collection."
Lariska turned, but Kulagi was already on the move. Only he wasn't attacking her; rather, he was rushing towards his fallen Hover-Bike. "Thinking of escaping?" Lariska asked, throwing a dagger. "Don't."
Lariska aimed at the handlebars, where she expected the Matoran to jump and make a quick getaway. However, Kulagi instead grabbed his bag of Kanoka from a storage compartment, and then quickly ducked behind a nearby statue before Lariska could attack again.
"Come on out, Matoran," Lariska hissed. "This is not time to play hide-and-seek."
"Good to know!" Kulagi shouted, popping out from around another statue. "Here I am; come and get me!" He had another Kanoka in his launcher, and he fired it at Lariska.
"He's not a quick learner, is he?" Lariska said to herself, as she swung her artificial arm out to block the attack. But the Kanoka was not aimed at her; rather, it was aimed as a boulder on the ground next to her. As the disc struck it, the bolder suddenly grew ten times in size, and the expending mass struck Lariska and knocked her aside.
Angered, she glanced up in time to see the enlarging disc return to Kulagi's launcher. "How did you..." she snarled.
"Onu-Metru disc," Kulagi pointed out. "It returns to the thrower!"
"That power only activate if it doesn't hit its primary target!" Lariska snapped.
"Oh, but it did miss," Kulagi said. "You see, it's kind of arbitrary for powerful enough Onu-Metru Kanoka for what they should be aiming at. I merely grazed that rock and activated the disc's power, but technically, I missed striking my target. It's a useful skill, but it does take practice."
"Well, I always strike my target!" Lariska snarled, throwing another dagger.
Kulagi had already swapped discs, and fired another one. It struck her dagger in mid air and caused it to vanish, and then the disc returned to Kulagi's launcher. On the other side of the assembler's village, the dagger suddenly reappeared and wedged itself into a partially made statue.
"Sorry, did I teleport that out of the way?" Kulagi asked mockingly. "Or did you mean to strike that rock over there?"
Growling, Lariska sprinted towards the Onu-Matoran. Kulagi swapped discs again, and fired his Enlarging disc point blank at the statue next to him. As it grew in size, it became unstable and fell over. Lariska was forced to dodge out of the way, and Kulagi rushed towards another vantage point.
His mind raced as he calculated the odds. Clearly, Lariska was too powerful to attack head on with his discs, but he could still use his Kanoka on the environment around her and keep her off balance. Still, it would be best to avoid a prolonged fight; he just needed to keep her distracted long enough to get back to his Hover-Bike and escape. After all, his Hover-Bike hadn't been too damaged in the crash, so hopefully it would still fly.
In addition to that, he needed to make sure he rescued Triki. As Kulagi climbed atop a statue, he caught sight of the second Dark Hunter, Charger. Charger was a massive figure, with muscular arms and twin horns protruding out of his head. His red and white armor did give him the appearance of a mutated Kane-Ra, and his behavior verified this interpretation. He was ramming everything in sight, seemingly on a wild rampage. But Kulagi could see what was guiding his attacks; Triki was jumping from statue to statue, and kept avoiding all the major attacks. In addition to keeping him alive, Triki's methods were also angering Charger, which further limited his judgment.
"Ha, you can hit-not side of Moto Hub!" Triki shouted as he flipped in the air off a statue that Charger slammed into. "You aim like blind Hoto Bug in ice factory! I wonder if Hoto Bugs have good aim? Must be better than yours, anyway!"
Kulagi grinned, glad to see that his friend was doing well on his own. But then he heard Lariska's voice below him. "Found you!"
Kulagi instinctively jumped aside, and the throwing daggers missed. Kulagi landed, and threw something at Lariska. But it wasn't a Kanoka disc he had launched; instead of was just a medium sized rock.
"You're getting desperate," Lariska taunted, as she prepared to swipe the rock out of the way. But then she saw that Kulagi had indeed launched a disc as well, with a code of 376. The regeneration disc multiplied the rocks into a hail storm, and Lariska was forced to shield herself from the barrage. Meanwhile, Kulagi snatched up the Po-Metru Kanoka and put it back in his bag.
"This is working and all, but it's only stalling her," he said to himself. "I need something big to knock her down with." Suddenly, he caught sight of just the right trap.
Lariska pushed off the last of the rocks, and sighted the Matoran racing into a stone hut on the edge of the assembler's village. She grinned to herself. "Trying to hide from me? Now that was a mistake."
She approached the hut from the side, so that she wasn't visible from the entryway. Then, in a fluid movement, she ducked in through the door, and threw her dagger across the room, where she expected the Matoran to be hiding. But he wasn't there, and her dagger struck stone.
Instead, Kulagi was standing right next to the doorway, launcher at ready. Before Lariska could comprehend that she had missed, he fired, and his Weakening Kanoka struck her off guard. Dazed by the sudden loss of energy, Lariska fell to her knees.
"Watch your head," Kulagi said, loading in his Enlarging Kanoka. "The roof's about to get a lot closer." He fired, and his disc struck the stone roof, causing it to grow in size. But while the roof grew, the walls did not, and they were soon unable to support the extra rocks, and the hut caved in on itself. Kulagi quickly ducked out the main door, but Lariska, still stunned by the weakening disc, was unable to escape in time, and was pinned down by the rocks.
Kulagi grinned as his success. "And for added measure," he said as he fired the Regeneration Kanoka, causing the heavy rocks to multiple atop of Lariska.
"That should hold her," he said. "Now for the other one."
Charger continued to chase Triki across the assembler's village, smashing everything in sight. Triki had quickly made it into a game, where he intentionally led the mutated Kane-Ra towards undamaged statues and dodged aside to let him demolish them.
"You know, Po-Matoran will be much-angry that you crash-bash-smash their work," Triki said. "On other hand, you are great-good wrecking crew. Is that why Hunters-Dark hired you?"
Charger was too enraged to respond, but his rush forward was broken as he got struck by a Weakening disc. Triki turned to see Kulagi running towards him. "Take him out!" Kulagi shouted.
"Yes, much-bright idea!" Triki agreed, grabbing his own launcher from off his back. "Oops, looks like I not-have Reconstruct at Random disc handy."
"Just use whatever you have," Kulagi snapped, swapping discs himself.
"Sure-fine," Triki said, and fired a Kanoka with the code 667. The Shrinking disc struck Charger and shrunk him down to about the size of a Matoran.
"Good, at that size this might work out better!" Kulagi shouted, and he fired his Teleportation Kanoka. Charger vanished as he was struck, and reappeared far up in the air. He fell down and landed with a crunch in the rocky ground, and the damage was more severe due to his smaller size. Kulagi and Triki watched him struggle to get up again, but he ultimately slumped over.
"That was fun-exciting battle!" Triki said happily. "Where you been?"
"I had one to deal with on my own," Kulagi said. "Now, quick, let's get out of here before they're ready for a second round."
"But I like second rounds, and third rounds," Triki said. "I can spin round and round and round for time-long!"
"Sorry, but getting to Ga-Metru takes priority here," Kulagi said, as he reached his Hover-Bike. A quick inspection showed him that, while some of the blades were bent, it would still fly. "Let's go."
The two Matoran hopped on top of the Hover-Bike, and quickly blasted away from the assembler's village. Below, Lariska finally managed to dig herself out of the rubble, and she just managed to see the Hover-Bike disappear in the distance.
"Great," she complained to herself. "Got defeated by a mere Matoran. Good thing I'm partnered with the stupid bull here, otherwise I'd never live that down." She glanced around and sighted a collapsed Charger. "And they took him down too. It looks like they were very resourceful Matoran, after all."
She reached down and snatched up a rock with her mechanical hand. "They seemed very eager to fly towards Ga-Metru, so they must somehow know about our advances over there. I guess somebody must've gotten through before we smashed the chutes. All the same, I would've expected the Toa to try and foolishly cross the desert instead. Maybe they are that desperate after all. I wish I could follow them, but they're already flying into a trap. I do hope I get to meet that Onu-Matoran again..."
Lariska clenched her fist, and the rock shattered in her hand. "Because I will pay him back for this defeat!"