Chapter 10

Kulagi scrambled over a rocky outcropping and scanned the area ahead of him, but saw no sign of the Dark Hunters in the afternoon sun. "It's clear," he called back, and then Sufina and Glax started climbing up to join him.

They were currently in Po-Metru, not far from the border canal with Ga-Metru. The landscape was rather rugged, with lots of rock formations jutting out of the ground, making travel on foot difficult. However, the various rocks provided plenty of cover for the Matoran, in case there were Dark Hunters nearby.

Very few Matoran would venture through the area on foot, but it had once been a major travel route. That was because one of the chutes from Ga-Metru crossed the landscape. Kulagi could see the towers in the distance that were holding up the chute. This was the chute that the Dark Hunter had attacked, but they had not yet found the site of the attack yet. Until they did, they were keeping their distance from the main chute, taking care to remain unseen.

"Still no sign of the wreckage?" Glax asked, focusing on the distant chute towers.

"Not yet," Kulagi said. "But while it's been a rough hike, this would still only be a few minutes out of Ga-Metru by chute. Or by air, if you had some way to fly."

"This is certainly some rough terrain," Sufina said, pausing to catch her breath. "No wonder they built a chute over it."

"There are a lot of regions in Po-Metru that are undeveloped," Kulagi said. "Partially because of how difficult it is to cross in places. And that's the primary reason the Toa haven't been able to retake the Metru, since the Dark Hunters have cut off most of the chutes. I guess it's surprising that this one lasted for as long as it did, probably because it's on the border."

Sufina narrowed her eyes as she peering into the distance. "Wait, do you see that? It looks like one of the towers has been knocked over."

Kulagi squinted, but his eyesight was not as sharp as Sufina's in the daylight. Glax, however, pulled a telescope from his pack. "We use these in Ko-Metru to star gaze, but it might be useful now," he said, peering through it. Then he said, "Yeah, one of the towers is definitely down. It looks like there's quite a bit of rubble there too, but I don't see any sign of the Dark Hunters."

"It's still quite a ways away," Kulagi said, getting up. "Let's push on."

It took them nearly an hour to reach the site. As they approached, Kulagi could see the destruction. One of the towers had indeed been severed at the base, and its collapse had broken the link of the chute and destabilized the whole system. The Matoran who had escaped it had certainly been lucky to have done so; otherwise it would've been unlikely that they would've survived.

They crossed one last rocky hill before they came to the wreckage. Sufina frowned at the sight of all the rubble. "There is certainly a lot to search through," she said.

"No kidding," Glax said. He narrowed his eyes as he saw a hole in the land. "Looks like it broke through into some sort of cavern."

"I wonder if it's an extension of the archives," Kulagi said. "Those tunnels extend beneath half the island, although they're more focused in Onu-Metru. Granted, most of them are abandoned or else occupied by dangerous Rahi. But they can make for good hiding places from Vahki, in a pinch." He paused. "Well, except from the Rorzakh. They tend to thrive in those tunnels."

Sufina looked around. "I don't even know where to start searching. I can't tell what was debris from the tower and what was just the original rocks that used to be here. And what we're looking for might even be buried."

"They probably would've tried to use a Cargo Loader to store the device," Kulagi said. "That would be the safest method for chute traveling. And if the Cargo Loader was good quality, it would hold up even after a crash like this."

"Well, let's start looking," Glax said.

The three of them began to comb through the wreckage. Kulagi and Glax used some of their Kanoka to help with their search. Glax used Shrinking discs to shrink down some of the massive boulders to a manageable size, while Kulagi moved them with Teleportation discs. Sufina, meanwhile, searched for anything that didn't match the rocks. There was a lot of metal debris scattered about, including the rigging that had held the magnetized protodermis in the chutes.

However, after a long search, Sufina came across a smaller metallic object, and as she cleared it off, she realized that it was a partially buried Cargo Loader. "Over here," she called, summoning Kulagi and Glax.

"Stand back," Kulagi said, fitting an Enlarging disc into his launcher. He fired it at the boulders that were jammed against the Cargo Loader. The boulders grew in size, but in doing so pushed the Cargo Loader out of the ground, and the three Matoran pulled it into a clearing.

Sufina tried to open the latch, but without success. "It's locked," she said. "And this time, I don't have the code to open it."

"Then brute force it is," Glax said, gripping his launcher. He fired a freezing disc, which encased half the Cargo Loader in ice. "That won't harm the contents, but it'll certainly weaken the shell of the Cargo Loader," he said.

"My turn," Kulagi said, and he fired his strongest Weakening disc at the Cargo Loader. To his delight, it split opened, and he and Glax were able to pry it apart and get to the contents.

There was a small, plain package inside. Sufina gently grabbed it and opened it up. Inside was a small device, comprised of two cylinders stuck together with a few tubes leading between them, which gages and switches were attached to.

"This is it," Sufina whispered. "This is the device."

"All this effort for something so small," Glax said with a frown. "How does it even work?"

"It's mostly about containing the chemical mixtures of a bunch of different substances," Sufina said. "The base is purified protodermis, but there are some other nasty chemicals in there too, but we managed to find just the right mix to produce the energy we need."

"What's this?" Kulagi asked, pointing to some prongs on the end. "It looks like something goes there. Is it missing?"

"Not quite," Sufina admitted. "Really, that's the power outlet for this, but the transfer rate is quite temperamental. There was another team that was working on fixing that."

"Why didn't you mention that earlier?" Kulagi asked. "That means that this might not be useful to the Dark Hunters after all."

"Well, with no offense to the other team, this was the trickier part to figure out," Sufina said, packing the device away. "If the Dark Hunters could tap into this on their own... well, that would be quite bad."

"Well, we don't have to worry about that now," Kulagi said. He turned to Glax, who had a big grin on his mask. "What's up with you?"

"I can't believe we found it," Glax said, his eyes wide. "This is truly amazing!"

"Yes, it is," Kulagi said, off put by the Ko-Matorans sudden enthusiasm. "But we're not quite out of this yet. Now we need to get this device into the hands of the Toa, before any more Dark Hunters show up."

"Actually, I don't think that's a good idea," Glax said, drawing his Kanoka launcher and pointing it at Sufina. "I think you should give me that device now."

"Glax, what's going on?" Sufina asked, fear ebbing into her voice.

"Put the launcher down," Kulagi said, narrowing his eyes. "We're not here to fight."

"That's probably for the best," Glax said. "After all, I kept telling you that the Matoran were no match for the Dark Hunters."

"I think you need to explain yourself," Kulagi said, slowly moving his hand towards his own launcher.

"I think it'll all be clear soon enough," Glax said. Suddenly, he pointed his Kanoka launcher upward and fired straight up, and his disc sailed up into the afternoon air.

"What are you doing?" Kulagi demanded. "The Dark Hunters might spot that disc now!"

"I hope they do," Glax said. "Otherwise it would make for a very poor signal."

Kulagi quickly drew his own launcher, but as he did so Glax reloaded and aimed at him. "Put down your launcher, Onu-Matoran," he said.

"You're allied with the Dark Hunters, aren't you," Kulagi hissed.

"Why would you do that?" Sufina asked. "Why betray your fellow Matoran?"

"You don't quite get it," Glax said. "You see, for starters, I'm not a Matoran to begin with."

Glax's great Mahiki mask began to glow, and then it began to change. It went from white to yellow, and twisted to form a more triangular shape. Then the rest of Glax began to change too; his limbs began to lengthen and change colors, and the armor shifted over his body to form a new design. It only took a couple of moments, but when it was over, Glax was no longer a Matoran, but rather a being Kulagi had never seen before.

"Allow me to introduce myself properly," he said, with the only thing unchanged being his voice. "I am Triglax, the master spy of the Dark Hunters."

"You're a shapeshifter," Sufina whispered, her mask pale.

Kulagi, however, merely felt anger rising within him. "All this time, you've been lying to us!" he accused. "You were trying to find this device all this time!"

"Yes, now you're catching on," Triglax said. "I infiltrated the region before the attack, and then helped the Matoran with their puny resistance, but all the time I was trying to find inside information as to where this device was located. Then you came along and made it your mission to find too, and all I had to do was tag along, and you led me right to it."

"Well, you made one miscalculation," Kulagi said. "You know that I won't back down from a fight, even if you are a Dark Hunter. And I can take you."

"That's not untrue," Triglax said. "But that's why I also signaled for reinforcements."

Suddenly, on the hill behind Triglax, more shapes began to appear. An entire squad of Dark Hunters was now converging on their location, led by a massive figure with mighty horns. Kulagi couldn't help but shiver in fear as he saw them; there were at least a dozen, and there was no way he could fight his way out.

"I would recommend surrendering," Triglax said. "If you do, I will try to arrange for pleasant accommodations for you and Sufina, and perhaps even reunite you with Triki. It's the least I could do for a fellow Kanoka Maker."

Kulagi narrowed his eyes. "You're no Kanoka Maker," he sneered.

"Well, don't say that I didn't try to help you out," Triglax said, backing away while keeping his Kanoka launcher aimed at Kulagi. "Now my superior will deal with you."

The lead Dark Hunter approached the Matoran, and he was none other than Vengeance. "Matoran, give me the device now," he demanded.

Kulagi aimed his Kanoka launcher at the new threat. "Not happening," he snapped, and fired.

Vengeance quickly repositioned his shield to block the Kanoka. However, when the disc struck, it was suddenly reflected backwards, forcing Kulagi and Sufina to dodge out of the way as it shot back at them.

Vengeance was irritated by Kulagi's attack. "Your Matoran weapons are worthless against me," he said. He lifted his staff, and fired a spinner from it, which shot through the air faster than any of Kulagi's discs. Kulagi narrowed managed to avoid it, and it sliced clean through the rocks behind him.

"Resistance is futile," Vengeance said, preparing to launch another spinner.

"Sorry, but I'm not going to take your word on that," Kulagi said, already reloading his launcher. He fired an Enlarging disc, not at Vengeance but at the debris in front of him. The disc caused the boulders to grow and block off Vengeance's view of them and give them time to make a quick escape.

But as Kulagi fired at Vengeance, Triglax darted forward, firing his Kanoka at Sufina. Sufina dodged the disc, but tripped and fell flat on her back, still clutching the box with the device in it. Triglax jumped and landed on top of her, and aimed his Kanoka launcher point blank. "Sorry about this, Sufina," he said. "But if you won't give us the power source, then I'll have to take it by force."

"Get off her!" Kulagi roared, firing a Shrinking Kanoka at Triglax. Triglax dodged it, and the disc instead shrunk some boulders behind him. Kulagi fired again, forcing Triglax to retreat further, and helped Sufina to her feet. "We need to get out of here," he said.

"But where?" Sufina asked, as she saw the rest of the Dark Hunters advance.

"Into the Archive tunnel," Kulagi responded. "At the very least, the enclosed space will make it so they can't all attack at once."

Suddenly, a spinner flew towards them, fired by Vengeance. Kulagi and Sufina were forced to leap to the side to avoid it, but as she jumped Sufina's grip on the package loosened, and it fell out of her hands.

"Wait, we need to get the device," she shouted, but then the ground under her feet began to give way. They were still over a section of the tunnel, and the ongoing fight was causing more of it to collapse.

Kulagi grabbed Sufina's arm and darted forward, leaping off the collapsing section. The Dark Hunters fired at them, but they managed to get into the tunnel and disappear from sight.

"We follow them," Vengeance shouted. "No Matoran can stand up against me; I will crush his mask in my claws!"

"Don't waste any more effort on him," Triglax said, leaping up next to Vengeance. "He's deliberately choosing a setting where he'll have the advantage in a fight. But he's not important anymore, because we have this now." He held up the package that Sufina had dropped, and then opened it to reveal the power source.

Vengeance, however, was not convinced. "I will still go and bring that Matoran to an end," he said gruffly. He gestured to two of the Dark Hunters behind him; they were Krekka, the dark blue powerhouse, and Charger, the mutated Kane-Ra. "You follow me underground. The rest of you; take the power source directly to Lariska." Without a backwards glance, he descended towards the tunnel.

Meanwhile, Kulagi and Sufina were sprinting through the dark tunnel. It was unmaintained and full of rubble itself, but Sufina pulled out her lightstone to illuminate the area around them. However, even as she ran, she couldn't help but feel an overwhelming dread. "They have it," she said. "They have the device."

"Only because Glax betrayed us," Kulagi grumbled. "But the power transfer bit is still missing, so they might not be able to use it yet. Right now, we need to get as far away as we can."

But even then Kulagi could hear rumbling behind them. The Dark Hunters were following. "Looks like we might need to stage an ambush ourselves," he said. "Although I don't know how my discs will work against his spinner thing. What even is that?"

"I think it's a Rhotuka," Sufina said. "It's a primitive energy weapon, as lots of Rahi have them. But in the hands of an experience user, it can be an efficient and deadly weapon."

"Well, hopefully he can't use it in the dark," Kulagi said. "Load your launcher and get into position over there. Also, hide the lightstone; we're going to need the darkness on our side."

Sufina covered her lightstone, bringing back the pitch black darkness to the tunnel. Kulagi knelt down behind a slab of rocks, and loaded his launcher. He could hear the footsteps of Vengeance as he approached them, and knew that he would only get one shot at this.

As soon as Vengeance got close enough, Kulagi leapt up and fired his disc, taking aim in the darkness based on where he thought the Dark Hunter would be based on his footsteps. But Vengeance had already lifted his shield, which had the power to deflect most attacks. Kulagi's disc was reflected to the other side of the tunnel, hitting the wall above Sufina. She had been taking aim herself, but she had to duck aside as rocks rained down on her, and she accidentally fired her Kanoka, missing the Dark Hunter completely.

Vengeance drew out a lightstone of his own, revealing the two Matoran, as well as Krekka and Charger behind them. "Found you," he said to the two Matoran.

"You just made it easier for me to aim," Kulagi said, firing a disc labeled 238. Vengeance lifted his shield to block it again, but the disc swerved around it. It was a Ga-Metru Kanoka, so Kulagi was able to guide it with his mind, and he had it circle around and strike Vengeance from behind.

Vengeance stumbled, caught off guard by the attack. But as he did so, Krekka and Charger pushed forward. Sufina tried to fire another Kanoka, but Charger was too quick and caught up to her. He grabbed her leg and threw her across the length of the tunnel, where she hit the wall hard. Krekka, meanwhile, swung his sword at Kulagi, who barely managed to dodge. Kulagi hastily loaded his launcher and fired, but then realized that it was just a Removes Poison Kanoka. Krekka took the blow without flinching, and then swung his sword again. This time, he struck Kulagi at a glancing blow, sending his sprawling. Worse of all, his bag of Kanoka was knocked from his grasp.

Kulagi got to his feet and gripped his launcher, but he had nothing left to fire. Meanwhile, Krekka lifted his sword yet again, ready to bring the blade down on the Kanoka Maker one last time.

Suddenly, a giant hammer swung out of the darkness, catching Krekka in the torso and throwing him backward with tremendous force. Krekka tried to recover, but then a large black figure darted forward, swinging his hammer again. The blow caught Krekka smack in the head, knocking him unconscious.

Kulagi blinked as he recognized the Kanohi Sanok of the newcomer. It was Gambar, Toa of Earth, and the second in command of the Toa army.

Vengeance also caught sight of Gambar. "A Toa?" he said. "And here I thought this fight wouldn't get interesting."

"You're going down, Dark Hunter," Gambar said, wielding his giant war hammer. He darted forward and swung it at Vengeance, who used his shield to block the blow. However, Gambar's strength was enough that he was able to absorb the backlash without getting knocked down. He shifted his legs and swung his hammer up underneath Vengeance's shield, striking him in the torso. Vengeance was knocked back, but he wasn't out yet.

Charger, however, was still in play, and he turned towards Kulagi now. Kulagi darted forward towards his bag of Kanoka, even as Charger raced forward. Kulagi grabbed his bag and loaded his launcher, but as he spun around it was already too late. Charger was already on top of him, preparing to ram him into the wall. But before he could, something else darted forward and snatched Kulagi out of the way, and Charger merely ran into the wall.

The green figure that had snatched up Kulagi dropped him down next to Sufina, and he saw that it was another Toa. "Who are you?" he asked.

"The name's Nidhiki, Toa of Air," he said, winking behind his emerald Kanohi Volitak. "Don't worry, we've got this under control."

Charger turned towards Nidhiki, ready to ram the new Toa. Nidhiki led the Dark Hunter away from the Matoran, and then dodged neatly when Charger darted forward. But before he could get away, Charger caught his leg with his staff, sending him to the ground. Charger was preparing to gouge the Toa of Air when a lance struck him on the back of his head, throwing him off balance. A third Toa, a blue and green female, came up from behind.

"Thanks for the save, Lanili," Nidhiki said, drawing his scythe. "But just so you know, I totally had him."

"Right, I can see that," Lanili responded sarcastically, as Charger attacked her next. This gave Nidhiki a chance to strike him again from behind, and the two of them ganged up on the Dark Hunter.

Meanwhile, Vengeance and Gambar were engaged in a furious fight that shook the very walls of the tunnel. Gambar swung his hammer with unrivaled speed and strength, forcing Vengeance to go on the defensive. Vengeance fired his Rhotuka, hoping that it would slice into the hefty Toa of Earth, but Gambar ducked beneath it and brought his hammer down on Vengeance's foot. Vengeance yelped out, and lowered his shield for a moment too long. Gambar took advantage of this and swung his hammer at Vengeance's face, throwing him into the far wall.

Vengeance got back to his feet, battered but still in the fight. "You didn't expect that blow to fell me, did you?" he asked snidely.

"No, I expect this one to," Gambar said, summoning his elemental earth powers. A pillar of earth erupted from the tunnels side, slamming into Vengeance with tremendous force. Vengeance hit the ground, and tried to rise, but then Gambar delivered another hammer blow to his chest, and Vengeance went down.

"Looks like this is the last one," Nidhiki said, darting around Charger. "Let's do this."

Nidhiki and Lanili attacked Charger from two directions, and he was too confused to defend himself. Their weapons struck him on the head, and he fell down too, unconscious.

"Now that's what I call a win," Nidhiki said, leaning back against the wall.

Gambar, meanwhile, nodded to Lanili. "We don't have time to take them in. For now, bind them to the wall."

Lanili nodded, and activated her elemental powers. She was a Toa of the Green, who could control plant life. Various roots suddenly broke through the tunnel's walls, and wrapped around the three Dark Hunters, thoroughly binding them.

"That will hold them for a time," Lanili said. "But it's not a permanent solution."

"We're in enemy territory; we don't have time for a permanent solution," Gambar said gruffly. "Grab the Matoran; we need to move from here."

"Wait, what's going on?" Kulagi asked, as he watched Lanili gently pick Sufina up.

"You sure are dense for an Onu-Matoran," Nidhiki said, lifting Kulagi up off the ground. "We're the Toa rescue team!"