Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle.
The next morning, Kit awoke and, for a moment, almost forgot about her flying lesson with Kongu. She quickly stretched, put her shoes on, and headed toward the Gukko platform. When she got there, there was no one around. 'At least I'm not late,' she said to herself.
"Kit,' a voice called out and, turning to her backside, she saw Kongu on a branch a level up and he waved to her.
As she waved back, the Le-Matoran slid down a nearby vine and landed right in front of her.
"Ready for your first highflying lesson?"
"As ready as I'll ever be."
"I'll quickget Ka and a Gukko."
Kit didn't need to wait long. Within minutes Kongu was back with their winged mounts. She silently admitted to herself that she was rather nervous, but there was no way she was going to back down now. She listened carefully as Kongu explained how to properly control and handle a Gukko in the air, noting how the birds were sensitive to the handlebars that were used to steer them. Then, Kongu demonstrated how to make the bird take off, slightly lifting the bars up. Ka lifted into the air until they were a good twenty-five feet up, where Kongu had him pause in midair and looked down at Kit. Taking a deep breath, Kit slightly lifted the bars on her bird and was responsively lifted into the air. Once she reached Kongu, the Le-Matoran nodded his head. "Very good; now, to steer your Gukko, all you have to do is weightlean in the direction you want to waygo. Follow me." He flew towards the horizon with Kit behind him, and she found it a bit of a relief that her Gukko was proving to be very responsive. The lesson reminded her of 'Follow the Leader'. She just basically tried to copy Kongu's maneuvers, turning when he turned and where he turned to. Although it seemed simple enough, there were some techniques that Kit either faltered or just couldn't bring herself to do like the loop de loops and twists. Fortunately, Kongu proved to be a very patient teacher. "You'll get the hang of it," he assured her, "No need to rushhurry." It was around early afternoon when they decided to call it a day and they came into the Gukko platform for a landing. Kongu's landing was nice and smooth but, while Kit's wasn't bad for a beginner, it still looked a little bumpy. Finally, the Gukko extended its legs and settled on the platform, allowing Kit to dismount. "Not bad for a beginner," said Kongu, "and a human."
"Thanks, I think."
Later, Kit decided to wander around the village a bit by herself. As she proceeded toward a bridge, she was observing some birds in a neighboring tree when she suddenly felt herself falling. After a few feet, her fall was broken. Puzzled, she looked around herself to find that she landed in a vine net. When she looked up, there was no bridge, as if it was never there. "What the--" she wondered, and a hearty laugh was heard from above as a Mahiki masked face peered over the edge. That was when Kit understood—Matau used his mask's power of illusion to create a hologram of a bridge, and she fell for it, literally. She frowned at the elder, "Very funny Turaga, very funny. Now if you're done laughing your head off, would someone not mind helping me back up?"
"No problem," said Lewa as he joined Matau, and the Toa of Air used his levitation powers to lift her up, just like before.
Once she was at the edge, she reached out her hands to the Toa and Turaga and they guided her back onto the platform. "You know it wasn't that funny, Matau; I could've died considering how high up we are," Kit said as she dusted herself off.
"Highly unlikely," replied Matau, "I'd never do such a trickprank if I wasn't absolutely sure you would survive it."
'In other words,' she thought to herself, 'he doesn't just do the pranks on a whim, he thinks them through so his 'victims' don't get hurt or killed,' and, with this knowledge in mind, she couldn't help but let loose a laugh of her own at the Turaga's joke.
Suddenly, a call began resounding all over the village.
Up above them, a Le-Matoran landed on a branch and pointed towards the eastern part of the village as he called out, "Rama!" Kit, Lewa, and Matau stole a look and sure enough there was the telltale black, buzzing cloud of a Nui Rama swarm heading their direction.
"Sorry Turaga, Kit; duty calls," said Lewa, and the Air Toa took to the sky to join the birdfighters who'd already dispatched.
Kit felt Matau tug on her arm, "Quickhurry Kit, we must get inside our huts."
Kit nodded and ran towards her hut. Once inside, she slammed the door shut and locked it. Panting, both out of exhaustion and anxiety, she carefully walked backwards until she felt the cot behind her and sat down. Outside she heard the sounds of battle: huge wings humming or buzzing, the trills of the birds, the screeches of the huge bugs, the whizzing of the discs, the clang of a disc striking a Rama, and the occasional loud thud of a Rama crashing to the ground below. All of this time Kit sat, shaking badly, though she wasn't sure whether it was out of intense excitement or terror and decided it was probably a little bit of both. Daring to chance a look out the window, she spotted a Matoran and his second fighting a Nui Rama. The second struck the bug with a disc and, injured, the flying Rahi retreated. However, the victory was short lived when another Rama attacked them from behind, causing the bird and its riders to fall. Horrorstruck, Kit watched as the trio crash landed on the Gukko platform and, with no regard for her own safety, she unlocked the door and ran towards the crash site. There, she found the two Matoran unconscious, but otherwise unhurt, and the Gukko stood and shook itself. It appeared to be unscathed from the fall as well. Looking up, she saw that the Matoran and Lewa were putting up quite a fight, but the more Rama they brought down, the more that kept coming as if there was no end to the swarm's numbers. It was clear that the other birdfighters needed some help, but she couldn't just leave those two Matoran there. Then, she spotted some Matoran at the edge of the platform and called to them as she waved. "Hey, can you guys look after these two?" she asked them when they approached.
"Yeah, sure," one of them replied, and, with help from his fellow villagers, the pilot and his assistant were carried into a nearby hut.
With that taken care of, Kit turned to the Gukko, her eyes filled with determination. "C'mon fella," she commanded as she mounted the bird and, with adrenaline kicking in, she gave a firm kick to the bird's side.
The Gukko trilled and took to the sky at full speed, right into the middle of the battle. Grabbing what few discs were left on the roster, Kit threw them at the surrounding Rama and flew towards the trees where she grabbed as many melons as she could carry. Some angry Rama chased after her, and Kit threw a few at them, blinding them with the juice that splattered all over their eyes. Seizing the opportunity, Kit steered her aerial steed back to the 'battlefield'. The Rama resumed their pursuit, Kit urged her ride to go the fastest it could go, and she threw three more melons at the Rama behind her, getting three bull's-eyes. Blinded as they were, the three bugs were unable to avoid the trees in time, crashing into them and sliding down to the ground. Kit laughed at the sight and threw more melons at the remaining Rama behind her. Pretty soon, some of the Rama caught on to the girl's strategy and started dodging the fruity projectiles. However, this would cause them to either lose control or bump into each other and they'd get into a heated argument, causing them to fall victim to the other birdfighters and Toa Lewa. When she ran out of melons and couldn't shake off the bugs long enough to grab some more, Kit came up with another plan. Making the Gukko perform a sharp turn, she flew straight at the small swarm, taking the Rama totally by surprise. Acting purely on instinct, Kit started doing all sorts of flips, loops, and twists to either avoid a Nui Rama or to trick them into flying into each other. It felt like a huge video game to her, except, in this 'game' the enemy could actually hurt or kill you and there were no extra lives. Kit was so into the battle, she didn't realize that the sky was open and blue until she heard someone call her name.
Looking downward, she saw the green form of Lewa flying towards her, "The birdbattle's over; we won."
Kit gave him a sheepish look as she rubbed the back of her head, "I guess I kind of got caught in the heat of the battle."
Lewa nodded with a smile. He understood exactly what she meant.
"Let's get back to the village."
"Sure."
As Lewa joined the villagers, Kit noticed that her Gukko was panting a bit. "You can take your time," she said as she patted the bird's shoulder, "you've earned it." The bird chirped as if it were saying thank you and slowly followed the other Gukko Patrol birds home.
Once they'd landed, Kit dismounted the Gukko bird and it headed to a hut where Kit believed was its stable and Kongu approached her. "Mata Nui, where did you learn to highfly like that, Kit?"
"Like what?"
"Like a mindcrazed birdfighter, that's what," said Tamaru with astonishment in his voice, and he and the birdfighters gave the girl the lowdown of her maneuvers during the battle.
When they had finished, Kit was nearly speechless; for some reason, everything about her described role in the fight was a blur.
"I didn't learn it anywhere; I just made it up as I went along, just followed my instincts."
"And that is how a truehearted birdfighter does it," Kongu said as he placed a hand on the girl's elbow, considering that was as high up as he could reach.
"Indeed," said a voice, and Turaga Matau stepped up to her next to his right hand man.
"What about that Gukko's pilot and wingman? Are they ok?" Kit asked as she pointed to the bird in its stable.
"They're fine, and, thanks to you, Toa Lewa, and our other birdfighters, the hurtdamage was only minimal."
Kit looked around and, sure enough, saw that some huts, platforms, walkways, and bridges were a little torn up, but nothing some vines and leaves wouldn't fix. "Now then, let's repairfix and clean up the place, shall we?" said Matau, and everyone headed further into the village. Everyone, that is, except Kit, who found herself observing the Gukko bird and making a mental note to herself. Then, she ran to catch up with Matau and the villagers.
No time was wasted in getting to work on repairing the village. While some Matoran gathered and brought back supplies from the jungle, others, including Matau, Lewa, and Kit, helped tie poles and leaves, patch up holes on platforms, discard anything that was deemed beyond repair, and make new ladders and portions of bridges and walkways. By sunset everything was fixed and back in order. At this point, Kit was at the Guuko platform, walking toward one particular hut. The Gukko bird inside perked its head up as she walked in. "Sorry to disturb your nap," she apologized as she stroked its neck, "but I thought a hard-working bird deserved a little treat. From what I've been told, I made you do all sorts of wild stunts." From her pocket she took out a pouch, dipped her hand inside, and it came out with a couple of bright red berries in her palm. The Gukko didn't need to be coaxed twice; it took one berry in its beak and, with a flick of its neck, it swallowed it and went for the other one.
"Doing alright?" a voice outside asked.
Kit turned to see Kongu standing in the doorway.
"Yeah, I don't think it's anything a couple of Bula berries and a good night's rest won't fix."
She patted the bird's shoulder and joined the Le-Matoran. "Oh, I almost forgot," said Kongu, and he gave Kit a nicely crafted wooden flute, not too different from the ones Tamaru and Lai were playing the other day.
"What's this?"
"A flute."
"I can see that."
With a mischievous smile, Kongu elaborated.
"We trainteach our birds to respondanswer to a certain tunemelody that you blowplay on this flute. Wherever you are, a Gukko bird will come to your side. I can teach you, if you like."
"Kongu, I can't--"
"Please, I insist."
Kit looked at the flute in her hands, then at Kongu, and back at the flute again. "Thanks," was all she could say with a smile, and Kongu nodded approvingly. "So, how do you play that tune that summons the birds?" she asked, and, rather eagerly, Kongu taught her the musical signal.
Kit handed him the instrument and he played the tune a few times, causing a few feathered heads to peek out of their stables.
"See? Now you try," he said as handed the flute back to Kit.
Letting her lips close around the mouthpiece, Kit mimicked the sequence Kongu showed her, and the same whistle-like sound came out perfectly. As if in response, they heard a bird call from one the other stables and a smaller Gukko came flying at them. Kit guessed this bird was a young one, considering how small it was compared to the other birds. As it landed, it gave her look as if it was asking, "You called?"
"At least we know it works," Kit giggled, and Kongu told it to go back in its hut.
Suddenly, music from the center of the village could be heard and Kit saw lights that looked like torches. "The celebration's starting," said Kongu, "Let's go."
"Celebration?"
"Yeah, to celebrate another battlevictory over the Rama. You coming?"
"Sure, why not."
As she followed the Le-Matoran captain, Kit practiced on her new flute. When they arrived, she was playing some simple melodies. At the party, Matoran were dancing and singing and the band was playing. Even Lewa and Matau joined in the fun. While Kongu excused himself to go talk to some Gukko Patrol friends, Kit heard Sanso call her name and saw him waving to her, beckoning her to come closer to the band area.
"Hey Sanso, guys, how are you doing?"
"Very goodwell, thanks, especially with those Rama gone."
"Why don't you join us, Kit? I spotsee you have a flute," Makani invited.
"I don't know, guys; I'm nowhere near as good as you are."
"That doesn't matter; if you can blowplay a tune, you can joinplay," said Eloro.
Giving in, Kit stood next to Sanso and started playing her new flute. Once she got into the flow of it, she found herself really enjoying the party. It felt so nice to be playing an instrument again. After a while, she excused herself from the band playing and walked around to see the rest of the festivities. She sampled a few juices and fruits, including the kind of melon that she used as a weapon earlier, before realizing how tired she was. With permission from Matau to turn in for the night, Kit entered her hut, laid down on the cot, and immediately fell asleep.
Next time--
Feeling something tap his shoulder, he glanced back, only to see nothing. Two more taps, and twice the Turaga looked behind to nothing. "What in Mata Nui's name is going on here?" he asked no one in particular.
Then, from behind, came a shout, "Boo!"
Matau let out a cry of fear and surprise and jumped a good five feet in the air. When he turned around, he found a hysterically laughing Kit hanging upside down from a tree branch.
"Gotcha," she said.