Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle.
The next morning, Kit heard faint voices and, rubbing her eyes and yawning, she looked out the door and saw that some Matoran and Lewa were cleaning up what was left of the party. She shrugged as she considered offering a hand. 'Not like I have anything better to do at the moment.' As she helped gather some vines, an idea crossed her mind—there was at least one thing she wanted to do before she had to leave and a playful smile formed on her face. When the clean up was done, Kit took a small, thin vine and made her way to Matau's hut. Mindful to stay in the cover of the leaves, she spied him observing some flowers. 'Good,' she thought, and she snuck in as quietly as a mouse through the window. Spotting what she was looking for, she tied one end of the vine to her quarry, set it back down, and keeping her ears open for the Turaga, who was heading for the way she came in, she silently walked backwards towards the door. As she made her way through, she made sure that the vine was as camouflaged as possible. Once in position, she sat with the remaining length of the vine, waiting.
Ready to do his morning round through the village, Matau strolled into his hut and took a moment to listen to some birds somewhere out in the jungle as he absentmindedly reached out for his Kaukau staff, only to grasp open air. He looked around, confused; he was certain that he left it at the foot of his cot. "Ah, there it is," he said when he found it lying on the floor. "Must've fell," and he reached out to grab it. However, the staff moved, causing the Turaga's eyes to widen in surprise. He reached again, and again, and again, and each time the staff moved an inch away from his grasp. "Since when does a rodstaff have a brainmind of its own?" he wondered as he scratched his head and, for a moment, wondered if it was possible that either Lewa, Kongu, or even Tamaru could somehow be behind this. Then, he remembered that Lewa was out in the jungle somewhere, Tamaru was guiding the Chronicler towards the village, and Kongu was scouting. He tried grabbing the staff a few more times, but it still retreated towards the door. Turning his back to it, Matau started whistling to himself, as if trying to convince the artifact that he was no longer interested in it. Then, with an agility his form didn't show, Matau leaped and grabbed the staff, and this time it didn't move. It was then that he noticed the vine tied around the top of the staff, and he followed its length. When he came to the end of the vine, there was nothing there, and there was no sign of anybody near by. 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.
"You muchsure did," agreed Matau, holding a hand up to his chest and laughing as he steadied himself with his staff, "You learn quickfast."
"But just for the record, that was for the bridge illusion the other day," she confessed as she grabbed the branch, flipped herself right-side up, and landed on the platform.
"I guessedthought as much," he acknowledged with a raised eyebrow and a wry smile, then he walked toward the inner part of the village as Kit followed him.
"Today's the day, isn't it?" asked the Turaga.
"Yeah," Kit confirmed with a bit of a lonely tone.
"Do you have everything storedpacked?"
"Not much to pack, but yes. Any idea when Takua's supposed to arrive?"
"According to Kongu, with Tamaru wayleading him, he should be here within the hour."
Kit observed the newly repaired huts and the Matoran as they continued doing what they did best—having fun.
"I'm going to miss this place."
She felt Matau place a hand on her shoulder.
"You're muchmore than welcome to visit again, Kit-friend."
"Thanks, Matau."
As the hour slowly wore on, Kit took the opportunity to walk around Le-Koro one last time. She just got done with the Gukko platform when she heard Kongu's voice saying something like, "Chronicler!" Trotting towards the railing, she looked towards the ground and, sure enough, there was the familiar Ta-Matoran with the blue mask riding on his pet Ussal crab.
When he spotted her, he waved, "Hi, you must be Kit."
"Yeah," she called down to him and she climbed over the railing, jumped, and slid down a vine to the ground. Takua hopped off of his crab and approached her.
"Kit, if it's alright with you, I was kind of wondering if we could stay a little longer. I have some friends here that I haven't seen or heard from in a while."
"Sure, it's fine with me."
Kit noticed that the Matoran's eyes seemed to glow with excitement, and, with a quick thanks, he scrambled up the vine to go see his friends, and Kit followed him. While Takua was busy getting reacquainted with Kongu and Tamaru, Kit found Sanso and the rest of the Le-Koro band and proceeded with her goodbyes. An hour later, Kit and Takua bid farewell to their tree roaming friends and left the carefree treetop village. "So, what's our first stop, Takua?" Kit asked after a while.
"Well, I thought we'd head towards Ko-Koro, then from there make our way to Onu-Koro."
"Sounds good to me. I didn't really get a chance to check out Onu-Koro the last time I was there."
And so, with a plan in mind, they continued down the path.
That night, they camped out in a small clearing and took the opportunity to get to know each other better. At first, Kit found Pewku's claws a bit intimidating, but she let the curious Ussal crab sniff her hand and snuggle next to her. "Looks like Pewku's found a new friend," Takua chuckled. When she was no longer content with licking her hand, Pewku started trying to climb up to Kit's face. She managed to kiss the human girl's cheek a couple of times before Kit gently pushed her down and stroked the Rahi's head. The next morning, they found the entrance to an Onu-Wahi tunnel and Takua took out a lightstone from his pack to lead the way. Kit was admiring the workmanship of the tunnel when she felt a familiar feeling creep through her body; the feeling of dread that she felt when she first visited Onu-Koro. Ahead of her, Takua and Pewku's forms seemed to darken and the light from the Matoran's lightstone appeared to dim a bit. Within moments, she was getting a feeling of déjà vu; everything was beginning to look and feel way too familiar for her liking.
"Kit," a deep, menacing voice whispered in her ear, as if who ever spoke was right next to her.
The whisper was so low, Kit wasn't sure she actually heard it, yet, it was still frightening all the same and it made her freeze in her tracks. Nearly frantic, she found herself starting to breathe fast breaths and looking around in fear. "Kit," another voice called out, and she recognized it as Takua. He and Pewku were about eight yards ahead of her. "You coming?"
"Um . . . yeah, coming," she called back, willing herself to calm down, and she trotted forward.
When she came closer, the Ta-Matoran noticed she looked a bit frightened.
"Are you ok?"
"Did you hear something just a minute ago?"
"Like what?"
"Like a whispering, scary sounding voice."
Takua thought for a moment.
"No. Why do you ask?"
"I thought I did, but I'm not absolutely sure."
"It must be the tunnels," Takua shrugged, "I honestly don't know how the Onu-Matoran deal with it, but sometimes, if you stay down here too long, it feels like the darkness gets to you and you start hearing and/or seeing things."
"Maybe," Kit nodded, then Takua took her hand with his free one and led her on.
As they walked, Kit admitted to herself that she felt much better feeling Takua's hand in hers and Pewku by their side. However, she couldn't shake the feeling that whatever happened back there wasn't normal.
After two days of walking, breaks for meals and rest included, Kit felt that they were getting close to the ice region of the island before they even exited the Onu-Wahi tunnel—an ice cold breeze chilled her skin. Finally, they reached the exit of the tunnel where the region of Ko-Wahi was laid out before them and Kit was once again reminded that every geographic location of Mata Nui had its own kind of natural beauty if you knew where to look. All around, the crystal white snow glistened from the afternoon sunlight and the surrounding mountains and glaciers appeared to reach for the sky. With the space, the openness, the view, it looked like something she'd only seen in a book or a travel magazine. "There's Mt. Ihu; the village is not too far away," announced Takua, and Kit looked to where he was pointing. She couldn't believe her eyes; the other mountains and glaciers were nothing compared to Mt. Ihu. It was so tall, she couldn't even see the top and it seemed to touch the sky. It stood there like a majestic lord over looking its domain.
Next time--
"Heads up!" Hewkii shouted, and they turned their attention just in time to see the ball heading for them. Having little time to think of anything else, Kit got on her feet in a flash and kicked the ball into a goal in the field down below. Takua and Hewkii looked at her, stunned.