Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle.
About four days had passed since Kit and Takua left their friends at Po-Koro. Now, they were walking on a bridge that crossed over a river of lava in the Ta-Wahi region. Kit tried to ration their water supply as much as she could, but this volcanic wasteland was even hotter than the desert and she just had to have another drink from one of the canteens. "You ok?" asked Takua.
"I think so, yeah."
"First it was bitter cold; now it's searing heat?"
"Unfortunately, I'm not used to such extreme temperatures, but as long as I keep myself hydrated I'll be fine."
Suddenly, Pewku perked up, as if she was on the alert for something. Takua noticed, "What is it, Pewku?" and the crab took off. Calling to her, Kit and Takua chased after her and found her standing on edge of a cliff, wagging her tail. Soon, they saw what got Pewku so excited as the village of Ta-Koro laid right before them. Nodding, Takua hopped onto Pewku and they continued on.
Up on the walkway on top of the gate, a Ta-Matoran guard was marching back and forth until he noticed two figures approaching. Takua waved to him. He nodded, pushed a lever, and the bridge of rock pillars popped out of the lava. Inside, Matoran were either walking home from work or chatting with friends. A few stopped to see that Takua brought back a visitor. "Takua!" a voice called. It was Jaller, being followed by Turaga Vakama. "So, had fun having an excuse to go wandering around the island, again?" the Captain of the Guard asked as he clanked fists with his friend.
"You know me too well, Jaller," Takua laughed.
Vakama approached him, "Welcome home, Chronicler," then he turned to Kit. "And welcome to Ta-Koro, Kit."
"Thank you, Turaga," Kit bowed.
"Turaga Vakama," a voice called, "I received word that you required my presence."
It was Toa Tahu.
"Toa Tahu, I'd like to meet Kit. She's going to be our guest for the next few days."
Tahu locked his gaze on Kit, as if trying to determine if she posed any kind of threat. "So, you're the creature that Vakama identified as a human?"
"Um . . . yeah," Kit replied a bit nervously.
"Jaller, Tahu, you're dismissed," said Vakama.
"Yes, Turaga," Jaller saluted, "I'll see you later, Takua, Kit."
Vakama turned to Takua.
"Takua, could you be so kind to show Kit where she may sleep?"
"Sure thing, Turaga."
While Takua lead her away, Kit stole a glance over her shoulder. The Toa of Ta-Koro's eyes seemed to burn as if they were live flames. Quickly, she turned her attention back to Takua. Tahu remained where he stood, eyes focused on the young human.
"Is something troubling you, Toa Tahu?" asked Vakama.
"Not that I don't trust your judgment, or that of the other Turaga, Vakama, but are you sure it's a good idea to let that human into our midst?"
"Why not?"
"We don't know the first about her, what she's capable of. For all we know, this could be some kind of trap, either of hers or Makuta's doing."
"I understand your caution Tahu, but I assure you, Kit is an ally."
With a resigned sigh, he left for the lava streams to get back to his surfing.
The next day, Jaller and Takua showed Kit around the village. Even though it wasn't finished yet, she still thought the new kohlii field was impressive, where Jaller mentioned the Turaga's hope to get a friendly first-ever island wide kohlii tournament started.
"Who will be on Ta-Koro's team?"
"Who do you think?"
Jaller placed an arm across Takua's shoulders, who smiled nervously. Later, they were walking by a lava river when they spotted Tahu surfing downriver on his lavaboard. The Toa of Fire executed a perfect flip over a rock and landed in front of them. "Takua. Jaller," he greeted at the Matoran, then turned his attention onto Kit, "You ever lavasurfed before, kid?"
"No; in my world, we don't have anything that we can really use to surf on lava, plus it's considered way too dangerous."
"Why?"
"Let me just say that we humans can't withstand intense heat like you can."
Tahu nodded, "Takua mentioned your specie's limitation with climates of extreme temperatures."
The Toa bid them farewell and continued with his surfing. It was then that Kit understood the reason behind his attitude. He was suspicious of her and wasn't sure if she could be trusted. After that, the trio finally reached their last stop—the Wall of History. Kit found it to be as fascinating as the Wall of Prophecy back at Ko-Koro. "Sorry Kit, but we need to get back to work," Jaller apologized, and he grabbed Takua's arm. "By 'we', I mean you too, Takua; you've had your fun." The Chronicler groaned as his best friend dragged him away, leaving a sympathetically grinning Kit behind; she knew exactly how her little friend felt.
It was nearly nightfall when Vakama decided to pay the Wall a visit. However, he wasn't expecting to have company. Kit was at the halfway point, her eyes darting side-to-side as she read the carved letters.
"I see you find the Wall interesting, my friend."
"I like history."
Vakama chuckled.
"Then you and Whenua must get along just fine. So, did you enjoy your tour of our village?"
"Very; I've got to remember to thank Takua and Jaller. They were in such a hurry to get back to their duties that I didn't have a chance."
The Turaga of Fire gave the girl a skeptical look.
"Well, Jaller was in a hurry, anyway. Takua just got dragged along for the ride."
As Kit got back to her reading, Vakama observed.
"If I may ask, how did you come to learn to read our written language?"
"Nuju taught me while I was in Ko-Koro."
"Really?"
"Yeah; he and Matoro caught me admiring the Wall of Prophecy on the first night and he offered to teach me."
Vakama nodded, "Your interest to learn our circle writing must have struck his fancy somehow; Nuju normally doesn't do those sort of things."
Though her eyes were focused on the wall, Vakama recognized the look on her face—the look of other thoughts going through the person's head.
"There's something else on your mind, isn't there?"
"I've noticed that Tahu seemed wary of me today."
Vakama placed a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder.
"Just give him some time; he'll learn."
Kit nodded.
"You know, Kit, we're going to have to figure out where exactly on the island you're going stay, at least until we find a way get you back to your world."
"Can I make a suggestion?"
"I don't see why not."
"If it's not too much trouble, I think I'd like to stay at Ga-Koro."
"Any particular reason why?"
"I don't really know, actually. All of the villages were great, but Ga-Koro seems to be the one where I feel . . . I don't know, the most at home, I guess."
Vakama chuckled, "I'll talk to Nokama about it."
Kit nodded and let out a quiet yawn that did not go unnoticed. "You're tired, you should be heading for bed," said Vakama.
"Aw, do I have to?"
"Yes, you have to."
Bidding goodnight to the Turaga, Kit left for her hut; she would have to finish reading the Wall tomorrow.
As soon as she woke up the next morning, Kit headed back to the Wall. After locating where she left off, she continued her reading. She was just about done reading the last chapter when she heard barking—it was Pewku. The mechanical crustacean trotted up to Kit and nuzzled her legs as she tried to reach up to her face, wanting to lick it. "Hey, Pewku," Kit greeted as she patted the Rahi's shell, "What are you doing here?" Soon after, she discovered that Takua was at work and Pewku wanted company, but there was no one to hang out with—until she found Kit. And so, for about half of the day, Kit and Pewku either walked around the village or lounged at her hut. The crab Rahi seemed to be just content to be with a friend. Suddenly, Pewku, who was snuggled up and napping next to Kit, perked up her eye stalks and darted them all around the hut. Kit immediately noticed; Pewku looked like she was sensing something, "What is it, girl?" Pewku whined as she got up and looked out the window. Following her, Kit also took a peek outside. Though she didn't see anything out of the ordinary, she did hear some thunder and noticed some dark grey clouds that were beginning to block out the sunlight. Pewku squealed, hid underneath the cot, and switched to her enclosed defense mode. Kit could tell that something was seriously scaring the crab. Kneeling down, she looked underneath the cot, "Pewku, what's wrong?" She got her answer within the next moment when even more of the light in the hut disappeared. 'This cannot be good,' she said to herself, then turned back to Pewku. "Pewku, you probably don't need me to tell you this, but stay here, ok? I'm going outside to see what's going on." Pewku whined, as if telling the girl that she didn't want to her leave, let alone go outside. "Don't worry," Kit reached under and patted Pewku's eye stalks in an effort to comfort the frightened crab, "I won't go far, just outside the door. You just stay put, alright?" Since Pewku's head was tucked into her shell, all she could give Kit was a wink, and the young human walked out the door. What was a light grey shade just a moment before was now almost pitch black. Matoran everywhere had stopped where they were or what they were doing and were looking up at the sky while some pointed. Kit followed their gaze and a disturbing sight met her eyes. The clouds were now as black as night and had a very threatening feel to them. 'I've got a very, very bad feeling about this,' she thought, then a shriek was heard near the gate. She heard another shriek up above and looked just in time to spot a large winged form camouflaged against the black clouds. "What was that thing?" she asked a Matoran next to her.
"I don't know," answered the Matoran, "but I'll tell you one thing—it's definitely no Gukko or Kahu." Then a horn-like call trumpeted throughout the village—the Ta-Koro Guard was sounding the alarm. Off to her right, Kit could just barely make out the forms of Vakama and Tahu and she ran toward them.
"Turaga," she called, "What's going on?"
"That's what I'd like to know," Tahu replied as he watched the sky.
Vakama was about to say something when something strange happened. Before his, Tahu's, and Kit's eyes the clouds started to dissipate, revealing a blue sky hazed from the steam of the lava below. The three looked to one another, stunned; everything seemed to return to normal as if it never happened. Takua trotted up to Vakama's side.
"What was that all about, Turaga?"
"I'm not sure, Takua."
"All Ta-Matoran unharmed and accounted for, Turaga. Everyone reports there was no damage to the village," Jaller saluted.
"That's good to hear, Captain."
"Hey, has anybody seen Pewku?" asked Takua.
'Oh no,' Kit thought fearfully, she had left Pewku underneath her cot in her hut.
Suddenly, the Chronicler's pet Rahi appeared out of nowhere and tackled him to the ground, licking his mask. While Takua struggled to get Pewku off of him, the crowd laughed at the sight.
The next day everyone was going about their daily business while Kit and Takua were hanging out at the Chronicler's hut. It was during this that Takua remembered something.
"Kit, I almost forgot. Turaga Vakama wanted me to let you know that he contacted Turaga Nokama about you wishing to stay at Ga-Koro."
"And?"
"It's all set; Toa Gali can come pick you up and take you back to the village."
"That's great!"
"Just do me a favor and either keep in touch or come visit every once in a while?"
"I will if you will."
The next day, Kit, Takua, and Jaller hung out and chatted about all kinds of things. The two Matoran even invited Kit to join them lava surfing, but she politely declined, claiming she would be content to just watch. Later, in as open of an area as they could find and after getting a few more players, they played a friendly round of kohlii. Next morning, Kit was up bright and early and watched Ta-Matoran go about their daily business. Although she was anxious to get back to Ga-Koro, she was a bit sad to leave Takua, who had been her guide for the past few weeks. Around late morning, Kit got word that Gali was approaching, and she said goodbye to Jaller and Vakama and thanked them for their hospitality. Tahu, however, was nowhere to be seen.
"Could you tell Tahu I said bye, Vakama?"
"Of course, Kit."
Just when she got done saying goodbye to Takua, Pewku, who was right next to him, whined and jumped onto her, causing her to fall to her knees and the crab licked her face. "Yeah, yeah, I know—I'll miss you too, girl," Kit giggled as she gently pushed Pewku off of her lap and patted her shell.
Just as Kit got back on her feet, Gali came, "Are you ready to go, Kit?"
"As ready as I'll ever be."
With a final wave to Takua, Jaller, and Vakama, she followed Gali across the bridge, to the closest river, hopped onto the female Toa's back, and held on as they dove into the water and swam for Ga-Koro.
Next time--
Some parts of the clouds seemed to randomly bulge out and change shape, almost like the entire storm was alive. With the noise, the sights, and the mystery behind this storm and the way it was 'behaving', it was just pure chaos. Kit soon became aware that her grip was loosening.
"Lewa--" she called out, but was cut off when she fell off as he tilted, her grip around the Toa's neck lost.