Chapter 7

Spirits were at an all-time high as the Nahi Nui Navy returned home. As soon as Nahi Nui appeared on the horizon, the returning warriors started setting off fireworks. Nuparu and the others came out to greet them, joining in the celebrations. "We knew it must have gone well when the Kanoka Nuva arrived last week!" said the Onu-Matoran inventor as he grasped hands at random. "Amazing work!" Matoran were flooded across the dock, congratulating each other and loudly recounting the excitement of the past couple of weeks.

"Where is the disk?" Takanuva asked as he patted a Matoran on the head.

"We placed it in the vault of the temple and have a dozen guards on it around the clock," replied Balta.

"Well, now we can lock it since we now have the means to open the door." Takanuva turned and motioned to Malohi. The Le-Matoran stepped forward, carrying the Makoki stone he stole from the Piraka. "It's thanks to Malohi here that we acquired it!"

"Malohi?" exclaimed Balta, unable to keep the shock out of his voice. His happiness was still overwhelming, however. "Well, I'll be damned! You are useful for something after all!"

"That's what I've been saying for centuries but no one believed me!" Malohi was beaming with enough pride to light Onu-Koro.

"Doesn't matter!" Nuparu cried over the festivities. "You've earned our respect now!"

"We got you a present," said Takua as Pewku disembarked from a boat, hauling a cart of metallic protodermis.

"Wow!" exclaimed Nuparu as he rushed to examine the material. "This must have been expensive!"

"Not when you raid one of Onarax's factories," replied Takua with the most casual shrug he could manage.

Nuparu's mouth fell open and he looked to Takanuva for confirmation. The Toa of Light nodded. "Amazing, you guys have been really busy."

"That should be worth a few new inventions shouldn't it?" asked Nidhiki.

"Uh, yeah, I'll say," replied the Onu-Matoran, still staring at the metal as if it was solid gold and he had been told he could have as much as he wanted. "Which reminds me! I have a little presentation!" He rushed to the edge of the crowd and stuck his fingers in his mouth and let out a loud whistle.

"I'm guessing you have been busy too?" asked Takanuva.

Nuparu turned and gave the Toa a smirk. "You tell me."

Two giant bronze-colored vehicles emerged from the tree line. Takanuva thought they were Vahki transports at first but then saw they were fairly different from the ancient vehicle, as well as being distinct from each other. They still retained the insectoid legs, however. "Yeah," said Takanuva. "I'd say you have been."

A crowd was now forming around the transports, curious about the new attraction. Nuparu walked over to the bulkier of the two vehicles and leaned against it. "Yeah, I decided the Vahki transport needed to be updated, brought into the modern era, you know? Meet its successor: the Nahi Nui Troop Carrier or NNTC for short. Faster and tighter handling than the old model, and built on a frame that is much easier to modify. This one here…" He banged his hand on the side of the vehicle. "Is a heavy variant. Thick armor plating, can take a good deal of punishment before being disabled, at least in theory. It seats two dozen Matoran and is outfitted with two disk launchers.

"And this bad boy over here…" Nuparu gestured and walked over to the other NNTC. "This is an amphibious design. Naturally buoyant, no Matoran spheres required. Also much more hydrodynamic than the Lhikan… with all due respect to the real Lhikan of course…"

Lhikan smiled but said nothing.

"See the legs?" asked Nuparu, indicating the appendages. They were a bit wider than the other vehicle's legs. "When you hit the water, press a button and the legs will transform into an oar-like configuration. I took inspiration from the Ngalawa boat races." Nuparu smiled at some of the Ga-Matoran. "And being amphibious, naturally it can operate on land as well. It's not as heavily armored as the other model but I would like to see someone try and take it out. I think it would prove harder than they imagine it would. It is also equipped with two disk launchers. I've built two of each."

"You've really outdone yourself this time, Nuparu," commented Onepu. "We need to get our Matoran trained in piloting them immediately."

"See if you can find others to do that for now," said Takanuva. "I want all of the leaders in the Assembly in fifteen minutes."

Takanuva made his way to the Assembly with most of the Toa immediately following him. Others slowly streamed in, including some non-leaders who were curious to watch the discussion. At the fifteen-minute mark, Nuparu and Onepu walked, signaling all of the leaders were present. "So," began Takanuva, striding to the front of the room, a large smile plastered on his face. "Can we all agree that was a huge success?" Everyone made sounds and motions of agreement. Even Hata seemed content with the outcome.

Nuparu was still taking in all of the information Onepu had filled him in on. "Wow, I sure missed a lot. Oh well, I'm sure the next mission will be just as interesting."

"You're going?" asked Bomonga.

"Of course!" said Nuparu. "You think I'm just going to let my inventions go free without seeing how they perform? I might have to make adjustments!"

"What is the next mission?" asked Nidhiki. "We have two targets. Where do we go first, north or south?"

Takanuva cleared his throat. "Well, I was thinking about that. Onarax has quite the head start on us, doesn't he? We have a lot of ground to make up. What if we split up?"

Half of the occupants of the room seemed like they had just heard Takanuva suggest their next move should be marching themselves into the sea. "You're joking," Gravon deadpanned.

"Not in the slightest." Takanuva glanced around the crowd. "Come on, think about it. We can cover ground twice as fast and Onarax has probably split his forces as well so we should be able to manage them."

"That's making quite the assumption," Norik commented. "That we can beat Onarax, that is. True, we have managed to best him twice, but we cannot rely on that luck holding out. I know what's it's like to allow a team to grow overconfident." The other Rahaga nodded solemnly.

"I think Takanuva has a point," said Jaller. Most of the room turned to him in surprise.

"Wow, you're agreeing with me?" Takua spoke up from the back. "That's cause for celebration."

Jaller turned and gave him a wry smile. "I'm agreeing with the Toa who defeated Makuta, not the Matoran who ran away from his duty." Takua frowned as Jaller continued, "I think the most important asset we can have at this time is speed. If we hit fast enough maybe our military strength won't matter." Onepu, Macku, and Kongu agreed.

"See?" said Takanuva. "Jaller agrees with me."

"Which might be a sign of the times," interjected Hafu.

"Does anyone have a good counter to what Jaller said?" Takanuva was careful to phrase it so that they would be disagreeing with Jaller and not him; some of the others were more likely to be more receptive to something coming from the Captain of the Nahi Nui Ground Forces. No one said anything but several did make indeterminate grunts. "Then it sounds like we are agreed. I shall lead one half of the army…"

"And I will lead the other," Lhikan volunteered. "It only makes sense."

"And we shall need people to be guides so we can have an idea of what's on the ground," said Takanuva.

"I'm from the southern continent," said Reymar. "I know it fairly well so I can be a guide to the south."

"I'll go as well," said Potan. "I'm from the south as well and I can cover the gaps Reymar doesn't know."

"I will be your guide to the north," said Pouks. "I'm from the northern continent. I know most of it like the back of my hand."

"Very good," said Hata. "Then let's spend a couple of days figuring out how we're going to divide up the forces and then we can set out."

Less than two weeks later, one half of the Nahi Nui forces were closing in on the northern continent. Takanuva led this portion and he surveyed the coast with a certain amount of trepidation. Despite suggesting that they split up, he was a little nervous that it might not be the best decision. But he also felt that they had few options if they wanted to attain as many Kanoka Nuva as possible.

He looked back to see two of the NNTCs trailing them, the amphibious one swimming on its own power and the armored one being pulled on a barge. The NNTCs were split evenly between the two companies with Nuparu heading south with Lhikan to keep an eye on their performance. Velika meanwhile would watch over these NNTCs. And the Po-Matoran was doing just that as he watched the amphibious NNTC maneuver through the waves, scratching notes on a tablet. "Everything holding up, Velika?" Takanuva called. The inventor nodded absently but otherwise made no acknowledgment.

Takanuva smiled and shrugged before turning to Pouks who was scanning the coastline. "Where do you think we should land, Pouks?" asked the Toa as he approached the brown Rahaga.

The former Toa Hagah considered a map. "We should try and stay as far from the Tren Krom Peninsula as possible. If the Kanoka Nuva is there, we're going to have a Karzahni of a time retrieving it. I say we start our search much further north and hope for the best. Akai-Metru is a port city that many species call home." He glanced up at Takanuva. "However, I would say a Toa of Light would stand out, so you should do something about the color scheme."

"Oh, right." Takanuva focused and his gold armor faded to silver. "Better? Now I just look like an ordinary Toa of Ice."

Pouks nodded. "Hopefully you can create believable holograms if you are asked to prove your element."

"Will it be smart to just pull up to the dock with our full navy?" asked Macku.

"No, I don't think so," replied Takanuva. "I think we should leave the bulk of the navy back here. We'll take just a couple of smaller boats and scout for a place to use as our base of operations. Once we do, we can bring in some Boxors and Ussal."

"And Gukko," Kongu spoke up. "We need air superiority in a metru-city landscape like this."

"With any luck, we won't be needing any kind of superiority," said Quurza. "Hopefully we can just find the Kanoka Nuva, grab it, and get out."

"Agreed," said Norik as he pulled on a cloak. "Rahaga, cloak up. We know all too well that others are more than a little put off by our appearance."

"I would suggest whatever Toa are going with us to wear cloaks as well," said Pouks as he pulled one on. "Toa are a rare sight these days and would draw some attention."

"Okay, sounds good," said Takanuva. "Quurza and Katorna will come with me. Hewkii, I want you on the ground as well, pick a small security team."

"Copy that," said Hewkii. Jaller had selected Hewkii to lead the Nahi Nui Ground Forces in the northern theater.

Katorna, Toa of Water, examined her water cutlass. "I've been to the northern continent only once in my life, about fifty-five hundred years ago. Is it still societally fractured?"

"Yes," said Pouks. "It's mostly stable, outside of the Peninsula of course, but the villages and cities are not united like Metru Nui is."

Takanuva jumped over onto a small boat and made sure it was ready to go. "Well let's go and check it out for ourselves."

Less than an hour later, Takanuva was walking through the crowded streets of Akai-Metru with Katorna, Quurza, the Rahaga, Hewkii, and his security team of four Matoran. There were mostly Matoran in the metru, but other species dotted the landscape as well, enough to hide the Rahaga and Toa well enough. Some gave some odd looks at the party but most paid them little attention.

"Heads on a swivel," said Quurza. "There could be enemies anywhere."

"And watch your packs," said Katorna.

Takanuva stopped to look at a small shop where a Matoran was selling freshly caught fish. The Matoran was bartering with a brutish Paxorak. "Come on, friend, only five widgets for each fish!" said the Matoran.

The Paxorak grunted. "That Ursare down the street is selling fish for three widgets."

"Yeah, but are you really going to trust some slimy water-breather to get you quality fish? He probably helps out his fish friends by only taking the sick and dying ones."

Takanuva turned away and looked at the rest of the street. "There's a lot of ground to cover. I think we should split up into smaller groups and see if we can find an abandoned building."

"All right, if anyone finds anything, or runs into trouble," said Kualus, "just summon a messenger bird."

"And how do we do that?" asked Taipu.

"Just make the signal." Kualus gave a high-pitched, rising whistle. A small bird soon appeared and fluttered down to land on his outstretched arm.

"Oh, that's all," said Taipu sarcastically. "And just how do we send them where we want to?"

"Well, I'll admit, that's a little harder to teach in a short amount of time. But they usually understand Matoran well enough to give it a shot."

"We'll make it work," said Takanuva. "Katorna, Tamaru, Hafu, you all are with me. Let's roll."

The four made their way to the north end of Akai-Metru, searching for any building that could serve as a base. A few looked promising but a closer inspection found them to be occupied by various shady characters. Twice, the Toa were almost forced to have to defend themselves before being able to talk their way out of the situation. Anything that truly did seem to be abandoned was far too small for their needs.

"It's sad-hopeless," moaned Tamaru. "What do we do?"

"Hope that the others are having better luck?" suggested Hafu.

"That's help-encouraging," said the Le-Matoran sarcastically.

Takanuva was going to break up the argument before it began when he overheard a section of a nearby conversation: "They say his name is Onarax. He's recruiting anybody willing to get their hands dirty."

The Toa of Light turned to see three Layamat in conversation with each other. He moved a little closer and tried to look casual, leaning on a stack of crates and examining his staff of light.

"Onarax…" said the second Layamat in thought. "I feel like I heard that name before. I think my parents mentioned it to me once."

"All that matters is what he wants from those he recruits," said the third Layamat. "I've heard he's been digging around the city. Is that true?"

"Yes, it is," replied the first thug.

"Then I'm not interested," said the third Layamat dismissively. "I don't want to do no menial labor."

"Ah, but he doesn't need miners, he needs guards," said the first Layamat. "And if he likes how we operate, he might have future work for us."

"What is he looking for anyway?" asked the second Layamat.

"No idea," answered the first Layamat. "But if it's treasure, maybe some can 'accidentally' fall into our packs."

"I like the sounds of that," said the third Layamat.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" snapped the second Layamat.

Takanuva's head snapped up to see what had disrupted the Layamat's conversation. Each way he looked up and down the street, he didn't see anyone nearby. Then he looked over at the three thugs and his heart sank when he found them to be looking at him. "Uh, my tool was just acting up so I wanted to see if I could find anything wrong with it. I just happened to stop here, honest."

"'Tool?'" repeated the second Layamat. "The only ones that I've heard call a weapon a tool are Toa. You wouldn't happen to be one would you?"

"What? No!" said Takanuva, taking a step back. "I hate Toa, lousy do-gooders."

"Takanuva!" Katorna called from behind him. "What are you doing?"

"You know," began the third Layamat. "The Dark Hunters and Brotherhood are both paying large bounties for Toa masks and weapons. This would be a nice payday for us."

"I say we kill this snooper," agreed the first Layamat. "If he's not a Toa, no one will miss him. But if he is… yes, we will be quite rich." The three thugs advanced.

Takanuva took another step back and brandished his staff. "Stop, I don't want to hurt you."

"Funny," said the second Layamat as they all pulled out vicious-looking weapons. "It's not a mutual feeling."

Katorna appeared beside Takanuva and took out her sword. "You still like your odds?" she asked. Tamaru and Hafu aimed disk launchers as well.

The three Layamat faltered but stuck to their original plan. "We can handle two Toa and two Matoran," growled the first Layamat. "It'll just take a little longer."

"Touch them and it shall be the last thing you ever do," said a strong voice. Everyone turned to see a Matoran in a white cloak standing a couple of bio away. The cloak was bound together with a clasp in the shape of a being. Takanuva thought it looked very similar to the symbol the Turaga used to represent the Legend of Mata Nui. Vakama had explained it to be one of many symbols for the Great Spirit.

The three Layamat were frustrated by the stranger's sudden appearance. "You're with the Sodality of Mata Nui," growled the third Layamat.

The stranger nodded. "And that means your time is limited. You should use it wisely. Put down your weapons and go home or face the consequences."

The three Layamat laughed. "We'll see about that," said the first one. "Kill him!" The three thugs charged but the Matoran did not move. Takanuva aimed his staff but he could only take out one before they reached the stranger.

The Matoran then raised a fist in signal and disks rained from the sky, striking all three Layamat multiple times. The three landed in a heap, unconscious. Takanuva looked to see Matoran disappearing from the rooftops.

"That was an ever-fancy trick," said Tamaru. "You do Naming Day parties?"

The stranger chuckled and removed his hood. He was a Ko-Matoran with a dark gray Great Hau fitted with a telescopic lens. "No, but maybe it's a business we should get into. My name is Toro. I lead an enclave in the city called the Sodality of Mata Nui. We are dedicated to serving the Great Spirit's will and helping those who do the same. We have been watching you ever since you arrived on the continent. If I may be so bold, noble Toa, I believe you need to work on your eavesdropping."

"Yeah, well you know how it is," said Takanuva sheepishly. "We Toa weren't built for sneaking around, except Nidhiki of course."

"All the same," said Katorna. "You need to be more careful. We can't afford to give our position away."

"My brothers and sisters will take care of these louts," said Toro. "They will most likely be reluctant to tell anyone about your presence here as that will require divulging how they were beaten. Now, you are here hunting for Onarax, correct?"

Takanuva was taken aback. "Yes, but how—"

Toro gestured to the sky. "The stars foretold your arrival. We share a common foe. I will bring you back to our headquarters. You may use it as a base as you scout for Onarax."

"I don't know what to say," said Takanuva. "That's so generous of you."

"Say nothing, it is our sworn duty to help the Great Spirit's allies."

"We will need to contact our friends," said Katorna.

"My people are already on it. They will meet us there. Now come, we have much to discuss and little time."

Author's Note: I just wanted to thank everyone for still keeping up with this story, I'm glad people like it. I hope that the quality stays up there ^.^

Also a response to Jason: Lhikan very much believes in the Toa code. Remember that Toa are allowed to kill their enemies if it's to save another life. And in this case, Fehau was going to kill Reymar so Lhikan was absolutely justified in taking Fehau's life. As for the case with Nidhiki, that would be an example of Lhikan overstepping the code, a moment of weakness. But it's not an indication of how he feels about the Toa code in general.