Secret of the Mask 2

Chapter 7

Jaller stood in the middle of the field, tapping his foot impatiently. When he glanced at Pewku, he found that the Ussal Crab's eyes were lowered woefully to the ground.

When he could see someone coming out of the tunnel, Jaller said, "Takanuva, what is this all abo–?"

The Matoran stopped, and his jaw fell open.

"…TAKUA!"

A Ta-Matoran shrugged his shoulders with a grin on his mask. "Thaaat's me!" he chirped as he rejoined his companion.

"What did you – how did you – ack!" Jaller glared as he resisted the urge to strangle his friend.

Takua grinned innocently from behind his blue Kanohi Mask. "What?" he said, adding his arms into his shrug. "I just wanted to take a little vacation from being a Toa – that's all."

"Not to mention your duty," Jaller added as he glared at his friend. "Are you insane? By the way…" he said with folded arms as he raised a curious eyebrow, "how did you do that?"

"Oh, it was no problem. I just took off the Mask of Light, and I'm back to my good old self," the Matoran said with a grin.

Jaller narrowed his eyes again. "Do you know what Turaga Vakama would say about this?"

Takua smiled deviously, leaning closely so as not to be overheard. "Nothing, if he never finds out about it. Besides," he said at a normal volume, "I still have the Mask of Light with me." He pointed a thumb over his shoulder, where a brown backpack was on his back. "I'll put it back on…eventually."

Jaller opened his mouth to protest when he heard a voice.

"Hi, Jaller!"

Hahli and Macku approached with their Kolhii gear in hand. Hahli immediately raised an eyebrow when she noticed his companion.

"Takua…" she said slowly as she tried to digest what the meaning of all of this was. When she realized what it was, she almost dropped her Kolhii staff. "You're not supposed to be Takua!" she said. "You're…you're…"

"On vacation," Takua finished for her with a grin. The former Chronicler approached Pewku and she immediately began to lick his Kanohi Mask. He then gave the two Ga-Matoran a Hapaka-like look that made Jaller roll his eyes and shake his head. "Look at Pewku. Look at this face." Pewku's tongue hung out of her mouth as she grinned happily. "Doesn't she look happy now that I'm Takua again? Would you want to –?"

"All right, all right!" Hahli said with crossed arms. "We won't say anything to our Turaga. But remember – you're only going to be Takua just for this match, all right?"

Takua smiled. "Sounds good to me," he said and the two Ga-Matoran went to their positions.

Jaller narrowed his eyes at Takua. Though he trusted his friend, he couldn't help but have the sinking suspicion that Takua had no intention of being true to his word. "I don't like this…" he said.

"Relax," Takua said and then grinned. "Besides, it's more fair this way. Can you imagine how bad they'd lose if I were playing as a Toa?" He clanked his Kolhii staff with Jaller's.

"I guess you're right…" Jaller said wearily.

"Of course I am," Takua chirped back over his shoulder.

Jaller went to his position in front of the goal and sighed. I sure hope so… he thought to himself.

Author's Note: Sorry for the short chapter - I just wanted to create some suspension. ;) Just so you know, I'm planning on there being three more chapters to this story. Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I would give you cookies, but Toa Inika Kongu/Static Shock/Jason McPhee would kill me for allegedly stealing his mom's recipe. ;) Therefore, you get brownies instead. Hehehe. Well, I hope you're enjoying the story and see you all next week. If you can't stand the suspense, you can go ahead and steer yourself toward my "Toa-Hero" story if you haven't read it already. :) Bye for now and reviews are always welcome.