Secret of the Mask 2
Chapter 8
The Kolhii ball flew through the air, and Jaller blocked it with his shield. It soared over Takua's head, and Hahli leapt into the air. Much to the Matoran's shock, the Ga-Matoran caught the ball in her scoop and flipped over in the air. Jaller was so taken aback that he missed blocking the goal.
"Yeah, Hahli!" Macku cried from the other side of the field.
Takua narrowed his eyes as Hahli began to walk toward the center of the field to start the next round. "Wait a minute. That's my move!" Takua said.
"Well, I'm not the only one doing it," Hahli said with a hand on her hip. She smiled as she said, "Everyone's doing it now." Takua's eyes widened in amazement. "They call it the 'Makuta-basher.'"
Takua smirked, rubbing his chin. "Well, I like the sound of that," he said.
Hahli chuckled. "I thought you might."
Pewku chirped from the sidelines and Takua ushered her over. "C'mon, girl!" he said and when she came to his side, he jumped on her back. "Ya, Pewku!" he said, encouraging her to go to the center of the field.
Hahli raised a critical eyebrow. "Wait a minute. You can't ride a steed if the other player doesn't have one," she said.
Takua lowered his gaze and after thinking for a moment, snapped his fingers. "Pewku wants to carry me, so to make it fair, I'll only play with one hand." He demonstrated this by putting one hand behind his back.
Hahli chuckled after looking at Pewku's excited face. "All right. It's okay with me."
Pewku chirped happily, which in turn made Takua smile. It seemed to the Matoran that everyone was happier with him and more comfortable around him now that he was back to being good old Takua again.
Takua rubbed the back of the Ussal Crab's shell before picking up his Kolhii staff again. "Okay, I'm ready," he said.
Just as he said this, the ground began to shake. With a yelp, he fell backwards off of Pewku.
"What's that?" Hahli asked.
Takua arose awkwardly to his feet as the shaking persisted. "I sure hope it's not the fan girls again…"
"Worse… Much worse!" Hahli said, her eyes widening. Her friends looked beyond the top benches of the Kolhii field where the Ga-Matoran was staring at…
"Is that a…volcano?" Jaller asked.
Something bright orange was spewing out of it…
The four Matoran turned to each other in horror.
"Lava!" they shouted in unison.
"We must summon the Toa!" Jaller shouted.
Hahli looked at Takua and Takua shrugged defensively. "What?" he asked.
"Well, do something," Hahli said.
The Ta-Matoran froze, thoughts whirling through his mind. Fool-hearty, reckless, not needed… Putting on a guise of casualness, he shrugged his shoulders. "Don't worry. I'm sure that the Toa can handle it. They don't need my help anymore…" His lowered eyes betrayed his indifference.
Hahli insisted, "That's not true – they need you and you need them!" Seeing as how Takua was tuning her out, she narrowed her eyes. "It's your destiny!"
Takua folded his arms angrily and turned away. "Yeah, well, not anymore."
Hahli huffed in exasperation. "Fine! I'm going to go get Toa Gali. She'll at least help me!" she added over her shoulder before running off of the field.
Takua looked after the Ga-Matoran sadly as she disappeared. However, before he could truly contemplate his friend's words, he felt someone pull his arm. He looked up to find Jaller already seated on Pewku's back.
"We've got to buy Toa Gali some time," Jaller said.
Takua held his arms in the air as though in question. "But how? We're just Matoran."
Jaller smirked. "But no ordinary Matoran…" he said. After a moment, Takua understood what his friend meant.
"Your mask power…" Takua said in realization. "You can block the lava flow!"
Jaller nodded. "But I'll need some help…" He offered his hand to his friend.
For a moment, Takua stared at it, contemplating. Then, with a smirk, Takua accepted it and was pulled up onto Pewku's back. "Let's do it."