"What about this one?" asked Nuju, pointing to a metallic door that looked thick and solid.
Whenua turned, looked, and shook his head. "No. It's not behind that one."
"How do you know?"
"Because I know what's in there. Leave it alone."
Nuju glared at the Toa of Earth. Back in Ko-Metru, Nuju had been an important scholar with vital responsibilities. Now he was a Toa Metru, reduced to tramping around dark, musty Archives looking for one relic among thousands. So far, he had been squeezed in an Ussal crab claw, weakened by a frost leech, stepped in something whose origin he really did not want to know, and gotten hopelessly lost at least twice. He was covered in the dust of the past and he did not like it.
"Whenua doesn't seem to have any idea what is down here," Nuju muttered to himself. "So how does he know the Great Disk isn't behind this door?" Checking to make sure the Toa of Earth was otherwise occupied, Nuju grasped the handle of the door and pulled. Surprisingly, it wasn't locked. It took his eyes a moment to adjust to the even deeper darkness behind the door. Once they had, he noticed something that seemed to be shimmering. Could the Great Disk create an effect like that?
He took a step inside, then another, before his progress was stopped by a clear wall. No, it wasn't a wall. It was the side of a tank filled with liquid protodermis. He pressed his mask against the glass, trying to see what, if anything, was in there.
Suddenly something slammed hard against the inside of the tank, right where Nuju was standing. Before the Toa could react, it had circled and smashed into the tank wall again, this time creating a hairline crack. On its third pass, Nuju got a good look at it, and wished he hadn't. The creature was long, serpent-like, with powerful forearms and, most disturbingly, two heads. Both heads featured narrow greenish eyes and a fanged mouth.
Nuju jumped back as it struck again. Now protodermis was starting to leak from the tank, but this was something he could handle. A minimal amount of his power was enough to freeze it and seal the crack. But his presence had obviously disturbed the creature, so he felt that he had better leave.
He turned around. Whenua was standing in the doorway, watching him. "Done?" asked the Toa of Earth. "Listen, I know you don't like it here. It's not neat and orderly like Ko-Metru. Archivists don't sit in clean towers studying all day, they are out getting their hands dirty. But we have rules here too—like 'don't annoy the two-headed Tarakava,' if at all possible."
Nuju nodded. "It does seem…excitable."
"Last ones to 'excite' it before it came here were two Ga-Matoran in a fishing skiff," Whenua said, turning and walking away. "They were lucky to make it out of the sea. The skiff wound up as sawdust."
Nuju said nothing. He followed behind Whenua, reminding himself that even in a place devoted to the dead past, actions could have consequences.
Whenua stopped at another doorway. His expression was troubled. "It could be in here. It…probably would be in here, the way things are going. But, by Mata Nui, I hope it's not."
This door actually had a sign, which read "KEEP OUT." Nuju wondered what could be behind there that would worry Whenua so much. After all, two Toa Metru should be able to handle anything.
Whenua hesitated before using his earthshock drill to punch through the lock. "I hope we're ready for this. The last archivist that came down here hasn't spoken a word since. Screams a lot, though."
Nuju readied both of his crystal spikes, in case his ice power would be needed. Whenua slowly opened the door and the two of them stepped inside.
They found themselves in a large, brightly lit room. It was completely bare. There was no sign that any creature lived there, or ever had lived there. Nuju frowned. This didn't look very frightening at all. What had Whenua been so worried about?
Both Toa Metru whirled at the sound of the door slamming behind them. Even more surprising, Nuju could see the hole made by Whenua's drills disappearing. They were locked in.
"What is this?" asked Nuju.
"No one knows exactly," said Whenua, looking all around. "Our best theory is that this creature has some connection to the random reconstitution disk power."
"What creature? There's nothing here!" said Nuju.
"You don't understand," Whenua replied, as the lightstones suddenly began to dim. "This Rahi isn't in the room. It is the room!"
The floor beneath Nuju's feet began to shift. A pair of clawed hands emerged from the stone to grasp him around the ankles. A much larger hand sprang forth from one of the walls and narrowly missed grabbing Whenua. The room echoed with a low, ominous rumble that sounded like the breathing of a massive creature.
The Toa of Earth dove toward where Nuju stood. Spikes shot out of the walls just above him, but Whenua was too nimble to be caught. He grabbed the two hands holding Nuju and wrenched them free. The roar in the room grew louder and angrier.
Now the floor was rising fast, sending both Toa toward a crushing end against the ceiling. Nuju fired streams of ice from his crystal spikes, forming thick pillars to keep floor and ceiling apart. But he knew they would not hold for long.
"We have to get out of here," he said.
"Any ideas?" asked Whenua.
"I was hoping you had one."
Whenua smiled. "Maybe I do. You can do ice, but what else can you do?"
Nuju needed no more prompting. He gathered his energies and concentrated on conjuring a storm. It was incredibly hard, unskilled as he still was in the use of his elemental powers. But little by little the air began to turn colder, and a chilly wind started to blow through the confines of the room. Moisture in the air condensed into droplets, which then froze into crystals of snow.
Nuju strained to lower the temperature more, and then still more. Beside him, Whenua shivered, frost forming on his mask. It was an open question who would succumb to the storm first, the Toa Metru or the creature that had trapped them.
Then Whenua was pointing to something on the far wall. Nuju strained to see through the snow and ice. It looked like an opening in the wall. As the two Toa moved toward it, a wave passed through the floor beneath them, hurling them toward the gap. They flew out of the room and crashed against the wall of the hallway. Behind them, the gap closed again.
Whenua groaned and brushed the ice off his body. "l guess it worked. This hasn't been as easy as I thought it would be."
"Maybe that's the first lesson in the life of a Toa," replied Nuju. "Nothing is easy."
X X X
Nokama, Matau, Vhisola, and Orkahm walked hurriedly toward the Great Temple. There was no way to reach it without being seen, but they did their best to stay inconspicuous. For two Toa Metru, it wasn't easy. Matoran looked at them with wonder and awe, sometimes even fear, but none seemed hostile.
When they got there, a Kavinika scampered by, sniffing at them. Orkahm shooed it away, and Vhisola kicked after it to make the point; they didn't want any more attention. When those two-legged wolflike creatures were branded a pest in Po-Metru, Ga-Matoran adopted them for use as guard Rahi at lesser temples and protodermis labs. But the Kavinika proved so short-tempered and ferocious that the experiment was deemed a failure. The Ga-Matoran tried to drive the Kavinika out, but some still roamed around the outskirts of the Metru.
"'In Ga-Metru, go beyond the depths of Toa before,'" said Nokama. "That's what the carving said."
"And what does that scratch-writing mean?" asked Matau.
"In the sea, below the Great Temple," answered Vhisola. "Far below."
"Oh. Happy-cheer," said Matau, not sounding happy or cheery at all.
X X X
They circled around behind the Great Temple. Only a narrow stone walkway separated the building from the sea. Nokama had already announced that she would be going down alone to retrieve the disk.
"You and Orkahm are not swimmers," she told Matau. "But if something goes wrong, if I don't return, you will need Vhisola to show you the way out. So she stays here."
Matau was going to argue that Toa-heroes should work together. But the memory of almost drowning in protodermis was enough to keep him quiet. "Go quick-fast then, Toa Nokama. We will be waiting."
Nokama nodded, then dove into the turbulent sea of protodermis and vanished beneath the waves. Toa and Matoran stared after her, wondering what she might be encountering far below.
So caught up were they that they never heard the approach of others until it was too late.
"Surrender?" Vhisola wondered.
"Or run?" Orkahm asked Matau.
Matau glanced to the left and saw to his surprise three Bordakh, staffs at the ready, closing in. Three more moved toward them from the right, leaving their only escape the cold sea.
"l hate Ga-Metru," he muttered.
X X X
Nokama was unaware of what was going on up above. She had reached the very foundation of the Great Temple and spotted her prize. Wedged between two jagged outcroppings up ahead was a Great Disk!
The sight gave her renewed energy. She dove deeper and used all her new Toa strength to pry the disk loose. She checked the three-digit code and confirmed that, yes, this disk had been made in Ga-Metru and had a power level of 9. Only Great Disks possessed so much raw energy.
Smiling, she tucked it under her arm and started for the surface. She never noticed that those two jagged outcroppings had been massive teeth, or that their owner objected to her intrusion. She kicked her legs and swam, even as a pair of massive jaws prepared to snap shut upon her.
X X X
"Next time one of you two tries to take off, I'm just going to let the Vahki have you," Toa Onewa grumbled.
Ahkmou looked at him, not even trying to conceal the slyness on his face. "Right…and how would you find the Great Disks then? You need us, Onewa."
Vakama winced for a second, glancing at Ahkmou; he knew what kind of response that would elicit.
Onewa stopped in his tracks and whirled on the Matoran that had been following close behind him. He bent down, putting his mask close to Ahkmou's, forcing the Matoran to lean back. "Okay. When a Morbuzakh vine starts dragging you off, be sure to tell it how much you're needed." Onewa leaned in to the point where Ahkmou couldn't get farther away. "It could probably use a laugh."
"Enough!" Vakama said, causing Ahkmou to jump in a start and Onewa to stand back up. "We've arrived. Nuhrii, are you sure this is where the Ta-Metru Great Disk is hidden?"
"Nuhrii?" Ahkmou repeated sarcastically. "When isn't he sure of anything? It's someplace only a Toa can reach…" he pointed in front of the group, restating their destination. "The fire pits!"
Onewa looked forward at the sight before them. They were standing in front of a large grated fence, near a more secluded section of the fire pits' perimeter. Beyond the grate were holes in the ground with angled slopes, creating an array of mounds. Every one of them was trading off spewing fire. He didn't see how anything could navigate, let alone survive in there.
"No wonder I like Po-Metru better," he muttered.
X X X
The Toa of Ice was starting to feel he was walking in circles. This sub-level of the Archives seemed to go on forever, and he felt certain they had seen some of these doors before. But Whenua insisted that wasn't so. "If it's here, we will have to find it soon," the Toa of Earth insisted. "We have explored almost the entire level. I don't think—"
He stopped abruptly and cocked his head, listening to something. Now Nuju could hear it too—the steady tramp of feet from somewhere in the halls. The footsteps were too heavy to be Matoran, and anyway archivists avoided this section.
Whenua glanced at Nuju. "We just ran out of time. The Vahki are coming. Someone must heard all the noise down here and called for them." The Toa of Earth started frantically opening doors. "We're down here without authorization, planning to take an artifact. Never mind that it's in a good cause. You know the Onu-Metru Vahki—the Rorzakh will chase us through this entire place and all the way back to the Great Temple before they give up!"
Nuju had to admit he was right. Even in Ko-Metru, Matoran knew never to get a Rorzakh on their trail. They had the important job of protecting the Archives and were the most relentless and fearless of all Vahki, never giving up on a chase; there was no risk they wouldn't take to get their job done. There was even a story that a Rorzakh had once plunged into a mine shaft, in free fall, to try and catch a lawbreaker (though their flight mode saved them). Their method of pursuit was just that: pursue anywhere, for any length of time, no matter the danger. Even worse, Rorzakh Staffs of Presence had the longest-lasting effects, allowing the Vahki to see and hear whatever the affected being did.
The Toa of Ice started pulling open doors on the run. "I never imagined being a Toa would involve searching for so many things. I thought Toa had everything they needed."
"Maybe not," said Whenua. "Maybe Toa are just the only ones who have the power to find what has to be found."
The Toa of Earth yanked another door open. An avalanche of Metru Nui artifacts tumbled out, knocking him off his feet and burying him beneath a pile of tools, masks, stone tablets, and more.
For a moment, all was silent. Nuju took a step toward the pile when the artifacts started to shift. Then Whenua's hand shot out of the pile, holding the Great Disk.
Nuju smiled. It was time to gather the Tehutti and Ehrye and head to Ko-Metru where, he was certain, the search for his Great Disk would proceed in a much more orderly way.
X X X
Nokama swam in long, steady strokes, her eyes focused on the surface. She could make out indistinct figures through the water. There was Matau, and Vhisola, Orkahm, and…Vahki!
The sight made her stop short. Only then did she sense the disturbance in the water, as if nature itself were crying out to her. She whirled to see the giant sea beast closing in on her. She wanted to scream, but opening her mouth underwater would save the Rahi the trouble of ending her existence.
She knew its name—at least, unofficially. Long thought to be a myth by Ga-Matoran, this creature—referred to as the Dweller in the Deep—was said to live at the very bottom of the sea. It was believed to be the only natural enemy of the dreaded Tarakava serpents. Now, she knew that those legends were not just empty tales.
Nokama forced her fear away. It was alright for a Matoran to be afraid, but she was a Toa now. She could fight back, and just maybe solve two problems at once.
Vahki were capable of three different modes of transport. They could walk on two legs; walk on four, using their two handheld staffs as forelegs; or shift into a more aerodynamic mode for flight. Most Vahki were not good swimmers, with the Bordakh being the only ones designed to withstand time underwater (and even they avoided it).
Clutching the Great Disk tightly, she sped for the surface. The monstrous Rahi was right on top of her, caught up in the hunt and determined to catch a meal. Nokama burst out of the water and into the air, diving toward one group of Vahki. The beast followed close behind, leaping, jaws snapping, hungry for its prey.
At the last possible moment, Nokama curled into a ball and flipped downwards. Unable to change direction, the Rahi slammed into the startled Vahki. Witnesses there would have only seen a massive, sleek shape and jaws that seemed wide enough to swallow the Great Temple whole. Matau used the distraction to summon a strong wind and blow the other Vahki into the water.
"Now we are in trouble-danger," said Matau. "Vahki hate fish. And baths."
"Then let's not wait for their complaints," said Nokama, as the beast returned to its home beneath the waves. "We have the disk. Let's go!"