A lot of things could happen during six years. The Rahi of the island could go nuts, the Bohrok could threaten to destroy everything, and the Toa Mata could end up supercharged and transformed into Toa Nuva. But perhaps the most dangerous event, in the opinion of a disgruntled Turaga such as Nuju and Onewa, was a Le-Koro play date when Takua, Jaller, Hahli, and Kongu, were involved. Sure, Hahli was a little angel on her own, but even Turaga Matau had to admit that, beneath her positively darling disposition, the ten year old Ga-Matoran had the potential to become a Makuta-spawned hellion when one wasn't careful.
And of course, today was - like many other days - one of those times where Matau wasn't fully tending to them with aforementioned care, and as such he now had four little heathens to track down. They knew better than to leave Le-Koro of course – that was a lesson they had been taught while they were still easy to catch – but even still it was astounding just how much mischief the quartet could make in the village before someone finally caught up with them. Huffing grumpily as he trudged along through Le-Koro, Matau found himself lamenting how weak his wings had become over time, as well as agreeing to let the children roam and explore the veritable jungle gym that made up his tree-top village. To make matters worse, Lewa was away on Toa business at Kini Nui, and as such couldn't be called on for aid in the search. "Blast it all..." The twenty-eight year old grumbled tersely. "Of course they would choosepick today to be troubleproblems. It's the one day I don't have anyone everquick to wayfind them for me!"
Matau had learned early on that he couldn't really ask anyone in Le-Koro to help him whenever the kidlets went running amok. Half of them were busy with their own lives, and the rest would be more likely to help the rascals escape than retrieve them. Even Kongu's older brothers were useless in the hunt; most of the time, one of them could even be at least partially to blame for the chaos in the first place.
"Thankpraise Mata Nui there are only four of them..."
Matau could remember all too clearly just how much trouble happened when the whole of 'Takua's Entourage' was present. Mild mannered Matoro became a master tactician against getting caught whenever he got involved, and even Nuparu and Hewkii – both of whom were fourteen – would tag along in the games instead of being helpful. Hewkii even went out of his way to be a pain whenever Macku – Hahli's new best friend, and a couple years older than her – was present. "Showboating little brat..."
Of course, Matau denied fervently that, were he younger and not a Turaga, he likely would have been neck-deep in the shenanigans as well. Even with things as they were it was likely that the children had heard some of his stories about his younger day antics when he put the unintentional lessons into practice. "Why did I have to speaktell them about my glorious plotschemes..." Yes, it was most likely and undeniably Matau's fault. At least, a good part of it was. How else could they have been so good at being so amazingly problematic? "Now I know how NujuBrother felt when we were younger..."
He paused before snorting a laugh at his own words. "As if I could be as everdull as him. Hah! I'm the funnest TuragaElder ever!"
"Is that why you lost the kids again?"
The twenty-eight year old yelped in surprise, turning quickly and finding himself looking at the cheeky grin adorning his beloved's face. "Hlahlu!" He squawked, comically waving his arms a bit for added emphasis. "Don't sneakscare me like that!" He then registered what she'd said and flushed. "I didn't lose them! I just can't wayfind them."
The Ga-Matoran giggled at his antics. "Uh huh. Which means you lost them."
"I...! I...!" Matau deflated a bit. "Maybe I did." He muttered almost sulkily. "But I will way find them! ... Eventually."
Hlahlu giggled a bit more. "Good thing I know where they are then, isn't it?"
"Eh?"
She smiled and caught hold of his arm, soon tugging him along in the opposite direction to the one he'd been going. "This way, Matau. Follow me."
^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^
A chorus of giggles erupted forth as Hahli and Kongu rolled about, wrestling on the safety net that'd been hung under Le-Koro just in case someone had a moment of clumsy and fell off the walkways above. Jaller grinned as he watched them tussle, his pink eyes gleaming with amusement the whole time. At present, he and his three comrades were taking turns wrestling each other, the winner of each match having to contend with whoever waited the longest to have another round. At present, Jaller was 'in line' behind Takua, taking full advantage of the time he had to recover his breath for whenever he was up next. So far Kongu held the crown, so to speak, and had managed to beat both Jaller and Takua already, though it was looking like Hahli was likely to steal the glory soon enough.
Smiling to himself, the ten year old glanced down at the forest floor so far below them, wondering if he would see any interesting Rahi wandering around. He'd already seen a flock of Pokawi scamper by once or twice, deciding that the small birds probably had a nesting area somewhere nearby for them to keep moseying about the area. However, instead of seeing flightless birds or any other unassuming creatures, Jaller found himself staring down at a strange figure, shadowy wisps seeming to be emanating from his darkly armored frame, and even at their distance apart, the ten year old could make out the vibrant ruby color of the stranger's eyes. An impressive glaive was visibly strapped across his back, the blade tinted very slightly red, and the shaft as black as tar.
"Huh?" Jaller burbled, blinking several times as he and the stranger continued to watch each other, the latter slowly becoming more and more familiar the longer Jaller stared at him.
"... Dad?"
"Hey Jaller, you're up!"
The Ta-Matoran blinked and looked over, eyeing Kongu a moment before registering what had been said. "Oh, okay." Absently he looked down again, frowning when he saw that the figure had disappeared.
Kongu crawled closer and peered down as well. "See something coolneat?"
"Huh? Oh, no not really." Jaller mumbled. "Just birds." However, even as he turned to go and tussle for supremacy against Takua, he couldn't help but wonder about the stranger he saw. Had that really been his father? Wasn't his father dead? That was what his uncle had told him. But nobody else could look the same as Jaller's father did, not even Vakama's best attempts could be utterly flawless. But if it wasn't Vakama or anyone else...
Was it all a lie? Had everyone been misled? How could they know? And the biggest question of all...
Was it really Mihkoro? And if it was;
Why hadn't he come back?
