Hey fellas! Welp, chapter 4 is up. Takua and Jason are now starting there journey. will they find the cause of the infected balls? do they figure out the vendor's secret? Read and find out!


Chapter 4

"To the Hidden Temple or Bust"

"Jason! Jason, slow down!" shouted Takua. Jason stops at the door of the hut and looks at him panting.

"Sorry, but this is urgent," she Jason." She knocks on the wall, "Onewa, do you have a moment?"

"Of course," said Onewa, turning to them, "come in."

She lets Takua in first then manages to get in without bumping her head. Onewa smiles at Jason and asks, "How was your tour around the village?"

She smiles back, "It was wonderful, but that's not why we're here sir."

"We've might have something that could be the cause of the ill Matoran," said Takua.

The smile on Onewa's mask slowly disappeared. "We think this is it," he takes out the infected kolhii ball. Onewa looks at the ball then back at them.

"It looks like a regular kolhii ball."

"That may be, sir," said Jason, "but take a closer look," she points to one side of the ball. "It looks like it's infected." The Turaga looks at it again then his eyes widen.

"Where did you get this?"

"We found it at the kolhii field, but we think it's the kolhii vendor that's passing these around." The elder looks at the ball then back at them and nods.

"All right, I will see to this. In the mean time, you two, continue your investigation. Figure out where that vendor got these."

Takua nods and bows, Jason, frantically, follows his lead and left.

*~*~*

Outside, Takua walks to the main gate, sighing. He didn't know where or what to look for.

"So, Capitan what's the plan?" Jason asks coming up to him. He looks up at her.

"I'm not really sure. I have no clue where to start."

"Well, one thing we can do is figure out where this key goes to."

"But how, I don't even know where to begin or what to look for."

"Then we make a list of what we do know. The obvious thing for the key is that it's made of stone; we may be looking for a door that is made of stone as well. There's also the symbol for water on it; so we maybe it has something to do with water."

Takua nods and thinks for a minute then says, "He also said something about his products' "secret", maybe he got them from a hidden place."

Jason smiles, "Now that we have some clues, we just need to figure out where that "secret" door is," her ears stood up with happiness. Takua smiles, he could tell that she was excited because the case was making progress. Soon they were out of the village and in the desert. Takua asked her many questions like "Where did you come from?" or "What exactly are you?" or "How did you get here." All of which she tried to answer so he could understand until her ears twitched. She looks around.

"Do you hear a tapping noise?"

Takua stops and listens.

Tap…tap…tap.

"Yeah, I do. Sounds like its coming straight ahead," Jason nods and keeps moving. As they walked the tapping got louder and louder. They soon found that the noise was coming from a black masked Matoran carving signs for the road.

"Hello," greeted Takua.

"Afternoon," said the Matoran. He looks up at Jason, "An interesting rahi you have, friend; a new breed?"

Jason stares at him, letting the daggers from her eyes attempted to penetrate his mask. "I'm not a rahi."

"And it speaks, ha! You learn something new every day," he goes back to his carving. Jason closed her eyes and sighed, her ears twitching with annoyance.

Takua cleared his throat, "Can you help us. We're looking for something."

"Well, that depends on what you're looking for," he said not looking up, "What do you need?"

Takua takes out the key, "do you have an idea where this goes?" The Matoran looks up and sees the key.

"I should know where it goes, I made it," he turns back to his project, "along with the temples that go with it."

Tap…tap…tap…

"Really?"

"Can you tell us where they are?" Jason asked with her tail wagging.

"On one condition," he said looking up at her. She gulped, not sure what he wanted, and things like this scared her.

"Name it."

"Kneel down."

She blinked, "Excuse me?"

"I said kneel down."

She blinks again then rolls her eyes. She knew where this was going. She kneels down and sighed, "Have at it."

He takes her ears and rubs them. She knew this was what he wanted. Ever since kindergarten, humans that have never seen a fox girl before usually go for the ears and tail first then the tail.

"Fascinating," said the Matoran, "I have never felt a rahi's ears be so…fuzzy."

"So I've been told," she looks at Takua, "you want your fill before I get up?"

"Only if you want me to," he said.

"Might as well get it over with."

Shyly, he goes in front of her and rubs her ears as well.

"You're right, they are fuzzy!"

Jason couldn't help put smile. It reminded her of the smaller kids back in her world when they'd ask if they could touch her ears and tail. She chuckles, "Okay fellas, I need these back now," she would say to them when she needed to go. All the kids would whine and rub a few more times before they let go. Some wouldn't let go at all and try to go with her or try to take her home. Fortunately for her, their parents would come and get them. It was sad to see them cry as they left, but she would cheer them up by saying, "I'll be here tomorrow," and she would smile and wave to them. Her thought were interrupted with a slight shake.

"Jason? Jason, what's wrong?"

She looks up at the worried masked Takua wore, "are you okay?"

She was still kneeling. She stood up and dusted herself off.

"Yeah, I'm fine...just thinking," she sighed and cleared her throat, "anyway where can we find the door to that key?"

The Matoran pointed to his right, "If you head east, there should be a rock formation. In it is an open roofed cave. Inside the cave are six figures of the Toa's masks. You should find your door there; as for that key," he looks at Takua, "you should figure it out by then."

They nod, "thank you so much friend."

"Not at all, now if you excuse me, I have some work to finish."

The two of them nod and smile as they said good bye to him and left for the hidden temples.

*~*~*

On their journey, Jason asked Takua if he met any of the Toa. He smiled and nods. He tells her about his first trip to Ga-Koro. Before he went there he met a villager from there.

"I met her on the beach of Ta-Wahi," he told her, "her name was Maku, and she was in a panic. Turns out her village was attacked by an infected rahi that the Makuta sent. The villagers and Turaga hid in one of their submersible huts, but the rahi wrecked the pump that brought them back up. I had to dive down and find the gear. I found it and brought them back up, but then the rahi wrecked the pump that brought them back up. I had to dive down and find the gear. I found it and brought them back up. All of a sudden the infected rahi came back and attacked again. Then just in the nick of time, Toa Gali came and took it down."

Jason smiled, "That's awesome! Maybe one day I'll meet her."

"Maybe," he said with a reassuring smile.

At last, they made it to the cave. Cautiously, they made their way in and saw the mask carvings on the wall. Their eyes widen with amazement. Never had they seen anything like this in their lives.

"If only I had my camera," Jason mumbled. Her ears perked up, "maybe I do."

"Do what?" Takua looked at her. Jason Takes off her bag and looks through it. "Jason, what are you looking for?"

"Ha-ha! I knew this would come in handy somehow!" she takes out her digital.

"What is that?" Takua asked staring at the camera.

"This is a camera," she explained, "it takes pictures and stores them inside. Oh, how can I explain this for you? Um…it copies the actual thing and it goes in here. Here let me show you." She holds it up and takes a picture of him. "Huh, that's not a bad picture," she shows it to him.

His eyes widen, "A—amazing! That's me!"

She smiles and turns, "Yeah, it is pretty cool, huh?" she takes a picture of the temples. "Very good," she puts it away, "now we need to figure out which door to put the key into."

Takua takes the key out and looks at it.

"It has the water symbol, so it must belong under Gali's mask."

"It's this one right?" she points to the scuba mask.

"That's it," he walks up to it and looks at it. Soon he found the key hole and put it in. There was a rumble and a small quake. In front of them a door lifted, opening the entrance to a cave. Cold air blew at them making Jason shake her head.

"That's cold."

Slowly, Takua makes his way inside the cave followed by Jason. He takes off his pack and takes out a gem that glowed brightly.

"What kind of rock is that?" Jason asked covering her face.

"It's a light stone."

"Ah, a rock that glows, now I've seen everything," even though that was a total lie, she thought.

As they went deeper in to the cave, the colder it got. The fur on Jason's arm stood up. Finally, they came to the end of the steps Jason growled and looked around, "I do not like this Takua, something's amiss."

"I agree, it doesn't—

Something flashed out of the corner of his eye. He looks back and gasps, "Jason!"

She looks at him and then in the direction that he looked. Her jaw drops. "Son of my mom!"

In front of them were infected kolhii balls and on the back wall was an infected mask.

"Takua this is it!"

"We need to tell the Turaga about this."

Just as they were about to leave, a hiss came from behind them. They slowly turn around and saw the Nui-Jaga, clicking its pincers and threatening them with its stinger.

"It's that giant mutant scorpion again!" cried Jason here eyes wide with fear.

"What are we going to do?"

"We need to get out, but something tells me that's not going to be easy."

The monster hissed ready to fight.


Ah, cliff hangers, you got to love them. I do, keeps you all in suspence. Ha ha! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, tell me what you think. R&R people, authors like me really like them. without them we feel like our stories aren't loved. don't make the stories cry!!! ....sorry bout that. R&R plz!

FFox