Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle.
Summary: My little look at how Matau and Nuju first met. Based on the same idea as my chapter in Feline Freak's 'Veteran's vs. New Wave'.
The sky was clear, save for a few clouds; the twin suns were shining; a balmy breeze blew through the metal jungle that was Le-Metru. It was a picture perfect day to be outside. The Ussal driver, Orkahm, was on top of a chute, using his repair Kanoka disk to fix a crack. Right now, the crack was a minor one, but Orkahm knew if left unchecked for too long, it would become a problem. In less than a minute the crack welded itself together until there was no sign that it was ever there. He carefully checked the spot over and was just thinking about getting back to work when he spotted something—another crack farther around the chute. The Matoran tried to get a good shot, but couldn't get the angle he needed unless he went farther down, which he was unable to do without falling. He decided he had no choice but to head back to the Moto Hub and hope the crack wouldn't get worse when someone called his name. Orkahm groaned; he recognized that voice.
A short distance away, Matau waved and started bounding toward him. "What are you up to?" Matau asked.
"Just repair-fixing a break-crack in the chute," Orkahm replied.
Matau noticed the crack, "You spot-missed one."
"I know," Orkahm said tartly, "but I can't get to it without high-falling. I'm going to have to inform-report it at the Moto Hub."
Matau looked back down at the crack and thought that if Orkahm was a few feet taller he would be able to reach down and fire his Kanoka disk. That gave him an idea.
After a little coaxing, Matau carefully lowered Orkahm down by his feet. Once he was close enough, Orkahm fired his disk and the crack repaired itself as easily as the last one. "Ok, haul-pull me up," he told Matau. Matau managed to do so with a little effort. "Much-thanks," Orkahm said.
"No worry-problem," said Matau.
"By the way, what were you doing here?" Orkahm cocked an eyebrow in a suspicious manner.
Matau put on his best innocent face, "Just on my route-way back to the Moto Hub."
Orkahm placed his hands on his waist, unconvinced that that was the whole story.
"Ok, ok," said Matau, raising his hands in surrender, "when I sight-spotted you, I thought I'd invite-challenge you to a speed-race back."
Rolling his eyes, Orkahm turned his back to his co-worker, "Forget it."
"Aw, c'mon," Matau pleaded. "You're not afraid I'll outdo-beat you, are you?"
Matau continued to pester Orkahm as they carefully made their away across. Inside the chute, however, a transport cart bumped into the wall, shaking the chute. Taken totally by surprise, both Le-Matoran, unable to keep their balance, found themselves falling through open air toward a mess of cables. Orkahm snapped through many cables before his momentum finally slowed down enough for another set to act like rubber bands and he landed on a ledge with a thud. For a minute he groaned; his body stung all over from flying through cables. Getting up, he peered over the edge and called, "Are you fine-alright, Matau?" Down below, he found a rather humorous sight—Matau tangled up in cables in a way that looked like his torso was tied up in them, with his arms pinned to his sides, and hanging upside down.
"Sure-fine," Matau grumbled, clearly embarrassed; he could hear Orkahm trying hard not to laugh.
"Wait until the others—Matau, look out!"
Matau looked where his co-worker was pointing. A Nui Rama was heading right for them, and it had spotted Matau. It screeched as it approached. "Help!" Matau called. The Rahi was getting closer. Matau struggled as hard as he could, but he couldn't move. "Orkahm, help me!" he plead. "I'm too tight-tangled; I can't get loose-free."
Orkahm may have always been at odds with Matau as far back as he could remember, but he was still a fellow Matoran; he couldn't just leave him there. That's why he didn't think twice about bounding down through the cables trying to get to Matau as fast as possible. Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough. The dragonfly-like Rahi roared past in the blink of an eye just yards away from the Le-Matoran. One second Matau was there, the next he was gone. "No!" Orkahm cried out helplessly as he watched the Rahi fly away with a small green form in its claws. He just hung there, dazed, when he heard someone call from above him. When he looked up, he saw a red and yellow figure approach him on a board of the same colors. It was Toa Lhikan.
"What's the trouble?" the Toa asked.
Orkahm pointed to the retreating Rahi, which was now almost a speck. "That Rama's captured-got Matau, a co-worker of mine," said the Le-Matoran as he felt hope swell up in his chest.
The Toa of Fire glanced at the Rama in the distance, then turned his attention back to Orkahm. "Will you be alright?" he asked.
"Yeah," Orkahm nodded. "There's a chute station close-nearby I can get to from here."
The Fire Toa nodded and soared through the sky after the Rahi. Orkahm watched the Toa depart, hoping that Matau would be alright.
Lhikan followed the Nui Rama into Le-Metru's jungle as he made his board go as fast as it would go and beyond that in an effort to catch up to it. However, the Rahi had a good head-start and managed to stay ahead of him. In an attempt to slow it down, Lhikan shot carefully aimed fireballs so as not to injure the animal. But, all it did was aggravate the Rahi and it kept going. Lhikan, in turn, urged his airboard to keep up with it. A strange looking mountain came into view and, within moments, both were flying up toward the top. For a brief instant Lhikan noticed that the mountain seemed to be made of dried mud, twigs, and branches. Suddenly, the Rama let out a screech so horrible, Lhikan had to resist covering his ears to avoid losing his balance. It was then that he realized something that gave him a sickening feeling in his stomach—this wasn't a mountain, it was this Nui Rama's hive, and it had just called for reinforcements. 'I've got to grab Matau before they arrive,' he said to himself. But, within minutes some dark forms flew from the hive and were heading right toward them—it was already too late. The approaching bugs let their comrade pass through as they continued on toward the Toa, screeching. Seeing there was no other way, Lhikan resolved to deal with these overgrown pests as quickly as possible. First, he used his fire powers to confuse some of them. Then, by flying around in an erratic fashion, he tricked the others into flying into each other and the wall of the hive.
Once they were taken care of, the Toa of Fire flew into the entrance and gently, so as not to alert other members of the hive, hovered to the ground. Hearing the tink-tink sound of a pick, he went to investigate, all the while sticking to the shadows. It didn't take long to find the source of the sound—Matau. After successfully getting the Matoran's attention, Matau joined the Fire Toa and they slipped back the way Lhikan came.
"What were you doing with that pick, anyway?" the Toa whispered.
"They were force-making me carve-dig some more columns for them," the Matoran answered.
Just when they thought they were home free, a screech sounded from above and a Rama dove down. Thinking quickly, Lhikan activated his Hau, summoning a forceshield, and the Rahi bounced off, crashing into the wall. Lhikan let the shield down, but Matau saw something in the shadows. "Look out!" he shouted, and pushed Lhikan as hard as he could, knocking him to the ground. The Toa barely had time to fend off the Nui Rama. He was about to thank the Matoran when his breath caught in his throat. Matau was lying on the floor with a stinger imbedded into his upper back.
"Matau!" Lhikan said in a concerned tone as he approached him.
Carefully and swiftly, he pulled out the stinger, causing Matau to grunt. Without a moment to lose, Lhikan combined his swords into his airboard, grabbed Matau, and flew for the exit. However, the Rama were far from giving up and pursued him. The Fire Toa tried to lose them, but the Rahi were relentless. Finally, Lhikan decided he had enough of these pests and unleashed a wall of fire. The Rama barely managed to avoid the flames and turned back to the hive. Lhikan smirked—that ought to show them he's not helpless—and turned in the direction of Ko-Metru at top speed.
Despite the fact they were nearing Ko-Metru, Lhikan couldn't help but feel like they weren't going fast enough and kept urging his board to go faster. Matau needed an antidote for the Rama venom, and the sooner he received it, the better. The Le-Matoran, hanging limply in the Toa's arm, moaned. "Hang on, Matau. We're almost there," encouraged Lhikan. He knew that, along with astronomy, Ko-Matoran were also fairly skilled in healing; he just hoped that someone would either be able to help him or direct him to someone who could.
Spotting a tower, he headed right for the top, nearly knocking over the two Matoran that were there. "Honestly, do you Toa ever use a door?" one of the Matoran grumbled as Lhikan landed.
"Forgive the interruption," the Toa of Fire apologized, "but I need your help."
It was then the Matoran saw the unconscious green Matoran and came to have a look at him as the Fire Toa gently laid him down. Though the expression on his mask was somber, his eyes gave away his concern. "What happened?" the Matoran asked as he looked Matau up and down.
"He was poisoned by a Nui Rama," Lhikan answered. "Do you have an antidote?"
The Ko-Matoran nodded and turned to his student next to him. "Get that flask on the shelf," he pointed to one with a circular lower half, and the apprentice left to oblige. Turning back to Matau, the Matoran asked, "How long ago did this occur?"
Lhikan thought about it and answered, "About a half-an-hour ago. Will he be alright?"
The Ko-Matoran, with a hint of hesitance, replied, "To tell you the truth, I'm not sure. Nui Rama venom is serious stuff; if the antidote is not administered within a certain amount of time, the victim's beyond help." Just then, the apprentice came back with the flask and handed it to the Ko-Matoran. "Open his mouth," the mentor said as he uncorked the container. The Toa of Fire carefully lifted Matau's head so his mouth opened slightly, and the Matoran poured the antidote. Matau remained perfectly still. Once the proper dose was given, everyone waited to see what would happen, hoping Matau received it time. At first, there didn't seem to be any change. Then, after a few minutes, the expression on the Le-Matoran's mask became more relaxed and his heartlight stopped flashing and began to glow steadily. Lhikan let out a breath of relief; the antidote worked. "He'll be alright now," said the mentor in a relieved tone. "You did cut it real close, though—a few more minutes, and nothing could've helped him."
Lhikan gathered Matau in his arms, "I can never thank you two enough."
"Just helping out when the need arose," the student replied modestly with a shrug.
The Toa was about to board his airboard when a thought crossed his mind. "Forgive me; I never learned your names."
"I'm Ihu," bowed the mentor, "and this is my apprentice, Nuju." Nuju respectively bowed as well.
Lhikan smiled and said, "Take care, Ihu and Nuju," and took off.
With that bit of excitement over, Ihu asked Nuju, "Now . . . where were we, Nuju?"
"Determining star patterns."
"Yes. Right."
And, they got back to the lesson.
Meanwhile, at the Moto Hub, a few Matoran, along with Orkahm, waited anxiously. They'd been waiting there since their shifts were over for the day, hoping to spot any sign of Toa Lhikan and/or Matau. Ever since Orkahm brought back word of what happened, Matau's friends had been feeling so apprehensive they wished time would speed up just so they could have the opportunity to keep a look out.
"Anything?" asked Kongu.
"Not-nothing," Tamaru answered tiredly. "You'd believe-think that we would've, at least, heard from him by now."
"You'd believe-think that," Orkahm agreed.
Just when they were about to give up, Tuuli spotted something glint off the light of the streetlights below. "Hey, quick-look," he called as he pointed out the window.
Everyone crowded around, squinted their eyes, and leaned as far over the window pane as they could to get a better look. Then, just like that, they widened their eyes in surprise.
"It's Toa Lhikan!" Tamaru cried with excitement.
"He's back!" Kongu chimed in.
The small group of Le-Matoran followed the Toa of Fire as he came in for a landing at a house nearby. "He's deliver-taking Matau to his home," said Orkahm.
In an instant, the four Matoran were on their way out of the Moto-Hub. When they reached the house, Toa Lhikan was about to let himself in. The Fire Toa turned when he heard them call. "Matau," Kongu asked breathlessly, and a little nervously, "is he--"
Lhikan shushed him and whispered, "Your friend is fine. He's just resting." As if to prove his point, the Toa of Fire bent forward a little, allowing the Matoran to see for themselves. As one, the gathered Matoran breathed sighs of relief. Meanwhile, Lhikan ducked through the door and placed Matau on a cot. Matau didn't even stir. "He should be back to full strength and ready to get back to work in the morning," the Toa noted as he came back through the door.
"Oh boy," Orkahm said as brought a hand to his brow; he honestly wasn't sure if that was really a good thing. His relief that his fellow Matoran was ok tempered it, though—for now, anyway.
The others, however, couldn't help but chuckle and Lhikan smiled. Finally, after a long and hectic day, the four Le-Matoran made way to their own homes, and Lhikan took his leave to his own residence. All along the way, he couldn't stop thinking of both the Le-Matoran who, without any regard for his own safety, had helped him back in the Nui Rama hive, and of a certain Ko-Matoran apprentice who, along with his mentor, went out of his way to help a fellow Matoran.
The months passed and both Matau and Nuju, Toa Metru now, were walking with Vakama, Nokama, and Onewa through the underground maze known the Onu-Metru Archives looking for their missing comrade, Whenua, whom they now knew had been kidnapped by a shapeshifting Rahi known as Krahka. They had found and released Nuju from an energyfield just a few minutes ago.
"I thank you for freeing me from that prison back there, Vakama," said the Toa of Ice.
Vakama shook his head, "Don't thank me. Thank Matau."
Nuju blinked in surprise.
"Yeah, using a teleportation disk on the energyfield was all Matau's idea," Onewa chimed in as he gestured with his thumb at the Toa of Air.
After thinking about it for a few moments, Nuju slowed down his stride a bit so he fell in pace with Matau. Then, with a slight hint of hesitance, he said, "Thank you."
"Well," the Air Toa shrugged, "now we're equal-even."
The Ice Toa gave him an odd look, to which Matau responded to with a wink. Though he had never met Nuju, he knew who he was as soon as he learned his name—the, at the time, apprentice seer who helped him when he was poisoned. On Nuju's part, though he had never learned Matau's name, he did recognize him when he saw him at the Great Temple. Realizing what Matau meant, the Toa of Ice gave a small smile and nodded. They were now even—for now, anyway.