Author: Feline Freak
Title: Madu Cabolo
Rating: K + (or PG)
Publisher: Feline Freak
Genre: Action/Adventure/General

Note: While all other authors had something that identified them and their styles, this is definitely not one of my usual stories. Or is it? What should I have posted anyway? Of all the authors here, I'm probably the one with the most anonymous style, or maybe it's just that I'm the only one who doesn't have a third party to analyze what I write and explain it for me.

But this certainly it isn't one of my usual one-shots. In fact, this is a story I normally would have never written, if it weren't for the BZP Storyline and Theories contest. Because this is the story I wanted to submit to that contest, even though I knew I had no chance. That for several reasons 1) I'm not exactly well known on that site 2) PG is not my favorite rating and 3) I don't know enough about the Bionicle world anyway. I decide it to write it anyway, and see what would happen. Then I hit a snag: the healing herbs. I suddenly realized that if they weren't allowed, the story would be chucked out. So I PMed one of the admins there, who was nice enough to answer me the day before the deadline, at a time when I was sleeping and not able to answer. Moral of the story: I never got it to submit this.

So now, I post this story here. It might not be one of my best, or the one with the most feeling, but it's the one where I tried to adapt my style as far as possible to the Bionicle and LEGO world. I probably won't win this time either, but at least I found something to do with this piece of writing.

Disclaimer: Bionicle isn't mine. All the corny notes in the previous chapters (and in this), however, are.

Madu Cabolo

Many Matoran think that Ga-Matoran are natural born healers. Well, they're wrong.

True, Ga-Matoran have developed the science of healing more than others, but they still have to learn the job. Some, the truly talented, learned it in a snap, others, like Kotu, took some more time.

It wasn't like she was a bad healer or anything. Simply, she wasn't patient enough to go through the long work of sorting healing herbs or studying the ancient art of curing. Whatever that was supposed to be, as Kotu had never really understood that.

Basically, Kotu's problem was that she preferred playing Kolhii with Macku instead of working and studying, so it was no doubt that, after one of the villagers fell in the water because someone had 'fixed the causeway that connected the various lily pads that formed Ga-Koro badly', Nokama gave her a long list and sent her to collect various types of herbs and plants, each one supposedly with a different healing quality.

Except that she had never heard of grass with healing qualities.

She huffed. Finding the things on Nokama's list had taken her all morning and good part of the afternoon. She had the slight suspect that that might have been the only point of that list. After all, what were a handful of leaves of Le-Koro jungle trees supposed to cure?

Still, she was proud of her finding, especially because she had found a handful of Madu Cabolo on her way back to the village, and a couple of ripe Madu too. Although she was weary about carrying the explosive fruits all that way, she decided it was worth the risk. She had already an idea of what she could do with them, bury them under the ground, drag some unwary Ga-Matoran to the place, and then throw a rock at the spot to blow up the sand at the right moment. As for the Cabolo… she'd see.

So she did, and then proceeded to fin the 'unwary Matoran'. She thought of who that could be. Amay, Nixie? Or maybe should she try with Macku?

Her thoughts were quickly blown away as she saw what was happening at her village. A huge, horned creature was stalking around it, trying to find the best way to enter it. From time to time, its head shot forwards and tried to hit some random Ga-Matoran that got too near to shore. A Kane-Ra was attacking her village.

Hey, weren't Kane-Ra supposed to live in Po-Wahi or Ko-Wahi?

The Kane-Ra snorted and started running up and down shore, annoyed at the fact that he couldn't reach the lily pads. His head suddenly shot forwards and hit one of the houses near to shore, his horns creating two twin holes in the wall. It stopped, then hit it again and again, pleased that it was finally managing to break something. Several dents and holes started appearing in the wall, and the building started wavering, threatening to collapse on itself and bury whatever or whoever was inside it beneath it. Kotu stood there, not knowing what to do. She was the only one who could save her village and she knew that, but what could she do? All she had with her were those stupid healing herbs! And half of them weren't any good.

It was then that Kotu suddenly remembered the Madu Cabolo she had in the bag. She took one out and threw it. They landed right in front of the bull and broke, spreading their gases in the air. The Kane-Ra recoiled and shook his head, irritated by the smell.

He immediately lost interest in the village and turned on Kotu instead. The Matoran gulped and started backing away, then broke into a run as the great, horned head struck the ground next to her. The Rahi snorted and charged.

As fast as Kotu was, she was no match for the Rahi, which gradually gained terrain on the Ga-Matoran. Another two or three strives, and he would've reached her.

Suddenly, Kotu skidded to the left, then back to the right again. The Rahi was slightly confused, but ran on, driven by sheer madness. One of his feet struck the three red flowers that Kotu had avoided, and before he knew it, he was flying through the air in a fountain of sand.

Kotu skidded to a spot and turned around. The Kane-Ra was temporarily dazed – if she was lucky even knocked out – but long to be defeated. She took out one more Madu Cabolo and threw it at his face. It splattered all over his eyes and nose.

It was too much for the Rahi. Already infuriated and crazed by the smell, it started jumping around pointlessly, shaking his head madly and trying to get rid of the thing that clung to his face and hurt his sensitive nostrils. Kotu gasped and ran away a second before the beasts' hooves hit the ground she had been standing on. She backed away another couple of bios, just in case.

This was not good. She had to find a way to calm the Rahi down as quickly as possible. Her thoughts flashed to the herbs she was carrying, remembering that some of them, after all, were actually good for something, and some of those were sleeping herbs. Now she just had to come up with some smart idea to get the Rahi to eat them…

She bumped against something and turned around to see she had crashed against a boat. Inside it, she noticed a big, strong net, used to catch the bigger fish that lurked in the bay. Just like it had happened with the sleeping herbs, seeing the net made an idea form in her mind. As the Rahi came nearer, she grabbed the scratchy thing and thrust it with all her might at the maddened Kane-Ra. But nets of that kind are too heavy and too large for a single Matoran, and so the attack resulted in only half of the desired effect. The net hit one of the horns, and hung there loosely. A cry of frustration escaped from Kotu's lips. The Kane-Ra heard her, and striked.

Kotu flew backwards in a neat arch, landing in the sea behind her and sinking deep beneath the surface. She didn't make any effort to swim back up, or to stop the column of air bubbles escaping from her lips. She just let the sea around her lull her body and the currents drag her around as her view became more and more cloudy and slowly faded to black…

Someone grabbed her arm and pulled it, dragging her limp body to the surface. She barely noticed, hanging between consciousness and unconsciousness as she was…

"Kotu! Kotu! Mata Nui! She's waking up Turaga, look!" Macku screeched. Kotu's eyes flattered open and she looked around to find out that she was in her hut, with both Turaga Nokama and Kotu bending over her. A glance outside the window told her that it was already dark.

"What… the Kane-Ra…? What happened to it?" she wanted to know. Every breath caused her a sharp pain at the height of the chest. She wondered whether the bull had piercedone of her lungs.

"What happened to you, is more like the right question," Turaga Nokama said sternly. "That bull hit you straight in the chest. You have more than one broken rib and you're just lucky neither of his horns got you. Macku saw you flying through the air and then fall underwater. She pulled you out that you were half dead."

So that was what had happened. Despite all, she had to sigh in relief. She had feared much worse.

"And… the bull?" she asked.

"We don't really know," Macku said. "After it hit you, it suddenly recoiled and started running away. But it got tangled in the net and kept falling. It took him a while to tear it to shreds, and then it went away, just like that."

Kotu frowned. She had no idea of what might had happened, unless…

"What happened to my bag?" she asked weakly.

"Macku pulled it out for you," Nokama said. "By the way, what was a Madu Cabolo doing inside it with the other herbs?"

"I…" Kotu muttered.

"Never mind, you'll explain when you'll be feeling better," Nokama said. "For now, just rest."

Kotu nodded, though inside, she smiled. A Madu Cabolo. Only one. She had picked four back in the jungle, and had used two against the Rahi. There should've been two left.

As she went to sleep, she could easily picture the last of the fruits fall out of the bag and right under the Rahi's nose, and if it hadn't been for the sharp pain she felt in her chest, she would've laughed at the thought of the dangerous Rahi being defeated by a stinky fruit.