Morning came, and Nokama called for Matau and Kit, but neither responded or could be found anywhere. 'Did something happen before they could sound the alarm?' she wondered. Suddenly, some small twigs and pebbles fell on her head. Startled, she looked up at the arch above to find a slightly embarrassed Matau looking down at her from what appeared to be a nest.
"Uh, yeah?" he called.
"What in the world are you doing up there when you should be standing guard?" asked Nokama.
"I am standing watch-guard," Matau protested as he leaped down, "while I'm create-making this." Nokama placed her hand and tool on her waist, inviting him to try again. Sighing, Matau gave in, "To tell you the truth, Nokama, I don't really know. One minute I was guard-watching, the next I suddenly feel this urge-need to nest-make."
Nokama nodded in understanding, then the two heard something a little further away. What they found was Kit scratching her claws and rubbing her head against a leaning pillar. When the girl found she was discovered, she looked at them sheepishly, "Hi?"
"And, what are you up to, Kit?" asked Nokama, already guessing the answer if Matau was any indication.
Kit looked at the pillar, back at the Toa Hordika, and back at the pillar again. "Apparently, I'm marking my territory." Seeing her friends confused expressions she explained how the felines in her world marked their territory by rubbing their faces against things and leaving claw marks. Evidently, like Matau, Kit also found herself victim to her new bestial instincts while she was supposed to be on guard.
Once they had gathered the other Toa Hordika, they headed for the Great Temple. "Did anyone see anything last night?" Nokama inquired.
"Nothing, lots of nothing," answered Whenua.
"Yep, boooring," droned Onewa.
"I don't know," said Nuju, "I found the sounds of the night fascinating."
Matau stopped and shook his head, "Riiiight. I wonder what's taking the Rahaga so long, I mean how hard is it to get directions?"
"Well, when they're to a creature that has not been seen since the time before time, hard," Nuju replied with annoyance.
"Really" Matau challenged. Nokama and Whenua told him to be patient and to take it easy, but the Air Hordika was not having any of it. "I have absolutely no patience for looking like this," he snarled as he ran his way through the group. Kit sighed with a shrug, and the group chased after him. "We've already wasted a whole night," said Matau. "The way I see it, the sooner we get to the--"
The rest of his sentence was cut off when he and the others saw a sight that stopped them in their tracks—smoke bellowing out from the Great Temple. After overcoming their shared shock, the Toa and Kit rushed toward the entrance, calling to the Rahaga. Inside, it was total destruction; rubble of all shapes and sizes littered the floor. "Fan out," said Kit, and the group searched the place.
"Kit?" Nokama inquired.
Knowing what the Water Hordika meant, and bounding to the top of a fallen column, she took a whiff with her new sensitive nose and sneezed. "Nothing, just smoke and ash," she reported.
Nokama then turned to the Hordika of Ice, "Nuju, can you see anything?"
Activating his scope, Nuju scanned the area, Matoran letters identifying his fellow Hordika and Kit, but there was no sign of any of the Rahaga. Suddenly, some groaning echoed and Nuju zeroed in on the source—Norik. "There he is! He's over there!" he pointed to a pile. The others gathered around the mentioned spot and, sure enough, there was Norik, coughing weakly from the pressure on his chest and unable to get himself out.
"Stand back!" said Whenua and he got right to work with his new thumper.
The others helped clear away some more of the rubble and Norik was free. "Norik, what happened?" Onewa asked the barely conscious Rahaga. "What should we do?"
"I wish Vakama was here," said Nokama, believing he'd know what to do.
"He . . . was," Norik moaned, and everyone's blood ran cold.
'No way!' Kit thought. 'Vakama couldn't have done this.' Then, she remembered what she smelled just moments before, smoke and ash, which only occurred when there was fire, and fire was Vakama's specialty. 'Could he?'
After Norik recovered his strength, he told the team about Vakama and the abduction of his fellow Rahaga. "Vakama would never do such a thing," Nokama proclaimed. "Right?" The other Toa and Kit answered her with silence.
"You are correct, Nokama," said Norik, seeing the down look on her face. "The Vakama you know would not. He's changed, just as you all will if we do not find Keetongu. I fear Vakama has given himself completely to the beast that lurks within us all. The ancient, the primal, the parts of ourselves we like to think progress has made us forget. Hordika is its name."
"I don't think I wanna be Hordika," said Whenua fearfully.
"Me neither," said Kit.
"It's not all bad Whenua and Kit," Norik comforted, "not if you don't allow it to be. Being Hordika grants you certain gifts."
Nokama thought about it; ever since their transformation, she, the other Toa, and Kit had gained a connection to nature they never had before. On top of that, Kit's senses of vision, hearing, and smell had been increased by ten-fold, which had proven time and time again to be very handy. But then, what about Matau's nest making, or Kit's territory marking, kitten-like playfulness, and Visorak killing? 'If all of those things are these 'gifts' being Hordika has granted us,' she said to herself, 'I'd give it up to be the Toa of Water again any day.' "Assuming you're right," she said to Norik, "we must find Keetongu and rescue the Matoran before the beast overcomes us, too."
"Yes," Norik agreed, "but I must warn you, Vakama may already be beyond anything even Keetongu can do."
"Well, we have to try," Matau said determinedly. "We owe the fire-spitter that much and I was kind of rough-hard on him."
"We were all hard on him, Matau," Kit corrected. "We were always worrying about how his actions affected us with no consideration about what he was going through."
"And, if you can't help him?" Norik asked.
"Leave that to me," Matau vowed darkly.
"So, back to searching," said Nuju, figuring that they were now back where they started—trying to find clues to the legendary Keetongu's whereabouts.
"We were able to translate much of the inscription before Vakama's attack," Norik corrected. "'Follow the falling tears to Ko-Metru until they reach the sky'." He pointed up and, sure enough, a rivulet of water-like protodermis flowed from one of the temple's eyes, making it look like it was crying. "It is there we will find Keetongu," Norik finished.
Kit, Matau, and Onewa took a closer look at the small stream the 'tears' made. "Liquid that flows upward?" questioned Kit as she dipped a hand in.
"It's not much of a plan, but it is one," said Onewa, and they joined the others in following the Trail of Falling Tears.
The group followed the trail for hours and managed to cover a lot of ground. As much as he himself wanted to continue, Norik called for a break once they reached the wildlands of Ga-Metru. For some reason, Onewa couldn't stop thinking about what Vakama did and how he betrayed them, and it was putting him on edge. "We'll get him back, brother," said Nokama in an effort to calm him. "We have to."
"Who says we have to bring him back," the Stone Hordika snapped. "He made his choice. I say we leave him where he is and decide on a new leader."
"Hey, you take that back," Kit shoved so he was looking at her. She was feeling offended on Vakama's part and that Onewa had taken his statement too far.
"Never," Onewa refused.
"I said take it back!"
"No!"
With surprising speed and strength, Kit rammed into Onewa and the two tumbled down a small gully. The others peered over the edge just in time to find them shaking their heads to clear away the stars that danced in front of their eyes. "You little . . ." Onewa snarled and charged, sending the girl into the wall. But, Kit was back on her feet in an instant and went right back into the fray, dodging Onewa's Rhotuka spinners and claw club. Norik and the remaining Toa Hordika reached the bottom just in time to hear Onewa say, "Hey, let go of my leg."
"Anything you say," Kit snarled as she used all of her strength to throw him against the wall.
As the two continued to fight, the others watched on in horror; this was getting way out of hand. Whereas Onewa tried using his spinner powers and brute force, Kit was more agile and her new bestial instincts made her karate skills all the more vicious and dangerous. At one point, Onewa attacked Kit, sending her flying, but the girl lithely landed in a fighting stance. Judging from the surprised look on his face, the Stone Hordika didn't expect her to do that. "Don't you know that cats always land on their feet?" Kit smirked before taking her turn.
"We have to stop them before they kill each other," Norik said above the roaring, hissing, snarling, and screaming.
"But how?" asked Nuju. "Look at them, if we step in to interfere, they could turn on us."
"Take that," Kit growled as she side-kicked Onewa in the stomach. The Hordika of Stone staggered back a bit.
"Onewa, Kit, stop it!" Nokama called, but Onewa was deaf to her plea as he charged at Kit. Kit, however, flipped him onto his back and held him there until he pushed her to the ground. He charged again, but Kit used his momentum against him to flip him over her. Although, she didn't count on how quickly he would recover and found herself tackled to the ground and he struggled to hold her there while Kit fought to get him off. Without really thinking about it, she bit into his arm hard, her fangs sinking into his exposed flesh. Onewa cried out in pain and his grip slackened just enough for her to buck him off. Now, it was Onewa's turn to be pinned to the ground, trying to keep Kit's claws away from him.
"Kit!" Norik called out to her, and she looked toward him. "Look at yourself. Look at what you're about to do."
Something in Norik's voice seemed to get Kit to come to her senses, and, indeed, she saw what she was positioned to do. In a flash, she scooted off of Onewa and ran to the edge of a nearby stream. Nokama was about to go see her when Norik grabbed her arm and shook his head. Apparently, Kit wanted and needed some time to herself, and the team needed a break.
A little while later, Onewa made his way to the stream. Kit was still there, looking like she hadn't even budged an inch with her arms hugging her legs and head bowed down. When she heard him coming, she turned to look at him with ashamed eyes, then turned back to her silent musing. The Hordika of Stone sat down next to her and asked, "You ok?"
"I'm scared."
"Look, kid, if it's about what happened earlier, don't worry about it. It was my fault; I was being a first-class idiot."
"It's not just that. It's, well . . . during the whole thing, I wanted to rip your throat out."
Onewa gazed upon the young human Hordika. With those claws and considering how close they were to his neck, he had no doubt that she was perfectly capable of such a feat. He recalled that the other day, she explained to the others her theory that her tendency to go for the neck must lay in the hunting habits of a lot of Earth felines, especially one she called a mountain lion whose specialty was dropping onto its prey from above and delivering a bite to the back of the neck that broke it. Kit, meanwhile, took notice of the bandage on his arm where she bit him.
"How's your arm?"
"A little tender, but it'll be ok."
"Sorry."
"Don't be; I deserve it."
Kit turned her attention back to the water. Onewa placed his hand on her shoulder and said, "It could be worse. You could've not listened to Norik when he called to you." Kit looked at him and gave a small smile, knowing he was trying to make her feel better. Suddenly, her ears slightly perked and she turned her head toward the way they came. "What's wrong?" Onewa asked, not liking the look of this. "What is it?"
"Trouble," Kit said quietly, then turned to the Stone Hordika. "We have to warn the others," and the two dashed back to camp.
The Visorak watched and waited. When the signal was given, they would spring all at once on the Toa Hordika, Rahaga, and human who sat gathered at a fire. Finally, the signal sounded and they pounced—only to find they were all dummies made of rock and leaves. Before they could react, they were struck by Rhotuka spinners. Some were turned into frozen statues of ice, some sent into the river by powerful jets of water and cyclones, and the rest fell victim to a crevasse that formed in minutes.
"Did you see the looks on their faces?" Matau laughed.
"They never saw it coming," said Onewa.
"Quickly, we must hurry," Norik urged.
"Ow! Hey!" Kit cried out, "Someone stepped on my tail."
"That was likely-probably me, Kit, sorry," Matau apologized, recalling that he thought he felt something furry under his foot.
The group, so far, managed to cover more ground and lost another squad of Visorak back at a bridge. Now, at the border between Ga-Metru and Po-Metru, they decided to take another quick rest. It was then that Kit and the Toa Hordika noticed the full moons above and a strange sensation seemed to take over. "Look at the moons," Nokama said, entranced. A chorus of Kavinika howls broke the silence of the desert plain.
"Anybody but me getting this strange feeling?" asked Nuju.
"Man, I feel like I just want to roar my head off," Kit said with a smile as she tensed her shoulders with anticipation.
A minute of silence passed, then Kit let out the scream-like roar of a mountain lion to the moons. The Toa Hordika joined her with their own calls, adding on to the sounds of the night. Norik watched and listened the whole time, enjoying the sight. The howling lasted for only a few minutes, and the group quieted down. "Boy, those full moons can really make one act-do thought-crazy things," commented Matau.
"Get real, Matau," Whenua said, "that's just a myth."
"Oh really?" leered Kit. She leaped on him and the two wrestled on the ground, laughing. Unlike earlier, this fight was more playful than physical, much to everyone's relief. Nokama found herself unable to stop a laugh at the sight. Whenua got Kit in a headlock, from which she managed to pull free, and chased him a little before tackling him with a "Gotcha!"
After a little more rolling and tumbling like cubs, Kit had the Hordika of Earth's back pinned to the ground. "Ok, ok, I give up," laughed Whenua, and Kit got off. Everyone joined in the laughter and Nuju smiled; the tension from the past few days seeming to just melt away a bit.
A day that felt like an eternity passed and the sands of the desert changed into frozen protodermis as the group journeyed into Ko-Metru. Soon, the trail of tears led them to a strange and wondrous sight. It was a tower of ice that did indeed make the tears look like they were reaching for the sky. Matau, the first to get inside, called to the others, "Quick-hurry you guys! It's amazing! It's Keetongu!" However, when they reached the chamber, it was empty.
"You were saying?" asked Kit.
"Ok, so I announced-spoke too soon," Matau defended.
"Don't be so quick to judge, Matau and Kit," Norik laughed. With a sigh, Matau joined the others as they approached a pool in the center in the cavern. They couldn't help but look on in awe at the sight around them. "We are sorry to disturb your rest, noble one," Norik greeted, "but the duty of these heroes requires that they ask for your help." The team waited, but there was nothing but silence.
"Ok," said Matau, "well, we'd much-like to stay and talk-chat, but we gotta go."
Suddenly, the chamber rumbled and shook and, in the pool before them, a formation of ice pillars of different levels surfaced. "Whoa, is everyone seeing this?" asked Onewa. When the rumbling stopped, everyone noticed that atop the structure sat a giant figure. A blue light ignited as it opened its only eye and looked upon the assembled group before it.
'For a Rahi, he sure reminds me a lot of a Chinese monk,' Kit thought to herself.
"Toa," the creature said in a thunderous voice.
"Keetongu," Norik greeted. The giant's eye fell upon Kit and he spoke in a language no one understood. Except, Norik, that is. "He wants you to come a little closer. Apparently, he's never seen a human before, even it is a Hordika." Reluctantly, she came to the edge of the pool and Keetongu looked her over from his post. After he finally nodded his approval, he spoke again and Norik translated, "He wishes to know why we have come." Everyone, knowing this would take a little while, took seat on the ground and Nokama relayed their story about their mission, return to Metru Nui, Vakama's betrayal, and their journey to find him.
"And, then we were chased by the Visorak, all of which is why we came here, and why we need your assistance. Willyou help us get Vakama back?"
"No," replied Keetongu, causing a good number of the group to feel crestfallen.
"Well, thanks just the same," said Onewa as he began to get up, "we'll be goin' then."
Whenua, however, put a hand on his shoulder as Kit placed her tail in front of him with an, "Oh no, we're not," and pointed with her tail toward Keetongu, who was speaking again.
"Keetongu cannot start a battle on your behalf," Norik translated, "but, he can aid those loyal to the Three Virtues. In fact, doing so is sworn duty."
'Wow,' Kit thought; this guy's job was to help those who were loyal to the Three Virtues?
"So, he'll transform-change us back into our handsome-good looking Toa-hero selves?" Matau asked, thinking that the nightmare was almost over.
But, Keetongu simply replied, "No."
Before anyone could ask, Norik immediately caught on to what the Rahi's game was. "Keetongu sees with one eye what we have missed with all of ours. If you are to save Vakama, you must use your new forms and abilities, not be rid of them."
"So, we've travel-come all this way," said Matau, feeling his frustration building, "just to discover-find out we didn't have to travel-come all this way!"
"Keep it down!" Kit shouted at him. "I'm standing right next to you, you know."
Keetongu began making strange noises that was soon recognized as laughter. "He thinks it's funny, too," Norik laughed.
Matau sarcastically agreed, then added under his breath, "That's what I was thinking."
Keetongu began to speak again, and Norik translated, "But, your story—and devotion to your friend—has touched Keetongu. He finds your quest worthwhile." Keetongu spoke again, holding out his hand.
"And . . .?" asked Kit when Norik failed to interpret.
"And, he would like to offer us his help," the Rahaga deciphered.
The group stood up, cried, "Unity!", and gathered in a circle to put their fists together.
"Norik?" Nokama invited.
"I'd be honored," Norik said as he joined the circle.
"You too, big guy," encouraged Matau to Keetongu.
"I guess we're all in this together now," said Kit, and their newest ally reached and added his fist to the others. Now came the fun part—launching an attack on the Coliseum and getting the Toa of Fire back.