(A/N): Got another big chapter for you this week! This one clocks in at 13k words, and once again all of them are needed. Lot of plot stuff happens in this one, so buckle up and enjoy!
The next time Ruby woke up, she found herself in a whole new world of pain.
Her nerves flared and her head pounded as she reluctantly opened her silver eyes. The taste of iron and salt pooled into her mouth, every cough to clear her throat of seawater burned like sulfur on the way out, and every splash of the sea felt as loud as thunder in her ears. She looked around with a slight groan, taking in the area around her - a rocky shore surrounded by both the endless ocean and the towering walls of a very tall cliff.
Did…did we fall? Ruby thought as she looked up, shielding her eyes from the harsh sun that was half-obscured by the rising bluffs. We must have…Gali and I were trying to get her Miru, we were attacked, and then -
Oh. Oh no.
She whirled back around, trying to look for any sign that the Toa of Water was nearby and alive. Unfortunately for her, what she saw made the pit in her stomach grow even larger - Gali was lying facedown on another stony islet, surrounded by a red scythe and the front half of a dead Nui-Kopen. The Mask of Levitation was still on her face, a bright shade of blue that matched the rest of her armor, but her eyes were dim and dark and lacking their usual yellow glow.
Oh no. Oh no no no no please don't be dead.
Ruby instantly tried and failed to activate her Semblance, and a quick glance at her Scroll told her that she didn't have enough Aura to turn into a ball of rushing rose petals. So she opted to get to the larger island the old fashioned way, jumping into the water and surfacing with a gasp as she paddled and clawed her way through the sea. The churning waves splashed into her face as she swam, and she ended up drinking more sea water than she would have liked (which was none) but she eventually pulled herself onto the rocky shore, shaking herself dry and immediately rushing to check on her friend.
It didn't look any better up close.
Gali's once pristine, sapphire-blue armor was now mired with cracks and fractures, sparks of electricity jumping across exposed wires and muscles. The worst of the damage was in the left shoulder, which was so twisted and mangled it looked like it had folded in on itself. Silvery fluid dripped from gaps in the plating, and the smell of salt and venom wafted off of exposed muscle tendons. There was no way to tell just how long the Huntress and the Toa of Water had been adrift and unconscious in the sea before it spit them out - only that it was too long.
She must have tried to land in the water as we fell, so that she'd take most of the impact for me, thought Ruby with a slow shake of her head. Oh Gali…I thought you were supposed to be the wisest of the Toa. Why'd you go and do a dumb thing like that?
Fortunately, there were still signs that the Toa of Water still clung to life even in her sleep. Her armored chest rose and fell with slow steady breaths, and her heartlight slowly pulsed with dim yellow light. It reminded Ruby of a computer console in standby mode, where a terminal would shut down most non-essential functions to conserve power.
So not dead, thought Ruby with a sigh of relief. That's good. But she does have a broken shoulder, and a lot of fractures in her armor. That's…less good.
The silver-eyed Huntress pulled Crescent Rose out of Gali's tight unconscious grip, folding it back into its compact form and stowing it on her lower back. Then she sat down and curled up into a ball, staring at her friend and trying to ignore the growing stench of that stupid Nui-Kopen carcass. She watched as azure sparks danced across the frame of the Toa of Water, mending some of the smaller seams in the armor and shooting weakly out of the larger fractures. A pensive hum escaped her cracked lips as she watched most of the electric tendrils make their way to the shattered shoulder, only to spill out uselessly onto the rocky shore.
These Toa…they must have some kind of self-repair thing that runs while they sleep, she thought idly. Kinda like how our Aura accelerates our body's healing over time, and works better when we rest. But it looks like it's trying to fix that shoulder at the cost of everything else - and wasting a lot of resources and energy in the process. If that joint wasn't broken, then maybe…
Ruby bit her lower lip and tilted her head, peering at the damaged and mangled section of armor that selfishly hogged all the attention. She remembered one of the stories Blake had shared at Kini-Nui, one where she saw Onua literally put himself together after spilling out of his canister in pieces. Silver eyes looked first at Gali, then at the dead Rahi, and back again, and her mechanics-focused mind immediately started recognizing that some of the parts were identical on both…
No. No, this was insane. She couldn't operate on a living being. Heck, she'd almost thrown up when one of her classes at Signal had demanded that she dissect a frog. Even if everything here was more metal than flesh, it still seemed…wrong, somehow. Like she wasn't qualified to try this.
Then again…she'd built Crescent Rose, a mechanically complex high-caliber sniper scythe, almost entirely on her own by the time she was twelve years old. If she could do that, then couldn't she fix a Toa, too?
With a loud groan, Ruby made up her mind and fetched a small toolkit out of her pouch. It wasn't anything too big or fancy - just a few screwdrivers in common bit sizes and a palm-sized knife with built-in whetstone and filing edge. She didn't know if any of them would be needed for what she was trying to do, but it couldn't hurt…at least, it couldn't hurt more than her friend already was.
Gali's done so much for me since I arrived here, she thought resolutely. It's time I did something for her, for once.
Her course of action clear and her tools in hand, Ruby Rose approached her wounded friend to perform her first-ever repair job on a Toa.
"Hey Penny! Smile for the Codex!"
The freckled teenager was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts, turning her gaze away from the sand underfoot and towards the little Matoran at her side. Takua had a big grin behind his mask as he held up a blue steel slate, pointing its bulbous face towards her. Despite being caught off-guard, she still flashed her best and brightest smile towards the odd little device, even giving a little wave and a giggle as a bonus.
"Oh, beautiful!" Takua called. "Now say what we're doing and where we're going!"
Penny kept her smile as she swayed back and forth with each step down the path. "Salutations! My friend Takua and I are currently traveling from Po-Koro to Onu-Koro, so that we may assist with whatever situation ails the people in the village of Earth!" Then she tilted her head as her smile dropped a little. "Wait. Are you certain you need to be holding up the Codex like that in order to record? Because this seems inefficient."
"Uhhhhhh…" The Ta-Matoran looked up at Penny, then down at the tablet, and back again. "I have no idea." He let out a sheepish chuckle and shrugged. "Guess I should've asked Onewa how to use it before we left, huh?"
Another giggle. "Would you like me to take a look at it?"
"Yes please that would be great."
Penny laughed softly as she took the Codex in her hands, feeling the weight of the metal and circuitry against her palms. She slowed her breathing and reached out with her Aura, watching as teal threads of ephemeral energy spooled out of her wrists and wove into the device. Her Semblance explored the tablet's interior, probing into every inch and every secret, and before long all its mysteries were revealed to her as she gained an understanding.
"Ah…" she said after a moment. "I see. The bulb on the front is not a lens - it is a projector. It will display a playback of information that your own visual and auditory sensors collect, transmitted via electromagnetic wavelengths across a network that is tied to your bio-mechanical signature."
Takua tilted his head. "And that means what, exactly?"
She giggled again, pausing her walk along the desert road to kneel and meet her friend at eye level. "It means you do not need to be holding the Codex for it to store information. In fact, if you press this button to replay your most recent memory…"
A holographic recreation of her performance sprang to life from the bulbous projector, displaying how Takua saw the scene that had just occurred. She saw herself through the eyes of her Matoran companion, realizing just how much she towered over the three-foot-tall Chronicler. Everything was on full display, from her long orange hair to her bare legs and feet, from her worn-out green and white dress to the Huntress weapons made from scavenged Tarakava parts on her back…at least, everything but the smile and mirth that Takua had tried to capture for posterity.
"...you will see that you were actually blocking out my face by holding it."
"Of course I was," said Takua with a sigh - though considering he was still smiling behind his mask, Penny realized he was not that upset. "Ah well, it's not like I'll never get to see you smile again. I'm sure I'll have plenty more chances to get your joy and enthusiasm recorded for future reference…although when I do get around to writing stuff down in stone, I might have to describe you as a Matoran. You know, just so that future generations don't look at you and see a weird maskless nightmare…thing. No offense."
Another giggle left Penny's throat as she handed the Codex back. "None taken! Though I think I am too tall to be a Matoran, and I am not wise enough to be a Turaga…oh! You could draw me as a Toa!"
Takua laughed. "Oh, please. A seventh Toa? That's just ridiculous. Who'd honestly believe something like that could have ever existed?"
"Stranger things have happened," said the robot-girl-turned-Maiden-turned-human, rising to her full height with a wry smile. "I am proof of that."
"...you know what, that's fair," admitted Takua as they continued their walk.
The desert sands of Po-Wahi soon gave way to coarse silt and gravel, and the massive mountain on the horizon seemed to inch closer with each step. As they walked Penny caught sight of various flowers and grasses growing in the shallow soil, confident they could take root without being scorched by a relentless sun. Cool breezes blew down from the peak and swept over her, bringing a fresh relief without the bitter chills she had felt in Atlas. The divide between the biomes was slow and gradual, and before she knew it Penny had left those arid lands behind in favor of the foothills of Mount Ihu.
But they weren't in Onu-Wahi just yet.
"The entrance to the Po-Onu-Koro Highway is just up ahead," said Penny as she consulted her Scroll, suspending it by the threads of her Technopathy so she could better show the island map to Takua. "The Onu-Matoran have done a great deal of mining and tunneling under the surface of Mata Nui, creating a network of roads and passageways that lead to the other villages. In theory, this creates safe and quick transit between the different Matoran settlements…"
"...but in practice, it's hard to protect big tunnel networks like that," finished Takua. "It's just the Po-Koro and Ta-Koro highways that are open for now, right?"
"That is what Turaga Onewa said, yes." She frowned. "Remember that he also told us that he and the other Turaga had not heard from Whenua for some time. Something must be troubling him…"
"Well, I'm sure we can handle it," said the Chronicler as they approached the mountain. "Dunno if you've noticed, but I think we've gotten pretty good at solving problems in the villages."
Penny giggled. "That we have! Thanks to you and your quick thinking."
"Oh stop, you do way more work than me!" Takua laughed. "You and your tallness and your weapons and that…what did Ruby call that power of yours? A…resemblance?"
"Semblance," corrected Penny with a smile.
"Yeah, that. You're the hero here - I'm just your biographer." With a knowing smile, Takua laughed. "How's progress in that, by the way? Learn any new tricks?"
"A few," said the Huntress with a nod. "As you just saw, I am able to understand electronic devices now, simply by connecting with them. Whether it is a Scroll or your Codex, I can interface with them and control them remotely. I have also been working to extend the range at which I can tether myself to mechanical objects, although…"
Takua looked up with a tilt of his head. "Although what?"
"Well, it is…difficult to describe," she said quietly. "But sometimes, when I activate my Semblance, it feels as though it is being drawn to…something down below. Like my Technopathy is attempting to connect with a machine of some kind, a huge mechanism that is far beyond my reach. I do not know what it is or why my power wishes to seek it out. I only know that it calls out to me."
The newly-appointed Chronicler blinked several times as he looked up at his friend. "Huh…that is weird. How long have you felt this 'presence' or whatever it is?"
"Only since this morning." Penny pooled Aura into her palms and stretched her hand out over the sand, watching as teal-green threads waved and danced out of her skin. They split up and splayed out in different directions for a few moments, before gently changing course as their tips converged towards the ground. She felt something tug on the strings at the other end, something that pulled on her power like a magnet, but all the Aura in the world could not have given her enough energy to actually reach the target.
"And you didn't feel anything immediately different when you woke up?"
The freckled girl shook her head as the threads dissipated. "Nothing out of the ordinary, no."
"Hmm…" Takua hummed thoughtfully. "Well, it's a good thing we're heading to Onu-Koro then. If anyone on this island knows anything about giant underground machines, it would have to be the Matoran that spend their entire lives digging out tunnels and riding on - "
WHUMP.
It all happened so fast. Takua's sentence was interrupted by a sudden blur of blur and yellow crashing into him, one that finally came to a halt with the Chronicler pinned underneath. Penny saw what could only be described as a large mechanical crab scramble over the Ta-Matoran, chittering and clicking and waving long black eyestalks back and forth. She recognized it as an Ussal, a (mostly) docile crablike Rahi that existed all over Mata Nui…although she had never seen one quite this large or enthusiastic before.
"Augh! Penny! Penny, help!" Takua cried as the mechanical crab extended a long fibrous tongue and started licking his mask. "It's trying to eat me!"
Penny's hands immediately moved towards Vita and Luce, only to freeze as she heard the sound of someone laughing nearby. She looked up to see another Matoran - this one black as coal from mask to toe - watching them as he sat near the cave entrance, across from a pen of differently-colored Ussal crabs. He had a little bit of straw stuck in the hole of his mask, which the Huntress found quite odd, but he did not seem to have a threatening posture - quite the opposite, actually.
This must be an Onu-Matoran, she thought to herself. She let her stance relax.
"Well, I'll be a Muaka's dinner," said the newcomer with another laugh. "I've never seen ol' Pewku greet anyone like that before. Not even Onepu gets that kinda reaction out of her, and every single Ussal crab practically leaps at the sound of his voice! You two must have a history of some sort."
Takua finally managed to pry himself out from under the crab - Pewku, Penny presumed - and dusted himself off as he stood up. "If we do, I can't seem to remember it," he said with a sigh. "I've forgotten a lot of things these days, unfortunately."
Pewku whined sadly, lowering her claws and sinking lower on her leg joints. Penny smiled softly and went over to the poor dear, scratching her behind the eyestalk and giggling as the Ussal crab perked up almost immediately. With a shrug, Takua moved to do the same, and despite normal crustaceans not being able to do so, Penny could have sworn she heard Pewku purring at the Chronicler's touch.
The Onu-Matoran smiled behind his mask. "That's the thing about Ussal crabs - they remember you, even if you don't remember them. There's a reason we call 'em 'Matoran's best friend' - they help us with everything from racing and heavy labor to defenses and transportation, and all they ask is that we keep 'em safe and well-fed in return. But I doubt you two came all this way just to hear me talk about the best Rahi on the island. Name's Midak, friends - mind telling me who you are?"
She pulled away from Pewku with a grin and a snappy wave. "Salutations, Midak! My name is Penny Polendina, and this is Takua the Chronicler! It is a pleasure to meet you!"
Midak chuckled. "Chronicler, eh? Been a while since we had one of those 'round these parts. And you, Penny…you must be one of them humans what fell from the sky a few days ago. Haven't seen one before, but I pay attention to what the crabs say - apparently the rest of your friends are helping the Toa find their masks?"
Penny giggled. "You would be correct! You must be quite well-informed."
Another laugh. "That's what happens when you make friends with the one Rahi that can survive in just about every part of Mata Nui. But don't let me talk about Ussal crabs - you'd be here all day listening to me ramble, and I doubt you have time for that. I'm guessing that you're heading to Onu-Koro to help with the problems? Or to record them, at least."
Takua tilted his head. "Um. Problems? As in, more than one?"
"Last I heard, yeah," said Midak with a shrug. "Wouldn't know more than that - unlike most of my folk down in the tunnels, I prefer being up here with the surfacers and the crabs. Haven't been back down in…I dunno, a few moons now? Not many Onu-Matoran come this way anymore, and the Ussal crabs don't like talking about things that stress them out. You'd have to go down there yourself to find out more. Take Pewku - she'll get you there faster, and she seems to like you. Reckon she can carry you both, if you like."
Penny hummed, then looked down at the Ussal crab that was currently chittering and clicking her claws and giving the crustacean equivalent of puppy-dog eyes. She grinned, then put one hand on her hip and pointed to the sky with the other.
"Then…Takua, we must ride the crab!"
A brief pause followed her declaration, followed by a cough from Midak.
"...that sounded much cooler in my head."
"Hah…now that's what I call speed-quick! Is all right-well back there, sprout-leaf?"
Lewa looked over his shoulder with a grin, watching the human girl on his back turn just as green as his brand-new mask. They were a long way from the cave where they found the Kakama - the highest trees of Le-Wahi were a far cry from the dank and dark underground pool, and for that he was grateful. Toa of Air, he decided, were much happier as far from the ground and water as possible. Better to let those other Toa play around there, while he gallivanted from the towering treetops.
"Y-yeah, I'm alright," groaned Emerald with another suppressed dry-heave. "Just…promise me you won't do that again."
The Toa of Air barked in laughter. "What, run straight up-tree and fast-leap from one branch to another?"
"Yeah, that." The Huntress sighed. "See, we humans don't like a lot of things, and one of those things is going really really fast, very suddenly and stopping just as quickly. It might not be an issue for guys with robot parts like you, but for people like me with squishy guts and soft fleshy bits? It's not fun."
"Fair enough," conceded Lewa as he switched back to his Miru. "We shall travel by wind-flight for a time. It's not my intention to make you uncomfortable, sprout-leaf."
"Really? Cause it seems like you just love taking me out of my comfort zone." Emerald laughed for a moment, then looked down as a breeze blew through her hair. Lewa took a deep breath and let out a sigh of relief alongside her, letting his tense muscles relax and his servos loosen. It had been a deeply unpleasant experience to get his Mask of Speed, but this? This was worth any trials that Makuta or anyone else had in store for him.
"By the way…" said the Huntress after a pensive moment, "I don't think I ever thanked you properly for saving me back there. When that stupid killer seaweed grabbed me and…you know. So…thanks. I appreciate it."
He smiled under his familiar mask. "Ah, think nothing of it, sprout-leaf. Saving people is what I do as a - "
Lewa's posturing was interrupted by a rather strange sound, one that sounded like an organic being struggling to breathe. He looked back over his shoulder to see streaks of water running down Emerald's face, and he realized the noises were coming from her. The human's body jerked and spasmed with each shuddering breath, gripping his armor tighter and tighter with trembling arms.
"Oh…oh dear," he said quietly. "Are you still drown-soaked? Did you absorb so much water-yuck that you sprung a leak?"
"No, you dumbass," choked Emerald. "It's called crying. It's something humans do when we're sad, or scared…or when we realize that the last person we worked with - someone we devoted our life to, someone we hurt so many people just to please - would have let us drown back there without even blinking an eye. Cinder, she…she wouldn't have even looked back as she left me to die. And I would have choked down water proudly - proudly, dammit!- if it meant that she got whatever shiny new prize she wanted that day. How could I have been such an idiot? A stupid, sycophantic idiot…"
The Toa of Air's smile faded. He hadn't heard much about this "Cinder" person, and Emerald wasn't very forthcoming with answers. He knew from talking with Ruby and Gali that she used to oppose the other Huntresses, and that she had a history of villainy, but the former thief never said much about her past.
Now he understood why.
Without a word he gently lifted the Huntress off his back and pulled her into a hug, mirroring the action he'd seen the other girls do at Kini-Nui. Emerald seized up at first, then started crying even harder. At first he was afraid that he'd made things worse, but the way she gripped his neck and armor told him otherwise.
"No use looking backward, sprout-leaf," he said quietly. "You've been down that dark-path before, you know that nothing bright-good lies there. All you can do is move along, keep going ever-forward to become the best you that you can. Cinder has no power-grip over you here - and she never will again. And if I ever cross-paths with that witch-woman…I'll scatter her to the far-winds for ever daring to hurt you, my little sprout-leaf."
Emerald made a noise somewhere between a sob and a laugh. "I don't think killing her would be that easy…but thanks. I…is it wrong that I still catch myself missing her sometimes? Even though I know I shouldn't?"
"People who hurt-harm us are hard to forget," said Lewa. "Harder still, when we think they care about us. But make no mistake in my intentions, sprout-leaf. I do care about you. I wouldn't be half the Toa-hero I am without you by my side, and - "
His heartfelt attempts to comfort his friend were interrupted by the sound of loud pounding throughout the trees, echoing off every trunk and carried through every branch. Lewa recognized them as the drums of his village, which prompted him to set Emerald down and crawl to the edge of his perch to listen intently. Before he left Le-Koro, Matau had told him that different drum beats had different meanings…and after a moment of listening, his eyes widened behind his mask.
"Lewa?" Emerald asked as she wiped her eyes. "W-what's wrong?"
"The drums of Le-Koro tell a sorry-bad tale…" he muttered, "Matoran abducted…and Turaga Matau…captured?! Oh…oh no. The Rama-swarms! They are launching a mass-attack against the village! We must go and help-aid them at once!"
"W-wait!" said Emerald as the Toa of Air swept her off her feet. "Lewa, just wait a sec!"
He looked down at her with a shocked expression. "Wait? Wait?! Every moment I wait is another moment that the Le-Matoran do not have! You would have my tree-people suffer?"
"Of course not!" protested the Huntress. "But you won't save anyone if you just run in without a plan! We need to think about this. We have the Mask of Speed, and we know where the other Toa are. Maybe if we go and find them we can - "
Ugh, again with this talk of the other Toa-heroes! Lewa thought with an annoyed huff. Why must everyone keep pestering me about that like a stubborn Brakas-monkey on my back? I do not need the other Toa to be a great hero for my tree-people! I already am one!
He knew better than to say that out loud, though. Instead he shook his head and put Emerald over his shoulder once again. "There's no time for that, sprout-leaf! Le-Koro needs us quick-now!"
With the debate settled (for now) the Toa of Air triggered his new mask again, taking off in a green blur with the protesting Huntress in tow.
He could only hope he was not too late…and that he was strong enough on his own to stop this attack.
And…there. That should do it.
Ruby stepped back from the unconscious Toa of Water, wiping her brow as she examined her handiwork. She noted with a relieved smile that Gali's body wasn't rejecting the new shoulder from the fallen Nui-Kopen - in fact, given how fibrous muscles were already growing back and reaching through the replacement joint to connect with the forearm, it seemed like the transplanted parts were already being integrated into the rest of the armor. Silver fluid flowed through channels while azure sparks danced across the metallic surface, turning the patch of dull-gray steel as blue as the surrounding plates.
Much to her surprise, the repairs had gone exceedingly smoothly. She'd barely even needed her tools at all; everything seemed to snap together when she wanted parts to join, and the joint she recovered from the fallen Rahi had ended up being a perfect fit. Despite them being biomechanical creatures, there was nothing as complicated and messy as nerves or blood vessels or even bones to try fitting together. All the living tissue seemed to exist in bundles of thick fibrous muscles, which were trimmed easily enough with the blade of Crescent Rose and withered away once disconnected from the rest of the frame.
Guess this confirms my theory about all the parts here being modular, thought the little rose with a smile. I wonder if this has something to do with the way that Mata Nui made them?
That said, Ruby couldn't escape the feeling she had been extraordinarily lucky. Most of the damage had been concentrated in the shoulder, which meant she needed to carefully cut off the section of Gali's arm that wasn't damaged in order to fully replace it. And she thanked the Brother Gods that nothing in the torso had been broken. If she'd needed to repair or replace anything in the gearbox around the Toa's neck - or worse, anything inside the chest - then the operation would have been a lot more risky.
Still, it's almost hard to believe that I actually managed to fix an injured Toa. Ruby grinned. Man, I can't wait to tell Penny and the others about this!
That last thought wiped the smile off her face as she looked down at her Scroll. As badly as she wanted to reach out to her friends, to talk to them while Gali rested, she decided against it. The island of Mata Nui seemed to have a very limited amount of bandwidth - best to save it for emergencies and game-changing news instead of small talk and chats.
So as the Toa of Water slept, Ruby curled up into a ball near the waves and swiped idly through her little transparent device. Her fingers found everything from locally archived chat logs to recorded videos, from captured photos to games that no longer worked since the fall of Vale's CCT tower. She lost herself in the storm of memories, letting each candid picture and text message wash over her like a wave, and she had no problem plunging into its depths if it meant keeping her own mental shadows at bay.
It was during this nostalgic binge that she found something she knew wasn't there before.
She hummed thoughtfully as she swiped down the length of the hard-light screen, revealing a new menu that displayed six shapes all in a circle. Each shape sat in its own section of the radial menu, four of which were dark and colorless while one was light blue and another was pale green. Ruby stared at the shapes for a solid minute, trying to understand what they meant…before her eyes widened in shock.
Wait a minute…these are the masks! The Toa's Great Masks!
Indeed, she recognized Gali's visored Kaukau inside the blue wedge, as well as Lewa's beaked Miru facing opposite in a section of green light. The other four masks - Tahu's helmet-like Hau, Kopaka's scoped Akaku, Onua's diamond-shaped Pakari, and Pohatu's triangular Kakama - filled in the rest of the radial menu, although for now they lacked the colors of their associated Toa. Ruby guessed that as she and Gali found the other Kanohi, they would glow just like the first two - and while she wasn't sure how, when, or why this had suddenly appeared on her Scroll, she certainly wasn't about to complain about suddenly having a way to track the found masks.
She soon discovered that tracking masks was the least it could do.
While idly tapping the icons, her finger pressed against Lewa's mask - and she instantly shot up ten feet in the air. She let out a shriek of surprise, nearly dropping her Scroll in the process, but soon shock gave way to delight as she realized she wasn't coming back down. A cushion of energy enveloped her and her Aura, keeping her suspended off the ground and bobbing gently like she was floating on an invisible wave. Glancing back down at the screen, she saw the Miru's section of the radial menu glowing with a brighter shade of green, as well as two words in Matoran that she consulted Weiss's cipher to translate.
CHANNELING ACTIVE.
Ruby quirked an eyebrow. Channeling? Wait…does this mean that I'm using the power of Gali's mask? That I'm using the Miru right now, without her even being awake?
That certainly seemed to be the case. Ruby had already trained to fight from an aerial advantage whenever possible, so she didn't feel disoriented or nauseous as she levitated in mid-air. In fact…it felt rather nice, actually. Relaxing, almost. Even so, a quick glance at her Aura meter showed that the protective soul energy was slowly draining with the Miru's effect active, and she could already feel herself getting more tired the longer she tapped into this unfamiliar power. She reluctantly turned it off with another press of a button before it could drop too low, gently descending and landing softly on her own two feet before the energy dissipated.
As soon as the little Huntress stood under her own power again, she giggled with glee.
Augh, this is so cool! she thought excitedly. Okay, so the Mask of Levitation makes you levitate. Makes sense to me! So then that means that this other one must be…
She turned back to the sea, watching the water lap at the rocky shore and spill onto their little island. Ruby approached cautiously with her Scroll in hand, her thumb hovering over the Kaukau's wedge as she took a breath and slowly pushed her face below the surface. With her eyes squeezed shut and her cheeks pursed, she pressed down on the mask's icon and gathered enough courage to blow all her air out in a long string of bubbles.
Then when she needed a breath, she ignored every survival instinct and opened her mouth without lifting up her head.
Ruby expected to be punished for her stupidity with a burning throat and choking salt slithering down her gullet. Instead, she was rewarded with a deep calming sensation, as the sea poured into her mouth without suffocating her. She blinked several times to clear her vision, surprised that her eyes weren't stinging as they usually would while underwater. After a few more experimental breaths, she made another startling discovery - not only was she indeed breathing water, she had a perfectly clear view of the world beneath the waves.
And what a beautiful world it was!
Just from her little perch she could see how the sandy shore quickly gave way to a colorful coral reef, with creatures both fleshy and bio-mechanical littering the slopes and swimming through the water. A distant steel-gray shark swam circles around a slow-moving crab, while a cluster of anemone shaped like ribbed tubes swayed in tune with the ocean's silent song. Dozens of schools of silvery fish traveled through the open sea, with one brave little guppy venturing close enough to nibble on the Huntress's nose before suddenly darting away.
"Whoa…" burbled Ruby, her words rising on bubbles that spilled out of her lips. She grinned. "This is the best thing ever wooooooooooo!"
After watching the oceanic display of beauty for what felt like hours, she eventually - and reluctantly - pulled her head back out of the water. Turning off the mask icon on her Scroll she flopped down on the sand and started typing excitedly. Her earlier hesitation at reaching out was gone now - this needed to be shared.
Guys guys guys guys guys! Her fingers and thumbs were practically a blur as they flew across the keyboard, her grin spreading in anticipation. I found something really really cool! Pull down from the top of the screen - there should be icons of the masks the Toa use! Tap one of them and see what happens! After a pause, she hastily added. Err, but don't tap Gali's unless you're near water. I don't know how literal water-breathing is…
There was a long pause from the other girls, and for a moment Ruby was wondering if the signal had dropped. But before she could worry again, her team reported their findings.
Well, I just punched a rock in half with my bare hands, said Blake. So the Pakari definitely works.
I ran through a wall! Yang declared. Didn't even have to build up speed or use my explosives, just zoom and crash! Mask of Speed does exactly what it says! Unrelated: ow.
And I was able to see miles and miles of rock under my feet, so Kopaka's mask power also functions as intended, finished Weiss. This is…unexpected.
Hey, I'm not gonna complain! Ruby could practically hear Yang's excitement over text. I was already sold on helping Big Red find all his masks, but if I can use them too then I guess that just makes it even better! Wonder how hard I can punch stuff now using that Mask of Strength we found?
It'll definitely come in handy, especially as the Toa find more of their Kanohi, said Blake. Onua has almost a full set already - we just need to find his Miru and Kaukau now.
…I still have no idea how you memorized all the names and what their powers are already. I can barely even keep the shapes straight in my mind…
What can I say? I like learning about new cultures, firestar. Blake was the one sending kissing face emojis now. The infection was spreading.
Weiss cut off the upcoming flirting with another question. Okay, seriously, is no one else worried about how this island can just…mess with our Scrolls like this? What's going to happen next? What if our data starts getting deleted? What if our locations are being tracked? What if -
Hey, hey. Ice queen. BREATHE. Yang cut off the former heiress's spiral of messages with one of her own, which seemed to calm her down.
Sorry… messaged Weiss a moment later. I'm just…I don't know why this is happening. For all we know, this could be another trick of Makuta's.
Maybe, admitted Blake. Or maybe it's a gift from the other guy.
Ruby could have sworn she heard Weiss's scoff of disbelief from across the island. You don't seriously think that Mata Nui's the one who's been modifying our Scrolls this whole time, do you?
Why not? According to legend he created the Matoran and everything on the island, countered the feline Faunus. Who's to say he can't set up a few programs on some strange little devices from another world?
I dunno, kitty, said Yang. I'm kinda with Weiss on this one, at least when it comes to the big guy's involvement with this. Seems a little convenient for him to suddenly be pulling a little divine intervention out of nowhere. Plus, I'm pretty sure he's still in that coma that Makuta put him in. How's he supposed to add stuff to our Scrolls while he's sleeping?
You could ask the same thing for how we got here despite him being in his deep slumber, retorted Blake. I've read books about how ancient cultures believed that even dead gods still dream, and how their power can extend and warp the world around them just by existing. Maybe Mata Nui's the same way. Maybe he doesn't need to be awake to help us in small ways.
…wasn't the dude who wrote most of those books, like, SUPER racist?
I always just sort of skimmed past the anti-Faunus stuff in those stories.
Ruby could sense that this conversation wasn't going anywhere, so she typed up a long message as quickly as she could. The others saw their leader composing her words, and patiently let her have the floor.
It could be Mata Nui helping us, yeah, or it might be something else. Either way, this is a huge gift for us! We might have Aura and stuff, but we're still just flesh and blood. Our Dust is going to run out eventually - no matter how much the island boosts it, and no matter how carefully we ration it - and our Semblances can't always get us out of a tight spot. So this should help even the odds against some of the tougher opponents - and give us a way to grow alongside the Toa.
Agreed. Blake capped her message with a smiling face.
Well said, little sis. Yang ended hers with a winking face, though somehow it didn't annoy her as much as she thought.
Even Weiss relented once Ruby weighed in. I still don't like that this kind of stuff is just happening without our knowledge or consent. But if you all think we should use this, then I'll follow your lead. Just…be careful, alright everyone? I don't want to lose you again…
Aw. Ruby could feel her cheeks heat up, and she almost sent a heart with her message. Almost.
Awwwww.
Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.
Still not a competition, Yang.
The sound of whirring servos snapped the Huntress out of her longing gaze, and she looked up to see Gali groaning and pushing herself off the sand. Typing a quick message about how she had to go, Ruby stowed her Scroll and rushed to her friend's side. The Toa of Water coughed up clumps of sand and flecks of seawater, then eventually switched from the Miru to her usual mask in a flash of blue and a droning hum.
"Hey, easy there Gali," said Ruby as she laid her hands on the Toa's shoulders. "You took a nasty fall and were knocked out. Take it slow, don't try to move so fast."
Gali groaned and clutched her head, letting the smaller human help her sit up. "...how…how long was I…?"
She shrugged. "A few hours, maybe? I found you washed up on the island. Those Nui-Kopen must have done a real number on you…nasty stuff in their venom, huh?"
Yellow eyes suddenly snapped open. "The Rahi! The mountain! Ruby! Are you -"
"Gali, I'm fine," said Ruby gently yet sternly. "The only bug I saw was the dead one I found next to you. You got the mask off the mountain. You saved my life. Now shut up and let me make sure you healed right."
The Toa of Water opened her mouth to protest, then sighed as she nodded reluctantly. Ruby quickly inspected the cracked and damaged sections of armor, relieved to find many of them fused back together as though they'd never been broken. If she didn't know any better, she never would have guessed that Gali had taken a nasty fall in the first place - the sapphire-blue plating looked that pristine.
"Looks like the self-repair system did its job," noted the silver-eyed Huntress as she backed off and knelt in the sand. "Pretty much all the fractures from the landing have been patched up, and everything else is still running smoothly." She let out a short laugh. "Good thing, too - I thought you were dead when I found you, at least at first."
"The damage was that extensive?" Gali asked with a tilt of her head.
Ruby nodded grimly. "You looked like you were gonna fall to pieces if I so much as sneezed on you. Most of the cracks were in your torso, but your shoulder was practically hanging by a thread and sucking up all the attention of the self-repair systems. I had to cut it off and put in a new joint entirely; I figured once your body didn't have to worry about a mangled socket, it could get to work on fixing the rest of you. Glad I was right about that."
She stared down at the replaced shoulder joint. "You…fixed me in my sleep?"
Another nod, this one joined by a gesture to the half-disassembled Rahi nearby. "Had to grab some parts from our 'friend' over there to replace your broken shoulder. Not sure if that's taboo or something…or how well it worked. Wanna give it a try?"
Gali hummed and swiveled her arm in its socket, testing the range of motion and the responsiveness of the new servo. To Ruby's surprise (and delight) the results spoke for themselves, as the limbs snapped into several positions and poses with no resistance or delay. Once she had finished putting the shoulder through its paces, the Toa of Water looked back at her friend with a nod of approval.
"A seamless repair," she noted, praise and awe in her voice. "Thank you, Ruby. I am continually impressed by your cleverness and mechanical intuition."
The little rose went as red as her namesake, blushing and fidgeting with her cloak. "Aw, shucks, it's nothing. I've always been kind of a dork when it comes to gears and mechanisms and stuff like that…"
"A skill like that can only serve you well here on Mata Nui," said Gali with a small laugh. Then her face darkened behind her mask. "Unlike my sense of compassion and mercy towards living things, it would seem…"
Ruby knew that look all too well. "What happened up there, if you don't mind me asking? I didn't get a good look at you during the fight."
"It was a foolish mistake on my part," groaned the Toa of Water. "In the heat of battle, I went to remove the infected mask from a Nui-Kopen. I wanted to be merciful, I wanted to free the poor creature from its own enslavement…yet even after removing its Kanohi, it remained under Makuta's control. Then he…appeared to me, and taunted me. Distracted me. I was so busy trying to argue with the Master of Shadows, that I lost track of you. That is when the Rahi paralyzed you - and in the process of saving you, I fell prey to the same ailment. I am sorry, Ruby…I endangered you - endangered us both - in my own foolish attempts to retain my morality."
The words washed over Ruby like a shadowy rain. There were so many things in that one retelling that worried her, and for a moment she just sat quietly and tried to process all of them. Rahi that stayed under Makuta's control even without their infected masks? The master of shadows appearing anywhere and everywhere? Neither of those filled the little Huntress with confidence for the battles ahead, and she made a note to share the experience with the other girls later. If removing the masks wasn't working anymore…well, there went everyone's ace in the hole.
But right now, Ruby was far more concerned with the war that waged in Gali's mind.
A war she was very familiar with.
"Gali…listen to me," she said softly, reaching forward to take mechanical hands in both of hers, "You've got nothing to be sorry about, okay? Don't blame yourself for what happened, or for the mistakes you made - you tried to do the right thing, and no one could ever fault you for that. Trust me, people like Makuta? They're very good at getting in your head and messing with your mind. Making you think the right thing is wrong, telling you that you're a failure, preying on your fears and insecurities…that's how they get stronger. That's how they win."
Her lip trembled softly, and she squeezed the metal palms.
"Do not let them win."
The Toa of Water nodded slowly, then gazed at her friend. "Are these words solely for me? Or are they for yourself as well?"
Ruby shrugged, tears in her eyes. "No idea. But I'm pretty sure it's something we both need to hear right now."
"A fair assessment," noted Gali. Then she smiled with her eyes. "Thank you, Ruby. I shall take your words to heart. The next time Makuta tries to intrude my thoughts…I shall drown him out with the full fury of the ocean."
"Atta girl," said the Huntress with a soft laugh. Then she stood up. "Speaking of which, are you up for a swim? I'm thinking a nice casual little dive down to the seabed is exactly what you need to feel better."
The Toa of Water blinked in surprise. "You are certain? I am not opposed, but…will you be able to hold your breath that long?"
"Oh there's no way I could." She grinned as she kicked off her boots and pulled out her Scroll. "But I don't have to anymore."
Before Gali could ask what that meant, Ruby took off in a burst of rose petals and plunged into the sea, grinning and giggling with bubbly delight as she channeled the Mask of Water-Breathing.
Everything felt right, for the moment.
Turaga Whenua rubbed his eyes, pinching the edges of his mask as he applied pressure to glowing green optics. Normally his hut wouldn't have been this dark, but he had given his lightstones to the Mining Guild a few days ago, and had been forced to use torches to light up his dwellings. He had reasoned that if Onu-Koro suffers, then he also must suffer with his people…although at the moment he was beginning to regret his own insistence on sticking with his principles.
Standing in his hut were three very important Onu-Matoran, each waiting for a chance to speak. They were the Guildmasters for the Mining, Excavation, and Trading Guilds, respectively, and the different castes of Onu-Matoran reported to them for work and needs. All three of them had issues that burned in their eyes like the flames of the disposable torches around them, though unlike the wax lights from Ta-Koro there seemed to be no exhaustive end to their fuses.
"Apologies once again for having to split this meeting with all three of you," he intoned with fatigue in his gravelly voice. "As you no doubt have noticed, Onu-Koro has been under a landslide of new issues lately, so my time is limited."
The Guildmasters nodded, though some looked more annoyed than others. Whenua took it in stride as he turned to face the first of the trio, staring at the purple copy of his own mask.
"Let us begin with a report from the Mining Guild. Captain Aiyetoro, what news do you bring from your workers down in the Great Mine?"
Aiyetoro shook his head. "A great deal, and none of it good. While deepening the area of operations, the miners have hit an underground rock layer that they cannot break through. We fear the protodermis will run out at this rate, if we cannot continue our digging."
Whenua grimaced. It seemed this meeting would begin on a bleak note, and only go downhill from there. "If you have found stone you cannot breach, then that bodes ill for all of us. How far does it run?"
"Shafts 3 through 8 have ceased protodermis mining because they cannot break through this new layer," reported the Captain, "and Shaft B has ceased production altogether."
The elder's eyes widened. "That is…the entire active mining area."
"Yes, Turaga," said Aiyetoro gravely. "Even branching out from the initial contact point has revealed nothing but more of that new impenetrable layer. For all we know, this strata extends beneath all of Mata Nui…except, perhaps, the Mangai volcano."
"And you are certain there is no soft spot to dig through, Captain?"
"We've been over every inch of that surface," replied Aiyetoro. "There are no fractures, no fault lines, no unstable areas we can exploit. At this rate, any and all mine shafts we dig will eventually reach this strata."
The Turaga's heartstone sank at the implications of this news. His people had always found solace, safety, and prosperity in the depths of Mata Nui, and had been digging beneath the island for well over a thousand years. If this new layer was impenetrable, even to them...he shuddered to think about what this might mean.
"This does indeed bear investigating," he intoned. "How much remains of the surface deposits, in the meantime?"
The Captain looked down at his feet, and the Turaga knew the answer before he even spoke. "They are running out. If this continues, then we may have to look elsewhere for more protodermis. Like Ta-Wahi, or Po-Wahi."
A temporary solution at best, and a death sentence at worst. Onu-Matoran belonged in the safety and security of underground tunnels. The harsh unforgiving desert and the fiery volcanoes were the last places Whenua ever wanted to send his people. Still, if they could no longer excavate the treasures of the terrain in the comfort of their own dominion…what other choice did they have?
"What exactly is this layer made out of?" asked Whenua.
Aiyetoro hesitated. "We're not sure…this is like nothing we've ever seen before. Our prospectors believed it to be rock at first, but then Nuparu made a rather…startling discovery. He says that it has higher levels of organic material than any mineral composite he's ever seen."
"Organic?" Whenua raised an eyebrow behind his mask.
"Yes," the Captain affirmed with a nod. "According to his findings, it seems to have more in common with an Ussal's shell than any normal stone strata."
The village elder hummed thoughtfully and stroked his chin, pondering the implications. "Strange…I wonder what we will find if we break through?"
Aiyetoro seemed like he was waiting for that curiosity to be piqued, because he made his demand almost immediately. "Turaga, I must have more men and more machines if we are to find out. We ask that you allocate more resources to the mining guilds."
"Captain, I am doing everything I can," replied Whenua with a long sigh. "No one wants to see the protodermis run out. But Onu-Koro has many problems right now, and they all demand my attention. Speaking of which, if there is nothing else…Foreman Kevla, your report? How fares the Le-Koro Highway project?"
The second coal-black Matoran let out a long sigh, showing her emotions even through the Komau she wore. "The same as always, Turaga. Which is to say, it does not fare well at all. And there has been a new development, one that has slowed progress even further."
Well that did not sound good. "Another Rahi attack?"
"Thankfully no," said Kevla. "This problem is less severe, but impedes us all the same. Most of the workers have gone on strike in protest of the lighting conditions."
…ah.
Whenua sighed. He'd expected that something like this would happen for a while, and the only thing that surprised him about the strike was that it had not happened sooner. Refusing to work was well within the rights of any and all Onu-Matoran, especially when they felt their own safety was in jeopardy. But to do so now, when things were already difficult…it was a delicate situation.
"What are their demands?" he finally asked.
"They are requesting that the damage from the lava flood in Tunnel 12 be fixed, to restore access to the Cavern of Light and its lightstone veins. If that is not feasible, they suggest we find ways to tunnel around or they ask that auxiliary passages be made to reach it, though that would obviously take longer and further reduce the rate of progress on the highway."
The Turaga let out another pensive hum. The Cavern of Light was an underground cave that held dazzling deposits of lightstones, more than enough to illuminate the entire island twice over. In more prosperous times, it had been the source of the shining crystals for all of Onu-Koro, as shipments were made and mining operations were run like a well-oiled machine. Unfortunately, a rogue lava flow had flooded more than half of the tunnel leading to that treasure trove, cutting it off from the rest of the village and darkening the mines of Onu-Koro significantly.
A common misconception about Onu-Matoran was that they had perfect vision in all levels of light. While they did have eyes that could more easily see in darker areas, pitch black tunnels still left them as blind as anyone else. Some source of light was still necessary for them to work effectively, be it a lightstone or a simple torch - and the latter still caused great strain to anyone who tried to work in its light, to say nothing of the smoke and vapors emitted as the wax and its wick burned down.
But right now, the uncomfortable and unsafe option was all they had.
"Who all has gone on strike?" Whenua asked.
"Tehutti and Gahina are the main ones organizing the protest," reported Kevla, "and they're striking alongside Dupka, Setchi, and Nobua. Dosne tried to keep them in line at first, but now he's joined their cause and refuses to work. Just about the only one who hasn't laid down his pick yet is Taipu, who…well, you know how he is, Turaga."
Ah Taipu…loyal, stubborn, simple-minded yet hard-working Taipu. One of Onu-Koro's strongest diggers, a Matoran who was unafraid of anything and curious about everything. He was one of Whenua's youngest charges - only a few millennia old or so - and it certainly showed in his demeanor, his determination, and his cheery enthusiasm for the world around him.
He was a bright beacon in even the darkest tunnels.
He was also the most likely to get in trouble.
"I sympathize with their plight, I truly do," said Whenua with a heavy heart. "But the Le-Koro Highway must be completed soon. We need safe passage between the villages, now more than ever. We must ask them to continue working in spite of their protest."
Kevla balked. "But - that - Turaga, we cannot ask our workers to continue under these conditions!" she protested. "I understand that this is important, but surely the lives of Onu-Matoran are equally important!"
"We have done greater things under harsher circumstances, and in the face of far worse dangers," countered Whenua. "The Cavern of Light is lost to us, and until we can repair the flood damage there is little I or anyone can do."
"You can give us more Matoran, and more equipment!" pleaded the Foreman. "The other Guilds and the Traders have extra. We can use those!"
"What?!" The third Guildmaster suddenly snapped a glare towards her. "We do not have extra! We are barely even - "
"It is not your turn yet," Whenua said sternly to the merchant. His face softened as he turned back to Kevla. "As you heard, they are already strained for able-bodied Matoran. How would it help if they did?"
"The air is bad because of the torches, and the Rahi attack frequently because of the darkness," stated Kevla. "If we had more workers, we could alternate teams before they get ill. We could put more guards on duty. I do not know if it would satisfy the Matoran currently on strike, but it would ensure some level of safety…at least until access to the Cavern of Light is restored."
A stopgap measure, at best, and a logistical nightmare at worst. It was a sound plan on the surface, but unfeasible under the current circumstances. The Turaga of Earth shook his head slowly, a little bit of his heartstone breaking at the sight of Kevla dejectedly staring at the floor.
"Foreman, I understand the problems you are facing," Whenua commiserated. "I am doing everything in my power to get you the help you need. But you must be patient. Tell your workers what I told you, and give them my word that I have them in my heartstone. As soon as access to the Cavern of Light is restored, they will be the first to receive fresh lightstones."
Kevla nodded slowly. "I…I understand, Turaga. I will try."
But patience, like so many other resources at the moment, was limited.
The third Guildmaster, an ebon-black Matoran with a matching Hau, got sick of waiting. "Turaga Whenua, I will not tolerate this kind of delay! The Trade Guilds have contracts with four of Po-Koro's most influential artists, and they require raw materials for their projects!"
The Turaga's eyes narrowed. To think that you are concerned with profits in times such as these...
"I understand that, Zemya," said Whenua, carefully containing his growing annoyance, "and I am doing everything I can."
"Protodermis production has stopped," complained the tradesman, seemingly immune to the glares his other two Guildmasters were shooting at him. "Stonemasons are slowed by the darkness. And half the shipments were lost to Rahi attacks!"
"Ta-Koronan torches are being used to light the stone quarries now," he said pointedly. "Those deliveries will be made."
Zemya scoffed. "The Kofo-Jaga are not afraid of torchlight. And what of the protodermis? The Po-Matoran cannot trade stone for nothing!"
Aiyetoro was about to speak up, either with his words or his fists, but Whenua raised his hand to stay his rage. "As you have heard, the Mine Captains are working to break through this rock layer. Until then there is little we can do."
"They make goods from the protodermis. Without it they cannot trade for stone! We will lose that market." The tradesman was clearly concerned.
Whenua was less so. "There are other markets," he said matter-of-factly. Compared to the other problems being brought before him, this one almost seemed…petty. He understood that the Onu-Koro Market was important, and that it allowed them goods that they could not make themselves. But were such issues truly on the same scale as an impenetrable rock layer, or an incomplete highway across the island?
The tradesman certainly seemed to think so. "And what of the Le-Koro highway? It was to be finished months ago. My caravans refuse to travel to the south until it is complete!"
"And my workers refuse to dig until they can see!" shot back Kevla.
Whenua raised his hand to head off the argument before it began. "Kevla, your point has been well made. Zemya, if your caravans cannot be persuaded to make their journeys, then the Le-Matoran will have to come and trade at our market until the highway is finished."
"They try, Turaga!" exclaimed the tradesman, agitation building in his voice. "But they can no more come north than we can go south! And we cannot trade across the seas because there are even more dangerous Rahi in the waters than on land!" Zemya scoffed. "What of Onua? Is he doing nothing to help Onu-Koro? How can we know for certain that he is -"
That was the last straw.
"Enough!" Whenua cut off the trader's tirade with a harsh glare and a slam of his drillstaff. "Onua did not descend from the heavens to help you and your profits alone, Zemya! He is pursuing a great quest that may yet save us all, and it would serve you well to be grateful that he is here at all. I understand that the market suffers, but right now all of Onu-Koro suffers. You can either sit there and grouse and complain…or do something to help your people. Without the promise of filling your coffers for once."
After a silent, tense pause - the Turaga of Earth almost never raised his voice - the merchant hung his head in shame.
"I-I am sorry, Turaga. I didn't mean to imply…I understand." Zemya looked up at his fellow Guildmasters. "Is there anything I can do to aid you, friends? My caravan workers are traders, not tunnelers…but perhaps I can assign a few idle merchants to the highway as sentries."
Kevla's eyes lit up. "We would be most grateful, Zemya. Thank you."
"Perhaps some of my prospectors could accompany your caravans to the other villages?" offered Aiyetoro. "They could scout out surface Protodermis deposits for us to mine, at least until we find a way to dig deeper."
"Also a plan," said Zemya with a nod. "But these are both short-term solutions to long-term problems. What more can we do?"
"Endure, and have faith," said Whenua, tired yet triumphant and glad to finally see progress. "The earth has always given us what we needed to thrive below the surface. I see no reason why that should change today. Now, perhaps we could also…"
And so the Turaga of Earth and his Guildmasters talked long into the following hours, seeking solutions to the impenetrable rock layer, the lost lightstone mine, and the unfinished highway.
Completely unaware that the key to all three issues was standing just outside his hut, listening with attentive organic ears and watching with hopeful emerald eyes.
When Lewa and Emerald finally arrived at Le-Koro in a pair of green blurs, chaos was all that greeted them.
The once-peaceful village in the trees was practically swarming with savage Nui-Rama, enormous insects that terrorized the villagers with buzzing wings, razor-sharp claws, and venomous stingers. Some of the airborne menaces were covered in lightweight orange metal and had hook-like proboscises between their clustered eyes, while others had three-pronged mandibles and armor that was the same washed-out green of a diseased leaf. Both varieties of flying Rahi had what appeared to be transparent blue Kanohi Ruru that served as eye shields - perhaps those were their infected masks? Regardless, there were so many of the bugs that the sky seemed to disappear, leaving only darkness on an otherwise-sunny day.
Everywhere Lewa looked he only saw more carnage. Huge metal-feathered Gukko birds shrieked and cawed as they were knocked out of the sky, careening into the trees with their riders in tow. Le-Matoran scrambled in every direction, the lucky ones managing to leap off the platforms and into the jungle while the rest got grabbed and stung by the flying menaces. And for every Nui-Rama that got knocked out of the sky by a flying disk, three more seemed to take its place - if there was an end to the swarm, it was nowhere in sight.
An especially large bird - a Kahu, by the looks of it - crashed into the platform near where they stood, launching one of the Le-Matoran in its saddle and sending him flying into the waiting grasp of a Nui-Rama. The other rider groaned and prepared a disc to save his copilot, but a group of the insectoid Rahi swarmed his position and forced him to shift focus with narrowed eyes behind his own Miru. One, two, three bugs were taken down by well-placed throws, but six more descended with outstretched claws - only for half of them to be blasted apart by gunfire and the rest blown away in a great wind.
"Sorry we're late," said Emerald as she snapped new rounds into the chambers of her weapons. "It's Kongu, right? You okay?"
"Captain of the Gukko Force, yes," affirmed the teal-masked Matoran with a nod, "...or what's left of it. And I'm right-well, though I can't say the same for my Kahu-bird or her second. Where are the other Toa-heroes?"
Lewa tilted his head. "Others…?"
Kongu groaned. "Did you not hear the drum-song? We ask-yelled for all the Toa! Nothing less will save Le-Koro from a Rama-swarm of this size!"
Anger boiled within the Toa of Air. He didn't need to look down at Emerald to know that she was glaring up at him with an expression that screamed "I told you so," and right now he wasn't in the mood to listen.
"Why ask for six Toa-heroes…when one is enough?!"
Fueled by spite and annoyance Lewa threw his axe with all his might, whipping the winds around it to make it soar and spin end-over-end. He guided the flying weapon through at least a dozen airborne Nui-Rama, making them explode into showers of chitin and protodermis parts. The axe flew back into his hand a moment later, and he used the broad head of it to generate a blast of air that exploded out like a shockwave, blasting another dozen Rahi out of the sky.
Kongu did his best to not be impressed. "Hm. Very well then! You and your human-friend draw the Rama-swarm's attention! Give the other Le-Matoran a chance to leaf-run and escape - Rama-swarms do not dare fly-chase us into the thick deep-woods! Focus on fighting as many of the Rahi-beasts as possible - but if you see a chance to rescue-help, do not hesitate to take that chance-risk!"
"I think we can do that," said Lewa with a nod. "Sprout-leaf?"
"Got your back," said Emerald with a determined expression.
"Then let us fight-battle! For Le-Koro!"
With that, the pair leapt into the center of the crumbling village, letting loose hails of gunfire and blasts of winds in every direction. Thankfully, the individual Nui-Rama were not very strong or durable - it only took a few shots or a well-placed wind current to break them apart, and when they swooped into melee, the Toa and the Huntress were able to slash and hack them apart with little effort. But it didn't matter how strong each individual Rahi was. When they attacked in huge swarms, they still threatened to overwhelm them.
It would seem that the universe is taunting me with this "lesson," thought Lewa in annoyance as he dispatched another dozen bugs with an axe throw. He looked over at Emerald. "Do you have any Dust-tricks we can use, sprout-leaf?"
"Not without wiping the village out completely!" yelled the Huntress as she swung with her chained hooks, releasing the grabbed Nui-Rama and sending it crashing into five more. "Everything else I have is too volatile and dangerous - for Le-Koro, the Matoran, and us!"
"Well, we must do something!" countered the Toa of Air as he blasted more bugs away with a funnel. "There are too many of them for us alone to fight-battle!"
Emerald scoffed, slicing through the wings of a low-flying insect. "Gee, maybe we wouldn't be having this problem if someone had listened to me!"
"Do not lecture me on this, sprout-leaf!" Lewa growled as he bisected another Nui-Rama.
"Why shouldn't I?" The former thief laid down some suppressive fire. "You know I'm right! I know it, Matau knows it, hell even the other Le-Matoran know it! So why won't you just admit that you need the other Toa?"
"Because I do not need them!" Another bug fell to his axe. "I do not want them! They will only slow me down and get in the way!"
Two more Rahi exploded in gunfire. "You know what's funny? Cinder used to say that exact same thing. Maybe you are more like her than you realize."
Lewa's eyes narrowed. "You dare to - "
"Help! Someone! Anyone! Help me! Do not let them take me into the dark-hive!"
Emerald looked up at the sound of the shrill female voice calling out high above them, eyes widening as she saw four Nui-Rama carrying a Kaukau-clad Le-Matoran away. "Radka's in trouble! Lewa, give me a boost!"
Despite his annoyance the Toa of Air complied, letting the girl stand on the head of his axe and swinging it skyward while summoning a gust of wind. The Huntress flew five bios into the air, extending her chains and hooking one of her blades into a flying Rahi. With a tug on her weapon she both pulled herself closer and dragged the offending insect away, using it as a stepping stone to leap higher and dig the sickles into another bug. She repeated this method of grappling and rising until all four Nui-Rama were falling below her with puncture wounds, at which point she crashed into Radka and kicked her into the jungle.
"Thank you!" called the Le-Matoran as she flipped mask-over-heel in mid-air, before finally disappearing among the trees.
Lewa didn't catch Emerald's response - he was too busy hacking away at the insects that swarmed him - but he was certain she could handle herself. After all, she was strong like him. She did not need help, no more than he needed the other -
A loud piercing scream proved him wrong.
He snapped his gaze up to see a wasp-like Nui-Kopen move in and begin slashing at Emerald with four clawed arms, striking from her blind side so quickly its limbs seemed to be nothing but green and orange blurs. The Huntress's Aura flared weakly with each successive attack, trying to keep the Rahi from drawing blood and failing. Lewa fired a blast of wind to blow it away, but the new arrival was heavier than the Nui-Rama, and its thicker armor prevented him from dispatching it as easily as the others. When it had finished overwhelming Emerald with a flurry of slashes, it grabbed her with all four arms and slammed its abdomen into her gut, delivering a powerful downward strike that sent her careening back towards the platform in an uncontrolled freefall.
"Sprout-leaf, hold on!" called Lewa. He prepared to channel the power of his Mask of Levitation to catch her -
But a split-second's lapse in concentration was all that the Nui-Rama needed.
At least a dozen of those insects swarmed over him like flies on a fresh Bula fruit, digging their claws and stingers into him and punching through his armor. He groaned and cried out as burning venom flooded into his system, fighting it and the bugs as best he could but struggling against both. And to add insult to injury, one Nui-Rama got extremely lucky in their swipe at his face - the blow knocked his mask clean off, and sent it flying into the waiting grasp of another Nui-Kopen.
No! My mask!
Fatigue filled his limbs as soon as the Kanohi vanished out of sight, carried off like a trophy by one of the four-armed wasps. He tried to mentally trigger the power of the Mask of Speed, only to feel nothing but emptiness. Was the power of any new masks he picked up tied to his original Miru? By losing that…had he lost both his abilities? That was upsetting, but far more distressing was just how lethargic he felt with a bare face. How…sluggish, how slow, how unlike himself he felt.
How useless.
Emerald landed painfully in front of him seconds later, her green Aura flickering for a moment before fizzling out altogether. She winced and clutched her side in pain, using her other arm to try (and fail) to push herself up.
No…I can't…I have to…
Lewa sank to his knees despite his best efforts to remain standing, leaning against his axe at first before eventually pushing against the floor. He fought against the darkness that grew in the corner of his vision, pushed against the inevitable that drew ever closer. The Toa of Air knew what was happening - much like how Matoran went into their own form of stasis with their masks removed, the Toa were severely weakened without their own Great Kanohi masks. So now he was nearly powerless to stop the Nui-Rama from scooping up the last of his people and flying away…and judging by how one of the Nui-Kopen was pulling off its own infected mask, he could only guess what awaited him.
After all, Makuta would never pass up a chance to have a Toa as his thrall.
Especially a very foolish, very vulnerable Toa like himself.
The Toa of Air's arms trembled as he hung his head in shame. What…have I done? Even thinking and trying to keep himself upright was a challenge. My people…my tree-folk…all lost-gone, because of me. Because of my fool-pride. I should have listened…should have heeded the word-tips of my sprout-leaf, should have stayed with my Toa-brothers…but I didn't, and now all will suffer for my dark-sins.
Lewa's bare green eyes turned to stare at Emerald, who was still struggling to stand up and fight despite her wounds and missing Aura. Red fluid leaked from torn patches of her skin, dripping down her arms and seeping through her clothes. Her face was contorted in pain and rage, but she was fumbling to turn her weapons back into hand cannons all the same.
But that doesn't mean she must suffer as well.
"Sprout-leaf…" he rasped, gathering his energy like fistfuls of sand. "...Emerald...go. Leave me. It's come-time for you to wind-fly on your own...and to return with aid-help. Can you do that?"
The girl looked over with widened crimson eyes. "Lewa...no. No, you didn't abandon me when I needed help. You can't ask me to do the same!"
"You must...you must go..."
"No! I'm not going anywhere!" More water dripped down her face as she fervently shook her head. "I-I'm sorry for what I said! I didn't mean it! Please, just let me stay!"
Her loyalty was admirable, but right now it was the last thing he wanted. "It's not that...no, nothing to do with that. You must know that nothing waits for you but dark-pain if you stay…if Makuta gets his way-will, I will not be able to protect you. Not from my own-self."
Emerald looked at his maskless face, then looked over at the wasp looming closer. She gasped as her mind connected the dots.
"No…Lewa…"
"You see what I mean? Go. Leaf-run and hide now, return-strike later with your friends. You…you were right. I cannot do this alone. We cannot do this alone."
She turned back to face him with a sob. "I don't care about being right, Lewa! I care about you! I'm not leaving you, I can't just - !"
"I SAID GO!"
Using the last of his strength Lewa made one more wild sweep with his axe, conjuring a mighty wind that knocked the Huntress off the platform and into the trees. The Nui-Rama swarm spotted his act of defiance almost immediately, bearing down on him with paralyzing stingers that found every chink in his armor and every vulnerable tendon underneath. If his head wasn't swimming in toxins, he would have seen his little friend tumble through the branches clumsily, before finally landing on a fallen log in a broken, sobbing heap. As the bug-like creatures dug their claws into his arms to hold him upright, he caught a glimpse of Emerald staring back up at him in the distance with shimmering eyes, before squeezing them shut and vanishing into the undergrowth.
Good, little sprout-leaf, he thought as he watched a Nui-Kopen bring a dark, twisted copy of his own Miru into view. Find your friends. Find aid-help. Don't make the same mistake I did.
He managed to think one more thought for himself before his mind was consumed by darkness.
Please. Protect my people…from me.