Queen's Notes: This chapter was co-written with In The Light
Fire From The Past
Ta-Wahi was their first part of the island to search for the stones that would help Lhikan return to his home, and his right time. The Ta-Matoran craned his neck and looked around at the vast, hot Wahi, "Did Turaga Vakama give any hints if he knew where a stone might be, I wonder?"
Takua looked down from his spot on a ridge and being an epic two feet higher than Lhikan by doing so, "He said that Matoran can sense them, and asking around a lot of people in the village said that they felt non-fire elemental pockets around here." He shrugged, "It's seems as good as anything to go off of."
Lhikan nodded. "Then I guess we start searching for a non-fire elemental pocket, the sooner the better." He tipped his head and grinned up at Takua. "It's kind of strange having to talk 'up' to you."
The story keeper made a face back at the other Ta-Matoran, then the blue-masked one proceeded to puff his chest out in mimicry of Jaller (or any guard member), "Just finally getting up to my fame!"
The other Matoran grinned harder, and he brought his fist to his mask. "And I salute you gladly because of that!" He chuckled and turned away, looking around once more before taking a few steps forward, trusting that the other would follow.
Once he got down, that is.
"Heads up!" Takua's voice called from behind, and then there was presser on Lhikan's shoulders, being used like a springboard as the smaller Matoran flipped over Lhikan, twisted around in midair and landed perfectly on Pewku's shell. "Hah!"
Lhikan stopped and blinked, surprised for a moment. Then he smiled. "You sure you're not part Le-Matoran?" he said as a playful joke, with a laugh.
"Who knows?" Takua shrugged as he hopped off his Rahi, scratching the edge of her shell, "Would explain my mask."
"I only meant it as a joke," Lhikan said calmly, remembering what Turaga Vakama had told him about the Matoran before him. He gave Pewku a few scratches as well. "Well then, let's begin this little hunt of ours."
"Right," Takua nodded after a moment of staring thoughtfully at nothing before pulling kind of staff out of subspace, it had a hammer on one end and a scoop on the other, "Onwards!" Lhikan recognized it as a Kolhii staff, since he had been shown one before leaving the fire village. With a smirk, he and Takua started off on their search for the first stone. "The first place isn't so far from Ta-Koro, on the way to the beach."
"That's good," Lhikan nodded. He had hoped to find the stone soon, and now it looked like they would be.
"The Turaga said you'd be able to sense them better, since you have an unusual amount of elemental energy in you." Takua went on, "Kapura's like that too, its why he's always coughing up fireballs."
An unusual amount of elemental energy, huh? Lhikan found himself smirking as he recalled his thoughts on why Toa Duma was coming to visit him back home. "I suppose he is right, though it's been quite some time since I ever coughed up a fireball..."
"I don't, or at least that I can remember, not a full one at least" Takua shrugged as he used his Kohlii staff to scoop up a rock and start bouncing it expertly. "But that's okay, Kapura probably has of all mine." He laughed, grinning, "I wonder if he or Jaller will be Toa someday."
"They certainly have the heart for it," Lhikan remarked thoughtfully, as he watched the rock bounce. "They would both make fine Toa..." he glanced at Takua, unable to help but saying, "You would too."
"Nah, I'll never be a Toa." Takua shook his head, "I'm not anything special like them, just the story keeper."
"Everyone's special, Takua," Lhikan stated seriously, reminding himself not to say anything he shouldn't, "And anyone can become a Toa, if it is the will of the Great Spirit."
The smaller Ta-Matoran flipped up his rock and in a deft move sent it off to an imaginary goal, "Maybe, but," He shrugged.
Lhikan sighed and went back to looking around, trying to see if he could sense anything just yet. It was awful nice being somewhere different for a change, but above all he had to get home... he had a destiny to fulfill.
"Okay, here it is!" Takua looked around after a while. He stood up on Pewku shell for a better vantage point.
Lhikan glanced at him at first, then around, humming lightly as he tried to sense anything. He walked around some more, frowning. "Nothing, yet..."
"Well, you never know, it might be another spot," Takua said as he 'surfed' on his moving Rahi.
"Good point. I guess I am feeling anxious to find it," Lhikan admitted with a small sheepish look. He sighed and began to walk some more...
...wait, he just felt some strange sensation. He stopped. Where was it coming from? He turned in another direction... then another... then another...
That way!
"I think I know where it is..."
"Really?" Takua perked up in interest, looking around, tapping a command for Pewku to stop and knelt down to fumble for his light stone in his pack. Fitting the small glowing stone in his Kohlii staff, since it was carved to do that, he lifted it. Adding just that bit more light since the two were in the shadow of the volcano.
The gold-masked Ta-Matoran was able to see better, glad of the Chronicler's light stone, as he made his way toward the direction he felt the stone was. If one didn't have to come here on a hunt for a stone, then it wouldn't be too hard to just stand and marvel at the view of the volcano if you weren't a native. As he bent to look closer at the ground, Lhikan said, "You know, for as long as I've been here, and no, it hasn't been very long, I've met only one of the Kora. I would like to meet others... considering I didn't even know about them until a few days ago."
"We're in the area Kora Storm patrols normally." Takua said thoughtfully, hopping off of his Rahi to look around, muttering, "Turaga said it looks like a power crystal, with elemental energy... hmm."
"So... I see," Lhikan said softly, stopping and crouching. He used his hands to dig around in the ground slightly, having spotted something that looked very shiny, which was odd for all the blackened ash and ground around them. He tapped the crystal and tugged at it... and it only budged a little bit. "Oh, wonderful..." he pulled at it again.
"Here, see if this helps," Takua offered, taking the light stone off his staff and offering the kholii stick to Lhikan, "Maybe we can dig it out."
"Thank you,"
Lhikan took the stick and proceeded to try and dig up the stone. Naturally being a strong Matoran, it did not take too long for the crystal-like stone to be loose enough for one to pull it out. Which Lhikan did. With a triumphant smile, Lhikan held it up and looked it over.
Peering around Lhikan, Takua blinked at the semi clear crystal, reaching out to touch it, "...It feels like Toa Pohatu."
"So that's to wrong element I felt," Lhikan nodded. In a place of fire, stone would stand out definitely. Thanks to talking with Takua on beforehand, Lhikan knew that Toa Pohatu was in fact the Toa of Stone.
"I wonder why the Kora can't sense it." Takua said thoughtfully. "They can track down the Toa and anything shadow-darkness related, I've seen the way Kora home-in on it before."
"Who knows why they can't sense this," Lhikan shrugged. He turned the stone over in his hands a few times. "Well, one down."
"Wasn't too hard," Takua nodded, taking his staff back and moving to Pewku, pulling something out from one of the packs secured to the Rahi's shell. He offered a smaller pack to Lhikan, "Here, I meant to give this to you before."
He took it from the other Matoran. "What is it?"
"A pack, to carry the stones with you," The story keeper gently scratched Pewku's face, "As much as I love this big crab... it may not be a good idea to keep them with her."
"Good idea," Lhikan smiled with a nod, and he put his stone into the pack before slipping it onto his back.
"Macku said that she went to the coast to get us boat." Takua said as he scrambled up onto his Rahi and sat down, putting the light stone away so not to attract unwanted attention. "We can keep heading to the beach, then Ga-Koro."
"Sounds like a plan," Lhikan nodded as he pulled himself up on the Rahi crab as well, "What's it like?"
"It's a great place, but you're better off if you know how to swim." Takua admitted, "There's a lot of interesting things under water, and sometimes, if you ask that is- Toa Gali will take you down deep, or to the shelf edge if the island."
"Swimming," Lhikan repeated. In his past he had tried his hand at swimming, and knew a few basics, but he really wasn't that perfect of a swimmer. Give or take, if the time called for it, he could keep from drowning yet he just wasn't too comfortable with it. "I'm assuming Toa Gali has taken you down there, then?" he said.
"Yeah, only once to edge, she has the Great Kanohi mask of water breathing." Takua said and then frowned, trailing off as he recalled that memory.
"Interesting," Lhikan replied, thinking to himself as well, but not of the same thing Takua was. More of a certain Ga-Matoran he had known who loved to swim with a passion.
"So, want to head to the coast then?" Takua asked, shaking himself free of his own memories.
Lhikan nodded, "Yeah, sure."
"Okay Pewku," The shorter Matoran tapped his Rahi, "Likes go to Ga-Koro, to the beach, you know, where we meet Macku for the boat?"
The Rahi suddenly perked up, trilling as she started off.
Lhikan grinned at this. They certainly had a good transportation for getting around the island. It was better than going by air as suggested back in Le-Koro. He was thankful that they were traveling by crab.
"Tamaru should be in Ga-Koro about now," Takua said thoughtfully, humming pointlessly. Then, suddenly and almost random, "What are the Toa like where you're from Lhikan? Did you always have them?"
Lhikan nodded. "We have them, yes. But they are different of course. Your Toa's armor looks to be much more powerful for one thing. The current two Toa on my island are of Fire and Stone."
"You only have two?" Takua tilted his head, and then realized the other Ta-Matoran comment, "Oh! That's because they are the Toa Nuva. The Toa were, well, dunked into energized Protodurmus by the Makuta in an attempt to kill them. But it didn't work that way."
"That's one evil plan spoiled," Lhikan grinned back. "Toa Nuva, huh? Where did they come from before coming here?" Maybe I'll meet them in my own time, Lhikan wondered to himself.
"When they were Toa Mata?" Takua frowned, "Sometimes one of the Toa will mention something, but their time in the Toa canisters seems to have fuzzed their memories a bit."
Lhikan frowned, "How long did they spend inside their canisters?"
"Toa Kopaka says over a thousand years." The story keeper said, and then winced as he added, "They had to re-grow their bodies."
"Oh... that sounds nice," Lhikan said, sarcasm definite in his voice as he winced as well. Then after a few moments, "How far is Ga-Koro from here do you think?"
"We should get to there in a few hours," Takua judged, "And once we find Macku and her boat we should be in the village by dinner."
"Leaving so soon Chronicler?" A female voice asked, amused and full of warmth.
On hearing the voice, Lhikan and Takua turned and looked to see the speaker, though by now Lhikan thought he knew who it was.
"Kora!" Takua perked up at once, smiling as he leaned into the touch as the Kora ran the backs of her claws down the Matoran's back, doing the same to Lhikan.
"What are you two doing out here?" The red and black Kora of fire asked, with a smile on her Kanohi.
Lhikan beamed at the Kora, enjoying attention from a fire elemental, "We were looking for one of the stones, and we found it!" He reached back and pulled out the stone from his pack to show the Kora.
"May I?" Storm held her hand out for the stone, tilting her head, "The Turaga mentioned that we might be needed to open a gateway."
"Oh yes. Yes of course," Lhikan extended his arms and placed the crystal-like stone into the Fire Kora's hands.
She turned it over in her hands a few times before handing it back, "That'll be a good power boost for Telem, good work little firespitter."
Lhikan couldn't help but beam on hearing the praise from the Kora. He stashed the stone away. "Thank you, Kora." he said. "We were just on our way to Ga-Koro."
"You'll like it there," Storm assured, "It's a great place to visit."
"That's what Takua said, by the sounds of it," Lhikan answered. "I do look forward to it."
"Mind if I walk with you two, to the beach?" The Kora asked, reaching back to adjust her sword.
"No, of course not," Lhikan replied, smiling, glancing at the Chronicler beside him on the Ussal.
Storm leaned down, and picked up the golden masked Matoran to put him back on the rahi's broad shell after he had hopped off. As she did so, there was a faint... a soundless click of sorts that was more felt. It gave the impression of the warmth from a large fire, but not the same wild-ness that had form Tahu.
Lhikan smiled again as he shifted and sat down on Pewku. They were off to Ga-Koro now, and with one stone found so far Lhikan was sure the others would be found as well. He recalled what Turaga Vakama had said to him and wondered about where he might be during this time... Well only time will tell.
The Kora blinked down at Lhikan, tilting her head before shrugging. It wasn't the first time she had felt that buzz from a Matoran, and she made a mental note as she walked with the two. "If you don't mind the water than you should see if Toa Gali will take you out to the reef, you may find something out there."
"I'll keep that in mind," the Matoran replied, nodding. "Takua already mentioned something like that."
"It may work," Takua said thoughtfully, "If we're looking for pockets of out of place elements then wouldn't they stand out in the water?"
"One would think," Lhikan answered shrugging. "Since I'm searching for the stones I guess I'll find out soon enough." he smirked. Water seemed better than falling through air on the back of a Kora after all. He didn't think he would forget that little experience for a while.