The Ga-Matoran walked through Onu-Koro, trying not to trip over anything. The lightstones hanging about made it easier to see, but the lighting was at a level Onu-Matoran were comfortable with, which still made it difficult for outsiders to navigate. Luckily, it was not a long walk from where Midak left them to the Turaga's hut, so they managed.

A Matoran standing at the door stood up straight at their arrival. "Greetings, sisters. What is it that brings you to our fine village?"

"We are on a journey at the request of Turaga Nokama," Vhisola answered. "Also, Turaga Onewa has asked us to deliver something to Turaga Whenua."

"Very well. I shall see if the Turaga will allow visitors."

The Matoran disappeared into the hut for a few seconds before re-emerging. "This way."

It was surprisingly bare inside the hut. A few stalactites hung from the ceiling, and a portion of the far wall remained rough and uncarved, with a stone replica of a Kanohi Ruru hung on it as decoration. Whenua stood beneath it, watching his visitors silently.

"Turaga Whenua," Macku said, bowing. "We bring you a gift from Turaga Onewa."

She drew the package out of her bag and held it out. Whenua gently took it and unwrapped the carving, cracking a small smile at it.

"You obnoxious hammer-swinger," he grumbled. Eyeing the carving's mask more closely, he added, "You make these tiny mistakes solely to agitate me, don't you…"

Whenua set the gift down and turned back to the Ga-Matoran. "Thank you for bringing me this. Onewa sends me these every now and then—it's nice to know he's still his old self in these dark times."

"If I may ask, Turaga…what is it?" Macku said. "It looks like a Toa, but not any of the depictions of Toa I'm familiar with."

"This is a Toa from a different telling of the legend," Whenua answered. His tone almost sounded sad. "Yes, a very old telling…but the mask is misshapen. For all his skill, one would think he could fix a flaw such as that with ease."

Before Macku could ask anything more, Vhisola said, "We do have another purpose here as well. Turaga Nokama has sent us on a quest, and it has led us to this Wahi."

Whenua frowned. "I suppose you are searching for the Matatu, then. Many of your sisters came through here on the same journey…before they disappeared, that is."

"We believe the mask is in the same place that Onu-Matoran have been disappearing," Vhisola said. "Could you please direct us there, Turaga?"

Whenua stared at her for a moment before chuckling softly. "You speak so casually, almost as if you don't understand the danger you are heading into."

Vhisola's gaze hardened. "With all due respect, Turaga, I know full well the danger I'm getting into. I shall not let something like petty fear sway me."

"Petty? There is nothing petty about preserving life, Vhisola. You must want to reclaim the mask so that Nokama can better defend Ga-Koro, correct? That is a desire for protection. Exercising caution here will certainly not clash with your goal."

"Forgive her, Turaga," Macku said. "Vhisola has been waiting a very long time to make this journey."

Whenua nodded. He paced across the floor a bit, deep in thought, and then looked at the visitors once more. "I shall send a few members of the Ussalry with you. Greater strength lies in numbers, after all. Allow me time to gather them, as well as the necessary supplies."

They thanked the Turaga and left his hut. The Matoran out front, who they discovered was named Onepu, was called in and asked to select a few individuals he thought would be suited for the task. As he left to do this, Macku decided to follow him out of boredom. Vhisola stayed behind to wait.

As they walked, Onepu asked, "So, what is it that convinced you to do this?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Vhisola's reputation precedes her. Even we in Onu-Koro know about her tendencies to be rather…shall we say…fanatical."

"…Well, I was kinda dragged into it, really. I certainly didn't like the idea of going out travelling with Vhisola, of all Matoran."

She paused.

"But…I think the reason she acts that way is just because she wants Nokama to recognize her. I used to think she was just Turaga's pet, following her every word, trying to get a medal or special treatment or something. Now, I'm not so sure she wants anything like that."

Onepu scoffed. "Well what else is there? I can think of no reward greater than the fame and honor of serving the Turaga."

"…Sure. What I mean is, I don't think she really wants a reward. At least, not something we would consider a reward…if that makes sense."

"It doesn't."

"Hm, I'm not entirely sure myself. All I'm saying is that I think the common understanding of Vhisola's motives might not be accurate."

"Then you don't regret coming along with her?"

Macku grunted. "I'll let you know when we get back from whatever deathtrap awaits us."

Onepu was at the front of the procession, holding a lightstone high enough that it could show the way without hurting the eyes of the ussal he rode on. The Ga-Matoran were behind him on ussals of their own, with two other members of the Ussalry flanking them, and all four carried their own lightstone so as to help them remain extra vigilant.

The tunnel they were heading through was very wide, but it was extremely dark—it was recently discovered and very far underground, so the miners had yet to hang up lightstones properly yet. Before they could, they had begun to disappear, so Whenua had declared it off-limits for the time being. The Ussalry members were not pleased to be here.

"You're sure this is where you'll find Turaga Nokama's mask?" asked one of them. "Because otherwise we're risking our lives for nothing."

"Calm down, Damek," Onepu ordered. "You have the great Captain Onepu on your side! Nothing will go wrong, so long as I'm here."

"How many Onu-Matoran have vanished?" Macku asked.

"Not quite a dozen," Onepu answered. "Still, any loss is unacceptable. Hopefully we'll discover what became of them on this journey."

"This is a waste of time," Damek protested. "We've been down here for hours now, and we haven't found anything at all. I say we head back."

"We're not going back until we have the mask," Vhisola said sternly.

"The mask might not even be down here! Why should we trust some crackpot prophecy when—"

"Shh!"

Onepu suddenly pulled his ussal to a halt. Something was moving just at the edge of his lightstone's glow. Dismounting, he drew a disk and edged forward very slowly. The movement stopped, and a figure came into view. It was an Onu-Matoran, but he had his back turned to the group, instead staring at an empty stretch of wall.

"…Tehutti?" Onepu said. "Tehutti, is that you?"

He relaxed. "Thank Onua. We were worried when you disappeared like that, but it looks like you're safe. Tell us what's going on down here, will you?"

Tehutti gave no response.

"…Hey, Tehutti. Say something. What's wrong?"

Onepu reached out and grabbed Tehutti's shoulder. Stiffly, Tehutti turned around, and the others got a look at his Kanohi.

Its surface was pitted and covered in rust.

Macku's eyes shot wide. "Onepu, get back!"

She was too late; Tehutti punched Onepu, sending him sprawling on the ground. Fortunately, this provided an opening. Macku threw a disk and knocked the Kanohi off of Tehutti's face.

"Uuuggh…" Tehutti muttered, falling to his knees. "Wh-what…what happened…?"

"Infected Kanohi," Macku said. "This is bad. We should go back and get more Matoran to help us."

She started to turn around, but Vhisola stopped her. "Why would we go back? You've taken care of the problem."

"You really don't get it, do you?!" Macku said. "He's not the only one who disappeared, remember? What do you think happened to—"

She was cut off by a shuffling sound. Onu-Matoran and Ga-Matoran wearing infected masks moved in from both behind and in front of them, cutting off any means of escape. Onepu got back on his feet and pulled Tehutti behind him.

"Just stay down, Tehutti," Onepu said. "Try to conserve your energy."

Readying her own disk, Vhisola said, "The prophecy mentioned 'souls corrupted by Makuta', didn't it?"

"This would seem to be them," Macku said. "We really have walked into a mess here, haven't we…"

Vhisola laughed. Whirling on her, Macku said, "This isn't the time to be laughing! Do you not understand what's going on?"

"Don't you?" Vhisola asked. "This means that the prophecy is right. And that means Turaga Nokama's Matatu is down here after all!"

Macku stared at her, dumbfounded. "…Your priorities are seriously messed up…"

Vhisola stood up on her crab and took a throwing stance. "All we need to do is knock their masks off, and then we can go get the Matatu! Don't falter now, anyone!"

"I guess she's motivated, if nothing else," Macku said. "Just remember, these are our people—we only need to knock their masks off, so don't hurt them."

Vhisola nodded and then sprang into action. She knocked the mask off of one Matoran with a well-placed disk, and then ran in to catch it as it returned. One of the infected Matoran charged at her, but she blocked his attack with the disk and then bashed her elbow into his face, knocking off his mask.

An infected Ga-Matoran leapt at Macku. She ducked, letting the Matoran hit the ground behind her, and then knocked the mask off before she could get up. Another Matoran tried to attack her while she was doing this, but she had plenty of time to throw her disk, freeing him as well.

"Agh!"

Damek was on the ground, being dragged off by two infected Matoran. Onepu was still busy protecting Tehutti, so Macku ran in and swiftly dispatched them to set the guard free.

"Er…thanks," Damek muttered under his breath.

Vhisola returned to the group and surveyed the area. They had knocked out most of their attackers, but a handful of Ga-Matoran had forced the other Ussalry member, Kaj, into a corner. He was fending off their attacks, but he had no chance to retaliate; Vhisola considered assisting him, but when she saw Onepu going to help, she decided against it and went after an Onu-Matoran trying to get away.

Macku was watching as well. Onepu freed a few of the Ga-Matoran, but one of them got a hit in and knocked his mask off, making him collapse from the sudden loss of energy. The Matoran prepared to push the advantage, but Macku ran forward, pulled her disk back, and threw. Once the attacker was down, she checked on Onepu.

"No, not that one," Macku said, watching Onepu about to grab an infected Kanohi. Handing him his regular mask, she stood back up and, after verifying that all the infected Matoran were freed, sighed in relief.

"This explains a lot," Onepu said once his mask was back on. "All the miners disappearing…all the Ga-Matoran who went missing on their quest…"

"The mask must be ahead," Vhisola said. "Let's push forward."

"Are you joking?" Kaj asked. "We have to get these Matoran back to Onu-Koro—if we don't get Kanohi for them soon, they'll pass out. We can come back later for the Matatu."

Vhisola shook her head. "Makuta might move the mask in that time. We need to get it now."

"No," Onepu said. "Kaj, Damek, and I will be escorting our injured friends out of here."

"Well, I'm going forward," Vhisola said.

All eyes turned to Macku. She thought about it for a minute, and then hesitantly said, "I…can't let Vhisola go alone."

Vhisola nodded. She headed off with her ussal, and Macku returned to her own crab. Onepu said, "Your loyalty is admirable."

"It's not exactly loyalty," Macku said.

"Regardless…do you think she would show you the same kindness?"

Macku didn't have an answer for that.

"Just something to think about," Onepu said. "Whatever you might think about Vhisola's motivations, her behavior is undoubtedly troublesome. It would be unwise to trust your life to her."

The Ussalry revived the fallen Matoran and directed them back up the tunnel towards the village. Macku urged her crab deeper into the darkness, hoping to catch up with Vhisola before she got into trouble…although, the silence of being alone for a moment gave her a chance to think.

Vhisola probably wouldn't be willing to risk her life for me. I don't really mind that; it doesn't necessarily mean she'd just let me die. She wouldn't do something like that…would she?

She thought back to the battle. About how Vhisola had seen Kaj in danger and just left him be. That certainly didn't inspire any confidence…

Macku shook her head. Don't think too much about it. We've dealt with the infected Matoran, so hopefully the worst should be behind us.

Notes:

Don't think I really have anything to say about this one. Tune in next time for the finale!