CHAPTER THREE
"I told you this was a bad idea," Toa Nuhrii muttered to Turaga Lhikan, noticing the glares the six gathered Matoran were giving him. "They trust me as far as they can throw a Kikanalo."
"Why do you say that?" Lhikan whispered back. "You haven't done anything to make them think you're working for the Makuta. You tried your best to stop him."
Nuhrii snorted. "Yeah, but I failed and all of this has happened as a result."
Lhikan opened his mouth to object but was cut off by Hewkii.
"What's he doing here?" the Po-Matoran asked sharply. "Is he supposed to help us?"
"Well, yes," Lhikan replied. "But-"
"He'll only lead us to our deaths," Nuju muttered. "It was sheer luck that you and the others got the Great Disks and defeated the Morbuzakh. But when it came to Makuta, forget it."
"They did save us from being brainwashed," Macku pointed out. "You have to give them that."
"It doesn't make much difference now, does it?" Matau said bitterly. "It's either 'all hail Makuta' or get absorbed."
Nuhrii sighed as he pulled over an empty chair from a student desk and sat in it. "Look, the others and I... let's admit, we weren't Toa material. With all due respect, Lhikan chose the wrong Matoran."
Lhikan frowned. "But the stars said you were destined. It was the will of Mata Nui."
"Yeah, but maybe even Mata Nui makes mistakes," the Toa of Fire said. "I mean, by saying that I, Tehutti, Vhisola, and the others were destined got him overthrown by Makuta. If you can't forgive relatively lowly Toa like me... can you forgive him?"
The Matoran were silent as they let his words sink in. After a moment, it was Nokama who broke the silence.
"I suppose he's got a point," she murmured. "If we can give the Great Spirit a second chance, then we can give the Toa one."
"Okay, that's fine and all," Nuparu said. "But do we have a plan to get back at Makuta?"
Lhikan smiled. "I'm glad you ask; that's exactly why I brought Toa Nuhrii over here."
The Matoran looked at the Toa of Fire expectantly. "And what would your plan be?" Nuju asked skeptically.
Nuhrii smiled. "First of all, don't go to work today."
* * *
"Come on, Vakama," Jaller sighed as he rapped on the door to his fellow Ta-Matoran's quarters. "We've got work to do."
"I can't work today, Jaller," Vakama called. "I'm sick."
Jaller rolled his eyes. "Right, and I'm Turaga Dume. Come on, this isn't like you. Open up."
No response came.
"You leave me no choice, then." Jaller beckoned a pair of Vahki Nuurakh over and the two robots promptly stormed up to Vakama's door. One of them raised their twin staffs and bashed it against the door, bringing it down. They then strode into the unlit room and began searching for the Ta-Matoran.
Suddenly, a disk of light briefly illuminated the room before striking one of the Nuurakh square in the chest. As a thick coating of ice began to cover it, the other Vahki prepared its built-in Kanoka Launcher and searched the room for the attacker. Another disk struck it in the back, causing it to explode.
As Jaller shielded himself from the explosion, Vakama emerged from the shadows, armed with a Kanoka Launcher. He stared at Jaller straight in the eye. When the latter tried to speak, Vakama silenced him by handing him several widgets.
"I'm taking the week off," the Matoran of Fire said. "Ask Brander to fill in for me."
With that, he raised his door back up and welded it back into place with a Repair Kanoka.
* * *
"Kongu, where's Matau?"
The Le-Matoran chute attendant spared his superior a glance. "No idea, Boreas."
A frown crossed Boreas' mask. "He was supposed to be on the test track today. Right now."
Kongu shrugged. "I haven't seen him. Try asking Taiki; he's supposed to be his co-pilot, I think."
"Good idea." With that, Boreas left the station. Once he was gone, Kongu got up from his work area and quickly walked over to the sanitation control closed, opening it.
"Okay, Matau, the coast is clear."
"Thank Mata Nui," Matau muttered as he stumbled out, lugging with him the Moto-Sled he was supposed to test today. "And thanks, Kongu. I owe you one."
"You sure do. Now get going before Boreas comes back."
With a mock salute, Matau boarded his Moto-Sled and dropped into a chute.
* * *
"...And that, class, is why Makuta is our supreme and benevolent ruler."
Nokama refrained from cringing at her own words. It was the same spiel she had to repeat every single day for the past six months and she despised it with every fiber of her being.
The end of her speech was punctuated by the ring of a bell, marking the end of class. As the Ga-Matoran students filed out of the room, Nokama glanced anxiously at the clock on the wall. The others would be here any minute now.
Sure enough, soon after the last student had walked out, the door opened again to admit Macku, accompanied by a Ta-Matoran and Nuparu, who both had their arms full with Vahki parts.
"Nuparu, one of these days, you're going to pay for making those stupid Vahki," Macku grumbled.
"Oh, sure." Nuparu rolled his eyes as he dumped the parts onto the ground. "Like I was going to disobey Turaga Dume's orders at the time. And it's not like I knew Makuta was going to-"
"Settle down, you two," Nokama said. She then smiled at the Ta-Matoran. "Glad you could make it, Vakama."
Vakama returned the smile. "No problem. I've always wanted to get some payback on those Vahki."
With a huff, Nuparu sat at the pile of parts. "So when Matau and the others get back with more parts, what do you want me to build?"
"Something better than the Vahki," Nokama said. "Something that will catch Makuta's eye and hopefully get it into the Coliseum."
"Better than the Vahki, eh?" Nuparu squinted his eyes and rubbed his chin as he held up a Nuurakh's head. "I can make it work."
No comments:
Post a Comment