CHAPTER TEN
Ta-Metru
Vakama dropped his firestaff onto the floor, exhausted. It was finally finished; after hours of endless labor, he had successfully forged the legendary Mask of Time from the six Great Disks, ready to be presented to Makuta.
However, Vakama was anything but satisfied with this accomplishment. If anything, he felt disgusted with himself for allowing himself to be an enabler for whatever diabolical things Makuta planned on doing with the Mask of Time. He knew that if he had refused the request, he would have been either killed or brainwashed by the Vahki. Perhaps he should have let one of those things happened; even if it meant the mask was still created, at least he couldn’t have said he did it willingly.
Sighing to himself, Vakama pushed such thoughts to the back of his mind and picked up the newly forged mask. Stepping outside of his forge, he was surprised to see his fellow Ta-Matoran Kapura standing there, in place of the two Vahki Nuurakh that had been assigned to him outside.
“A-hoy, mask maker!” Kapura said with a grin. “Getting off work, I see?”
“Kapura?” Vakama asked, looking around incredulously for any sign of the Vahki. “What are you doing here? Where are—?”
“The Vahki? Their molecules are scattered around here somewhere.” Kapura patted the Disk Launcher attached to his back. “Been learning some Kanoka disk combinations lately.”
Vakama opened his mouth to ask something but thought against it. There would be time for explanations later… if there would even be a later.
“Well, we still need to get past Makuta Antroz,” he said. “He was outside when the Vahki brought me here.”
“He wasn’t when I got here,” said Kapura. “Although I did see something that looked like a winged Makuta flying off with another Ta-Matoran in his clutches….”
“Then we should probably leave before he gets back.” Vakama started to take a step forward only to stop. “Wait, where exactly are we escaping to?”
Kapura simply grabbed his hand. “Like you said, it would be best if we leave sooner rather than later. Besides, you’ll know it when you see it.”
Ko-Metru
“If this is your idea of a good plan, then I don’t want to see what you think a bad one is!”
Matoro ignored Nuju’s griping as he sharply turned a corner, dragging the Ko-Matoran scholar with him. The Vahki Keerahk were close behind him, firing Kanoka disks from their mouths. Clearly they had not taken kindly to Matoro freeing Nuju from the effects of their Staffs of Confusion.
The Ko-Metru chutes were just up ahead, where Kopeke and Talvi were waiting for them. Both Ko-Matoran were armed with Disk Launchers which they had pointed at the Vahki, ready to fire at any given moment.
“Nuju,” Matoro said to the panicked Ko-Matoran, “do you trust me?”
The scholar gave him a dirty look. “What do you think?!”
“Because what I’m about to do is going to require a lot of trust on your part.”
“What is that supposed to mean? What are you—”
Without warning, Matoro pulled Nuju forward and pushed the scholar ahead of him. At that moment, Kopeke fired two Kanoka successively at Nuju; the combination of disks granted the Ko-Matoran the temporary ability of speed, allowing him to reach the chute station quicker.
Turning around, Matoro drew his own Disk Launcher and fired a Freeze-type Kanoka disk at one of the Vahki, freezing it in place. A disk from Talvi’s launcher scrambled another Keerakh unit’s molecules and reassembled it into a misshapen form, which some of the others tripped over. Still, the Vahki kept coming, undeterred in their mission to capture the Ko-Matoran.
Nuju had already gone through the chute once Matoro had gotten to it. As he was about to jump in, a bolt of energy from one of the Keerakh’s staffs struck Talvi, causing him to drop his disk launcher as he stood in a dazed state. Matoro moved to grab him only to be pushed into the chute by Kopeke. The silent Ko-Matoran then fired a disk at the chute’s control system as he jumped in as well, causing the hatch to close and blocking the Vahki from pursuing them. He then stored his launcher as he let the magnetized Protodermis carry him away to their destination.
Le-Metru
“Get back here, you insolent pests!”
Makuta Gorast cursed in a multitude of languages as she flew after the pair of Le-Matoran that were quickly getting away from her on a speeder. The one piloting the vehicle — Matau, she believed he was named — wasn’t even that good at it, yet his erratic driving made it difficult to pinpoint what he was going to do next or where he was going to turn. Her Kraata powers were useless because of this, as it was nearly impossible to concentrate on the swerving vehicle. She would have gladly used a Shadow Hand against them, if it weren’t for the fact that Teridax had ordered not to kill any of the Matoran.
But was Teridax really going to notice the absence of two Le-Matoran? She could always claim it had been an accident….
The vehicle made an abrupt turn and Gorast nearly crashed into a wall as she quickly shifted directions to follow it. The temptation to use her Shadow Hand was quickly growing stronger, especially now that she realized where the Le-Matoran were headed. She knew that there were Vahki Vorzakh stationed at the Le-Metru chute station, but at the speed the two Matoran were going, she doubted the Vahki would be able to hit them with their staffs in time.
Just as she was about to resort to desperate measures, Gorast heard a voice speak into her mind; a voice so loud she thought it was coming from all around her and was enough to make her pause in the chase.
“Come to me, my brethren.”
It was the voice of Makuta Teridax. Accompanying it was an image of the Coliseum burned into her mind; in it could, she could clearly see what appeared to be a giant red dragon attacking the capitol of Metru Nui, massive claws tearing through the walls.
The Le-Matoran had made it past the Vorzakh and were already in the chutes, but Gorast no longer cared about them. Instead, she spread her wings and took off in the direction of the Coliseum.
Ga-Metru, the Great Temple
“My head still hurts, by the way.”
“Sorry,” Hahli said as she walked alongside Nokama on the path to the Great Temple. “I was always told that hitting someone on the head was the best way of snapping them out of a Vahki’s control.”
“Well, it’s certainly effective in doing that,” Nokama muttered, rubbing her sore head.
Hahli smiled weakly at her. “I take it rescuing you isn’t enough to warrant some extra credit?”
“Ask me after we survive this rebellion.”
The two Ga-Matoran soon reached the entrance to the Great Temple. The pieces of the Vahki Bordakh that had been guarding it laid scattered around the ancient structure, having already been dealt with by Nuparu and his “Boxor Walker.” The Onu-Matoran himself was standing in the entrance to the temple, a smile on his orange mask. That smile faded when he realized that Hahli and Nokama were alone.
“Where’s Macku?” he asked.
Hahli shook her head. “She wasn’t there at the rendezvous. I also had to break Nokama out of the Bordakh’s control; maybe the Vahki have gotten to her as well.”
Nuparu sighed. “Well, in any case, the others have made it here; Hewkii and Onewa, Matau and—”
His voice trailed off as he squinted his eyes, looking at something over the two Ga-Matoran’s shoulders. “Say... is that Onepu?”
Hahli and Nokama glanced at each other before turning around. Coming across the bridge to the Great Temple was a trio of Onu-Matoran, riding on Ussal crabs that pulled carts of equipment. In the lead was an Onu-Matoran with a black Akaku mask, identifying him as the Chief Archivist Pavua. With him were Onepu and another Onu-Matoran wearing a Kanohi Ruru; Hahli believed his name was Whenua, based on what Nuparu had said about him.
Once the trio of archivists had reached the temple, Pavua dismounted from his Ussal crab and walked up to Nuparu, ignoring the two Ga-Matoran. “Nuparu!” the Chief Archivist said. “Where have you been? No one in Onu-Metru has seen you in—”
“Pavua, you really should not have come here,” Nuparu cut him off.
“Why not? We are here on the orders of Makuta Chirox himself. He wants us to find the legendary Rahi Keetongu.”
“Are you sure he wasn’t just pulling your mask? Makuta can have warped senses of humor, especially when they’re bored. And when you’ve pretty much conquered the whole universe, I imagine things can get boring very quick.”
Pavua frowned disapprovingly at him. “It doesn’t matter,” he snapped. “Once we’re done here, you can return to Onu-Metru and explain to Chirox himself why—”
As the archivist was talking, he didn’t notice Onepu sneaking up behind him with a tool in his hands. None of the other Matoran said anything as Onepu struck Pavua in the back of the head with the tool, knocking his mask off and causing him to drop to the floor, passing out.
“Oh, Mata Nui,” Onepu said as he gazed upon the unconscious Pavua. “You have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to do that.”
“We should probably find someplace safe to keep him in the temple,” said Nokama as she picked up Pavua’s mask. “We can’t just leave him out here without a mask; he’ll die!”
“I’m sure we can find someplace,” Nuparu said as he lifted Pavua up by the arms, while Hahli took him by the legs. “Let’s just get inside before any Vahki come by.”
The five Matoran (plus one unconscious Chief Archivist) entered the Great Temple, where other members of the resistance were waiting. Many of them were looking exhausted and out of breath, having just narrowly escaped the clutches of the Makuta and their minions. Matau and Tamaru had especially been lucky to have escaped Makuta Gorast, who had for some reason abandoned the chase once they had reached the chutes. Hewkii and the other Po-Matoran members had been even luckier, as the Makuta of their metru had inexplicably abandoned them just seconds before he had been about to kill them — or worse.
Clearly something was going on with the Brotherhood, but none of them had time to speculate. This was probably the only chance they would get at formulating a proper plan to bring down the Brotherhood of Makuta once and for all. Even if most of them didn’t have much faith in being able to do so.
At the very least, they had a bargaining chip; Vakama had in his possession the newly forged Mask of Time. If what the legends said about the Kanohi Vahi was true, then the mask had the ability to control time itself and, if broken, could bring about the very end of it. Even the Makuta of Metru Nui himself would not dare risk destroying such a powerful object. Still, that didn’t mean the Makuta lacked the means to obtain the Vahi without destroying it.
“We’re going to need a very good thought-plan if we want to accomplish this,” said Matau, resting against the Great Temple’s Suva. “We only have one shot at this.”
“Obviously we can’t simply charge into the Coliseum like gung-ho heroes,” said Matoro, holding the tablets that had Toa Mangai strategies inscribed on them. “We need to do things conspicuously.”
“It’s hard to be conspicuous when the Makuta have eyes everywhere,” muttered Hewkii. “It seems like you just can’t turn a corner without running into a Vahki or Rahkshi.”
Hahli looked to Matoro. “Do the tablets have any strategies we can use that would get us past the Vahki guarding the Coliseum?”
“It doesn’t matter,” interjected Onewa, cutting off the Ko-Matoran before he could speak. “Those strategies were made for the Toa Mangai. We’re not Toa! We don’t have elements or mask powers or anything. We’re just Matoran!”
“You don’t need to be a Toa to be a hero,” said Kapura.
“Mahi dung,” Onewa retorted. “I just don’t see how we hope to overthrow the Makuta without any of those things. We can’t do this without Toa!”
Suddenly, there was a flash of light and the main chamber of the Great Temple was filled with an addition of seventeen additional beings. One was a giant creature with horns and a fearsome maw. At his side was a winged female being, who was looking around the chamber in confusion. In front of them both were seven warriors clad in armor and masks befitting those of a Toa, along with six creatures resembling Rahkshi and two Matoran. One of the Matoran in particular was one instantly recognized by the resistance members in the room.
“Takua!” Kapura exclaimed, rushing over to the red and blue Matoran. “We’ve all been worried about you! Thank Mata Nui you’re alive!”
Takua smiled as he clanked fists with him. “It’s good to feel alive.”
“You’re mask, though,” remarked Vakama. “It looks… different.”
Before Takua could reply, the winged being turned to the larger horned one with a disapproving look. “Taurrus, you were supposed to take us to Daxia!”
“I’m not an official member of the Order yet, Viraka,” Taurrus replied. “I don’t need to do as you say. Besides, these Matoran clearly look like they could use our help.”
“And they’re going to get that help,” said a green-armored Toa of Air, brandishing his sword. “Whether the Makuta expect it or not.”
As the Matoran all stared in awe at the newcomers, Matoro turned to a slack-jawed Onewa and smiled.
“I suppose these tablets will come in handy.”
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