Sorry for taking so long. Not only have I needed to focus on college work, but also this chapter is much longer than the previous ones. Hopefully, it'll be worth the wait.
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Chapter 2
New Matoran and a New IslandLittlefoot was the first one to awaken. As soon as he opened his eyes and saw the barren, rocky landscape, he realized that he wasn't in the Great Valley anymore. He lifted his head and looked around. He noticed that all six of his friends were still with him, but the Energy Stones were nowhere to be found.
The others soon woke up and were just as surprised as Littlefoot when they saw their new surroundings.
“Where are we?” asked Chomper.
“How should I know?” replied Cera, irritatedly.
“Whatever this place is, it doesn't look like it's a safe place,” said Ruby, noticing the volcano that appeared to dominate the landscape.
“Me hope nothing evil-bad live here,” said Petrie, very nervously.
“I hope so too, Petrie. I do, I do,” added Ducky.
Spike looked around and sighed sadly when he noticed there were absolutely no plants to be found.
“So what do we do now?” asked Littlefoot.
“I think we should try to find a better place to stay since this particular place doesn't look like a good place to stay,” suggested Ruby.
“Good idea, Ruby, but which way should we go?” asked Chomper.
Cera was about to say something when she noticed something peeking out from behind a large rock. As soon as she tried to look more closely at it, the figure quickly ducked behind the rock. There was now no doubt in her mind that someone was watching them.
“Quiet!” exclaimed Cera. “I think I saw someone behind that rock,” she added more quietly. She then slowly and silently approached the rock. She then stopped as soon as she arrived at the rock. She waited a few seconds, then ran behind the rock and pounced on the hiding figure.
“Ah! Don't hurt me!” exclaimed the stranger.
Cera finally got a better look at what the stranger was. He was bio-mechanical, had green and gray armor, and wore a green mask, the shape of which was unfamiliar to her. The stranger also held a pair of tools that resembled clawed hands. Knowing exactly what the stranger was, Cera walked away and went back to her friends. “It's just a Le-Matoran, nothing important about it,” she said, annoyingly.
“Oh, okay,” said Chomper, relived that it wasn't anything dangerous.
About a second later, everyone realized that Cera's discovery was far more important than they had first thought. “Le-Matoran!?” they all asked each other at once.
At this, the Le-Matoran decided to stop hiding behind the rock and began to run away as quickly as he could.
“Wait! Come back!” shouted Littlefoot as he began to chase the Le-Matoran. His friends quickly followed.
The terrain might have had many rocky obstacles, but the Matoran was easily able to avoid them. The gang tried to keep up with him, but it wasn't long until they lost sight of him.
“Which way did he go?” asked Ducky.
Chomper began sniffing the air. He remembered that Matoran had quite an unusual scent compared to the ones he was familiar with. This allowed him to quickly pick up the Matoran's trail. “That way!” he exclaimed, pointing to his right.
The gang then resumed their chase. However, it didn't last long when Littlefoot suddenly came to a stop. Everyone quickly noticed this and stopped running. They then walked back to him and looked in the same direction he was looking.
Hiding behind another large rock was the Le-Matoran, but he was facing away from them.
Littlefoot quietly walked up to the Matoran and said, “Uh, excuse me?”
The Le-Matoran jumped in surprise and looked back to see the strange creatures that had been chasing him were now standing right behind him.
“Relax, we're not going to hurt you,” assured Littlefoot.
“Who... who are you?” asked the nervous Le-Matoran.
“I'm Littlefoot, and these are my friends: Cera, Petrie, Ducky, Spike, Chomper, and Ruby. We're dinosaurs and we came from another universe.”
“Another universe? How do you know that?”
“We've met other Matoran before. They came to our universe not too long ago.”
“And don't bother asking us how we got here,” added Cera. “We just got here and would like an answer to that question, too.”
The Le-Matoran felt particularly nervous when Cera spoke. “Okay... how can be sure that you won't harm me?”
“We were very close friends with those Matoran I mentioned,” replied Littlefoot. “I can assure you that if you ever have any problems, we will do whatever we can to help you.”
Strangely, the Le-Matoran's expression changed from one of nervousness to one of sadness. “I don't see how you can solve our problems,” he said, quietly.
“What are you talking about?” asked Cera, who refused to believe that she and her friends couldn't solve whatever problems these Matoran might be facing.
“I better take you to my friend, Garan. He'll be able to explain everything to you.” The Le-Matoran then turned around and began walking. The gang decided to follow him.
After a few seconds, Ducky asked, “So what is your name?”
“I'm Piruk,” replied the Le-Matoran.
“What were you doing out here?” asked Chomper.
“Uh...searching for water. It's getting very scarce here on Voya Nui.”
“Voya Nui?” asked Ruby. “Is that where we are? I don't remember hearing about a place like this.”
“I'm not surprised. This island has been isolated from the rest of the Matoran universe for the last one thousand years.”
That time frame got everyone's attention. The memories of the Matoran of Mata Nui went back only that far, but the Turaga mentioned remembering much more before that time. It was also the time when Makuta began his attacks of the Matoran.
Curious, Littlefoot asked, “What happened one thousand years ago?”
“Voya Nui used to be a part of a much larger continent,” replied Piruk. “One thousand years ago, there was a massive earthquake and this island was ripped off from the continent. It's been floating in the ocean ever since.”
“Yeah right, how do you expect me to believe that?” asked Cera, rhetorically. “An earthquake big enough to rip an island off the mainland?”
“It did happen! We all saw it happen! Many lives were lost that day, including our only Turaga.”
The gang fell silent at this revelation. Not only had these Matoran seen an event that must have been truly horrific, but were also forced spend the last thousand years without any Turaga. To the gang, it was a miracle these Matoran were even still alive.
A few minutes later, the group arrived at a village.
“How many villages are there on this island?” asked Littlefoot.
“This is the only one,” replied Piruk. To the gang, this was further proof of how difficult life had been for these Matoran.
Not long after entering the village, Piruk called to a nearby Onu-Matoran, “Hey, Garan!”
The Onu-Matoran, Garan, turned around and approached the group. He had black and gray armor and wore a black mask, the shape of which was also unfamiliar to the gang. He carried a pair of tools that were also unfamiliar to them.
“I found these... creatures out in the desert,” said Piruk. “They say they just came from another universe, although they don't know how it happened. Since you're not busy today, I figured it would be best to have you explain everything to them.”
“Don't worry, Piruk,” replied Garan. “I can do that for you.”
“Thank you. Now I need to get back to work before anyone finds out I was gone.” Before the gang could question Piruk, he quickly ran off.
“Why is he in such a hurry?” asked Cera.
“I think it will make sense once I've explained everything,” replied Garan. “Now, how much did Piruk tell you guys?”
“We only know that this is the only village on this island called Voya Nui and that your only Turaga was killed when this island got ripped away from the mainland by a big earthquake a thousand years ago,” replied Littlefoot.
“That's all true. Life has been quite harsh here on Voya Nui, but we've manage to survive. However, it's changed quite a lot in the last few days, and I'm not sure if it's for better or for worse.”
“What happened?” asked Petrie.
“A few strangers arrived, calling themselves Toa.”
The gang immediately remembered hearing about the Toa who, at the time, had yet to arrive at the island of Mata Nui. However, those Toa were the only ones they had ever heard of, so they were slightly confused.
“Toa?” asked Littlefoot. “You mean Tahu, Gali, Lewa, Kopaka, Pohatu, and Onua?”
“I have never heard of those Toa before,” replied Garan, “but I do know there are many more than those six in our universe.”
“There's more than six Toa?” asked Chomper, surprised at what he just heard.
“If the Toa we heard of are not the Toa who came here, then who are the Toa who came here?” asked Ruby.
“Their names are Zaktan, Hakann, Vezok, Avak, Reidak, and Thok,” replied Garan. “Unfortunately, nobody here on Voya Nui has ever seen a Toa before, so we have no idea if they really are Toa. To be honest with you, I'm starting to doubt if they really are Toa.”
“What do you mean they might not be Toa?” asked Ducky.
“Basically, they have been changing the island to their liking with the help of the Matoran. Dalu and Kazi, two of my friends, are leading two teams of Matoran to drill holes in the side of the volcano to allow the lava to flow out. Piruk and Balta, also my friends, are overseeing teams assigned to dig vast pits to collect the lava.”
“Wait, these Toa are making you do all of this?” asked Cera.
“Yes, strange as it may sound. I'm sure you're just as confused as I am on why they're making us do these tasks. The strangest project of all is the one that my friend Velika and his team is working on. They have been put to work building a massive structure in the center of the island under the supervision of Avak. We have all been informed that, once it is complete, no Matoran will ever be allowed to enter.”
“That doesn't make any sense,” said Ruby. “Why would they have the Matoran build something that they will never be allowed to see?”
“I'm sure he doesn't know the answer to that question, either,” replied Littlefoot. “What about all of the problems you had before they arrived? Have the Toa done anything about them?”
“They have done nothing about the drought or protecting us from dangerous Rahi,” replied Garan. “They have either ignored requests or postponed dealing with them indefinitely. Although they haven't harmed us yet, they don't seem to have any patience for slow or clumsy workers. Some of them, like Zaktan, seem to want to avoid us as much as possible.”
Garan sighed and looked off into the distance in another direction. “This is not how Toa should behave,” he muttered.
“And you, of course, are an expert on that.”
Everyone jumped and turned around to see the source of that voice. The first thing the gang saw was clawed feet and long, muscular legs. They then turned their gaze up the crimson-armored figure, who clearly appeared to be a strong and lean figure. His back, neck, and upper arms were lined with spikes. Strangest of all was the face, with eyes that glowed red and a smile that reminded them of a Sharptooth's grin before it bit down on its prey.
“You have seen Toa in a crisis before,” continued the red-armored figure. “You know just how they should handle matters.”
“No, that's not what I ó” Garan quickly said, but he was grabbed by the throat and lifted into the air by the figure, much to the gang's shock and horror.
“Why don't you do your job, Matoran, and let us do ours? Hmmmm?” The red-armored figure didn't give Garan a chance to reply by gently placing him on his shoulder. None of the gang, not even Cera, dared to say anything, fearing what the figure would say or do in response.
“Now, over there, we will build the temple,” said the crimson-armored figure as he pointed towards a rocky peak. “I think that will be just about perfect.”
Littlefoot looked at the area the red-armored figure was pointing at. He saw a thick bed of flowering plants that had somehow managed to survive the hostile terrain and thrive. Although he and his friends would see this as a good sign, he feared that whatever the figure would say or do next would be anything but positive for that place.
“Of course, we will have to be rid of all that shrubbery,” said the crimson-armored figure. His eyes glowed a bright red and twin red bolts of energy shot from them and at the plant life, setting it ablaze. The gang was devastated at what they had just seen.
“Now it is ready for the temple,” announced the crimson-armored figure with satisfaction.
“A temple?” asked Garan. “A temple dedicated to what?”
“To the three things that matter most in my life. The three things I consider first before taking any action.”
Garan thought for a second. He then guessed, “Unity, duty, and destiny?” The gang quickly remembered that those were the three virtues that all Matoran lived by.
The crimson-armored figure simply laughed and said, “No, no. Me, myself, and I.” He then set Garan back down on the ground. “Now why don't you run along and get back to work?” He then glanced at Littlefoot and his friends and added, “And make sure your new pets stay out of my way. Otherwise, I'll have to deal with them myself.”
The gang stared at him nervously as he walked off. They were still speechless at what they had just seen and heard.
Garan walked back to Littlefoot and his friends. “That was Hakann, one the six Toa who had recently arrived,” he said.
The gang was shocked to hear this. “
He is a... Toa?” asked Chomper.
Garan nodded.
“I can see why you are starting to doubt that he might be a Toa,” said Ruby. “I find it hard to believe that someone who looks like that, talks like that, and acts like would be a Toa, and I've heard that Toa are supposed to be heroes.”
“But he did say he was a Toa,” stated Ducky. “He did, he did.”
Spike nodded in agreement.
“I don't think he's a Toa at all,” stated Cera with determination.
“Why you think that?” asked Petrie.
“He looks like a Sharptooth!” Cera then turned to Chomper and added, “No offense.”
“None taken,” replied Chomper.
Littlefoot wasn't sure what to think of Hakann. After all, the Matoran of Voya Nui had never seen a Toa before, and neither had he or his friends. That meant that none of them could say for sure if these “Toa” really were Toa.
“Anyway, we should get you guys to a safe place,” said Garan. “Balta tells me he's seen Hakann do terrible things to Rahi on this island, and I don't want the same things happening to you.”
The gang didn't hesitate to agree with him. They followed him as he led them towards one of the highest peaks on the island.
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Read and review, as always. Like my previous story, I'll also show you images of each Bionicle character that appears in this story, but unlike last time, I'll show them to you as each character is introduced, so here are the ones that appeared in this chapter:
PirukGaranHakannAlso, to help Pangaea with pointing out errors and such, I'll also quote the exact text from my Bionicle books that I borrowed to use in each chapter. (If it takes up too much space, don't worry, it'll be gone once I've edited the chapter.)