Usually, I would wait until I got some feedback on my previous chapter before posting the next one. However, I just finished the next chapter and I just don't want to leave you guys waiting. Here it is!
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Chapter 51
The Last Day
With less than a week left until the Matoran would leave, possibly forever, Takua and his friends worked as quickly as they could to record the events of the search for the Energy Stones. As the week passed by, the Matoran found out the hard way that the Great Valley had not always been the way they had seen it.
On day two, the day after the gang found out that the Matoran would soon leave, most of the snow and ice in the western part of the valley began to melt. Fortunately for the Ko-Matoran, the immediate vicinity of their village was spared of this meltdown, so they wouldn't have to worry about protecting the structures in Ko-Koro.
On day three, the lake in the eastern part of the valley began to dry up. To prevent Ga-Koro from basically becoming beached, Onu-Matoran miners volunteered to build a large barrier around the village to keep the water in. There was not much else the miners could do anyway, as there were suddenly no resources to be found in the Great Mine. Some other miners decided to take advice from Onepu and patch up the hole in the Great Wall that had been blasted away by Nuparu many days earlier.
On day four, the large lake of lava that surrounded Ta-Koro began to cool and harden. The guardsmen in control of the gates decided to leave the bridge raised. They wanted to make sure that, if the lava cooled to the point where the columns that formed the bridge just couldn't be raised or lowered anymore, everyone would still have safe access to the village.
On day five, rain fell in Po-Koro. Predictably, the Po-Matoran were quite panicked at seeing such unusual weather. Koli matches that day were canceled, while carvers used everything they could find to cover their works in a desperate attempt to protect them from the rain. On the other side of the valley, the problem was just the opposite. The jungle and swampland surrounding Le-Koro had been receiving a lack of rainfall. As a result of this drought, most of the plants in the area began to die and were being replaced by the kinds of plants usually seen in the rest of the valley.
Takua and the gang finished their work by the end of day five. The massive tablets were then carted off to Ta-Koro. The gang decided to spend the rest of that day telling Takua about the rest of their adventures that they had not yet mentioned to him.
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Day six arrived. As the day began, the Turaga each asked two or three Matoran from their villages to meet up with them at the Kini-Nui temple for a special meeting. On his way to the temple, Turaga Vakama encountered Takua and his friends and asked them to attend that special meeting as well.
Once everyone had arrived for the meeting, the gang recognized every Matoran who was there with them: Takua, Jala, Kapura, Maku, Kotu, Hahli, Kongu, Tamaru, Matoro, Kopeke, Huki, Hafu, Onepu, Taipu, and Nuparu. Every Matoran who had helped them in their search for the Energy Stones was here, and they were wondering why the Turaga would gather them for this meeting, but nobody else.
Now that everyone was here, the Turaga began their special meeting. “Fellow Matoran, we are gathered here to announce our plans for the events of today,” announced Vakama. “As we all know by now, tomorrow is the day we will return to our home universe. That day may have never been allowed to come, had Makuta not been defeated for the first time. Makuta's defeat, in turn, could not have been done, had it not been for the heroic actions of seven brave young dinosaurs, who now stand here with us.” He gestured towards the gang, most of whom felt they were getting a bit more praise than they actually deserved. “But their actions could not have been done, had it not been for the assistance of the rest of you. Therefore, the other Turaga and I believe that it is appropriate that we show them our gratitude by having all of you spend our final day with them the same way they would enjoy any other day.”
The other Matoran had mixed reactions to this announcement. “Are you sure this is such a wise decision?” asked Jala. “There are some guardsmen who still won't stop complaining about 'the babysitting duties they had to do', their words.”
“At least I don't have to babysit Tricia today,” mumbled Cera to herself.
“I think it's a great idea,” said Taipu, who was clearly enthusiastic about it.
“I suppose it's a reasonable way to show our gratitude,” stated Matoro.
“Come on, Jala,” pleaded Hahli. “Can't you just relax and have a good time for just one day? Please?”
Jala sighed and said, “Alright, but just for today.”
“Excellent! Now go on and have a good time,” said Vakama. “The rest of us will prepare for our departure tomorrow.” The Turaga then left to go back to their villages.
“So what do you guys want to do first?” asked Takua to his friends.
“How about we go to the Thundering Falls?” suggested Ducky. “I would like to play in the water. Yep, yep, yep.”
“Not the water!” exclaimed Hafu. “Anything but the water!”
“Relax, Hafu, you don't have to come in the water with us,” assured Takua. “You can just watch us from the shore.”
“Okay, I'll watch. But I won't be coming anywhere near that stuff.”
“I'll watch you guys, too,” said Huki. “But I doubt I'll be as far away from the water as him.” He pointed behind himself at Hafu, who then glared at him for that comment.
“Alright, let's go!” said Littlefoot. The group of seven dinosaurs and fifteen Matoran then headed for the Thundering Falls.
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When they arrived at the river just beneath the Thundering falls, the gang quickly jumped into the water. Takua and the Ga-Matoran were quick to follow. Some of the Matoran chose not to follow the gang into the water, either because they preferred to watch or simply didn't like water. The Matoran who chose to stay out of the water were Huki, Hafu, Kopeke, Kongu, Onepu, Jala, and Kapura.
At first, most of them were simply swimming around. After a few minutes, Tamaru climbed out of the water and began climbing a nearby tree. He walked along a large branch and grabbed a nearby vine. He then swung out on the vine across the water. “Tree-swinger!” he shouted as he let go of the vine and hit the water with a big splash. Everyone in the water laughed in joy as he resurfaced.
Inspired by Tamaru, the gang and a few Matoran decided to try jumping into the water in their own creative ways. Nuparu decided to observe each jump and point out what he thought was impressive about each of them. Some of them were rather simple, while others were quite creative. Takua attempted a back-flip into the water, but ended up hitting the water in a belly-flop.
Taipu got out of the water and went a few meters away from the edge of it. “Make way!” he shouted as he ran towards the water with a big grin on his face. “Rock splash!” He jumped into the air and held himself into a fetal position as he hit the water, creating a massive splash.
Much of the splash hit Cera, which greatly irritated her. “Hey! You're going to pay for that!” she exclaimed as Taipu resurfaced. She then smacked her tail across the water, sending a splash at Taipu.
Taipu chuckled and said, “Okay, let's play it your way.” He then smacked his arm across the water, intending to splash Cera. But his aim was poor and he ended up splashing Littlefoot.
“Alright, game on!” exclaimed Littlefoot, before smacking his tail across the water and splashing Taipu. Soon enough, everyone in the water was splashing each other and having fun with it.
As this was going on, Huki looked back and asked, “Are you sure you don't want to come any closer?”
Hafu was standing much further away from the water than the others. He was busy etching a drawing into the side of a tree. “No thank you,” he replied. “I'm not going anywhere closer to the water. Especially with that splash-happy Onu-Matoran in there.”
Tamaru burst out laughing at the mention of the word “splash-happy”.
Petrie was flying around above the water to avoid being splashed. He then flew towards Kongu and landed on top of his head. “Why you no go in water?” he asked.
“Le-Matoran aren't exactly fond of water,” replied Kongu.
“Tamaru Le-Matoran and he in the water.”
“He's an exception. He's a good swimmer, far better than any other Le-Matoran.”
“It's true,” admitted Tamaru as he swam by on his back.
Meanwhile, Maku sighed and said, “I sometimes wish Huki would at least try to get into the water every once in a while.”
Cera was nearby and happened to hear this. “Don't worry, I'll get him in the water,” she said. “Just keep him distracted for me.” She then climbed out of the water and hid behind a nearby bush.
Maku wasn't sure if she could agree with Cera's methods, but she decided to go along with it for once. She swam to the edge of the water and said, “Huki! Over here!”
Huki noticed Maku and walked over to her.
“We're supposed to be having fun today,” said Maku. “Would you please come into the water with us?”
“I don't know,” replied Huki. “You know I'm not a good swimmer.”
Suddenly, Cera jumped out from behind the bush and charged at Huki, knocking him into the water. He flailed his arms and legs around and shouted, “Help! I can't swim!”
“Relax, Huki, the water's not that deep here,” said Maku.
Huki stopped flailing around and stood on the bottom of the river. The water only went up to his waist here at the edge of the water.
Cera then burst out laughing and exclaimed, “You should have seen the look on your face!”
“That's it, you asked for it,” said Huki as he climbed out of the water and approached Cera. She was still laughing a lot, so she had no idea what he was doing until it was too late. Huki picked up Cera and shouted, “Threehorn away!” He then tossed her out into the water. When she resurfaced, she saw Huki laughing at her. “Now who's laughing?”
“How about that? Soaked by a Po-Matoran!” said Cera.
Everyone else couldn't help but laugh at hearing such an ironic comment.
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Once everyone was done in the water, Cera wanted to get even with Huki and decided to challenge him to a game of Koli.
When Huki heard this, he simply laughed at the idea. Hardly anyone was surprised by his reaction. After all, he was the Koli champion and almost never lost a game of Koli.
Cera wasn't going to let this hold her back. She decided to make things more interesting, and asked Littlefoot and Spike to also play.
Huki accepted the challenge and asked Hafu to set up a simple Koli field. Since the young dinosaurs would probably break their feet trying to kick a Koli ball, Huki agreed with his opponents to play with those lighter seeds.
While Hafu was setting up the Koli field, Huki decided to practice his Koli skills with the seeds, just to make sure he was as prepared as he could be. As he was practicing, Takua whispered to him, “Don't be so overconfident, Huki. I've played a few rounds of Koli with them and, believe me, you'll find it to be quite challenging to play against any dinosaur.”
“I'll keep that in mind,” replied Huki.
Once the Koli field was set up, Huki, Littlefoot, Cera, and Spike quickly took their positions in front of their goals. Takua threw the seeds onto the playing field and the game was on.
At first, Huki dominated like he always did. He managed to score a few points in the first minute of the game. Then things started to change. He managed to block one seed that was kicked towards him from Cera, but at the same time Littlefoot smacked another one with his tail, sending it flying passed Huki and into his goal.
Nearly every Matoran was very surprised at what they just saw. “Did he just score a goal against Huki!?” exclaimed Hafu. “Nobody's ever been able to do that for years!”
“Can't say I didn't warn him,” commented Takua.
As the game went on, Huki was very surprised by how much he was struggling. Eventually, despite going into overtime, he managed to beat Cera by one point. Although he had won, he was very exhausted. “Whew... that was the toughest game of Koli I've ever played,” he said, breathing heavily. He decided to sit down on a nearby rock to rest. Maku decided to sit next to him to help him relax.
Once he was finished resting, Huki wanted to see if he could beat the gang at one of their games. The gang decided to play toss-the-seed with the Matoran. They described the rules to Huki as being similar to Koli, except there were only two goals but more than one person to a team. Also, catching, throwing, and running with the seed were also allowed.
All of the Matoran agreed to play at least one round of this game, so the gang picked who would be on their teams. The first team was Littlefoot, Ducky, Spike, Ruby, Takua, Kapura, Kotu, Kongu, Matoro, Hafu, and Nuparu. The other team was Cera, Petrie, Chomper, Jala, Maku, Hahli, Tamaru, Kopeke, Huki, Onepu, and Taipu.
Once everyone confirmed that they knew all the rules, the game was on. Huki was quick to snatch the seed. He ran for the goal and had a clear shot. But right after he threw it, Kapura suddenly went to the goal and intercepted the seed. Huki and a few of his teammates quite angry about this.
“No fair! Cheater!” shouted Cera.
“Hey! No special skills!” exclaimed Huki.
“It was never specified whether or not I was allowed to use my skill,” replied Kapura with a smile on his face.
“Yeah, well, not anymore,” Huki quickly stated. He then snatched the seed from Kapura's hands and tossed it into the goal, showing that he decided to ignore Kapura's interception. “Score one for my team!” He held his fist up to Cera, who returned the gesture by lightly hitting it with her front foot.
As the game went on, each Matoran showed their own way of playing this kind of game. When Kongu was passed the seed to him by Nuparu, he ran towards Cera, stepped on her back and jumped up from there, giving him a clear shot towards the goal. Hafu tried to run for the goal like Huki did, but Kopeke stuck his leg out and tripped him, causing the seed to fly out of his hands. Taipu then kicked the seed so hard that it flew by everyone before they had a chance to stop it from going into the goal. Matoro and Ruby did a very good job of working together as they scored another goal for their team.
Everyone had agreed at the beginning of the game that the first team to score seven goals would win. The score was now tied at six, so the next goal would win the game. Jala had the seed, but he was blocked in all directions. He then noticed Petrie flying overhead, so he tossed the seed to him. Petrie grabbed it with his feet, but he lost his grip on it after a few seconds. Takua caught the seed as it fell, then he ran towards the goal. Huki, Onepu, and Kopeke quickly moved to block him from scoring a goal. However, he noticed that Littlefoot was open, so he tossed the seed to him. Littlefoot smacked it with his tail and scored the winning point.
Everyone congratulated each other for such a well played game. It was already late in the afternoon, so Takua suggested that they spend the rest of the day by having the Matoran tell the gang about a few interesting events from their lives.
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When dusk arrived, the Matoran decided that it was time to head back to their villages, so they all said their final goodbyes to them. Some didn't have much to say, while others had a lot more to say.
Besides Takua, Matoro was the last one to leave. Just before he left, Ruby hugged him and said, “I will miss you so much, Matoro. Miss you I will.”
“Uh, Ruby? You do realize your friends are watching, right?” asked Matoro.
Ruby let go of Matoro and realized that he was right. Embarrassed, she asked, “You won't tell anyone about this, right?”
“Don't worry, I'm excellent at keeping secrets.” Matoro then said goodbye to everyone and left for Ko-Koro.
The gang noticed that Takua was the only Matoran who was still with them. “What about you, Takua?” asked Littlefoot. “Aren't you going to go home with the other Matoran?”
“I don't know,” replied Takua. “I mean, I think I probably should go with them, but I'm not sure if I want to go with them.”
“Why do you say that?” asked Chomper.
“You guys are the best friends I've ever had. I don't want think about the possibility of never seeing you ever again after today.”
The gang then heard someone approaching them. They turned around and saw Turaga Vakama nearby. “Turaga Vakama, why are you here?” asked Takua.
“Just some last minute business to take care of,” replied Vakama. “Littlefoot, may I speak with you in private?”
Littlefoot wasn't sure what Vakama wanted to talk to him about, but he agreed. The two of them left and headed down the path Vakama had taken to get here. Once he was sure they were far enough away that the others couldn't hear them, Littlefoot asked, “What is it that you want to talk to me about?”
“I have a feeling that what I am about to tell you might be very emotional for you,” said Vakama. “First of all, I have a very rare ability to have visions of the future. I may have not always liked having such an ability, but I have since grown used to it. What I'm here to tell you is that, earlier today, I had another vision. I spoke with an adult Longneck who claimed to be your mother.”
At the very mention of those words, Littlefoot was struck with a painful reminder. His mother had been dead for years, and although he knew she would always be with him, he felt that he would never be able to speak with her again. If what Turaga Vakama was saying was true... He just had to hear more about this vision Vakama had. “What did she say?” he asked.
“She said that she was very proud of your efforts, to this day,” continued Vakama. “You managed to make friends with different kinds of dinosaurs, including a Sharptooth, something that had never been done before. She was especially proud of you and your friends when you found the Energy Stones and used them to defeat Makuta.”
Littlefoot felt tears running down his cheeks as he listened. He trusted Turaga Vakama as much as any other Matoran would, so he knew that what he was saying must be true. Although he didn't hear her voice, he knew that it was his mother who was speaking to him through Vakama's vision.
“She also told me that, although you have just completed your first legend, it will not be the last. There are many more challenges that lie ahead, and you must be prepared for them. You and your friends must remain united, and you must follow your duties.” Vakama placed his hand on Littlefoot's shoulder. “Your destinies are far greater than you can possibly imagine.”
After a few seconds, Littlefoot wiped away the tears from his face and said, “Thank you, Turaga Vakama. That means a lot to me.”
“You are welcome, young one. Now let us rejoin your friends. I have one more thing to tell you all.”
Littlefoot agreed and the two of them headed back to the clearing where Takua and his friends were waiting.
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Read and review, as always. Just one more chapter and the epilogue left to go, and then I'll finally be finished!