Looks like I'm starting to make good progress. This chapter was particularly long, but I'm proud of how quickly I got it done. (the less distractions, the better) And in case if you were wondering, no, this chapter was not rushed, I've thought of these ideas for well over a year now.
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Chapter 48
Two BattlesLittlefoot and his friends were shocked at what was happening to them. They had no idea where they were going or what was going to happen to them. The platforms stopped descending. It was very dark, wherever they were. At first, nobody said anything because they were all very uncertain about what they had to do next.
Eventually, Chomper broke the silence. “Now what?” he asked.
“I think we will need to find Makuta,” replied Ruby. “But how can we find him if it's so hard to see anything down here?”
“One thing I would like to know is what happened to the Energy Stones,” commented Cera. “I don't see them anywhere.”
“You're right, Cera. We can't use the Energy Stones if we don't have them with us.”
“This place look very creepy,” said a very nervous Petrie.
“Do not worry, Petrie,” assured Ducky. “I do not think we will have to stay here for very long. No, no, no.”
While his friends were busy talking, Littlefoot walked forward, hoping to find anything that he and his friends would find useful. He soon came across something. It was hard for him to identify it at first, but as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he noticed there was more than one of these things.
“Guys, come here! I think I found something!” exclaimed Littlefoot.
Everyone quickly rushed to Littlefoot. Now that their eyes were also adjusting to the dark, they also saw what he saw.
“What is it?” asked Ducky, unsure of what she was seeing.
“I think it looks like some kind of armor,” replied Chomper.
“And there's more than one of them,” noted Cera.
Littlefoot counted the large suits of armor, which were laying face-up on the floor. “Seven,” he said. “There's seven of them.”
“Wait a minute, there's seven of them and there's seven of us,” noted Ruby. “Do you think...”
“Only one way to find out.” Littlefoot walked near the suits of armor to get a better look at them. To him, the armor appeared to be similar to the body of a Matoran, except that the legs were about as long as the arms, and that the head and torso parts were mostly hollow. The armor was also very big, about three time the height of a Matoran. Although they were all the same size, the size of the hollow parts showed that they seemed as if they were meant to be used by someone no more than a quarter of their size. Some seemed like they could be used only by someone even smaller than that. What made each of these different from each other was the shape of the hollow parts, which looked like it was where the user would control the armor. All seven of them were unique, but the shapes seemed strangely familiar to him.
Littlefoot approached one and noticed that, based on the shape of the hollow parts, it looked like it could be controlled only by a Longneck of his size. Curious, he stepped onto it, laid down on his back, and attempted to fit himself into the controlling area. It was a perfect fit. As soon as he got into a comfortable position, the armor suddenly activated and locked him into place.
Everyone was startled by this, but Littlefoot had actually expected something like that to happen. He tried to get used to this strange feeling. He moved his front right leg a little and noticed that it caused the right arm of his armor to move with it. He knew it was an arm because he saw what appeared to be a hand on the end of it. He moved his front left leg and saw the left arm of his armor move. He then decided to use his back legs to attempt to stand up. Having spent his life walking on four feet, it was a difficult thing to do at first. After a little struggling, he finally managed to get his armor to stand up straight. Seeing how high up he was from the floor, he was impressed with this armor and was convinced that it would be powerful enough to give him a better chance against anything he might have to face in Makuta's lair.
Inspired by Littlefoot's efforts, the others tried to find their suits of armor and activate them. Cera and Spike struggled as much as Littlefoot did, but the others had less difficulty, since they were already used to walking on two legs. Eventually, everyone stood up straight. They looked at each other, impressed by the armor they now wore and controlled.
“Now this is more like it,” said Cera. “There's no way Makuta can stop us now.”
“I wouldn't be so sure of that, Cera,” said Chomper. “We don't know how powerful Makuta really is.”
“At least we should be glad we found these,” commented Ruby. “Any advantage is better than no advantage.”
“What about the Energy Stones?” asked Ducky “Are we going to need those?”
“I think we will need to find them somewhere down here, and maybe this armor will help us do that,” replied Littlefoot. He then began to walk further into the dark cavern. His friends followed close behind.
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Takua and the other Matoran stood guard at the Kini-Nui temple. They all stood at various parts of the temple in order to make sure they could see a Rahi coming from any direction. While everyone else stood guard, Ali sat near the sand pit, hoping that her friends would be alright.
Suddenly, Tamaru heard a faint buzzing noise. He looked back and saw a small group of Nui-Rama flying towards the temple. “Rama swarm!” he shouted. He then ran to the other side of the temple, where he saw the Nui-Rama coming from, and threw his throwing disk at the first of them.
Hafu noticed what Tamaru did and exclaimed, “Hey! Don't leave that part of the temple unguarded!” he then rushed to where Tamaru should have been staying. Just as he had feared, a Nui-Jaga tried to take this opportunity to charge at the temple. Fortunately, he reacted quickly enough and, thanks to his impressive accuracy, managed to knock off the infected masks with his throwing disk.
Tamaru had just knocked off the last of the infected masks from the Nui-Rama when he turned back and realized the mistake he made. He apologized for his blunder and suggested that he should keep watch at his new location. Hafu reluctantly agreed.
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It wasn't long until the gang entered a large cavern. There were strange tower-like structures in scattered locations around the cavern, which were only as tall as the armor the gang was using. They had no idea what these structures were meant for, so they ignored them.
After about a minute of walking, Spike looked to his right and saw a pair of glowing eyes in the darkness. Worried, he nudged Ducky with the arm of his armor to get her attention.
“What is it, Spike?” asked Ducky.
Spike gestured with the other arm of his armor towards the eyes he saw. Everyone else looked in that direction and also saw those eyes.
Chomper looked back and saw another pair of those eyes appear.
Everyone looked around and, after a few seconds, there were dozens of pairs of eyes surrounding them. One of the pairs of eyes then moved forward just enough so the gang could see what creature they belonged to. It resembled a giant Sand Creeper, much bigger than any Ussal, and clearly more vicious-looking. More of these monster Sand Creepers approached the gang. The gang didn't know it at the time, but these creatures were called Manas, perhaps the most dangerous of all the kinds of Rahi Makuta had enslaved.
“What are these things?” asked Chomper.
“I think they might be guarding this place,” replied Ruby. “I'm pretty sure Makuta doesn't want anyone coming here, so he has these guards stop anyone from coming here. If we want to get to Makuta, we will have to get past these guards.”
“How we get past them?” asked a very nervous Petrie.
“Simple, we fight our way through,” replied Cera, getting into a fighting stance in preparation. “Come and get us you monster Sand Creepers!” she shouted.
Immediately, one of the Manas jumped into the air at Cera. Cera threw her arms forward and managed to knock the fierce Rahi away.
“Woah! I wasn't expecting that!” exclaimed Chomper, before having to defend himself against a similar attack from another Manas.
Soon enough, the whole cavern was in chaos. Ruby, Chomper, and Ducky didn't stand much of a chance against the Manas, so they kept getting pushed back. Petrie was so terrified that all he managed to do was dodge the Manas as they charged. Cera and Spike stood the best chance, but even they struggled against the constant charging of these fierce Rahi.
Littlefoot knocked away another Manas that had tried to attack him. Before he could react, another one slammed into him from the right. He staggered a little, allowing another one to slam into him from the left. He could see that his armor was slightly damaged, showing just how tough the claws on those Manas must have been.
Littlefoot was caught completely off-guard when another Manas slammed into him from behind, causing him to fall forward to the floor. He tried to get up, but the attack had weakened him, so he slumped back down.
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The Matoran guarding Kini-Nui were hardly catching a break. The Rahi attacks were relentless.
Two Tarakavas charged towards the temple, but Maku took care of that. Kopeke quickly stopped yet another Nui-Jaga. Kapura may have thrown his throwing disk at a slow speed, but he still managed to knock off the infected mask from another Nui-Rama. Taipu threw his throwing disk with such strength that when it hit the infected mask of a Muaka, it split the mask in half.
“If this keeps up, I don't know what we're going to do,” said Takua. “Let's just hope there won't be a lot of Rahi that are still on the way here.”
Ali had recently realized just how dangerous it really was to be here right now. She also noticed some of the Matoran were starting to grow tired, and the Rahi kept on coming.
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Littlefoot was unconscious for only a minute. As soon as he woke up, he stood up. He staggered a little, not only because he was a little weakened, but also because he was still not quite used to walking on two legs. He then noticed a few Manas in front of him, and they had their eyes on him. One of them leaped at him.
Spike intercepted the attack by shoulder-ramming into the Manas, sending it flying across the cavern. Littlefoot took the opportunity to check on his friends. They all seemed exhausted, and many of them had some damage to their armor.
“This is hopeless!” exclaimed Ducky as she dodged another Manas that jumped at her. “We will never get past them! No, no, no!”
“The strategy we're using isn't working!” exclaimed Ruby. “We need a new strategy that will work!”
“What do you have in mind?” asked Cera. Before she could get an answer, another Manas charged at her, hitting her with enough force to send her flying backwards into one of the tower-like structures. The impact effectively destroyed the tower and sent sparks flying from it.
Ruby then noticed one of the Manas suddenly stop and fall limp. She looked at the destroyed tower, then back at the apparently lifeless Manas. “That's it!” she exclaimed. “It's these weird towers! If we destroy them, we can stop these monster Sand Creepers!”
“Alright!” exclaimed a very excited Chomper. “Now we get to smash stuff!” He ran to the nearest tower and quickly smashed it to pieces. He then noticed a nearby Manas collapse.
Everyone else wasted no time. As Ruby destroyed another of the towers, Littlefoot had recovered enough to rejoin the battle and destroy one more of the towers. Ducky positioned herself between a Manas and one of the towers so that when the Manas leaped at her and she dodged, the Manas destroyed it. Spike ripped one of the towers out of the floor and threw it across the cavern, smashing into another one.
“Take that!” shouted Petrie as he destroyed another of the towers.
Eventually, there was only one tower left. Cera held her arm in front of her friends and said, “I got this.” She then charged at the tower. The last standing Manas attempted to intercept her, but wasn't fast enough. Cera smashed through the tower, sending sparks and pieces flying everywhere. The last standing Manas collapsed.
“Well, that's the last of them,” said Chomper as he kicked aside a piece of a smashed tower.
“That was too easy,” said Cera.
“It was easy only because we discovered how to stop them,” commented Ruby. “If we hadn't found a way to stop them, it wouldn't have been so easy.”
“Come on, everyone,” said Littlefoot. “It's time to stop Makuta.”
Everyone was reluctant, but they all knew they had no choice.
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Takua retrieved his throwing disk after knocking off the infected mask from yet another Rahi. He returned to his position just in time to see a Muaka jump out from behind the nearby trees, which caught Tamaru by surprise and caused him to fall backwards. At the same time, many more Rahi suddenly appeared and headed straight for the temple. Everyone held their disks at the ready.
“It's horrible,” said Maku.
“There must be hundreds of Rahi out there,” added Hafu.
“We're doomed, doomed!” exclaimed Taipu.
“I will stand with you all, no matter what,” declared Kapura.
Ali turned to Takua and exclaimed, “There must be something we can do!”
“I'm sorry, Ali, but it's going to take a miracle to save us from this,” replied Takua.
“Here they come!” exclaimed Tamaru as he pointed at an approaching swarm of Nui-Rama. One of them swooped down, but was intercepted at the last minute. As the infected masks landed at his feet, Tamaru pointed towards the sky and exclaimed, “Look! It's Kongu!”
Takua looked up and, sure enough, he saw Kongu flying around on his Gukko bird. Takua then looked back down at the oncoming Rahi and saw the Ussalry, led by Onepu riding on Puku, charging onto the scene. Takua turned around and saw a Muaka running towards the temple.
Cera's father charged forward and tackled the Muaka before it could reach its destination. “That'll teach you to mess with us,” he said to the downed Muaka. He then noticed an infected mask on the ground nearby, so he smashed it to pieces with his foot.
Takua then looked in the direction of the Stone Circle and saw Jala, followed by what was possibly the entire Ta-Koro Guard, appear from behind the hill. “Jala, what are you doing here!?” asked Takua.
“I'll explain later,” replied Jala. He turned to the guardsmen behind him and raised his arm. “Disks ready!” Everyone took out their throwing disks and held them at the ready. Jala turned back to the Rahi that were charging towards the temple. He quickly lowered his arm. With that signal, everyone threw their disks. The massive barrage of disks was enough to down dozens of Rahi at once.
Ali, Takua, and the other Matoran on the temple cheered at the sight of the battle now turning in their favor.
After a few minutes, the last few Rahi, seeing that the battle was lost, chose to flee. Some guardsmen, including Cera's father, decided to chase after them to make sure they would never come back.
With the battle over, Ali turned back to the sand pit at the middle of the temple. It had remained unchanged during the battle. She was definitely concerned about her friends. “How much longer do we have to wait for them?” she asked.
“I honestly don't know,” replied Takua. He was just as concerned about his friends as Ali was.
“I just hope they will be okay.”
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The gang finally reached the other side of the cavern. As they approached, they saw what had appeared to have been part of the cavern wall start to rise. It was actually a massive door that was opening. However, after rising a certain height, it stopped, but it was enough to reveal what was just on the other side of the door.
“Look! The Energy Stones!” exclaimed Ducky. “We found them! We did, we did!”
“But how do we get them?” asked Chomper. “We're too big to fit through there.”
After thinking about it for a few seconds, Littlefoot soon realized what had to be done. “The armor can't fit through there, but we can,” he said. He then laid down on his back and managed to free himself from his armor. He then climbed out and walked to the open doorway, which was just high enough that he didn't need to duck his head. He then grabbed his Energy Stone, the seventh Energy Stone, which they still did not know what its element was. He then looked back to his friends and said, “What are you waiting for? Come on.”
Cera obviously did not want to abandon her armor. “There has to be another way!” she exclaimed. She decided to try raising the door by force, but it wouldn't budge. “Come on, Spike! Help me!”
Spike walked up to the door and helped Cera try to raise it further. It still wouldn't move. After struggling for over a minute, they gave up.
Ducky was the first one who decided to abandon her armor and follow Littlefoot. She was followed by Petrie, then by Ruby, and then by Spike.
“I'm going to miss this thing,” said Chomper sadly before he too abandoned his armor and walked through the doorway.
Seeing all the empty armor around her, Cera sighed in defeat. She got out of her armor and left it behind.
After the gang had grabbed their Energy Stones, there was some obvious hesitation in everyone.
“Me not sure about this,” said Petrie.
“Yeah, I don't know if we can do this,” said Chomper. “Did you see all the damage those monster Sand Creepers did to the armor? Makuta is way more powerful than them, and we don't have that armor anymore. What hope do we have?”
“The tablet said we need to use the Energy Stones,” replied Ruby. “But I'm not sure if we know how to use the Energy Stones.”
“I'm sure we'll figure it out,” said Littlefoot.
Reluctantly, they all headed into the chamber in front of them. It was time to stop Makuta.
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Read and review, as always. If you're wondering about the armor, try to imagine it being similar to the
Exo-Toa.
