Quest for the Mask of Life

[The Chronicler]

Pangaea: Thanks for the comments.  I especially pay attention to any suggestions you have for improving my story. For example, you asked me to at least explain what happened to Dalu. Just so you know, that is described in the book, I just didn't show you that text because I had planned to not include that scene in this story (I've decided to add in a brief description of what happened). Also, although I think you're great with reviews, we all know that nobody is perfect. That is why I like having multiple reviewers; they might catch something you missed (In fact, I've had the next chapter done for days while I waited for another reviewer).

Caustizer: I will admit that there will be many chapters similar to that one (including the next one, I'll admit), but I will add in my own ideas every now and then, the next one will begin in the chapter that I'm going to start writing next. I'll try not to spoil it but, basically, one member of the gang will do something on their own and make an unexpected discovery, but they might not reach the others in time to have an effect. Also, yes, you are missing something (which shows me that I'm relying too much on having people read my first story before they read this one). Matoran and all the other species in the Bionicle universe are not robots, but bio-mechanical beings. In other words, they have organs, like a heart and lungs, but much of their physical structure is mechanical. If to want to see an example, just look at my avatar (yes, that is a Matoran, as seen in the Bionicle movies).

LBTDiclonius: Thank you. I'm glad to see you were willing to spend so much time reading my entire fanfiction series so far (yes, I am planning for this to be part of a series of fanfics). Since you're new here, I'll explain how I'm doing this. Basically, what you see on fanfiction.net is a finished product; as soon as I upload a chapter there, I'm done editing it. The reason you will always see one more chapter here than there is because the latest chapter needs to be reviewed so that I know what kind of changes I need to make to make it better.

Also, I just wanted to point out that, on fanfiction.net, this story recently got a review from someone who is a fan of Bionicle, but not quite familiar with LBT (the opposite of most previous reviewers). This shows me that my series of fanfics is becoming quite popular.

Okay, now I can finally get to the next chapter.

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Chapter 5
An Island Enslaved

As the group of Matoran and young dinosaurs headed for the village, Garan asked Piruk to explain everything he had learned from his spying mission inside the stronghold. Apparently, Zaktan had been spending most of his time in a single chamber in the stronghold where a strange, green, smoke-like substance was stored in a massive crystal sphere. Hakann and Avak had then entered the chamber to report that some of the Matoran were getting restless and to inform Zaktan the theft of the weapon, called a Zamor Launcher. When Zaktan claimed that they were failing to act like a Toa, Avak reminded him that they were not Toa, but Piraka, and they were trying to find this “Mask of Life,” whatever it was. Avak also stated that Toa couldn't stop them, the Dark Hunters couldn't control them, and that he was starting to question Zaktan's authority. However, Zaktan's use of his unusual power was more than enough to make Avak reconsider those words. When Hakann and Avak left, they had apparently decided to stage that fake battle to convince the Matoran that they were Toa.

This was a lot of information to take in, especially for the gang. For them, that information had left them with many questions: Who were the Dark Hunters? Were Toa really unable to stop the Piraka? What was the “Mask of Life”? They asked these questions to the Matoran, but even they didn't know the answers.

By the time the group arrived at the village, night had already fallen and it was very difficult to see anything in such darkness. Although most of the torches in the village had gone out, a few were still lit, so the six Matoran each grabbed one and began searching the village. It was quickly clear that something terrible had happened here recently. Many of the huts and statues were damaged or destroyed, evidence of a massive panic that had happened before they arrived. As for the villagers, not a single trace of them was found. The group was quickly beginning to fear the worst for the villagers.

Chomper then heard a moan and turned around. He saw a Ta-Matoran getting up. “Hey, I found someone!” exclaimed Chomper.

Everyone quickly turned their attention to the Ta-Matoran. He shook his head for a second and, as if he thought of nothing else, he immediately began to leave the village.

Balta quickly rushed to the Ta-Matoran and stood in his way. “Dezalk, Where are the others?” asked Balta. “What happened?”

Dezalk, whose eyes strangely glowed red like those of the Piraka, never made eye contact with Balta and kept trying to walk forward. Once he finally realized someone was standing in his way, he tried to shove Balta out of his way. Balta wouldn't let him go that easily, so he fought back. Eventually, the two Ta-Matoran were shoving and punching each other. The others watched the fight in horror, too stunned by the sight to do anything about it.

Finally, Garan had had enough and said, “Let him go.”

“Are you crazy?” asked Balta, struggling to hold back Dezalk. “He may be the only one who knows what's going on!”

“All the more reason to let him escape,” said Dalu. “He has some destination in mind. It's probably where the others are, and whoever did... whatever... to them.”

“I don't think it's any secret who did this,” said Garan. “The question is, what do we do about it?”

“I think we need to know more about what happened to the other Matoran before we do anything about it,” suggested Littlefoot. “I say we follow Dezalk and find out what he's trying to do.”

Garan nodded in agreement and said, “Everyone, drop your torches. If we're going to follow him, then let's not bring any attention to ourselves.”

Everyone in the group did as they were told. Balta reluctantly stepped aside and allowed Dezalk to continue. Dezalk quickly walked out of the village with the six Matoran and seven young dinosaurs following him. He never paid any attention to them and acted as if they weren't even there. He walked and leaped across terrain so treacherous that even Cera and Dalu opted to take a safer route nearby. Whatever had happened to the Ta-Matoran had removed any sense of caution or fear he might have once had.

It didn't take long for them to reach their destination: the base of the volcano. Torches along the slopes revealed hundreds of Matoran hard at work on the tasks they had been doing for the last few days: cutting holes into the side of the volcano and digging trenches and pits to collect the lava. However, not any one of them showed any signs of exhaustion, and their eyes glowed the same crimson that Dezalk's did. Dezalk calmly stepped over a lava flow, grabbed a tool, and went to work.

Dalu was about to step forward into the torchlight when Balta held her back. “Wait,” whispered Balta. “Look.”

Balta was pointing at nearby slope. Standing there were the six Piraka, watching the Matoran hard at work. The most disturbing sight of all were the smiles on their faces. It was immediately clear what was going on here.

“Slaves,” said Dalu in anger. “They have made them slaves!”

“What is a slave?” asked Ducky with worry.

“Someone who is forced to do hard work against their will.”

“And all to drain lava from the mountain,” added Garan.

“But why?” asked Ruby. “Why would they make the Matoran do all of this? Why would they go so far as to make the Matoran slaves?”

“I think they're collecting it,” said Kazi. “Maybe they are going to use the hot lava for some weapon.”

Garan shook his head and said, “I don't think so. If all they wanted was the lava, there's plenty of it on the surface in the lava pool. There's no need for all these Matoran to dig it out for that purpose.”

“So what are they really doing?” asked Chomper.

Garan looked at Velika, who was watching the activity with his head slightly cocked to one side, as if he was deep in thought.

Cera noticed this and asked Garan, “What makes you think he might know the answer?”

“He has a way of looking at the world from his own strange viewpoint,” replied Garan, “sometimes seeing truths that the rest of us miss.”

When Velika noticed everyone was looking at him, he nodded and smiled. “He who would empty a lake of fire must have a long spoon,” he said.

“Well, of course,” thought Garan aloud. “You couldn't get too close, so you would need a tool that would let you remain at a distance, which is what the Matoran are in this case. It only makes sense if you wanted to emptyó That's it!” He barely managed to keep his voice down at this sudden realization. “It has to be. Don't you see? It's not the lava they want. They are emptying the volcano! They are after something inside, hidden beneath the lava pool.”

“And the only way to get to it is to drain the lava pool,” finished Littlefoot.

“Okay, so now we know ëwhy’ but not ëwhat,’” said Balta.

The group then saw one Matoran working near the crater of the volcano trip on a rock and fall into the lava. He never screamed or did anything else to even acknowledge his fate. Neither did any of the other enslaved Matoran.

“Nothing could be worth this,” said Garan. “Nothing.”

“This is so horrible,” said Ducky, sadly. “It is, it is.”

Spike sadly nodded in agreement.

“And all just to find something,” added Chomper, just as saddened as the others.

“Whatever it is they are looking for, it must be really important or really powerful,” commented Ruby.

Littlefoot suddenly realized something. “Wait a minute!” he quietly exclaimed. “Piruk, you said you heard the Piraka were here to look for the ëMask of Life,’ right?”

Piruk nodded and said, “Right.”

“That must be what they're looking for. That must be what is hidden at the bottom of the lava pool.”

“Okay so we know what it's called, but we still don't know what it is,” said Cera. “What's so important about that mask? I mean, it's just a mask.”

“I'm not so sure about that, Cera” said Ruby. “Not so sure at all.”

After a few minutes of silence, Petrie asked, “What we do now?”

“We have three choices,” said Garan. “We can run and hope to find a way off this island, maybe find help somewhere else. We can hide in the western mountains where no one ever goes. Or we can fight, and probably die... if we don't wind up slaves like our friends.”

“The rest of you can do what you want,” said Dalu. “I'm fighting.”

“Me too,” said Balta. “We haven't survived here for this long just to give up.”

“The movement of a single pebble can bring down a storm of rock,” said Velika.

Kazi nodded and said, “Even I get that one, and I'm with them.”

“So am I,” said Cera. “If there's a way to stop them, then I'll do whatever it takes to do it.”

“Me no know about this,” said Petrie with concern.

“None of us will think any less of you guys if you want to go for help,” said Garan to those who had not made their choice yet. “What we are proposing here is suicidal, and there's no reason you have to join us and die, too.”

Piruk, the only Matoran of the group who had yet to say his choice, was scraping his Shredder Claws against each other to sharpen the blades. It was a nervous habit he had had for a long time, but this time, he appeared to be doing it for a purpose. He looked up with determination and said, “Yes. Yes, there is a reason. You're my friends, and this is my home. If those things are not worth fighting and dying for, then what is?”

“I must agree with him, agree with him I must,” said Ruby. “You may not be the same Matoran who helped us save our home, but you are still Matoran, so I think we should do the right thing and help you save your home.”

“Ruby's right,” said Littlefoot in agreement. He looked at Ducky, Spike, Petrie, and Chomper. “We agreed that any Matoran would be a friend of ours, and we always help our friends, no matter what the dangers. What do you say?”

After a few seconds, Chomper looked up and said, “I'm in.”

“Me too,” said Ducky.

Spike nodded in agreement.

Finally, Petrie said, “Okay, count me in.”

“It's settled then,” said Garan. “We may be doomed to fall, but before we do, we'll give our enemies a reason to regret the day they set foot here. Let's show them you don't have to be a Toa to be a hero.”
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Read and review, as always.

Here are the images of the characters first seen in this chapter:
Zaktan
Vezok
Thok
Reidak
(There are no images of Dezalk)

[LBTDiclonius]

Nice chapter you got here. So it looks as if there's going to be a fight. I wonder how that will turn out. I hope nothing too bad happens. Get the next chapter up soon!

[Pangaea]

This was a rather short chapter, so forgive me if my review falls short of my usual standard. By the way, good job on the rewrites in the last chapter.

I felt that the first two paragraphs of this story left something to be desired in terms of storytelling. We don’t get to hear any of the characters’ reactions to the new information, and when they discover the empty village. Plus, Piruk’s exposition of the Piraka sounds awkward to me:

They went on to mention that they and the other Piraka were once members of an organization known as the Dark Hunters, but were now acting on their own and intended to use the Matoran to find this “Mask of Life,” whatever it was supposed to be.

From the way this is written out, it sounds as if Hakann and Avak just walked up to Zaktan and told him their backstory and plans, even though Zaktan, being one of the Piraka, should know all of that as well as they do (so why tell him about it at all?). I’m guessing the truth is that that information just came up “casually” during the Piraka’s conversation. The simplest solution would be to get rid of the word “mention”, and change the beginning of the sentence with something like “Piruk had found out that…”. Alternatively you could describe the Piraka’s exchange in more detail. Either away, you’ll want to change the sentence to avoid sounding like Hakann and Avak just straightforwardly (and conveniently, from Piruk’s perspective) shared a bunch of crucial information.

This is similar to a comment Caustizer made in his of Chapter 3: I’m feeling that some of the gang’s linesóspecifically, some of the words they useósound very strange coming from them. For instance, Ruby’s line:

“Why make the Matoran do all of this? Why go so far as to enslave the Matoran?”

I’m not sure the LBT dinosaurs are even familiar with the concept of slavery, or the words “slave” and “enslave”. Also, I think of Ruby (and pretty much all of her friends who speak reasonably good English ) as being more likely to say “Why would they make…”, “Why would they go so far…”, etc.

Again I have to agree with Caustizer that, so far in the story, the gang seem to be just “there”, tagging along and occasionally interjecting in conversation, but not really contributing to the plot. Not just the important actions in the story (such as spying on the Piraka), but all of the major decisions, revelations, and discoveries have been made by the Matoran characters. Though it would be too late to change this now, I’ve started to think that some of the Matoran characters could have been excised from the story entirely, with their roles being filled by the newly arrived LBT characters. (Granted, the gang still isn’t very familiar with the way the Matoran world works, so perhaps they wouldn’t be able to contribute much anyway.) I’m hoping that in the next chapter they will be more central to the plot.

I did like that you had the gang express their motive to help (despite the stakes of said endeavor) by recalling their pledged alliance to the Matoran. I also have to say that the scene at the volcanoóparticularly the part where they witness a Matoran die as a result of its enslavement-induced lack of self-preservationówas quite jarring, and would have definitely aroused sympathy from the gang and given them further incentive to help the Matoran.

Hakann and Avak had then entered the chamber to report that some of the Matoran were getting restless* and of the theft of the weapon, called a Zamor Launcher.

I would replace “of” with “to inform Zaktan”, or simply remove it (though this would cause the sentence to sound a bit awkward).

They went on to mention that they and the other Piraka were once members of an organization known as the Dark Hunters, but were now acting on their own and intended to use the Matoran to find this “Mask of Life,” whatever it was supposed to be.

Change “went” to “had gone”.

Dezalk quickly walk out of the village with the six Matoran and seven young dinosaurs following him.

Should be “walked”.

“You couldn't get too close, so you needed a tool that * let you remain at a distance ó that is what the Matoran are in this case. It only made sense if you wanted to emptyó That's it!”

This sentence could be made more grammatically correct if you changed “needed” to “would need”, inserted “would”, and changed “made” to makes. Personally, though, I think you might as well change the entire sentence, so that not only sounds better, but reduces the amount of borrowed text (whichóas I can’t help but noticeóthere has been a lot more of in this chapter and the preceding one than in the first few chapters).

“They may not be the Matoran we knew, but they're still Matoran. We agreed that any Matoran would be a friend of ours, and we always help our friends, no matter what the dangers. What do you say?”

I would remove this part of Littlefoot’s line, as it’s almost the same thing Ruby said a moment earlier.

[The Chronicler]

Pangaea: Thanks again for pointing out what I needed to improve. I honestly thought that your main issue from this chapter would have been the gang deciding to help the Matoran fight, but it seems that you find it done well. On the other hand, it somehow never occurred to me that the gang didn't know what the word "slave" meant, but I think I've managed to deal with that problem. As for how I seem to make the gang just "tag along" with the Bionicle characters, all I can honestly say is that many parts of this story will seem that way, even though I promise to occasionally make them more "central to the plot." At least this will be the last story in my series that will be this way (all future fanfics I'm planning will be almost entirely original material), so all I can say is bear with me as I do my best to get this over with.

I'm not going to wait for Caustizer to reply, since I have a feeling that I know what his comments will be, and I've had the next chapter done since earlier this week.

Here is the next chapter, which features the first of many times when at least one of the gang will do more than just "follow the Bionicle characters."

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Chapter 6
Fighting Back

The group of free Matoran and young dinosaurs soon reached higher ground above where the Piraka stood. Two of the Piraka ó Hakann and the ebon-armored Piraka, Reidak ó had already left the area for reasons unknown to the group. None of them bothered to question those reasons, anyway. The less Piraka to deal with, the better.

Garan observed the actions of the four remaining Piraka. “Vezok just put his launcher down,” said Garan. “Balta, get down there and grab it. If you can't, at least make sure you get one of those spheres that are with those launchers. My guess is they have something to do with what happened to our friends. If we can capture one, maybe we can figure out what it is and how to undo what it's done.”

Balta nodded and silently descended down the slope. Garan then mentally began counting the seconds. He had already explained to everyone what his plan was and everyone agreed to go with it. If everything went as planned, Balta would accomplish his task and be back in little time. If something went wrong, the odds of Balta surviving at all would be very slim.

Cera looked around and immediately noticed something was wrong. “Wait, where's Littlefoot?” she asked.

“He was just with us,” said Chomper. “Where did he go?”

“We'll worry about him later,” said Dalu. “Right now, Balta is depending on us.”

“Thirty seconds,” said Garan, stating that it was time to move into action. “Get in position. We'll see if Velika was right about that pebble.”

“Garan, look!” said Kazi, pointing off into the distance. “To the west ó are those fire bolts?”

Cera looked in the direction Kazi was pointing and, sure enough, she saw bolts of flame being fired off in the distance, although nobody could tell who was firing those bolts. “It's probably just Hakann killing more random Rahi,” said Cera.

Nobody bothered to question Cera's belief, nor did they have the time to do so anyway. They had a plan to follow, and whatever was going on over there didn't matter to them.
________

Meanwhile, Littlefoot silently descended down the slope towards the Piraka. He knew he was taking a big risk, but he strongly believed that his idea would work. The Piraka were powerful, but there had to be some weaknesses among them. If he could listen in on the Piraka's conversations, he might be able to find out about such weaknesses.

Littlefoot knew his friends would be wondering where he went, but he had to leave without telling them. If he had told them what he was going to do, they would all have decided to come with him. As much as he hated to go against his friends like this, he knew it was best they didn't come with him. Spying was best done alone.

Finally, Littlefoot reached an excellent location. He sat behind a large boulder that was just 20 bio away from the Piraka. As long as he stayed silent and didn't expose himself too much, his efforts just might prove successful. He was very hopeful that he would discover some valuable information as he began to listen.

“Hey, what's going on over there?” asked one of the Piraka.

Littlefoot carefully peered around the boulder to see the emerald-armored Piraka, Zaktan, was looking off into the distance, where fire bolts could easily be seen flying through the air. At first, he thought it was Hakann, but then he remembered something. Hakann is a Piraka, thought Littlefoot. His elemental powers work only in combination with a Piraka of a different element. He can't control pure flame, but that's what those fire bolts are made of. So if Hakann's not the one firing them, who is?

Littlefoot looked back at the Piraka and noticed that Avak's eyes were glowing, just like Hakann's did when he was about to use his heat vision power. However, Avak possessed no such power. Instead, he was looking at the source of the fire bolts as if he could look through all of the obstructions. That must be his vision power, thought Littlefoot. Looking through things and at faraway places.

After a minute, Avak's eyes stopped glowing and he shook his head in disappointment. “You're not going to like it,” reported Avak to the other Piraka. “We have company, and thanks to Reidak being careless about where he throws his boulders, they know we're here.”

“Toa,” spat Zaktan with absolute disgust.

“About time,” said the blue-armored Piraka, Vezok. “I was beginning to think we were never going to get any action around here.”

Toa? thought Littlefoot. Could there really be real Toa here? If that's true, then they might be able to stop the Piraka! Looks like they're already dealing with Reidak and Hakann, since those two aren't here.

Littlefoot was interrupted from his thoughts by a rumbling noise up the slope. A lightning bolt flashed across the sky, its light revealing a massive rockslide coming down the slope. Oh no! thought Littlefoot. That must be the trap my friends set, and I'm right in its way!

Littlefoot saw the first of the boulders bounce off of a nearby outcropping and head straight towards Zaktan. Zaktan's body separated into the trillions of pieces it was made of, each flying away from where he had stood so that the boulder simply passed right though. When his body reformed, the expression on his face was one of intense anger.

“Scatter!” ordered Zaktan.

Despite seeing Zaktan use the ability that made him so terrifying, Littlefoot didn't waste any time getting out of the way. Fortunately, the Piraka were too occupied with diving for cover to notice him. Once he was clear of the path of the rockslide, he hid behind another large boulder.

From there, Littlefoot saw Balta charging into the path of the rockslide. Balta soon managed to grab Vezok's launcher, but Vezok immediately caught him in the act. “Hey!” shouted Vezok as he began to charge at the Ta-Matoran.

Balta quickly dropped the launcher and instead grabbed the green sphere that was loaded in it. He then ran out of the torchlight and back up the slope. Vezok began to chase after him, but then cursed and headed back to retrieve his launcher. By the time he got it, Balta had already disappeared into the night.

“Toa and little Matoran thieves,” said Vezok to himself. “Now this is more like it!”

The rockslide eventually passed. Littlefoot had stayed hidden behind the boulder, still hopeful that there was more he could learn.

The Piraka regrouped, but it wasn't to last. “More trouble,” reported Vezok. “A Matoran just ran off with one of the Zamor spheres.”

Zaktan was now furious. “Thok, you and Vezok go after that Matoran and recover that sphere.” ordered Zaktan. “Avak, you stay here and make sure the Matoran slaves keep working. I'll help Hakann and Reidak deal with those Toa over there.”

The other Piraka didn't hesitate to follow Zaktan's orders. Vezok and the white-armored Piraka, Thok, quickly headed in the direction Balta had gone, while Zaktan headed west to deal with the Toa.

Littlefoot was amazed by how obedient the other Piraka were to Zaktan. However, he soon found out that Zaktan's authority was questioned by some of the other Piraka. “Two of us for one Matoran?” complained Vezok. “The fight is down below, not up here.”

Littlefoot didn't catch the rest of the conversation between Thok and Vezok. He remained hidden behind the boulder to think about what he had found out. Okay, the Piraka don't seem to like working together, so that might help us. Then again, there might actually be real Toa here to fight them. If there's anything my friends need to know about, it's those Toa.

For a moment, Littlefoot tried to decide on what he should do next. Either he could follow Balta and try to find his friends to tell them what he now knew, or he could follow Zaktan and find out who exactly these Toa were. Ultimately, he decided to find his friends. He was confident that the Toa could handle the Piraka.
________

The rest of the group reached a rocky overhang and decided to take refuge beneath it while they waited for Balta to return. As they had climbed up the slope, they were able to hear shouting at the place where they saw the fire bolts, as if a battle was going on over there. After the bolts of fire ó in addition to bolts of ice ó ceased, a strange glow appeared at the site of the assumed battle. Now, the glow was gone, but the shouts could still be heard.

“I wonder what's going on down there,” said Chomper.

“It definitely sound like there's a fight going on,” said Dalu.

“Maybe they had an argument and are now battling each other,” suggested Piruk.

“That should be good for us and good for Balta,” commented Ruby. “If they are fighting each other, they'll be too busy fighting each other to even notice Balta trying to steal something. Not to mention they also had to deal with that big rockslide we started.”

“Two distractions at once, I like that,” added Cera.

“I just hope Littlefoot is okay,” said Ducky. “I do, I do.”

“Whoa! Is that Reidak?” exclaimed Kazi, pointing at the site of the battle.

Petrie looked in that direction and, to his surprise, he saw a black figure ó definitely Reidak ó standing on a large chunk of rock and they were both flying straight up into the air. “He can fly?” asked Petrie.

Chomper looked just in time to see Reidak's ascent end and he began to fall. “No, he's falling,” replied Chomper. “He must have been thrown really high up, but how?”

Unfortunately, nobody else saw this strange event, and by the time they decided to look, it had already passed.

“What are you talking about?” asked Cera. “I don't see him anywhere.”

“And besides, none of the Piraka can fly,” stated Dalu.

“Well, something had to throw him that high up,” said Chomper, still convinced that what he saw was real.

After that, everyone stayed silent while they waited for Balta to return. The gang didn't like not knowing what happened to Littlefoot or where he might be. Garan had promised them that they would look for him once Balta returned, but as the minutes passed, they were getting more and more anxious. Suddenly, the group heard a noise that sounded like metal striking a rock. The sound repeated many times, getting closer each time.

“It's one of them,” said Piruk. “It has to be!”

Garan readied his tools and signaled the others to hide among the rocks. If one of the Piraka had found them, they would have no choice but to fight. He then saw a figure. He was about to fire a pulse bolt when he heard a familiar voice.

“Where are you guys? It's me!”

It was Balta. Everyone came out of their hiding places and ran to greet him. Balta quickly shook them off and said, “There's no time. Thok and Vezok are right behind me. Take this sphere and head for safety.” He then handed the green sphere to Garan.

“Aren't you coming?” asked Dalu.

“Someone has to lead them away from you. I know these rocks. I can lose them and then circle back and find you again.”

“While you're at it, try to find Littlefoot,” said Cera. “We don't know where he went.”

Balta nodded and said, “I'll do my best.”

“Be careful,” said Garan. “We'll be heading foró”

“Don't tell me.”

Garan didn't understand it at first, but then he realized that if Balta were to be captured by the Piraka, they would try to force answers from him, so it was best that he didn't know where they were going. The two of them shook hands. Balta then climbed back up the slope and disappeared into the night. Garan then headed in the opposite direction with the rest of the group following him. Ruby noticed Dalu was frequently looking back in the direction Balta had gone, but decided it was best not to mention it to anyone.
________

“How long does it take to track one Matoran?” asked Thok.

“Too long,” replied Vezok. “There's too many places for one to hide. I say we go back, grab one of the others, and give him to Zaktan. I doubt he can tell one of the little creeps from another.”

The two Piraka then noticed a small shower of pebbles coming down the slope to their right. This was a clear sign that someone, possibly that pesky Matoran, was climbing the slope somewhere nearby. Thok gestured for Vezok to go right while he went left.

Thok sneaked around a large rock and, on the slope above him, he saw something quite unexpected. So Hakann was right, he thought. The small, four-legged, long-necked creature he saw was completely organic and had virtually no armor at all. I bet I can kill him with one punch. Smirking at the thought, he decided to put that theory to the test. “Hey, pest!” shouted Thok.

Littlefoot looked back and, to his horror, realized that one of the Piraka had spotted him. He saw Thok's eyes start to glow. He didn't know what to expect, since he had no idea what this Piraka's vision powers were. Littlefoot then felt the world begin to spin around him. He knew what it was like to feel dizzy, but he had never experienced something this intense. He quickly lost his balance and tumbled down the rocky slope.

Fortunately, Littlefoot quickly stopped falling and suffered only a few minor bruises. By the time he recovered his bearings, Thok was already standing above him.

“Say goodnight!” taunted Thok as he raised a fist.

Littlefoot gasped and braced for impact. However, before the blow landed, a pair of tools was crossed between them. When Thok struck the tools, he was sent flying backwards as if he had been punched in the face. Realizing that he had been saved, Littlefoot looked up and saw that Balta had used his Repellers to deflect the impact.

“Follow me!” exclaimed Balta as he quickly headed back up the slope. Littlefoot didn't waste any time doing as he was told. They soon reached a cave and entered it in hopes that they could hide in there until the Piraka gave up the chase.

Unfortunately, Vezok had spotted them going into the cave. “You're not getting away that easily!” shouted Vezok as he ran up the slope and entered the cave.

When Balta and Littlefoot realized they were followed into the cave, they hid in one of the small tunnels that branched off.

“What do we do now?” whispered Littlefoot.

Balta gestured to let Littlefoot know that they had to stay silent. He then gestured with his tools to tell Littlefoot about how they would ambush the Piraka. When Vezok would walk by, they would push over the large rock nearby to pin down the Piraka, hopefully long enough to allow them to escape.

Littlefoot nodded in agreement.

Vezok quickly searched the cave, but never entered the tunnel they were hiding in. He was clearly frustrated by the time he had searched the entire place. After thinking for a moment, he said to himself, “Direct approach works best.” He then left the cave.

“What's he doing?” whispered Littlefoot.

Outside of the cave, Vezok found a boulder that was just large enough to do the job. He may have not been as strong as Reidak, but he was able to roll the large boulder until it completely blocked the entrance to the cave. There, thought Vezok. This won't give Zaktan what he wants, but at least now we won't have to worry about these particular pests ever again. Maybe Thok and I can make a little wager. Will the Matoran suffocate before he starves, or starve before he suffocates? And just how long does it take for a Matoran to die? As for that weird pest, I'll bet that if he's not a carnivore, he'll be the first one to go.
-------

Read and review, as always.

[LBTDiclonius]

Thanks for getting the chapter up so fast. It was a good one too.

I just found one little flaw. Or one that I could see anyway;

"Finally, Littlefoot reach an excellent location."

"reach" should be "reached"

Other than that it looks fine.

Oh no, Littlefoot and Balta are trapped in a cave. I hope they get out of there all right, or their friends find them and push the rock out of the way. Great chapter. Please get the next chapter up soon!

[Caustizer]

I found this chapter to be quite captivating, and since it was mostly action it was very easy to follow what exactly was going on.  With previous chapters a lot of names were being thrown around with a base line assumption that you as the reader knew what the characters looked like, which caused momentary bouts of confusion that consistantly turned me off from reading any further and made producing a review more difficult then it should be (for example, I've picked up the main Matoran character names like Garan and Piruk and I'm pretty sure I can tell you the difference between a Matoran, a Toa, and a Piraka with good confidence, but for everyone else I think 'who is that guy again?' since there isn't a ton of character description).

I liked how the villians have become more menacing with their fist encounter with one of the gang, and the plot has the makings of a very interesting story involving villians impersonating great heroes only to have the real ones turn up to make things complicated.  Littlefoot did something on his own too, and not only that but going with his inquisitive nature doing a little 'spy-work' makes sense for him.

Something I try to do in Far Away Home and my other stories is to assume the reader knows absolutely nothing about the character I have just introduced, and describe him/her/it from head to toe while also building up a personality right from the first impression.  A good and bad example of this would be:

- Johnny and Jean the threehorns both approached Littlefoot, and the longneck immediately felt he didn't like them.  Johnny had an air of arrogance about him that ran from the tip of his horns down his blue scaled skin right to the tip of his tail, while the red scaled Jean was hardly any better.

"What's up Littleneck," Johnny taunted, "don't have any friends to play with today? I bet you don't even have any at all."

- Johnny and Jean approached Littlefoot.

"What's up Littleneck... don't have any friends to play with today? I bet you don't even have any at all."

Keep writing, because above all else a good writer is made from experience and from what I have seen you are certainly improving.  

Caustizer.

P.S.  If you would like me to review your works quicker, you can always review mine!     One of the techniques I use to promote my stories is to review the stories of others so they feel their work is being read, and in the process make a lot of friends.  Something I've learned from experience is that even posting a simple sentence about another's fan-work can produce positive feelings all around.

[Pangaea]

Holy buckets, has it really been a whole week since this chapter was posted? Darn it! You’ll have to forgive me; all I can say is that over the past several days I’ve been engaged in a significant number of projects, familial obligations, and favors for people, and it’s been draining me of energy, presence of mind, and willpower to get the remaining jobs done.

The good news is that this chapter is almost entirely free of spelling errors. (That, or this mental haze I’m experiencing is inhibiting my ability to spot them.) LBTDiclonius already pointed out one error (thank you for that ); this is the only other sentence I found containing what I thought might be a mistake:

He sat behind a large boulder that was just 20 bio away from the Piraka.

Should this be “bios”, or is “bio” both plural and singular?

Story-wise, I did notice a couple of details that seemed problematic to me. First, Littlefoot deduces that the source of the fire bolts in the distance can’t be Hakann, because he can only use his powers in concert with another Piraka’s. But Garan and Cera (as well as Balta, who isn’t with the rest of the group) also know this, so why didn’t they realize this as well? Actually, I don’t see why it’s impossible that Hakann isn’t creating the fire bolts; couldn’t Reidak be with him, enabling him to use his powers?

At any rate, I really did enjoy this chapter. It’s great to finally see the characters engaged in some action. And I liked Littlefoot’s autonomy and interaction with the Piraka. Though I have to say, it doesn’t strike me as very good judgment on his part to go down to spy on the Piraka, putting himself directly in the path of his friends’ rockslide trap, without telling anyone that he was doing so.

This isn’t technically a mistake, but personally, I think the highlighted sentence in the following excerpt could be written out a bit better:

Littlefoot was amazed by how obedient the other Piraka were to Zaktan. However, he soon found out that Zaktan's authority was questioned by many of the other Piraka. “Two of us for one Matoran?” complained Vezok. “The fight is down below, not up here.”

Somehow this part just feels awkward in the narrative. Isn’t Littlefoot eavesdropping on just two Piraka? Vezok is the only one expressing disagreement with Zaktan’s order, and his complaint doesn’t strongly indicate that he’s questioning Zaktan’s authority.

I have to say, knowing the gang’s track record for being sealed inside caves and getting out of them, I’m not too afraid for Littlefoot and Balta at this point. I’m more concerned that, if the real Toa are indeed about to show up, they’ll defeat the Piraka with relatively little difficulty, and all the efforts of the characters we’ve gotten to know so far (including the gang) will have been irrelevant.

I think you did better with changing the borrowed text in this chapter than you have in previous ones. And I love how you worked Littlefoot’s role into one of the borrowed segments. You should try to do that more often.

In closing, my apologies again for the delayed review.

[The Chronicler]

Pangaea: Thanks again for the comments and questions. First of all, bio, like many other Bionicle words, are spelled and pronounced the same if it's singular or plural. Second, Cera and the others were too busy starting that rockslide to worry about the source of the fire bolts. Also, just to clarify, if Hakann were to have used his elemental powers with Reidak, which he didn't, it would not have created pure flame but rather a mixture of the two elements (fire and earth, which would be something like lava). Finally, if you think the Toa will defeat the Piraka so easily, you'll be in for a shock when you read the next three chapters.

Also, thanks for the comments and suggestions, Caustizer and LBTDiclonius.

Thanks to the snow day I had this week, I've finished the next chapter, as well as the one after it, but I'll wait another week before I post it. For now, here's the next chapter.

-------
Chapter 7
More Strange Guests

Shortly after Balta had left, the group headed to the base of the mountains and rested in a small cave. None of the Piraka had found them yet, but they weren't taking any chances.

Piruk then heard a strange growling noise. “What was that?” he asked, looking around in panic.

“Sorry, that was me,” replied Cera. “I'm just hungry, that's all.”

Another growling noise was heard. “I guess we are all hungry,” commented Ducky. “We are, we are.”

“I think it would be a good idea if you could take us to the Green Belt,” said Ruby, “since that place might be the only place on this island where we could find any food.”

“Good enough for me,” said Kazi. “If you guys keep making all that noise, the Piraka are sure to find us.”

“Hey! Not my fault I can't control when I need food,” retorted Cera.

“It will take us some time to get there, so I suggest we also spend the night there,” said Garan. “All of the plant life there will offer plenty of hiding places, but we must still be careful. There is still a strong possibility that one of them will find us, so we should each find some excellent places to hide before we can rest for the night.”

Everyone agreed with each other and they headed for the Green Belt.
________

The next morning, the group headed back inland in hopes of finding Balta and possibly Littlefoot as well. The gang couldn't help but notice the dark clouds that covered the sky.

“I find it strange that this is the kind of weather where we would see a lot of sky water, but so far, not even a single drop of sky water has fallen yet,” said Ruby as she stared at the sky. Yesterday, she had been able to see the sun and the stars through the clouds. Today, they were so dark and thick that she didn't even know where the sun was. However, it was something she did see that was very strange. “I can't even see the bright circle through these clouds, but I do see that red star over there.”

When Chomper looked at the red star that Ruby was pointing at, he noticed something rather familiar about it. “Hey, is that the red star we saw back when the Matoran were in our universe?” asked Chomper, curiously.

“It does look like it,” agreed Ducky. “It does, it does.”

This revelation made Ruby think. That red star was seen in the sky in the dinosaur universe only when the Matoran were there, thought Ruby. Takua thought that the red star might have followed the Matoran, but if that star did follow them, then that means it wasn't here at all for a while, so maybe...

“Garan?” asked Ruby. “Did you ever notice anything strange about that red star about a year ago? Did it disappear for a while or something like that?”

Garan shook his head. “No, it's always been there,” replied Garan. “Why would you think that?”

“Because in our universe, we don't have a star like that, but when the Matoran came, so did a red star like that one. We thought that maybe it had followed the Matoran, but if what you said is true, then the red star never followed the Matoran. But if that red star stayed here, where did the red star we saw come from? And where did it go?”

A flash of lightning, immediately followed by a loud clap of thunder, startled the group. “Can we talk about this another time?” asked Cera, annoyed. “Let's just find Littlefoot and Balta so we can figure out what to do next.”

Everyone agreed with her and they headed up into the mountains.
________

Eventually, the group reached a small cave on the slope of a mountain. Garan had decided that they would hide within it, while he would occasionally climb atop a nearby overhanging rock ó which offered an excellent view of the surrounding landscape ó and report if he saw any signs of their missing friends.

They waited there for over an hour. Garan climbed atop the rock virtually every minute, but the news was always the same: no sign of Balta or Littlefoot. Eventually, Cera decided to join Garan atop the rock to see for herself if there was a chance their missing friends could be found from there. After a few trips, she concluded that if Balta or Littlefoot had moved anywhere, they would have seen them by now.

Eventually, Garan began to assume the worst. “If they caught our missing friends, they're as good as dead,” said Garan to Cera. “Or worse, they've become more of their mindless workers, laboring amidst the lava. No! I'll die myself before I let that be their fate!”

“Maybe they're just hiding somewhere?” suggested Cera.

Garan shook his head. “The Piraka are not that patient. There would be no need to hide from them in one place for this long.”

“Still no sign?”

Garan and Cera turned to see Dalu approaching. She had already asked numerous times to look for Balta herself, but Garan had always said no, stating that they had to stay together. “No,” replied Garan.

“Then I'm going,” said Dalu with determination. “He's out there, and I'll find him.”

“What about Littlefoot?” asked Cera, surprised that Dalu seemed to care only for Balta.

“I'm sure he and Balta managed to find each other. Balta had promised to find him.”

“And if they're dead?” asked Garan.

“Then I'll avenge them.”

Dalu was about to leave when they saw Piruk rushing up the slope. Garan had asked him minutes ago to scout the area so that they could be sure the Piraka wouldn't catch them by surprise. He was out of breath by the time he reached Garan, Dalu, and Cera. After taking a moment to catch his breath, he exclaimed, “I saw them ó the Piraka! Hakann was in the lead and was carrying someone up to the volcano crater. I think he's going to throw someone into the lava!”

Garan, Dalu, and Cera looked at each other. They were all thinking the same thing: Balta and Littlefoot had been captured and were going to be executed by the Piraka.

“Get the others!” exclaimed Garan to Piruk. “We leave now!”
________

Once everyone was aware of what Piruk had seen, they all knew what had to be done. They would have to fight the Piraka to save their friends. But first, they would have to find them.

Piruk quickly led the group to where he had seen the Piraka. “This is where I saw them,” said Piruk. “I also noticed that they were heading towards the volcano, so they must have gone that way.”

“Then let's go,” said Garan with determination. The group quickly followed him as they headed towards the volcano.

After some distance, Chomper suddenly stopped and began sniffing around. Although he remembered the scent of a Matoran, the one he was picking up here was noticeably different. Since they knew the Piraka had come this way, he concluded that this new scent was of the Piraka. However, he noticed the trail didn't lead straight to the volcano. “Guys, wait!” shouted Chomper.

The group immediately stopped and looked back at Chomper. “What is it?” asked Ducky.

“The Piraka aren't going straight to the volcano. They went a little bit to the left.”

“How do you know that?” asked Kazi, skeptically.

“Chomper's sniffer allows him to find someone's scent, which allows him to follow that someone, no matter where they go,” explained Ruby. “It's how we managed to follow Piruk when we first got here.”

“I was wondering how you managed to do that,” mumbled Piruk to himself.

“Then why are the Piraka going that way?” asked Dalu. “I thought they were going to throw someone into the volcano.”

Garan took another look at the volcano and quickly noticed what the answer to Dalu's question might be. “Of course! The slope is too treacherous on this side of the volcano,” explained Garan. “If they're dragging our friends to their doom, they wouldn't want to waste time getting up there, so they decided to head for the smoother slope to the left.”

“Wow, I never thought of that,” commented Cera.

“Lead the way, Chomper.”

Chomper nodded in agreement and sniffed the air some more before running off in the correct direction. Everyone else quickly followed him.

Not long after that, they began to hear a low rumbling, and it wasn't coming from the sky. “Do you hear something?” asked Cera.

As soon as the words left her mouth, the top of the volcano in the distance exploded, raining ash, rock, and lava across its slopes.

“That not good,” commented Petrie.

“Unless of course the Piraka end up getting caught in that eruption,” Kazi pointed out.

“And besides, I don't think we have to worry about our friends,” added Chomper. “My sniffer is telling me that we're not following Littlefoot, and we're not following Balta. So the only scent I smell must be that of the Piraka.” He then took a big whiff of the Piraka's trail and cringed. “And it smells like they haven't taken a bath in a long time!”

“So what you're saying is that whoever the Piraka were carrying up to the volcano was neither Balta nor Littlefoot,” said Piruk. “But I saw them carrying someone, so if it's not our friends, who is it?”

“Speaking of the Piraka, here they come!” exclaimed Ruby, pointing at the base of the volcano in the distance. They could see five Piraka running away from the volcano, and they were heading right for the group's location.

“Quick! Get behind this rock!” exclaimed Garan, guiding everyone to hide behind a massive boulder nearby. Once everyone was safely hidden behind it, they waited about a minute before the Piraka ran right by them. Fortunately, none of the Piraka had bothered to look back, so they didn't even notice the group was there.

“Why they in such a quick-hurry?” asked Petrie. He then looked back at the erupting volcano. “Oh, right, that.”

“Don't worry, we're far enough away to avoid that eruption,” assured Garan.

“What about the ones the Piraka were carrying?” asked Piruk. “I didn't see them when the Piraka ran by us.”

“They probably just left them on the slope and let the eruption deal with them. Anyway, we shouldn't worry about that, anymore. We still need to find our missing friends.”

Everyone agreed with Garan and they left the area, making sure to not go the same direction the Piraka were going.
________

Not long after the group continued their search for their missing friends, Dalu had spotted something off in the distance. “Strangers,” said Dalu. “There, in those rocks ahead. Not Matoran... not Piraka. Toa, maybe?”

More thunder and lightning suddenly flashed throughout the sky. They were starting to get used to the sight and noise of the storm by now, despite unusual the lack of rain and presence of the red star. What was even more strange about that red star, as Ruby had observed, was that much of the lightning seemed to be coming from that star.

Ignoring the storm, Garan turned to the Po-Matoran and asked, “What do you think, Velika?”

Cera rolled her eyes and sighed. “Here we go again,” she grumbled.

“It is said there was once a Rahi who looked up at the stars and believed them to be food belonging to a larger creature,” replied Velika, calmly. “Each night, he would climb the tallest mountain and jump as high as he could, hoping to snatch a star for himself. Finally, he decided it could not be done, and more, that they were not food at all.”

“Is there a point, and can you get to it?” asked Kazi, impatiently. Cera agreed with the Ko-Matoran.

“All proceeded as it must. Until the night the Rahi saw the great red star. That, he decided, must be a wonderful, delicious piece of fruit dangling from some far-off tree. So he climbed the mountain again, and this time he got a running start and jumped with all his might.”

The gang ó besides Cera ó had listened to Velika's story very carefully, although Spike was more interested in the part where the Rahi tries to get some food. They had gotten very curious about how the story would end. “So what happened?” asked Ducky.

Velika seemed as if he had suddenly remembered that there was an ending to the story. “Oh, what happened? What happened, let's see... oh, yes, he went off the cliff and broke every bone in his body.”

The gang was quite shocked to hear such a sad ending. For once in his life, Spike had actually lost his appetite.

Kazi and Cera, on the other hand, were very frustrated at not understanding the point of the story. Kazi immediately began using the old Ko-Matoran trick of counting to himself to prevent an explosion of anger. With Velika, he sometimes reached numbers higher than five million.

Cera, on the other hand, made no effort to control her temper. “Okay, what was the point of that story, anyway!?” exclaimed Cera.

“Even I am not sure what that one means,” admitted Piruk with a shrug.

“The Rahi fooled himself once, and found only frustration,” explained Garan. “But when he fooled himself twice... that was far worse.”

“He's saying they're not Toa,” said Dalu.

Garan shook his head. “No, he's saying we can't take the chance of being wrong again. If they are Toa, we will apologize later, when they recover. For now, ready your weapons ó we attack.”
________

Littlefoot sighed sadly. “How long has it been?” he asked. “Hours? Days?”

“I don't know,” replied Balta as he slumped down to the floor of the cave. “I've lost track of time ever since Vezok tapped us in here.”

Littlefoot and Balta had already tried numerous attempts to move the boulder that blocked the only exit to the cave, but none of them even came close to being successful. Littlefoot wanted to try again, but he was now too weak and exhausted to do so. Once again, he heard his stomach growl loudly, reminding him that it had been a long time since he had eaten anything.

Balta sighed sadly. “He knew we were in here, he just didn't know where, and he wasn't going to go exploring,” said Balta. “There isn't any other way out of here... air's already getting thin... I hope the others escaped, at least...”

Balta closed his eyes and wondered if Dalu and the others were searching for them. Even if they were, it wouldn't matter anymore. They would never be able to move that boulder, even if they all worked together. He doubted that even Garan's Pule Bolts could destroy the boulder quickly enough to save them.

At this point, Littlefoot knew he was starting to get delirious, he just wasn't sure if it was due to starvation or the thin air. He had been laying on the cave floor for a while now. He rested his head on the ground and wondered if this was really going to be his fate.

Littlefoot's thoughts were interrupted when he heard a strange noise through the rock. It was very faint at first, but he quickly noticed it was getting closer. As it got closer, he noticed that it sounded like a tool striking a rock. He looked at the boulder blocking the exit and quickly realized that the strange noise wasn't coming from it. Instead, the noise seemed to be coming from the wall of the cave. “Do you hear that?” asked Littlefoot.

“Hear what?” asked Balta.

Littlefoot stood up and slowly walked along the cave wall, hoping to get a better idea of what that strange noise was. The sound continued to get closer until, suddenly, the cave wall in front of him actually split open with a loud, sharp crack, causing him to jump back in shock. He watched as what appeared to be a massive axe blade sliced through the stone of the cave wall, widening the narrow opening.

Balta was just as shocked to see such a strange sight. “Oh, I get it, we've both lost our minds,” said Balta in disbelief.

The massive axe blade quickly stopped slicing the stone. “Well, what are you waiting for, Naming Day?” said a deep, rumbling voice. “Get out of there!”

Balta got up and followed Littlefoot towards the massive crevice in the cave wall. A tunnel extended well beyond what they could see. Strangely, the entire tunnel looked as if the stone had been cleaved instead of dug through. A huge figure, who held the massive axe they had seen, stood at the opening waiting for them, but it was too dark to see any of his features.

“Go and find a place to hide,” said the massive figure. “The Piraka are in complete control of the island. Next time they spot you, Balta and Littlefoot, they won't trap you... they will kill you.”

“Who are you?” asked Littlefoot.

“And how do you know our names?” asked Balta.

“Let us just say I am a friend,” replied the figure. “A friend who wishes he could do more to help right now, but even my powers are limited. Go! Get your companions and tell them to stay out of the Piraka's way!”

Balta and Littlefoot stepped into the tunnel. Littlefoot was about head up the tunnel when he looked back and noticed Balta wasn't following him. “Come on, Balta!” exclaimed Littlefoot. “Let's go!”

Balta turned to the huge figure and said, “I can do the first, but not the last. They have captured our home, and we will take it back!”

“Then at least stop your friends from making the terrible mistake they will soon make, Balta,” said the massive figure. “Or else, I tell you truly, they will be cursed in the sight of Mata Nui for all time.”

Balta nodded and ran off into the tunnel with Littlefoot close behind. “By the way, Littlefoot, how did you end up separated from your friends?” asked Balta.

“I wanted to spy on the Piraka to see if I could learn something that might help us, so I left the group without telling anyone,” explained Littlefoot. “Right before that rockslide came down, they realized they were being attacked by Toa!”

“Real Toa?”

“I didn't see them myself, but the Piraka certainly looked like they really believed they were being attacked by real Toa.”

“Interesting...” Balta thought about this new information. As he also thought about what “terrible mistake” the massive figure wanted them to prevent, he suddenly realized something. “Oh, no.”

“What is it?”

“Remember how the Piraka fooled us into thinking they were Toa? I fear our friends might not want to get fooled again, which means that when they see the real Toa, they might think they're false Toa and assume they're working with the Piraka.” The two of them stopped for a moment as they finally reached the surface. “Littlefoot, our friends are going to attack the Toa!”

Littlefoot gasped in horror at the idea of such a thing. “We must stop them!” He then ran down the mountainside without waiting for a response from Balta. There was no need to, as Balta was right behind him all the way.
-------

Read and review, as always. Just so you know, I had originally planned to put the last part of this chapter in the next chapter, but I decided it would be better placed in this chapter instead. Besides, the next chapter is still almost as long as this one, now that I've made that change.

(By the way, this is my 3000th post.)

[LBTDiclonius]

Hey hey hey! You got the next chapeter up! Finally, I was beginning to lose hope.

Alright. I didn't notice any mistakes in here, good job on that.

So, Littlefoot and Balta are out of the cave, that's good, but who was that person that saved them? Could he be a Toa? Maybe. speaking of that...oh no no no! You aren't suppose to attack the Toa! They're helping you for cryin' out loud! Alrighty, get the next chapter up soon!

[Pangaea]

Well, it’s not quite an immediate review, but better thirty hours than a week and nine hours, eh?

Good job on this chapter. I overall enjoyed it (my only gripe being about the first paragraph; I’ll get to that in a moment). As LBTDiclonius stated, it’s impressively error-free! The only one I found was a period missing from the end of this sentence:

“By the way, Littlefoot, how did you end up separated from your friends?” asked Balta

I really think the first paragraph would have been better written out in more detail, with dialogue. I felt a little thrown off when I first read it, because the last scene with that group of characters was a rather tense one written from their point of view that felt like it was leading up to a confrontation (or at least a close call) with the Piraka. And then it’s followed by this part, in which any threat they were formerly under feels frankly underemphasized, and details are glossed over. (By the way, do Matoran even have digestive organs, since they just “absorb energy” from food? It occurs to me that there could be an interesting/amusing scene when they hear the gang’s stomachs growl for the first time, if it’s something new to them.)

“Because in our universe, we don't have a star like that, but when the Matoran came, so did a red star like that one. We thought that maybe it had followed the Matoran, but if what you said is true, then the red star never followed the Matoran. But if that red star stayed here, where did the red star we saw come from? And where did it go?”

I just wanted to say that I really liked this line. It’s so…Ruby. It’s also the kind of line that I’d expect would frustrate Kazi.

Eventually, the group reached a small cave on the slope of a mountain. Garan had decided that they would hide within it, while he would occasionally climb atop a nearby overhanging rock ó which offered an excellent view of the surrounding landscape ó and report if he saw any signs of their missing friends.

They waited there for over an hour. Garan climbed atop the rock virtually every minute, but the news was always the same: no sign of Balta or Littlefoot. Eventually, Cera decided to join Garan atop the rock to see for herself if there was a chance their missing friends could be found from there. After a few trips, she concluded that if Balta or Littlefoot had moved anywhere, they would have seen them by now.

Eventually, Garan began to assume the worst. “If they caught our missing friends, they're as good as dead,” said Garan to Cera. “Or worse, they've become more of their mindless workers, laboring amidst the lava. No! I'll die myself before I let that be their fate!”

Not technically a mistake, but the phrase “missing friends” is used an awful lot in these three paragraphs.

I was pleased by that one little line from Cera expressing concern for Littlefoot after Dalu mentioned going to find Balta; it’s something she’d be expected to say as a matter of principle in that situation, but still, it’s a hint at Cera’s caring side, which we don’t get enough of in LBT fanfiction.

Wow, it didn’t occur to me that tracking by scent would be an alien concept to the Matoran. :! I like that; it’s an advantage the gang have over the creatures in the Matoran universe, which, considering the latter are more durable and physically powerful, the gang need as many of as they can get!

“My sniffer is telling me that we're not following Littlefoot, and we're not following Balta. So the only scent I smell must be that of the Piraka.” He then took a big whiff of the Piraka's trail and cringed. “And it smells like they haven't taken a bath in a long time!”

Another line that amused me. (Do Matoran and other creatures in their world have any sense of smell at all?)

I get the impression that this newcomer is to some extent prophetic, because while the gang and other Matoran don’t seem too concerned that they will severely harm the Toa (if that’s what they are), he implies that their attack will have catastrophic consequences. (By the way, you describe him as “the massive figure” four times; possible repetitiveness issue.)

I don’t really have a problem with the borrowed text this time, since I feel like you’ve done a pretty good job mixing in new, original lines involving the gang. (This could be just a delusion I’m having due to the mind-defectiveness I’ve been experiencing as of late, but I won’t retract this statement if that turns out to be the case.)

(By the way, this is my 3000th post.)

Congratulations!

[The Chronicler]

Pangaea: Once again, your major gripe of the chapter happens to be something I had not expected at all (don't worry, I mean that as a good thing). I have expanded on that first paragraph. Also, following a scent trail is not an alien concept to Matoran, they just think that only Rahi are capable of such a thing. Also, I recall you once said you were interested in the way Velika spoke, so I was quite surprised you didn't mention what he had to say in that chapter, especially how the gang reacted to it.

Like I said, I've had this chapter done for over a week now, and I think one week is long enough to wait.

-------
Chapter 8
A Big Mistake

The gang ó minus Littlefoot ó watched from behind some rocks as their Matoran friends fought against the strangers Dalu had spotted. Some of the gang ó mostly Cera ó had wanted to be included in the fight, but Garan had decided against it. Instead, he had asked them to hold back and not attack unless the Matoran were to fall. As a result, all they could do now was watch and hope that nobody would get hurt in this fight. However, it was quickly becoming clear that the Matoran and the strangers weren't the only ones fighting.

“How can you possibly think that they're Toa!?” exclaimed Cera.

“I'm just saying that they don't look like they might be like the Piraka, so maybe they really are Toa,” replied Ruby.

“They don't look like any Toa I've heard of before.”

“Toa have elemental powers, and these strangers do have elemental powers,” said Ruby, pointing out the wall of flame that the red-armored stranger had just created between his group and the Matoran.

“They're not even wearing any masks! Everyone knows that all Toa wear masks, and if these guys don't have any, then that means they're not Toa.”

The rest of the gang ó Ducky, Petrie, Spike, and Chomper ó didn't want to take sides in the argument, so they silently continued to watch their Matoran friends battle the strangers.

Some of the strangers spoke to each other, but the gang couldn't hear them over the roar of the flames. Soon, they heard the blue-armored stranger scream when Dalu used her Chargers against her. Not long after that, the white-armored stranger walked right through the wall of flame ó which the red-armored stranger then doused ó and approach the Matoran.

“Okay, don't tell me that guy is a Toa of Ice, because he just walked right through that wall of fire!” exclaimed Cera.

“I think you might be wrong, Cera, wrong you might be,” countered Ruby as they watched the white-armored stranger encase Piruk, Velika, and Kazi in ice. His next target was Garan, but was then grabbed and held back by the green-armored, the black-armored, and the brown-armored strangers.

The other two strangers ó the red-armored and the blue-armored ones ó had stayed where they were. Apparently, the blue-armored stranger was still affected by Dalu's attack. She then furiously shoved the red-armored stranger away and ran off. The red-armored stranger then got up and followed her.

“That takes care of two of them,” said Cera, confidently.

Meanwhile, the remaining Matoran ó Garan and Dalu ó stood their ground against the strangers. The brown-armored stranger was doing everything he could to hold back the enraged white-armored stranger.

“Who are you?” asked Garan. “And don't try to tell me you are some new kind of Toa. I have heard that one before and it cost me almost all of my friends.”

“Whether you believe it or not does not alter the facts,” replied the black-armored stranger. “We are the Toa Nuva, from the island of Mata Nui.”

Garan scoffed in disbelief. “Toa what? Island of what? Not only are you lying, they are not even good lies! There is no such thing as a Toa Nuva, and no island of Mata Nui exists, or we would know of it.”

“Maybe we should have told these Matoran about the island of Mata Nui,” wondered Ruby aloud.

“You are allies of the Piraka, aren't you, come here to help them subjugate our brothers and sisters?”

“The Piraka are no heart-friends of ours,” pleaded the green-armored stranger. “We have been fighting them.”

“A falling-out among thieves,” accused Dalu. “I say we take them, Garan, starting with Frosty over there.”

As the gang watched, Ruby shook her head in disappointment. “I don't think we are following Velika's advice the way he wanted us to follow his advice,” she said.

“He said that they're not Toa!” argued Cera.

“No! He said that we should not fool ourselves again! We are acting like we are trying not to fool ourselves into thinking they are Toa, but I think we are fooling ourselves into thinking they are not Toa!”

“How many times do I have to say it: they are not Toa!”

Ruby gripped her head in frustration. She was about to scream at the top of her lungs when someone unexpected interrupted the fight.

“Wait! Stop!”

Everyone in the area immediately turned their attention to see Balta and Littlefoot running down the slope as fast as they could. Dalu and Cera smiled at the sight, convinced that they were now likely to win this fight.

“Another one,” grumbled the green-armored stranger. “We are going to spend all day fighting Matoran, while the Piraka wander free.”

“No one is going to fight anyone!” declared Littlefoot.

Balta turned to his friends and said, “You're making a mistake. These aren't our enemies. I am not sure who they are, but I know that a battle now would be a terrible error.”

Garan looked closely at Balta and concluded that his friend wasn't enslaved by the Piraka. He wished he could believe that these maskless strangers could be allies, be he needed more than just the word of his friend. It saddened him to think that he had now become so skeptical, but the arrival of the Piraka had changed a lot of things on Voya Nui.

The black-armored stranger sighed in frustration. He threw down his weapons and removed the silver armor on his chest and shoulders. “There, no mask, no weapons, no extra armor,” declared the black-armored stranger. “I've seen what your Pulse Bolts can do, Matoran, so use one now if you want war so badly. Kill me and my friends, and see if it gets you any anywhere closer to freeing your island from evil.”

Garan looked at the black-armored stranger. If this stranger was a Toa, his black armor showed that he was a Toa of Earth. He had the power to take down the remaining Matoran in one strike, but he was leaving himself open to attack. After thinking about it, Garan nodded and threw down his weapons as well.

“What are you doing!?” protested Dalu.

“What someone had to do,” replied Balta. “We already have a battle on our hands, one that has been thrust upon us. We don't need to go looking for another.”

“I think we have much to talk about,” said the Toa of Earth. “Starting with anything you know about these Piraka, anything that might be a key to defeating them.”

“May we talk in private?” asked Garan. “You may have convinced us you are a Toa, but that doesn't mean that I'll stop being cautious.”

The Toa of Earth nodded in agreement and followed Garan.

“You know, I must agree with Balta, agree with him I must,” stated Ruby as she and the rest of the gang came out from behind the rock, convinced that the battle was now over. “We already have the Piraka as our enemies. We don't need to look for more enemies, especially since the Piraka are already some very tough enemies.”

“Well I'll be,” said the brown-armored stranger ó the Toa of Stone ó in astonishment at seeing the young dinosaurs. He released his hold on the white-armored stranger ó the Toa of Ice, who was now merely annoyed ó and approached the gang. He turned to Littlefoot and asked, “Um, excuse me for asking, but your name wouldn't happen to be Littlefoot, would it?”

“Yes, it is,” replied Littlefoot in confusion. “How did you know my name?”

“The Matoran told us all about you. I must say that I'm quite impressed with everything you and your friends did in that search for the Energy Stones. Anyway, allow me to introduce myself. I am Toa Pohatu, Toa Nuva of Stone.”

“You're Pohatu? You don't look like what the Matoran told us about you.”

“Of course! That was before we were transformed into Toa Nuva. No wonder you don't recognize us.”

“Okay, so if you're Pohatu, then...” he turned to the green-armored stranger, the Toa of Air. “You must be Lewa, right?”

“The one and only!” replied Lewa, cheerfully.

Littlefoot then turned to the Toa of Ice. “And you must be ó”

“Kopaka,” said the Toa of Ice.

Ducky looked at Piruk, Velika, and Kazi ó who were still encased in ice ó with concern. She turned to Kopaka and asked, “Are you going to let them go?”

Kopaka sighed and pointed his weapon at the Matoran. Using his elemental powers, he shattered the ice encasements, freeing the Matoran without any harm.

As soon as they got up, Balta held up his hands and said, “Lower your weapons. They really are Toa.”

The three freed Matoran noticed that the fight had clearly ceased, so they nodded in agreement.

Littlefoot then looked over at the Toa of Earth, who was quietly speaking with Garan. “And that Toa over there must be Onua, right?” asked Littlefoot.

“That's right,” replied Pohatu.

“And the other two Toa... the blue one must have been Gali, and the red one was Tahu, right?”

“Wow, you certainly are as brilliant as the legends claim,” praised Pohatu as he lightly patted Littlefoot on the head in approval.

“Speaking of those two Toa, where are they?” asked Chomper.

Lewa looked around and simply shrugged.

Ducky turned to Dalu and asked, “Dalu, what did you do to Gali?”

Dalu look down at the ground in shame. “I... all I did was enhance her sight to an unbearable level. It should have worn off quickly, but I didn't think she would go mad from it.”

“Tahu went after her,” stated Kopaka. “I'm sure he'll find her.”

“I'm not so sure about that,” said Lewa with concern. “We must seek-find them!”

“There will be no need for that, Lewa.” The gang and the Toa turned to see Tahu and Gali approaching them. “Seeing as the fighting has ceased, I assume the Matoran are now convinced that we are on their side,” said Tahu.

“Indeed they are,” confirmed Pohatu. “And more than that, it seems that we have some more unexpected allies as well.” He gestured towards the young dinosaurs.

“Mata Nui,” said Gali in awe. “How did you young ones end up so far from your home?”

“We still haven't been able to figure that out yet,” replied Littlefoot.

“Gali, how are you suddenly not mad-crazy anymore?” asked Lewa in confusion.

“I had a little help from a being who held a large axe,” replied Gali.

“Hey, that's the same guy who saved me and Balta!” exclaimed Littlefoot. “We were trapped in a cave and he dug us out.”

“I still find it hard to believe he dug that whole tunnel using only his axe,” commented Balta.

Petrie, who was sitting on Cera's back, noticed that Cera had been silent ever since Littlefoot and Balta had arrived. “You okay, Cera?” asked Petrie with concern.

“Don't talk to me,” grumbled Cera.

“What's wrong with her?” asked Gali.

“Cera is usually too proud to admit when she is wrong,” replied Ruby, “and she was very convinced that you were not Toa.”

“Sounds a lot like our fire-brother here,” joked Lewa.

“I already told you, I've grown past that behavior,” retorted Tahu.

Garan and Onua approached the group of Matoran, Toa, and young dinosaurs. “I have had a little talk with the leader of these Matoran, and he has agreed to help us,” said Onua.

“That's great to hear,” said Pohatu. “So where do we go next?”

Littlefoot's stomach growled loudly again, catching everyone's attention. Littlefoot looked at everyone in embarrassment and said, “Sorry. I'm starving after being trapped in that cave for so long. Can we go to the Green Belt and continue to talk there?”

“That might be a good idea,” replied Garan. “While you and your friends are eating, the rest of us will talk about how we can strike back at the Piraka.”

Tahu nodded in agreement and said, “Good enough for me. Lead the way.”

Garan nodded and led the group towards the nearest part of the Green Belt.
-------

Read and review, as always. I've already made some progress on the next chapter, and since I have the week off, I'm hoping to have it done by next week.

Here are the images of the characters first seen in this chapter:
Tahu Nuva (movie version)
Gali Nuva (movie version)
Lewa Nuva (movie version)
Kopaka Nuva (movie version)
Pohatu Nuva (movie version)
Onua Nuva (movie version)

[LBTDiclonius]

Hello, hello! Thanks for the chapter.

No grammer mistakes or spelling as far as this eye goes.  

So they were Toa, ha! I was right. Ha, good ol' Cera, alway's sticking to her pride. When will she learn? :

Awesome chapter! Get the next one up soon please!

[Caustizer]

I'll make sure to post my reviews within the next day or so.  Being sick and in the time of midterms has slowed me down a lot.

[Pangaea]

Wow, it feels like such a short time since you posted the last chapter. :!

I enjoyed this one; not only was it short and easy to review, but I liked the dialogue and that everything turned out okay in the end. (The title made me worry that that wouldn’t be the case.)

I’m liking the Toa more than I expected. I’d imagined them as being almost godlike in their powers, and so experienced and jaded that they’d be stoic and unflappable. These fallible, vincible, and sometimes slightly argumentative characters are much more interesting and entertaining.

I think my favorite part of the chapter was the scene where Cera was in a bad mood due to being proven wrong, and the Toa’s comments on it.

It seems a little strange that the Matoran and Cera became so certain that the strangers are not Toa so quickly, but since you based it on the book and we know Cera to be vehement with her opinions, I’m not going to be hard on you about it.

I did find a few errors, though some of them are debatable and/or easy to miss:

However, it was soon becoming clear that the Matoran and the strangers weren't the only ones fighting.

This use of the word “soon” doesn’t sound right to me. At the moment I’m at a loss for words to describe specifically why, but suffice to say that I think it’s a different tense from “was becoming”. I’d suggest either removing “soon” or changing this to “soon became” or “was quickly becoming”.

Not long after that, the white-armored stranger then proceeded to walk right through the wall of flame ó which the red-armored stranger then doused ó and approach the Matoran.

Most of the highlighted text is redundant or otherwise unnecessary. It should be changed to simply “walked”.

“Okay, don't tell me that guy is a Toa of Ice, because he just walked right through that wall of fire!” exclaimed Cera.

Not necessarily a mistake, but I’m a little confused here. Wouldn’t the fact that Kopaka walked through the fire be evidence that he is a Toa? It sounds like Cera is saying that it isn’t. Or is she just in denial and implying that she refuses to take it as evidence?

“A falling-out among thieves,” accused Dalu. “I say we take them, Garan, starting with frosty over there.”

Since Dalu is using “frosty” as a name, I think it should be capitalized.

“Hey, that's the same being who saved me and Balta!” exclaimed Littlefoot.

“Being” doesn’t strike me as a word that Littlefoot would be likely to use. (Not as a noun, anyway.)

I have no problems with the borrowed text. I’m pleased by how much of the text in this chapter is original. I also like that, while part of the book is apparently told from the Toa’s point of view in addition to the Matoran’s, in your version we only get the Matoran’s side of the story. As a result, it feels much more like it’s the gang we’re following, seeing everything from their perspective.

[Caustizer]

Both chapters are pretty good, and I like how we are seeing more of the gang in the story now then we were before.  Having some actual Toa show up certainly adds some rocks to the mix, and tilts the scales a bit more in the direction of the good guys.

I still find though that there are a ton of names flying around that I don't totally recognize, and there isn't much description of the bionicle characters both emotionally and physically so how it ends up is a single word is the only thing seperating (for instance) Garan, Piruk and Kazi in my mind which can prove to be taxing.

A simple line like 'flexed his silver skin' or 'the clanking armour plates' can add some life to a character beyond just He said: X, He ran, He jumped, etc.

Keep writing and I'll keep reviewing... eventually

Caustizer

[The Chronicler]

Pangaea: I'm glad that you find the Toa to be much better than what you had expected. (As far as other Toa go, the Toa Nuva are about as close as you're gonna get to what you had once expected Toa to be.) To answer your question on Cera not believing Kopaka was a Toa, she specifically said "Toa of Ice," and he had walked through fire, and we all know what happens when ice meets fire. She had assumed that no being of Ice, not even a Toa, could have done that.

Caustizer: Sorry that I've been using names without much descriptions. I guess that's something I'll need to work on.

I am very glad to finally have this chapter done. Yes, it is the longest chapter I have ever written (about four times longer than a typical chapter, and nearly twice as long as the previous record: chapter 34 of my previous story). The reason it's so long is that it basically bridges the gap between this story and the previous one, explaining everything that has happened in the Matoran universe since the end of the previous story. What makes me very glad to have this chapter done is that I will now be able to freely talk about the first five years of Bionicle without having to worry about giving away any possible spoilers. For a basic summary of those events, just read on.

-------
Chapter 9
Catching Up

When the group of Matoran, Toa, and young dinosaurs reached the Green Belt, Littlefoot didn't waste any time to start feasting on the various leaves and plants. There were no treestars at all on the island, as stated by the Matoran, but that didn't bother him at all. The rest of his friends weren't nearly as hungry as he was, but they also helped themselves to some food.

Meanwhile, the Matoran told the Toa Nuva about everything that had happened on the island ever since the Piraka arrived. The Toa listened carefully, hoping to hear something that could help them defeat the Piraka. By the time Littlefoot had finally finished eating, the Matoran had just finished telling their story to the Toa. Now it was time to decide on what they would do next.

“Okay, I'll admit it,” said Cera, finally. “I was wrong. You guys really are Toa. But one thing I'd like to know is what happened to your masks?”

“The Piraka must have stolen them after they defeated us,” replied Tahu.

“Wait, the Piraka actually defeated you!?” asked Littlefoot, surprised.

“Hard to believe, but yes,” replied Lewa. “And worse, the black one even snap-broke one of my Air Katana!” He held up his remaining weapon to prove his point.

Ruby sighed. “How can we hope to defeat the Piraka if the Piraka can defeat even the Toa Nuva?” she wondered, sadly.

“I don't know, but one thing is certain,” said Onua. “If we don't get our masks back, we might not stand any chance against the Piraka.”

“I think our only hope of succeeding is for all of us to work together,” said Garan. “We'll help you get your masks back, and you'll help us defeat the Piraka once and for all.”

“Then we have a deal,” said Tahu.

Garan nodded. “It seems we have no choice. How do you suggest we strike at the Piraka?”

“Simple,” replied Lewa. “They are out track-hunting for us. So while they are scattered and searching, we attack their base and take back our Toa masks.”

“That makes sense to me,” said Ruby. “They would certainly want to keep your masks in a place where they think you would never be able to get them, and that place can only be their stronghold.”

“What if they're leading us into a trap?” asked Dalu.

“I'm trusting you to make sure that doesn't happen,” replied Garan. “Let's go. The Piraka stronghold is a long journey from here, and there is no telling what we might face along the way.”

Not long after their journey began, Littlefoot decided to take the opportunity to find out what had happened to the Matoran of the island of Mata Nui since the events of one year ago. “Since this will be a long journey, maybe you Toa can tell us about everything that has happened since we last saw the Matoran,” suggested Littlefoot.

“That sounds like a great idea, Littlefoot,” said Pohatu. “Not to mention the Matoran with us right now might be interested as well. Now let's see... where do we begin?”

“The best place to start a story is at the beginning, so why don't you start at the beginning of your story?” suggested Ruby.

“I suppose that makes sense. Alright, our story begins with our arrival on the shores of Mata Nui. We arrived inside large canisters, which I guess you could say are long, round, metal containers that are made for Toa to ride inside. Anyway, we all landed separately, close to our respective villages. The strange thing was that, aside from our own names, none of us had any memories at all.”

“No memories at all?” asked Chomper. “You couldn't remember anything?”

“Not a thing,” replied Onua. “Fortunately, we all managed to find the Turaga of our villages, who explained everything to us. Our first task was for each of us to collect all six of the Great Kanohi masks. In other words, in addition to the mask of strength that I had, I had to find a mask of speed, shielding, levitation, x-ray vision, and water breathing.”

“So the masks you wore when you arrived were like your starting masks, and each of you had to find the rest of them?” asked Littlefoot.

“Exactly!” replied Pohatu.

“At first, none of us were interested in working together,” continued Gali, “but as the Rahi attacks got worse, we eventually decided that our best chance of finding all of our masks was to work together. Meanwhile, your old friend, Takua, went on some adventures of his own.”

“Really?” asked Littlefoot. “How much did he tell you about us?”

“Not much, actually,” replied Pohatu. “Though I have heard rumors that right after he gathered the Toa Stones that summoned us to the island, he got a bad case of amnesia and lost all of his memories.”

“You mean... Takua does not even remember us anymore?” asked Ducky with sadness. The rest of the gang was also just a sad to hear such a thing.

“For a while, yes, that was the case,” replied Tahu. “But once he got around to reading the part on the Wall of History about your legend, he wouldn't stop talking about you guys.”

The gang smiled at hearing that Takua had remembered them after all.

“Anyway, back to the story,” continued Pohatu. “While I and the other Toa searched for our masks, Takua traveled across the island and helped the villages with problems they had, many of them related to Rahi attacks. These heroic actions convinced the Turaga to name him Chronicler, a title which I think he already explained to you back when he was in your universe. Anyway, we had eventually collected all of our masks, which then granted us a golden Kanohi mask that had the powers of all the masks we had collected. Our next task was to enter Makuta's lair and defeat him. Takua had gathered Matoran from every village to defend the entrance, the Kini-Nui temple, so that the Rahi wouldn't trap us inside. After facing many challenges, we were successful.”

“You actually defeated Makuta?” asked Cera, uncertain if that was the whole story. “Then what are you doing here? And how are you now Toa Nuva or whatever it is you are?”

“Don't worry, that was only the beginning of the whole story,” replied Pohatu. “Not long after that, we were faced with a new threat to the Matoran: the Bohrok.”

Lewa shuddered at the mention of that word. “Bad memories,” he muttered.

“What's a Bohrok?” asked Chomper.

“They're insectoid machines with the sole purpose of destroying everything on the island,” explained Onua. “They're powered by a mask-like creature called a Krana, which grant Bohrok abilities much like our masks do. However, if a Matoran or Toa was to wear a Krana like a Kanohi, then he would end up behaving like a Bohrok, with the objective of destroying everything.”

“Please don't remind me,” said Lewa.

“What's wrong, Lewa?” asked Littlefoot. “Did something bad happen to you when you fought the Bohrok?”

“The worst that you could have imagined. I went to quick-check my village and when I got there, everyone ó including Turaga Matau ó had their masks replaced with Krana! They then replaced my mask with a Krana, too.”

“That sounds terrible!” exclaimed Ducky. “It does, it does.”

“How you get free from Krana?” asked Petrie.

“I rescued him,” replied Onua. “After that, the rest of Le-Koro was freed, thanks to Takua and Nuparu, who had invented a machine made out of parts of disabled Bohrok that allowed the Matoran to fight back against the Bohrok.”

“Wow, I guess Nuparu finally managed to build something that could help the Matoran, like he had always wanted to,” commented Chomper.

“Eventually, Kopaka discovered the nest of the Bohrok,” continued Pohatu. “We all decided that the only way to stop the Bohrok for good would be to attack them in their nest. It turned out the only way to do that was to defeat the Bahrag, the two leaders of the Bohrok. It wasn't easy, but by combining our powers, we successfully trapped them.”

“However, we had one more surprise in store for us,” said Onua. “As soon as we had trapped the Bahrag, the floor gave way and we ended up inside massive containers of Energized Protodermis, a very rare kind of Protodermis that will either transform you or destroy you. Fortunately for us, destiny was on our side and we were transformed into the Toa Nuva that we are to this day. Not only did we get new masks, weapons, and armor, but also our elemental powers were enhanced and our mask powers could now cover multiple people as opposed to just the user.”

“So that's what makes a Toa Nuva different from a regular Toa,” said Garan, now with a better understanding of what these Toa were like.

“With that much power, I'm even more surprised the Piraka managed to defeat you,” said Littlefoot.

“Believe me, this isn't the first time we've felt so powerless,” said Tahu. “The best example came shortly after we became Toa Nuva. You see, when we were transformed into Toa Nuva, a symbol for each of us appeared in our villages. None of us realized how important they were to us until they got stolen. When that happened, we lost our elemental powers.”

“You lost your elemental powers!?” asked Dalu in disbelief.

“Hard to believe, but yes, that's exactly what happened,” replied Lewa. “We eventually found out who it was that stole our symbols: the Bohrok-Kal.”

“More Bohrok?” asked Cera, skeptically. “I thought you had already stopped them.”

“We did,” explained Onua, “but the Bohrok-Kal were an elite squad of Bohrok with the goal of freeing the Bahrag so that the Bohrok swarms could finish their job.”

“When we found out, we tried to stop them,” continued Pohatu. “But without our elemental powers, we were obviously doomed to fall. But we didn't let that one defeat stop us. Since our mask powers still worked, we decided to collect the Kanohi Nuva, much like we had done when we had collected our original masks. Eventually, the Bohrok-Kal found the cave where we had trapped the Bahrag and attempted to use our symbols to free them.”

“By that point, we had run out of options,” continued Tahu. “I had no choice but to take a very big risk and use a mask that had just been given to me by Turaga Vakama: the Kanohi Vahi, the Legendary Mask of Time. Since time is one of the most powerful forces in the universe, I knew that it was a power that would be extremely difficult for me to control, but I had no choice. I struggled with its powers, but I managed to slow down time around the Bohrok-Kal, essentially freezing them in place.”

“Unfortunately, they had just created a barrier that prevented us from stopping them, despite the slowing of time,” continued Gali. “But the use of the Vahi had bought me enough time to figure out that there was a way we could stop them. We reached out to our symbols and forced our elemental energies into the Bohrok-Kal. They were quickly overloaded and destroyed by their own powers.”

“As a result of our victory, the Bahrag remain trapped, along with the rest of the Bohrok swarms,” continued Pohatu. “An era of peace followed our victory. During that time, the Turaga held a Naming Day celebration to honor the Matoran who helped in the defense against the Rahi and Bohrok.”

“What's a Naming Day?” asked Littlefoot. “Is it like a starday?”

The Matoran looked at each other in confusion at what Littlefoot had just mentioned. The Toa were also confused at first, but then remembered what the Matoran of Mata Nui had told them. “We don't celebrate stardays,” explained Onua, “mostly because nobody knows the exact day that any of us were even created. Naming Day is when one or a few Matoran are honored for their deeds by having their names changed. This particular Naming Day honored Jaller, Hewkii, and Macku. Their names still sound the same as their old ones, they're just spelled differently.”

“But that's not all that happened that day,” added Pohatu. “The Turaga also announced that they had discovered the secret that allowed them to rebuild the Matoran into slightly taller, stronger forms. It turns out that Makuta was responsible for giving them the smaller forms they had when you met them.”

“Stunning,” said Garan as he shook his head. “According to Littlefoot and his friends, none of those Matoran ever carried tools like these.” He held up his Pulse Bolt Generators. “I'm surprised those Matoran have been able to survive for so long without the kind of power we have. Personally, I'll take my Pulse Bolts over a little extra muscle any day.”

“Following those events,” continued Pohatu, “the Turaga decided to celebrate the time of peace by holding a Kolhii tournament, which is basically a series of Kolhii games with teams representing each of the villages. Matches were played in all the villages, with the top three teams competing in the final match, known as the championship match. The winner of that match would be declared the winner of the tournament. By the way, the way they played Kolhii in that tournament was different from what you kids are familiar with. It's a newer version that was inspired by Hewkii's actions during a Bohrok invasion. The rules are mostly the same, except players also use a staff that has a hammer on one end and a scoop on the other.”

“That sounds like fun!” commented Chomper.

“Who won the championship?” asked Ruby.

“The teams that made it to the championship match were Hewkii and Hafu of Po-Koro, Hahli and Macku of Ga-Koro, and Jaller and Takua of Ta-Koro,” replied Pohatu. “It was a close match between Po-Koro and Ga-Koro, but the winning point and the championship ultimately went to Ga-Koro. But just as the Kolhii match had finished, we all found out that Jaller and Takua had made an amazing discovery. Right before the match, they had found the Mask of Light, a mask that belonged to a seventh Toa; a Toa of Light.”

“A seventh Toa?” asked Cera, looking at all of the Toa that were in their group. “How come there's only six of you here?”

“We had asked him to stay behind to protect the Matoran while we're away,” replied Tahu. “Besides, the only way we could safely get here was to ride in more of those canisters that had taken us to Mata Nui in the first place, but there were only six of them.”

“Anyway, with the discovery of that mask, Jaller and Takua journeyed across the island to find the seventh Toa,” continued Pohatu. “You see, while we had simply arrived on the island, the seventh Toa had to be found. However, Makuta had returned and sent out his sons, the Rahkshi, to stop them. I and the other Toa did everything we could to stop the Rahkshi. They were very tough foes and they even destroyed some of the villages in the process, but we always managed to hold them back. That is, until we got to Kini-Nui.”

“What happen at Kini-Nui?” asked Petrie.

“We finally managed to defeat the Rahkshi, but one of them slipped by us and attacked Takua. That Rahkshi was about to finish him off when Jaller jumped in the way.”

“You mean Jaller is...?” asked Ducky.

“Yes, that was a fatal attack that Jaller took for Takua,” replied Pohatu, solemnly.

The gang hung their heads in sadness at hearing that one of their Matoran friends was dead.

“It was thanks to Jaller's sacrifice that Takua realized what had to be done. By placing the Mask of Light on his face, he transformed into the seventh Toa, and renamed himself Takanuva, the Toa of Light.”

“Wow, Takua is now a Toa,” said Littlefoot in awe, even though he was still saddened to hear that Jaller was dead ó or so he thought.

“Once he became a Toa, Takanuva assembled a vehicle that would allow him to quickly enter Makuta's lair,” continued Pohatu. “However, he insisted that he go alone, despite the fact that it was by working together that we defeated the Rahkshi. Despite our pleas, he left to face Makuta on his own, but he was followed by Hahli, who had decided to become the new Chronicler, now that Takanuva was a Toa. He sent her back to summon us to witness the battle that took place. Apparently, Makuta was so confident that he would win that he decided to not use any of his powers and instead play a rather deadly version of Kolhii, with the goal of trying to hit each other. After a long struggle, Takanuva finally managed to hit Makuta, but he didn't stay down for long. It seemed there would be no way to truly defeat Makuta, until Takanuva discovered a weakness and removed Makuta's mask, right before they both fell into a pool of Energized Protodermis.”

“The same stuff that turned you into Toa Nuva?” asked Chomper.

“Yes,” replied Onua. “The being that emerged was neither Takanuva nor Makuta, but a fusion of the two. A being that was half light and half shadow. The being decided to open the massive gate to what we had believed would lead us to awakening the Great Spirit, Mata Nui. As we all passed through the gateway, the being stopped Hahli and used Jaller's mask to revive him.”

“You mean Jaller is not dead anymore and is now alive again?” asked Ruby, surprised.

“Indeed he is,” replied Lewa with a smile on his face, proving that he was being honest.

The gang cheered at hearing that Jaller wasn't dead after all.

“But reviving Jaller had weakened the being so much that he could no longer hold up the massive gate, causing it to crush him,” continued Pohatu. “When the dust cleared, only Takanuva stood before us. We still believe to this day that Makuta had been killed in that event. Anyway, at the end of the tunnel behind the gate, we rediscovered the original home of the Matoran: the island city of Metru Nui.”

“Metru Nui?” asked Littlefoot, curious. “Island city? What's a city?”

“You young ones are barely familiar with what a village is, so I'm not sure if you would be able to understand what a city is like,” admitted Gali.

“Still, it's worth a shot,” said Onua. He then turned to the young dinosaurs. “Try to think if as a village, but much bigger. The structures are much bigger, and made of much tougher materials. Also, there are so many of those massive buildings that the entire island is covered with them. I've heard that your home, the Great Valley, is just a little smaller than Metru Nui, so that should give you an idea of what our home is like.”

“That sounds like an interesting kind of place,” said Littlefoot. “Do you think you can take us there?”

“Maybe after we have finished our mission here,” replied Tahu.

“If there are so many of these ëbuildings’ on Metru Nui, does that mean there are not many places where plants grow?” asked Ruby.

“Remember, Matoran absorb their energy in a different way than what you dinosaurs do, so plant life is not as necessary to them as it is to you,” replied Onua.

“To continue our story,” said Pohatu, “after we made it back to the surface, the Matoran began building boats that would take us all back to Metru Nui, which was supposedly the first requirement to awaken the Great Spirit. Not long after we had rediscovered Metru Nui, Turaga Vakama revealed an incredible secret: a thousand years ago, he and the other Turaga were once Toa!”

“Them? Toa?” asked Cera in disbelief.

“Matoran may not age like dinosaurs do, but it seems their stages of life are rather similar,” said Onua. “A Matoran can transform into a Toa, much like kids grow into adults, and a Toa can transform into a Turaga, much like how an adult eventually grows elderly. Unlike dinosaurs, going from once stage of life to the next is not inevitable for a Matoran, but like dinosaurs, there is no going back to the previous stage.”

“So that means that every Turaga was once a Toa, and every Toa was once a Matoran?” asked Littlefoot.

“As far as I know, yes.”

“Vakama told us everything that had happened back when he and the other Turaga were Toa,” continued Pohatu. “Back when they were Matoran, Metru Nui had only one Toa: a Toa of Fire named Lhikan. One day, he sensed the city was in danger, so he transferred his Toa Energies into six Toa Stones and gave them to a Matoran from each district of the city: Nokama of Ga-Metru, Onewa of Po-Metru, Nuju of Ko-Metru, Whenua of Onu-Metru, Matau of Le-Metru, and Vakama of Ta-Metru. Soon after delivering that last Toa Stone to Vakama, Lhikan was captured by two Dark Hunters.”

“Who are the Dark Hunters?” asked Ruby. “I heard that the Piraka used to be among the Dark Hunters.”

“They are an organization of criminals and outcasts who will do any dirty task they are told to do, if they are offered a good amount of pay,” replied Tahu.

“In other words, they are bad people who have done bad things and will do more of them as long as it rewards them well,” explained Garan in a way that the young dinosaurs would understand.

“Despite this problem, the six Matoran did as they were told and went to the Great Temple in Ga-Metru with their Toa Stones,” continued Pohatu. “It was there that they were transformed into the Toa Metru. It was difficult for them to get used to the fact that they were now Toa, but they knew they had no choice but to accept it. Their first task was to save the city from the Morbuzakh, a system of massive vines that were able to quickly destroy anything they could grab onto. Nothing had been able to stop it so far, and the Toa Metru found out that the only way they could was to find and use the Great Disks.”

“What are the Great Disks?” asked Ducky.

“First of all, the disks used on Metru Nui, also known as Kanoka, are much different from the kind used on Mata Nui that you are probably familiar with,” explained Onua. “Like Kanohi, Kanoka also have special abilities, but they can only be used if they hit the target at a very fast speed, which is why the Matoran of Metru Nui used specially designed launchers to make sure their Kanoka always worked. Determining the exact powers of a Kanoka is rather complicated, so I'll save that explanation for another time, but the important thing is that all Kanohi are made out of one or more Kanoka, with a certain combination of disks creating a certain mask.” Realizing how complicated such an explanation was becoming, he asked, “Are you understanding any of this?”

“I think so,” replied Littlefoot.

“Well, put simply, the Great Disks were the most powerful Kanoka of all,” said Pohatu. “There was one in each of the six Metru, but they were hidden in places that only a Toa could reach. Also, there was a Matoran from each district who knew the locations of the Great Disks, but they had reasons to keep them for themselves, and one of them even planned to betray all the others. The Toa Metru knew they had to find these Matoran if they were to find the Great Disks, which turned out to be easier said than done.”

“So who was the traitor?” asked Cera.

“It was the Po-Matoran, Ahkmou,” replied Kopaka.

“Regardless, the Toa needed all of those Matoran to find the Great Disks,” continued Pohatu. “They split up into three teams so that they could quickly find the disks and still be able to fight off any threats. Eventually, they successfully retrieved all six of the Great Disks. Now they had to destroy the Morbuzakh by using the disks on the King Root. The Morbuzakh was not at all like any other plant, one example being that the King Root lived in one of the hottest places in Metru Nui, the Great Furnace in Ta-Metru, and was even capable of speaking. After a long battle, the Toa used the powers of the Great Disks together, which ultimately destroyed the King Root, taking the rest of the Morbuzakh vines with it. Having succeeded in their first great quest, the Toa Metru then headed for the Coliseum to show the Matoran that they were heroes.”

“What is the Coliseum?” asked Ruby.

“It's the tallest building in Metru Nui, can't miss it,” replied Lewa. “Like Kini-Nui on Mata Nui, the Coliseum is in the center of the city and is where all the Matoran gather for grand events.”

“Wow, I bet all of the Matoran were proud of the Toa!” exclaimed Chomper.

“Sadly, that was not the case,” said Pohatu. “The only Turaga of Metru Nui, Turaga Dume, had been acting strange lately, which was why he did not believe them to be Toa, even though they had the Great Disks. Instead, he asked them to prove themselves by crossing an area with constantly shifting ground. They tried their best, but they were still weak after their recent battles, and they still hadn't learned how to use their mask powers, so they inevitably failed. Due to the failure, Turaga Dume declared them impostors and even went as far as to blame them for the disappearance of Toa Lhikan.”

“What!?” exclaimed Petrie in disbelief. “How anyone not believe they Toa-heroes?”

“Back then, the Matoran had absolute trust in their Turaga, so they always agreed with anything he said,” replied Tahu. “Not even when the two Dark Hunters who had captured Lhikan showed themselves did anyone believe the Toa Metru.”

“To enforce his statement, Turaga Dume sent out Vahki, machines with the sole purpose of keeping order in the city, to capture the Toa,” continued Pohatu. “They captured Nuju, Onewa, and Whenua, but Vakama, Nokama, and Matau managed to get away. The three escaped Toa traveled practically all over Metru Nui until they decided that the only way to clear their names would be to find Lhikan. They eventually found out that they had to go to Po-Metru, and along the way, Nokama and Matau discovered their mask powers. Meanwhile, the three captured Toa were locked in a prison cell ó think of it like being trapped in a cave ó where they met a Turaga who helped them discover their mask powers, which they used to escape. The two groups eventually met up with each other, at which point the Turaga revealed himself to be Lhikan.”

“Wait a minute, I thought he was a Toa,” said Cera in confusion.

“He was,” explained Onua. “But he had to sacrifice his Toa Energy into the Toa Stones that the Toa Metru were given. When they were transformed into Toa, he was transformed into a Turaga, as it must happen when a Toa sacrifices his Toa Energy.”

“Although the Toa were glad to have found Lhikan,” continued Pohatu, “he was disappointed that they had not done what he had wanted them to do, and that was to save the Matoran.”

“Save them from what?” asked Ducky.

“Lhikan wasn't sure what it was, but knew something very bad would happen to the Matoran. However, he and the Toa soon discovered a large metal sphere, kind of like the canisters meant for Toa. They looked inside and found the real Turaga Dume, who was under an endless sleep due to being placed inside that sphere.”

“If that was the real Turaga Dume, then who was the fake Turaga Dume?” asked Ruby.

“Not even Lhikan knew who the impostor was, but he and the Toa now knew they had to stop the false Turaga Dume. By the time they made it to the Coliseum, they were too late. Every Matoran in Metru Nui had been placed in metal spheres, as ordered by the false Turaga Dume. Like the real Turaga Dume, the Matoran all fell into an endless sleep. When the Toa Metru encountered the false Turaga Dume, he revealed himself to be Makuta.”

“I should've known that it was him,” said Cera.

“His plan was to have the Matoran sleep in those spheres long enough to erase their memories,” said Tahu, “and once they reawakened, he would declare himself the Great Spirit instead of Mata Nui.”

“So that's what Makuta wanted all along,” said Littlefoot in realization. “I've been wondering why he has done all of these bad things.”

“At the moment of that revelation, a massive earthquake shook the entire Matoran universe,” continued Pohatu. “The Toa Metru had no choice but to flee Metru Nui. They grabbed a few of the spheres and loaded them onto a vehicle in hopes of getting at least a few Matoran out to safety. Fortunately, their vehicle was able to float on the water, allowing them to make their escape. Along the way, Vakama had managed to fuse all six of the Great Disks together and, using his skills as an excellent mask maker, forged it into the Vahi.”

“So that's where that mask came from,” said Chomper in realization.

“Oh, I forgot to mention something about Metru Nui's location that you kids might have trouble understanding,” interjected Onua. “I suppose a good way of explaining it to you is to think of it as being located inside a very massive cavern. One that is so huge that the walls and ceiling are too far away to see, so huge that it has its own day and night cycle like what you see on the surface. The reason why I bring this up is because the only way the Toa Metru could escape was to find a way through the wall of that massive cavern.”

“Exactly,” said Pohatu. “Eventually, they did find a way through, but Makuta stood in their way. Vakama decided to use the Vahi against Makuta, but he failed to control it properly, causing him to slow down time for both Makuta and himself. There was nothing Vakama could do to stop an attack from Makuta, so Lhikan took the lethal blow.”

None of the gang needed to ask to know what had happened to Lhikan.

“Worry not, for Lhikan's spirit lives on,” said Lewa. “You see, before he finally passed, he gave his mask to Vakama, who later gave it to Jaller. So the mask you have seen Jaller wear is the same one that was worn by Lhikan.”

The gang was amazed to hear that what they had once thought was just another mask turned out to be a very special mask, one that was once worn by a great Toa.

“After Lhikan's passing, Vakama finally discovered his mask power, and used it to defeat Makuta,” continued Gali. “The rest of the Toa showed up and, together, they combined their powers to trap Makuta, much like we had done with the Bahrag.”

“So if they trapped Makuta, how did he get free from that trap?” asked Ruby.

“I'll get to that part eventually,” replied Pohatu. “Anyway, the Toa Metru traveled through a long tunnel until they reached the surface and discovered the island of Mata Nui. There, they searched the island for excellent locations for the villages they would later build for the Matoran. They also decided to prepare a backup plan by transferring some of each of their Toa Energy into a Toa Stone and hiding them throughout the island.”

“And those are the same Toa Stones that Takua collected to bring you and the other Toa Nuva to Mata Nui,” finished Littlefoot.

Pohatu chuckled and said, “You never cease to amaze me. After getting familiar with what would be their new home for a thousand years, the Toa Metru knew they had to go back to Metru Nui to rescue the rest of the Matoran. After another long journey, they returned to the city and realized for the first time how much damage the massive earthquake had done to it. Not only was the city in ruin, but it had also been overrun by nasty creatures called Visorak.”

“What's a Visorak?” asked Chomper.

“They are large spider-like creatures, I think you call them many-legged crawlers, or something like that,” explained Onua. “They can make webs, like ordinary spiders, just much larger ones. What makes them very nasty is their venom, which has ability to mutate creatures into things comparable to monsters. Definitely not the kind of creature you would want to run into.”

“Did the Toa Metru run into some of them?” asked Littlefoot.

“Unfortunately, yes,” replied Pohatu. “They were on their way to the Coliseum to rescue the Matoran when they were attacked and captured by some Visorak. As a result, they were stuck onto some webs high above the city and were injected with the venom of the Visorak, mutating them into Toa Hordika.”

“Think of it like... think of it like being turned into sharpteeth,” clarified Lewa for the young dinosaurs. “That's how bad-horrible it was for them to become Toa Hordika.”

“In that case, I hope we never get to see one of those Visorak things,” said Cera, definitely not liking the idea of becoming a sharptooth.

“What's so bad about becoming a sharptooth?” wondered Chomper. When Cera glared at him, he shrugged and said, “What? I'm just saying. I don't think being a sharptooth is all that bad.”

“Anyway, as soon as they became Toa Hordika,” continued Pohatu, “the webs holding them up broke, sending them falling down to the streets far below. Before they hit the ground, they were rescued by the Rahaga, strange beings who were the size of a Turaga and resembled Rahkshi, most likely the result of being mutated. It was the Rahaga who explained to the Toa everything about what they had become. Their weapons had changed, but they were no longer able to use their mask powers. Most importantly, if they did not get rid of the venom within their bodies quickly enough, they would stay as Hordika forever.”

“Forever?” asked Ruby. “How could they get rid of that venom before it was too late for them to get rid of it?”

“Their only hope was a legendary being known as Keetongu, but even some of the Rahaga doubted his existence,” replied Gali.

“I know I don't believe crazy stories like those most of the time, but if that happened to me, even I would want to believe in him if it meant changing me back to normal,” commented Cera.

“Despite the urgency, the Toa decided that their most important task was to save the Matoran,” continued Pohatu, “so they went all over Metru Nui to gather the parts they would need to build vehicles that could carry all of the Matoran to Mata Nui. Along the way, they rescued Turaga Dume, and also found the Mask of Light, which had been hidden in the city by the Rahaga, who had taken it back from Makuta, who had stolen it from an unknown location.”

“Wow, that mask sure went through a lot before Takua finally found it,” commented Littlefoot.

“After a while, Vakama began distancing himself from the other Toa, convinced that he was not a good leader. While wandering alone he got captured by some Visorak and taken to Roodaka, the second-in-command of the Visorak horde. While the king of the Visorak, Sidorak, wanted to simply conquer Metru Nui, Roodaka had other plans, including freeing Makuta, so she saw an opportunity when she heard of Vakama's capture. She managed to convince him to abandon the other Toa and lead the Visorak.”

“You mean Vakama betrayed his friends!?” exclaimed Cera in shock.

“Shocking, but yes,” replied Lewa. “He even proved himself to Sidorak by quick-capturing all but one of the Rahaga!”

“Despite the treachery,” continued Pohatu, “the other Toa ó along with Norik, the remaining Rahaga ó eventually found Keetongu. Although he agreed to help them save their friend, he refused to cure them until after they had proven themselves of being able to control their Hordika abilities.”

“That doesn't make any sense at all,” said Cera in confusion. “Why would he not change them back until after they fought as Hordika?”

“Matau reacted the same way when he first heard it,” commented Lewa.

“Knowing what had to be done, the Toa entered the Coliseum and fought against the Visorak,” continued Pohatu. “Matau, on the other hand, decided to confront Vakama and try to bring him back to the Toa's side. Meanwhile, Keetongu fought against Sidorak and Roodaka. However, Roodaka simply walked away, leaving Sidorak to be easily defeated. Matau eventually succeeded in convincing Vakama of what his true duty was and they rejoined the other Toa. Roodaka told them that they couldn't defeat the Visorak, but she forgot that she had placed them under Vakama's command. As a result, he disbanded the Visorak ó in other words, he told them all to leave because they were free.”

“So that explains why there was a lone Visorak here on Voya Nui,” muttered Garan. When he noticed some of the young dinosaurs looking at him in slight fear, he added, “Don't worry, Thok killed it as soon as he found it.”

“With Roodaka being the only enemy left, the Toa combined their elemental powers and struck at her. However, they realized too late that she was carrying a piece of the seal that had entrapped Makuta, and by hitting that piece with their elemental powers, the seal was broken and Makuta was freed.”

“So that's how Makuta got free from being trapped,” said Ruby.

“Although Roodaka got away, the Toa had won the battle. Keetongu then fulfilled his promise and cured the Toa Hordika, changing them back into Toa Metru. They collected all of the spheres that contained the Matoran and loaded them into the vehicles they had built, and then they headed for Mata Nui. Once they arrived on the shores of Mata Nui, they had to sacrifice their Toa Energy to awaken the Matoran, causing them to transform into the Turaga we all know to this day. And that is the end of Turaga Vakama's stories of everything that happened when they were Toa.”

“Wow, that's quite a story,” commented Littlefoot.

“But you still haven't told us why you are here,” added Cera. “Why would you come to a place that we've never heard of before?”

“Turaga Nuju has been observing the stars ever since we returned to Metru Nui,” said Kopaka. “It didn't take him long to discover a terrible truth: Mata Nui is not just sleeping, he is dying.”

“Mata Nui is... dying!?” asked Ruby in shock.

“I know he is really important to everyone in this universe, but how bad can that be?” asked Cera, unaware of the true scale of the situation.

“More than you can imagine,” replied Gali. “If he dies, so does the rest of this universe.”

“That sounds terrible!” exclaimed Ducky. “It does, it does!”

“I think I speak for all of my friends when I say that saving Mata Nui's life is more important than freeing our home,” declared Garan. “Without Mata Nui, all are doomed. I do not want the situation here to go from bad to worse.”

“How we quick-save him?” asked Petrie. He was certainly not the only one who was hoping that there was a way to save Mata Nui's life.

“There is only one thing that can save him: the Mask of Life, hidden somewhere here on Voya Nui,” replied Tahu.

“The Mask of Life?” asked Chomper. “Isn't that what the Piraka said they were here to find?”

“Yes, they said they wanted to steal it,” replied Garan. “It is because of that mask that they have done so many horrible things to us.”

“Then why are they trying to steal it?” asked Balta. “Do they not realize how much the universe needs that mask right now?”

“I guess this means we'll get to save the universe and free our home at the same time,” said Dalu. “I like that.”

“All right, let's show those Piraka why they shouldn't mess with us!” declared Cera.

“I don't think it would be a good idea to have you come with us,” said Tahu.

“What!?”

“I am sorry, but I fear that taking you kids into battle with us against the Piraka would do more harm than good,” said Gali.

“I agree,” added Onua. “We are the only Toa on this island right now, and these Matoran here have proven to us they can hold their own against the Piraka. You, on the other hand, are defenseless against such powerful enemies.”

“Don't take it personally, kids,” said Tahu. “We only want what's best for all of us.”

“That's okay, we understand,” said Littlefoot, hiding his disappointment at not being able to help the Toa Nuva and the Matoran.

“So what do you want us to do while you fight the Piraka?” asked Cera.

“Try to stay hidden,” replied Garan. “If we fall, you might be Mata Nui's last hope, though I pray it won't have to come to that.”

“Me neither,” said Ruby. “If a powerful evil can stop you, what hope do we have of stopping that powerful evil?”

Cera sighed in defeat and said, “All right, we'll stay out of the way. Just make sure you don't fail.”

“Believe me, we have no intentions of letting that happen,” said Tahu.

“We're here,” said Garan, stopping. The group of Toa, Matoran, and young dinosaurs peeked from behind some rocks to see the stronghold the Piraka had built for themselves.

Before the Toa could make a move, Piruk said, “We should use the back door. There are too many defenses on the front for us to safely enter without being seen.”

“Since he is the only Matoran to have gone in and out of that stronghold alive, I strongly advise we do what he says,” said Garan.

The Toa nodded in agreement and began to follow the Matoran. Pohatu turned to the gang and said, “Don't worry. If all goes well, we should have our masks back and be out of there in no time.”

As the Toa and Matoran left, the gang decided to get away from the stronghold to avoid getting caught by the Piraka. As they walked, they all thought about the stories the Toa Nuva had just told them. Littlefoot was impressed by all the things Takua had done since they had last seen him, especially the fact that he was now a Toa. He was also intrigued by the description of Metru Nui and was curious to see the city for himself, someday. Cera found many of the stories hard to believe ó especially the idea that the Turaga had once been Toa ó but the Toa Nuva had already proven they would never bluff, so she decided to ignore her issues with them for now. Ducky was amazed by the heroic things the Toa Nuva had done, but also terrified by the horrible things the Toa Metru had gone through. In her mind, it was no wonder the Matoran had to leave Metru Nui. Petrie couldn't stop thinking about the fact that a Matoran could become a Toa and that a Toa could become a Turaga. He was amazed to think that the Turaga of Mata Nui had once been Toa, and he also couldn't help but speculate what it might be like if some of the Matoran they knew were to become Toa. Spike was pleased to hear about the Toa Nuva saving the island of Mata Nui from destructive threats like the Bohrok, yet he couldn't bring himself to appreciate the image of a place like Metru Nui. Chomper was amazed by all the stories of the Toa Nuva and the Toa Metru. He did get quite a scare when he heard that Jaller had died, but was relieved that he had been brought back soon afterward. Ruby was intrigued by all of the stories, especially the fact that the real home of the Matoran was Metru Nui instead of Mata Nui. Although she wouldn't admit it, all she really wanted was to see her Ko-Matoran friend, Matoro, again. After quickly walking a good distance away from the stronghold, the gang stopped and thought about what to do next.

“What now?” asked Petrie.

“Well, I can see why the Toa didn't want us to come with them, but I don't want to just sit here and do nothing,” said Cera.

“Yeah, we've already told Garan and the other Matoran that we would help them, no matter what.” added Littlefoot. “It looks like we will now have to help them save their entire universe.”

“But what can we do?” asked Chomper, shrugging. “We all know how powerful the Piraka are, so fighting them is clearly a bad idea. We could try to find the Mask of Life, but we don't know where it is.”

“We may not know where the Mask of Life is, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't look for it,” commented Ruby. “After all, Garan did say that if he, his friends, and the Toa are to fall, we might be Mata Nui's last hope.”

“Ruby's right,” said Littlefoot. “I think that while the Toa and the Piraka are busy fighting, we should try to find the Mask of Life, ourselves. At least the Piraka still see us as a pest instead of a threat.”

“That sounds like a good idea, but isn't that mask at the bottom of a lava pool or something like that?” pointed out Cera.

Littlefoot shook his head. “I think that's where the Piraka think they will find it. Nobody ever actually said where we might find the Mask of Life, so it might be hidden somewhere else on this island. The Piraka are all looking in just one place, so if we spread out and look in a lot of different places, we actually stand a better chance of finding that mask than the Piraka do.”

“That great idea sounds like a great idea, Littlefoot!” praised Ruby.

“It is a great idea! It is, it is!” added Ducky.

“Why didn't I think of that?” asked Cera, rhetorically. “It actually makes sense, and will make the task a whole lot easier for us.”

“All right, guys, let's go find the Mask of Life!” declared Littlefoot.

The gang all cheered at this. They were now very confident that they would be successful.
-------

Read and review, as always. Hopefully, this chapter gave you at least a basic idea of what has happened in the Matoran universe between this story and the previous one. Also, I'm not sure if I should, but I could offer links to the first three Bionicle movies (if I can find them uploaded somewhere online), which take place during the events described in this chapter. But I'm not sure if any of you would be interested. Also, there is a fourth Bionicle movie, but the events of that movie will take place later on in this story. I'll try to avoid spoilers, but I won't stop any of you from finding out on your own.

[LBTDiclonius]

Nice to see a new chapter up. I liked it. Pretty much summed up everything.

“You mean... Takua does not even remember us anymore?”*asked Ducky with sadness.

That should have a space.

Hmm, pretty good chapter. Update soon!

[Pangaea]

Argh! I didn’t mean for this review to be so late! Attribute it to my recurring bouts of inexplicable weariness and “thinker’s block”, along with the fact that I am far behind on my cookbook proofreading job, my sleep schedule has become downright anarchic, and my brother is visiting on his week off from college, so I have had to suspend my normal GOF activities both for family time and to allow him to use the computer for homework.

Since this chapter was almost entirely exposition, I’m afraid I don’t have a whole lot to say about it. I can sum most of it up by saying that I think you did a fantastic job having the Toa explain the past events of the Matoran universe in a way that both the gang and non-Bionicle-acquainted readers could easily understand. I particularly liked the explanation of the Matoran-Toa-Turaga “growth stages”; the Toa’s comparison of it to the life stages of a dinosaur was very well done, and I found the information rather interesting myself.

LBTDiclonius beat me to one mistake; here are the others I found:

“At first, none of us were interested in working together,” continued Gali, “but as the Rahi attacks got worse, we eventually decided that our best chance of finding all of our masks was to work together. Meanwhile, you old friend, Takua, went on some adventures of his own.”

Should be “your”.

“Not much, actually,” replied Pohatu. “Though I have heard rumors that right after he had gathered the Toa Stones that summoned us to the island, he got a bad case of amnesia and lost all of his memories.”

Remove “had”.

These heroic actions convinced the Turaga to name him Chronicler, a title which I believe he had already explained to you about back when he was in your universe. Anyway, we had eventually collected all of our masks, which then granted us a golden Kanohi mask that had the powers of all the masks we had collected.

Remove “had” and “about”. “Already” and “back” are probably unnecessary as well.

“They're insectoid machines with the sole purpose of destroying everything on the island,” explained Onua. “They're powered by a mask-like creature called a Krana, which grant Bohrok abilities much like our masks do. However, if one was to wear a Krana like a Kanohi, then he would end up behaving like a Bohrok, with the objective of destroying everything.”

You should specify that you are referring to Matoran/Toa here. At first I thought “one” meant “a Bohrok”. Also, “was” should be “were”.

“The worst that you could have imagined. I went to quick-check my village and when I got there, everyone ó including Turaga Matau ó had their masks replace with Krana! They then replaced my mask with a Krana, too.”

Should be “replaced”.

“After that, the rest of Le-Koro was freed, thanks to Takua and Nuparu, who had invented a machine made out of parts of disabled Bohrok that allowed the Matoran to fight back at the Bohrok.”

”At” should be “against”.

It wasn't easy, but by combining our powers, we had successfully trapped them.

Remove “had”.

Since our masks* powers still worked, we decided to collect Kanohi Nuva, much like we had done when we had collected our original masks. Eventually, the Bohrok-Kal had found the cave where we had trapped the Bahrag and attempted to use our symbols to free them.

Remove “had”.
*Insert apostrophe.

“Unfortunately, they had just created * barrier that prevented us from stopping them, despite the slowing of time,” continued Gali.

*Insert “a”.

Meanwhile, the three captured Toa were locked in a prison cell ó think of like being trapped in a cave ó where they met a Turaga who helped them discover their mask powers, which they used to escape.

Should be either “think of” or “like”.

“If that was the real Turaga Dume, them who was the fake Turaga Dume?” asked Ruby.

Should be “then”.

They also decided to prepare a backup plan by transferring some on their Toa Energy each into a Toa Stone and hiding them throughout the island.

Should be “some of each of their Toa energy”.

“Think of it like... think of it like being turned into sharpteeth,” clarified Lewa for the young dinosaurs. “That's how bad-horrible it was for them to become Toa Hordika.”

“In that case, I hope we never get to see one of those Visorak things,” said Cera, definitely not liking the idea of becoming a sharptooth.

“I don't think being a sharptooth is all that bad,” commented Chomper. When Cera glared at him, he shrugged and said, “What? I'm just saying.”

This, to me, was probably the funniest part in the chapter. However, Chomper’s response to Cera’s statement doesn’t seem like something that would incite her to glare at him. I think it would make more sense if he had said something like “What would be so bad about being a sharptooth?” and after Cera glares at him, says: “What? I'm just saying, I don't think being a sharptooth is all that bad.”

“Despite the urgency, the Toa decided that their most important task was to save the Matoran,” continued Pohatu, “so they went all over Metru Nui to gather the parts they would need to build vehicles that could carry all of the Matoran to Mata Nui. Along the way, they rescued Turaga Dume, and also found the Mask of Light, which had been hidden in the city by the Rahaga, who had taken it back from Makuta, who stole it from an unknown location.”

Should be “had stolen”.

“I know he is really important to everyone in this universe, but how bad can that be?” asked Cera, skeptically.

Not an error, but a comment: to me, this seems overly insensitive even for Cera. I would think that even she would understand the Matoran world well enough that she would know that for Makuta to die would be a bad thing.

“The Mask of Life?” asked Chomper. “Isn't that what the Piraka said they were here to find.”

This should end in a question mark.

Littlefoot was impressed by all the things Takua had done since they had last seen him, especially now that he was a Toa.

I would write this as “the fact that he was now”.

Ducky was amazed by the heroic things the Toa Nuva had done, but also terrified by the horrible things the Toa Metru had * to go through.

*Insert “had” or change “to go” to “gone”.

I’m a little unsure of how to word this last comment…I thought that the gang’s enthusiasm over their idea of helping the Matoran by splitting up to find the Mask of Life seemed a little strange; cheesy, almost, given the seriousness of the circumstances.

Again, sorry for the delayed review.

[Caustizer]

Your linking of events in this chapter was pretty good, but I must admit that I was almost entirely lost as to what the Toa were talking about.  It kind of reminded me of reading a scientific report where they throw dozens of words at you that you don't recognize and call it a major discovery, but in this case it was a collection of names that I didn't recognize since I don't follow the Bionicle universe that much. Perhaps you might need to soften things up a bit by tossing more reminders in amongst the story?

The chapter is pretty long though, so I can tell you put a lot of effort into it.  Apart from my usual comments (the gang saying things that seem to intelligent for their age and methods, lots of names with little description) it seems that you are on the right track.  Keep it up.

Caustizer

[Pangaea]

I think you did a fantastic job having the Toa explain the past events of the Matoran universe in a way that both the gang and non-Bionicle-acquainted readers could easily understand.

Your linking of events in this chapter was pretty good, but I must admit that I was almost entirely lost as to what the Toa were talking about.  It kind of reminded me of reading a scientific report where they throw dozens of words at you that you don't recognize and call it a major discovery, but in this case it was a collection of names that I didn't recognize since I don't follow the Bionicle universe that much. Perhaps you might need to soften things up a bit by tossing more reminders in amongst the story?

Oh well. I stand corrected, I guess.

The difficulty I perceive with familiarizing readers with characters and elements of the Bionicle series is that it's such a universe unto itself; if you haven't memorized a significant amount of information about the Bionicle world, then you really don't have much basis for understanding it. Comprehensively speaking, you have to work hard to link the right names, personalities, weapons/powers, visual appearances, and “species” to the right characters. The images of the characters posted at the end of of each chapter in which they make their respective first appearances are definitely helpful, but it's difficult to keep referring back to them. I honestly can't think of much that could be done to make the names, connections, references, etc. easier to understand. :unsure: