Like everyone had already said, welcome to the Gang of Five.

Despite delays due to homework, this chapter took longer to write than I had expected. Oh well, at least it's finished for you to read.

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Chapter 5
Explanations

Takua had been lucky to find Ta-Koro. He was still very unfamiliar with the terrain of the Great Valley, so finding any location would be difficult. However, he did notice the Smoking Mountain in the southeastern part of the valley, so he decided to go there. After all, Ta-Koro was built inside an active volcano, so it would make sense that its new location would also be inside a volcano; in this case, the Smoking Mountain.

Takua soon arrived at Ta-Koro. He stood at the edge of the lake of fire that surrounded the village. Just as he had expected, the bridge was down and the gate was closed. This path was the only way to get back into Ta-Koro. He needed to get the gates open, and that was possible only from inside the village. He waved his arms in the air and shouted, “Hey, everyone, I'm back! Open the gates! I have important information!”

The two guardsmen who stood atop the gate noticed him. Unfortunately, they were among the Ta-Matoran who hated him. “Is that Takua? What is he doing out there?” asked one of them.

“Why should we care?” replied the other one. “He's stupid for going out there like that. He's going to get himself killed.”

“Come on! Open the gates! Don't just leave me standing here all day!” shouted Takua.

“Should we open the gates?” asked the first guard.

“Nah, something will just come by and eat him,” replied the second guard.

“Open the gates,” ordered someone who stood behind them. The two guardsmen turned around to see their captain, Jala, standing before them. “That's an order,” he said.

Both of them saluted him and one of them replied, “Yes, Captain.” The guardsman then shouted down to the winch room, “Open the gates!” The operators in the winch room did as they were told. They activated the mechanism that caused the bridge to rise up out of the lava lake and the main gate to open.

Once the bridge was all the way up, Takua crossed it and walked through the opened gate. In only a matter of seconds, dozens of Ta-Matoran emerged from their homes to see him back in the village. They were quickly whispering rumors to each other about what this could mean. Most importantly, just what was out there? They knew that he would talk about what he had seen out there, but would they be willing to listen to him?

Takua was uncertain about how to start. He had almost never been the center of attention. After a few seconds, he managed to speak up. “Alright, everyone,” he said, “as you know, I sneaked out of the village to see what was in this universe. There are other creatures here, but they assured me that this valley we are currently in is very safe. We will always be safe as long as we don't go beyond the mountains that surround this valley, because that's where the dangerous creatures live. I assume the other villages are also in this valley.”

“Who are these creatures you are talking about?” asked one Ta-Matoran.

Takua knew this would be where everyone would stop believing him. “They call themselves dinosaurs,” he continued. “These creatures are huge, easily more than twice as high as we are. Also, they are completely organic. They have no masks or armor, just organic flesh and bone.”

“Impossible!” exclaimed one Ta-Matoran. “No fully organic creature could be that big!”

“I bet there's no such thing as these so-called 'dinosaurs'!” exclaimed another.

“Of course he's lying to us! He knows he doesn't belong here,” taunted another. Nearly every Matoran in the village started laughing at Takua for telling such a ridiculous story.

“But they are real creatures. I actually spoke with some of them,” said Takua, trying to get everyone to listen to him. The village-wide laughter continued. He then noticed Jala within the crowd, but he was not laughing. Maybe he actually had faith in him. “Jala, do you believe what I said?” asked Takua.

Jala felt uneasy about it. He sighed and said, “I don't know. Even I find this hard to believe.”

Takua couldn't believe what was happening. No one, not even his friend, Jala, believed in what he truly saw. The laughter was becoming too much for him to bear. Takua was about to turn around and run away from the village when an elderly voice shouted, “Enough!”

The laughter immediately stopped as everyone turned to see Turaga Vakama standing before them. In his right hand, he held up his Firestaff, signaling that he demanded silence. He lowered his Firestaff and said, “Come with me, Takua. We must speak in private.”

Takua was uncertain of what Vakama wanted to speak with him about, but he knew it had to be something important. As Takua walked away with Vakama, many of the Ta-Matoran assumed that Vakama would finally banish Takua from the village. Jala, however, knew this would not be so. He assumed that Vakama would have to accept what Takua had said, since it was the only information of this universe that was currently available.

Takua and Vakama walked into the largest hut in the village, Vakama's hut. Vakama stood before the giant fire that dominated the middle of the hut. After a few seconds, Vakama turned to face Takua and said, “First of all, Takua, you disobeyed me. You left the village without my permission.”

“I know, but I wasn't gone for more than half a day,” said Takua.

“That's not the point. However, I see why you were willing to take such a risk. You were right. We would never learn anything about this universe if everyone stayed in their villages. Thanks to you, we shall not have to worry about that anymore. Now, tell me all you have learned about this universe.”

Takua informed Vakama of everything that had happened this morning. He described the amazing creatures he had seen, the dinosaurs, as well as what the land inside and outside this valley was like. He also talked about the group of small and young dinosaurs that he had become friends with.

As Takua finished, Vakama stared at the fire for a few minutes to gather his thoughts. Finally, he said, “We now exist in the universe of the dinosaurs. Since we have no knowledge on how we got here, we may never be able to leave. Therefore, peace with them will be necessary. The first step to establishing such a peace is to understand who we are making peace with. Go to the other villages, and tell each of the other Turaga that we are to meet in the center of this valley early tomorrow morning. You are also to tell the dinosaurs who live in this valley to be at that meeting as well, so that we may discuss who we are and that we wish for peace with them.”

Takua wasn't sure if he could handle this duty. He had no idea where the other villages were. Even if he did get lucky enough to find them all, he would have even less luck convincing the dinosaurs to attend the meeting. As he thought about it, he realized that he could have his new friends tell the other dinosaurs about the meeting, so he could focus on finding the other villages and informing the Turaga of this meeting. “I will do as you ask, Turaga,” he said, bowing before him in respect.

Vakama smiled. “I am pleased to see that you are willing to perform this task. May it help you gain the much-needed trust of the Matoran.”

Takua left the hut and headed for the gate. As he walked past all of the Ta-Matoran, he told them that he was not banished, but was performing a task for the Turaga. Takua left Ta-Koro and headed in the direction he had recently come from. Before he could begin his task, he had to tell his new friends about it so they could do their part.
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Littlefoot and his friends had just finished their lunch. They were now talking about their new friend, Takua, and what his kind might be like.

“I think Takua is quite friendly,” said Littlefoot. “I think we should introduce him to the grown-ups when he gets back.”

Cera disagreed. “No way! That's a bad idea. In fact, I still find it hard to believe that such a creature like him actually exists. My daddy will never be able to believe it.”

“Cera right,” commented Petrie, “Takua sure look very strange.”

“Sometimes, the best way to believe something is to see that something,” said Ruby.

“That's just what I was thinking,” said Littlefoot. “As soon as he gets back, we'll take him to the grown-ups so they can personally see him.”

Chomper looked to the side and saw Takua was walking towards them. “Hey, look! Takua's coming back,” he said. Everyone looked in the same direction he was looking.

As Takua walked into the clearing, he was greeted by his new friends. “Hi, Takua,” they all said at once.

“Hi, guys,” he replied.

“Come on,” said Littlefoot. “We'd like you to meet everyone in the Great Valley.”

“Sorry, guys,” said Takua, “but I can't do that right now. I need to do something else first.”

“Something else? Like what?” asked Ducky.

“Turaga Vakama is calling a meeting at the center of the valley tomorrow morning. I need to go to the other villages and tell the other Turaga about this meeting so that they can attend this meeting.”

“Who are the Turaga?” asked Chomper.

“They are the elders of our villages. They are the ones who make most of the decisions that need to be made. I also need to tell the dinosaurs of this valley to attend this meeting as well. It may take me all day just to go to the other villages, so maybe you can tell the other dinosaurs here about this meeting.”

“What should we tell them this meeting is about?” asked Littlefoot.

“Tell them that it's for the Matoran and the dinosaurs to know each other and that we wish to establish peace between us.”

“Will you be at that meeting, too?”

“Of course I will. There's no way I'm going to miss something this important. I need to leave now. See you tomorrow morning.”

Everyone said goodbye as Takua walked away to begin his part of the task. Now they had their part of the task to do and they knew that without Takua, it wasn't going to be easy. They left the clearing and headed for the Stone Circle, where the grown-ups likely still were.
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The gang soon arrived at the Stone Circle. The grown-ups were still there and still discussing the strange event that had happened earlier today. The gang walked up to them, getting the attention of some. “Hey, everyone! We know what those light beams did,” announced Littlefoot, getting the attention of everyone else.

“Did you go to where one of them hit the ground?” asked Littlefoot's grandfather.

“Actually, they brought some strange creatures to this valley and one of those creatures came to us. His name is Takua and he is very friendly.”

“What kind of creature is he?” asked Cera's father.

“He says he's a Matoran. Matoran are only as tall as I am and they walk on two legs. Also, their bodies are covered almost entirely in some strange kind of armor. And, strangest of all, they always wear masks over their faces.”

“That's ridiculous! Why would they always want to cover up their faces!?”

“Well, masks are like some sort of energy source for them, so they need to always wear them. Anyway, Takua says that we need to tell you that the leaders of the Matoran, the Turaga, have called a meeting at the center of the valley tomorrow morning. They want to know who we are and they want to be peaceful with us.”

The fact that these “Matoran” wanted to be peaceful with them relieved most of the crowd. Also, the center of the valley happened to be right where they currently were, so perhaps they might learn what the strange new rock nearby was.

Cera's father, however, was still not believing any of it. “I doubt that such creatures even exist, but we'll see in the morning.”

“Mr. Threehorn is right. Perhaps it is best that we save our questions for tomorrow, when we will actually meet these Matoran,” stated Littlefoot's grandfather.

Everyone agreed with this and started to leave the area. The gang soon left as well. They decided to spend the rest of the day continuing their game of toss-the-seed. They all hoped to see Takua again tomorrow.
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The next chapter will be shorter, so it shouldn't take too long to write it. Again, let me know what you think of this story so far.

Good work, it's great to be able to see every single episode in the TV series (as of now). Since I'll be busy with other things this week, I'll watch it on Saturday.

Arkansas

San Francisco

New Brunswick

Attu - western-most of the Aleutian Islands

Sparti - Greece

Nanjing - China

Another new member.  Welcome to the Gang of Five.