At least two people have read this so far, that's enough to convince me to update, but not quite encouraging me to update. But why should this be a problem, I've only just started. Anyway, here's the next chapter (it took quite a while to write it).
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Chapter 4
A New Friend
Takua followed Littlefoot until they reached a small clearing. Before he reached the edge of the clearing, Littlefoot stopped and said to Takua, “Wait here, I'll bring them here.” Littlefoot then left to get his friends.
Littlefoot soon arrived at the Stone Circle, where his friends were waiting for him.
Cera was the first to notice him. “Hey, Littlefoot's coming back,” she told the others. They turned to see him, just as he walked up to them. “Well, did you find anything?” she asked him.
“Yes,” he replied, “I met someone there. He's very strange-looking and I have never seen anyone like him before, but he's very friendly and I think you should meet him.”
“I do like meeting new friends, I do, I do,” said Ducky, happily.
“Me want to meet new friend too,” said Petrie.
“If everyone wants to meet this new friend, then I think we should meet this new friend right now,” commented Ruby.
“Alright, follow me,” said Littlefoot. He began walking to the small clearing with his friends following close behind.
They soon arrived at the small clearing. Littlefoot stopped and said, “Okay, you can come out now.”
At first, nothing happened. Takua was a little hesitant. He saw that all seven members of this group were entirely different kinds of dinosaurs. He thought that maybe they didn't belong with their own kinds. He then remembered that he felt that he didn't belong with his own kind as well. Maybe this group would be willing to accept him. He came out from behind the bush where he had stood and walked into the clearing.
As Takua showed himself, Littlefoot's friends could hardly believe their eyes. This was the strangest creature they had ever seen. They were speechless. After a few seconds, Takua realized that he would have to say something first. “Hi, I'm Takua,” he said. They were still speechless. “I'm a Matoran,” he added. It soon became clear that he was getting nowhere at the moment.
After about a minute, Ducky was the first to speak up. “I have never seen anyone like you before. No, no, no.” she said, still unable to believe that the stranger she was talking to was real.
“That's because Matoran are from a very different universe,” said Takua.
“You're from another universe?” asked Chomper.
“Yeah, all of the Matoran that I know of lived on an island called Mata Nui. Did you see the sky flash brightly for a few seconds? I think that strange event somehow caused us to be transported from there to this universe.”
“Actually, what happened was that a few large beams of light came down from somewhere in the sky,” said Littlefoot. “I think the reason you didn't see them was because you must have been inside one of those light beams.”
“Good point. I just don't understand how that could have happened.”
“How many of you are there?” asked Ruby.
“Well, I'm guessing that all of those Matoran are now in this valley, so I'd say hundreds,” replied Takua.
“Really?” asked Cera. “If there are so many of you, then how come you're the only one we've seen so far?”
“We had no idea of what kind of universe we had ended up in, so everyone stayed inside their villages. I didn't think that was a good solution, so I sneaked out of my village to see what was out here. Even I was still uncertain about how dangerous this universe could be, so when I saw Littlefoot following me, I decided to hide up in a tree.”
“You can climb trees?” asked Chomper.
“Of course I can. In fact, Le-Matoran live in the trees.”
“Then prove it,” said Cera. “Let's see you climb a tree.”
“Alright then, I will.” Takua walked up to a nearby tree. He took off his backpack and dropped it onto the ground. He then jumped up and grabbed a low branch and climbed on top of it. He looked to everyone and waved.
“Go higher,” said Cera. “Let me see you really climb that tree.”
“You got it,” said Takua. He climbed up another branch and then another. He didn't have a reason to not climb this tree. The only reason he fell off the other one was because the branch snapped off. What were the odds of that happening again?
He had almost reached the top when a branch he had just grabbed onto suddenly snapped off. He lost his balance and fell off the branch he was just standing on. As he fell, he hit a few branches. He hit the last one so hard, his mask came off. He hit the ground face-down and his mask landed beside him. As Takua stood up, everyone gasped at what they saw. As far as they could tell, Takua's face had somehow fallen off. Takua noticed they were staring at him with shocked looks on their faces. “What?” he asked.
“Y-Your face came off,” said Littlefoot, with a noticeable amount of fear in his voice.
“What? My face?” asked Takua, as he looked around. He then noticed his mask on the ground. He then burst out laughing, causing the others to become very confused. “Sorry for scaring you like that, but that's not my face. That's my mask.”
“Your mask?” asked Littlefoot.
“Yeah, every Matoran wears a mask,” said Takua as he picked up his mask and put it back on his face.
“Why does every Matoran wear one?”
“I don't know. I have heard that if a Matoran doesn't wear a mask, he soon starts feeling weaker. After a few hours, that Matoran could fall into an endless sleep and can be awakened only by putting a mask on his face.”
“So a mask is like some source of energy?”
“Yeah, I guess you could think of it that way.” Takua knew it would take a long time to explain everything about his universe. However, he was here to learn about this universe, so he decided to change the subject. “Alright, in case if you didn't figure it out yet, the only reason I sneaked out of my village was to find out as much as I could about this universe. So why don't you introduce yourselves to me and then explain to me as much as you can about this place.”
“Good idea,” said Littlefoot. After all, he had wanted to introduce his friends to Takua in the first place.
Ducky decided to introduce herself first. “Hello, Takua. I am Ducky and I am a Swimmer. Yep, yep, yep,” she said. Then Spike walked up to Takua. Ducky introduced him. “This is Spike and he is a Spiketail. He does not talk but he is a good little brother to me.”
“I'm guessing he is your adopted brother,” said Takua.
“Yes, yes, yes,” said Ducky. “We found him all alone, but he came with us and he now lives with me. Yep, yep, yep.”
Petrie flew in front of Takua and said, “Hi, me Petrie and me Flyer.”
“Yeah, I kind of noticed that when I saw that you have wings,” said Takua.
Petrie couldn't help but chuckle at that statement. “You talk funny,” he commented.
“If you think I'm funny, you should listen to Le-Matoran when they talk,” said Takua.
Chomper walked up to Takua and said, “Hi, I'm Chomper and I'm a Sharptooth.”
“Sharptooth? Does that mean you're one of the dangerous kinds of dinosaurs?” asked Takua.
“Well, yes,” admitted Chomper. “But don't worry, no Sharptooth can get into this valley, and I'm very nice. I would never hurt anyone, especially not my friends.”
Takua was relieved to hear that. Besides, Chomper seemed way too small to pose any threat.
“It is good to know that you are willing to accept Chomper as a friend,” said Ruby. “Hello, I am Ruby and I am a Fast-Runner. I am here because I take care of Chomper while he lives here.”
Takua was pleased to meet all of them. He then noticed that one of them had still yet to be introduced to him; the one who had dared him to climb that tree. “And who are you?” he asked.
“I'm Cera and I'm a Threehorn,” she said, “and you better not try to do anything stupid with me, or you'll be in big trouble.”
Takua was well known for doing stupid things. But for once, he actually did something smart. He wanted to make a comment on the fact that Cera, being a Threehorn, had only one horn. But, seeing her attitude, he decided it was probably a bad idea, so he kept the comment to himself.
“Wow, you guys sure are close friends,” commented Takua. “I'd like to know how you came to be friends.”
The gang told Takua about a few of their adventures. They talked about how five of them, not counting Chomper and Ruby, first met and journeyed to find their new home, the Great Valley. They then talked about how they became friends with Chomper by hatching him from an egg they had found. They also talked about how Chomper and Ruby met and how they journeyed to, and became accepted into, the Great Valley.
As they finished talking about another of their adventures, Chomper commented that he was hungry. “I'm hungry too. I think we should take a break for lunch,” suggested Littlefoot.
As the gang spread out to get something to eat, Ruby noticed that Takua just stood where he was. Curious, she decided to ask him a question. “Hey, Takua, I was wondering, what do Matoran eat?” she asked.
Takua looked at her with a confused look on his face. “What do Matoran eat?” he asked.
“Yeah, do you eat green food, or do you eat the kind of things Chomper eats?” asked Ruby. Takua noticed Chomper grab a bug from inside a hollow tree and ate it.
“Actually, Matoran don't eat the way you guys do,” said Takua. “We absorb our energy in a different way.” Takua looked upwards and noticed that the sun was currently at its highest point in the sky, indicating that it was the middle of the day. He suddenly realized what he was supposed to be doing at this time. “It's the middle of the day already!?” he exclaimed. “Sorry guys, but I have to leave now. I need to get back to Ta-Koro right now. I'll see you again as soon as I can, I promise. Bye guys.”
“Goodbye, Takua. I hope we'll see you soon,” said Littlefoot.
Takua picked up his backpack and left to go back to Ta-Koro. What an amazing day he had, so far! Not only had he learned a few things about this universe and that this valley had little danger, but he had also made some new friends. He couldn't stop thinking about them. However, he now had a job to do. He would have to tell everyone in Ta-Koro that this universe was safe for them. Describing this universe, that would be the hard part. Even if the Ta-Matoran had a lot of faith in him, which they clearly didn't, they would never believe him if he talked about the kinds of creatures that lived here, but he had to try. He had no idea how long the Matoran would be in this universe, or even if there was a way to return to Mata Nui, so it would probably be a good idea to be friendly with the valley's residents. Such an alliance could benefit both sides. It would be all up to him to make it happen.
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Again, tell what you think. I'll need to be patient with this because, compared to what will come, these first few chapters aren't that exciting.