We are Metru Re-Write: Chapter 1
Entry posted by CeeCee
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1
Silence. There was nothing. Nothing but Silence. Not even the birds made a sound as they flew by. Vakama watched as Toa Lhikan’s lifeless body hit the floor. He watched as the trembling little Po-Matoran withdrew his knife from its back of the Toa’s head. The crowd didn’t cheer. The music didn’t play. There was nothing. Noting but silence.
Turaga Dume stood at the balcony of the coliseum. His eyes had changed. No Matoran had ever seen them like this before. This was a new Turaga Dume, yet it was the one that had been there for so long, unnoticed. His eyes read “Now, you obey me. Now you worship me”.
“Today Metru Nui!” he said, his eyes narrowed. “Today, you have witnessed the Death of a traitor!”
His voice was loud and authoritative, but not so much a shout. It was the type of voice saying “Cross me, I and I will make you wish you were dead.”
Vakama knew that Lhikan wasn’t a traitor. He just didn’t know why the Turaga would lie. No one else spoke, out of both shock and fear.
The coliseum emptied. No one knew what Toa Lhikan had done or why he had been executed. Vakama was almost certain of one thing though. That no one else would dare think differently about it.
“Vakama!” It was Nuurakh, the Ta-Matoran Vahki. One of the six left from the Dark War. “Where are you going?”
“Home” Vakama Lied. He didn’t know if Nuurakh had spotted this. Nuurakh knelt down so he was eye level with Vakama. His abnormal head faced towards him. His disk launcher moved like a mouth, but this was purely for show to make them look more Matoran
“Look.” He said. “I know Toa Lhikan meant a lot to you and I know you meant a lot to him, but don’t do anything stupid. You and I both know that he must have been a traitor. For what reason the Great Turaga lie?”
“Yes, for what reason?” Vakama asked rhetorically
“Vakama?” Nuurakh’s tone was more concerned than angry. Vakama was going to carry on the conversation but he stopped himself. He didn’t know who to trust anymore. He thought he trusted Nuurakh but he also thought he trusted Turaga Dume. It was hopeless. He felt as though this day had changed him forever.
Toa Lhikan had always been a man of riddles. The last thing he had said to Vakama they day he disappeared was: “Follow the stars”. Vakama had never felt so useless. Lhikan had chosen him for something that could potentially hold Metru Nui’s fate, but instead he had fallen at the first hurdle. He looked up at the diming sky. The stars were coming out. He didn’t see anything unusual about the stars that could lead him on where to go. Then it hit him. That was the point. There was nothing unusual about the sky. Toa Lhikan’s Toa star was still there, burning as bright as ever. It was hovering directly above the Great Temple. “A bit cliché” thought Vakama “but it’s as good a place to start as any”. The great temple was sacred to all Matoran. It was where all the Metru’s met up. A Metru was a district for each race of Matoran. Ta-Metru was a fire district. Vakama’s home and also Lhikans old one. Le-Metru was the air district, Ga-Metru was the water district, Po-Metru was the stone district, Ko-Metru was the ice district and Onu-Metru was the Earth district. Matoran from each Metru had their own characteristics and traits; some mental, some physical. They were the main in habitants of Metru Nui. Most Matoran stuck to jobs that were popular in their Metru, although some did other jobs that didn’t belong to it. Metru Nui was ran by one or more Turaga. At the moment there was only one Turaga which was Turaga Dume. Most Turaga were Toa at one point. Traditionally, a Toa would guard a designated Metru Generally their own) . The could control great amounts of elemental energy and were able to access their mask powers through the use of their Great Kanohi’s. They served as fighters and protectors for Metru Nui. They were typically taller than the Matoran and Turaga Vakama wasn’t sure if it was possible to be a Toa without being a Matoran first. He wasn’t around when Toa Lhikan was a Matoran, but he had been told many stories. Toa Lhikan had been the last Toa of Metru Nui. The other Toa had either died or joined the dark hunters: A top league mercenary organization. Most of the Toa that had done this had been mutated or merged. Because of the shortage of Toa in the Dark War, against Sidoraks Kingdom, Turaga Dume got some top scientists to create the Vahki. They were slightly shorter than the Toa and they were not as strong or powerful as them either, but their sheer strength in numbers was not to be reckoned with. Unfortunately, only six remained a live at the end of the war. They now acted as a mix between Toa and law enforcers.
The Great Temple was the only place in Metru Nui that didn’t belong to a Metru. Vakama had only been there once, when Toa Lhikan had taken him. Vakama nearly began to weep at the thought of this memory. Toa Lhikan truly had been a great friend and mentor.
He shiftily walked into the Great Temple. The Huge Statues of previous once a great and powerful Toa loomed over him. They watched him enter. Although Vakama knew they were just lifeless stone statues, he couldn’t help but feel their eyes were following him. He turned the corner and came across a massive Hall way full of statues of previous Toa of Fire. Toa Norik, Toa Vulass, Toa Kavara, Toa Marikan, Toa Rezan, Toa Dume… Toa Lhikan. Vakama’s observations were interrupted by a loud crash. He ran across the hall way to find a disorientated white Ko-Matoran on the floor. Vakama could see he had fallen from a broken stair banister. A tan Po-Matoran was standing over him, unable to control his laughter.
“Hahahahahaha! So this is why I never see Ko-Matoran’s outside. Hahahahahaha! I used to think they were just sad no life, but now I realize it’s just because they would break every think they touch. Makes me wonder why you make everything out of ice.”
“That’s it Onewa, I’ve had it with you!” The Ko-Matoran got up of the floor and raised his fist to punch Onewa. Onewa’s grabbed it, pulled it hard and then kicked the Ko-Matoran to the ground. Onewa’s face changed from happy to pure intimidating.
-“Sit down, Nuju.” At first Vakama though these two might have been friends joking around, but he could see by the aggressive look on Onewa’s face and the frightfulness in Nuju’s, this was not the case.
“Hello there.” Said Vakama. Nuju looked grateful for the distraction, but at the same time mad at Vakama for not intervening earlier.
“I’m Vakama”
Nuju got up from the floor. Vakama could tell it was a painful effort for Nuju to raise his hand for Vakama to shake it.
“Nuju” He said. Onewa shook he head. He held his fist out to Vakama. Vakama mirrored it. The Ko-Matoran had a strange version of the first meet, they called the handshake. They thought of it as more formal for some reason.
“I’m Onewa” He said. He was confident. Vakama didn’t know what to make of him, especially how he was with Nuju. Two Matoran walked down the opposite staircase to the one Nuju had fallen down.
“Wow, look at the place”. Said the dark green Le- Matoran. “Not bad for a first date, hey Nokama?”
“Oh Matau.” The Dark blue Ga-Matoran spoke. Too Vakama, she was beautiful. Her mask seemed to illuminate the room.
“Oh hey look!” Matau spoke. “Look at all these guys!” He said excitedly.
“I’m Vakama.” He said to Nokama. He held her hand in his for a moment.
“Nokama” She introduced her self
“Vakama” He responded. Their eyes met. Just for moment he forgot all about what had happened to today and his grieving for Toa Lhikan disappeared.
“Ahem” It was Matau “and you might be?” Embarrassed, Vakama let go of Nokama’s immediately.
“Sorry” He said. “I’m Vakama”. His fist met Matau’s. “This is Onewa and this is Nuju”.
“Nice, I’m Matau”
“So it appears we almost have a full house, save an Onu-Matoran”
“Actually, you do”. A black Matoran stood out from the shadows where he had been hiding. His black amour mad his dark green eyes even more vivid. He spoke carefully and clearly, his voice was deep but friendly. “I’m Whenua by the way. Sorry for appearing so rude, but I like to evaluate the situation from afar”. Seeing as you all seem like no apparent threat, I thought I would show my face”
“No apparent threat?” questioned Onewa. “What about me?” Nuju grunted but it came out louder than he intended. Onewa punched him in the arm, hard. Whenua walked towards Onewa. Grabbed him with one hand, and thrust him against the wall.
“That’s right, no apparent threat.” Whenua smiled.
The Six Matoran, led by Whenua, walked in silence through the long corridors of the Temple. It wasn’t so much they didn’t have anything to say, but the shear awkwardness left every one mute. It was a long walk. Vakama didn’t even know the temple was this big. The Temple walls were made of a dark grey stone, carved like bricks. A red carpet had been laid in the middle of every corridor. The Temple was filled with giant carvings of heroic Toa, Turaga and Matoran done by ancient Po-Matoran. Onewa gazed in amazement at all of them. The corridors were well lit with torches but it still gave off an eerie vibe, especially the deeper they got.
They all eventually got to a room with a dead end.
“Great.” Said Matau. “The miner brought us all this way, just to find out that we took the wrong turn.”
Whenua gave off a slight huff. “When will you all realize that mining has become a fairly small part of the Onu-Metru job industry? We do Jobs like engineering and archiving, like myself.
“So you’re either swinging tools when engineering or going down into deep dark scary holes when archiving. Sounds pretty much like Mining to me” Said Onewa.
Whenua glared at him. “So explain to me what sculpting is? Oh wait, swinging tools. And how do you think you’d get those fancy rocks to sculpt with if we didn’t mine them for you. And all the machinery you use? All invented by us. And let’s not forget about what most of you carve right? Ancient history? Well I’m pretty sure archiving plays a big part….”
“Okay, okay,” said Onewa, agitated, realizing he’d been beaten.
“Look” Said Nuju. “None of this bickering is going to help the fact that we’re all still lost.”
Whenua looked at him. A vague smile formed on his face.
“Lost?, You underestimated me” He pulled back the red carpet covering the floor of the small cylinder shaped room. Vakama had never seen anything like it. It was a giant manhole except it was covered in wires and circuits. It was bright gold in colour.
“I’ve never seen anything like that before.” Nokama stole the words right out from Vakama’s mouth.
“I…I have.” Nuju raised his hand unsurely. Onewa rolled his eyes. “It’s an old Ko-Matoran manhole system. It was used centuries back when the Great Ice Rahi, known in plural as the Komasa, single as the Komasi attacked Ko-Metru. They were both clever and strong but neither their intelligence nor strength could overcome this lock. The Komasa eventually died of starvation.”
“So how do we open it?” asked Vakama.
“You don’t. At least not from the outside.” Nuju replied. Nuju’s eyes then lit up. “There is one way we can do it. If I get it wrong though, I could fry us all.”
“Well then, we’re all screwed” Said Onewa. Nuju ignored him
“Who is the strongest here?” he asked.
“Me.” said a Confident Onewa. Whenua laughed and walked towards the manhole, shoving Onewa with his shoulder as he walked past.
“Where do you need me?” He said.
“Over there by that lever. I need you to pull it when I say go. I hope you’re strong enough, it would usually be done by a machine”. Said Nuju.
“I am a Machine” joked Whenua. He walked over and held the lever.
“Okay Onewa. Seeing as you want to be useful you have the most important job of all” Said Nuju.
“Don’t patronise me. What do you want me to do?” There was a silence “I said what do you want me to do? Don’t take all day about it!” said Onewa aggressively. Nuju looked shocked and scared for a moment. He looked at the other Matoran. They all gave him encouraging looks so Nuju chose to ignore Onewa’s immature behaviour.
“If you want to help you’ve got to stop that bar from touching the floor. It’s going to want to do that when Whenua pulls the lever. If it touches the floor we’re all going to be in bits. If you actually grew up, you’d know that I wasn’t being patronising and actually is the most important job. Got it?” Vakama was amazed how angry and in charge Nuju was. Onewa looked dumbfounded, not used to Nuju talking back at him.
“Okay man , just calm down, your embarrassing yourself” Onewa joked nervously, failing to get the other Matoran to laugh.
“Onewa?” Said Matau.
“What?!”
“Just shut up and hold the bar so we can get the Karzhani”. Onewa held the bar firmly in his hands. Nuju started the count down.
“Three, two, one, GO!”
Whenua stated pulling down the lever. Nuju was frantically fiddling around with the different wires. Suddenly the metal bar started to travel down.
“Guys…guys I don’t think I can hold this. NUJU FOR GOD SAKE, MAKE IT STOP!” Vakama didn’t know whether Nuju was ignoring him or was just too concentrated to hear anything. A horrible scream started coming from Onewa. Vakama didn’t blame him. His fingers were literally being crushed. Slowly. Whenua looked concerned but continued to pull the lever. Everyone was covering their ears from Onewa’s screaming. Nokama was crying so Matau put his arm around her to comfort her. Although Vakama knew this was the wrong time, he couldn’t help but feel jealous.
“NUJU!” Vakama shouted. The lever Whenua was holding shot back and the bar crushing Onewa’s finger lifted.
“Done.” Said Nuju proudly.
“You psycho!” Cried Onewa. “Could you not here me screaming?”
“Of course I did” Said Nuju. “But I didn’t expect much else from a feeling like a 40 ton weight crushing down on your fingers.”
“You knew this would happen?!” Shouted Onewa.
“Sure I did.” Said Nuju. “ Don’t cry though. You want to look manly in front of all the guys don’t you?”. A shock came across Onewa’s face.
“W…what?” He trembled “How did you…?”
Nuju smiled. The other Matoran seemed confused on what he was implying. Every one besides Onewa, that was. The three of them stood of the manhole. Every one helped lift it, except Onewa because of his broken fingers.
“Allow me” Said Matau smiling. “I’m an expert on dark holes”.
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