They walked down the long dark spiral stair case. Matau wondered if it would ever end. It was impossible to see to the bottom. He didn’t really know if that was because it was so dark or if it was because it was so deep. He wondered why Toa Lhikan had summoned them to this place. There was nothing special about him. He looked at Nokama but her eyes didn’t meet his. He dropped his head in sadness. From what he had seen of her, he really liked her. Sure, there had been other Ga-Matoran that had been prettier than her but she was a nice person to be around, she was friendly and compassionate. Matau wondered what had come over him. He always measured Ga-Matoran on looks and not personality. It was useless in feeling anything for her though. After seeing the way she looked at Vakama earlier, it was obvious she didn’t give a ###### about him.

It felt like they had been walking for a millennium by the time they got to the bottom. They were in a pitch black hallway. The floor wasn’t carpeted like above.

“How deep down do you think this place is?” Vakama asked

“Hmmm” Whenua thought for a moment. Matau had no idea what calculations were going on his head. He didn’t really care. Did it really matter how deep they were? Vakama and his stupid questions.

“I would say about 100 feet down” Whenua finally said. “It’s a rough figure but it’s a good guess” He continued.

“Hey Onewa you being rather silent. That’s a nice change” Matau stated.

“How long did it take you to come up with that gem Matau? Don’t fry you brain cells” Onewa responded. “Oh but, I’m fine by the way. Don’t you guys all rush at once to ask me.”

“I think people would ask if they were genuinely interested” Said Matau. Onewa didn’t respond. Matau wondered what Nuju had meant when he said something to Onewa about looking manly in front of the guys. Whatever he meant it seemed to frighten the life out of Onewa. Matau would probably ask him later, although he didn’t really expect much of a lengthy response from a Ko-Matoran. They were always quite short with the sentences and didn’t really like to socialise. This was very different to the Le-Matoran who would rarely be found alone. The six of them stumbled across to passage ways. One was leading left and one was leading right.

“We should split up into two groups” Vakama suggested.

“Good idea” Said Matau. “Me and Nokama will quick-take the left and you guys can take the right”

“Oh Matau” Nokama laughed. “You’re so funny”

“It wasn’t a joke” said Matau, confused.

“Let me rephrase that for her” Said Onewa. “You’re so funny how much of a pathetic loser you are by trying to get me alone in a blatantly obvious scenario.”

“Onewa!” Nokama said. “Matau you know full well I didn’t mean it like that.” Matau was ready to fly-kick that stupid little Po-Matoran.

”Matau, I think it would make sense if we evened out the sides. I think Vakama should come with us” Nokama said.

“Go figure” said Matau, under his breath.

“What was that?” Vakama asked. Well look at superman with his supersonic hearing. I bet chicks did that stuff thought Matau. “Nothing” Matau sighed.

Matau, Nokama and Vakama all took the left while the others took the right. Matau realised he may have been a little harsh on Vakama when he muttered earlier and didn’t want that to rub off on what could be a good friendship. Vakama really did seem like a nice guy and Matau wasn’t the type to hold grudges. He had already forgiven Onewa.

“So uh Vakama what do you do for a living?” He asked.

“I forge Kanohi.” He replied

“Oh right? Did you make mine?” Asked Matau, pointing to his mask.

“Maybe, it’s hard to tell” Vakama said. Matau could tell he was finding the conversation awkward.

“Well whoever made it, it’s a ###### good mask.”

“Probably me then” Vakama joked. They both laughed. “What about you?” He asked.

“I…Wash vehicles” Matau said. He was ashamed. He knew exactly what the next question would be. He was going to ask why he didn’t fly them.

“So you don’t fly them? Vakama asked

“No… I didn’t pay much attention in class. I guess I paid for it.”

“Well it’s never too late to retake” Said Vakama.

“Well, I don’t know. Would that look a bit stupid?

“Not at all” He said. “I know a few Matoran who re took their Kanohi Making class”

“Maybe I’ll consider it” Matau lied. He noticed Nokama was up in front, scouting ahead.

“Hey Nokama! Need a hand?” Matau shouted up to her. She put her finger on her lips to silence him. The three of them regrouped.

“See anything?” Vakama asked.

“Nothing. It appears we’re down here alone.” She replied

“It’s funny” Vakama said. “with all that’s been going just now it’s had to believe what happened just a few hours ago.”

“I know”. Said Nokama sadly. “Were you close?”

“Very” Said Vakama.

“And you Matau?” She asked.

“Yeh, I used to talk to him a lot. But what I don’t understand it why us? Why are we so special?”

“Maybe he trusted us?” suggested Vakama.

“Really?” Said Matau. “I wouldn’t trust myself with anything, let alone Onewa.

“Maybe its destiny” said Vakama

“Destiny for what though?” asked Nokama.

They carried on walking. The tunnel was poorly lit and had uneven ground, making it easy to trip. The screeches from the bats gave of a frightening echo. Nokama screamed as a group of them flew past her.

With about an hour of walking the three Matoran travelled to the end of the main tunnel. Matau noticed there were three entrances. Each of the three had a light at the top. One blue, one green and one red

“I take it we chose the one with our colour?” Asked Vakama rhetorically.

“I don’t know man, what if it’s a trick question?” responded Matau. `Both the other Matoran looked at Matau. “What?” He asked.

“One it’s not a question” Said Vakama

“And two, even if it is it’s not like we can’t just walk back out and take the right path” concluded Nokama.

Matau shrugged. “Well don’t say I didn’t tell you so.”

Vakama laughed. “We won’t because everything will be fine”

Matau walked cautiously into his designated tunnel. It was so dark he could barely see. The sound of his foot step changed and he realised he was standing not standing on rock anymore but on metal. He jumped when the lift started to travel down slowly. It took him about 10 feet down. Bellow him was a pit full of spikes. He looked at the other end of the pit where he saw something glistening and shiny. Matau looked down and then looked up. He gulped. Why was it his knees always got weak when he was at heights. Whose glorious idea was that. It’s the reverse of what was needed. Matau knew he needed to get to the other side to get the shiny thing. But how could he do that. He took a step back. It was a large dark room and it took his eyes time to adjust to the light. He then saw his path like it had illuminated before him.

“There’s no way I can do this”. It would take all of his acrobatic skill to succeed. Even then he might not be able to do it. Why was he here anyway? Why was he doing this? Why was he putting his life on the line? It was ridiculous. Why were these six Matoran risking their lives to do these tests? Onewa broke his fingers for Ahtaka’s sake. Now Matau who’s biggest weight on his shoulders was getting up the right time for work was just about to attempt basically suicide. There were wooden bars symbolizing branches. The challenge had obviously been designed for a Le-Matoran. He would have to run grab one branch then use the momentum to swing to the others. He ran as fast has his legs would allow him. He jumped at the edge of the pit. Too short. The spikes went into his knees. Matau let out a scream of pain. He couldn’t believe he had failed. Something in the back of his mind told him to looked behind him. To his amazement there was a way back up. There were tiny wooden ledges that could be used as climbing grips. Using his arms he crawled to the edge of the pit. He used one of his arms to grab the first grip. Using his upper body strength he pulled his other arm to the next grip. After a few falls and failed attempts Matau finally got enough momentum to get back to the start of the test. He closed his eyes. He thought of Toa Lhikan falling to the ground and Akmoah withdrawing the blade from his head. Anger flushed though him. “I have to do this for Lhikan”. He got up. The pain surged through his legs like fire. He ran. He couldn’t even jump far enough to be impaled by the spikes again. He got up like he had before. He was tired. He thought his anger would make him stronger. Everything had failed. How useless was he? Then he remembered. A feeling. A memory but not like the angry one before. He remembered climbing the great trees of the Le-Metru jungle and falling. He remembered hurting himself badly. He then remembered a Toa. Not Lhikan. It was Toa Nidhiki. She picked him up, cleaned his wounds and told him.

“To be a true Hero, you have to believe”

The memory and her words stayed in his head. He got up. The pain left him. Still remembering her words he ran. He jumped then griped enough speed to get to the next wooden stick. He believed. He got to the other side. The pain surged through him again. He tried his best to keep in his tears. Limping to the shiny metal object and picking it up he stated to examine it. A door then opened to reveal five other tunnel doors leading into a room with a tomb at the end of it. The other Matoran were waiting for him.

“MATAU!” Nokama screamed in joy. “You’re alive!”

“###### straight. Matau said.

“I’m glad you okay Matau” Vakama put his hand on Matau’s shoulder. Matau did the same.

“You too buddy” He smiled.

“Well this is all lovely but what do we do now” Said a bored Onewa.

“Matau did you get you Key?” asked Nokama.

“Key? You mean the shiny thing? Matau replied. Whenua laughed loudly.

“Yes Matau, the shiny thing” He said, still chuckling.

“We put all ours on that tomb over there” Said Nuju. Matau stumbled over to the tomb, his legs still causing him massive pain. Everyone else’s key had been placed in its designated slot. The only one missing was Matau’s. He placed it in there.

“I’m just glad this lock doesn’t break my fingers” Huffed Onewa. The tomb opened. To everyone’s amazement it was empty. There was absolutely nothing inside it.

“Wow!” said Onewa. “This was really worth becoming handicapped.”

“I don’t believe this” said Vakama. “Why would Toa Lhikan do this to us?”

“To test you skill and to test your courage” A familiar voice was heard.

“Toa Lhikan?” asked Whenua. Not sure what to make of this crazy scenario.

Lhikan didn’t look like his normal self. He was formed up of smoke. His red and gold amour was a lot less vivid than they had been before.”

“You’re alive?” Asked Onewa

“No Onewa, not alive. “However it is not my destiny to leave this realm just yet” He spoke in the same grand voice as he always did. His voice had the ability to calm down even the most frantic of beings.

“What is your destiny then? Nokama asked, still shocked.

“Dear Nokama, the end of my destiny is the start of yours” Toa Lhikan stood there for a moment, his colour becoming more vivid and his form becoming much solid. Within a few seconds the Toa was whole again. Then a bright light shone from him, getting brighter and brighter. The Matoran couldn’t help but kept looking at it. It felt like there were a thousand stars burning at once. Matau thought he was blind for a moment. His every limb felt like it was being stretched from his torso. He had never experienced pain like this and could hear the others screaming in agony. It was so loud that he couldn’t even tell if he was actually screaming.

The light stopped. At fist Matau’s vision was blurry but it slowly came back. He looked at his body. It wasn’t his. He looked at the other Matoran. It wasn’t them. They weren’t Matoran, they were Toa. Wearily he got up. The pain is his legs had completely gone.

“This can’t be happening” said Nuju in disbelief. The six of them looked at each other for a spilt second before bursting out laughing. It wasn’t so much funny but the disbelief of it all was hilarious to them. They were the unlikely heroes. They were Toa.