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[TuragaNuva]

Well, the forums are finally back! And do you know what that means? It means that it's time to re-post the first 5 chapters of Ora Nui (a lot of copying and pasting is about to happen here). Anyway, old readers and (hopefully) new, welcome (back) to my epic, Ora Nui. Here's chapter 1:

Chapter 1: The Return

Paru had a grim expression as the boat sped towards Ora Nui. It’s been too long, the cloaked Onu-Matoran thought to himself. Too many years have passed since that day. He pulled a rope on the sail of his small boat; he was getting close to the shore. Pulling out his oars, he paddled the rest of the way to the island, docking his boat by a rock on a sandy beach. Well, there’s no turning back now, he thought as he walked across the shore, his cape billowing slightly behind him.

Ahi was slightly nervous as he walked to Kape’s house. He’d been fine on the Ussal ride to Ga-Wohe, but now that he was almost at her hut, he was becoming uncomfortably warm: something unusual for a Ta-Matoran. Get a hold of yourself, he thought. You’ve seen her a billion times. You’re best friends! …even if you sometimes want to be more than just friends… He scolded himself: he knew that the Ga-Matoran would never like him that way, despite how long they’d known each other. Speaking of which, he thought, I wonder if she ever thinks about what we used to do, all those years ago… us, Hiko, Mita, Pakohe, and… and… But Ahi couldn’t bring himself to think the other names; the memories were too painful. Shaking his head, trying to get the conflicting thoughts out, he continued walking toward Kape’s home in the rainforests of Ga-Wohe.

The gleaming lightning rod towers shone against the cloudy skyline of Al-Wohe, the lightning region, as they always did. And, as always, Hiko was at her workstation, in one of the buildings connected to one of the many towers. Her job was simple: make sure that the base of her assigned lightning rod tower was connected to what needed to be charged, which was almost always lightcrystals: made from a material easily mined on Ora Nui, and expertly carved by Po-Matoran, these clear stones would conduct a current from the outside to their center, but not the other way around, leaving a sparking light in the middle of the crystal. However, charging them with said current was slightly trickier: if undercharged, the light wouldn’t be visible, but if overcharged, they would burst, shattering into hundreds of sharp fragments. Over the years, however, Hiko had become talented at knowing when to attach and detach lightcrystals from the metal of the tower, and had become somewhat bored; in recent weeks, she had even found herself reminiscing about older days: back when she had been able to do something exciting, things that were always challenging. I wonder if the others ever think about it, she wondered, walking over to the tower to double-check that the current crystals’ cords were firmly attached (they were). If things hadn’t gone wrong –so wrong, at the end –the team might have wound up different. Looking up at the sky, and deciding that, though it was stormy (as always) overhead, it didn’t look like lightning would be striking her tower particularly soon. “Hey, Rila, keep an eye on this for me, will you?” she asked her assistant at the tower.
“Well, okay,” Rila replied, “But be back soo-” but Hiko was already out the door, off to visit an old friend.

Silent. That’s what it was like in De-Wohe: complete and utter silence. Occasionally, there were whispers, but these usually resulted in so much more whispering and murmuring that they were generally avoided. Noise was painful. No De-Matoran liked noise. No De-Matoran, that is, except for Mita. A skilled inventor, he had, years ago, with the help of a couple other Matoran, impressively modified his mask: it now had small devices positioned over the ears, which, when activated, dramatically reduced the level of noise coming in. Although, while that was nice all those years ago, Mita thought, it’s not exactly handy now, since nobody says anything. The only time that it’s at all useful these days is when there’s some kind of avalanche or somesuch in Po-Wohe or Onu-Wohe. Neighboring De-Wohe, the regions of stone and earth provided one real benefit to the De-Matoran: seclusion. Split off from the rest of Ora Nui by the piles of rubble over Onu-Wohe, as well as the mountain ridge that led to Po-Wohe, almost no noise ever made it into the region of sound. Or, as it should be called, the region of silence, Mita thought bitterly. I can’t even leave that often, because the noise that I create just walking out of the village and crossing the mountain ridge is too much for my fellows. He looked around at the gray-armored Matoran around him, all sitting still, some quietly sliding a perfectly smooth lightcrystal between their hands, though this activity received negative glances from their neighbors. That’s it, Mita decided. I’m leaving. With that, he got to his feet, walking quietly to the gates of the village (though perhaps with just enough noise that those nearby him grabbed their hands to their ears). I’m going to go see someone who I can actually talk to, Mita thought. After all, what’s the point of intelligence if you can’t share it? And with that, he left the village, beginning the trek through the rocky mountains separating him from the rest of civilization.

CLANG. CLANG. CLANG. That was all Pakohe could hear while he was carving, and he liked it that way. He enjoyed the seclusion of the mountains, because it let him focus on one thing, and one thing only: his work. He was currently working on his newest masterpiece: a statue of –well, it didn’t have to be a specific thing in order to be good, did it? No, Pakohe thought. Everyone will appreciate it despite –no, because of its abstractness! He let the end of his large carving hammer fall into his hand. Well, they’d better, anyway. He went back to pounding the rock, shaping it into what he saw fit. In the past, he’d done some work carving lightcrystals, but, as may have been expected by some of the other Po-Matoran, Pakohe’s blows were too… vigorous for the delicate work of carving the jewels. Hmph. Like I need to be a prissy crystal-carver to make a living, he thought to himself, as he continued to pound on the pillar of rock in front of him. Back in the day, they valued me for my strength. Hiko, Ahi, and the others… I was useful then. He paused his in his work, looking up at the rock before him. But I’m still useful now, right? Sighing, he resumed his work. CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.

Kape was swinging through the rainforests on the way back to her house. That’s right, swinging. She hadn’t gotten out her old grappling hook in a long time, but recently, she’d felt inclined to take it out of its dusty box in the corner. I’ve gotten a little rusty, she thought as she fell out of a tree for the fourth time that day. Then again, it’s certainly been a while since the days when I used to use it. After another few swings, and a fifth drop to the ground, she stowed the tool on her back and walked the short distance back to her house, close the edges of the forest and the Ga-Wohe Lake; it didn’t take long before she was back at her door. After pulling aside the woven curtain of grasses and reeds, she stepped inside, looking around at the familiar site of her small hut. On the left was her hammock, with a lightcrystal hanging above it that served the purpose of lighting the whole hutch; on the right, attached to the reinforced southern wall, was a water tank, which was fed by a gutter which encircled the roof outside of the house: a simple, efficient design, in almost every way the same as the huts used by Matoran across the island. After stepping inside, she headed for the back of her small home, where there was a metal box that housed most of her possessions. Taking her grapple, she was about to place it back in the metal rectangle when something caught her eye: a Kanohi mask, half-buried at the bottom of the box. Oh my, she thought, turning her face away from the old mask. I wasn’t expecting to have to remember that when I got out this old thing. Looking at the grappling hook, she was about to look back into the box when there was a noise outside her door. Shutting the box quickly, and stowing the weapon on her back, she walked to the doorway, intent on identifying the noise, almost like metal on metal. Is that… fighting? Who could be fighting around here these days? She thought, as she pulled aside the curtain and gasped.

And there's Chapter 1, re-posted for your reading pleasure. I apologize for the single-spacing; I can't seem to get the new posting format to do double-spacing... Maybe I'll get it to work, and hopefully I'll get the next four chapters re-posted soon; if not, they're still on the old forums archive!

Thanks for reading! And don't forget to post a comment in the Review Topic!

EDIT: The paragraphs are separated now! However, the italics still aren't present... For some reason, they were formatted back into normal font, and I haven't gotten around to changing them back yet. Soon, though!

Edited by TuragaNuva, Oct 18 2011 - 10:54 AM.

[TuragaNuva]

And here it is: Chapter 2!


Chapter 2: The Remembering

Before long, Paru came to a forest- a rainforest, really, with so much moisture. Using his long, thin staff, he pushed the occasional vine, bush, or branch aside, wiping condensed water off of his Hau with his free hand. I remember these trees well, he thought, though not as well as I’d like. After a while walking through the crowded, humid forestation, as well as hiding in the shadows from a couple Ga-Matoran, Paru arrived at his destination: the collection of small hutches that served as the main village area of Ga-Wohe. Though he had to duck behind a few trees and huts in order not to be seen, it wasn’t difficult for someone with his experience in not wanting to show himself. With agility uncommon for an Onu-Matoran, Paru quickly reached the specific hut he was looking for.

It didn’t take long for Ahi to reach Ga-Wohe’s central lake; he knew the way well after visiting Kape so many times. When he was almost at her house, however, his trip was interrupted by the sudden approach of a frightened-looking Ga-Matoran. “Hey, Ahi,” she said in a slightly worried tone. “You haven’t seen anything… odd around, have you?”
“What kind of odd, Pata?” Ahi asked. “Is the river not flowing correctly? Or have the lightcrystals from Al-Wohe not arrived?”
“No, no, nothing like that. It’s just… Man, this sounds pathetic, but I saw a… shadow in the forest. It’s probably no big deal, but… well, it didn’t look like a rahi, and, I mean, you’re a former protector of the island! I was on my way to get Kape, but I when I saw you I thought that, well, if she was coming, then you’d want to too…”
Ahi was slightly embarrassed by Pata’s comment, but covered it quickly. “Well, I suppose Kape and I can take a look at it,” he said. “Though it’s probably nothing to worry about. Mata Nui knows, nothing dangerous has happened here in a long time.” Resuming his walk toward Kape’s hut, he turned toward Pata, asking “So, just where was the –” when, suddenly, he stopped, shocked by what he saw before him.

Hiko didn’t have much in the way of patience. She wanted things as quickly as possible, and in her opinion, anything that wasn’t fast enough wasn’t enough wasn’t worth it. As such, when she went to visit someone in another village, she usually chose Po-Wohe, where Pakohe lived. It was close, and it was easy to hitch a ride on one of the carts riding there to pick up uncharged lightcrystals. Today, however, the cart had left just before she arrived at the Al-Wohe loading station, maybe a minute before she got there. No big deal, she thought. It won’t be too hard to catch up. Breaking into a sprint, she started dashing down the dirt road, the lines from the wagon’s wheels still visible on the path. This is nice, she thought as she flew past the other Al-Matoran, her dagger swinging on her waist and the wind on her Kanohi Huna. Reminds me of the old days, when my speed was an asset rather than a convenience. Before long she had caught up to the wagon, and the driver, Mana, who was used to Hiko hitching a ride, pulled over to let her on. “Headed to see Pakohe again?” Mana asked.
“Yeah,” Hiko replied, hopping in next to the other Al-Matoran. “I might have visited Ahi, but he’s probably with Kape. And Mita and Kape –”
“Are too far away, I know,” interrupted Mana, who had started up the Ussals pulling the wagon again. “Hiko, you really need to learn to pause now and then, be willing to take the longer path, in order to find the better solution.”
Like you’ve said a hundred times, Hiko thought, but what she actually said was “Yeah, I guess. So, how soon will we arrive in Po-Wohe?”
Mana sighed, shaking her head. “Soon enough, Hiko. Soon enough.”

Mita had been hiking for a while, though he didn’t feel like it had been that long. He was enjoying the scenery, taking a shot at a tree or two with his bow, and in general enjoying the subtle noises of the world outside De-Wohe: the birds chirping, the clanking of his feet on the rocks, the stream that ran from the mountains to Ga-Wohe gurgling. He was about halfway through the mountains to Po-Wohe when he heard another, more familiar sound: the faint clanging of metal on stone. Turning his sound-filtering devices down, he followed the sound, turning the earpieces back up steadily until he reached the peak of one of the mountains, where he saw what he had expected: his old friend, Pakohe, hammering away at a pillar of rock. “What are you working on now, Pakohe?” Mita asked politely, walking up next to the Po-Matoran.
Pakohe, slightly startled, exclaimed “What?!” Brandishing his hammer, he turned to face Mita, saying “Who are –oh, it’s just you, Mita.” He let his hand fall to his side, and glanced back at the rock he was carving. “This thing? It’s just my newest masterpiece,” he said proudly, clearly glad to have someone to show his half-finished creation to.
“Eh… I see,” Mita answered, as he looked at the boulder behind Pakohe. I suppose it’s certainly interesting, in an abstract sort of way. “It’s, um, it has a nice shape, Pakohe,” he commented.
“It does; thank you,” Pakohe answered, sounding slightly full of himself. Turning back to his work, he asked “So, what brings you here, ‘Professor’?”
“Oh, just wanting to visit an old friend,” Mita replied, still, as always, slightly annoyed by Pakohe’s nickname for him. Sitting down, he said, “Tell me, Pakohe… Do you ever think about the old days? With Ahi, and Hiko, and Kape, and P –”
“Don’t say that name,” Pakohe interrupted, momentarily forgetting his carving. “Don’t you dare say that name.”
“But Pakohe, he saved the island –”
“He betrayed us,” Pakohe said, looking at Mita with an expression of intense displeasure on his Kanohi Rode. “We were heroes. We protected the island. We were important to Ora Nui’s people, and he split up the team and he left. Went to work as a Hunter, doing whatever gets him the biggest paycheck.”
“He only did what he believed was right,” Mita said, standing up and looking the Matoran of Stone in the eye. “If that were a crime, then we would all have been in the wrong those many years ago, would we not, Pakohe?”
“Hmph,” was Pakohe’s only reply, and he turned to start working again. Mita sighed, turning to look out on the wide expanse of Ora Nui that was visible from the mountaintop: he could see the twin rivers, one of lava and one of water, flowing to the villages of Fire and Water. He could see the beginnings of the barren, mountainous and rubble-filled area that was the surface of Onu-Wohe. He could see the glorious lightning rod towers of Al-Wohe, forged in the flames of Ta-Wohe, and was that –yes, there was even a caravan visible traveling toward Po-Wohe from the Lightning Region.
“Wait,” Mita said, looking more closely at the wagon. Watching it, he saw it stop on its way to the main village area and drop off a passenger, who started running in the direction of the mountain he and Pakohe were on. Turning to the Po-Matoran, who had gone back to carving, the Matoran of Sonics said “Well, what do you know. It looks like you’ve got two visitors in one day, friend. Come on, let’s go greet her.”

Pakohe was slightly bothered by having to interrupt his work, but he supposed that he should go down the mountain to see Hiko. Leaving his chisel by the statue, but keeping his hammer in hand, he followed Mita down the short mountain to meet up with the Al-Matoran. It’s the first time I’ve talked to more than one of the old team members at once, Pakohe thought to himself as he and the ‘Professor,’ as Pakohe liked to call him, worked their way down the mountain. With Pakohe’s strength, Mita’s nimbleness, and Hiko’s speed, it wasn’t particularly long before they all met up near the bottom of the mountain. “So,” Pakohe said, “this is a coincidence. Two visitors in one day; who knew I was so popular?”
“What are you doing here, Hiko?” Mita asked friendlily. “Coming to visit Pakohe, like I was?”
“Yeah,” Hiko answered, looking somewhat pleased that there was someone else to talk to, though slightly awkward because of almost half of the old group being back together. “Kind of weird that we both visited at once, huh?” she added.
“I suppose,” Mita said. “Though, if you take into account the number of times –”
“Yeah, yeah, we don’t need the math lesson, Professor,” Pakohe interrupted. “Tell ya what, why don’t we go visit Ahi and Kape? I’ll bet you my newest sculpture that Ahi’s in Ga-Wohe visiting her. We can have a whole reunion.”
“That doesn’t sound half-bad,” Mita said, still somewhat annoyed by Pakohe’s interruption of his statistical analysis. “What do you say, Hiko? If we take a boat down the river, it won’t be that long to reach Ga-Wohe.”
“Well…” Hiko, said, sounding unsure. “I guess. You’re sure the ride won’t be that long?”
“Of course not. Now come on, Sparky,” Pakohe said. “The longer we spend standing here, the longer it’ll be till we’re in the Water village.”

Kape was shocked by what she saw outside of her hut. In front of the shining blue of the Ga-Wohe lake, two Matoran were fighting –yes, fighting! But that wasn’t the worst of it: the two Matoran were people she knew well, very well. The first, spinning his flame rod and occasionally firing a small burst of fire from it, was Ahi, which would have been bad enough, if it weren’t for who the second Matoran was. Clad in pitch-black armor, and deftly countering Ahi’s blows with staff and shield, was… Oh Mata Nui, Kape thought. It’s Paru.



And there it is! Please, feel free to comment in the Review Topic!. Chapter 3 will hopefully be back up tomorrow (I'd try to post all of the chapters in one or two days, but the Forum Rules say only one chapter per epic per day). Thanks for reading!

Edited by TuragaNuva, Oct 22 2011 - 05:52 PM.

[TuragaNuva]

Chapter 3:


Paru’s staff clanged as it clashed repeatedly against Ahi’s flame rod –a small, flame-tipped stick mainly used for forging. Ahi’s, however, had been modified to be able to shoot small bursts of fire, something that, despite his ability to block all of them with his shield, was starting to annoy Paru. As such, he decided to go ahead and end the battle quickly: Ahi’s not a bad fighter, but he’s lost his touch over the years, the Onu-Matoran thought as he knocked the burning staff from Ahi’s hand. The years that I’ve spent fighting. He flicked a small switch on the handle of his staff, causing a section of the shaft to fold against the two-pronged tip of the weapon.
“New trick,” Ahi commented, reaching out to grab his flame rod. “Where’d you get th–” But before he could finish, Paru pointed the staff directly at Ahi’s chest, the now-three-ended tip beginning to spark with energy. “Now,” Paru said calmly, “can we just calm down and –” when, suddenly, he felt a sharp yank on his arm.


Ahi knew he was done for. When he saw Paru outside Kape’s hut, he had been utterly shocked by the Onu-Matoran’s return –no, not just shocked, but horrified. What is he doing back here? And what is he doing, of all places, outside Kape’s place? He’d thought, and, without taking a moment to consider, he’d leapt in front of Paru, holding his flame rod in front of him. Then, well, one thing led to another, and before long Ahi found himself at the end of an energy-blast staff ready to fire. Well, this is it, he’d thought. I’m done. And I didn’t even get to say goodbye to Kape… When, out of the blue, three things happened very quickly: first, he saw a glint of blue and silver metal out of the corner of his eye, which hit Paru’s arm. Second, Paru’s staff-holding arm was yanked aside by a chain and hook, pulling his staff out of Ahi’s face. And, third, he saw just what was at the other end of the chain. Kape! He thought happily, pleased both that she had saved his life and simply that he got to see her. Then, snapping out of his momentary distraction, Ahi grabbed his short staff off of the ground and turned back around to help Kape, only to be startled by what he saw before him: in the two seconds that he’d had his back turned, the scene had changed from Kape, grappling hook attached to Paru’s arm, to Paru, the chain of Kape’s grapple wrapped around his staff, knocking Kape to the ground with his shield. Infuriated, Ahi ran up to Paru, ready to hit him with a blast of flame, when the black-armored Matoran’s shield suddenly swung upwards, connecting hard with Ahi’s Pehkui.
When he woke up, Ahi saw Kape standing over him, to his delight. He heard her talking to him, saying “–hi? Are you okay? When Paru hit you, I wasn’t sure if–” and, suddenly, it all came rushing back to him: Paru, the fight, Kape’s arrival, getting hit… He sat up quickly, brandishing his flame rod.
“Okay, where is that traitor? I swear, I’ll, I’ll–”
“You’ll do nothing, Ahi,” a voice said from behind the Ta-Matoran. Paru’s voice.
Ahi leapt to his feet, whipping around to face Paru. “And who are you to–” but a hand landed on his shoulder.
“Ahi, I’m sorry, but he’s right,” Kape said, gently squeezing Ahi’s shoulder and, despite the situation, sending a tingle up his spine. “Listen to him; you need to hear what he has to say, what he told me while you were out.”
“What?!” Ahi exclaimed. “Kape, this is the guy who betrayed us! Who–”
“Who saved this island,” Paru interrupted, stepping directly in front of Ahi. “’This’ is the Matoran who saw where things were going and acted accordingly. ‘THIS’ is the one who has risked his life in at least three different ways just so that he could come back and save this island again!”
Ahi stumbled backwards, startled by Paru’s ferocity. “What are you talking about, ‘saving the island’?” he asked, coming out somewhat less skeptical than he intended.
“I will explain to everyone once we meet up with the others,” Paru replied, stepping away from Ahi and starting to walk up the riverbank towards Po-Wohe. “Now come. We must reach them as soon as possible.”
Ahi was about to launch into another outburst when Kape gave him a look. Not a harsh glare, but more of a plea: as if to say ‘Let’s just follow this through.’ Sighing, Ahi thought, Well, I suppose following is the only way I’ll figure out what this is all about. And with that, he followed after Paru, Kape walking next to him. “Oh, and Ahi,” Paru said, not looking at the Ta-Matoran as he continued walking. “You asked about my staff’s modification, correct? Well, let’s just say that the Dark Hunters like to… improve their members, or their weapons, before putting them to work.”


Hiko was bored. Very bored. Though she’d had some fun talking to Mita and Pakohe for a while, she’d talked to the latter a lot recently, and as for the De-Matoran, well… math and scenery were interesting, but not that interesting. So she sat, leaning over the edge of their small boat, and waiting impatiently for their party to arrive at Ga-Wohe. Well, at least it’s better than sitting around at the charging station, she thought to herself. She looked over at her two companions: Pakohe was sitting near the stern, banging two small rocks together in his hands, accompanied by the occasional curse when one broke in the wrong way or one of his fingers was caught between them. Mita, meanwhile, was simply sitting. Just sitting, occasionally looking out at the scenery. How can he stand that? Hiko thought, staring at him while she fiddled with her dagger. Just sitting there, doing nothing… Mata Nui, I’m getting bored just looking at him.
Then, a while after she’d gone back to looking over the edge of the boat, and just when she’d begun wondering if she might actually die of boredom, she saw something on the bank of the river: three Matoran, one blue, one red, and one so black that he was hardly noticeable. Looking more closely, she realized that she recognized them: Kape, Ahi, and… Oh geez, she thought to herself. No, it can’t be him. He can’t be back. Can he? Then, realizing what this meant, she turned to the others in the boat: “Pakohe, Mita, looks like we’ll be able to cut this ride short: our destination’s come to us.”
“Huh?” Pakohe said, looking up. “Oh! Wonder what they’re doin’ all the way up here.”
“I don’t know,” Hiko replied, “but it’s probably not good news: look who’s with them.” Then, she realized that they were in a predicament of their own. How are we going to stop the boat in the middle of this current? She thought frantically. Turning to face Mita, she was about to pose this question to him, when suddenly she ducked, something thin and fast flying over her head. She turned quickly to see an arrow, with a sharp ‘THUNK,’ embed itself in a tree on the riverbank. Not only that, she realized, there’s a rope tied to the arrow! Following the rope with her gaze, she realized that Mita was holding the other end of it in one hand, his bow in the other.
“I’ve kept a habit of practicing from time to time,” he said. “But I’m not strong enough to pull this thing over by myself. Pakohe, Hiko, please grab hold and pull. Quickly, if you don’t mind.”
Hiko immediately ran over and grabbed hold of the rope, Pakohe directly in front of her. However, she was confused by an apparent flaw in Mita’s plan, something that didn’t happen often: Won’t the arrow just come out of the tree? However, as she pulled the rope as hard as she could, her unasked question answered itself; Paru, followed by Ahi and Kape, took hold of the other end of the rope, and began pulling as well. Before long, though with a large amount of effort, the boat was at the shore, where they tied it off to a rock and climbed out.


Mita was pleased with his quickly-thought of method of stopping the boat, though not extremely pleased. It was really a rather simple solution, he thought. Then, looking over at the Matoran whom Hiko had spotted from the shore, Mita thought, Well, this should be interesting. I’ll admit that I never thought he’d return, after his decision. Reminiscing, Mita’s thoughts took him back, back, to when their group was first created:
“So, it’s agreed,” Paru said, clearly pleased. “In the absence of a Toa team for so many years, we seven Matoran will act as defenders of Ora Nui.” With this statement, he held his hand out into the middle of the circle.
“That sounds good to me,” Ahi answered, resting his hand on top of Paru’s. “No one can argue that we’re not good at it, after taking down that rahi. If we hadn’t intervened, who knows what would have happened to Ga-Wohe.”
“I feel the same,” Kape said, placing her hand in the pile, to Ahi’s apparent, if slightly hidden, pleasure. “This island has been without heroes for too long.”
One by one, the rest put their hands on the pile: Hiko, Mita, Pakohe, and… and Iku. Iku, in her blue armor, with her rippling sword sheathed on her back, looking proud of defending her home village.
Fast-forward to a number of years later, after the seven Matoran had become the island’s official protectors, having defended it from dangers both inside and out: the latter being mostly Dark Hunters and the like, after Ora Nui’s resources. Though they’d gotten help from other Matoran on occasion, the core seven stayed as Ora Nui’s heroes. This time, however, things weren’t going well. Dekarak, a particularly vicious, three-headed Dark Hunter, was giving them a lot of trouble: Ahi was already down, and the others were getting worn out. His powers and strength are capable of blocking all of our attacks, Mita thought as he fired a volley of sticks at the Hunter; he’d long ago run out of arrows. But there must be some way we can stop him! Dekarak, however, seemed to think otherwise. After effortlessly knocking aside the sticks from Mita’s bow, he proceeded to use his power –seamlessly converting his body into water– and swept over Pakohe and Kape like a miniature flood. No! Mita thought, trying desperately to think of a plan. Pressed for time, and unable to think of anything fancy, he settled for one of Pakohe’s methods: with his arms and bow in front of him, he charged directly at Dekarak, who was just returning to his solid form. Dekarak, however, didn’t seem threatened. Lifting his foot, he brought it down hard directly on top of Mita –or, at least, where Mita was a second ago. Using his notoriously impressive agility, Mita had dove out of the way at the last second, leaving the Dark Hunter’s foot to stomp a hole in the empty ground. Taking advantage of the distraction, Iku, sword in hand, jumped at Dekarak’s side, hoping to take him by surprise. There’s just one problem with that: it’s difficult to sneak up on someone who has three heads. Seeing Iku easily from his left head, the enormous blue behemoth grabbed her by the throat, causing her to drop her sword. “No!” Mita shouted, readying a stick to fire at Dekarak’s wrist, only to be kicked away by the Dark Hunter himself.
“Now, it’s time for you pesky Matoran to learn why you don’t get in the way of the Shadowed One,” Dekarak’s left head snarled, looking directly at the struggling Iku in his left hand. Then, raising the energy cannon mounted on his right forearm, he blasted the Ga-Matoran in a miniature explosion of light and flame. Mita watched from the ground as Kape and Pakohe, who seemed to have recovered somewhat from Dekarak’s tidal wave, watched horrorstricken as the blue Hunter burned Iku to a crisp.
“Stop it, you monster!” Kape shouted, firing her grappling hook at Dekarak’s arm.
“You want me to cool her down?” his right head hissed at her. “Fine, have it your way, then.” And with that, he transmuted into water again, the grapple slipping through his arm, and tackled Iku –or what was left of her– head on, making a tremendous SPLASH. Pakohe tried, in vain, to hammer at Dekarak’s watery form, but stopped, staring, when he saw Iku’s remains: nothing more than a pile of ash, char, and unrecognizably bent metal, topped with a slightly disfigured blue Akaku. Kape, in a fit of rage, started hitting Dekarak with her grapple, though it didn’t do much to his liquidized self. As his heads reformed, he laughed, a harsh, rasping sound, and his almost-solid hand reached out for Kape. Mita tried with all his might to get up, but to no avail; he was too injured and exhausted. He watched, unable to look away, as Dekarak’s almost-solid hands reached out for Pakohe and Kape… when, suddenly, the Hunter paused. Then, with a sound almost too horrible to describe, he let out a scream of pain, doubling over and grabbing his chest. Looking more closely, Mita saw something silver and black on Dekarak’s chest that hadn’t been there before. Then, putting the pieces together in his head, he turned his gaze upward, looking at the short form standing atop the fallen Dark Hunter: Paru, his staff inside Dekarak’s torso, placed there while he was liquefied. After this, however, the combined shock and pain finally overcame Mita, and he blacked out.
His friends had good news and bad news for him when he awoke: the good news was that Dekarak was defeated, thanks to Paru’s ploy of hiding in the shadows until the time was right, in order to surprise their foe. The bad news, however, outweighed this in Mita’s opinion: one of their beloved teammates, Iku, was dead. I had hoped it was a nightmare, he thought, a dread vision incurred by my weariness during the battle. But no. After conducting a funeral service, which it seemed the entire island attended, it was decided that Kape would keep Iku’s Kanohi: she was, after all, the one who had been closest to her, living in the same village. Thought Kape didn’t want the reminder of her friend’s death around her house any more than her teammates did, she agreed to take it. However, Paru seemed the most shaken by her death: not speaking to anyone (even more so than usual), spending more and more time in the reclusive corners of the Onu-Wohe caves and tunnels, and, on occasion, Ahi informed Mita that he’d found the Onu-Matoran crying, as hard as that was to believe. Mita thought he understood, though: He started this team. He brought us together, thinking it was a good idea. Now he feels that he’s made a terrible mistake.
The De-Matoran’s thoughts returned to the present, where Paru was beginning to explain his return to the rest of them. And now, he thought to himself, he seems to want to make it again.


Pakohe was angry. Not just ‘broken-sculpture’ angry, either. He was really angry. That guy thinks that, after all these years, he can just come back? After making a deal with the Dark Hunters, after splitting up the group and leaving us? Stepping right up to Paru, he asked harshly “What are you doing here? Back to beg forgiveness? Or were you sent here to attack th–” before he could finish, however, Paru delivered a hard slap to his mask.
“I advise you be quiet about things you don’t know, Pakohe,” Paru said, in a calm but slightly angry tone. “Now, will you be silent long enough for me to explain the dire circumstances that brought about my return?”
Pakohe just looked at him for a few seconds, then reluctantly nodded, stepping back to stand next to Mita and Hiko. “Go ahead, ‘Boss’,” he said sarcastically, while thinking This had better be good.
“Good,” Paru answered. Then, looking around at the circle of Matoran around him, he said “I would spend more time greeting you all, but I must explain to you, as quickly as possible, what brought me here.” Taking a deep breath, he began: “As you all know, the last time I was here, I made a deal with the Shadowed One: I would work for him, and in exchange, he would no longer attack the island.”
“Yeah, yeah, we all remember it,” Pakohe interrupted, stopping when he got a sharp glare from Paru.
“Yes, continuing,” the Onu-Matoran went on, “I’ll admit that I’ve served him for many years. But recently, I heard word of something terrible: he plans to break his word.”
“Ain’t that a surprise,” Pakohe mumbled.


Kape was trying to listen to Paru, but it was hard. After all, she already knew what he was going to say. He’d explained it all to her while they were waiting for Ahi to come to earlier. And, as unusual, even life-altering, as it was for Paru to risk his life returning here, back to stop the Dark Hunters from attacking the island, just like old times, what interested her most was what they were after: not lightcrystals, not protodermis, not any of the things they’d been after in the past. No, they were after something that Kape would never have suspected, because, as it turned out, the Shadowed One knew something about her island that she didn’t. Something that changed things dramatically. There was an Av-Matoran on Ora Nui.


*Phew*. Finally, chapter 3 is re-posted! Sorry for taking so long; I've had a lot of homework to deal with recently... I still need to go back through and add the italics, but the chapter itself is up.
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