Ultimate Bionicle

[CyclonatorZ]

 

One

The Matoran was Red from mask to toe, and made no sound as he moved slowly through the charred. Somehow, despite his sluggishness, he was undetected by any creature, whether it be Rahi or dark spirit. Accomplishing that in the never-ending glow of Ta Wahi was no easy feat.

 

He was a messenger, and today his job was to find one to bring to Turaga Vakama. The guard's best scout was out with a missing leg, and Kapura foresaw that he would not be returning to full health any time soon. Some would say Kapura had a lack of empathy, but in truth he simply was of the conviction that a job like this was much better suited for someone of his... ability.

 

The task at hand was deceptively simple. There was a noise, and he was tracking it. The noise had startled Kapura while he had been practicing, and as per his duty he would follow it until he knew just what was likely to assail Ta-Koro in the future? Was it Inferivaka? Hikaki? No, judging by the roar, it was something that generally didn't bother itself with Matoran culture. Not everything dangerous was a predator, but these days every predator was increasingly dangerous. And the village needed to know before hand if they had a chance of survival.

 

He crouched behind a tree. The sound had last been heard by the lava river a few bios away. He surveyed the perimeter, making sure nothing else was hiding behind any trees or boulders, and then quickly found himself by the river.

 

Scratch marks. Burnt wood. Ash of a different color than normal for the forest, most likely because it had been formed in an instant rather than via a slow burning fire. These were signs of a struggle, but pitting what against what?

 

By the time he had finished his mission and was rushing back to Ta-Koro, he still did not know the assailant. It was ultimately Makuta, of course, but he did not personally come out in the bright of day. However, the Dark Spirit's prey this time was certain, and though Kapura was faster than any other Matoran on the island, he had a feeling that Vakama would not be the first Ta-Korian to receive news. But if nothing else, at least it was good practice.

* * *

“No, that won’t do, we need to widen the eastern flow,” said Aodhan, his yellow-orange Kanohi frowning with frustration.

 

The Matoran to his left shook his head. “We only just harvested tri-divides one and three two days ago, and they’re already filling up again. We don’t want to risk an overflow like last time.”

 

“I’ve already been through this, Agni… that was most likely a freak accident. Jaller was certain those boulders hadn’t been there before, and now that they’re cleared, the core flow is even again.”

 

“Freak accident? Or Makuta?” Agni replied sternly. “I may be thrice voted “most likely to die wrestling a possessed Rahi into the river,” but even I’m not going to assume the Spirit of Darkness isn’t just going to pull the same stunt again.”

 

“I still don’t buy that it was Makuta,” sighed Aodhan, “but since we’re on the subject, do you have any better ideas?”

 

The Matoran to Aodhan's left raised her hand. “Um, I do,” she said, in a squeaky but intelligent voice. “I’ve been surveying the northern flow, and I think we may be able to divert some more to the eastern tri-divides if we dig a trench in the path I’ve marked.” She handed the tablet in her hands to Aodhan, who looked it over with increasing confusion?

 

“You do realize we will need at least two extra pairs of Fire Mahi and three farmers out of the infirmary if we even want to accomplish this?” Aodhan said sternly. “What is the big idea you have this time.”

She grinned. “Just an observation that we might be able to save a lot of time and work if we let the lava do most of the pathmaking for us. All we need is to plow a little indent from east to north, and…”

 

Agni’s eyes widened. “Yes, of course, brilliant idea as usual, Tiribomba!”

 

“It’s worth a shot, I suppose,” Aodhan replied. “Get the workers on it immediately.”

 

As the lava farmers assembled and began to toy with nature once more, they were watched without ceasing by the captain of the guard and his militia, all of which were bored out of their minds and yet also rather on edge. “Makuta always attacks when you most expect him but when you least can afford him to,” Turaga Vakama had once said, and Jaller had had plenty of time and experience to drive that into her memory box. Most of her guards were slightly less quick on the uptake, but even they understood that when Jaller told them to keep their eyeslits firmly planted on the Lava farmers at all times, they better not be caught reading the latest Kohlii journal or filing their armor.

 

Of course, there was more to being a guard than simply spotting danger. You had to nip it in the backplate. And that was becoming an increasingly impossible task.

“So, what if it’s another swam of Hikaki?” said Agni, who had never been very adept at strategy.

 

“It won’t be. Most of them had their infected Kanohi burnt off, and its going to take time for Makuta to replenish them.”

 

“But what if we’re wrong? What if they come back in full force and we have to use the last freeze disk? Then we’ll have nothing left but our guard staves and bare hands. I could handle about twenty, buy you a diversion of course, but then I’d be lizard food and you’d have to do recruiting again.”

 

“Are you implying I couldn’t also wrestle Hikaki until my gears corroded?” Maglya interjected, feisty as ever and still treating everything like a sporting event. “Trust me, when you’ve done a 720 spilt over the lava falls, you’re not going to be a pushover against some overgrown scale piles.”

 

”Sister, trust me, he doesn’t mean any more harm than he ever does.” Keahi conforted. She herself was familiar with sports, but there was something about Kohlii that didn’t have such a detrimental effect on a Matoran’s nerves like lava surfing did. Maybe once you had spent enough time inches away from falling to your doom, you didn’t have nerves left to tense up.

 

“Yes, I was only saying that I don’t want anyone to have to take my place like you had to take poor Lhii’s,” sputtered Agni.

 

“Rather roundabout way to say that,” Maglya replied sourly.

 

“Not as roundabout as your races,” Keahi interjected.

 

The conversation then drifted into a long discussion of the 950’th annual lavathon, and if Jaller hadn’t been such an observant captain, she probably would have assumed that they were goofing off. In reality, this was just their way of coping with the grim circumstances the whole village… no, the whole island, faced. In the end, when a Rahi attacked or the volcano erupted, they would all serve valiantly in their own special way, and though she would have to work mighty hard they didn’t step on each other’s toes, she wouldn’t dream of giving up any of them to Makuta. If only she had been firmer in that conviction back when Lhii had still been third in command….

 

“Um sir,” the voice of Kalama, his second in command, rang out from the watchtower. “Does lava usually curve like that?”

 

Jaller squinted her eyes and looked in the direction of Kalama’s pointing finger. It only took a moment to make a decision. A few blows of the seashell later, the lava farmers were scrambling away from the eastern flow, just before a large blob of lava burst out of the river and shook fiery liquid everywhere. By the time Jaller and the other guards has assembled down below, the blob had revealed itself to be something much more dangerous.

 

“Ranama, wonderful,” Jaller said, her mask firmly plastered in her hand.

 

“What do we do? They’ve never been infected before! How are we supposed to get near…”

 

“Enough!” Jaller exclaimed, as quietly as possible. “We don’t know that its infected. It might have just wandered too far from its nest….”

 

Her words were interrupted by a loud clang and a gloopy roar. Maglya had just thrown her guard staff at what appeared to be a kanohi-shaped indentation on the Ranama’s back. The staff stuck to the surface for a second, and then melted into slag, which merged with the Rahi’s lava coating. The creature turned around, its reptilian eyes laced not with anger, but with the suicidal determination of a creature whose mind was no longer its own.

 

This is going to be one of those days. Jaller thought.

 

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Edited February 25, 2014 by ~~Zarkan~~