Onua's Golden Kanohi, ... no good deed goes unrewarded Options

[GaliGee]

Thanks, KopakaX!

Onua’s Golden Kanohi
No good deed goes unrewarded


Chapter 1: Discovery

Onua was breathing hard. He was halfway up the slope, and every move was critical. With his strength, he could lift hundreds of times his own weight, but the rock was soft, crumbly, and treacherous, requiring intense concentration. The Toa of Earth reached over his head for another claw-hold, and a cascade of small rocks tumbled down, bouncing off his Pakari.

“Ouch!” he grumbled, but he succeeded in grasping a larger, more solid chunk and shifted his weight upward. He moved his foot to the next ledge and pushed. He continued to climb carefully until he was within a hundred bios of the top, close enough to use his Miru. He let go with his claws, floating easily to the small patch of level ground. “Whew! Good thing I already have that one,” he panted. “I wouldn’t have liked to climb the whole thing the hard way.”

But his relief was short-lived. Before he could see it with his dim daytime vision, he heard the ominous buzzing of a Nui-Rama. He dove behind a large boulder as it whizzed over, slashing at him with its claws. They glanced uselessly off the shimmering translucent shield of his Hau. Onua laughed to himself. “Guess I didn’t really need to duck,” he thought. “My instincts are definitely quicker than my brain. But with practice, maybe I can train myself to use the mask powers first.”

He searched the craggy mountaintop for the prize that had motivated the climb. And there it lay, camouflaged against the grayish stone. An Akaku! He knelt, his claws closing over the smooth lenses, and wrested it from the rock. He positioned it over his Pakari, and he could feel a surge of energy resonating through the blending masks. He blinked as the lenses focused on a nearby peak. “Wow!” Onua, with his poor vision, was overwhelmed by the amazing amount of detail. Each lens showed a different aspect of the landscape. And the largest one showed him – trouble.

“Uh, oh!” Onua could see the Nui-Rama nest on the far side of the adjacent crag. He remembered the warning of the Le-Koronan scout who had seen the Kanohi from his Kahu and narrowly escaped to tell about it. The buzzing of the infected creatures reached his ears at the same moment, building to a deafening drone.

Onua braced himself against the rocks and switched to his Hau again. Dozens of the hideous insects pounded in vain against the shield. But Onua felt the ground move. Again he felt a shock. He realized with horror that the Rama were clawing at the sides of the cliff. Soon they would dig all the way through it, and the top of the narrow spire would tumble down, Onua with it. It was too far to jump, even with the Miru. And he would have no more protection if he changed masks.

The Toa of Earth did what he knew best: he dug, straight down. Stone flew up, striking a few of the Rama, as he burrowed down the middle of the crag. The Rahi, too large to follow him into the shaft, buzzed angrily around the top. Onua didn’t stop digging until he could feel the coolness of the deep earth surround him again. He scraped out a hollow spot and paused to rest a few minutes.

Onua’s green eyes snapped open as he sensed vibrations through the ground. He lay his head against the earth, listening. It was a signal from Whenua. He deciphered the code: “Onua, come quickly, great power concealed.” The message repeated, but Onua was already on his way, digging rapidly in the direction of the sender. He burst into a wide spot in one of the Onu-Koronan tunnels.

Whenua and a crew of Matoran were staring at one wall of the tunnel. “Ah, there you are, great Toa. Thank you for responding to my summons. We have found something that seems very important. My drill is sensing great power beyond this wall. But it doesn’t match the energy patterns from any Rahi we have yet seen, and we didn’t want to open it without you.”

“Well, as a matter of fact,” said Onua, switching to his new Akaku, “I can help you out there.”

Whenua looked relieved. “Great! You found it! How many do you have left?”

Onua smiled at the little Turaga. “Only one, the Kakama. Now, let’s see.” The darkness was no obstacle with his excellent night vision. He looked through the Akaku and focused to get the proper range. Onua gasped. “No wonder you sensed power, Whenua. There are four Pakari in there!”


:kaukaunu:
Review topic here.

This post has been edited by GaliGee: Oct 10 2003, 04:28 PM