Chapter 22: Chaos to the power of four
Chapter 22: Chaos to the power of four
They had taken the same way as before but as they stood at a very well known crossroad they had a little problem.
“We have to take the tunnel to Ta Aro. There’s no other way”, Tupua explained.
“Why can’t we go back where we all splitted up”, Kopaka asked. “We still have the possibilities of Ga and Onu Aro.”
“Why? Well, because there’s a high risk the Nektann who followed us are still there. In Ta Aro there are too some of them but at least I know some secure ways out.”
“I thought there was only one way into and out of Ta Aro”, Gali mentioned, “How comes it that there’s now a tunnel too?”
Tupua looked up and down the corridor as if he was searching for Nektann.
“Well, I can’t know the whole city. Maybe this tunnel is new too but as long as lava is streaming somewhere at the side we have to be directly under Ta Aro because the lava just comes so close to the surface if we’re really somewhere near the city.”
“Then let’s just say you have no clue at all”, Kopaka shrugged, “and only keep following this way…”
~~~***~~~
Black rocks were rising up to the sky. Thick smoke was lying over the citadel, hiding away the sun. If they didn’t know it better the four travellers would have thought it was the deepest night.
They had to take a different way than the last time but also now only a few Nektann were seen crawling around.
“What is happening here?” Gali whispered. “Why is there never anyone? The Ikuta are away and where the Piraka are I don’t know. Who watches over the Matoran prisoners?”
“I don’t have a clue”, was Tupua’s answer. “But I hope it stays like this.”
“Where are we going?” Sasha asked, “I don’t think there’s a way out somewhere close.”
The Spectre took a short gaze over to Kopaka. “The ice Toa and I, we decided if we’re already here we can take a quick look around where the prisoners are. He didn’t want to get out of here safe while some of the inhabitants are still in danger. And neither do I.
Gali’s head shot over to the ivory Toa “But that’s…”
“I know this is dangerous. But so is our complete mission. All I want is to help those people. Better now than later. Or never.”
“Kopaka, you don’t have to …” Prove yourself, she wanted to say but she couldn’t. It felt like she would directly say him what Sasha told her several hours ago. She wasn’t quite sure if her icy friend really wanted to do it for the people.
“I don’t? Gali, those are your people. Mine may have gone long time ago but I don’t want this to happen to others too. We don’t know how long our journey will still last. Maybe years. And then it could be too late for them.”
“Have you forgotten we don’t have weapons? It’s too hot here for ice attacks.”
“Look around. The Nektann are gone. And in case I meet a few of them I still have my shield to block their attacks.”
It was strange to hear something like that from a Toa who normally never lets his guard down.
Tupua reached over his bow. “Take this.”
“I would gladly take it but I don’t want you to be unarmed.”
“Don’t worry. On longer journeys I always take two of them with me in case one breaks in the middle of a fight.”
“I do not have arrows.”
“It’s elementary based. Means, when you use the bow you will get icy arrows. Doesn’t matter if it’s too hot for your element to use. But remember to shoot them fast or they will melt away too.”
“I will try to keep that in mind.” He turned to Gali a last time. “Stay here and watch my back.” Then he left off.
The three were wandering around on the place where Kopaka left them, trying to never get too far away from each other.
“What are you so worried about?” Tupua asked, “I told him his way as good as I could.”
“I just have this bad feeling … The Nektann have to be anywhere. We haven’t met one in this direction and so I’m worried they’re in the other direction where Kopaka headed to…”
The Spectre suddenly held something under her nose. “My second bow. Same advice to you.”
“But…” Gali looked at him as if he had declared to be the founder of Metru Nui.”
“Just take it and go.” A little smile. “I don’t need it that desperately. It’s just good for a more precisely shot, but I think I will be able to hit attackers anyway.”
Gali thanked him and promised to be back as soon as possible then she ran after her icy friend. She still felt a bit guilty for leaving two Matoran behind but then on the other side she knew Tupua and his strength enough to say he could protect himself and Sasha for a little while.
~~~***~~~
The silence was nearly hammering in his ears. The white Toa sneaked his way forward, his shield in the left hand, the bow in the right, his head turning around repeatedly. It just couldn’t be that they had no guards at all for their prisoners.
He couldn’t go on thinking because suddenly something big was thrown right onto his chest making him stumbling back and crashing against black rocks. Or at least he felt something big. He couldn’t see anything. But it still was there, hanging on his chest, now trying to slash through his armour. Kopaka just slammed his shield against it, causing it crashing against the floor and a red Nektann became visible.
‘That’s why we have never seen one’, it shot through the Toa’s head. They had been watched and followed all the time. Maybe the Nektann just waited for the moment that one separated from the group. But what was this one waiting for? It was still sitting on the floor and glowed up at Kopaka.
Then he heard it. It sounded as if at least a dozen of them came crawling over the rocks. Although he still couldn’t see them he heard them close, very close.
When he used his masked he only saw mere shadows of them but that was enough for him to defend.
Waiting time was over. The Nektann that attacked him before jumped at him again and this time it wanted more than just bring him to fall.
Kopaka threw himself out of the way and took a shot with his bow but missed it closely.
A second later the hand which held his shield shot up to block a flying harpoon only to give another harpoon the chance to hit him from the other side and move its way directly through his shoulder armour.
He was slammed down to the ground and dragged a few meters over the floor. There was no chance to get free with a shot. Suddenly he felt a short and really sharp pain. The harpoon was torn out of his shoulder and the Nektann was sliding back a few meters, where it first remained for a few seconds then started running around in circles. A blue figure came flying from the rocks and landed beside Kopaka.
“You’re okay?”
“Gali, watch out!”
An ice blast shot pass her and hit the Defense Nektann that was jumping at her.
“We’ve got to get rid of them fast before they get more help”, Gali called.
“Or if they can run to get more help”, Kopaka answered as he saw two of them (where one was the Nektann that caught him on its harpoon earlier) trying to get our of the battle as fast as possible.
“Shall we use our old tactic?” She hit them both with a water beam and they were frozen immediately after. “Already in use.”
“They’re dangerous but stupid as Harakeke”, the water Toa said when the next Nektann ran away from the group.
“It’s now only a matter of time until the next rush will come or these will start to melt.” Around them couples of frozen Nektann were lying.
Kopaka checked his shield for major damage then put it on his back again. “Thank you for helping me but you have to get back now. It’s too dangerous. Maybe Tupua and Sasha need you more than me right now.”
“I don’t think so. Tupua’s strong enough but you’ve seen what happened here. I think they will rather follow us than our friends because we’re closer to their prisoners.”
“Tupua is the last Guardian.”
“It doesn’t seem to me that they are searching for him. Otherwise we would have been attacked earlier. No, they just watched us to see what we will do. And as we got closer to their prisons they saw the right time coming.”
“No matter what, you have to get back.”
“Why?”
“Do you believe I want to put you in danger if more of them are coming?”
“I’m a Toa too, if you have forgotten.”
“You are not invulnerable and not invincible.”
“Neither are you.”
“That is something different.”
“Oh, really? Do you really think I want to lose you?”
“No that is not … I mean … it is because …” He turned his head to the side finding the rocks more comfortable to stare at.
Gali sighed. Why had he always to be so complicated? Then she noticed something different.
“No … Kopaka, you’re bleeding. Your wound is open again.”
His armour had blocked most of the attacks but it couldn’t protect his old wounds.
He winced when Gali reached out a hand and stroke over it but then his harsh features got more relaxed again.
“It is … just nothing”, he mumbled, his head still turned sidewards. “I’m sure it will heal fast I cannot let the Matoran down because of this.”
Gali slightly nodded. “But I will come with you, no matter what you say. Either we’re successful or we’ll die but we do it together.”
Kopaka’s head turned into her direction again. Wasn’t there a little smile on his face?
“Alright, then here we go.”
~~~***~~~
Step by step they sneaked forward the last few meters. Kopaka tried repeatedly to use his Kanohi to see invisible enemies although he knew that it was useless. He couldn’t have seen them before why should it now be different.
“I hate the fact that we are running around here without our weapons or elementals.”
“Wait a minute …” Gali stopped, “We can still use our old mask powers.”
“Do we?” The icy Toa looked at her a bit surprised. “I thought I already have it in use nearly all the time.”
“But only your main Kanohi power. Don’t say that our first missions we had down on Mata Nui were good for nothing. Even if we’re Toa Nuva we still should have the powers of all Kanohi we’ve found combined in our main mask.”
“Wait, let me check…”
He ran a few steps forward, changed masks … and disappeared.
“Kopaka?”
“Don’t worry”, she heard his voice beside her. “I’m still here.” He got visible again.
“Will it work for me too?”
“If you have found the right mask then.”
“Yeah, I know, a stupid question. I wouldn’t have gotten the golden Kanohi otherwise.”
She made a quick try and changed Kanohi too. “I wonder why we’ve forgotten that so long ago.”
“It is still working for people around you too”, Kopaka’s voice came out of nothing. “I have my old Akaku and should be visible again.”
“That means … Maybe we can lead out the Matoran unseen.”
The Toa of ice nodded then remembered that Gali couldn’t see him so he just said, “Then let’s get moving.”
“Do you know where this way will lead us?”
“The other side of the power plant, where we rescued Sasha and Rui from. Tupua mentioned that there were stairs to the roof on the outside but for us all the teleporter was the only possibility because they would have seen us.”
“And you wanted to use this way now without knowing about your ability to get invisible?”
“Why not?”
Gali sighed. “You’re impossible…”
“I am unique.”
~~~***~~~
A loud crack and the sound of slivering metal. The next door was broken open. Every time Gali sent a pray to Mata Nui that the Nektann wouldn’t find out where it came from too fast while Kopaka set his bow on lock after lock and froze it.
They now were two floors over the one where the Ikuta kept Sasha when the Toa rescued her.
“Where can they be?” Kopaka whispered. “Why can’t we hear them?”
“Maybe because they aren’t allowed to make any noises. Maybe they found out how we noticed Rui.”
Crack! Gali winced. Another door and no one behind.
“Can’t you look through the floor?”
“I would have to change Kanohi.”
“Do it and I can make us both invisible.”
“Yes, I can see them, but we would have never thought of that place.”
“Why?”
“They are in the hall where Sasha was…”
~~~***~~~
About thirty to forty Matoran were crowded in the hall, trying to stay as close to each other as possible, no one daring to speak a word although they hadn’t seen each other for months now. Before they had been imprisoned in very small cells, alone or just with one or two others.
A cracking noise let them startle. The door was moving open but they couldn’t see anyone.
A blue Toa became visible in the room the next second a few steps away from the door.
“Come over here”, she called, “We’re here to get you out.”
Now a white Toa appeared too. “Quickly. It is hard to get such a big group out of a building unnoticed if Nektann start crawling around.”
~~~***~~~
Maybe it was the longest Matoran chain the world had ever seen but a record was the last thing they would have wanted now.
As long as they stood in touch with each other they remained invisible although it was hard to get up and down stairs and through small corridors. Kopaka had taken the lead, scanned the area permanently and brought the whole group to a stop when a Nektann got too close. He held Gali’s hand who had switched on the Kanohi of invisibility.
Finally they got to the roof and the last major barrier of the building, the stairs outside at the wall, when they saw … green. Over the rocks there was a green light as if the rising sun had decided to turn emerald and rise in the north instead of the east.
“Mata Nui …” Kopaka whispered, “Looks like bigger problems now…”
He sped up a bit but still sure not to lose one of the group.
~~~***~~~
On the place where they had split up there was a Nektann army now trying to get to Tupua and Sasha but were always blasted away when they got closer. For now. Tupua had already stopped attacks and only shielded him and Sasha, who clung to him, when necessary. He had fought like a berserk but now his power started fading.
“Any of you who knows the way out of Ta Aro and to Le Aro?” Kopaka shouted and got several positive answers.
“What are you planning?” Gali asked.
“The same as before. No plan, only chaos, but that is our only possibility.”
He turned to the Matoran or at least at where he believed they were. “When you get visible run, but stay together and follow the ones who know the way.”
“Kopaka, this is madness!”
“They are only focused on the Guardian right now and as you have seen during the attack we had before they had always tried to run for help before attacking at full force.”
“So you believe…”
“That they will try to keep the Matoran back but only start with weak attacks and wait for the others to come. They will be completely confused because of this mass of Matoran, two Toa and two Guardians at the same time and not know where to start first. Thus we will have a little time.”
He loosened his grip on Gali’s hand. “Ready?”
She looked at where she believed Kopaka’s eyes were. “Ready.”
“Don’t wait for us. We won’t follow you to the village. Just RUN!”
A few creatures noticed the cry and got away from their fight to stop the Matoran but were held back by Toa attacks. More and more noticed what was going on around them and stopped their fight for a short time giving the Spectre the chance to teleport himself and Sasha out of the enemy’s centre and over to the Toa.
“And what … shall we … do now?” he panted.
“Follow the Matoran.” Kopaka quickly took out a Nektann jumping at them. “And then take a different way.”
“But … they will follow us.” Sasha’s voice sounded higher than ever before. The ivory Toa remained calm as ever. “Exactly what I want.”
Now something shot into Gali’s mind. “Outside when it’s colder we can use our element at full power again.” She shot a spider creature which was frozen by Kopaka afterwards.
“Indeed.”
The Nektann got closer. More of them had finally given it up to follow the Ga-Matoran and focused on the Guardian again.
“I think now is the right time. Come.” He grabbed Gali’s hand and dragged her with him. Tupua and Sasha who still hung on his neck followed close behind. But same did the Nektann too.
They had no other option than running until they reached the end of the Black Valley. The spiders already came crawling over the rocks when the little group finally squeezed out through the gap.
Kopaka froze the bottom part so that the Nektann on it glided down and hit the ground hard. Part of them didn’t get any further now because they didn’t trust the icy path. The way they could fall down was too high for them. The rest was still on the hunt but taken out very soon by strong water and ice attacks.
Gali sighed. “Finally … I thought we would be running forever. It seems that we are fleeing from everything since we arrived on this island.”
“Because it’s necessary”, Tupua claimed, “The enemies may be weak sometimes but they come in mass. Staying out of their way as good as possible is the best we can do until we reach our real goal.”
“I’m just not used to it since we were fighters our whole lives … or at least the part we remember. … And where shall we go now?”
The Spectre looked around. “First we should get where I suppose the rest of our team is.”
